(Aug 17,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – The Rise from Savitarka to Nirvitarka by Sri Swami Krishnananda

 The Rise from Savitarka to Nirvitarka

Divine Life Society Publication: Chapter 47 - The Study and Practice of Yoga by Sri Swami Krishnananda

The contemplation of an object in the process of yoga is quite different from the contemplation of objects in that people usually engage themselves in ordinary workaday life. In yoga, in the meditation process, the essential features or characteristics of the object cooperate and coordinate themselves with the meditating consciousness, whereas in ordinary sensory perception there is the opposite process taking place. 

There is an inherent repelling attitude, a kind of disparity of character between the subject and the object in ordinary perception, because of a peculiar selfish interest that is present in the subject in its contact with the object. Why does the subject crave for the object? The intention is purely self-centred, and this is what cannot be tolerated by the selfhood of the object. The interrelated connectedness of the forces in the world is of such a nature that it prevents the utilisation of any object for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation is abhorrent to the nature of truth, and the forces of nature will not tolerate it. 

So our affection for the object, our contemplation of the object, our thought of the object and our desire for the object is contrary to the law of nature, and therefore there is always bereavement in the end. All union ends in separation. All love ends in sorrow. The reason is that there is a mistake committed by the subject, and inasmuch as everyone is a subject from the point of view of another, and everyone is an object also in a similar manner, there is a universal confusion that has been created. This confusion is called samsara – a great mix-up of values that has taken place, totally unintelligible to the mind which is involved in this mix-up. The yoga process is a remedy that has been prescribed for the illness that has been created in this manner. 

We have a peculiar mode of thinking 'objects', and we are born into this mode from which we cannot usually extricate ourselves. There are at least three elements involved in the perception of an object – the object as such, which is called artha; the idea of the object which is called the jnana of the object; and the nomenclature, the epithet, the name, the way by which we designate the object. These three are mixed up as if they are one single thing, though they are distinct features. When an object is generated, when it is born or brought into existence, it does not come with a name. It is doubtful if the tree knows that it is called tree.

Likewise, nothing in this world is associated with a designation of this character. It has a status of its own, independent of all these associations. But the worst of all things is the idea of the object. We have an idea about everything in this world, and the idea that we hold about things is regarded as identical with the nature of the thing itself. Our opinion about an object is made a part of the nature of the object, so that we compel the object to subserve the definition that we give to it, according to our own perception of it.

The idea or opinion one holds, about anything for the matter of that, is a part of the structure of one's mind at that given moment. The idea, therefore, is not different from the mind. The idea is mind itself. Inasmuch as the idea is one with the mind, and the mind is one with individuality, the individual holding that opinion or idea cannot, at any time, imagine that the idea can be wrong. How can we think that we ourselves are wrong? We are self-identical. 

So, we are the supreme judge of everything, and the whole world becomes a client before us, cringing before us for judgement, and whatever judgement we pass must be the final one. This is the opinion, this is the attitude, and this is the intention of every person, every individual in the world – from A to Z. There is a mutual suspicion created in the body of individuals, on account of this internal compulsion exerted by the subject upon the object. This difficulty that has been created, this intolerant attitude that has been projected towards the object, is naturally repellent to the object. There is, therefore, when it is deeply analysed, no such thing as love of an object by the subject. 

The method of meditation is a reverse one, where the subject and the object are enabled to stand on a par, and the fact that they really are on a par becomes recognisable. There is no such thing as subject or object, ultimately. It is only a creation of the minds of certain individuals. Every individual, having a status of his own, her own or its own, cannot be regarded as an object of someone else, because the moment one becomes an object, the status of selfhood vanishes. There is a selfhood present in even an atom. It has a say of its own; it has a purpose of its own and an intention behind its activity, which is not for the fulfilment of someone else. It has a mission of its own which it is trying to achieve through the process of evolution, through which it is moving. The fact that there is an inherent status in everything in this world is recognised in yogic meditation. There is, therefore, no meditation by the subject on an object. 

According to the sutra of Patanjali, that which creates this false distinction between the subject and the object and wrongly compels the subject to look upon another as an object, is a peculiar complex – it is the idea, the name, and the space-time relation. These are the things that have to be given up. We cannot isolate the idea from the presence of space-time. So, ultimately, it is a problem of space-time. The two types of meditation that Patanjali refers to have relevance to the conception of something as located in space and time, and the conception of the same thing as not located in space and time. The first one is called savitarka; the other is called nirvitarka. The contemplation of an object as situated in space and time, and therefore defined by our idea of that thing, is savitarka. The freedom from these associations is nirvitarka.

