ADVAITA-SAADHANAA - 1

ADVAITA-SAADHANAA

(Kanchi Maha-Swamigal’s Discourses)

ADVAITA-SAADHANAA

(Kanchi Maha-Swamigal’s Discourses)

ADVAITA-SAADHANAA

1. Essence of the philosophical schools

“There is a Supreme Entity as the Cause for all this universe. For us also there is the same Cause. That is what created us. We are only a finite JIvAtmA. But that is ParamAtmA, the infinite Supreme. This JIvAtmA has to go back to join that ParamAtmA. Only then this samsAra, the repetitive cycle of birth and death, the tortures to which this karma subjects us, and the unending turbulence in the mind will all end and we may reach the state of eternal happiness. It is that state which is called ‘Release’ or ‘moksha’. Once we have reached it then there is no more death and there is an eternal peace”.

So says Religion and it also shows us the way to reach that ParamAtmA. Each religious or philosophical school gives a name to that ParamAtmA. One school says it is ‘Shiva’. Another says it is ‘Vishnu’. Still another says it is ‘Shakti’. Do this and this, then you can go to Kailasa where Shiva resides and that is the world of moksha, says one school. Another says that world of moksha is only Vaikuntha, the residence of Lord Vishnu. In the same way the Shakti school says moksha-world is the world of Amba, called Shri-puram. ‘Moksha is the Ananda-Bhuvana where Ganesha lives’ says another. ‘No, it is Skanda-giri, where Subrahmanya resides’; ‘Even Rama and Lakshmana did not go to Vaikuntha after they left this world, they have their own separate loka called ‘Saketa’; ‘Krishna has his own world of bliss, called ‘Goloka’ – thus the different schools of thought wax eloquent. Each one gives a methodology of worship and also mentions that the goal of all that Upasana is to reach that world of Infinite Bliss, to which they give separate names. Advaita-saadhanaa 2

What would be the relationship between JIvAtmA and ParamAtmA? This is an important question raised and answered by each of the schools in its own distinct way. One school says that the JIvAtmA will always be distinct from the ParamAtmA; and in that state of moksha, the JIvAtmA would enjoy infinite bliss by worshipping the ParamAtmA with Bhakti – that is the Dvaita conclusion. Another says: Even though the JIvAtmA will be a separate soul doing Bhakti towards ParamAtmA, it will have the feeling of the ParamAtmA immanent in it as its soul; this is Vishishtadvaita. Still another says: When the Sun rises the stars do not lose their existence; they just disappear from view, because of the luminosity of the Sun; so also in moksha, the JIvAtmA, though it does not lose its existence, will have its own little consciousness submerged in the Absolute Consciousness of the ParamAtmA – this is the doctrine of Shaiva-siddhanta. There are still other schools of thought.

2. Advaita is different from all these.

The school of philosophy propagated by Adi Shankara Bhagavat-pada is called Advaita. It says something totally different from all the above. It discards all that talk about the JIvAtmA escaping from this world, from this samsara, about the JIvAtmA going and joining with the ParamAtmA and all the consequent underlying assumptions about this world and the so-called world of moksha and the relationship between the two. There is no such thing as ‘this world’; it is only mAyA. Moksha is not a place or a world. When the Atma is released from the bondage of the mind, that is moksha. It may be right here and now. One can be ‘released’ even when alive, not necessarily only after death. He whom we call a JnAni may appear to be living in ‘this world’ but in reality he is in Moksha.

There is no such thing as the union of JIvAtmA and ParamAtmA. A union occurs only when there is more than one. Only when there are two any question of relationship between the two arises. In truth the JIvAtmA and ParamAtmA are not two distinct entities. Atma is one and one only. It is itself by itself; other than itself there is nothing. The Self being the Self as such is what it is. That is called by the name ‘nirguna-brahman’. However, with that Brahman as the support and at the same time hiding that very support, there appears a ‘mayic’ show, as if it is a magic show, in the form of this universe. The movie appears on the support of the white screen. There is no show without the screen. Still that very show hides the screen itself which is its support. The screen has in no way been affected; it is still the screen and it remains as the screen. In the case of Brahman there is an additional mystery. On one side Brahman remains as Brahman; but on the other hand, by its own MAyA shakti, it has become several individual JIvas each with a distinct inner organ Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 3

(antaH-karanam). By a proper SAdhanA if we can dispose of this antaH-karana, the JIva itself turns out to be Brahman. In other words there is no ‘union’ of two things called JIvAtmA and ParamAtmA. The one knows himself as the other. The same entity that does not know its own real nature thinks of itself as a JIva, and knows of itself as Brahman when the real nature is known. There are no two entities. It is Brahman that has the name JIva when there is the bondage with the mind and when the bondage is thrown off, it remains by itself as itself; thus no one gets united with some one. There is no question of relationship here. Where is the question of ‘relation’ of ourselves with ourselves? It is the release from this bondage that is called moksha; so there is no place for calling it a different ‘world’ or ‘place’ of moksha. This is the bottomline of advaita.

One may wonder: ‘Dispose off the mind – we are ourselves Brahman. That is moksha’. This statement of advaita seems to make it all easy for us. All along, the other schools are saying that there is something higher than us, above our world, that is called a world of moksha; there is a ParamAtmA above us, we are only JIvAtmA, far below Him and we have to strive to reach His world. But advaita says there is no high, no low; we are ourselves that ParamAtmA and in order to reach this moksha we don’t have to ‘go’ anywhere; right here we can have that. One may think that this should then be very easy.

