self-knowledge

Ajata Vada explained by Sri Suresvara (Shankara’s student and protege) | Advaita Vedanta | How does the world appear to the Jnani (Enlightened Sage)?

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

This article is an excerpt from a much longer article which you can view here, that gives further quotes on this same topic from others including Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Shankara, Yoga Vasistha and Ribhu Gita. The original article also expands on the disclaimer below and makes some suggestions as how to best appraoch these teachings.

A warning/disclaimer

The teachings that are given below, whilst they are open to anyone, they are very radical in their nature. It is not recommended that you read them if you are not an earnest seeker of liberation or if your mind is likely to be destabilised by a more radical notion of the nature of the universe or what liberation looks like.

We will see that these same exact teachings have been given for many centuries, but traditionally these teachings would only be given to a prepared mind, a mind prepared by devotion, faith and loving surrender. This infuses the mind and heart with an energy of peace, calm and loving kindness and happiness. It is this stable peaceful mind that is most able to receive these teachings, although it is possible there can be some exceptions to this.

Some people can find these teachings quite distressing and destablising and the author of this post takes no responsibility for providing this information to you that has been traditionally written about and taught for many centuries and is already in the public domain.

Sri Suresvara – Shankara’s student and protege

Suresvara was a devoted student of Shankara who wrote the treatise Naishkarmya Siddhi (NS, you can download the text for free in this link) as well as some commentaries on Shankara’s works. As expected, he explains exactly the same things as Gaudapada and Shankara do above. We will see that Suresvara explains the following key points in his writings:

  • That the world only appears due to ignorance
  • The world itself is a form of ignorance
  • The world refers to phenomenal arisings, also known as objects, and includes the body and the mind (thoughts, feelings, emotions, etc) and gross objects such as trees, stars, rivers, etc.
  • Ignorance itself is ultimately not a real thing that ever exists
  • When (apparent) ignorance is removed by self-knowledge, the world also no longer appears due to its cause (ignorance) being removed
  • This world therefore no longer arises or appears to the self-realised Jnani.
  • If we read carefully, we will see that Suresvara is not saying that the Jnani continues to see the world but sees it to be an illusion, and he is also not saying the Jnani continues to see the world but sees the world as Self or being one with the Self
  • In truth, there is no connection between the Self on one hand, and ignorance/the world/the body on the other hand, the latter not really existing, and only appearing to exist due to ignorance
  • The world also refers to all movement or action (karma), and this action or karma only appears or arises due to ignorance.
  • Because karma or action is downstream from ignorance, in that ignorance is the cause of action, action cannot remove ignorance.
  • Like action, desire also arises from ignorance, and so in self-realisation there is no desire, as ignorance, which is the cause of all desire, no longer exists.
  • Similarly, all of time and space are products of ignorance and so time and space cease once ignorance has been removed (seen to have never existed)
  • Similarly, all of samsara, the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, is due to ignorance and this entire process starting from birth no longer appears when our true nature (Self) has been realised. This is ajata vada – that birth or creation never really ever occurred in the first place, not even as an appearance.

Let us see some quotes from the writings of Suresvara:

Therefore all this (world-appearance) comes forth from ignorance (ajnana)
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi, preamble to 2.45

and that non-self is ignorance (or duality):

‘For the very nature of the not-self is ignorance‘
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi, preamble to 3.1

and again that the non-self is created by ignorance:

Further, the not-self is born of ignorance.
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi, preamble to 3.1

and that ignorance is not actually a ‘thing’ at all:

…for ignorance is nothing but absence of knowledge, and since the latter is a non-entity (avastu) by nature…
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi, preamble to 3.7

In NS, in his introduction to Chapter 3 he writes the following:

‘We have shown at some length that all this [world] from the Creator [Brahma] to a clump of grass, consisting of the empirical [relatie] knower, his instruments of knowledge, his knowledge and its objects, is but a false [unreal or untrue] superimposition. And it has been made clear that the Self is the changeless rock-firm Consciousness, void of the six states of phenomenal existence beginning with birth – and is that [changeless consciusness void of objects] alone. And between the world (as false superimposition) and the rock-firm Self there is no connection except ignorance (ajnana) [which itself is unreal]…’

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi, introduction to chapter 3

See how Suresvara gives the same teaching as his Guru, Shankara, by clearly stating that the Self is changeless and void of all phenomenal happenings. The phrase ‘beginning with birth’ emphasises that all phenomenal arisings right from their very outset are denied or non-arising in the Self.

