~ Who Is God ~
DAY - 23
"Asmita" means "me" or "I."
This feeling of "me,
I" is the second cause of suffering.
That is the
reason we do the Hollow and Empty process.
When we do it, there is no "I".
You exist as though
you are not there.
You exist like a flower; like a cloud.
You exist like the space - free, and hollow
and empty, rather than as if you are somebody - "I,
I, me, me." Asmita is feeling what people
think about you, what you want from them, how you could take advantage of them, whether they
consider you to be good or bad, etc.
This gives you misery.
Nothing else can give you misery -
need give you misery.
Your own idea of "me, mine, me, mine," not being one with the existence,
having a separate feeling and identity, or having a superiority or inferiority complex give you
misery.
In fact, all those people who consider themselves intelligent and everybody else fools,
know deep down that they are really bigger fools.
To avoid thinking of their foolishness, they
consider everybody else crazy or foolish.
This asmita eats you up, and is the cause of your
suffering.
Raaga - means a strong craving for anything and Dwesha means aversion or hatred.
And
abhinivesha, fear.
Craving, aversion, fear, "me,I" - that separate entity of "I" - and ignorance; these
are the five sources of misery.
The Lord is devoid of these five miseries.
That consciousness
deep down in you is devoid of them.
You may be miserable or craving for something.
But, if you
really go to the core of your existence, you are free from it.
Outwardly, you may be hating
somebody, but in the core of your existence there is no hatred.
There is fear only at the
circumference;so also ignorance.
At the core of your existence, there is no fear or ignorance.
There is no 'you' there.
When these five kleshas are eliminated even at the circumference, then whatever is in the center
becomes very eminent.
The Lordship in you blossoms and the God in you is manifested.
God is
that purusha,that being, or Lord, which is devoid of these five kleshas, suffering or miseries and
He is also devoid of karma.
There are four types of karmas.
One is the karma, which will give merits.
There is another type
of karma - action which brings you demerits.
You may do something good for somebody, and
they feel good about it and may thank you for it.
They thank from their heart, and that brings you
a good karma.
Then again, you may do something bad to somebody.
And they suffer because of
it and are miserable.
That brings you karma of demerit.
And there are certain karmas which
have the combination of merit and demerit.
This is third type of karma.
The fourth type of karma
is devoid of both merit and demerit - for example, you go for a walk in the evening or you are
vacuum-cleaning the hall.
These actions have no merit or demerit.
They are just actions. But if
you are doing it for somebody,eg., you are helping someone in kitchen, then that is an action of
merit.
If you are cutting the vegetables and cooking the food for everybody, then it is an action
of merit.
Actions which give merit, which give demerit, which give mixed results and which has no results
at all (neutral results) are the four types of karmas.
At the very core of your existence, the being
is free from all these karmas.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji
PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS
