Vivekachudamani - Post 15

 Verse 9 

उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं मग्नं संसारवारिधौ ।
योगारूढत्वमासाद्य सम्यग्दर्शननिष्ठया ॥ ९ ॥

 

uddharedātmanātmānaṃ magnaṃ saṃsāravāridhau |
yogārūḍhatvamāsādya samyagdarśananiṣṭhayā || 9 ||

 

(Having attained the state of yogarudha through continuous and well established discrimination, one should lift oneself from the ocean of change and finitude wherein one has come to be drowned.) 

 

When an individual has realised his limitations and feels that he must by some means redeem himself from his weaknesses and gain mastery over himself, it is not sufficient that he surrenders to his Master no matter how great, or runs away from the world into a quiet jungle or even makes a thorough and complete study of all the scriptures. Practices such as these, may somewhat help the individual but he can lift himself from the mire of his inner weakness only by dint of sustained self-effort. 

 

All these slokas are talking about jnana sadhanam. Previous sloka, this sloka; jnana sadhanam is vedanta sravaṇam; otherwise called vedanta vicaraḥ. So the same idea is repeated in all these verses in different ways.

 

Before entering scriptural enquiry; scripture based enquiry, one should develop fitness for that enquiry; which Sankara calls yogaruḍhatvam. In a way, sadhana catushtaya sampatti is called yogarudhatvam.

 

In Bhagavad-Gita - 6.4, we have a description of the yogarudha state. When a man is not attached to sense objects or to actions and has renounced all thoughts, then he is said to have attained to Yoga. 

 

Yoga in its right sense is only that state of mind, in which the mind having recognised its weaknesses attunes itself to a greater and more perfect ideal, which the intellect has shown it. Any attempt of the mind to rise from the low values of its present existence to a healthier and diviner scheme of living is Yoga. 

 

To get established in Yoga is to make it a habit to strive sincerely to rise above one's known weaknesses in order to attain the ideal.

 

After attaining yogarudastvam; what is the next thing; samyak darsana nishta. Nishṭa means commitment. In what? Samyak darsanam; self-knowledge or self-enquiry. Samyak darshana niṣṭaya one should be committed to self-enquiry; otherwise called vedanta vichara.

 

Through study, following of the sastra instructions, practices  of self-control and various other spiritual sadhanas,  one can expect to develop the  subtlety of one's inner instruments for experiencing the world as it  is, uncoloured by any personal prejudices, attachments or hatreds. 

 

This perception of the world as it is, in perfect detachment and discrimination is called 'samyag darsana'. 'Darsana' in Sanskrit also means 'philosophy' and, therefore, the term can also be interpreted as the vision of the world through the eye of philosophy. 

 

There are two stages; the first stage vedanta vichara yogyata prapthi; next stage is vedanta vichara. The whole life is only for these two. 

 

First three asramas, brahmacārya, grahastha, vanaprastha, all these asramas are vichara yogyata prapthihi; 

 

Sanyasa asrama is vichara. And having done this; through this; what should one do; uddhared atmana  atmanam; by following this one should uplift oneself by oneself.  

 

That is the importance of self-effort is highlighted. The importance of proper use of free will is highlighted.

 

Esvara's grace is important; guru's grace is important; sastra's grace is important; vedanta accepts grace very much; what we emphasise is grace can never replace self-effort. Grace can never replace self-effort; however, big and powerful the grace may be. And therefore Sankara says: uddhared; better you work.

 

“One should lift oneself from the ocean of change and finitude wherein one has come to be drowned.”, says Sankara in this verse.

 

For lifting oneself from the ocean of Samsara, self-effort is required through Yoga, vichara and  Samyug Darsana, as explained in this verse. The final and climax or the fructification of such intense effort is the grace of Eswara when He lifts such a deserving Sadhaka from ocean of samsara, saves him from being drowned and takes the sadhaka to His abode wherein the sadhaka merges with the supreme.

