The Mahabharata provides the simplest, most graphic and most detailed introduction to Hindu thought, culture, religion and philosophy and consequently it is often referred to as a compendium of understanding on the subtleties of Hindu Dharma. The text SanatsujAtIyaM is a mini-encyclopaedia on Dharma.
this text occurs in the Udyoga-parva, wherein all the negotiations between the Pandavas and the Kauravas take place through messengers and ambassadors. King Dhritarashtra has just sent his own personal messenger Sanjaya to the Pandava camp to find out whether they really want war or they would agree to some terms. Sanjaya comes back during an evening, with the answer that they would, as a minimum, be satisfied with five villages for their ownership. But this answer he plans to reveal only in the court the next morning. Dhritarashtra is curious, impatient and excited, to know the answer. For he is afraid, very rightly, that once the war starts, all his hundred sons will be wiped out, more because of the sinful weight of the atrocities they had been committing on the Pandavas rather than the might of the Pandavas.
So that night he calls Vidhura, his younger brother – born of a lower caste woman and so not eligible to the throne, but acclaimed by all as the wisest man on Earth coupled with an erudite scholarship – to tell him all about justice, morals, fairplay and politics. Vidhura waxes eloquent on these matters and this portion of the Mahabharata is called Vidhura-nIti, which is usually studied also as an independent work on political science and ethics. At the end of it, Vidhura concludes by saying that these do not constitute an end in themselves. The ultimate for man is not material greatness but it is the total release from the divine cycle of births and deaths and this is called Immortality (amRRitatvaM).
The word ‘amRRitatvaM’ catches the attention of the King. He wants to know more from Vidhura about this ‘Immortality’ that he is referring to. While the war is round the corner the King is frantically fearful of its possible consequences and so he is ready to catch hold of any straw which smacks of ‘absence of death’. Ignorant of the spiritual content of the words of Vidhura, he thinks ‘Immortality’ is exactly what he wants for his sons!
But Vidhura refuses to oblige; he tells the King that having been born of a Sudra woman, he (Vidhura) is not fit to teach the Kshatriya King any subject of Spirituality. So by his yogic powers he calls the divine sage Sanat-sujAta from the higher worlds, to teach Dhritarashtra about Immortality and the Ultimate Reality. Sanat-sujata arrives, and, in four chapters, of around 130 verses, gives a gist of what Spirituality is. Dhritarashtra is enraptured and keeps asking question after question. The whole night is spent in this interaction between the earthly King who is full of tamas and the divine sage who is full of sattva. The SanatsujAtiya thus turns out to be a beautiful synthesis of the entire world of Vedanta ShAstra, taught by the most authentic person.
The first question that Dhritarashtra asks of Sanatsujata is:
ete bAlAn-mRtyave prApayanti dhIrastu dhairyena taranti mRtyuM // (Sanatsu I – 11)
What is this Immortality that I am hearing about?
Is it possible to avoid death?
Sanat-sujata, without beating about the bush, goes straight into the subject and begins his discourse with a bang. “PramAda is death”, says he, “living without PramAda is Immortality”.
PramAdam vai mRRityum-ahaM bravImi. sadApramAdaM amRRitatvaM bravImi
What is this pramAda, which Sanatsujata introduces so suddenly? ‘pramAda’ comes from the root verb ‘mad’ to be intoxicated, to be drunk. ‘PramAda’ means therefore intoxication, carelessness, negligence of duties. Shankara in his commentary, elaborates it:
Man’s natural state is divine. Any slipping from that divine status is a default, slip, negligence, pramAda. From that Brahman-consciousness, which is the natural state of man, if he slips, that becomes the seed and cause for all knowledge of falsity, ignorance of the Self within. This is Death, for it becomes the further cause for future births and consequent deaths and therefore a total chaos.
prachutiH svAbhAvika-brahma-bhAvAt tam pramAdaM mithyA-jnAnasyApi kAraNaM AtmA-anavadhAraNaM AtmAjnAnaM mRRityuM janana-maraNAdi sarvAnartha-bIjaM ahaM bravImi.
