Just as one who is in deep sleep is completely free from the waking world and its details and the waking one is free from darkness of sleep, so also one who is obsessed with the body and material possessions does not have a clue about freedom and the one who is free has no obsession or even a memory of the objects here. A person attached to the world has no idea about liberation and the one who is liberated does not have any attachment to the body and the world. Obsession and freedom from obsession are contrary to one another.
What is an obsession? Giving a material object value and getting attached to it is an obsession. To be aware of the fact that no detail within creation has an eternal value is real detachment. What has the eternal value is the subject, and this subject can never be abandoned. I may move from form to form, from situation to situation, but I can never move away from the subject. This is the most intriguing fact about the subject. Recognizing this makes one give up the attachment to all the material details in creation.
Water as water is all inclusive. One wave might exclude another wave, one form can exclude another form, but wave cannot exclude being water. Objects are mutually exclusive, but the subject cannot be exclusive, it is like the water in all the waves. The waves stand as waves because of water. All inclusiveness is the glory of the Self, the Truth. This has to be understood as the nature of the Truth which is my conscious Being. Just as wave is rooted in water, within water, everything is rooted in me within me. Wave cannot be away from the water, so is everything rooted in me and not away from me.
One may think that things look external and tangible to me, so they must exist outside me. This is to be reflected again and again keeping in view the fact that tangibility is only a notion, with an apparent sense of reality. Consider dream objects, they look real, external and tangible, but it is just a thought that assumes a form and gives rise to a sense of externality and reality. In fact every error carries with it a sense of reality. Therefore one has to give up all limitations and all limiting adjuncts, like I am the body, I shall do this or do that, achieve this or that, but see that all thoughts originate in me and carry with them a sense of externality and reality. But entire creation is in this form of thoughts, like dream projection with an utter sense of reality attached to it.
‘I am the body’ is not in the form of an emotional attachment, but a misjudgment and it is the cause of all further misjudgments. ‘I am the body’ is unsuspected, undiscovered error that we are born with, we live with and we also die with it.
But reflection on the deep sleep experience should clinch the argument that I am not the body, because I give up the thought of body so completely that I do not even miss it. I have no memory of it. If this is the case with the body what can be said about all other material objects on which we rely?
Therefore, this verse urges us to give up all obsessions (upadhis) and understand firmly that we cannot bank/rely on any one of them for our well being.
Akhandarupa- Recognize that you are the indivisible conscious Being, like an ocean. Unfortunately we think only in terms of millions of waves, bubbles, foam etc and their innumerable forms, end up loving or hating them, we move from one form to another and never think in terms of the commonality, the essence, that is the water. We move from one form to another without ever thinking of the unmoving Subject! The glaring division within creation is irreconcilable, but the seer of many-ness, multitude is not many, the hearer of many noises is not many, the thinker of multitude thoughts is not many, that principle/the subject is just the indivisible ONE.
The liberated understands the value of Subject, the Being as indivisible fullness and has no interest of any kind with any material possession whatsoever.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Vedanta Verses 321 - 25
The text Viveka Chudamani (VC) cautions the students against pramaada or indifference/ carelessness. Pramaada is from the root ‘mat’ meaning committing mistake inadvertently. Pramaada leads to procrastination. A casual attitude takes over the person and this attitude is the cause for failures in social life. If it proves detrimental for social life what can be said about spiritual quest which requires diligence of extraordinary kind?
The reason as to why one commits this is because of dhi doshah or mental impurity. The reason for this is further traced to avichara or lack of reflection. Hence a student striving to know the self should carefully avoid indifference or pramaada.
Occupying and indulging in short term pleasures (preyas) at the cost of long term ‘good’ (shreyas) is carelessness or pramada. One has to dwell on the long term good (shreyas) and make an active choice regarding it. The only long term good that is worth its name is the knowledge of the self.
This carelessness is death; indifference to self knowledge is death indeed. Whenever I ignore the real ‘topic’ which is my self, the source of everything and get pre-occupied with creation then I live with the mistake that I am part of the creation, and that I live with the body and I shall perish with the body, this is the error.
There is no calamity for a spiritual aspirant other than this heedlessness. One has to reflect and see for oneself “what I want and what this creation can offer me?” what I want is peace and silence and plenitude but nothing in creation can offer this. Hence for a mature student of Vedanta being indifferent to the reflection of one’s own self is the greatest calamity that can befall. Hence one has to be diligent with reflection and at no point be heedless with that.
One should never underestimate one’s attraction for the world. Dwelling on the objects surely makes one an extrovert. One can silently admire and dwell on objects and placing value to them, he or she might seem introverted, but this is only a deception. Whether one dwells with objects in a vivacious manner or sitting silently and dwelling on them, both are extroverted. A true introvert is one who does not place any value on the material objects.
Actually indifference to the topic leads to distraction, and it can happen even to an advanced student. When a gardener is indifferent to gardening weeds begin to grow. Indifference when not checked causes distraction. However not enjoying different pleasures in life is not a loss, but missing out on the topic i.e. the self is the greatest loss.
Indifference and distraction are interdependent. The text compares this distraction to the woman/man who has an illicit love affair and whose mind is always pre occupied and distracted by the affair. She or he then becomes indifferent to the duty that he or she might have. She/he is supposed to be engaged with her/his duties but now is distracted by this illicit love.
There is actually not much loss when one’s attention is caught with love while performing one’s duty or one’s work. The loss is not much, because one is still moving within objects of creation. One is supposed to make money but has got engaged with another man or woman, anyway it is within the creation, the actual loss is when one is indifferent to the topic and is caught with objects of creation. The gradation between the worldly objects is non –topical and can be bracketed together and ignored. Every jiva (individual) has a primary duty towards him or herself. To miss out on the opportunity for knowing the self is the greatest danger and the irreparable loss. This is the great fall. Ignoring one limited for another limited is not such a great fall, but after knowing about the self, the observer as one closest to one’s being and then loosing interest in it is a great loss. Ignoring reality and falling for an appearance is a big fall but choosing to go for another appearance is not such a big fall. (I think swamijee is making a very important point here)
Reason gets eclipsed by impulses. But when I try and control my senses or say my anger it appears controlled for a time period only to rise again. This is like the moss that covers the waters in a lake. When one removes the moss it again covers the waters in a moment. Thus reasoning too gets eclipsed by impulses. Maya, the illusion thus covers up the reality. How does it accomplish this? By the conviction that the world exists independent of the knower, it is real; in fact it is the only reality. This vision or misconception like the moss in the water covers our perceptions of Reality. Hence the aspirant has to be absolutely watchful of distraction and indifference. The aspirant has to ward of callousness towards the topic and distractions arising from the objects by constant reflection on the topic, i.e. the Self.
The reason as to why one commits this is because of dhi doshah or mental impurity. The reason for this is further traced to avichara or lack of reflection. Hence a student striving to know the self should carefully avoid indifference or pramaada.
Occupying and indulging in short term pleasures (preyas) at the cost of long term ‘good’ (shreyas) is carelessness or pramada. One has to dwell on the long term good (shreyas) and make an active choice regarding it. The only long term good that is worth its name is the knowledge of the self.
This carelessness is death; indifference to self knowledge is death indeed. Whenever I ignore the real ‘topic’ which is my self, the source of everything and get pre-occupied with creation then I live with the mistake that I am part of the creation, and that I live with the body and I shall perish with the body, this is the error.
There is no calamity for a spiritual aspirant other than this heedlessness. One has to reflect and see for oneself “what I want and what this creation can offer me?” what I want is peace and silence and plenitude but nothing in creation can offer this. Hence for a mature student of Vedanta being indifferent to the reflection of one’s own self is the greatest calamity that can befall. Hence one has to be diligent with reflection and at no point be heedless with that.
One should never underestimate one’s attraction for the world. Dwelling on the objects surely makes one an extrovert. One can silently admire and dwell on objects and placing value to them, he or she might seem introverted, but this is only a deception. Whether one dwells with objects in a vivacious manner or sitting silently and dwelling on them, both are extroverted. A true introvert is one who does not place any value on the material objects.
Actually indifference to the topic leads to distraction, and it can happen even to an advanced student. When a gardener is indifferent to gardening weeds begin to grow. Indifference when not checked causes distraction. However not enjoying different pleasures in life is not a loss, but missing out on the topic i.e. the self is the greatest loss.
Indifference and distraction are interdependent. The text compares this distraction to the woman/man who has an illicit love affair and whose mind is always pre occupied and distracted by the affair. She or he then becomes indifferent to the duty that he or she might have. She/he is supposed to be engaged with her/his duties but now is distracted by this illicit love.
There is actually not much loss when one’s attention is caught with love while performing one’s duty or one’s work. The loss is not much, because one is still moving within objects of creation. One is supposed to make money but has got engaged with another man or woman, anyway it is within the creation, the actual loss is when one is indifferent to the topic and is caught with objects of creation. The gradation between the worldly objects is non –topical and can be bracketed together and ignored. Every jiva (individual) has a primary duty towards him or herself. To miss out on the opportunity for knowing the self is the greatest danger and the irreparable loss. This is the great fall. Ignoring one limited for another limited is not such a great fall, but after knowing about the self, the observer as one closest to one’s being and then loosing interest in it is a great loss. Ignoring reality and falling for an appearance is a big fall but choosing to go for another appearance is not such a big fall. (I think swamijee is making a very important point here)
Reason gets eclipsed by impulses. But when I try and control my senses or say my anger it appears controlled for a time period only to rise again. This is like the moss that covers the waters in a lake. When one removes the moss it again covers the waters in a moment. Thus reasoning too gets eclipsed by impulses. Maya, the illusion thus covers up the reality. How does it accomplish this? By the conviction that the world exists independent of the knower, it is real; in fact it is the only reality. This vision or misconception like the moss in the water covers our perceptions of Reality. Hence the aspirant has to be absolutely watchful of distraction and indifference. The aspirant has to ward of callousness towards the topic and distractions arising from the objects by constant reflection on the topic, i.e. the Self.
Vedanta Verse 295
Every object falls within the realm of Time. What does this mean? Anything which is subject of memory can be declared to be in Time. But the self is never an object of memory, self is the witness of memory. That “I am” is an ever present knowledge, it does not fall within Time or memory.
The dream world as well as yesterday’s waking world has both become the object of memory and in this sense both are faint, lacking luminosity. Thus waking state constantly proves to be an object of memory and therefore can be reduced to dream.
Vikarah-change what is this change?
We can safely distinguish between two kinds of changes, the topical change and the fundamental change.
That the thoughts begin and end is a fundamental change and various changes in the content of thoughts that undergo change from time to time is topical change. The very beginning and the resolution of the mind is the fundamental change. The feelings that may arise in the mind now happy and now angry etc are all topical changes.
That the body is there now in the waking and is not there in deep sleep is the fundamental change and that in waking the body is observed to change etc is the topical change.
In other words the changes that take place within the waking state is topical change and that the notion of embodiment itself resolves in deep sleep is the fundamental change.
( That is how the great Samkara in his commentary to the second sutra janmadhyasya yathah speaks only of the origination and the destruction of the universe and is not interested in the Yaska’s 6 kind of changes. The 6 kind of changes are only topical changes which are accommodated/included in the fundamental change.)
Who is the witness here?
The self is sarva vikara vetta, the one who sees both the topical and the fundamental changes. One who is aware of loosing the notion of embodiment in deep sleep, one who is aware of the re- arising of the notions of embodiment in waking and dream is the sarva sakshi, the all knowing witness. This unchanging witness is the Truth but is simply missed by us.
There is no need to prove this Truth, it needs to be registered. That which is evident “that I am present as the witness of all the three states” requires only acknowledgment and no proof. In fact nothing can prove or disprove it, all logical arguments presuppose its presence a priori.
What I think, how I think is all part of the material world, but that I am aware of thinking is spiritual.
One fact becomes evident in the close study of the three states. The three states are not simultaneous or parallel but alternating. Dream replaces waking, and waking replaces dream and both get replaced by deep sleep. No two thoughts run parallel, one thought subsides when the other rises. The self, the ever peaceful awareness, is the witness to this.
Thus one who is aware of topical and fundamental changes, who is aware of mental imaginations, dreams and freedom from them, that being is the TRUTH, while body, mind etc which have a beginning and an end are false.
The dream world as well as yesterday’s waking world has both become the object of memory and in this sense both are faint, lacking luminosity. Thus waking state constantly proves to be an object of memory and therefore can be reduced to dream.
Vikarah-change what is this change?
We can safely distinguish between two kinds of changes, the topical change and the fundamental change.
That the thoughts begin and end is a fundamental change and various changes in the content of thoughts that undergo change from time to time is topical change. The very beginning and the resolution of the mind is the fundamental change. The feelings that may arise in the mind now happy and now angry etc are all topical changes.
That the body is there now in the waking and is not there in deep sleep is the fundamental change and that in waking the body is observed to change etc is the topical change.
In other words the changes that take place within the waking state is topical change and that the notion of embodiment itself resolves in deep sleep is the fundamental change.
( That is how the great Samkara in his commentary to the second sutra janmadhyasya yathah speaks only of the origination and the destruction of the universe and is not interested in the Yaska’s 6 kind of changes. The 6 kind of changes are only topical changes which are accommodated/included in the fundamental change.)
Who is the witness here?
The self is sarva vikara vetta, the one who sees both the topical and the fundamental changes. One who is aware of loosing the notion of embodiment in deep sleep, one who is aware of the re- arising of the notions of embodiment in waking and dream is the sarva sakshi, the all knowing witness. This unchanging witness is the Truth but is simply missed by us.
There is no need to prove this Truth, it needs to be registered. That which is evident “that I am present as the witness of all the three states” requires only acknowledgment and no proof. In fact nothing can prove or disprove it, all logical arguments presuppose its presence a priori.
