Vivek Chudamani

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

Page 31

INTRODUCTION
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parted by a teacher, yukti and anubhava. Vedānta relates to the realm of the super-sensuous and we must rely on the declaration of śruti which contains the revelation by those endowed with a spiritual vision of these transcendental truths. It is not for us, who do not now possess such vision, being caught up in the world of sense, to question the validity or the value of śruti. The statements are paramount truths before which other pramāṇas will have no force in respect of what they speak. Śruti is beneficent instruction on the ultimate and is entitled to reverence and faith as śrutimātā. The sisya must receive these sruti texts with absolute trust from the guru and meditate on them to realise their full significance. The Hindu tradition in respect of Vedāntic training emphasises the importance of hearing the word of śruti from the lips of the teacher, who, as pointed out earlier, reinforces them with his compassion and his benediction. Śrī Bhagavatpāda and, following him, His Holiness stress the importance of upadeśa of the śruti by the guru who has realised its truth in himself. If the śruti is the seed of Vedāntic knowledge, it should be sown by the guru on the soil of the sişya's mind prepared by the sādhanacatuştaya, watered by the guru's grace and ploughed by the śişya's śravana, manana and nididhyāsana.
It will be noticed that, in this as in his other works, Sri Bhagavatpäda' has developed the truths of Advaita adopting the purely scientific method conducting a rigorous analysis of man fortifying his findings from the statements of śruti only when they cannot be subjected to experiential test. He never has recourse to dogma, belief or theology however sacred or authoritative it may be. That is why Advaita is a tattva, truth, not a mata or a theory.
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A cardinal doctrine of Advaita Vedānta is the concept of jivanmukti. It is distinctive to it as contrasted with other schools of Vedānta. Mokşa, being liberation from the bonds of samsāra, must be effected by oneself. If it is granted, as it must be, that bandha is due to ajñāna, which makes one mistake the anātman for the ātman and consequently get involved in samsāra, freedom from such
8 Not to be traced to human authorship, the śrutis are believed to be apauruşeya. They are said to be the breath of God. Vide:
थो ब्रह्माणं विदधाति पूर्व
यो वै वेदांश्च प्रहिणोति तस्मै । तंह देवमात्मबुद्धिप्रकाशं
मुमुक्षुर्वे शरणमहं प्रपद्ये ।।