12 Spirituality Studies 9-2 Fall 2023 (Sa. “temporary dissolution of mind”). Therefore, in Upadēśa Undiyār, while discussing the practice of prāṇāyāma (Sa. “breath-restraint”), which is the principal means used in yoga to restrain and eventually stop all “mental activity” (Sa. citta-vṛtti), he says in Upadēśa Undiyār verse 13: “Dissolution is two: ‘laya’ and ‘nāśa’. What is lying down will rise. If form dies, it will not rise” [12], thereby implying that dissolution of mind is of two kinds, laya (Sa. “temporary dissolution”) and nāśa (Sa. “annihilation” or “permanent dissolution”), so if the mind is dissolved in laya, it will sooner or later rise again, whereas if it is dissolved in nāśa, it will never rise again. Then in verse 14 he says: “Only when one sends the mind, which will become calm when one restrains the breath, on the investigating path will its form perish” [13], thereby implying that manōnāśa (Sa. “annihilation of mind”) can be achieved only by means of “self-investigation” (Sa. ātma-vicāra) and not by prāṇāyāma or any other techniques of yoga, as he said explicitly in the final sentence of the eighth paragraph of Nāṉ Ār?: “Therefore ‘prāṇāyāma’ is just an aid to restrain the mind, but will not bring about ‘manōnāśa’” [14]. The root and essence of the mind is ego, so the mind will be annihilated only when ego is eradicated, and since ego is a false awareness of ourself, it can be destroyed only by correct awareness of ourself, which means awareness of ourself as we actually are. Therefore, the aim of self-investigation, which is the path of jñāna (Sa. “knowledge” or “awareness”), is not merely to stop “mental activity” (Sa. citta-vṛtti) but is only for us to be aware of ourself as we actually are and thereby to eradicate ego. To the extent to which we are self-attentive, our attention will thereby be withdrawn from all other things, and since no “thoughts” (Sa. vṛttis) can rise unless we attend to them, thinking will naturally cease to the extent to which we focus our entire attention on ourself alone. Therefore citta-vṛtti-nirōdhaḥ (Sa. “restraint of mental activity”) occurs automatically in self-investigation, but only as a by-product and not as its central aim. Some spiritual aspirants who have not considered Bhagavan’s core teachings carefully and deeply enough believe that if they can stop thinking, that is self-investigation, but this is not the case. We cannot know what we actually are merely by not thinking, which means stopping all mental activity. Every day when we fall asleep, we withdraw our attention from all other things, so all “mental activity” (Sa. citta-vṛtti) thereby ceases, but sleep is just a state of manōlaya, so from sleep we will sooner or later rise again as ego. Therefore, merely withdrawing our attention from all other things, which happens as a result of tiredness in the case of sleep and as a result of prāṇāyāma in the case of kēvala nirvikalpa samādhi, is not sufficient. In order to know what we actually are and thereby to eradicate ego, what is required is not just withdrawing our attention from all other things and thereby stopping all mental activity, but is focussing our entire attention on ourself, as Bhagavan implies in verse 16 of Upadēśa Undiyār: “Leaving external phenomena, the mind knowing its own form of light is alone real awareness” [15]. The mind’s “own form of light” is the light of pure awareness, “I am”, which is its real “form” or actual “nature” (Sa. svarūpa), and which always shines within it, giving it light to know both itself and all other things. “Leaving external phenomena” means withdrawing our attention from everything other than ourself, and the most effective means to do so is to focus our entire attention on ourself, which is what he implies by saying “the mind knowing its own form of light”, in which the verbal noun ஓர் தல் (Ta. ōrdal) can mean either “knowing” or “investigating”. Whereas “leaving external phenomena” is an adverbial clause, “the mind knowing its own form of light” is a noun phrase and the subject of the main clause of this sentence, so the central message of this verse is “the mind knowing its own form of light is alone real awareness”, and the adverbial clause “leaving external phenomena” is added to emphasise that in order for the mind to investigate and know its own form of light, it must be focused on this light so keenly that it thereby ceases to be aware of anything else whatsoever.
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