Commentary on the text of Sri Shankaracharya’s “Viveka Chudamani”
“He does not become attached through the senses to objects that give pleasure, nor does he separate himself from them. The fruits of his actions do not affect him even in the slightest degree, for he is completely intoxicated by the uninterrupted experience of the nectar of the bliss of the Atman. He who knows Brahman is the absolute ‘I,’ the supreme Lord, who has no need of special forms of meditation. This is beyond doubt.”
At the end of the text “Viveka Chudamani,” the state of the fruit, the sought-after realization, is described, regardless of whether siddhis (supernormal abilities) of control over the elements and tattvas have been attained through energy. If the mind is liberated in the natural state, then the final realization has been attained. Control over the tattvas indicates only this realization’s capacity for manifestation.
When the mind has completely dissolved into the primordial unborn radiance of the light of the “I,” it does not follow external objects and does not become attached to them. Nor does it fall into aversion, into rejection of external objects. It takes the position of absolute neutrality, when external objects are perceived as inseparable from nonduality. It is completely intoxicated by the uninterrupted experience of the nectar of the bliss of the Atman.
Obstacles on the Path and Spiritual Purity
At first, when we practice, many obstacles are encountered on the path, for example suffering from the sitting posture or other bodily suffering, suffering because worldly desires are not satisfied. If suffering arises at all on the path of spiritual practice, then one should think as follows: “Alas, how little merit I have! And yet there are those who playfully accomplish what I do with suffering. How diligent I must be in practice! Alas, in past lives I was a very careless person. Instead of performing sadhana and accumulating merit, it is evident that I squandered my past lives, lived them in vain, and therefore in this life I have to attain everything with great difficulty. In this life I certainly will not miss this chance!”
For example, what is the reason that you fall ill? It is not the weather that is to blame, but secondary causes, that is, your own karma. Because if some external factors were to blame, then absolutely everyone would fall ill, without exception. But if some people fall ill and others do not, this indicates that in the channels of this person there is the karma of illness, that is, bad karma that is now coming out, while in the channels of another person there is no such karma. If a person has merit, then he never falls ill and does not find himself in conditions conducive to illness.
Or if during your meditation tamas, obscurity, or dullness manifests, this indicates subtle karmas that are present in your channels. This means that enough impure thoughts, emotions, and actions have been accumulated. Therefore, one should diligently “polish” one’s consciousness, purifying it. No one can become liberated without purifying himself. Spiritual purity, holiness, is what precedes realization.
In religions such as Christianity, spiritual purity and holiness mainly imply observing commandments and prescriptions, as well as aspiration toward God. In yoga it is said that this is good, but it is not enough. Spiritual purity is understood almost literally as the purity of the nadis, the channels. When the channels are pure, the world around you changes. The wind flows into previously inaccessible areas of the body, and you discover new states of mind that were previously unavailable to you. Therefore, we approach spiritual purity and self-purification with the utmost thoroughness.
When we have become spiritually pure and have completely transformed from yogins of the pashu category into vira-yogins or divya, then everything happens in an entirely different way; everything becomes spiritual practice. Spiritual practice becomes a dance, ecstasy, delight, singing, play, bliss, uninterrupted joy, the play of the deity. Realization and various abilities come effortlessly. Of such saints it is said: “They are intoxicated with joy, with the experience of the bliss of the Atman.”
The Liberated Sage
“He who knows Brahman has attained the goal of life and is forever liberated, like Brahman, even while living in the body and using its abilities, just as an actor on stage is always a person, regardless of whether he wears a mask or not. When realization is attained, all false perception departs, and all ignorance is purified.”
