Posted on: 09 Feb 2005
The Gita says ‘Eka Bhakthih Vishishyate’ which means that the person having only one bond with the Lord alone is liberated. Liberation itself means destruction of all the bonds in this world. Without complete liberation, one cannot have a strong bond with the Lord. Unless one is completely relieved from the world, one can not join God. The joining report in the new institution is not possible without complete relief from the previous institution. You cannot partially join the new institution. It cannot be a side-employment. Of course such a partial bond can be treated as an intermediate stage and is better than no bond. But the aim should not be just this partial bond. If you aim for 100 marks, you may get 40 marks and barely pass. But if you aim for just 40 marks, you will certainly fail. Therefore, let the aim be total liberation from the world and a single bond with God. The bond consists of three parts:
If you take the case of Shankara, He has donated the whole rupee to the Lord. His love for His mother, words to praise mother and service to His mother were completely diverted towards the Lord. He left His mother for the sake of the Lord. He has donated all the one hundred paise to the Lord. He is the most beloved of the Lord. He should be our ideal. In the beginning stage you cannot divert your work, which is called duty and mental attachment, which is called love to the Lord. At least make a humble beginning by donating words to the Lord. Go on reading spiritual books and go on chanting His songs. By this you have donated 1/3rd paise to the Lord. Remember that you cannot purchase any item from a shop with 1/3rd paise. Therefore, do not aspire for anything in return from the Lord, for this 1/3rd paise. In the next stage, try to divert your mind towards the Lord, which is 2/3rd paise. Do your duties to your family members, but without mental attachment. Such mental detachment has several added advantages. If one is mentally detached from the family members, he will not be hurt if they insult him in future. He will not be disturbed when their behaviour is not correct. He will not suffer if death attacks them. Such mental detachment brings full peace and balance of mind. Due to this he will always be energetic and in good health. Therefore, such mental detachment is needed even for an atheist.
The detached mind cannot keep silent because it is habituated to attachment. Therefore, attach the mind to the Lord. Such attachment will always give infinite bliss in life. When you are successful in attaching the mind to the Lord, you are called as a devotee. But a devotee can get disturbed. His devotion becomes firm if his intelligence takes a firm decision through knowledge. Therefore, knowledge gives firm decision to the intelligence (Buddhi) and this makes the devotion of mind (Manas) to be firm. Therefore, the Gita started with Buddhi Yoga or Jnana Yoga [Yoga of Knowledge] in the second chapter. When the mind is fixed on the Lord with the help of the knowledge of the intelligence, your work will naturally change and will follow the mind. The mind is like the king. The words are like his ministers. The intelligence is like his preacher or Guru. The work is like his army. Therefore, with the help of the words, the mind should be diverted to the Lord. It should be fixed on the Lord with the help of the intelligence. The words divert the mind, whereas the intelligence fixes the mind. Therefore, when you have donated words and mind to the Lord and when you are strengthened by the spiritual knowledge, your duties and responsibilities, which form the work, will naturally be diverted towards the Lord. Work is always an inert item and is controlled by the mind and intelligence.