Indeed, there is never any real contact between the Self and the body, far less between the Self and objects.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.19

How can there be no contact between Self and objects? Only if the latter does not actually exist in any way, shape, arising or form! As he says in Chapter 2:

‘The Self is changeless consciousness, and therefore does not contain the factors of action.’

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 2.113

Suresvara is stating that the factors of action are not present in the Self – the factors of action are the doer/agent, the deed/action performed and the instrument through which it is performed. Everything we see/feel/perceive is in the field of action, of cause and effect. Suresvara is stating none of these exist in the Self. We see this same teaching here:

For Self-knowledge is based on the self-revealed reality alone, and its nature is to destroy ignorance and the whole complex of factors of action that arise from it as effects.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.35

Here again we see the notion that ignorance is the cause of the body, mind and world, which are its effects. Both Shankara and Suresvara repeatedly state that when ignorance is destroyed by Self-Knowledge, the effects of ignorance, namely all phenomenal arisings, are also destroyed, just as the illusory snake is destroyed when the rope is clearly seen as rope. Suresvara continues in the same verse as follows restating that action depends on ignorance for both its existance and continuation once it has arisen:

But action depends on ignorance both for its rise and (for the production of its effects) after it has arisen. For action is but a means resorted to by some agent. It does not maintain itself independently after its own component factors (agent, instrument, object etc.) have all disappeared

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.35

Suresvara states this more succinctly here in his preamble to 1.40:

Action arises from ignorance, it ceases with the destruction of ignorance.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi, preamble to 1.40

Action itself arises from nescience, hence it cannot destroy it. But right knowledge can destroy nescience for it is the opposite of it, as the sun is the oppositeof darkness.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.35

Here is it very directly stated that there is no action or movement when ignorance is destroyed, as action is a consequence or effect of ignorance. Next we will see Suresvara stating that the teacher, the texts and the seeker are all illusions that do not exist in self-realisation – the teacher and teaching are the part of the illusion that take us out of illusion, and, being unreal, they do not persist with self-realisation:

In the same way, one who was ignorant of the Self and who is awakened from this ignorance by the Vedic text (sruti) sees nothing other than his own Self. The Teacher (guru), the texts and he himself as deluded individual soul have all disappeared.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 4.37

In verse 43 of the same chapter Suresvara introduces the idea that it is our desire that creates/causes what is calls the ocean of suffering in verse 1.37 and what is here referred to as samsara, the cycle of birth-death-rebirth-suffering (also called transmigration):

Sruti has also declared this [teaching] in order to demolish desire (kama). All samsara has desire for its root. The destruction of desire arises from the destruction of ignorance.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.43

The implication is that ignorance causes desire, which in turn creates or manifests the phenomenal arisings, similar to what we read in the karma kanda portion of the Vedas as well as the ‘new age’ Law of Attraction teachings. Suresvara quotes from Sruti to back this statement up:

“When all the desires that lie in a man’s heart are resolved.” (then the mortal becomes immortal and attains Brahman): “thus (does the man who desires transmigrate; but the man who does not desire never transmigrates)”. So says the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad [in verses 4.4.6 and 4.4.7]. Vyasa also spoke of this, as in “this our bondage is verily bondage through desire”

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.44

We can see that that idea of samsara, or transmigration, which consists of (the illusion of) being born as a person, then living and experiencing the joys and pains of life, eventually dying, and then repeating the process by being born again – this entire samsara is the phenomenal arising that we see, also known as suffering, that appears to appear in ‘our’ consciousness – all of this samsara is due to desire -ie. our desires manifest or project or create phenomenal arisisings such as bodies, minds, creatures and things. Desire itself is a consequence of ignorance, and when ignorance ceases, all the effects of ignorance, namely all desire and samsara, which is to say the entire mind and all phenomenal arisings, also cease.

