Kanchi Maha-Swamigal's Discourses on Advaita Saadhanaa (KDAS-37)

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Namaste.

 

For a pdf document of all the 30 posts from 1 to 30, go to

http://www.advaitin.net/Discussion%20Topics/advaita-saadhanaa.pdf

 

For the previous post, see

advaitin/message/32057

 

 

SECTION 21 : SHRADDHAA (Faith/Dedication) (continued)

 

We were going to see why shraddhaa has been kept after

titikshhaa.

 

The discretionary enquiry about the transcendental and the

ephemeral (nitya-anitya-vastu-viveka) results in a certain

conviction about what is impermanent; but the conviction is

not so strong about the permanent. Isn’t the permanent one

the Atman? Unless one has an experience how can conviction

about it be strong? But the experience of the Atman is to

be had right at the very end. By all the enquiry, by all

the listening to the teachings of one’s Masters, by all

that reading of the various works of the Acharya, and by

all that exposure to the Upanishads and other philosophical

works, one intellectually arrives at the conclusion that

there is certainly a thing called Atman and it must be of

the nature of the fullness of sat-cit-AnandaM. But the

conviction in this conclusion will not be as strong as the

conviction that arises about the impermanence of the

universe of objects, because the latter is experiential.

The clarity with respect to the Atman cannot be expected to

be that perfect. In other words, we are more knowledgeable

about what is to be discarded rather than about what is to

be merged in. Thus a disgust-cum-dispassion starts with

what is to be discarded. Following that, instead of running

after the impermanent non-Self, one, through that very

dispassion, engages oneself in the control of the senses

and the mind – shama and dama. In due time the craving for

the ephemeral objects of the universe disappears and the

mind becomes empty. This is uparati. But even here there is

no experience of the Atman. The misery of experience of the

non-self is not there, but still the bliss of the fullness

of experience of the Atman is also not there. Then comes

the stage of titikshhaa – the unaffectedness by the

happiness and misery of the outside world. Even here the

progress is only on the side of the discarding of the

non-self, and not on the side of the experience to be.

 

Another point has to be noted here. A shadow, a trace, of

the bliss of the Atman will however be there right from the

beginning, just as one feels a cool breeze slightly

sneaking through a hot summer day, because of a distant

rain somewhere. That trace of bliss is the grace of the

Almighty. And that grace increases to light showers – but

not a downpour. Hot sun, and off and on some cool air, now

and then some showers. This is how it goes, because the

bliss of the Atman comes only after numerous lives. We

forget the fact that through all that journey through

several lives we have been immersed in the non-self. We

think we have not been compensated well enough after all

the SadhanA we have done in this life. We feel a sense of

disappointment and there is an intense anguish. By the

steps of our sAdhanA we think we have achieved quite a bit

of tolerance and endurance (titikshhaa), but this anguish

for the blissful experience of the Atman comes from

nowhere, as it were. It actually comes because the Lord

Himself is testing you. This is the time when you need

shraddhaa so that you don’t leave off your sAdhanA. That is

the reason for shraddhaa, the higher level shraddhaa,

being kept after titikshhaa.

 

 

(To be Continued)

PraNAms to all students of advaita.

PraNAms to the Maha-Swamigal.

profvk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

 

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