Providence has endowed man with qualities that he can make use of for a happy, comfortable and useful existence. These endowments are manas or heart, buddhi or intellect, ahankra or ego and chitta or mind.The very purpose of these is to allow man use them for his progress and fulfilment. Is man using these priceless possessions to his advantage? That is the big debatable question. Man calls himself a social and rational animal. He prides himself that he has the exceptional reasoning power that has been denied to all other creatures on earth. He believes in what he sees. His rational zeal prevents him from recognizing what he doesn’t see directly. While most experiments and experiences can be personal and direct, there are others that are not direct or personal! Rationalism rejects all such things and calls them unreal. This attitude has gone to such an extent that man questions the very existence of God!! If he has to believe in God he has to see Him directly with his own eyes! He should be able to see God in the same way as he sees an object like a tree or hill or mountain! He has become too rational to believe in anything that he doesn’t see!
Discrimination is the quality of man's buddhi or intellect. It is the prerogative power that sifts the good from the bad, the right from the wrong, the temporary from the permanent, the corporeal from the ethereal! But modern man has utilized his discrimination only towards physical objects. He has not thought of anything spiritual! He doesn’t have interest in things spiritual. This attitude leads to his misery later in life. Man has been concentrating on his physical well being only but not worried about his spiritual progress. He has become the worshipper of Mammon! His lust for money is insatiable. Apart from providing food, clothing and residence money has no other use. Money is not the be all and end all of human existence. Another distraction for man is the woman for whom he has weakness. Adi Sankara warns, “Nari sthanbhara nabhi desam drushtwa maga mohavesam etan mamsa vasadi vikaram manasi vichintaya varam varam.” The body of the most beautiful woman is made up of flesh and blood, skin and bones, fat and marrow and excratory materials. In spite of his rational approach, man is unable to come out his lust for woman! Again and again he becomes the slave of his senses! It is here that man has to exercise his discrimination and move away from all types of temptation. Sri RamaKrishna says, “practice discrimination.’ Woman' and ‘gold’ are both unreal; the only reality is God.” It is therefore absolutely necessary for man to use the power of discrimination and avoid momentary and transitory things and. move into the path of Spirituality.
Non attachment or Vairagya is much more difficult to cultivate! Attachment is one of the six inner adversaries called Arishadvargas. It is called Moha. Extreme love and obsession for your family, wife, children, kith and kin and property hangs heavily on the neck of man like a heavy stone dragging him down! It is because of the illusion created by Maya which makes him think that they are all everlasting! It is because of this “ mamakara” that Arjuna became despondent on the battlefield of Kurukshetra! He lays down his bow Gandiva and arrows and refuses to kill his own preceptors, brothers and others. If it is so with Arjuna how about the ordinary mortals like us? Arjuna is brought back to his senses by the great discourse of the Lord on the truth and nature of the body and the indestructibility of Atma or Soul! It is then Arjuna understands the brittle nature of the body and the eternal nature of the Soul. He takes up the bow and arrows and kills the Kauravas. While Viveka or Discrimination is sifting of the real from the unreal Vairagya or Non attachment is indifference to the objects of the world. Non attachment cannot occur all of a sudden. Both Viveka and Vairagya have to be practiced scrupulously. It is through continuous practice that one can subjugate senses, passions and lust.
What is the way to escape from the limitless wants and desires of man? There are only two possible ways to escape from them. Either you satisfy all your wants and desires or abandon them all. It is Im possible to satisfy all desires or wants because new desires crop up once a desire is satisfied. The best way is to have a ceiling on desires and be contented with what God has blessed us with! Through Contentment, slowly but surely , desires can be kept in check. A kite flew into the sky with a fish in its beak. Other kites and birds chased it and tried to snatch away the fish in its beak. The kite tried it’s best to avoid them but in vain. In whichever direction it turned, the other birds pursued it. To get rid of this annoyance, the kite let go the fish in its beak which was immediately caught by another bird. Now all other birds changed direction and started chasing the second bird. The kite was free and unmolested. Man has to cast away all his mundane desires to escape from worldly distractions!
