Vivekachudamani 34 Bondage to Freedom Through Viveka - By Swami Tattwamayananda

Living a life of pleasures in this world is not the ultimate goal of human life. A higher transcendental value should guide us.Divine discontent is the feeling of incompleteness or imperfection in life that any cultured, evolved, human being feels. Great personalities such as Buddha sought higher meaning of life. Without a transcendental outlook, this is not possible.The 147th verse answers the question: “How is this bondage sustained?” with a description of the tree of samsara.147th verse: “Ine the tree of samsara, our ignorance of our true nature is the seed. The idea that we are the body is the shoot, which becomes a tender sprout. Our actions to go after desires are represented by water. The body is represented by the trunk. The senses are the branches. Sense objects are flowers. Suffering from different actions is represented by the fruits. Our experience in the world is represented by the bird.”The 149th verse answers the 4th question from the student: “How do we come out of bondage?”149th verse: “This bondage cannot be destroyed by any means other than Viveka – the discrimination between what is real and what is unreal. This Viveka is compared to a sword that cuts the chains of bondage. Weapons, fire, water, cannot destroy this bondage.”Viveka is higher wisdom that helps us understand that wealth, power and life itself is not eternal. With this wisdom, we can discriminate between the transient and the eternal. The benefit of this wisdom is that we can observe our own life as a witness, as if we are seeing a drama. The ups and downs of life won’t affect us.When we objectify our anger, anxiety and unhappiness, we don’t identify with them and, therefore, they don’t affect us.150th verse: “What comes to our rescue are the teachings of the sages. Our mind should be purified by the thoughts and teachings of the great sages who have laid out the road for us to follow. The proper adherence to our sacred duty comes from dedicated study and adherence of the teachings of these sages, which has been passed down by the Guru-Shishya Parampara.”Without mental purity, we cannot understand the subtle, higher truth. Per Vedanta, the method to purify the mind is Sadhana Chatushtaya Sampatti. We have to have the right sense of priorities.First, we must use our discerning wisdom to determine what is real and what is unreal. Second, we must hold on to what is real and disregard what is unreal. Third is Śamādi ṣatka Sampatti. It lists six traits: Sama, Dama, Uparati, Titiksa, Shraddha, Samadhana. Fourth is Mumukṣutvam, a strong desire for spiritual liberation.Mind should control the senses and not the other way around. Shankaracharya uses examples from the animal kingdom to explain how one reaches destruction when guided by the senses - Deer (sense of hearing), Elephant (sense of touch). Moth (sense of seeing), Fish (sense of taste), Bee (sense of smell). Each of these creatures reaches death as they are guided by one of their senses. What to speak of humans who have five senses active all the time.When we have Viveka, the higher wisdom, we develop the ability to restrain the senses. The difference between a wise and unwise person is the following: suppose both are in the market and the senses develop a desire to buy something. The higher wisdom in the wise person reminds him that he may have no need for the item he is considering buying.151st verse: “A lake has pure water underneath but is covered by moss, grass and leaves at the top. The pure water is hidden. Similarly, our true nature stays hidden by five sheaths. The five sheaths are: Anamaya Kosha, Pranamaya Kosha, Manomaya Kosha, Vijnanamaya Kosha and Anandamaya Kosha.”Anamaya Kosha is the grossest and represents our physical being. Anandamaya Kosha is the most subtle.