The Snake and the Rope (Sarpa-Rajju)

    The pundits are discussing about the 'Reality' of the world for thousands of years. One of the oft-quoted simile or comparison is that of a 'rope appearing as a snake in dark'. As children we are all afraid of dark, and some grown-ups are afraid of dark even now! No wonder things are not clear in darkness and fear rules roost! Once we had gone to a near-by town to see a film. It was dark by the time the film show was over. The Milestones were white washed and they appeared like ghost in the dark! It was only when the torch-light lightened up that milestone we all sighed relief and reached home, still afraid of the ghost! The fear is the key! This fear is due to the darkness, lack of knowledge, ignorance, or just missing the point due to lack of attention. 

    The real problem is this misunderstanding! We do not know the reality. Our ignorance, attachment, ego, desires and all sorts of emotional attachment makes the world, its people, the things and even the one that is far and invisible appear real! We are afraid of a rope that appears like a snake. When light exposes its reality, the fear goes! Fear goes with the snake! Even though we have not seen a snake, we are afraid of the very name of it! Many snakes are as harmless as a piece of rope or stick, but still we are afraid of them because of the in-built mechanism of fear, ignorance, lack of knowledge in us. It is the fear instilled in us since birth?

   The Verse 4 of Yoga Vashishta explains the nature of the world giving the example of the snake and the rope. Sage Vashishta gives this 'snake and the rope' example to explain how the world appears due to our ignorance and how we realize its true nature when a guru comes as a torch-bearer and reveals the reality! He gives another example how the world appears! He says, "A person without the knowledge of gold sees in a gold bangle only the outer form of the bangle. He does not have even the slightest awareness of the gold. Similarly, an ignorant person sees a city, homes, mountains, snakes as real. It happens because he is unable to see the 'Ultimate Reality'" But who will tell us what is the 'Ultimate Reality'?

.  The 'Ultimate Realty' of this world is realized only when the afflicted mind is cleansed of all its desires, dreams, imagination and images, ego, attachment, anger, etc. When the mind is afflicted and the jiva desires the objects it runs after the world. The moment the jiva relizes the illusory nature of the world, the insatiability of its desires, the futility of worldly acquisitions, and the stark reality that nothing belongs to the jiva and everything is a passing phase, the jiva gives up its desires and its mind becomes still. A calm and still mind is the datum line. Everything begins there and ends there. It is the nature of the mind, the bhava, that creates the illusory world. The jiva is disillusioned at the end of its life, however successful and prosperous, powerful and wealthy, however knowledgeable in worldly knowledge since all these are spatio-temporal aspects and not real! The reality is the simple truth that the jiva has taken birth to realize this truth! Once it realizes who the jiva is, and realizes how the world of men and objects are the creation of the mind, the 'bhavana', and realizes how the 'time' takes away the shine, it craves for redemption. 'Atma-jnyan', knowledge of the Self, releases the embodied soul from its eternal bondage!