Jnana Vahini - Post 9

Swami has mentioned 4 stages in the previous post as 4^th, 5^th, 6^th and the 7^th Stage. These are the stages out of the 7 stages in the path of Jnana, as described below.

1^st STAGE - SUBECCHA

A deep study of Atma Jnana Sastras and association with the wise and the performance of virtuous actions without any expectation of fruits. This Subeccha or good desire forms the first Bhumika or stage of Jnana. 

2^nd STAGE - VICHARANA

Vicharana - Constant Atma Vichara (Atmic enquiry) forms the second stage. 

3^rd STAGE - TANUMANASI

The third stage is Tanumanasi. This is attained through the cultivation of special indifference to objects. The mind becomes thin like a thread. Hence the name Tanumanasi. Tanu means thread-like state of mind.

The above three stages can be included under the Jagrat state. 

4^th STAGE – SATTVAPATTI - BRAHMAVID

As per Swami, the fourth stage is Sattvapatti. This stage will destroy all Vasanas to the root. This can be included under the Svapna state. The world appears like a dream. Those who have reached the fourth stage will look upon all things of the universe with an equal eye. 

5^th STAGE – ASAMASAKTI - Brahmavidvara

The fifth stage is Asamsakti. There is perfect non-attachment to the objects of the world. There is no Upadhi or waking or sleeping in this stage. This is the Jivanmukhti stage in which there is the experience of Ananda Svarupa (the Eternal Bliss of Brahman) replete with spotless Jnana. This will come under Sushupti. 

6^th STAGE - PADARTHA BHAVANA - Brahmavid-Vareeyaan

The sixth stage is knowledge of Truth. 

7^th STAGE – TURIYA - Brahmavid-varishta

The seventh stage is Turiya or the state of superconsciousness. This is Moksha. There are no Sankalpas. All the Gunas disappear. This is above the reach of mind and speech.

"Those three (4^th TO 6^th) have to acquire the destruction of the Manas, the Mind. This itself is of two grades: Swarupanaasa, the destruction of the agitations, and even their shapes and forms; and Arupanaasa, the destruction of the agitations only.

Readers might be troubled by a doubt while on this point. They might ask, who are these who have conquered and wiped out the Mind? Those who have neither attachment nor hatred nor pride nor jealousy nor greed. 

Those who are free from bondage of the senses, those really are the heroes who have won the battle against the mind. That is the test. Such heroic persons will be free from all agitations.

Swami continues, 

“He who has achieved Swarupanaasa would have eliminated the two Gunas, Thamas and Rajas, and he will shine with the splendour of pure Sathwa. Through the influence of the pure Guna, he will radiate Love and Beneficence and Mercy wherever he moves. (In the Brahmavid-varishta, the already 'liberated' individual, even this Sathwaguna will be absent). 

The Sathwa guna will have as its unmistakable concomitants: splendour, wisdom, bliss, peace, brotherliness, sense of sameness, self-confidence, holiness, purity and similar qualities. Only he who is saturated in Sathwa guna can witness the image of the Atma within. 

It is when the Sathwa is mixed with the Thamasic and Rajasic, that it is rendered impure and becomes the cause of Ignorance and Illusion. This is the reason for the bondage of man. The Rajasic quality produces the illusion of something non-existent being existent! It broadens and deepens the contact of the senses with the external world. 

It creates affection and attachment and so, by means of the dual pulls of happiness and sorrow (the one to gain and the other, avoid) to it plunges man deeper and deeper into activity. These activities breed the evils of passion, fury, greed, conceit, hatred, pride, meanness and trickery. 

And the Thamasic quality? Well, it blinds the vision, and lowers the intellect, multiplying sloth, sleep and dullness, leading man along the wrong path, away from the goal. It will make even the seen, the 'unseen'! One will fail to benefit even from one's actual experience, if one is immersed in Thamas. It will mislead even big scholars, for scholarship does not necessarily confer moral stamina. Caught in these tentacles of Thamas, the pundits cannot arrive at correct conclusions.

Even the wise, if they are bound down by Thamas, will be affected by many doubts and misgivings and be drawn towards sensory pleasures, to the detriment of the wisdom they have gained. They will begin to identify themselves with their property, their wives and children, and such other worldly temporals. They will even confuse untruth with truth and truth with untruth! Note how great a trickster this Thamas is!”

(Author's note - More on the 3 Gunas shall be taken up in tomorrow's post)

Love.

Jnana Vahini - Post 8

Continued from previous post.....

These processes are for the evanescent body; they are "shad-bhaava vikaras". They mean being born, existing, growing, changing, getting old, declining and lastly dying. The Atma has no such modification. It is stable, unshakable, fixed, the witness of all change in space and time, unaffected by the transformations, like the waterdrop on the lotus-leaf.

Liberation from the tentacles of the mind can be got by the acquisition of Brahmajnana, the knowledge of the Absolute. This type of liberation is the genuine Swarajya, self-rule. This is the genuine Moksha. 

