The Last Class of Drg Drsya Viveka

As I did mention in my blog yesterday, Drg Drsya Viveka is a small introductory text that mentions Advaita Vedanta, and before I could even realise, the entire text has come to an end. Now, while I begin recapitulating all that I heard from Swamiji, and start showing signs of ecstasy thinking that I could perhaps grasp some parts of the text, Swamiji mentions that this is just the beginning, and the next text that we are going to take would be more profound. It’s the Apararokshanubhuti, composed by Acharya Shankara. 

And, that’s my next target. But before that, I must be able to summarise what I learnt today. While Swamiji made a mention of several Vedantic concepts, I’d like to begin with him talking about Thakur or Sri Ramakrishna. It was one of those times when Thakur would transcend into deep Samadhi, forgetting everything around him, even his own body. A doctor wanted to test his bodily senses, so he tried putting a finger inside his eyes, when he realised that Thakur didn’t even blink, such was the state of his mind. 

Now, let’s come back to Vedanta, and talk about three states of the self - The real self which is the witness, the transactional self at the level of the body and mind, and the dream self. Now, thinking to ourselves, we might wonder that why would Brahman need the knowledge of the Vedanta? It’s because it’s our real self. 

Swamiji makes a mention of this anecdote, where he talks about the water, the waves, and the foams formed from it. The water is the real consciousness, the waves are the ones operating at the level of the body and mind, and the foams represent the dream state. Now, never at any point in time are the foams different from the waves, or the waves from the water…

When we dream about something, post waking up, we realise that none of it’s real, and gradually we come back to the waking state, and the enlightened person grasps that the waking state gets back to the real consciousness self. For some it might be early, for others it might be a little late. 

Next, Swamiji mentions that either the enlightened person visualises everything as Brahman infront of him, or he thinks that everything is just an appearance in front of him, and that all of it is temporary, I wouldn’t know if it’s our real self or the fact that these things are quite serious, but as I write this, I feel a sudden jolt inside of myself. 

A part of me says that I must just ponder over what I learnt today, and not write, while the other one says, how would all this knowledge become a living reality unless I do jot everything down? 

But, I feel immense joy and ecstasy in walking this spiritual path and would want to grasp myself with the Vedantic concepts even more. Lastly, I must be grateful to the web eternally, as I could just discover an English translation of the Drg Drsya Viveka, translated by Swami Nikhilananda. 

I’ll strive to delve deeper, fathom the concepts and try to understand what they stand for, and try sharing whatever little I did learn in my blogs. As of now, my eyes would be on the English translation of the Drg Drsya Viveka, and the Apararokshanubhuti. 

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