State of final beatitude & marriage.
Question
Namaskar Dear Dhananjay,
I have 2 questions as outlined in subject:
1)What happens after liberation.Are we fully conscious & identified with supreme spirit(knower & observer for eternity as jains refer to).What are we supposed to do then?Or is it that liberated beings' task is to help others' trying for the same.Also even after entire creation is reabsorbed(even when brahma himself is taken back) what is the liberated beings' state.I ask these questions even though it can't be described in words but feel that one should atleast have a little idea of the goal one wants to achieve otherwise it is just sheer blasphemy towards oneself even though it is spoken highly of by every mahatma.
2)Shankara/sukhdeva/gorakh/nityananda/vivekanand/hanuman were all unmarried to name a few.Even among gods those who have married(mahadev being foremost ex,sriram,krishna) have done so not for their personal motives but for the uddhar/kshatriya dharma of society at large.All tirthankars were unmarried.
So it seems people of foremost strength tread the direct path.Only those who can't do so marry & responsibly fulfilling householder's dharma have become liberated which is a long road but comparitively easier one.I am not for/against marriage but just want to know your views on the reason for which one should marry,seems to me if one has burnt up all seeds one'll forego marriage & tread direct path.What should & what is shastra prescribed reason for marriage.I know it's an individual decision in the end just want to know what to base my decision upon.
Namo sat-chit-ananda.
Answer
1. What happened to the people and events in a dream upon waking up? The dreamer becomes the awakened and is said to have come to the real world. He no longer reacts to those events with happiness, sorrow, pain or pleasure as he did while in the dream. Though he knows the emotions he experienced, he is no longer influenced by them. He laughs at his silly reactions (say fear) wondering why he took those events so seriously when they were only imaginations of the mind and not real.
But the very same person would not have understood this reality while in the dream. If someone in the dream told him You are dreaming. These people and situations are not real but illusory. Donot be afraid he would not have believed. He considered all the events to be real and reacted accordingly.
The same is the process further to Kaivalya (self-realization). Just as the dreamer reacts very seriously to the dream events and cannot believe otherwise, the Jiva which is caught up in this dream called Samsara (dualistic world) due to Agnyana (lack of knowledge of the absolute truth) takes this world to be real while it is only an illusion fueled by Maya which makes the unreal appear real. Man cannot believe or understand how this world is unreal if someone says so. Just as such knowledge dawned upon the dreamer only after waking up, man realizes this truth only after Kaivalya (self-realization). Just as a dreamer thinks the dream itself to be reality and cannot understand what it means to be awake, the state of the Gnyani (realized soul) cannot be understood before waking up to that state of enlightenment.
To briefly sum it up, the realized sage identifies himself as no different from that one Supreme force of which he, others and all other things are a part of. The sense of I, You & Him does not exist for he sees the one underlying force within all (the Atman) as no different from his own self. He is forever in the state of indescribable bliss, knowledge and existence, beyond the opposites. Further elaborations are futile as the state is to be experienced and beyond description.
2. One comes to know everything including what he should do after reaching that state.
3. Based on the decree of the Supreme, such sages work as HIS extension.
4. Creation itself is unreal and the effect of Maya. The realized soul is unaffected by creation or dissolution and exists in the Parabrahman as before.
5. Like all other things in this creation of HIS, the concept of marriage or bachelorhood is another state of Maya limited to the external level. Neither marriage nor being single has any bearing on the attainment of enlightenment. The path of the householder is as difficult or as easy as the path of the unmarried.
As in the case of all other things, one has no control over any of these things. Based on the Leela (divine play) ordained for each Jiva, it is helplessly thrown in the whirlpool of Maya, be it single or married. Ones right and duty ends at Dharma (efforts towards the attainment of self-realization being mans dharma). The rest is decided by HIM and we comply with folded hands and heads.
6. One cannot decide whether he will marry or not marry. As in the case of all other things, HE decides who does what. If marriage is a part of ones destiny it happens, try how hard one may to stop it. The wise do not try to control destiny but stay true to their Dharma. This is the direct path. Ones marital status has nothing to do with the path to enlightenment.
ॐ तत् सत्
(That Supreme being is the absolute truth)