Meditation - Pujya Swami Dayananda

OM ................. OM ................... In dream the world created and experienced is yourself. As an individual you are the creator. You have the knowledge of what is created and are a material cause .The creator, you ,pervade the whole jagat. As the creator, your knowledge is manifest in the form of jagat. There is nothing outside your knowledge. The whole jagat is manifestation of your knowledge. The whole jagat is you, the knowledgeable you ........ When we think of the jagat, the waking, isvara comes into the picture. His knowledge, all knowledge, manifests in the form of jagat. (Like you are isvara for the person you see in the dream.) His all knowledge manifests in the form of space. Space is isvara, time is isvara, the galaxies are isvara, the sun is isvara, and everything that is here - all forces, laws are nothing but isvara. Physical laws, biological laws, physiological order, knowing, not knowing. Knowing properly, knowing improperly, remembering, not remembering, all these laws and faculties, body, life, death - everything is knowledge manifest. But the knowledge which manifests is clear to me, when there is appreciation of order on my part. The tree is always the tree ...... A leaf is a leaf ,order and that is knowledge.

 The whole jagat is isvara ,you have to appreciate this fact. As soon as a situation we are in, we appreciate isvara who is creation, projection, manifestation of knowledge. My body, your body, my mind, senses, your mind, senses, all included. One step further if we go, the knowledge that is isvara is but caitanya, jnanam as such, being not separate from consciousness. Limited knowledge or all knowledge, knowledge is not separate form consciousness - mithya.The manifest knowledge is equally mithya. Where there is mithya,there is a question of caitanya ! The consciousness which is, which gives existence to knowledge and manifest form of knowledge, that sat is present in knowledge before the creation and after the projection, that sat continues to be. The space - space is,is time, is sun, is moon, is earth, is this body, is this mind, is this memory, is ignorance, is pervades, is you, is consciousness, is consciousness pervades, is consciousness is isvara, is consciousness is you and the Lord says - matsthani sarva bhutani I also say matsthani sarva bhutani - saccidanandarupoham .... soham ..... Spacially limitless, timewise limitless, objectwise limitless. It is present in every object. You are anandah. Isvara is anandah ...... saccidanandarupoham ...... soham ..... saccidanandarupoham ...... soham ..... saccidanandarupoham ........ OM .......... OM ..........OM .......... OM ............ OM .............. OM ............ OM .............

 
 

  OM Santih Santih Santih

 
 

The Spiritual Quest

What are we searching for? Purnata - permanent security, fullness, wholeness, peace, happiness, not being affected by the situations, sukha prapti, dukha nivritti (stories …

Let us understand this clearly. When do we want this purnata?

For 1/2 an hour daily, only when I am praying, only when I am with my children, only … No we want peace and happiness 100% of the time, in 100% situations or places, with everybody. We can't seem to settle for less.

 
 

Where are we looking? Job, Spouse, Children, Health, Wealth, Possessions, Friends, Relatives, Titles and position (stories … make-up one… this guy as a child studies hard, thought he would be better by getting a job, got a good one, then found in polluted area, so changed job, then felt I will feel better if I get good wife, got married, two years were wonderful … then she wanted him to change, he wanted her to change … they would fight, thought we will be better if we have children, got two good children… busy with them… now they are growing, thought we will be better with our own house … do got a house… made it comfortable… a home, now got children settled … now bored…. He opened a shop… still the feeling did not go. He started doing seva … but he did not get the appreciation he wanted and so he left it. Now Little scared of disease, took to yoga and exercise, still the wanting feeling inside did not go… none of this works he thought… all give satisfaction only for some time…

 
 

One day he was feeling very restless, discontented and insecure. He thought to himself, even when I was a young man I felt like this. Now after so many years, I have achieved, so much, I have learned so much, I have done so much … but still this feeling inside me has not changed … I still feel restless, I still feel discontented, I still feel insecure. The feelings goes away for a little while, when I get what I want, but then I am back to square one. Where am I going to find a permanent solution? How will I get permanent happiness? How will this feelings of insecurity go away?"

 
 

This man has come to a very important juncture in his life. So he is searching for SECURITY and COMPLETENESS thru different activities of pravritti and nivritti - acquiring and giving up. So the important point here is that behind his activities is the conclusion that 'I AM INSECURE', 'I AM INCOMPLETE'. When will you search for something? Only when you conclude that you don't have it. Because he finds himself incomplete… meaning centered on himself is this sense of incompleteness … so he seeks a solution … he wants to see himself complete and he seeks a solution OUTSIDE … in everything outside himself …. He seeks through power, wealth, family, friends, possessions, relatives, titles and position, adventure and travelling … the list is endless. He is very creative, in creating for himself, situation in which to escape his basic sense of incompleteness and insecurity.

 
 

So this man found that ACQUIRING or GIVING UP ACTIVTIES, OBJECTS and SITUATION DOES NOT SOLVE HIS PROBLEM of seeing himself as INSECURE and INCOMPLETE. So he is face to face with the fundamental problem of humanity … the problem of the incomplete self.

 
 

Let us pause and understand an important point.

 
 

Really speaking what I want is not the different objects and activities … what I want is to find myself SECURE and COMPLETE.

 
 

Can we find it there? No matter how much and how long we search for happiness, security, purnata through different activities, objects, situations we will find that they offer only a TEMPORARY SOLUTION.

 
 

Why? Because everything that we know, or can know is SUBJECT TO TIME - someday or the other the situation will change. Your house can be destroyed in a natural calamity. Your family can ignore you. Your friends can leave you. Somebody else can occupy your position of power at work. Your spouse can get sick. Or worse still your mood can change. I love gulab jamun. Today I am happy I have got Gulab jamun. I am waiting to put it in mouth … the phone rings and I am informed my best friend just dies in an accident. Will I able able to eat the gulab jamun?

 
 

So this is first step … the discovery that no matter what activities I do, no matter how many great relationships I have, no matter how much power and wealth I wield … still the feeling of incompleteness and insecurity cannot go.

 
 

Why? Because I cannot hide from my knowledge, that everything is being devoured by the jaws of time.

 
 

So what to do? Where should we look? Upanishad says make an inquiry … parikshya lokaan … Gita says make an inquiry … this way has not worked … what is left? Only two categories 'I and This … so far our attention directed to 'this' … this has not worked… so one has only one thing to turn to and that is "I".

 
 

A Story The Happiest Man (Sadhana Mantra)

 
 

Once Upon a time, an emperor was going out in the evening. At the same time an old man was also going out. It was getting dark. The emperor was not able to see the old man, nor was the old man able to see the emperor.

 
 

Upon knocking into the old man, the emperor asked in anger, "Who is it?'

 
 

The old man said, "An emperor".

 
 

The emperor got upset. Because he was the only emperor, so how did this other emperor land up here. So he turned back and questioned, "You are emperor of which state? Who do you reign over?

 
 

The old man replied, 'Over myself'.

 
 

The emperor was wonder-struck!

 
 

Is it not true? The one who rules over himself, one who is his own emperor, one who has come to know himself - there is no emperor like him, there is nobody else who is as content as him. The one who has discovered his happiness in his God, the one who has drowned himself in the love of God, whose desires have all died, who has understood that nobody is going to stay here forever - everybody has to go and so why get attached to one's possessions … that person is the happiest person.

 
 

The unhappiest person is the one who looks at others and does not get happy, one who is not able to digest the praise of somebody else, the who stabs another behind the back, the one who betrays the other's trust, the one who praises in front and criticizes behind the back, the one who burns in the fire of jealousy … such a person can never be happy.

 
 

So the Gita also says the same thing … you have to turn to yourself.

 
 

GITA CAN SOLVE THE FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM

 
 

Two type of problems: one in which solution lies outside the problem. The other is the problem for which solution is within the problem.

