Man’s life moves continuously between two worlds. One is the world which is visible to our eyes and the other is that which, despite being invisible, is the real basis of our existence. In the visible world come body, family, wealth, position, prestige and relations, whereas in the invisible world the soul, its religion and its eternal form exist. Generally, man spends most of his life considering the visible world as truth. He considers the body as his real existence and hence gets entangled in the attachment of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. This attachment becomes the root cause of all the bondages in the world.
The feeling of ‘I’ is actually the feeling of titles attached to the body. Man says that I belong to a certain caste, I am a woman or a man, I am a scholar, a businessman, an officer or a student. All these identities belong to the body, not to the soul. The soul neither belongs to any caste, nor to any position, nor to any external identity. Similarly, ‘mine’ extends to family, money, property, friends and society. Man says this is my house, my family, my reputation and my achievements. This expansion of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ has been called the world. The soul is beyond all this. She is neither anyone’s owner nor anyone’s property.
Brain, heart and action – these three main powers work within a human being. The thought of shelter resides in the mind, the feeling of belongingness in the heart and actions are accomplished with the hands. When a person accepts any person or thing as his support, then his heart becomes attached to that person and all his actions start working according to that attachment. Whereas the message of religion is that you must perform your duties, serve your parents, take care of your family, fulfill your responsibilities towards the society, but do not consider them as your last refuge. Because every relation in the world is going to be lost with time.
Life is extremely valuable. A large part of it is spent in ignorance, attachment and sleep. If the time that is available in the waking state is wasted only in the obsession of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, then man will be deprived of his real purpose. Therefore, it is necessary that we live in the world, perform all our duties sincerely, but keep our mind sheltered only in religion and soul. This is the true practice of life, this is the path to permanent peace and this is the truth which lifts man above the bondages of birth and death and leads to self-realization.
