MUMUKṢU PRAKARAṆA II
II MUMUKṢU PRAKARAṆA
Longing after Realization
Summary— Of the fourfold qualifications required of a neophyte on the Path, the last one, namely the longing after emancipation is treated in this chapter.
Vāsiṣṭha said:
Now, Oh Rāma, hearken to what I am going to say.
Through right endeavours in this life (of the world), all the ends of human aspiration can be achieved by following strictly the Śāstric (or scientific) injunctions.
Such endeavours are twofold: one in the direction of Ātma-jñāna Śāstras (the sciences relating to divine wisdom) and the other in the direction of (ordinary) Śāstras (treating of terrestrial wisdom).
The former leads to Mokṣa and the latter which is not the true Śāstric path leads to bondage.
Those virtuous persons only will gain Mokṣa who, from their early boyhood, train themselves in the Ātma-jñāna spiritual) lore, associate themselves with unflinching, great men and develop benevolence and other good qualities.
At which Rāghava exclaimed:
Being under the control of Vāsanās generated by me in my former births, I have not been making efforts in the direction of the right path. Oh Guru, what then am I to do?
On Vāsanās, pure and impure— To this Vāsiṣṭha replied:
Oh Rāma of marvellous qualities, it is through one’s efforts alone and nothing else that the Brahmin state can be attained.
The hosts of Vāsanās may be divided under two heads, namely the pure and the impure. Should the pure ones cling to him, he will easily attain the immaculate Brāhmic state through them; but in the case of the impure Vāsanās, pain will be generated.
Thou should, Oh Rāma, through dint of painful efforts, avoid these impure ones. Through the two ordained paths of good and evil, the current of Vāsanās swells enormously.
Mayest thou, after straining all thy nerves in the cultivation of Brahmāvidyā (Brāhmic science), liberate thyself from the impure Vāsanās and rest firmly in the (pure) Vāsanās appertaining to the beneficent Reality.
Thou should, through thy equal vision over all and thy own efforts, check the mind from subjection to the impure Vāsanās and make it associate with the pure ones.
If after annihilating the many impure ones which are the products of many previous births, thou should make the pure ones dawn now, then they will conduce to thy (future) efforts.
Even should doubt arise in thy mind as to where the pure ones will lead thee, thou should cultivate them only, as any excess therein is not, in any way, injurious.
Till thy mind is illumined by the Reality of Brahman, thou should always follow the path of initiation into Brahman shown by the Gurus through the sacred sentences of the Vedas.
Mayest thou, Oh Rāma, remain immutably fixed in that state of direct cognition, after purging thy mind of its impure Vāsanās and making it, through the pure ones, attain the Ātmic state, free of all stains and pains.
Destroy thy illusory thoughts, so that they may not resurrect again. Develop extreme quiescence of mind and bliss within thyself.
And then through thy intelligence, freed from the longing after objects, thou should, Oh Rāma, merge thyself with Brahman, engaged in the investigation of the significance of the holy sentence, tat tvam asi (Thou art That) and meditate upon such identity.
Now listen to the utterances of Brahma seated on the honey-dropping lotus flower.
Vāsiṣṭha s own history—When Rāghava inquired of Vāsiṣṭha the cause of such utterances, Vāsiṣṭha went on thus:
Out of Cidākāśa which is the endless, the all-pervading, the seat of all and the illuminator of all objects, there arose Viṣṇu. Brahma arose out of the lotus of his heart and evolved, as the many creations of his mind, this earth and other diverse objects.
Then the author of the universe, Lord Brahma, (in the course of its progress) found the many noble Souls in Bhāratvarṣa (portion of earth including India) writhing under extreme pain and was moved to pity, like a loving father towards his afflicted son.
Contemplating the salvation of these afflicted ones, he came to the conclusion that the cycle of births and deaths cannot be arrested by either Japas (uttering of Mantras), or Tapas, (religious austerities) macerating the body, or the many kinds of gifts, or bathing in such holy waters as the Ganga, etc. or any other means except through Ātma-jñāna.
