Articles for Saadhana

Harih Om Tat Sat. Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.

Shankara says in Vivekachudamani,

This is a verse that stands out distinctly in Vivekachudamani. It tells you what is the soul, how to approach it, what are the requirements while seeking the soul and when is the time or qualitative state when the self will be properly apprehended or realized.

First of all, you should understand that ātma is a tattva. How to make it understood by people? Tattva. Tattva is not a substance, physical, chemical or energial in character. Tattva is something which is accessible to our mind or intelligence. We have 0, 1, up to 9 and so many different numbers are there. When I say 300 crores, can you find it anywhere? Is it possible to show you how much is 300 crores? It is possible, we can count the sand particles on the sea shore, then we can reach 300 crores. But we generally don’t do it. We don’t demonstrate this 300 crores in the form of an existence or perceptible data to the senses. But we use 300 crores, 500 crores, 1000 crores etc. Ultimately when you write a cheque for 1 crore, you only say 1 crore and the cheque is there, it carries a value of 1 crore Rupees or any other currency. That is also not an existence, especially full, zero, nothingness and infinity. All these are concepts which will become accessible to the mind and intelligence.

Now all these are references with regard to external items, articles, particles, existence etc. whereas ātma is not external, it is not gross, it is not sensorily perceptible. You cannot compare it with any kind of a stuff in the object hemisphere. So, it is opposite to the outside. So, it is inside. Because it is inside the body, we have no means of accessing it. Our senses can perceive only external things which are gross. So, this difference about the self you should be clearly knowing.

Atīva sūkṣmaṁ paramātmatattvaṁ. The word ātma, paramātma, jeevātma etc. are used as a concept and we will have to explain it, explain it by comparison and contrast, finally arrive at an inference to know it. So, understand that ātma is a tattva and this ātma is within the body, not as a part of the body but different from the body. But only in and through the body you can get to it.

Na sthūladṛṣṭyā pratipattumarhati. With the senses which can see the gross objects, ever since we were born, our senses were active. In a child initially it is the skin, then it is the taste, thereafter it is sound, then perhaps the sight, color. So, we are born into this world only to sensorily perceive and interact with the world. But the ātma doesn’t come within that range. So, with the experience that you have with the senses and the knowledge you can gain, you will not be able to approach the realm of the Self.”

Na sthūladṛṣṭyā pratipattumarhati. Then what is the way? – Samādhinā. You have to practice and adopt samadhi. I am giving deeksha. The deeksha is meant to only enter within your body. Don’t use it for any other purpose. It is only meant to enter into the body or within the body. So, sit in a place, interlock your fingers, put them on your lap, close your eyes and be concerned only with what is within the body, say your mind and what all the mind produces. So, we are giving an exercise to the mind to pick up optionally. That is why a mantra is given.

So, you can approach the mind by making the mind chant the mantra of your choice, so the mind comes in your hand, not physically. Now with this mantra which is a sukshma vrtthi, it is not a gross activity, it is a subtle activity. It is subtle because it is not in the sensory range, nevertheless it is in you, you are doing it. Using this mantra, using this anusandhana, enquiry, what you have to do? The mind has to be made subtler, subtler, subtler, subtler and subtler. It has to be made more and more sukshma. How to make it? The mano vrtthi that you use, the mantra that you use will help you in making the mind what you want. So, you go on feeding the mind, making the mind chant ‘Om, Om, Om…’ (chanting Om) . Suppose without sound, you produce whatever you want, then it becomes a thought within your mind. Using that thought, let the mind be focused on it, focused on it, there should be no distraction, there should be no dislodgement. The mind should be stably there in the mantra or the mantra should be stably there in your mind.

Like a kite in the hands of a kite flier through the thread, this mind should be in your hand through the mantra. And make the mantra gentler, gentler, slower, slower, feebler, feebler, lighter, lighter. Correspondingly, the mind also becomes lighter and lighter. When the mantra or the thought becomes lighter and you are able to perceive it, perceive it, perceive it, perceive it, when you see or feel the thought, you are feeling the mind. And the thought and the mind are the real consciousness, the power of sentience, the source of sentience.

So what you have to do is make the mind’s function subtler, subtler, subtler, until at last the mind simply comes in your hand and you can make it stop functioning whenever you want. You will chant the mantra and with the mantra, when you stop the mantra, the mind also will stop. So, the mantra and the mind, both have stopped. That means what? The stuff called the mind which was chanting the mantra, it has stopped the mantra, so it has become itself. The legs walking, stopped walking, so the legs remain. So, you understand, what is it that thinks, what is the thinking substance. So, from the so-called thought and the pulls and pushes it produces, you go to the source of the thought process.

Atyantasusūkṣmavṛtyā. Make the function extremely subtle and refined. Then you will find, what thinks, what is this mind, that fact, that truth comes to your cognition. In a way, it is very simple and straight forward, but people don’t understand it. See, you should know that mind is a subtler factor and mind’s function is thought. And this thought process and emotional process should be lighter and lighter and lighter and lighter and finally it should stop. So, you are filled with your mind with consciousness. You have to cognize it. If you know when a thought comes, you will equally be able to know when there is no thought and what thinks. It is not that you know the thought, but you do not know the thinker, how can it be? When the thought stops, you are in the thinker.

“Swamiji, I understand the thought but not when there is no thought.” What a foolish person is this! It is the mind’s function that you know now. When the function stops, you should know what is the mind. But people are not able to do it. That is why Sankara says, we are used only for gross, external, sensory perceptions. We never spend any time! That is why in good families you have this Gayatri japa to be done in silence and they do it, right from 7th year or 8th year or 10th year. Throughout their life they do it. Nowadays people don’t want to do anything even a second time, because they carry a mobile, a computer.

So, you have to go into the mind process and let the thought become feebler, feebler, lighter, lighter, lighter, slower, slower, slower, slower, until at last the very thought process stops and dissolves. Just like a swing remains even, a balance remains even with no weight on either pan, either the weights or the substance, the mind will remain even. In that evenness, what is the mind will be revealed and cognized. It is such a wonderful process. But people are interested in magic, magic. ‘When I meditate, I must have two golden horns. When I meditate I must become golden and I must fly.’ All these fanciful notions are there. To get rid of the mind, to get rid of these things and make the mind straightforward is the task. That is what we call impurity of the mind.

Jñātavyamāryairatiśuddhabuddhibhiḥ. The intelligence and the mind should become pure and holy. The purity and that holiness come to you by the austerity of meditation, the austerity of contemplation, the austerity of Jnana Sadhana, Jnana Sadhana. I have been taking Bhagavat Gita, we have come to the 5th chapter. How well I have explained all these things, everything about spirituality! So, think about it well, think about it well, understand what is this approach to the self.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.