As long as I continue to entertain three differences, there is no idea of freedom of mind. The three differences are—this world of moving names and forms, you and I. The three ideas alone contribute to all the objects seen in this world. In Sanskrit they are called drishyam or the seen. Though they may seem like physical objects, situations and people—drishyam is our thoughts about them.
In the Patanjali Yoga Sutra, there is a beautiful aphorism that explains what is the seen and its true nature and purpose. The seen objects or drishya is composed of five elements of earth, water, fire, air and space. Any object or person we see has a combination of these five. Though that alone is the reality of objects in the world, in our hurry or ignorance when we interact with people and objects, we tend to easily overlook this fact and continue to form strong ideas and opinions about them.
The other quality of drishyam is that it has expression, movement and stillness. A thought in our mind formed out of objects, persons or situations has an expression for a few moments. When we place our attention on that thought and add emotion and feeling to it, it stays on for a long period of time. Once a thought has entered our mind and expressed itself, it does not stop there. It moves, talks and gives its own ideas. Once it has done its work, it also rests and lies dormant, only to spring up when conducive situations arise. The third property of seen objects is the five sense organs of perception—hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling and touching are its body. A sound is heard by the ears. A form is seen by the eyes. A smell is experienced through the nose. A taste is realised by the tongue and the skin perceives heat, cold or different textures.
Many of us have often had the question as to why these objects ever exist in the first place. Maharshi Patanjali says that their role in our life is to give us two things.Every thought that appears in our mind has these two reasons only for their existence. One reason is to give us an experience.
The other reason is to grant us freedom.
The person or situation appearing finally as thoughts and emotions in our mind continue to exist until we have gone through an experience. Once the lesson is learnt or the experience is completely gone through, then the same object or person can simply disappear from our lives forever.
Vashishthaji, however, says drishyam or the experience of another object, situation or person is illusory in nature. Even experiencing the threesome world, you and I are just three different thoughts locked in our minds. As long as these thoughts are experienced as two different people and the collective world comprising moving names and forms, so long there is no liberation for the mind. In crisp, brevity means that a person can immediately attain freedom of thinking if he realises that what I think is me, the other person and the world are truly one and the same entity.
(www.sharanyachaitanya.blogspot.in)