Vivekachudamani - Post 27

  Verse 21    

तद्वैराग्यं जिहासा या दर्शनश्रवणादिभिः ।
देहादिब्रह्मपर्यन्ते ह्यनित्ये भोगवस्तुनि ॥ २१ ॥

tadvairāgyaṃ jihāsā yā darśanaśravaṇādibhiḥ |
dehādibrahmaparyante hyanitye bhogavastuni || 21 ||

 

(That desire to give up all transitory enjoyments gained through seeing, hearing and so on, and also experiences gained through equipments ranging from a mortal body to the form of Brahma is called ’detachment '.) 

 

A complete and exhaustive explanation of vairagya is given here.  It is not only a detachment from external objects and circumstances.

 

That are conducive to joyous experiences, but it is a mental condition in which, the mind no longer runs after the phenomenal world in the hope of gaining peace or joy. 

 

The idea is that through  discrimination when one has come to, at least, intellectually  appreciate that sense objects have not in themselves any intrinsic  value for joy and that they are ephemeral, naturally, the mind will  never take wandering flights into the realm of the objects with a  craving for them. 

One need not prepare to lose the permanent thing. Why? It is not lost; One need not prepare to lose the permanent thing; because permanent thing is permanent, it is never lost. Therefore we are talking about a losable thing. Preparedness to lose the losable is called intelligence. 

Any losable, we are ready to lose. And the preparation is two- fold. Either I do not take that thing at all. Either I do not possess that thing, because possess, there is the worry of losing. Therefore either I avoid that thing; or there is no rule that we should avoid everything. Have that thing; but be mentally ready to lose that thing when the time comes, including life. If you take the whole life, preparedness for death is intelligence.

It has been logically concluded in our sastras that a man's mind will constantly hover around and land on objects only when it is convinced that there are three desirable qualities in them. 

They are - a sense of reality (satyatvam) of the objects, a belief in their permanency (nityatvam) and a faith that they contain potentialities for satisfying our craving for joy (samahitatvam). 

When we understand through discrimination that the objects perceived through the senses are all in fact unreal (asat), ephemeral (anitya), and that they have no real capacity to give us joy, riddled with sorrow as they are, our minds will not pant after them. 

In Sri Jnanesvara's commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita, the  Yogiraja, beautifully brings out this idea in a series of inimitable  similes. Describing the attitude of a man of detachment towards sense objects, he gives some examples, which are very striking and effective. 

 

He says that a man of true detachment will run towards sense objects with as much enthusiasm as one would rush out to embrace a dead queen's rotting body; with as much satisfaction as one would decide to quench one's thirst by drinking the pus flowing out from a leper's wound and with as much readiness as one would enter a boiling cauldron of molten iron to take a refreshing bath. 

 

It is a very powerful way of expressing the idea  that where the intellect has come to firm conviction about the  hollowness of sense objects, the mind will not gush forth towards  them with hopes and expectations of satisfaction therein. This sense of detachment that arises from a full application of one's discriminative faculty is called true 'vairagya'.

 

Love.

 

 

Vivekachudamani - Post 26

  Verse 20    

ब्रह्म सत्यं जगन्मिथ्येत्येवंरूपो विनिश्चयः ।
सोऽयं नित्यानित्यवस्तुविवेकः समुदाहृतः ॥ २0 ॥

 

brahma satyaṃ jaganmithyetyevaṃrūpo viniścayaḥ |
so'yaṃ nityānityavastuvivekaḥ samudāhṛtaḥ || 20 ||

 

(A firm conviction of the intellect that Brahman alone is Real and the phenomenal world is unreal is known as discrimination between the Real and the unreal.) 

 

Here is a complete and exhaustive definition of the faculty of discrimination. In its application to a student of Vedanta, discrimination is the capacity to know the Real from the unreal from a mixture of things, for Truth or Reality is that which is changeless and ever-present. 

Three types of Pramana

1) Pratyakṣa pramana – This tells me that everything around me is perishing.

We all thought, without certain people, the world will not run; and we find that they all disappeared, and that the world is. And one day the whole earth may go away. Therefore Pratyakṣa pramāṇa teaches me.

2) Anumana Pramana. 

All the worldly and even svarga lokaḥ pleasures are finite. How? By knowing that whatever is karma phalam that is anityam. 

Just as we can infer fire with the help of smoke, we can infer the ephemerality of heaven by using what? Heavenly pleasure is is also karma phalam.

How do we know our own death? Whether prataksya or anumana. Our death, how do we know? It is not pratyakṣa because happily we are alive. Our death is only an inference; because we have seen all the other people; jatasya hi dhruvo mr̥tyuhu; whoever is born will die.

3) Sastra Pramana - Sastram comes and tells: Oh! Human beings, everything around is perishable. Thus, pratyakṣa, anumana, sastra pramaanehi, jagat anityam iti sunischaya.

Then naturally there is a curiosity; Is there something eternal? What is the truth of the universe? What is the permanent essence of the world?

 

Sastram comes and tells that there is something eternal; there is something eternal. 

Viveka is the intellectual ability to discriminate between real and unreal or what is described as Nitya and Anitya.

This viveka is a slow process. We live our life… we begin with many desires and ambitions. We fulfill each of them. Yet we find an emptiness inside – that emptiness inside is the feeling of being wanting which leads us to imagine that by doing something else we will become fulfilled.

Slowly we begin to understand that no matter what I do, no matter how many ambitions I fulfill, the emptiness inside does not seem to go.

Then what is the solution? This is where all the paper-back knowledge comes in handy… you read a book, or you go for a satsang. There you hear that the treasure you have been looking for all your life is within you… is you.

It is not out there in the changing world – the changing world cannot give you what you are looking for … you are looking for permanence – permanent happiness and permanent security…… that is God. God is permanent happiness and God is permanent security.

So Nitya vastu is God who is your true SELF. Now there is a longing to get one's true SELF. So far one was happy with the crumbs of happiness given out by life.

Now, one understands it is anitya - temporary…. and the interest in gaining anitya happiness and security etc simply drops.

Discrimination or Viveka is the 100 percent conviction that the Self alone is real and that objects are apparently real.

Discrimination is the sense of right judgement and understanding to differentiate between the permanent and the impermanent.

When we enquire into life and try to understand it in its pure essence, we come to experience that Life which is present everywhere at all times. This universal factor, the substratum is what is meant by the word 'Brahman' in Vedanta. 

 

To come to a logical understanding and arrive at a complete intellectual appreciation of the fact that this permanent substratum alone is ever existent, changeless, formless, and therefore, immortal, is to understand that Brahman alone is Real and the world of plurality that we now cognize is unreal and imperfect, although it be Its magnificent and wondrous manifestation, changeable, impermanent and joyless.

 

Love.

 

Vivekachudamani - Post 25

  Verse 19    

आदौ नित्यानित्यवस्तुविवेकः परिगम्यते ।
इहामुत्रफलभोगविरागस्तदनन्तरम्
शमादिषट्कसम्पत्तिर्मुमुक्षुत्वमिति स्फुटम् ॥ १९ ॥

 

ādau nityānityavastuvivekaḥ parigamyate |
ihāmutraphalabhogavirāgastadanantaram
śamādiṣaṭkasampattirmumukṣutvamiti sphuṭam || 19 ||

 

(While enumerating the qualifications , first we count the ability to discriminate between the Real and the unreal; next comes a spirit  of detachment from the enjoyment of the fruits of actions here and  hereafter, after that is the group of six essentials such as sama and last  is undoubtedly a burning desire for Liberation.)

 

Here, in sequence, Sankara repeats the necessary attributes for a student who wants sure success on the spiritual path. While giving a rough outline of these, he elaborates upon the theme of viveka and vairagya. 

 

However much actually intelligent the generation might be, it is the special privilege of a few to have the subtlety of intellect to delve deep into things and happenings and discriminate between the true and the false. 

 

Those who are sufficiently evolved, exhibit a greater keenness of intellect but those who do not have it, should not despair. For, it is not a God given bonus which comes to us from the heavens but it is the aroma of a well-developed and integrated mind and intellect. Where there is a large amount of viveka, it is safe to presume that the individual has a fairly well integrated personality. 

 

As a result of one's discriminative capacity when one differentiates between the Real and the unreal in the world outside or in the world within, all false values automatically drop off. When once a thing is understood to be full of bitterness, pain and imperfection, rare is the man who will continue to court it. 

 

Invariably, we run after a thing only when we hope to get out of it a greater fulfilment of joy or peace. Once we come to the intellectual appreciation that the object is riddled with sorrow, our immediate attempt would be to get rid of it. 

 

Nitya vastu is GOD who is your TRUE SELF. Now there is a longing to get one's TRUE SELF. So far one was happy with the crumbs of happiness given out by life.

 

Now, one understands it is anitya - temporary…. and the interest in gaining anitya happiness and security etc simply drops.

 

Discrimination or Viveka is the 100 percent conviction that the Self alone is real and that objects are apparently real.

 

Discrimination is the sense of right judgement and understanding to differentiate between the permanent and the impermanent.

 

The Anitya or impermanence comes in the form of various situations, opportunities and pleasures while the permanence is the VERY SELF, the TRUE nature of One's SELF.

 

Thus, vairagya born out of viveka is what is meant by 'detachment'. In fact, vairagya is the fulfilment of viveka and wherever the former is strong, the latter gains in essence and efficiency. 

 

The other two requisites mentioned in verse 17 are repeated here - the six qualifications such as sama and a passion to redeem oneself (mumukshutvam).

 

In the next upcoming verses, Sankara takes us through the 4 qualifications in much detail. These 4 qualifications are the foundation, base, on which the edifice of Sadhana is built.

 

No spiritual aspirant with a week base of these qualifications can ever hope to reach to higher level in Sadhana, in the path of wisdom.

 

Love.