श्रीः
ॐ नमो भगवते श्रीरमणाय
Sri Arunachala Aksharamanamalai - Verses 11-20
Great Advaita masters like Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi and Shakara-bhagavadpadacharya lived as great bhaktas. They lived as Brahman, having surrendered to divine will. To them there was no second, apart from Brahman. All paths (bhakti, karma, dhyanam) lead to the one goal - the jnana-marga - of realising that the true self is one with Ishvara, one with all jeevas around us. The world itself merely appears to exist separately, like a city in a mirror, as the Dakshinamurthy stotram asserts. When one goes beyond the realm of the senses, when the ripples in the mind cease by practice of karma and bhakti without selfish desire, and the mind is one-pointed by the practice of dhyanam, the seer (sakshi) is experienced. This sakshi is also realised as the self of all. There is no more difference between the self and the rest. The world is realised as one's own self. By the grace of guru and Ishvara, we get dragged into this journey of self-discovery. Bhagavan's emotional plea to Arunachala, to attract the jeeva like a magnet attracts iron, is an appeal on all our behalf. When we attach ourselves to the divine and detach ourself from the non-divine, and not stop there but proceed to the highest level of aatma-nivedanam (nondual bhakti), bliss and peace are experienced.
# 11 – ஐம்புலக் கள்வர் அகத்தினில் புகும்போது
அகத்தில் நீ இலையோ அருணாசலா ! (அ)
O Arunachala! When the five senses, the thieves, entered my heart and drag me away, were you not in my heart?
Only when the owner of the house is away, thieves can enter. The thieves who drag us out of the self, could not have entered if Arunachala, who is the indweller in everyone's hearts, had been present there. External objects enter us through the sense organs, they infuse kama / krodha / dvesha into us. They make us hanker for objects and other temporary pleasures and push us into unwanted action.
What should sadhaka do ? Stay away from these vishayas. If you go
close, they will impact you – it is their svabhava, says the Gita.
विषया विनिवर्तन्ते निराहारस्य देहिनः ।
रसवर्जं रसोऽप्यत्र परं दृष्ट्वा निवर्तते ॥ 2.59
Objects may recede briefly but the taste / rasa for them lingers.
Only the realisation of the self, makes it fall off, because one realises that
the self is complete and of the nature of bliss. When vairagyam develops out of
discrimination between permanent and impermanent objects, one no longer allows
the sense organs to lead him astray.
This has been clearly explained by Kathopanishad using the example of the chariot being led astray by indisciplined horses, which control the mind and intellect. Rather, allow the sarathi / discriminating intellect and the controlled mind to control the horses, and you reach the goal – सोऽध्वनः पारमाप्नोति तद्विष्णोः परमं पदम्.
In the next
verse, Bhagavan indicates again that maybe the senses entered the heart with His
consent.
# 12 – ஒருவன் ஆம் உன்னை ஒளித்து எவர் வருவார்
உன் சூதேயிது அருணசலா ! (அ)
O Arunachala! Obscuring you – you who are the one without a second (the one who truly exists), who can enter my heart? This, indeed is your trick!
Bhagavan explains the concept of non-duality here - The aatma is self-luminous, the sarva-sakshi. There is nobody / nothing other than the aatma. The aatma is like a sun which does not rise or set, it is the light of knowledge which is ever-shining.
We see the universe as a second object because we look at it with a sense of duality driven by our vasanas. The aatma is ever-present and is the sakshi of everything, and cannot be obscured. This perception of the 'other', is a play of the mind, and Bhagavan refers to this as a trick.
Bhagavan Krishna says in the Gita -
रागद्वेषवियुक्तैस्तु विषयान् इन्द्रियैश्चरन् ।
आत्मवश्यैर्विधेयात्मा प्रसादमधिगच्छति ॥ 2.64
When one sees Brahman everywhere, one can go through the world of sense-objects,
with the senses free from love and hate, in a disciplined and controlled manner,
and with serenity.
When Brahman is seen in everyone, there is no question of attraction
and hatred. If I can see my self as the self of all, I do not see another.
# 13 – ஓங்காரப் பொருள் ஒப்பு உயர்வு இல்லோய்
உனை யார் அறிவார் அருணாசலா (அ)
O Arunachala! You are the import of the sacred syllable ‘Om’. You are without an equal or superior. Who is capable of understanding you?
Om represents the ultimate reality Brahman, and can also serve as a symbol for the purpose of worship and saguna meditation. By long and deep meditation, the seeker comes to a state of identity with the object that the symbol stands for. He gains the identity – this I am.
