Chapter 11. Behaviour of bound and liberated jivas as well as of devotees.
Bondage and liberation are only for jeevas, not for the Lord who is beyond and in control of Maya. In a dream, there is no awareness that the dream is in progress and as long as the dream lasts, the dreamer experiences grief etc.So also in the waking state, the jiva not being alive to his true nature of sacchidananda and also lacking in knowledge of Sri Hari, undergoes suffering, joy etc. Such experiences being strictly confined to jiva's embodied state are not a part of his constitutional baggage and hence termed not factual (na vasthavi).
O Uddhava, know that Sri Lakshmi
and Sri Durga (vidya and avidya) who have existed without a beginning and who
make for release and bondage respectively of the jiva are the potencies under My
control and naturally therefore, I am beyond their reach. The jiva who is my
separated fragment gets bound by the timeless avidya and emancipated by vidya.I
am mukta or liberated not because of any destruction of bondage but because I am
never bound. The Lord then gives the attributes of the bound jiva and Himself(
nitya mukta,) by comparing them to two bird's kindred in character and settled
as constant companions in the same nest on the tree (viz the body). The bound
jiva partakes of the trivial fruits of the tree taking them to be the essence;
while the Lord does not partake of the fruit and yet is strong on his own. If
the jiva is eligible for liberation, then only his blindness from avidya
(ignorance) will get destroyed in course of time. His efforts at banishing the
blindness will bear fruit. If the jiva has no such eligibility for liberation,
such efforts fail and he will continue to be blinded by avidya. Though Sri Hari
is of His own free will, within the body, He does not get affected by the bodily
sorrows because He does not identify with the body. The jiva has no such wisdom
and hence undergoes suffering in the body. It is to teach the jivas that bodily
sorrows arise from false identification with the body, that Sri Hari resides in
the body. He who is dispassionate and who understands the difference between the
jiva and Paramatma, one bound and dependent and the other free and independent,
does not get bound like the ignorant person. Although he is ever bound, he who
realizes his bondage under Sri Hari and the eternal suzerainty of Sri Hari is
liberated. Such a jnani will not experience grief although forever under the
bondage of Sri Hari. Even when residing in the body, he will not be subject to
sorrow like the ignorant person. When such is the case even for an embodied
jnani, it goes without saying that a liberated soul will be ever blissful. If
one well versed in the Veda has not developed intense affiliation and devotion
to the Supreme Being, his labors in the study of Vedas is useless, like that of
a person tending a dry cow. A wise man should not cultivate barren literary
works devoid of Sri Hari's glories in His various sportive incarnations. Having
cast aside through proper enquiry, the false knowledge which leads one to view
matters contrary to their actual situation and having focused ones mind free
from impurities, on the omnipotent Lord, one should give up the worldly ways of
motivated actions. If one is unable to fix ones mind irrevocably on the Lord,
one is advised to perform all allotted duties efficiently as an offering to the
Lord and also to cultivate the company of Lords devotees, hearing His stories
with reverence, chanting, constantly recalling and remembering, arranging
dramatic representation etc. Uddhava asks the Lord about the nature of a pious
soul. (sadhu) and the kind of devotion that may be directed towards the Lord.
The reply is given that the sadhu is compassionate to all embodied being, harms
none, forebearing, fortified in truth, faultless of mind, equiposed in joy and
sorrow and beneficial to all. He is free from passion, has mastered his senses,
soft by nature, pure, possessionless, desireless, spare in eating, calm, firm,
has conquered all six waves, does not seek honour, though bestowing it on
others, is capable of imparting knowledge to others, sincere, altruistic and
possessed of right knowledge. The eleven different media for worshipping the
Lord are listed.One of the eleven mentioned is Vayu or air,the chief lifegiving
principle running through the entire universe."There is no royal road to realize
Me other than the discipline of devotion generated by association with the
righteous Uddhava; for I am the greatest resort of the righteous" declares the
Lord at the conclusion of the eleventh chapter.
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Transitory and evanescent
character of worldly and other worldly pleasures - how the senses which are
products of gunas bring about actions and the jiva invested with body and
falsely indentifying with same reaps the fruits of action.