Disciple: From the fear of recurring births and deaths.
Master: Leave the samsara and fear not.
Disciple: Unable to cross this vast ocean of samsara, I fear
recurring births and deaths. So I have surrendered to you. It is
for you to save me!
Master: What can I do for you?
Disciple: Save me. I have no other refuge. Just as water is
the only thing to put out the flames when the hair of one’s head
is on fire, so also a sage such as you are, is the sole refuge of
people like me who are on fire from the three kinds of distress.
You are free from the illusion of samsara, calm in mind and
sunk deep in the incomparable Bliss of Brahman which is
beginningless and endless. Certainly you can save this poor
creature. Pray do!
Master: What is it to me if you suffer?
Disciple: Saints like you cannot bear to see others suffer, as
a father his child. Motiveless is your love for all beings. You are
the Guru common to all, the only boat to carry us across this
ocean of samsara.
Master: Now, what makes you suffer?
Disciple: Bitten by the cruel serpent of painful samsara, I
am dazed and I suffer. Master, pray save me from this burning
hell and kindly tell me how I can be free.
13-17. M.: Well said, my Son! You are intelligent and well
disciplined. There is no need to prove your competence to be a
disciple. Your words clearly show that you are fit. Now look
here, my child!
In the Supreme Self of Being-Knowledge-Bliss who can
be the transmigrating being? How can this samsara be? What
could have given rise to it? And how and whence can it arise
itself? Being the non-dual Reality, how can you be deluded?
With nothing separate in deep sleep, not having changed in
any manner, and having slept soundly and peacefully, a fool
on waking shouts out “Alas, I am lost!” How can you, the
changeless, formless, Supreme, Blissful Self shout forth “I
transmigrate — I am miserable!” and so on? Truly there is
neither birth nor death; no one to be born or to die; nothing
of the kind!
...avrana + vikshepa..sansara arises from it........
Ignorance has two aspects: Veiling and Projection
(Avarana—Vikshepa). From these arises the samsara. Veiling
functions in two ways. In the one we say “It is not” and in the
other “It does not shine forth.”
... 1st aspect of veiling.......
27-28
although
the sage teaches that there is only the non-dual Reality the
ignorant man thinks “What can be non-dual Reality? No. It
cannot be.” As a result of beginningless veiling, though taught,
the teaching is disregarded and the old ideas persist. Such
indifference is the first aspect of veiling.
Next, with the help of sacred books and gracious
masters he unaccountably but sincerely believes in the non dual Real, yet he cannot probe deep but remains superficial
and says “The Reality does not shine forth.”
...2nd aspect of veiling..
Here is knowledge
knowing that It does not shine forth yet the illusion of
ignorance persists. This illusion that It does not shine forth, is
the second aspect of veiling.
...Self as body = superimposition...............
Though he is the unchanging, formless, Supreme, Blissful,
non-dual Self, the man thinks of himself as the body with hands
and legs, the doer and experiencer; objectively sees this man and
that man, this thing and that thing, and is deluded. This delusion
of perceiving the external universe on the non-dual Reality
enveloped by it, is Projection. This is Superimposition.
: Though the Self is Brahman, there is not the knowledge
of the Self (being Brahman). That which obstructs this knowledge
of the Self is Ignorance
There is only the basic Existence, not fictitious, nondual, undifferentiated, ab extra and ab intra (Sajatiya, vijatiya,
and svagata bheda), Being-Knowledge-Bliss, the unchanging
Reality.
“In dissolution the whole universe is withdrawn
leaving only the Single Reality which stays motionless, beyond
speech and thought, neither darkness nor light, yet perfect,
namely, untellable, but not void,” says Yoga Vasishta
This maya which is dependent on the unrelated
Knowledge-Bliss-Reality, has the two aspects of veiling and
projection (avarna and vikshepa); by the former it hides its own substratum from view, and by the latter the unmanifest
maya is made manifest as mind. This then sports with its
latencies which amounts to projecting this universe with all
the names and forms
To recollect ideas or latencies is its nature. It has latencies
as its content and appears in the witnessing consciousness in
two modes — “I” and “This”
106/...3 states
Nevertheless they are merely appearances of the
deluded mind and not real. He seems to be born and to die.
experiences heaven,hell
Nevertheless they are merely appearances of the
deluded mind and not real. He seems to be born and to die.
elestial city
Names and
forms make it up and it is nothing more.
nurse chiild story...14 gates etc
The child believed the tale and was pleased. So it is with
the fool who takes this world to be real.
Now Isvara, the king who is the son of the barren mother
Maya, having built the houses of the bodies, enters into them at
will as the Jivas, sports in the company of the phantom egos
and moves about aimlessly
The anklets are heaven and hell; the four strings of glass lustre are
the four stages of Mukti — Salokya, Samipya, Sarupya and Sayujya,
meaning equality in rank, condition or power and final identity.
tudent suffer in the world,
desirous of making him realise the truth, but knowing his love
for the world and dislike of the non-dual Reality — which is
subtle and hard to understand, gently coax him with the sweet
pleasures of heaven, etc., before laying bare the non-dual Reality.
By repeated practices
in several rebirths his mind becomes pure and turns away from
sense enjoyments to receive the highest teaching of the nondual Reality
Their aim is to make the student purify his mind by
his own efforts such as good actions, austerities and devotion.
To coax him, these are said to yield him pleasures. Being
themselves insentient, these cannot of their own accord yield
fruits. So an all-powerful Isvara is said to dispense the fruits of
actions. That is how an Isvara appears on the scene. Later the
scriptures say that the jiva, Isvara and the jagrat (world) are all
equally false.
Ignorance of the Self is the root cause of all the three
illusions — jiva, jagat and Isvara.
Maya is self- evident, beginningless and spontaneous, yet it
subsists in the absence of enquiry into the nature of the Self,
manifests the universe etc., and grows more massive.
How can Maya be compared to a mother burnt
down to ashes by her daughter?
In the process of enquiry, Maya becomes more and
more transparent and turns into Knowledge. Knowledge is thus
born of Maya, and is therefore said to be the daughter of Maya.
Maya so long flourishing on non-enquiry comes to its last days
on enquiry.
Just as a crab brings forth its young only to die
itself, so also in the last days of enquiry Maya brings forth
Knowledge for its own undoing. Immediately the daughter,
Knowledge, burns her down to ashes.
..ya ma that which doesnt exist = maya....................
In a bamboo forest, the bamboos move in the wind,
rub against one another and produce fire which burns down the
parent trees. So also Knowledge born of Maya burns Maya to
ashes.
Maya remains only in name like a hare’s horn.
Therefore
the sages declare it non existent.
Moreover, the very name implies
its unreality.
The names are Avidya and Maya. Of these the former
means ‘Ignorance or that which is not’ (ya n iv±t sa Aiv±a e ); again,
‘Maya is that which is not’ (ya ma sa maya).
Therefore it is simple
negation. Thus that it fruitlessly vanishes into nothing is its ‘fruit’.
The fire from the friction of the trees burns them
down and then dies out; the clearing nut carries down the
impurities of water and itself settles down with them. Similarly
this Knowledge destroys Ignorance and itself perishes. Since it
is also finally resolved, the ‘fruit’ of Maya can be only unreal.
: Samsara, the effect of Ignorance, is unreal like
Knowledge. One unreality can be undone by another unreality.
When non enquiry gives place to enquiry, right knowledge results and puts an end to Ignorance.
Mind being the samsara, must be investigated.
Associated
with mind which according to its modes assumes the shapes of
objects, the man seems to undergo the same changes.
This eternal
secret is disclosed in the Maitryiniya Upanishad.
With complete stillness of mind, samsara will disappear
root and branch. Otherwise there will be no end to samsara,
even in millions of aeons (Kalpakotikala
Absolutely by no other means; neither the Vedas, nor
the shastras nor austerities, nor karma, nor vows, nor gifts, nor
recital of scriptures of mystic formulae (mantras), nor worship,
nor anything else, can undo the samsara.
Only stillness of mind
can accomplish the end and nothing else.
19. D.: The scriptures declare that only Knowledge can
do it. How then do you say that stillness of the mind puts an
end to samsara?
M.: What is variously described as Knowledge, Liberation,
etc., in the scriptures, is but stillness of mind.
D.: Has any one said so before?
20-27.
M.: Sri Vasishta had said: When by practice the
mind stands still, all illusions of samsara disappear, root and
branch. Just as when the ocean of milk was churned for its nectar, it was all rough, but became still and clear after the
churn (viz., mount Mandara) was taken out, so also the mind
becoming still, the samsara falls to eternal rest.
D.: How can the mind be brought to stillness?
M.: By dispassion, abandoning all that is dear to oneself,
one can by one’s efforts accomplish the task with ease.
Without
this peace of mind, Liberation is impossible.
Only when the
whole objective world is wiped out clean by a mind disillusioned
as a consequence of discerning knowledge that all that is not
Brahman is objective and unreal, the Supreme Bliss will result.
Otherwise in the absence of peace of mind, however much an
ignorant man may struggle and creep on in the deep abyss of
the shastras, he cannot gain Liberation.
Only that mind which by practice of yoga, having lost all
its latencies, has become pure and still like a lamp in a dome
well protected from breeze, is said to be dead.
This death of
mind is the highest fulfilment.
The final conclusion of all the
Vedas is that Liberation is nothing but mind stilled.
For Liberation nothing can avail, not wealth, relatives,
friends, karma consisting of movements of the limbs, pilgrimage
to sacred places, baths in sacred waters, life in celestial regions,
austerities however severe,
or anything but a still mind.
In similar
strain many sacred books teach that Liberation consists in doing
away with the mind.
In several passages in the Yoga Vasishta, the
same idea is repeated, that the Bliss of Liberation can be reached
only by wiping out the mind, which is the root cause of samsara,
and thus of all misery.
imp-
28. In this way to kill the mind by a knowledge of the
sacred teaching, reasoning and one’s own experience, is to undo
the samsara.
How else can the miserable round of births and
deaths be brought to a standstill?
And how can freedom result
from it?
Never.
Unless the dreamer awakes, the dream does not
come to an end nor the fright of being face to face with a tiger in the dream.
Similarly unless the mind is disillusioned, the
agony of samsara will not cease.
