A Perspective - 24

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Obstacles for Spiritual Knowledge – 3.

 

We are discussing the obstacles to our spiritual progress. Krishna says in Gita-

4th chapter – sloka 40 that there are three main obstacles for spiritual

progress: - 1. avidya (ignorance) 2. ashraddha (lack of faith) 3. samshaya

(doubts about the goal and the means). Shraddha or faith is most essential for

knowledge as Krishna says shraddhaavan labhate jnaanam. The major obstacle for

spiritual knowledge is therefore the lack of shraddhaa that Krishna points out

again and again. We discussed in the last post that mahaavaakyas are not

descriptive type but introductory type in the sense that as in any introduction,

it introduces all about who I am that is directly present all the time. Still

the knowledge does not take place immediately for many because of the lack of

faith in the pramANa or in the Vedanta mahaavaakyam that shows the identity of

the self and the universal self. This is discussed below taking the 10th man

example where the knowledge is

also direct and immediate, since the words are also of introductory type. That

is, the missing 10th is directly and immediately present, when the teacher says

– you are the 10th man – tat tvam asi.

 

Lack of Shraddhaa that I am the missing 10th man: In the 10th man story, the

seeker himself is the sought. As long as the seeker and the sought are one and

the same, any amount of seeking will be a failure since in the very seeking, one

has already resolved that the sought is not there where the seeker is. This very

conclusion that the 10th man is not here and is lost hinders the discovery of

the 10th man, since one is looking outward for the missing 10th man. 10th man is

neither inside the seeker nor outside the seeker – He is the very seeker

himself. Discovery of the 10th man is hindered because of the following reasons

1. One is mechanically receiving the message from a teacher. His mind is not

abiding in the knowledge given by the teaching that you are the 10th man that

you are seeking. In this case the seeker is busily absorbed in searching for the

10th man outside, thinking that he must be somewhere out-there. That very

conclusion will hinder the discovery of the 10th man. He has preconceived

notions about the missing 10th man, that he is not anywhere around here, but

somewhere out there outside the range of one’s vision, for if he is inside the

range of vision, he would have seen the 10th man. The seeker is not paying

attention to the teaching because his mind is preoccupied in looking for the

10th man outside as an entity different from himself. In addition, he is very

much engulfed in sorrow for not finding the 10th man, and concluding that he is

lost. Thus, he is busy objectifying the 10th man and trying to locate him

somewhere. His very desire to locate the

10th man out in front as recognizable entity separate from the nine that he is

seeing right now, prevents him to see himself as the 10th man.

 

Similarly in the case of the self-knowledge one is busily engaged in what Swami

Paramarthanandji calls it as PORT – Possessions, Obligations, Relations and

Transactions or busy with the five-fold anaatma - profession, family, body, mind

and intellect – the five anaatmas that one cannot but encounters during day to

day transactions. Hence Krishna says- asaktiH anabhiShvangaH putradaara

gRihaadiShu| - for the knowledge to take place the mind should be free from any

longing attachments towards the sense-objects, towards those on whom one

depends, and those who depend on the one. That is to get rid of all the

attachments that result in raaga and dweShas or likes and dislikes or those that

give pleasure and pain – shukam and duHkham – that is what Krishnas says –

dvandvaas - the experiential dualities. Krishna gives examples - hot and cold

(seetam and uShNam) at the body level, pleasure and pain (sukham and duHkham) at

mind level and praise and

insult (maanam and upamaanaama) at the intellect level. Because these distract

the mind, they contribute to the lack of shraddhaa or faith in the teaching of

mahaavaakya. At the BMI level they are difficult to avoid. At the same time one

should be vigilant not to get carried away by them. Hence scriptures says it is

a razor-edge path – kshurasya dhaaraa. Krishna says – aagamaa paayino

anityaaH, tan tithikshava bhaarata| - they come and go. Therefore they are

impermanent and have only temporal validity. One has to forbear them, and keep

the mind not to get carried away by those temporary inconveniences. No one can

avoid them, since praarabda brings in what is destined – that includes all

dvandvaas or all ups and downs. One has to develop an attitude of karma yoga

and prasaada bhuddi or acceptance without any reaction, which helps in

developing the samatvam or equanimity – samatvam yogam uchyate – says

Krishna. Looking for Brahman out there or

a statement I have Vedanta knowledge but now I want to experience Brahman

indicates that one has not understood the truth of Brahman. I am reminded of

JK’s statement – it is not the understanding as an understanding as a

thought but the understanding as an understanding as a fact. Until then

mahaavaakya is not understood. A similar statement is made by a student of Kena

Up.

