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

Sadhana of a receptive non-clinging heart

Om Guru-Ganeshabhyam Namah

It is very beneficial to just withdraw for a while, one's active participation in life, and just be an impartial observor of all that is perceived - whether they be sounds, sensations, breath, taste, smell, thoughts feelings,memories, ego - the individuality. This means that one withdraws one's will, and  simply observes, whatever that is taking place. In the process, you become aware of yourself as a simple conscious being, in whose self-evident, impartial, ever-presence various perceptions take place. The nature of perception is to change moment to moment.One needs to make note of this fact. The one in whose presence, changing perceptions take place, does not change. One needs to note this fact too. Therefore, recognizing both these facts, towards the changing perceptions, one is open, receptive, yet non-clinging.

The Bhagavad-Gita points out that life will unfold itself, in keeping with our prarabdha, in the form of  the pairs of opposites like heat and cold, success and failure, love and neglect, respect and disrespect etc. If one receives them as an ego, a person who defines oneself through them, then one is doomed to suffer a mind that jumps up and down like a yo-yo, between elation and depression, restlessness and craving. And such a person, who defines the self, through what happens in life, can never never recognize the innate freedom of the self.

So towards whatever happens in life, pleasant or unpleasant, favourable or unfavourable, let there be a gracious acceptance, an openess of heart that does not cling. 

This is possible, only when there are well- assimilated attitudes towards life, which are based on :-
• understanding of oneself as a simple, changeless, limitless conscious being independent of the experiences of life, who is endowed with a body-mind complex,with which to experience life in it's diverse forms
• understanding of the ever-changing diverse experiences of life as  acceptable because they are unfolding according to the Divine order- the infallible laws of cause and effect, and they are in reality non-seperate from oneself.

This teaching of the innate freedom of the self is very subtle, so one grasps it in stages, in keeping with one's emotional development. The Bhagavad-Gita guides us gently through very many stages of emotional development. If we are willing to accept her teaching, the promise is, we will indeed discover the innate freedom of the self.

From this we come to understand how important it is to study the Bhagavad-Gita and other scriptures from a competent teacher, and assimilate what is being taught through it.

Om Tat Sat

The non-conceptual reality is real

I was listening to a contemporary mystic - a fine person indeed. However his interpretation of non-duality cannot be accepted.  He interprets non-duality to  mean that non-conceptual consciousness and manifest consciousness are one, in the sense that both are equally real. This kind of interpretation is not based on Sruti pramanam - rather it is based purely on an emotional investment in the sense of reality in the jagat. 

How can the reality, which is unchanging,a ever-existent and  free of all attributes, be changing as well?  

Sruti points out that the changing reality in the form of the universe is a projection of the unchanging ever-existent infinite chaitanyam, seemingly possible because of its indescribable creative power.  Within the projection, the universe is governed by the cosmic laws of cause and effect.  

The changing universe is dependent in a two-fold way.  Everything in the universe is dependent on n number of local factors to be what it is.  Additionally, to prove that it exists, everything depends on the presence of a conscious being.  Also nothing in the universe is permanent. Moment to moment the universe is never the same. It is an entirely different order of reality, (ontologically  called the mithya) from the independent changeless  consciousness on  which it is dependent, and of which it is a seeming manifestation. 

Non-duality  inspite of the perceived differences  in the universe is possible, because the universe is purely a projection on the changeless consciousness thru its indefinable creative power. What is the changeless, independent reality,  does not undergo any real change to become a real universe. 

This can best be understood through the example of dream. In the dream, you are there as a simple conscious being. There is nobody else. Yet you experience a diverse universe peopled with sentient beings and insentient things. You alone project yourself as all of these. One alone appears as many. 

So too, the one changeless reality, appears as many. The changeless, independent infinite reality is real (satyam). The changing reality is dependent (mithya)  on the changeless  order  of reality.  As effect, the universe is non-different  it's cause, the changing reality. 

Om Tat Sat

The truth of the sadhaka

Who is this sadhana-doing I? Where is this sadhana-doing I? The one who does sadhana is just a mental construct. The mental construct got formed by marrying the invariable independent conscious presence to the variable dependent existence of the body-mind.

