IN-ATTENTION
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First, the Poetry :
प्रमादं वै मृत्युः
(महाभारत : उद्योग-पर्व)
संदर्भ / Context.
--
The Observer and the Observed,
The Thinker and the Thought,
The Do-er and the Deed,
The Enjoy-er / Suffer-er and the Suffering,
The Possess-er and the Possessed,
One Who possesses,
The Know-er and the Known,
(the four pillars of ego / अहं-धीः)
--
Beginning of the Beginning,
Is the Beginning of the End.
The Thought of a beginning, takes place,
And assumes the form of the Thinker.
The Thought is the Thinker,
or, the Thinker is but a Thought,
Though in the Back-ground,
And the Back-ground itself,
There is the Consciousness,
The support and the ground Indescribable,
Where-from and Where-in,
The Thought and the Thinker,
Start playing the game of distraction from,
And the gnorance of,
The support Indescribable,
That could never be addressed,
For nothing exists apart from it.
Though Unique, -neither One nor Many,
Could never be pointed out, through words.
Neither in terms of I, You, It, This or That.
The Unique, or rather the Uniqueness,
Is but the abstract noun,
Just like the three apples in a basket,
And another four in the another,
When summed up, are seven together,
In terms of a fruit, Are but One,
I, You, He, She, It, This and That,
Are but pronouns.
And the Description is not the Described.
The Described is the Reality,
The Description is never.
Though the Reality, when addressed,
Assumes a Description,
Is the beginning of ignorance,
And the conflict, -the confusion.
And in the moment,
The Reality is lost irretrievably,
And there is no recourse to find it again.
The Thought and the Thinker though keep,
Appearing and disappearing repeatedly,
This is the ignorance of the Reality only.
--
The Commentary :
Why and how this ignorance takes place,
In the first instance!
That is the question prime,
And also as much, the important.
Why it emerges out and from where?
Who exactly is aware of it,
And Who exactly the prey to it?
With this ignorance,
And as this ignorance,
The sense 'I am' becomes the manifest,
Where there is none in the Reality.
This very sense 'I am' then,
Bifurcates itself and splits into,
The sense of the Thought and the Thinker.
This is how 'the sense I am'
Takes hold of,
Because of In-attention only.
--
This whole process is explained succinctly in the following verses of VivekacUDAmaNi :
न प्रमादादनर्थोऽन्यो ज्ञानिनः स्वस्वरूपतः ।
ततो मोहस्ततोऽहं-धीस्ततो बन्धस्ततो व्यथा ।।३२२।।
For a practicing (or even for an enlightened) jnani, in-attention is the greatest danger. So in-attentiveness is likened to death, Since delusion is the consequence to in-attention, from delusion follows the I-Thought, and from I-Thought, -the bondage and misery, agony and torment.
विषयाभिमुखं दृष्ट्वा विद्वांसमपि विस्मृतिः ।
विक्षेपयति धीदोषैर्योषा जारमिव प्रियम् ।।३२२।।
Hankering after the sense-objects causes the sense of their reality and because of this even a jnani falls prey to misery.
(as, when he thinks of a doting paramour)
यथापकृष्टं शैवालं क्षणमात्रं न तिष्ठति ।
आवृणोति तथा माया प्राज्ञं वापि पराङ्मुखम् ।।३२३।।
The sedge upon the water, even if removed, returns to its place in the very next moment. Just like this, the nescience (माया / अविद्या) also at once covers up and blinds the wisdom of even a jnani, as soon, whenever his senses are turned out-wards even if for a very short moment.
लक्ष्यच्युतं चेद्यदि चित्तमीषद्
बहिर्मुखं सन्निपतेत्ततस्ततः ।
प्रमादतः प्रच्युतकेलिकन्दुकः
सोपानपङ्क्तौ पतितो यथा तथा ।।३२५।।
This is like when climbing up or down a staircase and tossing a playing-ball if once dropped from the hand goes down and down only.
The same thing happens when attention / the senses once turned away from the Brahman / Self, stray away. Then it becomes almost impossible to bring the attention / the senses back to the Self.
विषयेष्वाविशच्चेतः संकल्पयति तद्गुणान् ।
सम्यक्संकल्पनात्कामः कामात्पुंसः प्रवर्तनम् ।।३२६।।
Thinking of the objects, one inevitably falls prey to them and is caught in the sense of pleasure that could be derived from them. Such a thought of desire for pleasure forces him to indulge in them.
अतः प्रमादान्न परोऽस्ति मृत्यु-
र्विवेकिनो ब्रह्मविदः समाधौ ।
समाहितः सिद्धिमुपैति सम्यक्
समाहितात्मा भव सावधान ।।३२७।।
Therefore, with all due care, one should see that in-attention is verily death only, and if one has to attain Brahman, one should be watchful and alert so that in-attention may not overpower his mind.
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