Aparokshaanubhuti

Slokas 119 to 123

2008-07-13T17:53:00.001-07:00

Namah Shivaya,

Prostrations at the lotus feet of AMMA.

Sloka 119:

nishhedhanaM prapaJNchasya rechakaakhyaH samiiraNaH .
brahmaivaasmiiti yaa vR^ittiH puurako vaayuriiritaH ..

Meaning: Negating all the naama roopam is called rechakam . Having the thought that I am Brahman is called poorakam.

Explanation: In the earlier sloka the author sankarabhagavadpada has explained the definition of pranayamam. In this sloka and next sloka he explains porakam,rechakam and kumbhakam.

As per yoga pranayama involves poorakam,rechakam and kumbhakam. Pranayama is done by controlling the breath. Inhaling, exhaling and retaining air for certains intervals of time is done in pranayama. This helps in controlling of the mind.
Inhaling air till a certain period of time is called poorakam. Kumbhakam is retaining the inhaled air for some time. Rechakam is exhaling sir for some period of time.
Praanayama is practiced through inhalation, exhalation of air is done in a systematic manner as per the instructions over a period of time.

The same is explained in a vedantic perspective in this sloka. As per the author, Rechakam is negating all naama roopam in this world. The world is made up of naama roopam and Brahman the substratum of everything in the world. Naama roopam is temporary and will bring sorrow alone to a person. We cannot depend on anything in the world as one day it will lead to sorrow. This we have seen in our personal lifes
If we depend on TV for our happiness, when the power goes off, the same thing would bring us sorrow. Same applies to all entities in the world. So with this knowledge that naama roopam or names and forms are just an illusion in the reality of Brahman, one should negate all names and forms and know them to be nothing but all pervading Brahman.

Katha Upanishad says
Manasaiva idam aaptavyam neha nana asthi kinchana
Mrityoh sah mrityum gacchathi ya iha nana iva pashyathi

Self alone exists here and nothing else. A person who doesn’t realize this truth would be entangled in the birth death cycle.

As mentioned in atma bodha

Samsarah Swapnatulyo hi Ragadweshadi Samkulah
Swakaale Satyavatbhati Prabodhe sati Asadbhavet.

The world is like a dream, filled with dual experiences like likes, dislikes . It appears to be real as a long dream, until we wake up and know the truth .

When we know that world is unreal and the substratum of Brahman alone is real. We should practice is by negating all the naama roopam we see as unreal. This assertion should be done in the mind. One cannot stop doing any activities , knowing that world is unreal. One should do karma with the awareness that Brahman alone is real and everything is illusionary. This rejecting of naama roopam is actual rechakam by sankarabhagavad pada. This will make the mind calm and undisturbed by the results we get from the temporary objects in the world.

When one rejects what is harmful, what brings him sorrow, he should accept what would give him poornaananda , the eternal bliss. So accepting Brahman as the only truth, as the substratum of the illusionary world is called poorakam.
Mere rejected of the unwanted is not enough, one should take in what is needed for growth and happiness.So always understanding that everything is Brahman alone and he is also that Brahman, would bring bliss to the person. This is actual poorakam.

Sloka 120:

tatastadvR^ittinaishchalya.n kuMbhakaH praaNasa.nyamaH .
aya.n chaapi prabuddhaanaamaGYaanaa.n ghraaNapiiDanam.h .

Meaning: Having the constant thought of Brahman is kumbhakam. Ignorant people practice it which will cause only pain to the nostrils.

Explanation: In continuation with the earlier sloka , sankarabhagavadpada is explaining kumbhakam here. Kumbhakam as practice by retaining inhaled air for certain interval of time .

One may have the knowledge that the world is an illusion and reality is Brahman alone. But until he has a constant thought of this and implements it every moment, he cannot attain ultimate bliss. The mind would easily delude the person into the objects of the world. So pull ourselves out of the clutches of the mind, we should constantly ascertaining ourselves in the mind that Brahman alone is present here one without a second. Having this constant thought of Brahman is actual kumbhakam as per the author.

Thus negating all naama roopam, considering everything to be Brahman alone and fixing the mind onto the reality that Brahman alone is present here, would lead a person to niddhidhyasanam and thereby to self-realization. Only through knowledge of the ultimate truth and through constant contemplation of it, one would develop strong conviction about the truth .Once the strong conviction is attained, one perceives the world as what he believed in. Which brings him eternal bliss.

As mentioned in atma bodha

Ajnana Kalusham Jeevam Jnanaabhyasat Vinirmalam
Krutwa Jnanam Swayam Nasyet Jalam Katakarenuvat.

Thus through knowledge alone a person is purified. Once attaining the purification, knowledge itself vanishes as the alum dissolves in water and removes impurities in water.

Practicing pranayama as per yoga sastras involves physical strain to the body, as one has to constantly breath in a controlled which helps in loosening the veil of ignorance.
The author says a person who doesn’t understand what praanayamam is in right sense, would end up in troubling his nostrils.

Sloka 121:

vishhayeshhvaatmataa.n dR^ishhTvaa manasashchiti majjanam.h .
pratyaahaaraH sa viGYeyo.abhyasaniiyo mumukshubhiH

Meaning: Seeing everything as aatma, the mind merges with atman. This is
called pratyaharam. This is practiced by people who want to attain moksha.

Explanation: Sankarabhagavadpada in this sloka explains the next sadhana of pratyahara.
As per yoga sastras pratyahara means withdrawal of sense organs from sense objects contact. This helps in control of sense organs.

As per the author, pratyaharam means perceiving what ever objects we see as Brahman.
Whatever we see in the world, ascertain that to be Brahman. An object externally cannot be Brahman, but the substratum of everything in the world is Brahman alone. So keeping this in mind, we should pierce through the Naama roopam and see only Brahman in all objects. We should understand the consciousness principle which is the driving force for the entire world to be in harmony. Thus perceiving the objects constantly for some period of time , the mind will merge into Brahman. So later without effort the mind will reside always in Brahman. It constantly think about Brahman alone and perceive the same everywhere. This is the what seeker of moksha in this spiritual try achieve through constant practice.

Until we do not understand the underlying truth behind all entities in the world, we will be deluded by maya. All the objects will appear real to us and bring us only sorrow.

As Krishna in Gita 7th sloka says

daivi hy esa guna-mayi mama maya duratyaya mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te

My maya is difficult to conquer, but only people who surrender to me will not be overpowered by maya.

So we need to seek surrender to the lord inorder to overcome Maya and always remind ourself of the truth, not getting deluded by the temporary objects of the world. Only through Guru’s or gods grace alone one can overcome Maya and always be in the constant thought of Brahman.

Sloka 122:

yatra yatra mano yaati brahmaNastatra darshanaat.h .
manaso dhaaraNa.n chaiva dhaaraNaa saa paraa mataa

Meaning: Whereever the mind goes, see Brahman alone. This is called dharana of the mind. Dharana is superior.

Explanation: Sankaracharya here explains the next sadhana of Dharana.

As per yoga sutras dharana to gain one-pointed concentration. Here the person tries to gain concentration by focusing on one point or object. This is when a person is all the time making the mind to be focused. This helps in attaining dhyana or one-pointed concentration. The main disadvantage of this sadhana is that a person cannot sit and try to gain focus all the time.

As per the author the dharana prescribed as per Vedanta can be done without any limitations. Dharana here means to perceive Brahman wherever the mind goes. We know that the mind is very wavery. It is the fastest moving object. Sitting at a place one can tour the entire world.Such is the power of the mind.
Mind deludes us in the world, as we perceive duality in the world. We develop likes and dislikes having come into contact with objects of the world. This creates impressions in the mind and are actions are influenced by these impressions of our mind. Thus we get entagled into the fruits of the actions performed in the world, until we realize the truth the world is unreal and is only an illusion in the substratum of Brahman.
Inorder to remain focused on the truth one should remind himself of the truth that Brahman alone exists in the world. Thus he sees oneness everywhere gradually. He sees himself in everything in the world. He sees world in himself and himself in the world. This brings equanimity of mind as mentioned in scriptures as

Saarva bhutasta aatmanam sarva bhutani cha aatmani ikshate yoga uktaatma sarvatra samadarshinaha

Such a person can alone have compassion and love to the entire beings in world and can serve the society selflessly , all other people’s actions are self-centered as they haven’t realized the true nature of themselves. Only one who has realized himself can be useful to the society.
As lord Krishna says in Gita 4th chapter

sanniyamyendriya-gramam sarvatra sama-buddhayah te prapnuvanti mam eva sarva-bhuta-hite ratah

Only who has controlled his sense organs and who has equanimity of mind towards every person in the world, he alone attains me and does welfare to the society.

Thus a person who practices dharana as mentioned by author can through dharana gain focus of mind on the ultimate truth.

Sloka 123:

brahmaivaasmiiti sadvR^ittyaa niraalambatayaa sthitiH .
dhyaanashabdena vikhyaataa paramaanandadaayinii

Meaning: Having the thought of I am Brahman, which makes a man not independent is called dhyanam, which gives immense bliss.

Explanation: After explaining dharana Sankarabhagavad pada in this sloka explains Dhyanam. One who practices dharana where a person tries to gain focus on an object, over a period of time he would be able to gain one-pointedness this is called dhyanam which means mediating on a form or formless.

Yogic dhyanam is sitting in a position and focusing on a particular object. This helps in attaining Samadhi , where the meditator becomes one with the meditating object.

From a vedantic perspective dhyanam is having the constant thought of I am Brahman, the substratum of the entire world, always reveling in the truth of Brahman being the ultimate reality . This when achieved makes a person independent. No matter whatever circumstances, he can live independently, this gives him immense inner strength to him. He sees everything as pervaded by Brahman. So what to loose ,what to gain, what to like and what to dislike, what to do and what not to do. Always he rejoices in Brahman.
As lord Krishna says in Gita 5th chapter

kama-krodha-vimuktanam yatinam yata-cetasam abhito brahma-nirvanam vartate viditatmanam

A person who is devoid of likes, anger and all material desires, who is self-realized, who is self-disciplined and who always practice to be in Brahman and reside in Brahman

Such person sees oneness everywhere as he sees Brahman alone everywhere. He sees Brahman in each and everyone in the world.
Lord Krishna says in Gita in 5th chapter

vidya-vinaya-sampanne brahmane gavi hastini suni caiva sva-pake ca panditah sama-darsinah

A Brahmin, who is a scholar sees Brahman in cow, elephant, dog and a dog eater. He sees all as Brahman alone.
This is what is called as dhyanam , having one thought of Brahman all the time and always being immersed in it, because of which a person ever rejoices in bliss, as he devoid of all dualities.

Namah Shivaya

Slokas 114 to 118

2008-07-13T17:49:00.000-07:00

Namah Shivaya,

Prostrations at the Lotus feet of AMMA.

Sloka 114:

yanmuula.n sarvabhuutaanaa.n yanmuula.n chittabandhanam.h .
muulabandhaH sadaa sevyo yogyo.asau raajayoginaam.h

Meaning: That which is the basis of all human beings. That root cause is fixed upon in the mind. This Fixing of the mind is practiced by the yogi’s.

Explanation: Sankarabhagavadpada explains the next sadhana of mulabandham.
As per patanjali’s yoga sutras. Mula bandham means control of sexual passions. Restraining oneself from entering into such activities. People practicing yoga, exercise restraint to such activities, in order to retain the energy gained out of yogic practices. This helps them be focused on the path.

In Vedanta mula bandham is interpreted in different way. The word mulam means root cause. The root cause of the whole, meaning the substratum of the whole world is Brahman. The whole world is manifestation of Brahman in various names and forms. All names and forms are just an illusion in the reality of Brahman. In this sadhana one should know this truth and thereby fix his mind onto this truth. Always ascertaining in his mind the truth of ultimate reality.
As chandogya Upanishad says “Sadeva soumya idam agra aaseeth ekam eva adviteeyam”.
Only existence existed before ,one without a second. There is nothing apart from it.
Sankarabhavadpada also mentions this in the mahavakhyam “Brahma satyam jagath mithya jeevo brahmaiva na paraha”

Practicing this fixing of the mind on the ultimate truth, a person always revels in the truth. He slowly is established in Brahman. What ever he perceives , he sees only Brahman in the entire world. There is no difference for him. He doesn’t see duality whatsoever. He goes beyond likes, dislikes as he sees only one entity everywhere. This is what is mentioned in Gita says “Siddhya assidhyo samo bhutva samatvam yoga uchathe”.

Yoga means union. Union of the individual and god. A person established in yoga sees himself in all and all in himself. He sees himself as an extension of all.
That which can be achieved and which couldn’t be is accepted in the same way, without any agitation in the mind.

As Isha Upanishad says
Yasthu sarvani bhutani atmani eva anupashyathi sarva bhuteshu cha aatmanam tato na vijugupsathe

Thus controlling the passions of the mind one may not be successful, as at any time the mind may play tricks and we may fall a prey to it. But fixing the mind onto the ultimate reality and developing strong conviction, helps a person to attain that state , where he sees nothing but Brahman everywhere in the world. This is what sankarabhagavad pada mentions as part of mulabandhanam.

Sloka 115:
aN^gaanaa.n samataa.n vidyaatsame brahmaNi liinataam.h .
no chennaiva samaanatvamR^ijutva.n shushhkavR^ikshavat.h

Meaning: Having steady body organs means that each and every organs residing in Brahman. Nothing else would lead to maintain an equilibrium of the body. It will just be equal to a dried tree without any juices.

Explanation: In this sloka sankarabhagavadpada explains the next sadhana of samatvam.
As per yoga sastras it is essential to maintain a straight and upright postion of the body , especially the backbone inorder to do yoga . This is essential , as doing such practices the kundalini shakti which is the dormanat serpent power in each person is aroused. This serpent power is said to travel along the sushumna naadi and reach the sahasraram, the place reaching which a person becomes immortal. So the postion of the body is very important in such practices, else it may lead to obstruction of the flow of kundalini shakti to the sahasraram.Through yoga practices and mediation, gradually rises up along the sushumna naadi in a person.

But for a person following Vedanta or knowledge path, the kundalini arouses immediately. A position of the body is not important. Here stability or maintaining the equilibrium of the body means a person always residing in Brahman. His mind always dwells on the truth of Brahman being the reality and whole world just being the illusion in the substratum of Brahman. As is the mind, so will be the action. The world we perceive passing through the conceptions, impressions of the mind and thus we see the world. So with the mind fixed on the ultimate truth a person, pierces through the Nama roopam and just seeing the underlying Brahman in everything in the world. Due to this a person is always blissful. Each part of his body eminates bliss. This is because he doesn’t see any duality. Only duality is the causes of sorrow in the world. Thus he always rejoices in bliss.

As mentioned in atma bodha by sankarabhagadpada
Sachitatmaani anusyoote , nitye vishow prakalpitaah
Vyaktayo vividha sarva, hatake katakaadivat

World is manifested from eternal vishnu , who is the satchitaananda. He is manifested in various names and forms, as a gold ornaments of various names and forms are gold alone.

Thus sankarabhagavad pada says that maintaining the body in a right postion, and trying to control the body and thereby control the mind, one will be like a dry tree without any juices. Controlling the mind through control of body , without knowledge of the ultimate truth, will prove to be like a dry tree without any juices.

Controlling the mind through knowledge of the ultimate truth is the actual definition of samatvam, or gaining equilibrium of the body, by always dwelling in Brahman, is what is being emphasized by the author.

Sloka 116:
dR^ishhTi.n GYaanamayii.n kR^itvaa pashyedbrahmamaya.n jagat.h .
saa dR^ishhTiH paramodaaraa na naasaagraavalokinii

Meaning: With a vision of knowledge one can perceive world of Brahman. This is the superior vision and not that is gained through having a point concentration at the tip of the nose.

Explanation: Sanakarabhagavadpada explains in this sloka the next sadhana of dristhi.
As we know as is the mind so are the thoughts as are the thoughts so is the vision. If one uses brown specs. He sees everything to be in that color, So his vision is impaired . Thus wrong impressions are created in the mind, due to improper knowledge.

