Vivekachudamani - Post 11

 Verse 5 

 

इतः को न्वस्ति मूढात्मा यस्तु स्वार्थे प्रमाद्यति ।

दुर्लभं मानुषं देहं प्राप्य तत्रापि पौरुषम् ॥५॥

 

Itah konvasti mudhatma yastu svdrthe pramadyati, 

durlabham manusam deham prapya tatrapi paurusam. 

 

(Is there a greater fool than the man who, having got the rare chance of a human birth and there too, the masculine qualities of the head and heart, falls short in his efforts to rediscover himself?) 

This is an extension of previous verse where Sankara talks about (spiritual) suicide which was explained in detail in the last post.

A sage wrote

“All creatures must wait for millions and trillions of years until nature takes them up step by step and moulds them into greater evolutionary equipments. In all the lower strata of existence, evolution is not a conscious development on the part of the individual but an involuntary thrust up received by him from the course of nature. 

 

Millennia of growth, change and decay must pass before a rock becomes soil, the soil anchors a tree, the tree bears fruit and the fruit contributes towards the making of a human being. 

Man alone, of all the species of the living kingdoms, can hasten his own evolution by cooperating with the great eternal scheme of things around him. Physically, he has evolved to perfection and nature has nothing more to improve him.  His next lap of evolution awaits him at the level of his mind and intellect and this is a process in which nature cannot help him at all. 

With this conclusion of the sastra in mind, when the Acharya takes up his pen to guide the generation, he must necessarily exclaim and conclude that there can never be a greater fool than the one who, being blessed with a human birth and the necessary mental and intellectual capacities, does not intelligently invest them for the higher purpose of self-redemption and self-rediscovery.”

 

yastu svarthe pramadyati 

A man does everything else in his life and he misses the most important thing; what is that. tva arthe; artha means purushartha.

 

Sva arthe means sva puruaharthe. With regard to the accomplishment of one's own purushartha, pramadyati, this person is negligent.

First a person squanders his health in search of wealth; then he squanders his wealth in search of health and ultimately loses both. So even being negligent with regard to health is the greatest foolishness called; health is the basic foundation on which dharma artha kama maksha all the four are resting. 

Therefore this person pramadyati; negligent with regard to dharma, with regard to artha, with regard to kama; and above all with regard to moksha. 

Swami Chidananda says,

"Hindu philosophy speaks of the four purusharthas that every human individual strives to attain — purushartha chatushtaya. And all of you also know that they are summed up in the words dharma, artha, kama and moksha.

In whatever sense these words are used, there is one thing that it ultimately brings home, namely, ends are obtained by endeavour. Worthwhile attainments and goals are the fruit — note that I do not use the word “result”— they are the fruit of endeavour. They are the fruit of effort. 

Gurudev (Swami Sivananda) sang a song: “Do real sadhana, my dear children.” He said, “Do real sadhana.” Doing is there, it means effort. It means action, it means dynamism. It means well directed, intelligent, purposeful rajas, a rajas that does not direct you, but that is directed by you."

"Purushartha is the key to realisation. You may know only a little, but you put it into practice. Gurudev said Twenty Spiritual Instructions are enough to grant you Self-realisation, and when he said that he knew what he was saying. And he was saying the truth. Not that he discouraged studies, but he wanted to emphasise action, not dry studies.

If you want to become a professor, a lecturer, then studies are very necessary, absolutely indispensable, very important indeed. But if you want to become a dynamic Yogi, more important than tons of knowledge is practice, action, purushartha, sadhana, yoga abhyasa. Spiritual life means engaging in active spiritual endeavor, it means purushartha."

 

Love.