THE REALISATION OF THE ABSOLUTE SWAMI KRISHNANANDA The Divine Life Society Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, India Website: www.swami-krishnananda.org ABOUT THIS EDITION Though this eBook edition is designed primarily for digital readers and computers, it works well for print too. Page size dimensions are 5.5" x 8.5", or half a regular size sheet, and can be printed for personal, non-commercial use: two pages to one side of a sheet by adjusting your printer settings. 2 CONTENTS Publishers’ Note ........................................................................................ 4 Foreword ..................................................................................................... 5 Preface .......................................................................................................... 7 Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................. 13 Chapter Two: The Nature of the World ......................................... 26 Chapter Three: The Need for Integral Knowledge .................... 53 Chapter Four: The Nature of Reality .............................................. 66 Chapter Five: The Process of Truth-Realisation ......................122 Chapter Six: The Attainment of Liberation ................................163 Chapter Seven: Conclusion ...............................................................190 Explanatory Notes ................................................................................195 Notes ..........................................................................................................207 PUBLISHERS’ NOTE The primary issues of life are an expression of the pressing need for peace and happiness. When peace is being aspired after, the whole universe comes in there as the factor that goes to form the vital current of this process of aspiration. It is vain to think that lasting peace or happiness can be had through resorting to certain aspects alone, while neglecting or opposing others in the universe. Only a Citizen of the Universe can be an enjoyer of Peace, the Peace that passeth understanding. It is the aim of this book to throw a powerful light on the art of growing into a Universal Citizen, a Purushottama, a Being inhabiting the whole cosmos; a Being that, in loving the Universe, loves itself, in knowing itself, knows the All, and exists as the All. It is the Science of Perfection and the Practice of the Method to attain it, Brahmavidya and Yogasastra, that forms the core of this teaching of immortal value. The author, a direct disciple of the Great Swami Sivananda, offers to the lovers of Truth, to those who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of Truth, this precious present, the result of his deep study and experience. This treatise will be found to be of immense value to all aspirants after Self- realisation, especially to those who tread the Path of Knowledge. It is our earnest prayer that all Mumukshus may derive the full benefit of imbibing this sacred Knowledge, handed down by the ancient Seers, and of living their lives in consonance with it. —THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY FOREWORD The Upanishads have always been acknowledged and acclaimed as veritable Mines of Transcendental Wisdom. They are fountain-sources and treasure-houses of Divine Knowledge. But they are something more, too. They also harbour within their precious bosom the key to gain access thereunto. In them we have not only the revelation of the radiant realms of the Supreme Brahman-Consciousness, but also the shining pathway that leads one to it—the secrets of Vedanta-Sadhana or Jnana-Yoga. In “The Realisation of the Absolute” of Swami Krishnananda, we have a forceful and brilliant monograph on this theme which forms the central core of the Upanishadic texts. He has presented us with a well reasoned-out, clear and illuminating analysis of the problem of the appearance of pluralistic consciousness, and simultaneously given a bold and precise picture of the practical method of shattering this illusion and soaring into the empyrean of the Undifferentiated Absolute-Consciousness, the Reality, the nature of which has been explained by him very elaborately. His treatment of the subject of Vedanta is at once direct, inspiring and compelling, for the statements therein are such as have been tested by the author’s own practical personal experience. He is one who is himself living the life of strenuous quest after Truth. Though quite young in age, Swami Krishnananda (whom I know very well indeed) is a seeker of high attainments, full of fiery aspiration and a monk of a very high order. Himself an advanced Sadhaka, nay, a seer-sage in the making, possessing intense renunciation, deep dispassion and keen aspiration, he has indeed rightly emphasised these factors so indispensable to fit one for the path of Jnana-Yoga-Sadhana. Expositions on pure philosophy there are a good many. Works touching on the broad aspects of Jnana-Yoga, more or less upon the conventional orthodox lines, too, are there. But here you have an erudite consideration of the graduated anatomy of the structure of the practical process through which to realise the FACT about which philosophies but speculate. “The Realisation of the Absolute” is a practical Seeker-Sannyasin’s revelation of Jnana and Jnana-Sadhana. It is replete with the sublimest conception of the Vedanta. It is a dazzling light focussed upon the true essence of Vedanta- Sadhana and meditation and valuable hints and clues that reveal the pathway to Self-Realisation. In producing this profound treatise the one supreme urge in the author appears to be to fire the reader with a thirst for the Transcendent Experience of Reality, Brahma-Sakshatkara. I am glad to say that he has succeeded commendably in this purpose. The work is powerful and rousing. One who studies these pages will definitely find himself or herself transformed both in the attitude to life and in aspiration. The sincere reader cannot but feel with the author that “the quest for the Absolute should be undertaken even sacrificing the dearest object, even courting the greatest pain… It is a mistake to be interested in the different forms of perception… Nothing is worth considering except the realisation of Brahman.” I wish this work the reception, acceptance and approbation it richly deserves. 8th September, 1947. Swami Sivananda 6 PREFACE It is always with a full preparation to face the contingency of being caught in vicious circles and to come out of them victoriously that one can attempt to explain anything concerning the Absolute or the Infinite. It is an extremely difficult task, and it many times appears idle to engage oneself in trying to understand the nature of eternal verities ranging beyond the intellect. Man is nothing if he is divested of the intellect, and yet this intellect is a very inadequate means of ascertaining Truth. But, however much imperfect, it is the only human faculty of knowledge nearest to Reality. We can either know Reality imperfectly, or not know it at all. Anyhow, fully to know Reality through a process is an impossibility, for Reality is not a process. It is not expected, however, that in these pages will be found statements not open to further consideration and discussion. It is not possible to enunciate anything without being set in opposition to something. To express what is complete is not within the capacity of the knowing process. All knowing is a process, and all process is imperfection. To know the perfect is to be the perfect, and not to express it. Expression involves relations, and nothing that is related is complete in itself. Intuition, however, is said to be complete; but, then, no philosophy is complete, for philosophy is intellectual judgment. Intellect is not a revelation like intuition, though even intellect is an imperfect revelation. By true revelation is meant the integral vision, not a relational understanding. Intellect is never free from subject-object-relationship, and every such relation falls short of Reality. We can never expound a philosophy which can stand before the light of intuition, for all relations are transcended in intuition. The declaration in the Mandukya Upanishad on the nature of Reality strikes terror into the heart of all speculative philosophy, which vainly tries to know Reality through transitory categories. If the philosopher is not prepared to accept that, until Self- Experience, he simply glories in shadows, he cannot at least deny that his statements are not self-sufficient and self- existent truths. Philosophy appears to be an apology for Truth-realisation, and it fulfils itself when it meets the requirements of intuition. Let us accept that the intellect is imperfect. But without this imperfect instrument, we do not seem to be better than mere instinctive animals. There are some universal standards of intellectual ascertainment of the Reality behind forms. Positive affirmation of and meditation on such universal truths will not go without leading the meditator to what is real in the absolute sense. We can rise above the intellect through the medium of the intellect itself backed up by faith in and devotion to the Ideal. As long as the highest Reality is not experienced, universal ascertainments through philosophical enquiries should not be allowed to battle with one another. It is true that all real philosophy ends in Absolutism, but the intellectual categories do not go without creating forms of Absolutism, which seem apparently to rival with each other. The wise course would be to consider