Samsara, Self-enquiry & Enlightenment

Bhaja Govindham - 8

Verse 21

punarapi jananam punarapi maraṇam punarapi janani jaṭare sayanam |

iha samsare bahudustare krpaya pare pahi murare || 21 ||

Undergoing the pangs of birth again and again, passing through the throes of death again and again, lying in the mother's womb over and over again, this process of Samsara is very hard to cross, save me Murāri (Lord Krishna as destroyer of Mura) through Your Infinite kindness.

This verse emphasises that our effort alone is not enough for successful spiritual pursuit.  It reveals the need for Iswara’s Grace as well besides one’s own spiritual efforts.  Personal effort and Iswara’s grace function like the two wings of the bird. Death is sure for what is born and as per Hindu philosophy rebirth is also sure for what is dead.  Lord Krishna tells Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita (2-27); “Jaatasya hi dhruvo mrutyuh,  Dhruvam janma mrutasya cha” (Death is certain for the born and (re)birth  is certain for the dead.).  This cycle of birth and death is called Samsara.  Getting out of this cycle is Liberation, which is called Moksha. It is the unfulfilled desires and unexhausted karmas in any birth that fuels rebirth suitable to experience and exhaust them.  But in the new birth that takes place after ten months of confinement in mother’s womb, one out of ignorance and foolishness and caught in the web of Maya, creates new karmas and desires. As a child time is spent in play and sleep. As a youth one is lost in the attraction of opposite sex. And in the middle age it is preoccupation with money that takes up one’s time and attention.  As old age creeps in, physical inability and sickness sets in and one is lost in thoughts and regrets.  At no time one thinks seriously of Liberation and so one does not attempt sincerely to get out of Samsara, which is possible only if one engages sincerely in a sadhana, seeking Iswara’s Grace for attaining Liberation. In this verse strong emphasis is placed on the Yearning for Iswara’s Grace for it is with His Grace only that one even gets the thirst for Liberation, Iswara represented by Lord Krishna. 

Verse 22

rathya carpata viracita kanthah punyapuṇya vivarjita panthah I

yogi yoganiyojita citto ramate balonmattavadeva II

The yogi who wears but a quilt made of rags, who walks the path that is beyond punya and papa, whose mind is joined in perfect yoga with its goal, revels in God consciousness, and lives thereafter as a child or as a madman.

This verse talks about an enlightened Yogi who has voluntarily embraced poverty as he has found fulfillment within himself and is a non-demanding person.  He does not demand food, nor does he demand clothes or anything. Even the garment he wears to cover his body and protect it from heat and cold is only old pieces of discarded rags stitched together.  In short he is just happy with whatever comes his way.  Such a person is Yadrcchalabhasantustah in Lord Krishna’s words in Gita (4-22), who remains satisfied with whatever comes unasked.  Further he has no ego or sense of doer-ship.  Puṇya and papa are there only when there is an ego or a sense of doer-ship for any action. So he lives a life that is beyond both virtue and vice, punya and papa.  Without any feeling of self-consciousness he is childlike, free from all cares and anxieties. He has only the present reality before him. He neither regrets about the past nor worries about the future. He is happily immersed in the Superconscious state, which others may fail to comprehend.  Intoxicated with happiness from within and undisturbed by the happenings around him he appears like a mad man for a casual observer who cannot comprehend his mind brimming with Brahma Jnanam. Sri Sadasiva Brahmendra who is remembered today for his divine compositions in Carnatic music like “”Pibare Ramarasam—“, “Manasa sanchara re--“ “Kreedthi Vanamali—“ etc., was one such a Yogi who lived as an avaduta, discarding clothes as well, in his later years.

Verse 23

kastvam ko'ham kuta ayatah ka me janani ko me tatah |

iti paribhavaya sarvamasaram visvam tyaktva svapna vicaram ||

Who are you? Who am I? From where did I come? Who is my mother? Who is my father? Thus enquire, understanding that all these experiences of the world are worthless and imaginary like a dream and discard them.

In this verse a very important Vedantic Sadhana is discussed.  It is Self-enquiry, enquiry about oneself, as outlined in this verse.  This Self-enquiry helps one to absorb and assimilate the truth about oneself and the world.  When one is asking  oneself: Who am I?,  Who is my father?, Who is my mother?, it is not the name and other worldly details one is looking for.  For these questions are posed figuratively only to ponder over this body and other bodies as well as their relationship with this body before one’s birth.  When he makes the enquiry he comes to realize that this body and all other relationships come only after the birth of this body.  Then arises the question, from where did I come?.  When one makes such enquiries with the help of sastras under the guidance of a Guru, one comes to realize that there  is a different dimension to oneself besides the body and who one really is and of the one Absolute Reality behind this entire fleeting phenomenon. Until one discovers his Real identity as the one Absolute Reality, he is living in an imaginary world only, which is termed here as dream-world, assuming relationships and mistaking others also as body- mind personalities like oneself.   When one gets the Enlightenment that the basic identity of all is the same one Absolute Reality and that the relationships are based on this body-personality only, the distinction between “you” and “I” also goes and this mental relinquishment of relationships is called giving up the dream-world.  One cannot give up physically one’s relationships so long as one is in the body.  With this realization one will treat the waking world as another dream-world and carry on transactions with the world with detachment and dispassion, with the knowledge that all persons of the world are mere names and forms only and they are all one with him in essence, the essence being the Absolute Reality.

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