Upadesa Saram - Post 21

Verse 18

वृत्तयस्त्वहंवृत्तिमाश्रिताः |

वृत्तयो मनो विद्ध्यहं मनः ||

vṛttayastvahaṁvṛttimāśritāḥ |

vṛttayo mano viddhyahaṁ manaḥ ||

Modes of the mind, now, are dependent on the “I” mode.

Modes are the mind; know the “I” is the mind.

We had come to this step in our discussion of Ashtanga Yoga. There, we came to an equation where we said Mind equals a stream of thoughts. There, the procedure went on to eliminate the objects and the subject from the equation so that the net result would be Mind equals the Self.

Vritti

Vritti means thought modification. Mind is but various thought forms.  All these thought forms depend upon the “I” thought.

                                                                          

Aham

Aham is pure awareness without any ray of thought, without any awareness of object. Aham is unborn and has no limitation. It is pure, not tainted with anything at all.

This “Aham” is the pure awareness referred in the Maha vakya, “Aham Brahmasmi”.

                                                                            

Ahamkara

When the above Aham assumes a form, when one takes himself to be his body, his sense organs, his mind etc.,   the  “I” thought arises and the pure Aham becomes Ahankara or EGO.

To understand “All thoughts depend on the I-thought”, we take a simple thought and examine it: “I know a flower”.  We divide this thought into its two components: one is the object and one the subject:       

i) Idam Vritti: This is the objective part. The flower is the object of this thought. Thought centered upon a flower becomes “I know a flower”. This objective part is seen to be the changeable aspect of thought. If the flower changes, for example to “sun”, the thought also has to change, there is no choice in the matter.

One’s feelings also can change with the changing object. One may like a flower that is fresh, but when it withers, the same object loses its hold on the mind, producing a different feeling. The feeling produced by a thought is yet another new thought all its own. It is simply related to the previous thought. Thus, thoughts become interdependent and increase in number and complexity.

The “I” thought will not go in spite of changes in your environment, in your conditions.

Even if one evolves in his thoughts, in his spiritual sadhana etc., and thinks, “I am charitable”, “I have known SELF”, “I am a yogi” etc., the “I” is just gathering new thoughts, new qualifications, to remain there.

The imposter “I am so and so” does not quit.

ii) Aham Vritti: Independent of the object is another part of the thought – I know. This is the subjective part. We find that such a thought exists all the time in the mind. We can call it the “I am” thought (Aham = “I am”). This is the changeless aspect of the thought. It is found attached to all our thoughts. Every thought that crosses the mind has this I-thought attached to it as its subject. Nothing escapes this I-thought.

The two parts do have a relationship. ‘Idam’ cannot exist without the ‘Aham’. The Aham helps us to connect to the Idam. The Aham is thus more subtle. All Idam rest on the Aham. The Aham remains the quotient in all thoughts.

Thus, the statement “All thoughts depend on the I-thought” is explained. If we are to make anything of the mind, we need to get to the root of the Aham Vritti of our thoughts.

The approach taken by Jnana Yoga is therefore direct: 

Ignore the changing aspect or Idam Vritti, and try to get to the bottom of the Aham-Vritti. Then we shall solve the riddle of Mind.

It has to be remembered that Ego cannot conduct an enquiry into the “SELF” or Pure “Aham”.

Such an enquiry is possible only through another path and that is Guru’s instructions, Guru’s teaching.  

In the Rama’s story, when Rama could not slay Ravana with all His strength, someone else tells Rama, “Ravana’s life lies in his heart”. It is then that Rama aims Brahmastra at Ravana’s heart and  Ravana dies.

  

 Ahamkara is Ravana, which is a notion, not in the head, but in the heart.

Thus, Ahamkara is in our heart and whatever we do, it keeps coming back.

So, Ahamkara is Ravana in us and Aham is Rama,  the Lord in us.

Till the time we do not merge in our Lord, any amount of surrender does not work. Surrender is not complete till the time we are separate and Lord is separate.

Till the time this duality exists, our surrender is also a new imposter and we are still taking refuge in Ahamkara when we say, “I have surrendered to the Lord”. 

