Gurudeva’s Introduction to the Advaitin
The Advaitin had been scheduled to be written for some months. However, in Switzerland on the shores of spectacular Lago Maggiore at our Ascona Ashram in the summer of 1968 seemed to be the time and the place. The words flowed from my pen as the mind, enhanced by the constant insight to this Self, unravelled itself as would the skein of well-rolled yarn.§
Thirty-three students traveling with me through Europe on our 1968 Innersearch Switzerland summer study program inspired the format of The Advaitin by their constant striving to penetrate the within. Well rewarded by clear-white-light experiences, they peruse further into savikalpa samādhi and inquire of me deeper into the realms of the nirvikalpa samādhi experience, the state where the experiencer and the experience are one. In an effort to unravel some of the mature changes that take place after such a happening, The Advaitin seems to be the answer. §
Therefore, this book has been written for all those who seek a new look at religion, who wish to believe in what they think and know to be true. Here, the Vedic advaita philosophy holds the answer, not only for the practicing yogī but for the layman as well. In short, the advaitin believes that God is a greater intensity than any aspect of the mind, than even the clarity of the mind known as the clear white light. He believes that when once realized, he then has tapped the fullness of his potential and from this new vantage point can work to develop various aspects of his mind, bringing the advaitist mood of reference through even his base emotions. The Self, being another word for God, is beyond the mind. “Man is not man, man is God,” are some of the advaitin’s statements. They may seem ego-bent and filled with creating a new minority, but when thought through, one quickly sees the truth they contain when related to a real life pattern and wonders how possibly could life have been looked at in any other way. To these bright sādhakas this book is dedicated. May it serve to beckon them onward from the consciousness of death to immortality.§
“The Advaitin”
June 10, 1968
All of the planned, thought-through philosophies derive their concepts through breakthroughs into expanded consciousness. These breakthroughs, well-recorded through relating them to prior concepts, form the philosophies we know today. The supreme breakthrough of the advaitin into nirvikalpa samādhi sustains the philosophy known as advaita without the necessity of recording experiential insights in the rational mind.§
And we go on from there with a new point of unthought-out reference supplementing the rational mind with current insights which it has no time to record. This is because experience can only be recorded as it happens and referred to after. Whereas, constant experiencing can only be lived, recorded constantly in its happening but never referred to. This is the aftermath of being That which was fully realized. When a chela attains nirvikalpa samādhi, the mind reacts in a certain way. A rebirth of the psyche occurs. The constant experience begins of that which was experienced. The laws of the related difference of concepts change, and mind looks like being at the other end of the tunnel of consciousness looking out. Whereas before the happening, the mind was at the opposite end of the tunnel of consciousness looking in.§
The flow of actinic energy through the constant changing force field of mental forces activates these odic force fields during an experience of nirvikalpa samādhi. This activation must be controlled through previous sādhanas, disallowing an influx of force that would deter succeeding experiences of nirvikalpa samādhi—perceptive insights into the overall nature of the mind, mind and Self as expounded through advaita yoga. This in turn brings out of the mind many comforting feelings as the advaita point of reference is gained.§
All thinking people formulate their conclusions from one singular point of reference. Generally it is dvaita, dualistic in context. The pure advaita point of reference concedes positive conclusions backed by occasional intuitive flashes. Hence, advaita yoga is, in fact, healthy for the mind of man.§
Beginning with the foreground of the average life span, we see lapses of consciousness in the generative functions of the mind. This is caused, no doubt, by all of the time spent in allowing dvaita thinking to penetrate the feeling nature. However, when schooled in advaitism, the same mind structure just referred to can change its format and condense its issues, and, without hesitation, relate all thinking, as well as feeling, to its base concept of the Self beyond mind, yet felt through mind even before a partial, actual realization occurs.§
To cause advaita yoga philosophy to be a lifeline in one’s life, he must only be capable of thinking through the processes of subjective reasoning. Later some questions will be raised to stimulate this process of reason one must enter into, and exact methodology for bringing forth the advaita concepts in the mind into felt reality.§
Not all persons, of course, are able to conceive of or accept the advaitin point of view. The mind is too superstitionally cluttered with dvaitic threats upon their own personal peace and future to dare look further. The process of disbelief is, therefore, almost automatic, and rejection final. Hence the two, advaita and dvaita, will always exist in the human kingdom. Man raising in consciousness from darkness into light has only to perceive his ancestors as they, too, sought through the lower, ebbing layers of the mind to bring forth from within themselves factual knowledge based not only on inductive thinking but the actual birth of experience. The format, therefore, is that to make a philosophy live vibrantly in mind and spur him on into its experiential states, its opposite must occur, causing the competitive whirl of the senses as they seek consciously conscious states.§
As the advaita philosophy is looked at under the cold eyes of reason, it stands no chance of being realized in the personal life scope of the student. He must struggle first with his nature and clear an advaita pathway through many phases of his mind. First relating all experience through the summing-up process of reason, then clearly and unyieldingly define all his actions and way of life to the advaita path to enlightenment. This is difficult, and few really make the necessary strides beyond belief in advaita thinking. But even those who formulate a new point of reference through subjective reason live a grander and fuller life far from the superstitious dvaitic entanglements of the lower mind.§
