Many erroneously think liberation is mere understanding in the mind ‘I am That’ or the ability to discern the difference (viveka) between what is lasting (nitya) and what is temporary (anitya), and thereby know in the mind that you are That which is lasting, and the temporary depends on you.

Sri Ramana Maharshi, completely in line with the vedanta scriptures, explains that Jnana or Liberation is nothing of the kind – it is not mere intellectual understanding or thoughts or discernment (viveka) in the mind, although this may be a useful precursor.

Here are two verses that Sri Ramana wrote himself:

‘Cease all talk of ‘I’ and search with inward diving mind whence the thought of ‘I’ springs up. This is the way of knowledge. To think, instead, ‘I am not this, but That I am,’ is helpful in the search, but it is not the search itself.’

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Ulladu Narpadu (Forty Verses on Reality), Verse 29

‘When the Vedas have declared, ‘Thou art That’ – not to seek and find the nature of the Self and abide in It, but to think ‘I am That, not This’ is want [ie. lack] of strength. Because, That abides forever as the Self.’

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Ulladu Narpadu (Forty Verses on Reality), Verse 32

If this is a new or strange teaching for you, please explore the recommended reading list here to understand these teachings in full.

UPANISHADS

In the Amritabindu Upanishad Jnana is defined as follows in verse 5:

‘The mind severed from all connection with sensual objects, and prevented from functioning out, awakes into the light of the heart, and finds the highest condition. The mind should be prevented from functioning, until it dissolves itself in the heart. This is Jnana, this is Dhyana, the rest is all mere concoction of untruth.’

Some people think I selectively quote merely to prove my own point, but note that this above verse was also quoted to make this very same point by Swami Vidyaranya (1296-1386), author of the wonderful Advaita Vedanta text Panchadasi and Shankaracharya (head monk and preserver of Advaita Vedanta) of Sringeri Math, in his work Jivanmukti Viveka.

GAUDAPADA AND SHANKARA

Sri Gaudapada wrote the following in his commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad, explaining how in liberation no mind exists:

3.32 When the Truth of Atman has been realised, the mind ceases to think; then the mind attains the state of not being the mind. In the absence of things to be perceived, it becomes a non-perceiver.

Shankara gives his commentary on this verse 3.31 explaining how the entire phenomenal existence is dependent on the mind and how mind is stilled or stopped in liberation, agreeing with Gaudapada above:

‘This duality as a whole, that is mano-drsyam, perceived by the mind; is nothing but the mind, which is itself imagined – this is the proposition [Tom: ie. meaning of the verse]. For duality endures so long as the mind does, and disappears with the disappearance of the mind.

‘For when the mind ceases to be mind when, like the illusory snake disappearing in the rope, the mind’s activity stops through the practice of discriminating insight and detachment, or when the mind gets absorbed in the state of sleep, duality is not perceived. From this non-existence is proved the unreality of duality. This is the purport. How does the mind cease to be the mind? This is being answered [in the next verse and commentary]’

The rest of the text continues in this manner.

MORE SHANKARA

We see the same teaching in Shankara’s masterpiece Vivekachudamani which explains all the teachings given in Shankara’s various commentaries in a much clearer form. Here is verse 169 where he equates the mind with ignorance:

169. There is no Ignorance (Avidya) outside the mind. The mind alone is Avidya, the cause of the bondage of transmigration. When that is destroyed, all else is destroyed, and when it is manifested, everything else is manifested.

Then he states the world is but an illusion projected by the mind, like a dream, essentially equating the mind with maya:

170. In dreams, when there is no actual contact with the external world, the mind alone creates the whole universe consisting of the experiencer etc. Similarly in the waking state also; there is no difference. Therefore all this (phenomenal universe) is the projection of the mind.

Shankara then warns the seeker to stay away from the mind:

176. In the forest-tract of sense-pleasures there prowls a huge tiger called the mind. Let good people who have a longing for Liberation never go there.

MANONASA

Shankara teaches us that the mind eventually must die (manonasa, a traditional synonym of self-realisation), and the method of how this is achieved:

277. The Yogi’s mind dies, being constantly fixed on his own Self.

407. This apparent universe has its root in the mind, and never persists after the mind is annihilated. Therefore dissolve the mind by concentrating it on the Supreme Self, which is thy inmost Essence.

481. My mind has vanished, and all its activities have melted, by realising the identity of the Self and Brahman; I do not know either this or not-this; nor what or how much the boundless Bliss (of Samadhi) is

502. How can there be merits and demerits for me, who am without organs, without mind, changeless, and formless – who am the realisation of Bliss Absolute? The Shruti also mentions this in the passage “Not touched”, etc.!

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