The Immediate is Limitless

A must have book - Mandukya Upanishad commented upon by Swami Viditatmanandaji

Swami Viditatmanandaji taught 11 classes  on Mandukya Upanishad during a retreat held on June 27-30, 2008 under the auspices of Arsha Vidya Center, San Francisco Bay Area. The 12 mantras of this Upanishad are the subject matter of this book.

Even though this book is a commentary only on the mantras of the Upsnishad, everything that is there in the Bhashyam and Karika are to be found in it.

To avail of the book in India, write to tattvatirtha@gmail.com. In the US, you may write to avpbooks@epix.net.

Incidentally, the cover does not contain this picture of either Swami. Since both Swamis are my Gurus, I stuck the picture there.

Om Tat Sat

The ego is just a bunch of thoughts one holds onto

ॐ गं ॐ

Vedanta points out that what is apparently shining here as self-evident, immediate, 'I', is in reality, absolute consciousness - changeless, formless, limitless in time, space and object....meaning totally free, whole, complete...purna. What is immediate, is limitless. What is  limitless is immediate.

Then what is this 'I' that I think is myself? It is the ego, the mistaken sense of self-identity, which is just of bunch of thoughts that I, absolute consciousness, am holding onto tight, in the mistaken belief that it is myself.

What is interesting is that thoughts by themselves are harmless - they come to go. However when we believe them to be real, and hold onto them, repeating the same thought over and over again, they seem to acquire a structure, and create a core identity, which appears solid and real. And our entire psychology, indeed all our behaviour stems from this sense of core identity.

This whole sense of core identity is based on error. And this is indeed a very costly error...It is only when we realize what a price we are paying, that we desire to be free of this error. 

The core identity maybe healthy, it maybe unhealthy....both ways, it is still based on the basic error of taking 'I' to be restricted to the body-mind-sense complex.

First step is to gain an insight into the existence of the real self. To gain that insight itself requires so much of grace. To gain that grace, a life of dharma is the first step. Sometimes one may wonder, what great life of dharma one lead, to gain the insight .. it could be countless previous lives of dharma, leading to satsang in previous lives, which leads to an initial insight in this life. Therefore always lead a life of dharma. What is a life of dharma, is not the topic here...so for the time being, I leave it alone. 

Once the insight is gained, one cannot but strive to do whatever it takes, to strengthen that insight into firm assimilated knowledge. There is no choice anymore. Once you understand how costly is the error, you will do whatever it takes to correct the error.

Then starts the process of letting go .... dropping whatever is not true. It is choiceless. There is no interest in holding on to thoughts based on error, believing them to be real. And as you drop notions one by one -  you discover yourself as you are - full, whole, complete, purna. 

Om Tat Sat

Reverence and The Guru-Shishya Relationship

A very beutiful Satsang by Swamini Brahmaprajnanada

Namaskara Yajna- Swami Govind Dev Giriji

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Through the infinite grace of the Lord, I get the opportunity to study many different scriptural texts. At one time while reading the Shiva Mahapuran. I was surprised and wonderstruck when I read about out how doing namaskar  (bowing down) with humility is one type of yajna. The Shiva Purana says 

 नमस्कारात्मयज्ञेन तुष्टाः स्युः सर्वदेवताः।

यथायोग्यं स्वात्मयज्ञं नमस्कारं प्रकल्पयेत्।।

This is such a simple and beautiful thing. Our Rishi's have showered their blessings upon us, by teaching way  an easy way to gain punya (subtle form of merit) and increase prestige, and thus expanding the path of our progress.

In many different places in our scriptures, we find the greatness of namaskara or pranam being extolled.  Lord Manu has said :-

अभिवादनशीलस्य नित्यं वृद्धोपसेविनः।

चत्वारि तस्य वर्धन्ते आयुर्विद्या-यशोबलं।।

These four, namely the life-span, knowledge, fame and power,  of those who do pranam to their elders and serve them always, keeps on increasing. In the Bhagavad Gita also, amongst the disciplines required for gaining knowledge from the Guru, pranam is pointed out as a necessity - तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया।

When we do our daily pujas or our naimittika karma ( rituals to be done occasionally), then the scriptural injunction is that we should remember all revered beings, and only then begin. At the end of the puja also, it is only after a full pranam (shashtanga namaskara) to the Lord that the puja is considered complete. When we do pranam on seeing father, mother, Guru, devatas, holy places, etc our humility and feeling of reverence and respect is expressed. 

