YT - JDW - Ashtavakra Gita - Chapter 18 - Further Glimpses

Sairam All,

Today’s session cannot be construed as a session because it was not coming as a preparation but it has naturally happened through the Acharya as though the Self within had to share.

Verses 70, 66 and 67 from Chapter 18 have been touched upon not as an explanation but as an exposition of the State within. It is indeed very difficult to even know how this pour happened. Here is the session for all of you to take in and live in it:

https://youtu.be/B_bfsmFgPRc

Love.

Dakshinamurthy Stotram - Post 6

 

Dhyana shloka - 2

 

              

(Under the banyan tree, seated near him on the ground, is an assembly of all the Munis, who come to listen to the knowledge he imparts.

To that Teacher of the three worlds, the Lord Sri Dakshinamurti who destroys the misery of births and deaths, to Him do I bow down).

 

Vata-Vitapi-Samipe: The Lord’s classes are held “under the banyan tree”. This is one of the most auspicious venues to conduct spiritual learning classes.

The banyan tree itself signifies knowledge in all its numerous branches. Like the wide-spreading banyan tree, knowledge, too, has no end. New branches go on forming.

In addition, the peculiarity of these branches is that each branch takes root directly in the ground. This has great significance of its own. It tells us something about the transmission of knowledge. The students who come to learn are like the branches. 

Even today “Shantiniketan” – the school founded by Rabindranath Tagore, follows this tradition.

After having learnt, they become teachers themselves like the main trunk of the tree. They in turn teach other students. And so, the knowledge is perpetuated from generation to generation.

Nishannam: Has the same root as Upanishad, strongly suggesting the link between the venue and its choice to study the Upanishads. It suggests that the knowledge being taught is the wisdom of the Upanishads.

As mentioned in the same Pada of the first verse, it is repeated that the students who are assembled to listen to the Dakshinamurti stotram are highly qualified teachers in their own right. Thus, the teaching to be given is of a very advanced nature.

The Teacher is Lord Shiva Himself. He teaches beings that dwell in heavenly worlds, on earth, and those who dwell in the intermediate region in between.

Shri Dakshinamurti is the source of all spiritual knowledge. He is the Lord as teacher of all the three worlds

The three worlds are a common mythological expression for the whole universe. It includes the earth, the heavens and the space in between typically refers to the entire universe. He is the God in the form of Dakshinamurti.

 

Janana marana Duhkha: This is the benefit one derives from the knowledge studied under the Guru. It hauls one out of Samsara, attended as it is with endless births and deaths, each life filled with the sorrow of separation from the Divine. Knowledge burns ignorance as a forest fire rages through a forest burning down everything in its path.

Shri Dakshinamurti is also described as skillful. He is capable of destroying or removing sorrows / sufferings due to birth and death.

I worship that Dakshinamurti.

Swami writes,

“The task of the farmer who cultivates the crop is a good example of this; if you pay attention to this, the truth will be known, and doubts will vanish. Before sowing the seed on a plot of land, the farmer removes all the wild growth, the bush, the scrub, and the other small growths. 

But that is not enough to bring the harvest home. The plot must be watered, and made ready for the sowing; then the sprouts have to be fostered and guarded into maturity until the crop ripens. Then it can be collected and garnered in the granary.

“Similarly, the thorny bushes of affection, hate, envy, pride, etc. have to be uprooted from the region of the heart, and the field has to be ploughed by means of ‘good deeds’. 

Then the saplings of bliss (ananda) have to be planted therein; the growing crop has to be fostered attentively by discipline and faith; at last, as a result of all this effort, the harvest of bliss will fill one’s granary. 

The mere removal of hate from the heart will not ensure bliss. Love too should be cultivated. That is to say, uproot hate and plant love. The devotee must first be full of love and free from hate. Besides, the love must express itself as service to the distressed and the grieving, declared Gopala.”

(Gita Vahini)

Does a Guru really remove the sorrows of his disciple?

Does the shloka says so?

The verse says, “He removes the misery of birth and death (Janana Marana Dukha)”

All other miseries or pleasant experiences which the disciple has to go through, the Guru does not interfere in that, as those are all part of the Karma which the disciple has to clear.

But the Guru removes the greatest or the worst misery from his (sincere) disciple’s heart.

And that is the misery of transmigration, birth, death and rebirth, which the disciple has been going on for so many births before the Guru walked into his life at the chosen moment when the acute prarabdha of the disciple got cleared and he was in a prepared state to accept his Guru whole heartedly and to offer himself, his entire ego, at the feet of his guru.

