Sampradaya Sunday

A certain person, in a certain discussion, quoted a classic verse (with typos and all):

sampradaya vihina ye mantraste nishphala matah
atah kalau bhavishyanti chattvara sampradaya
sri brahma rudra sanaka vaishnava kshiti pavana
chattvaraste kalau bhava hy utkale purushottaman.

"If one receives a mantra from someone who has no links to any one of the four sampradayas, then that mantra will have no effect. Therefore there will arise four sampradayas [ Sri, Brahma, Rudra, Kumara ] who will purify the whole world. These four sampradayas will originate from the influence of Lord Purushottama in the region of Utkala."

Stray verses like this are too many to poke my attention. But the simplistic summa summarum thrown at the end got me all going and wild. Hold on to your hats, gentlemen... Tsadada-da-da-daaah:

"So the only means to attain perfection is by following one of these 4 sampradayas, which are all Vaisnava-sampradayas. Sankaracharya didn't follow any of them, so how can he be a bona fide spiritual master?"

I would reply in greater detail if I were not at a net cafe and without my reference library. Bear with the shabby scribblings that follow.

The origins of this verse, attributed to Padma-purana, are dubious at best. As far as I recall, it is partially referenced in Jiva Gosvami's sandarbhas, and in full as above — I believe for the first time — in Baladeva Vidyabhushan's writings in the 1700-1800s. I'd have to look up the references, I remember spending some time tracking down the verse with some of its fellow peculiarities some years back.

Padma-purana itself is a treasure-house of interpolations, its different editions varying widely, and unsurprisingly some editions containing material essential to certain Hindu factions being published almost exclusively by them. Reportedly some renditions now even contain verses penned by Rupa Goswami, a 17th-century devotional theologian.

Let's anyhow accept the verse as valid and worth consideration, just for argument's sake. The four sampradayas there are said to be tied with Purushottama, or Vishnu. It is then hardly surprising if the said sampradayas are Vaishnava-sampradayas, no? Shankara also had a Vaishnava side to his personality, often unacknowledged, as it wasn't as overt as the emphasis of the personalists.

The verse doesn't however say, yasya panthaM, yasya satyaM, yasya jIvanaM vinA kenApi na gacchati, even if it is favorite ammunition among some sectarian Vaishnavas. It is not the way, the truth or the life of all spirituality. It merely attempts to systematize and legitimize the sects of a certain Hindu substratum, and bears little effect for the rest of Indic religious traditions.

A matter of great curiosity is the fact that the Madhva-sampradaya, to which the Gaudiyas profess belonging to, actually hails from the Hamsa-avatara as the root-teacher of their paramparas or disciplic lineages. They indeed would not credit the Gaudiyas as an orthodox branch if were to get down to the details of the Madhavendra-Lakshmipati connection, even if some courtesies are occasionally exchanged between the traditions.

The whole sampradaya and parampara facade is such a bottomless can of worms. It was best put by Todke Baba of Shivapuri when I asked of his sampradaya. "This sampradaya, that sampradaya. It yields but headache, disturbance and quarrels. Men waste their lives away in minute debates of doctrinal sophistry." I heartily agree with him.

If it works, then go for it, and do it. "Just do it." (Nike 3.14) There's little gain in dwelling in a state of spiritual stagnation while making oneself believe one is on a progressive path, clinging to the feeble straw of being legitimized and therefore insured by one's heritage. "Because it says so in the scriptures, and as I go through the prescribed motions, it follows I must be advancing and quite happy." For its not being so, for having to face that it doesn't add up, would amount to an existential crisis of cataclysmic dimensions.

Anatman – Exploring the Non-self

Posted 21st of May, 2008 @ Vraja Journal.

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The doctrine of anatman (Pali: anatta), a central concept in Buddhist philosophy, is sometimes juxtaposed with the Hindu belief in atman. The fundamentals on both sides of the debate deserve a good, careful look.

In an evident parallel with the Bhagavata – among countless other Hindu texts – in observing the illusory "I" and "mine", janasya moho 'yam aham mameti, the suttas (e.g. MN 8) assert three wrong views:

1. Etam mama – "This is mine." – arising from craving.
2. Eso aham asmi – "This I am." – arising from pride and conceit.
3. Eso me atta – "This is my self." – arising from fundamental misconception.

Thereby craving, pride and wrong view lead one to establish diverse self-related conceptions in relation to the five khandas, the five base categories of formation (sankhara). These are, for obvious reasons, states of delusion, for anicca vata sankhara -- all formations, aggregates, conglomerations, are temporary by their nature, unfit for being labeled either a lasting, enduring self or its accessories.

The non-selfness of the five khandas is noted, among other sources, in the Culasaccakasutta (MN 35):

"Material shape, monks, is not self, feeling is not self, perception is not self, the habitual tendencies are not self, consciousness is not self; all conditioned things are impermanent (sabbe sankhara anitya), all things are not self (sabbe dhamma anatta).”

