Commentary on the Panchadasi

by Swami Krishnananda

Dharma megha mimaṁ prāhus samādhiṁ yoga vittamāḥ, varṣa tyeṣa yato dharmā mṛta dhārā ssaha sraśaḥ (60). This experience in samadhi is called dharma-megha. Megha is a cloud; a cloud that rains dharma is called dharma-megha. As it happens in samadhi, that samadhi is called dharma-megha samadhi.

Samādhiṁ yoga vittamāḥ: Knowers of yoga call this great, wonderful experience as dharma-megha samadhi. Why is it called like that? Varṣa tyeṣa yato dharmā mṛta dhārā ssaha sraśaḥ: Millions of torrents fall on the consciousness of the meditator in the form of a nectarine bath of the consciousness of law and order, satya and rita. That is, we begin to feel, to face, as it were, the very face of God, because rita and satya, law and order – not to be identified with the law and order of the national governments of the earth, but a cosmical law and order – which, when it becomes the experience of our consciousness, identifies us with everything, even with a leaf. Even the leaf of the tree and every little sand particle will start dancing before us. Nectar falls like rain. It comes from all places. The Universal rain drenches and inundates this consciousness of the meditator, and we are bathed in this nectarine experience of cosmic Universality.

Amunā vāsanā jale niśśeṣaṁ pravi lāpite, samūlon mūlite puṇya pāpākhye karma sañcaye (61). Vākya maprati baddham sat prāk parokṣā vabhāsite, karā malaka vad bodham aparokṣaṁ prasūyate (62). In the earlier stages of knowledge, knowledge is indirect. Now you know something about all that has been talked about. You are hearing it, and have made a study of it. This knowledge is indirect knowledge because the knowledge that you are gaining just now is not identical with the object of knowledge. The object is still away from you. That Supreme Brahman is not identical with the knowledge that you have gained merely by hearing or even by studying – even by deep reflection, ratiocination. With all these, you will find you are still not very near the Supreme Reality, because the mind keeps you cut off. The existence of the mind, the operation of the mind with all its vrittis, keeps you away from direct contact with the reality. But the vasanas, or the impressions of the mind, are dissolved in this state of samadhi.

A vasana is a kind of impression created by some action that we perform; and that vasana creates a vritti, or a groove in the mind like an impression created in a gramophone plate. The vibrations of thought, like the vibrations of sound, create an impression or a groove in a gramophone plate. The vibrations are the vasanas, and the vrittis are the grooves; and once the grooves are formed, we can go on playing the record any number of times and hear the same music.

Likewise, once the grooves in the mind are formed by certain impressions created by sense perception, they will become causes of rebirth; and in the next birth also, the same ‘gramophone record’ will play out. That means to say, the old, old ideas will persist and want expression in the next birth also. And in that next birth, if we too continue the same process of creating grooves in the mind, there will be an endless heap of grooves, one over the other; then there will be no remedy for it.

But once these grooves are dissolved – say we throw this gramophone plate in boiling water – it melts altogether, and all the grooves also go. Likewise, we throw this mind with all its grooves in the heat of the knowledge of this Universal experience. When this happens, samūlon mūlite puṇya pāpākhye karma sañcaye: all the karmas that we have accumulated in the form of good and bad deeds are uprooted.

It not only because of bad deeds that we get reborn. Even good deeds will take us to rebirth. It is the deed that causes birth, good or bad. It may be that bad deeds cause inconvenience, pain, suffering, sorrow, and so on, and good deeds produce such effects as joy, satisfaction, security, happiness, etc. That is true. Notwithstanding the difference between the products of good deeds and bad deeds, the character of causing rebirth will be there equally in either case. Just because we have done good deeds, it does not mean that we will not be reborn. Only, we will be born as a better person. But that also has to go. It is not enough if rajas and tamas are destroyed. Sattva also has to go.

As I mentioned, the screen in front of us, even if it is transparent, has to be lifted. Otherwise, there cannot be identity with the object. So when even the punya and papa karma phala get dissolved by this experience – they are totally uprooted – this knowledge which is indirect at present, acquired through hearing from the preceptor or teacher, will become direct knowledge. We will see this whole universe as if it is sitting on the palm of our hand. Karā malaka vad: Suppose we keep a fruit on our palm; we can see it so clearly that it does not require any proof for its existence. Such kind of clarity of vision of the existence of the Universal will be our blessing and glory when all the karmas are destroyed – the products of good and bad deeds – and indirect knowledge that we have gained through study and investigation enters into the very source of our being. Knowledge becomes our existence, and our existence becomes our knowledge. In other words, unfettered becomes our being. Free we are totally. Consciousness is our nature, and our existence becomes Universal Existence. That is to say in short, we become sat-chit-ananda, Absolute Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.

