We all strive for freedom from misery. Enslaved people, for
example, strive for freedom from slavery, seeing that as the way to freedom
from misery.
When it comes to attaining
a life free from misery, we need to be free from impure desires. The
Bhagavad-gita (02.65) indicates that misery is destroyed for those who attain
mercy, which manifests during the course of spiritual growth as purity. How
does purity lead to freedom from misery?
Let’s analyze with a
health metaphor. Suppose a person has become diseased because of excessive
alcohol indulgence. While the physical disease is a danger that needs medical
attention, an equal, if not greater, danger is the patient relapsing into
alcoholism. That relapse will probably make the patient sick again, thus undoing
the effort done for curing the patient.
For many alcoholics,
enduring the pain of the disease and the discipline of the treatment is not as
demanding as sustaining the resolve to consistently refrain from alcohol. If
they were somehow freed from the addiction, that would herald the beginning of
freedom from misery. Not only would they be freed from the sickening desires
that dragged them into misery, but they would also be largely free from the
danger of the recurrence of the disease.
A similar dynamic applies
to our various sufferings during material existence. They are usually caused by
our misdirected desires due to which we seek pleasure in temporary material
things. Gita wisdom explains that we are eternal souls meant to delight in pure
eternal love for the supreme spiritual being, God, Krishna. As long as we are
attached to temporary things, that very attachment becomes the cause of our
suffering. When we practice yoga, especially bhakti-yoga, and purify ourselves,
the doors for walking out of this worldly arena of misery open for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment