6th January 2021
ॐ
VIVEKACHUDAMANI
Talks by Swami Shivaprakashananda Saraswati.
सर्ववेदान्तसिद्धान्तगोचरं तमगोचरम् ।
गोविन्दं परमानन्दं सद्गुरुं प्रणतोऽस्म्यहम् ॥ १ ॥
sarvavedāntasiddhāntagocaraṃ tamagocaram |
govindaṃ paramānandaṃ sadguruṃ praṇato'smyaham || 1 ||
Shloka 160.
देहोऽहमित्येव जडस्य बुद्धिः
देहे च जीवे विदुषस्त्वहंधीः ।
विवेकविज्ञानवतो महात्मनो
ब्रह्माहमित्येव मतिः सदात्मनि ॥ १६0 ॥
deho'hamityeva jaḍasya buddhiḥ
dehe ca jīve viduṣastvahaṃdhīḥ |
vivekavijñānavato mahātmano
brahmāhamityeva matiḥ sadātmani || 160 ||
We are discussing Annamaya Kosha. In a few of the previous Shlokas, the author established that the Annamaya Kosha is Anatma , it is not Atma. He explained with various reasons.
Though Annamaya Kosha is Anatma, majority of the human beings identify with the Annamaya Kosha. I am this body. This understanding is called ‘dehatma buddhi’. Understanding that the body is ‘me’ is called ‘dehatma buddhi’. The body is my Self!
The spiritual pursuit involves growing up of ‘dehatma buddhi’, giving up of dehatma buddhi, therefore in the following few verses the Guru urges the student to give up the ‘dehatma buddhi. Based on how much one is free from dehatma buddhi , we can classify people into three groups.
First are the ones who are JADA and it does not mean insentient in this context. Jada means a gross person. From a spiritual standpoint, he is a gross person as he thinks that the body is his only reality. He does not think of a nature that transcends the body. He is his body.
“I am my body”. Hence the understanding of himself ends there. He is called Jada. He may be an intelligent person, he may have very high I.Q. and he may be a PhD from Harvard University,yet from Vedanta standpoint he is in his spiritual infancy—Jada.
The second type of people, the author calls them Vidwan, who has studied the shastras up to a certain extent, and since he got exposure to the Shastras he understands that there is a nature which transcends the body. He is not just the body. He has an existence which transcends the body. He is still ignorant, he is an ‘ajnani’ yet he knows that the body is not his only reality. In addition to the body also he knows that there is a greater reality called Jeeva. He understands this as Jeeva because he has read in the Shastras that after death you will go to another loka and in the other loka or in another Janma you will get the result of your ‘punya and paapa’. He has shraddha and he trusts the Shastras. He also knows that this body will not go to the other loka. The body will perish at the time of death. Then what goes to other Lokas? That is Jeeva. The Jeeva is limited. The Jeeva has a limited identity. The Jeeva is doer, enjoyer, traveller. It will go and get a new body. He understands that I am the Jeeva. At present, I am in this body and I will do punya and paapa in this body and when I die I will go to another body, another janma. This is his understanding. This is a little better than the first type. He understands himself as Jeeva.
Then the third group of people are ‘Viveki or Jnani’. They have a clear understanding of the Self. He has understood that he is not the body. He has also understood that he is not the Jeeva also. He is not even the limited being that travels from one body to another. He is Brahman that transcends all limitations. He is neither the body nor the Jeeva. He is Brahman! This is his understanding and that is where we have to arrive at. The effort of a Vedanta student is to arrive at this. I am not the body, not even the Jeeva ---I am Brahman.
Let us see the verse.
अहं देहः /aham dehah -I am the body ‘iti eva’ – Only this much. Not anything more than that. He does not think of a greater reality. जडस्य बुद्धिः / jaḍasya buddhiḥ --This is the understanding of a Jada. A spiritually gross person. He has not even started the spiritual pursuit.
देहे च जीवे विदुषस्त्वहंधीः ।
dehe ca jīve viduṣastvahaṃdhīḥ |
The second type of people have some knowledge of the Shastras and they believe and accept that they are the individuals who travel from one birth to another. They are the enjoyers of the ‘punyas and the paapas’. This is about such people. They have ‘AHAM buddhi’. They have ‘I’ identification with the body. As long as I am alive, I am in the body. I am Mr so and so. They have identification with the body and in the meantime, they know that that they are something more than the body. They identify with the Jeeva also. They have ‘aham buddhi’. They identify the Jeeva as ME.
