A request and a disclaimer: Before you begin to read this blog, request you to first read the 3 parts of ‘Stroke in the canvas called ‘The Value of Values’. You may also choose to read the blogs on the values of amAnitvam, adambhitvam, ahimsA (the value of ahimsA is in three parts) kshAntiH, Arjavam, AchAryopAsanam, Saucam, Sthairyam, AtmavinigrahaH, indriyArthesu vairAgyam, anahankAraH and janma-mrtyu-jarA-vyAdhi-duHkha-dosAnudarsanam though they are not a prerequisite to reading this value. The language and explanations used by pUjya swAmiji is so profound, that I wish I do justice by aligning my understanding to his explanation, as I parallelly try to relate it to day to day living.. Any error in the way I have blogged upon these values, is due to an error in my understanding alone.

Sampath: Hey sakti, I have been wanting to talk to you and here I meet you. Do you have some time to talk?

Sakti: Sampath, I have also been meaning to call you. I am free for a couple of hours. What is it that you want to talk about?

Sampath: I have always thought that the meaning of the word Shakthi is courage. I read a different meaning recently.

Sakti: What a strange coincidence!! I was wanting to discuss this with you, Sampath. I read something similar. I don’t know if it is the same word that has different meanings or are they two different words with two different spellings that have different meanings. I am sure to find out someday. It was initially interesting to see that the word ‘Sakti’ means ‘a clinging attachment to things’. I am also wondering now, if I live the meaning everyday. Do I cling on to things? Am I attached too much to people and things?

Sampath: Well, it would sound weird if you were called ‘asakti’ which means ‘absence of the attitude of a sense of ownership’ :-). On a serious note, what makes you think that you have a clinging attachment to things?

Sakti: It has not been an easy life for me, Sampath. I lost my parents when I was young and I was brought up by some relatives. I have worked hard to be independent and I live on my own now. I own an apartment, a car and I live a life that others would term as ‘luxurious’. But you know what, the more I think I own things, the more I get insecure.

Sampath: Oh my goodness!! One would not think that you entertain such thoughts.

Sakti: Well, you see what you are shown to see and you see what you want to see :-).  I read this book called ‘The Value of Values’ and that has made me to think. And one of the values is asaktiH, the meaning of which you said just now.

Sampath: So what of this value? What made you contemplate on it so much?

Sakti: What I own is in a sheet of paper, Sampath. If that paper is lost, then I run to get another paper that proves that I am the owner. I keep the papers in a locker to safeguard them. I have photocopies made of them and I have stashed them away carefully at home. Finally it is all reduced to a sheet of paper, Sampath and I keep walking around with a pride that I am owning this and that.

Sampath: Sakti, it is your hard earned money with which you have bought all this. You can feel a sense of pride for what you have achieved. Nothing wrong there. All these are your proud possessions.

Sakti: Ah, Sampath!! That’s how I need to look at them as – possessions.

Sampath: Vocabulary master, I thought they mean the same. Looking at what you say, they are definitely different, aren’t they? I don’t want you to answer. I want to get the answer. Let me use them in sentences and see the difference..

I own a house.

I am the owner of the car.

I am the owner of the dog. Saying ‘I own the dog’ does not seem appropriate.

I don’t say ‘I own the pencil, I own the pen.’ I can say though that ‘I bought the pen.’

The money is in my possession.

I am in possession of your car.

– Interesting play of words here, Sakti. When I say that ‘I own something’, it is mine and mine only and there is a sound of certainty to it.

– I don’t say ‘I own a pen or a pencil’ because these are seemingly small? Though if I own an Mont Blanc pen for which I have paid a fortune, I may say that ‘I own it’. So price matters here, is it?

– When I say something is in my possession. it does seem short term, as though it may not be mine always. That it will go away from me someday and it is with me for safekeeping.

Sakti: You are right, Sampath. It is preferable to think that something is your possession than it is something that you own. Then your mind is always ready for facing a situation, that it may go away from you someday. You know, when an aunt of mine visited me she asked me, what part of the apartment is mine? The ceiling of my apartment is the floor of the person staying above mine. The floor of my apartment is the ceiling of the person who stay below mine. Can I call the space between the floor and the ceiling as mine. It belongs to everyone. So what is mine actually? This may not apply to a person who stays in an independent house as the floor and ceiling is theirs or so they can say. That claim to own a house is also just a sheet of paper. Suddenly, everything that I am taking for as security is not that at all, Sampath and that is scary.

Sampath: Then we cannot also call our body ours, Sakti. It has been given to us and we are only in possession of it. So long as it is in our possession, we need to take care of it. Now I understand why they call suicide as a criminal offence; because it is killing what is not ours really. We are only the guardians. Oh my!! This is becoming far more intense than I thought.

Sakti: Absolutely. I also have been thinking of this sentence ‘We should have a sense of ownership to whatever we do’. This brings with it, its share of challenges. If we don’t feel a sense of ownership, we may not take what we do seriously. If we take our sense of ownership seriously, we may not share our workload with anyone else and let go becomes difficult.  It is certainly not easy to strike a balance between the two. I guess here as well we need to think that so long as we are doing the task, we do it well. We don’t ‘own’ the task but only ‘possess’ it 🙂

Sampath: Sakti, you have made me go back to a reflective mode. I am not very different from you. I also think that I own certain things. While it may not be the same as yours, the feeling is nevertheless the same. Looks like I have a lot of work to do with myself too. It does sound overwhelming, though I am sure there is a way to handle this too.

Sakti: Sampath, there is or rather are :-), ways to handle this, I meant 🙂

– Think ‘possession’ and NOT ‘ownership’. This brings a sense of impermanency which would help in bringing in vairAgya (dispassionate)

– Be dispassionate which will help you to look at things in an objective manner

– Think that ‘whatever I have has been given to me (though I may have worked to earn it) and what has been given, can also be taken away. This also brings in a sense of impermanency

Sampath: Actually as you say it Sakti, I am visualizing that I am standing outside of me and looking at me. Out of the box looking and what I see is from a different angle now.

Sakti: And I am visualizing calling myself asakti when others call me by my name Sakti. Everytime I do that the meaning of asakti resonates in me and practicimg this value becomes that much easier.

Sampath: I came to discuss what I read about your name and I have ended up learning so much more, Sakti..

Sakti: asakti 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

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