Sadhana Panchakam - Post 15

As per the earlier instructions, the Brahmachari (student) has been equipped with secular knowledge and life skills, and spiritual devotion and renunciation. 

 

The path towards success in both lies ahead of him. He has had the character building training deemed necessary by the Indian sages.

 

Now comes the real test of all that he has learnt and imbibed at the Gurukula. The most productive period of his life lies ahead, and it would take him from age 20 to age 55, the grahastha ashrama.

 

The object of entering the householder’s life is to achieve Chitta Shuddhi or “mental purity”.

 

How is this to be achieved? Mental purity comes from reduction of desires. Herein lies our ultimate spiritual good. This stage can be utilized for the gradual thinning out of desires as taught in the Brahmacharya Ashrama. 

 

While we would get into each instruction in this sacred panchakam of Sankara, let us get more into this Grahastha Ashram as given in the Brahma Sutras, the highest treatise!!

 

 

Swami Krishnananda says,

 

Kṛtsnabhāvāttu gṛhiṅopasaṁhāraḥ 

(B.S. 3.4.48).

 

The meaning of this sutra is, the life of a householder is integral. 

The general idea is that the life of a householder is one of attachment to family, property, etc. Then what does this mean? 

 

How is the life of a householder integral? 

 

The word ‘householder’ has a unique meaning in India. There are four gradational achievements, or attainments, for the development of the person, which were arranged in ancient times in India. 

 

The duties of a householder are interesting to know. It is not attachment to family; that is far from the truth. In Indian culture, attachment is never allowed. Duty is necessary. The fulfilment of the needs of personal and social relations is the duty of a householder. In the early days of a Brahmachari, he is concerned only with himself. But it is not possible to live only by oneself. There is also society outside. 

 

There are impulses of self-restraint, there are impulses of social relations, there are impulses of acquiring wealth, there are impulses of seeing beauty, and there are impulses of being charitable to people. This is why the Brahma Sutra says the householder’s life is integral. 

 

The householder is a highly respected person not because he has a family, but because he is doing his duty without attachment. Such a person is difficult to find. Everybody is attached. But the principle is not at fault merely because it is not followed due to the insistence of the lower instincts. "

 

Aitareya Upanishad describes 3 births in life of a human being.

 

First birth

 

At the time of physical union with one’s spouse, man creates himself inside the foetus of his spouse, or, the father creates himself inside the foetus of the (future) mother. This is his first birth. 

 

Here, the Upanishads beckons the husband to hold his wife at the highest esteem, as she is actually holding/ nurturing her husband within her foetus.

 

Second birth

 

While the mother protects the unborn child in her womb, the father takes care of the child after delivery till it gets fully grown up and becomes a sound person in the society. 

 

This act on his part is for maintaining the continuity of the race. This coming out of the womb and taking birth as a child is his second birth. 

 

Third birth

 

The father himself becomes the son as it is clear in the above 2 exposition. When the son comes of age, the father entrusts him with all the family duties and responsibilities and feels free from parental debt. 

 

After this, the life span of the father gets shortened and he departs from the earth. Then according to his karma he is reborn again somewhere else in another womb. This is his third birth. 

 

This way the chain of birth and death continues so long as the man does not consider this chain as a bondage and torture and till he does not make effort to get released from it during his birth in the human form. 

 

While the second chapter in this Upanishad gives the essence and instruction for a man to get released from all the three births, it is wonderful to also take home the lesson, after understanding the 3 births, as to how,

 

-  A man must nurture/ respect his spouse for carrying himself within her when she conceives and how a woman must nurture and respect her husband for having given himself to her in the process.

 

-  How, both together, as father and mother, must bring up their children who/which is nothing but they themselves. 

 

When and if at all one can enter this sacred grahastha ashrama with such grand revelations, the attitude, the dimension with which  the man and the woman approach and revere each other brings out the beauty of this most sacred relationship where, each one acts as a true spiritual companion to the other.

 

And, the beauty of this sacred relation gets manifested in all its  grandeur in this most significant conversation between Yagnavalkya and Maitreyi, when Yagnavalkya sets forth for Sanyasa Asrama and is about to leave his wife maitreyi to take care of his kingdom.

