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Those who have only an apparent dispassion and are trying to cross the ocean of change are caught by their throats by the shark of desire which violently dragging them along, drowns them in the middle of the ocean. (79)
Suppose there is a person; who wants to cross a river or a lake; a water, water pool he wants to cross. And he is a swimmer and somehow he has struggled; and he has almost crossed the river; 75% over; but what happens? there was a crocodile; this crocodile pulls him back, catching hold of his neck; the crocodile pulls him back and again immerses him into the water.
Similarly, a person by the study of scriptures etc. is trying to cross the river of saṁsāra; āśā is a crocodile; which we do not know when it will come; again it will catch without our knowledge; if you are complacent, it will just catch and pull a person down.
And therefore, let a person be alert with regard to āśā or vairāgyaṁ. Therefore he says: mumukṣun, so there are some mumukṣus who are interested in spirituality.
With regard to materialistic people, we need not discuss at all, because they never attempt to cross the river; like the buffalo; they are enjoying the dirty pool of wateritself. So we are only talking about those people who have felt that this water is a dirty pool and I want to cross.
Therefore, mumukṣun, they want to cross over; but what is their problem. Āpātavairāgya vataḥ; so they have got vairāgyaṁ but it is not intense enough.
A spirit of detachment and a craving for dispassion may be generated in us as a result of repeated tragedies. A tragic bereavement, a shocking disappointment, a painful failure, an agonizing physical pain, all these have been found, either individually or collectively, capable of creating a temporary sense of vairagya, termed in Sanskrit as 'smasana vairagya' - an aversion to life and its finitude which is usually generated when one has occasion to visit a cremation ground.
True dispassion is a wise condition of the ego created from a deep intellectual conviction, which in its turn, has its roots in perfect discrimination. Only in the maturity of an individual's spiritual florescence, can one hope to gather the fruits of wisdom.
False vairagya has ruined more men than even atheism has ever done. Hundreds and thousands of indiscriminate people, in almost all the religions of the world, reach the sanctuaries of their respective monasteries.
In the long run, however, they discover that they are not fit for a life of total renunciation and perfect self- control. Many of them who find sufficient moral courage return to the marketplace and the world of contentions to fight for and acquire and enjoy material wealth.
But some come to live a choking life of frustrations and sorrows, with neither the capacity to live the life of renunciation nor the daring to return to the world of cut-throat competition.
Sankara has briefly pointed out these dangers by comparing men of insincere vairagya to those who are ship wrecked on the 'ocean of change' which is infested with ravenous sharks of sensuous desires.
These desires jump at the throats of the poor victims and drag them down and drown them midway on their pilgrimage to the Beyond.
How, kaṇṭhē nigr ̥ hya; catching hold of this person by his very throat; like some of the sharks which catch their prey by their neck. When the neck is caught; you cannot even think.
Similarly when the attachment is powerful; then this person's thinking power is also gone and if somebody wants to give an advice; he says who are you to be an advice; I know what I am doing and I am very sure about what I am doing.
Vinasakale viparitha buddhi; like our Ravaṇa who never listened to anyone; he was very sure what he does is right; nobody can help. Only thing is let him perish and come back again.
Rama could not change Ravaṇa; Krishna could not change Kamsa; we also end up as Ravaṇa and Kamsas; does not mean that we should become raksasas; materialistic itself is raksasatvam.
