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Everything is Supreme Reality

यत्र प्रविष्टा विषयाः परेरिता
नदीप्रवाहा इव वारिराशौ।
लिनन्ति सन्मात्रतया न विक्रियाम्
उत्पादयन्त्येष यतिर्विमुक्तः।।
– विवेकचूडामणिः ४४१

yatra praviṣtā viṣayā: pareritā
nadīpravāhā iva vārirāśau |
linanti san-mātratayā na vikriyām
utpādayanty-eṣa yatirvimukta: ||
– Vivekacūḍāmaṇi: 441

Translation:

That Yati (Sanny¡sin or a man of self-mastery) is indeed liberated, in whom externally caused sense-perceptions enter and get dissolved (merged) like rivers flowing into the sea, producing no reaction, because of (his knowledge of) the singular Reality.

Points for Introspection:

Human life is full of agitation caused by tension, anxiety and fear. Fear of not getting what one wants and having to face what one does not like. Throughout the working hours, one has to interact with persons, places and events that he may like or dislike. He has to face various circumstances, favourable or unfavourable.

Whenever such situations arise which are not according to one’s wish or expectation, one feels greatly disturbed and affected. One may be very peaceful when everything is going on according to one’s plan, but the whole peace is disturbed when even a small undesirable event happens. Ordinarily in such cases, one is struck by the huge waves of agitation, affliction and misery.

This is the condition of almost all people; but not so for a Knower of Truth. His mind is able to assimilate every wave he faces in life. He does not get disturbed by anything that happens. He is as deep and profound as the ocean.

The ocean assimilates everything that the innumerable rivers bring into it. When the rivers merge into the ocean, there is no disturbance seen in the ocean at all, either owing to the huge volume of river-water entering it or because of the impurities brought by the rivers which they collect while flowing through the plains. The ocean remains as it is – vast , limitless, and magnanimous with infinite quietness deep within.

So is a Knower of Truth. He is like the ocean. His mind remains absolutely quiet and unaffected even when situations that are sources of agitation and affectation are brought to him by various agents through various interactions.

Having attained the Knowledge of Truth, the Knower perceives all the situations and objects as display in the Sat, the changeless Eternal, the Real. Whether it is happiness or suffering, peacefulness or agitation, he sees in everything the same Self, the Sat. When everything is an expression of the Sat, when all are the same Self, then who can cause disturbance and to whom?

Being steadfastly established in the Knowledge of the One Reality, the Yati sees everything as his own Self – never getting affected or afflicted by what life brings in. Such a Yati is liberated.

Even in the midst of greatly disturbing situations, chanting this śloka repeatedly, one can invoke the vast sea-dimension – one can have a dip into that unaffected depth and profundity within – which is his real identity.

Word Meaning:

यत्र (yatra) = wherein; प्रविष्टा: (praviṣtā:) = having entered; विषयाः (viṣayā:) = sense-objects; परेरिताः (pareritā:) = brought by others; नदीप्रवाहाः (nadī-pravāhā:) = flowing rivers; इव (iva) = like; वारिराशौ (vārirāśau ) = in the sea; लिनन्ति (linanti) = dissolved (merged); सन्मात्रतया (san-mātratayā) = because of singular nature of the Reality; न (na) = no; विक्रियाम् (vikriyām) = reaction; उत्पादयन्ति (utpādayanti) = produce; एषः (ēṣa:) = this; यतिः (yati:) = sannyāsin or a man of self-mastery; विमुक्तः (vimukta:) = liberated;

अन्वयः

वारिराशौ नदीप्रवाहाः इव परेरिताः विषयाः यत्र प्रविष्टाः सन्मात्रतया लिनन्ति, विक्रियाम् न उत्पादयन्ति, एषः यतिः विमुक्तः ।
vāri-rāśau nadī-pravāhā: iva pareritā: viṣayā: yatra praviṣtā: san-mātratayā linanti, vikriyāṃ na utpādayanti, ēṣa: yati: vimukta:.