English translation of T. V. Kapali Sastry's commentary on Vasishtha Ganapati Muni's Sat-darshana - sanskrit version of Sri Ramana's 'Ulladu Narpadu' in Tamil.
T. V. Kapali Sastry's Sat-Darshana Bhashya (commentary) on Vasishtha Ganapati Muni's सद्दर्शनम् - a Sanskrit version of Sri Ramana's 'Ulladu Narpadu' in Tamil
D. Then what is the difference between the baddha and the mukta, the bound man and the one liberated ? M. From the Heart, the Self-centre, there is a subtle passage leading to the sahasrara, the sakti sthana. The ordinary man lives in the brain unaware of himself in the Heart. The Jnana Siddha lives in the Heart. When he moves about and deals with men and things, he knows what he sees is not separate from the one Supreme Reality, the Brahman which he realises in the Heart as his own Self, the Real. D. What about the ordinary man? M. – I just said he sees things outside himself. He is separate from the world, from his own deeper truth, from the truth that supports himself and what he sees. The man that has realised the surpeme Truth of his own existence realises that it is the one supreme Reality that is there behind him, behind the world. In fact, he is aware of the One, as the Real, the Self in all selves, in all things, Eternal and Immutable, in all that is impermanent and mutable. D. You speak in very high terms of knowledge, I began with body. Is there any difference between the jnanin and the ajnanin in bodily experience ? M. There is. How can it otherwise be ? I have quite often repeated it. D. Then the vedanta jnana as spoken of and discussed is perhaps one different from what is practised and realised. You often say that there is the real meaning of “I” in the Heart,..... M.— Yes, when you go deeper you lose yourself in the abysmal depths as it were, then the Reality which is the atman that was behind you all the while takes hold of you. It is an incessant flash of I-consciousness, you can be aware of it, feel it, hear it, sense it, so to say; this is what I call ‘aham sphurti.’ D. -Then, you said the atman is immutable, self-effulgent, etc. But, if you at the same time say that there is the incessant flash of I-consciousness, this ‘aham sphurti,’ does it not imply movement, which cannot be complete realisation, in which there is no movement? M. – What do you mean by complete realisation? Does it mean you become a stone, an inert mass ? The aham vrtti is different from aham sphurti. The former is the activity of the ego, and is bound to lose itself and make way for the latter which is an eternal expression of the Self. In Vedantic parlance this aham sphurti is called urtti jnana. Realisation or jnana is always a vrtti. There is a distinction to be understood between the vrtti jnana or Realisation and the svarupa, the Real. Svarupa is jnana itself, it is Consciousness. Svarupa is Sat Cit, which is omnipresent. It is always there self-attained. When you realise it, the realisation is called vrtti jnana. It is only with reference to your existence, you talk of realisation or jnana. Therefore when we talk of jnana, we always mean vrtti jnana and not to the svarupa jnana for svarupa itself is jnana Consciousness always. D. I understand it so far. But about the body? How would I feel it in the body, this vrtti jnana ? M. — Yes. You can feel yourself as one with the one that exists; the whole body becomes a mere power, a force-current: your life becomes a needle drawn to a huge mass of magnet and as you go deeper and deeper, you become a mere centre and then, not even that, you become a mere consciousness, there are no thoughts or cares here they were shattered at the threshold, it is a big inundation; you are a mere straw, a broken reed; you are taken in, swallowed alive, but it is pleasant, very delightful, you become the very thing that takes you in; this is the union of jiva with brahman, the loss of ego in the real Self, the destruction of falsehood, the attainment of Truth.
D. Then what is the difference between the baddha and the mukta, the bound man and the one liberated ?
M. From the Heart, the Self-centre, there is a subtle passage leading to the sahasrara, the sakti sthana. The ordinary man lives in the brain unaware of himself in the Heart. The Jnana Siddha lives in the Heart. When he moves about and deals with men and things, he knows what he sees is not separate from the one Supreme Reality, the Brahman which he realises in the Heart as his own Self, the Real.
D. What about the ordinary man?
M. – I just said he sees things outside himself. He is separate from the world, from his own deeper truth, from the truth that supports himself and what he sees. The man that has realised the surpeme Truth of his own existence realises that it is the one supreme Reality that is there behind him, behind the world. In fact, he is aware of the One, as the Real, the Self in all selves, in all things, Eternal and Immutable, in all that is impermanent and mutable.
D. You speak in very high terms of knowledge, I began with body. Is there any difference between the jnanin and the ajnanin in bodily experience ?
M. There is. How can it otherwise be ? I have quite often repeated it.
D. Then the vedanta jnana as spoken of and discussed is perhaps one different from what is practised and realised. You often say that there is the real meaning of “I” in the Heart,.....
M.— Yes, when you go deeper you lose yourself in the abysmal depths as it were, then the Reality which is the atman that was behind you all the while takes hold of you. It is an incessant flash of I-consciousness, you can be aware of it, feel it, hear it, sense it, so to say; this is what I call ‘aham sphurti.’
D. -Then, you said the atman is immutable, self-effulgent, etc. But, if you at the same time say that there is the incessant flash of I-consciousness, this ‘aham sphurti,’ does it not imply movement, which cannot be complete realisation, in which there is no movement?
M. – What do you mean by complete realisation? Does it mean you become a stone, an inert mass ? The aham vrtti is different from aham sphurti. The former is the activity of the ego, and is bound to lose itself and make way for the latter which is an eternal expression of the Self. In Vedantic parlance this aham sphurti is called urtti jnana. Realisation or jnana is always a vrtti. There is a distinction to be understood between the vrtti jnana or Realisation and the svarupa, the Real. Svarupa is jnana itself, it is Consciousness.
Svarupa is Sat Cit, which is omnipresent. It is always there self-attained. When you realise it, the realisation is called vrtti jnana. It is only with reference to your existence, you talk of realisation or jnana. Therefore when we talk of jnana, we always mean vrtti jnana and not to the svarupa jnana for svarupa itself is jnana Consciousness always.
D. I understand it so far. But about the body? How would I feel it in the body, this vrtti jnana ?
M. — Yes. You can feel yourself as one with the one that exists; the whole body becomes a mere power, a force-current: your life becomes a needle drawn to a huge mass of magnet and as you go deeper and deeper, you become a mere centre and then, not even that, you become a mere consciousness, there are no thoughts or cares here they were shattered at the threshold, it is a big inundation; you are a mere straw, a broken reed; you are taken in, swallowed alive, but it is pleasant, very delightful, you become the very thing that takes you in; this is the union of jiva with brahman, the loss of ego in the real Self, the destruction of falsehood, the attainment of Truth.
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