The Philosophy of the Panchadasi: Chapter - 6-8: Swami Krishnananda.

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Thursday 25, June 2026, 19:20.
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Upanishad
The Philosophy of the Panchadasi: 6-8.
Chapter 6: Light on the Analogy of a Painted Picture-8.
4.Isvara or the Universal God: 5.

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The breaking of the knots of the heart is nothing but awareness that one is Atman essentially and hence desires convey no meaning to it. Not knowing this is confinement to the body and personality and the objects related to it. In regard to the outward activities of the body, senses and mind, the Jivanmukta and an ordinary man are similar, but the difference lies in their attitudes towards them. Whether pains come and pleasures go, or otherwise, the Jivanmukta is unaffected, and is indifferent in the highest spiritual sense of the term. The indifference of the liberated one is not to be equated with Tamas or lethargy, for it is the absence of craving for things, though he has the ability to possess and enjoy anything, if he so wills.

Sensory activities or mental functions mean nothing of consequence to the Jivanmukta, though, occasionally, even certain wishes may arise within him due to the remnant of a kind of Prarabdha. He is not concerned because he has a deep conviction of having attained everything that he wished to have. Contact is the cause of bondage, and hence the wise always refrain from it. Their aloofness from society as in the case of Jadabharata or enjoyment as with Janaka or Saubhari, mean the same thing to their unaffected being.

This achievement is possible for one who is equipped with the necessary means, viz., Vairagya (renunciation), Bodha (enlightenment), and Uparati (withdrawal from world-consciousness). These three great virtues rarely coexist as in sages like Suka and Vamadeva, but mostly one or two of these alone are seen to be present in the aspiring souls. Vairagya is the dispassion which arises on account of the perception of the defects inherent in things, such perception being its cause. The nature of Vairagya is a feeling of 'enough' with all things, and a discontent with the satisfaction that is derived from the world. The result of Vairagya is non-dependence on objects and states as previously, and a feeling of higher independence within. The cause of Bodha or knowledge is study and hearing (Sravana), reflection (Manana), and meditation (Nidhidhyasana) on the truths into which one is initiated by the Guru. The nature of knowledge is the ability to distinguish between, the true and the false, and the resting of oneself in the Supreme Reality. The not rising again of any desire is the result of knowledge. The practice of Yoga such as through its eight limbs, Yama, Niyama, and the rest, is the cause of one's Uparati or cessation from worldly activity. Control of the mind in all its five modifications (Vrittis) is the nature of Uparati. The total absence of practical concern with the world of duality is the consequence or result. These three divine qualities adorn a Jivanmukta. In him all these exist together, though in some, one or two may be absent due to obstructions of various kinds.

Among these qualifications described, Bodha is primary and the most important of all. Vairagya and Uparati, are, as a matter of fact, auxiliaries to it, accelerating its function. If, at any time, all these three virtues are found in one and the same person, it should be considered as the result of great penance performed prior to their rise. Mostly one or two of them alone will be found in a person due to some impediment or the other, which prevents the manifestation of all the qualities. If a person has attained to full knowledge, but has body-consciousness some times, due to the absence of firm establishment in Vairagya and Uparati, there will be the perception of the world and also the feelings of pain and pleasure on such occasions, though, of course, he will have no rebirth on account of his knowledge. This, however, is meaningful not in the sense that spiritual realisation needs any other additional qualification to complete itself, but that the Jivanmukta will have Prarabdha-Bhoga, or the natural concomitance of space-time-body perception. But if he is a person endowed with Vairagya and Uparati, while not with Knowledge, he will not attain Moksha, but will be reborn either in a noble and rich family, where he will have all facilities to continue his Sadhana, or in the family of a Yogi, wherein he will attain quick success in his spiritual pursuits. The height of Vairagya is regarded as that state where one feels distaste even for the joys of Brahmaloka. The height of Bodha is that where one feels that one is Brahman itself, as intensely as one ordinarily would feel the body. The height of Uparati is that condition of mind where the presence of sense-objects is completely forgotten and wiped out from memory, as in sleep. Though these are the highest states, there are stages to their attainment.

The first stage of Vairagya is called Yatamana-samjna, or the effort towards freeing oneself from attachment to things. The second stage is Vyatireka-samjna, or the isolation of the thing to be avoided from among the many things in the world. The third stage is Ekendriya-samjna, where one discovers that it is after all the mind from which freedom is to be attained, the one sense which is the cause of all trouble, and not from the world as such. The fourth stage is called Vasikara-samjna, or the complete mastery over all things, by a total absence of desire for everything, whether seen or only heard of. Vairagya reaches its climax when one has no desire even to exist as a personality or individual, and abandons even the primordial properties of Prakriti.

The first stage of knowledge is Sattvapatti, or attainment of pure Sattva; the second is Asamasakti or non-attachment to all things; the third is Padarthabhavana or non-perception of materiality and perception of spirituality in things; and the fourth is Turiya, where one rests in one's own Self. Uparati reaches its summit when one realises that the whole universe is a single family, and there is the total absence of selfishness by a gradual rising from concern with one's own body to other bodies outside, by extending this feeling to the community, the nation, and the world, till it embraces the whole universe as an undivided unit. Due to the difference in Prarabdha, sages behave in various ways and their actions differ. Sri Krishna, Vasishtha, Vyasa, Suka, Janaka, Jaigishavya, Saubhari, Jadabharata are examples of this strange variety in behaviour of divine personalities. But their knowledge is the same, and their attainment is also one. It is to be concluded, therefore, that this painted picture of the cosmos appears on the screen of Brahman-Consciousness, and wisdom lies in considering oneself as this background of Consciousness, and not the appearance of the picture. Such wise ones do not get deluded even when they see this picturesque representation called the universe. (Verses 210-290)

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Chapter 7: Light on Supreme Satisfaction -1.1
1.The Passage to Knowledge-1.
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