little-self

ls workshop) Quest In Reality………-160
Umeshwari Take the life of a barren woman.
Shantnu Even a barren woman can satisfy her unfulfilled desire by adopting a child. But a man whose very ambition in life is to acquire more and more---though honestly he knows that as he goes on accomplishing more, yet more ambitions take root. Those who venture know conquering one country/object is not the end in itself. They go on conquering to acquire more and more territories/objects, as their supposed happiness, of fulfilling their initial goal of winning the first territory/object, does not last long, he realizes there are still other countries/objects waiting to be possessed!. Perhaps by winning them, he could feel happy and his goal in life would be achieved! Nay, my dear, at the very end of his journey, he realizes the futility of all his bother. He had not conquered life, the very principle of life and death! So he was not a real conqueror, though he won battles, wars, in the fields and in the process he killed lacks of people. He was the master of their lands and lives, but when his end is imminent, he is forced to look anew.
Same way, lust is also an obsession. By quenching it, it grows more and in its mad fulfillment, we keep on indulging in sensuality. At long last our physical prowess begins to sag, but we have not been able to satisfy it. To see its logical end, we venture out and out. Physique deserts us as its fulfillment was not in the bodies we craved for and indulged in, but in our self. Had it been in beautiful bodies, those bodies would have given us happiness and satisfied the lust to its logical end!
But alas! It was not so, we are as lust hungry as we were.
Umeshwari Then its place is in mind and not in the body.
Shantnu For the time being, we may assume so. Even now, I may be caressing your beautiful body but while talking, our bodies assume secondary role.
Umeshwari I can’t bear that. It mean I am being ignored (She said mockingly).
Shantnu No, you are not being ignored. You are not your body, not at the moment any way. Madam, whichever faculty we assert, we become that by engrossing ourselves completely in the fulfillment of its demands. At the moment my faculty of ‘knowledge’ is awakened so I am engrossed in that and I am not consciously aware of my body or even of yours. You become what you want to be. But commands do not originate from our sense organs or senses. Were it so, we would satisfy them easily. If the cause of my lust had been my manhood, I would satisfy it easily, as I have had many a charming offers from beautiful damsels! But madam, after the ‘act’ the body goes limp, and I won’t be happy! I know my happiness lies somewhere else, not in the limbs of my body.
Umeshwari But, I know, where my happiness lies, I do know that happiness is a state of mind. But my dear, we also feel joy and zoom in ecstasy, when we observe a beautiful scene in nature.
Shantnu You should also have observed beauty of the scene does not lie in the chaste waters of a lake, branches of trees or blooming flowers alone. But it is the expression of the whole scene. When all the elements in nature meet in balanced proportions and create balance in its elements, the results are devastatingly beautiful. And beauty is joy. Same way, when senses create balance in man, joy blossoms inside. And it is their joy that make us aware of the joy outside. Suppose if we are in bad shape, our senses would be tainted, and would we have the same feeling of joy?
Umeshwari No. But tell me, if we observe the same scene again and again, would we have feelings of joy every time?
Shantnu Why not? But it all depends upon our state of mind. About mind, we discuss later. If our senses are in harmony, music will spring out of the hearts of flowers, green leaves, swinging trees and still-waters of the lake. Even birds flying in unison and seem part of the scene.
Umeshwari Then, these are the senses, which have to be in normal condition. But now I realize the difference between you and me. You say, happiness or joy comes from the balanced co-ordination of elements or normal senses. It means that scene observed sends immediate impressions to the mind via our senses and we feel joy. First we create joy feelings in us, only then we feel joy, not by observing an outside scene or by participating in a scene by creating a scene in my mind without involving my senses.
Shantnu But my girl there is a difference between a live scene and a super-imposed scene.
Umeshwari I super-impose nothing. I simply create similar scene in my imagination and have joy feelings.
Shantnu how would you know, the feelings are really of joy, unless you have experienced them practically. We are living in a physical world, which is of images but composed of solid objects. The joy feeling experienced from their contact would be different than coming from your images.
Umeshwari But ascetics do experience joy, without coming into contact with nature or its scenes.
Shantnu Their way also goes through senses. They also tread the same paths of pleasure, joy, and bliss.
Tbc…..