ADVAITA-SAADHANAA -10

























ADVAITA-SAADHANAA
(Kanchi Maha-Swamy’s  Discourses)





 


There is a custom of offering me a PoorNa-kumbha (the formal ritual reception with a vessel full of purified water). At that time, as well as in your marriages and other functions when you offer the sacred offering to the Achareya, there is a mantra which is recited by the Pundits. It refers to “those great ones whose antaH-karaNa has been purified by sannyAsa-yoga”
[cf. Mundaka U. III-2.6.
*vedAnata-vijnAna-sunishcitarthAH
sannyAsa-yogAd-yatayaH shuddh-satvAH*]
Here the reference is to the jnAnis. And this again shows the contention of the Upanishad that sannyAsa is first, and then only, through that purification one obtains jnAna.
An ‘atyAshrami’ is one who is either in the SannyAsa-Ashrama or one who is even higher than that, namely one who is a jnAni whom no ShAstraic injunctions touch. The Svetasvataropanishad (VI-21) seems to be teaching Brahma VidyA only to such atyAshramis. There is an Upanishad called Kaivalyopanishad. The Acharya used to quote from it Advaita-saadhanaa 164
often. In the beginning of that Upanishad it says the atyAsharami goes to a solitary place, sits in a straight Asana, controls his senses and mind and meditates on the Shiva svarUpa, his Atman.
After shravaNa, come manana and nididhyAsana. Just as it says: “Only after becoming a sannyAsi the shravaNa process takes place” so also there is also an authority for saying Only a SannyAsi has the right to do manana and nididhyAsana: *mananAdau sannyAsinAM adhikAraH*.
In Brahma-sUtras, the sannyAsis are referred to (III-4-17) as *Urdhvaretas*. This means those who don’t waste their energy in low activities of the senses, but take it Brahmasutras and also upward into noble paths. Reading through those portions of the the Achary’a Bhashyas on them, it is clear that they (the SannyAsis) are the ones who are qualified for the third stage in advaita-sAdhanA. A jnAni has to be a sannyAsi; should be.
Brahmasutra has another name for it: ‘Bhikshu-sutra’. Bhikshu means sannyAsi. One who lives, not on one’s home-food, but on BhikshA (formal ritualistic begging) is called a bhikshu. The book that is totally dedicated to enquiry into Brahman being called ‘bhikshu-sUtra’ shows that it is the sannyAsi who has the right for this v idyA.
When a matter occurs in the Gita, then there is no higher certificate needed! If we question whether the matter of sannyAsi having the only right for shravaNa etc. has occurred in the teachings of the Lord, the answer is yes! “All karmas finally end up in jnAna” (IV – 33, 34), says the Lord and continues “The seers of Truth will teach you the jnAna. One should bow to them, be in servitude to them, and learn by questioning and further questioning”. Ending up of karmas means thereafter it is only sannyAsa. Does it not then mean that “Only such a sannyAsi has the eligibility to receive the teaching of jnAna”?
Truth is the absolute ultimate, no, it is tapas (austerity) that is ultimate. No again, it is dama (control of mind); it is only shama (control of the mind) -- and so on goes the Narayanavalli, detailing the greatness of one after the other (Mahanarayana Upanishad. Anuvaka 78). But finally, it says: “It is none of these that is ultimate. SannyAsa is the Ultimate Principle. The Creator Brahma Himself has said so”.
When one reaches the higher rungs of the ladder of sAdhanA to know the Atman, it is possible only by the SannyAsi who has left karma behind. Atma is inaccessible by karma. It has to be enquired into, meditated on, further meditated on, and then in due course even that meditative action has to stop – only in that stage one can know the Atman. ‘To do karma and also to do dhyAna simultaneously’ is incompatible. So long as one is Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 165
in karma stage, associated with that there will be several relationships. *sangAt sanjAyate kAmaH …krodhaH … * as the Lord has said (B.G. II – 62), a single such association will set up a chain relationship of kAmaM, krodhaM, etc. and finally end up in *buddhi-nAshAt praNashyati* (intelligence is destroyed and the individual is lost). That is why the Acharya says in Vivekachudamani (147/149) “karma-koTibhiH na shakyaH” – even if a crore of karma is done, the bondage will not cease. *viveka-vijnAna-mahAsinA vinA dhAtuH prasAdena sitena manjunA* -- It can be cut asunder only by the grand sword of sAdhanA starting from nitya-anitya-vastu-viveka (discrimination between the unreal and the real) up to the vijnAna stage when one gets the wisdom of experience, by the Grace of God.
If one has to dedicate one’s life to cut this bondage, one has to get away from family, relationships, profession and even all religious obligations.
But one thing should not be forgotten. It is not as if any one can just throw away religious obligations of karma and become a sannyAsi. The Acharya has never said so. He has ruled that such a right is there only for those whose minds have been purified. How to purify the mind? The emphatic direction of the Acharya is to discharge all the karmic obligations systematically and without default. The same Acharya who said that even a crore of karma cannot give you release from bondage, in his great compassionate anguish at the dim prospect of this being misused by immature people who may throw away the karmic obligations as well as their svadharma and thus destroy themselves, has, right in the next shloka, cleared this matter:
*shruti-pramANaika-mateH svadharma-
nishhTA tayaivAtma-vishuddhir-asya /
vishuddha-buddheH paramAtma-vedanaM
tenaiva-samsAra-samUla-nAshaH //*
The latter half of the shloka says:
‘tenaiva samsAra-samUla-nAshaH’ : through that alone the samsAra bondage is cut along with its roots.
Through what?
‘paramAtma-vedanaM’ : the sparking of the jnAnaM about the paramAtmA.
‘Vishuddha-buddheH’ : to the one who has had his mind purified.
How does that purification of mind happen? He gives it in the first half.
Svadharma-nishhTA : (he who is) fully and firmly established ( nishhTA) in one’s own dharma.
Tayaiva Atma vishuddhiH : By that alone the mind gets purified Advaita-saadhanaa 166
Well, how does one know what that svadharma is?
The answer is already there in the very bveginning of the shloka:
Shruti-pramANaika-mateH: The nishhThA of svadharma comes from the unique faith and comviction that the religious sanction comes from only the vedas.
What the Vedas say is the authority. With that faith one goes about doing his svadharma as the be-all and end-all. That is svadharmaika-nishhThA. The svadharma that the Vedas talk about is the division into the varNas and the allocation of duties to each. There is also prescribed what a Brahmachari should do, what a householder should do, what women should do and so on . So the nishThA that comes from the authority of the Vedas means the nishTA in the discharge of all karmic obligation. Thus one should do one’s karma completely. That is what gives purification of mind. And then follows Atma-jnAna as well as the end of all bondage.
