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Jivanmuktiviveka 2.12.67

English (machine translation) 2.12.67

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2.12.67

and again, pursuing other men's wives, and poverty when he is a householder; / there is no end to the sorrow of the parents, and if he is wealthy, he may die.

2.12.67.p1

— (in the Pañcadaśī 12.65–67).

2.12.67.p2

Just as there is a remedy through discrimination for the impure latent impressions concerning learning, wealth, anger, women, and sons, so also for other latent impressions, discerning the fault appropriately by means of the scriptures and by one's own reasoning, one should apply a remedy. And when the remedy is applied, the supreme state characterized by liberation while living is obtained. Thus says Vasiṣṭha:
"If you make an effort toward the abandonment of latent impressions,
then all your mental anxieties and physical ailments will instantly become weakened." / — (in the Yogavāsiṣṭha Rāmāyaṇa, Upaśamaprakaraṇa 92.9).

2.12.67.p3

"If, abandoning latent impressions by force through human effort,
you establish steadfastness, then you will fully attain the state."

2.12.67.p4

— (in the same work, 92.3–4).

2.12.67.p5

Now, here 'human effort' means the discrimination of the faults of sense-objects mentioned before. And that, even though practiced repeatedly, is overcome by the activity of the powerful sense faculties. That was declared by the Blessed Lord:
"Even of the striving person who is wise, O son of Kuntī,
the turbulent senses forcibly carry away the mind."

2.12.67.p6

— (in the Bhagavadgītā 2.60).

2.12.67.p7

"For whichever senses wandering about the mind conforms to,
that carries away its wisdom, as the wind carries away a boat on the water."

2.12.67.p8

— (in the same work, 2.67).

2.12.67.p9

If so, then to protect the discrimination that has arisen, the senses must be restrained. That too is shown right there in the two subsequent verses:
"Restraining them all, being disciplined, he should sit intent on Me;
for he whose senses are under control, his wisdom is firmly established." — (in the same work, 2.61).

2.12.67.p10

"Therefore, O mighty-armed one, he whose senses are restrained
on all sides from the sense-objects, his wisdom is firmly established." — (in the same work, 2.68).

2.12.67.p11

In another Smṛti also:
"Not fickle with hands and feet, not fickle with eyes, the renunciant
is also not fickle with speech—such is the mark of a well-behaved man."

2.12.67.c12

This very point is clarified elsewhere by concise statement and elaboration:
"Tongueless, a eunuch, lame, blind, deaf,
and foolish—by these six the renunciant is liberated, there is no doubt."

2.12.67.p13

— (in the Nāradaparivrājakopaniṣad 3.62).

2.12.67.p14

["One should not be fickle with hands and feet, one should not be fickle with eyes,
and not fickle with limbs, O brāhmaṇa—such is the conduct of the well-behaved."

2.12.67.p15

(in the Vasiṣṭhasmṛti 6.39).

2.12.67.p16

"The sage is not fickle with hands and feet, not fickle with eyes,
and not fickle with speech and limbs—such is the conduct of the well-behaved."

2.12.67.p17

(in the Mahābhārata 14.45.18). "Not fickle with hands and feet, not fickle with eyes, not crooked,
and not fickle with speech and limbs, nor moving in the sphere of the ill-behaved."

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