What is the object of Love of an Atma-sAdhaka? - Part 5 of 5

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Love placed in the noblest of objects is Bhakti.

Love placed on our equals is friendship.

Love reposed in elders whether they are noble or not, is respect.

Love placed in younger ones, or those below us, is grace.

Love placed in those who suffer is compassion.

Love placed in noble ones with humility is Bhakti.

The noblest object is God and so if we humbly submit to Him with Love that is Bhakti.

This Bhakti then becomes Guru Bhakti, Matru Bhakti, PitR bhakti, Bhakti towards our nation and so on.

Among these, only God and the Guru can really take our Love as well as our individual ‘I’ and melt it in the universal ‘I’.

The SadhakA on the jNaNA path is supposed to have his God, not with attributes, but as the nirguNa-Atman. So he has to show his Love, Bhakti, only towards that Atman.

What is the object of Love of an Atma-sAdhaka? - Part 4 of 5

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However, when Love is sprouting from inside, that nectar of love has to be poured to some one to whom one should be giving oneself up – then only one can hope to reduce the ego and enter the innermost small recess of the heart.

Who should be that some one, if not the Atman itself?!

Atman should be wooed – that is what we said when we were talking about mumukShutA. The wooing should become a surrender to the Atman in a spirit of dedication of the self.

The Atman should not only take over the individuality but actually ‘vanquish’ it to nothingness – that should be the attitude of Love towards the Atman!. Maybe before the Atman reveals itself, one has to go through severe testing.

The readiness for such testing is to be shown by the attitude: “ Am I keeping anything with me without being offered to you? Then why all these tests? I am ready to be consumed by you”. This is where Love turns into Bhakti!

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What is the object of Love of an Atma-sAdhaka? - Part 3 of 5

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It is we who have to do service to him with the thought: “We have got ourselves into the mire of samsAra.

At least some rare person is struggling to get the Release. Let us do whatever we can to smoothen his journey of life”.

Thus neither to individuals nor to the society does this sAdhaka have to show his love. That does not mean he has to be inimical to society.

There is neither love nor hate. Non-violence is his first characteristic – by the very fact that he has taken a promise at the time of taking SannyAsa, that not a single being shall have any fear of me – in other words, “ I shall not harm in any way any living being”.

So he cannot have any hate towards any being or society.

This absence of hatred, however, which has come as the effect of the strength of his SAdhanA, is not to be shown as an explicit love in the outside world.

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What is the object of Love of an Atma-sAdhaka? - Part 2 of 5

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Of course it is true that a JnAni after he has attained Brahman realisation sometimes does perform worldly service by the prompting of the Almighty of the mAyic world.

Our Acharya himself was one such.

But that was, after the stage of influence by MAyA – in other words, one has established himself as ‘MAyA-proof’!

That JnAni is not doing things on his own volition; he does them as an instrument of Ishvara.

Thus love can be expressed or exhibited either before one begins any such thing as advaita-SAdhanA or, after one has attained Realisation, in the form of service to the world or to individuals – but not at the present stage of advaita-SAdhanA that we are discussing.

One in a million who has engaged in this SAdhanA not doing worldly service is also not a big loss to the world. In fact it is the other way.

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What is the object of Love of an Atma-sAdhaka? - Part 1 of 5

But to whom do we exhibit this Love?

What is the object of this Love?

To whom does one give himself up? If it is to other people, other places, the nation, or the world – these things are out of place at this stage.

For, such an action will germinate an attachment and a consequent danger! One need not forget the story of JaDa-Bharata.

In earlier stages, service to others, to the nation and to the world are all good self-effacing acts that will result in the cleaning up of the mind and so turn out to be very good.

That belongs to Karma Yoga.

But now one is going on the JnAna path towards the discarding of everything that is MAyA and, love or service towards the to-be-discarded MAyA world is inconceivable.

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Ego & Love - Part 5 of 5

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Actually the gains in Atma-SAdhanA, that have so far been obtained, along with the individuality, should be melted away in the Atman. Instead of that, the ego appropriates all the honours to itself. And it thus fattens itself!

It is the feeling of individuality that is at the head of all these and that is what prevents it even of thinking to reduce and merge into the locale of the Atman.

