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Trilogy
of Bhoga, Roga and Yoga
Hindustan Times
What we seek as our highest goal depends upon what we think
ourselves to be. If you think you are physical creature
subject to biological laws, the highest goal you can aim at
has to have physical limits, says Ramanuja, a luminous
figure of medieval India. One would just end up seeking
physical gratifications. Herein lies full diagnosis of human
suffering. The current conviction is that we are what our
genes are. This simple truth draws its strength from
discoveries of physical scientists. It may be true of
physical body but certainly not of your character and
behaviour. The genetic code has no impact on determination
of these two vital traits of human beings. Capacity to
change is the most glorious asset we possess. Look at the
great men and women of yore who transformed themselves from
being angry to compassionate, from insecure to unshakeable
and from human to divine.
None can
deny you are essentially divine, your real self is spirit.
Irrespective of your past and the present, you can change
it. Human beings are privileged to have freedom of will.
Animals do not have this choice. They are bound to bear out
the rigours of life. Life affords man a unique blend of
options to choose from. Though beings take birth under the
subordination of past karma, man differs from other beings
as he is conferred with the faculty of discrimination.
Enjoying the fruits of past karmas - bitter or sweet, he can
also improve upon and move up in the cosmic order of
consciousness.
The broad
spectrum of choices available to man may be categorised into
bhoga, roga and yoga. While the former two present a cause
and effect syndrome, the latter opens up higher
possibilities at the moral and spiritual levels. Propensity
to and practice of yoga helps us to tide over the evil
effects of indulgence and save us from roga. Those who opt
for bhoga, live life at the animalistic level. Satisfaction
of organic needs is their sole concern. Remaining stagnant
at this level is the greatest folly one can think of. Living
at this level results in pathetic and perilous conditions
all around. No one advocates to forgo consumption of
material objects. Rather, do it in a spirit of detachment.
The art of renunciation becomes natural and spontaneous once
a perfect sage blesses the seeker with knowledge of
metaphysical form of Supreme Brahman. Excessive obsession
with `bhoga' leads to roga - physical and mental maladies.
Medically too, over-indulgence affects both the digestive
and nervous system resulting in a wide range of diseases.
Moral degradation, ethical decline, aesthetic impoverishment
and spiritual blindness are natural concomitants.
Ancient
Yoga - A Perfect Antidote To Bhoga - Yoga is a perfect
antidote to bhoga - over indulgence in biological needs.
Lest it is mistaken, yoga here means the ancient yoga -
divine knowledge as illustrated in the Bhagavad Gita by Lord
Krishna. One which has been handed down to posterity from
master to pupil. This sanskrit word when translated means
union with God. The Upanishads declare in unequivocal terms
that this eternal knowledge alone puts the seeker on the
path of merger of individual consciousness into the ocean of
universal consciousness. Armed with ancient yoga the great
sages plumbed the far reaches of the world within. These 'Atmanauts'
studied the infinity of inner space and made dazzling
discoveries. This is possible for any ordinary mortal under
the patronage of a perfect sage. Such a sage unfolds to the
ardent seeker supreme science of Brahm Gyan. This is the
power of true yoga. You too will testify like saint Teresa
of Avila who exclaimed on initiation, "It is a world of
perpetual light; even the sun and stars borrow light from
the light of consciousness". Such is the glory of the human
being which one realises upon this super sensuous experience
of divinity. You are not only transformed but transfigured.
Choice is yours - bhoga or yoga.
While
people of divine disposition, choose yoga, but those of
demoniac temperaments show propensity to bhoga. The later
category of people work for sense gratification, the former
ones take to eternal path of yoga which takes them to
realisation of the ultimate truth. The path of yoga - union
with lord of the universe takes them to the blissful state
of liberation. A liberated soul - jivan mukta has no more
vicious cycles of birth and death. There is no fear of
reduction to lower levels of consciousness. Those who adopt
the path of bhoga may feel joyous for some time assuming
sensual pleasures to be real happiness. The end product of
their karmas and pursuits is roga - a disease-ridden life.
They squander the prime of their life in running after
objects of sense satisfaction. In their case, the process of
decay sets in very soon. They are bound to take birth in
lower order of species. By their wrong priorities they are
dragging themselves to bondage.
The
sooner the better, we realise the importance of human birth.
This human birth is for realising the divine in us. We have
to strive hard to attain the goal of merger with the
universal consciousness. For attaining this goal, the path
is not bhoga but the path of yoga for ultimate union with
our creator and sustainer.”
TRILOGY OF BHOGA, ROGA AND YOGA
Hindustan Times
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