[Advaita-l] Jagadguru Speaks: Be Detached from the ephemeral

[S Jayanarayanan]

(Around the beginning of the month, a nugget of Wisdom from the Jagadguru may be posted
on the Chaturamnaya list : http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/chaturamnaya )
 
 
Isvara is the supreme reality, the unchanging Truth,
Knowledge and Bliss, behind all appearances.
 
To gain the knowledge of this supreme reality, certain
important sadhanas are given to sincere aspirants.
 
The first of them is to gain the capacity to discriminate
between the eternal and the ephemeral.
 
Second is the non-attachment to the fruits of karmas done
either to attain wellbeing in this world or the hereafter.
When this detachment ripens, there will not be anymore
desire to hanker after transitory things.
 
To achieve this detachment, the seeker is instructed to
dwell on the defects in the fleeting materialistic joys and to
not get glued to the relish of the senses.
 
The residual potency of even extinguished vasanas
(acquired tendencies) have to be checked quite often because
the relish remains, and it may activate residual negativities.
 
Slowly, the seeker will be unaffected by the external
world of fleeting panorama. His endurance of affliction
without a demur or worry to redress them will dawn
subsequently. For this to happen, the blessings of a
realised sage will confer the willpower and this will
bestow the required vairagya fully.
 
For a man who is blessed with such a fortune of
detachment (from the unreal), whose mind is tranquil,
who is free from yearnings, and who is the enjoyer of
whatever comes unasked, there would be satisfaction in
this life, he having accomplished his purpose.
 
वैराग्यभाग्यभाज: प्रसन्नमनसो निराशयस्य |
अप्रार्थितफलभोक्तुः पुंसो जन्मनि कृतार्थतेह स्यात्‌ ।।
 
We bless all the aspirants to understand this and
realise their ideals successfully.