Kanchi Maha-Swamigal's Discourses on Advaita Saadhanaa (KDAS-14)

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Namaste.

For Introduction, see

advaitin/message/27766

For the previous post on this thread, see

advaitin/message/27945

 

Sec.15. NITYA-ANITYA VASTU VIVEKAM

(Discrimination between the permanent and the transient)

 

The first one, like the ‘sa’ of music, in SadhanA, that

is, in Sadhana-chatushhTayaM, is NityAnitya-vastu-vivekaM.

 

Doing our karmas sincerely and systematically as per the

ShAstras, dedicating all of them to Ishvara, doing bhakti

towards that Ishvara, by means of these attaining a

certain purification in the mind, as well as obtaining a

capability to keep the mind steady on one thing – all these

constitute the first stage. First stage, not in jnAna yoga,

but in the spiritual dimensional journey of the jIva.

This belongs to karma yoga only. The second stage begins

after this and that is the first stage in jnAna yoga. And

in that, the first subject of mention is

‘nityAnitya-vastu-vivekaM’. So now let us asume that we

have all reached that maturity resulting from the

observance of karma and bhakti. [The Swamigal adds with a

smile]: Let us build castles in the air, or cheat ourselves

so and start to learn the ways of jnAna yoga. We

certainly do a lot of castle-building and self-cheating;

let us now do it for some good purpose!

 

If one wants to get involved in matters of the Atman, what

should lie at the base of all that? It is the knowledge

that the Atman is the only permanent entity all other

things being only ephemeral. If this knowledge is not

there, man will always remain a samsAri and continue to

suffer as he does now. The basic conviction that

‘everything that gives us pleasure in this world, that

gives status and honour, all of that is transient; nothing

will ever give us permanent happiness; what gives

permanent happiness is only the Atman, the only permanent

entity’ – this faith is the most important thing. Now and

then the mind may be distracted and drawn towards several

other things. At every such time one should beware and

keep the mind steady. “Should I go into this just because

it gives me pleasure? Is this an unmixed happiness? Even if

it be unmixed happiness, will it be permanent? Once the

mind enters into it will not the taste of it entice it to

make efforts to go into it again and again? Would that not

be a bondage of the mind? If something will not help the

mind to become pure and restful, should I enter into it?”

Such analysis has to be done by the intellect. It should

keep weighing the pros and cons about what is permanent and

what is impermanent. Only then can we hope to go the

spiritual path.

 

This balancing analysis by the intellect is called

‘vivekaM’. The analysis of balancing between what is

permanent and what is ephemeral is what is called

*nitya-anitya-vastu-vivekaM*. This is the very first step

in Atma-SadhanA.

 

About impermanent things we certainly know well. In fact

whatever about which we know well are all impermanent!

Though what is permanent transcends the mind and speech,

the shAstras do tell us about it. It is from them that we

learn the fundamental information about the eternal Atman.

Dwelling in thoughts of That which can give permanent peace

and permanent happiness, we should be able to throw off the

the transient things which can give only impermanent peace

and happiness.

 

It is not necessary to throw them off right in this

beginning stage. Though they are not the permanent entity,

Atman, there are several things among the impermanent ones

that can help us go towards that permanent one. The

shastras about the Atman, the teachings of great men about

it, the holy pilgrimage centres that produce a pure state

of mind, puranas and stotras and several similar ones,

are all there. Of course none of these is the Atman. Only

when even these are nullified, the Realisation of the Atman

takes place. The experience of Permanence is that of being

the Atman alone, without any thought or action. The only

Absolute Truthful experience is that and nothing else.

Even if God Himself stands before us and gives darshan,

even if we are in the lap of Mother goddess (AmbaaL

herself) and She pets us – even that is not the experience

of the Permanent Reality of the Atman. However, all these

can lead us to a close proximity to that. Thus there are

things of happiness – what we then consider to be happiness

– that range all the way from those which take us to that

Permanent experience to those which takes us away very far.

At the beginning stage we should choose, by our discretion,

the good ones among these and use them to take us on the

right path. Recall what the God of Death (Yama) told

Nachiketas: ‘By means of impermanent entities we should

reach the Permanent One’ (Kathopanishad: I -ii – 10).

 

The true Sadhaka on the JnAna path would have already

escaped from the sensual pleasures that are nothing but

obstacles to spiritual growth and from those others which

are far away from the Atman, like the pleasures of gossip,

and the pleasure of being an idler doing nothing. But

ordinary people like us who have to start from these

beginnings, have to use our discretion (vivekaM) that can

distinguish between the Permanent and the impermanent.

Movies, gluttony, addiction to coffee or cricket

commentary, reading senseless fiction, excited gossip about

politics – thus there are many more that attract us very

forcefully. We have to be alert and keep thinking: ‘Would

these things contribute even an iota to my spiritual

growth? Should I give them so much importance?’ What will

lead us to That Permanent One and what will not? – a

mercilessly strict balancing analysis is what

nityA-nitya-vastu-vivekaM means. I said ‘mercilessly

strict’ because our mind always tries to rationalize doing

what it likes to do; it will discover all sorts of

justifications. Use the discriminatory power that does

not give in to that kind of imagination and that judges

this analysis very strictly, to assess yourself. See that

it does not allow itself to ‘pass’ what deserves to

‘fail’.

 

(To be Continued)

PraNAms to all students of advaita.

PraNAms to the Maha-Swamigal.

profvk

 

 

 

 

 

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

 

Latest on my website: A conversation on the Concept of God in Hinduism.

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/VK2/ConceptofGOD.html