I AM THAT

"By looking tirelessly, I became quite empty and with that emptiness all came back to me except the mind. I find I have lost the mind irretrievably. I am neither conscious nor unconscious, I am beyond the mind and its various states and conditions. Distinctions are created by the mind and apply to the mind only. I am pure Consciousness itself, unbroken awareness of all that is. I am in a more real state than yours. I am undistracted by the distinctions and separations which constitute a person. As long as the body lasts, it has its needs like any other, but my mental process has come to an end. My thinking, like my digestion, is unconscious and purposeful. I am not a person in your sense of the word, though I may appear a person to you. I am that infinite ocean of consciousness in which all happens. I am also beyond all existence and cognition, pure bliss of being. There is nothing I feel separate from, hence I am all. No thing is me, so I am nothing. Life will escape, the body will die, but it will not affect me in the least. Beyond space and time I am, uncaused, uncausing, yet the very matrix of existence."

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj (from I Am That)

KARMA DHARMA

[advaitin] Karma

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Free will and fate or destiny are two sides of the same coin. Because I exercised free will in the past, I am now accountable for what I did using my free will - that forms my destiny. The destiny provides the environment for me 1. to act 2. not to act or 3 to act in a different way. This choice in the action I have at any time - in fact as intelligent being I cannot but choose one or the other and my future environment is past modified my current choice of action. Thus both free will and the destiny will be operating all the time for a human. For other animals and plants there is not much of free will and they go by instincts. Hence they only exhaust the vaasanas rather than accumulate new ones.   When I am free - that means when I realize that I am not these upaadhis but I am sat chit ananda swaruupa which is of infinite nature, I am free from free will. The actions are done by prakRiti itself and I am not accountable for those actions. Hence Krishna says I am untouched by the results of these actions. I am totally free from actions and the results. I can watch the prakRiti dancing in my presence. I lend a support without my self getting affected. Then it becomes a kriiDa or play or liila etc.   Actually I am free from all actions all the time since that is my nature as the self. But I unnecessarily take the actions by the prakRiti as my actions and therefore I suffer as a consequence. It is like a villager carrying a big trunk sitting in the train since he felt sorry for the train to carry so much load, and he thought he can help the train by having that trunk on his head while sitting in the train. This is exactly we do in trying to own the actions that is being done in our presence by prakRiti – says Krishna. But as long we have doership notion, then karma yoga helps slowly as saadhana to get rid of this notion that I am the doer.   Hope I am clear. Hari Om! Sadanand

LIFTING THE COVERS

Lifting the covers on the Self

SwAmini AtmaprakAshAnanda, Wednesday, January 12, 2011 02:15 AM

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Two things make a human being unique: self-consciousness and the faculty of choice.

Self-consciousness, the knowledge 'I am', is only half-knowledge. It becomes complete when the human being understands what I am, or who I am. Other animals are deprived of this knowledge. All other animals remain steeped in the bliss of ignorance and are thus free from complexes, problems and goals. 

The second thing that distinguishes a human being, the faculty of choice, free will, is the choice to do something, to not do it, or to do it differently. Human beings are the only creatures that have goals to be attained.

Because of these two unique qualities, and because of the human being's knowledge of values based on what he expects from others, the human being has goals: artha, kAma, dharma and mokSha (security, pleasure, value-driven behaviours and happiness). Even though shastram, scripture, speaks about four ends, four puruShArtha-s, the end is one:mokSha. The others are not really goals, they are the means that one needs in order to live this life in order to accomplish this goal of discovering the fullness or happiness that is already there. It is important for our half-knowledge to become complete.

The word puruShArtha can mean 'goal', it can also mean 'free will'. mokSha is the ultimate, choiceless human goal. The direct meaning of the word mokSha is 'freedom'; the implied meaning is 'happiness' or 'fullness'. Freedom from the unwanted is happiness (unhappiness is what's unwanted). Thus discovering who I am is equal to happiness. Happiness and Self are not two different things, like sun and light, or fire and heat. Happiness, fullness, is the very svarUpam of Self, one's intrinsic, inseparable nature. To discover what I am is to discover happiness.

