CHAPTER 10 Blossoming of Enlightenment

On the 6^th of December, 1935, corresponding to mārgaśira-śukla-ekādaśī, His Holiness reached His meditation spot on the hill around five o’clock in the evening. He sat down there in the siddhāsana, facing the Malahānikareśvara Temple in the west. In keeping with the Lord’s instruction received by Him the previous evening, He intended to focus on the Supreme Brahman, with the scripture as the authoritative basis and corroborative reasoning as an aid. He started by calling to mind three profound statements of the Taittirīya-upaniṣad, which He knew by rote. The first of these conveys, “He who knows Brahman attains the highest.” The import of the second is, “On realising the bliss of Brahman, the enlightened man is not afraid of anything.” The meaning of the third is, “For, when this (ignorant) man perceives even the slightest variety in Brahman, then (because of that perception of difference) fear arises in him.” He then reflected on them as under.

“From these scriptural declarations, it follows that on realising Brahman, I will attain unity with Brahman, the highest. On the other hand, as long as I do not realise Brahman and I perceive duality, bondage will not cease. Knowledge does not actually make or modify an object. It only removes the ignorance relating to the object. So, even now, I am indeed Brahman and the world has no existence apart from It. It is only because of ignorance that I seem to be otherwise and perceive duality. Else, there is no question of my realisation of Brahman leading to my becoming Brahman and to the cessation of diversity as declared by the scripture.

“Knowledge does not actually make or modify an object. It only removes the ignorance relating to the object. So, even now, I am indeed Brahman and the world has no existence apart from It.”

“This body, made up of skin, blood, flesh, bones and the like, is dependent on food and is inert. It is perceivable like an external object, such as a stone. What is inert and perceivable is different from that which is conscious and perceives it. I am conscious and perceive the body; as for my consciousness, that is self-evident. So, I am not the body. Likewise, I am not the prāṇas. The organs are, in themselves, inert and are merely the instruments of perception and activity. As such, the possibility of me being the organs does not arise.

“The mind is changeful and comprises thoughts and emotions that arise and disappear. I am aware of the thoughts and emotions. How can I be the mind, for it is but an object of consciousness, as is a stone? It cannot be that a second thought, and not consciousness other than the mind, is necessary or sufficient to reveal a thought. This is because another thought would be needed to reveal the thought that reveals the first one; yet another thought would be needed to reveal that thought and so on. There would be the fallacy of infinite regress.

“Sāttvika food conduces to mental purity and calmness, while rājasika and tāmasika foods affect the mind adversely. It is well known that the thinking of a person heavily under the influence of liquor is impaired. Affected by what is ingested, the mind is a material entity, notwithstanding its subtlety. Though it appears to be conscious, the mind, which is material, is inert. I who am patently not inert cannot be the inert mind.

“The agent denoted by ‘I’ in notions such as, ‘I see this,’ ‘I feel dull’ and ‘I do this’ manifests in the states of waking and dream but disappears with the onset of deep sleep. One would not be in deep sleep at all if one were to have any notion at that time like, ‘I am fast asleep.’ I, however, do exist not only in the states of waking and dream but also in deep sleep. This is confirmed by the ready recognition on awakening, ‘During deep sleep, I slept happily. I did not know anything at that time.’ As the agent disappears during deep sleep but I persist therein, I cannot be this agent marked by the I-thought.

“Agency involves change and pertains to the intellect. Though reflecting the light of the sun and appearing bright, a mirror is intrinsically not a source of light. Likewise, though appearing to be intrinsically conscious, the intellect, being a material entity like the organs, is inert. I am the witness of even the intellect and, so, distinct from it.”

At this point, He thought of a pair of verses of the Bhagavadgītā, the meaning of which is, “The great elements (space, air, fire, water and earth), egoism, intellect, the Unmanifest itself; the ten organs and the mind; the five objects of the senses (sound, touch, form, taste and smell); desire, aversion, happiness, sorrow, the aggregate (of the body and organs), sentience and fortitude – this is a brief account of the field, together with its modifications.” He proceeded with His analysis as follows.

“From these words of the Lord, it is clear that the body, senses, mind and intellect are all inert objects of knowledge. Characterised by consciousness and being the one who illumines them, I am surely distinct from them.

“The states of waking, dream and deep sleep are neither natural to me nor absolutely real. This is because while I persist unchanged in all these three states, the state of waking is absent during the states of dream and deep sleep; the dream state is absent during the states of waking and deep sleep; and deep sleep is absent during waking and dream. What appears and disappears like a mirage cannot be absolutely real. Being subject to annulment, the states of waking, dream and deep sleep are false. I am unstained by them like the desert by mirages.

“Various objects are illumined by the sun, which is distinct from them and is one. Likewise, the objects encountered in the waking state are diverse and undergo changes but the consciousness that illumines them is distinct from them and is one. As in the waking state, the changeful, diverse objects seen in the dream state are revealed by consciousness that is constant and one. In deep sleep, consciousness reveals ignorance. There is no ground to presume either that there is any difference in the consciousness that shines in the three states or that it is subject to any change. Certainly, the objects revealed cannot establish any change in what reveals them. Further, consciousness cannot witness any change in itself. This unchanging consciousness cannot be other than myself. On the authority of the Śruti, I am the Supreme Brahman.”

