Sathya Sai Baba

One has to realise Divinity by cultivating love for God. It is only love that can bind God. Through such Divine Love, the oneness of God has to be realised. If the attributeless God has to be described, the description would be “One without a second, eternal, pure, unchanging, witness to all functions of the intellect, beyond one’s imagination and beyond the three conditions (gunas).”

The best sadhana is to realise unity in Divinity and worship God as such. “To see the One in all you see.”

Essence of Vedanta - Part 14

Dear All,

Once again, we shall focus on all the questions at the end of each theme / topic handled so far in this blog.

Author leaves you with these questions for couple of days, for any sincere reader to take in these questions and introspect on them.

Purpose is not to just glance through the questions. Purpose is to take in and contemplate on these questions.

As we say often during functions in Puttaparthi that "All roads lead to Parthi", all the questions  summarized below point to / lead to / focus on ONE SINGLE ANSWER, ONE SINGLE EXPERIENCE OF GOD where, the answer has to give us what that GOD is and how that GODLY experience is!!!

So, the author leaves you for 2 to 3 days to take in these questions and wait for the answer!!!

Love.

Theme	Questions
Purpose of Human Birth	How and what is the divine experience that we attain??
	How do we experience God without a name, form and without attributes??
Karma	How is the divine experience/ the state of existence with no karmas left as balance and we have transcended all actions/ all thoughts/ all karmas?
Surrender	What is our state of existence in that absolute self surrender??
	How do we experience God/Divinity within and without, with no thoughts, when we have merged into the ocean of Love that God's essence is!!!
MBCA	In the flow shown, the final culmination is shown as “Purpose of life, God realization, is fulfilled”.
	That is the final culmination of the all the efforts taken up in one's spiritual sadhana, with unshakable conviction (mumukshatva).
	However, when it is said, God realization, what is it exactly all about?? Which God is realized?? Where??? And what is the experience, if there is any experience at all, upon realizing the God??
	How any realized Master, upon God realization, can possibly explain THE GOD that has been realized by the Master???
Creation	“Upon retracing from the gross body and mind and senses as per sankhya flow and reaching up to the state of Purusha” or “Upon retracing from the drawings (our gross existence with body mind and intellect) and reaching up to the state of Purusha which is explained as unmanifest Iswara in the panchadasi learning”, What would be the actual experience of the PURUSHA or the UNMANIFEST ISWARA or the PURUSHOTTAMA explained in Bhagwad Gita???
	How and what is this God realization???
	What is that God who is realized as Purusha/ Purushottama/ Unmanifest Iswara??
	Can that God, who is otherwise inexplicable, be explained somehow???
Three Bodies	Is there anything, any existence which activates the three bodies, which sustains the three bodies but still, it is beyond the description off the three bodies????
Three States of Consciousness	In all the three states, on introspecting, we can observe one common thing.
	In the waking state, there is one factor which is fetching us all the experience through our senses and intellect but that one factor is above our senses and intellect. This can be said so because, that factor is only using the senses and intellect to fetch your experience. A king who uses the service of his ministers has to be obviously above the state of his ministers. Thus, the single factor which is using the ministers of its senses and intellect has to be above the senses / intellect!!
	In the dream state, again, that same single factor exists, which retrieves our impressions and bananas and then through our intellect, is fetching us the experience of what happened in the dream. Again, here also, the same explanation applies. The king, that single factor, using the vasanas / impressions and then the intellect, has to be above all of them!!!
	In the deep sleep, when neither senses are working, nor our impressions or vasanas are working, still, That single factor is definitely present, otherwise, without body, mind and intellect working, who was present while the King had deep sleep, who fetches the experience that “I had a deep sleep without any experience” when the king wakes up on the next day??
Panchakoshas	“If the 5 koshas are like the 5 lampshades or the 5 layers, then what is that which is the real Light which shines forth in and through all the 5 lampshades or all the 5 koshas?”
	Is Ananda Maya kosha the ultimate or there is any other subtler source which actually makes one feel that “I AM IN BLISS”, like an imaginary concluding scene explained in an earlier post when King Janaka wakes up and experiences that he had a very deep sleep the previous night.
	If his body, mind, intellect were not active  while he was sleeping, then what was THAT which was witnessing his deep sleep which prompts him on the next day and makes him say that he had deep sleep??
Introduction to Veda and vedanta (Posts on sadhana chatushthaya)	If Mumuksatva is all about intense craving for God realization, WHAT is understood by the fired up mumukshu sadhaka as GOD??
	What is the God realization he is turning to??
	What is the experience that the sadhaka aspires to attain upon the fructification of his mumukshatva??

Love 

Swami Sivananda

Look not outside for light, peace, joy, and bliss, but look within. Moksha or salvation is neither in heaven nor in Mt. Kailas. 

The inexhaustible, supreme divine treasure, the Atmic pearl, is locked up in the chambers of your own heart, in the casket of silence. 

Discover the true Reality in the very heart of your own subjectivity, in the very depth of your own being.

