Kanchi Maha-swamigal's Discourses on Advaita Saadhanaa (KDAS-62)

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Namaste.

 

For a Table of Contents of these Discourses, see

advaitin/message/27766

For the previous post, see

advaitin/message/33050

 

 

SECTION 48: THE NAADI THAT GOES TO THE HEAD:

MISTAKEN NOTION

Tamil Original : http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/dk6-122.htm

 

 

Another matter. This is about the nADi that goes to the head. Just as there

is an incorrect opinion about uttarAyaNa-death so is the case with this.

Even those scholars who do know rightly about the UttarAyaNa death that it

only means passage through the various seats of the devatAs associated with

UttarAyaNa, even elder knowledgeable people, who have written commentaries

and glosses on the Bhashyas of Acharya in order to explain them better, --

even they, do not hold the right opinion about the nADi that goes to the

head. They all think that it is the sushhumnA nADi spoken of in the

yoga-shAstra.

 

But this is not that sushhumnA.

 

That sushhumnA of Yoga-shAstra starts from the mUlAdhAra at the base of the

spine and goes straight up to the head. The nADi that we saw and which is

spoken of in the Upanishads and Brahma-sUtra, starts from the heart. The

process of the ascent of prANa-shakti on the sushhumnA that starts from the

mUlAdhAra, is a matter that pertains to the yogis who perform sAdhanA for

that purpose. They hold on to the *lokAdhAra-shakti* and through that

become one with shivaM in the head. That is a particular yoga matter. Our

Vedanta which is based on Upanishads does not touch upon those things.

 

[Note by R. Ganapathy: This is based on the prominent ten Upanishads

covered by the Acharya Bhashya]

 

It will not go in a roundabout way dealing with breath, shakti, etc. Vedanta

shows the way only to experience the goal by a proper intellectual enquiry,

keeping a straight aim on the target, namely the Real 'I' which is what

subsists after the discarding of the little 'I'. The nADis that, according

to the Upanishads, starts from the heart, are related to the process of life

as well as end of life, for the entire humanity. Among them the most

important one is the one that goes to the head. Nowhere in the Upanishads or

Brahma-sUtra is it called the sushhumnA. They only say *mUrdha-nADi*, that

is the nAdi which is in the head or which ends in the head. In the Gita

also (VIII - 12) *mUrdhny-AdAyAtmanaH prANaM* where the reference is to the

leaving of the body by bringing the PrANa to the head, both in the text and

in the bhAshya, there is no mention of sushhumnA. As the Acharya was going

on writing the BhAshyas for Upanishad after Upanishad, only in the early

bhAshyas, namely, Kathopanishad, Prashnopanishad,and Taittiriyopanishad,

has he mentioned sushhumnA. Also in Taittiriya, he has referred to the heart

(hRdayaM) as even the physical heart all of us know. Let me explain why.

 

When the person who treads the path of jnAna, at the apex of his sAdhanA,

resorts to bhakti for the extinction of his ego, the mind and intellect come

into the semi-physical heart, the seat of the ego; the heart is filled up by

love in its subtle form and the ego thins out and then goes and shrinks into

the central gate -- all this process takes place (involuntarily) without

his knowledge! The Atman is attributeless, so the mind has no hold on it or

has only a vague hold. So as the Guru has told him he holds on to what

appears as the root or source of breath and thought and he concentrates at

that 'point'. That is all. The Guru might have told him and he would have

learnt that it is the center of the heart. Still in actuality, his cittam

(antaHkaraNaM) will not be drawn into it permanently in its entirety then

and there. To a certain extent he has located something like that and his

cittam stations itself there for the moment. All the vAsanAs have to be

exhausted, ego has to be totally extinguished; only thereafter, it stands

there for good. Here 'stands' has two connotations: one is, 'stops, halts';

the other is 'endures, abides, belongs'. So here what happens is, the

process begins with the first meaning and ends with the second. The whole

process which thus takes place in relation to the heart and the nADis is

not in his knowledge. His attention is not there. His only attention, and

all his thought, is - and should be -- in the Atma-sphuraNaM (Sparking of

the Atman) at the seat or locale that he has caught hold of almost as a

bhAvanA (attitude). His concentration is all on the goal of Realisation. If

he thinks of anything as a 'path' now, it will be a distraction. Attention

to the path will stray you from the goal; and then the path will also

disappear! And you will be left back with the straying mind; back to square

one!