 

Love.

 

Vivekachudamani - Post 14

 Verse 8 

अतो विमुक्त्यै प्रयतेत्विद्वान्
संन्यस्तबाह्यार्थसुखस्पृहः सन् ।
सन्तं महान्तं समुपेत्य देशिकं
तेनोपदिष्टार्थसमाहितात्मा ॥ ८ ॥ 

ato vimuktyai prayatetvidvān
saṃnyastabāhyārthasukhaspṛhaḥ san |
santaṃ mahāntaṃ samupetya deśikaṃ
tenopadiṣṭārthasamāhitātmā || 8 ||

(Therefore, the learned seeker who is striving to gain this freedom within and who has renounced all his desires for pleasures in the sense objects should duly approach a good and generous Master and must live attuned to the true significances of the words of the Master.) 

 

We have here a positive declaration of what exactly a seeker should  do in order that he may be well-established on the path of Truth. 

 

A seeker in Vedanta is not a nonentity who has walked into the sanctum of a temple or has casually thought of sitting in prayer or visiting a sacred place. These constitute but the very primary steps in spiritual life. 

The word Vidvan' is used here to indicate a  rue seeker. When, therefore, a student having a cursory knowledge  f life and its meaning realises the futility of running after sense  objects, he comes to a certain amount of renunciation of desires and  thus he approaches his Master. 

Sankara in this verse also lists the special qualifications necessary for a seeker on the spiritual path. 

 

santam - The word 'santa' is often used in vernacular to indicate a  sannyasin, but rarely does one realise what exactly the term means. 

He is a santa who is firmly established in the consciousness of pure Existence (Sat). A Guru must not only be a Man of Realisation and experience but he should be a 'mahanta', a large-hearted, sympathetic, kind person. One can be a Guru only if one has the required magnanimity, intimate personal experience of the Divine and great familiarity with scriptures. 

 

A competent teacher's   qualification is given in Mundaka Upanishad as,  

"stotriyam Brahmanishtam".

Brahmanishtah means the one who abides in Brahman. That is what he preaches and what he is, both are not different. What he teaches is Brahman and he himself is Brahman. If the teacher has to reveal that Brahman as yourselves, as not something of an object to be realised in later time, then alone the student would be able to say Ahaṁ Brahmasmi. Only if it is Ahaṁ Brahmasmi for the teacher, then alone he can be a Tat Tvam Asi, then alone the student would also say Ahaṁ Brahmasmi. Therefore he is called Brahma Nishtah. Brahma Nishta is one for whom the subject matter and himself are identical.

 

And the second qualification is stotriyaḥ; he should have the methodology of communication; which is uniquely designed and developed in the scriptures. A particular method of communication, in which you introduce a concept and go to the next higher concept and negate the previous concept; then go to the next one and then negate the previous one and when everything is  finally negated; and what should be left behind? I, the negator, alone should be left behind, the unnegatable-I; which is unobjectifiable; that unnegatable; and unobjectifiable consciousness alone will be left behind; this is designed and developed in the scriptures alone.

 

Even if a seeker discovers such a perfect Master, he will not be able to react favourably in the Master's presence or even to his discussions, if he has not the necessary mental attitude, denoted by the word 'samupetya'. 

The divine attitude of full receptivity is the aroma of a heart, which has reverence for and surrender to, faith in and love for the Guru.

Again, even with all the prescribed qualifications, if a seeker were to reach the feet of a perfect Master, the transferred knowledge cannot take root in the student, unless he is himself ready to strive along the path. 

The major part of the work depends  upon our own efforts to rehabilitate ourselves. Thus, it is said, the individual should try to live the deep significances of the precepts  of the Master. 

 

Swami Sivananda says,

“He alone who sits at the lotus feet of a preceptor, who has knowledge of the Self and who is also well-versed in scriptural knowledge is able to grasp the Truth. In the Gita also, Chap. IV-34, Lord Krishna says: "Know it by means of prostration to the Guru, interrogation and service. The wise who have cognised the Truth will instruct thee in that knowledge of the Self."

