RICHES IN MISERIES

Given human nature, a human being cannot be anything apart from what he is; he may only comprehend information in a manner consistent with his preferences and cognitive abilities, thereby apprehending meaning solely through his own sensual interpretive mediums. Those meanings oscillate in the objectified dimensions, consistent with their transient baseline. It does need a description by any kind of quantitative or qualitative epitaph brought from an external source, because such a source does exist in the phenomenal world in space and time. Human expectations, according to sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda, are merely movements of consciousness toward an unattended goal, and all his endeavors, workshops, enterprises, and projects exemplify his conceptual interpretation of life as a future possibility rather than a current reality. If what he perceives as the entirety of life's values or existence's reality were already present, there would be no motivation to take action in the world. All of his drive to act and support what he sees as the progressive evolution of humanity comes from the idea of a future end that hasn't been reached yet, and the history of people shows that this is the right way to think about people in general. Thus, a human being's relation to reality seems to be a kind of relationship between the present and the future. This situation presents a challenging dilemma for him. Even if he scratches his head a thousand times, he would not be able to give a correct definition of the relation between the present and the future because of the difficulty in knowing where exactly the present passes into the future, where the future commences.

1. Outline

General human proclivity is towards self-gratification as reflected by sense organs for processual action by the mind. It tends to gratify its inflated self-ego, located in the body-mind-intellect system. It tends towards dissoluteness, or incontinence, rather than self-control; hard-heartedness, or antipathy, instead of charity; and callousness, or indifference, rather than compassion. These self-ego-driven qualities propel one towards lust, anger, and greed that clouds the intellect to distance from reasonable and just decisions based on equanimity, detachment, and forbearance. It makes one unbalanced, as the centre of its gravity is located in the world of phenomena, which, by their very nature, are evanescent. According to Swami Sivananda, things are ephemeral and constantly try to deceive us. He says that wealth cannot give happiness. It is Jada Maya (substance that lacks self-luminosity and consciousness). It makes one forget God completely. It drags one to the regions of hell. This phenomenal world is illusory, deceptive, and unreal, and all are born to die only. Eternal, imperishable, and infinite is Self, or the Atman only. Swami Sivananda asserts that the frailty of old age, disease, and death circumscribe life's transitory process. According to him, this leads to chaos in the body-mind-intellect system. Youth abandons the body quickly as old age grips it. Only those who actively use their precious life to strive for the ultimate good of life find salvation. Egoism, born of Avidya (ignorance), deludes human beings by deceiving them to think that they are everything. It multiplies desires, conceit, and vanity. It is the greatest enemy ever known. The secret of renunciation is the renunciation of egoism. Ahamkara, or ego, is the direst of diseases. This persistent adversary has disseminated the enchantments of wealth, pride, wives, friends, and children throughout humanity, creating spells that are challenging to break. He who is free from egoism is ever joyful and peaceful. Desire is like an owl that flies around the mind in the darkness of affection and avarice. It is the cause of all rebirths. This earth is filled with various pains, miseries, and sorrows. The mischievous mind wanders from one place to another. It moves from one object to another like a strolling street dog. It is never calm. It is possible to drink the contents. It is possible to drink the ocean, uproot the Sumeru mountain, or swallow burning fire, but controlling this terrible mind is impossible. The unbridled mind generates all pains. If this mind is annihilated through discrimination and atmic inquiry, all pains, along with this world, will vanish. It obliterates all divine attributes, asserts Swami Sivananda. Similar to a bird ensnared in a net, you are ensnared in the snare of desires. It resembles a finely honed blade. It infiltrates the hearts of individuals and inflicts agony without cause.

2. Scriptures

The Scriptures emphasise that things in the objective dimension, including all riches, material wealth, and prosperity, are ephemeral and insentient. They are ensnared by Maya, and at every opportune moment, they are likely to cause deception. The only available option before human beings is inward movement from the deceptive outward one. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad contends on three aspects—self-control, charity, and compassion—to insulate oneself from ‘lust, anger, and greed—the three gateways to hell, destructive to the self; therefore, one should renounce these three’ Riches, like the shadow of night, according to Yoga-Vasistha (1.13.14–17), overcast the good qualities of men and, like moonbeams, bring to bloom the buds of their misery. They blow away the brightness of a fair prospect as a hurricane and resemble a sea with giant surges. They bring upon us a cloud of fear and error, increase the poison of despondence and regret, and are like the dreadful snakes in the field of our choice. Fortune is frost to asceticism's bondsmen, night to libertinism's owls, eclipse to reason's moonlight, and moonbeams to folly's lilies. She is as transitory as the Iris and as pleasant to view through the play of her colours; she is as fickle as the lightning, which vanishes no sooner than it appears in sight. Hence, only the ignorant rely on her. She is as unsteady as a well-born damsel following a base-born man to the woods and like a mirage that tempts the runaways to fall to it as the doe.Perfection is one thing and enjoyment another, declares the Katha Upanishad; these two having different ends engage men differently. He who chooses perfection becomes pure. He who chooses enjoyment misses his true end. Both perfection and enjoyment present themselves to man; the wise man, having examined both, distinguishes one from the other. He chooses perfection as being superior to enjoyment, but the foolish man chooses enjoyment for the pleasure of his body. O Nachiketas, having thought upon the things that are only apparently desirable, thou hast wisely abandoned them.” Death then proceeded to teach Nachiketas.Held in bondage by hundreds of desires, Srimad Bhagavad Gita (BG 16.12-15) explains, and driven by lust and anger, they strive to accumulate wealth by unjust means, all for the gratification of their senses. The demonic individuals think, "I have gained so much wealth today, and I shall now fulfil this wish of mine." This wealth is mine, and tomorrow I shall have even more. I have destroyed that enemy, and I will do the same to the others! I am like God Himself; I am the enjoyer, I am perfect, I am powerful, and I am happy. I am wealthy, and I have highly placed relatives. Who else is equal to me? I shall perform sacrifices (to the celestial gods); I shall give alms; I shall rejoice.” Ignorance deludes them in this way. Possessed and led astray by such imaginings, enveloped in a mesh of delusion and addicted to the gratification of sensuous pleasures, they descend to the murkiest hell.Likewise, the Chandogya Upanishad (8.7.1) glorifies self-knowledge, but what is the nature of the self, and how do we attain that knowledge? Self-knowledge gives one the highest. One may have everything else—friends, relatives, immense political power, money, scholarship, a high social standing—but if one does not have self-knowledge, everything is useless. It says the Self is free from sin, free from old age, free from death, free from sorrow, and free from hunger and thirst. It is the source of the desire for Truth and the commitment to Truth. One must actively seek out and gain a thorough understanding of this self. The individual who has diligently pursued and comprehended the Self can achieve all worlds and fulfil all desires.

3. Remarks

Knowledge, Adi Shankaracharya tersely says, should be explained again and again until it is firmly grasped by a Brahman disciple, who is indifferent to everything that is transitory and achievable through certain means, who has given up desire for a son, wealth, for this world and the next, who has adopted the life of a wandering monk and is endowed with control over mind and the senses (1.1.2, A Thousand TeachingsBy Adi Shankaracharya, Shri Ramakrishna Math, Madras, 1989).

-Asutosh Satpathy