Many Paths, One Way – Part 2
As stated in Part 1, as we continue on in spiritual life we see how essential renunciation is. It is at the root of what is called the “death of ignorance.” We cannot get to the bottom book of a tall stack without removing the books on top; this analogy was used by Sri Ramakrishna. That bottom book is realization of the limitless Self (which is the death of ignorance), and all the other books are things we falsely and inadvertently pile on top – what we presume we have, what we do, or who we think we are. The Seers of Truth affirm that the Self/Atman, which is one with Brahman, is Akhanda Sat-Chit-Ananda: indivisible Existence, Awareness, and Bliss/Freedom. Thus, it is Advaitiyam, One without a second. For this reason, not to mention human suffering, we should examine the pervasive sense of ownership, agency, and separation under which living beings labor.
Renouncing the sense of Agency
Like the sense of ownership, the sense of agency resides in the Vijnanamaya Kosha, the sheath of the intellect. It consists of the buddhi, the discriminative function of the mind. The role of the buddhi is to take the information from the manas, or dual mind (manomayakosha), which it gains from the senses, and make decisions about them. The sense of “I and other-ness” originating in the Anandamaya Kosha that pervades all the other koshas, becomes the ego-proper in the Vijnanamaya Kosha/Buddhi. Thus arises the sense of agency, or “this is my action.” In conjunction with the sense of ownership – “I am doing this action with objects that are mine or related to me” – karma results. These are good, bad, or mixed actions, resulting in good, bad, or mixed karmas – all of which are binding the soul to the cycle of rebirth.
So, what is the way out? The aspirant must remember that Koshas (body, energy, mind, intellect, ego), and all that we perceive, are products of Nature and therefore insentient. They are neither the Self, nor do they belong to the Self, since the Self transcends Nature. In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna gives a variety of methods to reason out and clarify this admixture of sentient Self (Atman) and Nature (Prakriti).
“The Gunas of Prakriti perform all karma. With the understanding clouded by egoism, man thinks, “I am the doer.” But, the one who intuits the nature of Guna and karma knows that the Gunas as senses merely abide with the Gunas as objects, and does not become entangled. Those deluded by the Gunas of Prakriti get attached to the functions of the Gunas.” 3:27-29
Those familiar with Indian cosmology will know that the Gunas (sattva/balance, rajas/activity, tamas/dullness) are the warp and woof of all phenomena. (See 2011 Nov. post: “The Gunas in Vedic Cosmology and Psychology”) Senses and objects are manifestations of an infinite variety of combinations of the three Gunas. But the Self is unrelated to the Gunas. Careful reasoning about such principles is called viveka, discrimination between the Self and the not-Self, in this case in relation to the Gunas. Later in the Gita, the Lord explains how illumined souls view the subject of actions, by way of encouraging others to “assume the position” of the non-doer.
“The sage centered in the Self should think, ‘I do nothing at all’ – though seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, going, sleeping, breathing, speaking, emptying, holding, opening and closing the eyes – firm in the thought that the senses move among sense objects.” 8:9
If we perform discrimination fully, renunciation comes naturally. Sri Krishna asserts throughout the Gita that the way to eliminate karma is to renounce the results of actions.
“Better indeed is knowledge than formal practice; better than knowledge is meditation; better than meditation is the renunciation of the fruit of action; peace immediately follows renunciation.” 12:12
The word “better” should not cause one to think, “Oh, renunciation of the fruit of action is the highest, so I will just do that.” What is meant by “better” in each phrase of the verse above is that one stage leads to the next. One may practice giving up the results of action without knowledge and meditation, but it will likely end up incomplete. Formal practice means performing the disciplines given by the guru. This calms the mind so that the knowledge-teachings given by the teacher and studied in the scriptures are understood correctly. This knowledge concerns the nature of Reality, the Self, and the world, and how to enact proper discrimination between the Self and the not-Self (what else?). This intellectual knowledge will make meditation possible, and when it deepens, conviction arises. Then, attachment to all those results of actions, which are only taking place in insentient Nature and have nothing at all to do with the Self, drop away. The natural result is Freedom!
To be continued….