There are two types of happiness: viShaya Ananda and AtmA Ananda. ViShaya Ananda, is called pleasure. AtmA Ananda is happiness. Pleasure is a fraction of fullness; happiness is total fullness. Pleasure is derived through, and is dependent on, external objects, things, situations, people. Therefore it is always time-bound and incidental because that on which it depends is time-bound. Fullness is not derived from any external situations or sources: it is natural. Because pleasure is derived through other objects it isa-nitya, impermanent, time-bound. Happiness, however, is nitya, eternal, because it is not borrowed or derived: it is natural, one's own nature.

To gain pleasure one has to work hard, to preserve it one has to work hard, and when we lose it, there is pain. Pleasure thus involves pain in gaining it, in preserving it and, obviously, in losing it. In this way pleasure is mixed with pain. AtmA Ananda involves no pain because it not something to be gained or attained. What is natural and already there does not need to be attained. Because it is natural you cannot lose it: you cannot lose yourself. Can fire ever lose its light or heat or brilliance? Impossible. Light and heat is its very svarUpam, intrinsic nature. One upaniShad says that if one says, 'There is nobhagavAn, no Truth', it is like saying: 'I am not there'. When we say: 'I am', we are saying: 'bhagavAn is'. One's intrinsic nature is kevala Ananda, pure happiness, unadulterated, unmixed with pain.

If kevala Ananda is our very nature, then why do we become unhappy? Why is there such a thing as unhappiness at all? The simple answer is that our true nature is not known. Somewhere the flow of happiness is blocked. It is like having a tank full of water but nothing flows. It's because the pipe is blocked. Similarly, shAstram says that, blocking the flow of Ananda are pratibandha-s, obstacles. You have Ananda, but it does not flow because of the obstacles: the obstructions, hindrances, impediments.

Obstacles are threefold, mala, vikShepa and AvaraNa, which, if removed, will allow you to enjoy your own svarUpam.

Mala is equal to mental impurities. This is the gross block. If mental impurities are removed, one block is removed. The subtle block that remains is vikShepa, mental restlessness, agitation, mental strain, stress, turbulence: attention cannot be in one place for a length of time. That's why from childhood we are trained to be in one place for a length of time: 15 minutes with coloured crayons, 15 minutes with coloured beads, 15 minutes in the playground to jump about. 15 minutes is the limit, after 15 minutes the child will lose attention.

Next we have a third obstacle called AvaraNa, cover. What is the cover? Ignorance,aj~nAnam, is the cover: ignorance of what happiness is, of what my svarUpam is, of what fullness is. Happiness is veiled by ignorance. It has to be discovered. AvaraNa is the subtlest obstacle. You cannot remove it before you remove the gross and the subtle obstacles: mala and vikShepa. Once the block from the pipe is removed, the flow of water cannot be stopped. Similarly, here, once these pratibandha-s have been removed the flow of Ananda cannot be stopped as it were. Fullness will be there forever.

Mala, mental impurities can be reduced to two: rAga and dvesha, attachment and aversion. These main impurities - to which we can add kAma, desire, and krodha, anger - cause the other impurities: jealousy, hatred, etc. (VikShepa is also sometimes caused bymalam) We cannot remove attachment and aversion because we did not create them. They are two states of mind that are naturally there. If these two are taken care of then all the other impurities are taken care of.

In  bhagavad gItA there is a verse:

IndriyasyendriyasyArthe    rAgadveShau vyavasthitau

tayorna vashamAgacchettau   hyasya paripanthinau 

There is attachment and aversion with reference to every sense object.

