Vivekachudamani / Crest Jewel of Discrimination, Sankara 2

The first five verses deal with taking advantage of spiritual opportunities relating to one's condition of birth. Verses 6-15 deal with the need for self-reliance and the relative importance of performing actions and rituals.

"The attainment of the object principally depends upon the qualification of him who desires to attain; all artifices and the contingencies arising from circumstances of time and place are merely accessories." 14

The next verses deal with the Four-fold prerequisites (Sadhana Catustaya), an important early theosophical tenet:

1- Discrimination between the eternal and non-eternal (Viveka)
2- Detachment from the enjoyment of the fruits of action (Vairaga)
3- The virtues (Samadi Guna)
     a- Peace Tranquility(Sama)
     b- Self-Control (Dama) 
     c- Self-Withdrawal (Uparatti) 
     d- Forebearance (Titiksha) 
     e- Faith (Sraddha) 
     f- One-pointedness (Samadhana)
4- Intense Longing for Liberation (Mumuksutva)

"In one in whom absence of desire and aspiration for emancipation are prominent, \shama and the other qualifications will be productive of great results". 30

The next part deals with the notion of certain helpful individuals who are present in this business of spiritual progress...

"The great and peaceful ones live regenerating the world like the coming of spring, and after having themselves crossed the ocean of embodied existence, help those who try to do the same thing, without personal motives." (39)

Part 3