The root cause of our darkness is ignorance of our true Self, a complete and absolute identification with the physical form and its material possessions, accumulated out of excessive desire.
The problem with many of us is that we have completely identified ourselves with the body – the physical, material aspects of our existence. But we are not the bodies we wear! The body is only a garment we have worn during this present earth-incarnation.
Ego is the culprit
It is again, the ego which creates in us the illusion of separateness, making us identify with the body. Overcoming ego is essential to attain jnana or wisdom. Overcoming ego subsumes control of the senses. When the senses are disciplined, we become aware of the truth of the soul within.
We are not the bodies we wear; we are much more than the body-mind complex to which we attach too much importance! Sages and scholars have linked the Atman to the lamp shining within; it is surrounded by three separate covers; three separate layers. The mind is the first cover from the inside; the sense come next; the flesh outside is the third.
When the mind is unaware of the reality of the Atman within, when it thinks egoistically that is the ‘doer’, it wallows in error. The mind must turn within, it must acknowledge the supremacy of the Atman.
Alas, we are unaware of this great truth. We are obsessed with the physical and material. We look at the mirror, and we are dismayed by the wrinkles on our foreheads, and the grey hair on our heads. We try to figure out ways of getting rid of those wrinkles and greying hair! Attachment and vanity result from excessive body-consciousness!
The paradox
It is not a paradox that when we cling to the body, it tends to wither and lose its shine? When we disregard the body and use it merely as an instrument of service, it begins to glow with health and radiance!
When i urge you not to identify yourself with the body, i am asking you to move away from the allures of the materialistic world. The more we identify with the body, the more we want, the more we crave, the more we possess, the more we get entangled in maya, illusion.
Identification with the body leads to the illusion that power, pleasures and possessions of this world can make us happy. But this is not true; instead, these material possessions only keep us in bondage – the bondage of avidya or ignorance. Once you are freed from this illusion, you will realise the truth of the Self, and move towards God-realisation.
Man keeps on accumulating. I ask some of the rich people i meet, “What are you going to do with the millions you have saved?” They tell me, “This is not the time to think of it. Now we are busy making millions. When the time comes, we will think of how to spend those millions.”
Alas, this is the tragedy of man – he thinks he has plenty of time! But suddenly, too suddenly, death pounces on him. Leaving everything behind, man bids adieu to the world. He had time for everything except Self-realisation and awareness of the truth of life!
Your Thoughts?