Intense physical and mental cravings
We should not possess any kind of cravings. What is craving? Intense and strong desires for anything is called craving.
Let us say there is a beggar begging something from you. If you say “no” and if he doesn’t move away, then he is said to be craving for something. If you said “move away,” he would not move an inch. He would stand right in front of you. Whether he gets something or not, he is not going to leave the desire to get that thing. That is called craving.
There are two types of cravings, mental and physical.
If someone doesn’t possess something (like food to eat or physical facilities), if he is not destined to have something, what shall he do? The physical body generates hunger and demands those things even if he doesn’t possess them. It is called a physical craving.
As if he doesn’t get enough food to eat, everyone thinks he is a sinner. He also thinks that he is a sinner and that he has performed an unbearable sin. That is physical craving.
Some people are so rich, yet they don’t desire for anything. And yet some people who are extremely rich with billions of dollars have stronger desires than the beggars. They would snatch money from everyone and fill their accounts. That is mental craving. To get rid of mental cravings is much more difficult than physical cravings.
Our mind is so demanding that however much every God offers us, we are not going to be satisfied. That is mental craving.
Physical cravings are based on destiny and we can’t do much about that. That is not in our control. Many people suffer from mental carvings. Their desires are so strong that their mind sticks to very negligible objects.
Ravan had his golden Lanka. If he likes something from someone, he would snatch it away by beating or killing them and taking it for sure. No matter how much he possesses, he wouldn’t be satisfied.
Detachment kills all the cravings from its very roots. It will clean out the mind.
Let us say I desired something. And it did not happen or is not going to happen. Would the desire to possess that thing go away? No. If I tried to get it and I did not get it, I should leave it and be happy. Still I can’t leave the desire to possess it.
All the possessions leave you for sure
Sage Parturiya said that, “Avashyam Yataro” – all the possessions leave you for sure. Whatever you were able to acquire shall leave you for sure. Then what to talk about those things you were not able to acquire? It is 100% sure that you either have to leave those possessions or have to leave the desires for them. Some people understand it very well. Before the possession leaves them, they leave the possessions by saying goodbye to them. “Now go away from me.”
Some people leave the possessions before those thing leave them. Some people try to catch the possessions even after those things left them. If you can’t leave the possessions before they leave, it will cause you unlimited sorrow. If you leave the things before they depart, it will bring you unlimited bliss.
The abode of God has unlimited bliss with one condition, Before anything leaves you, you should leave it.
“Samji Muko To Saru Ganu, Nakar Jarur Mukav Chhe Jam.”
“It is good if you understand it well and leave your possessions. If you don’t leave, Lord Yamdev (in the form of time) makes you leave them for sure.
Attachment to the opposite gender
Nishkulanand Swami says that, “The one with the seed of pure detachment in them don’t like the worldly affairs inside and outside them. They can’t bear them.”
Maharaj mentioned in the Vachnamrut that if you have these six things, you can’t be happy before death and after death: attachment to money, attachment to the opposite gender, attachment to tasty food, attachment for the body, affection for an evil person, and affection for relatives.
Among the above list, one of them is attachment to the opposite gender. We are attached to the opposite gender even while sitting and standing and doing every activity. It is not about enjoying the opposite gender. It is thinking about them while doing all activities. We don’t leave the enjoyment and we don’t even leave the thoughts about them. If there is some discussion on the opposite gender, we get much more involved and interested in such talks. That is the symbol of strong attachment to the opposite gender. Until we have attachment for the opposite gender, we can’t discard the desire for them.
If you are strong in detachment, you can’t accept the opposite gender no matter how much they try to provoke you to enjoy.
We should think about how much are we attached to something? If someone provokes us, are we getting attached? Are we attached to it by knowing it well? Or the object attracted us too much? After getting attached, are we discarding it or not?
Hating something is not detachment
Nishkulanand Swami says that the person who complain about sense objects is also in short of detachment.
Kans was seeing Krishna in all three states of mind: wakeful, dreamful, and dreamless. Though Kans had no liking for Krishna, he was thinking about Krishna more than the Gopis did. If we intensely reject something, it reflects the attachment we have on that thing.
Real detachment is when we neither like an object nor hate that object. You should not be in relation with that object in all three states of the soul. That state is called real detachment.
Detachment is not measured on how much you hate an object. It is measured on how much you have forgotten that object and in how much time did you forget that object. It could be either liking or hating. How much have you removed it from your conscience? How much time it took to stop the object to enter your conscience? That is the measurement of your detachment.
We should be free from all the objects we like and all the objects we hate. Liking and hating the object is like action and reaction of attachment.
If we hate something, then we are bound to remember it a lot and thus forget the Lord.
The highest benefit of detachment is that it makes you always remember God. If a person extremely likes something or extremely hates something, he can’t remember God because his consciousness is completely filled with that object.
Maharaj rightly said that the real definition of detachment is “loving nothing except God.”
No object should be allowed to enter your consciousness either by liking or by hating. Once you achieve that, your consciousness will be filled with colors of God. It will soon become the placeholder of God.
Use yourself for God completely before death
There is no greater attachment than the attachment we have for our own personality. To get rid of that attachment is very difficult. The one who has great attachment to their own personality can never respect a devotee of God and can never respect God.
It is mentioned in Swami Ni Vato that during Maharaj’s times, there were some Saints who had high attachment for their own personality. When the devotees (made by those Saints) came to visit Maharaj, they used to bring some gifts to Maharaj. Those Saints ask the devotees to submit everything they brought. Then the Saints would decide on what should go to Maharaj and what should go to themselves.
Until we stop giving importance to our own self, we can’t give importance to God.
Then, can we say hating our self as detachment? No. It doesn’t mean to hate yourself. Both hating yourself and liking yourself are the same diseases of attachment.
The one who knows how to use their personality in the service of God is the most detached person. Complete utilization of yourself without leaving a bit of it before death is the highest stage of detachment.
When Shastriji Maharaj was old, he was very weak. Swami was shown to all the top doctors available during those days. The doctors formed a team and analyzed him completely. They concluded that there is not a single disease in him.
Then why was he suffering from weakness? They said, “You have used your mind and body ten times more than its capacity. You have used yourself beyond your capacity. That is causing the pain. Nothing else is wrong in you.”
Gunatitanand Swami, Nishkulanand Swami, and Narayandasji Swami were some of the Saints who completely used themselves for God and left nothing unused. They never used anything for their own selfish motives.
Using everything and every quality in the service of your own self is the highest stage of attachment. Using everything and every quality in the service of God before death is the highest stage of detachment.
Everyone is good. I am gold.
Vyas Bhagwan sent his son Shukdevji to King Janak to accept him as Guru and learn from him. Shukdevji went to the kingdom of Janak and approached him.
King Janak gave him the first task. He told Shukdevji, “Shukdevji Maharaj, from this world bring me the most useless thing.”
He thought it was the simplest job one could do and went out of the palace in search of the most useless thing.
He walked into the market and found a stone on the road on which everyone was stepping and walking.
He went to take the stone. The stone spoke, “Stop. Stop. Don’t count me as useless. I am useful in many ways: I could be used to hit a tree and bring down a fruit, someone could tie something to me to take it to the bottom of the well, etc., So don’t count me useless.”
Then he walked across and found some thrash. He thought it should be the most useless and went to grab it. The thrash responded, “Wait, wait. I could become fertilizer and could help produce great vegetables. Please don’t count me useless.”
Shukdevji tried many different things and everything said that it was useful in some way or the other. He was tired and depressed, and was walking around when he found the excrete of dog. He thought it must be the most useless thing in the world and went to pick it up.
The excrete said, “Wait, wait. I am useful too. I am the best fertilizer that could be available on earth.”
Shukdevji was worried as he couldn’t find anything useless. The dog’s excrete continued, “Actually, before becoming this state, I was a delicious and tasty sweet. When someone consumed me, their body converted me into this state. So, search in the body and you will find the answer.”
Shukdevji then realized that the body is the most useless.
He went straight to King Janak and fell down at his feet prostrating himself.
King Janak said, “Maharaj, don’t do prostration. I am not waiting for the prostration. I am waiting for the work I gave you.”
Shukdevji replied, “I completed the work Maharaj.”
“Good. Where is the most useless thing available in the world?”
“It is here. At your feet. Lying down.”
Shukdevji learnt it from King Janak that you shouldn’t respect yourself too much. We always think, “Everyone is good, but I am gold.”
When the importance you give to yourself is nullified, it becomes detachment. When we think ourselves in second place, we could place God in first place. Never respect your own personality. It is the symbol of the strongest attachment.
Jada Bharat is another example who never gave respect to himself and he nullified the attachment to his own self completely. Nishkulanand Swami highlighted the names of devotees who had the strongest detachment: Prahladji, Kuntaji, Vidurji, King Gopichand, Vartuhari etc.,
Snatch the opportunity of detachment
Dharma and Gnan grows slowly and steadily. Vairagya and Bhakti grows quickly and sharply.
Shastriji Maharaj would always quote this example…
One day, a rich devotee visited Rishikesh to visit temples around it. He was a very rich businessman, very prosperous and a divine soul. During those days there was no Lakshman-Jhula bridge. Everyone used to cross the river Ganges through local boats.
He visited all the temples until evening. Then he was going to the bank of Ganges to cross the river and go back home. As it was in the evening, all the boats went back home except one boat.
The boat rider was shouting to everyone, “Let us go. Let us go. This is my last ride,” asking everyone to board the boat.
“This is my last ride,” hit the rich businessman and at that moment he decided that “this birth should be my last birth.” He snatched that opportunity at once. He left all the riches, possessions, family, people, and went to Vrindavan to dedicate himself to God.
In everyone’s life, we get an opportunity to get detached. When you snatch that opportunity to get detached, all the pleasures and comforts from the world of Brahma to Earth would will enter your consciousness. Detachment will not come unless we snatch the opportunities that we get from time to time
References:
Sarsiddhi Katha Part 07