Third Stage - the final stage !

Once we have passed the SAdhanA-set-of-four, we come to the third stage, the final stage.

No one here (in the discourse audience) is likely to go to that stage. Because it is a stage to be performed after one has renounced all wealth, possession, property and kinship. So possibly it may not have to be explained here.

But still, since I have said so much about advaita-SAdhanA, let me just touch upon it for the sake of completion. SAdhanA, according to the necessity and capability of the sAdhaka.

Three things come there.

Listening to the teaching; confirming what one hears by repetitively thinking about it; and keeping the antaHkaraNa in that thing and meditating on it.

These three are always to be practised right from the basic stage all through the

Therefore I should not leave out telling you about it.

Jnaana itself is Bhakti - Part 5 of 5

(Continued...)

In the final chapter also He says “bhaktyA mAm abhijAnAti” – by bhakti one knows Me right; and thus emphasizes the jnAna angle.

The root ‘jnA’ gives rise to both the words ‘jnAnaM’ as well as ‘jAnAti’.

‘Through Bhakti one knows Me as I am, thereby enters Me and by My Grace obtains the eternal Immortal position’ -- so ends His message in the advaita fashion.

In pursuance of the same, while giving it to Arjuna, He says ‘Adopt Buddhi Yoga’ – not Bhakti Yoga!

Thus there is no ringing of bells, no offering of flowers, no relationship in several moods.

However it is the mood of Love with which one gives Himself up to the Universal Life-Source and this apex bhakti is what plays an important role in the path of jnAna.

Jnaana itself is Bhakti - Part 4 of 5

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But note that this statement does not come in Bhakti Yoga or about those generally termed to be bhaktas.

It comes under ‘ VibhUti Yoga’ where the Lord’s Glory and Power is declared to be manifested in the whole universe.

In short He says those who see such Godly Power and Glory in everything repose their mind and life in the Lord and revel in thinking and talking about Him.

However they are not dry philosophers, but ‘bhAva-samanvitAH’, that is, knowledgeable people (budhas) who are involved in God with Love.

In other words they are like JnAnis as described by the Acharya.

Further on when the Lord continues, He does not propose to give them Bhakti Yoga.

He specifically promises to Grace them with the path of JnAna, that is, buddhi yoga; and burn any remnants of darkness of ignorance in them by the Lamp of Wisdom (jnAna deepena).
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Jnaana itself is Bhakti - Part 3 of 5

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Nowhere has he said in Bhakti yoga, about revelling in the multifarious qualities of Bhagavan, weeping, laughing, dancing, singing, going into unconscious trance, establishing relationship with God through various moods like, servitude, filial affection, etc. or enjoying the ritual bathing (abhisheka) or decoreating the deity, etc.

The qualities that He enunciates, viz., love and affection to all beings, getting rid of the feelings of ‘I’ and mine, equanimity with respect to happiness and misery, fear and delusion, contentment with whatever one gets and being independent of possession and property – all these qualities are only those of the JnAni!

There is also one shloka which describes devotees:

Mac-cittA madgata-prANAH bodhayantaH parasparaM /
Kathayantashca mAM nityaM tushhyanti ca ramanti ca // B.G. X – 9

Those who have turned all their mind toward Me, who have reposed their very lives in Me, who are constantly enlightening each other and talking about Me and for whom that is the satisfaction and that is the delight!
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Jnaana itself is Bhakti - Part 2 of 5

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But this has been met with already by the Lord’s statement in the next verse : He has one-pointed devotion (*eka-bhaktiH*). The Lord caps this by the further statement *JnAni-tvAtmaiva me mataM* (JnAni and Myself are One – that is my final opinion).

Later when he dwells on ‘bhakti-yoga’ itself and teaches the upAsanA (dualistic saguNa upAsanA) he only uses the words *atIva priyaH* (XII – 14 – 20) (most dear to Me), he never says “he is Myself”; from this it is clear (when he talks about this JnAni here) he refers only to the advaita-JnAni.

In the teaching of bhakti-yoga he says: “The nirguNa-SAdhanA gives difficulties (klesha) and dukha (unhappiness) for those who are conscious of their body” and then goes on to teach the saguNa-upAsanA.

