CHAPTER 1
LIFE OF ATTACHMENT VERSUS DESIRE-FREE BRIGHT LIFE
Mine and Mine
Mind is a good friend, if there is no attachment.
But a bad enemy, if it is your master,
Use the mind, do not become the slave of mind.
Tejguru Sirshree Tejparkhiji
There are only two kinds of people in the world. The first kind are those who have a crown on the head and the second kind are those who have Tej, effulgence or radiance on their heads. Mostly, people belong to the first category; very few belong to the second category.
When someone wins the Miss Universe contest, a crown is placed on her head. This crown is placed on her for a year. But if she starts getting attached to the crown or to the title that she has won, she will remain unhappy throughout her life. This means that the major cause for misery of man is ‘attachment’.
Attachment means longing, fondness, craving or obsession. If you are liberated from attachment, you are liberated from unhappiness. Liberation from unhappiness means merging with bliss. If unhappiness is with us, bliss is away from us. Let bliss be by us and unhappiness be far away from us.
Are we, for our bliss, the slave of someone else? Or is bliss with us? If the wife is fully dependent on the husband or the husband on his wife, each one ends up in servitude with the other. Man becomes a slave of comforts and other people all his life, thinking that if he does not serve someone else, the latter will not provide all those comforts.
Once Emperor Akbar, while having his meals, praised the dish made of brinjal. Birbal also sang praises of several qualities of brinjal. Next day, when another item of brinjal was served, Emperor Akbar became very happy and praised brinjal again. And Birbal also gave an account of several more good qualities of the vegetable. When on the third day, yet another dish of brinjal was served, Akbar was furious and said, “Why is brinjal being served every day? It is not a good vegetable at all.” Saying that he asked Birbal for his views. Birbal said, “Yes, my lord. There is no vegetable worse than brinjal. It has so many bad qualities.” Having said that, he went on to explain all the problems caused by that vegetable. On hearing this, King Akbar was taken aback and angrily told him, “Till yesterday, you were singing praises of brinjal and today you are speaking ill of it. It means you have been untruthful. Why are you doing so?” Birbal then humbly replied, “My Lord! I am your slave and not that of brinjal.”
When a person becomes a slave of another, throughout his life he puts up with him, keeps agreeing with everything he says, and spends his entire life infatuated and blinded by attachment. He is unable to forgo any of the comforts that he receives from others due to greed and hence lives a life of slavery. Living happily with minimum comforts is real progress. Due to attachment towards all material comforts, he becomes a slave of other people. A person who can exercise discipline over his body, will not become a slave, but will live a desire- free bright (Tej) life.
Tej or bright refers to beyond two, beyond duality, beyond the two polarities. For instance, bright bliss means beyond joy and sorrow. Bright life means beyond life and death. Similarly, bright desire-free life means beyond attachment and aversion. When attachment is conquered, the bright desire-free life begins. If one gets attached to status, power, wealth, gains, comforts and the like, it gives rise to arrogance. That my position, my name, my work, my song, my crown is more important becomes the delusion. Such delusion gets converted into attachment. Attachment makes the person a slave. Let us therefore not become a slave of attachment, but become free of attachment.
Often people believe anger to be bad and attachment to be good. But there is a close inter-relationship between anger and attachment. The two may look different from each other, but are actually two sides of the same coin. People want to be free from anger, but are not ready to leave attachment. It is not possible to stick to one side of the coin while leaving out the other. The reason why people want to be rid of anger, but not of attachment, is because attachment is covered with a blanket of love, while anger is covered with a blanket of hatred. Anger may rankle or bite while attachment may feel good, but it is necessary to be free from both, as both have the same age.
An old lady went to a doctor and complained, “There is pain in my right knee.” The doctor gave her some medicine. The old lady asked, “What is the reason for this pain?” The doctor replied, “It is due to old age.” Then the lady asked, “Why is the pain only in the right knee, when both the knees are of the same age?”
Likewise, anger and attachment are of the same age. But both do not trouble or bother you equally. Only anger troubles you and bothers you. This kind of feeling is not felt about attachment since attachment is liked by people.
A mother loves her child, but she does not even realize when love turns into attachment. Let us understand this through an incident. When a child becomes unwell, his mother begins to weep. When the child does not eat, she also stops eating. If the child does not sleep, she also keeps awake. This kind of obsession is attachment. She fails to realize that by remaining hungry or sleepless, she is not helping her child. If she is healthy, she can take good care of the child. But due to attachment, she thinks that it would be wrong if she eats while the child does not eat. This is how love becomes attachment.
Due to attachment, you have wants, wishes and desires. Just as liberation from anger and attachment is necessary, liberation from desires is also necessary. If there is attachment, there are desires. If there is no attachment, there are no desires. If there are no desires, chances of anger get reduced. For instance, if someone wishes that there should not be a power failure, and if it happens, it is but natural that he gets angry. This is an example of a subtle desire becoming an attachment.