So a person having right vision alone can have right vision of the world. To gain right vision , one should know the truth of the world i.e the nature of the world to be temporary. As Lord Krishna says in Gita as “Anityam asukham lokam” . Once a person knows this, he will understand that the world of names and forms is unreal and the driving force behind the whole world, which makes possible all the activities in the world to happen. Due to which the whole world seems to exist, the ultimate truth of Brahman , which is the supreme cause to be alone existing.

As Krishna says in Gita “yat aditya gatam tejo, jagat bhasayithee akhilamYat Chandramasi yat cha agnau tat tejo viddhi mamakam”

The power behind the sun, moon and the fire and other objects of the world, know that to be me alone.
He is the eye behind the eyes the ear behind the ears.

As mentioned in kena upanishad
Yad vaacha anabhyuditam Yena vaag abhyudathe
Tadeva Brahma tvam viddhi na idam yad idam upaasathe

That which is the behind speech, which is power behind speech and which cannot be expressed through speech, know that alone to be Brahman and not that which is mentioned as this or that.
As per yoga sastras, right vision is got by gaining concentration . This is achieved by focusing on the tip of the nose. This helps to gain one-pointedness. But as per the author this is not the right vision. But to know that Brahman alone is truth and everything else is just an illusion in the substratum of Brahman.

Sloka 117:

drashhtR^idarshanadR^ishyaanaa.n viraamo yatra vaa bhavet.h .
dR^ishhTistatraiva kartavyaa na naasaagraavalokinii

Meaning: Cessation of the seer, activity if seeing and the object seen. Right vision is not focusing on the tip of the nose.

Explanation: Sankarabhagavadpada in continuation with the earlier sloka on right vision explains the right vision.

As per the author right vision is when the seer, the seen and the activity of seeing disappear. This doesn’t mean that one should stop seeing objects. When everything in the world is Brahman alone, When that is seen , that which is perceiving, the medium of perception all are but Brahman , then how can anything be perceived? If there is no duality, what is perception, and what is perceived ? and what is the object of perception?
In such a state all this 3 states cease to exist. In such a state a person perceives his self in all and all in his self. This is what is indicated in this sloka.

At a vyavaharika level, it means that one should remain a witness to all activities that happen in the world. As sun is witness to all activities happening in the world. He is not involved in any activity but in his presence all activities happen. A lantern is a witness to all activities happening under its light. Similalry one should remain in the self and be a witness to all activities. He should be like an actor performing his role in a play. An actor who is performing a role, knows that he isn’t the character he is playing for. He doesn’t identify himself with it all throughout the play. But at the same time he performs his role perfectly. One of the reasons for performing the role is that he is untainted by the activities performed as part of the play. Because he knows he isn’t the character. Hence he is unaffected.

Likewise in this world, we should be playing our roles and remain witness to all activities. Self is satchitaananda, which is nishkalam or without parts, ekam or one alone, nirupama or without comparision, niraakaram or without form.
As mentioned in atma bodha

Anadi avidhya anirvachya karanoopadhi uchyathe
Upaadi tritayaadanya aatmanam avadharayet

Ignorance is without any beginning, it is the cause of the karana shareera.
But atma is beyond all the three bodies.

Dehendriya mano buddhi prakrityobhi vilakshanam
Tadvrutti sakshinam vidya aatmanam raajavat sada

It illumines mind,intellect and senses. It is a witness to all its functions. Like a king who enjoys the plays enacted, but never acts in the play.

Thus author says that focusing on the tip of the nose to gain concentration , one cannot attain right vision, only through observing witnesshood , one remains unperturbed by the results of all activities, as he knows that his nature is ever eternal and blissful.

Sloka 118:

chittaadisarvabhaaveshhu brahmatvenaiva bhaavanaat.h .
nirodhaH sarva vR^ittiinaaM praaNaayaamaH sa ucyate

Meaning: All the thoughts of the mind should be thought of Brahman. Stopping all the thoughts of the mind is called pranayamam.

Explanation: Author sankarabhagavadpada explains the next step of sadhana namely pranayama in this sloka.

As per yoga sutras pranayama is control of breath, though which mind is controlled. Prana is the life force in human beings. Controlling prana leads to control of the mind. Practicing this would help one attain Samadhi . Attaining which a person becomes self-realized. Thus through control of prana, one tries to attain the liberated state.

As per the author, pranayama is when all the thoughts of the mind are considered to be Brahman. Thus all the thoughts of the mind are controlled and stopped. This leads one to perceive everything as Brahman .Thus a person attains the state of eternal bliss.

In the earlier slokas sankarabhagavadpada has explained how externally one has to perceive Brahman in the world, in order to have equanimity of mind and to be established in Brahman. In this sloka he explains how this is done internally.
Thoughts of the world are due to the perceiving the world. The thoughts later lead to actions. Actions lead to impressions of mind and create vasanas. This is all due to perceiving the dual nature in the world. Internally ascertaining the thoughts to be Brahman only, a person becomes devoid of all dual notions of good and bad, cold and hot, truth and false, likes and dislikes etc. If every thought is Brahman , then there is nothing to think about or analyse, thus all agitations in the mind are resolved. The mind remains calm. Thus all actions resulting also will be from a mind which is calm and unperturbed. As every thought is considered Brahman, so also everything will be perceived as Brahman alone.

As everything is perceived as Brahman, no thoughts are created about any activity performed. Hence thoughts are controlled slowly. Impressions are not created of the same. This is the pranayama which is achieved but understanding that the thoughts of the mind are also Brahman. We have considered the external world to be Brahman , every object of the external world to be Brahman, in order to avoid all dual thoughts of the world. Similarly, when we consider even the internal activities like thoughts to be Brahman, pranayama is achieved.

Namah shivaya

Slokas 109 to 113

2008-06-22T18:46:00.000-07:00

Namah Shivaya,

Prostrations at the Lotus feet of AMMA.

Sloka 109 :

iti vaa tadbhavenmauna.n sataa.n sahaja sa.nGYitam.h .
giraa mauna.n tu baalaanaaM prayuktaM brahmavaadibhiH

Meaning: Great saints remain in the state of mounam , Initial seekers should always remains in mounam.

Explanation: As we have seen in earlier slokas sankaracharya explained the mounam as been in silence, due to the true knowledge of ultimate reality.
Great saints know that the world is an illusion and the substratum of Brahman is the only truth, hence they know the futility of words. As Brahman is beyond words, which cannot be explained through words as it is the substratum of everything. It is the eyes behind the eyes, the ear behind the ear etc. Hence it’s the subject, which cannot be perceived. As we cannot see our own eyes. So also subject cannot be described about. It is the illumination in each one which helps all the activities to happen. So one cannot speak about Brahman.
World is an illusion of names and forms in Brahman. So what can one speak about illusion. So both ways there is no reason to speak. Hence great saints remain in silence.

In kenopanishad it is mentioned
Yad vaacha anabhyuditam Yena vaag abhyudathe
Tadeva Brahma tvam viddhi na idam yad idam upaasathe

Taittiriya Upanishad says
Yatho vaacho nivarthanthe apraapya manasaa sah

Katha Upanishad says
Naiva vaacha na manasaa praapthum shakyona chakshushaa
Asthithi broovatho anyatra katham tad upalabhyathe

The silence spoken here is internal silence, where the mind doesn’t have any worldly thoughts , due to the strong conviction that the world is an illusion. There is only one constant thought of Brahman all the time. This is internal silence which shankarabhagavadpada is mentioning in this sloka.
This shouldn’t be interpreted in a wrong way, saying that without talking one cannot survive in this world. It just means that saints would talk only whenever necessary. What ever activity they do the are always abided in Brahman.
Here advise is given to the beginners that they should restrain themselves from talking whenever not needed. This would help a sadhaka to control his thoughts. To calm down his mind, to focus it or redirect the mind to contemplate on Brahman all the time. Thus a sadhaka should slowly practice to focus himself on Brahman. AMMA says mind is like a pond. When a stone is dropped ripples are created and pond is no more still, thus unnecessary talks will create ripples in the mind and will take time for the mind to reach the calm state again.
Thus sankarabhagavadpada says in this sloka that realized people find that its futile to talk and hence are always in the state of silence, whereas a beginner or an initial sadhaka should restrain himself into indulging into unnecessary talks.

Sloka 110:

aadaavante cha madhye cha jano yasminna vidyate .
yeneda.n satata.n vyaapta.n sa desho vijanaH smR^itaH

Meaning: World doesn’t exist in the beginning, middle or the end of the entity. It pervades everything , this is called desham.

Explanation: Sankarabhagavadpada defines the sadhana of desham in this sloka.
The 3 limited adjuncts of the world as mentioned in one of the 6 schools of philosophy or shad darshanas are time space and causation. The world we know is a result of the cause and its effect. The cause of a pot is mud and the effect is the pot. Similarly the effect of the world has the cause of Brahman as its substratum. Similarly space and time. All the objects in the world occupy space and space is all pervading. There is no object which exists independent of space. Similarly is the case with time. Time is the basic measurement we have for the world.
In this sloka desham is defined as one which doesn’t have the world in the beginning , middle and the end. This means world doesn’t exist in it. Meaning world is an illusion in it. So the substratum is real and the world is an illusion in that. Also it alone pervades the entire universe.
The cause of mud doesn’t have pot in it , in any way. Pot is made of mud, but mud doesn’t contain pot. Also mud is all pervading the pot. It is the only entity present in pot. Similarly, the world is an illusion and Brahman alone is present as the substratum and is all pervading. So desham here is nothing but Brahman alone. That which is beyond space.

Chandogya Upanishad says

Sadeva soumya idam agra aaseeth ekam eva adviteeyam

Brahman alone exists here one without a second.

Space is supposed to have come from Brahman. Brahman is beyond space. It is all pervading. Nothing exists apart from it. As the nature of atman is Brahman alone, in the sadhana of desham one has to remember that atman is all pervading and the world is an illusion in Brahman. This is same as the mahavakhya “Brahma satyam jagath mithya”
Practicing this a person achieves samadristhi as he sees oneness ,i.e Brahman everywhere. This constant niddhidhyasanam on the truth of the mahavakya is what needs to be practiced by a sadhaka.

Sloka 111:

kalanaat sarvabhuutaanaaM brahmaadiinaa.n nimeshhataH .
kaalashabdena nirdishhTo hyakhaNDaanandako.advayaH

Meaning: One who is the creator of all beings in the world till Brahma in a split of second. He is called kalam. He is of the nature of indivisible, happiness without duality.

Explanation: Sankarabhagavadpada after explaining space on of the adjuncts for the world. Now he explains time.
Time or kalam as per our understanding is a measurement of the time of creation of new life or activities in the world. But as per sankarabhagavadpada kalam is that which created the whole world, from which the whole world has come. Means it is the supreme cause.
Thus kalam is the cause of the whole world to be created. Without which the world doesn’t exist. Brahman exists independent of world. If world exists or not Brahman exists. But world is dependent on Brahman for existence. Thus kalam is defined.
It is of the nature of akhandam or partless, which cannot be divided .As it is one alone, there is nothing else apart from it. It is the only entity present in the entire universe.
It is of the nature of anandam. We all know that Brahman is of the nature of sat chit anandam.

Thus sadhana of kalam or time means a sadhaka should always remain in the knowledge that Brahman alone is the truth behind the whole world, as whole world depends on Brahman for its existence. If Brahman is not there world itself vanishes. Hence remembering the truth a person should practice sadhana of kalam. Seeing Brahman everywhere in all activities done.

Sloka 112:

sukhenaiva bhedyasminnajasraM brahmachintanam.h .
aasana.n tadvijaaniiyaannetaratsukhanaashanam.h

Meaning: Asana is that which is easy and comfortable and one gains a constant , uninterrupted thought of Brahman.

Explanation: Sankarabhagavadpada in this sloka explains the next sadhana among the 15 steps , he mentioned earlier.
As per patanjali asana or posture is that which is stable or sthiram and comfortable or sukham. Through Patanjali yoga sutras control of mind is achieved by controlling the body. Ultimately a state of Samadhi is reached wherein a person goes beyond the mind. Thus control of the thoughts of the mind and going beyond the mind is what is achieved by controlling the body through patanjali yoga asanas.
As per the author asana is having an easy , uninterrupted thought of Brahman in mind.
It is controlling the mind and its thoughts by always having a constant thought of Brahman , inspite of doing all activities in the world. It does not mean that one should sit in a posture and control the mind. While doing all activities one should have an easy uninterrupted thought of Brahman all the time. This is the sadhana sankarabhagavad pada is mentioning through this sloka. Thus we can see the difference in both asana as per patanjali’s yoga and sankarabhagavad pada’s asana.
As per Ramana maharshi in upadeshasaaram

Aajya dhaarayaa srotasaa samamSarala chintanam viralatah param

As flow of ghee , as pure as water, continuous thoughts of mind are better than broken thoughts.
This means one should have constant thought like the flow of ghee , without any break of flow.

We all know how difficult it is to control the mind. In a second our mind can go in various directions. At one moment we may be thinking that we are in US , in the next moment we might be thinking we are in US and the kind of life we may lead there. So mind is very unstable and always active. Controlling the mind is of the most toughest thing to achieve. This is what is targeted by sankarabhagavad pada.

Sloka 113:

siddha.n yatsarvabhuutaadi vishvaadhishhThaanamavyayam.h .
yasminsiddhaaH samaavishhTaastadvai siddhaasana.n viduH

Meaning: Ever established truth that the substratum of all the beings in the world is Brahman .Siddhas are always established in this thought . This is called siddhaasanam.

Explanation: In this sloka the author explains about siddhasanam , the one of the asanas a person aspiring to be a siddha has to sit in. Siddha is a person who has got control over the sense organs. To gain control and become a siddha one should sit in that asana.
As per yoga asanas it is a particular posture which helps a person to control his sexual passions.
The substratum of world of names and forms is Brahman . The world we see is only an illusion in the reality of Brahman. Brahman is the only entity that is present in the entire universe.
As mentioned in atma bodha by sankarabhagavadpada
“taavat satyam jagadbhati shuktika rajatam yatha
Yavanna jnayate brahma sarvaadhistana adhvayam”

As silver appears in the shell, so also the world seems to be until we know the truth that Brahman which is indivisible and all pervading entity present.

Always being established in this knowledge , which is mentioned in the Vedas that Brahman is the only entity present in the whole universe, is what is called siddhasanam.

Namah Shivaya

Slokas 104 to 108

2008-06-22T18:44:00.001-07:00

Namah Shivaya,

Prostrations at the Lotus feet of AMMA.

Sloka 104:

Meaning: Knowing everything to be Brahman, controlling the sense organs is called
Yama. A seeker should practice it many many times, to achieve self control.

Explanation: From this sloka sankaracharya bhagavat pada explains all the 15 steps a person can follow for niddhidhyasanam.
The first and foremost step is “Yama”. We shall see yama as per the author sankaraharya bhagavat pada and as per patanjali’s yoga sutras.

As per Vedanta, yama means control of sense organs through the knowledge of the truth that Brahman alone is present everywhere.
If one perceives duality in the world, he sees various names and forms and gets deluded . All the names and forms are just an illusion in the substratum of Brahman. The fan cannot rotate without electricity. There is no use of fan without electricity. Hence electricity alone is the truth. The essence of all electric gadgets is electricity alone.
Sankaracharya says in atma bodha thus

Upadane akhiladhare jaganthi parameshware
Sarga sthithi layan yanhi budbudani iva varini

The substratum of the universe, the supporting factor is Brahman. He is the creator, protector and destroyer. World can be compared to a bubble in water.

Thus if we understand that in what ever we see Brahman alone is present as substratum, we cannot see any duality in the world. If there is only on entity present , then how can we differentiate one object with another? If there is no differentiations, then there cannot be any likes and dislikes developed on the objects of the world, as there is nothing apart from the only entity of Brahman present in the entire universe.

