The inward journey starts only when the outward journey is finished and the jiva turns back towards home. We return home after work and take rest only to get out and again come back, day after day. The same is the nature of the jiva life after life until it thinks of a return journey back home. The outward journey starts with the schooling, a teacher teaching the alphabets, the words and their meaning and gradually introduce to the phenomenal objective world with a syllabus, leading to a career after an examination, training for a job; then comes a family and the entire life is spent in this running from pillar to post. At best, their attainments, if any, will be in the material world and may even get a Nobel Prize for it! All these attainments will not help knowing about the self and liberation of the soul from its eternal embodiment in a physical entity. Not a single jiva, as an embodied soul, ever thinks of finishing its errands and returning home; may be, one in a million aspires for it, but none of them will ever make effort towards the inward journey. Just similar to the outward journey, the inward journey, too, requires a teacher (guru to initiate mantra deeksha) and there is a syllabus as in the study of the Veda, the Upanishads, brahmasutra, etc. Unlike the outward journey, the inward journey takes a much longer, longer time- just not one or two lives, a hundred of them! The jiva has to work out life after life until a guru comes to take him/her by hand and lead to the right path (sat nyasa). Unlike the syllabus that helps learning about material objects in the outside world, the syllabus for inward journey is one of discarding what all is learnt and emptying the trash can called the mind with the help of laya yoga, hatha yoga and manonasha. The guru teaches ashtanga yoga sutra and help him/her to attain to stillness/samadhi (in transcendental meditation/turiya) and attain oneness with the supreme consciousness, shuddha-vidhya. Shree Shivananda Saraswati of Rishikesh advises us to meditate for 18 hours a day and the minimum is 4 hours a day. Unless the jiva stops all its outward errands as prodded by a fickle mind (chanchala chitta) to fulfill the insatiable desires for sensual enjoyments this inward journey is not just possible.
Normally, we think that our life is a journey from birth to death only and it starts with the clock ticking, the heart beat, and it says, "your time starts now"! So, every jiva begins its life on earth with the first breath and a cry on Day One. But, little do we know that we existed much earlier to our day of birth and continue to exist even after, what is called, death! Birth is not the beginning and death is not the end. There is nothing like births and deaths, but only transformation of energy is there. Prana is energy, life-force (pranic energy) and this energy (e) is never created nor destroyed; it only goes on taking different forms (material or non-material, organic or inorganic). This Energy and its Force are the fundamental aspects of 'LIFE' and, Life means Light, Intelligence, Force, and Energy. These four elements constitute the core of the jiva called Atman and the jivatman runs on errands once it enters the earth and takes a form. It is given some name and thus there begins the fundamental principle of name (nama), form (rupa) and function (karya). This name, form and function combine is called 'maya' in the scriptures. Maya means that which comes within the grip of time (kala), space (desha) and causality (karya-karana). Function (karya) has cause (karana) as its inherent quality. Hence, there is no need to search the reason for a function, or search the cause for our desires, attitudes, behavior and actions. Our entire life-span (80 to hundred years, if lucky to live that long!) goes in a meaningless search for the objects of desires and these desires are the cause of our misery. We seek good health, happiness, joy in all inert things? our journey of life is an endless search for vain glory, profit and pleasure in all walks of life. This brings untold misery,unhappiness. Ultimately, the jiva feels disappointed. It suffers hunger (all sorts of desires, kaamane), diseases, old age and death. This is one part of the story.But, there is another part of the story of the jiva before taking a life-form and, yet another, after discarding the form it assumed (after death). None of us is ever aware of these.
Normally, we think that our life is a journey from birth to death only and it starts with the clock ticking, the heart beat, and it says, "your time starts now"! So, every jiva begins its life on earth with the first breath and a cry on Day One. But, little do we know that we existed much earlier to our day of birth and continue to exist even after, what is called, death! Birth is not the beginning and death is not the end. There is nothing like births and deaths, but only transformation of energy is there. Prana is energy, life-force (pranic energy) and this energy (e) is never created nor destroyed; it only goes on taking different forms (material or non-material, organic or inorganic). This Energy and its Force are the fundamental aspects of 'LIFE' and, Life means Light, Intelligence, Force, and Energy. These four elements constitute the core of the jiva called Atman and the jivatman runs on errands once it enters the earth and takes a form. It is given some name and thus there begins the fundamental principle of name (nama), form (rupa) and function (karya). This name, form and function combine is called 'maya' in the scriptures. Maya means that which comes within the grip of time (kala), space (desha) and causality (karya-karana). Function (karya) has cause (karana) as its inherent quality. Hence, there is no need to search the reason for a function, or search the cause for our desires, attitudes, behavior and actions. Our entire life-span (80 to hundred years, if lucky to live that long!) goes in a meaningless search for the objects of desires and these desires are the cause of our misery. We seek good health, happiness, joy in all inert things? our journey of life is an endless search for vain glory, profit and pleasure in all walks of life. This brings untold misery,unhappiness. Ultimately, the jiva feels disappointed. It suffers hunger (all sorts of desires, kaamane), diseases, old age and death. This is one part of the story.But, there is another part of the story of the jiva before taking a life-form and, yet another, after discarding the form it assumed (after death). None of us is ever aware of these.
Even the most learned ones, so called jnyanis, never think of the state of their existence before their date of birth and after the date of their death and they take their present life-form as a real one! This is called 'avidya', ignorance, rather knowledge covered by moha (attachment to body, name and form, function as so and so, acquisitions, affixes and prefixes, accolades, prizes (praise and recognition, and positions, etc.). The Bhagavad-Gita deals with this in a beautiful way. (See Ch. 4-6, 9). This aspect of avidya is explained as 'illusion' and Sri Shankaracharya gave a detailed account of this in his concept of maya- 'mithyaa vada' in a simple phrase- jagat mithya, brahmn satya. Normally, it is difficult understand this concept. Arguments based on ignorance (not discussion based on knowledge) are going on ever since this concept was put forth! Our very existence as jivatman is an illusion since we exist as so and so, such and such,for a brief time in the eternal existence as the Life-force, Light, Intelligence, Force, Energy- that do not need a physical body to exist! This is exactly what is explained in the Gita.
In the Bhagavad-Gita, Bhagavan Shree Krishna reiterates that "I only exist, nothing else"; and, then He says, "O Arjuna, there was no time when you and I never ceased to exist"; further, He says, "You and I are one (pure consciousness, chit), but you have gone away from me since you are filled with or tainted with moha (attachment, desire, ego, etc.). In fact, Consciousness (chit) and Mind (manas) are not separate in their pure state. Both exist as the vast ocean (space/ether/chit-akasha). In the case of the jiva, this mind (manas/akasha) is crunched and individualized (chid-akasha).When the mind is blemished, tainted, filled with desires, attachment, ego,and the like,it departs from the home of pure consciousness and settles down in the sensuous world and start using the senses.
(to be contd.).
In the Bhagavad-Gita, Bhagavan Shree Krishna reiterates that "I only exist, nothing else"; and, then He says, "O Arjuna, there was no time when you and I never ceased to exist"; further, He says, "You and I are one (pure consciousness, chit), but you have gone away from me since you are filled with or tainted with moha (attachment, desire, ego, etc.). In fact, Consciousness (chit) and Mind (manas) are not separate in their pure state. Both exist as the vast ocean (space/ether/chit-akasha). In the case of the jiva, this mind (manas/akasha) is crunched and individualized (chid-akasha).When the mind is blemished, tainted, filled with desires, attachment, ego,and the like,it departs from the home of pure consciousness and settles down in the sensuous world and start using the senses.
(to be contd.).
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