There was the saint Maitripa, who was a disciple of Shavaripa. Before becoming his disciple, he had searched for Shavaripa for a long time. One day in southern India, in the Shriparvata forest, he finally found the teacher Shri Shavaripa. You obviously remember the story of Shavaripa, who was a great saint, a mahasiddha. Maitripa did eventually find Shavaripa in the forest. When he arrived, he saw the Guru and beside him two female disciples or companions. They looked very strange: they wore skirts made of tree bark and leaves, their hair was tangled, and in appearance they resembled fierce huntresses from a low caste, of low birth. They were holding hunting gear; nearby was fresh game that they were butchering, and they were searching for lice in the Guru’s hair.
When Maitripa came into the forest and saw Shavaripa in such company, he became doubtful and inwardly began to laugh: “Well, well, could the Guru not have found himself better company? What is he doing with these dreadful women at all?!” He did not realize that they were not women, but dakinis—the mystical power, the illusory energy of Shavaripa himself, which had manifested in this way. Yet Maitripa overcame his aversion and decided to ask Shavaripa for teaching. Shavaripa said to him: “These huntresses will give you the teaching.”
Then they set off into the forest. As they walked, one of the huntresses, seeing a wild boar, shot an arrow at it and killed it. Before Maitripa had time to recover from the shock, she sang these lines to him: “Having shot the arrow of clear understanding, I strike down the boar of ignorance. O Maitripa, taste the flesh of non-duality.”
Dakinis are usually enlightened mystical beings who at times are distinguished by fierceness and directness in their actions, and by great energy in transmitting the Dharma. But Maitripa did not understand this, since he was captive to dualistic notions. These two dakinis were called Padmalochana and Jnanalochana (“lotus eyes” and “eyes of wisdom”). Then they went farther through the forest. This journey was a way of transmitting non-dual vision to Maitripa. When a deer leapt out, the second huntress shot an arrow at the deer and sang these lines: “Having shot the arrow of supreme experience, I strike down the deer of subject-object. Taste the flesh of non-duality.”
Only after this did Maitripa receive a very powerful transmission of energy, and understanding beyond concepts awakened in him. Suddenly he understood that these two huntresses were the illusory energy of the Guru himself, which he had produced in order to teach Maitripa. He repented for having thought badly of them and took Refuge in them.
When we perceive the world not through the eyes of contemplation, we are in delusion. Maitripa was an ordinary practitioner and adhered to commonplace notions, and therefore he was unable to recognize the transcendent non-duality. But when we are continuously in contemplation, we move away from commonplace notions. Therefore a true yogin must catch himself every second with the thought: “Is my mind captive to the ordinary notions of duality, or is it in a mystical state, in a state of knowledge of God, God-directedness, presence?” When you are in true contemplation, a house is not a house, and a tree is not a tree. People are deities, mystical beings, and the world is a great mandala. Suffering is not suffering, and pleasure is not pleasure.
Indifference to the Body and Death
“A tree is indifferent to whether the place where its dead leaves fall is favorable: whether it be a river, a canal, a street, or a temple of Shiva. In the same way, the sage is not concerned with where his body, already burned in the fire of knowledge, will be cast away. The Being-Consciousness-Bliss of the Atman does not perish with the body, breath, intellect, and sense organs, to a far greater degree than a tree with its leaves, flowers, and fruits.”
Sri Aurobindo once wrote: “Those who are not will die.” Those who are not during life will die. One who has not revealed his true state, even if he appears to be alive, in reality does not yet exist. He exists only as a potential, but as a being he has not yet come into being. Only those who abide in awareness truly exist in the real sense. Those who were not during life will die at the moment of death as well, because only the inauthentic, only the temporary, is subject to death. Something authentic (the Clear Light of awareness) cannot be subjected to death.
The scriptures proclaim: “Only that which is finite and changeable can perish.” And also: “The Atman, which is established consciousness, is truth, is indestructible.”
“The sage is Brahman in the perfect bliss of non-duality; he is established in the truth that is Brahman. What significance, then, can it have where and when he casts off his body—the carrier of skin, flesh, and impurities?”