3. Appears to be easy – but really, difficult

Because that is a big ‘if’! ‘If only, we can dispose off the mind, ..’, then there is the advaita-siddhi. The difficulty is exactly there – to dispose off the mind. When our shirt loosely fits us we can take it off easily. But if the shirt is tight, the taking off might have to be made with some effort. And when we are required to take off our very outer skin, imagine how difficult it could be. Just as the skin is sticking to our body, our mind is sticking to us, but in deeper proximity! A dirty stinking sticky cloth becomes pure when the dirt, stink and stickiness are off the cloth. It is not necessary to look for another cloth. The same cloth, when the dirt, etc. are off, becomes the pure cloth. So also for our JIva we don’t have to look for a new entity called Brahman; if we can remove the present dirt and stink of the mind, that should be enough. The same person will emerge as the pure Brahman. But that is exactly the formidable task – to remove the dirt and stink that is so deeply adhering to mind!

Mind refuses to be disposed off. What exactly is this mind? It is the instrument which creates thoughts. If the creation of thoughts stops, mind will also not be there. But we are not able to stop the creation of thoughts. All the time it is galloping to go somewhere. We go through lots Advaita-saadhanaa 4

of experiences and enjoyments. We also keep seeing them; those of this birth that we know, and many more in the other births that we do not know. Each of them has left an impression in our mind. They keep running in our mind and sprout numberless thoughts. It is like the smell that persists in the bottle in which we kept spicy asafoetida. So also even after we have gone through experiences and enjoyments, their smell persists in our mind. This is what is called VAsanA, or JanmAntara VAsanA (VAsanA that comes from other births), or SamskAra VAsanA. What does it do? It keeps surfacing thoughts about that enjoyment and becomes the cause for further thoughts about how to have that experience again. These thoughts are the plans which the mind makes. This ‘smell’ of the past has to subside. That is what is called ‘VAsanA-kshhayam’ (Death of the VAsanA). And that is the ‘disposal of the mind’!

‘Disposal’ implies the ‘end’. What keeps running all the time has an end when it stops running. When a large flow of water is dammed, the flow stops. In the same way when the flow of the mind is stopped, it means that is the end of the mind.

When I say mind is stilled or stopped I do not mean the staying or resting of the mind on one object. That is something different. Here when I say the mind is stopped or stilled, I mean something else. When the mind stays on some one object, it means the mind is fully occupied with that object. No other object can have then a place in the mind. Even to keep the mind still like that is certainly a difficult process. This is actually the penultimate step to ‘dispose off’ the mind. When a wild animal is jumping and running all around, how do you shoot it? It is difficult. But when it is made to stay at one place, we can easily shoot it. Similarly the mind that is running in all directions should be made to stay at one place in one thought. It does not mean the mind has disappeared then. No, the mind is still there. Only instead of dwelling on various things it is now full of one and only one thought. This is the prerequisite to what I call the ‘disposal’ of the mind. After this the mind has to be vanquished totally. That is when Realisation takes place -- Realisation of the Atman. In other words the being as a JIva goes and the being as Brahman sprouts.

This process of stopping the mind at one single thought and then vanquishing even that thought in order to dispose off the mind along with its roots is a Himalayan achievement. Our scriptures very often refer to “anAdyavidyA-vAsanayA”, meaning “because of vAsanAs of ignorance going back to beginningless antiquity”. This is the reason for the dirt of the mind being so thick and dense. Removal of that dirt is no doubt a most difficult job. Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 5

4. Moksha is by Grace of God

However, if we persist with our efforts, by the Grace of God, if not in this life, maybe in a later life, that noble of goal of Brahman-realisation, that is, the realisation that we ourselves are Brahman and being–in-Brahman happens.

Who is this God (Ishvara) that is bestowing this Grace on us? JIvas and the universe are just a show of mAyA, but even in that ‘show’ there is a lot of regularity. It is not a haphazard mad show; it is a well-enacted play. The mind, which is a part of this ‘play’ may be weird in its ways of dancing hither and thither, but the entire universe of the Sun and stars down to the smallest paramAnu’s vibration within the atom, are all happening with a fantastic regularity. Even this mind has been stilled to silence by our great men and they have chalked out ways for us in terms of what they called Dharma , to follow their footsteps and still our minds. Further, there are thousand other things which happen according to the rules of cause and effect that our ancestors have discovered and left as a heritage for us. The affairs of this universe are happening in spite of us according to some schedule chalked out for them so that we may live in peace. If we observe all this carefully, maybe from the absolute point of view everything is a MAyA but in the mundane world of daily parlance, there is an admirable order that must have been initiated or chalked out by a very powerful force, far more powerful than all the powers that we know. That power is what is called Ishvara (God).

It is Brahman that, in association with MAyA – even the words ‘in association with’ are wrong; for Brahman does no work and so does not ‘associate’ itself with anything; so we should more precisely say ‘appearing to be in association with’ – is the Ishvara that monitors and manages both the universe and the JIvas. It is in His control all this world of JIvas rolls about. When that is so, for us to transcend this curtain of MAyA, and to get out also of His control so that we may realise the Brahman that is the core of Him as well as us, is not possible without the sanction of that power, namely Ishvara. In other words only by the Grace of Ishvara can our mind be overcome and Brahman-realisation can happen.

In this mAyic world, the dispenser of the fruits for all our actions is this Ishvara. What fruits go with what actions – is all decided by Ishvara. Every single action of ours has a consequence and the dispenser of this consequence is the same Ishvara. It is this cycle of actions and the cycle of the fruits of our actions that result in our revolving recurrence of new and newer lives. Only when karma stops may we ever hope to become the karma-less brahman. What prompts the JIva to be involved in karma Advaita-saadhanaa 6

is the mind. It is by the prompting and urging of the mind that we do action. So action will stop only if the mind stops . But the mind refuses to stop. How can a thing destroy itself by itself? Can a gun shoot itself out of existence? So what the mind can do is only this: In the total agony of anticipation of its own death, it has to keep thinking all the time about the JIva-Brahma-Aikyam that would happen after its (mind’s) death. This is what ‘nidhidhyAsana’ means. It has to be done with great persistence. The essence of advaita-SAdhanA is this kind of persistent thinking. Of course this is also ‘action’. Walking is the action of the legs. Eating is the action of the mouth. Thinking is action of the mind.

