Role of Viveka and Vairagya for Spiritual Maturity and Liberation
Ram Chandran
Role of Viveka and Vairagya for Spiritual Maturity and Liberation
Swami Sivananda suggests the following Seven Vital Points should be remembered for developing the virtue of Vairagya:
1. Sensual pleasure is momentary, deceptive, illusory and imaginary.
2. A mustard seed of pleasure is mixed with a mountain of pain.
3. Enjoyment cannot bring about satisfaction of a desire. On the contrary it makes the mind more restless after enjoyment through intense craving.
4. Sensual pleasure is an enemy of Brahma-Jnana
5. Sensual pleasure is the cause for birth and death.
6. This body is nothing but a mass of flesh, bone, and all sorts of filth.
7. Place before the mind the fruits of Self-realization or life in the soul or Brahman or the Eternal, such as Immortality, Eternal bliss, Supreme peace and Infinite knowledge.
Essentially, Swami Sivananda implies that Vairagya is born of Viveka, or discrimination between Nitya and Anitya (Eternal and non-eternal), Sat and Asat (Real and unreal), Tattwa and Atattwa (Essence and non-essence). Viveka comes through selfless service done in several births and through Puja and Aradhana (worship and adoration of God), and through the Grace of the Lord. From Viveka is born Vairagya. It gives spiritual strength. A man of Vairagya has no attraction for the material world. So Vairagya is a supreme, inexhaustible wealth for spiritual aspirants. Vairagya aids concentration of mind (Samadhana) and generates burning Mumukshutwa, or strong yearning for Liberation or Emancipation, or Release.
The discussions of Vairagya-Prakarana in Yoga Vasishtha provides the path to attain Vairagya.. We will be able to develop a comprehensive understanding of the real Svarupa of Vairagya in those discussions. A clean description of the actual dispassionate mental state of Sri Rama is given. Palatable dishes, refreshing beverages, affectionate father and mother, brother, dear friends, diamonds, pearls, flowers, sandal, ornaments, soft beds, gardens had no attraction for Sri Rama. On the contrary, their very sight gave Rama intense pain.
Karana and Viveka-Purvika are two distinct Kinds of Vairagya. Karana Vairagya happens to all since we all want to stop doing an action which brings misery and pain. For example, if eating peanuts is allergic, we want to avoid eating peanuts! Viveka-Purvaka Vairagya is the virtue which we attain when we fully develop the discriminating intelligence to differenciate between real and unreal.
If we remember the seven points always on a daily basis, the mind will be weaned from the cravings for sensual pleasures. Vairagya (dispassion), Viveka (discrimination between the real and the unreal) and Mumukshutva (keen longing for liberation from birth and death) will dawn.
Acharya Sankara in Vivekacoodamani points out that Viveka and Vairagya are like the two wings of a bird. Each wing pushes down to create the lift of the bird to fly upwards. The more of Viveka and Vairagya that we have, we can lift our mind to move spiritually upwards and fly away from the misery of Samsara. In Gita Chapter 12, the wings for attaining Liberation are mentioned
Balagopal Ramakrishnan
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "advaitin" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to advaitin+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/069e2582-b0c8-43f0-82e4-d69f57d0aa50n%40googlegroups.com.
Bhaskar YR
praNAms
Hare Krishna
I have not received Sri rAmachandra prabhuji’s original mail but received the reply from Sri Balagopal prabhuji!! My few thoughts on the reply :
Thanks Ram Ji, for the highlights on Viveka and the vairaghyam born out of it thus differentiating the 'smasaana' types of vairaghyam which we all get once in a while in vyavaharams.
Ø Yes, smAshANa vairagya lasts very few days till that time we started to entangle ourselves again in mAya. ParamahaMsa gives an example of sprinkling water on hot pan for this type of vairagya😊
Can we say that the 'aathyanthika' moksham is when one has the re-cognition, 'pRathyabhijna', from the study of the prasthanatrayi with a sampRadayic Guru who also is a brahmanishta, that - 'Oh! That's me', 'the same one that had got into the creation' aka 'anupRavesam' of 'Prasnopanishad' (?)and claim 'aham Brahmasmi' ? Like I remembered my old classmate Devadutta when another friend Ram helped me out with it !