It seems that Suresvara was likely reading or referring to Shankara’s commentary on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad when he wrote the above verse, as Shankara writes the following:

They do not also know the contradiction, based on incongruity, between the attainment of knowledge, which obliterates all action with its factors and results, and ignorance together with its effects. [ie. all objects, duality, actions and suffering are removed with liberation, so there is no possibility of either desire or an object to desire in liberation] Nor have they heard Vyāsa’s statement (on the subject). The contradiction rests on the opposite trends of the nature of rites and that of knowledge, which are related to ignorance and illumination respectively.

~ Sri Shankara, Commentary on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, introduction to section 2.4

We see Shankara say the the following in his commentary on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad about desires not being present in the Jnani, that is actually just the Self devoid of all illusion/arisings/birth.

But there are some who hold that even a knower of Brahman has desires. They have certainly never heard the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad [which states the Jnani has no desires]

~ Sri Shankara, Commentary on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, introduction to section 2.4

Here in this next verse Suresvara says the following:

The sphere of ignorance is the unreal; the sphere of knowledge is the highest reality : conjunction between the two is like conjunction between the sun and the night.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.56

And again here:

We have shown that action is an effect of ignorance, and that therefore there can be no association, either simultaneous or even successive, between knowledge and action

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi, peramble to verse 1.76

We can see here Suresvara is stating that, just as when the sun rises nighttime cannot exist in any way, similarly the unreal cannot exist in any way in self-realisation, which is the highest reality. Note that this is essentially the same as when Sri Ramana writes in ‘Who am I?’:

Therefore, when the world appears, Self will not appear; and when Self appears (shines), the world will not appear.

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, ‘Who Am I?’

and

Question 4. When will the realisation of the Self be gained?
Sri Ramana: When the world, which is what-is-seen, has been removed, there will be realisation of the Self, which is the seer

Question 5. Will there not be realisation of the Self even while the world is there?
Sri Ramana: There will not be

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, ‘Who Am I?’
(Question and Answer version)

Suresvara makes the point there can be no identification whatsoever with the body-mind for the self-realised one:

The Self-realized man cannot identify himself with the individual body and mind, since such identification is due to demoniac (Asuric) ignorance. If the latter had power to afflict even the man of Self-realization, knowledge of the Absolute would be useless.

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 1.75

This is because there is no body-mind and world for the self-realised one, who is nothing but the pure objectless formless self. The notion that the Jnani has a body, a mind, and engages in actvities, in birth and death, is only from the ignorant point of view of the ‘onlooker’, none of which exist in truth if we investigate who we are. Here are some more verses from Suresvara on this topic, all taken from Naishkarmya Siddhi:

Preamble to 2.30: When the ego-limitation is removed, nothing in the whole range of duality is left standing, since that is the sole root of our relation with duality. So we proceed:

2.30 When the ego-sense ceases, the sense of possession, too, departs; for the ego-sense is its only cause. Can there be (the appearance of) a false snake except when it is dark?

2.31 It is only he whose mind is afflicted by darkness who sees a snake in a rope through error. Therefore noone sees a snake in a garland except through error

2.32 If the ego-sense were really a property of the Self it would continue after liberation and in deep sleep. Since it does not do so, we conclude that it is a property of something else.

2.44 Thus we have shown that this duality is different from the Self – this duality which is false, which has no definable essence, whose cause is ignorance and whose nature is hard to understand by mere reasoning.

Preamble to 2.51: Nor does this whole illusory display (abhasa), consisting in action, its factors and results, touch the supreme reality in any way, since it is founded in mere delusion.

2.61 If the Self of man changes with the rise of every new idea in his intellect, that Self is non-eternal; but if the Self does not change, it cannot be the knower of that cognition.”

2.63 The notion that the changeless Self can be an experiencer is due to an error set up by the ego-sense; it is like the notion that mountains are moving due to the error set up by the motion of a boat.

Preamble to 2.69: Thus this pure consciousness, “firm as a mountain peak” (kutastha), has no contact with duality whatever

2.93 This formless non-dual Absolute (Brahman) is conceived in millions of ways by those of weak intellect, like the blind men guessing at the nature of the elephant.

2.119 So saying, he pronounces “OM” and becomes awake to the partless Self, beyond action and the factors of action. He acquires the solitary state, estranged as it were from the intellect, the body and the external objects.

