The Self's "Hide and Seek" Mystery (Aaatmbindu Upanishad)

 

       1-2 The question that rings in the mind of many people is “Is there a Self or not?”. This will ever remain a puzzle when viewed from the relative standpoint of ignorance. There is no answer to this question until ignorance is removed. We may seek shelter under cover of many ‘words’, meaning many philosophical concepts, but until ignorance is removed we will remain under thick delusion.

   Shabda Maayaa: “the delusion of words”. Is it not a ‘wild-goose chase’ trying to get more and more knowledge about Ignorance! How is it going to help us? 3-4 As darkness is eradicated by introducing light, so also the darkness of ignorance is destroyed by the introduction of the Light of knowledge of the Self The solution is to get knowledge of the Truth. 

   INSIGHTS INTO KNOWLEDGE Acharyaji gave us some interesting insights on knowledge. The example of heat and cold was given. Heat is a measurable quantity, but cold is not. Cold is just absence of heat. There is a temperature known as absolute zero in science. Temperature cannot go below that. That is the point where there is no heat at all. It is a sort of vacuum in which there are no ‘heat particles’. Similarly, light is measurable, but not darkness. Sound is measurable, not silence. Continuing this trend, this verse says, “Ignorance is not measurable, Knowledge is.” We can extend the trend into morality, one can say that Evil also is not measurable, as it is only the absence of Good. This means there is no such thing as “evil”. Hatred is only the absence of the positive quantity called Love. When seen in this light, one begins to view morality in a new way. Violence is also seen in this way. Nothing can be done to destroy violence; only Harmony and understanding need be introduced and violence will vanish by itself. This leads to a totally new approach to remove strife in society. The bottom line of this insight is: “Immorality cannot be eliminated except by being established in Morality.” This topic made for a good discussion in class, ending with Acharyaji’s play with letters. “Life lived backwards makes one a devil”, that is: L-I-V-E-D  D-E-V-I-L The letters are written in reverse!