Vivekachudamani - Post 24

  Verse 18    

साधनान्यत्र चत्वारि कथितानि मनीषिभिः ।
येषु सत्स्वेव सन्निष्ठा यदभावे न सिध्यति ॥ १८ ॥

sādhanānyatra catvāri kathitāni manīṣibhiḥ |
yeṣu satsveva sanniṣṭhā yadabhāve na sidhyati || 18 ||

(Great sages have spoken of four qualifications for attainment, which when present, one succeeds in the realization of Brahman and in the absence of which the goal is not gained.) 

 

In this sloka Sankara teaches by processes of agreement by presence and agreement in absence - that possession of the four fold means only qualifies for inquiry into Brahman.

 

In the world, if, when something exists there is the non-existence of something else, that something else cannot be the cause of that thing. To put it another way, when in the non-existence of a thing, something exists, the latter cannot be the cause of the former. When a cloth has come into existence in the absence of clay, the clay cannot be the cause of the cloth.

 

Applying this to viveka and to brahmajijnasa (the desire to know Brahman), where there is no jignnasa, there will not be viveka etc. There may be things other than viveka etc. Hence it becomes clear that viveka etc. are the cause of brahmajijnasa. 

 

Therefore, brahmajinasa on which depends brahmanishtaa will arise only when aided by the saadhana chatustaya beginning with viveka, and will not arise in their absence, it is established that these requisites are preliminary to barhmajijnasa which has as its goal what is known as Brahmanishtaa.

 

maniisibhih kathitaani: manisitvam means having knowledge of the import of the sruti.

Many sruti texts support Sankara’s enumeration of saadhana catustaya, and the requirement of nitya anitya vastu viveka. 

kathitaani: are said to be. The Upanishads convey the knowledge of Brahman which is the supreme object of human quest, which cannot be achieved by other means of knowledge and which cannot be sublated in any of the three periods of time. The qualification for such jijnasa accrues only to one who has the qualities mentioned successively in vivekadi (i.e., viveka etc.).

Sankara is emphasizing that a seeker must, first of all, try to see that he is fully equipped with these qualifications; and at all periodical reverses in spiritual progress, the sadhaka, instead of despairing, must intelligently evaluate himself and detect his own deficiencies. 

When a patient looks pale, the doctor will immediately examine him for deficiencies. To make up the deficiency, he will supply him with the necessary ingredients. Similarly, when a spiritual seeker is fagged out, it is never due to an external obstacle as people generally complain, but always because of a serious deficiency in his spiritual constitution.

 

Love.