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Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

Ignorance, cause of man's bondage

 

CHENNAI, JUNE 21. The scriptures reiterate that the goal of human

life is liberation (Mukti) from worldly bondage due to which the

bonded soul undergoes rebirths. Liberation puts an end to

transmigration. From the standpoint of worldly life liberation

seems to be a state that a person aspires for and hence alien to

his present situation. The depiction of liberation and

enumeration of the means to emancipation in the scriptural texts

make it clear that man has to strive for attaining this end in

this birth.

 

But when one peruses these texts in depth it becomes apparent

that this state is not foreign to man's nature because this is

his true nature and he has lost this awareness because of

ignorance. As knowledge of the Self (Atman) is not revealed to

sense perception or intellect, we have to take recourse to the

scriptures to guide us on the spiritual path.

 

How does the desire for liberation arise in a person? Human

beings seem to have a sense of fear and anxiety in their day-to-

day lives. This is due to the fear of the unknown and the

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad succinctly sums it up that man is

surrounded by death all the time. It describes further that Mukti

is not a state to be attained after death but overcoming the fear

of death. The scriptures have recommended various means to

achieve this.

 

In his discourse, Sri Goda Venkateswara Sastrigal said that Mukti

could be defined as freedom from bondage. The logical question

that would arise from such a definition is, ``What is bondage?''

Just as a physician tries to remove the cause of illness during

his treatment and not prescribe medicines just to alleviate the

pain, the approach of the scriptures also is towards removal of

the root cause of man's sorrows and bondage. It is ignorance of

one's true nature which is the cause of bondage. So one has to

first understand, ``Who am I?''

 

Again it is to the scriptures that one has to turn to understand

the nature of the Self. According to them a person gets a glimpse

of the Self during the state of sleep because on waking up he

gets the feeling of having slept peacefully. The mind in the

state of sleep rests in the awareness of the Self instead of

operating at the level of body-consciousness.

 

Through meditation the mind must be directed towards the Self in

the state of waking consciousness to realise the bliss of the

Self. This is the state of ``Samadhi''. It is not easy to control

the mind and Arjuna in the Gita says, ``The mind is very

unsteady, turbulent and powerful; therefore, I consider it as

difficult to control as the wind.'' One has to consciously strive

for it for realising the goal.

 

 

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