I just now said that all actions are carefully watched by Ishvara and it is He who dispenses the fruits of actions. He also watches this ‘thinking action’, namely the nidhidhyAsana. When we do this persistently and sincerely, He decides at some point that this person has done the nidhidhyAsana sufficiently enough to destroy his balance of karma and dispenses His Grace that will kill the mind that has been always struggling to establish our individuality that shows this JIva to be distinct from Brahman.

This is the meaning of the statement that by God’s Grace one gets Realisation of Brahman. That does not mean however that God waits and calculates whether we have done enough SAdhanA to get our karma from all our past lives exhausted. If He does so then that should not be called ‘His Grace’! A mechanical calculation like a trader to balance the positive and negative side of our work does not deserve the name of Grace. Love, sympathy, compassion, forgiving and allowing for marginal errors – only these will constitute what is termed as Grace, or ‘anugraha’.

The word ‘anugraha’ may also be interpreted as follows. The prefix ‘anu’ stands for concordance or conformity; also continuance. The word ‘graha’ connotes a catching up. When we try to catch up with the Lord by following or conforming with His attributeless nature, by the same principle of conformity He comes and catches us up. That is ‘anugraha’. The mind of us, instead of being steadfast in its work of ‘catching up’ with the Lord, may also run away from Him. Even then the Lord’s Grace follows us and makes us ‘catch up’. That is ‘anugraha’. Here catching up with the Lord includes both the MAyA-associated Almighty and also the attributeless Brahman which is not associated with any MAyA. We may be subject to the whims and fancies of MAyA but He is in total control of it. So even when He ‘does’ so many activities under the guise of MAyA, He is always the actionless Brahman . Thus even if we aim at the MAyA-associated almighty, he absorbs us into the Brahman that has no trace of MAyA. Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 7

It is actually a running race between Ishvara and the JIva. The JIva tries to catch up with Ishvara. But Ishvara thinks it unfair to grant the Realisation of Brahman to this JIva ‘who has so much balance of karma’. And the JIva having failed to catch up gives up the attempt and allows itself to be carried away by all worldly distractions. That is the time when Ishvara follows him with compassion and makes the ‘catching-up’ possible. But this compassionate easing up is done in a subtle way. It turns the mind towards spiritual matters; that is what it means for Ishvara to ‘catch up’. At the same time it is done so gradually that the full ‘catching up’ of the JIva with Ishvara does not happen before the time for it is due. To that extent Ishvara ‘slips’ away. But that itself makes the JIva fall headlong into the bottomless pit of sin and again the compassionate grip of Ishvara tightens. This tightening and loosening goes on and on until the JIva fills up its mind fully with Ishvara and nothing else. And that is the time for the consummation of the ‘anugraha’.

The Lord is called ‘karma-phala-dAtA’ – the dispenser of the fruits of actions. Like the decision of a judge He has every right to be very strict in His dispensation of justice. When He does so, we have no right to fault Him for His strictness. But He does not do it that way. He very often condones our failings with His supreme compassion. He is neither too strict nor too lenient in His dispensation of justice. When the supreme-most status is granted to us it is not fair to expect Him to grant it without any concern whether the grantee deserves it well enough. Justice may be tempered by mercy but it cannot go to the extent of denial of justice. In all these, it does not stop with just doling out the punishment for the karma done. It is in fact supplemented by the process of destruction of all pending karma, end of the mind and finally the benefit of Brahman-realisation. With such a prospect, the condoning or forgiving nature of Ishvara cannot be expected to go too far!

5. Takes time but effort has to be started.

There are two categories: ‘JnAnavAn’ and ‘JnAni’. Both are above the level of any ordinary human being. A JnAnavAn, by learning and hearing, has convinced himself that the Atma that is called JivAtmA is nothing but Brahman itself, and is trying hard to bring that knowledge into one’s own experience. A JnAni on the other hand has gone to that peak of realisation of that knowledge as own experience. The JnAnavan who is making efforts to have that Brahman-realisation ‘reaches Me’, says the Lord, ‘only at the end of several births’ (*bahUnAM janmanAm ante jnAnavAn mAM prapadyate*) (B.G. VII – 19). Here ‘reaches Me’ means he attains the consummation of the realisation that Atman is Brahman). At Advaita-saadhanaa 8

another place (B.G. VI – 45) He says: *aneka-janma-samsiddhis-tato yAti parAm gatiM* -- meaning, slowly graduates to perfection only by several births. Even this attainment of Realisation after several births happens only by His Graceful Hand that lifts us up. Otherwise the ‘bahu’ of (VII – 19) and the ‘aneka’ of (VI – 45) will be several times larger!

The reason is: The goal is great and grand. ‘To become Brahman’ is something really great. But the one who wants to win that high prize is so small! Naturally it has to take several several life-times. Just to conquer another kingdom like his own a king has to make elaborate preparations for war. When that is so, for a small man to win over the kingdom of brahman-realisation, he has to take enormous efforts. It is the kingdom of the Atman that the JIva is set out to conquer!

From one point of view the whole matter appears simple. We are not aiming for the kingdom of heaven in Vaikuntha or Kailasa which are far away from us. What we are aiming at is to know ourself, to know what is within us. Just to be what we are is the goal. There should not be any difficulty here; because we are being asked to be what we are and nothing more. When it is said that way it looks simple. But when we attempt it we come to know there is nothing more difficult than this SAdhanA. It is like walking on razor’s edge, says the Katha Upanishad. But don’t lose heart, adds the Upanishad. Wake up, there are excellent teachers to guide you. Even if it be razor’s edge you can walk on it and come out successful! Thus the Upanishads speak of the difficulties of the path but also give you the path. The Guru’s Guru of our Acharya has also talked of these in very formidable terms. “Advaita is the only fearless state. Even great yogis fear to tread that path. It requires that fantastic effort of emptying the waters of the ocean by using blades of grass, soaking them in the water and shaking the water off from the ocean. Only by such unceasing effort can the mind empty itself of all its thoughts and be in the Atman.”

