The Naishkarmya Siddhi written by Sri Sureshwaracharya is a scripture which establishes Advaita as the ultimate teaching of the Veda by refuting arguments of some of the chief opponents in the Achaarya’s time. Herein is an article about the connection between sorrow and self-ignorance outlined in the Naishkarmya Siddhi based on the wonderful lectures of Swami Paramaarthanandaji.
In the introductory verses to this text, the Acharya establishes that the only cause for suffering in all individuals is the lack of knowledge about one’s own real nature (Atma ajnaanam). Based on the Veda as a means of knowledge about Dharma and about the Atma, the Achaarya gives a step-by-step analysis of suffering and its causes and ultimately arrives at Atma ajnaanam (self ignorance) as the root of the problem.
Once the seeker understands the gravity of the situation, he or she does not merely undertake the quest to know oneself as a mere intellectual pursuit. Since the entirety of the emotional distress faced by oneself is what is at stake here, the desire to know oneself springs forth with as much vigour and keeps the seeker on the quest until the knowledge of the Atman is gained, at which point there is complete freedom from all kinds of emotional distress, and a supreme tranquillity ensues, which itself is called Moksha.
Abstract
Every being in the universe has sorrow, and every being acts in an attempt to rid itself of sorrow. However, it is our common experience that, in spite of all our actions, sorrow remains. So, it appears that we do not clearly understand the cause of the problem, and hence are not able to solve it effectively.
Vedanta says that the cause of sorrow is ignorance of the real nature of my Self. Hence, the solution (also provided by Vedanta) is to know my real nature. If I can accept this claim, then my strategy is clear: Approach a competent teacher of Vedanta, gain the knowledge of the Self, understand my real nature, and be free from sorrow.
Gaining Self-knowledge is not easy, and there are several qualifications one must have, and several stages of sadhana one must go through. Sometimes I may lose enthusiasm, or doubt the goal (“Why am I doing this?”). However, I never have any doubt about my sorrow. Whenever I get sorrow, if I can clearly analyse it and see that the cause is always Self-ignorance, then the utility of solving the problem of ignorance by gaining Self-knowledge is reinforced in the mind. The value I attach to the goal stays high, and I work enthusiastically towards it.
Sureshvaracharya gives a 7-step analysis to show that the cause of every sorrow is Self-ignorance.
Connection between sorrow and Self-ignorance
- The cause for sorrow is identification with the body.
- For example, in deep sleep, where there is no body-identification, there is no sorrow.
- The cause for body-identification is birth, caused by previous paapa-punya.
- The cause for the existence of previous paapa-punya is the generation of paapa-punya from each and every action, and its accumulation (by the Law of Karma).
- The cause for the generation of paapa-punya is desire (raaga-dvesha).
- The cause for desire is the assumption (adhyaasa) that some things/situations are favorable, and others are unfavorable.
- This adhyaasa is possibly only because I feel I am separate from the things/situations that I see as favorable or unfavorable (dvaita-bhava).
- I have dvaita-bhava (feeling of separateness or limitedness) because I do not know that my real nature is infinite (aananda).
- With a little thought, it is easy to accept that I exist (sat), and that I am conscious (chit). But it is not easy to be able see myself as infinite (aananda).
For every sorrow that comes to me, I can do this analysis. As the conviction grows that Self-ignorance is the real culprit, my desire for the goal (Self-knowledge) and my interest and enthusiasm in the sadhanas should naturally increase.
Introduction to the text:
The introductory statements (with a running translation) of the Naishkarmya Siddhi are as follows.
आब्रह्मस्तम्बपर्यन्तैः सर्वप्राणिभिः सर्वप्रकारस्यापि दुःखस्य
स्वरसत एव जिहासितत्वात् तन्निवृत्तर्था प्रवृत्तिरस्ति स्वरसत एव |
All embodied beings (Jivas), right from the Lord Brahma to a blade of grass (आब्रह्मस्तम्बपर्यन्तैः सर्वप्राणिभिः) possess the instinctive desire to give up sorrow and to gain fulfilment (सर्वप्रकारस्यापि दुःखस्य स्वरसत एव जिहासितत्वात्). Therefore, all such beings also naturally exhibit the activity of moving towards objects of pleasure and moving away from objects of pain (तन्निवृत्तर्था प्रवृत्तिरस्ति स्वरसत एव ).