 

“Yajnavalkya: ‘Maitreyi, I am resolved to give up the world and begin the life of renunciation. I wish therefore to divide my property between you and my other wife, Katyayani.’

 

Maitreyi: ‘My lord, if this whole earth belonged to me, with all its wealth, should I through its possession attain immortality?’ 

 

Yajnavalkya: ‘No. Your life would be like that of the rich. None can possibly hope to attain immortality through wealth.’

 

Maitreyi : ‘Then what need have I of wealth? Please, my lord, tell me what you know about the way to immortality.’

 

Yajnavalkya: ‘Dear, to me, have you always been, Maitreyi, and now you ask to learn of that truth which is nearest to my heart. Come, sit by me. I will explain it to you. Meditate on what I say.’” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2:4:1-4).

 

(Yajnavalkya calls Maitreyi priya, which means dear, beloved, and pleasing. He does not mean it in the small-minded egocentric way we are so inured to.)

 

Yagnavalkya’s reply, which is one of the greatest revelations in Upanishad.

 

“It is not for the sake of the husband, my beloved, that the husband is dear, but for the sake of the Self.

“It is not for the sake of the wife, my beloved, that the wife is dear, but for the sake of the Self.

“It is not for the sake of the children, my beloved, that the children are dear, but for the sake of the Self.

“It is not for the sake of wealth, my beloved, that wealth is dear, but for the sake of the Self.

“It is not for the sake of the Brahmins, my beloved, that the Brahmins are held in reverence, but for the sake of the Self.

“It is not for the sake of the Kshatriyas, my beloved, that the Kshatriyas are held in honor, but for the sake of the Self.

“It is not for the sake of the higher worlds, my beloved, that the higher worlds are desired, but for the sake of the Self.

“It is not for the sake of the gods, my beloved, that the gods are worshipped, but for the sake of the Self.

“It is not for the sake of the creatures, my beloved, that the creatures are prized, but for the sake of the Self.

“It is not for the sake of itself, my beloved, that anything whatever is esteemed, but for the sake of the Self.

“The Self, Maitreyi, is to be known. Hear about it, reflect upon it, meditate upon it. By knowing the Self, my beloved, through hearing, reflection, and meditation, one comes to know all things” .

 

(A very profound, rather 2 or 3 sessions were given to smaller group of sadhakas on the above grand revelation which takes the entire relationship between a husband and wife to the quest for self or rather, the reverence of SELF itself)

 

Love.

 

Sadhana Panchakam - Post 14

 

In Mahabharata, we find it mentioned, 'O Desire, I know your source. You are born of thought, therefore, I will stop thinking of you and you will then cease to exist for me’. Krishna refers desire and anger to be all-devouring enemies of the self.

 

Buddha too says that intense desire to possess something, to be something and to renounce something is the cause of all suffering in life.

 

Maitri Upanishad points out that samsara  is nothing but the aggregation of thought-responses from senses to the mind. 

 

Sankara says in Vivekchudamani that disengagement of the mind is possible only when one detaches the mind from the influence of senses which are the primary cause of the desires. 

 

Unless desires are disengaged from mind, no one, not even one well-versed in all scriptures, would be eligible for deliverance. He points out significantly that the state of being desire less should be a constant and continuous enterprise even for one who is enlightened, considering himself only as performer of actions and not a participant in enjoying the fruits of such performance of actions. 

 

Karma, actions when performed with desire in mind makes the mind to get attached to the same. It is only the discrimination of mind that makes human being separate and distinct from the desires and the causes which go to make up the thoughts and therefore freeing the mind from desires. 

 

Desire sneaks stealthily into the Mind like a burglar, unasked and uninvited, without one being consciously aware. Elimination of desire is not denial of desire but refusing to be influenced and being enslaved by desire. 

  

The famous verse in Atma Bodha has been referred to many times by the author in so many sessions,

 

(Action cannot destroy ignorance, for it is not in conflict with or opposed to ignorance. Knowledge does verily destroy ignorance as light destroys deep darkness.) 

Avidya / Ignorance

 

Ignorance is what pervades our entire life. Because of it, though essentially born divine, created by divinity as divine, we still get identified with the body. 

 

We then perform actions to take care of this body. These become our central preoccupation. 

