Kanchi Mahaswamigal's Discourses on Advaita Saadhanaa - (KDAS-77)

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For a Table of Contents of these Discourses, see

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For the previous post, see

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SECTION 64: MANANA THAT TRANSCENDS INTELLECT;

NIDHIDHYAASANA THAT TRANSCENDS MENTAL FEELING

Tamil Original: http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/dk6-137.htm

 

There are three authorities -- shruti (the Vedas), yukti

(reasoning), anubhava (experience) – for knowing the Truth.

Of these it is said that shruti corresponds to shravaNaM,

yukti corresponds to mananaM and anubhava corresponds to

nidhidhyAsanaM. The mantras of shruti and all the matters

pertaining to Brahma-vidyA are heard by the disciple

through his ears (shrotra) from the guru. It is quite

fitting therefore to associate shravaNaM with shruti.

 

The concept of ‘yukti’ is a little more tough to be

understood correctly. This ‘yukti’ (reasoning) is not the

rational thinking by which in the ordinary world we use our

intellect to arrive at conclusions. Nor has this word

‘anubhava’ (experience) the common connotation of

experience that happens to us merely at the level of the

mind in several alternating ways! What is being said here

is a ‘yukti’ (reasoning) that will be done, at the

highest sophisticated level, by the mind and intellect –

which have been flooded by shraddhA and bhakti, calmed,

rested and purified, after all that sAdhanA -- when they

are converging to the very base of the ego for the purpose

of destroying that ego. Similarly, the ‘anubhava’ is what

such refined and tempered mind and intellect have known by

this ‘yukti’, as now experienced at the deepest layer of

the mind right from the very base of the ego. I dare not

lecture about them now. If it truly happens to a fortunate

one amongst us, he will know it by himself.

 

[Note by VK: Usually I don’t add any word whose equivalent

either in language or in sense does not exist in the Tamil

original.

In the above paragraph I have made one exception.

The word ‘sophisticated’ is mine. I am not very clear why

I want it there. But

after having typed it almost without thinking, I feel that

without it, I am not

getting the Mahaswamigal’s mind!

Scholars should decide whether it should be there or not.]

 

That neutral state of peace and quiet is said to be

sAtvikaM. On the other hand, if we are vacillating by the

force of emotion as we usually are, that is called rAjasam.

The reasoning of our intellect at such a time is therefore

rAjasic, and so, wrong. But the third stage sAdhaka whom

we are discussing now, has destroyed his rajasic intellect

and made it satvik. The reasoning that it carries out will

be totally different. It will not be the reasoning that we

do by objecting to the Truth and the Shastras,

circumscribing ourselves by a small boundary called

rationality. Instead it will be concordant with the

ShAstraic Truth and be the reasoning of a wisdom that is

superior to ‘rationality’. About this the Acharya has said:

 

 

Mokshaika-saktyA vishhayeshhu rAgaM

nirmUlya sannyasya ca sarva-karma /

sashraddhayA yaH shravaNAdi-nishhTo

rajaH svabhAvaM sa dhunoti buddheH // (Viveka Chudamani

182/184)

 

The only involvement should be for Release (from samsAra).

All attachment to sense objects should have been uprooted.

And accordingly leaving off all karmas, becoming a

sannyAsi, whoever with shraddhA is established in shravana,

manana and nidhidhyAsana, he it is that discards all rajas

nature of the intellect.

 

Note that the sAdhanA regimen of mumukshutvaM, sannyAsaM

and shravaNa etc. have all been mentioned. And in that

state, the reasoning itself will be unique.

 

So also in that stage, the ‘anubhava’ or experience will

also be unrelated to the senses but related to the

antarAtmA.

 

[Laughing, the Mahaswamigal says] I am telling you in the

manner of a professor. That kind of reasoning will be

‘super-rational’ and the experience ‘mystic’!

 

MananaM, the process of mental repetitions of the upadesha,

is for the purpose of the mind to stay put instead of

giving any scope for digression or distraction. It is this

mananaM that is called ‘AvRtti’ in Brahma-sUtra. “The Vedas

have repeatedly prescribed repeated memorisation”: --

*asakRd upadeshAt* (IV – 1.1.) How long should one do this

memorisation? The Acharya replies with a sense of humour:

If you are told to husk paddy, you should not be asking

‘how long should I husk it?’. You have to husk until you

see the rice coming out. So also until the Atman comes out

of the cloud of avidyA, you have to be in that same

thought, same repetition, same dhyAnaM.

 

 

 

(To be Continued)

PraNAms to all students of advaita.

PraNAms to the Maha-Swamigal.

profvk

 

 

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

 

Latest addition to my website is the 4-page article on Krishnavatara, the Miraculous. Go to

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