Daily Readings from the Works of Swami Venkatesananda


Venkatesa Daily Readings Vol 1 - The Shell of Individuality

July 1, 2025

The Shell of Individuality

    The movement of energy into the shell of individuality also brings experiences with it. Pure experiencing is pure consciousness. But when the experience touches the individual who is busy with his selfish and goal-motivated activity, the individual classifies these experiences into desirable and undesirable.

   Two more motivations are added to his busy-ness — the seeking of the desirable experiences and the avoidance of the undesirable. He is unable to see that these experiences come and go in utter disregard of his wishes!

   Harassed by all this, the individual, imprisoned in the shell, invents concepts of happiness and unhappiness, damnation and redemption, God and Satan, heaven and hell, and believes that all of them exist in truth. They exist only within the shell and only for him! Within the shell, this individual spends countless ages, apparently passing from one embodiment to another.

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