23 May 2022

Moksha Vimarsa Prakaranam (The Topic of Analysis of Salvation)

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1. Arthājñā mokṣamicchanti, jñāte dūraṃ palāyitāḥ |
Calacitre vanānande, mokṣārthaḥ pariniṣṭhitaḥ ||

[Everybody prays to God for salvation because the actual meaning of salvation is not known. If the actual meaning is known, everybody will run away from praying God for salvation. Everybody thinks that salvation is enjoyment of divine bliss and this impression is created by cinemas, which show the soul after salvation with immense bliss moving in a beautiful garden! The actual meaning of salvation is liberation from closely associated worldly bonds.]

2. Manonityaṃ mohasaktam, kasmiṃścidapi vastuni|
Vinānnaṃ nā yathā nāsti, svayaṃ mohakṣayo mṛtiḥ ||

[The mind is always inherently characterised by fascination to some object. Just like a human being can’t exist for a long time, the mind also cannot exist without fascination for a long time. It is said that the destruction of this fascination of mind (mohakṣaya) is called as ‘salvation’ or ‘mokṣa’. Destruction must be natural by itself and shall not be the death on killing because mind is an abstract entity.]

3. Kathaṃ niyamyate cetaḥ?, kiṃ vā'pyantya prayojanam? |
Nā'śakyaṃ kiṃ punarmohe?, vinā mohaṃ manaḥ katham? ||

[It is true that the fascination towards worldly bonds shall be destroyed, which is the meaning of the word ‘salvation’. If the worldly bonds are destroyed and the fascination on the worldly bonds is also destroyed, the problem is that how the mind can be idle without any type of fascination. This means that if you cut the fascination of all the worldly bonds, the following questions come:- i) If the mind gets rid of the fascination of worldly bonds totally, how to control the mind which is always fascinated for fascination? ii) Assuming that you are successful in destroying all the fascinations of the mind, what is the ultimate benefit that is achieved by you? iii) Since the mind is uncontrollable, it is sure that it will again get the fascination to worldly bonds with more force and hence, is this effort not impossible?]

4. Bandhānāṃ balavatkṣepe, vraṇasyauṣdha paṭṭikā |
Śānte svayaṃ pate dyena, na mohavraṇa pīḍanam ||

[When a wound comes on the body, you apply a medical strip over it for its cure. As soon as the wound is cured, the medical strip falls down by itself without any effort from your side. If you remove the strip by force, which means that the wound is not completed healed, such forcible removal of the strip makes the wound more serious. Hence, when you are attached to God and as your attachment gets progress, the worldly bonds are dropped by themselves without any trace of your effort. If you forcibly detach the worldly bonds from you before the ripened state of your devotion to God, it will be a serious condition in which you will be fascinated by the worldly bonds in a more forcible way. Hence, the detachment of worldly bonds without the attachment to God is not only useless but also is impossible.]

5. Kiñcidārambha saṃnyāsāt, sudhāprāpti prayatnavān |
Parapāna cyutiḥ paścāt, āsvādā nna puraḥ phalam ||

[For the sake of getting attachment to God, initially, you have to put a little effort in getting detached from worldly bonds so that you can participate in the trials to be done for devotion to God. After putting certain initial effort only, you will taste God and then only spontaneous detachment from worldly bonds takes place. Once the divine nectar is tasted, there is no need of any effort to be put to go to the divine nectar or to leave the worldly drinks because both these happen forcibly without any trace of effort. Without tasting the divine nectar, you cannot leave the worldly drinks like coffee because by leaving worldly drinks, divine nectar is not obtained. But, by tasting the divine nectar, worldly drinks drop off by themselves. Hence, what is the use of dropping the worldly drinks by force without tasting the divine nectar, which is a double loss?]

6. Ṛṣibilhaṇayo rgāthā, tyāgabhaktyo ssadarthadā |
Gamyaśuddhe rbalāt bhakteḥ, tyāgaḥ sārthakatāṃ vrajet ||

[Bilhaṇa was absorbed in the love memories of his darling and was walking in a forest. His foot touched a sage doing penance for God. Bilhaṇa was not aware of the touch because due to his fascination for his darling, his awareness about other things was spontaneously dropped. But the sage became aware of the touch of the foot of Bilhaṇa, which means that the sage is not completely absorbed in God. The sage became angry and was ready to curse Bilhaṇa. But, Bilhaṇa puts to the sage a tremendous question, which is “if the attachment in our goals is perfect, how does the awareness of other things take place?”. The sage was shocked at this question and recognised the truth, which is that i) the absorption of Bilhaṇa was perfect even though, the goal is wrong and ii) the absorption of the sage was not perfect even though the goal was correct. Hence, the sage proposed the exchange of their absorption and goal so that both would succeed in the effort to reach the ultimate goal. The essence of this story is that the detachment from the world shall come due to the attachment to God and only then does the detachment become useful.]

