WHY IS GITA IMPORTANT TO US? J K SIVAN
SAMSARA THE ATTACHMENT
Samsara is a word very tricky. It is meant to refer wife for some. It is always compred to a deep ocean, with only water everywhere. Samsara surrounds us form . Same is the case with samsara. It surrounds us from all the sides. It is the attachment from which he cannot extricate himself. Samsara engulfs everyone. Just as a single Rs2000 currency note can hold many one rupees in it, it is powerful and its effect cannot be reduced by any means in the normal course. Whether a person is in the midst of his family or alone in a forest, the mind remains attached to samsara. Two yogis may go to the Himalayan caves for doing penance, but even there they may burn with envy if they happen to hear each other’s praise. The same thing happens in the realm of social service. Samsara therefore has a grip onus and torments us. It does not leave us even if we decide to remain within the bounds of swadharma. Even if we curtail our activities, engagements and affairs, attachment to ‘I and mine’ remains the same.
We read and hear that the demons could become small or big at will. Samsara too is like a demon. And a demon remains a demon, whatever be its size. You may live in a palace or in a hut, samsara is equally there, inescapable. Even if we limit samsara by choosing to remain within the bounds of swadharma, there would still be conflicts and you will feel, ‘Enough of it!’ Therein too you will have to deal with a whole lot of individuals and institutions and that will exasperate you; you would become disgusted. But then that is the time of trial for your mind. Detachment does not automatically result from the performance of swadharma. To curtail activities is not the same thing as getting detached.
The great question therefore arises. How can then one attain detachment? For this, the mind must cooperate fully. Nothing can be achieved without the cooperation of the mind. Parents sometimes keep their children in a residential school. There the boy leads a disciplined life. He wakes up early, takes exercises regularly and is generally away from bad habits. But as soon as he comes home, he abandons all the good habits. A man is not like a lump of wet clay to which you can give any form you like. He has a mind of his own, which must be receptive to assume that form. If there is no cooperation on the part of his mind, all efforts to educate a person would be in vain, an act of wastage.. Cooperation of the mind is, therefore, extremely necessary irrespective of the means adopted.
Outward performance of swadharma and the inward mental vikarma—both are necessary. Outward work is, of course, necessary. The mind cannot otherwise be tested. In the stillness of early morning, we feel that our minds have become calm. But the moment a child cries, we lose our calm and it becomes clear that the peace of mind is illusory. There is, therefore, no point in avoiding outward work. The true nature of our minds, the real quality of our minds is revealed through outward work.
Water in a pond appears clear, but throw a stone in it and the dirt settled at the bottom will immediately rise up. That happens with our minds too. There are heaps of dirt at the bottom of the mind’s lake. They come to the surface when disturbed by an external agent. When a man gets angry, it is not that the anger comes from without; it was already there within him. Otherwise it could never have shown itself.
People say that coloured cloth does not get dirty; white cloth does. But coloured cloth too gets dirty, although it does not appear to be so. White cloth says, “I have become dirty; wash me please.” People do not like such ‘talking’ cloth. Our action too talks. It proclaims whether we are given to selfishness or to anger or something else. Action is the mirror that reflects our true form. We should, therefore, be grateful to it. If the mirror shows that our face is unclean, would we smash the mirror? No. We would rather thank it and wash our face. Likewise, should we avoid action because it reveals the dirt in our minds—our defects and weaknesses? Is the mind going to be pure simply by avoiding action? In fact, we should continue to act while trying continually for the purification of mind.
