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Man in Upanishad

In Man is not a child of sin, not a child of delusion, but he is a child of immortality. "Sravantu vishwe amritasya putraah" - says the Shwetaashwatar Upanishad. Man has the organic capacity to realize this truth. Man's inner life is ultimately a journey towards this great truth hidden in himself. By such an inward journey, he unfolds his divine possibilities, which affects his outer life, and also his inter-human relationships, in a most beneficient way.

One of the greatest messages of the Chhaandogya Upanishad is contained in the brief utterance of "Tat Twam asi" -- "That thou art". This truth is conveyed by a teacher and father by name Aaruni, to his son and student by name Shwetketu. Says Aaruni to Shwetketu, in the course of his exposition of the truth of all the truths, and the reality of all realities (VI. 8.7): "This Reality which is very subtle, all this Universe has. This for its Self; that is the Truth; He is the Aatmaa; and That thou art, O Shwetketu.

When man is viewed from sensory point of view, he appears as a limited finite organic system. Vedaant says that this is only the surface view of man. Consciousness appears as a detectable datum in evolution only with the appearance of the living cell, which initiated the organic phase of evolution. That datum of consciousness develops into self-consciousness with the appearance of man as the highest product of that organic evolutionary process.

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