॥
Shri
Hari
॥
1. Essence of All Spiritual
Disciplines
Tvameva Maata
Cha Pita Tvameva
Tvameva
Bandhusha Sakhaa Tvameva
Tvameva
Vidyaa Dravinam Tvameva
Tvameva Sarvam Mama
Deva Deva
Swami Ramsukhdas
1. Essence of All Spiritual
Disciplines
This assumed relationship of the body
is of three kinds -
1. I
am this Body
2. This
Body is Mine
3. This
Body is for Me.
We perceive only two things -
1. Perishable
(inert) and
2. Imperishable
(conscious, sentient being)
The two are completely different and
separate. In the Gita these have been
called -
1. Body
and Indweller in the body
2. Perishable
(Kshar) and Imperishable (Akshar)
3. Field
(Kshetra, Body) and the Knower of the Field (Kshetrajna, Soul).
Saints have called these
"Not" (Nahin) and "Is" (Hai). The "Self" i.e. Self Identity
(swaroop) is "Indweller of the Body" (shariri). It is "Consciousness" (chetan),
Indestructible (avinaashi), Imperishable
(akshar), knower of the field (Kshetragya) and "IS" (Exists,
Hai). That which is "Not" i.e
that which is 'Not Self' i.e. Not our
swaroop, is in the form of this body, and it is inert (jad), destructible,
perishable, and is "Not" (Nahin).
That which is in the form of "IS" (Hai roop) is ever attained
and that which is in the form of "NOT", is acquired and lost.
There is one vital point that by
perceiving "IS", the real and pure "IS" is not perceived,
but by perceiving the "Not" in the form of "Not" , the real
"Is" is perceived. The reason
is that when we hold that "I am pure, enlightened, liberated soul",
we apply our mind-intellect, we apply our tendencies and thus along with
"IS", the "Not" (mind-intellect, I-ness, tendencies) will
also blend in. However, when we hold
that "I am not the Body, the Body is Not Mine and this Body is not for Me,
in this manner by perceiving "Not" in the form of "Not"
then all including the tendencies will go with "not" and the Real and
Pure self as "IS" (Divinity) remains.
Let us take an
example - After sweeping the floor with a broom to remove the dirt, one puts
aside (sacrifice) the broom as well, and thereafter what remains is a clean
house. It means that when "I am the
Soul" is thought by the mind and determined by the intellect, our relationship continues to remain with
that disposition "I". But when we hold that "This body is not
me", we sever relationship with both the body and the disposition
"I" and what remains naturally and on it's own is the pure Self as
Divinity. Therefore in Self Realization
the spiritual discipline of negation is most important. For this discipline arising from negation, it
is essential for a spiritual aspirant to accept three things - I am not this
body, this body is not mine and this body is not for me. As long as the sentiments remains within an
aspirant that I am this body, this body is mine and it is for me, till then
however much he may study or listen to discourses, or even preach the gospels
to others, he will neither attain peace, nor salvation. Therefore at the beginning in the Gita, the
Lord has laid special emphasis on this point for a sadhak, on the fact that you
are not the body that undergoes changes such as birth and death.
I am not
this Body
First and the
foremost a sadhak must understand this point very well that I am that Divinity
and Existence, I am not in body form.
We say that what I was in childhood, that alone I am today. If we look at the body, then from childhood
to now it has changed so much that we cannot even recognize it, then to we are
that alone - this is our experience. In
childhood it was playing and jumping around, later it was studying, now it is doing a job - business. Everything has changed, but I am the same
one. Because the body does not remain
the same even for a single moment, it is constantly changing. The point is that which is changing is not
our "Self Identity" (swaroop).
That which is unchanging is our true identity (swaroop).
Till now we have
taken on countless bodies, but all bodies left, we have remained the same. At time of death too, this body will leave
us, but we will go in many wombs, in heaven and hell, in various "lokas", salvation will be ours, we will go to God's
abode. The point is that our existence
"IS-ness" is not dependent on this body. With the growth or decrease in size of this
body, in weakness - strength, on being a child-aged, whether the body is there
or not, there is no difference in our
existence. Just as when we stay in a
certain house, then we do not become that house. the house is separate and we are
separate. The house remains right
there, whereas we leave the house and
go. Similarly the body remains right
here, and we leave it and go away. The
body becomes soil (earth), but we do not become soil/earth.
