Talk On Vivek Chudamani

Author(s): Chinmayanand Swami
Publisher: Chinmay Publications Trust

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sacred as the textbooks of Vedas; no amount of activity, even such sacred actions as 'yagnas' or worship-can themselves take us to that mental poise. This idea which Sankara had already expressed is being reinforced by him in the stanza now under discussion by quoting the declaration of the Sruti.
All Acharyas, irrespective of their philosophical beliefs, accept the declarations of the Scriptures as absolute and as having unquestionable authority. This attitude may not be acceptable to the modern youth, who, in his colossal ignorance may very daringly question even the Rishis. He may not dare to question in his Physics class-room, but will silently and satisfactorily swallow down if he is told that the electrons and protons are moving with a terrific frequency around a neutron in every atom. His spirit of enquiry, courage of understanding etc., seem to get frozen when he comes to the modern text books; but the moment he hears the truth declared in the ancient text books he seems to find in himself an audacity to question, but, unfortunately not the courage to enquire, or the stamina to experiment with those ideas.
The great Acharyas of old were not as idiotic as we are prone to accept them to be. For, to accept them as an unintelligent-folk is to insult our own grandfathers; for, did they not believe them and follow them with benefit?
The sacred Acharyas accepted the declarations of the Srutis because of the bonafide character and temperament of the Rishis who declared them. They did not, like a politician, come to the public to thrust their idea down the throats of their listeners. They were living in complete contentment and happiness in their own Self-discovery and to them the seekers made a foot-path, and reached with their questions and doubts upon life and its meaning, the goal and the path. To these seekers, out of sheer kindness, the men of realization declared the Truth of their own experiences, in a burning spirit of inspiration and love. They had no intentions to misguide these precious young hearts of the generation.