In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the significance of associating ourselves with a “Satsanga” and a “Saadhu Samaagama”. The major reason why Rishabha Deva is stressing upon this point is that, if we try and follow the principles of Sanaathana Dharma laid by Bhagawan, all by ourselves, possibilities are high that we might go astray and ultimately lose our focus. Whereas, if we’re part of a “Satsanga”, the group dynamics would automatically align and re-align us on the right path to attain spiritual progress. Moreover, there might be many principles in our Sanaathana Dharma that we might not be able to understand and comprehend by ourselves individually, due to our various human limitations. Whereas, if we’re part of a “Satsanga”, this might open up opportunities to listen to and discuss various principles – some what we understand and many others which we do not understand, and through these constructive discussions, we might be able to learn and understand those aspects which we weren’t able to comprehend till now. More than all of these, if we pray together in a group, and sing as a group in praise of Bhagawan, He becomes pleased with our efforts and thus, our spiritual progress becomes faster. These are the broad reasons why Rishabha Deva is very particular that we’ve to be part of a Satsanga.
Now moving on to the final important point of Rishabha Deva’s advice to his disciples – He outlines the significance of “detachment” from our so-called family and close people around us.
To explain this, Rishabha Deva cites a beautiful example thus: Let us imagine a bunch of wood blocks cut from a huge banyan tree at the start point of River Ganges amidst the great Himalayas. There are ten such huge blocks of wood, cut from the tree, and all the ten blocks of wood have to be transported to the downstream place of Haridwar. (It is to be remembered by readers that the first place where the river Ganges enters the plains from the Himalayas, is Haridwar.) Now imagine that these ten blocks of wood are just dropped into the fast-flowing waters of the river Ganges and the flow of water automatically takes all of them to Haridwar, from where we can collect them. While the blocks float and move along with the flow of the water, what happens? Do all the blocks of wood go in the same order as we dropped them upstream? The answer is “No”! Initially, 3-4 blocks would be floating and moving together for a few kilometers, and another 4-5 blocks would separately move together according to the water flow. However, after few kilometers, if there are obstacles along the path of the water, the group of blocks would split up – One or two out of the group would take a different course of movement, and perhaps might even join the rest of the 3-4 blocks that are coming at tandem. Thus, a new group of blocks are formed and this would continue for the next few kilometers. Similarly, if this new group of blocks encounter obstacles along their path, they would again split up and re-align themselves with a new set of blocks! This would continue until all the blocks reach Haridwar! Thus, as we collect them from the downstream area, we would never know which block started first, which block aligned with which block, which block split apart from which block, etc., isn’t it? However, we might note here that all the ten blocks would have safely reached Haridwar and there’s no problem with that!
Similar to this story is our human life too – Initially when we started our journey in this world, we align ourselves with few people around us and proceed with our life for the next 30-40 years together as “one family”. However, as we get older, we’ve to separate from our “family” and go in a different direction. Maybe when we take another birth, we would again align ourselves with another set of people and form another so-called “family”. Again, this would continue for the next 40-50 years. Again, we would have to separate from this family at the end of this birth and as we take the next birth, the cycle goes on. However, with all our spiritual practices, if we’re able to reach Bhagawan, just like how these wooden blocks reach Haridwar, we might not know which families were we part of, during our entire life journey over various births. However, one thing that all of us will know at that point is that, we’ve reached our ultimate goal called Moksha.
Thus the point here is that, all our bonding that we develop with people around us in this human birth are temporary in nature. At the end of this birth, we’ve to separate from them and when we take a new birth, we would have a new family of people around us! This keeps continuing on and on, and if we’re steadfast in our spiritual practices, just like how the wooden blocks safely reach the downstream Haridwar, we would also be able to safely reach Bhagawan’s feet at the end of this birth! It is to emphasize this key point, Rishabha Deva gives this beautiful analogy of the wooden blocks floating their way on the river Ganges.
So for today, let us understand this point and try to ponder over it. With this, we’ve come to the end of this section of Rishabha Deva’s important pieces of advice to his disciples. As we move into the next episode, we shall commence the discussion of the next important event. Stay tuned! 😊
The Indian Dharma 