ADVAITA-SAADHANAA
(Kanchi Maha-Swamy’s Discourses)
ADVAITA-SAADHANAA
(Kanchi Maha-Swamigal’s Discourses)
20.
Uparati (Cessation)
Thus when finally one
settles in the Atman, that stage is the next, called ‘uparati’ in the
sextad. ‘uparati’ means stoppage, cessation. There is a meaning of
‘death’ also. In one of Tayumanavar’s songs (*parAparak-kaNNi* #169) he
says ‘mind should learn to die’.That is the stage when mind has reached a
no-work state and has calmed down thoroughly. By the continuous practice of shama
and dama, mind has released itself from all the objects outside and
remains quiet, without any activity for itself – that is uparati. That
is the definition in Vivekachudamani (#24): Advaita-saadhanaa 64
*bAhyAvalambanaM
vRRitteH eshho’paratir-uttaMA *
This uparati is
mentioned here as the highest (uttamA). ‘bAhyAvalambanaM’ is the
hold of the outside. The ‘outside’ does not just mean what is sensed by the
senses of perception, like seeing or hearing or moving the hands and legs.
Whatever is ‘outside’ of the Atman, other than the Atman, is all included in
the ‘outside’. Indeed all the thoughts that rise in the mind belong to this
‘outside’. Mind stands thus released from everything. But this word ‘stands’ is
almost equivalent to ‘death’ – that is why it is called ‘uparati’. Mind
has no action now. But still Atman-realisation is not there. Once that happens
it is just opposite to ‘death’; it is the state of immortality (*amRRitaM*).
But Atman is not yet realised, though the mind has no turbulence or vibration
now, as if the mind is dead.
In the Upanishads we meet
several arguments between opponent schools. A spokesman for one set of
arguments might have answered all the opponents’ objections and the opponent
may become spell-bound and ultimately totally silent. The word that is used on
such an occasion is “upararAma”. It means the opponent “rested, devoid
of arguments”. In other words, he reached ‘uparama’, the state of rest.
The words ‘uparama’ (the noun form describing the action implied in the
verb ‘upararAma’) and ‘uparati’ are both the same. In fact ‘yama’
and ‘yati’ both connote the state of actionless rest. ‘uparati’ is of
the same kind.
He who has reached ‘uparati’
is said to be an ‘uparata’. Such a person is described by the Acharya in
his Bhashya of BrihadAraNyaka-upanishad as *sarvaishhaNA vinirmuktah
sannyAsI* (IV – 4 – 23). Here ‘EshhaNA’ means desire, longing. At
another place in the same Upanishad (III – 5 – 1) a JnAni is said to be
roaming about like a beggar, having abandoned the ‘eshhaNA’ for son, ‘eshhaNA’
for money ands ‘eshhaNA’ for worldly life. Generally the three desires,
namely ‘putra-eshhaNA’ (desire for son) ‘dAra-eshhaNA’
(desire for wife) and ‘vitta-eshhaNA’ (desire for money) are said
to be the triad of desires (*eshhaNA-trayaM*). In
LalitA-trishati, Mother goddess has a name *eshhaNA-rahitA-dRRitA*. It
means She is propitiated by those who have no desires.
VairAgya (Dispassion)
also connotes the state in which desires have been eradicated. But in that case
it is disgust in objects that is dominant. That is the state where one has
discarded things because of disgust. But now in ‘uparati’ there is
neither disgust, nor desire.
When we say ‘VairAgya’
there was an implied disgust towards all desires and so the main aim was to
eradicate the desires. In ‘shama-dama’ the sole purpose was to
subdue the mind from its desires and to subdue the Maha-swamigal’s Discourses
65
senses
from acting to fulfill those desires. Thereafter no further action. The mind
has rested after all this vairAgya, shama and dama. But
the rest is not a total rest – such a total rest, annihilation, is still far
away! The present rest is only like a recess. The AtmAnubhava, its bliss etc.
are not there. It is almost as if there is a void; yet there is a peace since
the turbulence is absent.
Since at this point the
desires have been thrown off, the Acharya calls this itself (in Brihadaranyaka
Bhashya) as sannyAsa: that is, he calls this ‘uparata’ a sannyasi.
