काशीपञ्चकम्
उपजानि छन्द -
मनोनिवृत्तिः परमोपशान्तिः
सा तीर्थवर्या मणिकर्णिका च ।
ज्ञानप्रवाहा विमलादिगङ्गा
सा काशिकाहं निजबोधरूपा ॥ १॥
यस्यामिदं कल्पितमिन्द्रजालं
चराचरं भाति मनोविलासम् ।
सच्चित्सुखैका परमात्मरूपा
सा काशिकाहं निजबोधरूपा ॥ २॥
इन्द्रवज्रा छन्द -
कोशेषु पञ्चस्वधिराजमाना
बुद्धिर्भवानी प्रतिदेहगेहम् ।
साक्षी शिवः सर्वगतोऽन्तरात्मा
सा काशिकाहं निजबोधरूपा ॥ ३॥
अनुष्टुप् छन्द -
काश्यां हि काश्यते काशी काशी सर्वप्रकाशिका ।
सा काशी विदिता येन तेन प्राप्ता हि काशिका ॥ ४॥
स्रग्धरा छन्द -
काशीक्षेत्रं शरीरं त्रिभुवन-जननी व्यापिनी ज्ञानगङ्गा ।
भक्तिः श्रद्धा गयेयं निजगुरु-चरणध्यानयोगः प्रयागः ।
विश्वेशोऽयं तुरीयः सकलजन-मनःसाक्षिभूतोऽन्तरात्मा
देहे सर्वं मदीये यदि वसति पुनस्तीर्थमन्यत्किमस्ति ॥ ५॥
इति श्रीमद् शङ्कराचार्यविरचितं काशीपञ्चकं समाप्तम् ।
Encoded and proofread by Sunder Hattangadi
Following commentaries are by N.Balasubramanian. bbalu at satyam.net.in and
Surin Usgaonkar usgaonkar at hotmail.com
Tirtha
We pass through three states every day of our life. These are
the waking, dream and deep sleep states. These are called the
jagrat, swapna and sushupti avasthas. In the waking state we
are active and carry on transactions with the world that is
outside us. In this state the other two states do not exist
for us. Similarly, while in the the dream state, the dreamer
is active and carries on transactions with the world that is
᳚outside᳚ him. While in this state also the other two states
do not exist for the dreamer. Now, let us pause for a moment
and find out where does the ᳚dream world᳚ as we would like to
call the world one sees in a dream exist. He ᳚sees᳚ a procession
with elephants, people etc., in his dream. Is it outside of the
dreamer? The dreamer thinks so. But it is not seen by other
dreamers and also disappears when he wakes up. So the dream
world is not ᳚real᳚ but is a mental projection only. It exists
within the dreamer's mind only, but he sees it as though it
is outside him. It has all the characteristics of the ᳚real᳚
world we find in our waking state. It has the dimensions of
space, time etc. It may produce tangible effects in his body
and mind. One may dream that he is falling from a precipice
or chased by a tiger, and wake up but will continue to have
palpitation and profuse sweating. The dream world is real,
as far as the dreamer is concerned. Do not what we said above
apply to the ᳚real᳚ world we see in our waking state? Is there
any difference at all between these two worlds? Not really.
but we think the dream world is not substantial, but the other
world is. Our philosophy questions this assumption and asserts
that the so called ᳚real world᳚ is also not substantial but
is a mental projection only like the dream world is. We may
find it hard to digest this assertion but it is hard to refute
it also. This is because of the fact that it does not exist
in the other two states. In the deep sleep state, the sense
organs and the mind are withdrawn. So, no ᳚world᳚ exists. We
are ourselves in the form of bliss. This bliss is superior to
any pleasure one may get through one's sense organs. That is
why even an emperor who may have all the wealth and power at
his command will not be willing to remain awake and enjoy the
pleasures that are at his command all the time. He would like
to fall asleep and enjoy the higher bliss which is his true
nature. But this state is temporary as our mind continues
to be covered by ignorance. That is why when we wake up we
are back where we were, into this world of ours with all its
problems. Mark, in the waking state the mind and the sense
organs are active. In the dream state only the mind is active
and the dreamer ᳚creates᳚ the dream world, transacts with it
and ᳚withdraws᳚ it within himself at the end of the dream.
