VAIRĀGYA PRAKARAṆA I-2
I. VAIRĀGYA PRAKARAṆA
Dispassion of Rāma 2
Then addressing the assembly, he said:
The great dejection that has now arisen in him is unlike any that springs out of (disappointment as to) any desired object or out of a great accident;
it is only (the stepping stone to) the acquisition of divine wisdom through (Vairāgya) indifference to worldly objects, and (Viveka) true discrimination.
Like us, he will attain the quiescent state of Brahman after removing from his mind all delusion through the many-sided reasoning of the stainless Ātmic enquiry. Rāma’s mind will soon become full and then he will perform sweetly and nobly all actions on behalf of men.
While the Muni was saying this, Rāma appeared before the regal assembly and prostrated himself at the feet of his father, and then at the feet of Vāsiṣṭha, Viśvāmitra, Brahmins well versed in all departments of knowledge, and the teachers imparting learning.
Then having received the prostrations of his inferiors, he recognized their salutations with words of respect and gestures of the eye.
On the king asking him to come over and sit next to him on the throne, he merely spread his folded cloth on the ground and sat on it without going up to him.
At which the king addressed him thus:
Oh my son of rare knowledge, why shouldst thou, whom all should look up to as the source of eternal bliss, pine away thus, even for a moment, with your body emaciated and thy mind despondent, like the ignorant?
Men like thee with a mind bereft of desire have attained easily the Nirvāṇic state, as stated by our Guru Vāsiṣṭha, who is a revered sage and a Brahmāṛṣi.
Then why art thou grieved thus in vain? Those accidents that bring on pain will never approach thee, should thy present delusion depart.
After Daśaratha, the crowned king of kings, had said this, Vāsiṣṭha began, when Viśvāmitra interrupted him thus:
Oh, thou redoubted champion that hast conquered easily thy enemies, the sensual objects which are invincible except through supreme effort, drown not thyself in the ocean of delusion full of Ajñāna which is befitting only the ever-fluctuating, ignorant persons of the world.
If thou wilt reveal to me the cause of the delusion, preying upon thee like subterranean rats undermining a good house, then thou wilt be relieved of it, and also be able to attain thy longed-for object. Moreover, thy mental grief will thereby vanish to appear no more. Please therefore speak out.
At these words of Viśvāmitra, Rāma relieved of all grief and jubilant, like a peacock at hearing the thunder sound in the clouds when the air becomes cool, addressed Viśvāmitra thus:
Oh supreme Muni, incarnation of grace and of great Tapas, as thou art pleased to allow my ignorant self to relate the cause of my grief, I will do so. Now please hear of the impediments in my way
Born in the house of Daśaratha, my father, I became well versed in all departments of knowledge and conducted myself strictly according to the dictates of religion.
Then I circumambulated this earth girt by the ocean, bathing as I went in the many sacred waters.
With my return from the pilgrimage, all my desires for this delusion which is the universe have ceased. There is not even an iota of bliss in this world.
Destruction (death) exists only for birth, and birth is for death again. Therefore all things are illusory in this world.
All worldly things are generative of pain only, fraught with dangers, unrelated to one another, related to one another only through the Saṁkalpa of the mind, obdurate like an iron rod, and fruitful of great (material) wealth.
Therefore of what avail are the enjoyments of objects and kingdoms?
If we set about inquiring whence came the “I” of the body we have, we find that all those things which are foreign to Ātman are unreal.
All things being unreal, when I began further to inquire as to which generates which among these things, I ceased to have any love for them, like a traveller who, when he is convinced that the undulating mirage in a desert is not water, never after, craves for it.
In trying to find out the path which will relieve me from the pain emanating from the unconquerable sensual objects, I am burning like an old tree which is consumed within, through the heat generated by itself in its old age.
This unbearable delusion of mine is like a stone sticking in my gullet. Being afraid lest my relatives should condemn me for this grief of mine, I tried in all manner of ways to overcome it and yet I am not able to get out of it though I cried aloud.
Wealth — Like one’s family with children, etc. which does not make happy him who is beset with the highest of dangers, wealth, which only makes hosts of thoughts to whirl in the brains of men, does not confer bliss.
Just as a king allies himself with any person who owns his supremacy, no matter whether that person be noble-minded or base, so wealth which is attained by any person who flies to it for refuge tends, however serviceable it may be, to the condemnation of the spiritually wise, and hence is base.
Who is there in this world whose mind does not thaw like ice at the sight of wealth or whirl in the maelstrom of wealth, which embitters the happiness arising from the quintessence of the sweet discourse of the spiritually wise by the venom of attachment, hatred, etc. created in such worldly men by the manifold evil effects of wealth?
Like a ruby which becomes blurred with a coating of dust, all persons—whether they are good to their relatives or not, whether they are intelligent or poor or warlike—succumb to this desire and are degraded.
