Jnana Vahini - Post 15

Swami says, 

Brahman is JNANAM

"The unique Jnana of the Brahman is known by a variety of names like Jnana, Vijnana, Prajnana, Chit, Chaitanya, etc. Chaitanya means Pure Consciousness; its opposite is the Unconscious or the Jada, the Inert. 

Atmajnana makes everything Conscious, Active. Brahman is Eternally Conscious, Nithya Chaitanya.

Many people argue that Jnana is one of the attributes of Brahman, that it is of the nature of Brahman, a characteristic of Brahman etc. But such opinions arise only in the absence of actual experience, of actual attainment of Jnana. Arguments and discussions multiply when there is no firsthand experience; for the realization of Reality is individual, based on revelation to oneself.

I declare that Jnanam is Brahman, not a mere characteristic or attitude or quality. 

The Vedas and Sastras announce that Brahman is Sathyam, Jnanam, and Anantham, not that Brahman has these and other attributes. 

When Brahman is known, the knower, the known and the knowledge all become One."

Brahman is SATHYAM

"A Jnani will feel that the Atma immanent in everyone is his own Atma; he will be happy that he is himself all this; he will see no distinction between man and man, for he can experience only unity, not diversity. 

The physical differences of color, caste and creed adhere only to the body. These are but the marks of the external body. The Atma is Nishkala, that is to say, it has no parts; it is Nirmala, blemish-less, unaffected by desire, anger, greed, affection, pride and envy; it is Nishkriya, activity-less. 

It is only Prakriti that undergoes all these modifications or at least gives the impression that it is so modified. The Purusha is but the Eternal Witness, the Ever-inactive, the Modification-less.

Of what can you say, 'This is Truth'? Only of this, which persists in the Past, the Present and the Future, which has neither beginning nor end, which does not move or change, which has uniform Form, unified experience-giving property. 

Well, let us consider the body, the senses, the mind, the life-force and all such. They move and change; they begin and end, they are inert, Jada. 

They have three gunas: Tamas, Rajas and Sathwa. They are without basic Reality. 

They cause the delusion of reality. They have only relative value; they have no absolute value. 

They shine due to borrowed light only.

Absolute Truth is beyond the reach of Time and Space, it is A-parichchinna, that is, indivisible. 

It does not begin; it is always and ever existent; it is the basis, the fundamental, the self-revealing. Knowing it, experiencing it, is Jnanam. 

It is A-nirdesyam, that is, cannot be marked out as such and such and explained by some characteristics. How can something that is above and beyond the intellect and the mind be described through mere words?

It is also termed Adrisya, invisible to the eye, the optical apparatus that undergoes change and which is very limited in its capacity. Brahma can never be grasped by anything elemental and physical; through Brahman, the eye is able to see, so how can the eye perceive Brahman itself? The mind is bound by the limitations of time, space and causation. How can the Param-Atma who is superior to these and unaffected by them, be limited by them?

Know that the Jagath is the Swaroop of the Viraatpurusha, the form imposed by Maya on the Super-soul. 

Brahman is that which has become or appears to have become all this, the Antharyami, the Inner Motive Force.

In the Nirguna aspect it is the Primal Cause, the Hiranya Garbha, of which Creation is the manifestation. 

Grasping this secret of the universe and its origin and existence - that is Jnana.

Love.

Author's note - Only a week before, there was a long session on the subject - "Sathyam Jnanam Anantam Brahman”, at author's home. 

SATHYAM

1.    Brahman is Sathyam, the eternal truth.

2.  Brahman is not the effect of any cause. While the 5 elements are caused by Brahman which in turn go one to create this Jagath, Brahman is Birth less and death less, as it is not caused by anything.

3.  The above causeless nature of Brahman proves that Brahman is ETERNAL PURE EXISTENCE- SATHYAM

JNANAM

1.    While all other objects are known by our mind, Brahman is the pure Knowledge, which illumines our very intellect / mind and senses.

2.  In all the worldly knowledge, there are 3 aspects - the knower of the object, the object that has to be known and the process of Knowing.

3.  Brahman is above these three aspects - It illumines the universe, it illumines each Jiva's intellect but with that intellect, Brahman cannot be known!!

ANANTHAM

·       All that we can perceive in this creation are limited by any or all of these three aspects.

1.    Desa / Space (One thing cannot appear in 2 places).

2.  Kala / Time (Anything is present only in one time).

3.  Vastu / Object (An object is limited by its shape / its properties / its characteristic).

·       Brahman is all pervading, infinite, not limited by space / time / object.

Though the above points are summarized above, it takes few hours to actually explain the above, which happens in the Kutir sessions.

Love.

Jnana Vahini - Post 14

Swami explains Brahman,

BRAHMAN

"The word Brahman is derived from the root, Brh, meaning to expand, to increase, to enlarge etc. Brhath means big, enlarged, gross, high etc. 

