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VIVEKA-CHUDAMANIBy: Shankaracharya

Commentary: Swami RanganathanandaEdited: Swami Shuddhidananda

Summary: Satyendra Nath Dwivedi

Part 5

THE TRUE NATURE OF THE SELF (Cont.)

Living in a retired place serves to control the sense organs, control of thesenses helps to control the mind, through control of the mind egoism isdestroyed; and this again gives the yogi an unbroken realization of the Bliss ofBrahman. Therefore, the man of reflection should always strive only to controlthe mind. Restrain speech in the manas, and restrain manas in the buddhi; thisagain restrain in the witness of buddhi, and merging that also in the Infinite

Absolute Self, attain to Supreme Peace.

Know O wise man, dispassion and spiritual awareness to be like the two wingsof a bird in the case of an aspirant. Unless both are there, none can, with the

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help of either one reach the creeper of liberation that grows, as it were, on thetop of an edifice.

The wise one realizes in his heart, in Samadhi, the infinite Brahman, which isan effable something, of the nature of Eternal Knowledge and Absolute Bliss,which has no exemplar, which transcends all limitations, is ever free and withoutactivity, which is like the limitless sky, indivisible and absolute. The wise onerealizes in his heart, in Samadhi, the infinite Brahman, which is devoid of thetouch of cause and effect, which is the Reality behind all imagination, which ishomogeneous, matchless, beyond the reach of logical proofs, (but) proved bythe experience of the wise as recorded in the Vedantic spiritual tradition, andever familiar to man as the basis of his Self-awareness. The wise one realizes inhis heart, in Samadhi, the infinite Brahman, which is undecaying and immortal,

the Reality which is the negation of all negations, which resembles the oceanwhen the waves have subsided, which is without a name, in which havesubsided all the modifications of the gunas (natures modes), and which iseternal, pacified and One.

He whose illumination is steady, who has constant bliss, and who has almost

forgotten the phenomenal universe, is accepted as a man liberated in this verylife. He who, even his mind merged in Brahman, is nevertheless quite alert, butfree at the same time from the characteristics of the waking state, and whoserealization is free from desires, is accepted as a man liberated in this very life.

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Thou, too, discriminate this Supreme Truth, the real nature of the Self, which isBliss undiluted, and shaking off thy delusion created by the open mind, be freeand illumined, and attain the consummation of thy life.

The verdict of all discussions on the Vedanta is that the jiva and the wholeuniverse are nothing but Brahman, and that liberation means abiding in

Brahman, the indivisible Entity. While the Shrutis themselves are the authority(for the statement) that Brahman is One without a second.

The universe is an unbroken series of perceptions of Brahman; hence it is in allaspects nothing but Brahman. See this with the eye of illumination and a serenemind, under all circumstances. Is one who has eyes ever found to see all around

anything else but forms? Similarly, what is there except Brahman to engage theintellect of a man of realization?

Though without riches, yet ever content; though hopeless, yet very powerful;though not enjoying the sense objects, yet eternally satisfied; though withoutexemplar, yet looking upon with an eye of equality.

There are two types of greatness seen in people. One is the worldly greatness,and the other is the true spiritual greatness. When we go to a person who is

great in the worldly sense, we become small. Worldly greatness makes otherssmall and humble. But in the presence of a person who is spiritually great, evensmall and ordinary people feel elevated and raised.

If we are made to sit on a chair of authority and power, people will obviouslyrespect us, perhaps out of fear. But a spiritually great man doesnt need a chairof authority. The very character of such people, full of universal love and same-sightedness, commands love and respect from all equally. There is not a tinge of

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fear in peoples response and approach to them. People go to them out of loveand respect and not out of fear. Every man of spiritual realization possesses thiswonderful quality.

To make others feel great in our presence is the way to our own greatness.

This is the unique quality of spiritual greatness.

As milk poured into milk, oil into oil, and water into water, becomes united andone with it, so the sage who has realized the Atman becomes One in the Atman.

The affirmation (of the theist) that God is, and the negation (of the atheist) that

God is not, both these are nothing but pulsations of buddhi; it never touches theEternal Reality (behind the buddhi).

India, in her Upanishads and the great philosopher saints of later times, haddeveloped the most scientific idea of God God as our Self, the eternal witnessof everything. The extra-cosmic God can be dethroned, but God as our inner Selfremains forever. He is the witness of even the statements negating Him.

Because of this knowledge, India became intensely tolerant in the field ofreligion. Every view of God had a place in Indian society, even the crudest ones.Even atheists and agnostics have been respectfully placed here. India knew God

is One. People conceived Him variously, but conception of God is not God. He isthe witness of all conceptions as our Self. We have to educate our peopleeverywhere in this great Truth.

For those who are afflicted, in the way of the world, by the burning pain due tothe (scorching) sunshine of threefold misery, and who through delusion wanderabout in a desert in search of water for them here is the triumphant message ofShankara pointing out, within easy reach, the soothing ocean of nectar,Brahman, the One without a second to lead them to liberation.

Summary: Satyendra Nath Dwivedi

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