Vivekachudamani-Post 50

अस्त्युपायो महान् कश्चित्संसारभयनाशनः ।

तेन तीर्त्वा भवाम्भोधिं परमानन्दमाप्स्यसि ॥ ४४ ॥

astyupāyo mahān kaścitsaṃsārabhayanāśanaḥ |

tena tīrtvā bhavāmbhodhiṃ paramānandamāpsyasi || 44 ||

There is a supreme means by which you can put an end to the fear of  relative existence; by that you will cross the sea of samsara and attain  supreme Bliss. 

Kaschit mahān upāyaḥ asti. There is a great grand method; Sādhanām, means  for saṁsāra bhaya nasanaha, which method will destroy the fear caused by saṁsāra. The anxiety, the insecurity, the sense of want, a sense of limitation, the fear of losing things and people. 

So this saṁsāra bhayanāśanaḥ destroying remedy is there. There is a medicine. And I am ready to give it to you. Tēna tīrtvā; saṁsāra bhayanāśanaḥ, nāśanaḥ means destroyer of fear. Tēna by that method; bhavām bhōdhiṁ tīrtvā, you can cross the ocean of saṁsāra.

Vedanta says Mokṣa is here and now. Therefore, you can test for yourselves. Therefore, never criticise without study.

 

Therefore, first study systematically comprehensively and see what vedanta has to say. Therefore tena tirtva, by that method, you can cross; bhavām bhōdhiṁ means saṁsāra sagaraha; bhava means saṁsāra, amōdhiḥ means ocean. 

After having crossed what will happen to you; param anandam apsyasi; you will attain the highest anandah, otherwise known as purnatvam; sense of fulfilment; sense that life has been meaningful; purposeful; wonderful.

A psychological assurance is again given here in a flood of love  that pours out from the heart of the Teacher. The repetition is  not merely for the sake of emphasis, but also to clearly reveal the  infinite consideration and divine sympathy which the Teacher has  for the student. 

It is the one most important insistence of Vedanta that  there is a sovereign means by which our misunderstanding and  consequent false evaluation of life can be completely crushed,  culminating in right understanding. 

Love

Vivekavhudamani- Post 49

मा भैष्ट विद्वंस्तव नास्त्यपायः

संसारसिन्धोस्तरणेऽस्त्युपायः ।

येनैव याता यतयोऽस्य पारं

तमेव मार्गं तव निर्दिशामि ॥ ४३ ॥

ma bhaista vidvaṃstava nastyapayaḥ

saṃsara sindhostaraṇe styupayaḥ |

yenaiva yata yatayo'sya paraṃ

tameva margaṃ tava nirdisami || 43 ||

The Guru said , "Fear not , O learned one! There is no danger for you . There is a way to cross over this ocean of change, I shall instruct you in the very path by which the ancient rishis walked to the beyond." 

First the guru says: ma bhaista; this is the most important statement. Do not be anxious. Do not be worried.

Hey  Vidvan; this is also patting the student, by addressing him: Oh Intelligent One; Oh learned one; the student is really informed and he has done everything correctly. And therefore, he addresses Hey Vidvān.

Tava apayaḥ nasti; there is no danger for you. Because you are imagining the future. 

The perfect disciple, having duly reached the Master's feet, expresses his fears that he will never be able to grow out of the disturbing concepts of time and space which provide for him experiences of unending sorrows of finitude. 

Things change in their relationship to both time and place. Objects remaining the same, they, with reference to different conditions of time and place, react upon the same individual differently. 

These pluralistic experiences produce agitations in the mind and that is indicated in verse 40 by the word, 'samsara duhkha'. When the student reached the Master, he despairingly requested him, 'Condescend to save me, O Lord! and describe in full how to put an end to the misery of this relative existence.' 

The Teacher now gives the answer to the student's question. Psychologically, when a questioner is extremely upset because of some fear or agitation in his mind, he is not in a mood to receive any philosophical idea, even when elaborately explained. 

Therefore, a sympathetic Teacher, if he knows what he is about, will first of all, pacify the student and give him hope and spiritual solace. 

Then alone would he become fit to receive the logical conclusions arrived at by a fully rational philosophy. Most fittingly then, the Master with paternal consideration and love, assures the student that what he fears, is only a myth. 

