Talk 8

"Thought of Liberation and bondage is present only during the state of Ignorance. The Original Nature is self-evident. It is neither bound nor liberated." [Dasbodh, Chapter 7, Section 6, Verse 52]

Thought of Liberation and bondage are present only during the state of ignorance. The original nature is self-evident. It is neither bound nor liberated. The problem of bondage and liberation arises only because man, enveloped in ignorance, takes the body as his self and also takes the "doership" of all his actions to himself.

Is self-realisation means remaining actionless? In that case when formerly King Janaka ruled a kingdom even after self-realisation was everything lost? Shuka (a great saint) and others had also realised the self. Then how did they write mythological books? Suppose we accept to mean "Mukta"or "being free" means remaining motionless. If remaining motionless like a log of wood means being Brahman, then Shuka and Vamadeva would be like dead bodies. Then how could Shuka tell Bhagwat to King Parikshita? It is necessary to put forward various versions and say things clearly when one (the Master) gives sermons. If that is so, then how can this work be done if one is motionless?

Because one gives sermons does it mean he is not realised? How can you say he has not not reached Final Reality? To be motionless does not mean becoming a realised person. Knowledge of final reality is obtained through the teaching of the Master. If a realised person becomes motionless then who will give the knowledge?

Realised ones have done utmost efforts in order to save the world. In the category of libration there are three compartments, namely,

(1) Jeevan Mukta

(2) Videha Mukta

(3) Nitya Mukta.

Jeevan mukta refers to those persons who are fully conscious as to what they are and yet perform their worldly duties. Videha mukta means those that have understood and have indentified with Brahman and just remain as they are. They do not care about what they eat or drink. Apart from thes two there is Nitya mukta, the Absolute.

If some one gets the "experience" (of Self) all of a sudden then he becomes quiet. To be motionless or to be unconscious is to do with the body. It has nothing to do with Brahman. When the consciousness stirs back then again he comes to body consciousness.

He understands "This is the self - I am Brahman" and stays thus. Atman is beyond bondage or liberation. If one continues to remain in body consciousness, one will never be liberated. Even God Brahma or other gods will never become liberated, if they remain in body consciousness. "He is free for a moment and gets bound the next moment", means he has not understood at all, what is Brahman.

Those who talk about bondage and liberation are only talking about Prakriti (nature of illusion). The Truth or the nature of self is self-evident. Bondage and liberation have no meaning there. One who says he is bound is a fish in the ocean of this mundane existence, and one who says he is liberated is a crocodile. One who has bound himself with the stone in the form of an idea that he is liberated will go to Patal (hell), the lowest region. One who says, "Till now I have committed a number of sins, and actions, and therefore I was bound, but now I am free" goes to the very base of the ocean of worldly transmigration. He is in great danger .

The Real knowledgeble ones - the Dnyanis have considered them as fools. Even at the time of committing a sin he was the Self, but he did not know that. So what great thing has happened if he says he now knows him. He is still searching as he always was, as the duality is still present.

But that one is free, who is free of the concept of "I" and "you". Rahu and Ketu mean "hu", i.e. "I", and "tu", i.e. "you". If this concept remains intact, he is still eclipsed. One who has drunk half a portion of the nector is half Dnyani or partly realised. Those, who know their own nature are the ones who have know they are beyond the body. The rest of them keep up the contact with the body. That which gets into bondage is the body. Where is the bondage if one knows that he is not the body?

One who has got the purest knowledge of the "Truth" thinks that being "bound and free" is all a joke. Where Prakriti (Illusion) moves away or ends with the name and form, there all the words become silent. Then how can any thing like "liberation" remain there? What is the meaning of "liberated". That is only a way, in which people talk. All the bondage is for him, who says he is the body. One who is a Dnyani (Realised) is free from the sense of "I". For him "bound and liberated" is only a delusion. "Bound and liberated" are only concepts expressed. A concept is never true. One who has understood Maya (Illusion) is free from all fear. The one who says, "I will practise yoga after I become Brahman - then I will do something" is like the one going in search of water in a mirage. It means that such people are simply going backward and forward in a mirage. One who considers mirage as true, gets bound by it. For the man who is awake, the dream disappears. In the same way Dnyani finds this mirage which is in the form of Illusion disappear.

So far as one's own nature is concerned, the relationship of the body itself is untrue. "Trying to contemplate on one who admits of no contemplation," is not possible. As far as Brahman is concerned, no contemplation is possible. But man has a habit of seeing and contemplating something. If one cannot see or think about Self, then what can one do? If one contemplates on a thing then that thing can be known. By the nature of self, even if you want to pull it down to your mind, it can not come to the mind also. It is also not possible to discard the nature of "Knowingness". It cannot be understood through the senses also. Then what can one do?