May one not come under the spell of these two because they are one's enemies. (bhagavadgItA(3.34))

To get rid of the obstacle called mala, impurity, in the form of attachment and aversion there is only one way: to live a life of karma yoga. To understand how to live a life ofkarma yoga we have the karma kANDa of the veda (the first voluminous section) to help us ward off mala. karma yoga is anything that we do, physically, mentally, orally with a proper attitude. (The proper attitude when acting has three characteristics: the action is offered to the Lord, the results are accepted as a gift from the Lord, and there is no transgression of ethics or morality).

vikShepa, the obstacle of mental agitation or restlessness, can be removed only by the practice of upAsanam, meditation. upAsanam in this context is purely a mental activity. This is prescribed in the second part of the veda, the upAsana kANDa. Now even thoughpUja (worship) involves physical and oral activity, it is as good as meditation because your focus is on bhagavAn alone. Therefore pUja is said to be upAsanam. japa (mental repetition of a name that stands for the Lord) too comes in here to ward off the obstacle in the form of mental agitation, vikShepa. Meditation, focusing on bhagavAn 's name, is the best. If you can't do this, then performing pUja (kAyikam karma, action performed with the body) and singing hymns (vAcikam karma, action performed with the voice) with attention, is preparation for meditation (mAnasa karma, action performed with the mind). Better than manasam japam is an unbroken flow of thought resting on bhagavAn.

The third obstacle, AvaraNa, ignorance, the cover that covers happiness, is removed only after you have dealt with the first two. Only then will upaniShad study work. Not knowing happiness is the cover. That's why ignorance is likened to darkness. In a darkened room, even though your eyes are perfectly okay, you will not see the chair because darkness covers objects. Darkness is the AvaraNa of objects. That is the nature of darkness. Similarly ignorance covers. Not knowing what happiness is is as good as not having it. The obstacle of ignorance has to be removed. j~nAnam alone can remove the cover of ignorance. Therefore the j~nAna kANDa (the final portion of the veda-s called vedAnta) is there to bless you with the knowledge with which you can remove the obstacle ofAvaraNa.

One is not creating knowledge. One is only removing the obstacle, ignorance. We removemala by karma yoga, we remove vikShepa through upAsanam, and we remove AvaraNaby j~nAnam. Therefore we need the j~nAna kANDa, the upaniShad-s.

How do we remove the third obstacle?

upaniShad-s contain the wisdom but, even if I try to read them, I cannot understand. The butter that's already there in milk will not come to the surface on its own. You need to extract it. And extraction involves a process, a method of extraction. Similarly there is a method of extracting knowledge from the upaniShad-s. This method of extraction is very important. The one who has knowledge of the method is the guru. That is why the teacher is very important in the Tradition. The guru knows how to handle the words of theupaniShad-s: what's first, what's not first, what to say next, so that there is no ambiguity, no vagueness on the part of the student so that clearly one gets to the knowledge.

j~nAna kANDa is called veda-anta shAstram (scripture at the end of the veda). Why is it given at the end and not at the beginning? Without the removal of mala and vikShepa, the removal of AvaraNam is not possible. j~nAna kANDa, which is the smallest section of theveda, is said to be veda shiras, (the pinnacle of the veda-s): it will take care of the surgery needed to remove the cataract from the mind. The clue is in the word, upaniShad-s itself.

upa, near, implies guru, upasAdanam: a student respectfully approaching the teacher is implied by this prefix. The obstacle of the cover of ignorance has to be dispelled for which you need the knowledge in the upaniShad, for which you need the method of extraction, for which you need a teacher who knows how to handle the words. Removal of ignorance is not possible without a teacher. One needs to listen with all humility for a long time without interference, or talking back. This is called shravaNam.

Ni in the word upaniShad stands for nishcaya j~nAnam, definite, doubt-free knowledge of what fullness, happiness, Reality is. These are not different things. Knowing the Self is knowing Reality, knowing Reality is knowing fullness, knowing fullness is knowing happiness. svarUpam (the nature) of Truth is fullness, Self is Truth, so the svarUpam of the Self is fullness. Knowing the Self is discovering what fullness is. Two things prevent doubt-free knowledge: saMshaya, doubt, and viparyaya, unhealthy emotional habits. Doubt has to be eliminated by mananam, reflection on what has been heard. 

viparyaya is unhealthy thinking, the helpless building up of thoughts; scheming and planning and going from one thought to another without even wanting to. It is natural for the mind to entertain such thoughts, unable to stay in one place. This always obstructs.nididhyAsanam will help get rid of viparyaya. To do nididhyAsanam you should have got the knowledge of Reality without any doubt, for which you need to have done shravaNam(study with the teacher) and mananam (clearing any remaining doubts).

upa and ni stand for shravaNam, mananam and nididhyAsanam: approaching the teacher, having definite doubt-free knowledge, constantly focusing the mind on the nature of the self. This doesn't allow the building up of doubt and unhelpful thoughts.