Suresvara explains many other points in his text, such as the nature of ignorance and the method of self realisation, and he repeats these teachings that I have given above elsewhere in the text too, but I think the point is hopefully made that Suresvara’s view is very clear, and in accordance with his Guru, Sri Shankara, as well as with Gaudapada and the Upanishads, namely that there are no phenomenal arisings whatsoever in the Self, not even as an appearance. It is not that there is the Self, and there is the non-self, and these two never meet, for this would be highly dualistic – it is that there is only self, and in truth (which is ‘seen’ in self-realisation) there has never been non-self at any time. This is also explained in this article here with respect to the three levels of the teaching (sristi-dristi vada, dristi-sristi vada and ajata vada).

This is the true meaning of ajata vada, and this cannot be understood by the mind, which has completely perished (or ‘seen’ never to have arisen, a bit like the snake in the rope although that analogy too falls short as it appears that the snake did arise for a point in time, but actually ajata is even more radical and unfathomable than this!) in Self-Realisation. As suresvara states, ignorance has never really ever occurred:

When the Self is pure knowledge by nature, void of the factors of knower, knowing and known, how could there be the faintest possibility of the existence of ignorance therein?

~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 3.112

Here is a different point that Suresvara makes, that reasoning and intellectual knowledge alone will not lead to eradication of ignorance (and the subsequent or simultaneous self-knowledge)

The knowledge that the intellect, etc are not-self may be attained through reasoning. But reasoning does not suffice to annihilate ignorance.
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 3.33

Here Suresvara states that Self-knowledge or removal of ignorance only can happen once, and when that happen, no time and space (and therefore no phenomenal arisings) and no samsara remain:

Through knowledge of reality he brings empirical being (samsara) to a complete end. Right-knowledge destroys the path of renunciation as surely as it destroys the path of action.
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 4.56

By merely rising once, this (knowledge) destroys all becoming, through negation of ignorance once and for all. There is no more wrong knowledge afterwards.
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 4.57

Time and space, etc., are the effects of delusion, and do not inhere in the Self. Once the Self is known, there is no more knowledge to gain and no ignorance left unconsumed.
~ Sri Suresvara, Naishkarmya Siddhi 4.58

This article is an excerpt from a much longer article which you can view here, that gives further quotes on this same topic from others including Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Shankara, Yoga Vasistha and Ribhu Gita. The original article also expands on the disclaimer and makes some suggestions as how to best appraoch these teachings.

This is a path of love: Advaita and Non-duality

~ Tom Das ~ 1 Comment

This is a Path of Love.

Even the path of knowledge and the non-dual teachings are truly only a path of love.

That Love comes from within. It is a genuine Love, not just a concept of Love or Oneness. It is also called Peace or Bliss or the Heart ❤️

Be Still and Know.
Be Still and Receive.

🙏🙏🙏
❤️❤️❤️

SHANKARA – WHY YOU NEED TO COMPLETELY STILL THE MIND FOR LIBERATION

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

[Tom: The following verses were written by Sri Shankara. First he explains that the entire universe is a projection of the mind, and then he will go on to explain that this projection veils the self and therefore needs to be removed in total silence of the mind, also known as self-knowledge or nirvikalpa samadhi:]

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.

342. Even wise men cannot suddenly destroy egoism after it has once become strong, barring those who are perfectly calm through the Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Desires are verily the effect of innumerable births.

344. …But the victory is undoubtedly (complete and) free from obstacles when there is no oscillation of the mind due to the unreal sense-objects.

[Tom: The term Samadhi refers to a state of mind that is completely stilled but also aware and not asleep, it is attained only through self-enquiry and is synonymous with self-knowledge (Jnana):]

353. When the Atman, the One without a second, is realised by means of the Nirvikalpa Samadhi, then the heart’s knot of ignorance is totally destroyed.

354. Such imaginations as “thou”, “I” or “this” take place through the defects of the Buddhi. But when the Paramatman, the Absolute, the One without a second, manifests Itself in Samadhi, all such imaginations are dissolved for the aspirant, through the realisation of the truth of Brahman.

355. The Sannyasin, calm, self-controlled, perfectly retiring from the sense-world, forbearing, and devoting himself to the practice of Samadhi, always reflects on his own self being the Self of the whole universe. Destroying completely by this means the imaginations which are due to the gloom of ignorance, he lives blissfully as Brahman, free from action and the oscillations of the mind.

