Advaita Bhoda Deepika #10

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ADVAITA BODHA DEEPIKA

 

End of post #9...

 

52. Having read all the shastras and well grounded in

them, they grow conceited that they are all knowing,

accomplished and worthy of respect; filled with love and hate

they presume themselves respectable; they are only packasses

esteemed for carrying heavy loads over long distances in

difficult and tortuous ways. They need not be considered as

regards non-dual Truth. In the same strain Vasishta has spoken

much more to Rama.

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53. D.: Have there been those who being well read in the

shastras have not practised their teachings?

 

M.: Oh, many. We have also read of them in the puranas.

Once there was a Brahmin, Brahma Sarma by name. He was

well versed in the Vedas and the Vedanta and otherwise an

accomplished man too. He would not practise what he had

learnt but would give lessons in it to others. Filled with love

and hate, transgressing the code of conduct by acting according

to greed, and otherwise enjoying himself according to his own

sweet will, after death he passed to hell. For the same reason, so

many more also went the same way.

 

In the world we see so many learned pandits consumed by

pride and malice. No doubt a study of Vedanta makes one

discerning. But if this is not accompanied by dispassion etc., it

is useless and does not lead to enquiry.

 

54-56. D.: Will discernment together with dispassion meet

the end?

M.: No. In the absence of cessation of activities, these two

are not enough for a successful pursuit of enquiry. In its absence

there will be no desire to enquire into the Self. How can we

speak of success in it?

 

D.: What will a man with dispassion do if he does not take

to enquiry into the Self?

M.: Activities not ceasing, there is no tranquillity; being

desireless he dislikes all enjoyments and cannot find pleasure in

home, wealth, arts, etc.; so he renounces them, retires into

solitary forests and engages in severe but fruitless austerities.

The case of King Sikhidhvaja is an example of this.

 

57-59. D.: Then will discernment together with desirelessness

and cessation of activities achieve the end?

M.: Not without the desire to be liberated. If this desire is

wanting, there will be no incentive to enquire into the Self.

 

D.: What will the man be doing then?

M.: Being desireless and peaceful, he will not make any

effort but remain indifferent.

 

D.: Have there been men with these three qualities who

did not take to enquiry into the Self?

M.: Yes. Dispassion is implied in all austerities; the mind

too remains one pointed for tapasvis; yet they cannot enquire

into the Self.

 

D.: What do they do then?

M.: Averse to external pursuits, with their minds concentrated,

they will always remain austere in animated suspense

like that of deep sleep, but not enquire into the Self. As an

instance in point, the Ramayana says of Sarabhanga rishi that

after all his tapasya he went to heaven.

 

D.: Does not heaven form part of the fruits of enquiry?

M.: No. Enquiry must end in Liberation, and this is

freedom from repeated births and deaths which does not

admit of transit from one region to another. Sarabhanga's

case indicates that he could not and did not enquire into the

Self. Therefore all the four qualifications are essential for

enquiry.

 

60-61. A simple desire to be liberated unaccompanied by

the other three qualities will not be enough. By an intense desire

for liberation a man may take to enquiry but if otherwise

unqualified, he must fail in his attempt. His case will be like

that of a lame man wistfully yearning for honey in a honey

comb high up on a tree; he cannot reach it and must remain

unhappy. Or, the seeker may approach a master, surrender to

him and profit by his guidance.

 

D.: What authority is there for saying that a man not

otherwise qualified but intensely desirous of liberation remains

ever unhappy?

 

62. M.: In the Suta Samhita it is said that those desirous of

enjoyments and yet yearning for liberation are surely bitten by

the deadly serpent of samsara and therefore dazed by its poison.

This is the authority.

 

In the view that all the four qualities must be together and

in full, there is complete agreement between the srutis, reason

and experience. Otherwise even if one of them is wanting,

enquiry cannot be pursued to success, but after death regions of

merit will be gained. When all the four qualities are perfect and

together present, enquiry is fruitful.

 

63-69. D.: In conclusion who are fit for enquiry into

the Self?

M.: Only those who have all the four requisite qualities in

full, are fit, and not others, whether versed in Vedas and shastras

or otherwise highly accomplished, nor practisers of severe

austerities, nor those strictly observing the religious rites or vows

or reciting mantras, nor worshippers of any kind, nor those

giving away large gifts, nor wandering pilgrims etc. Just as the

Vedic rites are not for the non-regenerate so also enquiry is not

for the unqualified.

 

D.: Can want of requisite qualities disqualify even a very

learned scholar?

M.: Be he learned in all the sacred lore or ignorant of all of

it, only the four fold requisites can qualify a man for enquiry.

The sruti says: "The one whose mind is in equipoise, senses

controlled, whose activities have ceased and who possesses

fortitude" is fit for this. From this it follows that others are not

competent but only those who are possessing the four fold virtues.

 

70. D.: Is any distinction made amongst seekers who are

competent?

M.: For enquiry into the Self there is absolutely no

distinction bearing on caste, stage of life or other similar matters.

Be the seeker the foremost scholar, pandit, illiterate man, child,

youth, old man, bachelor, householder, tapasvi, sanyasi, brahmin,

kshatriya, vaisya, sudra, a chandala or a woman, only these four

qualifications make up the seeker. This is the undisputed view

of the vedas and shastras.

 

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Taken from Advaita Bhoda Deepika

as published by Sri Ramanasramam

Tiruvannamalai 2002.

 

To be continued...

 

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