If one is always in a state of the opposite of pramAda, that is, stabilised in the state of one’s natural divinity, that is Immortality:
sadA apramAdaM svAbhAvika-svarUpeNa avasthAnaM amRRitatvaM bravImi
Immortality in Hinduism is not in any sense a continuance in time. Time or Eternity is an out-of-place concept in the Absoluteness of Vedanta. Immortality means coming into its own of the Self. Very often in a Vedic passage the words ‘we have become immortal’ or ‘this would make you immortal’ would occur. This does not mean that they have transcended physical death. Naive translations of such Vedic passages without an understanding of the full meaning and significance in relation to the total philosophy involved, have given rise, to misconceptions about Hinduism that it promises ‘immortality’ through its mumbo-jumbo of mantras!
If Realisation of one’s true status is Immortality, then surely Ignorance is bondage and enlightenment is release. The scriptures also say: Having known that one reaches beyond Death; there is no other path for release:
tameva viditvA ati-mRRityum-eti,
na anyaH panthA vidyate ayanAya – SvetAshvatara U. III – 8.
If so, and if that is all there is to it, shall we not have to do our duties and actions? Not so. A jnAni does not have to do action. He delights in the Self and he is fully satisfied with the Self. For him there is no action:
yastvAtmaratir-eva syAt Atma-tRRiptascha mAnavaH /
Atmanyeva ca santushhTaH tasya kAryaM na vidyate // B.G. III – 17
Then who has to do the works? Only an unenlightened person, only a seeker. That is why the Lord says that he has prescribed two distinct ways: that of jnAna yoga for the evolved ones and karma yoga for the practitioners.
But, even for the latter kind, namely, the seekers and those who are involved in worldly actions, would not the maxim that karma (action) always leads to bondage apply? No, not if the works are done with dedication – IshvarArpaNa, is the word Shankara uses.
But why at all have they to be involved with works or action or karma? The answer comes with the same emphasis throughout the scriptures:
*sattva-shuddyarthaM*.
That is, the mind has to be purified and so works have to be done, and done with dedication, dedication to the Lord, and without an egocentric desire or attachment to the fruits thereof. They should be done just by the senses and the body, with a complete absence of attachment or feeling of proprietorship, for the purpose of purifying the lower self. This is the considered opinion of the Lord Himself as he winds up in the eighteen th chapter of the Gita:
Acts of sacrifice, giving and askesis are purifiers of the wise, so they have certainly to be donebut without hankering for their fruits:
Yajno dAnaM tapashchaiva pAvanAni manIshhiNAM /
etAnyapi tu karmANi sangam tyaktvA phalAni ca /
kartavyAnIti me pArtha nishcitaM matam-uttamaM // B.G. XVIII – 5, 6.
GEMS FROM THE OCEAN OF HINDU THOUGHT VISION & PRACTICE
Beach 2: First steps in the Ascent to the Divine
Wave 6: An Overnight Capsule of Dharma ( Part II)
Sanatsujata now anatomises how pramAda can be considered as death.
abhidhyA vai prathamaM hanti chainaM kAma-krodhau gRhya chainaM tu pashchAt /
Meaning, First the whole thing starts with abhidhyA, that is, contemplation on sense objects. That kills you first. Then Desire and anger take hold of you. These take you, who are now a puppet in their hands, down the alley of Death. But a self-composed man (*dhIraH*) transcends death by his courage and composure. The word dhIraH is a very important word in scriptural literature, pregnant with meaning. Ordinarily it means just ‘a brave soul’. But the etymological derivation gives: *dhiyaM Irayati iti dhIraH* The verb Irayati means: agitates, excites, confirms. The intelligence is convinced and confirmed about the real Truth and this Truth Shankara says is the oneness of JIvAtmA and ParamAtmA. Therefore a dhIra is neutral and unattached to all duals: pleasure and pain, favour and disfavour, cold and heat, blame and praise, profit and loss, victory and defeat, happiness and suffering, joy and sorrow, friend and foe, success and failure, good and bad, likes and dislikes, honour and humiliation. Refer also to the characterisation of dhIra that the poet gives in two immortal lines in his poem Kumara-sambhavam:
VikAra-hetau sati vikriyante
yeShAM na chetAmsi ta eva dhirAH.
