SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ
kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca
jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ
brahma-karma svabhāva-jam
‘Restraint, governance, austerity, purity, forgiveness, and uprightness; knowledge, wisdom, faith; —these are duties native to Brāhmaṇas.’
Śama = Restraint = The Discipline of the outer senses.
Dama = Governance = The Discipline of the inner sense (=antaḥ-karaṇa=mind).
Tapas = Austerity = The denial or forbearing to indulge one’s own appetites, and imposing on self bodily restrictions dictated by Śāstras.
Śaucham = Purity = The preparatory holiness required for discharging a Śāstra-ordained duty.
Kshānti = Forgiveness = The preserving the composure of the mind against provocation offered by other parties.
Ārjavam = Uprightness = The correct outward expression to others of what is thought of in the mind.
Jñānam[1. Cp. Tait: Up°: VI-10 22. Also Muṇḍ: Up: III-2-6. ‘Vedānta-vijñāna &c.’] = Knowledge of the higher and lower Truths or Verities of the Kosmos.
Vijñānam[2. Cp. Tait: Up°: VI-10 22. Also Muṇḍ: Up: III-2-6. ‘Vedānta-vijñāna &c.’] = Wisdom, or knowledge relating to the characteristics or attributes of these Verities.
Āstikyam = Faith = Implicit belief and trust in all the averments of the Vedas; —such that it remains impregnable against any attempt to shake it. This firm conviction consists (in the main) in the belief that:
- Vāsudeva is Bhagavān, the Purushottama, and Para-brahma.
- He is Beyond all evil.
- He is possessed of the countless Illustrious Attributes, such as Omniscience, Omnipotence etc, which are innate and transcendent.
- He is the Object of knowledge to be known by all the Vedāntas[3. 6p: Kaṭh: Up: “Sarve Vedā yat-padam āmananti”.].
- He is the Sole Cause of the infinite Kosmos.
- He is the Sole Prop of the infinite Kosmos.
- He is the Sole Director of all Kosmic operations.
- All Veda-enjoined duties are but various Modes of His worship.
- And so worshipped, He confers on men, each according to the terms of his petition, their several wants such as Dharma, Artha, Kāma and Moksha[4. Four-fold aspirations of man, dharma (meritorious work done here carrying with it the virtue of bringing future happiness, mundane or otherwise), artha (riches and general prosperity), kāma (enjoyments), moksha (deliverance or Salvation).].
That Such is the sense has already been evidenced by such Texts as: ‘By all the Vedas, I am the Sole Object to be known’: (Gi: XV-15); ‘I am the Origin of all, from Me all moves (Gi: X-8); ‘In Me is all this woven’(Gi: VII-7); ‘I am the Enjoyer of all Yajña and Tapas…….., knowing Me, Peace is attained’ (Gi: V-29); ‘There is nothing exists higher than Me, Dhanañjaya!’: (Gi: VII-6-5); ‘Whoso knows Me, the Birthless, the Beginningless, and the great Lord of the Kosmos’: (Gi: X-3); and further illustrated in such Texts as: ‘Whence impulses of all beings are derived, by Whom all this is permeated, Him does man, worshipping by his acts, gain.’ (Gi: XVIII-46).
Such are the duties proper to a Brāhmaṇa.
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