We
saw previously that all of our conflicts arise from we being of the nature of
limitlessness but identifying ourselves with the limited body-mind-sense
complex. We seek to gravitate towards our inherent nature of limitlessness while
our identification with the limited body-mind-sense complex holds us back. It
is this conflict that is referred to as samsara (संसारा) or bondage in Vedanta philosophy
and it is the freedom from this bondage that is referred to as moksha (मोक्ष).
Like in the story of the ignorant prince the knowledge of the Self or
atmajnanam (आत्मज्ञानम्) is the means for attaining moksha (मोक्ष) but unlike
in the story knowledge of the Self or atmajnanam (आत्मज्ञानम्) does not seek us
out and it is the individual that needs to seek and attain this knowledge.
It takes a subtle mind to reflect upon life and see
the frailty of one’s unending pursuit of happiness and ask oneself fundamental
questions about life. Who am I? Am I the ever-changing body and the fickle mind?
What is the goal of life? Is it just to eat, drink and be merry? It is from
reflecting upon these fundamental questions that one becomes a mumukshu (मुमुक्षु) seeking
freedom from one’s bondage. A mumukshu (मुमुक्षु) becomes a jignasu (जिज्ञासु) when he understands the source of this bondage and becomes committed to the
pursuit of knowledge that will remove the bondage.
Tattvabodha and by extension the entire teachings of Vedanta
is not an academic pursuit and is intended only for the seeker of truth who has
taken up moksha (मोक्ष) as the solitary goal and the singular purpose of life. Adi
Shankara makes this aspect clear in the invocatory prayer at the beginning of
the text.
वासुदेवेन्द्रयोगीन्द्रं नत्वा ज्ञानप्रदं गुरुम् ।
मुमुक्षूणां हितार्थाय तत्त्वबोधोभिधीयते ॥
Having saluted my Guru, Vasudevendra, the king of
yogis, the provider of knowledge I shall present Tattvabodha for the benefit of
mumukshus (मुमुक्षु) or seekers of freedom from
bondage.
Like with any pursuit in life the pursuit of moksha (मोक्ष)
too requires adequate preparedness in the form of having the right temperament,
mental disposition and worldview. Vedantic learning undertaken without this preparedness
will be futile and met with stiff resistance of the mind and will at best serve
the purpose of some intellectual stimulation. Adi Shankara very curtly makes
this point in the next verse that also gives the purpose that the text aspires to
serve.
साधनचतुष्टयसम्पन्नाधिकारिणां मोक्षसाधनभूतं
तत्त्वविवेकप्रकारं वक्ष्यामः ।
We shall explain to those who are endowed with the
fourfold qualification, the Truth in the form of discriminatory analysis,
which is the means of moksha (मोक्ष) or the freedom
from bondage.
We saw previously that the cognitive mix-up of atman (आत्मन्)
and anatma (अनात्मा) is the basis for our bondage and therefore a
discriminatory approach is taken to provide the knowledge of atman (आत्मन्).
Man is endowed with the ability to compare, contrast and categorize things and
uses this ability to distinguish between objects, people and situations but
unfortunately all of these are in the realm of anatma (अनात्मा). This ability
which is known as viveka (विवेक) shall be used as the approach to distinguish
between atman (आत्मन्) and anatma (अनात्मा) in this text.
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