What is Bondage-5

[Guest guest]

SAI RAM Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 

We are trying to understand as to what constitutes 'Bondage'. We have seen one or two definitions of the term'Bondage' in the earlier postings. Bondage is nothing other than the identification with the unreal, the perishable, the changeable, the varaible, the mutable all of which are called the anatman, the not-Self. In the unhappy wedlock of Atman and anatman, the ego is created. And in each of us it is this ego which supplies our sense of limitations, the bondages in life.

 

Let me attempt to illustrate the covering of knowledge by ignorance or the veiling of Atma by ego with the help of the example of solar eclipse. The phenomenon of the solar eclipse as per HIndu mythology is taken for this purpose. It is believed that Rahu, a demon swallows the sun during the eclipse but Rahu is a demon having only a head and no trunk. So, when he swallows the sun by the mouth, it emerges out from his neck. In Hindu mythology, the moon is the presiding deity of the mind. The sun, the illuminating factor, is equated with the Atman,the Self in the Sastras.

 

 

Now, what is a solar eclipse? When the moon comes in between the sun and the observer on the earth, the phenomenon is termed as solar eclipse.

In fact, moon only covers the sun from the vision of the observer. How can the moon really cover the sun? The moon is comparitively smaller than the sun. The moon does not and can not cover the sun. Since the sun is far away and the moon is nearer, and the observer on the earth is so very much smaller than both, it appears as though the moon has obstructed the the observer`s vision of the sun.

 

 

Applying the above example subjectively, as long as there is this mind between me and my Self, the glory of the Self is veiled from me. Mind is the manifestation of ignorance, the non-apprehension of Reality caused by Tamas. When we transcend the mind, there is no pluralistic perception. Once the Self is Realised all the bondages are gone.

 

(to be continued)

With Loving SAI RAMs,

G.Balasubramanian