EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL DETACHMENT

[dattaswami]

EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL DETACHMENT

Sage Shuka was completely attached to God and was completely detached from the family. He left his family and went away for the sake of God, though his father ran after him. His attachment and detachment were exposed and were not hidden in his heart. The Veda says that one should leave the family as soon as one is attached to God (yadahareva…). King Janaka was also completely attached to God and was completely detached from the family like Shuka. But, his attachment and detachment were not exposed and were hidden in his heart. They were exposed only when the Lord conducted the test (Datta Pariksha). Once, Janaka was immersed in God, while his spiritual preacher (Yajnavalkya) was preaching about the Lord. Then, a servant came and told that his house and family members were burnt in fire a accident. Janaka did not leave the place and told that the fire did not damage anything that belonged to him, because only God belonged to him. This was a test from the Lord. Therefore, Shuka and Janaka were equal in the spiritual path. In fact, Janaka was considered to be greater than Shuka and hence, Janaka was appointed as examiner to judge the stage of Shuka. When Shuka asked his father about his position in the spiritual path, Vyasa asked him to approach Janaka for the test. Since both are equal in attachment and detachment, in what way is Janaka greater than Shuka? Even though, both are equal in spiritual path, Janaka is greater than Shuka because Janaka participated in the service of God by ruling the kingdom that contributes to the peace of the world.

The administration of the world (Pravrutti) is the responsibility of God. Spiritual progress is personal. Social service is work of God. Therefore, Janaka does not have any trace of selfishness and hence, he is greater than Shuka. Shuka left the family and proved his detachment. Janaka remained in the family and yet, he was detached. A person away from the fire is not burnt and this is not greatness. A person, who is in the fire but not burnt, is great. Therefore, Janaka is greater than Shuka in all angles. The Gita mentions only the name of Janaka and not Shuka. Exposed detachment is not great. Detachment in the heart, which is exposed during the test only, is great. You can be attached to the world externally and participate in the service of society and your family, which is a part of work of God. You can please your family by exposing artificial love and hide the real love to God in your heart. The truth comes out in the time of test. By this, you please your family and the society, while pleasing the Lord simultaneously. By this, you will set an example for others to follow family life and contribute to the growth of the society. If you do not set family life, others try to follow you and get spoiled by secretly meeting prostitutes, since they are not attached to God so much like yourself. If everybody tries to follow Shuka and goes to forest, several night clubs will be developed in the forests!

Root Cause for Failures in Samnyasa

Samnyasa is certainly better than family life, but family life is better than failure in samnyasa. Externally family life and internally samnyasa is better than samnyasa, which is both external and internal detachment. The followers always fail in the internal samnyasa and easily catch the external samnyasa. Hence, failures in sanyasa are many in number. Krishna was very much attached to the family life throughout His life. In the end, when everybody killed each other, He just enjoyed looking at the cinema. His attachment to family life was an example to many, who cannot achieve the internal detachment. At the same time, when the time came, He proved His internal detachment. The external attachment was only to save others, which is called as ‘Lokasamgraha’. He was attached to the family like an ordinary person. But, the difference is that the ordinary person is attached to the family both internally and externally. For external outlook, Krishna and ordinary person look similar, since both are attached externally. When the proper time of test comes, the internal detachment of Krishna and the internal attachment of the ordinary person get exposed and proved. The two birds called as Kaka and Kokila look black externally. But, when spring season comes, the sweet voice of Kokila is exposed and the harsh voice of Kaka is distinguished. This is mentioned in the Gita (Saktah karmanyavidvamsah…). Shruti (the Veda) preaches samnyasa, which is exposed detachment to world and exposed attachment to God. The Gita preaches the hidden samnyasa in the heart and external artificial attachment to the world for the sake of social service. Therefore, Janaka is greater than Shuka and the Gita is greater than Shruti. Shruti or the Veda is the preaching of knowledge by sages, who heard from God. The Gita is direct explanation given by God. When somebody carries the message of some other person, clarity may be lost and hence, misunderstanding is possible. In direct preaching, such error will not take place. In fact, the Gita is more valid [as it is] heard from the human incarnation directly and hence, it should be treated as Shruti. The Veda is the knowledge heard from God by sages and then revealed subsequently and therefore, it should be treated as Smruti in real sense, which is indirect scripture. The Gita is the direct scripture recorded by Sanjaya from the mouth of the Lord. Hence, it is told that the Gita is the clarified real essence of all the Upanashads, which are part of the Veda.

