Tattva Bodha - Post 36

BEYOND KARMA - VIDEHAMUKTI

Tathaa cha, aatma-vit,

samsaaram teertvaa,

brahmaanandam iha eva praapnoti.

“Tarati shokam aatmavit,” iti shruteh.

Tanum tyajatu vaa kaashyaam,

shvapachasya grihe athavaa,

jnaana-sampraapti-samaye,

muktah asau vigataashayah;

iti smriteh cha.

And so, the knower of the Self, having crossed Samsara (worldly life), attains supreme Bliss here itself.

The Sruti says, “The knower of the Self crosses over all sorrow.”

Let the wise cast off the body in Kashi, 

or in the house of a dog-eater,

At the time of attaining knowledge, 

he gets liberated from all his Karmas.

Thus assert the Smritis, too.

Sankara finally tells that the knower of the Self always rejoices only in Absolute Bliss of the Self and also quotes from Sruti and Smriti to back his words. 

When the Jiva realizes his own Self, then the Kartha ceases to exist and hence the karmas which got accumulated over millions and millions of birth also ceases to exist. To a person who realized his own nature of Self, nothing can bind him and thus such a person have crossed the Samsara. 

When a person gets such a firm conviction on these Upanishadic statements without any doubt through vedantic sadhana of Sravana, Manana and Nidhidhyaasana, he is liberated and has crossed the Samsara. 

He gets a firm conviction that "I am neither body nor senses nor mind nor intellect but Ever Blissful Infinite Atman". 

All the Karma phala are only for the body and the mind, and since the person got the firm conviction that he is Atman different from gross, subtle and causal body, none of the karma phala affects him. 

Sankara supports these words of his through the quotation from Chandhogya upanishad which says,

"Tarathi shokam atma vith"

"The knower of the Self goes beyond all the sorrows"

He also quotes from Smriti,

“Tanum tyajatu vaa kaashyaam,

shvapachasya grihe athavaa,

jnaana-sampraapti-samaye,

muktah asau vigataashayah”

Let the Jnani cast his body in Kasi (a sacred place) or in the house of a dog eater (Chandala), (it is immaterial because) at the time of gaining the knowledge (itself) he is liberated being free from all results of action.

In this final verse of the text, Videhamukti is being described. Videhamukti is the dropping of the physical vesture in the case of a liberated sage. 

Swami Sivananda says,

“The destruction of Chitta is of two kinds, that with form and without form. The destruction of that with form is of the Jivanmukta; the destruction of that without form is of the Videhamukta. 

As soon as the Prarabdha is fully exhausted, the Jivanmukta attains the state of Videhamukti, just as the pot - ether becomes one with the universal ether when the pot is broken”.

Swami Says,

Once, Janaka held a big congregation of scholars and sages in his court and conducted a debate as to what is eternal and what is ephemeral, what is a field (kshetra) and who is the knower of the field (kshetrajna). This debate went on for 21 days.

At the end, Yajnavalkya got up and said that he was prepared to answer any question that one might pose in the assembly. Gargi got up and asked him, “What is meant by wisdom (jnana)?” 

Yajnavalkya said, “Experience of non-dual-ism is wisdom (Advaita darshanam jnanam). 

Gargi said, “Yes, I accept what you said. A person who observes differences cannot be a person of wisdom (jnani). A true person of wisdom is one with a feeling of oneness (ek-atma bhava). Only such a person is a true scholar. A pandit is one who is equal-minded (Pandita samadarshina).” Gargi was a great scholar, and nobody could match her in knowledge. In fact, knowledge is the true ornament for a person. 

Waves are the ornaments for an ocean, Houses are the ornaments for a village, Lotus is the ornament for a lake,

Moon is the ornament for the sky, Knowledge is the ornament for man. 

(Telugu Poem) 

On the 21st day, when the debate concluded, someone from the assembly of scholars and sages had to be chosen to honor King Janaka. Janaka was known as Videha, since he was totally devoid of body attachment. 

