Guest guest Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 Om Namah Sivaya In the presence of sensual pleasure, spiritual bliss cannot exist, just as darkness cannot exist in the presence of light. Therefore show extreme contempt for worldly objects. Destroy all desires. Turn the mind away from the sensual objects. You will develop Vairagya. You yourself have made your life complex and intricate. You have entangled yourself in this quagmire of Samsara. You have multiplied your wants and desires. Everyday you are forging an additional link to the chain of bondage. Simplicity has vanished. Luxurious habits and ways of living are embraced. No wonder there is unemployment everywhere. People are dying of starvation. There is depression in trade. There is unrest everywhere. There is wholesale devastation by earthquake. Divorce courts are also multiplying. One nation is afraid of another nation. One nation suspects that other nations are preparing for a big war. Life has thus become a matter of uncertainty. It has become a mass of confusion, chaos and bewilderment. It has become stormy and boisterous. It is full of under-currents, cross-currents, subterranean currents and mixed currents. Is there no way of escape from these troubles and difficulties? There is only one way. Lead a life of dispassion, self-control, purity, selfless service, cosmic love. Develop the habit of taking the right point of view, right thinking, right feeling, right acting, with right mental attitude or Bhav. Practice devotion and meditation. O Mohan! You have no real sustained Vairagya. Your present mental state is due to pecuniary embarrassments. This will not help you in the spiritual path. The mind will be waiting to get back the object renounced, when it gets the first opportunity. No doubt you are a man of spiritual Samskaras. But your Vairagya must be of that type that is born of pure Viveka, (Nityanitya-vastu-Viveka), discrimination between the real and the unreal. This is a rare commodity, a rare virtue, though many people feign to be in possession of the same. Thousands of young graduates and young doctors come to me with earthen pots in their hands and attired in orange coloured robes in quest of caves in Uttarakasi and Gangottri for deep meditation and practice of Pranayama. And some young research students in science and some Rajkumars go to the Punjab and Kashmir in silk suits with stiff collars and ties in search of girls for marriage. Is there pleasure or pain in this world? If there is pleasure, why do young educated men retire into forests? If there is pain, why do young men run after wealth, women and position? Mysterious is Maya! Mysterious is Moha! Try to understand the riddle of life and the riddle of the universe. Acquire Viveka. Take recourse to Satsang. Enquire into the nature of the Atman. Study the Yoga-Vasishtha and the Upanishads. Then you will have a comprehensive understanding of the innumerable problems of life. There is not an iota of happiness in this world. Seek the happiness within. Is not a kingdom valuable to be owned? Is not a summer palace in Kashmir or a pleasant garden with sweet-smelling flowers of various colours nice to live in? Is not the company of young Mabaranis with tender waists and lotus-like eyes dear as life itself, very pleasing? Yet wise, dispassionate men like Bhartrihari, Buddha, Gopichand and others retired into forests kicking all these things as worthless as straw, to realize the Self which alone can confer infinite Bliss, Immortality, and eternal Peace. The spirit comes and goes. Therefore you will have to be careful always in nourishing and protecting your spiritual Samskaras with burning Vairagya, intense and constant Sadhana and burning longing for liberation (Mumukshutva). You will have to increase your good Samskaras. You will have to develop them. You will have to multiply them. Vairagya is purely an internal mental state. A man may remain in the busy world amidst various luxuries, women and wealth, and yet he may possess perfect Vairagya, while a Sadhu who lives in a cave in the far off regions of the Himalayas may be greatly attached to his Kamandalu, walking stick or piece of cloth. ---Sri Swami Sivananda Sivaya Namah Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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