“The body, senses, mind and intellect are all inert objects of knowledge. Characterised by consciousness and being the one who illumines them, I am surely distinct from them.”

“The states of waking, dream and deep sleep are neither natural to me nor absolutely real. Being subject to annulment, these states are false. I am unstained by them like the desert by mirages.”

Moving on to the nature of Brahman as made known in the scripture, He recalled the words of the Taittirīya-upaniṣad, “satyaṁ jñānam-anantaṁ brahma”; this conveys, “Brahman is truth (satya), knowledge (jñāna) and infinite (ananta).” Taking up each of the three characteristics of the Supreme spoken of, He pondered as follows.

“Only that which never gets annulled at any time - past, present or future - is satya. What is subject to change cannot be defined as being satya. Brahman, thus, ever was, is and will be changeless. It is absolute existence. Brahman is said here to be jñāna, knowledge, rather than to be jñātṛ, a perceiver. It is thus of the very nature of consciousness. What is delimited by time, space or objects is not unconditionally ananta, infinite. As the Śruti declares that Brahman is ananta, It cannot be conditioned by time, space or objects. Thus, there is no time when It is absent, there is no place at all where Brahman is not present and there is no object whatsoever that exists apart from Brahman.”

He then brought to mind two passages of the said Upaniṣad. The first of these conveys, “From that Brahman indeed, which is this Ātman, was produced space. From space emerged air. From air was born fire. From fire was created water. From water sprang up earth.” The import of the second one is, “Seek to know well that from which all these beings take birth, that by which they live after being born and to which they go and into which they merge. That is Brahman.” He proceeded to think as follows.

“That everything is rooted in Brahman is clear from these words. As Brahman is changeless, there is no question of It actually becoming transformed into the element space or of It actually producing space like a potter making a pot. Space and the other elements ought, therefore, to be appearances in Brahman, like a mirage in the desert. They have no existence apart from Brahman.”

“Only that which never gets annulled at any time, past, present or future, is satya. What is subject to change cannot be defined as being satya. Brahman, thus, ever was, is and will be changeless. It is absolute Existence.”

“Brahman is said to be jñāna, knowledge, rather than to be jñātṛ, a perceiver. It is thus of the very nature of consciousness. As the Śruti declares that Brahman is ananta, infinite, It cannot be conditioned by time, space or objects.”

Having thus ascertained the true nature of the individual self and that of the Supreme, He recalled a passage of the said Upaniṣad that points to their identity as also two allied verses of the Bhagavadgītā. The import of that passage is, “He that is here in the human person and He that is there in the sun are one.” The two verses of the Bhagavadgītā convey, “He whose mind is absorbed in yoga and who has the vision of sameness everywhere sees the Ātman as abiding in all beings and all beings as abiding in the Ātman. He who sees Me in everything and sees all things in Me – I do not go out of his vision and he also is not lost to My vision.” He then concluded as follows.

“Brahman, which is absolute existence, pure consciousness and infinite, shines as the self of every being. Though appearing as the world, It is non-dual and unaffected in any way. As taught by the scripture, I am indeed the Supreme Brahman, the Ātman of all. I never was, am or will be otherwise.”

His aforesaid enquiry into the Truth lasted for about 45 minutes and resulted in great clarity of understanding, freedom from doubts and conviction, something that He thereafter attributed to the grace of His Guru and God. Though He did not choose to keep His eyes closed during His deep reflection, He hardly noticed anything external. He felt ready to deeply focus on the Supreme. It was about 15 minutes before sunset, which was at 6:00 p.m.

“I am indeed the Supreme Brahman, the One free from decay and known as Vāsudeva (He who resides in and shines in all).”

He initiated His meditation as usual by gazing at the space between the brows and mentally chanting “oṁ”. He apprehended a blue hue, just as He often did. At this point, instead of conceiving any divine form, He mentally uttered the words, “aham-eva paraṁ brahma vāsudevākhyam-avyayam,” as they captured the essence of His scripture-based reflection; these words constitute the first half of the opening verse of Bhagavatpāda’s Brahmānucintana and convey, “I am indeed the Supreme Brahman, the One free from decay and known as Vāsudeva (He who resides in and shines in all).” Without repeating the words, He strongly held on to the idea conveyed. Immediately, He felt himself expanding and becoming pervasive like space. By countering the notion of being limited by the body and the like, this experience intensified the impact of His earlier contemplation. A great wave of joy arose and submerged Him. While feeling omnipresent like space, He did not have any apprehension of either darkness or light. Such was the intensity of the focus that ensued that He remained, as it were, as just objectless consciousness and bliss. However, as the need for effort to hold on to the idea of being Brahman did not vanish, this was deep meditation, but not samādhi. After what seemed a trice, He gained mild awareness of the body; actually, about 30 to 45 minutes had passed.

