Corruptions Part 2

You are awesome, you've just forgotten.

That is how I like to sum up Avidya. As I mentioned last week I like to break Avidya, ignorance, into two parts. One is material ignorance the other spiritual ignorance. The fact that you've forgotten that you're awesome is both because of avidya and is avidya itself.

Watch u talkin' bout John? Avidya, at it's core, is a state in which our being has been severed from a state of divinity. The reason is largely because of our senses and the role they play in keeping the spirit in a state anchored down by base desires.

Avidya, as a verb, is the mind, having been influenced by these desires, behaving in a way that will keep it from liberation and once again communing with the divine. This is not unlike material ignorance but deals directly with our relationship with the divine as opposed to a lack of knowledge that keeps us bound to a loop of suffering.

This philosophy is deep and well established in the vedic canon. The good thing is that the corrupting forces, Avidya being the first, is the first step in understanding how Karma works. Well, sort of!!