In this article, I am going to elaborate some facts of life which are based on my own experiences and some Hindu Scriptures (Not a new thing, every person has to some or the other day pass through this phase of life, either in this birth or in future births to come).
If one feels the subject boring, then certainly he/she can stop reading, but I can assure you that you have nothing to lose by reading this article. One can agree or disagree with my viewpoint, but the universal truth will prevail, the defect is in our set of mind, upbringing, or more particularly the SAMSKAARS which are imparted to us since childhood.
We live in this materialistic world, and there is blind race in this world for money, name, fame, etc. Such is the cut throat competition that the saying BAAP BADA NA BHAIYA SABSE BADA RUPAIYA holds true.
Our Shastras also say that there are four attainable goals of human beings which are DHARM, ARTH, KAAM and MOKSHA. Out of these, most of the people tend to ignore the fourth one i.e. MOKSHA. We forget that we will not be there on this earth infinitely, and some day we have to leave this body and the soul will move further in its journey. A beautiful Sanskrit quote goes like this:
“DHANANI BHUMAU, PASHAVASCH GOSTHE, BHARYA GRIHADWARE, JANE SMASHANE,
DEHE CHITAYAM, PARLOK MARGE, KARMANU GACCHATI JEEV EK”
It means that when you will die, your property, movable and immovable will remain on the earth, your cattle will be there in their place, your wife will come only till the door of your house, your relatives will accompany you till the grave yard (smashaan), your body will be cremated and the only thing which go with you is your karma. So, all our actions which are not towards our final goal i.e. Self realization is in vain, is futile exercise and is a big zero, because out of this nothing will be carried forward in the next birth.
As far as accumulation of money is concerned, somewhere we have to put a full stop. People are taking false enjoyment in increasing the digits of their income/wealth for example 5 digits, 6 digits, 7 digit salary etc. Here one thing is worth noting that the Vahana or vehicle of Goddess Laxmi is Owl. So the persons having lot of wealth are generally tensed and busy and they are awake even at the midnight hours like an Owl. What is the use of the excess money if it cannot give you a good sleep? A computer engineer cannot eat the silicon chips or microprocessors. He has to consume potato chip or banana chip.
And those people who think that there is no such thing as rebirth, and believe in the philosophy of eat, drink and be happy, are also not happy. That happiness is not long lasting and is superficial. God is also tired of keeping the records of every individual and calculation of Paap and Punya, therefore the results of good as well as bad karma is given in this birth only. Followers of Charwak Rishi are of the opinion that till the time you live, live happily, take loan for eating Ghee, (RINAM KRITWA GHRITAM PIVET) once the body is cremated, there is no rebirth, so enjoy this birth. But this is entirely different from the Sanatan Dharma Philosophy.
Now the heart of this article comes. Having understood that we have to be spiritualistic rather than materialistic (no doubt DHARM-good deeds, ARTH-earning money, KAAM-physical desire, is also to be given importance) in our life, the next step is to surrender ourselves to a SELF REALISED SAINT – SADGURU. Why I am emphasizing SADGURU, because, there are two types of GURU, one is Siksha Guru and the other one is Diksha Guru.
Siksha Guru means the Guru who imparts the worldly knowledge like accountancy, tax or maths or science. This knowledge is only for the limited purpose of filling our stomach and survive in this world and it will not be helpful in the next birth. Suppose I am a Chartered Accountant in this birth, then in the next birth, that degree will not benefit me and I will again have to start from first standard.
But the Diksha Guru is the one who imparts us the knowledge of the self (as a indestructible soul, and not the physical body which perishes after some time) and how we can liberate from the birth and death cycle of this world. As per our Hindu Shashtra, there are 84 lakhs types of species in this world like monkey, tiger, mouse, man etc. and we have been passing through these births since ages. Now we have got the body of human being so that we can liberate ourself permanently from this cycle of birth and death which is very painful and attain that level of knowledge which a SADGURU has. So we have to make best use of this birth to become permanently happy. A nice Sankrit shlok goes like this :
“PUNARAPI JANANAM PUNARAPI MARANAM,
PUNARAPI JANANI JATHARE SHAYANAM,
BHAJ GOVINDAM BHAJA GOVINDAM,
BHAJA GOVINDAM MUDHMATE”
The above shloka says that again and again taking birth, again and again dyeing, again and again sleeping in the womb of the mother before birth is very painful and it happens with the soul. So the writer says that Oh Mudhmate (meaning Murkha, person with less intelligence), you continuously engage in the Bhajan of Lord Govind and you will overcome this problem forever.
