The Twenty Values of Jnanam - Part 3

Acaryopasanam

Acaryopasanam primarily means 'service to the teacher'.  'Meditation upon the teacher' is another very literal meaning of acaryopasanam.  Acarya means teacher and upasanam is meditation.   Together these words form the Sanskrit compound acaryopasanam.  Meditation upon the teacher means meditation upon the teaching by keeping the acarya, the teacher (who stands for the vision of the teaching) always in one's heart.

'Service and surrender', however, is the general meaning of acaryopasanam.   Service to the teacher implies a whole frame of mind towards the teacher - a frame of mind characterized by surrender of personal ego, subordination of personal likes and dislikes, a willingness to give without demand for return and a general attitude of respect and devotion.   This kind of surrender must be made only when the person to whom surrender is made has no need for the surrender, no need for the service, no need of any kind to be the beneficiary of the attitude of acaryopasanam.   So, when Lord Krsna tells Arjuna that acaryopasanam is one of the values constituting jnanam, it is understood that the teacher at whose feet the student surrenders must be a teacher of such integrity and freedom from need for service that only the student, not the teacher, will be the beneficiary of the surrender.

In acaryopasanam willingness to serve is the significant thing rather than the particular acts of service done.  Willingness to serve means an inner readiness to serve whether or not one is called upon to serve.  It means a happy acceptance of any way in which I am asked to serve - an attitude in which nothing asked of me is considered  too small or large a service.  In this guru-disciple relationship there is no give and take as there is in other relationships.  There is only giving on the part of the student.  Through such an attitude of unquestioning, complete service the student is blessed.  The teacher becomes the altar at which he can surrender.

Saucham

Saucham is cleanliness in a two-fold sense:bahya, outer cleaniness; and antara, inner cleaniness.  Bahya saucham, external cleaniness, is a well understood universal value. Clean body, clean clothes, clean dwelling places make life more pleasant.  In addition, the daily discipline of maintaining cleaniness brings about a certain attentiveness and alertness of mind.

Antara saucham, internal cleaniness, is less well recognized.  Antara saucham means cleaniness of the antahkarana, of the mind.   Jealousy, anger, hatred, fear, selfishness, self-condemnation, guilt, pride, possessiveness, all these negative reactions and the climate of despair and resentment which come in their wake, are the uncleaniness, the asaucham, of the mind.

How to clean the mind? What is the detergent for the mind?  There is one, pratipaksa bhavana.  Prati, a Sanskrit prefix, means 'opposite'; paksa stands for 'position' or 'point of view'. Bhavana indicates thinking or 'state of thought'.  Thus, pratipakssa bhavana means the 'opposite point of view'.  The practice of pratipaksa bhavana is to take, deliberately, the opposite point of view - by act of will, to think the opposite of the unclean thoughts.  

This 'opposite thinking' is to be undertaken even though my negative attitude seems to me to be justified.  Any attitude that settles in my mind which is opposed to peacefulness, accommodation, non-injury, non-pridefulness and similar values, can be neutralized by choosing to entertain the opposite point of view.  This should be done daily.  Pratipaksa bhavana is a daily act of the mind, like bathing for the body.  Pratipaksa bhavana thoughts at first may seem false but as they are deliberately done, day by day, they will become real and spontaneous.  A mind kept clean in this manner will be a quiet and alert mind.  A clean, quiet, alert mind is comfortable with itself and ready to learn, to be taught.

Sthairyam

Sthairyam is nistha, 'firmness' or 'steadiness'.  Derived from the Sanskrit root'stha', 'to stand' sthairyam indicates consistency or perseverance. sthairyam is:

Karma nistha, svadharma nistha
Steadfastness in action; steadfastness in one's own duty.

A steady effort on one's part toward whatever goals one has committed oneself to achieve or toward whatever duties one's responsibilities impose upon one is sthairyam.  Lack of steadiness towards a commitment results in goals not being achieved bringing-up of guilt over failure to complete what was started.  Sthairyam means there should be steady effort towards whatever you have committed yourself to achieve until it is achieved, a steadiness that neither yields to laziness nor is disturbed by distraction.

In the context here, where Lord Krsna is talking about values which make the mind ready to discover the truth of myself, the sthairyam highlighted is a nistha or firmness in seeking Self-knowledge.  When my commitment is to achieve knowledge of the truth of myself, sadhana nistha, steadiness in the means to accomplish the goal, is required.  I must apply myself steadily to the secondary qualifications, such as certain attitudes, study of the language, of the scriptures, and similar pursuits, which prepare the mind for Self-knowledge.

The knowledge of the self is not a partial knowledge - it is not like the knowledge of a given discipline but is something total,  the total content of all knowledge.  For this goal, the goal in which all other goals resolve, total commitment is involved.   In this total commitment, there must be sthairyam; steadiness must be -there.

-Swami Dayananda Saraswati

Excerpted from "The Value of Values" by Swami Dayananda

Published: 12/15/98