EE7.5 - Leaving Bondage

Leaving Bondage

Published in:
Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 1

Notes:

official source: Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 1

this version: is the printed Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 1, 2nd edition, version (obvious spelling, punctuation and typographical mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition.

This is Discourse 13 of the Ánanda Vacanámrtam series.

Online additional information

Mind alone is the cause of the bondage and liberation of human beings. Why is it the cause of bondage and liberation? It is because all the beings below human being are bereft of an independent mind. Their minds are guided by their natural instincts. But human beings have an independent mind. They can act according to their will. They can take the track either of bondage or of liberation. This is the fundamental difference between human beings and animals.

The mind must always have an object (viśaya). In scriptures, viśaya is known as “ábhoga.” “Ábhoga” means that object which feeds the mind – that is, mental pabulum. If this pabulum is limited, the mind also becomes limited. If the pabulum is infinite, by making an effort to obtain it, the mind becomes infinite. It depends entirely on the will of human beings which pabulum, limited or unlimited, is made their object. Whether a person becomes great or small completely depends on the person’s wish.

“When the object of human beings is small and they remain fixed to it, they are in bondage. When the object of the mind is infinite, and we get merged into it, as it is not possible to hold it, we call it liberation.”

“The person whose object of mind is limited, is in bondage. When the object of mind is unlimited, it (the mind) cannot be kept within limitations. Then there is no bondage, but liberation.”

What is the spiritual practice of human beings? It is forsaking unithood (jiivatva), leaving bondage, and attaining cosmichood (shivatava). This alone is the goal of human beings.