S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 4 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 1 8 2 3 Gejza M. Timčák Non individual Being → Attention „inactive” ← ahamkāra → Manas, buddhi → Attention 1 → World to be perceived ← Attention 2 ← Fig. 3. The strategy for getting beyond the perceived world (maya) and ahamkāra. The usual direction of attention (Attention 1) is outward. Pratyahara (Attention 2) withdraws the attention from the world (including the body). Then manas and buddhi became almost inactive. The next step is to render the attention completely inactive (dissolving attention). In this way the whole world as we know it, including the personality (with the various databases of the ahamkāra) is given up. Then the non-individual Being “swallows” all what was felt as existence before. In this way jñāna emerges. The previous references (time, space etc.) cease to manifest for the jñāni. The exact protocol at this point is unknown for the reasons stated earlier, but the result could be seen on a great number of yogis. Ramana Maharshi had a number of proposals for reaching union with Brahman. One of the best known is the verse given inRamana Gita (Ganapati 1966, II:1): In the Heart cavern, the Brahman alone, in all its elemental purity, shines as ‘I’, ’I’, the Ātman, and is within the direct reach of experience. Enter the heart (hridayam, the main gate for importing the ‘I’ experience into the mind-body); search for it with the mind, or dive deep within, or control the movements of the breath and abide forever, in the Ātman. Śankarācārya in his Aparoksha-anubhuti (Shankaracharya 1982, verses 127–128, 69) gives the following help: “While practicing the path to samādhi there appear unavoidably many obstacles, such as lack of inquiry (anusandhan), idleness, desire for sense pleasure, sleep, dullness (tamas), distraction (viksepa), tasting of joy and the sense of blankness. One desiring the knowledge of Brahman should slowly get rid of such innumerable obstacles.” Thus, when the attention is turn “inward” for a while, then before it becomes useless, all the individualized parts of a being are becoming powerless and the individual consciousness is melted into the universal consciousness – Ātman. It remains a secret, whether this process takes an individual to the original home of humankind – the level of the second born (Janaloka) or to the Satyaloka, where he would live as an enlightened individual, or directly to a meltdown into the Absolute with no manifested form. It is also a fact that a yogi living in sahaja-samādhi – in the view of others living on the Earth – is an important help for sādhakas that are qualified for making this last step on the “journey back to the Source” (Kannutaiya 2013, 7). 4 Conclusion Thus, we could not be certain regarding the answer to the proposed question, as the relevant information appears to be made inaccessible from our levels of existence. Still, historical evidence has shown that yogis, who have reached the state of various samādhis or “melted into Being” are not only “reference points”, but as they have the key to these forms of being, and can help sādhakas, who are prepared to take these formidable steps towards “melting into Being”. The Yogataravali (Shankaracharya 2009) explains what also the Bhagavad Gita (Vyasa 1948, II:69, 76) indicates – that a jñāni sees what others do not see, but his mind is not disturbed by anything that others see as given in the verses below: For the yogi in this extraordinary state, the old patterns are completely cleansed, the state of yoga nidra arises, and the yogi is totally devoid of any interest in this world. Through appropriate practice, done steadily when all thoughts and intentions are completely rooted out, when we are freed totally from the web of karma, then the yogi reaches and remains in the state of yoga nidra. Resting in the bed of the turiya state, higher than the other three states; always having the vision of the highest (Ātman) my dear friend! Enter and remain in the nirvikalpa state, the state of yoga nidra.
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