[Tom: Shankara again stresses the importance of Samadhi, stating those alone are free or liberated.]

356.Those alone are free from the bondage of transmigration who, attaining Samadhi, have merged the objective world, the sense-organs, the mind, nay, the very ego, in the Atman, the Knowledge Absolute – and none else, who but dabble in second-hand talks.

[Tom: The above verse is a rendering of a verse from the Amritabindu Upanishad]

357. Through the diversity of the supervening conditions (Upadhis), a man is apt to think of himself as also full of diversity; but with the removal of these he is again his own Self, the immutable. Therefore the wise man should ever devote himself to the practice of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, for the dissolution of the Upadhis.

[Tom: Again, Shankara uses the word ‘only’ to drive home the importance of Samadhi:]

360. The truth of the Paramatman is extremely subtle, and cannot be reached by the gross outgoing tendency of the mind. It is only accessible to noble souls with perfectly pure minds, by means of Samadhi brought on by an extraordinary fineness of the mental state.

361. As gold purified by thorough heating on the fire gives up its impurities and attains to its own lustre, so the mind, through meditation, gives up its impurities of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, and attains to the reality of Brahman.

[Tom: Nirvikalpa Samadhi refers to the complete absence of ‘mind waves’ or modifications of consciousness, in which there is only pure awareness or consciousness present devoid of thoughts and perceptions. Again and again Shankara states that it is Samadhi of the Nirvikalpa variety (ie. no thoughts and no objects) that leads directly to self-realisation:]

362. When the mind, thus purified by constant practice, is merged in Brahman, then Samadhi passes on from the Savikalpa to the Nirvikalpa stage, and leads directly to the realisation of the Bliss of Brahman, the One without a second.

363. By this Samadhi are destroyed all desires which are like knots, all work is at an end, and inside and out there takes place everywhere and always the spontaneous manifestation of one’s real nature.

[Tom: How much clearer can Shankara make the case for the essential practice of Nirvikalpa Samadhi?]

364. Reflection should be considered a hundred times superior to hearing, and meditation a hundred thousand times superior even to reflection, but the Nirvikalpa Samadhi is infinite in its results.

[Tom: Shankara continues to stress the importance of the thoughtless aware state of samadhi, or, to put it more simply, being still of mind:]

365. By the Nirvikalpa Samadhi the truth of Brahman is clearly and definitely realised, but not otherwise, for then the mind, being unstable by nature, is apt to be mixed up with other perceptions.

398. When the mind-functions are merged in the Paramatman, the Brahman, the Absolute, none of this phenomenal world is seen.

[Tom: the Jnani does not see the phenomenal world]

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.

408. The wise man realises in his heart, through Samadhi, the Infinite Brahman, which is something of the nature of eternal Knowledge and absolute Bliss, which has no exemplar, which transcends all limitations, is ever free and without activity, and which is like the limitless sky, indivisible and absolute.

409. The wise man realises in his heart, through Samadhi, the Infinite Brahman, which is devoid of the ideas of cause and effect, which is the Reality beyond all imaginations, homogeneous, matchless, beyond the range of proofs, established by the pronouncements of the Vedas, and ever familiar to us as the sense of the ego.

410. The wise man realises in his heart, through Samadhi, the Infinite Brahman, which is undecaying and immortal, the positive Entity which precludes all negations, which resembles the placid ocean and is without a name, in which there are neither merits nor demerits, and which is eternal, pacified and One.

411. With the mind restrained in Samadhi, behold in thy self the Atman, of infinite glory, cut off thy bondage strengthened by the impressions of previous births, and carefully attain the consummation of thy birth as a human being.

[Tom: Shankara again makes it clear that when he speaks of Samadhi, he is speaking of that aware state in which there are no objects or ‘limiting adjuncts’ present:]

412. Meditate on the Atman, which resides in thee, which is devoid of all limiting adjuncts [Tom: ie. objects], the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, the One without a second, and thou shalt no more come under the round of births and deaths.

[Tom: Manonasa (destruction of the mind), a synonym for moksha, is declared by this scripture. As Shankara has already explained that the mind projects the entire world as well as thoughts, this means, and you will see this if you read the verses carefully, that no thoughts or phenomenal objects appear in the self in truth:]

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.!