Purusha has its root, Pri meaning to fill, to complete. Pur means a town 'full' of inhabitants, that is to say the body, in a figurative manner of speaking. He who completes or is immanent in or who fills it, the Purusha.

When the Jnani declares, 'I am Brahman', he is uttering the truth from the reality of his experience. When the gross and the subtle are transcended, when the Manas, the Buddhi and the Prana are sublimated, that is to say, when the Self is no longer bound by feelings, thoughts, impulses and instincts, what remains is SAT only. 

(Author's note - Never should one confuse oneself with the physical identity of such a jnani who declares - Aham Brahmasmi. It is not the Ahamkara that speaks, it is the Aham, the pure SELF that roars and gives its pure identity when a jnani says - I AM BRAHMAN)

PARA BRAHMAN

Existence - pure and unalloyed, Parabrahman. 

'Paras' or 'Param' means super, beyond, above, more glorious than all. 

Parabrahman indicates the One beyond and behind everything, grander than anything in the three worlds. 

ATMAN IS ANANDA

The Taittiriya Upanishad has declared, "Through Ananda, all this is born; through Ananda all this is living; in Ananda alone, all this is merged; in Ananda all this rests". 

Like the category Brahman, the category Antaratma also is possessed of the same attributes. It is also Ananda-born, Ananda-full and Ananda-merged. 

Bhoomaa means 'limitless'. The Chandhogya Upanishad declares that Ananda inheres only in the Bhoomaa, the Eternal, the Brahman. Again, another word used by Jnanis to describe their experience of Brahman is Jyotiswarupa, meaning, 'whose nature is splendour, glory or effulgence, who is Illumination itself'. 

Ten million suns cannot equal the Splendour of the Param-Atma. The word Santhiswarupa indicates that It is Santhi Itself. In Sruthi texts like Ayam Ayma Saantho... etc., it is proclaimed that Paramatman is Prasanthi itself.

(Author's note - Swami Krishnananda speaks in a lecture, thus: -

"The bliss of God manifested itself as this world, by the bliss of God the world is sustained, and into the bliss of God the world will return one day. As we are not outside creation, we have also come from the bliss of God, and are sustained by the bliss of God. That is why we love everything. Everything is pleasurable for us because the essence of the bliss of God is present in the very ability in us to sustain ourselves. And in the end, we return to the bliss of God.

God has not created the world from sorrow; He has created it out of His bliss. The world does not proceed from sorrow to sorrow, but from bliss to bliss, if only we are agreeable to cooperate with this inclusiveness of God’s creation and set aside the egoistic exclusiveness of keeping ourselves apart from the things of the world. If you are a friend of the world, the world will be your friend, and God also is your friend.")

Oh, what an expression from this sage from Hrishikesh.

Love.

Jnana Vahini - Post 13

Swami continues,

"Mana eva Manushyaanaam 

Kaaranam Bandha Mokshayoh";

for men, the mind it is, 

that causes bondage and grants liberation.

The mind runs after an object, gets attached; the senses are alerted; an action results; the mind is rendered happy or unhappy; feeling ensues; fear enters; anger grows; affection develops. Thus, the bonds are tightened.

Fear, anger and affection are the closest comrades of attachment, the comrades dearest to its heart! They are, all four, inseparable companions, moving always together. 

Man did not arise merely to wallow in casual joy and fleeting happiness. It is insane to believe so. Identifying oneself with the 'I' and getting attached to 'Mine' - that is the root cause of sorrow and ignorance. Where there is no egoism, there will be no cognizance of the external world. 

When the external world is not cognized, the ego cannot exist. The wise one, therefore, will dissociate himself from the world and behave ever as the Agent of the Lord, being in it but not of it.

Whatever the crisis, however deep the misery, do not allow your grip over the mind to get loose; tighten it further, fixing your eyes on the higher values. 

Do not allow the mind to stray away from the holy tabernacle of the heart. Make it bow before the Atma within.

The snake shrugs off its coil and has nothing more to do with it. Develop that attitude of non-attachment. Escape from the body-delusion. The weak can never grasp this fact. 

Delusion must disappear without even a trace; then only can one merge with the Un-differentiated. There is no duality there; it is Brahman and Brahman alone. 

All bonds of Avidya, Kama, etc., fall away and one is genuinely, fully Free.

Impure gold is melted in the crucible and it emerges shining and bright. The mind rendered impure by Rajas and Tamas, by anger and conceit, by the impressions of a thousand attachments and desires, can be made bright and resplendent if it is put into the crucible of Inquiry and heated on the coals of Discrimination. That brightness is the light of realization, of the knowledge that You are the Atma.

Love

(Author's note - Kindly note that only important portion in Swami's original Jnana Vahini writing has been taken and in that too, the paragraph have been re-arranged to sustain the flow of learning.

Swami says, "develop non-attachment".  Readers may click on this post on detachment and non-attachment posted earlier.

Love.