Dashak 7 · Samāsa 9

Śrīrāma. Now how should śravaṇa be done? This too will be told naturally; listeners, give attention with one-pointed mind.

Some verbal-eloquence falls to hearing; by it, composure attained breaks; resolution made is distorted — suddenly.

That eloquence should be renounced — which is illusory in nature; there in the name of resolution — void-form [remains].

By one book, resolution is made; by another, it is uprooted; by that, doubt itself grows — lifelong.

Where doubts are cut, apprehensions dissolved — advaita-books should be heard — in paramārtha.

One who is qualified for mokṣa holds the paramārtha-path; love clings inwardly — for advaita-books.

One who has given up this-world, who is a seeker of the other-world — should see the discernment — in advaita-śāstra.

To one who wants advaita, placing duality before him distresses his heart — that listener's.

When one meets one's preference, happiness wells up; otherwise the mind is bored — on listening.

As is one's upāsanā, so his love grows; describing a second [deity] does not feel proper there.

The mark of love is such: arises effortlessly within — as water flows to its own channel naturally.

So for the ātma-jñāna-man, others are not liked; there the sārāsāra-reasoning is needed.

Where the family-goddess is Bhagavatī, there *Saptaśatī* is needed; praise of other devas — is of no use at all.

Taking Ananta's vrata, the Bhagavad-gītā is not needed there; for sādhu-folk, there is no talk — of fruit-expectation.

Wearing a hero-bracelet on the nose — but it does not gain beauty; things of one place in another — are of no use at all.

Many glory-stories have been spoken; they are respectable in their own place; if read inappropriately — they are odd.

Mallāri's glory in Dvārakā; Dvārakā's glory taken to Kāśī; Kāśī's glory at Venkaṭeśa — do not gain beauty.

Such is vast to tell; but each place is sweet in its own place; similarly, jñānīs have the inclination — for advaita-books.

A horse before yogis, a stone before an examiner, a ḍaphagāṇa before a pandit — do not gain beauty.

A [singer] before a Veda-knower; *phala-śruti* before the desireless; *koka-śāstra* (erotic-scripture) before a jñānī — [do not fit].

A dancer before a brahmacārī; rāsa-līlā expositions; water placed before a royal-swan — [thus inappropriate].

So before the inner-fixed one, an ornamented dandy is placed; how can his composure happen? A beggar's hope to a king; buttermilk offered to one [who has] nectar; a low-caste's gift offered to a sannyāsī.

To a karma-disciplined one, vaśīkaraṇa [magic]; to a pañcākṣarī, nirūpaṇa — there the heart breaks — naturally for him.

So paramārthic people — if they have no ātma-jñāna, reading books does not produce composure.

Enough this talk; one who wants to do his own good — should always investigate — in advaita-books.

The ātma-jñānī with one-pointed mind — should look at advaita; in a solitary place, peaceful — composure.

Looking in many ways, no book is beyond advaita; for paramārtha in truth — it alone is the boat.

Other [books], worldly; jokes, humor, the nine rasas — such books are not beneficial — to paramārtha.

By which paramārtha increases; repentance rises in the body; the sādhana of bhakti is liked — that is called a *book*.

By hearing which, pride dissolves; or delusion itself sets; or the mind one-pointedly bends toward Bhagavān.

By which turning-away occurs; all defects are changed; by which downward-state is averted — that is called a book.

By which steadfastness rises; by which benefaction happens; by which sense-tendency breaks — that is called a book.

By which book the sādhana of the other-world [happens]; by which jñāna; by which one is purified — that is called a book.

Many books exist — with many rules, fruit-declarations; where vairāgya and bhakti do not arise — that is not a book.

Fruit-declaration without mokṣa — is a book of false-hope; on hearing, further — only false-hope grows.

Where greed arises in hearing — where is discernment there? The ghosts of false-hope sit; they [lead to] adhogati.

Hearing only the fruit-declaration, 'I will then attain' — such ones, birth-adhogati happens spontaneously.

Many fruits the birds eat; by that their satisfaction comes; but in the heart of the *cakora* — nectar (amṛta) dwells.

So the samsārik person looks at samsāra's direction; but those who are Bhagavān's parts — desire Bhagavān.

The jñānī wants jñāna; the devotee wants bhajana; the sādhaka wants sādhana — as per his wish.

The paramārthi wants paramārtha; the selfish one wants self-interest; the miser wants wealth — from the heart.

The yogi wants yoga; the enjoyer wants enjoyment; the sick wants disease-removing medicine.

The poet wants prabandha; the logician wants debate; to the devotee, samvāda feels sweet.

The pandit wants learning; the learned love adhyāyana (study); artists love many arts.

Haridāsas love kīrtana; the pure ones love sandhyā-bath.

The virtuous love dharma; the renunciant loves sannyāsa; the tapasvī loves tapas.

The vaktā loves vāg-vilāsa; the śrotṛ loves kathā; the yogi loves yoga-discussion.

The renunciant-loving loves *virakti*; the enjoyment-loving loves *sukha*; each according to his inclination.

The intellectual loves debate; the miser loves stories of wealth; each inclines to his own.

The warrior loves war-stories; the seeker loves hidden-knowledge; the king loves statecraft.

The fool becomes enamored with sound; the slanderer looks for an opening to criticize; the sinner looks for sin-intellect — to attach to the body.

Some want the rasa-filled; some want the expansive; some want purely — simple bhakti.

The āgama-knower seeks āgama; the hero seeks combat; some seek many dharmas — as they wish.

The mukta seeks mukta-līlā; the all-knower seeks all-knowing-art; the jyotiṣī — as Pingala — seeks to describe the future.

Such — how much to tell — each hears what he likes; many books he reads — always.

But without other-world-sādhana, that should not be called śravaṇa; where there is no ātma-jñāna, that is called entertainment (*karmaṇūka*).

Sweetness without sweetness; well-marked without nose; exposition without jñāna — should not be spoken.

Enough — paramārtha-books should be heard; without paramārtha-books, [they are] vain confusion.

Therefore where *nitya-anitya-vicāra* is spoken, where *sārāsāra* — that book alone takes to the far-shore — by viveka.