If there be such a glorious Essential Truth, which is the core of everything, why is it that it is not freely known and experienced by everyone at all times? In short, “what stands between me and my Self?” Why is it that we behave as though we are but limited ego-centric entities, incapacitated as we are, to comprehend that in essence we are the Infinite, the Immortal? These questions are unavoidable to an intelligent seeker, when he, in his aspirations, comes face to face with the staggering revelations contained in Vedanta.
THIS DELUDED WORLD KNOWS ME NOT, THE UNBORN AND THE IMMORTAL because their own “ILLUSION, BORN OUT OF THE THREE ‘GUNAS,’ VEILS ME.” “Maya” is the most difficult theme of all for elementary students of Vedanta, when they try merely to understand this Science of Life objectively. The moment a student tries to experiment with this “Knowledge” upon himself subjectively, the explanations contained in the theory become evident. Maya is the conditioning through which, when the Non-dual Truth expresses Itself, the One Reality seems to fan out as the spectrum of the multiple universe.
The principle of Maya functioning in the individual is termed ignorance (Avidya). This subjective malady, which provides in its wake, the dreamy hallucinations of a sorrowful world of change and imperfections, has been very closely observed, and the Rishis of old have declared that it is caused by three types of “moods” in man’s inner personality. These three temperaments (gunas), called Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas, provide a prism, viewed through which, the kaleidoscopic world seems to dance, flashing its infinite patterns. Rajas creates ‘mental-agitations” (Vikshepa), and Tamas creates the “intellectual-veiling” (Avarana).
To him who becomes confused and confounded by the play of these triple temperaments, the Self is not available for direct experience. Special instructions from teachers and diligent practice on the part of students are both necessary in order to make one realise one’s own Real Nature. To an ignorant man of the jungle, electricity is unmanifest in the bulb and in its incandescent filament. In order to perceive the electrical current that flows through the equipment, theoretical knowledge and experimental confirmation are essential. After having gained the knowledge of the electrical energy and its properties, when the student happens to see the very same bulb, he comes to cognise through the perceived bulb the imperceptible, the unmanifest electrical energy!
Similarly, when through self-control, listening, reflection, and meditation, the agitations of the mind are quietened, and when the veiling has been pulled down, the seeker re-discovers “ME THE UNBORN, THE IMMUTABLE.” As long as the agitations of the mind veil the intellect from its awareness of the Self, so long the limited ego (Jeeva) pants to fulfil itself and to gain the Infinite among the gutters of its sensual cravings!
Such frenzied hearts reeking with desires and lacerated with disappointments, crushed by dissatisfactions and smothered by the fear of their own annihilation — can never have the integrated equipoise to live even a moment of still-awareness to experience the Pure Consciousness. “THE DELUDED WORLD KNOWS ME NOT” as it is steeped in “THE ILLUSION BORN OUT OF THE THREE-FOLD gunas.” Screened off by this universe of names and forms, which is but an apparent projection of the Self, the sense-organs, mind or intellect fail to perceive It. The ghost veils the post! The mirage-waters clothe the desert!! The waves screen off the ocean!!!
THE PRESENT CONDITION OF IGNORANCE AND CONFUSION IN THE LIMITED FINITE EGO IS BROUGHT OUT VERY VIVIDLY IN THE FOLLOWING, BY CONTRASTING IT AGAINST THE BACK-GROUND OF THE SELF, WHICH IS OF THE NATURE OF ALL KNOWLEDGE:
