ATMA BODHA 23

 

ATMA BODHA 23

“RAGE-CHHA-SUKHA- DUKHADI BUDDHOW SATYAM PRAVARTATE

SUSHUPTHOW NASTHI TANNASE TASMAD BUDDHE STHU NA- ATMANAH.”

“Attachment, desire, pleasure, pain etc are seen to exist so long as Buddhi or mind functions.  They are not perceived in deep sleep when the mind ceases to exist. Therefore Attachment, desire, pleasure, pain and other things belong to the mind alone and not to the Atman.”

Sankara once again stresses the blissful existence of the Self which is Omniscient and Omnipresent!  There is no place for ignorance in it. How can the passions and other agitations of the mind come to stay in the ATMAN? We can call it as the Avidya or ignorance of the individual. Attachment to material pleasures and fruits of his actions delude him to the bondage of Samsara or family life.

It is the Pure mind that leads to greater glory and happiness and finally to liberation through the final experience of the true Knowledge. On the other hand, the same mind drags the individual down to lower and meaner births when it groans with Avidya or Ajnana or ignorance. Therefore it is the duty of the individual to deal suitably with the turbulent mind sans of the “ Jeevattwam” in him. One should never forget that attachment, desire, pain and pleasure etc are of the mind and not of the Atman!

When we are functioning through our mind we are subjected to the tyranny of attachment, desire, pleasure, pain etc.  But in deep sleep when our minds are temporarily not effective in ourselves these tyrannies are at an end! When we look through the medium of green glasses the whole world appears green in color. It is the color of glasses that determine our vision. That is not the real state of things. Therefore, all these negative tendencies belong to the mind and perceived only through the mind. These are not of the ATMAN!

“ That which is not thought by the mind, but that by which , they say, the mind is made to think—know that as the Brahman, and not what people worship here.”  (KENOPANISHAD)