18.53 ahaṅkāraṁ balaṁ darpaṁ (Original)

SrI:  SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:  SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:  SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

Chapter 18

<< Chapter 18 Verse 52

Simple

ahaṅkāraṁ balaṁ darpaṁ
kāmaṁ krodhaṁ parigraham
vimucya nirmamaḥ śānto
brahma-bhūyāya kalpate

‘With ahaṅkāra, power, pride, lust, wrath and
covetousness given up; from ‘my-ness’ freed; —the man of peace is fitted for the state of Brahm.’

Buddhi made holy = The intellect or consciousness got to be occupied with subjects relating to ātma.

Manas firmly reined in: Ātma here means manas; the feelings to be put in opposition to sense-wiles, and manas (or the mind) thus rendered fit for Yoga or contemplation.

Resigning pursuits such as the senses hanker after, viz: sound (=the ear-sense tempting the mind to hear songs etc), —means: keeping them at a distance;

It is these pursuits that occasion friendships and hostilities. Ceasing from those pursuits would thus be giving up loves and hates;

Seeking solitude is resorting to sequestered spots where one is aloof from all disturbances to meditation;

Light diet is moderate diet, between overloading and famishing.

Speech, body and mind, governed means directing them all towards meditation;

Ever devoted to Dhyāna-Yoga = Being daily engaged in Bhakti-Contemplation, till the day of departure;

Wedded to dispassion = Gradually increasing the aversion for all things other than ātma, by dwelling over their imperfections;

Ahaṅkāra = The love of self in what is not-self; or the mis-notion that apprehends what is not ātma as ātma;

Balam = Power of previous associations (vāsanas), which helps growth of ahaṅkāra;

Darpam = Pride or conceit that follows from balam. These and lust, wrath and covetousness should be laid aside.

Nir-mamaḥ = The being free from ‘my-ness,’ or the notion of possession in what is not one’s own.

Peace = The serenity of bliss accruing from ātma-enjoyment; when a person so characterized practises Dhyāna-Yoga or God-contemplation (=bhakti-yoga), he is rendered fit for the state of Brahm; i.e., he is entirely released from all bonds and realising the true nature of ātma, enters into its bliss.

>> Chapter 18 Verse 54

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