When there is aversions and attachments to anything in the world, the mind remains calm, without any cravings. Thus there is nothing to seek in the world, nothing to enjoy This automatically leads to control of sense organs. Restrain of sense organs from objects of the world. Thus through the knowledge that , Brahman alone is present in the entire universe and there is nothing apart from it, a person ever has samabuddhi or equanimity of mind towards everything in the world. Thus he excercises control of sense organs.

As per patanjali yoga sutras , Yama means activities a person should’nt perform. It includes non-killing or ahimsa, truthfulness or satyam , non-stealing or asteya, self-control or brahmacharyam , non-receiving apparigraha.
Thus we see that yama as per yoga sutras is different to that what Vedanta believes in.
Only through practicing Yama as per sankarabhagavad pada can one get control over senses and attain the state of seeing Brahman everywhere.

Sloka 105:

Meaning: Allowing right flow of thoughts of same kind and rejecting all wrong thoughts is called niyama . This is what is practiced by wise people.

Explanation: The next step of Niyama is explained by the author here. Niyama is to have a constant flow of thoughts of Brahman all the time and rejecting all other thoughts in the mind.
Having the constant thoughts of Brahman all the time , practicing this would help to calm down the mind and reduce the agitations of the mind. One have continuous thoughts of Brahman alone all the time ,all other thoughts brining in duality could be avoided or rejected in the mind. Thus mind is always made to dwell in the truth and become one with it.

As Krishna says in 12th chapter

“mayy avesya mano ye mam ,nitya-yukta upasate sraddhaya parayopetas ,te me yuktatama matah”

A person who always has a constant thought of me, who is ever steadfast in me, his mind is fixed in mind, he is the best among all as per me.

So one should not get involved in activities that would bring in thoughts of duality in this mind, that’s how all wrong thoughts should be avoided. Irrespective of whatever action a person is doing, his mind should be ever fixed unto the truth. Always one should be contemplating on the self . With constant effort, he should focus his mind on the self. Whenever the mind gets distracted one should again make it focused on the truth.

As Krishna says in 12th chapter
ye tu sarvani karmani ,mayi sannyasya mat-parah ananyenaiva yogena ,mam dhyayanta upasate

As per patanajali yoga sutras niyama means external and internal purification,contentmet ,penance, study of Vedas and worship of god.

Practicing what is mentioned by sankarabhagavad pada a person would be able to achieve what is mentioned in the sutras.

Sloka 106:

Meaning: Renunciation of the names and forms of the world. Always concentrating on the self. This is what yogis appreciate.This would lead to moksha.

Explanation: The third step is tyaga or renunciation. Renunciation of all passions, all vasanas we have developed over many births. Renunciations of likes and dislikes, all cravings for the worldly objects, sense gratifications. This means not having any duality , like good or bad, hot and cold etc. This will purify the mind and a person goes beyondd all dualities. When mind is purified a person would perceive the atman.

As mentioned in atma bodha

Sada sarvagato apyatma na sarvatra avabhasate , budhaveva avabhaseta, svachesu pratibimba vat

Once the intellect is purified the atma is seen as a reflection seen in mirror.

Thus renouncing craving for wealth, woman, fame, power etc and focusing his mind on the goal of realizing the self a person slowly in due course of time gets the sadhana chatustayam to apprehend the truth. He understand that the world is unreal and only truth is Brahman alone that is present everywhere.

Renouncing the names and forms of the world. Considering all forms to be but an illusion in the substratum of the world. Understanding that chit alone is real and every thing else is jadam or insentient. As all gold ornaments are made form gold alone, so also everything in the world , the substratum is brahman alone and rest all is illusion.

Sankarabhagavad pada says so in atma bodha

Satchitatmanya anusyute nitye vishnau prakalpitah
Vyaktayo vividha sarvah hatake katakadivat

The entire world is made of one entity of nature of consciousness and which is eternal, all-pervading. All forms are manifestations, projection of the truth that Brahman alone exists.

Hence it indirectly says that projections in the mind are the reason for the world. Once the false vision is removed a person realizes his true self.

For people who have come out of the dream state, the dream state seems to be a play. But for people in dream, everything seems to be real. Thus is the vision of great sages who through renunciation have realized the truth.

Sloka 107 & 108:

Meaning: The speech returns from where, the mind cannot apprehend , that is mounam or silence. What can be said about the state which cannot be explained by words. There is nothing to be spoken about the world and hence there is no use of words and hence great people remain in silence.

Explanation: The author explains the next step of silence. Such a state in which great sages reside is one which cannot be explained in words, where the mind cannot apprehend, such state is silence. Atman is the subject and everything perceived is the object. So how can a subject be known or objectified. Hence its mentioned as beyond speech and mind. Atman is the illumining factor behind all the entities.
As mentioned in Gita 15th chapter by Lord Krishna

na tad bhasayate suryo ,na sasanko na pavakah yad gatva na nivartante ,tad dhama paramam mama

Neither the sun shines nor the moon, I am the illumining factor behind all. After reaching that state, there is no return.

In lalitha sahasranama one of the nama’s of devi is “manovacham agochara” meaning that which is beyond mind and speech.

Sankaracharya bhagavad pada also says in atma bodha

Dehendriya mano buddhi, prakrithibhyo vilakshanam
Tat vritti sakshinam vidhyat , aatmanam rajavat sada

Atman is different from mind, intellect and sense organs. It is the witness to all the functions of the mind, intellect and body. It is similar to the king who is the witness of drama ,but doesn’t act in it.

Once a person realizes that world is an illusion and Brahman alone exists, he sees no duality, so what to talk about and who to talk about, hence he remains in silence. Once we understand the futility of the world, then how can he talk about illusion? Hence he remains quiet.
Jnaani’s are in this state of complete internal silence. They may be seen as doing activities like any other worldly person. But their internal state is of silence.
Such a state of silence which cannot be explained through words I achieved by jeevan muktas.

Ramakrishna paramahamsa says that “ Once a salt doll went into the ocean to measure the depth of the ocean but couldn’t return to say that” . so similarly , people who are in that state, cannot say anything about it, as they have merged into it. They can just give some pointers to explain, so do the shastras talk about them in similar lines.

Taiitiriya Upanishad says in samelines
“Yato vacho nivartante aprapya manasaa saha,”

Thus the state of consciousness in which mahatmas live is state of silence.

Namah Shivaya

Slokas 99 to 103

2008-05-18T06:17:00.001-07:00

Namah Shivaya,

Prostrations at the Lotus feet of AMMA.

Sloka 99:

Meaning: If an ignorant person says that there is prarabdham even after realization.
It will lead to two absurdities. It is will contradict scriptures.

Explanation: we have seen an explanation in the earlier slokas by sankarabhagavdpada , that prarabdham cannot be there for a jeevan mukta. In this sloka he explains the consequences of assuming that prarabdham to be there for jeevan mukta.
We may have a question as to what happens if prarabdham is there for a jeevan mukta, or if a person through analysis draws conclusion that prarabdham is there for jeevan mukta.
This is answered in this sloka.
Considering prarabdham for a realized soul , would lead us to wrong absurd conditions.
If we consider prarabdham for a jeevan mukta , then it means that a person after realization would know Brahman and also have actions to performs i.e prarabdham due to vasanas from previous births. This means a person sees duality after realization. Our scriptures talk about non-duality. As a person having prarabdham karma should exhaust his karma through the body, though mind and intellect. It means he has body, mind and intellect. This means for him all the external objects of the world exist. This proves he is seeing duality everywhere. This hence contradicts the state of scriptures that there is only entity alone.

In aitreya upanishad

Atma Idameka evagra asit naanyat kinchana mishat

Here one entity alone exists and there is no duality whatsoever

In chandogya Upanishad it says

Sadeva soumya idam agra aseet, ekam eva adviteeyam. There is only one entity, that exists one without a second.

So all the scriptural statements will be wrong, If we consider prarabdham to be present for a jeevan mukta.
Another erroneous conclusion that would drawn would be, that a jeevan mutka would perceive many things apart from Brahman. This means that after realization a person has knowledge of Brahman and also external objects. But as per “Mundaka Upanishad “ it is said that “Brahmavid Brahmaiva Bhavati.” .Meaning a person who knows Brahman will become Brahman alone. Meaning he becomes one with everything. If he perceives many objects how can he be Brahman. As he is perceiving duality, how can he exist in a state of non-duality?
Thus there will ambiguous statements drawn , contradicting the scriptures, incase we consider prarabdham to be present for a jeevan mukta.

Sloka 100:

Meaning: I shall teach 15 steps, practicing which one will attain liberation that was mentioned in the earlier slokas.

Explanation: When a student approaches a guru , for knowledge as mentioned in 4th chapter of gita.

tad viddhi pranipatena ,pariprasnena sevaya upadeksyanti te jnanam, jnaninas tattva-darsinah

He does seva for the guru, follows the instructions of the guru and then the Guru imparts him knowledge, about ultimate truth, knowing which there is nothing else to be known.
This is called paroksha jnaanam. Paroksha means indirect. So once a student gets indirect knowledge of the truth from the guru, he strives hard to make it aparoksha Jnaanam meaning , this own intuitive experience. Sankarabhagavadpada till now has provided the paroksha jnaanam of the self, the not self, through various examples, illustrations.

He has explained the sadhana chatustayam a pupil should inculcate inorder to apprehend the truth. His mind gets purified after gaining the said qualification .Only a purified mind can apprehend the truth. With a purified mind a person through discrimination i.e nitya anitya vasthu vivekam , negates the not-self from the self. He understands that world is illusion and through “neti”, “neti” he negates anatman. After that he has to constantly focus on the truth ,which is called niddhidhyasanam. As said in atma bodha.

Parichinna iva ajnaanat, tannashe sati kevalah
Swayam prakashate hi atma, megha apaye anshuman iva

The self seems to be limited due to ignorance, once the clouds of ignorance I removed the sun of atman itself illumines.

We all know that once a person understand or apprehends and implements the import of the statement “Brahma satyam, jagath mithya, jeevo brahmaiva na parah” he will be realized. So till now sankarabhagavad pada has made us understand through lot of analogies “jagath mithya” i.e. world is an illusion .That we are not body and the self is ever present .Only when we develop this strong conviction that names and forms are just illusion in the substratum of Brahman. We are no more deluded by anything in the world. Happiness and sorrow resulting out of our day to day actions will not impact us, as we know that world is temporary so are also the experiences and the only permanent entity is Brahman , of the nature of bliss or poornandam which alone will give us eternal bliss. We will be ever focused in the attaining the state of liberation. Thus a pupil through paroksha jnaanam develops strong conviction about the truth and is ready to strive for aparokshaanubhti. One achieves aparokshaanubhava only through niddhidhyasanam. Thus through the slokas till now, sankarabhagavadpada, makes a student capable enough to have intuitive experience of the self.

So inorder to attain the state of liberation, which has been discussed in earlier slokas, the author is the coming slokas would explain the 15 steps a sadhaka should practice without fail inorder to do niddhidhyasanam and slowly attaining the state of liberation, where contemplation is natural and a person is ever established in atman. Being a very compassion Guru Sankarabhagavadpada, lays down the 15 steps for us for niddhidhyasanam. A person who has strong desire to get liberated this very moment and always be in a state of eternal bliss, would ardently follow the steps prescribed by him.

Sloka 101 :

Meaning: If not practiced constantly, one cannot attains the state of Brahman. Hence a sadhaka should always do niddhidhyasanam.

Explanation: The spiritual path consists of 3 steps. Sravanam, mananam and nidhhidhyasanam. Initially when a student approaches the guru, the guru teaches him. Thus a student listens about Brahman from the Guru. This is called sravanam. After that the student, analysis whatever he has learnt, using his own intellect. This is called mananam. Through mananam a person’s intellect becomes strong. All his doubts of world being an illusion are removed. His conviction of Brahman being the only truth becomes stronger. Thus mananam prepares the ground for nidhhidhyasanam. So once the person is completely convinced of the truth, inorder to realize whatever he believes in, he should constant contemplation as Krishna says in 4th chapter.

sraddhavan labhate jnanam , tat-parah samyatendriyah jnanam labdhva param santim ,acirenadhigacchati
A person who has faith attains the knowledge and after subduing the senses, attains the state of liberation.
He also says
na hi jnanena sadrsam ,pavitram iha vidyate tat svayam yoga-samsiddhah ,kalenatmani vindati
There is nothing more pure than self knowledge in this world. One who has this knowledge in due course of time attains the self.
So having attained the knowledge , to get aparokshaanubhuti which is the main purpose of this work, sankarabhagavadpada says one should constantly contemplate on the truth of “Brahma satyam, jagath mithya” . Always ascertaining himself that Brahman alone exists here , one without a second and there is nothing whatsoever .
As mentioned by Krishna in 12th chapter
mayy avesya mano ye mam ,nitya-yukta upasate sraddhaya parayopetas ,te me yuktatama matah

A person whose mind Is always fixed in me, Who is always steadfast in me, He is considered to be perfect by me.
He also says thus
Mayy eva mana adhatsva, mayi buddhim nivesaya nivasisyasi mayy eva ,ata urdhvam na samsayah
Always fix your mind me, engage all your activites in me. Thus u will ever be in me.
Thus we should always , through all actions contemplate on the ultimate truth. Whatever actions we do we should offer it the lord .This is niddhidhyasanam.
As Krishna says in 9th chapter
yat karosi yad asnasi ,yaj juhosi dadasi yat yat tapasyasi kaunteya, tat kurusva mad-arpanam
Do all activities as an offering to me and thereby make your mind always fixed onto me.
From the next sloka , the author explains the steps , to be followed to attain moksha in this very birth.

Sloka 102 & 103:

Meaning: Yama, Niyama, tyaga, mounam,desha,Kala, aasan,mulabandha, dehasamya, driksthiti
Pranasamyama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyanam, Samadhi are the successive steps.
Explanation: Being a compassionate Guru, sanakarabhagavadpada mentions 10 steps in this slokas. When we see a jeevan mukta, ever blissful, no matter in whatever situation he is in .He always rejoices as said in bhajagovindam as “nandati nandati nandati eva” . We may be awestruck, how/he she has attained such a state. We would be wondering, whether we shall ever be in that state of eternal bliss. To answer all these questions , the author lays down the path to be tread for niddhidhyasanam. If anyone follows these steps sincerely, one help in constant contemplation. The jeevan muktas, who impart this knowledge to us, themselves are the testimony to the truth, if anyone follows the steps , they will attain moksha this very birth.
All the steps mentioned here by sankarabhagavadpada in the coming slokas are terms commonly used in yoga sastra or patanjali astanga yoga like yama, niyama etc. But the steps mentioned here by the author are completely different to the astanga yoga. The astanga yoga by patanjali, emphasizes on controlling the body, prana etc. But as per advaita Vedanta, the focus is on Brahman and not the body, as the atman is the only reality. So through all these 8 sadhanas one tries to get focus on Brahman inorder to do niddhidhyasanam.
Before we discuss the 10 steps mentioned in this path, We should know that sankarabhagavadpada angas are different from what was preached by panini. We shall try to understand how each anga is different from the astanga yoga in coming slokas.
So the 15 steps sankarabhagavadpada spoke about here are.
1) Yama – control of sense organs. 2) Niyama –control of mind 3) tyagam – renunciation 4) mounam – silence 5) deshah – space 6) kalam – time 7) asanam – posture 8) mula bandham – controlling anus 9)deha-samya – holding steady body 10) drksthitih – steadiness of gaze 11) pranasamyama – controlling prana 12) pratyahara – withdrawal of mind 13) dharana – continuous reflection 14) atma dhyanam – contemplation 15) samadhi – total absorption.
Seven out of the 15 steps mentioned seem similar to astanga yoga. But we need to remember here that , the author’s explanation of the implementation for nidhhidhyasanam is different to the yoga sadhana’s.
So in the coming slokas we shall see each of the steps of niddhidhyasanam being explained by the author in detail.