In other words, the most important thing needed for Brahman-Realisation, namely surrender of the ego, never takes place.

The function of Love – the noblest attitude of giving oneself up -- is exactly this: it prevents the ego fattening itself on the great achievements and helps it to thin out.

Fortunately, the acquiring of discrimination, dispassion, shama, dama, etc. have refined the antaH-karaNaM.

So if only one makes the determination, one can generate the necessary Love.

And one can go on to surrender the ego and the individuality and thus exhibit this Love.

Ego & Love - Part 4 of 5

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One may ask: Did not one reduce the fatness of the Ego by dispassion, shama and dama?

What was reduced was only the fat in the mind and the intellect.

It is true that they were cleaned, sharpened, churned and reduced. But the Ego is more subtle than these.

It is the one which drags us into the mire of duality, without our even knowing that it is so dragging us!

We may not be outwardly bragging with pride: “I have got dispassion; shama and dama, etc. have been achieved by me”.

But inwardly without our being conscious of it, this individualised ego which has separated itself from the ParamAtmA, will be patting itself on its achievements.

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Ego & Love - Part 3 of 5

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Not only that. Afterwards that ego which is making him think of himself as a separate JIva has to be melted away.

Only if it is reduced thus, it can hope to enter that small needle point through the heart and reach that advaitic bliss of the Atman within.

How can that be done? – is the question. It can be done only by practice of ‘Love’!

The egoistic false ‘I’ has been amassing left and right all along.

That has to be changed to a process of giving oneself in love – that is the only way to reduce the fat ‘I’ to a lean ‘I’.

That, and nothing else, is the route to go to the locale of the Atman.

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Ego & Love - Part 2 of 5

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When somebody has fattened himself well, how can he go through a small gate?

When a fat person arrives at our house don’t we sometimes make fun of him by saying that our entrance has to be demolished and redone to admit him?!

But this gate (of the heart) cannot be broken or hammered into a smaller one! We have only to make the whole person (Ego) leaner!

How to make him leaner?

How did he (the Ego) become fat?

Seeing everything as distinct from everything else, he has been annexing and accumulating from this plurality and fattened himself.

All that outer coating has to be melted/dissolved away now.

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Ego & Love - Part 1 of 5

It is this false ‘I’ that has to become the real ‘I’.

One has to give it some prop of something which can help it unify with Brahman from which it has separated and now has to be turned away from the multifarious objects of this dualistic unverse.

It is necessary to make the Inner Organ go back to the Atman-locale in the heart.

The Inner Organ is the conglomerate of the mind, the intellect and Ego.

The Ego is the false ‘I’ which has fattened itself by its appropriation of things and objects from the pluralistic variety of the universe.

The mind and the intellect function at the basic prompting of the Ego.

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The four components of the armour of spirituality

The entire SAdhanA regimen is a four-pronged army to fight the bad elements and capture the kingdom of the Atman. The last of the four prongs was ‘mumukShutvaM’.

‘mumukShutvam’ has been all along described as something to be achieved. What was there as a trace in the beginning, slowly got intense and that intense desire for mokSha is to be finally, at this stage, culminated to its peak intensity, by the intellect. Now and then it might have happened that one has slipped into the depressing thought: “Release of Bondage? Realisation? Not for poor me!”

One should not give way to such a thought. Not only that. One should develop the positive attitude: “It is possible to achieve; to know the Truth. Why would it be inaccessible, if persistent efforts are made? Guru’s Grace will manage all my ups and downs. So let me yearn for the Release, for the Truth, with all earnestness”. This should be done as an exercise.

“Was I not a total ignoramus once? Even for me the ascending steps of discrimination, dispassion, sense control, shraddhA became gradually accessible. Guru’s Grace that has brought me so far would not let me down. It should certainly be possible for me – if only I intensely yearn for it”. This is the exercise of mumukShutA.

Here ends the SAdhanA-chatushTayaM. But remember, this is only the middle stage – second stage. Higher than this is the third stage.

Acharya on Mumukshu - Part 15 of 15

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And Yama is completely satisfied. He praises the boy.

“You have discarded all these gifts as *alpaM* (finite, trivial). You have kept your mind on VidyA only.

