Sandeha Nivarini - Post 38

SILENCE

Devotee: But Swami, You mentioned only soft prayer, meditation, worship, and breath control. Some advanced persons adopt the vow of silence (mouna). Of what use is it? What exactly is silence?

Swami: The illumination of the soul is silence! How can there be silence without the Atma being illuminated? Without that, merely keeping the mouth shut is not silence. Some adopt the vow of silence, but they communicate by writing on paper or a slate or they point successively to the letters of the alphabet on a chart! All this is pseudo-silence! It is only another way of talking without interruption! There is no need to attain silence. Silence is ever with you. You have only to remove all things that disturb it!

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Author's note

In the spiritual sessions given by the author to few sadhakas, Silence is taught as three fold.

Silence of Body

Silence of  Mouth (speech)

Silence of Mind

Silencing of speech is the first stage in the sadhana about which all of us are aware.

Silencing of Body means, reducing / eliminating the needs of Body - excessive food / different tastes of food / excessive sleep / laziness / physical urge of body etc.

Silencing of mind is the most important and the last silence which has to be achieved which is important / indispensable for a sadhaka to achieve spiritual transformation. This is the silence Swami has mentioned in the above reply. 

Silencing of Mind is elimination of thoughts based on likes and dislikes, based on past impressions, based on fear and at the subtlest sense, elimination of the basic thought that I am this body, mind and intellect!!! This is by far the most toughest thing to be achieved in spiritual sadhana.  Without this, the other 2 silence are of no / little use. 

SAMADHI

Devotee: But there are some who attain samadhi. Will they have all this enquiry, etc. in samadhi?

Swami: Wonderful fellow! How can there be inquiry in samadhi? When you sleep soundly, do you have any thoughts about the world around you? Samadhi is like that. 

Devotee: There will be no mind in samadhi, will there?

Swami: The mind that persists in sleep will be there also.

Devotee: They talk of a “beyond stage (thuriya)” in samadhi. What is that, Swami?

Swami: Beyond the waking, dreaming, and deep-sleep stages.

Devotee: Why are those stages absent there? What are the characteristics of that stage?

Swami: Those three stages are the characteristics of I-ness. Ego (ahamkara), the person with mind (manas), who does all acts. That will not be present in the “beyond” stage. It would have disappeared long ago. For them, it is all the same, with eyes open or with eyes closed. It is all One.

Devotee: Swami, without that “I (aham)”, how can they talk?

Swami: What was “I” in the beginning is transformed into the true entity (swarupa) when the reality is grasped.

Devotee: So, this undifferentiated deep communion (nir-vikalpa-samadhi) is all destruction (naasam)?

Swami: Well, my boy, all samadhis are merging (laya), not destruction. The spiritual-aspirant stage is when you have both construction and destruction.

Author's  note

Samadhi is the stage in spiritual sadhana when the "I" identity as ahamkara is transcended and the sadhaka exists as Aham / SELF.

All paths - Bhakti / Jnana - are aimed in only one thing at the end - The removal of Ego / Ahamkara.

In Bhakti - The Ahamkara / Ego gets smaller, smaller and smaller, melting in the Bhakti, like the candle melts and losses itself in the process.

In Jnana, the SELF Awareness , The AHAM, is expanded and expanded and expanded to the extent where, the Ahamkara, the little ego, is dissolved totally. 

The ultimate result is the Same. 

In the early stages of Author imparting spiritual sessions to few aspirants, one bright aspirant came up with a question on the meaning of a line in Nirvana Shatakam. 

"Aham Bhojanam Naiva Bhojyam Na Bhokta"

(I am neither the object of experience, nor the experiencing, nor the experiencer).

or

(I am neither the object of meditation, nor the process of meditation nor the one who is meditator).

The sadhaka asked, 

"Guruji, does it mean that all these three, the mediator, meditating experience, the meditated object / the ultimate goal - are destroyed / are removed in the process of sadhana??

