Sharing Sanjivani -Part 4

CHAPTER-(536) What is the Swaroop of Tamas virtue seen in a person?

(536) what is the Swaroop of Tamas virtue seen in the personality of a person?

देहादिसर्वविषये परिकल्प रागं बन्धाति तेन पुरुषं पशुवद् गुणेन।

वैरस्यमत्र विषयत्सु विद्याय पश्र्चादेनं विमाचयति तन्मयएव बन्धात्।।

Our mind is attached to Sansar. We see a string as a serpent and just as an animal is tied up with a chain of strings feels bondage with the pillar, our mind creates bondage with sansar and then this attachment becomes the cause of rebirth. When a Sadhak learns to concentrate on Paramatma only he does meditation and feels Vairagya Bhav in his mind, he could be free from the bondage of Sansar. Hence it is said that मन एव मनुष्याणाम् कारण बन्धन मोक्षयो Mind is the only cause of bondage and liberation. Aadi Shankaracharyaji in his Vivek Chudamani says this in detail as

तस्मात मनः कारणमस्य जन्तोर्बन्धन्स्य मोक्षस्य च वा विधाने ।

बन्धस्य हेतुर्मलिनं कजोगुणैर्मौक्षस्य सुद्धं विरजस्तमस्कम्।।

Rajas virtue becomes the cause of increasing illusion and anger and Tamas creates laziness, idleness, and lots of sleep.A lazy person does not like to make any effort to be free from greed and anger, ego and jealousy and because of this dirt of Rajas and Tamas mind creates bondage with place, person, activities and cause of rebirth. Only if a Sadhak tries to be free from laziness and do TAP to be free from the impact of Rajas and Tamas, he would develop Satva in his nature and that could lead him to knowledge, Bhakti, and Salvation. In Udhyog Parva of Mahabharat, there is a conversation between Sanat Sujat and Dhritarastra in which it is said that

उभे सत्ये क्षत्रियाद्य प्रवृते मोहो मृत्युः संमतौ यः कवीनाम्।

प्रमादं वै मृत्युमहं ब्रवीमि तथाङप्रमाजममृतत्वं ब्रवीमि।।

O Kshatriya king! Since the beginning of the universe, this truth prevails. The Scholars consider illusion as a death and I Sanat Sujat considers idleness and laziness as a death. APRAMAD अप्रमाद is immortality. In his comments on Mahabharat Shankaracharya says PRAMAD प्रमाद to be lazy in Swadhyay or on the path of spirituality BHAHMNISTHA ब्रह्मनिष्ठा is a sign of death because when an enlightened scholar shows laziness in the realization of his own Swaroop, idleness becomes a great obstacle because when a person does not try to be free from laziness, he would invite disasters. The power of MOHA –the illusion invites pride and ego and they create bondage. Bondage to a person, place, thing, or anything becomes the root cause of joy and sorrow, So a Sadhak should always remain alert NAZAR HATI DURGHTANA GHATI नजर हटी दुर्धटना धटी ।The moment when a Sadhak distracts from his meditation, his position was like a ball stepping down from the staircase when once it falls from the hand of a player.

When Tamas enters the mind of a person he feels laziness, remains ignorant, do nothing, feels dizzy, and his sleep increases . He wastes all the time in activities that he must not do or he becomes inactive. APRMADO Rajas inspires a person to do too many activities while Tamas enters a person, he does nothing. He becomes sad, remains inactive in every activity. There is a difference between AALASYA and PRAMAD आलस्य एवम् प्रमाद Laziness is a mother of habit and a person feels sleepy and doing nothing .Sometimes it seems that he is looking busy with useless activities in which he should not get involved. A person should do activities for the welfare of self and others but when Tamas enters and a person becomes lazy he does not feel to do any activity, feels no interest in studying Shastras, earning wealth, or helping himself for development or others' welfare. He would neither try to uplift his career for a better worldly life nor would try to attain enlightenment through reading, writing, and listening to Vedas and Shastra Purans but he would turn to nuisances like gambling, theft, running after women and wasting his time, money and energy in activities like drinking wine and smoking. This attachment to drugs and ignorance envelops his consciousness and he would lose his true knowledge and strength to face worldly problems or obstacles on the path of Spirituality.

All these trio virtues Satva, Rajas, and Tamas are invisible but when they envelop the mind of a person, a person would be changed from Ram to Rawan or from Valiya to Rishi Valmiki. When a person inclined to Tamas virtue, passions, desires to entertain senses, anger, jealousy, pride and ego, and all kinds of Vikars-negativities get hold of his mind, thoughts, actions, and activities and he would fall in total ignorance, and darkness, total absence of knowledge and roams in the accumulation of wealth , wasting energies in sleep, becomes greedy and get stuck in all undesirable activities that would harm his self and family and drags him to utter destruction.

Strangely, every person knows that he has to die and he could not carry any money with him and nobody would die after him, then also why is even the learned man tormented time and again by the vain quest for wealth?

स्वर्गापवर्गयोद्वारं प्राप्य लोकमिमं पुमान्।

द्रविणे कोङनूषज्जेत मर्त्योङनर्थस्य धामनि।।

A mortal man would after attaining this body which is the gateway to heaven and liberation, get attached to money which is the abode of evil. When the ignorance envelops, he forgets that what can a man in the jaws of death want with wealth? Or the bestower of wealth with desires or those who fulfill those desires or with works like doing Yagna or Agnihotra which are done with selfish motives and never confer liberation but lead to rebirth? So a Sadhak should try to overcome the Tamas and Rajas and for the remainder of his life, he should mortify the body, satisfy with his inner world, and at the end all the pious Satvik activities that conduces to well-being and with the acknowledgment of this enlightenment, a Sadhak should try to attain liberation as a king named KHATWANG who when came to know through Gods that his life was left only about forty-eight minutes and he has a short time to live, he devoted his concentration wholeheartedly into meditation and worshipping God, he could attain liberation.

But we do not know the fact that how much time is left for our life. It may be years, months, days, or a few seconds. When death is unpredictable and nobody knows the time when he has to abandon this earth and his body, his friends, and relatives, why should we waste our time in chores of worldly affairs and not surrender to Paramatma for realization? Further, what would happen to Jivatma with trio virtues after death? what would be the life after the death of a Satvik, Rajsik, or Tamasik person and how could we know what would happen when Rajas, Tamas, or Satva virtue remains on the top of a pyramid of mind when a person dies?

Let us surrender to Lord Shri Krishna and try to understand what the GATI-future path of Jivatma is when his MATI --BUDDHI is surrender to Satva, Rajas, or Tamas virtue. Om Tat Sat...Shri Krishnajpanmastu...