Vivekachudamani – 4

 

Select verses 15 to 20

Verse 15

sastrasya guruvakyasya, satyabuddhyavadharaṇa |

sa sraddha kathita sadbhih, yaya vastupalabhyate ||25॥

That by which one understands the exact import of the scriptures as well as the pregnant words of advice of the preceptor is called Sraddha by the wise; by this alone does Reality become manifestly clear.

            Sraddha, fifth of the six virtues is described in this verse.  Sraddha means faith or conviction, the non-critical acceptance of the words of Guru and scriptures.  Sraddha enables one to listen to the words of Guru and scriptures with an open, alert mind  with ‘This is true’ attitude and work with determination towards the chosen goal to realize it.   The importance of Sraddha can be seen from these words of Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita (4-39): “The man with Sraddha and devotion, who has subdued the senses, attains Jnanam”

Verse 16

sarvada sthapanam buddheh, suddhe brahmani sarvatha |

tat samadhanamityuktam, na tu cittasya lalanam ||26॥

The placing of the mind always and in every manner in Brahman that is pure is said to be Samadhana; it is not the pacifying of the mind.

            This verse describes the sixth virtue, Samadhana. Samadhana is Chitha Ekagratha, single-pointedness of mind. This is the ability to have the goal in one’s sights always and be constantly focussed in one’s efforts to reach it.  As a bowman has an eye only for the target so must be the concentration of efforts to attain the goal. Here the goal is Moksha and so Samadhana is keeping the mind absorbed in Brahman, which is pure and free from all limitations, always and without wandering.

Verse 17

ahankaradidehantan, bandhanajnanakalpitan |

svasvarupavabodhena, moktumiccha mumukshuta ||27॥

Mumuksutva is the burning desire to free oneself, by realizing one‘s true Self—from all bondages from that of egoism to that of identification with the body—which are bondages imagined due to ignorance.

Sri Sankara describes the fourth qualification Mumukshutva in this verse. Mumukshutva is intense desire for Moksha. This desire for Moksha Swami Tejomayananda classifies into four categories

1.    Very dull (ati manda) – “It is Okay if I get it this life, otherwise there is always next life” attitude.  This is not true mumukshutva

2.    Dull (manda) – “I will start seeking liberation after discharging all my responsibilities” attitude.

3.    Middle (madhyama) – “I must get liberation soon.  The earlier the better” attitude

4.    Strong (theevra) – “I want liberation here and now” attitude.  This person’s intensity is comparable to the intensity of a drowning person for air. 

Mumukshu is one who has theevra Mumukshutva and to him Moksha is not one of the objectives but it is the only objective.  Moksha is defined as liberation from bondages born out of Self-ignorance and consequent Self – misapprehension that causes samsara due to mistaken identification of Self with ahamkara/ body-mind complex.  It is the theevra Mumukshuthva that enables one to reach the goal of Self-knowledge. 

Verse 18

uktasadhanasampannah, tattvajijnasuratmanah |

upasidedgurum prajnam, yasmadbandhavimokshanam ||32॥

One who has the above mentioned qualifications and is desirous to know the Truth of the Self should, therefore, approach an illumined guru for redeeming himself from bondage.

    The one who who has the four qualifications of Viveka, Vairagya, Samadhi shatka sampatti and Mumukshtva should approach a Guru who has got the knowledge as unfolded by the sastras.  He approaches the Guru seeking Self-knowledge for Moksha that is born of sastra-pramana.  The characteristics of the Guru is described in the next verse.

Verse 19

srotriyo’vṛjino’kama-hato yo brahmavittamah |

brahmanyuparatah santah, nirindhana ivanalah |

ahetukadayasindhuh, bandhuranamatam satam ||33II

Guru is one who is well-versed in the scriptures, pure, unafflicted by desires, a perfect knower of the Supreme, who continuously abides in the Supreme, who is as calm as the fire that has burnt up its fuel, who is a boundlesss ocean of mercy that needs no cause for its expression, an intimate friend to all good people who surrender to him.

    The Guru must no doubt have the full realisation but he must also have a complete grasp of the scriptures.  For a Self-realized Guru will be able to impart this profound knowledge to the disciple with teaching skills, only if he had studied the scriptures as a disciple under a realized Guru with the sound knowledge of the scriptures. Further the Guru must also have great self-control and also a heart overflowing with mercy for the disciple who has surrendered to him seeking Self-knowledge.  Guru is further described as avrjino, free from sin; akamahata, free from desire and greed; and nirandana iva analah, calm without likes and dislikes like the fire which does not have fuel any more i.e. bright without flames.

