A picture of a worldly person

Meaning: A person initially was alone. Later on, he desired that ‘I must have a wife, children, wealth, and things which will make me happy.’. Then, he works to acquire and preserve these things. For this, he goes through lots of suffering, and every day he works to the last drop of his energy. At that time he believes that there is nothing better to acquire in life other than what he is engaged in. If he does not get any of his desired objects, then he thinks that his life is incomplete, and if he loses one of these worldly objects, then he thinks that his life was useless. At that time, he lives as if he is dead. He loses all enthusiasm in life and plunges into despondency.    

Reflection:

People think that marriage will bring all the happiness in the world and it will solve all their life’s problems. Married people know that it is not true. After the end of the romantic period of the marriage, the reality of adjustments between the two personalities begins. Then, the married person starts the struggles for raising children, making more money, and acquiring higher positions, power, name, and fame. This shloka says that the person works unto the last drop of his/her energy. The joy gets less and less and the miseries grow more and more.  

In the scriptures, there is a picture of a worldly man seeking a little joy in the midst of terrors and sufferings. A man was walking in a forest. He heard a roar of a tiger and he started running in the opposite direction. In that direction, he saw a mad elephant running toward him. He tried to run away from both.  While running with fear he fell into a well that was covered by the branches of a tree. He was going to fall headlong into the well, but a branch stopped him and he started hanging upside down. He saw that due to the commotion snakes living in the walls of the well came out and started swimming in the water. Because of his fall, he had smashed a honeycomb and the bees of the comb started flying all around him. He realized that a single branch was holding him from falling into the well. At that time, he heard the noise of rats. He looked up and saw that a white and a black rat were cutting the branch which was holding him. In this situation, he felt that something fell on his cheek near his mouth. He realized that it was the honey dripping from the honeycomb. He opened his mouth and after much struggle, he successfully got a drop of honey on his tongue. He was happy with the drop of the honey. Is this a happy ending to a horrible story?

The roars of uncertainties, disease, and death are constantly haunting a person. Blinded by millions of desires and greed he falls into a well of commitments that he may or may not be able to get out of. The failures, like the snakes, are waiting to get him. Hundreds of worries circle in his mind like bees. Like the white and the black rats, the passing of the days and nights are cutting his string of life. In this situation, the man is trying to get some pleasure from this world and if he gets a little joy like a honey drop in his mouth he feels that the struggles and fears are worth it.

 It is an extreme picture painted to make us aware of our life’s situations. After much suffering to get a little joy in the world, we become insensitive towards our sufferings. We feel that it is the only way to live in the world.        

Lord Buddha, even though he had all the worldly pleasures around him as a prince Siddhartha, realized that worldly life is filled with suffering. That is why his first noble truth was, “There is suffering”.

First, we have to understand that the pairs of opposites always come together like the heat and cold, pleasures and pain, success and failures, honor and insult, elation and depression. Thus, worldly pleasures are always followed by suffering. We cannot get one without the other. Overall, in the world, our sufferings are more in percentage than our pleasures. 

People who do not have much experience of life think that this is a pessimistic view of life and the world. They think that life and the world are pleasurable. On the other hand, those who are burnt by the world think that life and the world are most miserable. Wise people have a balanced view.

Swami Sarvapriyananda has said: (i) the pessimists say that there is only a dark tunnel; (ii) the optimists say that there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel, and (iii) the wise people say that there is a dark tunnel, there is a light after this dark tunnel, and after the light, there is another dark tunnel.

Life is filled with pairs of opposites. By knowing this, we don’t keep swinging between the two extremes and get exhausted, but we can remain balanced and continue performing our responsibilities. The practices prescribed by Karma Yoga can help us to live a sane life in the world. The lessons of detachment, offering the results of all our activities to God, and the practice of unselfishness help us get control of our minds and eventually they purify our minds.

Second, we have to learn and realize the fundamentals of Vedanta taught by the Upanishads.

Upanishad says that joy is within us, but by ignorance, we think that it is in a worldly object or a person.

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (2.4.5; Part I), Rishi Yajnavalkya says,

“Verily, not for the sake of the husband, the husband is loved, but he is loved for the sake of the Self.

“Verily, not for the sake of the wife, the wife is loved, but she is loved for the sake of the Self.

“Verily, not for the sake of the sons, the sons are loved, but they are loved for the sake of the Self.

“Verily, not for the sake of the wealth, the wealth is loved, but it is loved for the sake of the Self.

A person gets attracted to his/her spouse because of physical beauty or talents or virtues or something external. But, if we reflect upon this attraction, we find that the main attraction is due to the Atman residing behind the spouse’s body and mind. When a spouse dies, then immediately the husband or the wife makes arrangements for the dead person’s funeral services. This shows that the spouse did not love the body and the mind, but loved something which made the body-mind alive.  

If we understand and realize this fact, then our love will be on much stronger ground. Then, the old age, disease, or the external changes of the spouse don’t affect our love. Our performance of our responsibilities becomes worship of Atman or God residing in the spouse and not unpleasant slavery for the ‘so-called love’, which is actually an attachment to the body and mind.    

Rishi Yajnavalkya continues and tells his wife Maitreyi that anything that we love in the world is due to the Atman or the Ultimate Reality lying behind this phenomenal world. Therefore, we must hear about the Atman from the scriptures or the Holy People, reflect upon it, meditate on it, and ultimately realize it.

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (2.4.5; Part II), Rishi Yajnavalkya continues,

“Verily, not for the sake of the worlds, the worlds are loved, but they are loved for the sake of the Self.

“Verily, not for the sake of the gods, the gods are loved, but they are loved for the sake of the Self.

“Verily, not for the sake of the beings, the beings are loved, but they are loved for the sake of the Self.

“Verily, not for the sake of the All, the All is loved, but it is loved for the sake of the Self.

“My dear Maitreyi, it is the Self that should be realized – should be heard of, reflected on, and meditated upon.

“By the realization of the Self through hearing, reflection, and meditation all this is known.”

Atman’s nature is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. It is Existence Itself, Knowledge Itself, and Bliss Itself. When we experience joy or bliss from the objects or the people of the world, it is the reflection of the Bliss of the Atman. When we truly realize this, then the external loss or gain does not throw us off from our inner peace. If we lose an object of the world or a person, we may feel its pain, but we will not feel that ‘we are dead’ and ‘the whole world is falling apart’. We realize that the universe is nothing but Atman or Brahman and it is appearing in various names and forms.  The way the different kinds of waves rise and subside in the ocean, the objects and people of the world come to existence and then merge in the ocean of Atman, or Brahman, or Pure Consciousness. We also realize that we have no control over anything including our own body and mind.

When we realize that Atman or Brahman is the Ultimate Reality and It is the only eternal substance and everything else is temporary, meaning, it has a beginning and end, then we can handle all the situations with sanity.  Because things are temporary, we do not become careless or irresponsible. On the other hand, we take care of things and people with full attention and love.

Swami Taygananda said in his lecture that we buy a bunch of roses. We know that they are not going to last forever, but we put them nicely in a vase, water them, and put in preservatives to prolong their lives and enjoy their beauty. Also, when the roses die, we don’t feel that we have died. Similarly, knowing that everything in the universe is temporary except Brahman, we sincerely love all and make all efforts for their welfare.