This snowy morning
that black crow
I hate so much . . .
But he’s beautiful!

We live in a world full of pairs of opposites: birth and death, joy and sorrow, victory and defeat, likes and dislikes, insult and praise, good and evil, and so on. In each pair, one cannot exist without the other. That is why if a child laughs too much, it is told to stop, otherwise it will have to cry. It is as if one member of the pair has to be inevitably balanced by the other. The world of dualities constitutes our picture of reality, which is based on sensory perception. It is also called phenomenal reality, because it consists of phenomena, or events. Each event has a beginning and an end. The end is the opposite of the beginning. However, behind and above the phenomenal reality is the Absolute Reality, or Brahman. Brahaman has always been there, and will always be there. It has no beginning and no end.

Therefore the Absolute Reality is free of dualities. The attributes of Brahman include bliss (ananda). Bliss has no opposite. That is why, it is not possible to be in a state of perpetual happiness, but perpetual bliss is a possibility. Happiness has a beginning, and one day it will end in its opposite, sorrow. An average man is always shuttling between these pairs of opposites – sometimes happy, sometimes unhappy. Supreme wisdom makes a man one with his true Self, which is the Brahman. Such a man is above dualities, and is in a state of perpetual bliss. He is neither infected nor affected by the opposites of life. Total mastery over the dualities of life is responsible for his uninterrupted bliss. Bliss cannot be interrupted by its opposite because it has no opposite. If you look at a picture of Ganesha, you will find that his elephant head has two tusks, one of which is broken. The two tusks represent dualities, and the broken tusk symbolizes that Ganesha is above all dualities.