Verse
23
रागेच्छासुखदुःखादि बुद्धौ सत्यां प्रवर्तते ।
सुषुप्तौ नास्ति तन्नाशे तस्माद्बुद्धेस्तु नात्मनः ॥ २३॥
RAAGA-ICCHHAA-SUKHA-DUKHA-AADI
BUDDHAU SATYAAM
PRA-VARTATE
SUSHUPTAU NA ASTI TAT
NAASHE
TASMAAT BUDDHEH TU NA
AATMANAH
(Attachment,
desire, pleasure, pain, etc, are perceived only when the intellect functions.
In deep sleep, when the intellect is absent, they too are absent. Therefore,
they belong to the mind alone and not the Atman. )
Placing
himself in the shoes of an objector, suppose, someone asks, “You are
asking me to take all my attention away from the things I like. What kind of
life are you asking me to live? Whatever you may say about desires, I feel very
much that I am those desires. Is there any proof you can give of your
statements apart from all these examples. I am tired of your similes. They are
only similes, where is the proof that this is so?”
These
objections are to be expected, but the Vedantin is rooted in sound logic and
observation of life without any bias. Here, in this verse, Sankara resists the
temptation of giving a simile, in order to answer the above doubt.
Where
Do Attachments, Desires and Pleasures Reside?
We
experience all these only as long as the intellect or mind functions. As soon
as the mind is not available, as in deep sleep, these tendencies, desires,
attachments, and so on, also cease. Is that not proof enough that they exist
only in the mind and not the Atman? Hence, they cannot be the Self.
The
logic of this verse is undeniable. It is simple and clear. The conclusion Sri
Sankaracharya expects us to draw from it is that these are mental conditionings
and we should not identify ourselves with them, unless we don’t mind being
kicked about whichever way the mind blows.
One
of the monks from Chinmaya mission gives some excellent examples for this
verse, though Sankara has not given any simile for this verse.
1.
A buffalo is walking past as you cross the road. Buffalos are always a nuisance
to traffic, but you have no need to make that your problem unless, of course,
you somehow feel that you are that buffalo! That is what we are doing to the
thought-buffalos of our mind. They are not “me”; we should just observe them
and ignore them. But when we make them “me”, that is when we are asking for
trouble.
2.
We see a boat rocking in the water at the river bank. After watching it for
some time, we ‘take over’ the rocking movement and feel as if we are rocking
with it. Why? – Because we identify with it.
3.
A Mahatma was trying to teach a student how to handle the mind. He took two
stones and kept rubbing them against each other. His student, watching this,
asked why this was being done. The Mahatma said, “I am trying to make these
stones white.”
The
student said it was not possible to do that; the stones will never become
white. Then the Mahatma smiled at him and said, “It is the same with this mind.
We can never change it; we have only to learn to be indifferent to it. However
much we try, we will never make it Brahman.
4.
And the last example: Suppose we have just completed a long 2-day journey to
Sidhbari in the Himalayas. When we get off the train, for quite a while we find
ourselves still swaying like we were doing in the train. It is hard to keep
balance, until we adjust slowly to being motionless again.
There is a Self within
us that is steady and unflickering. It does not follow the vagaries of the
mind. It is stable and steady, silent and peaceful, desireless and unattached.
Love.
