[Advaita-l] Contemplating the Self - The Multifaceted Jivanmukta

[Divya Meedin]

An excerpt from Chapter 6 - The Multifaceted Jivanmukta, page 97 (published
by Sri Vidyatheertha Foundation)

Chapter 6
Contemplating the Self

[The following is my rendering into English of a portion of His Holiness’s
benedictory address delivered in Kannada, at the Sringeri Shankara Math,
Bengaluru, on September 5, 1987. This discourse was the last of a series of
six by His Holiness on His Guru. The occasion was a “Smaraṇa-Saptāha (A
week of Recollection)” organised at the Math in which various speakers
talked about H.H. Jagadguru Śrī Candraśekhara Bhāratī.]

“When staying in Narasimhavana with my Guru, I used to go every evening to
behold Śāradāmbā and remain there for up to an hour. “On my return, He once
asked me, ‘You have crossed the river and come. What thought arose in your
mind?’

“ ‘What thought?’ I wondered and replied, ‘I perceived various objects.’

“(He:) What was new?

(I:) Nothing. I saw what was in front of me.

(He:) Must you see whatever is in front of your eyes?

(I:) If the eyes be kept closed (to abstain from perceiving objects), it
would not be possible to walk.

(He:) You must see and yet not see.

(I:) How is that possible?

  “To this, He said, ‘ātmāmbhodhes-taraṅgo’smy-aham-iti gamane (When
walking, one should think that one is a wave in the ocean that is the
Ātman).’ This is how we should conduct ourselves. When we get up from a
seated position and start walking, the feeling should not be, ‘We are
walking and going somewhere.’ In the big ocean - the Ātman - a wave has
arisen. That wave is moving forward. This is the supposition. There is no
difference between the wave and the ocean. Yet, because one walks (and thus
moves forward like the wave), one should think of oneself as the wave. When
the occasion to walk arises, one should contemplate, ‘I am a wave in the
ocean of the bliss, in the ocean of the Ātman.’

“His advice surprised me. He went on, ‘At all times - even when you talk to
someone - repeat this idea in the mind.’ With practice, one uninterruptedly
carries on this repetition even while speaking. Experience confirms this.

“What should be the thought when one is seated? He advised,
‘bhāvayann-āsanasthaḥ saṁvit-sūtrānuviddho maṇir-aham-iti vā’smi (When
seated, one should think that one is a gem strung on the string of
consciousness). A gem has been strung on the thread of knowledge. The gem
cannot be removed; the thread is made of unbreakable consciousness. I am
that gem. Contemplation must be done in this manner.’

" (My Guru further said:) ‘indriyārtha-pratītau draṣṭo’smy-ātmāvalokād-iti
(When perceiving sense-objects through the senses, one should think that
one is seen since the Ātman is beheld). Whenever some object is seen, the
reflection should not be, ‘This object is now visible.’ One must think,
‘Aha! Objectless consciousness has now become associated with objects. The
Ātman was manifest earlier but now its manifestation has waxed.’ On
receiving a blow, we become markedly aware of the body; do we not? We
normally do have awareness of the body but this awareness increases when we
are beaten. Similar is the case here. Accordingly, even when perceiving
some external object, one should cogitate that apprehension of the Ātman
has occurred.

“(My Guru further said:) ‘śayana-vidhau magna ānanda-sindhau (When lying
down, one should think that one is immersed in the ocean of bliss). Do not
just fall asleep. When lying down, contemplate, ‘I am now immersed in an
ocean of bliss’ and, with this feeling, begin to sleep.’

“Doing so is very good. Whoever wants can test the difference between
simply lying down and going to sleep and sleeping after voluntarily
eradicating all thoughts from the mind while lying down, generating a
feeling of bliss and retaining it for some minutes till sleep overtakes
one. The great joy that this approach to sleep yields becomes apparent once
it is experienced for a few days.

  “(My Guru concluded:) ‘antar-niṣṭho mumukṣuḥ sa khalu tanubhṛtāṁ yo
nayaty-evamāyuḥ. Amongst the embodied, that seeker of liberation who leads
one’s life contemplating in this fashion is indeed the one who abides
within, in the Ātman. Therefore, when walking, sitting, perceiving objects
and even when lying down, this is how we must conduct our life.’ “This is
the advice My Guru gave me.”

  When His Holiness first told me, in 1980, about His Guru’s aforesaid
advice, which was centred on the 12th verse of Bhagavatpāda’s Śataślokī, He
compassionately graced me with the following additional information:

His Holiness: “I was seated in front of my Guru when He gave this
explanation. No sooner had He completed His instruction about the attitude
to be maintained when seated than I strove to put this teaching into
practice. I did not think it appropriate to delay doing so even slightly.
However, though I promptly generated the thought, ‘I am a gem strung in the
thread of consciousness,’ the intensity of my contemplation was poor. A
reason was that I was then primarily concentrating on what my Guru was
telling me about the attitudes relating to perception and sleep. Further,
while karma-yoga and japa had become effortless for me at that time, such
contemplation was new to me. As I walked to my room after my Guru had
finished, I contemplated, ‘I am a wave in the blissful ocean that is the
Ātman.’ The intensity of this contemplation was much better.

“While I sincerely strove to practise what my Guru had taught Me, I did
experience two difficulties. This contemplation clashed now and then with
my karma-yoga (involving dedicating all actions and their fruits to God).
My Guru resolved this difficulty by telling me two days later, ‘The time
has come for you to go beyond the stage of karma-yoga, which you have
mastered. Now, direct your efforts to contemplating on the Ātman.’ The
second difficulty I had was that this contemplation partially came in the
way of my enjoying the presence of Śāradāmbā in the temple, mentally
worshipping Narasiṁha and the like. This is because I did these while
seated and now I had been advised to contemplate when seated that I am a
gem strung in the thread of consciousness. My Guru Himself clarified,
‘While the knowledge of the Ātman of a jīvanmukta (one liberated while
living) remains undisturbed by any thoughts and bodily activity, the case
of contemplation by a spiritual aspirant is different. Hence, for the
present, do your mental worship and the like as before and practise
contemplation on the Ātman at other times.’

“Though I no more had any fundamental problems, my contemplation suffered
from occasional discontinuities. Such breaks mainly occurred when I was
speaking and when I got carried away by the beauty of the river and the
surroundings. One evening when I went to my Guru’s presence, He asked,
‘Where are you coming from?’ ‘From Ambā’s temple,’ I replied. ‘What did you
see on the way?’ He queried. A break had occurred in my contemplation while
crossing the river Tuṅgā. Understanding the thrust of His question, I said
that I beheld fish playing in the Tuṅgā. ‘Did you contemplate correctly at
that time?’ was my Guru’s next query. ‘I was contemplating before and after
that but, for a few moments, the process became disrupted,’ I admitted. My
Guru said, ‘Never give room for such breaks.’ I hung my head in shame and
resolved that I should not be such a useless disciple Thereafter, by my
Guru’s grace, such discontinuities in contemplation did not occur. In a few
months, the four forms of contemplation became effortless.”

{The senior Jagadguru advised His Holiness about the fourfold contemplation
on the Ātman in the year Āngīrasa, which ended on March 27, 1933. The
contemplation advocated became effortless for His Holiness sometime before
His birthday on āśvinakṛṣṇa-caturdaśī in the cyclical year Śrīmukha, that
is, prior to His completing 16 years of age on 18th October, 1933.}