| |
leave off everything and run away in order to efface this wrong notion of 'I-ness'?" My usual reply is that this is not a problem of abnegating or not abnegating what you possess. The crux lies in the attitude of "my-ness"{ towards those things. Even if you lay aside things, the attitude of "my-ness" can linger. That is why the so-called renouncers keep an account of what they have renounced and measure the greatness or smallness of their renunciation in accordance with the value and quantity of the things renounced. Once a saintly man told me, "I have kicked of lakhs of rupees". I said, "Pray, when did you kick it off?" He said, "About thirty years back." On hearing this I was not at all impressed. I submitted, "Sir, the kick does not seem to have achieved much; otherwise these lakhs would have been entirely forgotten in thirty years."
Hence the question is not that of renunciation but is that of realization. In the absence of realization even renunciation may feed your egotism and cause it to swell. The assumption that things are mine is wrong, not the assumption that things exist. There are two phases of misguided attitude. One is that of the hedonist who says, "These are mine I will enjoy them." The other is that of the renouncer who says, "These are mine. I will leave them off." But both say, "These are mine." Real knowledge reveals a third fact. It says, "Whatever is, is God's. Neither mine nor thine. We ourselves are not ours. I really am not. Egotism is thus a delusion. Everything is taking place. I am only a part of that process." If this attitude is maintained, life becomes as natural and easily accessible as water and air. Such a life is a life of sacrifice. Such a life is a life of love. Love of God means forsaking egotism.
Malukadasa has said: birds do not work, the python does not seek a job, and that Rama gives them plenty. People have misunderstood these lines. They say that Malukadasa wants us not to do anything. This, however, is not the correct interpretation. Birds do work from sunrise to sunset. They build nests, peck at grains. What Maluka means is that birds are not self-conscious. If the idea of "I am" must disappear, desire
|
|
|