Vivekachudamani 7 Importance of Vairagya and Mumukshutvam - By Swami Tattwamayananda

So far, in the text, we covered the following topics: (1) Uniqueness of human life (2) Need for a higher spiritual goal (3) Four important qualities for spiritual seekerThe 28th verse describes the three stages of a seeker’s journey. First stage starts with reading of scriptures, doing karma yoga, and developing some conviction about the teachings. In the second stage, that conviction becomes part of the seeker’s emotional system. In the third stage, there is intense desire for spiritual liberation through the grace of a teacher.29th verse: “Without intensifying the sense of renunciation for worldly enjoyments (vairagya) and without an intense desire for liberation (mumukshutvam), spiritual practices such as Sama, Dama, Uparati, Titiksa, Shraddha, Samadhana the do not bear their fruit.”There have been scourges of humanity, who had intense power of concentration, but their efforts resulted in tragedies. This is because they lacked the two qualities mentioned in the 29th verse.Extreme selfish desires lead to self-destruction. Bhasmasura prayed to God to have the power to turn into ashes anyone on whom he placed his hand. He ended up using his power on himself and turned into ashes.There is another verse from one of Shankaracharya’s work that says: “Our attitude towards greed should be similar to our attitude towards something nasty such as the excreta of a crow. We should be able to see the drawbacks of excessive desire for worldly enjoyments.” We should be able to lift our consciousness above the body consciousness.30th verse: “Wherever the intensity of renunciation for worldly pleasures (vairagya) and the desire for liberation (mumukshutvam) are weak, spiritual practices are a mere appearance. They don’t have a lasting effect. They are momentary like a drop of water that quickly evaporates due to the heat in a desert. For lasting effect, intellectual conviction has to translate into our emotional system.”In the 31st and 32nd verses, Shankaracharya defines Bhakti as: “Bhakti is the earnest desire to find out our own true nature, that we are the Atman.” It refers to nidhidhyasanam, which is the spiritual discipline that allows us to deeply internalize what we read and contemplate upon.The 32nd verse also discusses how a spiritual seeker should approach a teacher. In ancient times, teachers did not earn remuneration for their teachings. Also, students came from all walks of life – kings such as Krishna to poor humble people such as Sudama. What the student brings is a strong desire to learn, humility and a sense of sanctity and sacredness towards the subject and the teacher.The teacher should be a true person of renunciation. He should not demand anything for what he teaches except things such as humility, discipline, service and Guru Dakshina (commitment from the student to preserve the shraddha of the tradition and impart the teachings to only deserving people).In the convocation address, the final instruction provided to students in the hermitages was: “You should speak and practice the truth. You should uphold dharma You should show reverence towards parents, teachers and guests.”There are two ways to know whether we are making spiritual progress: (1) We should have inner fulfillment and a sense of sanctity and sacredness (2) our inner experience becomes a blessing to those around us.