Essence of Vedanta - Part 13

Dear All,

In the earlier theme, introduction to veda and vedanta, we learnt on the sadhana chatushtaya, as under:

Most stress was laid on Mumukshatva, intense craving to realize God.

Thereafter, in the posts on  essence of vedanta, we have recently learnt on the following:

1) Three body - Gross, Subtle and Causal body

2)  Three states of consciousness - waking, dream, deep sleep

3) Pancha koshas- Annamaya, Pranamaya, Manomaya, Vignanamaya, Anandamaya Kosha.

The detailed description and inner essence of these 3 learning are contained in the posts under the theme ' Essence of Vedanta" , from post 6 onwards.

In all the above learning, we left with the following questions.

1) Three bodies

" Is there any thing, any existence which  activates the three bodies, which sustains the three bodies but still, its beyond the description off the three bodies????

2) Three states of consciousness

In all the three states, on introspecting, we can observe one common thing.

·       In the waking state, there is one factor which is fetching us all the experience through our senses and intellect but that one factor is above our senses and intellect. This can be said so because, that factor is only using the senses and intellect to fetch your experience. A king who uses the service of his ministers has to be obviously above the state of his ministers. Thus, the single factor which is using the ministers of its senses and intellect has to be above the senses / intellect!!

·       In the dream state, again, that same single factor exists, which retrieves our impressions and bananas and then through our intellect, is fetching us the experience of what happened in the dream. Again, here also, the same explanation applies. The king, that single factor, using the vasanas / impressions and then the intellect, has to be above all of them!!!

·       In the deep sleep, when neither senses are working, nor our impressions or vasanas are working, still, That single factor is definitely present, otherwise, without body, mind and intellect working, who was present while the King had deep sleep, who fetches the experience that "I had a deep sleep without any experience" when the king wakes up on the next day??

3) Pancha koshas 

"If the 5 koshas are like the 5 lampshades or the 5 layers, then what is that which is the real Light which shines forth in and through all the 5 lampshades or all the 5 koshas?"

Is Ananda Maya kosha the ultimate or there is any other subtler source which actually makes one feel that " I AM IN BLISS", like an imaginary concluding scene explained in an earlier post when King Janaka wakes up and experiences that he had a very deep sleep the previous night.

If his body, mind, intellect were not active  while he was sleeping, then what was THAT which was witnessing his deep sleep which prompts him on the next day and makes him say that he had deep sleep??"

And regarding Mumukshatva, the question is:-

" If Mumuksatva is all about intense craving for God realization, WHAT is understood by the fired up mumukshu sadhaka as GOD?? 

What is the God realization he is turning to??

What is the experience that the sadhaka aspires to attain upon the fructification of his mumukshatva??

Love.

Anandamayi Ma

The Eternal Himself is the wave that floods the shore, so that you may be carried away. Those who can surrender themselves to this aim will be accepted by Him. But if your attention remains directed towards the shore, you cannot proceed – after bathing you will return to the shore. 

If your aim is the Supreme, the Ultimate, you will be led on by the movement of your own true nature. There are waves that carry away and waves that pull back. Those who can give themselves up will be taken by Him. In the guise of the wave He holds out His hand and calls you.

Essence of Vedanta - Part 12

Dear All,

In the creation session, we learnt the creation process as explained in Sankhya, as explained in Bhagwad Gita and as explained in panchadasi with the example of pure canvass and drawings.

1) The Creation process through sankhya is illustrated with the flow below 

2) The creation process as learnt through panchadasi is given below 

Pure canvas without any beginning and without any end.

The pure canvass as shown in the first diagram  has been been stiffened by starch for making it suitable for painting.

A light sketch in some form on this stiffened canvas is drawn, which is barely visible and indistinctly cognisable as to its real features.

The lines that have been drawn are filled with ink in different colors as would be necessary to present the requisite picturesque scene.

3)  We also drew a comparison of creation process as explained in Sankhya, B.Gita and panchadasi through a tabular chart 

  

	SANKHYA	BHAGWAD GITA/ VEDANTHA	PANCHADASI
Primal cause, beyond Manifest and un-manifest	Not explained	Purushottama/ Prabrahman	Pure canvass/ Purusha
Un-manifest cause	Purusha	Purusha and prakriti	Stiffening of canvass- Iswara
Manifest cause	Prakriti and Mahat	Hiranyagarbha	Outline of Drawing-Hiranya garbha
Manifest creation	Ahankara and all Subsequent tatwa	Same as Sankhya	Inked Drawings- Objects created in the universe

We concluded in post 20 in creation theme thus:-

"Once we seriously try and start re-tracing from various objects/ human beings/ nature that we see in this world, we can retrace to the cosmic mind of Iswara which planned / inked all such objects, then from the cosmic mind of Iswara, we can retrace to the unmanifest Iswara/ God and from Iswara, we can re trace to the pure canvas prior to starch, the PURUSHOTTAMA prior to purusha and prakriti,  the ONE who is beyond manifest (hiranya garbha) and unmanifest (Iswara) and settle in HIM, THE SUPREME GOD!"

