
Spirituality: Devotion is inquiring into your true nature
By Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati*
Na Me Bhaktaḥ Praṇaśyati – 18
Know Īśvara as Your Self: Devotion is inquiring into your true nature!
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya has said, “Of all the means required for achieving mokṣa, bhakti is the most important.” Clarifying what he means by bhakti, he continues, “constantly inquiring into or dwelling upon one’s own true nature is called bhakti.” Upaniṣads say that God is nothing but your own self. “Tat tvam asi, you are that. You are God.” The Bhagavad Gita also presents īśvara as one’s own self. In more than one place, Lord Krishna says that the bhakta “attains me” or “becomes me,” and Lord Krishna gives us the programme of bhakti to attain him.
So far, we have been discussing the first stage of the program of devotion, karma-yoga. This first stage is characterized by serving, worshipping, and meditating on saguṇa-brahma, īśvara with attributes, and retains the duality between the devotee and īśvara. The second stage of devotion, jñāna-yoga, negates duality by contemplating on nirguṇa-brahma, brahman without qualities or attributes, and knowing that as one’s own self.
Duality is false separation between jīva, the individual, and īśvara, the limitless self. That false separation is due to the ahaṅkāra, ego, and identification as a limited individual. Ego, in turn, is caused by ignorance of the true self. In the first stage of devotion, the devotee progressively reduces that false separation between jīva and īśvara by lovingly worshipping and serving īśvara and recognizing him in everything. In the second stage of devotion, the devotee negates even the slightest separation between jīva and īśvara by meditating on īśvara as his or her own self, culminating in knowledge of the oneness. Because ignorance is the cause of the duality, only knowledge of oneness and nonduality can negate the false separation. In jñāna-yoga, the devotee surrenders the ego to īśvara by knowing nirguṇa-brahma, the one attributeless “I.”
Vedāntins say that the ultimate nature of īśvara is free from all attributes, nirguṇa. Some traditions claim that bhagavān has no form, but still he has attributes, such as “father in heaven.” “Father” is an attribute. Anything that is “up there in heaven,” that is different from me, cannot be attributeless.
The only entity in the universe that is free from all names, forms and attributes is “I.” Why? Because the “I” objectifies all attributes. “I” is the seer of objects in the world and is the witness of the three states of the mind—waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. “I” is the self, the consciousness that illumines and objectifies all attributes. Seer and seen are mutually exclusive; the subject is always different from the object. The seer can never be the seen; it can never objectify itself. All attributes are objects for me, the seer; therefore, all attributes, all names and forms, are objectified by me, the “I.” The consciousness, “I,” that objectifies or illumines is attributeless. Therefore, the ultimate knowledge of īśvara has to be as “I,” nirguṇa-brahma.
Chāndogya Upaniṣad explains īśvara as “ekamevādvitīyam, one alone, nondual.” That being the case, īśvara has to be known as myself because otherwise I would remain different from īśvara and that would exclude something, namely my own self, from īśvara. If I am the bhakta and he is bhagavān and I realize him, but I still exclude myself from him, then that would mean īśvara is not complete. Only when I am also included is īśvara complete, one, nondual. Otherwise, there is duality.
We say God is transcendent. The only entity that is transcendent is “I,” because that alone is free from all attributes. To know this transcendent “I” as the self, one must meditate on brahman that is nirguṇa, free from attributes, and nirviṣeśa, free from qualifications, who is the reality of both the jīva and saguṇa-brahma. This contemplation results in the knowledge of the identity of jīva and brahman.
For this contemplation to succeed, the devotee must have a prepared mind, accomplished by the lifestyle of karma-yoga. As we have seen, karma-yoga entails developing the spirit of devotion through pūjā, śravaṇam, kīrtanam, and upāsanā. Having conviction for mokṣa through self-knowledge as the single goal of life, the devotee chooses actions in keeping with dharma and offers actions to īśvara without attachment to the results. Through pursuing that lifestyle, the devotee gradually develops the four-fold qualifications that make one eligible for self-knowledge.