The five-fold khandas are conditioned dhammas, or sankharas. Nibbana (nirvana) is an unconditioned dhamma (thing, principle). While nibbana is often described as deathless (amrita), steady (dhruva), unfalling (acyuta) and so forth, adjectives familiar to many from Hindu descriptions of atman, it is not admitted to as atman, for the concept of a self by its very nature implies the presence of context and condition. That is, for as long as we take it in referring to an individual self – which really is the only meaningful usage of the word – in indicating an identifiable unit as separate from other units, whether purushas, jivas or other such atman-candidates.

A person with a rudimentary understanding of Advaita-vedanta will know moksha or liberation to be the state where the atman is realized as non-different from the Brahman, leading to the dissolution of the individual self-conception in favor of an unconditioned, homogeneous state. The individual self turns out to be nothing but a temporary fabrication rooted in avidya, the perennial ignorance serving as the foundation of conditioned existence in Advaita and Buddhism both alike. The doctrine of anatman understood as the absence of a lasting individual self, do both systems in fact not subscribe to the same concept?

The Upanishads describe Brahman – not atman – as the ultimate reality: sarvam khalv idam brahma. The attainment of, or realization of this Brahman is the objective. The term “brahma” finds, interestingly, countless references in the Pali Suttas. The monks are often referred to as brahma-faring (brahma cariyam), the vimoksha or final liberation bringing about the state of brahma-bhuta, the brahma-attainment.

A more detailed study of this subject, along with the obvious extended theme of analyzing the concepts of Brahman and nirvana, is outside the scope of this text, and only possible with more time and library access. In the meantime, may we occupy ourselves with pursuit for the attainment of an unconditioned reality by means of wisdom (prajna), moral conduct (sila) and meditative absorption (samadhi).

Base Shivapuri - Scriptures secured

Posted 14th of May, 2008 @ Vraja Journal.

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There was to be no lengthy solitary retreat, thanks to forest officials and a number of other causes. That notwithstanding, I am still at Bagdwar, the source of the sacred Bagmati river near the peak of Shivapuri. At the moment, I am staying in a small kutir attached to a largely abandoned small Tibetan gomba.

The environment up here, with the relaxed yet wise pace of life — so eminently demonstrated by Todake Baba, a mellow and wise hermit who earned his name ("Tree Baba") by living half a decade in the hollow of a tree — is providing me exactly the right antidote for the long, noisy period I was subjected to at Radhakund.

And the walk from Sarnath to Lumbini, while wonderful in many ways, wasn't exactly the holiday of choice either. Especially with five persons, five minds, and the subsequent five directions aboard. It served to highlight the worth of individual freedom in tending to one's ongoing internal processes.

With coming better to terms with my present needs, I have bowed out from the planned Kushinagar - Bodh Gaya stretch. Not the least since it'd be the peak of the hot season — and I mean hot — and in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar of all possible places.

What I presently need is contemplative peace. Research and reflection. I find myself repeatedly studying my inner samskaric patterns, the awakened and the latent mental circuits. The base reality, present and potential, on which new heights of practice are to be built. To know oneself is to know the practitioner. To not know the practitioner is to have no practice.

Rather than taking a ready sadhana-bundle, no matter how grand the brand, I am finally coming to terms with the fact that it might actually be a good idea to instead develop an individually tailored practice routine that addresses my base rather than that of the generic theoretical person.

A teacher you must have for this, some say — but I've been a bit short on luck in meeting with masters with an ability for direct insight into my psyche. Or even good intuition for that matter! Practically the entirety of such well-wishing attempts for guidance from teachers and fellow travelers have been just shooting from the hip. In the interim, Dhammapada speaks well:

"The self is the master of the self, for who else could be its master? With the self well subdued, one finds a master such as few can find."

Ah, Dhammapada, of which I again secured a copy a while back, having given mine to a friend back in Dixitpur on our journey past Devariya. This one isn't bilingual, but will do in absence of something more.

Wisdom ancient in written volumes, how have I come to realize how much I indeed miss it and how direly do I need it! The whole of the walk went practically without reading, and while the extensive walking itself occupied the mind enough to not realize the internal imbalance, the dharma-assimilation necessity became quite acute as I settled down.

So much so that I have just thrown away a good deal of my last pennies in securing a three-volume translation of the Majjhima-nikaya along with a commented Maha-satipatthana-sutta. The one-and-a-half to two kilo addition will no doubt agonize my shoulders in the journeys to come, but if anything is a burden of love... Yea, and there was an economical Tao Te Ching rendered into English and commented on by the good old Alistair Crowley — exploring Tao has been in the air for a fair bit.

A week or two more at the serene Shivapuri, followed by further excursions in Nepal. Where exactly, time alone, and especially the following day or two, will reveal — still some loose ends to tie up.