The samskrit words "thyagam" , sanyaasah, "Kutumbh" Nyaasam etc are the key words which form the crux of today's thought.
1.The word "Thyagam" as I have understood in different contexts ( I am too bored to look up Apte BTW) are as follows
(a) Sacrifice (b) Renunciation (c) Resignation
2. Sanyasah is similar to thyagam (in the spiritual context) .
3. Kutumbh : ordinarily "family" but based on our texts especially in the context of the famous "vasudhaiva kutumbakam" : The Creation.
4. Nyaasam : The order of things - What/how/where each ought to be.
The word Sanyasah is derived from Samyak+ Nyasam = to be well disposed towards everything as they ought to be. In other words when I take Sanyas, I let everything about God's creation just "be" and detach myself from it totally, or better still, I will be well disposed towards & will not disturb, everything/ any of God's scheme of things.
Thyagam also to my mind is similar; I will renounce my attachment to the material world and let it "be".
Seen in this context, I am beginning to wonder as to whether Holy men like Acharyal, when they refrain from hearing your individual pleas for succor, are only being true to their sanyasa vow, namely let things "be" as God's will and not intervene except perhaps in the rarest of cases, saying "prarabdha" must be endured etc......
One of the expansion of this word Prarabdha" goes like this : "That which in a very well organised fashion has begun its result yielding times" and thus cannot be attempted to be altered especially by a Sanyasi.
Which brings me to today's thought:
The Bhagwad Geetha in many places refers to this sanyasah: karma snyasah, sarva sankalpa sanyasah etc. Viewed in terms of the foregoing meanings of the word, it is clear that when I do my duties/karma I will even avoid reference to the "Sankalpam" part, as doing so can / will alter His order of things.
If so, then why is the sankalpam made at all? My romantic interpretation is this: The words "mama" or the "mama kutumbasya" -- the first portion of any sankalpam of seeking countless boons, in every karma -- refers not to my individual self, but "vasudaiva kutumbakam" paradigm of Universal brotherhood or something akin. Once you do that over a period, you evolve & transcend even this "so called" universal "love for all" stage to realize that the "self" has nothing to do with "His Creation".
Only at this stage one can think in terms of going beyond sankalpams, to "merge" and letting the creation "be".
Contrarily to the collective wisdom which interprets "geetha" as being a message to every aam aadmi including yours truly, I am very clear that it is "NOT". It is a message to one -who is in threshold of deliverance- from the Lord Himself. And till I reach that stage of "paripakkuam" (ripened wisdom) the messages regarding doing my duties without expectation of results and or rid myself of all desires for boons to be showered, etc have little meaning.
Of course I have the choice to ask, get these, enjoy etc perpetually and accept that there can and will be bad times simultaneously. But to "sync in" with the message of "geetha", I have to develop a "jignyaasaa" to be "liberated" and nurture the vivekam of understanding that there is a transcendental stage, from where there is no return to the stage of asking for boons etc. Only then "geetha" will make real sense. Till then its more of a jignyaasaa to acquire scholarship.
My regret? I am getting nowhere near to either of these Jignyaasaa pursuit, as (you must have guessed) my prarabhda comes in the way as dark clouds......
Well perhaps it is prudent to let that also "be" and let me surrender to Him for succor.......
Vichu
1.The word "Thyagam" as I have understood in different contexts ( I am too bored to look up Apte BTW) are as follows
(a) Sacrifice (b) Renunciation (c) Resignation
2. Sanyasah is similar to thyagam (in the spiritual context) .
3. Kutumbh : ordinarily "family" but based on our texts especially in the context of the famous "vasudhaiva kutumbakam" : The Creation.
4. Nyaasam : The order of things - What/how/where each ought to be.
The word Sanyasah is derived from Samyak+ Nyasam = to be well disposed towards everything as they ought to be. In other words when I take Sanyas, I let everything about God's creation just "be" and detach myself from it totally, or better still, I will be well disposed towards & will not disturb, everything/ any of God's scheme of things.
Thyagam also to my mind is similar; I will renounce my attachment to the material world and let it "be".
