GURU VACHAKA KOVAI discusses about Allurement(Temptingness) of the World

1) Just as the goat’s beard wanders and wags for nothing,people roam about merrily but in vain, doing Karmas for the fulfillment of their worldly desires,while despising the disciplines [followed by aspirants] which lead to eternal Moksha in Self. Ah, what a pitiable spectacle is the condition of these worldly people!

2) Longing for a tiny grain of pleasure, people toil so hard using the mind to plough the field of the five senses, but they never wish for the flood of Bliss which is the fruit that comes by ploughing the Heart,the Source of the mind, with [simple] Self-attention.Ah, what a wonder!

3) The moon-like jiva [the mind], ever wedded to the sun-like Self, should always remain in her home, the Heart; to forsake the Bliss of Self and go astray for worldly pleasures, is like the madness of a wife who spoils her precious chastity.

4) Only when the world’s allurement is lost will true Liberation be possible [and its allurement cannot be lost unless it is found to be unreal]. Hence, to try to foist reality upon this world is to be just like an infatuated(Marked by foolish or unreasoning fondness) lover who tries to foist(impose) chastity upon a prostitute.

Sadhu Om: A lover foists chastity upon a prostitute only because of his infatuation with her, and similarly some schools of thought argue and try to insist upon the world’s reality, only because of their immense desire for the enjoyment of this world. Therefore Liberation,which is the fruit of desirelessness, is absolutely impossible for them.

5.If you ask, “What is the benefit of sacrificing the innumerable sensual pleasures and retaining mere Consciousness?”,[we reply that] the fruit of Jnana is the eternal and unbroken experience of the Bliss of Self.

Sadhu Om: Any experience of worldly pleasure is small and interrupted,whereas the Bliss of Self attained through Jnana is eternal and unbroken, and is therefore the greatest benefit.

6.Fools are now so proud and happy of the wealth and pleasure of this world, which may at any time abandon them in disappointment and distress.

Source: GURU VACHAKA KOVAI The Light of Supreme Truth or THE COLLECTION OF GURU’S SAYINGS translated from original Tamil By Sadhu Om and Michael James

Guru Vachaka Kovai is the biggest collection of Bhagavan’s spoken teachings that was thoroughly checked and revised by him during his lifetime. As such it has a unique place in the Ramana literature.