!! Viveka Chudamani  of Shankaracharya !!

Slokas 247-248 with meanings in English

||om tat sat ||
Viveka Chudamani Slokas 247-248

Inquiry into Mahavakyas :
In slokas from  243 to  251 Master explains the Sruti Statement - "That thou art" 

What we heard so far :

The one-ness of Brahman and Jiva  which is proposed in the Maha Vakya - तत्वमसि - "That you are"  - comes out of the implied meaning of  Brahman and Jiva - but not through the literal meanings of the corresponding words. The literal meanings of the  words some times take you to meanigs which place words in in opposition with no commonality. Examples of such contrasting nature are: a glow worm and Sun; King and his servants; a well and the ocean; and a tiny Atom and Mount Meru.

Guru then elaborated that the difference seen in Paramatman and Jiva is because of the title given to each. Pramatman's Upadhi is his Maya which created the universe. The Jiva is nothing but the composition of five sheaths. , Guru says 'Removing Iswara's Maya and Jiva's five sheaths there is no Isvara and there is no Jiva. And he gives the example of the King and his servant.  .

Now slokas  247-248: 

Sloka 247

अथात आदेश इति शृतिः स्वयं
निषेधति ब्रह्मणि कल्पित स्वयं।
शृतिप्रमाणानुगृहीत बोधात्
तयोः निरासः करणीय एव ॥247||

first line:
अथात आदेश इति शृतिः स्वयं

’अथात आदेशो नेति नेति’ 
now in these words of Sruti, 'not this' , 'not this' etc

Here Guru is reacalling an instruction from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which goes about saying 'not this' , 'not this' etc;  We will hear about that  instruction presently.

second line:
निषेधति ब्रह्मणि कल्पित स्वयं।
itself rejects the duality imagined in Brahman

From the instruction of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad ’ अथात आदेशो नेति नेति.." etc, the duality imagined in Braham is rejected. Brahman is without a second.

Just as we noted that every pot seen is nothing but the clay, which is the substratum on which different pots are seen with different shapes and colours ;  similarly universe is not independent of the Brahman, the cause. We have gone through the logic of contradictions that it entails if we see them as independent; The conclusion is that universe is a super imposition on the substratum that is Brahman. There is no duality. Here Guru is not referring to the logic of why they are separate. His assertion is based on what we heard from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. He continues with Sruti's instruction.


Third line
शृतिप्रमाणानुगृहीत बोधात्;
’with the authority of Sruti instruction and the knowledge there of'

With the knowledge that Brahman is the substartum of everything ( there is no second cause) as instructed in Srutis, we will come back to see the Upadhis of Iswara/Paramatman and Jiva which we know-

Iswara's Upadhi is Maya
Jiva's upadhi is the bag of five sheaths

Fourth line
तयोः निरासः करणीय एव
The elimination of both conditionings can be done

So summary of Sloka  ||247||:

’अथात आदेशो नेति नेति’  now in these words of Sruti, 'not this' , 'not this' etc from Sruti ,  itself rejects the duality imagined in Brahman. With the authority of Sruti instruction and the knowledge there of, the elimination of both conditionings can be done ||247||

In the earlier Sloka , Guru said, सम्यक् निरास्ते न परो न जीवः ",  that if the conditioning is removed there is no Iswar and no Jiva; Here quoting Srutis, Guru is confirming that such removal of conditiong can be done without any doubt.

After removing the conditioning what is left is Atman, which is same as Brahman is the conclusion we should be reaching in the subsequent Slokas.
We follow Gurus teaching.

Sloka - 248:

नेदं नेदं कल्पितत्वात् न सत्यं
रज्जो द्रष्टव्यालवत्स्वप्नवत् च।
इत्थम् दृश्यं साधु युक्ता व्यपोह्य
ज्ञेयः पश्चात् एकभावस्तयोर्यः॥248||

Firts line:
नेदं नेदं कल्पितत्वात् न सत्यं
’not this not this we say because a product of imagination is not real , and cannot be true.'

The logic of 'not this', 'not this' comes because, those things which are rejected, are products of imagination or illusions seen in delusion. Guru gives examples to support his line.

Even before Guru tells us his examples, we remeber our lesson about five sheaths. We rejected each sheath as not Atman, because that sheath as self is a imagined feeling only. When we remove part of the sheath in Annamaya Kosa, the Self is still there, as a witness. That mind is Self, is an imagination of the ego centric one. That it is not Self , is what we know.

Guru has his example snake and rope as well as dream

Second line 
रज्जो द्रष्टव्यालवत् स्वप्नवत् च।
’like the rope seen as a snake, like the dream ( in a sleep)'

The snake, seen being part of imagination, is not true. So is the dream seen in a sleep which disappears on waking up. Only rope is true and Dream is illusion.

Third line :
इत्थम् दृश्यं साधु युक्ता व्यपोह्य
’thus having  intelligently eliminated (by reasoning), what is seen'

Fourth line
ज्ञेयः पश्चात् एकभावस्तयोर्यः।
ज्ञेयः पश्चात् एकभावः तयोः यः
पश्चात् तयो यः एकभावः ज्ञेयः ।
’there after see the one -ness among them'

So by intelligently using reasoning eliminating the title related conditioning, one can see the one-ness among Paramatman and the Jiva.

That is the summary of the sloka.

Sloka 248 - summary: 

'Not this', 'not this', we say because a product of imagination is not real and cannot be true, like the rope seen as a snake, and like the dream (in a sleep).  Thus intelligently eliminating what is seen (using  reasoning etc), thereafter one sees the one -ness among them. 

||ओम् तत् सत्॥


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Viveka Chudamani Home


Viveka Chudamani Slokas 247-248

with meanings in English

- Sloka Text in Devanagari

- Sloka Text in Telugu 

Om tat sat !

 

 

 

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