We will be free from all miseries and bondage, if we understand ‘who am I?’If one relies on the desires, he dies every moment of his life. If one relies on the knowledge, he lives happily every moment of his life without any fear of death. The death itself is destroyed when it comes under the influence of knowledge.
Vidura has spoken of the quality of self-restraint as very important to escape the fear of death. The king Dhritrashtra wanted to know about the self-restraint and also about how to reach the ultimate through the self-control.
"There is very little oil in the vessel of life" – these words from a dancer awakened Swami Rama to continue his Sadhana vigorously. No matter how bad or how small we think we have been, we have a chance to transform our whole personality. We will be free from all miseries and bondage, if we understand ‘who am I?’
WHAT IS THE OBJECT OF RENUNCIATION? WHAT IS THE OBJECT OF MAUNA?
The object of asceticism or Mauna is to attain to that state which is beyond the reach of language or the mind. That state is the state of peace and bliss.
(Many of our scriptures have explained in great details, that the truth can be only experienced and cannot be explained. To know world we need the senses. But to know God, we need to shut off the senses. Language and words are mere pointers to that supreme state of happiness. And walking in that direction, we experience the Lord in silence with our intuitive knowledge (Anirvachaneeyam). Any effort taken externally to know the truth is ignorance. The inward journey is very important and that is the silence or Mauna Vidura is talking about. One becomes a Muni not by dwelling in the forest but by keeping silence in all situations of life. Any amount of reading books or listening to discourses will not bring us the knowledge as all are external efforts.
Our Guruji has never said ‘do this or don’t do this’. He showed us the path silently with his living. A life of non-attachment is his way of life. He taught us the lesson ‘learn to walk all alone’- with no expectations and no complaints.
Bhagawad Gita says that without undergoing the discipline of detached action, it is vain to abandon all external actions. This will be an act of hypocrisy and idleness. Detached action will gradually elevate a man to the true state of renunciation who feels ‘I do nothing in all the movement s of the body, even in the very winking of the eyes’. Having renounced thus mentally, he lives in the body undisturbed by anything.
Lord Krishna says, controlling the senses by the mind, controlling the mind by the intellect and the intellect focused on the supreme Brahman, (like a compass in ship always shows the north) a seeker attains to eternal peace.
WHAT ARE THE SIX KINDS OF RENUNCIATION (VAIRAGYAM)?
- Never experiencing joy on occasion of prosperity (any prosperity be it a child, wealth, health, spirituality one should always keep up the evenness of mind. Joy comes as a result of our ego taking the credit of the situation (‘I got it or I won it or I am rich or I am in Satsangh’, ‘my son is in IIT’, ‘My husband is a senior manager’, ‘ I have come from a great family’, ‘ I am a Brahmin’). Recognition of joy itself is the action of ego. Giving up the association of sorrow is not talked about here, because we always give that credit to others. We don’t want to associate ourselves with sorrow. If we can disassociate ourselves and remain undisturbed in the experience of joy, we have renounced the ‘I’, the ego).
- Abandoning of sacrifices, prayers and pious acts with a desire for merits arising from them. (Why do we give up things in life – for merits in the name of Punya or for name and fame or for knowledge? As said in the 9th chapter of Gita, anything we give up for selfish desires cannot be a Raja Vidya. True abandonment should always culminate in knowledge. Lord Krishna says that charity, austerity, sacrifice should not be abandoned. It need to be performed without expecting the fruit of actions and without attachment (I am giving, I am doing)).
- Abandoning desire, or withdrawing from the world (Vidura is saying that any desire prompted action need to be avoided. We perform actions to get something from the world or to leave something to the world. Both are desire prompted actions only. A man’s needs and wants are never ending. One who understands that desires are the ways to sorrow abandons this very thief of happiness. Leaving the selfish desires is the renunciation mentioned here. Whatever we get from world is impermanent and it ends in sorrow. Knowing this, a man should not desire anything from world or should withdraw from world. All great saints work for the good of the world- Lokasangraha).