When one does karmas according to the prescriptions of the Vedas, first it drains all the dirt from the body by those sheer karmas. Not only that. Simultaneously the dirt of the mind is also rinsed and wrung out. Afterwards one stops doing his karma but now goes into the karma of the mind by doing dhyAna. And still later even that dhyAna stops and he reaches the stage of jnAna.
So the sequence is first dharma nishThA, then karma-nishThA and finally jnAna-nishThA. Nothing should be missed here. One should not move forward without having done the earlier one. Nor should one have anything to do with the earlier one once he has moved forward. When a cloth is washed, we do mix a lot of water and wring the cloth for the dirt to go. But once the dirt is gone no more wringing is necessary. If we keep wringing the cloth after that it will only damage the cloth. What is necessary now is to dry it up in air. This is the going to the jnAna path! The air and sunlight evaporates the water in the cloth. But jnAna evaporates the cloth itself. It is not just a total end of the cloth. The Jiva cloth is there no more, but now it has become a golden sheet of Brahman. The nishThA in the Atman that the Jiva was engaged in is not any more the action of the Jiva, the Jiva is not there any more, the Existent Thing (*sad-vastu*) that was in an experiential form in the culmination of the nishThA – that alone remains. It is the Peace Ultimate, it is the parAyaNaM talked about as the peak state. *nishThA shAntiH parAyaNaM …* says the Vishnu sahasranAmaM. Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 167
57. Chain of linked names in Vishnu-sahasranAmam
*nishThA shAntiH parAyaNaM* comes in Vishnu-sahasranAmaM. Some names occur here in a chain, relating to each other beautifully on the same concept. There are nine names (of God) strung together like flowers in a garland, on the idea of SannyAsa.
*…. nirvANaM bheshhajaM bhishhak /
sannyAsakRt shamaH shAnto nishThA shAntiH parAyaNaM *//
*nirvANaM* is the end of jnAna-yoga. He is the same as the saguNa-mUrti VishNu.
*bheshhajaM* means medicine. He is the medicine in the form of jnAnaM for the disease of samsAra.
Muthut-tANDavar was a devotee of God Nataraja. He lived before the age of the musical trinity of Tamilnadu. When a snake bit him he considered Lord Nataraja as the only medicine and sang an extempore Tamil composition beginning with *aru-marundoru tani marundu* (meaning: the rare medicine, the unique medicine) on Lord Nataraja. He was relieved from the snake poison..
When the poison of karma invades the system the medicine of jnAnaM that is the antidote for the poison is only the Lord.
He is not only the medicine; but He is also the Doctor who gives the medicine! So He is *bhishak* (Doctor). Here in Tiruvanmiyur (in Chennai, India) the Lord presents Himself as “marundIshvara” (the Lord who is the medicine). In the town called Vaideesvaran Koil he is called “Bhava-roga-vaidyanatha swami’ meaning the JnAna-Acharya who cures the disease of samsAra. In his commentary on Vishnu Sahasranama, the Acharya says “the Doctor who gave the medicine of the Gita for all the world”.
In the Gita the Lord gave his final diagnosis and the curing medicine, which is SannyAsa. He leads us on through the path of karma yoga ultimately to the SannyAsa in jnAna yoga. In the science of Ayurveda, they first give you a laxative-type of medicine and then only they give you the medicine that is needed for the illness. So also the Lord gives first the laxative of karma yoga so that all our karma-garbage may be exhausted and then finally when he gives the medicine of jnAna, he prescribes sannyAsa. In the beginning it was he who created the four Ashramas and made Sannyasa the fourth Ashrama. So He is *sannyAsa-kRt*, the maker of SannyAsa. Advaita-saadhanaa 168
We saw a lot about *shama*. That is also the form of the Lord. When the mind stills to rest that is shamaM. That is in fact the heart of jnAna yoga, its life. Right now it is unbridled in us and from this through the various stages of its control little by little, we have to go through several steps. Finally when nothing of the mind is left, it rests in the Atman; that is the destination point. That is the goal of a SannyAsi. At this place the Acharya gives a quotation which pinpoints a unique dharma for each Ashrama. It says: “For the SannyAsi his dharma is shamaM; for the Vana-prastha, his dharma is the conglomerate of tapas and vratas, all together called niyama; for the householder the dharma is charity; and for the brahmachari it is serving the guru.
*yatInAM prashamo dharmo
niyamo vanavAsinAM /
dAnameva gRhastAnAM
shushrUshhA brahma-chAriNAM //
Next comes the name *shAntaH*. He who has shama is shAntaH.
Only next to this, the word *nishThA* appears. Having become a sannyAsi, and then also a shAnta for whom the mind is totally at rest, he establishes himself firmly in the nishThA of the experience of jnAna, that state is also the Lord. This is The SaguNa Brahman who is our Lord with attributes, in His nirguNa state.
And in that state there is a total peace. Therefore *shAntiH*. And that is the supreme goal; therefore *parAyaNaM*.
58: SHravANAm ET AL – Vedic Commandment
As soon as the sannyAsa is taken, one gets the mahAvakya-teaching. To receive it is shravaNaM. ‘mananaM’ is the chewing and churning of that in the mind by repetitions and analysis. Following that is the dhyAna that is done to get the direct experience; this is called nidhidhyAsanaM. These three complete the sAdhanA.
These three (shravaNa, manana and nidhidhyAsana) are actually commands of the Vedas. The same Upanishad which talks about shama, dama, uparati and titikshhA (BrihadAraNyakopanishad: II-4-5) also gives the commands about these three. But shama, dama, etc. are not directly given as an order, they are recommended only indirectly by saying that a jnAni would have these treasures of spirituality, namely he will be a “shAnta, dAnta, uparata” etc. But these three have been what is called Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 169
an ‘injunction’ in the form of a formal order. *shrotavyo mantavyo nidhidhyAsitavyaH*. “The Atman principle only has to be listened to, has to be repeated in the mind and has to be meditated on” – this is the rule.
We shall take these one by one now.
59. ShravaNam and SushruushhA (Respectful Service)
First there is shravaNaM. It stands for the receiving through hearing/listening of the teaching of the mahAvakyas from the Guru. Along with that he teaches also several other matters about tradition according to Brahma-vidyA ShAstra. He also tells you several methodologies of how to reflect through DhyAna on the non-difference between Jiva and Brahman. Receiving all this through hearing is also shravaNaM.
It does not mean that it is just hearing through the ears. One has to receive it in the heart and hold on to it. This is what is formally called shravaNaM. When we refer to the action of eating we usually refer only to the action that takes place in the mouth. Actually the purpose is to get it into the stomach and get it digested and absorbed into the blood. The mouth is only an external organ whose action is termed ‘eating’. So also the external organ, the ear, does something and we name it shravaNaM, but it really means that what the ear consumes has to be digested in the mind and intellect as ‘nectar’ of upadesha and finally it has to be absorbed in the heart. When the ‘Vinayakar Ahaval says *yen cheviyil yellaiyillaa aanandam-aLittu* it means it goes through the ears into the heart and creates Bliss there.
