Tripur Rahasya

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After hearing Dattaatreya Jee, Parashuraam Jee  further asked about the conduct and activities of Gyaanee - "O Lord, Tell me how intellect differs according to the stages of Gyaan? Is one kind of wisdom alone not enough to reveal he Self. Moksh is to know the Self, then how can it be dependent on stages of development? Do the methods also differ in the same way?"

Dattaatreya Jee said - "I tell you the secret of all this. There is no difference in methods, nor Gyaan differs - only the fruits differ according to the grades of accomplishments. These fruits continue for several births and when they are completed, Gyaan reveals itself. How much a man makes efforts, depends upon the incompleteness brought over from the past births. Otherwise Gyaan is eternal  and no effort is needed. Since the Gyaan is already there, and no accomplishment is needed to obtain it, it is pure intelligence like consciousness.

How to Know About Consciousness?
Then what kind of effort is needed to reveal consciousness? Since we are covered with many Vaasanaa (dispositions), consciousness is not easily seen. To see it, one must soak the cover of these Vaasanaa in the running steam of mind control and then it must be chiseled. After that the pitcher should be turned upside down on the grinding wheel of alertness, and finally open the lid with the lever of discrimination. And then only you will get the gem. Thus all efforts are towards the cleaning up the predispositions.

Intellects are the cumulative effects of the predispositions acquired by Karm. Effort is necessary to stop predispositions swaying the intellect. Although dispositions are many but they can roughly be classified under three categories - (1) Aparaadh (fault),  (2) Karm (action),  and (3) Kaam (desire). The first group shows faults in the teachings of his Guru and the holy books. Misunderstandings of the teachings of the Guru, due to assertiveness and pride, hinders the way of realizing tghe Self. Association with the wise and the study of the holy books cannot remove this misunderstanding. First of all, they maintain that there is no reality in the world; and even if there were, it cannot be known; and if one claims to know it, it is an illusion of the mind; because how knowledge can free a man from his misery and help him to attain Moksh? So this is about the first group.

There are many people who cannot understand the teachings, however well-taught, they have too many predispositions in their minds, that is why they cannot grasp the truth. They fall under the second group. They are the victims of their past Karm. They cannot even enter the stage by which their past Karm can be destroyed.

The third type of people are found most commonly. They are the victims of desires, obsessed with the sense of duty - the desire to work for some ends; they continuously rise up like the waves of the ocean. One can count the stars but not their desires. Desires for even a single person are countless, and each desire is too vast to be satisfied - why? because it is insatiable, too strong to be resisted, and too subtle to be eluded. Almost the whole world is in the grip of this demon, behaves madly and groans in pain and misery. The person who is dispassionate can alone rise to happiness. A person affected by any one of them cannot know the truth. That is why one should make the efforts to overcome these tendencies.

--The first type of disposition (fault) can be overcome by developing faith in Guru and the holy books.
--While the second disposition cannot be overcome by himself. It can be removed only by Divine grace, which may in his life, either in this life, or in any other life, one never knows. There is no other hope for this.
--The third problem should be dealt with developing dispassion, discrimination, worshipping God, studying holy scriptures, learning from the wise, and so on.

The most important thing in this the intense desire to attain Moksh, so that the desire can bring fruit. Nothing can be achieved without it. Only discussing philosophy with others is completely useless - no better than study of arts. For that, one can hope for Moksh by even one night of sincere study of scriptures and practice of that art with intense desire; otherwise it is like dressing a corpse. O Raam, Again a casual desire is also useless. The desire must be strong, it must be accompanied by efforts. Start by discarding pleasures considering them as the hindrance in attaining Moksh, by developing dispassion towards them and developing an intense desire for Moksh at the same time. This desire must be followed by efforts. After these stages are passed, then only the most unique consummation takes place."

The Most Important Feature to Attain Moksh
Parashuraam Jee asked him further - "Lord, You have said that the association with the wise, Divine grace, and dispassion are the main features to attain Moksh. Please I wish to know that among them which one is the most important and how to accomplish it? What is the root cause of the main requisite. Or is it only accidental?"

