A Humble Suggestion to seekers looking for practical path.

[Guest guest]

Namaste all.

 

In Post #41296 Dildar Marhas raises the question of `how to practice

properly'. Sada-ji in his post #41300 rightly advises Marhas not to

worry about –isms like buddhism or advaita but only `see the Divine

Presence in you and in everything'. `Recognize His presence and

invoke his blessing - that is meditation. That quietens your mind and

makes you contemplative - to inquire who is that I, the very essence

in me, because of which I am conscious of everything in me and

everything outside me -that existence-consciousness that you are -

shift your attention to that – do not conceptualize what that I is -

shift your attention to that because of which you are even able to

conceptualize', says Sada-ji.

 

May I add a supplement to the above and perhaps all seekers could

benefit from this?

 

Not that I have any special path. What I can claim is only the

result of continued observation, for as long as 25 years ( my age 5

to age 29) of my father (1882 – 1956) in his daily life, which I came

to recognize around my age of 25, as that of a brahma-jnAni (one who

knows brahman), a sthita-prajna (one whose wisdom is anchored to the

Self), an ekAnta-bhakta (an one-pointed devotee) , a guNAtIta (one

who has transcended the three guNas) (these terms began to make some

sense to me by that time – mostly by having listened to my own

father's expositions).

 

Based on this long observation and based on my own recent (past ten

years) experiments and struggles to live up to what I understood from

the advaita-sAdhanA series I myself happened, on this list, to

translate, from the Kanchi Maha-swamigal's work, I write the

following to Shri Dildar Marhas and all our seeker-friends.

 

Arjuna asks the question `How does a sthita-prajna' behave? (II –

54). Krishna answers with shlokas 55 to 72 of the 2nd chapter. I

draw attention to just one (of those shlokas), which turns out to be,

in my opinion, the direct answer to that question and which will

answer Dildar Marhas also and which will also substantiate and

supplement Sada-ji's answer to him.

 

The shloka is II – 64. I give it below with translation and a long

explanation. Please pardon me for the consequent length of this post.

 

rAga-dveshha-viyuktais-tu vishhayAn indriyaish-caran /

Atma-vashyair-vidheyAtmA prasAdam-adhi-gacchati //

Meaning:

vidheyAtmA : a self-controlled one

vishayAn caran : dwelling among sense-objects

Atma-vashyaiH indriyaiH : by the senses that have been controlled by

the self,

rAga-dveshha-viyuktaiH : and that are devoid of attachment (or

attraction) and hate (or repulsion),

adhi-gacchati : obtains

prasAdaM : the (Ultimate) Grace, that is, Eternal Tranquillity.

 

Arjuna questioned about what distinguishes the sthita-prajna from an

ordinary person. From Krishna's answers it becomes clear there are no

external distinguishing marks but what separates such a person from

the run-of-the-mill seeker is the attitude which he brings to bear on

everything in his life. And this shloka says, he actually moves and

roams about (sanskrit: *caran*) the same sense-objects (*vishhayAn*)

that confront the ordinary man, but his attitude is different.

 

It is the absence of *rAga* and *dveshha* that makes the

distinction. `rAga' is attachment; but it actually starts

from `attraction'. And similarly `dveshha' which is `hate' starts

from `repulsion'. Attraction is expressed by `I like' and Repulsion

is exhibited by the words `I dislike'. This liking and disliking are

the two basic (spiritual) evils in our human behaviour. Of course one

may say that `Ego' is a more fundamental evil. But Ego is something

that never surfaces to the knowledge of one who has the Ego. I never

recognise that I have Ego. Even when another tells me `You are now

exhibiting your Ego', I either rationalise it or try to defend it.

To recognise one's own ego in any specified situation is almost an

impossible task. Even in private self-analysis, one tends to brush

aside the presence of Ego in oneself. On the other hand `rAga'

and `dveshha' are the next in line to Ego and they certainly are very

recognisable by one's own self-analysis.

 

So here is the recipe that my father has left with me and which I

could see he was constantly using it himself in his daily

interactions with the rest of the world around him – family, office,

friends, private or public. What is the recipe?

 

When you say `I like something' or when you say `I do not like

something' you are paving the way for `rAga' and `dveshha'.

 

Once you have `disliked' something, practise, try to practise, not

to `dislike' it, next time when it presents itself: It may be food,

person, object, situation, context, book, news, climate, opinion,

…. , anything. In the course of several years perhaps one has to

come to a stage when what you still `dislike' can be counted on the

fingers.

 

Still greater is the challenge of `liking' that arises from

attraction. Once you are attracted to something, whether it be food

or person, friend or relative, situation or context, climate or

opinion, next time when you confront the same thing, try to avoid

the `liking' part (but respect your obligations: having `liked' to

obey the law, next time you cannot say `I don't any more like to obey

the law'!).

 

This my father told me is what ultimately may lead you to an

equanimity which is basic to a brahma-jnAni, sthita-prajna or a

guNAtIta. And then shloka II-64 says: `prasAdaM', tranquillity, is

assured!

 

But now you may say: All this is a tall order. But this is where

Krishna himself in a few shlokas earlier, has given us the recipe and

this is the recipe which Sada-ji has emphasized in his own language.

*yukta AsIta mat-paraH* says the Lord in II-61. And here it is

the `mat-paraH' that is the key word. Mark it. Nowhere before this

shloka (in the Gita) the Lord has acknowledged Himself to be the

Lord. Here He says `mat-paraH'. `Count Me as your only resort' is

what `mat-paraH' implies.

 

Unless one resorts to that Divinity within ourselves, and seeks His

Help, one cannot discard one's rAga and dveshha. Invoking His divine

presence in everything that we see and hear is the one sure way of

reducing our `likes' and `dislikes' and approximating to obtain

His `prasAdaM'. So shloka 64, along with *yukta AsIta mat-paraH* is

the grand recipe for practice!

 

 

PraNAms to my father and to Kanchi Maha-swamigal.

PraNAms to all advaitins.

profvk