Only the mind must be made
still. This is the fulfilment of life
29-30. D.: How can the mind be made still?
M.: Only by Sankhya.
Sankhya is the process of enquiry
coupled with knowledge.
The realised sages declare that the mind
has its root in non-enquiry and perishes by an informed enquiry
D.: Please explain this process.
M.: This consists of sravana, manana, nididhyasana and
samadhi, i.e., hearing, reasoning, meditation and Blissful Peace, as
mentioned in the scriptures. Only this can make the mind still.
31-32. There is also an alternative. It is said to be yoga.
D.: What is yoga?
M.: Meditation on Pure Being free from qualities.
D.: Where is this alternative mentioned and how?
M.: In the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Sri Bhagavan Krishna
has said: What is gained by Sankhya can also be gained by yoga.
Only he who knows that the result of the two processes is the
same, can be called a realised sage
33-34. D.: How can the two results be identical?
M.: The final limit is the same for both because both of
them end in stillness of mind. This is samadhi or Blissful Peace.
The fruit of samadhi is Supreme Knowledge; this remains the
same by whichever process gained
D.: If the fruit is the same for both, the final purpose can
be served by only one of them. Why should two processes be
mentioned instead of only one?
M.: In the world, seekers of truth are of different grades of
development.
Out of consideration for them, Sri Bhagavan has
mentioned these two in order to offer a choice
35. D.: Who is fit for the path of enquiry (Sankhya)?
M.: Only a fully qualified seeker is fit, for he can succeed
in it and not others.
4 pre requisites for discrimination/enquiry
36-37. D.: What are the sadhanas or requisites for this
process?
M.: The knowers say that the sadhanas consist of
an ability
to discern the real from the unreal,
no desire for pleasures here
or hereafter,
cessation of activities (karma) and
a keen desire to
be liberated.
Not qualified with all these four qualities, however
hard one may try, one cannot succeed in enquiry. Therefore
this fourfold sadhana is the sine qua non for enquiry.
38. To begin with, a knowledge of the distinctive
characteristics of these sadhanas is necessary. As already pointed
out, these distinctive characteristics are of the categories (hetu,
Sv-av, kay, Avi0, fl R ) cause, nature, effect, limit and fruit. These
are now described.
39-44. Discernment (viveka) can arise only in a purified
mind.
Its ‘nature’ is the conviction gained by the help of sacred
teachings that only Brahman is real and all else false.
Always to
remember this truth is its ‘effect’.
Its end (avadhi) is to be settled
unwavering in the truth that only Brahman is and all else is
unreal.
Desirelessness (vairagya) is the result of the outlook that
the world is essentially faulty.
Its ‘nature’ is to renounce the
world and have no desire for anything in it.
Its ‘effect’ is to turn
away in disgust from all enjoyments as from vomit.
It ends
(avadhi) in treatment with contempt of all pleasures, earthly or
heavenly, as if they were vomit or burning fire or hell.
Cessation of activities (uparati) can be the outcome of the
eight fold yoga (astangayoga), namely, yama, niyama, asana,
pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi, i.e., self
restraint, discipline, steady posture, control of breath, control
of senses, mind collected to truth, meditation and peace.
Its
‘nature’ consists in restraining the mind.
Its ‘effect’ is to cease
from worldly activities.
It ends (avadhi) in forgetfulness of the
world as if in sleep, owing to the ending of activities.
...mumukhatava..
Desire to
be liberated (mumukshutva) begins with the association with
realised sages.
Its ‘nature’ is the yearning for liberation.
Its ‘effect’
is to stay with one’s master.
It ends (avadhi) in giving up all
study of shastras and performance of religious rites.
When these have reached their limits as mentioned above,
the sadhanas are said to be perfect.
45-47. Should only one or more of these sadhanas be
perfect but not all of them, the person will after Death gain
celestial regions.
If all of them are perfect, they together quickly
make the person thoroughly capable of enquiry into the Self.
Only when all the sadhanas are perfect is enquiry possible; otherwise,
not.
Even if one of them remains undeveloped, it obstructs
enquiry. With this we shall deal presently.
48-49. Dispassion, etc., remaining undeveloped, discernment, though perfect, cannot by itself remove the obstacles,
to enquiry into the Self.
You see how many are well read in
Vedanta Shastra.
They must all possess this virtue, but they
have not cultivated the others, dispassion etc.
Therefore they
cannot undertake the enquiry into the Self.
This fact makes
it plain that discernment unattended by dispassion etc.,
cannot avail.
50-51. D.: How is it that even scholars in Vedanta have
not succeeded in the pursuit of enquiry?
M.: Though they always study Vedanta and give lessons to
others yet in the absence of desirelessness they do not practise
what they have learnt.
D.: And what do they do otherwise?
M.: Like a parrot they reproduce the Vedantic jargon but
do not put the teachings into practice.
D.: What does Vedanta teach?
M.: The Vedanta teaches a man to know that all but the
non-dual Brahman is laden with misery, therefore to leave off
all desires for enjoyment, to be free from love or hate,
thoroughly to cut the knot of the ego appearing as ‘I’, you,
he, this, that, mine and yours, to rid himself of the notion of
‘I’ and ‘mine’,
to live unconcerned with the pairs of opposites
as heat and cold, pain and pleasure, etc.,
to remain fixed in
the perfect knowledge of the equality of all and making no
distinction of any kind,
never to be aware of anything but
Brahman,
and always to be experiencing the Bliss of the nondual Self.
Though Vedanta is read and well understood, if dispassion
is not practised, the desire for pleasures will not fade away.
There
is no dislike for pleasing things and the desire for them cannot
leave the person.
Because desire is not checked, love, anger,
etc., the ego or the ‘false-I’ in the obnoxious body, the sense of
possession represented by ‘I’ or ‘mine’ of things agreeable to
the body, the pairs of opposites like pleasure and pain, and false
values, will not disappear.
However well read one may be, unless
the teachings are put into practice, one is not really learned.
Only like a parrot the man will be repeating that Brahman
alone is real and all else is false.
D.: Why should he be so?
M.: The knowers say that like a dog delighting in offal,
this man also delights in external pleasures.
Though always busy
with Vedanta, reading and teaching it, he is no better than a
mean dog.
52. Having read all the shastras and well grounded in
them, they grow conceited that they are all knowing,
accomplished and worthy of respect; filled with love and hate
they presume themselves respectable; they are only packasses
esteemed for carrying heavy loads over long distances in
difficult and tortuous ways. They need not be considered as
regards non-dual Truth. In the same strain Vasishta has spoken
much more to Rama.
53. D.: Have there been those who being well read in the
shastras have not practised their teachings?
M.: Oh, many. We have also read of them in the puranas.
Once there was a Brahmin, Brahma Sarma by name. He was
well versed in the Vedas and the Vedanta and otherwise an
accomplished man too. He would not practise what he had
learnt but would give lessons in it to others. Filled with love
and hate, transgressing the code of conduct by acting according
to greed, and otherwise enjoying himself according to his own
sweet will, after death he passed to hell. For the same reason, so
many more also went the same way.
In the world we see so many learned pandits consumed by
pride and malice. No doubt a study of Vedanta makes one
discerning. But if this is not accompanied by dispassion etc., it
is useless and does not lead to enquiry.
54-56. D.: Will discernment together with dispassion meet
the end?
M.: No. In the absence of cessation of activities, these two
are not enough for a successful pursuit of enquiry. In its absence
there will be no desire to enquire into the Self. How can we
speak of success in it?
D.: What will a man with dispassion do if he does not take
to enquiry into the Self?
M.: Activities not ceasing, there is no tranquillity; being
desireless he dislikes all enjoyments and cannot find pleasure in
home, wealth, arts, etc.; so he renounces them, retires into
solitary forests and engages in severe but fruitless austerities.
The case of King Sikhidhvaja is an example of this
57-59. D.: Then will discernment together with desirelessness and cessation of activities achieve the end?
M.: Not without the desire to be liberated.
If this desire is
wanting, there will be no incentive to enquire into the Self
D.: What will the man be doing then?
M.: Being desireless and peaceful, he will not make any
effort but remain indifferent.
D.: Have there been men with these three qualities who
did not take to enquiry into the Self?
M.: Yes. Dispassion is implied in all austerities; the mind
too remains one pointed for tapasvis; yet they cannot enquire
into the Self.
D.: What do they do then?
M.: Averse to external pursuits, with their minds concentrated, they will always remain austere in animated suspense
like that of deep sleep, but not enquire into the Self. As an
instance in point, the Ramayana says of Sarabhanga rishi that
after all his tapasya he went to heaven.
D.: Does not heaven form part of the fruits of enquiry?
M.: No. Enquiry must end in Liberation, and this is
freedom from repeated births and deaths which does not
admit of transit from one region to another. Sarabhanga’s
case indicates that he could not and did not enquire into the
Self.
Therefore all the four qualifications are essential for
enquiry
60-61. A simple desire to be liberated unaccompanied by
the other three qualities will not be enough.
By an intense desire
for liberation a man may take to enquiry but if otherwise
unqualified, he must fail in his attempt.
His case will be like
that of a lame man wistfully yearning for honey in a honey
comb high up on a tree; he cannot reach it and must remain
unhappy.
Or, the seeker may approach a master, surrender to
him and profit by his guidance
D.: What authority is there for saying that a man not
otherwise qualified but intensely desirous of liberation remains
ever unhappy?
62. M.: In the Suta Samhita it is said that those desirous of
enjoyments and yet yearning for liberation are surely bitten by
the deadly serpent of samsara and therefore dazed by its poison.
This is the authority.
In the view that all the four qualities must be together and
in full, there is complete agreement between the srutis, reason
and experience. Otherwise even if one of them is wanting,
enquiry cannot be pursued to success, but after death regions of
merit will be gained. When all the four qualities are perfect and
together present, enquiry is fruitful.
63-69. D.: In conclusion who are fit for enquiry into
the Self?
M.: Only those who have all the four requisite qualities in
full, are fit, and not others, whether versed in Vedas and shastras
or otherwise highly accomplished, nor practisers of severe
austerities, nor those strictly observing the religious rites or vows
or reciting mantras, nor worshippers of any kind, nor those
giving away large gifts, nor wandering pilgrims etc.
Just as the
Vedic rites are not for the non-regenerate so also,
enquiry is not
for the unqualified.