Dattaatreya Jee said - "I tell you all this. The consciousness is originally pictured the whole universe in her being. She assumed the personality of Hiranyagarbh (the Creator), took consideration the predispositions of all the egos (souls) closed in that egg; she disclosed the scriptures - collection of truths, for the fulfillment of their desires. Since all embryonic individuals were full of desires, Hiranyagarbh began to think the ways and means to fulfill their desires. He planned for a scheme of cause and effect, of actions and fruits; and consequently the individual born started revolving in that wheel of cause and effect. In this process, they take several forms (bodies) and are placed in different environments consistently with their predispositions.

After passing their lives through innumerable lower species, the individual evolves as a human being depending on the merit (Punya) he has collected. At first he will follow his own selfish desires, later in due course he will adopt the course written in scripture. Failures are inevitable and everywhere, so people are disappointed and seek advice from learned people. Those learned people take him step by step to higher stages of happiness. That is why it is always good to be with learned people. There are two causes for this - one is by accumulated merits, and two unselfish devotion to God, but always happen by accident. How much progress one individual makes, depends on the level of the Gyaanee. A little effort is enough to remove little Vaasanaa, while a big effort is needed to remove a big Vaasanaa. As these Vaasanaa are removed, the individual rises from his present condition. That is why sages are found at different levels.

These differences are clearer in Brahmaa (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver) and Shiv (the Destroyer), because they are Gyaanee by nature. They are the Lords of the Universe and they are all-knowing. Their Gyaan is pure and uncontaminated by what they do. However the Gyaanee looks, the qualities of his mind are not shared. You can see the difference in the three sons of Atri Rishi - Durvaasaa (incarnation of Shiv and very angry); Chandramaa (incarnation of Brahmaa and the husband of 27 daughters of Daksh); and Dattaatreya, myself (incarnation of Vishnu, an ideal saint roaming around in a nude state). Vashishth, one of the greatest Rishi and the preceptor of Soorya Vansh, never fails in his duties prescribed in the scriptures; whereas Sanak, Sanadan, Snatsujaat and Sanat Kumaar (the first four sons of Brahmaa Jee instructed by Naarad) are just indifferent to all kinds of actions, even the religious rites. Naarad Jee is the ideal Bhakt. Bhaargav (Shukra, the preceptor of Asur who always fight with gods) always support the enemies of gods. Vyaas is always busy in codifying Ved and spreading their truth by writing Mahaabhaarat, Puraan, and Up-Puraan. Janak is famous for being Raajarshi, and Bharat looked like an idiot. Thus there are many.

Note
Bharat was a great king who, according to the custom of the great Kshatriya emperors, handed over his throne to his son, took Sanyaas and retired into the forest to do penance. On one occasion, hearing the roar of a lion, a deer in an advanced state of pregnancy took fright and leapt across the stream. Her womb was disturbed and she landed on the other shore with her young one in placenta and dropped dead. The royal hermit took pity on the little thing, washed it, took it in his hands and returned to the hermitage. The baby-deer was carefully tended and remained always by its master's side. The hermit and the deer grew fond of each other.

After some time, the hermit knew that he was dying and became anxious about the safety of the deer in the forest after his own death. He died with that thought and consequently re-incarnated as a deer. Being a sage with pious disposition, the re-incarnate deer was placed in a holy environment, retaining knowledge of its past. So it did not associate with its species but remained close to a hermitage listening to the chant of the Vedas and discussions on philosophy. When it died it was reborn as a boy in a pious Brahmin family.

The parents died while he was still young. The boy was always helping others but never took to any definite work. He was healthy, strong and free from care. The neighborhood put him down as an idiot, and so he appeared as he loafed about. One night, the ruling chief of Sauveer, passed in a palanquin; he was in haste to reach a renowned sage Kapil who lived in another province. One of his bearers took ill on the way; so his men looked about for a substitute; on finding this Brahmin boy 'idiot', they impressed him for the work; and he took his place as a bearer of the palanquin. The chief was irritated at the slow pace of the bearers and reprimanded them. Even after repeated warnings, the pace continued to be slow and the chief was wild with rage. He alighted from the palanquin and found the new recruit to be the culprit who was thrashed and ordered to hasten.