 

Suppose somebody tells us that Ambal (Mother Goddess) has manifested

somewhere in your vicinity. What would we do immediately? Mentally we get a

kind of locale for Her and we rush on the road to find it in reality. And as

we rush, do we pay attention to the track that we pass through - whether it

is a country road or a macadamised road and so forth?

 

Therefore, if we accost an enlightened jnAni and ask him about the heart,

the nADis and the Gate that Vedanta talks about, he may not tell us

anything! He does not know about what is happening to himself; wherefrom

would he know about the other persons, devotee or layman? How do you expect

somebody who does not know how he came here to know what kind of shops or

buildings were there on his way?

 

But then how did the enlightened Rishis mention these things in the

Upanishads? After they got their enlightenment, after again they got the

siddhi that never slips at all,

 

[Note by VK: I do not understand the two 'events' here

mentioned by 'after' appearing twice!

Some one who can understand Tamil

should go to the original and help me.]

 

the paramAtmA Himself, in token of His appreciation, makes the mysteries of

His creation and other secrets known to them and also tells them about all

the processes related to upAsakas as well as laymen. Revelling in the

sweetness of those leelAs and miracles, they have made it known to others

also.

 

But after all the information reached others, they have also done some

blurring. Doesn't the touch of mAyA come everywhere? That might be the

reason! If we go to some jnAni to resolve the perplexity, he is not

knowledgeable! Or perhaps, he knows only to that little extent that the

Almighty has opened out for him! Probably he (the jnAni) does not himself

want to know anything more! Nor does the seeker , who just received the

information just because the jnAni condescended to tell him something,

develop any further interest in it, to seek more knowledge! In this state of

affairs, the vague knowledge itself becomes and remains the complete

knowledge!

 

It is in that manner, when everybody was thinking that the mUrdha nADi that

goes to the head was itself the sushhumnA of the yoga-shAstra, it was at

that time that our Acharya manifested on Earth! ...

 

 

 

(To be Continued)

PraNAms to all students of advaita.

PraNAms to the Maha-Swamigal.

profvk

 

Latest on my website is an article on Kanchi Mahaswamigal. Go to

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l

[Guest guest]

Dear Prof VK:

 

Enjoying these postings very much, given the time, even at first

reading. Thank you for all that you are offering. It is precious.

 

Harsha

 

V. Krishnamurthy wrote:

>

> Namaste.

>

> For a Table of Contents of these Discourses, see

> advaitin/message/27766

> <advaitin/message/27766>

> For the previous post, see

> advaitin/message/33050

> <advaitin/message/33050>

>

> SECTION 48: THE NAADI THAT GOES TO THE HEAD:

> MISTAKEN NOTION

> Tamil Original : http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/dk6-122.htm

> <http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/dk6-122.htm>

>

> Another matter. This is about the nADi that goes to the head. Just as

> there

> is an incorrect opinion about uttarAyaNa-death so is the case with this.

> Even those scholars who do know rightly about the UttarAyaNa death that it

> only means passage through the various seats of the devatAs associated

> with

> UttarAyaNa, even elder knowledgeable people, who have written commentaries

> and glosses on the Bhashyas of Acharya in order to explain them better, --

> even they, do not hold the right opinion about the nADi that goes to the

> head. They all think that it is the sushhumnA nADi spoken of in the

> yoga-shAstra.

>

> But this is not that sushhumnA.

>

> That sushhumnA of Yoga-shAstra starts from the mUlAdhAra at the base

> of the

> spine and goes straight up to the head. The nADi that we saw and which is

> spoken of in the Upanishads and Brahma-sUtra, starts from the heart. The

> process of the ascent of prANa-shakti on the sushhumnA that starts

> from the

> mUlAdhAra, is a matter that pertains to the yogis who perform sAdhanA for

> that purpose. They hold on to the *lokAdhAra-shakti* and through that

> become one with shivaM in the head. That is a particular yoga matter. Our

> Vedanta which is based on Upanishads does not touch upon those things.

>