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The
24 Teachers |
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From the Uddhava Gita of the Bhagavantam |
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"Whatever
form a man constantly thinks of through love, hatred or fear, that he will
attain in course of time through concentration on the form he thinks
about, just as the beetle repeatedly stung by the wasp, through its terror
is itself transformed into a wasp. Thus
from the above twenty-four preceptors I have learned all my instructions
for living a happy, carefree existence. Now listen, O king, to what I have
learned from my own body. My body is also my guru. I have learned from it
dispassion, discrimination and non-attachment. It is ever undergoing
change. It is born only to die. Constant misery is its lot. It becomes the
seat of egoism. One has to toil to satisfy its wants. This brings grief
and sorrow. But I am able to
reflect on Truth with its help. I know the Truth by a discriminative study
of the body. I regard it as not mine and so I feel no attachment for it.
The body belongs to the dogs and jackals who devour it after death. "For
the sake of the comforts of the body, a person maintains a wife, domestic
animals, servants, children, home and relations and amasses wealth with
great difficulty. This body perishes in the end like a tree, creating the
seed of a fresh body for him. "The
tongue drags him to one side and thirst to another; the organ of
reproduction to some other; the skin, stomach and ear in some other
direction; the sense of smell in one direction, the fickle eye to
something else, the tendency for work draws to something else; every other
physical organ in a different direction of activity. The senses suck his
very life-blood, even as the many wives dissipate the life-energy of the
one husband. "The
Lord created various bodies such as trees, reptiles, beasts, birds,
insects and fish but was not satisfied with these. Then He made the human
body which is endowed with the intellect for realizing Brahman and He was
extremely delighted. The wise man, having obtained after many births this
extremely rare human body which, though transient and frail is yet
conducive to the attainment of the highest purpose, should quickly
endeavor to attain liberation before it falls a prey to death.
Sense-enjoyment may be had in any body. "Thus
learning Vairagya from my body, the distaste and aversion towards worldly
pleasures and a knowledge of the real bliss of my divine nature, I wander
over the world without egoism and attachment, with the light of true
wisdom as my guide." Sri
Krishna said, "The Avadhuta having told his story, took leave of the
king and went away. Many who
have heard this account have taken these wise instructions of the sage to
heart, and giving up all attachments have attained tranquility and
equanimity of mind." OM TAT SAT
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