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Prabuddha Bharata
the Gita: ‘Jnana is the overall knowledge of the objects mentioned in the scriptures; but vijnana is the name of relating to oneself the knowledge as it is gained from scriptures.’60 This very phenomenon of relating to oneself has been represented by Sri Ramakrishna as ‘getting nourished by milk’. The long and short of it is that only a real knower of Brahman, Brahma-vijnani, knows clearly about every nook and cranny of that difficult path; and so, such a person alone can tell with confidence the subtle difference between the four statuses, namely, brahmavid, brahmavidvara, brahmavid-variyan, and brahmavid-varish tha. Madhusudana Sarasvati, the great exponent of Advaita Vedanta from Bengal, has discussed all these states in his gloss on the Gita61 by quoting from the Laghu-Yoga-Vasishtha. Therein the sage Vasishtha has described a knower of Brahman in terms of seven different stages, namely, the plane of knowledge called good resolve, deliberation, fineness of the mind, experience of Reality, non-relationship, absence of objects, reaching the turiya.62 The glossator then goes on to explain: Among these the first is the desire for liberation, which starts from discrimination between the eternal and the non-eternal, and the like, and culminates in its fruit. Then, after approaching the guru, vichara in the form of shravana and manana on the Upanishadic texts is the second. Then the third is the ability of the mind to grasp subtle things with concentration accomplished through the practice of nididhyasana. These three stages are called the waking state by the yogis. That yogi who has reached the fourth stage is called brah mavit. To him the world appears as a dream. However, the fifth, sixth, and seventh stages are the secondary divisions of jivanmukti itself. The state of nirvikalpa-samadhi, which comes when the mind becomes withdrawn through the practice of savikalpa-samadhi, is called asamsakti, nonrelationship and sushupti, deep sleep. From this
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state the yogi emerges by oneself. One attaining to this state is called brahmavid-vara. The sixth state called padarthabhavani and deeper sleep is a state from which the yogi cannot come out by one’s own effort but has to be awakened by others. Such a yogi is called brahmavid-variyan. The seventh stage called turiyaga is one of total absence of perception of duality. From this state the yogi cannot emerge either by own efforts or through that of others, but remains in every way self-absorbed, as a mass of supreme bliss alone, with the bodily functions managed by others, and the vital forces controlled by the supreme Lord. One attaining this stage is called brahmavid-varishtha.63 The various states of ecstasies and absorption experienced by Sri Ramakrishna tally in every respect with the above discussion. When he went into a deep thought of Shiva while enacting as the god or when he listened to the glories of the Divine Mother on his way to the temple of Vishalakshi, he was in the fourth stage of ecstasy mentioned above. At that time, as per his narrative, the whole world appeared as a dream. Next, during his madness for a vision of the Divine Mother at the Kali temple in Dakshineswar, when he was endowed with a vision of Her, he had attained the fifth state, for he came back to normal consciousness with his own effort. When, under the guidance of Totapuri, he attained Nirvikalpa Samadhi by just three days’ effort, he was brought back to consciousness only by his guru. That state of absorption tallies fully with the sixth state mentioned above. But even after that he developed a desire to enjoy the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi unceasingly, he remained in that state continuously for six months, and his body function was maintained by providence while an unknown monk who stayed by him for that whole period pushed in food through his mouth by force, just to keep his body alive. Judging by such scriptural standards, one thinks in mute wonder as to who this Sri Ramakrishna PB May 2016