Sanatsujāta

Sanatsujāta · sanat-sujāta, “the eternally well-born”

Sanatsujāta is one of the four eternal child-ṛshis, the Kumāras, born from the mind of Brahmā at the start of creation. His brothers are Sanaka, Sanandana and Sanatkumāra. They look five years old for ever, because they never turned away from brahmacarya (celibacy) and dhyāna (meditation). In the Udyoga Parva of the Mahābhārata, Vidura calls Sanatsujāta to answer Dhṛtarāshṭra’s deepest question, which is about death. Sanatsujāta gives the discourse known as the Sanatsujātīya. In it he says that pramāda (heedlessness) is itself mṛtyu (death).

One of the four Kumāras

Sanatsujāta belongs to the group called the Sanaka-kumāras or Brahmā-kumāras. They are the mind-born sons of Brahmā. They were created to spread the universe, but at the first moment of their creation they turned to complete renunciation. They did not engage with the world of many things. They chose eternal brahmacarya and brahmavidyā (knowledge of Brahman).

The four Kumāras are Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumāra and Sanatsujāta. They appear in several Purāṇas as teachers of the highest truths. They are always young in form and look like boys of five. They have never grown old, because they have never known the attachment, desire and fall from brahmacarya that bring old age.

Vidura calls him

Vidura taught Dhṛtarāshṭra through the whole night. He spoke on dharma, nīti (wise conduct) and practical wisdom. Then Dhṛtarāshṭra asked a question that went beyond what Vidura could answer:

“Is there truly mṛtyu? Or does the immortal conquer mṛtyu because pramāda itself is mṛtyu?”

Vidura said honestly that this question belongs to brahmavidyā and not to nīti. He knew one who could answer. That was Sanatsujāta, the great child-ṛshi, who had kept perfect brahmacarya from before the beginning of this creation.

Vidura then steadied his mind and spoke the proper words, and Sanatsujāta appeared. He came in the form of a shining child of five. He was full of the light of boundless tapas (austerity), and the weight of the world did not mark him. Dhṛtarāshṭra was amazed and received him with full respect.

The main teaching: pramāda is mṛtyu

The centre of the discourse is the saying:

pramādo vai mṛtyuḥ

It means: pramāda (heedlessness, lack of attention) is itself death.

Sanatsujāta explained that the immortals did not defeat death by any outer means or by avoiding the end of the body. They went beyond mṛtyu by refusing pramāda. Through brahmacarya, satya (truth) and unbroken dhyāna, they kept their minds turned without a break to the ātmā and to Brahman. So they stepped outside the place where mṛtyu has power.

A being who gives in to pramāda, who is heedless of the ātmā and lets the mind and senses wander without guide, is already in the realm of mṛtyu, whether the body lives or dies. A being who keeps awareness turned to Brahman is already beyond mṛtyu, whatever happens to the body.

Teaching on silence

Sanatsujāta taught that maunam (silence) has two forms:

• Vāṅmaunam: the outer silence of not speaking with the mouth. This is the lesser form.
• Āntar-maunam: the inner silence in which the mind rests in calm. It is not stirred toward sense-objects, and it does not strain after Brahman as a far-off goal.

He taught further that neither vāk (speech) alone nor manas (mind) alone can reach Brahman. Trying to “think Brahman” with the ordinary mind is as useless as trying to “say Brahman” with words. Brahman is known only when both vāk and manas are at rest, when the seeker is settled in the inner silence of sattva made clear as glass.

The twelve kalmāshas

Sanatsujāta named twelve kalmāshas (stains) that spoil tapas:

krodha (anger), kāma (desire), lobha (greed), moha (delusion), vidhitsā, akṛpā, asūyā, māna, śoka, spṛhā, īrshyā and jugupsā.

These are the inner enemies. While they work, tapas does not bear the fruit of moksha (liberation). The practice may be right in form, but the inner turn of the mind has been bent aside. The way out is not to fight them one by one. It is to keep awareness free of pramāda, so that they find no place to stand.

Why the Udyoga Parva calls him

Sanatsujāta’s coming in the Udyoga Parva is one of the most important moments before the war. He is not called to advise on war or peace, which is Vidura’s field. He is called to answer the most basic question of existence: what is death, and how is it overcome?

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapters 41–46