Date: December 14, 2024
Venue: Online
On 14th December, 2024, Narendra Murty, Research Associate, BhāratShakti was invited to deliver an online talk as part of the
weekly YES Talks. YES – Yoga, Education and Spirituality – is an initiative started by Dr. Ramesh Bijlani of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Delhi Branch, based on the idea – Yoga is education. Education is incomplete without spirituality. Spirituality in practice is yoga. The session was anchored by Ms. Arunima Pathak from Team YES, who briefly introduced the speaker.
Narendra Murty spoke on the theme “The 4 Qualifications of a Seeker” from the Vivekachudamani of Adi Sankara. Starting with Sankara’s mention of the three blessings that only human beings enjoy and the description of the Four Qualifications of a spiritual seeker as enumerated in Verses 18 to 30 of the Vivekachudamani, Narendra Murty, went on to show in what way Sankara’s Four Qualifications connects to and differs from Sri Aurobindo’s Four Aids as laid down in The Synthesis of Yoga.
He drew the conclusion that Sankara’s Four Qualifications give a micro view of what is required of a spiritual aspirant. Whereas Sri Aurobindo’s Four Aids not only includes Sankara’s Four Qualifications but also goes beyond that by encompassing other
aspects of Sadhana like Shastra, Guru and Kala – which in Narendra’s view, is a macro view of what makes sadhana possible.