The Nature of the True Religious Life - 1.6. - Swami Krishnananda.

Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF) :

Hari Om.

The maternal birth-home of Sri Adi Sankaracharya, the Melpazhur Mana, renamed as Adi Sankara Nilayam by Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda, is more than 1200 years old and has witnessed the vidyarambha and the upanayana ceremonies of this great Acharya. The illom which is a ‘naalukettu’ (a four winged building) is located at Veliyanad in the Ernakulam district of Kerala. A panchaloha idol of the great Guru has been installed in the birth-room, with an ‘akhandajyoti’, a lamp that is kept lit throughout the year. Regular prayers are offered in this room by the devotees and visitors. The sanctity of the room provides an ideal ambience for the mind to effortlessly glide into the depths of meditation. The illom stands facing in the westerly direction, which is a rare style according to the architectural tradition of Kerala. It houses a number of murals that narrate the life story of Adi Sankara – the saint, philosopher, poet, commentator, rejuvenator and social reformer, all rolled into one.

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Monday, April 17, 2023. 06:00.

Chapter 1: We are Mysterious Somethings - 6.

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Chinmaya Mission :

The two-day National Seminar at CIF Shodha Sansthan, organized under the Central Sanskrit University, concluded on March 30th, 2023. The seminar featured extensive discussions on the much-awaited National Education Policy.

Sanskrit is the language that connects all generations to ancient Bhartiya knowledge and original Indian wisdom. By leveraging the language, it instills a sense of pride in the youth and connects them to their roots.

The seminar was inaugurated by the noted agriculture scientist, Prof. Abdul Salam, and was attended by several luminaries in academia. Swami Sharadananda Sarasvati delivered the valedictory address, and the seminar was concluded by a vote of thanks from Dr. Rajasekhar Reddy, Director, CIFSS.

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 Swami Sri Adi Sankaracharya tells us in his commentary on the Brahma Sutras that the denier cannot deny himself. If the denier also denies himself together with all the things that he denies, the denial also goes; therefore, there is no such thing called denial. Therefore, the negator cannot be negated; the doubter cannot be doubted. There is some stronghold left for you in this doubtful world, and the stronghold is that you remain as a doubtless something.

What are you? “What do I mean by saying that I exist as a doubtless something? What is this I?” This was the analysis of Rene Descartes, and also of Sankaracharya. I believe all great men think alike, whether they belong to the East or to the West. They belong to a different brotherhood altogether; they have no nationality. Their thinking is very interesting: “I have come to confront something very valuable in my life. Perhaps there is a way of knowing what truth is. I have come to only one conclusion, finally, that though everything may be suspicious, doubtful and indeterminable, there is something which can be determined and cannot be doubted, and that is I myself. I cannot doubt that I am here. If I doubt that I am here, there must be somebody else to doubt that fact. So there is something behind, which does not allow any doubt to enter into its constitution. I am. This cannot be doubted.”

Who can doubt that he is? However much you may doubt everything, you cannot doubt that you exist. You know very well, “I am.” Well, everything may be doubtful, but that “I am” is not doubtful. It is very clear. But what is meant by “I am”? You imagined that you are the son or daughter of some father or mother, and now I have told you that you are not merely that. Similarly, you imagined that you are this six-foot body, and now you will realise that you are not that either. This is another truth that will be revealed to you. You are not really this six-foot frame; there is something else inside you.

There are stages which you pass through where the physical body is discounted and is not necessary. For example, when you are dreaming, the body is not there as an object of your perception. You can dream even without the body. Did you exist in dream? Yes. Was the body there? No. So can you exist without the body? Yes, it follows that you can exist without the body. So does it follow that you are the body? It follows that perhaps you are not the body because you could be dreaming without the body. It is very simple. In a few seconds—by the analysis of the phenomenon of dream where you could be as a pure mind thinking, without relationship to the body—you will realise that you are not the body. So, what is your conclusion now? “I have come to the conclusion that I can exist without the body and, therefore, I am not the body. It is very clear.”

Then what else are you? “Well, from the fact of dream, it amounts to saying that perhaps I am a mind that thinks, because in dream there is only a mind. I now realise that I am not the body because I could dream in the mind, through the mind, as a mind in dream without the body.”

But in deep sleep, where was the mind? It was not working. Did you exist in sleep? Yes. Was the body there? No. Was the mind there? No. What were you, then? Very strange! “I was in deep sleep, yes. Of course I did exist. But I did not exist as a body, and I also did not exist as a mind.” How could you know that you existed in sleep when you knew nothing in sleep? There was no body, no mind, nobody to think anything. Then who is saying that you are existing in sleep? But you are still sure that you slept. You say, “Last night I had a good sleep.” Who is saying this? Not the body. Do not say the body is saying this, because it was not there. Even the mind is not saying this, because the mind was not working. So who is saying that there was a good sleep last night? Go deep into this fact.

You are a mystery. You people sitting in front of me are mysteries. You are not boys and girls. You are not these bodies and minds. Therefore, you are not human beings. If you are not the body and not the mind, as can be known through this little analysis of waking and dream, you come to the conclusion that you are not a human being at all. Well, if to be a human being is to be associated with a mind and a body of this nature, then if you are associated with a human body and a human way of thinking, you say you are a human being. But in the state of deep sleep, you could exist without the association of the body and the mind; therefore, you could be without association with the nature of a human being. Because in deep sleep you did not exist as merely a human being, therefore your essential nature transcends humanity. This is another great mystery that is revealed about you.

Do not forget what I told you. I have told you a lot within these few minutes, and if you can remember these things with clarity of thought, perhaps I need not speak to you again. What I told you today is enough, but it will not remain in the mind. It will slip out of your minds the moment you go out the door. So be careful.

I have now brought you to the conclusion that you are mysterious somethings which are dissociated from the body and the mind. What it is, and what further conclusions follow from this interesting analysis, we shall refer to another time.

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Next
Chapter 2: The Religious Ideal of God-realisation
To be continued

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