In a previous article in January 2020, the author cited the opening verse of the 15th Chapter of the Śrī Bhagavad Gītā, in which Lord Krishna uses the metaphor of an Ashvattha or Peepal tree to explain the world of creation. The Peepal tree symbolises the tree of life.
He goes on to write, “Lord Krishna says that the primary root of this tree of Saṁsāra arises from the Supreme Brahman. The roots of a tree arise from the seed. From a tiny seed, this huge Peepal tree arises. If we break this seed and see what’s in it, we will find that there’s nothing in it. Only from this nothing, the whole tree arises. What we call as nothing is in fact everything. It’s the Supreme Brahman. It’s the source of everything in this world, including ourselves. This Source is not visible to our eyes as it’s too subtle. So, to reach the Source of this tree of Saṁsāra, we have to trace it to its roots. When we reach the root and cut it off, the whole tree of Saṁsāra collapses and our life cycle comes to an end.”

Let us try to understand this tree of life further: From the seed of ignorance rises the tree of life which has its roots in the ‘I am the body’ idea. The trunk is the passion/attraction/desire, and all the other emotions form the branches. The leaves are the various karmas we generate because of the emotions. The flowers produced give rise to the seeds of rebirth. Thus, the life cycle continues.

When a tree grows, the seed cannot be seen. When the seed is there, the tree cannot be seen. So are our karmas. When you sow the seeds of karmas, you can’t see how they will grow into a tree and when they will bear fruits. When the fruits come, you cannot see the seeds which caused it. Thus, we should be careful not to sow bad seeds because when they bear fruit, we can’t see the seeds and the fruits will be many times more than the seed you had planted. Thus, we have to lead our life very carefully so as not to create more karmas in ignorance. And karmas created will give rise to fresh births.

Everyone can understand the seed but not ‘that’ from which the seed itself has arisen. It is the Self. From the Self, the seed has come. It is like how moss is formed in a pond. The moss arises from the water and covers the water completely. So too does the darkness of ignorance hide the Reality or Self from us. The Śakti from the Self (prāṇa) causes the seed to first grow into a root which is the ego and from this the trunk and the rest of the tree manifests. For everyone, they operate as the seed only and not the Self which is hidden and which is the Cause for the tree. So, we have to go back to the Source and destroy the seed of ignorance which is the source from which everything has come about — I and Mine, the five kośa-s, three guṇa-s, vāsanā-s, attachments, desires and the rest of saṁsāra. Even though we don’t see the Self which is the Source from which this tree of ego and ignorance has come about, everything is only the Self and its modifications. The Self is covered by five layers or kośa-s like the cabbage or plantain flower.

The ego, at the beginning, is like the sprout of a small banyan seed. From this, it grows into a big banyan tree over the janma-s. How to cut such a giant tree? We have to climb and first cut the top branch, then the side branches. Then the trunk must be cut little by little. Finally, the stump can be cut with an axe or a power saw and the roots too can be destroyed. But you cannot cut the whole banyan tree at the roots all of a sudden. That’s why, through a change of lifestyle and contemplation with an open mind, we have to correct our faults, conquer our emotions and reactions, and thus cut the ego little by little. Finally, it will become like a small stump; then it can be cut off fully through ātma-vicāra and meditation. But straightaway, if you try to meditate, you won’t be able to do it. Thus, a lot of preparation is required for a number of years before you succeed.

How does the tree of ego grow so big that we find it difficult to cut? When we have no work, the mind will feed on so many negative thoughts. This will only fatten the ego. When the ego becomes fat, we behave like a devil. That’s why we say that an idle mind is a devil’s workshop. So, we have to be active so that the mind will be diverted. You can do your duties, work, do sevā, study, ponder etc., but you should not remain idle. Suppose you are travelling in a train, you won’t have any work. You can’t even walk. So, you will keep eating whatever items that are sold even if they are not good, like old reheated samosas. Thus, you will only fatten the body. Similarly, without work for the mind, the ego will only get fattened. The ego which is like a small plant when you are young, grows into a big tree and thus it will be difficult to cut it off. So, we should try to overcome it when it is still small by listening to our elders, parents and Guru and by correcting our faults. The ego is like a small snake initially but it will grow into an anaconda later on if we do not check it.

Thus, we should develop the right understanding of the nature of this phenomenal world and strive to overcome all our attractions which occur due to the power of Māyā through enquiry and discrimination. Also, we should alertly overcome all the negativities that arise in the mind through enquiry and prayers so that the ego is progressively destroyed. How can we dehypnotise ourselves from the worldly attractions and come out of their clutches?

We have to first know about the true nature of the world as only a projection of the mind. It is like how the film is projected on a screen. The pictures are unreal while the screen alone is real. The screen was there in the beginning, in the middle and in the end also. The pictures come and go, but due to the power of Māyā, we think that they are real and get attached to it. When an ordinary film show can attract and hold us for three hours, imagine what this phenomenal world which is only another film show can do to us? The film show we see in the theatres is only two dimensional or three dimensional. But its impact is so great that we take the reel to be real and get so involved with it. Whereas the pictures of the world projected on the screen of the Self are seen by us through five dimensions or five senses. How much more powerful will their impact be on the mind? That’s why we think that the world is real as it is so captivating or deluding.

So, we have to understand the unreal nature of the world and try to overcome its pull through repeated enquiry and understanding. Every time we are attracted to the objects, we have to remind ourselves of their unreal nature and withdraw the mind from them. It doesn’t mean that we don’t buy anything in the world. We can surely buy whatever we need for our life. But we should not give room for undue desires and get bound to them. Withdrawing the mind from the world is called vairāgya or detachment. Also, we have to surrender to the Lord and pray. This is the way to loosen the grip of the world on the mind. Then over a period of time, the mind running into the world will slow down and this is when our real spiritual practice can commence. Also, we should overcome all our faults, reactions and negative emotions through enquiry and prayers and make the mind pure and ego-free.