When I really look for this sadhana-doing I, she/he/it can't be found, except as a mental construct that derives it's seeming permanance from the independent invariable infinite conscious presence, on whom this mental construct is superimposed.

Om Tat Sat

Cidananda-rupah Shivo'ham Shivo'ham

The present moment is just a self-evident infinite conscious presence -like an empty piece of paper - on whom the writing of life in the form of infinite perceptions of sounds, colours and forms, taste, touch, sensations, smell, breath, thoughts, feelings, memories takes place. The writing of life is written with a magical ink that  disappears even as it is written ...the paper is always empty, pure, pristine.

Cidananda-rupah Shivo'ham Shivo'ham.

I am lovable - Swamini Brahmaprajnananda

'Bhava' the Sanskrit word stands for both emotion and associated thoughts. How can one we be comfortable and welcome all emotions into our lives and harness their power, is the subject matter of this series. It also deals with how we can truly dance with emotion in the light of Vedanta and not be victimized by our or others emotional states.

Five capsules of Vedanta for nididhyasana- Swami Paramarthananda

1. I am of the nature of eternal and all pervading consciousness.
2. I am the only source of permanent peace, security and happiness.
3. By my presence, I give life to the material body and through the material body experience the material universe.
4. I am never affected by any event that happens in the material world or in the material body mind complex.
5. By forgetting my real nature, I convert life into a burden and by remembering my real nature, I convert life into a blessing.

Interview With Swamini Tattvavidyananda by Swamini Brahmaprajnanada

Karma Yoga - Swamini Tattvavidyananda

Ganesha Pancharatnam sung by Swami Satchidananda Saraswati

May All Beings Be Happy - Swamini Brahmaprajnanada

Being An Instrument - Swamini Brahmaprajnananda

Vasana Kshaya Confusion - Swami Dayananda Saraswati

There is a concept that Atma has become the Jiva due to vasanas, past impressions. The vasanas, often equated to karma phala results of actions, like punya and papa, are assumed to have been gathered by the Jiva who has no beginning. The exhaustion of vasanas through any of the four yoga amounts to self realisation. The self realised person who has no more vasanas to perpetuate his life may continue to exist as a free person, jivanmukta, due to others vasanas. The problems caused by this modern prakriya are numerous.

If vasanas cause the Atma to become a Jiva, vasanas become a parallel reality to Atma. Then Atma ceases to be non-dual and anyone who takes it as non-dual will suffer from an error. If vasanas are not an independent reality, then they are mithya, depending as they do for their existence upon Atma. What is mithya has to be understood as mithya.

Mithya does not cause any problem if it is understood as such and therefore exhaustion of vasanas is not necessary. Nor is it possible for anyone in a given birth to exhaust all the vasanas collected in an infinite number of births. In fact, they can be exhausted only in an infinite number of incarnations. So vasana-exhaustion itself is a dream. Even if the impossible vasana-exhaustion were achieved, the possibility of a jivanmukta is nil. When all the vasanas are exhausted the Jiva ceases to be. What is left out is Atma who is asanga, who is unaffected by and unconnected to anything. There is no way the  will asanga Atma will attract anything from samasti prarabdha. If a nucleus Jiva exists then there are vasanas to exhaust.

The Shastra mentions vasana exhaustion, but it is purely with reference to the preparedness of the mind, antahkarana shuddhi. The vasanas that the later acharyas talk about are vishaya-vasana, deha-vasana, and Shastra-vasana. The fascination for an object, vishaya, thinking that it can give you security and happiness, is a superimposition called shobhana adhyasa. By vichara, analysis, you need to remove the superimposition to become the adhikari for self-knowledge. So too, 'I am this body', vasana has to be removed by inquiry and contemplation. The craving for the study of Shastras other than Vedanta, shastra-vasana, can divert you in the pursuit of self knowledge. You have to tackle this craving by commitment to vedanta-vichara.

This three fold vasana is not presented by acharya as a cause for the Atma to become a Jiva. The truth to be emphasized here is that Atma has never become a Jiva. Jivatva, the notion of individuality, is a superimposition upon Atma due to ignorance. The pursuit is, therefore, to understand that the swaroop of Atma is free from jivatva.

