विषया विनिवर्तन्ते निराहारस्य देहिन: |
रसवर्जं रसोऽप्यस्य परं दृष्ट्वा निवर्तते || 59||
viṣhayā vinivartante nirāhārasya dehinaḥ
rasa-varjaṁ raso ’pyasya paraṁ dṛiṣhṭvā nivartate
viṣhayāḥ—objects for senses; vinivartante—restrain; nirāhārasya—practicing self restraint; dehinaḥ—for the embodied; rasa-varjam—cessation of taste; rasaḥ—taste; api—however; asya—person’s; param—the Supreme; dṛiṣhṭvā—on realisation; nivartate—ceases to be
Translation:
When a man rejects the sense objects by withdrawing the senses, he becomes free from the sense world only. The longing or taste for them still remains in the mind. Even this longing is removed when the self is perceived.
Commentary:
An essential secret of spiritual realisation is revealed here.
Restraining the senses is not alone enough. Direct perception of the Supreme is necessary. No doubt by restraining the senses, the objective world is repelled. But the taste for them remains in the form of subtle tendencies (vasanas) and unless these vasanas are removed steadiness of wisdom is not possible. Latent longing may rush forth when the restraint is relaxed. Even temporary causes like sickness and calamity may bring about a partial rejection of the sense world. But when these external causes pass away, the subtle vasanas break forth with all their original force. Hence the Lord declares that only when the Supreme is perceived, these vasanas are finally destroyed. The destruction of the vasanas, the destruction of the mind, and the direct experience of the self take place simultaneously. In the previous verse, it is said that by destroying the vasanas, Self-knowledge comes to man and in this verse, it is stated that self-knowledge destroys the vasanas. These are two aspects of the same Truth.
Destruction of the vasanas is not an easy task. It is the only path to Moksha. If one achieves it, everything is achieved. The innumerable experiences of the past births have taken root in the mind in the form of powerful tendencies, attitudes, and propensities. They work through the senses, and the senses function by contact with the world. The material world provides the widest field of activity and food for the senses. The senses have been accustomed to browsing at will on these delicious pasture lands of material pleasures through many births. To deny them this form of food means restraining the senses and preventing them from contacting the objective world. But this does not solve the problem. The taste for the objects would still be there in the mind; whenever the opportunity arises, the mental tendencies spring forth to grasp the illusory pleasures because their taste is not dead. So the attempt at first is to withdraw the senses from the sense – objects (pratyahara) and next to destroy the taste for them concealed in seed-form in the mind. When the vasanas are destroyed, man attains freedom, and the objective world is then powerless to influence him. It is stated here that direct Self-knowledge alone is capable of destroying the vasanas.
One must understand clearly the reality of Atma and the illusory nature of the world. One must hear of Atma often and often. He should think of Atma and contemplate on it frequently and intensely. He should know for certain that the world before his eyes is a painful illusion, that it is full of sorrow and suffering, that there is no permanent joy anywhere else except in Atma, and that Atma alone is the all-pervading substratum of the entire universe. As one thinks and acts on these fundamental truths, his attachment and craving for sense-pleasures become less and less and as they become weaker and weaker, the bliss of self is experienced more and more, till finally the bliss and blessedness of the Self swallow up the universe and converts it into its own element.
Abstinent: Some interpret this as fasting. Here what is meant is not the abstinence of food, but the rejection of all sensory experiences.
Swami Vivekananda Says —
Then comes a very important question. Sometimes people fast for days. … When the worst man has fasted for twenty days, he becomes quite gentle. Fasting and torturing themselves have been practised by people all over the world. Krishna’s idea is that this is all nonsense. He says that the senses will for the moment recede from the man who tortures himself, but will emerge again with twenty times more [power]. … What should you do? The idea is to be natural — no asceticism. Go on, work, only mind that you are not attached. The will can never be fixed strongly in the man who has not learnt and practised the secret of non-attachment.[Source]
Unless and until the mind is completely given to God, no external check can completely obliterate Lust.[Source]
All regulations in eating, practicing, etc., are all right so long as they are complementary to a spiritual aspiration but they are not ends in themselves; they are only helps.[Source]
“You must analyse your mind very carefully. The Master asked me to increase my lust infinitely. was amazed to hear it. He then explained, ‘What is lust? It is the desire to get. Then desire to get Him and strengthen this desire greatly….’
