Vivekachudamani - Post 19

 Verse 13   

 

अर्थस्य निश्चयो दृष्टो विचारेण हितोक्तितः ।
न स्नानेन न दानेन प्राणायमशतेन वा ॥ १३ ॥

 

arthasya niścayo dṛṣṭo vicāreṇa hitoktitaḥ |
na snānena na dānena prāṇāyamaśatena vā || 13 ||

 

(Neither sacred baths nor any amount of charity nor even hundreds of pranayamas can give us the knowledge about our own Self but a firm experience of the nature of the Self can be gained when we send our thoughts along the rails of arguments laid down in the salutory advices of the wise.) 

 

In the previous verse, Sankara said enquiry alone can give knowledge. Here he emphasises nothing else can give knowledge. 

 

When you say enquiry alone can give knowledge it is a positive statement called anvaya; nothing else can give knowledge is stressing that negative.

 

Here again we find the superficial methods of easy religious practices condemned. Since the student is a Vedantin, Sankara's efforts are to show him the right and direct path. In thus indicating to the student the correct path, every Master has to be very severe in his criticism of the by-lanes of religion. No doubt, they too can help in the progress of the individual, but they are all primary lessons. 

 

External methods of self-purification such as baths at the sacred confluences of rivers, visits to various temples and other sacred places, desire prompted or even unselfish charities, exercises such as breath control and  asanas are wholly condemned as they would not take one to Moksha. 

 

The hasty convert to Vedanta suddenly finds it very convenient to give up every religious practice and call himself an accomplished Vedantin. This attitude also has no sanction in the Master's advice. 

 

Here it is said, snanena would not give mokṣa; It is never said that snanena will not give anything; It not only purifies the body; as it is done with Ishvara samaraṇam; it purifies the mind also. Similarly we never condemn praṇayama; praṇayama is extremely wonderful practice; to tone up the annamaya kosa; to tone up the praṇamaya kosa; to tone up the mano maya kosa; 

 

Vedanta does not question the validity and role of praṇayama; But after integrating through praṇayama; come to sastra. That is to be done. 

 

While condemning these preliminaries, he is, at the same time, very strict and severe in prescribing the more subtle and intense practices of Vedanta. For a Vedantin, he prescribes correct thinking and continuous self-analysis. Merely giving up the usual methods of religious discipline is not the Vedanta prescribed by the Acharya. 

 

If at all they are to be given up, it is only after greater abhyasa called 'vichara'. This atma-vichara is not to be done in any manner that pleases the individual. There is an exact method of correct and intense thinking and this method is advised in the scriptures. Therefore, vichara, undertaken as taught by the rishis (hitoktitah), alone can take us ultimately to our redemption.

 

In the previous verse, we said, Sastras / scriptures are like a torchlight which throws light on reality.

 

Here also what is the extra torch light; hitoktitah; hitaḥ means guru; a well-wisher; a guide; a support is called hitaḥ; literally one who is a well-wisher, Hitoktitah means guru vakyeṇa; and what is the guru vakyam? the extra torchlight.

So in the previous sloka, we said sastram vakyam is the extra light; here we say guru vakyam is extra light; we do not make any difference between sastra vakyam and guru vakyam; because guru is by definition one who teaches based on sastra.

 

Love.

 

Vivekachudamani - Post 18

 Verse 12  

 

सम्यग्विचारतः सिद्धा रज्जुतत्त्वावधारणा ।
भ्रान्तोदितमहासर्पभयदुःखविनाशिनी ॥ १२ ॥

 

samyagvicārataḥ siddhā rajjutattvāvadhāraṇā |
bhrāntoditamahāsarpabhayaduḥkhavināśinī || 12 ||

 

(The fear and sorrow created by the delusory serpent on the rope can be ended only after fully ascertaining the truth of the rope which is available for recognition only through steady and balanced thinking) 

 

रजजसु पवय दार् means a clear knowledge of rope; rajju means rope; it is the satvam; sarvam means the substratum of the false snake; 

 

Suppose if one says it may be rope and somebody asks go and touch it; he will say: why to take risk. Similarly if we say the world is Brahman; it is one thing. If we say the world may be Brahman; that is not enough.

 

And how did the snake come into existence? Not that there was a mother snake; and it gave birth to smaller snakes; it is not like that; this snake how did come; purely because of rope-ignorance. 

Therefore he says Bhrantodita. Bhranthihi means the error; erroneous perception; uditha means born. So therefore the clear knowledge of rope is the destroyer of the fear born out of the snake which is born out of an erroneous perception. In short, knowledge alone will destroy this particular fear.

 

It is never possible that one who has seen the rope as a rope will ever have the fear and sorrow of a snakebite. But in the gathering darkness of dusk, a traveller mistakes an innocent rope to be a snake. The serpent delusion is created in the mind of the traveller because of his ignorance of the rope-reality. 

 

Having thus been bitten by a delusory serpent, the individual, so long as he is under the delusion, suffers the agony of a snakebite and, if left alone, will exhibit symptoms of blood poisoning too, but the traveller is advised to make an enquiry into his delusion. 

 

In vedanta, this example is often quoted to make the student understand how the names and forms created through the ignorance of Reality can end with the rediscovery of the Truth underlying them. 

