Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahamkara - Part 25

SUMMARIZING OUR LEARNING ON MANAS, BUDDHI, CHITTA AND AHAMKARA

Dear All,

In about 20+ posts on the yoga sutra's topic - MANAS BUDDHI CHITTA AHANKARA, everything about these four functions of the mind has been explained through visual flow sheet, through detailed exposition, through various Master's sayings on this aspect.

We learnt the four functions and how they influence us to take up any actions and then we also learnt how the impact of actions performed by us is taken through our 5 cognitive senses to the memory bank - Chitta.

The diagram is reproduced below, which  explains the same.

Also, the  5 kinds of coloring / ego, how they impact our acts/decisions were learnt, which is given through a visual flow below. How our first act/karma in our first ever birth and then, how all subsequent karmas have shaped up is captured below.

The whole relevance of the study of MBCA is that we are clearly able to identify, through deliberation, the various kinds of Ego/coloring/kleshas within each one of us, how they make our mind a slave to them, how we keep on accumulating endless impressions of our actions within us, how those impressions shape up our samskara and then how we get caught up in the vicious cycle, which is given above.

NOW, WHAT FURTHER?

If you have read carefully, the  previous post covered meditation and the self enquiry as to "WHO AM I"

What was the relevance of the same? Why that post had to be put up at the end? Mediation and MBCA- How they are connected?

We will conclude this theme with the answer for the above question.

Through intellectual efforts, through discrimination, through use of BUDDHI and discarding AHAMKARA and CHITTA, we will be able to undertake proper actions flowing out of proper decisions, no doubt. 

But is there any end to this whole process? Or, for births together, we have to be using our discriminative intellect, take proper decisions, safeguard us against the onslaught of 5 colorings of ego, of our mental impressions?

It cannot go on like that obviously.

So, ultimately, we have to not only conquer our mind but we have to transcend the mind, we have to transcend the intellectual person in us who is vigorously using his discriminative intellect. We have to transcend the awareness that we are right, we are not egoistic, we are not slave to our impressions. We have to cross everything and settle in and as the beginningless, endless  state of TOTAL BLISS/ TOTAL ANANDA. 

This ultimate settlement as boundless ocean of BLISS cannot happen until we enter into the last of the three stages in spiritual journey - Karma, Upasana and Jnana.

Yes, we have to enter the stage of meditation, of contemplation, of absorption. The inward journey must begin and that can happen only in total silence, silencing of our speech, silencing of our body and silencing of our mind. 

Only in the seat of meditation, after intense abhyasa / practice for several years can we get a glimpse of that inner awareness / subjective awareness / experience. Thus, each moment of such inner experience is the motivator for more intense meditation and at last, the meditator and the mediation must merge into the birth less, death less, motion less state of SAT-CHIT-ANANDA, BEING-AWARENESS-BLISS!

Hari Aum Tatsat

Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahamkara - Part 24

Human Birth and Mind

Thy father, Supreme Brahman, Felt loneliness once.

He was alone,One without a second.

He wanted to multiply;He thought,“May I become many.”

There was a vibration or Spandan In thy mother, Maya,

The undifferentiated,The unmanifested, The equilibrium was disturbed.

You were born at once.

Thy body was made of pure Sattva; 

You were known by the name ‘Manas’.

The Lord ordained you to do four functions; So you became fourfold—Manas, Chitta, Buddhi, Ahankara.

You separated yourself from the Lord Through self-arrogating‘I”You indulged in sensual objects In company with the senseAnd forgot thy divine origin.

You became attached to sons, wife, Property, names, titles and honors.

You became quite worldly.You identified yourself with the body, Sons, wife, house and property through Avidya or ignorance.

This is the cause for your downfallAnd all sorts of miseries and sufferings. 

This is, in short, your life-history.Give up attachmentsAnd identification with the body. 

Annihilate ignorance by attaining Brahma Jnana.

You can become one with Brahman And regain thy divine nature.

(Swami Sivananda)

Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahamkara - Part 23

Meditation attenuates coloring: This is where meditation can be of tremendous value in getting free from these deep impressions. We sit quietly, focusing the mind, yet intentionally allow the cycling process to play out, right in front of our awareness. Gradually it weakens, so we can experience the deeper silence, where we can come in greater touch with the spiritual aspects of meditation.

Now, the next piece of the process is to evaluate whether the thought is Useful or Not Useful. This, in turn leads to the question of whether we will, or will not cultivate this thought, and whether we will or will not allow it to turn into actions. We may ask, for example, "Should I do it, or not do it?" "Should I give this any energy, or let it go?"

A simple sequence might be like this:

"This thought is colored. It's aversion, though mild".

"I'm not seeing clearly. I need to look at this more clearly".

"This is Not Useful, mind".

"I'm not going to act on this. Mind, we need to take a closer look at this, and let go of any actions for now".

Or, like this:

"This thought is colored. It's attachment, and pretty strong".

"Mind is fantasizing, but also can see this clearly".

"The thought has some pure, sattvic qualities".

"This may be colored, but it really is Useful and serves others".

"I'm going to do this, but mind, remember to do it for others".

Or, to be quiet for meditation:

"This is colored. I've been exploring this already, dealing with it".

"Mind, this is Not Useful right now".

"Don't get entangled in this right now. Let it go".

"Mind, focus on the stillness behind all these thoughts".

·  Talk to yourself: Then, you literally say to your mind either "Useful" or "Not Useful". This is spoken internally, not aloud. It is somewhat the way one might train a small child. It is done very lovingly, but with a clear statement of the reality of being Useful or Not Useful.

·   Cultivate the useful thoughts: If a thought is Useful, then it is easier to cultivate that thought, and bring it into action in the external world if that is appropriate. In this way, more of the Useful thoughts are cultivated, while more of the Not Useful thoughts are dropped. This is an extremely useful part of the process of stabilizing and purifying the mind, which sets the stage for advanced meditation and samadhi.

Enquiry Of 'Who Am I?'

Moksha (release from the Samsaric wheel of birth and death) comes through Jnana (knowledge of Atman or God). Jnana comes through Vichara (right enquiry) of 'Who am I?' or understanding and thinking of the right essential significance of the Mahavakya, "Tat Tvam Asi" (Thou art That) of the Upanishads.

Enquiry of 'Who am I?' and understanding of 'Tat Tvam Asi' are one and the same.

Brahma-Jnana, which enquires into the true nature of 'I' is the fire which destroys the mind. It is the 'Jnanagni' referred to in the Gita (IV-37): "Jnanagnih sarvakarmani bhasmasatkurute tatha-The fire of wisdom reduces all actions (and the false 'I') to ashes."

When any thought arises in the mind, enquire: Why has this Vritti (modification) arisen? Whom it concerns? Who am I? All the thoughts will die eventually. All mental activities will cease. The mind will turn inward. It will rest on Atman. This is Vedantic Sadhana. You will have to persist constantly in the Sadhana whatever stray thoughts arise. The one thought 'Who am I?' will destroy all other thoughts of worldly nature.


Hari Aum Tatsat.

Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahamkara - Part 22

Dear Ones,

What do we do, after knowing the 4 stages of coloring of EGO ??

·  Notice the stage of individual thoughts: We want to observe our thinking process often, in a gentle, non-judging way, noticing the stage of the coloring of thought patterns. It can be great fun, not just hard work. The mind is quite amusing the way that it so easily and quickly goes here and there, both internally and through the senses seeking out and reacting to the objects of desire.

· Train the mind about coloring: An extremely important part of attenuating, or reducing the coloring of the colored thought pattern is to train the mind that this coloring is going to bring nothing but further trouble.

(It means training the mind that, "This is not useful!"  This simple training is the beginning of attenuating the coloring (The process starts with observing, but then moves on to attenuating. It is similar to training a small child; it all begins by labeling and saying what is useful and not useful. Note that this is not a moral judgment as to what is good or bad. It is more like saying whether it is more useful to go left or right when taking a journey.)

·  Often, we are stuck in a cycle: Often in life, we find that the colored thought patterns move between active and separated stages, and then back to active. They go in a cycle between these two. Either they are actively causing challenges, or we are able to get some distance from them, like taking a vacation.

·  Break the cycle: However, it is possible that we may never really attenuate them when engaged in such a cycle, let alone get the colorings down into seed form, when we are stuck in this cycle. It is important to be aware of this possibility, so that we can intentionally pursue the process of weakening the strength of the coloring.

Hari Aum Tatsat

Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahamkara - Part 21

Four stages of coloring

In the post on AVIDYA, the translation of the yoga sutra verse mentioned about the 4 stages of coloring and the author had written there that we will learn about the 4 stages later.

1. Active, aroused (udaram): Is the thought pattern active on the surface of the mind, or playing itself out through physical actions (through the instruments of action, called karmendriyas, which include motion, grasping, and speaking)? These thought patterns and actions may be mild, extreme, or somewhere in between. However, in any case, they are active.

