CHAPTER SIX
OTHER METHODS
D.: Which method is the best?B. : That depends on the temperament of the
individual. Every person is born with the samskaras (characteristics or tendencies) from his past lives. One method will prove easy to one person and another to another. There can be no general rule.1
In the following passage, Bhagavan indicates the purpose of all the methods, and the goal they aim at.
There are many methods. You may practise Self-enquiry, asking yourself `Who am I??'; or if that does not appeal to you, you may meditate on `I am Brahman', or some other theme; or you may concentrate on an incantation or do invocation. The object in every case is to make the mind one-pointed, to concentrate it on one thought and thereby exclude the many other thoughts. If we do this, the one thought also eventually goes and the mind is extinguished at its source.2
Dr. Masalawala placed in Bhagavan's hands a letter he had received from his friend V.K. Ajgaonkar, a gentleman of about 35, (a follower of Jnaneswar Maharaj) who is said to have attained Jnana [?] in his 28th year. The letter said: `You call me purna. Who is not purna in this world?'. Bhagavan agreed and,
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continuing in the vein in which he discoursed this morning (15-3-46), said: `We first limit ourselves and then seek to become unlimited, as in fact we always are. All our effort is only directed to giving up the notion that we are limited…'
The letter went on to say: `Ramana Maharshi is an exponent of the Ajata doctrine of Advaita Vedanta. Of course it is a bit difficult.' Bhagavan remarked on this: "Somebody has told him so. I do not teach only the Ajata doctrine. I approve of all schools. The same truth has to be expressed in different ways to suit the capacity of the hearer. The Ajata doctrine says: `Nothing exists except the one Reality. There is no birth or death, no projection or drawing in, no striving, no aspirant, no release, no bondage, no liberation. The one unity alone exists forever.' To such as find it difficult to grasp this truth and who ask: `How can we ignore this solid world we see all around us?' the dream experience is pointed out and they are told, `All that you see depends upon the seer. Apart from the seer, there is no seen.' This is called drishti- srishti-vada or the argument that one first creates everything out of his mind and then sees what his mind has created. To such as cannot grasp even this and who further argue: `The dream experience is so short, while the world always exists. The dream experience was limited to me, but the world is felt and seen not only by me, but by so many, and we cannot call such a world non-existent', the argument called srishti-drishti-vada is addressed and they are told: `God first created such-and-such a thing, out of such-and-such an element, and then something else' and so forth. That alone will satisfy this class. Their mind is otherwise not satisfied and they ask themselves: `How can all geography, all maps, all sciences, stars, planets, and the rules governing or relating to them all be totally untrue?' To such it is best to say: `Yes, God created all this and so you see it.'"
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Dr. Masalawala objected: `But all these teachings cannot be true. Only one doctrine can be true.'
Bhagavan said: `All these viewpoints are only to suit the capacity of the learner. The absolute can only be one.1
However, although Bhagavan approved of other paths for those who could not follow Self-enquiry, he did say to the present writer: `All other methods lead up to Self-enquiry.' If a devotee of his found that some other, less direct path served him better, Bhagavan would guide him on this until he could gradually bring him to Self-enquiry.
Talking of the innumerable ways of different seekers after
God, Bhagavan said: `Each should be allowed to go his own way, the way for which he alone may be built. It will not do to convert him to another path by violence. The Guru will go with the disciple along his own path and then gradually turn him into the supreme path when the time is ripe. Suppose a car is going at top speed. To stop it and to turn it at once would lead to a crash.'2
Other methods are not necessarily exclusive of Self-enquiry; in fact some of them may very well be combined with it.
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| 6.1. SAT SANG |
| 6.2. BREATH-CONTROL |
| 6.3. ASANAS |
| 6.4. HATHA YOGA |
| 6.5. LIGHT-GAZING |
| 6.6. CONCENTRATION ON SOUND |
| 6.7. CONCENTRATION ON THE HEART OR BETWEEN THE EYEBROWS |
| 6.8. THE SAHASRARA |
| 6.9. SILENCE |
| 6.10. DIET |
| 6.11. CELIBACY |
| 6.12. BHAKTI |
| 6.13. JAPA |
| 6.14. KARMA MARGA |
| 6.15. METHODS GRADED |