116th verse: “Even one who is intellectually advanced, who knows scriptures, who understands the subtle truths and who is convinced of his learning – even such a person, by the power of Tamas, looks upon the unreal as the real and the real and unreal. This is the strength of Maya.”
Such a person does not have the power of discretion. What he may know intellectually, he is not able to translate into common sense in real life. He remains a slave to sensory enjoyments. He is like a parrot which is fed food, can speak, but remains imprisoned.
Maya is beyond definition and intellectual comprehension. We can feel that Maya is working when we have inner conflict, when we want to do certain things, but the mind does not cooperate.. This happens due to accumulated samskaras over past life cycles.
This ignorance of our true nature is not an absence of knowledge at an intellectual level. It refers to the state in which we live (at an emotional level) without awareness of our true nature.
Maya operates with two powers: Avarana-shakti, which conceals the reality. Therefore, we are not aware of our true nature as Atman, the divine spark that is present everywhere and in everything. The second power is Vikshepa-shakti, which projects something false. Due to this projection, we interpret ourselves as something other than our true nature. We superimpose the world and its impermanence on Atman.
Knowledge can be of two types: (1) Knowledge from our intellectual conviction, but without full realization of the knowledge (2) Full realization of the knowledge where there are no doubts left. The person mentioned in the 116th verse does not have this absolute spiritual realization, and remains bound to samsara, the cycle of birth and death.
One may ask: what is the problem with being reborn again and again. We recognize that this cycle is a problem only when we have spiritually evolved.
Despite what is stated in the 116th verse, reading scriptures and associating with higher ideas plays a very important role in spiritual life. The 19th verse describes the four qualities – Sadhana Chatushtaya Sampatti that seekers should practice. There is a practical application of these four disciplines. They give us a higher perspective on life.
117th Verse: This verse mentions “abhavana”, which means absence of the right understanding of the truth. It also mentions “viparita-bhavana”, which means presence of a contrary or wrong notion. Due to these two factors, we interpret (wrongly) our body and experiences to be Absolutely Real. He remains engrossed in doubts.
Doubts do not disappear at the intellectual level. When we evolve spiritually, our doubts cease to be doubts, our questions cease to be questions.
When we spiritually evolve, we are able to transcend the positives and negatives in life and look upon both of them with equanimity of mind.
When we start our spiritual life, a secondary personality begins to emerge. Initially, its voice is weak. When we persist in our efforts, it gets stronger in its fight with the previous personality. Finally, the earlier personality disappears and only the new personality remains. Buddha’s Jataka tales are an illustration of this. In each life cycle, previous memories tried to drag him back. But he fought those obstacles and a new Buddha emerged.
118th verse: “Such a person remains in deep spiritual slumber (with ignorance, sleep, inertia, laziness and natural tendency to mistake), like a pillar that is dull.”
Spiritual awakening refers to the realization that health and wealth will perish and that we need to bring something higher in life to make it more meaningful.
Ignorance, laziness, sleep, and inertia are natural characteristics of tamo guna. When we are full of tamo guna, we do not even have the capacity to understand Vedanta. Our emotional system does not co-operate. To enjoy higher spiritual ideas, our emotional system has to evolve. Without this evolution, it is difficult to sustain the interest in higher ideas.
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