Excerpt From The Teaching Tradition of Advaita

You are self-evident pure consciousness...you don't become consciousness

You are consciousness ...you don't become consciousness.

Some Yogi's, great tapasvis, believe that you become pure Consciousness through a process of long hours of meditation as the unrelenting, persistent uninvolved witness, wherein all stored impressions of this birth and previous births are destroyed.

Traditional Vedanta points out that you are pure, independent, indestructible, timeless, formless, attribute-free, consciousness at all times - even in the presence of conscious or unconscious or subconscious thoughts/ impressions of this life or previous lives. You don't know it, therefore you suffer. You identify with what is in the mind, being produced by the mind, and therefore you suffer. Know the mind-stuff to be mithya, imagination, or projection of your ignorance,which is illumined in your ever- presence, and empowered by your identification with it. You give absolute  reality to the mind, which it does not have. Know the mind stuff to be mithya and so let go of your identification with your mind, knowing your self, the self-evident Consciousness to be the reality, which is never negated in any experience of waking, dream and deep sleep. Live from this knowledge of your wholeness.

Meditation as the witness, is useful for letting go of identification with the mind and recognizing oneself to be independent of the mind, even when the mind is present. Meditation in Vedanta is not for becoming consciousness. It is for owning up your nature of being pure attribute-free, non-conceptual consciousness at all times.

Om That Sat

Who Am I? Swamini Tattvavidyananda

Podcast: Who am I?

We are made of stardust - Swamini Brahmaprajnananda

Sustained-by-stardust - Swamini Brahmaprajnananda

Podcast Ep 2: Understanding A Moment Of Joy

https://anchor.fm/swamini-tattvavidyananda-/episodes/Understanding-A-Moment-Of-Joy-e55v38

Vedanta Epistemology Simplified - Swami Brahmavidananda

Podcast: What Do I Really Want

Podcast Episode 1 What do I Really Want?

Brilliant talks on 6th chp Chandogya Up

Brilliant talks on the vision of non duality and it's application in our life through exposition of selected verses of 6th chapter if Chandogya Up.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg_Z5_XA8rph3BGXF84O2uEllxfEcapd

L

Chandogya Up. chapter 6 - Pujya Swami Viditatmananda

Watch the whole set of talks in You Tube at Harih Om

What is it I really want?

Meditative Insights

In meditation it is good to  just be an impartial observer of the thoughts which  occur, now and then. Sometimes one could get dragged into the thoughts, so the status  changes from impartial observer to one involved in the thoughts. Then one comes back to being an impartial silent observer again. And soon one will be able to recognise that observer is also a role played by the ahankara. One may then contemplate on the fact that both the observer and observed are sustained in one self-evident, indivisible consciousness who is the truth of both the observer and the observed. Keep seeing this fact again and again. 

One may also contemplate that consciousness the truth of the observer-I cannot even be said to be all-pervading because consciousness is free of space. All pervading the word can be used only when there is a concept of space. So then what becomes appropriate for recognising space-less consciousness is the understanding of non dual, ekam eva advitiyam. The Consciousness that one is, is ekam eva advitiyam.

Om Tat Sat

Historical-I is false

Placing one's identity in a historical-I, which is nothing but a bunch of experiences that are finished, over, past, is truly false. Because history is just history. It is in the past. There is something about oneself which is always there and one's identity needs to be based on tha,t which is always there, that is free of the time-space framework and not on experiences which come to go.

So the historical-I, which one is identified with, which is based on a set experiences that come to go,  is false. 

That which is always there is the self-evident ever-present, independent, consciousness, in whose unwavering, undivided, indivisible, ever-presence, all experiences are illumined, empowered and observed to come and go. These experiences which come to go, have no power to prove their existence without the presence of self-evident changeless consciousness.

Observing experiences/knowing them and identifying with them as I are entirely different. To identify with the changing experiences as I, is indeed death ...because all experiences are temporary. Experiences of body, mind, world are there....to identify with them as I or mine, is indeed death....because none of them last. The physical body perishes. The jnani's mind too perishes on death of the body. The world experience is constantly perishing.

And indeed how loyal we are to this false sense of I!!! 

May Ishwara's Grace bless us all with Crystal clear self-knowledge.

Om Tat Sat