CHAPTER 3
PANACEA FOR
LIBERATION FROM ATTACHMENT
The Complete Goal
The person who is able to exercise discipline
on his body, keep control over his mind and
keep his intellect sharp all the time,
He lives not a life of servitude
but an attachment-free Bright Life.
Tejguru Sirshree Tejparkhiji
A person who is tied down by attachments, lives an unconscious mechanical life. He forgets his purpose in life. In Ramayana, when Laxman [Aim] gets tied down under the ‘spell or charm of attachment’ by Indrajit and becomes unconscious, he gets far away from his Rama [Truth or bliss]. In the same way, a person despite being close to bliss, remains unconscious because of the effect of attachment. To eliminate this unconsciousness, medication in the form of Sanjivani herb or panacea becomes necessary. This Sanjivani breaks the spell of unconsciousness and makes him aware or `bright’.
Sanjivani or panacea is Laxman’s aim, i.e. our ultimate aim. When Hanuman on the command of Rama brings the Sanjivani herb along with the mountain and the same is given to Laxman, Laxman breaks free from the bondage created by the ‘spell of attachment’. Similarly, if by the command of our Guru, we attain the complete goal through complete wisdom, we can also be liberated from attachment.
The complete goal means the ‘whole sole purpose’ of life. Why have we come to earth and where have we come from? What are we going to learn, understand and attain before we return? Till we get the Sanjivani of the ultimate goal, the bondage of attachment is not going to break. If we get stuck with small things and leave this world lost in illusion and attachment, it would be too late by then. Let us understand this through an example.
Suppose you are living with a mischievous boy in a ‘Bright’ or ‘Tej’ Palace. That boy keeps throwing things around and breaking everything. You are very worried about it. You then take the boy to a school for appropriate training. This school has a special way of training children. You then decide to go around to inspect the school before taking admission for the boy. The boy also gets introduced to the other students in the school. You tell the boy that such and such people will become his brother, sister, mother, father, uncle, etc. The boy starts enjoying the atmosphere and starts playing with his new relatives. Meanwhile, instead of getting the boy admitted, you lie down on the bench in the school, fall asleep, and start dreaming under the tree. The boy in the meantime due to his old habit starts fighting with those people. And then blinded by attachment to his home, the boy insists on returning home before the training could begin. When you get up from your sleep and your dream, you repent that you wasted too much time believing the dream to be a reality. If during that period, you had admitted the boy in the school and met the principal there, this situation would not have arisen. As you take back the boy along, you start thinking what will he be doing in the Bright Palace? He would be breaking things as usual.
In this analogy, the boy stands for your mind, for the training of which you have come to this earth. The habits of mind are hatred, loathing and ill-will. Due to ego, the boy gets angry. Due to anger, the Bright Palace gets destroyed. The school is this earth in which the training of the whole sole purpose of life is imparted for making the boy fit to live in the Bright Palace. Under this training, you are taught how to get rid of attachments with objects, thoughts, people and the body. To learn this art, a few false relatives are given. Through this game, the dirt from the mind gets removed. This makes you eligible to live in the Bright Palace or attain eternal bliss. But you have fallen asleep in the school’s garden, i.e. in the illusion of the world. In your dreams and thoughts, you have forgotten the Sanjivani medicine or the ultimate goal. When it was time for you to leave the world, you woke up and realized the blunder you had committed - the blunder that neither you took the admission nor did you meet the principal or Guru.
If for taking admission, you had met the Guru, you would have come to know about all the rules of the school. You might have received a few advice. The secret of how not to fall asleep in the garden of illusion might have been taught to you and the boy might have got well trained and much improved. The boy could have even become the Prince of the Bright Palace.
From the above example, you would understand that you are not to get stuck with attachment to your kith and kin, and you are to keep the ultimate goal, the basic purpose of life, always in view. By this panacea of understanding, you would never fall unconscious and the weapon of attachment will be unable to cause any damage to you. Rama or bliss will always remain with you and unhappiness will always be defeated.