Gita has said our true self identity is
-
"Nainam chindanti shastraani naivam dahati paavakah |
Na chainam kledayantyaapo ne shoshayati maarutah ||
Acchyodhyoyamdaahyoyankledhyoshoshyaeva cha |
Nityah sarvagatah sthaanurchaloyam
sanaatanah || (Gita 2/23-24)
“No weapons can cut it, no fire can
burn it, no water can wet it, no wind can dry it. The indweller of the body can neither be cut,
burned, wetted, nor dried, as it is eternal and all pervading, steady by
nature, and eternal. “
The point is the
department of the body is entirely separate and the unchanging indweller in the
body (Self) its department is entirely separate. Our Self is not attached to any body. ,
therefore in the Gita God has called it “sarvavyaapi” “all pervasive” - “Yena sarvamidam tatam”
(2/17) , “sarvagatah”
(2/24) pervades equally everywhere. The
point is that the Self is not restricted to one body, rather it is all
pervading.
The body is formed
on the earth (in the womb of the
mother), walks about on the earth and merges in the earth after death. After death it assumes three forms – if it is
burnt, it runs into ashes; if it is buried, it turns into earth and if it is
eaten by animals, it turns into excrement. Therefore the body is not important
but the self is important.
Though the self
rather than the body exists yet a striver commits a mistake that first he
perceives the body and then perceives the self in the body; first he perceives
the appearance and then perceives the reality.
How long will this applied polish last?
An aspirant should think over whether the soul (self) or the body first
existed. If we think over it, it is
proved that the self existes first and the body is formed later. Therefore our sight should first be turned to
the self, not to the body.
As a dining room is
the place where meals are eaten, so is this body a place where pleasure and
pain is experienced. He, who experiences
pleasure and pain, is not the body, but the self which identifies itself with
the body. The place of experience is
different from the experience. The body is like the garment which is different
from us. As by changing numerous clothes, we don’t become numerous, we remain
the same. As by discarding old clothes
we don’t die and by wearing new clothes we are not born, similarly by casting
off old bodies we don’t die and by acquiring new bodies we are no born.* It means that the body is born and it dies
but we are not born nor do we die. If we
(the self) died, who will bear the fruit of sinful and virtuous actions? Who
will go to different wombs and to heaven and hell? Who will be bound? Who will be
liberated? Our life does not depend on this
body. Our life is very long –
beginning-less and end-less. We are not
born at the time of new creation nor do we die at the time of final
dissolution, but we remain the same – “sargeapi nopjaayante pralaye na vyathanti
cha” (Gita 14/2)
Our nature and the
nature of the body are totally different from each other. Neither have we union with the body, nor does
the body have union with us. As the body
lives in the world, likewise we don’t live in the body. There was never our
union with the body, nor is, nor will be, nor can be. In fact we don’t need the body. Even without the body, we don’t lose
anything. Till now we have acquired and
cast off numberless bodies but has it made any difference in our
existence? What loss have we sustained? We have remained the same – “Bhootgraamh sa
evaayam, bhootvaa bhootvaa praleeyate”
(Gita 8/19)
All people realize
the absence of body, senses, mind, intellect and ego but no one ever realizes
the absence of the self. For example in
sound sleep, I died. The reason is that
even in the absence of the body, we existed.
So when we are awake, we say that I slept so soundly, that I knew
nothing. It means that we existed the same in sound sleep. It proves that our existence does not depend
on the body, senses , mind, intellect and ego.
All – gross, subtle and causal bodies cease to exist but the self never
ceases to exist.
Our self is
naturally deatached – “Asango hyaayam purushah” (Brhandaaranyaka 4/3/15), “dehesminpurushah param” Gita 13/22). Therefore
we in spite of having assumed our affinity and attachement for the body, in
fact remain untainted and unattached. Therefore
the Lord declares – “sharirasthopi kaunteya na karoti na lipyate” (Gita 13/31)
i.e. the Self, in spite of dwelling in the body,
neither acts nor is tainted. IT means
that the self, when it assumes itself to be bound, is, infact liberated. The bondage is assumed while liberation is
axiomatic. As darkness and light can’t
meet together, similarly the body (insentient, perishable) and the Self
(sentient, imperishable) can’t meet together.
The reason is that the body is a part of the world, while we are part of
God.
Our vice or virtue
reveals itself in different forms according to the situation. To attach more
importance to the body than the self i.e. to assume the body as the self is the
root vice (evil) which gives birth to all evils. To attach more importance to the self
(Divinity) is the root virtue which gives birth to all virtues.
Arjuna
at the beginning of the Gita asked the Lord to instruct him how to attain
salvation "yacchreyah syaanniskrichitan broohi tanme"
(Gita 2/7). In response to this question the Lord first of
all described the body and the self. It
proves that the man who wants to attain salvation, for him it is necessary to
realize "I am not the body".
So long as an aspirant holds that "I am the body", he may
listen to so many discourses or even teach these to others and may practice
spiritual discipline, he will not attain salvation.
In human body there is predominance of discrimination. Therefore only a human being can possess this
discrimination "I am not the body".
