Mumukshhu - Part 8 of 8

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But now let me not take you into that ‘high philosophy’. Whatever it be, the only objective of the right advaita-sAdhaka is the Realisation of the Atman. It is for that purpose, he keeps meditating, at the final stages of his SAdhanA, on the mahA-vAkyas. And he experiences the non-different status of JIva and Brahman, declared by the mahAvAkyas.

By that very experience he knows that the bondage is gone. And that is why the Acharya says *sva-svarUpAva-bodhena moktuM*.

‘Avabodha’ means waking up to a perception. ‘Waking up’ does not mean that ‘sleep’ is gone and then ‘waking’ happens. One wakes up instantaneously. And by that itself one knows that ‘sleep’ is gone. The same way here.

We can even say more. *sva-svarUpa-avabodhAya* , that is, only for the awakening to One’s Nature. (awakening to Spritual Wisdom). When one is in the state of ‘mumukshhu’ he desires release from bondage.

When he goes beyond and attains enlightenment, he awakens to Wisdom (*sva-svarUpa-avabodhena*) and by that very awakening he knows he has been released from bondage.

Mumukshhu - Part 7 of 8

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It is so significant that even now we can cite that as the best example of a ‘mumukShutA’ :
*ihAsane shushhyatu me sharIraM
tvag-asti mAmsAni layaM prayAntu /
aprApya bodhaM bahu-kalpa-durlabhaM
naivAsanAt kAyam-idaM chalishyati //

meaning, “Let this body dry out on this very seat; let skin, bone and flesh die. Without getting Enlightenment, even if it takes as long as a kalpa, this body shall not move from this seat” !

This is the rock-like resolve that he made before he sat under the Tree. Whatever it be, our Rishis of the Upanishads did leave everything only to discover the Ultimate Truth.

To those sAdhakas whose only goal is to discover the Ultimate Truth, the Realisation of that Light of Truth becomes the only object of attainment.
From that attainment itself they will be able to infer that the darkness of MAyA is gone.

If we look at the way such Atma-JnAnis have described their experiences, we learn that they kept on pursuing their enquiry about the Atman and suddenly the Atman did shine. That is how they say it.

They never say that some such thing as the bondage of MAyA disappeared and then there was Realisation of the Atman. Because, just as Gaudapadacharya has said (in his Mandukya-kArikA), there is nothing in reality like bondage of MAyA, nor something which shows up as release of bondage.

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Mumukshhu - Part 6 of 8

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Truth for the sake of Truth, that was their clarion call.

Theirs was not an aimless adventure of a distressed and crying mind that looks for ways to be rid of any existing despair in the hope of accepting whatever that comes.

Their spiritual march was not a disgusting prompt by the torture of the mind flow; nor did they proceed as if they were running away to a distance which may hold or open up what they know not, but which they will accept, so long as they are assured of relief from the misery of the mind flow.

On the other hand, they all started with a determination to discover that ineffable Light of the Atman that was shadowed by an unreal MAyA. Not only did they march to inquire and discover, but they urged the whole humanity to march with them on the same call!

I said they did not start with a distressed and crying mind. One who started with a distressed mind was the Buddha.

But even about him, the followers of that religion speak of him only as one who went out seeking a positive state of Enlightenment and he got that Wisdom (bodha) underneath the Bodhi Tree. And that gave him the name The Buddha.

Before he sat for meditation under that tree it appears he himself said something which has become a significant shloka in ‘Lalita-vistAra’ (A life history of the Buddha).

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Mumukshhu - Part 5 of 8

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In other words, they declared: “Whatever is the Ultimate Truth, that has to be found by an intense inquiry.

Let it be good or bad, let it be happiness or misery. The flood of Time brings events after events and the whole universe is in motion.

For all this movement there must be a base of action. And that must be something firmer than all of them.

So also in the case of the JIva that pertains to us, who are waxing and waning, something grants us a life, a consciousness and a power; what is the permanent substratum of this? Let us discover it.

With this trumpeting call the Upanishad Rishis marched on with infectious enthusiasm, confidence and courage and proceeded bravely like ‘dhIras’ towards that discovery.

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Mumukshhu - Part 4 of 8

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Between the two, namely, Release from bondage, and Realisation of the Atman, -- between these two, there is nothing that is before or after. Both are simultaneous.

In total darkness we light a match. And there is light. Darkness is gone.

Does light come first and then after some time does the darkness disappear? Are they not both simultaneous?

But note one thing. It is not that darkness goes and light comes at the same time! Light comes and at the same time darkness is gone!

This is where Vedanta is great. Its goal is to find the Light of the Self.

Keeping this as the central focus, it starts from nitya-anitya-vastu-viveka (discrimination between permanence and impermanence) and ascends gradually from one step to another.

Their objective was not the removal of misery (as was that of the Buddha), nor was it the stoppage of mind-flow that causes all misery (as was that of Patanjali); the Rishis of the Upanishads, the author of the Brahma-sUtra and the Acharya all emphasized the Realisation of Brahman as ‘the Goal’.

They prompted us to search for the Truth and go after it. Theirs was a “satya-anveshhaNaM”.

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Mumukshhu - Part 3 of 8

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Our Acharya’s subject and object in the source book, Brahma Sutra, is ‘brahma-jijnAsA’. So the anguish-cum-desire for release from all bondages is only for the Realisation of the non-difference between JivAtma and ParamAtmA – that is ‘brahma-sAkShAtkAra’ (Realisation of Brahman) -- and it is this desire that is ‘mumukShutA’.

This is clear from the shloka of Viveka Chudamani that we were discussing.

*sva-svarUpa-avabodhena* means ‘by the awareness arising from the Enlightenment as the Atman’.

It is through that awareness that one should desire to get rid of the bondage of Ignorance. But mark it!

This does not mean: “First there happens Realisation of Brahman (this is the *avabodhaM*) and then follows the release from bondage. This contradicts what has so far been said.

In other words, the so-called ‘positive’ event of Brahman-Realisation finally leads only to the ‘negatively-stated’ Release (mokshha) from bondage”. No, this is not how it should be understood.

No one who has studied Vedanta in depth or who has understood the teachings and works of the Acharya, would arrive at such a conclusion.

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Mumukshhu - Part 2 of 8

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The desire to be rid of this bondage is *moktuM icchA* (desire to be released). The anguish for the release is *mumukShutA*.

Such is the negative definition of ‘MokSha’. But what the final goal is, is also mentioned right in the middle of the shloka in a positive way: *sva-svarUpAvabodhena*.

‘avabodhaM’ means waking up. The waking up is the awakening to wisdom from the darkness of ignorance.

Wisdom about what?

About ‘sva-svarUpa’, that is, about Atman, one’s own natural true state. Instead of saying ‘ awakening to wisdom about Atman’ we better say ‘awakening to the Atman’.

The Atman itself is the wisdom, knowledge. This awakening is called also ‘Awareness’.

The self-consciousness brought about by this awakening is not different from the Atman. They are both the same.

MAyA is Ignorance; Brahman is JnAna, Knowledge. That Knowledge is the ‘sva-svarUpa-avabodhaM’.

To be relieved of all bondages is not an end in itself. A person who thinks of it as an end-in-itself, because the bondages were the cause of one’s suffering and so their end is all that is needed, is not considered as a ‘mumukShu’ by the Acharya.

He does not leave the matter like that, as Patanjali did with his yoga theory that the stoppage of all mind-flow (citta-vRtti-nirodha) is all there is to it.

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