May I get more and more seekers like you! (This statement of Yama shows that such persons are really rare). You are a *DhIra* (brave soul).

The gates of Brahma Loka are open for you! (Here Brahma-loka does not mean the world of Creator BrahmA. It means that the gate is open for you to go forward to the Truth, that is Brahman.”

After praising the boy like this, he gives him the secret teaching as was demanded by him. And at the end of the Upanishad we are told Naciketas, who came as a mumukShu, became actually a mukta (one who is released).

And further, those who get to know the Truth like him will all get Release -- so ends the Upanishad.

“Like him” means, “with that kind of intense mumukShutA”. We began with the four-part SAdhanA regimen. These four parts end with this ‘mumukShutA’.

Acharya on Mumukshu - Part 14 of 15

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The Lord of Death told the boy to ask for a different boon ‘because the Atman-philosophy is something which can confuse even the divines’. But the boy was smart enough for that.

He says: “By the very fact you are categorising it like this, it must be great. So nothing else would be equivalent to that boon which I am seeking. Please give it to me. There is nobody else who can equal you in teaching this to me.”

Yama tries different artifices to convince the boy. “I will grant you lots and lots of elephants, horses, treasures, land, kingship, sons and grandsons, life as long as you wish.

Whatever you desire I will grant it. I will send my own men to run your chariot and to play music for you. Please don’t press for your boon. Ask anything else” says Lord Yama.

All this is a test. He forces a golden necklace on the boy. Nothing tempted the boy Naciketas.

“What all you are giving will one day return to you. I want only that which will be permanent, ever. I want only that. This Naciketas will not take anything else!”—says the boy most emphatically.

The golden necklace is not even touched by him.

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Acharya on Mumukshu - Part 13 of 15

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All the three days the residents of Yamapuri wanted to play host to him, but Naciketas wouldn either eat nor accept any thing ‘Until I get taught what I sought, why would I take food, or for that matter, anything else?’ said he, with his mind anxiously set on his goal.

Then it is that Yama, the terror of the three worlds, became fearful of this bachelor boy, lest the sin of keeping him for three days stay without food at his place might consume Yama himself.

So he gives the boy three boons, one for each of those days. Of the three boons, the important one was the third wherein the boy asked to be taught the philosophy of the Atman.

Before Yama gave the supreme teaching to Naciketas, he put the boy to a test just to confirm the intensity of his mumukShutA (longing for mokSha).

Or maybe Yama knew it all; he may just have wanted to put the boy to a test just to showcase to the world at large this ideal mumukShu.

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Acharya on Mumukshu - Part 12 of 15

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Kathopanishad showpieces Naciketas for the entire world as an ideal mumukShu. That little boy had the only goal, only desire, to learn about the truth of the Atman.

In a rare moment of anger, the father of the boy had said: “I have given you over to Yama”. That, taken as law of the father’s word, makes him go instantaneously to the abode of Yama himself.

After all it is Yama that takes the life when one dies. So Naciketas had a firm conviction that Yama must be knowing the mystery of the Atman which is the truth behind all life.

He is determined to get the teaching directly from Yama himself. To Yama-puri, the very thought of which frightens people, the little boy proceeded as if it were his gurukulaM.

The reason could only be his was a true mumukShutA! When he arrived there, Yama was not home. He returned home only three days later.

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Acharya on Mumukshu - Part 11 of 15

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At several places in the Upanishads we are told about this matter of seeking what is to be sought rather than searching what is to be discarded. Appar Swamigal says: “After searching within myself I discovered for myself” (*ennuLe tedik-kaNDu-koNDen*).

MumukShus have been referred to as *brahma-para*, that is, those who have their only goal (*lakShya*) as Brahman; *brahma-nishhTa* , those whose attachment is only in brahman-related matters – here, we are talking about persons whose interest is in the experience of Brahman; so ‘nishhTA’ here does not mean ‘to be stationed in Brahman by experience’; so the meanings of attachment, dedication for ‘nishhTA’ are to be taken --, and *brahma-anveshhamANa*, those who are searching or looking for Brahman.

