yajvan
24 March 2007, 11:32 AM
Hari Om
~~~~~
Namaste,
Many times on HDF we speak of words that may be foreign to the reader. To better appreciate some of these ideas, perhaps a few examples can help one frame and appreciate the idea's that are brought forth.
For those that wish to participate, please bring your ideas forward. These can be your own or from a reading, pundit, friend, kavi and the like.
Prakriti is considered primal nature. I am not a big fan of this definition as the root kr is to make or do ( action) and pra is forth. So it is action that brings forth. The agents of the prakriti are the 3 Guna's. They are are sattva, rajas and tamas. Some say create, maintain and destro/disolution components.
A few examples of how these agents work all by themselves without our intervention (one bit).
Take an banana and leave it on your countertop. Wait 3 weeks and watch the guna's act. If its a green banana, you can see how it ripens (Sattva), then goes to spots, then to decompostion as the tamas principle plays a bigger role. Note that at different times of the banana's ripening different %'s of guna's are in play. IF we started all the way back at the tree, then creative principle is really driving the growth of the banana stalk. When one takes the banana home, then tamas principle is more pronounced and it is the 'force' that ripens the friut. Now, al along the way its the rago-principle of action, that accelerates the actions to happen ... to flourish to a banana , then to disolve and decay.
Take a human being - just add food and watch the process, no different then the banana. from fetus to the aged, the 3 gunas are acting on us every day.
Both examples where more organic matter, yes? Lets take a car. Drive the car to a field, park it in the filed and wait 20 years. The 3 gunas take over. What will you expect? Rust, decompostion of all the materials from the natual forces around it. It returns back to the 5 tattvas ( Air, Water, earth, fire and ether or akasha ..my favorite). An example of fire here is rust. Oxidation of the metal is rust. Air, is when the fabrics/plastic decompose and give off thier gases, etc etc.The reason I started with the 3 guna's was to make the suggestion of one possessed of the SELF. When one is absorbed in the SELF, all actions are done by the 3 gunas and one watches this occur. One is not bound by actions as the realization is, the gunas act within the realm of the Guna's or "I" do nothing. In ignorance, "I" am connected with the actions and am convienced that I am the doer which is erroneous informantion e.g. ignorance.
This ignorance - the wise say is like a knot in a rope. You think its really there. you take the knot apart and where did it go? No-where because it was like an illusion. Like that the wise say. When when becomes enlightened, the 'knot' goes away and one says 'what was that? it was never really there". The wise use same rope analogy for mistaking a rope for a snake. In a dark room ( their metaphor for ignorance) a rope looks like a snake and one feels afraid. When one opens the blinds and the light floods in (enlightenment) the rope gives up its falsehood and is seen as just a rope. Like that, Moksha brings the light of consciousness and this 'rope' of life is seen clearly.
Any one care to add more to the post??
pranams,
~~~~~
Namaste,
Many times on HDF we speak of words that may be foreign to the reader. To better appreciate some of these ideas, perhaps a few examples can help one frame and appreciate the idea's that are brought forth.
For those that wish to participate, please bring your ideas forward. These can be your own or from a reading, pundit, friend, kavi and the like.
Prakriti is considered primal nature. I am not a big fan of this definition as the root kr is to make or do ( action) and pra is forth. So it is action that brings forth. The agents of the prakriti are the 3 Guna's. They are are sattva, rajas and tamas. Some say create, maintain and destro/disolution components.
A few examples of how these agents work all by themselves without our intervention (one bit).
Take an banana and leave it on your countertop. Wait 3 weeks and watch the guna's act. If its a green banana, you can see how it ripens (Sattva), then goes to spots, then to decompostion as the tamas principle plays a bigger role. Note that at different times of the banana's ripening different %'s of guna's are in play. IF we started all the way back at the tree, then creative principle is really driving the growth of the banana stalk. When one takes the banana home, then tamas principle is more pronounced and it is the 'force' that ripens the friut. Now, al along the way its the rago-principle of action, that accelerates the actions to happen ... to flourish to a banana , then to disolve and decay.
Take a human being - just add food and watch the process, no different then the banana. from fetus to the aged, the 3 gunas are acting on us every day.
Both examples where more organic matter, yes? Lets take a car. Drive the car to a field, park it in the filed and wait 20 years. The 3 gunas take over. What will you expect? Rust, decompostion of all the materials from the natual forces around it. It returns back to the 5 tattvas ( Air, Water, earth, fire and ether or akasha ..my favorite). An example of fire here is rust. Oxidation of the metal is rust. Air, is when the fabrics/plastic decompose and give off thier gases, etc etc.The reason I started with the 3 guna's was to make the suggestion of one possessed of the SELF. When one is absorbed in the SELF, all actions are done by the 3 gunas and one watches this occur. One is not bound by actions as the realization is, the gunas act within the realm of the Guna's or "I" do nothing. In ignorance, "I" am connected with the actions and am convienced that I am the doer which is erroneous informantion e.g. ignorance.
This ignorance - the wise say is like a knot in a rope. You think its really there. you take the knot apart and where did it go? No-where because it was like an illusion. Like that the wise say. When when becomes enlightened, the 'knot' goes away and one says 'what was that? it was never really there". The wise use same rope analogy for mistaking a rope for a snake. In a dark room ( their metaphor for ignorance) a rope looks like a snake and one feels afraid. When one opens the blinds and the light floods in (enlightenment) the rope gives up its falsehood and is seen as just a rope. Like that, Moksha brings the light of consciousness and this 'rope' of life is seen clearly.
Any one care to add more to the post??
pranams,