Nirvitarka is a non-relational contemplation, whereas savitarka is a relational contemplation. The relations are spatial, temporal, and individualistic. Desa kala vastu sambandha, is the Sanskrit term. The sambandha of desa is spatial. The sambandha of time is temporal; the sambandha of vastu is individualistic. This means to say that an object is in space; an object is in time, and an object has a relation with another object, which is the causal relationship. To put it more philosophically, space-time-cause are the obstacles before the subject in its attempt to enter into the nature of the object, or to try to possess it, or enjoy it, or become one with it, etc.

By repeated meditation on the substantiality of the object, independent of these relations, a revelation takes place. The mist before the mind is cast out. There is a response from the object in a friendly manner, which was absent up to this time. The response from the object in a friendly manner becomes possible when there is a gesture from the subject that the selfhood of the object is recognised. Likewise, the subject begins to accept the point of view of the object, though it has not taken action on this point of view. This is the stage where the mind begins to rise up from the condition of savitarka to that of nirvitarka.

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The Rise from Savitarka to Nirvitarka - Chapter 47 - The Study and Practice of Yoga by Sri Swami Krishnananda

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(Apr 1,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – Perceptions and the Practice of Yoga by Swami Krishnananda

 Perceptions and the Practice of Yoga

Divine Life Society Publication: The Path to God Realisation - Part 1 (Preparing for the Practice of Yoga)

by Swami Krishnananda

In our perceptions of the world of persons and things, there is a continuous negation taking place of the indivisibility of the Self. It is so because of the fact that perceptions are based on a divided consciousness. There has to be a division between the subjective side and the objective side, between the perceiver and the perceived, in order that there may be perception at all.

This dichotomy between the location of the seer and the seen is precisely the contradiction of the indivisible nature of the Self. Thus, we may say that we are perpetually negating the existence of the Self in everything that we do and in everything that we see, cognize, or perceive through our sense organs. 

The moment the Self is negated, the consequence thereof follows automatically: the character of non-Self inundates us. We become at once other than what we are. We become fear-struck from every side because of the fact that we have lost our Self. The greatest fear is the loss of one’s own Self, and that fear is perpetually on our head like a Damocles Sword – because of the fact that there is a continuous negation of the Self taking place in our perceptions through the sense organs.

It is, therefore, no wonder that we are unhappy throughout our life. We have fears from all sides – tapa, as we call it; adhyatmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika tapa harass us. We have fear from our own psychophysical constitution also: It may fall ill, or it may even die. That is a fear that we have in regard to our own self. We also have fear of the people around us. And above all, there is fear of nature, whose wish and will are not known to us even a little. From every side there is insecurity, as it were, and, therefore, there is not a moment of peace for anyone in the world. 

Perceptions are of two kinds. These categories may be designated as general and abnormal perceptions. If we can see a thing, be conscious of its existence but not be emotionally disturbed about it, we may consider it as general perception. But if any perception disturbs our feelings, this is certainly not a normal perception. It is not normal because we seem to be dualistically involved in the knowledge of the existence of some person or thing in front of us, and not indivisibly involved or, more properly, normally involved. Very rarely do we get disturbed in this manner. 

Finally that none of our perceptions are commensurate with what we may call spiritual perception. The world perception is not spiritual, as it usually goes in our day-to-day life. It is so because the character of Selfhood cannot be recognized in any object, in spite of the fact that every object has a Self of its own. 

In the same way as in every pool of water, multiple though the pools be, the same sun is reflected, the Universal Self is reflected in every individual person as the Self of that particular person or thing. Therefore, everyone has a Self – not a Self, the very Self Itself. Yet, in perceptions, the Self is not recognized. Neither can you see my Self, nor can I see your Self. You see me as a personality seated here, and I also do the same thing in regard to you. If this is the way in which the world goes on, world experience cannot be regarded as spiritual experience. Therefore, we call life in the world as samsara, which means an aberration from the nature of Selfhood. A deviation from truth is called samsara. We move away from the center of our personality, away from the root of the Self, to that which is other than Itself. 