‘Those whose minds are not perturbed even in the presence of causes for such agitation, excitement or distraction – only they, are the dhIras’!
Blessed are these brave souls! They see what is within! The meaning of the word dhIra given will be confirmed if we note that the only three times that Krishna uses the word in the Gita he uses them only in this connection!:
dehino’smin yathA dehe kaumAram yauvanam jarA /tathA dehAntaraH prAptiH dhIras-tatra na muhyati // 2-13 As the soul passes physically through childhood, youth and old age, so also it passes on to another body; this does not blind and disturb a dhIra.
yaM hi na vyathayantyete puruShaM puruSharShabha / sama-dukha-sukhaM dhIraM so’mRtatvAya kalpate // 2-15 The man whom these (material touches) do not trouble or pain, that dhIra, who is equanimous in pleasure and suffering, is the one who is ear-marked for immortality.
Note that Sanatsujata is also talking of dhIra in answer to the King’s question as to who attains immortality! While talking of the great man who transcends the three guNas, in the fourteenth chapter of the Gita, the Lord also uses the epithet dhIra for him “who regards happiness and suffering alike, gold, mud and stone equanimously, to whom the lovely and the unlovely, praise and blame, honour and insult, are equal things” :
sama-dukha-sukhaH svasthaH sama-loShTa-kAmchanaH / tulya-priya-apriyo dhIraH tulya-nindA-tma-samstutiH //(14-24).
The Kathopanishad also uses the word dhIra in the same connotation and in the same context with reference to Immortality!. “The Self-Existent Lord made the senses turn outward; accordingly man looks towards what is outside and sees not what is within. It is the rare dhIra who, longing for immortality, shuts his eyes to what is without and beholds the Self within”:
parAm-ci khAni vyatRNat svayambhUH tasmAt parAng pashyati nAntarAtman / kaschit dhIraH pratyagAtmAnaM aikShat AvRtta-cakSWhur-amRtatvam-icchan // (Kathopanishad: II – 1 – 1)
Incidentally, the verb that the Upanishad uses for ‘made’ in “made the senses turn outward” is *vyatRNat* which means also ‘punished’ thus giving a beautiful meaning that the senses were ‘punished’ not to be able to look inward. One is also reminded of the words of curse in the Old Testament cast by God on Adam and Eve.
‘Thou art That’ as anAdi-yoga.
Dhritarashtra now and then intercepts the discourse and asks very interesting questions. One of the earliest questions he asks is: Who is it that directs this Soul, what is it that it achieves by so doing? The answer comes from the highest spiritual point of view. In Hinduism a question has sometimes more than one answer depending upon from which level of evolution you are talking or to which level you are answering. The simple answer to this question of Dhritarashtra could have been that the paramAtmA who is the indweller of all, directs each soul in its ways and the purpose is to take the soul upwards in evolution – this is the answer which will be understood by the neophyte. But Sanatsujata prefers not to compromise on such fundamental issues. He replies: “Default will arise, we will be making a Himalayan blunder, if we make a distinction between the Supreme reality and the individual soul; everything happens by what may be called anAdi-yoga. The Sanskrit word ‘Adi’ means, original, the source, oldest. The word anAdi means that which has no source, is the most original. So anAdi-yoga means the yoga or technique that has been in vogue from time immemorial. This anAdi-yoga therefore refers to the composite existence of PrakRti and PuruSha from the infinite past. The Gita uses the same word anAdi in reference to PuruSha and prakRti. (B.G. 13-20/21).
