All your family bonds are dramatic only

[dattaswami]

All your family bonds are dramatic only

Bond with God is permanent & real &, should be given the top most position.

 

The analysis to fix and develop devotion should be done. All your family bonds are only dramatic bonds, which are unreal as seen in a cinema shooting. The bond with your wealth is also unreal like the bond of the actor with the material of settings in the shooting. The bond with your body is also unreal, which is the bond of the actor with his dress of the role. The Gita says that as the body changes the dress, the soul also changes the body (Vasamsi Jirnani…). The bond with your life is also unreal like the bond of the actor with his role. When the bonds of the actor with the dress and role are unreal, we cannot imagine the extent of unreality of the bonds existing between the roles in the drama.

 

Ashtavakra mentioned the same point in his preaching to king Janaka. He established this point through a very sarcastic remark. He said that the bond between mother and his son in this life is going to be the bond between husband and wife during the next birth. If this point is not explained properly, the audience will throw stones on the speaker! This can be explained through a beautiful simile. In one drama two actors acted like mother and son. In the next drama the same actors acted in the roles of husband and wife. The actors are neither husband and wife nor son and mother in reality. Even the gender is unreal as it is related to the external dress only. A male actor can act in the female role and vice versa. The soul is the actor, which is the pure awareness and it is untouched by the body, gender and the relationships with other roles. Shankara also told that that which is temporary must be unreal (Yadanityam tat krutakam…). Since all these bonds are confined to this birth only, become temporary and hence, unreal. Therefore, all these bonds are unreal except the bond with God.

 

Even though the bonds with own role, other roles, settings and dress are unreal, the bond of the actor with the Producer and Director is always permanent and real. The drama may change, but the Producer and the Director is only one. The relationship between the actor and him is employee–employer relationship. Similarly, the bond with God is permanent and real and therefore, should be given the top most position.