Sound is what belongs to the all-permeating space principle. That is why there is importance to shravaNaM of receiving the teachings that are in the form of sound. Our Veda-mantras are the sound-chains that have been caught as such, so as to be accessible to our ears, by the Rishis through their extra-sensory powers, in the form of subtle sound vibrations that emanated in space from the very breath of the Lord . What they heard through their subtle ears should also be heard only by our physical ears and not be written down and learnt – this is the rule. Then only the quintessence of the teaching that has to reach the heart-space, the Source of everything, will go through by tracing the Universal Space, the breath of the Absolute, and the breathing paramAtmA. Hence the importanc of shravaNaM. Advaita-saadhanaa 170
Another thing. When we learn from a book, the book, being an inert object, may show the writing but it will not feed us the life behind the writing. It is when the letters come through the live medium of the Guru or the Acharya who has known the essence of the Teaching, that the upadesha enters as a living message.
Furthermore, only when there is the upadesha coming from the Guru there happens the disciplic bhAva (*shishhya-bhAva). The humility and the sense of smallness are necessary for the destruction of the ego. The thought that “I am doing the very difficult jnAna yoga sAdhanA” certainly will bloat the ego; it is only the sushruushhA that one does to the Guru – who is himself in that enlightened state – that will knock you on the head and constitute the strategy for killing the ego.
[Note by VK: The Tamil word the Mahaswamigal uses
here as an attribute of the Guru is *anubhavi*.
The literal English equivalent would be ‘Experiencer’
A few paragraphs later, the Mahaswamigal himself explains
what *anubhavi* means.]
I said ‘sushruushhA’. The Tamils wrongly call it ‘sishruushhA’. If we go by the root word for sushruushhA, it is related to ‘shravaNaM’. The root ‘shru’ means ‘to hear’. It is from this that both the words ‘sushruushhA’ and ‘shravaNaM’ have come. The direct meaning of ‘sushruushhA’ is ‘to long to hear’.
The meaning of ‘to long to hear’ when related to the Guru, is ‘to long to do what is heard’. It is not just hearing that matters. The heard matter may be to one’s liking or not. Either way there is no question of discarding it or leaving it just there after a word of appreciation. Without any scope for liking or disliking, what is heard must be put into practice. Thus ‘sushruushhA’ in its extended form has the meaning ‘to long to practise whatever is going to be heard’.
‘Listen to what is said’, we usually say. We find fault by saying ‘One is not being heard’. On all such occasions what we mean by ‘heard’ is ‘heard and done’. Similarly, ‘to long to hear for the very purpose of doing what is going to be heard’ is *sushruushhA*.
To do what one is told one needs a lot of the quality of humility. Once the quality of humility is there, a natural desire will arise to do service to him before whom we are humble. In other words respectful humility will automatically breed the willingness to serve. It is that service that has come to be known as *sushruushhA*.
‘Go to the Guru! Fall at his feet! Listen! Do service! Serving him get the upadesha of jnAna from him! --*tad-viddhi praNipAtena pariprashnena Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 171
sevayA*, says the Lord.(B.G. IV – 34). *praNipAtaM* is ‘straight fall’. ‘pAtaM’ is fall. ‘nipAtaM’ is a clean fall. ‘Pra-nipAtaM’ ( = *praNipAtaM*) is a very clean, straight fall, as a total surrender. *pari-prashnena* means by a constant and repeated questioning. That is exactly ‘sushruushhA’. As soon as He says that, he adds ‘sevayA’, meaning ‘by service’.
The matter unwinds here by a chain of one thing leading to another. The way the Gita shlokas appear here tells us that one gets the jnAna-upadesha from a guru only after one has abdicated all karmas and become a sannyAsi. “More than the yajna that one does in karma yoga with external accessories, the internal yajna of jnAna yoga is superior. All karma finally terminate in jnAna” says He in the previous shloka. Having said that, immediately he follows: “The jnAnis who have directly seen the Truth—that is, experienced – will teach you jnAna. Go to them, fall straight at their feet, question and listen repeatedly, and serving them, learn”. This occurs in JnAna-karma-sannyAsa-yoga. When we put all these together, it is clear that he is talking about getting the Brhma-vidyA teaching from a jnAni only after throwing off karma and taking up sannyAsa.
The sequence goes like this. First we hear by the ears. The very hearing is done for obeying what we have heard. This is sushrUushhA. The inseparable part that comes out of this is the humility. And from that the respectful service. Thus starting from hearing by the ears it leads on to service. And the service itself has got the name of sushruushhA. In due course of time people came to think that sushruushhA means service; its original meaning of ‘listening’ disappeared from vogue.
But, more than the sushruushA of respectful physical service, the Guru considers as great (and is pleased at) that sushruushhA by which the disciple receives, with a clean heart, with the intention of carrying out in practice, the teaching imparted by the Guru with all the humility and the respect it deserves. He will not think as greatly of the service that the disciple does for the Guru’s physical comforts as he would, of the spiritual progress that the sishhya makes by properly benefitting from the treasures of the Atman that the Guru transmits to him. It is the proper sushruushhA of the ears that constitutes the greatest sushruushhA of service. ShravaNa-sushruushhA is what is superior in the eyes of the Guru. Instead of his being served by the disciple, he would rather have his disciple rise spiritually with the instrument of the upadesha he transmits. But from the point of view of the disciple, however, both kinds of sushruushhA must rank equally important. One should receive the upadesha from the bottom of the heart and obey accordingly in practice; and one should also consider the dispenser of Advaita-saadhanaa 172
the upadesha as Ishvara himself, surrender to him and do all kinds of respectful service to him .
The mantra that is taught does half the job and the Grace of the teacher completes the other half!
Where is the scope for all this when one learns from books?
60. Is an enlightened guru available?
Guru is always depicted by shAstras as an *anubhavi* (one who has seen the Truth directly): ‘brahma-nishhTha’ in Upanishads, ‘tatva-darshinaH’ in the Gita. Such a person, who has truly realised Brahman – would such a person be available in modern times? Don’t worry about it. If you are crying in true anguish with sincere mumukshhutA (longing for Release) the Lord will not fail to show you such a one. Whether he is a brahma-nishhTa or not all the time, you will be shown the best available one and the Lord Himself will enter into him at the time when you are being givn the mahAvAkya-upadesha. That is how it happens. That is how. No doubt about it.
[Note by the Collator Shri R. Ganapathy:
Here the Mahaswamigal speaks with great conviction,
emotion and emphasis that he is passing on a great truth]
Just as the disciple is feeling the anguish whether an *anubhavi* guru will be available even these days, the Lord is also looking for, with the same anguish (!) whether a proper mumukshhu is going to come; so such a person would not be missed by Him. Maybe He will not appear in concrete form in the body of a human Guru, but it is possible that He manifests as a subtle guru in the very antar-AtmA of the disciple and grace him. But if I say it this way, it may turn out in this independent age where humility is wanting, people might go with the impression: “Even the Shankaracharya of the mutt has said so. A separate individual as a Guru is not necessary. The Lord will come into us directly and grace us from the inside”. It is really very rare for such a thing –without an external human guru, for the Lord Himself to come as an internal guru -- to happen. Rare top-ranking mumukshus will have that privilege. Or if there is an enormous amount of pUrva-samskAra from the earlier lives, even if one is not a mumukshhu but just an ordinary person, the Lord Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 173
Himself on His own pulls him out and blesses him with all grace. To make this the general rule is totally wrong.
