“What Is Sādhana? — In Advaita, the Removal of Obstacles”#Brahma Sūtras

Part – 1 : 

Beginning of Sādhana

Holding On Like a Crocodile – Revealing the Hidden Supreme Truth

Om Namo Gurubhyaḥ

Makara Sankranti has passed.

The Sun has entered the sign of Capricorn (Makara).

Who is this Sun?

Not a planet.

👉 The Sun represents the human intellect (Buddhi).

What does it mean when the intellect enters Makara?

👉 The intellect enters firm determination.

Makara never lets go.

It does not loosen its grip.

It never slides backward.

That is why the Śāstra says:

> “Hold on to sādhana like a crocodile and move forward.”

The Three Pillars of Śāstra

Śāstra always stands on three foundations:

1. Siddhānta – Teaching

2. Sādhana – Practice

3. Siddhi – Fruition

Bādarāyaṇa Maharṣi has completed the Siddhānta portion.

That chapter is over.

Now begins Sādhana.

What is Sādhana?

To accomplish.

In the world, accomplishment is only of two kinds:

1. Producing something that did not exist earlier

Example:

No food → we cook

Something nonexistent is newly created

2. Experiencing something that already exists

Example:

Food is ready → we go and eat

If it is far → we go to it or bring it closer

There is no third meaning to the word “sādhana” in the world.

And this logic is perfectly correct in worldly life.

In Advaita Vedānta – Both Collapse

Here comes the shock.

In Advaita:

You cannot produce the Supreme Reality

You cannot go and reach the Supreme Reality

Why?

The First Path Collapses

Paramātma is not something that can be newly produced.

It is not like food.

It is not something born in time.

In fact:

Time itself came later

Space itself came later

Paramātma is beginningless.

So the question

> “Since when has Paramātma existed?”

itself has no meaning.

👉 Therefore, Paramātma is not to be attained — it is already ever-attained.

The Second Path Also Collapses

“Then I will go to Paramātma.”

Where will you go?

Vaikuṇṭha? Kailāsa?

Mistake.

Paramātma is not an object located somewhere.

The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad says: Behind is Brahman

In front is Brahman

To the right is Brahman

To the left is Brahman

Above and below — Brahman alone

> “Brahmaiva idam viśvam”

This entire universe is Brahman.

And more than that: 👉 The one who seeks is Brahman itself.

Then who goes to whom?

Then Why Does Śāstra Shout “Do Sādhana”?

Upaniṣads cry aloud:

Do Śravaṇa

Do Manana

Do Nididhyāsana

That means — do sādhana.

Why?

Does the Upaniṣad have nothing better to do?

Here lies the subtle point.

When can one say “Sādhana is not required”?

👉 Only when realization has already occurred.

A person who has completed degree, PG, PhD says:

> “I need not study anymore.”

But an uneducated person must study.

Similarly, saying “sādhana is unnecessary” without realization is false.

Where Is the Real Problem?

Advaita blocks both routes:

Cannot create

Cannot reach

Then what is sādhana?

This is Advaita’s profound knot.

The Blanket Example – The Turning Point

A man is standing right there.

But he is covered with a blanket.

You ask:

> “Where is he?”

He is right there.

Why can’t you see him?

👉 Because the blanket obstructs.

The man did not go anywhere.

An obstruction arose.

Similarly: 👉 Paramātma is right here.

But something covers Him.

What is that covering? 👉 This world of name–form–action.

This is called Āvaraṇa Śakti (the power of concealment).

How Does Concealment Work?

To cover something, the covering must be equally vast.

Paramātma is infinite.

The world is equally vast.

Hence it can conceal.

Kaṭha Upaniṣad declares:

> “Eṣa sarveṣu bhūteṣu gūḍho’ tmā na prakāśate”

The Self is everywhere — yet concealed.

Golden Rule of Concealment

Always remember:

1. What covers is visible

2. What is covered is invisible

Blanket is seen → man is not

Waves are seen → sun is not

Mirage is seen → water is not

👉 The covering comes to the forefront

👉 The covered recedes

That is why the world appears vividly.

And Paramātma does not.

Whose fault is this?

The concealed one?

Or the concealer?

If an IAS officer is kidnapped — whose fault is it?

The kidnapper’s.