Verse 20

tamaradhya gurum bhaktya, prahvaprasrayasevanaih

prasannam tamanuprapya, prcchejjnatavyamatmanah ||34॥

Having worshipped the Guru with devotion, one must approach the Guru, who is pleased by the service(done to him), with a proper attitude and ask him what is to be known about One’s Self.

      Sri Sankara explains in this verse that a seeker should approach the Guru with love and devotion and later through love inspired service, establish an intimate rapport filled with reverence.  One may then ask the pleased Guru, what one wants to know. The pleased teacher is referred to as prasannam here.  The convinced teacher then acquaints the surrendered disciple with the knowledge of Self.

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Two types of Bhakthi

(Based on Swami Paramarthananda’s Sivarathri talk, 2018)

Bhakthi comes from the root Bhaj, which means to serve with attachment, here the attachment is to God, whom we shall refer to as Iswara. Those who follow the path of bhakthi are called bhakthas.  Bhakthas have reverential love for Iswara. Even though Iswara as Supreme Brahman is formless and non-dual, scriptures provide for worship, representative forms as deities such as Siva, Vishnu, Devi etc. A bhaktha displays devotion to a chosen deity called his Ishta Devata and his reverential attitude and various acts of worship of Ishta Devata are also called bhakthi. Bhaktha believes that his Ishta Devata is the Supreme God and is omnipotent, omniscient, all compassionate and Jagat Karanam.  Swami Tejomayananda has made the following classification of bhakthas in his facebook remark:

1.     Those who pray to God for material gains, looking upon Him as a wish-fulfiller

2.     Those who pray to God for material gains, looking upon Him as well-wisher

3.     Those who pray to god for spiritual gains, purification of mind, good qualities etc. i.e. in short for Moksha,

4.     Those who pray for the sheer joy of praying, seeking nothing

Type 1 and 2 are called sakama bhakthas and their bhakthi for material gains is called sakama bhakthi, as opposed to type 3 and 4 where the motive for bhakthi is Moksha or pure love of Iswara that is called nishkama bhakthi.  These are the two types of bhakthi .

Sakama bhakthas have the false notion that Iswara in the form of their Ishta Devatha being omnipotent and compassionate will respond to their prayers positively and help them get their wants fulfilled and also get rid of their unwanted things. This arises from a limited study of scriptures and from stories they hear from pauranikas and others. Swami Paramarthananda calls this type of bhakthi as apply-supply bhakthi, because of their belief that they need only apply and Iswara will supply.  This sort of understanding is not correct as scriptures do not talk of sakama bhakthi but only talk of sakama karmasahita bhakthi which means that relevant karma or actions as prescribed by scriptures, must accompany their bhakthi.  Even then they should bear in mind that Iswara being karma phala dhata grants only in conformity with the laws of karma which takes into account all karmas, past and present.   If one does not have this understanding then one is likely to get emotionally upset when his prayers and worship do not yield the desired fruits. This may make one do deity-hopping or doubt the scriptures and in the extreme cases turn a nasthika. Further in sakama bhakthi, scriptures prescribe elaborate regulations as to the nature of worship depending on the deity chosen for worship, the detailed procedure to follow in rituals down to the minute detail of naivedyam to be offered, that one has to follow to achieve his desires. Even then getting the desired results is subject to limitations discussed earlier and so the uncertainty about the results; may get, may not get or partially get, is always there.  In sakama bhakthi worship is offered in many cases out of fear rather than out of love and so they are emotionally disturbed and lose peace of mind when their expectations are not fulfilled.

