Posted on: 04 Feb 2005
When you cut all your bonds of love for all the things and for all the people in this world, it is called ‘Vairaagyam’. But this stage is not sufficient. The reason for this stage should be the bond of love formed with the Lord. Due to this new bond with the Lord, all the old bonds must be cut. If the new bond does not exist and simply the old bonds are cut, it is only salvation. A stone also has salvation because it does not have any bond with anything or anybody in this world. If one leaves the family and home by taking sanyasa, all that is a waste, if he has not taken sanyasa for the sake of the Lord. The new bond with the Lord (Bhakti) should be the reason for the detachment from all the other bonds (Vairaagyam). Only Vairaagyam is useless without Bhakti. If Bhakti is achieved, Vairaagyam is automatic. There is no need for any effort for attaining the Vairaagyam. If you have tasted the divine nectar (Amritham), you will automatically discard other drinks. Without tasting divine nectar, you cannot leave other drinks. Even if you leave other drinks without tasting the divine nectar, you will go to the drinks after some time with double the vigor. Therefore Vairaagyam without Bhakti is not only a waste but is also impossible. Just see this example. A young man loved a girl for the past one month. The parents were not agreeing for the marriage. But the young man cut all his bonds, which were developed, with his parents for the past twenty-five years due to this new one-month-old bond! The million-birth-old bonds are cut by a single new bond developed with the Lord in human form in this birth. Swami Vivekananda could cut all the family bonds for the sake of the divine work of His Sadguru (Ramakrishna Paramahamsa). Similarly the Gopikas could cut all the family bonds for the sake of the Lord in human form (Krishna). A small atom bomb can destroy huge mountains. Narada wrote in the Narada Bhakti Sutras that one should love the Lord as a lover loves his or her darling (Jaraa Vatcha). He also gave the example of the Gopikas in the next Sutra (Yathaa Vraja Gopikanaam). Such love involves the practical sacrifice. The lover leaves his or her parents practically to go along with his or her darling. Even if the parents threaten stating that they will not give him or her, the family property, if he/she marries his/her lover, the boy or the girl is prepared to leave all the property for the sake of his or her lover. When the parents manage to stop him or her, she or he will even commit suicide. Therefore for the sake of the lover one can cut all the family bonds, bond with wealth and money and even the bond with one’s life. When you can do these things in the case of the lover, how can I believe that it is impossible for you to do the same in the case of the Lord? This means that you don’t have that much real love for the Lord. Holy Jesus said that one should cut the bond even with one’s life for the sake of the Lord. If something is impossible, it should be impossible every where. The new bond of love formed with God is called ‘Saayujyam’ and ‘Kaivalyam’. Saayujyam means becoming close to the Lord. Kaivalyam means becoming one with the Lord. Kaivalyam does not mean merging in the Lord physically. Whatever the devotee says, the Lord will say the same. Whatever the devotee wishes the Lord wishes the same. This is vice-versa also. Such oneness is called Kaivalyam.