SELF KNOWLEDGE  BY  RELEASE  FROM  ATTACHMENTS

 

 MAN ARAFA NAF SAHU

 

“Man Arafa Nafs Sahu”, “Know your

Own self” is the main slogan

Of “Tasawwuff” (Sufism).  The huge

Cosmos and the intricate design

Of nature is stupendous and

Marvelous.  This is of the outside the

Inner being is equally harmonious

and meticulously designed. Despite

Our mental confusion, lack of

 proper understanding and clear logic,

The internal system works in perfect

Harmony and precision.  Million thanks

And praises to the Great Creator,

Whose bounty is vast and unlimited.

First is to see the signs or signature

Of Allah in nature, in oneself and
His total command over us and our

 helplessness and despondency.  The

more we reflect on oneself and on

Allah the more praise is uttered by the

Tongue and breath.

 It is our common daily experience that our minds keep talking to ourselves. Repeatedly the hurts and injuries caused to us by others, keep troubling our mind. The wounds open up afresh and the bleeding is unstoppable. Our mind and heart start cursing our adversaries. When they come before us, instead of returning the smile and salutation, a frown, a grunt emerges from our face and mouth. We expose ourselves more and more for further attacks and this chain recoils. The mind and heart binds itself to sorrows and pains endlessly.

 What is the remedy available to emerge from ourselves and to break from these shackles? The suggested remedy is to keep uttering the litany i.e. praise of Lord Almighty and keep repeating His name and glorify Him. Glorification of Allah’s name, seeking repentance and forgiving others would release us from the futile meandering of the mind and attachments to the one’s selfish ego. Attachments to the self, self glorification, self gratification causes misery. Self importance is another factor to lead us to pride and anger. To subdue it, one needs to remind of another Greater Being, who loves us more than our adversaries, who unasked showers His Bounties and Grace. Hence to change the focus from oneself to the over-self i.e. to the Higher Being by His Glorification will surely release us from much mental torture, agony and despondency. The more we realize about the Glory of the Lord and His sustain unseen help reaching us from several unknown quarters, the more it would lead us to self illumination. It helps us to open the inner eye. Many mundane things worrying us would become insignificant and looses its importance in our eye and mind.

 How to emerge from low self esteem and to broaden one’s own outlook is a familiar question arising in several minds who suffer from it. Persons lacking in self confidence and suffering from a feeling that they are short of talents, suffer from low self esteem. It leads to self condemnation and shyness. They refuse to mingle with their peer groups; withdrawing in their own shell, with unknown fears gripping their mind. They fear of being laughed at by their friends and relatives. They curse themselves, their parents, brothers, sisters and their relatives. Thus, low esteem and lack of confidence would be a cause for nervous breakdown, migraine, nervousness, anxiety symptoms; leading to ideas of reference, neurosis, further on to psychosis. It develops deep feeling of jealousy in the mind and being suspicious of others. It would also be a cause for hatred to others. What can be the remedy to get rid of this illness? The best way is to lay faith in someone very dear to you as a friend, a teacher, a guru, a priest or a family doctor. You should speak out your mind and let all your feelings and seek help to cleanse your mind and heart of the ill feelings. Another way is to join youth clubs / social clubs and find sincere friends, who can help you to overcome your weaknesses. You need to have patience and fortitude and have full faith in the Unknown Power, who loves you and can bring you out of the moroseness, self centeredness and self indulgence. Those who have the difficulty in reading books can seek help from visual education, classical music, sight seeing and pilgrimages.

 It is often the complaint of the many suffering from depression that no one loves them and they are friendless. They feel that their friendship is spurned and they fail to get proper reciprocation. During the period of depression, life appears listless and you feel you are a failure, that you are meeting failures at every step. It is indeed a period when such persons seek self pity and their lamentation is grave and full of grievance. The faith in the Ever Loving unseen Lord is at the lowest ebb and they curse the destiny.

