Surefire Way To Liberation:
- Non-stop Direct:
One attains (eternal and irreversible) identification with brahman by being established in brahman *even in the closing years of one’s life* — 2.72, BG.
Essential Requirements:
a) Should be free from all desires, be free from hankering, without the idea of (‘me’ and) ‘mine’, and be devoid of pride — 2.71, BG.
Shankara comments at 2.71, BG: Only that man attains peace (Liberation) into whom all desires enter, from all directions, like waters entering into a sea, without overwhelming him.
b) The seeker should also be “indifferent to everything that is transitory and achievable through set means, should have given up the three classic wants (for wealth, wives and offspring) and should have taken up the life of a wandering monk. He should have cultivated the Fourfold Aides of Seeking (explained by Shankara at 1.1.1, BSB) — 1.1.2, US (Prose).
c) The seeker should fully understand and appreciate that qualities like “humility” are the means to the Knowledge of brahman – 1.1.5, US (Prose).
Other Pre-requisites:
Virtues as spelt out at: 2.55 – 2.69, BG. should have become one’s nature.
Warranty for the Successful Seeker:
There is no return for the released individuals on the strength of the Upanishadic declaration; there is no return for the released individuals on the strength of the Upanishadic declaration — 4.4.22, BS
Rationale:
(1) AtmA is the same as brahman: ज्ञोऽत एव ॥ — 2.3.18, BS.
(2) Man is a creature of his “volition”:
अथ खलु क्रतुमयः पुरुषो यथाक्रतुरस्मिंल्लोके पुरुषो भवति तथेतः प्रेत्य भवति स क्रतुं कुर्वीत ॥ — 3.14.1, chAn Upa.
Meaning: Now, really, the Man consists of Volition. According as his Volition is in this world, so does he become on departing from here. Hence, he should exercise Volition.
(3) 3.2.2, muNDaka Upanishad says, ‘He who longs for objects of desire, making much of them, is born along with those desires in places where he will realize them.’
(4) Shankara comments at 4.4.5, BUB: Therefore, the self is identified with desire alone. Its identification with other things, although it may be present, does not produce any results ; hence the text emphatically says, ‘Identified with desire alone.’ Being identified with desire, what it desires, it resolves. That desire manifests itself as the slightest longing for a particular object, and, if unchecked, takes a more definite shape and becomes resolve. Resolve is determination, which is followed by action. What it resolves as a result of the desire, it works out by doing the kind of work that is calculated to procure the objects resolved upon. And what it works out, it attains, i.e. its results. Therefore, desire is the only cause of its identification with everything as well as of undergoing transmigration.
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If the above way is surmized to be too tough, the alternative is:
2. With One Stop Over:
(To be continued … Part – 2)!