BANGALORE: One desire leads to one life. That means to fulfil every desire we have to repeatedly experience the cycle of birth and death.
Sometimes we hear of stillborn children and mothers dying after the delivery of a child or childbirth. This happens because of karma. Some people don’t have children and desire to have one. Some souls will make a sankalpa or resolution to be born as someone’s children. So, for the fruition of such desires and resolutions, Karma works in various ways and we grow attached to samsara and become an integral part of it.
We go on climbing this tree of samsara thinking we are reaching the heights of success, name, fame, power, position, happiness. Little do we realise that samsara is such a tree that makes us fall from great heights. It inculcates renunciation, faith, devotion, surrender and discrimination to be in this world and yet not be attached to it. Then, we will not be caught in the whirlwind of samsara.
What is samsara? The world with people, objects and all other creatures that the ego perceives becomes his samsara. What one sees, hears, feels and acts with his sense organs is commonly known as samsara. Samsara is like a tree, which we, on our own, climb with difficulty. As we age, we find it more and more difficult to climb it to reach and attain it. The tree top becomes so narrow that neither can we rest, nor can we climb down easily. There is precipice below--- hell or naraka.
When our mind is filled with garbage of different conflicting thoughts, feelings, emotions, opinions, expectations, unfulfilled desires, unholy aspirations, conflict of interests, life looks like hell. If we miss this chance, the whole process repeats itself all over again, only it will be harsher and sterner.
Shiva is clearly indicating that by being in samsara, we are dousing our own inner light with water. “Be aware that the Guru is for You, You and You alone!” says Lord Shiva.
When the Guru enters our lives, He gives us a firm footing, a shelter, in the form of jnana or wisdom. The precipice will become a platform for us to sit, eat and relax comfortably. Ashrama means Ashraya. Our whole point of view changes, our perspective of life - that it is difficult, now changes for the better.
Like innumerable strands of hair, man has that many intertwined, complex problems. The Guru solves them all strand by strand says Lord Shiva. Just like we wear clothes appropriately to ward off the effect of heat and cold and avoid exposure to extreme weather conditions. If we are adamant, karma will envelop us.
So we must be simple, drop complex thinking. Develop faith or shraddha, devotion or bhakti, surrender or sharanagati, in our own soul - our Guru. There is no need for any sacrifice. Merely sacrificing our ego is enough.
Simple thinking leads to enlightened living. Do not make permutations and combinations in the mind and lose peace. If we observe, when we are with the Guru, all will be well. In satsang, our feelings become soft, like dough. Mundane interactions seem like needle pricks in that soft dough. We feel like a pincushion. We get used to chanting the name of God, singing the glories of God, discussing and contemplating upon spiritual truths; in essence, we immerse ourselves in the nectar of God sipping.
We begin to develop intolerance to gossip. Thus we start avoiding people whose views are directly in contrast to divinity, and thereby avoid unnecessary conversations and conflicts.