Swami Krishnananda Shashtyabdapurti Mahotsava Commemoration Volume
A Souvenir released on Swami Krishnananda's 60th Birthday
Vichara and Upasana
by Swami Jyotirmayananda
On the path to Self-realisation, two basic paths can be chosen—Vichara (reflection) and Upasana (devout meditation). In Vichara, one's intellect is disciplined to pursue the nature of the Self with vigilance and tenacity. It includes Manana (critical reflection) and Nididhyasana (one-pointed meditation on Brahman). In Upasana, the mind is allowed to focus itself on either a personal God (Saguna Upasana) or the impersonal God (Nirguna Upasana).
Vichara is the practice of reflection on the nature of Brahman as He is with the aid of the teachings of the Upanishads. But when a person practises Upasana, his practice does not depend upon Brahman as He is, but upon the meditator's choice. And since Upasana is dependent on the worshipper or the meditator while Vichara is dependent on the object itself, for most people there is a greater sense of freedom in the practice of Upasana than in the practice of Vichara.
The difference between the two can be explained with the help of an illustration: Upasana is like a piece of art, as, for example, a painting. A painter has a great amount of freedom in expressing his feelings and his visions through his painting. But in the case of Vichara, it is like solving a mathematical problem, which does not rest on the student's feelings, but on the universally adopted laws of mathematics. However, just as what is needed on the part of the student of mathematics is to be receptive to the instructions of mathematics and then to exercise his intellect until the problem is solved, in the same way what is needed on the part of one who practises Vichara is to be receptive to the teachings of the Guru and then to practise critical reflection according to his guidance, until his intellect is able to discover the Self.
Although these two processes are different, in practice it is sometimes difficult to know where Upasana ends and Vichara begins. Therefore, the difference can be further explained through another illustration: When a mother thinks of her child while engaged in various activities, she not practising enquiry, but a form of who Upasana. But when she begins to enquire the welfare of the child and begins to try to understand his problems, she is practising a form of enquiry.
On the path to Self-realisation, one must first have a certain degree of faith based upon good Karmas of the past. Lead by this faith, an aspirant acquires an direct knowledge of the Self by listening to the teachings of the scriptures or studying them under the guidance of a Guru. Then, having acquired the indirect knowledge of the Self, he may take up the practice of Vichara in order to attain the direct knowledge of Brahman (intuitional realisation of the Self ). But if his intellect is clouded by the presence of subtle ego desires and impurities in the form of impressions of anger, greed and other gross sentiments, he must first take recourse Upasana in order to remove them. Then when these impurities are removed, he effectively take up the practice of Vichara. But further again, Vichara cannot be practised unless the person's intellect is willing to pursue the critical analysis of his own personality until the innermost Self is revealed.
In a normal sequence, Upasana must in lead an aspirant to Vichara, and Vichara will enable him to attain Intuitive Realisation. However, the followers of Upasana assert that a devotee can attain Bramakara Vritti (the intuitive flow of mind towards Brahman) by the force of Upasana alone. Though Upasana is, in fact, an indirect method, if pursued with faith and tenacity, it will enable the aspirant to attain the goal of Self-realisation.
The practice of Upasana requires Bhavana (feeling or mental attitude) on the part of the meditator. In this process, the mind is allowed to be moulded into the object of meditation (i.e., the limited form of Brahman characterised by negative or positive attributes). It is much like a person who has been attracted to a gleam of light proceeding from a gem—although he only goes after the light, he is invariably led to the gem. In the same way, Upasana lures one by presenting a gleam from the gem of Brahman, and continues to do so until he is led to his treasure of Self-realisation.
Saguna Upasana is meditation on a personal God appearing as the Creator, Sustainer or Destroyer of the world through the veil His Maya; this is the main theme of the path of Bhakti or devotion. Even though the personal Brahman appears in a limited form, yet a devotee enters into universal expansion through that form. The personal Brahman can be compared to the crystallisationn of humidity in the form of snowflakes which assume different forms to suit conditions of the atmosphere. Just as snowflakes can assume different forms, in the same way, devotees are able to experience personal Brahman in different forms: those who are devoted to Rama have the vision of Rama; those who are devoted to Krishna, Brahman appears to them in the form of Krishna; and the same is true with Jesus or Buddha, Vishnu, Siva or the Goddess. Brahman appears as the personal Deity by the force of one's devotion, and enlightens the devotee.
Nirguna Upasana, on the other hand, is meditation on Brahman through symbolic attributes. Here one chooses an attribute, or many of them, and allows his mind to meditate on them. They can be either negative, such as 'formless', 'nameless', `endless', 'deathless', 'bodiless', and so forth, or positive, such as 'existence', 'knowledge', `bliss', 'eternity', 'infinity' and the like. When the mind is allowed to focus itself on them without thinking of anything else, it prepares the intellect to practise Vichara, thus leading to Self-realisation.
Upasana is further classified into these types: 1. Ahamgraha Upasana or identifying oneself with the object of meditation. This is the special feature of Nirguna Upasana wherein an aspirant, while meditating upon Brahman, tries to identify himself with Brahman. 2. Murti Upasana or meditating upon the images and statues of the Deity. 3. Pratika Upasana or meditating upon a symbol of the Divine Self, which can take the form of the sound symbol Om or a Yantra (mystic diagram).
Meditation on Om is adopted in Saguna as well as in Nirguna Upasana. For a Saguna meditator (Or worshipper), Om symbolises his personal Deity, while for the Nirguna meditator, Om is symbolic of the impersonal Absolute.
From a practical point of view, however, an aspirant must learn the techniques of both Upasana and Vichara, and he should practise them according to his convenience. Then when the mind is not inclined to enquire, he should engage it in Upasana; but if the mind is inclined to the practice of reflection and subtle rationalisation, he should adopt Vichara. Thus, each method will supplement the other until the aspirant is able to practise intense Vichara leading to the intuitive realisation of Brahman.