Similarly, when one goes to sleep and slips into a dream, the
real world ᳚goes᳚. That is why one may go to sleep with a jar
of water by his bed side. He may feel thirsty in his dream,
but the ᳚real᳚ water by his side cannot come to his aid. Only
᳚dream water᳚ can quench the thirst. Similarly, one may come
across a windfall in his dream, but all that piles of ᳚dream
money᳚ will not help him out of the financial crunch he may
face on waking up. This is explained in our upanishads. The
DakShinamurthy Stotram of Sri Sankaracharya explains this
with many examples. A magician conjures up objects out of
thin air. These objects appear as real to the observer. But
the magician knows they are unreal. Similarly, the world
appears real to us. When the person gets jnanam and ᳚wakes
up᳚ he realises that what he sees is God appearing as the
world. It is his own self also. So, there is no ᳚world᳚ other
than himself. It is born, exists and withdrawn by his mind;
just as a dream is born, exists and withdrawn by a dreamer's
mind. This is said in the Kaivalyopanishad. mayyeva sakalam
jAtam mayi sarvam pratishtitam, mayi sarvam layam yAti.
Coming to Sankaracharya's Kasi Panchakam, he, being an awakened
person or jnani, sees no world outside of him. So, where will
he go for a pilgrimage? By whatever name you may call the
place, Kasi, Prayaga etc., it exists within him only. So,
where will he go? There is an incident connected with Sri
Ramana maharshi of Tiruvannamalai that vividly illustrates this
fact. Once someone asked him why he is staying all the time
at Tiruvannamalai only and not go on any pilgrimage. Ramana
promptly asked the person ᳚where can I go?᳚ But, Sankaracharya
retained his ego for carrying out his mission as a teacher.
Most of us believe in a god with form and name. We believe
in the efficacy of puja, pilgrimage etc. Gita says that a
man of wisdom should not confuse such people with talks about
formless god etc., till they are mentally mature and are able
to swallow such teachings of the upanishads. But, instead he
should strengthen their faith by himself joining them in their
method of worship. The Lord says in Gita that such devotees
will gradually progress to higher form of devotion. So,
the Acharya, like us, went to different places, worshipped
the deities there, and composed hymns in their praise. All
these are for the benefit of lay people only. But he had also
composed works like DakShinamurthy stotram that disseminate
advaitic phhilosophy. Trust this answers the question.
Above commentary by N.Balasubramanian. bbalu at satyam.net.in
तीर्थ
तीर्थ is a word which occurs in most sanskrit literature
from the times ofऋग्वेद, however inऋग्वेद the
word is used to mean a way, a path , flow of water or a part
of river where one can safely bathe e.g.१.१६९.०६ ई.
प्रति॒ प्र याहीन्द्र मी॒ल्हषो॒ नृन् म॒हः पार्थि॑वे॒ सद॑ने यतस्व ।
अध॒ यद् ए॑षाम पृथब॒न्धास॒ एता॑स् ती॒र्थे नार्यः पौस्या॑नि त॒स्थः ॥
at times it is (though rarely in ऋग्वेद) it is used to
mean as a sacred place(पवित्र) e.g. १० ३१.०३
अध्या॑यि धी॒तर् अस॑सृग्रम् अंशा॑स् ती॒र्थे न दस्मम उप॑ यन्त्य् ऊमाः॑।
अभ्य् आनश्म सःवि॒तस्य॑ शूषं नवेदसो अमृता॑नाम् अभूम ॥
it can therfore be concluded that certain parts or provinces of
the sub-continent were considered to be sacred in quality and
volumes of sanskrit literaure post vedic period advises that
these places be visited for spiritual enhancement. It will be
shocking but matsyapurANaमत्स्यपुराण puts the figure at
30.5 Million places in entire universe as tIrthas (तीर्थ)
However Vedas mostly aknowlege the places near major rivers like
sindhU , sarasvati , gangA and sarayuसिन्धू, सरस्वति,
गङ्गा, सरयु as tirthas. In vedas particularly sindhU,
sarsvati and sarayu rivers are treated as mothers. This is
not a difficult to understand. The whole aryan civilization was
considered advanced because of their knowledge about techniques
of cultivation of land. The cultivation of land offered man ,
vis-a-vis any other living organism on the earth, control over
his food. It also reduced the risk of death which is associated
with a unter-gatherer. (that we were). It was also recognised
early in the civilisation that certain diseases which affect the
animals also affect the humans, increasing mortality. However
diseases affecting plants are different from than those which
affect human beings. These things together probably laid the
foundation of vegetarianism.
In the light of the above terming the places near the rivers
or the fertile deltas as .sacred. or as god.s gift to humanity
appears justified and insistence on visiting such places is
also understandable. (e.g the meaning of the word kurukhetra
कुरुक्षेत्र is land brought under cultivation by kuru
dynasty.)
