Miscellaneous - Religion   

Cause of bondage

CHENNAI: A person identifies with his body and mind out of ignorance of his true nature, the Self (Atman), which is eternal and blissful. Due to this mistaken identity the individual attributes the qualities of the body-mind-intellect — their transience and afflictions — to himself, and thus experiences the sorrows associated with them. This ignorance has been there since time immemorial and is the reason for bondage. But it has an end when the person realises the nature of the Self through knowledge.

This can be understood from the example of lighting a candle inside a dark cave. Though it had been steeped in darkness as natural sunlight never penetrates it, the moment the candle is lit darkness gets dispelled. So also does ignorance when Self-knowledge dawns.

In his discourse, Sri Goda Venketeswara Sastri said this primordial ignorance (Avidya) was in the mind. It is the mind which is responsible for superimposing the qualities of the body-mind-intellect personality on the Self and creating the notion of limitedness. The Vivekachudamani explains this phenomenon: “The selfhood, which is imagined to be in the Atman through its relation with superimposed attributes such as the mind, is not real; whereas the Atman is essentially different from it. The relation between the Atman and the mind is due to false knowledge.” This is akin to a crystal, which is colourless, appearing red when placed near a red flower.

Though the Self is all-pervasive, due to the mind a person’s self-identity becomes limited to the body and the mind. One can find out that it is only in the state of sleep (no mind) that one experiences peace. This makes it clear that it is the mind which is the reason for a person’s worries and sorrows. The nature of the mind is such that it will accept whatever it is fed repeatedly. So it is the attributes of the mind that limit the Self and create the notion of finiteness. Just as when a pot is broken the space within the pot becomes one with the infinite space, so also Self-knowledge removes the ignorance of the mind which is responsible for creating the sense of individuality and limitedness. The individual then identifies with the infinite Self.

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