Adi Sankaracharya’s VIVEKACHUDAMANI
Translated by Swami MadhavanandaPublished by Advaita Ashram, Kolkatta
1. I bow to Govinda, whose nature is Bliss Supreme, who is the Sadguru, who can be known only from the import of all Vedanta, and who is beyond the reach of speech and mind.
2. For all beings a human birth is difficult to obtain, more so is a male body; rarer than that is Brahmanahood; rarer still is the attachment to the path of Vedic religion; higher than this is erudition in the scriptures; discrimination between the Self and not-Self, Realisation, and continuing in a state of identity with Brahman– these come next in order. (This kind of) Mukti (Liberation) is not to be attained except through the well-earned merits of a hundred crore of births.
3. These are three things which are rare indeed and are due to the grace of God–namely, a human birth, the longing for Liberation, and the protecting care of a perfected sage.
4. The man who, having by some means obtained a human birth, with a male body and mastery of the Vedas to boot, is foolish enough not to exert himself for self-liberation,verily commits suicide, for he kills himself by clinging to things unreal.
5. What greater fool is there than the man who having obtained a rare human body,and a masculine body too, neglects to achieve the real end of this life ?
6. Let people quote the Scriptures and sacrifice to the gods, let them perform rituals and worship the deities, but there is no Liberation without the realisation of one’s identity with the Atman, no, not even in the lifetime of a hundred Brahmas put together.
7. There is no hope of immortality by means of riches– such indeed is the declaration of the Vedas. Hence it is clear that works cannot be the cause of Liberation.
8. Therefore the man of learning should strive his best for Liberation, having renounced his desire for pleasures from external objects, duly approaching a good and generous preceptor, and fixing his mind on the truth inculcated by him.
9. Having attained the Yogarudha state, one should recover oneself, immersed in the seaof birth and death by means of devotion to right discrimination.
10. Let the wise and erudite man, having commenced the practice of the realisation of the Atman give up all works and try to cut loose the bonds of birth and death.
11. Work leads to purification of the mind, not to perception of the Reality. The realisation of Truth is brought about by discrimination and not in the least by ten million acts.
12. By adequate reasoning the conviction of the reality about the rope is gained, which puts an end to the great fear and misery caused by the snake worked up in the deluded mind.
13. The conviction of the Truth is seen to proceed from reasoning upon the salutary counsel of the wise, and not by bathing in the sacred waters, nor by gifts, nor by a hundred Pranayamas (control of the vital force).
14. Success depends essentially on a qualified aspirant; time, place and other such means are but auxiliaries in this regard.
15. Hence the seeker after the Reality of the Atman should take to reasoning, after duly approaching the Guru– who should be the best of the knowers of Brahman, and anocean of mercy.
16. An intelligent and learned man skilled in arguing in favour of the Scriptures and in refuting counter-arguments against them– one who has got the above characteristics is the fit recipient of the knowledge of the Atman.
17. The man who discriminates between the Real and the unreal, whose mind is turned away from the unreal, who possesses calmness and the allied virtues, and who is longing for Liberation, is alone considered qualified to enquire after Brahman.
18. Regarding this, sages have spoken of four means of attainment, which alone being present, the devotion to Brahman succeeds, and in the absence of which, it fails.
19. First is enumerated discrimination between the Real and the unreal; next comes aversion to the enjoyment of fruits (of one’s actions) here and hereafter; (next is) the group of six attributes, viz. calmness and the rest; and (last) is clearly the yearning for Liberation.
20. A firm conviction of the mind to the effect that Brahman is real and the universeunreal, is designated as discrimination (Viveka) between the Real and the unreal.
21. Vairagya or renunciation is the desire to give up all transitory enjoyments (ranging)from those of an (animate) body to those of Brahmahood (having already known their defects) from observation, instruction and so forth.
22. The resting of the mind steadfastly on its Goal (viz.Brahman) after having detached itself from manifold sense-objects by continually observing their defects, is called Shama or calmness.
23. Turning both kinds of sense-organs away from sense-objects and placing them in their respective centres, is called Dama or self-control. The best Uparati or self-withdrawal consists in the mind-function ceasing to be affected by external objects.
24. The bearing of all afflictions without caring to redress them, being free (at the same time) from anxiety or lament ontheir score, is called Titiksha or forbearance.
25. Acceptance by firm judgment as true of what the Scriptures and the Guru instruct, is called by sages Shraddha or faith, by means of which the Reality is perceived.
26. Not the mere indulgence of thought(in curiosity) but the constant concentration of the intellect (or the affirming faculty) on the ever-pure Brahman, is what is called Samadhana or self-settledness.