You may ask me, “Is there anything other than the Self?” There is certainly nothing other than the Self. Then what is the meaning of the deviation of consciousness from the Self to the not-Self? The not-Self actually is not a person or a thing. It is the manner in which consciousness adapts itself to persons and things outside. Your judgment of values is what will determine the spirituality or the unspirituality of things. The things in the world are neither spiritual nor unspiritual; they just are, as they ought to be. But the perceptions differ on account of the non-recognition of the Selfhood, or the character of subjectivity in things. 

When I look at you, I see you as an object outside – a person who is not me. The whole point is that: Here is a person who is not me, and how will I deal with that person who is not me? If it is not me, I cannot deal with that person in the way I deal with myself. So immediately there is a conflict arising between the seer and the seen. The not-me is the whole problem. When we say ‘mine’ or ‘not mine’, we make a distinction in our judgments of values. 

I mentioned that in our perceptions there are two modalities, the general and the abnormal, and we are prone to both these types of perception every day. Unless we are free from it, we cannot actually even commence the practice of yoga. 

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Perceptions and the Practice of Yoga – The Path to God Realisation - Part 1 (Preparing for the Practice of Yoga) by Swami Krishnananda

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(June 24, 2013) Spiritual Message for the Day – Attain Brahman By Discrimination of Reality

Attain Brahman By Discrimination of Reality

Divine Life Society Publication: Discrimination of Reality – The Philosophy of Panchadasi by Swami Krishnananda




The fall of the Jiva takes place in seven stages: Avidya, Aviveka, Ahamkara, Raga-dvesha, Karma, Janma and Duhkha

The whole cosmos is materialized out of the five elements, and in it are situated the various Lokas or planes of existence. The worlds thus produced differ in their quality, intensity and constitution in accordance with the nature of the desires of the Jivas for whose experience they are made to manifest.The subtleties of the bodies of Jivas also vary in accordance with the worlds they inhabit. Thus the Devas or celestials have no physical body, and there are those who have only the causal bodies bringing them into great proximity with the Reality.

The Universal Consciousness in forming this physical realm is known by the name of Vaisvanara or Virat. When it animates the physical cosmos, all Jivas in all the fourteen planes of creation, are characterised by externality of consciousness, due to which they are deprived of insight into their own inner essences. This absence of true knowledge involves all Jivas, notwithstanding that some of them may be endowed with greater degrees of understanding. Being thus bereft of true knowledge the Jivas engage themselves in activity for the fulfilment of their desires. This fulfilment stimulates further activity in the same direction, and there is no end to this process, as desires are endless. The Jivas, thus, drift helplessly like insects caught in the currents of a river and find it impossible to get out of the whirls of the flow. Samsara or world-existence comes to an end only when the Jiva recognises its true identity with the Absolute.

The fall of the Jiva takes place in seven stages: Avidya, Aviveka, Ahamkara, Raga-dvesha, Karma, Janma and Duhkha.

The first stage is when the Jiva is deprived of its universal consciousness and is made to feel as if it is not there at all. This is Avidya, the negation of Reality and the cause of the manifestation of relative reality. Avidya becomes the source of the erroneous identification of the Self with the limited existence in the form of a personality or a body. The Jiva under its influence begins to honestly feel that there is a real diversity of things and these are all absolutely real.

The Jiva in its waking state is really a part of the universal Virat and ought really to know that its existence is impossible apart from Virat, but when, due Aviveka, or non-discrimination given rise to by Avidya, it begins to feel otherwise, and asserts its independence, considering the other parts of Virat as objects of its consciousness, Ahamkara or ego is thereby developed which veils the ultimate Reality and confirms the value of its own personal experiences as set in opposition to those of others.

This principle of Ahamkara, while asserting its finitude and imperfection, is automatically made to feel an intrinsic want in itself, and struggles in every way possible, to overcome the limitations by fulfilling the wants. The finitude of the Jiva being ultimately rooted in its erroneous identification with a particular body by forgetting its essential nature, the desires born of it assume infinite forms and it becomes impossible for the Jiva to fulfil them by finite means. Thus, its desires and the actions directed to their fulfilment, exceed the limitations set to it by the short duration of its life, which it can live through any particular body.