- Athyanthika mOksha fetch us the knowledge that I was / is / will ever be ajaM, nirvishesham, nirvikalpa brahman, anupravesham (tadevAnuprAvishat as explained in taittireeya) etc. implies the reality of srushti that which is not acceptable according to some. Interestingly, bhAshyakAra elsewhere says, prior to jnana, jnAni would think there is srushti etc. from Ishwara (or someone else) and after jnana he realizes that srushti, sthiti laya are from HIM only. This is vikalpa rahita jnana, if the jnAni thinks in such a way as you explained above OH!! That’s me, who entered creation as jeeva at the time of creation etc. then the jnAni who is expressing his thoughts must be personalizing his paramArtha nirvishesha jnana. Again that is not palatable as per paramArtha adviteeya jnana.
- Now the question is; jnana is going to completely eradicate the individuality of the jnAni without trace!! Is he going to be completely oblivious to his individuality after the dawn of nirvishesha, niravayava paramArtha brahma jnana?? I don’t think so, coz. bhAshyakAra says even after samyak jnana, paramArtha jnAni’s senses would continue to operate normally. Sri SSS says somewhere in Kannada : paramArtha jnanavaaguva samayadalli haagu paramArtha jnanavaada melu paramAtha jnAnige naanu emba vaiyuktika prajne iddukonde eruttade aadare aa ahaM pratyayavu paripUrNa jnAnadinda baadhitavaagiruttade.
Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!
bhaskar
Ram Chandran
Understanding Vairagya (dispassion/non-attachment)
The word Vairagya is derived from the word ‘raga’ (likes, attraction, attachment), the attraction which arises due to pleasure derived from any object. Vairagya is the opposite of ‘raga’ and means the absence of attachment to the pleasure that we derive from the objects of desire. Even though the word vairagya is derived from ‘raga’, it also includes the opposite of raga called ‘dvesha’ (dislike) which arises as a result of repulsion toward an object. Raga (likes) and dvesha (dislikes) are strong negative forces which create disturbance, and pain in the mind.
How do we get “attached”?
“Likes” (raga) and “dislikes” (dvesha) are two feelings that drive our day to day life. Doing, or thinking about what we like gives us pleasure. Anything that we do or think about with a sense of dislike is bound to cause frustration and pain. When we like an experience, it gets registered in our memory as a pleasant experience. As such, we like to repeat it. When we repeat it frequently it becomes a habit. We get attached to that experience and want more of it. The reverse is true for an experience that we dislike. We develop an aversion to it. If a situation demands that we repeat the experience that we dislike, we find the experience painful.
It is this attachment to what we like and aversion to what we dislike that eventually leads to suffering. We know from our experience that it is not always possible to fulfill our desires. Non-fulfillment of desires leads to negative emotions like anger, hatred etc.
Most of what we like and dislike is driven by what we perceive through the five senses. Each of the five sense organs – eyes, ears, nose, skin and the tongue – have their own objects that they desire. As a result, we get attached to the objects of the senses that provide pleasant sensations of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste.
What are we most attached to? My guess – our possessions – wealth, members of family, loved ones, friends, possessions like our clothes, electronic items, watch, household goods, bank accounts, stock market funds … and the list goes on. This sense of attachment based on possessiveness starts from a very young age. Kids are deeply attached to their toys. In early youth, especially these days, kids are attached to their electronic gadgets. Of course, as kids grow older, they start getting attached to other items that they possess, as mentioned above.
Why do we feel attached to our possessions? Because we attach a sense of identity to these items. We believe that our Self is defined by these items. If I don’t have these items, I have a lower self-esteem.
Attachment to thoughts
It is not just material items that we are attached to. We are attached to our thoughts, our ideas, our principles, our way of thinking etc. As an example, let’s say we are working on an issue related to the project we are assigned at our job. It is very important to finish this work by a certain deadline. Suddenly, a thought comes to mind, “I haven’t played tennis in a long time; let me call my friend so I can set up a game for the evening”. Now this thought takes over our mind and I start not just planning the game, but actually playing the game in my mind, trying to play well enough to defeat my friend. Guess what? We have pushed the project work into the background with the result that we may not be able to finish it within the deadline.
