Saturday, March 6, 2010

What is śaṁsāra?

What is śaṁsāra?
By
Guru S. Bale
Jan 22, 2010


Life is birth, life and death. A person with pure heart and mind rejects life. Śharaṇa Candimarasa, describes life as:

A man walking in the forest, A drop of honey falls on his tip of nose
Sees he is being chased from four sides, He is happy with that drop of honey
A tiger, forest fire, a demon and an elephant. Tasting the drop by the tip of his tongue
Afraid for his life, runs to a nearby well, ‘Forgets all his problems’.
Jumps head first into the well, Happiness from Saṁsāra
Seeing a snake, Has an ocean of problems.
He hangs tight to the root of a tree Learn that happiness is momentary
He sees two rats chewing the root, He stands alone without attachment
Just then from a bee hive It is Ĉimmaligeya Ĉennarāma.

This is a beautiful metaphorical description of life. Man is jīva, saṁsāra is forest, tiger is kāma (lust), fire is krōda (anger), demon is lōba (greed), elephant is mada (pride), the well is matsara (jealousy). The snake is bēdha (discrimination I and You). The root that he holds is life, and the two rats are day and night (time). In spite of all these difficulties, he is completely immersed in miniscule happiness (tasting honey) associated with saṁsāra. This is life if one does not think and strive to understand oneself!
Happiness that comes from wife, children, relatives, friends, wealth is not long lasting. They disappear in time. In divine world happiness is also not forever. Gīte 9-21 says: ‘Puṇai martyalōkaṁ viśaṁti’, return to martya lōka when puṇya ends. A person accumulates rewards for good karma. When the rewards end he returns to saṁsāra. Even the divines have many problems. The rewards of good karma do not last.

Gīte (15-7) says-‘ Mamaivāṁśō jīvalōkē jīvabhutaḥ sanātanaḥ’ Jīva is part of God. He is ancient like God. He cannot be seen. He is happy and knowledgable. Yet jīva is fond of saṁsāra. He is under the spell of Māya. A person who understands māya in its orginal form rejects her influence.
The person with knowledge understands that happiness from saṁsāra is not long lasting. He diverts his attention away from saṁsāra. Pure and undisturbed mind lead to freedom from the cycle of birth Allamaprabhu says:

Earth is not yours,
Wealth is not yours,
Wife is not yours,
They are all placed in the world.
Wisdom is to say they are Your’s.
Without faulting that wisdom
To have that wisdom
There is no richer person than you
Guhēśvaraliṁga.

* Siddaṁta Śikāmaṇi, Guru ś. Bale, (unpublished)

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