Contemplative Meditation (nididhyAsana)
by Vijay Pargaonkar
[Vijay Pargaonkar moved to the USA as a
teenager over four decades ago. Nevertheless, he did not give up his deep
interest in the ancient Indian philosophical thought. He practiced TM and followed
the teachings of Ramana and Nisargadatta for a few years. He then shifted
to Advaita by taking up a systematic study of dasbodh of Swami
Ramdas, pancadasi of Swami Vidyaranya and the Upanishads.
Vijay Pargaonkar is an electrical engineer by profession and lives in Wisconsin, USA. I am grateful to him for his write up on nididhyAsana for publication at our Blog. He can be reached at pargaonkar2003@yahoo.com -- ramesam.]
Vijay Pargaonkar is an electrical engineer by profession and lives in Wisconsin, USA. I am grateful to him for his write up on nididhyAsana for publication at our Blog. He can be reached at pargaonkar2003@yahoo.com -- ramesam.]
Contemplative Meditation (nididhyAsana)
by Vijay Pargaonkar 
I used to believe: I am a karta (doer/ agent for action), bhokta (experiencer), pramAta (knower) and the jagat (the external world) is real. After practicing sAdhana – chatushThaya and intense shravaNa and manana and guidance
from a few knowledgeable people, I have realized the following:
ü jagat is a series of vRitti-s (thought-waves) arising and fading as mind one frame at a time. Each frame seemingly has an object(s)
and a subject “i.” While the objects
keep on changing, the subject “i” apparently remains the same assuming
different roles as karta, bhokta, pramAta
etc.
ü The objects are mere names and forms just for the sake
of ID-ing and their substratum is the sat
brahman. Also the subject “i” confined to my body-mind does not truly exist.
The Witness (sAkshi) of both “i” and
the objects is the Real “I”, which is the one Consciousness in all.
ü What I have been taking to be ‘me’ thus far has been in fact
a mis-identification of myself with the limited body-mind. In truth, I am the witnessing Consciousness (sAkshI caitanya) and the substratum for
the jagat (Including the ‘me’). So the
real ‘me’ (aham) and brahman are the same – aham brahma asmi.
ü Now that aham brahmAsmi
realization is ingrained in me, I do not have a sense of a separate “i” or
“me”. I understand that there is no separate
“me” as an entity anywhere. That means
that there is no ‘ego’ existing
as an independent entity. So "I"
never thinks in terms of “I am ‘this’
or ‘that’.” However, "I" in its infinite freedom may
take the form of "i" as a modulation of Itself.
ü Now that I know there is brahman and brahman only
and no-thing else, there is really speaking no ‘separate’ jIva sitting there seeking to get freedom or liberation (mukti). All the jIva-s that appear to be there are already brahman! So there is no question of the jIva-s waiting for the mAyAsabalita
brahma (i.e. brahman associated
with mAyA) to dissolve at the end of pralaya (dissolution of the world). mAyA sabalita
brahma, Ishwara and so on are mere stories postulated by people who in the
first place needed an Ishwara as the Creator of the world because of their belief
in creation.
ü Now I am free from the wrong notion that I am a doer and an enjoyer. With this my sorrows
and happiness(es) have come to
an end because there is no more an entity which classifies things /
events in terms of polar pairs of opposites and judges them as acceptables and
rejectables with reference to the likes and dislikes of an imaginary ‘ego.’
Having realized the above, there are occasional
instances when the belief “I am karta/bhokta”
and the “world is real” temporarily pop up.
This is when nididhyAsana is
needed.
I use a three step prakriya (exercise) to get back on track of unbroken contemplation
on brahman (akhanDAkAra vRitti):
1. I, as a separate
self, am not karta/bhokta/pramAta.
2. "I" am no “thing” but merely a witness of all
things.
3. "I" (I) am not different from what is witnessed.
Or I am everything that IS.
This three step prakriya removes the temporary feeling of “me” as a separate being and
frees me from the notion that I am a doer and enjoyer.
The
most important caveat here is: The above three-step 'aide-memoir' should not
stay merely as statements at a verbal level.
It
often so happens that an intellectual understanding of advaita message takes place, but the feelings of separation
continue at the level of bodily sensations and perceptions. To get rid of them
at the body level is the HARDEST part. This is the reason why many
practitioners say that they read all the Upanishad-s;
they understood the advaita teaching yet
complain that they are unable to "realize" One brahman. Or incessantly linger with hope for “Grace” to work a
miracle sometime in future forgetting that the “Grace” is right now right here
with them.
So
a seeker has to be vigilant about the sense of separation rising up or hiding
in different nooks and corners of the body. When such 'sensations and
perceptions' of separation arise, one should just observe them indifferently,
unconcernedly. One should not have any agenda with them - either to control or
suppress or modify. Mere observation eventually orphans them. But any agenda to
do something with them to get rid of etc. will only strengthen them and will go
to perpetuate those feelings.
I also use the following as meditation to
stabilize in aham BrahmAsmi:
I am conscious. I do not need any proof for
this.
I do not have to specially "do"
anything to understand that I am conscious.
I have to exist to be able to know that I
am conscious. I do not require any proof for this also.
The “I”, the “knowing” and the “existing”
are NOT three different things. It is the one and same "me" only.
If this 'me' thinks that its knowing
capacity is limited and is confined to the body-mind and all things exist
outside 'me', it leads to suffering. When it understands that knowingness and
beingness are one and the same without the difference of inside and outside,
that is itself bliss. This means the 'sufferer' ends. Though 'suffering' per se may not end, the
claim of ‘ownership’ for suffering dissolves.
Further, the following meditational prakriya helps to calm down the ego (ahamkAra) attenuating the strong ripples
or vRitti-s of a separate self in mind. (In this meditation, the separate sense of
‘ego’ is viewed as a reflection (a virtual image) of brahman, the True “I”):
ü
The
very first AbhAsa (thought-wave, a
ripple) arising in brahman is
Ishwara. Prior to this Ishwara thought-wave at t(0), its All One homogeneous,
undimensional “whatever-That-Is”.
Unless this Ishwara-perturbation happens,
there is no reflection even.
"I" am causal to this wave which is not
different from Me. This is My phase as Ishwara.
ü
At
the Ishwara level, the cidAbhAsa (reflected
image) is no problem. It appears as if (iva)
brahman is looking at His reflection
in still waters.
ü
Subsequent
ripples generate hiraNyagarbha (prajApati, the Creator brahma).
"I" am causal to this wave which is not different from Me. This is My phase as hiraNyagarbha.
Multiplicity is engendered with a sense of 'me - not me' distinction - the genesis of ego (ahamkAra) takes place.
"I" am causal to this wave which is not different from Me. This is My phase as hiraNyagarbha.
Multiplicity is engendered with a sense of 'me - not me' distinction - the genesis of ego (ahamkAra) takes place.
ü
Coeval
with the ego comes the 'jagat', i.e.
more fragmented "objects" with independent IDs (with individuated names
and forms).
ü
Along
with ahamkAra and jagat come likes and dislikes and rAga-dveSha dualities. These qualities
congeal chidAbhAsa and propel it to
take action (karma) being judgmental in terms of “acceptables” and “rejectables”
for self-perpetuation. This is the beginning of the cycle of life and death (samsAra).
"I" am causal to this wave which is not
different from Me. This is My phase as virAT.
ü
Now
brahman à Ishwara à hiranyagarbha à virAT à ahamkAra are all thus "phases" of brahman only happening within brahman. The 'ego' (ahamkara) phase/modulation of brahman
has to dis-cover the extra layers of ripples to know that it is itself brahman.
ü
yoga
aims at stilling the ripples and see the simulacrum of brahman in the stilled waters (nirvikalpa
samAdhi).
ü
The
process of Realization that the Totality of ‘Whatever-that-IS’ (without
fragmentation and labels) is, Itself, brahman
even with all the levels of the ripples being in place is jnAna mArga (The Path of Knowledge).
Acknowledgments:
This write up is a summary of my extensive discussions with Dr. Vemuri Ramesam
who steered me through several subtle and a few fundamental misunderstandings regarding
various concepts, terminologies and definitions used in Advaita Vedanta. I am thankful to him for his patience and
kindness. I also thank the
reviewers of the draft version of this article for their suggestions.
14 comments:
A questioner personally sent me this query – there are members on the forum who know a lot more about nirvikalpa Samadhi than I do. I would appreciate responses!
“I thank Ramesam for publishing nidhdhyAsana.I am also hoping to learn finer aspects of advaita from the illustrious members of the forum.
I will appreciate if the members could shed some light on nirvikalpa samadhi in terms of advaita meditation: in nirvikalpa state "idam vrittis" have calmed down - the water is still. Is only "aham" vritti present? Is this a triputi-less state? How is this different from sushupti?
I will appreciate if one could lay out the entire nirvikalpa state in terms of advaita.