Look at it this way – who created that thought of tennis? Did I? No, it just popped up on its own. How? Based on some past experience that was stored in my memory. The Sanskrit word for these past impressions stored in our subconscious levels is ‘samskaras’. Maybe I looked out the window and saw lovely sunshine which was enough to trigger the thought of tennis. But the key point to note here is that I was NOT the creator of that thought. If I can recognize this fact, then there is a better chance that I will not get “attached” to the thought and will be able to get back to my project work. If you recognize the thought as something important needing your attention, you may just want to jot it down on a piece of paper so it gets out of your way and you can get back to finishing your current task. You can always get back to the other item that you jotted down as soon you are done with the current work.
Attachment to family, loved ones
When I talk of non-attachment in my yoga classes, the first question I hear is, “how can I not be attached to my family, my kids? If I am not attached, how can I love them?” This is where we need to dig deeper into the whole idea of detachment. When we are attached, it is our ego that begins to play a role in all our thoughts and actions. Because I am attached, I want my child to get good grades in school. I am now identifying my own happiness with how well the child performs in school. If he does well, I feel happy; if not, I am upset and maybe share my displeasure with the child by scolding him or punishing him in some way. Many times this results in alienating the child from us. On the other hand, if we are able to function at the level of pure intellect, without being influenced by the ego, we will be able to provide much better guidance to the child.
We often hear parents saying to their kids, “Oh! you make me so proud of you!”. Why do we say that? Because it fulfills the needs of our ego. The child gets the message, “whatever I do should please my parents”. In the process we are actually taking away the child’s ability to learn what is “right” for them. Rather, the child only learns to please the parents. What the parents like is purely driven by their ego. Maybe they would like the child to fulfill their own dreams about things that they themselves were unable to achieve in life. When we are not attached, we gain the freedom to think more clearly and offer guidance that will help the child develop their self-confidence and self-esteem rather than simply satisfying our ego.
Vairagya (non-attachment, dispassion)
Vairagya could either mean non-attachment or detachment. It is detachment when we are already attached to something, and we want to get rid of that attachment. On the other hand, it is non-attachment when we want to avoid getting attached to any new sense objects. For example, I may be attached (addicted!) to checking my phone for any email or whatsapp messages every few minutes. Realizing that this habit wastes a lot of my time, I may decide to do something about this habit. Trying to get rid of this ‘attachment’ would be termed ‘detachment’.
Does vairagya mean we don’t enjoy anything in life? No, it doesn’t mean that at all. We want to enjoy all aspects of life but we don’t want to get attached. We enjoy our cup of coffee or a piece of cake; however, we don’t want to get attached to them. When I am attached to my cup of coffee which I must have a 7 AM, then if I don’t get that coffee, I might develop a headache or some other syndrome. We should avoid this kind of attachment. As mentioned above, vairagya means not getting attached to the expected outcome of our efforts.
Discussion of vairagya in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (YSP)
As we recall, the definition and the purpose of yoga given in the YSP is to subdue the fluctuations that are constantly going on in the mind – “yogash-chitta-vritti-nirodhaH” (sutra 1.2). These fluctuations are given in five categories – right knowledge (pramana), wrong knowledge (viparyaya), imaginary knowledge or fancy (vikalpa), sleep (nidra) and memory (smriti). To subdue these fluctuations, in sutra 1.12, Patanjali recommends that we do these two things – abhyasa (practice) and vairagya (non-attachment). Abhyasa is defined as practice done for a long period of time (dirgha-kala), without interruption (nairantarya) and with a sense of devotion and faith (satkara-asevitaH) (sutra 1.14). Since calming the mind is a difficult task, long period of time could mean multiple lifetimes. Of course, in every new birth, one doesn’t start with a new, clean slate. You start at the level of spiritual evolution that you attained in previous life. The subtle body including the samskaras, memories etc. gets stored in the “karma bag” which transmigrates to the next life. The practice must also be done without interruption, on a regular schedule. If you miss your practice, you have the possibility of dropping the level of spiritual advancement that you have attained so far.
Two levels of vairagya
Patanjali discusses two levels of vairagya in the sutras. One is usually referred to in the literature as “apara vairagya” (lower form of dispassion) and the other “para vairagya” (highest form of dispassion).
