Dhyana Vahini - Post 33

Chapter XII

 

Swami writes,

Mere reading without practice is impure

"The number of scriptures are countless. Time is too short to study all of them, and the obstacles in the path of understanding them are also too many. Of what use is it to pore over silly books or jaw-breaking scriptures or to learn about modes of devotion that are not put into action? It is all wasteful effort. Spending all the time in study, apart from practice, also deserves to be condemned as an impure impulse (malina vasana).

Listen! Bharadwaja studied the Vedas for three successive lives. When born a fourth time, he started reading again! So, Indra came to him and taught him the supreme knowledge of Brahman (Brahma-vidya) and confided to him the secret of liberation. Then Bharadwaja put an end to his reading and study and entered upon hard, concentrated meditation. He realized the Atma.

Study is a purposeless exercise if the essence is not imbibed and practised. The greed to read about all kinds of subjects and topics is itself not a very healthy impulse.

Once upon a time, Durvasa, the saint, reached the presence of Siva with a cart load of religious books. Narada then compared him to the proverbial donkey, for too much attachment to books is itself an undesirable habit:

Though one carries the burden of a multitude of books concerning all branches of knowledge, and though one might have read all of them, the teaching contained in them cannot be grasped at all without actual practical experience. Mere pride in learning is itself an impure impulse, the impulse of greed.

When Durvasa heard such words of advice, he was enlightened; he immediately threw all the bundles into the sea and plunged into deep meditation. See how the sages feel that meditation is all-important for attaining full knowledge!

It is impossible to know the truth of the Atma through the study of manifold scriptures (sastras), by the acquisition of scholarship, by the sharpening of the intellect, or by the pursuit of dialectical discussions. It cannot be realized by these means.

Svethakethu, the son of Uddalaka, was a great pundit. One day, the father asked the son, “Swethakethu, have you understood that scripture whose understanding allowed all scriptures to be understood?” The son replied that he didn’t know of such a scripture and had not learned it. Then Uddalaka taught him the unequalled scripture of knowledge of Brahman (Brahma-vidya), which grants one the knowledge of the truth of the Atma."

 

Introspection

The above subject written by Swami has to be very carefully understood. 

Swami does not mean that one should discard reading of scriptures. 

Let us read this para written by Swami

“Bharadwaja studied the Vedas for three successive lives. When born a fourth time, he started reading again! So, Indra came to him and taught him the supreme knowledge of Brahman (Brahma-vidya) and confided to him the secret of liberation.”

Herein lies the subtle revelation of Swami. Mere reading of scriptures of Bhradwaja for 3 consecutive lives could not yield the desired results.

What happened differently in his 4th life?? Indra came to him and taught him brahma vidya. This entry of Indra into the life of Bhradwaja signifies the relevance of a Realized Guru who must be sought for learning Brahma vidya.

A realized master, who has undergone the spiritual journey himself under his own guru, is exactly aware of all the difficulties which his disciple would face in the spiritual journey, as he himself would have faced all those difficulties and with the grace of his own guru, He himself has faced all the challenges and won over all these challenges to discover SELF within. 

Each word, each action, each inaction, each silence of such a guru is a lesson for a sincere spiritual aspirant. 

Mere accumulating knowledge without the guidance of such a Guru will / may result only in adding more vasanas, call it shastra vasanas or impure impulse, as Swami has mentioned.

Love.