The Master can clearly see the spiritual destiny and the divine perfection which lie in the innermost core of the disciple. Change is only at the level of the mind and intellect. But when the pure Consciousness, eternal and infinite, functions through these equipments, it gathers into itself a delusive vision which interprets a world in terms of change and plurality. 

Therefore, danger or death is not the phenomenon of the Spirit but only the hallucinations of the mind. Therefore, with all confidence, the Teacher assures the student, 'There is no death for you.' 

Guru says yatayaḥ; many committed seekers; asya param yaata; asya means samsarasya; param means the other shore; yatayaḥ means they have reached. So many sincere seekers of the past have reached the shore of samsara very successfully; you can also reach. 

Tameva margam tava nirdisami; that very same path followed by the traditional people tameva margam- I shall teach you.

Now what the teacher is going to teach the disciple  is not the theory born out of the Teacher's own intellect but it is the path followed by the footprints of the ancient seers, who had themselves crossed over from the finite to the Infinite. 

We are assured that what is to follow now in the Teacher's discourse is an exhaustive discussion upon this sacred path of Self-realization, the authenticity of which has been proclaimed by an endless array of brilliant Rishis of yore.

Love

Vivekachudamani- Post 48

विद्वान् स तस्मा उपसत्तिमीयुषे

मुमुक्षवे साधु यथोक्तकारिणे ।

प्रशान्तचित्ताय शमान्विताय

तत्त्वोपदेशं कृपयैव कुर्यात् ॥ ४२ ॥

vidvān sa tasmā upasattimīyuṣe

mumukṣave sādhu yathoktakāriṇe |

praśāntacittāya śamānvitāya

tattvopadeśaṃ kṛpayaiva kuryāt || 42 

To him, who in his anxiety for Liberation, has sought the protection  of the Teacher , who abides by (scriptural) injunctions , who has a serene  mind and who is endowed with tranquility , the Master should pour out  his knowledge with utmost kindness. 

Vidvan- The guru has clearly estimated and judged the student properly and the guru has understood that the śiṣya is qualified for knowledge. Only if the śiṣya is qualified for knowledge, he can give. 

Mumukshu- Here, the teacher finds that the student is tīvraḥ mumukṣu. He is ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of mōkṣa. And that sacrifice alone is represented by sanyāsa āśrama; because a sanyāsi physically sacrifices everything that he can claim as his own. People as well as things. So that sanyāsi mind is required whether a person physically sacrifices or not; that sanyāsi mind is required. And that is there in this student; mumukṣu.

Yathoktakarine-  the one who leads his life in keeping with vēdic instructions. yathōktakāri means vēdōktakāri; the one who obeys the vēdic instructions; the one who is vaidikaḥ.

We require life of involvement to polish our personality and later gradually we should take to a life of withdrawal also,  and this is called yathoktakaari. 

Yatha uktam; uktam means instructed; instructed by what: by vedena; or even you can include guru; by guru. If guru or vēda, whatever has been instructed; he performs. This implicit obedience is also considered a qualification.

Prashantacittaya- the one who has got a tranquil mind; the one who does not get easily upset; the one who has got mental impunity to face ups and downs. In the sādhanā catuṣṭaya saṁpatti language, this is called Kshama.

samanvitaya; here the word śamaḥ should be translated as damaḥ; the word śama should be translated as damaḥ.

The word sama should be translated as damaḥ And what is damaḥ? indriya nigraḥ; sensory discipline. 

upasattimīyuṣē; the one who has approached the teacher properly. Proper approach. The one who has approached; derived from the root, e to go. yeti, yatchathi, to go. This is the fifth qualification, which means the one who has approached guru also.

Even if a man is well restrained and his mind does not get agitated with low thoughts of sensuousness, the philosophy being so subtle, it is not possible for a layman to understand it immediately, in all its deep significance. 

If the Teacher is impatient and has not the kindness to repeat even for the hundredth time, if need be, with equal love and consideration, the student will not be benefitted by the Teacher. 

So the Teacher should take up the job of initiating the student with extreme kindness. 

The word krpa has, unfortunately, no corresponding word in English. It is not merely 'kindness' nor is it a superficial sympathy.  At best, we can say that it is an attitude of sympathy cooked in  kindness, honeyed with love and served on golden platters of  understanding. 

Love