Talk On Vivek Chudamani

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

Page 64

वैराग्यम् - Spirit of renunciation, च- and, मुमुक्षुत्वम्
57
-
yearning indeed, विद्यते -
for freedom, तीव्रम् intense, यस्य - in whom, तु
is, तस्मिन् - in him, एव alone, अर्थवन्तः - meaningful, स्युः - shall be,
- fruitful,
the (practice of) calmness, etc.
Calmness and other practices have their meaning and they bear fruit, indeed, only in whom has an intense spirit of renunciation and yearning for freedom.
There are many seekers who, having practised for long the great six qualities, such as, calmness, etc., complain that they have not been progressing at all. Vedantic practice is not a training in ethics or morality. These great qualities are mainly to create an ethical and moral atmosphere in the psychological field of the seeker. "Merely by living an honest life", there are many spiritual cowards who ask, "can't we reach the Perfection which is explained as Godhood?" This question has become very rampant in these days and they, in their confusion, and perhaps, intellectual fatigue, refuse to make a thorough study of the Sastras.
They merely claim for themselves a "true living" in their own honest endeavours in life: they say, "I am very dutiful; I earn honestly; I look after my home and dependants, and to the extent I can afford it, I share my wealth with others in a spirit of charity. I believe that I am a nobler soul than those who practise the so-called spiritual discipline."
This wrong notion has been answered by Sankara when he says that the qualities of self-restraint, self-control, purity, etc., can bear their ultimate fruit only when they are in an individual who has the complete sense of detachment born out of discrimination and a burning aspiration to peep over the limitations of his mortal existence in the finite world of plurality. The destiny of those whom I have met, who had been living "an honest life all the time", is indeed quite heart-rending!! They live this finite world in sensuous excesses, running after the mirage of wealth, power, popularity, enjoyments, etc., and though their means are fair, their