Who can understand you? Understanding something happens only
when the object of knowledge and the knower are different from one another. In
the state of non-difference (abhinnatvam), this does not arise. Bhagavan looked
at Arunachala not as an external object, but as his own svarupam. Only by
renouncing one's individuality / jeeva bhava, this can be experienced – this cannot
be achieved by academic wisdom, as an object of experience.
Experiencing the self is knowing oneself as the non-dual self as experienced in deep sleep – In Dashashloki, Bhagavan Shankaracharya says सुषुप्त्येकसिद्धस्तदेकोऽवशिष्टः शिवः केवलोऽहम् – I am Shiva the self – the only thing that remains in deep sleep after all else is removed. The purpose of spirituality is to see this truth while awake and transacting with the world.
# 14 – ஔவை போல் எனக்குன் அருளைத்தந்து எனை
ஆளுவது உன் கடன் அருணாசலா (அ)
O Arunachala! Bestowing on me your grace, like a mother, to redeem me (by making me your own) is your duty.
Again, Bhagavan compares Arunachala to a mother whose grace is ever-present. He demands Ishvara’s anugraha as a matter of right.
# 15 – கன்ணுக்குக் கண்ணாய்க் கண் இன்றிக்காண் உனைக்
காணுவது எவர் பார் அருணாசலா (அ) Doubt
O Arunachala! who can perceive you? You are the eye to the eye; you can perceive without the eye. Look at me / turn your glance towards me.
This verse presents the essence of the aatma. It has broadly 4 teachings.
- கன்ணுக்குக் கண்ணாய் – You are the eye to the eye – the one who illumines.
We see the world with our eyes. Merely
having eyes (even a dead body has eyes) does not suffice. The eyes have to be illumined
by the mind, for us to perceive. The sense organs are not the reason for
perception. They are insentient by themselves.
How about the mind? In a dream, the
mind sees, not the eyes. We have experiences without the sense organs being
active. The mind as well, is insentient – it has to be illumined by the
Chaitanyam. How do we know this?
In deep sleep, neither the mind nor sense organs are active, but bliss is experienced.
Common to the waking, dream and deep sleep state, there is clearly a ‘seer’ beyond the sense organs and the mind.
Drik is the ‘seer’ and Drishya is the
‘seen’ – they are 2 entities separate and distinct from one another.
रूपं दृश्यं लोचनं दृक् तद्दृश्यं दृक्
तु मानसम् । दृश्या धीवृत्तयः साक्षी दृगेव न तु दृश्यते ॥
Form is seen by the eye. The eye is
seen by the mind. The mind is seen by the intellect. The sakshi, which is the
aatma, is not seen, it is the seer.
-
கண் இன்றிக்காண் – You see without the eye.
The sakshi illumines the mind and
senses. It is self-luminous. It does not need an external eye to perceive.
-
உனைக்காணுவது எவர் – Who can perceive you ?
The mind and senses can only
perceive second person and third person objects. Therefore, how can it see the
self? This दृक् /
perceiver cannot be seen. It can only be experienced.
-
பார் - Look at me.
Why should Arunachala look at the
devotee?
In a mirror on which our face (eyes) is reflected, we can see the reflection only if the face (eyes) focuses on the reflection. Similarly, the reflection of the aatma (in the jeeva) can be seen only when the aatma looks at the jeeva. If I wish to see myself, I cannot do so unless Ishvara, by his grace, turns his gaze upon me.
The key idea communicated by this verse, is that nobody can attain Brahman merely by the strength of the intellect.
# 16 - காந்தம் இரும்புபோல் கவர்ந்தெனை விடாமல்
கலந்து எனோடு இருப்பாய் அருணாசலா (அ)
This is a very beautiful verse, and my personal favourite - requesting for the grace of Ishvara, to draw us to him. Without Ishvara’s pull, the mind will not go to him – ie, inwards. The mind is always restless, it must reined in with bhakti. Rather than trying to control the mind into inactivity, can I turn it towards Ishvara ? Sometimes bhakti seems more beautiful than the path of knowledge.
In Shivanandalahari # 20, Bhagavan Shankaracharya seeks the rope of bhakti to
tie up the mind. Bhakti also happens only by divine grace.
