जगद्गुरुश्रीमदभिनवविद्यातीर्थमहास्वामिसाधनजीवन्मुक्त्याप्तिलीलाशतकम् Century of Verses on His Holiness Jagadguru Śrī Abhinava Vidyātīrtha Mahāsvāmin’s Divine Sport of Engaging in Spiritual Practices and Attaining Jivānmukti

Maṅgala (Invocation)

Offering my namaskāra to and fixing my mind on His Holiness Jagadguru Śrī Abhinava Vidyātīrtha Mahāsvāmin, the Supreme Lord, an enlightened and enlightenment-conferring Guru and my all, I now truthfully describe His divine sport of attaining jīvanmukti (liberation even while alive).

Sādhana Accomplished From Saṁnyāsa (22 May 1931) to 4 December 1935

Within four and a half years of His becoming a saṁnyāsin (on 22 May 1931), my revered Guru became, by the grace and guidance of God and His Guru (H.H. Jagadguru Śrī Candraśekhara-bhāratī Mahāsvāmin) and by His own ability: (i) an expert in yogāsanas, kriyās, bandhas and prāṇāyāma; (ii) deeply devoted to Lord Narasiṁha; (iii) versed in mediation on internal nāda; (iv) successful in contemplating on the Ātman in the manner He was told to do while walking, while seated, while perceiving sense-objects and while going to sleep (that is, in contemplating while walking that one is a wave in the ocean, the Ātman, while seated that one is a bead strung in the thread of consciousness, while perceiving sense-objects that the Ātman has manifested and when going to sleep that one is immersed in the ocean of Ātman-bliss); (v) accomplished in dhyāna and samādhi on the forms of the Divine Mother, Hari and Śiva; (vi) fully conversant with the various nādīs and cakras and (vii) skilled in raising the Kuṇḍalinī (up to the head). All this occurred without any impediments prior to the month of Āśvina of the cyclical year Yuva (that is, before 23 September 1935).

Śiva’s Darśana, Instruction and Blessings: 5 December 1935

In the lunar month of Mārgaśīrṣa of the cyclical year Yuva, on the śukla-daśamī day (that is, on 5 December 1935), my revered Guru went in the evening (upon being sent for) to His Guru and fully prostrated Himself on the floor in front of the latter.

His Guru placed both palms on His head and chanted the Śiva-pañcākṣarī mantra (‘oṁ namaḥ śivāya’) thrice. After receiving this special blessing for the first time, He set out for a hill within walking distance (from where the Malahānikareśvara-temple in Sringeri is visible in the west) in order to meditate there.

He reached the top of that hill an hour and a half before sunset (which was at 6 p.m. that day). Regarding all that was perceptible from there as a form of the Supreme, He chanted a verse (the ninth verse of Śaṅkara-bhagavatpāda’s Śrīdakṣiṇāmūrti-stotra) whose thrust is, ‘Salutation to the Supreme, the Guru, Lord Dakṣiṇāmūrti, whose eightfold form comprises earth, water, fire, air, space, moon, sun and jīva and is all that moves and does not move.’ He chanted the verse with His mind centred on what it conveyed.

He then sat in the siddhāsana and mentally paid obeisance to His Guru and to Śiva. With eyes half-closed, He held them directed towards the middle of the eyebrows and mentally intoned the Śiva-pañcākṣarī mantra (‘oṁ namaḥ śivāya’). As He did so, He experienced a moonlike disc of light in the region between His eyebrows. To meditate on Śiva, He then conceived (in keeping with the dhyāna-śloka of the Śiva-pañcākṣarī mantra) the eternal Śiva as seated with Goddess Pārvatī in an eight-petal, red lotus in His chest, as having five faces (four facing the four directions and one upward-turned) with three eyes each, as having ten arms, as holding a trident, a thunderbolt, a sword, an axe and the sign of granting fearlessness (upward-turned open palm with fingers straight) in the five hands on the right and holding a snake, a noose, a bell, the fire of cosmic dissolution and a goad in the five hands on the left, as bearing the moon in the crest, as variously adorned and as tranquil. Having clearly conceived of the Lord thus, He centred His attention on Śiva’s five faces, one after the other, and distinctly perceived them.