Since no external material is required for this namaskar yajna it is very simple. However it's result is very big. In this context, I remember the the behaviour of of King Yudhisthira, who was always committed to dharma. At the commencement of the Mahabharata war after the teaching of the Gita, when Arjuna became ready to fight the war, Yudhisthira came there and stepped down from his chariot. He kept his armour and weapons in the chariot and walked alone, by foot towards the enemy army. Everybody was shocked. Nobody could understand what was the reason behind his action. The four brothers ran after him. Lord Krishna could understand what was happening. Dharmraja first went up to Bhisma pitamaha, and with folded hands said, 'Grandfather, I, your grandson have come here to take your permission to fight  this war with you. I seek your blessings for victory' and bending down, holding the feet of Bhismaacharya, he did pranam. Bhishma was overwhelmed with love. He lifted his hand in a gesture of blessing for victory. After that Dharmaraja also went to Dronacharya, his Guru for warfare, and to his uncle Shalya, and did pranam to them and asked for their blessings for victory. 

The scripture commands us to give blessings to those who do pranam. It is surprising that Yuddhishtira obtained the blessings for victory from three generals of the Kaurava army. Because of his ego, Duryodhana was denied of these blessings. If Duryodhana had offered pranam to his elder brother Dharmaraja, then Dharmaraja would also have had to give blessings for victory to Duryodhana. Then perhaps the course of the war would have been different. 

Namaskar yajna is very simple yet our ego does not allow us to bend down before others and because of this we are denied of a great benefit. In the Bhagavata  Prahlada talks about the ninefold bhakti. In that 6 types of of praise of bhakti is there. Everyday the minimum that we can do, is to do pranam to the Lord. Pranam is also called as the ekopachara puja ( worship with just one item). At the end of the Bhagavata, Shri Shukadeva ji asks everybody to do pranam.

प्रणमेत् दण्डवत् भूमौ आश्वचाण्डाल-गो-खरम्।

Seeing the presence of the Lord in all,  lying flat on the earth  bow down to even a horse, a lovely being, cow, and donkey. (Meaning have reverence for all forms of life, seeing the divinity in them)

Beause of one's limitations, everybody may find it difficult to do pranam bowing their head. Then one can do pranam in one's mind. Sant Tukaram says जो नम्र झाला भूतां तणे कोंडिले अनन्ता।। The Lord is humbled/ controlled (Bhagavan ko vash kar leta hai) by the one who is humble in front of every being. In truth, praise brings everyone under one's control.

Doing pranam to the Lord, one gets practice in doing pranam to mother, father, Guru, and other elders.When the habit of doing pranam to elders in the house is there, automatically humility comes. Disagreements will not be fierce. The elders love for the young ones also keeps ncreasing. Everybody's speech begins to to become sweet and soft. Fights in the house do not become serious and an atmosphere pleasantness and peace is created. Life becomes happier. The atmosphere at home becomes like that of heaven. It would be so good, if in keeping with our culture, we would accept this namaskar yajna in our life and make efforts to progress.

Om Tat Sat

The immediate is limitless, the limitless is immediate

ॐ गं ॐ

Ayam Atma Brahma - this Atma is Brahman

This is the mahavakya from Mandukya Upanishad. Let us analyse this extraordinary statement made by the Upanishad.

Brahman, by it's very word meaning means that which is limitless. However in our understanding, when we say Brahman, we look upon it in third person, as something remote, something away from me.

'ayam' in Sanskrit means 'this'. Atma refers to the self. ayam atma means 'this Self' - The teacher must be pointing towards the heart and saying 'this Self' - referring to the self-evident immediate (aparoksha) presence of consciousness which shines as 'I' in the antahkarna.

We use the words pratyaksha, paroksha, sakshi-pratyaksha and aparoksha in Vedanta. These words indicate the type of knowledge and by what means knowledge takes place. Pratyaksha jnanam refers to sense-perception and it gives us direct knowledge of objects that we perceive. Paroksha jnanam refers to the indirect knowledge of things which are remote. We would gain this knowledge through inference,  presumption, comparison, knowledge of absence all of which are methods of reasoning based on pratyaksha jnanam.
Sakshi-pratyaksha refers to the direct knowledge we receive of our own thoughts, feelings, memories, ego in which sense perception plays no part.
Aparoksha jnanam refers to the immediate self-evident presence of consciousness, referred to as 'I'.

The Shastra points out aparoksha atma is Brahman. That the self is immediate we have no doubt about. However, usually we have a lot of conclusions about the nature of I - that it is limited. So we conclude that I am mortal, I am such and such, based on the condition of the body or mind, which is always limited.

So now when Shastra says 'ayam atma brahman' what it is saying is 'that which is immediate is limitless' or 'that which is limitless is immediate'.

There is only one thing which is immediate - that is the self-evident, self-revealing conscious presence that one is, that reveals itself constantly in the antahkarna as 'I'. This immediate I is limitless. To understand this, we have to let go our sense of limitation. How? By letting go our sense of reality in the ego, the sense of individuality. How? By understanding it is mithya.

 Aparoksha atma is free of limitation in time - meaning the immediate, self-evident consciousness that one is, is timeless, changeless, indestructible, immortal.
 Aparoksha atma is free of the limitation of space, meaning the immediate, self-evident consciousness that one is, is all-pervading.
Aparoksha atma is free of the limitation of object, meaning the immediate, self-evident consciousness that one is, is formless, attributeless.

We also need to understand intimately that Brahman, the limitless is not remote.

The limitless is immediate.

How profound and subtle is this knowledge of the self!

The immediate is limitless.
The limitless is immediate.

To understand the full implications of this grand statement 'ayam atma brahman', I will usually also dwell on Bhagavad-Gita Chapter 9 statements where Lord Krishna reveals Himself totally to His beloved Arjuna,  by saying  'matsthani sarva bhutani, na ca'ham teshu avasthitah' (all this is in me, but I am not in them) followed by 'na ca matsthani bhutani' (all this is not there in me) in the very next verse.

In the statement 'matsthani sarva bhutani, na ca aham teshu avasthitah', the Lord is pointing out the entire universe exists in Him who is consciousness, dependent on consciousness ( to exist, as well as reveal itself) whereas He, consciousness is not dependent on this universe. You may still imagine that there are two things, Consciousness and the universe. To dispel this notion, Lord Krishna declares that 'na ca matsthani bhutani' there is no universe in Me, meaning He, consciousness alone is - limitless, whole, purnam, ekam eva advitiyam - one alone, without a second. Limitless Consciousness-existence by its own creative power appears as this changing universe, even as one you alone appear as all the different objects in a dream.

To understand this lets us look at the example of ocean and wave. Both are nothing but water. Wave does not have an independent reality from the ocean. The wave does not have an independent reality from water. Wave is water. When water looks, all it sees, is itself. It does not see wave as an independent reality limiting it! It does not see wave ...sees only itself water.

We need to dwell on this again and again and really see the implications.

Our shashtanga namaskarams to our Shastras and  Sadgurus who  make us understand this profound truth.

Om Tat Sat

Japa Yajna continued - 2 Swami Govinddev Giri Maharaj

Continuing from previous Japa Yoga 1...

The Sweetness of Joy in Chanting The Name 

This one more thing we should pay attention to, that is, our tongue is unique in that it is both an organ of action and it is also a sense organ of perception/knowledge. Another name for the tongue is रसना - which has the meaning of 'relishing', 'joy', 'tongue'. Therefore when you take the  name, then remember the Lord (who is the object the name) with love. 'तत् जप तत् अर्थ भावनम्' - I take the name of Shri Rama, then it's meaning is that, I invoke the attitude connected to the meaning of Shri Rama. Along with the attitude associated with the meaning of Shri Ram, joy  arises, love  arises.

Whenever one peacefully chants the name, with each chant of the name, love for Lord Rama arises. And I think about the name or the one who is named. As I think about any one divine quality associated with the name, and there arises great love in me, then in time, the experience will be that as you chant the name more and more, you will relish the chanting and with joy you will chant (do bhajan). A meaning for भजन is भजनं नाम रसनम्. As long as this joy does not arise, this love does not arise, till then devotion is absent. Therefore let every chant of the name be along with emotion.

