The underlying detriment to our endless lifetimes, even when blessed with a Guru's divine presence, is "attachment" – an excessive fixation on the material world. Desires for recognition, fame, and authority have profoundly compromised our spiritual well-being. Our lives could have flourished, yet we remain ensnared by bonds to family, possessions, and wealth. Such attachment has inflicted damage upon our body, mind, and intellect, perpetuating the unceasing cycle of birth and death.
Consider trees laden with fruit – birds alight to partake without solicitation, departing when sated. This parallel extends to the human sphere. During periods of affluence, robust health, and acclaim, a bevy of individuals flock to us – children, physicians, leaders – closely orbiting. Conversely, when wealth or reputation falters, this entourage dissipates. Such is the nature of existence. Fresh flowers attract bees, but their allure wanes with desiccation, mirroring the transient nature of human relationships. Ducks abandon a parched pond, symbolizing the departure of admirers when one's abilities dwindle. Former eminence garners companionship, but obsolescence precipitates isolation – a stark illustration of human fickleness.
The world's relations are governed by two fundamental attributes:
Transience
Underlying self-interest
This analogy is mirrored in the dance of waves and the ocean. While waves briefly interact with each other, their enduring link remains with the ocean. Emerging from the ocean, they ultimately reunite with it. Mundaka Upanishad echoes this sentiment:
"यथा नद्यः स्यन्दमानाः समुद्रेऽस्तं गच्छन्ति नामरूपे विहाय। तथा विद्वान्नामरूपाद्विमुक्तः परात्परं पुरुषमुपैति दिव्यम्।।"
Just as rivers lose their names and forms upon merging with the ocean, a wise individual, transcending labels and appearances, attains a state beyond everything – the supreme Divine.
Recollections of a journey to Haridwar underscore this lesson. Seated ahead was a former Prime Minister alongside a prominent local leader. On alighting, they weren't greeted with the grandeur they once commanded, merely a modest bundle of withered flowers.
Applause ensued, albeit insincerely. The local leader even had to prompt individuals to voice praise. It's a sobering realization of life's essence – people stand by us solely to gratify their needs. Only God and True Saints remain steadfast. They alone mirror true kinship.
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