The real meaning of the "I" is self. It is the infinite existence-consciousness nature. The adjectives of bound and free cannot be applied to it. Bondage means forgetting one's self, freedom means knowledge. In other words, removing that forgetfulness. The meaning here is that from the vision of the self, there is no reality to the bound or free, that only happens though the transactional viewpoint. If we analyze transaction from the viewpoint of the absolute and vice versa, then the true nature of both will become hidden. That is why, when you analyze freedom and bondage etc., only the transactional viewpoint should be kept in mind.
In the infinite awareness bliss reality, no type of duality can be imagined, and there is only duality in transactions. Good-bad, sinner-saint and great soul-bad soul, such distinctions have been going on in time immemorial in transactions. Without this, transactions cannot proceed. In this situation, we will have to define great soul and bad soul (mahaatmaa and duraatmaa). This is necessary for the order in society and for the benefit of the seeker. But these qualities cannot apply to the living liberated great soul, because they are as they are. They do not need the knowledge of their own qualities. They are not bound inside these qualities, they have gone beyond, far beyond them, established in their infinite nature. They do not need a certificate to assert that they are a great soul or a bad soul. In their vision, everyone is their own true nature alone. That is why qualities are created for ordinary souls, who are burning in the sins of the world, and want to rest under a calming, happy and dense shade. They want to give up their anxiety, agitation and delusion, and want to rest in a peaceful place, and want someone delicate hands to pat their back. Therefore, we will have to ascertain these qualities based on our own vision. We select these great souls based on our values, liking and nature, and will continue to do so.
But, if we insist on having everything our way, we cannot rid ourselves of this scary maze of maayaa. Due to accumulating desires in birth upon birth, we have become mixed up in our situations, and have become accustomed to them. That is why, whenever we come across anything that is opposed to our thinking, we neglect it or oppose it. We only take that to be true which has been weighed and measured by our intellect, and in doing so, we are bereft of the real truth. Then what should we do? Should we take someone's refuge? That is why scripture has given us the qualities of a saint and a living liberated person.
In shruti, the words to indicate such a person are : "shrotreeya, brahma nishtha, braahman, brahma vid". In the Gita, the words to indicate such a person are : "sithita prajnya, bhakta and gunaateeta". In the Yoga Vasishta, the words to indicate such a person are : "jeevan mukta, videha mukta". In the Puraanaas, it is "ativarnaashramee". They all refer to the same person, who has attained the state which is the result of all methods. For example, one who reaches the absolute state using the primary means of action and the secondary means of devotion and knowledge is called a "sthita prajnya" in the Gita. Similarly, one who reaches the absolute state using the primary means of devotion and the secondary means of action and knowledge is called a "bhakta". And one who reaches the absolute state using the primary means of knowledge and the secondary means of devotion and action is called a "gunaa teeta". All of them have attained the same state, everyone is established in the absolute, and all are fulfilled with action, devotion and knowledge, yet, for the sake of distinguishing from the standpoint of methods, there is difference in name alone.
In the Yoga Vaasishta, Shree Vasishta has described many qualities of a liberated living person. We now take them up one by one.
1. In this moment, in front of our thought flows, we see mountains, rivers and forests, we see specific aspects of the world. When all of these, including our body and senses are pulled away from us, in other words, during the time of the world's dissolution, all these distinctions set like the sun! But in the liberating living persons, it is not so. This entire creations remains as it is, and transactions also keep going on. Since dissolution does not happen, others experience clearly as before. But, since there are no thought flows that experience this world in the liberated living person, he does not experience anything as in sleep, it sets. Now, in sleep, the seed of thought flow remains in the form of impressions, and the entire world rises again. But there is no seed in the living liberated person. Therefore, he does not experience the world again.
2. A worldly person, according to his praarabdha (storehouse of previous actions), becomes happy or sad based on states of the world such as receiving a garland of flowers, or receiving insults and abuses from people. But the liberated living person remains situated in peace no matter what he receives from the world, he has no specific desire. Firstly, since he is established in his true nature, the liberated living person does not experience these objects, and even if he experiences them for a little while, his firmness of knowledge and the absence of grasping and rejecting notions do not leave any room for happiness or sorrow. Here, the key point to be noted is that our storehouse of actions brings only the causes of joy and sorrow, not the actual joys and sorrows that follow. According to the wheel of action, situations keep arising, but due to attachment, we become happy or sad. For instance, due to our storehouse of actions, we may not receive food one day. This much is the effect of our storehouse of actions. But in that we become sad, this is the result of attachment, and attachment happens due to ignorance. Since we are unacquianted with
the motions and true nature of the wheel of the world, we become attached to some space, time and matter, and we become happy or sad. Why would the liberated living person become happy or sad with this? This is their specialty.