Similarly, Māyā has kidnapped Paramātma.

Upaniṣad says: “Gūḍhaḥ” — a hidden treasure.

Then What Is Sādhana?

Not creating Paramātma.

Not reaching Paramātma.

👉 Removing the obstruction.

That alone is sādhana.

Śravaṇa, Manana, Dhyāna are not for creating Truth.

👉 They are for removing the veil.

Part–1 Summary

Paramātma is here

You are That

The problem is not absence

The problem is obstruction

👉 Sādhana = removal of obstruction

If your foot falls in mud, you don’t analyze good or bad.

👉 You wash it.

That’s all.

**Part 2:

What Is the Obstacle? How Is It Removed?

Not a Reality to Be Destroyed, but an Appearance to Be Dissolved**

What, then, is the essence?

The Truth has become hidden.

What we truly need is not available to us.

At the same time,

what we do not need has come and sat heavily on our heads.

And that unwanted thing says to us constantly:

> “I am here, aren’t I?

Why do you run after something else?

Deal with me.”

This is the world’s continuous warning to us.

You say to the world:

> “I don’t want you.”

And the world laughs back:

> “Such arrogance!

If not me, then whom are you searching for?”

You feel that something must be there beyond this.

The world immediately replies:

> “There is nothing inside you.

I alone am here.”

That is why, throughout life, there is:

constant listening (śravaṇa),

constant reflection (manana),

constant contemplation (nididhyāsana).

Why all this effort?

👉 Only to pull out what is already inside.

And yet, something blocks it.

What must be done now?

Only one thing:

👉 The obstruction must be removed.

Whether it is good or bad is irrelevant.

Your foot has fallen into a mud pit.

Do you ask:

> “Why did this happen to me—was it good or bad?”

No.

It has already happened.

What must you do now?

👉 Wash your foot.

To wash means: 👉 remove the mud.

What is this “mud”?

The mud is: 👉 name, form, and action (nāma–rūpa–kriyā).

This must be washed away.

That alone is sādhana.

What is Pravilāpanam?

A powerful term used by Advaitins is:

👉 Pravilāpanam

Its meaning is:

melting,

dissolving,

total liquefaction.

It is not pushing away.

It is melting down completely.

Removing the blanket.

When the blanket is removed,

the person who was already there becomes visible.

Remove the clutter and algae—

the water in the pond becomes visible.

“Remove the world” — what does that mean?

Here comes the shock.

Are you saying we should throw the world away?

How?

Will you push away the Pacific Ocean?

Will you move the Himalayas aside?

Earth, water, fire, air, space—

will you shove the five elements aside with your hands?

You are committing two foolish errors:

1. You think something so vast can be pushed away with such small hands.

2. You forget that you yourself are part of the world.

Your body is the microcosm.

The world is the macrocosm.

Will the microcosm push away the macrocosm?

👉 This is a futile attempt.

Then what alone can be removed?

Bādarāyaṇa Maharṣi and Bhagavatpāda Śaṅkara say clearly:

👉 A reality cannot be removed.

Only an appearance can be removed.

This is the crucial key.

Reality vs Appearance

Reality (Vastu / Fact):

Exists by itself

Depends on nothing else

Cannot be removed

Appearance (Ābhāsa):

Depends on something else

Exists only so long as that support exists

Can be dissolved

The snake example

If a real snake is present,

even if it dies, it is still visible.

But the rope-snake?

It appeared only due to ignorance.

The moment knowledge arose,

it vanished instantly.

👉 That was an appearance.

Mirror example

Your face is real.

The face seen in the mirror is an appearance.

Remove the mirror—

the reflected face disappears.

Shadow example

Your body is real.

Your shadow is an appearance.

Remove sunlight—

the shadow disappears.

Now comes the central question

This world—

is it a reality

or an appearance?

Advaita answers carefully:

👉 The world is not unreal.

👉 But it is not a reality either.

It exists like a reflection.

Where does the world appear?

Here lies the great secret.

Where does the world appear to you?

Outside?

No.

👉 In your knowledge.

Your knowledge itself is the mirror.

Only when something appears in your knowledge do you say:

“wife exists,”

“children exist,”

“house exists,”

“objects exist,”

“thoughts exist,”

“emotions exist.”

