78. रागद्वेषविवर्जितः Rāga-dveṣa-vivarjitaḥ

One who was completely free from attachment and aversion

While nāma 18 talked of desires for objects of this and other worlds, this nāma deals with rāga, attachment, and dveṣa, aversion, that are experienced with respect to those objects. The root cause of rāga-dveṣa is gleaned from

208 78. Rāga-dveṣa-vivarjitaḥ the following exposition of Bhagavatpāda: “The notion ‘I am this’ with respect to the body, etc., which are not the Ātman, is ignorance. As a consequence of this notion, rāga arises in their honouring, etc., and dveṣa in their disgrace, etc.”²¹⁷

The Lord cautions, “Attachment and aversion are in all objects of the senses. One must not come under their sway, for they harm those in the path to higher good.”²¹⁸ Hence the importance of getting rid of rāga-dveṣa. The Lord throws light on the means and fruit of getting over rāga-dveṣa when He says, “It is obligatory action that is done without attachment to the karma itself, is not motivated by any attachment or aversion, and is done by a doer who does not desire the fruits of the action, that is termed sāttvika”²¹⁹ and “By allowing the senses, which are under his control and are devoid of attachment and aversion, to contact sense objects, the man of restrained mind attains serenity.”²²⁰

Bhagavatpāda points out that rāga-dveṣa cease completely when all things are understood to be one and the same,²²¹ that is only when one who sees nothing as apart from the Ātman. Having directly realized the Ātman, His Holiness was vi-varjita, completely free from, attachment and aversion.

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Two days prior to saṁnyāsa, the relatives of Sri Srinivasa Sastry got an opportunity to converse privately with Him and were enthusiastically doing so. An elderly person among them told Sri Srinivasa Sastry that even after His becoming a Jagadguru, He should have special affection for the close relatives who were present there. Upon hearing these words, He responded, “It is improper for elderly people like you to speak thus,” and made known that He would be the same towards all and would not have any favouritism towards relatives. He was only thirteen years old then.

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His Holiness maintained this stance after saṁnyāsa and never showed any attachment or partiality towards His former family. Once, Sri Ramanatha Sastry, His Holiness’s younger brother from His pūrvāśrama (before saṁnyāsa) was in financial difficulties. Sri Nageshwara Sastry, His Holiness’s boyhood friend, approached His Holiness and asked Him to extend special help to Ramanatha Sastry. His Holiness dispassionately replied, “What all there is in the Maṭha does not belong to me. It belongs to Śāradāmba. I cannot extend special help to Ramanatha merely because he happened to be my brother. I can be impartial and that is all.”

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There was in Narasimhavana a pretty cat of golden hue. His Holiness addressed it as ‘Bekku.’ It would, like a dog, respond to His call. His Holiness played with it, teasingly waving a cloth in front of it as it jumped to catch the cloth.

After His Holiness had finished His Candramaulīśvara-pūjā at night, when He went to the Samādhi of His Guru, the cat would be waiting for Him. It followed Him when He returned to Sacchidananda Vilasa and received milk there. When the news of the cat having disappeared reached Him, He heard it with equanimity. He discerned that it had died and so any attempt to find it would be futile. While His love for animals was great, He was unfettered by attachment towards them.

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