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The discerning faculty with which you distinguish between ephemeral and eternal is called nityánitya viveka. The term nitya connotes “eternal”, and anitya “transient”. Everything in this mundane world is moving in the Cosmological order. Movement implies change in the spatial realm, and where there is spatial change there is temporal change also, for time is nothing but the psychic measurement of the motivity of action. Everything in this visible world is ephemeral. Only that which is in the nucleus of these transitory objects of the perceptible world is eternal. The Eternal Entity is present in every mundane objectivity as its witnessing counterpart. Change and decay occur only in the witnessed entity and not in the Witnessing Entity, for the former is ephemeral and the latter eternal.
The Apparatus of Measurement
The nature of a thing determines the apparatus to measure it with. A sensitive balance is required to weigh subtle objects, whereas a crude balance is needed to weigh crude objects. A balance for measuring gold cannot be used to measure coal. Weighing gold requires a sensitive balance, whereas weighing coal requires a crude one.
Subtle objects cannot be measured with a crude apparatus, but the reverse is possible. Though gold cannot be weighed with a coal balance, coal can be weighed with a gold balance. Similarly, a mental entity cannot be measured with a physical balance; the Cognitive Faculty can be measured with neither a physical nor a psychic balance.
There are three types of objects in the world: (1) physical, (2) abstract [psychic], and (3) cognitive. You perceive physical objects through your [sense] organs. When your organs come in contact with the physical world, the waves emanated by the physical objectivities strike the gates of the organs and create a sympathetic vibration in the nerve fibres, the nerve cells and the ectoplasmic stuff – which carries them finally to the cognitive plate. The reflection of these vibrations on the cognitive plate is called bodha kriyá, the phenomenon of knowing. The capacity of our organs is limited. Their grasping capacity is confined to particular wavelengths. Naturally the mind, being subtler than the subtlest physical objectivities, cannot be known through the organs. Mind can be understood only by mind. One can understand someone else’s mind only by touching the latter’s mind with one’s own.
A less sensitive mind cannot understand the humour or the weal and woe of others. Persons with such a mentality try to wound the sentiments of others.
The mind, owing to its subtlety, cannot be demonstrated or shown. But at the same time no one can deny its presence, for everyone knows in their heart of hearts that it exists within. No logic can convince you that you are without a mind. You know its presence, and through your own mind you understand its presence in others.
For instance, suppose two sisters quarrel about some point. At dinner-time one goes to the other and says, “Dear sister, come have your meal.” And the other sister replies, “No, I shall not have it, I am not well.” The first sister will at once understand the cause behind this refusal on the part of the second. Under normal circumstances she would have taken her sister’s words as true, but now she cannot. Here language has failed to reveal the true mental feelings. The first sister has known them only by touching her sister’s mind with her own.
And next, how are we to know the átmá [unit consciousness, soul]?
Neither the organs nor the mind can understand the átmá. Both are cruder than the átmá. The átmá can be known only through the agryábuddhi, that is, the pointed intellect. It is only through this agryábuddhi that the mind becomes merged with the átmá. (Our mind expresses itself in different directions with the help of the organs. But if these expressions of the mind converge on a particular point, that mental faculty is known as the agryábuddhi.)
It is said that the movement of the organs is extroversial, so if the pointed intellect is awakened, the organs will die. The external world exists within the bounds of time, space, and person. These factors are changeable, and naturally the universe based on them is also changeable. [If] the flow of the organs is diverted from that ephemeral world to the internal world, the organs will die.
But such thinking is quite wrong. First, the organs can be divided, according to their nature, into two types: (1) motor and (2) sensory. The movement of the sensory organs is introversial. Though the natural movement of the motor organs is extroversial, during the period of receiving waves or vibrations it becomes introversial. When we work through our mental hands, for instance, the sensations are carried up to our brain. The movement is from crude to subtle and from subtle to the subtlest.(1)
You see, for instance, an elephant. The light waves being emanated by the body of the elephant are received by your eyes, optical nerve fibres, nerve cells, and ectoplasmic stuff, respectively. At last they are reflected on your cognitive plate. At that time nothing remains there. Only after performing that action does another come into existence. The organ dies for the time being. The indriya is converted into its object. Even during spiritual meditation the organs die temporarily.
Dhiiras
Dhiiras try to know Pratyagátmá. The term dhiiras means “those who convert their extroversial movement into an introversial one”. The term Pratyagátmá means “All-Knowing Átmá”. Pratiipaḿ vipariitaḿ aiṋcati vijánáti iti pratyak [“That which takes a stance opposite to the jiivátmá and witnesses the jiivátmá is pratyak” (and pratyak + átmá = Pratyagátmá)]. Whatever you do is known to your citta [mind-stuff]; whatever your citta knows, your [aham, doer “I”] also knows. Your mahat knows all that your [aham] does. Whatever efforts you may employ to conceal your actions, nothing that you do is hidden from you. Your actions may, due to the time factor, be forgotten even by your mahat, but cannot be forgotten by your átmá.
When dhiiras try to know Pratyagátmá, they divert their external movement towards internal pursuits. Bliss lies in Pratyagátma. This world is changeable. Too much change means death. (At every moment change takes place in the objects of the world. But the change is really perceptible only when the small changes result in a great change. Changes in the body of a child of five are not noticed until they result in a great change, that is, until the child becomes an adult of twenty-five.) To attain Pratyagátmá, dhiiras divert their organs into internal pursuits. Their movement is from the ephemeral to the eternal.
Those who are not dhiiras allow their organs to be extrovert. Such persons are fools. They by their actions bind themselves in the noose of death. According to the shástras [scriptures], the death noose has three-and-a-half rounds:
Those who don’t try to make the movement of their organs introversial are verily in the noose of death.
Our organs grasp the anitya. But even this process is possible only in the presence of the nitya. When the waves emanated by the anityas are reflected on the nitya cognitive plate, their existence becomes known. Though a dead body still has eyes, perception is not possible there. The existence of the anitya, therefore, is witnessed only by the nitya. Movement towards this nitya entity is the human dharma.
Dhiiras understand well that behind all anityas lies the nitya, the Transcendental Entity beyond the scope of time, space, and person. So they never run after anityas. This keeps their mind in a balanced state. Those running after anityas cannot find peace of mind in their lives.
Everything cometh from the realm of invisibility and goeth back to invisibility. In between these two spans of invisibility there is a span of visibility. What we call “ours” or “others’” is only what we or they own in the momentary phase of visibility. It is like the coming parallel of two trains for a few moments. Your contact with the mundane objectivities is also for only a few moments. Everything is moving with its own speed and velocity. You have your own[, and everything else has its own]. Naturally the contact is for a very short span of time. This is why dhiiras do not care about what has come in contact with them or what has passed on.
In the wakeful state, things become known to us because of their reflections on the cognitive plate. In the state of dream, the vibrations received in the wakeful state, digested by the nerve cells, are aroused in some form in the ectoplasmic stuff and then released onto the cognitive plate. These reflections appear to be real.
What we call the wakeful state is also a kind of slumber similar to dreaming. When you awake from this slumber you will realize that you were dreaming. That is why dhiiras are neither cowed by misery nor carried away by great pleasure. They know well that Mahat Vibhu, that is, the Transcendental Entity, is the Átmá.
A reaction to an action is an inevitability. Whatever you do is reflected on your cognitive plate whether you like it or not. Whenever you come before a mirror your reflection appears there, for that is the nature of the mirror. Your willingness or lack of willingness has nothing to do with it. The reflecting plate is always with Him. The reaction will occur in a natural way due to the presence of the reactive momenta.
And where is that reflecting plate? The answer is that it is your jiivántika. [The term jiiva means “individual”,] and the term antika connotes “nearest point”. (There is no difference in Sanskrit between nikat́a and antika. Nikat́a means “near”, while antika connotes “nearest”.) It is not possible to say what your nearest point is; you will have to know your own point for yourself. It is the jiivántika which is your nearest point. It is your great fortune that Iishána bhútabhavyatyám – that “Iishána is your nearest point.” Iishána is the controller of what will happen in the future. He is the controller of both the past and the future waves of this Cosmological order. That Supreme Controller is your nearest point. But since you don’t know your point you fail also to know your nearest point.
The question comes up, “If Iishána is the controller only of the past and the future, then He has no concern with the present. Why then should we think about the present?” But actually the present is the moving phase between the past and the future. The adjustment Cosmically within the scope of the past and Cosmically within the scope of the future is called the present. When I am speaking it is not that you are also listening at the same moment. My speaking is future for you whereas [it] is past for me. We have adjusted some portion of the past and the future.
Thus the controller of the past and the future is our nearest point, so nothing can be concealed from Him. That is why there cannot be any hypocrisy in dhiiras. Hypocrites may be traders of religion, but the dharmic cannot be.
If a person does not try to know the Eternal Entity which is his or her nearest point, will it not be his or her absurdity? The wise will always want to be dhiiras; they will want to realize the eternal Entity hidden within. They also know that this realization is not feasible without a very strong desire to know Him. He can only be known by pariprashna [spiritual questioning] and not by logician’s philosophy. Knowledge, intellect and bookish methods cannot help you in your march towards Him.
Ápti and Prápti
Direct acquisition from somebody is called ápti, and indirect acquisition, that is, acquisition through a particular medium, is known as prápti. The instructions of Paramátmá to jiivas [unit beings] are therefore áptavákya [vákya means “speech”], whereas instructions by jiivas are called práptavákya. Naturally what we acquire through intuitional practices will be ápti. The secrets and the art of these practices are called áptavákya. So the parama jiṋána (ultimate knowledge) cannot be had through books.
Those who are not lured away by the attraction of the colourful external world will always fix their attention on the ultimate reality. Differences among forms mean nothing to them. Neither the [forms of] ornaments nor the sentimental aspect attached to them has any importance for a goldsmith. He is concerned only with the gold.
The formal differences among objects are external. Internally the objects are the same. The wise run after the One and not the many. That Singular Entity can be attained only through proper knowledge, action, and devotion.
Proper knowledge means to know what is what, which is which, how to do and why to do. But this alone is not enough; you will have to act according to the knowledge you have acquired. And last but not least, you will have to arouse the sentiment of devotion within you.
Devotion means to merge all the rivulets of sentiment into one. The purpose of sádhaná is to arouse devotion. Remember always that all your efforts should be aimed at arousing devotion. Devotion aroused, nothing remains. If even the most degraded person succeeds in awakening the agryábuddhi, that person becomes able to realize Him. Don’t be disheartened. Remove the mist of doubt and be fearless.
Footnotes
(1) A sentence misprinted in the original translation (in a newspaper) omitted here. –Eds.