सत्याचार्यस्य गमने कदाचिन्मुक्ति दायकम् ।
काशीक्शेत्रं प्रति सह गौर्या मार्गे तु शंकरम् ॥ (अनुष्टुप्)
अंत्यवेषधरं दृष्ट्वा गच्छ गच्छेति चाब्रवीत् ।
शंकरःसोऽपि चांडलस्तं पुनः प्राह शंकरम् ॥ (अनुष्टुप्)
अन्नमयादन्नमयमथवा चैतन्यमेव चैतन्यात् ।
यतिवर दूरीकर्तुं वांछसि किं ब्रूहि गच्छ गच्छेति ॥ (आर्या वृत्त)
O great ascetic! Tell me! What is it that you want to move away by saying, ”Go, go”? Do you want the body made up of food to move away from another body made up of food? Or do you want consciousness to move away from consciousness? Do tell me.
प्रत्यग्वस्तुनि निस्तरंगसहजानंदावबोधांबुधौ
विप्रोऽयं श्वपचोऽयमित्यपि महान्कोऽयं विभेदभ्रमः ।
किं गंगांबुनि बिंबितेऽंबरमणौ चांडालवीथीपयः
पूरे वाऽंतरमस्ति कांचनघटीमृत्कुंभयोर्वाऽंबरे ॥ (शार्दूल विक्रीडित)
Answer me! While the supreme Being is reflected in every object as the sun's reflection could be seen in the placid waveless water bodies why this doubting confusion and differentiation i.e., whether one is a brahmin or an outcaste? Who is the superior one etc.? Is there any difference in the reflection of the sun in the waters of the Ganges or the water present in the street of an outcaste?
Likewise, is there any difference when the water- containers happen to be golden vessels and earthen pots?
Note: The indwelling self, which is identical with the supreme Self whose nature is bliss and pure consciousness, is the same in all creatures. As the Bhagavadgita says, “The enlightened see the same Self in the Brahmana endowed with learning and humility, the cow, the elephant, the dog and the outcaste” (5. 18).
जाग्रत्स्वप्नसुषुप्तिषु स्फुटतरा या संविदुज्जृंभते
या ब्रह्मादिपिपीलिकांततनुषु प्रोता जगत्साक्षिणी ।
सैवाहं न च दृश्यवस्त्विति दृढप्रज्ञापि यस्यास्ति चे-
च्चांडालोऽस्तु स तु द्विजोऽस्तु गुरुरित्येषा मनीषा मम ॥ 1॥
If one is convinced firmly, that he is that very Soul which manifests itself in all the conditions of sleep, wakefulness and dream, in all the objects from the great Brahma (the creator) to the tiny ant and which is also the vibrant, but invisible, witnesser of all, then as per my clear conclusion, he is the great teacher/preceptor, be he a twice-born (i.e higher castes) or an outcaste.
Note: In the waking state the physical body as well as the senses and the mind function and experience external objects. In the state of dream there are no objects and the body and senses do not function, but the mind creates objects and events and experiences them. In deep sleep, even the mind does not function. In all these three states consciousness is present. In the first two states, the presence of consciousness is obvious because of the experience of external objects and the creations of the mind respectively. It may appear as if in deep sleep there is no such experience, but it is the experience of everyone that on waking up he remembers that he slept happily and did not know anything. Remembrance is possible only of what has actually been experienced previously. It therefore follows that consciousness existed during deep sleep also and that it was because of this consciousness that happiness and ignorance were experienced. This consciousness is thus the witness of all experiences as well as the absence of experiences. This consciousness is the Self that dwells in every living being. Everything other than this consciousness is an object. The external objects are objects of experience for the sense organs. The sense organs are objects for the mind. The mind itself is an object for the consciousness or Self. Thus the self alone is the subject and everything else is an object of experience. The person who has realized that he is the Self and not the mind or the senses or the physical body is an enlightened person. Such a person is the Guru for the whole world.
ब्रह्मैवाहमिदं जगच्च सकलं चिन्मात्रविस्तारितं
सर्वं चैतदविद्यया त्रिगुणयाऽशेषं मया कल्पितम् ।
इत्थं यस्य दृढा मतिः सुखतरे नित्ये परे निर्मले
चांडालोऽस्तु स तु द्विजोऽस्तु गुरुरित्येषा मनीषा मम ॥ 2॥
I am quite convinced that he is the great Master, be he a Brahmin or an outcaste, who, dwelling on the pure and infinite Brahman thinks of himself as that very Brahman, of whose manifestation the whole Universe is, though apparently the Universe is assumed to consist of different things, due to ignorance and the three Gunas (Satva, Rajas and Tamas).
शश्वन्नश्वरमेव विश्वमखिलं निश्चित्य वाचा गुरो-
र्नित्यं ब्रह्म निरंतरं विमृशता निर्व्याजशांतात्मना ।
भूतं भावि च दुष्कृतं प्रदहता संविन्मये पावके
प्रारब्धाय समर्पितं स्ववपुरित्येषा मनीषा मम ॥ 3॥
I am fully convinced by the Preceptor's words that the entire Universe is a transitory illusion and that the human body is given to constantly meditate on the infinite and supreme Being with a serene and unquestioning mind and thus to burn in that sacred Fire the sins with which the human is born.
