Chapter 5 - Rest Within
Day 33
Look at a temple. A statue of Vishnu rests on top of the entrance gate and the same statue is in the inner sanctum. Have you seen this in temples?
Make a round of the temple and you will find it. However, which one is worshipped? Position and place are important, they have value.
Self-knowledge is possible through special logic. You can reason anyway you like. Throughout your life you are involved in arguments and reasoning.
This too is reasoning. Life does not exist without logic. Logic is necessary, but make sure that it is not wrong logic. There are three types of logic- tarka, logical understanding, kutarka, wrong logic and vitarka, special logic.
Wrong logic is finding fault everywhere, it is seeing a bad intention behind a good intention. Wrong logic tears you to pieces and disturbs your mind.
Wrong logic brings misery. Imagine that someone is irritated with you or someone else. Realising his mistake, he comes to you with sweets and other gifts to set things right.
Then, kutarka starts in your mind - "Why has he brought all this?" or "Why is this person speaking so sweetly today. He must be planning something."
Wrong logic is finding faults in all good actions. For example, if you say the door is half closed, it also means the door is half open.
If you say the door is fully closed, to conclude that the door is therefore fully open is wrong logic. This can never be the case.
Although logically it might seem correct, practically it is false. In such arguments, you win only in words and not in reality.
You might feel that you have won, but it is not so, you win the argument while losing the truth. Due to wrong logic, pain, violence and trouble spread in society.
We do not understand the difference between when we are using logic and when we have fallen into wrong logic. A sign of intelligence is to recognise the distinction between the two.
Logic is very important, but it changes constantly. Scientists found that the use of pesticides can produce good crops. They came to this conclusion through logic.
Then another line of reasoning contrary to this logic surfaced. It said, "You feel that you get a good crop because of pesticides, but it has damaged the soil. The pesticides have ruined the soil's fertility and its mineral content.
This has adversely affected the
crops. Even if you claim that the crop is healthy, the people who eat it fall ill. Their health suffers from eating such crops."
Once this argument started, the previous reasoning did not hold good. The same is true of antibiotics. These days, people look to Ayurvedic medicines to protect their bodies rather than suffer from the side effects of allopathy treatments.
They feel that the old methods are more reliable. The allopathy medicines you take to heal a stomach disorder have a side effect on the liver.
If you fix the liver, the kidneys may be affected, and if you cure the kidneys, the heart may suffer. This is no treatment at all. You are merely moving from one disease to another, instead of treating the problem.
Logic provokes, kutarka invites ignorance, while vitarka, increases knowledge. Aurangzeb was very logical, but his reasoning used wrong logic.
He locked his father behind bars and defended his actions with logic. His argument amazed everyone. He said, "My father is very old. He has lost his sight. He suffers and also troubles others. I am intelligent and can guarantee the welfare of all."
He placed him behind bars in the palace and continued, "Now, what is required of him? I will ensure he is fed in prison. Let him rest. He is fine. Nobody needs to worry about him nor does he need to leave the
palace to meet anyone."
This was the tone of his argument. Aurangzeb used to say, "Whatever could be written is contained in the Quran, so why do we need any other books?
Therefore, all other books should be burnt. Collect all the books and burn them”. He is not the only example. You will find similar cases in your daily life and in every household.
You can build or destroy anything through reasoning. Generally, in school a subject is given for debate and the teacher asks the students to write in favor of and against the topic.
Prizes are awarded based on
how one argues, and not on whether one argues in favor of or against the topic. Sometimes people who have argued for and against a subject will both receive prizes.
Argument is the only yardstick for the competition. Logic has no loyalty. It can be used anywhere. The logic that pulls us down is kutarka. A person's downfall can happen.
But the reasoning that can lift someone above argument to reach atmajñana, knowledge of the self, is vitarka. Vitarka means special logic or thoughts without argument.
Some people engage in logic and some others in wrong logic. Some are experts in wrong logic, and will twist their arguments to achieve their goals.
Have you also done that at times? Observe the reasons you have given. We had one devotee, a student, with us. He was told to do some work because he was young, and it was not appropriate to laze around.
He would reply, "It is only lazy people who work. I am not lazy, but am doing sadhana." What did he mean by, "doing sadhana"? His argument was that lazy people work while intelligent people do sadhana.
Who will counter this? People using wrong logic have their own dictionary to create their own words and to attach their own meaning to those words.
Arguing only for one's own
sake, even when a person knows that he is doing something wrong, is kutarka. Using such logic, we can never progress.