The concept that one should not distinguish between the individual soul and the Supreme Reality is an echo from the Taittiriyopanishad. The theme there is: Brahman is without multiplicity; even the smallest difference between Brahman and JIva is not to be accepted.
yadA hyevaiSha etasmin adRshye anAtmye anirukte anilayane abhayaM pratiShTAM vindate / atha so bhayam gato bhavati / yadA hyevaiSha etasmin udaramantaraM kurute / atha tasya bhayaM bhavati / tattveva bhayam viduSho-manvAnasya / Taittiriya U. II – 7
‘The individual soul becomes fearless only when it obtains firm and peaceful ground in that invisible, selfless, undefined, nameless, supportless Reality; whenever it assumes the tiniest difference in that state of identity, then it has fear. That is why even a wise man has fear when he is not reflective’.
The Kathopanishad says: (II – 1 – 10)
yadeva iha tad-amutra / yad-amutra tad-anviha /mRtyos-sa mRtyum-Apnoti ya iha nAneva pashyati //
What is within us is also without. What is without is also within. He who sees difference between what is within and what is without goes evermore from death to death.
Sanatkumara himself tells Narada in Chandogya Upanishad (and note that there is the same connotation with Immortality here): (Ch.U.VII – 24 – 1)
yatra nAnyat pashyati nAnyat shRNoti nAnyad-vijAnAti sa bhUmA / atha yatra anyat pashyati anyad-shRNoti anyad-vijAnAti tad-alpaM /yo vai bhUmA tad-amRtaM / atha yad-alpaM tan-martyaM //
Where one sees nothing else, hears nothing else, cognises nothing else, that is Infinite. Where one sees another, hears another, cognises another, that is finite. That which is infinite is immortal That which is finite is mortal.
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Beach 2: First steps in the Ascent to the Divine
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Does Dharma compensate for adharma?
Another question of Dhritarashtra is: Do dharma and adharma cancel each other? Does one destroy the other in the life of an individual? The answer is important for the understanding of Hinduism. No, Dharma and adharma do not cancel each other in the case of an individual who performs actions without detachment. Whatever puNya-karma one does, one reaps the fruits of that puNya and whatever pApa-karma that one does one reaps the consequences of them also. The two coexist.
[Note by VK: In the context of modern practice, it is significant to note that when ill-gotten riches find their way to the Hundi of the Lord of Tirupati, probably in the expectation that the ills of the sources of the riches will be washed off, Sanatsujata tells us that you may get puNya for your donation to Tirupati but your sins in acquiring those riches would still have to be accounted for in toto!]
It is not as if you compensate for your sins by doing good. The compensation is only in terms of vAsanA and not in terms of the fruits of your actions. That is why in the Gita (Ch.9 -21) the Lord says: Ascending to the heavenly worlds by their puNya-karmas they enjoy in the heavens the divine feasts of the gods; having enjoyed in paradise larger facilities, the reward of their good deeds exhausted, they return to mortal existence (to pursue their path on the ladder of evolution, either upwards or downwards axcxcording to their vAsanAs). Coming back to human existence is necessary here; for, animal existences, for instance, are only a passing phase in the journey of the soul. Man’s body is precious. It has the highest evolutionary value because of unique brain and spinal centres. Only man can grasp the loftiest aspects of divinity and make efforts to rise in the ladder of evolution. Exceptions are rare.
Vedas and Rituals.
Does study of the Vedas erase sins or not? The answer is No. The sins that one commits have to be atoned for and consequences experienced. The study of the Vedas will only point the way to salvation. So the next question arises. Then why Vedas? Because they are the ones which show you the right way. Man has the need to be released from the apparently eternal cycle of deaths and births. The need for Moksha is taught by the Vedas. They tell you the right attitude to rituals. The rituals are for the purification of the mind. Unless the mind is purified even the teaching of the Vedas would not take you far. What is the value of rituals? “What is the significance of pure tapas?” is the next question. The tapas, -- askesis, that is – itself has to be faaultless. What are the faults or defects in doing tapas, or penance? The answer comes very elaborately.
