Vievkachudamani- Post 51

 

The highest Knowledge arises from the sincere contemplation upon the meaning of the Upanishad mantras. By this Knowledge, immediately a total  annihilation of all sorrows born of the 'perception of change' takes place. 

The previous verse assured us of a sovereign means by which we  could cross over the world of our finite experiences. Now we are given  a definition in the form of a clear declaration of what exactly that is. 

Constant vichara upon the meaning of Truth of Vedanta leads  one to true Knowledge. 'Vichara' is a term which has no corresponding  word in English. Words like thinking, contemplating, reasoning,  analyzing and so on, do not fully express the meaning of the technique  of vichara. 

Vichara comprises all these in synthesis, along with certain  essential mental and intellectual discipline. With a mind and intellect  trained and made steady, a seeker rips open the declarations of  Upanishad one by one and comes to experience the implications and the  deeper suggestiveness of each mantra - this process is called 'vichara'. 

The nectar in a flower is always secreted in its innermost  chambers. Its enchanted lover, the honeybee, which courts it with  ardour and adoration, alone can scent the nectar and groping  through its dusty exterior reach the honey treasured in the blossom. 

Similarly, in the garden of Vedanta are the flowers of the mantras of Upanishad. The sweetness of each is secreted not in its outer words, fascinating though they may be, but lies hidden in the  pulsating bosom where its immortal heart throbs with the thrilling  ecstasy of love fulfilled and perfection experienced. The divine secret can be reached with this meaning only through a prepared  mind and intellect. 

The process by which the acutely intellectual and the divinely sympathetic head and heart of a seeker come to live in their  subjective experience, the strangely enchanting voiceless cadence  rising from the rishi's heart, is called 'vichara'. 

Vedanta is only one thing, which is serving as a mirror. What is the difference between a telescope and a mirror? With telescope you can see everything else, except your eyes. With the microscope you can see everything else, except your eyes. 

Replace all the scope, telescopes and microscopes or any other scope for which there are scope, you remove all of them and you replace by a mirror. What is the uniqueness of the mirror; that is the only instrument which helps me to see my own eyes. I am seeing outside; but what I am seeing is myself. Seeing the mirror is never an objective vision; seeing the subjective knowledge.

Similarly, all sciences provide us only better and better instrument to study the world better and better, vedanta is the unique verbal mirror. It is the unique verbal mirror, mirror made of words and sentences in the form of teaching. 

And by that, I come to know that I am not the physical body, I am not the mind; but I am the consciousness which is ever the subject and never an object, and which consciousness is Sat chit anandaḥ svarupah. And thereafter wards I use matter, and I do not need matter for my fulfilment. Matter is there or not; it does not matter! Why because I am different from matter.

During moments of meditation when we strive hard to experience the meaning of mantras of Upanishad, we are in the realm  of vichara. Through vichara our misunderstandings about ourselves, which are the expressions of our ignorance, are removed, and when ignorance is banished, knowledge shines forth. With this right knowledge, instantaneously, all the delusive sorrows of samsara  end. 

And therefore, he says vedantarthavicarena; by enquiring into the subject matter of vedanta. Arthah means subject matter. And what is the subject matter of vedanta? It is not matter. Subject matter is a subject, which is not matter. Then what is it? 

It is the consciousness. Brahman. Vedantarthaha means Brahman or atma. Therefore, vedantartha vicharaḥ means Brahma vicharaḥ; atma vicharaḥ; chaitanya vicharaḥ; tatva viharaḥ; sarva adiṣṭana viharaḥ; any word you can use; by that enquiry. 

And what is that vidyā; I am not this body; I am not this mind; and I am poorna caitanyaṁ; what type of consciousness; I have told you before. Consciousness which is neither part of the body, nor product of the body, nor a property of the body, but which is an independent entity which pervades and enlivens the body and which is not bound by the limitations of the body. That purṇa chaitanyam ahaaasmi.

After waking up from our dream, the moment we realise  our waking state identity, all the sorrows created in us due to our  dream identification and the dreamworld end instantaneously.  

On the rediscovery that our spiritual nature is pure Knowledge,  uncontaminated by any trace of ignorance, we come to enjoy  our divine heritage of perfection and bliss ever beyond even the penumbra of any misery thereafter. 

Love

Vivekachudamani-Post 50

here is a supreme means by which you can put an end to the fear of  relative existence; by that you will cross the sea of samsara and attain  supreme Bliss. 

Kaschit mahān upāyaḥ asti. There is a great grand method; Sādhanām, means  for saṁsāra bhaya nasanaha, which method will destroy the fear caused by saṁsāra. The anxiety, the insecurity, the sense of want, a sense of limitation, the fear of losing things and people. 

