Base your priorities on oneness of Atma and Brahman - Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati

This mahavakya, ayam Atma Brahma, appears in the second mantra of the Mandukya Upanishad. This identity, this oneness, should really be our ideal, and all of our priorities and values should be based on this vision. Inasmuch as you and I are the same, what is common within us should become the basis of their interaction, rather than what divides. There are many things that separate us, but there is also something that is common.

What is identical in everyone should, as much as possible, form the basis of our vyavahara, interaction with others. This vision of oneness is the basis of karma Yoga. If I were really a limited individual, then being a consumer would be justified. Being a contributor is based on the fact that yours is not different from my self. When I am contributing to you, I am contributing to myself. That is the ideal behind being a contributor.

This unity in diversity forms the basis of the Vedic culture and values. All values are taught based on this identity. The value of non-violence is based on this identity, because nonviolence is treating others as I treat myself. That is the ideal of non- violence. Treat others as you treat yourself, meaning that the self of the others is not different from your own self. You start with aligning your behaviour with values such as non-violence, based on this recognition of our inherent identity. This recognition ultimately grows into the recognition of the fundamental identity as expressed in ayam Atma Brahma.

Om Tat Sat

Are you a drop in the ocean of consciousness, or are you limitless consciousness?

ॐ गं गणपतये नमः।

How subtle is the knowledge of oneself! It is all about recognizing the nature of reality.

Having accepted that you are consciousness distinct from the body-mind-sense complex, you could still imagine you are a tiny drop in the ocean of consciousness, if your identification is with the body...it is like the space within a room identifying with the room and saying I am the size of the room. When we think like this, it means in our understanding, there are two things of the same reality ie space and the room. So the room  confines the space and the space is only room-space.

So too you might imagine that you are consciousness alright, yet you are only a drop of the ocean of consciousness called Ishvara,   confined by, limited by the body-mind complex.

Advaita however points out that, you are the all-pervading Consciousness, totally limitless.How can this be so?

By proper atma-anatma viveka, you recognize that you are self-revealing, self-evident consciousness distinct from the body-mind complex. The consciousness that you are is not a part, property, product of the body-mind complex. It is independent of the body-mind complex, it pervades and empowers the body-mind complex. It survives the fall of the body-mind complex. It is not available for transaction without the body-mind complex.

At this point, if you think there are two entities of the same order of reality, Atma and anatma, consciousness and body-mind complex, then naturally you would think that you are a drop in the ocean of consciousness, quite distinct from other drops!

So at this point we need to question if consciousness and the body-mind complex are the same order of reality?

The body-mind complex is made up of different part, intelligently put together to be able to perform it's functions. Skin, bone, blood, fat, muscles, nerves, ligaments, tendons, vital organs, hormones etc are different constituents of the body. Not only is each constituent dependent on something else, the body as a whole is dependent on it's individual constituents, as well as on factors external to it. The body is also changing. And above all it is dependent on consciousness to even be recognized. So all-in-all the body is a dependent changing entity.

So the first point to note about the body is that it is a dependent changing entity. The body is limited by time, space and object.

What about consciousness? Sruti is pramanam for the nature of consciousness. Consciousness is not an object of knowledge - it is the very subject, the self. So consciousness cannot be objectified like the body. It is totally independent - it does not depend on anything else. It is not limited by time, space or object. Consciousness never changes, nor is it divisible. It is a partless whole.

In fact we can say, the body-mind is in consciousness. Is it like a log of wood, in the ocean ...meaning is the body-mind complex different from consciousness?

Here is where we find that the body-mind complex is nothing but a form of the principle of existence (सत्). We should understand this  very well.

Body is.
Skin is.
Bone is
Ligament is
and so on....meaning body exists, each constituent of the body exists.

Now if we take any one constituent, say skin ... skin is
Skin is made of several types of cells.
Each type of cell is.
The cells are made of their individual components. Each component is.

In this way we keep looking for what is common to each of the components...we find the irreducible common denominator is the principle of existence or isness of everything. The isness does not vary ...just its form varies. Isness in the form of each constituent of a cell, isness in form of a cell, isness in form of each constituent of the skin, ....isness in form of bone, ligament, tendon, muscle, vital organs, hormones etc , isness in form of the body.

Isness does not change. The form of isness appears to change.

So now do we have two entities - Isness (सत्) and Consciousness ( चित्)?

When you say 'I am', undeniably you are a conscious entity - so you can say Consciousness is ... because 'am' is first person singular of 'is'. This consciousness that you are, is, the isness. They are not different. चित् is सत्. सत् is चित्.

So now is the body-mind seperate from you consciousness? It is not ...it is merely a form of consciousness having a name called body?

There is just one limitless Consciousness appearing as the knower of the body, the body, as well as the knowing.The perceiver, the perceived, the perception are all just like waves in the ocean of consciousness. From the standpoint of the wave (a limited standpoint) it would appear like consciousness is confined by the wave. From the standpoint of consciousness, there is only one limitless consciousness ...there is no wave standing as a seperate entity to limit it.

