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VIVEKACUDAMANI
Destroy the desire aroused by the sense of the 'I' in the gross body compacted of filth; then with great persistence do the same later with the subtle body which like the air is invisible. Realising yourself as the ever blissful spoken of in the Vedas, remain as Brahman.
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'pracuryārthe
malamayakośe: In accord with the dictum: mayat', particle 'mayat' (maya) is used to indicate abundance of filth in the gross body.
utthāpita: generated.
aśām: the reference is to the aśa (attachment) to the gross body and to all things which nourish it.
prasabham: with great force.
jahi: destroy.
malamaya iti hetugarbha-viseṣaṇam:
a qualification containing
the reason for the destruction of the sense of 'I' (one will be inclined to destroy it only if one is told that it is malamaya, filthy). For it was said earlier: pinḍandam tyajyatām malabhaṇḍavat: "let gross body be abandoned like a vessel of filth."
paścāt: after the destruction of the attachment relating to the gross body.
anilakalpe:
which is almost like air.
lingadehe api: also in the sūkṣma-śarīra (subtle body) made up of seventeen limbs (namely, the five jñānendriyas, the five karmendriyas, the pañcaprāņas, manas and buddhi).
Destroy the desire for objects congenital to the mind and aroused by the sense of 'I'. The advice to destroy the desire for the subtle body is stated subsquent to that relating to the gross body on the principle that the abandonment at first of what is subtle is difficult and that the abandonment of the subtle which is close is easy after the abandonment of the distant gross objects. Hence the advice in the beginning to abandon the desire for the objects which are gross. The reason for this is given by saying 'ahamdhiḥ', the idea of 'I'. For, it is indicated that when the sense of 'I' is absent in what is seen to be frightening, desire never arises as there is no cause for it. The śruti also speaks to the same effect when it says: asmāllokāt pretya etamannamayam ātmānam upasamkrāmati: "Going away from (giving up) the external objects, one gets out of the annamaya (gross) body of the atman."
By this it is meant that one should shed the sense of 'I' in sons and friends etc., first who are outside the gross body. One should
