An extract from Light from the Chandogya Upanishad

Human life in this ever-changing world is often compared to the struggles of a swimmer or a sailor in a vast sea, over which he has very limited power and in which he can easily drown. Yet man can be rescued from this predicament by awakening to a deeper life experience. In this deeper life experience, called enlightenment or God-realization, the surrounding world, with its complexity and menace, is robbed of its power to intimidate us. Compared to the deeper life experience that now fills our consciousness, this sea of Sansara [becoming] is known to be an illusion, a play of surface appearances only and not a substantial reality. The truly substantial reality is the Self of man in its deepest sense, which, in the Upanishads, is declared to be 'greater than earth....greater than heaven, greater than these worlds'. Hence, the spiritual teachers of all times and climes are those who come to deliver man from the turmoils of this sea of becoming, by awakening him to a deeper reality, a deeper truth, and that deeper truth is the true nature of his own Self. 'May you be successful in crossing to the farther shore beyond darkness', is the benediction of the holy Rishis, the ones who provide us with the means to this spiritual awakening.

Man before his spiritual awakening clings to his own particular supports in this ocean of being. Each has his particular raft. Some rafts may appear huge, safe and full of attractions, like ocean-going liners. This is the raft of wealth. Other rafts seem to be slender props that we can barely hold on to; these are the rafts of poverty and destitution. Everything that we depend on for support and meaning in this sea of becoming is a kind of raft: the raft of our skills, of our knowledge; the raft of our position, the raft of our home and our relationships. But however sturdy our supports may appear to be at this moment, they do not transcend this all-surrounding ocean of transient being in which we, as transient creatures, abide and struggle during the few decades that make up the span of our life. In the Chandogya Upanishad it is said: 'O Indra, this body indeed is mortal. This is covered by death.' In his comments on this phrase, Shri Shankara points out that it is not enough for man to realize that his body is mortal; to promote true detachment, the Upanishad rouses him by saying that the body is 'covered by death' or 'grasped by death', that is, this body may surely die at any moment. This is one of the conditions that attend our stay in this ocean of becoming and a good reason why it is crucial to awaken to a deeper reality as soon as possible.

What can we do to banish this darkness, to escape this turbulence and uncertainty, so that our hearts will be set in peace, bliss and freedom? Is there a way to transcend the sea of sansara? We can seek a solution within the sea, through manipulating conditions by skill and with the material to hand. Some may seek to build a bigger and better boat. This is the economic solution, based on wealth and possessions. Others may think more broadly and decide to rope their rafts to neighbouring rafts, and form a whole network of linked rafts that may more easily withstand the fitful winds and choppy waves. This is the attempt to arrive at a social and political solution. Still others may resort to praying to the God of the ocean, for peace and calm in the ocean generally, or perhaps only for the little stretch that involves their self-interest or that of their group, clan or creed. This is the religious solution. But all these solutions assume one thing: that the ocean is real, that it stands over and above us as a vast power, and that our own being is not itself the ocean, but a mere drop in it.

Does man possess a deeper faculty which, when awakened, will enable him to see beyond the sea of becoming and realize the peaceful, immortal, infinite and blissful basis underlying this illusion? Can he realize his essential identity with this basic reality and that his innermost being is never in danger of being harmed or destroyed - that there is That in him which is not 'grasped by death' and never can be? There is such a faculty in man, which can be awakened, and when it is awakened, he will be a knower of Truth, not a victim of illusion. This is the faculty of spiritual understanding, and its fruit is conscious immortality...