Note: This is from Mandukya Karika: III-39, 41

At the same time what we learn from this is that to be the real Self instead of the false Self it is so difficult. The false self is the mind, a creation of MAyA. The real Self is the Truth that is Brahman.

It may take many life-times; it may be very difficult and long. But the effort has to start right now. The more you postpone it, the life-cycle will get more extended. Suppose we don’t start this ascent of the spiritual ladder now. What do you think will happen? We will be continuing to commit further sinful activities and these will accumulate more and more dirt and trash in the mind. More life-times have to be spent. That is why Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 9

I said the effort has to start rightaway, in order to escape from this life-cycle.

I said just now ‘escape from this life-cycle’; I also said ‘efforts have to be done’. These two together constitute the definition of SAdhanA. Instead of doing certain things in a haphazard fashion as and when the mood or the occasion arises, those great ancestors of ours who have reached the goal have prescribed for us specific methodologies for us. To walk that path is what is called SAdhanA.

6. SAdhana-set-of-four : The path chalked out by Acharya

With great compassion our Acharya Shankara Bhagavat-pAda has mapped out a SAdhanA-kramaM (the methodology of SAdhanA) towards the goal of advaita. Whatever he has done is only according to the Shruti (the Vedas). The body of the Vedas has a head and that is the Upanishads. They are called ‘shruti-shiras’, meaning ‘the head for the body of Upanishads’. The lofty edifice of SAdhanA that the Acharya has built for us has these Upanishads as its base.

What he has chalked out is a SAdhanA program, called ‘SAdhana-chatushTayaM’ (the four-part SAdhanA). In his monumental work of Brahma Sutra Bhashya right in the beginning, in his commentary on the first sutra where he explains ‘After what shall we embark on the enquiry of Brahman?’, he starts with ‘nitya-anitya-vastu-vivekaH’ and mentions the four parts of this chatushTayaM.

Just as his Sutra-Bhashya is at the top of all his scriptural commentaries, so is the Viveka-Chudamani at the top of all his expository works called prakaranas. And there he has given very good definitions of the four parts of Saadhana-chatushhTayaM.

sAAdhanAny-atra chatvAri kathitAni manIshhibhiH /

yeshhu satsveva sannishhTA yad-abhAve na siddhyati // (Verse 18)

This is how he begins. ‘To hold firm to the Real absolute is impossible without these four means’ – so says he emphatically. Only when these four are accomplished, there will happen a hold on the Real absolute. (yeshhu satsu eva sannishhTA). If these four are observed, there is success; otherwise not. These have been enunciated by manIshis.

Who are these manIshis? Ordinarily we are all manushyas, that is, persons. Among us, those who are learned in the shAstras, and who can distinguish between right and wrong and who observe all ethical, moral Advaita-saadhanaa 10

and religious standards are manIshis. “SAdhana-chatushTayaM” is what has been chalked out by them. This is how the Acharya introduces the subject in his Viveka-chudamani.

There is another prakarana of the Acharya called “aparokshAnubhUti”. ‘aparokshha’ means ‘direct’. In place of somebody else telling you that the Self is Brahman, or instead of learning it from books, if it is a fact of one’s own experience, that is ‘aparokshAnubhUti’. That prakarana book also talks of these four means. There is another elementary first book called ‘Bala-bodha-sangrahaM’. Even there he talks about this Saadhana-chatushhTayaM.

In the Tanjore Mahal Library there is a book called ‘Saadhana-chatushhTaya-sampatti’, whose author is not known. ‘sampatti’ means a treasure, wealth. This SAdhanA is itself a great treasure for us.

The word ‘chatushhTayaM’ means an integrated four-fold formation. Though there are four, the third part of these, namely ‘samAdhi-shhatka-sampatti’ has itself six parts in it; just as the one part called ‘head’ has within itself several parts called ear, eyes, nose, mouth, etc. Thus the four-fold formation has, included within itself, six parts in one of its parts, and so we have actually nine steps in our SAdhanA regimen. I have gathered you all here to tell you about these nine steps.

But note. These nine steps are not steps of a staircase where you go from step 1 to step 2 and from step 2 to step 3 and so on. The analogy should not be carried that way. It is like our studying Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry in the lower class and then when we go to a higher class we study all of them once again but now more intensively and extensively. And when you go to college, you concentrate in one of them as your ‘main’ subject and study the others as an auxiliary subject. In our SAdhanA regimen also we learn the basics of all of them in the beginning and then in due time give each a special attention as we go along. Another analogy is what a housewife does in the kitchen. She is cooking several things, she makes the preparatory work for almost all of them, has more than one thing on her several stoves, and gives the necessary attention to each one of them at the right time almost simultaneously. Even in our eating, we drink something, we chew something, we swallow something, we have something to go with something else, and each one of us has a different order in which we consume different types of food. So also in the SAdhanA regimen, what is a side instrument at one time becomes the main instrument on another occasion and for another purpose. Thus the different parts of the SAdhanA come in mixed fashion and at different stages come singly also. Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 11

After all that I must add the fact that there is, globally, some sequence of the different parts. The rock bottom beginning is to learn about Atma-vidyA. Even that has to be learnt properly from a guru. It is the guru’s grace and blessings that prompts one to go the right path. Secondly the teaching of the guru must be firmly established in one’s mind. And lastly, what has been retained by the mind should now be brought into one’s nature and experience.

