Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:49 am Post subject: MOkshasaadhanam (Means of Liberation) – 9 by Krishna Sastri Now let us continue with the Guru Sishya Samvaadham. Sishya: The Supreme Self is known from the Sruthi and Smrithi to be free from sin, bondage, reincarnation, birth, death, old age, pain, grief, hunger, thirst and so many such afflictions. I on the other hand, suffer from all the above phenomenal attributes and right now I am suffering from pain. Also, the Supreme Self is Sarvagnan. I am kinjignan. How can I therefore accept that my own self and the Supreme Self are one and the same? I may as well admit that the Sun brings darkness to the world! Also, why should I, a man of this world who is entitled to perform karma by which I win prosperity, this world as well as the next give up these karmas that produce those results and such asscessories as yagnopavitha? Guru: Devadatta, where is the pain? Sishya: Here, I have a tooth ache sir. Guru: Devadatta, you are pointing to a part of the body whereas you have already told me that you are different from the body. Sishya: Sir, I do feel the tooth ache in the body. Guru: Do you feel it when are in deep sleep. Sishya: No sir. Guru: When you go to a doctor, he is going to inject a pain killer that freezes your pain and he would pull your tooth and you wouldn’t even know it. Sishya: That is true sir. Guru: So, where is the pain? Sishya: Perhaps in my self. Guru: You already know that there is no birth or death to the self and that it changes the body like a bird changes its nest. It is not killed when the body is killed. It is not burnt when the body is burnt. Is it not? Sishya: Yes, sir. If the pain is not in the body and if it is not in the self, then where is it that I feel the pain? Guru: It is in your intellect! It is in this intellect where all the attributes of pain, pleasure, greed, lust and so on reside. It is this intellect that causes you to perform your karma and it is this intellect that causes your transmigration! When you realize that the body is born and dead and is of no consequence and that the locale of the intellect is nowhere but in the body then you do come to realize that your own Self is non-different from the Supreme Brahman and all the vedic aphorism regarding Brahman applies to your Self. This conclusion is inescapable. (contd.)