Vivekachudamani- Post 91

Conquer this great infatuation for your body , wife , children and so on. By conquering these, sages reach the supreme state of Lord Visnu. (86)

Explaining the great 'tragic death' of the seeker, Sankara pinpoints what exactly this death is. Infatuation with the body, no doubt, makes the seeker constantly search for more and more sense objects in the world outside, so that he may discover a greater fulfilment and happiness in life. 

The body here may be considered as indicating all the layers of man's gross as well as subtle personality. 

moham jahi; what type of mōham? mahāmr ̥ tyuṁ; mr ̥ tyu means physical death; mahā mr ̥ tyuḥ means spiritual death; so this mōha which is the cause of your spiritual death; that deha abhimana you give up. 

Then Sankara says; it is not enough that you give up the infatuation for your physical body; there are some people who are attached not only to their bodies; but through their body, they have attachment to the bodies of dear and near ones. So therefore, we include that also.

Wife (dara) is to be understood as not only the wedded partner in life. In philosophy, the word often indicates all those on whom you depend for your happiness and sons (suta) stand for all those who depend on you. 

In the world of mutual relationships, each individual is but a link, holding all the other parts of the chain in position. As an individual I exist in society looking up to people who make me happy and look after those who are looking up to me for their comforts. In the language of the spiritual Masters, 'wife and children' is an idiom that includes all these relationships. 

In the midst of all these webs of relationships an individual exists, maintaining different types of intimate attachments which have a knack of expanding their thralldom. Suffocated by these, he gets exhausted. This is the death of all spiritual aspirations of the seeker. 

Men of reflection (munayah) conquer this meaningless infatuation; victoriously rise, above the hungers of the flesh and come to experience the bliss of the supreme state. Here the word 'Visnu', the Tong strident' stands for the 'all-pervading'. 

Munayaḥ; jitva, having conquered the mōham, yānti; they will very easily attain viṣnoho paramapadam; the supreme abode of Viṣṇu. the supreme abode of Viṣṇu is the literal translation; 

Here, you will imagine a physical abode; but we do not want to mean that because it that is the physical abode, again it has got limitation; mortality, separation, etc. 

Therefore the word padam literally which means abode is translated as swarupam. Therefore paramam padam means paramam svarupam; the supreme nature of Viṣṇu, they will attain.

And what is the nature of Viṣṇu; Brahma svarupam. What is the nature of Shiva? Brahmasvarūpam. Therefore viṣnor paramam padam means they will attain Brahman nature and here also attaining Brahman nature means what already our nature is Brahman. 

It means discovering Brahman Nature. So Vishnor paramam padam yānti means that they will discover brahma svarupam; for them vaikunta is here and now. Kailasa is here and now.

Love

SATSANGH TALK - THE POWER OF SPEECH

 

This talk is based on the question put up by Prof. Anil Kumar to Swami, which is as follows:

"It is most necessary that we mix with people, and sometimes even intimately. We have to interact with one another in our daily life. How are we to speak and what is good for us to speak?”

It is now available on the YouTube on,

https://youtu.be/MFUv5LIboFI

Jai Sairam

Vivekachudamani-Post 90

 

For a student seeking Liberation, infatuation with the body and so  on, is a 'tragic death'. He who has totally conquered this attachment  deserves the state of Liberation. (85)

To him who is aspiring to rise above the fascination of the sense organs for the sense objects and the calamitous confusions of  emotions and thoughts, it is indeed a dire tragedy, if he were  to allow himself to be tempted, by the fields of immediate pleasures which the body experiences in the midst of objects. 

Sankara emphasizes that deha abhimana is equal to spiritual death. So mohaha eva mahamr ̥ tyu; here mohaḥ means deha abhimanaḥ, is not ordinary mr ̥ tyuḥ; but mahā mr ̥ tyuḥ; because it leads to spiritual death of a person; because he will not be allowed to attain spiritual knowledge. 

For a materialistic person, this discussion is not relevant at all; because he does not believe in spirit or Brahman or atman or heaven or hell and nothing; he leads an animalistic life; his only belief is that as long as he lives, he should enjoy maximum. To such a materialistic person, we have nothing to talk; but if a person is a spiritual seeker, we would like to give him a statutory warning; that deha abhimana is spiritual death.

Therefore, the more abhimana a person has, the greater is the fear and frightened man dies several times and therefore, even in that sense, it is figurative death; whereas in spiritual sense also, it is death because, he dies to his original spiritual nature, because of his pre- occupation with the external body.

Suppose a person conquers this delusion by his clarity of understanding that the body is a medium; it does not deserve raga; equally it does not deserve dveṣa also; because dveṣa is as much dangerous as raga; because if I neglect the physical body and physical health that is also dangerous because, even spiritual sadhana requires a healthy body. Therefore, negligence of the body is as much a problem as pampering the body.

Therefore, it is like rope-walking; neither should I have attachment, nor should I have hatred. This middle path is extremely difficult; but if a person manages to transcend both raga and dveṣa; moha eva vinirjitaḥ; saha, here also the word mohaḥ means deha abhimana only

To turn our attention away from the sense world and to seek diligently the experience of the Transcendental is the path by which  the Higher can be unfolded. 

He who has won a victory over his  own delusory misconceptions (moha) and is not tempted by the  outer world, discovers in himself a steadiness of contemplation  with which he can certainly learn to withdraw himself from the whirlpools of matter and come to experience the pure Self. 

This is the condition of utter liberation from the entanglements and fascinations of one's matter vestures.

The one who has conquered, saha mukthi padam arhati; for him mokṣa is easiest because physical mortality he will not look upon as his mortality. 

Just as the destruction of a medium; destruction of the spectacle is not my destruction. Thus, conquering the fear of physical mortality itself is a great mystery for a human being; so saha mukti padam arhati; he deserves liberation.

Love