 

However great a devotee he may be; you might have the mantropadesah, but when rajju sarpa comes, what you need is to intelligently bring the torch and see it properly. The torch is called the sastra pramaṇam. 

 

Take the sastra pramaṇam torch. Knowledge is attained through only proper enquiry. Proper enquiry means what, with sastra torchlight; that is why "proper" is put. So then alone this knowledge will come and the knowledge alone will destroy the bhayaṁ.

 

Similarly if the samsara bhayam should go; atma jnanam should come; and if atma jnanam should come, vichara is a must.

 

Till the time we keep thinking about snake, how much ever we may try to negate the existence of snake, the fear will never go. Only upon discovering the existence of rope, the delusion of snake will go.

 

Similarly, Sankara says, as long as you think that Brahman may be the reality, you won’t be able to experience Brahman. Only when you are convinced through the stage of mananam that “Only Brahman exists”, then, in nidhidhyasanam, there is hope for you to experience Brahman as pure awareness / consciousness.

 

 

Love.

Vivekachudamani - Post 17

 Verse 11  

 

चित्तस्य शुद्धये कर्म न तु वस्तूपलब्धये ।
वस्तुसिद्धिर्विचारेण न किंचित्कर्मकोटिभिः ॥ ११ ॥

 

cittasya śuddhaye karma na tu vastūpalabdhaye |
vastusiddhirvicāreṇa na kiṃcitkarmakoṭibhiḥ || 11 ||

 

(Selfless work and charitable acts help to purify the mind, but they do not, by themselves, contribute to the perception of Reality. The discovery of the Reality is brought about only by discriminative analysis and never by any number of actions.)

 

An often quoted analogy by the author - In our school times, we loved our school, we loved our seating, our class mates who uses to sit along with us in a row. But can we, after growing up and getting married, still go and sit on the same seat in that same row in the same class room saying that we love that seat, that class and we won’t leave that?

Another example.

A child is told by his parents to revise his arithmetic tables  everyday. The obedient child soon gets into the habit of starting his day with a reading of the tables. But if the child continues his habit as a dull and unintelligent routine even in his postgraduate classes, it is but natural for his professor to laugh at his stupidity.

 

A sage writes,

 

“In the halls of Vedanta, the seeker is laughed at because of the time-worn techniques of self-development to which he has become habituated, but that does not mean that  Sankara or the Vedantins are against them. 

 

The paths of karma, bhakti and so on, have certainly a place in the scheme of self-development and they are unavoidable in hauling up a man through the various stages of self-development to the pinnacle of perfection. 

 

Here Sankara points out that karma when undertaken with a pure nishkama bhava purifies the inner instruments of feeling and understanding. The word 'shuddhi' used in connection with the mind is to be understood as a greater degree of integration. The purer mind has a greater capacity to concentrate.”

 

Three things constitute dharma; one is rituals or religious exercises; like puja, japa etc. that is one part of dharma; all religious exercises whether it is temple visit, puja, pilgrimage japa, etc. all of them will come under rituals or religious exercises.

 

Second part of dharma is values. There are many people who give importance to religious exercises but they never give importance to their character, the quality or morality. And therefore morality or value is the second part of dharma.

 

And third part of dharma is attitude; the way we look at the creation; the way we look at ourselves and the way we look at the people around. First learn to respect yourself.  A Bhakta is great not because of anything; because Lord is inside him. 

 

Thus religious exercises, values and attitude. This is called karma here. Chittasya Shuddaye karma; Karma is equal to dharma.

 

When an action is undertaken with a motive, the individual must necessarily be shattered and fatigued under its persecution. On the other hand, when an act of charity or kindness is done in a spirit of dedication  and love, with no ulterior motive, the mind cosily settles down and  peace that rises within the sadhaka increases automatically and  his personality becomes more and more integrated. 

 

Selfless actions do not help a seeker directly in his flights of self-discovery. But they certainly have a place in one's sadhana in as much as they prepare the individual to transcend the ego and give him the wings for the last flight to the beyond. 

 

Sankara is uncompromisingly severe when he declares in his irrevocable statements that the Self is neither produced nor knowledge created as a result of finite actions, however noble, divine and great they may be.

 

How about someone who is unable to take up the path of vichara? He would like to do more of puja; Can he cry in front of the Lord as a replacement of vichara? 

 

Sankara says Na kinchit karma kotibhihi; one can do crores of yajnas; crores of yagas; crores of pujas; intense bhajans; one  may do all these things; cry in front of the Lord; crying would not replace enquiry; but crying in front of the Lord would not go waste; the Lord will make him fit for enquiry make you love enquiry. 

 

Such a bhakthi will gradually change and one will begin to like enquiry and Lord would change the mind; change the attitude. 

 

A bhakta may not know when he has moved / evolved to the path of discrimination. In His Love for God, when the urge within him is on fire to merge with the lord instead of crying out for the lord, in that quest for merger with lord, the path of Jnana/discrimination has started.

Karmaṇa siddhihi, vicharane jnana. This is sara of this sloka. Religion gives purity; philosophy gives knowledge. Veda purva is purity; veda anta is knowledge. 

 

 

Love.