On attatchment and vedanta
We all cherish good things in life...be they parents, siblings, friends, memories, experiences or anything we aspire to be. We have a certain liking for them and many times fiercely defend them too...How do we reconcile this with the apparently contradictory teachings of vedanta...which says be unattatched?
Do the vedas instruct us to renounce the world and sit in a forest and meditate? Do they mean we have to leave the world in front of us to seek some unseen god?
The answer is an unequivocal NO: infact Isavasopanishad begins with the verse...Ishavaasyamidam jagat(the God is present in everything of this and other worlds...) and further goes to say that we should enjoy the pleasures of this world without being attatched...as the wealth doesn't belong to anyone..
One of the Telugu poets, vemana said this in a padyam ( a short verse of a specific metre like shloka) : mother earth laughs at the fellow who claims the land, goddess of wealth laughs at miser and Yama(lord of death) laughs at the coward fleeing the battle field.
One of the prayers in sandhyavandana (dusk and dawn prayers) asks for blessings of the gods to live 100 seasons of spring, to have good health for 100 years and do the duty towards the society for 100 years.
But then look at the setting of Bhagavat gita..in the battle field. It was told to a warrior who was shying away from his duty and fighting because of his false attatchment to things that were temperory. He was told to be unattatched and fight his own step brothers!
Where do we go from here..vedanta seems to say in some place to be unattatched and in some others to enjoy life?
First of all... vedanta is a not devoid of life. It was not a topic that was discussed by some old men over a cup of afternoon tea. Someone ( I think it was swami vivekananda) once remarked that vedantic philosophy is not a retitrement plan, its an active persons guide.
It stresses that we are responsible, no one... not even the God can help us to realise the truth as it says you are that infinite bliss who has forgotten who he is. Struggle is inevitable..sooner or later; until we realise this..there can be no peace. And now that is a great power, but with power comes the responsibility..not only are we ever free, but we have to realise that ourselves...we cannot hold circumstances or God responsible for where we are, what we get..its our actions, or preudices that get us here. Like a highly chaotic system a small change in initial conditions can cause a huge difference at a later point in time.
How does vedanta address the issue of attatchment?
It says every attatchment is result of ignorance...why? attatchment means we identify with something..we identify some feeling be it happy feeling or a revulsion for some things we identify the feeling with the object. Whereas the feelings are really generated in us..The feelings are nothing but a reaction to a situation. Not the situation themselves.
One of the profound works, ashtavakra samhita, talks of the world and the attatchment as the rope being mistaken for a snake. Now as we analyse this, we can understand how the attatchment functions..Once we know that there is no snake then there is no fear of any sort(once we see the god in all things; there is no duality everything merges into one) but the fear generated from the imposition of the image of the snake on the rope is real (and hence once school contends that the feelings one experience as a result are real but the cause or the reason is not! That is what vishista advaita says(Iam not sure of this:) When we see something that is not there, then it is either a result of misunderstanding or ignorance..hence ignorance is at the root of all attatchment and suffering. But remember that image of snake had to be present from previous experiences in the mind and hence misunderstanding and ignorance is the root of all evils(again!). This does not mean snake does not exist..it is very real for the person mistaking it...just as the vedanta contends, we all find the world real! But once you see the rope, then the snake disappears and the duality of the world disappears and contradictions ceases to exist..this is moksha as I understand it. No amount of scripture reading or pious deeds can help in this quest. It has to do with the wisdom that transcends the limits of knowledge and ignorance! And that is the quest I would like to complete...How soon? I need to get back, I have a early morning meeting with my advisor!! :))
Do the vedas instruct us to renounce the world and sit in a forest and meditate? Do they mean we have to leave the world in front of us to seek some unseen god?
The answer is an unequivocal NO: infact Isavasopanishad begins with the verse...Ishavaasyamidam jagat(the God is present in everything of this and other worlds...) and further goes to say that we should enjoy the pleasures of this world without being attatched...as the wealth doesn't belong to anyone..
One of the Telugu poets, vemana said this in a padyam ( a short verse of a specific metre like shloka) : mother earth laughs at the fellow who claims the land, goddess of wealth laughs at miser and Yama(lord of death) laughs at the coward fleeing the battle field.
One of the prayers in sandhyavandana (dusk and dawn prayers) asks for blessings of the gods to live 100 seasons of spring, to have good health for 100 years and do the duty towards the society for 100 years.
But then look at the setting of Bhagavat gita..in the battle field. It was told to a warrior who was shying away from his duty and fighting because of his false attatchment to things that were temperory. He was told to be unattatched and fight his own step brothers!
Where do we go from here..vedanta seems to say in some place to be unattatched and in some others to enjoy life?
First of all... vedanta is a not devoid of life. It was not a topic that was discussed by some old men over a cup of afternoon tea. Someone ( I think it was swami vivekananda) once remarked that vedantic philosophy is not a retitrement plan, its an active persons guide.
It stresses that we are responsible, no one... not even the God can help us to realise the truth as it says you are that infinite bliss who has forgotten who he is. Struggle is inevitable..sooner or later; until we realise this..there can be no peace. And now that is a great power, but with power comes the responsibility..not only are we ever free, but we have to realise that ourselves...we cannot hold circumstances or God responsible for where we are, what we get..its our actions, or preudices that get us here. Like a highly chaotic system a small change in initial conditions can cause a huge difference at a later point in time.
How does vedanta address the issue of attatchment?
It says every attatchment is result of ignorance...why? attatchment means we identify with something..we identify some feeling be it happy feeling or a revulsion for some things we identify the feeling with the object. Whereas the feelings are really generated in us..The feelings are nothing but a reaction to a situation. Not the situation themselves.
One of the profound works, ashtavakra samhita, talks of the world and the attatchment as the rope being mistaken for a snake. Now as we analyse this, we can understand how the attatchment functions..Once we know that there is no snake then there is no fear of any sort(once we see the god in all things; there is no duality everything merges into one) but the fear generated from the imposition of the image of the snake on the rope is real (and hence once school contends that the feelings one experience as a result are real but the cause or the reason is not! That is what vishista advaita says(Iam not sure of this:) When we see something that is not there, then it is either a result of misunderstanding or ignorance..hence ignorance is at the root of all attatchment and suffering. But remember that image of snake had to be present from previous experiences in the mind and hence misunderstanding and ignorance is the root of all evils(again!). This does not mean snake does not exist..it is very real for the person mistaking it...just as the vedanta contends, we all find the world real! But once you see the rope, then the snake disappears and the duality of the world disappears and contradictions ceases to exist..this is moksha as I understand it. No amount of scripture reading or pious deeds can help in this quest. It has to do with the wisdom that transcends the limits of knowledge and ignorance! And that is the quest I would like to complete...How soon? I need to get back, I have a early morning meeting with my advisor!! :))
posted by atma_tripta at 9:13 PM
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