Namah Shivaya

Slokas 94 to 98

2008-05-18T06:15:00.000-07:00

Namah Shivaya,

Prostrations at the lotus feet of AMMA.

Sloka 94:

Meaning: Material cause of the world is ignorance and the material cause of the pot is mud, this is as per Vedanta. When the ignorance is destroyed the world is no more seen.

Explanation: Sankarabhagavadpada has explained through logic that world Is just an illusion and substratum of the world is Brahman. He also explained through logic how one is not the body but the atman. Through many illustrations he explained , How due to ignorance one considers himself to be the body.
He gave the avasta traya analysis to show that the world we see only is illusion as the sleep state and for a person who has realized there are no actions to be performed. He explained how there is no prarabdham for a realized person, even though scriptures say so.
Explaining the perspective vision one should have to understand the right import of the scripture text.

In this sloka he explains that ignorance is the cause of the world. Till now we have see that the cause of the world is Brahman ,in which everything is created, lies and is destroyed and there is nothing else apart from him. So we may have a question that what ever is stated here is just contradicting whatever was stated earlier in the slokas. But Brahman the substratum of the world is at a vyavaharika level. Saying that ignorance is the cause of the world is at a paaramaarthika level. Once the ignorance is destroyed no world is seen. So there is no world only one entity brahman is present. This is what will be concluded at a paaramaarthika level.

We perceive the world of various forms, we see sufferings in the world, good and bad.All this duality perceived is due to the body, mind intellect. The thoughts in the mind are due to the past experiences. Mind and intellect are due to the vasanas in the previous birth which were carried to this birth. Based on these past vasanas we develop new vasanas. Our likes and dislikes are based on this. Our actions are propelled by the desires due to the vasanas. If there were no vasanas, there would be no likes and dislikes no activities to be performed for enjoying anything. There by there is no world created. If we have the knowledge that everything is one entity alone, and there is nothing apart from that entity. If we perceive everything as one, we don’t see any differences, hence there cannot be raga dvesham i.e attachments and aversions. This will lead to destruction of mind, as there is only one entity what to think about.
Thus due to the vasanas of the previous births , due to the mind intellect we perceive and create the world. Once we see only Brahman everywhere, there is prarabdham for the person. No duty, no actions to be performed.

So as the mud pot is made of mud alone, so also the only due to ignorance the world is seen. Only the ignorance completely vanishes , the world disappears. The same thing is said beautifully in atma bodha by sanakarabhagavadpada thus

Parichinna eva ajnanat, tannashe sati kevalah
Swayam prakashate hi atma , meghapaye amsumaniva

The individual seems to be limited due to ignorance, only on destruction of which the self shines. As when the clouds covering the sun pass away the sun shines, so also when the veil of ignorance is removed the atman in all shines. This is the state of realized person.

Sloka 95:

Meaning: If we forget the rope, the snake is seen due to illusion, do also, due to ignorance the world is seen.

Explanation: The author continues the explanation of why the and how the world is seen .In the earlier sloka he mentioned that it is due to ignorance, the same is presented in a different way.

Due to illusion a person sees a rope and thinks it to be a snake. This illusive perception causes fear and suffering in him. The improper vision is due to the improper knowledge of the object. Due to the improper vision he suffers.
Similarly due to ignorance , due to lack of knowledge of the world and its true nature a person gets deluded to thinks that the world is permanent and would give happiness always. He searches for happiness in the world, forgetting that the happiness lies within him. He doesn’t understand that the world is an illusion in the substratum of Brahman. Forgetting this truth will lead him to sufferings in this impermanent world.
He thinks he is the body, mind and intellect, he doesn’t consider himself to be the all pervading atman. Brahman is the illuminating power behind the intellect and mind. He is alone true and our very nature. It is thus said in nirvanamanjari

Yadaaseeth vilaasth vikaaram, jagad vikarashrayam , naadviteeyayam ,syaath
Mano buddhi chitta ahamkara vrithim ,pravrittih yatah syaath tad eva aham asmi

The play of the world full of modifications , si not because of me as I am one entity only.
I am the illuminating factor behind mind,intellect and memory. I am behind all actions.

Hence the body, mind and intellect are but illusions .Once we are out these illusions created by the illusory mind and intellect. Mind gets destroyed our ego gets destroyed and we ever get established in Brahman. This is the state to be aspired for.
So as long as we are suffering due to the ignorance of the mind and intellect. We shall always perceive the world.

Sloka 96:

Meaning: Once knowing that it is rope, we do not see snake in it. Once we know that Brahman is the substratum, the world ceases to exist for us.

Explanation: Sankarabhagavadpada continues the explanation ,where explains how a person can get rid of the vision of the world of duality. How he can perceive oneness everywhere. Earlier he said that ignorance is the cause and as we see snake in the rope so also world is seen in Brahman.
In this sloka he explains how we can get rid of the vision of the world.

Initially a person might see a snake in the rope, but when someone shows him that it is rope alone and he neednt be frightened, he views it again and sees that infact it was rope alone all the time and that he was perceiving it as rope due to wrong vision.
Due to the dualities we perceive in the world we are suffering. We see each and every person different from us. We develop likes and dislikes because of that. This will result in emotions and attachments in the mind. We start analyzing, reasoning , which will finally lead us to sorrow. All these thoughts and emotions , due to past vasanas make us do lot of actions.
This wrong vision only can erased by the knowledge of the self. As atma bodha beautifully puts it as

Avirodhitaya karma, na avidhyam vinivartayet
Vidhya avidhyam nihantyeva tejas timira sanghavat

Ignorance cannot be removed by actions as actions are not the opposite of ignorance.
With knowledge alone the ignorance is removed. As light dispels darkness.

So only through knowledge a person would learn that the world is just an illusion. In due course of time would realize. As Lord Krishna says in 4th chapter.
na hi jnanena sadrsam ,pavitram iha vidyate tat svayam yoga-samsiddhah ,kalenatmani vindati
A realized person sees only his self in all and all in his self. He cannot see anything apart from himself. So what action to perform?. Hence he has no prarabdham. How can he have prarabdham, when he has identified himself with the self and gone beyond birth and death as Krishna says in 4th chapter.
ajo 'pi sann avyayatma ,bhutanam isvaro 'pi san prakrtim svam adhisthaya ,sambhavamy atma-mayaya
I am unborn , cannot be destroyed ,I am the lord of all beings ,I take birth many times out of my own maya.

So for a person who is unborn , how can he have births? ,if he cannot have births , how can he have prarabdham?

Sloka 97:

Meaning: This body which is a part of the universe , how can there be prarabdham? Its only for ignorant people prarabdham is spoken about.

Explanation: In the earlier few slokas sankarabhagavadpada has mentioned , how a person sees the world and how can he get rid of the illusory vision of the world. It has also be proved that there cannot be any prarabdham for a jeevan muktha.
In this sloka he explains why scriptures mention that prarabdham is present for a jeevan mukta.
The world as we have seen in the earlier slokas is due to created by the perceiver, as a dream world is created and is in the dreamer, so also the world in the jagrat avasta or awaken state. This creation is due to we considering ourselves to be the body, mind, intellect due to which lot of disturbances, impressions the mind and intellect goes through thus the world is created. From a jnaani’s perspective, everything is one. There is one Brahman alone present in everything. Thus vanishing of the body mind complex the world itself vanishing as mentioned in earlier sloka.
For a person who has attained a state where he is a witness to all, he doesn’t have a body, how can there be world and prarabdham?

Shruthi explains that prarabdham is present for a jnaani from an ignorant person’s perspective. A ignorant person , who cannot apprehend the state of jeevan mukta , wouldn’t understand that there is no prarabdham. He sees the jeevan muktha doing actions as any other worldly person, so he cannot understand and apprehend his actions.
If a 1st standard student is taught the concept of 10th standard , then he will not understand. Slowly he moves from one class to another and reaches 10th. So to systematically take the student from an initial state to final, shruthi says thus.
If a student is told initially that there is only prarabdham for a jeevan mukta and that doesn’t matter as he remains unaffected and blissful in all circumstances, he will be able to accept it and proceed towards the direction. Once he realizes he himself understands that there is no prarabdham.

Sloka 98:

Meaning: All the actions will fall off , for a person who has no vision of duality , who is ever established in atman and sees it all pervading, this is as per scriptures .

Explanation: We have seen that sankaracharya mentions that prarabdham is not there for realized people, and its only for ignorant people to understand, scriptures say that prarabdham is present for a jeevan mukta. In this sloka he supports its statements through some of the scriptural statements.
This sloka is similar to one in Mundaka Upanishad which goes like this.
Bidhyanti hridaya granthi, Chidyanthe sarva samshayaha
Ksheenatecha asya karman,Tasmin driste para avare
He who is ever established in the atman , he sees everything is Brahman, for him ,the knot at the heart is broken, all the doubts are cleared and Actions reduce slowly.
There are 3 knots along the shad chakras along the spine. Brahman granthi, Vishu granthi and rudra granthi. Brahma granthi is located at mulaadhara and it represents actions such as sexual activities. Vishnu granthi is at the heart, which represents desires. Rudra granthi is present in the mind , where ignorance resides.
For a jeevan mukta all the knots are broken. For an ignorant person his actions are driven by desires and ignorance. But for a jeevan mukta , there is no ignorance. He is the knower of the truth. “Brahma satyam jagath mithya, jeevo bramhaiva na parahah “ . Hence he has no desires and no actions to be performed. He is the self, beyond birth and death.
Though a jeevan mukta is seen as performing actions in the world, he has no actions to perform as he is unborn, has no desires and hence he cannot do any actions.

Namah Shivaya

Slokas 89 to 93

2008-05-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

Namah Shivaya,

Prostration at the Lotus feet of AMMA.

Sloka 89 :

aatmaanaa.n satata.n jaanankaala.n naya mahaadyute .
praarabdhamakhilaM bhuJNjannodvega.n kartumaha.rsi

Meaning: Contemplate on the atman or Brahman all the time and exhaust all the praradha karma , one neednt be anxious about it.

Explantion: Sankarabhagavatpada has said that the body cannot be the atman, till now. He said that its only due to ignorance that we consider ourselves to be the body.

In the next 5 slokas he enters into a different subject of praradham for a person who has realized himself. He puts forth logic and analysis to explain about the prarabdham of a jnaani after realization.

In this sloka he explains that to always abide in the state of Brahman , which gives us eternal bliss in contrast to the wordly objects which are temporary, a person should constantly contemplate on Brahman. In due course of time he naturally contemplates on Brahman and becomes self-realized. Such a person after realization , has to exhaust all his prarabdha karmas . He is in a state where he perceives oneness everywhere, hence there is nothing to be liked or disliked or be effected, so no matter what ever good or bad he has to face as a result of the prarabdham , he accepts everything with a smile. Nothing deters him , as he ever established in Brahman. This is the state of a jnaani. He remains unaffected by the activities performed. He offers all the fruits of action to the lord. Thus lord Krishna says thus in gita 4th chapter

tyaktva karma-phalasangam ,nitya-trpto nirasrayah karmany abhipravrtto 'pi ,naiva kincit karoti sa

Thus a jnaani does all actions but does not enjoy the fruits of actions.
There are 3 types of karmas sanchita, prarabdha and agami karmas. Sanchita karma is the fruits of the past deeds that we have accumulated from previous births. Part of this sanchita karma gets fruitified and becomes prarabdha karma, the fruits of which we enjoy in the current birth. Agaami karma is the results of our actions in this current birth.
When a person realizes all his sanchita and agami karmas are burnt like the wood in fire. He has just the prarabdha karma , that he has to face in the current birth. Prarabdha karma is said to be like a arrow that is released from the bow, which cannot be taken back. Thus it needs to be exhausted. Lord Krishna says thus in gita 4th chapter about karmas of the jnaani’s getting burnt.

36 sloka

yathaidhamsi samiddho 'gnir bhasmasat kurute 'rjuna jnanagnih sarva-karmani bhasmasat kurute tatha

Thus sankarabhagavatpada says that a jnaani would exhaust all his prarabdha karmas and leaves the body and become one with Brahman.

Sloka 90:

utpanne.apyatmaviGYaane praarabdha.n naiva muJNchati .
iti yachchhR^Iyate shaastre tanniraakriyate.adhunaa

Meaning: After getting the knowledge of the atman, prarabdham doesn’t vanish. This is what is said by the scriptures and I am going to refute this.

Explanation: Sanakarabhagavatpada has explained in the earlier sloka that prarabdham is exhausted by the jnaani ones he realizes. He just maintains the body in order to undergo all the prarabdha karmas. Now in this sloka sanakarabhagavatpada says that he refutes the opinion of the scriptures which say that prarabdham is present for jnaani.

Once a person attains the state of realization, his sanchita and agami karmas which we have seen in the earlier sloka vanish . But the prarabdham remains behind is what the scriptures proclaim. Here we have to understand that the author is not going against the scriptures, as he himself is an embodiment of the scriptures. He is trying to give the right perspective of what the scriptures have said and why is it mentioned so in the scriptures.

An ignorant person sees water in a desert and thinks it is real. Even though it is desert only and nothing else. Similarly the world is seen as real by an ajnaani. A jnaani knows that the water in the desert is unreal, he knows that it’s the desert that’s present and nothing else. Similarly the jnaani sees the world as pervaded by Brahman alone and nothing else. The ignorant person has wrong vision of the world. So the scriptures are for an ignorant person , to know the truth. A jnaani already knows the truth , hence he doesn’t need any scriptural study. So the scriptures talk from an ajnaani perspective to explain him the world and its nature. So as the ajnaani sees a jnaani working in the world , he questions about the prarabdha karma of a jnaani. So in order for him to grasp things ,scriptures says that prarabdham would exist for a jnaani too, but he isn’t effected by any, hence it doesn’t matter what he does or he suffers due to prarabdham. Only when the sadhaka realizes would he understand that there can be no prarabdham for jnanni who always sees nothing else here but Brahman alone.

As aitreya Upanishad says

Atma Idameka evagra asit naanyat kinchana mishat

So sanakarabhagavatpada in the next few slokas gives logical explanation for the same.

Sloka 91:

tattvaGYaanodayaaduurdhvaM praarabdha.n naiva vidyate .
dehaadiinaamasattvattu yathaa svapno vibodhataH

Meaning: After attaining the knowledge of the self, prarabdham is not there, as its dependent on body , like in a dream.

Explanation: Here the author though logic tries to prove how a jnaani has no prarabdham. To perform any action or enjoy fruits of action body is the medium.
Jnaani is ever established in the state of Brahman and hence there is not birth and death for him. He has gone beyond all dualities, but for an ajnaani who sees a jnaani or mahatmas like AMMA doing activities in the world, he may doubt about the prarabdha karma for them. Hence sankarabhagavatpada explains it.
As karmas need a body and a jnaani has no body , so it is said that he has no prarabdha karma. It is similar to a dream state. In dream state we have all experiences and we think its real, we do not know that we are dreaming until we come out of it. Once we comes out of , we understand that it’s a dream and we are not effected by it. In dream state all the experiences of the dreamer are on the body in the dream state. But once the dreamer wakes up, he doesn’t have dream body.
An ignorant person perceives the world as real and hence identifies himself with all activities. A jnaani knows that world is like a dream , hence there are no actions for him to perform.
We may see mahatmas appear in our dream and as doing activities, it is similar to seeing them doing activities in the world . As the dream is just an illusion so also the world. Until we are in the dream world , we cannot understand that state attains which no actions are performed anymore. Lord Krishna says thus in 4th chapter of gita that a jnaani doesn’t do any actions.
tyaktva karma-phalasangam ,nitya-trpto nirasrayah karmany abhipravrtto 'pi , naiva kincit karoti sah
Thus through logical analysis that without a body actions and after waking from a dream there is no dream body so also actions cannot be performed by jnaani thus its proved by the author that there is no prarabdham for a jnaani. He gives some more ways of explaining the same in the next 2 slokas.

