[Chaturamnaya] Upadesa-pancakam of Adi Sankaracharya - 6

[S Jayanarayanan]

 (Continued from previous post)
 
 
With the practice of yoga and upAsanA, one should develop another group of six-fold disciplines, called,
SamAdi-shaTka-samapatti: Which are,
1. Sama → mind or thought control
2. dama → sense control
3. uparama → the mind from unwanted fields, should not again go back to them
4. titkshA → inner strength to face opposite experiences of life
5. SraddhA → faith in the scriptures and the guru
6. samadhAnam → concentration; nonwavering mind
 
शान्त्यादिः परिचीयताम् ShAntyAdi: paricIyatAm – May you develop ShamAdishaTka- sampatti or citta ekAgratA – focused mind
 
With this third stage, namely vAnaprastha ASrama is over. Now the Acharya talks about the last stage, namely, pursuit of
jnAnayoga entering in to sannyAsa ASrama.
 
दृढतरं कर्माशु सन्त्यज्यताम्  driDhataram karmAshu samtyajyatAm – may all karmas and upasanas be totally given up.
 
driDhataram --. Absolutely, firmly; all karmas can be given up at this stage because, they have served their purpose of
getting cittaSuddhi and citta ekAgratA.
 
To pursue jnAnayoga, one should seek the help of a competent teacher.
 
सद्विद्वानुपसर्प्यताम् sad-vidwAn-upasarpyatAm –
may a wise person be approached by you. One has to seek a teacher for gaining knowledge, who is a sad-vidwAn, a jnAnI or a
competent teacher, who has also studied under the guidance of his teacher, coming through the guruparamparA. And,
प्रतिदिनं तत्पादुकासेव्यताम्  pratidinan-tadpAdukA-sevyatAm –May his sandals (representing his feet) be worshipped by you. In this process,
the student the ego and develops faith in the teacher who is the personification of the scriptures themselves. In addition,
direct contact with the teacher also enables the student to firm up his viveka, vairagya etc. qualifications. And then,
ब्रह्मैकाक्षरमर्थ्यताम् brahmaikAsharm-arthyatAm May the knowledge of Brahman be asked. Here eka-aksharam indicates the non-dual,
imperishable, reality. In this context, Brahman should be taken as brahmajnAnam. JnAnayoga comprises SravaNam, mananam
and nidhidhyAsanam, which the Acharya mentions briefly,
श्रुतिशिरोवाक्यं Sruti-shiro-vAkyam; means vedAnta (Sruti-shira:) or Upanishad-vAkyam
समाकर्ण्यताम्  samAkarNayatAm – may you listen (to the teachings of the Upanishad.). The study should be systematic through
proper analysis; i.e understanding the term “tvam” (you) through pancakoSa-vicAra, avasthAtraya–vicAra; then understanding
the term “tat” (Iswara) and finally the identity of their essential nature should be discovered, implied by the term “asi”
of tat tvam asi. The first one is the analysis of jIvAtmA which is done using the anvayavyatirikta method, in which one
arrives at the conclusion that whatever is the permanent or essential feature is its intrinsic nature. For example, the
hotness of fire. By this method one arrives at the essential or intrinsic nature of jIvAtmA (microcosm) as cit or awareness
principle. And the essential nature of paramAtmA, the Iswara, is through the analysis of creation – SrushTi-vicAra: - by the
adhyAropa-apavAda method, which gives the essential nature of the totality, macrocosm, which is pure existence, sat.
Once these two are understood, then comes the mahAvAkya – tat tvam asi, which means that pure Existence and pure
Consciousness (Awareness) are one and the same. So, by sam-AkarNyatAm, the author implies systematic listening and
understanding. More about SravaNam is discussed in the next sloka.
 
(to be continued)
 
Source Material:
 
1. Paramartha Tattvam – Volume 1 – The Vedas and Our Scriptures
 
2. Lectures of Swami Paramarthananda, Chennai, India.
 
3. Sankara the Missionary Part 1, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, Bombay. 
(To be Continued)
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