Identification of the self with the body is not humanity but it is
beastliness. Therefore Shri Sukhdevaji
Maharaj tells Parakshit -
Tvam Tu Rajanam Marishyeti pashubuddhimimaam jahi
na jaatah praagbhootohdhya dehavattam nenakshyasi. (Srimadbha. 12/5/2)
"O King ! Now give up this beastliness that you will die. The body had no existence in the past, it was
born later and then it will die but it is not a fact that you (the self) were
non-existent in the past, you were born later and then you will die."
The body never remains uniform while the self never changes, it always
remains uniform. The body did not exist
before birth, will not exist after death and at present also it is dying every
moment. In fact when the body comes to
the womb, the process of dying (death) begins.
At the death of boyhood, youth ensues.
At the death of youth, old age ensues.
At the death of old age, the soul acquires another body -
"Dehinosminyathaa dehe
kaumaaram yauvanam jaraa
tathaa dehaanter
praaptirdheerastra ne muhyati."
(Gita 2/13)
Boyhood, youth, and old age - these three states (stages) are of the
gross (physical) body while attaining
another body after death is the stage of the subtle and causal bodies. At the death of the body, the gross body is
left but the subtle and causal bodies accompany the soul. Unless a man is liberated, his affinity for
the subtle and causal bodies persists.
It means that the self transcends the gross, subtle and causal bodies
and their states. The body and its
states change but the self remains the same.
Birth and death are related with the body, not with the self. The age of the self is beginning-less and
endless, within which numerous detachment are axiomatic. It is because of detachment (untaintedness)
that in spite of acquiring numerous bodies we remain the same, but it is
because of the assumed affinity and attachment to the body that we acquire
numerous bodies. The assumed attachment
does not stay but we grab hold of new attachments. If we do not
catch hold of new attachments, salvation is axiomatic.
At the
death of Bali, Lord Sri Ram tells Tara -
"tara bikal
dekhi raghuraayaa; dinh gyaan hari leenhee maayaa
chiti jal
paavak gagana sameeraa; panch rachit ati adham sariraa
pragat say
tanu tav aage sovaa; jeeva nitya kehi laagi tumhe rovaa
upajaa gyaan charan tab laagi; leenhesi param
bhagati bar maagi
(Manasa,
Kiskindhaa. 11/2-3)
"When Lord Ram saw Tara perturbed, lamenting the death of her
husband, He having removed her ignorance, imparted her knowledge of the
perishable nature of the body and the eternal nature of the soul. He told her, "this body consisting of
the five subtle elements - earth, water, fire, ether and air, is lying before
you, while the soul is eternal, so why
do you lament?" When she came to know the real nature of the body and the
soul, she bowed to the Lord's feet and she prayed to Him to grant her the boon
of having supreme devotion to Him."
Space, time , objects, persons, states, circumstances and incidents etc.
all change but we don't change. We constantly remains the same. The three states of wakefulness, sleep and
sound sleep change but we remain the same in the three states. Therefore we know the three states and their
change (beginning and end). From the
gross viewpoint there is an illustration.
We came from Haridwar to Rayawala to Rishikesh. Had we lived only either in Haridwar or
Rayawala or Rishikesh, how could we have come from Haridwar to Rishikesh. Therefore we are not the permanent residents
of either Haridwar, or Rayawala or Rishikesh.
We are different from them. Haridwar, Rayawala, Rishikesh are different,
but we the knower of the three are one and the same. Similarly we remain the same in all
states. Therefore we should perceive the
uniform self, instead of perceiving the changing body (world).
Rahataa roop sahi ker raakho,
bahtaa sang ne bahije."
As the three gross, subtle and causal bodies are not ours, so also the
actions performed by the gross body, thinking and reflection performed with the
subtle body and the steadiness and trance experienced with the causal body are
not ours. The reason is every action
begins and ends. Every thought appears
and disappears. After steadiness there
is unsteadiness (volatility) and there is deviation (relapse) from trance. Action, thinking (reflection), steadiness and trance - no
state persists continuously. They appear
and disappear but we (the self) never appear and disappear, we exist
continuously.
Think over, when no body in 8.4 million life forms remains with us, how
will this body remain with us? When 8.4
million bodies did not remain "I" and "Mine", how will this
body remain "I" and Mine"?
The Body is Not Mine
In infinite universes there are infinite things but out of them even a
single straw is not ours, then how can this body be ours? This is a rule that the things which are
acquired and lost are not ours. The body
has been acquire and will be lost, therefore it is not ours. Only that thing can be ours which ever
remains with us and with which we ever remain. Had the body been ours, it would
have stayed with us for ever and we would have stayed with it forever. But the
body does not stay with us even for a moment and we don’t stay with it.
One thing is really ours and one thing we have only assumed as ours, God
is ours because we are His “ansh” (part
of Him). “Mamaivaansho jeevaloke” (Gita 15/7).
