Verses 301-350

INVOCATION

Om May no harm be done Here, May the vessels of the great Seers continue in Salvation, May these movements be in accord with Divine Will, May this desire be motivated by Love, May what is not beneficent wither to obscurity.
I prostrate.

VIVEKA-CUDAMANI OR

CREST-JEWEL OF WISDOM

OF SRI SAMKARACARYA

Translation by

Mohoni M. Chatterji, F.T.S.

second edition 1947 (with updates from later editions added)

(301) He who becomes free from the spark of ahamkara attains the essential form which is self-illumined, stainless as the moon, all-pervading, eternal bliss.

(302) He who through bewildering ignorance is deprived of the firm conviction that I (the Logos) am He (Parabrahman), realizes the identity of Brahman with atman on the complete destruction (of ignorance).

(303) The hidden treasure of supreme bliss is guarded by the very powerful and terrible snake ahamkara, which envelopes the self with its three heads, the gunas. The wise man is able to enjoy this hidden treasure of bliss after cutting off these three heads and destroying this serpent with the great sword of spiritual knowledge.

(304) So long as there is the least indication of the effects of poison in the body, there cannot be freedom from disease. In like manner the ascetic (Yogi) will not gain mukti so long as there is egoism.

(305) By the complete cessation of egoism and the (consequent) extinction of all its deceitful manifestations, this essential truth-‘This I am’-is realized through discrimination of the real self.

(306) Abandon at once the notion of “I” in the ahamkara which is the cause of change, which experiences the consequences of Karma, and which is the destroyer of rest in one’s own real self. To this erroneous conception that attributes one thing to another (e.g. that ahamkara is the real self) is due embodied existence-birth, death, old age, sorrow in you, the (reflection of the) Logos who is consciousness and is bliss.

(307) There is no other (cause) of this changeful existence of you (the reflection of) the cidatman (Logos) who is unchangeable bliss itself, and whose only form is the reality of stainless glory, than this erroneous conception (that ahamkara is the real self).

(308) Therefore having, with the great sword of real knowledge, cut down this ahamkara, the enemy of the true self and perceived (to be) like the thorn in the eater’s throat, enjoy to heart’s content the clearly manifest bliss of the empire of self.

(309) Therefore having put an end to the functions of the ahamkara and the rest, and being free from attachment by the attainment of the supreme object, be happy in the enjoyment of spiritual bliss, and remain silent in Brahman by reaching the all-pervading Logos and losing all sense of separateness.

(310) The great ahamkara, even though (apparently) cut down to the very roots, will, if excited only for a moment by the mind, come to life again and cause a hundred distractions, just as during the rains clouds (are scattered about) by the storm.

(311) Having subjugated the enemy ahamkara, no respite is to be given to it by reflection about objects; such respite is the cause of its revival, just as water is in the case of the extremely weakened lime tree.

(312) How can the desirer who exists through the notion of the body being the ego, be the causer of the desire, who is (thus) different? Therefore submission to the pursuit of object is the cause of bondage, through attachment to differentiations.

(313) It is observed that the growth of motive is the growth of the seed (of changing existence), the destruction of the former is the destruction of the latter; therefore the former is to be annihilated.

(314) By the strength of vasana, 1 (past impressions), karya (action) is accumulated, and by the accumulation of karya, vasana increases, (thus) in every way the changeful life of the ego continues.

1 Vasana, an impression remaining unconsciously in the mind from past (good or evil) Karma.

(315) An ascetic must burn out these two, (vasana and karya) in order to sever the bond of changing existence. The growth of vasana is due to these two, thought and external action.

(316) Vasana, nourished by these two, produces the changing life of the ego. Means for the destruction of this triad always, under all circumstances (should be sought).

(317) By everywhere, in every way, looking upon everything as Brahman, and by strengthening the perception of the (one) reality this triad will disappear.

(318) By the extinction of action, 1 comes the extinction of anxious thought, from this (latter) the extinction of vasana. The final extinction of vasana is liberation-that is also called jivanmukti.2

1 Absolute detachment of the self from action. See Bhagavad-Gita, ch. III.

2 See Jivanmukti-viveka by Sri Vidyaranya (Dvivedi’s trans.) where destruction of latent desire (vasana), dissolution of mind (manonasa) and Gnosis (tattvajnana) are interdependent contributive forces necessary for Liberation-Also Life in Freedom by J. Krishnamurti.

(319) Aspiration towards the real, being fully manifested, vasana as directed to ahamkara and the rest disappears, as darkness does in the light of the supremely brilliant sun.

(320) As on the rising of the sun darkness and the effects of darkness-that net of evils-are not seen, so on the realization of absolute bliss, there is neither bondage nor any trace of pain.

(321) Transcending all perceptible objects, realizing the only truth which is full of bliss, controlling the external and internal (organs), so you should pass the time while the bondage of Karma remains.

(322) In devotion to Brahman there must be no negligence. Brahma’s 1 son has said that negligence is death.

1 Sanat-sujata says in the Sanat-sujatiyam, Mahabharata, Udyoga P.: “I verily call heedlessness death, and likewise I call freedom from heedlessness immortality.” Telang’s trans.

(323) For the wise there is no other danger than negligence in regard to the real form of self. From that springs delusion, from delusion ahamkara, from ahamkara bondage, and from bondage pain.

(324) Forgetfulness (of his true self) casts (into the ocean of births and deaths) even a learned man attracted by sense objects, his mind being perverted, as a woman (casts off) her lover.

(325) As moss (covering a sheet of water) does not remain (when pushed back) (fixed) even for a moment, so illusion (maya) veils even the learned who turn back (forgetting the real self).

