Page 14 - Dawn of Reality an Exposition of REALITY AT DAWN of Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj
P. 14

due course Samskaras (impressions) began to be formed which brought about their resultant effects. Virtue and vice made their appearances. Slowly our existence assumed the densest form. The effect of Samskaras is the commencement of feelings of comforts, miseries, joys and sorrows. Our likings for joys and comforts and our disliking for sorrows and miseries have created further complications. We generally find ourselves surrounded with pain and misery and we think that deliverance from them is our main goal. This is a very narrow view of the problem.
The aims and objects of life conceived in terms of worldly ends are almost meaningless. We forget that pains and miseries are only the symptoms of a disease but the disease lies elsewhere. To practise devotion to please God in order to secure worldly comforts or gains is but a mockery. The problem before us is not mere deliverance from pain and misery but freedom from bondage, which is the ultimate cause of pain and misery. Freedom from bondage is liberation. It is different from salvation, which is not the end of the process of rebirth. Salvation is only a temporary pause in the rotation. It is the suspension of the process of birth and death only for a certain fixed period after which we again assume the material form. The endless circle of rebirth ends only when we have secured liberation. It is the end of our pains and miseries. Anything short of liberation cannot be taken as the goal of life although there remains still a lot beyond it. We find but a few persons who have even liberation as the final goal of their life, which represents the lowest rung in the spiritual flight. The problem of life remains totally unsolved if we are below this level. There are persons who may say that they do not want Mukti (liberation). They only want to come again and again into this world and practise Bhakti(devotion). Their goal of life is undetermined and indefinite. Bhakti and nothing beyond as they say is their goal. Really they are attracted by the charming effect of the condition of a Bhakta(devotee) and like to remain entangled in it forever. They do it only to please themselves. Freedom from eternal bondage is not possible so long as we are within entanglements. The natural yearning of soul is to be free from bondage. If there is one who does not like to free oneself from the entanglements there is no solution for him. Bhakti is the means of achieving the goal and not the goal itself. The fact as I have stated above is that they are allured by the charming effect of the primary condition and do not want to get away from it at any time. The narrow view that they have taken, bars their approach to a broader vision and anything beyond is out of their sight. Another fallacious argument advanced in support of the above view is that devotion, if practised with any particular object in view, is far from being ‘Nishkam’ (desire less). The theory of ‘Nishkam Upasana’ (desire less devotion) as laid down in the Gita emphasises upon us to practise devotion without keeping in view any

































































































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