Sri Laxmi Narayana Aithal
WHAT IS THE USE OF THE
KNOWLEDGE OF THE VEDANTA?
The
knowledge of the
Vedanta may be
reasonable, but a
few people may
find that they
don’t get any
benefit from that
knowledge. In order to console
them, the following verse has commenced:
Naaham Jaato Na
Pravrddho Na Nashto Dehasyoktaah Praakrtaah Sarva-dharmaah I
Kartrtvaadi-sh-chinmaya-asti Naahamkaarasyaiva Hyaatmano
May Shivo-aham II
Meaning- Aham: I, Na
Jaatah: am not born,
Na Pravrddhah: am
not grown up,
Na Nashtah: am
not lost, uktaah:
above said, Prakrtaah:
natural, Sarva-dharmaah: all traits ( qualities ), dehasya:
of the body,
kartrtvaadi: agency, etc; ahamkaarasyaiva: of
the egotism alone, hi:
determination, Chinmayasya:
of the Form
of Awareness, aatmanah: of
the Self, May: to
me, Naasti: don’t
exist, aham: I, Shivah:
am Auspiciousness.
I have
not taken birth,
nor grown up,
nor even died.
All these natural
qualities, as if,
appear in me,
belong to the
body. The agency, etc. belong
to the egotism
and these traits
don’t belong to
Me who am
made up of
Awareness. My own Form is
Auspiciousness.
EXPLANATION.
Before
asking the benefit
of the knowledge
the people should think
what actually they
need. If they
desire to have
food, clothes, money,
etc; they should
peruse any vocation
fit to obtain
such material benefits.
They should never
think to get
these benefits from
the Vedanta. Satraajit
worshipped his precious
stone, ‘Shyamantak-mani’ to
obtain daily eight
ingots of gold.
The Knowledge of Vedanta doesn’t give that. But from another
view point, the
Knowledge of Vedanta
is a kind
of a ‘Magic
Jewel’ ( Chintaa-mani )
alone. But common
people think: ‘I am
born in this
world, I have
grown up, I died in
my previous birth,
and now, I
have taken birth;
and I will
die again’. As
long as they
think thus, they
suffer distress; they
feel that they
have the pain
of taking birth,
they have the
pain of growing
up and they
have misery in
the death. They
search for various
devices of avoiding
these miseries: The
painful birth of
a child from the disgustful
part of a
mother; the painful
task of growing
the body by
enhancing the energies
of the body,
the senses, the
mind, and the
intellect, as also
the pain of
preserving all of
them; and the
pain of growing
lean and facing
the death. They want to avoid these pains. Some
people, if they
successfully find a
method of avoiding
these pains, they
get elated and
when they fail,
they get dejected.
Some other people
believe that these
miseries are part
and parcel of
their destiny and
they cannot avoid
them. Some fools
blame God who
is the Creator
and the Lord
that why He
has sent them
to this miserable
human birth. Lastly,
some inconsiderate-people stoop
down in the
sensuous enjoyments and pleasure
that are like
drops of nectar
mixed with poison;
and so, none
think that they
don’t have birth,
growth and death.
And these are sorrowful events.
To all such
people the Science
of Vedanta gives
a great benefit;
they obtain a
strong unshakable conviction
that their Self
doesn’t have birth,
growth and death.
THE NATURAL TRAITS
BELONG TO THE BODY.
As
already described, the
following traits like
birth, growth and
death are all
seen in the
physical body alone
and not in the Self.
We have never
witnessed the birth,
the growth and
the death of
ours; if we
have seen these
aspects of others,
it means that we have
seen birth, growth
and death of
their respective bodies.
Similarly, others also may see
birth and death of our bodies.
Therefore, these traits
belong to the
body and not
to ourselves.
(Objection: -) The body
belongs to us;
therefore, its birth
and death also
belong to us
alone, isn’t it?
(Relief: -) If we
understand the present
deliberation; there is
no scope for
this objection. For,
we cannot decide
on the basis
of experience that
the existence of
any relationship between
the body and
ourselves. Apart from
this, if we
have a body
in the wakeful
state; we obtain
hundreds of bodies
in dreams; and
among these, in
which body we
have to identify
ourselves? There is
no scope to
identify with the
singular body of
the wakeful state
thinking that the
dream-bodies are different.
For, we have
already proved that
there is no
distinction between a
dream and a
waking; therefore, we
cannot decide exactly
the waking body.
Therefore, it is established that the birth, etc. are
found in the
appearing bodies and
we don’t have
any relationship between
the body and
ourselves.
Therefore, the natural traits belong to the
body alone. The Nature ( Prakrti ) means
the seed of
the world which
appears due to
ignorance. This seed
alone is already
called as the
delusion ( Maayaa ). Due
to ignorance we
misconceive different traits
in us and
all these traits
belong to the
illusionary body and
these are not
real.
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