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sorrow and attainment of and there, meet people, get
supreme bliss. Fear is caused by married, have children, acquire
something other than me. So, property. All this is to eliminate
wherever there is a notion of finitude and become infinite.
duality, there will be fear. In Can any karma or action make
Bhaja Govindam (verse 29), me infinite?
Bhagavan Sankaracharya says: Anything which is the result
puträdapi dhanabhäjäà bhétiù – of action will also be limited by
even from your children you that very fact. That which is
can experience a sense of inse- attained in time will also fade
curity. From strangers, the level away in time. It will not be
of discomfort will be greater. infinite. Clearly, through action,
Otherness is the cause of räga- the finite cannot become
dveña – attachment and hatred. infinite. Finitude means morta-
Hatred is immediate sorrow and lity, death, modification and
attachment is sorrow post- change. Through action, the
poned. Both are nothing but mortal cannot become immor-
sorrow. So ätyantika duùkha- tal. To remind ourselves of this,
nivåtti is possible only by elimi- we chant: na karmaëä na prajayä
nating the sense of duality. dhanena tyägenaike amåtatvamä-
naçuù – not by action, not
The Means to Attain
through progeny, not by means
Liberation
of wealth can we get liberation.
As long as there is finitude, That can be attained only by
there will be a sense of insecu- renunciation of my ego – the
rity. It means that I am not com- notion of my limited self.
plete. To fill the gap and become Through no process can the
complete, we perform a multi- finite become infinite, the con-
tude of actions – wander here ditioned become unconditioned.
Both in pain and in illness, may
Vasudev Badethalav we learn to watch for and
apprehend His intelligence.
Sydney, Australia
Swami Chinmayananda
Tapovan Prasad 34 November 2017