61. Involvement in one single goal
Now we have come to the stage where one has taken up sannyAsa and also received the upadesha from the Guru. Afterwards what should the Sannyasi do? Let me tell you that he should certainly not be doing what I am doing now! [The Swamigal laughs]. I am getting into all sorts of newspaper gossip; am I not? History, Geography, Local news all of it are coming into my speeches and actions. A true SannyAsi would have nothing to do with all these.
[Ra. Ganapthy adds a footnote here: The Mahaswamigal is describing
now the dharma that pertains to a SannyAsi
who is yet to reach his siddhi.
With great humility combined with humour
he laughs at himself saying he is
not following rules.
But actually he is a Jivan-mukta, an enlightened soul.
He can do anything, no rule will bind him. ]
All the time he has to be only in the thought of the Atman; that should be his speech, that should be his goal. The Mundakopanishad says (II – 2) “Leave off all talk about anything that is non-Self. In the bow of PraNava (that is, the MahAvakyas), mount the arrow of your own self, shoot yourself at the goal and be fixed there”. The one idea of the non-difference between Jiva and Brahman should be the only occupation of your mind. All other talk is only an unnecessary exertion for the throat, says BrihadAraNyakopanishad IV-4-21. Lord Krishna builds it up like this: *tad-buddhayaH tad-AtmAnaH tan-nishhTAH tat-parayaNAH*.
Keeping the intellect in the Atman, the life itself in the Atman, and firmly established in that one Self, with That only as the goal (B.G. V – 17) – this is how he should be. This is what He says in “sannyAsa-yoga”. When he talks in “vibhUti yoga” it is He who plays all the other roles and those who know this revel in His thought only, their very life in Him, exchanging with one another thoughts about Him and narrating to one another the stories of His Glory and thus dance and revel in great satisfaction about Him.
maccittAH madgata-prANAH bodhayantaH parasparaM /
kathayantashca mAM nityaM tushhyanti ca ramanti ca // Advaita-saadhanaa 174
In the same context, Vidyaranya Swamigal talks about nirguNa upAsanA (that is what a SannyAsi should be doing) and says: The only thought being Brahman, the only conversation between each other being That, the only teaching among one another is That – thus a Sannyasi has That as his only occupation.
If there is a number of sannyAsis at one place gathered together, the teaching of one another (bodhayantaH parasparaM) and the recalling to one another (anyonyaM tat-prabodhanaM) take place. But such crowding of several sannyAsis and their living together is not first of all recommended as a good thing. Scope arises for attachment, enmity, hate, competition, jealousy and differences of opinion. So after becoming a SannyAsi one should hasten to a solitary place. No attachment or bondage should be allowed to develop. Staying at the same place for more than three days is taboo. The SannyAsi should keep moving. That is the meaning of a ‘parivrAjaka’. That is the Dharma of a Parama-hamsa SannyAsi.
[Ra Ganapathy’s note: But this does not apply to heads of mutts
who have organisational and training responsibilities.]
In sum, after one gets the upadesha, the Sannyasi has to have the only goal of obtaining a direct perception of the advaita brahma-bhAva that has been taught to him by his guru.
To achieve this, two processes – manana and nidhidhyAsana – are prescribed. NidhidhyAsana may also be called nidhidhyAsa.
ShravNa, Manana, NidhidhyAsana – with these three the elaborate presentation of advaita-sAdhanA comes to an end.
62. ShravNa, Manana, NidhidhyAsana – Characteristics
The mental analysis of the upadesha by rolling it over in the mind repeatedly is what is called mananaM. Thereafter, without scope or necessity for any more enquiry, analysis, research or debate in the mind, follows NidhidhyAsana, which is the one-pointed identification in that Atma-tattva, about which there is now perfect clarity, and the mind is without any vibration.
The Acharya has graced us with an expository work (*prakaraNa-grantha*) called “AtmA-anAAtma-vivekam” in prose in the form of questions and answers. What is shravaNa, what is manana, what is Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 175
nidhidhyAsana, -- all these are defined there in a very crisp fashion. Usually there are six components of proof by which a matter is established as a conclusion. That the advaita truth is what the Vedas declare will be explained by the Guru through the medium of all these six components of proof. To listen to and receive it is shravaNaM. Having learnt about the non-dual entity one analyses and pursues the reasoning in his mind in accordance with the Veda-ShAstras; this is mananaM. Mark it; I said ‘in accordance with the Veda-shAstras’. This is important. The logic that you follow has to be in accordance with the Veda-shAstras. Your mental make-up has already been tuned properly by the sAdhanA-set-of-four, particularly the component of shraddhA therein. One does the mental analysis of the Guru’s upadesha without being drawn astray by the narrow intellect, wrongly called rational mind. The Acharya has warned us against this in his sopAna-pancakaM: *dustarkAt suviramyatAM shruti-matas-tarko’nusandhIyatAM* -- meaning, Discard distorted logic; adopt the logic consistent with the purpose of the Vedas. Such an analysis is mananaM. Having confirmed it by the intellect, now you have to experience it. So without being distracted by any other thought, the mind (cittaM) should now flow like flood in the one direction (of the Atman). That is ‘nidhidhyAsanaM’ – that is how he defines it in AtmAnAtma-vivekaM.
In between I told you about the six components of proof. What are those six? The subject of a book can be known from the beginning and end of it. This is called ‘upakrama-upasamhAraM’. This is the first of the six. The second one is repetition. If a book declares the same thing repeatedly, it is clear that it is the subject of the book. This is called ‘abhyAsaM’. The third is ‘apUrvaM’; if an idea is presented in a most unusual way, that is the subject. The fourth is the process, called ‘phalaM’ of telling something and immediately listing the positive effects of it one by one. The fifth is the method of praising something sky-high; this kind of praise is called *artha-vAdaM*. And the last, namely the sixth, is ‘upapatti’ which brings out the reason, the concordance and logic and establishes that such and such is the subject.
63. Penultimate stage to siddhi
Several ideas about the Atman will get clarified during the mananaM, and that itself will lead to the nidhidhyAsana of meditation on that One Atman alone.