He mentally repeated the enquiry of that day twice in the course of the next day, the 7^th of December, corresponding to mārgaśira-śukla-dvādaśī. After sitting down at His meditation spot on the summit of the hill around 4:30 p.m., He pondered as follows.

“Thoughts of objects and the ‘I’ thought arise in the mind and highlight objects and the agent respectively. Happiness, sorrow and the like too are only mental modifications as are the transformations of the mind in the form of external objects. The agent and the ‘I’ thought are relatively fundamental and not characterised by the great diversity of the thoughts of objects. Nonetheless, even agency and the sense of ‘I’ pertain to the mind and not to the Ātman. The Ātman is pure consciousness and is ever changeless. Being of this kind, the Ātman can neither be the mind nor be affected in any way by the mind. Yet, having falsely identified the Ātman with the mind, one deems oneself to be an agent and treats as valid notions such as, ‘I see this,’ ‘This is mine,’ ‘I am happy’ and ‘I am unhappy.’ Decidedly, only right knowledge can annul ignorance and misunderstanding.”

He recalled that on the preceding evening He had voluntarily thought of His true nature as discerned by Him in the light of the scripture and corroborative reasoning and retained that notion; and that, fortunately, no other thought had cropped up and impaired His meditation. At this juncture, it struck Him that like using a thorn to remove a thorn that has pierced one’s sole, He could as well use even unwanted mental activity as a means to direct His attention to the Ātman. As regards this, He reasoned as follows.

“Per se, the Ātman is objectless, absolute consciousness and is none other than Brahman. With respect to the ‘I’ thought as also other thoughts, It is their witness. Hence, instead of giving importance to any thought that arises or actively quelling it, I could contemplate on the Ātman as being the witness of that thought. The thought would then serve as a pointer to the Ātman rather than as a distracter. If I stand back from a thought as a disinterested witness, the thought would be deprived of stimulation and should soon die out. Hence, my using a thought to turn to the Ātman ought not to have the undesirable consequence of making the thought persist. It is not as though the meditation would grind to a halt when the mind becomes completely still. This is because my aim is not to watch thoughts but to abide as the Ātman, which shines on Its own without any dependence on the mind.”

He thought in this fashion for two or three minutes. To try out what He had planned, He needed some thought in the mind in the early phase of His meditation. However, His mind was simply not given to wandering during meditation. So, He decided that instead of voluntarily generating some thought, He would employ His eagerness to meditate without delay as the requisite prop. He reasoned that just as when one eats, one’s desire to have a meal becomes quieted, the desire to meditate would automatically disappear with His engaging in meditation and, so, He would just not be faced with the problem of the thought persisting.

He affirmed to Himself that He was pure consciousness unlimited by space, time and objects and started His meditation. He skipped the step of directing His gaze to the space between the brows and allowing a hue to be apprehended there, for He wanted to make immediate use of the desire to meditate that He had willingly entertained at that time. He experienced no difficulty in initiating contemplation on the Ātman as the witness of this desire. Almost immediately thereafter, the mental activity serving as the object vanished. An essentially isolated ‘I’ thought remained. He maintained the attitude of being a witness characterised by pure, unlimited consciousness. Very soon, even the sense of ‘I’ almost completely faded away. The mind was then quite still and no effort was needed to keep it so.

Consciousness shone clearly without any object and without limitations. He was overwhelmed by bliss, which was far greater than on the previous evening. The awareness of any distinction between the bliss and Himself was almost absent. About an hour passed thus but He was totally oblivious of the passage of time. As He emerged from His first experience of savikalpa-samādhi on the formless Reality, He gradually became aware of the body.

Consciousness shone clearly without any object and without limitations. He was overwhelmed by bliss. The awareness of any distinction between the bliss and Himself was almost absent.

About an hour passed thus but He was totally oblivious of the passage of time. As He emerged from His first experience of savikalpa-samādhi on the formless Reality, He gradually became aware of the body.

When He opened His eyes, He noticed that it was about half an hour before sunset. After remaining mentally quiet for a few minutes, He thought, “I am now in a position to take advantage of the presence of some thought or feeling at the start of meditation to focus on the Ātman and attain samādhi. There is, however, no necessity for me to rely upon what is basically a source of distraction. Instead, I could commence my meditation by directly generating and intensifying the notion that I am not the body and the like but am Brahman, which is of the nature of absolute existence, consciousness and bliss. This is what I did yesterday. Further, the pertinent notion is indeed in keeping with the teaching of the scripture and my conviction.” He decided to implement this procedure right then. So, He repeated what He had done on the previous evening, inclusive of employing the words to the effect, “I am indeed the Supreme Brahman, the One free from decay and known as Vāsudeva (He who resides in and shines in all).” This time, He promptly attained savikalpa-samādhi. The experience was essentially the same as that of the preceding savikalpa-samādhi and also lasted about an hour. After getting up, He returned to His abode.

