By Jaya Row
Vedanta speaks of the attitude of dis-possessiveness towards your possessions. But people have misunderstood this to mean giving up possessions. And they have given up vedanta instead! The Bhagwad Gita extols concepts like aniketa,homeless, and aparigraha, dispossession. And people have either walked away from home and possession in the name of religion or renounced spirituality.Possession is physical. How can a physical entity cause mental bondage? You may possess the whole world and remain free of ‘my-ness’ and ‘mine-ness’. Or you may have very little but be hopelessly dependent, possessive and miserable!
Vedanta recommends sannyasa or renunciation. This is a mental attitude, not state. You have to renounce your dependence, attachment and acquisitiveness; not possessions. Possession and possessiveness are totally unrelated. King Janaka was a man of renunciation. So was Sudama, a pauper.Possessiveness is defined as excessive desire to acquire, possess and dominate. This leads to bondage and loss of freedom. The root cause is a sense of emptiness, incompleteness, deficiency. You are too obsessed with yourself.
Vedanta emphatically declares the truth that you are paripurnaor totally fulfilled,satisfied. For some reason, you do not know it. Ignorance of your fullness causes an imaginary void. Desire arises in the mind to acquire and possess things to fill the void. When desire is fulfilled, you are happy. When desire is thwarted, you are unhappy. Vedanta gives knowledge of your fullness. Once you experience fullness you will be free from desire. Vedanta enables you to gain the world and not be bound by it.
The turning point is to look within and become aware..Look within. Are you jealous, vicious, negative towards people? Or are you loving and affectionate? Are you small-minded and obsessed with yourself or are you inspired with a higher vision? The 3-D plan of action is – Dedication, Devotion and Discrimination. Krishna tells Arjuna in the Gita to performyajna, work in a spirit of service and sacrifice for a higher goal. Shift from the attitude of taking to that of giving. You will not achieve success, become happy or gain spiritual upliftment with a selfish attitude. Yet the entire world is steeped in selfishness!
Devotion is not just declaring love for God; it is cultivating love for your fellow beings,removing hatred, ill will and competitiveness from your heart. One who hates no being, is dear to me, says Krishna. Discrimination is knowledge. Knowledge of what will remain withyou and what will perish. Then you begin to disinvest in that which is temporary and divert your energies to that which endures. Shankaracharya defines knowledge as – nitya anitya viveka vichara – constant reflection on the distinction between the permanent and impermanent aspects of life.Get to the centre of the wheel of life. You will gain mastery over the universe. Worldly things occupy the rim. Objects of attachment spin ceaselessly and mercilessly around you. Fixed at the centre is Atman, the lodestar. That is the real you. Find it!