Upadesa Saram - Post 23

Verse 20

अहमि नाशभाज्यहमहंतया |

स्फुरति हृत्स्वयं परमपूर्णसत् ||

ahami nāśabhājyahamahaṁtayā |

sphurati hṛtsvayaṁ paramapūrṇasat ||

Upon the destruction of the “I”, as “I”, “I”,

Shines the Heart, by itself, the Supreme, perfect fullness of Being.

When we enquired into the ‘I-thought’, we found that it had two parts to it, the subject and the object. How did the ‘I’ get associated with these two parts, which are opposite to each other? The answer: We were inattentive, and the ego crept into our life and took over. 

And so by turning on the searchlight on the ego and tracking it down, we have come to a point where we discover that it has gone into ‘hiding’ or disappeared. 

There is a famous example of iron ball in Vedanta. It is dealt in a verse in Drik-Drsya-Viveka.

When an iron ball is heated, it glows on account of the heat of fire and it assumes the appearance of fire itself and is referred to as fire ball.

It appears as though the fire is burning.

This fire ball is the product of association of iron and fire which are of opposite qualities. 

Iron is black and cold, whereas fire is red and hot.

Iron has a form, whereas fire is formless.

When iron and fire come together, the black iron assumes the qualities of fire, it appears red and hot.

Similarly, our body, mind, intellect is jada or inert but it seems to gain chaitanya or sentiency because of its association with awareness which is chetana.

   

Thus, the awareness - the fire, assumes the form or the attributes of our body mind intellect complex - the iron ball, and appears to be a fire ball. 

  

Thus, Ahamkara is born, which is awareness, limited by our body mind intellect complex or what is called in Vedanta as Avidya, or the ignorance of the truth that we are divine.

It is to be understood here that though the fire appears to be a fire ball, in reality, the fire is always separate and the iron ball is always separate. 

Thus, though the 'I' or the pure Aham, due to its association with the limited body mind complex or the Avidya/ ignorance of our divine nature, has assumed the 'I-thought' and has turned out to be Ahamkara, the truth is that we are always Aham. 

It is only that the false association, the ignorance, has to be removed for the Aham to shine forth in all its splendor.

The shine of the Self is uniform, not subject to the ups and downs experienced by the ego. It is described here as “Parama Poorna Sat”, which is the Supreme Infinite Existence.

“The Self shines to Itself, by Itself, for Itself, from Itself, and in Itself”. Life in the Self is unlimited, as there is no body, mind and intellect to restrain it. 

Grasping ego-less existence intellectually can be quite demanding. The mind always tries to understand by comparison, and here we have nothing to compare egoless-ness to. However, if we give the matter a serious thought, we can grasp it. 

To begin with, we accept that it is just the ‘I-thought’ that is very troublesome. Removing it removes the self-centered nature of our existence. The expanded consciousness of living in the Self welcomes that; indeed it can happen only when this narrow outlook has been removed. 

Thus, the ‘I-thought’ is rooted out from the mind, only when we refuse to give the body, mind and intellect more than just what is its due. We simply refuse to give it reality anymore. They are used as our instruments just to carry out the usual transactions in the world, nothing more. 

Dear all,

Couple of years ago, the author spoke about “Mrtyorma Amrtam Gamaya” to a small group of devotees.

We often refer this mantra loosely for praying to Swami / God for removing the sickness / ill health of someone and to make him healthy and that is why we chant this mantra whenever it is announced in the centre that “so and so is sick and let us pray for that person’s speedy recovery”.

In reality, from which kind of death to which kind of deathless-ness are we praying the Lord through this mantra from Brhadaranyaka Upanishad?

The author said, we have to sacrifice something to get something in life, which is the truth that all of us know.

So, something has to die for something to transcend the death aspect and to live forever.

Our Avidya, the ignorance of our true divine nature, must die. God created us as His own reflection, pure and perfect and here are we, totally ignorant about the pure, divine nature bestowed on us by the God and thus, like the iron ball and the fire example, we, the pure awareness think we are the iron ball and associating our true nature, the fire, with our limited body which we assume to be real (Avidya), we roam around for several births, thinking that this limited body mind existence is real. And from this first ignorance, various ego coloring arises like attachment, hatred etc.

So, let this ignorance attain Mrtyu. Let it die. 

And like the candle melts and still lights up the surroundings, let the Avidya die its death and in the process, let it illumine our true divine nature, the SELF, the AHAM which then will be deathless, Amrtam!!!

  

ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय ।

तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।

मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

Aum Asato Maa Sad-Gamaya |

Tamaso Maa Jyotir-Gamaya |

Mrtyor-Maa Amrtam Gamaya |

Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||

Aum! (O Lord!) Keep me not in the Unreality (of the bondage of the Phenomenal World), but lead me towards the Reality (of the Eternal Self),

(O Lord!) Keep me not in the Darkness (of Ignorance), but lead me towards the Light (of Spiritual Knowledge),

(O Lord!) Keep me not in the (Fear of) Death (due to the bondage of the Mortal World, or, Avidya / ignorance, which is also highlighted in the above line, Tamaso Maa), but lead me towards the Immortality (gained by the Knowledge of the Immortal Self beyond Death),

Aum (May there be) Peace, Peace, Peace! 

Love.