Sadhana Panchakam, Instruction 6

Isvara, the Supreme Self

Translation and Commentary by Jayaram V

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1.6. Inquire into the impure nature of worldly pleasures

Worldly pleasures are impermanent. They are rooted in desire-ridden actions. They also lead to attachments and bondage. Therefore, whatever pleasure or happiness which arises from our desire-ridden actions do not last for long. The same is true with suffering and all the dualities. Life upon earth alternates between the polarities of pain and pleasure and of happiness and sorrow. Each of the polarities is preceded as well as followed by its opposites. Thus, happiness precedes as well as follows sorrow, and vice versa, and so is the case with all other polarities.

All these experiences arise and subside in the objective realm, which is filled with impurities and subject to decay and impermanence.  A yogi contemplates upon the transient nature of worldly pleasures, how they are replaced by their opposites, disturbing the mind and body, and how they strengthen egoism, attachments and delusion by inducing desires and attachments. By that he develops discernment and detachment, and remains on guard from the attractions and distractions of the world, knowing that they are the traps set in by the forces of maya.

Keeping his mind steady and in control, knowing that he is the true self, he examines how worldly pleasures strengthen the delusion that the physical self is the true self and keep him bound to the mortal world and sensual pleasures. By constantly examining the ways of the world and the activity of the senses, he realizes that worldly pleasures in the end lead to pain and suffering only. While others may enjoy worldly life and sensual pleasures, a yogi watches them with wisdom as the play of maya.  

Worldly pleasures arise and subside in the impurities of not-self. They are not evil in themselves. Enjoyment is also not an evil in itself since it is the essential nature of the self. Therefore, one does not have to renounce them, but the desire and attachment to them, which makes them problematic. A yogi seeks neither happiness nor sorrow. He is attached to neither of them. Amidst pleasure and pain and other the dualities of life, he remains fixed in the contemplation of the self, renouncing desires and attachments and remaining equal and indifferent to all conditions and circumstances which life offers to him. He arrives at this when he realizes the transient nature of mortal life and all the conditions that are associated with it.

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