When Kabir was leaving his body, everyone expected it to happen in Benares, since everyone goes to leave the body in Benares. But he asked his disciple to take him to another city. The disciple said:
“This is impossible! Are you going to leave the body in a city that has a bad reputation? They say that everyone who leaves the body there will be reborn as donkeys, so no one tries to leave the body there; everyone tries to get away from that city.”
Kabir said:
“If I attain liberation because I leave the body in Benares, there is no merit of mine in that. But I think that if I have realized the Truth, then even if I leave the body in this city of donkeys, I will still attain liberation. I will prove that liberation can be attained even if one leaves the body in the city of donkeys.”
No matter how much his disciples tried to persuade him, he went to that city and left the body there.
When the radiance of self-born Wisdom has taken root, no practices of transference of consciousness are needed, nor are sutras, bardo, prayers, or visualizations. This is called the highest type of transference of consciousness. There is no need for knowledge of the colors of the bardo: red is the color of the world of the asuras, dull yellow is the color of the world of the pretas, dull blue is the color of the human world. This is necessary for those who have not realized the essential Mind; for them it is extremely important. But when self-born Wisdom (sahajya) is revealed, all these manifestations are absorbed, as a drop is absorbed by the ocean.
Untying the Knot of Ignorance
“Liberation, as known by the sages, in reality means the untying of the knot of ignorance in the heart.”
The knot of ignorance in the heart is ahamkara, our false notion of “I,” which is sometimes shown as localized in the region of the heart. When we untie this knot of ignorance, the inner space of awareness literally unites with the outer space. Then there are not two spaces, but only one indescribable space. Such a yogin no longer identifies himself with anything except this infinite, blissful space of awareness.
This space exists right now, and do you not think that you are now sitting in a hall rather than in this space? You are right now in this space. Moreover, even if you wanted to, you could not leave it, no matter in what direction you tried to run or go. This is the space of primordial awareness, in which absolutely all objects are found. It is the supreme Source of all objects. Even the word “space” cannot describe it; in essence, it transcends space. The term “space” is used as a kind of approximate indication. Nevertheless, we are continuously in it.
What prevents us from perceiving this space? What prevents it is our being turned away from this space toward the “I.” Such turning is nourished by our constant concepts. When we perceive something, we inevitably generate a certain mental activity. Why do we generate such mental activity? Because we have a tendency to make evaluations and judgments. It is precisely because we cannot leave things in their own nature that such activity is constantly generated within us. The essence of the practice of awareness is this: having once opened such a space of consciousness, no longer generate evaluations, no longer generate such activity, and even if it is generated, do not become attached to it.
The “golden rule” of contemplation sounds approximately like this:
“If you practice awareness, do not let consciousness follow sensory objects. If it nevertheless follows objects, do not make judgments or evaluations—that is, do not generate concepts, do not become bound by them. If you cannot manage not to generate concepts and not to make judgments, then at least do not become attached to them. If you cannot manage not to become attached to them, then at least do not let them develop into bad karma.”
The Simplicity of True Practice
When we were in Moscow, Devananda came up and asked:
– How should a monk feel when he takes a shower? Should he detach himself from the body? Should he engage in visualization? Should he think that he is not attached to sensory pleasures? Should he think about the salvation of living beings?
He listed several more kinds of things he should or should not do. He asked for a very clear answer because he was confused. I said to him:
– Everything is much simpler: here is the water, and here is your body. The body knows its dharma, the water knows where to flow. What do you have to do with it? Why are you interfering?
He did not understand and began asking again:
– What does it mean—not to interfere and to leave everything as it is?
I said to him:
– Simply do not enter this gap between the body and the water; do not enter it. Do not give rise to judgments and perceptions. There is an experience; that is enough. You feel something—be in it consciously, but do not touch it; simply leave it.
He asked:
– What does it mean—to leave it?
Then I hit him on the head with a book. It seems he understood something, because he asked no more questions.
Even when we are told to “leave everything as it is,” we ask ourselves: “What does it mean—to leave it?”
