Jnana Vahini - Post 21

Panchadasi says, 

"Thath chinthanam,

thath kathanam,

anyonyam thath prabodhanam,

ethath eka param thwam cha,

Jnanabhyaasam vidur budhaah".

"Thoughts dedicated to Him alone,

speech devoted to Him alone,

conversation centered on Him alone,

this one-pointed existence is referred to by the wise as the Discipline of Jnana".

This is the lesson taught in the Gita by Krishna. 

"Math chiththaa

mathgatha praanaa

bodhayanthah parasparam,

kathayanthi cha maam nithyam

thushyanthi cha ramanthi cha".

"They fix the mind on Me,

they survive only because they breathe me,

they inform each other about Me,

they talk only of Me,

they are happy and content with these only".

This ceaseless thought of the Lord is also referred to as Brahma chinthana or Jnaana abhyaasa or Atma abhyaasa.

The mind pursues exterior objects only either because of the pull of the senses or because of the delusion caused by superimposing on the external world the characteristics of permanence etc. So it has to be again and again brought back to travel to the correct goal.

The recalcitrant mind can be slowly turned towards Brahma dhyana if at first it is shown the sweetness of Bhajan, the efficacy of prayer and the calming effects of meditation. It must also be led on by the cultivation of good habits, good company and good deeds. 

Dhyanam will, as it proceeds further and further, give rise to greater and greater keenness. Thus the mind has to be caged in the cave of the heart.  

The final result of this discipline is no less than Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the Equanimity that is undisturbed.

This Samadhi is really speaking Brahmajnana itself, the Jnana that grants release or Moksha. The discipline for this consists of three exercises:

·       the giving up of craving,

·       the elimination of mind and

·       the understanding of the Reality. 

The instincts and impulses or Vasanas are too strong to yield easily; they make the senses active and greedy and bind the person tighter and tighter. 

Attention has therefore to be paid to the sublimation and subjugation of the senses and the promptings behind them, to the development of self-abnegation, the relentless pursuit of reason and discrimination in order that the mind may not get mastery over man. When the mind is won, the dawn of Jnana is heralded.

The Jnani or the liberated person will be unaffected by joy or sorrow, for how can any event produce reactions in him who has wiped out his mind? It is the mind that makes you 'feel'; 

When one has taken a drug that deadens the consciousness, he feels no pain or joy, for the body is then separated from the mind. So too, wisdom, when it dawns, separates the mind and keeps it aloof from all contact.

Love.

Jnana Vahini - Post 20

The springs of egoism etc., arise from ignorance of the Basic Truth. When knowledge of the Atma dawns, ignorance with its brood of worry and misery will vanish. 

The mark of the Jnani is the absence of egoism, the extinction of desire, the feeling of equal Love for all without any distinction. These are the fundamentals of Atmajnana.

When a person develops into a full Jnani, he becomes THAT and THAT is merged in him and both become indistinguishable. 

Then he realizes that he is the inscrutable, the indefinable Brahman, not limited by the illusory super-imposition of name and form.

The Pure Essence can be known by the Sadhana of Bhakthi. The goal of Bhakthi is indeed Jnana. When an author writes a play, the entire play will already be in his mind, before he sets pen on paper, act after act, scene after scene. 

If he has no picture of the entire drama in his mind, he will never entertain the idea of writing it at all. But take the case of the audience. 

They can grasp the story only after the drama is fully over; it unfolds itself scene by scene. Once they have understood the theme, they too can confidently describe to others the purport of the play. 

Similarly, for the Lord, this Drama of Time with its three Acts, the Past, the Present and the Future, is as clear as crystal. In the twinkling of an eye, He grasps all the three. For He is Omniscient; it is His Plan that is being worked out, His Drama that is being enacted on the stage of Creation. 

However, both the actors and the spectators are lost in confusion, unable to surmise its meaning and its development. For how can one scene or one act reveal its meaning? The entire play must be gone through for the story to reveal itself.

Without a clear understanding of the play in which they are acting their roles, people cling to the error that they are Jivis and waste away their lives, buffeted by the waves of joy and sorrow.

When the mystery is cleared, and the play is discovered as mere play, the conviction dawns that you are He and He is you. Therefore, try to know the Truth behind Life, search for the Fundamental, bravely pursue the underlying Reality. Seekers of Jnana must always be conscious of this.

Love.

Jnana Vahini - Post 19

Ignorance will never vanish until this discrimination dawns. "This world is but God and nothing else. Everything, every being is but His Manifestation, bearing within a new name and a new form" - Love this Truth, believe in it, and then you have the right to speak of Seva, Bhakthi and Dharma and the authority to preach on those paths. 

Vairagya or Non-attachment depends upon Jnana as well as Bhakthi. Deprive Vairagya of that basis and you will find it crumbling fast. Why, this is the prime cause for the want of spiritual progress at present. All these three have to be emphasized in Sadhana; they are not to be separated and striven for individually.

Bhakthi includes Jnana; if Vairagya (Detachment) is isolated from Bhakthi and Jnana, Jnana is isolated from Bhakthi and Vairagya; and Bhakthi is isolated from Vairagya and Jnana; each is ineffective. 

The best that each isolated path is capable of is to give some training in purity. Never therefore develop conceit and declare that you are Bhakthas or Jnanis or Vairagis (Recluses). 

Sadhakas must dip in the Triveni of Bhakthi-Jnana-Vairagya. There is no other way to salvation.

Before anything, be pure and holy. Of aspirants and Sadhakas, there are plenty; but of those who are pure in heart, the number is few. 

For example, observe this one fact: there are many who religiously read the Gita over and over again; there are many who expatiate on its meaning for hours and hours, but persons who practice the essence of the Gita are rare. 

They are now like gramophone records, reproducing someone else's song, incapable of singing themselves, ignorant of the joy of song. They are not Sadhakas at all. Their Sadhana does not deserve that name.

Life must be seen as the manifestation of the three Gunas, as a play of temperaments pulling the strings of dolls. This awareness must saturate every thought, word and deed. That is the Jnana you need. All else is Ajnana.

The Jnani will have no trace of hatred in him, he will love all beings; he will not be contaminated by the ego, he will act as he speaks. 

The Ajnani will identify himself with the gross body, senses and mind, things which are but tools and instruments. The eternal pure Atma is behind the mind, and so this mistake of the Ajnani plunges him into trouble, loss and misery.

All the names and forms that fill this universe and constitute its nature are but creations of the Mind. Therefore, the mind has to be controlled and its wayward fancies calmed in order to perceive the Truth. 

The ever-moving waves of the lake have to be stilled so that you can see the bottom clearly. So too, the waves of ignorance that ruffle the mind have to be stilled.

Love.