Still there was no improvement and the chief chided him again, but could make no impression on the 'idiot'. The chief was exasperated, got down and remonstrated with him. But he received a reply which astonished him and further conversation convinced the chief of the idiot's greatness. So the chief became the disciple of Bharat, the idiot. Hi tory comes in several Puraan -   Vishnu Puraan, 2/7;   Bhaagvat Puraan, 5/2;      Naarad Puraan, 1/21;   Agni Puraan, 32;   

Thus there are so many other with individual characteristics, such as Chyavan, Yaagyavalkya, Vishwaamitra etc.

Note
Chyavan: A king named Sharyaati once went with the royal family and retinue for a pleasure trip into a forest which was famous as the habitation of a remarkable sage Chyavan by name. The young princess was playing with her companion. She came across what looked like an ant-hill and put a spike into one of its holes. Blood came out. She took fright, and returned to the elder members of the family, but did not disclose her prank to any of them.

When they had all returned home the king and many others fell ill. They suspected some involuntary evil had been perpetrated on Chyavan. The king asked from his people, he found that his own daughter had hurt his eyes. The king asked his forgiveness, at this the sage said - "Your daughter has hurt my eyes by driving a spike into the ant-hill which had grown over me while I was in Samadhi. I am now old and helpless. Send the mischief maker here to make amends for her mischief by becoming my helpmate." The king was stunned but the mistake was his daughter's so he could not say anything. He spoke to the princess, who readily acceded to the wishes of the saint. So the King's daughter Sukanyaa started living in the forest with her aged consort and she carefully attended to his comforts. She used to bring water from a neighboring spring.

One day when she was filling water from the spring, the twin gods, known as Ashwins, came there and admiring her loyalty to her aged husband, revealed themselves to her and offered to rejuvenate her ancient husband. She took her husband to the spring and awaited the miracle. They asked the saint to dive into the water. They too dived simultaneously. All three emerged exactly like one another. The girl was asked to pick out her husband. She could not recognize her husband because all three were exactly alike, so She prayed to God and was enabled to identify him. The saint promised in return to include the twin benefactors among the gods eligible for sacrificial propitiation. He invited his father-in-law Sharyaati to arrange for a sacrifice and called on the names of the Ashwins. Indra - the chief of the gods - was angry and threatened to spoil the sacrifice if innovations of the kind contemplated by Chyavan were introduced. Chyavan easily incapacitated Indra by virtue of his penance and kept his promise to his benefactors. In the meantime, Indra apologized, and was pardoned and restored to his former state.

Yaagyavalkya is the sage of sages mentioned in Brihadaaranyak Upanishad. Vishwaamitra is too well known to be described here. He was the grand-uncle of Parashuraam.

Of the three already described Vaasanaa, that one of action is the most potent and is said to be ignorance. Those who are without Vaasanaa, particularly of action, are the best. If free from the mistrust of the preceptor, the Vaasanaa due to desire which is not a very serious obstacle to realization, may be destroyed by the contemplation. Dispassion need not be very marked in this case. Such people need not be engaged repeatedly in studying scriptures, or learning from their preceptors, but they should straight away fall into Samaadhi. They live like a Jeevan Mukt.

That is why the sages who have clear intellect, do not consider desires as the obstruction because they are really not the obstruction in realization. Their desires can be seen even after realization too. They are not to be tantalizing by their desires. They are the best Gyaanee. Hey Raam, Whose mind clings to the ignorance of the necessity of work cannot hope for realization even if Shiv comes to instruct him. Similarly if somebody misunderstands the teachings, that also cannot attain the realizaton. If a man is only slightly affected by these two Vaasanaa (desires and necessity of work) will surely reach his goal although with considerable difficulty and lots of time; because he would be entirely engrossed in his activities and fulfilling his desires. Such a sage's activities will be small only to indispensable necessities of life. He will be entirely engrossed in his efforts for realization. The last kind of sages are those whose practice and discipline are not perfect enough to destroy mental predispositions. Such sages are still associated with their minds. They are barely Gyaanee and  as Jeevan Mukt as the other two classes. They will be emancipated after their death.

