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Base of Vedic wisdom

posted ‎‎Nov 14, 2008 7:32 PM‎‎ by Surinder Shanker Anand   [ updated ‎‎Jan 14, 2009 6:37 AM‎‎ ]
All living beings, consciously or unconsciously, are trying to get rid of pain or suffering. Throughout the life, we keep running after pleasure, but are unable to attain the true bliss. If we examine deeply, we will realize that all pleasures are pain underneath - which means that pain is attached to all phases of the pleasure i.e. attainment, safeguard, consumption, destruction and violence. That's why Indian philosophers have meditated on the following four basic questions –
  1. What should be eradicated?
  2. What is the source of pain?
  3. What is that state, where there is no pain?
  4. How to achieve the state, where there is no pain?
If we try to analyze these questions, the following four facts will be revealed –
  1. Who is feeling pain? What is its true-nature (Dharma)? If suffering is true-nature, then we should not like to avoid it. This means that there is an element (Tattava), whose true-nature is not pain, and that is known as consciousness (Pursha).
  2. Second element, which is opposite to consciousness known as matter (Prakriti), whose true-nature is pain. Matter is ever changing and inert.
  3. We don’t like the pain, but we experience it. This means there is an amalgamation (union, emulsion, fusion or interplay) of consciousness and matter. In the process of amalgamation, Consciousness gets identified with matter, which is the source of the pain.
  4. This establishes the presence of third element, which is responsible for above amalgamation between consciousness and matter. This is known as Pure Consciousness (known as Shudh Chetan Tattava, Pramatama, Pra-Bhram), which is omnipresent. Only omnipresent element can be omniscient, controller and owner of the amalgamation.
Now we have answers to all the four questions –

Q. What should be eradicated?

A. Pain, which is due in the future.
 

Q. What is the source of pain?

A. Consciousness and matter’s union, which is based upon wrong-knowledge (Avidya), where consciousness gets identified with matter.
 

Q. What is that state, where there is no pain?

A. Having no wrong-knowledge.
 

Q. How to achieve the above state?

A. Through right-knowledge (Vivek-Khyati) i.e. consciousness is separate from matter.