Friday, July 26, 2013

(July 26,2013) Process of Initiation by The Guru

Process of Initiation by The Guru
Divine Life Society Publication: Commentary on the Panchadasi – Chapter 7 Triptidipa Prakaranam by Swami Krishnananda

In the Upanishads there are two types of description of reality. One definition is called avantara vakya and another is called mahavakya.  Avantara vakya is the statement which merely tells us that something exists. It will not tell us where it is. Brahman exists: asti brahma.

Existence alone was prior to the act of creation – One alone, without a second. This is avantara vakya. And the identity of that existed prior to creation, with our own self is the mahavakya. Its existence merely as such, as an object of our knowledge, is indirect knowledge born of avantara vakya. When it is said that we are inseparable from it, right from eternity, the mahavakya –  the great statement of instruction – has been communicated.

One alone without a second did exist. Therefore, we cannot exist outside it. Therefore, it is understood, it is implied, that we are inseparable from that. This is aparoksa experience, direct knowledge.

There was a Guru called Varuna. He had a son called Bhrigu, who was also a disciple. This is an illustration taken from the Taittiriya Upanishad. “Teach me Brahman,” said the disciple to the Guru. “That from which everything comes, that in which everything subsists, that to which everything returns is Brahman. Meditate on this,” was the instruction. After meditating, the disciple went to the Guru again, “Teach me Brahman.” “Contemplate this physical sheath as Brahman.” He meditated, and went again, “Please teach me Brahman.” “Contemplate the vital sheath as Brahman.” He meditated on that, and went again and said, “Please teach me Brahman.” “Contemplate the mental sheath as Brahman.” He meditated thus, and went again to the Guru and said, “Please teach me Brahman.”

 Why did he go again and again? There was some defect in the instruction and also in the experience thereby – that is to say, in considering physical, vital, or mental sheaths as Brahman. Again the disciple went, “Please teach me Brahman.” “Meditate on the intellectual sheath as Brahman.” He again meditated on that, and went again to the Guru and said, “Teach me Brahman.” “Meditate on the bliss of Brahman.” After that he did not go again. When bliss has been experienced, why should we go to the Guru afterwards? The Guru is rejected because bliss is a greater Guru than the Guru who brought us the bliss.

In the beginning, it was only a definition by way of an indirect instruction. Brahman is that which is the cause, sustenance and the end of all things, and it is that which is pervading the physical body, that which pervades the vital, mental, intellectual sheaths, that which is the ultimate bliss that we experience in the state of deep sleep. Having consciously entered into that sleep, if we can be conscious that we are sleeping, we are in direct contact with Brahman. As we cannot be conscious that we are sleeping, that contact is not possible. We come back in the same way as we went into it.

The Guru Varuna did not directly tell Bhrigu what Brahman was. He wanted the disciple to work his own way, by his personal effort, and so he only lead him gradationally, stage by stage, through the levels of experience, right from the conceptual idealisation of God (Brahman) as that which exists as the volition, the sustenance, and the end of all things, that which is in the physical and other sheaths, that which is the ultimate bliss.

Bliss in an indication of Brahman; it is not Brahman itself. The bliss of the causal sheath which the disciple experienced is an indication of Brahman's bliss. It is not Brahman itself. That is to say, when we enter the state of deep sleep, we are not experiencing Brahman, though maybe, theoretically, it may be equal to our landing ourselves in Brahman.

If our plane suddenly requires fuel it lands somewhere, at some airport, and we do not even know which country it is, whose airport it is. If we do not even know where we have landed, and simply know that we have landed, that is something like an indirect jumping into the Brahman state. But actually, landing in sleep – that blissful experience of the condition of sleep – is not Brahman experience because we wake up from sleep into the mortal experience of the physical existence. If we had really gone to Brahman, we would not have woken up.

Therefore, the causal experience of Brahman is only an indication and not a direct experience. This experience has been undergone gradually through the physical, vital, and other sheaths. It is a final indicator of Brahman's existence. It is a signpost which tells us that Brahman is appearing, but Brahman has not yet appeared.

The Taittiriya Upanishad says satyam jñānam anantaṁ brahma: Truth, Knowledge, Infinity is Brahman. This is another way of saying sarvaṁ khalvidaṁ brahma: God is Brahman. If all is Brahman, what does it matter to us? It matters very much because we are not outside it. After having being told that Brahman is Truth, Knowledge, Infinity, we are instructed into a further reality of the fact of our being non-separate from that Brahman which is Truth, Knowledge, Infinity. This is how gradual instruction is imparted by the Guru to the disciple in the process of what is known as initiation.

The graduated technique adopted by Gurus in teaching disciples varies from person to person, from individual to individual, and from one state of evolution to another state of evolution. And this case of Varuna teaching Bhrigu to pass through all these stages of Brahman being immanent in the five sheaths, and experiencing the final bliss of Brahman as it is manifest in the state of sleep, is one category of graduated instruction by the Guru to the disciple.

Excerpts from:
Initiation by Guru - Commentary on the Panchadasi by Swami Krishnananda

If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit:
http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at:

No comments:

Post a Comment