In view of her deep knowledge and supreme wisdom, Gargi was considered the most deserving person to honor King Janaka. 

In such a great assembly of eminent scholars and sages, King Janaka decided to receive the honor from the hands of Gargi. 

(Extract from Divine Discourse at Prashanti Nilayam- 1-9-1996)

Iti "Tattva Bodha" Prakaranam Samaptam.

Thus, the Tattva Bodha Prakarana text comes to an end!

Love.

Tattva Bodha - Post 35

HOW KARMA IS DESTROYED 

Sanchitam karma “Brahma eva aham,” iti

Nishchayaatmaka jnaanena nashyati  api jnaanena nashyati.

Kincha aagaami karmanaam nalinee-dalagata-jalavat,

jnaaninaam sambandhah na asti.

Kincha, ye jnaaninam stuvanti, bhajanti, archayanti,

taan prati jnaani-kritam aagaami punyam gacchhati.

taan prati jnaani-kritam sarvam - aagaami kriyamaanam;

Ye jnaaninam nindanti, dvishanti, duhkha-pradaanam kurvanti, yat avaachyam karma, paapaatmakam tad gacchhati. suhridah punya-krityam, duhridah papa-krityam, grihnanti.

The Sanchita Karma, by holding the thought “I am Brahman alone” with firm, one-pointed knowledge, gets destroyed.

The Agami Karma is also destroyed by knowledge. Of Agama Karma it is said, they are as “a lotus leaf unaffected by water on it.”

The wise man has no relation with it.

Further, those who praise, serve and worship the wise man, to them, out of all the actions being done by the wise man, the good fruits accrue.

On the other hand, those who criticize, hate or cause pain to the wise man-to them, out of all the actions being done by the wise man, those which are not praiseworthy, i.e. the sinful fruits, accrue.

In short, friends take the meritorious results,

whilst enemies take the demeritorious ones.

 

First verse teaches that the single thought “I am Brahman”, also called as the Brahmakara Vritti, burns away all the stock of past sanchita Karmas. 

Next verse teaches us how the Agami Karma is handled by the saint. He is indifferent to them, since he has raised his consciousness above all worldly concerns. These Karmas do not have any effect on him. 

Then what happens to them?  Next verse gives the answer. The actions which the saint does for the welfare of humanity have to generate some Karmas. They are distributed in the manner explained in the verse – the good and the bad Karmas are distributed to those connected with his life in accordance with their assistance or hindrance to his work. 

Here Sankara explains how a person becomes free from the karmas. As we learned earlier, Karma is of three kinds, Sanchita, Prarabdha and Agami. 

Sanchitha Karma is that Karma which is already accumulated through crores and crores of our birth, Prarabdha karma is that which is giving fruits in the current birth and agami karma is that which are the results of the actions done in the current birth left for the future birth. 

To perform any action there should be a kartha and the kartha here is the jiva who is ignorant of his own nature of Anandam. Jiva becomes the kartha when he has desires and does action to satisfy his desire. Kartha enjoys the results of the Karma. Thus as long as there is kartha, karma is there. 

Thus we have desire -> action -> result becoming never ending cycle, taking a jiva from birth to birth. The root cause of this Samsaara is avidya or ignorance of ones own nature of Self. 

Atma Ajnaana vanishes by Atma Jnaana that "I am Brahman". When the seeker gets the Atman Jnana that "I am the Sat-Chit-Ananda swarupa", then he realizes that Ananda is not outside, it is his own very nature only. 

Thus desire vanishes and hence the action also vanishes. Action vanishes because there is no kartha to perform the action as the Jivahood which is cause of ajnaana is not there. 

Since there is no karthrutvam (doer-ship) there is no bhogtrutvam or enjoyment as well. Sanchitha karma and agami  karma are only for the Jivas and when a seeker realizes his own nature of Brahman, no karma affect him. His sanchita karmas become ineffective like roasted seeds which cannot germinate and bear any fruit. 