Thanks”
Seeker
Thank you Seeker for the Comment.
nirvikalpa samAdhi is no different from sushupti as explained in Gaudapada kArika (with Shankara's commentary). The vRitti-s are undoubtedly attenuated in samAdhi. But liberation as understood in advaita is the complete collapse of the sense of separate self irrespective of and in spite of the vRitti-s. So the question is what happens when the seeker is out of nirvikalpa samAdhi. Please see the Post of 18 Aug 2011 on "Deep Sleep Knowingly" at this Blog.
excellent post. like many, i, too, am at the stage of intellectual understanding, but not yet truly living/experiencing Oneness. when i have a toothache and am moaning and groaning away and no one else feels my (physical) pain, it is hard to see how it's all one consciousness:)
Dear Angie,
Thanks for the Comment.
The dilemma you express regarding others not 'feeling' your pain though you understand that Consciousness is all One arises because there is a slight misunderstanding. Let me give you two metaphors to illustrate the Advaita teaching. You can yourself see then where the misunderstanding lies.
i) You know that you are 'One' conscious person. But what you consciously experience with your ears like a melodious song on the radio is not experienced by your eye. Why is it so, if you are One and the same conscious person?
ii) Suppose you are sitting in a room with windows in different directions. You are the same one conscious person, but the view you experience from (say) the northern window is different from the view you see from the southern window. Why is it that the N-window does not experience the same view as the S-window if you are the same one consciousness viewing?
The answer is obvious. What is experienced will depend on the apparatus you use for the experience and the limitations of that particular apparatus. It has nothing to do with the basic capacity of 'experiencing.' Trust you will agree.
Now, where exactly you place your consciousness - in the ear or eye or the northern or the southern window? In other words, how do you identify yourself to be -- are you the eye or the ear or the N-window or the S-window?
You, as Consciousness, are not the eye or ear or any of the windows. You, as Consciousness, are not even affected by any of the experiences.
The ear has its experiential content and the eye has its experience. They need not be the same.
Likewise, Consciousness is One. Different body-minds have different experiences. The True You, Consciousness, does not identify Itself with any one specific body-mind like you do not identify yourself with only the ear or the N-window.
Therefore, the problem lies in mis-identification of "I" with the limited apparatus through which an experience is experienced.
Hope it is clear now.
regards,
P.S. Nice to hear from you after a long time. How have you been keeping?
Dear Angie
The real master has already answered your question! But let me offer my little change.
a. How do I get rid of this excruciating pain
b. How come no one else experiences my pain.
a. I recently had an eye surgery to fix the macular hole in my eye. They insert four probes with tiny video cameras thru the cornea to work on the retina. They offered me two options for the anesthesia: put me down or put me in a twilight zone - I preferred the latter one. I was doing fine till the nurse whispered "oh my god!!". This triggered an excruciating pain in my eyes till the anesthesia kicked in. At this stage, the pain was still there but I was not feeling it. SUFFERING WAS THERE BUT NO SUFFERER!
If you could do this without anasthesia then you got it. Ramesam knows someone who actually did it.
b.As far as someone else experiencing my pain - there was nobody, no Vijay, no Surgeon, no nurse, no probes - JUST ME the Awareness/Beingness.
Vijay
Dear Angie ( I made a little correction - pls ignore my first post)
The real master has already answered your question! But let me offer my little change.
a. How do I get rid of this excruciating pain
b. How come no one else experiences my pain.
a. I recently had an eye surgery to fix the macular hole in my eye. They insert four probes with tiny video cameras thru the cornea to work on the retina. They offered me two options for the anesthesia: put me down or put me in a twilight zone - I preferred the latter one. I was doing fine till the nurse whispered "oh my god!!". This triggered an excruciating pain in my eyes till the anesthesia kicked in. At this stage, the pain was still there but there was no i to feel it. SUFFERING WAS THERE BUT NO SUFFERER!
If you could do this without anasthesia then you got it. Ramesam knows someone who actually did it.
b.As far as someone else experiencing my pain - there was nobody, no Vijay, no Surgeon, no nurse, no probes - JUST ME the Awareness/Beingness.
Vijay
Thank you all for your response.
@ramesam: The two metaphors do help to clarify. However, in both metaphors, there is a ultimately one common entity that collates and knows all the different experiences.
case 1: my eyes see, my ears hear, and these are all experienced by the common entity "i".
case 2: "i" who is in the middle of the room and looking out the windows collates the views from each window and ends up with a "complete" picture.
Does a body-mind who has realised Oneness see a "complete" picture that is collated from the 7 billion body-mind apparatus? If so, what is that?
Very good, Angie. You did capture the main thrust of both the analogies.