The removal of misery of birth and death is worked by the Guru in 2 stages,

1)   The Guru, putting his sincere mumukshu disciple into all the sacred and profound teachings of Upanishads, removes the fear of death from his disciple’s mind.

As Swami says, “heart is a single chair, not a sofa cum   bed”, the disciple has now plunged into the Sravana, Manana, Nidhidhysana of his master’s teachings. 

(single-chair) and he has no mind or will to think about even death!!

2) Ultimately, all the sadhana which the disciple undertakes under the reverential feet of his master, the disciple attains realization at the chosen time, with the grace of his guru and God. With this, the disciple not only goes beyond the fear of death, but he actually goes beyond this cycle of birth and death and does once, never to be born again.

Disciple: What is guru’s grace? How does it lead to Self-realization?

Sri Ramana: "Guru is the Self…. Sometimes in his life a man becomes dissatisfied with it, and, not content with what he has, he seeks the satisfaction of his desires, through prayer to God etc. His mind is gradually purified until he longs to know God, more to obtain His grace than to satisfy his worldly desires. Then, God’s grace begins to manifest. 

God takes the form of a guru and appears to the devotee, teaches him the Truth and, moreover, purifies his mind by association. The devotee’s mind gains strength and is then able to turn inward. By meditation it is further purified and it remains still without the least ripple. That calm expanse is the Self.

The Guru is both ‘external’ and ‘internal’. 

From the ‘exterior’ he gives a push to the mind to turn inward;

(This is described as the 1st process- removing the fear of death, in the post)

From the ‘interior’ He pulls the mind towards the Self and helps in the quieting of the mind. That is guru’s grace. There is no difference between God, Guru and the Self."

(This is the 2nd step described in today's post where the Guru guides his disciple to go beyond death and attain amrtatvam (Liberation).

Love.

 

Dakshinamuthy Stotram - Post 5

Now, we will get deeper into the remaining 2 lines of the first dhyana shloka.

 

“He is the Teacher of teachers, holding his hand in Chinmudra (the sign of knowledge), and his form is Bliss. He ever revels in His own Self, and is ever content – I worship that Sri Dakshinamurti)” 

 

Chin mudra 

As per the earlier 2 lines of this shloka, if there is only silence, then how does the teaching take place in silence? There must be some methodology of teaching? The methodology employed by Dakshinamurti, is Chinmudra (also called Jnana mudra). 

 

Dakshinamurti is described as the one who has Chinmudra visible in his hand. It explains how Dakshinamurti taught in silence. This mudra, in general, indicates teaching. But it also yields much more profound Vedantic teachings. This mudra has a lot of symbolism associated with it. 

The middle, ring and small fingers represent Body, Mind and Senses. They also represent Waking, Dreaming and Deep sleep states. It could also represent Sthula Shareera (Physical Body), Sukshma Shareera (Subtle Body) and Karan Shareera (Causal Body). It can have many such representations. In general it represents part of you which is Kshara (that decays over time). 

But there is another aspect of you in addition to those. That is you, the conscious observer.

The index finger represents that you the conscious observer, the Atman.

And, Who are you as a Jiva?  

You are an assemblage of all four of these aspects. You are sat chit ananda atma (the index finger, the conscious observer) accompanied by body, mind and senses (the other three fingers). This is what makes you a Jiva, an individual person. 

 

Brahman

The hand function depends upon thumb. The thumb represents that upon which everything depends. Thumb hence represents Brahman – the reality because of which everything exists. 

So, you, the Jiva, is represented by the four fingers. The Brahman upon which everything depends for its existence is represented by the thumb. They seem to be very separate – distinct from each other, which  means, though you the Jiva owe your existence to Brahman, the one who illumines all the four aspects of you, still, Brahman ( the thumb) stands apart from you, having no relation with you ( or may we say, a relation-less relation with you)

The index finger joining the Thumb, forming a circle, cut off from the other three fingers is the indication of the Atman (index finger) joining the Brahman (Thumb), leaving aside or transcending the other 3 fingers.

That is, the Jiva transcends his 3 gunas, 3 states of consciousness, his body, mind and senses and merges in Brahman.

This is the Jiva - Brahma Aikyam (Jivoh  Brahmaiva Na: Parah, the Jiva is not distinct / apart from  Brahman).