Such a person crosses over the Samsara.

The Prarabdha karma is only for the body and hence it will be there for the Jnani till the fall of the body but the jnani will not be affected by it. Why? because the Jnani knows that he is not the body and the mind, but Brahman. Knowing that "I am Brahman and what exists is Brahman only", the jnani may live in the world just like any other person. 

He might even do all worldly things just like normal people knowing that everything is only illusion, Brahman alone is Real and thus always rejoices in Eternal Bliss.

As Sankara says in Bhaja govindam

"Yogaratova Bhogaratova

Sangaratova Sangaviheenah

yasyath Brahmani ramathe chittam

nandhati nandhati nandhathyeva"

"Let one revel in Yoga or let him revel in enjoyment or let him seek enjoyment in the crowd or let him revel in solitude away from the crowd. He whose mind revels in Brahman, he enjoys, verily he alone enjoys."

Since there is neither Punyam nor Papam for a Jnani,  he does not acquire a new birth. 

Thus Jnani as a result of Jnana enjoys Jīvan Mukti and Videha Mukti. 

Love

PS. Interested readers are requested to go through the following posts in karma to get clarity on the following:

1) Karma- Post no.8     for answers to some very  important questions that can arise in any one's mind after going through Karma theory.

2) Karma Post no. 9  to be clear on how, in all stages of life, one has to pursue the Purushartha (Dharma, Artha, Kama, moksha)  in life.

3) Karma Post no. 7, to get clarity on Free Will Vs. Destiny.

Love.

Tattva Bodha - Post 34

AGAMI KARMA

Arrows in Hand 

  

The arrows in hand are the most important: The arrows that are in our hands today are the ones that we currently have a choice about where to aim and how to shoot. The arrows and choices in our hands today are called "Kriyamana Karma" (also called "Agami Karma" or "Vartamana Karma").

Becoming more aware: To be aware of the nature of wants, wishes, desires, attractions or aversions is very important. By being aware of our motivations, we can consciously shoot the arrows by choice, rather than unconscious habit. 

Pure, colorless arrows: The actions which we take up

with discrimination are the pure color less arrows which can be well aimed, well shot and which will give us the desired results. Such well aimed arrows will result mostly in positive results, with positive impressions of such arrows shot, stored in our quiver as white arrows, which will get us more and more positive character and more and more motivation to shoot such arrows again in our  future births.

Letting the Stray Arrows Fall 

Reducing the In-flight arrows: When we start improving our aim, and thus creating fewer attachments and aversions, we also have to deal with the arrows that are already in flight.

Some of these in-flight arrows are painful, some are pleasurable. Whether bringing pain or pleasure, the consequences of these previously shot arrows continues to come, until those arrows find their final destination and completion. 

A simple process: There is a simple process to reducing the in-flight arrows: 

We allow the arrows to fall where they are headed, accepting that some of them were poorly aimed. Past decisions are bringing current consequences. We accept these consequences and their responsibilities, as we stay focused on the arrows in hand. We allow the old arrows to run their course in such a way that we don't add more negative consequences to come. 

Being kind to ourselves: The solution is to be very kind with ourselves, as we cultivate persistence and patience. We may want spiritual energy, grace, or shakti to come to us, yet one of the first forms of that comes as determination. To have, cultivate, or pray for such determination is an essential practice on the journey to Self-Realization. 

1.    Becoming a good Archer in making useful decisions, developing determination, and practicing patience, form a powerful combination.

2.  Then, the number and intensity of off-course arrows of Karma gradually goes down, as the numbers that are on-target increases. 

3.  Gradually our karmic focus shifts, as we move more and more towards a greater integration of mind, and reduction of samskaras.

4.  Then our meditations and contemplations can progress more smoothly and quickly on the Journey Within. 

Through these new arrows, you are deciding your future karmas: Now comes the most important thing to be learnt, contemplated and taken-in in the entire Karma learning.

Love.