Bhaja Govindam - Post 18

Verse 17

कुरुते गङ्गासागरगमनं व्रतपरिपालनमथवा दानम् ।

ज्ञानविहीनः सर्वमतेन मुक्तिं न भजति जन्मशतेन ॥ १७॥

kurute gaṅgāsāgaragamanaṁ vrataparipālanamathavā dānam,

jñānavihinaḥ sarvamatena

muktiṁ na bhajati janmaśatena.

(One may go on pilgrimage, observe vows, and give away wealth in charity. Yet, devoid of the knowledge of the Self, nothing can give freedom even in hundred lifetimes.)

After describing about the austerities and self denial in the previous verses, Sankara describes the proverbial ‘good' person in this verse. A person may go for pilgrimages to the banks of the Ganga, maintain vows and engage in charitable activities. 

There is no doubt that what they are doing is good in itself. There is nothing wrong or harmful in what is being described here. Indeed, the scriptures themselves have suggested these methods for people at certain stages of their spiritual life.

The truth that desires have to be rooted out in the mind is escaped even in this method. It is conveniently bypassed by focusing on all the external purificatory means given in the Shastras. All the pilgrimages, all the vows, all the charity will not avail if one does not educate the mind to give up its habit of seeking pleasure in outer objects and shall not  bestow mukhti, liberation  even in a hundred years if he or she is jnana viheena, does not have knowledge of the Self.

Truth or Jnana 

Sankara says, “jnaana vihheenah sarvam - atena” i.e., “All authorities are equivocal that without the experience of Truth”.

What is this TRUTH or JNANA which is referred in this verse or any vedantic treatise?

Swami says, 

“….When gold is melted in the crucible, it shines with a strange yellow glory. Where did that light emanate from? From the gold or the fire? What happened was only the removal of the dross by the fire; the effulgence belonged to the gold itself; it is its very nature. 

The fire is only an instrument for the removal of the dross. Nothing has been added to the gold by the fire in the crucible! 

If fire could give the splendor, then why doesn’t a stick or blade or pebble placed in the fire become as shining as gold? One has to conclude that the splendor came not through fire but out of its own inner nature.”

(Extract from Jnana Vahini)

Taking the fire and the gold example given by Swami, The fire is the spiritual sadhana or the Enquiry into “Who am I” in the path of wisdom and once, through the sadhana, all our impurities, our ignorance (about the fact that we actually are the Gold, The very Atman) is removed, then we exist as the TRUTH, the SELF or the ATMAN or DIVINE, which we ever have been. 

Swami clearly says, “If fire could give the splendor, then why doesn’t a stick or blade or pebble placed in the fire become as shining as gold? One has to conclude that the splendor came not through fire but out of its own inner nature”. This inner nature of each human being born in this creation is THE DIVNITY WITHIN.

The mukti that this verse speaks of is liberation from the clutches of EGO. The only way out of our constricted existence is to exhaust our desires. When we engage in charitable activities, go on pilgrimages and maintain vows as an end in themselves rather than a means to an end, we are unable to exhaust our EGO (and desires born out of our Ego). 

These practices are excellent to develop discipline and take one further on the spiritual path when performed with the right attitude. But this verse is only cautioning us against getting lost in activities such as these. 

Spiritual practices are meant to take us towards our goal of Self-Realization, the state of desireless-ness. If we follow these practices without this focus we grow to a limited extent beyond which we cannot progress on the spiritual path.

The most common criticism raised against Vedanta is that it talks only about esoteric things like Self-Realization while the rest of the world dies of poverty and hunger. Such views are misplaced. Vedanta encourages us to do charity, to expand our circle of concern and reach out to others. 

However, if these activities are performed without dedicating them to a spiritual goal to reduce our burden of desires, we get caught in a loop of desire. 

We hear of so many persons saying, “for me, spirituality means, BE GOOD, DO GOOD. Engage in charity and service to others”.

And thanks to Google, they can also pick up a line of Sai in the context of Seva where he says, “Leave all meditation if you can and rush to serve others, Manava Seva is Madhava Seva”.

As the author has repeated 1000 times in all his writings, if SAI’s instructions have to be understood, then we must read and  take in all His instructions, all His vahinis WHOLLY and not in parts, surfing google, taking only those lines which appeals to our approach, our way of looking at spirituality. 

This way, having a limited understanding of spiritually, we remain as far away from our goal as the persons described in the two previous verses. Examine the situation closely. Our goal is to reduce the number of desires. If we lose sight of our goal, we get lost in these ‘good' activities and create desires to engage in ‘good' activities.

On the other hand, if we remain focused on our goal and understand that these spiritual practices are a means to an end, we do not pick up more desires. The pilgrimages, charity and vows become an offering at the altar of our goal of Self-Realization.

Love.