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इष्टोपदेश
७५
Moreover, nothing in the class of the not-self is lasting and unperishing, so that he who becomes attached to them has sooner or later to lament their loss. Sometimes he himself has to part from the objects of pleasure, when the parting is all the more terrible. What good can, then, come of attachment to the objects in the world ? Atman (the Self) alone is, thus, the fit object of attachment, and it rewards the devotee with life eternal and knowledge and joy unlimited !
अविद्वान्पुद्गलद्रव्यं, योऽभिनंदति तस्य तत् ।
न जातु जंतोः सामीप्यं, चतुर्गतिषु मुंचति ॥४६॥ Matter which the undiscerning soul attaches itself to, never leaves him wherever he goes in the four gatis!
Note :-Gatis signify the four principal types of embodied existence, in which souls are being constantly born and reborn in the course of their transmigration. These are the celestial, the hellish, the human and the subhuman or the lower kingdoms, the last of which includes all kinds of animals, plants and all other lower forms of life. All these are imposed on the soul because of the companionship of matter of which the not-self are chiefly composed. The law of the influx of matter has already been noticed a little earlier. It shows that the effect of the love of the not-self on the Self is its being over-powered by matter in the shape of the undesirable forces of karma that drag it from one gati to another or in the numerous classes and sub-classes of the same type. The acharya, therefore, discourses on the folly of the undiscerning who perpetuate their bondage by their own acts, not knowing the nature of the Law that keeps the soul tied to the ever revolving wheel of transmigration. He who allows himself to fall in love with matter-and all the not-self are perceived by us only in so far as they are matter-should know that the object he falls in love with will not abide to console or grant solace to his heart for ever, but matter will cling to him, because of that act of love, all the more closely ! Knowing this, the seeker after the glory of the Self will shun the pursuit of the objects of the world once the law is shown to him.
आत्मानुष्ठाननिष्ठस्य व्यवहारबहिःस्थितेः।
जायते परमानंदः कश्चिद्योगेन योगिनः ।।४७॥ He who is firmly established in his own Self and keeps away from the worldly intercourse, a supreme kind of happiness is produced in the being of such a yogi !
Note :-Divine bliss is the nature of the soul which is realized the moment one is rid of all the sense of attachment to the world and is immersed in pure self-contemplation.
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