Vivekachudamani- Post 53

It is indeed, through contact with ignorance that you, who are the  supreme Self, experience yourself to be under the bondage of the not- Self From this misunderstanding alone proceed the worlds of births and deaths. All the effects of ignorance, root and branch, are burnt down by the blaze of knowledge, which arises from discrimination between these two - the Self and the not-Self  (Verse 47)

Ajnana yogat tava paramatmanaḥ; so you are really the paramatma; the consciousness; you are really the consciousness, not the body. It isnot you have consciousness, it is not you have consciousness, but according to Vēdānta, you are Conciousness. It is an independent entity.

And now what has happened. Anatma bandaḥ; whereas now you are tied down to the body; the matter; now you are tied down to the matter;

What causes us, the supreme Self that we really are, to suffer these  bondages, and what exactly is that, which compels us thereafter to  struggle hard to regain our true divine glory through the delicate  process of Self-rediscovery is explained here. 

Just as a ghost vision is possible on a wayside post when  there is ignorance of the post, so too, it is the ignorance of the  Self in us that gives birth to the 'thought flow' called the 'mind'. 

The pure Consciousness or Life gets reflected in the pool  of thoughts and in our preoccupation with our mental life we  take ourselves to be this egocentric (jiva), which is nothing but  life conditioned by our own thoughts in a given pattern of time  and place. 

Anatma bandaḥ means deha abhimanah; And what is the cause of this deha abhimanah?

ajnana yogath; purely because or ignorance. 

Purely because of ignorance; and when did ignorance come; it has been there right from birth; in fact, even as I am born, I find that I am born ignorant. 

The sorrows of life, the limitations of the equipment, the  imperfections of the world, the concept of likes and dislikes, the  pulls of pleasures and pains, the shattering concepts of merit and  sin - all these are effected by this ego. 

The ego ends upon its own funeral pyre lit by itself, which  blazes into a conflagration of knowledge. The fire arising from  a constant discrimination between the Real and the unreal,  between the Self and the not-Self, between the Spirit and  matter, is fanned into a blazing brilliance through steady vichara in  which all the effects of ignorance are burnt down. When ego ends,  we realise our real nature to be intrinsically divine, eternally free  and absolute Bliss. This is immortality. 

Sastra alone presents consciousness as a separate entity and by the study of that sastra, vivrkaḥ means discrimination between; tayorho; between atma and anatmanoho; matter and consciousness.

And it will produce what? bodhahvanni; it will be produce the fire of knowledge. So by the friction of enquiry, the fire of knowledge is produced; and why is the knowledge compared to fire; because ajñāna karyam pradahet samulam; this fire of knowledge will burn down; what?

ajnana karyam; ajnanam as well as its karyam; what ajnanam?; that I am Consciousness the separate entity is not known.

And what is its consequence? Since I do not know that I am consciousness, I take myself as matter; that matter-identification is karyam; ignorance is karanam; identification is karyam; So, the fire of knowledge will destroy the effect along with the causal ignorance; it will destroy the effect along with the causal ignorance. 

Where there is light, darkness cannot be; where knowledge  has come to rule, ignorance must quit. Where the cause has been  eliminated, the effect cannot remain. Where ignorance has ended,  all its effects - the five kosas constituting the three bodies, the  three planes of consciousness, the realms of pains made up of sense  objects, feelings and ideas - must end instantaneously, totally.

Love

Vivekachudamani - Post 52

Faith, devotion and the practice of meditation these are mentioned in the songs of Sruti as the chief factors that help a seeker to attain Liberation.  Whoever pursues these is liberated from the bondage of the body which is a projection mysteriously accomplished by his spiritual ignorance. 

The technique of vichara has been exhaustively analyzed and insisted upon. The power to do vichara is the very fuel which helps the spiritual vehicle to maintain its motion and what constitutes  vichara has also been explained. Here we are told of the practices we must follow, strictly and sincerely, so that our capacity to do vichara  may be increased and the vicara itself be rendered most efficient. 

In Kaivalya Upanishad, the student Asvalayana approaches the teacher Brahma and asks for this knowledge. And there Brahmāji straightaway starts his teaching by saying Sraddhaḥ bhakthi dhyana yogadavaih. 

