54. “Worship of Abstract Intelligence in a concrete form is not only useful but essential for non-dual realization. For how can one be made fit for it, without Her benediction?
55. “Non-dual realization is the same as pure Intelligence, absolutely void of objective knowledge. Such realization nullifies all objective knowledge, revealing it in all its nakedness to be as harmless as a picture of a pouncing tiger or of an enraged serpent.
56. “When the mind has completely resolved into the Self, that state is called nirvikalpa samâdhi (the undifferentiated peaceful state). After waking up from it, the person is overpowered by the memory of his experience as the one, undivided, infinite, pure Self and he knows ‘I am That’ as opposed to the puerile I-thought of the ignorant. That is Supreme Knowledge (vijnana or pratyabhijna jnana).
Note: The advanced state of meditation is savikalpa samâdhi, where the person is aware that he has turned away from objectivity towards subjectivity and feels his proximity to the state of Self-Realization. When he actually sinks within the Self, there is no knowledge apart from the simple awareness of blissful existence. This is nirvikalpa samâdhi. Waking up, he sees the world just as any other man does but his outlook has become different. He is now able to know his pure Self and no longer confounds himself with the ego. That is the acme of Realization.
57. “Theoretical knowledge consists in differentiating between the Self and the non-Self through a study of the Scriptures, or the teachings of a Master, or by one’s own deliberation.
58-62. “Supreme wisdom is that which puts an end to the sense of non-Self once and for all. Non-dual realization admits nothing unknown or unknowable and pervades everything in entirety so that it cannot in any way be transcended (e.g., a mirror and the images). When that is accomplished, the intellect becomes quite clear because all doubts have been destroyed; (doubts are usually with regard to creation, the identity of the Self and their mutual relationship) and then the predispositions of the mind (e.g., lust, greed, anger, etc.) are destroyed, though any remnants of these that may remain are as harmless as a fangless viper.
63. “The fruit of Self-Realization is the end of all misery here and hereafter and absolute fearlessness. That is called Emancipation.
Note: There is an end of misery in sleep; but the potentiality of misery is not ended. Realization destroys the cause of misery and sets the man free for ever.
64-65. “Fear implies the existence of something, apart from oneself. Can the sense of duality persist after non-dual Realization, or can there be darkness after sun-rise?
“O Rishis! There will be no fear in the absence of duality. On the other hand, fear will not cease so long as there is the sense of duality.
66. “What is perceived in the world as being apart from the Self is also clearly seen to be perishable. What is perishable must certainly involve fear of loss.
67. “Union implies separation; so also acquisition implies loss.
68-70. “If emancipation be external to the Self, it implies fear of loss, and is therefore not worth aspiring to. On the other hand, moksha is fearlessness and not external to the Self.
“When the knower, knowledge and the known merge into unity that state is totally free from fear and hence moksha results.
“Jnana (Supreme Wisdom) is the state devoid of thoughts, will and desire, and is unimpeded by ignorance.
71. “It is certainly the primal state of the knower, but remains unrecognised for want of acquaintance with it. The Guru and sastras alone can make the individual acquainted with the Self.
72-77. “The Self is abstract intelligence free from thought. The knower, knowledge and the known are not real as different entities. When differentiation among them is destroyed, their true nature is evident in the resulting non-dual consciousness, which is also the state of emancipation.
“There is in fact no differentiation among the knower, etc. The differences are simply conventions retained for the smooth working of earthly life. Emancipation is eternal and, therefore, here and now, it is nothing to be acquired. The Self manifests as the knower, knowledge and the known; the cycle of births and deaths endures with all the apparent reality of a mountain so long as this manifestation lasts. As soon as the manifestation is realized to consist of the Self alone without any admixture of non-self, the cycle of births and deaths comes to a standstill, and is broken down to fragments like clouds dispersed by strong winds.
78. “Thus you find that earnestness is the only requisite for emancipation. No other requisite is needed if the longing for emancipation is intense and unwavering.
79. “What is the use of hundreds of efforts in the absence of a real and unswerving desire for emancipation? That is the sole requisite and nothing else.
80-81. “Intense devotion signifies mental abstraction as the devotee loses himself in the desired object. In this particular instance, it will mean emancipation itself. For such unwavering devotion must certainly succeed and success is only a question of time—which may be days, months, years, or even the next birth, according as the predispositions are light or dense.
82-83. “The intellect is ordinarily befouled by evil propensities and so nothing good flourishes there. Consequently, the people are boiled in the seething cauldron of births and deaths. Of these evil propensities, the first is want of faith in the revelations made by the Guru and in the sastras; the second is addiction to desires; and the third is dullness (i.e., inability to understand the revealed truth). This is a brief statement of them.
84-85. “Of these, want of faith is betrayed by one’s doubts regarding the truth of the statements and by failure to understand them. The doubt arises whether there is moksha; and later misunderstanding leads to its denial. These two are sure obstacles to any sincere efforts being made for realization.
86. “All obstacles are set at nought by a determined belief in the contrary; that is to say—determined belief regarding the existence of moksha will destroy both uncertainty and misunderstanding.
“But the question arises how this determined belief will be possible when faith is wanting. Therefore cut at its root. What is its root?
87-88. “Want of faith has its root in unfavorable logic. Give it up and take to approved logic as found in holy books and expounded by a Guru. Then enlightenment becomes possible and faith results. Thus ends the first evil propensity.
89-95. “The second propensity, namely desire, prevents the intellect from following the right pursuit. For, the mind engrossed in desire, cannot engage in a spiritual pursuit. The abstraction of a lover is well known to all; he can hear or see nothing in front of him. Anything said in his hearing is as good as not said. Desire must therefore be first overcome before aspiring for spiritual attainment. That can be done only by dispassion. The propensity is manifold, being the forms of love, anger, greed, pride, jealously, etc. The worst of them is pursuit of pleasure which, if destroyed destroys all else. Pleasure may be subtle or gross. Neither of these must be indulged in, even in thought. As soon as the thought of pleasure arises, it must be dismissed by the will-power developed by dispassion.
96-99. “In this way, the second evil propensity is overcome. The third, known as dullness resulting from innumerable wicked actions in preceding births, is the worst of the series and hardest to overcome by one’s own efforts. Concentration of mind and understanding of truth are not possible when dullness prevails.
“There is no remedy for it other than worship of the Goddess of the Self (adoration, prayer, meditation, etc.). I remove the devotee’s dullness according to his worship, quickly, or gradually, or in the succeeding birth.
100-102. “He who unreservedly surrenders himself to Me with devotion, is endowed with all the requisites necessary for Self-Realization. He who worships Me, easily overcomes all obstacles to Self-Realization. On the other hand, he, who being stuck up, does not take refuge in Me—the pure intelligence manipulating the person—is repeatedly upset by difficulties so that his success is very doubtful.
&n
bsp; 103-104. “Therefore, O Rishis! the chief requisite is one-pointed devotion to God. The devotee is the best of aspirants. The one devoted to abstract consciousness excels every other seeker. Consummation lies in the discernment of the Self as distinguished from the non-Self.
105-112. “The Self is at present confounded with the body, etc., such confusion must cease and awareness of the Self must result as opposed to nescience in sleep.
“The Self is experienced even now; but it is not discerned rightly, for it is identified with the body, etc., there is therefore endless suffering. The Self is not hidden indeed; it is always gleaming out as ‘I,’ but this ‘I,’ is mistaken for the body, owing to ignorance. On this ignorance ceasing, the ‘I’ is ascertained to be the true consciousness alone; and that sets all doubts at rest. This and nothing else has been ascertained by the sages to be finality. Thaumaturgic powers such as flying in space, etc., are all fragmentary and not worth a particle of Self-Realization. For this is the unbroken and immortal bliss of the Self in which all else is included.
“Thaumaturgic powers are also hindrance to Self-Realization. Of what use are they? They are but simple acrobatic tricks. The Creator’s status appears to a Self-Realized man to be only a trifle. What use are these powers, unless for wasting one’s time?
113. “There is no accomplishment equal to Self-Realization which is alone capable of ending all misery because it is the state of eternal Bliss.
114. “Self-Realization differs from all accomplishments in that the fear of death is destroyed once for all.
115. “Realization differs according to the antecedent practice and, commensurate with the degree of purity of mind, may be perfect, middling or dull.
Note: Realization of the Self and eternal inherence as unbroken ‘I-I’ in all surroundings are the practices and the fruit.
116-119. “You have seen great pandits well versed in the Vedas and capable of chanting them quite correctly amidst any amount of distractions. They are the best. Those who are capable businessmen, repeat the Vedas quite correctly when they engage in chanting them without other distractions. These are the middle class.
“Whereas others are constantly chanting them and do it well. Such are of the lowest order among pandits. Similarly there are distinctions among the sages also.
120-121. “Some sages abide as the Self even while engaged in complex duties, such as ruling a kingdom (e.g., King Janaka); others can do so in intervals of work; still others can do so by constant practice alone. They are respectively of the highest, the middle and the lowest order. Of these, the highest order represents the utmost limit of realization.
122. “Unbroken supreme awareness even in dream is the mark of the highest order.
123. “The Person who is not involuntarily made the tool of his mental predispositions but who invokes them at his will, is of the highest order.
124. “He who abides in the Self as ‘I-I,’ as spontaneously and continuously as the ignorant man does in the body, is again of the highest order.
125. “He who, though engaged in work, does not look upon anything as non-self, is a perfect sage.
126. “He who even while doing his work remains as in a sleep is a perfect sage.
127. “Thus the best among the sages are never out of samâdhi, be they working or idle.
128-133. “He who is from his own experience capable of appreciating the states of other jnanis including the best among them, is certainly a perfect sage. He who is not influenced by happiness or misery, by pleasure or pain, by desires, doubts or fear, is a perfect sage. He who realizes pleasure, pain and every other phenomenon to be in and of the Self, is a perfect sage. He who feels himself pervading all—be they ignorant or emancipated—is a perfect sage. He who knowing the trammels of bondage, does not seek release from them and remains in peace, is a perfect sage.
“The perfect among the sages is identical with Me. There is absolutely no difference between us.