We now come to sad. It means nAshanam, putting an end to, destroying. It is the definite knowledge or wisdom that destroys ignorance and ignorance-born problems involved insaMsAra, the cycle of birth and deaths.

upaniShad, therefore, means knowledge that removes ignorance and ignorance-born problems. veda is likened to mAtA, mother. Mother knows the need of the child very well, similarly veda knows what your mind needs. veda is always there to help you discover fullness, which is your own nature. You already have it, but still you are searching for it and suffering. You are like the richest person begging with a bowl in the road. You can easily go into your bank account and draw the money out and live like royalty, but don't know what the balance is. veda knows and says: I have to help this person discover.

First is the removal of mala by karma yoga, then vikShepa through upAsana and japa(the best of meditation techniques), and AvaraNam/aj~nAnam through knowledge. And you have to go to the guru to help you know how to extract the wisdom. Listen to the teacher, shravaNam. Repeated listening will result in mananam through which all your doubts should go. Even when the doubt goes you know that you may still have viparyaya,unhealthy thinking, because, even if you know Brahman, you are still unhappy.  J~nAnamis there, but nishcaya j~nAnam is not there: viparyaya has to go. That's why you neednididhyAsanam.

Commitment to the pursuit of knowledge must be such that one doesn't get distracted at all. This is what will make the study of upaniShad effective. To be more focused, more effective, to make you more inclined, more interested, to benefit more, you need to be 100% committed to the study of upaniShad. Know the value of it. To make you discover that commitment in yourself, upaniShad needs to make you know the limitation of karma.

karma is very important, because it is only by doing karma you can convert the karmainto yoga, which is the only way to rid of the problem of mala. Without the removal of malathere is no way of discovering fullness, but the removal of mala is not sufficient for fullness.

You are not gaining anything here. You are just removing the obstacles: first mala, thenvikShepa then AvaraNa. When these three are removed you discover what is already there: you are not attaining anything.

Do you attain fullness? Do you gain fullness? No. You only attain knowledge of fullness. Fullness and pure consciousness are one and the same. When the three obstacles are removed, everything flows. You are a fountain of joy. From you fullness will be flowing everywhere: that unobstructed flow of fullness is an expression of love.

upaniShad-s make you realise the value of knowledge and the limitation of karma. Karmamerely performed without puruShArtha nishcaya (doubt-free certainty that mokSha is the ultimate aim of life) will leave you bound forever; karma performed with knowledge of the limitation of karma, with puruShArtha nishcaya, will be a yoga that will remove impurities of the mind. But karma on its own is not enough, so in order to make one committed to the pursuit of knowledge the upaniShad-s talk about karma merely in order to point out its limitation.

FROM AJA

From 'Doorway to Heaven'

If you had two doorways, a doorway to heaven and a doorway to a lecture about heaven, you would find the vast majority of people lined up before the doorway to the lecture about heaven.  Often we aren't as interested in experiencing the divine as we are in being able to 'know' about it, talk about it, and impress people with our astounding depth of information about it.   And what if you could actually open the doors and look in?  In the doorway to the lecture about heaven, you would find a room full of beautiful people, drinking organic tea, talking about Gods & Goddesses, doing energy work, singing songs, meditating together, discussing the pros and cons of various paths and spiritual techniques - generally having a great time.  On the other hand, if you opened the door to heaven, standing outside and peering in, you would see nothing. It would appear empty, dark, and unattractive - because through that door there is nothing for the mind to know, nothing for the body to experience, no concepts or beliefs to grasp, and certainly nothing that would 'attract' our mind, unless annihilation was attractive. For to enter into the absolute is to be totally beyond the mind and ego.

DHANYA ON RUMI

"Our task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find
all the barriers within ourselves
that we have built against it."  Rumi

Yes, love is my true nature, ever available at all times, in all places. Not recognizing this, the most basic fact of my existence, I project my very own love and happiness out into the world of changing experience, and then run after it. The Upanisads compare this to trying to drink water from a mirage.

