From Sadhakra to Siddha

I would like to briefly discuss the path of a mumukSu leading his way up to mokSa with the firm assimilation of Self knowledge (aham sat chit ananda svarupa? sarva antaryAmi chit AkAsha rUpa? asmi iti draDha niSchaya ). This is a summary for quick recollection for those who have already studied an introductory text- especially Tattva Bodha.

1) Cultivating the sAdhanam chatuStaya?
a) nitya anitya vastu vivekaH (discrimination between what eternal- the Self; and non eternal- the apparent jagat)
b) vairAgya (dispassion toward sense objects here or in the hereafter)
c) The six-fold discipline consisting of:
i. Sama (control of the mind),
ii. dama (control of one’s expressions),
iii. uparama (commitment to aligning with dharma),
iv. titikSa (patience/forebearance),
v. sraddha (faith pending understanding in the words of veda and guru),
vi. samAdhan (focus, steadfastness) and
d) mumukSutvam (a desire for mokSa- freedom).

Swami ParamArthAnanda ji maps these onto the 4 ‘D’s (discrimination (a), dispassion (b), discipline (c), desire (d) )

Now, viveka? itself comes in two flavors, so to speak:
i) nityAnitya vastu vivekaH, knowing the difference between eternal and non eternal, and
ii) dharmAdharma viveka?- knowing the difference between dharma and adharma (swAmiji mentions this as greatly elaborated in the gitA, though only hinted in tattva bodha), which is again a pre-requisite to gaining Self knowledge. Our tradition makes clear that a dhArmika person may/may not be a jNAni, but in order to be a jNAni one MUST first be dhArmika.

2) After having known atma from anAtmA through viveka? the next step is to subsume anAtmA into its cause, being atma. This resolves the first rung of duality between tat (‘that brahman’) and idam (this), by merging them into one, in our understanding.

3) The distance between ‘tatpadArtha’ and ahampadartha is merely notional, one needs to eradicate the 3 malams afflicting the anta?kara?a through the 3 practices described by Swami ParamArthananda ji in his Gita lectures
a) The grossest : Malam Layer or impure layer, removed by karma yoga
b) The subtle : VikSepa? – disturbance caused by unwanted projections of the mind, removed by upAsana yoga
c) The subtlest final layer : Avaranam or ignorance or ajNAnam, removed by jNAna yoga (which leads to the next step)

4) Now, finally, through sufficient amount of srvanam, mana?am and nidhidhyAsanan, one starts identifying tat-padArtha (‘that’ brahman) with aham (‘I’/AtmA) AT ALL TIMES. This is the final resolution taking place in the mind. It comes in the form of akhan?AkAra vRtti (‘thought modification taking the form of “I am the whole”) and it leaves behind a fullness that is independent of all vRttis, but by which all other vr?ttis are sustained.

Hari? Om.

By Prashant Parikh

The author is a student of traditional vedAnta from the Arsha vidyA gurukulam.