Viveka Chudamani: Prarabadha for Saints?

Acharya Sankara's Viveka Chudamani(Crest Jewel of Wisdom)

Ø Prarabadha   for  Saints?(446-464)

Ø  “I  am Brahman”—with   this   Realisation, the   actions   of   a  hundred   crore   cycles   come   tonought,  like    the   actions   in   the    dream   on   waking   up(448)

Ø  Being  unattached  and indifferent like sky,  one   who   is   Realised  is neverc oncerned in   the  least about actions yet  to be  performed(450)

Ø    The   sky,because of its contact  with the jar, is not affected by    the smell  of the  liquor  in  it.So too,  the  Atman is not affected by   the  properties, the conditionings because of  its   contact  with   them(451)

Ø  That   work   which   was   performed before  thedawn  ofKnowledge and because  of  whichthis   body   is  conjured  up,  is notdestroyed by   the  Self-Knowledge   without yielding   its   fruits---just  likem  an  arrow  shot atan object(452)  Thinking  it  to be a  tiger if an  arrow is shot at an  object,it doe snot   then   stop because it  turns out    to be a  cow.It still pierces it   with   full  force(453)

Ø  Prabadha   is very   powerful  for  the   Realised man and becomes nought  only   through   the  exhaustion   of  its  fruits;while  the sanchit aand agami are   destroyed  in  the fire  of perfect Knowledge.But   none   of these   three affects   them  who have  realised   Brahman  and  always   live  identified   with   it.They  are only   the Transcendental Brahman(454)

Ø  The  sage   who is   ever  absorbed in his   own Self  as  Brahman,Non-dual,and free  from limitations--- the  question  of  Praraadha  is  meaningless, just   as   the  question   of   a   man  having   anything todo   with  dream-objects  is meaningless when  he   has   awakened(455)

Ø  He  who has  awakened from sleep has no  idea of “I” and”mine”  with   respect to the dream body,nor for the dream objects related to it.He lives  ever awake as his  own  Self(456)

Ø  The   Atman is”Birthless,Eternal and Undeaying”—such is  the  absolute declaration of  Sruti.How each  prarabadha be   attributed   to him who lives ever-identified with  That?(460)

Ø  If   the   effects of  ignorance   are destroyed,  root and  all,by  Knowledge,  how  does   the body    continue   to live? Sruti,from a relative   stand  point,hypothesises   the   work of prarabadha   for those  who  entertain such  doubts(463)

Ø  The   idea  of  prarabadh  has  been   expounded   by   the  Upanishads not   for  proving    the   reality   of    the  body   etc., for  the   man  of   Realisation—because    the  Upanishads   are   without   exceptions striving    to point  out  the  one  Supreme Reality(464)

Vedprakash