Why the Brahman is not called as object and why it is referred as subject? If something that is visible to our external eyes is object. In the case of object it has to be realized through the senses. A religious symbol is an object and we worship it. This does not mean that the Brahman is only in that religious symbol. The fact is that Brahman is also present in that symbol as it exists everywhere. In order to have a focused mind these religious symbols have been created by. Religious symbols or statues have high vibration as they are sculptured in such a way that it receives all positive vibrations coming out of five basic elements. The chanting of mantras and prayers also transmit vibration to the symbol or statue. The sound coming out mantras and prayers is called shabdha Brahman (shabdha means sound). The excess vibration thus gathered in the statue or symbol is then distributed to the devotees who visit these shrines. These positive vibrations make us get rid of negative thoughts and we feel happy and relieved.

Your mind becomes clear and you believe that all your miseries would go. The fact is that you had no miseries and your mind considers certain difficulties as miseries. Happiness or sorrow is due to your mental makeup only. Go on telling your mind that you are happy and surely you will be happy. Again the degree of sorrow and misery varies from person to person as they are governed by karmic account which is the law of God. The question arises why we should seek and realize the Brahman. The main idea is to liberate ourselves. Liberation is a process by which we try to avoid future births. To attain liberation we need to know the Brahman and realize him. Thus there exists interconnectivity between liberation, knowledge, self-realization, etc. Ignorance is one of the factors that prevent us in liberating ourselves. Ignorance again is the product of our mind, which is also associated with maya or illusion. Ignorance arises out of mistaken identity. Instead of identifying the Brahman in everything identifying everything else by its name is maya. As we have seen earlier that maya is the cause for duality.

The case of the stray dog referred to in the previous posting is a typical example here. Once we are liberated, we cannot be bonded again as the process of liberation is irreversible. But liberation is possible only if we are self-realized persons. In other words, liberation is possible only if we realize the Brahman within. In our day to day life we unite with the Brahman during our deep sleep. If this unification happens in the stage of awakening, that is self-realization. Which unites or merges with the Brahman? It is our soul that unites with the Brahman in our deep sleep. Brahman is always pure. Since our soul unites with the Brahman we have to keep our soul also pure. How do we keep our soul pure? Not merely by keeping our gross body pure, but also by keeping our mind pure. But this unification of soul with the Brahman is only temporary as this process is reversed when we are awake. Therefore this process is not self realization. When we are awake, we are controlled by mind which acts as per the directions of the soul. The functioning of the soul is governed by our karmas.