Whoever grasps the reality behind all this passing show, he will not be troubled by instinct or impulse or any other urge; he will be the master of the real wisdom.

(Author’s note: the changeless / nirvikara explained in the SAT CHIT pour related to an Upadesa Saram verse holds good in aligning perfectly with what Swami has explained about Atman above, which is birthless, deathless, without decline, which does not undergo the 6 vikaras. 

As regards the bliss which a realized seer enjoys, as explained by Swami, it is to give the taste of that bliss and lure the readers to take up this path of jnana. 

Actually, once a jiva attains realization, he transcends even this joy. He just abides by SELF and exists in that Self-Abidance state or pure existence state. But if that is to be explained to the spiritual  seekers, then how it can be explained?? Obviously, Swami has to say, it is Bliss of SELF).

Swami writes,

"The robber who has robbed us of the precious gem of Atma is no other than the mind; so, if the robber is caught and threatened and punished, the gem can be regained. The possessor of that gem is immediately honored by being installed as Brahman.

The Sadhaka must seek the personages who have attained this Knowledge and learn from them their experience and honor them for it and share with them their joy. Indeed, such Sadhakas are blessed, for they are on the road to Swarajya, Self-rule. This is the mystery of Brahman, the understanding that there is no other. This is the Atmajnana.

There are four types of Jnanis:

1.    Brahmavid,

2.  Brahmavidvara,

3.  Brahmavid-Vareeyaan and

4.  Brahmavidvarishta.

These types are differentiated, according to the development of the Sathwic quality in the Jnani. 

The first, the Brahmavid, has reached the fourth stage called Pathyapaththi. 

The second, the Brahmavidvara has attained the fifth, the A-samasakthi stage. 

The third, Brahmavid-vareeyan, has gained the sixth stage, the Padaartha bhavanaa. 

The fourth, the Brahmavarishta is in the seventh grade, the Thureeya, the stage of perpetual Samaadhi.

The Brahmavid-varishta is 'liberated' though he is in the body. He has to be forcibly persuaded to partake of food and drink. He will not engage himself in any work relating to the world. He will be unconscious of the body and its demands. 

But the other three will be aware of it, in varying intensities, and they will engage themselves in worldly work, to the extent appropriate to their spiritual status. "

(note - the 7 stages in Jnana are taken up and explained in the next post).

Love.

Jnana Vahini - Post 7

In continuation with yesterday's post on vasana, mind and analysis of experience, Swami Sivananda writes on vigilance on Sadhana.

“Let the sadhana (spiritual practice) always be regular, continuous, unbroken and earnest. Not only regularity but also continuity in sadhana and meditation are necessary if you want to attain self­ realization quickly.

A spiritual stream, once set going, does not dry up unless the channel ­bed gets blocked, unless there is stagnation. Be vigilant eternally. Meditate regularly. Annihilate the under­current of vasana (habit­ patterns).

Regularity is of paramount importance in spiritual practice. Spiritual aspirants must be arduous and efficient in performing their tasks without a break. Pray without a break. Have unshakable faith.

Remember vairagya (dispassion) and abhyasa (constant practice). Prayer is the wing by which you fly to God. Meditation or intuition is the eye by which you see God. Pray fervently unto the Lord. Pray for the Lord's light and guidance.

Meditate on the great truth within. Strive ever to keep thyself close to the divine centre. Day by day, draw yourself nearer unto the Lord. Strive inwardly to grow into the likeness of the divine ideal.”

Swami continues about a Jivanmukhta/ a realized Jnani,

"He who has subdued his mind will be the same, in good times and in bad. Grief and joy are but aberrations of the mind. It is only when the mind is associated with the senses and the body that it is affected and agitated and modified. 

When one takes in an intoxicant, one is not aware of pain, is it not? How does this happen? The mind is then detached from the body and so it is not bothered by physical pain or discomfort. Similarly, the Jnani too has immersed his mind in the Atma; he can establish mental peace and quiet by disciplining the mind.

The Jnani gets full Bliss from his own Atma; he does not seek it anywhere outside himself. In fact, he will have no desire or plan to find joy in anything external. He is satisfied with the inner joy he gets. 

The greatness of a Jnani is beyond description, even beyond your imagination! The Sruthis proclaim, "Brahmavid Brahmaiva bhavathi. Brahmavid param apnoti", that is to say, 'he who has known Brahman becomes Brahman Itself', 'he who has attained the Brahman Principle has become the Highest'.

All bubbles are but the same water; so also, all the multiplicity of name and form, all this created world, are but the same Brahman. This is the fixed conviction of the Jnani, nay, his genuine experience. 

As all rivers flow into the sea and get lost, so also all desires get lost in the effulgent consciousness of the Realized soul. That is what is termed the Atma Sakshathkaara, the Vision of the Atma. The Atma has no death. It is not born and it is unaffected by the six-fold process of change. It is Aja (birth-less), Ajara (without old age), Amara (without death) and Avinaasi (without decline and extinction). 

Love.