So, I am the body and the Jeeva also. This is progress. The Jada has to become ‘Vidwan’. This is the first step in spiritual progress and after that comes the second stage of spiritual progress when you understand that you are Brahman.
विवेकविज्ञानवतो महात्मनो / vivekavijñānavato mahātmano --a Jnani who has a clear understanding of the distinction between Atma and Anatma.
ब्रह्माहमित्येव मतिः सदात्मनि / brahmāhamityeva matiḥ sadātmani – He understands that I AM BRAHMAN and since he understands that I am Brahman his ‘I’ identification is with the true Atma, with the real Atma, therefore the author says - सदात्मनि / sadātmani - in the true Atma. All other people identify with the Anatma. They take Anatma as Atma, as ‘I’.
But this Jnani understands the true Atma as ‘I’ and the true Atma is nothing other than Brahman.
Shloka 161.
अत्रात्मबुद्धिं त्यज मूढबुद्धे
त्वङ्मांसमेदोऽस्थिपुरीषराशौ ।
सर्वात्मनि ब्रह्मणि निर्विकल्पे
कुरुष्व शान्ति परमां भजस्व ॥ १६१ ॥
atrātmabuddhiṃ tyaja mūḍhabuddhe
tvaṅmāṃsamedo'sthipurīṣarāśau |
sarvātmani brahmaṇi nirvikalpe
kuruṣva śānti paramāṃ bhajasva || 161 ||
The Guru is addressing the Shishya. Hey !मूढबुद्धे / mūḍhabuddhe
Sounds quite unfair to call someone मूढबुद्धे / mūḍhabuddhe- The person with the deluded mind is called a ‘mudha buddhi’.The Guru is addressing the Shishya- Oh! ‘mudha buddhe’. Sounds unfair. As though he is scolding the Shishya but if we look into other places where he is addressing the Shishya, he was quite warm to the Shishya and respectful to the Shishya.In the beginning, he addressed the Shishya as ‘Vidwan’, and now he says ‘mudha buddhe!’
What does the Guru intend to convey? It is the duty of the Guru to correct the Shishya’s understanding, therefore the Guru has to point out where the Shishya is going wrong, therefore the Guru says you are still confused You are still holding on to the body, to the Jeeva identity. The Shishya is a Vidwan. The second category and that is why he called the Shisya, a Vidwan. Some people stay there. Now he says don’t stay there.
I will do good work. I will become a good person, don’t stay there also. Transcend the good person also. The good person is also a Jeeva. Good person means I am doing good things I am following Dharma and I will get punya. The doer is good or bad. When I say I am a good person I am identifying myself as a doer a ‘karta’and karta is Jeeva and I can keep overestimating myself. I am doing good things. I can keep overestimating myself and when I start overestimating, I get into spiritual stagnation.
It happens to many Vedanta students. A spiritual stagnation because of overestimation. I am a good person. I am sincere I don’t get angry, I keep smiling at others, I am doing a lot of meditation, I am not missing a single class of my Guru. When we start thinking so there is a spiritual stagnation and perhaps the Shishya also has got into spiritual stagnation, I am a good student and I am a good person etc. He starts comparing himself with others. Sometimes he thinks he is better than others. We seem to forget our individuality or identification.
The Guru is pin pointing at the error of the Shishya. Hey ‘muddha buddhe’!
Just because you are better in some way than others, don’t think that you have transcended the ‘deha atma buddhi’. You have to work on it.
Still there is delusion. You continue to identify with the body and if the Shishya is committed he will receive the statement of the Guru in the right spirit, otherwise he will get angry!
I am a good student and a good person and my Guru calls me ‘mudha buddhi’! He will stop coming to this Guru and he will go to another Guru. But this Shishya is a very sincere Shishya and he takes it in the right spirit, and he continues to sit and listen.
अत्रात्मबुद्धिं त्यज मूढबुद्धे / atrātmabuddhiṃ tyaja mūḍhabuddhe
In this body- Atma Buddhi, the ‘I’ identification is called Atma Buddhi / dehatma buddhi Looking at the body as myself . त्यज / tyaja—give it up! This is not easy as since ages we have been thinking that we are this body.
It has become a habit. Body identification has become a habit therefore it is not it easy to give up identification with the body. It needs effort.