The Guru replied (exactly the author reads the same reply in essence in Swami's answer to the devotee's question in the above para, after 7 years of giving the reply to the sadhaka):

"No, nothing is destroyed, nothing is removed, destroying word would make the process a negative one. When the ultimate goal of SELF REALIZATION is reached in meditation, then all the three - the meditated, the meditating, the meditator or the process of experience, the object of experience, the one who is experiencing, that is you the sadhaka - all these three culminate and merge in the ultimate stage in which you would be upon SELF REALIZATION, exactly like the stream of river goes and merges in the expansive ocean, never to return as river again".

Love.

Rajneesh

Sandeha Nivarini - Post 37

Dear All,

Though Swami has covered many aspects in the previous chapter which were covered from posts 32 to 35, we will try and take in a few selected teachings from this chapter in the next couple of posts.

1) MUKHTI

Devotee: But they say, “attained liberation (mukthi)”, etc. What is that?

Swami: Understanding the root of death and birth, one must destroy completely the awareness of the separate “I”; that condition is “liberation (mukthi)”.

Devotee: So, when I die, I and You are One, right?

Swami: Who said “No”? That feeling of One when you are firmly established in it, there is nothing separate at all.

2) CHIDABHASA AND CHIDAKASHA

Devotee: But what exactly is this chidabhasa?

Swami: Chidabhasa means the “I” awareness conditioned by the consciousness (chit) that One became three, the three became five, the five became many. 

-The “I” awareness (purity, sathwa) became three on account of contact with passion (rajas) and ignorance (thamas); 

-In these three, the five elements (bhuthas) arose; and through those five, the manifold happened. This is what causes the illusion that the “I” is the body. 

Devotee: What is chidakasa? 

Swami: That is the Atma.

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Author's note

In the language of vedantha, Chidakasha is known as pure consciousness and Chidabhasa is known as reflected consciousness.

Let us take the example of illumination by sun.

The Sun stands as the source of light / illumination.

However, when the sun rays falls on a pot containing muddy water, the sunlight, upon reaching the muddy water, stands scattered / diverted into many / few rays of sun light, with lesser intensity, when we look upon the pot containing water.

Another example - The sun rays are intense when they fall on earth. However, when the sun rays fall on a mirror, then from the mirror, the rays gets scattered / diverted to few / many rays with lesser intensity.

Similarly, Chidakasha is to be understood as pure awareness / pure consciousness / Brahman which have been explained in detail in various posts under the theme "Creation of Universe" / "Vedas and Vedantha" .

Chidabhasa is the abhasa or conditioned consciousness when the pure awareness / consciousness reaches our mirror intellect and from there, the same gets conditioned and goes to illumine our mind and in this process, the chances are that the consciousness, just as the sun rays got disturbed due to the muddy water in the pot, may get mixed up with our own limited mind with its limited vasanas / limited likes and dislikes!!!!

We will see the next couple of main learning from the previous chapter, in the next post.

Love.

Paramhansa Yogananda

Sandeha Nivarini - Post 36

Devotee: This means that all spiritual exercises are included in the path of inquiry (vichara-marga)?

Swami: Yes. The teaching of Vedanta is about “Who am I?” Only those equipped with the four instruments are competent to make this inquiry. The purpose of the four is to realise that the Atma is real and that all else is unreal and to discriminate between Atma and all else. 

Devotee: How is that to be realised, Swami?

Swami: By inquiring into the nature of the Atma! First they do all varieties of spiritual exercises and nally enter upon this. While a child, they teach you A, B, C, right? Even M.A. and B.A. curricula consist of the A, B, C, D and their permutations and combinations! But to realise this fact, one has to complete one’s studies! The spiritual texts (sastras) are based on akshara; meaning both letter and the Imperishable. All paths are based on the path of inquiry (vichara-marga).

Devotee: But there are some who attain samadhi. Will they have all this enquiry, etc. in samadhi?

Swami: Wonderful fellow! How can there be inquiry in samadhi? When you sleep soundly, do you have any

thoughts about the world around you? Samadhi is like that. 

Devotee: There will be no mind in samadhi, will there?

