The Lord says in the Bhagavad Gita:....................... He who works without attachment, resigning his actions to Brahman, is untainted by sin, as a lotus leaf by water. Only with the body, the mind, the understanding, and the senses do the yogis act, without attachment, for the purification of the heart. (B. G. V. 10-11.) Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give away, and whatever you practice in the form of austerities, O son of Kunti—do it as an offering to Me. Thus shall you be free from the bondage of actions, which bear good or evil results. With your mind firmly set on the yoga of renunciation, you shall become free and come to Me. (B. G. IX. 27-28.) Liberation is impossible without the purification of the heart. The heart is purified by work. This is the process of attaining Liberation; and it is thus described in the Vishnudharma: First of all a man studies the Vedas; next he performs sacrifices; afterwards he renounces action; and at last he becomes qualified for knowledge leading to Liberation. Thus the yogi is liberated step by step. Until the sins accumulated through many births are consumed, a mans mind is not directed to Govinda (God). Through the austerities, knowledge, and deep meditation of thousands of births, his sins are destroyed, and then love of Krishna grows in his heart. Sinful desires alone are the obstacles to final Liberation; therefore those who are fearful of samsara should make intense efforts to control such desires. They are controlled through the giving of gold, through bathing in sacred waters, and through the practice of great physical austerities, as prescribed by the scriptures. Sinful desires are also removed by worship of the Deity, the hearing of the Vedas and other scriptures, pilgrimages to holy places, and service of the guru. Rishi Yajnavalkya, too, speaks of the need of purifying the heart to attain Liberation and of the method of such purification: The purification of the heart is the duty of all aspirants, especially of world-renouncing sannyasins; for this is the means of cultivating knowledge which leads to the freedom of the soul. As a mirror stained with impurities cannot reflect an image, so the impure heart cannot reflect Self-Knowledge. Purifying the Heart........... The yogi realizes Immortality after having purified the heart by the following means: worship of the spiritual preceptor, inquiry into the Vedas and other scriptures based upon them, performance of righteous actions, the keeping of holy company, the hearing of holy talk, avoidance of the touch and sight of a woman, the seeing of the Self in all beings, non-acceptance of others property, the wearing of the coarse ochre cloth* [* Sannyasins dress in ochre cloths], withdrawal of the senses from the enjoyment of objects, relinquishment of sleepiness and idleness, investigation into the nature of the physical body, the regarding of selfish action as sinful, control of rajas and tamas and cultivation of sattva, desirelessness, and control of the sense-organs. Study of the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas, and other religious treatises, performance of sacrifices, practice of brahmacharya and austerities, control of the senses, faith in the words of the teacher and the scriptures, fasting, and non-dependence upon others are also among the means for the attainment of Self-Knowledge
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 11:11:16 +0000
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