What is Life?
We make an assessment of ourselves and conclude that we are inherently alpajñaḥ ─ alpam ─ we are a limited person. Everything that we have is smaller when compared to somebody else. In order to get rid of this apūrṇa bhāvaḥ ─ sense of smallness and insecurity, we seek money, love, security, heaven and so on. We want to complete ourselves by acquiring these worldly things.
We saw that this seeking of human goals is termed as puruśārthaḥ - which are classified as 1. kāma 2. artha 3. dharma and 4. mokṣa
We constantly seek and attain a relative degree of success, achievements, wealth, family relationships, friends, love and so on. Our sense of incompleteness never goes away, though we have moments of satisfaction. These moments do not last long, forcing us to seek more. We do not know how to handle a failure or a disaster. We live in a constant fear of losing these possessions.
What is the nature of our seeking?
Every one of the material objects and human relationships that we have suffer from the following three defects.
1. Dukha Mishritatvam: दुख मिश्र तत्त्वं dukha miśra tattvaṁ ─ Mixed with pain.
Every one of the material objects and human relationships can result in pain when we lose them. The more we love an object, more the pain is likely to be. The effort required in acquiring and preserving also is painful. When our goal is higher, more effort is required for getting and then keeping it.
Vedanta is only stating a fact here. Vedanta is not asking you to be unambitious. When somebody has gained so many things after so much of painful effort and still not happy, that is when Vedanta points out these three fundamental defects in our kāma, artha and dharma puruśārtha.
2. Athrupthikaratvam: अतृप्ति करत्वं atṛpti karatvaṁ ─ Never fulfilling.
We are never fully satisfied with what we have. There is no contentment. We want situations to be different. I am always aware of what I do not have. This is due to the nature of kāma, artha and dharma puruśārtha. The material objects and human relationships are always finite. Heaven is finite. The duration of stay in heaven is finite. As per your own assessment you are finite and limited.
Finite + Finite is still Finite. This is the law of this universe. Adding and gaining any amount of finite things can never make you infinite.
3. Bandhakatvam: बन्धकत्वं bandhakatvaṁ ─ Causes bondage.
The material objects and human relationships bind us. We depend upon them for our security and support. We can never lose our crutches, because of apūrṇa bhāvaḥ ─ sense of incompleteness and insecurity. The more we love the material objects and human relationships, the more our bondage is. Any small disturbance in our possessions causes us immense pain.
Swami Paramarthananda ─ Mundaka Upanisad. Mantra 12
Karma phala and upasana phala have the above three dośā. Swamiji says that the results of good actions and the results of our prayers have the defects as above. Which means that Jnanam is the only way out.
What should one do? A person understands the futility of the pursuit of kāma, artha and dharma, meaning futility in the pursuit of material things, human relationships and the heaven. By the grace of Isvara, that person comes to know about mokṣa. This person now becomes a mumukṣu ─ a person who has mokṣa as the most desired goal. That person has puruśārtha niścayam. With further grace of Isvara this person starts a systematic study of vedanta sastra under a competent live teacher.
Let us ponder on the most profound question ─ What is Life?
Hinduism has an one word answer ─ Saṃsāra. We are all Saṃsāri, the one who is in Saṃsāra.
Saṃsāra is the repeating cycle of birth and death. In Tibet, Saṃsāra is called as ─ khor ba which means continuous flow, cyclic existence, perpetual wandering and transmigration.
If the continuous flow is one of happiness, we have no problems being a Saṃsāri. But it is mixed with pain and pleasure as shown below.
Samsara ─ Wheel of Life
We make an assessment of ourselves and conclude that we are inherently alpajñaḥ ─ alpam ─ we are a limited person. Everything that we have is smaller when compared to somebody else. In order to get rid of this apūrṇa bhāvaḥ ─ sense of smallness and insecurity, we seek money, love, security, heaven and so on. We want to complete ourselves by acquiring these worldly things.
We saw that this seeking of human goals is termed as puruśārthaḥ - which are classified as 1. kāma 2. artha 3. dharma and 4. mokṣa
We constantly seek and attain a relative degree of success, achievements, wealth, family relationships, friends, love and so on. Our sense of incompleteness never goes away, though we have moments of satisfaction. These moments do not last long, forcing us to seek more. We do not know how to handle a failure or a disaster. We live in a constant fear of losing these possessions.
What is the nature of our seeking?
Every one of the material objects and human relationships that we have suffer from the following three defects.
| Vedanta points out these defects for you to be better prepared while
facing the problems in life. You want to go to Bhadrinath, where it is very
cold. You protect yourself adequately and then go to Bhadrinath.
Similarly, you need to be ambitious and pursue things in a dharmic way.
The knowledge of Vedanta provides you with an armour from getting hurt when things go wrong. The purpose of Vedanta is not be make you lazy or unmotivated. You do not run away from the world. You need not run away from the family. You face it with the correct perspective. Your expectations are objective and realistic. |
1. Dukha Mishritatvam: दुख मिश्र तत्त्वं dukha miśra tattvaṁ ─ Mixed with pain.
Every one of the material objects and human relationships can result in pain when we lose them. The more we love an object, more the pain is likely to be. The effort required in acquiring and preserving also is painful. When our goal is higher, more effort is required for getting and then keeping it.
Vedanta is only stating a fact here. Vedanta is not asking you to be unambitious. When somebody has gained so many things after so much of painful effort and still not happy, that is when Vedanta points out these three fundamental defects in our kāma, artha and dharma puruśārtha.
2. Athrupthikaratvam: अतृप्ति करत्वं atṛpti karatvaṁ ─ Never fulfilling.
We are never fully satisfied with what we have. There is no contentment. We want situations to be different. I am always aware of what I do not have. This is due to the nature of kāma, artha and dharma puruśārtha. The material objects and human relationships are always finite. Heaven is finite. The duration of stay in heaven is finite. As per your own assessment you are finite and limited.
Finite + Finite is still Finite. This is the law of this universe. Adding and gaining any amount of finite things can never make you infinite.
3. Bandhakatvam: बन्धकत्वं bandhakatvaṁ ─ Causes bondage.
The material objects and human relationships bind us. We depend upon them for our security and support. We can never lose our crutches, because of apūrṇa bhāvaḥ ─ sense of incompleteness and insecurity. The more we love the material objects and human relationships, the more our bondage is. Any small disturbance in our possessions causes us immense pain.
Swami Paramarthananda ─ Mundaka Upanisad. Mantra 12
Karma phala and upasana phala have the above three dośā. Swamiji says that the results of good actions and the results of our prayers have the defects as above. Which means that Jnanam is the only way out.
What should one do? A person understands the futility of the pursuit of kāma, artha and dharma, meaning futility in the pursuit of material things, human relationships and the heaven. By the grace of Isvara, that person comes to know about mokṣa. This person now becomes a mumukṣu ─ a person who has mokṣa as the most desired goal. That person has puruśārtha niścayam. With further grace of Isvara this person starts a systematic study of vedanta sastra under a competent live teacher.