Ignorance Or Avidya!

When does ignorance begin for a human being?

Ignorance begins the moment he is born. Imagine the jivatma trapped inside the body has to see everyone around calling out funny names and making faces when the body comes out of the womb. He, who has no name is called by some name. Then the process of ignorance begins.

Water when poured or bottled inside a container is called by some name which is imprinted on the container. Do you think that water had a name? Now comes the price for it. The qualities associated with it.

Just the same way our bodies have qualities like color and shape and size and all other appendages which makes the world believe that I am that which you can see. Though the jivatama is self effulgent and all knowing we teach it our methods of living further making it a jailed bird. The bondage increases when it is told about the various relatives it has like mother, father, brother, sister, etc. Then comes the school where it is taught the methods of living in this jail called human life. Learning human methods is actually making it go further from the truth it always knew. The books from school and then college. The teachers there and the world around.

He learns false knowledge and unlearns that which he knew so well. Thinking that he is the body that he has been given, he takes on false pride of race, society, nation, caste, creed and every other thing the body is associated with. He gets to meet other ignorant ones like himself and falls into further trap of getting married. Acquiring possessions becomes a past time for him. he wants to own everything around him. His desires take wings and he becomes a machine which loves money, greed, passion, anger, lust and so on. He thinks that now is the time to make another one like himself and catches another poor hapless soul into the net spread in the form of a child. He becomes a father and then starts the process of making another jivatma ignorant.

Avidya is all that we learn in this world about ourselves and the world around us. Everything is a creation of maya and is unreal but we see it and know about it through our senses so we believe in it. To overcome this we have to learn about our divine and true nature.

This starts his journey into the realm of the unknown called knowing himself.

He takes up this task by reading books which talk of such things and he wants to find someone who knows about the true self. He is in search of the Guru.

This doesn't work the way it is understood here.

You can never start on any journey or find some guru for yourself on your own.

That which is required at the outset is called the Grace of God or the Self!

Only when the Self wants to reveal itself, it will do that. So first God gives you the power to start the process of unveiling yourself by means of the urge to decipher the secret. This opening of the door leads us to reading or trying to find out about the unknown Self. Our journey begins here into the world of Dnyana or mundane knowledge. The lost one starts to read up on stuff about itself online or some texts which talk about it.

He may keep on learning this for years and lives till the great God Himself sends His own representative to you. Only He can do that- send you the true knower of the Self. Think, only a knower can tell you about the Self, right? Only if you have eaten a dragon fruit can you tell someone else about it so also this One who has known the Self can take you through the paces to meet your true Self.

So when you throw the mundane knowledge away to experience the true Self, this true knowledge is called Vidnyana or Supreme Knowledge.

Only the Self can reveal itself hence it is called Self- realization or Knowing Your Self!

When you know the Self, you have uncovered Avidya and Dnyana and Vidnyana.

Know the Self cannot talk about itself hence there are no books about it so its no use trying to find about the Self through some texts or ignorant people.

Just know You are the true Self and unravel yourself. But then again you gotta wait for the Lord Himself to appear to tell you that. Such a sorry state we all are in! Hope the grace descends upon us, we can only pray! Hope that in this life itself He gives us that key and sends us the Guide too.