Vivekachudamani-Post 57

 

A father has got his sons and others to free him from his debts, but he has got none but himself to remove his bondage. (51)

Every human being has to fulfil the four purusharthas, dharma, artha, kama and moksha. So this is the duty; in fact, the intrinsic urge of every human being. 

So artha and kama is the fulfilment of the needs of the lower personality. Just to have physical security and also physical pleasure or entertainment, every human being needs from the level of one personality.

And if a person grows higher, a little bit more; he no more happy with the near fulfilllment; he feels that he has to do something to the society, something to the other people, the need for fulfilllment of certain values. 

These are all higher needs of an individual; they call need for self-esteem. I want to be a dharmic person; I want to tell the people that I have given so much money for the institution; these are the needs of the higher ego. The lower ego needs artha kama; the higher ego needs dharma. Everybody wants to present himself or herself as dharmic person.

And then still when you go to higher ego; there is the spiritual need which is called need for mōkṣa. They call it hierarchy of need. First security; then entertainment; then self-esteem; then self-actualisation; in our language, artha, kāma, dharma and moksha. Mokṣa is also a need in the sense that mōkṣa indicates the highest growth that a human being can achieve.

And this is also a need, because if you study any being in the creation, even a plant or animal, you find one thing common to all and what is that; everything is growing, growing. 

A plant. You need not request a plant to grow; it is natural urge to grow. And if there is any obstruction like ceiling or something, if you keep the plant inside the house, it will go through the window and grow. 

An animal also wants to grow. How much? maximum as much as it can grow. Therefore, growth is not something which you choose but growth is something which is intrinsically thought by all beings; it is a natural urge. But the only difference between animals and human beings is, in the case of animals, the growth is only physical.

But in the case of human being, the growth is not only physical but also emotional. By emotional growth I mean the capacity to love, care etc. for all the entire humanity. Love for all. Similarly, intellectual growth, i.e. knowing about everything. 

That is why science cannot remain quiet because they want to know what is star. they want to know; ‘they’ means what? the entire humanity wants to know. Knowledge wise growth and spiritual growth. All these are the innate urge of every human being. And moksha represents the highest growth possible; that is purnatvam; the infinitude.

Dharma Artha kama needs can be fulfilled by ourselves and we can fulfill these needs helped by other people also. I can fulfill by myself or even if I do not have time or capacity to fulfill; the other people can fulfill my needs.

For example, any ritual can be taken up by son, if father is aged and is not able to sit and perform the ritual. Within the family, one can earn and feed the other.

Whereas when the question of moksa comes, there is difference. What is that? For the sake of the father, son cannot say I will get knowledge on behalf of you. When son gets knowledge, who will get moksha?; son will get moksha, father is not going to get moksha; and son cannot even hand over.

Therefore Sankara says your moksha need you alone have to fulfil; therefore never give a complaint, I have no time; do not say; you have to fulfil dharma artha kama; you have to do your duties due to your family. Your children; your wife; your husband. But never say I do not have time for moksha;

As they say, seven people can take a horse to the water front; but the horse alone has to drink. Similarly, children may be ready to provide all the conditions for knowledge, but the father alone has gain it; nobody else can do. 

Therefore, Sankara says: bandamocanakarta; a person who releases one from bondage is svyam eva; oneself only; tasmat anyah kascana nasti; other than oneself nobody else can do that. And when we say nobody else can do; it includes even Bhagavan.

Even Bhagavan cannot give us mōkṣa. moksha is my very nature. God  can give the condition for discovering this fact. 

Easvara anugraha is manuṣyatvam; mumukṣutvam; and maha puruṣaḥ samsrayaḥ; moksha  is purely the  effort of the mumukshu sadhaka.

And therefore, you have to work for that. And whoever is working has to be congratulated. 

Love

Vivekachudamani-Post 56

The Guru replied , "Blessed you are. For you wish to attain the absolute Brahman by freeing yourself from the bondage of ignorance. Indeed , you have fulfilled your life and have glorified your clan." 

