Jnana Vahini - Post 17

Swami continues,

"A father with four sons cannot state that one of them has no right to a share in his property. It won't be just or proper. Then what shall be said of the Lord, who is devoid of the slightest tinge of partiality or prejudice and who is full of mercy? To attribute favoritism to Him is to commit sacrilege.

Referring to this question of who is entitled and who is not entitled to Brahma vidya, Krishna said in the Gita "I have no favorite, nor do I dislike anyone. Whatever might be the case, whether the person is man or woman, whoever worships Me with faith and devotion will reach Me, nothing can stand in their way. I too will manifest in the hearts of such". Is the Gita, therefore, meaningless? No, the Gita speaks profound Truth.

There is another wrong belief current today. It is said that in order to be entitled to the practice of the Sadhana for the realization of Brahman, like Japa and Dhyana, one must adhere strictly to certain modes of daily conduct laid down in tradition and thus attain purity. 

To say that a person must be pure and good and follow certain codes of conduct before he can tread the path of God is to say that he must be free from disease in order to deserve medical treatment! This is absurd. Purity, goodness etc., are all the consequences of the journey towards God; they cannot be insisted upon as essential for just starting upon it. 

The taking in of the drug will gradually induce health and cheer; health and cheer should not be insisted upon before the drug is even prescribed or supplied! This obvious fact is ignored by many; that is a serious malady indeed!

(Author’s note - What Swami means perhaps is that we need not postpone our sadhana thinking that we are at a lower level and we have to go a long way before being able to taste / have a glimpse of Jnana. The self-purification process and the study of scriptures / taking up the path of jnana can go together, simultaneously)

The inference is that what is important is constant meditation on the Lord, not the labels of caste or creed. Jnana is the attainment of the feeling of Oneness, the realization that there is nothing high or low. That is the true Divine Principle, the Brahman.

A sugar doll has head, neck, arms and limbs, but each part is as sweet as the other. From head to foot, it is one uniform sweetness; there cannot be two types of sweetness. That is why it is said to be not dual but non-dual, not Dvaitha but Advaitha. Those who emanate from the Lord's Face and those who emanate from His Feet are both His children. The realization of this Truth is the sign of Jnana.

(Author’s note - Purusha suktam starts with this verse which aligns with what Swami writes at the end.

OM SAHASRA SIRSHA PURUSHAHA SAHASRAKSHAH SAHASRAPAAT!

SA BHUMIM VISHVATO VRITVA ATYATISHTHAT DASHANGULAM!

"The Lord Vishnu residing in everybody (as antaryami) possesses thousands of heads, thousands of eyes and thousands of legs. He has pervaded everywhere and is Infinitely Superior even to Goddess Lakshmi who is the presiding deity of earth".

The Suktha begins with the affirmation that all the heads, all the eyes, and all the feet in creation are of the Purusha. 

Herein is implied the astonishing truth that we do not see many things, bodies, objects, persons, forms, or colors, or hear sounds, but rather only the limbs of the One Purusha. 

And, just as when we behold the hand, leg, ear or nose of a person as various parts we do not think that we are seeing many things but only a single person in front of us, and we develop no separate attitude whatsoever in regard to the various parts of the person’s body — because here our attitude is one of a single whole of consciousness beholding one complete person irrespective of the limbs or the parts of which the person may be the composite — in the same manner, we are to behold creation not as a conglomeration of discrete persons and things with which we have to develop a different attitude or conduct, but as a single Universal Person who gloriously shines before us and gazes at us through all the eyes, nods before us through all the heads, smiles through all the lips and speaks through all the tongues. This is the Purusha of the Purusha Sukta.)

Love.

Jnana Vahini - Post 16

Swami writes, 

Brahman or Jnana is the drug for the un-realization of the falsely realized, the removal of the fog of misunderstanding or Ajnana. It will burn off the dust that hides the Truth.

Who among men are in urgent need of medical treatment? Those who are badly ill, is it not? 

So too, those who are groping in Ajnana are first entitled to the teaching and the training leading to the acquisition of Jnana. 

Everyone, whatever the status, class or sex, can win that Jnana. If it is stated that women are not entitled to it, why is it mentioned that Siva taught Vedanta to Parvathi? Or how did Kapilacharya, a great Yogi, teach the Sankhya system to his mother, Devahoothi? Or how did Yajnavalkya the great Rishi impart the essential principles of Vedantic philosophy to his wife, Maithreyi, as mentioned in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad? The Upanishad cannot be false. The Scriptures wherein these facts are mentioned speak only Truth.

So, the chief qualification for the path leading to Jnana is only Sadhana, the Tapas one is enhgaged in, not the irrelevant consideration of caste, creed or sex. Leaving all other matters aside, one should concentrate on that Sadhana and that Tapas.

"Jnana is the panacea for all ills, troubles and travails". This is how the Vedas describe it. 

To acquire this Jnana, there are many paths, and the chiefest of them is the path of Bhakthi, the Path adopted by Vasishta, Narada, Vyasa, Gouranga and other great persons. 

Krishna, who is the Personification of Prema, and who is saturated with the quality of Mercy, declared in the Gita: "I am known by means of Bhakthi", "Bhakthyaa Maam Abhijaanaathi".

Why was this declaration made? Because in the path of Bhakti there are no hurdles. Young and old, high and low, man and woman, all are entitled to tread it. 

What the oil is to the flame in the lamp, Bhakthi is to the Flame of Jnana. The Heavenly Tree of the Joy of Jnana thrives on the refreshing waters of Bhakthi. Understand this well.

(Author’s note - Volumes and volumes have been spoken and written by the author on the subject - How Bhakti fructifies into Jnana, how Jnana is the final attainment of Bhakti.

Only after one’s focus, one’s undivided attention on his chosen God is achieved through Bhakti, it becomes easy for that bhakta to then focus on SELF / BRAHMAN, which is beyond any name and form.

Why it is said that Bhakti culminates in Jnana??

After all what is liberation or Self-realization?? It is not a new heavenly attainment. In Vedanta, Self-realization is Self-discovery, the realization that one is always and has always been Gold, the shining atman, once the dirt covering the Gold, the ego, is removed.

And, what is the ultimate attainment in Devotion? The Bhakta loses his self-identity and merges with Lord, in LOVE. 

Does this merger not take the Sadhaka / the Bhakta, directly towards SELF-REALIZATION in shortest time?

Any Jnani who has, in this contemporary world, attained Self-Realization, must be a Bhakta first, either in the same birth in which he attained jnana or in some other birth- This is not given in any treatise, but the author can vouch for this from his own subjective experience, 100%.

Swami kept him in the path of devotion for 35 years, before taking him to the path of Jnana and thereafter, the journey was shortened to 6 years and the pinnacle, the peak journey was in fact only 6 months!!!)

Love.

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.