Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahamkara - Part 1

Man is born divine. Why is it that he has to go through these yogas, all difficult sadhanas, rigorous practice etc. to reach again to the same stage of purity from where he started???? What is that has come in after he was born, which has become an obstacle for man to be in the state of purity where he was, when he was born???

Sri Ramana answers:-

"A child and a Jnani are similar in a way. The interest of the child in things ends with receiving the things. These leave no impressions in the child's mind. The same is the case with the Jnani."

MIND

The mind, being very subtle, is in close apposition or contact with other minds, though the human skull intervenes between them. As mind evolves, you come into conscious relation with the mental currents, with the minds of others - near and distant, living and dead. The individual mind of A, although separated from the mind-substance used by other individuals, B, C, D, E, X, Y, etc., by a thin wall of very finest kind of matter, is really in touch with the other apparently separated minds and with the universal mind of which it forms a part.

If A is a friend of B, A's mind is connected with B's mind. The minds of friends, relatives, brothers of A are attached to A's mind. Several minds are similarly linked to B's mind also. The minds of those who are attached to A's mind are, therefore, connected, in turn, with the minds of those who are hanging on B's mind. In this manner, one mind is in touch with all minds in the whole world. This is the Vibhu theory of mind of Raja Yoga.

TYPES OF MIND

There are various types of mind.

The Bengali type of mind is emotional and fit for devotion and art.

The Madrasi type of mind is intellectual and clever in Mathematics.

The Punjabi type of mind and Maharashtra type of mind are chivalrous.

Bengal has produced emotional saints, Lord Gouranga or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Deva, etc.

Madras has produced intellectual philosophers like Sri Sankara and Sri Ramanuja.

Punjab has produced Guru Nanak, Guru Govind Singh, etc.

The Sadhana and path of Yoga vary according to the type of mind, temperament and capacity.

Tastes also differ. The sight of a fish brings excessive joy to a Bengali.

The sight of tamarind and chillies excites the glosso-pharyngeal nerve of a Madrasi.

The sight of a Palmyra fruit excites the Jaffna Tamil of Ceylon and brings excessive joy.

The sight of meat brings a peculiar joy to a meat-eater.

Is this not a mystery that an object lies outside and saliva appears in the tongue at the sight of it? Because you have this experience daily in everyday life, you do not attach much importance to it. Mind is very mysterious. So is Maya, too.

Even an infinitely superior mind is yet a mind and of the same mould as any man's.

POWER OF MIND

The power of the mind is indescribable and unimaginable. The greatest Siddhis and Riddhis are all the effects of the working of the highly purified mind. Terrific powers and psychic abilities are the expressions of the mind when it nears the All-powerful Consciousness, which is the very existence of Power itself.

The power of the mind is indescribable and unimaginable. The greatest Siddhis and Riddhis are all the effects of the working of the highly purified mind. Terrific powers and psychic abilities are the expressions of the mind when it nears the All-powerful Consciousness, which is the very existence of Power itself.

MIND AND HAPPINESS

Happiness has for ever been the prime aim of every human being. All activities of man are directed towards acquiring the maximum happiness in life. But, through the wrong deluded notion that objects will give happiness, man searches for it outside. The result is that in spite of all his lifelong efforts, he gets disappointment only. 

The very nature of human being  is pure Joy. This is never perceived because the mind is completely externalised. As long as the mind is restlessly wandering about amidst objects, ever fluctuating, excited, agitated and uncontrolled, this true joy cannot be realised and enjoyed. To control the restless mind and perfectly still all thoughts and cravings is the greatest problem of man. If he has subjugated the mind, he is the Emperor of emperors. 

Shall we take up the study and understanding of the functions of this mind through the upcoming posts?

Love.

Sri Ramana Maharshi

Surrender - Part 27

In the last post on SURRENDER, Let us visually  glide through various stages in the bhakti sadhana beginning from Attraction towards God and culminating in Samadhi visually, where Sai and His devotee are depicted.

Dear All,

That completes the SURRENDER theme. 

