The Philosophy of the Panchadasi

by Swami Krishnananda

There is a difference between knowledge and meditation. Knowledge is dependent on the nature of the object (Vastu-tantra), while meditation is dependent on the option of the mind of the meditator (Purusha-tantra). While the former cannot be made otherwise than what it is, the latter can be conceived of in any form that one likes. When true knowledge dawns, it puts an end to all the ills of life and the feeling of reality in objects to which one is usually attached. Then Jivanmukti is reached and the highest satisfaction attained. But in Upasana, faith is the prime factor, and here the discipline is not to engage in any personal enquiry or critical examination of the nature and meaning of the teaching of the preceptor, but to go on with confidence and devotion, continuously contemplating on the ideal before one with no intrusion of a second thought. Meditation should be continued till there arises the feeling of one’s communion with the object. The spirit of meditation should be retained till the death of the body. One must attain as much union with the ideal of meditation as in the case of the Brahmacharin mentioned in the Chhandogya Upanishad, who practised Prana-Vidya and felt his identity with the Cosmic Prana.

Upasana is capable of change, it being subject to option (Purusha-tantra). It is possible, therefore, and it is necessary, to employ different means of practice as and when one advances in the spiritual path, to suit the convenience of the particular state which one has attained on the path of meditation. In different stages of meditation, or Upasana, different levels of consciousness present themselves and different types of obstacles are encountered. Hence, it is essential that different processes of tackling these situations are to be employed by the intelligent seeker in order that he may attain ultimate success in overcoming the opposing forces. Sadhana (practice) is not a set of uniform routines of a fixed nature, for all individuals alike, for all times, but varies in its nature from person to person, and from one condition to another. When there is complete establishment in Dhyana (meditation), it goes on spontaneously by force of habit, just as people do Japa of Mantra, keeping on doing it even in dream due to continuous practice during the waking stage. This is an indication that Upasana, or Dhyana, is to be well-grounded, and this state is achieved when all the external attractions are set aside and there is a continuous flow of thought on the spiritual ideal without any intermittance. As a person engaged in work may do it as a matter of routine without bestowing much thought on it, the thought being fixed on something else, one who is well established in spiritual Sadhana keeps on doing his daily duties perfectly well, yet not bestowing his whole thought on them, the thought being mostly directed to the higher ideals. Thus, an Upasaka (worshipper or meditator) keeps on performing his daily duties as any one else does them, but does not cherish any love, either for objects or for actions, his love being directed to the Divine Being. However, when perfection is attained, no distinction is made between knowledge and action, because the perfected one sees the One Being in the many, and what we call action is to him nothing but an expression of knowledge. Naturally, there cannot be any attachment either to one thing or the other in a person who has the established conviction that the Atman is the Universal Consciousness and everything is included in it. Moreover, activity does not demand the reality of the objects to which it is directed. What is essential for any activity is the availability of the means of activity, such as the mind and the senses, and the feeling of reality in regard to external appearances, called objects.

The world of objects does not get annihilated in realisation, but is seen from a different perspective. There is no attempt on the part of the seer to suppress his mind or to control his senses because he just sees a uniform reality perpetually for which there is no necessity to forcibly direct the mind in any particular fashion. Just as we see the world when we open our eyes, spontaneously as it were, and for this purpose we do not have to concentrate our mind on the world, so in the case of the seer there is a revelation of Truth, and this revelation is different from concentration of mind, though, in the beginning, there is an endeavour to practise such concentration. We have, no doubt, to direct our minds to an object for our seeing it, but there is no such effort when the perception is complete and the knowledge of the object in question is continuous.

Having attained this sublime state, the seer is free to do or think as he likes. He does not attempt either to forget or to remember the world, for he achieves no purpose either by seeing it or by not seeing it. He is a storehouse and an embodiment of all goodness and virtues. Wherever he is, and whatever he is, there is good alone emanating from him, to the good of all, and also for him. What he does is left to his option and free will. There is no particular injunction, even scriptural, that may restrict him in any manner, because he is a liberated one, and has attained liberation by the mere fact of having attained the Self-revealing knowledge. If he sees variety, it does no harm to him, because, for him, variety is nothing but the form of the One. Hence, there is no overstepping of limit either of law or rule, because he has reached the highest law of the Absolute. Rules apply to persons who are situated in the various levels of society on account of their different endowments and capacities etc., but no rule can be applied to one who is cosmic and has everything within himself.

Action and inaction, the positive and the negative, have lost their meaning to him who has rid himself of all the Vasanas, or mental impressions, of a binding nature. He has no desire either for this world or the other. How, then, can he have the impulsion to live and to do anything at all?

There is no injunction in regard to a seer, just as there is no injunction to a child. A child is not bound by rules because of its ignorance of ethical distinctions and rules of society, while the seer knows everything and, therefore, transcends all things. All rules are pertinent only to a person of little knowledge, who is neither totally ignorant nor knows everything. There is no prohibitory rule to restrict either a child or a sage.

A sage of practical wisdom is not necessarily one who deliberately exercises powers, either to bless or to curse. There are types of Tapas, or austerity: one intended for acquisition of powers by the conserving of energy, and the other for the sake of insight by the dedication of one’s whole individuality for the sake of Truth. No doubt, there are exceptional persons like Sage Vyasa, who had the highest knowledge and the highest power, but this is because they had performed the Tapas by way of sense-control and mental concentration, through which they had immense strength within them, as also the higher one in the form of contemplation of the Eternal Being, through which they had omniscience. The Tapas which is the cause of powers is quite different from the Tapas which brings wisdom. The former consists in the inhibition of the senses and in concentration of the mind, while the latter is essentially a lifting up of one’s consciousness to wider and wider realms until it reaches universality. Mostly, one sees only masters with one or the other of the mentioned perfections, but very rare are persons like Vyasa, in whom there is perfection in the highest sense. It is, of course, common in this world that people with a little power of Tapas belittle those serene men of wisdom, even as it is not very uncommon that sensualists belittle men of Tapas for their austerities, which the ignorant ones consider as foolish. We should never make the mistake of craving for miracles as the criterion of wisdom. Men of the highest realisation may not exercise powers at all, because of their absolute desirelessness, but they are veritable sources of all powers, far beyond the little powers acquired by ordinary persons with meagre austerities. No doubt, when there is the revelation of knowledge, a Jnanin may perform the usual functions of a person in the world on account of the presence in him of such instruments of activity as the mind and the senses. Though he realises the unreality of the world in its manifested form, he lives his life either working as the other people do or meditating on the spiritual truths, in accordance with the nature of his Prarabdha. But the Upasaka should continue his meditation always, and never cease from it till the end of his life, because his final success entirely depends on the success of the meditation. It is imperative that he should maintain his exalted consciousness by way of meditation until the goal is reached. Visions in meditation may come and go, but the meditation should not cease, and no concept or vision should be confused with realisation, because all visions belong to certain planes of existence, still within the realm of relativity.