Advaita Bhoda Deepika #28

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CHAPTER VIII

MANONASA

 

THE EXTINCTION OF THE MIND

 

1. In the previous chapter, having taught the realisation of

the non-dual Brahman, the master now treats of the extinction

of the mind as the sole means of realising Brahman.

M.: Wise son, leave off the mind which is the limiting

adjunct giving rise to individuality, thus causing the great malady

of repeated births and deaths, and realise Brahman.

 

2. D.: Master, how can the mind be extinguished? Is it not

very hard to do so? Is not the mind very powerful, restive and

ever vacillating? How can one relinquish the mind?

 

3-4. M.: To give up the mind is very easy, as easy as crushing

a delicate flower, or removing a hair from butter or winking

your eyes. Doubt it not. For a self-possessed resolute seeker not

bewitched by the senses, but by strong dispassion grown

indifferent to external objects, there cannot be the least difficulty

in giving up the mind.

 

D.: How is it so easy?

M.: The question of difficulty arises only if there is a mind

to leave off. Truly speaking, there is no mind. When told 'There

is a ghost here' an ignorant child is deluded into believing the

existence of the non-existent ghost, and is subject to fear, misery

and troubles, similarly in the untainted Brahman by fancying

things that are not, as this and that, a false entity known as the

mind arises seemingly real, functioning as this and that, and

proving uncontrollable and mighty to the unwary, whereas to

the self-possessed, discerning seeker who knows its nature, it is

easy to relinquish. Only a fool ignorant of its nature says it is

most difficult.

 

5-10. D.: What is the nature of mind?

M.: To think this and that. In the absence of thought, there

can be no mind. On the thoughts being extinguished the mind

will remain only in name like the horn of a hare; it will vanish as

a non-entity like a barren woman's son, or a hare's horn, or a

flower in the sky. This is also mentioned in the Yoga Vasishta.

D.: How?

M.: Vasishta says: 'Listen, O Rama, there is nothing to

speak of as mind. Just as the ether exists without form, so also

the mind exists as the blank insentience. It remains only in

name; it has no form. It is not outside, nor is it in the heart. Yet

like the ether, the mind though formless fills all'.

 

D.: How can this be?

M.: Wherever thought arises as this and that, there is the

mind.

 

D.: If there be mind wherever there is thought, are thought

and mind different?

M.: Thought is the index of the mind. When a thought

arises mind is inferred. In the absence of thought, there can be

no mind. Therefore mind is nothing but thought. Thought is

itself mind.

 

D.: What is 'thought'?

M.: 'Thought' is imagination. The thought-free state is

Bliss Supreme (Sivasvarupa). Thoughts are of two kinds; the

recalling of things experienced and unexperienced.

 

11. D.: To begin with, please tell me what is 'thought'.

M.: Sages say that it is nothing but to think of any external

object as this or that, is or is not, this-wise or that-wise, etc.

 

12-13. D.: How is this to be classified under the heads of

things experienced and unexperienced?

M.: Of objects of senses, such as sound, already experienced

as 'I saw - I heard - I touched etc.' to think of them as

having been seen, heard, touched is the recollection of things

already experienced. To call to mind unexperienced objects of

senses is the thought of unexperienced things.

 

14. D.: That thoughts pertain to things already experienced

is understandable. But how to think of those not so experienced

unless they are reminiscences of things already experienced? One

can never think of things not experienced. How then can we say

- to think of things not already experienced is 'thought'?

 

15. M.: Yes, it is quite possible. To think of things not

experienced is also thought. Objects unexperienced appear as

such only after thinking.

D.: How can the things not already experienced come

within the orbit of thought?

M.: By the process of positive and negative induction

(anvaya, vyatireka), all mental imagery must be said to be

thought-forms, whether already experienced or not.

 

16-17. D.: How do you apply the positive and negative

induction here?

M.: Whether existent or non-existent, already experienced

or not so experienced, whatever and however something is

thought of, it is apprehended. The mere thought of it amounts

to apprehension. This is the positive induction.

Real or unreal, experienced or not, however it may be,

whatever is not thought of, is not apprehended. This is negative

induction. From this process also it follows that thought is

apprehension.

 

18. D.: How can mere thought of anything be its

apprehension also? Things are apprehended directly by the senses

or by recall of past experiences to the mind. On the other hand,

things unheard of or unseen cannot be apprehended by simple

thinking of them. Therefore the logical conclusion that mere

thought of anything is its apprehension, does not hold.

M.: You are not right. How can you say that things not

directly cognised by the senses are not apprehended? The

pleasures of heaven though not already enjoyed, are vividly

pictured in our minds. This is owing to our knowledge of the

shastras which depict them. Though not experienced they appear

to us as delights not experienced.

 

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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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