Gaudapada Retreat
I just returned from the West Coast teaching visit with my teacher, Babaji Bob Kindler. The last event was a retreat on Gaudpada’s Karika. This scripture is one that Babaji has been introducing to the sangha over time via three prior retreats and specific slokas. I’ve been musing lately over how the teachings of Vedanta (in all its phases) have been presented to SRV Associations for the past 20 years. In retrospect, it looks exactly like the adage that the Advaita Vedanta should be given first, and then supporting teachings given thereafter so that the mind of the aspirant, via hearing (shravana) and reasoning (manana), can finally come to direct understanding (niddhidhyasana).
During the retreat, for example, we heard that Gaudapada stated very simply – sutra-like – “merge the self into the Self.” Sutra-like statements are meant to be unwrapped, not taken at the surface level only. Entire philosophical systems, discussions, and perspectives are embodied in them. Merge the self into the Self – how is this to be done? Shankara comes along in the Vivekachudamani and tells us to merge the word into the mind, the mind into the buddhi, the buddhi into the self, and the self into the Great Self. But what does he mean by the word? He means the dharma teachings. Through those we can get to what the Mandukyopanisad expresses, and that is Om: “All this world is the syllable Om. Its further explanation is this: the past, the present, the future – everything is just Om. And whatever transcends the three divisions of time – that, too, is just Om.”
“Everything” is a big word, and if we just mentally merge the thought of “everything” into the mind, we probably will not get very far. It all must be unwrapped. So over the years, as I keep mentioning throughout these articles, Babaji has been teaching the Twenty-Four Cosmic Principles of Sankhya; emphasizing how Patanjali instructs us to meditate upon them; and weaving in Upanisadic and Tantric teachings on the prana and Om, along with a very heavy and consistent dose of teachings on the waking, dreaming, and deep sleep states – all to discriminate between the changing and the Unchanging in order to recognize the absolute Self that all relative selves must merge into. What are relative “selves”? Whatever gets “identified” with the relative, such as the Self/Turiya identified with the waking, dream, and deep sleep states (vishva, taijasa, prajna); the Self/Atman identified with any of the five koshas (anna-, prana-, mano-, vijnana-, and anandamaya koshas); the Self/Purusha identified with matter in any of its evolutes: five elements, ten senses, five tanmatras, mind, ego, buddhi, Mahat, and the Avyaktam/unmanifested Prakriti.
There are seekers who want to keep Truth simple by avoiding the details of scriptural knowledge. They think that such detail only confuses the mind and complicates Truth. But what complicates realization of Truth is ignorance. Without comparing one’s knowledge and experiences with the statements of the Seers in nondual scriptures, beings go astray. All knowledge may be within, but the unpurified mind distorts it. Mind equals maya, as Sri Ramakrishna has stated. Scriptural and philosophical wisdom clarifies and purifies the mind. And a teacher is absolutely necessary.
These are some musings from the Gaudapada retreat. More may follow.