Sloka 92:
karma janmaantariiya.n yatpraarabdhamiti kiirtitam.h .
tattu janmaantaraabhaavaatpu.nso naivaasti kahi.rchit.h

Meaning: Actions are due to previous births. This is called prarabdham. But there are no previous births , such things do not exist.
Explanation: Prarabdham is the fruits of past actions, which drive our current birth. The place we are born, to whom we are born and the life we live is all determined by the parabdham. Prarabdham is due to the previous birth vasanas we have accumulated. So through the medium of the body all this vasanas are exhausted. But a jnaani is a person who doesn’t consider himself to be the body as we have seen in the earlier slokas. He has no body. He is unborn. He is ever present as lord Krishna says in the 4th chapter
ajo 'pi sann avyayatma ,bhutanam isvaro 'pi san prakrtim svam adhisthaya ,sambhavamy atma-mayaya
I am unborn and all pervading and present in all being in the world and appear in the world through my own maya.

For a person who is unborn ever present how can there be previous and next births?, If all the previous births are not there , then how can he have karma. This is the argument sankarabhagavtpada puts forth in this sloka. One a person realizes and knows that he is the ever present all pervading Brahman ,who is unborn, all his karmas of sanchita and agami are burnt away as we have seen in the earlier slokas. He goes beyond all his births.
Hence he has not previous births and no karmas. So can we say that he is performing actions?.He doesn’t see any duality whatsoever.

So when archarya’s say in works like tattvabodha that prarabdham exists for a jnaani, then we need to understand that its from the perspective of an ignorant person.

Sloka 93:

svapnadeho yathaadhyasthastathaivaaya.n hi dehakaH .
adhyastasya kuto janma janmaabhaave hi tatkutaH

Meaning: As the dream body is superimposed in the dreamer , so also waking state body is just a superimposition and not real.

Explanation: Sankarabhagavatpada gives another logic here to prove that there is no prarabdham for a jnaani.

The dreamer experiences all dream through a dream body. The whole dream is in the dreamer. This is called superimposition. Dream body is superimposed on the dreamer. The dream body is not real it vanishes once he is out of dream. Dreamer is the cause of the dream ,the dream exists and vanishes in him. Hence it is just an illusion.

As the dream world vanishes once we are out of dream, so also once we realize that the world is just a dream, when we realize. As the dream body doesn’t exist in waking state, so also a jnaani is never associated with the body which was just a superimposition.
Until one has body, he has previous births and karmas. Then he would suffer due to the vasanas accumulated over the births.Once he is above the body, he has no karmas and is a liberated soul.

Until we know that the water seen in the desert is just an illusion, we will get deluded and suffer. But once we understand that the water is just an illusion and the desert is the only truth , we are not effected. So a jnaani knows that world is pervaded by Brahman alone and that world is illusion, hence for him there is no body, no pervious births and no prarabdha karma too.

They are just the witness of all the actions , they are not the doer or the enjoyer of action . As lord Krishna says in 15th chapter

yad aditya-gatam tejo , jagad bhasayate 'khilam yac candramasi yac cagnau ,tat tejo viddhi mamakam
He is the light behind all lights, he is the illuminator,but is just a witness to all activities and is not inlvolved in any activities.
So also a jnaani remains as a witness to all activities in the world, always remaining in blissful state. Everything he accepts as a blessing from eshwara and hence there are no actions performed by him.
Thus sankarabhagavatpada through three different reasonings proves that there is no prarabdham for a jnaani, even though the scriptures say so. It is explain thus in scriptures only from an ignorant persons perspective. Thus he concludes the subject of prarabdha for a jnaani.

Namaha Shivaya

Slokas 84 to 88

2008-05-18T06:07:00.000-07:00

Namah Shivaya,

Prostrations at the Lotus feet of AMMA.

Sloka 84:

abhreshhu satsu dhaavatsu somo dhaavati bhaati vai .
tadvadaatmani dehatvaM pashyatyaGYaanayogataH ..

Meaning: The moon behind the passing cloud seems to be moving. Similarly the same way an ignorant person consider the atman as the body.

Explanation: Sankarabhagavatpada is explaining through various analogies, how a person mistakes his body to be the atman.
Under a beautiful moonlit sky with clouds , when the clouds play hide and seek with the moon, If one concentrates on the clouds, then one feels that the moon is moving and that the clouds are stationary. Incase one is observing the moon, one can feel that the clouds are moving and the moon is stationary.
Similarly if one concentrates on his body, mind and intellect. He feels he is the body ,mind and intellect. If he considers himself to be the self, beyond body, mind and intellect, self which is a witness to all activities, he realizes himself.
Identifying himself with the body mind complex a person is suffering in the world. He thinks he is limited by the body. He thinks he has no existence after death and that death is the end .Thus he also perceives duality in the world. He suffers due to the desires, bondages due to perceiving the duality.
Once he realizes that he is not the body ,mind or intellect and nothing else exists here except Brahman and that he is that and the naama roopam we see in the world is nothing but Brahman alone ,then he always rejoices in bliss. All duality vanishes and he sees himself in all and all in himself.
Due to superimposition of the self over the not self, a person due to ignorance of the nature of the self , considers himself to be the self. Once this veil of ignorance is removed, the true self reveals to him.
Thus a person having an understanding through scriptural studies that he is not the body,mind or intellect, slowly through practice ascertains himself that he is the self, then the self would reveal himself .
Lord Krishna says thus in Gita
na hi jnaanena sadrisham pavithram iha vidhyathe, tat svayam yoga samsiddhaha kaalena atmani vindhathi
A person who is established in the path of knowledge will realize himself in due course of time.

Sloka 85:

yathaiva digviparyaaso mohaadbhavati kasyachit.h .
tadvadaatmani dehatvaM pashyatyaGYaanayogataH

Meaning: When there are two ways to take, a person gets confused due to ignorance. Similarly the same way an ignorant person considers the atman as the body.

Explanation: In this sloka sankarabhagavatpada talks about how ignorance creates confusion in the mind. Only when the intellect is totally convinced would all doubts get cleared and a person would be out of confusion. A clear mind can express its thoughts well.As long as ignorance exists, the mind would be in turmoil all the time.
The same thing is emphasized in the sloka. In life we may face situation where we have to make a choice . We have to choose which path to take . Those could be the incidents which bring changes in our life completely. One should take decisions cautiously, using his intellect and shouldn’t be overpowered by emotions. But lack of understanding of the nature of the world a person takes wrong steps. He doesn’t even understand that he lacks the knowledge needed to take right decisions.
A person is deluded by the desires , attachments in this world and his decisions are influenced by likes and dislikes. He doesn’t make a decision, being a witness to the situation. His individual ego identifies with the situation and this hampers him to take the right decision.
Even the ignorance of the self, makes a person think that he is the body ,mind and intellect .He takes a wrong path, goes in a wrong direction and thinks that atman is the body. Having the knowledge of the ultimate truth, that Brahman alone exists here and we are that, would help him to take the right step for self realization.

Sloka 86:

yathaa shashii jale bhaati chaJNchalatvena kasyachit.h .
tadvadaatmani dehatvaM pashyatyaGYaanayogataH

Meaning : As the reflection of the moon seen in water appears to be moving. Similarly the same way an ignorant person considers the atman as the body

Explanation : Sanakarabhagavatpada gives another analogy here of moon seen in water.

The reflection of the moon in a pond or river is moving, because of the waves present in the water body. So the reflection falls on the waves and it also seems to be moving.
The moon is not moving, but for a viewer who sees the reflection , it looks like moon is moving. The real moon is not the moon seen in the water. The moon seen in the water looks exactly the same as the actual moon , but it is just a reflection and hence illusion.

Similarly the sense organs are active only due to the presence of the atman. This creates an illusion in our mind due to the ignorance of the true nature of the self, that atman is our body. But atman is in whose presence activities happens. It is the light behind lights.

As Krishna says in Gita 15th chapter
yat aditya gatam tejo, jagat bhasayithee akhilam
Yat Chandramasi yat cha agnau tat tejo viddhi mamakam

Neither the moon nor the sun nor the fire shine, I alone shine and am the illuminating factor behind them.

As the moon is stationary and is different from the water body and is not associated with the reflection or water, so also the atman is a witness to all activities of the jeeva. Atman is not involved in any activity , but which supports all activities.
Due to ignorance of the moon as just an reflection makes us feel that moon is moving. So also ignorance of the self makes us think that body is the atman. As reflection is just an illusion , so also the body mind complex is just an illusion.
As moon is not tainted by the waterbody , so also atman remains untainted by the activities performed by the person.

Thus sankarabhagavatpada through this beautiful analogy brings out the nature of the atman and how an ignorant person perception of the atman is wrong.

Sloka 87:

evamaatmanyavidyaato dehaadhyaaso hi jaayate
sa evaatmapariGYaanaalliiyate cha param.h

Meaning : As seen atman is considered the body due to ignorance . Through knowledge the nature of the self , ignorance is removed .

Explanation: Sanakarabhagavatpada in the earlier 11 slokas through various analogies had explained how the body is considered to be the atman.
In this sloka he says that due to ignorance the atman is considered the body. As we know that due to superimposition of the non-self over the self, the person considers himself to be the body. This is known as adhyaasam or superimposition. The cause of the adhyaasam is ignorance of the nature of self. Considering the atman to be the body due to ignorance , a person perceives duality in the world and end up in sorrows. He suffers due to the likes and dislikes he faces in the world as a result of this. Thus ignorance of his true nature makes him suffer in the world.
After attaining the knowledge that he is of the nature of sat chit ananda, that is of the nature of eternal bliss ignorance vanishes and the person remains ever blissful. This is the state to be aspired by us. Wherein the external environment doesn’t effect us. We are not seeking happiness from the world . We rejoice in our inner state of bliss, irrespective of the worst circumstances we might be in. This is the state of a jeevan mukta, who is liberated. He is liberated from all sorrows from the world. He ever rejoices in eternal bliss.

Thus author says that due to superimposition which happens due to ignorance of the nature of the self, an individual suffers in the world. Only through self knowledge would the ignorance vanish and brings in him peace.

Sloka 88:

sarvamaatmatayaa GYaata.n jagatsthaavarajaN^gamam.h .
abhaavaatsarvabhaavaanaa.n dehasya chaatmanaa kutaH

Meaning: Knowing that moving and immoving objects in the world are Brahman alone, all the dual notions of body will vanish and how can he then consider himself to be the body.

Explanation: Sankarabhagavatpada has explained in the earlier sloka that only through knowledge of the self would a person realize his true self and be liberated from the ocean of samsaara. In this sloka he explains how knowledge helps in removal of the notions.

World can be basically said to be having naama roopam and substratum of Brahman.
Naama roopam of body is just an illusion .We have seen this in the analogies. Brahman alone is the reality and the naama roopam of the world is just an illusion in it.
When knowledge that atman alone is present as the substratum of the moving and unmoving entities in the world, then be doesn’t see any duality, he doesn’t himself to be different from others. He sees himself in everything.
So all the notions of the body mind complex are removed. If atman is the only reality and body mind complex an illusion , then how can person consider himself to be body mind complex?...Thus understanding the truth his body notion vanishes.

Lord Krishna says in Gita 15th chapter

mama eva amsah jeeva loke jeeva bhutah sanatanahah
Manah sasthani indriyani prakrithi sthani karshati

I am the indwelling self in all. Each individual is part of me.

So we have seen how the author has earlier through analogies proved how a person considers himself to be the body. He also instructs as to how to come out of the notion of the atman to be the body.

Namah shivaya

Slokas 79 to 83

2008-05-18T06:05:00.000-07:00

Hari Aum,

Prostrations at the Lotus feet of AMMA.

Sloka 79:

alaataM bhramaNaiva vartulaM bhaati suuryavat.h .
tadvadaatmani dehatvaM pashyatyaGYaanayogataH

Meaning: A ball of fire on rotation appears to be like a sun. In the same way an ignorant person consider the atman as the body.

Explanation: Using some of the observations ,experiences of the external objects we make in life, the author brings out beautifully the vedantic perspective , to prove that a human being is also deluded in a similar fashion to assume his body to be atman.

In circus , a person performing the tricks with a wire or string having a ball of fire at one end winds the string in a circular fashion, after sometime , we do not see the string anymore but a ring of fire is seen, though there it is only a string having fire at one end.
Thus an illusion of a ring of fire similar to the sun is created.

Due to the daily experiences in our life, we are thinking that happiness we get is present in the outside world. But objects of the world are temporary and ever changing, hence we can get only sorrow from them. Also we seek that temporary happiness which is nothing but from the atman, instead of seeking the atman our own self for poorna anandam or eternal bliss. That which is nature of bliss can give bliss.The wife is loved by the husband, for the sake of his self. He loves his wife, because he is happy if he does so. Ultimately its his happiness he is seeking , due to which he loves his wife. Thus indirectly everyone is deriving happiness from oneself alone, though seeking objects in external world.
Thus because of our ignorance of the nature of the atman of sat chit ananda , of the nature of consciousness, existence and eternal bliss, We consider that the happiness we get from performing activities in the world , is because of the objects in the world. Everything in the world is pervaded by Brahman alone in this world.
Thus we get deluded to think that the body is permanent, the objects of the world are permanent and would give immense happiness, on the contrary only atman which is all pervading , ever existence permanent entity can alone give eternal bliss.

Thus sankaracharya through this beautiful illustration of a fireball brings out the illusion created in our minds about the body being the atman.

Sloka 80:
mahattve sarvavastuunamaNutva.n hyatiduurataH .
tadvadaatmani dehatvaM pashyatyaGYaanayogataH

Meaning: Big objects also look very small if seen from a great distance. In the same way an ignorant person consider the atman as the body.

Explanation: Here the author gives another illustration of distant objects appearing small in size, to explain how a person perceives his body as atman.

From a distance we might see a big mountain to be of a small size. We can see the mountain peak also. When we go near to it, it appears very huge and we wont be able to see the top of the mountain too. Also sometimes the clouds may cover the mountain and make it appear as to be of less height. These are all illusions of space and time. Once we go near or once the clouds disperse we get the real vision of the mountain. Until then our vision of the mountain or the opinion we have about it is wrong. So we cannot judge something just by looking at it. These may be lot of delusions involved of distance and time like as we have seen in the case of mountain.
So also our vision of the atman hampered by our ignorance. Due to the superimposition of the body over the self, we are considering the body to be the self. Since our birth we have been living with the thought that we are the body. The strong impressions in our mind that are created as a result of this ignorance veil the atman from us. To get the real vision of the atman, we should come out this superimposition, to realize the truth. As going near to the mountain we can apprehend how a mountain looks like, similarly reiterating ourselves that we are not the body, mind complex, we will realize ourselves.
The clouds of our ignorance veil the atman to us. Thus when the light of knowledge dawns , the clouds of ignorance get cleared and our true nature of self is revealed.
For this to happen, one should have strong conviction that he is the self not the body. This builds the strong desire in him to realize the truth, hence he takes steps in that direction to get self –realization.

Thus sankaracharya through this illustration of the delusions happening due to ignorance brings out clearly how a person considers himself to be the body.

Sloka 81 :

suukshnatve sarvabhaavaanaa.n sthuulatva.n chopanetrataH .
tadvadaatmani dehatvaM pashyatyaGYaanayogataH

Meaning: All minute organisms can be seen as gross organisms through a microscope. In the same way an ignorant person consider the atman as the body.

Explanation: Earlier author has given example observing objects from far, now he gives example of observing through the microscope here to explain how the body is considered as the atman.

