Vivekachudamani-Post 83

He who has liberated himself from the terrible bonds of desires for sense objects, (indeed), very difficult to renounce , is alone fit for Liberation;  none else , even if he is well versed in all the six schools of philosophy. (78)

Sankara says vishaya asa is maha pashah; attachment to the vishaya and remember Vishaya does not mean objects only; all the physical bodies in the world also come under vishaya. Any pancha baudikam vasthu is vishaya; whether it is an inanimate thing or living physical body which includes my own physical body. From vedantic angle my body is also a vishaya; because it is pancha baudika. Vishaya asa is not an ordinary shackle but it is very very strong bondage.

And yaḥ vimuktaḥ; suppose a person transcends that weakness; he is able to detach from the physical body; that means he gives the physical body the importance that it deserves. Here giving up is not destroying; but he does not want to give up more importance than it deserves; that he puts it in its appropriate place.

We have been told again and again that vairagya is an essential and salient factor in the study of Vedanta. So, without total and  complete vairagya, the energy in us which is being spent in wrong pursuits will not be conserved for greater purposes of self-culture and ultimately of Self rediscovery. 

Indeed, the Masters of Vedanta were not impractical men, being ignorant of the ordinary man's sense attachment. They certainly realized that to control the sense organs and to avoid their gushing forth into their respective sense objects is very difficult for an ordinary man. 

And yet, where viveka has come, vairagya is natural, and he who has gained a certain amount of freedom from the charms of sense objects is fit for Liberation. 

The idea is that so long as the individual thirsts for anything, his entire energy will be consumed in its acquisition and possession and there will be nothing left in him to supply him with the required dynamism for listening, reflecting and meditating upon the contents of the scriptures. 

That such a one alone is fit for Liberation' is a very positive statement denying sensuous people any hope of success in spiritual life. Not even men who are erudite scholars in all the six schools of Indian philosophy are recognized by the sastras as fit for total Liberation from ignorance and ignorance-created misunderstandings in themselves. 

With mere book learning, without the purity of the heart, tranquility of the mind, the application of the intellect and body's self-denial, no progress in spiritual life, which can take us towards complete Liberation from our limitations is ever possible.

Love

Vivekachudamani-Post 82

Sense objects are even more venomous in their tragic effects than cobra poison. Poison is fatal to one who swallows it, but the sense objects  kill him who even looks at them with his eyes. (77)

At this juncture, Sankara discusses how dangerous it is for a seeker to be attached to the enjoyment of sense objects. 

In order to emphasize  the virulence of sense poison, Sankara gives yet another verse,  which is very famous, in as much as, we often hear it being quoted from all pulpits. 

Explaining the dangerous intensity of this poison, the Acharya compares it with the venom of the cobra. 

Vishayaḥ dosena tivraḥa; in terms of his harming capacity; pulling down capacity; the viṣaya is tivrah; more intense; more powerful than vishadapi; even poison. That too what type of poison? 

Krishna sarpa; the black cobra; Krishna here means black or dark ones; the black cobra visham; and the viṣaya is more harmful than that.

How does Sankara say so? To give a logical proof also; he gives the logical proof; what is that; visham boktharam eva hanthi;

Poison will kill only a person who consumes the poison. By hearing about or by seeing, the poison does not kill; only when it enters the system and is absorbed in the system; only then it will kill. 

Therefore boktharam vishaṁ hanti; whereas what about viṣaya; cakṣuṣa drastaram hanti; even that person who sees the viṣayaḥ.

If there is some distance between a cobra and an individual, the poison in  the cobra cannot affect him. Nobody is known to have died of poison because he merely saw a cobra in a zoo. 

The venom can be fatal to a person only when he is bitten by a cobra. Compared with this, sense objects are more virulent because they can annihilate the individual who just looks at them. 

The organ of vision mentioned in the verse, represents all the other four sense organs and indicates a similar end when all other sense  organs, individually or collectively, run after their sense objects, bringing about a total annihilation.

So here what is the idea conveyed? That if a person does not have a discriminative power; then the very sight can cause attachment; and then he goes on thinking about that

In the  second chapter of Bhagwad Gita, Krishna says,

While contemplating on the objects of the senses, one develops attachment to them. Attachment leads to desire, and from desire arises anger.(2-62)

Anger leads to clouding of judgment, which results in bewilderment of memory. When memory is bewildered, the intellect gets destroyed; and when the intellect is destroyed, one is ruined.(63)

Most intelligent and moral personal can drop all the ethics and morality and go to adharma and once dharma goes away, moksha is farther. 

And for that viṣaya dhyānam, what is the cause? Vishaya darsanam is the cause for viṣaya dhyanam. Viṣaya dhyanam is the cause of spiritual death.

A person should be careful with regard to the external world, until he learns to manage his rāga dveshṣa; which is called samaḥ; learning to manage raga-dveṣa is sama.

once the mind is mastered, then whatever the sense organs perceived; no problem; but because he knows what is attachment and what is freedom from that. 

Love

Vivekachudamani-Post 81

The deer, the elephant, the moth, the fish and the honeybee - these five are annihilated because of their slavery to one or the other of the senses such as sound and so on, through their own attachment. What then is the condition of a man who is attached to all these five? (76)

We are now discussing how attachment to the senses bind, enslave and destroy the peace of mind and freedom of true living. At this moment Sankara very appropriately, reminds us of the various examples provided by nature where certain species meet their death due to extreme attachment to one or the other of the five senses. 

The deer is always fascinated by melodious sound and the deer hunter sings to charm the deer. Attracted by the melody of sound, the deer has no awareness of the danger it is in and turns in the direction of the music, the hunter soon makes it his target. Therefore kuranga stands for sabda asa.

The elephants, especially in the mating season, become extremely attached to the sense of touch, rubbing against each other and walking without caution, they fall into the pits got ready to  catch them.  Therefore, elephant stands for sparsa asa, weakness for skin.

The moth is enchanted by form and attracted by the brilliance of the flame. It flutters towards it with an agonizing impatience and gets burnt. What we are taking advantage of is its weakness for bright light/lamp. Therefore rupa asa or rupa ragah.

The fish, ravenously hungry at all times, in its gluttony, swallows the bait, is caught and thus meets  its end in the stomach of fish-eaters. And therefore, minam has got rasa asa, or rasa ragaḥ. 

And then finally bhr̥ngaḥ vandu, the honey bee;  it t is attracted by the smell of the flowers; and because of that it is captured by certain flowers; it closes during the night; when it is attracted, especially in the evening time; goes and sits there; and the flower closes and it gets trapped and the commentator says, 

Again we do not know, we have to verify; that certain strong smell, like the smell of champaka flower that is so strong; that the bee will die because of the intensity of the smell; that the smell itself directly destroys that insect. Again, it has got what? gandha asa or gandah raga.

And therefore, each one of these animals dies because of its bondage caused by one guna; sabda guna; sparsa guna; rupa guna; rasa guna or gandha guna; that is said in the first line. pancha pancatvamapuh; 

Pancha means these five animals; so these above mentioned five animals; pancatvamapuḥ; gets destroyed; they perish; because of what? svagunena baddhaḥ; and bound by their own weakness for one one guna only. 

Now come to the fourth line, panchabhirancitaḥ kim; what to talk of the human being who has got all the five weakness? So ancitaḥ, ancitaḥ means associated with the panja asas. The five-fold attachment.

And this is not his mistake. Remember, this is not his mistake; these are all five natural instinctive weaknesses. So we have this weakness we need not feel guilty about their presence; the arrival is not because of it; it is instinctive. We are to be blamed if we are going to keep that weakness going. So therefore, perpetuation of the weakness is the mistake; the presence of the weakness is not our mistake.

If the weakness is there; we need not feel guilty; but we allow them to continue; we have to feel the guilt. Therefore, the presence is not weakness; perpetuation is the weakness. More in the next class.

When a man of ignorance, having neither discrimination nor detachment, vulgarly runs after sense objects for his temporary nerve tickling, he becomes a sad victim of his delusion and meets a calamitous end for he has allowed himself to be bound by the five strong ropes.

Love