2023-06-22 12:07:37 by ambuda-bot

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xxi
 
The answer is this :
 
The akhaṇḍākāra-Vṛtti, being a vṛtti, a function, is certainly
transient and does come to an end. But the fact that, even for
an instant the mind had lost its finiteness and become identified
with the infinite remains as a samskära, an indelible impression
in the mind and this sublates all subsequent thoughts even as they
rise. This sublation destroys the sense of reality in the content
of these subsequent thoughts; they are only bädhita anuvṛtti,
thoughts the content of which is known to have no reality.
Therefore these thoughts are not capable of producing any
further impressions on the mind. The old samskāras have been
destroyed by the akhandakara-vṛtti; new samskāras are not
produced because of the memory of that vṛtti in the mind, there-
fore there is no bondage or cause of bondage. That is
mukti.
 
What the akhaṇḍākāra-vṛtti does is to destroy the illusion
that we are bound and not free. Really the Self is nitya-șuddha-
buddha-muktasvabhavah, ever pure, enlightened and free in its
 
essence.
 
One more question remains. Why is it that even after long
study and an intellectual conviction about Advaita one does
not get the experience of the infinite or the akhaṇdā-kāra-vṛtti?
What should one do to get it ?
 
The intellectual conviction still remains in the mind only-
it is paroksha. That is because at the deeper levels there are
samskäras that cause a hold on the individuality, because of
these being anādi, having no knowable beginning in time. So to
get rid of these one has keep on repeating his conviction
mentally till the final function occurs. In practice it means this :
As each thought (vrtii) comes, to the surface of the mind,
one denies reality to its content athātaädeso neti neti (B.u.
ii, 3, 6). This denial is an assertion of his intellectual
conviction. This process is the nididhyasa for one following the
vic.aramarga, the path of enquiry. This has to be persisted in
 
till the mind attains jnana or the akhaṇḍākāra-vrtti.