Hari Om
~~~~~
Namaste,
Mark Twain said “It's not what we don't know that hurts us, it's what we know for certain that just ain't so.”
Those not familiar with American history may not know Mark Twain, that was his pen name or writing name. Born on the 30th of Nov 1845 as Samuel Langhorne Clemens left this earth 21st April 1910. He was a writer, satirist, lecturer, etc. Above all he had a keen eye for common sense and great viveka (discrimination).
This statement is pregnant with wisdom and actually parallels the second sutra of the Siva Sutras. http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2078
How so? The 2nd sutra of the Siva Sutras says, Jnanam Bandhah
It says, knowing is bondage. One may say how can this be? I thought knowing is a good thing?
This is where the the masters play their role i.e. Swami Lakshman joo , Ksemaraja-ji, and Abjinavagupata muni, give us their enlightened vision.
They say look at this sutra this way... when reading the 1st sutra if one unites it with the second sutra, this is done with the letter 'a'.
The first sutra says Caitanyamatma.
Combining the second we have Caitanyamatma 'a' Jnanam Bandhah
and if we do not combine them we have Caitanyamatma Jnanam Bandhah.
How does this help us and how does Mark Twain fit in, eh? Okay , here's the wisdom. The 2nd sutra says knowing is bondage. If we couple it with the first sutra with an 'a' it then says not knowing is bondage. As the 'a' her is then assume to = not. Just like in Vidya = knowledge and avidya is 'not' knowledge or ignornace, like that.
We now have knowing is bondage and not knowing is bondage. Because the sutras are the least amount of words that are used to transmit the meaning, some words are implied. And the Master's bring the words.
For this they say:
■ knowing [differentiated] knowledge is bondage
■ not knowing [undifferentiated] knowledge is bondage
differentiated knowledge is that of the world we experience every day , the relative world we see of height, width, depth, speed, feelings, emotions, pressures, pains, pleasures, commitments, losses and gains. Differentiated = the variable field of life full of diversity, differences, contrasts, like that.
undifferentiated knowledge is the knowledge (also known as direct experience) of Supreme Consciousness, of SELF.
So , when we know the knowledge of differences, of this world it binds us more, as more diversity, more action-and-reaction come to place. Ignorance thickens.
And, NOT knowing the undifferentiated , that Supreme level of Being, we remain in bound state, produced by the statement above.
Enter Mark Twain-ji. He says,
"it's what we know for certain that just ain't so " or knowing [differentiated] knowledge is bondage. We know for 'certain' this world our actions, or limitations, our list of chores, actions, projects, likes and dis-likes. We live this every day... is this the Reality we are looking for?
"It's not what we don't know that hurts us" or not knowing [undifferentiated] knowledge. This knowledge that culminates in living in and residing in the SELF is not the cause of any grief and removes the bondage from ourselves.
So what is this mala, this impurity we have in our eye? The impurity a.k.a. mala is not dirt, the impurity is ignorance of our undifferentiated nature of SELF. Because of this ignorance we are filled with differentiated knowledge (marketing, sales, engineering, housekeeping, medical-dental, construction, teaching, training, learning, giving, getting, possessing, etc³ and diversity.
We find teachers of Truth everywhere...
Om Namah Sivaya
pranams,
Bookmarks