Thirty-one steps
In the style of all ancient religious and spiritual literature of the orient, Sanatsujata classifies the faults in doing rituals, tapas or penance in a systematic way, which gives tremendous insights into what Hinduism actually wants from you in terms of your daily mental attitudes and training. These are steps which are not necessarily sequenced. The teacher here lists twelve defects to be avoided, seven pitfalls of the human mind to be warned against and twelve positive virtues to be cultivated in earnest.
The twelve defects which have always to be avoided are:
Wrath, lust, greed, delusion, desire to know about material happiness, non-compassion, jealousy, unashamedness, sorrow, desire, envy and disgust.
Human failings which are to be condemned ever are:
Sensual pleasure-seeking, being immersed in trivialities, regretting after giving, miserliness, feeling of weakness, gloating over one’s own lineage, and hate or distrust for women.
The twelve positive virtues are:
Knowledge, Truth, Self-control, scholarship, absence of intolerance, shamefulness for the vices, patience, absence of jealousy, sacrificial ritual, giving, courage and calmness.
Vedas versus Knowledge.
The question is now raised. What is the result of mastery of the vedas? The answer is scholarly. Truth is One. That is all what the Vedas are supposed to reveal. The root word ‘vid’ from which the word Veda is derived, has several connotations: to be, to exist, to know, to be conscious of, to enquire, to gain. The One that exists is the the Ultimate Supreme Consciousness. The thing to know is that One without a second. That has to be enquired into. And by that enquiry you reach the highest gain, namely Moksha. This is all there is to know from the entire Vedas. Instead of learning this single lesson from the Vedas one keeps on going round and round the truth. Thus the Vedas became a vast ocean of words. Truth does not need so much scholarship. Those who possess scholarship of the Vedas are called Brahmins. But the real Brahmins are those who are firmly established in that One Truth.
There is no single knower of all the Vedas. By knowing the Vedas one does not know what is to be known. The knower of the Vedas knows only what the Vedas say; but the knower of the Truth is different. By studying the Vedas one gets to acquire knowledge but neither these knowers nor the Vedas themselves know the Reality:
Yo veda vedAn sa ca veda vedyaM na tam vidur-veda-vido na vedAH (Sanatsu: II – 43).
Even then, it is the Vedas which point to that Reality for the knower of the vedas to become the knower of Brahman. The Vedas cannot make you the knower of Brahman. Let us not confuse understanding with a larger vocabulary. Like the branches of a tree which help to indicate the direction in which to look for the archlike streak of the moon two days after new moon, the Vedas only show you the way. Only when your conviction of a truth is not just in your brain but also in your Being can you vouch for its validity.
Important note: There are four significant shlokas (II – 41 to 44) in this context in Sanatsujatiyam, which should be read and enjoyed in the original, along with Shankara’s commentary. Go to Four Gems.
Why is knowing the Vedas not knowledge?
This eloquent testimony against the inability of the vedas to take you across the ocean of samsAra comes from no less a person than the foremost brahmin, knower of Brahman, first progeny from the mind of Creator BrahmA and one of four such sons of BrahmA who had their spiritual insight by a direct inspiration fm the Dakshinamurti form of Lord Shiva, the form itself being a manifestation for this very purpose of giving, not only knowledge of Brahman, but the state of being Brahman. So much is talked about the inability of the vedas expressing themselves about Brahman, because, the very nature of Brahman is an abstraction.