In other words, for those who are too conscious of their body, the jnAna path is not easy to attain and that is why he teaches the saguNa upAsanA to them; not with the idea that the saguNa upAsanA is superior to the jnAna path. Let that be.

Later when he starts talking about the qualities of the Bhakti upAsaka from the shloka *adveshhTA sarva-bhUtAnAM …* (The one who has no hate towards any being ,,,,) through seven or eight shlokas and winds up the chapter with “Such people are dearest to me”, it will be clear to any neutral observer that whatever qualities he has described here apply only to a JnAni.

(Continued...)

Jnaana itself is Bhakti - Part 1 of 5

More than the idea that bhakti is an important accessory for jnAna, Lord Krishna has shown that jnAna itself is Bhakti.

He mentions four categories of devotees and in naming them he lists ‘ArtI, jijnAsu, arthArthI and jnAnI’ (B.G. VII – 16: Arto jijnAsur-arthArthI jnAnI ca bharatarshabha).

‘Arta’ means the distressed sufferer. ‘jijnAsu’ means the one desirous of knowledge, that is, the one who wants to know the Truth and makes effort to know.

‘ArthArthI’ means one who desires wealth, money, possessions, property, power etc. The fourth is JnAni himself.

The formal order among these should be ArtaH, arthArthI, JijnAsu and jnAnI. For the purpose of metre requirements, the order has been changed in the Gita verse.

Our business here is the mention, namely, the jnAnI as the topmost devotee.

Why can’t we take him as a dvaita (dualistic) JnAni? – may be a quixotic question here.

(Continued...)

Bhakti in Jnana - as per Sutra Bhashya - Part 5 of 5

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Let me tell you what it is.

One hamsa bird, as it flies along in the sky, tells another hamsa bird about a JnAni named Raikva in a most complimentary manner: “Whatever every one knows is all subsumed by what he knows”.

This shows that he should be a brahma-JnAni.

A King by name Janashruti, who was relaxing in the balcony of his house heard this statement of the bird and sets out to find this JnAni. And here comes our topic.

He goes to request that JnAni to teach him that Knowledge which he knows. But when he goes there, he does not say: “Please teach me the Knowledge of Wisdom that you know”.

Instead he says: “Please teach me about the Deity that you worship (do upAsanA)”! in other words, it is very clear that what we call Philosophical enquiry, research or contemplation, in Vedanta tradition is to be done with the attitude(bhAva) of a worship of a living mUrti (icon, deity).

This is of great significance, since it is straight from the Upanishads, and our own Acharya has specifically quoted it, in almost what looks as an out-of-context mention.

The Acharya, though he writes elaborately in his commentaries, usually makes all that elaboration only to explain what is there in the original; he never goes about in a roun-about way or take unnecessary digressions.

Even Vinobha has said: “The commentaries that he makes for the sUtras are themselves crisp like the sutras themselves. *vyartha-vistAr kahIm nahIm karte* (he nowhere does unnecessary elaborations)”.

If such is the nature of our Acharya and here he appears to be drawing something out from a total out-of-context source, it only means it is of great significance.

At the same time he is a great supporter of Tradition. So probably he thought it not fit to explicitly mention and elaborate bhakti in his advaita shAstras and create confusion in the minds of unknowing people.

So he might have left it for disciples to learn from their respective gurus at the appropriate time.

However, when it comes to Viveka Chudamani in which he condescends to explain as if this is his final upadesha (teaching), in the manner of *eshha AdeshaH, eshha upadeshaH, etad-anushAsanaM* (This is the commandment, this is the teaching, this is the order), he talks about bhakti and mentions it as the most important of all the accessories to jnAna-yoga.

Bhakti in Jnana - as per Sutra Bhashya - Part 4 of 5

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DhyAna is the continuous dwelling mentally on the meaning of something which has been repeatedly already analysed (manana) by the mind after hearing it (shravaNa) as taught;

in the same way if a disciple dwells his mind without break on his guru we call it guru-upAsanA;

if a subject does the same thing to his Lord the King, we call it upAsanA of the King;

a chaste wife does the same thing to her husband and we call it ‘pati (husband) upAsanA’ -- thus demonstrates the Acharya.

Thus he delineates the highest bhAvas among all bhakti-bhAvas -- AtmanivedanaM (offering up of one’s self), dAsyaM (servitude), mAdhuryaM (Love) .

