By accepting karma theory one is accepting the false self, as real self, and
world as reality, therefore there is no need for Self-inquiry “Who am ‘I’ “,
because one has accepted the present
physical identity and world as reality.
Self-inquiry makes one realize the fact that self is not the body. After
knowing the fact that self is not the body, then it is erroneous to think again
as the body as self, and holding the body based theories as reality. Thus karma theory becomes a biggest obstacle
in the path of inquiry and truth, because it does not allow the seeker to cross
the threshold of duality.
The physical body
and the world which exist only in waking or dream or duality are impermanent and
illusory in nature, because they appear and disappear as mind. The soul which
is the formless substance and witness of the duality is permanent. Therefore,
whatever is seen known and believed and experienced as real within the waking
also is as real as dream.
Adi Sankaracharya
says in Aparokshanubhuti:-
88. When the whole
universe, movable and immovable, is known to be Atman, and thus the existence
of everything else is negated, where is then any room to say that the body is
Atman?
89. O enlightened
one; pass your time always contemplating on Atman while you are experiencing
all the results of Prarabdha; for it ill becomes you to feel distressed.
90. The theory one hears of from the scripture, that
Prarabdha does not lose its hold upon one even after the origination of the
knowledge of Atman, is now being refuted.
91. After the origination of the knowledge of Reality,
Prarabdha verily ceases to exist, inasmuch as the body and the like become
non-existent; just as a dream does not exist on waking.
92. That Karma which is done in a previous life is known as
Prarabdha (which produces the present life). But such Karma cannot take the
place of Prarabdha (for a man of knowledge), as he has no other birth (being
free from ego).
93. Just as the body in a dream is superimposed (and
therefore illusory), so is also this body. How could there be any birth of the
superimposed (body), and in the absence of birth (of the body) where is the
room for that (i.e., Prarabdha) at all?
94. The Vedanta texts declare ignorance to be verily the
material (cause) of the phenomenal world just as earth is of a jar. That
(ignorance) being destroyed, where can the universe subsist?
95. Just as a person
out of confusion perceives only the snake leaving aside the rope, so does an
ignorant person see only the phenomenal world without knowing the reality?
96. The real
nature of the rope being known, the appearance of the snake no longer persists;
so the substratum being known, the phenomenal world disappears completely.
97. The body
also being within the phenomenal world (and therefore unreal), how could
Prarabdha exist? It is, therefore, for the understanding of the ignorant alone
that the Shruti speaks of Prarabdha.
98. “And all the actions of a man perish
when he realizes that (Atman) which is both the higher and the lower”. Here the
clear use of the plural by the Shruti is to negate Prarabdha as well.
99. If the
ignorant still arbitrarily maintain this, they will not only involve themselves
into two absurdities but will also run the risk of forgoing the Vedantic
conclusion. So one should accept those Shrutis alone from which proceeds true
knowledge.
The above proves that the karma is reality only on the base
of false self, where one thinks body and the universe as reality. When one
becomes aware of the fact that, the true self is formless soul, then the karma
becomes part and parcel of illusion. My
point is that, if one accepts the karma theory as reality, he will never be
able to come out of the ignorance. And ignorance makes him believe the cycle of
birth, life and death as reality. Thus
the freedom which one is seeking will remain distant dream. For the one who
accepts the birth life and death as reality, Self-knowledge is impossible.
Thus
it is necessary for the seeker of truth to know the fact that, the body which
is born, lives and dies is not the self. Since he is taking the body to be the
self, he is experiencing the duality as reality.
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