skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Among path finders to the Eternal, Sankara stands out. He spent his entire life, short though it was, in urging his felowmen to move from the ephemeral to the abiding, from the fleeting panorama of temporal life to the spiritual felicity of life eternal. So far as earthly living and its demands go, there is no distinction between humans and animals.Sankara explains that there is no difference in the behaviour of humans and animals so long as the moving factors are appetition and aversion, and activity consists in a going forth towards external sense objects. However, man is endowed with a certain other characteristic which, if properly cultivated, will make for a distinction. Sankara defines it as the eligibility for karma, willed action and knowledge. He cites a scriptural text: “The Atman is expanded only in man. He, indeed, is endowed with intelligence. He gives expression to what is known. He sees what is known. He knows what is to come. He knows the visible and invisible worlds. He perceives the immortal through the mortal; thus is he endowed. But with the other animals, eating and drinking constitutes their knowledge.”
t is because of this special ability to discriminate and discern the truth that birth of a human being is said to be precious. It is in virtue of this endowment that man quests for the eternal, and eventually succeeds in gaining it.
Sankara sets forth the qualifications that would make one eligible for the quest eternal -- discrimination of the eternal from the non-eternal, non-attachment, having virtues like calmness, equanimity and a longing for liberation. All this only implies cultivating the right philosophical attitude. What blinds us is attachment to selfish enjoyments. The mind longs for them and so is unable to see the truth when it is in the grip of passion; it cannot understand even empirical truth, and so it goes without saying, says Sankara, that, the mind needs to be thoroughly cleansed before it can realise the truth of the inner Self.
The mind that has been freed of passions should be strengthened by cultivation of the cardinal virtues. With the right attitude and having gotten rid of defects, the mind must acquire whatever is excellent. Then the aspiration for release will firmly get established in the mind. This aspiration should not be confused with any passionate desire.
Explaining this point, Suresvara, a disciple of Sankara's, says that the longing for supreme happiness which is release, is not attachment; if this be attachment, then the wish for solicitude and so on, could also be thought to be so, which is not the case.
Release which is regarded as the highest value is the same as the Supreme Self which is the sole reality, according to Sankara's vedanta known as Advaita. It is the reality that is referred to in the Upanishads by such terms as Atman and Brahmn. One may deny everything else, but not the Self, for it is the very nature of one who denies. In the empirical world it appears as limited and as many. As conditioned by the psychological complex called the body and by things that constitute the world, it is spoken of as anubhava or experience. Courtesy: Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.
Her beauty is such that it drew even lord Siva from His penance. It is said in the Mooka Panchasati that She wandered on the banks of the river Kampa. There was a reason for this. It is on riverbanks that sages did penance, and this further sanctified these places. But the Goddess, who roamed the banks of the river, will take up residence in the hearts of human beings, if their hearts are pure. We cannot win Her grace by costly offerings. But if we have pure thoughts, She is automatically pleased, and showers Her mercy on us, said Goda Venkateswara Sastrigal, in a discourse.
Lord Siva burns the stoola sareera (gross body), the kaarana sareera (causal body) and the sookshma sareera (subtle body). He does this so that we may realise Him. He thus gives us gnana. But the Divine Mother grants us our worldly desires and also then takes us towards liberation. While human beings may give us what pleases the senses alone, the Goddess makes us think of our atma, and not think of that which pleases the senses alone. She does give us what we desire on this Earth, but She also shows us the path to liberation. She recommends to the Lord to grant us liberation and gets for us His grace. Once we obtain Her grace, liberation is guaranteed to us. Therefore even to think of Her, one must have performed good deeds, for the very thought of Her will eventually lead us on the right path. Her effulgence and radiance attracted even Lord Siva. She is the One who fulfils our desires just by casting Her glance on us.
The Upanishad asks: “What force makes the eyes to perceive or the ears to hear? Who is responsible for speech utterances?” It then unfolds a story as the most convincing answer.
The celestial beings once became self-conceited after a victory over the evil forces. They began celebrating it in a grand manner, without a thought about the Supreme Brahman who had made this victory possible. At that time, an apparition appeared in the sky and wondering who or what it was, the celestial beings asked fire (agni) and wind (vayu) to investigate. When these two approached the apparition, it asked them who they were and what was it they could do. Fire boasted of his power to burn and wind of his ability to blow away with force. The apparition then placed a blade of grass in front of them so that they could display their powers. Both tried with all their might but without any success. Shorn of the very faculties which boosted their confidence, they understood that a far greater power had tested them.
The Kenopanishad goes on to say that the apparition disappeared and Umadevi explained to the celestial beings that the apparition was the Supreme Brahman and that they were celebrating only Brahman’s victory and not theirs. The story instils humility in beings, who are deluded by their attainments and forget the source which enables them to function and achieve in life.
‘It is my perception, my effort,’ is the refrain that governs human achievement. When one pauses to think and investigate how all this is possible and what is one’s own contribution one is released from the clutches of ego and infused with humility.