 
 

The problems of food, clothing, shelter are problems whose solution lies outside. If you are hungry, you have to get food and satisfy your hunger. If you need shelter, you have to find a place outside. If you are thirsty, you have to get water. In these kind of problems you have to seek a solution in the external through planning and effort.

 
 

Supposing somebody gives you four pieces of jigsaw puzzle - and you have to form the letter S. You try really hard. You are not able to get it. Then you think maybe one piece is missing. But you told none is missing. There is no need of a 5th or 6th piece. So this the kind of problem where solution is within the problem itself. This kind of problem requires a person who knows the solution - who has it in his head. So it is this kind of a problem that Gita solves.

 
 

Gita does not solve topical problems. It solves the fundamental problem of human apurnata.

 
 

A Morning Nidhidhyasana

Dedicated To My Gurus – Pujya Swami Dayananda, Pujya Swami Viditatmananda, Pujya Swami Avdheshananda

Nirvishesham -  simple changless consciousness that is ever-present and infinite – boundaryless – free of all visheshas – all roles – which are illumined in whose ever-presence eating, drinking, sleeping, any action, any thought, any feeling, any function takes place (as though)  by sva-shakti alone – that is the divinity – infinite knowledge, infinite power, all pervading and free – totally free. … free of punya – free of paapa.

What shines as "I" is ever-present, self-existent, self-revealing, changeless consciousness, in whose ever-presence roles of disciple, teacher, daughter, mother, friend, sadhaka, sanyasi, citizen are illumined …. in whose presence the thoughts, feelings, actions pertaining to these roles takes place effortlessly by the Divine Grace, from whom the roles and their counter-parts and indeed the rest of the universe has no independent existence whatsoever. Om Harih Om Tat Sat

 All roles are visheshas – they pertain to the identification with the body. One is disciple in relationship to the body. One is teacher in relationship to the body. One is daughter in relationship to the body. One is whatever one projects in relatinship to the body.

These roles have their being and shine only in the presence of the ever-present, self-revealing, infinite, changless  all knowing, all powerful, all-pervading consciousness that is the only changless truth of myself. The counterpart of these roles like Guru, mother, child etc have their being and shine in the ever=presence of the changless, all-knowing, all-powerful, all pervading infinite consciousness that is the very truth of myself – that alone shines as 'I', that alone shines are the changless truth of the counterpart. Om Harih Om Tat Sat

The ever-present infinite all-knowing, all-powerful, all-pervading consciousness that alone shines as the changeless "I", certainly has the saamarthya to reduce to ashes the kashaya of old notions and samskaras. Om Harih Om Tat Sat

 Simply be … in simply 'being' without identification with any upadhi being taken to be real,  one is ever-present, self-revealing, self-existing infinite changless, all-illuminating consciousness … effortlessly all-knowing, all-powerful and all-peravading . Om Harih Om Tat Sat. All that is illumined has no separate being, no independent existence. Om Harih Om Tat Sat

 

 

Biggest Sadhana

Now that we know that the nature of truth of ourselves is Brahman in reality, or Bhagavan is the truth about ourself and of others what can be our biggest sadhana?

Namaskara…the attitude of samatva buddhi – the graceful acceptance of all that we face, pleasant and unpleasant knowing that:-

• Over-reaction is a waste of our time and energy – because the verily the truth of ourself is Bhagavan's svarupa - uneffected caitanyam
  
• There is DIVINE JUSTICE because Bhagavan is the IMPARTIAL karma-phala-daata… so everything is as it should be. I simply accept the situation as it is knowing that Bhagavan is behind it. Even when I have been a victim in severe cases of abuse of free will … the truth is the other will have to pay … DIVINE JUSTICE is very much there. So let me leave that to Bhagavan and let me take Lord's name at all times.
  

  
   

Mahatmas will always say "See the God in each person. You must accept everyone and see in them the Lord"

"The best form is to worship God in every form"

 

"All is God's Will, but Maya prevents you from knowing it's all God's Will. "

 

So KEEP GOD IN YOUR HEART LIKE YOU KEEP MONEY IN A SAFE.

