Lord Ram’s detachment
Today morning is the coronation ceremony of Lord Ramchandra. The same morning, He had to go forest for fourteen years. There was not even a slightest change in the Lord’s words, thoughts, or deeds even by such a drastic change of situation.
He was not surprised by the change in situation. And He never thought that whatever has happened is not good and is against Him. His view on taking the post of King and going to forest for fourteen years is the same.
How could one see most fortunate situation and most unfortunate situation equally? How could one get such a detached state of mind?
Lord Ram said “Thank you” to Kaikeyi. Why thank you?
“You gave me the opportunity to do Seva of great Saints living in the forests. King Dashrath was about to give me a small kingdom. You gave me a huge kingdom and an exciting life with Saints.”
Nishkulanand Swami says that you can’t learn detachment by knowing about it. The actors in a drama can act like Lord Ram, but in real life they can never live like Lord Ram. We can act like we are in a detached state of mind, but we can’t live like a detached person if we lack real detachment.
Nishkulanand Swami says that how much ever we write about the greatness of Vairagya (detachment), it would always be short. But Swami says that the life of the one who has the seed of pure detachment in them and who has become detached from everything and who always enjoys the bliss of worshipping God is beyond description.Performing devotion with detachment is blissful
The bliss of performing devotional service to God along with detachment has so much bliss in it that it can’t be described.
Detached persons become so attached to the Murti of God that they completely forget about the world. Things, buildings, positions, status, caste, name, fame, bodily beauty, luxury-life, subject-mastery, intelligence, and all such worldly things and processes seems to be very miserable to him. Even if those things desire to get attached to him, he doesn’t get attached to it. Even if he has those things he won’t consider them great. He might be great, higher caste, highly educated, intelligent, yet he wouldn’t consider himself great in those matters. He gets such a state of mind with the help of detachment.Detached people see scope for improvement
Maharaj told Brahmanand Swami “All my Saints are like Brahmaji, Shankarji, and other great Saints.”
Brahmanand Swami replied, “Maharaj, don’t make fun of us. We can never do great works like them.”
When we have extreme detachment, we would always feel that we have lot of scope for improvements. Even if we are in great positions, we would think we are not eligible for it.
The detached person will not boast about himself saying that “I am the master of the subject.” “I am intelligent.” “I belong to this upper class.”
If I am intelligent, and if someone says that I am really intelligent, wont I consider myself intelligent? Or I would externally say that, “I am not intelligent” but believe within me that, “I am in fact intelligent”?
The detached person is detached even with his intelligence. His mind doesn’t get attached to his intelligence. His mind doesn’t get attached to his good qualities. Thus, he doesn’t become proud of it.
The one who is extremely detached always thinks that he is in short of detachment. The one who is an extreme devotee always thinks that he is in short of devotion.
Nishkulanand Swami says that the methods of detachment, detached lifestyle is not likened by attached people. Whatever detached people do can never be done by worldly people even at the cost of their own life. They may even give up their life but can’t live a detached life.
Detachment of Rahim, a devotee of Krishna
Rahim was a poet and one of the important nine ministers of King Akbar. Though he was rich, he gradually became a great devotee of Lord Krishna and a well-known poet of Lord Krishna.
He used to donate a lot to the needy anonymously so that the receiver wouldn’t know who the donor was.
Someone asked, “You are donating a lot. Why do you keep it secret from the receiver?”
Rahimji replied, “They all know that the real donor is God. They might think that Rahim is the one who is actually donating. I feel ashamed if they think so. Real donor is someone else, and they say that I am the donor. I feel like I am a thief stealing someone else’s name and enjoying the benefits and respect of it.”He wrote this Doha:
Denhar koi aur hai, bhejat jo din rain;
Log bharam ham par kare, taaso neeche nain.
Meaning: The real giver is someone else (not me), who sends enough to be given away. People think I am giving that is why I am ashamed and have to keep my eyes low.
Rahimji never used to think that he is the donor though he was donating abundantly.
Real detachment purifies mind and body
What is the cause of any disease? High BP, low BP, diabetes, all of these diseases are caused from eating whatever our tongue desires. If we eat properly, all the diseases are gone. If we eat improperly, all diseases are welcomed.Attachments don’t allow us to live properly. They don’t allow us to eat properly. In the end, we get all types of miseries and diseases.
We would have a well-balanced life with detachment.
So, detachment is the only medicine if you want to be free from miseries and diseases. Detachment helps us to live with a healthy body and a healthy mind. That is the reason Shukdevji, Jad Bharat, Sanak and others never visited a hospital, because detachment is their only treatment.
References:
Sarsiddhi Katha Part 12