Sri Tandavaraya Swami
Disciple: Beloved Master who ever abides in the tabernacle of my heart! when true wisdom can root out the karma which has been accumulated in many incarnations, and liberate the person, why do even the most brilliant of men not profit by this wisdom, but fall into the rut of karma and perish? Please explain!
Master: My son, those of in-turned mind will realize the everlasting That. Like absent-minded walkers falling into a ditch even with their eyes open, those of outgoing mind look for the fulfillment of their desires, fall into the contemptible sea of never ending rebirths and cannot gain liberation.
Disciple: Are not the good and bad actions actuated by Ishwara? What can the jivas do who are themselves His creatures? How are they to blame, worthy Master?
Master: My son hear me! These are words of illusion, worthy of fools ignorant of the clear meaning of the scriptures. The creation of the Almighty Lord and of the individual jiva are different. The Almighty's creation is cosmic and consists of all that is mobile and immobile. The unworthy jiva's creation, which consists of attachments, passions, desires and the like, pertains to the ego and is certainly not of the Almighty.
The creations of the Almighty, who functions threefold, may constitute the means for Liberation, whereas those of the jivas are the maladies which cause them successive reincarnations. Liability to birth does not end for anyone, even if creation comes to an end, but it ends on the giving up of one's passions and the like.
Whoever got free from rebirths at the time of the dissolution of the Lord's creation? (None). Despite the persistence of time, space and bodies, people have been liberated even here, by destroying the illusion of individual creation, and gaining Knowledge. Therefore bondage and illusion are clearly of the jiva's own making and not of the Lord's.
There is a tree, called the asvattha, and two birds live on it. One of them who is full of desires enjoys the fruits saying, 'this is sweet, this is sweet'. The other who is highly esteemed does not eat thereof. Understand this parable by which the holy Veda describes the jiva and Ishwara. [Please read: The Two Birds]
Those fools head for disaster who in their ignorance attribute to God the six evils, which are of their own making, but the wise will gain untainted deliverance who recognize the same evils to be of their own making and not God's.
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