September 19-26, 2010: Verses 8-10 (Entering the pursuit of mokṣa)

अतो विमुक्त्यै प्रयतेत विद्वान्सन्न्यस्तबाह्यार्थसुखस्पृहः सन् ।

सन्तं महान्तं समुपेत्य देशिकं तेनोपदिष्टसमाहितात्मा ॥ ८ ॥

अतः विद्वान्, सन्न्यस्त-बाह्यार्थ-सुख-स्पृहः सन्, सन्तं महान्तं देशिकं समुपेत्य, तेन उपदिष्ट-समाहितात्मा (सन्), विमुक्त्यै प्रयतेत ।

उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानं मग्नं संसारवारिधौ ।

योगारूढत्वमासाद्य सम्यग्दर्शननिष्ठया ॥ ९ ॥

सम्यग्-दर्शन-निष्ठया योग-अारूढत्वम् अासाद्य, संसार-वारिधौ मग्नं अात्मानम् अात्मना उद्धरेत् ।

सन्न्यस्य सर्वकर्माणि भवबन्धविमुक्तये ।

यत्यतां पण्डितैर्धीरैरात्माभ्यास उपस्थितैः ॥ १० ॥

भव-बन्ध-विमुक्तये सर्वकर्माणि सन्न्यस्य, अात्मा-अभ्यासे उपस्थितैः पण्डितैः यत्यताम ।

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Śrī Śaṅkarācārya begins this next section with ataḥ - 'therefore' - which connects everything that has been said so far. Because this manuṣya-janma is so difficult to attain, because mukti is what each individual really wants, and because it is only possible through self-knowledge: therefore an intelligent person should put effort towards gaining this knowledge.

How? By being a person who has lessened his dependence on external objects and people for his happiness. As long as a person is completely preoccupied with external pursuits, he will not have the time to take the pursuit of mokṣa seriously. Being relatively free from these pursuits, a person should approach a deśika or teacher, who is santa and mahān. In Muṇḍakopaniṣad this kind of teacher is described as śrotriya and brahma-niṣṭha - one who has studied within the tradition and knows the teaching methodology, and one whose principle occupation is teaching and contemplating upon self-knowledge.

In Verses 9-10, Śrī Śaṅkarācārya re-emphasizes the necessity of putting a deliberate effort in reducing external pursuits. He lifts two key phrases from Bhagavad Gītā, which shows that Bhagavad Gītā and Vivekacuḍāmaṇi have ekavākyatā - a sameness of subject matter. The first phrase is 'uddharet ātmanā ātmānam', which means that the initial decision and effort to lift oneself out of the endless cycle of saṃsāra have to be made by oneself. What is saṃsāra? A simple analysis of the cascade of events that direct our lives makes it clear:

1. Thoughts continually flow through our minds. Occasionally we identify with a thought and begin to think about it deliberately, in terms of how it could make us happy.
2. By adding value to it, the thought turns into a desire, and we begin thinking about the best way of fulfilling that desire.
3. We act upon the desire and either fulfill it, don't fulfill it, or fulfill it with unanticipated struggle. Many times, if we are obstructed from fulfilling our desires, we become angry and do things without thinking.

If we act in anger, we later feel guilty. If we fulfill our desires but compromise dharma in the process, we also feel guilty. If we are obstructed from fulfilling our desires, we feel hurt or incapable. If we succeed in fulfilling our desires, we become very happy, and this propels us to try and fulfill them again. In other words, regardless of the result of our pursuits, impressions are created in our minds, which create distractions and keep us from understanding ātma-jñāna. This is where karma-yoga comes into the picture, with which we can minimize the impact of our pursuits on our mind.

One of the effects of karma-yoga (specifically of samatva-buddhi - trying to maintain equanimity regardless of the result of our pursuits), is the subtle realization that we don't need to fulfill our desires to be happy. This realization automatically causes us to decrease the number of pursuits in our lives, which is what Śrī Śaṅkarācārya is indicating when he says "sannyasya sarva-karmāṇi". This happens when we have lived a life of karma-yoga - "yogārūḍhatvam āsādya". As a result we will have time - both physical and mental - to commit ourselves to the study of vedānta. We will be seeing an exact definition of karma-yoga as we proceed.