Shankara's The Quintessence of Vedanta - The fitness of the Seeker

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The enclosed translation of slokas from Acharya Sankara's "Sarva

Vedanta Siddhanta Sara Sangrah" discuss the fitness of the seeker.

 

--

Ram Chandran

Burke, VA

 

 

The fitness of the Seeker (Aspirant) according to this spiritual guide:

 

795. There are two types of aspirants: both of them are fit to receive

this knowledge. They. have been classed as those who are preeminently

qualified, and those who are only moderately qualified. . It depends

upon their Capacity for realization; thus. it is that there arises in

them a corresponding mental modification.

 

796. The twice-born who has pleased God by performing with faith and

devotion all the rituals enjoined by the Vedas who by the grace of God

has earned merit in his previous birth, and as a result of it has now

become fit and has been endowed with the requisite means to attain

liberation, such as discrimination, renunciation and dispassion, it is

such a person who becomes fit to comprehend what the Vedanta teaches

Such is the opinion of the good and wise.

 

797. No sooner is the meaning of the sentence Mat thou art' made known

to the aspirant by the teacher of Vedanta, who follows the method of

superimposition and of negation than there arises in the man of pure

intellect that supreme mental modification which - knows no change, -

and be realizes, 'I am that Brahman who is of the nature of eternal

bliss, without a second, incomprehensible, untainted, the One Supreme

Reality.'

 

798. The indivisible pure consciousness makes itself manifest in all

that- it reflects upon. It pervades everything. In as much as Brahman

is not other than the Atman it follows that it is only by means of

Brahman that the veil of avidya may be lifted.

 

..799. As a result of the dawning of the supreme knowledge, when the veil

of avidya is rent asunder, in all the levels of consciousness, that

power veiling the supreme Being which was but the product of ignorance,

also ceases to function.

 

800. When once ignorance is removed. along with it, that sense of

separateness which was the effect-of

ignorance is- also removed. if every fibre of the' veil should be set on

fire, would not the whole fabric become burnt? In the same way, that

-which was the effect of ignorance, viz. the 'state of the individual

self, also become's negated.

 

801. Like a pale lamp that fades into insignificance before the bright

blaze of the mid-day. sun, the flickering light of limited

consciousness, which is all that. avidya allows, 'becomes insignificant

in the presence of the knowledge of the infinite, self-effulgent

Brahman. (Which is the Self? This infinite entity that is identified

with the intellect, and is in the midst of-the organs, is the

self-effulgent light within the+ heart. Assuming the likeness of the

Intellect, It moves between the two worlds. Brih, IV. 3.7)

 

802. That reflected light of individual conscious ness which is all that

is revealed by the intellect does not in any way add to the light of

the supreme consciousness,

 

803. It is as though one should hold a tiny lamp in order to throw light

upon the mid-day sun. When. the light of the supreme consciousness

shines, one's limited individual knowledge is of little avail. That is

because the adjunct then become merged in pure consciousness.

 

804. When the. adjuncts merge in the supreme Brahman, which is

reflected in them, what - remains finally is the light of pure

consciousness. That is the light of. the supreme Brahman, which alone

had been reflected in all. of them.

 

805. It is. only as long as a mirror is there that it reflects the

face. But when once the mirror is removed, reflection becomes one with

the face. In the same way. 'when the limiting adjuncts have ceased to

function all that remains is the one pure consciousness.

 

806. A pot for instance is made known through the mental modifications

as long as one is in a state of

ignorance. But when one has attained knowledge, the same pot is made

manifest by the light of consciousness. But the analogy does not hold,

good in regard to the self-effulgent Brahman, because Brahman cannot be

made manifest by its reflection.

 

807. That is why the learned hold that Reality, or Brahman, is capable

-of pervading all the mental modifications; but it does not follow that

the reflection of pure consciousness can make Brahman an object of

manifestation. Consequently, there is no self-contradiction in what the

sruti says. (That which comprehends the mind but which the mind cannot

comprehend. This verily is that Kena II.3)

 

808. Brahman should therefore be known by the subtle intellect. But

those persons' whose understanding is limited cannot directly attain

that mental attitude merely by listening to what the sruti says. Such

persons should recollect in mind what the sruti says and meditate upon

it.

 

809. It is only by constantly hearing and thinking as well as by

meditating upon what the sruti says, that the intellect becomes endowed

with the'' power of ascertaining that -which is subtle. It is only then,

and not till then, that The Reality is known..

 

810. That supreme reality is attained only by means of the subtle

intellect. Those who are lacking in intellectual sharpness should

therefore repeatedly hear and meditate over. what the sruti says, in

order to attain the right knowledge. (By the mind along It can be known.

Brih. IV. 4. 19.)

 

811. The expression 'hearing what the sruti says is explained by the

learned in the following way. It means the ascertainment of the meaning

of what the sruti says, by availing oneself of the six valid means of

knowledge, until one attains the. Knowledge of the supreme Being, the

One without a second. (Here are the six means of valid knowledge

repetition of an idea, illustrative stories, the context, the appeal to

reason, the benefit to be derived. and the extent to which it is helpful

in knowing what is unknown)

 

812. By resorting to all the aids, the aspirant finds out the meaning

of the sruti, until he comes to realize the supreme Being, Brahman as

pure existence, the one without a second. Such is the meaning of the

word 'hearing'.

 

813. Similarly the word thinking means pondering over the content of

what the sruti says and trying to understand the nature of the inmost

Atman With the help of reason one should try to know that non-dual

Reality, in so far 'as reason is not' opposed to Vedanta. It is in this

way that the Atman is realized, and the supreme Reality is attained.

 

814. Likewise the word 'meditation' implies that the current of

thought, should flow steadily like a jet of oil to the exclusion, of all

other ideas, such as the consciousness of one's physical body and the

like. It is in this way that the mind should be wholly absorbed in the

consciousness of the Atman and be permeated by it.

 

815. Therefore, let the aspirant listen diligently to what the Vedanta

says, until all doubts are removed, and until there comes the awareness

that sruti is the only valid means of knowledge.

 

816. One should turn to the sruti with the help of reason and ascertain

the truth of the Atman. one should have all one's doubts cleared by

means of continuous thinking, until one realizes the nature of that

which is to be proved.

 

817. One. who desires to attain liberation should therefore practice

meditation unceasingly, until all the

wrong ideas that arise in the mind as to the nature of the Atman are

completely eradicated.

 

818. A man of renunciation should therefore resort to intense meditation

and also avail himself of the other means of knowledge. Then, the world

of external objects which have been proved formally to be unreal would

no longer interfere with one's thought; and the immediate -knowledge of

the Atman will be attained. (‘I am a man,' 'I think,' 'I hear and so

on may be regarded as Instances of such wrong Ideas)

 

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