Vedantham : ( 07/11/2012. )

Chapter-8 : Control of the Instruments of Knowledge.10. We regard a real sorrow as a joy. It is to be considered as a sorrow, because we are duped into the belief that our understanding in regard to its object is entirely untarnished and unblemished, and it is a safe guide for us in our knowledge of the essential substance of creation. The world is not an object, either of mental cognition or sense perception. That it appears to be such is really to be regretted very deeply. This world is a world of regret, basically, because we are involved in a state of affairs which refuses to be known in any way from the point of view of the instruments of knowledge available to us. Our sorrows are invisible things. They cannot be analysed, vivisected, or known in any way. What we know is, therefore, a peculiar presentation. Sometimes the world is compared to a mirage, which looks like water and recedes as we approach that reservoir of water. The more we try to touch the hori

Chapter-8 : Control of the Instruments of Knowledge.9. Hence, the senses working together with the mind, and even with the intellect, do not present to us a correct picture of things as they really are. As philosophers tell us, things in themselves are never seen and never known; they cannot be perceived. What do we perceive? We perceive only a whitewash or a colour that is painted over that which really is, by the brush of the space and time factors. So, we see only a painting or a whitewash or a colourwash, but not that which is behind this painting or veneer that is smeared over its surface. But inasmuch as only the outer conditioning factors become the real objects of our perception or mental cognition, we mistake phenomenality for reality, relativity for absoluteness, temporality for eternity, and even pain for pleasure. Swami Krishnananda   To be continued ....

Chapter-8 : Control of the Instruments of Knowledge.8. But the interference of these principles, space and time, in our knowledge process is so subtle and invisible in every way that we cannot know that they are interfering with us at all. When we look at a thing while wearing spectacles, we are not conscious that there are spectacles on our eyes because if we begin to see the spectacles, we cannot see the object. We should not be aware that there are spectacles on our eyes – we should not look at the spectacles or the glasses that we are wearing – in order that the objects can be seen. If we begin to see the glasses, we will not see any object. Therefore, the spectacles should remain invisible conditioning factors in order that the perception may appear satisfactory and clear. Similarly, if we begin to cognise or perceive space and time themselves, we will be in a different world altogether. Swami Krishnananda   To be continued ....