I’m at the beach this weekend and sitting quietly, watching the waves is bringing home some of Acharya Shunya’s words from the Bhaja Govindam Satasnga this week.
From Verse 12, Acharya Shunya expounded on Adi Shankaracharya’s observation that the relentless cycles of nature reflect the relentless, seemingly inescapable cycle of samsara we find ourselves in. We are buffeted by desires and yet won’t let go of them, despite the fact that they are the very things that keep us trapped in samsara.
I look at the frothing crests of waves, relentless, powerful, ready to overwhelm. Yet they are intoxicating, seductive, magnets of attention. They come and go, the tide here rises and falls.
Can I visualize each wave as a desire? Frothing and foaming, seemingly unique and deserving of attention, yet ultimately just more of the same simple seawater. Each cycle of the tide, drawing close and pulling away, revealing an expanse of solid ground, only to swallow it whole another 6 hours later.
My prayer is that I come to recognize these waves and tides of even the subtlest of my attachments in the most hidden corners of my mind. That I each day I spend more time simply watching them rise and fall in the ocean - while I remain an untouched witness on dry land. To let go of the storm of desires and reside in the eternal truth of the Self.
How beautiful, Ishani ! Your contemplation reminds me of the temporality of desires and that by simply observing them we step into the process of witnessing and detachment. The image of the waves and the sea also help me understand the rise and the fall of ‘Mithya’. (The word Mithya is explained by Acharya Shunya as “qualified reality. It means not true, not false, something in between, temporarily and changing ; Ref. text study Nirvana Shatakam part 4, timestamp from 56’ onwards). Thank you !