I posted what is below in Facebook and I want to explain it since it is important and confusing. It's based on an interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15, verses 1-6.
"Don't be involved in worldly life. Don't be attached to spiritual life. Be refuged in life."
Worldly life is fine up to a point. For me, it was till the time my girl friend broke up with me. Even now, I do take part in worldly life (since I have a physical body) but I'm not involved in it.
What's the difference between involvement and attachment? Hardly anything. Involvement is more of being 'inside' something whereas attachment is being 'joined side-by-side'.
It's normal for those fed up with worldly life to take up spiritual life. It's an improvement and one believes that there is finally a way out. One even starts loving spirituality when it allows some of the pleasures of worldly life. For example, it may advice that one cannot make love to many women but one can make love to a single woman in a holy way. There is a small problem, which starts as a minor irritant and later becomes a major frustration. Spirituality is as vast as materialism. Sure, when one has spent a lot of time in spirituality, one begins to see a lot of pattern which simplifies life. But still it advises numerous divine qualities to love, numerous wisdom tips, numerous rituals to practice and numerous divine aspects to be meditated on. To adhere to all these injunctions right to the word becomes a major concern. When one becomes tired and old, one hopes and wishes for an easier way out. That is where the Saranagathi philosophy or Prapatti (taking refuge in a higher and benign power by surrendering the ego) comes into picture. Saranagathi or Prapatti cannot really be called a worldly or spiritual discipline. It's because while a spiritual human does it, so also does an animal like a pet cat or dog (comes back to the owner finding some danger).
One can do Saranagathi formally or informally. The Shri Vaishnavaite tradition recommends that it should be done only once since repeatedly doing it means that one does not trust fully in the saving power of God. I'm doing it daily by repeating the Dvaya mantram and maybe I will stop after some time. I might stop even today. Anyway, the point is that doing Saranagathi is a lot easier than spirituality or what one can call as Yoga.
There is a crucial point, however. Does it mean that one stops spirituality? No. This is what I wanted to clarify. Spirituality should still be practiced but without attachment. What does it mean? It means that if someone is unable to do a daily ritual like reading a verse or chanting a mantra or lighting a lamp or candle etc., there is nothing wrong in it. One can do it out of one's own wish but it is not mandatory, to be saved. Believe me, on your deathbed, you don't want to worry about not having read the verse of the day. :D
Why am I writing all this? Is it not already explained by many? I once heard Vellukudi Krishnan suggesting that when one takes up Prapatti, one has to drop Yoga. Of course, he has said a lot of things and it's erroneous to single out one instance. In the Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna advises that Acts of Sacrifices, Charity and Austerity shouldn't be relinquished since they purify people. But it has to be done without attachment and without the desire for a worldly benefit. I'm doing a lot of those practices (the 9 levels that I posted a couple of posts back.). As long as I keep my date with the Dvaya mantra, I don't intend to lose sleep though it will be with the best attention that I will try to do those things. As for repeating the Dvaya mantra daily, I may even restrict it to saying it once only.
A scientific explanation is this. Getting oneself out of worldly life is no different than getting a rocket out of the earth. As the rocket reaches the top, it has to shed the weight, even some of those useful gadgets and engines that brought it out and propelled it earlier. The equivalent of the gadgets and the engines are the worldly desires and the spiritual practices. Apologies to space scientists for making light of rocket science. :D
"Don't be involved in worldly life. Don't be attached to spiritual life. Be refuged in life."
Worldly life is fine up to a point. For me, it was till the time my girl friend broke up with me. Even now, I do take part in worldly life (since I have a physical body) but I'm not involved in it.
What's the difference between involvement and attachment? Hardly anything. Involvement is more of being 'inside' something whereas attachment is being 'joined side-by-side'.
It's normal for those fed up with worldly life to take up spiritual life. It's an improvement and one believes that there is finally a way out. One even starts loving spirituality when it allows some of the pleasures of worldly life. For example, it may advice that one cannot make love to many women but one can make love to a single woman in a holy way. There is a small problem, which starts as a minor irritant and later becomes a major frustration. Spirituality is as vast as materialism. Sure, when one has spent a lot of time in spirituality, one begins to see a lot of pattern which simplifies life. But still it advises numerous divine qualities to love, numerous wisdom tips, numerous rituals to practice and numerous divine aspects to be meditated on. To adhere to all these injunctions right to the word becomes a major concern. When one becomes tired and old, one hopes and wishes for an easier way out. That is where the Saranagathi philosophy or Prapatti (taking refuge in a higher and benign power by surrendering the ego) comes into picture. Saranagathi or Prapatti cannot really be called a worldly or spiritual discipline. It's because while a spiritual human does it, so also does an animal like a pet cat or dog (comes back to the owner finding some danger).
One can do Saranagathi formally or informally. The Shri Vaishnavaite tradition recommends that it should be done only once since repeatedly doing it means that one does not trust fully in the saving power of God. I'm doing it daily by repeating the Dvaya mantram and maybe I will stop after some time. I might stop even today. Anyway, the point is that doing Saranagathi is a lot easier than spirituality or what one can call as Yoga.
There is a crucial point, however. Does it mean that one stops spirituality? No. This is what I wanted to clarify. Spirituality should still be practiced but without attachment. What does it mean? It means that if someone is unable to do a daily ritual like reading a verse or chanting a mantra or lighting a lamp or candle etc., there is nothing wrong in it. One can do it out of one's own wish but it is not mandatory, to be saved. Believe me, on your deathbed, you don't want to worry about not having read the verse of the day. :D
Why am I writing all this? Is it not already explained by many? I once heard Vellukudi Krishnan suggesting that when one takes up Prapatti, one has to drop Yoga. Of course, he has said a lot of things and it's erroneous to single out one instance. In the Bhagavad Gita, Shri Krishna advises that Acts of Sacrifices, Charity and Austerity shouldn't be relinquished since they purify people. But it has to be done without attachment and without the desire for a worldly benefit. I'm doing a lot of those practices (the 9 levels that I posted a couple of posts back.). As long as I keep my date with the Dvaya mantra, I don't intend to lose sleep though it will be with the best attention that I will try to do those things. As for repeating the Dvaya mantra daily, I may even restrict it to saying it once only.
A scientific explanation is this. Getting oneself out of worldly life is no different than getting a rocket out of the earth. As the rocket reaches the top, it has to shed the weight, even some of those useful gadgets and engines that brought it out and propelled it earlier. The equivalent of the gadgets and the engines are the worldly desires and the spiritual practices. Apologies to space scientists for making light of rocket science. :D
