Ahandakara-vritti

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From

Sankarraman

 

Beloved friends,

 

 

I read from an ancient Tamil treatise on

Vedanta known as, "Kaivalya Navaneetham", ( Cream of Emancipation), the

following account of the natural state of the Self. It is stated therein that

the natural state of the Self is not incompatible with ignorance, the Self

being the witness of even the apparent ignorance. Hence, there is no question

of the striving after the truth by the Self. The quest is relatable only to

something other than the self, the intellect, the reflected consciousness. As

the Self is inaccessible to all the valid pramanas, being the sole reality not

admitting of anything alien, the question arises as to who should be the entity

and what is the method of the search for the Self, and what is the manner of

bringing out its shining to be felt distinctively. It is stated in this text

that the Self is to be realized by the intellect in the waking state through

the Ahandakara-vritty, whose object is none of the

phenomenal categories, but a bare perception admitting a state of mind not

knowing anything. The intellect in its consummation of the search for the Self,

itself gets dissolved in the blaze of the Self, there being no object or even

the subject, as is the case in all the relative states of perception of

objects. In all our perceptions there are two states: the first is the

intellect lighting up the object and taking its shape, and the further position

of the object being held permanently, which is attributable to the unfailing

Light of the Self. The intellect being insentient cannot achieve this object.

But in the quest for the Self, the second situation mentioned above does not

obtain, since there are no objects other than the pure Vritti. This seems to be

a thought provoking subject, being relevant to our quest, rather than the

judging of the merits of the various schools. People of this forum who are

meditative, may respond to this query. Please, use very simple

words, lest the quest should digress into an intellectual browbeating.

 

Yours Ever in Bhaghavan

Sankarraman

 

 

 

 

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