Verse 4
नलिनीदलगतजलमतितरलं तद्वज्जीवितमतिशयचपलम् ।
विद्धि
व्याध्यभिमानग्रस्तं लोकं शोकहतं च समस्तम् ॥४॥
nalinīdalagata
jalamatitaralaṁ
tadvajjīvitamatiśayacapalam |
viddhi vyādhyabhimānagrastaṁ
lokaṁ śokahataṁ ca samastam || 4
tadvajjīvitamatiśayacapalam |
viddhi vyādhyabhimānagrastaṁ
lokaṁ śokahataṁ ca samastam || 4
(The
water-drop playing on a lotus petal has an extremely uncertain existence. So
also, is life ever unstable. Understand it to be consumed by disease and
conceit; and this entire world is riddled only with pangs.)
This
verse focuses our attention on the uncertainty of life, so that we learn to
make the best possible use of our time. Life is fickle. We really have very
little time in one birth. Before we know it the “water-drop” of our life-span
will have evaporated. This brings us to the excellent simile used to symbolize
one’s life-span...
If
one sees a droplet of water on a lotus leaf, the first thought is the sheer
beauty of the sight. It is one of nature’s thrilling sights. A closer look
reveals another side attached to this beauty – its shaky, uncertain existence.
It faces many dangers to its existence:
i)
A slight wind can simply blow it off the leaf.
ii)
A slight wave in the water can shake off the droplet back into the water.
iii)
Even if it survives that, as soon as the sun rises a bit higher, even without
any wind the droplet cannot avoid drying up out of existence.
The
poet in Sankara always finds the perfect simile – how much closer he gets to a
comparison with our life span!
Pratipaksha
Bhavana is brought into play here also. If we realize the extreme uncertainty
of life, it will impel us to take up our spiritual life more seriously, and
with a sense of urgency. If this verse does that, the poet’s selection of the
beautiful simile would not be in vain.
The
Pangs of Pain and Disease.
Even
such a brittle life, short as it is, is riddled with the dangers of disease and
conceit (arising from greed) waiting to consume us.
One
may argue that there is no problem of a short life as long as one enjoys it
well, in good health and in happiness. But that is a Utopian dream. Life brings
with it all the tests and trials. It does not spare anyone the pangs of pain
and disease.
The
pangs are not only physical pains. There are even more unbearable pains lying
in wait for the non-discriminating in the world...
Gautam
Buddha said,
Sarvam Dukkham Dukkham,
Sarvam Kshanikam
Kshanikam
(All
is sorrow and misery, all is fleeting and misery)
The
remedy/solution
Thru
the analogy of lotus flower, Acharya Sankara is also revealing the deeper
vedantic meaning.
Water
in the pond is analogous to “all pervading” un manifested brahman. The droplet
on the Lotus flower is jiva.
The
Lotus flower is the manifestation of the world. The flower is born from the
water. (un-manifested to manifested form). The drop of water takes the flower
to the real world and tries to “attach” itself to the flower. In the end, both
jiva and manifested world have to merge into the un-manifested.
The
water drop, Jiva, is no different than the water in the pond – the un-manifested
all-pervading brahman, also indicated by the Mahāvākya, ‘Tat Tvam Asi’ - That
Art Thou (or You are that).
Thus,
the only purpose of a human birth is to aspire for liberation, to realize God,
i.e. for the drop let of water on the flower to discard the flower and merge
back into the water in the expansive pond!!!
We
have to transcend all limitations, soar beyond all sorrows and float above all
fleeting pleasures and passing joys.
If
we keep thinking of how to start this difficult journey, in that thinking, our
life will be gone and when death kisses us, we are bound to cry heart of heart,
“O, I missed taking to spiritual path in this life, now the life is
getting over”!
SWAMI
SAYS, “GIVEN MOMENT IS NOW”, “PRESENT IS MY GREATEST PRESENT (GIFT) TO YOU”!
So,
LET US START TODAY AND NOW.
Has
Sai not promised us, “Take one step towards me, I shall take 10 steps, Shed one
tear for me, I shall wipe 100 tears from your eyes”!!
Each
day is just passing and everything in life is possible through wealth and power
but never has a man got back a moment, a day that has got over!
Love.