A succession of births and death is the result, with the false hope of complete satisfaction of the desires born of finite nature. Ahamkara causes likes and dislikes for particulars (Raga-dvesha), which is the incentive for all action (Karma). The binding actions infused with desires bring about birth in a body (Janma), and there comes in the grief (Duhkha) of the Jiva.

A proper understanding of this state of affairs is a part of Viveka that should form the equipment of a sincere Sadhaka or spiritual aspirant, endeavouring to attain Brahman through knowledge. It is with this qualification that one should approach a spiritual preceptor or Guru, being dissatisfied with the worlds of desire and action, and with the genuine longing for freedom from Samsara. The Guru should be a Srotriya and a Brahmanishtha, one well-versed in the scriptures and established in Brahman. He instructs the disciple in the true nature of Brahman.

The company of a genuinely great preceptor is the result of maturation of one’s past good deeds, and to such a blessed soul, he becomes a veritable shady tree to cool its thirst in the desert of life. (Verses 15-31)

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Discrimination of Reality – The Philosophy of Panchadasi by Swami Krishnananda

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(May 19,2013) From the Scriptures and Wise Ones

From the Scriptures and Wise Ones

Divine Life Society Publication: Thus Awakens the Awakened One by Swami Krishnananda

·         Manu Smriti says: One-fourth of one’s knowledge comes from the Teacher, one-fourth from study, one-fourth from co-students and one-fourth by experience in the passage of time.

·         “He who is humbler than a blade of grass and more patient than a tree; who respects others but wants not any respect for oneself, is fit to take the Name of the Almighty Lord.” This was the famous instruction of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu.

·         Samsara or world-existence comes to an end only when the jiva recognises its true identity with the Absolute. The condition of the jiva-consciousness is just the condition of the sheath with which it identifies itself at any given time. When the Atman is discovered to be different form the sheaths, it is at once realised as Brahman. - Panchadasi

·         “He is called a ‘man’ who, when anger rises forcibly within, is able to subdue and cast it out as a snake casts away its slough with ease,” said Hanuman to himself when he suspected that the fire he set through the whole of Lanka might perhaps have burnt Sita, too.

·         “Poison is not real poison. Sense-objects are the real poison. Poison kills one life, but sense-objects can devastate a series of lives.”

·         These persons do not get sleep, says Vidura to Dhritarashtra: Those who are sick, those who have been overthrown by others and are deprived of power and assistance from any side, those who are afflicted with lust, and those who are scheming to deprive others of their possessions.

·         The Mahabharata says that the Vedas are afraid of him who tries to approach them without a knowledge of the correct import of the Epics and Puranas. Here is a covert suggestion that the Absolute of philosophy should also include the variety and conflict of practical life, in order to be real and not merely an object of speculation.

·         The four noble truths of the Buddha that there is suffering, that there is a cause for suffering, that there is a way out of suffering and that there is a state beyond suffering, are proof enough to show that he was not a nihilist in the sense in which the word is used today, but a practical man who had an eye to doing something than merely conjecturing about Truth and its realisation.

·         The teaching of the Yoga-Vasishta emphasises that when there is perception of an object by the seer or observer, there has to be pre-supposed the existence of a consciousness between the subject and the object. If this conscious connecting link were not to be, there would be no perception of existence. There cannot be a consciousness of relation between two things unless there is a consciousness relating the two terms and yet standing above them. The study of the perceptional situation discloses the fact that the subject and the object are phases of a universal consciousness.

·         “By excess of passion Ravana was destroyed; by excess of greed Duryodhana was killed; by excessive charity Kama came to ruin; excess is always to be avoided,” says a hitopadesa.

·         “By pranayama one should burn all dross; by pratyahara sever all attachments; by dharana all distraction; and by dhyana all undivine qualities.” - Manu Smritis

·         Krishna and Arjuna should be seated in one chariot. Isvara and jiva should partake of a single objective in all action. This mutual transfusion of the universal and the individual is Krishna-Arjuna-Samvada, the eternal Gita of the cosmos which is Dharmakshetra and Kurukshetra.

·         Tena tyaktena bhunjithah, is the exhortation of the Isopanishad. It means that our enjoyment in the real sense is possible of achievement only when we renounce everything. But what is this renunciation? It is implied in the earlier sentence of the verse, which states - isavasyam idam sarvam. All this universe is indwelt by the Lord. As such, desire for objects is an impossibility. This is true renunciation; which is also the true freedom and joy.

·         Sarvam paravasam duhkham, sarvam atmavasam sukham - ‘All dependence on persons and things is pain; all self-dependence is joy.’ This has to be practised gradually, by rise from the grosser to the subtler, from the external to the internal.

·         Each and every contact which the desireful nature establishes with the outer world is a piercing dart thrust into the heart of the person cherishing such nature.” - Vishnu Purana

·         “Our prosperity, our friends, our bondage and even our destruction are all in the end rooted in our tongue,” says a famous adage.

·         Draupadi exclaims in the court of the Kauravas: “That is not an assembly where there are no elders; they are not elders who do not know dharma; that is not dharma which is not in consonance with truth; that is not truth which has crookedness behind it.”

·         “He who knows, knows not; he who knows not, knows.” This is a statement in the Upanishad, meaning that one who has realised the Truth has no personality-consciousness, and one who has it knows not the Truth.

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From the Scriptures and Wise Ones - “Thus Wakens the Awakened One” by Swami Krishnananda

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(May 2,2013) ‘I’ is the Seed of the Tree of Mind

‘I’ is the Seed of the Tree of Mind

From Divine Life Society Publication “Easy Steps to Yoga” by Swami Sivananda

The mind is like a wheel which revolves endlessly with tremendous velocity. It generates new thoughts with every revolution. This wheel is set in motion by the vibration of psychic Prana or subtle Prana.

The idea of ‘I’ is the seed of the tree of mind. The sprout which at first germinates from this seed of Ahamkara originates without form and is ascertainable only by internal experience. This sprout is Buddhi or intellect. From this sprout the ramifying branches called Sankalpas or thoughts take their origin.

Mark how one Sankalpa expands into many Sankalpas (Vistara) in a short time. Suppose you get a Sankalpa to have tea-party for your friends. One thought of tea invites instantaneously the thoughts of sugar, milk, tea-cups, tables, chairs, table cloth, napkins, spoons, sweetmeats, salted things, etc. So this world is nothing but the expansion of Sankalpas. The expansion of thoughts of the mind towards objects is bondage. Renunciation of Sankalpas is liberation (Moksha). You must be ever watchful in nipping the Sankalpas in the bud. Then only you will be really happy. Daily chop off the branches of this dire tree of mind and finally destroy the tree at its root completely. If you destroy the idea of ‘I’ at the root of the tree (mind), then it will not again spring up. The chopping off of the branches is only a secondary thing. The primary thing is the eradication of the tree at its root.

Sankalpa only is Samsara. Its destruction is Moksha. It is only Sankalpa destroyed beyond resurrection that constitutes the immaculate Brahmic seat. As the cause of bondage is Sankalpa you should root it away from you as completely as possible. This destruction of Sankalpa should be intelligently practiced. Do not become of the form of objects or the knower enjoying the same. Where there exists conception of the objects and the enjoyer of the same, you should gradually and at all times destroy this Sankalpa. After destroying all Sankalpas become That which remains.

Thoughts gain strength by repetition. If you entertain an evil thought or a good thought once, this evil thought or good thought has a tendency to recur again. Thoughts crowd again. Just as the birds of the same feather flock together, so also if you entertain one evil thought all sorts of evil thoughts join together and attack you. If you entertain any good thought all good thoughts join together.

Like attracts like. If you entertain an evil thought that thought attracts all sorts of evil thoughts from others. You pass on the thoughts to others also. Thought moves. Thought is a living dynamic force. Thought is a thing. If you allow your mind to dwell on a sublime thought this thought will attract good thoughts from others. You pass on that good thought to others. You pollute the world with your bad thoughts. You help the world with your good thoughts. When you reach the spiritual summit of thoughtlessness you will reach the abode of Immortality and eternal peace and supreme bliss.

Therefore this ‘I’ should be identified with that which remains after eliminating all the above five illusory sheaths. It is by nature Sat-chit-ananda. This is the Immortal Soul, Atman or Brahman. Through ignorance, through superimposition you have mistaken these five illusory sheaths for the pure immortal Atman. Transcend the five sheaths by attaining knowledge of the Self and be free. Rest in your own Sat-chit-ananda Svarupa by knowing ‘Who am I?’

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Easy Steps to Yoga by Swami Sivananda

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