ATTACHMENT IS A MIRAGE
“The Totality of Nature is called
“In the previous session we have seen how to dispose of the Ego.
That leaves the now-superfluous rope dangling in the air. A long rope it is, as
long as it is strong and twisted, that we have spun through countless
generations. We have the choice to noose it around our neck or to thrust it
under water. (I am reminded, somewhat inconsequentially, of what Benjamin
Franklin told his American compatriots after signing the Declaration of
Independence, ‘We must indeed all hang together or, most
assuredly, we shall all hang separately!’)
“You would have observed that even expert-cooks among housewives
(and house-husbands) are averse to one post-dinner chore — that of scrubbing
and cleaning the utensils used for cooking. That is because the cooked food, whether
rice or sambhar or curry, has a tendency to cling
tenaciously to the inside walls of the vessels and it calls for much pressure
to detach the flakes and wash them down the sink. This remnant food, holding on
to the receptacles is known by the word patru in
Tamil which means ‘clinging.’
“Our Attachment to worldly objects is no different from this
clinging; and Nammazhwar of the Vaishnavite
mystics has voiced the truth most tellingly in one short sentence: ‘If patru becomes extinct, Liberation is attained.’
“Now the questions arise in our minds, ‘Here
we are in a family set-up with life-partner and son and daughter and house and
scooter and job and bank-account. How is it possible to be without Attachment
to all these? Is it not a natural law that we cling to them and they to us?
“By way of seeking answers to these and other queries in the
same vein, let me ask, ‘Are you or are you not aware and do you or do you not
accept that you came into the world at a particular point of time; and under
the ordainment of Nature, you have to quit the planet at another point of time,
whether you like it or not?’
“In what way is the process of living different from an over-night
train-journey? You ensconce yourself on the reserved berth right royally and
you adjust the lamp and fan to suit your convenience. But do you develop any
Attachment to these appurtenances? Why so? Because you are
only allowed to use the facilities and not to put them in your suitcase at the
close of the journey.
“Likewise in the course of six or seven decades you inhabit the
Earth, you do need certain facilities and commodities but why do you commit the
error of becoming attached to them? You must keep them in good order in your
own interest but does not the link-up end there? Even Alexander the great who
set out to conquer the world left with empty hands. A new-born keeps its hands
closed but Time straightens the fingers so that they may hold nothing when the
bell tolls or the conch blows.
“Let us eschew sentiment and get down to brass-tacks. Prolonged
association with proximate objects and persons generates the illusion in your
mind that they are permanent and it is this baseless concept that lands you in
the trap called Attachment. If your interaction with your environment is such
as not to generate friction under any circumstances, the objects of the world
will not be a mental burden to you. If you come to realise that your
association with them is time-bound you would not be inclined to cling to them
nor entertain any expectations from them for the future. Whatever is due to you
cannot be taken away from you; and what is not due to you will not come to you.
In the light of this wisdom relationships will be weightless on your mind. Has
not J.Krishnamurti said, ‘Live lightly in the world, even
as a guest stays in a house, observing the activities around him but not
getting bogged down in them’? Bhagavan Ramana
Maharishi counsels us to deal with worldly affairs as a Bank-cashier handles
the money coming to his table. These Sages, out of compassion, have given us a
plan of action that would dispel the mirage of Attachment from our mind. Theirs
is not a preaching but only a conditional advice: ‘If you seek to be freed from
misery, adopt such and such an attitude to life.’
“When I was in school, I read a proverb in an old book of quotations
which I recite from memory: ‘One who knows and knows that he knows is a wise
man; know him. One who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep; awaken him.
One who knows not and knows not that he knows not is ignorant; teach him. And
one who knows not and knows that he knows not is a scoundrel; beat him!’
“Now is the time for everyone of you to
decide whether you want to be only awakened or whether you are in need of a
sound thrashing, at the hands of Nature which would only give you a blow without
a word!”
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