That Sraddha bhakthi dhyana yoga of Kaivalya Upaṇiṣad, Sankara quotes here; that these three are the means of knowledge. 

Kaivalya upanishad says these three are the means of liberation; for whom? mumukshoh; for a seeker of liberation.

Sraddha yoga refers to Sravanam; and why is Sravanam called Sraddha yoga?; because Sravanam requires faith in guru and Sastra. Without faith in the scriptures; without faith in the guru; a person cannot come to a teacher for learning. Therefore, Sravanam should be supported by Sraddhah.

Next is Bhakti Yogah. In the context of this verse, we must not identify bhakti with  the meaning which we, in our ignorance, have  given it. It is to be rightly understood as our identification with  our concept of our Ideal. 

Suppose I have got reverence to the scriptures; what will be my approach? I would never say scriptures are irrational; unscientific or illogical; I say that I have not grasped its essence properly. The problem does not lie in the scriptures, the problem lies in my attitude and therefore what do I do; again enquire and again the same problem; again enquire; how long; until I understand it properly and when I understand properly; it will not be irrational at all; it will not be illogical at all; until then I have to continue. 

This reverential attitude of questioning my understanding rather than scriptural validity is called pramaṇika buddhi. Acceptance of the validity of scriptures. This is the Bhakti referred in this verse.

When thus we are truly aided by faith and devotion, we are  able to meditate properly and through meditation, we come to  realise our true nature. 

And then comes the last one; dhyana yogah; which is known as nidhidhyasanam; Sraddhah yōgaḥ is equal to śravaṇam; bhakthi yogaḥ is equal to mananam in this context and dhyana yogaḥ means nidhidhyāsanam.

So therefore, these three-fold jnana yogah, Kaivalya upanishad presents as a means of moksha. 

Moksha is from what; avidya kalpita deha bandhat; freedom from physical bondages or limitations and how have we got these shackles?

Because purely projected by ignorance, because purely projected by ignorance; that means I am a physical entity; as long as I am identified with physical body. 

I have to  understand that the physical limitations belongs to physical body, I am not limited by the physical body. How do you prove; in dream, when I am no more identified with the body; I no longer feel physical limitation. 

In sleep I am not identified with the body, I am a conscious entity, without feeling any physical limitation. Therefore physical limitations are incidentally felt; in jagrat and svapna, and they are dropped in sushupti. Whatever is incidental is not my intrinsic nature. 

Love

Vievkachudamani- Post 51

 

The highest Knowledge arises from the sincere contemplation upon the meaning of the Upanishad mantras. By this Knowledge, immediately a total  annihilation of all sorrows born of the 'perception of change' takes place. 

The previous verse assured us of a sovereign means by which we  could cross over the world of our finite experiences. Now we are given  a definition in the form of a clear declaration of what exactly that is. 

Constant vichara upon the meaning of Truth of Vedanta leads  one to true Knowledge. 'Vichara' is a term which has no corresponding  word in English. Words like thinking, contemplating, reasoning,  analyzing and so on, do not fully express the meaning of the technique  of vichara. 

Vichara comprises all these in synthesis, along with certain  essential mental and intellectual discipline. With a mind and intellect  trained and made steady, a seeker rips open the declarations of  Upanishad one by one and comes to experience the implications and the  deeper suggestiveness of each mantra - this process is called 'vichara'. 

The nectar in a flower is always secreted in its innermost  chambers. Its enchanted lover, the honeybee, which courts it with  ardour and adoration, alone can scent the nectar and groping  through its dusty exterior reach the honey treasured in the blossom. 

Similarly, in the garden of Vedanta are the flowers of the mantras of Upanishad. The sweetness of each is secreted not in its outer words, fascinating though they may be, but lies hidden in the  pulsating bosom where its immortal heart throbs with the thrilling  ecstasy of love fulfilled and perfection experienced. The divine secret can be reached with this meaning only through a prepared  mind and intellect. 

The process by which the acutely intellectual and the divinely sympathetic head and heart of a seeker come to live in their  subjective experience, the strangely enchanting voiceless cadence  rising from the rishi's heart, is called 'vichara'. 

