पौर्णमास्यां यथा चन्द्र एक एवातिनिर्मलः। तेन तत्सदृशं पश्येद्द्विधादृष्टिर्विपर्ययः।।
There is only one very clear moon on the full moon night. One should perceive That (the Self) like the moon. Seeing duality is perversion.
Avadhuta Gita (Chapter 2, Verse 21)
Speaker: This one is from The Avadhuta Gita.
It says, “There is only one very clear moon on the Full Moon night. One should perceive the Self, like that moon. Seeing duality is perversion.”
The example that has been chosen to teach, is a very wise example. The moon is one, the moon is resplendent. But you never perceive the moon, as One. You keep on saying that the moon is waxing and waning, you keep on talking about the very kalas (different waxing and waning phases) of moon. You keep on saying, “This is Krishna Paksha (the period of the waning moon), this is Shukla Paksh (the period of the waxing moon).”
The moon is One, and whenever you will talk of the moon as anything except the Full Moon, then you will miss out on the brightness of the moon, because all faces of the moon, except the Full Moon face, lack in brilliance, compared to the Full Moon.
This is what happens with the human eye, and the human mind. It can never look at the Totality. It can never look at the complete picture. Due to various kinds of illusions, it keeps on seeing only parts of Reality, just as you see only parts of moon. And even on a Full Moon night, you can miss out on the moon, if there are clouds, or if you are sleepy.
Avadhuta Gita, Dattatreya, is telling us that the moon is a brilliant example, because it offers us a glimpse of the Total Self, at least periodically, at least twice a month. Once you see it in its total fullness, and once you get a glimpse of, total absence. Both are true. So it can be taken as a wonderful example.
The moon is a wonderful example, because at least sometimes, you get to see the Total. So you can say, “Here, look at ‘the Total’.” The presence of ‘the Total’ proves that what you were seeing for the last fourteen days, or for the last one month, was not true at all.
Unfortunately, in human life, we never get to see the Total. The moon is kind enough. You get a Purnima (Full Moon night) periodically, once a month. Once a month you get to see the Truth, the Totality. In human life, you only have the different parts of the Truth, and never the whole Truth itself.
Dattatreya is saying, “This human life is perversion, because in this you never get to see the Absolute, the Complete, the Total.” Only when you are living with the Total, then you are really living. Then your life is sacred, not perverted. Are you getting it?
So wise is the man, who, even by looking at half the moon, knows that the moon is One; One, Total, brilliant. Wise is the man, who, while living in the world, knows that there are things that are not visible, but are there, that there is more to living, than meets the eye. Only a fine arc might be visible, but the moon is a complete circle.
If there is nothing in your life, except that, which meets the eye, except that, which the mind can think of, then your life is very poor. And that is what is called, ‘materialism’. ‘Materialism’ is poverty itself. No materialist can ever be rich. There are only two kinds of materialists – poor and absolutely poor, because that which gives richness to life, is not material at all.
Show me how ‘Love’ and ‘Joy’ can be material. Show me how ‘Freedom’ and ‘Truth’ can be material. Show me how ‘Innocence’ and ‘Simplicity’ can be material. Show me how. But in your life, only material is present. Investigate into your life, enquire with honesty, and you will find only material, only bodies, only stuff which is the object of thought.
There is nothing of the ‘meditative’ present in your life. There is nothing of the ‘beyond’ present in your life. There is nothing, bigger than reason, present in your life. Everything in your life is logical, arranged, reasonable, explainable. There is nothing inexplicable, there is nothing outrageously unreasonable, present in your life. Whatever is there in your life, is for a cause. There is nothing uncaused, and causeless, present in your life. This is what I call as ‘material poverty’. This is the deep poverty of materialism.
When you find that there is nothing in your life, which is inexplicable, which is so preposterous that you cannot even ‘think’ of it, let alone ‘speak’ of it, then you are living a very loveless life. You simply have no touch of ‘Love’, because love does not come to those people who live and believe only in the material.
And if love is missing in your life, you should know that there is only one reason – you are very-very material, you are very reasonable. You have no guts to give yourself up. And that is why you have been punished with lovelessness.
I repeat: The moon is kind. It shows its full face, at least once a month. Life is not so kind. You will never know moon in your life, never. You will be condemned to keep picking just the fragments, just the partial, just the incomplete. That will be your punishment. All your life you will be picking just the pieces. And pieces, even if brought together, cannot become the Total. You know that, right?
The Total is not only the sum of the parts, it is bigger than that.