________________
VIVEKACŪDAMANI
tataḥ: after that, i.e. after the giving up of all karmas.
śrutiḥ: listening to the words of Vedanta from the lips of a guru with the awareness of their meaning. It is action which will facilitate the determination of the meaning of the Vedanta texts.
88
tanmananam: reflecting on the meaning of the texts that have been heard with awareness of logical coherence for acquiring deepseated conviction.
satattvadhyanam: After non-comprehension and doubt have been got rid of by hearing and reflection, meditation on that supreme truth.
ciram: This has to be done for long; this is intended to banish from the mind the long-standing tendencies making for mistaking the anatman for the atman.
nityanirantaram: Though practised for a long time, if it is done with interruptions, the impressions during the broken intervals would spoil the atman-consciousness. Therefore, nididhyāsana (contemplation) itself will not be effective. Hence the need to practise continuously and without interruption: nityam and nirantaram. Speaking of nididhyāsana, the Yoga Sutra says: sa tu dirghakalanairantarya-satkārāsevito drḍhabhumiḥ: "Its foundation is what is done with earnestness for long without interruption." One should not hope that nididhyāsana will be accomplished in a few days or months. To think like that will be as foolish as the thought of a father who says to himself: "The Vedas are only four in number. My son has gone to learn them. It is now five days since he went, and yet he has not returned after studying them." To show that it will require years and even several lives to accomplish it, the words ciram and nirantaram have been used. The Gītā also says: anekajanmasamsiddhastato yāti parām gatim: "Having become a siddha after a number of lives, one attains the supreme goal".
vidvān: atmasakṣātkāravān:
one who has realised one's atman.
ihaiva nirvanasukham samṛcchati: If nididhyāsana is perfected by continuous and unbroken practice, then ihaiva, in this life itself, the vidvan who has realised the atman enjoys in full the bliss of liberation. param: utkrṣṭam: pre-eminent, superior. savikalpāt param. He attains nirvikalpa samādhi which is superior to the savikalpa. Having attained it, he enjoys unalloyed bliss of nirvāņa.
