spiritual growth: sanatsujAtIyam

[Guest guest]

namaste.

 

sAdhana improves cittashuddhi (purity of heart), and purer

heart is spiritual progress. I like to present below, from

sanatsujAtIyam, some of the obstacles for achieving this

pure heart.

 

sanatsujAtIyam is part of udyoga parva of mahAbhArata and

is the teaching by sage sanatkumAra to king dhritarAShTra.

As shri sunder-ji pointed out a few weeks ago, sanatsujAtIyam

has the distinction of one of only three parts of mahAbhArata

that has the honour of commentary by shri shankara (the other

two parts are viShNusahasranAma and bhagavadgItA). It is a

fit study for all sAdhakA-s because we all have a bit of

dhritarAShTra in us.

 

sanatkumAra says as part of this teaching that there are

twelve doShA-s (blemishes) for tapas in a human and continues

what these twelve are:

 

krodhaH kAmo lobhamohau vivitsA'kr^ipA'sUyA mAnashokau spr^ihAca

IrShyA jugupsA ca mahAguNena sadA varjyA dvadashaite nareNa

 

meaning:

 

kAma (desire), krodha (anger), lobha (miserliness), moha (passion),

vivitsA (interest in sensual matters), niShTUratvam (unkindness),

asUyA (pointing out faults in good things), abhimAnam (attachment

to ego), shokam (sadness), spr^ihA (attachment to sensual pleasures),

IrShya, jugupsA. The sAdhaka must make a special effort to be

able to overcome these blemishes.

 

All these blemishes are antahkaraNavr^itti-s (modifications

of the internal sense organ - antahkaraNa).

 

kAma, desire arises when one feels separateness from something

and wishes to possess that. Desire is the most fundamental of

the blemishes and is the cause for all other blemishes as well.

 

krodha, anger: we get anger when the desire is not fulfilled.

A result of this is to punish others or feel grief oneself.

 

lobha is miserliness: shri shankara, in His bhAShya, says that

lobha is also an attraction to wealth which rightly belongs

to others; also the unwillingness to spend ill-gotten wealth

on good deeds.

 

moham, passion: passion leads to lack of discrimination of what

is right and what is wrong.

 

vivitsa: interest and inquisitiveness in vyavahAric and sensual

matters.

 

niShTUratvam, unkindness.

 

asUya: to find blemishes in good deeds or things; being unable

to feel happy about the good deeds or good qualities of others.

 

abhimAnam: being passionately attached to the ego

 

shokam: the antahkaraNavr^itti that evolves when something dear

to us is separated from us; can also be called grief; this usually

affects oneself only and not others.

 

spr^iha: desire for sensual pleasures

 

IrShya: jealousy one feels when another person is wealthy or

blessed.

 

jugupsa: the tendency to cover over or belittle the good qualities

of others.

 

These twelve are faults or blemishes in a sAdhaka and unless the

sAdhaka overcomes them through sAdhana, the spiritual growth will

be absent.

 

And in the next verse, sanatkumAra says:

 

ekaikamete rAjendra manuShyam paryupAsate

liptamAno'ntaram teShAM mr^igANAmiva lubdhakaH

 

Just like a hunter waits in patience for the (hunted) animal

to be inattentive of surroundings before he attacks the animal,

similarly, these twelve major faults (enemies) will be just

waiting for the right moment to pounce individually on the

unsuspecting human and overtake him. So, the sAdhaka has to

be extremely watchful all the time.

 

Now, a comment on spiritual progress: the comments by the List

members ranged from for e.g. by shri Mark and shri Dennis that

we should not be conscious of spiritual 'progress' and let

things unfold as they would (should) following sAdhana to

for e.g. by shri Madatil nair-ji saying leave everything

to shri lalitA.

 

I agree with these sentiments, yet, I feel that recognition

of the enemies (listed in sanatsujAtIyam) and conscious attempts

to conquering of the enemies, which may be to some extent egoistic,

may be a fruitful exercise for a beginning sAdhaka.

 

Any comments, clarifications are most appreciated.

 

Regards

Gummuluru Murthy

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[Guest guest]

namaste.

 

In the last post, sanatkumArA's teachings to dhritarAShTra

about the twelve obstacles to proper tapas are presented.

The sage continues with the description of the seven bad

qualities of a human which are considered very serious blemishes

and these seven will be presented here. These are stated as

serious obstacles to spiritual growth and unfortunately, some

of these bad qualities are not too uncommon.

 

The sage sanatkumAra says

 

sambhogasamvid viShamedhamAno dattAnutApI kr^ipaNo'balIyAn

vargaprashammsI vanitAM ca dveShTA ete pare sapta nr^ishamsarUpA

 

meaning:

 

People with the following (bad) qualities: (i) one who is

interested in sensual pleasures, (ii) one who gets ahead in

life by punishing others, (iii) one who gives for charity or

to help others, and then feels sorry for that act, (iv) kripaNa

(please see below), (v) one who does not have the strength of

jnAnam, (vi) one who praises the strength of the limbs and

sense organs, (vii) one who despises his wife - these seven

types of people are considered to be cruel and these qualities

are serious impediments to spiritual progress.

 

sambhogasamvid: the one who is turned towards sensual pleasures

viShamedhamAnA: the one who prospers by causing anxiety, turbulence

in other peoples' lives

dattAnutApI: the one who gives away things for charity or to help

others, and then after giving, feels sorry for giving

kr^ipaNa: the one who accepts all sorts of insults with the hope

that at the end there is some financial gain

abalIyAn: the one who does not have the strength of knowledge,

(i.e., one who does not know)

vargaprashamsI: the one who is enamoured by his own strength of

limbs

vanitAm ca dveShTA: the one who despises his wife who depends on

him and has no other one to take care of her

 

These seven (bad) qualities of a human are considered more hineous

than desire, anger etc that was presented in the previous post

(verse).

 

 

ref: shankarabhAShya on sanatsujAtIyam (in Telugu) by shri janaswamy

subrahmanyasastry, sAdhana granthamanDali, Tenali.

 

 

Regards

Gummuluru Murthy

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