(326) If the thinking ego loses its aim and becomes even slightly diverted, then it falls away from the right direction like a playing-ball carelessly dropped on a flight of steps.

(327) The mind directed towards objects of sense determines their qualities (and thus becomes attracted by them); from this determination arises desire, and from desire human action. 1

1 Cf. Bhagavad-Gita, II. 62, 63.

(328) From that comes separation from the real self; one thus separated retrogrades. There is not seen the re-ascent but the destruction of the fallen one. Therefore abandon thoughts (about sense-objects), the cause of all evils.

(329) Therefore for one possessed of discrimination, knowing Brahman in samadhi, there is no death other than from negligence. He who is absorbed in (the real) self, achieves the fullest success; hence be heedful and self-controlled.

(330) He who while living realizes unity (with the supreme), does so also when devoid of the body. For him who is conscious of even the slightest differentiation there is fear-so says the Yajur-veda 1 .

1 Katha Upanishad.

(331) When at any time the learned man perceives even an atom of differentiation in the infinite Brahman, then what is perceived as difference through negligence is to him a (cause of) fear.

(332) He who regards what is perceived as the ego, in spite of hundreds of injunctions to the contrary in sruti (Vedas), smrti (law books), and nyaya (logic), falls into a multitude of sorrows on sorrows; (such a man) the doer of what is forbidden, is like a malimluc (a demon).

(333) The liberated man devoted to the pursuit of truth, always attains the glory of (the real) self, while he who is devoted to the pursuit of falsehood perishes; this is seen even in the case of a thief and an honest man.

(334) The ascetic abandoning the pursuit of unreality, the cause of bondage, rests in the spiritual perception, “I am the Logos”. Devotion to Brahman gives bliss through realization of (the real) self and takes away the great pain experienced as the effect of avidya.

(335) Pursuit of external objects results in increasing evil vasana more and more; therefore realizing the true character of such objects through discriminative knowledge, and abandoning them, be constantly engaged in the pursuit of the real self.

(336) The (pursuit of) external objects being checked, tranquility of the mind (manas) is produced; from the tranquility of manas arises the vision of Paramatman (the Logos); from the clear perception of Paramatman (results) the destruction of the bondage of conditioned existence. Restraint of the external is the way to liberation.

(337) What learned man, capable of discrimination between the real and the unreal, understanding the supreme object according to the conclusions of the sruti, and aspiring for liberation, would, like a child, rest in the unreal, the cause of his own fall?

(338) There is no mokshha for him who is attached to body and the rest; in the liberated there is no notion of the body and the rest being the ego. The sleeping man is not awake, and the man awake is not asleep-different attributes inhering in each (condition).

(339) He is liberated, who, having (by spiritual intelligence) perceived the Logos within and without, in moveable and immoveable (things), realizing it as the basis of the ego and abandoning all upadhis, remains as the all-pervading, indestructible Logos.

(340) There is no other means for the removal of bondage than the realization of the nature of the Logos. When objects of sense are not pursued, the state of being of the Logos is attained through unremitting devotion to it.

(341) How can the non-pursuit of objects of sense which can only with effort be accomplished by the wise, who know the truth, ceaselessly devoted to the Logos, aspiring for eternal bliss, and who have renounced all objects of dharma (customary observances) and Karma (religious rites and ceremonies), be possible to one who regards the body as the self, whose mind is engaged in the pursuit of external objects, and who performs all actions connected with them?

(342) For the attainment (of the state of) the Logos by the bhikshhu 1 , engaged in the study of philosophy, samadhi is enjoined by the Sruti-text: “Possessed of control over external organs and mind”, and so forth.2

1 One in the fourth stage or asrama of life, a mendicant.

2 From the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad. (See supra, sloka 20 et seq.).

(343) Even the wise are not able at once to cause the destruction of egoism which has become strong by growth. Except in those who are fixed in nirvikalpa-samadhi, vasana (creates) many births.

(344) Vikshhepa-sakti, binding a man to the delusive idea of self through the power of avaraSa-sakti,1 carries him (into embodied existence) by its qualities.

1 Avarana-sakti is the power that makes one thing appear as another. Vide sloka 115.

(345) Until the avaraSa-sakti ceases completely, the conquest of the vikshhepa -sakti is impossible. From its inherent nature the former is destroyed in the self when subject and object are distinguished, as (one distinguishes) milk and water.

(346) When there is a complete cessation of the (activity of) the vikshhepa -sakti in regard to the unreal, then without doubt or impediment arises perfect discrimination, born of clear perception, dividing the real and unreal principles, cutting asunder the bond of delusion produced by maya, for one emancipated from that there is no more changeful existence.

(347) The fire of the knowledge of the oneness (of Brahman) without limitation, burns down completely the forest of avidya; where then is the seed of changeful existence of him who has completely attained the state of oneness?

(348) By the thorough realization of the (one) substance avaraSa-sakti ceases. The destruction of false knowledge is the cessation of the pain (arising from) the vikshhepa-sakti. (348)

(349) By the perception of the true character of the rope these three are seen. 1 Therefore by the wise the essential substance is to be known for the sake of liberation from bondage.

1 The power that envelopes the rope as the serpent, the mental perturbation caused thereby, and the erroneous knowledge that the rope is the serpent, are, all three of them, seen to disappear when it is perceived that the rope is the rope and not the serpent.

(350) Buddhi in conjunction with consciousness-similar to the union of the iron and fire-manifests itself as the faculties of sensation. The effects of this (manifestation) are the three (mentioned above); wherefore what is perceived in error, in dream, and in desire, is false.