The world is really interesting. On one side we have terrorism and destruction, rationalism and disbelief in God while on the other side faith, devotion to God, and religious rituals continue to impress people! Cheat, fraud, dishonesty,hypocrisy,violence, have become regular features of the day. Man is conscious of his evil ways but is forced to commit sin because of circumstances! There is not a single person who can say he is pure or perfect from the the lowest to the highest! Corruption is now deeply embedded in society and the Government is finding it extremely difficult to contain it! Conscious of the innumerable sins he commits, Man takes recourse to pilgrimages and visiting holy places to wash off his sins and become pure! Is it so easy to become pure and perfect? Every action has an equivalent and opposite reaction and Man has to reap the consequence of his action in the past as well as in the present! It is an absolute delusion to think that we can get rid of the effect of our misdeeds by visiting holy places and having a dip in the waters of holy rivers!
Adi Sankara stresses the same point in his Bhajagovindam! “ kuruthe Ganga sagara gamanam” People visit Varanasi, visit the various ghats, dip themselves in the holy waters of the Ganga and have darshan of Lord Viswanatha and Goddess Visalakshi and Annapurna! They fly to Badrinath and Kedarnath, the holiest of all pilgrim centers, bathe in the crystal clekar waters of Alakananda! They visit Hardwar and Hrishikesh, equally holy. In the south, they hasten to
Rameswaram and Dhanushkoti where the Sethu-- bridge to Sri Lanka was built! They bathe in the holy waters inside the wells of the Rameswara Temple, have a dip in the sea and return home believing that they have washed off their sins! They are strong in their belief that they are now shorn of their sins and misdeeds! What an illusion!!
“Vrata paripalana mathava danam” In order to get relief from their problems and suffering, people take vows, propitiate Gods and Goddesses, offer alms and charity! Different kinds of rituals, and religious practices are conducted to protect themselves from the evil influences of certain deities of the nether world! Satyanarayana and Chandrayana vratas are only a few of the hundred vratas suggested for the peace and prosperity of the people! Merchant princes, the rich and the affluent, business magnates and even the common man offer charity at temples, and help the poor and the downtrodden!They are the benefactors that change the lives of others! These are, no doubt, good deeds that should be hailed by others! But if you think it will bring down the accumulated karma of your previous births, you are totally mistaken! They are all just means to lead a good and peaceful existence!
“Jnana vihina sarva matena muktim na bhajati janma satena” Sankara establishes the truth that all these acts of holy pilgrimage, bathing in waters of the sacred rivers and the sea, vows , rituals, vratas, offering alms and charities lead you nowhere! They cannot offer Salvation or Mukti to the individual! How can one attain Mukti? Sankara asserts that one cannot dream of Mukti without Jnana! Without Jnana or Knowledge man cannot get salvation or Mukti even after a hundred janmas or births! There is a lot of show and ostentation in performing vows, rituals and other sacred activities. Faith and sincerity is the requisite for any activity! Pomp and paraphernalia do not count! Pure devotion, sincere heart and prayer does what show and arrogance cannot do! Humility and a sense of utter submission to His Will is the essential requisite for mukti!
What does Sankara mean by Jnana? In Vedantic parlance Jnana means Knowledge, knowledge of the eternal Self! The Soul or the self is eternal, indestructible and manifests in all the creatures of the universe.” ajo nitya sasvatoyam purano nahanyathe hanyamane sareere”. Man is not the body! He is the receptacle where the Soul or the Atma is embedded! Understanding this aspect, namely, that we are all chips of the same Divine Soul is what is called real knowledge or Jnana! It does not refer to the various branches of knowledge available to students in colleges and universities! Unfortunately, immersed in the shoreless sea of Samsara and deluded by maya, man is irretrievably attached to worldly life and doesn't contemplate on spiritual elevation! So long as this real Knowledge does not dawn upon him Salvation eludes him! Those who realize this and think that they are not the body but the Spirit behind it, are freed from all sorrows and difficulties and attain Mukti or Salvation! Sankara doesn't say that you should not visit holy places or do vratas and dana! He only wants you to realize that you are not the mere body but the eternal soul manifest everywhere in the universe!
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