When the manana-nidhidhyAsana are deep, many things will occur -- may occur -- known only to the Ishvara and that Jiva who is the sAdhaka. Some things may occur which are not comprehensible even by Advaita-saadhanaa 176
the Jiva. Here he should not falter just because they are incomprehensible; it is for this that the Acharya had already instilled into him enough of shraddhA and bhakti! So without getting confused about the fact that nothing is being comprehended, he will go on in the straight path that the Guru has shown him. Ishvara also will do things that wring out any residual karma or vAsanA in order to take him on to his final destination. Only when such VasanAs and karma get destroyed, that process itself will set up the chain of further wringing out in the heart-nADis – this is called “nAdi mathanaM” – which makes the merging of the antaHkaraNaM in the heart.
I wonder whether it is right for me to say these things to you. Because the sAdhaka’s only thought should be Brahma-anubhavaM (“Brahman-experience”); so when I say ‘nADi’, ‘heart’, ‘mathanaM’ etc. he might get distracted from his one-pointedness by unnecessary observations about ‘wringing of the nADis’, ‘merging in the heart’ etc. Actually these things take place involuntarily. So there is no need to know about them. By being distracted by the beauties of the garden outside one may finally fail to enter the house!
Further Ishvara may not be doing everything the same way to every one. He might have several ways of handling. The old (karma) balance might be different from person to person and Ishvara’s manner of settling them also will differ accordingly. Also He has his own style of several leelAs of pleasing Himself! Once He takes the sAdhaka to his destination, there will not be any scope for His leela, so he might be doing something new for every one! Maybe some of them might not have any such ‘wringing’ or ‘mathanaM’ at all! Why, even it may be that for some there may not be any necessity to make the mind one-pointed at the Atma-sthana in the heart, and one might be able to think of the Atman as transcendent and all-pervading and be able to concentrate on it.
It is in view of all this that the Acharya simply says “Carry on your nidhidhyAsana deeper and deeper and keep going” and then just mentions the Brahman-Realisation as the destination and winds up there.
64. Manana that transcends intellect; Nidhidhyaasana that transcends mental feeling
There are three authorities -- shruti (the Vedas), yukti (reasoning), anubhava (experience) – for knowing the Truth. Of these it is said that shruti corresponds to shravaNaM, yukti corresponds to mananaM and anubhava corresponds to nidhidhyAsanaM. The mantras of shruti and Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 177
all the matters pertaining to Brahma-vidyA are heard by the disciple through his ears (shrotra) from the guru. It is quite fitting therefore to associate shravaNaM with shruti.
The concept of ‘yukti’ is a little more tough to be understood correctly. This ‘yukti’ (reasoning) is not the rational thinking by which in the ordinary world we use our intellect to arrive at conclusions. Nor has this word ‘anubhava’ (experience) the common connotation of experience that happens to us merely at the level of the mind in several alternating ways! What is being said here is a ‘yukti’ (reasoning) that will be done, at the highest sophisticated level, by the mind and intellect – which have been flooded by shraddhA and bhakti, calmed, rested and purified, after all that sAdhanA -- when they are converging to the very base of the ego for the purpose of destroying that ego. Similarly, the ‘anubhava’ is what such refined and tempered mind and intellect have known by this ‘yukti’, as now experienced at the deepest layer of the mind right from the very base of the ego. I dare not lecture about them now. If it truly happens to a fortunate one amongst us, he will know it by himself.
[Note by VK: Usually I don’t add any word whose equivalent
either in language or in sense does not exist in the Tamil original.
In the above paragraph I have made one exception.
The word ‘sophisticated’ is mine. I am not very clear why I want it there. But after having typed it almost without thinking,
I feel that without it, I am not
getting the Mahaswamigal’s mind!
Readers should decide whether it should be there or not.]
That neutral state of peace and quiet is said to be sAtvikaM. On the other hand, if we are vacillating by the force of emotion as we usually are, that is called rAjasam. The reasoning of our intellect at such a time is therefore rAjasic, and so, wrong. But the third stage sAdhaka whom we are discussing now, has destroyed his rajasic intellect and made it satvik. The reasoning that it carries out will be totally different. It will not be the reasoning that we do by objecting to the Truth and the Shastras, circumscribing ourselves by a small boundary called rationality. Instead it will be concordant with the ShAstraic Truth and be the reasoning of a wisdom that is superior to ‘rationality’. About this the Acharya has said:
Mokshaika-saktyA vishhayeshhu rAgaM
nirmUlya sannyasya ca sarva-karma /
sashraddhayA yaH shravaNAdi-nishhTo
rajaH svabhAvaM sa dhunoti buddheH // (Viveka Chudamani 182/184) Advaita-saadhanaa 178
The only involvement should be for Release (from samsAra). All attachment to sense objects should have been uprooted. And accordingly leaving off all karmas, becoming a sannyAsi, whoever with shraddhA is established in shravana, manana and nidhidhyAsana, he it is that discards all rajas nature of the intellect.
Note that the sAdhanA regimen of mumukshutvaM, sannyAsaM and shravaNa etc. have all been mentioned. And in that state, the reasoning itself will be unique.
So also in that stage, the ‘anubhava’ or experience will also be unrelated to the senses but related to the antarAtmA.
[Laughing, the Mahaswamigal says] I am telling you in the manner of a professor. That kind of reasoning will be ‘super-rational’ and the experience ‘mystic’!
MananaM, the process of mental repetitions of the upadesha, is for the purpose of the mind to stay put instead of giving any scope for digression or distraction. It is this mananaM that is called ‘AvRtti’ in Brahma-sUtra. “The Vedas have repeatedly prescribed repeated memorisation”: -- *asakRd upadeshAt* (IV – 1.1.) How long should one do this memorisation? The Acharya replies with a sense of humour: If you are told to husk paddy, you should not be asking ‘how long should I husk it?’. You have to husk until you see the rice coming out. So also until the Atman comes out of the cloud of avidyA, you have to be in that same thought, same repetition, same dhyAnaM.
65. To be rid of two wrong conceptions
However much the mind and intellect might have matured, until the Brahman Realisation happens, mAyA does not spare you. Maybe it is not right to throw the blame on mAyA. Realisation is the apex of all sAdhanA. It cannot be achieved unless all karma is extinguished. What can be done if, inspite of all the sAdhanA done, the earlier karma is several times heavier? Maybe for their extinction, right now, not by the work of mAyA, but by the Grace of Ishvara, there arise undesirable thoughts that shake up the sAdhaka. I am not referring to thoughts of kAma, krodha, etc. They have all been extinguished much earlier. There are two other undesirable thoughts or conceptions. One is called *asambhAvanA* and the other is called *viparIta-bhAvanA*.
[Note by Ra. Ganapathy:
As far as this collator knows, these two words Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 179
‘asambhAvanA’ and ‘viparIta-bhAvanA’
occur in the very first ‘taranga’ of ‘VichAra-sAgaraM’ in Sanskrit,
which itself is a translation from a work of the 19th century in Hindi by Nischaladasa.
In advaita works, ‘asambhAvana’ is known as ‘samshayaM’
And ‘viparIta-bhAvanA’ as ‘viparyayaM’.]
