Bhagavatam-daily 113 – 11.08.29 – Knowledge and renunciation are symbiotic – and corollary to bhakti

Thank you. देह बंधं जीहा सती यथा विज्ञान रहितो मनु जो ममताम्यत नुर्पा नया अंगा जात निर्वेदो So here, Avdhut Brahmana is describing the story of Pingala.
And just before starting off, in fact, in the previous verse he says that I’ll recite the song, इतं शुनो. But then, in between, before he starts off, he actually gives an important lesson. So, the stories that are told in scripture are not primarily for entertainment.
Although some stories may be entertaining also. But their primary purpose is to help us move towards enlightenment. And that is what is being done over here.
When it is said, नया अंगा जात निर्वेदो This is a lesson that is given over here. The lesson is a little deep and we’ll try to understand it, what it means over here. नया अंगा, अंगा refers to O dear one, O king, अजात निर्वेदो If, nirveda is detachment, detachment is not born, then देहबन्धम जिहा सती देहबन्धम is bondage to the body, one does not desire to give it up.
So, if detachment is not awakened, one does not desire to give up bodily bondage, just as when था विज्ञान रहितो When a person is living a life without विज्ञान, without proper systematic spiritual knowledge, then मनुजो ममताम निर्प, people in general who do not have this knowledge, that I am the body, I am the soul, so what happens to those people? मनुजा ममताम निर्प, O king, so what happens? मनुजा ममताम, it says people maintain their bodily conception as long as they don’t have spiritual knowledge. It’s interesting that ज्यान and वैराज्य are normally juxtaposed together in the spiritual quest. So, when we have knowledge, knowledge is expected to lead to detachment.
When we understand our spiritual identity, when we understand how this world is a place of misery, when we understand how there is higher spiritual happiness waiting for us, if we just turn towards spiritual life, then naturally, we feel inspired to turn towards spirituality and that is what is being talked about here. So, while this discussion happens, ज्यान and वैराज्य are generally put together, but here, interestingly, ज्यान is given as an example for वैराज्य, rather the effect of ज्यान is given as an example for the effect of वैराज्य, just as the default stage of people in this material world is a state of ignorance. Most people, it’s not that just by their own thinking they can understand, Oh, I’m not the body and the soul.
They need to acquire ज्यान, otherwise, आवर्धम् ज्यानमेथेन, people’s knowledge is covered over by illusion, by misunderstanding, by bodily misidentification. So, ज्यान is the intellectual side and detachment, we could say, is more the emotional side. Detachment refers basically to a state of emotional disinvolvement and ज्यान refers more to an aspect of intellectual illumination.
So now, there is misidentification and there is bondage. So, misidentification is caused by illusion, by not having knowledge. So, as long as I don’t know that I am the soul, as long as I think I am the body, then naturally, I stay bound.
But when I realize that I am the soul, then I become detached. So, here, so the human being has a ममता, has a thing that, okay, this is my body and these are my things, so my body, my house, in fact, people think I am the body itself. So, either way, the point is, misidentification is more of an intellectual thing and attachment is more of an emotional thing.
Now, both of them go together, no doubt, but misidentification and attachment are, in that sense, they are somewhat different. So, here it is said that ज्यान will lead to freedom from the misidentification and detachment will lead to freedom from the emotional involvement. Now, for a person, if the person is to be freed from misidentification, it definitely requires some amount of emotional disinvolvement.
And similarly, if a person is to be, so if a person is to become enlightened or give body as identification, that person has to get knowledge and a person has to become detached or give up attachment and the person has to develop detachment. Now, we may say, isn’t this just playing with words? What exactly is the practical difference? Actually, yes, from a practical point of view, the difference is that there are two distinct issues going on and both of them, although related, have their difference. The first point is that there is the illusion of bodily misidentification.
So when, for example, say a person watches a movie or watches a cricket match, so then there is, the person identifies, oh, this is my team and when one identifies, this is my team, then after that, oh, my team is winning, I’m delighted, my team is losing, I’m agitated, I’m irritated. So either way, the point is that there has to be some level of identification, misidentification, before there can be emotional involvement. So now, the example that is given here is that if a person who is identifying with the body and things related with the body, how can that person give it up? It’s only when the person acquires knowledge.
Otherwise, that misidentification cannot be given up. And similarly, the person who is emotionally attached is caught up in emotion, then without detachment, one cannot give it up. Now, the question may come up, where will detachment come from? And that’s a valid question.
Is it that that can come from knowledge, that can come from purification, that can come from Krishna’s mercy, that can come from just one’s own resolute determination after seeing repeated frustration in indulgence. So, in general, Gyan and Vairagya go together and we could say that Gyan leads to Vairagya, but also Vairagya contributes to Gyan also. Because, when a person may have intellectual knowledge, but unless there is emotional disinvolvement, that knowledge doesn’t go inside.
So, if there is detachment, then there is greater assimilation of the knowledge also. And, of course, we have the famous verse from the Bhagavatam, 1.2.7, where it says that Bhakti will bring about both. वासु देवे भगवति भक्तियोग प्रयोजिता जनयत्याशु वैराज्यम् ज्यानम् जयद हैतु कम् So, if we redirect our heart to Krishna, then naturally that gives higher knowledge and gives a higher direction for our emotions and thereby the lower orientation of our emotion goes down and we start relishing higher happiness.
And Gyan and Vairagya both result automatically. So, the point of this example given over here is that detachment is like a sword and just as knowledge removes misidentification, similarly detachment removes emotional entanglement. Thank you.