Initiation into the mysteries of Brahman will fructify only in that disciple's mind who is desireless and will produce Jnana in him.

It takes a long time for the charcoal to catch fire but gun powder can be ignited within the twinkling of an eye. Even so, it takes a long time for igniting the fire of knowledge for a man whose heart is impure. But an aspirant with great purity of heart gets knowledge of the Self within the twinkling of an eye, within the time taken to squeeze a flower by the fingers.

Unless you are pure, you will not be able to realise the true greatness of a liberated sage. When he appears before you, you will take him for an ordinary man only, and you will not be benefited. You will try to find out defects in him on account of your fault-finding nature (Dosha Drishti). Even if Lord Krishna or Sri Sankara remains with you, He will not do anything for you, unless you are fit to receive Him, unless you are ready to receive the spiritual instructions.”

 

Love.

 

Vivekachudamani - Post 13

 Verse 7 

अमृतत्वस्य नाशास्ति वित्तेनेत्येव हि श्रुतिः ।
ब्रवीति कर्मणो मुक्तेरहेतुत्वं स्फुटं यतः ॥ ७ ॥

 

Amrtatvasya nasasti vittenetyeva hi srutih, 

Bravlti karmano mukterahetutvam sphutam yatah. 

 

(It is clear that Liberation cannot be the effect of good works, for Sruti herself declares that there is no hope for immortality by means of wealth.)

 

Moksha cannot be attained through wealth, If moksha cannot be attained through karma, what is accomplished through wealth? Shruti refers to karma as not a means of giving liberation, as being capable of giving liberation. 

 

One line in the verse says no moksha through money. Another line says there is no mokṣha through karma.  All the karma phalams are the end product of a process or a series of processes whether it is physical process or mental process; it is an end product. If it is an end product, it has got a beginning. If it has got a beginning it will certainly have an end. 

 

And that is why word phalam is split as phalgutaya dhiyate iti phalam. That which rots and perishes is called phalam. From that very derivation it is very clear that whatever karma phalam you acquire, they will get rotten. 

 

A sage says,

“Amrtattvam is the goal indicated in all the Upanisads. When it is translated as merely immortality, readers are apt to misunderstand it to be a profit that can accrue to a man only after his death. 

This misunderstanding then must take away the edge from religion and dry up all enthusiasm for spiritual living, especially from the modern man who wants immediate gains. He is not ready to invest even a thought in a proposition that will yield to him a great profit only at a future time. 

 

Correctly interpreted, the 'immortality' promised  by the Srutis is not a state or condition that comes to us after our  departure from this world. It is a perfection that can be lived here and now. By the term 'immortality' the rishis indicate a state of continuous existence, which has in it no experience of finitude. 

 

All Acharyas, irrespective of their philosophical beliefs accept the declaration of the scriptures as absolute and as having unquestionable authority. This attitude is not acceptable to the modern youth, who, in his colossal ignorance thinks himself daring enough to question even the rishis. 

 

The Acharyas accepted the declarations of the Srutis because of the bonafide character and temperament of the rishis who declared them. They lived in complete contentment and happiness in their self-discovery and it was for the seekers to make a footpath and reach them with their questions and doubts upon life and its meaning, the goal and the path.

 

To those seekers, out of sheer kindness, these Men of Realisation declared the Truth of their own experiences, in a burning spirit of inspiration and love. They had no intentions to misguide these precious young hearts of the generation.”

Immortality is impossible with any action. Avidya, Kama Karma - Actions are born necessarily out of ignorance of one's real divine identity and hence, when the source of actions is ignorance, such acts can never get immortality or liberation, says Sankara in Atma Bodha.

Immortality is possible only when there is death of "Avidya", when one's ignorance or Ego is transcended. Ignorance has to die, for one to exist as Immortal SELF.

 

Love.