Hari OM
'Text-days' are for delving into the
words and theory of Advaita Vedanta.
We are now studying Aatmabodha. As
always, with each week, you are encouraged to review the previous teachings and
spend some time in contemplation of the meanings as the affect your life.
Please do consider purchasing the text. Remember, also, to recite the mangala charana before each study and
review the lessons before each new one.
Yesterday
we read from the Narada Bhakti Sutra about the convergence of the personality
of and advanced Bhakta into the very Lord to which s/he is devoted. Today in
the jnaana-marg, we are told;
jIvNmu´Stu
tiÖÖaNpUvaeRpaixgu[a<STyjet!,
Sa
siCcdaidxmRTv< _aeje æmrkIqvt!.49.
Jiivan-muktastu
tadvidvan-puurvopaadhi-gunaamstyajet,
Sa
sachchidaadi-dharmatvam bheje bhramarakiitavat ||49||
A liberated soul, endowed with Self-Knowledge, gives
up the traits of his previously explained equipments and because of his
Sat-Chit-Aananda nature, he verily becomes Brahman, as the worm transforming
into the wasp.
Another
affirmation of the Divinity within being Realised. In Western culture, the idea
of being made in the image of God is accepted - but that step of understanding
that we are God is never quite taken.
Sanskritam permits this possibility - indeed the logic of Vedanta is such that
this can be the only conclusion. The jiivanmukta who has taken saadhana to its
most advanced stage and who comes to connect with infinity of existence, must
still live out the physical life according to the praarabdha of that body.
Having integrated the personality to its finest tuning, embracing and accepting
that the BMI are not 'it', effectively 'dies' whilst living, gaining liberation
even whilst remaining on the earth.
Such
a spiritual giant, firmly established in this Knowledge, not longer bound by
the usual needs and desires of the living, now continues to live through the
body and in the world, but not of it; rather, they live the Divinity they have
discovered.
The
analogy of the wasp at the end of the shloka may seem strange. Often we think
in terms of the butterfly leaving the cocoon, when talking about living life
differently and more freely. However, the wasp of India builds a clay nest with
but one small hole to exit and enter. In there, the worm (larvae) is laid. The
parent wasp keeps guard, every now and then stinging the worm, which must keep
looking up at the hole knowing the potential for pain which awaits each time it
comes close to the opening. Only under this duress does the worm progress and
grow wings itself, such that it can finally face the opening with full 'armour'
and, looking out, take flight away from that which created it, becoming itself
a full wasp. This story is told to help us understand that the process of the
sadhaka is that not of ease, but the constant sting of needing to correct
aasana, praana, nididdhyaasan… to endure perhaps years of disciplined
meditation and not giving up hope of crossing the threshold of Realisation and
becoming That Self which teases. Constantly the negation of matter and the
affirmation of Self must be practiced in order to build 'spiritual wings'.
It
is achievable, but it is not without angst!
