Textual Tuesday

 Hari Om

Most days, as part of saadhana, I like to open one or other of the texts on my shelves at a random page. Holding the Bhagavad Gita, or the Bible, or Vivekachoodamani or any of the Upanishads... or, indeed, any inspirational book... it is allowed to fall open where it wishes. Then the eyes fall upon a part of the page. There is no rejection of what is found. It has been offered by the process of providence and is to be accepted as such.

When pondering what to post today, for example, the Gita came open on Chapter 18 - and the eyes fell upon verse 66:

Relinquishing all ideas of righteousness (religiosity), surrender fully to "Me"; I will deliver you from all sinful reactions; do not despair.

It caught me a little by surprise. The preparatory thinking from my side had been that there would come inspiration for this post. That such an advanced verse should be presented confused me somewhat. Then a little pondering on the expanded meaning of the aphorism helped me realise that, despite being an instruction given by Sri Krishna (Guru) to Arjuna (Shishya) that pertains to advanced levels of spiritual practice, it is also encouraging for the teacher to give hints to the student what can be expected if the appropriate practice is undertaken.

Indeed, there is a verse quite early on in the Vivekachoodamani** which does precisely this; shloka 59 declares that the study of scriptures is useless while the Truth is unknown - and that once It is known, there is no further use of scriptures.

Both these shlokas point out that there is something beyond earthly understanding and limited concepts of "God" or "faith", as represented in written words or any sense of 'that is right, or that is wrong.' Yet, such is the need of the seeker, especially one who has restricted access to the teacher, that in early, medium and even advanced levels of seeking, the best guidance comes from those very written words.

Specifically, the Gita verse points out that one must reach a point of renunciation of all sensory connection, be prepared to drop all preconceived notions, previously learned tracts of knowledge and just plain arrogance to rise to the place where Providence can take care of things entirely. This implies the need to overcome one's doubts, that one has asked all questions, and are prepared to place all one's trust in the Higher Essence of Being. The second verse quoted here points to the learning part of that equation - one can read the scriptures over and over again - but unless one is practising what they preach, they will not teach, and we will not learn... and then again, if we do those things required of us, we will find there is no further need of them.

... that is the pinnacle of spiritual study - to attain 'moksha' - Self Knowledge. Like the many walkers who gaze upon the heights of Everest, we must find the resolve to reach for the summit. 

Even reaching 'base camp' takes some effort. We have to travel light - shedding all our rubbish and dropping all our pretence. If we cling to what we know now and think that it cannot be replaced with better and bigger thoughts, we will fall by the wayside before reaching even the first pitstop.

So, ady18sh66  IS basecamp. Reaching there, we have the best chance of moving on up. 

First, though, we have to take the first steps, check our baggage, unpack it, repack, make another few steps, check our baggage...

**The Vivekachoodamani (by Adi Shankaracharya) might be best described as a "how-to" text for all serious students of Advaita Vedanta. It questions the student about their spiritual integrity, points out the key daily practices and expounds on some of the finer points of practice in the context of the Upanishadic teachings.