Kanchi Maha-Swamigal's Discourses on Advaita Saadhanaa (KDAS-43)

[Guest guest]

Namaste.

 

For a Table of Contents of these Discourses, see

advaitin/message/27766

 

For the previous post, see

advaitin/message/32279

 

Note :From this post onwards, I shall be giving, for the

benefit of readers who can read Tamil, the url of the Tamil

original (from Deivathin kural) of the appropriate

sections. --VK

 

 

SECTION 26 : MUMUKSHU-TVAM (Longing for moksha)

http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/dk6-100.htm

 

 

The meaning of ‘mumukShu’ is one who longs, (wishes,

desires) for mokSha. He for whom that wish is fulfilled

and Self-Realisation is obtained is called a ‘mukta’.

Only after being a ‘mumukShu’ one can become a ‘mukta’.

 

Of course every one wants to get out of this mire of

samsAra and reach that stage of mokSha which is permanent

bliss. But just a vague or minor wish for mokSha does not

become the ‘longing’ (*kAnkShA*) inbuilt into the word

‘mumukShu’. Intense desire, an anguish coupled with

readiness to take every effort possible – only when all

these are present it becomes a *kAnkShA*. And that kind of

longing for mokSha is what makes a mumukShu. His

characteristics, his nature, what he does – all these

constitute ‘mumukShu-tvaM’. ‘mumukShutA’ is also another

word. The Acharya gives the definition in his

aparokShA-nubhUti (verse 9) thus:

 

samsAra-bandha-nirmuktiH kathaM syAn-me dayAnidhe /

iti yA sudRRiDhA buddhiH vaktavyA sA mumumkShutA //

 

The flow of words reflects a desperate craving and

pleading, almost a cry, before the Lord or the visible

Guru. ‘Oh Ocean of Mercy!’ goes the plaint in despair,

‘when will I get the relief from this bondage of samsAra?’.

The seeker is asking with a firm determination to obtain

Release. We cannot call it a ‘mumukShutA’ arising from

‘sudRRiDhA buddhi’ (firm and determined will ) if the

desire to get out of this worldly tangle is the result of

misery and disgust caused by an insufficiency of wealth or

of health, a bereavement, or an enmity. This firm will is

the one that longs for a release from this samsAra with the

unshakable determination that arises, not from the dubious

significance of either the worldly miseries or the release

from them, but from the thought – even when the worldly

life happens to be a life of ease and comfort – “Even this

is mAyA; I must get release from this bondage of mAyA and

realise the Reality of the Atman”. The longing for mokSha,

that is, ‘mumukShutA’, is not that which longs for a

release after feeling a bitter taste from the miseries of

life. It arises from an extreme anguish that results from

an intellectual conviction that one has to get out of this

samsAra, because it is a mAyA. ‘mumukShutA’ is a feminine

word; so ‘She’ (*sA*) is used in the shloka. The complete

meaning of the shloka can now be given.

 

“ The confirmed will that reflects in the anguish-filled

prayer to the Merciful Guru ‘When would I be able to get

release from this bondage of samsAra?’, is mumukShutA”.

 

When he talks about the same subject in Viveka Chudamani

(shloka 27/28), he says

*sva-svarUpa avabodhena moktuM icchA mumukShutA /*

that is, it is not enough to be relieved from the bondage

of samsAra; the Jiva is not to become inert, after the

release from bondage. One must have *svasvarUpa avabodhaM*.

This means one should get the awareness of enlightenment

that experiences one’s true status of Atman.

That is what is important. One should pine for that. The

anguish that is called mumukShutvaM is for the experience

of Truth rather than for the eradication of mAyA. One prays

for the ending of bondage only because of the fact that

the bondage has got to disappear for the purpose of

Realisation.

 

SECTION 27: WHY IS THE ULTIMATE STAGE TERMED AS ‘RELEASE’

AND NOTHING MORE?

http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/dk6-101.htm

 

However generally the importance is given more to the

release from bondage rather than to the Realisation of the

Self. This is how the final goal of fullness is described

as mokSha’ or ‘mukti’. Those words do not describe the

state that we reach; instead they talk about the state that

we are leaving behind. The two words ‘mokSha’ or ‘mukti’

both indicate only the state of release. The Tamil use of

the word ‘VeeDu’ also does the same. The English word

‘Liberation’ also says the same thing. The root word is

‘muc’ in Sanskrit. (‘u’ as in ‘put’). It has an alternate

form, namely, ‘moc’ (the ‘o’ as in ‘go’). The root word

‘muc’ gives the noun ‘mukti’. There is another noun ‘muku’

(not very much in use) meaning release. He who gives ‘muku’

is ‘Mukunda’. The root verb ‘moc’ gives the noun ‘mokSha’,

‘mocanaM’ and ‘vimocanaM,. All these are words which

indicate the release from the bondage of samsAra; they do

not say anything about the infinite bliss that comes at the

Release. Thus why has this final goal been called by

something which indicates only the release part and does

not indicate anything about what we get after the Release,

namely the Realisation as the very brahman? Why has it not

been called by something which indicates the bliss? Why?

 

I think there are two reasons. First the Bliss of Brahman

cannot be described by words. This may be the prime reason.

 

 

The other reason could be as follows. Every school of

philosophy has a book of sutras as its authoritative source

(pramANa). And that is where the tenets of the school are

given in short aphorisms. Our Vedanta tradition has

‘Brahma-SUtra as its source authority. The very first

Sutra mentions about what is in the book and what the

subject is. The subject is ‘brahma-jijnAsA’. ‘jijnAsA’

means the desire to know. ‘Brahma-jijnAsA’ here means ‘the

enquiry made with the purpose of knowing brahman’. The

subject which is thus enunciated is the object-goal of

those who take this book as the authority (pramANa). So our

goal – we all belong to the school of Vedanta -- our

objective, should be ‘to know brahman’. First there should

be the desire to know; only then we will make efforts to

know. Thus that desire to know – jijnAsA –must be there

first. In other words the authoritative sUtra book for our

Vedanta-school talks the knowing of Brahman as our

‘lakshhya’ (object-goal). Indeed, to know brahman is to

realise brahman. So our goal, the goal of our religion, is

Realisation of Brahman. To help us reach that objective the

sUtra book makes all enquiries and tells us about matters

pertaining to brahman. The point to be noted here is that

the first sUtra does not mention the Release from bondage

of samsAra as the subject of the book but mentions only the

Realisation that is got at the Release. Brahma-jijnAsA

thus does not talk about the negative aspect

‘Mokshha-jijnAsa – the desire to know about Release, but

talks about the positive aspect, namely, the Experience of

brahman.

 

(To be Continued)

PraNAms to all students of advaita.

PraNAms to the Maha-Swamigal.

profvk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

 

The contents page of my website has been updated now to include a topic-wise list of every page of the site and a link to each. You may want to have a look at

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/contents.html