A minute organism when observed through a microscope, appears big, we see the distortion of the size of the organism. Also in order to observe it clearly some pigments are added to it. Thus in order to study it, its size is magnified and pigments added. A person who is observing the same has the knowledge that the color of the pigment is not the color of the organism. He also keeps in mind the size of the organism even though it appears big under a microscope.
The world is viewed , due to the presence of atman. Atman illumines the sense organs , which seek out objects in the world. As sun is the witness to all activities in the world but is not involved in it. So also atman illuminates the sense organs , with the help of which they perform activities. Thus atman alone is responsible for perceiving objects in the world. As we are ignorant of the nature of the self, we view the body to be the atman. Even though the object appears big under the microscope doesn’t mean it is big, so also though the body is considered to be the atman, it is not the atman. The distortions seen in the object of observance is similar to the distortions of the atman seen through the mind body complex. This leads a person to think that he is the atman.
Atman is beyond mind and intellect .It said to be “Mano vacham agocharam” in lalitha sahasranama. Meaning it’s beyond perception of body and mind.

As right vision of the object cannot be obtained, without distortions while viewing through the microscope, so also atman cannot be realized through the mind and intellect.

Sloka 82:

kaachabhuumau jalatva.n vaa jalabhuumau hi kaachataa .
tadvadaatmani dehatvaM pashyatyaGYaanayogataH

Meaning: A glass sheet might appear to be water and water might appear to be a glass sheet. In the same way an ignorant person consider the atman as the body.

Explanation: In this sloka author talks about how through ignorance one is fooled to consider himself to be the body.

A glass sheet at a glance might appear to be water, so also water in dim light might appear to be glass sheet. Thus when observed in a hasty fashion, we get wrong vision of objects in the world. One should enquire into the true nature of the objects seen, rather than jumping to conclusions. As the famous saying goes, “All that glitters is not gold”. So also all that appears as water may not be water but can be only a glass sheet.
We are considering ourselves to be the body. This assumption is made without proper though about why and how we considered ourselves to be the body. We are so busy with our daily chores , that we have time to sit in silence and think who we really are. Without this proper enquiry into ourselves, we consider ourselves to be the body. This is due to ignorance of our true nature. The ignorance veils makes us think that we are the body.
Only through understanding and knowing the truth from the mahavakyam
“ Brahma satyam jagath mithya jeevo brahamaiva na parah “ This is stated by sankarcharya

Knowing this will a person know his self. Through knowledge alone this darkness of ignorance is dispelled.

Thus the author explains with simple example to show how a person considers himself to be the self.

Sloka 83:

yadvadagnau maNitva.n hi maNau vaa vahnitaa pumaan.h .
tadvadaatmani dehatvaM pashyatyaGYaanayogataH

Meaning : As lamp is seen as a gem, as gem is seen as sparks of fire remaining in an object. In the same way an ignorant person consider the atman as the body.

Explanation: Author gives few more examples of illusions to bring out his analysis that ignorant person is deluded and hence considers body to be atman.

Especially in the darkness of the night , when one sees a lamp glowing stably, he might assume it to be a gem , due to the glow. But on close observance truth will be revealed that it is not gemstone but lamp alone. So also a gem which glows is seen from a far off distance, one might consider it to be some sparks of fire from burnt coal. But when he approaches near to it, he finds the truth.
Similarly, due to lack of understanding of the truth, the nature of the atman, a person thinks he is the body. He Is deluded by his ignorance to assume that he is the insentient body and not the eternal self.

Thus sankaracharya explains about the ignorance of the person which makes him consider himself to be the body.

Hari Aum

Slokas 74 to 78

2008-04-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

Hari Aum,

Prostrations at the Lotus feet of AMMA.

Sloka 74:

gR^ihatvenaiva kaashhThaani khadgatvenaiva lohataa .
vinirNiitaa vimuuDhena dehatvena tathaatmataa

Meaning: As the house if seen in wood and a sword is seen in iron. Similarly the atman is seen as the body by an ignorant person.

Explanation: With this sloka the author ends the explanations with examples to show how an ignorant person is deluded by considering his body to be atman.

We have seen two different kinds of illustrations to prove the unreal nature of the objects in the world. The illusions of water seen in desert , where water doesn’t really exist at all but is seen to exist. The case of names and forms seen in the world but which may be at an empirical point of view, but at a vyavaharika level they are unreal.
In this sloka the author explains with the example of house made of wood. What we see as a house is in reality wood alone. The house is made of wood alone and name is assigned to it. The indwelling self in all individuals the same. It is the same consciousness, which make activities happen in the world. It is the underlying substratum of the world. This is what is clearly brought out through the example.

The sword made of iron is just a name and form given to iron metal. Similarly we see different names and forms for the same consciousness principle residing in all. The outer covering of the body is different. We see people of different skin colors, different heights, weights etc. We get deluded considering these names and forms as real. We consider ourselves to be the body and hence consider others to be different from others. Thus we like some people and dislike some others. But when we understand that outer appearances are deceptive and one should see the all Brahman present in everything in the world.

Sloka 75:

tathaa vR^iksha viparyaaso jalaadbhavati kasyachit.h .
tadvadaatmani dehatvaM pashyatyaGYaanayogataH

Meaning : As the reflection of a tree is seen in a water body, so also an ignorant person considers his atman as the body.

Explanation: From this sloka till the next 12 slokas, the author explains the how ignorance makes a person consider himself to be the body. He gives lots of illustrations from a different perspective, the perspective of an ignorant person. We have seen earlier that an ignorant person ignores his atman and considers himself to be the body. A seeker differentiates atman and his body and concentrates on his self. A jnaani is a person in a state of perfection where he considers his body and atman as Brahman.

In a river or lake we can see the reflection of a nearby tree. We all have seen this in our lives. Through these simple examples, vedantic perspective are brought out clearly with worldly experiences we have in life.
The reflection we see of the tree in the water is an illusion and its not the real tree. But it appears as a real tree. As we know how a tree looks , when we see the reflection of the tree in water, we understand it is not a real tree and only an illusion. Incase we were not aware of the real nature of a tree or how a tree looks, then we would consider the reflection of the tree as a real tree. Same understanding can be applied to our current state we do know who we are. We do not know that we are the self. Hence we consider ourselves to be the body due to ignorance. This ignorance of the self as “I”, deludes us in the world. So a person considers himself to be the body due to ignorance.

Seeing the reflection of tree in the water, a person who is ignorant may even try to get the fruits from the tree, may seek many things from the tree, but we all know that this will lead him only to sorrow, as he is seeking which is not actually exisiting. We are sure about the illusory nature of the reflection of the tree in water, but we do not know that we are in the same kind of illusion which is the world. We are seeking many objects in the world which are temporary, which are not real and hence would lead us to sorrow alone in the long run. But we are not able to convince ourselves of the truth that the world is just an illusion of names and forms.

Thus the author brings out through the example that the world is just an illusion.

Sloka 76:

potena gachchhataH pu.nsaH sarvaM bhaatiiva chaJNchalam.h .
tadvadaatmani dehatvaM pashyatyaGYaanayogataH

Meaning: A person traveling in a boat would see that all objects are moving. Similarly a person considers himself to be the body.

Explanation: Continuing the explanations through examples, sankaracharya gives example of a person who is traveling in a boat and feels that the other objects he sees are moving,
We have experienced such things many times. When we are traveling in train, we see through the window that the crops, trees , poles are moving. But we are aware that we are traveling in the train and that the train is moving, making us feel that the other objects that we see are moving. But this is only an illusion created in our mind. But due to the knowledge that we have , that we are moving in the train, immediately our intellect reiterates saying that ”No its me who is moving”. The knowledge that we are the self.
Would help a person to understand the truth, to realize oneself and not to get deluded in the world and be surrounded by sorrows.
This example also brings out that the experiences we have in the world is not real as the world itself is an illusion.
An ignorant person hence considers himself to be the body , due to the ignorance of the self.

Sloka 77:

piitatva.n hi yathaa shubhre doshhaadbhavati kasyachit.h .
tadvadaatmani dehatvaM pashyatyaGYaanayogataH

Meaning : A person suffering from jaundice would see everything as yellow in color. Similarly an ignorant person sees the self as the body.

Explanation: Through another examples the author is explaining as to how an ignorant person is considering himself to be the body.In this sloka he talks about the perspective vision of a ignorant person.
A person suffering from jaundice sees everything in the world as yellow in color. This is because of the disease he is suffering from. This changes his vision of the objects in the world. This doesn’t mean that the objects in the world are yellow in color. It is the vision of the person which is wrong , as he is suffering from disease. If he considers that the objects he sees are by nature yellow in color, then he is foolish. It means he is ignoring that he has the disease, as a result of which a wrong perception of the objects in the world is created. He will get the right perspective of the objects he sees only when he is cured of the disease. These are simple facts we all are aware of.
In the same fashion ignorant people in the world, who consider themselves to be the body, are suffering with the disease of Ignorance if we can say so. So their perspective of the world is wrong. They have wrong ideas and impressions about the world in mind. They do not know the nature of the world and create impressions of the world through their own experiences and interpretations ,due to lack of self knowledge. This will just lead one to sorrow.
We all know that given an object each person interprets in different ways, his interpretations depend on the knowledge of the object he has. The person who has the appropriate knowledge will be in a position to give the right perspective. A scientist who has discovered something, he would be the right person to explain about his discovery, than people who have looked at his discovery.
Thus the vision of an ignorant person in the world is wrong. This can be set right only with knowledge. As ignorance is the cause, the solution for the same is knowledge and could be nothing else.
Lord Krishna in gita 4th chapter says
sreyan dravya-mayad yajnaj jnana-yajnah parantapa sarvam karmakhilam partha jnane parisamapyate

Thus an ignorant person considers himself to be the body, only because he doesn’t have the right knowledge.

Sloka 78:

chaxubhyaaM bhramashiilaabhyaa.n sarvaM bhaati bhramaatmakam.h .
tadvadaatmani dehatvaM pashyatyaGYaanayogataH

Meaning: A person who has faulty eyes, will have fault vision of the world. In the same way an ignorant person consider the atman as the body.

Explanation: The author has explained through an example of a person suffering from jaundice, about the vision of the world. He continues the same explanation in this sloka as well.

A person who has faulty eyes will have faulty vision. A person who has long sight or a short sight , or a cataract in the eye, would not be able to see the objects properly. This impaired vision would impede the functionality of the eyes and a person can no longer depend on his vision entirely. He would need to seek the help of people with right vision, to guide them. Even though his eyes are not functioning properly if a person thinks that whatever he sees is the right vision, then he will end up in trouble.
As a person who has an impaired vision seeks a guide who directs him , So also ignorant people like us should approach the people with right vision of the world, to impart the self knowledge to us. Guru is the right person who has knowledge of scripts and how has treaded that path and is a self-realization soul. He is the person who has the right vision of the objects in the world, through whose help we will be able to cross over the ocean of transmigration .
Lord Krishna says in the 4th chapter thus

tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya upadeksyanti te jnanam jnaninas tattva-darsinah

A person should serve the Guru and put proper questions to get the knowledge of the self from the Guru. Thus alone he attains self knowledge . This also shows that without the grace of a Guru a person cannot think about self –knowledge.

Hari Aum

Slokas 69 to 73

2008-04-19T15:22:00.001-07:00

Hari Aum,

Prostrations at the Lotus feet of AMMA.

Sloka 69:

yathaiva mR^inmayaH kuMbhastadvaddeho.api chinmayaH .
aatmaanaatmavibhaago.ayaM mudhaiva kriyate.abudhaiH

Meaning : As a mud pot is mud alone, so also in a body chit or consciousness alone exists. Ignorant person separates the atman and anatman but of its of no use.

Explanation: In this sloka sankaracharya explains the how an ignorant person considers himself to be the body.
It’s a general experience to answer that “My name is XXX” when asked upon by some one. We also use terms like “My stomach is paining” . We have the knowledge that even if the parts of the body are not present, we see people living. We do try to correlate both these facts and figure out the truth. The above statements clearly show that we are not the body. There exists a significant principle which pervades the whole universe that gives existence to the whole creation seen. Thus an ignorant person doesn’t see the underlying substratum of each and every entity in the world. As the pot is made of mud alone, so also in the body chit or consciousness or atman is present , which always persists as “I exist”.
An ignorant person considers his body as atman and thinks the body is real, even though he sees that it undergoes many changes over period of time. He seeks for happiness in the world, which is ever changing, forgetting that his own nature is anandam and that he is seeks the same ananda through the temporary objects of the world.
Thus an ignorant person concentrates on the body which he considers as atman and ignores the atman. Thereby he is doing a distinction of atman and anatman without realizing that the atman is not his body. He considers atman and body to be one .
When a sadhaka knows the truth that body is illusiory and is just name and form in Brahman, he discriminates real from unreal and differentiates the atman from the anatman. He tries to concentrate on his self.
Slowly when the sadhaka realizes the truth , he becomes jnaani who experiences what he tried to practice. Once a person reaches this state, he no more differentiates between atman and anatman. For him Brahman alone exists in the world. Everything is pervaded by Brahman. For his all bodies are all individuals are his self alone, he doesn’t see any duality at all. Thus the author explains the different perspective of the ignorant person,sadhaka and a jnaani towards the body.

Sloka 70:

sarpatvena yathaa rajjuu rajatatvena shuktikaa .
vinirNiitaa vimuuDhena dehatvena tathaatmataa

Meaning: As snake is seen in rope, as silver is seen in nacer. Similarly the atman is seen as the body by an ignorant person

Explanation: In the previous sloka the author has explained how an ignorant person considers himself to be the body. In this sloka and next few slokas he explains through illustrations the same truth for our better understanding.

All names and forms seen in the world are illusion in Brahman. As pot is made of mud alone so also there is Brahman alone exists as atman in each individual and Brahman alone that is present in the entire universe. Unaware of this truth, an ignorant person fails to understand the eternal nature of his self of sat chit ananda. He thereby seeks objects of this world for happiness. This is due to superimposition or adhyaasa of the body over self or atman, due to ignorance of the self.
We might imagine snake to be the rope. But when we try to understand whether its really a snake, using our discrimination , we figure out that we have been deluded by our own mind and that it was never a snake and was rope alone all the time. Thus when a person tries to know the ultimate truth , he understands that never a world existed and it is out of his ignorance he imagined a world . Once the veils of ignorance are removed , he would see the perceive the true nature of the world.
Similar another analogy of silver seen in nacer is given by the author. When we observe and try to check whether it is really sliver that we seen in nacer, the truth is revealed.
Thus when a person is in ignorance , as a rope is seen as snake and silver is seen in nacer, so also a person considers himself to be the body. So with the illustrations of the illusion of snake in rope and silver in nacer, author shows that a person is deluded by illusions in this world.

Sloka 71:

ghaTatvena yathaa pR^ithvii paTatvenaiva ta.ntavaH .
vinirNiitaa vimuuDhena dehatvena tathaatmataa

Meaning : Earth is seen as pot , thread is seen as cloth. Similarly the atman is seen as the body by an ignorant person

Explanation: In this sloka author gives another illustration to show how an ignorant person considers himself to be the body.

Earth which makes up the pot is known as pot and not earth. Its called as pot though each particle of the pot is mud or earth alone. People conveniently ignore the fact that it is mud alone. They are deluded by names and forms.
A cloth is woven from thread alone, without thread there are no clothes. Even though we know this fact that without existence of a thread, the name and form of the cloth or dress cannot exist, we ignore it .
The whole world is pervaded by Brahman alone. As the mundaka Upanishad says about Brahman being all pervading.

Brahmaivedam amritam purastaat
Brahma paschaat brahma dakshinatascha uttarena
Adah cha urdhvam cha prasritam
Brahmaiva idam vishwam idam varistam

Brahman alone is present here, he is behind and before,he is in the south and in the north, on top,below, Thus he is present everywhere in the whole universe.
But still we see only the names of forms in the world, which are illusions in Brahman. Names and forms exist only due to the substratum of Brahman. If Brahman doesn’t exist, nothing exists, but we still hold onto the unreal names and forms in the world and forget the ever existsing, eternal, all pervading Brahman which is our very nature. Thus an ignorant person considers his body as atman.

