[Advaita-l] Jnanam and Meditation

[Srikrishna Ghadiyaram]

hariH Om !!

--- Balaji Krishnapuram
<balajikrishnapuram at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Shri Jaladhar Vyas wrote :
> 
> >Atma vichara, the contemplation of the question
> "who am I?" is all the
> > meditation you need.
> -------------------
> In this context I have some sincere questions that
> have been nagging me for
> a long time. 

Brahman is not another 'guy' whom YOU will REALIZE. If
this is clear, all is well. The 'guy' who REALIZES is
the Brahman, YOU.

What goes through waking, dream, sleep is the mind.
The substratum for this mind goes nowhere. If it were
so, there is  no reference point at all.

As you have already negated that you are not the mind,
of which ego is an expression (mode of mind, a
thought), you already know that you are of the nature
Knowing, of Chit (Knowledge), Sat (Existance) Ananda
(Infinite). So, this is the meaning of 'ATMA'.

What does sruti say ?

Sruti only says that this 'ATMA' is no different from
'BRAHMAN', jagatkaranam.

Turiya is not the 4 th state. It is only as if it is a
4 th state. If it were so, the Mandukya would have
listed it as 4 th state. It only says that 'chaturtham
manyante', consider it to be the 4 th. It also says
'ekatma pratyaya saram', the essence of 'self'. 

The substratum for all the three states is always
there. It is not a state of mind which comes and goes.

If the notion of ATMA being this 'limited' individual
is gone, then what remains and what has been always is
that Brahman, this feeling of limitation is coming
from the thought/ignorance of fullness whose locus is
the mind (ego thought). So, through meditation if you
become vigilant when such a thought of 'limited being'
arises, slowly such thoughts of limitation stop
arising. At the same time there is no reason to go
about saying 'I am Brahman', as you do not go about
saying 'I am a man' etc.

The most fundamental basis of this 'limitation' is
'death'. So, when the thought of 'death' comes if you
can withstand that ' there is no death to YOU', and
when it becomes your abiding nature, YOU are
liberated.

So, atma vichara is only telling you to invest your
sense of atma from the limited matter superimposed
consciousness to pure (devoid of superimposition of
matter) consciousness.

As any attempt to meditate is coming from mind (ego),
meditation can not cause its 'SOURCE'. Only enquiry of
its 'true nature' can remove the confusion. Ofcourse,
you have to do all this meditation/enquiry only
through 'mind/intellect' only. That is why it is
accepted that such REALIZATION can not come from
intellect. It can help remove apoha (mis-conception)
of its own, by new understanding coming from this
analysis. Since such Knowledge has to take place
/happen from outside agency, sruti vakya is accepted
as capable of causing REALIZATION. So, make the mind
ready to receive and allow that realization to take
place. Such realization (knowledge) is not sensory.
So, it is not an experience (neither direct, nor
in-direct like reasoning). That is why it is
non-sensory and a-paroksha (not-paroksha). It is not
said as pratyaksha which is akin to indriya jnana. 

So, this knowledge of Brahman is not knowledge gained
by 'someone' as 'this is Brahman', but I am not
'there'; I, as I knew and thought myself to be, do not
exist. I am purnaH. I am not limited, I can not die.
All is well. Actually, there is none saying to himself
all this. This jananm, which is my nature. So, Chit is
not an attribute to Brahman. Chit is Brahman.

Om Namo Narayanaya !!

Srikrishna




		
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