The Moksha Gita: by Swami Sivananda: Commentary: 1.2. by Swami Krishnananda.

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Friday 17, January 2025, 10:00.
The Moksha Gita: by Swami Sivananda: Commentary: 2.2.
Chapter 1: The Search for Truth -2
Swami Krishnananda.

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1,2.

The necessity of a Guru is demanded by the fact that one's own conscience is not always to be trusted. Virochana acted according to the voice of his conscience and realised that "body is the Self". People who are filled with Mala, Vikshepa and Avarana, who are drowned in worldliness, cannot be guided by their conscience. A spiritual Preceptor is absolutely necessary. He alone can foresee the pitfalls of the aspirant and direct him in the right path. The Chandogya Upanishad says that only he who is guided by a Guru can have the Knowledge of Brahman. Others will be misled and lost in spiritual blindness; for the road to Moksha is hard to tread. It is a razor-path. The Grace of God and Guru, Ishwara-Kripa and Guru-Kripa will raise up the aspirant to the heights of Spiritual Attainment.

3,4.

The Guru said: Fear not, my child; In reality there is no death for thee. There is a means for crossing this ocean of relative existence and attaining Immortality or the supreme Bliss. I shall teach thee now Brahma-Vidya. Hear with rapt attention.

The Guru replies to the disciple. The compassion of the Guru for the disciple is a proverbial one. The aspirant who has tranquillity of mind, who has controlled his senses, who has developed serenity and power of endurance, who has faith in God, Guru and Scriptures, who has one-pointedness of mind and yearning for Liberation is answered by the Guru with the heart of a Brahmanishtha.

"There is no death." Death is an extinction of what previously existed. Death of Consciousness is an impossibility for Consciousness is presupposed by every mode of existence. What appears to be cast off is the layer of objectified consciousness or materialised thought, called the physical body. But even this removal of the physical sheath is only a state of the changing of individual consciousness. It is the shock felt by the individual at the loss of a sheath which was cherished with the belief that it is an eternal entity since long that makes it feel the apparent death of its existence. That aspect of the physical consciousness which feels its inability to fulfil certain orders of diverse desires in a particular state of existence changes its mode of consciousness into that of a different category which is suited to the fulfilment of its desires. This process of change is termed "death." Hence death is only a stage in spiritual evolution and not to be considered a dread spectre which is hard to be exorcised.

The means of crossing the ocean of relative existence is the Knowledge of the Infinite Brahman or the Eternal Self. The various activities in daily life, the bustle of business and the cry of the soul are all a restless demand for a state of joy and satisfaction. The man of the world seeks it in wrong places, where it is not, he turns away from Truth and catches the shadow, he strays away from his Self and runs after the phantom, he tries to find eternal bliss in son, wife, wealth, property, name, fame and power! The blessed man turns his gaze inward and beholds the Light of the Immutable Substratum, the Changeless Noumenon.

The words of the Preceptor enter like arrows piercing the illusion of the aspirant's mind. His instructions dispel ignorance and tear open the veils that envelop the central being or the Essential Nature of the Self.

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Next

Chapter 2: The Nature of Brahman

Continued

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