7. Vancakā styāginaḥ kecit, Śaṅkaro’tra Parāśaraḥ |
Satyayatno’tra ca vyarthaḥ, triśaṅkuriva madhyagaḥ ||

[Some people try to detach themselves from the worldly bonds through wearing of saffron cloth, leaving their houses etc., to cheat the public and earn their livelihood. Śaṅkara condemned (Udaranimittaṃ bahukṛtaveṣaḥ…) such cheats severely because the detachment from worldly bonds is not true at all and is also involved in cheating the innocent public. In this Kali age, such frauds are many and hence, sage Parāśara (who is relevant authority of scripture in the Kali age) objected to sainthood in the Kali age. Even if somebody tries sincerely for the detachment from worldly bonds without the above said cheating ideas, that also is not only useless but impossible. Hence, the spiritual aspirant shall always try for the improvement of attachment to God and shall not try to detach from worldly life due to ignorance and emotion. One leaving these worldly bonds without attaining perfect bond with God is neither here nor there like the King Triśaṅku, who neither stayed in heaven nor reached earth. This means that even if one succeeds in detaching from worldly life, such a person will be a double loser.]

8. Taptatāmra priyāśleṣāt, bandhatyāgordhva Gopikāḥ |
Brahmalokordhva Golokāḥ, brūte tāsāṃ phalaṃ sthitim ||

[The intensity of the attachment of Gopikas to Kṛṣṇa was unimaginable and salvation is directly proportional to the attachment to God. Their attachment to God is unimaginable because when Kṛṣṇa threatened them to go back from the Bṛndāvanam dance because such a dance with Him would lead them to hell where they would have to embrace red hot copper statues of Kṛṣṇa as punishment, the Gopikas replied that they were very happy to embrace the red hot copper statue because it was the statue of Kṛṣṇa. This shows the intensity of their attachment to God resulting in their detachment from not only the worldly bonds, but also, their detachment from the horrible frightening punishment in hell. Their attachment to God associated with their detachment to the world and hell, gave them Goloka, which is higher than the highest fruit or the abode of God. The fruit that is higher than the highest fruit itself speaks about their state, which is greater than the greatest state (Brahmaloka) of salvation resulting from their unimaginable attachment to God. This means that Gopikas are to be placed first in the list of souls getting salvation.]

9. Śuko Bhāgavataṃ prāha, saptāhe mokṣadāyakam |
Uccaistamagatā Gopyaḥ, Kṛṣṇa uccaistamaśśrutaḥ ||

[King Parīkṣit asked all the sages about the scripture that can give salvation in seven days. Sage Śuka recommended the Bhāgavatam scripture that contains mainly the story of Kṛṣṇa and the Gopikas. This fact itself proves that Gopikas are blessed souls, who got the highest and the most real salvation. The reason for the best salvation in their case is explained above. Since Kṛṣṇa gave such highest salvation to the Gopikas, Kṛṣṇa is considered to be the highest human incarnation (Paripūṇatamaḥ sākṣāt Śrī Kṛṣṇo nānya eva hi).]

10. Tatpravṛtti rna cintyeti, nivṛtteratra gaṇyate |
Veśyāprema satī tyāgāt, bāhyamānāt jalapramā ||

[There are two fields called Pravṛtti or worldly life and Nivṛtti or spiritual life. Regarding Pravṛtti, we can measure the attachment of the soul with the worldly bonds. We can also measure the detachment of the soul from worldly bonds by observing the detachment of the soul from the worldly bonds. Regarding the attachment to spiritual life, which is the attachment to God, the attachment to God is measured by the detachment from the world. Hence, attachment to God is mentioned as the detachment from the world or Nivṛtti. This means that salvation is directly proportional to the devotion to God. When a person is attached to a prostitute, you can measure his attachment to the prostitute by observing his detachment from his wife. This means that you are measuring his attachment to the prostitute with the help of the detachment from his wife. Hence, attachment to God or Pravṛtti to God is measured by the Nivṛtti from the world called salvation. This is just like measuring the depth of water from the upper exposed part of the measuring scale. If the total height of the scale is 100 ft. and the exposed part is 60 ft., the depth of the water is 40 ft. In spiritual life since God is abstract and attachment to Him is also abstract, which is not possible to be measured, this indirect method of measuring it from the visible detachment from the world is used. Hence, the devotion to God is actually Pravṛtti, but it is called as Nivṛtti or salvation.]

Chapter-1: Matāntarīkaraṇa Prakaraṇam

Chapter-2: Parabrahma Prakaraṇam

Chapter-3: Māyā Śakti Prakaraṇam

Chapter-4: Īśvara Prakaraṇam

Chapter-5: Avatāra Prakaraṇam

Chapter-6: Ākāśa Tejaḥ Prakaraṇam

Chapter-7: Vibhūti Prakaraṇam

Chapter-8: Sṛṣṭilakṣya Prakaraṇam

Chapter-9: Jagat Sṛṣṭi Prakaraṇam

Chapter-10: Jīvātma Tattva Prakaraṇam

Chapter-11: Matasamanvaya Prakaraṇam

Chapter-12: Yoga Vicāra Prakaraṇam