Maya’s shakti

Self-evident, self-revealing consciousness simply IS … I AM …and everything else is dependent on this I…. to exist and reveal itself…. ATMA SATYAM – ANYAT SARVAM MITHYA …. like water is satyam and all the waves are mithya … so too the DRG is satyam …. changless and limitless …. and everything else is mithya …. having no existence apart from the DRG.

There is a whole theraphy of non-resistance which can be based on this understanding….. even when there is sadness, don't resist the sadness … you will feel it somewhere in your body … it is simply energy … allow yourself to feel it, don't resist it or try to get away from it knowing that it is revealed in the presence of I, who is ever-shanta, unchanged and unaffected by it …. even as the sun is unaffected by what is revealed in its presence.

Simply namah to pain, namah to discomfort which one cannot do anything about. In that vast, stillness, and peace of the self … it arises and subsides in that silence, in that stillness. Where the pain is, there is Ishvara's niyati and there the stillness and silence of atma is … changeless, self-revealing atma is satyam and the pain is mithya. Where the love is, there the stillness and silence that is atma IS …. where the happiness is, there the stillness and silence that is atma IS. Where any vritti is … there the peace, stillness and silence that is atma IS. Simply don't resist … and let your attention go to atma in whose presence the mind's modifications, the body's modifications, the world's modifications are revealed….. as ever non-separate being ISNESS and BEING all the way.

This is the vision of the Shastra …. and it is the truth. To make us understand this changless truth … Shastra goes through great lengths to make us understand. Without undergoing any change, consciousness appears as all the changes. How? Because of the inexplicable Maya Shakti ….. Om Aim Hrim Klim Chaamundayai Vicche …. so we pray to all-powerful Devi … who is Saraswati … all-knowledge, who is Mahalakshmi, all-wealth, who is Mahakaali, the slayer of anger and passion and the giver of happiness… May You, Great Goddess cut away the knots of ignorance … and reveal my true nature of sat-cit-ananda

Maya shakti…. Maha Maya … She is eternally united with her Lord …. and without Her, He simply is ISNESS, BEING, LIMITLESS, CHANGELESS AWARENESS …. PURNA and SHANTA … and She being united with HIM always – KRISHNA and RADHA are one alone – SHIVA_SHAKTYAIKA NAMAH, …. Being eternally united with HIM, is endowed with two formidable shaktis – vikshepa shakti and aavarna shakti. Her Vikshepa shakti is endless exquisite creativity …. making HIM ALONE apppear as the whole universe, the whole BRAHMANDA of change …. all that is drshya, is changing all the time, is anitya … is HIM ALONE …. and yet she fools each being with her AVARNA SHAKTI …. ….. making each one imagine that he or she is different from the other, separate from HIM.

Maha Maya … she is responsible for creating the distinction of drg and drshya … as well as for veiling it. And at the level of the cosmos, she is responsible for creating the distinction between Brahman and the Jagat … as well as for hiding the distinction. Brahman, the all-pervasive, pure consciousness principle is SELF-EXISTENT … totally independent of the creation of endless names and forms. Brahman is changless …. and the creation is changing and totally dependent on Brahman being ISNESS alone.

Yet that truth is covered as it were because of the AVARNA shakti … because of the AVARNA, the basis, the adhistana is not recognized.

Not knowing a rope as a rope in dim light ….. it is mistaken for a snake. A crystal is colourless. When placed near a blue cloth it appears blue … the problem will go only when the true nature of the basis or the adhistana takes place.

Brahman is changless and totally free of the names and forms, even as water is totally free of the wave … there being nothing else other than water. Yet the names and forms are taken as satyam … when in reality they are mithya. Brahman is permanent … the jagat is not …. and yet the permanence of Brahman is given (in ignorance) to the jagat and one sees the creation as permanent when it is not.

This is how Maya Maya becomes the cause of samsara …. through her avarna shakti.

