mahAvAkyaratnAvaliH-Translation No.10

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*Translation of mahAvAkyas- No.10- Sentences dealing with bondage and

liberation *

 

1. dehAdIn Atmatvena abhimanyate saH abhimAnaH AtmanaH bandhaH- tannivRttiH

mokshaH--The body, etc., (mind, senses) are looked upon as the self. This

notion is one's bondage. Cessation of this notion is liberation. (The words

AtmanaH bandhaH should not be translated as the bondage of the self, as

there is no bondage for the self; the bondage is for the jIva and it is not

real but is only wrongly thought to be there. The word 'AtmanaH' means

'belonging to oneself'. e.g., saH AtmanaH gRham gacchati means " He is going

to his house " The bondage of the jIva is that he considers himself to be the

body-mind complex while in reality he is brahman itself. When this wrong

notion is eradicated by the realization of his real nature he is said to be

liberated. Thus realization is not the attainment of some state which did

not exist previously, but only the realization that he was always brahman

and was never the limited being that he thought himself to be).

 

2. devamanushyAdi-upAsanAkAmasankalpo bandhaH--

 

The resolution to worship gods, serve human beings, etc., (for fulfillment

of desires) is bondage.

 

How is the desire to worship gods a bondage? To understand this we have to

go to the bRhadAraNyaka upanishad, 1.4.10 which says:-- He who worships

another god thinking, " He is one, and I am another, " does not know. He is

like an animal to the gods. As many animals serve a man, so does each man

serve the gods. Even if one animal is taken away, it causes anguish, what

should one say of many animals. Therefore it is not liked by the devas that

men know brahman " .

 

Sri Sankara says in his bhAshya on this mantra: " While one who is not a

knower of brahman, who worships another god different from himself,

approaches him in a subordinate position, offering him praises, salutations,

sacrifices, presents, devotion, meditation, etc., thinking, 'He is one,

non-self, different from me, and I am another, qualified for rites, and I

must serve him like a debtor " --- worships him with such ideas, does not know

the truth. He, this ignorant man, has not only the evil of ignorance, but is

also like an animal to the gods " . This ignorance is bondage.

 

What has been said above should not be taken to mean that worship of gods

should be given up. Sri Sankara continues in his bhAshya on the same mantra,

" Hence as men try to save their animals from being seized by tigers, etc.,

so the gods seek to prevent men from attaining the knowledge of brahman lest

they should cease to be their objects of enjoyment. Those, however, whom

they wish to set fee, they endow with faith and the like; while the opposite

class they visit with lack of faith, etc. Therefore a seeker of liberation

should be devoted to worshipping the gods, have faith and devotion, be

obedient to the gods and be alert about the attainment of knowledge or about

knowledge itself. The mention of the dislike of the gods is an indirect

hint at all this " .

 

The gist of the above is that worship of gods should be without desire for

any fruit and only for purification of the mind and becoming fit for

Self-knowledge.

 

Service to human beings with a motive is also described as bondage because

such service implies dependence, which is bondage. The liberated person is

not dependent on any human being or any other living creature or on any

object. gItA, 3.18 says that for the liberated person there is no dependence

on any object. So he need not serve any body.

 

This sentence is not from any of the ten principal upanishads or the

SvetASvatara upanishad. It may be in one of the remaining upanishads. I have

not been able to find out from which upanishad.

 

3. kartRtvAdi-ahankArasankalpo bandhaH—The notion of oneself as doer,

enjoyer, etc., is bondage.

 

S.N.Sastri

 

(To be contd)