Actually out of the sextad of qualities, there are still three more: SAdhanA,
shraddhA and samAdhAna. We have yet to see these three. After
those three, there is again ‘mumukshhutvaM’, the anguish for Release.
Only after that, sannyAsa. Then, how did he bring it here? Let me remind
you what I said earlier. These SAdhanAs are not supposed to be sequenced
as if one follows the other strictly. They come only in a mixed fashion. When
they come like that, when some one obtains a complete fulfillment in VairAgya,
described earlier, he may take sannyAsa even right there : *yadahreva
virajet tadahareva pravrajet*, as I quoted for you. If one is dead-set even
on one one of the SAdhanAngas, all the others have to follow. They will.
That is why he might have thought: When ‘uparati’ is fully achieved, sannyAsa
has to follow. The direct meaning of ‘sannyAsi’ is ‘well-renounced person’;
that could be the reason why an ‘uparata’ has been called a sannyAsi.
For, the qualities that are yet to come are ‘SAdhanA’, ‘shraddhA’
and ‘samAdhAna’ – in none of which there is any aspect of
‘renunciation’. You will know it when I explain them. When the external holds (*bAhyAvalambanaM*)
are all dismissed, that is ‘uparati’; and the discarding of all of them
is ‘sannyAsa’. ‘nyAsa’ is throwing off or discarding; doing it
well is ‘sannyAsa’.
In ‘Viveka-chUdAmaNi’,
right in the beginning itself the Acharya talks of ‘SAdhanA-chatushTayaM’.
Again, far inside, he talks about viveka, vairAgya and uparati.
You may wonder why he talks about these well after a person has taken sannyAsa
and has gone almost to the peak
of SAdhanA. A
little thinking will clear this. All the SAdhanAngas mature gradually
into perfection as you go spiritually higher and higher. That is viveka-vairAgya,
elaborated in the beginning, is again taken up in shloka 175 (or 177) and he
says that only by their ‘atireka’, that is, extra growth, the mind becomes pure
and becomes eligible for mukti. Again, further on, (shloka 376/377) he
says, in a superlative way,
*vairAgyan-na paraM
sukhasya janakaM pashyAmi vashy-AtmanaH*
‘For the yati who has
controlled his mind, I know of nothing other than vairAgya that gives
him happiness’. Advaita-saadhanaa 66
Similarly,
after vairAgya comes knowledge and after knowledge, uparati –
thus the complete fulfillment by uparati is mentioned in shloka 419/420.
But then the mind has now
come to a certain uparati; will the ascent end there in almost a dry
manner? No. It may appear so. But God’s Grace will not leave it so. This seeker
who, with the single goal of seeking to know the truth of the absolute Brahman,
has controlled all his desires and rested his mind with such great effort,
would not be left alone by God just like that. Nor would He give him
Brahman-Realisation immediately. His karma balance has to be exhausted, before
that happens. Before that time comes, He would give him the opportunity to
reach the samAdhAna stage that makes him ready to receive the upadesha
of the mahAvAkya. And then the sannyAsa and then the mahAvAkya. It goes
on thus.
But between ‘uparati’
and ‘samAdhAna’ there are two more: namely, ‘SAdhanA’ and ‘shraddhA’.
21.
Titikshhaa (Patience, Endurance)
Next to ‘uparati’ we
have ‘SAdhanA’ (meaning, endurance, forbearance or patience). The
Tirukkural has a chapter on this subject. Our use of the word ‘Next’ does not
imply that ‘SAdhanA’ comes only after one attains perfection in ‘uparati’.
I shall repeat what I have said many times, because it is worth any number of
repetitions. To attain Atma-jnAna, one needs several things –
discriminatory intellect, dispassionate mind. control of the senses and mind;
and the mind has to wean itself away from all things and stay put in the state
of ‘uparati’. In fact there are several other things to be achieved. If
one thinks of perfecting one step before going on to another step, he is
mistaken. As an example take a job in the Police Department. There may be
several requirements for such a job – like age qualification, level of
education, height, weight, character pattern, fufillment of restrictions or
limitations with reference to one’s caste and so on. All this means they should
all be satisfied simultaneously, not ‘one after another’. It is not like
fulfilling the age qualification first and then beginning to study to fulfill
the educational qualification! It is in the same sense the requirements of ‘nitya-anitya-vastu
vivekaM’ to ‘mumukshhutvaM’ are to be concurrent and not sequential.