7. Preliminary to JnAna: Karma and Bhakti.

There is another set of three: karma, bhakti and jnAna. The advaita SAdhanA that the Acharya has taught us is the path of jnAna. But the person who wants to go in this path must have purified his mind to such an extent that he should have the capability of one-pointedness (*ekAgratA*); only then he can traverse the path of jnAna. If the mind is full of dirt it cannot go the path of JnAna-SAdhanA. For jnAna-yoga the mind has to become one-pointed; a vacillating and vibrating mind cannot hold on to anything.

It is for these twin tasks of purification of mind and of making it one-pointed that the Acharya has prescribed karma and bhakti as preliminary to jnAna yoga. The prerequisite to starting jnAna yoga are karma yoga and bhakti yoga.

The barren land of the mind has to be tilled through karma yoga and then watered through bhakti yoga. Without this tilling and watering, nothing can be made to grow in that barren land of the mind.

When one keeps on doing his svadharma, meticulously and according to the shAstras, the impurities of the mind slowly disappear.

When our mind becomes one-pointed in its devotion to the Lord, this training in one-pointedness towards one form leads it to do the one-pointed enquiry into the formless Atman.

Thus when the mind is purified by karmayoga and gets the habit of one-pointedness by bhakti yoga, it can easily ascend the steps of jnAna yoga.

Of course I have said it easily; purification of mind by karma and one-pointedness by bhakti. But none of these things would seem to happen if one does not know what the right karma is and what the right bhakti is. Advaita-saadhanaa 12

8. ShraddhA (Faith) Necessary

Therefore let me warn you rightaway. All this is going to be a slow process. It will take a long time to see progress. So let no one despair. The feeling that ‘nothing is happening’ may always be there. ‘Maybe I am not capable of achieving anything on the spiritual effort’ – is the frequent thought that may appear. Don’t despair or give up.

Where there is a will there is a way. Efforts will not go waste. Keep going with all your efforts, persistently. Don’t worry about the time it takes. In due time, you will see the signs of progress and will also reach the destination. Faith is the fundamental requisite. That is what they mean by ‘shraddhA. ‘The Lord will never forsake us. The path shown by the shAstras and the Guru will never go unproductive’. It is that strong conviction that goes by the name of shraddhA.

Whenever we say that someone has done this with shraddhA, we mean it has been done with the whole heart, most sincerely. In fact the sincerity has come from that faith which is implied in the shraddhA.

Whenever we have a direct proof, there is no question of ‘faith’ coming in. But many of the things which religious books talk about do not have this kind of ‘direct proof’. Indeed some of them may be the exact opposite. ‘Punya (Meritorious action) results in good and sin results in bad’ is a statement that every religion adheres to. However, what we see right before us in the world is the sight of the suffering of people who do good and that of the happy living of those who do evil actions. To this our Hindu shAstras say: ‘You should not expect the results of good and bad actions in this one life itself. The consequences will be had only in the course of several lives of the individual. If a sinner is happy today and if a good man suffers today, it only means that the sinner has done something good in his previous lives and similarly that good man must have done something evil in his previous lives’. There is no way to ‘prove’ this. This is where ‘faith’, that is, ‘shraddhA becomes necessary. In the same way several other things have to be agreed to only by our shraddhA.

In ordinary parlance we talk of believers and disbelievers (aastikas and naastikas). An aastika does not mean simply that he agrees that God exists. Just by accepting that there is an ultimate power which is the source for everything, one does not go very far. ‘Believing’ (aastikyaM) is far more than that. That Ultimate Power is watching all our thoughts and actions and is meting out results accordingly; in His compassion He is constantly directing us, through the various scriptures, to do good; and, to boot, He is often sending His messiahs (Acharyas) to show us the Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 13

right path; and therefore we have to follow these Acharyas and the Shastras that they communicate to us; only then we can reach the Absolute. A faith in all this constitutes aastikyaM or Believing. So ShraddhA is what makes you a believer. In Chandogya Upanishad (vii.19) it is said that only he who has shraddhA will do the enquiry into Atman; and our Acharya in commenting on this, says ‘ShraddhA is nothing but aastikya buddhi’. In other words, ShraddhA is the faith in all the above.

Let me dare say here that the westerners have gone one step ahead of us in this matter. The word for religion in our language is ‘matam’. It means ‘what is obtained by the intellect’. When the intellect researches on a maxim and convinces itself by elaborate inquiry, it arrives at a ‘matam’. Also when we cannot ‘prove’ something, but great men and shAstras have accepted that something and therefore it must be right – Such a faith is also ‘matam’. But the real meaning of ‘matam’ is that conviction which arises from the intellect that is convinced by reason – not by another’s word. The latter means of conviction is what ShraddhA means. On the other hand the English people call ‘religion’ itself as ‘faith’. They have given that much importance to faith, in matters of religion. In later times of course, they started giving importance to ‘reason’ in matters of religion also – and also pulled us into the same pattern of thinking. But in earlier times they thought of faith in the scriptures as religion, ‘matam’ and must have used the word ‘Faith’ for ‘religion’ in that manner.

ShraddhA is most important. We shall come back to this topic much later. In the peak stages of advaita SAdhanA, there will come a stage when shraddhA will have to be talked about more formally. What we are now talking is only a simple plant which will grow into a grand tree of Shraddha with deeper roots, in that peak stage of discussion. But remember. It is this plant that has to grow into that big tree. When we learn to dive into the depths of the ocean, first we have to stay near the shore and learn to hold our breath under water just for a short time. But in due time we learn to dive into deeper waters and also collect gems from the bottom of the sea. The shraddhA that we are talking now is like learning to swim in shallow waters near the shore. The ShraddhA that will come later is like diving deep to gather pearls and gems.

