Dattatreya's 24 Gurus-Lesson 6- Chandra Deshika

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Vairagya the concept attached to mind is braoched upon by Dattabhagavan.

Vairagya is the main component Dattatreya's teaching which He emphasises time

and again. Vairagya does not mean just relinquishing family and sitting

in the forest. Vairagya means the very relinquishing the 'relinquishing'. This

ultimate Avadhutic relinquishing is what Dattatreya seeks in portraying the

elements as His Gurus. This is precisely what He drived home into the min d of

the King. Vairagya is the opposite of Raga (attachment). Vairagya is

dispassion. Vairagya is detachment. Vairagya is indifference but not hatred to

sensual enjoyment here and hereafter.One Datta Guru Nrisimha Bharathi was once

visited by a devotee but the devotee saw the Guru sitting on a soft silk cloth

and he thought to himself "What kind of Guru is this who seeks the comforts of

life thus?" but nevertheless paid respects to the Guru. The following night he

had a dream in which thousand scorpions bit him and he came running to the Guru

next day morning and the Guru said "Son, Both the scorpions' bites and the soft

silk cloth are one to me"...The devotee was stunned as He hardly opened his

mouth both about his nightmare and about his previous thought! Vairagya is

the second concept in Sadhana Chatushtaya—Viveka, Vairagya, Shadsampat and

Mumukshutwa. Sadhana= spiritual practice and Chatushtaya= The four

Vairagya is born of Viveka, or discrimination between Nitya and Anitya (Eternal

and non-eternal), Sat and Asat (Real and unreal), Tattwa and Atattwa (Essence

and non-essence). Viveka comes through selfless service done in several

births and through Puja and Aradhana (worship and adoration of God), and

through the Grace of the Lord. From Viveka is born Vairagya. It gives

spiritual strength. A man of Vairagya has no attraction for the material world.

So Vairagya is a supreme, inexhaustible wealth for spiritual aspirants. Vairagya

aids concentration of mind (Samadhana) and generates burning Mumukshutwa, or

strong yearning for Liberation or Emancipation,

or Release. Raga is attachment to objects. Wherever there is a little

pleasure, there is Raga. Wherever there is pain, there is dislike. Like and

dislike are inter-related. Raga-Dwesha is also one of the important

afflictions, according to Patanjali Maharshi. The five afflictions are

Avidya (ignorance), Asmita (egoism), Raga-Dwesha (like and dislike) and

Abhinivesha (clinging to life). First, there is ignorance, the original Avidya.

>From this is born egoism, Asmita, and from Asmita is born Raga-Dwesha, and from

Raga-Dwesha, Abhinivesha, or clinging to this

life. Vairagya is of different types or degrees—Mridu, Madhyama and

Teevra (mild, moderate and intense). Intense Vairagya only will help the

aspirant to stick to the spiritual path. If it is of a dull type like

Smasana Vairagya, the mind will simply be waiting to get back the objects that

were

renounced previously, and the aspirant will get a downfall. He will not be able

to climb again to the heights he formerly reached. So, the aspirants should be

careful. Even though their Vairagya is of a mild type, they should try to make

it moderate and then intense.There is a common saying among Hindus"Let noe your

vairagya be Smashana Vairagya or Prasuthi Vairaagya"...this means that let it

not be temporary. Smashana Vairaagya--The vairagya which people have when they

attend a funeral service of their beloved and then forget the next day about

the ephemarility of life though highly philosphical the day of the funeral.

Prasuthi Vairagya is even more funny--The woman who gives birth to a child says

to herself that this will be her last child and she will have no more unable to

bear the pangs of birth but once home she thinks of the sexual pleasure with

her husband and forgets the previous resolve and the pain and does the act to

produce another child! Vairagya comes through looking into the defects

of sensual life. Sensual pleasure is not real happiness. It is illusory,

transient, impermanent. It is mixed with pain. So, again and again by looking

into the defects of sensual life, Vairagya dawns. It should be strengthened

through the study of spiritual books, Satsanga, Vichara (discrimination) and

enquiry. Vairagya should be born of discrimination, enquiry and

analysis. By these, the mind is weaned from sensual enjoyments and rendered

thin like a thread (Tanumanasi) and only then is Vairagya lasting. Again and

again you will have to make enquiry. Physical nudity and external penance do

not constitute real Vairagya. Real Vairagya should come from enquiry, Vichara.