He locked on to each of the five faces for a minute or two. While every one of them charmed Him, the Lord’s upward-turned face (the face of Śiva as Īśāna) particularly captivated Him.

He then focussed on the complete form. His mental japa of the Śiva-pañcākṣarī mantra faded away. In the state of savikalpa-samādhi that ensued, He experienced the Lord as effortlessly and plainly as directly seeing an object in front of oneself with one’s eyes.

When His mind emerged from savikalpa-samādhi, He heard the sound of ‘oṁ’ and saw the Lord emerging from His heart-lotus, enlarging and manifesting in front of Him, facing Him. The Lord’s form (with 10 hands, five heads and various ornaments) underwent a transformation and He saw Śiva with two hands (and a single face) and adorned with just ashes and a snake. Placing His hand on my revered Guru’s head, the Lord spoke as follows in a divine voice:

‘Dear child, from tomorrow, fix your mind here on the formless (non-dual) Supreme Reality. You will soon become unswervingly established in the Supreme Brahman.’ Having said this, the Lord vanished. Also, the evening sun set. Filled with joy, my revered Guru extolled the Lord with devotion.

He did so in ten spontaneously-composed verses (in Sanskrit) in the Bhujaṅga-prayāta metre. (Recognizing that Śiva had instructed Him like a Guru,) He then conceived of the Lord in His heart in the form of the divine, primordial Guru seated at the base of a banyan tree, as Medhā-dakṣiṇāmūrti. He thought of the Lord (in strict accordance with the dhyāna-śloka of the Medhā-dakṣiṇāmūrti-mantra) as having a crystal-like and silver complexion, the moon in the crest and a snake as a girdle, as variously adorned and as possessed of four hands, with a rosary and the cinmudrā (the sign of knowledge in which the tips of the index finger and the thumb touch each other and the other fingers are held straight) in the two right hands and a pot of nectar and a book in the two left hands. His focus straightaway ripened into samādhi on this form.

When He emerged from samādhi, He became aware of a cobra coiled around His neck like a garland. He caressed it. After a while, it gradually went away.

The Lord’s blessing (that He would soon become unswervingly established in the Supreme Brahman) became fulfilled on the following kr̥ṣṇa-dvitīyā (a week later, on 12 December 1935) when He directly realized the (non-dual) Supreme Brahman and became a jīvanmukta (one who is liberated even while living).

Scripture-based Inquiry, Savikalpa-samādhi and Nirvikalpa-samādhi: 6-11 December 1935

On the day following the Lord’s blessing (that is, on 6 December 1935), after reaching the hilltop in the evening, He engaged in a deep inquiry into the Supreme Reality based on the Vedānta-śāstra. His inquiry is described in the following verses.

‘The knower of Brahman attains the Supreme (Taittirīya-upaniṣad 2.1.1)’; ‘He who has realized the bliss that is Brahman becomes always free from fear (Taittirīya-upaniṣad 2.4.1)’; ‘When one sees even the slightest difference in It, one is subject to fear (Taittirīya-upaniṣad 2.7.1).’ From the śruti’s words, it is clear that knowledge of Brahman results in one becoming Brahman and any notion of difference is deprecated. If one were ever to be actually other than Brahman, it would be impossible for one to become Brahman through knowledge. This is because, in all cases, only ignorance about something is dispelled by knowledge; nowhere does knowledge generate or remove any real attribute in any entity. Thus, what the knowledge of Brahman can do is only to expose one’s intrinsic state of being Brahman that was veiled by ignorance. Hence, it follows from the scriptural teaching that I am ever Brahman and free from saṁsāra and that any difference between me and Brahman is decidedly false.

The body is an aggregate of skin, flesh, bones, etc., is sustained by food and, being such, is, per se, inert; it is something that is perceived (as is a stone). I, on the other hand, am not inert and am conscious of the body. Hence, I am not this perishable body.

