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Man of wisdom

CHENNAI : Self-realisation is described in the scriptures as the ultimate goal of human life attaining which there is nothing more to be gained. Why is this state celebrated so much? It is human nature to question what the benefit will be while undertaking any activity. While the most obvious result of Self-realisation is liberation from rebirths, there is also the immediate benefit of endowing the person with a mind that does not get affected by sorrows anymore.

In his discourse, Br. Gagan Chaitanya said the mind of a Yogi could be compared to the ocean, which cannot be disturbed by any external agency. The Bhagavata Purana illustrates how a man of wisdom would remain unaffected with the example of Jadabharata. He lived like a wandering ascetic totally oblivious to the world that even his father, who was a Vedic scholar, did not recognise his spiritual stature. A farmer who took him to be a simpleton made him supervise his field by making him hold a stick in his hand. A tribal chieftain who wanted to perform a human sacrifice took him along without any resistance from him to offer him to a deity and the goddess saved him just when he was about to be sacrificed. Jadabharata remained unaffected by all that happened to him.

Pareekshit is another example given in this Purana. In his case it is possible to see the transformation of his mind after listening to Suka's narration of the glories of the Lord. He had approached Suka with the intention of his salvation when he was cursed to die in seven days' time by the bite of the serpent, Takshaka. But his mind soon became engrossed in Suka's illuminating discourse on the Lord's advents that devotion to God took root in his mind and he attained oneness with Him. So, when at the end of the seven days the snake approached Pareekshit, he did not have any fear about his impending death.

The Bhagavad Gita describes a Yogi as one who, "Having obtained which he does not reckon any other gain as greater than that, and established in which he is not shaken even by the heaviest of sorrows." So a man of wisdom is one who is poised in the Self and hence retains this equipoise in all his interactions with the world. This is not a state to be realised at the end of life but that which one should enjoy while living in this world.

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