What I think, how I think is all part of the material world, but that I am aware of thinking is spiritual.
One fact becomes evident in the close study of the three states. The three states are not simultaneous or parallel but alternating. Dream replaces waking, and waking replaces dream and both get replaced by deep sleep. No two thoughts run parallel, one thought subsides when the other rises. The self, the ever peaceful awareness, is the witness to this.
Thus one who is aware of topical and fundamental changes, who is aware of mental imaginations, dreams and freedom from them, that being is the TRUTH, while body, mind etc which have a beginning and an end are false.
Vedanta Verse 306
Love for objects can be seen as the first emotion while dislike as the last one. That is the reason we like to close our mind, memory and also individuality and prepare to go to sleep. Every individuality is available for being loved and also disliked. But the Self shorn of individuality is never disliked, existence is never disliked, happiness is never disliked nor is peace ever disliked. Freedom is ever desired, fullness is ever loved. In fact whatever is never hated, never disliked and never ever negated can be rightly called the Self.
The Truth can never be sullied by anyone or disliked. In society when one looses one’s good name it means that one is disliked by others, but the observer of the three states having no name good or bad, can neither loose good name nor be disliked by any. Everyone universally loves this unnegatable Self.
Form makes the bulk of personality, form reigns supreme in creation. This form changes as it is its very nature to change. As the form changes, the personality also changes. But the observer of the form and the changes is free from both.
Why we feel bound and incomplete and unhappy is because of ignorance. The paradox is that remaining ever Full we live an unfulfilled life, remaining ever perfect we live an imperfect life. The imperfections are in thoughts which have a beginning and an end and not for the observer of the three states.
One who registers imperfections is never imperfect!
One who observes the beginning and the end of thoughts does not have any beginning or end.
Experiences pertaining to beginning and end of thoughts are misinterpreted as beginning and end of experience. Experience illumines the beginning and the end of thoughts. This experience is ever perfect.
The perfection of the awareness/Self is natural, svabhavatah, it is not artificially created. The self does not become perfect, it is perfect, ever perfect, and the discovery of this has to be made.
This is like the space in the pot. It does not have go anywhere in search of unlimited ness. All it has to do is to recognize that I am not inside the pot but pot is situated inside me. I am the infinite space and have misidentified myself with the limited pot and therefore conceive myself as being limited by the pot.
One can achieve anything within creation, wealth, name, fame so on and so forth, but happiness which is synonymous with peace is not an achievable object. It is one’s own nature, and nature has to be understood and found out rather than achieved. This is like the Xth man trying to achieving the Xth man. All that he has to do is to discover that he is the Xth man. He cannot achieve himself. An epistemic overhauling is required. We are by nature absolute serenity and this is not an achievable object and it is not a part of this creation.
All our effort has to be in the direction of discovering this truth. All our memory, education and thoughts have to be utilized for this. The three requirements namely, grasping the truth (grahanam), retaining what is grasped (dharanam) and remembering (smaranam) are absolutely important here. Unfortunately we use the three for remembering the events situated in time and miss out on what is to be actually remembered. We remember other things at the cost of our Self. I use all my attention to revel in objects and all this is done at the cost of awareness, the ever present subject. The only way to get out of this situation is to make the observer the topic.
Diverting the attention from object to another is not the solution, for we might be of the opinion that this object has given me pain, let me look for another one, probably that will give me happiness, so on we move from object ‘A’ to Object ‘Z’ and then again return to object A saying “old is gold!” forever we move from one object to another without finding any solution. This is worldly solution of a given problem i.e. move from object to another.
According to Vedanta this perennial movement offers no solution for that movement is exactly the problem. We are here confounding the problem for a solution. The Vedantic (shastric) diversion is simply shifting one’s attention from creation to the Observer. The observer is the solution, the observer can never be disliked or hated, I may dislike creation but not the observer who observes the dislike and like. (This dislike is the final emotion having enjoyed every bit in creation).
The Truth can never be sullied by anyone or disliked. In society when one looses one’s good name it means that one is disliked by others, but the observer of the three states having no name good or bad, can neither loose good name nor be disliked by any. Everyone universally loves this unnegatable Self.
Form makes the bulk of personality, form reigns supreme in creation. This form changes as it is its very nature to change. As the form changes, the personality also changes. But the observer of the form and the changes is free from both.
Why we feel bound and incomplete and unhappy is because of ignorance. The paradox is that remaining ever Full we live an unfulfilled life, remaining ever perfect we live an imperfect life. The imperfections are in thoughts which have a beginning and an end and not for the observer of the three states.
One who registers imperfections is never imperfect!
One who observes the beginning and the end of thoughts does not have any beginning or end.
Experiences pertaining to beginning and end of thoughts are misinterpreted as beginning and end of experience. Experience illumines the beginning and the end of thoughts. This experience is ever perfect.
The perfection of the awareness/Self is natural, svabhavatah, it is not artificially created. The self does not become perfect, it is perfect, ever perfect, and the discovery of this has to be made.
This is like the space in the pot. It does not have go anywhere in search of unlimited ness. All it has to do is to recognize that I am not inside the pot but pot is situated inside me. I am the infinite space and have misidentified myself with the limited pot and therefore conceive myself as being limited by the pot.
One can achieve anything within creation, wealth, name, fame so on and so forth, but happiness which is synonymous with peace is not an achievable object. It is one’s own nature, and nature has to be understood and found out rather than achieved. This is like the Xth man trying to achieving the Xth man. All that he has to do is to discover that he is the Xth man. He cannot achieve himself. An epistemic overhauling is required. We are by nature absolute serenity and this is not an achievable object and it is not a part of this creation.
All our effort has to be in the direction of discovering this truth. All our memory, education and thoughts have to be utilized for this. The three requirements namely, grasping the truth (grahanam), retaining what is grasped (dharanam) and remembering (smaranam) are absolutely important here. Unfortunately we use the three for remembering the events situated in time and miss out on what is to be actually remembered. We remember other things at the cost of our Self. I use all my attention to revel in objects and all this is done at the cost of awareness, the ever present subject. The only way to get out of this situation is to make the observer the topic.
Diverting the attention from object to another is not the solution, for we might be of the opinion that this object has given me pain, let me look for another one, probably that will give me happiness, so on we move from object ‘A’ to Object ‘Z’ and then again return to object A saying “old is gold!” forever we move from one object to another without finding any solution. This is worldly solution of a given problem i.e. move from object to another.
According to Vedanta this perennial movement offers no solution for that movement is exactly the problem. We are here confounding the problem for a solution. The Vedantic (shastric) diversion is simply shifting one’s attention from creation to the Observer. The observer is the solution, the observer can never be disliked or hated, I may dislike creation but not the observer who observes the dislike and like. (This dislike is the final emotion having enjoyed every bit in creation).
Vedanta Verses 273 - 75
Just as sandal wood immersed in water for a long period produces foul odor and has to be purified and processed (dried, cleansed and rubbed etc ) to regain its fragrance, the self too “trapped” in the notions “I am the body” “I am limited” etc ‘seemingly’ looses its original nature.
Swamijee made an important point here thus:
There is a process that is carried out while purifying the sandal wood involving an actual chemical process such as drying and rubbing, but with the Self it is not so.
I see myself as non-eternal and I do not have to process or purify the self which is ever pure and lustrous. There is no modification or any chemical cleansing to be done. It is because of aviveka or absence of discrimination that the self is seemingly eclipsed. The antidote is viveka or correct discrimination between the knower and the known, the drk and the drsya.
In the case of performing action, every problem entails a process, and a solution to the problem (antidote) also entails a process, but for acquiring knowledge there is no processing any sorts but only correction of error, error in the form of “I am the Body”.
Brahmavidya is susukam involving no strain, one has to only look at oneself, silently, look at the observer as obtained in all the three states involving no uncertainty, it liberates the jiva.
Thus reflection is different from action involving some processing.
Rooted in the mind is the uncountable/countless attractions and this has to be distinguished from habits. Habits have tendency of becoming stronger and stronger. Attraction does not grow in strength but moves from object to object. The cause of attraction is the sense of feeling incomplete coupled with the false belief that with the fulfillment of the desire for the object ‘I will become full’. Habits can be changed/stopped and made less strong or whatever, but attractions can not be brought under this category. Attraction has it roots in the sense of incompleteness, and this is common to all men, men from cave times to the ultra modern man living in big cities. With time attraction does not become stronger the quality remains the same.
Swamijee makes an important point here:
Attraction to objects is not by habit but due to “ignorance” attraction is anadi, timeless, since when am I attracted to the object? Does not have a historical beginning, in fact the Self is as though hampered by attraction for the objects,
But if a person has determination to undertake the quest for the Self, then the attraction for objects may not come in the way to obstruct his study and reflection, for someone who loves silence noise is a disturbance but for someone who is not affected by noise then noise is not a problem, attraction has to be looked seriously by the seekers of the knowledge and it is not a problem for others.
The attraction for the world has to be rubbed off. How does one do that?
It is through viveka, discrimination by which I tell myself that if I were to possess all objects of the attraction I still do not loose the sense of incompleteness. Self-discovery is the only solution for getting rid of the sense of incompleteness.
One does not get vexed with attractions but only switches from one object to the other. The reason for temptation is within me and objects are not responsible for anything. Objects have no will to tempt me. I am in a position of being attracted and always wanting something or the other, and therefore I get attracted. Each attraction is like a noose and I am trapped by it. But by constant reflection and serious study I have to know the self. I have to look at the fundamental problem, that I am the body and not worry so much about topical problems which arise and fall. When attractions come to an end self becomes evident as Brahman,
Giving up attraction will not automatically culminate in knowledge of the self, it can help me to relax and do vichara, investigation and this will lead to the self knowledge. Dispassion facilitates vichara and vichara directly leads to K of the self.
Swamijee made an important point here thus:
There is a process that is carried out while purifying the sandal wood involving an actual chemical process such as drying and rubbing, but with the Self it is not so.
I see myself as non-eternal and I do not have to process or purify the self which is ever pure and lustrous. There is no modification or any chemical cleansing to be done. It is because of aviveka or absence of discrimination that the self is seemingly eclipsed. The antidote is viveka or correct discrimination between the knower and the known, the drk and the drsya.
In the case of performing action, every problem entails a process, and a solution to the problem (antidote) also entails a process, but for acquiring knowledge there is no processing any sorts but only correction of error, error in the form of “I am the Body”.
Brahmavidya is susukam involving no strain, one has to only look at oneself, silently, look at the observer as obtained in all the three states involving no uncertainty, it liberates the jiva.
Thus reflection is different from action involving some processing.
Rooted in the mind is the uncountable/countless attractions and this has to be distinguished from habits. Habits have tendency of becoming stronger and stronger. Attraction does not grow in strength but moves from object to object. The cause of attraction is the sense of feeling incomplete coupled with the false belief that with the fulfillment of the desire for the object ‘I will become full’. Habits can be changed/stopped and made less strong or whatever, but attractions can not be brought under this category. Attraction has it roots in the sense of incompleteness, and this is common to all men, men from cave times to the ultra modern man living in big cities. With time attraction does not become stronger the quality remains the same.
Swamijee makes an important point here:
Attraction to objects is not by habit but due to “ignorance” attraction is anadi, timeless, since when am I attracted to the object? Does not have a historical beginning, in fact the Self is as though hampered by attraction for the objects,
But if a person has determination to undertake the quest for the Self, then the attraction for objects may not come in the way to obstruct his study and reflection, for someone who loves silence noise is a disturbance but for someone who is not affected by noise then noise is not a problem, attraction has to be looked seriously by the seekers of the knowledge and it is not a problem for others.
The attraction for the world has to be rubbed off. How does one do that?
It is through viveka, discrimination by which I tell myself that if I were to possess all objects of the attraction I still do not loose the sense of incompleteness. Self-discovery is the only solution for getting rid of the sense of incompleteness.
One does not get vexed with attractions but only switches from one object to the other. The reason for temptation is within me and objects are not responsible for anything. Objects have no will to tempt me. I am in a position of being attracted and always wanting something or the other, and therefore I get attracted. Each attraction is like a noose and I am trapped by it. But by constant reflection and serious study I have to know the self. I have to look at the fundamental problem, that I am the body and not worry so much about topical problems which arise and fall. When attractions come to an end self becomes evident as Brahman,
Giving up attraction will not automatically culminate in knowledge of the self, it can help me to relax and do vichara, investigation and this will lead to the self knowledge. Dispassion facilitates vichara and vichara directly leads to K of the self.
Vedanta Lecture On 28.02.2008
One who loves form, identifies himself to be form, looks at the self as form. Such a person has no clue to his real or actual identity. Clues are always there but he keeps missing on them. He not only considers himself to be with form but hankers after objects thinking that forms will satisfy him and free him. Such a person is called bahyartha prasakta manasah his mind is totally obsessed with forms, he goes out to collect the objects, enjoys them, and then again looks for another kind of object, and again runs after it, till he closes his eyes and sleeps, once he wakes up again he does the same running around. In other words he is obsessed with working for them.
The text gives three descriptions of men running after forms:
1) takes no clue given to him in life,
2) he is obsessed with external objects
3) he is obsessed with work to achieve them all.
Life keeps giving clues, switching from wakeful to dream and deep sleep is no ordinary clue, to be able to switch off from thoughts to no thoughts in deep sleep is no ordinary glory of sleep. Sleep is so common that we take no cognizance of it. The English word “sleep” is a non serious word, we should call it transcending all forms, the word should communicate freedom, and Vedanta uses the word svapah , sva oneself, apyayah, or svasmin apitah bhavati, or svasmin apyayah that is going back to oneself, receding unto one’s self. the word “sleep” in Englsih does not mean the above connotation, that is going back to oneself.