“SadhanA has been done for so long. The so-called goal is impossible. After all I am finite. How can this finite little being become the Infinite Universal Brahman?” This is ‘asambhAvanA’. In fact it is the question which casts a doubt on whether the advaita experience is a possibility at all. When this doubt crystallises and matures, instead of being a doubt it turns out into a reply to the question and says to itself: “No. It is not possible. It is only Duality that is possible. And that is the truth. Jiva is different and Brahman is different” – this is ‘viparIta-bhAvanA’. ‘After such long effort, I am still only a separate Jiva, so I have to remain only as a separate Jiva. This is the duality in which I have to be always’ – it is this trend of thought that creates the ‘viparIta-bhAvanA’.
Of these two, to eradicate the ‘asambhAvanA’ one needs to do mananaM. And to get rid of ‘viparIta-bhAvanA’ one needs ‘nidhidhyAsana’.
‘asambhAvanA’ might have covered one entirely like moss. But if one is constantly chewing in the mind the Vedanta statements and analysing them by the matured mind, repeating the powerful mantras in the form of the mahAvAkyas, even if the real Brahman experience does not occur, the possibility of its occurrence will get crystallised in the mind.
Maybe the possibility becomes acceptable, but unless it has actually occurred, thus leading to resolution of all doubts once for all, how will this acceptance be sufficient? The present everyday experience is a direct experience of duality. We are having a direct observational experience of Brahman as something different from us. If advaita is the truth that also should become a direct such experience. In other words, without a Brahman-realisation, how can the viparIta-bhAvanA disappear? That direct experience will occur only if the nidhidhyAsanA continues as a single dhyAna to the exclusion of everything else. There is no other way. That the (familiar-to-the–Tamil-world) ‘panchAmRtaM’ is composed of honey, milk and ghee, etc. and can therefore be expected to be nothing but sweet, is mananaM. However, there could be a doubt. ‘Is it truly a sweet dish? Maybe the sweet things together by some combination make it bitter. Who knows?’ When such a doubt arises, the only way to get out of the doubt is to taste it; how can there be a resolution of the fact otherwise? Advaita-saadhanaa 180
If one goes through the nidhidhyAsanaM with perfect dedication to the prospect that the Ultimate Reality, the existence of which was conclusively confirmed by reasoning in the course of the process of mananaM, must show itself up in one’s experience, it will certainly show its taste off and on. Of course the taste, the taster and the taste-Giver would have become all one! Even though that state disappears, one gets the confirmation that there is certainly an advaita experience. How can the viparIta-bhAvanA rise up thereafter?
The very fact that in this third stage these negative bhAvanAs pop up is in a sense a God-sent blessing in disguise! It is because of that the sAdhaka continues in full earnest his manana-nidhidhyAsana efforts in order, one, to get the intellectual conviction at the level of his antaHkaraNa that advaita is the Truth and two, to get one’s own shades of experience at the level of the inner Self! Otherwise he may be a little easy-going and miss it entirely! Even if it is not missed it may certainly get postponed. Only when a counter-thought occurs one gets the motivation for a full-fledged no-mercy onslaught to check it either way. It is in that sense the two dispositions of asambhAvanA and viparIta-bhAvanA help as ‘incentives’!
66. Greatness of Manana & NidhidhyAsana
The mananaM that keeps analysing the conceptual matter off and on leads on to the nidhidhyAsana which shows the same thing as an experience. Thereafter there is no analysis or churning. There is only that single thought, dhyAna. The Acharya has a favourite way of saying this. *samAna-pratyaya-pravAha-karaNaM*. He uses this expression in many places. (Sutra-Bhashya IV-1.7.8; Gita Bhashya XII – 3). Just as the flow of a flood of water converges in one direction so also the converging of thought in one direction is what dhyAna means. ‘Just as oil flows down in a straight wire-like appearance – taila-dhArAvat’ is also another expression of his.
‘Muni’ is a Sanskrit word for a great person who is a perfect jnAni and spiritually very powerful. He is actually the best among Rishis. Only he who is an adept in the process of ‘mananaM’ is called a ‘muni’. In Sutra Bhashya III – 4 – 47, this is how the Acharya speaks of the derivation of the word ‘muni’: *mananAn munir-iti (ca) vyutpatti-sambhavAt*. He also says there that the word ‘muni’ has a special significance in jnAna-- *jnAna-atishaya-arthatvAt*. Thus the process of ‘mananaM’ is not just repetition for memorisation, nor it is, as we think of it usually, a logical reasoning at the intellectual level to import spiritual matters just into the Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 181
brain. It is far higher than that. It is something that dwells on matters clarified by the touch of intuition.
Remember our Acharya is one who gave the noblest status to the hearing (shravaNa) of the teaching from the guru. If the same Acharya says “Let it be understood that mananaM is a hundred times greater than shravaNaM”. *shataguNaM vidyAn-mananaM*, then at how really a high level should shravaNaM be counted?
And he doesn’t stop there. If mananaM is a hundred times greater than shravaNaM, he says nidhidhyAsanaM is a hundred-thousand times greater than mananaM: *mananAdapi nidhidhyAsaM lakshha-guNaM*.
MananaM is not just dead information; it is knowledge full of life. But even that knowledge becomes tiny little in the face of experience. You may know everything about sugar, you might have bales and bales of high class sugar, but they are not equivalent to that experience one gets from the taste of a little pinch of that sugar. That is why he says nidhidhyAsaM is one hundred thousand times greater than mananaM.
NidhidhyAsaM is also not a one-shot affair by which one gets established into a permanent Brahman-experience. It is only with a self-effort that one does what is called nidhidhyAsaM. And he gets flashes of that Brahman-experience. The moment we say this we know there is duality in this. The Brahman-experience, instead of glittering, twinkling and disappearing like a lightning flash, if that lightning of brahmAnubhava ‘electrocutes’ him in a sense, killing his Jiva-bhAva, and makes him the nectarine brahman itself, that will be the end of it all; that is the siddhi position. The sAdhanA stops there, the sAdhaka himself becoming the sAdhya (the goal) sthAna (locus).
Just as hands and feet do works, so also nidhidhyAsa is work done mentally. However glorified it is, there is the duality of action and of doer; so how can it be considered as the Final Truth that stands alone by Itself?
Even so, so long as one continues as a Jiva, the one noblest thing that he can do not to be that Jiva is to keep thinking only of Brahman; as such one has to steadfastly hold on to the nidhidhyAsa-action.
67. Worm becoming the wasp; Making the worm a wasp Advaita-saadhanaa 182
The action of constantly thinking about brahman ends up in the state where one has become the action-less brahman.
There is what is called a *bhramara-kITa-nyAyaM*. Bhramara is the wasp. KITa means a worm. The worm is said to be constantly thinking of becoming a wasp. That constant thinking, it appears, causes its own transformation of its form and the growth of wings and finally it becomes a wasp and flies away from the nest. So it is said! The nidhidhyAsaM of the worm makes it the wasp – this is bhramara-kITa-nyAya. In the same manner the Jiva in the constant thought of Brahman, thinks of ‘this’ Jiva becoming ‘that’ Brahman, thinks that even now ‘this’ is only ‘that’ and such a nidhidhyAsana all the time ends up with the Jiva becoming Brahman – so says the Acharya in Viveka chudamani 358-359/359-360.
