Ethical and Spiritual Values in Vivekachoodamani: Bhakti- Firm and Deep

Sankara's Viveka Chudamani: Bhakti: Firm and Deep(Verses 31)

Ø Among the instruments and conditions necessary  for  liberation, bhakti  alone  is supreme. A constant  attempt   to  live up   to one'sown  Real Naure  is  called single-pointed devotion .(31)To him, making this appeal and seeking help, scorched by the flame of the world's fire, the Great Soul beholding him with eyes most pitiful brings speedy comfort. (31)

Courtesy of  Approach and Questioning(32-40)

Ø Other say  that Bhakti means  a constant  enquiry  into  the  Real Nature of  one's own  Self....one who has  the  above mentioned   qualifications  and  and  is  anxious  to know  the Self must ,therefore, devotedly  serve  a  Teacher, well-established in  knowledge,  for redeeming himself from bondage.(32) Serving the Teacher with devotion and aspiration for the Eternal, and finding harmony with him, seek the needed knowledge of the Self.

ØHe, who  is well-versed in the scriptures,sinless,unaffected by  desires,a full knower of the  Supreme ,who has  retired  into the  Supreme, who is as calm as the fire that has  burnt up its fuel,who  is a boundless ocean  of mercy that needs no cause for its expression and  who  is  an intimate  friend  of  those  who have surrendered  unto  him (33)Here, Sankara exhausts  his  list  ofadjectives in  enumerating  the qualities  of  the true Guru to supplement  his  declaration  that  the Master  should  be well-established  in  the Supreme  Consciousness.

• Worshipping that  Guru with deep devotion, when  he is  pleased   with  your surrender,humility and  service,approachhim and   askhim to  explain  what  you  must know,(34)Ø The great good ones dwell in peace, bringing joy to the world like the return of spring. Having crossed  ocean of the world, they ever help others to cross over. For this is the very nature of the great-souled ones (Mahatmas)—their swiftness to take away the weariness of others. So the soft-rayed moon of itself soothes the earth, burned by the fierce sun's heat.(38)

• O Master, O friend  of  those who  reverentially  surrender  to  thee,thou ocean  of  mercy, I  salute  thee; save  me, fallen  as  I  am into  this  sea of  change, with  a  direct  glance from  thy  eyes  which rain  nectarian  Grace Supreme(35)
• I am being  roasted  in  the  blazing   infernal  fire  of change; I am being tossed  by  the  cruel storms of misfortune; I  am  terrified (without and  within)...O Lord! save  me from death;  I seek refuge in thee,for I donot know of any  other harbour wherein   to  seek  shelter(36)
• There  are  peaceful and  magnimanous  saints who live  like...  the  spring  season...for  the  good  of  humanity. They  have crossed  the dreadful ocean  of  finitude through  their own  efforts and  with  no  ulterio rmotives,  they  also help others to cross  it.(37)
• "Sprinkle me with your nectar voice that brings the joy of eternal bliss, pure and cooling, falling on me as from a cup, like the joy of inspiration; for I am burnt by the hot, scorching flames of the world's fire. "Happy are they on whom your light rests, even for a moment, and who reach harmony with you. "How shall I cross the ocean of the world? Where is the path? What way must I follow? I know not, Master. Save me from the wound of the world's pain." (39)
• How to cross the ocean  of relative existence?What  is tobemyultimatedestination? Which of the many means Ishouldadopt? Iknow nothing of these. OLord! Save me and  describe  in  all etail  how  to end th emisery of this life  in the finite.(40) 
• Ved  Prakash