“Mere suppression of passions helps little. There must be a high ideal along with self-restraint. Without a high ideal, the passions will find another outlet. You must give them a new direction, then you will be automatically rid of them. “Take refuge in Me and control the senses.’ As for example, lust. Think that you are His child. Why should be so low you as to be lustful? Or think that you are ever pure.
— Swami Turiyananda (Spiritual Talks: By the First Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna p.111&113)
If you want to escape the results of good and bad karma, then chant God’s name, repeat your mantra, worship the Lord, and read the scriptures. Always discriminate between the real and the unreal. Good karma subdues bad karma, but cannot destroy it. The good and bad karmas of an individual soul are destroyed only by chanting God’s name, which also purifies the mind. Then one can know one’s true nature.
— Sri Sarada Devi (Source: The Gospel of Holy Mother)
A man who has tasted even a drop of God’s ecstatic love looks on ‘woman and gold’ as most insignificant. One gradually obtains that love for God if one but prays to Him with a yearning heart and always chants His name and glories.
— Sri Ramakrishna (Source: The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
Sri Ramakrishna Says —
A BRAHMO DEVOTEE: “How can one realise God?”
MASTER: “By directing your love to Him and constantly reasoning that God alone is real and the world illusory. The aswattha tree alone is permanent; its fruit is transitory.”
BRAHMO: “We have passions like anger and lust. What shall we do with these?”
MASTER: “Direct the six passions to God. The impulse of lust should be turned into the desire to have intercourse with Atman. Feel angry at those who stand in your way to God. Feel greedy for Him. If you must have the feeling of I and mine, then associate it with God. Say, for instance, ‘My Rama, my Krishna.’ If you must have pride, then feel like Bibhishana, who said, ‘I have touched the feet of Rama with my head; I will not bow this head before anyone else.'” (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
—–
(To Mahima) “You explain ‘Aum’ with reference to ‘a’, ‘u’, and ‘m’ only.”
MAHIMA: “‘A’, ‘u’, and ‘m’ mean creation, preservation, and destruction.”
MASTER: “But I give the illustration of the sound of a gong: ‘tom’,3 t—o—m. It is the merging of the Lila in the Nitya: the gross, the subtle, and the causal merge in the Great Cause; waking, dream, and deep sleep merge in Turiya. The striking of the gong is like the falling of a heavy weight into a big ocean. Waves begin to rise; the Relative rises from the Absolute; the causal, subtle, and gross bodies appear out of the Great Cause; from Turiya emerge the states of deep sleep, dream, and waking. These waves arising from the Great Ocean merge again in the Great Ocean. From the Absolute to the Relative, and from the Relative to the Absolute. Therefore I give the illustration of the gong’s sound, ‘tom’. I have clearly perceived all these things. It has been revealed to me that there exists an Ocean of Consciousness without limit. From It come all things of the relative plane, and in It they merge again. Millions of Brahmandas rise in that Chidakasa and merge in It again. All this has been revealed to me; I don’t know much about what your books say.”
MAHIMA: “Those to whom such things were revealed did not write the scriptures. They were rapt in their own experiences; when would they write? One needs a somewhat calculating mind to write. Others learnt these things from the seers and wrote the books.”
MASTER: “Worldly people ask why one does not get rid of attachment to ‘woman and gold’. That attachment disappears after the realisation of God. If a man once tastes the Bliss of Brahman, then his mind no longer runs after the enjoyment of sense pleasures or wealth or name and fame. It the moth once sees the light, it no longer goes into the darkness.
“Some friends said to Ravana: ‘You have been assuming different forms4 for Sita. Why don’t you go to her in the form of Rama?’ Ravana replied: ‘When I contemplate Rama, even the position of Brahma appears insignificant to me, not to speak of the company of another man’s wife! How could I take the form of Rama for such a purpose?’
“All worship and spiritual discipline are directed to one end alone, namely, to get rid of worldly attachment. The more you meditate on God, the less you will be attached to the trifling things of the world. The more you love the Lotus Feet of God, the less you will crave the things of the world or pay heed to creature comforts. You will look on another man’s wife as your mother and regard your own wife as your companion in spiritual life. You will get rid of your bestial desires and acquire godly qualities. You will be totally unattached to the world. Though you may still have to live in the world, you will live as a jivanmukta. The disciples of Sri Chaitanya lived as householders in a spirit of detachment.
