37. NATURE OF BONDAGE
D: Does bondage really exist?
A: No. If bondage is real, how can it be destroyed by knowledge?
D: Who has got the bondage?
A: He who thinks he has bondage.
D: Who thinks that he has bondage? That is, in whom is the idea present that bondage exists?
A: You should answer that.
D: For the Ātman.
A: The Ātman is of the nature of existence, consciousness and bliss. It does not have any kind of bondage. This is the conclusion of the śāstra-s.
D: If the bondage is not for Ātman, it should be for the mind.
A: The mind is an inanimate object. How can it have bondage? It is not at all possible for an inanimate object to have bondage.
D: If the bondage is neither for the Ātman nor for the mind, how can bondage be present at all?
A: Did you think of all the possibilities?
D: I have thought of everything. I have not considered a combination of the Ātman and the mind because that is meaningless.
A: Why?
D: Since the nature of the Ātman is quite different from that of the mind, how can they unite?
A: Are heat and light the attributes of iron?
D: No.
A: Are they the attributes of fire?
D: Yes.
A: What happens when a piece of iron is heated for a long time?
D: It becomes white-hot and glows.
A: That is so. If you were not already aware that heat and light are the qualities of fire, would you not consider them to be the attributes of heated iron as they are seen in it?
D: Yes.
A: The mind is inert and the Ātman is of the nature of consciousness. Bondage is only for the jīva, who, like the heated iron, is a combination of the mind and the Ātman. It is not as though bondage is for the Ātman alone or the mind alone. In reality, the jīva is the Ātman. The jīva experiences bondage as long as he is unaware of his true nature. When the jīva realises his true nature, he gets freed from rebirth.
D: In that case, even mokṣa cannot be permanent.
A: Why?
D: Because that which has a beginning should also have an end. Mokṣa is produced when jñāna dawns and so, has a beginning.
A: The objection is not valid as there is no real bondage. Bondage is unreal and is because of ignorance. When ignorance is destroyed through knowledge, all bondage ceases. Mokṣa is nothing but abidance in one’s true nature as Brahman. We do not call as mokṣa something actually attained by the Ātman.
★ ★ ★ ★
❑ Discourses of Acharyal
One who steals the property of others starts a series of crimes and suffers the consequences thereof. In the same way, one who steals the soul suffers. What is meant by stealing the soul? It means that if, out of ignorance, one does not understand the real nature of the soul or thinks what is not the soul to be the soul, one becomes subject to suffering. Avidyā or ignorance has no beginning. When we see a pot, the knowledge of that pot arises in us and ignorance about the pot disappears. But we cannot say when the ignorance about the pot originated. Therefore, while ajñāna or avidyā or ignorance is without a beginning, with the dawn of knowledge it disappears.
Votaries of Tarka or logic do not accept that ignorance is the cause of bondage. They say that the mistaken joining of the body and the soul as a single unit is the cause of bondage. But it should be evident that this mistaken identity is itself caused by a previous ignorance. This can be removed only by correct knowledge.
Many indeed are the evil consequences of ajñāna. The most important amongst them is the sprouting of the ego. There are three kinds of bodies - the gross, the subtle and causal. As soon as a tree sprouts from a seed, it has to be watered to keep it alive and to enable it to grow. The tree of bondage is nourished by the water of karma. In the absence of this water of karma, the tree of bondage will wither away. Otherwise, by continuing to perform more and more karma-s, this tree becomes bigger and bigger.
Continuing the analogy of the tree of samsāra or bondage, our gross body is its bark. Since the life of the senses which surround us is the cause of the body’s growth, it may be compared to the inner part of the tree. The numerous veins and arteries that course through the body and pulsate within us are the branches of the tree. The five organs of knowledge may be considered to be the tips of those branches because that is where the flowers bloom and these flowers may be likened to the sensory organs. The fruits of the tree constitute our sorrows and joys.
When the mind is anxious to obtain something, it is agitated till it attains that object. If the mind is not propelled by desire, it is capable of resting on a high plane. Such a mind becomes the receptacle for ‘ātmānanda.’ Instead of knowing that such bliss can originate only in the Ātman or soul, we mistakenly consider that it results from the functioning of our numerous organs of apprehension and action. On the contrary, the only happiness that is everlasting and unchanging is that which is reflected in the mind which is free of all desires.
The objects in this world are numberless. The attainment of a particular object can satisfy only the desire for that object. The desire for all other objects continues as ever before and the mind is wandering all over the place in search of them. That is why śāstra-s teach us that real happiness can be obtained only by turning the mind away from desire for all external objects and search for the bliss of the soul within. Ultimately, therefore, the search for the attainment of external objects is not only unsatisfying but also acts as an impediment in the way of attaining ātmānanda.
A mango tree can yield only mangoes; so also other trees can yield only a particular fruit. But the tree of bondage is the exception to the rule. It produces many fruits which are the cause of samsāra. The jīva or the embodied soul is the bird that lives off the fruits of this tree.
The entire series of acts mentioned above arise from ignorance. Ignorance is the root of the tree of bondage. It should be uprooted.
Ignorance can be conquered only by its opposite, namely, knowledge. [Excerpted from Saint of Sringeri in Sacred India]
★ ★ ★ ★