‘Darkness of Night’ & ‘Darkness of Mind’

Have you ever wondered why there is ‘Darkness at Night’? The reason is that the side of the Earth on which we live, rotates at night away from the Sun & sunlight is not reaching the part of earth on which we live. At mid night, no direct light of Sun reaches the part of earth on which we live, so we do not see light at night & always remain in darkness.

Darkness is nothing but absence of light. You just lit a candle & darkness is gone. Darkness is just the absence of light & it has no real existence. Once a person saw in the dark that there is a snake in the room but on switching on the light, it turned out to be a rope only. So believing something to be something else is called ignorance. The person believing the rope to be a snake, was an ignorant person.

Same is with the philosophical truth of God & this world. As per the scriptures, God is the truth & has created this universe. He sit's in an invisible way in every nook & corner of the universe. This outer visible world is His creation, while He is there within this world in an invisible way. This whole world is changing all the time, while God is constant, & changeless. So to know God, we need to go beyond the thinking of this changing world.

Here below is a mantra / prayer from Upanishad which asks the God to take us from darkness of untruth which is enveloping our minds to reality of truth (God).

ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय ।
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।
मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

Om Asato Ma Sad-Gamya |
Tamaso Ma Jyotir-Gamya |
Mrtyor-Ma Amritam Gamya |
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti ||

Om Asato Ma Sad-Gamya - O Lord, Take me from untruth to Truth! Take me from Transitory Existence to the Reality (of Self, of God), The Truth is eternal and immortal.

Tamaso Ma Jyotir-Gamya - O Lord, Lead me from the Darkness (of Ignorance) to the Light (of Spiritual Knowledge), There lies the light of wisdom. Tamas is the darkness. Jyoti is the light. With light, darkness is dispelled. Darkness is death. The light is Truth, Bliss, Peace. The light is eternal.

Mrtyor-Ma Amritam Gamya - O Lord, Lead me from Death to the Immortality through purity of purpose.

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti - O Lord, Let there be Peace, Peace, Peace.

But why it is so, that we cling to this visible world only & just forget the invisible God, who is the creator of this world. It is due to our ignorance only. In philosophy, it is said that we are clinging to Maya (visible world) & ignoring the God who is the real thing. So that's why, it is said that we should not cling to the unreal, untruth (Maya) & should turn our mind towards the God, who is the only reality & truth. Just like alighting a small lamp eats away all the darkness in the room, so just by illumining your intellect with the knowledge, shall lead you to the truth of God.

Now, why do we fall in to ignorance? It is all due to the Nature born "TamoGun" (mode of ignorance) which we put into practice in our lives. "Tamas" or "Tamo Gunn" is the mode of Nature which is responsible for ignorance, delusion, indolence, laziness and sleep in a person. We should not fall a pray to this "TamoGun".
Now here below is a verse from Bhagwat Gita which also tells us that in this whole creation, unreal has no existence, and the real (God) never ceases to be, So we should always turn our mind towards the God who is the only reality & truth.

"na-asato vidyate bhavo
nabhavo vidyate satah
ubhayor api drsto ’ntas
tv anayos tattva-darshibhih" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 16)

"Sri Krishna said to Arjuna : The unreal has no existence, and the real never ceases to be; the reality of both has thus been perceived by the seekers of the truth.

So let’s seek truth by praying regularly to God. By such praying, God shall enlighten our mind & thinking by which real truth about this world & God shall reveal to us.



Jai Sri Krishna

Why can’t we see Sun Light in night?

We see the Sun during the day & its rays lit the whole world during the daytime. We are not able to see the Sun at night.  The reason being that the side of the Earth which we are on, has rotated so that it is facing away from the Sun (into space). At night we have turned our-self opposite to the Sun i.e. earth has moved in such a way that at night, Sun is in opposite direction to us. In simple terms, if we divide the Earth into 2 halves, then at any point of time, one half of the earth sees the Sun while the other half sees the Moon / night / darkness. We all know that the earth takes 24 hrs. to complete one rotation along its own axis. So, if we see, it’s hardly 12 hrs. between the sunrise and the sunset. So we go into the other half of the earth during night and vice versa. At mid night, no direct light of Sun reaches the night side, so we do not see light at night & always remain in darkness.

Here above we have seen that at night, as we are not facing the Sun & as we have moved away from it, then we are not able to see & there is darkness everywhere. Same is the case with God. When we turn away from Him then we are not able to see Him & get His light, wisdom & grace. In our real life, we all have become so busy in our life that we have turned our face away from God. All miseries of our life are only due to that only that we have turned our face away from the God & are living in the dark night of Maya. As soon as, we turn our face towards the God then we are able to see Him & He starts showing his mercy upon us. It is our fault only that we have turned our face, mind away from God, while God is always around us shining like a Sun.

So, O Lord, Lead us away from the Darkness (of Ignorance) to the Light (of Spiritual Knowledge). O Lord, in You, there lies the light of wisdom. Tamas is the darkness. Jyoti is the light. With light, darkness is dispelled. Darkness is death. The light is Truth, Bliss and Peace. The light is eternal. So Lord pl. bless all of us with your bliss.

Below are few verses of Bhagwat Gita which tells that if a devotee turns to the God, then He too turns toward His devotee & always fulfills their desires & always protects them:

"tesam jnani nitya-yukta
eka-bhaktir visisyate
priyo hi jnanino ’tyartham
aham sa cha mama priyah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Seven verse 17)

"Sri Krishna said to Arjuna: Of these, the one who is in full knowledge and who is always engaged in pure devotional service is the best. For I am very dear to him, and he is dear to Me."

"purushah sa parah partha
bhaktya labhyas tv ananyaya
yasyantah-sthani bhutani
yena sarvam idam tatam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Eight verse 22)

"Sri Krishna said to Arjuna: The Lord / God, who is greater than all, is attainable by unalloyed devotion. Although He is present in His abode, He is all-pervading, and everything is situated within Him."

So let's have full devotion towards God. "Once the mind of a person is full of surrender to the lotus feet of God & the mind is full of hankering after Lord's qualities, then that person never encounter Yamarâja (Lord of death) and his superintendents, or even in one's dreams meet his servants carrying the ropes to bind, because doing such Devotional service to Lord is the right atonement for all sins." Let’s all turn our face to God & get his mercy. Let Lord Krishna bless all of us.

Jai Shri Krishna