HASTAMALAKIYAM (Feb )
By Swami Suprajnananda
Summary
In HASTAMALAKIYAM (Feb 2017), Swami Suprajnananda translates and explains Acharya Sankara’s commentary on Hastamalaki’s 12 verses. Sankara begins by noting that worldly happiness, derived from sensory experiences, is flawed—it is inseparable from suffering and impermanent. Rare virtuous individuals recognize this and cultivate detachment to escape the cycle of rebirth caused by ignorance of the Self. The first verse asserts the Atman (Self) is eternal, limitless, and the impartial cause of mental and sensory activities, akin to the sun’s role in the world. Just as the sun remains unaffected by the actions of beings it illuminates, the Atman remains untouched by the functions of the mind, senses, and organs of action, like space unaffected by objects within it. The text contrasts the illusory duality of the world—knowledge, ignorance, devotion, attachment, righteousness, and evil—with Brahman’s detachment. These dualities apply only to the individual soul (jiva), not Brahman, which remains unaffected, much like a lamp or the sun, which remains unchanged whether used for virtuous or wicked acts. Misery, sin, and unhappiness pertain solely to the jiva, while Brahman, like a snake unaffected by its own poison, transcends such qualities.
Conclusion
HASTAMALAKIYAM's first verse establishes the Atman as the eternal, impartial witness, akin to the sun enabling worldly actions without being affected by them. It underscores that worldly happiness, tied to sensory experiences, is transient and intertwined with suffering, prompting rare enlightened beings to seek liberation from cyclic existence through self-realization. The text contrasts the illusory dualities of human experience—knowledge, ignorance, virtue, and vice—with Brahman's unaffected transcendence, emphasizing that suffering and morality pertain only to the individual soul (jiva), not the absolute Self. This distinction invites a profound shift in perspective, urging detachment from fleeting, conditional realities to embrace the eternal, unchanging truth of the Atman.