Sadhana Panchakam, Instruction 32

Translation and Commentary by Jayaram V

4.8 Ignore the kindness and severity of people

To cultivate indifference, you have to ignore or become disinterested in the outside world and everything that belongs to it or happens in it. More importantly, you have to ignore the ways of the world, its values and standards and its influence upon you and others in conditioning your thinking and behavior. The world expects you to confirm to its values and adhered to its norms. Whether you want to do it or not entirely depends upon you and your discretion. It is not necessary that you have to turn against the world or surrender to it. You have to just let the world be itself, ignoring both its good and bad and refuse to participate in it or become involved with it. You may still maintain a tenuous relationship sto avoid disturbing others, but you have to cut off all mental bonds, expectations and the ownership of anything.

Yogis cultivate indifference to the world, by changing their outlook, perspective and focus. They turn away from the world and withdraw their minds and senses into themselves to inquire into their own nature to see whether they can unravel anything new about them within their own consciousness. When they become interested in their inner world and spend more time examining it, they develop a new perspective about many aspects of the world and themselves. Their value system undergoes a radical change as they lose interest in certain aspects of life which were hitherto controlling them and see the world with freedom and an expansive vision in which the boundaries and divisions of their own consciousness begin to dissolve.

They may still interact with the world, since they cannot always shut their minds or withdraw their senses, but they will not put their minds into it. Since they are not swayed by any worldly consideration, desire or expectation, they bring that freedom into their thinking and actions and remain undisturbed by the happenings they witness. When they step into the world for food or for any reason, they ignore what they perceive or how they are treated. As a part of their vows of self-purification and renunciation, the let situations happen rather than taking control of them. Knowing that the same self which exists in them also exists in all, they remain calm and satisfied, irrespective of how they are treated.

Worldly people form an inseparable personal connection with the world. A part of their consciousness is always in relationship with the world, while a reflection of it exists in them as a part of their own consciousness. This entanglement is the source of delusion, egoism, suffering and ignorance. For the worldly minded, the world becomes an extension of their own egos. Thereby, they are never free from the perceptual reality in which they live. It follows them and lives in them wherever they go and whatever they do. They may temporarily escape from it through the withdrawal of the mind and senses, but the moment they open their eyes it reappears and stares back right at them. For the worldly people, the physical world is an indisputable reality, just as their minds and bodies are, but the wise ones look upon it differently without mental connection or involvement.

Our problems and suffering mostly arise because we are inseparably connected to the world through our minds and senses, and we believe that our happiness and fulfillment depend upon it. The truth is our thoughts, perceptions, feelings and emotions do not arise from the world but from within ourselves as a projection of the subtle worlds we build there. The material world does not particularly favor anyone, nor does it influence anyone by itself. What it seemingly does is the result of our own actions.

The connections we form with it, the thoughts, ideas and assumptions we develop about it and all that we experience in it are due to our own propensities and attitudes or thoughts and desires, which we mostly and falsely attribute to external causes. Therefore, to find any solution for our suffering, we must look within ourselves with discernment and realize why we created it, and for what purpose. This is the essence of the karma doctrine, about which we will discuss in the next verse. You are the source of your suffering as well its remedy. Others may help you find it through analysis or observation, but the solution lies within you only, and it is you who have to decide ultimately what to do with it.

In spiritual life, people have to give up the world and everything that is connected to it, which means they have to give up a part of themselves which arises from it or shaped by it. As a part of their sadhana, they have to think and act differently with a different set of priorities and code of conduct, controlling their egoistic tendences, natural proclivities and selfish desires. Instead of turning to the world for peace and happiness, they have to find them within themselves by cutting all bonds. The Vedas affirm that you will attain peace when you perceive that the one supreme Brahman resides in all as the very self and the world is a play of maya from which you have to withdraw to abide in the self.

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