Fruition of Samskara : Detachment

Absence of attachment leads to renunciation. The ones who attain detachment are the ones who do not indulge in gratification on the sense. Unless on overcomes and controls the various snares of attachment to which the human heart and senses are subjected, one cannot aspire to be an ascetic. To hope too be detached by indulging one's senses is to hope for a cool night during the day of the scorching sun. To attain detachment, one need not be a great and learned man of the scriptures. Detachment is nourished by faith and by tolerance too.

Detachment itself is the water which extinguished the fires of lust within us, while attachments work as firewood to the fires. in this blind race for material success, the one and only means to reign in one's runway energy and mind is to learn to be detached. Detachment alone brings inner refinement, adorns our life and is a source of constant joy. It is the armour which protects our very being.

The way to detachment is threefold according to Davdshnupreksha to mediate, to evolve a correct view and to have an our awakened consciousness. This three-pronged arrow dispels the very cloud of attachment; and the inner consciousness is awakened leading to fervent creativity. So let's see how this true-life process is kindled by the awakened alchemy of our samskaras.

How the Samskaras Awaken : In the spring of seasons, a voice was heard from the palace: "Madalsa, why are we not blessed with children even after so many years?" 

"Don't lose hope, dear lord, we have so far spent only four springs together."

The king embraced his queen at this. A few weeks later the queen said, "Lord I am carrying your child. Something compels me to have a discourse on Dharma with you in this great moment of our joy."

"My beloved," said the king, "you have given me the most wonderful news! I am beside myself. How my heart heaves with happiness. Come, sit by me, we shall discuss Dharma."

"Sire, tell me about the darkness most dark, the fire most ferocious and the poison most deadly in this world."

"Then listen, my dearest : falsehood is the darkest of all darkness, even eyes and light cannot dispel it. It also is the most ferocious fire which no water or rain can douse. And the deadliest poison too is falsehood. Life after life is poisoned by it. No worldly antidote is there for it. Moderation, or a balanced view alone is its corrective.

"How profoud, my lord!" said Madalsa.
"Time to rest, my queen," said the king.

Thus the discourse on Dharma progressed for nine months between the royal couple. The queen was ever alert against the effect of any wrong samskara on the unborn child and did her best to instill only the correct ones. As months flew by like a flock of birds, it was time for the queen to give birth to a beautiful son on a auspicious day. People rejoiced. Alms were given freely. The jail gates were opened for the arrested to be freed. The queen took upon herself the care of the infant and hired no nurse. The mother's skills were day and night directed towards the right upbringing of the babe. The correct notions were being instilled in the child with each feed. The child, like moon, grew each day. He was divine child indeed. His thoughts were other-worldly, his games were spiritual. His words were words of higher order. Even his father was unable to answer his constant query. The father felt troubled at this. He tried to involve his son in the joys of life, of the senses. The more the father tried, the more the boy hardened in his detachment.

The tug of war continued at a subconscious level in the boy between worldly joys and renunciation. There was no end to the father's grief when he learnt that his nine year old son after meeting a Digambar monk in the palace garden took vows to be a monk too.

The queen consoled the king by hoping to have another son. And soon she conceived, the king rejoiced. A second son was born to them. The festivities were repeated all over the kingdom. The king was little paranoid about this child too wanting to be a monk. Little did he know that whenever the thought of detachment enters the human heart no chains can hold it back. No worldly joys have any meaning for such a person. The good samskaras of his previous life, and the and the pious upbringing by his mother made this boy too desire the life of a monk and at a tender age he followed in the steps of his elder brother. Likewise the next four sons also renounced the world.

The king felt completely crushed. The more the queen urged hen to be patient the more he doubted her. His doubts followed her like spies.

It was midnight. The lamps were lit bright in the palace. The full moon shone brightly through the windows. The scented air aroused the king. An occasional chirping bird made him restless, sleep shunned his eyes. His tossing revealed to the queen the king's restlessness.

" Are you awake still?" asked the gentle woman's voice. A hand touched him soothingly. "Yes, my soft-spoken one, I am really anxious tonight. My kingdom needs an heir before I die. You do not know how troubled my entire nation is. Perhaps it's beyond your grasp. So, please let me be. Go back to sleep. I need to be alone with myself. Go away please; it's because of you that my sons renounce this world."

The queen uttered the sweetest words and said, "Lord, detach yourself from this wrong thinking. Let the light of right faith illuminate your heart. Why are your concerns so narrow? Your six sons are bringing so much glory to your royal name. You have every cause to be proud. Even they deserve your love and kindness like any of your people. Don't let the craving for a royal heir destroy your superior self."