In other words though they have been mentioned by the Acharya in a certain
order, they have to be present and practised simultaneously. Maha-swamigal’s
Discourses 67
Another
thing must be mentioned. There are several parts like vivekaM (Discrimination),
vairAgyaM (Dispassion) and shamaM (Self-control). In none of
these can one expect to have attained perfection until the final stage of
Realisation. Each of them will at every stage be somewhere below the mark of
perfection. All of them go together towards perfection until the final
Realisation happens almost suddenly!
Why do we have to do all
this SAdhanA? The objective is to purify the mind completely to such an
extent there is no mind left thereafter. What does it mean to say that there is
no mind? Desire, the hankering after matter, should be absent. I just now told
you that this eradication of desire and hankering after material things will
happen at the stage of Realisation. In fact that statement itself has to be
modified. Only if the Realisation of the Self happens, the taste for matter
will vanish. In other words, Self –Realisation is first. Then only, -- ‘then’
does not mean ‘after a time’ – immediately, though only after the Realisation,
does the material hankering vanish completely. The Gita is very clear on this
(II – 59). “ For each sense, if the corresponding sense-object is denied to it,
by that practice those sense-objects will go away (in other words, the concrete
physical experience of them would have stopped); but the taste of that
experience of it – as they say, ‘the cat that has had the taste’ (ruchi-kaNDa-poonai,
in Tamil) – that taste of experience would linger on internally and it will
vanish only when the Realisation of the Atman takes place” :
vishhayA vinivartante nirAhArasya
dehinaH /
rasavarjaM raso’pyasya
paraM dRRishhTvA nivartate //
*paraM dRRishhTvA*
-- Having seen the Absolute; Just by the experience of the Absolute Principle.
*rasaH api nivartate* -- the taste of experience also vanishes.
On the one hand it is said
that only when the mind vanishes along with all its taste of material
experience will one have the Experience of the absolute and on the other hand
it is also said that such taste will disappear only when that Absolute is
experienced. Does this not look like the standard Tamil paradigm: “Marriage can
be fixed only when the mental imbalance is disposed off; but the mental balance
can be restored only when marriage is fixed”!
Not so. The craving for the
taste has to go. The mind has to go. Every effort has to be made to achieve
both and to have the vision of Reality (‘Atma-darshanaM’). But it is not
easy. The craving for the taste etc. will not disappear fully. When such a
total effort has been done, the Lord with His Infinite compassion grants him the
Realisation of the Atman Advaita-saadhanaa 68
and
in that very process, destroys the taste and the mind’s craving for that taste.
If everything is going to be the result of his effort, then what is the
greatness of the Lord’s Grace? In other words, till almost the last stage man
has to be practising all the different SAdhanAs.
The various parts of Atma-SAdhanA
have to be practised simultaneously, just as a high school student studies
for the different subjects of his final examination, all together, though at
any point of time it appears he is studying for them in a certain sequence. The
very idea of sequencing the steps of the SAdhanA as if one follows the
other is just to give a clarity of understanding. In the early beginnings of
the lessons on music the svaras ‘sa’, ‘ ri’,’ga’, ‘ma’, ‘pa’, ‘dha’ ‘ni’
are sequenced in order that the learner may get the right fixation for each of
the svaras. When it comes to full-fledged music like a Kirtana or an Alapana,
the upper and lower svaras do mingle in various orders.
The word ‘uparati’
signifies a repose after all ties or attachments have been dispensed with. And
‘then’ you are supposed to practice the forbearance implicit in ‘SAdhanA’.
This looks like telling a sleeping man to ‘be patient’! So the word ‘then’ is
not to be interpreted in terms of a sequence in time. Rather it should be
interpreted as a juxtaposed addition like a ‘plus’! The analogy of the high
school student studying different subjects for his final examination should not
be forgotten.
