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The Self and The Not Self The self and the not self is one of the messages derived from Upanishads. The universe of our experience according to Vedanta, consists of the two categories of the not self and self. “Yusmadasmatpratyayagocara”, in the words of sankara (Introduction to brahma sutra commentary) vidya or knowledge referes to the knowledge of the self, the changeless reality, the “Amartyam” yeth “avidya” or ignorance refers to the knowledge of the not self the changeful universe, the “Martyam”. The self and the not self are not two, but one, “Almaiveclan Sarvam”, “The self alone is all this: says the ‘chandogya Upanishad”. Man is aware, since his birth, of only one of these categories, namely, the world of the not self. He plunges into this world, and handles it gets headed by it, till death takes him away. He handles it himself, in his daily life, in his education, in his science and his social pursuits. He builds up structures of knowledge, scientific and philosophical, to explain to himself its nature and mystery. This knowledge under the best of circumstances enable him to steer his life back in the ocean of existence with a measure of success, and leaves him under the worst of circumstances, a wreck in its turbulent water. In either case, whether in success or in failure, he remains baffled by its mystery and ignorant of its true nature. “Body is cleaned by water, Intellect by wisdom, mind by truth and the self by non-violance.” - Bodyana “Work banishes the great 3 evils – Boredom, Vice and Poverty”