Miscellaneous - Religion   

Spiritual knowledge

CHENNAI: There are two types of knowledge: that which is about this world and hence perceptible to the senses and the mind (Dhrishta), and the other knowledge pertains to the unseen (Adhrishta). Knowledge about other worlds as described in scriptural texts and the state of liberation (Self-knowledge) are examples of the latter. Generally we accept only that which can be experienced by our senses. But this cannot negate what is not evident to our senses.

In his discourse, Sri P.M.Vijayaraghava Sastrigal said the relationship between cause and effect could throw light on the existence of that which could not be experienced by the human sensory organs. In the case of a pot, the relation between the cause (clay) and the effect (pot) can be seen immediately. But, in the case of Karma which we experience as joy and sorrow in our lives the relation between our past actions and the result which we enjoy as joy or sorrow now cannot be seen. We experience only the effect of our Karma, which God dispenses at the appropriate time, but do not remember our past actions. Karma in the form of Papa (bad) and Punya (good) thus falls in the category of Adhrishta, and has to be accepted on the basis of scriptures.

The Self (Atman) must be also categorised under Adhrishta as it is also beyond sensory perception. How then is it possible to gain knowledge of the Self? Only through the grace of the Guru (preceptor) can the Self be known say the scriptures categorically. Though every individual has the capacity to know the Self only a few develop taste for Self-knowledge. Sankara in his work Viveka Chudamani describes how a seeker of Self-knowledge should question a Guru: “What is bondage? How did it arise? How does it continue to exist? How is one to get rid of it? What is non-Self? Who is the Supreme Self? How is one to distinguish between the two? Pray, vouchsafe all this to me.”

It is rare to find a spiritual aspirant who can ask such searching questions with the ardent desire for liberation, and a Guru who would answer them and thereby dispel his ignorance is also rare to find. This is the reason why in the succeeding verse the Guru commends his disciple saying he is blessed.

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