All these material objects do

not give us lasting happiness. They lead us unto pain and sorrow. Such deep

enquiry, again and again persisted in for a very long time, produces lasting

Vairagya. Vairagya is the real wealth for an aspirant. It helps

him to do

real Sadhana. It makes the mind introvert. Vairagya puts a brake to the

extrovert tendency of the mind. Even if the mind runs towards objects, at once

Vairagya will point out that there is pain there, that sensual enjoyment is the

cause for rebirth and intense suffering. So the mind is bridled, and gradually

through intense practice, it is established in real, lasting, sustained,

intense Vairagya. Vairagya is of two grades: Para (supreme) Vairagya and

Apara (relative) Vairagya. Para Vairagya comes after one attains

Self-realisation. The whole world then appears like a straw. This gives intense

spiritual strength.

new roman" color="#00007f"> Without Vairagya there cannot be any real spiritual

progress. In Vedanta it is the only vital, fundamental Sadhana. If you have

Vairagya, all other virtues will come by themselves. Patanjali Maharshi

says: Abhyasavairagyabhyam tannirodhah—"the mind is controlled by meditation or

Sadhana and Vairagya." They are the two wings of the aspirant to soar high into

the realm of

Immortal Abode. The same thing Lord Krishna also says: Abhyasena

tu Kaunteya, vairagyena cha grihyate—"the mind is controlled by practice and

dispassion and intense detachment." By Vairagya, the mind is detached. He who

works in a detached way is not bound by Karma (action). So it is the aspirants’

duty to cultivate this one virtue, or Sadhana-anka-Vairagya. Vairagya is,

doubtless, a mental state whereby the mind does not run into sensual grooves.

It moves towards Atman, towards God. Queen Chudalai ruled a kingdom, and yet

she had absolute (Para) Vairagya. Even amidst the temptations of the world, she

had mental Vairagya, through Vichara and wisdom. So she was not affected in the

least by the attractive objects of the world, whereas her husband, Sikhidhwaja,

went to the forest, renouncing his kingdom, and yet he was not established in

Vairagya. He was attached to the body; he was attached to his Kamandalu

(water-bowl). A man may get attached to any object.

roman" color="#00007f">You see a 'Vairagi', the common type one comes across.

His whole body is smeared with ash, but he will fight for a rupee if he finds

you giving a rupee to another 'Vairagi'. This is his mental state. So by

external appearance you cannot tell that one has Vairagya. Vairagya is a mental

disposition. Sri Ramanuja does not belong to this extreme type of

Vairagya—wearing only a rope loin cloth. He lived amidst luxurious things, but

his mind was not polluted. He had that mental state of Vairagya, detachment,

indifference, born of Viveka. Lord Krishna says

that He is not in favour of extreme asceticism: Karshayantah sareerastham

bhootagramamachetasah, Mam chaivantahsareerastham tanvidhyasuranischayan—"They

torture all the elements in the body and Me also who dwells in the body". Lord

Buddha also tortured his body in the beginning but later on he found out that

there was not much spiritual progress, and then he came to the golden medium,

the middle path. So we should go by the middle path always. The body is an

instrument for attaining Self-realisation. So you should not torture the body.

Whatever is needed for the body, you should have. One more thing about the

moon, moon is not a true light, but stands in the sky of our night to bear

witness that the solar light, our god, is still shining. It thus also

symbolizes the human body, which is surely not the light of spirit, yet in its

structure and in its outward countenance, it reflects and bears witness to the

divine spirit that animates it, the god hidden within. A man's spirit shines

out on his face as the sun shines on the moon. This is a profound thing to

realize about the moon,--that it types our lower nature, which reflects the

higher. But the most sublime element in the spiritual symbolism we are trying

to depict comes next in the development of our theme. This is the eternal

meaning connected with the sun's light on the moon that we are desirous of

impressing in unforgettable vividness upon the imagination. This is the great

fact which we would have you call to mind whenever you gaze upon the silvery

orb from night to night. As the young crescent fills with light and rounds out

its luminous circle, it is writing our spiritual history! It is preaching to us

uncomprehending mortals the gospel truth about our own divinization. The growing

expanse of light on the moon, we repeat, is the sign, symbol and seal of our own

transfiguration into godhood! The spark of divinity implanted in our organisms

must, to use one Biblical figure, gradually leaven the whole lump; to use

another, must illuminate the whole bodily house. Grandly do the

texts of the Egyptian Book of the Dead express the features of this process.