This has been said by the Acharya in order that the jnAna-pathfinder does not get side-tracked into the direction of saguNa-brahman. In other words he has wound up the context of Vivekachudamani by saying that by the sheer power of this constant thought one automatically becomes Brahma-svarUpa. In actual fact this becoming happens only by the Grace of God! It is by His Grace that the JivAtma becomes the ParamAtmA! The Acharya certainly knows this; and knows this quite well. To win over the karma-mimamsaka-upholders this is the final BrahmAstra that the Acharya used: “No action by itself gives the result; the results are given by Ishvara”. When that was the case, he would have never subscribed to the idea that the very mental action of nidhidhyAsana would automatically produce the great result of Brahma-nirvANaM.
MayA’s function of hiding things is called ‘tirodhAnaM’. Right now the real Brahman that we are is *tirohitaM*, that is, hidden from us. The hidden thing comes out by the dhyAna of ParamAtmA – so says BrahmasUtra, but immediately, lest we may think it is an automatic consequence, it adds, clearing up any confusion, “This hiding as well as the bondage (caused by the hiding) are both by Ishvara. When we do nidhidhyAsanaM, the removal of the hiding, the manifestation of the Truth and the grant of mokshha, all are again the work of Ishvara”. (III – 2-5). When the Acharya writes the BhashyaM on this, he says, more explicitly, “This manifestation will not happen automatically or naturally for all and sundry. Only to that rare person who makes effort to do intense nidhidhyAsana it happens by God’s Grace”. *na svabhAvata eva sarveshhAM jantUnAM* -- ‘Revelation’ does not happen naturally for everybody. *Ishvara-prasAdAt samsiddhasya kasyacit eva Avirbhavati* -- ‘By God’s Grace It reveals only to that rare person who has the highest achievement’. Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 183
[Note by Ra. Ganapathy:
See the Mahaswamigal’s related discourses in Tamil under the Sections
‘The jnAna gift of the Lord as per Adi Shankara’ in
http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/part4kural364.htm
and ‘The bondage of Karma is by the Lord;
the attainment of jnAna is also His Grace’ in
http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/part4kural367.htm ]
In advaita shAstras it is customary to depict God’s Grace as Guru’s Grace itself.
[ See again http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/part4kural365.htm
under the heading: ‘The duality in the form of Guru does not intervene’]
But the Acharya in the apex of his prakaraNa-granthas, namely, the Vivekachudamani (476/477) has given a higher place to Ishvara’s Grace over and above Guru’s Grace. A person asked me this question. The reference is to the statements: “The Gurus stay on the banks of the ocean of samsAra and being on the bank they teach you how to swim across the ocean of samsAra. It is the disciple who, on his own, has to get the prajnA of True Knowledge, and keeping it as the boat he should cross the ocean; and this prajnA is granted only by God”.
Maybe the Acharya thought: “In the coming ages, there may not be many gurus of knowledge who have attained enlightenment. Even then, as far as the disciples are concerned, even through them (such gurus) the Lord Himself will grant the release” and so depicted the gurus as those who have not crossed; but however he added, the disciples will cross (the ocean) by God’s Grace.
Another reason may also be mentioned. If a disciple gets the true attitude of surrender, by which he totally surrenders to the Guru and leaves it to him to ‘do whatever he likes’, then that Grace of the guru itself is the boat as well as the favourable wind, and it ferries him to the other shore. But that kind of total surrender is not possible by every one. Even if he does not do the total surrender, he may default by being a little indifferent in his sAdhanA, thinking that “After all he is our guru. He is the one who blessed me with the teaching . So his own Grace will surely lead us on to the goal of the upadesha. How can this fail to happen?” Coupled with the absence of total surrender if this kind of default persists wherein even the sAdhanA is not perfect, and if there is the indifferent attitude in the hope that the Guru will take care, -- such a possibility should be prevented. Addressing such defaulters, in other words, to emphasize the fact that one should not lax on the self-effort on the alibi of Guru’s Grace, the Acharya must have said “Guru shows the Advaita-saadhanaa 184
way from the bank; it is you who have to set sail in the boat and cross the ocean”.
Though the Acharya said “You have to do it yourself” he must have also thought this might end up in boosting up one’s ego in the thought “Thus after all it is our own effort that has all the power”. So he also says that even though it is you who do it, that is also Ishvara’s Grace. It is He who prompts you and keeps you company.
If we carefully note what the Lord says in the Gita we would know the Acharya has said the same thing. When He winds up the Gita, the Lord says: “Surrender to me and rest. I will take care of you!” A little before that he also says “Do a total surrender to the Lord in every possible way. By His Grace you will attain the highest goal of Peace”. And He Himself says in another place *uddhared-AtmanAtmAnaM* ‘one has to lift oneself by oneself’ and thus talks of self-effort as great. Unless one does the total surrender, it is self-effort that wins – this is the sum and substance. In all this also there is God’s Grace in hiding!
He who does the nidhidhyAsana really deeply does forget himself off and on and gets hooked up to Brahman but he also comes out of it. He who causes them to happen is Ishvara. From the very beginning, from the time one begins with nitya-anitya-vastu-vivekaM – why, even further down, from the rock bottom practice and performance of karma and bhakti -- the agent-provocateur who takes him up inch by inch, in answer to his efforts, is only the Ishvara. But He never explicitly shows Himself, even a little, to be so. It is the sAdhaka who has to infer it, by the thoughts ‘I think my mind is now purified a little, some dispassion has come, it is now possible to still the mind for a moment at least’ and so on, by observing himself. He does the nidhidhyAsana, but to be lost in that trance even for a moment is His work! Formerly, the action of progressing in the sAdhanA, as well as attaining greater and greater maturity, was the responsibility of the JIva. But now he is progressing towards the state of actionlessness; what action shall he do now? He can only think of it; except for that how can he do the ‘becoming That’ as an action?
We say ‘I passed the examination’. Actually the act of passing, was not done by us. Our action was only to write the examination. Yes, we did it well. But we cannot ‘pass’ ourselves. Some responsible official has to ‘pass’ us. Our business ends with writing the examination. The awarding of the ‘pass’ is by the person responsible for it. (Of course I am talking about the period before Indian Independence. The methods of ‘gratification’ or ‘applying pressure’ for the purpose of ensuring a ‘pass’ were not known in those days!). To ‘pass’ in the sAdhanA examination, which means to ‘pass’ to be admitted to the world of actionlessness, it is Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 185
the Grace of the Ishvara, the ‘phala-dAtA’ (dispenser of fruit) that is not only the capital but also the instrument of action.
