The Goddess in India by Devdutt Pattanaik

Author:Devdutt Pattanaik
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781594775376
Publisher: Inner Traditions / Bear & Company
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Desire, Duty, and Detachment

Vishnu enchants. He also liberates. But Vishnu’s yoga is different from Shiva’s yoga. Shiva’s yoga is based on vairagya, or renunciation. Vishnu’s yoga is based on bhakti, or devotion. While Shiva’s yoga involves bridling the senses and controlling the mind to turn away from worldly pleasures, Vishnu’s yoga demands disciplining the mind not to seek the fruit of labor. Shiva’s yoga suits the ascetic. Vishnu’s yoga is ideal for the worldly man. It allows him to be part of samsara while working toward liberation.

Bhakti redirects desire toward the spirit and takes this self-defeating emotion out of man’s relationship with the material world. Dharma, or duty, not desire, becomes the motivating factor in man’s association with samsara. Man participates in worldly life not to indulge the senses or inflate the ego but out of a sense of obligation to the cycle of life. His actions rotate the wheel of life but do not generate the karma that fetters the soul to the flesh. Thus is worldly order maintained and salvation guaranteed. This path is known as karma yoga.

When Shiva dances on Mount Kailas, he dances alone, detached from the wheel of existence that rotates around him. When Vishnu dances as Krishna, he interacts with the souls of all creatures, playing his flute, beckoning them to dance to the tune of this music. His tune is the tune of dharma:

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