May it be taking in the purpose of human birth and taking the path towards the goal of God realization, May it be taking in the Karma learning, taking up purushartha and focussing Artha, Dharma and Kama with the back drop, with the theme, with the background of Moksha, the only Goal of God realization or taking in the essence of surrender theme and with single minded devotion to experience the transforming of / evolving of Supreme devotion to Supreme Love, the only and only Obstacle is OUR MIND.

So, we move on to the next theme " MANAS, BUDDHI CHITTA AHANKARA" to dive deep into all the aspects of this  mysterious MIND.

Love.

Swami Krishnananda

Surrender - Part 26

ALIGNING SURRENDER LEARNING WITH THE ATTRACTION TO ATMA NIVEDANAM FLOW

Jnatum - Knowing God.  Looking up to God

Both the above fall in to or get aligned with the initial 3 stages of attraction, faith and worship in the above flow.

Drashtum - Approaching and seeing God. Having the darshan of Lord, within one's heart, focussing on Lord.

Both the above stages are aligned with some where within the stages of Sadhana and mind control to  the stage where the Bhakta's love pervades the creation, every thing he sees, every thing he does, is consumed/covered in the overwhelming Love that he has become.

Praveshtum -  Like we read in earlier posts, the Lord has not only touched the devotee but has entered the devotee's heart and soul, merged in the devotee or, it can also be said that the  devotee has merged with the Lord. Whether it was Krishna touching and then entering devotee's entirety explained in a post or it is Mira entering the sanctum sanctorum never to return/ to be found, the result is the same, ABSOLUTE MERGER.

I am Thine - A stage where the devotee is bound to God, like the kitten to the cat.

You are Mine- Getting God to be bound by your love- Like How Surdas says to Krishna,"O Krishna, You can escape from my physical grip but how can You ever escape from my  heart??" God is bound by devotee's love.

I AM THAT-Tvamevaham - God and me are one, both God and jiva free, both exist as same - Tat Twam Asi.

Both the above stages are aligned to the supreme state of Atma Nivedanam , Supreme Self Surrender or, as the author begged to reword it, Atma Sayujyam.

Thus, let the Bhakta take any one of the 4 or 5 routes explained in previous posts and summarized in this post and follow the chosen route/path intensely and sincerely. 

And, Swami is there, with a re-assuring smile, saying, "You take one step towards me, I shall take 100".

What more assurance is required for us from Sai Maharaj  in this journey of Surrender, where, you have ended from where you started, you started praying to the lord with your heart and at last, found Him in your heart.?

Having discovered the lord in His heart, the devotee cries out in ecstasy, let every one get what you gave me, "Ghar Ghar main bas jao Baba"......, and then to ensure that the lord has heard his cry,  repeats- "Ghar Ghar main bas jao Baba"!!!!!!

Love.

Paramhansa Yogananda

Surrender - Part 25

ALIGNING SURRENDER LEARNING WITH THE ATTRACTION TO ATMA NIVEDANAM FLOW

In the same way, the alignment of the above 2 flow of Love with Attraction to Atma Nivedanam is given below:-

Love for God, the changing of direction of one's love from world to God and Loving God in form, explained in the earlier posts, is when you start with attraction and proceed to adoration.

Whole souled love of God happens upon your single minded devotion for God and Devotion transforming to Love.

Love IS God, the stage where jiva, the nadhi, has merged in God, the ocean of love and only Love exists, neither Jiva nor God, is the state of Atma Nivedanam, Thoughtless state, Absolute Freedom, Supreme Bliss.

In the Loving God Without (in form, outside you),

           Loving God Within and then the

           Spontaneous existence as Love 

                   is aligned with the 3 stages of 

              

           Attraction to single minded devotion, 

   Atma Nivedanam/Thoughtless state/Supreme bliss 

          and then, 

      

Love all or world swimming in your state of LOVE is aligned with experiencing unity in creation.

It is only in this flow that you realize God first, as Love and then, like the cascade of moon beam explained, the world takes your love and gets blessed, without your even deliberating or knowing that you are showering LOVE or you are SERVING ALL.

Though, service to humanity has to be undertaken in all stages of your spiritual sadhana, the service that just happens, without your doing, is the supreme service.

