Hari
OM
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are about!
The text under study is BHAJA GOVINDAM, song of despair of time-wasting, by Sri Adi Shankaraachaarya.
Having
given the 'short sharp shock' treatment in the first verse/refrain, the Guru
now goes on to explain the rationale for such an exclamation.
mUF
jhIih xnagmt&:[a<
kué
sÓiÏ< mnis ivt&:[am!,
yLl_ase
ingkmaeRpaÅa<
ivÅa<
ten ivnaedy icÅam!.2.
muuDha
jahiihi dhanaagamatRshnaam
Kuru
sadbuddhim manasi vitRshnaam
Yallabhase
nigakarmopaattam
Vittam
tena vinodaya chittam ||2||
Oh fool! Give up the thirst to possess wealth. Create
in your mind, devoid of passions, thoughts of the Reality. With whatever you
get, entertain your mind.
(NB, after
each subsequent verse, now, if chanting, the first verse would be straight away
repeated.)
It
is all too easy to look externally and become enmeshed in the attractions and
distractions to be found there. Desire for possessing, acquiring, hoarding and
enjoying is the motivational force for many; but these things tend to result in
a loss of inner equipoise as the desires and longings of all various types
churn within a person's being. Dramatic language? Perhaps you think you live a
quiet life without any such. The desire for the home-delivered pizza, or the
bottle of wine, or the fantasy television program can't be the same thing… you
think. What happens when those things become unavailable to you? Okay, if you
only indulge once or twice a year, perhaps there will be no disturbance and it
will not affect you one way or the other. If these are your habit, however, you
may only properly understand that they have become so by their absence. No one
is immune from this - we all have something
which holds us to samsaara!
In
the context of Vedanta, anyone who is not focused on the search for the Real
versus the unreal is considered foolish.
Wealth
in and of itself is innocent; the philosophy is not against wealth per se. It
is not said that one must renounce wealth, but rather renounce the thirst for
it and the effect it has upon the personality. Wealth is a side effect to our
activity and it comes and it goes. To expect it to be always there and to cling
to the various other conditions which arise from the pursuit and attainment of
it, these cause attachment and attachment is to be ignorant of the Reality. The
world of objects is not condemned, but our relationship with it.
No
philosopher worth their salt will leave a fellow hanging with the thoughts of
what not to do, but will also provide guidance what to do instead. In this
case, the Guru states quite simply that one must be content with whatever comes
one's way. It does not mean that there cannot be striving to better that, but
this must be the main motivation. At all times the purpose of life is to
understand one's relationship with the inner world of spirit and it's
connection to the outer, in order not to become bound by the outer at the cost
of the inner. The problem with desires which are based upon the external is
that they can never be satiated, for as soon as one thing is obtained, another
comes before us and we go in pursuit of that. If we are fortunate to gain
wealth, fine, but do not consider that to be the purpose of life. Desire for
wealth degrades our personality, attachment brings endless worry. The effort
expended in acquiring something then has to be matched in the maintenance of
it… then there is the continual concern at the possibility of losing what has
been gained, because of course, all such things are transient.
'Renounce
and enjoy, covet not others wealth', is the cry of the Iishavasya Upanishad.
There are biblical references for this too, and almost certainly any faith
doctrine will provide its adherents similar advice.