Human Intelligence Limited by Boundaries of Creation

The entire creation is constituted by the spatial co-ordinates. Hence, beyond creation means beyond space and this means finally beyond spatial co-ordinates. Intelligence can never cross the spatial co-ordinates and hence, it can never touch the boundary of this creation from which God starts. The soul, mind, intelligence, ideas and imagination are made of nervous energy only, which is a special work form of inert energy. The human body is made of inert energy and matter. Matter is a form of inert energy. Even the space is a form of very subtle inert energy only. All this creation including the human beings is basically inert energy only. The soul is a part of this creation and therefore, the creation is as true as the soul. The entire creation including the souls is relative reality and God alone is the absolute reality. The creation is not real from the point of God. But, the creation is equally real from the point of the soul. Since God is the absolute reality and soul is the relative reality, neither God is soul nor is soul God. If you say that the creation is real, it contradicts the view of God. If you say that creation is unreal, it contradicts the view of the soul. It is just like the issue of Telangana in Andhra Pradesh. If you support an united State, people in Telangana oppose. If you support separate Telangana, people in the other part of the state oppose. Hence, Shankara told that creation is neither real nor unreal, and is Mithya. When a human being becomes God, the creation becomes unreal for that specific human incarnation. Here also, neither God becomes the soul and human body, nor do the soul and human body become God. Just like a metallic wire treated as current on charging with electricity, the human being charged by God is treated as God and hence, we say that the human being becomes God.

Individual salvation is selfishness and therefore, it should not be aspired as told by Shankara (Namokshasyaakaankshaa…). To participate in the service of God continuously without any trace of selfishness is real salvation. You have to work for the salvation of others and not for the salvation of yourself. Once you are involved in such divine work, you are granted the real salvation at once. Liberation from selfishness is the essence of salvation. Total surrender means total participation in the work of God and not simply sitting before God without doing any work. God is pleased only by your participation in His work. Even Shuka participated in the work of God by visiting the sages, who were householders. These sages climbed the second stage of family life from the first stage of bachelorhood. Now, they are to be inspired to climb the third stage of samnyasa through intermediate Vanaprastha. They require the inspiration for detachment from their families. The external exposed detachment, which was also present internally in the case of Shuka, inspired the sages for detachment. Therefore, the external detachment of Shuka was required for the sake of preaching the society of sages. Had Shuka gone in to the forest without working for the society, Shuka could not have been liberated. The external detachment of Shankara was also a requirement of that time. Then, the Purvamimamsakas were fully attached to this world and heavenly pleasures without even recognizing the existence of God. Hence, they required the preaching for detachment and hence, Shankara exposed His internal detachment externally for such requirement. Janaka was confined to the city life and hence, inspired the people to climb the second step from the first step. The citizens fail even in this initial effort. Therefore, the exposure of family attachment was a requirement in the case of Janaka. Initially, Shuka went in to the forest leaving the family for the sake of God and could not get salvation without participating in the work of God. Later on, Shuka was guided by Vyasa to visit Janaka and Shuka learnt after visiting Janaka that participation in the work of God by helping the society in spiritual path is the real salvation. In this work of God, he visited Parikshit to preach the Bhagavatam, which concentrates on the human incarnation as the address of unimaginable God.

The unimaginable God is beyond vision [invisible] and beyond imagination (Unimaginable). Some entities are imaginable but invisible like cosmic energy. The cosmic energy was also unimaginable for sometime, when science was not developed. The cosmic energy was temporarily unimaginable and this does not mean that there is no permanently unimaginable entity. The roof of the house is temporarily untouchable, but it can be touched after some practice of high jump. The cloud is permanently untouchable because you can never touch the cloud by high jump in anytime in the future. Hence, the cloud is permanently untouchable. You may argue that by taking an aeroplane even the cloud be touched. Now, you may argue that there is no permanently untouchable item in view of the advanced technology of science. But you can never touch the boundary of the universe with the help of any technology of science in anytime in future. This is a permanently untouchable item. You can never reach the boundary of this universe. Assume a compound wall for the universe. If such compound wall exists, what is present beyond the compound wall? Therefore, the boundary of universe is always unimaginable and stands for the unimaginable God. This means that God is beyond the creation.

Islam considers a wall as the representative of God. The significance is, the wall stands for the boundary of this creation, which is unimaginable God. Therefore, you can never see or even imagine the original God. The unimaginable events performed by God, which are called as miracles, also indicate the unimaginable God only. But, even these miracles require imaginable and visible media to establish the concept of unimaginable nature. A boy called Krishna lifted the huge mountain with His tender finger. The boy, the mountain, the tender finger and the process of lifting are imaginable and visible items only. All these established the existence of unimaginable nature of tender boy lifting the mountain. This unimaginable event is a proof for the existence of the very unimaginable nature called as God. The performer of this unimaginable event must be the possessor of God. The human form alone can preach the knowledge and clear all the doubts. The human form is the complete representation of all the items of the nature, which are the five elements, life, mind and intelligence. Therefore, inert items, which are composed of five elements only, cannot be the complete medium. Even the living beings like birds and animals, which have life and mind, are also not the complete medium. Some birds and animals possess intelligence to some extent. The human form alone is the complete medium possessing all these items of nature. It also has the capability of expression through perfect language for preaching the knowledge to human beings. Hence, human form alone is the address of the medium of unimaginable God for the sake of human beings. The Bhagavatam explains the importance of such human form of the Lord and therefore, Shuka was the preacher of human form of unimaginable God.