Swami: The mind that persists in sleep will be there also.

Devotee: They talk of a “beyond stage (thuriya)” in samadhi. What is that, Swami?

Swami: Beyond the waking, dreaming, and deep-sleep stages.

Devotee: Why are those stages absent there? What are the characteristics of that stage?

Swami: Those three stages are the characteristics of I-ness. Ego (ahamkara), the person with mind (manas), who does all acts. That will not be present in the “beyond” stage. It would have disappeared long ago. For them, it is all the same, with eyes open or with eyes closed. It is all One.

Devotee: Swami, without that “I (aham)”, how can they talk?

Swami: What was “I” in the beginning is transformed into the true entity (swarupa) when the reality is grasped; this is referred to as the destruction of the mind (mano-nasanam).

Devotee: So, this undifferentiated deep communion (nir-vikalpa-samadhi) is all destruction (naasam)?

Swami: Well, my boy, all samadhis are merging (laya), not destruction. The spiritual-aspirant stage is when you have both construction and destruction.

Devotee: This subject is very interesting, Swami.

Swami: Don’t sit quietly, merely appreciating it. Practise it in daily life. All right, you can take leave.

Devotee: Very good Swami. Please bless me in that practice. I shall be back soon. 

Swami Sivananda

Sri Ramana Maharshi

Sandeha Nivarini - Post 35

Devotee: Even if one has no spiritual wisdom (jnana), can one attain liberation (mukthi) by mere renunciation (vairagya)?

Swami: What a foolish question! How can the fruit be sweet without ripening? Renunciation cannot arise except from spiritual wisdom. There is no liberation (moksha) without renunciation. Be sure of that!

Devotee: Then where does devotion (bhakthi) come in?

Swami: We have come to the very beginning again! Before 

spiritual wisdom (jnana) comes devotion. Before devotion, affection. But all these are one. Affection is the flower, devotion the fruit, which ripens into wisdom; renunciation (vairagya) is the sweet juicy final stage. Without one, you cannot have the next. In order to tend the fruit until the juice and taste are developed, you must practise daily prayer, etc., as mentioned above. But, from the first, have in view the Oneness of all. Understand that there is no “other”.

Devotee: At least, to keep up appearances in the world one has sometime to say “this is mine.” What is one to do then?

Swami: Of course, you may have to say so. But simply

because you say so, what need is there for you to feel separateness between I and You? When you travel in a carriage, do you take the carriage as “I”? Look at the Sun. He gets reflected in a small pot lled with water, in a broad river, in a mirror, or on a polished pot. For this reason, does the Sun feel that all these things are “He”? Does He get sad when the pot breaks or the river gets dry? This is exactly like that. If you take “I” to be the body, then it is all bother! If you don’t take it so, you will shine like the Sun, independent of anything else. Besides, You will be immanent everywhere.

Devotee: That is as much as to say that each one must first discover for oneself who one is.

Swami: Exactly. Inquire into that first. Of course, for those who are not competent, this will be too hard. So, those experienced in this line say that such people should not be told these things. If you say, “You are Yourself Brahman, You have attained liberation (moksha), You are in that stage,” to those not competent, they won’t do any spiritual exercises. They will act without any rule or order, and they will pay no regard to right and wrong. This must be revealed only by a Guru or by the Lord’s command! Of course, those who have the thirst and determination to undergo the discipline can ask about it! But it must be practised; there is no use simply hearing it and repeating, “All is One.” That is meaningless.

Devotee: Swami, Sankara has already said,

If you really penetrate into its inner meaning, the world is like a city seen through a mirror.

viswam-darpana drsyamaananagaree thulyam hi anthargatham.

This vision —that the world (jagath) is unreal, that it is all illusion (maya)— is this for common people or for the

spiritually wise (jnanis) also?

Swami: The eye of the spiritually wise sees all things as Brahman! The ignorant person (a-jnani), the person without wisdom, cannot understand whatever is said! So, all spiritual texts (sastras) are intended to benefit the middlings.