2. Distanced, separated, cut off (vicchinna): Is the thought pattern less active right now, due to there being some distance or separation. We experience this often when the object of our desire is not physically in our presence. The attraction or aversion, for example, is still there, but not in as active a form as if the object was right in front of us. It is as if we forgot about the object for the now. It is actually still colored, but just not active (but also not really attenuated).

3. Attenuated, weakened (tanu): Has the thought pattern not just been interrupted, but actually been weakened or attenuated? Sometimes we can think that a deep habit pattern has been attenuated, but it really has not been weakened. When we are not in the presence of the object of attachment or aversion, that separation can appear to be attenuation, when it actually is just not seen in the moment.

This is one of the big traps of changing the habits or conditionings of the mind. First, it is true that we need to get some separation from the active stage to the distanced stage, but then it is essential to start to attenuate the power of the coloring of the thought pattern.

4. Dormant, latent, seed (prasupta): Is the thought pattern in a dormant or latent form, as if it were a seed that is not growing at the moment, but which could grow in the right circumstances?

In the next and final post on MBCA, we will learn how to move the aroused coloring to dormant latent level and then how to evolve further to reach the stage of SELF ENQUIRY and Meditation.

Love.

Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahamkara - Part 20

Dear All,

How actions are performed by a sadhaka  and a sincere devotee?

Let us  look at the flow given below.

Dear Ones,

We learnt sufficiently and at length about how Karma of a normal jiva fetches him bondage and Karma means Kama bandhanam, in our last 2 posts. 

Now, if we carefully see the flow given above which gives the cycle of Karma of a sadhaka in advanced stage in the path of Jnana or a Bhakta whose Bhakti is transforming to Prema, in both cases, ACTION/ KARMA undertaken by them is shown with a common block 

After the Karma block, in both cases, the subsequent flow after the Action block  explains as to how, in both cases, their karma/action do not put them into the vicious cycle of AVKK or karma bandhanam.

Their karma is totally detached  from their state of existence and they are released from the samsara and get liberated from the cycle of birth and death at the end.

Let us understand the texture of Karma / Actions undertaken by these men of wisdom/ devotion/ love, with example.

ACTIONS OF A SADHAKA/ SANYASI

For the 1st flow starting from Buddhi, let us take an example of a sanyasi / spiritual Guru who has an ashram/hermitage in Himalayas. 

He starts getting more and more of visitors and disciples in the course of time and his present ashram space is not sufficient to accommodate the over flowing number of students/ visitors.

He summons his immediate assistant sanyasi and asks him to make an announcement / publish in the ashram notice board, inviting people desirous of contributing to extension of the ashram premise, to deposit their donation in a nearby bank in the account of ashram.

Now, in the above case, it is to be noted that the yogi/ sanyasi has used his Buddhi/ wisdom and has initiated an action for collecting donation only for the sake of disciples/ visitor’s minimum comfort. 

No raga / no dvesha / no abhinivesha has prompted him to take the action to have an announcement made for extension of ashram and within heart, he exists as an Avadhuta, who has no attachment even to a single piece of cloth that he wears, that too because he is still in society and not in recluse, where, he won’t need even that single piece of  cloth or the kaupyana that he sports.

Now, tell me, how his action will fetch him impressions?

Where is ego in his action?

ACTIONS OF A BHAKTA / A DEVOTEE

A devotee, till the time he is in the world, may have to undertake his minimum duties towards his family, towards his children etc. 

But with his heart melted, his ego gone like a melted candle, his heart fully filled with love, with he the nadhi of love, merged with the ocean of Love that is God, tell me, from where he will have raga/dvesha/abhinivesha and then vasanas, which may prompt his actions ?

A realized master, a Jivanmukhta himself (One who is liberated while alive), Swami Sivananda beautifully explains the state of such a yogi who is explained in this post above and in the flow, where, the climax is clearly shown  as GOD REALIZATION.

"Not through matted locks, not through fiery lectures and erudition, not through the exhibition of miracles, does one attain perfection or knowledge of the Self. He is whom the two currents, Raga-Dvesha and egoism, lust, anger are destroyed in toto is ever happy and he is Brahman or a liberated sage or Jivanmukta. A Jivanmukta or liberated sage is absolutely free from egoism, doubt, fear and grief. These are the four important signs that indicate that one has attained perfection.”

Love.

Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahamkara - Part 19 Contd...

Unless we have some stored impressions in our mind about a person, the so called 3 ego- raga, dvesha and abhinivesha , as far as that person is concerned, can never be active at all times in the future. 

