Upadesa Saram - Post 25

Verse 22

विग्रहेन्द्रियप्राणधीतमः |

नाहमेकसत्तज्जडं ह्यसत् || २२ ||

vigrahendriyaprāṇadhītamaḥ |

nāhamekasattajjaḍaṁ hyasat || 22 ||

The body, the senses, the prana, the intellect and ignorance

Are not I, the one Being. That is inert, for it is unreal.

We may call it a coincidence or a miracle or an intuition. Just in the last week, the essence of this very same verse was given to few devotees through recorded talk by the author in two parts.  

The basis of the talk was the verses from Taittreya Upanishad. The essence of the talk is given today as the explanation to this verse. 

  

In this Upanishad, all the 5 Koshas are referred in the verse, viz.,

The Acharya in that Upanishad takes the disciple through all these Koshas one by one and proves the falsity of each one of them, through three tests as follows:-

Gross body

   

Gross body, as even explained by the author in a small talk, is to be considered as a temple in which God is to be installed forever. It has been bestowed on all human beings by the Creator / God, to use it for spiritual sadhana, to retrace to Him, God, which is the very purpose of our birth.

However, if the gross body is taken through the three tests as mentioned above, then we can understand the following.

We are the knower/seer/experiencer of the body and the body is known/experienced.

We are Chaitanya and when compared to us, the body is jada/inert/insentient.

We are changeless whereas our body has undergone so many changes in this birth and we are also assuming a new body in every birth.

Prana is life force, which is very important and is subtler than the gross body. It gives us energy, it prompts hunger / thirst for us, it fills our body with our life.

However,

We are the knower / seer / experiencer of our prana and the prana is known / experienced (We know when we are thirsty, we know when we are hungry, we know when we fall sick, we know when we are active on a particular day and when we are very dull on another day).

We are Chaitanya and when compared to us, the prana is jada / inert / insentient.

We are changeless whereas our prana is subject to change, only due to the changes within, we are sick / we are active / we are tired etc.

Mind is subtler than our Prana and mind is the most powerful equipment granted to us by God. 

However,

We are the knower / seer / experiencer of our mind and the mind is known / experienced. 

We are Chaitanya and when compared to us, the mind is jada / inert / insentient.

We are changeless whereas our mind is jumping from one thought to another and is ever changing.

Subtler than our mind is our Buddhi, our intellect, because intellect discriminates whereas the mind, devoid of intellect, cannot discriminate.

However,

We are the knower / seer / experiencer of our intellect and the intellect, our reasoning, is known/experienced. 

We are Chaitanya and when compared to us, the intellect is jada / inert / insentient.

We are changeless whereas our intellect, our reasoning, our discriminative power has been changing as we grow, as we evolve. 

In our deep sleep, body, mind and intellect are not active. However, there is someone beyond still existing.

Next day, when we get up, there is someone who is the knower, who gives us the knowledge that we had a deep sleep yesterday. So, someone within is the knower and the state of peace, the tranquility experienced in deep sleep is still known.

We are Chaitanya and when compared to us, the deep sleep state is jada / inert / insentient.

Someone within us is still changeless whereas the extent of peace / tranquility changes from night to night.

So, we are able to conclude from the above factors that there is someone beyond all these 5 Koshas who has all the three qualities - The Knower, The Sentient or Chaitanya and The One who is changeless, Nirvikara.

Maharishi claims about the One who is all the three mentioned above and says, “I am not these (the 5 Koshas) but Supreme existence".

Sri Ramana systematically distances the Self from the gross, subtle and the causal bodies, on the basis that they are inert and, in His view, Asat or non-existent. [In earlier texts we have been using the word Mithya for these bodies, not Asat. Mithya is a milder word than Asat].

The spiritual implication of this verse is very significant to the seeker. The verse tells us that we are really free; that our bondage is a mere illusion. This will give great impetus to the seeker to forge ahead in his Sadhana to drop the illusion. 

When one takes the essence of this verse and the exposition given for the verse seriously and meditates on the same, one can actually experience the discarding of all the 5 sheaths / Koshas one by one and can reach to the pure, changeless, conscious existence that One is - THE ATMAN or THE SELF.  

Love.

Upadesa Saram - Post 24

Verse 21

इदमहंपदाभिख्यमन्वहम् |

अहमिलीनकेऽप्यलयसत्तया || २१ ||

idamahaṁpadābhikhyamanvaham |

ahamilīnake'pyalayasattayā || 21 ||

This is viewed as the word “I;” every day,

Even upon the dissolution of “I,” it is undissolved as Being. (21)

What are the two I’s referred to in this post? 

i) The True “I” or Pure Self: This is the unchanging sense of ‘I’ we experience at all times, from birth till death. It is the indestructible Presence of mind, or awareness that makes us conscious of all experiences. This is referred to in an earlier post as “PARAMA PURNA SAT”.

ii) The Individual “I” or Ego: This is the sense of ‘I’-ness felt as a result of our association with our body, mind and intellect. It relates us in a limited way to all objects and sense perceptions. It is also responsible for the sense of possession we feel in thoughts. 

The I-thought is always associating with names and forms, but none of these are real and, in fact, often become the cause of one’s suffering. 

The I-thought itself is unreal as it dissolves in deep sleep into the spiritual Heart. We are unfortunately oblivious of this truth. Our consciousness is not able to witness this as we are constantly in a trance, being stimulated by the objects and the senses that draw us towards them.

When, by enquiry, the Ahamkara (the individual ego) is falsified, in its place, sphurati svayam, shines by Itself, the real "I".

What is the guarantee that this real “I” will also not go away?? It will not go away because it has never come either. 

Following aspects of the “REAL I” makes it Real or Truth or SATHYAM.

·  The real Self is birthless, it has no cause. For everything that we can imagine about us and this creation, there is a cause. SELF alone has no cause and is not an effect of any other cause. Hence, it is birthless.

·    Since it is not created by any cause, it is independent of any other aspect in this creation.

·     Whatever comes and goes, is limited by time. We say that an object comes and goes, only with reference to a time frame in which it came and it went. Since SELF is birthless, it is also not limited by time.

·     SELF does not change, does not reduce / disappear. When we have known that the snake appearance is actually a rope, it does not mean that the rope had changed its real identity. It was and it will be always a rope. 

Love.

Swami Sivananda

ANANDA

Every human being has desires, but the desires vary from person to person and from time to time for the same person. Some desire wealth, some fame, some power; one who has no children wants children, a bachelor wants to get married, and so on. 

But if these persons are asked why they desire all these, the answer will invariably be that they expect to get happiness by the fulfillment of their desires. 

Thus it is happiness alone that is desired for its own sake, and everything else is desired only for the sake of happiness. In Vedanta all objects of desire are denoted by the word 'Vishaya'. 

This noun is derived from the verbal root 'si' with prefix 'vi' which means 'to bind'. 

This very derivation indicates that it is these objects of desire that bind a human being firmly to transmigratory existence characterized by repeated births and deaths. The happiness experienced on the attainment of any object of desire is known as 'Vishayananda'. 

'Brahmananda' is the bliss which is the very nature of the person who has realized that he is Brahman (CONSCIOUSNESS). 

This realization is the consequence of the removal of the wrong identification with the body, and mind, which is natural to every living creature. 

Brahman being Bliss itself, one who has realized that he is Brahman remains as that very Bliss. 

Though Bliss is the real nature of every human being, it is only the realized soul who is aware of it. 

- Swami Sivananda