Truth
and untruth must be kept apart by means of the sharp sword of Jnana. It keeps
the world afar and bring the Residence of the Lord within reach. That Residence
is Nithyananda, Eternal Bliss, Paramananda, the highest Bliss; the Bliss of Brahman:
Jiva
and Eswara are caught up in this proliferation and they are inseparably
intertwined in the Jagath and so they too are creations of mental process like
things appearing in the dream-world.
In
the waking stage and during dreams, these three appear as real, but during deep
sleep or while unconscious (as during a fainting fit), the mind is not working
and so the three do not exist! This fact is within the experience of all.
Therefore,
it is easy now for you to realize that all these three will disappear for good
when, through Jnana, the mental processes are destroyed. Then one gets release
from bondage to all these three and knows the One and Only Entity. In fact, he
gets established in Advaitha Jnana.
The
idea of the snake which is Maya, flourishes on the ignorance of the real nature
of the rope; it grows and becomes deeper the more one forgets the rope which is
the base. Inquiry makes the snake disappear; the rope alone remains thereafter.
To
the question, how can one thing appear as two, the reply may be given that,
prior to inquiry, Brahman appears as Jagath (like clay appears as pot, like
gold appears as ornaments) though its real nature has not undergone any change
at all. The one Brahman is apparent in many forms and under various names and
so gives the impression of multiplicity.
The
Jnana won by the analysis of the mental process can alone end Maya. Maya
flourishes on ignorance and absence of discrimination. So, Vidya spells doom of
Maya.
When
one tree rubs against another in a forest, fire starts and the fire burns both.
So too, the Vidya or knowledge that arose from Maya destroys the very source of
the knowledge. Avidya is reduced to ashes by Vidya.
Like
the expression "hare's horn", which is the name for a non-existent
thing, Maya too is non-existent and one has only to know it to dismiss it from
the consciousness. So say the Jnanis.
Nor
is this all. You label anything non-existent as Avidya or Maya. Whatever
becomes meaningless, valueless, untrue, baseless and existence less when knowledge
grows, that you can take to be Maya's manifestation.
Brahman
alone is, was and will be. The conviction that this Jagath is but a superimposition
is the real Vidya. This Vidya is the end of all ignorance.
Love.
