Talk On Vivek Chudamani

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

Page 25

18
Therefore, the learned seeker, who is striving to gain this freedom within and having renounced all his desires for the pleasures in the external sense-objects, should duly approach a good and generous master, and must live attuned himself to the true significances of the words advised by the masters.
If, as Sankara said earlier and as the :Śruti declares "a man cannot achieve his self-redemption or Self-victory over his own inner weaknesses through actions however glorious and divine they may be", one is apt to conclude that there is no method by which one can redeem oneself. This despair, perhaps, the master noted on the face of his disciple and here, in this stanza, he hastens to console him. We have in this stanza a positive declaration of what exactly should a seeker do in order that he may be well-established on the path of truth-seeking.
A seeker in Vedanta is not a nobody who has walked into the sanctum of a temple or has casually thought of sitting in prayer or visiting a sacred place! These constitute but the very primary lessons in the spiritual life.
A student entering the Halls of Wisdom can gain his admission only when he has had enough education, not only in the market-place but also in the great text-books discussing the theory and meaning of life, and hence the word Vidyān is added here to indicate a true seeker. A student, therefore, having had a book knowledge of life and its meaning, when he realises the futility of running after the senseobjects, he, in his knowledge, comes to a certain amount of renunciation of his desires and he approaches his Master. Sankara in this stanza, with his inimitable pen, in as few a stroke as possible, has also given us a list of all the special qualifications that are necessary for a seeker in the spiritual path.
Santam : The word 'Santh' is often used in our vernacular to indicate a Sannyasin; but very rarely does the ordinary man realise what this term exactly means. He is a Santh' who is firmly established in the consciousness of pure Existence 'Satta.' A Guru must not only be a man of