A DREAM

Dear Sumanth,

 

Let me congratulate you on deciding to ask questions.  You have commenced a journey my friend, and you are in the best of hands.  And thats NOT me!.........Its the wonderfully, intelligent folk you will meet here, IF you hang around long enough.

 

For starters, you have great advice from Sadananda, a Giant, in this area.

 

Let me, (still very much an ajnani), answer & hope not to delude you.

 

You ask WHO is the experiencer?  So Vedanta uses the analogy of the Dream.  In a Dream, you create the landscape, situations, and all the people therein.  And there is also A YOU, in your own dream experiencing the happenings in the dream. So you may find murderers in the Dream & Condemn them..............Now here's the fun part.  When you WAKE up next morning ARE YOU still going to condemn that murderer YOU saw in your dream?.........the one that you created? with your MIND

 

Now use that analogy of the dream to understand THIS WAKING DREAM.  Your MIND & your senses, are causing you to believe that there is a real world, with real people, & real feelings..............and all the TAMAS, and you JUDGE & condemn (just like the sleeping dream), but here's the deal............THE REAL YOU, is watching the TAMASHA, in this dream, and the sleeping dream, AND in Deep Sleep.  Your challenge (though easy) is to recognize this ONE CONSCIOUSNESS, that YOU ARE............& not confuse it with YOUR EGO,...........because YOUR EGO, will seem to GET IT,..........& you are back to square one..............meaning you have to realize that your mind and ego...........are ALSO YOU, & yet NOT REALLY, THE REAL YOU!...............I know this sounds like profound CRAP...........& thats why VERY VERY few people GET IT.

 

Now does THIS MEAN, that the world doesn't exist.........OF COURSE NOT.............this is the bone of contention (if any) in Vendantic circles.................IT EXISTS, but IT IS YOU,..........watching yourSELF, in this CREATION.......this is extremely hard for over Pavlovian-conditioned mind to understand...............& in fact THIS mind, will stand in the way (through intellectualism), to confound, the PROFOUND aspect of your OWN PRESENCE, in this PRESENT MOMENT.

 

I wish you well, my fellow DREAMER, but,  I too am searching just like you...............but the GURUS are around, we need to be astute and observant of them.

 

PRAKRITI VS PERUSHA

Peter BonniciReply   

8 hours ago :  Another word for prakRRiti is mAyA.

mAyA is Brahman's shakti, Brahman's potential to manifest. It cannot be a second thing as it has no existence outside Brahman.

A useful way of looking at it is as the relationship between water and its stillness. In its natural undisturbed state water is perfectly still: we can describe this state as water plus its shakti of stillness. It is this stillness that, when disturbed, takes the form of ripples, waves, breakers, tsunami, etc. But what are these? Just the forms of water. Water does not become the wave: it remains water. The stillness disturbed is what becomes the wave. The self of the stillness and the self of the wave is water.

Similarly prakRRiiti-mAyA is also still: unmanifest, undifferentaited shakti. When mAyA is 'disturbed' it becomes differentiated and manifest as the jagat. Also, similarly, the truth of the jagat and the truth of mAyA is brahman, here called purusha.

What is mAyA? It is a single 3-stranded cord comprising three undifferentiated powers: j~nAna shakti, krIya shakti and dravys shakti [the powers of knowledge, action and inertia]. Once mAyA moves into manifestation, these three shakti manifest as guNas: sattva, rajas and tamas respectively. These combine to form the subtle elements which re-combine to give us the whole subtle and gross worlds.

All through this brahman remains brahman. It does not even witness. In its mere presence, by virtue of its mere presence, the powers of mAyA do their thing. The example given here is of the sun with its nature of illumination. In its mere presence things come to light. From the point of view of the illumined things we can say that the illuminator is the sun. But from the point of view of the sun does it illumine as an act of will? No. It just is the sun. And because it is the sun with its nature of illumination, things get lit. So the witness is Brahman, but Brahman is not the witness.

Brahman/ consciousness is never without mAyA shakti: together with mAyA shakti it gets the name Ishvara or saguNa brahman. For the sake of discussion, however, when we want to talk of brahman without its potential to manifest, we call it nirguNa brahman or purusha.