Seen in this context, I am beginning to wonder as to whether Holy men like Acharyal, when they refrain from hearing your individual pleas for succor, are only being true to their sanyasa vow, namely let things "be" as God's will and not intervene except perhaps in the rarest of cases, saying "prarabdha" must be endured etc......
One of the expansion of this word Prarabdha" goes like this : "That which in a very well organised fashion has begun its result yielding times" and thus cannot be attempted to be altered especially by a Sanyasi.
Which brings me to today's thought:
The Bhagwad Geetha in many places refers to this sanyasah: karma snyasah, sarva sankalpa sanyasah etc. Viewed in terms of the foregoing meanings of the word, it is clear that when I do my duties/karma I will even avoid reference to the "Sankalpam" part, as doing so can / will alter His order of things.
If so, then why is the sankalpam made at all? My romantic interpretation is this: The words "mama" or the "mama kutumbasya" -- the first portion of any sankalpam of seeking countless boons, in every karma -- refers not to my individual self, but "vasudaiva kutumbakam" paradigm of Universal brotherhood or something akin. Once you do that over a period, you evolve & transcend even this "so called" universal "love for all" stage to realize that the "self" has nothing to do with "His Creation".
Only at this stage one can think in terms of going beyond sankalpams, to "merge" and letting the creation "be".
Contrarily to the collective wisdom which interprets "geetha" as being a message to every aam aadmi including yours truly, I am very clear that it is "NOT". It is a message to one -who is in threshold of deliverance- from the Lord Himself. And till I reach that stage of "paripakkuam" (ripened wisdom) the messages regarding doing my duties without expectation of results and or rid myself of all desires for boons to be showered, etc have little meaning.
Of course I have the choice to ask, get these, enjoy etc perpetually and accept that there can and will be bad times simultaneously. But to "sync in" with the message of "geetha", I have to develop a "jignyaasaa" to be "liberated" and nurture the vivekam of understanding that there is a transcendental stage, from where there is no return to the stage of asking for boons etc. Only then "geetha" will make real sense. Till then its more of a jignyaasaa to acquire scholarship.
My regret? I am getting nowhere near to either of these Jignyaasaa pursuit, as (you must have guessed) my prarabhda comes in the way as dark clouds......
Well perhaps it is prudent to let that also "be" and let me surrender to Him for succor.......
Vichu
Narasimhan's Comments:
ReplyDeleteThat's a freewheeling voyage thru spiritual space not constrained by requirements of validation from scriptural authority (pramaanam)which in our land is taken to be apourusheya and thus beyond debate between mortals. Free contemplation on TRUTH without the requisite scholarship to draw support from an appropriate pramaanam is treated by the knowing as so much waste and its expression as blasphemy.
Arjuna,at the threshold of deliverance as you have insightfully described his state of evolution, had initially,in a spirit of deep and free self contemplation, rejected God's scheme of engaging in a holy war declaring it as purposeless. The ultimate source of all wisdom chose then to enlighten him with a lengthy philosophical discourse, dispelling his persistent doubts with patience, till he reached a state of grateful surrender to His Will. How we wish we would likewise be blessed by Him in a manner unmistakable so we too would get to a state of surrender out of clarity as Arjuna did than out of fatigue in our quest for truth. Or perhaps it does not matter how He takes us there. Perhaps again, we are at the threshold of deliverance too and are being led to it soon thru all our turmoil.
God bless us all
ReplyDeleteThanks for an understandingly sympathetic response. The thanks is also for giving me a chance to go thru my own piece again.
The immediate reaction was "arrey not bad yaar" kind of feeling. Should I re-start Jignyaasaa pieces? or thought of the day process?
Or let things "be" and let my thoughts also just "be" without a desire to share them.
Absolute subhiksham or the exact opposite namely thoroughly hopeless stage both gets one to be so detached perhaps. The former has nothing to gain, the latter nothing to lose, both are happy just "being"...... any "desire" losing its meaning altogether.....pramaanam? I am afraid there is none but "dil ko kaun or kaise sambhaale?
Just a thought on the spur. Though not consummately fascinating, it's not threateningly disturbing either.........
Love
Vichu