Vivekachudamani-Post 81

The deer, the elephant, the moth, the fish and the honeybee - these five are annihilated because of their slavery to one or the other of the senses such as sound and so on, through their own attachment. What then is the condition of a man who is attached to all these five? (76)

We are now discussing how attachment to the senses bind, enslave and destroy the peace of mind and freedom of true living. At this moment Sankara very appropriately, reminds us of the various examples provided by nature where certain species meet their death due to extreme attachment to one or the other of the five senses. 

The deer is always fascinated by melodious sound and the deer hunter sings to charm the deer. Attracted by the melody of sound, the deer has no awareness of the danger it is in and turns in the direction of the music, the hunter soon makes it his target. Therefore kuranga stands for sabda asa.

The elephants, especially in the mating season, become extremely attached to the sense of touch, rubbing against each other and walking without caution, they fall into the pits got ready to  catch them.  Therefore, elephant stands for sparsa asa, weakness for skin.

The moth is enchanted by form and attracted by the brilliance of the flame. It flutters towards it with an agonizing impatience and gets burnt. What we are taking advantage of is its weakness for bright light/lamp. Therefore rupa asa or rupa ragah.

The fish, ravenously hungry at all times, in its gluttony, swallows the bait, is caught and thus meets  its end in the stomach of fish-eaters. And therefore, minam has got rasa asa, or rasa ragaḥ. 

And then finally bhr̥ngaḥ vandu, the honey bee;  it t is attracted by the smell of the flowers; and because of that it is captured by certain flowers; it closes during the night; when it is attracted, especially in the evening time; goes and sits there; and the flower closes and it gets trapped and the commentator says, 

Again we do not know, we have to verify; that certain strong smell, like the smell of champaka flower that is so strong; that the bee will die because of the intensity of the smell; that the smell itself directly destroys that insect. Again, it has got what? gandha asa or gandah raga.

And therefore, each one of these animals dies because of its bondage caused by one guna; sabda guna; sparsa guna; rupa guna; rasa guna or gandha guna; that is said in the first line. pancha pancatvamapuh; 

Pancha means these five animals; so these above mentioned five animals; pancatvamapuḥ; gets destroyed; they perish; because of what? svagunena baddhaḥ; and bound by their own weakness for one one guna only. 

Now come to the fourth line, panchabhirancitaḥ kim; what to talk of the human being who has got all the five weakness? So ancitaḥ, ancitaḥ means associated with the panja asas. The five-fold attachment.

And this is not his mistake. Remember, this is not his mistake; these are all five natural instinctive weaknesses. So we have this weakness we need not feel guilty about their presence; the arrival is not because of it; it is instinctive. We are to be blamed if we are going to keep that weakness going. So therefore, perpetuation of the weakness is the mistake; the presence of the weakness is not our mistake.

If the weakness is there; we need not feel guilty; but we allow them to continue; we have to feel the guilt. Therefore, the presence is not weakness; perpetuation is the weakness. More in the next class.

When a man of ignorance, having neither discrimination nor detachment, vulgarly runs after sense objects for his temporary nerve tickling, he becomes a sad victim of his delusion and meets a calamitous end for he has allowed himself to be bound by the five strong ropes.

Love

 

Vivekachudamani- Post 80

Having united with parts of one other, they become gross and become the cause for the formation of the gross body. Their subtle essence constitutes the sense objects, five in number such as sound and so on, which contribute to the enjoyment of the experiencer, the individual ego.(74)

Tanmatra/ Panchikarana etc. are adequately described in the posts under the theme Tatwa Bodha. Readers are requested to go through the relevant posts in Tatwa Bodha for better understanding of  these terms.

75. Those thoughtless ones who are bound to these sense objects by the stout ropes of attachment, so very difficult to cut asunder, come and go, carried up and down by the compelling force of the convoy of the reactions of their own past actions. 

A samsarin is under the persecution of sense objects  because of his attachment to them. These attachments are so strong  that they become almost unbreakable. Thus bound to the gross, the ego ekes out its experiences and yearns for more. 

Every moment, it perpetrates endless activities each providing its own reactions to be enjoyed or suffered by the same ego. Thus repeatedly, the same ego visits different fields of activities and in a variety of environments. 

