Sandeha Nivarini
Swami: O, you have come! Well. What is the news?
Bhakta: What other news have we except Yours, Swami? I heard that Your Kerala tour was most pleasant and wonderful! However, I am sad that I was not destined to join.
Swami: Why to be sad about that? Listen to the account and be happy, that is all. Have the confidence and the hope that when next such an opportunity arises, you may be able to join; but, do not brood over the past.
Bhakta: What is the use of any amount of confidence and hope, Swami, if one is not destined? Such hope will only bring more disappointment.
Swami: Has praapti (destiny/fortune) a form and shape so that it can be recognised, before it takes effect? You should not just keep on waiting for praapti, talking all the time of “praapti, praapti.” How can that praapti itself fructify without your will and wish, taking a practical form of effort, as karma (action)? Whatever be the praapti, it is essential to resort to karma. Praapti cannot be gained, without the help of karma. Isn’t it?
Bhakta: If one is destined, everything will come of itself, isn’t it?
Swami: That is a big mistake. With the fruit in your hand, if you sit quietly saying, “If I have praapti, the juice of the fruit will reach my stomach,” how can it be so? Without the karma of eating and swallowing, if you complain that praapti denied you the juice, it is sheer stupidity. It is because of praapti you got the fruit in your hand. Through karma alone, it can be enjoyed. Without the karma, nothing can be experienced. Karma is one’s duty. Praapti is the fruit thereof. The result cannot emanate without karma.
Bhakta: So, Swami, we should not sit quietly, placing all burdens on praapti, isn’t it?
Swami: You should never underestimate your power; engage yourselves in karma in proportion to that power. Then, you can rely on praapti, for the rest; that is best. It is a great mistake to desist from the appropriate karma, placing all the burdens on praapti. If you do so, the result cannot be gained; praapti too cannot be realised. Whoever he be, he must engage in karma.
Bhakta: Yes, yes, Swami! In the gita also, Lord Sri Krishna has once told Arjuna, “Even I do karma; If I desist from karma, the Universe cannot go on. And, so, if you do not engage in karma, how can you realise the result?” So, the fact emerges that karma is purushalakshanam, the distinguishing characteristic of men.
Swami: Is there a different characteristic for women? My dear man, karma is not merely purushalakshanam (characteristic of men), it is prakritilakshanam (characteristic of prakriti, whole creation)! All beings, men or women, insects or worms, trees or animals, everything in this Universe has to do karma! There is no escape from this law. The result of this karma is what you call praapti (destiny or fortune) or apraapti (want of fortune). So, understand that karma is the characteristic of prakriti. Do not talk of it as purushalakshanam. Paramatma is the One and Only Purusha. Prakriti is all shakti, Feminine. You are all not purushas, remember!
Bhakta: But Swami, we are witnessing, practising and experiencing the distinction between the Masculine and the Feminine; it is present in nature. When such is the case, how is it possible to say that all are Feminine? It is also not convenient to say so.
Swami: My dear child! You may imagine it to be so, guided by your natural reasons, but reality is not that. All these names and meanings are just for the sake of secular experience, temporal, temporary. They are not the basic truth. All this is simply play-acting, mere impersonation! Men sometimes take up the roles of women, in some plays. Are they, therefore, women? Sometimes, women play the roles of men; are they, therefore, men? These are just impersonations for the duration of this drama, prakriti. When prakriti is wholly Feminine, whatever the number of impersonations, it follows that all is shakti, Feminine, not purusha, Masculine. The genuine purusha is only One. He is shiva, He is atma. Atma is immanent in everyone; but for this reason alone, everyone will not acquire purushatvam, masculinity. All this is one big theatrical stage with varied characters and stories. In a girls’ school the roles of both men and women are taken up by girls only; so, too, in the prakriti theatre, shakti, which is feminine, puts on all these roles; it acts and experiences all these characters. However, reality is not so, my dear child!
Bhakta: Swami, even after listening to all this, the nature of the world remains an enigma to me! When one side is seen, it appears to be Real; when the other side is seen, it strikes as Unreal! Nothing is definite!