D.: Can want of requisite qualities disqualify even a very
learned scholar?
M.: Be he learned in all the sacred lore or ignorant of all of
it, only the four fold requisites can qualify a man for enquiry.
The sruti says: “The one whose mind is in equipoise, senses
controlled, whose activities have ceased and who possesses
fortitude” is fit for this. From this it follows that others are not
competent but only those who are possessing the four fold virtues.
70. D.: Is any distinction made amongst seekers who are
competent?
M.: For enquiry into the Self there is absolutely no
distinction bearing on caste, stage of life or other similar matters.
Be the seeker the foremost scholar, pandit, illiterate man, child,
youth, old man, bachelor, householder, tapasvi, sanyasi, brahmin,
kshatriya, vaisya, sudra, a chandala or a woman, only these four
qualifications make up the seeker. This is the undisputed view
of the vedas and shastras.
71. D.: This cannot be. How can illiterate men, women and
chandalas be qualified to the exclusion of a pandit learned in the
shastras? He must certainly be more qualified than others. You say
that a knowledge of the shastras is no qualification but practice of
their teachings is. No one can practise what he has not known.
How can an illiterate person qualify himself in the requisite manner?
M.: In reply I ask you and you tell me — how does the
learned man qualify himself?
D.: Because he has known the teachings of the shastras
that he should not do karma for selfish ends but dedicate it to
God, he will do so; his mind will be purified; gradually he will
acquire the dispassion etc., needed for enquiry. Now tell me
how an illiterate man can qualify himself.
M.: He also can. Though not learned now, he might have
learnt the teachings in preceding births, done actions dedicated
to God; his mind being already pure enough, he can now readily
acquire the qualities needed for enquiry into the Self.
72. D.: In the illiterate man, should the sadhanas acquired
in preceding births and later lying as latencies, now manifest
themselves, why should not his learning acquired in those births
similarly manifest itself now?
M.: Some of his past karma may obstruct only the learning
from re-manifesting itself.
D.: If the learning is obstructed, how is not the sadhana
also obstructed from manifestation?
M.: Though the learning is obstructed, the fruits of his
valuable labour cannot be lost; he cannot lose his competence
for enquiry
73. D.: What would happen if his four fold sadhanas were
obstructed as well as his learning?
M.: The result would be that for want of the requisite
qualities neither the scholar nor the other would be fit for
enquiry. Both would be equal.
74-76. D.: No. This cannot be. Though not already
qualified, the scholar having known the teachings can put them
into practice and gradually qualify himself, whereas the other
with all his studies had not already succeeded in his preceding
births, and what hope can there be now that he has forgotten
what he had learnt and his sadhanas are obstructed? Obviously
he cannot be successful in enquiry.
M.: Not so. Though illiterate a man anxious for liberation
will approach a master, learn from him the essence of the
scriptures, earnestly practise the teachings and succeed in the
end. Just as a worldly man ignorant of scriptures yet desirous of
heaven, seeks guidance from a master and by observance,
worship and discipline, gains his end, so also by a master’s
teachings even an illiterate man can certainly benefit as much
as the scholar with his knowledge.
77-78. D.: Religious rites bear fruits only according to the
earnestness of the man. Only if the seeker of Truth is earnest
can a master’s guidance act in the same manner. Otherwise how
can it be?
M.: Just as earnestness is the essential factor for reaping
fruits from karma, so it is with the practice of sadhanas by the
learned scholar or the master’s disciple. Karma or sadhana cannot
succeed if interest is wanting in them. A scholar or an illiterate
man reaps the fruits of karma according to the interest he takes
in its performance. One who is not earnest need not be considered in any matter concerning the Vedas or a master.
79. A scholar or an illiterate man, if he has not already
qualified himself as aforesaid, but is now desirous of liberation,
should in right earnest practise the sadhanas so that he may qualify
himself now at least. He will later be fit for enquiry. So no
distinction can be made between a scholar and an illiterate man.
80. D.: If so, regarding fitness for enquiry into the Self,
how does a scholar differ from an illiterate man?
M.: The difference lies only in the learning and not in the
practice of sadhana or enquiry.
81-82. D.: No. This cannot be. Though learning does not
make any difference in sadhana, it must certainly weigh in favour
of the scholar in the pursuit of enquiry.
M.: Not so. Shastra is not the means for enquiry. The means
consist of desirelessness etc. Only these can qualify a man for
enquiry and a learning of the shastras does not make any
difference. Therefore a scholar has no advantage over an illiterate
man in the field of enquiry
83-85. D.: Granted that dispassion etc. form the means
for success in enquiry, even with the necessary sadhanas the
enquiry into the Self must be pursued only in the light of the
shastras. Therefore the study of the shastras should be indispensable for the successful pursuit of enquiry
M.: Nonsense!
No Shastra is required to know the Self.
Does any one look into the Shastra for the Self? Surely not.
D.: Only if the Self is already known, Shastra will not be
required for enquiry into the Self. But the seeker being deluded
has not known his true nature. How can an illiterate man realise
the Self without studying the shastras which deal with the nature
of the Self? He cannot. Therefore the shastras must be learnt as
a preliminary to realisation.
M.: In that case the knowledge of the Self got from the
shastras will be like that of heaven mentioned in the Vedas,
i.e., indirect and not directly experienced. This knowledge
corresponds to hearsay and cannot be direct perception. Just
as the knowledge of the form of Vishnu always remains indirect
and there is no direct perception of the four armed being or
again the knowledge of heaven can only be indirect in this
world, so also the knowledge of the Self contained in the
shastras can only be indirect. This leaves the man where he
was, just as ignorant as before.
Only the knowledge of direct experience can be true and useful;
the Self is to be realised
and not to be talked about
86-88. D.: Has any one said so before?
M.: Sri Vidyaranyaswami has said in Dhyana Deepika:
The Knowledge of the figure of Vishnu gained from shastras
that He has four arms, holding a disc, a conch, etc., is only
indirect and cannot be direct.
The description is intended to
serve as a mental picture for worship and no one can see it
face to face.
Similarly to know from the shastras that the Self
is Being-Knowledge-Bliss amounts to indirect knowledge and
cannot be the same as experience.
For the Self is the inmost
being of the individual or the consciousness witnessing the
five sheaths; it is Brahman.
This not being realised, a superficial
knowledge is all that is gained by reading the shastras.
It is
only indirect knowledge.
D.: Vishnu or heaven being different from the Self can
only be objective whereas the Self is subjective and its
knowledge, however gained, must be only direct and cannot
be indirect.
M.: Although spontaneously and directly the Vedanta
teaches the Supreme Truth, “That thou art” meaning that the
inmost being of the individual is Brahman,
yet enquiry is the
only sure means of Self realisation.
Sastric knowledge is not
enough, for it can only be indirect.
Only the experience resulting
from the enquiry of the Self can be direct knowledge.
89-90. Vasishta also has said to the same effect.
Shastra,
Guru and upadesa are all traditional and do not straightway
make the seeker directly realise the Self.
The purity of the seeker’s
mind is the sole means for realisation and not shastra nor the
guru.
The self can be realised by one’s own acute discernment
and by no other means. All shastras agree on this point.
91. From this it is clear that except by enquiry the Self can
never be realised, not even by learning Vedanta.
92. D.: The Self must be realised only by a critical study of
the shastras. Otherwise what can be the enquiry into the Self
but a critical and analytical study of the shastras?
93. M.: In the body, senses etc., the concept “I” persists. With
a one pointed mind turned inwards to look out for this “I” or the
Self, which is the inmost Being within the five sheaths, is the enquiry
into the Self.
To seek elsewhere outside the body by an oral recital
of Vedanta Shastra or a critical study of its words, cannot be called
enquiry into the Self which can only be a thorough investigation
into the true nature of the Self by a keen mind.
94-96. D.: Can the Self not be known by reading and
understanding the shastras?
M.: No. For the Self is Being-Knowledge-Bliss, different
from the gross, subtle and causal bodies, witnessing the three
states of waking, dream and deep sleep.
Always to exercise the
vocal organs in reading the shastras, or with a thorough
knowledge of grammar, logic and diction to critically examine
the scripture and make out its meaning, cannot reveal the Self
which is within
D.: How can it be realised?
M.: By the mind to examine the nature of the five sheaths,
by experience to determine them, then to discard each of them
step by step “this is not the Self — this is not the Self”, and by
mind thus grown subtle to look for the Self and realise It as the
witnessing Consciousness lying beyond the five sheaths — forms
the whole process.
The Self cannot be seen without.
It is overspread by and lies hidden in the five sheaths.
In order to find It,
the intellect must be made to turn inwards and search within,
not to look for It in the shastras.
Will any man in his senses
search in a forest for a thing lost in his home?
The search must be
in the place where the thing lies hidden.
In the same way the Self
covered over by the five sheaths must be looked for within them
and not among the shastras. The shastras are not the place for It.
97. D.: True, the Self cannot be found in the shastras.
From them a scholar can learn the nature of the five sheaths,
intellectually examine, experience and discard them, in order
to find and realise the Self. How can the other man ignorant of
the nature of the Self or of the five sheaths pursue the enquiry?
M.: Just as the scholar learns from books, so the other learns
from the master. Later, enquiry remains the same for both.
98-99. D.: Does it follow that a master is necessary for an
illiterate man and not for a scholar?
M.: Scholar or illiterate, no one can succeed without a master.
From the beginning of time, unable to realise the Self without
a master, the seekers even learned in all the shastras always sought
a master to enlighten them. Narada went to Sanatkumara; Indra
to Brahma; Suka to king Janaka. Unless the master is gracious to
him, no man can ever be liberated.
100-101. D.: Has any one illiterate been liberated by Guru’s
Grace only?
M.: Yes. Yagnavalkya helped his wife Maitreyi to be
liberated. Many other women ignorant of the shastras e.g.,
Leela and Chudala were also liberated while alive. Therefore
even those ignorant of the shastras are qualified for enquiry
into the Self.
102-108. It must now be obvious that the make up of the
best qualified seeker consists in dispassion, resulting from
discernment of the real from the unreal, so that he discards all
enjoyments here and hereafter as if they were poison or vomit
or blazing fire, retires from all activities to remain quiet like a
man in deep sleep,
but finding himself unable to remain so
owing to unbearable pains, physical and mental, as if the hair
of his head had caught fire and was burning, he cannot feel
happy nor bear the agony even a minute longer and burns in
anguish feeling “When shall I be free? How and by what means
can I be liberated?”