The barriers which block me from recognizing my true nature as it always and ever is, are all of the things the mind takes my self to be.  I believe that I am limited, small, subject to change, subject to moods, thoughts, emotions, subject to hurt and pain.

Once I have distinguished my very own self as I truly am, self-shining, self-evident, love itself, the actual essence of all that was previously sought in countless fruitless efforts, then these 'as though' barriers fall away one by one, and my very own light, which is fullness, which is love, stands revealed.

sAdhana chatuShTaya sampatti

The tendency to neglect the doctrine that vedAnticstudy is intended only for the competent is responsible for the confused thinking of modern days. Even simple crafts such as masonry or carpentry, require a preliminary course of training. But in the field of brahma-vidyA, the science of value of the Self, the highest and the most difficult of all sciences, everyone thinks himself competent and entitled to study the system of advaita and even to sit in judgment over it. This attitude must go and must be replaced by earnest endeavor to secure first the necessary competence.’ shrI Chandrasekhara Bharati (Pearls-of-Wisdom).

‘Some rivers flow directly into the ocean. Others first join bigger rivers and then merge with the ocean. So also the paths of devotion, meditation and desireless work lead by stages to the ultimate Realization. The path of Knowledge is a direct means but it is difficult. To follow it, an aspirant requires the four-fold qualifications namely viveka, vairAgya, shama and the like and mumukShutva.’ shrI Abhinava Vidyatirtha (Pearls-of-Wisdom).

Translation:

Here is the text we will be meditating on, as it has been translated by an Italian Master who goes by the single name Raphael. 

‘The Sages have said that for realization it is necessary to practice four qualifications, without which the attainment of brahman could fail (18). The first one is discernment between the real and the non-real; the second is detachment from the fruits of all actions in both this world and other worlds; the third consists of the group of the six qualities, such as mental calm, and so on; and the fourth one is a firm and yearning aspiration for enlightenment (19),’ (vivekachUDAmaNi, Raphael, Aurea Vidya Foundation, 2006). 

Commentary:

viveka indicates discrimination between things permanent and transient. 

The principle way that viveka comes about is through accumulated puNya(meritorious deeds). Here we might note that pApa (sin) is the opposite ofpuNya. pApa is bad action that we do as a result of our fundamental avidyA(ignorance). If we have been doing sin for a long time, we will probably need to do puNya also for a long time to counteract the effects of our bad behavior. Only then will we have the clear hope of succeeding in our viveka. 

What ethic can we follow to correct our bad behavior? In the gItA Krishna teaches us a pristine ethic known as niShkAma karma. He says, ‘Do whatever you like, but offer the fruits of all of your actions to Me.’. If the best we are able to offer is another cigarette or a lie to our co-worker, this does not matter to Krishna. He will still accept our offering nonetheless. However we may not feel such things are the best we have to offer. After all, we are making an offering to the Lord of creation. Gradually we will work to change our behavior, so that it is in harmony with what the scriptures and wise teachers recommend. 

vairAgya means renunciation of the enjoyment of the fruits of action in this world and in the hereafter.

vairAgya is the result of successful discrimination. The more we understand that the world (and everything in it) is impermanent, and therefore not where we look to find lasting happiness, the more dispassionate we become with regards to the things of the world. 

Strong attachments cause us to take the view that there is some combination of things we can do - or figure out - to realize the Self. Such attachments also prevent us from realizing that Ishvara alone acts.

From shrI Abhinava Vidyathirtha: ‘People are often devoid of dispassion. The reason for this is the lack of discrimination. Dispassion may dawn due to some calamity but that dispassion is only temporary. Only that dispassion that results from discrimination is lasting. The importance of burning dispassion can never be over-emphasized. It would not be wrong to say that much of the trouble which people encounter in controlling the mind is due to want of vairAgyam,’ (Pearls-of-Wisdom).

shamAdi ShaTka sampatti means the six behaviors. These are as follows.

shama means tranquility of mind, which is to say control of the antaHkaraNa(the inner organ comprised of manas, buddhi, ahaMkAra, and chitta). shama is the result of viveka and vairAgya. Importantly we want to consider that control of the mind is nothing to do with suppression. shama is the fruit of healthy self-education. 