He never separates from us. But
the body is not ours, we have assumed it as ours. As in a play a person plays the role of a
king, another that of a queen and the third one that of a constable; they are
not real king, queen and constable, but they are playing the role in the
drama.
Similarly this body is ours in order to perform our duty on this
world-stage, actually it is not ours. We
have committed the blunder that we have forgotten God Who is really ours and we
have assumed the body as ours which is not ours. The body whether it is gross or subtle or
causal, totally belongs to Prakriti (Nature).
We are bound to the world only because we have assumed it as ours.
Being an “ansh” (part) of God, we are identified with God, while the
body being an “ansh” (part) of Nature, is idenetified with Nature. To consider the Lord, Who is identified with
us, separate from us and to regard the body, which is different , as identified
with the self, is the root of all evils.
Because we have regarded the body which is not ours as ours, so the Lord,
Who is really ours is not perceived as ours.
This is the experience of all of us that we have no control over the
body. We can’t change the body as we desire, we cant make it young from old,
healthy from ill, strong from weak, fair complexioned from dark complexioned,
good looking from bad looking and we can’t make it immortal by saving it from
death. In spite of our best efforts,
against our wish the body becomes ill, it becomes weak, it becomes old and also
it dies. To regard the body, over which we have no control as ours is mere
foolishness.
The Body is Not For Me
The
body is perishable while the self is imperishable. For the imperishable Reality, there can be
only the imperishable thing. How can the
perishable be from the imperishable? How
can the perishable be of any use to the imperishable? How can the last night of the dark half of a
month be of any use to the sun? The worldly things such as the body etc., are
of use only to the world, they are of no use at all to us. (the self). Therefore in infinite universes there is not
a single thing which is ours and which is for us. Therefore the body is for me and is of
benefit to me – this is merely a false notion.
The
body is the means (instrument) to perform an action and an action is only for
the world. For example, when a writer
wants to write, he holds a pen and he leaves the pen when he stops
writing. Similarly we should accept the
body while we perform actions with it and should get detached from the body
when the action is completed. If we do
nothing with the body, what is the need of the body? If we do no action, there is no utility of
the body. The body is to serve the
family, the society and the world, and it is not at all for one’s own self. The action done with the gross body,
reflection done with the subtle body and steadiness and trance experienced with
the causal body are not for us. Neither
action nor reflection nor steadiness, nor trance is of any use to us. All of them belong to Nature and are of use
to the world. The self is different from
them.
Had the body been for us, having
acquired it, we would have been satisfied, we would have not desired to acquire
anything else and we would have neer separated from the body, it would have
always lived with us. But it is the experience
of all of us that having acquired the body, we are not satisfied, our desires
don’t come to an end, we don’t attain perfection and moreover the body does not
stay with us forever, it deserts us.
Therefore the body is not for us.
There may be a doubt when the body is
not for us, then why has the human body been glorified in the scriptures? The clarification is that infact this is not the glory of human body
(shape) but it is the glory of discrimination which a human being
possesses. The name of this form is not
human beings but a human being is he who
possesses this discriminative power. The brain of the human body has been
formed (moulded) in a special manner in which the discrimination between the
real and the unreal, what ought to be done and what ought not to be done i.e.
sanction and prohibition can be specially revealed. Other bodies don’t possess such a brain. The brain of other beings (animals etc.) is
confined to the sustenance of the body.
Therefore “I am the body”. “the body is mine” and “the body is for me”
- this anti-discriminative relationship
can be renounced only by a human being.
The assumption of regarding the body as
“I”, mine” and “for me” is the anti-discriminative relationship. By having this anti-discriminative
relationship, no aspirant can attain divine perfection. By having affinity for the body, an aspirant
may undergo austere penance, experience trance, wander in different world and
spheres or perform virtuous deeds such as rituals and charity etc., but he can’t
be totally free form bondage. But as
soon as he renounces affinity for the body, his bondage perishes and he
realizes Divinity. Therefore without
renouncing the anti-discriminative relationship an aspirant should not feel
relieved. If we don’t renounce our
assumed relationship with the body, the body will certainly desert us. So what is the difficulty in renouncing that
body, which will renounce us? An
aspirant may follow any spiritual discipline, he will have to accept the truth
– “I am not body, the body is not mine and the body is not for me.” The reason is that assumption of our
relationship with the body is the main bondage or evil which gives birth to all
evils.
The body belongs to the world. To regard the
worldly thin (body) as “I”, “mine” and “for me” is dishonesty and the punishment
for this dishonesty is the great suffering in the form of birth and death. Therefore it is the duty of an aspirant that
he with honest should offer the thing of the world to the world by regarding it
as of the world and offer the self, which belongs to God, to God by regarding
it as God’s. By doing so the human life
becomes fully meaningful (successful).
नारायण ! नारायण
!
नारायण !
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