Guidance from the Guru

(Letter 7)

Swami Tapovan Maharaj

Om Narayana Smriti

Uttarkasi,
22-4-1952

If a householder becomes a jnani and yet, on account of prarabdha, is unable to give up all actions which cause agitation (only a sannyasin can give up actions enjoined by the scriptures) he must lead his life like Vasishta and others like him – this was the purport of my previous letter.

If a householder becomes a jnani , he should continue to perform all actions prescribed by the scriptures whether with or without desire for their fruit. The spiritual aspirant does his duty without desire for its fruit; thereby he purifies his mind and becomes fit for spiritual contemplation and knowledge of Self.

One’s knowledge and dispassion might be perfect, yet he need not necessarily renounce everything. Renunciation should not be taken to mean the renunciation of actions prescribed to each ashrama, but the renunciation of the enjoyment of senses. To say that the dispassionate man, compelled by the senses, will enjoy sensuous objects; that it is not necessary he should reject them – is not only paradoxical but also ridiculous. Unrestrained enjoyment of the senses is for the utterly ignorant alone. The true aspirant has rejected it long ago. It had ceased to interest him even in the stage of nishkama karma. If so, how can it approach him now in the stage of dispassion and spiritual contemplation? So I repeat here again that the statement, “Even where there is dispassion there is no renunciation” means only that scripturally enjoined actions are not renounced – that is all.

Vasishta who was a jnani full of dispassion had renounced the enjoyment of the senses, but had not given up the actions prescribed by the scriptures. He had Arundhati as helpmate to the performance of actions. He had taken the vow of non-possession, yet he maintained Arundhati and the children.

I hope from what I have written so far my ideas of dispassion and renunciation sought to be conveyed in my previous letter have become still more clear. That long letter you have sent over here reveals a clean mind that loves no sensuous objects and has absolutely no liking for actions that produce agitation – a mind that longs after unbroken, Divine Peace. Truly, such a mind is the mature result of meritorious deeds accumulated through generations. One may maintain his life on leaves or water, sleep on bare ground, and lead a life of hard penance with absolutely no sensuous enjoyments – that is all good. But what the scriptures advise is that a householder should not abandon his household duties. Renunciation of sensuous objects is one thing; renunciation of action is another. For fear of scriptures the ignorant man continues to perform his duties; the jnanis do so induced by the tendencies inherited from the past. Rise above all thought that I am the body – accept sannyasa – till then action does not leave you.

What are the duties essential to a householder? That is another subject.

The gist of this stanza is this: The attachment to sensuous objects (rasa) arises out of the ignorance of the blissful Self: from attachment comes desire and sensuous enjoyment. If desire must be destroyed along with its root cause (attachment) ignorance must be annihilated through the knowledge of Truth – says the Gita. Right. But it is the dispassion of those who have attained the goal. Aspirants also may attain dispassion. They protect their dispassion by finding evil in sense-objects. Their attachment and ignorance, its cause, might not have been eliminated. But by the discovery of evil they escape from attachment and become dispassionate. The evils referred to here are the transitoriness and painfulness etc. of worldly objects. Attachment – the root cause – and ignorance survive and are not eradicated, but through steady discrimination in the form of perception of evil they allow no chance for desire to arise. If the poisonous snake or scorpion in the hole is thrashed to death everything becomes safe and secure. But one may not have the daring or skill to attack it and kill it. Even he will not love it or touch it because of the perception that it is poisonous, that it will be a source of pain and suffering. Similarly, aspirants may still have at heart desire for sense enjoyment, being victims of ignorance. Yet they may safeguard their dispassion through the perception of evil. Realisation of Brahman through the contemplation of Brahman is adjudged only to those aspirants who have dispassion. The dispassion of aspirants results from the perception of evil. Without dispassion how can an aspirant’s mind engage itself in the worship of Brahman? That, however, does not mean that knowers of Truth alone would possess dispassion. Those who find evil in sense enjoyments too will have it. It is this dispassion that is designated by Vedantins as sadhana chatushtaya, the four fold means helpful to the contemplation of Brahman: Viveka (discrimination), vairagya (dispassion), samadi shatkam (control of the mind, body etc.) and mumukshutvam (Desire for final liberation).

It is not possible to discuss such scriptural topics at length in an ordinary letter.

So I may repeat here that the more one practises renunciation of sense objects the more laudable the effort is; and that nothing has been said in the previous letter to the effect that it is impossible for a householder to renounce sense enjoyments. A life of penance is good both for the householder and the sannyasin . Keep away from the hurly burly of worldly life, exert yourself to the utmost in practising penance and in the worship of God – these are good for anyone in any ashrama.

As usual the next three or four months I shall be spending in Gangotri.

With love,

Swami Tapovanam