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.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
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.
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