Vivekachudamani- Post 43

शान्ता महान्तो निवसन्ति सन्तो
वसन्तवल्लोकहितं चरन्तः ।
तीर्णाः स्वयं भीमभवार्णवं जनान्
अहेतुनान् यानपि तारयन्तः ॥ ३७ ॥ 

Santa mahanto nivasanti santo
vasantavallokahitaṃ carantaḥ |
tirṇaḥ svayaṃ bhimabhavarṇavaṃ janan
ahetunan yanapi tarayantaḥ || 37 ||

(There are peaceful and magnanimous saints who live, like the spring season, for the good of humanity. They have crossed the dreadful ocean of finitude through their own efforts and with no ulterior motives; they  also help others to cross it.)

On understanding the essence of Truth in ourselves, we gain a freedom from the sense of finitude which was ours so long as we identified ourselves with the body, mind and intellect. 

Since these  disturbances can no longer affect a Man of Perfection, it is one of the surest symptoms of knowledge and saintliness if we can observe an individual who is under all provocative circumstances, infinitely at peace with himself and with the world. Therefore, a santa is a man of true broadmindedness which is the natural outcome of kindness, tolerance and so on. This is the flag of Realisation. 

Santah mahantah. So the jnanis are mahantaḥ; they are generous people that they live in the world purely for the sake of rescuing and helping others. Just like when there are flood all over, there are rescuers with boat and other things and they go around and put the people into the boat. 

Svayaṁ bhīmabhavārṇavaṁ tīrṇāḥ; they have themselves crossed over the ocean of saṁsāra; they are free that is the essence; they have crossed bhava arnavah; bhavaḥ means samsara; arṇavaḥ means ocean; bhavarṇava arṇavaḥ means saṁsāra sagara ārṇavaḥ; and what type of ārṇavaḥ; bhīma ārṇavaḥ; 

Literally Bhima means bayamkara aarṇavaḥ; bibeti asmaat iti bhīma aarṇavaḥ; It is derived from the root bhim; to cause fear. So from this frightening waters of samsara; it is not like the swimming pool where you can enjoy; but it is frightening waters of samsara; this samsara; svayam tirṇaḥ; they are free.

A Man of Realisation instinctively becomes a lover of the whole universe. Like spring, his is a love which demands no cause to flower into a wealth of blossoms. 

Living as he does in this intimate understanding of oneness, he cannot but love others as his very own Self.  This can be brought within the understanding of the laity through a comparison. 

Sankara gives us an inimitable example when he compares the mahatmas and the touch of joy they lend to the world, with the spring season. When spring comes, it does not court every tree to  bring forth its flowers nor does it reach the world and canvass the moon to be brighter, the sky to be clearer and cleaner, the grass  to be thicker and every heart to be more joyous. 

Similarly, it is for the Mahatma to spread knowledge and  cheer around him and whenever true seekers reach him, they  are irresistibly drawn into his orbit to bask in the warmth of his  personality. 

janan tarayantaḥ; for what purpose; ahetuna; without any reason; without any motive; anyan with go with janan; anyan janan ahetuna tarayantaḥ; motivelessly they help other people cross the samsara. taryati; tarati means cross; tarayati means help other people cross.

Love

Vivekachudamani-Post 42

Durvarasamsara davagnitaptam

dodhuyamanam duradrstavataih, 

bhltam prapannam paripahi mrtyoh

saranyamanyadyadaham na jane. (36) 

I am being roasted in the blazing infernal fire of change; I am being  tossed by the cruel storms of misfortune; I am terrified (within and without). O Lord! Save me from death; I seek refuge in thee, for I do not know of any other harbour wherein to seek shelter. 

A comparison of the rhyme and rhythm of this verse with those of  the previous one gives us an idea of the mastery of Sankara's pen  in poetry. If the former is a melodious flow of peaceful tranquility,  a flow that removes all the clogs of the heart and allows it to move  freely into molten love and liquid surrender, this verse, in its brisk trot, exhibits in its very rhythm and sound an irresistible impatience and pressing urgency. 

The first line in the verse explains the dangers to which the  seeker is exposed, while in the second line we have an indication of the dangers that he realises are besetting him from within. 

So ahaṁ durvārasaṁsāradavāgnitaptaṁ. So I am roasted by the forest fire of saṁsāra; So here saṁsāra is compared to forest fire or bush-fire and all they say. 

So forest fire means that it is so wide; and it is so huge; and it spreads also very fast; and therefore in our scriptures saṁsāra is often compared to davā analaḥ; davā analaḥ means forest fire. And why saying forest fire what does he indicate; durvāraḥ; durvāraḥ means unstoppable; unquenchable; non-removable; cannot be put out that easily; 

In the outer world of contact with things he is overwhelmed by sorrows of an ever-changing pattern, while in himself he recognizes an endless storm caused by his likes and dislikes, his loves and hatreds, his hopes and disappointments. 

These two lines beautifully summaries the experience of finitude which is the lot of every seeker before he enters the hall of wisdom. 

It is only when an individual develops his sensibility, subtle enough to recognize these weaknesses in life that he comes to  feel such a pressing urgency for Liberation. 