We have so far learnt about the unreal nature of the manifested world. And for the manifested world, the source lies in the Self or the pure consciousness. If we want to end our life cycle, we have to go to the source of this tree of saṁsāra and cut it at its roots. It means we have to shift the focus of our attention from the objects of the world to the subject or substratum which is the Self. But is it possible for us to go to the source of the world which is invisible to our eyes?

We cannot go to the root or source of the world by projecting the mind externally just as Brahma did and failed. We have to only follow the way of MahāViṣṇu who went inwards and succeeded through sādhana and surrender. This is the story of the Arunachala given in the ancient scripture, Śrī Aruṇācala Māhātmyam. When Brahma projected his mind outside, he only increased his ego and started lying. Whereas, MahāViṣṇu when he went inwards, his ego began to reduce and he became humble. He could then surrender to the Lord fully and reach the source within.

Thus, we have to internalise our mind and go inwards towards our Source and cut off the ego at its roots. Then our whole tree of saṁsāra will come to a permanent end. This is the most important sādhana which we have to undertake which Bhagawan calls ātma-vicāra or Self-enquiry.

Each of us have our own tree of life whose source is within us. All these trees have arisen from the same Source which is the Self or pure consciousness. At the periphery, all the trees may appear to be different. But at the level of the source, they are all ONE. All these different trees are mere appearances or superimpositions on the screen of the Self. These diversities are all unreal and mere pictures passing on the screen of the Self which is unmoving and permanent. Suppose we see everybody as different from us by seeing their caste, creed, religion, wealth, social status, appearance, colour etc., or if we see that all of us are ONE at the core, which of these two perceptions will give us greater happiness? Will considering everybody as different and apart from us give us happiness or considering everybody as ONE with us will give us happiness? Only considering all as ONE will undoubtedly give us greater happiness!

Thus, we have to go away from the periphery where all the differences lie and learn to see at the level of the core or source where all are one. Dvaita bhāvam will always give misery whereas the Advaita bhāvam will give us true and lasting happiness. That’s why the great poetess Avvaiyar says in one of her poems that seeing ‘all as one is true seeing’. One who sees thus is a true Mahatma. This state of oneness is our true state or our natural state of being. It is our real and permanent state. All other states of existence are unreal and transient. It is like the difference between the waves and the ocean. The waves are many and different and exist at the periphery. At the level of the wave, everything is different but at the level of the water, everything is one. At the level of the wave there will be only ups and downs, happiness and misery. The wave that gives happiness initially will also give misery when it pulls your feet into the water. But at the level of the water deep inside, there is always steady peace. The wave is only a transient state but the water is a permanent state. Thus, only by abiding in the permanent and natural state, can we get lasting peace and happiness.

Thus, we should not stagnate at the periphery where differences exist but discover and abide at the core where all are one. The core is the real and permanent state. And we will never find lasting happiness in transient states. That’s why we are constantly seeking happiness in life as whatever happiness we get in the world does not last. After some time, the happiness vanishes, and we are back to our normal state of unhappiness. This is because we are seeking happiness in the wrong place, in the world of transient objects. When we realise that the happiness we get from the objects of the world are only short-lived, and the source of supreme and permanent happiness is only within us, then true vairāgya will develop in us. Then we will try to internalise our mind and seek our own Self. This will take us to our source and we will be able to unite with it and experience supreme Bliss which will liberate us from the cycle of birth and death once and for all.

In the world there is only duality and it cannot give us true happiness which comes only through non-duality. Therefore, if we ponder and understand the true nature of the world which is only a product of Māyā, we will no longer be enchanted by the world as we know it to be only a mental projection. What is important is to see the underlying reality which is the Brahman upon which the whole world of creation has been projected by the power of Māyā. When we realise this, we will be able to distance our mind from the world and instead turn within towards our own source which is the seat of all happiness and knowledge.

Our real nature is sat-cit-ānand. Reaching this state, we will be able to unite and become ONE with the Supreme Self which exists as our Ātma in our own Heart. It is like the river merging into the ocean and losing its individuality and attaining its original state. Similarly, we too have to end our individuality and differences and reach our original state of oneness with the Supreme Being. For this, we have to go inwards and cut off all the roots that bind us to this world. It means we have to cut off all our attachments in the world which are like ropes with which we tie ourselves to the world. This is the vairagya we have to develop. This vairāgya comes only through vivēka or discrimination between the real and the unreal. After developing vairāgya or non-attachment, we have to internalise the mind and seek our Source within. This is done through Self-enquiry which is to ask oneself the question ‘Who am I?’ Through the sādhana of Self-enquiry, we will be able to take the mind inwards through what is known as the paranadi and cut off the primal root which ties us to this world. This primal root is the Ego. When the ego is cut off at the roots, the whole tree of life collapses and we will become one with the Self and regain our original nature. This union will end our life cycle once and for all and we will return no more to birth. We will also attain supreme happiness or Bliss which is the nature of the Self. This is the supreme goal of life for all. And we are born again and again only to achieve this grand goal of life. Till we achieve this goal, we have to come again and again to this world of impermanence and misery.

May Arunachala and Bhagawan help us to strengthen our mind and understanding and to strive hard in the path without any slackness! May we all achieve the goal of life in this very birth and never come back!

Courtesy: Mountain Path