Bhagavan’s Introduction to the Crest Jewel of Discrimination

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>From The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi

Bhagavan's Introduction to the Crest Jewel of Discrimination

 

[This is the introduction composed by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi to

Sri Sankara's Vivekacudamani, The Crest Jewel of Discrimination,

which the Maharshi translated into Tamil prose while he was residing

in Virupaksha Cave.]

 

Every being in the world yearns to be always happy and free from

the taint of sorrow, and desires to get rid of bodily ailments, which

are not to of his true nature. Further, everyone cherishes the

greatest love for himself, and this love is not possible in the

absence of happiness. In deep sleep, though devoid of every thing,

one has the experience of being happy. Yet, due to the ignorance of

the real nature of one's own to being, which is happiness itself,

people flounder in the vast ocean of material existence, forsaking

the right path that leads to happiness, and act under the mistaken

belief that the way to be happy consists in obtaining the pleasures

of this and the other world.

Unfortunately, however, there is no such happiness, which has

not the taint of sorrow. It is precisely for the purpose of pointing

out the straight to pass to true happiness that Lord Siva, taking on

the guise of Sri Sankaracarya, wrote the commentaries on the Triple

Canon (Prasthana Traya) of the Vedanta, which extol the excellence

of this bliss; and that he demonstrated it by his own example in

life. These commentaries, however, are of little use to those ardent

seekers who are intent upon realizing the bliss of Liberation, but

have not the scholarship necessary for studying them.

It is for such as these that Sri Sankara revealed the essence of

the commentaries in this short treatise: `The Crown Gem of

Discrimination', explaining in detail the points that have to be

grasped by those who seek liberation, and thereby directing them to

the true and direct path.

Sri Sankara begins by observing that it is hard indeed to obtain

human birth, and that, having attained it, one should strive to

achieve the bliss of Liberation, which is really only the nature of

ones being. By Jnana or Spiritual Knowledge alone is this Bliss to be

realized, and Jnana is achieved only through vichara, or steady

inquiry. In order to learn this method of inquiry, says Sri Sankara,

one should seek the grace of a Guru; and he then proceeds to describe

the qualities of the Guru and his disciple and how the latter should

approach and serve his master. He further emphasizes that in order to

realize the Bliss of Liberation, one's own individual effort is an

essential factor. Mere book learning never yields this bliss, which

can be realized only through Self-inquiry, or vichara, which consists

of sravana or devoted attention to the precepts of the Guru, manana

or deep contemplation, and nididhyasana or cultivation of equanimity

in the Self.

The three bodies are non-Self and are unreal. The Self, that is

the Aham or `I', is quite different from them. It is due to ignorance

that the sense of self or the `I' notion is foisted on that which is

not-Self, and this indeed is bondage. Since from ignorance arises

bondage, from the Knowledge ensues Liberation. To know this from the

Guru is sravana.

The process of manana, which is subtle inquiry or deep

contemplation, consists in rejecting the three bodies consisting of

the five sheets (physical, vital, mental, intellectual, and

blissful), as not "I" and discovering through subtle inquiry "Who am

I?" that which is different from all three and exists a single and

universal in the heart as Aham or "I," just as a stalk of grass is

delicately drawn out from its sheath. This `I' is denoted by the

word, "tvam," (in the Scriptural dictum, "Tat-tvam-asi," That thou

art.)

The world of name and form is but and adjunct of Tat or Brahman

and, having no separate reality, is rejected as reality and affirmed

has something else but Brahman. The instruction of the disciple by

the Guru in the Mahavakya Tat-tvam-asi, which declares the identity

of the Self and the Supreme, is his upadesa (spiritual guidance). The

disciple is then enjoined to remain in the beatific state of Aham-

Brahman, (I-the Absolute.) Nevertheless, the old tendencies of the

mind sprout up thick and strong and constitute an obstruction. These

tendencies are threefold, and ego is their root. The ego flourishes

in the externalized and differentiating consciousness caused by the

forces of projection due to rajas and veiling due to tamas.

To fix the mining firmly in the heart until these forces are

destroyed and to awaken withn unswerving, ceaseless vigilance the

true and cognate tenancy which is characteristic of the Atman and is

expressed by the saying: Aham Brahmasmi (I am Brahman), and

Brahmaivaham (Brahman alone am I) is termed nididhyasana or

Atmanusandhana , that is constancy in the Self. This is otherwise

called bhakti, yoga, or dhyana.

Atanusandhana has been compared to turning curds in order to

make butter, the mind being compared to the churn, the heart to the

curds, the practice of concentration on the Self to the process of

churning. Just as butter is made by churning the curds, and fire by

friction, so the natural and changeless state of nirvikalpa samdhi is

produced by unswerving, vigilant concentration on the Self, ceaseless

like the unbroken flow of oil. This readily and spontaneously yields

that direct, immediate, unobstructed, and universal perception of

Brahman, which is at once Knowledge and Experience and which

transcends time and space.

This perception is Self-Realization. Achieving it cuts the knot

of the heart. The false delusions of ignorance, the vicious and age-

long tendencies of the mind which constitute this knot are

destroyed. All doubts are dispelled, and the bondage of karma is

severed.

Thus, in this Crown Jewel of Discrimination has Sri Sankara

described samadhi or spiritual trance, which is the limitless Bliss

of Liberation, beyond doubt and duality, and at the same time has

indicated the means for its attainment. To attain the state of

freedom from duality is the real purpose of life, and only he was

done so is a Jivanmukta, liberated while yet alive, not one who has a

mere theoretical understanding of what constitutes purushartha or the

desires end, and aim of human endeavor.

Thus defining a Jivanmukta, Sri Sankara declares him to be free

from the bonds of the three-fold karma (sanchita, agami, and

prarabdha). The disciple attains this state and then relates his

personal experience. He who is liberated is indeed free to act as he

pleases, and when he leaves the body, he abides in Liberation and

never returns to this birth, which is death.

Sri Sankara thus describes Realization, that is Liberation, as

twofold, Jivanmukti and Videhamukti, as explained above. Moreover,

in this short treatise, written in the form of a dialogue between a

Guru and his disciple, he has considered many other relevant topics.

 

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We are Not two,

Richard