134. “I have now told you all these in answer to your questions. You need no longer be perplexed with doubts.
135. “Having said so, Transcendental Intelligence became silent.
“Then all the Rishis saluted Siva and the other Gods and returned to their own abodes.
“I have now told you the sacred Gita of pure knowledge, which destroys all sins and purifies the mind. This Gita is the best among Gitas because it has proceeded from Abstract Intelligence Herself and it leads one to emancipation on being attentively heard and cogitated upon.
“This Gita is the raft to save one from sinking in the ocean of samsara (cycle of births and deaths), and so it must be read or repeated every day with love and care.”
Thus ends the chapter of Vidya Gita in Tripura Rahasya.
Chapter XXI
On the Accomplishment of Wisdom, Its Nature and
Scriptural Lore
1. After Parasurâma heard this from Sri Dattatreya he felt as if released from the meshes of ignorance.
2-8. He again saluted Sri Datta and asked him with great devotion: “Lord! please tell me exactly how wisdom can be accomplished. I want to hear the essence of it in brief. The method should also be easy and at the same time efficient. Please also tell me the characteristics of the sages, so that I may readily recognise them. What is their state with or without the body? How can they be unattached though active? Kindly tell me all this.”
Thus requested, the son of Atri spoke to him with pleasure: “Listen! Rama, I am now telling you the secret of accomplishment. Of all the requisites for wisdom, Divine Grace is the most important. He who has entirely surrendered himself to the Goddess is sure to gain wisdom readily. Rama! this is the best of all the methods.
9-17. “This method does not require other aids to reinforce its efficiency, as other methods do for accomplishing the end. There is a reason for it. Pure Intelligence illumining all has cast a veil of ignorance of Her own over all. Her true nature is evident only after removing this veil by discrimination. This is hard for those whose minds are directed outward; and it is easy, sure and quick for devotees engrossed in the Goddess of the Self to the exclusion of all else.
“An intense devotee, though endowed with only a little discipline of other kinds (e.g., dispassion), can readily understand the truth though only theoretically, and expound it to others. Such exposition helps him to imbue those ideas and so he absorbs the truth. This ultimately leads him to identify all individuals with Siva and he is no longer affected by pleasure or pain. All-round identification with Siva makes him the best of jnanis and a jivanmukta (emancipated here and now). Therefore bhakti yoga (way of devotion) is the best of all and excels all else.
18-24. “The characteristics of a jnani are hard to understand, because they are inscrutable and inexpressible. For instance, a pandit cannot be adequately described except by his appearance, gait and dress because his feelings, depth of knowledge, etc., are known to himself alone; while the flavor of a particular dish cannot be exactly conveyed by word to one who has not tasted it; but a pandit can be understood only by another pandit by his method of expression. A bird alone can follow the track of another bird.
“There are of course some traits which are obvious, and others which are subtle and inscrutable. Those which are obvious are their speech, language, postures of meditation, signs of worship, dispassion, etc., which can however be imitated by non-sages.
25. “What are accomplishments to others to the accompaniment of dispassion, meditation, prayer, etc., remain natural to the sage whose mind is pure and unsophisticated.
26. “He whom honor and insult, loss or gain, cannot affect, is a sage of the best class.
27. “The best among sages can, without hesitation give complete answers on matters relating to Realization and the sublimest truths.
28. “He seems to be spontaneously animated when discussing matters pertaining to jnana (realization) and is never tired of their exposition.
29. “His nature is to remain without efforts. Contentment and purit
y abide in him. Even the most critical situations do not disturb his peace of mind.
30. “These are qualities which must be tried for oneself and verified; they are of no value as tests applied to others, for they may be genuine or spurious.
31. “An aspirant must first apply the tests to himself and always prove his own worth; he can then judge others.
32-33. “How can the repeated testing of oneself fail to improve one? Let one not spend one’s time judging others; but let one judge oneself. Thus one becomes perfect.
34-38. “What have here been called the traits of a jnani are meant for one’s own use and not for testing others, because they admit of many modifications according to circumstances. For instance, a jnani who has realized the Self with the least effort may continue in his old ways although his mind is unassailable. He looks like a man of the world for all practical purposes. How then can he be judged by others? Nevertheless, one jnani will know another at sight just as an expert can appraise precious stones at a glance.
“The jnanis of the lowest order behave like ignorant men in their care for their bodies.
39-54. “They have not attained sahaja samâdhi (samâdhi unbroken even while engaged in work, etc.). They are in the state of Perfection only when they are calm or composed. They have as much of the body-sense and enjoy pleasure and pain with as much zest as any animal when they are not engaged in the investigation of the Self.
“Though they are not always inquiring into the Self, yet there are periods of the perfect state owing to their previous practice and experience. All the same, they are emancipated because the animal-sense is only an aberration during interludes of imperfection and does not always leave any mark of them. Their aberration is similar to the ashy skeleton of a piece of burnt cloth which, though retaining the old shape, is useless. Again, the intervals of Realization have an abiding effect on their lives, so that the world does not continue to enthral them as heretofore. A dye applied to the border of a cloth ‘creeps’ and shades the body of the cloth also.
Tripura Rahasya Page 18