~ All the above verses were written by Sri Shankara, taken from his masterpiece ‘Vivekachudamani’

SAHAJA SAMADHI (THE ‘NATURAL STATE’) – Sri Ramana Maharshi

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment



Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi explains the nature of self-realisation, also known as sahaja samadhi, or ‘the natural state’. He explains that in the natural state of self knowledge, the body, mind, world and three states of waking, dream and deep sleep are not perceived by the liberated sage (jnani), but only the ignorant onlookers see the sage with an apparent body and a mind:

Ramana Maharshi: ‘So also a Jnani in sahaja samadhi is unaware of the happenings, waking, dream and deep sleep…In sahaja samadhi the activities, vital and mental, and the three states are destroyed, never to reappear.

‘However, others notice the Jnani active e.g., eating, talking, moving etc. He is not himself aware of these activities, whereas others are aware of his activities. They pertain to his body and not to his Real Self, swarupa.

‘For himself, he is like the sleeping passenger – or like a child interrupted from sound sleep and fed, being unaware of it. The child says the next day that he did not take milk at all and that he went to sleep without it. Even when reminded he cannot be convinced. So also in sahaja samadhi.’

~ Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk 82

If told ‘Everything is an illusion’ people may find it disturbing | The analogy of ‘toxic gas’ | Sri Ramana Maharshi | Aham Sphurana

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Gajapathi Aiyyer: If told, ‘Everything is an illusion’, people may find it disturbing…

Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: Thus they are told, ‘Find your Self’ or ‘Gnothi seauton’ [Tom: Greek for ‘Know thyself’], leaving them to make the discovery themselves that there is no world to see, but only the Self. Actually saying ‘Everything is an illusion’ or ‘There is no anything’ is more meaningful.

Strictly speaking, ‘Know thyself’ is absurd. The Self has nothing to know. It cannot be known by anything. People may say, ‘Bhagavan teaches that the Self is Self-aware, or that the Self knows Itself.’ It is not correct. Knowledge implies vritti [Tom: thoughts]. There are no vrittis in the Self. It is Purity Itself. The Self does not need to know Itself, because it is Knowledge Itself.

It cannot know Itself or anything else, because it is in Motionless Timeless Realisation of Actionless Reality, which is Itself; therefore it is Nescience Itself [Tom: here Bhagavan is saying the Self is actually Nescience or Ignorance, as it knows nothing, which is the literal meaning of nescience or ignorance].

Yet the Self transcends Knowledge and Nescience. Nothing can know the Self, because there is nothing besides it; therefore there is no such thing as not-Self. That day on which man awakens into Living Realisation of the fact that knowledge of the not-Self or nescience of the Self is impossible is the day on which he awakens into his true imperishable nature of Immortality. This teaching alone is verily the nectarous ambrosia which rouses man from the sleep of his illusory mortality.

Chadwick was swimming in tears by the time Bhagavan had finished enunciating these words.

G.: While the teaching sounds simple, practising the state of effortless-and-volitionless-thoughtlessness does not seem to be so easy…

B.: The biggest tragedy is that people, instead of giving up everything, think that by doing some practise they are going to go somewhere or attain something. If everything is thrown away, only Jnana remains. Supposing you want to make space inside a room – how do you go about it? Hurl away the useless objects taking up space in the room – as simple as that. There is no question of importing space from elsewhere. If all ideas or vrittis [mental modifications or conceptualisations] are thrown away or given up, only the Self remains.

If you are able to realise the truth that what you are giving up is indubitably more obnoxious than the egesta in your intestines and what you gain is indubitably worthier than your life in this ephemeral body, you will be able to give up everything in your mind one, neat, simple stroke; to such a one Jnana comes in a trice; then what awaits is only the Kingdom of Heaven from which there is no return possible.

Chadwick: We are unable to develop the conviction that the world is worthless or mirage-like – that is the problem.

B.: There is no need for any [new] convictions to be cultivated. Give up even your existing convictions.

C.: The conviction that the world is unreal can be used to combat the conviction that the world is real.

B.: [laughing] Oh! Is that so? Have you heard the story of the monkey that kept chasing its own tail?

C.: No.