So I hope that the answer to your original question as to 'why the pain in your tooth is not felt by your, say, neighbor, though Consciousness is One in all’ is clear.
In the analogy, the body-mind called Angie is one window that sees tooth pain and the body-mind called the neighbor is another window which sees maybe a marriage ceremony, though the Consciousness that illuminates (throws light on or in other words gives the 'sensing capability' to both the body-minds from the central position) is One. Each window sees and experiences its limited view and it has no way of knowing what is seen or experienced by the other window.
The present question of yours is emerging because of a slight confusion. What you have done is that you have placed the "experiencer" or "collator" of the scene viewed at the center. So what you have in the scheme of things is:
i) The view out there.
ii) The apparatus that provides a limited scene (the body).
iii) The Experiencer/Collator at the Center.
Who or what is this Experiencer or Collator giving a meaning, a label and and an ID to the view? It is none other than the "mind." But mind is a limited thing and is intimately linked to the body.
In the analogy I have given, the mind is part of the apparatus having the 'function' of giving a meaning to the object viewed. Mind is as much an inert thing as the body is and it does not have the ‘sentient capacity’ (i.e. ability to provide illumination). So I placed both the body and mind together in the position of the apparatus (window). What is at the center then?
The illuminating Consciousness is at the center. Just like the Sun himself does not see or experience anything but gives light for all eyes to be able to see, Consciousness provides the illumination to all the minds – yes, the seven billion of them!
Because of space limitations, I explained only briefly here. For more details, I suggest you may like to read the Series of my articles on The Enigma of Deep Sleep at Advaita Academy.
regards,
My understanding was that the experiencer/collator of each body-mind was the consciousness illuminating that particular body-mind. Hence if there is only one Consciousness, it should be able to collate the experiences of all the 7 billion body-minds that it illuminates. I must be missing something here... Let me read and reflect on your articles and get back to you.
PS: I am fine, hope all is well on your end too.
Dear Angie,
The articles on Deep sleep may not have touched the specific point you have raised now. Maybe I did discuss it at the Advaita Simplified Series. Let me check up. In the meanwhile, I shall leave you with another metaphor that may relate to the issue of concern here.
Think of the Universal One Consciousness (brahman) as the self-effulgent Sun. Next think of innumerable puddles of water on the ground showing the reflection of the Sun. Now say there is a breeze producing ripples in the puddles. Each reflection of the Sun in each puddle moves and oscillates as per the geometry and location of that specific puddle. But the Sun in the sky does not get affected; nor would he move as per the rippling (i.e. experience the ripple). Do you agree thus far?
Consciousness is like the TV antenna, unaffected by the quality, language, content, color of the program. But the antenna is the one which has that 'sensitivity' to detect a program. That quality of 'sensitivity' has no describable characteristics like weight, size, shape, color etc. It is just the detector/sensor. It is one and the same antenna for all the programs. Likewise, Consciousness is attributeless and One only. Each body-mind shows a different program depending on its own condition.
Did we not discuss some of these issues in our earlier exchange of mails? Would you like to continue the discussion by e-mail rather than here?
regards,
Hello Ramesam and others,
I would like to know if Nididhyasana continues till the physical body dies even for Jivamuktis?
Thank you,
Georg
Dear Ramesam and others,
I would like to know if Nididhyasana continues till the physical body dies even for Jivamuktis?
Thank you very much,
Georg
Thank you Ramesam: Here is the question by him to my above question:
As long as there is a body, although a jnAni has fully understood that she is not the "owner" of the body and the "doer" of its actions, she feels a 'responsibility' for its feeding and upkeep. This happens until she reaches the last but one stage as per the Sevenfold steps on the Knowledge Path. So the mind keeps returning for the purpose of saving the body until its life period is complete. Therefore, until the body perishes, she has to continue with nididhyAsana so that she stays in abidance as brahman unswervinglywithout break .
Actually, the death of the ego is itself the death of that person. So she attained jnAna once the core teaching is experientially "realized" by her. For her when the bodies dies etc. is not really a concern. Some jIvanmuktas can end their bodies any time they wish to end it, as per the scriptures.
Hope it clarifies the matters. Please let me know if I am not clear on any issue.
regards,
Hi Georg,
My apologies.
Your comment of May 15th got delayed in publication. Somehow, the system did not send an alert to me and hence I did not know that you made a comment.
Thanks also for the Post by you on May 20th 2017 giving my response to your question.
I think e-mail is much better for exchange of our views.
I found a couple of typos in my response. Hope readers will condone.
regards,
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