When he experiences this, he comes to demand of the Guru, safety and shelter from the threatening cries of death with their poisoning evil experiences in life. 

Prapannam; I have surrendered to you; that is the only one good thing; knowingly or unknowingly, because of puṇyam or pāpam (not pāpam!) because of some puṇyam, I have surrendered to you and therefore paripāhi; you alone have to rescue me. 

Not a temporary rescuing effort; paritaḥ pāhi; totally protect me from me mr̥ tyōḥ; from mr̥ tyu; mr̥ tyu literally means death and in this context, it means saṁsāra; constant change. Janma, mr̥ tyu, jarā, vyādi, duḥkhaṁ, are all indicated by the word mr̥ tyōḥ, and from mr̥ tyu, may you protect me.

We should not construe death to mean only the experience  of dying which is the lot of all beings, but it is to be understood in its broadest sense as the poison of finitude. Every moment there is  death, as each experience dies away, and out of its ashes springs  the next circumstances to be experienced.

The disciple is asking for  guidance to the realms beyond death, a state of living in which the  experience of life is the continuous, homogenous. Bliss Absolute. 

And why should you protect me? Because yathu, yathu  means because, ahaṁ na jaane, I do not know anyad śaraṇyam, any other refuge; I do not know any other protector.

This verse again is a prayer addressed to the Guru coming  from the bottom of the student's heart, thereby making his  attunement with the Guru perfect and complete.

Love

Vivekachudamani- Post 41

Svaminnamaste natalokabandho 

karunyasindho patitam bhavabdhau,

Mamuddharatmlyakataksadrstya 

rjvyatikarunyasudhabhivrstya. 

O Master! O friend of those who reverentially surrender to thee! Thou ocean of mercy! I salute thee; save me, fallen as I am into this sea of change, with a direct glance from thy eyes which rain nectarine grace supreme. 

Chinmaya writes,

"Here a student of Vedanta is asked to surrender himself to  the Guru and to serve him with meek surrender. This prescription is not meant to make the student intellectually a slave to the Teacher but these practices, when pursued for some time, easily make the student fully tuned up to the Teacher's heart. 

What the Teacher has to convey is the experience of the Transcendental and as the Infinite cannot be defined in finite words, the words of the Master can echo their message only in a bosom that has been stilled in complete love. 

In order that we ourselves may not create any discordant notes and destroy the harmony, we, as students, are asked to serve and surrender, to pray and worship at the Master's feet."

The very first verse in one of the greatest works of Brahma rishi Sivananda-  Moksha Gita - exactly echoes the deepest essence of this verse.

The disciple said: O Merciful Master! I bow to thee. I have fallen into the dreadful ocean of birth and death. I am afflicted with the three kinds of Taapas. Save me, O Lord. Teach me, how I should cross this ocean of Samsara.

“The disciple approaches the Guru.  This is the starting point of Brahmavidya. The aspirant after equipping himself with the Sadhana-Chatushtaya, i.e., the ethical discipline necessary for the purification of the heart before enteringinto the field of Brahmavidya proper or the Science of the Ultimate Reality, goes to the Spiritual Teacher for higher Knowledge.

Humbler than a blade of grass, filled with the fire of renunciation born of discriminative understanding, the seeker bows down to the Guru who glories in the majesty of Brahmic Splendour. 

Not as the present-day student of the school or the college, but as an earnest votary of Life’s Grand Destination, roused up by the consciousness of suffering in pluralistic existence on earth, fully aware of the affliction of mortal living, cheated by chance, tormented by thought, defeated by the forces of nature, oppressed by the massive weight of worldly duty, shocked by the horror of death, dreaded by the consciousness of future lives where the tragedy of existence will be repeated, finding no way of escape from the prison of terrestrialness, the aspirant opens his eyes and looks up towards his Great Duty, the duty of Self-realization.

A spiritual Preceptor is absolutely necessary. He alone can foresee the pitfalls of the aspirant and direct him in the right path. The Chandogya Upanishad says that only he who is guided by a Guru can have the Knowledge of Brahman. Others will be misled and lost in spiritual blindness; for the road to Moksha is hard to tread. It is a razor-path. The Grace of God and Guru, Ishwara-Kripa and Guru-Kripa will raise up the aspirant to the heights of Spiritual Attainment.”

Every preceptor, from Sankara to Sivananda and all others lay such great emphasis on the importance of Guru and need for surrender to Guru in the path of wisdom. When they say this, the mean surrendering to the Guru Tatwam. 

But in the present day world, this differentiation between the name and form of Guru and Guru tatwa, the essence of Guru, is not clearly experienced and understood by the disciples/ intellectual beings. 

Even physically worshipping/serving one's guru, reverring one's guru should happen due to the surrender of the disciple to the essence of Guru, to the realized state from where the preceptor has come down to take the disciple on his lap and to teach the disciple.

Hence this total surrender to the Guru tatwa is lost during the journey of a sadhaka and sadhakas thus  get stagnant  in their spiritual evolvement and the downfall in their evolvement starts taking place, when they fail to surrender to their Guru (tatwa)  and  start existing / continue sadhana  as per their mind, their ego. This is the most unfortunate thing in present world where ego reigns supreme over all other things in the world.

Love