|
|
CHAPTER 1
The Yog of Irresolution and Grief
If delusion ceases, ignorance too ceases to exist and the residues of negative feelings such as excessive attachment hasten to a quick demise. Bheeshm is blessed with death by wish. So the death of desire and death of delusion are one and the same. This idea has been so lucidly expressed by Sant Kabir: “Since desire is the maker of birth and illusion, and it is desire that creates the material world, he who abandons desire is the one who cannot be conquered.’’
That which is free from delusion is eternal and unmanifest. Desire is illusion and progenitor of the world. In Kabir’s view, “the Self which achieves freedom from desire is united with the fathomless, eternal, boundless reality. One who is free from desire dwells within the Self and never falls from grace, for he has his being in the Supreme Spirit.” At the beginning there are numerous desires, but eventually there remains only a longing for the realization of God. The fulfillment, too, of this wish also marks the end of desire. Had there been something higher, greater, or more precious than God, one, would surely have craved for it. But when there is nothing beyond or above him, what else can be desired? When all things that can be had are achieved, the very roots of desire are destroyed and delusion perishes utterly. This is Bheeshm’s death by wish. Thus, defended by Bheeshm, Duryodhan’s army is invincible in every respect. Ignorance is present as long as there is delusion. When delusion is dead, ignorance also dies.
|
|
