Avidyā

this we can do by winning mastery over self by rising above all pride and greed and fear by knowing that worldly losses and physical death can take nothing away from the truth and the greatness of our soul the chick knows when it breaks through the self-centred isolation of its egg that the hard shell which covered it so long was not really a part of its life the shell is a dead thing it has no growth it affords no glimpse whatever of the vast beyond that lies outside it however pleasantly perfect and rounded it may be it must be given a blow too it must be burst through and thereby the freedom of light and air be won and the complete purpose of bird life be achieved in sanskrit the bird has been called the twice born so too the man who has gone through the ceremony of the discipline of self-restraint and high thinking for a period of at least twelve years who has come out simple in wants pure in heart and ready to take up all the responsibilities of life in a disinterested largeness of spirit he is considered to have had his rebirth from the blind envelopment of self to the freedom of soul life to have come into living relation with his surroundings to have become at one with the all i have already warned my hearers and must once more warn them against the idea that the teachers of india preached a renunciation of the world and of self which leads only to the blank emptiness of negation their aim was the realization of the soul or in other words gaining the world in perfect truth when jesus said blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth he meant this he proclaimed the truth that when man gets rid of his pride of self then he comes into his true inheritance no more has he to fight his way into his position in the world it is secure for him everywhere by the immortal right of his soul pride of self interferes with the proper function of the soul which is to realize itself by perfecting its union with the world and the world's god in his sermon to sadhu simha buddha says it is true simha that i denounce activities but only the activities that lead to the evil in words thoughts or deeds it is true simma that i preach extinction but only the extinction of pride lust evil thought and ignorance not that of forgiveness love charity and truth the doctrine of deliverance that buddha preached was the freedom from the thraldom of avidya avidya is the ignorance that darkens our consciousness and tends to limit it within the boundaries of our personal self it is this avidya this ignorance this limiting of consciousness that creates the hard separateness of the ego and thus becomes the source of all pride and greed and cruelty incidental to self-seeking when a man sleeps he is shut up within the narrow activities of his physical life He lives, but he knows not the varied relations of his life to his surroundings.

Therefore, he knows not himself.

So when a man lives the life of Avidya, he is confined within his self.

It is a spiritual sleep.

His consciousness is not fully awake to the highest reality that surrounds him.

Swamiji actually says this comes from knowledge.

Avidyā is creating this fear in me.

This avidyā, the ignorance about my true self, who I am, is not available to me right now.

I think I'm this body, I'm this mind, I'm this intellect, and I acquired this position, this upadhi.

this we can do by winning mastery over self by rising above all pride and greed and fear by knowing that worldly losses and physical death can take nothing away from the truth and the greatness of our soul the chick knows when it breaks through the self-centred isolation of its egg that the hard shell which covered it so long was not really a part of its life the shell is a dead thing it has no growth it affords no glimpse whatever of the vast beyond that lies outside it however pleasantly perfect and rounded it may be it must be given a blow too it must be burst through and thereby the freedom of light and air be won and the complete purpose of bird life be achieved in sanskrit the bird has been called the twice born so too the man who has gone through the ceremony of the discipline of self-restraint and high thinking for a period of at least twelve years who has come out simple in wants pure in heart and ready to take up all the responsibilities of life in a disinterested largeness of spirit he is considered to have had his rebirth from the blind envelopment of self to the freedom of soul life to have come into living relation with his surroundings to have become at one with the all i have already warned my hearers and must once more warn them against the idea that the teachers of india preached a renunciation of the world and of self which leads only to the blank emptiness of negation their aim was the realization of the soul or in other words gaining the world in perfect truth when jesus said blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth he meant this he proclaimed the truth that when man gets rid of his pride of self then he comes into his true inheritance no more has he to fight his way into his position in the world it is secure for him everywhere by the immortal right of his soul pride of self interferes with the proper function of the soul which is to realize itself by perfecting its union with the world and the world's god in his sermon to sadhu simha buddha says it is true simha that i denounce activities but only the activities that lead to the evil in words thoughts or deeds it is true simma that i preach extinction but only the extinction of pride lust evil thought and ignorance not that of forgiveness love charity and truth the doctrine of deliverance that buddha preached was the freedom from the thraldom of avidya avidya is the ignorance that darkens our consciousness and tends to limit it within the boundaries of our personal self it is this avidya this ignorance this limiting of consciousness that creates the hard separateness of the ego and thus becomes the source of all pride and greed and cruelty incidental to self-seeking when a man sleeps he is shut up within the narrow activities of his physical life He lives, but he knows not the varied relations of his life to his surroundings.

Therefore he knows not himself.

So when a man lives the life of Avidya, he is confined within his self.

It is a spiritual sleep.

His consciousness is not fully awake to the highest reality that surrounds him.

So jiva is conditioned here, and it has no beginning.

It is anādi-avidyā.

Avidya is anādi, and the avidya which is conditioning the jiva, specific jiva, that is also anādi.

So the purpose of nishkam karma yoga or jnana marg is to become free from that.

And for that, one takes recourse to vairagya.

So Sruti there is the theoretical knowledge.

Therefore, he says that , that he has studied the Shastra, which are establishing the knowledge of Sankhya, Yoga, Tapasya, Viragya, et cetera.

And the word Vidya means, that knowledge which has dispelled the Avidya.

In his sermon to Sadhu Simha, Buddha says, "It is true, Simha, that I denounce activities, but only the activities that lead to the evil in words, thoughts, or deeds.

It is true, Simha, that I preach extinction, but only the extinction of pride, lust, evil thought, and ignorance, not that of forgiveness, love, charity, and truth." The doctrine of deliverance that Buddha preached was the freedom from the thralldom of avidya.