Whatever does not enter your knowledge— you cannot certify its existence.

👉 Knowledge alone is the proof.

The conclusion of Part 2

The world is not to be destroyed.

The world is not to be pushed away.

The world is to be understood as an appearance.

Sādhana is not violence against the world.

Sādhana is dissolution of misunderstanding.

👉 Reality does not go.

👉 Appearance alone melts.

That melting is Pravilāpanam.

That alone is true sādhana.

**Part 3:

The Nature of Appearance

Why We Fail to Recognize the World as Ābhāsa**

Change of states reveals the truth

The Guru begins with a striking observation.

When the state changes, the mirror changes —

and along with it, the world changes.

Waking state (Jāgrat)

The mirror (knowledge) is large

The world appears vast

Dream state (Svapna)

The mirror becomes small

The world also becomes small

Deep sleep (Suṣupti)

The mirror is turned away

The world disappears completely

What does this mean?

👉 The world depends entirely on the mirror.

👉 The mirror is knowledge.

What happened in deep sleep?

Imagine Bādarāyaṇa Maharṣi asking:

> “What happened to your mirror in deep sleep?”

The answer is simple:

> “Nothing happened to it.

I simply did not wish to see anything.

I was resting.”

Because the mirror was turned away, the world did not appear.

What does this prove?

👉 The world does not exist independently.

👉 It appears only when knowledge faces it.

Therefore, the world is not an absolute reality.

👉 It is an appearance (ābhāsa).

The skeptic’s challenge

The rationalist now asks:

> “Are you forcibly calling the world an appearance?

Or is it truly an appearance?”

After all:

everyone sees the world,

suffering feels real,

disease feels real,

death feels real.

The Guru answers sharply.

The real test of Advaita

When cancer strikes,

when you lie in a hospital bed,

when injections are given—

At that moment, you declare:

> “This world is real.”

That moment is the true test of Advaita.

If even then you can stand firmly and say:

> “This too is an appearance,”

only then has the teaching taken root.

This is not imagination.

This is doctrinal strength.

Śaṅkara’s elephant episode

Śaṅkara ran when an elephant charged at him.

Disciples asked:

> “If the elephant is false, why did you run?”

The implicit answer is profound:

If pleasure is false,

then pain is also false.

If the world is an appearance,

then experiences arising from it

cannot suddenly become real.

What is the benefit of seeing the world as appearance?

1. Difference disappears

Just as your shadow is not separate from you,

the world is not separate from you.

This is non-difference (ananya).

2. Bondage disappears

A shadow cannot kill you.

A reflection cannot bite you.

Likewise,

when the world is seen as appearance, it no longer binds through pleasure and pain.

👉 This freedom from bondage is Advaita.

Then why can’t we see it this way?

Here the Guru becomes uncompromising.

You have taken one fragment of the world and said:

> “This is me.”

That fragment is:

the body,

the prāṇa,

the mind.

👉 This identification is ego (ahaṅkāra).

When can an appearance be recognized as appearance?

Take the mirror example.

When do you know that the face in the mirror is false?

👉 Only when you know what a mirror is.

Shadow example.

When do you know the shadow is not the body?

👉 Only when you know both sunlight and body.

Television example.

When do you know the serial is not real?

👉 Only when you remember the screen.

What did we forget?

👉 We forgot the base.

👉 We forgot the support.

👉 We forgot the seer.

We remembered only the seen.

That forgetfulness is saṁsāra.

The crucial insight

Your body is real—

but it is a limited reality.

You confined your entire identity to the body.

As a result:

the mirror disappeared,

the image alone remained,

the screen merged into the movie.

This is the deepest secret.

Picture and screen

A picture depends on the screen.

Without the screen, the picture cannot exist.

The world depends on Brahman.

Without Brahman, the world cannot exist.

The world “knows” this dependency.

👉 You forgot it.

The Bhagavata’s reminder

> “Donkeys live.

Pigs live.”

Living alone is not life.

👉 Life is Brahman.

👉 The world is of the nature of death.

Final teaching of Part 3

Advaita does not say:

“The world does not exist.”

It says:

“The world exists as an appearance.”

Advaita does not ask you to reject the body.

It asks you:

not to mistake the body as the base.