 

In the missing 10th man story, the one, who has desire to know the 10th man, has

already negated in counting all the nine people as they are not the missing 10th

man. The teacher has already assured that the 10th man exists and hence the

search for the 10th man is not going to be futile. In counting the 9 people one

has already negated that they are not the 10th man. Thus no. 1 man means he is

not the dashamaH or the 10th man. No. 2 is not the 10th man. Thus by neti, neti

or not No. 1, not No.2, etc he has already negated all the men that are

countable, and there is still a hunger as well as anxiety to know the

whereabouts of the 10th man. In the very counting of the nine and in dismissing

that they are not the tenth, there is 10th man inherent in the counting, since

he is the counter present in all the counting of nine-men. That which is there

inherently in all the counting, yet different from the counted ones, is the very

counter that the counter

missed to count. The 10th man is inherently present in all the negation of the

first second .. ninth man as not the 10th. When the teacher says you are the

missing 10th man, the knowledge can be direct and immediate as in the

introductory statement, where counter encounters the missing man directly and

immediately, provided he pays attention to the teaching and stop looking for the

10th man elsewhere where he can never find him. I want to know the 10th man and

I am the only one left after excluding the nine persons as not the 10th . After

excluding the nine, there is no one else left out there to exclude from the list

as not the 10th. He has done his saadhana by rejecting, neti, neti, of all the

countable ones, namely1 to 9 persons as na dashamaH – as not the 10th person.

He is mentally distressed also indicative of samsaara. Fortunately or

unfortunately he happened to be the 10th man. When the teacher introduces the

10th man as you are the 10th man,

words are direct and definitely produce doubtless knowledge since all other

possibilities for being 10th are already eliminated. He does not have look for

the 10th man any more or meditate to experience the 10th man. Does he have to

do Nidhidhyaasana as I am the 10th man to discover the 10th man, since the

scriptures says so? He does not have to say now I know where the 10th man is

and I need to sit down and do meditation on the 10th man to recognize him. The

knowledge is immediate and direct when the teacher introduces the 10th man by

pointing to the person as you are the missing 10th person. In the discovery of

the 10th man one also recognizes that 10th man was never lost at any time in the

past when everybody thought that he was last. The problem for not finding 10th

man is only because that everybody objectifying the 10th man as something

different from the subject who is doing the counting. Hence the fundamental

problem in the lack of

recognition is the very objectification of the subject.

 

In the same way the Vedantic student after discarding everything else as neti

neti, what is left is only the existing-conscious entity, the self that he is

that he forgot to recognize. He does not have to wait to experience Brahman, nor

he has to gain some separate Brahman knowledge after gaining self-knowledge via

mahaavaakya that the self that you are is nothing but that Brahman.

(VishiShtaadvaita says one can gain self-knowledge but that is only an

intermediary step. Subsequently, and more importantly, one has to attain Brahman

by surrendering himself to the Lord. Better thing to do is to skip the

intermediary self-knowledge step (since nothing much is accomplished in this

step) and go directly to attain the abode of the Lord. For vishiShTaadvaitin

self is of atomic size different from all the pervading Vishnu). In advaita,

self is Brahman, and there are no two as self and Brahman. From advaita point,

no other corroborative experience is required

since the self is present directly and immediately and all the time is being

experienced. The mahaavaakya provides the pramANa vaakyam or statement of fact

introduces the self as the one is constantly present or existent in all things

because of which I am aware of the things in the waking, dream and deep sleep

state. PramANa alone by definition is a means of knowledge, and without it no

knowledge can take place. It is similar to the fact that eyes can alone see the

colors and forms as soon as one opens the eyes, and if they are functioning. The

knowledge gained by one pramANa in its field of operation cannot be negated by

another pramANa. For example eyes see the colors and forms and the knowledge of

colors and forms gained by the eyes can not be negated by ears since its field

of operation is different from that of eyes. Similarly for the knowledge of the

self which is of the nature of the existence-consciousness-limitless,

mahaavaakya alone is

pramANa. It is direct knowledge since it is of introductory in nature. Vedanta

vaakya pramANa is apurusheya pramANa, which is unquestionable. Other pramANas

can not either prove or disprove the Veda pramANa, since their field operation

is different. They are pramANa for anaatma and not for aatma. Science which

operates in the field of anaatma can never therefore prove or disprove the

existence of the self, the aatma since the filed of operation for the instrument

of knowledge is different.

 

Hence intense faith in the pramANa vaakyam namely tat tvam asi is essential for

knowledge to take place. For the knowledge gained to become firm or abiding in

spite of unavoidable transactions with the world of plurality where raaga and

dveshaas at transactional level are unavoidable even for a jnaani,

nidhidhyaasana on the knowledge gained is required, as prescribed by the

scriptures- nidhidhyaasitavyaH. Nidhidhyaasana is not going to give new

knowledge but helps to internalize the self-knowledge gained through shravana

and manana.

 

Hari Om!

Sadananda