So this saṁsāra bhayanāśanaḥ destroying remedy is there. There is a medicine. And I am ready to give it to you. Tēna tīrtvā; saṁsāra bhayanāśanaḥ, nāśanaḥ means destroyer of fear. Tēna by that method; bhavām bhōdhiṁ tīrtvā, you can cross the ocean of saṁsāra.

Vedanta says Mokṣa is here and now. Therefore, you can test for yourselves. Therefore, never criticise without study.

 

Therefore, first study systematically comprehensively and see what vedanta has to say. Therefore tena tirtva, by that method, you can cross; bhavām bhōdhiṁ means saṁsāra sagaraha; bhava means saṁsāra, amōdhiḥ means ocean. 

After having crossed what will happen to you; param anandam apsyasi; you will attain the highest anandah, otherwise known as purnatvam; sense of fulfilment; sense that life has been meaningful; purposeful; wonderful.

A psychological assurance is again given here in a flood of love  that pours out from the heart of the Teacher. The repetition is  not merely for the sake of emphasis, but also to clearly reveal the  infinite consideration and divine sympathy which the Teacher has  for the student. 

It is the one most important insistence of Vedanta that  there is a sovereign means by which our misunderstanding and  consequent false evaluation of life can be completely crushed,  culminating in right understanding. 

Love

Vivekavhudamani- Post 49

मा भैष्ट विद्वंस्तव नास्त्यपायः

संसारसिन्धोस्तरणेऽस्त्युपायः ।

येनैव याता यतयोऽस्य पारं

तमेव मार्गं तव निर्दिशामि ॥ ४३ ॥

ma bhaista vidvaṃstava nastyapayaḥ

saṃsara sindhostaraṇe styupayaḥ |

yenaiva yata yatayo'sya paraṃ

tameva margaṃ tava nirdisami || 43 ||

The Guru said , "Fear not , O learned one! There is no danger for you . There is a way to cross over this ocean of change, I shall instruct you in the very path by which the ancient rishis walked to the beyond." 

First the guru says: ma bhaista; this is the most important statement. Do not be anxious. Do not be worried.

Hey  Vidvan; this is also patting the student, by addressing him: Oh Intelligent One; Oh learned one; the student is really informed and he has done everything correctly. And therefore, he addresses Hey Vidvān.

Tava apayaḥ nasti; there is no danger for you. Because you are imagining the future. 

The perfect disciple, having duly reached the Master's feet, expresses his fears that he will never be able to grow out of the disturbing concepts of time and space which provide for him experiences of unending sorrows of finitude. 

Things change in their relationship to both time and place. Objects remaining the same, they, with reference to different conditions of time and place, react upon the same individual differently. 

These pluralistic experiences produce agitations in the mind and that is indicated in verse 40 by the word, 'samsara duhkha'. When the student reached the Master, he despairingly requested him, 'Condescend to save me, O Lord! and describe in full how to put an end to the misery of this relative existence.' 

The Teacher now gives the answer to the student's question. Psychologically, when a questioner is extremely upset because of some fear or agitation in his mind, he is not in a mood to receive any philosophical idea, even when elaborately explained. 

Therefore, a sympathetic Teacher, if he knows what he is about, will first of all, pacify the student and give him hope and spiritual solace. 

Then alone would he become fit to receive the logical conclusions arrived at by a fully rational philosophy. Most fittingly then, the Master with paternal consideration and love, assures the student that what he fears, is only a myth. 

The Master can clearly see the spiritual destiny and the divine perfection which lie in the innermost core of the disciple. Change is only at the level of the mind and intellect. But when the pure Consciousness, eternal and infinite, functions through these equipments, it gathers into itself a delusive vision which interprets a world in terms of change and plurality. 

Therefore, danger or death is not the phenomenon of the Spirit but only the hallucinations of the mind. Therefore, with all confidence, the Teacher assures the student, 'There is no death for you.' 

Guru says yatayaḥ; many committed seekers; asya param yaata; asya means samsarasya; param means the other shore; yatayaḥ means they have reached. So many sincere seekers of the past have reached the shore of samsara very successfully; you can also reach. 

Tameva margam tava nirdisami; that very same path followed by the traditional people tameva margam- I shall teach you.

Now what the teacher is going to teach the disciple  is not the theory born out of the Teacher's own intellect but it is the path followed by the footprints of the ancient seers, who had themselves crossed over from the finite to the Infinite. 

We are assured that what is to follow now in the Teacher's discourse is an exhaustive discussion upon this sacred path of Self-realization, the authenticity of which has been proclaimed by an endless array of brilliant Rishis of yore.

Love