Talk:From Work to Worklessness:“Saṃsāre kiṃ sāram

By Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami

In his Praśnottara-ratnāvalī, our Ācārya asks: "Saṃsāre kiṃ sāram?" (What is the essence of worldly existence?) He responds to the question himself: "You asked the question thus. Keep asking again and again. That is the meaning of saṃsāra." ("Bahuśaḥ abhi vicintyamānam idam eva.")

"What is the purpose of my birth? Why was I born?" — You must ask yourself this question again and again. You must also have concern about whether you will reach the goal of your birth. "Why do you keep sinning?" is a problem that must constantly worry us. "Why do you get angry? Why do you desire this and that? Can’t we remain always happy without sinning, without anger and desire?" We do not seem to know the answers to these questions.

The fruit is formed from the flower — first in the tender, unripe form and finally in the mellow form. The flowers smell fragrant to the nose, and the ripe fruit tastes sweet to the palate. The mellow fruit is full of sweetness. But how did the fruit taste before it became sweet? The flower was bitter, the tender fruit was astringent, the unripe fruit was sour, and only the mellow fruit is sweet.

Peace means sweetness. When the heart is all sweetness, all attachments disappear. There is attachment only so long as there is sourness. When you pluck an unripe fruit from a tree, there is sap in the stem as well as in the fruit. It means that the tree is not willing to part from the fruit — and vice versa.

But when sweetness is full, all ties are snapped, and the fruit drops to earth by itself. The tree releases the fruit, or the fruit frees itself from the tree. The separation is without any tears and is happy — there is no sap.

Similarly, step by step, a man must become wholly sweet like a mellow fruit and free himself happily from the tree of saṃsāra — the cycle of births and deaths. Desire, anger, and so on are necessary stages in our development, just like bitterness, astringency, sourness, and sweetness in the growth of a fruit.

When we are subject to urges like desire and anger, we will not be able to free ourselves fully from them. But we must keep asking ourselves why we become subject to these urges and passions. We must constantly wonder whether they serve any purpose. If we do not remain vigilant, we will become victims of their deception.

There must be astringency when it is time for astringency, and sourness when it is time for sourness. But neither astringency nor sourness must remain a permanent state. Just as a tender fruit becomes mellow, we too must become mellow and sweet.

If we do so, there is no need to seek liberation on our own. If we are as we should be in the different stages of life, mukti will come in the natural course. On the other hand, if we force ourselves before the time is ripe, it is like making the fruit prematurely ripen. Such a fruit will not taste sweet.

We should not, however, remain forever in the same state we find ourselves in now, indifferent to everything. At the same time, when our bag of sins is yet to be emptied, we cannot thirst for the supreme knowledge (parā-vidyā).

Instead, let us keep doing our dharma, hoping that we will realise the supreme jñāna — if not now, then after many births. Let us adhere to the dharma prescribed by the Veda-s. If we do so, we will proceed gradually to the supreme jñāna.

Now we are aware only of outward matters and outward disguises. So, let us begin with the outward rites of our religion and the outward symbols and signs. By degrees, let us go inward to the inner Reality — through the different stages from that of the tender fruit to the fruit that is mellow and sweet.