27. Mumukshuta or yearning for Freedom is the desire to free oneself, by realizing one’s true nature, from all bondages from that of egoism to that of the body– bondages superimposed by Ignorance.
28. Even though torpid or mediocre, this yearning for Freedom, through the grace of the Guru, may bear fruit (being developed) by means of Vairagya (renunciation), Shama(calmness), and so on.
29. In his case, verily, whose renunciation and yearning for Freedom are intense,calmness and the other practices have (really) their meaning and bear fruit.
30. Where (however) this renunciation and yearning for Freedom are torpid, there calmness and the other practices are as mere appearances, like water in a desert.
31. Among things conducive to Liberation, devotion (Bhakti) holds the supreme place.The seeking after one’s real nature is designated as devotion.
32. Others maintain that the inquiry into the truth of one’s own self is devotion. The inquirer about the truth of the Atman who is possessed of the above-mentioned means of attainment should approach a wise preceptor, who confers emancipation from bondage.
33. Who is versed in the Vedas, sinless, unsmitten by desire and a knower of Brahman par excellence, who has withdrawn himself into Brahman; who is calm, like fire that has consumed its fuel, who is a boundless reservoir of mercy that knows noreason, and afriend of all good people who prostrate themselves before him.
34. Worshiping that Guru with devotion, and approaching him, when he is pleased with prostration, humility and service, (he) should ask him what he has got to know:
35. O Master, O friend of those that bow to thee, thou ocean of mercy, I bow to thee;save me, fallen as I am into this sea of birth and death, with a straightforward glance of thine eye, which sheds nectar-like grace supreme.
36. Save me from death, afflicted as Iam by the unquenchable fire of this world-forest,and shaken violently by the winds of an untoward lot, terrified and (so) seeking refuge in thee, for I do not know of any other man with whom to seek shelter.
37. There are good souls, calm and magnanimous, who do good to others as does the spring, and who, having themselves crossed this dreadful ocean of birth and death, help others also to cross the same, without any motive whatsoever.
38. It is the very nature of the magnanimous to move of their own accord towardsremoving others’ troubles. Here, for instance, is the moon who, as everybody knows,voluntarily saves the earth parched by the flaming rays of the sun.
39. O Lord, with thy nectar-like speech, sweetened by the enjoyment of the elixir-likebliss of Brahman, pure, cooling to a degree, issuing in streams from thy lips as from apitcher, and delightful to the ear– do thou sprinkle me who am tormented by worldlyafflictions as by the tongues of a forest-fire. Blessed are those on whom even a passingglance of thy eye lights, accepting them as thine own.
40. How to cross this ocean of phenomenal existence, what is to be my fate, and whichof the means should I adopt– as to these I know nothing. Condescend to save me, OLord, and describe at lengthhow to put an end to the misery of this relative existence.
41. As he speaks thus, tormented by the afflictions of the world– which is like a foreston fire– and seeking his protection, the saint eyes him with a glance softened with pityand spontaneously bids him give up all fear.
42. To him who has sought his protection, thirsting for Liberation, who duly obeys theinjunctions of the Scriptures, who is of a serene mind, and endowed with calmness– (tosuch a one) the sage proceeds to inculcate the truth out of sheer grace.
43. Fear not, O learned one, there is no death for thee; there is a means of crossing thissea of relative existence; that very way by which sages have gone beyond it, I shallinculcate to thee.
44. There is a sovereign means whichputs an end to the fear of relative existence;through that thou wilt cross the sea of Samsara and attain the supreme bliss.
45. Reasoning on the meaning of the Vedanta leads to efficient knowledge, which isimmediately followed by the total annihilationof the misery born of relative existence.
46. Faith (Shraddha), devotion and the Yoga of meditation– these are mentioned by theShruti as the immediate factors of Liberation in the case of a seeker; whoever abides inthese gets Liberation from the bondage of the body, which is the conjuring of Ignorance.
47. It is verily through the touch of Ignorance that thou who art the Supreme Self findest thyself under the bondage of the non-Self, whence alone proceeds the round of birthsand deaths. The fire of knowledge, kindled by the discrimination between these two,burns up the effects of Ignorance together with their root.
48. Condescend to listen, O Master, to the question I am putting (to thee). I shall be gratified to hear a reply to the same from thy lips.
49. What is bondage, forsooth ? How has it come (upon the Self) ? How does it continue to exist ? How is one freed from it ? What is this non-Self ? And who is the Supreme Self ? And how can one discriminate between them ?– Do tell me about all these.
50. The Guru replied: Blessed art thou ! Thou hast achieved thy life’s end and hast sanctified thy family, that thou wishest to attain Brahmanhood by getting free from the bondage of Ignorance