It is through Discrimination and Non attachment to worldly objects that man saves himself from stumbling or straying into evil paths! “Atma stained by the oil of vice and luxury is unfit for spiritual devotion.” When such Soul is filled with renunciation or Vairagya it becomes fit again for spiritual progress. It is through the remedy of Non attachment that the venom of lust and wealth can be cured. Discrimination and dispassion are the two purifying agents removing worldliness in man. All knowledge of scriptures is futile if the mind is not endowed with Viveka and Vairagya. Jnana or Knowledge does not come without renunciation or Vairagya. “ Vairagya is of many kinds. One kind of it springs from acute pain due to worldly misery. But the better kind arises from the consciousness that all worldly blessings, though within one's reach, are transitory and are not worth enjoying. Thus, having all, he has not anything.” remarks Bhagawan Sri RamaKrishna!
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Discrimination is the quality of man's buddhi or intellect. It is the prerogative power that sifts the good from the bad, the right from the wrong, the temporary from the permanent, the corporeal from the ethereal! But modern man has utilized his discrimination only towards physical objects. He has not thought of anything spiritual! He doesn’t have interest in things spiritual. This attitude leads to his misery later in life. Man has been concentrating on his physical well being only but not worried about his spiritual progress. He has become the worshipper of Mammon! His lust for money is insatiable. Apart from providing food, clothing and residence money has no other use. Money is not the be all and end all of human existence. Another distraction for man is the woman for whom he has weakness. Adi Sankara warns, “Nari sthanbhara nabhi desam drushtwa maga mohavesam etan mamsa vasadi vikaram manasi vichintaya varam varam.” The body of the most beautiful woman is made up of flesh and blood, skin and bones, fat and marrow and excratory materials. In spite of his rational approach, man is unable to come out his lust for woman! Again and again he becomes the slave of his senses! It is here that man has to exercise his discrimination and move away from all types of temptation. Sri RamaKrishna says, “practice discrimination.’ Woman' and ‘gold’ are both unreal; the only reality is God.” It is therefore absolutely necessary for man to use the power of discrimination and avoid momentary and transitory things and. move into the path of Spirituality.
Non attachment or Vairagya is much more difficult to cultivate! Attachment is one of the six inner adversaries called Arishadvargas. It is called Moha. Extreme love and obsession for your family, wife, children, kith and kin and property hangs heavily on the neck of man like a heavy stone dragging him down! It is because of the illusion created by Maya which makes him think that they are all everlasting! It is because of this “ mamakara” that Arjuna became despondent on the battlefield of Kurukshetra! He lays down his bow Gandiva and arrows and refuses to kill his own preceptors, brothers and others. If it is so with Arjuna how about the ordinary mortals like us? Arjuna is brought back to his senses by the great discourse of the Lord on the truth and nature of the body and the indestructibility of Atma or Soul! It is then Arjuna understands the brittle nature of the body and the eternal nature of the Soul. He takes up the bow and arrows and kills the Kauravas. While Viveka or Discrimination is sifting of the real from the unreal Vairagya or Non attachment is indifference to the objects of the world. Non attachment cannot occur all of a sudden. Both Viveka and Vairagya have to be practiced scrupulously. It is through continuous practice that one can subjugate senses, passions and lust.
What is the way to escape from the limitless wants and desires of man? There are only two possible ways to escape from them. Either you satisfy all your wants and desires or abandon them all. It is Im possible to satisfy all desires or wants because new desires crop up once a desire is satisfied. The best way is to have a ceiling on desires and be contented with what God has blessed us with! Through Contentment, slowly but surely , desires can be kept in check. A kite flew into the sky with a fish in its beak. Other kites and birds chased it and tried to snatch away the fish in its beak. The kite tried it’s best to avoid them but in vain. In whichever direction it turned, the other birds pursued it. To get rid of this annoyance, the kite let go the fish in its beak which was immediately caught by another bird. Now all other birds changed direction and started chasing the second bird. The kite was free and unmolested. Man has to cast away all his mundane desires to escape from worldly distractions!
It is through Discrimination and Non attachment to worldly objects that man saves himself from stumbling or straying into evil paths! “Atma stained by the oil of vice and luxury is unfit for spiritual devotion.” When such Soul is filled with renunciation or Vairagya it becomes fit again for spiritual progress. It is through the remedy of Non attachment that the venom of lust and wealth can be cured. Discrimination and dispassion are the two purifying agents removing worldliness in man. All knowledge of scriptures is futile if the mind is not endowed with Viveka and Vairagya. Jnana or Knowledge does not come without renunciation or Vairagya. “ Vairagya is of many kinds. One kind of it springs from acute pain due to worldly misery. But the better kind arises from the consciousness that all worldly blessings, though within one's reach, are transitory and are not worth enjoying. Thus, having all, he has not anything.” remarks Bhagawan Sri RamaKrishna!
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