Page 34 - Wisdom Unfurled
P. 34

Way to Realisation(Role of the Abhyasi) Non-Attachment
It is true that we can never be free from maya unless we cultivate non- attachment. But it does not mean severing our connection from home, family and all worldly concerns and taking up the life of a religious mendicant. I do not agree with those who hold the view that the only means of cultivating nonattachment is to get away from home and family and retire to a solitary corner discarding all worldly ties. Renunciation effected by such forced means, is seldom found to be genuine, for it is just possible that in spite of their apparent forced detachment from the world, they may still inwardly be clinging to it. No doubt, as a householder we have to look after many things; we have to support our family; we have to provide for the education of our children; we have to look to their wants and necessities; we have to protect them from heat and cold; and so on. For these necessities we earn and possess money and property. The real evil is only our undue attachment to the things, which we are associated with. This is the main cause of our suffering. But if we are able to do everything in life thinking it to be our duty without any feeling of attraction or repulsion, we are in a way free from worldly ties and have renounced the world in the true sense, although we possess and make use of many things. Everything we possess shall then seem to be a sacred trust from the Supreme Master, for the discharge of the duties entrusted to us. Renunciation truly means non-attachment with worldly objects and not the non-possession of things. Thus a householder’s life in which possession of things and worldly ties are indispensable is no impediment in the way of renunciation and consequently of realisation, only if one is not unduly attached to the objects he is connected with. There are numerous examples of saints having attained the highest degree of perfection leading a householder’s life all through. Renunciation is in fact a condition or an inner state of mind which brings to view the transitory and changing character of things and creates a feeling of non-attachment to such objects. His eyes are fixed every moment on Reality, which is unchanging and eternal, and he is free from the feeling of attraction and repulsion. This is vairagya(renunciation) in the true sense of the term. When we have achieved this state of mind, we are free from desires. We feel contented with what is available to us. The end of desire means stopping of the formation of samskaras. What remains now is only to undergo the effect (bhog) of the previously formed samskaras (impressions) which are to be worn out during the course of our life. Nature too helps us in the process by creating a field for bhog in order to remove the impressions of our thoughts and actions from the causal body. When these coverings melt
 
































































































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