CONDITIONING
The
ignorant person accepts as real whatever
he sees in this world, not so the wise.
Even
as a piece of wood and water in which is reflected have no
real relationship, the body and the Self have no real relationship.
Moreover,
there is in fact no duality where such a relationship
could exist.
One infinite consciousness alone exists without subject-object
division. In
this, diversity is imagined, and that which is untouched by sorrow believes
itself to be miserable, even as one who thinks he sees a ghost, sees a
ghost!
On
account of the power of thought, this imaginary relationship assumes
the force of reality.
The self
is ever untouched by pain and pleasure, but thinking itself to
be the body, it undergoes the experiences of the body. The abandonment of this ignorant
belief is liberation. The
conditioned mind creates bondage even in ascetics; the unconditioned is pure even in a householder.
The
mind that is thus conditioned is bondage; liberation is freedom
from conditioning (inner contact, attachment or identification).
This
inner contact (which presupposes
ficticious division) alone is the cause for bondage and
liberation.
Actions performed by
the unconditioned are non-action; the conditioned mind acts even while outwardly
refraining from it.
Action or non-action is in the mind;
the body does nothing. Hence, one should resolutely abandon
this false inner division. Conviction
of the reality of the body in one who has abandoned the distinction between the body
and the Self is known as conditioning.
He
who believes that the infinite self is limited and therefore
seeks pleasure, thus gets bound.
He who inquires "All
this is indeed the Self. What do I desire and what should I
renounce?" is established
in the unconditioned state of liberation.
He
who knows "I
am not, nor is there another" or "Let these be or not be" and does not
seek pleasure, is liberated.
He is neither
addicted to inaction nor does he get lost in the results of
action; he is not given
to exultation or to depression.
He
renounces the fruits of actions by his mind, not by action!
It
is by the rejection of the conditioning, that bondage
is got rid of, and the highest good gained.
Conditioning is the cause of all
sorrow.
(Concise
Yoga Vasistha pg 230 to 231 - ISBN:
087395954X) |