One has to keep reminding oneself constantly. This body is not me. This body is Anatma This needs a constant reminder and the study of Viveka Chudamani helps in reminding us.
Viveka Chudamani is repeatedly telling us that you are not the body, so give up identification with the body. The word identification should be understood properly. The word identification does not mean to feel the body! You may continue to feel the body. Therefore, giving up the identification doesn’t mean not getting the feel of the body.
I give up identification that I will not feel the pain! That is not the idea. You continue to feel the pleasure and pain the body is undergoing and in the meantime you know that the body is not you.
Now the author is explaining how this body is Anatma. To facilitate the giving up identification with the body.
त्वङ्मांसमेदोऽस्थिपुरीषराशौ ।
tvaṅmāṃsamedo'sthipurīṣarāśau |
This body is a rashi, it is a collection of various tissues. Various components like ‘mamasa/ flesh, tvaca /skin, medha/ fat , asthi / bones , urisha / filth etc. It is a ‘rashi’ of all these things and therefore it is Anatma. Therefore give up identification with the body. Don’t think that the body is yourself.
Then what should I understand as myself? सर्वात्मनि ब्रह्मणि निर्विकल्पे/
sarvātmani brahmaṇi nirvikalpe
The Brahman/ the limitless which is Sarva Atma. It is the Atma of everyone, all-pervasive. Nirvikalpe निर्विकल्पे/-- it is free from all attributes.
We have to supply ‘atma buddhim krushva’. Understand the Brahman as your Atma. What will I get? If I own up the Brahman as the Atma ? What am I going to get?
शान्ति परमां भजस्व / kuruṣva śānti paramāṃ bhajasva || You will get Param Shanti /Absolute peace. Peace means freedom from Samsara. Freedom from problems. If you understand the Brahman as your true nature, as your Atma, then you are free from Samsara. You have attained absolute peace. शान्ति परमां / śānti paramāṃ
Attain absolute peace.
Sholka 162.
देहेन्द्रियादावसति भ्रमोदितां
विद्वानहं तां न जहाति यावत् ।
तावन्न तस्यास्ति विमुक्तिवार्ताप्य्
अस्त्वेष वेदान्तनयान्तदर्शी ॥ १६२ ॥
dehendriyādāvasati bhramoditāṃ
vidvānahaṃ tāṃ na jahāti yāvat |
tāvanna tasyāsti vimuktivārtāpy
astveṣa vedāntanayāntadarśī || 162 ||
Now the Shishya might get a question. Is it so difficult to get Moksha/ I have to give up the deha atma buddhi ? Is it so difficult? I have to drop off the ‘deha atma buddhi.’?Is there no other way? Any short cut? The Guru says there is no short cut. This is the only way. If you try to go for short cut you may wander and finally arrive at the same point and instead it will waste away your time. Many ‘janmas’. Until you give up the identification with the body there is no chance.
देहेन्द्रियादावसति /dehendriyādāvasati bhramoditāṃ- they are all ‘asat mithya’- unreal, but unfortunately we identify with them.
There is identification –‘I’ identification. We refer to the body as I and myself. This is Aham Abhimaan.’ I’ identification and this Ahamta is भ्रमोदितां / bhramodita It is an error, therefore this has to be given up.
विद्वानहं तां न जहाति यावत् / vidvānahaṃ tāṃ na jahāti yāvat |
Until a Vidwan does not give up he does not get even the remote chance of getting Moksha विमुक्तिवार्ताप्य्/ vimuktivārtāpy and this is true not only for an uneducated person, not only for a person who does not know Shastras, but the same thing is also applicable to the person who may have studied all Shastras also. He might have studied Vedanta. All texts of Vedanta, Bhagwat Geeta, Upanishads, Brahma Sutras. He might have finished everything and he may be able to speak on Vedanta and people may start following him on You Tube etc and yet if he has not given up the identification with the body there is no chance of Moksha.
This person, this Vidwan, this student of Vedanta might have completed the study of Vedanta Shastra. He might be an expert in Vedanta Shastra yet if he has not given up ‘deha atma buddhi’ he cannot get Moksha. Therefore, it is very important to give up ‘deha abhimaan’ and one has to work on it. It, does not happen by itself.
Shloka 163.