If one takes up the lesson
of ‘uparati’ seriously and succeeds in it to a certain extent, the mind
will be free of perturbations of happiness and sorrow, unlike the normal mind
which is always tossed between these two extremes. Even then, if pleasure or
pain happens in an abnormal or subnormal way, there is likely to be a vibration
from the state of ‘uparati’. It is in this context that ‘SAdhanA’
is prescribed by the Rishis of the Upanishad. The word ‘titikshhasva’
(Forbear) is actually the Lord’s word (Ch.2 – 4) in the Gita.
The common word ‘shItoshhNa’
is actually made up of two words: ‘shIta’ – cold, and ‘ushhNa’ – hot. It is a
pair (‘dvandvaM’) of opposites. Similarly there is ‘sukha-dukha’ (pleasure and
pain), another pair of opposites. ‘Bear with hot and cold, pleasure and pain’,
says the Lord to Arjuna.
Off and on in the Gita the
Lord mentions several such pairs of opposites. Says He: “Transcend all these
pairs of dualities and be beyond all of them. Be a ‘dvandvAtIta’ – one
who has transcended all dualities. Whether your objective is fulfilled or not,
be equanimous to both fulfillment (siddhi) and non-fulfillment (asiddhi).
Such equanimity also implies only ‘SAdhanA’ (tolerance, forbearance,
endurance). In the last chapter also He refers to this topic of ‘siddhi-asiddhi’
when He says: Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 69
“That
JIva who has no impact by either fulfillment or non-fulfillment is the sAtvika
doer” (Ch.18 – 26).
*siddhy-asiddhyor-nirvikAraH
kartA sAtvika ucyate*.
The hot-cold pair that was
mentioned in the beginning is again referred to in the chapter on dhyana yoga,
where He further adds (Ch.6 – 7) another pair -- *mAna* and *apamAna*.
In many places (2-57; 9-28; 12-17) He has mentioned the pair *shubha-ashubha*
of direct opposites. The shubha-ashubha (auspicious and non-auspicious)
is nothing but puNya and pApa (Spiritual merit and demerit). At
several places He mentions the pairs *priya – apriya* (likeable and
unlikeable) , *ishhTa – anishhTa* (favourite and non-favourite), *lAbha
– alAbha* (gain and loss), *jaya – apajaya* (victory and defeat) and
pleads for equanimity between these opposites.
We have to keep on
patiently tolerating whatever now appears to be bad among these, so that in due
course we can be totally indifferent to them. Extreme cold, extreme heat, , the
inauspicious, the unpleasant, sorrow, dishonour, defeat – in all these, we have
to build up such a tolerance. And this tolerance should also be practised
towards what appears now to us as good, namely, healthy heat, healthy cold, pleasure,
honour, success, the auspicious and the pleasant. The Lord would not have
mentioned both if he did not mean these also, in his list of objects towards
which we have to be equanimous. Both good and bad have to be taken equally,
‘suffered’ equally, treated equally indifferently.
One can easily understand
what it is to tolerate/endure what is bad. Maybe we cannot do it in practice;
but we know what is meant. But what is it to say: ‘Endure the good things!’?
Isn’t it funny? – To ‘endure’ the good things? That will be understood only if
we take a few steps up the ladder of saadhanaa. Even those that appear
to be ‘good’ will turn out to be ‘unwelcome’ at a certain stage. Suppose a cool
wind blows softly. It is pleasant to the body. But the thought will arise: “Why
this hankering after the pleasure for the body? Cold or hot, whatever wind
blows, let it blow. That should be the goal. Why should one isolate the
so-called soft cold wind and the ‘pleasure’ that it is supposed to bring? Why
can’t one be indifferent to its ‘pleasing’ effect?”
In the same manner, when
one gets money or status, or when one receives the aplombs of others, one will
begin to think: “Why can’t I allow poverty to stay with me? Let people not be
pleasant to to me. So what? Already I have trained myself to tolerate bad
things; then why should I now be different when the good things arrive? If I
change now then I would be making a distinction between good and bad”. In other
words, just as we feel now that bad things are unwelcome, so also, when one
Advaita-saadhanaa 70
has
risen up the ladder of saadhanaa a certain number of steps, one will
begin to feel that even the so-called good things are unwelcome. The policy of
‘Whatever will be, will be’ is what leads to the feeling of tolerance of ‘bad’
and that is ‘titikshhaa’ . When one is ready to reject what is called
‘good’ by calling it equally ‘unwelcome’, the attitude of ‘titikshhaa’
means that even that ‘unwelcomeness’ is tolerated. This is the ‘titikshhaa’
of even the good things.
