There are two types of people; one, who worship ignorance; second, who worship half-truth. Both remain in a state of powerlessness. This article talks about the nature of such people as described in the Upanishads and points to a practice that establishes one in the experience of reality.
The Scripture
The definition of these two types of people is found in the 9th verse of the Isavasya Upanishad.
The verse:
andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye’avidyām upāsate |
tato bhūya iva te tamo yau vidyāyāṁ ratāḥ || 9 ||
Translation:
Those who worship avidyā, ignorance (that veils the true knowledge of Truth, Consciousness), enter into blinding darkness characterized by the absence of perception;
but into greater darkness of ignorance than that, enter they who, considering themselves as scholarly and learned, are engaged in vidyā, the incomplete knowledge acquired for vested interests, characterized by the impure perception of Truth and Consciousness.
Knowledge for vested interest
If you are worshipping knowledge for some vested interests, for example, for the sake of luxury or for the sake of any other comforts, beyond a point, you will stop seeking. That is a recipe for suffering with half-knowledge, the incomplete knowledge, the impure perception of Truth, Consciousness.
What freedom is not
Most of the time, giving in to your patterns, you will start declaring as freedom. You will say, “after all I am enlightened, I am a soul, I am free,” then finally go and eat beef. Giving in to your patterns cannot be freedom.
Obstacles for seekers
For an initial level seeker, the biggest problem is boredom due to which whenever they hit a block, they don’t break it. They just develop a ‘don’t care attitude’ towards ignorance.
Advanced seekers try to grab all the powers of Enlightenment without having the experience of enlightenment and taking the responsibility for it. These people with incomplete knowledge, before even achieving Enlightenment, due to their vested interests, because of their impure perception of Truth and Consciousness, even though they claim they are unattached, wise, they get completely distracted and destroyed, with the incomplete knowledge.
Without becoming Paramahamsa, they try to live like a Paramahamsa. Without really getting to the space of non-attachment, they try to live as if unattached. This is a dangerous game people play. Nobody else need to punish them. They themselves will be punishing themselves.
Practice to overcome these obstacles
Relentless seeking is the antidote for these obstacles. Just because you are better than others, does not mean that you drop the quest for experiencing reality. Relentless seeking comes from worshipping knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Then you become embodiment of vidyā, knowledge – an Enlightened Being.
Seeking defines an Enlightened Being
An Enlightened Being’s level of seeking will be totally different from your level, but he will continue to be seeking because seeking is the only way he will be alive. Seeking is the only way he even makes you understand he is alive. That is the only qualification of his existence.
You can prove you are alive by so many things. By eating a sweet, having physical pleasures etc. you prove that you are alive to yourself and to others. But an Enlightened Being is alive only in his seeking, that is the only way he reminds himself he is alive and he proves he is alive to others. To that level, his very core will be seeking.
Enlightenment is not expertise, it is experience. Seek experience not expertise.
Based on satsangs delivered by rare Living Incarnation Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam
See Satsangs at http://youtube.com/lifeblissfoundation
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