The next morning, that is, on 8^th December, corresponding to mārgaśira-śukla-trayodaśī, subsequent to His turning His gaze to between His eyebrows, He apprehended a green hue. At this point, He directed His attention to the Ātman as being the witness of this hue. The hue soon faded away. Next, the sense of ‘I’ well-nigh vanished and savikalpa-samādhi ensued. At the end of the session, He recognised that He could comfortably use the hue rather than a voluntarily stimulated thought or feeling to initiate contemplation on the Ātman as a witness and attain samādhi.

That afternoon, He reflected on the Truth by deeply considering the passages of Bhagavatpāda’s Pañcīkaraṇa. Perhaps because of that, when He started to meditate that evening on the hilltop, after the manifestation of a hue, a sentence of that text occurred to Him, without any premeditation. The import of that sentence is, “I am none other than Brahman, which is eternally pure, ever enlightened, eternally free, absolute existence, absolute bliss, non-dual and the innermost consciousness.” He had barely recalled the sentence when, effortlessly and without any delay, He was in savikalpa-samādhi. He remained in that state for about 45 minutes.

A few minutes after emerging from samādhi, He thought as follows.

“I have earlier focused on the Supreme with the aid of a mental vṛtti (modification of the mind) in the form of a desire to meditate or a hue. I should be able to become absorbed in the Supreme even by considering any external object. After all, the Supreme is not merely the witness of mental states but is also the real substratum of everything.”

At this point, He recalled the portion of the Mahānārāyaṇa-upaniṣad wherein it is made known, “Whatsoever there is in the entire world that is seen or heard of, all that is pervaded by Nārāyaṇa, within and without (like a bracelet and other golden ornaments by gold, their material cause).” He proceeded to reflect as follows.

“An earthen pot has a rotund form, has the name, ‘pot’, and is made of mud. It is apprehended as something that exists, as ‘is’; it is the object of the notion of existence (sadbuddhiḥ). What is responsible for the pot’s being or existence? Decidedly, its name and form do not lend any being to it. Other than as clay, its material cause, the pot has no existence; it has existence only as clay.”

Here, He called to mind the passage of the Chāndogya-upaniṣad that conveys, “A modification (of clay, such as a pot or jar) has speech as its origin and exists only in name; as clay alone, it is real.” He went on to reflect as follows.

“In the final analysis, a pot has existence only as Brahman; apart from Brahman, it is simply non-existent. The name and form of the pot are but its false or illusory aspects. Similarly, every object has existence only as Brahman; the name and form of the object are its illusory aspects.”

“Can clay, per se, account for the being of the pot? No, for clay has no existence apart from the particles of which it is made; the name and form of clay do not make it existent. Nothing that is an effect has existence apart from its material cause; only as the cause, does an effect exist. Thus, no intermediary member of the causal chain headed by the pot, clay and particles can account for the pot’s being. Only the ultimate cause, if it be intrinsically existent, can adequately do so. The scripture teaches that Brahman is the ultimate cause, the substratum of all, and that It is of the very nature of absolute existence. Thus, in the final analysis, a pot has existence only as Brahman; apart from Brahman, it is simply non-existent. The name and form of the pot are but its false or illusory aspects. Similarly, every object has existence only as Brahman; the name and form of the object are its illusory aspects. Were such not to be the case, the scripture would not have emphatically taught that on knowing Brahman, everything becomes known, just as on knowing clay, all products of clay become known.

“In the past, whenever I have wanted to, I have been able to readily ignore the name and form of an object, such as an earthen pot or a golden vessel, and to apprehend the object as being just the substance of which it is made, such as clay or gold. Now, I should go much further. I should thoroughly discriminate the name and form of any selected object from its being, disregard them, and understand that the object is actually just its ultimate basis, absolute existence.”

Having reflected in this manner, He started His meditation, taking the sun as the object of relevance. He gazed at the sun, which was to set in about half an hour and was pleasant to behold. With effort, He increasingly ignored everything about the sun, such as its shape, size and brightness, and focused on just its being. Soon, nothing mattered except the bare existence of the sun; indifference to the illusory aspects became well-established and effortless. He was unaware thereafter whether His eyes were fully open, partially closed or fully closed. Abruptly, He almost totally forgot Himself. Just unqualified being, unrelated to space, time and objects, remained and that too not as an inert entity but as objectless consciousness. When His mind descended from this savikalpa-samādhi, He found that the sun had already set and that the place was illumined by the moon. He estimated that His samādhi would have lasted for nearly an hour.

The next morning, that is, on 9^th December, corresponding to mārgaśira-śukla-caturdaśī, the external object that He considered to facilitate His meditation on the Supreme was the wall in front of His seat in the room where He performed His āhnika. With hardly any effort, He was able to disregard all its illusory aspects of name and form and focus on just its bare being. He attained savikalpa-samādhi in moments; the experience was the same as what He had had on the previous occasion.

In the evening, He went to His usual place of meditation on the hill and, on sitting down, reflected, “Brahman is of the nature of absolute existence and is the substratum on which this illusory world of names and forms is superimposed. Even as I perceive what is external, I could, instead of considering a specific external object, use words to this effect to direct my attention fixedly to the Truth. This would be equivalent to my earlier using, when inward-turned, words of the Brahmānucintana and the Pañcīkaraṇa to become absorbed in the Supreme.” Then, without shutting His eyes, He mentally said to Himself, “sarvādhiṣṭhānabhūta-sanmātra-brahmāsmi”; this means, “I am Brahman of the nature of absolute existence, the substratum of everything.” He intensified the resulting notion by disregarding names and forms in general. As He proceeded to do so, the diversity, rooted in names and forms, of the world seemed more and more to be superficial and irrelevant. Everything appeared to become stripped to bare being, without attributes. His sense of individuality faded. An upsurge in the intensity of concentration resulted in savikalpa-samādhi that was akin to the preceding ones. About one and a half hours passed before His mind descended from samādhi.

The next morning, that is, on 10^th December, corresponding to margaśira-paurṇamī, after the apprehension of a hue, He did not explicitly recall any passage about the Truth. He did not select the hue or any feeling to initiate His meditation either. Since the previous evening, attention to the Truth had been persisting effortlessly. Even during dreams, this had been uninterrupted. He just intensified it. Promptly, He became absorbed in the Supreme and was in savikalpa-samādhi.

When He regained awareness of the body and opened His eyes, He could see His āhnika room. However, apart from bare being, nothing else seemed to be of any consequence. He ignored names and forms further. Straightaway, He was once more in savikalpa-samādhi.

That afternoon His Holiness read and pondered on the verses of Śrī Sadaśiva-brahmendra’s Ātma-vidyā-vilāsa. Calling to mind the portion that conveys, “The Supreme Ātman shines pure, enlightened and devoid of all variety” and, specifically, the part “vigalita-sarvavikalpaḥ, devoid of all variety” therein, He reflected as follows.

“I do understand from the words of the scripture, supportive reasoning and my savikalpa-samādhis that I am pure consciousness. The ripening of my present understanding and conviction into firm realisation would be greatly facilitated by the disappearance of even the vestige of duality during samādhi, leaving just the Ātman as residue.”

“Even in samādhi, I have not realised the Ātman as shining totally free from diversity. After all, the sense of ‘I’ and the awareness of the distinction of the concentrator, concentration and the object of concentration also shine, no matter how feebly. I do understand from the words of the scripture, supportive reasoning and my savikalpa-samādhis that I am pure consciousness. The ripening of my present understanding and conviction into firm realisation would be greatly facilitated by the disappearance of even the vestige of duality during samādhi, leaving just the Ātman as residue.

“A weary traveller may hear from a trustworthy person familiar with the region that the water he is seeing in the desert is a mirage. He may then reason that such should be the case. Yet, his wanting to assuage his thirst may impede his firmly realising that only desert-sand stretches in front of him. Were he to move on to a new position and the sun were to be temporarily blocked by a thick layer of clouds, he might see just sand where he once saw the mirage. He might begin to perceive the mirage again a little later. Nonetheless, the temporary disappearance of the mirage would highly facilitate his firmly realising the truth of what he had been told and reflected upon. The thorough vanishing of duality during samādhi would, for me, be helpful, like the temporary disappearance of the mirage for this hypothetical traveller.

“Further, while I almost become identified with bliss in samādhi, nonetheless, I do, to a minute degree, stand apart from it as the one who enjoys it. Infinite bliss is, on the authority of the scripture, my very nature. What is my very nature cannot, undoubtedly, be known objectively by me. It is avidyā (ignorance) that conjures diversity in the Truth, which is non-dual. Thus, no matter how great it may be, bliss that is experienced by me as an object lies in the realm of avidyā. It must not be savoured but transcended.

“I should, during my meditation this evening, prevent myself from being overwhelmed by the bliss of savikalpa-samādhi. Then, by impressing upon myself that I am bliss itself and not one who enjoys it, I should focus my mind more thoroughly on the Ātman. Once my mind were to become fully established on the Ātman and devoid of every transformation of a form other than that of the Ātman, how can any distinction between bliss and the one experiencing bliss or, for that matter, any other subject-object distinction and the sense of individuality show up at all?”

He discerned that by establishing His mind on the Ātman and remaining without any thought, He would be acting in accordance with the Lord’s instruction in the Bhagavadgītā, “One should gradually withdraw by means of the intellect endued with firmness; making the mind established in the Ātman, one should not think of anything.”

He then opened Bhagavatpāda’s Vivekacūdāmaṇi at random. His eyes fell on a verse in which nirvikalpa-samādhi is spoken of. He read it and also the succeeding three verses; they too deal with nirvikalpa-samādhi. The import of these four verses is, “When thus purified (of misunderstanding and the like about the Truth) by continuous practice, the mind merges in Brahman (by remaining without any thought, in the form of Brahman), then there is nirvikalpa-samādhi, which brings about the effortless experience of non-dual bliss. By this samādhi, there occurs the destruction of the knot of impressions (rooted in ignorance), the annihilation of all one’s actions (leading to rebirth) and the manifestation, without effort, of one’s true nature, within and without, everywhere and forever. Reflection (on the Truth) is a hundred times superior to hearing (the Truth). Meditation (on the Truth) is a hundred thousand times greater than reflection. Nirvikalpa-samādhi is infinitely superior to that. Brahman, the Reality, is realised clearly, with steady certitude, by means of nirvikalpa-samādhi but not otherwise, for, then, because of the inconstancy of mental activity, the realisation would be mixed up with other notions.” His reading enhanced his keenness on going beyond the stage of savikalpa-samādhi.