Nishkama bhakthi does not suffer from these drawbacks. Love is the motive and there is no element of fear and as no material gains are sought there are no expectations and so there is no tension and no disappointment.  Nishkama bhakthi helps the bhakthas to gain a strong mind free from emotional disturbances both from inside and outside, assure the scriptures.  Further no rigid procedure is prescribed as can be seen from Lord Krishna’s words in Gita (9-26); “Whoever offers Me with love a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or water, I accept that (gift) of the pure-hearted person which has been devotionally presented.”   Lord Krishna also says in Gita (2-40):” In this path of (disinterested action) there is no loss of effort nor is there fear of contrary result, even a little practice of this discipline protects one from great fear.”   In Nishkama bhakthi the baktha offers worship and prays for a strong mind that can accept choiceless situations without resistance and can stand the strain of adverse situations caused by prarabhdha karma. Yogabhyasa involving karmayoga, upasana yoga and jnana yoga is also a form of nishkama bhakthi that helps to purify the mind and keep it strong.  Keeping the mind pure and strong is important as mind alone is responsible for bondage as well as liberation.

Most of the bhakthas start as sakama bhakthas.  Swami Paramarthananda says that in view of its drawbacks scriptures strongly recommend to all spiritual seekers who are sakama bhakthas that they adopt nishkama bhakthi, gradually giving up sakama bhakthi.  Initially a sakama bhaktha can practice nishkma bhakthi along with sakama bhakthi,  as sakama pradhana bhakthi.  As a first step in this process a sakama bhaktha can change to sakama pradhana bhakthi by adding a strong mind to his list of demands in prayers and changing his perception of Iswara from apply-supply dhata to karma phala dhatha.  The strong mind he prays for must be one that can accept willingly whatever comes his way in answer to his prayers, be it favourable, unfavourable or mixed, depending upon his prarabhdha and present karma.  He should also take to scriptural study (at least Gita) under the guidance of a competent acharya for a length of time in a systematic manner. This prayer and scriptural study will add maturity to his bhakthi, increasing his love for Iswara, reducing the fear and changing his apply-supply perception of Iswara. Gradually his bhathi also will change from sakama pradhana to nishkama pradhana.  This nishkama pradhana bhakthi when supported by scriptural study and Yogabhyasa, starting from karma yoga, will help one to grow to be a jijnasu bhaktha when the change to nishkama bhakthi is complete.  As jijnasu bhaktha, one is well on the way to Liberation, pursuing with sustained sadhanas his quest to gain Athma Jnanam.

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Purandharadasa & Pattinathar

Artharthi to Ananya Bhaktha 

Swami Tejomayananda has made the following classification of bhakthas in his facebook remarks:

1)    Those who pray to God for material gains, looking upon Him as a wish-fulfiller

2)    Those who pray to God for material gains, looking upon Him as well-wisher

3)    Those who pray to god for spiritual gains, purification of mind, good qualities etc. i.e. in short for Moksha,

4)    Those who pray for the sheer joy of praying, seeking nothing.

It is of the third category who are nishkama bhakthas, Arjuna has a doubt, which is expressed in chapter 6 of Gita. If such a bhaktha fails midway in his sadhana, due to distractions or due to intervention of death before he could attain Jivanmukthi, whether his sadhanas will go waste like a cloud torn asunder (6-38).  Lord Krishna assures Arjuna that such sadhanas do not go waste and such a sadhaka takes birth in a good family, gets connected to the spiritual intelligence acquired in the previous birth and with that he strives more intensely for Realization (6-44).  This we find in the life of some who even from an early age develop Ananya bhakthi or turn Ananya bhakthas suddenly at a later age due to Grace of God, even though they may be in category 1, which corresponds to the classification of Artha, Artharthi bhakthas of Lord Krishna in Gita (7-16).  No doubt bhakthas in category 2 are also Artha, Artharthi bhakthas but they are karma yogis as well, as they have prasada buddhi, and accept happily whatever comes to them with the belief that God knows what is best for them and will only grant what is good for them like the mother towards her children.

