#Ancient Culture ( Samskaram ) of Bharatham-4.5 : Swami Krishnananda.

# OPINION : Monday, July 06, 2020. 7:37. AM. : 2214

#Chapter- 4.The Fourfold Aim of Existence and How to Achieve It-5.

1.

A person who is a hundred percent bound and involved in bondage only as his very nature will not have ideas of this kind – namely, ideas of transcending bondage. The idea of unlimited freedom cannot arise in the mind of a person whose mind is really bound and who is incapable of the fulfilment of the aspiration. 

We, therefore, seem to be belonging to two worlds. One is the world in which we are now, which is bound to spatial and temporal laws. We live in this world where everything is conditioned in every way. Death itself is the ruler of this world. In addition to all the limitations that harass us from all sides, there is a final limitation which ends our existence itself, which is death. 

We live in a mortal world. We live in a world of death. But we also seem to be belonging to another realm which is deathless, which is immortal.

2.

Our inner consciousness, which is usually known as the Atman inside, is what is responsible for these kinds of aspirations which are very super-physical, dreamlike, and impossible to describe in the language of the mortal tongue. This consciousness, which is what you really are, is something which is required to be studied properly. 

What are you? 

Mister so-and-so, this person. You describe yourself as the son of somebody, or you describe yourself in terms of the occupation that you have got. You have some designation as an official or a workman, or you have some other designation as a relative of so-and-so, etc. 

But this designation, this definition of yours, is in terms of the physical body. This body of yours, which is material, you consider as yourself, and you define yourself in terms of the body only. This body is connected to a language, to a regional culture, to a state, to a nationality, to a species.

3.

But you pass through various stages in your life every day which, if studied properly, will tell you that you are not actually this body – for instance, the state of deep sleep. This state of deep sleep is very intriguing indeed. You do not know what is happening to you when you are fast asleep. 

You are unconscious, but unconscious of what? 

Unconscious of this body. 

This body which you considered as everything and all in all, which was the very dear and near object of your love, which is very important for you from a social, economic and material point of view, this body of yours which is the son of so-and-so, the brother of so-and-so, the sister of so-and-so, this physical body which is sitting on a chair and calling itself an official or a ruler or a worker, etc., this physical body which is so very important, which is all the thing that you have, is not there in the state of deep sleep. Yet you exist in sleep.

Do you exist in the state of deep sleep? Yes. 

Did you exist as this body? No. 

As what did you exist there? You did exist minus the body, minus also the mind. 

Not only your consciousness of body was not there, you have not even the thought of the body. 

Did you exist as something independent of body and mind? It seems to be so.

To be continued ...

JAI HIND

JAI BHARATHAM

VANDHE MATHARAM

BHARAT MATHA KI JAI.

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