Meaning of Gopika

There is no need to expose the detachment from the world and the attachment to God unless the requirement for exposure exists. Both these have to be hidden in the heart and artificial love should be shown on the family to please the family and simultaneously the real internal love should be shown on Lord to please Him. The soul following this path of hiding reality is called as Gopika. Gopikas followed such path. If you cheat others for the sake of your family, you will go to hell. If you cheat your family for the sake of God, you will get salvation. Any human being can become Gopika by following this specific path. The word Gopika is not confined to female. All the souls are females and God alone is male or Purusha. Every soul is a part of creation or Prakruti only and hence, should be treated as female. Therefore, any person can become Gopika irrespective of the gender related to the body. Therefore, Gopika is defined as any soul following the above path. This removes the misnomer that Gopika means female only.

Another misunderstanding is that Gopika stands only for sexual relationship with the Lord. This is also not correct. Yashoda was also a Gopika and the Lord is said to be the son of Gopika in the Bhagavatam (Gopikanandano bhavan). The love of Gopikas was in different forms. The weight of love is important and not the form. A kilogram of sugar swans or sugar donkeys costs the same because the cost is related to the weight of sugar and not the form of item. Some Gopikas treated the Lord as son. Some Gopikas treated the Lord as brother. Some other Gopikas treated the Lord as friend. Some Gopikas treated the Lord as darling. The same love in four different forms existed as the water in the four seas.

Total Sacrifice of Money to God only leads to Salvation

In the preaching of Vasishtha to Shri Rama, it is said that money is the root basis of all worldly bonds (Dhanamulamidam jagat…). The meaning of this statement is that the money is earned due to all the worldly bonds. You earn the money for the sake of happiness of yourself, your wife, your children, your parents etc.. If all these [bonds] disappear, you will not have the bond with money, since in such stage money becomes totally useless. Therefore, the bond with the money is only indirect and not direct. It means, you do not have any direct love on money. The love on money is only due to love on all the worldly bonds. Your bond with the money is based on the roots of your worldly bonds. As long as your bond with the money exists, it means that your worldly bonds exist. The only proof for the destruction of your worldly bonds is the destruction of your bond with money. As long as your bond with money exists, you cannot claim that your worldly bonds are cut. One may leave his family and stay in a foreign country for the sake of earning money. He may claim that his family bonds are cut. After completion of earning, he will go back to his family. To prove this [his bond with the family members], if you catch his earned money, truth comes out. One may stay with his family, but if he sacrifices all his money, it means all his worldly bonds including the bond to his body are already cut. Therefore, money alone stands as the proof for all the worldly bonds including the personal bond with the body. Therefore, the Veda says that the detachment to worldly bonds is only by the sacrifice of money alone (Dhanena tyagenaikena …). When all the money possessed by a person is sacrificed to God, it is a proof for the destruction of all his worldly bonds including the bond with the self. This sacrifice proves the liberation of soul from all the bonds including the bond to itself. This total sacrifice is the total liberation or total salvation, but such sacrifice should be for the sake of God alone and must be due to love on God only and not for the sake of some other cause.

Salvation without devotion to God is useless. A mentally retarded person may also do such sacrifice and it cannot be salvation, since the basis here is ignorance due to madness and not God. Some people do such sacrifice for the sake of the welfare of the society and such sacrifice is good, but still it is not salvation. Such people reach heaven for a specific period of time and come back to the earth. Thus, a good sincere politician with patriotism to the society of humanity can reach heaven for sometime but not God forever. Salvation should be based on devotion to God. Mere salvation is meaningless and should not be asked in the prayer. The Gita sharpened this concept of sacrifice of money by introducing karma phala tyaga. If you sacrifice your hard earned money for the sake of God, God will be pleased, because it is very difficult to sacrifice the self-earned money. If it is self-earned money through hard work, its value is deeply realized by you and the sacrifice becomes more difficult. Thus, the Gita always gave the concept with more clarification and more sharpness than the Veda. If your love to God is full, your sacrifice will be also full. The value of sacrifice depends on the extent of your sacrifice and not on the extent of sacrificed money. In the presence of Jesus, several rich people donated huge amounts. A beggar donated just one Deenar and Jesus immediately appreciated the beggar, since the total money with the beggar was only that one Deenar. That beggar was granted salvation and not those rich people, who donated hundreds of Deenars. Therefore, salvation is an item to be sold by God, but the rate depends not on the extent of the money, but depends on the extent of sacrifice of money. When your sacrifice is not full, you are trying to purchase salvation, which can never be purchased. When your sacrifice is full, then salvation is sold.