“You may quote thousands of arguments from Vedanta philosophy to a true lover of God, and try to explain the world as a dream, but you cannot shake his devotion to God.5 In spite of all your efforts he will come back to his devotion.
“A man born with an element of Siva becomes a jnani; his mind is always inclined to the feeling that the world is unreal and Brahman alone is real. But when a man is born with an element of Vishnu he develops ecstatic love of God. That love can never be destroyed. It may wane a little now and then, when he indulges in philosophical reasoning, but it ultimately returns. to him increased a thousandfold.” (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
—–
The Master came down to the plane of the sense world and spoke to M., expressing his abhorrence for those who, while practising spiritual discipline, enjoyed sex-life.
MASTER: “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? You have children, and still you enjoy intercourse with your wife. Don’t you hate yourself for thus leading an animal life? Don’t you hate yourself for dallying with a body which contains only blood, phlegm, filth, and excreta? He who contemplates the Lotus Feet of God looks on even the most beautiful woman as mere ash from the cremation ground. To enjoy a body which will not last and which consists of such impure ingredients as intestines, bile, flesh, and bone! Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”
M. sat there silently, hanging his head in shame.
MASTER: “A man who has tasted even a drop of God’s ecstatic love looks on ‘woman and gold’ as most insignificant. He who has tasted syrup made from sugar candy regards a drink made from treacle as a mere trifle. One gradually obtains that love for God if one but prays to Him with a yearning heart and always chants His name and glories.” (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
—–
(To Bankim, smiling) “Well, what do you say about man’s duties?”
BANKIM (smiling): “If you ask me about them, I should say they are eating, sleeping, and sex-life.”
MASTER (sharply): “Eh? You are very saucy! What you do day and night comes out through your mouth. A man belches what he eats. If he eats radish, he belches radish; if he eats green coconut, he belches green coconut. Day and night you live in the midst of ‘woman and gold’; so your mouth utters words about that alone. By constantly thinking of worldly things a man becomes calculating and deceitful. On the other hand, he becomes guileless by thinking of God. A man who has seen God will never say what you have just said. What will a pundit’s scholarship profit him if he does not think of God and has no discrimination and renunciation? Of what use is erudition if the mind dwells on ‘woman and gold’?
“Kites and vultures soar very high indeed, but their gaze is fixed only on the charnel-pit. The pundit has no doubt studied many books and scriptures; he may rattle off their texts, or he may have written books. But if he is attached to women, if he thinks of money and honour as the essential things, will you call him a pundit? How can a man be a pundit if his mind does not dwell on God?
Some may say about the devotees: ‘Day and night these people speak about God. They are crazy; they have lost their heads. But how clever we are. How we enjoy pleasure — money, honour, the senses!’ The crow, too thinks he is a clever bird; but the first thing he does when he wakes up in the early morning is to fill his stomach with nothing but others’ filth. Haven’t you noticed how he struts about? Very clever indeed!”
There was dead silence.
Sri Ramakrishna continued: “But like the swan are those who think of God, who pray day and night to get rid of their attachment to worldly things and their love for ‘woman and gold’, who do not enjoy anything except the nectar of the Lotus Feet of the Lord, and to whom worldly pleasures taste bitter. If you put a mixture of milk and water before the swan, it will leave the water and drink only the milk. And haven’t you noticed the gait of a swan? It goes straight ahead in one direction. So it is with genuine devotees: they go toward God alone. They seek nothing else; they enjoy nothing else.
(Tenderly, to Bankim) “Please don’t take offence at my words.”
BANKIM: “Sir, I haven’t come here to hear sweet things.” (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
Swami Adbhutananda related in his reminiscences how Sri Ramakrishna transformed Kalipada’s life:
When the Master first met Kalipada, he remarked, “This man has come here after tormenting his wife for twelve years.” Kalipada was startled but said nothing.
Then the Master asked him, “What do you want?”
Kalipada asked shamelessly, “Can you give me a little wine?”
