…Body-Worship!

Interestingly, the topic discussed next in Bhaja Govindam is: Body-Worship. 

Shankara condemns this tendency in the humans to become totally attached, identified, engrossed and engaged with the body. Even the nearest and the dearest, even your own life-partner, dreads and discards the darling body of the beloved spouse, when once life has ebbed away from it - points out Shankara. 

Even those dearest to us - for whose body we seek the best of comforts - AC Rooms, ICU, health food, etc - those dear one’s bodies are burnt or buried as soon as there is no life-factor in it. The body by itself is such a worthless bundle of flesh, blood and bones!

Just because it is packaged well, we get totally attached to it!

To spend one’s entire lifetime in sheer bodyworship, in earning more so that this futile worship may be made more elaborate, is one of the abominable intellectual stupidities into which humanity readily sinks. This body will not remain forever, nor will it serve with equal efficiency for all times. It will perish, and it must. 

Keep it clean and beautiful, feed it, clothe it, wash it. To sweat and toil, to fight and procure, to feed and breed, to clothe and shelter the body - are all in themselves necessary, but to spend a whole lifetime in these alone is a criminal waste of human abilities. For, ere long it is to grow old, tottering, infirm, and, in the end, die away. 

Idea is not to make us pessimistic about life. But to ensure that we don’t fall for the exaggerated value and attention that we give to the body. 

Take care of the body, use the body for service of humanity, divinize your journey in this body, but don’t consider it “the” whole personality. Don’t brood and contemplate on the body. 

Many may say, who does that? 

May be we dont directly do it. But many of us spend so much time choosing clothes & jewelry, deciding creams & perfumes, discussing diets & diseases!! Why? It is because the body is dearest to us. It is not wrong to learn and follow a right diet, wear good clothes, use cosmetics. But let them have utility value. Don’t make them a part of your self-image. Let these not determine the state of my personality. Do you know: more people die of depression caused by obesity than those who die of obesity itself?? One pimple makes us stressed! Every polished surface we see, we make sure we check ourselves out and style our hair ONE MORE TIME! An 80-year old is told she can’t walk, and she is so irritated, she becomes suicidal! But wasnt it always meant to be like that? Body WILL decay? We know. And yet,...we can’t get it! Why is oldage and death still a surprise? Why are we still shocked when someone we know drops the body? Why does a disease still pull down my morale? It HAS TO happen. We know. Yet, we react like it is grave injustice! Weird, isnt it? 

We are not saying neglect the body. Take care. Be well. Stay beautiful. Exercise a lot. Eat well. Drink plenty of water. Take right medical support if needed. 

But at least STOP living as if that is all that matters! Diseases come and go. Body ages and dies. One day, this body WILL ditch me...in stages or suddenly. Let life be based on something more reliable & lasting! 

Practice: 

Refrain from any unnecessary discussion on body/body-related matters. What we talk of, we get attached to.

Visit a hospital once in 3 months - if possible, the cancer ward. Talk to them who are terminally ill. By helping them accept the FACTS of the body, you will learn to accept it yourself. 

Visit a cremation-ground at least once in a year. Watching the body being discarded is a powerful reminder to the fact that “THIS TOO will pass”

Keep the body fit. Do your best for it. Only when we are sure we have done all we can, we can let go. 

Don’t let diseases of any one overwhelm you. Cure it or endure it. But do not let it engage the mind too much. What you think about, grows. 

Reference: 

Read: VAIRAGYA SHATKAM by Bhartrhari Maharaj - Translation by Swami Madhavananada published by Ramkrishna Mission’s Advaita Ashram.