Food for thought : 12.04.2022
True Knowledge is the fire that burns all Karmas
We often talk about karma and how it affects our day-to-day life. In general, good karmas are often referred to as puniyam, one that brings prosperity and success, and bad karmas on the other hand bring sadness and misery. We are aware of it, as a commoner, we can relate to instances, when good and bad karma is at play.
You may ask,
Is this knowledge?
The answer is simple No.
So what is it?
It is vague knowledge / basic knowledge, because you think,
it is real, be it puniyam or pavam. It is not, they are just manifestations of your actions;
For eg.
you own a house, because you have bought it using the currency of the country (dollars or rupees etc); it is yours isn’t it?
If it is yours then when you die, why are you not able to take it?
Because what you thought all along as yours, is not actually yours. You seem to be owning it but you are not. So it is not real.
So what is Real knowledge?
Real knowledge or true knowledge is understanding the
Real from the unreal
Truth from the false
Permanent from non-permanent
Just as we separate
the rice from the husk
The oil from the seed
We need to separate the Maya around the truth.
The tools needed for such removal is
Understanding
Analyzing
Experiencing
Let us look at them one by one
Understanding :
You may wonder, I read, I know the language, which means I can understand, then why do you say, it is one of the tools. The reason is, understanding has two-component
Absorbing the content
Inspecting the content
These two components should work in unison, otherwise, it falls back into the vague knowledge category. Most of you, read articles and absorb them. Have you tried inspecting them to see the truth in them?
For eg.
You read the newspaper or a whatsapp message stating that a fire has broken out in a village nearby.
Your reaction:
You feel for the people in it
You forward the message
You pray for the dead
Have you gone beyond it? Most of the time you don’t.
So if it has to be from vague knowledge to true knowledge
you should have read the full article
you should look for further content
The cause of the fire should be verified
Action taken by the authorities should be checked
Help required etc should be studied
Then only the vague knowledge becomes true knowledge
Similarly knowing about karmas is vague knowledge but making it true knowledge is when it is understood properly
2. Next is the analysis:
Very often many say "I don’t know how to analyze".
Sastram says the reason for this is ragadvesham (likes and dislikes), when your mind is filled with likes and dislikes it prevents you from the process of analyzing. A mind devoid of ragadvesh opens up, to knowing, understanding and analyzing various aspects of facts.
3. The third tool is Experience
Knowledge is fruitful only when it is experienced. The pathway for it is karmayogam margam.
Now coming to the moot point
True knowledge is the fire that burns all karmas
Why do I say that?
True knowledge helps you to attain
Vairagyam ( detachment)
Mumukshutvam (desire for liberation)
When you become detached and free, your karmas will be burnt, it will not affect you any further, it loses its relevance and just melts away.
This releases your atman from miseries and helps it attain the Highest knowledge which is the knowledge of the Brahman/ Divine
In summary:
Questions related to the topic
Smt. Sri Vidya:
Amma, you have mentioned Karma yogam margam as pathway to gain true knowledge, be detached and to become free. Could u tell us more ?
Answer : karma yogam is also living your life the dharmic way - one leaves pavam by performing his duties and atoneing to his misgivings.so when you perform your duties you do it, because it is your duty, not becuase of attachment. so karma yogam becomes your margam in samsaram.
Smt. Radha:
Very happy to know once we become detached our karma is burnt , could u give us examples
Answer:
karma ---- brings joy/sadness -------- at the vague knowledge level, you just pacify yourself and surrender to the karmas (you are hurt, you cry, you are frustrated etc)--------- at true knowledge level, you drift away from the karmas and engage yourself in understanding your reaction to that joy or sorrow .
Smt. Sri Vidya :
Is not divine grace needed amma? I see everything perishing around me, I get a vague sense that nothing is lasting, yet I go back to my normal routine of ego centric activities . Is this illusion?
Answer:
of course divine grace is needed, but you need to work for it, without self realisation you don't benefit from divine grace
Smt. Sri Vidya :
To conclude could I say , mind distracts the sense organs from reaching the divine bliss. It is through our self will, and divine guidance we tame our minds by following the paths specified in order to know the highest truth
1) the ego mind let’s say not pure mind interferes by not letting us know the highest truth. Is it that it is scared? To protect its identity does it choose to mis direct us in our path? When mind is absorbed or destroyed, it is awareness no?
Answer:
No it is not being scared, it is leading the self into ragadvesham(likes and dislikes), which is what we normally call temptation. 2. the self is caught up in the web of maya or illusion, that is why it behaves like that, it thinks everything aropund it at that point of time is real. 3. mind is not destroyed, it is made aware of introspection leads to awareness not absorbtion or destruction
Smt. Roopa:
Thank you Ashaji for today's Repost on Vairagyam and Mumukshatavam.
I want more clarity and step by step understanding of everything which I want to iron out on my path. Kindly bear with my questions. Thank you
1. Desire and wants and greed .
All desires arise because of there is something in our Consciousness which tells us that there is a lack or a shortfall and the gap can be filled or there is a necessity to fill.( illusion)
Kindly answer me as I AM a layman and tell me How to change this Consciousness ?
The extreme step is to believe and have immense faith and trust in the Goddess who is protecting everything and I am part of her.
Answer:
As I have said earlier, let me reiterate, if you want to move forward and reach the highest knowledge, consciousness has to be disciplined, so the step is towards to attain the vairagyam stage. Why do I say this?
The benefit of attaining this stage is you denounce desires or kamam. Sastram says “Kama Tyaga” which means disown kama(greed). Before I move further, let me make one thing clear,
Wish is different from desire
Desire is different from greed.
Wish is the age dependant - for eg. We may want a small toy car when you are 5 years old; you want a bike/scooty when you are 18 years old; a car when you are 25 years old and so on, so the wish is aspiring to have something, it changes with time and age. You may wish to renounce samsara but the desire is going through it over and over again in your mind till you get it. Desire is a Rajasic state of mind.
Desire in the tamasic state is greed, which means, I deserve it by any means, leads you to be greedy which is known as “kamaha”.
The next question is how do we shun greed and desire?
1. To do that first you should never have that sankalpam at all. Sangalpam drives you to think about a particular thing over and over again. So if you stop having that sangalpam then the follow-up does not happen.
How do we stop taking that sangalpam?
When you stop thinking that the vastu (porul/thing) will give you happiness/pleasure. Then it ceases to exist.
2. You may ask why I think that this gives me pleasure or happiness?
Sastram says "ajnana / ignorance”
3. What am I ignorant about?
I am ignorant about the fact that any vastu/thing/porul in this world has yathartha darshan which is, it has sukam and thukam in it. We should not always see the sukam part of it, but we should also see the thugam part of it.
Once we start seeing then,
avidya is replaced by vidya(Ignorance is replaced by knowledge)
Kama is replaced by vairagyam and there is a steady flow of divine bliss.
In all this divine/ambal’s hand is there, we should hold her hand and take one step at a time.
This is my understanding to overcome hurdles that come our way.
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