Unlike the case of the ordinary examination, where the result is only a piece of news, the value of which is only a further job or an eligibility to pursue studies further , in the case of sAdhanA, a pass in the final examination of nidhidhyAsanA is indeed a great Experience. There is nothing above or beyond that. It is nothing but Brahma-nirvANa, advaita-moksha.
The truth certainly is that the Lord makes the JIvAtma as paramAtmA, as a result of the constant thinking of the former.
In the Tamil world, there is a saying which is in conformity with ‘bhramara-kITa-nyAya’. “The wasp stings and stings and makes the worm one of its family” goes the saying. *koTTik-koTTi kuLavi tan-niRam AkkitrAm*! It is not that the worm becomes the wasp by itself; it keeps on thinking about the wasp, the wasp continues to sting and converts it into the form of the wasp – so goes this saying. It is in that manner Ishvara does to the JIvAtmA who does the nidhidhyAsana.
Mark it! There is a difference! The One who does the transformation here is the Ishvara who is the saguNa-brahman. But the transformation he does to the JIvAtmA is the formless nirguNa-brahman! And the Jiva does the dhyAna only to become nirguNa and not for becoming the saguNa Ishvara! So this transcends all analogy and stands very high!
From the beginning Ishvara did not reveal Himself as the one who was granting the progress step by step. Even now he only plays ‘blind and seek’. Now and then he takes the sAdhaka to samAdhi and later permanently makes him a JIvan-mukta or a videha-mukta. However there is a major difference. In earlier stages, all the cleaning up or purification and other touches-up that were happening in the mind, had Him as their Cause. But now He destroys the very mind itself! Once the mind has vanished, how can this (sAdhaka) get to know Him (the saguNa Brahman)? And that is why even now the work of Ishvara is a black box to the JIva! But though it is not visible to the eyes, it is million times proximate in the sense that there is a unification between ‘this’ and ‘that’ NirguNa. The saguNa Ishvara who makes the JIva a nothing, also makes Himself a nothing and shines only as a sat-cit-Ananda tattva only. [The Mahaswamigal laughs here] I said ‘shines’; is it the light of a bulb of one thousand watts? We are running out of language here! We are only talking at our level like this in order to attempt to communicate!
Indescribable by words, unreachable by the mind – nothing more blissful, nothing more peaceful than that, nothing more independent, Advaita-saadhanaa 186
nothing more of knowledge – it is a state, the truth of truths, the universal One! That is the destination for the jnAna path, and for the regimen of advaita-sAdhanA, wonderfully paved for us into a royal path by the Acharya.
By his Grace we got the fortunate opportunity of talking about it, hearing about it and thinking about it. Let us pray to him that we should be able to march forward in that path, little by little.
68: What is to be done immediately?
The First thing to be done is the discharge of obligatory karmas – what the shAstras have ordained and in the manner they have chalked out. Nowadays ‘advaita’ has come to mean the discarding of all karma, and all AchAra (regulatory prescriptions). They think ‘advaita’ is a free license to be without AchAra. And they even advise ‘conventionalists’ such as me and say “What is there in all this (AchAra)?”. Without an iota of experience of advaita or the JIva-Brahma-non-difference, without having made even the slightest effort towards that, they get into the habit of playing with expressions of opinions like “How can Atman have karma? Or regulatory prescriptions? By observing varnAshrama dharma are we not contradicting advaita?” In other words, they intervene into advaita only to do what they like irrespective of the shAstras. I have all along been shutting my mouth ( and not talking about advaita), lest I become a party for the promotion of such opinionated sins. Somehow it has happened that I have talked about it all. But let me not wind up with a guilty note. The final goal being advaita, every one should know at least an outline of it – this has been the maxim of the Acharya. And by his Grace only I have been able to tell you something; and that is my satisfaction.
Let no one immediately take all this (advaita-sAdhanA) seriously. At the core of your mind, hold on to the thought that JIva and Brahman are the same. Once you hold on to it, it will have its own effect. What you have to do voluntarily is to discharge your karmic obligations according to the shAstras.
In the advaita shAstra that has been handed down to us by tradition through the efforts of great ‘anubhavis’ one has been asked to move on to advaita-sAdhanA only after one has reached a reasonable perfection in the discharge of his shAstraic duties.
More fundamental than that we should make efforts to become ethically pure. Beginning a great sAdhanA to become that ‘Pure One’ (*Ekam sat*) Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 187
does not mean that we ignore the necessity to be ethically pure! The word ‘sat’ has, in addition to its meaning of ‘Brahman, the Reality’, has also, according to Lord Krishna Himself, (B.G. XVII – 26) the meaning of ‘good’, that is, a good quality or character. *sad-bhAve sAdhu-bhAve ca sad-ity-etat prayujyate*. We call those who are good, as sAdhus; that has its origin from the word ‘sat’. We speak of people as ‘sat’ (good ones) and ‘asat’ (bad ones). As such, we have to hold on to this ‘sat’ (the good) and then through this go to that ‘sat’, the Reality!
This ‘sad-guNa’ (good quality) and that brahma-jnAna are not unrelated. Without this that will not be obtained. The Acharya says: For that, this is the ‘sahakAri cause’ – i.e. the accessory cause; the cause with which it cooperates and produces the fruit (phalaM). The word ‘phalaM’ and ‘sahakAri’ remind me of the type of mango called ‘sahakAra mango’. It is a mix of different types of mangoes. In Kanchipuram there is a mango tree of this type and it is at the foot of such a tree that the Goddess is united with the Lord Ekambareshvara (cf. Mukapanchashati AryashatakaM shloka 64). In the same manner the good quality ‘sat’ and ‘jnAna’ have to integrate together to produce the ripe fruit of moksha. In the Gita, at a certain place (XIII – 7) where He delineates what jnAna is, the Lord says: “Self-pride is wrong. Pretentiousness is taboo. One should have the quality of ahimsA (non-injury), forbearance and straightforwardness”. Beginning thus He reels off a big list. That is where in the Acharya’s Bhashya, he himself raises the question on behalf of the opponent “How can these things be jnAnaM” and replying to the objection, says “All these are ‘sahakAri’ causes for jnAnaM and hence themselves called jnAnaM”. Further he adds that these are the good qualities that constitute the fertile ground for the spark of jnAnaM.
The statement that self-pride is wrong implies only the necessity of humility. A humble nature. We should all begin with that kind of humble nature and make efforts to become good. Keeping the thought of that ‘sat’ (the Reality) at the bottom of our hearts, and with the Grace of the Acharya, let us all do what we should for this ‘sat’ (goodness).
One should close with the word ‘sat’ (Recall *om tat sat*). So let me mentally say so for all of you.
CONCLUDED.
PraNAms to all students of advaita.
PraNAms to the Maha-Swamigal.








Om Tat Sat
                                                        
(End ) 


(My humble salutations to the lotus feet of H H Kanchi Mahaswamy, great devotees    and    Advaita Vedanta dot org  for the collection)

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