Vivekachudamani – 9

 

Select verses 40 to 44

Verse 40

akhandanityadvayabodhasaktya, sphurantamatmanamanantavaibhavam |

samavrnotyavrtisaktiresa, tamomayi rahurivarkabimbam ||139||

The veiling power, whose nature is ignorance, covers the Self whose glories are infinite, which is Indivisible, Eternal, and One-without-a-second, just as Rahu covers the sun during a solar eclipse.

In this verse Acharya starts answering second of the seven questions asked by sishya.  The question was – How did I become bound?   Maya, when it is manifest, has two-fold powers, avarana sakthi, power to cover and vikshepa sakthi, power to project.  The word ‘Maya’ is used with reference to Iswara and ‘avidya’ with reference to Jiva.  The only difference between them is that the veiling power does not cover Iswara and Maya is under His control while Jiva is under the sway of both the powers of Maya. The eternal, unchanging, all-pervasive Athma is covered by the avarana sakthi under the sway of avidya like the veiling of sun by the shadow-planet, Rahu, at the time of eclipse.  So under the influence of avarana sakthi, the indivisible Athma appears as though divided and each one takes oneself to be a limited, mortal being and also all forms of duality, sajathiya-vijathiya-svagatha bhedha become absolutely real. This ignorance and misconception gets compounded under the influence of vikshepa sakthi which will be discussed in the next verse.

Verse 41

tirobhute svatmani, amalataratejovati puman

anatmanam mohad, ahamiti sariram kalayati |

tataḥ kamakrodha-prabhrtibhiramum bandhanaguṇaih

param viksepakhya, rajasa urusaktirvyathayati ||140||

When Athma which is of the nature of pure Consciousness free from any impurity, is eclipsed, the person considers the anathma, body, as Athma.  Then the strong power of vikshepa, born of rajas, afflicts him much with the binding qualities of desire, anger and the like.

Athma is not known as to what it is, due to the avarana sakthi and then one recognises body as Athma because of the vikshepa sakthi.  The vikshepa sakthi projects the body, sareera triam, as the Self.  The vikshepa sakthi is born of rajas and afflicts the person with desire, anger and the like.  Actions born of desire and anger and the like produces papa and punya and so these become the bhandhanagunaih, ropes of bondage as, in Sanskrit, guna means a rope also.

Verse 42

etabhyameva saktibhyam, bandhah pumsah samagatah |

yabhyaṃ vimohito deham,matvatmanam bhramatyayam ||144||

This bondage has come about for the person due to these two powers alone, deluded by which the person mistakes the body as Athma and wanders from life to life.

            Jiva mistakes the body for Athma under the influence of the two powers of Maya, avarana sakthi and vikshepa sakthi.  So the Jiva who is svayam-purna, Full by nature, forgets its true Self and is afflicted with the problems of the body due to the six types of emotions; kama (desire), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (delusion), mada (passion) and matsarya (jealousy) and wanders from one life to another, from body to body, trying to escape samsara, ignorant of its innate Fullness. 

Verse 43

bijam samsrtibhumijasya tu tamah, dehatmadhirankurah

ragah pallavamambu karma tu vapuh, skandho’savah sakhikah |

agranindriyasamhatisca visayah, pushpani duhkham phalam

nanakarmasamudbhavam bahuvidham, bhoktatra jivah khagah ||145||

For the tree of samsara - ignorance is the seed; the sense of ‘I’ in the physical body is the sprout; desires are the tender leaves; actions are the water; the body is the trunk; the Pranas are the branches; the sense-organs are the twigs; the sense-objects are the flowers; and different types of miseries born out of the varieties of actions are the fruits. Here Jiva is the experiencing bird.

            In this verse, Acharya answers sishya’s next question on bondage i.e. “How this bondage persists”.  Acharya answers this question through an example of a tree. The tree comparison is used in Kathopanishad (2-3-1) and also in Bhagavad Gita (15-1) as well. The seed of samsara vriksha is ignorance as the ignorance of one’s true Self as Athma causes samsara. The manifest form of the seed is the sprout, the dehathma buddhi, the ‘I’ sense in the physical body. The foliage for this tree is raga, the likes that include dwesha, the dislikes, as well. The water for this tree is karma, the action.  One through actions gains punya and papa that lead to next birth and so on.  That way karma nourishes the samsara tree.  For this tree, the jiva’s body is the trunk and the pancha pranas are the branches.  The indriyas which function only when there is prana are compared to the twigs that emerge from the tip of branches.  The flowers are the sense objects and the fruits are the different type of sorrows.   Jiva is the bird that eats the fruits of the samsara tree.  The fruits are the results of Jiva’s own karma. So this Jiva, who is Paramathma, mistakes the body to be Athma due to avidya and suffers a sense of limitation.  To get free of the sense of limitation, Jiva does karma and gains punya and papa as karma-phala which results in another birth and the samsara cycle of janma, karma, punya-papa,and again janma and so on, goes on and on.  Teaching on how to get out of the cycle is done in next verse. This simile also conveys the idea that there is no end to growth potential of the tree, unless voluntary steps are taken to arrest and uproot it.

Verse 44

srutipramanaikamateh svadharmanistha tayaivatmavisuddhirasya |

visuddhabuddheh paramatmavedanam,tenaiva samsarasamulanasah ||148॥

One who has Sraddah in the Scriptures as a means of knowledge and is firmly established in one‘s own duties (svadharma)—for these actions alone contribute to the purity of his mind—and is of pure mind realizes the supreme Self. By this knowledge alone is samsara destroyed, root and branch.

            Acharya answers the final question on bondage in this verse i.e. “How can I free myself of the bondage?”  Bondage is the result of one’s ignorance of one’s true Self.  Out of this self-ignorance, misconception has arisen and resulted in bondage. So it could be removed only by the correct knowledge of the Self, Self-knowledge i.e. Athma Vidya.  Vedas only are the Pramanam for Athma Vidya.  To absorb the Vedic knowledge and benefit from the knowledge, two requirements are stated.   One is Sraddah in Vedic teaching and the other is purity of mind.  Mind can be made pure through the adherence to the principles of Dharma as laid down by the scriptures, scrupulously and self-lessly. When with the pure mind and Sraddha in Veda as the Pramanam for Athma Vidya, one studies under the guidance of a competent Guru, one gains Athma Vidya with the grace of God.  As one internalises the Self-knowledge, Self-ignorance is destroyed and with it the bondage that binds one to the cycle of samsara is destroyed resulting in videha mukthi at death. This means the samsara tree is totally uprooted for the enlightened one.

---------------------------