Controlling the Running Bull

Almost all the humanity approaches God treating Him as an instrument to achieve happiness for the sake of self and family. This is the initial stage, which is associated with wrong approach. But still, the approach is encouraged by God, since it is the beginning. Every initial effort is defective like the initial stage of fire covered with smoke (Sarvaarambhahi… Gita). This initial stage is good because at least the faith in the God is maintained and this is better than the stage of atheist. Zero is better than negative. You should only criticize atheism and not defective theism, which is the beginning stage. Almost all the human beings are fond of happiness of self and their families. This point is exploited by the Veda and majority of the text is involved in showing the way to happiness and welfare. This part of the Veda is called as karma Kanda or Purvamimaamsa related to discussion about performing the rituals or worshipping God in different names. The next part of the Veda is called as Jnana Kanda related to discussion about spiritual knowledge, which is the realization of truth about God. In between these two, lies the Upaasana Kanda related to prayers to God, which is devotion to God. The middle part is common to first and third parts. In the first part, you are praying God with instrumental love (Sadhana bhakti) to achieve worldly or heavenly pleasures and thus, the first part is related to the middle part. In the third part, you are praying God with objective love (Sadhya bhakti) to please God without any trace of selfishness. Thus, upaasana kanda or devotion (Bhakti) is common to both Karma Kanda or selfish performance of rituals and Jnana Kanda or selfless realization of the ultimate truth. The devotion becomes black in the direction of selfishness and becomes illuminated in the direction of selfless sacrifice to God.

In the beginning stage, God favors human beings by granting their selfish boons and God can be compared to the person running along with the running bull for sometime before controlling it. The human being develops love and gratefulness to God in this beginning stage. The human being gradually enters the next stage of Jnana Kanda and in this stage, the controlled bull runs along with the person. In this stage, the person becomes selfless and serves God according to the will of God. Therefore, in the initial stage, God fulfills your will for sometime, so that you will reach the next stage in which you will fulfill the will of God. In the beginning, you think that you have made God as your instrument in your work but you do not know that you, a poor innocent fellow, are going to become His instrument in His work in course of time! The father carries the child but in the old age, the grown-up child will carry the old father. Infact, you require the help of God in your work. But, God does not require your help in His work. Still, this exchange business is carried on by God, only to help you in your spiritual upliftment. Hence, this may look as the usual worldly exchange business, but in reality, it is only the infinite and reasonless kindness of God towards you.

Training in the World to Achieve the Goal

The human form of God alone is relevant to humanity in the spiritual path. But, ego and jealousy, which are the covering layers of the two eyes obstruct any human being even to recognize the contemporary human incarnation. When the recognition itself is obstructed, there is no trace of hope of further progress in the spiritual path, which is to please God through selfless service. Recognition is to find the correct address of God, which is the initial step. The next step is to please God. If the initial step itself fails, where is the hope of the next step? Ego and jealousy towards the co-human form creates repulsion and thus, the relevant human form of God is lost. The [Spiritual] effort (Sadhana) is nothing but the eradication of ego and jealousy towards the living human forms and this can be achieved by the training in which the humanity is served like God. This is only a training and should not be taken as a reality. You treat the humanity as God and serve it so that you will serve the human form of God after recognition. This training is misunderstood as reality and advaitins assumed every human being as God. Till the eradication of ego and jealousy towards the living human forms is achieved, a training to serve the statues in human form is introduced. The inert statue is associated with initiation of life and the result is the living human body. The human body is inert and when life is initiated in it, it becomes the living human body. When we say x+y=z, you have to take the product ‘z’ as the result and you should not take ‘x’ as ‘z’. You should move towards the right side to achieve ‘z’ and you cannot attain ‘z’ by sitting in the left side. This means that when the inert statue of human form is associated with the process of initiation of life, you should take the result as living human body. You should not take the inert statue becoming living statue, because the inert statue does not show any sign of the life after the initiation. It only means that you should catch the contemporary living human form of God.

During the training, you must treat every human being as God and every human being represents God. This is representative worship (Pratika Upasanam). After this, ego and jealousy to human form is destroyed and you will be able to recognize the living human form of God and when you worship It [contemporary human incarnation], it becomes direct worship (Saakshat Upasanam). In both the types of worship, God is not the human form. This is the similarity. The difference is that in the representative worship, God is not in the human form where as in the direct worship, God is in the human form. If you fail in this concept, you can never recognize God even after death because God in the energetic form in the upper world is not recognized by you since you are also in the same energetic form. This is the principle of repulsion between common media. As long as you do not overcome this, God is never recognized by you either in this world or in the upper worlds.

===============

-By Shri Datta Swami

(Visit our website: www.universal-spirituality.org)

Universal Spirituality for World Peace