Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Ahimsa, negative emotions and being objective


Everyday we are affected by a number of negative emotions. These are kAma esha and krOdha esha. Man is a bundle of expectations. These expectations take various shapes and forms and every moment man is not satisfied and looking to fill these expectations. Unfulfilled expectations take the form of negative emotions and eliminate vivekaha.
Lord Krishna says in the gita :
krodhad bhavati sammohah sammohat smrti-vibhramah smrti-bhramsad buddhi-naso buddhi-nasat pranasyati
Vedanta goes to the root of krodha. The root of krodha is not really unfulfilled expectations as it is quite natural that all expectations are not fulfilled, but rather lack of objectivity w.r.t a situation.
When Krishna goes to Duryodhana requesting 5 villages on behalf of the pandavas there is an expected result that duryodhana will accept. Although Krishna might through yogic powers knowit wont happen, even then he would go with a certain role to play and that role carries with it the expectation of a certain result. So that expectation itself is not a problem. The problem is how does one deal with unfulfilled expectations.
There is krodha due to inability to accept a result not to ones own liking. It is in order and quite logical that one will not be ready to accept a certain result, in the absence of knowledge, when faced with unknown obstacles.

Here is where once again , shruti comes to our rescue. Shruti clearly lays out the karmic cycle. All that we experience is our prarabdha karma. Shruti being a valid source of knowledge, we are able to accept a valid explanation now. Now that there is a valid explanation there is an understanding that it is ishvara. What we experience be it bitter or sweet is ishvara. And our own actions are governed by ishvara. Ishvara alone acts through various sense organs. Ishvara alone provides an place to exhaust karmas. This whole is a play of ishvara.
Knowing thus, the kartA me and the bhoktA me are relaxed. Action does not become binding. Krodha can be managed. Unffulfilled expectations can be managed.
The question arises, if all this play is ishvara, then who am I.
Here shruti alone is the source of knowledge again. Clearly lays out that I am atma chaitanya, that is the knower of all. That is the what enables all that is here. That sat svarupa, chit svarupa, anantha svarupa, satchit svarupa, ananthamchittam, annatham satyam it is. There is no parallel to brahman. Brahman is the Jyeshta the first and brahman is ishvara. And that brahman I am.
Knowing thus, muktoham is a reality. This reality depends on me for its existence. I am this reality, but not bound by this reality. kartA I am, but I am not the karTA. I can play any role in this reality, but unaffected by its reality, it becomes a dependant reality , depending on me. So even krodha depends on me. So I cannot be managed by krodha.
This is being objective. Being objective that reality is objective. It is orderly, since the order is ishvara which is me.As an individual I am not the whole order, but the order is me in it svarupa. I become a participant in this order which is ever present and already here. In fact all of us are always in order. That which is here, is hence in order, now and here.

Harih om, shri gurbhyo namaha.

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