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Yoga
Chapter I
Knowledge of the Real
Self
Atma-Jnana
Dear
traveler,
Will you please stop for a
while and listen to my word? Where are you going, why are you in
such a hurry? After all what is that you are endlessly toiling for?
Where do you want to reach? Where will you stop; what is your
destination; do you really know? Have you ever thought upon this
even for a moment? No, would be the sure answer by you. Having got
this sublime human self, you are frustrated; but why, what for? What
makes you feel so? What is that you are lacking? May be that you are
anxious to know the mystery of this life.
How strange and said it is
that the unlucky man is endlessly running about without any rest or
pause on this uneven and thorny path of life without even caring to
know and think upon his destination. O dear, try to think over it
calmly. Do you like this constant restlessness, caused through
baseless hurry and worry? If you do not like it that means it is not
your real self. It is definitely something alien to you, which you
seem to have accepted through some misunderstanding. That which can
be separated from you or which can be disliked by you at any moment,
at any place and/or under any circumstances, can never in fact be
your own real self. Whatever is not your own can be separated at any
moment since there is no basic unity between two alien objects. This
apparent unity is sheer delusion, which can be ended only by the
dawn of wisdom, by the knowledge of the Real Self, exactly as the
darkness is dispelled with the rise of the
sun.
This Wisdom,
the knowledge of the reality alone can end all suffering. This
knowledge cannot be attained from external sources, because whatever
is gained from outside is transitory and temporary and that which is
not permanent, cannot be the means of achieving the Eternal, Wisdom
(Viveka) is some internal awareness, that is inherent in the soul
and cannot be separated from it at any moment as the illuminator can
not be separated from the illumination. The fact is that the
identification of the individual self with the material objects is
but an illusion (Aviveka) which has no real existence in life; but
under its damaging influence the individual, considers the transient
as the intransient, impure as pure, painful as pleasurable and the
illusory individual self as the real self. This contradiction is
nothing but Avidya that is infact the root cause of all human
misery.
The
individual being is the mere manifestation of that Supreme soul
which is nothing but Truth, Knowledge and Infinity (Satyam, Gyanam,
Anantam). These divine attributes of the self are universal and
eternal. They can therefore undoubtedly be realized at any time,
anywhere and in any situation. But one must feel its real necessity,
since an ardent desire followed by faith and devotion is a must for
any action to succeed. So in order to be free from constant
sufferings of life one should endeavor with full devotion to realize
that divine self which remains lying within unmanifested. This is
what is known as self-realization, self-knowledge and realization of
Brahma.
Just as the
feelings of guilt, fear and pain aroused out of killing of the
parents etc. in dreams vanish on awakening, similarly the innumerous
impressions of countless births full of pleasure and pains etc, end
up with the dawn of pure knowledge.
It is the
main duty of an individual to fully evolve life with the light
divine and reach him, but the ignorant do not know this fact. An
ignorant person is not able to perform even his ordinary worldly
duties well, how then it is possible for him to attain a life
divine! The flame of pure knowledge is always there within the soul
but that cannot be felt enlivened without the air of self-control.
In a disciplined life, wisdom itself wakes up
spontaneously.
On seeing the
baseless glitter of this transitory trigunatmak (possessing the
three qualities) world, the materialistic man is himself inclined
towards that and that is why being troubled by a variety of pains,
he remains restless, though he does not like this at any time,
place, and under any circumstances. Therefore, day and night to get
rid of it he remains busy in a variety of actions. But whatever
means he devises to get free of this restlessness, he goes on
entangling himself more and more; since the defective remedies,
instead of eradicating the disease, continuously go on adding to
it.
Man’s fate
to-day is like that of Arjuna, curious to know the path of peace,
but got puzzled due to ignorance and has become restive, indecisive
not knowing what to do and what not to do. This magnificent message
of divine path of (Yoga) in plain and simple words is meant for the
man who on the basis of the past should think in the present how to
make his future bright; that is whether the actions done in the past
have led life towards divinity. Can we even now fulfill our inner
desires by those actions. Similarly, to fulfill those desires which
keep him restless he should ask a number of other questions to
himself. And when he is disappointed with himself in this regard
then he should seek guidance of some real Guru. A real Guru is one
who is free from the worldly desires and properly guides the man who
is curious to know the secret of life.
The divine
message of the Guru and the Lord is proper and useful for both,
whether they are worldly-minded or are those who seek salvation. Man
need not worry about his actions good or bad, done in the past due
to previous impressions under total ignorance since in the history
of the world among the life story of the holy men, there has not
been a single one whose past can be considered to be as wholly pure.
But all of them became great by attaining wisdom through their
present efforts.
There is no
room for frustration in life. Just listen with love the message of
the Lord Krishna:-
Api
chedasi papebhyah sarvebhyah Papakrittamah Sarvam gyanaplavenaiva
vrijinam samtrishyasi! (Gita 4-36)
My dear
Arjuna! even if you are worst among all the sinners you need not be
disappointed in life. With the help of the raft of knowledge you
will undoubtedly sail over all the sins well. If you suspect that
you have to suffer the past deeds that is not correct. Because, as
the flames of fire reduce the entire fuel into ashes, in the same
way this fire of knowledge shall burn all the good and bad deeds.
Like that of knowledge there is no other means in this world to
purify. Only the man well accomplished in Yoga can attain that
knowledge within himself.
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