The troubled man from Vrindāvan

About 50 years ago, a man visited the jyotishmaTha peeThādhēshwara Shankarāchārya of the time. The man was in despair and told the Shankarāchārya that he was enduring great pain and was facing several difficulties. The Shankarāchārya enquired about the man's hometown, and the man said he was a vrajavāsi - a term used to describe those hailing from Vrindāvan. The Shankarāchārya then asked the man to elaborate on this pain he was enduring. The man said he had studied very well and yet did not have a good job and then he added that he was suffering from a persistent ill-health and asked the Shankarāchārya why he was suffering his fate? The Shankarāchārya then asked the man which varNa he belonged to and the man replied that he was a brāhmaNa. The Shankarāchārya chided him and asked him "Have you any shame? After calling yourself a brāhmaNa, how could you ask me that question?". The man from Vrindāvan was taken aback. The Shankarāchārya then clarified and said that "A brāhmaNa must not have complaints". The man could not understand and he asked "Why?". To that, the Shankarāchārya replied with the following:

"A brāhmaNa goes through the sacred rites of an upanayanam. Since that moment, the brāhmaNa is to revere the Sun at every sandhya and offer the sacred arghyam. This was the sacred oath you also took, upon your upanayanam. Any brāhmaNa living his life without fulfilling this sacred oath is the pāpi of the worst kind."

It must be emphasized that Sandhyārādhana provides a much needed stability and rigor to a brāhmaNa. A brāhmaNa's life without sandhyārādhana is considered a waste of human potential. A brāhmaNa should not be asking himself if he had traveled many countries, and if he had managed to earn accolades from those around him. At the end of his life, the only two critical questions he will be faced with are - 1. How did he live and 2. What is to happen to his existence after his life?

Going back to the story, the Shankarāchārya said, gently, to the man from vrindāvan "Start revering the Sun and do your Sandhyārādhana, that is enough". The man realized that the source of his agony was nothing but his ego and he also saw that the Sandhyārādhana ritual was a simple way to remind himself of his existence and extricate himself from the needless agonies he was inflicting upon himself.

One may wonder whether this remedy of revering the Sun and bringing in humility is something exclusive to brāhmaNas? No, the reason the wise Shankarāchārya enquired about the man's varNa was so he could indicate what type of ritual practice the man can involve himself in, when revering the Sun. The purport here is that every part of society, including women can, in their own way, revere the brilliant Sun - the source of all life on earth. It is the underlying idea of connecting with something much larger than one's ego, that should be given importance.

Additional note to brāhmaNas

For brāhmaNas, there happens to be a very great degree of strictness in adherence of Sandhyārādhana. There is nothing more self-destructive, as we saw in the case of the man from vrindāvan than a brāhmaNa who has broken his sacred oath and allowed himself to be consumed by his ego. It is meaningless to pursue the sublime knowledge of the Upanishads if one cannot even manage one's schedule and daily routine correctly. Discipline and humility are necessary to pursue higher Vedic knowledge. If one ignores this cardinal rule, and proceeds to seek higher knowledge without the fundamentals, that person is bound to fail in his endeavors. This phenomenon is all around us - We have often met people who use Vedanta as an excuse to justify the arbitrariness of their lives. However, we must realize that once a brāhmaNa sets himself on the path of strict adherence to Sandhyārādhana, the Vedantic knowledge naturally dawns upon him and he will have a kind radiance of the Sun in his own life. Finally, Sandhyārādhana can only yield results for us if we lead a life of Dharma. We must not part with Satya, Ahimsa, Shoucha, and Āsteya when we are committed to the Sandhyārādhana practices.

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