The Teacher's face now beams with a smile of satisfaction and soon, words expressing his joy, at meeting such a perfect student, flow out of him. The very fact that the boy has decided that he wants to be free from all his weaknesses, that he wishes to walk out into the boundless fields of perfection, has made him blessed. 

There are a few people for whom God realization has become the only pursuit of life; such are rare ones; and here the student happens to be one; who has dropped everything and who has come to find an answer to the question. And therefore the teacher says: dhanyaḥ asi; you are indeed the fortunate one; blessed one.

kr̥ takr̥ tyaḥ asi. In fact you are a fulfilled one. Liberated one. In fact this statement is not really true, because the student has come for liberation; how can the teacher even before the teaching, saying that you are liberated. 

In ordinary life too, we use expression such as 'baking the bread', when we know that bread need not be baked. In such cases,  we generally use the immediate future fulfilment to indicate the  present activity. 

Similarly, the enquiry into life and its relationship  with its cause, with a burning desire to live and accomplish the  ultimate perfection in one's own self, is the present activity which  will, in a short time, end in the final consummation of the purpose  of life. Therefore, the Teacher in anticipation declares that the boy  has fulfilled the purpose of his life. 

Here the idea is you have got a serious desire to remove this and you have come to the right place and therefore liberation is guaranteed.

Te kulam tvaya pavitam; you have sanctified your family by being born in that family. In the scriptures, it is said that if a liberated person is there in a family, it will bless not only the liberated person, it will bless seven generations, it is said. Not only the immediate family, but previous generations, previous generations; in fact the impact of a jñāni is so penetrating; and therefore you have sanctified your family.

Brahmi bhavitham icchahthi To release ourselves from the shackles of ignorance is not  merely to have knowledge but, transcending the ignorance- created projection of the body, mind and intellect, it is to live and experience Reality in Itself. Therefore, the Teacher says, "You wish  to attain brahmanhood, that is, godhood." 

yad avidya banda-muktya. So you are struggling to release or give up the bondage caused by ignorance. And by removing the ignorance, you are desiring to become become Brahman. 

Brahman means the infinite. Because Moksha is defined as Brahma bhavah. And that is why we say moksha does not come under selfishness because when we look at the pursuit of a person, that he withdraws from the society, withdraws from the family and goes to what you call serious pursuit of moksha, it looks as though she is utterly selfish. 

But the pursuit of moksha is the expansion of the I from identifying with one's family or one's society or community; through moksha he is expanding the I to identify with the entire cosmos.

Love

Vivekachudamani- Post 55

What is bondage? How has it come? How does it continue to exist?  How can one get out of it completely? What is the not-Self? Who is the supreme Self? And what is the process of discrimination between these  two (Self and not-Self)? Please explain all these to me. (49)

This is series of seven questions which the student asks the  Teacher, who will now take them up one by one and answer them exhaustively. 

1) Ko nama bandaḥ; what is the bondage that is talked about in all philosophical literatures? This word bandaḥ is used in all Indian philosophical literature and this refers to spiritual bondage, which is otherwise known as saṁsāra.

2) kathameṣa agataḥ; how did this bondage come; what is the cause of bondage; 

3) kathaṁ asya pratiṣṭaḥ; how does this bondage continue to survive? how does this bondage continue? pratiṣṭaḥ means what? Continuation; permanence; persistence; how does it persist; that is another better word; because you find in the creation anything that we experience goes away by itself in course of time; anything you see wears out in course of time but this saṁsāra bondage is such a unique thing, that it does not have a natural death; every other thing including stars have a natural death.

4) katham vimōkṣaḥ; how can we free ourselves or give up this persistent saṁsāra; that which does not have a natural death? Therefore we will have to specifically work for getting rid of this saṁsāra.

Just as rivers ultimately merge into oceans, you will also ultimately merge into Brahman, God; but that can create a misconception; that mōkṣa is a natural process. Here we say No; it is never natural; it requires our effort; our initiative; our hard work; and how can we do that? katham vimōkṣaḥ; how is freedom from bondage acquired or how is this shackle broken? This is the fourth question.

