The Indian tradition upholds the path of renunciation in high esteem but accords priority to a state of detachment while carrying out one’s worldly duties. Time and again, the example of Raja Janak is cited as one who achieved enlightenment while still in ‘grihasthashram’. It needs to be interpreted and understood in the context and relevance of present times.
Evolution of Society
If one contemplates, taking into account holistic view of one’s life spent so far, one will notice that every moment passed and every experience gained, has helped to refine one’s perception, attitude, will, reason and thoughts. In other words the great ‘Leela’ or drama that is unfolding every moment on this world stage is nothing but a tool for evolution. The society is evolving and so is the individual. It is an ongoing process.
It was perfectly okay to burn down women in the name of witchcraft in the medieval ages; however, today the sensitivity towards the human rights make such acts universally condemnable. Unfortunately, it is not that such acts have stopped, but the evolved individuals and societies apply influence, both at social and personal level to slowly elicit a change of heart and mind.
It’s role in the family drama
Similarly the family ?a microcosm of the world? is also a stage, where the drama borne out of the interplay of mind’s emotions, intellect and insight, unfolds. A bickering mother-in-law speaks ill of her daughter-in-law and her family. The daughter-in-law cries in solitude. Sometimes she pours her agony in front of her husband. Sometimes she retorts back. However, one day when her mind is still and she delves into her inner being, she sees the great joke behind all this. She realises the futility of trying to retort to mere words ? words that were formed out of alphabets and alphabets that were formed out of sounds. A certain sequence of sound had caused this entire trauma.
Unwittingly, she realises the science of sounds. She may be an educated urban woman who can probably also analyze her thoughts or she may be an ignorant woman in remote area. Either way, is very certain that the insight changes them both for good. What is miraculous is that it brings about a change in her mother-in-law too. The mother-in-law, who drew such pleasure in throwing out a volley of invectives, is now at a loss. Her tirades do not draw out any response. The ball seems to bounce back straight to her.
The unruffled daughter creates serious disturbance in the psyche of the mother in law. The newfound calm and centredness in the daughter-in-law, sets the mother-in-law thinking. In fact the volley backfires on her and for the first time she encounters the pain that her daughter-in-law must have gone through so far. She sits back and from her depth arise an intuition that changes her. It goads her on the path of evolution for better, away from the mundane and towards the kingdom of God.
Evolution of the mind
Existence does not let any body rest. Slow or fast, evolve one must. What was happening here? The great Hindu treatise of ‘Vigyan Bhairava Tantra’ cites the technique of developing and practising the attitude of always being in a play, to attain the supreme bliss. The idea is to generate a sense of detachment such that a time comes when the mind instead of reacting to every situation of joy and sorrow, also finds some time for contemplating in silence. And that contemplation can only happen when the mind is relatively free. The same thing happened to ‘the mother-in-law ? daughter-in-law’ combine.The futility and humdrum of daily bickering ignited their inner self.
So, one need not leave the world to find a solution to existential queries. It is here and now that the kingdom of God beckons. And if you do not respond, it will push you by default on the orbit to self-discovery.
Similarly an old couple having led a full life fall into the rut of disillusionment and emotional vacuum. Once upon a time their beautiful childhood had transformed into exciting youth. They immersed themselves fully into the bliss of marriage and beautiful children. Time flew by and the nest was empty. Still the joys of their children’s marriage and grand children’s arrival kept them engrossed.
Suspicion crept in slowly in their lives, one day. They felt that while they breathed for their children, the children did not reciprocate proportionally. The empty dinner tables hurt them. Their grand children spent more time with their TV sets and hard-to-fathom friends. Their sadness grew into nasty barbs. The nasty barbs solicited unthinkable response from their children. Their world came crashing down.
The gift of self realisation
Then, one day the gentleman sat under the clear sky reading Kahlil Gibran, where in it was said that children come ‘through’ you and not ‘from’ you and that they are life’s longing for itself. The enormity of the words hit him hard. He had been treating the guests of eternity ? his children ? like his personal fiefdom. He was demanding from the garden that he planted, to bloom only for his eyes.
Tears rolled down his cheeks and he kissed his children and asked their forgiveness. The children stood still to realise that they too had been repeating the story of their parent’s life. The old couple unloaded the baggage off their mind, which they had carried for long and started afresh on a journey. The children were too were thankful that a new awareness had dawned on them also rather early in life.
What was happening here? The same story of natural phenomenon of the forces exhorting them on the path of self-discovery. Renunciation starts in the mind. The daily drudgery too contains the seeds of enlightenment.
You only need to look at the drama, enjoy it and then evolve through it.
Out of 5 “chilies”, our editorial team gave this article...
—About our writer: Sushmita says," I write but I am not a writer. I make an effort to write. Though I hardly feel as making an effort since I enjoy it so much. Some day and in some distant age when words will flow through me and the effort will vanish, I could say I don’t write but I am a writer”.
>> Read more articles written by Chillibreeze writers:
