What is dispassion? Dispassion is not merely about leaving things! What have you forsaken? You say, 'I have forsaken the Red Fort'. Did it belong to your father? 'I have given it up'. What have you given up? He said, 'I have given up the Nariman Point bungalow'. Which one? "The one which has St.Gaindamal written on it." Was it yours? 'No'. Then what did you renounce? It is not called giving up when you relinquish things that never belonged to you in the first place. What is called renouncing? It is when you give up something which was yours. You give up that thing, that now you will not keep it. Not because that thing is bad, but because now you felt that it no longer appears to be a necessity. Why? Recently, in Rishikesh, I met a Swamiji. He was an IAS officer. Bureaucrat, IAS officer, very good job, decent job, nice family. The day his eldest son got married, he resigned. He gave three months notice to the Government, that he would not work any more. His wife was very understanding. He had discussed it with her beforehand. His wife agreed that you may go. Both of them had been doing Sadhana (spiritual practice). But he said that he wanted to live alone, and that he wishes to be a Sanyasi- a renunciate. The wife gave permission for him to go. As per the Hindu scriptures, if one is married, then the husband or wife needs to take permission from the spouse first. Without permission one cannot leave. It's a rule. And Sant Gyaneshwar's father had taken Sanyasa in Benaras without permission. When the Guru found out, he made him return home; divesting him of his sanyasi clothes and told him to go back. So he went back and afterwards his children were born. Sant Gyaneshwar, Mukta, Nivritti, Sopaan- these four children were born later on. Mahatmas never advocate escapism. Therefore, in olden times the tradition was- youngsters were sent off to study in Gurukul - our traditional Gurukuls- kind of college or university. So, while studying there, one may decide to go for sanyasa. He has acquired all education- Yoga, Vedanta, Mathematics and History, Geography etc. he has studied. After completion, he would take a well thought-out decision. Otherwise, approximately 90 out of 100 students would go and get married. They would lead a householder's life till the age of 50. After that they would take Vanprastha, meaning live like a sadhu even at home. After that, if they wanted, they would go off to the forests. This Sanyasa-like institution, as I have said, it has been created by Adi Shankracharya ji. In olden times, as a rule everybody used to follow it. Only after the list of ones's worldly desires has ended, only that devotee can imbibe this Vedanta knowledge well, can drink it, can live a spiritual life properly. And, for those who have not understood this fully, they may face certain difficulties. Now we come to the next Shloka. (Humming).... 'Sarva-Bhutadhivasam Yad Bhutesu Ca Vasatyapi Sarvanugrahakatvena Tadasmyaham Vasudevah Tadasmyaham Vasudevah Iti'. 'Sarva-Bhutadhivasam Yad' That which resides in the entire universe; That which abides in the entire universe. 'That!' Over here Brahman is referred to as 'that'. The one who has not understood will say 'Brahman resides in all'. The one who has comprehended the gist (of Vedanta) will say 'That Brahman is I and I abide everywhere.' There are two things- When you say that the Lord resides everywhere, you have separated your 'I'. You have saved your 'I'. Lord is in everything. If we say that God abides everywhere but we have saved the 'I'. Isn't the Lord in me too? 'Yes'. If He is there, then we can say that 'Brahma is I and I abide everywhere'. This is what Sri Krishna says: 'In trees, I am Peepal; In rivers, I am Ganges; In mountains, I am Sumeru; In elephants, I am Airavat...' That which Krishna refers to as 'I', the Upanishad Rishi calls It 'Brahma', as in this shloka: 'Sarva-Bhutadhivasam Yad Bhutesu Ca Vasatyapi' That which resides in all. Now see how much you can understand. If...'Brahman resides in all' is what you understand, then that is okay.. Now, if the Vedanta's conviction 'Aham Brahmasmi' if you say that, then 'I reside in all'. Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita: ' O Arjuna, you are me only. 'I' am the One who has manifested as Arjuna, And I'm only the Madhusudhana here too. I am Gyana, the one imparting gyana is also I. The One who speaks is I, the One who listens is I. I am the Kauravas, the Pandavas too, am I. I am the battlefield; the earth, the water, the fire, the air too— am I. It is 'I' only. The one who knows ' Sarva-Bhutadhivasam Yad Bhutesu Ca' The one who realised that 'I reside in all'. Now look, the moment I say 'I' you instantly remember your diminutive I. The false I with which you identify yourself; the false I that says 'I am an architect, I am a CA, I am a banker, I am a lawyer, I am a teacher, I am a wife, I am a mother, I am a girl, my home is there'. The moment you say all this, what are you referring to? The body. What are you referring to? The mind. What are you referring to? The intellect. What are you referring to? The senses. Though infinite, your I now becomes limited, finite. Moreover, when