Talk to yourself and convince yourself of the logistics of the paramount factor that mind in all its various phases is form, even as protruded in light. Form is vibration; and yet beyond any possible vibration of consciousness is the Self beyond form, hence more intense than consciousness of time and space. Once sitting quietly in a meditative state, thus talking this over with yourself, trying to prove out the theory as well as disprove it, habit patterns of the subconscious begin to change radically, as preconceived, perhaps even unthought-out concepts held in faith begin to break, altering this mind structure. Yes, a new-found freedom, a lightness of body and mind, a true sense of religion occurs as the advaita principles begin to penetrate the mind structure and displace erroneous impressions.§
“Thou art That,” the sages tell us and often never go on to explain the That, the Self. This Self within the very cellular structure of man can actually only be talked about but must become a constant nirvikalpa experience to be really realized. §
Gurudeva’s Commentary
One can easily see the difficulties so far in expressing in either the languages of East or West these deeper truths. The Western languages simply have no inclusive conceptual words to encompass the internal happening of the superconscious. The best they can do is to tell of the existence of those states. The Eastern languages have long since lost the meaning of certain of their key words due to the varying interpretations of scholars approaching them from an advaitist point of view or a dvaita point of reference. Hence advaita yoga on an international scope in this age is hampered through the communication media.§
This was realized halfway through the writing of The Advaitin on the shores of sublime Lago Maggiore while going through intense and profound inner states of superconscious in the struggle to convey some of its linear depth on paper. In a few hours, from deep within the ūdā current of the sushumṇā, came forth a new language—unfolded from the sounds of the anāhata, viśuddha and ājñā chakras in action. This profound language will serve us to convey the inner teaching from the source of the sounds in which they exist. For it encompassed all the baser elements transmuted into conceptual fourth- and fifth-dimensional pictures. The three- and four-syllable words convey the happenings of the inner man. The one- and two-syllable words take care of the aspirant’s communication in his relation to external things, in monastic life, around the home in the kovilla or ashram, so that the flow of inner and outer conceptual viewing is not broken and life can flow on constructively.§
The language of the Advaitin in the new age, called Shūm, is of the four higher chakras, whereas his native tongue can take care of his association with thought patterns of the first three chakras. §
The inmost center of consciousness—located only after the actinic forces dissolve concepts of form and even consciousness being conscious of itself—is found to be within the center of an energy-spinning force field. This center—intense in its existence, consciousness only on the perimeter of the inside hub of this energy field—vitalizes all externalized form.§
Losing consciousness into the center of this energy field catalyzes one beyond form, time, space. The spinning hub of actinic energy recreating, preserving and dissipating form quickly establishes consciousness again. However, this is then a new consciousness, the continuity of consciousness having been broken in the nirvikalpa samādhi experience. Essentially, the first total conscious break in the evolution of man is the first nirvikalpa samādhi experience. Hence, a new evolution begins anew after each such experience. The evolutional patterns overlap and settle down like rings of light, one layer upon another, causing intrinsic changes in the entire nature and experiential pattern of the experiencer. §
Almost as soon as dvaita thinkers come in contact with advaitist concepts, they accept the format of thinking and belief, wondering how ever could they have felt otherwise.§
The advaita point of view has not been too prominent in the West, nor even in the Far East, for few scriptures are clear enough in their translations or editing, even in original text, to maintain the pure advaita point of reference. The Bhagavad Gītā exemplifies this very clearly, having clearly defined its premise in two paragraphs, contradicting it in a sentence or two following. Of course, the advaita mystic can read and enjoy any scripture, only enhancing his realization; whereas the dvaitist becomes subconsciously confused when these inconsistencies occur. Great efforts on our part are now being made to edit some of these ancient scriptures in the true advaitist purity that I feel was originally intended by the enlightened ṛishis. §
Two Special Terms
Dvaita: A dualist’s concept of God, man and mind. The dvaitist philosopher agrees that God has created the universe, including man. That man is limited primarily to the five senses and through an occasional use of the sixth sense he contacts and can be directed by, impressed or overshadowed by, the mind of God, superconscious, mind of light, universal mind, universal intelligence. To this he ascribes himself a part. “Man is part of God.” Some dvaitins claim God to be above—simply directing—hard to reach without prayer and self-sacrifice. All modern-day dvaita mystics agree, however, that God is no longer a fearful image, that He is filled with love for mankind, which he created in his image and likeness. §
Advaita: A non-dualistic realization of God being the very Self within man. Timeless, causeless, spaceless, this Self exists within itself at a vibratory rate greater than that of the most minute molecular structure. The advaitist does not subscribe to the concept that God is a higher state of superconscious of which mankind is a part, having realized, through savikalpa samādhi experiences, the brink of the absolute. Self does not verify this concept. Therefore, the core of the advaitin’s reference is that the Self, beyond all phases or states of mind—conscious, subconscious or superconscious—can be and is Absolute Existence, having nothing to do with these fluctuating mind states, yet because of Its existence offers a challenge to the mind to fold inward to its power source and release consciousness into the pure unconscious state beyond mind. The advaita mystic goes on to testify that when this experience occurs, called nirvikalpa samādhi, the mind focuses upon itself and all its creations simultaneously at all times, forfeiting all dualistics through books often wrestled with by the striving chela.§
The monks made a golden Shūm ring for Gurudeva. He wore it for many years. Here it is captured in a photo taken in India on the 1972 Indian Odyssey Innersearch Travel-Study Program. §
