Page 65 - Journey to Infinity
P. 65

We shall now proceed to consider the kinds action and their rewards and punishments.
According to the law of Nature there are two kinds of action for which the Jivas are neither rewarded nor punished. Their aim is movement, contemplation, and happiness, which are all related to the three bodies.
Jiva is really Atman and Brahman, and its characteristics are (i) thinking along with movement, and movement along with thinking, and (ii) thinking along with growing and growing along with thinking. The first is the characteristic or definition of Atman,and the second is that of Brahman. The difference is that Atman is limited andBrahman is unlimited. That is why Brahman is called Param-Atma. There is no question of reward or punishment for Brahman, because He is whole. The question arises only with regard to the Part. That which has limited Knowledge is called Part, and that which has omniscience is Brahman. The omniscient being is a complete law in itself, and this is a mark of perfection. In the part there is the short-coming which can be made up or defect by way of having limited knowledge; and ques¬tions and answers arise only in the state of imperfection. Imperfection means short-coming which can be made up or filled. Perfection itself is always full. Nobody can fill it anymore. Therefore there is neither reward nor punishment in the state of perfection.
Atman is called Jiva when there is the desire for life in it. Jiva is that which has a desire for life. The attention of this Jiva is always towards short-coming or imperfection. It always feels want and dependence which is the cause of sorrow and suffering. That is the reason why the Jiva finds its life full of sorrow, and due o the impression of this sorrow it creates many defects in itself such as wishing its own good and harming others, and so on. This view of duality, its thought and action creates otherness in it. That is, the Jiva begins to think of itself as useless, poor, inferior and low, and of others’ position as superior to its own. It condemns its own position and praises that of others. That is seeing itself as other than the others (or otherness).
Inferiority throws the Jiva in a state of multiplicity which it begins to like. It sees all others as different many and innumerable. This is called love of multiplicity.
The Jiva does not see itself but it sees others. This defect throws it in illusion. It remains extrovert and not introvert. Due to extroversion its position becomes like that of a person who has stepped out of his home in the rainy season. Then it begins to perform actions arising from and maintaining, the living organism, which contain wonder, greed, envy, hatred, competition, enmity, selfishness and desire. Wounding others’ feelings is the worst among these. In short, punishment is ordained for all these actions. The Jiva begins to





























































































   63   64   65   66   67