Sramana Tradation

Author(s): G C Pandey
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 32

Šiamaņism As Weltanschauung
giving it a clearer interpretation - tapaḥ śraddheye hy upavasanty aranye śāntā vidvāmso bhaikşacaryam carantah/" Those who dwell with austerity and faith in the woods, the pacified, men of wisdom engaged in mendicancy." While the Chandogya seems to have referred only to the anchorites in the forests, here we have a unique Upanisadic reference to mendicancy - bhaikșacaryā / This Upanișad again gives a clear picture of emancipation, its nature and process. Meditation is essential and it leads to the resolution of the knot of ignorance (avidyāgranthi), a phrase, of which this is a unique reference. The destruction of ignorance leads to the destruction of the doubts and of the accumulated force of Karma (bhidyate hrdayagranthih chidyante sarvasamśayāḥ/ ksiyante cāsya karmäni tasmin dȚsțe parāvare (1) The knot of the heart is split, all doubts are destroyed and so are all his Karmans on seeing Him, the transcendent.' Hrda yagranthi is apparently parallel to avidya. granthi and suggests that ignorance here is not intellectual but transcendental. We may recall that in the Yogasūtras it is stated that the subtle klešas of which Avidyā is the first, can be removed only through the practice of meditation or bhāvanā. In the third Mundaka we hear of the Yatis who abandon inner evils (kșinadoșāḥ ) and practise truth, austerities (tapas ), brahmacarya and right knowledge (samyak jñāna). It again mentions the Yatis who adopt the vow of renunciation and are thus purified (samnyāsa-yogāt yatayaḥ śuddhasattvāḥ). The Yatis, however, are said to be well-versed in the Vedantic science (Vedāntavi jnanasuniścititărthah). The description of emancipation or Vimukti reminds one of a closely parallel verse in the Buddhist Sutta Nipāta (yathā nadyaḥ syandamānāḥ samudre astam gacchanti nămarūpe vihāya/ tathā vidvån nămarūpád vimuktah parât param puruşam upaiti divyam 11) • Just as the flowing rivers reach home in the sea by abandoning name and form, so does the man who knows, freed from name and form, attain to the divine person who is higher than the highest.' This may be compared with the following verse from the Upasiva.māņavapucchá
-'accī yathā vātavegena khitto attham paleti na upeti samkham, evam munī nâmakāyā vimutto attham paleti na upeti samkham || ' 'Just as a flame struck by the breeze disappears and cannot be discovered, so the Muni, freed from name and body disappears and cannot be discovered.' We must also advert here to two verses from the Säntiparvan