vivekachUdAmani

[Vaidya N. Sundaram]

9)
uddharedaatmanaatmaanaM magnaM sa.nsaaravaaridhau .
yogaaruuDhatvamaasaadya samyagdarshananishhThayaa

 By attaining to a state of yogArudha by firm knowledge of Brahman, let
one raise one's impure mind steeped in the ocean of Samsara by one's mind.

 Explaing the nature of one who may be said to be a yogArudha, the Lord
says in the Gita: tydAhi nendriyArthesu na karmasvanusajjate |
sarvansaNkalpasamnyAsi yogArUdhastadocyate ||. "One is said to be a
yogArudha one one is not attached to actions having reference to objects
of sense and when one has given up all desires to act by them."  The
striving for liberation has for its final step samyagdarshana or the right
understanding of the nature of brahman. By this sloka, Sri BhagavatpAda
says that samyagdarshananisthA alone is the direct means to moksha, and
this has to be certainly preceded by absolute detachment and that these
are the only means to salvage a person from the ocean of SamsAra.

 SamsAra is likened to an ocean as it corresponds to it in all features.
The waves in this ocean are five: klesa (misery), avidyA (nescience),
asmitA (confounding the non-Atman with the Atman), rAga (attachment), and
abhinivesa (the fear of death even among the learned); delusion is the
whirlpool in that ocean; wife friends, welath and kinsmen are the aquatic
monstres in it; anger is the fierce heat in its depth (badabAgi); lust is
the net in which one is caught. To the same effect, Sri BhagavatpAda says
in the LakshmInrsimhastotra: O Lord! Extend to me Thy helping hannd to
rescue me from the vast ocean of samsAra beset with the all-deveouring
monster of time, and from my being lost in the mounting waves of
passions".
 On account of the operation of the the beginningless avidyA, a person
speaks of himself as aj~na (ignorant), kartA (doer) and manusya (man);  by
non-realisation of it's true nature (i.e; unattached and the form of
knowledge - intelligence - bliss), it is mistaken as the Karana (causal),
sUksma (subtle) and sthUla (gross) bodies respectively, and this
mistakeness is itself samsAra.
 It is to be noted here that one has no awareness of samSara in deep
dreamless sleep (susupti) even though susupti is characterised by ajn~ana.
The reason is that in deep sleep the mind is not operative. The cause of
samsAra is to be traced to the combination of ajn~ana and the mind.
 Hence the attachement of the undiscriminating mind to the body is itself
immersion of the Atman in the ocean of samsAra. When it is cleansed by the
process of sravana, manana etc, then it attains it true nature, devoid of
delusion. This means that the non-discriminating mind has to be salvaged
from whatever is non-atamn, by that mind which has accuried discrimination
by study of the sAstras. Even this process of salvaging (uddharana) is
only metaphorical, as the Atman is in reality un-attached.  But because of
it's habit of looking outward, it appears to be attached, even as the
crystal appears red because it is close to a red object. When the red
object which is the limiting adjunct (upadi) is removed, the crystal is
seen to be white as ever. Similarly, the Atman that is turned inward and
remanins aloof from whatever is non-Atman, is said to be salvaged.



                      Vaidya N. Sundaram
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 Kandavar Vindilar      : Those who have seen (Brahman) have not spoken
  Vindavar Kandilar     :   those who speak (about It) have not seen (It)
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    satyakAma, satyasaMkalpa, Apatsakha, kAkutsa, shrIman nArAyaNa
        puruShottaMa, shrI ranganAtha, mama nAtha, namostute.
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