The sudden transformation that we spoke of in earlier paragraph is what we see in the life of Purandaradasa, whose birth-name was Srinivasa Nayak. He was born in a good family, received good education, got married at an early age of 16 and inherited his father’s gemstone and pawn business at the age of 20, when his father died. He became prosperous and was known as ‘Navakoti Narayana’. But he was a greedy and miserly merchant, who worshipped wealth.  Once a brahmin came to him seeking help for conducting upanayanam-ceremony for his son.  He made him come two or three times and then gave him a single coin of no value.  Then the poor brahmin approached Srinivasa Nayak’s wife and cried telling what happened. She took pity on the poor brahmin and gave the brahmin her diamond nose-ring and asked him to sell it and use the money. This he then took to Srinivasa Nayak’s shop itself, sold it and went away with the money.  Seeing the nose-ring, Srinivasa Nayak recognized it as his wife’s and so after giving the money to the brahmin he hurried home locking the nose-ring in the shop.  When he confronted his wife and asked for the nose ring, she pretended to go inside and wear it. Instead she prayed to the family deity and then tried to drink poison to escape the wrath of her husband.  To her surprise she found the nose-ring shining in the cup, which she wore and came out.  The confused husband went back to the shop only to find the nose-ring there missing.  He was all the more confused; and he came home and narrated this incident to his wife. She then told the whole story including the answer to her prayer. This was a turning point in his life. Not only he gave up his greed for money, but also gave away all his amassed wealth to charities. He became an ananya bhaktha of Lord and started a life of wandering minstrel singing Lord’s glory. His very first composition was about his regret for his wasted life of indulgence. The name Purandaradasa was later bestowed on him by the revered sage Vyasathirtha.  Purandaradasa’s compositions are said to be more than 4 lakhs.

The Saivite saint Pattinathar is another Artha, Artharthi bhaktha who suddenly transformed into an Ananya bhaktha through the grace of God.  His birth name was Swetharanyar as he was named after Lord Siva of Swetharanyeswarar temple. He was also called as Thiruvenkadar by the people. He was born in a wealthy business family based in Kaveripoompattinam, which was a port-town.  When he was five years old, he lost his father. He inherited his father’s business and expanded the import-export business.  While amassing money he also did not hesitate to spend it  on devotees of Lord Siva whom he fed daily. At the age of sixteen, he got married to a merchant’s daughter. He was also known as “pattinathu chetty” They had no children for fifteen years. Meantime there was a very poor devotee of Lord Siva, by the name of Sivasarumar who spent all his wealth in feeding the devotees of Lord Siva. When he ran out of money, he did not hesitate to sell his wife’s mangalsutra to feed the devotees of Lord Siva.  As he was again running out of money, Lord Siva appeared in his dream and told him that he would find a baby at a certain spot and that he can hand it over to Thiruvenkadar who would give gold equal to the weight of the baby, with which he can continue his good work. Sivasarumar found the baby accordingly and took him to Thiruvenkadar, who had also got a similar message in his dream.  Thiruvenkadar rewarded Sivasarumar with baby’s weight of gold and more, and adopted the child.  Since Thiruvenkadar got the dream-message in Thiruvidaimaruthur, he named the child as Maruthavanan.

Maruthavanan grew up and wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. So the father sent him on a ship with a lot of merchandise.  When Maruthavanan returned home Thiruvenkadar noticed that what he has brought back after trading was only sacks full of cow-dung-cakes and paddy husks and he became very angry. Scolding his son he threw a cow-dung-cake at the wall.  Lo! As it split into pieces, out of it fell gems and diamonds and when he examined the husk he found it was gold dust.  He was sorry he scolded his son who not only brought back a big fortune but brought it cleverly concealed in paddy husks and cow-dung-cakes to save it from robbers. With overflowing affection he searched for his son whom he has scolded wrongly.  He could not find him.  His wife said he has left abruptly giving a box to be handed over to his father. It was a beautiful ivory box decorated with pearls. Admiring the box he opened it only to find a needle without eye-hole and a palm-leaf. On the palm-leaf was written “காதற்ற ஊசியும் வாராது காண் கடைவழிக்கே” (Not even an eyeless needle will accompany you in the final journey of life). This opened his eyes and he renounced everything; his money, family and possessions and left the house.  One minute a big prosperous merchant whose wealth was the envy of other merchants and whom even big people approached for money and the next minute a beggar in loin cloth in his own town.  He not only gave up the wealth but also his ahamkara and mamakara as in the case of Purandaradasa.  Such was Pattinathar’s vairagya that when his mother and wife came and asked him to come home for food, he said:

இருக்கும் இடம் தேடி என் பசிக்கே அன்னம்

உருக்கமுடன் கொண்டு வந்தால் உண்பேன் – பெருக்க

அழைத்தாலும் போகேன் அரனே! என் தேகம்

இளைத்தாலும் போகேன் இனி.

If food is brought to the place where I am, I will take it. I will not go to any place for  food even if  invited or my body goes lean without food.

After renunciation he sang many a philosophical song to enlighten people on the blissful state of renunciation. But that is another story.

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