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VIVEKACŪDAMAŅI
101
85
Thus Sri Bhagavatpāda confirms detachment from sense-pleasures as the means to mokşa. He then shows that the non-attachment should begin with the gross body. The idea is that if attachment to the gross body is given up, vairāgya from sense-objects will be easy.
अनुक्षणं यत्परिहत्य कृत्यं अनाद्यविद्याकृतबन्धमोक्षणम् । देहः परार्थोऽयममुष्य पोषणे यः सज्जते स स्वमनेन हन्ति ॥८५॥ anukṣaṇam yatparihrtya krtyam
anādyavidyākrtabandhamokṣaṇami I dehaḥ parārtho'yam amuşya poșane
yassajate sa svamanena hanti !!
He who gives up what should continuously be done, namely, getting release from the bondage wrought by beginningless avidyā, and indulges in gratifying the body which is ever for others, slays himself. yat: the gross body.
parihrtya: completely abandoning the superimposition of the anātman which is the body on the ātman. This false identification extends from the ahamkāra to the body.
anādyavidyā: mulāvidyā: beginningless primeval nescience which is the cause of the concealment of Brahman and the projection of the world.
anukṣaṇam: sarvadā: nityam: must be done every moment, i.e., always and continuously.
First the reference is made to the abandonment of the body which is gross; for, the abandonment of the sense of the atman on the breath (prāņa) etc. will follow only thereafter.
That the body is anātman is shown by speaking of it as parärtha, i.e., intended for another. This has been explained in the commentary to śloka 74.
The body is composed of many diverse components. It is the anātman in the sense that as a house made up of roofs, walls, pillars, etc., is intended for the owner of the house, this body too as com pacted of many parts is for another who is the ātman. By itself, it is the anātman. He who thinks of this body as his ātman forgetting his true nature, indulges in gratifying the body being deep