Sadhana Chatushtaya – the Four Means of Practice
The Four Basic Qualifications for the Spiritual Path of Vedanta
Aug 27, 2008
The spiritual path of Jnana Yoga – the Yoga of Knowledge or Wisdom – speaks of four basic qualifications a spiritual seeker (sadhaka) should acquire in order to progress spiritually. They have been mentioned in the works of Advaita philosophers such as Adi Shankara (also called Shankaracharya), who explicitly mentions them in his work Vivekacudamani (the Crest Jewel of Discernment).
Discernment (viveka)
The first one is viveka – discernment or discrimination. Vedanta describes it as the ability to discriminate between the Real and unreal, the Self and the non-self. Viveka is sometimes likened to a sword that separates Truth from illusion, the Permanent from the transient. Adi Shankara, the foremost teacher of Advaita Vedanta, the philosophy of Non-Dualism, described viveka as the firm conviction that Brahman (the Absolute Reality) is real and the world is unreal.
Detachment (vairagya)
The next one is vairagya – detachment or renunciation. Human beings tend to perceive the world according to their personal likes and dislikes, attractions and aversions. The result is a highly subjective and misleading view of the world and oneself. Detachment means not to be influenced by selfish desires. When there is a strong spiritual awakening, vairagya can also express itself as an intense aversion towards worldly pleasures. According to Adi Shankara, vairagya is the refusal or inability to be satisfied by the limited and transitory.
Six virtues (shat sampat)
The next qualification is a combination of six spiritual virtues which are different forms of mind control. They are shama (calmness), dama (sense control), uparati (self-withdrawal), titiksha (forbearance), shradda (faith) and samadhana (constant concentration).
Desire for Liberation (mumukshutva)
Mumukshutva means the feeling of intensive longing to be liberated from limited, separate existence. It is the desire to become one with Brahman, the Divine Ground of all existence, which Vedanta describes as Sat-Chit-Ananda or Being-Awareness-Bliss. It is essentially the yearning for freedom that is shared by all human beings, although in most cases, this yearning remains unconscious. Instead of longing for Absolute Freedom which is the very nature of all human beings, most people desire the lesser freedom of acting according to their ego-centred whims and fancies. Mumukshutva may be the most important quality of all, since it automatically helps develop all the others. However, it remains a rare quality. As Krishna says in chapter 7, verse 3 of the Bhagavad-Gita: “Among thousands of men, one perchance struggles for perfection.”
Once they are mastered, the real spiritual practice of Vedanta or Jnana Yoga can begin. Adi Shankara talks of three steps of spiritual practice which are called ‘shravana’ (hearing), ‘manana’ (reflection) and ‘nididhyasana’ (meditation). When put together, these three constitute a technique of Meditative Reading.
Literature:
- Vivekacudamani of Sri Sankaracarya. By Swami Madhavananda (Translator). Vedanta Press (Advaita Ashrama).
- Srimad Bhagavad-Gita. By Swami Tapasyananda (Translator). Ramakrishna Math, India.
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