From Sri Ganesan-The Teaching of Rishabha

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

here is another inspirational posting from Sri V.Ganesan,

 

regards to all ,

 

Alan

 

THE TEACHING OF RISHABHA*

 

 

When a man engages in activity from the desire to pamper the senses, he falls

unwarily into

error. As this body, which though ephemeral is the cause of suffering, is

itself the result of

(past) error, it is foolish and wrong to let oneself in for such errors again.

 

So long as a man does not realize by proper Enquiry the truth of the Self, he

continues to

mistake the body for the Self, due to ignorance. And, as long as he engages in

action, his mind

is inclined to activity. And, the proneness of the mind to activity is the

cause of the jiva

being saddled with a body and the consequent bondage of samsara.

 

When the light of the Atman is hidden by ignorance, the mind impels him to

persist in activity.

And, so long as he does not come to have loving devotion to the Divine Self he

is not freed from

the connection with the body. When a man, though capable of discrimination, is

so careless of his

own interest that he fails to see that the activities of the senses are unreal

and not the

promptings of his true Self, he forgets that Self, and becomes absorbed in the

domestic life,

where the pleasures of the senses are the chief attraction; and, the foolish man

thus comes to

experience endless misery.

 

He should work skillfully with resolution and untiring effort, guided by

discrimination, to free

himself from the ego that conditions the jiva. The means he should employ in

this behalf are

devotion to the Self, in a spirit of self-surrender; renunciation of all

desires; patient

submission to the pairs of opposites; the vivid realization that suffering is

the lot of creatures

in all the worlds; investigation of the truth of the Self and the renunciation

of works prompted

by desires; the dedication of all work to the Self.

 

Using these means strictly in accordance with the teaching of the Guru, one

should vigilantly

strive to rid oneself of that subtle body in which are stored the residual

impressions of karma,

and which is itself the knot of the heart produced by ignorance. And, when that

has been

accomplished, one should cease using the means too. When the mind which had

been firmly knotted

by accumulated karma gets loosened, one shakes oneself free from all forms of

entanglements; and

then, thus destroying the root-cause of all evil (the ego), one is Liberated,

and attains the

Supreme State.î

 

----FROM THE SRIMAD BHAGAVATHAM - Tr.by N. Raghunathan

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Rishabha means ìHe who excels all othersî.

Once, King Nabhi prayed to the Lord that he should be blessed with a son, who is

equal to the

Lord Himselfí. The Lord consented to it by saying, There is no equal to Me.

And, therefore, I

shall be born to you, as your son.î This illustrious son was King Rishabha.

King Nabhi went to the forest and was absorbed into his own True Nature. King

Rishabha ruled the

country in an ideal perfection; he had many sons- all became Self-Realised,

being initiated into the Science of Truth. The essence of it is given, as

above.