I note a coincidence of language here. The word ‘pearl’ (‘muttu’ in Tamil) is of significance. The Sanskrit word ‘mukta’ means ‘the released one’. The Tamil equivalent is ‘muttar’. And that is very near to ‘muttu’. The concept of ‘release’ is there in both the Sanskrit ‘mukta’ and Tamil ‘muttu’. Muttu is what is released by by being pryed out of the shell of a pearl oyster; and a ‘mukta’ is the one who gets his release from the cycle of births and deaths. Well, that was a digression. Advaita-saadhanaa 14

Just as the collection of a pearl from the deep sea is a goal, the goal of mukti has ‘ShraddhA’ as one of the important requisites in the last stages of the ascent to mukti. But the ShraddhA we are talking about now is what is required in the very beginning of the ascent.

So let us begin the ascent with ShraddhA. Let the start be made with ShraddhA. The Vedas and Upanishads have recommended it; Lord Krishna has confirmed it in the Gita and our own Acharya has elaborated it with all accessories. Following all these we shall surely aim to reach that stage of Brahma-anubhava, the being-in-brahman.

The start has to be with karma and bhakti; then only jnAna. Our mind is like a mirror, covered by lot of dirt and at the same time it is not steady, it is vibrating. So in this kind of mind, nothing of spiritual value reflects. The dirt has to be washed off by repeated performances of rightful karma. The vibration has to be stopped by continuous observance of bhakti. Only then will the mind be both steady and pure and that is the mind wherein things of spiritual wisdom will reflect. [And the Swami says smiling]:Then we will also be equipped to ‘reflect’ on them!

9. Eligibility for Aatma-SAdhanA

Let us not forget one thing. The regimen for Atma-SAdhanA is to be undertaken only after the dirt in the mind and its vacillation have been removed. This is what our Acharya has prescribed. It is to eradicate this dirt and shakiness of the mind that karma and bhakti have been prescribed. He says so clearly that SAdhana-chatushTayam is only for him who has crossed this barrier of dirty and vacillatory mind.

*sva-varNAshrama-dharmeNa tapasA hari-toshhaNAt /

SAdhanAM prabhavet pumsAM vairAgyAdi chatushhTayaM //* (Aproksha-anubhUti: 3)

It is ‘sva-varNAshrama-dharmaM’ (the dharma of one’s own varNa and own Ashrama) that is the karma-yoga of the individual. ‘Hari-toshhaNaM’ is the satisfaction of Hari, the Lord. In fact all our actions (karmas) are to be done for the satisfaction of the Lord (*Ishvara-prItyarthaM*). It is not necessary to do a separate pUjA (worship, propitiation). According to the Gita, to dedicate one’s svadharma-karma is itself bhakti. In Acharya’s ‘Sopana-panchakam’ (also known as Upadesha-panchakam) (first shloka) he says “Do your svadharma-karma well and consider that as the puja done to Ishvara”. However, to do it that way, that is, to have the attitude that all our actions are actually a propitiation to the Lord, is not such an easy task; and so bhakti has also been prescribed as a Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 15

distinct loving worship of Ishvara. Karma is for purification of the mind and bhakti is for obtaining the one-pointedness of mind towards God. It is bhakti that is called ‘hari-toshhaNaM’ here. ‘Hari’ does not just mean Vishnu only. Every time when we say ‘HariH OM’ the ‘Hari’ means saguNa-brahman that denotes all possible deities.

That is what it means here also. The word ‘toshhaNaM’ means ‘to give satisfaction’ or ‘to generate contentment’. If we show bhakti towards Bhagavan, He gets satisfaction and contentment that ‘this child of mine is coming back to good ways’. So ‘Hari-toshhaNaM’ means ‘bhakti-yoga’. The above quotation adds a ‘tapasA’ to ‘svadharma’ and ‘hari-toshhaNaM’. ‘tapas’ need not be a third. The ‘svadharma’ and ‘hari-toshhaNaM’ have both to be done as a penance (tapas), with the whole heart, regardless of any physical discomfort. Only for such of those who do this will SAdhanA-chatushTayaM’ be possible and be acceptable. That is what “SAdhanAM chatushTayaM prabhavet” means. Only after graduating from school you go to college. So also, he says: ‘First you purify your mind; make your mind capable of one-pointedness. Graduate from this and then come to me for admission to my college. Then you can step into the process of Enquiry into the Atman. Further up the ladder you can do the Enquiry more deeply. And still further on the question of its becoming an experience will arise. It is as if one finishes college, then goes to the master’s level and then on to the doctorate. In other words it is actually only after one gets Sannyasa”.

This should not be taken to mean that one should not go anywhere near Atma-vidya unless he has completely purified his mind and obtained one-pointedness. If that stage has really been reached, there would be no more necessity to have any elaborate Atma-SAdhanA or regimen. The mind will then be ready to firmly establish itself in the teaching of the Guru and Realisation will be almost automatic. The Acharya has not taken all the pains to elaborate the methodlogy of the SAdhanA ChatushhTayaM to such a highly evolved person. If we understand him right, it is only this: A pure mind and the capability to be one-pointed are surely basic to a certain extent; with that basic equipment, one should read the shAstras and enter the kingly path of the SAdhanA. Only then he can make real progress. Otherwise he will only be touching the fringes and have a false feeling that he knows everything.

