In Mahabharata,
we find it mentioned, 'O Desire, I know your source. You are born of thought,
therefore, I will stop thinking of you and you will then cease to exist for
me’. Krishna refers desire and anger to be all-devouring
enemies of the self.
Maitri
Upanishad points out that samsara is nothing but the aggregation of
thought-responses from senses to the mind.
Sankara says in Vivekchudamani that disengagement of the mind
is possible only when one detaches the mind from the influence of senses which
are the primary cause of the desires.
Unless desires are
disengaged from mind, no one, not even one well-versed in all scriptures, would
be eligible for deliverance. He points out significantly that the state of
being desire less should be a constant and continuous enterprise even for one
who is enlightened, considering himself only as performer of actions and not a
participant in enjoying the fruits of such performance of actions.
Karma, actions when performed with desire in mind makes the mind to get attached
to the same. It is only the discrimination of mind that makes human being
separate and distinct from the desires and the causes which go to make up the
thoughts and therefore freeing the mind from desires.
Desire sneaks
stealthily into the Mind like a burglar, unasked and uninvited, without one
being consciously aware. Elimination of desire is not denial of desire but
refusing to be influenced and being enslaved by desire.
The famous verse in
Atma Bodha has been referred to many
times by the author in so many sessions,
Avidya /
Ignorance
Ignorance
is what pervades our entire life. Because of it, though essentially born
divine, created by divinity as divine, we still get identified with the
body.
We then perform
actions to take care of this body. These become our central
preoccupation.
Kama
Karma
Very soon, we will
include actions that arise purely from the desires arising through our body
identification. Soon we are engulfed in activities, all of which may be
astounding in themselves but which do not take us a single step forward towards
God.
When our actions
are not fulfilling, we become unhappy. Another series of actions are started to
make us happy in the world. That does not succeed.
All this is because
actions are rooted in ignorance; they are conceived in ignorance, governed by
ignorance, mothered and fathered by ignorance, supported by ignorance how can
it oppose ignorance when ignorance is so rooted in it?
Knowledge
We need to turn to
something that is the ‘enemy’ of ignorance. That is knowledge. Anything that we
DO will only strengthen our ignorance.
Narada declares in Bhakti Sutras that performance of actions
with detachment for fruits of desires is the sign of complete surrender and
true renunciation.
When Krishna suggests
to Arjuna to give up all actions, (sarva
karma parityajya), it is not giving up the performance of actions but
giving up performance of actions taken up from ego-sense.
It is as Patanjali says “yoga is
restraint from all the activities of the mind” or as Katha
Upanishad suggests, “cessation
of the five sensory instruments of Knowledge together with Mind and
restraining even the intellect”.
Maitri
Upanishad refers to Mind as two-fold, impure and pure;
impure when associated with desire and pure when disassociated with desire. By
freeing mind from apathy and distraction and making it steady, one becomes
liberated of mind even here in this very life and attains supreme state.
Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad says, the object to which mind becomes attached, the
subtle self goes together with the deed attached to it. But
when man does not desire, who is without desire, who is freed from desire,
whose desire is satisfied and whose desire is his self, his breaths
do not depart and being Brahman he goes to Brahman. Therefore,
desires should be disengaged from Mind.
If, at the beginning of spiritual
journey or, even after years of bhakti
sadhana, if the mind is not able to contemplate on Brahman (desire = Self
as Brahdaranyaka Upanishad says),
then what can such a man do?? Is there no salvation for such a
person??
Swami comes to rescue such a
devotee and show him the way and says,
For, if you have got God Himself, who is the owner of this entire
universe, you will get everything along with it.
When the one who gives Bhakti and Mukti is
by your side, why do you ask for this world that is so distasteful?
One desire leads to the other. And if you think that if one
desire is fulfilled, you will be satisfied, you are mistaken.
If you fulfill one desire, another desire will arise. The best
way to satisfy the desire is to eliminate it. But if you are not able to
eliminate desires at least replace it.
Our svabhava,
true nature is love. And it is in giving love that we get love. Love does not
even seek to be loved. It just loves. The one who has tasted the bliss of love
for the Lord will find everything else tasteless.
Once you have tasted the elixir of Divine love, nothing else
will ever attract you. Therefore, seek from God: “O Lord! My tongue craves for
all kinds of tastes in this world. Give me the taste of Your love. Give me the
taste of that Divine joy, so that I shall shun all the other kinds of
distraction.” With love as the coating on you, be above the waters of the world
like the lotus flower that always looks towards the sun
Asatoma
Sadgamaya,
((from
untruth (Ego=Jiva), take us to the Truth ( Self=Brahman))
Tamasoma
Jyotirgamaya,
((from
darkness (of ignorance), take us to the light (of true knowledge))
Mrutyorma
Amrutamgamaya
(from this
nature of ephemerality, take us to immortality.)
Seek God! You will get everything. There is no better time;
there is no better opportunity than this and now. Don’t postpone it. Do it now,
here”
(Extract from divine
discourse dated 9.10.1996)
Love.