After one action is performed, the impressions due to that action is stored in chitta, retrieved as vasanas, then only, in all future time, the vasanas propel/push one of the three - raga or dvesha or abhinivesha towards that person and then action is undertaken.

Applying this principal in that student case, the impression of the first action (absuing the new student who had ranked 1st) results in impression about that person in the earlier student’s heart. 

Later on, next day or whenever he sees the other student, the stored impressions manifest as vasanas and only these vasanas ignite the ego-DVESHA or HATRED for that new student and with that dvesha, the 1st student’s all actions towards the new student, are influenced.

If there were no stored  Impressions, manifesting as vasanas about that student, then will this student ever develop the hatred feeling towards the student? Never.

So, it it Avidya -Kama-Karma for the first action (see the above flow for 1st action) and thereafter, for all future actions, it is 

Avidya-Vasana-Kama-Karma.The main aim of all spiritual sadhana is to break this knot of samsara- Avidya-Kama-Karma and to be free from this hrdaya granthi.

During our entire life, we always carry with us, our subtle impressions- vasanas in  mainly 2 ways as under:-

- Our impressions about our own selves, I am this, I am that, I am capable of this, my main plus points are this, this and this, I can do this better than others…. And such endless impressions about ourselves.

- Our impression about all others in the society after our first action with them has carried impressions to our chitta or, even if we have not acted in any way with any person, our own impressions about ourselves are always matched / compared/evaluated in a subtle manner with a person with whom we might not have acted and thus, with such a thought, we develop vasanas about that person.

For example, we develop vasanas/ impression about a politician, a leader a public figure with whom we have never come in touch. But whatever we know about that person is judged/ evaluated with our own impressions about ourselves and our heart of ego imagines what we would do in such a situation and with that comparison, we pass a judgement about that person and such judgement stores impressions about that person. 

Vasanas and avidya exist together and the last thing to leave a meditator, a sadhaka, a devotee is his vasanas / impressions about himself and the world. Once all the vasanas within one’s mind lake (chitta) are removed, then, surely, at that very instance, one gets free of his AVIDYA.

Love.

Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahamkara - Part 19

Dear All,

 Let us re capture our learning visually today.

Divyatman, 

The essence of the flow seen above is captured in Vedanta as the knots of Samsara which is termed as Hrdaya Granthi.

The knots of samsara 

 (ignorance, desire and action)

Avidya (ignorance), Kama (desire) and Karma (action) are the knots (Hridaya Granthis) that have tied the deluded Jiva (individual) to this Samsara (wheel of birth and death). 

AVIDYA- We learnt and by now, we are clear that  avidya is forgetful ness of one’s divine nature.

KAMA -In the light of our learning of MBCA in all our previous posts,KAMA is to be understood as desires arising out of the 3 Kleshas- Raga, Dvesha and abhinivesha, once Avidya results in Asmita- Identifying oneself with the “ I” ness .

As soon as man was enveloped by the veil of ignorance( avidya) , he forgot his essential blissful nature and began to run after sensual objects to seek his pleasure through the avenues of the senses. 

KARMA-He began to exert, to do selfish Karmas, to realize his objects of desire. He lost his original freedom and became bound. 

Karma is explained as karma bandhanam. Bandhanam is bondage and it is explained thus because, as we learnt in the MBCA posts and as clearly depicted in the above flow, Karma or actions performed due to Desires ( 3 Ego- Raga, Dvesha, Abhinivesha), is bound to result in the impressions/ after effects of such an action getting stored in the memory bank chitta and till the time, this bank is not cleared totally, till the time the memory bank storage is capable of being retrieved as Samskara , resulting in manifest Vasana, the cycle of KARMA- DEATH AND REBIRTH TO CLEAR KARMA- SANCHITA/PRARABDHA KARMA-DEATH-REBIRTH TO CLEAR FRESH KARMA  can never be broken and one can never get released from this vicious cycle. 

As various treatise  speak about this 3 knots- Avidya Kama Karma, the author, while teaching sessions related to MBCA, introduced or modified the 3 knots to include Vasanas or V in between Kama and Karma and thus, to those few who have taken these sessions, the cycle became imprinted in their learning as AVKK (Avidya-Vasnas-Kama-Karma)

The significance of including Vasanas in this cycle is explained in the following example.

A student always ranks first in his collage for 2 continuous years.

In the 3rd year, a new student jobs his class , transferred from some other collage.

The final 3rd year exam results are awaited.

