27 - Discourses on Tantra Volume Two

Chapter 5 The Dialogues of Shiva and Párvatii – 1 (2)

Upavása in the sense of fasting is also useless. Were it effective, the poor and the unfed would need to make little effort to reach God!

But if one does real upavása, that can do a lot. The scriptural meaning of upavása is – by derivation – upa, which means “near”, and vása, which means “to stay”. Upavása therefore means “to make the mind stay near Paramátmá”. In other words, it means to withdraw the mind from thoughts of physicalities and keep it near Paramátmá. The Sanskrit word for fasting as such is anashana.

One may do tapah, homa, upavása, a hundred thousand times, but mukti will never be obtained. So then what should one do?

After giving the negative side, after dismissing the system of worship then prevalent, Shiva went on to explain the positive side. If these things are not to be done, what then is to be done? Shiva said, Brahmaeváhamiti jiṋátvá mukto bhavati dehabhrt – that is, “When one is established in the knowledge that ‘I am Brahma,’ mukti is obtained.” But a theoretical knowledge that “I am Brahma” will not do – one has to be truly established in this ideation.

Anubhútiḿ viná múd́ha vrthá Brahmańi modate; Pratibimbitashákhágraphalásvádanamodavat.

–Maetreyii Shruti

[Without God-realization, a person will try in vain to get spiritual bliss. Seeing the reflection in water of a sweet fruit hanging from the branch of a tree does not give one the taste of the fruit.]

One has to taste the fruit. If one sees its reflection in the water and pretends to have tasted and enjoyed it – how much reality and value there is in that you know very well.

Having heard this, Párvatii said, “Very well, I have understood. But please tell me where to search Brahma.” Lord Shiva then said, Dharmasya tattvaḿ nihitaḿ guháyám – “The tattva of dharma is nihita in the guhá.”

The tattva of dharma – that is, the “essence” of dharma – is He, the Lord. He is nihita. Nihita means “hidden”. He is all around but He is hidden in the guhá. So though He is all around, one has not to search for Him all over, one has to search for Him in one’s guhá. Guhá has a couple of meanings – “cave”, and the “I”. Here the second meaning applies. One has to search for Him in one’s “I”. The one who is inside your “I” is you yourself. Search for your self – you will find Him. As long as the [real] you is there, the Lord is also there.

You are a sádhaka. He is the sádhya [object of adoration]. And the link is sádhaná. As long as these three tattvas exist, you are not He. When all three have become one, one may say “I am Paramátmá” – never prior to this. Until this stage is reached, one has to do sádhaná most diligently, with greatest niśt́ha [sincerity]. (Having established oneself solidly in the state of Brahma-hood, one may or may not do sádhaná – one may do it to set an example for the world; that is, one may do it for lokashikśá.)

One must do sádhaná most regularly. As long as one has a body, one must go on doing sádhaná. You must have noticed that a shiny new lot́á [small metal vessel] will no longer retain its lustre and newness after a year’s use. One has to clean it quite regularly with tamarind in order to maintain its shininess. The mind is like that – one has to do regular sádhaná to keep it neat and clean.

For those who are searching the Lord without and not within, Sadáshiva says,

Idaḿ tiirtham idaḿ tiirthaḿ bhramanti támasáh janáh; Átmatiirthaḿ na jánanti kathaḿ mokśa varánane.

[Here is one place of pilgrimage, there is another place. People of static nature wander from the one place to the other place. But without finding the real place of pilgrimage within themselves, how can they attain salvation?]

They are all persons dominated by the static principle, whose wandering from one holy place to another is simply of no use. All this wandering results in a waste of money and energy.

Lord Shiva gives another illustration concerning such persons:

Átmasthitaḿ Shivaḿ tyaktvá Vahisthaḿ yah samarcayet; Hastasthaḿ pińd́amutsrjya Bhramate jiivitáshayá.

[One who looks for Shiva in the external world, ignoring the Shiva of the internal world, is like one who throws away the rice that is in one’s hand and wanders from door to door in search of one’s livelihood.]

The Lord is within you and with you. Search Him in your innermost existence.

June 1967, Srinagar