Date uploaded in London – 14 July 2024
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Let us take two more verses from the Viveka Chudaamani (VC) of Adi Sankara
Verse12 and 13
सम्यग्विचारतः सिद्धा रज्जुतत्त्वावधारणा ।
भ्रान्तोदितमहासर्पभयदुःखविनाशिनी ॥ १२ ॥
samyagvicārataḥ siddhā rajjutattvāvadhāraṇā |
bhrāntoditamahāsarpabhayaduḥkhavināśinī || 12 ||
12. By adequate reasoning the conviction of the reality about the rope is gained, which puts an end to the great fear and misery caused by the snake worked up in the deluded mind.
Notes:
[Reality of the rope—i. e. that it is a rope and not a snake, for which it was mistaken. ]
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अर्थस्य निश्चयो दृष्टो विचारेण हितोक्तितः ।
न स्नानेन न दानेन प्राणायमशतेन वा ॥ १३ ॥
arthasya niścayo dṛṣṭo vicāreṇa hitoktitaḥ |
na snānena na dānena prāṇāyamaśatena vā || 13 ||
13. The conviction of the Truth is seen to proceed from reasoning upon the salutary counsel of the wise, and not by bathing in the sacred waters, nor by gifts, nor by hundreds of Prāṇāyāmas (control of the vital force).
https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/vivekachudamani/d/doc144461.html
Aaadi Sankara’s favourite simile is Rope and Snake
My opinion is that Bhaja Govindam of Sankara and his disciples is High School Syllabus and Viveka Chudamani is University Syllabus. In the former he gives grand messages in simple language and in the latter he gives spiritual jargon to convey the same. Adi (aadi) Sankara used some cliché to illustrate his points ; rope and snake, pot and empty space are a few.
In the above two verses he made the following points:
Seeing snake in the rope in night is an illusion.
Salutary counsel of the wise helps us.
Neither pilgrimage nor charity nor Yogasanas help anyone to realise the ultimate truth.
A man steps on the rope in the night time and ears that he was bitten by a snake it comes out of ignorance. A wise man will explain to him it is only a rope and there is no need for panicking.
In the next sloka Sankara explained that theertha yaatraa/ pilgrimages, a lot of donations to good causes and daily breathing exercises are not enough to reah the ultimate goal
Let us compare it with what other great men say about it,
suramandira-taru-mūla-nivāsaḥ
śayyā bhūtalamajinaṃ vāsaḥ ।
sarva-parigraha-bhōgatyāgaḥ
kasya sukhaṃ na karōti virāgaḥ ॥ 19 Bhaja govindam verse ॥
living in temples or at the foot of trees, sleeping on the ground, wearing deer’s skin, renouncing all possessions and their enjoyment- to whom will not dispassion bring happiness?
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arthamanarthaṃ bhāvaya nityaṃ
nāstitataḥ sukhalēśaḥ satyam ।
putrādapi dhanabhājāṃ bhītiḥ
sarvatraiṣā vihitā rītiḥ ॥ 30 ॥
Wealth is no good; thus reflect always; there is not the least happiness therefrom; this is the truth. For the wealthy, there’s even fear from a son. Everywhere this is the mode.
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prāṇāyāmaṃ pratyāhāraṃ
nityānitya vivēkavichāram ।
jāpyasamētasamādhividhānaṃ
kurvavadhānaṃ mahadavadhānam ॥ 31
The regulation of the breadth, the withdrawal of the senses, the inquiry consisting in the discrimination between the eternal and the non- eternal , the method of mind control associated with the muttering of mantras – perform these with great care. (This verse is slightly different from what Sankara daid in verse 12
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Swami Vivekananda says
Rituals are the kindergarten of religion.
He means that one has to leave them aside and go up.
Ramakrishna paramahamsa says
Not all the fish that live in River Ganga attain Moksha .
He is truly a man to whom money is a servant; but on the other hand,those who don’t know how to make a proper use of it, hardy deserve to be called men.
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Appar says
கங்கை யாடிலென் காவிடி யாடிலென்
கொங்கு தண்குமரித்துறை யாடிலென்
ஓங்கு மாகடல் ஓத நீராடிலென்
எங்கும் ஈசனெனா தவர்க்கில்லையே
What great is bathing in ganga?
What great is bathing in kAviri?
What great is bathing in fragrant cool kumari?
What great is bathing in rising waters of the grand ocean?
There is nothing for one who does not think, “God is everywhere”
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Pattinathar says
ஆரூரர் இங்கிருக்க
அவ்வூர்த் திருநாளென்
றூர்கள்தோறும்
உழலுவீர்; — நேரே
உளக்குறிப்பை நாடாத
ஊமர்காள்! நீவீர்
விளக்கிருக்கத் தீத்தேடுவீர்
When all Gods are same why are you running from one place to another! Oh Ye dumb! When there is an oil lamp burning in front of you, why do search for fire?
We have got similar verses in many Tamil hymns.
–subham—
Tags- Rope or Snake , illusion, My Research Notes on VC , Part 12, pilgrimage, holy bat
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