Avidya is the ignorance that darkens our consciousness and tends to limit it within the boundaries of our personal self.

It is this avidya, this ignorance, this limiting of consciousness, that creates the hard separateness of the ego and thus becomes the source of all pride and greed and cruelty incidental to self-seeking.

When a man sleeps, he is shut up within the narrow activities of his physical life.

this we can do by winning mastery over self by rising above all pride and greed and fear by knowing that worldly losses and physical death can take nothing away from the truth and the greatness of our soul the chick knows when it breaks through the self-centred isolation of its egg that the hard shell which covered it so long was not really a part of its life the shell is a dead thing it has no growth it affords no glimpse whatever of the vast beyond that lies outside it however pleasantly perfect and rounded it may be it must be given a blow too it must be burst through and thereby the freedom of light and air be won and the complete purpose of bird life be achieved in sanskrit the bird has been called the twice born so too the man who has gone through the ceremony of the discipline of self-restraint and high thinking for a period of at least twelve years who has come out simple in wants pure in heart and ready to take up all the responsibilities of life in a disinterested largeness of spirit he is considered to have had his rebirth from the blind envelopment of self to the freedom of soul life to have come into living relation with his surroundings to have become at one with the all i have already warned my hearers and must once more warn them against the idea that the teachers of india preached a renunciation of the world and of self which leads only to the blank emptiness of negation their aim was the realization of the soul or in other words gaining the world in perfect truth when jesus said blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth he meant this he proclaimed the truth that when man gets rid of his pride of self then he comes into his true inheritance no more has he to fight his way into his position in the world it is secure for him everywhere by the immortal right of his soul pride of self interferes with the proper function of the soul which is to realize itself by perfecting its union with the world and the world's god in his sermon to sadhu simha buddha says it is true simha that i denounce activities but only the activities that lead to the evil in words thoughts or deeds it is true simma that i preach extinction but only the extinction of pride lust evil thought and ignorance not that of forgiveness love charity and truth the doctrine of deliverance that buddha preached was the freedom from the thraldom of avidya avidya is the ignorance that darkens our consciousness and tends to limit it within the boundaries of our personal self it is this avidya this ignorance this limiting of consciousness that creates the hard separateness of the ego and thus becomes the source of all pride and greed and cruelty incidental to self-seeking when a man sleeps he is shut up within the narrow activities of his physical life He lives, but he knows not the varied relations of his life to his surroundings.

Therefore, he knows not himself.

So when a man lives the life of Avidya, he is confined within his self.

It is a spiritual sleep.

His consciousness is not fully awake to the highest reality that surrounds him.

this we can do by winning mastery over self by rising above all pride and greed and fear by knowing that worldly losses and physical death can take nothing away from the truth and the greatness of our soul the chick knows when it breaks through the self-centred isolation of its egg that the hard shell which covered it so long was not really a part of its life the shell is a dead thing it has no growth it affords no glimpse whatever of the vast beyond that lies outside it however pleasantly perfect and rounded it may be it must be given a blow too it must be burst through and thereby the freedom of light and air be won and the complete purpose of bird life be achieved in sanskrit the bird has been called the twice born so too the man who has gone through the ceremony of the discipline of self-restraint and high thinking for a period of at least twelve years who has come out simple in wants pure in heart and ready to take up all the responsibilities of life in a disinterested largeness of spirit he is considered to have had his rebirth from the blind envelopment of self to the freedom of soul life to have come into living relation with his surroundings to have become at one with the all i have already warned my hearers and must once more warn them against the idea that the teachers of india preached a renunciation of the world and of self which leads only to the blank emptiness of negation their aim was the realization of the soul or in other words gaining the world in perfect truth when jesus said blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth he meant this he proclaimed the truth that when man gets rid of his pride of self then he comes into his true inheritance no more has he to fight his way into his position in the world it is secure for him everywhere by the immortal right of his soul pride of self interferes with the proper function of the soul which is to realize itself by perfecting its union with the world and the world's god in his sermon to sadhu simha buddha says it is true simha that i denounce activities but only the activities that lead to the evil in words thoughts or deeds it is true simma that i preach extinction but only the extinction of pride lust evil thought and ignorance not that of forgiveness love charity and truth the doctrine of deliverance that buddha preached was the freedom from the thraldom of avidya avidya is the ignorance that darkens our consciousness and tends to limit it within the boundaries of our personal self it is this avidya this ignorance this limiting of consciousness that creates the hard separateness of the ego and thus becomes the source of all pride and greed and cruelty incidental to self-seeking when a man sleeps he is shut up within the narrow activities of his physical life He lives, but he knows not the varied relations of his life to his surroundings.

Therefore he knows not himself.

So when a man lives the life of Avidya, he is confined within his self.

It is a spiritual sleep.

His consciousness is not fully awake to the highest reality that surrounds him.

moving around with my books on the microphone.

Avidya, here we go.

has, is this, is the root is ah, which is not knowing.

Like, well, like ah is a negation.

that this misunderstanding or a misknowing of spiritual truth is the source of our suffering, is the source of the kleshas.

But then a little bit later in the text, Master Patanjali then gives a verse to describe the nature of each of those kleshas.

And in fact, Avidya is so important, he gives us two.

The first is that ignorance is the field for the others mentioned after it, whether they be dormant, feeble, intercepted, or sustained.

That is annitha.

Anirvachniyami, Advaita Vedanta they say because of Avidya that is created.

It is Anirvachanaya because it is Mithya, Sabhasatvinna.

So there is a lot of debate among these Khyati Wadis.