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.”
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
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