Mathru Sri Sarada

Amma's 50^th Birthday Message

Amma's Beginning Lesson

Simple stories for the first class. Many more to follow if you are interested.

What are DETACHMENT, ATTACHMENT, DISPASSION, and PASSION?

The simplest answer is:

SOME EXAMPLES

DETACHMENT:

You can do or be involved in anything but you don't get stuck or attached to it. You should be like a drop of water on a lotus leaf. It looks like the drop is touching the leaf but really it is not.

You want something, but you can't get it. However, you are not concerned; therefore, you are not in pain.

Someone is sick. You help all you can with kindness and without any selfishness. You encourage the person; however you yourself are not in any pain, shocked, having reactions or tensed.

You treat people in the world as "outside people" not feeling they are in "your circle" and "your own."

ATTACHMENT:

Feeling: My car, My thing, My computer, My people. Then worrying or in pain if it is broken, lost, or stolen. You can't bear damage to your car for example. The opposite of this does not mean that we are careless; to the extent that we can take care of something we should take care of it, however, we should not feel like wanting to be dead if we lose something or someone.

Attachment mostly gives rise to Selfishness. For instance caring or being concerned only when "our people or family" has trouble and not caring about other "outside" people and their troubles.

Most every Family is like that - a circle surrounding a group of attachments: "our people, our land, our name."

PASSION:

Most people think that sex is happiness but it is really unhappiness. Just think of the amount of trouble people go through in order to get sex. They want a girl but they can't get that girl. They worry, they get sad, they get angry and lose their intelligence, they don't know what they are doing and some even commit murder in that state. All these troubles just to get a girl.

After all these troubles they then get the girl, but how long is the pleasure going to last? How long is that enjoyment going to stay with them? They then get bored and tired. After sex where has the passion gone? After enjoying passion, dispassion sets in for a while. After eating too much food you can't eat any more, and food loses its taste. Sex is also like that.

People know sex is not really happiness but still they want it for passing time. They think "I can't get happiness but at least with sex I can get some enjoyment." Like the camel eating thorns which make its mouth bleed, but continues to eat them for their taste.

People see beautiful scenes in nature (prakriti). They listen to nice music and get enjoyment, but they still want sex included in this! Bhagavan tells the traditional Indian story of how the five senses (indrias) lead to downfall. The deer likes the sound of sweet music and the hunter uses this to attract and kill the deer. The fisherman puts tasty bait on the hook and the fish is caught and dies because of its liking for nice tastes. The moth sees the beauty of the joyti, the candle light, and wants to possess that beauty so it flies into the flame and perishes. Similarly, some insects are attracted to the smell of poison plants and consequently die. The he elephant is attracted by the touch of the she elephant. Hunters train she elephants to lead the he elephants by the touch of their trunks to fall into the pits prepared for trapping them. In these examples one sense alone is sufficient to cause the animal to lose its life.

Bhagavan laughs, telling this story and says that merely because of one sense these animals lose their life but people go to movies in order to enjoy all five senses at the same time! They see sexy scenes on the screen and hear enticing songs and dance. They like the taste of the popcorn and the smell of the perfume of the girl in the next seat and they also like to touch her.

Anything too much is boring so people try to keep their stimulations spaced apart so they can enjoy them without losing pleasure. Only the Self can give continuous eternal happiness but people try to keep their sexual interest by doing some sadhana or something else for a time before going back to sex. By alternating in this manner they try to keep their sexual interest up until old age. Then they pay much money for many remedies to keep sex working.

Anybody falling for sex is a slave! Intelligent people treasure freedom and avoid sex.

People say their mind automatically goes out to girls even if they don't want it to but this is because they don't have real devotion and love. If you really love someone strongly you will lose all attraction for other people and will think only of the person you are in love with, like the heroes and heroines at the end of movie love stories.

People having kama (lust) are blind. They can't see age or AIDS or anything.

A person who has turned vegetarian cannot stand the sight of meat after a time. It is similar with a life that has truly turned from sex to sadhana.

People waste their time running after these pleasures. Then old age starts creeping on them and they begin to think why am I wasting my time for these things?

DISPASSION:

Dispassion sets in temporarily when somebody close in the family is seriously injured or dies.

What is really dear to you? Buddha told the story of a man whose son committed murder. The son was arrested and about to be hanged. The father went to the authorities and offered all his money and property to save the son but the authorities refused. They said somebody has to hang for this crime. If you allow yourself to be hanged in your son's place we will release your son. But the man said "oh no! he's not my son." Money is dear to people, their children are more dear, but their own prana (life) is most dear! People have passion for wife, children, and wealth but mostly for their own life and body.

For the Jnani--Self Realization is even dearer than life. In Samadhi, the happiness of the Self is much more than anything in the world. At that time you know your body will die if you don't come out and take care of it, but you don't care because the Self is everything to you.

Buddha was born into a life full of passion. His father, the king, arranged every sort of pleasure for him--ladies, drinking, and fashion. Everything required for his enjoyment was provided, however, he was kept from leaving the palace and seeing the world. As time passed, the full dispassion that was ripening inside Buddha began to blossom. One day he saw a hunter kill a bird. He tried to save the bird and saw how it suffered and understood what pain is. After that he asked his attendant to secretly take him outside the palace and show him the world. First he saw one man on the ground and asked "what is that." His attendant replied "that is a sick man." They went further and he saw a withered and bent, white haired man. Buddha asked "what is that?" and the attendant said "that is an old man." Further on they came upon the body of a man that didn't move. What is that asked Buddha and the attendant said "that is a dead man, no one can escape from these three-- sickness, old age and death." Buddha was shocked when he realized that these three come to all people. Further on the road they met a sadhu and Buddha asked him "is there no escape from sickness, old age and death?" The sadhu replied that only upon Self Realization does one escape from needing to be born again and again to suffer pain, sickness, old age and death.

Buddha was a rich man. He had many palaces and could enjoy all the girls he wanted.

He had a beautiful wife and child, everything. Why did he leave all these and seek Self Realization alone? It was because he was an intelligent person, who was waking from maya, that he could take the correct path.

JNANIS:

Everyone has a Self. If a person surrenders to that Self in the heart and wants it to clean his mind, the Self can bring him to a Jnani, who has "no mind" and that Jnani can teach him.

If a person has at least some qualifications and if it is in his parabdha (fate) to stay with a Jnani, then that satsang with the Jnani can give him dispassion and clean his mind of thoughts.

When a person is ripe and has complete qualifications, at the final stage before Self-Realization, the Jnani can help if the mind rises up and tries to escape and come out. Then the Guru's Grace can push the mind back into the heart and kill the mind.

For peoples' sins and merits God will automatically give punishments and rewards. But people blame God because they are in maya. They don't know the sins which they have committed. If anyone knows their sins and really repents it will make their punishments a little less.

Many people in maya say there is no rebirth. They say we won't get sick or if we do the doctor can easily cure us. They feel maybe we will die but that isn't until we get old and that is a long way off. Let's enjoy ourselves that is what life is for. No one can help people who are in such maya.

It is difficult for people in the world to understand what spiritual life is. People cannot be saved, nor can their bad karmas be removed by performing special pujas or ceremonies. Good and bad karmas will ripen and bring their rewards and punishments. Nobody can cancel or change that. No one can give moksha to another. It is for this reason that people have difficulty identifying who a Jnani is and who is not. Everybody has to carry his own weight. You have to do your own sadhana yourself. A Jnani can show you the way but you have to walk the walk yourself.