Praarabdh is totally powerless with the middle class who have destroyed their minds by continuous practice. The mind is the soil in which the Praarabdh seeds are sowed and sprout (pains and pleasures). If the soil is barren, the seed loses its sprouting power. You know Kaartveerya Arjun who had different weapons in his 1,000 hands fought with you using them simultaneously and efficiently.

Note
Kaartveerya Arjun was the chief of the Haihaya who were the sworn enemies of Parashuraam. He was himself a devotee of Dattaatreya and had received the most wonderful boon from him, namely, that his name should be transmitted to posterity as that of an ideal king unparalleled in legend or history. His reign was indeed remarkable and his prowess was unequalled, much less excelled. Still, as destiny would have it, he was challenged by Parashuraam and was killed in battle.

The Praarabdh of Gyaanee is still active and sprouts in the mind but only to be burnt up by the steady flame of Gyaan. Pleasure or pain is due to the dwelling of the mind on occurrences. But if these are scorched at their source, there is no pain or pleasure.  Gyaanee of the highest order, however, are seen to be active because they voluntarily bring out the Vaasanaa from the depth of the mind and allow them to run out. Vaasanaa are not the enemies of realization, so they are not weeded out by the best class of Gyaanee, becauze they cannot seek the new ones to crowd the old ones. Just they continue with the old ones so that they are finished gradually. While the lowest order of Gyaanee know that there is no truth in the objectve Universe; and their Samaadhi is not different from the rest.

What is Samaadhi?
Samaadhi is to know the Self, nothing else. It should not be confounded with Nir-Vikalp (Undifferentiated) state; because tbhis state is very common and frequent too. Everyone experiences this state, though unknowingly. A similar state is possible by Hath Yogee also. Gyaan Yogee also can also go in Samaadhi.

Hath Yogee are of two kinds - one are those who want to remove all disturbances which disturb their mind. This requires a long time determined practice which later becomes their second nature and the Yogee remains perfectly unagitated. The other ones practice 6 preliminary exercises, then Praanaayaam until they can make the air enter the Sushumnaa Naadee. Since Praanaayaam is the practice of control of breath, there is heavy strain on the person. But as the air enters the Sushumnaa Naadee, this pressure is suddenly released and the people feel relieved. Both classes of hath Yogee experience a happiness similar to that deep slumber.

A Gyaan Yogee has the theoretical knowledge of the Self after hearing it from Guru and reading it in Shaastra. That is why he is not ignorant even before the consummation of Samaadhi. He is aware of absolute consciousness in the early stages of Samaadhi. While a hath Yogee cannot remain in such a state. In the Gyaanee's Samaadhi, both the veil of ignorance and disturbance of thoughts are removed.  In the hatha yogi's samadhi, though the Self is naturally free from the two obstacles, yet it remains hidden by the veil of ignorance. The same is torn off by the Gyaanee in the process of his contemplation.

If asked what difference there is between the Samaadhi of a Hath Yogee and sleep, it must be said that the mind overpowered by deep ignorance is covered by dense darkness in sleep, whereas the mind being associated with Satwa (quality of brightness) acts in Samaadhi as a thin veil for the self-effulgent principle. The Self may be compared to the Sun obstructed by dark and dense clouds in sleep, and by light mist in Samaadhi. For a Gyaanee, the Self shines in its full effulgence like the Sun unobstructed in the heavens.

This is how the sages describe Samaadhi. Thus Samaadhi is an absolute knowledge, uncontaminated by objects. This is the state of the Gyaanee even when they take part in the worldly activities. The blue colour of the sky is known to be an unreal phenomenon and yet it appears the same to both the knowing and the unknowing, but with this difference that the one is misled by the appearance and the other is not. Just as the false perception does not mislead the man who knows, in the same way all that is perceived which is known to the wise to be false will never mislead them. Since the middle class of Gyaanee have already destroyed their minds, there are no objects for them. The mind is agitated when it assumes the shape of those objects which it mistakes for real;  otherwise it remains unagitated. Therefore the latter state alone is supramental. The mind of the highest order of jnanis though associated with objects, knows them to be unreal and therefore is not agitated as is the case with the ignorant. In the same way Gyaaanee of the highest order can engage in several actions at the same time and yet remain unaffected, because his is absolute knowledge free from objects."

"I have now told you all that you want to know.

End of the Chapter 19