The new qualification that we have attained is yet another identity, “One who is surrendering”.

So, the Brahmastra that we have to use is total merger with Lord (in the context of today's post, merger with Aham) so that Ravana, our Ahamkara, dies permanently, never to return, never to assume a new qualification, a new imposter.

Love.    

               

Upadesa Saram - Post 20

Verse 17

मानसं तु किं मार्गणे कृते |

नैव मानसं मार्ग आर्जवात् ||

mānasaṁ tu kiṁ mārgaṇe kṛte |

naiva mānasaṁ mārga ārjavāt ||

What, then, is the mind? Upon seeking, there is not, indeed, the mind. This is the direct path.

The path of Jnana Yoga as described by Sri Ramana Maharshi is characterized by its directness of approach. To the great Maharshi, the straight route, being the shortest, was the preferred route. Here, in His characteristic fashion, He introduces and concludes the enquiry into the mind in the same sentence! 

All three paths discussed so far bring the mind into the focal point sooner or later during the progress of Sadhana. 

In Karma Yoga, Sadhana starts by performing actions with the right attitude so that clarity and purity of mind are brought about and eventually the Sadhaka has a clear and clean mind to deal with. 

In Bhakti Yoga, the starting point is external Pooja of an idol, which soon develops and brings the devotee to mental worship which we call Dhyana or meditation. Once in the mind, the Sadhana takes the course of going to subtler levels of the mind. 

And in Ashtanga Yoga, we see how the Yogi starts by attempting to bring his mind to the Laya state of blankness through control of the breath, so that from that state he can launch his practice of nullifying his negative tendencies (Vasanas) and begin to spend more time in Self-abidance. 

All three, in different ways, do more or less the same thing – they bring the mind to the centre stage of the Sadhana process. In Jnana Yoga, there is a completely different approach. It bears no resemblance to what has been attempted in these earlier Yogas. 

There is one very important precondition to this Yoga, and it is very significant. The seeker that starts this enquiry into Truth has to be a qualified person. 

He has to have that special quality of detachment, that spirit of bold enquiry which comes from courage to face oneself, a high degree of purity and capacity to remain an independent observer of himself.

Also, the student must approach a qualified Acharya, who has realized SELF and who can also teach the student clearly on enquiry of SELF. 

Enquiry about the mind

If the existence of mind is accepted, we get involved in a full-pronged attack on it. The mind is then seen as an ‘enemy’. Much effort goes in taming, inducing and coaxing it to change its ways; in quietening, purifying and subduing it to change its inherent nature. 

In Jnana Yoga, we do not question the mind. We only ask, “What is the mind?” We enquire deeply into its nature, its form, its status and its very existence. “Is it there?” 

In all other paths which we have covered, the existence of Mind is very much there. 

In Bhakti, we channelized our mind to God.

In Yoga, we destroyed our mind, though only temporarily. (Laya).

In Buddhism, mind is considered as unreal, Mithya but it does not reveal a reality clearly, if Mind is a Mithya. 

Now, let us see what Jnana yoga reveals to us about “Mind”.

Mind cannot be taken as real, because, it depends for its existence upon I, Awareness.

Nor can it be dispensed off totally as unreal because we know that it does exist. 

Therefore, Mind is an apparent mithya, available for various functions.

But is there anything prior to mind?? Is there anything that illumines the mind?? From where does this mind derive its “awareness” so as to function?

What causes this mind to function without which, the mind is as dead as a dead body??

With this thought, this enquiry, the mind disappears and the SELF, the I, the one who illumines the mind, stays and shines!!!

What remains is REAL. What disappears on enquiry is only APPARENT but not eternally real.

This is the discovery out of straight, direct enquiry into the nature of mind. Indirect enquiry does not help in this discovery.

In the path of Bhakti, you are channelizing your mind, which has been taken as so real, towards God. Please remember, unless you have become a Meera or a Tulsidas or a Kabir or a Tyagaraja and has dissolved yourself and merged in God, the mind, which was considered real and dangerous, is bound to bounce back with even more strength!!!

