Tuesday, June 13, 2017

1030. Material attachment is first rung to Clinging on for Life......


When I was a kid I had a racing car toy which I was very fond of. I kept it with me even when I went to bed. I would not allow anyone to touch it, everyone who came home would tease me telling that they would take it away and I would cry. My mother would pacify me with her tender words. One day the wheels of the racing car toy broke, I had to discard it.

When I joined middle school my father presented me a “Hero” fountain pen. I was obsessed with it and had concluded that it was because of that pen my handwriting was pretty. I would not allow anyone to use it I had secured it in my geometry box. One day the tip of the pen broke, I had to discard it.

When I was in high school I purchased a watch from the saving I had. It had a leather belt wand the frame was golden with the numbers in Roman numeral. I was very proud of that watch. I had my full arm sleeves school uniform shirt folded so that my watch is visible. One day the watch stopped working and it had gone beyond repair, I had to discard it.

When I joined Pre-University College, I had a bicycle to go to my college. Every Sunday I used to wash it and oil the chain. Check the breaks adjust the seat height and after a few years the bicycle chain sprocket developed problems and I had to discard it.

When I joined engineering college I persisted to have a two wheeler and my father got me one when I was in the second year of my engineering course. Very few in my class drove into the college with a two wheeler at those times. I had the privilege with the other few and we had a good time doing all sorts of tricks with the bike. Whenever there was a period off we would hit the playground on our bikes and try to test our capabilities of handling the machine.

After I finished my engineering and thought of venturing into doing business, I started an industry. I was thinking that a car would be better than my old bike it would fit my status, I brought a car. I hardly used the bike and had to discard it.

Then from an old car to new car and life has been going on with discarding the old and taking up new as and when the old did not have strength to move on. This has been and should be the way, discard that which is not of use and replace it with a brand new one.

We have all experienced this in our lives. We all know that one day even our body will cease to function and so there is no point in getting attached to it so much that taking up a new body would become a terrible idea.

Sri Krishna tells Arjuna “As a person exchanges old clothes for new, so does the soul abandon old bodies to enter new ones.” Then why does it become a hindrance to discard this body when it is finding difficult to perform??? Could it be due to our attachment towards our body???

Sage Patanjali while explaining the five Kleshas (Afflictions) of Mind points out to this tendency as Abhinivesha (clinging on for life). This is due to extreme obsession with body which would have stared from attachment towards material objects.

An Understanding on what we had been doing all our life with the things that does not work anymore, will give us confidence to overcome Abhinivesha ….. Just discard!!!

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