|
Endurance
(Song of an ascetic—Story of Avanti Brahmin)
If the body is the cause of pleasure and pain, the Atman has nothing to do with it, because it concerns the two bodies which are made up of the sameearth.The two bodies are really one body.If people are the cause of my pleasure and pain, the Atman or source of bliss immanent in me as the only real eternal factor, is present in all of them. If sometimes any one bites his own lips or tongue with his own teeth inadvertently, with whom should he be angry for the pain?
If the deity is the cause of pain, the Atman has nothing to do with it, because it is related to two deities i.e., to the two organs presided over by the two deities. The Devatas who guide the senses are the same in all beings. If you beat another man in his hand, the presiding deity of the hand viz., Indra is the same in both. What has this to do with the Atman? It always remains unaffected. If sometimes, in the same body of a man one limb strikes against another, with whom should he become angry?
If the Atman is the cause of pleasure and pain, such experience must be considered unreal as the Vedas declare that the essence of Atman is bliss and that all things but Atman are unreal and transitory.
|
|