Only after doing all this, he comes to the Upanishad matter of knowing and worshipping and says they have been spoken of as the same and also offers two examples in this context (ChandogyaM IV-1-4 and IV-2-2 for the first example; ChandogyaM III – 18-1 and III – 18 – 3 for the second example).

Of the two, the first example is a great support to what we have been talking all along.

Instead of keeping the goal as just an abstraction, it should be figured as a living entity and it should be contemplated on with love and devotion.
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Bhakti in Jnana - as per Sutra Bhashya - Part 3 of 5

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Like ArAdhanA, upAsanA also generally refers to worship of something with attributes. Not just ‘generally’.

In Vedas and Vedanta ShAstras it is so referred. Instead of Karma-Bhakti – JnAna, the Vedic scholars call it Karma- UpAsanA – JnAna.

In Brahma Sutra (IV – 1 – 1) it says, one has to repeatedly recall (mananaM) the teaching that was learnt – in other words, one has to think about it, analyse it and confirm it .

Here in the original sutra there is no mention of upAsanA done with bhakti, or the jnAna-SAdhanA based on the intellect. It is just a general mention of necessity for mental repetition.

But it is clear from the organization of the Sutras that go before and after that the repetition recommended in the context is for a mumukShu who has formally obtained the MahAvakya teaching.

The Acharya has clearly emphasized this point in his commentary.

But when he finishes the commentary on this particular sutra, he himself takes up the matter of the upAsanA path and demonstrates how the Upanishads talk about both the process of upAsanA and the process of knowing as the same without any distinction between them.
(Continued...)

Bhakti in Jnana - as per Sutra Bhashya - Part 2 of 5

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In Brahma-sUtra, the means of achieving Brahman-experience is called *samrAdhanaM* . (III -2-24).

The word gives the same meaning as ‘ArAdhanaM’ or ‘samArAdhanaM’. The worship through bhakti is called ‘ArAdhanA’ in general.

Here, worship through jnAna is called ‘samrAdhanaM’. When the Acharya elaborates on the word in his Bhashya, he says
*bhakti-dhyAna-praNidhAnAdi anushhTAnaM*.
*praNidhAnaM* is a word synonymous with ‘samAdhi’ or ‘samAdhAnaM’ ;

it means a complete one-pointed unification.

Whenever we think of jnAna-SAdhanA for the purpose of Brahman-experience, we always think, in line with the Acharya’s teachings, that it is a discipline of meditation by making the antaHkaraNaM totally one-pointed.

But the same Acharya here gives priority to bhakti and then only mentions dhyAna and recommends a praNidhAna (profound meditation) in both cases and by both means.

(Continued...)

Bhakti in Jnana - as per Sutra Bhashya - Part 1 of 5

It is not only in Vivekachudamani that the Acharya has talked about Bhakti as an ‘antaranga SAdhanA’ of jnAna.

Even in Brahma-Sutra-Bhashya he has said the same thing. Why did I say “Even in”?

Among the various Bhashyas, expository works and stotras in the name of the authorship of Acharya, there are many questions raised about whether it was he who wrote it.

Though people ask such questions of one another, one thing that all of them unanimously agree about is his authorship of Brahma-Sutra Bhashya.

Further, among all his works on advaita shAstra, it stands at the peak.

So whatever is said there has a high value.
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Bhakti in Jnana - as per Vedas - Part 3 of 3

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*shruteH gIH* means “the word of the Veda”.

Is that so? Does the Veda itself say that in the path of jnAna there is also bhakti? Where does it say so?

In Kaivalya Upanishad. It occurs in Krishna Yajur Veda.

The beginning itself of its teaching says

*shraddhA-bhakti-dhyAna-yogAd-avaihi*

meaning, By shraddhA, bhakti and dhyAna-yoga (reach brahman).

It is these words of Upanishad that formed the basis of the Acharya’s own statements.

Bhakti in Jnana - as per Vedas - Part 2 of 3

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In Vivekachudamani itself the Acharya has made this explicit in another place.

He doesn’t talk of it as his opinion alone.

He says the commandment of the Veda itself is this: (Shloka 46/48)

*shraddhA-bhakti-dhyAna-yogAn mumukShoH
mukter-hetUn vakti sAkShAt shruter-gIH /*

A basic shraddhA, over and above it a mix of Bhakti yoga and dhyAna-yoga – which means dhyAna yoga in which the Bhakti attitude is imbedded - this is what leads to mukti for a mumukShu.