When Ramana was asked by some one as to what possibly could the  monks/ rishis meditating in the Tibetan mountains and the Himalaya serve the world, the sage replied " It is only due to the selfless love and compassion of those monks and rishis that the world is still surviving,inspite of so many wars, height of unrest and agitation in the minds of people!

Love.

Anandamayi Ma

Surrender - Part 24

ALIGNING SURRENDER LEARNING WITH THE ATTRACTION TO ATMA NIVEDANAM  FLOW

Divyatman,

After going through the path/flow starting from Attraction and reaching up to Atma Nivedanam, let us try and summarize the flow of various paths/types learnt in Surrender and see how they align with the final path of Attraction to Atma Nivedanam flow.

Starting from Attraction up to Adoration, you are more at physical  level as far as your devotion is concerned (BODY).

Once you have started your spiritual sadhana and mind control and reach single minded devotion, it is at mental level (MIND).

Devotion transforming to Love, Love for God further evolving to existence as Love and Radiating love in and for the creation is surrendering all senses or rather consumption of all senses in the ocean of love (SENSES).

Your soul has surrendered or rather merged in the supreme, universal soul/consciousness (SOUL).

To be continued...

Love.

Rajneesh

Surrender - Part 23

Dear All,

After having gone through the various stages in the path of devotion, culminating in Sayujya Samadhi where one exists in and as Pure Love, Pure Bliss, let us glide through the sequence of spiritual sadhana in the path of Jnana/Self Inquiry and see at which stage, it culminates in Samadhi, 

Let the flow in the path of Jnana bring in the required curiosity in you and may you start thinking on :-
What is Atman, what is Brahman?

What is Pure Consciousness, corresponding to the upsurge of Love experienced in Devotion?

What is experienced in Jnana, what is the subjective experience? 

In Devotion, we had a form, a prop to focus all our mind and also, we had Lord’s stories, Lord’s darshan, sprashan and sambhashan to fill our  heart with Love.But in Jnana, with no form, nothing to focus upon, how can the mind be focused, on what can the mind be focused, and what and how God without form, is experienced within the heart??

If your questions are sincere, if Swami observing your questions wills, then time may come when all these questions are addressed in this very blog, later.

Love.

Chinmayananda Saraswati

Surrender - Part 22

ABSOLUTE FEEDOM/ SUPREME BLISS- SAMADHI

We have undertaken a journey in the path of devotion to arrive at Surrender/Atma Nivedanam, the last stage in this flow, so far. 

The ultimate culmination of Atma Nivedanam, given in scriptures and also taught in various sessions by the author is the thoughtless state/state of supreme bliss or ananda/Samadhi!.

For the time being, we will confine ourselves to having a glimpse of Samadhi in the context of Bhakti Yoga, i.e., Saguna Upasana.

Samadhi is the state in which one Exists eternally, after Atma Nivedanam or absolute merger of jiva with God. 
According to Vaishnava scriptures, there are four types of salvation known as Salokya, Samipya, Sarupya and Sayujya.

SALOKYA

To live in the same domain as God is one kind of attainment. If God is in heaven, you also are in heaven; you may not be very near to God, you may be far away, but you are in the same kingdom; where the king rules, that country is your abode also; you may not be able to see the king but you are happy that you are in the same land which is ruled by the king. This is salokya mukti. This is also a great thing. After all, you are in the Land of God though you may not see God.

SAMIPYA

Samipya means nearness to God; you are living just by the side of the Ruler of the country; you will feel some elation – the King’s Palace is just here and I am here. Though you have nothing to do with that Palace, you will gain nothing by the nearness, but the mind will say ‘I am so near the Palace of the King; He is here only!’ Thus, nearness to God also is a stage in liberation. This is samipya, closeness.

SARUPYA

Still greater freedom is sarupya, assuming the same form of God; you become an ambassador of God. God has given you the powers which He wields. The ambassador has practically all the powers of the kingdom which he represents; he can speak for the whole country of which he is the ambassador.

The Vaishnava scriptures say sarupya means not merely becoming an ambassador, because the ambassador does not himself look like the king, though he can be adored and invested with all the paraphernalia of the king also, there is something more here.