 This is often a period when your shadow appears to be your enemy. As a counselor for over several decades my approach to such persons seeking my help has been multifold. It is difficult to make home the point that most of the adverse situations are due to their own short-comings and weaknesses. Such persons refuse to accept their wrong doings and mistakes. They refuse to amend and repent. Sometimes, the point has to be driven home by raising hopes and showing that their positive nature can bring them good results. Meditation, patience, doing some good by way of feeding stray animals, birds, ants and poor beggars would bring joy and happiness. Make them look up to the nature and commune with it; the bright sunshine, the colorful sun set, a walk in a flowery garden. Then slowly they have to be led to the altar of the Ever Great Love.  Once the love in the heart is kindled to the mercy, the compassion and kindness; then you begin to see some change taking place in you.  The failed reason begins to see the beatitude. The eyes open up to the reality. One should repose faith in themselves and in their Guru (Murshid) or their counselor and begin to accept their words as Truth. Only then the inner ego can be subdued and brought to submission. When you submit and surrender to the Greater Being, the inner eyes open up and truly wonders start happening. Your heart filled with love and affection would light up other’s hearts.  You are accepted by others. Their response brings change in you and slowly you set goals for your self-improvement and you begin to see the results. One who expects change to occur on repetition of few mantras; doing some charitable work without bringing change in them would be living in a fool’s paradise. Humility is the first lesson of wisdom. So also, simplicity and sincerity in words and actions are very much necessary for change to occur in one’s life. It has also been observed in life that things do not happen suddenly. One has to put in ones sustain efforts with sound common sense and wisdom. Take all precautions to till the land in time; sow the seeds in time, tend the crops; protect it from insects, from animals, from theft and from vagaries of the weather and be very cautious in marketing your crops.  You need to save for the rainy day. When you have money in hand then take abundant care and not to be attracted to the glitter of the world and become a spend-thrift. You have to be a Spartan in living and also not be overgenerous to make a show of your wealth. There is also a tendency to give loans to unscrupulous scoundrels who befriend you at such times to rob your wealth and peace and never return it. People living on salary have to live within their means. Though poverty pinches but at times it acts as a succor and virtue to save you from drowning by saving you from evil ways by attracting you to the glamour of life to ruin you. Wealth is not all enough for one’s happiness and peace in life.

P.S. Every thought is supported by holy words from all scriptures.

 

SELF KNOWLEDGE BY RELEASE FROM

ATTACHMENTS by T. K. Jayaraman

PART-1

1. Everyone does not have the same outlook on life. Our

circumstances of life are also different. For many people,

daily life itself is a great struggle. They have immense

difficulties in satisfying their basic needs. There are people

who worry about their next meal. Many suffer without

shelter. A job is a dream for many. If I expatiate on Self

Knowledge to such people, it would be an insult adding to

injury.

2. But quite a few of us are able to overcome all the

difficulties enumerated above and reach a stage when we

can talk about happiness and the meaning of life. In such

context, "Self Knowledge " becomes relevant.

3. I have deliberately chosen the words," happiness "and "

the meaning of life". The discussion in this article would be

focusing on these concepts. Further these concepts will be

linked to what we generally understand by " Self Knowledge”.

4. First one should be very clear about the meaning of the

words used. Unlike exact sciences, words used in spiritual

discussions do not have unique definitions. Moreover,

spiritual experiences cannot be adequately verbalized. But

we cannot dispense with words. They are indeed a necessary

evil.

5. The word, " self" may mean different things to people.

According to Oxford Dictionary, Self Knowledge is " an

understanding of yourself". There are several dimensions to

human personality such as body, mind, emotions etc.

Delving into each of these is beyond the scope of this article.

Perhaps looking at the synonyms of the word," self

knowledge " may help us get an idea about its meaning.

6. I can think of 1) Realisation 2) wisdom 3) Anubhuti 4) Gnan

5) Nirvana 6) Moksha 7) Mukti. I do not know the equivalent

terms in every tradition. The term," Self Knowledge " Is

generally used by philosophers and spiritual teachers.

Whatever be your religion, you won't deny that there are

certain extraordinary human beings whom we don't hesitate

to call as prophets, saints, sages, jivan mukta, gnani, yogi,

mahatma, paramahamsa, fakir etc. Again, I have not

exhausted the vocabulary. Such beings have appeared in

every culture throughout human history. They are light unto

themselves and to others. Their exemplary lives would be

proof positive to show that they were established in wisdom

and self knowledge. Once we agree on this point, there is no

need to discuss the semantics of " Self Knowledge ". Surely

the teachings of these enlightened are worth pondering for

attaining Self Knowledge.

