Kanchi Maha-Swamigal's Discourses on Advaita Saadhanaa (KDAS-18)

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Note: "The (Our) Acharya(l)" always stands for Adi

Shankaracharya.

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16. VAIRAAGYA (DISPASSION) – (Continued)

 

tad-vairaagyaM jugupsA yA darshana-shravaNAdibhiH /

dehAdi-brahma-paryante hyanitye bhogya-vastuni //

 

This is the Acharya’s definition of VairaagyaM in

Viveka-chUDAmaNi (shloka 21). ‘That is indeed VairaagyaM’,

says he dramatically!

 

‘What is?’. Revulsion from objects of enjoyment by this

human body, all the way from those things seen, heard,

etc. in this human world to those objects of enjoyment in

Brahma-loka – that is VairaagyaM.

 

“jugupsA” means the feeling of disgust that causes one to

reject it. An alternative reading is ‘jihAsA’. The meaning

is the same.

 

Once jnAna has been reached, then one feels love towards

everything. There is no question of revulsion then.

Because, then none of the objects whether bad or tempting,

will affect him. In stages that precede that, it is not

so. All objects of enjoyment of pleasure that cause us to

slip down have to be discarded with distaste -- only then

one can save our Self. For the later sprouting of the

personality of Love, one has to create for oneself this

feeling of aversion!

 

Revulsion is not of people. Certainly not. The aversion or

disgust is only towards the bondage that originates from

our attachment to them; it is only of the pleasurable

things they may offer. If one runs away from household,

it is not out of aversion or disgust of the mother, or of

the wife, or son or daughter; certainly not. The repulsion

or distaste is because of the obstacles to spirituality

created by the bondage of attachment to them. The mother

spoils our efforts at soul-cleaning when we fast for the

purpose, by pitying with us on our fasting and tempting us

with tasty food; when the spouse is at your side, the mind

becomes vibrant.; the son has got to be admitted in an

engineering college even if it costs a bribe of money; the

daughter has to be married to a doctor according to her own

wish and accordingly a costly dowry has to be met --- thus,

each one of them binds you in a certain way. The repulsion

is from this binding. The revulsion is from such bondage

of these actions and from the enjoyable things that arise

from them, not from the people concerned. Nor from the

community of animals. Even in the shloka that we are

discussing, it says “bhogya-vastuni jugupsA” – meaning, the

disgust towards ‘the objects of pleasure’ and not towards

jIvas. In other words, if we isolate ourselves from the

Jivas, it is not out of hate or disgust for them but

because through them we get attached to enjoyment of

experiences.

 

Thus by discrimination between the permanent and transient

objects we learn that all objects of sense-experience are

transient and therefore we develop a distaste for them

*jugupsA... hyanitye bhogya-vastuni*.

 

Note the words *hyanitye* instead of *anitye*. It is

actually *hi anitye* that has become *hyanitye*. The word

‘hi’ gives an emphasis to what is being said.

 

Only when we develop a disgust do we stay away from those

objects which generate a bondage of mAyA. An attitude of

“Leave it alone; let it be” in this matter will not be a

sAtvic attitude. It is only foolishness. “ Not being

afraid of what has to be feared is ignorance” says

Tiruvalluvar. *anjuvathu anjAmai pethamai*. His Tirukkural

teaches us to be courageous men not to be afraid of

anything. Even then before one gets that courage, we

should not bungle by our foolishness; so he says: “In this

world one should certainly avoid those things of which we

should be legitimately afraid; otherwise we shall only be

foolish”. Ignorance and foolishness are not far apart. Our

Acharya who taught us to love everything – the same Acharya

teaches us, to develop, in the early stages of spiritual

ascent, a disgust towards those things which are in the

nature of an obstacle to the growth of spirituality.

 

He gives a really telling analogy that actually may hurt

us deep. It is an example which itself can be disgusting.

The same example is given by him in three books,

‘Bala-bodha-sangrahaM’, ‘aparokshAnubhUti’ and

‘sarva-vedanta-siddhanta-sara-sangrahaM’. In the first two,

he says *yathaiva kAkavishhTAyAM* and in the third, he

says: *kAkasya vishhTAvat asahya-buddhiH*. The analogy is

to the leavings of a crow. Just as we have a natural

disgust for the leavings of a crow, so also there should be

a disgust towards things of sensual experience – this is

the purpose of the analogy. Suppose we are having a picnic

under a tree in its shade and suddenly from the branches

of the tree a crow’s leavings fall on your plate full of

excellent food. That very moment we move away from the food

in total disgust, don’t we? Even if the crow is hushed away

and we sit at another plate of good food, our mood would

have been upset and the good food refuses to go in! That

kind of disgust is what should be developed in objects of

sensual enjoyment -- that is vairaagyaM, says the Acharya.

When such a disgust becomes really intense, even a picnic

will appear only as disgusting as the leavings of a crow!

One will start thinking that there is no need for a picnic

when, as the Acharya has said, it is only necessary to calm

the disease of hunger by eating what one gets by BikshhA

(ritual begging).

 

It is not as if we are talking only about the pleasures

that one enjoys through this human body in this world. Our

distaste has to be even in those enjoyments one hopes to

experience in the world of BrahmA. The jugupsA has to

extend that far. *dehAdi brahma-paryante*.

 

The Absolute Truth that is formless and attributeless,

called Brahman – that is the only thing to be aimed. The

enjoyments that may be offered by The Lord whose form is

Creator BrahmA, in his world, -- all these have to

discarded as valueless.

 

(To be Continued)

PraNAms to all students of advaita.

PraNAms to the Maha-Swamigal.

profvk

 

 

 

 

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

 

Latest on my website: Shrimad Bhagavatam and advaita bhakti. Introduction.

Chatushloki Bhagavatam. Vidura and Maitreya. Kapila Gita.

Dhruva charitam. JaDabharata, Ajamila Stories. Prahlada Charitram.

 

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/VK2/Bhagavatam_Introduction.html

 

and succeeding pages.