Anyway the author laments as to how such a person qualified by the three characteristics exclude form from his Being when he values it so much. He cannot!
While another person who has renounced action (karma) given up the desire to do Righteous action or non righteous actions (dharma) and all cravings for pleasures (vishaya), who is committed to know the self and who is for ever fascinated by this topic, who loves peace more than noise, such a person should discern between the seer and the form with steadfast devotion.
The text gives three descriptions of men running after forms:
1) takes no clue given to him in life,
2) he is obsessed with external objects
3) he is obsessed with work to achieve them all.
Life keeps giving clues, switching from wakeful to dream and deep sleep is no ordinary clue, to be able to switch off from thoughts to no thoughts in deep sleep is no ordinary glory of sleep. Sleep is so common that we take no cognizance of it. The English word “sleep” is a non serious word, we should call it transcending all forms, the word should communicate freedom, and Vedanta uses the word svapah , sva oneself, apyayah, or svasmin apitah bhavati, or svasmin apyayah that is going back to oneself, receding unto one’s self. the word “sleep” in Englsih does not mean the above connotation, that is going back to oneself.
Anyway the author laments as to how such a person qualified by the three characteristics exclude form from his Being when he values it so much. He cannot!
While another person who has renounced action (karma) given up the desire to do Righteous action or non righteous actions (dharma) and all cravings for pleasures (vishaya), who is committed to know the self and who is for ever fascinated by this topic, who loves peace more than noise, such a person should discern between the seer and the form with steadfast devotion.
Vedanta Verses 339 - 40
Probing into any subject should take into account the subject. Any study which leaves out the discerning subject will produce an incomplete knowledge. Actual studying happens when one studies in the light of the subject. What is this light that lightens up all things? A mere analysis of matter and material object does not bail us out of suffering, sorrow and struggle. The primordial idea that I am subject to disappearance is the greatest fear of humanity and every other fear is a ramification of this primordial fear. When we analyze matter as it appears to our senses, we miss out on that awareness which is aware of senses and the objects. We never probe into the one who is aware of the senses and also its absence, we never in a leisurely way take to the reflection of the fact that non-awareness is never ever experienced by us. I am aware also of the unaware state in the light of non- negatable awareness. In the light of this irrefutable self that we have to study the world. One cannot study the dream state using the dream senses, one has to use the wakeful senses and intelligence to do that. In the light of the survivor of the dream the dream has to be studied, the temporary has to be survived on the basis of the permanent. Analysis is probing into the subject in whose light everything is known.
There is no other way for absolute freedom other than understanding the sarvatmabhava, that every thing indeed is me and me alone. The whole world boils down to the self, recognizing everything as oneself is the freedom. Whatever is divided from me is an appearance in/within me. The dream that I see in not other than me, though within the dream perception they look divided from me.
Swamijee gave an analogy to explain this: with a single strand of thread one can knit embroider sceneries like forest, birds, the rising sun, flowing river, and a person standing nearby observing the scenes. The thread forms the matrix of the whole painting or of the scene made therein. The same thread runs through the person who is watching the scenery as well as the scenery. Every detail of the picture can be seen as the ‘given’ thing but not the thread, the thread is the very source of the puicture.Just so awareness is the matrix of everything that we see and observe and it runs through the seer and the seen. But this awareness is not one of the given, it is the very source of all given items that we perceive.
Everything boils down to the non dual non negatable conscious being. There is no other way for freedom apart from this one single method or sarvatmabhava.
Form is not a part of the seer, it is perception of the seer. A Vedanta student must recognize the unique ness of the seer and learn to discern the seer from the seen. God could have created the world but he did not definitely create the seer, he “became” the seer. Seer is therefore none other than the source of all this.
Space is the subtlest of the material things, while earth is the grossest, earth is different from the moon, moon is different from stars etc but none can stand separate from the space. All material forms rest in the subtle space. One form can be separate from another form, but all form stand on the formless. One wave can look separate from other wave, but they all boil down to the formless waters. All forms are illusory and more I see the formless the more I begin to see the illusory nature of the form. The more I see the rope the more I see the illusory nature of the snake that I beheld. The more I see the sand the more I see the illusoriness of the mirage waters. The more I wake up from sleep the more I can see the dream as illusory. The more I wake up to myself as conscious formless being the more I see of the waking as illusory as dream. The sarvatmabhava is possible the more I move away from forms.
Man is deeply habituated and passionately fond of forms, he knows nothing better than forms, he is fond of the “pleasures” that they generate, he undergoes trouble, undertakes effort to attain the forms that he so deeply cherishes, the color combinations that he so much admires. He does not know that no color combination can sustain him, ultimately when he gets tired he closes his eyes to the best of the colors and goes to sleep. The Xth man suffering the loss of the Xth man can be given no color combination for solace and comfort, all he needs to find out is the whereabouts of the Xth man. (swamijee was referring to the colors therapy etc here!)
I cannot hope to enjoy the world and also find a way to moksha. Absolute dispassion is necessary for fruitful enquiry.
There is no other way for absolute freedom other than understanding the sarvatmabhava, that every thing indeed is me and me alone. The whole world boils down to the self, recognizing everything as oneself is the freedom. Whatever is divided from me is an appearance in/within me. The dream that I see in not other than me, though within the dream perception they look divided from me.
Swamijee gave an analogy to explain this: with a single strand of thread one can knit embroider sceneries like forest, birds, the rising sun, flowing river, and a person standing nearby observing the scenes. The thread forms the matrix of the whole painting or of the scene made therein. The same thread runs through the person who is watching the scenery as well as the scenery. Every detail of the picture can be seen as the ‘given’ thing but not the thread, the thread is the very source of the puicture.Just so awareness is the matrix of everything that we see and observe and it runs through the seer and the seen. But this awareness is not one of the given, it is the very source of all given items that we perceive.
Everything boils down to the non dual non negatable conscious being. There is no other way for freedom apart from this one single method or sarvatmabhava.
Form is not a part of the seer, it is perception of the seer. A Vedanta student must recognize the unique ness of the seer and learn to discern the seer from the seen. God could have created the world but he did not definitely create the seer, he “became” the seer. Seer is therefore none other than the source of all this.
Space is the subtlest of the material things, while earth is the grossest, earth is different from the moon, moon is different from stars etc but none can stand separate from the space. All material forms rest in the subtle space. One form can be separate from another form, but all form stand on the formless. One wave can look separate from other wave, but they all boil down to the formless waters. All forms are illusory and more I see the formless the more I begin to see the illusory nature of the form. The more I see the rope the more I see the illusory nature of the snake that I beheld. The more I see the sand the more I see the illusoriness of the mirage waters. The more I wake up from sleep the more I can see the dream as illusory. The more I wake up to myself as conscious formless being the more I see of the waking as illusory as dream. The sarvatmabhava is possible the more I move away from forms.
Man is deeply habituated and passionately fond of forms, he knows nothing better than forms, he is fond of the “pleasures” that they generate, he undergoes trouble, undertakes effort to attain the forms that he so deeply cherishes, the color combinations that he so much admires. He does not know that no color combination can sustain him, ultimately when he gets tired he closes his eyes to the best of the colors and goes to sleep. The Xth man suffering the loss of the Xth man can be given no color combination for solace and comfort, all he needs to find out is the whereabouts of the Xth man. (swamijee was referring to the colors therapy etc here!)
I cannot hope to enjoy the world and also find a way to moksha. Absolute dispassion is necessary for fruitful enquiry.
Vedanta Verses 267 - 68
The above two verses are to be taken as warnings rather than a mandate for knowing the Truth. The first verse warns the student of remaining complacent after hearing and understanding some bits of Vedanta. Complacency leads to indifference and sloth.
The old habits of mind are persistent and compulsive. The conclusion that “I am the body” is the strongest habit of the mind and is there since ‘time’ immemorial even though ‘time’ itself is a product of ignorance. The habits of mind arise and fall perpetually like waves in ocean, now they manifest and now un-manifest. Even after understanding the truth or the nature of the truth they rise and fall incessantly. In other words they tend to come back and conceal all that we have understood.
How and in what form does this habit manifest?
“I am the performer and I am the enjoyer of actions”. I get so caught in this action and enjoyment of results that I feel that without them I am lost and gone. Doing something at all times is another persistent habit of the mind. This conclusion that I arrive is drda stubborn. I internalize it and it starts looking real and as the truth.
This un attended habit of the mind which is stubborn and persistent is the reason behind all struggle and this habituated movement of the mind is in other words called samsara the whirlpool. We go on suffering/struggling in this samsara thus and have no ‘time’ to pause and understand the seer, the self. Instead we ask all irrelevant questions like ‘where is god’, ‘how did he create the universe’ etc. Irrelevant questions have no answers.
The most relevant of all questions is why do we all seek happiness, peace and freedom? Search for happiness is un-renunciable that which is never renounced by us our true nature. Try however much we can never give our pursuit of peace and happiness. Only the place where we seek is not correct.
Preoccupation with action and the enjoyment for the fruit of action does not allow us to look for the seer, and this is the serious flaw of action and desires to enjoy.
The verse concludes by telling us to continue to stubbornly and persistently look for the self, the seer, the knower, the one who is unnegatably present in all perceptions and cognitions at all ‘times’. One has to turn one’s sight to the pratyak, the self, the seer of all three states, the aham, the I. One has to continue to abide in the reflection about the self.
Great effort should be made to give up the persistent habit of the mind which has arrived at the conclusion that ‘I am empty without action’.
Discovering that I am by nature full and I require no action or enjoyment to sustain me and that I am the un negotiable and unnegatable reality is called moksha by the sages, the wise men.
The smartness of the wise men is in making a program or drawing a schedule which does not fall within the time/ space targets. Anything to be attained within the spatiotemporal realm causes anxiety and fear. And that has nothing to do with moksha. The knowledge of the self is beyond the realm of spatial and temporal constraints. And this corrects the age old error that ‘I am the body’. Aham I and mama, mine are not emotional statements but wrong conclusions about one self. Emotions can be replaced but these errors cannot be replaced, even if they get replaced it is only by another error. Hence to seek the nature of the self and understand the self alone can correct the error and one cannot afford to be complacent.
The old habits of mind are persistent and compulsive. The conclusion that “I am the body” is the strongest habit of the mind and is there since ‘time’ immemorial even though ‘time’ itself is a product of ignorance. The habits of mind arise and fall perpetually like waves in ocean, now they manifest and now un-manifest. Even after understanding the truth or the nature of the truth they rise and fall incessantly. In other words they tend to come back and conceal all that we have understood.
How and in what form does this habit manifest?
“I am the performer and I am the enjoyer of actions”. I get so caught in this action and enjoyment of results that I feel that without them I am lost and gone. Doing something at all times is another persistent habit of the mind. This conclusion that I arrive is drda stubborn. I internalize it and it starts looking real and as the truth.
This un attended habit of the mind which is stubborn and persistent is the reason behind all struggle and this habituated movement of the mind is in other words called samsara the whirlpool. We go on suffering/struggling in this samsara thus and have no ‘time’ to pause and understand the seer, the self. Instead we ask all irrelevant questions like ‘where is god’, ‘how did he create the universe’ etc. Irrelevant questions have no answers.
The most relevant of all questions is why do we all seek happiness, peace and freedom? Search for happiness is un-renunciable that which is never renounced by us our true nature. Try however much we can never give our pursuit of peace and happiness. Only the place where we seek is not correct.
Preoccupation with action and the enjoyment for the fruit of action does not allow us to look for the seer, and this is the serious flaw of action and desires to enjoy.
The verse concludes by telling us to continue to stubbornly and persistently look for the self, the seer, the knower, the one who is unnegatably present in all perceptions and cognitions at all ‘times’. One has to turn one’s sight to the pratyak, the self, the seer of all three states, the aham, the I. One has to continue to abide in the reflection about the self.
Great effort should be made to give up the persistent habit of the mind which has arrived at the conclusion that ‘I am empty without action’.
Discovering that I am by nature full and I require no action or enjoyment to sustain me and that I am the un negotiable and unnegatable reality is called moksha by the sages, the wise men.
The smartness of the wise men is in making a program or drawing a schedule which does not fall within the time/ space targets. Anything to be attained within the spatiotemporal realm causes anxiety and fear. And that has nothing to do with moksha. The knowledge of the self is beyond the realm of spatial and temporal constraints. And this corrects the age old error that ‘I am the body’. Aham I and mama, mine are not emotional statements but wrong conclusions about one self. Emotions can be replaced but these errors cannot be replaced, even if they get replaced it is only by another error. Hence to seek the nature of the self and understand the self alone can correct the error and one cannot afford to be complacent.
Vedanta Verses 265 - 66
Vedanta is at once prasannam and gambhiram, i.e. simple and complex, the truth imparted is evident and also complex because it is difficult to see the most evident, for it eludes us very easily.
Time
Time which is considered to be so crucial does not actually qualify the seer. Time is not the property of the seer, for time is one of the details of the waking or dream experiences. Seeing /experiencing time does not pose a problem to the seer, the seer is one who is aware of time. Even though the seer “sees” time yet it does not alter or affect him.
Infact nothing that is ‘awared’ qualifies the seer, my feelings of pleasure, pain, guilt, are details of thinking and these are “awared” by me; it does not belong to me the seer. All my thinking are mere notions and I am the only seer of all thoughts,
To be aware is my svabhava, my nature. So I do not have to wait for the thoughts to subside to search for the seer, while in every thought I can pay attention to the seer/ awareness, thus I can seek It. Any thing that is ‘known’ is not the property of the knower. Thus the entire samsara which is “felt” and felt as true does not become the quality of the self. Self remains as it is, in its own svabhava.
