7. Contemplation on the Ātman

[The following is a translation made by me of a portion of Acharyal’s benedictory address delivered in Kannada at the Sringeri Shankara Math, Bangalore, on September 5, 1987. This discourse was the last of a series of six by Acharyal on Paramacharyal. The occasion was a “Smaraṇa-Saptāha (A week of Recollection)” organised at the Math in which various speakers talked about Paramacharyal.]

When staying in Narasimhavana with My Guru, I used to go every evening to behold Śāradāmbā and remain there for up to an hour. On My return, He once asked Me, “You have crossed the river and come. What thought arose in Your mind?” “What thought?” I wondered and replied, “There were various objects which I saw.” “What was new?” “Nothing. I saw what was visible.” “Must You see whatever is in the range of Your vision?” “If the eyes are kept closed, it is not possible to walk.” “You must see and yet not see.” “How is that possible?”

To this, He said, “This is how we should ever conduct ourselves:

{This occurs in Bhagavatpāda's Śataślokī. The complete verse is:

When Acharyal first told me, in 1980, about the advice He had received based on this verse, He said that “draṣṭā'smi” and “dṛṣṭo'smi” were alternative readings. Paramacharyal had Himself referred to them.}

“When we get up from a seated position and start walking, the feeling should not be, ‘We are walking and going somewhere.’ In the big ocean - the Ātman - a wave has arisen. That wave is moving forward. This is the supposition. There is no difference between the wave and the ocean. Yet, because one walks (and thus moves forward like the wave), one should think of oneself as the wave. When the occasion to walk arises, one should contemplate, ‘I am a wave in the ocean of the bliss, in the ocean of the Ātman.”’ His advice surprised Me. He went on, “At all times - even when You talk to someone - repeat this idea in the mind.” With practice, one uninterruptedly carries on this repetition even while speaking. Experience confirms this.

What should be the thought when one is seated? He advised:

In the thread of knowledge, a gem has been strung. The gem cannot be removed; the thread is made of unbreakable consciousness. I am that gem. Contemplation must be done in this manner.

Whenever some object is seen, the reflection should not be, “This object is now visible.” One must think, “Aha! Objectless consciousness has now become associated with objects. The Ātman was manifest earlier but now its manifestation has increased.” On receiving a blow, we become markedly aware of the body; do we not? We normally do have awareness of the body but this awareness increases when we are beaten. Similar is the case here. Accordingly, even when perceiving some external object, one should cogitate that apprehension of the Ātman has occurred.

Do not just fall asleep. When lying down, contemplate, “I am now immersed in an ocean of bliss” and, with this feeling, begin to sleep. It is very good. Whoever wants can test the difference between simply lying down and going to sleep and sleeping after voluntarily eradicating all thoughts from the mind while lying down, generating a feeling of bliss and retaining it for some minutes till sleep overtakes one. The great joy that this approach to sleep yields becomes apparent once it is experienced for a few days.

He who spends his life in this fashion is, amongst people, the firmly inward-turned one desirous of liberation. Therefore, when walking, sitting, standing and even when lying down, this is how we must conduct our life. This is the advice My Guru gave Me.

[When Acharyal told me, in 1980, about this advice of Paramacharyal, He gave the following additional information.]

Acharyal: I was seated in front of Acharyal when He gave this explanation. No sooner had He completed His instruction about the attitude to be maintained when seated than I strove to put this teaching into practice. I did not think it appropriate to delay doing so even slightly. However, though I promptly generated the thought, “I am a gem strung in the thread of consciousness,” the intensity of My contemplation was poor. A reason was that I was then primarily concentrating on what Acharyal was telling Me about the attitudes relating to perception and sleep. Further, while karma-yoga and japa had become effortless for Me at that time, such contemplation was new to Me. As I walked to My room after Acharyal had finished, I contemplated, “I am a wave in the blissful ocean that is the Ātman.” The intensity of this contemplation was much better.

While I sincerely strove to practice what Acharyal had taught Me, I did experience a couple of difficulties. This contemplation clashed now and then with My karma-yoga (involving dedicating all actions and their fruits to God). Acharyal resolved this difficulty by telling Me two days later, “The time has come for You to go beyond the stage of karma-yoga, which You have mastered. Now, direct Your efforts to contemplating on the Ātman.”

Another difficulty I had was that this contemplation partially came in the way of My enjoying the presence of Ambā in the temple, mentally worshipping Narasiṁha and the like. This is because I did these while seated and now I had been advised to contemplate when seated that I am a gem strung in the thread of consciousness. Acharyal Himself clarified, “While the knowledge of the Ātman of a jīvanmukta (one liberated while living) remains undisturbed by any thoughts and bodily activity, the case of contemplation by a spiritual aspirant is different. So, for the present, do Your mental worship and the like as before and practice contemplation on the Ātman at other times.”

