Going Beyond

LIVE DETACHMENT

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In Swamiji's Own Words:

I tell my disciples that because I have no home, every home that I visit is my home. Anywhere and everywhere I stay, whether it is under a tree or out in the open, is my home. Four walls, a door and a lock do not create a home for me. There is neither attraction nor aversion. Just as people admire the clothes or accessories on a mannequin, I admire the clothes and jewelry on this body. They have no connection to me.

An illustration of a deity adorned with jewelry, seated on a throne.

TRUST NATURE!

Every movement I make is at the
order of Existence. I cannot move a
finger without the permission of
that universal energy. When we are
one with Existence, one with
nature, nothing affects us. I walked
tens of thousands of miles barefoot
across the length and breadth of
India. People ask, 'How is it your
feet are so soft, not calloused and
broken as ours would be, if we
walked barefoot even ten miles?' I
tell you: If we trust Nature, Nature
looks after us.

[Figure: Feather illustration]

We create pain and pleasure through
association with powerlessness,
through conditioning. We create
greed and fear through association.
Our root patterns, our conditioned
muscle-memories and bio-memories,
create pain and pleasure.

Light and darkness, good and bad,
right and wrong are based on root
patterns. Our inadequate cognitions,
the civilized education and
refinement tells us that a person
dressed in a particular manner is
acceptable in society and another
dressed differently is not. No
scripture ever said that one person is
inferior to another. All scriptures
affirm that every human being is a
spiritual being; all of us carry the
seed of Divinity in us.

When you complete with everything, animate or inanimate, you will experience the space of non-duality, Advaita. Relationships are nothing but your own extensions. Relationships are not outside; they are just your own extensions. The you extended outside you are your relationships. Completing with all your extensions, you learn to complete the incomplete you present in the other. Your negative cognitions disappear and from the space of completion, all that one can see is the Divinity in others, the space of non-duality, Advaita.

GOALS:

Impress upon the
student that we must
acquire an attitude of
total detachment
trusting that whatever
happens is what needs
to happen and happens
for the ultimate good.