"Now I know, Madalsa," said the king, "you are beyond this ordinary world. This otherworldliness of yours has made you turn traitor to your own husband. In the middle of this night I have understood everything. Give me another child, or go away from my life."

The queen pondered oner this and conceived her seventh child. She lived her days as always. On and auspicious day the seventh child was born. The king was ready with his plan. He separated the infant from his mother. The child was nursed by a wet mother. The prince turned twenty five in the care of this nurse. He had just learnt to enjoy the pleasures of youth, when suddenly he had to lead his father's army into the battlefield.

In fact, it was the price himself who, when attacked by the enemy told his father to let him be the commander. "When I am there, father, it would not be right for you to go to the battlefield. You in the palace. I will lead your forces. Give me your blessings, father, so I may be victorious. I want my mother's blessings to," The king brimmed with pride to hear his son's good words. The price went to his mother's palace.

The queen was face to face with her son twenty-five years after he was snatched away from her. The irony, of course, was that he was about to go to the battlefield. The price touched his mother's feet, while the queen weeping inside, controlled herself and spoke like the brave woman she was : "Son go with my blessings. But I want to say something before you leave." The queen fumbled. "What is it , mother, please say!" "Son I wish to tie this message around your neck. Read it when in danger." "I will do as commanded by you, mother," said the price and departed followed by his mother's anguished gaze.

The Reading of the Message : Renunciation : In the battlefield the price fought bravely. The enemy's forces were unending. Young and unseasoned as he was, the prince panicked. When he saw the enemy surround him, he was reminded of his mother's words. He unfolded the scroll and read:

"Man yearning for money, youth and life forgets that all these are but bubbles on the water's surface. The misguided human taking these to be everlasting, fights battles. Attachment creates all confusion."

Ah! How beautiful these words! How wise his mother! thought the prince. Before the bubble perished me she warned me. Glory be to such a mother!

Mothers are of two types: the one who gives birth, and the one who liberates. The former reinforces attachment, the latter releases her child from it. The first drowns the child in the senses, the second delivers him from it. "O mother, who gave birth to me", said the Prince, "You are different and rare! You are my deliverer also." The Prince bowed to his mother who in the womb itself had given him the firm foundation for a true and liberated life.

The prince declared truce. The handsome youth who was holding weapons minutes earlier, started pulling out his hair one by one. The battlefield became a place of worship. The enemy king became a friend. The prince was now someone to be venerated and not to be fought against. Watched by a million, the price shed his royal regalia like a peacock sheds its feathers. Witnessed by all he took his vows to be digambara. The slogans rent the air proclaiming the pious prince who had just fulfilled his mother's wish. "I could not be a follower myself, but all my sons are on that everlasting true path." said Madalsa to herself. As the news reached the palace of the price's renunciation, Madalsa too renounced her role of the queen and joined the path of the enlightened.

Dear reader, this is how samskaras fructify. This is how one renounces the world. This is how a mother like Madalsa helps her son to salvation before seeking it alchemy of our latent good samskaras are the essential step towards a superior spiritual self. Your samskaras are like mathematical figures-two and two will be add up to four. The awakened good samskaras will always destroy your weaknesses, like acid cuts through iron. Our good samskaras are our good wealth. Without the right samskaras life becomes a burden just as even a load of sandalwood feels like burden to a donkey-he is unable to feel the fragrance at all. When the right samskaras surface, detachment follows. And detachment is like the sky in its height, while delusions and attachment are the very pits. Detachment liberates from pettiness, attachment of the other hand has no grandeur to offer. Detachment, thus, is the armour against aberrant attachments.

The one who disciplines himself to gain detachment by courting his purer samskaras, liberates himself from delusions and earns inner peace. Those samskaras which help us in rising above our baser self are the true mates to soul : If your son does not respect you, if your own desires are beyond your control, even your wealth of millions cannot give you salvation. A value based life results from having equanimity and inner peace. It can never emerge from a crude display of material possessions.

Samskaras : Our True Wealth : It is truly amazing that while men go to the utmost trouble to earn a livelihood and amass wealth, they are no twilling to move an inch towards moral salvation of their children or themselves, even though they know that our truest wealth is pure samskaras-not only truest, but also most constant. So come: let a lesson of high values, of peace and of liberation. Let each one of us cultivate the right samskaras as the very first step towards our final release from this ever changing mercurial world.

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Source : From Inner Light, By Upadhayaya Guptisagar Muni

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