PR 22 Apr 2011 Uparati the Withdrawal from Sensory Objects

uparati – the Quality of Withdrawal from Sensory Objects

prabhāta-raśmiḥ Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha 22 April 2011

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru.

For the past few days I have been speaking about the prerequisites or the qualifications of a seeker. This is actually a spiritual exposition. When I provide you this information, I don’t have anything in particular in my mind. A subject is exposed, that’s all. In any class, whatsoever, where students come to learn, there may be thirty, forty or eighty students, A teacher will go on exposing the subject before them. You will find, out of the eighty, all are attending the classes, but in the examination you will find, all of them score different degrees of marks. There will be a few people who, perhaps, top and nowadays score 95%, 98% and the like, but not all of them are scoring. This is the general nature, the variety of human beings, I think nature excels everywhere by producing variety.

Here also when I am exposing the subject, the first part of it is that I would like all of you to know that there is such a subject and this is the set up. Our subject for the three month course is ‘Experiential Vedanta’. So, Vedanta as a subject, as a pursuit and even as a perfection; I would like all of you to know about it. To know is not necessarily to be that, but in spirituality we always say, to know God is to become God. To know Brahman is to become Brahman. Now, this statement you should take and try to introspect over it.

To know something is to become that thing. Because this is not an object about which you know. Milk is very white and it is fluid, you have known about it. You are not going to become the milk. You know sugar is sweet, that does not mean you are going to become sweet, then you will be a diabetic patient. Now, with regard to the objects, they are at a distance, they are separate from us and we can only know them and carry their impression and image in our brain or intelligence.

When it comes to spirituality, the whole process is different. What are you discussing about? You are discussing about your inside. Means what? Your own mind, your own intelligence, your own ego. And then, what? It doesn’t stop there, you go beyond and then reach at the substratum of all this. Whose substratum? Your own personality’s substratum. That is what we call the Self. And God and Brahman are only synonyms for this Self. Self first and then God next! Brahman is another name.

So, when we are discussing your own inside content, the inmost, the inmost factor, presence in you, that knowledge will certainly make you that. Objects are separate from you. The subject is you, yourself. That is why we say, to know God is to become God. What is this God? Your, very self! So, when you know the Self, what does it mean? Please think about it. Don’t think, at least listen to it.

See, I am knowing what I am. When I know what exactly I am and what this word ‘ I’ refers to, naturally I become that. I understand that I am not the body. I understand that I am not the mind. I understand that I am the substratum of all these things. So, so far, I was lying unknown and covered, now I am uncovering it and discovering it and know that I am this. That is why to know God is to become God. Let that point remain there.

So, when I expose these things, you should simply take the exposure for what it is worth. Immediately don’t try to compare notes, co-examine etc. and get into any difficulty. We are exposing it to you, you try to receive the exposure and let us see what happens. You may be a very good student scoring nearly 100% or you may get 80% or maybe 75, but any extent of mark in this direction is always good.

svalpamapyasya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt | (Bhagavad Geeta 2.40)

Even a small measure of this spiritual dharma, the spiritual pursuit will save you from the great danger of world. With this introduction I wanted to enter into the subject called uparati.

We have 5 senses to interact with this world and through these senses we are always trying to dwell upon the objects of the world. With the eye we see colours, we enjoy them. With the ear we hear sounds, we enjoy them. So some sensory enjoyment or the other, where object is an important point. But all these interactions proceed from the mind, they subsist on the mind. Apart from the mind and the experience it generates, there is no question of dwelling on the objects. Whether I see you and in the process of seeing, my eyes are helpful in connecting my mind to you, whether it is so or not, the fact remains that I am forming a picture of you, an imprint of you and I experience it within myself. So the experience is subjective.

So, in all experiences of the objects of the world, I cannot have anything other than what my mind is. Whether I see a colourful object, hear a beautiful and attractive sound or whether I taste something or smell something or touch something, all these are experiences, experiences emerging in the sphere of the mind, caused by the mind, subsisting upon the mind and also dissolved by the mind.

When I understand this, automatically, there is a sense of withdrawal taking place when I want. That is what people go in for meditation.

So, uparati is that art and process and habit, whereby you simply close your eyes. Do not indulge in or interact with anything. On the other hand, allow the mind to rest on its own essence. When you close your eyes, the eyeballs will not roll. The eyeballs will roll when you are unable to close your eyes. So, uparati is that kind of a withdrawal from the sensory objects, whereby the senses do not gallop for any kind of an interaction. It simply remains itself.

I always tell people what is the exercise or spiritual practice that they can do. I have thought and researched into it for years. I don’t want everybody to meditate. They may not understand meditation, they may not need it also, even for children. But one practice they can always do very successfully. What is that? Sit in a place, preferably closing the door, alone, close your eyes and simply observe your mind and mind processes. This is what I tell people. Mark my words! Mind processes! Observe!

I don’t want you to get involved in them or evaluate them or go into the question whether this is good, that is bad, am I so, am I not so. No, no, no, no. Allow the mind to do whatever it likes. Simply observe it, just like I would look at your body, your face. Even when you blink your eyes, or nod your head, I see it, but I don’t interfere in this. In the same manner allow the mind and the mind processes to be and simply observe. This is the one exercise I give to people and see what wonder it works.

Now here, uparati means, not always indulging in sensory items. Develop a habit of withdrawing and be restful. More than withdrawal, it is allowing the mind to be restful inwardly. It is just like always walking a person. He stops walking and sits comfortably without any strain to the legs. Similarly don’t allow any strain to the mind or intelligence by giving an exertion. On the other hand allow the mind and the intelligence to rest. This is called uparati. Is any one of you practising it? Normally not. But at least know today that the best of exercise that you can do to invigorate your own body and mind is to keep quiet. But keep quiet means not out of idleness, out of an option, in a sensitive manner.

Now this is called uparati. The first is śamaḥ, second is damaḥ, the third is titikṣā, the fourth is uparati. We have two more qualifications or two more pre-requisites called śraddhā and samādhāna.

So, uparati is something, whereby you make your inner personality rest and any rest will mean recuperation and invigoration. So you will find your mind, intelligence, and ego get recuperated. Our own body rests for about six to seven hours a day. That is the time the cells which have been destroyed, which have been utilized for doing the wakeful activities, they are replenished by the system, in darkness and in sleep. You will find this internal rest, which you adopt or encourage during the wakeful hours, will make your mind, intelligence and ego gain a lot of refreshment. There will be a lot of recuperation. This is what will happen. So, this uparati is a habit. I would like you to tell me – do you find it very difficult? Not at all! Just like you will sit bodily on a chair, I am asking you to mentally sit on your own inside.

Body can rest on a chair, but think what the mind can rest on. So allow the mind to be restful. How long? I would be satisfied if the beginner does it for twenty to twenty five minutes. Even children should be encouraged to do it and any child who does it will become very, very intelligent, will become sharp. As I always say, a matter which takes one hour to read and understand, the child will be able to read it and understand in forty minutes, if not in thirty.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru.

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Narayanashrama Tapovanam Venginissery, P.O. Ammadam, Trichur, Kerala - 680563, India Email: [email protected]; Website: http://www.swamibhoomanandatirtha.org