The four-fold qualifications prescribed by the wise are: viveka, discrimination about the real goal in life; vairāgya, dispassion toward sense objects and sense pleasures; śamādi-ṣaṭka- sampatti, endowment with the group of six qualities, which are: śama, mastery over the mind so that the mind is not under the spell of desire; dama, control over the organs of action so that one’s actions are deliberate and not impulsive; uparati, doing one’s duty only and not acting on passing fancy; titikṣā, forbearance, cheerful acceptance of what cannot be changed, śraddhā, faith or trust in the teaching and teacher; and samādhāna, single-pointedness of mind; the fourth quality is mumukṣutvam, intense yearning for mokṣa, freedom from limitation and sorrow. Knowledge can take place if these qualities are present but not in their absence.
Thus, devotion to saguṇa-brahma through worship, service, and meditation prepares the devotee for knowing nirguṇa brahma, the formless and attributeless, the truth of everything. The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad advises such a qualified devotee to properly approach a teacher who is a śrotriya and brahmaniṣṭha. Śrotriya is one who is well-versed in the scriptures and who knows the art of unfolding the meaning of the statements of the Upaniṣads. Brahmaniṣṭha is one who abides in the knowledge of brahman. Approach a teacher who is both śrotriya and brahmaniṣṭha.
To know the self, listen, reflect, and contemplate
After approaching a competent teacher, what is the process to gain the knowledge of the self? The process of gaining knowledge, as presented in the Upaniṣads, is śravaṇam, mananam, and nididhyāsanam. Śravaṇam is listening to the teaching of Vedanta from a qualified teacher. Mananam is reflecting on the teaching to resolve doubts and vagueness. Nididhyāsanam is meditating on the teaching to overcome habitual error and make the knowledge firm.
First, the devotee takes refuge in the teacher and serves the teacher to demonstrate his or her qualification to receive the teaching. Then the teacher unfolds what the scriptures teach so that the student understands the intended meaning of all the Vedanta texts—tat tvam asi, you are that, you are brahman, you are limitless. By śravaṇam, listening, the devotee learns that I am limitless. I am not the body or mind or the intellect or memory or the organs of sense or the organs of action. I am the witness and illuminator of all of those.
While listening to what the teacher is teaching, doubts might arise in the mind of the devotee. All doubts, confusion, and vagueness must be resolved. The process of resolving the doubts is called mananam, reflecting on what has been listened to. Even after removing all doubts and vagueness about the teaching through mananam, the devotee likely continues to retain some habitual identification with the body. To overcome that obstacle and to fully assimilate the knowledge, the devotee deeply meditates on the vision of the self imparted by the scriptures and the teacher. That meditation is called nididhyāsanam.
By śravaṇam the devotee gains the knowledge. By mananam the devotee clears away all doubts and vagueness about that knowledge. By nididhyāsanam the devotee assimilates the knowledge, gains an abidance in the knowledge, and makes the knowledge his or her own spontaneous vision of the self.
Having accepted the devotee as a student, the teacher imparts the knowledge of Vedanta: “Tat tvam asi, you are that.” You, who take yourself to be a limited, mortal individual, are in reality Brahman. You are Brahman, who is both the maker and the material of the creation. The jīva is īśvara, who pervades everything and, at the same time, transcends everything.
Listening to this declaration from the teacher, the student naturally wonders, “how can I be brahman? How can I, a mere human, be the maker and material of the entire creation?” Replying to this doubt, the teacher explains that we must recognize two kinds of creation. One kind is when what is created is real and the other kind is when what is created is not real.
*Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati has been teaching Vedānta Prasthānatrayī and Prakaraṇagranthas for the last 40 years in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Throughout the year, he conducts daily Vedānta discourses, accompanied by retreats and Jñāna Yajñas on Vedānta in different cities in India and foreign countries.