Even though we might want
to think indifferently about both good and bad things, our karma of the past
might bring in certain good things in spite of ourselves. Without our wanting
it wealth might pour in. Relatives and friends may behave very favourably. More
such good things might happen. One may think ‘Oh No. I don’t want these good
things to happen. Only if I keep cool and happy when bad things are happening
to me I can check my success in saadhanaa. The good things are only
traps that draw me deeper into MAyA. I don’t want them’. Such thoughts
again speak against ‘titikshhaa’. One has to show ‘titikshhaa’
even of good things; in other words, even the good happenings must not be
unwelcome – they also must be suffered, endured!
The Acharya has defined ‘titikshhaa’
as *sahanaM sarva-dukhAnAM* in Viveka Chudamani as well as in his
AparokshAnubhUti. It means to ‘bear all sorrows’. Here ‘all’ includes the
so-called ‘pleasures’ also because what appears to be pleasing or a pleasure
turns out to be really a sorrowful thing from the point of view of eternity.
Only ‘JnAna’ is happiness. Happiness is only that which arises from
advaita-jnAna. Any experience in the world of duality is opposite to
that jnAna and therefore is only to be considered as unhappiness, not
happiness. At least what appears to be an unhappy thing now gives us a distaste
for this worldly involvement and thereby it moves us a little towards
enlightenment; whereas, what appears to be a happy experience binds us further
to the world of involvement. Consequently one will have to develop an attitude
of treating those happy experiences only as unhappy ones. At a later stage ,
just as one bears misery with forbearance, so also one should be able to
forbear with what appears to be happiness. That is why the Acharya says *dukhAnAM
sahanaM* (forbearing the sorrows) and stops with that. All our scriptures
recommend to us the forbearance of both pleasure and pain equally; in other
words, even what appears to be a happy pleasing thing should be ‘endured’ as
indifferently as we are expected to endure the unhappy things.
Of course that happens
after we reach a certain stage of maturity. But even at an earlier stage, at a
‘lower’ stage, we have to observe ‘titikshhaa’ of good things in another
way. When a good thing happens our mind gets Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 71
excited
about it. The excitement is as bad as the one we get when an unhappy thing
occurs. In both cases the equanimity of the mind is the victim. Only when the
mind is steady without any vibration can one have the enlightening realisation
of the Atman. Thus even the excitement that naturally follows a happy feeling
should have to be ‘endured’. It is another kind of forbearance. When we do not
think of a weight as a burden, it does not any more weigh with us. When there
is no weight on either side the needle of the weighing balance is steady and
straight. Think of the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ as the two side-plates of such a
balance. On whichever side you may place a weight, the balance is going to
tilt. So neither the experience of the unpleasant nor the emotional excitement
that might be caused by the pleasant should be allowed to tilt the needle of
the balance from its normal equanimous position. The ‘good’ also should not
‘weigh’ with us. That is the ‘titikshhaa’ of the ‘good’.
In all that we have said
what we call ‘good’ is not with respect to our spiritual progress. It is what
we ordinarily call ‘good’ from our mundane material world, that is, what pulls
us away from progress on the spiritual path.
There is a certain negative
aspect in these ‘good’ things, that is not there even in the ‘bad’ ones. When
we meet with something that is pleasant and happy for us, we always wish that
it should happen again; we want ‘more’ of it. This peculiar desire that the
‘good’ should repeat is called ‘spRhaa’ in Sanskrit. To prevent the rise
of such ‘spRhaa’ is also ‘titikshhaa’. Recall the Lord’s words:
*dukhesh-vanudvigna-manAh
sukheshhu vigata-spRhaH* (B.G. II – 56)
In other words, ‘titikshhaa’
stands for not being perturbed by a miserable happening as well as not being
affected by *spRhA* at the onset of a happy occurrence. One is not to be
influenced by the dualities like pleasure and pain. To be away from duality
means non-duality. When duality disappears, the bondage of samsAra is
cut and the gates of mokshha are already open. In Gita V – 3, Bhagawan has
shown the ultimate goal itself as the end result of ‘titikshhaa’: *nirdvandvo
hi mahAbAho sukham bandhAt pramucyate* meaning, He for whom duality is gone
easily releases himself from bondage.