For the best seeker all the qualifications must be full up to
the above said category “limit” (avadhi). For the next in scale,
the good seeker, the qualifications are developed only to the
“effect” stage; for the middling, only to the “nature” stage; and
for the lowest, only to their “cause” stage. These stages determine
the success of the seeker’s efforts.
109. Immediate success attends the efforts of the best
qualified; some time elapses before the next in grade succeeds; a
longer time is required for the middling; and only a prolonged
and steady practice can enable the low-grade seeker to succeed.
110-112. Their perplexity of minds does not allow the last
two grades of seekers to take to enquiry.
Their minds are more
readily composed by yoga, which is more suited to them than
enquiry.
The first two grades of seekers readily profit by enquiry
which is more suited to them than yoga.
113-114. In Dhyana Deepika, Sri Vidyaranyaswami has
said:
“The path of enquiry cannot lead to success to the seekers
whose minds are confused.
To bring down the false notion of
their minds, yoga is necessary.
The minds of those who are fully
qualified, are not confused but remain one pointed; only the
veiling power of Ignorance still hides the Self from them; they
await only awakening.
Enquiry is the process of awakening;
therefore it best suits them.”
115-118. Yoga can be successful only after a long, steady,
earnest, diligent and cautious practice without needless strain.
D.: Why should one be so heedful about it?
M.: When the attempt is made to fix the mind in the Self,
it gets restive and drags the man through the senses to the objects.
However resolute and learned the man may be, his mind
remains wayward, strong, mulish, and hard to restrain.
Wanton
by nature, it cannot remain steady for a moment; it must run
here, there and everywhere; now it dwells in the nether regions
and in a trice it flies up in the sky; it moves in all the directions of the compass; and it is capricious like a monkey. It is hard to
fix it. To do so, one must be heedful
119-121. In the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna asked Sri
Bhagavan:
‘O Krishna! Is not the mind always capricious,
disturbing to the man and too strong to be checked? It is easier
to hold the air in the fist than to control the mind.’
In the Yoga Vasishta, Sri Rama asked Vasishta: ‘O master! Is
it not impossible to control the mind? One may sooner drink up
the oceans or lift up Mt. Meru or swallow flaming fire than control
the mind.’
From the words of Rama and Arjuna, and our own
experience, there can be no doubt that it is exceedingly difficult
to control the mind however able and heroic one may be.
122-124. D.: Control of mind being so difficult, how can
yoga be practised at all?
M.: By dint of practice and dispassion, the mind can be
brought under control.
The same has been said by Sri Bhagavan
to Arjuna and by Vasishta to Sri Rama.
Sri Krishna said : “O
Son of Kunti! There is no doubt that the mind is wayward and
difficult to control. Nevertheless by dint of practice and dispassion it can be controlled.”
Vasishta said: “O Rama, though
the mind is hard to control yet it must be subdued by dispassion
and effort even at the cost of wringing your hands, clenching
your teeth and holding down the senses and limbs; it must be
accomplished by will power.”
Therefore intense effort is necessary for the purpose.
125-127. The honey bee of the mind ever living in the
lotus of the heart turns away from the sweet honey of unequalled
Bliss of the Heart lotus, and desirous of honey bitter with misery,
collected outside as sound, touch, form, taste and smell, always
flies out through the senses.
Though by dispassion the senses are
forcibly closed and the mind shut in, yet remaining within, it
will be thinking of the present or recollecting the past or building
castles in the air.
D.: How can even its subtle activities be checked and itself
completely subdued?
M.: Checking its external activities and confining it within,
this bee of the mind must be made to be drunk with the honey
of the Heart lotus, i.e., the Bliss of the Self.
128. D.: Please explain this yoga.
M.: With an intense desire for Liberation, reaching a Guru,
hearing from him the non-dual Brahman shining forth as BeingKnowledge-Bliss of the Self, understanding It though indirectly
yet as clearly as one understands Vishnu etc., turning the mind
one pointedly to this Brahman, without taking to enquiry by
reflection (manana) always meditating on the non-dual Self of
Being-Knowledge-Bliss, attributeless and undifferentiated, is
called yoga.
By its practice the mind becomes tranquil and can
gradually go to samadhi.
In samadhi it will experience the
Supreme Bliss.
129-130. D.: Has any other said so before?
M.: Yes. Sri Bhagavan has said: The yogi who, controlling
the mind, always turns it upon the Self, becomes perfectly
calm, and ultimately gains Me i.e., the Bliss of Liberation.
The mind of the yogi who always practises yoga, will be steady
like a flame protected from the breeze and without movement
will pass into samadhi.
131-133. Similarly by enquiry, the mind readily gains peace
and samadhi.
D.: What is this enquiry?
M.: After hearing from the Guru about the nature of the
Self which in the shastras is spoken of as Brahman or BeingKnowledge-Bliss,
to gain a clear indirect knowledge,
then
according to upadesa and by intelligent reasoning to enquire
and find out the Self
which is Pure Knowledge,
and the nonself which is objective and insentient like the ego,
to discern
and sift them,
then directly to experience them as different from each other,
later on by meditation to extinguish all that is
objective,
and to absorb into the Self the residual mind left over as
non-dual,
ends in the direct experience of Supreme Bliss.
Here
it has been described in brief, but the shastras deal with it
elaborately
134. This chapter on Sadhana has dealt with these two
means, Enquiry and Yoga, for making the mind still. According
to his merits an intelligent seeker should practise either of them.
135. This Chapter is meant for the earnest student in order
that he may study carefully and analyse his qualifications to
ascertain what he already has and what more are wanted. After
properly equipping himself he can find out which of these two
methods suits him and then practise it till success.
.... ,, .............................. .............................. ..........
chp 4 shravana
1. In the foregoing chapter we had seen that yoga is suited
to the lower grade of seekers and enquiry to the higher.
In this
chapter we shall consider the path of enquiry which effortlessly
leads to Knowledge of Brahman
2-4. D.: What is this path of enquiry?
M.: From the shastras it is well known to consist of sravana,
manana, nidhidhyasana and samadhi i.e., hearing the Truth,
reflection, meditation and Blissful Peace.
The Vedas themselves
declare it to be so. “My dear, the Self must be heard from the
master, reflected and meditated upon.” In another place it is
said that
in Blissful Peace the Self must be realised.
The same
idea has been repeated by Sri Sankaracharya in his Vakyavrtti,
namely that
until the meaning of the sacred text “I am Brahman”
is realised in all its true significance, one must be practising
sravana etc.
5-7. In Chitra Deepika, Sri Vidyaranyaswami has said that
enquiry is the means of knowledge and it consists in hearing
the Truth, reflection and meditation;
only the state of blissful
Peace of awareness in which Brahman alone exists and nothing
else,
is the true “nature” of Knowledge;
the non-revival of the
knot of the ego parading as “I” which has been lost once for all,
is its “effect”;
always to remain fixed as ‘I am the Supreme Self’
just as strongly, unequivocally and unerringly as the heretofore
ignorant identification “I am the body” is its end;
liberation is
its fruit.
From this it follows that only hearing etc. is the enquiry
into the Self
8-10. To hear the Supreme Truth, reflect and meditate on
it, and to remain in Samadhi form together the enquiry into
the Self.
They have for their cause (Hetu) the aforesaid four
sadhanas, namely, discernment, desirelessness, tranquillity and
desire to be liberated.
Which of these is essential for which part
of enquiry will be mentioned in its appropriate place. Here we
shall deal with sravana.
M.: Sravana consists in ascertaining, by means of the six
proofs considered together, that the Vedas aim at the non-dual
Brahman only
11-12. To analyse sravana under the five categories:-
Intense desire to be liberated gives rise to it;
always to be
hearing of the non-dual Brahman is its nature;
the complete
removal of that aspect of the veiling power of Ignorance
which says, “It (Brahman) does not exist” is its effect;
non
recurrence of this veiling power is its limit;
a firm indirect
knowledge is its fruit
M.: In the sruti it is said: “In the state of dissolution before
creation there was only the non-dual Reality.” This Reality is
the same as the Self.
Only he who is eager to be liberated will
seek the knowledge of the Self and take to hearing it. No other
is interested in It.
Therefore eagerness to be liberated is the
essential requisite for this part of enquiry, viz. sravana.
14. D.: Just now you said that always to be hearing of the
non-dual Self is the nature of sravana. Who is this non-dual
Self?
M.: He is famous in the srutis as the Consciousness beyond
the gross, subtle and causal bodies, apart from the five sheaths
and witness of the waking, dream and sleep states.
15-17. D.: What can be beyond the gross, subtle and
causal bodies?
M.: Of these the gross body is composed of skin, blood,
muscles, fat, bones, nerve stuff and lymph; it is secreting and
excreting; it is born and it dies; like a wall it is insentient; like a
pot it is an object of the senses.
The subtle body is the internal organ (antahkarana) wellknown as the mind, which functions as the ‘I’ mode and ‘this’
mode; together with the five vital airs, the five senses and the
five organs and limbs, it transmigrates to other bodies or worlds;
always remaining within a gross body it experiences pleasures
and pains.
The beginningless, neither real nor unreal, and indescribable Ignorance manifests these subtle and gross bodies and
is therefore said to be the causal body.
18. These three bodies are contrary to the nature of the Self.
D.: How?
M.: The gross body is insentient; the subtle is pain ridden;
the causal is unreal.
These are the opposites of the BeingKnowledge-Bliss nature of the Self.
Therefore the Self must be
different from these.
It remains unconcerned as the witness of the three
states and of their experiencer who remains conceited with the
ideas “I woke up — I dreamt — I slept.”
Therefore none of the
three states is of the Self.
54. D.: Do these three — Being, Knowledge and Bliss
form the qualities or the nature of the Self?
M.: These are not qualities but the very Self. Just as heat,
light, and redness form the nature of fire and are not its qualities,
so also Being, Knowledge and Bliss are the nature of the Self
Therefore all this universe is really false. Now it is but right to
say that being the witness, the Self is the sole cause of all this universe
which is but an illusory appearance on the Self. The illusory effect
cannot be separate from the basis.