The self has to understood and known while one is in the aggregate, Sangha meaning the body, while one is alive, right here and now. Ultimately self is the seer of both life and death because Life is after all “thoughts coming up and death is thoughts fading out”. Death and deep sleep are states where thoughts resolve, and here while in thoughts or while “alive” one has to discriminate between the ‘knower and the known’.
The “knower” is distinct from the known as king is different from the soldiers; he stands out amidst his soldiers. In this example there seems to be a comparative sense when we say that the king stands out, perhaps the king is taller, richer, more powerful etc.
But in the context of Vedanta we have to slightly alter the meaning even though the text gives this example.
Can we really having a comparison? In the context of “knower and “known what does it mean to say that knower stands out amidst the known? What is the intention when we say stand out?
How does the knower stand out amidst the known?
Here it is not in comparison for there can be no comparison of any sorts between the two.
The observer stands out amidst the known; the dreamer stands out amidst the dreamt objects,
What does it mean here? It is not that the dreamer is taller or shorter than the objects dreamt.
The water does not stand out in comparison to the waves, there is no comparison here. Standing out means standing out without any comparison, because there is nothing common to the observer and the known, or the observed, there is no point of comparison between truth and notion about the same,
There can be comparison between one wave and another wave, but not between wave and water for the wave when understood correctly is nothing but water. Water in this sense always “stand out”.
Understanding thus one has to be rooted in one’s self meaning one has to be absolutely clear and this clarity liberates the person.
One’s knowledge of the self, is the only true resort and all other so called resorts are empty. Owning all the wealth of the world is not another security, another alternative to this K of the self. There is no point of comparison between the wealth and the seer of the wealth. The latter is and is simply exists choice lessly, while the former is dependent, waiting to be seen and resolved, one is the truth and other is a notion and hence no comparison possible,
It is mediocre Vedanta to say that self Knowledge is better than all the wealth. There is again no comparison, the self is choice less and is ever present, and it is not available for any comparison,
Having understood that we are that pure conscious being, and as standing out choice less ly , and resorting to the vision of the self, we need to falsify or trace back the entire “seen” “Known “observed” back to the self.
Thoughts and perceptions are all made of awareness, and there is no spatial gap between thoughts and awareness just as there is no spatial gap between wave and water.
Falsifying the universe means falsifying the division between the observer and the observed.
Time
Time which is considered to be so crucial does not actually qualify the seer. Time is not the property of the seer, for time is one of the details of the waking or dream experiences. Seeing /experiencing time does not pose a problem to the seer, the seer is one who is aware of time. Even though the seer “sees” time yet it does not alter or affect him.
Infact nothing that is ‘awared’ qualifies the seer, my feelings of pleasure, pain, guilt, are details of thinking and these are “awared” by me; it does not belong to me the seer. All my thinking are mere notions and I am the only seer of all thoughts,
To be aware is my svabhava, my nature. So I do not have to wait for the thoughts to subside to search for the seer, while in every thought I can pay attention to the seer/ awareness, thus I can seek It. Any thing that is ‘known’ is not the property of the knower. Thus the entire samsara which is “felt” and felt as true does not become the quality of the self. Self remains as it is, in its own svabhava.
The self has to understood and known while one is in the aggregate, Sangha meaning the body, while one is alive, right here and now. Ultimately self is the seer of both life and death because Life is after all “thoughts coming up and death is thoughts fading out”. Death and deep sleep are states where thoughts resolve, and here while in thoughts or while “alive” one has to discriminate between the ‘knower and the known’.
The “knower” is distinct from the known as king is different from the soldiers; he stands out amidst his soldiers. In this example there seems to be a comparative sense when we say that the king stands out, perhaps the king is taller, richer, more powerful etc.
But in the context of Vedanta we have to slightly alter the meaning even though the text gives this example.
Can we really having a comparison? In the context of “knower and “known what does it mean to say that knower stands out amidst the known? What is the intention when we say stand out?
How does the knower stand out amidst the known?
Here it is not in comparison for there can be no comparison of any sorts between the two.
The observer stands out amidst the known; the dreamer stands out amidst the dreamt objects,
What does it mean here? It is not that the dreamer is taller or shorter than the objects dreamt.
The water does not stand out in comparison to the waves, there is no comparison here. Standing out means standing out without any comparison, because there is nothing common to the observer and the known, or the observed, there is no point of comparison between truth and notion about the same,
There can be comparison between one wave and another wave, but not between wave and water for the wave when understood correctly is nothing but water. Water in this sense always “stand out”.
Understanding thus one has to be rooted in one’s self meaning one has to be absolutely clear and this clarity liberates the person.
One’s knowledge of the self, is the only true resort and all other so called resorts are empty. Owning all the wealth of the world is not another security, another alternative to this K of the self. There is no point of comparison between the wealth and the seer of the wealth. The latter is and is simply exists choice lessly, while the former is dependent, waiting to be seen and resolved, one is the truth and other is a notion and hence no comparison possible,
It is mediocre Vedanta to say that self Knowledge is better than all the wealth. There is again no comparison, the self is choice less and is ever present, and it is not available for any comparison,
Having understood that we are that pure conscious being, and as standing out choice less ly , and resorting to the vision of the self, we need to falsify or trace back the entire “seen” “Known “observed” back to the self.
Thoughts and perceptions are all made of awareness, and there is no spatial gap between thoughts and awareness just as there is no spatial gap between wave and water.
Falsifying the universe means falsifying the division between the observer and the observed.
Vedanta Verse 302
This particular verse draws an analogy between ‘this worldly wealth’ which is believed to be well protected and guarded by the legendary three hooded serpent on the one hand and the Bliss of the Self on the other. The atmic bliss guarded by the dreadful three hooded serpent called egoism. The text urges us to destroy the three hooded serpent through wisdom and reclaim the great wealth.
Swamijee’s exploration of the text:
What do we mean by the word ‘treasure’ (nidhi) here?
Peaceful nature of our own self is the treasure; it is the Being with absolute serenity.
That which belongs to me at all times is my wealth. What comes and disappears in time cannot be called my wealth. The social, physiological, financial and other labels that I adorn and cast away are not wealth, nor my nature.
This may be compared to heat which is the nature of fire, motion the nature of air, accommodativeness the nature of space etc.
Whatever is one’s own true nature will not and should not alter. Infact anything subject to change is not the svabhava or one’s own nature. This nature is the wealth because it does not alter.
Awareness is the only wealth that remains unaltered, it is never lost. The individual by nature is unlimited and peaceful but there is felt limitation and struggle. This is an error, just as felt noise is an error within the eternal silence.
What is my nature?
To be free from dream is my nature,
To be free from wakeful is my nature,
To be free from both is also my nature, (deep sleep)
In fact to survive the wakeful, dream and their absences, to survive the origins of my thoughts and their disappearances is my nature,
To survive time and space is my nature,
Thus I the awareness is never lost, It is and IS irrefutably.
What I own is not my nature, ‘owning’ is dependent on relationships, I own nothing, I possess nothing, but ‘I am’ , I survive all relations. I am the knower of all relations, I am the knower of all the things ‘I own”, I feel I own my body, but the knower of the body is not the body as the knower of a carpet is not the carpet. Owned objects keep changing, ownership keeps changing passing from one hand to another, but what is my inherent nature that should not and will not change.
Thus the unchanging awareness, my self, the peace, the being, is my wealth.
Such a wondrous wealth (unrecognized by me) is actually my nature. This wealth is well guarded. The word ‘guarded’ actually means concealment. The truth is concealed by my own erroneous thinking that I am the limited form.
Even though I am free by nature I am not allowed to know this, who is the culprit here?
My own extrovertedness is the real culprit here.
My conclusion that my well being lies in wealth, name, honor, power, fame etc, prevents me from seeing the treasure, my nature.
What is this conclusion based upon?
It is based on the very strong (mahabalawata) EGO, (ahamkara) that manifests thus “I am the limited form”, “Being the form I will perish with the form”.
This is the fierce serpent that conceals the treasure. My equation with the non eternal objects is the sinking boat and I hold on to it for my felt need for survival.
What does this confusion of the subject and object presuppose?
It presupposes three temperaments (the three gunas) that are universal to all confusions. This is depicted as three hooded serpent.
Negative thinking, hatred, indulgence, reveling in pleasures are forms of tamo guna, and they invariably lead to sluggishness and carelessness.
The love to be active, and achieve are traits of rajo guna. Such people oriented towards achievement work hard and they need not necessarily enjoy all that they have accumulated through hard work.
Having values and doing good charitable deed, feeling happy etc are sattiva mode of the mind.
All the three gunas presuppose the confusion between the subject and the object.
However being free from three gunas will also not free us from the confusion that we carry about ourselves. The problem is confusion, self error, and this is different from reforming ourselves. The three gunas are likened to the three hoods of the serpent and EGO has the three gunas for its hoods.
One should chop the head of this ego through reflection which will enable us to grow out of the material pleasures; craving for power, and also the conclusion that if I am a good person I will be all right.
What is the weapon required here?
It is the sharp edged weapon called the knowledge gained from the Vedanta text, which reminds me of my inherent nature.
Once I realize my self through exposure to Vedantic teachings I shall be equipped to cut asunder the knots and the hoods of the fierce serpent.
I then become krtakrtya, have attained /achieved all that is to be attained or achieved.
Swamijee’s exploration of the text:
What do we mean by the word ‘treasure’ (nidhi) here?
Peaceful nature of our own self is the treasure; it is the Being with absolute serenity.
That which belongs to me at all times is my wealth. What comes and disappears in time cannot be called my wealth. The social, physiological, financial and other labels that I adorn and cast away are not wealth, nor my nature.
This may be compared to heat which is the nature of fire, motion the nature of air, accommodativeness the nature of space etc.
Whatever is one’s own true nature will not and should not alter. Infact anything subject to change is not the svabhava or one’s own nature. This nature is the wealth because it does not alter.
Awareness is the only wealth that remains unaltered, it is never lost. The individual by nature is unlimited and peaceful but there is felt limitation and struggle. This is an error, just as felt noise is an error within the eternal silence.
What is my nature?
To be free from dream is my nature,
To be free from wakeful is my nature,
To be free from both is also my nature, (deep sleep)
In fact to survive the wakeful, dream and their absences, to survive the origins of my thoughts and their disappearances is my nature,
To survive time and space is my nature,
Thus I the awareness is never lost, It is and IS irrefutably.
What I own is not my nature, ‘owning’ is dependent on relationships, I own nothing, I possess nothing, but ‘I am’ , I survive all relations. I am the knower of all relations, I am the knower of all the things ‘I own”, I feel I own my body, but the knower of the body is not the body as the knower of a carpet is not the carpet. Owned objects keep changing, ownership keeps changing passing from one hand to another, but what is my inherent nature that should not and will not change.
Thus the unchanging awareness, my self, the peace, the being, is my wealth.
Such a wondrous wealth (unrecognized by me) is actually my nature. This wealth is well guarded. The word ‘guarded’ actually means concealment. The truth is concealed by my own erroneous thinking that I am the limited form.
Even though I am free by nature I am not allowed to know this, who is the culprit here?
My own extrovertedness is the real culprit here.
My conclusion that my well being lies in wealth, name, honor, power, fame etc, prevents me from seeing the treasure, my nature.
What is this conclusion based upon?
It is based on the very strong (mahabalawata) EGO, (ahamkara) that manifests thus “I am the limited form”, “Being the form I will perish with the form”.
This is the fierce serpent that conceals the treasure. My equation with the non eternal objects is the sinking boat and I hold on to it for my felt need for survival.
What does this confusion of the subject and object presuppose?
It presupposes three temperaments (the three gunas) that are universal to all confusions. This is depicted as three hooded serpent.
Negative thinking, hatred, indulgence, reveling in pleasures are forms of tamo guna, and they invariably lead to sluggishness and carelessness.
The love to be active, and achieve are traits of rajo guna. Such people oriented towards achievement work hard and they need not necessarily enjoy all that they have accumulated through hard work.
Having values and doing good charitable deed, feeling happy etc are sattiva mode of the mind.
All the three gunas presuppose the confusion between the subject and the object.
However being free from three gunas will also not free us from the confusion that we carry about ourselves. The problem is confusion, self error, and this is different from reforming ourselves. The three gunas are likened to the three hoods of the serpent and EGO has the three gunas for its hoods.
One should chop the head of this ego through reflection which will enable us to grow out of the material pleasures; craving for power, and also the conclusion that if I am a good person I will be all right.
What is the weapon required here?
It is the sharp edged weapon called the knowledge gained from the Vedanta text, which reminds me of my inherent nature.
Once I realize my self through exposure to Vedantic teachings I shall be equipped to cut asunder the knots and the hoods of the fierce serpent.
I then become krtakrtya, have attained /achieved all that is to be attained or achieved.
Vedanta Verse 301
On EGO
The emphasis of this verse is on the term Ahamkara which is translated as EGO in English. This of course is loaded with meaning implying emotional attitudes such as vanity, pride, a feeling of ‘holier than thou’ or superiority or sometimes even inferiority complexes. The above meaning pertains to (laukika ) ‘this worldly’ interpretation and has nothing to do with the actual textual meaning (shastric meaning).
What is the textual connotation of the term ahamkara?
‘I’ (Aham) is the Truth and it is forever mistaken for what is not ‘I’. The mistaken identities of ‘I’ with the body, mind, intellect, memory, and of course all the worldly possessions and societal labels are the error about the ‘I’ and this very misjudgment about my self is EGO ( aham ‘kara’).
Ahamkara or Ego is a wrong view about oneself and therefore not an emotional attitude. One lives with this view without questioning and feels that abundant wealth or good health will procure my security/happiness. Actually neither shortage nor abundance is the problem, but the view about oneself as the limited body etc is the problem which cannot be solved at all without questioning the true nature of ‘I’.