Abstraction is a concept which we very often meet with in Science, particularly in the field of Mathematics. But the abstraction of Mathematics and that of Vedanta have a distinct difference between themselves which put them totally apart. The abstraction of Mathematics – like Infinity for instance –can be put in precise words and so, can be communicated not only effectively but by exact language and symbolism. Not so in Vedanta. The abstraction which leads to Brahman can never be put into precise language – that is the sorry predicament of the Vedas themselves, as can be seen from such statements as “From which all speech retreats; not having reached it (even) by the mind”:
Yato vAco nivartante / aprApya manasA saha // (Taittiriya U.)
To know that such is the case is itself right knowledge, that paves the way for an intuitionistic experience of the Supreme reality that is Brahman.
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Six-fold gateways to Knowledge
Sanatsujata does not hesitate to soar high in terms of jargon and technicality, even though he knows his student-listener at the time is Dhritarashtra, who is a personification of tamas, ignorance and stupidity. But at the same time he does not also shy from hitting the rock bottom of naivity both in his concepts and in his language. When talking of the *ShrI*, wealth, of Brahman – that is, the enriched pleasure of living in Brahman –Sanatsujata mentions six elementary virtues as the most fundamental. These are:
*satya - Arjava – hrIH – dama – shauca –vidyA *
· Truth
· Straightforwardness
· Sense of doing shame in doing wrong
· Control of senses
· Purity
· Education.
Here Truth includes not only truth-speaking, but in a broader sense, all the allied virtues like love, equity, justice, freedom, modesty, loyalty, gratitude, aesthetics, and appreciation of beauty and nature. Straightforwardness is non-crookedness. It is said of the incarnation of Rama, among the many virtues he had, one unusual virtue was that he was *pUrva-bhAshhI* -- meaning that he is so straightforward that he does not wait for you to probe him with questions to know about him. You ask a simple question about his identity and straight comes the answer that he is so and so, he is the son of Dasaratha, sent away to the forest by his father and mother, so that Bharata his brother may rule the kingdom and so on he continues without any inhibition, feeling of remorse or guilt. In stating the facts and in introducing oneself in the most straightforward fashion nobody, perhaps in the entire scriptural literature or in history, can beat the Rama of Valmiki! That is Arjavam, straightforwardness.
Sense of Recoil from adharma.
The next virtue, namely, *hrIH* -- a weak translation of which is ‘humility’ – is actually ‘the sense of shame when doing adharma’ (= *akArya-karaNe lajjA*, says Shankara). The central problem in the morals of modern times is the absence of any sense of shame while going against the accepted norms of morality. The ancient Tamil work ‘Tiruk-kuRaL’ puts this in a succinct way by saying “ *nANudaimai* (meaning, having a sense of shame) is what distinguishes man from animals. It is alright in this new millenium to question the norms of a society that shaped itself by the values of the earlier millenium, but in all practice the sense of shame in doing wrong was the one sure insulation the previous generations had against a degeneration of morality. Without this virtue one goes down, by succumbing to temptations to do wrong. In fact in the modern days of fear of teenagers getting addicted to drugs, the one virtue that should be inculcated in them even as children is *hrIH*. Even if this means swinging the pendulum back towards a conformist approach our civilisation ought probably to prefer having this swing.
Sanat-sujAta, one of the earliest of creations in this kalpa (= cosmic day) of BrahmA seems to have seen it all. The other three, dama (control of senses), shauca (purity, both external and internal) and vidyA (education and knowledge) do not need any elaboration. These six, SanatsujAta says, are the gateways to gaining for oneself the wealth of the supreme knowledge of Brahman and being in Brahman.
