Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Many men Many Minds

Jives experience misery due to ignorance about their Self. Just as there is no forest in the sky nor heat in the lunar realm so also is there no body or senses in the Atman. All the jives are Atman. Hidden in a seed is the existence of a tree and vice versa. Similarly, the jiva exists in God and vice-versa. However, the jiva is miserable for want of this knowledge. The chitta or mind-stuff exists in the atman and the atman exists in the mind-stuff, just as a seed is hidden n tree and tree in a seed. Just as it is impossible to squeeze oil out of sand; for the son of a barren woman to beget a child or to press the sky under the armpit, so also is it impossible for anybody to become free from all bondages without self-knowledge. Once one attains knowledge of and gets established in the self, he remains blissful in his self, irrespective of whether he is engaged in activity or remains absorbed in Samadhi, whether he delivers precepts or remains silent. He may then rule as a king while being reposed in his Self at the same time.

Suppose there are ten people sleeping in a hall. Everyone sees a different dream, and believes it to be true accordingly. Similarly, in the waking state everyone takes his own perception to be true.

Some people went for a walk in a forest. They heard a partridge singing something. One of them, a vegetable vendor, was asked, “What is the partridge saying?” he said, Dhadadhad… Dhadadhad…Dhadadhad.” (As he used to heart incessant noise in the market)

The wrestler said, “No, it is saying, ‘Dand-baithak, Dand-baithak (a type of physical exercise) ‘.

The third one, who was a devotee, said, “It is saying, ‘Sita-Ram, Sita-Ram, Sita-Ram.”’.

The fourth one, who was philosopher, said, “No, it is saying, ‘All in one, one is All. You and only You, You and only You”.

Each saw according to his own imagination. Similarly, the jives wander in this world according to their own imagination s. if only these imaginations were to be diverted to their sources, the supreme Soul, to attain repose in the same, or if one realizes that they are just imaginations (mental projections) and becomes a witness to them, it would lead one to beatitude, his ultimate good.

No comments: