Hari OM
'Text-days' are for delving into the
words and theory of Advaita Vedanta.
In doing all this study, we are often exposed to other people who
claim to have had charismatic experiences and it is something we are all
interested in. Fascinated by, in fact. No doubt there are levels of
'breakthrough' in awareness which can bring a state of euphoria. However, what
is all this sensation about?
Éae´a
sÅvgu[> zuÏae Éaegana< saxn< rj>,
ÉaeGy<
tmaegu[< àahuratma cE;a< àkazk>.49.
Bhoktaa sattvagunaH shuddho bhogaanaam saadhanam rajaH,
Bhogyam tamogunam praahur-aatmaa chashaam prakaashakaH ||49||
The enjoyer is pure sattva guna and
the instrument of enjoyment is rajo guna. The wise say that the object of
enjoyment is tamo guna and the Self is the illuminator of these.
Remembering your reading in earlier texts with regard to the
trigunas, it ought to immediately jump to mind that sattva is pure and calm,
rajas is active and driven and tamas is indolent and lustful. Here it the triad
is being applied to the components of the experiencer (enjoyer) as the
individual self, the ability to experience is via the body and that all which
is external to these two becomes the object of experience. Then it is made
clear that the Consciousness stands apart from all of these but permits us
knowledge of them, in the way the street lamp show us the pavement, the cars
moving and cars parked and so on.
Thus we are to understand that the Self is present in all three.
Cause pervading the effects.
This is another way of explaining the knower, the knowing and the
known. It is a lesson which is repeated throughout Vedantic texts and with each
revisit, we, as the saadhakas who have diligently applied ourselves (--is it
not so?!--) will find something else to take from the equation. No building can
be built without the materials of construction. With each time we go to make
another building, we will have become more familiar with the materials and how
they work together and how we might adapt them - but they always remain as
bricks and mortar, wood and nail.
These concepts are the building materials of Vedantic philosophy.
Never tire of them and playing with them and making them your own. Keep doing
so until the become a part of your own fabric. Do not just know the materials,
let the materials merge into your being. Become vijnaana and create that final
building in which is the door to the Ultimate Truth. As the Bhagavad Gita
declares,
"One who knows the Supreme Self
beyond the three qualities attains Me."
