Title: Three Rare Gifts from God
Verses: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 16
Shankaracharya begins the text in the 1st verse with obeisance to his teacher: Govinda Bhagavatpada. “I bow down to the great teacher who is the embodiment of the supreme truth and knowledge.”
2nd verse: “Human birth is a rare gift from God. Ever harder to obtain is an aspiration for spiritual truth. Understanding of scriptures is harder. Hardest of all is discrimination between Atman and non-Atman. Without a huge stockpile of spiritual merits from many life cycles, this cannot happen.”
The 3rd verse brings the idea of God. It says: “Only through God’s grace, we get these three rare gifts: (1) Being born as a human being (2) Desire for liberation (3) Coming in contact with a great holy person.”
The ability to come out of the empirical pleasures of life with an aspiration for liberation and coming in contact with someone who makes us think of higher ideas is a great gift from God. We find a great example in Buddha who renounced his kingdom and took a strong vow to realize the truth.
The 4th and 5th verses continue to emphasize the importance of human birth. They say: “There are those who obtain a human birth and an understanding of the scriptures. Yet, they are deluded and do not aspire for liberation. They cling to the unreal. They are fools and commit spiritual suicide.”
Thus, the text continues. In the 51st verse, seven questions are posed by the student and the entire text answers these seven questions. The structure of the text is as follows: (1) Celebration of human life (2) Qualifications of the student and the teacher to make enquiry into spiritual life (3) Seven questions and their answers.
The seven questions are: (1) What is bondage? (2) How did it emerge? (3) How does it continue to exist? (4) How do we get out of it? (5) What is Anatman? (6) What is Paramatman? (7) How do we discern Anatman from the Paramatman?
6th verse: “One may read scriptures. One may perform rituals. One may perform religious ceremonies. But without understanding the truth of the Atman, there is no liberation for anyone.”
The idea continues in the next few verses. In the 11th verse, the means for spiritual liberation is mentioned. It says: “Actions can be a great blessing and give mental purity if done without selfish motives. But actions alone do not take us to the highest truth. They need to be combined with contemplation on what is the meaning of human existence.”
The 12th verse refers to the rope-snake analogy. The rope is mistaken for a snake in a semi-dark room. Only light removes the wrong perception that it is a snake. No other activities in the room will help. Similarly, contemplation between the real and unreal is needed to realize the highest truth. Ramana Maharshi realized the highest truth with such contemplation.
When we live in the world, we live in semi-darkness. We have aspirations, but they are mostly empirical aspirations, not spiritual. We are in semi-darkness in our understanding of the reality. We need to bring light to remove our wrong notions. This happens when we contemplate on the meaning of human existence.
The 16th verse describes who is fit for spiritual enquiry. It says: “He should have proper intelligence. He should be able to listen and understand what he listens to. He should be able to retain in his mind what he studies. He should be an expert in the following two qualities: (1) Uha, the ability to accept what is to be accepted (2) Apoha, the ability to reject what is to be rejected.
In the world, the mind is presented with both good and toxic food. The toxic food must be rejected and only the good food should be accepted. The qualities of Uha and Apoha are a must for every spiritual aspirant. They also help us live more intelligently in this world.
Spiritual realization, that we are the Atman and not the body/mind, is not a concept. It is a deep, inner experience. When we realize it, there is no more transmigration.
Liberation is not new knowledge. It is only the removal of wrong notions. It is like a spiritual homecoming.
There are similarities in the approach between Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta. Buddhism emphasizes the awareness and impermanence of everything in this world. It does not talk about the Absolute Reality. Advaita Vedanta emphasizes the Absolute Reality. It can only be understood when we understand the impermanence of everything else.