WHAT IS SELF REALISATION
Our very purpose/goal of coming on this earth is to realize GOD within ourselves so that we never have to again take birth on this planet and become one with GOD. That is termed as MOKSHA and THAT CANNOT BE ACHIEVED WITHOUT A SELF REALISED SAINT OR SADGURU . So we have to become a disciple of a SADGURU who will show us the right path (such as yoga, brahmacharya, refrain from eating non-vegetarian food, drinking alcohol, smoking etc, doing maun (silence), bhakti yoga, non-violence etc) and impart us the spiritual knowledge. Self realization means attaining a level of understanding that GOD is within us and all the beings from an ant to elephant are manifestations of the GOD in various forms. This is a very high level position which is achieved only through proper guidance of the GURU and proper SADHANA. That is why it is said that:
“GURU BRAHMA GURU VISHNU GURU DEVO MAHESHWARA
GURU SAKSHAT PARABRAHMA TASMAI SHRI GURUWE NAMAHA”
Guru is Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. Guru is also more respectable than even Brahma, that is why I my salutations to SADGURU.
In the book Guru Geeta, Lord Shiva says some shlokas to Goddess Parvati that are worth quoting in the present context:
“When Lord Shiva is angry on us, Guru is there to protect us, but when Guru is angry, there is nobody to protect us.”
“Gu means darkness, Ru means Light, So Guru is the one who takes us from Darkness to Light”
If anybody is interested to explore on this subject more, please refer the book “Guru Geeta” which is a dialogue between Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati in Skandha Purana.
I would like to summarize the above discussion with some nice quotes in Hindi that goes as:
“TIRATH NAHAYE EK FAL,
SANT MILE FAL CHAR,
SADGURU MILE ANANT FAL
KAHAT KABIR VICHAR”
“BHAYA NASHAN DURMATI
“KAR SATSANG ABHI
KHILA PILA KE DEH BANAYI, ISE BHI AGNI ME JALANA HAI,
PADA RAHEGA MAAL KHAJANA, CHHOD TRIYA SUT JANA HAI,
KAR SATSANG ABHI
“HARI SAM JAG KACHU VASTU NAHI, PREM PANTH SAM PANTH,
SADGURU SAM SAJJAN NAHI, GEETA SAM NAHI GRANTH.”
“EK GHADI AADHI GHADI, AADHI ME PUNI AADH,
TULSI SANGAT SADHU KI, HARE KOTI APRAADH”
“SAU KAAM CHHODKAR KHANA KHA LENA, HAZAAR KAAM CHHODKAR SNAN KAR LENA, LAKH KAM CHHODKAR DAAN-PUNYA KAR LENA, AUR KAROD KAAM CHHODKAR
HARI KA SMARAN KARNA CHAHIYE”
“SANT
JYO JYO PAG AAGE DHARE, KOTI YAGYA SAMAAN.”
“DEKHA APNE AAPKO MERA DIL DEEWANA HO
NA CHHEDO MUZE YAARO, MAIN KHUD PE MASTANA HO
“YEH TAN VISH KI BELARI, GURU AMRIT KI KHAN,
SEER DIJE SATGURU MILE, TO BHI SASTA JAAN”
“KABEERA YAH TAN JAAT HAI RAAKH SAKE TO RAAKH,
KHALI HAATHO VE GAYE JINHE KARODON AUR LAKH.”
JAI HIND
BHARAT MATA KI JAI
JAI SADGURU DEV
REGARDS
CA CHHAVIRAJ JOSHI
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