| Discourses On Gita By Acharya Vinoba Bhave |
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| Discourses On Gita |
| THE TEACHING IN BRIEF : SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND EQUANIMITY |
| 9.
Even the word "death" we cannot bear to hear. To mention
death seems inauspicious to us. Jnanadev had to say with great
sorrow : "The word they death cannot bear; they weep when
someone dies." And if someone dies, what lamentation, what loud
outcry! Why, we think all this is a duty! We even go further and
hire professional mourners to do the weeping for us. Even when death
approaches, we do not tell the patient of it. Even if the physician
has told us that the patient cannot live, we would still keep him in
the dark about it. The doctor himself does not speak plainly; he
empties bottles of medicine into him so long as there is breath in
the body.
If instead he were to tell the truth
give him the comfort of courage, and direct his thoughts towards
God, what a real help it would be! But their fear is that under the
shock this brittle pot might crack before its time. But really,
could this pot crack before the ordained moment? And besides, if
this pot that was due to crack two hours hence should crack right
now, what difference does it make? All this does not mean that one
should become hard-hearted or loveless. But attachment to the body
is not love. On the contrary, unless attachment to the body is put
away, true love does not emerge. When attachment to the body goes, then one realizes that the body is an instrument for service; and then the body also finds its real support and receives the honor due to it. But today we regard pampering the body as the sole purpose of our lives. We have forgotten that life is to be lived for the fulfillment of svadharma. One has to foster and cherish the body because only so can one perform one's svadharma. The need is not just to satisfy the cravings of the palate. It is all the same to the spoon whether you serve sweets with it, or rice and curry. It doesn't feel pleased in the one case or dissatisfied in the other. The tongue too should be in the same
happy position - it should, of course, have taste, but no pleasure
or pain from it. The body is to be paid its due hire - no more than
that. We have to use the charkha (spinning wheel) for
spinning, so it is necessary to oil it. In the same way, we get work
out of the body, and we have to give it fuel. If we were to use it
in this way, the body, though it is nothing in itself, can gain
value and find its roots in the spirit. |
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