Vivek Chudamani

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

Page 94

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VIVEKACŪDĀMAŅI
Where detachment and desire for release are dull, sama etc., are unreal like water in a mirage.
If viraktatā and mumuksā are not intense, then they are transient appearances like water in a mirage. When the sun is very hot in a desert by the contact of its blazing rays, there arises in a man seeing it from a distance an illusion that there is water there. Going near, no water is obtained nor is thirst quenched. On the other hand, the weary man who has reached the 'spot in quest of water only suffers more intense pain. Even so, in the absence of tīvravairāgya and mumukşutā, sama etc., are only illusory appearances like water in a mirage; such a one does not reap the fruits of sama etc., nor is he described by others as śānta etc.
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Thus, having explained viveka etc., (the sādhanacatuştaya), which constitute the qualifications of the adhikārin for Brahmavicāra which means devoutly listening to the passages relating to Brahman without a second, which is non-different from one's ātman and which is eternally pure, intelligent and free, Sri Bhagavatpāda proceeds to speak of bhakti which is the direct (internal) means (antarangasādhana) to realisation of the ātman and which is what is to be achieved by the aforesaid inquiry.
मोक्षकारणसामग्रयां भक्तिरेव गरीयसी।
स्वस्वरूपानसन्धानं भक्तिरित्यभिधीयते ॥३२॥ mokşakāraṇasāmagryām bhaktireva garīyasi svasvarūpānusandhānam bhaktirityabhidhiyate 11
Among the material aids for achieving moksa, bhakti is the greatest. Continuous contemplation of one's essential nature (svarupa) is said to be bhakti.
By svasvarūpānusandhāna contemplation on one's essential nature, nididhyāsana (profound repeated meditation) is meant. That alone can serve as the immediate means to direct realisation. The continuous contemplation of the śruti text and the upadeśa of the guru: sa ātmā tattvamasi (That is the ātman; That thou art): "Thy essential nature is Brahman; thou art That only", is the indispensable mtans (asādhāraṇa kāraņa) of such realisation. This contemplation (anusandhāna) is of the form of the exclusion of contrary ideas and is marked by a continuous flow of accordant ideas. Sama etc., are the cause of jñāna mediated by vicāra and nididhyā