- One should not grieve or allow one’s self to be afflicted by grief when one’s actions fail or when anything disagreeable happens, one should feel no pain. (Happiness is our true nature. One who grieves is moving away from one’s true nature. It is our expectation which decides an action as a success or a failure. If our ego takes all the responsibility of an action, without surrendering ourselves to God, then one grieves when the desired result is not achieved. Any situation in life, any happening in life if we can take as the Prasad of the Lord, where there is room for grief? Surrendering our ego to the guru or to our Lord is the only way out to pain. The Lord says in Gita that severance of connection with pain is Yoga).
- Not soliciting even one’s sons, wives and others that may all be very dear. (Vairagya makes everything perfect. Great saints have lived with great vairagya without leaving their duties and the aashrama. All they have is for the benefit of everyone around them. The house becomes the aashram and whoever comes home are offered food and shelter. If a Tsunami comes and takes away everything including the wife and children, a man of renunciation will not sit mad. He floats on water but never let the water to enter into the boat. He never seeks anything in life. Seeking is only when one has a desire. Having risen above desires he lives as an example of the ideal. After the process of churning for a long time, a person with vairaghya floats like butter above water).
- Giving away to a deserving person. (Anything we give, we need to give to a deserving person. Charity has no value if we give because of our attachment without examining whether one really needs it or not. Infosys Sudha Murthy had helped a paper boy to study further but asked for the progress report every month. Vidura says us to give away for a higher cause.
If we give food, that time’s hunger is taken care of. If we give medicine, that day’s sickness is taken care of. But if we give knowledge, that takes care of him forever. Krishna also says in Gita that this knowledge is a supreme secret and to be given only to a man who has shraddha and bhakthi. Plenty of temples all around but again and again pouring money for temple constructions is ignorance. We can distribute good books to small schools in villages. I read an article in a magazine which says people keep helping organizations even after they prosper because they are giving money for so many years and they don’t want to stop. We need clear buddhi and discrimination and the guidance of the Guru to understand what is prescribed in our scriputres. We have seen the Pandavas after the death of Krishna, didn’t want to live. They crowned the Prince Parikshit as king. They could leave the kingdom with all riches and glory in no time. Great detachment!).
WHAT ARE THE TWO TYPES OF MAUNA?
- Restraints of speech (A tapas to control the sense organs – a physical silence)
- Restraint of meditation (At the seat of meditation, not only the sense organs are restrained; even the thoughts are quietened – mental silence).
WHICH TYPE OF MAUNA IS SUPERIOR?
The true mauna consists, not in merely restraining the speech, but total restraint of all the senses and the mind.
(The railway train was running at full speed from Calcutta to Delhi. In one compartment, two British passengers were talking in English. Pointing at one monk (Sadhu), travelling in the same compartment, one British passenger was telling the other, "Look, what a deception! With such youthful age, healthy body and full capacity to work, this man became monk to get free food and to loiter anywhere. There are thousands of such monks in this country and people feed them in blind faith."
Criticism of this sort went on for a long time, but the monk (Sanyasi) sitting on the opposite seat was pondering deeply with a calm posture.
When the train arrived at one station and halted, the station master saw the monk (Sanyasi), bowed down before him and asked in English, "What can I do in your service, Sir?"
The Sanyasi answered in English, "One glass of water will be enough. I want nothing else."
The two British passengers observed that the Sanyasi spoke in such pure English. They felt surprised. They never knew that the Sanyasi was educated. They had abused the Sanyasi so much and still there was not a word by way of reaction. His posture was the same, full of happiness as before.
The passengers inquired of him, "Well sir, why did you not react to our criticism?"He replied, "Brothers, I remain engrossed only in the thought of my life's work. I do not enter into any kind of disputes."
The peaceful posture and Sadhana of the vow of silence brought about a lot of regard on part of those two British passengers.
This Sanyasi was Swami Vivekananda, the chief disciple of the great monk Shri Ramkrishna Paramhamsa.