Just as the foam, bubbles and
waves are not different from their origin, the sea, so also the
phenomena of the Universe are but the Self falsely presented.
Therefore the Self is ‘non-dual’ and there can be no duality.
67. In the presence of the master always attentively to
study the Vedanta shastra which treats of the non-dual Being
and retain its meaning forms the “nature” of sravana or hearing.
This must always be attended to.
68. D.: What is the “effect” of this sravana?
M.: It destroys that veiling part of ignorance which hitherto
made one think “Where is this non-dual Self? Nowhere”.
To
destroy this ignorant conclusion of the non-existence of the
non-dual Self is its “effect”.
69-70. D.: How long should one continue sravana?
M.: Until the doubt of the non-existence of the non-dual
Being does not rear its head again.
The non-recurrence of this
doubt is said to be the “limit” of the process of sravana
D.: What is the “fruit” of sravana?
M.: When once for all the
non-belief in the non-duality
of Being is destroyed,
no sacred text or tricky argument can
make the seeker deviate from his faith.
All obstructions to his
faith thus removed,
he remains steady in his indirect knowledge
of non-dual Being.
This is the “fruit” of sravana.
71. D.: What is this indirect knowledge?
M.: To know the true nature of the inmost Self, not by
direct experience but by a study of the shastras, is called indirect
Knowledge.
Although one does not see Vishnu face to face yet
through the evidence of the shastras one believes in His existence;
this forms only common (samanya) knowledge.
Similarly a
common knowledge of non-duality of Brahman gained through
the advaita shastras is indirect knowledge
72-76. D.: Why should the knowledge arising from sravana
be said to be indirect? Can it not be direct?
M.: No. So long as the Inner Self cannot shine forth owing
to the other veiling aspect of Ignorance (abhanavarana) mere
knowledge of Its existence cannot be called direct.
Manana
6. D.: Why should not the Desire for Liberation be the
‘cause’ of reflection?
M.: A mere desire to be Liberated cannot make a man fit
for enquiry into the Self.
Without sravana one cannot have even
an indirect knowledge.
How can one succeed in one’s enquiry?
............................................... ..........................
CHAPTER V
MANANA
Only after knowing the nature of the Self, should one proceed
to seek it.
Ignorant of Its true nature, how can one investigate
the Self?
Simple desire to be liberated will not suffice.
7. D.: Should not this desire lead to enquiry? With the rise
of this desire the man will begin to hear about the nature of the
Self and gain indirect knowledge which must enable him to
undertake the enquiry.
M.: This amounts to saying that the seeker possesses
discernment.
He is not only desirous of Liberation but also
discerning in intellect.
With sravana comes this faculty of
intellectual discernment of the real from the unreal, or the Self
from the non-self.
This is called indirect knowledge.
The shastras
say that only he who possesses indirect knowledge can discern
the real or the Self from the unreal or the non-self, and is fit for
enquiry into the Self.
Therefore discernment is the sine qua non
for enquiry.
8-12. D.: Even if the desire for Liberation be not the
particular (visesha) cause of Reflection, could not either
desirelessness or tranquillity be the cause of it?
M.: All these are only general aids for reflection but not
its particular causes. A desireless and tranquil man need not
necessarily have the indirect knowledge of the Self and is
therefore unfit for enquiry into the Self. There are men of
austerities who are desireless and tranquil but not anxious for
Liberation. Having no desire for Liberation they have not
heard at all about the Self.
Not having done sravana, though endowed with
desirelessness and tranquillity, they are incapable of discerning
the real from the unreal and therefore unfit for enquiry into
the Self.
Desirelessness etc. can only be aids to this enquiry but
not its chief causes. Discernment of the real from the unreal is
the only chief cause.
13-14. D.: Can the Self not be realised by austerities
accompanied by desirelessness and tranquillity, without enquiry?
M.: No.
By non-enquiry the Self has been lost sight of;
to
regain It enquiry is needed.
In its absence how can even crores
of austerities restore the sight?
Always to enquire into the Self is
the only remedy for the blindness of the ignorant whose mental
eye has been bedimmed by the darkness of non-enquiry
spreading its veil.
Unless by the eye of knowledge gained
through enquiry, the Self cannot be realised
Truly the Self is all-permeating. Still Its
knowledge is obscured by the covering of the five sheaths. The
Self which lies hidden in them must be looked for only there
and not elsewhere. A thing is sought in the place where it was
lost. Something lost at home is not looked for in a forest. In the same manner the Self hidden in five sheaths and remaining
unrecognised by wrong identification with them must be found
only by sifting the unwanted elements, here the five sheaths.
D.: How can an investigation into unreal things lead to
the recognition of the Reality?
M.: The unreal coverings must be removed to disclose the
Reality hidden in them.
They are superimposed on the Real Self.
They must be examined and ascertained to be unreal so that their
substratum which is the sole Reality can be known.
Unless the
external trappings that are superimposed are looked into, their
substratum, that is the Reality, cannot be found.
Has any one in
the world been able to find the rope without looking and enquiring
into the nature of the seeming snake, though this is superimposed
on it and unreal?
Or can there be any one, who having enquired
into the superimposed snake, did not discover its substratum to be
the rope?
No one.
In the same manner an indirect knowledge
should be gained by sravana that the five sheaths are superimposed
and unreal;
but by a keen intellect the seeker must probe deep into
this superficial knowledge and experience the truth of it;
just as the
directly experienced gross body is clearly known to be built up by
food and recognised to be only the food-sheath covering the Self,
so also the other four subtler sheaths remaining unknown to the
common people but taught by the scriptures and the master must
be known by their characteristics; they must be enquired into and
directly experienced;
at the same time they must be recognised to
be only sheaths and successively dismissed in order to seek their
witness, Consciousness-Being or the subtle Self.
20. D.: If the Self is enquired into, after investigation and
dismissing these sheaths, how can It be realised?
M.: This enquiry is but reflecting on the Self i.e., manana,
its effect is to destroy the veil of Ignorance.
A constant reflection
on the Self lying behind the sheaths must burn away that aspect
of veiling which makes one say ‘It does not shine forth’.
D.: How can this be?
M.: Just as an enquiry into the rope-snake that obstructs
the rope from view, destroys the ignorance of the rope, so also a
keen quest of the Self that remains as the witness of the five
sheaths, destroys the ignorance which supposes that the Self is
not seen and that It does not shine forth.
On the clouds being
scattered away as the sun shines forth in its full glory, so also the
darkness of veiling being destroyed the witnessing Self will shine
forth in all Its splendour.
Therefore enquiry is necessary
21. D.: How long should one continue to enquire into
the Self?
M.: Non-recrudescence of the darkness of Ignorance is
said to be the “limit” of reflection.
Therefore one should continue
the practice until this darkness of Ignorance does not recur
M.: Transcending all, the Self has nothing in common
with worldly things or activities;
It transcends the void also;
hence the experience is unique and unearthly.
A fear may then
arise “Can this be the Self? It cannot be — Should this be the
Self, how can I be such a void?”
Even after realising the impartite
Self, there is no confidence in one’s own experience;
it is
regarded as impossible and a great doubt arises. The sense of
impossibility gives rise to doubt. But repeated reflection removes
this sense of impossibility. So it is said by Vyasa in the Brahma
Sutras:
On account of the repeated instruction
(by the scriptures), (it is) necessary repeatedly (to hear of, reflect
and meditate on the Self).
25. D.: What is the “fruit” of such reflection?
M.: By continued practice, the veiling is destroyed;
with
its destruction, the sense of impossibility of the Self shining
forth all alone disappears;
with its disappearance all obstacles
are at an end
and then direct experience results
as clearly and
surely as an apple in the palm of your hand.
This is the “fruit
26. D.: What is this direct experience?
M.: Just as one can clearly distinguish the sun from the
cloud hiding it, so also when one can distinguish the Self from
the ego, it is direct experience.
This is the ‘fruit’ of reflection.
27. My son! wise boy! Reflection has now been taught in
detail.
It is for you to enquire into the five sheaths, dismiss
them as unreal, then with keen intellect turn inwards to find
the very subtle Self and recognise it distinctively.
28. D.: O Master! even on a keen enquiry I am unable to
say “These are the five sheaths; this is the inmost Self as
distinguished from them”. I cannot directly realise the Self. Why
is it so?
M.: This is owing to beginningless Ignorance.
D.: How did this Ignorance arise?
M.: From the aforesaid veiling.
D.: How?
M.: Although by nature the Self and the ego are quite
different from each other, the aforesaid veiling presents them as
if they were identical.
D.: Please explain this.
M.: See, how though rope and a snake are quite different
from each other, yet ignorance of the rope makes it appear a
snake,
so also the Self being hidden by the darkness of veiling
does not shine forth and in its place only the functions of the
ego, doership etc., are seen.
29-31. Therefore enquire into the nature of the five sheaths,
find them, realise them, and then reject them as non-self.
There
must be the unchanging witness of changes, originating and
destroying these phenomena.
Find and realise Him as the Self.
The direct meaning of That is the world factors, i.e. names
and forms; the intended meaning is Brahman — the composite
of Being-shining-pleasing.
Just as the beginningless Ignorance
veils the self-evident difference between the sheaths and their
witness, so also it veils the similar difference between the Beingshining-pleasing and the ‘name and form’ factors.
Again as
enquiry scatters away the veiling power,
the Being-KnowledgeBliss can be seen distinct from the ‘name and form’ aspect.
D.: What is the ‘fruit’ of this knowledge?
M.: To reject the five sheaths and names and forms of
objects as something inexpressible,
only superimposed on the
Reality,
illusory to practise that the substratum,
i.e., Brahman
of Being-Knowledge-Bliss is the Self and to realise It as ‘I am
Brahman’ with the resulting Supreme Bliss of being the
Brahman, is the ‘fruit’ of this knowledge.
Here ends the chapter
on Reflection.
57. The wise student who carefully reads and practises it
can realise himself as Brahman i.e., Being-Knowledge-Bliss.
.... chp 6 vasana kshaya.........
1. This chapter succeeds the five earlier ones on
superimposition, its withdrawal, the requisites of the seeker,
hearing, and reflection.
To the disciple who after reflecting on
the Self has gained direct knowledge, the master further says as
follows.
