The Body

Swami Sivananda Saraswati

This body is certainly not meant for the satisfaction of petty ends. It is for rigorous penance here and infinite happiness hereafter. It is an instrument for achieving the goal of human life i.e., the attainment of Brahmajnana. It serves the purpose of a boat to cross this ocean of samsara to the other side.

This body is a source of infinite miseries. It is full of impurities. It brings disrespect, censure, pain, etc. It passes away without a moment's notice. It is subject to disease, decay and old age. Therefore, think of atma which is eternal, pure and all-pervading.

The physical body appears only in the present. A thing that has neither past nor future must be considered as non-existent in the present also. If you think over this matter more deeply with shuddhabuddhi, you will find atyanta-abhav (complete nonexistence) of the world.

This body which is full of impurities, urine, fecal matter, pus, etc., is perishable. It is like froth or bubble or mirage. It is despised by your enemies. It remains like a useless log of wood on the ground when the prana departs from the body. It is the cause for the pain and suffering. It is your real enemy. You should treat this body with extreme contempt as dung. Why should you cling to it (abinivesa) and worship it with scents, powders, and flowers? Do not be foolish and silly in adorning it with fine silks and ornaments. It is dire ajnana only.

"Nothing on this earth belongs to me. This body even is not mine." This is true wisdom. "He is my son. She is my daughter. She is my wife. That bungalow is mine. I am rich. I am a kshatriya. I am a brahmin. I am lean. I am fat." This is foolishness of a superior order. This physical body is the rightful property of fishes, jackals and vultures. How can you call this as yours?

Application of soap to the body, oil to the hair, powder to the face, looking in the mirror thousand and one times a day, wearing rings on the fingers, these and many as these, will intensify your attachment to the body. Therefore give up all these things ruthlessly.

A big boil is washed with lotion. Then boric ointment is applied. Then bandage is put on. Even so, this nasty body is a very big boil. It is washed daily. Food is thrust into it. This is the ointment Cloth is worn. This is the bandage. Sadhus treat this body as a very big boil or wound with an oozing discharge. But the body is worshipped by worldly-minded persons on account of delusion and infatuation.

Wearing cloth is not for enhancing the beauty of the body. This body is a dirty leather bag filled with various sorts of impurities. Cloth is meant to cover up this impure body. Wear simple clothing. Have sublime thinking. Virtuous life in God or atman can give you real beauty.

The beauty of this body is only superficial (apadramanina). The beauty of the skin is also superficial. You can have undecaying, infinite beauty in God alone.

O man! Are you not ashamed to call this filthy body as "I" and to say "this is mine," "he is my son," when everything is perishable? Even jackals, vultures and fishes say: "These bodies of human beings are ours." This world or samsara is asara or virasa. Give up identification with this feeble, perishable and impure body of five elements whereof the bones are the pillars, which are strung by the nerves, coated over with flesh and blood, covered up by the skin, is of bad odour, full of urine and feces, is ever haunted by dotage and miseries and is the seat of all ills. This identification with the body is the seat of raurava hell. What is the difference between the worms and men that rejoice in this ill smelling body?

Maya, the great juggler, prepares a skeleton, covers it with flesh, and hides the various impurities with a shining skin. O deluded man! how long are you going to call this body yours? How long are you going to cling to this perishable body? Give up this identification with the body and identify yourself with your real nature—the Satchitananda swarupa.

When this body is free from disease and decrepitude, when old age is still far off, when the powers of the senses are not affected and life is not decaying, the man of discrimination, should exert for God-realization. It is useless to dig a well when the house is on fire.

More Articles on Vairagya:

• What is Vairagya?
• Miseries of Mundane Existence
• The Body
• The World
• The Mysterious Palace of Brahman
• Lord Buddha's Advice
• Happiness is Within
• Essence of Vairagya Shatakam
• Selections from Viveka-Chudamani Relating to Vairagya
• Here is an Answer for You!