Restraining from speech has been practiced by many great mahatmas like Gandhiji, Arbindo, Mahavira for many years. Ramana Maharishi’s messages were mostly given in silence only. Our Guruji often says that any sentence is understood by people only in the one second silence after that sentence. If we restrain from speech but mind and senses fully active, we are hypocrites. Like the above story, the restraint of speech should merge in the silence of the mind itself. In that silence alone, the truth can be revealed.
CAN A PERSON OF LEARNING ATTAIN TO A STATE OF QUIETITUDE AND ACHIEVE EMANCIPATION , BY MAUNA?
The person, who is practicing the mauna, will lose consciousness of both the objective and the subjective. The concentration of all consciousness is on Brahman alone. Mauna is obtained by the gradual merging of the gross in the subtle (speech into silence), the subtle in the causal (silence in to thoughtless state) and the causal into Brahman (thoughtless state merging in to consciousness). Bhagawad Gita equates a Muni’s mind that is well under control and united with the Atman to a lamp at a breezeless spot).
HOW IS IT TO BE PRACTICED HERE?
Though residing in the mind and though inherent in the mind, the knowledge of Brahman is still unmanifest. It is by the aid of pure intellect and Brahmacharya that it is made manifest. Like a blade projecting from a clod of earth, a person should disassociate the soul from the body.
Men obtain by work only worlds that are perishable. However, he that is blessed with knowledge attains the state of Brahman which is everlasting. (One need to have the desire to attain Brahman state (Mumukshatva). Every cell of the body should burn for that state. Ramakrishna says beautifully that how one longs for the breath when he is pushed under the water and that should be our thirst for the truth.
Once the Guru showed Swami Rama plenty of jewels and asked him to take it. Swami Rama cried to his Guru “Are you telling me to accept these jewels instead of you? I don’t want them. I want to be with you”.
Guru said “If you want to be with me, look over there. Do you see that lofty flame? (Huge walls of fire). If you can go through that fire you follow me. How much desire do you have for the world, and how much for the light?”
Swami Rama told “I prefer fire to temptations” and thus chose the path of renunciation.
Renunciation is the path of the fire and should be followed only by those who have burned their worldly desires. Disappointments, greed, lust, hatred, and love, anger and jealousy cannot be renounced without spiritual discipline. A frustrated and dissatisfied soul is not fit to tread the path of renunciation.
When all disturbances die with the practice of Viveka and Vairagya, in that silence one abides in his own self of peace and tranquility. We can have it here and now if we have the thirst for it.
CONCLUSION:
When we travel by train or by flight or when we are left at home for few hours all alone, how many of us enjoy the silence? Most of us plan to read a book, work Sudoku, watch some movies or keep talking to someone. Silence is the state not preferred by anyone. A true spiritual seeker and one who has the thirst for realization, there is only way – the way of silence. Initially we take efforts to be silent and later effortlessly we can abide in the silence called Samadhi. Nothing is retained by man in that state of silence. Chinmayananda says that every step on the beach sand is beautiful. But if we look back and start comparing the one step with the other, the disturbance begins. We don’t know how many births we have lived such life. But in this life, in this very body, we will attain that state of peace and everlasting happiness by living like a Muni.
SILENCE IS THE BEST AND THE MOST UNIQUE ART OF CONVERSATION.
SILENCE IS THE BEST SPEECH. IF YOU MUST SPEAK, SPEAK THE MINIMUM. DO NOT SPEAK TWO WORDS, IF ONE IS ENOUGH.
THE EGO GETS WIPED OUT IN THE STATE OF SILENCE. ONCE THIS HAPPENS, WHO WILL SPEAK AND WHO WILL PONDER? (ALL DUALITIES HAVE DISAPPEARED)
SILENCE IS AN EXCELLENT MEANS OF SELF-BETTERMENT, BUT ONLY RARELY DOES ONE OF US MAKE GOOD USE OF IT.
We will continue on the topic of Brahman in the next week.
HARI OM!!!
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