Tom: SSS’s Magnum Opus was ‘The Method of Vedanta’.

On page 149 SSS quotes from Chapter 6 of the Bhagavad Gita to explain in more detail the method of Nididhyasana (the meditation that leads to Self-Realisation). According to SSS this process is not merely a purificatory practice, but one that leads directly to liberation. The following is quoted by SSS as a description of Nididhyasana, taken from Chapter 6 of Bhagavad Gita:

‘That yoga should certainly be practised with resolute mind. Giving up without exception all desires that come from individual, will, restraining the sense-organs on every side through the mind, one should gradually withdraw from all activity, with will and intellect firmly controlled; keeping the mind fixed on the Self, one should not think of anything. Wherever the fickle mind wanders, one should bring it back and fix it on the Self alone, under firm control. Supreme joy comes to such a yogi, whose mind is at perfect peace, whose lusts have subsided, who is sinless and who has become the Absolute.’

I have provided more detail here in this post.

Questioner: Sravana, manana, nididhyasana, are ALL (direct) means (sakshat sadhanas) towards sadyo-mukti (i.e moksha)! Shravana is enough regarding the highest aspirant (here manana and nididhyasana are implied) whereas all others (middle and lower aspirants) need to continue until culminating in Atmanubhava (sadyo-mukti, and it’s many synonyms)! The important thing is that once complete knowledge (Atma jnanam) is attained, repetition of that knowledge (jnana abhyasa, practice of Jnana) is NO longer required, and consequently obsolete! This applies to all aspirants. OM

Tom: yes this is correct, see here for more, although SSS does state that nididhyasana implies repetition.

Jnana itself does not (and cannot) be repeated, as Jnana is moksha. I guess that is the point you are stressing.

Some Advaita texts do speak of repeating knowledge, but what they are referring to is repetition of nididhyasana (ie. repetiton of the PATH of knowledge, ie. repetition of sravana, manana, nididhyasana) and NOT repeating of Moksha, which as we have said, cannot be repeated as it is once and for all, ie. final. I think this is where the misunderstanding arises – different meaning of the word Jnana in different contexts.

However….

The issue here is, for those who need nididhyasana (which SSS says is most people/seekers), what is the nature of nididhyasana and how to do it? Here SSS clarifies the nature of nididhyasana, also known as Samadhi yoga or control of mind. This is the point I am stressing.

Namaste