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Harih Om Tat Sat. Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.
I would like you to think in a very simple manner. What is this spiritual life? What is this Vedanta? How to go about it? This should be understood in a very simple manner. I feel the entire Vedanta is resting upon two important words or concepts. One is Viveka, another is Vairāgya.
Viveka means the art and process of discriminating between good and bad, right and wrong, truth and untruth, lasting and fleeting; all kinds of differentiation come under viveka. But Vedantic viveka is very specific. It is discriminating between what is lasting in this world and what is fleeting. If you start examining in this manner, everything in this world, whatever you see as planets and heavenly bodies in the sky including our earth, all are constantly fleeting. They change, they get destroyed, they get reduced. It may be in very short period or in longer, longer and still longer periods. But all are changing, changing, changing, getting destroyed. It is a fact. Our body also initially grows but only to decline thereafter. So, everything in this world is fleeting, not lasting.
So the question arises - How can we have happiness from fleeting elements? Is there anything lasting? Where is that? How to get hold of it so that I will have happiness and comfort forever? This is one enquiry and this enquiry is to triggered by viveka, the quality of discrimination.
The next is Vairāgya or dispassion. Vairāgya is recognizing that all things in this world including our own body, mind and intelligence are fleeting; the attitude towards them should be one of dispassion. What is dispassion? The opposite of passion. What is passion? Overwhelming attraction to anything is called passion. To nothing in this world you must have passion. On the other hand, you must cultivate dispassion. Dispassion because of what? Because everything is fleeting, fleeting and fleeting. What we want is a kind of comfort, happiness and lastingly beneficial.
If everything in this world including our own body, body’s relations, children, parents, everything is fleeting, how can I have happiness from fleeting things? So I must get hold of the lasting item so that my happiness also will become lasting. In one manner or the other, dispassion should be the right attitude which is sought to be cultivated.
You can cultivate any quality in you. The people who become terrorists, I think all of them were not terrorists to begin with. A terrorist ideology was sold to them by the people and as a bait they offered them enough money, comforts and luxuries. But they were told that you must have a lot of fondness for what you do. Here by dispassion, we mean not having passion, passionate clinging to anything in this world because they are all transitory, transitory, not lasting. If you can foster this viveka and vairāgya as much as possible throughout, then I think you are a good and effective person. Viveka and Vairāgya, discrimination and dispassion. Sankara says:
Vairāgya-bodhau puruṣasya pakṣivat pakṣau vijānīhi vicakṣaṇa tvam. For the bird of human life, human jīva, he says, Viveka and Vairāgya as the two wings. Without them you cannot fly.
You are growing a creeper. That creeper is growing in a building. It will go high up, high up and in the top portion, it will become very free and broad. You will not be able to climb up that ladder unless you have the wings of Viveka and Vairāgya.
Viveka and Vairāgya, Viveka and Vairāgya. What is the harm in cultivating these two qualities also which will give you a lot of benefit? Compared to the other things in the world, this Viveka and Vairāgya are very rare products and embellishments, enrichments for you. Viveka and Vairāgya.
Viveka and Vairāgya are the two wings for the human bird to get to the top of a huge edifice or building. Unless you are equipped with Viveka and Vairāgya and they grow stronger and stronger, broader and broader, more resourceful and more resourceful, you will not be able to get into the spiritual goal of Self-realization.
What is this self-realization? It is feeling always that ‘I am the self, I am not affected by anything. There is nothing for me to gain or lose. I am what I am’. You can put it in any graphic manner. This self-realization which is like the top floor of a huge building, you will not be able to reach there, land there and start living with freedom until this Viveka and Vairāgya are there in sufficient measure and they start helping you. So this is something very important.
You are studying a number of subjects, a number of practicals also. Why don’t you take up Viveka and Vairāgya also there? All our mythological and epic themes are meant to generate dispassion in you, dispassion in you, dispassion!
I am not asking you not to do or to do something. With whatever you have and whatever you do, additionally imbibe this quality of Viveka and Vairāgya, Viveka and Vairāgya. Try to cultivate it, cultivate it. Mind can develop any quality by cultivation. The terrorists are trained and minds are cultivated. Dacoits, their minds are cultivated. In Kerala as a whole, we have a lot of temple culture, temple devotion but we don’t have spiritual culture of developing viveka and vairāgya. I think these youngsters can always think about what is Viveka and what is Vairāgya. From Viveka, your intelligence becomes sharper and sharper, from Vairāgya get a very beautiful holiday, one or more.
Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.