Conditioning, the Cause of Sorrow

Sage Vasishtha

They who are not thus overcome by false identification or attachment are freed at once from sorrow. It is this conditioning that is the seed of old age, death and delusion; when it ceases, one goes beyond the ocean of delusion. The conditioned mind creates bondage even in ascetics; the unconditioned mind 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 fictitious 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.

Rama asked:

What is conditioning, O Lord, and how does it cause bondage; and what is liberation and how is it attained?

Vasishtha continued:

Conviction in 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 enquires, '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 not 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.