सदा मोहाटव्यां चरति युवतीनां कुचगिरौ
नटत्याशाशाखास्वटति झटिति स्वैरमभितः ।
कपालिन् भिक्षो मे हृदयकपिमत्यन्तचपलं
दृढं भक्त्या बद्ध्वा शिव भवदधीनं कुरु विभो ॥ 20 ॥
Oh Lord Shiva, who is everywhere, my mind always wanders in the
forest of evil desires, dances on the bodies of young maids, it
wanders at its will on all four directions, From branch to branch of
desire, Oh Lord who bears the skull (kapala) for begging, take under
your control my mind that, like a monkey, wanders without control in all
directions, and tie it up with the rope of bhakti.
கிருபை கூர்ந்து அருளுவாய் அருணாசலா (அ)
O Arunachala! Ocean of grace in the form of a hill! Graciously bestow your grace on me.
The sadhaka surrenders to Ishwara and is continuously in the state of refuge under his compassion and he seeks His anugraha (enable him to control his mind, equip him with other sadhanas like bhakti and give him knowledge).
# 18 – கீழ்மேல் எங்கும் கிளர் ஒளி மணி என்
கீழ்மையைப் பாழ்செய் அருணாசலா (அ)
O Arunachala! The gem that shines in everyone without differentiating between the low and the high! Do destroy my baseness (ignorance)!
The aatma-jyoti illumines everything. The light can remove the sadhaka’s ignorance. It illumines and shines both in the pure mind and the impure mind. It is unimpacted by the sadhaka’s purity or impurity.
Ignorance stems from the notion of duality - dvaita drushti. Adhyasa / superimposition of the non-self (body, mind, etc) on the self, causes feelings of limitation and incompleteness. Small-mindedness also manifests as our sense of ownership over worldly things, we think we own them, we protect them from others. This is the baseness that Bhagavan refers to, at the root of which lies ignorance of our true nature.
# 19 – குற்றம் முற்று அறுத்து எனைக் குணமாய்ப் பணித்தாள்
குரு உருவாய் ஒளிர் அருணாசலா (அ)
O Arunachala! Destroying my defects completely, along with its root-cause, the ego, and make me a good person, then rule over me and shine in the form of Guru.
In the earlier verse, Bhagavan asked to be relieved of ignorance and petty-mindedness. In this, he asks for removal of sins / crime. Sins are eradicated only by knowledge. At the root of all sins is the ego - the feeling I and mind. That can be removed by Ishvara’s anugraha. Bhagavan Krishna says in the Gita -
अपि चेदसि
पापेभ्यः सर्वेभ्यः पापकृत्तमः।
सर्वं
ज्ञानप्लवेनैव वृजिनं सन्तरिष्यसि॥4.36॥
Even if you are the most sinful of all sinners, you will cross over
all sins by the boat of knowledge alone.
# 20 – கூர்வாட்கண்ணியர் கொடுமையில் படாது அருள்
கூர்ந்து எனைச் சேர்ந்து அருள் அருணாசலா (அ)
O Arunachala! Without letting me fall to the vile of those who are cruel and deceitful, bestow your grace on me and be in union with me.
கூர் வாள் கண்ணியர் – The literal meaning is to save me from cruel people (who wield sharp swords) who can ensnare me.
The role of the guru is to make the shishya free from entanglements.
Pseudo-gurus sometimes hold on to the devotee and make him a slave. The sadguru’s
quality is – शिष्यहिताय उद्यतः सततम् – constantly toils for the shishya’s
welfare and progress.
Unless we move to higher realms of knowledge, even the guru-shishya
bhava can become enslaving. ईश्वरो
गुरुरात्मेति मूर्तिभेदविभागिने -
Any external anchor, even if it is Ishvara, is impermanent and can give
sorrow. The eternal phenomenon within is the ideal refuge – आश्रययोग्यं नित्यवस्तु.
Further, when God is in union with the devotee, nobody else can stake a claim
to the devotee. This is the protection he seeks.
Bhagavan lived free and allowed devotees to live free. The pure chaitanyam which radiated from him, was the constant upadesha to his devotees. He did not expect anyone to stay with him, he did not bind any of them to himself, under any pretext. His way of life itself was the upadesha to devotees.
यत्र योगेश्वरः कृष्णो यत्र पार्थो धनुर्धरः । तत्र श्रीर्विजयो भूतिर्ध्रुवा नीतिर्मतिर्मम ॥
सर्वं श्रीकृष्णार्पणमस्तु
Read Verses 21 to 30 - https://vedantalearning.blogspot.com/2024/09/aksharamanamalai-verses-21-30.html