ADVENTURES IN ADVAITA VEDANTA...

Adventures in Advaita Vedanta, the philosophy and science of spirit. We are one you and I; are you curious why?..


Freedom


Hari OM
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are about!

For as long as it takes to complete it, we are going to be using today as well as Text-days to fulfil study of the SadaachaaraH. If you have not been following that text, then use the relevant label to go back to the beginning. It is, as might be surmised from its title, about how to go about saadhana, but also explores more of the Sanskrit philosophy; it is therefore both a 'working' as well as a 'thinking' text.

Now comes a shloka which rounds off direct discussion on 'what is mind' in preparation for the next level of understanding.

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Jneyavastu-parityaagaat jnaanam tishthati kevalam,
Triputii kshiinataameti brahma-nirvaanam-Rchcchati ||37||
Knowledge alone remains when the objects of knowledge are renounced. When the triad ceases, then one reaches the state of liberation.

What triad is referred to? Knower, knowing, known. If we ever manage to enter unmani and work towards sahaja samaadhi, we can expect to find ourselves in a state of Pure Knowledge with no sense of plurality remaining.

In our current state of duality, we see the spiritual as separate from the physical. In the physical, we have our body and the material world (sthuula shariira), we have the workings of the body, for example, the pranas and antaH-karana (suukshma shariira) and then we have that part of us connected to something 'other' which eludes most of us and many would deny in themselves. The causative factor of our existence (karana shariira). The whole of our life in this duality is experienced in triads (triputi). Within the antaH-karana, we find the knowledge triad we have been discussing these past few weeks. How does it fit with the shariira model? The knower is part of the jnaanamaya kosha (intellectual sheath) of the suukshma shariira. The objective world is found in either of the anamaya (food) or pranamaya (vital airs) koshas - through which stimulus arrives. The knowledge aspect exists as the illuminated thought modification in the manamaya (mental) kosha.

For as long as we are in a learning position, it is important to remember this triad is at work.

We have been seeing that the aim of dedicated saadhakas is to reach a state of 'no mind', but this verse makes it clear that this does not mean that we are asleep on the job! Unlike the deep sleep bliss, this state is filled with the light of Pure Knowledge, an awareness unimaginable to us in our current state. This offers a kind of freedom far removed to our normal meaning of it.

True liberation has nothing to do with being able to go about doing anything we want at any old time, to have no physical ties or behave without boundaries. Gurudev said, "to be able to say 'no' to our mind is to be free and truly liberated." We spend our lives in a state of compulsive thought without the ability to truly direct our mind. We let our thoughts ramble unfettered by intellectual discipline or proper focus, considering ourselves to 'be free' when all that is happening is that we have become a slave to our minds. It is dangerous, for our minds can take us to dark places, drive us to dangerous spaces, prevent us even from tying our laces. Our minds are our greatest enemies to ourselves unless we take control! Becoming the masters of our own minds is the ultimate way to freedom.