54. Self-Knowledge

In support of all these practices, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika declares: "There is no self-knowledge as long as there is the mind in motion; the mind does not cease to move as long as the prana moves. He who arrests the motion of the prana and the mind, attains liberation."

Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi approved of pranayama, and encouraged seekers to practice it. However, he asks: "Is it the mind that wants to kill itself? The mind cannot kill itself. So, your business is to find the real nature of the mind. Then you will know that there is no mind. When the self is sought, the mind is nowhere. Abiding in the self, one need not worry about the mind." That is meditation and samadhi in brief.

Again, the Maharishi made another thought provoking statement: "Both meditation and investigation amount to the same. Those unfit for investigation, must practice meditation. In this practice, the aspirant, forgetting himself, meditates 'I am Brahman' or 'I am Siva'; thus, he continues to hold on to Brahman or Siva; this will ultimately lead to the residual being as Brahman or Siva, which he will realize to be pure being, i.e., the self. Meditation is possible only if the ego be kept up. There is the ego and the object meditated upon. The method is indirect. Whereas the self is only one. Seeking the ego, i.e., its source, ego disappears. What is left over, is the self. The method is the direct one."

Though he had said that the self is only one, he adds that even that, as a concept, is to be discarded. He says, "If there is unity, there will also be duality. The numeral 1 gives rise to other numbers. The truth is neither one nor two. It is as it is. Leave the thought-free state to itself. Do not think of it as pertaining to you. Just as when you walk you involuntarily take steps, so too in your actions; but the thought-free state is not affected by your actions."

All this is direct experience, not intellectual knowledge. It is beyond the ego, beyond division, and therefore beyond thought and expression. Yet, even here the sages have evolved some aids.

Thus, jnana - self-knowledge - is often classified into paroksa jnana - indirect, others'-eye wisdom - and aparoksa jnana - direct, not-others'-eye wisdom. The former is acquired through books and teachers, who are extremely essential and indispensable, but who can lead us 'thus far and no further', who can only place the bread of wisdom on the table. We should consume it, digest it, and assimilate it. Then it becomes aparoksa jnana. In this world, to give a rather gross and crude illustration, the knowledge that Mr. So-and-so is a man, is indirect knowledge, but the knowledge "I am a man", is direct knowledge. Indirect knowledge is knowledge-by-acquaintance, but direct knowledge is knowledge-by-identity. It is when bread is no longer bread, but 'you' - assimilated - which means, it has become similar to you. That is what vedanta literally means: 'end of knowledge', which is when knowledge ceases to be knowledge, but it becomes 'you'.

However much we argue in favor of free-thinking, it is saner to admit that this freedom is always conditioned by tuition consciously or unconsciously received. This tuition stands in the way of intuition. To overcome this, we need the guru. All the great masters have declared that, as long as one seeks, one needs a guide, that even though the real guru is within, and this inner guru is the same as the lord and the self of each one, this inner guru appears as the external guru for the guidance of the aspirant.

The seeker approaches the guru in all humility and devotion - love. That is the only attitude in which reception of the spiritual truth is at all possible.

The first step at that stage is sravana - hearing. It is not acceptance yet. It is like the lunch laid out on the table, not yet served. It does not appease anyone's hunger.

The second step is manana - reflection. Reflection is just that sense of the word; the aspirant holds the teaching steadily in his mind, so that it is clearly reflected in the mirror of his intelligence. This is like partaking of the lunch. Tradition allows even discussion and dialogues among the aspirants at this stage, to clarify the teaching.

The third step is nidhidhyasana - contemplation. Here, the teaching is assimilated. It is the same as the samadhi of raja yoga. There is enlightenment. The lunch is no longer food on the table, nor chyme in the stomach, but flesh of your flesh, the bone of your bone - no longer food, but you.

It is the ruggedness of this path that prompted the sages who designated it, to lay down the qualifications of the seekers who could pursue it.

They are:

(a) viveka - the inner light in which the shadow is seen as shadow and substance as substance, which in practice is

(b) vairagya - which is the total absence of mental coloring or conditioning, and which is therefore the twin-sister of viveka; these two together ensure order in life, and in behavior manifest as

(c) the sixfold virtue in the aspirant, namely, sama - control of the mind, dama - control of the senses, titiksa - endurance, uparati - un-worldliness, sraddha - faith, and samadhana - equilibrium of the mind.

All these are not golden shackles of proud virtue but based on

(d) mumuksutva - a keen longing for liberation from ignorance.

The aspirant who is endowed with these qualifications, is benefited by the master's teaching. Enlightenment is dependent entirely on the intensity of the disciple's work.

What form the guru-disciple encounter takes from here on, is individualistic; it is the upanishad, which literally means sitting near. It may take the form of a dialogue or a discourse. The guru may adopt one of the many methods of leading the disciple to enlightenment.

 

Om Tat Sat.

The end and a beginning.