Thursday, June 17, 2021
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.
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