Sage Vasishtha
RAMA asked:
Lord, I am puzzled by your statement that even the gods like Vishnu and Shiva are part of this ignornace or avidya. Pray explain that statement further.
VASISHTHA replied:
The truth or existence- consciousness-bliss absolute is beyond thought and understanding, it is supreme peace and omnipresent, it transcends imagination and description. There arises naturally in it the faculty of conceptualization. This self-understanding is considered to be threefold: subtle, middling and gross. The intellect that comprehends these three regards them as sattva, rajas and tamas. The three together constitute what is known as prakruti or nature. Avidya or ignorance is prakruti or nature, and it is threefold. This is the source of all beings; beyond it is the supreme.
These three qualities of nature (sattva, rajas and tamas) are subdivided again into three each, i.e., the subtle, middling and gross of each of theses. Thus you have nine categories. These nine qualities constitute the entire universe.
The sages, the ascetics, the perfected ones, the dwellers of the netherworld, the celestials, the gods - these are the sattvic part of ignorance. Among these the celestials and the dwellers of the netherworld form the gross (tamas), the sages for the middling (rajas) and the gods Vishnu, Shiva, etc. form the sattvic part. They who come under the category of sattva are not born again. Hence they are considered liberated. They exist as long as this world lasts. The others (like the sages) who are liberated while living (jivanmukta) shed their body in course of time, reach the abode of the gods, dwell there during the period of existence of the world and then are liberated. Thus this part of avidya or ignorance has become vidya or self-knowledge! Avidya arises in vidya just as ripples arise in the ocean; and avidya dissolves in vidya just as ripples dissolve in the water.
The distinction between the ripples and the water is unreal and verbal. Even so, the distinction between ignorance and knowledge is unreal and verbal. There is neither ignorance here nor knowledge! When you cease to see knowledge as two distinct entities, what exists, alone exists. The reflection of vidya in itself is considered avidya. When these two notions are abandoned what remains is the truth: it may be something or it may be nothing! It is omnipotent, it is more empty than space and yet it is not empty because it is full of consciousness. Like the space within a pot, it is indestructible and everywhere. It is the reality in all things. Just as a magnet makes iron filings move by its very presence, it causes cosmic motion, without intending to do so. Hence, it is said that it does nothing at all.
Lord, I am puzzled by your statement that even the gods like Vishnu and Shiva are part of this ignornace or avidya. Pray explain that statement further.
VASISHTHA replied:
The truth or existence- consciousness-bliss absolute is beyond thought and understanding, it is supreme peace and omnipresent, it transcends imagination and description. There arises naturally in it the faculty of conceptualization. This self-understanding is considered to be threefold: subtle, middling and gross. The intellect that comprehends these three regards them as sattva, rajas and tamas. The three together constitute what is known as prakruti or nature. Avidya or ignorance is prakruti or nature, and it is threefold. This is the source of all beings; beyond it is the supreme.
These three qualities of nature (sattva, rajas and tamas) are subdivided again into three each, i.e., the subtle, middling and gross of each of theses. Thus you have nine categories. These nine qualities constitute the entire universe.
The sages, the ascetics, the perfected ones, the dwellers of the netherworld, the celestials, the gods - these are the sattvic part of ignorance. Among these the celestials and the dwellers of the netherworld form the gross (tamas), the sages for the middling (rajas) and the gods Vishnu, Shiva, etc. form the sattvic part. They who come under the category of sattva are not born again. Hence they are considered liberated. They exist as long as this world lasts. The others (like the sages) who are liberated while living (jivanmukta) shed their body in course of time, reach the abode of the gods, dwell there during the period of existence of the world and then are liberated. Thus this part of avidya or ignorance has become vidya or self-knowledge! Avidya arises in vidya just as ripples arise in the ocean; and avidya dissolves in vidya just as ripples dissolve in the water.
The distinction between the ripples and the water is unreal and verbal. Even so, the distinction between ignorance and knowledge is unreal and verbal. There is neither ignorance here nor knowledge! When you cease to see knowledge as two distinct entities, what exists, alone exists. The reflection of vidya in itself is considered avidya. When these two notions are abandoned what remains is the truth: it may be something or it may be nothing! It is omnipotent, it is more empty than space and yet it is not empty because it is full of consciousness. Like the space within a pot, it is indestructible and everywhere. It is the reality in all things. Just as a magnet makes iron filings move by its very presence, it causes cosmic motion, without intending to do so. Hence, it is said that it does nothing at all.
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