Thought for the day

Bondage is the mind caught in duality. It is the differences we see. 

From the book Brahma Sutra

Expansion is the innate quality of the Atma, but we limit it. What are these limits? It is the ‘I and mine’. We tell the Atma, ‘Do not go beyond this limit’.

What is ‘I and mine?’ The ‘I’ is the body with name and form. That which relates to this name and form is ‘mine’. This ‘I’ surrounds itself with these feelings of ‘mine’. It does not go beyond this circle. Here is an example.

I am Rama. I am six feet tall. I have a fair complexion, round face, big eyes, etc. This is ‘I’. All that are connected with this ‘I’ becomes mine. Who are these ‘mine’? My wife, my children, my parents, my brother, my sister, my family, my house, my car - all these are mine. This is how man creates a perishable world of untruth. He spends his whole life moving within this limited circle. He nurtures, expands and adds to this life creating more and more possessions. In this pursuit, he becomes trapped in the duality of happiness and sorrow, birth and death. The ups and downs of life push him in all directions keeping him ever trapped in the cycle of birth and death.

Since he has limited himself to one circle, he does not find the treasure that lies in the world outside. How much treasure and beauty there is in God’s creation. Oh, man! How unfortunate you are? I will give an example so that you may understand better.

A cow tied to a tree by a rope is surrounded on all sides by lush green grass. It spreads all around like a green blanket. The cow can only eat the grass in the area determined by the length of rope tied around her neck. As she is tied to the tree, she cannot go beyond that limit. She can only move in a circle around the tree and look at the green grass, which lies beyond her reach. This is the same as our state.

Man is tied to the tree of ‘I’ and draws a circle with the ‘I’ at the centre. The rope represents ‘mine’; ‘I’ is the tree. The rope limits the circumference of the circle and the distance the cow can go. In the same way, man’s feelings have created his world in which he receives his own reflection, reaction and resound. Trapped within, he experiences the perishable joy and sorrow of life.

Another example. A camel eats a plant with thorns. Though the thorns make his mouth bleed, he likes to eat it. Enjoying the taste, he continues to eat and searches for more thorny bushes. The camel thinks that the blood he tastes is coming from the plant, so he relishes it. Poor camel, he does not realize he is enjoying his own blood. He is not even aware that his mouth is full of cuts.

Man is in the same state. He thinks that enjoyment comes from living in the outside world, from family life, from accumulating wealth and prestige. He spends his whole life collecting and enjoying these. The bliss he experiences is actually coming from within him. Though he undergoes much suffering due to this ‘I and mine’, he never realizes it. If he would recognize it and cut this ‘I’, he would become a free man. The camel does not realise that it tastes its own blood. Though wounded it continues to search for the thorny plants to eat. Like the camel, the man who searches outside for different tastes of ‘I and mine’ is bound to face suffering.

One day the cow becomes untied from the rope and escapes. Now it is free to run, jump and frolic in the mountains and forests. She can enjoy fully the lush expanse of green grass. How much bliss! Nothing is there to bind her to anyone or anything. The man who cuts ‘I and mine’ can also become a free bird like the cow. The wealth of creation becomes his. All in the world are his. For the man who goes beyond his limited circle, the world becomes his. This body and those connected with it are not real. When he fully understands his relationship to the Self and that he belongs to God and God belongs to him, the treasure of creation becomes his. This is the expansion of feelings.

The nature of the Atma is expansion, but we limit it with ‘I and mine’. Do not limit the Atma. If we show love and allow this expansion, then the reaction, reflection and resound of ‘I and mine’ end. We begin to experience the reaction, reflection, and resound from God. Here there is no duality, suffering, sorrows, happiness or sadness. Only the Atma’s reflection, reaction and resound of Asthi, Bhathi  and Priyam come to him.