Sutra Vahini Index

Mumukshuthwam

Next, we shall consider Mumukshuthwam - the longing for Moksha or Liberation. This longing cannot arise from either riches or from the scholarship that may be won at great expense of money. Nor can it emerge from wealth or progeny, or rites and rituals recommended in the scriptures or acts of charity, for Moksha [liberation from grief and acquisition of bliss] can come only from the conquest of Ajnana [ignorance]. A person might master all the sastras along with all the learned commentaries written on them by experts; he might propitiate all the gods by performing the prescribed modes of worship and ceremonies; but these cannot grant the boon of Liberation. These are all motivated to earn benefits and boons, other than the supreme knowledge [Jnana]. Success in the path of knowledge alone can confer salvation. A person might have every article needed for cooking a meal but, if fire is not available, how can the meal be prepared? So too, if Atma Jnana [Awareness of Atma as the only Reality] is not won, Liberation if it is declared that one can attain Mukti or Liberation if he bathes in the waters of sacred rivers, what shall we say of the fish and other aquatic species that spend all their lives in the rivers! If it is believed that spending years in mountain caves will lead to Liberation, what do mice, what do wild beasts attain? If, by means of ascetic practices like eating roots and tubers and chewing leaves for sustenance of the body, one can attain Liberation, must goats who feed on leaves and pigs that dig out tubers also attain Liberation? When plastering the entire body with ash is hailed as asceticism, can dogs and donkeys which roll on ash heaps claim Liberation? These beliefs and practices are signs of poor understanding. One must concentrate on achieving Atma Jnana, the Awareness of the Eternal Universal Atmic Reality.

The word Atha, with which the very first Sutra begins, means "thereafter" and, after the inquiry into its implications, it has been found that it involves the acquisition of these four attainments - Viveka, Vairagya, the Six Virtues and the Yearning for Liberation.

The next word too is Athah, the tha being soft, instead of being stressed as in the first word. Athah means "for this reason". The inquiry has therefore to be made: for which reason? For the reason that neither the examination of the texts of the Sastras, nor the performance of rites and rituals, nor through the study of material objects, nor by the process of learning from the example of other men, can the awareness of the Supreme, the Brahmam, be secured. Because objects and individuals, rites and activities are transitory. They suffer from decay and destruction. They can at best help the cleansing of the mind, that is all. Karma cannot liberate one from the basic ignorance, or award the awareness of the reality as Brahmam. One has to be conscious of this limitation, in order to win the right of inquiry into the mystery of the Brahmam, the source and core of the Cosmos.

This, the very first Sutra stresses on one lesson: He who devotes his life to earn the knowledge of the Atma that is his self, must possess holy virtues, and they must mould his conduct and contacts sacrosanct. For, no knowledge can be higher than virtuous character. Character is power, really speaking. For the person who has dedicated his years to the acquisition of higher learning, ever-good character is an indispensable qualification. Every religion emphasises the same need, not as a special credal condition, but as the basis of spiritual life and conduct itself. Those who lead lives on these lines can never come to harm. They will be endowed with sacred merit.

Virtues are the most effective means for purifying the inner consciousness of man, at all levels. For, they prompt the person to discover what to do and how to do. Only those who have earned good destiny can claim their excellence in discrimination. And, adherence to this determination is the raft which can take man across the ocean of flux and fear, the Bhava Sagara. The man of virtues has a place in the region of the liberated. Whatever the residual activity a person has perforce to engage himself in, the impact of that activity will not impinge on him, provided he is a man of virtue. He can merge in Brahmam, the embodiment of Supreme Bliss.

A person might have performed a variety of Vedic rites and sacrifices; he might even be expounding the contents of a variety of sacred scriptures he has mastered; he might be a person endowed with prosperity, owning vast wealth and heaps of grain; he might teach the Vedas and their complementary disciplines with due exposition of meanings; but, if such people have no moral character, they have no place where Brahmam is taught or learnt. This is the lesson this Sutra conveys.

For, the stage of equanimity so essential for spiritual progress can be gained only when the intellect is cleansed of the blot of deluding attachments and involvements. Devoid of that serenity, the intellect or Buddhi cannot proceed on the trail of Brahmam. Why? The term Virtue is only another name for the 'intelligence' that follows the promptings of the Atma, the Self which is our Reality. Only he who has such virtue can win the awareness of the Atma, the Truth. And, once that awareness is gained he can not more be caught in delusion or desire; they cannot touch him any longer.

Desire and bondage to the objects desired and the plans to secure them are the attributes of the individualised selves, not of the Self or Atma resident in the body. The sense of me and mine, and the emotions of lust and anger originate in the body-mind complex. Only when this complex is conquered and outgrown can true virtue emanate and manifest.

The sense of 'doer' and 'enjoyer' of 'agentship' might appear to affect the Atma but they are not part of the genuine nature of the Atma. Things get mirrored and produce images but the mirror is not tarnished or even affected thereby. It remains as clear as it was. So, too, the man of virtue might be subjected to some contaminating activities due to back-log of acts in previous lives, but they cannot mar or obstruct his present nature or activities. The Jivi or Individual has as his genuine basic attributes: purity, serenity and joy. He is ebullient with these qualities.

A bird in flight in the depths of the sky needs two wings; a person moving on the earth below needs two legs to carry him forward; an aspirant eager to attain the Mansion of Moksha, the Abode of Freedom, needs Renunciation and Wisdom, renunciation of worldly desires and wisdom to become aware of the Atma. When a bird has but one wing, it cannot rise up into the sky, can it? In the same manner, if man has only renunciation or wisdom, he cannot attain the Supreme self, Brahmam. The sense of 'mine' is the bond of deluding attachment. How long can one cling to what he fondles as mine? Some day, he has to give up all he has and leave, alone and empty handed. This is the inescapable destiny.