Remember the mirror.

Remember the screen.

Remember the support.

When you do:

fear dissolves,

bondage dissolves,

Advaitic vision stabilizes.

**Part 4:

Dissolution of Jīva and Jagat

The Truth that Brahman Alone Is Crying and Causing the Crying**

The collapse of human pride

The Guru deliberately brings us down—very low.

Breathing in and breathing out,

lungs expanding and contracting—

Is this what we call life?

Trees breathe.

Animals eat.

Beasts survive.

Then what is special about us?

The Bhāgavata challenges:

> “If eating and excreting alone define life,

how are humans different from animals?”

Here, the Guru shatters our arrogance.

Where did the deception begin?

We covered the screen and held on to the picture.

The feeling “I” itself is the screen.

Body and world are images projected on it.

When the screen is forgotten,

the image alone appears real.

This is mithyātva.

Technical Advaitic language

Mithyātman – that which covers the Seer

Gauṇātman – that which covers the Seen

Because of this:

One part of Brahman appears as the jīva

Another part appears as the jagat

And then begins the tragedy.

The great sorrow

As jīva, Brahman cries.

As jagat, Brahman causes the crying.

Brahman alone is both:

the sufferer,

and the cause of suffering.

If this single sentence is truly understood, that itself is liberation (mokṣa).

The curse of choosing the particular

You chose one particular and said:

> “This is me.”

The moment you did that:

the rest appeared as “other”

fear was born

You never saw the general (sāmānya).

What is the general?

The all-pervading awareness.

The universal vibration.

That alone is Brahman.

But you confined it to:

the body,

the breath,

the mind.

Thus:

the individual body appeared,

the collective world appeared,

microcosm and macrocosm arose.

Both are only cosmos—nothing else.

The Ghata-Ākāśa key

The space inside a pot says:

> “I exist only within this pot.”

Is that true?

No.

Space never shrank.

Only a false measurement arose due to the pot.

Likewise you said:

> “I exist only within this body.”

This false limitation created the duplicate self.

That is mithyātman.

The moment of awakening

When pot-space realizes:

> “I am space, not the pot,”

it looks outside— and sees the vast sky.

Then:

inner space and outer space merge,

the pot becomes insignificant,

the pot becomes an appearance.

From the standpoint of Conscious Space (Cidākāśa)

Just as:

the sun,

the moon,

the earth

are insignificant within physical space,

So too:

spouse,

children,

houses,

cities,

mountains,

oceans

become appearances in Conscious Space.

The Gītā’s thunderous declaration

> Sarva-bhūta-stham ātmānam

sarva-bhūtāni cātmani

īkṣate yoga-yuktātmā

sarvatra sama-darśanaḥ

See yourself in all beings.

See all beings in yourself.

This vision dissolves the world.

This is world-dissolution (pravilāpana).

Who can understand this?

Ninety-nine remain pot-space.

One Śaṅkara, one Rāmaṇa—

they become vast space.

If you remain pot-space, you cannot grasp vast space.

👉 You must come out.

👉 That coming out is sādhanā.

Brahmākāra-vṛtti: the real practice

This is the path given by Bādarāyaṇa Maharṣi.

Fragmented thought → khaṇḍākāra-vṛtti

Whole-vision thought → akhaṇḍākāra-vṛtti

This whole-vision is:

Brahmākāra-vṛtti

Ātmākāra-vṛtti

It is still a thought, but unlike others, it is indivisible.

The culmination

When this vṛtti arises:

Seer dissolves

Seen dissolves

Seeing dissolves

Only the One remains.

This is nirvikalpa.

Saguna and Nirguna teaching

For the highest aspirant:

Nirguna = Knowledge

For middle and lower aspirants:

Saguna = Temporary support (upāsanā)

Scripture warns:

> Do not mistake the support for the truth.

Saguna is like a magician’s show.

Nirguna is the magician.

Which do you want?

> Aham Brahmāsmi

Not Aham Indrajālam Asmi

The final essence — Mokṣa

Jīva is not separate.

Jagat is not separate.

Suffering is not separate.

Brahman alone:

appears as the crying jīva,

appears as the cruel jagat.

The moment this is seen:

Crying stops.

Laughter arises.

That is mokṣa.

Om Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ 🙏