The Sword Of Discrimination

Reaching the end of his rope, Ramakrishna said to Totapuri, his Vedantic teacher: “It is hopeless. I cannot raise my mind to the unconditioned state and come face to face with Atman.”

“What?” Totapuri replied. “You can’t do it? But you have to!”

Searching about excitedly, he picked up shard of glass and marked the third eye right between Ramakrishna’s eyebrows.

“Concentrate the mind on this point!” he exclaimed and then went away.

Sitting with great determination while concentrating on the third eye, Ramakrishna used the sword of discrimination to cut through the beatific image of the Divine Mother. And that was that.

Three Reflections

One: Advaita Vedanta is unrelenting as far as realizing the Formless Reality is concerned. Nothing wrong (by no means) with any deities. These are just some of the many forms of the Formless Absolute. Still, Vedanta urges, urges, urges one to carry on until there is nothing but the Formless, Unconditioned Reality.

Two (and implicit in one): great determination–practicing, ultimately, as if one’s hair is on fire (says Zen)–is a crucial element. A great Raja Yogi, Swami Hariharananda, speaks in his book, Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali, of “extraordinary zeal.” Zen, frequently (I think here of The Chan Whip), speaks of zeal. And so on. One must be greatly determined to come to an end of all suffering. Of course, one doesn’t start with such fire in one’s heart, but one should feel the fire slowly kindle, then burn, then burn up everything. 

Three: the sword of discrimination must cut through every form, every object, every idea. Of course, the cut is, as it were, double. One cuts through form in order to “cut to” the Absolute. We cannot hive off the ultimate (positive) from the negative (discriminating). To jettison the unreal is to merge into the Real. And so on.

So, the goal is the Unconditioned. The virtue is great determination. And, for Vedanta, the way is, to a large extent, the path of discrimination.