Vedanta is only one thing, which is serving as a mirror. What is the difference between a telescope and a mirror? With telescope you can see everything else, except your eyes. With the microscope you can see everything else, except your eyes. 

Replace all the scope, telescopes and microscopes or any other scope for which there are scope, you remove all of them and you replace by a mirror. What is the uniqueness of the mirror; that is the only instrument which helps me to see my own eyes. I am seeing outside; but what I am seeing is myself. Seeing the mirror is never an objective vision; seeing the subjective knowledge.

Similarly, all sciences provide us only better and better instrument to study the world better and better, vedanta is the unique verbal mirror. It is the unique verbal mirror, mirror made of words and sentences in the form of teaching. 

And by that, I come to know that I am not the physical body, I am not the mind; but I am the consciousness which is ever the subject and never an object, and which consciousness is Sat chit anandaḥ svarupah. And thereafter wards I use matter, and I do not need matter for my fulfilment. Matter is there or not; it does not matter! Why because I am different from matter.

During moments of meditation when we strive hard to experience the meaning of mantras of Upanishad, we are in the realm  of vichara. Through vichara our misunderstandings about ourselves, which are the expressions of our ignorance, are removed, and when ignorance is banished, knowledge shines forth. With this right knowledge, instantaneously, all the delusive sorrows of samsara  end. 

And therefore, he says vedantarthavicarena; by enquiring into the subject matter of vedanta. Arthah means subject matter. And what is the subject matter of vedanta? It is not matter. Subject matter is a subject, which is not matter. Then what is it? 

It is the consciousness. Brahman. Vedantarthaha means Brahman or atma. Therefore, vedantartha vicharaḥ means Brahma vicharaḥ; atma vicharaḥ; chaitanya vicharaḥ; tatva viharaḥ; sarva adiṣṭana viharaḥ; any word you can use; by that enquiry. 

And what is that vidyā; I am not this body; I am not this mind; and I am poorna caitanyaṁ; what type of consciousness; I have told you before. Consciousness which is neither part of the body, nor product of the body, nor a property of the body, but which is an independent entity which pervades and enlivens the body and which is not bound by the limitations of the body. That purṇa chaitanyam ahaaasmi.

After waking up from our dream, the moment we realise  our waking state identity, all the sorrows created in us due to our  dream identification and the dreamworld end instantaneously.  

On the rediscovery that our spiritual nature is pure Knowledge,  uncontaminated by any trace of ignorance, we come to enjoy  our divine heritage of perfection and bliss ever beyond even the penumbra of any misery thereafter. 

Love

Vivekachudamani-Post 50

here is a supreme means by which you can put an end to the fear of  relative existence; by that you will cross the sea of samsara and attain  supreme Bliss. 

Kaschit mahān upāyaḥ asti. There is a great grand method; Sādhanām, means  for saṁsāra bhaya nasanaha, which method will destroy the fear caused by saṁsāra. The anxiety, the insecurity, the sense of want, a sense of limitation, the fear of losing things and people. 

So this saṁsāra bhayanāśanaḥ destroying remedy is there. There is a medicine. And I am ready to give it to you. Tēna tīrtvā; saṁsāra bhayanāśanaḥ, nāśanaḥ means destroyer of fear. Tēna by that method; bhavām bhōdhiṁ tīrtvā, you can cross the ocean of saṁsāra.

Vedanta says Mokṣa is here and now. Therefore, you can test for yourselves. Therefore, never criticise without study.

 

Therefore, first study systematically comprehensively and see what vedanta has to say. Therefore tena tirtva, by that method, you can cross; bhavām bhōdhiṁ means saṁsāra sagaraha; bhava means saṁsāra, amōdhiḥ means ocean. 

After having crossed what will happen to you; param anandam apsyasi; you will attain the highest anandah, otherwise known as purnatvam; sense of fulfilment; sense that life has been meaningful; purposeful; wonderful.

A psychological assurance is again given here in a flood of love  that pours out from the heart of the Teacher. The repetition is  not merely for the sake of emphasis, but also to clearly reveal the  infinite consideration and divine sympathy which the Teacher has  for the student. 

It is the one most important insistence of Vedanta that  there is a sovereign means by which our misunderstanding and  consequent false evaluation of life can be completely crushed,  culminating in right understanding. 

Love