The Truth (Brahman) is beyond concept. When one starts meditating, the trinity (of seer, seen and process of seeing) is produced. All other objects and senses are alien to us but because we ourselves are the Truth, contemplation on ourself is not possible. If contemplation is given up, great doubts overpower us. But if one thinks and deliberates upon what is everlasting and what is transient, what is self and what is not self, the Truth is revealed. We are not any of the things that exist in this world. We are also not the body. The Vedas, the scriptures, the moon, the sun - we are none of these. We must sincerely find out who we are.

"You are That". So you must understand who "you" are. The word "I" comes from "within", so you must be some where "within" only. Where there is nothing, that is called the "causal body"; it is also called ignorance. There is more happiness in the subtle body than in the gross body. There is of course, happiness in the causal body. If everything is left off, then only the one who leaves off everything, remains. One who "leaves off" is the Witness. Then it means that only the "Knowingness" (power to know) remains, just an idol of "Knowingness" remains. That is "Existence-Knowledge-Bliss" (Sat-chit-ananda). Who was the one that experienced or saw during sleep, that there is nothing there? The answer is "I". So You had the experience that there was nothing there.

Existence-Knowledge-Bliss is the fourth body. He is God. That "there is nothing" is known without the help of the mind. Leave alone even that "I am", then the modification of the mind which says "I am" also remains motionless in peace. It is not even necessary to see how that modification is. If one forgets the causal body, only then one has to remember it. It is not possible to forget it, so no contemplation is to be practised. One should meditate as advised without any concept. Nothing is to be brought to the mind, and nothing to be known there, because then there appear two: one the mind and the other which is brought to the mind. So there appears duality. To know this, there is no necessity of applying any collyrium (eye wash) to improve vision (knowledge).

If without discriminating one tries to understand, then duality ensues. The sense of beingness, means "I am the one remaining"; this also has to be left alone.

There is nothing like non-self, but it is spoken of as non-self, for understanding it. Unless the "I" dies off Heaven can not be seen. Parabrahmam is non-dualistic, meaning we ourselves are "That". Therefore we have to be "That" in order to know "That". This does not require any other means, or an instrument. If we have to experience some other object, we have to see it. But because we are "That", we are by nature "That alone". If we give up the consciousness of all the rest, then we are as we are. We have never forgotten our nature. So it is not necessary to remember it. Only if it is forgotten, then it has to be remembered. Therefore, our Nature is beyond remembering and forgetting.

What is death? It is just like sleep at night. When something comes to memory after remembering it - that is prone to death. This Vedanta (the tenet), the fourteenth jewel, has been extracted after churning, by virtue of getting yoked to the body, and through the body and the Knowledge ("I am"); this is the nectar.

Parabrahman is the natural state; meaning it exists right from the begining without doing or thinking anything. It is in the natural state. This is self-evident. In that natural state, there is neither happiness nor misery. Happiness is pervaded by misery both at the back and the front. First comes the misery and in that misery there is a little happiness.

"As soon as a concept comes, there arises dualism." Because we ourselves are the Truth, we become two as soon as we imagine something. When you were playing marbles in childhood, whatever knowingness (power of knowing) you had is the same as you have it now. You do not have to remember (think) how it is. To "forget all" is only to remember. It is well done if you forget that "I am Brahman" also. "Experience it without experiencing." During sleep we have an experience of ourselves. But if we try to get such an experience, it cannot be had even with effort. It will not leave, even if it is left off, because you are that; then who will leave whom? If one tries to see, it recedes far back, it is distant. We have got to sleep to know sleep. And "not to do any effort" is to know Him. Eating, taking a meal etc. are obstructions in the way of knowing Him. They are not the methods.

If you say, "I am doing something, because "I am", it means to modify the mind to the effect that "I am". This is ruinous. If mind goes to bring it, it disappears there itself. You have to leave the "I"-ness after knowing the "I am"-ness. Till now you were told that "the impulse of knowledge" is "I". But now you leave that. One who uses this method of "I am not, you are not, there is nothing", is indeed fortunate. Nothing is to be done. Think, listen and contemplate, then the Nature of the self is exposed, because this knowledge of (one's own) Nature has to sustain. Otherwise concept of Maya presents itself there.

That "I am Brahman" is also a concept. We should not be the one that imagines or conceives; this means we should not also be what is conceived. The knower should absorb in final Reality. This is the basis of the knowledge of Brahman. You become the stage; do not become the scene or sets of the scene. This you have to do without moving away from your Nature. Then do your Sadhana (efforts), deliberation, contemplation; do whatever you feel. You yourself become the goal and then do some Sadhana-efforts (if you feel).

[End]

 

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