Miscellaneous - Religion   

Develop detachment

CHENNAI : Great intellectuals have underscored that though the paths of knowledge (Jnana) and devotion (Bhakti) are two distinct means to liberation from rebirths, they ultimately merge into one another. Devotion to God matures into Jnana while a seeker who pursues the path of knowledge develops unalloyed love of God for His own sake. Both enable the practitioner to develop dispassion (Vairagya) towards the world.

In his discourse, Sri Srivatsa Jayarama Sarma said Adi Sankara exemplified the truth that knowledge and devotion go together. He is well known for the range of his philosophical works which span from commentaries on the Prasthanatraya (the Brahmasutras, Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita) to independent treatises, and the spiritual tradition he nurtured is indebted to him for his devotional hymns. One hymn, which conveys the quintessence of philosophical wisdom in simple language with telling homilies, is his famous Bhaja Govindam.

This is structured in the form of an imaginary conversation addressed to the mind, the refrain being "worship Govinda". The opening verse says categorically that all one's learning will not come to one's aid when death knocks at one's door. What can the person then do in his last moments when the body has become infirm and all his faculties have failed? So, it is imperative that one should chant the Divine name right now when one is in command over oneself.

Sankara bemoans the existential dilemmas of human life by pointing out how an individual wastes the better part of his life: childhood is spent in frolics, youth in amorous pursuits and old age in disease and wallowing in sorrow. Even after seeing all this around one does not become aware of the human plight and develop detachment.

In one of the concluding verses in this hymn Sankara sheds light on how counterproductive the pursuit of wealth is because one is preoccupied with it to the extent that the spiritual pursuit is put off to old age. He points out that life is difficult whether one has or does not have wealth. A rich man fears for the safety of his wealth to the extent that he suspects his kith and kin.

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