Verse 29
वैराग्यं च मुमुक्षुत्वं तीव्रं यस्य तु विद्यते ।
तस्मिन्नेवार्थवन्तः स्युः फलवन्तः शमादयः ॥ २९ ॥
vairāgyaṃ ca mumukṣutvaṃ tīvraṃ yasya tu vidyate |
tasminnevārthavantaḥ syuḥ phalavantaḥ śamādayaḥ || 29 ||
(Calmness and other practices have
their meaning and they bear fruit indeed, only in him who has an intense
spirit of renunciation and yearning for Liberation.)
In the previous sloka it was said where
vairagya and mumukshutva are there; there
alone samadi satka sampatti will become fruitful. This is positive
presentation; anvaya.
Now he presents in negative form;
vyatireka; where vairagya and mumukshutva are not there; in that person even if
he has got samadhi satka sampatti , concentration is there, intelligence is
there; all these qualifications are there also, they are like mirage
water.
Therefore he says; mumuksutvam
vairagyam cha. So when interest in moksa and disinterestedness in all other
things, they are tivram. When they are intense, yasya tu vidyate; in a
particular person, the other qualifications will become valid.
There are many seekers who, having
practised for long the six requirements such as calmness and so on,
complain that they have not progressed at all.
The practices of Vedanta are not a
training in ethics or morality. These great qualities are mainly to create an
ethical and moral atmosphere in the psychological field of the neophyte.
There are many spiritual cowards who ask, 'Merely by living an honest life
can we not reach the perfection which is explained as godhood?' This
question has become very common these days and people in confusion and
perhaps intellectual fatigue refuse to make a thorough study of the
sastras.
Such people claim for themselves a
'true living' in their honest endeavours in life. They say, 'I am very
dutiful, I earn honestly, I look after my home and my dependants and to
the extent I can afford it, I share my wealth with others in a spirit of charity,
I believe that I am a nobler soul than those who practise the so-called
spiritual discipline.'
This wrong notion has been blasted by
Sankara in his statement that the qualities of self-restraint,
self-control, purity and so on, can bear fruit only when they are in an
individual who has a complete sense of detachment born out of
discrimination and a burning aspiration to surmount the limitations of
his mortal existence.
So in the pilgrimage through life whenever
they come across a ditch of hatred or amount of challenge, they sit back
fatigued and weary and blame religion and their own philosophy based upon hollow
and meaningless ethical living.
Since spiritual evolution is not the
outcome of their 'pure' living, whenever the scheme of things around them
changes, they find themselves lost.
Without spiritual stamina, no one can
stand up to the threats and onslaughts of circumstances in life. It is,
therefore, that sama, dama and so on, cannot bear fruit unless they grow
in a heart watered by detachment and ploughed by an intense wish for
Liberation.
We see people who say, I am controlling
my senses, I exercise restraint on my desires, I practice Titiksha etc.
All these qualities are good in
themselves and those who practice any or most of the six qualifications deserve
huge appreciation.
But being in the world, without
renouncing the world, without dispassion for everything in this objective
world, liberation is a far-fetched dream.
Without Viveka, Vairagya and Intense
craving for liberation, mere practice of the six qualifications, that too in
various degree, will never lead oneself towards the ultimate purpose of human
birth- Liberation.
Sage from Ananda kutir says,
"When Vairagya appears in the
mind, it opens the gate to Divine Wisdom. From dissatisfaction (with the
sense-objects and worldly sense-enjoyments) comes aspiration. From aspiration
comes abstraction.
From abstraction comes the concentration
of the mind. From the concentration of the mind comes meditation or
contemplation. From contemplation comes Samadhi or Self-realization. Without
dissatisfaction or Vairagya, nothing is possible.
Just as water, when it leaks into the
rat-holes, instead of running into the proper channels in agricultural fields,
becomes wasted and does not help the growth of plants, grains, etc., so also,
the efforts of an aspirant become a wastage if he has not got the virtue
Vairagya. He gets no spiritual advancement.
Intense Vairagya Necessary For Moksha
There must be intense (Tivra) Vairagya
in the minds of the aspirants, throughout the period of their Sadhana. Mere
mental adhesion will not do for success in Yoga.
It was only Raja Janaka and Prahlada
who had Tivra Vairagya (intense dispassion). This kind of Vairagya is necessary
for quick realisation. It is very difficult to cross the ocean of Samsara with
a dull type of Vairagya. The crocodile of sense-hankering (Trishna) for
sense-enjoyments and sense-objects will catch the aspirants by the throat and,
violently snatching away, will drown them half-way"
Love.