The hierarchy of Sorrow or Duhkha is as follows.
- दुःखस्य च देहोपादान एक हेतुत्वात्
[The only cause of sorrow is the identification with body ]
- देहस्य च पुर्वोपचित धर्माधर्ममूलत्वात् अनुच्छित्तिः
[The presence of a body is caused by the accumulated Paapa and Punya karmaphala]
- तयोः च विहित प्रतिषिद्ध कर्ममूलत्वात अनिवृत्तिः
[The karmaphala themselves are caused by performance of dharmic and adharmic actions]
- कर्मणः च रागद्वेषास्पदत्वाद्
[Likes and dislikes are the root cause of actions]
- रागद्वेषयोः च शोभन अशोभन अध्यास निबन्धनत्वाद्
[The notions of ‘favourability’ and ‘unfavourability’ towards people,objects,situations etc., lead to likes and dislikes]
- अध्यासस्य च अविचारितसिद्ध द्वैतवस्तु निमित्तत्वाद्
[The root cause of such misconceptions of added values to the world and its objects is the notion of separation of oneself from the world]
- द्वैतस्य च शुक्तिका रजतादिवत् सर्वस्यापि स्वतसिद्ध अद्वितीय आत्म अनवबोध मात्र उपादानत्वात् अव्यावृत्तिः
[The reason for the notion of duality or separation is the lack of knowledge about one’s real nature as the limitless Atman].
अतः सर्वानर्थहेतुः आत्म अनवबोधः एव |
[Therefore Self-ignorance is the cause of all sorrow]
Elaboration:
दुःखस्य च देहोपादान एक हेतुत्वात्
[The only cause of sorrow is the identification with body ]
It is natural that anyone who associates oneself (देहोपादान) with the physical (sthoola sharira) body or the mind (suksha sharira) feels that it is oneself that is suffering. The very nature of a body (शरीरं) is to change (शीर्यमानं). Another word signifying the body is “देहः”, which is also is derived as “त्रिविधैः तापैः दह्यते इति देहः” – that which suffers the threefold types of pain is called deha.(aadhyaatmika, aadhibhautika, aadhidhaivika – pains due to oneself, due to other living beings ,and due to the uncontrollable natural forces).
Another way of arriving at this conclusion is by observing our experiences during the three states of experience, waking state (jaagrat), dream state (swapna) and deep-dreamless-sleep state (sushupti). In the waking state and the dream state, association with either the physical body or the subtle body (mind etc.) being present, suffering is experienced. In the deep-sleep state, with such identification being absent, suffering is not experienced. All people, whether most healthy or most unhealthy, report the same experience of sukham during deep sleep when there is no identification with the body-mind-sense complex.
Thus it is seen that suffering is inescapable as long as identification with a body continues, whether it is sthoola or sukshma.
देहस्य च पुर्वोपचित धर्माधर्ममूलत्वात् अनुच्छित्तिः
[The presence of a body is caused by the accumulated Paapa and Punya karmaphala]
Now a person might argue, does not the identification with the body end during the time of death? To that question, Sureshwaracharya explains that deha-sambandha (identification with a body) is caused by the karma-phalam (results of actions, both paapa and punya – धर्माधर्ममूलत्वात्) done during the previous human births (पुर्वोपचित), which are beginning-less [Also may be noted: Moreover it is only the identification with the current physical body that is terminated during death, the identification with the sukshma sharira continues and is remanifested once a new physical body appears.]
