Verse 32
स्वात्मतत्त्वानुसन्धानं भक्तिरित्यपरे जगुः ।
उक्तसाधनसंपन्नस्तत्त्वजिज्ञासुरात्मनः
उपसीदेद्गुरुं प्राज्ञ्यं यस्माद्बन्धविमोक्षणम् ॥ ३२ ॥
svātmatattvānusandhānaṃ bhaktirityapare jaguḥ |
uktasādhanasaṃpannastattvajijñāsurātmanaḥ
upasīdedguruṃ prājñyaṃ yasmādbandhavimokṣaṇam || 32 ||
(Others say that 'bhakti' means a
constant enquiry into the real nature of one's own Self one who has the
above-mentioned qualifications and is anxious to know the Self must, therefore,
devotedly serve a Teacher, well-established in Knowledge, for redeeming himself
from bondage)
The previous definition prescribes the
path by which devotion is gained, and this one declares love as its own goal.
One is said to be devoted to his profession when he is constantly aware of his
duties in his profession. A full-time dedicated life towards any activity
is called, even in everyday life, as devotion.
Examples of devoted wife, devoted son,
devoted husband, devoted student and so on, are not uncommon usages in our
language. To live as the Self and to meet others in life, standing upon this
solid foundation of the true nature of the Self, is the culmination of
knowledge and this is termed by Sankara as 'bhakti'. That is, he defines bhakti
as both the means and the end, love is the means to gain love. The path of the
seeker is to love through love.
In thus hinting at the glory of
devotion, the author continues prescribing other practices necessary for a
seeker of Vedanta during his evolution. A seeker who has the
necessary qualifications, in order that he may be redeemed from his
inner weaknesses, attachments, animalisms and false values is advised to
serve with devotion a Teacher who is well- established in the experience
of the Self.
Sankara says gurum upasidet; one
should go to a Guru. Who should go to a guru? Ukta sadhana sampanna, the one
who has gone through the previous preparatory step. Previous preparatory step
means you should remember, basic intellectual qualification and the sadhana
chatuṣṭaya sampatti.
Upasana of the Guru is not a mere
servile attendance upon him in an attitude of growing disgust or in a mood
of melancholy dissatisfaction.
This constant mental awareness of
the ideal through the person of the Guru slowly and steadily raises the
moral tempo and ethical goodness in the neophyte who finds himself
well-established in his inner purity which would otherwise have taken him
painfully long years to develop.
When suggestive words of deep import
are given out by a Teacher in his moments of inspiration, the student at
once understands the Teacher. It is for this reason that Sankara is compelled
to declare that as a result of Guru upasana, the disciple becomes capable of
liberating himself from his limitations.
On serving one’s Guru, a saint writes,
“In the spiritual world, it is only by
the grace of Guru that we will attain knowledge, not solely by our own efforts.
So, to receive his grace, we will have to serve him. What is the meaning of
seva? Seva means to continuously feel that one has no capability of serving the
Lord. Secondly, doing seva with complete surrender of the mind and increasing
the feeling of ‘giving’ and not ‘receiving’. Lastly, we should not have any
pride in having served him or having done a lot of seva. Now, only a
God-realized Saint can perform this type of seva, whose heart has been
completely purified.
Those who are under the influence of
Maya cannot have this kind of servitude. So, God says: “In the
preliminary stages, you will not get seva of God but you will get the
opportunity to serve a Guru. If you serve your Guru to the best of your
capabilities, you will then receive the seva of God.”
“Just as the iron filings are
magnetised in the presence of a magnet, so also aspirants are magnetised when
they are in close contact with their masters or Gurus. Just as iron is
transmuted into gold by the touch of philosopher's stone, so also persons with
evil tendencies are transmuted into veritable saints when they come in close contact
with sages and Yogins.
Love.
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