(Based on Swami
Paramarthananda’s Gurupurnima talk 2015)
In Vedanta, three words are
repeatedly used. Those three words are sadhana chathushtayam, Jnanam
and Moksha. Sadhana
chathushtayam is the four-fold qualification; Viveka (discrimination),
Vairagyam (dispassion), Samadhi shatka sampatthi (six qualities
of mind-discipline), and Mumukshutvam (desire for liberation), shortly
referred as 4D’s i.e. Discrimination. Dispassion, Discipline and Desire. Jnanam refers to Self-knowledge, the
knowledge of Athma. Moksha
stands for Liberation from samsara which a qualified student with the
four-fold qualifications attains when he gains Self-knowledge, Athma Jnanam. Samsara is
translated as emotional disturbances or emotional distress. Sastras frequently mention soka or
grief and bhayam representing worry, fear, anxiety etc. to represent samsara. So these two words, grief and fear, can be
taken to represent all emotional disturbances i.e. samsara.
Swami Vidyaraṇya in his
work Jivan mukti viveka, the basis of Swami Paramarthananda’s talk, points
out that Moksha as freedom from emotional disturbances can be viewed
from two different angles. One is the conventional angle where 'freedom from
emotional disturbances' means, 'the mind will be free from all emotional
disturbances' as all emotional disturbances belong to the mind. This we shall call as mental Liberation. A Jnani,
as one who has attained this state of mental Liberation, Lord Krishna describes
in Gita (14-24) as follows:
Samaduhkhasukhah swasthah samaloshtaashmakaanchanah I
Tulyapriyaapriyo dheerastulyanindaatmasamstutih II (14-24)
He to whom sorrow and
happiness are alike, who is established in his own Self, to whom a lump of
earth, iron and gold are the same, to whom the agreeable and the disagreeable
are the same, who is wise, to whom censure and praise are the same.
The second interpretation of Moksha is from sastraic angle where a Jnani is described as one who has gained Athma Jnanam i.e, the Jnanam that he is not the body-mind complex but he is the Athma free of body-mind complex. Athma being independent of body, mind, senses etc, is also free of all disturbances and distresses, physical and mental all the time. So from the angle of Athma also a Jnani is free from all emotional disturbances and this we can name spiritual Liberation as Athma is usually referred to in West as spirit. Thus Moksha can be defined in two different ways from two different angles i.e. mental Liberation and spiritual Liberation. As sastras talk about both of them, Swami Vidyaranya states in Jivan Mukthi Viveka that both types of Liberations are important and indeed they are complementary. He also points out where the two differ and how. That we shall see hereafter.
Of these two Liberations, spiritual
Liberation is directly connected to Jnanam because, through Jnanam
alone, one comes to know that "I am the Athma, which is free from
all disturbances all the time". Therefore,
Jnanam is the direct cause of spiritual Liberation and sadhana chathushtayam
is only a supportive cause for spiritual Liberation. But sadhana chathushtayam is the direct
cause of mental Liberation for which Jnanam can only be a supportive
cause, Vidyaraṇya Swami points out. Secondly Jnanam
is not variable and so spiritual Liberation is also non-variable. But sadhana chathushtayam is variable and depending upon
that mental Liberation is also variable.
Mental Liberation or mental peace is directly connected to sadhana
chathushtayam. The degree of mental
Liberation is dependent on the degree of sadhana chathushtayam. This is
true of all including Jnanis. And
all who find their level of mental Liberation or mental peace low should
concentrate on improving their level of sadhana chathushtayam.
Vidyaranya Swami goes on to point out
that in sadhana chathushtayam also, two
qualifications are extremely important for mental Liberation. They are Sama, mind control and Vairagyam,
dispassion. Sama can also be
defined as the skill of using mind as one’s instrument. Since mind is a flow of thoughts this will
amount to skill of regulating thoughts, which Swami Paramarthananda labels as ‘thought
displacing skill’ and we shall use the same term hereafter i.e. ‘thought
displacing skill’ for Sama. When
one has this skill, one will be able to handle all emotional disturbances. Because,
all emotional disturbances are in the form of mental activity i.e. in the form
of thoughts only, one can displace any type of thought, whether it is bhayam,
worry or anxiety with this skill i.e. Sama.
For gaining and improving the
thought displacing skill, Vidyaranya Swami emphasises meditation as a means. It can be upasana dhyanam or nitidyasana
dhyanam or any other form of meditation.
The simplest form of meditation suggested is Manasa Japa, the
mental chanting of any mantra. As
skill of concentration in meditation improves the capacity to evacuate the mind
of emotional disturbances through thought displacement at will, also
improves. This is very important as
arrival of emotional disturbance one cannot totally stop. One can only curtail its duration once it
arrives and thereby reduce its impact through thought displacement to a chosen
one. Persistence of emotional
disturbances, however legitimate and justifiable they may be is not only non-beneficial
but also harmful as they obstruct one’s performance of duties to oneself and
others. So sastras say that persistent
emotional disturbance is an obstacle to mental Liberation and even for claiming
the spiritual Liberation as mind is preoccupied with the disturbances. Further persistent emotional disturbances are
harmful to one’s health as well.
If the role of Sama is removing/reducing
the emotional disturbance, the role of Vairagyam is avoiding emotional
disturbances. Vairagyam is,
"the skill of reducing or weakening raga and dwesha
i.e. attachment and aversion or likes and dislikes”. Raga and dwesha
cannot be eliminated; but they can be weakened. Weakening of raga-dwesha is
required, because raga-dwesha alone is the cause of all emotional
disturbances. World disturbs one only though the channel of one’s raga-dwesha. Wherever one’s likes and dislikes
are there, through that alone, events will disturb.
That
raga-dwesha also is only where one has got ahankarah and mamakarah.
Like,
in the body, mind, one has ahankarah; in the family, property etc., one has got mamakarah.
This
ahankarah, mamakarah, raga and dwesha alone are responsible
for the arrival of emotional disturbances. Therefore, if one wants to reduce
their arrival, one has to weaken raga,
dwesha,
ahankarah and mamakarah. To weaken raga, dwesha, ahankarah and mamakarah one has to reduce
dwelling on them and surrender to Bhagawan remembering “I am not the
controller and owner of anything. Only Bhagwan
is the owner and controller of everything”.
Lord Krishna says to Arjuna in Gita (6-35)
Asamshayam mahaabaaho mano
durnigraham chalam I
Abhyaasena tu kaunteya vairaagyena cha grihyate.II
Undoubtedly, O mighty-armed Arjuna, the mind is difficult to control and
restless; but, by practice and by dispassion it may be restrained! (6-35)
Practice is the
practice of displacing emotionally disturbing thoughts as and when they raise
their head and dispassion is to prevent their raising their head itself as far
as possible. Applying together these two
can bring the restless mind under control keeping at bay the disturbing
thoughts. Here Vidyaranya Swami sounds a
note of caution. Mind being anathma
is subject to the influence of a number of known and unknown factors and so
mental Liberation can never be absolute.
It can only be relative and that too fluctuating. That is why the primary aim of sastras
is not mental Liberation but spiritual Liberation gaining which one can improve
the mental Liberation through Sama and Vairagyam at his own pace.
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