Nirvikalpa-samādhi on the Ātman-Brahman has been defined as follows in the Sarva-vedānta-siddhānta-sāra-sangrahaḥ, which is attributed to Bhagavatpāda: “That is nirvikalpa-samādhi, which is termed yoga, wherein the mind, bereft of the modes of the knower, knowing and the object of knowledge, remains firmly established as the object (Brahman). Salt put in water remains as one with the water and does not manifest separately. Only water manifests. In like manner, the mental vṛtti (of the form of Brahman) remains as one with Brahman and does not manifest separately. The non-dual Brahman alone manifests. Due to the absence of the conception of the knower, known and object of knowledge, this samādhi is called nirvikalpa.”

“Reflection on the Truth is a hundred times superior to hearing the Truth. Meditation on the Truth is a hundred thousand times greater than reflection. Nirvikalpa-samādhi is infinitely superior to that. Brahman, the Reality, is realised clearly, with steady certitude, by means of nirvikalpa-samādhi but not otherwise, for, then, because of the inconstancy of mental activity, the realisation would be mixed up with other notions.”

Vivekacūdāmaṇi

He reached His place of meditation on the hill around 4:30 p.m., one and a half hours before sunset. Sitting in the siddhāsana, He performed two cycles of prāṇāyāma together with the jālandhara, uḍḍiyāna and mūla bandhas to promote mental tranquillity. Then, as usual, He directed His gaze towards the centre of His brows and chanted ‘om’. That day, He beheld an unbounded expanse of blue, resembling the sky. The notion, “I am the non-dual Brahman apart from which nothing whatsoever exists” that was prominent and naturally persistent since the previous evening had been intensified by His savikalpa-samādhis of the morning and by His reading and reflection of the afternoon. So, He did not have to cultivate it. He had barely seen the soothing expanse of blue when it vanished. He felt Himself expanding and becoming like space. The sense of ‘I’ nearly vanished and His mind entered savikalpa-samādhi.

The bliss was very great. However, with effort, He restrained Himself from being overwhelmed by it and thought, “I am not the one experiencing bliss but am bliss itself.” In a trice, a sharp change occurred. Awareness of the distinction of the concentrator, concentration and the object of concentration completely disappeared. No more was there any sense of individuality or of space, time and objects. Only Brahman, of the nature of absolute existence, pure consciousness and ultimate bliss, shone bereft of the superimposition of even a trace of duality.

After about two hours, His mind descended to the level of savikalpa-samādhi and mild awareness of the distinction of the concentrator, concentration and the object of concentration reappeared. Though the bliss of savikalpa-samādhi was by far greater than the joy of any worldly enjoyment, it was nothing compared to the absolute, non-dual bliss of nirvikalpa-samādhi. Gradually, He became lightly aware of the body and of the buildup of breathing that had almost totally stopped earlier.

During His meditation that evening, the sense of ‘I’ nearly vanished and His mind entered savikalpa-samādhi. However, with effort, He restrained Himself from being overwhelmed by it and thought, “I am not the one experiencing bliss but am bliss itself.” In a trice, a sharp change occurred. No more was there any sense of individuality or of space, time and objects. Only Brahman, of the nature of absolute existence, pure consciousness and ultimate bliss, shone bereft of the superimposition of even a trace of duality. Though the bliss of savikalpa-samādhi was great, it was nothing compared to the absolute, non-dual bliss of nirvikalpa-samādhi.

When He opened His eyes, He could see the scene in front of Him and yet did not see it, for He was quite indifferent to the apparent diversity rooted in names and forms. So clear was the realisation that He was of the very nature of absolute existence that He apprehended nothing whatsoever as existing apart from Him. Everything was like bubbles on the ocean that was Himself. When He rose after some time, His body felt light like cotton wool and as He walked down the hill, it seemed as if He were on a moving canoe.

After about an hour, the apprehension, “I am the Supreme Brahman other than which there is nothing” started to slowly weaken from being on par with perceiving a fruit in one’s open palm. However, even when its attenuation stopped, it was much stronger than it had been when He had sat down to meditate.

That night, when it was time for Him to go to sleep, He readied Himself to meditate. Even before a hue manifested, the notion, “I am Brahman” became greatly intensified. Without any effort, He shot past the stages of deep meditation and savikalpa-samādhi and entered nirvikalpa-samādhi. He remained in it for over three hours. Then, though He felt fresh, He lay down and slept for a while. He got up at His usual time of awakening.