B.: You would not have, and you cannot. Why? Because the story is yet to conclude. The monkey started at the beginning of Krita-yugam. Still he is going on.

C.: He must be a very energetic monkey. Bhagavan must have fed him peanuts with his own hands… [All 3 of us laugh.]

G.: What is the analogy?

B.: That will be the perverse fate of one who endeavours to counteract concepts with concepts. The fetid odour of concept-gas can be eliminated only by diverting the gas away from the mind-room. Instead, some want to release into their own originally odour-free, pristine and blemishless mental environment more and more poisonous, odious concept-gases, thinking, ‘Aa haa! This concept-gas will fight [all] the previous one[s]!’. If this should keep on happening, as it does indeed in the case of many unfortunate beings on this Earth, what will the result be? [laughs] Will not everyone suffocate unto death? What has caused the absurd mentality which prompts man to go on releasing one mephitic concept-gas after another? HE HAS FORGOTTEN THE BLISS OF HIS ORIGINAL ODOUR-FREE ENVIRONMENT.

He thinks being surrounded with the miasmic fumes of his own concept-gas is his natural state. When it has all become patently and obviously unmanageable, he goes to a charlatan, who says unto him:

[Tom: in all the following examples Bhagavan is referring to thoughts and concepts as being like toxic gas, and various false teachers as handing out these toxic-gas concepts]

‘Sir! Be certain that your anxities end with today. What I have with me is the most precious concept-gas in the world, released by the Self-Realised Sages of the Himalayas. Here I have captured it in this areca nut-coloured bottle. You are indeed fortunate that you have met with me today, sir, have not the least doubt about it. Forthwith take this invaluable gas into your room and release the same. Then you will come back and thank me till your mouth aches.’

Delighted, the man rushes back into his noisome room and with tremendous eagerness does as told. What is the result? He ends up burning his nostrils. He thinks his delicate nostrils are to blame and thus harbours no ambition to pick any quarrel with the charlatan.

What does he do next? Go to another charlatan. This time the gas has been released by the Sages of the Vidhya Hills. And then another – perhaps this time the Podhigai Hills. And so on and so forth. Finally he decides these foreign gases are only making his room more olid, and, abjectly resigning himself to his miserable fate of having to put up with his putrid mental environment, gives up hunting after newer and newer exotic nocuous concept-gases to release.

Then a friend of him chances to meet him and asks why he should look so despondent, whereupon the man confesses unto him his malodorous problem. ‘Oh! Is this all?’, says the other, ‘Don’t worry. I know just the thing to set you aright. In the Arunachala Hill there is one koupeenadhâri-swami; he-‘.

[Tom: koupeenadhâri means one who wears a kaupina or loin cloth]

The next moment the vexed man catches hold of his friend by the scruff of the neck and shouts wrathfully into the alarmed man’s face, ‘I shall have no more of it, I tell you. It is all a grand fraud; I realised the fact just some time prior. ALL GAS STINKS’.

‘Pray, do not enrage yourself, my good man.’, says the calm friend, shaking himself free from the first man’s irate grip, ‘This swami will neither demand any money from you nor will he give you any gas to release.’

‘Then what is he a swami for?’ ‘He never announced himself as a swami. People understand him to be this or that depending upon their individual tempraments of mind. I am sure you will benefit by visiting him…’ The man reluctantly makes the trip, telling himself, ‘At any rate I don’t have anything to fear from possibility of disappointment, since this time I have no expectations. What is probably going to happen is this: he will try to sell me a bottle of his gas, and I shall refuse to buy it and come away peacefully, after telling him, “Thank you very much for the kind offer, sir, but you see, my nostrils have been assaulted with enough gas for this one lifetime.”. If he tries to persuade me [into making a purchase] I shall slap him and run away from the place.’.

