Vivek Chudamani

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

Page 88

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VIVEKACŪDAMAŅI
duhkhānām refers to cold, heat etc., which are the causes of duḥkha : afflictions.
The idea is that a mind which is subject to anxiety and lament is as distant as ever from (is unfit for) inquiry.
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Now Sri Bhagavatpāda explains sraddhā, the indispensable cause for knowledge of the truth about a thing
शास्त्रस्य गुरुवाक्यस्य सत्यबुद्ध्याऽवधारणा।
सा श्रद्धा कथिता सद्भिः यया वस्तूपलभ्यते ॥२६॥ śāstrasya guruvākyasya satyabuddhyāvadhāraṇā i sā sraddhā kathitā sadbhiḥ yayā vastūpalabhyate
Ascertainment of the scripture and of the words of the guru with conviction about their truth is called sraddhā by the good and as that by which knowledge of Reality is obtained.
In the world too, in the absence of faith in the words of any āpta (trustworthy person who has knowledge) no man acts in accordance with them in the matter of inquiry etc. When that is so with reference to objects of sense-perception, what needs to be said in the case of meaning of scripture which is beyond sense-perception? Hence śraddhā is the supreme means to inquiry about what is supersensuous. As the Lord said in the Gītā: aśraddadhānāḥ puruşā. dharmasyāsya parantapa aprāpya mām nivartante mrtyu-samsāravartmani 11 "Parantapa! Persons without sraddhā in this dharma go back along the road of death and samsāra without attaining Me." It is only he who is śānta, dānta, uparata, and titikṣu that obtains conviction of a thing in the form 'this is thus' upon his having been taught by the guru and the texts of Vedānta: "Brahman alone is the reality; That thou art; all the rest is mithyā”. He who does not possess this kind of sādhana will not get the conviction. So, to exclude one who has not that qualification, the first requisite is mentioned as śraddhā with reference to the words of the guru and the Vedānta.
Šāstra is texts like 'tattvamasi': "That thou art. In accord with that are the words of the guru in the form : 'You are not a samsārin; you are the Supreme Brahman which is ever intelligent and free. All else is mithyā.'
satyam : the truth : abādhitārthabodhakam 'what conveys a meaning which is not annulled.'