I hope this longish answer has shed some light on your question. All this can be understood from texts like Tattva Bodha, which is why Vedanta study without study of Tattva Bodha will always throw up questions about what's what and what the relation of the parts are. I can highly recommend it.Peter Bonnici

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Dhanya's Blog

Dhanya's Blog

Two Types of Knowledge the Vedas Give Us    3/9/2011 12:00:00 AM The Vedas give us two types of knowledge, both of which are unavailable for us to arrive at with our usual means of knowledge, and both of which types of knowledge are beneficial for us to know. The first type of knowledge is knowledge of the creation and how it works.  The Vedas tell us of the existence of Ishvara and the orders that govern the whole.  They tell us about dharma and karma, about those deeds which will have beneficial results (puNya), and those deeds which will not (pApa).  They tell us about rebirth and the existence of heaven realms.  They describe to us those rituals we can do in order to attain desired results, and also certain types of prayer. All of the above we cannot arrive at with our usual means of knowledge.  The first portion of the Vedas gives us knowledge of those things which will enable us to live and good and happy life, both here and hereafter. The second portion of the Vedas, the Upanisads, also known as Vedanta, gives us knowledge of something else.  This portion gives us the knowledge of who we in fact are and what this entire creation is.  They lead us to the recognition that 'I am the Whole.'  The entire manifest reality has for its being my Self alone. We cannot arrive at either of these two types of knowledge on our own, and both of them are beneficial for us.  The type of knowledge which the first portion of the Vedas gives us is considered to be in the realm of 'belief,' in that we cannot know if all that is described therein is really true, yet to my mind anyway, logic supports it. We can know and recognize 'I am the Whole.'   All of this which appears to be dual has as its reality my very being alone. So the Vedas give us two types of knowledge, neither of which we can arrive at on our own, and both of which are beneficial for us to know.  The first helps us to live the best life that we can in the changing world of experience, and we accept the words with faith, because with an individual limited mind we cannot know how all of duality is working in detail.  The second type of knowledge (Self-knowledge) we can know directly and without a shadow of a doubt.  Initially we accept the words with faith pending understanding, and when the understanding arrives we know, we know directly and absolutely that 'I am the whole.'  There is nothing that truly exists other than 'me.'

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On having a self versus maintenance and ecstasy   2/19/2011 3:32:00 PM

My spiritual journey has been long.  I've tried many paths and many practices.  Two of the different traditions and practices I've been exposed to are the mindfulness meditation practices of Theravadan Buddhism, known as Vipassana, and Hindu practices of devotion, or bhakti, both of which seem to have many adherents in the West these days. 

Buddhist mindfulness meditation practices are very popular now, perhaps because these teachings are presented as being outside of any religious structure.  Anyone can meditate, they say, you don't have to believe anything, subscribe to anything, all you have to do is sit down and observe your mind and your physical sensations.  This practice will lead to the gain of greater stability and happiness in your life.  And it probably does.  Now there is even the science that proves it.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/14/AR2011021405973.html

The other spiritual practice, which is very different from Vipassana sitting meditation and which seems to be gaining popularity in the West, is the practice of kirtan, call and response chanting that usually focuses on repeating the names and aspects of different Hindu deities.  The goal of this practice seems to be the gain of an ecstatic experience. http://www.suite101.com/content/kirtan-devotional-singing-a72761

Although these two practices, mindfulness meditation, and singing kirtan, seem entirely different, there are many people who enjoy doing both, and even like to combine the practices.  A little sitting meditation, then a little ecstatic chanting.  What could be better?

I don't think any of it is a bad thing.  Any spiritual practice which calms the mind in whatever way it is accomplished is helpful, and it will provide for greater happiness, peace and contentment in every day life.

But my question is what are we then left with as a goal?  It seems to me that the goal of Buddhist practice of mindfulness meditation, as it is generally presented these days, is something that requires constant maintenance.  One has to always practice mindfulness.  Certainly it becomes easier the more one does it, but it is still a practice which requires maintenance, and one can slip out of it.

Having an ecstatic experience as a result of praising the Lord through kirtan is wonderful, but of course, like any experience, it doesn't last and it needs to be repeated.

The marvelous thing about the teachings of Vedanta is that once you know you have a self, and once you have recognized what that self is, you know without a shadow of a doubt that you have recognized the most stable thing about your being.  In fact, it is your being.

Your self, atma, which is brahman, doesn't need to be maintained.  One cannot slip out of it, because one is it.  Rather than requiring to be maintained, the self is in fact maintaining everything.  The self is not an ecstatic experience which comes and goes, and yet it is the source of all happiness.

Echoing the ancient sages of the past, all one can say is, 'What a wonder!  What a wonder that there is a self!  What a wonder that these teachings and teachers exist!  What a wonder that they deliver the goods!'

And to myself I sometimes think, 'What a wonder that anyone would pursue anything else.'

Shanti Om!

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.