Vivekachudamani-Post 89

Whoever seeks to rediscover the Self by devoting himself to the care  of the body is like one who proceeds to cross a river , holding on to a shark  which one has mistaken for a log of wood.(84) 

Sankara here strikingly brings out how dangerous and suicidal is  the attempt of the individual to perfect himself through physical indulgences and enjoyments. Anxiety for the body is an expression of our identification with it. This can come only when, in our  delusion, we have totally forgotten our essentially divine nature. 

Dealing with anatma, Sankara  has first taken up the stula sariram; as the first anatma for the study. He talked about the source of the physical body, in the form of five elements, and incidentally while talking about the physical body, he talks about the physical universe also, because both the body and the world are also born out of the five elements alone.

And he said that the physical world is called visayi; because it has the potential of binding a person. pointed out that one has to be extremely careful while handling the world, because if a person is not alert, he may easily develop powerful raga or dvesa; either of this is a big bondage. Not only raga-dvesas are direct bondage, indirectly also, they become a big obstacle for liberation. 

And having talked about the binding nature of the external world, now Sankara  talks about the binding nature of the very physical body itself; one's own physical body, because that is also as much a viṣaya as the external world.

Just as one can develop raga-dvesa towards the external world; one can develop raga-dveṣa towards one's own body; and therefore one should be careful and of these two rāga and dvēṣa; the generally pre-dominant weakness is raga or attachment; 

Therefore Sankara criticizes here deha abhimana or raga towards the body and he says, as long as a person has got deha-ragah; then he is never going to cross the ocean of samsara; because once there is a deha-raga; attachment to the body; he will be more and more interested in physical nourishment, physical decoration; physical entertainment.  

The whole time and energy will be dedicated to this alone, there will be no time for higher pursuit at all. 

If such a Jiva  has got two-fold desires, one is nourishing and entertaining the body or bodily attachment and simultaneously he has spiritual desire also; he says it will never work together; because it is like what? 

sa nadi tartum gacchati. He is attempting to cross a river with the help of what; ragam graham; by taking hold of a crocodile, assuming the crocodile is a log of wood, he wants to cross over the river holding on to that; and how it will not work. 

Not only he will not reach the shore, at least without the log of wood, he could have survived in the river for sometime, but with a crocodile, his death will be sooner. Similarly, dēha abhīmāna will only cause only imminent spiritual death; it can never take a person across saṁsāra; and therefore dēha abhīmāna has to be handled.

Ignorance and knowledge cannot exist at the same place and the same time. Where the ghost is recognized, there the post is non-existent, and one who recognizes the post, to him the ghost is not available at all. Similarly, one's beloved in a dream is non- existent in the waking state. 

So, he who is attached to his body and is wasting his time  and energy nourishing and fattening it is indeed a fool. He is as  far removed from the goal as the recognition of the rope is from  one who is dying in delusion of being bitten by a serpent. 

Love

Vivekachudamani-Post 88

This body is essentially an instrument for realizing the Paramatman. He who does not constantly use it for liberating himself from the bondage born of beginning less ignorance but struggles to nourish it, is destroying himself (83)

Every physical sheath, be it in the human, plant or animal life, is an instrument for its 'mind and intellect' to eke out from the world of situations a definite quota of experiences. The body provides for the time being, as it were, a locus for the mind and intellect to function from. 

Identifying oneself with the body because of ignorance, one may behave as if one was the doer and the enjoyer  and use the physical body to its own damnation. 

Sankara thus reminds the students that the body is not meant merely for gross activities and indulgence in sensuous enjoyments but having experienced the imperfections of the world, it is also meant for striving hard for self-redemption. Having gained this wondrous instrument, if a person does not make use of it properly, he is, in effect, committing suicide. 

The meaning of the verse pivots around the crucial word, ‘pararthah'. This word can be milked to yield two different and distinct meanings of which the nobler and more spiritual has already been discussed. From the same word we can coax out another meaning, 'an object that is meant for others to enjoy', is also pararthah. In this sense, we get in the single term, a beautiful summary of the biography of the body. 

Mahata puṇya-panyena kreeteyam kaayanou stvaya |

Praptum bhavambudheh param tara Yaavat Na Bhidyate||

The sloka  says: you have purchased a ship (your body) after paying a fortune (your excess Puṇya), with a goal of crossing this ocean of Samsara. Therefore, dear son, hurry up and cross over soon! The ship might wreck at any moment!

You have bought this wonderful physical body-boat after gaining lot of punyam; and this body-boat is meant for crossing the ocean of samsara. Therefore, make sure that you cross the ocean of samsara before the body-boat disintegrates.  The body is a means, not an end; body is a means not an end. 

In the womb the body grew, nourished by the mother's assimilated food; the body born in the world was fed by the milk of the mother and it grew to childhood. Till its death it is being fed, from within and without, with various nutritive diets and oil massages. 

But after death the very same body, so laboriously tended, so carefully nourished, so lovingly fattened, becomes a substantial meal for the worms of the earth, if it is lucky to be buried deep enough! Else it becomes food for the wolves and dogs, the vultures and crows. 

This is a timely reminder for discriminative spiritual students to realize the futility of paying court to their bodies and living a life dedicated to the health and comforts of this disgusting bundle of matter. 

yatparihr ̥ tya; yat means sariram therefore one should transcend the body. Transcending the body is transcending the obsession with body. Over-worrying about the body and its looks. Parihr ̥ tya means literally giving up; here giving up of the body should not be taken literally; giving up of the obsession with the body.

And when should you do that? anuksaṇam; every moment, you have to remind yourselves; this is a means; this is a means; let me not be over-worried. And if I am not obsessed with that, I have got lot of inner freedom; mind is available for something higher as they nicely say: simple life and high thinking.

Therefore, you have got time for higher thinking and what do you accomplish by higher thinking? 

Anadi avidya krita banda mokṣanam krityam; 

one should commit himself to; one should dedicate himself to moksanam. So the removal of, destruction of all bandah; all the inner shackle is struggled to get rid of; that is that should be the obsession. Let body obsession be replaced by Sastra -obsession; self-knowledge obsession; moksha obsession. 

Therefore banda moksanam krityam; he has to commit himself to release of the bondage. And how is this bondage caused? 

Anaadi avidya kritam. The bondage is caused by anadi avidya- beginningless ignorance. Avidya means atma avidya; self-ignorance. So therefore, replace body-obsession with self- knowledge obsession.

Love

 Dear All,

A talk on Janmashtami is given below. listen and experience the bliss of being with Krishna

Jai Sri Krishna

Love