vivekachUdAmani

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List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara

[ADVAITA-L] On Behalf Of Vaidya N. Sundaram

Thursday, January 28, 1999 11:52 AM

ADVAITA-L

vivekachUdAmani

 

38)

durvaarasa.nsaaradavaagnitaptaM

dodhuuyamaanaM duradR^ishhTavaataiH .

bhiitaM prapannaM paripaahi mR^ityoH

sharaNyamanyadyadahaM na jaane ..

 

I am scorched by the inextinguishable forest fire of samsAra. I am

deeply affected (shaken) by the winds of misfortune. I am overcome

by intense fear. I fall at your feet. Save me from death. I have

none else in whom I can seek refuge.

 

SamsAra itself is a forest fire which spreads in all directions.

It is in extinguishable except by the jn~aana springing from the

guru's upadesha. When the forest fire is aided by the wind, the

flames spread out and scorch in all directions. The winds here are

said to be duradrstavaataah, i.e., winds of misfortune. They are

unfavourable winds. dodhUyamaanam : trembling greatly again and

again. If the wind is favourable, it carries the person away from

the flames. If it is unfavourable, either it carries him into the

fire or blows the fire on him. It is with the idea that the man

suffering from the heat of the forest fire will be rescued from it

by the downpour of the nectar that reference is made in the

previous sloka to the raining of the amrta of the guru's compassion

by the expression atIkaarunyasudhaabhivrstyaa making it an

adjective of drstyaa and the whole being taken as a bahuvrIhi -

compound. Instead, it may also be taken as tatpurusa - compound.

drstyaa - by your glance, atIkArunyasudhaabhivrstyaa: by the down

pour of infinite compassion through it. the purport of the sisya's

appeal is : If I obtain Atmajn~Ana by your grace, death in the form

of the exit of the vital airs from my body will not happen to me".

The sruti also says: na tasya prAnA utkrAmanti atraiva

samavanIyante (Brh): His (Atmajn~Anin's) prAnas do not go away;

they disappear (acquire laya) here itself. That is, the man does

not die as ordinary people do by their vital airs going out of the

body at death.

 

 

Vaidya N. Sundaram

 

Harsha: Thank you for this gem. I will take the liberty to post on other

lists and ask a question. In Yoga, they say that when Shakti Joins

Shiva at Sahasarara, this union results in liberation, and at death of the

body the Prana exits through the Sahasarara resulting in Maha Samadhi. The

exit through the Sahasarara is meant to be a sign of the final Mukti.

However, on the path of Jnana, the pranas do not exit but are absorbed into

the Heart that is the Self. How do we reconcile these two seemingly

divergent explanations?