Hari bhajanaa vina kaal: Part 3

 

दोरीच्या सापा भिवुनी भवा ।
भेटी नाही जिवा-शिवा ।
अंतरीचा ज्ञानदिवा मालवू नको रे ॥२॥

Dorichyaa saapaa bhivuni bhavaa 

Bheti naahi jeevaa Shivaa

Dori = rope

Saap = snake

Dorichyaa saapaa = snake made of rope( fake snake)

Bhivuni = frightened 

Bhavaa = of the world, of mortality 

Bheti = meeting

Naahi= no

Jeevaa= for soul 

Shivaa= for God

Due to the fright for of the world or mortality due to mistaking a rope for a snake, there is no chance of the soul to meet God.

Sohiroba has used the metaphor of snake and rope to describe our mis-perception of the world as well as misperception of our real self. Our minds are burdened with the dread of the world around us like one would react to the sight of a snake.

It could also be interpreted as fear of death.

Perhaps the most common cause for fear is Fear of the Unknown! What is familiar to us we are not easily afraid of.

Each of us lives in a small world within the larger world. It comprises of the people, places and things we have known through our lives. It is funny that we are attached to our surroundings, and those we identify as our people, but when we step outside these boundaries we are stepping out of our comfort zone. We don’t accept anything outside of our immediate world. We don’t easily warm up to strangers. We are cautious to walk alone in a new place. Or even to touch an object we have never seen before. This is the “outside“ world for us. We are afraid of it because it is foreign to us. This fear makes us keep a distance from it initially. What is worse, our mind often does not simply accept the fact “I don’t know”. It conjures up things, ideas, images to describe something that it knows nothing about. With such clouded, misguided vision we set out to see the world. 

I’m reminded of an old song I love.

 Sansaar se bhaage phirte ho

Bhagwaan ko tum kyaa paaoge 

Isa loka ko bhi apnaa na sake

Us loka mein bhi pachhtaaoge

You turn your back on the world, how can you meet God? When you are not even able to accept this world and it’s people, you will only have regrets in the next world/ life you attain.

 The world is just an extension of creation of which we are an integral part. Until and unless we muster the courage to move closer, examine and understand that which is foreign to us, we will not overcome our ignorance of it. Strangers become friends once they realize they have things in common and they have no intention to cause harm to the other. 

The world can do us no harm if we recognize its real nature. Once the divine reality within and without us becomes evident the world ceases to pose a threat. Like one would immediately feel relieved to know that what they feared was a snake is actually a rope, similarly the outlook changes once we see the oneness of all creation. 

Conversely, until the last traces of ignorance in our minds about the real nature of things is removed, there is no chance of the seeker in us meeting the divinity or creator face to face. Bheti naahi Jeevaa Shivaa seems to be a very painful predicament. Like a child lost in a crowd, searching hopelessly for the mother! 

This particular scenario is deliberately shown by Sohiroba to direct a seeker into the preparations that are needed to receive spiritual knowledge.

 The ultimate realization of the unison of the individual soul with the universal power will be impossible until ignorance is wiped out, and until existential fear is eradicated. The intellect must be purified to understand the subtle truth. The mirror of the mind must be wiped clean to see our real face! 

Let us now consider the statement as referring to fear of death instead of fear of the world. Mind is fearful of disease and even more so of death. That fear stems from the basic misconception of who we are. The snake in the metaphor refers to our identification with the destructible body. The rope is the real nature of our soul which the Vedas describe as sat-chit-anand or truth-consciousness-bliss which is eternal and infinite. In the very early verses of the Bhagwad Gita ( chapter 2 verses 18-25) Shri Krishna describes the indestructible nature of this soul. It can’t be cut with weapons, moistened by water, burned by fire, or dried by the wind ! It is neither born nor ever dies! Once you know this there remains nothing to lose and nothing to fear. What’s more? You realize that the soul and God are one. Or soul meets God face to face! 

अंतरीचा ज्ञानदिवा मालवू नको रे ॥२॥ To be continued in the next post.

Saree is a cotton from Bengal with floral jamdani design on the pallu and small jamdani buttis on the body. Paired with a Sambalpuri ikat blouse in a color to match the borders.