If vanity is the problem, then humility, its antidote, should solve the problem. One may be humble but that does not erase the view that ‘I am a form’. It is the wrong view about us, the beginning less (anadi) error that is the actual problem and it has to be addressed in a very serious way.
The eternal light of lights, the most self-evident truth, the formless, unlimited ‘I’, views itself as darkness, an object, the disappearing form and limited. This is an erroneous view that we carry and all such wrong views when scrutinized can be corrected.
How can this be done? How can this wrong view be removed?
Discernment is the only solution to discover the original nature of the ‘I’-the light of all lights!
What is this discernment? What is the kind of investigation that has to be carried out for the quest of the ever present, but misjudged Reality, the ‘I’.
The one and only kind of discernment that is possible is that between the subject and the object.
There is actually no use in undertaking the task of discerning between one object and another for it is not going to yield us what we are seeking. Discerning the differences between one physical detail and the other is the within the scope of sciences like physics, chemistry etc. All such studies come under apara vidya- the knowledge about this world. None of this can alter my view that I am a form. None can correct my error that I am limited etc.
The subject viewing itself as the object is the crucial central problem.
The subject has to recognize that It is the ‘seer’ of the object and can never be the object, The seer of the pot can never be the pot, so the seer of the body, the seer of the mind, the seer of the intellect etc is not the body, mind, intellect etc.
The problem is that we do not perceive the problem and therefore do not question it and therefore remain in error. I do not even view it as a topic for deliberation.
The jiva, the apparent individual bound soul, knows and seeks freedom but does not know where to look for? It does not have any pramana or valid means of knowing or questioning. Thus the jiva has no clue to what this ‘I’ is.
No sense perception or sense perception based logic, inductive or deductive can enable one to see the true nature of the ‘I’. The senses neither highlight nor provide a solution; in fact they only presuppose the error that I am the body.
The clue and explanation come from the text that have recorded the valid experiences of the sages and they tell us that
I am the perceiver of the wakeful state, I survive the wakeful
I am the perceiver of the dreamful state and I survive the dream.
I am experience the state free from objects and I survive this too,
I the ever present awareness is has no negation at any state.
Change of states is registered by me the changeless awareness. Discontinuity of the states is registered by me the ever continues Being.
That I am the drshta, the one who is aware of all the three states is my own experience.
Therefore ahamkara, the Ego is not about any attitude but about the view that we carry. Attitudes can change from time to time or even destiny can change my attitude, but the error that ‘I am the body’ cannot go away with time or space, or by destiny or by any other means. Studying/investigating about oneself in the context of the three states alone can remove the error about the ‘I’ and reveal its True eternal nature which light of all lights.
The emphasis of this verse is on the term Ahamkara which is translated as EGO in English. This of course is loaded with meaning implying emotional attitudes such as vanity, pride, a feeling of ‘holier than thou’ or superiority or sometimes even inferiority complexes. The above meaning pertains to (laukika ) ‘this worldly’ interpretation and has nothing to do with the actual textual meaning (shastric meaning).
What is the textual connotation of the term ahamkara?
‘I’ (Aham) is the Truth and it is forever mistaken for what is not ‘I’. The mistaken identities of ‘I’ with the body, mind, intellect, memory, and of course all the worldly possessions and societal labels are the error about the ‘I’ and this very misjudgment about my self is EGO ( aham ‘kara’).
Ahamkara or Ego is a wrong view about oneself and therefore not an emotional attitude. One lives with this view without questioning and feels that abundant wealth or good health will procure my security/happiness. Actually neither shortage nor abundance is the problem, but the view about oneself as the limited body etc is the problem which cannot be solved at all without questioning the true nature of ‘I’.
If vanity is the problem, then humility, its antidote, should solve the problem. One may be humble but that does not erase the view that ‘I am a form’. It is the wrong view about us, the beginning less (anadi) error that is the actual problem and it has to be addressed in a very serious way.
The eternal light of lights, the most self-evident truth, the formless, unlimited ‘I’, views itself as darkness, an object, the disappearing form and limited. This is an erroneous view that we carry and all such wrong views when scrutinized can be corrected.
How can this be done? How can this wrong view be removed?
Discernment is the only solution to discover the original nature of the ‘I’-the light of all lights!
What is this discernment? What is the kind of investigation that has to be carried out for the quest of the ever present, but misjudged Reality, the ‘I’.
The one and only kind of discernment that is possible is that between the subject and the object.
There is actually no use in undertaking the task of discerning between one object and another for it is not going to yield us what we are seeking. Discerning the differences between one physical detail and the other is the within the scope of sciences like physics, chemistry etc. All such studies come under apara vidya- the knowledge about this world. None of this can alter my view that I am a form. None can correct my error that I am limited etc.
The subject viewing itself as the object is the crucial central problem.
The subject has to recognize that It is the ‘seer’ of the object and can never be the object, The seer of the pot can never be the pot, so the seer of the body, the seer of the mind, the seer of the intellect etc is not the body, mind, intellect etc.
The problem is that we do not perceive the problem and therefore do not question it and therefore remain in error. I do not even view it as a topic for deliberation.
The jiva, the apparent individual bound soul, knows and seeks freedom but does not know where to look for? It does not have any pramana or valid means of knowing or questioning. Thus the jiva has no clue to what this ‘I’ is.
No sense perception or sense perception based logic, inductive or deductive can enable one to see the true nature of the ‘I’. The senses neither highlight nor provide a solution; in fact they only presuppose the error that I am the body.
The clue and explanation come from the text that have recorded the valid experiences of the sages and they tell us that
I am the perceiver of the wakeful state, I survive the wakeful
I am the perceiver of the dreamful state and I survive the dream.
I am experience the state free from objects and I survive this too,
I the ever present awareness is has no negation at any state.
Change of states is registered by me the changeless awareness. Discontinuity of the states is registered by me the ever continues Being.
That I am the drshta, the one who is aware of all the three states is my own experience.
Therefore ahamkara, the Ego is not about any attitude but about the view that we carry. Attitudes can change from time to time or even destiny can change my attitude, but the error that ‘I am the body’ cannot go away with time or space, or by destiny or by any other means. Studying/investigating about oneself in the context of the three states alone can remove the error about the ‘I’ and reveal its True eternal nature which light of all lights.
Vedanta Verses 332 - 33
One who revels in the Truth, in other words, one who understands the Truth or one who is takes to the path of Self discovery attains liberation. Initially one has to discover an interest in self enquiry. In the beginning one should persuade oneself in the study of the scriptures but later on one may develop an absorbing interest in the same. The word ratah here means one who revels in study, reasoning and reflection. Persuading oneself in this direction is the tapsya and in time this becomes effortless. To begin with it is tapasya almost an ascetic practice but later on it becomes ramana or an effortless reveling in that. This asctic practice is not endless but culminates in peace. All tapasya (effort) needs to culminate in effortless reveling, in Brahma vidya it has to end in peace.
When one makes a habit to revel on objects which is false and illusory, one invariably and effortlessly revels in the world. The fact is that one who revels in the falsity will remain in bondage while one who moves from it to self reflection -the truth -will be freed from samsaric illusions.
Thinking that the world has a value and the objects here will satisfy me is called shobhana adhyasa. This comes in the way of renunciates also. A man of right thinking who has abandoned the desire for false objects let him stand/live with his attention fixed to the truth.
Let him not stand as a form but as a being observing all forms. Let him stand by himself. What is this standing by himself mean? It is ayam atma svayam aham asmi= the understanding that the self that is taught by the shastra is indeed myself.
If I see my self as a form then I feel I require other forms to sustain and support me. But as the subject of all forms I require no form to support me or sustain me. When I transcend the universe I transcend the form like in deep sleep. Also when I falsify the form, I falsify the universe.
Such a person who is reflective attains peace. Taking root in the unlimted Being, recognizing that the subject is unlimited makes one peaceful. This is in the form of one’s own experience pertaining to oneself.
Education is to bring one close to one’s un recognized potential, about something that is already there. No effort can actually bring about that which is not there. Experiences of the waking, dream and deep sleep are already there, the education brings about the correction of the error that I am the form that I see, namely the body. No effort can also bring about experience that is already there. NO sadhana can bring about a new experience . The resolution of the mind is daily felt in the sleep and Vedanta does not ask one to get a new experience but to look closely at all experiences and differentiate the seer from all experiences. Spirituality is not generating exhilaration but to make one discern between the expereincer and the experienced, the observer and the observed seer and the seen. Self reflection removes extreme form of sorrow. Therefore a student should dwell less on the object and more on the subject.
When one makes a habit to revel on objects which is false and illusory, one invariably and effortlessly revels in the world. The fact is that one who revels in the falsity will remain in bondage while one who moves from it to self reflection -the truth -will be freed from samsaric illusions.
Thinking that the world has a value and the objects here will satisfy me is called shobhana adhyasa. This comes in the way of renunciates also. A man of right thinking who has abandoned the desire for false objects let him stand/live with his attention fixed to the truth.
Let him not stand as a form but as a being observing all forms. Let him stand by himself. What is this standing by himself mean? It is ayam atma svayam aham asmi= the understanding that the self that is taught by the shastra is indeed myself.
If I see my self as a form then I feel I require other forms to sustain and support me. But as the subject of all forms I require no form to support me or sustain me. When I transcend the universe I transcend the form like in deep sleep. Also when I falsify the form, I falsify the universe.
Such a person who is reflective attains peace. Taking root in the unlimted Being, recognizing that the subject is unlimited makes one peaceful. This is in the form of one’s own experience pertaining to oneself.
Education is to bring one close to one’s un recognized potential, about something that is already there. No effort can actually bring about that which is not there. Experiences of the waking, dream and deep sleep are already there, the education brings about the correction of the error that I am the form that I see, namely the body. No effort can also bring about experience that is already there. NO sadhana can bring about a new experience . The resolution of the mind is daily felt in the sleep and Vedanta does not ask one to get a new experience but to look closely at all experiences and differentiate the seer from all experiences. Spirituality is not generating exhilaration but to make one discern between the expereincer and the experienced, the observer and the observed seer and the seen. Self reflection removes extreme form of sorrow. Therefore a student should dwell less on the object and more on the subject.
Vedanta Verse 280 - 81
Naham jivah…I am not a jiva, I am not a biologically alive and mentally thinking being with a form, but I am indeed form these limitations. I see myself transcending them every day when I reflect on deep sleep experience. Whatever can be transcended does not belong to me, or is not my ‘nature’ my svabhava. If form etc were our nature we could have never transcended them. A bird, says Mandukya Upanishad, cannot transcend flying; similarly I cannot transcend my nature of being conscious. Thus my jivatvah can be transcended and hence it is not my svabhavah. /’nature’. The one who exists transcending all forms etc is Brahman.
Important for reflection:
1) Limitedness is not parallel to UN limitedness, they are not two entities. They are not dvandvas, or opposites like heat and cold. The meaning of transcendence is that we do not give up the essential identity, but along with that identity we imagine ourselves to be something else. We carry unlimited ness along with the sense of “I am limited”. We can never abandon our nature of fullness but we only move around with the apparent sense of “I am limited”. Sense of limitation begins and also ends but the UN limited neither begins nor ends. The relation between the limitation and non limitation is that of source and creation, right in the unlimited, the source, the sense of limitation is born/created or misapprehended.
Sense of embodiment begins and ends, but sense of freedom from embodiment neither begins nor ends. Right in the freedom from embodiment the notion of embodiment begins. Sound begins and ends in silence, silence itself is not created, it is the source of all sound, and the reason of appreciation of all sounds.
Even when as see the inert body as me, consciousness does not become extinct, the sense that I am the body does not replace consciousness. The relation between them is that of truth and error.
There is no point where consciousness is not experienced. Sense of embodiment is experienced, so is freedom from embodiment. Consciousness is never ever replaced by the appearance or the resolution of the world, mind, form etc. just as appearance or disappearance of wave does not replace water.
Definition of Truth is that it can never be replaced. And this verse asks us to discern between what we are, the irreplaceable Truth and what you think of ourselves as one of the replaceable details.
2) The idea that I am the body is not the cumulative effect of past karmas. Past karmas produce results in future. There is a causal connection between the past actions and present or future results. The erroneous sense of limitation or embodiment is not the result of past, in fact the notion of time involved in thinking of past, present, future is the result of embodiment. However certain past impression can impede my present understanding of the truth. If I were to believe in say god in heaven or some such thing, then these ideas might stand as impediments for the correction of error. The force of mental impression of the past can come in the way of rectifying the error about me. But when the truth is investigated they loose their force.
3) No misconception can stand without truth as underlying substratum. No bluff can stand without a truth. Behind every misconception there has to be truth
Even though the truth is un understood. One has to discern between misconception and the underlying truth.
Verse 281
We have to depend on scriptural texts, guided inferences and the universal experiences to know the truth. Vedanta Shastras are vital because they say something that is very close to us, about our very Being. They do not talk about god in heaven etc which one can ignore. I can be indifferent to anything happenings in distant America but if someone were to tell me “look! There is something on your head” I will instantly respond to that statement. The Vedanta Shastra does this by drawing our attention to the self. The texts tell us “you are suffering for no reason! look into the nature of the self”. The space in the pot bemoans its fate thinking that if the pot breaks I too will disintegrate and die. A teacher, another pot space teaches it that you are not limited but your very limitation i.e. ‘I am the pot’ ‘if pot is there I am and if pot is gone I am gone’ is rooted in space which will never die or get destroyed. Pot is supported by the space not vice versa. The pot space understands this truth and gets liberated. This is the function of the Vedanta texts.
