| This feeling of
separation is augmented by desire, attachment, anger and hatred. It is a vicious circle of
increasing illusion. When the mind awakens from this state of ignorance, the light
swallows up the shadow, which is lost in the process. The sun shines on the water.
When the surface of the water breaks into ripples, we see numerous little suns on the
water. The individual souls are like the reflections of the sun in the water. If there be
no water, there are no reflected images. In the same
way, the individual souls are the reflections of the Supreme Being on the ocean of maaya
and they become one with the Supreme on the removal of that maaya. To dispel ignorance and
to obtain knowledge, we need purity, self-control, devotion and discrimination.
Just as all the five senses merge in the soul and disappear
when we sleep at night, so with enlightenment, the soul is united and absorbed in the
Supreme Soul. Now, these and many other forms of elucidation are adopted by various
teachers in their expositions of an inherently unaccountable relation. |