 

Kama Karma  

 

Very soon, we will include actions that arise purely from the desires arising through our body identification. Soon we are engulfed in activities, all of which may be astounding in themselves but which do not take us a single step forward towards God.

 

When our actions are not fulfilling, we become unhappy. Another series of actions are started to make us happy in the world. That does not succeed. 

 

All this is because actions are rooted in ignorance; they are conceived in ignorance, governed by ignorance, mothered and fathered by ignorance, supported by ignorance how can it oppose ignorance when ignorance is so rooted in it? 

 

Knowledge

 

We need to turn to something that is the ‘enemy’ of ignorance. That is knowledge. Anything that we DO will only strengthen our ignorance.

  

Narada declares in Bhakti Sutras that performance of actions with detachment for fruits of desires is the sign of complete surrender and true renunciation. 

 

When Krishna suggests to Arjuna to give up all actions, (sarva karma parityajya), it is not giving up the performance of actions but giving up performance of actions taken up from ego-sense. 

 

It is as Patanjali says “yoga is restraint from all the activities of the mind” or as Katha Upanishad suggests, “cessation of the five sensory instruments of Knowledge together with Mind and restraining even the intellect”. 

 

Maitri Upanishad refers to Mind as two-fold, impure and pure; impure when associated with desire and pure when disassociated with desire. By freeing mind from apathy and distraction and making it steady, one becomes liberated of mind even here in this very life and attains supreme state. 

 

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says, the object to which mind becomes attached, the subtle self goes together with the deed attached to it. But when man does not desire, who is without desire, who is freed from desire, whose desire is satisfied and whose desire is his self, his breaths do not depart and being Brahman he goes to Brahman. Therefore, desires should be disengaged from Mind.

 

If, at the beginning of spiritual journey or, even after years of bhakti sadhana, if the mind is not able to contemplate on Brahman (desire = Self as Brahdaranyaka Upanishad says), then what can such a man do?? Is there no salvation for such a person??

 

Swami comes to rescue such a devotee and show him the way and says,

 

“We cannot get rid of desires. So, how do we deal with our desires? Lower desires should be replaced with higher desires. And higher desires should be replaced with the highest desire for God. 

 

For, if you have got God Himself, who is the owner of this entire universe, you will get everything along with it.

 

When the one who gives Bhakti and Mukti is by your side, why do you ask for this world that is so distasteful? 

 

One desire leads to the other. And if you think that if one desire is fulfilled, you will be satisfied, you are mistaken.

 

If you fulfill one desire, another desire will arise. The best way to satisfy the desire is to eliminate it. But if you are not able to eliminate desires at least replace it. 

 

Our svabhava, true nature is love. And it is in giving love that we get love. Love does not even seek to be loved. It just loves. The one who has tasted the bliss of love for the Lord will find everything else tasteless. 

 

Once you have tasted the elixir of Divine love, nothing else will ever attract you. Therefore, seek from God: “O Lord! My tongue craves for all kinds of tastes in this world. Give me the taste of Your love. Give me the taste of that Divine joy, so that I shall shun all the other kinds of distraction.” With love as the coating on you, be above the waters of the world like the lotus flower that always looks towards the sun

 

Asatoma Sadgamaya,

((from untruth (Ego=Jiva), take us to the Truth ( Self=Brahman))

Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya,

((from darkness (of ignorance), take us to the light (of true knowledge))

Mrutyorma Amrutamgamaya

(from this nature of ephemerality, take us to immortality.)

 

Seek God! You will get everything. There is no better time; there is no better opportunity than this and now. Don’t postpone it. Do it now, here”

 

(Extract from divine discourse dated 9.10.1996)

 

Love.

 

Sadhana Panchakam - Post 13

In previous instruction, we dedicated all our actions to God.

 

Let us fully appreciate the value of dedicating all actions, including desire filled actions, to God.

 

By doing so, at least he starts moving from self-centeredness to selflessness, a big move indeed. We should not underestimate the value of such a step.

 

There is no restriction to give up Kamya Karma in previous instruction. The only condition is that it, too, has to be dedicated to God. This makes us mindful of what kind of desires we permit in our mind. If we are going to offer them as worship, we had better keep them clean!

 

Sadhakas may recall the “Kaye na vaacha” talk in which this was clarified. If all the instruments of actions, the antahkarana, the gross body, the sanskaras, everything has to be offered to God, then, what should be the quality of all these things to be worthy of being offered to God?!