So are you a drop of consciousness in the vast ocean of consciousness, or are you the limitless consciousness?

Om Tat Sat

Give Less Importance To What Is Incidental- Swami Viditatmanandaji

Everything in the universe has an incidental and an essential. Our value should be to give less and less importance to what is incidental and give more and more importance to what is essential. We can do this when we interact with people.

I am frequently asked, but 'Swamiji what will happen if I do this with my business competitors? Should I look upon them as the same?' You may not be able to do that. But at least with your family members and friends, see what is common. Don't create differences with them. Relate to what is essential.

Everybody is different, everyone is unique. The more importance we give to uniqueness and the more separateness there is from one thing to the other, the greater the likelihood of likes and dislikes. One particular person or thing I may like and some other person or thing I am likely to not like. The more importance is given to the distinctions or separating characteristics, the more likes and dislikes or attachments and aversions there will be. That is what creates desires and conflicts.

That is what is called as samsara- desires affections, actions, appointments, disappointments, further desires, further reactions, further disappointments and further desires, with concerns all the time about whether I will get what I want. All these concerns are samsara. Any samsara is a result of giving reality to what distinguishes rather than giving reality to what unites, giving importance to the incidental rather than to the essential.

Today, what is given importance is what distinguishes one from the other. My hair style must be different from others. My clothes must be distinct from others. There is always an emphasis on distinguishing myself from others; somehow that seems to be the mark of success. In fact, that is what creates separateness, isolation.

It is true that everyone is unique and everyone is different, and therefore you cannot coalesce or merge into one. There is no need. There is no need to melt down the ornaments for us to appreciate them as gold. Ornaments can remain ornaments and we can still appreciate them as gold by recognising that the form and design are incidental. The gold is essential, inherent; whereas the form, the name, and the use are incidental.

The incidental is not real because it is subject to change. You can change an ornament. If you melt it and give it a different design and shape, then its name and form changes, its use changes. What was formerly a bangle may now be a ring or several rings or a necklace or an anklet. That incidental part is subject to change. How much importance should we give to that? Importance should be given to what is essential. In an ornament, the gold is essential. Its form, its design, and its name are all incidental.

We need to completely transform our perception. If the world is Ishwara, if it is a Brahman, then it is reverential and it is to be worshipped. If it is merely names and forms, merely an inert world, then it is an object of my pleasure. Do I look up on the world as an object of my pleasure, or do I look up on the world as a field of my worship? Lord Krishna teachs karma Yoga. Karma Yoga is performing karma, duty, in the spirit of worship. Lord Krishna says, यतः प्रवृत्तिः भूतानां येन सर्वम् इदम् ततम, the one from whom the beings were created, who pervades everything" that is Brahman or Ishwara.  स्वकर्मणा तमभ्यर्च्य सिद्धिम् विन्दति मानवः, worshiping him by one's own duty, a person attains perfection." Worshipping Ishwara by our karma, our duties, our day to day activities, one attains perfection.Therefore first what is required is a complete shift in perception. The world is not a place to extract gratification; it is the place to offer worship.

if you have been accustomed to extracting joy from objects, you might wonder where gratification will come from if you make the shift. Lord Krishna says that the act of offering, the act of worship itself will give you that joy. In fact, it gives much more lasting Joy. The joy that comes by extracting pleasure from objects is a binding Joy, only a momentary joy. On the other hand, the joy and satisfaction that you gain by worshipping, by contributing, is a lasting joy, a freeing joy, a healing joy.

serving is an excellent way to heal our pain and wounds. Serve, and in doing so we tap into our own goodness. In the course of time, any hut, guilt, and womens are purified from the mind; the all evaporate. In this way, the life of yoga- life of worship in the form of offering action is a very healing process. The act of giving or offering, even when a small thing is given or offered, is very conducive to the sense of dignity, self-esteem, and self satisfaction.

By this process of transforming our perception of the world and performing action with the attitude of worship, सिद्धिं विन्दति मानवः a person gains purification. traditionally, worship is confined to an altar of worship, with a particular ritual or image of God. Lord Krishna makes worship more general; the whole world is made the altar. As a Ramana Maharshi says जगत ईशधि युक्त सेवनम् serving the world with the attitude that it is Ishwara is worshipping Ishwara.

Excerpted from Mandukya Upanishad book. 

Insight into the unreality of the sense of individuality

The sense of reality in the sense of individuality - that I am different from everything else, that I am a unique  body-mind-sense complex having my own history, is error. We can say it  is an error, when there is recognition that in reality I am self-evident, boundless consciousness, that is free of all individuality. If there is recognition of this fact, then and only then one is free enough to sport a benign (almost divine) individuality, through the medium of the body-mind-sense complex.

Om Tat Sat