The following article has been reproduced from the monthly magazine : Vicharasetu - Jan 2000
In Gurusannidhi – 4
It was around 8.30 p.m., the usual time for the night satsang. S. had set up the microphone near Swamiji’s favourite cane chair and the bell had been rung. Swamiji was still at the desk with his typewriter, writing some letters.
Seeing that everybody was getting ready for the night satsang, Swamiji stopped typing. Getting up from his seat, he said, “I have something important to tell you today. But I wonder if you will be able to grasp it !” Our curiosity was sufficiently aroused by the tone of his voice and also by the implied summons to our intellect. In a few minutes, he was on his chair ready to commence the satsang. By then we too had taken our seats at his feet. Ma also came and occupied her seat on the short beautiful desk which also serves to house the gadgets for recording the talks.
We chanted the satsang invocation beginning with Janmaneka-sataih....
Then Swamiji began, “I wanted to discuss an important point. It is very subtle and abstruse. I wonder whether you will be able to absorb it properly. Try. Let us see. I was in the kitchen for the evening meal. Ma was chanting a verse from Bhartrihari’s Vairaagya-satakam.”
Swamiji stopped to look at Ma and said: “Ma, won’t you recite the verse? Let them also hear it.”
Ma said, looking at us, “Yes. Let me try to recollect .” After a pause, she started reciting the sloka in her melodious voice:
naiscintyam nirapeksabhaiksamasanam nidra smasane vane I
(verse 91)
Swamiji explained, “What does this mean? The sloka refers to the intensity of vairaagya, graced by which, the mind of a yogi will be drenched in bliss and freedom:
“If the mind is carefree and contented with a ragged piece of loin-cloth and a similar ragged wrapper, with food obtained unconditionally as bhikshaa; if by sleeping in the cremation ground or in a forest and wandering freely without any restrictions, the mind is always tranquil and steady enjoying the festive bliss of Yoga; then of what worth is the ownership of even all the three worlds ? “
"Bhartrihari highlights how the mind can remain detached to external environments and yet derive its joy and freedom. One may not have proper food and clothing. He may find only a cremation ground or forest to lie and sleep. Even then, what ? A mind zealously given to dispassion, can still revel in its freedom and joy. The mind has the capacity to be indifferent to external situations and find its internal delight."
Swamiji continued, “When I heard Ma chanting this, I asked her: ‘Why are you chanting this sloka? Will you be happy in these situations ? Is this something that you can practise? If not, why should you chant it at all? Will it not be a contradiction between what you say and what you do?’ I wanted her to tell me the reason why this sloka captured her imagination.”
We looked at Ma and she recounted what took place in the kitchen, while she was serving food to Swamiji.
Ma said, “Swamiji had asked me to select a few verses for this year’s Moksha Sadhana. Although I had suggested some slokas from the Bhikshu Gita of Bhaagavatam which Swamiji had been recently discussing in his lectures at Brahmasvam Matham, I wondered whether some compositions on dispassion by Bhartrihari would be better. As I turned the pages of Vairaagya-satakam, this sloka caught my attention.
"I liked the verse. So, keeping my notebook open in the kitchen corner, I was reciting it with a natural affinity and joy, while getting ready to serve food to Swamiji. When Swamiji came for food, he asked, ‘What sloka are you reciting ?’ As I recited the verse twice or thrice, Swamiji listened to the words intently and then asked me why I was so joyful in chanting this sloka which apparently does not have any relevance to our lifestyle. True, chanting these verses has always given me great joy and liberation, but I had never thought about the 'Why' of it in the manner Swamiji explained."
Swamiji took up the thread, and began to explain the mystery of the real pursuit of dispassion: “Understand that the mind and the body are absolutely different from each other. It is like two bulls yoked to a cart. The cart and the bulls are quite independent. But while yoked, the bulls have a connection with the cart. The balance or imbalance of the cart will affect the bulls and vice versa. It is so with regard to the mind and body too. Mind is linked to the body and therefore it will generally get affected by the body or bodily situations. Nevertheless, the mind is distinct from the body, and hence can have its fate independently. Dispassion is something that appeals to the mind and can have its magical effect on it. Bhartrihari portrays how dispassion, when zealously cultivated by the mind, can lead to supreme ecstasy, despite what the body does or is subjected to.
“This susceptibility of the mind and the resultant sublimity do not in any way depend on external situations at all. It is not necessary for you to wear a torn piece of cloth, or to go to the cremation ground or forest for sleeping, in order to learn the lessons of vairaagya. It is enough if the mind is fed with these truths and contemplations, and thereby made to imbibe the sublimity and readiness. On the other hand, take the instances of people who wander from place to place as beggars. Do they have the benefit of what Bhartrihari says?
“I wonder whether this truth becomes clear to you. I will give you one concrete example. Think of Pareekshit, the great king, who sat on the banks of Ganga and listened attentively to Srimad Bhaagavatam from Sukamuni for 7 days continuously. Sukamuni explained to him all about spiritual, devotional, philosophical and yogic truths and states. As part of the discourse, what all details did the Muni narrate! In one place, he says that the devotee must see the Lord as the whole universe. Thinking of the universal Hari, he should prostrate before the sky, trees, directions, rivers, oceans, earth and its beings. All should be viewed as the body of the Supreme Lord.
“Did Pareekshit get up from his seat to undertake the disciplines which Sukamuni told him? Yet how did the King attain the supreme end of life, the great samadhi absorption, in the end, on the 7th day?
“This is the secret. You do not have to practically undertake the hazardous steps or strange life, which the poet describes. On the other hand, it is sufficient, and it is indispensable too, that the mind gets absorbed in full identity with the ideas and the values conveyed. You have to accept that this level of sublimity and dispassion is possible. To achieve anything for the mind, in the mind, the process is to make the mind think of it constantly. Thus the verse on dispassion constantly chanted will steep the mind in dispassion. When dispassion fills the mind, the passion and greed will instantly fall. And then surges the freedom, bringing all the delight and lightness.
“On the other hand, if you were to undertake a journey or pilgrimage to practise the value or principle, it will still be a physical step of what should really be mental. Mental transformation results from the mind’s mentation alone, not by physical acts or efforts. Be sure.
“You may have abundant riches. But if the mind remains stingy, will you have the joy of riches? Suppose you have only very moderate resources, but the mind is liberal and kind, will you not have the unique joy of liberality and kindness? This is the secret.
“My dear S, have you understood it?
“This is the case with any quality. Sankara has spoken so much about the Wise. In his Koupeena panchakam, he has extolled dispassion and indifference beyond measure, in his inimitable style. If you love the statements and begin to dwell on them earnestly, what else than a full attainment of the virtues can follow? Do not doubt, or be deluded. By merely resorting to physical practice of all these vagaries, the mind will not derive the sublimity and enrichment it needs. Mind’s attainment is always through mental efforts. Hence recitation of these verses and imbibing mentally their import and inspiration is very important.
“Ma told me that she had not thought of it in this manner. She liked the verse and so she was simply reciting it. If you want to enrich your mind with utter dispassion and the joy and sublimity it will bring about, then learn these verses and make the mind dwell on them.
“In fact, only for one who refuses to see and learn, learning by actual experience becomes necessary. With a single birth in a specific family, and the growth that follows in the company of a few people, is it possible for any one to have all kinds of experiences? Man has to learn many things from others, through the process of exposure and sharing. “
– A devotee
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