[Chaturamnaya] Upadesa-pancakam of Adi Sankaracharya - 4

[S Jayanarayanan]

 (Continued from previous post)
 
 
तेन ईशस्य अपचितिः विधीयताम् tena-ISasya apaciti: vidhIyatAm – May worship be offered to the lord thru your practice of svadharma
Here tena refers to svadharma anushThAnena – by the practice of one’s svadharma.
 
apaciti:- Puja, worship
vidhIyatAm – may be offered
 
That means, worship is not merely offering flowers etc in a temple; it includes worhip of forefathers, rishis, service
to fellow humans and protection of plants and animals etc.Only when all these are practiced, the worship of the lord is
complete.
 
The above adherence refers to nishkAma karma. Regarding sakAma karma, he says,
काम्ये मतिस्त्यज्यताम् kAmye matistyajyatAm –
May you give up the actions meant for material wealth.
 
This means one should be satisfied with what one has, and acquire only that much to lead a simple life. Here kAmye refers
to sakAma kAmas and mati: refers to interest or craving; tyajyatAm may you give up (gradually).
पापौघः परिधूयताम् pApaugha: paridhUyatAm
Strive against the call of likes and dislikes.
 
Ogha: - multitudes or bundles of
pApa : here, rAga-dvesha – likes and dislikes; they are called pApa, because they obstruct spiritual growth.
paridhUyatAm – should be wiped out, cleaned
Since in following svadharma, worship of the Lord is done which gives the blessing of the Lord and so, the mind becomes
cleaner and cleaner. When the mind becomes free from the grip of rAga-dvesha,
भवसुखे दोषोऽनुसन्धीयताम् bhavasukhe dosho(a)nusandhIyatAm – May you see the defects of worldly accomplishments.
 
This is more an explanation of the previous instruction – pApaugha: paridhUyatAm – paraphrased here.
 
Bhava → world; sukham → pleasures; ie. worldly material pleasures
 
Generally we talk about three-fold defects in worldly pleasures:
1. Du:kha-miSritvam - they are mixed with pain – since, to acquire, preserve and to lose, one has to go through pain
2. atrupti-karatvam – will never give satisfaction
3. bandhakatvam – will make one slave of them; one gets addicted to them
 
And, by following one’s svadharma, through a refined mind, one will be able to discern these defects. That means, one becomes
a vivekI – mature person. And because of that, one can renounce kAmya-karmas discussed earlier. It is not enough if one
understands this; it should be constantly remembered; so the teacher says, anusandhIyatAm – should be constantly reminded.
 
Since material pleasures are defective leading to sorrow, one turns one’s attention from them to spiritual fulfillment.
 
आत्मेच्छा व्यवसीयताम् AtmecchA vyvasIyatAm
– May you cultivate strong desire for AtmA, the infinite, ever secure and stable.
 
That means, one should turn away from ephemeral – anityam, to eternal – nityam, which requires the ability to discriminate
between them, namely, viveka. Then, to turn away from anityam, one needs to have dispassion or vairAgyam. And to crave for
what is nityam, one needs mumukshutvam. Thus, viveka, vairAgya and mumukshutvam are implied in these three lines, as follows:
 
pApaugha: paridhUyatAm → indicates viveka
bhavasukhe dosho(a)nusandhIyatAm → indicates vairAgya, and,
AtmecchA vyavasiyatAm → indicates mumukshutvam
 
 
(To be Continued)
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