तयोः च विहित प्रतिषिद्ध कर्ममूलत्वात अनिवृत्तिः
[The karmaphala themselves are caused by performance of dharmic and adharmic actions]
Now going one more layer down, Sureshwaracharya says that the accumulated compendium of karma-phala is caused by the performance of actions, those ordained by Shaashtra (विहित) and those prohibited (प्रतिषिद्ध) by Shaastra, which cause punya and paapa respectively. Therefore the jiva has to go through their results as long as he identifies himself with the sthoola/suksha shariras. The jiva can never hope to completely exhaust the karma-phala by enduring them, because of two reasons – (a) the magnitude of karma-phala compendium is extremely huge for each jiva (b) No jiva can remain without performing new actions, and thereby earning new karma phala.
कर्मणः च रागद्वेषास्पदत्वाद्
[Likes and dislikes are the root cause of actions]
The next question naturally arises – what is that which forces the jiva to perform new karma continuously? The answer given by Sureshwaracharya is attachment (रागः) and aversion (द्वेषः) towards the various things of the world, including the body-mind-sense complex.
रागद्वेषयोः च शोभनाशोभनाध्यास निबन्धनत्वाद्
[The notions of favourability and unfavourability towards people,objects,situations etc., lead to likes and dislikes]
What fosters attachment and aversion to objects? The Acharya explains – Adding non-existent value to things (शोभनाशोभनाध्यास = शोभन-अशोभन इति अध्यास), whether it is a positive value, which (seems to) increases one’s status, (शोभन) or a negative value, which (seems to) decrease one’s status (अशोभन) is the reason for having raaga or dvesha. The Acharya terms this addition of value as purely an erroneous notion (अध्यासः) because the conclusion of Vedanta is that the Atman, or the real nature of the Self, is intrinsically Purnah (complete and infinite). There is no question of either adding anything to it or removing anything from it.
अध्यासस्य च अविचारितसिद्ध द्वैतवस्तु निमित्तत्वाद्
[The root cause of such misconceptions of added values to the world and its objects is the notion of separation of oneself from the world]
Where-forth do the erroneous notions of favourability and unfavourability arise? The Acharya says that this notion is natural to anyone who sees a real duality between oneself and all other things (द्वैतवस्तु निमित्तत्वाद्). Just as a person who, for want of good light, erroneously assumes a real snake on a rope, naturally is afraid of the rope. Such a situation continues only as long as the person does not enquire into the reality of the snake one sees. In the same way, the reality of the externality of a world with respect to the Atman will disappear with Vedanta Vichara. Thus the Acharya calls the reality of the world as अविचारितसिद्धं, i.e., persisting only for so long as enquiry into the real nature of oneself is not completed.
द्वैतस्य च शुक्तिका रजतादिवत् सर्वस्यापि स्वतसिद्ध अद्वितीय आत्म अनवबोध मात्र उपादानत्वात् अव्यावृत्तिः
[The reason for the notion of duality or separation is the lack of knowledge about one’s real nature as the limitless Atman].
Finally, the Acharya reiterates that the real-duality between oneself and the world is the ignorance about one’s own real nature (आत्म अनवबोध मात्र उपादानत्वात् ). However a question may be raised, doesn’t everyone know oneself already? For that the Acharya answers that although it is obvious to everyone that one exists and that one is conscious (सर्वस्यापि स्वतसिद्ध), what is unknown is that the Atman is non-dual, limitless, infinite (अद्वितीय). Just as the illusion of a snake on a rope (or silver on a nacre) arises only because the rope (or the nacre) is known, but not completely or clearly.
अतः सर्वानर्थहेतुः आत्म अनवबोधः एव |
The notion of limitedness arising from this self-ignorance (आत्म अनवबोधः) is therefore (अत:)established as the only root cause of all kinds of suffering by all individuals (सर्वानर्थहेतुः).
This chain of cause and effect discussed above can never be broken in between. An attempt to do so might only temporarily suspend suffering, which springs up again once again because the root of the problem is not yet removed. Therefore it is necessary that one removes the root cause of Samsaara which is self-ignorance. This is possible only through Atma Vichaara under the guidance of a competent teacher. This Atma Vichaara, therefore, becomes the prime and singular duty of anyone who has diagnosed the problem of Samsaara as discussed above.
Vivekananda Study Circle, IISc 