you become this limited I, a limited 'you' gets created automatcally. No? So when there is 'I', there's 'you' too. Ek Mein Aur Ek Tu— One me and one you Huh? It started off. A love story begins, then marriage happened then disagreement happened, then divorced happened, or all was going well, but a day came when one of the two died. Then 'I' is left all alone by itself. A wife used to tell her husband, "Lord forbid, that you should die before me. If the death comes upon you, I wish it takes me instead" What a loving dialogue, full of romance. The husband remarked, "Well okay, if you insist. For Gayatri has been waiting to be with me for so long". So, it slipped out in a sentimental moment. One of them has to die before the other. Such are your mind's attachments that you keep saying ' I can't live without you.' Sometimes I think that one becomes a Sadhu just to see that, 'Can I live alone or not?' For, it is only when you start living alone you'll know who all you start missing. That...I remember a song that was very popular in the teenage years of this body. Yaad Aa Rahi Hai Teri Yaad Aa Rahi Hai I am remembering, I am remembering you. Yaad Aane Se, Tere Jaane Se (From remembering, from your going), Jaan Ja Rahi Hai (My life is going away). Yaad Aa...(laughter)... So the one whose life keeps slipping away...for someone or the other, How can he live alone? He cannot. So, as long as there is Adhyasa (superimposition) with the body, till then, the conviction of ' I am Atman' will not happen. Moreover, as long as you think you are the body, till then, husband-wife-family, your mind's attachments to these body relations will always remain very strong. Attachment means bondage. Attachment means... this is attachment when you say 'I cannot live without you'. Now you check and see what all attachments you have. There is a follower of mine...once I asked him, 'I have been observing you here since long...what about your family?' He said, he didn't have any. I asked him what he meant. What about marriage? He said he had been married but she left him. I said, you should have married again. He said, I did but the second wife also left him. I exclaimed, 'How's that?' He said, 'The first one left in nine months, and the second one left in three months'. I asked him to get married for the third time He said, 'No, not any more. I don't have the courage. It is very difficult. Not any more.' He said, now only this is good Well, it is not a good thing that all abandoned ones keep coming to us. This cannot become the ashram of the abandoned people. A long time back, I met a swami in Rishikesh. He was from Haryana. He had taken sanyasa from Osho Rajneesh. I did not know...he told me afterwards. I asked him for his introduction. 'Are you married, where, how, etc. etc.?' He said, 'I wanted to get married, but it did not happen.' When it did not happen and I became 50, then I thought I might as well take sanyasa.' These are the sadhus who become dangerous later on, the ones who say 'it couldn't happen!' That's not right! A girl was saying she was scared of marriage because nowadays so many marriages break down. I told her, 'Get married, fulfill your desire of becoming a bride. Adorn yourself, have your party and all. If your marriage works then very good, if it doesn't then never mind. Why think so much about it? Don't think too much. At least you won't regret that marriage didn't happen, or that you didn't marry'. She wanted to get married, but nobody asked her. Family members were busy with other affairs, settling other sisters- brothers, then as she became over-age a groom couldn't be found. 'Now what shall I do?' My dears! The path of self-realization is not an escape route for those who have failed in the world. By regarding the body as 'I and mine', then the desires and needs of the body, in fulfilling these, people get so entangled that they drift away from reality. So, if we say that you should be pondering and contemplating over and over something; then what is that? ' I am not this body; this body is not mine.' Again and again; that is why in the Ashram, every day after the Arti, 'I am not the body, not the mind, not the senses, not the intellect' - This Vedanta Strotra is recited everyday. If you have forgotten, correct yourself! Don't live as the mind! When this 'I' is connected with the mind', then the 'I' becomes limited. When this sense of 'I' is taken away from the mind, and this real 'I' came out as the truth, ever-conscious, blissful true Self, and this real 'I' is the all-pervasive Self. This is the shloka that is being discussed: 'Sarva-Bhutadhivasam Yad Bhutesu Ca Vasatyapi Sarvanugrahakatvena Tadasmyaham Vasudevah'. -Asmyaham Vasudevah; 'I am that Vasudeva' I am that Vasudeva and this Vasudeva resides in all. All of the world, universe, reality is One. One who sees himself in all, or you can say, one who sees Vasudeva in all. 'Vasu' means, that which resides. The One that resides in all. We have this shloka: 'Vasaytapi'- meaning that which resides. Who resides? He is called- 'One who resides in all beings'. Who?...Vasudevah Iti.
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