  

In the current instruction, Kamya Karma is specifically targeted for restriction, renunciation or better still, elimination. This may be very difficult for most people, but it is absolutely necessary from the point of view of our training. 

 

The question we ask ourselves is: “Can Kamya Karmas also be dedicated to God?”

 

Apart from our daily duties and special occasional duties, we are quite happily performing many other things simply because we like them. We do not have to do them, but we do them only because of a personal preference for them. These classify under Kamya Karmas.

 

Our eating habits are almost exclusively our own choice. We don’t really eat out of a sense of duty, but because we enjoy food. That makes it a Kamya Karma. 

 

We go in for the best foods we can afford. The choice depends on our taste and affordability. We may have an expensive taste, but that is beside the point. As far as the scope of dedicating all action to God as per previous instruction, we are permitted whatever we like to eat and drink, as long as we place some on our altar for God as well!

 

Now in the current instruction, we apply the brakes on Desires. Our aim is to introduce Desirelessness into our lives. It is quite logical. Hence, Kamya Karma is put under the spotlight, as it were.

 

We are required to do something about it.

 

When we apply brakes in a moving car, the car does not stop at once. It takes a while before it comes to a standstill. So it is with applying brakes on actions, and even more so on applying brakes to desires. We cannot give up our actions all at once, much less give up desire all at once. It is a slow, painstaking process, as we shall soon see.

  

The spirit of Sadhana Panchakam is not to impose rules to dictate our life. That is not the aim of current step or any other step in Sadhana (40 steps/40 instructions). 

 

We cannot renounce desires just by imposing a rule on ourselves. Resolutions can assist us to change, but in themselves they do not produce change.

 

Sankara prods us onward, not through coercion but conviction. No one can be forced to give up desire. Desire will not allow us to do that. Try it and see how it springs back at us with vengeance. The mind recoils and snaps back at us. It is like pulling the bowstring back; the further back we pull it, the greater the force imparted to the arrow.

 

We need to spiritually evolve ourselves out of Desire. Spiritual progress cannot come through regimentation, but only through deep intellectual conviction based on deeper knowledge and experience.

 

Through inner conviction alone can we succeed in this life-long struggle to check on our desires.

 

Renunciation comes in the wake of personal experience we gain in seeing desires for what they are. Experience in life teaches us that there is no end to desires, no matter how much we satisfy them. The same Vedas which gave their consent to certain Kamya Karma at an early stage in our growth through the Karma Kanda and Upasana Kanda, also point the way to its renunciation later on in the Jnana Kanda. It expects us to grow out of Desire gradually.

 

The Acharya at the Gurukula imposes certain limits, but he knows full well that all are not going to become Sannyasis. (In the case of instructions/satsangh/sessions given by the author to few select aspirants, he also knows the limitation/level of each aspirant as to how much they can really follow.)

 

In the beginning the instruction permits some laxity. Later, one can make it as stringent as one likes. The bar of Sadhana gets raised as we progress in Sadhana. 

 

Sankara is not saying, “Renounce Kamya Karma”, He is saying, “Renounce all desires in the mind,” i.e. renounce Kama!

 

The abandonment of the desire-prompted actions must be accompanied by the abandonment of the desires themselves in the mind. So we see that there is a lot of depth in this Step in Sadhana. When we grasp the full implication of this Step, we see that it calls for a major change in our mental disposition towards objects outside. 

 

The task is a mammoth one, and calls for every ounce of determination we can muster in our mind and our will.

 

This Step, when inculcated at an early age, reaps dividends later in life. It calls for patience and perseverance. No effort is wasted. Effort has to be sustained to avoid stagnation. As we progress in other Sadhanas, this one Sadhana goes on in parallel to the very end of our spiritual journey. In fact, it is the single true measure of our spiritual progress. It determines our overall progress in all the other steps henceforth.

 

Sadhakas may recall that the origin of Kama or desires, the process flow of desires, the manifestation of desires to action, the consequence of such actions in terms of fetching us new (red) arrows or fresh karmas - all these things have been most elaborately given through the Karma and the Manas Buddhi Chitta Ahankara sessions which are also available in youtube for listening and introspecting at any point of time.

 

Love.