Verse 9
उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं मग्नं संसारवारिधौ ।
योगारूढत्वमासाद्य सम्यग्दर्शननिष्ठया ॥ ९ ॥
uddharedātmanātmānaṃ magnaṃ saṃsāravāridhau |
yogārūḍhatvamāsādya samyagdarśananiṣṭhayā || 9 ||
(Having
attained the state of yogarudha through continuous and well established
discrimination, one should lift oneself from the ocean of change and
finitude wherein one has come to be drowned.)
When an individual has realised his
limitations and feels that he must by some means redeem himself from his
weaknesses and gain mastery over himself, it is not sufficient that he
surrenders to his Master no matter how great, or runs away from the
world into a quiet jungle or even makes a thorough and complete
study of all the scriptures. Practices such as these, may somewhat help
the individual but he can lift himself from the mire of his inner weakness
only by dint of sustained self-effort.
All these slokas are talking about jnana sadhanam. Previous sloka, this
sloka; jnana sadhanam is vedanta sravaṇam; otherwise called vedanta vicaraḥ. So the same idea is repeated in all
these verses in different ways.
In Bhagavad-Gita - 6.4, we have a
description of the yogarudha state. When a man is not attached to sense
objects or to actions and has renounced all thoughts, then he is said to
have attained to Yoga.
Yoga in its right sense is only that
state of mind, in which the mind having recognised its weaknesses
attunes itself to a greater and more perfect ideal, which the intellect
has shown it. Any attempt of the mind to rise from the low values of
its present existence to a healthier and diviner scheme of living is
Yoga.
To get established in Yoga is to make it
a habit to strive sincerely to rise above one's known weaknesses in order
to attain the ideal.
After attaining yogarudastvam; what is the next thing; samyak darsana nishta. Nishṭa means commitment. In
what? Samyak darsanam; self-knowledge
or self-enquiry. Samyak darshana niṣṭaya one should be
committed to self-enquiry; otherwise called vedanta vichara.
Through study, following of the sastra
instructions, practices of self-control and various other spiritual
sadhanas, one can expect to develop the subtlety of one's inner
instruments for experiencing the world as it is, uncoloured by any
personal prejudices, attachments or hatreds.
This perception of the world as it is,
in perfect detachment and discrimination is called 'samyag darsana'.
'Darsana' in Sanskrit also means 'philosophy' and, therefore, the term can
also be interpreted as the vision of the world through the eye of
philosophy.
There are two stages; the first
stage vedanta vichara yogyata prapthi;
next stage is vedanta vichara. The
whole life is only for these two.
First three asramas, brahmacārya, grahastha,
vanaprastha, all these asramas are vichara yogyata prapthihi;
That is the importance of self-effort
is highlighted. The importance of proper use of free will is highlighted.
Esvara's grace is important; guru's
grace is important; sastra's grace is important; vedanta accepts grace very
much; what we emphasise is grace can never replace self-effort. Grace can never
replace self-effort; however, big and powerful the grace may be. And therefore
Sankara says: uddhared; better you work.
“One should lift oneself from the ocean
of change and finitude wherein one has come to be drowned.”, says Sankara
in this verse.
For lifting oneself from the ocean of
Samsara, self-effort is required through Yoga, vichara and Samyug
Darsana, as explained in this verse. The final and climax or the fructification
of such intense effort is the grace of Eswara when He lifts such a deserving
Sadhaka from ocean of samsara, saves him from being drowned and takes the
sadhaka to His abode wherein the sadhaka merges with the supreme.
Love.