Vedanta Verse 302

This particular verse draws an analogy between ‘this worldly wealth’ which is believed to be well protected and guarded by the legendary three hooded serpent on the one hand and the Bliss of the Self on the other. The atmic bliss guarded by the dreadful three hooded serpent called egoism. The text urges us to destroy the three hooded serpent through wisdom and reclaim the great wealth.

Swamijee’s exploration of the text:

What do we mean by the word ‘treasure’ (nidhi) here?
Peaceful nature of our own self is the treasure; it is the Being with absolute serenity.

That which belongs to me at all times is my wealth. What comes and disappears in time cannot be called my wealth. The social, physiological, financial and other labels that I adorn and cast away are not wealth, nor my nature.

This may be compared to heat which is the nature of fire, motion the nature of air, accommodativeness the nature of space etc.

Whatever is one’s own true nature will not and should not alter. Infact anything subject to change is not the svabhava or one’s own nature. This nature is the wealth because it does not alter.

Awareness is the only wealth that remains unaltered, it is never lost. The individual by nature is unlimited and peaceful but there is felt limitation and struggle. This is an error, just as felt noise is an error within the eternal silence.

What is my nature?
To be free from dream is my nature,
To be free from wakeful is my nature,
To be free from both is also my nature, (deep sleep)
In fact to survive the wakeful, dream and their absences, to survive the origins of my thoughts and their disappearances is my nature,
To survive time and space is my nature,
Thus I the awareness is never lost, It is and IS irrefutably.

What I own is not my nature, ‘owning’ is dependent on relationships, I own nothing, I possess nothing, but ‘I am’ , I survive all relations. I am the knower of all relations, I am the knower of all the things ‘I own”, I feel I own my body, but the knower of the body is not the body as the knower of a carpet is not the carpet. Owned objects keep changing, ownership keeps changing passing from one hand to another, but what is my inherent nature that should not and will not change.

Thus the unchanging awareness, my self, the peace, the being, is my wealth.

Such a wondrous wealth (unrecognized by me) is actually my nature. This wealth is well guarded. The word ‘guarded’ actually means concealment. The truth is concealed by my own erroneous thinking that I am the limited form.

Even though I am free by nature I am not allowed to know this, who is the culprit here?

My own extrovertedness is the real culprit here.

My conclusion that my well being lies in wealth, name, honor, power, fame etc, prevents me from seeing the treasure, my nature.

What is this conclusion based upon?
It is based on the very strong (mahabalawata) EGO, (ahamkara) that manifests thus “I am the limited form”, “Being the form I will perish with the form”.
This is the fierce serpent that conceals the treasure. My equation with the non eternal objects is the sinking boat and I hold on to it for my felt need for survival.

What does this confusion of the subject and object presuppose?
It presupposes three temperaments (the three gunas) that are universal to all confusions. This is depicted as three hooded serpent.
Negative thinking, hatred, indulgence, reveling in pleasures are forms of tamo guna, and they invariably lead to sluggishness and carelessness.

The love to be active, and achieve are traits of rajo guna. Such people oriented towards achievement work hard and they need not necessarily enjoy all that they have accumulated through hard work.

Having values and doing good charitable deed, feeling happy etc are sattiva mode of the mind.

All the three gunas presuppose the confusion between the subject and the object.

However being free from three gunas will also not free us from the confusion that we carry about ourselves. The problem is confusion, self error, and this is different from reforming ourselves. The three gunas are likened to the three hoods of the serpent and EGO has the three gunas for its hoods.

One should chop the head of this ego through reflection which will enable us to grow out of the material pleasures; craving for power, and also the conclusion that if I am a good person I will be all right.

What is the weapon required here?
It is the sharp edged weapon called the knowledge gained from the Vedanta text, which reminds me of my inherent nature.
Once I realize my self through exposure to Vedantic teachings I shall be equipped to cut asunder the knots and the hoods of the fierce serpent.
I then become krtakrtya, have attained /achieved all that is to be attained or achieved.