It again and again enters and leaves the arena of existence, reaping its reaction and sowing new seeds through desire prompted activities, which in their turn, compel it to come again to reap the fruits of the new harvest. 

Sankara says mudah; majority of humanity is mudah. So totally deluded; they think their physical body themselves; this is the first attachment. This is to their own physical body; by which they become a physicalized personality. 

Even their emotional and intellectual personality are forgotten; they reduce themselves to a physical personality; and through this physical attachment; it is extended to all other attachments.

Attachment to my body is called ahamkara; attachment to the world is called mamakara. Ahamkara mamakara moha, makes a person mudah; 

ya esu mudha viṣayesu baddha; they have lost their freedom; they are imprisoned by various sense objects.

When the reactions of the past actions tend neither towards  too much enjoyment nor too much suffering, that is, they are  almost equibalanced, then such an egocentre, with its slightly  predominant tendencies to be either good or bad, presents itself  in a human form. 

Thus a chance is given to everyone to consciously move either  up or down, or towards the infinite freedom of pure godhood.  Spiritual endeavour however, is possible neither in the heavenly  planes of experiences indicated by the term 'up' nor in the fields of sorrows covered by the term 'down'. 

Each of us comes to gain the required field, appropriate  and forming a perfectly logical sequence with the motives, thoughts  and desires entertained in the past. Guided by the very instincts  created in us as a result of our past karmas, that is, ordered by our  own karmaduta, we reach our destinations sought by ourselves. They are nothing but frozen past intentions now beginning to thaw.

Love

Vivekachudamani-Post 79

This body, the seat of delusion, expressing in terms of'T and 'mine', is termed by reputed sages as the gross body. Sky, air, fire, water and earth are the subtle elements. (73)

In these  verses, Sankara describes the gross body. In biology, we frequently find that an organ is discussed by describing its anatomy by an explanation of its cross-sections. 

This method does not seem unfamiliar to our ancient tradition, since it is used quite freely and liberally even in the realm of philosophy, when a philosopher  explains such subtle things as the 'layers' of a human being. Sankara  too, makes free use of this technique of explaining through a cross- section examination. In verse 72 we have a beautiful description,  layer by layer, of a cross-section of the physical body. 

Let us examine the contents of the body by studying the  transverse section of, say, the upper arm. Therein, we shall find  at its centre, a pulpy white matter called the marrow (majja), bone  (asthi) and still external, a layer of fat (medah), enveloped by the flesh (pala). 

On the outer layers of the flesh are conspicuously the blood (rakta) vessels and all these are packed beautifully with two layers of skin of which the inner cream coloured tissue is called the dermis (carma) and the outer thicker layer which we see is called the epidermis (tvak). 

These seven items then form the bulk of the  body in a transverse section of any part of it. 

Light which is not seen anywhere, which is experienced upon the hand, because of the reflecting medium; because the hand reflects the light, there is a confusion that the light is located in the hand only; it has got the limitations. 

So the limitless light, is seemingly limited, because of the reflecting medium. Therefore, the reflected medium is the cause of confusion. What confusion? 

The seeming limitation; the imprisonment of the light; the seeming limitations of light is caused by the hand; hand does not do any job. Because the hand reflects the light; what mistake we commit? 

The light is only here; I do not see the light there; I see the light here; etc. Similarly, the all-pervading consciousness which expresses in the body is seemingly confined to the body because of what? The limitations of the body.

Instead of claiming that I am the all- pervading consciousness, now I claim I am an individual human being. And this is called the basic confusion because, once I claim individuality, then there afterwards all other attributes comes; 

We also say that I am so many years old, I am dark, lean, I am male, female etc. and then there afterwards further extension this is my father, my mother, all stories come; and therefore Sankara says moha aspadam; which is the root cause of all delusions. 

I question the very consciousness itself. What a tragedy has happened? Now I question the very consciousness itself. That question is raised because of the body only.

And how does it create delusion? aham mama iti prathitam; by making itself available for two types of notion; by making itself available for two types of notions; ahamkara  and mamakara. Ahamkara  means I-notion; mamakara is my-notion. 

The five great elements are described as first created in their  subtle form and then through a process of combinations among  themselves, they become the gross elements which we are able to perceive with our sense organs. The process by which the subtle elements become the perceivable gross element is described in the next verse. 

Love