Sharing Sanjivani (Sanjivani - Life Saving Herb)

Chapter 25 How can we be detached to worldly things?

(25)      How can we be detached to worldly things?

Lord Krishna consoles Arjun that when a person thinks that he is upset and he is not able to think about good or bad or he cannot concentrate in Namjap yagna then why should he make a show of doing religious rituals? But the truth is that to concentrate your mind is not difficult, difficult thing is to be steady in every situation like joy and sorrow, pain or gain, profit or loss, achievements or failures.  When a student learn points for examination he can get hundred percent result because of his concentration but learning points of syllabus for exams is like performing religious rituals. They are either for showing our self devotee or for the desired demands from God. It would not increase his knowledge .isn’t it? If he ponders on every learnt topics, accept and utilize his knowledge in daily life practically, the learnt knowledge would make him a steady and balanced person. A true devotee and wise knowledgeable person can remain steady even in every situation. Further steadiness is of two kinds, Inward steadiness of mind and steadiness of form. Whoever sees God in every substance equally can be free from the cycle of birth and death. But to become steady to see God everywhere in every living and non-living object one has to be steady inwardly like Narsinha Mehta who utters remarkable lines of poetry;

BHALU THAYU BHANGI JANJAL

SUKHE BHAJISHU SHRI GOPAL

(Whatever God has done for me is good for me as he freed me from the complexity of web of life and now I can worship God with relaxed mind happily.)

Lord Krishna explains Arjun about Sakam Karma and Nishkam Karma .Karma with the expectation of fruit and Karma with no expectation of any rewards both are different. Sakam Karma is doing karma with expectation of salary or prize while Nishkam Karma is expecting nothing in return and doing Karma as considering it as God’s wish. Sakam karma gives fruits in physical form as desired. Nishkam karma gives Salvation and makes us free from its good or bad consequences .According to Veda all living persons are having one of three types of qualititative virtues. Satva, Rajas and Tamas. When a person be free from all the vices and bad expectations and jealousy, all the virtues and desires of welfare and achievements, wellness and do his duty, perform his role as God’s direction he would reach to ultimate truth. Here Lord Krishna states that three types of virtues that are identified by every person but he should be free from all these virtues and do his task without expecting anything in every situation with steady mind. That is the only way to be a part of universal God.

‘Mamka’ and ‘Pandava’ attitude of Dhrutarasra is the root cause of the war of Mahabharat .Hence attachments to worldly things as it is in my things, my people and jealousy for other people and for others prosperity and further bad intention to snatch away it for our self centered motive is the cause of every disputes all over the world it may be in the form of Kingship, land or property. Every object in the world living and non-living, temporary or permanent, mortal or immortal, truth or untruth are different in character and the reason of conflict is the different .When we think as ‘Everything is God’ there would be no reason of seeing anything and anybody differently but we think that ‘Everything is not God’ So we think about things differently and it creates our liking and disliking for them. And we cannot tolerate other person thinking differently about things or persons. It creates differences of beliefs, conceptions, ideas and opinion which are the cause of non agreement and arguments, discussions and worst of all in fights, quarrels, battles and wars among persons of the family and country, castes and creed, color and culture, religion and territories all over the world.

Here lies the great truth in the verse of section second Adhyay number forty six that when all the sources of waters say wells, pounds, lakes, rivers and seas are filled with abundant water we did not value the water of puddles on the land or water filled tankers or vessels in our house. Water in the small pot can be dirty when we wash our hands or take a bathe in it and then we cannot re use it t. But for great waters of rivers or seas washing of hands of somebody or taking a bath makes no difference to its cleanliness or purity. Just as a true devotee who is steady in his consciousness and in performing Nishkam karma, Tap-penance Tirth-yagna or charity makes no difference to him. As a knowledgeable person is like Great Ocean full of sincerity and he would never tempt to any material luxuries or no greed or jealousy can spoil his purity of heart. A person who knows Vedas and Shastra and the substance thoroughly is considered here as a knowledgeable person and he is not attached to any things which he possessed and he totally detached to worldly pleasures. As worldly pleasures have many forms to distract and tempt persons but if a wise knowledgeable person abandon its attachments as his own he would never tempted to any material luxuries or no greed or jealousy can spoil his purity. A person who knows Vedas and Shastras and the substance thoroughly is considered here as a knowledgeable person. He is not attached to any things which he possessed and he totally detached to worldly pleasures. As worldly pleasures have many forms to distract and tempt persons but if a wise knowledgeable abandon its attachments as his own he would be free from everything. The things we have once possessed were possessed by someone else in the past and would be under the ownership of somebody else in the future. We get births and met deaths but the non living properties like palaces and treasures full of gold and silver change their owner from time to time. Hence a wise should never attached to physical materialist things.

How can we be detached to worldly things giving pleasures to us? Is it easy?

Let’s learn it from Lord Krishna….