7. Now let us examine our lives. What is it that we want? You

may desire to amass wealth to become a billionaire. No doubt

that gives you happiness. Let us be frank and truthful.

A growing bank balance makes you very happy. I don't want

to advocate the view " Money is the root cause of all evil."

Many people hunger for power. There is a constant struggle to

reach a higher position in society. One likes to become a high

official, a minister, a chief minister, a prime minister,

president. The list is endless. Indeed, the pursuit of power

brings happiness to many. Some people thirst for fame. They

want to be well known in society. They leave no stone

unturned to attain their goals. I am not criticizing them.

After all, they are pursuing happiness in this manner. I will

cite no further examples. I want to drive home the point that

we are all pursuing happiness, albeit in different ways.

So happiness is an important ingredient of our lives. The

point is whether our approaches to find happiness are well

founded and whether the so called happiness is real or an

illusion.

8. First let us examine the pursuit of wealth. Let us not deride

wealth. Wealth has its place in life. In the Indian scheme of

life, " Artha" which means wealth is one of the ends of life.

But wealth has its limitations. One should not devote one's

entire life in the pursuit of wealth.

and that does not guarantee unalloyed happiness. Let us

examine the negative consequences of a relentless pursuit of

wealth. One gets attached to wealth.

We are the proud owners of properties. It is not long before

the attachment turns morbid. One is totally obsessed with his

accumulations. Endless worries are the progeny of that

morbid attachment. There is fear about the safety of your

wealth. Your sleep is the victim.

All that wealth tells upon your health. When you construct a

house for your need, indeed it is a need. None can fault you.

But when you develop a mania for possessing more houses,

It is no longer a need but becomes greed. What is the cost

apart from the money ? Your peace of mind. The torment to

which you are subjected to in acquiring and safeguarding

your wealth outweighs the happiness of possessions.

Moreover, pursuit of wealth beyond a limit is fraught with

unethical practices. Your attachment to wealth is your

undoing and surely it does not lead to your happiness. This is

sheer common sense and does not require the authority of a

scripture. Attachment to wealth is but one of the several

attachments which we have to unshackle. This sort of

attachment makes you blind in a figurative sense. You fail to

appreciate the consequences and become miserable.

Whether you like it or not, an inordinate desire for wealth

brings you misery.

9. As I already told you, pursuit of various activities in search

of happiness results in our getting attached not only to wealth

but also to persons, certain ideas and very many other things.

All attachments are obstacles to our real happiness. Though

we pursue many activities in search of happiness, what they

yield finally is only a crop of miseries. It is easy to understand

that attachments are our own creations. They are chains

which bind us in various ways and bring us untold sufferings.

After committing many foolish things,we want to escape

from their consequences. The simile of a prison is apt. Your

unwise actions lead you to a prison of your own making and

at some point of time, you would like to get out of the prison.

In other words, you want release, which is total freedom. So

real freedom is release from all attachments.

10. So dear friend, it is good that you are aware of your status

of a prisoner. Are you not asking these questions ? Has life

no meaning ? Is it just suffering ? Where is the happiness that

I yearned for ? Why am I bound to a prison life ? How can I

get a release ? When do I get a favorable judgment ? What

am I expected to do now ? At the beginning of this article I

mentioned, " the meaning of life" and " happiness ". Now

,when you are suffering due to your attachment, the time is

ripe for reflecting on the meaning of life.

 

PART-2

 

11.All cultures have produced sages, prophets, saints, yogis

whose teachings hold the key for attainment of " Self

Knowledge ". We need not get confused on account of a

plethora of spiritual paths. Every religion teaches us the

existence of a Supreme Being or Power.

The words used may be different but they all indicate the

same Supreme Being. The Holy Koran says, " There is no

deity, but God " The oneness of God is emphasized. God is

denoted by different religions. It does not mean the existence

of plurality of Gods. Just as water is known by different

names in different names in different languages, God has

different names. The underlying unity of all religions have to

be understood and appreciated. That puts an end to all

quarrels in the name of religion and God.