3. His external sense organs remain situated in their receptacles, they are not withdrawn, that is why he remains awake. But since this thought flows face inward, or they are absent, it is one type of deep sleep. That is why the sense organs do not grasp their objects, and all of the indications of the waking state do not manifest fully. That is why this state cannot be called either waking or sleeping. Cognition happens, but it is not desire-prompted cognition, like it happens in dream or waking state. Sometimes "I know brahman", this type of thought flow arises, this is indicated by the word desire. This desire does not exist in a liberated living person. Where there is a thought that I have known the infinite awareness-nature brahman, there lies a doership of knowledge ascribed to the self, and that cannot be called pure knowledge. When doership and enjoyership has been negated, only cognition without the triad of knower-known-knowing remains, then it is called desire-free cognition. This nature of cognition alone is the nature of the liberated living person.
4. From the viewpoint of people, he appears to transact with attraction, aversion and fear etc. Place, cleanliness, lunch etc. appears to happen as per his likings, he only eats saattvic food, he discards tamas, worrying about his house and bad company. He also appears to be afraid of animals like snake etc. Due to continuation of old habits that were negated, in a state of lost self control, such instances do occur, but since his internal organ is pure, it does not get dirty. Does space get contaminated by dust or clouds? No. Similarly, the heart of the liberated living person also remains ever, always and everywhere pure.
Another point needs to be said here. Liberated living persons are found in all stages of life and in all occupations. They never cross the limits of their occupations of life stages. Why should one cross limits that have been handed down through tradition, when for him, all actions are the same? Yes, a lower kind of action can be given up for a higher kind of action. But, in the observance of limits, there should be no inadvertance, nor the excuse that one is a liberated living person. It is also true that for those liberated living persons who have in the true sense renounced their occupation and life stage, no one has the right to say anything to them.
5. Whenever a person does anything, the arrogation of "I am the doer of this action" happens. There is also the expectation of a result in this world or the next, and his intellect gets wrapped with this notion. On the other hand, by forcefully restraining the organs of sense and actions as well as the internal organ, and renouncing all the actions, "I have stopped all action", this arrogation also happens. This will result in liberation, his intellect gets wrapped with this notion also. But, whether the living liberated person appears to work or to give up work, in both states, his arrogation and intellect do not get stuck anywhere. I am a doer, I am a renouncer, this notion does not arise. Both states remain in front of him.
This state is self known (sva sam vedya). These great persons have risen above doership. In them, arrogation, attachment and the stickiness of the intellect is not present. Due to this, there are no other actions for them besides spontaneous actions. And such spontaneous actions have been described in the Gita. Or, spontaneous (sahaja) can be understood like this - actions that happen prior to cognition. Since their flow is broken (pravaaha patita) and there are no desires to stop those actions and take them in another direction, those practiced actions continue. Yes, this much is certain that in that moment, there were no sinful actions otherwise cognition would not have occured. In our view, in the life of the liberated living person, all kinds of incidents will occur due to the storehouse of actions, but their prior desires (sankalpa), attachment to them and their doership does not remain, and since everything is seen through the vision of the self as the self, the actions do not yield any results.
6. Whenever worldly people come across someone that they think will hurt them in any way, or experience something opposite to their behaviour and thinking, they become agitated. Even seekers get agitated when they see jealously and hatred from people, and their attachment to the world. But the liberated living person is not a stranger to someone, he is the self of all. He does not expect anything negative or inappropriate from anyone. Then why would anyone become afraid of him? His spiritual practice does not get affected by seeing other peoples' worldly attachments, since his spiritual practice is spontaneous, it is not artificial that it will break due to someone's contact or obstacles. That is why he is not afraid of anyone. Everything is attained to him, that is why he is never elated at receiving any object. He does not have any competitors, therefore he does not get angry at anyone. There is fear in duality. You can only be scared of another. There is no "other" for the liberated living person, then who will he become afraid of? He is always revelling in his self, content in his self, and satisfied in his self.
7. Due to various incorrect thinking in the form of "this is an enemy, this is a friend, he is indifferent, he is to be honoured, this is an insult", worldly people tend to burn. But the liberated living people do not think incorrectly in this manner, therefore they always remain at peace. Even though endowed with sixty four qualities, they do not have any pride towards them, nor do they display them in any transactions. Also, even though appearing endowed with body, breath and other manifestations - divisions, they are devoid, in other words, unmanifest. In our vision, he appears to possess a mind, but in reality, since thought flows do not arise in him, he has no mind. No wonder he is without worry.
8. It is quite common for worldly people people to visit someone else's house on the occasion of a festival etc. and perform various tasks for that person's happiness. While performing those tasks, even worldly people do not get affected by the mental modifications of profit, loss, elation, sorrow and so on. Similarly, since there is no "other" for the liberated living person, he remains free of all mental modifications in all transactions, his heart is always calm! It is not the case that he remains calm only because he his free of all of the anxieties caused by obstacles and roadblocks. It is because he is constantly established in his unchangeable complete self element.
So long as such a self established great person's body is visible to us, we call him a liberated living person, and by taking refuge at his feet, we attain the supreme benevolence. When his body drops, we say that he has become body-free liberated (videha mukta). With regards to that, nothing can be said.
But yes, this state of liberated living is attained only through the desire-destroyed, mind-annihilated, knowledge of self alone,
not through any one of these three. The truth is that they are related, without one, the other cannot be attained. That is why, with great earnestness, all three should be practiced.
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