Now, the  final and the last question upon understanding the creation process clearly.

" Upon retracing from the gross body and mind and senses as per sankhya flow and reaching  upto the state of purusha"

or

'Upon retracing from the drawings (our gross existence with body mind and intellect) and reaching upto the state of Purusha which is explained as unmanifest Iswara in the panchadasi learning",

What would be the actual experience of the PURUSHA or the UNMANIFEST ISWARA or the PURUSHOTTAMA explained in Bhagwad Gita??? How and what is this God realization??? What is that God who is realized as purusha/ purushottama/ unmanifest Iswara?? Can that God, who is otherwise inexplicable, be explained somehow???

Hari Aum Tatsat.

Paramhansa Yogananda

Dear All,

Let us recollect our learning on  LOVE in the path of surrender, which we learnt in the theme "SURRENDER" vividly.

Do we remember what all we learnt together on the above flow in Surrender posts??

If not, it would be extremely useful to revisit the SURRENDER posts and refresh our hearts with all the learning on the above flow in SURRENDER posts.

When the Love of God culminates in LOVE IS GOD or when God as LOVE is discovered within or when single pointed devotion for God transforms into total LOVE, what happens?? What is the experience of the devotee at this stage??

The master  explains exactly that state in the above quote.

"Now that thou hast opened my eyes, I find  doors everywhere................. through sweet  memories of lovely experiences"

In fact a whole life is not enough to actually realize the beauty of each  expression (beyond mind) in the above quote of the master.

Till the time we have not discovered the GOD WITHIN, or our devotion has not transformed to total LOVE where neither we exist nor Lord exists but only LOVE shines,  the doors that Paramahamsa mentioned in today's quote  are not opened!!!

We are shut within the four walls of our own ego with no door available to be free of our ego, to set ourselves free!!

And, when the doors open, O....., how to express the experience of  that freedom when, as the master says " every gust of my prayer opens an unentered door in the vast temple of THY presence"!! 

Should we cry in ecstasy...Aha,, Aha or as the King Janaka exclaims in Ashtavakra Gita, we prostrate to our own inner experience and say. "Aho, Aho"!!!!. 

What an experience it is to actualize today's quote of the  realized master!!!!

It is at this state or this ultimate state that the devotion transformed to  the smaller streams  of Love  gather strength, rush and join the river or the ocean of supreme Love, the Prema Sagara Sai Rama, to merge and lose jiva's identity totally, never ever to regain one's false identity , false ego or avidya as this Jiva!!!

Even while these expressions flow from the source  (not from the mind  of the author), the author  is stilled and settled as that supreme ocean of Love or Bliss!!!! 

He is trying tirelessly through these posts to share that bliss , that love with one and all, not because his mind said so but because his master, SAI spoke from within and said (in voiceless  voice as the very source)- " Sathya, Share......., give to the world what I have given to you, let it not just remain with you and go with you when you pass away from this world"!!

O brothers and sisters, take it, before it is too late!!!!

Love, Love and  just ....Love.

Essence of Vedanta - Part 11

Dear All,

Now, we move on to the essence of the theme MBCA or Manas, Buddhi, Chitta, Ahankara.

The first flow  given below captures how a human being forgets his divine nature and then starts acting in the world with his 5 kleshas- Avidya, Asmita, Raga, Dvesha and Abhnivesha ( all of them have been explained in great detail in MBCA posts, these are 5 egos or 5 colorings on our divine identity)

The second flow given below  explains how actions undertaken by a human being with 1 or more of the Ego/Kleshas/ colorings leaves an impressions in his memory bank called chitta once the action is completed and then the flow gives the process of manifestation of such impressions into future actions, again colored by one or more of the 5 ego /colorings. 

Man, endowed with guidance from a qualified Guru, starts taking up spiritual sadhana with intense conviction and strength, is able to reverse the flow and attain God realization in the path of devotion or in the path of Wisdom, as under:

All the above were taken up in the MBCA posts. 

Now, as we left with the last question in the previous post on the 3 theme flows- Purpose of Birth, Karma and Surrender themes, a similar question is put up with respect to the MBCA theme and specially with respect to the last flow shown above.

In the flow shown above, the final culmination is shown as "Purpose of life, God realization, is fulfilled". That is the final culmination of the all the efforts taken up in one's spiritual sadhana,  with unshakable conviction (mumukshatva).

How ever, when it is said, God realization, What is it exactly all about?? Which God is realized?? Where??? And what is the experience, if there is any experience at all, upon realizing the God?? How any realized master, upon God realization, can possibly explain THE GOD that has been realized by the master???

As said before, we will consolidate all our final questions on all the theme revision in the few posts which commenced 2 days before , and then try and answer to all those questions which would be directing us towards ONE ANSWER, ONE TRUTH, ONE ESSENCE!!!

Hari Aum Tatsat.