12. All theistic religions insist on surrender to God. In Holy

Bible, it is said, " The fear of The Lord is the beginning of

knowledge ; but fools despise wisdom and instructions.( The

Proverbs Ch 1. Verse 7). Islam means surrender to Allah. It is

basic to Islam that every believer surrenders absolutely to

God. When a person surrenders absolutely to God,all

inessential things automatically drop away. All attachments

are cut asunder. Such a person is really on the path of self

knowledge. I find the following exhortations of Jesus Christ

( St Mathew ch 6 verses 19 to 34 ) very illuminating. {6:19}

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth

and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and

steal: {6:20} But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,

where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves

do not break through nor steal: {6:21} For where your

treasure is, there will your heart be also. {6:22} The light of

the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole

body shall be full of light. {6:23} But if thine eye be evil, thy

whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light

that is in thee be darkness, how great [is] that darkness!

{6:24} No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate

the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and

despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. {6:25}

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what

ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what

ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body

than raiment? {6:26} Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow

not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your

heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than

they? {6:27} Which of you by taking thought can add one

cubit unto his stature? {6:28} And why take ye thought for

raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they

toil not, neither do they spin: {6:29} And yet I say unto you,

That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of

these. {6:30} Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the

field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven,

[shall he] not much more [clothe] you, O ye of little faith?

{6:31} Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat?

or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

{6:32} (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for

your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these

things.. {6:33} But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his

righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

{6:34} Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the

morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient

unto the day is the evil thereof.

What beautiful verses ! Elsewhere Jesus says, " It is easier for

a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man

to enter the gates of Heaven.

13. Now I am reminded of a young boy Nachiketha and his

encounter with Yama, the god of death. This is narrated in

Katha Upanishad. Narration of the story in its entirety is

beyond the scope of this article. Suffice it to say that Yama

grants Nachiketha three wishes. The first two wishes are

granted easily. But the third wish poses problem. What is the

third wish? " Give me knowledge of life after death " Yama

does not grant the third wish so easily. He wants to test if the

receiver of Knowledge is worthy of it. He tempts

Nachiketha with offer of all worldly pleasures instead of

teachings on Immortality. The boy, was very steadfast in

attaining his goal. Nothing could stand in the way of his quest

for self Knowledge. Worldly pleasures cannot bind him. He

rejects all such offers and insists only on the teaching on

Immortality. Nachiketha chose what is beneficial rather than

what is pleasant.( Wikipedia entry on Katha Upanishad )

14. Listen to what Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says, " Utter

the word Gita in quick succession, a number of times.“GiTagi-Tagi-Tagi ". It is virtually pronounced as Tagi, Tagi which means one who has renounced the world for the sake

of God. Thus in one word Gita teaches," Renounce ye world

bound man. Renounce everything and fix the mind on The

Lord.

15. Wealth and Family may be an obstacle to spiritual life.

The following extract from," The Gospel of Islam" by

Duncan Greenlees published by the Theosophical

Publishing House, Adyar page 154 is very relevant. Woe to

every slanderous backbiter who has gathered wealth and

stored it up, thinking that his wealth will give him security.

Avarice distracts him until he reaches the tomb.(102:1-

2). And as for one who hoards and thinks himself

independent and denies the good,we shall hurry him on to

adversity and his wealth will not save him when he is

perishing. (92:8-11).

But as for the one who gives away and is righteous and

admits the good,we shall hurry him on to ease. ( 92:5-7). And

the raiment of righteousness that is good. (7:26).

16. Prasannotra Ratna Malika which means a Garland of

Questions and Answers is a small beautiful Sanskrit work of

Sri Sankaracharya. Let me quote four of these questions

with the answers. Very relevant for all spiritual seekers. 6.

Who is the blindest among the blind ? One who is subject to

attachments.

12. What is happiness ? The state of complete non attachment

to everything.

41. What makes a man fearless ? The state of non attachment

What causes fear? Wealth indeed.

51. Who is endowed with abundance ? A Sannyasi or one

who has renounced everything.

( source : Prasnottara-Ratna -Malika translated by Swami

Tapasyananda Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Madras)

17. The Ancient Tamil Classic Thirukkural has a lot to say

about giving up attachments and embracing a life of

renunciation. Let me quote some couplets from that

immortal Classic.