An unusual parallel
A litle digression is worthwhile here. SanatsujAta has listed the six most fundamental virtues that any seeker should have, before even embarking on the spiritual path upward. In the same Mahabharata, there is another context occurring very much earlier in the chronology of events, which lists for us the six most fundamental evils one should avoid. The scene is in Sabha parva, where Yudhishtira has just been crowned the prince of Indraprastha. The divine roving sage Narada appears on the scene and in his blessings to the newly crowned prince, gives pieces of advice in the form of some rhetorical questions. One of these questions is whether as a king and adminstrator he has avoided certain six evils. Narada lists them for Yudhishtira. It is the considered opinion of Narada and one would agree with him that without avoiding these six evils in toto no one can aspire for a position of leadership and greatness. It is interesting to contrast them with the string of six virtues that Sanatsujata lists for Dhritarashtra. And it is also remarkable to note that to Dhritarashtra, the symbol of blindness and ignorance, virtues are listed which are to be emulated and to Yudhishtira, the model of virtue and dharma, evils are listed to be avoided. This is one small sample of how through the Mahabharata Vyasa attempts to guide and shape the masses.
Six Warnings to leadership.
Throughout the religious and philosophical literature we find a standard list of six evils that one should avoid. These are desire and lust, anger, greed, delusion and confusion, pride and arrogance, and envy
(* kAma-krodha-lobha-moha-mada-mAtsarya).
One would expect that Narada also would refer to something like this, because Hindu literature is replete with repetitions of emphasis on the necessity to avoid these six evils. But Narada knows whom he is talking to; it is to Yudhishtira, the paragon of virtue. To tell Yudhishtira that he should avoid desire and lust, envy and greed, etc. is to tell a triviality. It is interesting therefore that Narada focusses on a diferent set of six evils, which he, as a king, should guard against. Coming from Narada to Yudhishtira, this list gains importance even though it looks innocuous. Here is the list of these six evils:
· Sleep
· Indolence
· Fear
· Anger
· Softness
· Procrastination
*nidrA – Alasya – bhaya – krodha –mArdavaM – dIrgha-sUtratA*
No aspirant to greatness can ever fall into any of these habit-forming evils. Modern books on development of personality, management abilities, management for dummies (!), how to become rich and great and so on, have different ways of emphasiing such methods of self-improvement. But Narada’s is a warning to all political leaders, scientific workers, aministrators, social reformers and any one who aspires to rise on the lader of greatness. Every one such complains about lack of time to do his job but one’s time-organization comes not a little from the proper organization of how much one sleeps and when. Sleep is one of the greatest obstacles to greatness. Note that the elementary avoidance of anger appears in Narada’s list as well as in the Hindu traditional list of six fundamental ev ils in human conduct. This is because it is so difficult to control. Even Yudhishtira has to be told about it at the beginning of his princely career.
Fearlessness
Indolence and Fear are understandably in Narada’s list. Fearlessness is a great virtue for a would-be leader. Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of non-violence who marked out the path for India’s liberation from Imperialdom in the three decades prior to independence, was able to bring to the Indian masses the quality of fearlessness, more than anything else, which alone led them on to that great event of attainment of Swaraj. Before his time they were afraid of almost everything; of the Government, of the police, of the caste system, of the rules of a tradition-bound society, of the westerner, of beaurocracy, of prison and most of all, of violence. That you can resist and fight all these non-violently was his teaching and in order to make the whole thing work he implanted into their minds the virtue of fearlessness by his own acts of self-sacrifice. It was he who shook up their spineless nature that arose out of fear of muscle power and money power coupled with fear from superstitious traditions and religious prejudice. Narada includes fear in his list of evils that Yudhishtira and similar administrators and leaders of men should avoid.
Promptness
The last item on this list is procrastination about which in modern times we are surely familiar since it is one of the much-felt evils of politics and an unwilling bureaucracy. Though the context is Yudhishtira and his kingly duties, the avoidance of these six evils applies to all alike, particularly in the formative periods of schooling and growing. It appears that between Sanatsujata and Narada, they have epitomised entire books and codes on how to become great and immortal, by listing between themselves, the six fundamental positives and the six fundamental negatives.
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Beach 2: First steps in the Ascent to the Divine
Wave 6: An Overnight Capsule of Dharma ( Part V)
[Note: Please recall my style of writing Sanskrit verses: If Sanskrit is unfamiliar to you, read only the English text in the order in which it is presented; it will make sense].
