yadi deham prithakkritya
citi viçrãmya tiätatsi
adau naiva sukhi çãntah
baddha mukto bhaviäyasi
If detaching from the body you can reside in the consciousness, then you will be happy, peaceful, and free from bondage. Ashtavakra Samhita (1:4)
Body Consciousness Identification with the body and forgetting the real “I” is the main cause of fear. Let us look at how some yogis look at the body to help overcome the attachment to the body.
A Leather Bag Ashtavakra, a great scholar and saint of India, said the human body is nothing more than a leather bag. As a physically handicapped twelve-year-old boy whose body was deformed in eight different angles, he went to the king’s court for a debate with another great wise man of those times. This great man developed some ego and Ashtavakra wanted to challenge and defeat him in a debate. It is possible for even wise men to develop ego. Delusion can come to anyone at any time if one is not careful. Imaginary greatness can come to a person. With what measure can I say I am great or can you say that you are great? It is the same power of God hiding in all of us.
As this young boy entered the king’s court to challenge the renowned wise man, the audience laughed looking at his crippled body and his young age. The boy addressed the king with a calm face but a stern voice, “O King, I thought your court was famous for wise men but I see only cobblers here.” The King was amazed and said, “Young boy, why do you speak like this? You should be humble.” The boy replied, “I am surprised at the ignorance of these men. They only looked at my body and laughed. Just like a cobbler sitting on the roadside looks only at the leather shoes of the people who come to him. They judged me by only looking at my body. What is the body? Is it not only a leather bag?” The body is the gift of God given to us temporarily. Take care of the body, but do not identify yourself with it.
A Big Boil
Another yogi said the body is a big boil. If there is a big boil on the body what do we do? We clean it, apply ointment, and bandage it. We may also take some medicines to heal it. We clean the body every day just like we clean the boil. Just like we bandage the boil we wear clothes and just like we take medicine we eat food. “Kshud vyadhi chikitsa yam” – hunger is a disease that is treated with the medicine of food, said Adi Shankara in his Sadhana Panchakam. Just as medicine should be taken in the right dose, food should be taken in the right amount.
The Temple of God
Another yogi, St Paul, said twice in the Bible, “Do you not know that the body is the temple of God and the Holy Spirit dwells within you?”
If this body is the temple whatever is done through this body should be good for oneself and for others. Let all our activities be done in Truth. Within this body temple we worship. This body is given to us and will be taken away one day. Many times I have said, if God asks me how long I want to live I would say it is good to go away soon (maybe 60–65 years). I say this, because it is better to serve than to be served and it is better to give than to take. I am not afraid of coming and serving again. I am not afraid of dying. When we used to bow down to Baba he would say live for 100 years. I would usually wait till he finished saying this and then bow down.
A Jar of Clay
Another yogi said that this body is a jar of clay; it can break at any time. Remember this, love your body but don’t get attached to the body. Give the body its due care, but remember you are not the body; you are only temporarily living in this body.
A House with Several Doors
Yet another yogi said, the body is a house and has multiple doors. In the Gita the Lord said, navadvarapure dehi- a house of nine doors. What are the nine doors? Two eyes, two ears, two nostrils and mouth, genital and anus make nine.
In Jnana Sankalini Tantra Lord Shiva said that the body has ten doors, nava dvara tu pratyaksham dasamam mana ucyate - nine doors are visible and the tenth is the mind. The others are the physical doors, but it is the mind through which things are received. If the mind is sad everything tastes bitter and if the mind is happy even bitter tastes sweet. Open and clean the door of your mind. Those who practice Kriya Yoga say the tenth door is the fontanel on the top of the head. Kathopanishad mentions eleven doors. The body actually has millions of doors. Each pore is a door. The body is a house. Live in the house but do not be attached to the house. When you realize that you are not the body, but the soul living in the body, you can overcome the attachment to the body and that makes you fearless.