One who has ‘titikshhaa’
is called ‘titikshhu’. Such a one is characterised by our Acharya as one
who tolerates or endures dual opposites -- *titikshhuH dvandva sahishhNuH*
-- in Brihad-AraNyaka bhAshya (IV – 4 - 23). The vanishing of duality means
there is only One. And the One is Atman, no doubt. Advaita-saadhanaa 72
In
summary the Acharya’s clarion call is : “One should not worry about either what
is directly an unhappy thing or about what appears to be pleasant but in
reality is also a miserable thing. ‘Not worrying’ means ‘not wailing’ about it.
Nor should one look for anitdotes for either the sukha (happiness) or
the dukha (unhappiness). Silently one should be forbearing both”.
*sahanaM sarva-dukhAnAM
apratIkAra-pUrvakaM /
cintA-vilApa-rahitaM sA
titikshhaa nigadyate //* (Viveka Chudamani #24 (or 25))
sA titikshhaa nigadyate :
She is said to be ‘titikshhaa’
sarva-dukhAnAM sahanaM :
forbearing all unhappiness
Note that so-called
happiness is also included in the ‘unhappiness’.
apratIkAra-pUrvakaM :
without searching for steps for nullifying (the ‘sukha’ or ‘dukha’) Note ‘pratIkAra’
means ‘antidote’ or an ‘annihilating step’.
cintA-vilApa-rahitaM :
without worry (*cintA*) or lament (*vilApa*).
Now let me take up the
feminine gender used here. *sA titikshhaa* says the Acharya. ‘titikshhaa’
is a feminine word. But it is not just grammar that is involved here. When he
talks about ‘nitya-anitya-vastu-viveka’ (Discrimination between the
eternal and the ephemeral) he says *so’yaM nityAnitya-vastu-vivekaH*;
here he uses *saH ayaM* -- ‘that is he’ – thereby invoking a masculine
construction. The word ‘vivekaH’ is masculine. Maybe because of the
age-old traditional opinion that a feminine mind is prone to vacillation and a
masculine mind has a discriminating tendency.
On the other hand the
concept of dispassion is indicated by the neuter gender specification *tad-vairAgyaM*
-- That is dispassion. Maybe because, by means of dispassion one’s mind becomes
immune and inert!
In the process of
discrimination there is an inherent analysis involved. Consequent to that, the
mind becomes desireless. So in discrimination there is an action (though
mental) whereas in dispassion there is not so much action. Action indicates a
masculine power (*paurushhaM*) and so is indicated by ‘saH’ (he)
whereas the inaction-like inertness of dispassion is denoted by a neuter ‘tat’
(that).
The words ‘shama’
(mind control) and ‘dama’ (sense control) both occur in the masculine as
‘shamaH’ and ‘damaH’. Both imply control. Accordingly they adopt the gender
that implies action, namely the masculine gender. Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 73
After
saying what ‘shama’ is, he says ‘manasaH shama uchyate’ – this is
what is known as ‘shama’ of the mind -- and here the masculine ‘shamaH’
is used. He does not say ‘shamaM uchyate’ in the neuter gender. But he
does not use the explicit ‘saH’ (he) here as in the case of ‘viveka’
(discrimination) where he said ‘ayaM saH’ – this is he. Also when he defines ‘shama’
instead of saying just ‘mind control’ he says ‘sva-lakshhye niyata-avasthaa’
meaning ‘what stays in its own goal’. After the active masculine work of
controlling the mind, one stays in the peaceful state of resting in the Atman;
it is this state that is meant by ‘shama’. So, maybe, the Acharya did
not want to emphasize the masculine aspect of shama, by using *saH* (he)
for ‘shamaH’.
On the other hand, when he
talks about ‘dama’ (control of the senses) he says *sa damaH
parikIrtitaH* meaning “he is called damaH”, where the masculine gender is
explicitly emphasized. When the senses run amuck, to control them and draw them
behind a lot of masculine activity is needed, certainly.