To know the subject by reason and not by impulses is yuktya. The truth is also to be pondered keeping in view the universal experience. The universal experience is the three states of experiences, the wakeful, dream and deep sleep states. I am the seer, observer of the three states, investigation of this clinches the insight into what we are, i.e. the un negatable, irreplaceable observer, the self.
We experience of the presence of the form in the waking and in the dream and the absence of forms in deep sleep. We thus miss out on the seer, the knower, the observer of these forms. But minus oneself where is the seen or the imagined world? Thoughts come and go but the seer continues.
Having understood thus, one may continue to live a life according to one’s prarabdha and its fruits.
Thus try and rectify the error about your self by being receptive to what the scriptures teach, by yukti and by anubhava.
Important for reflection:
1) Limitedness is not parallel to UN limitedness, they are not two entities. They are not dvandvas, or opposites like heat and cold. The meaning of transcendence is that we do not give up the essential identity, but along with that identity we imagine ourselves to be something else. We carry unlimited ness along with the sense of “I am limited”. We can never abandon our nature of fullness but we only move around with the apparent sense of “I am limited”. Sense of limitation begins and also ends but the UN limited neither begins nor ends. The relation between the limitation and non limitation is that of source and creation, right in the unlimited, the source, the sense of limitation is born/created or misapprehended.
Sense of embodiment begins and ends, but sense of freedom from embodiment neither begins nor ends. Right in the freedom from embodiment the notion of embodiment begins. Sound begins and ends in silence, silence itself is not created, it is the source of all sound, and the reason of appreciation of all sounds.
Even when as see the inert body as me, consciousness does not become extinct, the sense that I am the body does not replace consciousness. The relation between them is that of truth and error.
There is no point where consciousness is not experienced. Sense of embodiment is experienced, so is freedom from embodiment. Consciousness is never ever replaced by the appearance or the resolution of the world, mind, form etc. just as appearance or disappearance of wave does not replace water.
Definition of Truth is that it can never be replaced. And this verse asks us to discern between what we are, the irreplaceable Truth and what you think of ourselves as one of the replaceable details.
2) The idea that I am the body is not the cumulative effect of past karmas. Past karmas produce results in future. There is a causal connection between the past actions and present or future results. The erroneous sense of limitation or embodiment is not the result of past, in fact the notion of time involved in thinking of past, present, future is the result of embodiment. However certain past impression can impede my present understanding of the truth. If I were to believe in say god in heaven or some such thing, then these ideas might stand as impediments for the correction of error. The force of mental impression of the past can come in the way of rectifying the error about me. But when the truth is investigated they loose their force.
3) No misconception can stand without truth as underlying substratum. No bluff can stand without a truth. Behind every misconception there has to be truth
Even though the truth is un understood. One has to discern between misconception and the underlying truth.
Verse 281
We have to depend on scriptural texts, guided inferences and the universal experiences to know the truth. Vedanta Shastras are vital because they say something that is very close to us, about our very Being. They do not talk about god in heaven etc which one can ignore. I can be indifferent to anything happenings in distant America but if someone were to tell me “look! There is something on your head” I will instantly respond to that statement. The Vedanta Shastra does this by drawing our attention to the self. The texts tell us “you are suffering for no reason! look into the nature of the self”. The space in the pot bemoans its fate thinking that if the pot breaks I too will disintegrate and die. A teacher, another pot space teaches it that you are not limited but your very limitation i.e. ‘I am the pot’ ‘if pot is there I am and if pot is gone I am gone’ is rooted in space which will never die or get destroyed. Pot is supported by the space not vice versa. The pot space understands this truth and gets liberated. This is the function of the Vedanta texts.
To know the subject by reason and not by impulses is yuktya. The truth is also to be pondered keeping in view the universal experience. The universal experience is the three states of experiences, the wakeful, dream and deep sleep states. I am the seer, observer of the three states, investigation of this clinches the insight into what we are, i.e. the un negatable, irreplaceable observer, the self.
We experience of the presence of the form in the waking and in the dream and the absence of forms in deep sleep. We thus miss out on the seer, the knower, the observer of these forms. But minus oneself where is the seen or the imagined world? Thoughts come and go but the seer continues.
Having understood thus, one may continue to live a life according to one’s prarabdha and its fruits.
Thus try and rectify the error about your self by being receptive to what the scriptures teach, by yukti and by anubhava.
Vedanta Verse 279
Prarabham pushayati vapu iti,
The body will be looked after by prarabdham, (actions of the past births) but one has to make effort for survival so that the study of Vedanta can be undertaken. One must love to live, and live to practice vichara. Only in human life can one try to get atma-jnana. Abandoning the will to live is not vairagyam,/dispassion for human embodiment is an absolute requirement for knowing the truth.
Prosperity etc are means for survival but they can never be the purpose for our living. Not a single material detail serves this purpose for living, the purpose is seeking fullness, peace and freedom. In other words self discovery is very purpose behind all our endeavors.
Bhoga or enjoyment is not the purpose of our living, mere survival is not bhoga like eating food for survival etc is not bhoga.
How do we define bhoga? Bhoga is enjoyment of the redundant excess which is useless as means for survival, and which also does not serve the real purpose of life, i.e. is atma vichara. Bhoga in other words is all the excess which we ‘think’ we can utilize for “future”. Bhoga is a distraction from self knowledge, leading to self forgetfulness. The thought that obsesses us is more I accumulate, more I will be happy in some future is groping in darkness.
Effort is mandatory for both survival and for liberation. Achievements are got through karma, and liberation is got by vichara and knowledge. We cannot bypass karma/action for achievements not vichara for liberation.
What this verse says is that do what is required of you and leave the rest to your prarabdha. Prarabdha fructifies only after effort. Thus doing whatever is required for survival and leaving the rest to the prarabdha make a decision to know the nature of things, make a determined resolve to find out the facts- what is what- also find the truth that your life not only depends upon the present effort but also of the past actions. After understanding this truth enter the vichara path and be steadfast without wavering. In performing action one can waver, should I do this or not, how should I do this, when should I do that and so on, but knowledge pertaining to the Reality once clinched there is no question of wavering. Be brave, find out the true nature of the self and remain non-wavering.
The body will be looked after by prarabdham, (actions of the past births) but one has to make effort for survival so that the study of Vedanta can be undertaken. One must love to live, and live to practice vichara. Only in human life can one try to get atma-jnana. Abandoning the will to live is not vairagyam,/dispassion for human embodiment is an absolute requirement for knowing the truth.
Prosperity etc are means for survival but they can never be the purpose for our living. Not a single material detail serves this purpose for living, the purpose is seeking fullness, peace and freedom. In other words self discovery is very purpose behind all our endeavors.
Bhoga or enjoyment is not the purpose of our living, mere survival is not bhoga like eating food for survival etc is not bhoga.
How do we define bhoga? Bhoga is enjoyment of the redundant excess which is useless as means for survival, and which also does not serve the real purpose of life, i.e. is atma vichara. Bhoga in other words is all the excess which we ‘think’ we can utilize for “future”. Bhoga is a distraction from self knowledge, leading to self forgetfulness. The thought that obsesses us is more I accumulate, more I will be happy in some future is groping in darkness.
Effort is mandatory for both survival and for liberation. Achievements are got through karma, and liberation is got by vichara and knowledge. We cannot bypass karma/action for achievements not vichara for liberation.
What this verse says is that do what is required of you and leave the rest to your prarabdha. Prarabdha fructifies only after effort. Thus doing whatever is required for survival and leaving the rest to the prarabdha make a decision to know the nature of things, make a determined resolve to find out the facts- what is what- also find the truth that your life not only depends upon the present effort but also of the past actions. After understanding this truth enter the vichara path and be steadfast without wavering. In performing action one can waver, should I do this or not, how should I do this, when should I do that and so on, but knowledge pertaining to the Reality once clinched there is no question of wavering. Be brave, find out the true nature of the self and remain non-wavering.
Vedanta Verse 307
Suffering is there because of self error. Without Self-confusion, misjudging oneself as the form there can never be any sorrow. Thus suffering is due to something within us and not due to extraneous conditions. This is the absolute conviction of the Vedanta. All fear belongs to the class of sorrow.
Fear of death e.g. is not extraneous to us, one may have good health, money, power or whatever so called security of this ‘world’ yet may be affected by the fear of death, the fear of ‘loosing the self’. Wrong self judgment is the cause of the fear of death. This arises out of the fact that I resist ‘sitting down’ to reflect and discern the difference between the form and the seer of the form. I always wish to get occupied with so called ‘normal’ or ‘usual’ activities, like fending for my hunger and thirst, getting exhausted and then sleep and the rest of the time get pre-occupied with satiating my sexual appetite. We like to spend all our energies only for these four activities, eating, drinking, sleeping and progeny (sex).
To sit down to reflect or cogitate about our true nature is seen universally as either ’abnormal’ or ‘unusual’.
Vedanta focuses on the following points
Without the expereincer of the three states there are no states!
Without the dreamer there can be no dreams!
Without the conscious observer there is no world!
The greatest and the wildest illusion (mahamoha) is:
I will disappear and the world will continue.
This error has to be resolved. The absurdity of the error is like the dreamer thinking that ‘I’ will discontinue (when I move out of the dream and I wake up) but my dream world will continue to exist. The truth is the reverse which is:
I continue as the subject of all states while the world can become non existent.
Therefore this view that I am the form, judging myself the eternal being as non eternal is called the Ego and this has to be given up, abandoned by continuous reflection.
This wrong judgment is one’s own enemy (svashatru). This wrong judgment is the fundamental enemy. All topical enemies hide behind this fundamental enemy. This is compared to a thorn in one’s throat (gale kanthakavat) which disenables one to eat or drink however hungry or thirst one may be.
We are by nature Full, yet we are denied of this Fullness. The seeker and the struggler Xth man is the sought Xth man yet he is denied of this knowledge. The Xth man has no problem, he is the solution to all his struggle and search; however he is deprived of this illumination.
Therefore it is one thing to possess something and quite another thing to know that you possess that. This is important to harvest the benefit of what you possess. Otherwise it would be like the story of the beggar who lived and died in utter poverty not knowing the treasure that lay buried in the same spot where he begged day after day and finally died. I may be blissful atman, but if I do not know this and I live and die as a beggar then the loss is terrible for that jiva. Therefore to know my actuality is crucial and the entire enterprise of Vedanta is to bring this to light.
The text further says give up pramada. What is this pramada?
Pramada is giving importance to the casual things/ and neglecting or taking easy or giving no attention whatsoever to serious things. Casual things like food, sleep, marriage and children consume all out attention and time, we spend all our energy in this ever changing and fleeting things and we miss out on the most urgent and central issue figuring out about this Self.
This is done through discernment. Discernment is not separating two things that are mixed up; when two things get mixed up we need a process to segregate them. This is like rice corns and sand, a process is involved in separating the two. Discernment is not such an activity. It is seeing the obvious distinction that is already there.
I need to see that waves are non different from waters, I need to see that waves cannot exist without water while water can do very well without waves. The subject can do very well without the object like in deep sleep, while objects cannot do so without the subject. This seeing entails no process, and no process in fact can generate this epistemic change. Mistaking subject, the ever present seer for an object like body etc is not mixing them like milk and water, but radically misjudging one for the other. For correction of such misjudgment what is required is discernment. For this we need to seriously ‘sit down’ and reflect.
I need to reflect on the fact that I have no negation while all objects of the world, body, mind, memory, all my emotions, all my good and bad behaviors all my assumed identities have negation. With this great sword (mahaasina) I need to cut asunder the ignorance that I am the form.
The phrase ‘cut asunder’ implies violence, but we need to reinterpret the phrase to mean “correction,” it is by correction that we can get rid of this Ego, ‘I am the body.’ Correction is to know that I am the eternal knowledge and not the inert object.
Thus correction leads to the rediscovering oneself as the ever shining Blissful being without a beginning or an end. By destroying the self confusion one can ‘enjoy’ the Peace of the kingdom of Self.
The search of the Xth man all over the world for the so called lost Xth man is a painful and stressful activity; he will never find the lost tenth man. Searching for happiness, peace and eternity outside oneself in the creation is a wild goose chase, for one cannot find the self. It is like space which accommodates everything in creation going on a search for accommodation everywhere! We are the answer of all our problems.
Fear of death e.g. is not extraneous to us, one may have good health, money, power or whatever so called security of this ‘world’ yet may be affected by the fear of death, the fear of ‘loosing the self’. Wrong self judgment is the cause of the fear of death. This arises out of the fact that I resist ‘sitting down’ to reflect and discern the difference between the form and the seer of the form. I always wish to get occupied with so called ‘normal’ or ‘usual’ activities, like fending for my hunger and thirst, getting exhausted and then sleep and the rest of the time get pre-occupied with satiating my sexual appetite. We like to spend all our energies only for these four activities, eating, drinking, sleeping and progeny (sex).
To sit down to reflect or cogitate about our true nature is seen universally as either ’abnormal’ or ‘unusual’.
Vedanta focuses on the following points
Without the expereincer of the three states there are no states!
Without the dreamer there can be no dreams!
Without the conscious observer there is no world!
The greatest and the wildest illusion (mahamoha) is:
I will disappear and the world will continue.
This error has to be resolved. The absurdity of the error is like the dreamer thinking that ‘I’ will discontinue (when I move out of the dream and I wake up) but my dream world will continue to exist. The truth is the reverse which is:
I continue as the subject of all states while the world can become non existent.
Therefore this view that I am the form, judging myself the eternal being as non eternal is called the Ego and this has to be given up, abandoned by continuous reflection.
This wrong judgment is one’s own enemy (svashatru). This wrong judgment is the fundamental enemy. All topical enemies hide behind this fundamental enemy. This is compared to a thorn in one’s throat (gale kanthakavat) which disenables one to eat or drink however hungry or thirst one may be.
