The ignorance is the cause
of experiencing all sorrow and calamities as reality. Thus eradicating the
ignorance completely is necessary. And this is possible only through
self-knowledge. Thus, there is no other
road to freedom other than Gnana. There
is no other entrance other than except Gnana.
The ignorance will vanish only when the nondual wisdom dawns.
Sri Sankara,
in Bhaja Govindam says: - [Jnana Viheena
Sarva Mathena Bajathi na Muktim janma Shatena] - one without knowledge does not obtain liberation even in a hundred
births, no matter which religious faith he follows.
Thus it
proves that religion is not the means to self-knowledge.
Detachment to attachment is impossible without wisdom. Only when
one realizes the fact that, the self is not form but self is formless, than
only it is possible to detach the ‘self’ from the false attachment.
The ignorant
thinks “Whatever agrees with his view is truth, whatever disagrees is false.
The sense “I” blocks him to get at truth. The sense of ‘I’ is standing in the
way. Therefore, understanding “What is
‘I’/mind” is most important factor in pursuit of truth.
Those who get
disappointed with life take to yoga, but that does not qualify them for
self-knowledge which requires a passion for non-dual truth, not merely disgust
with world. Still latter is useful preliminary stage to get the mind free for
inquiry, untroubled by attainments and desires which hamper clear calm
unprejudiced investigation.
The’ I’
/mind must be understood, and then it
becomes easier to assimilate self-knowledge. Without inquiry and reasoning on
the true base one can’t get truth.
The object of
yoga is to enable you to get free from attachment, to enable the mind to get
concentrated: to get free from attachment means attachment to a second thing,
and hence it is a discipline, training for spiritual journey.
The three types
of people mentioned may also be divided as follows:-
Low: those governed by emotion alone.
Middling: those governed by emotion and
intellect mixed more or less equally.
High: those whose emotions are governed
by reason.
All
interpretation of the world is according to the taste and capacity to
understand and grasping power of the person. Hence to remove all bias and
fallacies from the mind, to render it impartial, is most difficult part of the
work for beginners in pursuit of truth.
Just as there are
people who like a particular type of sweet, so there are others who like a
particular kind of yoga or religion or philosophy. This is the basis on which
they take up their attitude to life instead of un-preferentially seeking its
truth.
When people do
not understand or able to grasp non dual truth, they naturally dislike it. It
is hard to grasp of course, but only psychological complexes cause people to
use this difficulty as an unconscious excuse for dislike.
Unless one is
prepared to devote sufficient time to pursuit of truth, it cannot be grasped.
It is too subtle to yield to anything short of acute long-sustained thinking
which is ever probing until it gets down to the last root of the matter. To get
such amount of time it may be necessary to sacrifice watching T.V and giving up
reading unwanted subjects and indulging in discussion other than non-dual
truth.
Ignorance covers reality. So long as the 'I' remains delusion persists and no possibility of self-knowledge. Whilst the mind is restless and unsettled, it cannot grasp the non-dual truth.
Seeker must have:-
1. Sound common sense which can distinguish between foolishness and wisdom.
2. Balanced mind
3. Sharp reasoning.
By repetition
one's understanding becomes clearer. When the mind has purged itself of ignorance, i.e.
become clearer through persistent reading of F.P Blogs, and the truth will
start revealing on its own when the mind gets matured enough and becomes
receptive.
Hearing means
indirect cognition of witness from a teacher/guide. Direct knowledge means: By
reason and inquiry and analysis one comes to have direct knowledge.
The awareness must itself be identical with
Atman --i.e. that which is capable of knowing.
The ego has also to be eliminated though when one is arguing and
thinking the formless witness identifies itself with ego and its functions
through it. "Whatever we know is
the truth"-- this is the preconception which everybody has. The first
thing in pursuit of truth is to make sure that what one knows is true.
