Are we sages? No!

[Guest guest]

The recent snow storm in the Northeast reminded me of one of

Bhartrihari's verses in the vairAgya shataka as did

another

snowstorm several years ago when I was a student.

Like most of the

new students from India, I had not seen snow in my

life. During

my first year as student in the US, I lived through a

lot of snowfall.

Near the end of winter, there was a monster of a

snowstorm which

dumped at least 2 feet of snow. All life virtually

came to a standstill

for about 48 hours. I had to undergo some hardship

because of this

weather-related problem. Foolishly, I thought that I

had endured

the harsh winter just like the sages in the

Himalayas. It was then

that I was reminded of Bhartrihari's verse and I

quickly came to my

senses. Even though the endurance of harsh weather

was about the

same for the muni and me, at least for that short

period, the purpose

of enduring the hardship was different. The muni

endures harsh weather

because he has a higher ideal in mind. I endured

harsh weather because

I had no choice!!! See the difference?

 

Now let us read the verse:

 

xAntaM na xamayA gR^ihochitasukhaM tyaktaM na

saMtoShataH

soDhA duHsahashItavAtapavanakleshA na taptaM tapaH |

dhyAtaM vittamaharnishaM niyamitaprANairna shaMbhoH

padaM

tattatkarma kR^itaM yadeva munibhistaistaiH

phalairvaMchitAH ||

 

We have forgiven (insults from others) but not

because of (the

virtue of) forgiveness. We have given up

domestic/conjugal happiness

but not with joy. We have endured unbearable distress

due to cold,

winds (hurricanes, tornados, etc.) but not for doing

penance.

With controlled life, we have concentrated our minds

day and night

on (making/saving/investing) money, but not on the

feet of shaMbhu.

Whatever actions are done by munis (sages), we have

done them but

we did not get the same results! (Why? Because of the

difference in

intention. Our intentions were not good.)

 

Bhartrihari says "xAntaM na xamayA." We often forgive

others for doing us

some injustice and falsely claim to take the "higher

moral ground." But the

real reason, it turns out, is because we are so

incapable or cowardly to

react to the injustice!

 

Next, he says gR^ihochitaM sukhaM tyaktaM na

saMtoShataH. One can find

many, many examples here. A typical case. Boy gets

some education in

India. He comes to the US, gets green card, and goes

back to India to

get married. His wife waits for her green card in

India while he is

back in the US. He and she give up enjoying their

married life until

she gets the green card. But are they to be

considered as doing some

kind of tapasyA. No! They are only doing it because

they are forced

into the situation by dreams of a better life in a

foreign land.

Or, consider couples where the husband and wife live

a great distance

apart from each other because they pursue careers in

different places.

They too give up the "gR^ihochita-sukha" but are they

doing some kind

of penance? Not by any means. Moreover, a muni who

abandons life as a

householder, does so with joy. Not so, these couples.

They feel the

pangs of separation and yearn to be in each other's

company. They

run up huge long distance phone bills (at least they

used to until

the advent of the 10-10-220 and other cheap long

distance plans :-)).

 

Next, he mentions the harsh weather related distress

that is routinely

endured by many people. This is not the tapasyA of

the muni's.

 

Further, he talks about the utmost care that many

people take to see

that they earn money, and then save or invest it

wisely. They do a

lot of careful research in identifying the companies

they should

seek a job in or invest in. Even for things such as

buying a house

or a car, people do a lot of research. People do a

lot of careful

research to find the "best bargains" on everything

they buy. Yet

others resort to cutting their household budgets, or

cutting their

food and other living expenses. They control their

appetite just to

save money. People who work in top positions in

companies work

extremely hard (often 60 hours or more per week)

trying to gain

that "competitive edge" or "market share" for their

company.

But they cannot find time to do a little research on

or even

think of "shaMbhu." Is this not strange? Sages, such

as MadhusUdana

for example, study the shAstras hard in order to

teach their own

doctrines to others and thereby rescue others from

the fangs of saMsAra.

Others study hard and do research only with the

purpose of filling their

own belly.

 

In this way, worldly minded people apparently

practise some of the same

things that a muni does, such as xamA, tyAga, tapas,

and dhyAna. But

such people do not obtain the same results. Why?

Because the intention

is different!

 

A similar lesson is also taught in the rAmAyaNa. When

HanumAn visits

lankA in search of sItA, he looks for Her in the

palace of rAvaNa, among

many sleeping women. At this point a doubt is raised

regarding the

propriety of hanumAn's looking at all these women,

especially since

many of them are not appropriately dressed. How could

HanumAn, a

brahmachArin, look at such women and still claim to

be pure? The

answer that is given is that it is the intention and

attitude that

matter, not the mere act of looking at women. HanumAn

was not looking

at the women with an erotic intention. He was only

searching for sItA.

 

As it is with vulgar actions such as staring at

sleeping women, so it is

with saintly actions such as xamA, tapas, etc. Just

because an action

appears to be saintly, it does not mean it is so. It

is the intention

of the doer that matters. Consequently, the merit/sin

of the action is

dependent on the intention and frame of mind in which

it is performed.

Many people go to temples and worship God. But so

many of them are

unable to concentrate on God and His worship even in

His temple. They

are constantly thinking of how much money they made

or lost or some

other selfish end. Consequently, their worship has

little significance.

 

Anand

[Guest guest]

Sri Anand wrote:

>Many people go to temples and worship God. But so many of them are

>unable to concentrate on God and His worship even in His temple. They

>are constantly thinking of how much money they made or lost or some

>other selfish end. Consequently, their worship has little significance.

 

That Bartruhari Sloka is also one of my favorites. Thanks for posting.

But my feeling is, that it is meant to correct ourselves and not

to criticise others. How can we say their "worship" has little

significance? For one, if one is in temple, one is not at the same

time in casino or at movie theater or any other place where potential

to lose precious time (or energy & money) is very high! So atleast it

is a gain in itself that someone went to worship! That way they

warded off unwanted losses or dissipations right there. And

secondly, willingly or not, they are exposing themselves to the

spiritual prayers, vibrations and environment, which can indeed leave

positive impression(s), any moment the mind is ripe/right! So may be

it is not that little a significance after all! Of course I totally

agree it could yield much greater results with right mental attitude.

 

Also who can truly know who a "sage" is! Only a "sage" can, just as

only a thief can truly know another thief, they say.

 

With regards

-Srinivas

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[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

As the saying goes: Every sinner has a future,and every saint had

a past!

 

For Bhartrihari's niitishataka, vairagyashataka, and

shR^i~Ngaarashataka on-line, see URL:

 

http://sanskrit.gde.to/doc_z_misc_major_works/doc_z_misc_major_works.html#majorw\

orks

 

 

Regards,

 

s.

 

 

 

advaitin, "Srinivas Nagulapalli" <snagul@h...> wrote:

> Sri Anand wrote:

> >Many people go to temples and worship God. But so many of them are

> >unable to concentrate on God and His worship even in His temple.

So atleast it

> is a gain in itself that someone went to worship! That way they

> warded off unwanted losses or dissipations right there. And

> secondly, willingly or not, they are exposing themselves to the

> spiritual prayers, vibrations and environment, which can indeed leave

> positive impression(s), any moment the mind is ripe/right! So may be

> it is not that little a significance after all! Of course I totally

> agree it could yield much greater results with right mental attitude.

>

> Also who can truly know who a "sage" is! Only a "sage" can, just as

> only a thief can truly know another thief, they say.

>

> With regards

> -Srinivas

> _______________

> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com