The Buddhists said that they have opened the gates to all; but what happened thereafter was seen by the Acharya. That is why he prescribed that only those with preliminary qualifications can make real progress in Atma-SAdhanAa. Advaita-saadhanaa 16

There are people who say: “Every one is fit to carry on advaita-SAdhanA. No prerequisites are necessary. After all it is about learning about the truth of oneself by oneself. Why are qualifications necessary to become ourselves? It is enough to have the urge to know oneself. By the tempo of that urge, once we discard our mind then that is all that is needed to have Realisation. Self-Realisation is every one’s birthright. No qualifications need to be prescribed”. Maybe some of these people who proclaim this are really true JnAnis who know. And some who follow them even if they be young, be a householder, be in business-like professions, be a westerner, could have done the Atma Vichara with real fervour and single-minded dedication and could have obtained clarity of jnAna. But even among these who speak of such things and who listen to such things there may be possibly one or two percent who have really attained the Realisation. They read a lot of Vedanta topics, they are smart, and they have thought for long about Atman and the Vedantic knowledge; and they can construct beautiful arguments for what they say, present papers, submit theses and so on. When one looks at all these one is amazed and one feels that they are really Enlightened JnAnis. But in truth, among such talkers and claimers there may be one in thousand who have really SEEN what they claim to have seen! The real ones who have SEEN it usually don’t talk about it, like Dakshinamurti. For the welfare of the world (*lokAnugrahArthaM*) the Lord Isvara Himself prompts a few like our Acharya to talk and write about Atma Vidya.

Certainly there may be rare ones who may have directly obtained Realisation, without really renouncing in due manner, due manner meaning, proper observance of svadharma and then of bhakti yoga, and then embarking upon the deep study of Atma-VidyA. But they cannot say that others also can do what they have done. What they have obtained is by their prior samskara and that has given them the necessary spiritual qualification in their previous lives itself and in this life they have the Grace of God in full. Such people are not the ordinary run of people. Maybe the Acharya himself would give them only very special treatment for spiritual uplift. But when the Acharya writes or talks to all humanity for their general good, he writes only keeping in mind the ordinary run of people and therefore he talks about karma yoga and bhakti yoga as prerequisites to Atma SAdhanA.

Accordingly he has chalked out the four-fold regimen of SAdhanA-chatushTayaM. First with a purified and one pointed mind study the Shastras, find out what is eternal and what is ephemeral, use discretion to accept and reject, and go on until the state of ‘mumukshutA’ being the only breath. This itself is not the end of it. The final end of all this Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 17

graduation through bachelor’s and master’s degrees ends when the PhD of ‘MumukshutA’ leads him on to the final Realisation.

10. Apex of Saadhanaa is only for the sannyAsi !

MumukshhutvaM -- the yearning for moksha – is the end of the second stage. The first stage is that of eradicating the mind’s dirt and vacillation by karma and bhakti. SAdhanA-chatushTayaM is the second stage. The SAdhanAs remove mostly all the defective vAsanAs and perturbations adhering in the mind; if at all there are any that may be only five or ten percent.

It is in such a circumstance that the moksha-seeker (mumukshhu) feels he has only one work to do, namely to get the Release. So he renounces his home and possessions, takes Sannyasa and goes to the third stage. In other words, the Acharya’s conclusion is, in that last stage, it is the Sannyasi that has the right qualifications for Atma-SAdhanA. Having renounced all attachments, bondage and worldly obligations, Atma-vichara (Enquiry into the Atman) becomes his whole-time job. It is only for such a seeker that the most blissful gift of Realisation of Brahman happens. That is the maxim of the Acharya, as also confirmed by the Upanishads.

Thus, in that third stage, he takes Sannyasa under a proper Guru, gets his upadesha of the mantra which tells him about the identity of JIva and Brahman, constantly rolls it in his mind, and in due time even that thought process stops and he comes to be in union with his own aim, namely the Great Experience of Brahma-anubhava. This is the prescription of the Acharya.

Some do ask: “The Acharya himself has said that the teaching of the maha-vakyas that proclaim the identity of JIva and Brahman is only for the Sannyasi. On the other hand how come the Sama Veda maha-vakya was taught to the Brahmachari Svetaketu by his father?”

The Vedas, in each of its branches (ShAkhAs) has one Upanishad in which there is a mahAvAkya that proclaims the identity of JIva-Brahman. From 1008 branches that were there originally, we have come down to only seven ShAkhAs that are still extant, glowing like little torches. Though every shAkhA has a mahAvAkya, traditionally we resort to four mahavakyas corresponding to the four vedas, for purposes of giving initiation to new Sannyasis. Accordingly in Rigveda the mahAvAkya occurring in Aitareya Upanishad does not mention who taught it to whom. But it occurs at the end of the Upanishad revealed by Advaita-saadhanaa 18

a Rishi called Mahidasa Aitareya. Just from what has been said in the penultimate mantras and from the previous chapter where it is said that even as he was in the womb the Rishi Vamadeva had obtained Brahma-jnAna, we can infer that this mahAvAkya has been sparked from his intuition to Vamadeva by God’s Grace. In other words it has been taught to a Brahma-JnAni by Ishvara Himself. Therefore it appears fair to conclude that it is to be taught only to a Sannyasi, namely one of the fourth Ashrama.

The mahAvAkya of the Yajurveda occurs in the first chapter of Brihad-Aranyaka-Upanishad in what is called Purusha-vidha-brAhmaNaM. It says: “whatever Rishis or Devas saw it in their experience as declared in this mahAvAkya, they all became Brahman” and then gives one name, namely, Vamadeva. Therefore again one may conclude that this mahAvAkya also was sparked into the intuition of the Guru Vamadeva, who was a JnAni, and therefore those eligible to receive this teaching are only Sannyasis.

The mahAvAkya of the atharva-veda occurs in MANDUkya-Upanishad. In the Upanishad called Muktikopanishad, Shri Rama teaches Hanuman that this one Upanishad (MANDUkya-Upanishad) is enough for a seeker of Moksha to obtain Moksha. Thus this mahAvAkya also is to be taught only to Sannyasis.

The question now is only about the mahAvAkya occurring in Sama-Veda. The objectionists are raising only this. Of the four mahavakyas this is the only one which is directly taught to a disciple by a Guru. Naturally it gets a special status. And that disciple is a youth, a Brahmachari. Not a sannyasi. Hence the objection: “How come a teaching that was offered to a 24-year old Brahmachari, is being recommended to be taught only to Sannyasis?”

