After the previous post from Pujya Swamiji on Introduction to Spiritual Practice we continue the series with His next post INDEPENDENCE. Question that immediately comes to mind is “Independence from what?” which Pujya Swamiji in his own beautiful dialogue style explains now :
Sarvaṃ paravaśaṃ duḥkhaṃ sarvaṃ ātmavaśaṃ sukham
When one is dependent on something (or someone), then that object becomes a cause of sorrow; when one is dependent on oneself, he is free of sorrow.
When you are dependent on someone, expectation sets in and once the expectation is not met, there is disappointment, which in turn becomes the cause of sorrow. For example, if you depend on someone to take you to work and one day he does not show up, it causes you grief. If you minimize your expectations, you increase the probability of being happy. We live in a society where we interact with the other beings every moment of our lives. It is impossible to be totally independent of everyone and everything. However, by managing the dependence intelligently, one can lead a very happy life. For this, we must understand the fundamental causes for dependence. Śāstras introduce the term Puruṣārtha to explain these underlying causes.