Therefore, with his mind, he created us all, like himself, with a bowl and a rosary of beads in the hand. So was I born, and haying saluted him, I was shown a seat on a petal on the northern side of the lotus in which he was gloriously seated.
There he pronounced a curse on my mind that it should be enveloped by Māyā for one Mūhurta (forty-eight minutes). Thereupon my mind became stupefied and I began to play the woman, like an illiterate and ignorant person devoid of all spiritual wisdom.
Observing me thus, Brahma questioned me as to the cause of my sorrow. Then I asked him how this Saṁsāra arose and how Mokṣa can be attained after freedom from existence.
Upon which he blessed me with the true cognition of the higher state. As a result, I was in a non-fluctuating state, owing to my cognition of Jñānātman Reality.
Upon which Brahma remarked to me:
It was we that enveloped thy intelligence with the base Māyā and then cleansed it of Māyā after having annihilated the latter. We have ordained that all souls shall be initiated by thee and attain Mokṣa.
After the dawning of full Jñāna, thou shalt soon go to Bhāratvarṣa in Jambudvīpa which is the land of all perishable Karmas (religious works).
There shalt thou initiate men, having the four qualifications (for attaining liberation), into Ātma-jñāna; but thou shalt initiate lovers of (ritualistic) Karmas, in whom egoism has not vanished, into the due performance of such Karmas.
According to his mandates, I shall live in Bhāratvarṣa so long as humanity exists there. I have no longing for any objects in this world.
I shall ever be in the Suṣupti (dreamless, sleeping) state and thus able to transcend the limits of the mind, though engaged in the daily actions of the world. No actions of mine identify themselves with my Self.
Oh valorous Rāma, those intelligent disciples alone will be knowers of Atman who, after thoroughly discriminating between a Guru full of Jñāna and another, of Ajñāna, find an asylum in a supreme, immaculate Guru.
Those only who understand the teachings of their Gurus (in all their aspects) by an instantaneous apprehension of what the Gurus mean will see them realized (afterwards) as in an objective vision.
The stainless Guru will never initiate into Tattva-jñāna those who are weak-willed and addicted to sensual desires.
The four means of Mokṣa— If the four sentinels that wait at the gates of Mokṣa (liberation), namely Śānti (sweet patience or quiescence of mind), Vicāra (Ātmic enquiry), Saṁtoṣa (contentment of mind) and Sādhu-saṅga (association with the wise) be befriended, then, will there be any obstacle to the attainment of liberation? (No).
Like the guardsmen posted at the palace gates of a king protecting the earth, who allow ingress to the visitors without to see the king within, the above four sentinels allow admittance within into Mokṣa.
Even if one of them be befriended, then he will introduce the newcomer to the rest of his fellows. Therefore thou should ceaselessly endeavour to hold fast to one at least, overcoming all obstacles on the way and associate with him intimately.
In order to put an end to rebirths, we should, above all, develop our (spiritual) intelligence through association with the wise, inquiry into Ātma-jñāna and Samādhi (deep meditation).
The venom of Saṁsāra will be dispelled (and the man bitten will be cured of the poison) through the Garuda-mantra called Jñāna.
Then (with the development of Jñāna), even showers of arrows discharged at him will be to him like soft lily flowers; a bed of flames will resemble a softly cushioned bed fragrant with rose-water;
the chopping off of his head will be like Suṣupti (the dreamless, sleeping state) wherein happiness is enjoyed;
the ripping open of his stomach will be like the application of sandal paste over his body; and the piercing of his breast by innumerable pointed lancets will be like cool water sprinkled during the long summer season.
The poisonous disease of sensual objects, unfit to be associated with, can be avoided only by those who have developed the discriminative (spiritual) wisdom and not by others.
It is not through mere inquiry into Ātma-jñāna (knowledge) that Nirvāṇic bliss is attained.