In Prashnopanishad where it begins with six persons going to a Rishi, it only describes six mumukShus positively. The ‘anveshhamANa’ word used here is in concordance with the famous statement in Chandogya Upanishad (VIII – 7 – 1) where it says that the ParamAtmA is ‘anveshhTavyaH’ , the one to be searched, sought after.

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Acharya on Mumukshu - Part 10 of 15

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In his SopAna-panchakaM verse 1, the Acharya has also mentioned this positive aspect in the words *AtmecchA vyavasIyatAM*.

It means that one should cultivate with determination, the desire to obtain Brahman- Realisation.

SopAna-panchakaM is a set of five verses where he takes us step by step through the process, starting from the rock-bottom of karma-bhakti upto the state of Realisation.

There, before he mentions the renunciation of the household as a SannyAsi, at the point of mentioning the previous step of mumukShutA, instead of pointing out what is to be discarded, he focusses on love towards the Atman, which is what is to be obtained, by saying ‘desire to have mokSha’.

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Acharya on Mumukshu - Part 9 of 15

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I said a weakling cannot attain the Atman.

In that Upanishad, in the mantras before that, it details, in a sense, the defining characteristics of a mumukShu.

Whosoever, not having any other desires, chooses, as DhIras, to woo only the Atman, to them does the Atman manifest Itself – says the Upanishad.

“To woo only the Atman”, as is said here, is the positive aspect of mumukShutA. In opposition to a renunciation of samsAra out of disgust, what we do here is to identify something, with love, as most desirable for us – this is what is called ‘varaNaM’ (choosing).

It is a ‘svayam-vara’ by us whereby we choose the Self after having discarded all that is non-Self. The Upanishad mentions here the goal as well as the interest in it as a pleasant, blissful, positive fact.

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Acharya on Mumukshu - Part 8 of 15

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It is in concordance with this thought “Unless there is the intense strength of mumukShutA as well as the power of the Grace of the Guru, one cannot attain the Atman” that Mundaka Upanishad says ‘The Atman cannot be obtained by a weakling’.

When it says Guru’s Grace, it actually means ‘the Grace of God’. The disciple should never forget that it is Ishwara, the Almighty who is coming as the Guru.

Particularly in advaita-SAdhanA, since it is all a matter of search for JnAna instead of saguna upAsanA, in the place of the Grace of God one should stick steadfastly to the concept of Guru’s blessings and allow it to take roots in the mind.

I shall come back to this topic a little later. Now let me finish this topic of mumukShutvaM.

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Acharya on Mumukshu - Part 7 of 15

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And the Acharya himself in his own words winds up the work with “thus has been said in the form of a dialogue between guru and disciple, the characteristic of the Atman, for the purpose of generating easy enlightenment for ‘mumukShus’.

It is only after this that verse *hitam imaM * appears, where he gives so many epithets for ‘mumukShus’.

Since the Acharya has agreed to include three levels – base, intermediate and top (*manda, madhyama and uttama*) – among mumukShus, there is scope for all, from ordinary people like us all the way up to true Sannyasis who have calmed down their minds.

Actually it only shows the broad-mindedness of the Acharya.

But amidst that generous gesture, he has also clearly stated that the base level and intermediate level sAdhakas should rise to the top level by proper practice of dispassion and shamAdi-shaTkaM, by which they will obtain Guru’s Grace and thereby their mumukShutA also will rise to its completion.

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Acharya on Mumukshu - Part 6 of 15

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I draw your attention to the way mumukShus are described in this shloka. It is clear therefore that till the moment that one gets to the point of the experience of Brahman, to the point of one becoming a jIvan-mukta, one is still a mumukShu.

The whole of Viveka Chudamani has been given by the Acharya a story-setting.

The disciple asks the Guru (shlokas 49/51) “What is bondage of samsAra? How did it arise? How did it get rooted? And how do we release ourselves from it?”.

The teaching contained in Vivekachudamani is the reply to all these questions.

The disciple listens with great bhakti towards the Guru and coupled with his true ‘mumukShutA’, as soon as the Guru finishes his teaching, he obtains all the wisdom and enlightenment – the supreme-most brahma-jnAna and brahmAnubhava – and thus being released from the very bondage about which he questioned earlier, he bows to his guru and departs as one who is *nirmuktaH* (shloka 576/577), the Released One.