This is how Dakshinamurti taught the rishis in silence. He was teaching them through mudra. This mudra represents the highest teachings of Vedanta. 

What could not be expressed in words was conveyed through this beautiful symbol of Chinmudra. 

The four aspects of Jiva and then Brahman, is beautifully explained in Mundaka Upanishad through the analogy of 2 birds.

There are two birds in this tree of life. This tree of life may be either this body of the individual, or it may be the entire creation itself.

Ishvara (God) and Jiva (living beings) are present in the world of creation as well as in the human body. They are friends. They are inseparable siblings, one connected with the other perpetually. These are compared to birds living on a single tree which is this vast creation. And they enjoy their existence on the tree. 

The only difference is, one of these birds is busy enjoying the delicious fruit that is of the tree and the other bird is not interested in eating anything. It is merely looking on, unconcerned and unattached.

This unattached bird is God, Ishvara, seated in your own heart and everywhere in this world. 

The bird that is eating the sweet fruit of this tree is the individual soul, the mind-body complex. 

So, there are two phases of experience going on in one’s own body: a consciousness that is totally detached, and a consciousness that is very much involved.

The detached consciousness in us is called Kutastha- Chaitanya. 

The very consciousness that is contaminated by the body, mind and sense organs becomes jiva. 

Consciousness connected with the sense organs, mind and body is the jiva, the individual, so-called. 

This is represented by 4 fingers in the chin mudra, where, as per the above analogy, the index finger ( individual consciousness) contaminated by the three fingers, our BMI complex) is what a Jiva is.

The detached consciousness, unconnected with these, is Ishvara Himself. Because consciousness cannot be located only in one place, cannot be divided into parts, cannot have fractions, it is therefore Universal. (The thumb finger in the chin mudra)

At the end, the lower bird, eating the fruits of its own Karma, comes to realize that the higher bird is no other than the lower bird and not only that, the entire forest, all trees (representing the entire creation) is also not different from itself. 

That is, there is no Jiva existing separately ever, no identity of the lower bird ever. There is no Brahman existing separately, in high heaven, inaccessible ever, there is no Higher bird ever. 

There is no atman, there is no Brahman, there is no separate Jagat (No forest existing separate from Brahman), No Iswara separate from the Jiva and Jagat. The bird, considering itself as lower, inferior than the higher bird, ultimately discovers that the bird, the higher bird, the forest - all these were illusion, all these were super imposition on the one reality, pure consciousness. 

 

Once the illusion of snake is gone, only rope remains. 

This is the highest realization in Vedanta, where the Jiva realizes that He is the SELF and there is nothing apart from him, the pure SELF.

All this, Sri Dakshinamurti taught in silence through chin-mudra!

 

Teacher of teachers 

Who is teaching? The one who is the king of teachers. Shri Dakshinamurti would be the first of the teachers of Vedanta. Hinduism had its origin in Vedas. The Vedas were revealed to the ancient rishis. That’s what the mythological story represents. 

The Vedas were first revealed to these four rishis by Shri Dakshinamurti Shiva. So Dakshinamurti becomes the first of the teachers. The teacher of all the teachers. 

 

In Bliss 

Dakshinamurti is also said to be in the form of ananda – an embodiment of happiness. That is connected with term whose face is pleased – smiling face. HE is embodiment of happiness. He is beyond any worldly suffering. 

At the same time, he is not laughing at us. He has a slight smile not only because he is an embodiment of happiness, not only because he is fullness, but because as Guru, he understands that we (his students) are suffering. 

And, he also knows that the cause of our suffering is not real. Mankind suffers due to ignorance. Shri Dakshinamurti knows our suffering is merely due to ignorance. Therefore, he has a slight smile on his face. 

Echoing the same truth, ashtavakra says to his disciple janaka, 

 

(You are not the body, nor is the body is your’s. You are neither doer nor the enjoyer. You are the consciousness itself, the eternal, indifferent witness. Realizing this, you may go around happily) 

 

Revels in own SELF 

Dakshinamurti is one who revels in one’s own self. Usually, we look outside for sources of contentment, comfort, peace, joy and happiness. True source for peace, love, happiness is however, not outside but lies within. Dakshinamurti as a teacher already knows that. Therefore, he is reveling within suggests not looking outside for peace, happiness, and contentment. 

I/We worship this Teacher of teachers, who is in ever in bliss, who revels in SELF, who teaches in silence through chin-mudra. 

 

Love.