It is the experience of most of us that our lives are a series of perceptions and responses to the external world. Our response depends upon our vision and understanding of life, and our value system. The Bhagvad Gita differentiates between the type of vision that leads to happiness and freedom, and the kind that leads to bondage.
Sattvic Vision: With the noblest or Sattvic vision of life, we see the one indestructible reality in all beings, irrespective of their names, qualities, and characteristics. However, the world viewed through our senses appears totally different; no two objects are identical. How is it possible to see the one Truth or the Oneness of all beings?
Rajasic Vision: The mediocre or Rajasic vision is one by which we see all things and beings as different from each other. When attention is focused on differences and numerous dissimilarities are detected, it moulds one’s attitude towards other religions, cultures in a negative way. A vision of Oneness brings about integration, and a vision of differences creates more and more divisions.
We see this happening all the time in our families and with people. It gradually starts as a simple difference of opinion between husband and wife, two friends or two communities. Two brothers clash for a greater share in the property, forgetting that they belong to the same family. Once the vision of Oneness is lost, differences are perceived, which create conflicts, generating more and more likes and dislikes, disturbing peace and joy.
Tamasic Vision: This is a very low kind of vision in which a person gets fanatically and exclusively attached to just one thing, person, experience, or ideology. This little finite attachment is taken for the ‘whole’. Some people are greedy for money, while others are fanatical about power or pleasure in life. When people give exclusive importance to just one of the many things of this world, they appear to be successful in that particular field, but their life on the whole is miserable, because everything else is neglected. A person with Tamasic vision can never live in peace and happiness.
Love is different from the general understanding of it. Just take the example of our body. Though I see the many parts in the body, I have the vision, ‘In all these parts there is but one Truth, that is myself, present everywhere in all of them.’ Therefore I have equal love for every part of my body. I don’t say, “I will only look after my head when it is unwell, but if something happens to my foot, that’s not my problem!” I am ever ready to serve all the parts of my body with total dedication and love.
When we hate someone else, we actually hate ourselves, because that someone else is really not different from us. We are all one as everyone of us is enlivened by the same indwelling Spirit. Imagine what the state of mind of a person whose heart is filled with this kind of love, compassion and kindness, would be? Doubtless, it cannot be any different from total happiness and freedom!