When I chant the name with love for a period time, it is possible that, today my mind may not be fully attentive. May be tomorrow my mind may be more attentive.  Tomorrow, there may less distraction than today. In this way, when I start to sit down on a mat and continue to do japa daily, it will be greatly beneficial, if I sit for japa, at the same time daily. If the place where I sit for japa and the time at which I sit for japa, remain the same daily, then you will find that a time will come when your thoughts will automatically go towards your japa at that time.

Choose any one place for your japa. Choose a time. For example everyday in the morning at 8 o'clock I will sit down on my mat and from 8 to 9 I will not get up from the mat. Even if this much we maintain as a rule for the body, then in a few days, our thoughts will automatically go towards remembrance of the Lord at 8 o'clock. The scriptures have revealed that the best time for namajapa and along with it for the joy to arise is pre-dawn - when the sun has not yet risen, but night is over. Even if bathing is not done, do not forgo this time. Sit during this time.

 Chanting of Name is Yoga

In this manner, sitting straight on a mat, we can continue a little practice of chanting the name loudly, and after some time mentally chanting  with love with image or statue of the Lord in front of us. As our eyes open, our attention is drawn to the Lord's form. At that time, hear no other sound, and at that time do not busy yourself with any other work.

Doing a little sadhana,like this, the mind turns extremely inward and thus with the use of a repeated word or words (Lord's name) I can become free of the verbal chattering in the mind. If verbal chatter (many words) are to be dissolved from my mind, then I can use one word, and eventually that one word also merges in the emotion it invokes. When that word merges into it's emotion, then one enters the state of mind called 'pashyanti' and the inner journey begins ...the mind imbued with Lord's form,  the mind imbued with Lord's symbol, and finally the mind imbued with the sound vibration of the Lord. In this way, there is an inner journey which culminates in a profound silence, after which the chanting of the name emerges from there. When name moves from different states of speech called as vaikhari, madhyama, pashyanti and finally para, and then again returns in reverse order and emerges, then it carries with it such great power, that it can influence anybody.

The day before yesterday, I talked about Swami Samarth Ramdas. What did all the siddhis do? Through the process of God rememberence, they reached the state of para, and then emerged from the state of speech called Para and when it reached vaikhari ( the physical aspect of speech), then that name of the Lord was not just a name. At the time of going within in the inner journey, it was just ordinary name. However having reached Para, when it returned and emerged out of the mouth, it was imbued with great power, it became extrordinary.

In this context, you will see that the child devotee Dhruv, reached a  profound state while doing japa, in which his speech was completely silent. His speech had merged inside. After that his speech was awakened by the Lord. The power of speech that was awakened by the Lord, was unique. It was divine. This is like being reborn in the same body. Christ had also said 'Ye  must be reborn again'. When this kind of rebirth from inside takes place, that is the real success.

Therefore an inner transformation is required, which is what Sri Krishnamurty calls as a mutation. An inner change, a total change. Our saints stand a witness to this.  मीच मज व्यालो पोटा आपु लीया आलो। Sant Tukaram Maharaj says ' oh! I have been reborn! A new birth has happened. Now I am not that. I have undergone a total change'. After that his whole life was a divine one. Beginning with the process of yajna, how our body, vital energy, mind is purified is also important. महायज्ञैश्च यज्ञैश्च ब्राह्मीयं क्रियते तनुः। Japa yoga can be used for purification and stability at the level of body, vital energy, mind, intellect, ego. This is a simple yet unique process for divinizing one's life. Therefore, while performing any other kind of yajna, we must always practice japa yajna. Through all these yajnas, may our life become divinized, may our life belong to the Lord, and be given to service and through that, may there be constant rememberance of God. May we be totally fulfilled and help others to be fulfilled. This is success in life.  May our feet progress in that direction through the grace of Sant Jnaneshwar.
श्रीकृष्णार्पणमस्तु

Translated from Yajnamaya Jivan

The translation does not do full justice to the original. Please pardon.

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