The mind comprises various vr̥ttis (in the form of perceptions, thoughts, etc.). It is (as made known by the scripture) made of the five elements (such as earth) and is inert. Being so, it is affected by the kind of foods and drinks that are consumed, with sāttvika, rājasa and tāmasa foods and drinks (cow’s milk, a highly pungent dish and an intoxicant being examples of these) causing it to be tranquil, agitated or deluded. Moreover, the mind is known. Were a mental vr̥itti to have as its knower another vr̥tti, there would arise the fallacy of infinite regress (for the latter vr̥tti would require a third vr̥tti to reveal it and that, in turn, would require another vr̥tti, and so on). (Unlike the mind, which is inert and perceived,) I am conscious and illumine each and every vr̥tti (being aware of perceptions, pleasure, pain, thoughts and so on). I am, thus, not the mind.

The sense of ‘I’, the ahaṁkāra, that figures in notions such as, ‘I do this’, ‘I am unhappy’, etc., is the doer and the experiencer. This ‘I’, which is manifest in the states of waking and dream, becomes dissolved in the state of deep sleep. (It is matter of common experience that no objects, thoughts or even any sense of ‘I’ shows up during dreamless sleep.) On the other hand, I, the real me, am present not only in the states of waking and dream but in deep sleep too; I witness deep sleep. On arising from deep sleep, one recognizes with regard to deep sleep, ‘I slept happily; I did not perceive anything.’ It is because deep sleep is experienced that such a recognition occurs; were deep sleep to be unwitnessed, there would be no such recognition.

Because of bearing the reflection of the sun in it, a mirror appears luminous (and able to illumine objects). However, that earthy mirror is actually, by its very nature, non-luminous. Likewise, because of bearing the reflection of consciousness, the intellect as the doer and experiencer appears to be possessed of consciousness. However, this intellect, which is (as pointed out by the scripture) constituted by the five elements (such as earth), is, in fact, intrinsically, inert.

I witness this inert intellect, the subject of the notion ‘I’, just as I witness mental happiness, pain, etc. Lord Kr̥ṣṇa has taught that the body, mind, intellect, etc., are not the Ātman and are but objects that are perceived. He has stated: ‘This body, O son of Kunti, is known as “kṣetra” (field, so called because the fruits of karma arise here as do crops in a field). Those who are knowledgeable in this call him who is conscious of it as “kṣetrajña” (the knower of the field). … The great elements (earth, water, fire, air and space), egoism, intellect, the “unmanifest” (the root material cause, Māyā) itself, the ten senses (the five sense-organs, the five organs of action and the mind) and the five objects of the senses (such as sound), desire, aversion, pleasure, pain, the aggregate (of the body and organs), sentience and fortitude – this is, as presented briefly, the “kṣetra” (field) with its modifications (Bhagavadgītā 13.1; 13.5-6).’

The states of waking, dream and deep sleep exclude each other, with the waking state absent in states of dream and deep sleep, the state of dream absent during waking and deep sleep, and the state of deep sleep absent in the states of waking and dream. As they arise and vanish, they must be false (for what is truly real subsists). I, on the other hand, remain constant in all these three states as pure consciousness. Therefore, these states are not my characteristics and I am not affected by them.

Various objects are illumined by the sun, which is distinct from them, unaffected by them and just one. Likewise, in the waking state, various objects are illumined by consciousness, which distinct from them, unaffected by them and one, with no parts and modifications. In the state of dream too, various forms (of the dream world) are witnessed by consciousness, which is distinct from them, unaffected by them and one. In the state of deep sleep, primal ignorance (which shrouds Ātman-Brahman and is the basis of the Ātman being falsely misconceived in the states of waking and dream) is witnessed by consciousness, which is different from it.

While there are differences in what is known, consciousness, which illumines the states, is just one. This consciousness is never known as an object of knowledge (like, say, a pot). It is not known objectively by anything apart from it as it is what illumines even the subject of the act of knowing. It is not known objectively by itself since it is not possible for something indivisible to be both what knows it and what is known by it.

Thus, I transcend the body, mind and intellect and the states of waking, dream and deep sleep and am pure, changeless consciousness. The śruti itself reveals (through declarations such as that the knower of Brahman attains Brahman) that I, whom am such, am the Supreme Brahman.

