Vivek Chudamani

Author(s): Chandrashekhar Bharti Swami, P Sankaranarayan
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidyabhavan

Page 28

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VIVEKACŪDĀMANI
ing on the principle of jahadajahallaksanā, the two will be found to be not different from each other, and meditation on this mahāvākya will lead to the realisation of the identity between them. When that happens, the awareness of the world as existing apart from Brahman will disappear and the sādhaka will be suffused by Brahmanconsciousness whole and entire. This state is known as 'Brahmatmanā samsthitih' in the words of the first śloka of Vivekacūdāmani and that experience is 'svānubhava'.
The guru next goes on to explain the danger of sliding from that experience due to the action of the vāsanās, the influence of ahamkāra and the effect pramāda or negligence. Warning the sisya against yielding to these things which are deleterious to the cultivation of ātma-vāsanā, he counsels him to be for ever established in the contemplation of Brahman by concentrating his mind on his pratyagātman. This will lead him to the nirvikalpasamadhi in which he will no more look at the external world as an independent real as it appears, and he will be immersed in the transcendental experience of the bliss of ātmānubhava. As a final counsel, the guru emphasises the importance of tīyra vairāgya, bodha and uparati for such realisation.
The jñāni who has attained such Brahman consciousness shakes off his bondage to experiential world. Or, to put it more truly, the world affects him no more and he becomes a jīvanmukta. The taint of karma does not affect him, all the karmas of this and past lives are burnt away in the fire of jñāna, and in respect of future karmas, due to the absence of the sense of kartytva and bhoktrtva, he is neither a doer nor an enjoyer. The prārabdha karmas alone which have begun to operate will affect his body helping to sustain it, and not his mind. He will live in the world till they are worked out, after which his body will fall off and the jivanmukta is then said to attain videhamukti.
Expatiating on the qualities of a jīvanmukta, the guru describes how he goes through his life for the remainder of his days. He is a brahmavit, brahmavidvara, brahmavidvarīyān and brahma-vidvariştha, i.e. who has experiential consciousness of Brahmanhood by progressive stages. He realises himself as pure Intelligence. He is not drawn to sense-objects; no sin attaches to him. He is neither attracted nor repelled by anything. He is self-contained and self-satisfied. He enjoys a bliss that is not of this world. Even as a lad delights in his playthings unconcerned with his hunger or afflictions of body, sc too does he delight in Brahman with no consciousness of 'l' or 'mine'
nor repelled by anyth