Whereas, in this royal path of Jnana yoga, by the direct enquiry as explained earlier and with a series of spiritual sessions rendered by a qualified Guru who has realized SELF, one gets into the depth of contemplation and then, as he advances in his spiritual sadhana, he is free from the agitations caused by the mind, he is free from the Vasanas which rules his mind, he is free from Raga and Dvesha, the monsters who rule the mind. 

So, in nutshell, he has conquered his mind and the mind can no more be a master, as he has mastered his mind, not for a day, not for a month, not for a year, but for eternity hereafter!

Let us conclude this verse with gem of wisdom emerging from Swami, during one of His discourses.

Swami says,

"Consider a cloth which has been made into a handkerchief. Its basis is cotton, which does not have any specific form. It may be considered as pure and unlimited. From this cotton, has come the threads. By joining the threads together a cloth has emerged. In the same way, from the pure and unlimited Atma the I-thought has emerged. From this, in turn, has come the mind. Therefore, your mind and the I have both originated from the pure, unlimited Divinity, the One Reality which is your true Self."

Love.

Upadesa Saram - Post 19

Verse 16

दृश्यवारितं चित्तमात्मनः |

चित्त्वदर्शनं तत्त्वदर्शनम् ||

dṛśyavāritaṁ cittamātmanaḥ |

cittvadarśanaṁ tattvadarśanam ||

The seen warded off, the mind is of the Self.

The revelation of Consciousness is the revelation of the Truth.

The mind that is ‘destroyed’, which does not run after objects, is itself declared to be Consciousness. This is the revelation in this verse, which will turn many necks. That state of total annihilation of the mind, requiring its withdrawal from the sense objects, is nothing but Consciousness. Not only that, it is the ultimate vision of Reality or Self-realization. 

When One’s mind, CHITTAM, is withdrawn from all perceptions, DRSYAM, one gains appreciation of one’s nature which is awareness, CHITVAM and this is the truth in essence, TATWAM. 

To understand this, we first look at two very basic definitions: 

i)   What is the mind? – A flow of thoughts.

ii)  What is a thought? – Only an awareness of an object.

Mind   =     Thought + Thought + Thought…..

(Mind is a bundle of thoughts, Swami has said)

Awareness + Object  =   Thought

So, if the object is removed from the above equation, then what remains??

Since we have seen above that Mind = Thought and also, in the second equation, after removing object, Awareness= Thought, hence, due to the common factor of thought, we conclude the following.

Mind   =     Awareness!

i) If object changes, thought will change; awareness remains the same. As we allow the mind to jump from object to object, thoughts keep arising in it. To control the thought, we need to stop the objects from changing. 

ii) If we remove the object from thought, only awareness remains. As we do this to many objects one at a time, the mind only becomes a flow of Awareness.

In the above process, it is to be known that there is a knower consciousness and there is an object consciousness. 

Our thought on an object and we the knower, both are in the same consciousness, as God, as Pure Consciousness, pervades the entire creation.

Just remove the thought of an object, what remains in awareness. 

You are observing / seeing an object, say, a flower kept on the table. Here, what is explained is that your thought process about the flower is also in awareness, and you, the knower, is also in the same pure consciousness. If the thought about the flower  is withdrawn, then what remains is you the pure awareness. 

When we stand on a sea shore and keep observing the waves, apparently, one may say that a wave is different from the water.

However, the reality is that waves will keep coming from the water. Thus wave, innumerable waves, have no separate existence apart from water. Each wave, when it arises, the truth is that the vision of water flows as wave. Even when waves change, the vision of water does not change.

Similarly, even when the thoughts (waves) keep changing, the pure awareness “I” remains the same (water). One must see themselves AS THE PURE AWARENESS, even amidst the thought waves that flow from them.

The Culmination of Ashtanga Yoga: 

The search for the Reality ends in the mind itself. The mind, when freed from restlessness by not permitting itself to have any relationship with either object or subject, is found to be none other than pure consciousness. 

There is no ‘ego-consciousness’ left, since the subject ‘I’ has been treated as just another ‘object’ and eliminated. The objectless mind is pure Consciousness. 

Love.