The word ‘uparati’
is feminine. When we equate activity with masculinity then the actionless
restful state has to be feminine. And so he says *uparatir-uttaamA* -- the
highest is ‘uparati’ (cessation) – using the feminine for ‘the highest’.
And, for the subsequent ‘titikshhaa’,
he specifically uses the ‘sA’ (she). Forbearance is known to be a special characteristic
of women in general – the quality of a mother. Don’t we usually refer to the
Goddess Earth as the ideal for tolerance?
22.
Shraddhaa (Faith / Dedication)
In the sextad starting with
‘shama’ the next one is ‘shraddhA’ (Faith/Dedication). When one is
involved in something by the sheer conviction – not by any direct ‘proof’ --
that what the shAstras or the righteous ones say must be right, that is
known as ‘shraddhA’. Compared to men, women stand higher in ‘shraddhA’
– so long as they do not involve themselves in academic research. In fact, I
think, even after their modern involvement in studies, they are still one step
higher in shraddhA. Maybe in the days to come this will be different.
Shraddhaa leads to Belief
(AstikyaM) as I already mentioned. Among those who have become non-believers,
women are probably just one-fourth of the number of men. Even the wives of
leaders of parties of non-Advaita-saadhanaa 74
believers,
have faith in temples, austerities and worship. I think the ‘shraddhA’
word is rightly feminine!
Right in the beginning when
I talked about ‘shraddhA’ I told you this topic will recur again at the
end of the SAdhanA. We have now come to that second level ‘shraddhA’,
the higher grade one.
At this stage the seeker
has taken several steps towards his spiritual maturity. To inquire and convince
oneself what is eternal and what is ephemeral; to develop a dispassion towards
the ephemeral; to quell the thoughtful mind by self control and convert it into
an emptiness; to cultivate patience and tolerance – in all this he has made
sufficient progress. So at this stage what is this shraddhA for? That is
something to be there right at the beginning, when he was putting the
foundation for all his SAdhanA. In the beginning when he was nowhere near
any familiarity with spiritual conduct and regimen, there was a meaning in
prescribing a shraddhA for him by saying, “This path does not allow
intellectual proofs and verifications; many things have to be taken on faith
from the shAstras and the words of the Guru”. Now that he has taken
significant steps towards spiritual progress, why bring the shraddhA back
again? It is because, by the very fact of his progress gained upto now, there
is danger of his losing the very faith that has brought him so far!
In the beginning he was
likely to have had some modesty and naivety and a consequent shraddhA because
at that zero stage one is rather scared about the strict requirements of
discrimination, dispassion and sense-control and one wonders whether all these are
achievable. At that time it was easy to believe that perhaps in the spiritual
field there might be many things which cannot be understood or argued out by
the rational mind and one must trust the words of the scriptures and the wise.
But now after one has made some progress on the spiritual SAdhanA path,
one is likely to think that the mind is now clear and hereafter it will
understand all that has yet to be achieved on the path of Self Realisation.
This is a kind of ego – an unrecognizable ego that creeps in. Things do happen
even upto the stage of Self-Realisation, that cannot be understood by the
smartest intellect . Even a JnAni who has achieved that Self-Realisation
will not be able to explain them by his intellect. One has to continue with the
same regimen without questioning them until the Self-Realisation sprouts up
like the rise of the Sun. When those things happen, one has to take them as
they are, without analysing them by the intellect. One may have to be content
with the thought: “The SAdhanA that has brought me so far will certainly
take me further by the same Grace of the Lord that brought me up to now; I
shall not subject it to any intellectual questioning.” Even after one has
Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 75
obtained
Enlightenment, the things may still be inaccessible to the intellect. Even our
Acharya – there cannot be a better Acharya than he – does not try to tell that
secret of achievement to us in the language of the intellect. “I cannot
describe it. Simply keep on proceeding with Faith” – this is his message and
accordingly he keeps this shraddhA at this advanced stage of SAdhanA.
