Commentary on the Panchadasi : - Post-1. Swami Krishnananda.
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Discourse -1.
Chapter - 1: Tattva Viveka – Discrimination of Reality
Slokam : 1to 5.
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The first two slokams of the First Chapter of the Panchadasi constitute a prayer to Swami Vidyaranya’s Guru. In all ancient texts, the Guru is offered a prayer first. This is a tradition which has been followed always, and the Panchadasi author also follows this respected tradition.
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Slokam-1.
"Namaḥ sri sankarananda guru padambu janmane, savilasa maha moha graha grasaika karmane "
Sankarananda was a great sannyasin under whom Vidyaranya appears to have studied. Sankarananda wrote, to our knowledge, two great works, one which is called Atma Purana, an epic type of description of the contents of the Upanishads. The other book by Sankarananda is Commentary on the Bhagavadgita. Very few people read that commentary, as it is very tough and technical. This Sankarananda, the great Master, is now offered obeisance. “Prostrations to the lotus feet of the Guru Sri Sankarananda, who is engaged in the great function of the destruction of that crocodile which harasses people everywhere in the form of illusion, delusion and ignorance, and dances in ecstasy in the form of this created world.” This is a prayer to the Guru, mentioning thereby the power of the Guru in dispelling ignorance. ‘Sankara’ has also been interpreted by the commentator as one who brings sam. Sam karoti iti sankara. Sam is blessedness, peace, auspiciousness. Kara is one who brings it. It may be Lord Siva, or it may be the Supreme Being Himself who brings us blessedness, auspiciousness and ultimate peace. So it may be a prayer to the Almighty God also. We may take it in that sense, or we may take it as a prayer to the Guru Sankarananda, whose power is here delineated as the capacity to destroy the ignorance of disciples.
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Slokam-2. :
"Tat padambu ruha dvandva seva nimarla cetasam, sukha bodhaya tattvasya vivedo’yam vidhiyate ".
Now the author says he is engaging himself, in the first five chapters, in the description of an important subject called viveka, or discrimination. The first five chapters are all designated as viveka, or discrimination of something from something else. The middle five chapters are designated as dipa, or illumination consciousness. The last five chapters are designated as ananda, or bliss.
“I shall endeavour to write a textbook on the discrimination of Reality, as distinguished from unreality, for the benefit of students who always wish to have easy textbooks, not with technicalities galore and very hard to understand. I shall free this text from unnecessary technicality and make it easy of understanding: sukha bodhaya. It is for students who are free from mala vikshepa avarana—that is, their minds are cleansed from the usual dross of desire and attachment to things, students who are devoted to Guru Sankarananda.” It may be, therefore, a textbook that has been specially written for the edification of other students who were also listening to the discourses of the great Master, Sankarananda; or it may mean all devotes of God. We can take it in either sense.
The viveka, or the analysis, the discrimination that is spoken of here, is actually the analysis of Consciousness. The very beginning verses go directly into the subject without beating about the bush and giving us introductory passages or telling stories, etc. It goes to the very heart of the matter. The impossibility of denying the existence of consciousness is the main subject in the initial verses. We may doubt everything. We may even deny everything, but we cannot deny
To be continued ...
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