Conditioning

Sage Vasishtha

Conditioning can be illustrated by the following examples: 1. the donkey is led by the master's rope and afraid, it carries a heavy burden. 2. the tree rooted to the ground bears heat, cold, wind and rain, 3. the worm lies in a hole in earth, biding its time, 4. the hungry bird rests on the branch of a tree, fearful of predators, 5. the tame deer peacefully goes about grazing and falls a prey to the hunter's shot, 6. numerous people are born again and again as worms and insects, 7. the countless creatures arise and fall in this creation like waves on the surface of the ocean, 8. the weak human beings who, unable even to move about, die again and again, 9. those shrubs and creepers which derive their nourishment from the earth and grow on earth, 10. this very world-illusion which is like a river that carries in its stream the countless sorrows and sufferings. All these are the expansions of conditioning.

Conditioning (or inner contact, attachment or self-limitation) is of two kinds: conditioning is seen everywhere in fools: the adorable conditioning is seen among those who know the truth. That conditioning which exists in the minds of those who are ignorant of self-knowledge, which arises from things like the body and which is conducive to repeated birth and death, that is barren and sterile. The other form of conditioning, which is found in adorable beings who have self-knowledge, arises from the realization of true wisdom; this enables one to avoid birth and death.

(The adorable conditioning recognizes natural limitations, e.g., the eyes and the ears etc. are limited in their perception. The fool's is self-imposed conditioning and he regards the infinite self to be identical with the physical body. The word used in the text, viz., implies division and duality which is limitation of the infinite and conditioning of the unconditioned.)