Being The Changeless Self - Vichara

If I want to simply recognize the truth of being sat-cit-ananda, the changeless, without any projections - then I must examine the notions constituting 'who am I' - and see what is totally untrue, what is true with reference to the changing and what is true with reference to the changeless and recognize that the changeless is what is I that is ever-free.

 
 

So let us symbolize that each false notion is a brick which constitutes the wall of avaranam which is the ego. We want to knock down this avaranam wall which as though hides our truth, our freedom.

 
 

The rule we use to decide what is a false notion is 'whatever is objectifiable or objectified is not -I, because what is I is the one who objectifies who is different from what is objectified or known'.

 
 

Whatever is considered as 'mine' or 'my' is objectifiable - known, experienced and hence is not I. My house, my car, my dog, my friends, my job, my employer, my clothes, my family, …. All these are bricks that constitute the false wall of the ahankara… that hides my truth, my freedom. Knock them off with hammer of discrimination.

 
 

How to knock them off? By not giving all these undue importance… don't let them be such a huge reality to you that, the state of affairs with reference to any of these interfere with your peace of mind. With reference to each one of them, we need to have an attitude born of recognition, that they are all God-given …. Meaning they all part of the all intelligent order that pervades this jagat. Within that Order, I have power to change some things and I do what I can and I leave the rest to that very same Order. Within that Order, there are also certain things I cannot change … with reference to what I cannot change, my namah … my surrender to the Will of the Lord who pervades in the form all intelligent Order.

 
 

The feeling of helplessness, fear, anxiety, tension, stress, anger, hurt arise when these things that I consider as 'mine' become more real to me than the God who pervades all of them … in the form of the all-intelligent Order. The attitude to these things that I consider as 'mine' … is 'this is how they are…. I do what I can…. And I leave the rest to God in acceptance'. This attitude is surrender.

 

Shiva Shambho Shiva Shambho Shiva Shambho Shiva Shambho Shiva Shambho Shiva Shambho Shiva Shankara

 
 

Now let's come home. What are the immediate notions that constitute the wall of ahankara. They are the 'I am this or that' notions, and 'I have this or that' notions. Each of these notions is objectifiable or knowable or known … so they cannot be I who is one who knows these thoughts … different from these.

 
 

'I am the body' ( and the conditions of the body…. Like pain, disease, health)

' I am the prana' ( physiological functions like respiration, circulation,

'I am feelings' (anger, hurt, guilt, fear, anxious, helpless, isolated, needy, love, compassion, pride, likes, dislikes, prestige, needy child…. Etc.)

'I am decision, thoughts, ignorance...'

 
 

'I have brains, feelings, memories, ignorance' etc.

 
 

Knock of each of these notions of being "I". How? Spend time on each of these … understand well, intimately, how they cannot be the 'I' in whose presence these are known or knowable. Contemplate on

1. How each of these have no independent presence … they can exist and do exist only because of the presence of the changeless light of consciousness who is their very truth - even as water is the truth of the wave
   
2. How each of these is changing all the time … and these changes are possible and ever revealed only in the presence of the ever-present changeless light of consciousness that is satyam.
   

    
    

   Contemplate on how the body is changing all the time … it is dying and being reborn all the time … there is constant change in the body governed by the all intelligent Order … and these changes are illumined in the presence of the changeless light of consciousness that is verily the truth of I. The body itself is possible only because of the presence of that unchanging light of consciousness… God.
   

    
    

   What about prana? All-pervading Prana is changing all the time. Changes in the prana are being revealed in ever-present changless formless light of consciousness that is the truth of 'I'. The changes in the prana are also governed by the all Intelligent Order. As an individual, I can learn to tap that Order and gain control over prana … yet the changes in prana are possible only because of the that ever present Light of Consciousness.
   

    
    

   We all have deep-rooted feelings of 'I am helpless', I am frightened, I am anxious, I am hurt, I am guilty, I am alone. For many of us these are deep samskaras that constitute one's core sense of identity.
   

