VIJNANA WHICH COMES AFTER SAMADHI

Jnana is the realisation of the Atman by the elimination of all phenomena. By eliminating the phenomena through the process of discrimination, one attains Samadhi and realises the Atman.

And Vijnana means knowing with greater fulness. Some have only heard of milk, some have but seen it, while others have tasted it. He who has only heard of it is an ignorant man. He who has seen it is the Jnani. But only he who has tasted it has attained Vijnana, that is, has known it in its entirety. To see God and have intimate relation with Him as with a near kinsman, is what is called Vijnana.

First you have to follow the process of ' Neti, Neti — ' not this, not this'. He is not the five elements. He is not the senses, nor the mind, nor the intelligence, nor the ego—He is beyond all categories. To get'up to the roof you have to leave below all the steps of the staircase one by one. Of course the steps are not the roof. But when you reach the roof, you find that the roof is made of the same brick, lime, mortar and sand as the staircase. That which is the Supreme Brahman, the same has become the Jiva and Jagat—the twenty-four categories of the philosophers. That which is the Atman has become the five elements. You may ask why the earth is so hard if it has come out of the Atman. Through His will everything is possible. Are not flesh and bone made out of blood and semen. How hard becomes the foam of the ocean ?

After attaining Vijnana a man can live in the world as well. For then he clearly perceives that He Himself has become the world of living and non-living substances, that He is not outside the world. When Ramachandra attained Jnana and refused to remain in the world, Dasaratha sent Vasishtha to instruct him. Vasishtha said to Ramachandra : "' Rama, if the world is outside God, you may give it up. ' Ramachandra remained silent, for he well knew that nothing exists without God.

In music the notes gradually rise from the lowest to the highest pitch and again come down in the reverse order; similarly, after experiencing non-duality in Samadhi one descends to a lower plane and lives with the ego-consciousness. After divesting the banana plant of all its sheaths one after another, one reaches its pith and takes that alone to be the essential part. But later he considers that the sheaths also are of the plant itself. Both of them -are necessary to make the stem a complete whole.

While examining a Bel fruit one analyses it into its constituent parts, the shell the seed and the pulp.

Now, which of these is the Bel ? First one rejects the shell as non-essential, then the seeds, and lastly takes the pulp separately and considers that alone as the real fruit. But then the after-thought comes that the same fruit which has the pulp, has the shell and the seeds as well. All these together make the whole fruit. Similarly, after having directly perceived God in His attributeless aspect, one realises that the same Deity Who is eternal by nature has assumed the form of the world in a playful mood.

Once Sri Ramakrishna asked Narendra (Swami Vivekananda) what his ideal in life was. " To remain absorbed in Samadhi, replied Narendra. " Can you be so small-minded as that?" the Master said, " Go beyond Samadhi. Samadhi is a trifling thing for you ! "

To another he said, " Bhava (divine ecstasy) and Bhakti—these are not final.

On another occasion Sri Ramakrishna asked the same question to Narendra, and received the same reply as before. To which the Master remarked: " Why! I thought you were made of better stuff. How can you be satisfied with such a one-sided ideal ? My strength is all-sidedness. I would like to enjoy fish, for instance, in a variety of ways —fried and boiled, made into soup, pickled, etc. I enjoy the Lord not only in His unconditioned state of Oneness, as unqualified Brahman, in Samadhi, but also in His various blessed manifestations through sweet human relationship. So do you likewise. Be a Jnani and a Bhakta in one."