Sadhana Panchakam - Post 21

Every spiritual instruction has its proper time and place. There is a rationale in Sadhana, which must surely have been noticed by now. Yes, there is a time later when one literally leaves home. That is when ‘home’ has done its job, and a new phase begins. 

 

The Sannyasi is an eagle – when he flies out of his nest, he does not return back to it! However, for a householder “Escaping from the bondage of home,” means he should not be attached to it. 

 

This is difficult enough for him. How do we remain detached from our own home? If we think of this, we find that it calls for a very special mental ability.

 

And this ability is so rare in this age that it may well be easier to abandon home than to be detached from it!

 

For the householder, it is sufficient that he remains guarded against too much attachment to the comfort of the home and the security of living with one’s family.

 

The “Mine-ness” of Home. What is the problem in remaining detached? 

 

Suppose you are waiting at a bus-stop. Fire engines are rushing, bells clanging, sirens flitting. You are not very seriously concerned. You get into the bus and your journey starts. Then someone tells you that the fire appears to be in ‘your’ area; you look at the smoke rising and see that it is coming from ‘your’ road. Then a chill catches hold of you. You are gripped by a strange anxiety, you become a changed being. Immediately you are in a terrible state and have no peace of mind. “O God! It may be ‘my’ home? And if it actually happens to be ‘your’ home – finished! Your world starts falling apart.

 

This is ‘mine’-ness, that special state of mind with regard to that particular object or thing. If a bank crashes and goes into liquidation, you are not bothered – provided you have not invested in it! 

 

But if it happens to be ‘your’ bank and all ‘your’ finance is invested in it, then – Oh! Your coffee falls down and you run to the phone. Then you are like the cat on hot bricks. What has happened? Have you pondered over this?

 

That is an insight from Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj, disciple of Swami Sivananda, who took over the president-ship of the divine life society after Sivananda Maharaj took Samadhi.

 

(The author remembers to have visited and met Swami Chidananda at his residence in Hrihsikesh Ashram  along with his grandfather in 1980.)

 

Yet, the insight is poignant. Ownership of home gets ‘mine’-ness associated with everything about it – the family, the garden, the trees in the yard, the decorations in the rooms. That is what Step 8 warns us about. How can we overcome ‘mine’-ness?

  

To live without this mine-ness requires some spiritual Sadhana in one’s training. One cannot put an activity to this Sadhana. It is an inner state of mind. The mind has to change. The clue is Love for God. Devotion is a key factor in making an adjustment in this regard. When it arises in us, it is irrepressible. It forces us to take to unchartered territories.

 

A spiritual daring is sparked off by devotion to God. We are speaking of removing the sense of ‘mine-ness’. The householder who is able to do this is a hero indeed. He pits himself against all odds in a society that presses him to cling to his home at all costs. The crucial factor is to make the ‘inner’ change of attitude towards Home. 

 

Let us rewind our thoughts and go back to what we learnt on “Purushartha in Grahastha life” in Karma session.

 

Yudhistra - "Oh divine sage! Please explain to me the course of conduct by which a householder like me can attain moksha easily."

 

Bhagawan Narada replied: (Extract from the reply, relevant to today’s post)·  

 

*      "A person, living the life of a householder, should perform all the karma prescribed for a householder, but offer it to God. He should also serve great saints and mahatmas. 

 

*      Whenever he gets the time, he should go and live amongst people who have given up worldly life and hear from them, stories about the various avatars of God. 

 

*  The companionship of these holy people will have the following effect on the householder: Like the person who, getting up from a dream, feels no attachment to the objects seen in his dream, similarly, as the householder’s mind becomes purer and purer by satsangh with holy men, he will gradually start reducing attachment to his body, wife, children, money etc., because in any case they are one day going to separate from him.” 

 

A wise person should serve his body and family only to the extent that is functionally necessary and not more. 

 

He should be detached from inside and behave like an ordinary, typical person. 

 

Another incident was shared in the same session on Janaka, which again brings about the essence of “experience in Grahastha life without getting bound by the same”.

 

In the Anu Gita of the Mahabharata, we have a beautiful monologue of King Janaka. 

 

He speaks about the way he rules the kingdom. King Janaka was an ideal Grahastha. 

 

He was questioned by many people, “How do you regard it compatible to be a Brahma-jnanin as well as a king at the same time? Where is correlation between the type of knowledge that you possess and the type of life that you are living?” He was tested many times and was questioned thus.

 

His answer was a great lesson to all seekers of Truth. “I do not enjoy, I only experience,” was the answer. “I do not know what is enjoyment, but I do have experiences." 

 

So the Grahastha is a wise person who supports life while not enjoying it, and contributes personal values to social values. 

 

When it is properly taught and lived in this way, the life of a Grahastha becomes a preparation for God-realization, as it ought to be.

 

Love.