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Bondage and its cessation
Based on questions asked of Param Pujya Ma
What is the cause of bondage?
Raag or attachment is the cause of bondage to this cycle of birth and death
It is the cause of moha and ignorance.
It binds the person to the idea of individual existence.
It creates the bondage to the body idea and the idea of doership.
Because of attachment, the individual identifies with the attributes of the physical body.
It is therefore the cause of the annihilation of knowledge.
What is attachment?
Attachment is the strong passion for any object.
It is a bond of identification, friendship, unity, with any object.
When the mind is obsessed by a certain object, it is on account of attachment.
To become irrevocably tied by a certain object and the strong desire to possess it, is attachment.
The hope that our desired object is not taken away from us is attachment.
Attachment is the strong desire to possess the other.
Attachment is a quality of the mind. The mind wants to own the desired object. Such an object becomes a subject of desire, to be brought under one’s command, to be owned. There is no conscious desire to become subservient to the coveted object, yet the mind is blind and the intensity of desire makes it dependent on the object. When the attachment increases, the mind is ready to renounce everything in order to attain possession of the desired object. All else is forgotten. Having attained this, the mind starts seeking something else.
Intellect and attachment
1. Attachment is a sign of blindness.
2. Attachment diminishes the ability to think and the intellectual acumen of the individual.
3. It diverts even men of great wisdom from the path of Truth.
4. It uses the ploy of high tenets and principles to establish even the unethical as noble, and shows them to be abiding by the code of dharma.
5. Arjuna, too, forgot his duty on account of moha and tried to escape from the battle field, using the support of scriptural tenets to prove his intentions to be correct.
Attachment exhibits the leaning of the mind. It is the base for likes and dislikes, in fact, both are opposite faces of the same coin of attachment. All obstructions in the way to achievement of one’s likes are resented and become objects of dislike.
If attachment goes only the Truth remains!
If attachment ceases, redemption is certain. Then the individual will also gain transcendence from the body idea. It is for the eradication of attachment that one needs the assistance of the intellect and knowledge of the scriptures. We are attached to the transient – to illusion. Now we must become attached to the Atma and subsequently merge in it. All the Scriptures and the path of sadhana teach us how to free ourselves from attachment that binds us to the body. Lord Krishna reiterates in the Gita, “If attachment goes, only the Supreme remains!”
Therefore, renounce attachment and perform only those deeds that draw you closer to the Supreme. Seek only to establish the Supreme One in your life and with that sole desire foremost in your mind, act in accordance with the principles of dharma. All your actions should be conducive to Self Realization. Any other action leads to bondage.
