Sadhana and Phalam

Vakyavritti 9

Verse 49

‘Aham brahma’ iti vaakyaartha bodhoh yaavat dridhee bhavet I

Samaadi sahitah taavat abhyase cha sravanaadikam II

One should go on doing sadhanas like sravanam etc., with the practice of internal controls like sama etc,(samadhi shatka sampaththi) until the meaning of the sentence as ‘I am Brahman’ becomes quite firm

If one has grasped correctly the meaning of Mahavakya ‘Tat Tvam asi’, then one has the knowledge “I am Brahman (Aham Brahmasmi)”.  If one is to be firmly established in this knowledge all the time in all circumstances i.e. if one has to become Jnana Nishta with this Jnanam, one should make this knowledge doubt-free and one should rid one’s mind of what Swami Pamarthananda calls as dushta chathushtaya, evil four, which are ahamkara, mamakara, raga and dwesha.  Knowledge can be acquired through sravanam and the acquired knowledge can be made doubt-free through mananam and this doubt-free knowledge can be internalised through nitidyasanam.  This is the primary sadhana.  It should be supported by the secondary sadhana of Sadhana Chathustaya that frees the mind of dushta chathushtaya and makes the mind subtle enough to absorb the teaching in the first place and strong enough to stand in the absorbed knowledge all the time.  The primary and secondary sadhanas have to be deliberately practiced with shraddha and samadhana until this knowledge becomes second nature with the thought ‘I am Brahman’ totally replacing ‘I am Body-mind-complex’ at all times in all circumstances.

Verse 50

Srutih aachaarya prasaadena dridhah bodhah yadaa bhavet I

Nirasta ashesha samsaara nidaanah purushah tadaa II

When this knowledge becomes firm by the Grace of the scriptures and the guru, then for that person the cause of samsara (ajjnanam) is absolutely removed for ever.

From this verse Guru gives the Jnanaphalam.  Through the Grace of guru and scriptures the long, sincere and single-minded practice of the primary and secondary sadhanas mentioned in the previous verse bears fruit as unshakeable firm knowledge of one’s Self as Brahman.  Firm knowledge means the subconscious mind is soaked in this knowledge and it is ever available without effort.  Self-ignorance and consequent self-misconcetion, which constitute jiva-bhava, the cause for samsara is totally and absolutely replaced by Brahma-bhava, the ‘I am Brahman” thought.

Verse 51

Viseerna kaarya karanoh bhoota sookshmaih anaavritah I

Vimukta karma nigadah sadya eva vimuchyate II

Such a man, no more conditioned by his gross and subtle bodies, free from the influence of gross and subtle objects and released of karma gets immediately liberated.

Three essential changes that take place in the personality of the person who attains this blessed state of Self-Realisation i.e. being established in the unshakeable firm knowledge “I am Brahman”:

i) Freedom from the upadhis: The person is no longer conditioned by his gross and subtle bodies (the upadhis);

ii) Freedom from sense attractions: That person’s life is not influenced by sense objects, gross or subtle as he is free from raga, dwesha towards them.

iii) Freedom from karma: With the dawn of self-realisation existing karma, agami and sanchita, is annulled,  As he will mot have karthruthva bhava in his future actions, no further agami karma will accrue to him.  Only prarabhdha karma will remain and he will not be mentally affected by its impact though may be bodily afflicted.

Leading his life as Jivan muktha, he will attain Videha mukthi on exhaustion of prarabhdha karma, which will be described in the next two verses.

Verse 52

Praarabdha karma vegena jivanmuktah yadaa bhavet I

Kinchit kaalam anarabdha karma bandhasya sankshaye II

Verse 53

Nirasta atishaya aanandam vaishnavam paramam padam I

Punah aavritti-rahitam kaivalyam pratipadyate II

The liberated in life (jivanmuktha) continues in life under the force of Prarabhdha (karma) under its power for some time until these karmas produce their results and then he comes to gain that state of Absolute Oneness, the greatest and ultimate Bliss called the Supreme Abode of Vishnu from which there is no return.

Jivanmuktha continues his life in the body to exhaust the prarabhdha karma with which he was born. All other outstanding karmas at the time of his acquiring Athma Jnanam have been annihilated in the fire of Jnanam as Lord Krishna tells Arjuna in Gita (4-37); “Jnaanaagnih sarvakarmaani bhasmasaat kurute --.( the fire of knowledge reduce all karmas to ashes)”.  As he has no feeling of doership in all actions he performs as a Jivanmuktha, no further agami karma attaches to him.  Whatever happens under the influence of prarabhdha karma after acquiring Jnanam, a jivanmuktha accepts with the same sense of detachment that he has for his body. When that karma runs out, all bodies are dissolved as well as all karmas and the Jivanmuktha attains Videhamukthi when the enclosed Consciousness  merges into all-pervading Consciousness i.e. Brahman just like the enclosed pot space that becomes one with the one indivisible space when the pot is broken. Here Brahman is denoted by one of the forms of Saguna Brahman, Vishnu.  When Videhamuktha becomes one with Brahman, the infinite Bliss that is Brahman is His as well and with no body and no karma there is no more birth or return to samsara after attaining Videhamukthi.  With this Blissful note Sri Sankara concludes the text “Vakyavritti”

Acknowledgement

While concluding the series of blogs on Vakyavritti, I wish to record my deep debt of gratitude to the speeches and writings on this subject, of:

1)    Swami Paramarthananda

2)    Swami Guruparananda  and

3)    Swami Gurubhakthananda  

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