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Acharya on Mumukshu - Part 5 of 15

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But even though the shravaNa, manana and nididhyAsana are mentioned after the four SAdhanA angas that include mumukShutvaM, even in these stages (of post-SAdhanA- chatushhTaya stage) the intense longing for mokSha (that is, mumukShutA) has to continue unabatedly.

He may go even to the peak of nididhyAsana, almost at the point of Brahman-Realisation – even at that time he is called only a mumukShu, says the Acharya at the end of the book.

Look at the attributes he gives him in the last but one shloka of VivekachudAmaNi:
hitaM imaM upadeshaM AdriyantAM vihita-nirasta-samasta-citta-doshhAH /
bhava-sukha-vimukhAH prashAnta-cittAH shrutirasikA yatayo mumukShavo ye //

Those mumukShu sannyAsis who have eradicated the impurities in their minds by the injunctions of the shAstras, who have turned away from worldly pleasures and sensual experiences, who have calmed their minds, and who have known the essence of the vedas – may they follow these good teachings.

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Acharya on Mumukshu - Part 4 of 15

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In short, Ignorance (avidyA) – that is, ajnAnaM, directly opposite to jnAna (Knowledge) -- is nothing but the mind. Knowledgeable persons say so: ataH prAhur-mano’vidyAM paNDitAs-tattva-darshinaH (shloka 180/182) Therefore it is the mind that has to be discarded.

Before discarding it, it should be lightened by a purification. Unclean thoughts thicken the mind by their dust; that has to be purified and lightened. Then MokSha is in your hands”. (shloka 181/183).

At the end of Viveka-chudamani he ends it by saying that the whole book is for a mumukShu only. It is clear therefore that till the last moment of Realisation, the longing (mumukShutvaM) for MokSha continues.

The SAdhanA regimen contends that, after this (that is, after SAdhanA-chatushTayaM) one receives sannyAsa and then goes through the processes of shravaNa, manana and nidhidhyAsana and then gets the Light of Realisation, thus becoming a mukta.

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Acharya on Mumukshu - Part 3 of 15

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Firstly (*agre* is the word he uses) one should be steadfast in viveka (discrimination) and vairagya (dispassion). These have to be there in Maha-swamigal’s Discourses 105 abundance;

‘excessive’ (*atireka* ) is the word – shloka (175/177).

He says (shloka176/178): “Mind is a great tiger. It is roaming about in the forest of objects of enjoyment.

The mumukShu, the pious person that he is, should not go anywhere near it. Therefore stay away from it”.

In other words, ‘don’t use the mind even to think good or do good’. For this the purification caused by a a lot of viveka (discrimination) and dispassion (vairAgya) is necessary.

“It is the mind that originates, with no exception, all those objects for the person who is the experiencer (bhoktA) (shloka 177/179). It is the mind again that is the cause for man to orbit round actions and the experiencing of the results (shloka 178/180).

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Acharya on Mumukshu - Part 2 of 15

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Till we reach a certain stage one has to sift good from the bad, all of which rise in the mind and take only those that are good.

But after that stage the only aim should be mokSha.

Thereafter the conviction should arise this way: “The good things, in the same way as the bad ones, do rise in the mind itself and are experienced only in the mind.

So we should discard even the good ones, as well as the mind which is the basis for all of them and resort to the Atman, the only one thing, whether it is good or bad”.

And it is for this reason, when he talks about the manomaya-kosha, he gives the warning and advice intended for the mumukShu.

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Acharya on Mumukshu - Part 1 of 15

About mumukShutA, (longing for mokSha), the Acharya has talked in several places.

Particularly in the Viveka chudamani, detailing the five koshas one by one, when he comes to the mano-maya-kosha, he dwells on mumukShutA.

When he talked about shraddhA and samadhAna, we saw he related them to the buddhi (intellect). But when he came to mumukShutA, he relates it to manas, the mind.

We should not take it to mean that mumukShutA is supposed to arise in the mind only.

He actually shows that only when one attends deeply to the fact that there is nothing like mind, one can become a proper mumukShu and then proceed further on the right path.