To the surprise of the earlier student, in the 3rd years exams, the new student gets the 1st rank as announced by the collage Principal.

Now, till the time  the result was announced, perhaps, the 1st student did not have any impression stored in his mind about the new student.

Once the result is announced, the ASMITA of the earlier student, his belief about his being the 1st student and the attachment towards this 1st rank, Raga , has attacked the student and with such attack, he throws some words of abuse at the new student and walks away

The abuse, expressed through mind- karma indriyas, has resulted in  impression about the new student stored in the mind lake, memory bank chitta, of the 1st student.

Now, it has to be carefully observed and understood that till the time some action is not undertaken by us due to KAMA, there are no impressions stored in our chitta and therefore no  vasanas can arise in our mind later. 

Let us be more clear on this most important aspect in the next post.

Love.

Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahamkara - Part 18

Benefiting from the learning of four functions of Mind.

The cause of our suffering: The entire cause of our mental and emotional suffering is the false identification between Ahamkara and the data that is stored in Chitta. (Eventually, at a deeper level, the Self is seen to have falsely identified itself with the Four Functions of Mind themselves). By witnessing the Four Functions of Mind, while they are functioning, we increasingly come to see this mistaken identity, which leads to freedom. 

Buddhi becomes witness to this mistaken identity: It is the function of mind called Buddhi, which, once again, knows, decides, adjudges, and discriminates. In other words, Buddhi is the part that sees the situation clearly. Eventually, the Self or Atman is seen as witness to all of the Four Functions of Mind, including Buddhi itself. 

Purifying Buddhi is the most important goal: How does this clarity come? It happens by removing the clouds of spiritual ignorance (avidya) that are blocking the wisdom of Buddhi. Thus, the most important goal of all practices is purifying Buddhi. 

      

Three freedoms

There are three freedoms that come sequentially over time through this purifying or clarity of Buddhi: 

·Actions: First is freedom from the bondage of actions. As Ahamkara and Chitta become less associated through the colorings such as attachment and aversions (kleshas), there is greater freedom in actions.  

·Thoughts: Second is freedom from the bondage of thoughts. The degree of the coloring further weekens through the process of un-clouding the Buddhi. 

·Ignorance: Third is freedom from the bondage of ignorance (avidya). In this final stage, Buddhi has become so completely clear that it is able to see through all of the process of false identity. 

  

Going Beyond the Mind 

Mind directs, influences, and goes outward: 

It is imperative that one become aware of the facts that: 

·   Mind controls: It is the mind that is in direct control of the senses, breath, and body. 

·   Mind goes outward: It is the mind that influences the senses and causes them to go out into the external world. 

·  Mind desires: It is the mind that desires to perceive the world through the senses and then to conceptualize and categorize those sense perceptions.

· It's all about training the mind: All sadhanas (spiritual practices), techniques, and disciplines are actually means to train the mind (all of the Four Functions of Mind). 

·  Train mind to go beyond itself: The most important part of the training is to make the mind aware that Reality lies beyond itself, and that this Reality is the eternal aspect of the Self or Soul.

·   Mind is the finest instrument: The mind is the finest instrument that we possess. If it is understood well, the mind can be helpful in our spiritual practices (sadhana). However, the mind must be well-ordered and disciplined. Otherwise, the mind can distract and dissipate all of our potentials.

What Is Meditation? 

Put a piece of iron rod in the blazing furnace. It becomes red like fire. Remove it. It loses its red colour. If you want to keep it always red, you must always keep it in fire. Even so, if you want to keep the mind charged with the fire of God realization goal, you must keep it always in contact or touch with the fire of knowledge through constant and intense meditation.

Leading a virtuous life is not by itself sufficient for God-realization. Concentration of mind is absolutely necessary. A good, virtuous life only prepares the mind as a fit instrument for concentration and meditation. It is concentration and meditation that eventually lead to Self-realization.

God has hidden Himself in this world (immanent) and is seated in the cave of the lotus of your heart. He is an absentee landlord. You will have to seek Him through concentration and meditation with a pure mind. This is the real play of hide and seek.

All the visible things are Maya. Maya will vanish through Jnana or meditation on Atman. One should exert himself to get rid of Maya. Maya havocs through the mind. Destruction of the mind means the annihilation of Maya. Nidhidhyasana is the only way for conquering Maya. Lord Buddha, Raja Bhartrihari, Dattatreya, Akhow of Gujarat - all had conquered Maya and mind through deep meditation only. Enter the silence. Meditate. Meditate. Solitude and intense meditation are two important requisites for Self-Realization.

Love.