2. Wise son, the shastras have nothing more to teach you;
you have finished them. Henceforth you must meditate on the
Self.
The scriptures say: ‘Dear! the Self must be heard of,
reflected and meditated upon’.
Having finished reflection, you
must proceed with meditation.
Now give up the shastras.
3-6. D.: Is it proper to give them up?
M.: Yes, it is proper. Now that by enquiry you have known
what need be known, you can unhesitatingly give them up.
D.: But the shastras say that to the last moment of death,
one should not give them up.
M.: Their purpose is to teach the truth.
After it is gained,
of what further use can they be?
A further study will be so much
waste of time and labour.
Therefore leave them aside.
Take to
unbroken meditation.
D.: Is this statement supported by scriptures?
M.: Yes.
D.: How?
M.: They say: After repeatedly hearing from the master about
the Self, reflecting on It and directly knowing It, the seeker should
give up the shastras even as the pole used to stir up the corpse in the
burning ground is finally consigned to the burning fire of the corpse.
From a study of the shastras let the seeker of Liberation
gather an indirect knowledge of the Self
and put it into practice by
reflecting on
It until by experiencing It a direct knowledge is gained;
later like a gatherer of grains who takes the grain and rejects the
chaff, let him leave the shastras aside.
The man desirous of liberation
should make use of shastras only to gain knowledge of the Self and
then proceed to reflect on It;
he should not be simply talking
vedanta,
nor even be thinking of it.
For talk results only in so
much strain on speech, similarly thinking on the mind, no useful
purpose can be served by either.
Therefore only know just what
need be known and give up tiresome study.
Controlling his speech
and mind a sensible seeker should always engage in meditation.
This is the teaching of the shastras.
It is the inclination of the mind always to study vedantic
literature, to understand the meaning of the texts, to commit
them to memory and constantly be thinking of them.
Since
this inclination obstructs meditation, a wise man must overcome
it with every effort.
Next the latencies connected with the world
(lokavasana) must be eliminated
8. D.: What are these latencies?
M.: To think, this is my country, this is my family pedigree
and this is the tradition. Should any one praise or censure any
of these, the reactions of the mind denote the latencies connected
with the world. Give them up. Later on, give up the latencies
connected with the body also (dehavasana).
9-13. D.: What are they?
M.: To think oneself to be of such and such age, young or
old and desire the full span of life with health, strength and
good looks. Generally thoughts pertaining to the body indicate
these latencies.
Ambition in the world and love for body distract the mind and prevent meditation on Brahman.
Since all objects
are ephemeral, they must be eschewed.
Then the latencies
connected with enjoyments (bhogavasana) must be given up
D.: What are these?
M.: These are made up of thoughts like: this is good and I
must have it; this is not so and let it leave me; now I have
gained so much and let me gain more, and so on.
D.: How can this be overcome?
M.: By looking with disgust upon all enjoyments as on
vomit or excreta and developing dispassion for them, this can
be overcome. Dispassion is the only remedy for this mad craving.
After this, the mind must be cleared of the six passions, namely,
lust, anger, greed, delusion, pride and jealousy
D.: How can this be done?
M.: By (maitri, karuna, mudita and upeksha) friendship
with the holy, compassion for the afflicted, rejoicing in the joy
of the virtuous and being indifferent to the shortcomings of
the sinful.
Next must be effaced the latencies connected with the
objects of the senses (vishayavasana) such as sound etc.
These
latencies are the running of the senses such as hearing etc., after
their objects.
D.: How can these latencies be effaced?
M.: By a practice of the six-fold discipline consisting of
sama, dama, uparati, titiksha, samadhana and sraddha,
withdrawing the mind from going outwards, controlling the
senses, not thinking of the objects of the senses, forbearance,
fixing the mind on the Reality and faith.
Next all latencies connected with mutual attachments must
be overcome
14-15. D.: What are they?
M.: Though the senses are restrained, yet the mind always
thinks of objects: ‘there is that; there is this; it is such and such; it
is this-wise or otherwise’ and so on. Because of brooding over
objects, the mind gets attached to them, this constant brooding is
called the latency connected with mental attachment.
D.: How can this be checked?
M.: By practising uparati which means desisting from all
thoughts after concluding by proper reasoning that they are
only fruitless daydreams.
16. When in the right manner, all this has been accomplished, the greatest evil-doer, namely the latency connected
with wrong identity must be put an end to, even with great effort.
17. D.: What is this latency connected with wrong identity?
(viparita vasana)
M.: Owing to beginningless Ignorance the non-Self is
mistaken for the Self as ‘I am the body’ from time immemorial,
this Ignorance is hardy and can be ended only by the practice
of Brahman.
18-20. D.: What is this practice?
.: It consists in discarding the body, senses etc., as being
non-Self and always remembering that ‘I am Brahman’,
remaining as consciousness witnessing the insentient sheaths.
Meditating on Brahman in solitude,
speaking of or teaching
only Brahman in the company of others,
not to speak or think
of anything but It,
but always one-pointedly to think of
Brahman, is the practice.
So say the wise. By this transcend the ego and then proceed
to eliminate the idea of ‘mine’.
21-22. D.: What is the nature of this idea?
M.: It consists in the single concept of ‘mine’ in relation
to the body or whatever pertains to it, such as name, form,
clothing, caste, conduct or professions of life.
D.: How does this go away?
M.: By a steadfast meditation on the Reality.
D.: How?
M.: Always to be aware that the body etc., its interests and
effects, enjoyments, activities etc., are only figments of ignorance
on pure knowledge i.e., the Self,
that like the appearance of silver
on nacre, ornaments in gold, water in mirage, blueness in the
sky or waves in water, all but the Self are only false presentations
or illusory modes of the Self. In reality there is nothing but our
‘Self’.
Next the sense of differentiation (bheda vasana) must go.
23-25. D.: What is this sense of differentiation?
M.: It consists in ideas like: “I am the witness of this; all
that is seen is only insentient and illusory; here is the world;
these are the individuals; this one is the disciple and the other,
the master; this is Isvara, and so on.”
This must go by a practice
of non-duality.
This practice is to remain non-dual,
solid BeingKnowledge-Bliss,
untainted and free from thoughts of reality
or unreality,
ignorance or its illusory effects,
and internal or
external differentiation.
This is accomplished by a constant
practice of modeless (nirvikalpa) samadhi.
Here remains the
experience of Brahman only.
After leaving the sense of differentiation far behind, the
attachment to non-duality must later be given up.
26-27. D.: How is this to be done?
M.: Even this state must finally pass into untellable and
unthinkable Reality absolutely free from modes and even
non-duality.
The Bliss of Liberation is only this and nothing
more. When the mind is cleared of all latent impurities, it
remains untainted, crystal-clear so that it cannot be said to
exist or not to exist and it becomes one with Reality,
transcending speech and thought.
This unmoded, untainted
fixity of the mind is known as Realisation or Liberation while
alive.
28. Though direct knowledge of the Self has been gained,
yet until this Realisation ensues,
to be liberated while alive one
should always meditate on Brahman
with proper control of
mind and senses.
Thus ends this chapter.
............................ chp 7 .. Sakshatkara .................................
1. In the foregoing chapter it was said that direct knowledge
must first be gained
and then the latent tendencies of the mind
wiped out
so that Brahman may be realised.
Now Realisation is
dealt with
The master says: Wise son, now that you have gained direct
knowledge by enquiry into the Self,
you should proceed with
meditation
2. D.: Master, now that I have gained direct knowledge by
enquiry and my task is finished why should I meditate further
and to what end?
3-4. M.: Though by reflection, direct knowledge of the
Self has been gained, Brahman cannot be realised without
meditation.
In order to experience ‘I am Brahman’ you must
practise meditation.
5-6.: D.: You ask me to pursue meditation for realising
Brahman. I have already gained direct knowledge by enquiry
into the sacred text. Why should I now practise meditation?
M.: If you mean to say that enquiry into the sacred text
results in realising Brahman, who can deny it? No one. Truly
this enquiry must end in the realisation of Brahman.
Let us now enquire into the meaning of the text.
Whose
identity with whom is implied in it?
It must be of the
consciousness witnessing the five sheaths of the individual,
the
implied meaning of ‘thou’ with Brahman, the implied meaning
of ‘That’; it cannot be of the Jiva, i.e., the personal soul with
Brahman.
By enquiry the identity of the witnessing
consciousness with Brahman has certainly been found.
Of what
use can this identity of the witness with Brahman be to you?
7. D.: On enquiry into the meaning of the sacred text,
when one has realised that the witness is Brahman and vice
versa, how can you raise the question ‘Of what use can it be to
the person?’ Its use is evident. Formerly the seeker was ignorant
of the identity and now by enquiry he is aware of it.
M.: By enquiry you have certainly known that the witness
is Brahman and that the unbroken, all-perfect Brahman is the
witness.
Still this knowledge is not the end and cannot serve
your purpose.
Suppose a poor beggar who was ignorant of the
fact that a king residing in a fort was the emperor of the world,
later knew it. How does this newly acquired knowledge improve
his position? It cannot serve any useful purpose for him.
8. D Before enquiry, ignorance prevails. After enquiry,
knowledge
is gained that the witness is Brahman. Now
knowledge has taken the place of ignorance. This is the use.
M.: How does this affect the fact? Whether you have known
it or not, the witness ever remains Brahman. Your knowledge of
the fact has not made Brahman, the witness. Whether the poor
beggar knew it or not, the king in the fort was the emperor. His
knowledge did not make an emperor of the king in the fort.
Now that you have known the witness to be Brahman, what has
happened to you? Tell me. There can be no change in you.
9. D.: Why not? There is a difference. The sacred text
teaches ‘That thou art’. On enquiring into its significance I
have found that the witness of the five sheaths in me is the same
as Brahman. From this I have known that I am Brahman, which
forms another sacred text. To me who was ignorant of the
witness being the same as Brahman, this knowledge has dawned,
with the result that I have realised Brahman.