It is rare to find blameless, opulent men, truthful warriors or kings, who look equally upon all their subjects.
This wealth which the mind covets and which is very ephemeral in its nature is utterly useless like a flower-bud on a creeper growing in a well and encircled by a serpent.
Life— Prāṇa (Life), which is like a drop of rain-water dripping from the end of a leaf, flits out of the body, like an idiot, at unseasonable times.
It is only by being bitten by the serpent of the ever-waxing (desires of the) five senses that persons without true Jñāna begin to droop in their minds and thus shorten their lives.
I do not rejoice in this life of mine which is like a flash of lightning in the cloud of delusion, regarding this my limited body as real.
It is possible to cleave the all-pervading Ākāśa or restrain the stormy winds of still the waves that ever and anon arise on the surface of the water but to disappear; but by no means is it possible to resist this desire for life which should not be considered as permanent.
This life is ephemeral like autumnal clouds or a gheeless lamp or ocean waves;
though appearing real, it does not have the least quiescence, is steeped in boundless ignorance and is devoid of the true end of human life;
if we inquire into its fruits, we find pain only is generated, like unto the pangs of delivery.
That is the noblest life in which, for attaining the highest Ātmic wisdom replete with bliss and free from all pain, persons spend their days in ceaseless Ātmic enquiry, without wasting their time as do such base things as trees, beasts or birds.
The lives of those who have freed themselves from rebirth are the truest and the noblest; but others’ lives are like those of old asses.
In the case of persons without discrimination, learning is a burden; in the case of persons without quiescence (of mind), their mind is a burden to them; but in the case of persons having passion and other stains, Ātma-jñāna is a burden.
In the case of persons who have not enjoyed the bliss in their own Self, a beautiful body, life, Manas, Buddhi, Ahaṁkāra, actions, etc. are intolerable burdens like those of a carrier.
Life, after associating itself with this body, departs out of it even while young, like the wise who shun association with the wicked. There is nothing so baneful as this life which is perishable in its nature and fickle in the bestowal of pleasures.
Ahaṁkāra— I am terrified by the enemy, which is the illusory and harmful Ahaṁkāra (I-am-ness or egoism) which is generated, through delusion and permeates me throughout.
It is only through Ahaṁkāra that all the mental cares, dangers and the ever- increasing actions of life arise. There is no enemy greater than it.
Having associated with this enemy of mine for a long, time, I am now in an agitated state of mind. I do not taste food or water. Why need I speak about (other) enjoyments?
All our daily ceremonies, yajñas (sacrifices), the enjoyable things, associated as they are with Ahaṁkāra, are unreal.
Therefore the real secret lies only in the renunciation of this Ahaṁkāra. So long as this Ahaṁkāra clouds us, so long will the flowers of desire bloom and increase in us.
Though I have given, up all Karmas (actions) in order to free myself from Ahaṁkāra, yet my pain has not ceased, since I have not cognized my own Self.
Mayest thou, Oh Ṛṣi, be pleased to bless me in order that I may liberate myself from this cursed Ahaṁkāra which is the source of all dangers in this world, is evanescent, has its seat in the mind, and is idiotic in its nature and without due discrimination and intelligence.
Manas — Then my Manas (mind) is tossed about towards objects of love and hatred, etc. like a light feather in a stormy wind.
It ever flies far and wide in vain for sensual objects, away from the association of the wise, like a wandering city dog; but no results accrue therefrom.
Like a wicker-basket (karaṇḍaka) which is not able to hold water, this baneful mind does not hold the joy (or enjoy the happiness) within, but whirls at the sight of much-coveted, immense wealth.
This ferocious dog of a mind, following the mate of desire, ever preys upon poor ignorant me as upon a carcass.
Just as a straw is tossed to and fro in the air by a whirlwind, this mind of mine subjects me to all kinds of delusions and pain and tempts me far into the great void.
This terrible mind which appears to be of the nature of the causeless Māyā, but which is otherwise, as a result of right inquiry, leads me into many worldly actions like a lad obsessed. It flits in a moment from earth to Pāṭala (lower world) and thence back again to earth.
This deceptive mind in seeming to lift me up to higher states hurls me to still lower ones, like a decayed rope that is used in lifting wood out of a well.
This monster of a venomous mind is more terrible than fire itself, more insurmountable than mountains and more obdurate than a huge diamond.
It is possible to drink up the contents of the ocean, eradicate (the mountain) Mahāmeru to its root or swallow flaming fire; but it is impossible to control this mind of ours. It is the one cause of the generation of all objects.
This perishable universe exists only when the mind exists but disappears with the absence of the latter. Therefore the mind should be annihilated.
All the host of pains and pleasures which are like mountain fastnesses arise through the mind only. Hence I conclude they will perish, should the mind perish through discrimination.