Vivekachudamani-Post 83

He who has liberated himself from the terrible bonds of desires for sense objects, (indeed), very difficult to renounce , is alone fit for Liberation;  none else , even if he is well versed in all the six schools of philosophy. (78)

Sankara says vishaya asa is maha pashah; attachment to the vishaya and remember Vishaya does not mean objects only; all the physical bodies in the world also come under vishaya. Any pancha baudikam vasthu is vishaya; whether it is an inanimate thing or living physical body which includes my own physical body. From vedantic angle my body is also a vishaya; because it is pancha baudika. Vishaya asa is not an ordinary shackle but it is very very strong bondage.

And yaḥ vimuktaḥ; suppose a person transcends that weakness; he is able to detach from the physical body; that means he gives the physical body the importance that it deserves. Here giving up is not destroying; but he does not want to give up more importance than it deserves; that he puts it in its appropriate place.

We have been told again and again that vairagya is an essential and salient factor in the study of Vedanta. So, without total and  complete vairagya, the energy in us which is being spent in wrong pursuits will not be conserved for greater purposes of self-culture and ultimately of Self rediscovery. 

Indeed, the Masters of Vedanta were not impractical men, being ignorant of the ordinary man's sense attachment. They certainly realized that to control the sense organs and to avoid their gushing forth into their respective sense objects is very difficult for an ordinary man. 

And yet, where viveka has come, vairagya is natural, and he who has gained a certain amount of freedom from the charms of sense objects is fit for Liberation. 

The idea is that so long as the individual thirsts for anything, his entire energy will be consumed in its acquisition and possession and there will be nothing left in him to supply him with the required dynamism for listening, reflecting and meditating upon the contents of the scriptures. 

That such a one alone is fit for Liberation' is a very positive statement denying sensuous people any hope of success in spiritual life. Not even men who are erudite scholars in all the six schools of Indian philosophy are recognized by the sastras as fit for total Liberation from ignorance and ignorance-created misunderstandings in themselves. 

With mere book learning, without the purity of the heart, tranquility of the mind, the application of the intellect and body's self-denial, no progress in spiritual life, which can take us towards complete Liberation from our limitations is ever possible.

Love

Vivekachudamani-Post 82

Sense objects are even more venomous in their tragic effects than cobra poison. Poison is fatal to one who swallows it, but the sense objects  kill him who even looks at them with his eyes. (77)

At this juncture, Sankara discusses how dangerous it is for a seeker to be attached to the enjoyment of sense objects. 

In order to emphasize  the virulence of sense poison, Sankara gives yet another verse,  which is very famous, in as much as, we often hear it being quoted from all pulpits. 

Explaining the dangerous intensity of this poison, the Acharya compares it with the venom of the cobra. 

Vishayaḥ dosena tivraḥa; in terms of his harming capacity; pulling down capacity; the viṣaya is tivrah; more intense; more powerful than vishadapi; even poison. That too what type of poison? 

Krishna sarpa; the black cobra; Krishna here means black or dark ones; the black cobra visham; and the viṣaya is more harmful than that.

How does Sankara say so? To give a logical proof also; he gives the logical proof; what is that; visham boktharam eva hanthi;

Poison will kill only a person who consumes the poison. By hearing about or by seeing, the poison does not kill; only when it enters the system and is absorbed in the system; only then it will kill. 

Therefore boktharam vishaṁ hanti; whereas what about viṣaya; cakṣuṣa drastaram hanti; even that person who sees the viṣayaḥ.

If there is some distance between a cobra and an individual, the poison in  the cobra cannot affect him. Nobody is known to have died of poison because he merely saw a cobra in a zoo. 

The venom can be fatal to a person only when he is bitten by a cobra. Compared with this, sense objects are more virulent because they can annihilate the individual who just looks at them. 

The organ of vision mentioned in the verse, represents all the other four sense organs and indicates a similar end when all other sense  organs, individually or collectively, run after their sense objects, bringing about a total annihilation.

So here what is the idea conveyed? That if a person does not have a discriminative power; then the very sight can cause attachment; and then he goes on thinking about that

In the  second chapter of Bhagwad Gita, Krishna says,

While contemplating on the objects of the senses, one develops attachment to them. Attachment leads to desire, and from desire arises anger.(2-62)

Anger leads to clouding of judgment, which results in bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, the intellect gets destroyed; and when the intellect is destroyed, one is ruined.(63)

Most intelligent and moral personal can drop all the ethics and morality and go to adharma and once dharma goes away, moksha is farther. 

And for that viṣaya dhyānam, what is the cause? Vishaya darsanam is the cause for viṣaya dhyanam. Viṣaya dhyanam is the cause of spiritual death.

A person should be careful with regard to the external world, until he learns to manage his rāga dveshṣa; which is called samaḥ; learning to manage raga-dveṣa is sama.

once the mind is mastered, then whatever the sense organs perceived; no problem; but because he knows what is attachment and what is freedom from that. 

Love