Chapter 2 Shloka 52

यदा ते मोहकलिलं बुद्धिर्व्यतितरिष्यति।

तदा गन्तासि निर्वेदं श्रोतव्यस्य श्रुतस्य च।।५२।।

When the intellect is freed

from the quagmire of moha,

you will transcend all that you have heard

as well as all that should be heard.

Chapter 2 Shloka 52

यदा ते मोहकलिलं बुद्धिर्व्यतितरिष्यति।

तदा गन्तासि निर्वेदं श्रोतव्यस्य श्रुतस्य च।।५२।।

When the intellect is freed from the quagmire of moha, you will transcend all that you have heard as well as all that should be heard.

Moha (मोह)

First understand what is meant by the ‘quagmire of moha’.

1. A quagmire is one which enmeshes even more when one struggles to get out of it.

2. Moha is the veil of delusion which prevents one from viewing reality.

3. When moha arises it deludes one into seeing truth in falsehood and falsehood in truth.

4. To identify oneself with the inert body is one of the greatest delusions caused by moha.

5. It is moha which prevents one from discerning between the Atma and what is opposed to the Atma.

6. Ego, false pride and arrogance – all these comprise the mire of moha.

The Lord now says, when you are liberated from the mire of moha, what you have heard and all that is deserving of being heard, both become redundant. He who has transcended moha:

1. Is able to discern between the real and the unreal, between Atma and Anatma – that which is different from the Atma.

2. Such an Atmavaan renounces his sense of doership and his identification with the body.

3. He relinquishes attachment with the deeds performed by the body.

4. He does not attach himself to worldly enjoyments.

5. Worldly objects no longer possess any value for such a one.

6. Even the intellect that relates to the body no longer remains precious to such a one.

Such a one seeks nothing for himself from the world. A person gives importance to the objects of the world only as long as he remains attached to the body and is fettered by moha. Once he has cut asunder the bonds of attachment with his body, he no longer focuses on the objects that can be known only through the body. He who has attained such a state and who has transcended attachment, the Lord says of such a one, ‘He attains detachment both from the heard and that which is worthy of being heard.’

Little one, that which is ‘worthy of being heard’ is scriptural knowledge. The Scriptures are imperative for the aspirant of spirituality. They help us to see the reality and to transcend moha. Through them:

1. The ignorant can comprehend knowledge;

2. Ignorance can be banished;

3. The sadhak can perceive his true identity;

4. The intellect can gain purity;

5. One can comprehend the non-real or illusory and learn how to be free from it.

Until the sadhak becomes an Atmavaan, he must take support of these Scriptures and practice all that he hears. However, once he becomes an Atmavaan:

1. What can the Scriptures teach him? He has himself become the goal of the Scriptures.

2. The Scriptures are theory – his life is a practical elucidation of the Scriptures.

3. What can the Scriptures say to him, towards whom they look for their own verification?

4. The Scriptures are not a proof of spiritual living. They can only reveal the path of abidance in the Atma.

5. The Scriptures can only reveal to a small extent, the external signs of the Atmavaan. They cannot ever encompass the Atma in words.

Scriptural injunction becomes inessential for the Atmavaan because he has already imbibed all that the Scriptures say. His life illumines the word of the Scriptures. He has attained the divinity and purity described therein. He manifests the Unmanifest.

Little one! The body of such a one is visible, but the Master of that body no longer identifies with it. That which he hears or that which is worthy of being heard, no longer leave any impression on such a one.

Such people are called vairaagi or sanyasi or Atmavaan. They are always silent about themselves. They no longer identify with their body therefore they rarely speak of themselves. Whenever they do, they talk of their body as objectively as they would of another’s body. They are not attached to either. Since they are the practical manifestation of scriptural tenets, those who surround them become learned and conversant with the Scriptures merely by watching the life of such a one. Unfortunately, many such associates also become arrogant and take undue advantage of such a one’s qualities of love, forgiveness etc. of which he continually gives proof.

When the intellect transcends the mire of moha, it no longer relates to the body but to the Atma and remains completely untouched and uninfluenced by the world.