The lower form of vairagya is discussed in the sutra 1.15:
दृष्टानुश्रविकविषयवितृष्णस्य वशीकारसंज्ञा वैराग्यम्॥१५॥
dr̥ṣṭa-anuśravika-viṣaya-vitr̥ṣṇasya vaśīkāra-saṁjṇā vairāgyam ॥15॥
The consciousness of self-mastery in one who is free from craving for objects seen or heard about is non-attachment.
The word “drishta” (seen) in the sutra is supposed to include the attraction that we feel through all the five senses – sight, touch, smell, taste, hearing. When we have a pleasurable experience through our senses, we develop a strong attachment for that object. This develops a strong desire in us to experience the same pleasure over and over again. It is when that pleasure is unavailable or denied to us for whatever reason, we become extremely unhappy or “stressed out”. That is what causes suffering and pain in us.
In the sutra, ‘vishaya’ are the material objects which produce the attraction and consequent attachment. Desires can be classified in two ways. The first kind are the result of direct perception through the five senses. These are referred to as ‘drishta’ (seen) in the sutra. The second kind are those that followers of the orthodox religion expect to gain in the life after death. These include the desire of going to ‘heaven’ after death. According to our scriptures, even heaven is only a temporary abode and one must come back to human birth after spending a pre-determined time in heaven. To achieve final liberation, one must go beyond any such desires.
Vairagya does not mean giving up desires because you are sick or old or have other preoccupations. An old man may lose his sex drive for the time-being. This is not vairagya. Vairagya implies conscious elimination of desires which lead to attachment. True vairagya cannot be attained by cutting yourself off from the material world and living in a forest. Real vairagya happens as a result of spiritual evolution which leads to the onset of ‘viveka’ or discrimination. The consciousness of one who has this kind of mastery over the senses has been termed as ‘vaśīkāra-saṁjṇā ’.
Vairagya during yoga practice
Even while doing your own asana and pranayama practices, you need to keep the concept of vairagya in your mind. For example, let us say that you are not able to touch your toes in the standing forward bending pose (Uttanasana). One of the objectives of your yoga practice may be to touch the toes one day. You may have set a goal of achieving that objective in a month’s time. If you are attached to this outcome, you may be severely disappointed and disheartened if you are unable to touch the toes after a month’s practice. You may even try to go beyond the limits of your flexibility in an effort to touch the toes which may result in serious injury. On the other hand, if you are not attached to this outcome, you will continue to practice without any negative feelings or any judgment. That way you stand a much better chance of achieving your goal soon.
Highest form of vairagya
The highest form of vairagya is discussed in sutra 2.16:
तत्परं पुरुषख्यातेर्गुणवैतृष्ण्यम्॥१६॥
tatparaṁ puruṣa-khyāteḥ guṇa-vaitr̥ṣṇyam ॥16॥
“The highest Vairagya is one in which, on account of the awareness of the Purusha, there is cessation of even the desire for the three Gunas.” (2.16)
In this sutra, Patanjali talks about the higher form of vairagya which relates to the knowledge or awareness of Purusha. If you recall, Purusha is the consciousness principle or the Self. Purusha and Prakriti are the two realities mentioned in the Samkhya philosophy. Prakriti is the material counterpart of Purusha. The purpose of the practice of yoga is to understand that our true identity is nothing but the Purusha, not this mind-body complex which is a part of Prakriti. When we attain that objective, it is called self-realization. As the sutra states, this awareness of the Purusha is associated with total desirelessness of the three gunas of Prakriti.
Play of the three Gunas
Prakriti is a composite of the three gunas – sattva (purity), rajas (action) and tamas (dullness). Tamas also includes negative tendencies like anger, greed etc., or the desire to hurt someone etc. In most cases, it is a combination of two or sometimes even all three gunas that propels our actions. For example, desire to hurt someone may be a combination of rajas and tamas – tamas for bringing about the desire to hurt and rajas to put that desire into action of hurting the other person.
