In his introduction to Ashtavakra Samhita of Nityasvarupananda, Prof. S. Mookerjee writes: "This moral discipline liberates the mind from the octopus of sense-objects and diverts it inwards. the inward diversion of the mind will enable the aspirant to realize his independence and detachment from the network of relations which constitute the phenomenal world. So long as the mind sees another self, there is bondage. Freedom consists in seeing nothing but the Self as and in everything. The Self is the Brahman, the undivided and undifferentiated Consciousness (chit)- Existence (sat)-Bliss (ananda). The ego is consciousness limited and distorted by the mind as light is distorted by a prism. As soon as a person effects his liberation from the snares of the ego, he becomes Supreme Bliss, to which there is no limit."
hence it is the ego distorted by the mind that is the real problem. Also, the whole problem is one of realization of the Self. As long as the jiva feels the physical body is the self, its misery knows no end. Every pin prick bothers it. The objective world is created by the lack of knowledge of the Self and this knowledge of the Self is not forthcoming. It demands the highest order of self-discipline and total surrender to the higher Self (paramatman) and foolish ego does not permit it. So it is a never ending problem, eternal bondage.. The sansar is the self-creation of the ignorant jiva. As long as it does not realize its mistake of 'identifying an other as its own, the problem persists. The moment the realization dawns that "everything is Consciousness, existence and bliss and 'there is nothing beyond this', the problem of the jiva ends.
Ashtavakra goes one more step beyond this point. He dwells on the jiva that has realized its true nature of existence as "sat-chit-anand" and goes on to say, such a jiva is already released from bondage. There is nothing to do for such a jiva, a jive that has realized the "Truth'- "Everything is Consciousness".
(to be contd.)
No comments:
Post a Comment