Man seeks happiness. But does not know who he really is. So he
assumes something to be his nature and seeks the happiness of that assumed nature.
To illustrate: If I think myself as a living body, then I seek its comfort and ease. Then when it is available I am 'happy'. On the other hand , If I think myself as a citizen of an enslaved nation, then I am willing to suffer endless trouble and torture, until I can think of myself as a citizen of a free nation. Only then I am happy. Until then I am ' unhappy.'
Similarly, my 'happiness' changes each time I think of myself as a student, a competeter, a father, etc .etc.
Obviously these (body, citizen, father, student etc) are all assumptions. So How to know one's own real nature? What exactly is one's own real unfailing nature which persists behind all the various assumptions? That is what atma parisodhana is about.
To illustrate: If I think myself as a living body, then I seek its comfort and ease. Then when it is available I am 'happy'. On the other hand , If I think myself as a citizen of an enslaved nation, then I am willing to suffer endless trouble and torture, until I can think of myself as a citizen of a free nation. Only then I am happy. Until then I am ' unhappy.'
Similarly, my 'happiness' changes each time I think of myself as a student, a competeter, a father, etc .etc.
Obviously these (body, citizen, father, student etc) are all assumptions. So How to know one's own real nature? What exactly is one's own real unfailing nature which persists behind all the various assumptions? That is what atma parisodhana is about.
Finding our real nature, over which all the other assumptions are superimposed, is what is called atmaparisodhana.