The point is not about ‘young’ or ‘old’. The point is about the attainment of spiritual maturity. Generally that maturity comes only to one who has gone through the ups and downs of life and who has observed faultless karma yoga all through. That is why the Acharya prescribed, as a general rule, that the teaching of the mahAvAkya is to be done at the time one is initiated into Sannyasa. In worldly parlance, they set a minimum age, like fourteen or fifteen, for graduation from school; but however, there are some ‘prodigies’ who are considered brighter than even a B.A. or M.A. even when they are seven or eight. On this account does it mean that the general rule is wrong? Every rule has its exception. Even the general rule of minimum age for high school graduation is exempted for very bright students. So also the rule that only a Sannyasi is eligible for Brahma-Vidya has been exempted for that Samaveda boy, Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 19

Shvetaketu. First he studied under his own father, then went over for twelve years of study under other gurus and then came back with his collar high up! When such proud individuals get the shock of a setback of their pride they go to the other extreme of total modesty and are prepared to do the full SharaNAgati! Nothing can beat the circumstance of a good and scholarly man when he reaches a stage of defeat where he realises that all his intelligence and scholarship are of no value in the face of real experience. And that is when he dedicates himself totally. That is what happened to that Samaveda boy before his father who put to nought his high opinion of his scholarship and sparked him to spiritual heights of intuition. That is when he was given the upadesha of the mahAvAkya. This should not be shown as a precedent for the claim that the upadesha of the mahAvAkya should apply to all.

The Brahmasutra (III – 4 – 17) gives a rule for the study of Atma-VidyA: Eligibility is only for ‘Urdva-retasis’. Who are they? They are the ones who have not wasted their energy in sensual-experience but have conserved all of it for the uplift of their spirituality. The one who has thus destroyed his lust will become a Sannyasi. Even as a boy one may be as pure as fire to such an extent that later the thought of kAma never arises in him; such a person can be given Sannyasa-Diksha and the knowledge of non-difference between JIva and Brahman may certainly be formally given to him. Our Acharya himself belonged to this category. And that tradition of giving Sannyasa to young Brahmacharis has also been established by him for some of his mutts.

At a town called Shribali, a father brought to him a boy who was totally inert to everything and prayed that the Acharya should relieve him of his ‘disease’of inertness. But the Acharya was able to see the maturity behind that inert silence of the ‘patient’!. He gave Sannyasa to the boy and kept him with himself. This is the famous Hastamalaka, one of his four prime disciples. Again, younger and much smarter than our Sama Veda child, there was a seven-year old who dared argue with the Acharya himself. How can some one win our Acharya in argument? But the point is not about who won or who lost. The fact was the newcomer was so full of modesty after the event and actually surrendered to the Acharya. The Acharya gladly accepted him as disciple, gave him the Sannyasa-Diksha, and also gave the name ‘SarvajnAtman’. I am saying all this in order to point out that the Acharya who was very regulatory did loosen his regulations in the case of extraordinary individuals. The Sama Veda boy we were talking about, though he was just twenty-four and full of youth, did have the maturity to deserve the teaching of the mahAvAkya and that was why the Rishi gave the Upadesha to him. Advaita-saadhanaa 20

Citing cases of exceptions and asking for withdrawal of regulations in all cases is not right. Vidhura, of the Mahabharata, when looked at from the way he was born, would not be eligible to receive jnAnopadesha; but he was a JnAni. Dharma-vyAdha was running a butcher shop; still he had jnAna alright. The Acharya himself cites these cases in his Sutra-bhashya (I – 3 – 38) and says these are cases that happened because of the Samskara in earlier lives. In the previous lives one gets good spiritual maturiy, but is born again because of some tiny fault; however the maturity of the previous life sticks on to him and very soon he reaches an advanced stage in the spiritual ladder. Such persons are very rare. They cannot form our model for making the general rule.

The general run of people whose Samskara is rather dubious are to do Karma yoga only. This is the rule. Even to carry on the karma yoga properly they will find it difficult. To burden them with an impossible sense-control, and control of the mind that are needed for jnAna yoga is of no use.

That is why the third stage

[Note by VK: The SAdhana-chatushTayaM is the second stage].

in the Advaita-SAdhanA is prescribed only for those of the fourth Ashrama (Sannyasa) who has already thrown off all his obligations of karma and has totally dedicated himself to the enquiry of jnAna. Only if one throws off the burdens that make one run around for the family establishment, the responsibility of feeding oneself or the household and also the bondage of relatives as well as of money and position and sit whole time as a Sannyasi for the purpose of Atma-Vichara, -- only then can one eradicate the inner burden of thoughts and also wash off the long-lasting dirt and moss of the mind. Upto a certain stage the composites of right action, svadharma and obligatory duties do help to wash off this old dirt; but after a stage they themselves become a potential for further dirt and moss of the mind. They stick to one’s mind and prevent the mind from losing itself in eternal peace. When we wash sticky and dirty vessels don’t we apply tamarind and earth on them and even allow them to stay there for some time? But even they are ultimately rinsed off and only then the vessels become bright and pure. In the same way, the karma that helps to purify should themselves be eradicated in full in order for the inner organ (antahkaraNaM) to become pure and crystal clear. That is exactly what Sannyasa means. After one becomes a Sannyasi, the inner activities have also to stop and give relief. Activity means peacelessness. Total peace is an ocean of bliss; one should dissolve in it and be Brahman. That is immutable peace. If it is possible to reach that state from our present state of perturbation and Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 21

restlessness, then is it not our duty to put in the maximum possible effort for it? If we don’t, then we are only duds, whatever position or status we hold in whichever field it may be.

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)}