When he puts his difficulty before the koupeenadhâri-swami, he expects to as usual be handed with a bottle of concept-gas and demanded money, but the swami, being no gas-releaser, merely decorously says, ‘Open the windows’. The man is stunned. Can it really be that simple?, he wonders. For a time the man is reluctant to give up the rancid odours to which he has been for a long time now acclimatised. Then he begins to yearn for the odour-free state. Finally he abandons altogether his penchant for concept-gases and throws the windows open as per the advice of the koupeenadhâri-swami of Arunachala Hill. Then sweet, fresh air, which he has not experienced in [his] living memory, bursts into the room and he dances for ecstatic joy. He remembers all his various exploits with the different charlatans he had encountered and enjoys a hearty laugh at his own expense…

Chadwick is unable to contain himself. He has already collapsed against the wall of the Hall in laughter at hearing Bhagavan’s ‘gas-analogy’. His paroxysmic convulsions, which are yet to abate, are now observed with a curious eye by early inmates and visitors trickling into the Hall. ‘Shoo! Shoo!’ says Bhagavan, smiling and putting a finger to his lips. Chadwick – with difficulty – manages to straighten himself up. He wipes away the tears trickling down his cheeks and tries to look serious.

G.: Concept-gas stands for vrittis, the bottles stand for instructions on sadhana, releasing them in one’s room means trying to practise any mental activity as sadhana, and opening the windows is summa iruththal [Tom: ‘Be still’ or ‘just be’]. Am I correct?

C.: Hey, boy! Isn’t it obvious?

G.: I still want to make sure. So I am corroborating my understanding with Bhagawan. What does Bhagavan say?

B.: Yes. Also, the reluctance to abandon one’s age-old mental predilections is exclusively the handiwork of – But at that moment the brahmins enter the Hall. It is time for the chanting of the vedas. For now the conversation is at an end.

The above excerpt is taken from Aham Sphurana, 14th August 1936, see here for more information on this text.

Liberation or Self-Knowledge is not an understanding | Advaita Vedanta

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

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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Simply let go of seeking! (and why that doesn’t work)

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

This was originally post on Facebook here

1. Seeking will necessarily continue until the ego is completely destroyed. You cannot simply chose to stop seeking or ‘let go of seeking’. THE EFFECTS WILL BE TEMPORARY AT BEST, and this is ultimately dissatisfactory. Seeking (and its counterpart, suffering) will always come back until ego is completely gone. That’s just the way it is. There will always be a sense of lack until the self is discovered.

2. And ego is not destroyed by trying to destroy the ego… Your true nature prior to the arising of ego (ie. source) must be discovered, and the ego ends as a side effect of this discovery of truth.

3. Only when ego is completely destroyed in this way, is it then seen that the ego never existed in the first place. Ego never arose at all! The world (which is a projection of ego, and is also known as duality) never came into existence at all, not even as an appearance! (Why would anyone want this? Because it is heaven, because it is bliss, because it is what you are truly seeking for and have always been seeking for. It is total love, it is your own true self.)

4. Merely saying ‘there is already no such thing as ego’, without having truly discovered the formless objectless worldless Source-Subject-Self, doesn’t work to genuinely end seeking or genuinely end suffering. This is merely an empty proclamation for the mind.

5. This discovery of your true nature is never for the mind (or the body, or the body-mind). Mind is the same as ego. Ego is the same as mind. There is literally no difference. If the discovery is for the mind, suffering may be reduced, but suffering and seeking will still persist on a subtle level until the self is truly known, devoid of thought, devoid of mind.

6. If realisation is for the mind or in the mind, then you are still on the level of seeking, and the true formless self, the source of all, the subject, is yet to be truly discovered – you are still a seeker. The general advice here is to find a teacher, learn the genuine method of self-enquiry and put the teaching into practice.

7. Without a teacher it is very difficult for most to truly learn self-enquiry, which cannot usually be taught from books or from static words, but is transmitted in a variety of ways, including through the well-timed words/interactions of a teacher and through the silence and the presence of the sage. For some the technique can be revealed by simply going/sinking within, towards the I AM (which is the true or ultimate teacher), away from objective phenomena, but this seems to be very rare. The exact path to self-inquiry and self-realiaation (or self-knowledge) for each apparent individual person varies greatly, and so for most a teacher is necessary, or at least very helpful.

8. ‘To know the (worldless objectless) self, is merely to be the (worldless objectless) self.’

9. Eternal love, adoration and gratitude to my beloved guru and teacher, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, who is truly the nature of my very own Self, residing in the Heart of all beings, whose radiant presence shines forth in all times and in all places, whose teachings can be discovered by simply turning within and searching within, and who has revealed these teachings to me both in his precious words and within my Heart.

Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Arunachala Ramanaya Om

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