M.: How can you claim to have realised Brahman? If by
the text ‘I am Brahman’ you understand yourself to be Brahman,
who is this ‘I’ but the Jiva, the individual soul or the ego? How
can the ego be Brahman? Just as even with his knowledge of the
king, the beggar cannot himself be the king, so also the changeful
ego can never be identical with the changeless Brahman
10-14. D.: Certainly so. But on enquiring ‘Who am I?’ it
becomes plain that by non-enquiry the unchanging witness had
mistaken the changing ego for himself. Now he knows ‘I am
not the changing ego but remain its unchanging conscious
witness’. Now it is but right that the witness should say, ‘I am
Brahman’. What can be discordant in this?
M.: How can you hold that the witness says ‘I am Brahman?’
Does the unchanging witness or the changing ego say so?
If you
say that it is the witness, you are wrong.
For the witness remains
unchanging as the witness of the ‘false-I’. He is not the conceit
itself. Otherwise he cannot have the quality of being the witness
for he will himself be changing. Being unchanging the witness
is free from the least trace of any notion such as ‘I’ or Brahman
and cannot therefore know ‘I am Brahman’. There is no ground
for your contention that the witness says so.
D.: Then who knows ‘I am Brahman’?
M.: From what has been said before, it must follow that
the individual soul, the jiva, or the ‘false-I’ must have
this knowledge.
D.: How does this follow?
M.: In order to be free from the repeated cycle of births
and deaths, the ignorant man is obliged to practise the knowledge
‘I am Brahman’.
There is no ignorance for the witness.
When
there is no ignorance, there can be no knowledge either.
Only
the ignorant must seek knowledge. Who but the ‘false-I’ can be
the subject of ignorance or of knowledge?
It is self-evident that
the witnessing Self being the substratum on which knowledge
or ignorance appears, must itself be free from them.
On the
contrary the ‘false-I’ is known to possess knowledge or ignorance.
If you ask him ‘Do you know the Self witnessing you?’ And he
will answer ‘Who is that witness? I do not know him’. Here the
ignorance of the ‘false-I’ is obvious.
On hearing the vedanta that there is an inner witness to
him, indirectly he knows that the Self is his witness. Then
enquiring into the Self, the veil of Ignorance that It does not
shine forth, is drawn off and directly he knows the witnessing
Self. Here again the knowledge of the ‘false-I’ is also clear.
It is only the jiva and not the witness who has the knowledge
or ignorance that there is, or is not, the inner witness. You must
now admit that the jiva has the knowledge that ‘I am Brahman’.
Now for the reason that the changing Jiva has become aware of
the unchanging witness, he cannot be the same as the witness.
Because he had seen him, the poor beggar cannot be the king. So
also the changing Jiva cannot be the witness. Without being the
witnessing Self, the changing entity cannot be Brahman. So this
experience ‘I am Brahman’ is impossible.
15. D.: How can you say that merely seeing the witness, I
cannot know that I am the witness? Ignorant of his true being
as the substratum or the witnessing consciousness, the Jiva moves
about as the ‘false-I’. However on a careful enquiry into his
true nature he knows the witness and identifies himself as the
witness who is well-known to be the unbroken, all perfect
Brahman. Thus the experience, ‘I am Brahman’, is real.
M.: What you say is true provided that the jiva can identify
himself as the witness. The witness is undoubtedly Brahman.
But how can the mere sight of the witness help the jiva merge
himself into the witness?
Unless the jiva remains the witness, he
cannot know himself as the witness.
Merely by seeing the king,
a poor beggar cannot know himself to be the king.
But when
he becomes the king, he can know himself as the king.
Similarly
the jiva, remaining changeful and without becoming the
unchanging witness, cannot know himself as the witness.
If he cannot be the witness, how can he be the unbroken, all-perfect
Brahman?
He cannot be.
Just as at the sight of the king in a
fort, a poor beggar cannot become king and much less sovereign
of the universe, so also only at the sight of the witness who is
much finer than ether and free from traffic with triads, such as
the knower, knowledge and the known, eternal, pure, aware,
free, real, supreme and blissful, the jiva cannot become the
witness, much less the unbroken, all-perfect Brahman, and
cannot know ‘I am Brahman’
M.: ‘I am Brahman’ means that, after discarding the
‘false-I’, only the residual being or the pure consciousness that is left over can be Brahman
— It is absurd to say that, without
discarding but retaining the individuality, the jiva, on seeing
Brahman but not becoming Brahman, can know himself as
Brahman.
A poor beggar must first cease to be beggar and rule
over a state in order to know himself as king; a man desirous of
god-hood first drowns himself in the Ganges and leaving this
body, becomes himself a celestial being;
by his extraordinary
one-pointed devotion a devotee leaves off his body and merges
into god,
before he can know himself to be god.
In all these
cases when the beggar knows himself to be king, or the man to
be celestial being, or the devotee to be god, they cannot retain
their former individualities and also identify themselves as the
superior beings.
In the same way, the seeker of Liberation must
first cease to be an individual before he can rightly say ‘I am
Brahman’.
This is the significance of the sacred text.
Without
completely losing one’s individuality one cannot be Brahman.
Therefore to realise Brahman, the loss of the individuality is a
sine qua non.
D.: The changeful individual soul cannot be Brahman.
Even though he rids himself of the individuality, how can he
become Brahman?
19. M.: Just as a maggot losing its nature, becomes a wasp.
A maggot is brought by a wasp and kept in its hive. From time
to time the wasp visits the hive and stings the maggot so that it
always remains in dread of its tormentor. The constant thought
of the wasp transforms the maggot into a wasp.
Similarly,
constantly meditating on Brahman, the seeker loses his original
nature and becomes himself Brahman.
This is the realisation of
Brahman
M.: Undoubtedly individuality lasts as long as the mind
exists.
Just as the reflected image disappears with the removal of
the mirror in front, so also individuality can be effaced by stilling
the mind by meditation.
M.: Successively appearing in the ignorance-created mind and
disappearing in deep sleep, swoon etc.,
this empirical self is inferred
to be only a phantom.
Simultaneously with the disappearance of
the medium or the limiting adjunct (upadhi), the mind, the jiva
becomes the substratum, the True Being or Brahman.
Destroying
the mind, the jiva can know himself as Brahman
24. D.: With the destruction of the limiting adjunct, the
jiva being lost, how can he say ‘I am Brahman’?
M.: When the limiting ignorance of dream vanishes, the
dreamer is not lost, but emerges as the waking experiencer. So
also when the mind is lost, the jiva emerges as his true Being —
Brahman.
Therefore as soon as the mind is annihilated leaving
no trace behind, the jiva will surely realise ‘I am the BeingKnowledge-Bliss, non-dual Brahman; Brahman is I, the Self’.
M.: Just as at the end of a dream, the dreamer rising up as
the waking experiencer says ‘All along I was dreaming that I
wandered in strange places, etc., but I am only lying down on
the bed,’ or a madman cured of his madness remains pleased
with himself, or a patient cured of his illness wonders at his past
sufferings, or a poor man on becoming a king, forgets or laughs
at his past penurious state, or a man on becoming a celestial
being enjoys the new bliss, or a devotee on uniting with the
Lord of his devotion remains blissful,
so also the jiva on emerging
as Brahman wonders how all along being only Brahman he was
moving about as a helpless being imagining a world, god and
individuals,
asks himself what became of all those fancies and
how he now remaining all alone as Being-Knowledge-Bliss free
from any differentiation, internal or external, certainly experiences the Supreme Bliss of Brahman.
Thus realisation is possible
for the jiva only on the complete destruction of the mind and
not otherwise.
M.: The latent impressions (vasanas) manifesting as modes
(vrittis) constitute the form-aspect of the mind. Their effacement
is the destruction of this aspect of mind. On the other hand, on
the latencies perishing, the supervening state of samadhi in which there is no stupor of sleep,
no vision of the world,
but only the
Being-Knowledge-Bliss is the formless aspect of mind.
The loss
of this amounts to the loss of the formless aspect of mind.
Should
this also be lost, there can be no experience — not even of the
realisation of Supreme Bliss
D.: When does this destruction take place?
M.: In the disembodiment of the liberated being. It cannot
happen so long as he is alive in the body.
The mind is lost in its
form-aspect but not in its formless one of Brahman.
Hence the
experience of Bliss for the sage, liberated while alive.
26-27. D.: In brief what is Realisation?
M.: To destroy the mind in its form-aspect functioning as
the limiting adjunct to the individual,
to recover the pure mind
in its formless aspect whose nature is only Being-KnowledgeBliss
and to experience ‘I am Brahman’
is Realisation.
D.: Is this view supported by others as well?
M.: Yes. Sri Sankaracharya has said:
‘Just as in the ignorant
state, unmindful of the identity of the Self with Brahman, one
truly believes oneself to be the body,
so also after knowing to be
free from the illusion of the body being the Self,
and becoming
unaware of the body, undoubtingly and unmistakably always
to experience the Self as the Being-Knowledge-Bliss identical
with Brahman is called Realisation’.
‘To be fixed as the Real
Self is Realisation’, say the sages.
30-31. Therefore without effacing the form-aspect of the
mind and remaining fixed as the true Self, how can anyone
realise ‘I am Brahman’?
It cannot be.
Briefly put, one should still the mind to destroy one’s individuality and thus remain
fixed as the Real Self of Being-Knowledge-Bliss,
so that in
accordance with the text ‘I am Brahman’ one can realise
Brahman.
On the other hand, on the strength of the direct
knowledge of Brahman to say ‘I am Brahman’ is as silly as a
poor beggar on seeing the king declaring himself to be the king.
Not to claim by words but to be fixed as the Real Self and
know ‘I am Brahman’ is Realisation of Brahman.
32. D.: How will the sage be, who has undoubtingly,
unmistakably and steadily realised Brahman?
M.: Always remaining as the Being-Knowledge-Bliss, nondual, all-perfect, all-alone, unitary Brahman, he will be unshaken
even while experiencing the results of the past karma now in
fruition. (prarabdha).
33-35. D.: Being only Brahman, how can he be subject to
the experiences and activities resulting from past karma?
M.: For the sage undoubtingly and unmistakably fixed as
the real Self, there can remain no past karma.
In its absence
there can be no fruition, consequently no experience nor any
activity.
Being only without mode Brahman, there can be no
experiencer, no experiences and no objects of experience.
Therefore no past karma can be said to remain for him.
D.: Why should we not say that his past karma is now
working itself out?
M.: Who is the questioner? He must be a deluded being
and not a sage
D.: Why?