After having dreamt, on the night of 28^th May, 1931, of Śiva demonstrating the performance nāda-anusandhāna to Him, He had begun practising it once a week. That morning, that is, on 11^th December, corresponding to mārgaśira-kṛṣṇa-pratipat, He felt impelled to do so. So, as usual, He closed His ears, nose and mouth with His fingers to commence His contemplation on the sound heard in the right ear. The ocean-like sound that He heard abruptly grew in intensity. Then, in quick succession, He heard a variety of sounds. These included those of a drum, a flute and a vīṇā. Each sound lasted for only a few moments before being replaced by the next. He had heard the same sounds, in the same sequence, when the Lord had demonstrated nāda-anusandhāna in the dream. When the last of the sounds ended, there was just silence. His mind became extremely tranquil and suffused with bliss. The sense of “I” rapidly faded away completely and nirvikalpa-samādhi ensued. Only non-dual, objectless consciousness remained. About an hour passed before the mind descended from samādhi.

After practising nāda-anusandhāna the first few times in 1931, He found that once He started to hear the internal sound upon closing His ears and focused on it, He continued to hear it clearly even if He took His fingers off His ears. Thereafter, He had been lowering His hands involuntarily after closing His eyes, nose and eyes for just a brief while. Thus, when He emerged from samādhi that day His hands were not in contact with His face; they were resting on his lap.

That afternoon itself, He once again attained nirvikalpa-samādhi on the Supreme, this time through kuṇḍalinī-centred laya-yoga. He had just apprehended a hue between His brows when, involuntarily, He adopted the jālandhara, uḍḍiyāna and mūla bandhas and His attention turned to the anāhata-cakra. He apprehended the kuṇḍalinī there. It seemed that the elements earth, water and fire had become absorbed in the kuṇḍalinī. As the divine Śaktī headed rapidly to the sahasrāra, leaping, as it were, from one cakra to the next higher one, air, space and the organs too duly merged into her. When the kuṇḍalinī reached the sahasrāra, all duality, inclusive of the sense of “I” and awareness of the distinction of the agent of meditation, meditation and the object of meditation, thoroughly vanished. Just objectless consciousness of the very nature of bliss shone. This nirvikalpa-samādhi lasted for about an hour. As His mind lightly came out of nirvikalpa-samādhi, He discerned the descent of the kuṇḍalinī from the sahasrāra, through the ājñā-cakra, to the viṣuddha-cakra. He regained mild awareness of the body without sensing any further descent of the Śaktī and then opened His eyes.

He felt that having revealed nāda-anusandhāna and kuṇḍalinī-yoga to Him earlier, God had graciously chosen to vouchsafe to Him their culmination and hence impelled Him to engage in them that day without any premeditation on His part and attain nirvikalpa-samādhi through them. In the nirvikalpa-samādhis attained by Him the previous evening, at night, that morning through nāda-anusandhāna and that afternoon through kuṇḍalinī-yoga, just the non-dual Truth had shone, without any appearance of duality. It was now quite clear to Him that consciousness does shine in all its glory without any object whatsoever and that the Ātman is of the nature of consciousness.

Shortly after His nirvikalpa-samādhi of that afternoon, He reflected as follows.

In the nirvikalpa-samādhis attained by Him the previous evening, at night, that morning through nāda-anusandhāna and that afternoon through kuṇḍalinī-yoga, just the non-dual Truth had shone, without any appearance of duality. It was now quite clear to Him that consciousness does shine in all its glory without any object whatsoever and that the Ātman is of the nature of consciousness.

“Suppose the Ātman were knowable like an object. The question would then arise as to who can know the Ātman. The answer cannot be that the Ātman is known objectively by Itself, for it is impossible for any entity to be both the subject and the object of a cognition. The Ātman cannot be known by the intellect, mind, organs, body and objects, for they are all inert. Moreover, the Ātman is the unchanging witness of the presence and the absence of thoughts. When the intellect and mind are themselves just objects witnessed by the Ātman, how could they be the perceivers of the Ātman? The scripture declares that the Ātman is Brahman and there is no knower other than the Ātman-Brahman. Thus, the Ātman is just not knowable like some external object.

“Though not knowable like an inert object by any means of knowledge, the Ātman, which is none other than Brahman, is not unknown either. What is other than oneself and inert may be unknown. The Ātman, however, is one’s very self and is of the nature of consciousness. Consciousness is what reveals objects and never needs to be revealed by anything else. It is presupposed in every act of knowing and is ever self-established.

“The agent of even the act of knowing, which has a beginning and an end, cannot but be subject to change. Further, only an entity subject to change can experience pleasure and pain. As the Ātman is changeless, It is neither the agent of any act, inclusive of that of knowing, nor is It subject to pleasure and pain. Agency, suffering, enjoyment of pleasure and the like belong to the changeful intellect. However, owing to avidyā, one mistakenly superimposes these that belong to the intellect on the Ātman. Also, though the intellect is inert, the consciousness of the Ātman is wrongly ascribed to it and the intellect-centred ‘I’ passes off as a conscious agent and experiencer.

