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M.: Yes. When you see God in all, do you think of God or do you not? You should certainly keep God in your mind for seeing God all round you.
Keeping God in your mind becomes dhyana.
Dhyana is the stage before realisation.
Realisation is in the Self only.
Dhyana must precede it.
Whether you make dhyana of God or of Self, it is immaterial.
The goal is the same.
But you cannot escape the Self.
You want to see God in all, but not in yourself?
If all are God, are you not included in that all?
Yourself being God, is it a wonder that all are God? There must be a seer and thinker for even the practice. Who is he?
.
.......On these occasions you are plunging into the Self, though unconsciously. If you do so consciously you call it Realisation. I want you to dive consciously into the Self, i.e., into the Heart.
....
Talk 256.
A question was asked regarding the position of one whose jnana is weak in the scheme of things. The doubt was if that manda Jnani had stopped short of kevala nirvikalpa.
M.: Kevala nirvikalpa happens even in the tanumanasi stage (of attenuated mind).
D.: The middling and superior jnanis are said to be jivanmuktas. Kevala nirvikalpa is in tanumanasa. Where does one whose jnana is weak fit in?
M.: He comes in sattvapatti (realisation) - whereas the middling and the superior ones come in asamsakti and padarthabhavini respectively.
This division as dull, middling, and superior is according to the momentum of prarabdha.
If it is strong he is weak; if it is middling he is middling too; if prarabdha is weak he is superior; if it is very weak he is in turyaga.
There is no difference in the samadhi state or the jnana of the jnanis. The classification is only from the standpoint of the observer.
D.: Is tanumanasi the same as mumukshutva?
M.: No. The six qualities, discrimination, dispassion and mumukshutva, etc., precede subhechcha. The first stage follows mumukshutva, then comes vicharana (search), then the tenuous mind. Direct perception is in sattvapatti (realisation).
There is no need to discuss similar points. Jivanmukti and Videhamukti are differently described by different authorities; Videhamukti is sometimes said to occur even when the man is seen with a body. The fact is that mukti is another name for Aham (‘I’).
The Seven Jnana bhumikas (stages of knowledge) are:
1) Subhechcha (desire for enlightenment);
2) Vicharana (hearing and reflection);
3) Tanumanasi (tenuous mind);
4) Sattvapatti (Self-Realisation);
5) Asamsakti (non-attachment);
6) Padarthabhavani (absolute non-perception of objects);
7) Turyaga (beyond words).
Those who have attained the last four Bhumikas are respectively called Brahmavit, Brahmavidvara, Brahmavidvarya and Brahmavidvarishtha.
....
Talk 259. Nada, Bindu and Kala correspond to prana, mind and intellect.
Isvara is beyond nada (sound). Nada, jyoti (light), etc., are mentioned in Yoga literature. But God is beyond these. The circulation of blood, respiration of air, and other functions of the body are bound to produce sound. That sound is involuntary and continuous. That is nada.
D.: But to evolve through births, there must be practice, years of abhyasa.
M.: Abhyasa is only to prevent any disturbance to the inherent peace.
There is no question of years. Prevent this thought at this moment. You are only in your natural state whether you make abhyasa or not.
Another man asked: Why do not all realise the Self in that case?
M.: It is the same question in another guise. Why do you raise this question? In as much as you raise this question of abhyasa it shows you require abhyasa. Make it. But to remain without questions or doubts is the natural state. God created man; and man created God. They both are the originators of forms and names only. In fact, neither God nor man was created.
.....
239
M.: If the longing is there, Realisation will be forced on you even if you do not want it.
Subhechcha is the doorway for realisation.
........
Maharshi said: A Higher Power is leading you. Be led by the same.
D.: But I am not aware of it. Please make me aware of it.
M.: The Higher Power knows what to do and how to do it. Trust it.
.......
M.: An aspirant must be equipped with three requisites:
(1) Ichcha;
(2) Bhakti; and
(3) Sraddha.
Ichcha means satisfaction of bodily wants without attachment to the body (such as hunger and thirst and evacuation). Unless it is done meditation cannot progress. Bhakti and Sraddha are already known.
..............
Mukti = Self
M.: Mukti is synonymous with the Self. Jivan mukti (liberation while alive) and videha mukti (liberation after the body falls) are all for the ignorant. The Jnani is not conscious of mukti or bandha (bondage). Bondage, liberation and orders of mukti are all said for an ajnani in order that ignorance might be shaken off. There is only mukti and nothing else.
..
D.: It is all right from the standpoint of Bhagavan. But what about us?
M.: The difference ‘He’ and ‘I’ are the obstacles to jnana.
..
D.: But it cannot be denied that Bhagavan is of a high order whereas we are limited. Will Bhagavan make me one with Him?
M.: Were you aware of limitations in your sleep?
D.: I cannot bring down the state of my sleep in the present state and speak of it.
M.: You need not. These three states alternate before the unchanging Self. You can remember your state of sleep. That is your real state. There were no limitations then. After the rise of the ‘I-thought’ the limitations arose.
D.: How to attain the Self?
M.: Self is not to be attained because you are the Self.
D.: Yes. There is an unchanging Self and a changing one in me. There are two selves.
M.: The changefulness is mere thought. All thoughts arise after the arising of the ‘I-thought’. See to whom the thoughts arise. Then you transcend them and they subside. This is to say, tracing the source of the ‘I-thought’, you realise the perfect ‘I-I’. ‘I’ is the name of the Self.
....
D.: Shall I meditate on “I am Brahman” (Aham Brahmasmi)?
M.: The text is not meant for thinking “I am Brahman”. Aham (‘I’) is known to everyone. Brahman abides as Aham in everyone. Find out the ‘I’. The ‘I’ is already Brahman. You need not think so. Simply find out the ‘I’.
M.: After the rise of the ‘I-thought’ there is the false identification of the ‘I’ with the body, the senses, the mind, etc. ‘I’ is wrongly associated with them and the true ‘I’ is lost sight of. In order to shift the pure ‘I’ from the contaminated ‘I’ this discarding is mentioned. But it does not mean exactly discarding of the non-self, but it means the finding of the real Self.
The real Self is the Infinite ‘I-I’, i.e., ‘I’ is perfection. It is eternal. It has no origin and no end. The other ‘I’ is born and also dies. It is impermanent. See to whom are the changing thoughts. They will be found to arise after the ‘I-thought’. Hold the ‘I-thought’. They subside.
Trace back the source of the ‘I-thought’.
The Self alone will remain.
D.: It is difficult to follow. I understand the theory. But what is the practice?
M.: The other methods are meant for those who cannot take to the investigation of the Self. Even to repeat Aham Brahmasmi or think of it, a doer is necessary. Who is it?
It is ‘I’. Be that ‘I’. It is the direct method.
The other methods also will ultimately lead everyone to this method of the investigation of the Self.
D.: I am aware of the ‘I’. Yet my troubles are not ended.
M.: This ‘I-thought’ is not pure. It is contaminated with the association of the body and senses. See to whom the trouble is.
It is to the ‘I thought’.
Hold it.
Then the other thoughts vanish.
D.: Yes. How to do it? That is the whole trouble.
M.: Think ‘I’ ‘I’ ‘I’ and hold to that one thought
to the exclusion of all others.
..........
M.: The feeling “I work” is the hindrance.
Enquire, “Who works?” Remember, “Who am I?” The work will not bind you. It will go on automatically. Make no effort either to work or to renounce work. Your effort is the bondage. What is bound to happen will happen. If you are destined to cease working, work cannot be had even if you hunt for it. If you are destined to work you cannot leave it; you will be forced to engage in it. So leave it to the Higher Power. You cannot renounce or hold as you choose.
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Talk 269.
D.: How is all-immanent God said to reside in daharakasa (Ether of the Heart).
M.: Do we not reside in one place? Do you not say that you are in your body? Similarly, God is said to reside in Hritpundarika (the heart-lotus).
The heart-lotus is not a place.
Some name is mentioned as the place of God because we think we are in the body.
This kind of instruction is meant for those who can appreciate only relative knowledge.
Being immanent everywhere there is no particular place for God.
Because we think we are in the body we also believe that we are born.
However we do not think of the body, of God, or of method of realisation in our deep slumber.
Yet in our waking state we hold on to the body and think we are in it.
The Supreme Being is that from which the body is born, in which it lives and into which it resolves.
We however think that we reside within the body. Hence such instruction is given. The instruction means: “Look within.”
.......
Talk 271.
Dr. Syed: How is Grace to be obtained?
M.: Similar to obtaining the Self.
D.: Practically, how is it to be for us?
M.: By self-surrender.
Sam: How to obtain Grace?
By Self Surrender.
By Complete Surrender
........
D.: Grace was said to be the Self. Should I then surrender to my own Self?
M.: Yes. To the one from whom Grace is sought. God, Guru and Self are only different forms of the same.
D.: Please explain, so that I may understand.
M.: So long as you think you are the individual you believe in God.
On worshipping God, God appears to you as Guru.
On serving Guru He manifests as the Self.
This is the rationale.
.............
M.: You were not aware of the world and its sufferings in your sleep; you are conscious of them in your wakeful state. Continue in that state in which you were not afflicted by these. That is to say, when you are not aware of the world, its sufferings do not affect you.
When you remain as the Self, as in sleep, the world and its sufferings will not affect you. Therefore look within. See the Self! There will be an end of the world and its miseries.
......
Talk 274.
The Muslim Professor asked how Vaishnavism can be reconciled to Advaitism.
M.: The Vaishnavites call themselves Visishtadvaitins. This is also Advaita. Just as the individual body comprises the soul, the ego and the gross body, so also God comprises Paramatma, the world and the individuals.
...........
D.: Does not bhakti imply duality?
M.: Swa swarup anusandhanam bhaktirityabhidheeyate
Reflection on one’s own Self is called bhakti.
Bhakti and Self-Enquiry are one and the same.
The Self of the Advaitins is the God of the bhaktas.
..
M.: If you see the Self - pure and simple - it is nivritti; if you see the Self with the world, it is pravritti.
In other words, inward turned mind (antarmukhi manas) is nivritti; outward-going mind (bahirmukhi manas) is pravritti. Anyway, there is nothing apart from the Self. Both are the same.
Similarly also, with the spiritual hierarchy; they cannot exist apart from the Self. They are only in the Self and remain as the Self. Realisation of the Self is the one Goal of all.
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251
D.: But saktipata is said to occur in karmasamya, i.e., when merit and demerit are equal.
M.: Yes. Malaparipaka, karmasamya and saktipata mean the same,
A man is running the course of his samskaras; when taught he is the Self, the teaching affects his mind and imagination runs riot.
He feels helpless before the on rushing power.
His experiences are only according to his imagination of the state “I am the Self”, whatever he may conceive it to be.
Saktipata alone confers the true and right experience.
When the man is ripe for receiving the instruction and his mind is about to sink into the Heart, the instruction imparted works in a flash and he realises the Self all right.
Otherwise, there is always the struggle.
Mano-nasa, dnyana, and chittaikagrata (annihilation of the mind, knowledge and one-pointedness) means the same.
..
Until this truth is realised there will always be this grief due to false values arising from wrong knowledge and wrong identity.
.........
D.: Does the path to Self-Realisation go through samadhi?
M.: They are synonymous.
D.: It is said that the Guru can make his disciple realise the Self by transmitting some of his own power to him? Is it true?
M.: Yes. The Guru does not bring about Self-Realisation. He simply removes the obstacles to it. The Self is always realised.
D.: Is there absolute necessity of a Guru for Self-Realisation?
M.: So long as you seek Self-Realisation the Guru is necessary. Guru is the Self.
Take Guru to be the Real Self and your self as the individual self.
The disappearance of this sense of duality is removal of ignorance.
So long as duality persists in you the Guru is necessary.
Because you identify yourself with the body you think the Guru, too, to be some body.
You are not the body, nor is the Guru. You are the Self and so is the Guru.
This knowledge is gained by what you call Self-Realisation
...........
M.: Concentration is impossible so long as there are predispositions. They obstruct bhakti also.
The interpreter advised the questioner to study Who am I? The doctor was ready with his protestations: “I have read it also. I cannot still make my mind concentrate.”
M.: By practice and dispassion — abhyasa vairagyabhayam.
D.: Vairagya is necessary ...
M.: Abhyasa and vairagya are necessary.
Vairagya is the absence of diffused thoughts.
Abhyasa is concentration on one thought only. The one is the positive and the other the negative aspect of meditation.
D.: I am not able to do so by myself. I am in search of a force to help me.
M.: Yes, that is called Grace.
Individually we are incapable because the mind is weak.
Grace is necessary.
Sadhu seva is meant only for it. There is however nothing new to get. Just as a weak man comes under the control of a stronger one, the weak mind of a man comes under control easily in the presence of the strong-minded sadhus. That which is - is only Grace; there is nothing else.
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D.: Having heard this truth, why does not one remain content?
M.: Because samskaras have not been destroyed.
Unless the samskaras cease to exist, there will always be doubt and confusion (sandeha, viparita).
All efforts are directed to destroying doubt and confusion.
To do so their roots must be cut. Their roots are the samskaras. These are rendered ineffective by practice as prescribed by the Guru.
The Guru leaves it to the seeker to do this much so that he might himself find out that there is no ignorance.
This truth mentioned is in the stage of the hearing of the Truth (sravana).
That is not drdha (firm).
For making it unshaken, one has to practise reflection (manana) and one-pointedness (nididhyasana).
These two processes scorch the seeds of vasanas so that they are rendered ineffective.
Some extraordinary persons get dridha jnana, even on hearing the Truth only once (sakrchhravana matrena). Because they are krthopasakah (advanced seekers),
whereas the akrthopasakah (raw seekers) take longer to gain drdha jnana (unshaken knowledge).
People ask: “How did ignorance (avidya) arise at all?” We have to say to them: “Ignorance never arose. It has no real being. That which is, is only vidya (knowledge).”
D.: Why then do I not realise it?
M.: Because of the samskaras. However, find out who does not realise and what he does not realise. Then it will be clear that there is no avidya (ignorance).
.........
M.: Samskara (predisposition) is samsara (cycle of births and deaths).
......
M.: Enquiring into the Self. That is all. Atmanyeva vasam nayet ..... Fix the mind on the Self.
.
D.: What is the aim to be kept in view? Practice requires an aim.
M.: Atman is the aim. What else can there be?
All other aims are for those who are incapable of Atmalakshya (having the Self for the aim).
They lead you ultimately to atma-vichara (enquiry into the Self). One pointedness is the fruit of all kinds of practice. One may get it quickly; another after a long time. Everything depends on the practice.
........
D.: Peace is extolled more than anything else. How shall we gain it?
M.: It is your very nature. Forgetfulness never overtakes the Self. The Self is now confounded with non-self and that makes you speak of forgetfulness of the Self, Peace, etc. Oblivion will never rear up its head if this confusion is put an end to.
D.: How is that done?
M.: Enquiry into the Self.
One-pointedness means cessation of mental activities.
Forgetfulness must be for the self - well, of what? Of the Self? Are there then two selves? Practice removes the samskaras.
D.: But samskaras are infinite and eternal - from beginningless time.
M.: This itself is a samskara. Give up that idea and all samskaras will disappear at once.
That is visranti (repose), santi (peace). Peace is ever present. But you hold it down and rise over it and thus disturb it. Then you say, “I want Peace”.
D.: Will Peace be gradual?
M.: Yes. Make the mind gradually still (Sanaissanaih uparamet) says the Bhagavad Gita.
D.: It is said Atma samstham manah krtva (fixing the mind in the Self). But the Self is unthinkable.
M.: Why do you wish to meditate at all?
Because you wish to do so you are told Atma samstham manah krtva (fixing the mind in the Self).
Why do you not remain as you are without meditating?
What is that manah (mind)?
When all thoughts are eliminated it becomes Atma samstha (fixed in the Self).
D.: If a form is given I can meditate on it and other thoughts are eliminated. But the Self is formless.
M.: Meditation on forms or concrete objects is said to be dhyana, whereas the enquiry into the Self is vichara (enquiry) or nididhyasana.
Explaining adhyaropapavadabhyam (superimposition and its elimination),
Sri Bhagavan pointed out that the first turns you inward to the Self; and then according to the second, you know that the world is not apart from the Self.
278
D.: I do not want intellectual answers. I want them to be practical.
M.: Yes. Direct knowledge does not require intellectual discourses.
Since the Self is directly experienced by everyone, they are not at all necessary.
Everyone says “I am”. Is there anything more to realise?
D.: What I want is realisation. I do not feel my inherent happy nature.
M.: Because the Self is now identified with the non-self.
The non-self too is not apart from the Self. However, there is the wrong notion that the body is apart and the Self is confounded with the body. This wrong identity must be ended for happiness to manifest.
.........
D.: But this truth is not realised.
M.: It will be realised in due course. Till then there is devotion (bhakti): “Even for a trice you do not leave my mind.” Does he leave you any moment? It is you who allow your mind to wander away. He remains always steady. When your mind is fixed, you say: “He does not leave my mind even for a trice”. How ridiculous!
.........
Talk 309.
D.: What is the difference between Aham Brahmasmi (I am Brahman) and Brahmaivaham (only Brahman I am).
M.: The former is Pratyaksha vritti (direct experience), whereas the latter is Paroksha jnana (indirect knowledge). The first begins with the realisation of Aham (‘I’), whereas the later starts with the hearsay Brahman which cannot be apart from the Self, if the same has been realised.
......
Work leaves no time for separate meditation. Is the constant reminder “I am”, trying to feel it while actually at work, enough?
M.: It will become constant when the mind becomes strengthened.
Repeated practice strengthens the mind. Such mind is capable of holding on to the current.
In that case, engagement in work or no engagement, the current remains unaffected and uninterrupted.
.........
D.: No separate meditation is necessary?
M.: Meditation is your true nature now. You call it meditation, because there are other thoughts distracting you.
When these thoughts are dispelled, you remain alone, i.e., in the state of meditation free from thoughts;
and that is your real nature which you are now attempting to gain by keeping away other thoughts.
Such keeping away of other thoughts is now called meditation.
When the practice becomes firm, the real nature shows itself as the true meditation.
Other thoughts arise more forcibly when you attempt meditation. There was immediately a chorus of questions by a few others.
Sri Maharshi continued:
Yes, all kinds of thoughts arise in meditation. It is but right. What lies hidden in you is brought out. Unless they rise up how can they be destroyed? They therefore rise up spontaneously in order to be extinguished in due course, thus to strengthen the mind.
........
293
Just on rising up from sleep, and before seeing the objective world, there is a state of awareness which is your pure Self.
That must be known.
D.: But I do not realise it.
M.: It is not an object to be realised. You are that. Who is there to realise and what?
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samadhi = jagrat sushupti)
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Talk 314. Pure and contaminated I
In yesterday’s answers, Sri Bhagavan said that the Self is pure consciousness in deep slumber,
and He also indicated the Self of the transition from sleep to the waking state as the ideal for realisation.
He was requested to explain the same.
Sri Bhagavan graciously answered:
The Self is pure consciousness in sleep. It evolves as aham (‘I’) without the idam (‘this’) in the transition stage.
It manifests as aham (‘I’) and idam (‘this’) in the waking state.
The individual’s experience is by means of aham (‘I’) only.
So he must aim at realisation in the way indicated (i.e. by means of the transitional ‘I’).
Otherwise the sleep-experience does not matter to him. If the transitional ‘I’ be realised, the substratum is found and that leads to the goal.
Again, sleep is said to be ajnana (ignorance). That is only in relation to the wrong jnana (knowledge) prevalent in the wakeful state. The waking state is really ajnana (ignorance) and the sleep state is prajnana (full knowledge).
