Is man a master or a slave? He can be either.
When is he a master and when is he a slave?
The main reason of becoming a person slave
is his attachment to the objects he desires.
Whenever a person gets enamored of an object,
he desires it; he runs after it and keeps running
till he gets it. Either he fails in this attempt;
or even if he succeeds, by the time his desire
gets fulfilled, he gets attached to something
else. Thus continues an endless pursuit of
running after the material objects. In this tale
of running after the desires of senses lies the
agony of slavery. But, when this thread of
attachment snaps, situation turns around; and
then he becomes a master.
To be a master means to attain self-realization.
When self-realization dawns, attachment to
the worldly objects ceases; and one becomes
a master. Attachment and desires arise in us
naturally and cause us to run after something or
the other. This chain of attachment is very long
and so is the long story of our enslavement. We
often do not even realize that the cause behind
what makes us keep running all the time is
our attachment. If we like an object we begin
to pursue it. If it is beautiful, we run after its
beauty; if it is melodious to ears, we stop in our
tracks to listen. Similarly, we forget everything
else when we smell our favorite fragrance. We
run after taste in a similar manner as well. But
we must realize that running after objects of
our desire and acquiring them does not satiate
our senses; instead, their demands increase
even more.
Attachment to senses is slavery. Forgetting our
true nature, we just enslave ourselves to our
senses. Attachment torments us. There is no
end to its long path either, because even when
we acquire for ourselves whatever we desire,
our desires only become stronger and more
commanding. This episode has been repeating
endlessly forever.
For example, if we like a particular perfume we
begin to wish to acquire it. The perfume begins
to float in our waves of thought and fuels our
desire. It begins to leapfrog in our fantasies
and our imaginations. And then when we get
it, we get so fascinated by it that we lose sense
of everything else. However, this fascination
and attachment lasts for only a short time. The
moment our attachment to the perfume reduces,
it loses its importance for us. Then, just like the
perfume we get attracted to some other item,
begin to crave for it and strive to acquire it. This
sequence will keep going on and on till we feel
satiated. But, the truth is that this is an endless
and aimless pursuit, because it is impossible to
fully satiate our senses.
Our senses are so designed by nature that they
cannot provide the feelings of fulfilment and
contentment. Senses may weaken after attaining
excessive sensual pleasure but still do not feel
satiated. If they could then people who have all
possible means of sensual pleasures, luxuries and
resources would have been completely content
with their lives, but that is neither so nor can
ever be. Enjoyments and sensual pleasures only incite our senses and the senses then get strongly
attached to them.
How strong is this attachment of senses can be
easily seen in drunkards and alcohol addicts.
When they feel the urge to get drunk, they get
so zealous and impatient that they break all
barriers of morality and value systems and even
commit acts that are completely inhuman. This is
the bondage of attachment, tied in whose strong
chains a man, just like a slave, meekly follows
wherever his senses drive him.
If one breaks this bondage, one can develop
awareness of the nature of one’s senses; and if he
wins over his senses, an absolute metamorphosis
takes place. Mahayogi Patanjali, a great exponent
of human consciousness has said in this regard,
“When a yogi wins over his senses, he attains the
speed of his mind”, which means that his speed
begins to measure up to the fantastic speed that
our mind has.
We can also say that as the attachment towards
sensual pleasures weakens, a metamorphosis
begins to unfold in human psyche. A realized
yogi, who has won over his senses, does not need
to touch or smell an object to experience it. He can
experience it without using his senses. He can see
happenings in the invisible realms with his closed
eyes. Such a yogi no more remains a slave; he
becomes a master of the senses. This happens
when his desires and aspirations break free from
the clutches of senses and their connection snaps.
The breakage of bondage means dawn of the
glow of discretionary wisdom, and fostering of
realization of the true self. As this wisdom and
realization begins to grow, new experiences
begin to unfold. This can be understood if we
look back at our own lives from childhood to
today. As a young child we demanded some
object we liked and cried loudly, made huge
fuss and not let anyone rest till the object was
given to us. But such demands begin to reduce
with growing age. There would be such a deep
attachment in childhood to small objects, toys,
clothes etc. that even a thought of separation
from them would bring tears in our eyes. But
as we grow, this bonding and attachment with
objects also begins to fade. Similarly, in the light
of discretionary wisdom attachment with senses
begins to fade and with self-realization this
attachment is completely destroyed. Attachment
disintegrates gradually, it first gets removed from
the senses, then from the prana, then from the
mind, and finally from the chitta (psyche). A
very difficult bond of attachment to break is of
the chitta. This is because this chitta alone is the
central basis of existence of all living creatures
including humans. The state and form of each
living being’s life is totally determined by the
state of its chitta. The sequence of events that
unfold in one’s life is also completely governed
by the good and the bad actions performed earlier
and the intrinsic tendencies (sanskaras) that are
stored in this chitta.
When harmful sanskaras awaken and get
activated in chitta, all events that unfold in
life also get adversely affected. Nothing good
seems to happen, and we are forced to face
many unpleasant, unfavorable circumstances.
This situation continues till the time the harmful
sanskaras get completely cleansed from the chitta.
In these times of difficulties, a person’s inner as
well as outer life gets completely enveloped by
difficulties and he is unable to figure out what
to do. Because of these karmas and sanskaras
in chitta, soul of every living being is so deeply
connected with its life and its events. A living being is also not able to realize its true self only
because of these deep impressions hidden inside
his chitta.
Beyond the attachments found in chitta, there is
one more attachment that ties a human being in the
chains of bondage and these are the attachments
in the realm of emotions. Even after rising beyond
the body, prana, mind and chitta, the bond of
slavery does not snap because emotions lie at
the root of all life events. Till the emotions are
free from attachments the enslavement does not
end. The moment attachments get detached from
emotions, a person gets liberated and becomes
the master of his senses. A master who simply
turns into an onlooker and getting established in
his inner being, his self-realization becomes firm
and unhindered. He then does not perceive time
in the three divisions of past, present and future.
He sees the events in all three times together.
He masters time itself. Nothing remains in the
world of which he does not have complete, all-
encompassing knowledge.
When the bondage of attachment breaks, man
becomes free. Freedom, mastery over self and
complete knowledge of everything becomes his
nature. He does not remain a slave any more and
does not move about confused. He becomes a
master and everything comes under his control.
There remains nothing in the world which he
cannot get, if he wants it. After all, this alone
is the difference between a master and a slave,
a slave runs behind illusions while a master has
no illusions. To be a master, it is imperative to
relinquish all attachments.
Write Your Comments Here: