Free Yourself of Attachment

Free Yourself of Attachment

Yasya jnanadidam visvam

na drsyam bhinnabhedatah

Sadekaruparupaya

tasmai srigurave namah.

Salutations to Shri Guru, whose only form is truth and by whose knowledge this world will no longer be perceived to be divided by differences.

In the previous shloka, Lord Shiva has clearly indicated that in a disciple’s journey towards his Self, a disciple should always head towards the principle of unity or oneness. In this shloka, Lord Shiva once again ascertains that this path of awareness is the path of true knowledge and this is spirituality. That is Veda and adhyatmic jeevanam. The moment we start differentiating it means we are leading a life of differences - Bhedatmika jeevanam.

The moment we stop differentiating, this is mine, that is yours, we have started leading a vedantic life. This is exactly what the Brahmananda Valli of Taitreya Upanishad explains.

Yato Vaco nivartante;

aprapya manasa saha;

Anandam brahmano vidvaan;

na bibheti kutascaneti

Words cannot describe the self and the mind cannot describe brahman because it has not experienced that state. He who knows the bliss of brahman and has attained it is not afraid of anything or anyone for he sees nothing but  brahman everywhere. This is because he does not see two.  He sees only one. When he sees only one, there is no fear of “I am weak, he is strong”. Both good and bad cease to exist.  Lord Shiva says, “The Guru teaches us that everything is God’s gift or Prasad. As long as it is with you, take care of it  well. Don’t develop attachment and land up in conflict. For instance, if someone comes and tells us that we have lost the designated position at work, we instantly get disappointed and lose peace. If we develop discrimination or Viveka we will feel that the position that was earlier given to us was God’s gift and now, losing the position is also God’s gift.

Everything is indeed God’s will. Whatever He wills is final. It is for our own good. Everything comes from God and  goes back to God. This is the golden truth. We ourselves should offer our tanu, mana and dhana i.e our body, mind and wealth to him in our prayers everyday. We all know that in particular our soul belongs to none other than God. That is why we are not possessive about our soul. However, we are possessive about our body, our mind or thinking and our wealth. Thus, when we pray in this manner consciously, we will not develop attachment to anything. In fact many  scriptures clearly declare that it is adharma or anti divine principle to claim any possession that doesn’t belong to us.

In actuality nothing belongs to us. Everything belongs to God and God alone. Everthing is God’s creation. We are also a part of His creation. Do we pay tax for our body? Today we crib over so many situations without realising the truth  of life. Petty things make us unhappy and uncomfortable. We buy a silk sari, if it tears we are disappointed, we crib over that! The food doesn’t taste good, we crib, our children  get less marks in their exams we are disturbed... we eventually become so disturbed with everything that happens  within us or outside of us.

At the same time anything not happening around us also disturbs us.

Such is the deep-rooted ignorance in us.

Extract from The Force of Nirvana by Shri Shri Nimishananda

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