Aparokshanubhuthi – 12

Conclusion 

Verse 135

Karye karanatayata karane na hi karyata I

Karanatvam tato gacchetkaryabhave vicharatah II

The nature of the cause inheres in the effect and not vice versa; so through reasoning it is found that in the absence of the effect the cause, as such, also disappears.

Verse 136

Atha suddham bhavedvastu yadvai vachamagocharam I

Drastavyam mrdghaṭenaiva drstantena punah punah II

Then that pure Reality (Brahman) which is beyond speech alone remains.  This should be understood again and again verily through the illustration of clay and pot.

Verse 137

Anenaiva prakarena vrttirbrahmatmika bhavet I

Udeti suddhachittanam vrttijnanam tatah param II

In this way alone there arises in the pure-minded a state of awareness (of Brahman) which is afterwards merged into Brahman.

Sri Sankara is presenting the essence of Vedantic meditation starting with karana-karya Vichara in these verses. First accept the karyam; introduce the karanam; negate the karyam and then negate the causal state of karanam as well.  As only karyam inheres the nature of karanam and not the karanam the nature of karyam, the effectual state also is negated. (verse 135).  The above process is illustrated by the pot-clay example.  The karanam can exist without karyam but karyam cannot exist without karanam.  It means pot cannot exist without clay but clay can exist without the pot.  Pot does not exist without clay means that the pot has borrowed existence and pot is as good as non-existent.  This is called falsification of the pot which is done on enquiry.  Once karyam, pot, is negated, karanam status of clay is negated.  One accepts the reality of the universe in the first stage; then introduces Brahman as karanam and then negates the reality of the world as nama-rupa which does not have any substantiality on its own and concludes Brahman alone exists as Real.  Brahman being the only Reality has no karana-status as well as the karya status and It does not have the Nirguna or substratum statuses and that Brahman alone is Real. (verse 136) By constant practice of contemplation and discrimination thus, there dawns in one’s mind rendered pure through the practice of the four preliminary qualifications the knowledge that Brahman alone is Real, and nothing else exists as Real and that Brahman is one’s Self only, destroying the ignorance that deluded him by projecting the world as Real.  Then one becomes not a mere knower, but Knowledge itself.  In that state, one’s vrtti will be of the nature of Brahman alone and all other thoughts will be extinguished like the fire run out of fuel.

Verse 138

Karanam vyatirekena pumanadau vilokayet I

Anvayena punastaddhi karye nityam prapasyati II

One should first look for the cause by the negative method and then find it by the positive method, as ever inherent in the effect.

Verse 139

Karye hi karanam pasyetpascatkaryam visarjayet I

Karanathvam thatho gachchet avasishtam bhavenmunih II

One should verily see the cause in the effect, and then dismiss the effect altogether.  What then remains, the sage himself becomes. 

The cause can be inferred either from a positive or from a negative proposition. The positive proposition is: “Where there is an effect there must be a cause” and the negative one is: “Where there is no cause, there is no effect”.  From either proposition we come to the conclusion that it is Brahman which is the cause of the world.  For, there is the world (effect) and therefore there is Brahman (cause); and if there were no Brahman (cause), there would be no world (effect) at all.  (verse 138)

First keep your attention on the objective world (karyam) and then turn your attention to subjective awareness (karanam) and then negate the objective world and remain the awareness which is neither the object nor the subject.  The awareness which is neither the subject nor the object is the Chaitanya-rupa aham that is Brahman and is the one meditated upon by the meditator.  This is the Vedantic meditation to be practiced. (Verse 139)

Verse 140

Bhavitam tivravegena yadvastu nischayatmana I

Pumamstaddhi bhavecchighram jneyam bhramarakitavat II

A person who meditates upon a thing with great assiduity and firm conviction, becomes the very thing. This may be understood from the illustration of the wasp and the worm.

Verse 141

Adrsyam bhavarupancha sarvameva chidatmakam I

Savadhanataya nityam svatmanam bhavayedbudhah II

The wise should always think with great care of the invisible, the visible and everything else, as his own Self which is Consciousness itself

Verse 142

Drsyam hyadrsyatam niitva brahmakarena chintayet I

Vidvannityasukhe tistheddhiya chidrasapurnaya II

Having reduced the visible to the invisible, the wise should think of the world as one with Brahman.  Thus alone will he abide in eternal felicity with the mind full of Consciousness and Bliss.

The Nitidhyasana-phalam is given in the verse 140 quoting bhramara-kita-nyaya. Bhramara is a wasp; this bhramara takes a worm from outside and keeps it imprisoned in its mud-house and goes on stinging it regularly until one day the worm constantly thinking of the bhramara in fear, gets itself transformed into a bhramara and flies out.  So also a person when he meditates upon Brahman continuously with concentration and conviction with all his mind will become Brahman in course of time. The assimilation and internalisation of the Jnanam only is called becoming Brahman.   So Brahma-Jnanam becomes spontaneous in course of time when one meditates steady and steadfast on Brahman as one’s Self.  In verse 141 Sri Sankara says this meditation should continue for a long time with sarvathmabhava to get the samsara-personality revamped to a jnana-nishta one.  He should think with care and commitment of the universe, known and unknown, experienced and unexperienced as not different from him, the Athma that is Brahman. The same idea is retold in a different way in verse 142.  Drsyam, visible, means anathma-prapancha and adrsya, invisible, means Athma.  The Purnatva born out of this Knowledge is called Sukha and this Purnatva is not a particular temporary experience born out of a situation but it is the fulfilment born out of Knowledge.  And since the Knowledge is permanent, Brahmakara-vrtti of Sat, Chit, Anand in the mind is also permanent.

Verse 143

Ebhirangaih samayukto rajayoga udahrtah I

Kincitpakvakasayanam hathayogena samyutah II

Thus has been described Raja-Yoga consisting of these steps (mentioned above).  With this is to be combined Hatha-Yoga for those whose worldly desires are partially attenuated.

Verse 144

Paripakvam mano yesam kevalo'yaṃ cha siddhidah I

Gurudaivatabhaktanam sarvesam sulabho javat II

For those whose mind is completely purified this (Raja-Yoga) alone is productive of perfection.  Purity of mind, again is speedily accessible to those who are devoted to the Guru and God.

These two are the concluding verses.  Sri Sankara calls the fifteen steps listed earlier in verses 102 and 103 as Raja-yoga.  Raja-Yoga is purely psychological in character, and it is extremely difficult to practice for those who have not overcome the physical disabilities and not made the mind free of worldly desires.  To them Hatha-Yoga that teaches physical control and concentration as a first step is advised, so that they first gain control over their external and internal nature and thereby qualify themselves for the practice of Raja-Yoga. (verse 141) Those who have attained purity of mind alone can benefit from Raja-Yoga and attain Purnathvam.  Having implicit faith in the words of the Guru and unflinching devotion to one’s Ishta-Devatha helps one to acquire purity of mind faster. (verse 146)

Acknowledgement

While concluding the series of blogs on Aparokshanubhuthi, I wish to record my deep debt of gratitude to the speeches and writings on Aparokshanubhuthi, of:

1)   Swami Vimukthananda

2)    Swami Paramarthananda  &

3)  Swami Guruparananda 

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