As far as KAshiकाशी is concerned, it was a place
where most of the knowledge during the time of writing of
most brahman-granthas (ब्राह्मणग्रंथ) was born. During
Mahabharata period kAshi was a kingdom and Varanasi was the
capital city of Kashi. In the first or second century AD most
literature refers to .kAshi. as a .nagari. (city).
Insistence on visiting such places where nature and human
together worked in synergy to generate prosperity is natural.
It is the advise that any civilised society should give to its
members. Therefore the importance of visiting tirthas made
sense during the time when most of the Sanskrit literature
was scripted. The story of these places during the modern
ages has changed dramatically and the appropriate changes
which should have been rightfully made in the granhtas have
not been made during the Middle Ages. The main reason for this
appears to be, as appropriately noted by the great Indologist Dr
D. D. Kossambi, .Brahmins who were traditionally the keepers of
knowledge, in Middle Ages, engaged themselves in the meaningless
activities to preserve orthodoxy and ignored progress.
One more point is important and needs to be emphasized:
one of the most important aspects of Vedic philosophy is
the importance that it gives to the .doer. कर्ता than
to the .method. arguing that an accurate aetiology does not
exist in nature. Vedic .vidhi.विधी (to be translated
as .command.) has three parts 1. doerकर्ता 2. mantra
(methodology)मंत्र and 3. deityदेवता . Out of
these deity is always used to denote a set of qualities
or set of adjectives and, contrary to the common belief,
is the least important. (eg. the word vasudevवसुदेव
means one who possesses all of the following qualities
simultaneously : 1. Greatness ( श्री)2. Success (यश)
3. Bravery(वीर्य) 4. Wealth (ऐश्वर्य) and,
5. Detachment from the material world ( वैराग्य). (ref:
viShNupurANa).)
Therefore by merely performing the rite according to the
methodology does not obtain the desired result unless an
individual performing the rite is .eligible. (the word used
in vedic literature is adhikAraअधिकार). One must first
acquire the eligibility and then perform the rite. One who is
not knowledgeable or has behaved in a fashion detrimental to the
Manav SamAja (Human Society) cannot perform aShTiShToma yaGYa
. When the Vedas ordain that .one who wants to go to heaven must
perform aShTiShToma yaGYa., it is automatically assumed that
you have the eligibility to perform the rite. Unfortunately,
this is being totally ignored and the large portion of the
society indulges in meaningless rites and rituals.
The concept can be very easily elucidated: there are hundred
of recipe books about French cuisine. Try the recipe yourself
and then visit a reputed place in Paris to taste the same
product. Will the taste be same? The chef has more eligible
therefore the same methodology produces a different result or
in other words .there is no accurate aetiology..
Vyasa in Van-parva or araNyaparva (वनपर्व orअरण्यपर्व)
i.e. chapter III of mahabharata) (sec 82 ) says:
I will tell thee of the merit which is attached to tirthas and
which constitutes the refuge of the Rishis. .He, whose hands
and feet and mind and knowledge and asceticism and acts are
under wholesome control, enjoys the fruits of tirthas. He who
has ceased to accept gifts, he that is contented, he that is
free from pride enjoys the fruits of tirthas. He that is without
sin, he that acts without purpose, he that eats light, he that
has his senses under control, he that is free from every sin,
enjoys the fruits of tirthas. O king, he that is free from
anger, he that adheres to truth, he that is firm in vows, he
that regards all creatures as his own self, enjoys the fruits
of tirthas.. (translation by Kisari Mahan Ganguly 1893-96)
Similarly skandakAshi purAN (6.1) and padya pauraN uttarArdha
3.237 states that control over the senses, adherence to truth
and purity of mind to be the highest tIrthas.
Against this background if you read the sha.nkarAchArya and
near complete translation that Nandu has offered I think the
latent meaning would be apparent to you.
Also you may be interested that the meaning of the word
tIrthakara तीर्थकर् is .one who makes path through life
by his own prowess . generally referred as shiva.
If you are keen I would suggest that you go through vanparva
of Mahabharata chapter 82 carefully . That would give you
Vyasas interpretation of .sacrifice. by the kings etc. Please
understand that the name of a deity is used at many places
mean only a set of adjectives. In sanskrit literaterature it
is called prasha.nsa.nka svarUpa प्रशंसंक स्वरूप.
(Researched and written by Surin Usgonkar. Mumbai , India )