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“Body and Atma are different,” says Kapila
Sage Kapila Himself revealed the secret of His incarnation. He proclaimed that he had arrived on the planet to establish that bodyor Sharira is different from Atma. Thus, he preaches that Liberation should be the ultimate goal of mankind. Man spends his entire life mistaking his inner-self to the Sharira.
That According to Kapila was the tragedy. He announced that the purpose of His incarnation was to establish Bhakti as the most elevated path. His key teaching was that the Sharira is different from Atma.
Once you realize this fact, liberation is natural to follow. It is Kaliyuga that tries to hinder the process of realization. The population desiring Liberation reduced in number. Hence, it was necessary to propagate the philosophy of Samkhya and Bhakti to trigger interest in liberation among the common folks.
In Kaliyuga, people claim that one is born to become the owner of a huge corporation. Some believe in holding an important position in this ever-changing world. This is the fallen state of intelligence in Kaliyuga. Intelligence regresses if these false belief systems take root in the heart.
Advice of Kapila to Devahuti
Kapila says: “Devi, this body is the Lord’s creation. The Atma or the Self animates this body. Sharira can never be the perennial abode of the Atma. It is a transit abode. According to our Past Karmas, we receive a body to thrive on this material planet.
But, unfortunately we consider this temporary living space as our permanent abode. This is gross illusion.”
Ill effects of Body-Identification
Let us take the example of this man who visits a foreign country for work purposes. He checks into the hotel booked by the company and sojourns for 15 days. Now, after he completes his work, can he claim ownership of the hotel room?
Forget about renting the hotel room, he claims ownership. We can imagine the state of that poor fellow after he spoke that white lie, that the hotel was his. The person was chucked out of the hotel mercilessly and found himself on the road the next moment.
So, it would have been wise to simply stay in the hotel room with the complete knowledge that it must be vacated on the 15th day.Vacating the room shall hardly be a problem because there is no sense of ownership.
This example is applicable for the body as well. The same goes for the Sharira.
Developing detachment from Body and the World
This material world is like the hotel room. If the walls of the hotel room are cracking up, we do not spend our energy trying to fix it. Similarly we have to worry about the body only till the time that we perform Sadhana, for attaining Vaikuntha.
Maintaining the Sharira shall be like any other essential activity we carry out. We must take care of it. But overdoing anything becomes detrimental.
Therefore, becoming obsessed with the maintenance of the body is also not good for spiritual progress.
Kapila describes body-identification as the only road-block towards Liberation. We need not be swept away with the worry of trying to maintain the body. People try to maintain their youth by applying anti-ageing creams, etc.
But, what we fail to realize is that body is matter. The characteristic property of matter is to decay. Trying to reverse the ageing process highlights a sense of craving for immortality.
Why is body obsession bad for us?
Craving for immortality marks foolishness. It is an asuric (demoniac) tendency, which Sadhana (sincere prayers) must wipe off.
Hiranyakashyipu and Ravana tried to maintain their body forever and paid the price. The Lord ejected the soul from their material bodies. If we realize that this body is temporary then the way we think about life would undergo massive change.
We will start living intelligently. Even if we feel that the body is mine, it is one level of ignorance. But, most of the human race wallows in the ignorance “I am the body”.
This is Deh-atma-Abhimanam (தேஹாத்ம அபிமானம்). Kapila explained that Prakriti which consists body as one of the evolutes of nature as different from Purusha which is the individual self.
Why should children Learn about Liberation?
The true purpose of attaining a body is to be able to use it to attain liberation and nothing else. However, this fundamental understanding as revealed by the Vedic scriptures finds no takers in Kaliyuga. People say “Let me cross sixty years.”
Till that time I shall attain something in this material world. Let me become tired and then let us think about liberation somewhere in the future.
“Now, it’s not the right time to retire!” This is the fallen state of consciousness of the current generation. Sad indeed. So that one becomes capable of earning one’s bread and butter, one starts learning the alphabet right from age two. Why does not one include a Subject “Interest in Moksha” at such an early age?
Even if people conceptualize this idea, more than half of the world shall experience freedom from stress and worries. What to expect of the children when the parents themselves are ill-educated. Parents are poorly equipped with the sciences of spirituality.
How can we expect them to talk about liberation and instill these exalted values in their children? How will the newer generation come to discover this dimension of life?
Test your Alignment with the Spiritual Subject Matter (only 7-8 Questions)
The scores generated in this Quiz are relative. There are no right or wrong answers. A percentage towards 100 indicates that you are more aligned to the overall subject matter.
What is the subject of Liberation?
If parents hear about Moksha, they will never want their child to talk or know about this subject. This rejection of thought arises because of their own material whims and fancies. Their expectations shall dash to the ground.
People consider the topic of Liberation as if it were fire and stay away from it. Man is afraid that life estrange from them. This is their grossest misconception. People feel that Liberation is about dying and is an alien philosophy. They fail to understand that Liberation is not about Death. In fact, it is more to do with having no more births. What is the harm in talking about the Highest Truth instead of putting it down the covers and burning in a living hell life-after-life?
What prevents us from attaining liberation?
Sage Kapila’s states that man’s body identification is the sole reason for bondage. Due to this, he/she always remains away from Moksha (or Liberation). This is the root of his ignorance.
It is just a matter of getting to realize the difference between the body and the self. If that happens we shall all attain liberation. However, the forces of Maya and the current Age of Kali are the greatest impediments towards this knowledge.
Developing love for Liberation is the first and the most important step. Following this we should adopt Bhakti, propounded Kapila. This was the teaching that Kapila gave to mother Devahuti.
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