Thus says the Veda itself.

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Bhakti in Jnana - as per Vedas - Part 1 of 3

Bhakti of the path of JnAna, enunciated by the Veda itself.

In the path of jnAna the direct SAdhanA that finally takes you to the destination is called ‘nidhidhyAsanaM’.

It is also considered as belonging to dhyAna-yoga.

When considered like that, it is thought of as continuous reflection on the tattvaM, without the notions of life, relationship, etc.
But it is not so.

It has to be practised only as dhyAna-yoga in which the bhakti yoga of self-surrender through a relationship with the Universal Life is imbedded.
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Atman full of life - Part 20 of 20

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Indeed I myself started all this discussion by asking the question: “How come he is talking about Bhakti in JnAna path?” and am going through all this explanation !

The bottom line of all this explanation is: The thinking about the Atman is to take place in the fashion of a relationship of Love.
But the relationship is not supposed to continue for ever.

Instead of that purpose which involves duality, the real bhakti is to desire to get dissolved in that non-dual Ultimate.

I hope you have now understood what it is to have bhakti towards nirguNa.

Also you would have understood why bhakti is the ‘garIyasI sAmagrI’ (the heaviest accessory) for mokSha.

Atman full of life - Part 19 of 20

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Whatever it be, The vote of the acharya is not for this.

So why worry about it?

Let us not take just a dry involvement as bhakti, but take it as something which is Love of a Living entity.

All this has been said by the Acharya just to show the second opinion prevalent among advaitins themselves.

In fact, it is this second opinion that has been more popular!

Many devotees of the Acharya and many disciples do subscribe to that opinion!

(Continued...)

Atman full of life - Part 18 of 20

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Their answer comes from a narrow interpretation of bhakti, which they hold to be only a one-pointed involvement in one thing and nothing more.

RupaM is inherent nature.

Tat-tvam is also the same.

In fact it is ‘tat-tvaM’ that directly means ‘inherent nature’.

However, ‘sva-svarUpa-anusandhAnaM’ has an implied sense of internal dissolution of the individual soul in the Universal source, which sense seems to be absent in ‘svAtma-tattva-anusandhAnaM’.

It looks as if some inaccessible principle is being experienced from a distance.

(Continued...)

Introducing the new website - www.periva.org

On this Aaradhana day of Sri Maha Periva, the 21st day of December 2011, am glad to introduce this new dedicated website launched to propogate the life and teachings of Sri Periva. - http://www.periva.org/

Please spread the word around and keep all your friends and relatives networked to this new site.

May Periva continue to bless one and all with abudance of peace, joy and prosperity.

Thanks
P K Hari

Atman full of life - Part 17 of 20

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Right now he is being fair to the other opinion-holders who say it is not ‘sva-svarUpaM’ (one’s own natural Self) but ‘svAtma-tattvaM’ (the principle of one’s Atman).

What is the difference?

All along we have been saying ‘Love’ ‘Life’ and ‘Warmth’ .

In contrast the other opinion-holders contend that, keeping the Atman as an abstract principle, continuous reflection on that principle (tattva) is Bhakti.

They do not hold the Atman, the goal, to be a living entity worthy of being loved, nor do they hold the sAdhaka as a soul who dissolves in that universal Soul; instead they hold that Bhakti is the continuous thinking of that philosophical principle.

One may ask: “When they do not agree with the relationship with something that is living, how can they say that this thinking of a principle is bhakti”.

(Continued...)

Atman full of life - Part 16 of 20

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But further ahead in shloka 32/33, he quotes a different opinion:

“There are also people who say that Bhakti is the ‘anusandhAnaM’ of the Atman-principle”.

*svAtma-tattvA-nusandhAnaM bhaktir-ity-apare jaguH*

svAtma-tattvA-nusandhAnaM : The continuous reflection on the principle of one’s Atman.
bhaktir-ity-apare jaguH : Others say (it) is bhakti.

The very statement “Others say” shows that this is not the contention of the Acharya.

His own contention has been stated in the earlier shloka as *sva-svarUpAnusandhAnaM* (the continuous reflection on one’s own Natural Self).
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