Parokṣaṁ brahma vijñānaṁ śābdaṁ deśika pūrvakam, buddhi pūrva kṛtaṁ pāpaṁ kṛtsnaṁ dahati vahnivat (63). Even this little knowledge that we have gained through hearing has a great effect. It purifies the mind. It does not mean that indirect knowledge is useless. That knowledge which was gained through the teacher or the preceptor, though indirect, will be able to destroy all the karmas, at least in some measure. The total uprooting will take place afterwards. The harassment caused by the karmas will cease.

Don't we feel that we go away happy after hearing a spiritual discourse? We have a good sleep, we have good thoughts, and we wake up with noble thoughts. Don’t we think that some karmas have been simply driven away? Otherwise, we will worry, scratch our head, think all sorts of things, and take a sleeping pill to go to bed. This will not be necessary after hearing all of this. We will be calm, quiet, happy, and composed, and never get angry with anybody. We will be satisfied with all things. That is, even this indirect knowledge has such an effect. It will destroy the worrying habit of the mind and the unnecessary interference of these negative karmas.

But when the knowledge becomes direct, it is a wonderful thing. What will happen? It will destroy the night of ignorance totally. Just as there is no night in the midday sun, there will be no night of this ignorance before us. We will not see the world. This night of ignorance which is causing the perception of an externality of the world, the desire for objects, and the running after them in action, will dissolve immediately.

Aparo kṣātma vijñānaṁ śābdaṁ deśika pūrva kam, saṁsāra kāraṇa jñāna tamasaś caṇḍa bhāskaraḥ (64). Aparoksatma vijnana is not indirect knowledge that is attained merely by study, but direct experience – as the experience of the waking condition just now.

Śābdaṁ deśika pūrva kam. This knowledge that has fructified into a maturity of direct experience after having been received though this teacher – what does it do now? Saṁsāra kāraṇa jñāna tamasaś caṇḍa bhāskaraḥ. It becomes the blazing midday sun to destroy the Universal ignorance which has caused this perception of samsara, or earthly turmoil. The world will vanish just as dreams vanish when we wake.

Itthaṁ tattva vivekaṁ vidhāya vidhi vanmanas samādhāya vigalita saṁsṛt bandhaḥ prāpnoti paraṁ padaṁ naro no cirāt (65). This chapter is now concluding – the first chapter. Having deeply considered the nature of reality as has been described up to this time – properly hearing it, carefully thinking it deeply and making it a part of our routine of the day – and by a disciplined process, we have made this knowledge a part of our thinking process itself. That is to say, when we think anything, we will think only from this point of view – like a businessman thinking only from the point of view of profit and loss, like a shopkeeper thinking only in terms of the weight of gold, an official thinking only in terms of promotion and salary. There is no other way of thinking. Here we will start thinking only from this point of view. Whether we are working, taking our meals, going for a walk, or taking a bath – whatever we may be doing, we will see it from the point of view of this great knowledge that we have acquired.

We will have a new perception of things; our vision will change. Such a person is called a philosopher. A philosopher is one who views the whole world from the point of view of eternity. That will be our experience after having listened to this wisdom, this knowledge, and having made it a part and parcel of our very outlook of life. Vigalita saṁsṛt bandhaḥ. All the shackles of bondage will fall down. All the chains that were binding us to this earth will break in one instant. Prāpnoti paraṁ padaṁ naro no cirāt. Sankara says we may get this experience very early – not after many, many years – provided our eagerness is very intense.

Here we have to remember a sutra from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras: Tīvra saṁvegānām āsannaḥ (1.21): This experience is very near us, provided our ardour for having it is very intense. Ardour means anguish, impossibility to exist without it, breathlessness because it is not there, crying because we have lost it, and as if we are being drowned in water and wanting a little air to be provided to us. It is such an anguish of having separated ourselves from God, such an ardour for wanting it. This word ‘samvega’ that is used in Patanjali’s sutra cannot be easily translated into the English language. The best translation is ‘ardour’. Intense zealousness and the heart jumping out of our body, as it were, to catch it – that is called ardour.

If this is possible for you – and if you convince yourself that there is no other goal for you except this – when you drown yourself in this feeling and thought, everything will come to you automatically. You need not go and beg for things, like a beggar. Everything will be at your feet. If this conviction is in your mind, quickly will this experience come. And what happens? Prāpnoti paraṁ padaṁ: You attain the supreme state of eternal beatitude.

The first chapter is concluded.