Vivekachudamani - Post 10

 Verse 4 

 

लब्ध्वा कथञ्चिन्नरजन्म दुर्लभं

तत्रापि पुंस्त्वं श्रुतिपारदर्शनम् ।

श्रुतिपारदर्शनम् यस्त्वात्ममुक्तौ न यतेत मूढधीः

स ह्यात्महा स्वं विनिहन्त्यसद्ग्रहात् ॥ ४॥

 

Labdhva kathacinnarajanma durlabhaṁ

tatrapi pumstvam srutiparadarsanam 

yastvatmamuktau na yateta muḍhadhiḥ

sa hyatmaha svam vinihantyasadgrahat

 

(Is there a man, who having somehow gained a human embodiment and there having a masculine temperament and also a complete knowledge of the scriptures, foolish enough not to strive hard for Self-realisation?  He verily commits suicide, clinging to things unreal.)

 

Manushya janma itself is a rarer thing and in that manuṣhya janma also, developing an interest in spirituality is still rarer; and even after developing an interest, getting an opportunity to fulfill this desire by attaining a guru; this is the rarest thing.

 

And, having got such a wonderful opportunity, if a person fails this human life by pursuing only artha and kama, then Sankara points out that he must be the greatest fool in the world; who as though, commits  suicide, that is,  who is a destroyer of himself. 

 

In Taittariya upaṇiṣad, there is an advice kusalanna pramaditavyam. May you not be negligent with regard to your own well-being. Therefore if I am going to do my duty to all, and neglect the duties towards myself that is also foolishness and what is the duties for myself, I should spend some time for my dharma, and my artha and my kama and ultimately my moksha .

Chinmaya writes,

“This verse declares that having been born in a human form, and possessed of the necessary masculine qualities of the head and heart, when such an individual has also made a thorough study of the deep significances of scriptural techniques, if he has not the enthusiasm to walk the sacred path and reach the divine goal of self- perfection, such an individual, alas, commits suicide. 

How does a person commit this senseless suicide? By his false attachments with the objects of the world, as he looks out from the parapets of his body and his mind, forgetting his own real nature, which is all-pervading Consciousness, he comes to misunderstand himself to be the matter envelopments, which are nothing but thought created encrustations around the Divine in him.  

To satisfy these urges of his body and his mind, the individual runs after the objects. Necessarily, such a deluded person, having misunderstood his real nature, becomes the samsarika ego centre, a victim of his own ignorance. This fall of the Self to be the selfish ego is spiritual suicide. 

From the standpoint of  absolute reality, there is no suicide; but Sankara comes down to our level to help us discriminate between  the Real and the unreal, in and through our day-to-day life and it  is in this sense that he says we commit suicide. It is not the destiny  of the Self to suffer but it is the lot of the ego, the ego that strives in this world to be the sacred and the divine.”

 

We read in an earlier verse on step by step qualities required for a human being.

A human birth is indeed rare; 

To attain full manhood; 

A sattvika attitude in life. 

Steadfastness on the path of spiritual activity 

To have a correct knowledge of the deep significances of the scriptures. 

Discrimination between the Real and the unreal, 

A personal experience of spiritual glory and ultimately to get fully established in the living consciousness that the Self in me is the Self in all

 

In the above sequence, there are human beings who reach up to the penultimate stage - Discrimination between real and unreal and there, they halt, they stagnate, they are not able to take their sadhana to the next level to experience “Self” and to abide in Self.

This failure, after having achieved all the preceding points, is like a suicide, says Sankara.

Those who have not started off in the spiritual journey at all, who have not realized how precious is to be born as human, they are ignorant, they must go through several births, clear their acute prarabdha, to proceed in the spiritual path.

But those who have achieved 90%, who have walked in the spiritual path, who have been taught by a realized master or the vedas and having reached an advanced stage, if they are not able to sustain their sadhana, they are unable to get glimpse of SELF,  then, for them, it is definitely a suicide in spiritual sense.

 

Love.