Though I no more had any fundamental problems, My contemplation suffered from occasional discontinuities. Such breaks mainly occurred when I was speaking and when I got carried away by the beauty of the river and the surroundings. One evening when I went to Acharyal’s presence, He asked, “Where are You coming from?” “From Ambā's temple,” I replied. “What did You see on the way?” He queried. A break had occurred in My contemplation while crossing the Tuṅgā. Understanding the thrust of His question, I said that I beheld fish playing in the Tuṅgā. “Did You contemplate correctly at that time?” was Acharyal’s next query. “I was contemplating before and after that but for a few moments, the process became disrupted,” I admitted. Acharyal said, “Never give room for such breaks.”

I hung My head in shame and resolved that I should not be such a useless disciple. Thereafter, by Acharyal’s grace, such discontinuities in contemplation did not occur. In a few months, the four forms of contemplation became effortless.

{About the difference between the knowledge of the Truth and contemplation on the Truth, it is said in the Pañcadaśī:

Knowledge is dependent upon the thing to be known; contemplation is dependent upon the person who contemplates.

Knowledge is born of enquiry; not wishing for it will not prevent it. By just its dawn, knowledge (of the Truth) burns away (the delusion of) any reality in the phenomenal world.

Depending upon the wish of a person, contemplation can be done, not done or done in some other way. Therefore (to contemplate), he must constantly repeat the thought (of the object of contemplation) so as to maintain continuity.

Contemplation on the unqualified Brahman gradually turns into the direct knowledge of Brahman.}

I: In which year did Paramacharyal teach Acharyal about the “ātmāmbhodhe:…” verse?

Acharyal: Āngīrasa (April 7, 1932 to March 27, 1933).

I: When did the contemplation become natural?

Acharyal (after a few moments of thought): It was some time before My birthday (Āśvina-kṛṣṇa-caturdaśī) in the year Śrīmukha.

{Acharyal completed 16 years of age in the year Śrīmukha (1933-34) on October 18, 1933.}

[In the course of the benedictory address cited earlier, Acharyal went on to detail the following teaching of Paramacharyal. I learnt from Acharyal, in 1988, that this teaching was also given in the year Āngīrasa.]

My Paramaguru had great faith in reading Ātma-vidyā-vilāsa on every pradoṣa day. My Guru too had that practice. Contemplation on the verses of that poem gives, to a great extent, the experience of the Ātman.

(The Ātma-vidyā-vilāsa is an ecstatic outpouring in the āryā metre of the great jīvanmukta and yogin, Śrī Sadāśiva Brahmendra.)

During My Guru’s lifetime, if I failed to read Ātma-vidyā-vilāsa on any pradoṣa, He would ask whether I had read it and would then tell Me to do so. Once, He asked Me to give the meaning of:

(After dissolving, by the intellect, the five elements (earth, water, fire, air and ākāśa) in the sequence that is the reverse of that of their origination, the sage remains calm, beholding the Ātman, which is the residue.)

pravilāpya pañcabhūtāni¹²

This means, “Having dissolved the five elements.” Sugar (which is a modification of the element “earth”) can be dissolved (in water), but stone, mud, cloth and so on (which, like sugar, are modifications of earth) cannot be so dissolved. This is what is superficially discernible.

Recognising this, My Guru Himself explained the purport. He quoted the following verse (of Bhagavatpāda's Brahmānucintana):

(Earth is to be dissolved in water, water in fire, fire in air and air in ākāśa. Ākāśa, in its turn, has to be merged in the unmanifest cause of the five elements and that unmanifest must be merged in the pure Absolute. I am that pure Absolute, the One who dissolves all.)

Mud does not dissolve in water. However, this is not the dissolution that is spoken of. What else? In the reverse order of the origination of the five elements of the universe, an effect merges into its cause; that cause, in its turn, merges into its cause.

{Acharyal has further clarified as follows. Earth has no existence apart from its cause, water, just as a pot has no existence apart from its cause, mud. This understanding is what characterises the dissolution of earth in water that is spoken of in the Brahmānucintana verse and indicated in the Ātma-vidyā-vilāsa verse. Water, in its turn, has no existence apart from its cause, fire. This recognition marks the dissolution of water in fire.}

Finally, only the Ātman, which is the ultimate cause, remains as the residue of the dissolution process. It is such understanding of the Ātman that is referred to in the words:

One should think of the Ātman as the ultimate residue. What is the consequence of thinking in this fashion?

{It is said in the Brahmānucintana:}

(If, even for an instant, a man thinks of his Ātman as, “I am Brahman,” that thought destroys his greatest sin, just as sunrise dispels darkness.)

He advised Me, “Think in the way taught (in the Ātma-vidyā-vilāsa).” By His explanation, He created interest in it.

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