Advaita Bhoda Deepika #11

[Guest guest]

End of post #10...

 

70. D.: Is any distinction made amongst seekers who are

competent?

M.: For enquiry into the Self there is absolutely no

distinction bearing on caste, stage of life or other similar matters.

Be the seeker the foremost scholar, pandit, illiterate man, child,

youth, old man, bachelor, householder, tapasvi, sanyasi, brahmin,

kshatriya, vaisya, sudra, a chandala or a woman, only these four

qualifications make up the seeker. This is the undisputed view

of the vedas and shastras.

 

====================================================

 

71. D.: This cannot be. How can illiterate men, women and

chandalas be qualified to the exclusion of a pandit learned in the

shastras? He must certainly be more qualified than others. You say

that a knowledge of the shastras is no qualification but practice of

their teachings is. No one can practise what he has not known.

How can an illiterate person qualify himself in the requisite manner?

M.: In reply I ask you and you tell me - how does the

learned man qualify himself?

 

D.: Because he has known the teachings of the shastras

that he should not do karma for selfish ends but dedicate it to

God, he will do so; his mind will be purified; gradually he will

acquire the dispassion etc., needed for enquiry. Now tell me

how an illiterate man can qualify himself.

M.: He also can. Though not learned now, he might have

learnt the teachings in preceding births, done actions dedicated

to God; his mind being already pure enough, he can now readily

acquire the qualities needed for enquiry into the Self.

 

72. D.: In the illiterate man, should the sadhanas acquired

in preceding births and later lying as latencies, now manifest

themselves, why should not his learning acquired in those births

similarly manifest itself now?

M.: Some of his past karma may obstruct only the learning

from re-manifesting itself.

D.: If the learning is obstructed, how is not the sadhana

also obstructed from manifestation?

M.: Though the learning is obstructed, the fruits of his

valuable labour cannot be lost; he cannot lose his competence

for enquiry.

 

73. D.: What would happen if his four fold sadhanas were

obstructed as well as his learning?

M.: The result would be that for want of the requisite

qualities neither the scholar nor the other would be fit for

enquiry. Both would be equal.

 

74-76. D.: No. This cannot be. Though not already

qualified, the scholar having known the teachings can put them

into practice and gradually qualify himself, whereas the other

with all his studies had not already succeeded in his preceding

births, and what hope can there be now that he has forgotten

what he had learnt and his sadhanas are obstructed? Obviously

he cannot be successful in enquiry.

M.: Not so. Though illiterate a man anxious for liberation

will approach a master, learn from him the essence of the

scriptures, earnestly practise the teachings and succeed in the

end. Just as a worldly man ignorant of scriptures yet desirous of

heaven, seeks guidance from a master and by observance,

worship and discipline, gains his end, so also by a master's

teachings even an illiterate man can certainly benefit as much

as the scholar with his knowledge.

 

77-78. D.: Religious rites bear fruits only according to the

earnestness of the man. Only if the seeker of Truth is earnest

can a master's guidance act in the same manner. Otherwise how

can it be?

M.: Just as earnestness is the essential factor for reaping

fruits from karma, so it is with the practice of sadhanas by the

learned scholar or the master's disciple. Karma or sadhana cannot

succeed if interest is wanting in them. A scholar or an illiterate

man reaps the fruits of karma according to the interest he takes

in its performance. One who is not earnest need not be considered

in any matter concerning the Vedas or a master.

 

79. A scholar or an illiterate man, if he has not already

qualified himself as aforesaid, but is now desirous of liberation,

should in right earnest practise the sadhanas so that he may qualify

himself now at least. He will later be fit for enquiry. So no

distinction can be made between a scholar and an illiterate man.

 

80. D.: If so, regarding fitness for enquiry into the Self,

how does a scholar differ from an illiterate man?

 

M.: The difference lies only in the learning and not in the

practice of sadhana or enquiry.

 

81-82. D.: No. This cannot be. Though learning does not

make any difference in sadhana, it must certainly weigh in favour

of the scholar in the pursuit of enquiry.

M.: Not so. Shastra is not the means for enquiry. The means

consist of desirelessness etc. Only these can qualify a man for

enquiry and a learning of the shastras does not make any

difference. Therefore a scholar has no advantage over an illiterate

man in the field of enquiry.

 

83-85. D.: Granted that dispassion etc. form the means

for success in enquiry, even with the necessary sadhanas the

enquiry into the Self must be pursued only in the light of the

shastras. Therefore the study of the shastras should be indispensable

for the successful pursuit of enquiry.

M.: Nonsense! No Shastra is required to know the Self.

Does any one look into the Shastra for the Self? Surely not.

 

D.: Only if the Self is already known, Shastra will not be

required for enquiry into the Self. But the seeker being deluded

has not known his true nature. How can an illiterate man realise

the Self without studying the shastras which deal with the nature

of the Self? He cannot. Therefore the shastras must be learnt as

a preliminary to realisation.

M.: In that case the knowledge of the Self got from the

shastras will be like that of heaven mentioned in the Vedas,

i.e., indirect and not directly experienced. This knowledge

corresponds to hearsay and cannot be direct perception. Just

as the knowledge of the form of Vishnu always remains indirect

and there is no direct perception of the four armed being or

again the knowledge of heaven can only be indirect in this

world, so also the knowledge of the Self contained in the

shastras can only be indirect. This leaves the man where he

was, just as ignorant as before. Only the knowledge of direct

experience can be true and useful; the Self is to be realised

and not to be talked about.

 

=============================

Taken from Advaita Bhoda Deepika

as published by Sri Ramanasramam

Tiruvannamalai 2002.

 

To be continued...

 

You can download at

http://www.ramana-maharshi.org/downloads/downloads.htm