The goal and very purpose of our life is to live happily. When we meet each other the first question we ask of the other is whether he is happy. Invariably the other person says that he is quite happy. Why should every person ask that question? It is because it is man’s nature to be happy always. We never ask our friends and others if they are unhappy! It is assumed that every single Individual on earth is expected to be happy always! The problem lies in defining what happiness is. Is the individual’s existence on earth, caught in the cycle of birth and death with family, wife, and children a happy life? Is the man without a family happy? Are people with different professions, and business feel happy? Every individual has his own complaint and is unable to stress and assert that he is totally and ideally happy! That in essence is the life of man on earth! Then, what is real happiness that the ordinary mortal misses? Man has to realize that he is not the body with the bundle of bones, nerves, muscles and various other parts of the body! He is the indestructible Soul or the Spirit that manifests in every living and nonliving object in the world! Sankara in his Nirvana Shatka beautifully explains that man is not anything pertaining to the body but the Atma which is always in awareness and bliss! “ Chidananda rupa Sivoham Sivoham”-I am the form of awareness and bliss!
Sankara deals with this aspect of bliss or ananda in one of the slokas of the Bhajagovindastotra. “ Yoga ratova”--Aspirants of yoga practice various types of yoga. There are varieties of Yoga like Raja yoga, Jnana yoga, Hata yoga, Karma yoga, and Bhakti yoga.These train the mind in meditation, and keeping the body trim by mastering a few asanas. Pranayama, Prathyahara, Nidhidhyasa are also practised for longevity and concentration! Sankara points out that unless the mind of man is ever in the thought of the Brahman or the Supreme Reality, all his efforts are in vain! It is this awareness of the Brahman that is real Ananda or happiness or bliss!
“Bhoga ratova”--people indulging in bhoga or luxury feel that they are happy! Kings and emperors have the riches of the country they rule, enjoy pomp and paraphernalia surrounded by sycophants and are under the delusion that they are happy! All these outward trappings are swallowed up by time-” harati nimeshat kalam sarvam” says Sankara! Unless luxury and indulgence is associated with the Brahman, any type of Bhoga is worthless! It is just wasting away your time and energy!
“ Sangaratova sanga vihinaha”-Associations are are very important in the life of an individual! Fire, joining the base metal Iron, receives hammer blows! But none can near fire when it is not in union with Iron! Similarly, ordinary thread, in association with beautiful fragrant flowers is worn by pretty damsels and adorns the deities in the temple! Sathsang, as Sankara has said, leads to non attachment which again removes delusion or Maya paving the way for liberation or Mukti! Those without any association, good or bad, can also take efforts to think of the Supreme Reality or the Brahman so that they are eligible for Brahmananda or Self Realization! In essence, real happiness is to realize that you are the chip of the same block, the Brahman!
“ Yasya Brahmani ramate chittam nandati nandati nandatyeva”- Wherever the mind is in union with the Brahman there is bliss, bliss and nothing else but bliss says Sankara finally. Sankara is sad at the sufferings of man engulfed in Maya which always takes him far away from God! Engrossed in material and silly pleasures, he thinks that it is real happiness! Anything that changes and is impermanent cannot be called real happiness. “ Satyam jnanam anantam Brahma says the Upanishad! But it is very difficult to educate the ordinary man on these spiritual things! He is so drowned in the sea of samsara that no amount of good counsel reaches his ears! But it is the duty of great preceptors like Sankara to din it into the ears of man for his eternal benefit! Why not make a beginning at least now?
No comments:
Post a Comment