   Shiva Shambho Shiva Shambho Shiva Shambho Shiva Shambho Shiva Shambho Shiva Shambho Shiva Shankara
   

    
    

   We need to see the truth here … these feelings arose in the past … in childhood, when I took myself to be the body only. When the body is in danger, and there is deep identification of taking oneself to be the body only, there will be fear, there will be anxiety, there will be the feeling of helplessness and hurt. It is natural.
   

    
    

   Yet there is no rule, that it is the truth of oneself. Changes to the body, changes in the body, factors affecting the body-mind-sense complex …. Are possible because of the presence of the changless light of consciousness… and they are revealed only because of the presence of a changeless truth … sat-cit-ananda …. The light of consciousness.
   

    
    

   Without the presence of the changeless light of consciousness, none of the changes affecting the body-mind-sense complex would be revealed or even possible. The ever- presence of the changeless light of consciousness is the only truth about oneself that does not change - ever. This is the truth of 'I' … the Great Secret … one must be alive to this fact … by knocking off the notions that one is the body-mind-sense complex.
   

    
    

   Not knowing that this Changeless God, the light of Consciousness exists as the ever-presence in whose changeless presence alone, the existence of the body-mind-sense complex is possible, and in whose presence alone the existence of the body-mind-sense complex is illumined, who is the very truth of myself, I take the body-mind-sense complex to be the truth …. And then suffer when there are unpleasant changes affecting the body-mind-sense complex.
   

    
    

   Then there is helplessness, anxiety, fear, hurt, anger, isolation. Let us knock of these false notions. I am that changeless light of consciousness in whose ever-presence, this body exists as non-separate …. I am free of the body …. Whereas body is not independent of Me. All that is objectified is non-separate from sat … the ever-presence that is I. 'I am sat-cit-ananda' is knowledge… not 'I am helpless'. 'I am helpless' is a false notion revealed in the presence of I, sat-cit-ananda.
   

    
    

   If the thought that "I am body" is too real for me, then 'I am helpless' feeling will also be too real for me… then let there be the sadhana of recognizing that the ever-present Light of consciousness in the form of Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent Lord is ever with me … as my suhrd, as Divine Father, Divine Mother …. As the one in whose presence I surrender in acceptance of the unpleasant changes that affect this body-mind-sense complex that I consider as 'I'. We cannot by-pass that surrender to that All Intelligent Order and recognize our freedom. Let us be ready to surrender … let there be non-resistence to that Order.
   

    
    

   This is where upasana has so much meaning. Upasana … meditate on that ever-present changeless Light of Consciousness in the form of Ishta devata in the heart … as Divine Father and Mother who is Suhrd and Divine Protector … who is in the form of the Divine, All Intelligent Order … and slowly allow oneself to let go of one's resistance and accept what is unpleasant and one cannot change as the Divine Will. In that acceptance … there is freedom … freedom to recognize that truth about oneself that is never affected by change.
   

    
    

   This changeless Truth exists … it is the only Truth that is ever-present and ever-free … it our birth-right to recognize this truth … let recognize this Truth and Be free.
   

    
    

   Om Tat Sat
   

God in This World - An Appointment With Ones 'Self' – Pearl Richards

One sees fragrant flowers emerge under sunlit spring skys,
First baby's smile bringing sweet gentle mother's tears of love.
Who can deny serenity of a molten sunrise
Or the mind's rest when day passes into dusk's quietude ?
Humanity steps into roles and accepts its applause
For peaceful and frightful dramas played out in this jagat.
Who has written varied scripts for casted countless actors ?
How can these, seen, be refuted as Isvara's Order ?
When thoughtfully withdrawn from life's panarama of dreams,
When the mind is stilled by the hush of nature's lullabye,
One steps into Bhagavan's expanse of pure Consciousness.
This simple moment can be an appointment with ones 'Self'.
Here, in the sanctum of the mind, is Siva's mangalam.