vivekachUdAmani.

[Vaidya N. Sundaram]

13)
 arthasya nishchayo dR^ishhTo vichaareNa hitoktitaH .
 na snaanena na daanena praaNaayamashatena vaa

 The conviction of the Truth is seen to arise only from inquiry and the
trust worthy upadesa, not by bath or gift or by hundreds of breathing
exercises.

 A man is subject to self-delusion due to the defect of ajn~ana. The means
of rescue from such delusion by the words of a beneficient person are not
available to him. Hence he is subject to the evils of fear and trembling.
In his condition, he is not in a fit state of mind to make on inquiry on
his own. Hence to start him on it, the words of a beneficient peron are
the means. being beneficient (hitatva) indicates the utterance of the
correct significance (yatArta-vakrtvam). What is conveyed by this is this:
Without making an inquiry in accordance with the words of a benificient
person (hitoki), if a deluded performs baths, gifts or hundreds of
breathing exercises, there will not be any direct perception hich alone
can emove delusion. How then will the delusion which leads to a number of
undesirable effects ever disappear.
 VicAra is a mental operation which conduces to the conviction o the
actual nature of an object. Therefore it is inquiry arising out of
listening to the words of a beneficient person which will lead to the
right understanding in respect of the object of delusion. That being so,
the teaching of SrI BhagavatpAda here in this context is: Having inquired
about the Atman following the words of th Sruti and the upadesa of the
Guru, getting direct perception of its true nature, one should disentangle
the Atman from SamsAra which is the non-Atman which has been super imposed
on it.




                      Vaidya N. Sundaram
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Kandavar Vindilar      : Those who have seen (Brahman) have not spoken
  Vindavar Kandilar     :   those who speak (about It) have not seen (It)
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    satyakAma, satyasaMkalpa, Apatsakha, kAkutsa, shrIman nArAyaNa
        puruShottaMa, shrI ranganAtha, mama nAtha, namostute.
------------------------------------------------------------------------