Verse 10
संन्यस्य सर्वकर्माणि भवबन्धविमुक्तये ।
यत्यतां पण्डितैर्धीरैरात्माभ्यास उपस्थितैः ॥ १0 ॥
saṃnyasya sarvakarmāṇi bhavabandhavimuktaye |
yatyatāṃ paṇḍitairdhīrairātmābhyāsa upasthitaiḥ || 10 ||
(May the wise and learned man give up
all actions which are motivated by desires and start the practice of
rediscovering the Self and thereby attain freedom from the bondage of
birth and death.)
A sage says,
“Here is a piece of advice given to a
man who has all the necessary theoretical knowledge of the science of self-
perfection. He is told to renounce all activities motivated by
self-aggrandizing hopes or disintegrating desires.
This renunciation of the activities of
the world is not to be over-emphasized and misunderstood, as is generally
done, to mean that Vedanta is calling man to a life of eating only fruits
and leaves. It is only asking us to reduce overexcitement in life and to
curb the wasteful expenditure of our mental and intellectual energies born
out of our unintelligent desires and lofty expectations.”
Sarvakarmaṇi samnyasya. After renouncing all the
karmas; if the karmas are formally renounced, it is called sanyasa asrama. So
literally saṁnyasya sarvakarmaṇi means caturta asram swekritya; but if
a person does not take to sanyasa asrama, we can do the enquiry in Grahastha
asrama also; but reducing the karmas to some extent, and developing detachment.
In fact finding time is easier. But getting a withdrawn mind is more difficult.
For a grahastha's attempt is
more than finding time, finding a quality mind, because the mind can, when time
is available, efficiently do the worrying. Therefore time is not a problem but
the mind, committed mind, a withdrawn mind is difficult to attain. Therefore
detachment becomes more important for a grahastha than even
reducing the activity. If detachment is there, minutes available would be
quality time.
That good and sincere work will
yield noble fruits should be a sufficient direction to guarantee us a
peaceful passage for our pilgrimage here. But we expect the impossible, a
noble return from a vicious or ill-planned action instead of the painful
returns of sorrow, that will yield to us many a terrible hour of
unproductive anxiety and suicidal worry.
In the Bhagwad Gita, Lord says,
kamyanaṁ karmanaṁ nyasam sannyasam
kavayo viduh,
sarvakarmaphalatyagaṁ prahus tyagaṁ vicaksanaḥ (18.2).
Sannyasa is that kind of behaviour by
which the actions that are connected with desire of some kind or the other are
abandoned. A person may be said to be in a state of sannyasa the moment that
actions which are motivated by desire are abandoned.
That is to say, sannyasa does not mean
abandonment of action as such. It means abandonment of actions which are connected
with a desire of some kind. If we can think of an action without any desire
attached to it, that is a different matter. It is up to us to imagine if such
an action is possible at all: an action with which no desire is associated, and
from which we expect nothing.
Here, the reference is to another kind
of action. Action which is charged with a motive, any kind of motivated action,
is kamya karma; and the abandoning of kamya karma, or motivated action, is
sanyasa. This is the definition of sannyasa given by great ancient learned
ones.
The second part of the verses insists
on a seeker who is striving to integrate himself is advised to walk the
path of intelligent living.
Our aim is to clearly understand this
consciousness is not part of matter; it is an independent entity which is my
nature. And when I have to assimilate this, the intellect raises lot of
questions and therefore to answer the question and to make the intellect
clearly understand, lot of thinking is involved. Therefore Sankara says
Panditah; Panditah means a logical thinker is required.
Pandithyam is important; dhiratvam is
important. Then what is the next? Atmabhyasa upasthithai. And one should become
dedicated; committed to atma bhyasaha; Self-enquiry. Atmabhyasaḥ is another beautiful word for
Self-enquiry. Here abhyasaḥ
means shravaṇa manana nidhidhyaśana. Thus being committed to this one
should work for mokṣa.
The renunciation of false values is
only a negative aspect of self-making. Man-making fulfils itself in God
discovery and this spiritual art of perfection is not to be gained by a
negative endeavour. Sankara specifies the positive aspect by saying,
'Let him practise the various means of self-discovery.”
If carefully examined, this one verse
is all about Sadhana chatushtaya.
The first part of the verse is
giving up actions motivated by desires. This is is covered in Viveka,
Vairagya and the intial part of Shad Sampat - Sama, Dama, Uparati, Titiksha
The second part of the verse is rediscovering
the Self and thereby attain freedom from the bondage of birth and death.
This is all about Shraddha,
Samadana and Mumukshatva.
Love.
