Who is called Nirmohi
As per Nishkulanand Swami, who is a Nirmohi (person without infatuation)?
There is a beautiful incident from the scripture Purushottam Prakash. One day, all the Saints went to Maharaj and said, “Maharaj, we will only preach to men even if they are wearing a Saree, but we will not preach to women.”
The Saints gave the detailed history of previous sages, saints, and devotees who fell from their spiritual positions because of the opposite-gender. Some of them fell while preaching to the opposite gender. The Saints said, “That is the reason why we would not want to preach to women and why we only want to preach to men.”
Maharaj listened to the Saints request and replied, “All these Saints are Nirmohi (free from infatuation).”
What is the meaning of being Nirmohi?
Discarding those things that attracts our mind or those things that attaches to our mind even before it would come near us is called Nirmohi. Not to be in the vicinity of those objects is called Nirmohi.
Some people say that, “I will not face any problem even if I go near and interact with them.” He is not a Nirmohi. He may also say that, “Even if I enjoy those objects, it wouldn’t be any problem for me.”
Maharaj said that, “The quality of shutting down the routes of interactions with things long before an interaction can happen and giving them up even before you would possibly attach to them is called Nirmohi.”
It is not that the Nirmohi fall into those pits and then realize the mistake and gave them up. They realize that those places are possible pitfalls and those are the places many souls have already fallen from their spiritual positions. They think that, “What is the purpose of going to those places when so many have fallen from their position because of those objects?”
Maharaj said that, “People think about opposite gender while sitting, standing, and doing everything. People can’t discard things associated with opposite gender because of their attachment to them. That is the reason Saints have given up interaction with the opposite gender.”It is not just with attachment to opposite gender. It could be attachment to an interesting sports final, it could be too much attachment to enjoy some festivals like Holi, or it could be the attachment to anything that your mind is completely attracted.
The one whose consciousness is not attached to anything is eligible to get attached to God. He is called Nirmohi. It is not that Nirmohi doesn’t know what is present in those objects. They know it very well and then they discard it with the help of detachment.
Family relations are also in the list of pitfalls. Maharaj said that after understanding the relations, they must be discarded with the help of knowledge. We should think that present relatives are no better than previous life relatives.
Let us say there is a dog or donkey around you who in previous life happened to be your parent or sibling. If someone is beating that dog or donkey, do you get hurt? You won’t get hurt because you are not attached to that dog or donkey. So, Maharaj asks us to discard the relations with the knowledge and understanding of previous life relations.
Detached person is lazy with sense objects
Nishkulanand Swami says that, “the one who has detachment doesn’t do any work.”
What does it mean? Does it mean that if someone is doing Seva, they are not detached?
It means that the detached persons don’t do any work that fulfills their tastes or desires. They don’t use their senses to fulfil their desires. In that sense they, don’t do any work at all. They are the laziest in the path of fulfilling their sensual and worldly desires.Nishkulanand Swami says that it is important that the devotee of God should never be infatuated. Only a person free from infatuations can worship God.
The one who is attached to sense objects, or the one who is affected by attractions and infatuations changes their decisions based on the sense objects.
It is said in Bhagavad-Gita that:
vyavasayatmika buddhir ekeha kuru-nandana
bahu-sakha hy anantas ca buddhayo ‘vyavasayinam
Meaning: Those who are on this path are resolute in their purpose and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched. [BG 2.41]
The one who is infatuated moves from place to place based on his desires. If they are at one place, they would desire something else and move to get that desired thing. From there they would desire something else and move on. Again, they would desire something new and move to a new place. With that state of mind, how could he worship God?Focused mind on God
To worship God, one needs a focused mind.
We could have a focused mind only when we are free from infatuation. We could die with single-minded focus on God only when we are free from infatuation.
The detached devotees of God don’t give a thought to any sense objects. From the beginning to end of life they have only one focus: To worship God in best way and to have a single-minded focus on God.
From the time of joining Satsang to the end of life, living with a single focus on God can be achieved only when we are free from Moh.
If we want to worship God, serve God, and constantly think of God, we should completely understand the nature of sense objects and should stop interacting with sense objects. Thus we should become dull-minded with sense objects.
With intelligence, we should become unintelligent with sense objects. Meaning we should stop enjoying and worrying about sense objects. By knowing well about sense objects, we should not enjoy its presence and worry about its absence.
We should become an expert in the field of God. The one who is detached and the one who has decided to worship God for eternity doesn’t become expert in the field of sense objects.
Free from sorrows
Nishkulanand Swami says that without detachment there is no end to sorrows.
Vedana means sorrows. What are the sorrows of a man? If something is not right, it is a sorrow. It could be anything.
Nirved means everything is alright. Whatever the situation is: Whether it is favorable situation or unfavorable situation, if there is no sorrow experienced in any situation, that state of mind is called Nirved.
However difficult, uncomfortable, and unsupportive a situation is, if sorrow and distress don’t influence you, then you are said to be in the state of Nirved. Unconditionally, if someone is free from sorrows and distress, he is Nirved. In the path of God, if the devotee doesn’t become sorrowful in any situation, then he is Nirved.
Let us say there are two neighbors. If we respect one a lot with garlands and don’t care about the other, what would happen? He may look calm from outside but thinks about it a lot and becomes affected because he is attached to self-respect from inside.An attached person looks back and meditates that, “I enjoyed those things.” “I had those things with me.” “I was eating those tasty foods.” “I was in possession of those things.” An attached person does too much of remembering what he had enjoyed and suffered.
When we enjoy something based on favorable situations and then we encountered an unfavorable situation and if we don’t think about them, then we are called Nirmohi.
References:
Sarsiddhi Katha Part 10