The Master smiled. “Yes, I can. But the wine I have is so intoxicating that you will not be able to bear it.”
Kalipada took him literally and said: “Is it real British wine? Please give me a little to soak my throat.”
“No, it is not British wine,” said the Master, still smiling. “It is completely homemade. This wine cannot be given to just anyone, for not everyone can stand it. If a person tastes this wine even once, British wine will seem insipid to him ever after. Are you ready to drink my wine instead of the other?”
For a moment Kalipada was thoughtful, and then I heard him say, “Please give me that wine which will make me intoxicated my entire life.” The Master touched him, and Kalipada started to weep. We tried to calm him, but he went on weeping in spite of our attempts.
On 23 December Sri Ramakrishna touched Kalipada’s chest and said, “May your inner spirit be awakened.” Then, stroking Kalipada’s chin, he said with great affection, “Whoever has sincerely called on God or performed his daily religious devotions will certainly come here.” The Master’s blessing and unrestrained love that day made Kalipada a new person. He gave up his drinking habit and lost all interest in worldly things.
See also: Sri Ramakrishna offering Boon to Kalipada Ghosh
“Leading a virtuous life is not by itself sufficient for God- realisation. Concentration of mind is absolutely necessary. A good virtuous life only prepares the mind as a fit instrument for concentration and meditation. It is concentration and meditation that eventually lead to Self- realisation or God- realisation.”
— Swami Sivananda in Dhyana Yoga
Srimad Bhagavatam 6.1.7 – 6.1.19
- 7. Sri Suka said: Unless a man does expiations even here in this world for the sins he has committed by his mind, speech and organs, he is sure to undergo the fierce sufferings of the purgatories I described to you.
- 8. Therefore, long before death, sufficiently early in life, when the mind and the body have not become decrepit, man should do expiations for whatever sins he had done, according to their seriousness, just as a physician skilled in diagnosis treats diseases with remedies appropriate to the prevailing condition.
- 9. The Rajah said: Even after understanding from experience and instruction that something is sinful, men are found to commit the same sin in spite of themselves. Of what use then are these expiations? (They are not able to erase the sinful tendency.)
- 10. For some time man may abstain from sin, but a little later, he indulges in it in spite of expiations. I therefore feel that expiations are useless, like bathing and cleaning an elephant whose habit it is to spray dust on its back always.
- 11. Sri Suka said: Avidya (ignorance) is the ultimate source of all Karma, including expiations. Expiations can therefore wash off only the effects of particular sinful acts, but not the tendency to commit them, so long as ignorance, their source, persists. (This can be ultimately effaced only by the knowledge of God.)
- 12. A man who is on wholesome diet does not fall ill. In the same way, O King, one who practises spiritual disciplines gradually attains purification of mind and, through that, the knowledge of God.
- 13-14. By means of austerity, celibacy, control of the mind, control of the senses, charity, practice of virtues like kindness, truth etc., and of disciplines like Japa, worship etc., a man of righteousness and faith overcomes even great sins committed by body, words and mind, just as a fire destroys a grove of reeds.
- 15. There are some rare persons who, endowed with intense and unadulterated devotion, resign themselves completely to Vāsudeva and thereby eradicate sin utterly like the sun dissipating mist.
- 16. The purification effected by austerity and other disciplines is not so complete as by dedication of all one’s faculties to Krishna, achieved through the service of His devotees.
- 17. This path of devotion, which is without any risk and which is comparatively easy to practise, is the best suited for men in general. For, those who follow this path can draw on the support of great devotees who are extremely devoted to Narayana and are disposed to help others.
- 18. O King! The expiations performed by men who are not devoted to Narayana fail to cleanse them entirely, like water, a liquor pot.
- 19. If a man, with a feeling of passionate attachment, unites his mind with Krishna’s feet even once, he will not see Yama or his emissaries with noose in hand, even in dream.
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- May the Sun bestow favour upon the senses and the mind by joining them with the Self, so that the senses may be directed toward the Blissful Brahman and may reveal, by means of Knowledge, the mighty and radiant Brahman. (Svetasvatara Upanishad 2.3)
Question: Is it sufficient for liberation to control the senses?
Answer: No. The craving for them in the mind should be destroyed.
Question: How is that done?
Answer: By direct perception on Atma.
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