“The scripture advocates realisation of Brahman not in the sense of knowing what is unknown but in the sense of getting rid of the avidyā-based superimposition on It. Whether focused on the Ātman or distracted, the mind is but an inert entity illumined by the Ātman. However, the mental vṛtti of the form of Brahman destroys, as declared by the scripture, avidyā that rests in and veils Brahman and presents It wrongly.

The scripture advocates realisation of Brahman not in the sense of knowing what is unknown but in the sense of getting rid of the avidyā-based superimposition on It. Whether focused on the Ātman or distracted, the mind is but an inert entity illumined by the Ātman. However, the mental vṛtti of the form of Brahman destroys, as declared by the scripture, avidyā that rests in and veils Brahman and presents It wrongly.

“Suppose a person, who is adept at yoga, feels he is established in the Ātman when he is in samādhi but that he deviates to some extent from the Reality when he emerges from samādhi and engages in activity. Such a person is not free from avidyā. Samādhi and distraction are conditions of the mind and not of the Ātman. The Ātman is ever changeless and of the nature of consciousness. Samādhi and distraction do not affect it in any way. It is because this yogin is not free from identification with the mind that he sees himself as influenced by changes in the state of the mind. He who has fully realised that he is the changeless Reality remains established in the Reality and unaffected regardless of whether his mind is in a focused, agitated or dull condition. He should not become attached to nirvikalpa-samādhi under the delusion that for its duration he becomes one with Brahman.

“Perception of the world could affect the vision of the Truth of one who ascribes reality to duality but not of one to whom names and forms are illusory. He who firmly knows that what lies in front of him is dry sand is not affected by the appearance or disappearance of a mirage there. Likewise, he who knows that there is nothing whatsoever apart from Brahman cannot be affected either by the appearance of the mirage-like world of names and forms or its disappearance during samādhi or deep sleep.”

Having reasoned thus, His Holiness reflected, in support of His conviction about the illusory nature of the world and that there exists nothing apart from the non-dual Reality, on the similarity between the states of waking and dream. He also thought of how the states of waking, dream and deep sleep rule each other out and of the persistence in all of them of consciousness, their witness.

In the evening, He reached His place of meditation on the hill around 4:30 p.m. He effortlessly and swiftly attained nirvikalpa-samādhi exactly as on the previous night. After about an hour, He opened His eyes. The falsity of names and forms was crystal clear and there was certainty that there was nothing that was other than consciousness. Shortly thereafter, even without His shutting His eyes or making any effort, He plunged once again into nirvikalpa-samādhi. This time too, the samādhi lasted for about an hour.

Except for an hour, during which He slept, He spent the rest of the night in nirvikalpa-samādhi. It was not as though He was particular about doing so, for, by then, there was essentially no difference for Him between samādhi and the perception of the world as regards His abidance in Brahman. As He was feeling very fresh, instead of lying down, He casually sat cross-legged. Suddenly, His mind plunged into nirvikalpa-samādhi.

The next day, that is, on 12^th December 1935, corresponding to mārgaśira-kṛṇa-dvitīya, He went into nirvikalpa-samādhi in the morning and in the afternoon for an hour each. The conviction about the falsity of duality and of His being of the nature of changeless consciousness was so strong and steady that almost no avidyā-based notions of the non-Ātman cropped up. Those few that did were neutralised swiftly. The knowledge that Brahman alone is all had almost fully fructified. This was His state when He went in the evening to the summit of the hill one and a half hours before sunset, which was to occur at 6:03 p.m.

He directed His gaze to between the brows. Then, without any premeditation, He mentally chanted not just ‘om’ but “oṁ namaḥ śivāya”, as He had done a week earlier on the day He beheld the Lord and received the advice to focus on the formless Supreme Reality. Soon, He beheld a moon-like disc of light between His brows, as had happened a week earlier. His mind became increasingly quiet. The sense of ‘I’ faded away and, effortlessly, nirvikalpa-samādhi ensued. When He opened His eyes, the sun was about to set. Two birds were seated on His shoulders.

That Brahman is all was as clear to Him as a fruit in one’s palm. A few minutes later, even as His eyes were open, His mind automatically went into nirvikalpa-samādhi once again. He remained in that state for nearly an hour. As He regained awareness of the body and the surroundings, a big monkey bounded up to Him and positioned itself on His lap. After being cuddled for a while by Him, it left. He walked down the hill and found His attendant, who had not accompanied Him up the hill that day, waiting there with a lamp, as had happened a week earlier.

He had now attained direct realization of Brahman and jīvanmukti (liberation even while living), characterized by firm establishment in Brahman. The Lord’s earlier words to Him, “acireṇa brahmasaṁstho bhaviṣyasi (You shall soon become established in Brahman)” had found complete fulfilment.

He had now attained direct realization of Brahman and jīvanmukti (liberation even while living), characterized by firm establishment in Brahman. The Lord’s earlier words to Him, “acireṇa brahmasaṁstho bhaviṣyasi (You shall soon become established in Brahman)” had found complete fulfilment.