Sloka 72 :

kanaka.n kuNDalatvena taraN^gatvena vai jalam.h .
vinirNiitaa vimuuDhena dehatvena tathaatmataa

Meaning: As the gold is seen as earring, as water is seen as waves. Similarly the atman is seen as the body by an ignorant person.

Explanation: Author gives another example of gold and gold ornaments and waves in an ocean to show how a person considers himself to be the body.

Whether it’s a necklace or an ear ring, it is made of gold alone. All ornaments are made of gold alone. Ornaments are not different from gold.. If a person doesn’t acknowledge that gold and necklace are the same , then its foolishness.
The whole world is made up of Brahman alone. The names and forms are just illusions.
If we do not acknowledge this fact and consider the names and forms as real we will end up in sorrow. As scriptures proclaim “Anithyam asukham lokam” , World is temporary and full of sorrow. If we stick to the name and form it will lead us to sorrow alone. A goldsmith who sees all ornaments as gold alone. Similar attitude we have to develop towards the world. We should be able to see everything as Brahman alone, of the nature of sat chit ananda. Negating the names and forms if a person concentrates and reiterates through his intellect that the truth behind all the illusions is Brahman alone, he will be able to come out of the superimposition and perceive the truth.

Waves might seem to be different from the ocean. Waves are created in the ocean, they are formed out of the ocean and merge back into the ocean. They are part of the ocean, but might seem to be different from the ocean for a short duration of time. Ocean and water is made up of water alone. Both have different names. So name and form are only illusions when the reality is water alone. We cannot say that wave is not water.
Waves form keeps changing until it merges back into the ocean.
The nature of the world is also temporary and changing. Anything that is temporary cannot give us permanent happiness which are seeking in the world. Once the object no more exists, what was giving happiness earlier with give sorrow. Understanding this temporary nature of the world, a person should realize oneself, which would give him eternal bliss. The only permanent entity in this world is Brahman , which of the nature of sat chit ananda which alone would give a person permanent happiness.

Sloka 73:

purushhatvena vai sthaaNurjalatvena mariichikaa .
vinirNiitaa vimuuDhena dehatvena tathaatmataa

Meaning : As people are seen in the lamppost, as water is seen in the desert . Similarly the atman is seen as the body by an ignorant person.

Explanation: Sankaracharya gives another example to show how foolish it is to consider the body as atman.
In a lamppost a person would see the reflection of objects, but what a person sees depends on what a person wants to see. A policeman would see a thief in a lamppost, as he always in lookout to catch thieves. His mind is most of the time thinking about them.
A lover would see his lover, as his mind always dwells in the moments he or she spends with his/her lover.
Similarly we see the world as we want to see. Our perception of the world, entirely depends on our thoughts which constitute our mind. Our mind which is a bundle of thoughts created due to the impressions. The attitude behind perceiving things in the world changes our experience with the world. The world will still remain the same, but the perception of the world differs. The lamppost in which different people see different objects is one and the same, but the perception of each person differs based on their mental state. Likewise what is perceived in this world is a based on our mental state.
A jnaani sees nothing but Brahman as existing everything, pervading the entire world. For him duality has no existence whatsoever. He revels ever in Brahman and hence is always blissful. A mudah perceives the world of names and forms, considers them real and suffers as a result of this. This perception of the ignorant person just gives him sorrow. Understanding the truth and changing our attitude our perception towards the world changes. The circumstances we might face in the world may not change but our attitude to handle them changes, due to the knowledge that has dawned in us, of which we are totally convinced.
So names and forms seen in world are like the reflections seen in the lamppost, they r temporary and only give sorrow.
We all know the example of water in desert. The names and forms in the world are as illusory as the water seen in desert. A jnaani who also might see the water but knows that water doesn’t really exist, is not effected even though he might run towards the water. A jnaani knows the world is an illusion, still he does actions necessary. So world or the scenario hasn’t changed , a person may still perceive the water in desert, but the knowledge that world is unreal, helps us to have an equipoised mind all the time. Whatever may be the outcome of the actions we perform in the world we will remain unaffected.
This is the attitude we have to develop towards the objects in the world, else we shall end up considering the body to be the atman, not able to differentiate the real from the unreal.

Hari Aum

Slokas 64 to 68

2008-04-19T15:21:00.000-07:00

Hari Aum,

Prostrations at the Lotus feet of AMMA.

Sloka 64:

ghaTanaamna yathaa pR^ithvii paTanaamnaa hi ta.ntavaH .
jagannamnaa chidaabhaati GYeya.n tattadabhaavataH

Meaning : As that which is called a pot is mud alone and that which is called a cloth is thread alone, similarly the world in the consciousness alone shines, Know the truth by negating the names and forms .

Explanation: Through our experience we know that the pots are nothing but mud alone and the name pot is given to the form of this mud. Thus negating the name and form of the pot we will come to know that its mud alone and pot was just a name assigned to the form by us.
With thread alone a cloth is woven. Without thread there is no cloth. If we deny the fact that the cloth is thread alone, we are denying the very existence of the cloth.
Similarly the world is filled with Brahman alone of the nature of consciousness, existence and bliss . It’s the underlying substratum of whole universe. Krishna says in Gita 15th chapter thus
Gam avishya cha bhutani dharayami aham ojasahPushnami osadhih sarvah somo bhutva rasatmakaha

It means that Brahman alone is present in the whole creation, he is present in the earth, sustains the vegetation of the earth, thus supports life on earth. He is alone present as the pancha bhutas air, water, fire, earth and space.
It is the eye behind the eyes, the ear behind the ears. Its said in the 15th chapter that
yat aditya gatam tejo, jagat bhasayithee akhilamYat Chandramasi yat cha agnau tat tejo viddhi mamakam

Brahman alone is the light for the sun ,light and moon. They depend derive their strength from Brahman alone. He is all pervading only entity present in the entire universe. Whole universe is contained in him.
A person can realize this truth only by negating the names and forms he sees in the world. Ascertaining himself in the beginning that Brahman alone is the reality behind all the forms and dualities seen in the world. Through constant practice over a period of time, he would reach such a state, wherein he wouldn’t perceive any duality whatsoever. His perspective of the world will completely change. This change in perspective would bring him the eternal bliss. Jnaani’s are in such a state where they reveal in the bliss of brahmam. They see everything to be themselves. They do not have any notion of “my body”. They consider everyone as his or herself. They find themselves as dwelling in every individual. This is the state wherein there is no duality, hence no sorrow but eternal bliss alone exists. This is what is the state we all should aspire to be in.

Sloka 65:

sarvo.api vyavahaarastu brahmaNaa kriyate janaiH .
aGYaanaanna vijaananti mR^ideva hi ghaTaadikam.h

Meaning: All the activities done in the world are done through Brahman alone. Ignorant people do not understand this as they consider the mud as pot only.

Explanation: Sankaracharya till the earlier few slokas gave various examples to explain that Brahman alone is present here and a person should negate all names and forms to understand the truth of ultimate reality. In this sloka he explain the perspective vision of the world by a person with knowledge of Brahman and an ignorant person.
A person having the knowledge of ultimate truth ,that Brahman alone is present in the entire world and there cannot exist anything apart from Brahman see’s no duality. He is never deluded by the names and forms and hence remains blissful. On the contrary a person lacking this knowledge would see duality in the world and would suffer in the world. He considers the pot as real and ignores mud from which pot is made. So when pot is destroyed , he grieves forgetting that mud alone had become the pot and it alone remains when the pot vanishes.

As mentioned in the 4th chapter of Gita
brahmarpanam brahma havir ,brahmagnau brahmana hutam brahmaiva tena gantavyam ,brahma-karma-samadhina
Here it means the whole world is like a homa(sacrificial offerings) where in the offerings are done to Brahman. That which is offered is Brahman, the fire unto which offerings are done is Brahman, the person who offers is also Brahman, the fruit to be achived out of the offerings done is also Brahman only. Thus a person should perform all his activities in the world as an offering to the lord ishwara, this would give him liberation.
This is the attitude a person should have while executing his duties in this world. If such is the case, no matter whatever action he does, whether it is a good action or bad action , he is not effected by it, as he offers everything to Brahman alone. He doesn’t consider himself the doer of activities hence wouldn’t enjoy the fruits of it. Thus anything favorable or unfavorable incidents happen in his life, he considers them to be the “prasad” of Ishwara. Such a person has the attitude of complete surrender to the lord. He sees god as the doer of actions and enjoyer of fruits. Thus he gets liberated from the fruits of the action done and thus from the life chain of birth and death.
Incase of an ignorant man, he gets attached to the activities he does, seeks some results, and enjoys the results of it and desires for more.He is never satisfied with what ever he has, no matter how much ever he has in life.He will always feels a sense of lacking or unfulfillment in life. He does actions seeking some results and enjoys the fruits of it and inturn does some more activites and thus takes births to enjoy all the fruits of action done. Thus he gets entangled in birth and death cycle.

Sloka 66:

kaaryakaaraNataa nityamaaste ghaTamR^idoryathaa .
tathaiva shrutiyuktibhyaM prapaJNcha brahmaNoriha

Meaning: The cause and effect is present always in case of pot and mud . Similarly as per scriptures , the same exists for world and the Brahman.

Explanation: The author continues the analysis after explaning that all actions are done through Brahman alone. He explains the cause and effect of the world.
All gold ornaments are made of gold alone, the ornaments are forms of gold. Here the cause of the ornaments is gold, the effect produced is the ornament. Similar is the case with world and Brahman. The effect of the world is from the substratum of Brahman. As per mundaka Upanishad it is said that as a spider weaves its own web , where the material and the maker is the spider alone, so also the world is from Brahman alone.
As per mundaka Upanishad
“yatha oornanabhi srujathe grinhathecha yatha prithivyam oshadhayah sambhavanthi
yathaa sathah purushaath keshalomaani thatha aksharaath sambhavathi iha vishvam”

The cause lies in the effect alone. It is always present. The mud is in the pot, but we fail to perceive mud in the pot and get deluded by the form of the pot. We get deluded by different gold ornaments and like some ornaments do not like other ornaments, forgetting that every ornament is made of gold alone.
Brahman alone is present in each individual as satchitananda. We fail to know this and dislike some people and like others. This leads us to sorrow.
This is mentioned in chandogya Upanishad as

Yatha soumya ekena mrit pindena sarvam mrin mayam vijnaatham syaat
Vaachaarambhanam vikaaro naama dheyam mrittiketyeva satyam

Knowing mud we come to know all forms of mud. Thus knowing the substratum, the names and forms are known. Thus Brahman alone exists in the world and whatever we see is just names and forms. Thus the relation between the cause of Brahman and the effect of world is proved beyond doubt in scriptures.

Sloka 67:

gR^ihyamaaNe ghaTe yadvanmR^ittikaa.ayaati vai balaat.h .
viikshamaaNe prapaJNche.api brahmaivaabhaati bhaasuram.h

Meaning: As a person endowed with knowledge would see mud alone in the pot, similarly Brahman alone can be perceived in the world, if seen from that perspective.Explanation: Sankaracharya till now has explained with various examples logically to prove that Brahman alone is present in the world. A sadhaka can have questions like1) Will world look something different to what I see now, Incase I view only Brahman in the world .2) How should one practice it? These questions are answered in this sloka and coming slokas.Till now it is proved beyond doubt that the ultimate truth of the world is Brahman alone. When one is logically convinced that Brahman alone is present in the world, to experience the same i.e Brahman alone is present in the world a person should ascertain whatever he says as Brahman all the time and that names and forms are just an illusion in the substratum of Brahman. Our current day experience of the world is due to the superimposition of the Ego over the self, to overcome this , one should constantly remind himself of the truth of ultimate reality.Whenever a person views pot as mud, he wouldn’t he deluded by the name and form of mud. Knowing that all gold ornaments are gold alone a person would see only gold in all ornaments, It wouldn’t matter to him what ornament it is. He sees all as gold.Similarly endowed with the eyes of knowledge a person should see Brahman as all pervading in the world. When he sees oneness in everything in the world, the person has no sorrow at all, as nothing exists apart from his self and everyone loves oneself, hence such a person loves the whole world .For him everyone is the same, he shows equal love to all. He has pure love to one and all without any expectations from them. Such a person is said to be a yogi, a person having sama dristhi or equanimity of mind.

In gita 2nd chapter Krishna says about an yogi thus
“sidhyasidhyo samo bhuthwa samathwam yoga uchyathe”

Thus changing our perspective towards the world is what is intended .The world would remain the same, the circumstances would remain the same .All the troubles we might face wouldn’t cease to exist, but only we wouldn’t be effected by anything that happens and will remain ever blissful, irrespective of the circumstances.

Sloka 68:

sadaivaatmaa vishuddho.asti hyashuddho bhaati vai sadaa .
yathaiva dvividhaa rajjurGYaanino.aGYaanino.anisham.h

Meaning : Atman is always free from bondages. But its perceived as bonded. Similarly perspective vision of a rope by a jnaani and an ajnaani is different.Explanation: Sankaracharya in the earlier sloka speaks about what a sadhaka should do to perceive world as Brahman. In this sloka through an example he illustrates how it can be achieved.We are not the body but the self, but due to superimposition for over period of time we have considered ourselves to be the body. So it might sound impossible for us to practice what sankaracharya propounds as “Brahma satyam jagath mithya” in half a sloka the entire essence of the Upanishads.But ancient sages and mahatmas have proved that it isn’t impossible and it isn’t something to be achieved as its one’s own self and not different from his self.To explain how it needs to be implemented, he gives the example of snake and rope.A person who sees the rope as a snake thinks that it is a real snake and gets scared. He runs away. But a person who sees the rope as rope, isn’t deluded. Here we see two perspectives, a perspective of a jnaani and an ajnaani. A jnaani is like a person who knows that it’s a rope and not snake, whereas an ajnaani who doesn’t takes the world to be real and is deluded by the world and suffers.Jnaani is unaffected by anything that happens around him in the world. As he knows that the only truth is Brahman. So the world doesn’t change for a jnaani. Its the same world seen by both a jnaani and an ajnaani, but the perspective of looking at the world is different. Internal vision of the world is what makes the difference, thought the world is seen as filled with names and forms by both. A jnaani would see the substratum of everything he sees in the world as brahman. A ajnaani would only perceive the world with duality.
Even though atman is ever liberated and is only a witness to all the activities in the world , a ajnaani not knowing his real nature of self, thinks he is bonded ,he associates himself with objects of the world, which bring him sorrow finally. On the contrary jnaani knows that atman is his true nature and that atman is untainited and is eternal and he remains as a witness to all the activities performed by him.Thus he doesn’t enjoy the fruits of actions and gets liberated from life cycle of birth and death.So one should strive to attain this attitude of seeing Brahman in everything in the world, this would help a seeker in self-realization.

Hari Aum

Slokas 59 to 63

2008-04-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

Hari Aum,

Prostrations at the Lotus feet of AMMA.

Sloka 59:

yathaa mR^idi ghaTo naama kanake kuNDalaabhidhaa .
shuktau hi rajatakhyaatirjiivashabdastathaa pare

Meaning: As pot is an illusion in mud, as silver is an illusion in nacer, same way jeeva as an illusion in Brahman, can be known if seen from this perspective.

