Which type of life is better, involvement in the never ending cycle of Samsara or the life of a sanyasi, or an ascetic? Is our life free from fear? Every field of our existence is beset with fear! We don't know what happens at the next moment! “ Jatasya maranam dhruvam”. The fear of death follows man like his shadow! The fear of disease plagues the person indulging in luxurious living! The high caste person is afraid of falling down from his position! The super rich have the fear of the king or the Income Tax authorities! Chastity is endangered in many ways! If you are proud of your strength and stamina, the other man is better than you! Your arrogance of handsomeness is vain because of your age and senility! If you are a scholar, there are others better in argument! Your virtue and character is likely to be spoiled by evil men! You cannot be proud of your robust body and constitution because Death puts an end to it! Where is anything in world without fear? Fear has enveloped every blessed thing on earth! It is Vairagya--, total detachment from worldly affairs that has no fear!
Sankara, true to his philosophical nature, points out the nature of the man who has this rare virtue of Vairagya! Vairagya does not mean you should run far away from the madding crowd and perform tapas! It is nonattachment to worldly things even from being very much in the family! It is just doing your duty perfectly, not too much or too little! “Suramandira taru moola nivasaha” says Sankara. The man may live under the wish yielding tree, Kalpa Vriksha. But he isn't excited because he had attained that state. He does not desire anything from the Tree though he can fulfil all his desires from the tree! At times he may sleep on the hard floor or seat himself on the deerskin! “ Sayya bhutala majinam vasaha” It is all the same for the man with Vairagya or non attachment! There is absolutely no difference for him between his stay under the tree or sleeping on the floor or seating himself on the holy deerskin!
“ Sarvaparigraha bhoga thyagaha” Sankara says that the man has enjoyed every luxury and and bliss! After his disillusionment he has sacrificed all his pleasures and enjoyments! He has found them to be misleading and transitory even as the life of man on earth! He no longer desires to be under the influence of Maya that deceives everyone! Samsara,wife,children, wealth, and other property are attachments that hang heavily on his throat! They drag him down to his destruction. A wise man has to realize that it is all the web of Maya that represents the real as unreal and the unreal as the real! So the ordinary mortal, immersed in the inescapable illusion suffers endlessly!
“ Kasyasukham na karoti viragaha?” Sankara remarks the bliss of those who have achieved the total state of nonattachment. “What is the state of bliss that the man of nonattachment has not attained?” exclaims Sankara. He is totally free from all his mundane obligations. He has detached himself from kith and kin and their worries and troubles. He has concentrated and meditated on the Supreme Reality that has given him supreme Bliss! What more does he desire? He has achieved fulfilment in his life! He is now in an elevated state of joy and bliss! He is now a jnani, the man with the knowledge of God, the feeling that he's not the body but the indestructible eternal atma that pervades the entire universe! A Viragi or the non attached person lives in God and that bliss of existence in God is unimaginable and indescribable!
It is the nature of great philosophers like Sankara, to show the ordinary mortals, the way for salvation or mukti! Sankara does not want man to suffer eternally in the mire of family life and other attachments! The only way to escape from it is to develop non attachment or Vairagya! As pointed out earlier, Vairagya' is totally free from fear! It is attachment to God and non attachment to worldly affairs! He has no worries,anxieties, expectations, disappointments or delusions! he is ok carefree, independent and always in a state of Bliss as he meditates on the BRAHMAN! He does not bother about food, clothing and shelter! Hence Sankara says that he has no enjoyment or ‘sukha’ that he has not tasted! It is through singing the sacred name of Govinda that a person experiences Divine bliss that has no comparison to the silly earthly pleasures!
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