Note: Karma, in the sense of results of actions performed, is divided into three categories. (1) संचित कर्म — the accumulated results of actions performed in past births, (2) प्रारब्ध कर्म - those results of past actions which have given rise to the present body and (3) आगामि कर्म — the results of actions performed in the present birth. On the dawn of Self-knowledge, the first category is completely destroyed along with the third category acquired up to the time of attainment of knowledge. After the dawn of Self-knowledge, any action performed does not produce any result in the form of merit or demerit. The second category, प्रारब्ध कर्म, is not destroyed on the attainment of Self-knowledge but has to be exhausted only by being actually experienced. On the exhaustion of this category of karma, the body of the enlightened person falls and the जीवन्मुक्त becomes a विदॆहमुक्त. This is brought out in the above shloka by the statement that the enlightened person merely submits his body to the operation of प्रारब्ध कर्म.
या तिर्यङ्नरदेवताभिरहमित्यंतः स्फुटा गृह्यते
यद्भासा हृदयाक्षदेहविषया भांति स्वतोऽचेतनाः ।
तां भास्यैः पिहितार्कमंडलनिभां स्फूर्तिं सदा भावय-
न्योगी निर्वृतमानसो हि गुरुरित्येषा मनीषा मम ॥ 4॥
In my considered opinion, a Yogi is great who has clearly grasped within himself the truth and quality of the supreme Being through which all our activities are performed and whose effulgence is hidden by ignorance [of an ordinary person] even as the sun's halo is covered/hidden by the clouds.
Note: The Self or pure consciousness is what enlivens the mind, senses, etc., which are insentient, and enables them to function. Clouds owe their origin to the heat of the sun which makes the water in the oceans evaporate. The clouds become visible only because of the light of the sun behind them. The same clouds hide the sun from our view. Similarly, the body, mind, and senses, which owe their sentiency to the pure consciousness that is the Self, conceal the Self from us by making us engage ourselves in worldly pursuits all the time. The self can be realized only if the senses and mind are withdrawn from external objects.
यत्सौख्यांबुधिलेशलेशत इमे शक्रादयो निर्वृता
यच्चित्ते नितरां प्रशांतकलने लब्ध्वा मुनिर्निर्वृतः ।
यस्मिन्नित्यसुखांबुधौ गलितधीर्ब्रह्मैव न ब्रह्मविद्
यः कश्चित्स सुरेंद्रवंदितपदो नूनं मनीषा मम ॥ 5॥
I am convinced that whoever has his mind dwelling upon the Great Being who is being worshipped by Indra and other gods and is thus completely at peace with himself has not only understood Brahman but he is himself that great Brahman!
Note: The Upanishads say that the happiness experienced by all living beings, including the gods, is only a minute fraction of the supreme, infinite bliss of Brahman (Brihadaranyaka, 4.3.32, Taittiriya, 2.8). Knowing Brahman means knowing that one is Brahman and not the body-mind complex. He who attains this knowledge is Brahman itself (Mundaka, 3.2.9). Thus knowing Brahman is the same as remaining as Brahman. It should be noted that this is not the attainment of any new state. Everyone is in reality Brahman, even when he is in bondage and looks upon himself as a limited human being. Liberation is nothing but the removal of the wrong identification with the body-mind complex by the realization of his real nature as the infinite, eternal Brahman. A rope is mistaken for a snake in dim light, but when it is examined with a light it is found that there never was a snake and that there was only a rope all the time. No one would say that there was a snake previously and that it had gone away. Similarly, when a person realizes that he is not the body-mind complex, but Brahman, it follows that he was always Brahman and that only the wrong notion about himself has been removed and nothing new has emerged. Thus there is no real bondage, but the individual jIva thinks, wrongly, that he is in bondage, due to ignorance of his real nature. When this ignorance is removed as a result of shravaNa, manana, and nididhyAsana, the person becomes a जीवन्मुक्त here itself.
दासस्तेऽहं देहदृष्ट्याऽस्मि शंभो
जातस्तेंऽशो जीवदृष्ट्या त्रिदृष्टे ।
सर्वस्याऽऽत्मन्नात्मदृष्ट्या त्वमेवे-
त्येवं मे धीर्निश्चिता सर्वशास्त्रैः ॥
Oh Lord! In the form of body, I am your servant. In the form of life, O three-eyed one, I am part of yourself. In the form of soul, you are within me and in every other soul. I have arrived at this conclusion through my intellect and on the authority of the various scriptures.
॥ इति श्रीमच्छंकरभगवतः कृतौ मनीषापंचकं संपूर्णम् ॥
Thus ends the मनीषापंचकम् composed by the आदिशंकराचर्य.
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