We are by nature Full, yet we are denied of this Fullness. The seeker and the struggler Xth man is the sought Xth man yet he is denied of this knowledge. The Xth man has no problem, he is the solution to all his struggle and search; however he is deprived of this illumination.
Therefore it is one thing to possess something and quite another thing to know that you possess that. This is important to harvest the benefit of what you possess. Otherwise it would be like the story of the beggar who lived and died in utter poverty not knowing the treasure that lay buried in the same spot where he begged day after day and finally died. I may be blissful atman, but if I do not know this and I live and die as a beggar then the loss is terrible for that jiva. Therefore to know my actuality is crucial and the entire enterprise of Vedanta is to bring this to light.
The text further says give up pramada. What is this pramada?
Pramada is giving importance to the casual things/ and neglecting or taking easy or giving no attention whatsoever to serious things. Casual things like food, sleep, marriage and children consume all out attention and time, we spend all our energy in this ever changing and fleeting things and we miss out on the most urgent and central issue figuring out about this Self.
This is done through discernment. Discernment is not separating two things that are mixed up; when two things get mixed up we need a process to segregate them. This is like rice corns and sand, a process is involved in separating the two. Discernment is not such an activity. It is seeing the obvious distinction that is already there.
I need to see that waves are non different from waters, I need to see that waves cannot exist without water while water can do very well without waves. The subject can do very well without the object like in deep sleep, while objects cannot do so without the subject. This seeing entails no process, and no process in fact can generate this epistemic change. Mistaking subject, the ever present seer for an object like body etc is not mixing them like milk and water, but radically misjudging one for the other. For correction of such misjudgment what is required is discernment. For this we need to seriously ‘sit down’ and reflect.
I need to reflect on the fact that I have no negation while all objects of the world, body, mind, memory, all my emotions, all my good and bad behaviors all my assumed identities have negation. With this great sword (mahaasina) I need to cut asunder the ignorance that I am the form.
The phrase ‘cut asunder’ implies violence, but we need to reinterpret the phrase to mean “correction,” it is by correction that we can get rid of this Ego, ‘I am the body.’ Correction is to know that I am the eternal knowledge and not the inert object.
Thus correction leads to the rediscovering oneself as the ever shining Blissful being without a beginning or an end. By destroying the self confusion one can ‘enjoy’ the Peace of the kingdom of Self.
The search of the Xth man all over the world for the so called lost Xth man is a painful and stressful activity; he will never find the lost tenth man. Searching for happiness, peace and eternity outside oneself in the creation is a wild goose chase, for one cannot find the self. It is like space which accommodates everything in creation going on a search for accommodation everywhere! We are the answer of all our problems.
Vedanta Verse 296
This is a verse in which the phrase “kalatraya abadhyam” occurs. The interpretation of “never sublated in three times” is fascinating. What remains un-negatable in the three periods of time past present and the future, is the self, the ever present awareness. That which is never ever replaced by time is the Self.
When time is experienced I am there,
When time is not there I am there,
The non existence of Time is known to me when I wake up from deep sleep. I experienced no time is my own experience for which I the self has to exist. Thus, I am, is never negated by time. Nor is I am in time, for when I wake up, I wake up along with the notion of time. It is not that time exists outside my awareness and it is absolute.
An analysis of Time.
What is time in actuality? It is synonymous with memory. This kalatrya abadhyam “never sublated in three times” is also akhanda bodham, “ever shining”.
What does “ever shining” mean? The term ‘Ever’ has nothing to do with the three times, past, present and the future. ‘Ever’ has to do with the now. The past and the future are both rooted in the present, now, past is not another time, nor is future another time, both past and the future are rooted in the now,
Nobody experiences the past, we experience only the present, similarly nobody experiences the future, we only experience the thought of the future in the present. Thus past and the future are imagined in the ever present, the now, the being.
There is no past, but the memory of the past, there is no future but a thought of the future. Memory of the past is felt in the present, the thought of the future is felt in the present, thus what is always present is the now, the ever present, awareness, in which is rooted the memory or the thought of past and future.
What about the present? Can present be called Time?
Present is not another period of time, present is Now=Being=to be= to be present. Present is the Subject. The past and the future are creations in the ever present. The ever present is confounded with fleeting time which is another thought registered in the Now, the Being, the ever present.
Past is experienced in the present, the future is experienced in the present, experience itself is never of a past time,
Present is ever the now, the present, being and is never replaced by future or anything. Present never disappears, thoughts disappear and appear, when present is distorted it looks like past and future.
This is very much within our realm of experience but not grasped. We always think of the present as fleeting and thus negate the ever present as “gone”/the past. We have to recognize the present, the truth/the very support of the past and the future.
The present never comes or goes, I mistake the present with the thought of the past and the future.
This verse says that we ought to recognize this ever present, timeless, Self and remain peaceful, giving up all disturbing values, like vanity etc.
What is profound here is the analysis of time, and seeing the self as ever present awareness. St Augustine, the medieval Christian theologician, “never sublated in three times” also makes an analysis of time to prove that there is no time. If anyone is familiar with that pl let me know.
When time is experienced I am there,
When time is not there I am there,
The non existence of Time is known to me when I wake up from deep sleep. I experienced no time is my own experience for which I the self has to exist. Thus, I am, is never negated by time. Nor is I am in time, for when I wake up, I wake up along with the notion of time. It is not that time exists outside my awareness and it is absolute.
An analysis of Time.
What is time in actuality? It is synonymous with memory. This kalatrya abadhyam “never sublated in three times” is also akhanda bodham, “ever shining”.
What does “ever shining” mean? The term ‘Ever’ has nothing to do with the three times, past, present and the future. ‘Ever’ has to do with the now. The past and the future are both rooted in the present, now, past is not another time, nor is future another time, both past and the future are rooted in the now,
Nobody experiences the past, we experience only the present, similarly nobody experiences the future, we only experience the thought of the future in the present. Thus past and the future are imagined in the ever present, the now, the being.
There is no past, but the memory of the past, there is no future but a thought of the future. Memory of the past is felt in the present, the thought of the future is felt in the present, thus what is always present is the now, the ever present, awareness, in which is rooted the memory or the thought of past and future.
What about the present? Can present be called Time?
Present is not another period of time, present is Now=Being=to be= to be present. Present is the Subject. The past and the future are creations in the ever present. The ever present is confounded with fleeting time which is another thought registered in the Now, the Being, the ever present.
Past is experienced in the present, the future is experienced in the present, experience itself is never of a past time,
Present is ever the now, the present, being and is never replaced by future or anything. Present never disappears, thoughts disappear and appear, when present is distorted it looks like past and future.
This is very much within our realm of experience but not grasped. We always think of the present as fleeting and thus negate the ever present as “gone”/the past. We have to recognize the present, the truth/the very support of the past and the future.
The present never comes or goes, I mistake the present with the thought of the past and the future.
This verse says that we ought to recognize this ever present, timeless, Self and remain peaceful, giving up all disturbing values, like vanity etc.
What is profound here is the analysis of time, and seeing the self as ever present awareness. St Augustine, the medieval Christian theologician, “never sublated in three times” also makes an analysis of time to prove that there is no time. If anyone is familiar with that pl let me know.
Vedanta Verses 276 - 77
Point for mananam (reflection)
We believe that the objects of world are for our enjoyment Bhogyam, it is a bhogya padartha and I am the enjoyer the bhokta. Attaching value to the objects I seek my fulfilment there. This enjoyer -enjoyed duality is based on the view that I can gain something from this world. This is called shobhana-adyhyasa. The more value I attach to the objects the more I desire to enjoy. I regard objects as source of my fulfillment and I seek fulfillment though the objects of the world. I do not realize that every pleasure pushes me to self forgetfulness.
The scriptures tell us that the source of our fulfillment is the self, the more we move in this direction the attraction for the objects wear off.
But the objects of the world are jneyam to be known and figured out. The objects are there to be understood rather than enjoyed. The subject, the Self, also is there to be understood, its eternal nature has to be known. We are not karta, or a bhokta but jneyam, something that requires an immediate attention. The emphasis of Vedanta is on jneyatvam ie., on understanding rather than performance or seeing ourselves as a bhokta.
The more we advance in the direction of this enterprise of jneyatvam of the self, quicker will be the cessation or hankering for attractions to the objects. The more we look at the subject as jneya, the object is also ‘known’ and grasped as an error. Thus entire existence is available for knowing.
It is not by our willpower we can get rid of the attraction for objects, but it is by switching our attention from creation to the source of creation that we can hope to get rid of attractions. Subject, the self is the source of all creation. All creation theories are postulated to take us to the subject, the self, like all snake perceptions, however erroneous lead us to the rope perception. Just as the difference between the snake and the rope is absolute, the difference between the subject and the object too is absolute, that is why bhasyakara (shankara) compares them to like light and darkness. Thus with self enquiry the interest one had for objects wears off.
Remaining in the self , making self the only topic, one resolves the mind. All thoughts are traced back to the subject, the consciousness, like all waves are traced back to the water of the ocean.
We believe that the objects of world are for our enjoyment Bhogyam, it is a bhogya padartha and I am the enjoyer the bhokta. Attaching value to the objects I seek my fulfilment there. This enjoyer -enjoyed duality is based on the view that I can gain something from this world. This is called shobhana-adyhyasa. The more value I attach to the objects the more I desire to enjoy. I regard objects as source of my fulfillment and I seek fulfillment though the objects of the world. I do not realize that every pleasure pushes me to self forgetfulness.
The scriptures tell us that the source of our fulfillment is the self, the more we move in this direction the attraction for the objects wear off.
But the objects of the world are jneyam to be known and figured out. The objects are there to be understood rather than enjoyed. The subject, the Self, also is there to be understood, its eternal nature has to be known. We are not karta, or a bhokta but jneyam, something that requires an immediate attention. The emphasis of Vedanta is on jneyatvam ie., on understanding rather than performance or seeing ourselves as a bhokta.
The more we advance in the direction of this enterprise of jneyatvam of the self, quicker will be the cessation or hankering for attractions to the objects. The more we look at the subject as jneya, the object is also ‘known’ and grasped as an error. Thus entire existence is available for knowing.
It is not by our willpower we can get rid of the attraction for objects, but it is by switching our attention from creation to the source of creation that we can hope to get rid of attractions. Subject, the self is the source of all creation. All creation theories are postulated to take us to the subject, the self, like all snake perceptions, however erroneous lead us to the rope perception. Just as the difference between the snake and the rope is absolute, the difference between the subject and the object too is absolute, that is why bhasyakara (shankara) compares them to like light and darkness. Thus with self enquiry the interest one had for objects wears off.
Remaining in the self , making self the only topic, one resolves the mind. All thoughts are traced back to the subject, the consciousness, like all waves are traced back to the water of the ocean.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Vedanta Verses 325 - 29
The goal of life has to be understood. The goal is not another object but freedom from all dualities. The ultimate attainment can only be knowledge of this oneness where all dualities get resolved. This is the lakshyam, the goal, the final topic that will relieve me of all sorrows arising out of dualities. There is nothing to more to be gained after this.
Having realized the value of this topic if one were to give up the pursuit and meander over objects then it is a real ‘fall’ warns the text. This ‘fall’ is the ultimate distraction and it leaves one bewildered again in this world. Incidentally this is only a distraction from the path and not a distraction from the knowledge. Knowledge, the very nature of Self is always there, it is never lost. There is distraction until one falls asleep, once the person has reposed in sleep there is no more distraction. Even so after the realization of the knowledge there is no more ‘fall’.
I need to realize that all the glamour of the world that stimulates the sense of excitement and pleasure in me gets swallowed by its own temporariness. Everything is short lived. They all vanish in the deep sleep state when I am dead to memory and all that it creates. All this happens in the background of the self, the knower, the eternal seer.
If I do not understand this and keeps pursuing the world and then I become a bahirmukhi i.e. an extrovert. An antatmukhi or an introvert is one whose attention is not on what is seen but on the interminable seer. One ought to reflect on “Who is this me?” “What is the nature of this me?” etc. An antarmukhi, the introvert has great dispassion for all objects while an extrovert loves his world and its variety.
This ‘fall’ is continues because an attachment like a chain leads to the other. This is compared to a man ascending a staircase while playing with a ball and when he is a bit careless the ball slips from his hand and descends from step to step. It bounces with ever step it descends. A student who has seen the value of the study if attracted to the objects of the world and gives up the pursuit he/she is like this ball that bounces and falls until it reaches the ground. Hence be care full and do not get deceived by the glamour of the objects. This text brings the point that it becomes extremely difficult for the student to regain the composure and continue the study.
Dwelling on the objects draws the mind to their qualities. This brings about attraction to the object and this in turn generates desire. Desire motivates the man to achieve or work for the object and then enjoy the pleasures. Thus man moves on and on without having any time for reflection or vichara. There will lead to a serious discontinuity of study.
One has to be aware of three things here:
What is conducive and what nourishes my refection /vichara? (sahakari)
What is that which can blend with my study or reflection? (samucchaya)
What is that which is opposed to my spiritual pursuit? (virodha)
Human beings have to be clear on these three. Absolute detachment nourishes my study, but working for my survival can easily blend with my quest and finally moving in the direction of the object with all enthusiasm will be opposed to my pursuit.
When one falls down getting distracted by objects or thoughts pertaining to the objects there is no end to the falling, in other words the falling has no boundary. Actually problem is limited but my worry and concern are unlimited, the worry makes the problem look more and more serious.
It is not easy to get up after the fall. For there is no helping hand excepting one’s own self. A lost object can be found, a lost person can be got back, but to get the right inspiration back at right time is very difficult. Strike when the iron is still hot, and do not loose much time in search of the objects.