5) kaha asaui anātma; what is anātma? That is a technical word; if you translate into English it only means not-self. Ātma means self; ‘a’ means not; anātma means non-self; what do you mean by non-self. 

6) paramaḥ ka atma. What is meant by paramatma? paramatma means the real self; the true self; the supreme Self. Why we have to say the real self?

7) tayōrvivēkaḥ katham; how can one discriminate between; or differentiate; how can one differentiate ātma and anātma.

The student wants to know what is this individual personality and how do you dissect the individual personality and find out the what is the genuine-I and what is the non-genuine-I. Katham. How to do that?

In all the previous verses,  the Teacher spoke in terms of 'bondages', 'Liberation', 'not-Self',  'supreme Self', and the 'discrimination between the Self and the  not-Self', till now these terms were freely used but the student is  not satisfied with a mere understanding of the theories of Vedanta. 

He wants to live them in life. So he is now pointedly asking him to explain more clearly. Naturally, the Teacher catches the  enthusiasm of the student in getting clear answers to all his questions and and we shall see how beautifully he warms up to  the discussion.

Love

Vivekachudamani- Post 54

The sishya said , "Kindly listen , O Master! to the questions that I now  raise. Hearing their answer from your lips , I shall feel entirely satisfied."  (48)

The entire Vivekacudamani has, by now, changed from being a  textbook into an outstanding poem, a literary masterpiece because,  while writing this great work, Sankara often excels the philosopher  in him and becomes a poet to splash the entire power with brilliant  colors of pure literary genius. 

He has a special niche in  the 'poet's corner' and will perhaps be remembered as the noblest  poet who ever wielded a pen to bring about a cultural revival. 

Questions of the Disciple 

The very conversational style of this verse relieves the  monotony of the philosophy and brings into its arid fields the  touch of the human hearts and the thrills of a warm, pulsating  life. Here, an ignorant student reaches a seer, who is the fountain of knowledge and through a process of discussion, tries to attune  himself to his Teacher for walking out of dark ignorance into the  Master's brilliant domain. 

He says: Hey Svamin, Oh Lord, the Sishya is no more looking at the guru as even a person; he has raised the guru to the status of Bhagavan; therefore he is addressing Hey Svamin;

Moksha gita starts with the sishya addressing his Guru thus:-

The disciple said: O Merciful Master! I bow to thee. I have fallen into the dreadful ocean of birth and death. I am afflicted with the three kinds of Taapas. Save me, O Lord. Teach me, how I should cross this ocean of Samsara. 

 Oh Lord; ayam prasna maya criyate; a group of  questions is presented by me to you.

And for what purpose I am giving the question? You should not just give me prasādam and send me away. Questions are for answers. Therefore, he says yat uttaram aham srutva; I would like to get answers to these basic questions. 

So yat uttaram prasnanam uttaram; sapta prasnanam uttaram aham srutva; I would like to hear. In fact, the entire Vedanta  sastra is sapta prasna uttaram only. 

And I want to listen from whom? Bhavan mukhat. So do not say that the reply is in that book; go and read, do not say go to this person and that person; do not send me away; bhavan mukhat srutva; I want to hear from you only. 

And by listening to the answers, aham kr̥tarthaḥ syam.  kr̥tarthah means fortunate, blessed, fulfilled; that is best translation; fulfilled I will become.

kritaarta means moksha purushartah prapti. Philosophical fulfilment, which includes intellectual fulfillment, which includes emotional fulfilment, which includes even physical fulfillment. 

Rare are such disciple existing in present day world, sincerely treating their Guru (Essence ) as Swamin/ Lord, wanting/craving for getting all their spiritual  doubts clarified  only from their Guru- Bhavan Mukhat Srutva. 

Such verses elevate a sincere Spiritual aspirant to an inexplicable level. 

Love