Pranam to Parampoojya Parameshwar Sadguru Swami Anilji Maharaj
Atmadhnyan Shighra Sadhana… 19
(English Translation of the series in Hindi by Brahmatmaikdhnyani Sant Swami Anilji Maharaj)
Lord Shrikrishna says, “My wonderful and magical Maya comprising of three Gunas (properties) is insurmountable. (Shrimadbhagavatgita 7-14). It is very difficult to cross over Maya. Maya itself is termed as ignorance and ignorance is the basic reason of all kinds of the tensions.
What is this ignorance?
प्रकृति क्रियमाणानि गुणै: कर्माणि सर्वश:।
अहंकारविमूढात्मा कर्ताहमिति मन्यते।।
तत्त्ववित्तु महाबाहो गुणकर्मविभागयो:
गुणा गुणेषु वर्तन्ते इति मत्वा न सज्जते।।
Prakruti kriyamanani gunaihi karmani sarvashah I
Ahankar vimudhhatma kartahmiti manyate l I
Tatvavittu mahabaho gunkarmavibhagyoho guna guneshu vartante iti matva na sajjate l l
(Shrimadbhagavatgita 3/27-28)
Factually all the work, actions, karma are getting done by properties or Gunas of Prakruti,( Nature, Maya), inspite of this, the person whose intellect is affected by ego, such an ignorant person believes ‘he’ is the ‘doer’.
However oh Mahabaho (Arjun)! Dhnyan Yogi (Knower) who knows the principle of the demarcation between Gunas (properties) and Karmas (actions), understands that this is the interaction of Gunas (senses) into Gunas (subjects, vishay) and does not get attached to them.
Whoever understands the appropriate meaning of these four lines, he won’t have tension throughout his life! This is my opinion.
Let us try to understand briefly in simple words. If still it is difficult then please understand this by approaching to a Self Realised Guru. If you have any genuine questions please raise them here, if I Know I will certainly answer them.
- Our body and this entire universe is known to be made of panch (five) Mahabhootas and three Gunas. Akash (Space), वायु (Gaseous), Agni (Fire), Jala (Water), and Prithvi (Earth); these are the five Mahabhootas. The universe or nature is made by panchikaran (mixing) of these Mahabhootas and is containing Three Gunas, Satva, Raj and Tam.
- When These Gunas interact among themselves, there is movement in inanimate things and possibilities of action in animates. For example – inanimate – waves in sea, animate – breathing in man. Birth and death also are the interactive actions of the nature.
- Now understand the interactive relationship among them.
Akash – word – ear – hearing
Vayu – touch – skin – sens of outside material
Agni – roop (vision) – eyes – seeing
Jala – rasa (juice) – taste – experiencing taste
Prithvi – gandha- (smell) – nose – smelling - Body related actions and bodily activities are carried out by nature only. Antahkaran (mind, intellect, chitta, ego) is captivated by Maya and the feeling of I, me, mine gets evolved in him and starts thinking that he is the doer.
My body, my wife, my husband, my children, my wealth, my home, my intellect – skills, I have accomplished this, achieved that; this false knowledge gets impregnated into him, which is the main cause of all the tensions.
- As there is salt in sea water , same way Parmatma is present in the Universe. As the sea water is salty due to the salt, same way due to the Omniscient Parmatma, subatomic particles have latent knowledge.
Due to this knowledge the materials in the world appear to have some rules and properties. Like luminosity of Sun and orbiting of planets, hardness and shine of diamond, subtleness and explosiveness of atom etc. - Maya; comprising of three Gunas, five Mahabhootas, mind, intellect, chitta, ego, five senses, five work organs, and words etc five subjects, all these together forms Gunavibhag. The interaction of these Gunas among themselves is known as Karmavibhag
- Body of the human being is inanimate like a stone. Atma pervades human body. That is why human body appears to have partial knowledge
And appearance of consciousness. This is seen in All the beings in different proportions. - Modern scientists tell the age of the earth as 350 Million years. The life span of human being is 100 years. That means in comparison with Prithvi, man lives for 0.0000002857 year that is 8.88 seconds. Gets born, childhood, youth, passes on, in no time becomes old and leaves from here. His momentary life is no better than illusion. However, being deeply into my, me, mine and running after enjoyment, looses his life in vain.
- This all is maya. Ma +Ya two letters are there. The meaning of, ‘Ma’ is ‘does not exist’ , and the meaning of, ‘Ya’, is ‘which’. So which does not exist in reality but appears to be there is known as Maya. That is why “Ajatwad”, of Vedant imparts the learning that this world is only an appearance sensed by the senses, not a reality and so this is Mithya (false, illusion) (Gita 15/3). When Maya itself is not there then how can there be controller of Maya? Like a dream neither there is world, nor there are any actions; only something gets sensed by intellect. Then where is Karma (actions) and where is sin and pious deeds? (All these doesn’t exist, are only illusions).
- In fact man is not a body like water in the ocean, but is Atma like salt, concealed in sea water. Brahma Himself! Man only is Nitya (Always), Budhha (Enlightened ) and Mukta (Liberated, Emancipated), Atma.
Aham Brahmasmi! (अहम् ब्रह्मास्मि)
In the next Chapter we will learn the reason of tension through Anvaya, Vyatirek methodology of Vedant.