Swami: That is exactly why this jagat (world) is called mithya (that which cannot be defined as absolutely existent or non-existent), i.e., neither satya (existent), nor asatya (non-existent)! Since you have been born in this mithya world, your mind too is operating with the qualities of mithya, definite neither on this nor on that!
Bhakta: Then, setting aside this discussion of mithya, please tell me something, Swami, of that satya, of that purusha, whoever He is.
Swami: The real purusha has neither birth nor death, He undergoes no change. He is chitsvarupa, jnanasvarupa. He is the embodiment of jnanam but not dharma (codes of social conduct). The jnanam which is His nature, is not the jnanam or knowledge which changes with time. That which has Light as its very nature will not contain even a dot of darkness. The Sun does not acquire effulgence through the world it illumines. It will emit splendour, whether there is a world or not. The essential nature of a thing will not change at all.
The purusha is self-luminous. He is always the object of knowledge; He is cognisant of all the vrittis, or mutations of the chitta (mind). Chitta may be aware of them some time and may not be aware of them at other times. But it is not so for the purusha. He is, aparinaami, changeless. The very nature of parinaami is to change and so, chitta is, parinaami. The purusha is the embodiment of jnanam and so, His jnanam is unchangeable. No change occurs in the way He functions. Even when unmanifested, Effulgence is His form.
The seed planted in the soil grows into a tree. The tree is the manifested form of the seed. The seed is the unmanifested form of the tree. This change from seed to tree and tree to seed shows that the shakti in the seed has vyapaara (activity). The seed-form changes into the tree-form. This is the change, parinaama. But the purusha is the unchanging, unaffected drashta (Seer). He has no need of instruments for cognition. He is completely apart from prakriti. No deed can diminish His glory, nor exhaust His Potentiality.
Bhakta: Then, Swami, in this, which is prakriti? Who is purusha?
Swami: Prakriti and purusha are the basic principles. The principle behind the Seen is prakriti. The principle behind the Seer is purusha. “Amoolam (no root), moolam (root cause),” it is said; the root cause has no root! Based on this law, these two have no other cause. Causeless, they are also Beginningless. That which has no cause is anaadi (beginningless). So, prakriti has no beginning; purusha has no beginning.
Bhakta: If prakriti and purusha are both anaadi, why is not this samsara (birth-death cycle), which is the result of the union of these two, also beginningless?
Swami: Samsara is dependent on a cause, not independent of a cause. The samyoga (union) is because of aviveka (delusion or inability to discriminate). Prompted by aviveka, the union and the union results in aviveka again. This anaaditva (beginninglessness) of the samyoga and aviveka is like the law of the seed and the tree.
Bhakta: Samyoga (union) means what, Swami? What is its condition?
Swami: The reflection of the purusha is in the gunas (sattva, rajas and tamas) which evolve from prakriti, that is samyoga. Look at this example. The Sun is not water; neither is water, the Sun. Still, by their juxtaposition, reflection is produced. The reflected image has the characteristic, neither of the Sun nor of water. Nor can it be said that it is entirely devoid of the characteristics of the two. When the water is agitated, the image too gets agitated, isn’t it? The image also shines a little. The image cannot be described as of the nature of the Sun, or as different from the Sun! Again, the magnet is distinct from the iron. Iron is distinct from the magnet. Still, when juxtaposed, the principle of the magnet enters the iron and makes it similar to itself, isn’t it? The relationship between these two is samyoga.
Bhakta: Then, of these, which is the real purusha, and which is the vyavaharika (active) purusha, and how do each of these act, please tell me.
Swami: Didn’t I speak of the Sun and the pratibimba (reflected image)? The pratibimba purusha is neither of the same form as the purusha, nor of a different form. On one side, the world, the vishayas; on the other, is the bimba, the Original; in the middle is the image. Without the pratibimba purusha, there can be no world and no activity. This pratibimba purusha is the doer, the enjoyer, the experiencer.
The Original, the bimba purusha is Unaffected; He is the Non-doer, the Non-enjoyer, the Non-experiencer. The pratibimba purusha is also known therefore as the vyavaharika purusha or the purusha seen in activity, or the graheta, Acceptor. The bimba purusha is named the True, the Eternal, the Real, the atma svarupa. The graheta is the Knower that has apparently undergone modification.
Bhakta: Right, Swami! Wonderful! What a nice teaching! How many books one should have turned over, if one desires to understand such Truths! Turning over the leaves of the book is one thing; but, to grasp the meaning is much more difficult! I have now known that the purusha is not in the world, that all this is merely a drama staged for purposes of worldly experience. Paramatma is the One Real Purusha. To attain that Paramatma, every single thing in prakriti is striving. Probably, this is what is referred to as the Union of shiva-shakti. Fine, fine!
Swami: Yes. This is what is also referred to as jiva-brahma samyoga (Union of Individual being and Absolute Reality). Everyone, whatever his condition, must crave for this Union. For, the jiva cannot exist alone forever. The sadhana that has to be done to achieve this Union is called paramartha sadhana (endeavour to attain the highest truth), moksha sadhana (sadhana for liberation).
Bhakta: What does moksha mean, Swami? What is the meaning of mukti?
Swami: Both mean the same thing. The finis of the jivi is spoken of as mukti. That is to say, that which is endowed with the manas or mind is the jivi; when the manas, nama, rupa and gunas are destroyed, then the jivi attains moksha. When nama and rupa are destroyed and the mind becomes ineffective, the jivi becomes one with brahman; this is moksha. Take the Godavari, the Ganga, etc.; how long do their forms, names, individual tastes, and individual limits persist? Only until they reach the sea. Even as they approach the sea, their taste, their names and their forms undergo changes. When these three characteristics completely disappear, then we say that they have merged in the sea. Then, the rivers acquire the name, the form and the taste of the sea itself, isn’t it?
So also, until these rivers called jivas, attain the end of the characteristics of the mind, they will bear the ruchi-rupa-nama of vyamoha (delusion), mamakara (my-ness) and ahamkara (I-ness). When the jivas near the sea of the Lord’s Grace, these characteristics of the mind will keep undergoing changes. When the gunas and their consequences, as well as the mutations of the mind are completely changed, i.e., destroyed, then it will be evident that the union with brahman has been effected. Until such tastes and names persist, union cannot be accomplished. How can the Ganga which has reached the ocean be sweet? If it has that taste of sweetness, then the inference is that it has not yet reached the open sea. Similarly, if it is said that one has merged in brahman, he should not have the gunas and the taste of manas. If he has them, it is proof that he has not achieved complete union. Do you understand? Such complete union is known as saayujyamukti.
Bhakta: Oh, how grand, Swami! Please bless everyone to attain that holy union; then, the world will be really happy.
Swami**:** For Me to bless so would be to go against the freedom you are endowed with. Once the sadhanas needed to earn the anugraha (blessing or grace) are taken up, anugraha can be gained of itself. It is not something that can be granted. There is no need to pray to the Sun to shower its rays and to make them fall on you. Shining is His Nature. If only the obstacles between you and the Sun are removed, and you stand straight under the rays, they will fall upon you by themselves. Keeping the obstacles of vyamoha (delusion), mamakara (my-ness) and ahamkara (I-ness) between you and the rays of His Grace, if complaint is made that they do not fall on you, whose is the fault? What can the rays do?
Bhakta: This is as good as saying that we should keep ourselves away from all traits of mamakara and ahamkara!
Swami: Why do you say, “As good as saying?” I am saying so emphatically, over and over again! If you seek the rays of anugraha (grace), try without faltering to be away from all these traits. Instead, if you wish to wallow in this dirty pond, then no need to worry about anugraha.
But, remember, even if it is not needed now, you will crave for anugraha (grace) after some time or within a few more births. You cannot escape from the task of renouncing vyamoha and ahamkara. It has to happen someday. Then, why suffer until that time comes? Why can’t you become liberated by becoming pure as quickly as possible? Strive gradually for this from this very day…… nay, from this very minute! You may leave now, my boy. But come again. Only, do not go to extremes in your efforts; be steady; be patient.
IX
Swami: O, you have come! Well. What is the news?
Bhakta: What other news have we except Yours, Swami? I heard that Your Kerala tour was most pleasant and wonderful! However, I am sad that I was not destined to join.
Swami: Why to be sad about that? Listen to the account and be happy, that is all. Have the confidence and the hope that when next such an opportunity arises, you may be able to join; but, do not brood over the past.
Bhakta: What is the use of any amount of confidence and hope, Swami, if one is not destined? Such hope will only bring more disappointment.
Swami: Has praapti (destiny/fortune) a form and shape so that it can be recognised, before it takes effect? You should not just keep on waiting for praapti, talking all the time of “praapti, praapti.” How can that praapti itself fructify without your will and wish, taking a practical form of effort, as karma (action)? Whatever be the praapti, it is essential to resort to karma. Praapti cannot be gained, without the help of karma. Isn’t it?
Bhakta: If one is destined, everything will come of itself, isn’t it?
Swami: That is a big mistake. With the fruit in your hand, if you sit quietly saying, “If I have praapti, the juice of the fruit will reach my stomach,” how can it be so? Without the karma of eating and swallowing, if you complain that praapti denied you the juice, it is sheer stupidity. It is because of praapti you got the fruit in your hand. Through karma alone, it can be enjoyed. Without the karma, nothing can be experienced. Karma is one’s duty. Praapti is the fruit thereof. The result cannot emanate without karma.
Bhakta: So, Swami, we should not sit quietly, placing all burdens on praapti, isn’t it?
Swami: You should never underestimate your power; engage yourselves in karma in proportion to that power. Then, you can rely on praapti, for the rest; that is best. It is a great mistake to desist from the appropriate karma, placing all the burdens on praapti. If you do so, the result cannot be gained; praapti too cannot be realised. Whoever he be, he must engage in karma.
Bhakta: Yes, yes, Swami! In the gita also, Lord Sri Krishna has once told Arjuna, “Even I do karma; If I desist from karma, the Universe cannot go on. And, so, if you do not engage in karma, how can you realise the result?” So, the fact emerges that karma is purushalakshanam, the distinguishing characteristic of men.
Swami: Is there a different characteristic for women? My dear man, karma is not merely purushalakshanam (characteristic of men), it is prakritilakshanam (characteristic of prakriti, whole creation)! All beings, men or women, insects or worms, trees or animals, everything in this Universe has to do karma! There is no escape from this law. The result of this karma is what you call praapti (destiny or fortune) or apraapti (want of fortune). So, understand that karma is the characteristic of prakriti. Do not talk of it as purushalakshanam. Paramatma is the One and Only Purusha. Prakriti is all shakti, Feminine. You are all not purushas, remember!
Bhakta: But Swami, we are witnessing, practising and experiencing the distinction between the Masculine and the Feminine; it is present in nature. When such is the case, how is it possible to say that all are Feminine? It is also not convenient to say so.
Swami: My dear child! You may imagine it to be so, guided by your natural reasons, but reality is not that. All these names and meanings are just for the sake of secular experience, temporal, temporary. They are not the basic truth. All this is simply play-acting, mere impersonation! Men sometimes take up the roles of women, in some plays. Are they, therefore, women? Sometimes, women play the roles of men; are they, therefore, men? These are just impersonations for the duration of this drama, prakriti. When prakriti is wholly Feminine, whatever the number of impersonations, it follows that all is shakti, Feminine, not purusha, Masculine. The genuine purusha is only One. He is shiva, He is atma. Atma is immanent in everyone; but for this reason alone, everyone will not acquire purushatvam, masculinity. All this is one big theatrical stage with varied characters and stories. In a girls’ school the roles of both men and women are taken up by girls only; so, too, in the prakriti theatre, shakti, which is feminine, puts on all these roles; it acts and experiences all these characters. However, reality is not so, my dear child!
Bhakta: Swami, even after listening to all this, the nature of the world remains an enigma to me! When one side is seen, it appears to be Real; when the other side is seen, it strikes as Unreal! Nothing is definite!
Swami: That is exactly why this jagat (world) is called mithya (that which cannot be defined as absolutely existent or non-existent), i.e., neither satya (existent), nor asatya (non-existent)! Since you have been born in this mithya world, your mind too is operating with the qualities of mithya, definite neither on this nor on that!
Bhakta: Then, setting aside this discussion of mithya, please tell me something, Swami, of that satya, of that purusha, whoever He is.
Swami: The real purusha has neither birth nor death, He undergoes no change. He is chitsvarupa, jnanasvarupa. He is the embodiment of jnanam but not dharma (codes of social conduct). The jnanam which is His nature, is not the jnanam or knowledge which changes with time. That which has Light as its very nature will not contain even a dot of darkness. The Sun does not acquire effulgence through the world it illumines. It will emit splendour, whether there is a world or not. The essential nature of a thing will not change at all.
The purusha is self-luminous. He is always the object of knowledge; He is cognisant of all the vrittis, or mutations of the chitta (mind). Chitta may be aware of them some time and may not be aware of them at other times. But it is not so for the purusha. He is, aparinaami, changeless. The very nature of parinaami is to change and so, chitta is, parinaami. The purusha is the embodiment of jnanam and so, His jnanam is unchangeable. No change occurs in the way He functions. Even when unmanifested, Effulgence is His form.
The seed planted in the soil grows into a tree. The tree is the manifested form of the seed. The seed is the unmanifested form of the tree. This change from seed to tree and tree to seed shows that the shakti in the seed has vyapaara (activity). The seed-form changes into the tree-form. This is the change, parinaama. But the purusha is the unchanging, unaffected drashta (Seer). He has no need of instruments for cognition. He is completely apart from prakriti. No deed can diminish His glory, nor exhaust His Potentiality.
Bhakta: Then, Swami, in this, which is prakriti? Who is purusha?
Swami: Prakriti and purusha are the basic principles. The principle behind the Seen is prakriti. The principle behind the Seer is purusha. “Amoolam (no root), moolam (root cause),” it is said; the root cause has no root! Based on this law, these two have no other cause. Causeless, they are also Beginningless. That which has no cause is anaadi (beginningless). So, prakriti has no beginning; purusha has no beginning.
Bhakta: If prakriti and purusha are both anaadi, why is not this samsara (birth-death cycle), which is the result of the union of these two, also beginningless?
Swami: Samsara is dependent on a cause, not independent of a cause. The samyoga (union) is because of aviveka (delusion or inability to discriminate). Prompted by aviveka, the union and the union results in aviveka again. This anaaditva (beginninglessness) of the samyoga and aviveka is like the law of the seed and the tree.
Bhakta: Samyoga (union) means what, Swami? What is its condition?
Swami: The reflection of the purusha is in the gunas (sattva, rajas and tamas) which evolve from prakriti, that is samyoga. Look at this example. The Sun is not water; neither is water, the Sun. Still, by their juxtaposition, reflection is produced. The reflected image has the characteristic, neither of the Sun nor of water. Nor can it be said that it is entirely devoid of the characteristics of the two. When the water is agitated, the image too gets agitated, isn’t it? The image also shines a little. The image cannot be described as of the nature of the Sun, or as different from the Sun! Again, the magnet is distinct from the iron. Iron is distinct from the magnet. Still, when juxtaposed, the principle of the magnet enters the iron and makes it similar to itself, isn’t it? The relationship between these two is samyoga.
Bhakta: Then, of these, which is the real purusha, and which is the vyavaharika (active) purusha, and how do each of these act, please tell me.
Swami: Didn’t I speak of the Sun and the pratibimba (reflected image)? The pratibimba purusha is neither of the same form as the purusha, nor of a different form. On one side, the world, the vishayas; on the other, is the bimba, the Original; in the middle is the image. Without the pratibimba purusha, there can be no world and no activity. This pratibimba purusha is the doer, the enjoyer, the experiencer.