dama means self-control or control of our indriya-s, our senses. If we see a new car or a nice outfit and deeply understand that by possessing it we will not have greater peace of mind or happiness, then we are exercising dama. katha upaniShad gives us a beautiful metaphor in which buddhi (the intellect) is represented by a charioteer, manas (conventional mind) is represented by the reins and the indriya-s are represented by the powerful horses drawing the chariot. Our senses include the five j~nAnendriya-s and the five karmendriya-s. 

uparati means introversion or inwardly absorption. uparati is the result of correctshama and dama. When we exercise both shama and dama in relation to the things of the world, we discover our own inner poise. 

titikShA means forgiveness and forbearance. The obstacles we encounter on our path are the result of our prArabdha karma. Rather than blaming others or feeling sorry for ourselves we might instead think, ‘This obstacle is the result of my own bad conduct. Because Ishvara is an ocean of grace, He is allowing me this experience so that I may understand why I do not want to do sin, which causes undue hardship for me and for others.'

To paraphrase shrI Abhinava Vidyathirtha on the topic of encountering obstacles, ‘When tendencies nurtured in the previous birth are the same as those in the present birth then obstacles to a course of action are negligible. On the other hand, when past and present trends are at variance the one that is more powerful decides the course of action. If we try hard enough, we can certainly overcome past tendencies. How hard we must try cannot be determined beforehand. When obstacles are encountered we must try harder and harder till we succeed,’ (Pearls-of-Wisdom).

shraddhA means faith in the scriptures and the guru. Without shraddhA it is impossible to grow spiritually. 

We have two questions here. Why faith in the scriptures? And who is a guru? 

To answer the second question first, a guru is a brahmaniShTha (knower ofbrahman), a shrotriya (versed in the scriptures) and a good teacher. It is not enough for the guru to be a j~nAni. The guru must also be able to wield apramANa or valid means of Knowledge. 

In the case of vedAnta, that valid means of knowledge is the scriptures. However the scriptures are basically incomprehensible without the aid of a guru(or the grace of Ishvara!) to unfold them for us. It is because of this incomprehensible nature of the scriptures that we need to have faith in the guruas well. 

In bRRihadAraNyaka upaniShad (II, 4, II-IV) we find one of numerous examples of an adhikAri approaching a guru: ‘(2) maitreyi said, “Blessed one, if I had this whole earth, filled with riches, would I become immortal by it?” “No,” said yAj~navalkya. “Your life would be as the life of the wealthy, but there would be no hope of immortality through riches.” (3) maitreyi said, “What use to me is something by which I cannot become immortal? Blessed one, teach me what you know.” (4) yAj~navalkya said, “Ah, you have always been dear to me, and now you speak what is dear too. Sit down here and I will teach you: but, as I explain, meditate upon it,”’ (upaniShad-s, Valerie Roebuck, Penguin, 2004).

In this passage, maitreyi is a picture of shraddhA. 

samAdhAna means singleness of vision or focus. Our biggest obstacle on the spiritual path is often our own lack of focus. We hold to a manas or hive mind point of view and feel supported in our rational reasons for not digging for the spiritual by observing the lifestyles of family, friends, colleagues, and the society in general. Breaking this hold that we have is tantamount to a rocket breaking free of the gravitational pull of the earth. 

In Phaedo, 99, Plato describes breaking this hold as the ‘second navigation’, which is to say, one begins to be guided by the noetic mind (nous, buddhi) rather than the sensible mind. The noetic mind is capable of meditating on ideas, whereas the conventional mind offers nothing more than opinions. As a result of this ‘second navigation’, one becomes a true philosopher, a true lover of wisdom. 

mumukShutvam means the burning desire for spiritual freedom.

Lastly, we can consider what it is that we are to focus on. We are to focus on the possibility of our own realization and enlightenment. 

It is not likely that we will have a burning desire for enlightenment minus some basic competency with regards to each of the above qualifications. These all serve to strengthen our desire for enlightenment, allowing us to receive thevidyA which brings our fundamental avidyA to an end