M.: Experience implies delusion; without the one, the other
cannot be.
Unless there is an object, no experience is possible.
All objective knowledge is delusion.
There is no duality in
Brahman.
Certainly all names and forms are by ignorance
superimposed on Brahman.
Therefore the experiencer must be
ignorant only and not a sage.
Having already enquired into the nature of things and known them to be illusory names and
forms born of ignorance, the sage remains fixed as Brahman
and knows all to be only Brahman.
Who is to enjoy what?
No
one and nothing.
Therefore there is no past karma left nor
present enjoyments nor any activity for the wise one.
M.: In Viveka Chudamani, Sri Acharya has said
‘Simultaneous with the dawn of knowledge, ignorance with all
its effects flees away from the sage and so he cannot be an enjoyer.
However, the ignorant wonder how the sage continues to live
in the body and act like others.
From the ignorant point of
view, the scriptures have admitted the momentum of past karma,
but not from the point of view of the sage himself’.
40. D.: If truly he is no enjoyer, why should he appear to
others to be so?
M.: Owing to their ignorance, the others regard him as an
enjoyer.
41-43. D.: Can this be so?
M.: Yes. To the ignorant only the non-dual, pure Ether of
Absolute Knowledge manifests Itself as various beings, the world,
God, different names and forms, I, you, he, it, this and that.
Like the illusion of a man on a post, silver on nacre, snake on
rope, utensils in clay, or ornaments in gold, different names and forms on the Ether of Knowledge delude the ignorant.
The sage who, by practice of knowledge, has destroyed
ignorance and gained true knowledge, will always remain only
as the Ether of Absolute Knowledge, unaware of enjoyments of
fruits of actions or of worldly activities. Being That, he can be
aware as the Ether of Knowledge only. Nevertheless, owing to
their ignorance others see him otherwise, i.e., as an embodied
being acting like themselves. But he remains only pure,
untainted ether, without any activity.
47-48. D.: Not that there are no experiences whatever
for the realised sage, but they are only illusory. For Knowledge
can destroy the karma already stored and the future karma
(sanchita and agamya) but not the karma which having already
begun to bear fruit (prarabdha) must exhaust itself. As long as
it is there, even from his own point of view, activities will
persist, though illusory.
M.: This cannot be. In which state do these three kinds of
karma exist — knowledge or ignorance? Owing to delusion; it
must be said ‘they are operative only in ignorance.’ But in
knowledge there being no delusion, there is no prarabdha.
Always remaining undeluded as the transcendental Self, how
can the delusion of the fruition of karma occur to one?
Can the delusion of dream-experience return to him who has awakened
from it?
To the disillusioned sage there can be no experience of
karma.
Always he remains unaware of the world but aware of
the Self as the non-dual, unbroken, unitary, solid, without any
mode Ether of Absolute Knowledge, and of nothing besides.
49. D.: The Upanishad admits past karma in the Text ‘As
long as his past karma is not exhausted the sage cannot be
disembodied, and there will be illusory activities for him’.
M.: You are not right. The activities and experiences of the
fruits of action and the world seem illusory to the practiser of
Knowledge and they completely vanish to the accomplished
sage. The practiser practises as follows: ‘I am the witness; the
objects and activities are seen by and known to me. I remain
conscious and these are insentient. Only Brahman is real; all
else is unreal.’ The practice ends with the realisation that all
these are insentient consisting of names and forms and cannot
exist in the past, present or future, therefore they vanish.
There
being nothing to witness, witnessing ends by merging into
Brahman.
Only the Self is now left over as Brahman.
For the
sage aware of the Self only, there can remain only Brahman
and no thought of karma, or worldly activities.
D.: Why then does the sruti mention past karma in this
connection?
M.: It does not refer to the accomplished sage.
D.: Whom does it refer to?
M.: Only to the ignorant.
D.: Why?
M.: Although from his own point of view, the sage has no
enjoyment of the fruits of actions, yet the ignorant are deluded
on seeing his activities. Even if told there is no enjoyment for
him, the ignorant will not accept it but continue to doubt how
the sage remains active. To remove such doubt, the sruti says to
the ignorant that prarabdha still remains for the sage. But it does not say to the sage ‘You have prarabdha’. Therefore the
sruti which speaks of residual prarabdha, for the sage, really does
not speak of it from his point of view.
50-51. D.: Realisation can result only after complete
annihilation of individuality. But who will agree to sacrifice his
individuality?
M.: Being eager to cross over the ocean of the misery of
repeated births and deaths and realise the pure, eternal Brahman,
one will readily sacrifice one’s individuality.
Just as the man
desirous of becoming a celestial being, willingly consigns himself
to the fire or the Ganges in order to end this human life and
emerge as a god, so also the seeker of Liberation will by practice
of sravana, manana, and nidhidhyasana, (i.e., hearing, reflection
and meditation) sacrifice his individuality to become the
Supreme Brahman.
52. Here ends the Chapter on Realisation.
Diligently studying and understanding this, the seeker will
kill the mind which is the limiting adjunct that causes
individuality to manifest and ever live as Brahman only
... manonasha chp 8.............................
1. In the previous chapter, having taught the realisation of
the non-dual Brahman,
the master now treats of
the extinction
of the mind as the sole means of realising Brahman
M.: Wise son, leave off the mind which is the limiting
adjunct giving rise to individuality, thus causing the great malady
of repeated births and deaths, and realise Brahman.
2. D.: Master, how can the mind be extinguished? Is it not
very hard to do so? Is not the mind very powerful, restive and
ever vacillating? How can one relinquish the mind?
3-4. M.: To give up the mind is very easy, as easy as crushing
a delicate flower,
or removing a hair from butter or winking
your eyes.
Doubt it not.
For a self-possessed resolute seeker
not
bewitched by the senses,
but by strong dispassion grown
indifferent to external objects,
there cannot be the least difficulty
in giving up the mind.
D.: How is it so easy?
M.: The question of difficulty arises only if there is a mind
to leave off.
Truly speaking, there is no mind.
When told ‘There
is a ghost here’ an ignorant child is deluded into believing the
existence of the non-existent ghost, and is subject to fear, misery
and troubles,
similarly in the untainted Brahman by fancying
things that are not, as this and that, a false entity known as the
mind arises seemingly real,
functioning as this and that,
and
proving uncontrollable and mighty to the unwary,
whereas to
the self-possessed, discerning seeker who knows its nature, it is
easy to relinquish.
Only a fool ignorant of its nature says it is
most difficult.
5-10. D.: What is the nature of mind?
M.: To think this and that. In the absence of thought, there
can be no mind.
On the thoughts being extinguished the mind
will remain only in name like the horn of a hare; it will vanish as
a non-entity like a barren woman’s son, or a hare’s horn, or a
flower in the sky. This is also mentioned in the Yoga Vasishta.
D.: How?
M.: Vasishta says: ‘Listen, O Rama, there is nothing to
speak of as mind. Just as the ether exists without form, so also
the mind exists as the blank insentience. It remains only in
name; it has no form. It is not outside, nor is it in the heart. Yet
like the ether, the mind though formless fills all’.
D.: How can this be?
M.: Wherever thought arises as this and that, there is the
mind.
D.: If there be mind wherever there is thought, are thought
and mind different?
M.: Thought is the index of the mind. When a thought
arises mind is inferred. In the absence of thought, there can be
no mind. Therefore mind is nothing but thought. Thought is
itself mind.
D.: What is ‘thought’?
M.: ‘Thought’ is imagination. The thought-free state is
Bliss Supreme (Sivasvarupa). Thoughts are of two kinds; the
recalling of things experienced and unexperienced
Real or unreal, experienced or not, however it may be,
whatever is not thought of, is not apprehended.
It is obvious that without attention, even the objects of
direct cognition cannot be recognised.
maya, avidya diff names.
D.: Be it so, what has this got to do with the extinction of
the mind?
M.: Listen. You must understand that the knowledge
signified by all these terms is only the mind.
M.: Vasishta has said to Rama: ‘Whatever objective
knowledge manifests as this and that, or not this and not that,
or in any other manner, it is only the mind.
The mind is nothing
but this manifest knowledge’.
34. D.: Let it be so. How can the mind be extinguished?
M.: To forget everything is the ultimate means. But for
thought, the world does not arise. Do not think and it will not
arise.
When nothing arises in the mind, the mind itself is lost.
Therefore do not think of anything, forget all.
This is the best
way to kill the mind.
35-37. D.: Has anyone else said so before?
M.: Vasishta said so to Rama thus: ‘Efface thoughts of all
kinds, of things enjoyed, not enjoyed, or otherwise.
Like wood
or stone, remain free from thoughts.
Rama: Should I altogether forget everything?
Vasishta: Exactly; altogether forget everything and remain
like wood or stone.
Rama: The result will be dullness like that of stones or
wood.
Vasishta: Not so. All this is only illusion. Forgetting the
illusion, you are freed from it. Though seeming dull, you
will be the Bliss Itself. Your intellect will be altogether clear
and sharp. Without getting entangled in worldly life, but
appearing active to others remain as the very Bliss of Brahman
and be happy. Unlike the blue colour of the sky, let not the
illusion of the world revive in the pure Ether of Consciousness-Self. To forget this illusion is the sole means to
kill the mind and remain as Bliss.
Though Shiva, Vishnu, or
Brahman Himself should instruct you, realisation is not
possible without this one means.
Without forgetting
everything, fixity as the Self is impossible.
Therefore
altogether forget everything.’
38-39. D.: Is it not very difficult to do so?
M.: Though for the ignorant it is difficult, for the
discerning few it is very easy.
Never think of anything but the
unbroken unique Brahman.
By a long practice of this, you will
easily forget the non-self.
It cannot be difficult to remain still
without thinking anything.
Let not thoughts arise in the mind;
always think of Brahman.
In this way all worldly thoughts will
vanish and thought of Brahman alone will remain.
When this
becomes steady, forget even this, and without thinking ‘I am
Brahman’, be the very Brahman.
This cannot be difficult to
practise.
40. Now my wise son, follow this advice; cease thinking
of anything but Brahman.
By this practice your mind will be
extinct;
you will forget all and remain as pure Brahman.
41. He who studies this chapter and follows the instructions
contained therein, will soon be Brahman Itself!
table 4 pages
aham bramhasmi = deho aham
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