| |
we go, it goes with us; it travels with us to hell as well as to heaven; it stands by us in sin as well as in virtue. It is not right to say that it stands by us, because even in standing by there is some distance. Actually our being and its being are one and the same thing.
If this is true, then it is a great miracle in the world that we have lost our own selves -- which sounds impossible. How can one lose one's own self? It is not possible even to lose our shadow, and we have lost our souls. How it is possible? But this has happened. How this losing of the self takes place -- that is the essence of this sutra. Before we enter into the sutra, let us understand its basic foundations.
Eyes have a limit of vision, a range. If an object is beyond that range the eyes cannot see it. If an object is within that range but too far to either side, then too the eyes cannot see it. Eyes have a range of vision. A thing brought too close to the eyes cannot be seen and taken too far away it also cannot be seen. Beyond either side of a certain range of vision the eyes cannot see -- they are then blind. Now, you are so near yourself that you are not only near the eyes but you are behind them. And that is the problem.
Let us understand it this way. If you are standing before a mirror, at a certain distance your image is very clear. If you move too far away from the mirror there will be no image. If you come too close to the mirror, so much so that you put your eyes against it, then you cannot see your image at all. But here the situation is that you are standing behind the mirror; thus there is no possibility of there being any image of you in the mirror -- the eyes are in the front and you are behind them.
Eyes see that which is in front of them. How are the eyes to see that which is behind them? Ears hear that which is outside the ears. How are the ears to hear that which is within the ears? Eyes open outwards, ears also open outwards. I can touch you, but how can I touch myself? And even if I am able to touch my body, it is just because I am not the body -- the body too is the other, hence I am able to touch it. But how can I touch the one that I am,
|
|
|