The Original, the bimba purusha is Unaffected; He is the Non-doer, the Non-enjoyer, the Non-experiencer. The pratibimba purusha is also known therefore as the vyavaharika purusha or the purusha seen in activity, or the graheta, Acceptor. The bimba purusha is named the True, the Eternal, the Real, the atma svarupa. The graheta is the Knower that has apparently undergone modification.
Bhakta: Right, Swami! Wonderful! What a nice teaching! How many books one should have turned over, if one desires to understand such Truths! Turning over the leaves of the book is one thing; but, to grasp the meaning is much more difficult! I have now known that the purusha is not in the world, that all this is merely a drama staged for purposes of worldly experience. Paramatma is the One Real Purusha. To attain that Paramatma, every single thing in prakriti is striving. Probably, this is what is referred to as the Union of shiva-shakti. Fine, fine!
Swami: Yes. This is what is also referred to as jiva-brahma samyoga (Union of Individual being and Absolute Reality). Everyone, whatever his condition, must crave for this Union. For, the jiva cannot exist alone forever. The sadhana that has to be done to achieve this Union is called paramartha sadhana (endeavour to attain the highest truth), moksha sadhana (sadhana for liberation).
Bhakta: What does moksha mean, Swami? What is the meaning of mukti?
Swami: Both mean the same thing. The finis of the jivi is spoken of as mukti. That is to say, that which is endowed with the manas or mind is the jivi; when the manas, nama, rupa and gunas are destroyed, then the jivi attains moksha. When nama and rupa are destroyed and the mind becomes ineffective, the jivi becomes one with brahman; this is moksha. Take the Godavari, the Ganga, etc.; how long do their forms, names, individual tastes, and individual limits persist? Only until they reach the sea. Even as they approach the sea, their taste, their names and their forms undergo changes. When these three characteristics completely disappear, then we say that they have merged in the sea. Then, the rivers acquire the name, the form and the taste of the sea itself, isn’t it?
So also, until these rivers called jivas, attain the end of the characteristics of the mind, they will bear the ruchi-rupa-nama of vyamoha (delusion), mamakara (my-ness) and ahamkara (I-ness). When the jivas near the sea of the Lord’s Grace, these characteristics of the mind will keep undergoing changes. When the gunas and their consequences, as well as the mutations of the mind are completely changed, i.e., destroyed, then it will be evident that the union with brahman has been effected. Until such tastes and names persist, union cannot be accomplished. How can the Ganga which has reached the ocean be sweet? If it has that taste of sweetness, then the inference is that it has not yet reached the open sea. Similarly, if it is said that one has merged in brahman, he should not have the gunas and the taste of manas. If he has them, it is proof that he has not achieved complete union. Do you understand? Such complete union is known as saayujyamukti.
Bhakta: Oh, how grand, Swami! Please bless everyone to attain that holy union; then, the world will be really happy.
Swami**:** For Me to bless so would be to go against the freedom you are endowed with. Once the sadhanas needed to earn the anugraha (blessing or grace) are taken up, anugraha can be gained of itself. It is not something that can be granted. There is no need to pray to the Sun to shower its rays and to make them fall on you. Shining is His Nature. If only the obstacles between you and the Sun are removed, and you stand straight under the rays, they will fall upon you by themselves. Keeping the obstacles of vyamoha (delusion), mamakara (my-ness) and ahamkara (I-ness) between you and the rays of His Grace, if complaint is made that they do not fall on you, whose is the fault? What can the rays do?
Bhakta: This is as good as saying that we should keep ourselves away from all traits of mamakara and ahamkara!
Swami: Why do you say, “As good as saying?” I am saying so emphatically, over and over again! If you seek the rays of anugraha (grace), try without faltering to be away from all these traits. Instead, if you wish to wallow in this dirty pond, then no need to worry about anugraha.
But, remember, even if it is not needed now, you will crave for anugraha (grace) after some time or within a few more births. You cannot escape from the task of renouncing vyamoha and ahamkara. It has to happen someday. Then, why suffer until that time comes? Why can’t you become liberated by becoming pure as quickly as possible? Strive gradually for this from this very day…… nay, from this very minute! You may leave now, my boy. But come again. Only, do not go to extremes in your efforts; be steady; be patient.