If one were to conduct himself in such a way as to assimilate within himself the knowledge derived from the three sources (self-experience, the true significance of the holy sentences in the spiritual books and the instructions of a wise Guru) then the inseparable Ātmic wisdom will rise in him.
The mere study of rare Jñāna books by persons of petty intelligence will but breed Ajñāna in their minds. Books treating of devotion and the performance of rituals generate less Ajñāna than the study of Jñāna books (unaccompanied by the other two mentioned above).
And it should be remembered that it is far better to lead a mendicant’s life by begging for food with bowl in hand at the doors even of outcastes than to pass a life of Ajñāna.
Immense wealth, friends, relatives, Varanasi and other sacred places, bathing in the Ganga and other waters, the hermitage of Munis, religious austerities afflicting the body and such things are not the sure means of reaching the higher state;
it is through the mind’s effort that the immaculate and supreme state can be attained.
Śānti— Now listen, Oh Rāma, to the ineffaceable characteristics of the four sentinels placed at the gate of Mokṣa.
If the supreme “sweet patience that nought can ruffle” be mastered, then all desires and sorrow will fly like darkness before the rising sun.
Being confided in (and loved) like a mother, by the virtuous as well as the vicious, such persons of sweet patience are never ruffled in mind,
whether they get nectar to drink and enjoy the bliss of Lakṣmī residing in the luxuriant lotus flower, or are engaged in great wars, entailing carnage, or whether they are born or dead.
They never rejoice or grieve through the enjoyment of pleasure or pain arising from sensual objects.
These, pure men of sweet patience shine aloft far higher than persons of mere ripe intelligence, performers of sacrifices, men well versed in all departments of knowledge, puissant kings, virtuous men, etc. (not possessing this one attribute).
Great men, having quaffed this ambrosia of sweet patience which is rarely found by intelligent men who long after it, have attained the glorious Mokṣa.
Mayest thou too, Oh Rāma, act in this virtuous path.
Ātma-vicāraṇa— If along with this, thou should develop fully Ātmic inquiry through thy subtle, pure intelligence, after a study of the holy Śāstras, then such an incomparable intelligence will reach the supreme state.
It is this inquiry alone that enables one to differentiate causes from effects and constitutes the remedy for curing the disease of rebirth.
Having cleared oneself of all doubts through this discriminative power which is not blurred even in the midst of the intense darkness (of ignorance), which shines with undiminished lustre even in the midst of light, and through which all things are visible,
one should always be engaged, even when threatened by dangers, in the inquiry of whence am I? Whence came this universe of Saṁsāra? And of whom is this universe an attribute?
Such an inquiry averts the dangerous disease called Ajñāna.
Saṁtoṣa — Now to noble contentment.
It is the bliss arising from the experience of objects, good or bad, without any longing or aversion, and the absence of disappointment (or indifference) shown when objects are not obtained.
Should this incomparable ambrosia of contentment become permanent in one, then enjoyment of objects will become a poison.
Then the mind which was immersed in sensual objects raises itself towards Ātmic wisdom and sees no more a distorted image as in a stained glass.
Such a person of true contentment would be revered by great Tapasvins and the chief among men.
Sādhu-saṅga—To all those who wish to master this, world of Māyā, association with the wise is the unfailing means.
Like the Ganga which confers benefits on those who bathe in its cool waters, association with the wise expands the poor intellect of men, transmutes the accidents arising out of material objects into real wealth (for progress), and converts a mind, which is miserable amidst any objects, into one which sees happiness everywhere.
To such, neither sacrificial fires, nor Tapas, nor bounteous gifts nor holy waters are indispensable.
One should, at any cost, long to approach those great personages replete with wisdom, who are friendly to all and release them from bondage and form the ferry to cross the ocean of rebirth.
These are the fourfold means for freedom from this oppressive Saṁsāra. Those who have embraced these four means have crossed the ocean of Saṁsāra.
Oh, Rāma of sweet patience and other qualities, please listen to the stories (narrated in this book) which will relieve thy pining mind of its delusion.
