Swami Sivananda

The State of Jivanmukti

The Guru said: A Jivanmukta who has reached the Imperishable Turiya state can never be affected by the pairs of opposites. He always rests in his own Sat-Chit-Ananda Swaroopa. He roams about happily.

commentary

A Jivanmukta is a sage who is liberated from bondage even while living with a body. The perception of the material universe as such vanishes and he beholds the One Brahman appearing as the universe. 

The egoism of the Jivanmukta is like a burnt cloth which has got the appearance of a cloth but is actually reduced to the state of ashes. 

The individual consciousness of the Jivanmukta is powerful enough to maintain the existence of his physical body, but it is not capable of bringing to him another birth as an embodied being. 

His Sanchita-Karmas get fried by the fire of Brahma-Jnana or Knowledge of the Absolute Reality. He has no Agami Karmas to bring future births because he has no feelings of Kartritva and Bhoktritva. His actions are cosmic movements and not the instincts of the sense of egoism. The Prarabdha Karma which has given rise to Brahma-Jnana lasts as long as the momentum of past desires which constitute the present Prarabdha lasts. An illustration will make this fact very clear.

A hunter sees an animal moving in the forest and thinking that it is a tiger he shoots an arrow at it. After the arrow has left the bow-string he realises that the animal is not a tiger but a cow. But this subsequent knowledge will not save the cow from being affected by the arrow. The arrow will hit the object which lies within the sphere of its momentum.

The Jnani realises that the whole universe is Brahman only. But the desires which he had given rise to during the time when he thought that the objective world is real will not cease from demanding materialisation into effects as long as the momentum of their craving lasts. 

Hence these desires keep up the physical body of the Jivanmukta for some time even after his Self-realization. When the Prarabdha-Karma is exhausted the body drops off by itself and the sage becomes unified with the Infinite Brahman.

But, even while living with a body, the Jivanmukta identifies his consciousness with Brahman and is not affected by the pairs of opposites and the forces of nature. The whole universe is his body for he is in tune with all the forces of Nature due to his transcending all phenomenal relativities and resting in Brahman-Consciousness at all times.

(Verse by the Master Sivananda with commentary by the disciple Swami Krishnananda)

Essence of Vedanta - Part 27

Dear All,

Let us try and learn more on THE GOD as ANANTAM, in this post.

The famous sutra in Brahma Sutra is

Janmadyasyayatah (tat Brahmah)

(Brahman is that from which Creation (shristi) etc. (as also Sthiti and Laya) takes place)

Brahman is Utpathi shristi, sthiti, laya karanam. 

But being the cause of Creation etc. is not intrinsic to the nature of Brahman. 

However, these help us to distinguish Brahman from Jagat or jiva.

So this statement indicates the one indivisible Brahman. Every object in the manifested universe is an entity limited by it identity. 

Identity is a product of space and time. But each of these objects is also vested with the infinite possibilities associated with them. When identified with its current being an object is a finite thing. When identified with its infinite possibilities it is infinite. 

Actually, existence-consciousness means consciousness, which is – or existence, which is aware of its existence. In that state, which is called Brahman-knowledge or Brahman-experience, there is simultaneous experience of all things. 

Here, in this world, whatever freedom you may have is limited by the existence of other things in this world. Your freedom is limited by the freedom of another person and, therefore, your freedom is limited to that extent. You cannot have unlimited freedom in this world. But That (Brahman) is unlimited freedom. It is unlimited because anantam brahma: "Infinite is Brahman."

Brahman is sathyam  which has been understood by knowing that  brahman is the primal cause and is not an effect of any other cause.

Such a sathyam, the consciousness which is the substratum of the created world is also to be understood as anantham because, being the cvause of the whole creation and created and with nothing as cause for creation of Brahman, Brahman remains even after the creation and created dissolves during involution.

Thus, unborn and eternal, consciousness is infinite .

It should not be misunderstood or misconstrued that these three attributes- sathyam, jnanam and anantham are different from the seeker/ knower.

ANANTAM- SUMMARY POINTS

·       Satyam word is used but the limitation created by the word Satyam will be neutralized by Anantam. Likewise the limitation created by the word Jnanam will be neutralised by Satyam and by Anantam.

·       Though the objects keep changing with time, space and substance, the illumined knowledge with which the objects are pursued and perceived in all the states of consciousness, remains absolute 

·       Brahman-experience, there is simultaneous experience of all things. There is all-existence, a simultaneous knowledge of all things – omniscience, a simultaneous enjoyment of all things, and perfect freedom. It is perfect freedom because there is nothing to obstruct your freedom in that state. Thus, brahman  experience is perfect freedom, which is infinite (Anantam)

·       Sathyam - truth may be misconstrued as inert/Jada. (All objects created by human, will have a cause which is inert. Ex. A pot created by mud where mud is inert.)

·       Only the creator Purusha or Brahman and Prakriti are eternal truth and also not inert., because, Sathyam is elaborated as consciousness, i.e., the intelligent cause for  creation, but it remains as a cause which is unborn or caused by any other cause. 

·       To further clarify that the consciousness or Jnanam is a thing which will never come to an end, it is further explained as eternal truth, eternal consciousness, which is ETERNAL and INFINITE- ANANTAM.

·       A thing, which causes the termination of idea of the other thing, forms the limit of the other thing.

Love.