Gunas are the reason why we act in a certain way at a given time. All our thoughts, behavior patterns, plans etc. are based on the guna that is dominating at the time. Our interest, of course, is in diminishing the influence of rajas and tamas so that the sattva guna becomes more dominant. It must be kept in mind that we need all the three gunas all the time. If you don’t have tamas, you will never be able to sleep when you are tired at night. If you don’t have rajas, you will never get to work on time or not get there at all! The point is that it is the dominance of rajas and tamas over sattva that causes problems for us. Our interest thus is to shift the dominance of the gunas from rajas and tamas toward sattva. But eventually even attachment to sattva needs to be eliminated. We really want to go beyond the three gunas by transcending any attachment to them. That is possible only when you have been able to merge back to the original Prakriti, called unmanifest Prakriti. The word “vaitrishnyam” in the sutra means having absolutely no desire for any of the three gunas. When we are able to transcend the three gunas, we would have attained “self-realization” or liberation. That represents the highest form of non-attachment known as “para-vairagya”. The term “viveka khyati” used here means pure discriminatory wisdom that will allow us to attain the state of highest non-attachment.
Vairagya in the Bhagavad Gita
The concept of non-attachment has been dealt with in great depth in the Bhagavad Gita as well. In one of the most often quoted shlokas (2.47), Lord Krishna says that we should do our duty without any attachment to the expected outcome of our actions:
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन | मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि || 47 ||
karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣhu kadāchana | mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ’stvakarmaṇi
“Your choice is in action only, never in the result thereof. Do not be the author of the results of action. Let your attachment not be to inaction.”(2.47)
Often our actions are motivated by some expected outcome. For example, we may work hard expecting a raise or a promotion. Non-attachment does not mean that we should not have set goals in life, or that our work is not motivated by goals. Non-attachment simply means that we are not attached to the expected outcome of our actions. We have full control only over the actions that we do. We do not have full control over what the outcome of our actions will be. However, if we don’t get the result that we expected, we feel miserable, dejected and disheartened. This is where the value of non-attachment comes in. When we understand the value of non-attachment, we accept the results of our actions without emotional upheaval. When the results are unfavorable, we can calmly analyze the whole situation and hopefully do a better job next time so that the projected goals can be achieved. This attitude will help us stay calm and peaceful in even the most difficult situations in life.
Practicing vairagya
As noted earlier, our attachment to objects of attraction is triggered by what is stored in our memory as past impressions called samskaras and vasanas. We get caught up in these past impressions by delving in the past. If we can learn how to stay in and with the present moment, we can diminish the influence of our past samskaras. In the present moment, our mind remains peaceful and joyful. That is when we can focus better on the current task at hand.
Patanjali, in the yoga sutras, provides the eight limbs of yoga (Ashtanga Yoga) as the means to cleanse and purify the mind and get rid of the negative influence that the samskaras have on our thoughts and behaviors. Patanjali states that when we are able to purify the mind then we can start working from our pure intuitive wisdom, not from our attachment to the past. This practice can bring us closer to the higher states of vairagya.
I would love to hear your thoughts on the concept and practice of vairagya.
Balagopal Ramakrishnan
Hari Om
>>>Athyanthika mOksha fetch us the knowledge that I was / is / will ever be ajaM,
Very true Bhaskar Ji.
Once the Mandukya Upanishad, it's karika and Bhashyam are thoroughly understood, then silence alone is possible. There is no way one can talk of bondage, lest even of moksha ! How the 'satkaarya vaadins' and the 'asat kaarya vaadins' are still debating, negating one another and automatically giving credence to 'aspaRsa yogo naama ajaathi vaada' !
>>>Now the question is; jnana is going to completely eradicate the individuality of the jnAni without trace!! Is he going to be completely oblivious to his individuality after the dawn of nirvishesha, niravayava paramArtha brahma jnana??
Here's my 'mananam' on the above:
This is one among the false expectations like, moksham comes with an 'experience'! Most expect a groundbreaking change as one becomes a jnaani,like the disappearance of all duality, personality etc. Jnaanam is a paradigm shift happening in the intellect wrt to one's outlook towards - jiiva, jagat, and isvara. Having known the correct understanding, a jnaani may choose a lifestyle depending upon his preferences. Either remain in 'brahmabhaavam' with limited interactions in the world or plunge into the world for 'lokasamgraham'. And most importantly, the praarabdham will continue with its work, whether a person is a jnaani or an ajnaani. The diff will be in responses and reactions the two make. A jnaani, having known the mithyattwam will respond accordingly. Even there are very rare instances of jnaanis taking up 'ajagara vrutti', remaining non responsive to even basic needs and remaining completely oblivious to his personality. Simply put - Jnaani has choices.