Ātma- jñāna, the end of all Vedas, will dawn of itself in one who probes into their underlying meaning without caring for their (surface) attributes or meaning.
All delusions, such as love and hatred, will vanish; the mind will become as pellucid as the waters of a pool in the autumnal season. Such persons of adamantine armour will never be pierced by the arrows of pain, such as poverty, etc.
The fruits of an inquiry without desire— A mind engaged in (Ātmic) inquiry will never be afflicted by the awe-inspiring Māyā and will maintain the equilibrium of a waveless ocean.
All persons of deep inquiry acquire the depth of the unfathomable ocean, the stability of Mahāmeru and the coolness of the noble moon.
The virtuous who tread the path of Ātmajñāna take delight only in Samādhi and other Karmas congenial to their pursuit, like a spotless and chaste woman who contemplates her lord as God and rejoices in such thought.
The characteristics of a Jīvan-mukta—Then the above-mentioned, rare Jīvan-mukti state will gradually dawn in him who is desireless and in whose eyes there is nothing supernatural.
His state is indescribable and yet he moves in the world like anybody else. His mind is not bound by any longing after Karmas. He is indifferent to joy and pain arising from good or bad results.
He preserves, equilibrium in the happy enjoyment of whatever he obtains. He does not in the least concern himself with enjoyments foreign to the path of the wise.
He is ever engaged in ceaseless inquiry into the path of liberation, which is obtained through interrogating the wise without transgressing their words in order to enjoy bliss uninterruptedly and be oblivious of this body.
Having attained Ātma- jñāna, he will not be reborn and subject himself to the pangs of delivery from a mother’s womb.
Those sinful men whose minds are reeling amidst sensual pleasures, being led away by them, can truly be said to be mere vermin generated out of the offal in their mother’s womb.
In the absence of the company of great men of supreme intelligence, one should perform those actions which are necessary to obtain food got through rightly earned and well-spent wealth.
Till he finds quiescence, in his stainless Ātman, and the certain (mental) quiescence of the Turīya (fourth) state dawns in him, he should ever be engaged in Ātmic inquiry through a study of Ātma-jñāna books, quiescence of mind, right conduct, acuteness of intellect and association with the wise.
How can this certain and stainless Turīya state, arising through Ātmic inquiry, be described in words?
Turīya State—A person who obtains quiescence in this Turīya state, devoid of all Bhāvanās (thoughts), and thus crosses the ocean of Saṁsāra will attain the state of Mokṣa.
Such a one will never be affected by anything, whether he is in a state of Jīva or Śiva, devoid of the Jīva state, whether he moves in a family or is a solitary recluse, whether he is bound by the delusions of Śrutis and Smṛti or not, or whether he performs actions or not.
He will then be in the one Reality of Ātman as in one vast ocean without (any intercepting object such as) the Himālayas.
The proper path of inquiry—Thou mayest place thy credence in the words of even a child, if they are consistent with the Śrutis, Guru’s words and thy self-experience. Otherwise, thou should reject as straw the utterances of even Brahma himself.
Know also that the many analogies given, in order that Brahma- jñāna may arise in thee, are for the purpose of exemplifying the One Principle.
The ignorant assert that the formless and real Jñāna is subject to no analogies involving form and name (and hence should not be made the subject of inquiry);
but such a mischievous argument will only be subversive of the good results of the intellectual acumen arising from Jñāna inquiry. Therefore, Oh Rāma, thou should not let thy mind follow that groove of thought.
On the development of Jñāna—The sound of Ātma- jñāna will vibrate only on the strings of Śānti and other qualities. Jñāna and the above four good qualities shine in best relief only in mutual juxtaposition.
Together they flourish like a tank and the lotuses growing in it. Should they be developed equally, then the result will be the attainment of Brahman; but if separately, no results will accrue.
Hearing the (following) real stories (and acting up to them) will confer on one the virtues of true renunciation, imperishable wealth, eternal bliss, glorification by the wise and a happy life. Moreover, a mind illumined thereby will attain Mokṣa with immutable bliss.