In Vaikuntha, Abode of Vishnu, Narayana, they shine like Vishnu Himself. When you see the attendant of God, you cannot know whether He is God Himself or is an attendant; he will shine like God Himself, though he is not God. This is called sarupya.

It is said that when Bharatha walked into Ayodhya to make preparations for welcoming Sri Rama who was returning to Ayodhya after 14 years,the Ayodhyavasis mistook Bharatha for Sri Rama Himself. Bharatha's form was exactly like Sri Rama's form. There was no difference between the two. The Bhajan " Jaya Kausalya bandana Ram" echoes this feeling of ayodhaya vasis, waiting for their Sri Rama, as explained by Brother Hari beautifully- " Mangala pavana naam, Jaya Sundara vaidehi Ram...."

SAYUJYA

The last one is sayujya, merging in God, the Highest attainment. All these come under what is known as Saguna Attainment, meditation on God as adorned with all the good qualities –  ananta koti kalyana guna sampanna – all the blessed things are there in God.

In tamil, when a person seeks a very high position/ pocession/ status in life, we often say, " O,YOU SEEM TO BE ASKING NOTHING LESS THAN THE SAYUJYA PADAVI "(The title of Sayujya)

We touched upon  this subject  while learning the samarpan bhajan- Bhavadharini partiswari where the word " SAMRAJYA DAYINI" was explained and learnt as the SAMRAJYA OF SAMADHI.


We learnt thus:-

"Where the yagna is Total Surrender and the Samrajya is what is referred in Sivananda Lahiri- as "Sayujya".

SAAROOPYAM THAVA POOJANA SHIVA MAHA DEVETHI SAMKEERTHANE,

  SAAMEEPYAM SHIVA BHAKTHI DHURYA JANATHA SANGATHYA SAMBHASHANE,

SAALOKYAM CHA CHARACHARATHMAKA THANU DYANE BHAVANI PATHE,

SAYUJYAM MAMA SIDDHA MATHRA BHAVATHI SWAMIN KRIDHARTHOSYSMAHAM.

The Mukthi of my becoming you (Saroopyam) is in thine worship.

The Mukthi of my coming near you (Sameepyam) is in singing about you and calling you “Hey, Shiva” and “Hey Madhava”

The Mukthi of living with you (Salokyam) is in sweet conversation with thine devotees, who in their mind live with you,

The Mukthi of forever mixing with you (Sayujyam) is in thinking forever of your moving and stable form which is the universe,

And so I get all these in this birth itself,

Oh God who is the consort of Bhavani,

I am thankful to you for all these."

Now, if you have carefully read the post on Atma Nivedanam, you would recall and you would also understand why the author begged to  re-word Atma Nivedanam as Atma Sayujya!!!
To be continued...

Love.

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Surrender - Part 21

ATMA NIVEDANAM - SURRENDER / MERGER OF SELF WITH GOD

In the post on “why did God create man”, we heard God answering a question and saying thus: -

No joy of the senses, no joy of possession, can match the joy of God. Though I had everything from eternity to eternity, I began to think, "I am all-powerful, and Joy itself, but there is no one else to enjoy Me. I will make souls in My image, and clothe them as human beings with free choice, to see whether they will seek My material gifts and the temptations of money, wine, and sex; or whether they will seek the million times more intoxicating joy of My consciousness." 

The Bhakta ultimately has sought and attained the million times more intoxicating joy of God consciousness!

Bro. Hari, very often speaks on Nava Vida Bhakti and takes us through the nine stages through and through with the aid of Bhajans. When he reaches Atma Nivednam, the last stage or the ultimate state, he says that he got stuck. For all the other stages, he got choice of bhajans.

However, when he reaches Atma Nivedanam, even after searching the entire Bhajanavali book, he could not find an appropriate bhajan. He says, "Swami perhaps had something to teach me, so I sat in silence and started contemplating and then it stuck me. At that stage, upon complete surrender, every bhajan is appropriate because, no matter what the wordings of the bhajans are, whether it is a namavali bhajan or a bhajan filled with bhava or any other type, the state of mind of the singer after reaching the stage of Atma Nivedanam, has to be the same."