Let us now continue with Sanatsujata’s delineation of the Vedas as that which indicates Brahman as the supreme knowledge to seek, though just the knowledge of the Vedas is not direct knowledge of Brahman. And he who understands this as such is the *brAhmaNa*. He becomes the knower of Brahman. This ‘brAhmaNa-hood’ is the result of standing firm to the Truth and does not occur if one is swayed by senses and sense-objects.
In writing his commentary at this point, Shankara quotes a verse:
vishhayAsh-cendriyANy-eva deho’hamkAra eva ca /
bAhyA AbhyantarA ghorAH shatravo yoginaH smRtAH //
which means: The sense-objects, the senses, the body as well as the ego are all dreadful enemies, external and internal, of a yogi. Therefore,
nAsya paryeshhaNaM gacchet pratyarthishhu kadAcana /
avicinvan-nimaM vede tataH pashyati taM prabhuM // II – 46.
na gacchet kadAcana : Do not go, ever
paryeshhaNaM (= paritaH eshhaNaM) : searching all around
pratyarthishhu : after the obstacles (i.e., after the body, the senses and sense-objects).
asya : to this Atman.
avicinvan : Not going after (this object-searching)
tataH : thereafter
pashyati : one sees
tam prabhuM : that Supreme Lord
vede : in the (MahAvAkyas of the) Vedas
imaM : (as) this Inner Self
Shankara, in his commentary, not only gives the above meaning to this verse from the text, but gives an alternate meaning also:
na gacchet kadAcana : Do not go, ever
paryeshhaNaM (= paritaH eshhaNaM) : searching all around
asya : for this Atman
pratyarthishhu : in the obstacles (i.e., in the body, the senses and sense-objects).
(That is, do not take the dharmas of the BMI as belonging to the Self).
avicinvan : Not taking the dharmas of the BMI as those of the Self
tataH :thereafter
taM prabhuM : ( looking) for the very Witness of all of them, namely, the Supreme Lord
pashyati : one sees
vede : through the (MahAvAkyas of the) Vedas
imaM : this Inner Self ( itself as that Supreme).
tUshhNIM bhUta upAsIta na cecchen manasA api /
abhyAvarteta brahma asmai bahv-anantaram-ApnuyAt // (II – 47)
tUshhNIM bhUtaH : (Having renounced all sensory attractions and actions – in other words, having renounced all that is non-Self) remaining by oneself,
upAsIta : propitiate (the world of Self alone) ;
na ca icchet : let there be no desire (for the sense-objects)
manasA api : even by the mind.
Asmai : To such a person
Brahma : the Unknown
abhyAvarteta : comes back, presents itself
anantaram : after which
bahu : the Infinite that is beyond Ignorance; in other words, the brahman itself
ApnuyAt : is realised
In this connection, Shankara quotes the Upanishadic statement: (Katha U.I-ii-23 2nd part)
Yamevaishha vRNute tena labhyaH tasyaishha AtmA vivRNute tanUM svAM
Meaning: It is to be attained only by the one this one chooses.
To such a one the soul reveals its own self.
The relevant full quote from Katha Upanishad translates as follows: (translation by Sanderson Beck)
"This soul cannot be attained by instruction
nor by intellectual ability nor by much learning.
It is to be attained only by the one this one chooses.
To such a one the soul reveals its own self.
Not those who have not ceased from bad conduct,
not those who are not tranquil,
not those who are not composed,
not those who are not of a peaceful mind,
can attain this by intelligence.
The one for whom the priesthood and the nobility are as food,
and death is as a sauce, who knows where this one is?”
Such a person is the ‘Muni’, is the ‘vyAkaraNi’ (meaning the Source of everything) and is the ‘all-knower’ – says Sanatkumara at the end of the 2nd chapter of his teaching to Dhritarashtra.