Horus in his resurrection is made to say, after enumerating the bodily members

one by one: "There is no member of my body that is without a god." He means in

effect that there is no portion of his nature that has not been divinized,

i.e., purified, raised, transfigured with spiritual radiance. And this states

the whole purpose of human life. The god came to dwell within us in order to

transform our lower natures and lift them up to a harmony of vibration with his

own ethereal personality. As we gaze upon the lunar crescent and see it go on

toward the full, the vision should fortify us with the profoundest and

sublimest truth about this mortal existence of ours, viz.: that we are in

process of filling our very bodies with the mantling glow of an interior hidden

light, which will steadily transform our whole nature with the beauty of its

gleaming. The sight of the crescent (from Latin crescere, to grow)

should thrill us with the realization that little by little, life by life,

divinity is creeping over us, spreading through us! The growing light on the

moon is nature's sure pledge of our deification! Here is inspired writing of

revelation by the hand of Nature herself. In this same great Egyptian

Ritual (The Book of the Dead) there is the statement that "Osiris enters the

moon on the sixth day." This has not heretofore been seen as of any pointed

significance, because the symbolism has not been understood. As the moon types

the woman, lunar typology was made to match feminine

functions, and the three dark days of the moon were extended to, or represented

as, five, to equate the five days of the feminine period. As the ovum, the seed

of life from above, descends into the womb for fecundation at the end of the

period, it was used to type the descent of the god into incarnation after a

period of pralaya or non-existence in a world of form, and the typism was

transferred from the woman to the moon, her astronomical counterpart. Or the

moon-goddess was simply figured as menstruating. I have alluded that the

moon and woman are mutually representative in the typology. Now, to indicate

that these parallelisms are not mere poetic fancies, but that they are grounded

on actual affinities in nature, let us see if there is any actual bond of

relationship between them. At once we are confronted with an amazing

confirmation of the connection. The very basic functions of woman as female are

controlled and timed by the 28-day cycle of the moon. There is nothing that can

be added to this bare statement, but there is an infinite amount of thinking

that can be done about it, to great profit. The great mystery of life is the

mystery of sex, and here is one of the most startling phenomena connected with

it all. Also, like Pythagoras' intoxication with the Music of the

Spheres( Wisdom), the Indian Sages were infatuated with Knowledge. Many

scientific truths were cognised by them in higher states of consciousness which

came to be known as the Vedas. One such sage was Vararuchi, who discovered the

interrelationship between numbers and letters of the alphabet. Moon is

considered very important in Sidereal Astrology and mental strength depends on

the strength of the Moon in one's natal chart. 5 Lessons which Chandra

Deshika gives-- Lesson 1-- Wax and wane but still shine and remain!

This is a life lesson. There will be ups and downs in life but still one must

shine like the luminous moon and provide cooling and healing rays to others.

Lesson 2-- Take the worst and give the best Moon has no light of its own

but rather takes the energy of the sun and gives it to others. In other words

it faces the brunt of the sun yet gives cool rays to the people in the night.

One must be like that. This is unfortunately not followed by most people. They

just show their frustrations and try to suck people's energies. Lesson

3--Embrace imperfection Moon though beautiful is known for its patches on

its surface. This seems like an imperfection in its immaculate design but the

moon is not worried it still gives the light and rather the spots add to its

beauty. If one possesses any physical defects one should not brrod over it

rather make it the beauty of one's life.Let it be a beauty spot not an eye

sore. Rather there is nothing called eyesore...everything is a 'mind-sore' or a

'mind-beauty'

roman" color="#00007f"> Lesson 4---Light the path When the stars in the

horizon are more powerful and bright than the moon yet they are far away from

the earth and hence they do not give light as much the moon which gives sun's

light.Yet it does great service to the earth by providing cooling and healing

rays in the night.When the rich do not serve the poor serve

the poor with whatever resources you have without complaining. This metaphorical

anent can be culled from this lesson. Now one can substitute the words 'rich'

and 'poor' with any other concept too. Lesson 5--Be beautiful yet humble!

The moon is very beautiful and shiny,yet it is not too hard on the eyes like

the sun. It is however a great devotee of Lord Shiva. It adorns His head and

hence

Lord Shiva is called Chadrashekara, Chandramouleeswara and other assorted

appellations.Though he remains strewn all over His body with ashes the moon

gives its divine beauty by adorning the God of Yogis', Shiva's, Divine

Countenance. My heart leaps up when I behold A crescent in the sky;

Its shadowed globe is night by night In fourteen segments, each more bright,

At last in utmost splendor dight;-- My deity! The hidden Lord it manifests;

The sun-bright god rides on its crests; In that grand light man ever, ever

rests -------------------William Wordsworth Om Ayieem Hreem Shreem

Shiva Rama Anagha Dattaya Namaha! Yours

yogically, Shreeram Balijepalli

 

Purity, Powers, Parabrahmam...

 

 

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