Sage Vasishtha
UDDALAKA continued to reflect thus:
In reality, consciousness cannot be conditioned: it is unlimited and is subtler than the subtlest atom, hence beyond the influence of mental conditioning. The mind rests in the ego-sense and the reflected consciousness in the senses; and from this there arises the illusion of self-limitation of consciousness. When this is experienced and thought of again and again, the ego-sense and the illusion of self-limitation acquire a false validity. But I am consciousness which is untouched by any of theses.
Let the body continue to live in a world brought into being by its ignorant activities, or let it abandon it: I am consciousness unaffected by any of these. Consciousness, being infinite and all-pervading, has no birth, no death, nor is it possessed by anyone. It has nothing to gain by 'living' as a separate entity, since it is all-pervading. Birth and death are mental concepts: they have nothing to do with the self. Only that which entertains notions of the ego-senses can be grasped and bound: the Self is free from the ego-sense and is therefore beyond being and non-being.
The ego-sense is vain delusion, the mind is like a mirage and the objects of the world are inert substances: who is it that says 'I am'? The body is an aggregate of flesh, blood etc. the mind vanishes on enquiry into is nature, self-limitation of consciousness and such other concepts are insentient (non-sense) - what is the ego? The senses exist and are engaged in self-satisfying activity all the time; the substances of the world are the substances of the world - where is the ego? Nature is nature and its qualities interact on one another (like the sight and light, hearing and sound) and what is rests in itself - where is the ego?
No comments:
Post a Comment