Sadhana Panchakam - Post 18

The intellect requires to be fairly purified to assimilate spiritual ideas or to sustain the spiritual way of life. An impure mind will not be able to support a life of refined ideals, and will actually rebel against and criticize it. 

 

When after diligent Niyata Karma (duties) and fiery Prayaschitta Karma (expiatory actions), our Karma gets reduced and some degree of purity of mind is attained, the eyelid over the “Eye of Knowledge” gradually lifts up and we begin to get a glimmer of the most important turning point in spiritual life – “Recognition that sense pleasures are riddled with pain.” 

 

This is the step that finally pulls the mind away from Maya’s external glitter and draws it inwards towards the ever-luminous Self.

 

Sufficient amount of purity is needed to recognize this fact. An impure mind cannot see it. The cleaning out of Karma is mainly to render our minds sufficiently pure to recognize this truth about life:

 

“Worldly pleasures are evanescent and fleeting. They carry with them no hope of lasting happiness. An ounce of happiness is drenched with tons of sorrow.”

 

This was the point that Dr. Kuppuswamy in Malaysia, came to see as clear as daylight. He took it to heart and acted with the courage of his conviction. He forthwith returned to India, abandoned the life of luxury he had got so used to, and became a wandering Sadhu.

 

He had come to the turning point in his life. He was only thirty-six years of age when the call came to him strongly to renounce worldly life for something unimaginably higher. Out of the inner realization of today's sadhana panchaka instruction, Swami Sivananda was born, and the whole creation bowed in gratitude to God for giving such a saint to the world of spiritual seekers.

 

The Defects in Pleasurable Objects:

 

i) Dullness of Mind: A bout of pleasure is followed by enormous dullness of mind.

 

Rich foods and overeating bring on dullness and lethargy. It is the same with every other form of sensual indulgence. Notice how little a good student eats, because he wants to be alert to study.

 

ii) Objects are Infinite: The objects of the world are infinite; and so logically we need infinite time to enjoy them. We cannot have them all in one lifetime. We need many lives to enjoy all that we desire. This really means there is no end to worldly life. It is a never-ending chase from one object to the next.

 

iii) Objects are Impermanent: Even when we get some pleasure it is not lasting. The objects are all impermanent, so the pleasure from them is also impermanent. 

 

iv) Pleasures Enslave: Since the pleasure from an object is impermanent, we need to obtain it again and again in order to satisfy our desire. This means we become slaves of the object of pleasure. Our mind is not free, but is locked to the objects we desire.

 

v) Pleasures Scatter Our Attention: Every pleasure we are attached to takes away a slice of our attention. With mounting pleasures, our attention becomes completely scattered. Our energy follows our attention and gets dissipated into numerous channels.

 

This leads to stress and tiredness. There is no energy left for the spiritual journey.

 

vi) Pleasures Get Intensified: In addition to enslaving us to the objects, the pleasure itself needs to intensify in order to satisfy us. We need stronger and stronger doses of it to obtain full satisfaction. We are thus addicted to pleasure as an alcoholic is addicted to alcohol – we need more and more to satisfy ourselves. In the end we are totally demoralized by our addiction to pleasure.

 

Defect is in seeking pleasure from objects, not in the objects 

 

In Yoga sutra, a verse says, pleasures and pains are caused by the manifestation of these vrittis of the mind which have been designated as afflictions, or klesas. Avidya, asmita, raga, dvesa, abhinivesa – this fivefold complex of affliction is the cause of the various sufferings that we undergo in life, as well as the various joys that we experience. 

Thus, the objects as they are cannot be regarded as sources of pleasure because the same object can act adversely or positively, as the case may be, in respect of different individuals. What one likes immensely, the other may dislike wholeheartedly for various reasons.

 

While ‘like’ is the background of a pleasurable experience in respect of an object, ‘dislike’ is the opposite thereof, so the moment we dislike an object, it ceases to be a source of pleasure. 

 

Therefore, the pain is not in the objects, the pain is in seeking pleasure from the objects, caused by Kleshas and vasanas.

 

We are embarking on the “Nirvana Shatakam” session where, we come to learn, know and ultimately experience the truth that anything other than me, the pure essence, is but an object and I am not anything other than me, I am not even my mind, my intellect, my memory, my ego.

 

When I come to realize that I am not all the objects at all and I am beyond all of them, I am pure consciousness, I am Pure Bliss, then I no more seek pleasures from any thing in this world and therefore, no pain can touch me!!

 

Love.