The Bhagavad Gita has a complete chapter on meditation – chapter 6, Dhyana Yoga. This deals with how someone undertakes this path of realization or attainment of ultimate truth. It also explains what happens when someone reaches the culmination of this path and what is the ultimate truth that one realizes.
It says that when one meditates for a prolonged time, after following all the preparatory stages, one’s mind becomes completely calm and restrained. What happens then?
Gita says that the person enjoys immense bliss.
What is this bliss due to?
It is because, in that state the person gets a vision of his own self.
yathrOparamathE chiththam nirudhdham yOgasEvayaa
yatra chaivaathmanaathmaanam pashyan aathmani thushyathi
-- Bhagavad Geetha 6.20
There are two things implied here. Let us take them one by one.
What is this bliss that one experiences at that stage? How is it different from the pleasure one derives otherwise? Let us get a bit into this.
In our day to day life, we derive pleasure in various ways. When we eat something very tasty, we enjoy the pleasure through our tongue. Similarly, when we listen to some melodious music, we enjoy through our ears. In this way, we experience happiness through our sense organs or indriyas – tongue, ears, eyes, nose and touch.
When we solve some puzzle, or make some new discovery etc, we also get elated and experience happiness. No sense organ might have been involved in any of these activities. But still we derive pleasure, which we call as mental pleasure. Our mind is also a sense organ since it is capable of experiencing even without the help of any external sense organs. That is why the mind is called an internal sense organ – antar indriya.
When someone meditates for some time, he would also experience pleasure in the initial stages of meditation, when the mind is still functional. That pleasure is called bliss or Ananda. It is attained due to the initial calming of the mind, and due to fewer thoughts or lack of thought conflicts.
Now, is Bhagavad Gita talking about yet another type of pleasure when it talks about the bliss that one attains when one has the vision of the self? How is that bliss different from other types of pleasures that we just mentioned?
Bhagavad Gita says that this bliss is the highest kind of bliss – sukham atyantikam. It is more intense than all other types of pleasures, that we talked about.
But there is a catch. In all the other kinds of bliss that we talked about; the pleasure is experienced through the mind. The senses may convey the pleasure sensations, but ultimately, it is the mind that experiences them. Similarly, when we talk about purely mentally derived pleasures, or those which one experiences in the initial stages of meditation, it is through the mind that we experience them.
But the catch is, when someone attains the ultimate stage of meditation, the mind is completely calm and restrained. In that case, how does one experience this bliss? Through what?
Bhagavad Gita says that this bliss which is the ultimate kind of pleasure is not attained through the sense organs nor through the mind itself. It is atindriya – beyond the senses and the mind. In that case what conveys that bliss?
Gita says that it is experienced through the Buddhi – that is, this bliss is Buddhigrahyam.
Now what is this Buddhi? Is it not part of the mind that has gone into a completely calm state?
In the Samkhya concept of the mind, what we keep talking about as mind is only a lower part of Chitta. It is called manas. That is the one which accepts the inputs from the sense organs, processes them, and finally delivers the experience to us about the external world. That is the part that produces the pleasure and pain that we normally experience.
But there is something called Buddhi above this manas. This Buddhi is the one that interfaces with the soul. Normally, this Buddhi passes on whatever is conveyed by the manas, to the soul. It has other functions, but this is just one of its main functions under normal conditions.
But in the final stage of meditation, the so-called extreme bliss or atyantika sukham is conveyed to the soul through this Buddhi, without the manas coming into the picture. This bliss is Buddhi grahyam while being atindriyam. Buddhi does not produce it, it merely conveys it. To that extent, this Buddhi is still active though it is cut off from the manas and the indriyas.
sukhamaathyanthikam yaththath budhdhigraahyam atheendhriyam
vEththi yathra na chaivaayam sthithashchalathi thathvathah
-- Bhagavad Geetha 6.21
Is that all? Some kind of happiness, however great it is?
No. That is just a sample 😉
What actually happens is that the Yogi attains a universal vision - sarvathra samadarshanah. He sees himself in everything, and everything in himself. There is no notion of ‘this is me, and this is not me’. It is as if, he himself is everything, and everything is he. No separation. This is the ultimate unified, or non dual experience. He experiences oneness with the entire existence.
sarvabhoothasthamaathmaanam sarvabhoothani cha aathmani
eekshathE yOgayukthaathmaa sarvathra samadharshanah
-- Bhagavad Geetha 6.29
This is what happens when someone attains the ultimate realization, according to Bhagavad Gita. The key points to be noted are
The Yogi experiences immense bliss which is beyond any other kind of bliss. After attaining that bliss, there would be no craving for any other pleasure. No craving means no more suffering either.
The Yogi does not physically become one with everything. Or merge with any super soul. He just gets the experience of being one with everything. It is an experience attained through the Buddhi. It is not a merger with anything, as often portrayed.
Since the Yogi does not physically or in any other manner, merge with anything else, when he comes out of the Samadhi, he is going to appear as he was, before he had this experience. But in terms of his mental state, he is a realized man now. He has tasted the ultimate. That memory which is conveyed back to the manas through the Buddhi, would make him a new man. And as long as that memory is fresh and undisturbed, the Yogi behaves like a normal man as far as his worldly interactions go, but internally he is totally a different person. His view towards the world has changed.
He becomes less self-centred, and he embraces the entire world.
An Advaitic interpretation of this entire experience is that the Yogi, who is none other than the one and only Atma, realizes his all pervasiveness and unity with the entire existence. It is like reminding him, who he actually is.
Now, does this experience give him a license to behave whatsoever way one likes to, as many modern Gurus and self-claimed enlightened persons surmise?
Many people try to cover their weaknesses for worldly lures by saying that they are ‘realized’ and nothing matters to them anymore. If that were really the case, they would not have been drawn to such worldly pleasures in the first place. I don’t know who is the ‘inventor’ of this modern notion of ‘realization’, but as long as the body exists, realized or otherwise, no one can claim to be above board.
Well, someone who can remain continuously in the state of Samadhi, most of the time, probably can claim such things. But such a person would never indulge in menial activities nor would have any craving for any worldly pleasures. Afterall, he is continuously submerged in ultimate bliss.
No comments:
Post a Comment