Hence avoid dwelling on objects. This is the cause of all undesirable worries and anxieties.
The peaceful sage, the knower of the Self, is always alone, ekatvam. He/she seeks no company. Infinity cannot have company. Loneliness is different from being alone. Loneliness is a feeling but aloneness is a fact!
Truth has never any company, the seer has no company. Objects are many and one form can have another form as its company, but the self being ever one has no company. The water in the ocean has no company. It is not that waves give company to the water, waves are indeed water. Water being all pervasive does not crave for company. The seer being one, non material subject can never have another seer for its company for there is indeed one seer. The seer seeks no security in company. All such security is illusory. Clay cannot have pot or multiple objects created from clay as its company nor can ornaments give company to the gold. Freedom from the other, the non dual presence is the actual peace.
To be peaceful, alone and non dual is the nature of the Self. When I fail to understand this I seek security in a company. Society tries to make a company/companionship like marriage to last by highly complex marriage rituals. All of them ultimately fail because self can have no company. In actuality all companies fail, what remains is the still ever peaceful non dual self. In deep sleep there is no company and no feeling of insecurity or seeking company, deep sleep is when all company resolves. This freedom from company should not be seen as a helpless state. One misses no company here. Truth cannot have falsity for its company, false snake cannot give company to the truly existent rope! Nor can the correct knowledge of rope give company to the rope. Therefore do not build your delight and expectations in company. ( something to reflect upon!)
For such a sage there is no ‘fall’. Even while in the body he has captured the truth. So he is always in that state of knowledge. Understanding that awareness as non dual while in body or after giving up the body is called the true knowledge. This is like knowing that water alone is when the waves rise and also when waves fall and resolve back into water. Hence the distinction between vidheh mukti and jivita muktih is only figurative and not real.
Having realized the value of this topic if one were to give up the pursuit and meander over objects then it is a real ‘fall’ warns the text. This ‘fall’ is the ultimate distraction and it leaves one bewildered again in this world. Incidentally this is only a distraction from the path and not a distraction from the knowledge. Knowledge, the very nature of Self is always there, it is never lost. There is distraction until one falls asleep, once the person has reposed in sleep there is no more distraction. Even so after the realization of the knowledge there is no more ‘fall’.
I need to realize that all the glamour of the world that stimulates the sense of excitement and pleasure in me gets swallowed by its own temporariness. Everything is short lived. They all vanish in the deep sleep state when I am dead to memory and all that it creates. All this happens in the background of the self, the knower, the eternal seer.
If I do not understand this and keeps pursuing the world and then I become a bahirmukhi i.e. an extrovert. An antatmukhi or an introvert is one whose attention is not on what is seen but on the interminable seer. One ought to reflect on “Who is this me?” “What is the nature of this me?” etc. An antarmukhi, the introvert has great dispassion for all objects while an extrovert loves his world and its variety.
This ‘fall’ is continues because an attachment like a chain leads to the other. This is compared to a man ascending a staircase while playing with a ball and when he is a bit careless the ball slips from his hand and descends from step to step. It bounces with ever step it descends. A student who has seen the value of the study if attracted to the objects of the world and gives up the pursuit he/she is like this ball that bounces and falls until it reaches the ground. Hence be care full and do not get deceived by the glamour of the objects. This text brings the point that it becomes extremely difficult for the student to regain the composure and continue the study.
Dwelling on the objects draws the mind to their qualities. This brings about attraction to the object and this in turn generates desire. Desire motivates the man to achieve or work for the object and then enjoy the pleasures. Thus man moves on and on without having any time for reflection or vichara. There will lead to a serious discontinuity of study.
One has to be aware of three things here:
What is conducive and what nourishes my refection /vichara? (sahakari)
What is that which can blend with my study or reflection? (samucchaya)
What is that which is opposed to my spiritual pursuit? (virodha)
Human beings have to be clear on these three. Absolute detachment nourishes my study, but working for my survival can easily blend with my quest and finally moving in the direction of the object with all enthusiasm will be opposed to my pursuit.
When one falls down getting distracted by objects or thoughts pertaining to the objects there is no end to the falling, in other words the falling has no boundary. Actually problem is limited but my worry and concern are unlimited, the worry makes the problem look more and more serious.
It is not easy to get up after the fall. For there is no helping hand excepting one’s own self. A lost object can be found, a lost person can be got back, but to get the right inspiration back at right time is very difficult. Strike when the iron is still hot, and do not loose much time in search of the objects.
Hence avoid dwelling on objects. This is the cause of all undesirable worries and anxieties.
The peaceful sage, the knower of the Self, is always alone, ekatvam. He/she seeks no company. Infinity cannot have company. Loneliness is different from being alone. Loneliness is a feeling but aloneness is a fact!
Truth has never any company, the seer has no company. Objects are many and one form can have another form as its company, but the self being ever one has no company. The water in the ocean has no company. It is not that waves give company to the water, waves are indeed water. Water being all pervasive does not crave for company. The seer being one, non material subject can never have another seer for its company for there is indeed one seer. The seer seeks no security in company. All such security is illusory. Clay cannot have pot or multiple objects created from clay as its company nor can ornaments give company to the gold. Freedom from the other, the non dual presence is the actual peace.
To be peaceful, alone and non dual is the nature of the Self. When I fail to understand this I seek security in a company. Society tries to make a company/companionship like marriage to last by highly complex marriage rituals. All of them ultimately fail because self can have no company. In actuality all companies fail, what remains is the still ever peaceful non dual self. In deep sleep there is no company and no feeling of insecurity or seeking company, deep sleep is when all company resolves. This freedom from company should not be seen as a helpless state. One misses no company here. Truth cannot have falsity for its company, false snake cannot give company to the truly existent rope! Nor can the correct knowledge of rope give company to the rope. Therefore do not build your delight and expectations in company. ( something to reflect upon!)
For such a sage there is no ‘fall’. Even while in the body he has captured the truth. So he is always in that state of knowledge. Understanding that awareness as non dual while in body or after giving up the body is called the true knowledge. This is like knowing that water alone is when the waves rise and also when waves fall and resolve back into water. Hence the distinction between vidheh mukti and jivita muktih is only figurative and not real.
Vedanta Verses 349 - 50
Just as black, cold iron ball when thrown into furnace looks red and hot, even so the inert and lifeless thoughts in contact with awareness look like objects, external and with vitality. Thoughts flare up as an entity. In dream the thoughts look like the biological individuals, body, tangible and external objects but when one wakes up one sees the negation of both the thought and the object seen in the dream. The division between me and the universe is because of thoughts. This division is however false arising out of the sense of embodiment. A notional equation with the form is presupposed in every sense of division. In fact the sense of equation with form and division are always seen to rise and fall together. When I transcend the embodiment I also transcend the sense of division. This is called the pratipattikrama or the reason-result relationship, or reason –result procedure. This is to be distinguished from the kaalakrama or succession in time.
What is this pratipattikrama? a reason which leads to a result, for example seeing snake leads one to the fear of snake, this might look as though there is a succession in time, but there is a simultaneity here, once you have the notion that there is a snake (and if you are scared of snakes ) you also have the fear rising up. The sense of embodiment results in the sense of division, in deep sleep there is neither a sense of embodiment nor any division. The former leads to the latter without any gap in time.
My sense of equation with the dream body brings about my notion of division in the dream world and both are falsified when I wake up. Thus when waking forms come to an end, all waking divisions come to an end, dream form and dream division come to an end and all equations are non eternal, in other words no equation is eternal. What is eternal is the observer, falsity of waking is my experience, the falsity of dream is also my experience, therefore all creation or vikara or transformation is a fiction.
What is creation in Vedanta? Anything that is contrary to the truth is a creation or transformation. In the case of clay and pot, clay is the truth while pot is only a notion having a language-word to refer to it.
Words and thoughts rise and fall together. What is not the object of thought is also not available for words, in deep sleep one notices that both are absent.
The role of words, language in Vedanta is neither descriptive nor prescriptive, but corrective, it does not describe the truth but only corrects our wrong understanding of the self evident truth.
When the Xth man is told that you are the Xth ( lost) man, the language here is not descriptive, but corrective of the error that he has been carrying with him that the Xth man is lost or is far away, so too the mahavakyas like tat tvam asi (thou are that) corrects man’s error about himself.
The truth cannot be described for it is self evident and does not require anything to validate it.
Starting from egoity, individuality up until all objects, including the notion that I am the body, all appear and disappear. Anyathabhavitaya is the term used by the text, and Swamijee would like to interpret it as subject to appearance and disappearance rather than “changeful”. According to Sw change and non change prove nothing, a thing can remain non- changing for an eternity but it may not be the truth, transformation does not prove or disprove anything, but that something appears and disappears is vital for us. What gives an insight about the falsity is that body appears and disappears, world appears and disappears, thoughts appear and disappear, and what observes this appearances and disappearances is the self that neither appears not disappears. Truth can not undergo this cycle of srsti and laya - birth and resolution.
Where the truth appears and disappears is the truth and that has no appearance and the disappearance. In me they all appear and disappear, and when this is grasped then one is clear that what appears and disappears is false. So the term anyathabhave is to be interpreted as appearance and disappearance rather than change.
Truth has to be free from change, truth has to be free from disappearance laya, truth has to be free from being disproved. Everything else “seen” is a mrsha or falsity but the self remains the same.
However this world is not other than the seer, right within the seer is the seen, every wave is dripping with water, every thought is dripping with awareness, what else is the world but thoughts, subject is unlike the object but subject is the very truth of the object.
When we think of the world as mundane phenomenon then we look for the truth elsewhere, little realizing that all that we see is nothing but this awareness.
What I see can be doubted but that I see cannot be doubted, this doubt free self evident presence is given as the evidence for all knowledge and error. Falsity of the seen can be judged only in the light of this doubt-free seer. The doubt free I am alone can prove or disprove anything.
Unfortunately judging the source in the light of creation brings about atrocious conclusions about god or self. The world is like this and therefore god has to be like that etc are error arising from this conclusion. Water is not judged in the light of the wave but wave is judged in the light of the waters. Water proves the appearance and disappearances of the waves and not the reverse. Thus falsity of the false is judges on the basis of the reality or continuity of the self, the seer, Vedanta thus is not an explorative science but a dismissive corrective knowledge, it explains away the matter, dreams the objects, thoughts etc.
What is this pratipattikrama? a reason which leads to a result, for example seeing snake leads one to the fear of snake, this might look as though there is a succession in time, but there is a simultaneity here, once you have the notion that there is a snake (and if you are scared of snakes ) you also have the fear rising up. The sense of embodiment results in the sense of division, in deep sleep there is neither a sense of embodiment nor any division. The former leads to the latter without any gap in time.
My sense of equation with the dream body brings about my notion of division in the dream world and both are falsified when I wake up. Thus when waking forms come to an end, all waking divisions come to an end, dream form and dream division come to an end and all equations are non eternal, in other words no equation is eternal. What is eternal is the observer, falsity of waking is my experience, the falsity of dream is also my experience, therefore all creation or vikara or transformation is a fiction.
What is creation in Vedanta? Anything that is contrary to the truth is a creation or transformation. In the case of clay and pot, clay is the truth while pot is only a notion having a language-word to refer to it.
Words and thoughts rise and fall together. What is not the object of thought is also not available for words, in deep sleep one notices that both are absent.
The role of words, language in Vedanta is neither descriptive nor prescriptive, but corrective, it does not describe the truth but only corrects our wrong understanding of the self evident truth.
When the Xth man is told that you are the Xth ( lost) man, the language here is not descriptive, but corrective of the error that he has been carrying with him that the Xth man is lost or is far away, so too the mahavakyas like tat tvam asi (thou are that) corrects man’s error about himself.
The truth cannot be described for it is self evident and does not require anything to validate it.
Starting from egoity, individuality up until all objects, including the notion that I am the body, all appear and disappear. Anyathabhavitaya is the term used by the text, and Swamijee would like to interpret it as subject to appearance and disappearance rather than “changeful”. According to Sw change and non change prove nothing, a thing can remain non- changing for an eternity but it may not be the truth, transformation does not prove or disprove anything, but that something appears and disappears is vital for us. What gives an insight about the falsity is that body appears and disappears, world appears and disappears, thoughts appear and disappear, and what observes this appearances and disappearances is the self that neither appears not disappears. Truth can not undergo this cycle of srsti and laya - birth and resolution.
Where the truth appears and disappears is the truth and that has no appearance and the disappearance. In me they all appear and disappear, and when this is grasped then one is clear that what appears and disappears is false. So the term anyathabhave is to be interpreted as appearance and disappearance rather than change.
Truth has to be free from change, truth has to be free from disappearance laya, truth has to be free from being disproved. Everything else “seen” is a mrsha or falsity but the self remains the same.
However this world is not other than the seer, right within the seer is the seen, every wave is dripping with water, every thought is dripping with awareness, what else is the world but thoughts, subject is unlike the object but subject is the very truth of the object.
When we think of the world as mundane phenomenon then we look for the truth elsewhere, little realizing that all that we see is nothing but this awareness.
What I see can be doubted but that I see cannot be doubted, this doubt free self evident presence is given as the evidence for all knowledge and error. Falsity of the seen can be judged only in the light of this doubt-free seer. The doubt free I am alone can prove or disprove anything.
Unfortunately judging the source in the light of creation brings about atrocious conclusions about god or self. The world is like this and therefore god has to be like that etc are error arising from this conclusion. Water is not judged in the light of the wave but wave is judged in the light of the waters. Water proves the appearance and disappearances of the waves and not the reverse. Thus falsity of the false is judges on the basis of the reality or continuity of the self, the seer, Vedanta thus is not an explorative science but a dismissive corrective knowledge, it explains away the matter, dreams the objects, thoughts etc.
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