That's why we see that, though the jnaanam of all jnaanis are the same, the way they live as a JM are varied. Tapovan Maharaj resorted to remain in Uttarakashi and Gangotri enjoying the Brahmabhavam ( anatma, because it's an experience), whereas his shishya, Swami Chinmayananda Ji roared down the Himalayas like the Ganges to irrigate the spiritually arid with the sweetness of the prasthanatrayam. Once you are free, you are FREE.
All these wrong expectations happen due to improper learning of the scriptures.
If one undertakes a sincere, systematic, consistent study of the prasthanatrayam from a Guru who is a 'shrotriyam brahmanishtam', then he will doubtlessly see the 'Arundhati nakshtra'.
Regards
Balagopal
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "advaitin" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to advaitin+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/AM7PR06MB65813205CA43E889B2852B0EBFA99%40AM7PR06MB6581.eurprd06.prod.outlook.com.
Ram Chandran
More on Viveka, Vairagya, Waking, Dreaming, Deep-Sleep and Turiya States of Mind
Namaste:
The teachings of advaita vedAnta identifies several qualifications necessary for a student of self-knowledge to have. The first two are known as viveka and vairAgya. viveka is often translated as discrimination, which definition is further expanded to mean the ability to discriminate between the real and the unreal.
Though there are different types of Vairagya, our focus is only about the Vairagya which is the detachment brought about by the ability to discern on what is real and what is illusory. Vedantin labelled it as Viveka Vairagya. Some scholars consider that Vairagya is born out of Viveka (knowing the discrimination between Nitya and Anitya, Eternal or Transcendent and transient, Sat and Asat, Tattwa and Atattwa, and Essence and non-essence. Viveka emerges through selfless service done in several births and through devotion and adoration of God, and through the Grace of the Lord or Self. Vedanta says that the Vairagya brought about by Viveka is permanent and fruitful to spiritual advancement.
Any assertion such as Vairagya came out of Viveka or Viveka as the cultivated fruit of planting Vairagya will imply that we know the path of self-realization which is a contradiction. We have recognized that it is impossible to know whether seed came first or tree came first all that we see both the trees and seeds! We do not gain any visible gain with the knowledge of which came first. Instead, if we are better of just to recognize that both are important for our salvation.
We also had some discussion on the four states of consciousness – waking, dreaming, deep-sleep and turiya. Details of Turiya are discussed in Verse 7 of the Mandukya Upanishad. The idea of Turiya is also found in Chapters 8.7 through 8.12 of Chandogya Upanishad where the "four states of consciousness" are stated as awake, dream-filled sleep, deep sleep, and beyond deep sleep. Also Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, in chapter 5.14.3 discusses Turiya state, as does Maitri Upanishad in sections 6.19 and 7.11. (Source Wikepedia)
Here is the summary of description on Mandukya Upanishad on Turiya:
“Not inwardly cognitive, nor outwardly cognitive, not both-wise cognitive, not a cognition-mass, not cognitive, not non-cognitive, unseen, with which there can be no dealing, ungraspable, having no distinctive mark,non-thinkable, that cannot be designated, the essence of assurance,of which is the state of being one with the Self
the cessation of development, tranquil, benign, without a second, such they think is the fourth. He is the Self (Atman). He should be discerned.” — Mandukya Upanishad 7 (Robert Ernest (1921), The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press, pp. 391–393)
Deep Sleep is also known as Sushupti which means “deep sleep” and refers to the third state of consciousness. Essentially, it is a reference to the dream less state of mind when the mind ceases both physical and mental activities and totally absorbed internally. According to Mandukya Upanishad, Sushupti is associated with prajna, the ultimate understanding of the true nature of existence and reality.
I am of the opinion that these descriptions and definitions are provided to illustrate that it is impossible for us to recognize when or how long we had the experience of Sushpti. Brahman knows the Brahman is a tautological statement – it is true and no will be able to dispute it and at the same time, it doesn’t provide any help for our salvation. Here is an example of a tautological statement: Post office is near the shopping mall and shopping mall is near the post office. This statement is undisputable but not useful because it doesn’t tell us the location of either one!
Regards,
Ram Chandran