King Janaka is a legendary figures in Indian spirituality because he is a rare example of an enlightened master who was also a king. He was an intensely spiritually curious-minded soul who received enlightenment with the grace of Sage Ashtavakra.
This story begins with the enlightened King Janaka visiting his Guru Ashtavakra. As the king sits and listens to his Guru’s teachings, Ashtavakra senses a strong feeling of jealousy among all the monks living with him. He can understand the source of this jealousy. These young monks have left all their worldly possessions and come to learn from him. The only thing they can call their own is a set of loincloths they wear. Yet they see their Guru treating a king with so much love and attention. They don’t see Janaka as an enlightened soul and hence feel their Guru Ashtavakra is being partial. They are worried that their Guru has gotten attached to all the wealth and gifts the king can shower on him.
Ashtavakra knows that jealousy is a massive hurdle in the spiritual path and arranges for a demonstration to help his monks arrive at the truth. One day when he is teaching the king and all the monks, a soldier comes running to the hut. He starts shouting that King Janak’s palace is on fire and the entire kingdom may burn down. While everyone is dazed, King Janka stands up and soundly chastizes the guard for disturbing his Guru’s lecture. He then dismisses the guard and waits for Ashtavakra to continue teaching.
A few days later, a helper in the ashram comes running during another lecture. He screams, “the monkeys are tossing around and ruining the loincloths of the monks.” The monks forget all about Ashtavakra’s lecture and run to retrieve their loincloths from the monkeys. Of course, when they reach there, they realize that the loincloths are drying in the sun, and their Guru has set them up. They hang their heads in shame and walk back to the Guru’s hut.
Ashtavakra then goes on to explain why he considers Janaka to be a superior student. He said, “A few weeks ago, the king received news his entire palace was burning. He is currently at the peak of his material wealth. However, he was only worried about the soldier interrupting his time with the Guru. All you monks possess is a loincloth, yet how quickly you ran to protect it. Your spiritual progress has nothing to do with your external circumstances. It’s immaterial whether you can be a king or a monk. The detachment you possess is your the ultimate indicator of spiritual progress.”
Why did the monks mistake their Guru’s intention? Were they not serious about their spiritual journey? They had left all worldly possessions behind and joined an ashram, so it’s hard to doubt their intent. It was their attachment to their title as a monk that misled them. Once they got attached to the title, they expected the world and their Guru to treat them a certain way. When they felt they were not getting enough respect, they listened to the negative chatter in their minds.
What could a monk’s attachment to a loincloth have to do with us? As it turns out, everything. A friend recently told me that he resigned from an organization after sixteen years. The organization was top-heavy, and he did not find enough challenging work. When he announced his resignation, what hurt him was that no one even attempted to stop him. Instead, he saw his peers and boss immediately started planning how they could use this opportunity to save costs and meet their goals. “So much for loyalty,” he said with an undertone of disgust in his voice.
We do not realize how attached we become to our jobs and titles. They are deeply welded into a psyche. Have you noticed that when you meet people, you ask them their name, and the next question is what they do for a living? That generally determines the tone of the length of the conversation.
Why is this attachment to work and job titles troubling, you may ask? After all, human beings spend much of their life in the workplace. Let’s see how Yuval Noah Harari summarizes any organization in Sapiens.
Modern businesspeople and lawyers are, in fact, powerful sorcerers. The principal difference between them and tribal shamans is that modern lawyers tell far stranger tales. The legend of Peugeot affords us a good example. Peugeot began as a small family business in the village of Valentigney, just 300 kilometers from the Stadel cave. Today the company employs about 200,000 people worldwide, most of whom are complete strangers to each other. These strangers cooperate so effectively that in 2008 Peugeot produced more than 1.5 million automobiles, earning revenues of about 55 billion Euros. In what sense can we say that Peugeot exists? There are many Peugeot vehicles, but these are obviously not the company. Even if every Peugeot vehicle in the world were simultaneously junked and sold for scrap metal, Peugeot would not disappear. It would continue to manufacture new cars and issue its annual report. The company owns factories, machinery and showrooms, and employs mechanics, accountants, managers and secretaries, but all these together do not comprise Peugeot. A disaster might kill every single one of Peugeot’s employees, and go on to destroy all of its assembly lines and executive offices. Even then, the company could borrow money, hire new employees, build new factories and buy new machinery. Peugeot has managers and stockholders, but neither do they constitute the company. All the managers could be dismissed and all its shares sold, but the company itself would remain intact. - Sapiens
Think about this in the context of your workplace. It’s a piece of fiction created and held together by the laws we have created. It has no existential relevance. Yet, not only do we believe in this organization, but we also believe in the culture and values of this organization. It’s like the movie Inception — a dream within a dream.
What happens when you wake up from the dream? When you are refused a promotion, cut loose because of workforce optimization, forced into retirement, or even when you voluntarily retire. It feels like one part of you has died, and no one showed up for the funeral.
I apologize if my words hurt you. Most organizations have excellent intent. The culture, the mission, the vision, the free food, the insurance benefits, the cool cap, and the welcome kit are all meant to make you feel like family. A happy employee is good for business. However, they sever this attachment ruthlessly when it’s time to part ways. Organizations are fictitious creations, so they can live with the severed attachment. Human beings are not, so we live with the hurt. We read books, prepare for the next interview, listen to music, and find spirituality. Yet when we find the next job, we go through the whole attachment cycle again.
I look at my career as a Venn diagram. My employment is the intersection of the organization’s needs and my skills/interests. As long as the intersection is large enough we both benefit from it. When that intersection narrows either of us can sever the relationship and move on. This detachment does not come overnight. Meditation and reflection really helped me develop this mindset. I used Black Lotus, and it made a difference.
This quote by Swami Vivekananda is all you need to understand detachment. Most people on the spiritual path feel they need to wear certain robes or move away from active life and meditate in solitude. That may be the truth for some people but that cannot be how our whole society can thrive. Detachment is a state of mind and King Janaka is a shining example of how to live in society and yet have all the attributes of a spiritual seeker.
My own spiritual guru Om Swami showed the way when he ran a multi-million dollar business before becoming a renunciate. You can learn more about his views on detachment in the following video.
This article is a submission at the lotus feet of my guru Om Swami – the founder of the Vedic Sadhana app. The app helps you identify your ishta and then perform daily rituals that deepen your relationship with them. This incredible app makes the ancient rituals and practices followed by the sages of India available to you.