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Selfwhich is always presentis gradually manifestto one who has studied the upanisadic statements about the unity of the self and Brahman and so become skilled in hearing the upanisads.
19 The purification and preparation of the inner self is achieved gradually, by mastery of upanisads which are the spiritual "score" which one practices in order to become skilled in the subtleties of the truth. |
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The musical notes are already being played distinctly even when one still lacks the capacity to distinguish them; the acquisition of a refined ear for music is a possible and plausible project, more necessary for some than others, and more practicable for some than others. Similarly, the upanisads are already perfectly conformed to Brahman, and the rare, subtle path to a proper apprehension of Brahman is perfectly inscribed in those texts; though the novice Advaitin will at first be unable to decipher what the texts present, over time he or she masters the texts and notices what was previously unheard. |
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The second analogy compares reading with yoga. As we have seen, the fact that the delicate and subtle Advaita understanding can be achieved in a skillful understanding of the upanisads poses to us the paradox that the absolutely simple is achieved in a temporal process. At UMS II.3.39, Sankara spells out the correlation between the steps of meditation and the steps of yoga: "Concentration (samadhi),20 taught in the upanisads as a means for the realization of that Self that is known from the upanisads alone, is spoken of in such texts as 'The self, dear, must be seen, must be heard, must be understood, must be meditated on,'. . ." (Brhadaranyaka Upanisad 2.4.5) |
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Vacaspati picks up on this reference to concentration (samadhi), the last step taken in Patañjali's classical yoga, and correlates the four steps in meditation to the last three of the eight steps of yoga: |
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[The word] "Concentration" (samadhi) indicates constraint (samyama);fixed-attention (dharana), contemplation (dhyana) and concentration (samadhi) are meant by the word "constraint." As it says in the [in Patañjali's Yoga Sutras],"This same contemplation, shining forth [in consciousness] as the intended object and nothing more, and as it were, emptied |
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