Forest Of Words

Shankara compares the plethora of scriptures to a ‘trap of words which is akin to a forest in which the hapless mind wanders’. To mistake mere scriptural knowledge to realization is a grave error. Reading is of almost no use except if it results in an earnest inquiry which leads to clear insight. Usually reading mystic philosophy is intellectual entertainment at best and a major impediment at worst. It is ironical that I am writing this since whoever reads me would be committing the very error I am warning against! Not that what I write springs from any real knowledge. It is like a movie that criticizes cinema. Many of the greatest mystics like Ramakrishna were illiterate. They wanted only the inner language of bliss. If my history is correct, Nanak asked his tutor to teach him that knowledge which would liberate rather than mundane subjects that would bind. My own experiences are limited but the spark they have ignited in me would one day burn all ignorance like a mountain of hay. At one time reading may have helped me but it’s a major impediment now. Discussing mysticism and writing about it are also ego-driven delusions. I wish I could concentrate on solitary meditation but it seems I have a few bridges to cross.

Crumbling Bedrock

All the cheaters of the world are nothing when compared to them who cheat on themselves. Yesterday I impersonated as a customer to glean information from a long-established competitor of the concern I work for. It caused me significant ethical distress and I lost the inner peace so essential to meditate. It also made me acutely aware of the colossus contradictions inherent in me. While professing to realize the blessed unity beyond apparent divisions, I have never developed the ethical bedrock on which the edifice of sustained meditation has to be assiduously built. My past is marred by blatant lies, delusions, lust and jealousy. By being dishonest to myself I have obstructed my inner effulgence to shine in its magnificent splendor. However, I feel introspection rather than self-condemnation is the way out. I must find out what makes me immoral and remove the obstructions.