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Guru's grace in Sadhana - Part 2 of 2

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But when one comes to the stage where he is ready to take sannyAsa and receive the upadesha of the mahA-vAkyas – and certainly beyond that – even if the mind errs slightly that will become a gigantic fault or sin.

At that point if one thinks that one can self-correct it, he is mistaken. Of course self-confidence is a good thing.

But just that confidence in oneself will not take one far in the question of defence against such slips. He needs the strength of Guru’s Grace, in addition to his own strength, particularly at this stage he has to walk on razor’s edge as it were.

That is why the Guru’s Grace is emphasized here. Once the strong adherence to mumukShutvaM is there, the SannyAsa and the receiving of the mahAvakya mantra has been done and so hereafter everything is going to need the Grace of the guru.

Guru's grace in Sadhana - Part 1 of 2

Not only for mumukShutvA, but from A to Z everything in SAdhanA needs the Grace of the Guru.

The Guru views with compassion the effort done with heart-felt intensity and purity by the disciple and blesses him at every step and that is what takes him to the next step.

The first stage is karma-bhakti for the purification of the mind. The next stage is SAdhanA-chatushTayaM, consisting of Viveka (Discrimination), VairAgya (Dispassion), shamAdi-shhaTkaM the sextad beginning with shama,and mumukShutvaM (intense longing for mokSha).

Next comes the third stage of SAdhanA.

In this stage, the Grace of the Guru and surrender to the Guru are very important. So far, even if there is a small slip-up in the control of the senses, it may not be a big fault.

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Mumukshu - Base & Intermediate Levels - Part 3 of 3

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Both these have to be enthused into a sustained SAdhanA effort; so he says:
Manda-madhyama-rUpApi vairAgyeNa samAdhinA /
prasAdena guroH seyaM pravRRittA sUyate phalaM //

“Don’t cry, my dear! Everything will turn out alright by the grace of the Guru. But you should also deserve it by practice of dispassion.

Practice shamAdi-shhaTkaM. If you do that, even if your mumukShutA is of a basic or intermediate level only, by the blessing of the Guru it will improve and will get the desired result”.

Among the three stages ‘mandaM, madhyamaM, uttamaM’, the third one, ‘uttamaM’ is here called ‘pravRRittaM’ (that which is well developed).

Instead of crying at one’s inability, if one makes the best possible effort, that along with the grace of the Guru, will make the effort a ‘pravRRitta’ one.

Mumukshu - Base & Intermediate Levels - Part 2 of 3

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But the Acharya, in his compassionate view, has given a role to manda- and madhyama-adhikAris. Even the base level sAdhaka has started his SAdhanA only because he has a soft corner for mokSha.So the Acharya considers him, as having mumukShutA in the ‘manda’ stage.

After doing some SAdhanA and attaining a little maturity he (the sAdhaka) starts thinking a little more about mokSha. This is the intermediate level.

Even now his mind is not steady; it keeps wavering from this to that.The desire for mokSha which was only momentary in the beginning is now a little more stationary; but even this does not take any deep root because of the grip of MAyA.

And that is when that intermediate level mumukShu begins to lose faith because of thoughts like “How can this poor me get the great achievement of mokSha? It is not possible”. If this is the case of the intermediate level sAdhakA, then why speak of the basic level one?

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Mumukshu - Base & Intermediate Levels - Part 1 of 3

An one-pointed intense desire for mokSha is mumukShutvaM. ( Here I have used the word ‘mokSha’ instead of ‘brahman-realisation’. The former is the layman’s understanding of it and the Acharya also follows the same; so I shall also go by the same tradition).

But even those who may not have that intensity of anguish for mokSha, he accepts them, with a gracious mind, as base level (*manda*) and intermediate level (*madhyama*) and in the next shloka enthuses them.

In all SAdhanAs and upAsanAs, there are three levels – manda, madhyama, and uttama (top) – and accordingly practitioners are spoken of as ‘mandA-dhikAri’, ‘madhyamA-dhikAri’ and ‘uttamA-dhikAri’.

In advaita-SAdhanA, only those who have reached a reasonable top level will have the deep desire for mokSha. In other words, only an uttamAdhikAri throws away all other desires and focusses on mokSha as the single goal.

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