Lighting the lamp as a symbolic gesture is a part of every conceivable Indian festival or prayer routine. Every time I gaze at this innocuous corner of my house, many useful insights develop. The comparisons run deep between this seemingly mundane act & evolutionary progress.
A lit lamp is like a liberated person. The lamp can light other lamps - the enlightened one can guide others!
It doesn't matter how bright the lamp shines - as long as it's lit. The brighter it shines, the farther the light can be seen. Similarly, some liberated individuals shine bright enough for their fame to spread across continents & gather many disciples. On the other hand, some are so dimly lit that not even their neighbours or family are aware of their status! Never the less, they're all the same - dispellers of ignorance (darkness).
The oil used to feed the light is like karma or un-fulfilled desires. It has to get exhausted. Sometimes, before the entire oil is exhausted, the light gets extinguished & has to be re-kindled. Similarly, if a person dies with desires unsatiated, he'll be reborn again & again till there is none left.
The wick that bears the fire is like the body-mind complex. Only when suitably conditioned can it light up. When the winds of ignorance or the dirt of desires clouds the wick, darkness again engulfs the lamp! For a jeevan-mukta, the wick burns to ashes, emptying the oil at the end of life.
Perhaps a poem would've done justice to this, but I don't feel like being a poet now :). Though this analogy holds on many aspects as above, any sampling of the infinite is bound to be finite & incomplete.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Kedar here!
Super post! I am very very interested in the symbolism our culture and tradition exhibits. Actually, every gesture-- even the "namaskaara mudra" formed by joining the 2 palms has a deeper meaning.
Everything in ancient life had a deep symbolic meaning - simple things were constant reminders of the purpose of existence. Unfortunately, today what cannot be understood is simply dismissed as superstition! Truly, this is the age when senses control the perception of reality!
Every religion in the ancient past that was based on nature worhip developed a natural equilibrium with the surroundings.
Its the later "my-way-is-the-only-way" kind of religions that makes these seem superstitious.
Good post, cheers!
The oil burns as the prarabdha, which also doesn't exist for a jeevanmukta. When you mention the brightness of the lamp's shine, I'm not sure if you're talking of levels of enlightenment. There really aren't levels of liberation, although Tripura rahasya does talk of it as stages, so to say.
Yes, its true that many a things that had deeper meaning have got lost in the name of superstition. Namaskaara is bowing to the (seemingly individual) soul in others, while things such as kumkum on the forehead was meant to remind oneself of the third eye or had meditative meaning.
Hey Praveen!
Prarabdha is like an arrow discharged - it has to hit its target. It exists for the body of the jeevanmukta, but he doesn't identify with the body anymore due to lack of mind. Agantuka karma of course is absent for jeevanmukta. His sanchita karma gets distributed to others who come in contact with him - not sure though.
The brightness is immaterial, all that matters is that the lamp is lit. Brightness matters for the followers - just like some bright lamps are seen from far away by many, some jeevanmuktas attract many more followers!
Agreed of praarabdha (actually, one can say that the praarabdha exists for the jeevanmukta's body from the perspective of onlookers only). Sanchita can't get distributed; for that matter, no karma can go from one to the other!
Post a Comment