Had the Acharya told us all
the secrets, there would not have been a necessity for Ramanujacharya to
establish a VishishhTAdvaita. Somewhere in the philosophy of advaita Ramanuja
asked an intellectual question and not finding a reply to that, he thought he
had a suitable reply to it and that became his vishishhTAdvaita. OK, but did
that reveal all the hidden secrets? No. That is why a Madhwacharya had to establish
his dvaita. But even then intellectual questions remain unanswered. That is why
still there are many advaitins and many vishishhTAdvaitins. And we are arguing
and arguing. Though these arguments are going on at the intellectual level,
those who came thereafter, without worrying about testing everything on the
touchstone of the intellect, simply follow their own Acharyas with shraddhA on
the plea “I am born in this particular Smarta or Vaishnava tradition; let me
follow with faith what my Acharyas in my tradition have taught us” – and they
have reached great spiritual heights accordingly.
A smarta (belonging to the
advaita tradition) may say that nothing would equal the experience of identity
of JIva and Brahman, whatever these followers of other traditions may
claim about their spiritual achievements. Let him say so. But they are
certainly greater than many of these smartas who don’t practise any SAdhanA with
shraddhA. Maybe they have not reached the peak experience of realisation
of nirguna brahman, of which the smartas speak. But isn’t it the same brahman
that appears as the Ishvara or saguna brahman? Those achievers of the
other-tradition-followers do somehow establish a rapport with that Ishvara.
And they do obtain a certain godly nature, blessing of Divine Grace and a heart
of compassion. Even on the spiritual side, rather than simply bragging about
belonging to the glorious advaita tradition without knowing anything worthwhile
about the Atman, except one’s body and the goings-on of the mind, those experiencers
of other traditions who are convinced that their soul has been born only to
worship and propitiate the Divine are certainly greater. One who thinks that
his pure mind which is full to the brim with that kind of bhakti is the Atman
is superior to some one who has had no experience of anything connected with
the Realisation of the Atman. Once the mind becomes that pure, automatically in
course of time there is the chance of that very mind eradicating itself leading
to Self-Realisation. But let that be in the future. Right now, those followers
of other traditions have, as I Advaita-saadhanaa 76
said,
because of their shraddhA, obtained a divine contact and a divine grace
and benefics. That is the very reason there are great souls in all our traditions,
known the world over.
It is the play of Mother
Goddess – Bikshaa of Illumination – that, at a certain stage, one rises on the
strength of his shraddhA alone, without any effort on the part of the
intellect. That is when shraddhA becomes most significant. Even those
who have taken several steps on the SAdhanA path should simply continue
in the path of shraddhA and ask no questions; questions will not get any
answers palatable to the intellect, nor will it be able to elicit any answers
from the Guru understandable by the intellect. It is for this reason that shraddhA
has been placed as one of the parts of the SAdhanA regimen.
This kind of shraddhA,
that is the opposite of “I shall find it myself; I will be able to
intellectually understand it”, has to be there not only in the beginning but
till the end. “The shAstras say so; our guru says so. Let me go on doing
what they say – whatever may happen in between. It will automatically take me
to the Goal” – this attitude is shraddhA. It is not just one of the components
of SAdhanA ; it is the peak component. The Acharya says in his
introduction to the second chapter BrihadAranyaka Bhashya *shraddhA ca
brahma-vijnAne paramaM SAdhanAM*. The Lord also emphatically says
(B.G.IV-39) *shraddhAvan labhate jnAnaM* ((only) he who has shraddhA
gets the enlightening wisdom).
A special status is
attached always to the mantras of the Upanishads called *mahA-vAkyas* that
declare the identity of jIva and brahman. Even among those mahAvAkyas, one of
them gets a further unique status, because it is the one which is directly
imparted to a shishhhya (disciple). It is the one in Samaveda, where it is
given to a celibate youngster who is not a renunciate. The Absolute ParamAtmA
who is denoted by ‘That’ is what You, the jIvAtmA, are – This is the message
there. The father Uddalaka Aruni is the one who doles out the teaching; and the
receiver of the teaching is the son, Svetaketu. The father keeps on reeling
mantra after mantra and ends up with the emphatic refrain: “That is what You are”.
As he goes along, right in the middle, he says, “Go and bring a banyan fruit,
my child”.
“Here it is”, says the son
and produces the fruit.
“Break it” says the father.
[Note by R.
Ganapathi, the author of the Tamil rendering:
‘Here the Swamigal
gives the conversation in a dramatic fashion
feigning two
voices, one of the guru and one of the disciple.]
“Done, my Lord”
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(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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