Prajnana is Brahman, says the sruti. Brahman is eternal. The sleep-experiencer is called prajna. He is prajnanam in all the three states. Its particular significance in the sleep state is that He is full of knowledge (prajnanaghana). What is ghana? There are jnana and vijnana.
Both together operate in all perceptions. Vijnana in the jagrat is viparita jnana (wrong knowledge) i.e., ajnana (ignorance).
It always co-exists with the individual. When this becomes vispashta jnana (clear knowledge), It is Brahman.
When wrong knowledge is totally absent, as in sleep, He remains pure prajnana only.
That is Prajnanaghana.
Aitareya Upanishad says prajnana, vijnana, ajnana, samjnana are all names of Brahman.
Being made up of knowledge alone how is He to be experienced?
Experience is always with vijnana.
Therefore the pure ‘I’ of the transitional stage must be held for the experience of the Prajnanaghana.
The ‘I’ of the waking state is impure and is not useful for such experience.
Hence the use of the transitional ‘I’ or the pure ‘I’.
How is this pure ‘I’ to be realised?
Viveka Chudamani says, Vijnana kose vilasatyajasram
(He is always shining forth in the intellectual sheath, vijnana kosa).
Tripura Rahasya and other works point out that the interval between two consecutive sankalpas (ideas or thoughts) represent the pure aham (‘I’).
Therefore holding on to the pure ‘I’, one should have the Prajnanaghana for aim,
and there is the vritti present in the attempt.
All these have their proper and respective places and at the same time lead to realisation.
Again the pure Self has been described in Viveka Chudamani to be beyond asat, i.e. different from asat.
Here asat is the contaminated waking ‘I’.
Asadvilakshana means sat, i.e., the Self of sleep.
He is also described as different from sat and asat. Both mean the same. He is also asesha sakshi (all-seeing witness).
If pure, how is He to be experienced by means of the impure ‘I’?
A man says “I slept happily”. Happiness was his experience. If not, how could he speak of what he had not experienced? How did he experience happiness in sleep, if the Self was pure? Who is it that speaks of that experience now?
The speaker is the vijnanatma (ignorant self) and he speaks of prajnanatma (pure self).
How can that hold? Was this vijnanatma present in sleep? His present statement of the experience of happiness in sleep makes one infer his existence in sleep. How then did he remain? Surely not as in the waking state.
He was there very subtle. Exceedingly subtle vijnanatma experiences the happy prajnanatma by means of maya mode.
It is like the rays of the moon seen below the branches, twigs and leaves of a tree. The subtle vijnanatma seems apparently a stranger to the obvious vijnanatma of the present moment. Why should we infer his existence in sleep?
Should we not deny the experience of happiness and be done with this inference? No.
The fact of the experience of happiness cannot be denied, for everyone courts sleep and prepares a nice bed for the enjoyment of sound sleep.
This brings us to the conclusion that the cogniser, cognition and the cognised are present in all the three states, though there are differences in their subtleties.
In the transitional state, the aham (‘I’) is suddha (pure), because idam (‘this’) is suppressed. Aham (‘I’) predominates.
‘Why is not that pure ‘I’ realised now or even remembered by us?
Because of want of acquaintance (parichaya) with it.
It can be recognised only if it is consciously attained.
Therefore make the effort and gain consciously.
.............
M.: Visions and thought-currents are had according to the state of mind. It depends on the individuals and not upon the Universal Presence. Moreover, they are immaterial. What matters is Peace of Mind.
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D.: How to gain Divine Grace?
M.: By surrender.
D.: Still I do not feel Grace.
M.: Sincerity is wanting. Surrender should not be verbal nor conditional.
Sam: Grace not received due to lack of Sincerity.
.......
Passages from St. Justinian were read out to illustrate these statements.
Prayer is not verbal. It is from the heart.
To merge into the Heart is prayer. That is also Grace.
The Alwar says:
“I was all along seeking Thee. But on realising the Self I find you are the Self. The Self is my all, and so you are my All.”
........................end.......................................................
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