Kanchi Maha-Swamigal's Discourses on Advaita Saadhanaa (KDAS-30)

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For a Table of Contents of these Discourses, see

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For the previous post, see

advaitin/message/28591

 

SEC. 19: 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):

 

*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 senses from

acting to fulfill those desires. Thereafter no further

action. The mind has rested after all this vairgya, 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: titikshhA, 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 ‘titikshhA’,

‘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-chatushhTayaM’. 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’.

 

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, ‘titikshhA’ and ‘shraddhA’.

 

(Note by VK: At this point we shall take a break and resume

after six weeks)

 

 

(To be resumed and continued)

PraNAms to all students of advaita.

PraNAms to the Maha-Swamigal.

profvk

 

 

 

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

 

Latest on my website: Shrimad Bhagavatam and advaita bhakti. Introduction.

Chatushloki Bhagavatam. Vidura and Maitreya. Kapila Gita.

Dhruva charitam. JaDabharata, Ajamila Stories. Prahlada Charitram.

 

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/VK2/Bhagavatam_Introduction.html

 

and succeeding pages.