Advaita Bhoda Deepika # 27

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End of post #26

 

....To the ignorant only the non-dual, pure Ether of

Absolute Knowledge manifests Itself as various beings, the world,

God, different names and forms, I, you, he, it, this and that.

Like the illusion of a man on a post, silver on nacre, snake on

rope, utensils in clay, or ornaments in gold, different names

and forms on the Ether of Knowledge delude the ignorant.

The sage who, by practice of knowledge, has destroyed

ignorance and gained true knowledge, will always remain only

as the Ether of Absolute Knowledge, unaware of enjoyments of

fruits of actions or of worldly activities. Being That, he can be

aware as the Ether of Knowledge only. Nevertheless, owing to

their ignorance others see him otherwise, i.e., as an embodied

being acting like themselves. But he remains only pure,

untainted ether, without any activity.

 

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44-46. D.: Can it be illustrated how the sage remaining

himself inactive, appears active to others?

M.: Two friends sleep side by side. One of them reposes in

dreamless sleep whereas the other dreams that he is wandering

about with his friend. Though in complete repose, this man

appears active to the dreamer. Similarly although the sage

remains inactive as the blissful Ether of Absolute Knowledge,

he appears to be active to those who in ignorance remain always

caught up in names and forms. It must now be clear that the

realised sage being the pure Self is not involved in action but

only appears to be so.

 

47-48. D.: Not that there are no experiences whatever

for the realised sage, but they are only illusory. For Knowledge

can destroy the karma already stored and the future karma

(sanchita and agamya) but not the karma which having already

begun to bear fruit (prarabdha) must exhaust itself. As long as

it is there, even from his own point of view, activities will

persist, though illusory.

 

M.: This cannot be. In which state do these three kinds of

karma exist - knowledge or ignorance? Owing to delusion; it

must be said 'they are operative only in ignorance.' But in

knowledge there being no delusion, there is no prarabdha.

Always remaining undeluded as the transcendental Self, how

can the delusion of the fruition of karma occur to one? Can the

delusion of dream-experience return to him who has awakened

from it? To the disillusioned sage there can be no experience of

karma. Always he remains unaware of the world but aware of

the Self as the non-dual, unbroken, unitary, solid, without any

mode Ether of Absolute Knowledge, and of nothing besides.

 

49. D.: The Upanishad admits past karma in the Text 'As

long as his past karma is not exhausted the sage cannot be

disembodied, and there will be illusory activities for him'.

M.: You are not right. The activities and experiences of the

fruits of action and the world seem illusory to the practiser of

Knowledge and they completely vanish to the accomplished

sage. The practiser practises as follows: 'I am the witness; the

objects and activities are seen by and known to me. I remain

conscious and these are insentient. Only Brahman is real; all

else is unreal.' The practice ends with the realisation that all

these are insentient consisting of names and forms and cannot

exist in the past, present or future, therefore they vanish. There

being nothing to witness, witnessing ends by merging into

Brahman. Only the Self is now left over as Brahman. For the

sage aware of the Self only, there can remain only Brahman

and no thought of karma, or worldly activities.

D.: Why then does the sruti mention past karma in this

connection?

M.: It does not refer to the accomplished sage.

D.: Whom does it refer to?

M.: Only to the ignorant.

D.: Why?

M.: Although from his own point of view, the sage has no

enjoyment of the fruits of actions, yet the ignorant are deluded

on seeing his activities. Even if told there is no enjoyment for

him, the ignorant will not accept it but continue to doubt how

the sage remains active. To remove such doubt, the sruti says to

the ignorant that prarabdha still remains for the sage. But it

does not say to the sage 'You have prarabdha'. Therefore the

sruti which speaks of residual prarabdha, for the sage, really does

not speak of it from his point of view.

 

50-51. D.: Realisation can result only after complete

annihilation of individuality. But who will agree to sacrifice his

individuality?

M.: Being eager to cross over the ocean of the misery of

repeated births and deaths and realise the pure, eternal Brahman,

one will readily sacrifice one's individuality. Just as the man

desirous of becoming a celestial being, willingly consigns himself

to the fire or the Ganges in order to end this human life and

emerge as a god, so also the seeker of Liberation will by practice

of sravana, manana, and nidhidhyasana, (i.e., hearing, reflection

and meditation) sacrifice his individuality to become the

Supreme Brahman.

 

52. Here ends the Chapter on Realisation.

Diligently studying and understanding this, the seeker will

kill the mind which is the limiting adjunct that causes

individuality to manifest and ever live as Brahman only.

 

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Taken from Advaita Bhoda Deepika

as published by Sri Ramanasramam

Tiruvannamalai 2002.

 

To be continued...

 

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Sri Ramana

 

In "Letters from Sri Ramanasramam" by Suri Nagamma

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