Errata!

[Guest guest]

Dear Divine Sibs!

To my dismay, I found that I have given incorrect interpretation of

Swami Tyagananda's words. Amma quickly came to my rescue! I found that I

still had the book in my handbag. So, here goes -

"...I acept the possibility that I am really the infinite being. Can

Vedanta tell me, one, why I feel I am limited and two, how I can become

my original infinite self? Vedanta teachers answer these questions in

their usual direct manner. They might say something like this. I feel I

am limited for the same reason as why I feel the sun rises in the east

and sets in the west. The sunrise and the sunset are matters of my daily

experience; I cannot deny them. But when I learn the truth I won't be

able to deny that the sun never rises and never sets - it's the earth

that rotates and creates the illusion of the sun's movement. Similarly,

my limitedness is a matter of my daily experience; I cannot deny it. But

when I learn the truth I won't be able to deny that my limitedness was

only an illusion, a bad dream, a silly figment of imagination."

The second question - how can I become my original infinite self? - is

automatically answered by '... when I learn the truth.' But, let's get

our language straight. At present I feel I'm limited; that's fine. No

problem there. The questoin is, have I REALLY become limited? I have

become limited, then simply 'knowing' I am infinite won't make me

infinite. It's like this: if the sun has REALLY started rising and

setting, then merely 'knowing' that the sun neither rises nor sets won't

make it stop its movement. So we have this other possibility: ignorance

or forgetfulness. I have somehow forgotten my true nature and am

mistakenly seeing myself as a limited creature. Since it's only a

mistake, I haven't really become limited but am behaving like a limited

being. So'knowing' I am infinite is enough to rectify the error. I am

always my infinite self. It's just that I have forgotten it - and now

need to know the truth."

.......

"How can we look at the ocean and not see the wave? That would be

impossible unless we have some way of making the waves disappear. Such a

way exists. The first thing is to recignize that the wave is not

different from the vast, limitless expanse of water we all call ocean;

it's, after all, a part of the ocean. The second thing is to recognize

that a wave is at the same time different from the ocean. We never

mistake one for the other, do we? A wave has an identity of its own -

it's got a recognizable form. The third thing is to recognize that the

form of the wave is temporary. The wave lasts only so long as the form

lasts. The wave ceases to be a wave the moment its form subsides. The

fourth thing is to recognize that once the form vanishes, we cannot

distinguish the wave anymore from the vast expanse of water, because the

wave itself is essentially only water. In this way we look deeply at the

ocean and see just the ocean, not the waves."

 

Jai Ma!

Chandrika