Bhavana :: 21
His guru said, "Go away from here! lf you continue here, you
will learn nothing." So the disciple went away. As he was
resting under the shade of a peepal tree, he saw a leaf fall
down, and he was instantly enlightened. He returned to the
guru and said, "It has happened!" Toe guru asked, "How?"
He replied, "As I sat under the tree, I saw a leaf fall and I
suddenly realized that I would also fall someday, I would also
die." The guru said, "You should have paid your obeisance
there-that falling leaf is your guru."
Emperor Bharat, seated on a throne in his mirrar palace,
was observing his body. All of a sudden he became aware
of the change taking place in his body. "Is this the sarne body
I had in childhood? But what a transformation it has now
undergone in my youth! Everything is changing. But the
power behind all change is unchanging. It continues to be
what it was before, and it will remain so." Toe emperor had
a new vision. A glimpse into the transitoriness of one had
made him aware of the transitoriness of all. He delved deep
into this idea and achieved omniscience.
Such an event also occurred in Carlyle's life. He was past
eighty. He had been to the bathroom thousands of time. But
something happened there that day which had never occurred
before. After his bath, when he was running the towel through
his body, he observed the change in his body. How decrepit
it had grown with age; but the all-seeing and all-knowing
consciousness inside had not worn out. lt knew no decay. He
had a glimpse of the changeable and the unchangeable
together.
The scientists say that after every seven years the whole
body is changed. Thus, within the lifespan of 70 years, the
body undergoes ten wholesale transformations. But sudt a
change is seldom noticed. Toe most intimate thing, readily
available to the sadhak is his body. Also around him is a whole
world of animate and inanimate beings. He should specially
observe his body and the world around him and feel for
himself how this world is a big training school where he is
being continuously trained. While practising the bhavana of
transitoriness, he should observe how the world and all that
something and accepting it at second hand, between
experiencing the truth of it on our own, and taking it on
hearsay, on belief. Toe day we pass from the state of accepting
on belief to that of knowing, of direct experiencing, we shall
come to look at matter for what it is, and at consciousness
as the living principie. Matter has its utility; it can be made
use of, but it cannot be lasting. The imputation of taking the
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alone be hls teacher. A disciple kept with his Acharya for
years, without being enlightened. The disciple felt frustrated.
22 :: Abstract Thinking
is near hi.m are changing from moment to moment. Not
merely repeat the idea that all is transitory, all iis transient;
he should rather experience for himself the truth thereof and
at the sarne time have a glimpse of the unchanging, eternal
soul established within.
The Consciousness of Detachment
Toe first phase of contemplation is-the anupreksha of
transitoriness. Whatever exists in this world is ali transitory.
No relationship is lasting. All unions end in separation. With
the realisation of this truth, all the illusion of taking the
transitory for the eternal is dissolved and likewise ends all
discontent arising from the loss of material objects. Conse-
quently, new habits anda new culture [Link] associa-
tion with matter gives rise to a culture of attachment which
causes pain at the loss of material things, similarly if a culture
of detachment from matter is created through anupreksha,
a man would never feel distressed. Separation is the one end,
union the other. Separation is the first door, union the other
doar. lf both these truths are simultaneously realized, and a
consciousness of separation, like the consciousness of union,
be evolved, a man can meet all the genuine problems arising
in the material world on a factual basis.
"The mind is fouled when we take the transient for the
eternal, the accidental for the permanent, the heterogeneous
for the homogeneous. Both theoretically and practically, we
know that matter is transient, all coming together is transitory.
All material things are bound to perish. All union is bound
to end in separation. Matter is transient and all communion
with it is transitory, and matter is heterogeneous. The quality
of consciousness is different from that of matter. We know
all these truths and yet we take matter to be invariable,
unchanging and act on that basis in our everyday living. We
take the union of material atoms to be permanent and we
treat matter as having affinity with ourselves. Of course we
do not know it to be so, we have not experienced it for
ourselves-we only believe it to be so.
There is a great <leal of difference between knowing
24 :: Abstract Thinking