Brahman is ‘satya (real)’, ‘jñāna (knowledge) and ‘ananta (infinite)’; this is the definition of Brahman (given in the Taittirīya-upaniṣad after declaring that the knower of Brahman attains the Supreme). By stating that Brahman is ‘satya (real)’, the śruti teaches that Brahman is never sublated; It is changelessly eternal; It is of the nature of absolute existence. By specifying that Brahman is ‘jñāna (knowledge)’, the śruti conveys that Brahman is undifferentiated, pure consciousness, not mental knowledge that has a beginning and end. By saying that Brahman ‘ananta (infinite)’, the śruti teaches that Brahman is not delimited by space, time or objects. (That which is not present at any point in time is delimited by time. That which is not present at some location is delimited by space. If there exists some object that is actually distinct from an entity then that entity is delimited by that object. As Brahman is ‘ananta (infinite)’, there is no time when It is absent, no place where It is not present and there is no object that actually exists apart from It.)

(The following two passages of the śruti point out that Brahman is the cause of the universe and lend support to Brahman not being delimited by any object.) ‘From Brahman that is the Ātman there arose (the element) space. From space arose (the element) air. From air arose (the element) fire. From fire arose (the element) water. From water arose (the element) earth (Taittirīya-upaniṣad 2.1.1).’ ‘That from which all these beings arise, that by which they subsist (during their existence), that to which they go and into which they merge - that is Brahman (Taittirīya-upaniṣad 3.1.1).’ Through such utterances, the śruti presents Brahman as the cause of the entire word.

Brahman is never subject to any modification, for it is ‘satya’. Hence, It cannot really transform into and produce anything. Also, there cannot arise anything that is actually other than Brahman, for Brahman is ‘ananta’ (and so not delimited by objects). Hence, it decidedly follows that the world, whose cause is taught to be Brahman, cannot have really arisen from Brahman or have any independent reality; it must be false (an illusory appearance in Brahman like, say, a mirage that appears in and has as its substratum, desert-sand).

The difference between the jīva and Brahman shows up because of limiting adjuncts such as the body and mind (just as due to a limiting adjunct in the form of a pot, it appears as if pot-space is distinct from the universal space). Moreover, the limiting adjuncts such as the mind are illusory. Hence, the śruti makes known that I am Brahman by statements such as, ‘He who is in this man and He who is in the yonder sun are one (Taittirīya-upaniṣad 2.8.5).’ Likewise, Lord Kr̥ṣṇa has said, ‘And know Me (īśvara) to be the kṣetrajña (the knower of the field) in every kṣetra (field) (Bhagavadgītā 13.2)’ and, ‘He whose mind is absorbed in samādhi and who has the vision of the identity of his Ātman and Brahman sees his Ātman as existing in all beings (from Hiraṇyagarbha down to a clump of grass) and all beings as unified in his Ātman (Bhagavadgītā 6.29).’ Having performed a deep inquiry into the Truth in the light of the Vedānta-śāstra as described, He obtained certitude about His being the Supreme Brahman. He then mentally intoned (Bhagavatpāda’s Brahmānucintana’s initial verse’s first half, which crisply expressed His conclusion): ‘I am surely the Supreme Brahman, which is immutable and known by the term Vāsudeva (such as in Bhagavadgītā 7.19, where it is said, “At the end of many births, the man of mature knowledge, attains Me, realizing that Vāsudeva is all”).’ His mind then promptly became steadily focussed, in deep mediation, on the non-dual Supreme Brahman.

On the succeeding days, He unfailingly engaged in inquiry and samādhi on Brahman. He attained nirvikalpa-samādhi on the non-dual Supreme Brahman on paurṇamī (the full moon day, on 10 December 1935).

On kr̥ṣṇa-prathamā (the following day, 11 December 1935), He effortlessly abided in nirvikalpa-samādhi four times and then passed the entire night in nirvikalpa-samādhi itself.

Attainment of Enlightenment and Jīvanmukti: 12 December 1935

On kr̥ṣṇa-dvitīyā of the month of Mārgaśīrṣa (that is, on 12 December 1935), He abided effortlessly in nirvikalpa-samādhi in the forenoon and in the afternoon.

Because of the inquiry and samādhi He had been engaging in, His state of identity with all (His knowledge that there is nothing apart from Brahman-Ātman, which is Himself) had been maturing day by day and (by that evening) became almost perfect.

He reached the top of the hill one and half hours before sunset (which was at 6:03 p.m. that evening in Sringeri) and sat down (facing west, towards the Malahānikareśvara-temple that was visible at a distance on a hill). Though He was in a position to immediately go into samādhi, impelled by God, He turned His (half-closed) eyes towards the middle of His eyebrows and mentally intoned the Śiva-pañcākṣarī mantra (‘oṁ namaḥ śivāya’) just as He had done on śukla-daśamī (on 5 December 1935, the day Śiva had instructed Him and blessed Him that He would soon become firmly established in the Supreme Brahman). He experienced a moonlike disc of light in that region, just as He had done on śukla-daśamī. His mind then instantaneously became thoroughly steady in the form of the non-dual Supreme Brahman.

When His mind emerged a little from nirvikalpa-samādhi, He noticed two birds comfortably perched on His shoulders (one on His left shoulder and the other on His right shoulder).

The sun began to set. The sun of the acme of knowledge of Brahman was then all set to rise in His mind. The reason for this was His complete accomplishment of the scripturally-specified triad of ‘pāṇḍitya (the knowledge of the Truth as gained from the words of the Guru and the scripture)’, ‘bālya (the strength, as elucidated by Bhagavatpāda in His Br̥hadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad-bhāṣya, born of knowledge and marked by the elimination thereby of the vision of objects)’ and ‘mauna (steadiness of the mind in the Ātman, this being the culmination of the eradication of notions of duality)’ and the removal, through the triad, of all impediments to the dawn of the realization of the non-dual Brahman.

A minute or two after the aforesaid session of samādhi, He entered into immaculate nirvikalpa-samādhi on Brahman and there arose in Him completely unobstructed, direct knowledge of the non-dual Brahman made known by the great sentences of the Upaniṣads (such as, ‘tat tvam asi – You are That’). The root-ignorance, (which, through false knowledge, results in saṁsāra) was, thereby, destroyed. He became fully enlightened and a jīvanmukta (one liberated even while alive).

Thereafter, at no time and not even to the slightest extent did He, whose knowledge was well-established, have any slippage in His state of identity with all (in His awareness that there was nothing whatsoever apart from Brahman – from Himself).

When He descended from the hill and came near His Guru, (even before He said a word,) His Guru straightaway embraced Him and, full of joy, said, ‘Scriptural statements about jīvanmukti such as, “A mortal then becomes immortal; he attains Brahman while in this body itself (Br̥hadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad 4.4.7)” and, “However, for that enlightened person who rejoices in the Ātman alone, is satisfied with just the Ātman and is content in the Ātman alone, there is no duty to perform (Bhagavadgītā 3.17)” are now fully applicable to you.’

The Remarkable Event That Followed: 12-15 December 1935

As He had attained jīvamukti that evening, there was nothing more for Him to accomplish by engaging in nirvikalpa-samādhi. Nevertheless, as He had repeatedly remained in nirvikalpa-samādhi, His mind was dominated by mental impressions born of nirvikalpa-samādhi. Hence, His mind was greatly inclined to abiding in nirvikalpa-samādhi.

As a result, even without any intention to do so, He remained the entire night in nirvikalpa-samādhi. On kr̥ ṣṇa-tr̥ tīyā (13 December 1935), like one borne away by a torrential flood, He was in samādhi much of the time. Nirvikalpa-samādhi¸ mental impression resulting from it, increased tendency for nirvikalpa-samādhi, increased abidance in nirvikalpa-samādhi – thus did Hs abidance in nirvikalpa-samādhi keep increasing.

On kr̥ ṣṇa-caturthī (14 December 1935), every activity became nearly impossible to carry out (because His mind was very indrawn even when He was not seated motionless in samādhi ). That night, (when He entered and sat down) in His private room, He plunged involuntarily into deep nirvikalpa-samādhi. He emerged from this nirvikalpa-samādhi, hearing the intoning of ‘oṁ’ in His Guru’s voice. When He opened His eyes, He beheld His Guru seated before Him; His Guru’s palm was on His head.

His Guru said to Him, ‘For two days, I have observed your abidance in nirvikalpa-samādhi keep increasing. I did not say or do anything about it. However, the Lord made known to me that if you were not awakened by someone from this nirvikalpa-samādhi, you would not emerge from it till death. That is why, with great difficulty, I aroused you now from sāmadhi. For my sake and for the sake of many, do not give up your body. Control the great tendency to remain in nirvikalpa-samādhi.’ My Guru put into effect what His Guru advised Him to do. His extreme devotion to His Guru overrode His powerful inclination for samādhi. He avoided samādhi that day. By the next day, He was able to regulate the duration of samādhi (as before).

When He then went to His Guru’s presence, the latter told Him, ‘You have done what I wanted. You ought to conduct yourself in the world as did my revered Guru (His Holiness Jagadguru Śrī Saccidānanda-śivābhinava-nr̥siṁha-bhāratī Mahāsvāmin). In response to the directive of His Guru (His Holiness Jagadguru Śrī Nr̥siṁha-bhāratī Mahāsvāmin), He controlled His intense urge to dwell for long in nirvikalpa-samādhi. Though He was thoroughly established in the Supreme Brahman and had transcended the need to do anything, He became a scholar par excellence of the śāstras, brought great glory to the Maṭha, captivated the hearts of all and, in every situation, acted in the fitting manner. It is stated (in the Yoga-vāsiṣṭha) that Sage Vasiṣṭha advised Rāma, “Sport in the world, O Rāghava, internally free of all longing relating to the future, without attachment to anything current and devoid of tendencies born of the past, but externally conforming to all the observances (Laghu-yoga-vāsiṣṭha 5.2.56). Sport in the world, O Rāghava, with assumed attachment, anger, etc., on the outside but without any turbulence in the heart, as a doer externally but internally a non-doer (Laghu-yoga-vāsiṣṭha 5.2.57).” Be like this for the good of the world.’

The Sādhana Culminating in Enlightenment: Only a Divine Sport of God in Human Form

(Some months later, just before my revered Guru started for Bengaluru for several months as per His Guru’s instructions), His Guru averred to Him of His own accord in the cyclical year Dhātu (1936-37), ‘I know that you are actually the Supreme God, that all your thorough practice of spiritual disciplines meant to attain liberation was just your divine sport and that your beholding Śiva and receiving His blessings (on 5 December 1935) was only a play akin to Kr̥ṣṇa’s seeing Lord Śiva and obtaining a boon to beget a son (as described in the Mahābhārata’s Anuśāsana-parvan).’ A few years later, in the month of Āśvina of the cyclical year Subhānu (that is, in the period 30.9.1943 – 29.10.1943), He composed a verse on His disciple whose meaning is, ‘O wise ones, enshrine in your hearts, the (young, tranquil) very compassionate Guru, Vidyātīrtha, who is of the very nature of the Supreme Brahman, who is realized through the praṇava (oṁ), and who eradicates (by His very pure glances, the mountain of) impediments.’

The mutual relationship between my revered Guru and His Guru, both of whom were transcendent of worldly limitations and limitlessly glorious, was indeed unique and marvellous.

Having definite knowledge of His greatness, His disciple, His Holiness Jagadguru Śrī Bhāratī-tīrtha Mahāsvāmin, has (in a composition on His Guru titled Śrimad-abhinava-vidyātīrtha-akṣaramālā-stotra) extolled His Guru as being none other than the Supreme Brahman and Īśvara: ‘I seek refuge in (His Holiness Jagadguru Śrī ) Vidyātīrtha, who is tranquil, about whom the śruti has declared, “On realizing Him, the knot of the heart (the ignorance-based misidentification of the Ātman with the body-mind complex, manifesting in the form of desires) is rent asunder (Muṇḍaka-upaniṣad 2.2.8)”, and who is (referred to in the aforesaid mantra of the Muṇḍaka-upaniṣad) as the Being who is both superior (as the cause) and inferior (as the effect). I seek refuge in (His Holiness Jagadguru Śrī ) Vidyātīrtha, the Supreme Lord of all about whom the śruti says, “The one Deity creating heaven and earth… (Śvetāśvatara-upaniṣad 3.3)”.’

ओं परमपूज्यसद्गुरुचरणारविन्दार्पणमस्तु