Advaita Bhoda Deepika #9

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ADVAITA BODHA DEEPIKA

 

End of post #8...

Unless the dreamer awakes, the dream does not

come to an end nor the fright of being face to face with a tiger

in the dream. Similarly unless the mind is disillusioned, the

agony of samsara will not cease. Only the mind must be made

still. This is the fulfilment of life.

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29-30. D.: How can the mind be made still?

M.: Only by Sankhya. Sankhya is the process of enquiry

coupled with knowledge. The realised sages declare that the mind

has its root in non-enquiry and perishes by an informed enquiry.

D.: Please explain this process.

M.: This consists of sravana, manana, nididhyasana and

samadhi, i.e., hearing, reasoning, meditation and Blissful Peace, as

mentioned in the scriptures. Only this can make the mind still.

 

31-32. There is also an alternative. It is said to be yoga.

D.: What is yoga?

M.: Meditation on Pure Being free from qualities.

D.: Where is this alternative mentioned and how?

M.: In the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Sri Bhagavan Krishna

has said: What is gained by Sankhya can also be gained by yoga.

Only he who knows that the result of the two processes is the

same, can be called a realised sage.

 

33-34. D.: How can the two results be identical?

M.: The final limit is the same for both because both of

them end in stillness of mind. This is samadhi or Blissful Peace.

The fruit of samadhi is Supreme Knowledge; this remains the

same by whichever process gained.

D.: If the fruit is the same for both, the final purpose can

be served by only one of them. Why should two processes be

mentioned instead of only one?

M.: In the world, seekers of truth are of different grades of

development. Out of consideration for them, Sri Bhagavan has

mentioned these two in order to offer a choice.

 

35. D.: Who is fit for the path of enquiry (Sankhya)?

M.: Only a fully qualified seeker is fit, for he can succeed

in it and not others.

 

36-37. D.: What are the sadhanas or requisites for this

process?

M.: The knowers say that the sadhanas consist of an ability

to discern the real from the unreal, no desire for pleasures here

or hereafter, cessation of activities (karma) and a keen desire to

be liberated. Not qualified with all these four qualities, however

hard one may try, one cannot succeed in enquiry. Therefore

this fourfold sadhana is the sine qua non for enquiry.

 

38. To begin with, a knowledge of the distinctive

characteristics of these sadhanas is necessary. As already pointed

out, these distinctive characteristics are of the categories (hetu,

Sv-av, kayR, Avi0, fl) cause, nature, effect, limit and fruit. These

are now described.

 

39-44. Discernment (viveka) can arise only in a purified

mind. Its 'nature' is the conviction gained by the help of sacred

teachings that only Brahman is real and all else false. Always to

remember this truth is its 'effect'. Its end (avadhi) is to be settled

unwavering in the truth that only Brahman is and all else is

unreal. Desirelessness (vairagya) is the result of the outlook that

the world is essentially faulty. Its 'nature' is to renounce the

world and have no desire for anything in it. Its 'effect' is to turn

away in disgust from all enjoyments as from vomit. It ends

(avadhi) in treatment with contempt of all pleasures, earthly or

heavenly, as if they were vomit or burning fire or hell.

Cessation of activities (uparati) can be the outcome of the

eight fold yoga (astangayoga), namely, yama, niyama, asana,

pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi, i.e., self

restraint, discipline, steady posture, control of breath, control

of senses, mind collected to truth, meditation and peace. Its

'nature' consists in restraining the mind. Its 'effect' is to cease

from worldly activities. It ends (avadhi) in forgetfulness of the

world as if in sleep, owing to the ending of activities. Desire to

be liberated (mumukshutva) begins with the association with

realised sages. Its 'nature' is the yearning for liberation. Its 'effect'

is to stay with one's master. It ends (avadhi) in giving up all

study of shastras and performance of religious rites.

When these have reached their limits as mentioned above,

the sadhanas are said to be perfect.

 

45-47. Should only one or more of these sadhanas be

perfect but not all of them, the person will after Death gain

celestial regions. If all of them are perfect, they together quickly

make the person thoroughly capable of enquiry into the Self.

Only when all the sadhanas are perfect is enquiry possible; otherwise,

not. Even if one of them remains undeveloped, it obstructs

enquiry. With this we shall deal presently.

 

48-49. Dispassion, etc., remaining undeveloped, discernment,

though perfect, cannot by itself remove the obstacles,

to enquiry into the Self. You see how many are well read in

Vedanta Shastra. They must all possess this virtue, but they

have not cultivated the others, dispassion etc. Therefore they

cannot undertake the enquiry into the Self. This fact makes

it plain that discernment unattended by dispassion etc.,

cannot avail.

 

50-51. D.: How is it that even scholars in Vedanta have

not succeeded in the pursuit of enquiry?

M.: Though they always study Vedanta and give lessons to

others yet in the absence of desirelessness they do not practise

what they have learnt.

D.: And what do they do otherwise?

M.: Like a parrot they reproduce the Vedantic jargon but

do not put the teachings into practice.

D.: What does Vedanta teach?

M.: The Vedanta teaches a man to know that all but the

non-dual Brahman is laden with misery, therefore to leave off

all desires for enjoyment, to be free from love or hate,

thoroughly to cut the knot of the ego appearing as 'I', you,

he, this, that, mine and yours, to rid himself of the notion of

'I' and 'mine', to live unconcerned with the pairs of opposites

as heat and cold, pain and pleasure, etc., to remain fixed in

the perfect knowledge of the equality of all and making no

distinction of any kind, never to be aware of anything but

Brahman, and always to be experiencing the Bliss of the nondual

Self.

Though Vedanta is read and well understood, if dispassion

is not practised, the desire for pleasures will not fade away. There

is no dislike for pleasing things and the desire for them cannot

leave the person. Because desire is not checked, love, anger,

etc., the ego or the 'false-I' in the obnoxious body, the sense of

possession represented by 'I' or 'mine' of things agreeable to

the body, the pairs of opposites like pleasure and pain, and false

values, will not disappear. However well read one may be, unless

the teachings are put into practice, one is not really learned.

Only like a parrot the man will be repeating that Brahman

alone is real and all else is false.

D.: Why should he be so?

M.: The knowers say that like a dog delighting in offal,

this man also delights in external pleasures. Though always busy

with Vedanta, reading and teaching it, he is no better than a

mean dog.

 

52. Having read all the shastras and well grounded in

them, they grow conceited that they are all knowing,

accomplished and worthy of respect; filled with love and hate

they presume themselves respectable; they are only packasses

esteemed for carrying heavy loads over long distances in

difficult and tortuous ways. They need not be considered as

regards non-dual Truth. In the same strain Vasishta has spoken

much more to Rama.

 

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Taken from Advaita Bhoda Deepika

as published by Sri Ramanasramam

Tiruvannamalai 2002.

 

To be continued...

 

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