Vedanta Verses 273 - 75

Just as sandal wood immersed in water for a long period produces foul odor and has to be purified and processed (dried, cleansed and rubbed etc ) to regain its fragrance, the self too “trapped” in the notions “I am the body” “I am limited” etc ‘seemingly’ looses its original nature.

Swamijee made an important point here thus:
There is a process that is carried out while purifying the sandal wood involving an actual chemical process such as drying and rubbing, but with the Self it is not so.
I see myself as non-eternal and I do not have to process or purify the self which is ever pure and lustrous. There is no modification or any chemical cleansing to be done. It is because of aviveka or absence of discrimination that the self is seemingly eclipsed. The antidote is viveka or correct discrimination between the knower and the known, the drk and the drsya.

In the case of performing action, every problem entails a process, and a solution to the problem (antidote) also entails a process, but for acquiring knowledge there is no processing any sorts but only correction of error, error in the form of “I am the Body”.

Brahmavidya is susukam involving no strain, one has to only look at oneself, silently, look at the observer as obtained in all the three states involving no uncertainty, it liberates the jiva.

Thus reflection is different from action involving some processing.

Rooted in the mind is the uncountable/countless attractions and this has to be distinguished from habits. Habits have tendency of becoming stronger and stronger. Attraction does not grow in strength but moves from object to object. The cause of attraction is the sense of feeling incomplete coupled with the false belief that with the fulfillment of the desire for the object ‘I will become full’. Habits can be changed/stopped and made less strong or whatever, but attractions can not be brought under this category. Attraction has it roots in the sense of incompleteness, and this is common to all men, men from cave times to the ultra modern man living in big cities. With time attraction does not become stronger the quality remains the same.

Swamijee makes an important point here:
Attraction to objects is not by habit but due to “ignorance” attraction is anadi, timeless, since when am I attracted to the object? Does not have a historical beginning, in fact the Self is as though hampered by attraction for the objects,
But if a person has determination to undertake the quest for the Self, then the attraction for objects may not come in the way to obstruct his study and reflection, for someone who loves silence noise is a disturbance but for someone who is not affected by noise then noise is not a problem, attraction has to be looked seriously by the seekers of the knowledge and it is not a problem for others.
The attraction for the world has to be rubbed off. How does one do that?
It is through viveka, discrimination by which I tell myself that if I were to possess all objects of the attraction I still do not loose the sense of incompleteness. Self-discovery is the only solution for getting rid of the sense of incompleteness.

One does not get vexed with attractions but only switches from one object to the other. The reason for temptation is within me and objects are not responsible for anything. Objects have no will to tempt me. I am in a position of being attracted and always wanting something or the other, and therefore I get attracted. Each attraction is like a noose and I am trapped by it. But by constant reflection and serious study I have to know the self. I have to look at the fundamental problem, that I am the body and not worry so much about topical problems which arise and fall. When attractions come to an end self becomes evident as Brahman,

Giving up attraction will not automatically culminate in knowledge of the self, it can help me to relax and do vichara, investigation and this will lead to the self knowledge. Dispassion facilitates vichara and vichara directly leads to K of the self.