THE TREE OF LIFE : 2.4 SAWMI KRISHNANANDA
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19/10/2019.
2.The Search For Wholeness -4
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The avarana, as it is called in Vedantic parlance, is a screen over the reality which keeps us out of touch with it. That is what is known as ignorance. We are not only screened away from what is there but are presented with what is not there, so that we are made a double fool. Not only are we ignorant of the presence of God, but we are conscious of the presence of a world outside, so we are deceived in two ways.
There is a double deception taking place at the same time. Not only are we completely cut off from the vital root essence, the sparent of all thing, which is sustaining us here—
'mata dhata pitamahaḥ' (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter- 9, Slokam-17.)
—but we are completely forgetful of this great sustaining power. Well, that one thing is bad enough; but a worse thing is that we are clinging to what is not there, an externalisation of that which is universal.
The tree of life is a universal manifestation and not an externalised form, as it may be made to appear before us. The world is not an object, but it presents itself as an object.
'Na rupam asyeha tathopalabhyate nanto na cadir na ca sampratishta' (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter-15, Slokam-3. ) :
'It has no form whatsoever, but we see the world as if it has a form. The power of the senses is such that they give a form to what is formless, just as a sculptor can give shape to a shapeless block of stone. The visualisation of the pattern of the statue inside the block of stone is in the idea of the sculptor.' He can see the required form of the statue within the block of stone, out of which any form can be engraved or carved out. But the block of stone itself is not a form, although any form can be extracted out of it by the manipulation of the idea of the sculptor.
The tree of life is not like the tree that we see in front of us. Therefore, a magnificent, uncanny, veiled comparison is chalked out in the expression of the verses of the Bhagavadgita here.
'Adhas cordhvam prasrtastasya' (B.G. 15.2);
'na rupam asyeha tathopalabhyate' (B.G. 15.3):
'It is there, above and below; it is in all directions everywhere. Because it is everywhere, it cannot have a form. To have a form is to be in some place, and to be everywhere is naturally not to have any form.'
But the senses carve out the figure of a form as the sculptor carves out a figure from a block of stone. The ink and the canvas have no picturesque conditioned form, but a form is given by the painter who utilises the ink which he splashes over the canvas according to the manner of the working of his mind.
To be continued ...
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19/10/2019.
2.The Search For Wholeness -4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The avarana, as it is called in Vedantic parlance, is a screen over the reality which keeps us out of touch with it. That is what is known as ignorance. We are not only screened away from what is there but are presented with what is not there, so that we are made a double fool. Not only are we ignorant of the presence of God, but we are conscious of the presence of a world outside, so we are deceived in two ways.
There is a double deception taking place at the same time. Not only are we completely cut off from the vital root essence, the sparent of all thing, which is sustaining us here—
'mata dhata pitamahaḥ' (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter- 9, Slokam-17.)
—but we are completely forgetful of this great sustaining power. Well, that one thing is bad enough; but a worse thing is that we are clinging to what is not there, an externalisation of that which is universal.
The tree of life is a universal manifestation and not an externalised form, as it may be made to appear before us. The world is not an object, but it presents itself as an object.
'Na rupam asyeha tathopalabhyate nanto na cadir na ca sampratishta' (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter-15, Slokam-3. ) :
'It has no form whatsoever, but we see the world as if it has a form. The power of the senses is such that they give a form to what is formless, just as a sculptor can give shape to a shapeless block of stone. The visualisation of the pattern of the statue inside the block of stone is in the idea of the sculptor.' He can see the required form of the statue within the block of stone, out of which any form can be engraved or carved out. But the block of stone itself is not a form, although any form can be extracted out of it by the manipulation of the idea of the sculptor.
The tree of life is not like the tree that we see in front of us. Therefore, a magnificent, uncanny, veiled comparison is chalked out in the expression of the verses of the Bhagavadgita here.
'Adhas cordhvam prasrtastasya' (B.G. 15.2);
'na rupam asyeha tathopalabhyate' (B.G. 15.3):
'It is there, above and below; it is in all directions everywhere. Because it is everywhere, it cannot have a form. To have a form is to be in some place, and to be everywhere is naturally not to have any form.'
But the senses carve out the figure of a form as the sculptor carves out a figure from a block of stone. The ink and the canvas have no picturesque conditioned form, but a form is given by the painter who utilises the ink which he splashes over the canvas according to the manner of the working of his mind.
To be continued ...
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