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

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Namaste.

 

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