Complete Liberation - Nishchalatattvam Jeevanmukti
There was a fabulous saint in Andhra Pradesh named
Vemana. There is no home in Andhra Pradesh who would not have at least a little
book about him. Though his name was something else, they called him Vemana.
When he was a young boy, he was known to be an utter fool. He lived with his
teacher who tried to teach him the basics of the alphabet, but though Vemana
was already fifteen, he still could not grasp more than a few letters because
he was supposed to be so dim-witted.
One
day, the teacher had to go out for an important engagement. He went to have a
bath in the river and told Vemana, “Hold my clothes in your hands until I
finish my bath. Be careful not to keep them down in the mud.” After his bath
was over, he called Vemana, who just dropped the clothes in the mud and went
running to his teacher.
The
teacher got exasperated with him, but the boy just looked at him blankly. So
the teacher in a state of great frustration gave him a piece of chalk and said,
“Sit here and on this rock, go on writing ‘Rama, Rama, Rama’ till I come back.
I hope you will get something out of this at least.” He then left for his
appointment.
The
boy felt so bad that all his teacher’s efforts were going to waste upon him. He
just sat there and wrote “Rama, Rama, Rama.” The chalk wore out, but he
continued with his finger. The finger wore out and he bled profusely but he
just went on writing “Rama, Rama, Rama.” In the evening, the teacher came and
saw this boy still writing “Rama” with his finger completely gone. He picked up
the boy and just hugged him. “What did I do to you?” he cried.
After
that day, the boy grew into such a wonderful poet and lived as an enlightened
being.
He wrote hundreds of poems. Gona Vema Buddha Reddy popularly known as Vemana was a great Telugu philosopher
and poet. His poems were written in Telugu language. His poems discuss the
subjects of yoga, wisdom and morality.
If one has this kind of persistence, if he
is completely focused in one direction, nothing can be denied to that human
being.
This
is what Adi Shankaracharya means in "Baj Govindam" where he says, “Nishchalatattve jeevanmukti.” This means
if you have unwavering purpose, it doesn’t matter what the purpose is, you will
be liberated. If there is no nishchalatattvam, there is no mukti; there will
only be chaos. Nishchalatattvam is needed. Otherwise you will not transcend
your limitations and the hurdles that come – every hurdle will look like an
impossible mountain.
If
the goal was fixed, if there is no other way and that is the only thing, people
would never think something was impossible. They would always be striving for
the possibility. That is what a spiritual seeker should do. That is the first
and foremost thing that you must do – establish one steadfast point such that,
this one thing is not changeable. If you do not compromise on this, the rest of
life gets organized behind you, not in front of you as a hurdle. Life will
organize behind you and will support you all the time. Your faculties, your
energy, the whole world will get organized behind you because you have
nishchalatattvam.
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Complete Liberation - Nishchalatattvam Jeevanmukti
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