Bhaje Govindam - 7

Health and Happiness - Dr Dwarakanath

Sankara, like most great masters, was surgically precise with his disciples! This sloka is attributed to Sureshwaracharya, Sankara’s famous disciple! Unless one has not attained ultimate Jnana (knowledge), one cannot get rid of the great delusion. A person may go in pilgrimage to holy places, bathe in the holy Ganga or even at the meeting point of Ganga with the ocean or distribute gifts in charity, but only after realizing what is truth or having a glimpse of god, that one is relieved from the vicious cycle of birth-death-birth.

  The knowledge acquired from book-learning does not mean anything, but the same knowledge born out of knowing the truth will emancipate one from the hold of birth and death. Once it is achieved, the mind will become free from all attachments. One may be well read, have good command over many languages, adept in making discourses, yet if the same person is a victim of delusion and attachment, then it does not mean that one has acquired Jnana. All the above actions are wonderful exercises for developing healthy habits and attitudes to life and these may help one on to the path of study and contemplation, but without knowledge of the infinite reality, liberation from sense objects will not be achieved. Generous and positive actions may give some gainful results, but not liberation from birth even in hundred years. It is true from any school of thought that one wishes to refer, even these positive actions, one has to perform with faith, dedication, devotion and sincerity. Pilgrimages, vows, charities, etc., are all exercises to prepare the seeker's mind for the great path of meditation and through meditation, until the highest is actually apprehended, total freedom from the natural human weaknesses can never be gained, not even in hundred lives.

A yogi is like a child, who is, in his innocence does not know the difference between good and evil and, at times, behaves like a mad man, who does not care for the world. The known and recent example for this kind of mental status is Sri Ramakrishna paramahansa, Sri Ramana maharishi, Sri Lahiri mahasaya, Sri Shirdi sai baba, etc. They used to be in divine joy, not caring about the surroundings. One can attain this kind of bliss and maturity of heart and mind only when one is completely immersed in God-consciousness. The mind waits for a chance to become prey to the deceitful senses. It gets attracted only to impurities with constant contemplation and pursuing the path of devotion, one has to try to wash out the impurities of the mind. Once the mind is devoid of any kind of impurity, it becomes subservient to the soul, the moment one liquidates one's identification as an individual, the person will become like a child, forgetting the body-consciousness. 

Although one may appear like a child or a madman, in fact, one is not so. it is an aberration to call a realized soul in such a fashion, because one is beyond the dwandas like love and hatred, evil and good, joy and sorrow etc. These are all related only to the body but not to the soul. Soul is always in satchidaananda, but we do not realize, as we have covered it up with our ajnana (ignorance) born out of our attachment to materialistic objects.

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