छायाशरीरे प्रतिबिम्बगात्रे
यत्स्वप्नदेहे हृदि कल्पिताङ्गे ।
यथात्मबुद्धिस्तव नास्ति काचिज्
जीवच्छरीरे च तथैव मास्तु ॥ १६३ ॥
chāyāśarīre pratibimbagātre
yatsvapnadehe hṛdi kalpitāṅge |
yathātmabuddhistava nāsti kācij
jīvaccharīre ca tathaiva māstu || 163 ||
The author gives some examples where we do not have identification. Likewise, we should not have identification with the body also. छायाशरीरे / chāyāśarīre. Shadow of the body. We do not identify with the shadow of our body as we know that the body is Anatma. Though it moves with us, it looks like us. When we shake our hand the shadow also shakes and yet we do not identify with the shadow – प्रतिबिम्बगात्रे / pratibimbagātre--means reflection on the mirror.
गात्रे / gātre means ‘shareera’ . Reflection in the mirror or in the water. We do not identify with it. We know that it is Anatma. The body that we get in a dream. This is interesting. In dream, we think we are that body. In the dream we get a new body, a new body gets projected because this body is lying on the body and this body is not visible in the dream. We get a new body and during dream, we identify with that body, we are one with that body and if something happens to that body, we feel we are hurt and on waking up we understand that it is not us.
Likewise, even this body is not your true nature. हृदि कल्पिताङ्गे / hṛdi kalpitāṅge |
means—‘in the mind’. We imagine ourselves in our mind. When we day dream we think of ourselves wearing some different dress etc. During imagination, we imagine our own body doing something. We do not identity with that body also. That is also a projection. Likewise, even this body is a projection. It is projection of Maya and therefore do not identify with this body. Do not take this body for ‘yourself’.
यथात्मबुद्धिस्तव नास्ति काचिज् / yathātmabuddhistava nāsti kāci
Just as- with these things with the ‘chhaya shareera’ etc.
You do not have atma buddhi. You do not have identification with these things. They are Antama, as much as Anatma as the Shareera.
The body is as much Anatma as a shadow. जीवच्छरीरे / jīvaccharīre - this living body also.
तथैव मास्तु / tathaiva māstu - just like the examples. Do not have Atma Buddhi. Do not have identification.
Shloka 164.
देहात्मधीरेव नृणामसद्धियां
जन्मादिदुःखप्रभवस्य बीजम् ।
यतस्ततस्त्वं जहि तां प्रयत्नात्
त्यक्ते तु चित्ते न पुनर्भवाशा ॥ १६४ ॥
dehātmadhīreva nṛṇāmasaddhiyāṃ
janmādiduḥkhaprabhavasya bījam |
yatastatastvaṃ jahi tāṃ prayatnāt
tyakte tu citte na punarbhavāśā || 164 ||
Identification with the body ‘dehatma buddhi’ is responsible for Samsara, birth etc
देहात्मधीरेव / dehātmadhīr-eva - Identification with the body alone.
नृणामसद्धियां / nṛṇāmasaddhiyāṃ. The people who are who are ignorant -- the ‘ajnanis’
जन्मादिदुःखप्रभवस्य बीजम् / janmādiduḥkhaprabhavasya bījam |
It is the ‘beeja’, the cause of जन्मादिदुःख: janmādiduḥkha. The origin of the ‘duhkhas’. What are the duhkhas?
They are janma /birth, old-age. jara / vyadhi disease and death etc
Identification with the body is responsible for birth, old age etc. Since it is so, therefore you should give up the ‘deha atma buddhi’.
Guru is telling the Shishya to give up with effort. As it is not easy to give up it needs effort.
If you give up ‘dehatma buddhi’, what will you get?
त्यक्ते तु चित्ते न पुनर्भवाशा / tyakte tu citte na punarbhavāśā . When the ‘dehatma buddhi’ is given up, पुनर्भवाशा / punarbhavāśā-- once again you may not get birth.
पुनर्भवाशा / punarbhavāśā. Chance of birth, one more ‘janma’ will not be there As long as we think we are the body and as long as we identify with the body there is always a possibility of another ‘janma’. If we give up the identification with this body we do not have this ‘janma’ also because what was born was just this body and so we do not have this ‘janma’ also so how can there be another ‘janma’? Thus, the author completed the discussion on Annamaya Kosha.
From the next verse the author is introducing the second Kosha –the Pranamaya Kosha. We will see in the next session.