Believe me, brothers and sisters, once a devotee reaches this stage or anywhere near the stage, both the statements given below are identically same for him/her.

1)    Bhajans now mean nothing for him, because the purpose of bhajan is fulfilled. All rituals, all religious practice, all devotional practice followed till now, were immensely useful for him to reach the state of TOTAL SURRENDER but after reaching such state, he is freed of all such practice. Through all the devotional practices undertaken by him,which were MEANS, the END that is merger with the Lord, has been attained. 

                                                                     Or

2)    Any bhajan is the same at his state of existence now. Once you have ceased to be a nadhi after merging in the prema sagara Sai Rama, percussion/ bhajan/ singer/ song/good singing/bad singing/shruthi/ apashruthi -All these mean nothing for you because none of these can now segregate/ divide/isolate you from the prema sagara and make you think on all the above mentioned things. The doll made of salt has merged in the lake of salt. The sugar cane has ceased to exist and only the sweet essence exists now. Is it possible for the essence to revert its status to the sugar cane any more?

The stage is explained as Atma Nivedanam, surrendering the SELF/ ,merger of SELF in God supreme.

With folded hands, with prostrations to the Author of Srimad Bhagawatham, the author shall modify  the wording ATMA NIVEDANAM  to ATMA SAYUJYA or ATMA SAMYOG, because, at this stage, there is no one left to surrender/offer anything to anyone. It is complete merger of Jivatma with the Paramatman, the individual consciousness with the pure absolute universal consciousness.

THE SURRENDERER HAS BEEN SURRENDERED ULTIMATELY.

In the next concluding post on SURRENDER, we will consolidate all the important learning in many previous posts on surrender and join all the learning to make a Garland of Surrender, Garland of Atma Samyog!!

Love.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Surrender - Part 20

ATMA NIVEDANAM - SURRENDER / MERGER OF SELF WITH GOD

Dear ones,

We are reaching the climax posts in Surrender now.

Actually, after Swami’s explanation of Atma Nivedanam, we should put a full stop and end the SURRENDER session. However, few more words would flow on Atma Nivedanam with the  eternal conviction and realization of the truth that it is HE, who is speaking through us and it is His will that through this blog, author has to attempt to write  on selected topics, the clarity is also from Him,  poured through some chosen instrument that is me.

Bro. Ravi Nasery composed a bhajan "Tumhe Namaskar Sai Baba", which was learnt by us in Samarpan.

There is a line in the bhajan- "Prem Dakshina Sveekaaro Bhagwan". It aligns with the Arati line "Tera Tujhko Arpan Kya Laage Mera, Om Jai Jagdish Hare".

When we offer flowers, incense sticks, dhoopa, deepa and  all other types of naivedyam to the Lord, the Lord smiles and asks, "You thought you are offering some thing to me which is not created by me?".

While everything is understood to be created by a combination of  2 or more of the 5 elements and the 5 elements are themselves  known to be created by Him, there is only one thing which is not created by HIM  but is verily HIM - Love.

So, the singer sings, Prem Dakshina Sveekaaro Bhagwan, knowing well that if there is anything worthy of being offered to Bhagwan, it is Love, because only in that offering, the one who offers is Love, that which is offered is Love and the one to whom it is offered is Love! LOVE- LOVING-LOVE.

At the end of the spiritual journey, after several births of forgetting the Lord and playing in the maya jagat created by the Lord, man evolves gradually, step by step, in each birth, accumulates more and more of white arrows with his purushartha, starts from attraction towards God and ends in existing as Love that IS God.

The end has approached, the door for liberation has  opened, the 2 dwarapalakas- Raaga and Dvesha, Attachment and hatred,  the two most dominant  factors which have kept  man away from God in all his previous births till that moment have bowed down, unable to attack the Essence of Love that the devotee exists as,  and pave  the way for the devotee to enter the kingdom of God and merge with God.

The devotee's AHAMKARA  is gone long back, now the time for his pure AHAM to surrender.. ne... merge in the SUPREME GOD-BRAHMAN, the PURUSHA( Purusham eva idagm sarvam.......) !!


Love
(To be continued...)

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