Verse 25
शत्रौ मित्रे पुत्रे बन्धौ मा कुरु यत्नं विग्रहसन्धौ ।
सर्वस्मिन्नपि पश्यात्मानं सर्वत्रोत्सृज भेदाज्ञानम् ॥२५॥
śatrau mitre putre bandhau
mā kuru yatnaṁ vigrahasandhau,
sarvasminnapi paśyātmānaṁ
sarvatrotsṛja bhedājñānam
Strive not; waste not your energy to fight
against or to make friends with your enemy, friend, son, or relative. Seeking
the Self everywhere, discard the sense of division, born out of ignorance.
Even-mindedness:
Who determines who is friend and who is
enemy? It is our own Ego. What is the starting point of this Ego??
Avidya is a false perception by which the
ignorant Jiva takes the body and intellect as pure, permanent and a source of
pleasure.
(Moksha Gita by Sivananda)
"Avidya" is "that which does not exist."
A shadow is taken to be the substance, a
phantom is mistaken for the reality, the mirage is believed to be a tank. The
mountains appear to dance and the trees move when the mind is affected by
madness or intoxication…………….
The body, the mind the intellect and all the
modifications of imagination are taken for granted as pure and perfect and a
source of permanent happiness for the self.
The self is the blissful eternal being and it
wishes to find bliss in what it has merely imagined and what really does not
exist…...
Even in the death of the body, this centre of
ignorance is not destroyed. It is carried to all bodies which are manifested by
the self…………
(Extract from commentary by Swami Krishnananda)
Dear All,
This avidya briefly explained above, is the
first ego which separates us from God and creates an identity for us which
is our body, our mind, our intellect.
From this first ignorance, further colorings
of ego / manifestation of ego arise as under: -
Asmita - Feeling
of mine (mineness)
Raga - Attachment
Dvesha - Hatred
or negative attachment
Abhinivesha - Fear
of change
Combination of the above colorings of ego
makes us believe that these people are mine, these are not mine, these are my
friends, these are my enemies etc.
All-Pervasiveness
What Vedanta is suggesting is that we should
rise above these narrow personal biases.
Through rigorous sadhana under the watchful
eyes of a qualified Guru who has realized God already, we have to reach a stage
where, we remove / transcend all the above colorings of Ego, from grosser ego
to subtler ego.
For e.g., we can easily identify the grosser
ego, attachment, hatred and fear. Sadhana helps us in transcending these
grosser manifestations of ego.
Subtler than these is the feeling of mine.
This is transcended.
The subtlest ego is Avidya or the ignorant
identity with our body, mind and intellect. This is the last to leave us in our
spiritual path.
Once we transcend this primal ignorance,
avidya, then we experience our true divine identity/existence within, in the
silent hours of meditation, on one destined day.
Like the gold which has gathered dust is
crucified and through its interaction with fire, the dust is removed and Gold
shines in its pristine glory, the dust of avidya is removed and there, we get
the inner experience of divinity which we always have been.
Swami has repeatedly said, “you are divine as
much as me. Only difference is that I know I am divine, You are not aware that
you are divine”.
That experience is not an invention, not
something which is definable. It is just our state of existence when there is
no mind functioning, no thoughts arising, no awareness of this creation is
there, no sensation of our body is there.
When all these are transcended for that one
moment which may be few seconds or a minute or two, then whatever remains in
us, as us, is THAT TRUE DIVINE EXISTENCE which is referred to as Atman in
Vedanta, as individual consciousness.
Once and only when we experience this
divinity within, we are able to convincingly see through and experience the
same in all others. It is very simple. Just as we were able to discard / transcend
our body, mind, intellect, our avidya and experience divinity within, we are
able to discard the physical existence, the limitations of all other human
beings around us and expand our divine experience or what we call as
consciousness and to experience the same in the entire universe.
Such is the impact of the vision of God. This
is what it implies to see the Self everywhere. It is the logical conclusion of
the beautiful philosophy of Vedanta, which unconditionally embraces with love
everything it beholds. The state of Oneness has this great practical,
life-transforming vision that can truly uplift society to great heights.
Inspired by such a vision of life, people
over thousands of years have been emboldened to renounce all the pleasures of
worldly existence. Sages like Sankara who have reached the pinnacle of
perfection in attaining this height in spirituality cannot rest until they
spend every bit of their energies to share their wisdom with all mankind. They
become the true benefactors of humanity, and give meaning to human existence.
“"... When
God is all-pervasive, where is the need to go in search of Him? ..." “You
should make efforts to experience your innate Divinity by observing total
silence and turning your vision inward."
(Sathya Sai)
Love.
