Meditate on the Name (Namopassva)
Divine Life
Society Publication: Chapter 3- The Chhandogya
Upanishad by Sri Swami Krishnananda
Life is ultimately all sorrow
on account of one being subjected to the process of transmigration. It is a
fact that there are higher pressures exerted upon the individual and that these
pressures compel one to be driven along the course of creativity. As long as
the cause of this pressure is not realized as identical with one's own Self,
one is not going to attain ultimate freedom from samsara, the cycle of
metempsychosis. This cause for ultimate freedom is the Self of all, the realization
of which bestows true freedom. And that Self is the Universal Reality.
It has been explained through
various analogies, comparisons and illustrations as to how there can be only
one Being and that every detail in creation is only a form taken by this one
Being in the process of creation, so that there is really only one Being and
not two, and that Being is the Self, the Atman.
This is done by gradually
taking the mind of the student from the lowest reality conceivable to the
highest, stage by stage, indicating thereby that nothing is lost when the
Absolute is realized. When God is attained, nothing of the world is lost, just
as when we catch the original we cannot be said to have lost the shadow.
Everything is gained in a supersensible manner. The shadow may be said to be a
part of the original. It is included in the original. All the lesser degrees of
Reality are only forms of Its manifestation. Every name and form in this
creation is a lesser degree of manifestation of the Reality. The lower degree
is not excluded from the higher degree, as the higher includes the lower, and
the highest is everything and is all-inclusive.
Narada, a master, a sage
himself, approaches the divine teacher Sanatkumara, the son of Brahma for
spiritual instructions and spiritual solace. He expresses his grief over the
fact that he knows so many things but does not have peace of mind in spite of
all this knowledge.
Narada says: I have heard from
other people that a person who knows the Self crosses over sorrow. What is this
Self? I am in internal suffering which has not been relieved by my learning and
knowledge. I have a lot of information about every art and every science. I do
not know the real substance of these arts and sciences. The name is known, but
the content is not known to me."
Source of the sorrow
Every name has a form
corresponding to it. If we utter a particular name corresponding to an object,
we immediately have an idea of that object. But we do not possess that object
merely because we have an idea of that object. So is the case with all this
learning. It is only an idea about certain things, but the things themselves
are beyond one's control. So, this theoretical learning has no connection with
the Reality. So, Narada is a knower of the mantras, the names, the
ideas. He has an intellectual knowledge, theoretical information. He is an
expert in understanding the nature of things, but the Self of these things is
beyond him. He has not known the Self of these things.
Sanatkumara replies: The
source of your sorrow is what is outside you and that is an external self for
you. It is not the Primary Self. Thus, the knowledge that you have about these
things which you have mentioned just now is not the knowledge of the Self of
these things, but the knowledge of the names of these things, the nomenclature
of these things. This is what they call theoretical knowledge of the things in
the world. I will tell you once again that this is only theory, and therefore,
it is not of much consequence in your life, but it has an importance in that it
is the beginning of knowledge. Therefore, meditate on 'name'.
Practice comes after theory
The idea of an object precedes
the real knowledge of the object. Unless we have some concept of the object,
how can we approach the object at all? Sanatkumara says that it is all 'name',
because it is the initial step in the process of the ascent of the soul to the
Supreme Reality.
The name of an object includes
every kind of information about the object. Thus, says Sanatkumara to Narada:
"You, first of all, assure yourself that you have a complete knowledge of
objects insofar as their name goes. Though beyond that you cannot go, at least
within that realm, be a master. You must have a correct descriptive knowledge
of these things."
Knowledge does not mean
ignorance of any particular aspect of experience. It is a total comprehension
of fact as such. Even bondage has to be known in its true structure. When we
are bound, we must know why we are bound. That is real knowledge. You cannot
say, "Well, I am not concerned with the stages of bondage, I am concerned
with freedom." What is freedom? It is knowledge of the causative factors
behind bondage. The cure of an illness begins with the knowledge of the
causative factors of illness behind it and then only the medicine comes.
The first stage of meditation
The lowest degree of knowledge
is informative knowledge of objects. So, namopassva—the first stage of
meditation—is mentioned here, which is ideological (conceptual). We may call it
theoretical. It is the operation of the mind in respect of an object. The
object is not under one's control. It is far away. We have only a thought of
the object. But, that is enough for the time being, because we are in that
level only. So, we should meditate on the name. We will be taken gradually from
stage to stage. When we are taken to a higher stage, what is implied is that
the lower stage has already become a part of our own self in deep meditation
and experience. It does not remain any more an object outside. When we have
become that in self-absorption, then only we can be given access to the realm
of a higher degree of reality. We should complete the process of absorbing the
contents of our knowledge, to the extent they can go in this world, by deep
meditation. This is conceptual meditation.
The principle of meditation
The principle of meditation is
this: whatever the object of your meditation be, that has to be taken as
absolute. There should not be anything external to it, because if the mind
conceives something higher than that particular object, then that higher thing
becomes the object of meditation. The point is that the object that you have
chosen for your meditation should be the last point of the reach of your mind,
beyond which it cannot go. Then it becomes the absolute. So this absolute is
only a name that we give to the best possible reach of the mind in any level or
degree of experience.
'Name is Brahman'-this means
name is the absolute, inasmuch as we are in a realm of names only. Why should
we not take the higher degree as the absolute, and not the lower one? Because
the higher one cannot be the content of the mind in its present state. Suppose
we are asked to meditate on the heavenly regions. We cannot, because we do not
know what it means. The heavenly regions are beyond the reach of the mind. We
will only superimpose physical pictures of our imagination on paradise, Brahma-loka,
etc. This is not what is intended. We must limit ourselves to the extent of our
knowledge, and complete the meditation regarding that particular object as
absolute in itself. So, Narada was asked to take 'name' as the absolute. The
result of this meditation on name is that to the extent name goes—to the extent
of the reach of the mind theoretically, conceptually—to that extent, the
meditator will be free.
Whoever meditates thus on
'name' as Brahman has freedom in this manner, to that extent of, and in that
particular realm of, the name only. Narada asks: "Is there not anything
more than this?" "Yes, there is something more than this,"
replies Sanatkumara.
(To be continued..)
Excerpts from:
Meditate on the Name (Namopassva) - Chapter 3- The Chhandogya
Upanishad by Sri Swami Krishnananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit:
http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?
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:
