[Chaturamnaya] Upadesa-pancakam of Adi Sankaracharya - 10

[S Jayanarayanan]

 (Continued from previous post)
 
 
http://svbf.org/newsletters/year-2013/upadesa-pancakam-iii/
 
Upadesa Pancakam – III
 
उपदेश पञ्चकम्
Upadeśa pañcakam of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya – Part III
S. Yegnasubramanian
 
 
In the third sloka that was discussed in the previous article, the author dwelt upon the instructions for Vanaprasthasrama
and briefly mentioned about śravaṇam, mananam and nidhidhyāsanam. 
क्षुद्व्याधिश्च चिकित्स्यतां प्रतिदिनं भिक्षौषधं भुज्यतां
स्वाद्वन्नं न तु याच्यतां विधिवशात् प्राप्तेन सन्तुष्यताम् ।
शीतोष्णादि विषह्यतां न तु वृथा वाक्यं समुच्चार्यताम्
औदासीन्यमभीप्स्तां जनकृपानैष्ठुर्यमुत्सृज्यताम् ॥ ४ ॥
The author adds some more instructions in this verse, which are conducive to nidhidhyāsanam, particularly regarding the
fundamental needs of life.  Because, whether one is a jñāni or ajñāni, gṛhastā or sanyāsi, food is a must. The Acharya
considers here a sanyāsi. He says,
क्षुद्व्याधि — here, the author is considering hunger as though it is a disease because,
1. Both cause uneasiness
2. Both require remedy – medicine or food
3. Both are taken only when there is a need
4. Both are used to the extent to remove the disease
5. In both, taste is not given importance
 
So He says,
क्षुद्व्याधिश्च चिकित्स्यतां, प्रतिदिनं  — may you treat the disease of hunger regularly.  How?
भिक्षौषधं भुज्यताम्  –  by taking the medicine of bhikṣā. And if he is a gṛhastā, he can also observe some rules – like,
1. Eating only when you are hungry
2. Eating only to satiate the hunger
3. Eating without complaining about taste, and
स्वाद्वन्नं न तु याच्यताम्  – may you not ask for delicious dishes, which encourage dehābhimāna (body-consciousness). In the previous slokas,
the author said, “dehe ahaṃ mati rujyatāṃ”. And,
विधिवशात् प्राप्तेन सन्तुष्यताम् — may you be satisfied with whatever comes by chance, and in this context, vidhi means prārabdha.
 
Both jñāni and sanyāsi have got prārabdha;  so whatever prārabdha brings, may you be satisfied with that. This is with
respect to food.
 
शीतोष्णादि विषह्यताम्  — may you put up with the opposite experiences, like heat and cold. In the Gita, the Lord said, nir-dvandva: to be
free from pairs of opposites such as – hot/cold, victory/defeat, gain/loss, birth/death, association/disassociation,
praise/disgrace, which depend upon time, space, and prārabdha.
 
Previously, the Acharya gave instruction regarding the eating tongue; now He gives, another instruction regarding the talking
tongue. He says,
वृथा वाक्यं न तु समुच्चार्यताम्  –  may you not utter even a single word without necessity.
As the saying goes, when it is not necessary to talk, it is very much necessary –  not to talk! All spiritual sādhanās,
begin from the tongue.
 
yogasya prathamadvāraṃ vāṅnirodhaḥ  –  In general, one should say a word which has been well edited, processed and well
monitored. Even if one wants to tell something, one should make sure whether the listener values one’s words. There is
nothing wrong to try to communicate. But it should be given up if the listener has no value for it.
 
जनकृपानैष्ठुर्यमुत्सृज्यताम्  –
* janakṛpā – love/compassion of people. Some set of people may love you, admire, glorify you, and
* naiṣṭhuryam – another set of people may be cruel to you; may be critical. For example,  even Lord Krishna was not
spared; some people like Sishupala criticized Lord Krishna. Similarly Rama also was criticized by people. When Rama and
Krishna  themselves are not spared, what to talk of an ordinary person!
 
औदासीन्यमभीप्स्ताम्  — may you desire to remain aloof and not join any groups, which are typical symptoms of saṃsāra – expressed as,
audāsīnyam here;
audāsīnyam or udāsīna bhāvaḥ – People may put one in various groups – that one cannot help. But one should not consciously
get involved in groupism. This becomes more important in the case of a sanyāsi.  So one can love all;  move will all;
but not join any group. People may love one or hate one;  but one should make sure not to develop rāga or dveśa, towards
any of them. So,
utsṛjyatām  — may you forget all such treatments without clinging on to them.
 
 
(To be Continued)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: </archives/chaturamnaya/attachments/20160323/da5a3a15/attachment.html>