Explanation: The avasta trayam analysis proving that the illusory nature of the avasta’s and the truth of the atman as a witness of the three avasta’s was explained earlier. Thereby also saying that the world perceived in the waking state is also an illusion. After proving logically the mithya world, Sankaracharya gives illustrations in this regard to explain that the world is mithya.
Any vedantic work whether dvaita or advaita should cover 3 aspects , Esha, Jeeva and Brahman. Author proves the world as mithya explaining the three aspects in coming slokas. In this sloka author explains through examples about Jeeva being an illusion.
In this sloka he talks about jeeva and atman. Pot is made of mud. It a name given to the form of mud. Hence pot is not a different entity. Its essence is mud. There is no existence of the pot without mud. If we consider pot from being different from mud we will be deluded. Hence the form of pot seen is an illusion in mud. The reality is mud alone.
One may see silver in Nacer. But it really doesn’t exist. Nacer doesn’t contain silver. But we may perceive silver . But it doesn’t mean silver is present in nacer. It is just an illusion. When known that nacer doesn’t contain silver, we will not see silver any more. It is similar to the example of water seen in desert. Once we know there is no water in the desert, with that knowledge our intellect will be clear and we will not perceive and even though we might perceive water externally sometimes we know that its only an illusion and doesn’t exist.
We see many things in the world. But all are names and forms of Brahman alone. All names and forms are illusions and their substratum being Brahman. Hence we should never get deluded by the name and form of the world. This nature of the world is brought out with the example of mud pot as explained above.
Once we know that the whole is pervaded by Brahman of nature of consciousness alone, all the names and forms vanish. All the illusions created in the mind about the world vanish. The differences created in mind among various names and forms will vanish. We will perceive the all pervading Brahman everywhere. Till ignorance exists the illusions exist. As soon as we know that rope alone was there and snake was never present, We see the rope only. This is explained by the example of silver in nacer.
Thus the author with the two examples of mud pot and silver in nacer explains the outlook one should have about the world. This alone will help a sadhaka to come out of the illusion. As long as we are in the illusion we cannot perceive the truth. Truth can be perceived only when we move out of the illusion. Only when we do not see a snake in the rope , the rope is seen. When we view the snake we don’t see the rope.
Example of mud pot is of name and form in the world. One may see the name and form after realization of the truth also, but he would understand that its just an illusion. The illustration of the silver in nacer is and illusion. Once knowledge dawns about the truth behind we don’t perceive the illusion. So its called anirvachaneeyam or an illusion is that which cannot be explained. It is neither sat nor asat. Its not sat as silver never existed in nacer. Its not asat as silver is perceived till some time. Similarly Jeeva is just an illusion in the atman.

Sloka 60 :

yathaiva vyomni niilatva.n yathaa niiraM marusthale .
purushhastva.n yathaa sthaaNau tadvadvishva.n chidaatmani

Meaning: As mud gets the name of pot , as gold becomes ear rings. In Nacer an illusion of sliver is seen. So also in paramatham jeeva is seen .

Explanation: Author continues explanation that the jeeva is just an illusion in the atman and that he is the atman alone. He give few more examples to illustrate this view .
As pot is made of mud alone. Knowing the pot we know everything that is made of mud. As the essence is mud alone. Chandogya Upanishad says

“Yatha soumya ekena mrit pindena sarvam mrin mayam vijnaatham syaat
Vaachaarambhanam vikaaro naama dheyam mrittiketyeva satyam”

By knowing piece of mud all forms made of mud are known. All are but forms of the same mud. Mud alone is the reality.
As mud pot and wall are all made of mud , so also the whole world is made of Brahman alone.
So also any ornament made out of gold is gold alone. We may differentiate it as necklace, earrings and bangles, but in essence it is gold alone. The gold smith would treat any ornament as gold alone.
In nacer we see silver ,which is also an illusion as we have seen in the earlier sloka.
Thus jeeva is an illusion in the atman.
As a goldsmith sees gold in all ornaments made of gold, Likewise a jeevan mukta would see anything in the world as Brahman alone. In bhagavatham it is said that
“Vadanati tat tatva vidaha tattvam yat gnana advaiyam
Brahma ithi paramathethi Bhagavanithi shadbhathe”
Meaning the knower’s of the ultimate truth talk about the adviteeyam, that which is one alone and is all pervading as having different names like Brahman, bhagavan and paramatha. By whatever name it is called it’s the same fundamental principle of consciousness. Similarly Jeeva in essence is Brahman alone. Scriptures call it by various names Brahman, Jeeva, kutastha ,purusha,satchidananda etc. But in essence it is atman alone. The all pervading satchidananda.

Sloka 61:

yathaiva vyomni niilatva.n yathaa niiraM marusthale .
purushhastva.n yathaa sthaaNau tadvadvishva.n chidaatmani

Meaning: As the sky is blue in color, as water is seen in desert, as we see a person in a lamp post so also we see the whole world in consciousness.

Explanation: The earlier two slokas we have seen the explanation of Jeeva with respect to the consciousness. In this sloka the author speaks about the world with regards to the substratum of Brahman.
The sky is blue in color and we all know that space is colorless and the blue color of the sky is attributed to the reflection and refraction of light. Hence the color of the sky we see in not the true color. It is just an illusion.
We all are well aware of water seen in a desert which is also an illusion. This examples show that we have a vision of something which actually in reality doesn’t exist but only seems to exist. Water is not present in the desert nor the sky color is blue.
Similarly in a lamp post , people are seen by the viewer. Depending on the mind of the viewer different objects are seen in the lamppost. A thief sees a police in the lamppost ,as all the time he is fearing of getting caught by the police, so also a police is always in search of thieves would see a thief in the lamp post. A lover would see his love in the lamppost and goes towards it. The author says similar is the world.
The world is seen in the substratum of consciousness. Nothing else is present here but Brahman ,but still we perceive duality. As a lover sees his love in the lamppost we are seeing objects in the world. Not only whatever we see is not true and is an illusion, we also interpret it as per our mindsets. We see what we would like to see in the world.
Brahman is that which is one alone, which is all pervading and is the essence of the whole world. In one of his works sankaracharya says
“Jaati neeti kula gotra doorakam
Nama roopa guna dosha varjitam
Desha kala vishaya ati vartiyat
Brahmam tattvamasi bhaava yatmani “

Brahman is beyond species, caste, names and forms, good and bad, space and time . It is the ultimate truth of “I am the atman of nature of supreme consciousness”.
Thus the perception of the world , is similar to the objects perceived in lamppost and depend on the person perceiving it.
Thus a jeevan mukta just perceives the substratum of Brahman in everything and is always blissful, whereas the other in the world perceive duality and hence are ever are suffering from sorrows.

Sloka 62:

yathaiva shuunye vetaalo gandharvaaNaaM pura.n yathaa .
yathaakaashe dvichandratva.n tadvatsatye jagatsthitiH

Meaning: As a person sees ghost in voidness, as a person thinks about city of gandharvas in the sky, as seeing two moons in the sky, so as is the truth of the world perceived.

Explanation: The author continues the analysis of the world as names and forms and as an illusion in the substratum of the world. As per scriptures “Neha nana asthi kinchana” , there is no duality whatsoever. Sankaracharya proves the same point through the analysis of the truth of the world.

The author explains with some more examples in this sloka.
As is our general experience to imagine a ghost in space, though we may realize later that it wasn’t a ghost, similarly after realizing the nature of the world, we will no more fear anything in the world.
One may imagine that a city of gandharva’s exists in the sky, contrary to the truth of space alone present. So also a person sees the world, even though Brahman alone is present.
As mentioned by sankaracharya in one of his works of brahma jnaanavali maala
Ghata kudhyadikam sarvam mrittaka matra meva hi
Tatvad brahma jagad sarvam ithi Vedanta dindima”
As Pot is mud alone, so also the world is Brahman alone.

Two moons can also be viewed in sky, but we know that there is one moon alone, likewise people see duality in the world, they differentiate between various names and forms , they develop like and dislike with them, not knowing that everything is just a name and form of the ultimate reality of brahman.

Brahman alone is present here and all we perceive in the world are just names and forms of Brahman. We are getting deluded by the names and forms, as we do not understand the substratum of all objects as Brahman alone. Once we realize this, we will see each and every object in the world as Brahman alone, this would make a person blissful all the time, no matter whatever he is doing, he will always see Brahman everywhere .Jeevan muktha’s are people perceive the world thus and always rejoice in bliss.

Sloka 63:

yathaa taraN^gakallolairjalameva sphuratyalam.h .
paatraruupeNa taamra.n hi brahmaaNDaughaistathaatmataa

Meaning: As waves are nothing but water alone, as copper vessels are copper alone, so also the whole universe is atman alone

Explanation: Author continues the analysis of the illusion of the world through few more examples. Repetition is one of the ways of driving in the concept in the minds of the readers and helps them to develop strong conviction of the truth of the world, which we have been percieveing as full of dualities, due to the superimposition of the ego over the self.

The waves seen in the ocean are water alone. The waves are just a name give to the water in the ocean. Wave is just another form of water.
The vessels made of copper are copper alone. Upon melting these vessels turn to copper only. Hence a name and shape or form is given to copper , and vessel is seen as a different object to copper, though in essence copper alone exists in copper vessel.

As we all know the scripture lines of “Brahma satyam, jagad mithya, jeevo brahmaiva na parah”
Brahman alone is the truth , world is an illusion and the various forms seen in the world are Brahman alone.

Hari Aum

Slokas 54 to 58

2008-04-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

Hari Aum,

Prostrations at the Lotus feet of AMMA.

Slokas 49 to 53

2008-03-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

Hari Aum,

Prostrations at the Lotus feet of AMMA.

Sloka 49:

brahmaNaH sarvabhuutaani jaayante paramaatmanaH .
tasmaadetaani brahmaiva bhavantiityavadhaarayet.h ..

Meaning: Brahman is present in all beings in the world as paramatman. Hence Brahman alone is present in the world.

Explanation: Brahman is the paramatman, the supreme self, present in all beings in the world, the living and non-living. He alone pervades the whole universe. He is the Brahman as mentioned scriptures.
In Gita 15th chapter also Lord Krishna says in similar lines thus :
“Gam avishya cha bhutani dharayami aham ojasahPushnami osadhih sarvah somo bhutva rasatmakaha.” It means brahman has entered the whole universe, and having entered the universe as its essence sustains and nourishes the life on the earth.
As he alone pervades the whole universe, hence he alone exists .There cannot be an duality, or dual notions. Brahman alone exists. One of the attributes of Brahman is “ekam eva adviteeyam” , which is one alone and there is nothing else apart from it.
Thus its proved beyond doubt that everything is Brahman alone, hence there is no scope of presence of duality in the world. Nothing exists apart from the self. One is not different from anything in the universe .It is the indwelling self present in everything in the universe. The cause of the whole world is Brahman alone. He is the substratum of the world.

Sloka 50:
brahmaiva sarvanaamaani ruupaaNi vividhaani cha .
karmaaNyapi samagraaNi bibhartiiti shrutirjagau

Meaning: Brahman is the different forms and shapes , the various actions. He alone supports the whole world. This is as per scriptures.

Explanation: After explaining that whole world is pervaded by Brahman, the author now explains how the Brahman alone is the truth in the entire universe, how Brahman alone is present and nothing else exists as we have seen in the earlier sloka.
The names and forms, the different shapes we see in the world is also Brahman. Everything is verily Brahman. If everything is pervaded by Brahman, then the names and forms we see are also Brahman alone. The forms are different manifestation of the same consciousness. Even as different as all pottery made by the potter is made up of mud alone.
Even all the actions performed by a person are Brahman alone. Brahman supports all the activities in the world, all the various names , forms shapes we see in the world.
The lines of the sloka are as per the gita 15th chapter sloka.
Uttama purusha anyah paramah iti udahrtahYo loka traya avisya bibharti avyayah ishwarah
Here it says that Paramatman alone is responsible for creation and sustenance of the whole world.
As Brahman alone is responsible for the sustainance of the universe , he is alone is the doer and the controller of activities in the world.

Sloka 51:

suvarNaajjayamaanasya suvarNatva.n cha shaashvatam.h .
brahmaNo jaayamaanasya brahmatva.n cha tathaa bhavet.h

Meaning : As all gold ornaments are gold alone, so also all entities born from Brahman are Brahman alone.

Explanation: Author has explained in the earlier slokas that Brahman alone pervades the whole universe. He is the paramatman in all beings and that he creates and sustains the world. Now he explains with an analogy the same truth.
All gold ornaments have different sizes, forms and shapes but all are made of gold alone. All the ornaments are from solid gold alone. They have no existence of their own. A gold smith sees all gold ornaments as gold alone. We may like some ornaments we may not like another, but all are gold alone and the gold smith has the same vision towards all ornaments without distinction.He sees gold in all ornaments. To see all the gold ornaments as gold alone is termed as “kana eka maha buddhi”. The substratum of all gold ornaments is gold alone, so also the substratum of whole world is Brahman alone.
Similarly a jnaani sees every entity in the world as Brahman alone, Even though he sees many forms shapes and sizes , he is ever established in Brahman. To see all being as Brahman alone in the world is termed as “Brahma eka maha buddhi”.
A jnaani always abides in the self and sees his self in everyone. He treats others with love and compassion as he doesn’t see any difference between himself and other beings we perceive in the world.
As per a jnaani, there is nothing apart from his self or Brahman in the world .

Sloka 52:
svalpamatyantara.n kR^itvaa jiivaatmaparamaatmanoH .
yaH santishhThati muuDhaatma bhaya.n tasyaabhibhaashhitam.h

Meaning: Making a small difference between jeevatma and paramatman as a big difference , a ignorant person who is not contented .This creates fear in him.

Explanation: The author in earlier slokas has stressed upon the point that jeevatma and paramatman seem to be different but are the same. In the slokas from 52-55 ,author explains with quotations from brihadaranyaka Upanishad, how duality causes fear in person. He is explaining the consequences of considering once to be limited by the body mind , intellect complex.
If consciousness is removed from jeevatma , there is no existence. Hence jeevatma is chit or consciousness alone. Like the sruthi quotations
“Vadanti tat tatva vidaha tattvam jnaana advaiyam brahma ithi paramatha ithi ,bhagavan ithi shadhyathe”. As per scriptures atman or the supreme consciousness is called by various names and jeevatma is another term only .There are just many names like Brahman,bhagavan or paramatman, for the same consciousness.
Jeevatma once he realizes that he above all the body mind adjuncts , he identifies himself with the supreme self.
Ramana Maharshi in upadesha saram says thus “Isha Jeevayoh Vesha Dhee bhidaah Sat Svabhaavatah Vasthu Kevalam” . Meaning Ishwarah and jeeva are just different names and are sat or consciousness alone, hence they are one entity only. Ishwarah is Sarvagya or all knowing whereas jeeva has limited intellect .Ishwarah is sarvavyapi or all pervading whereas a jeeva is alpavyaapi i .e limited by body mind complex.But we all know that Brahman alone is the truth. So how can any difference persist? Who is the knower and what is to be known when everything is Brahman alone.Hence jeevatma and paramatman are one and the same.

As per sruthi “Dvitiyat vay bhayam bhavarthi”.It means duality is the cause of fear.A moodah or ignorant person only considers jeevatma as totally different from paramatman. He sees the small difference of name as big differences. This results in dual feeling that he is different from paramatman. He thinks that paramatman is the supreme self and everyone is different from that. Thus he sees duality also in the world. He sees many jeevatma’s in the world. This dual notion causes sorrow and sufferings in the world. He possess likes and dislike towards everything in the world. On the other hand a Jnaani identifies himself with the supreme self and is always in a blissful state without fear.
A ignorant person fears to do many activities in the world. He fears to go against powerful people, he fears to go against his parents , even though he is knows what he is doing is correct. Thus our lives are filled with fear every moment. All these are due to dvaita bhavana or Perceiving duality in the world. If we understand that lord alone is the creator and he alone is in everything our fears will vanish. . A person who is always established in the self is ever blissful. A person cannot be blissful if he has fear. Thus knowledge of the ultimate truth, removes all fears.

Thus sankaracharya says that he who perceives himself different from the supreme self a person is plunged into the world of sorrow.

Sloka 53:

yatraaGYaanaadbhavedvaitamitarastatra pashyati .
aatmatvena yadaa sarva.n netarastatra chaaNvapi

Meaning: Where ajnaana or exists, person sees others different from him. Person who sees his atman everywhere does not see anything different from himself.

Explanation: In the earlier sloka sankaracharya explained why a person is caught in fear in the world. Now he explains the reason behind how the fear is created. Also explains a jnaani’s state.
As long as a person perceives duality in the world he is in constant state of fear. Everything is created from Brahman , exists in Brahman and merges into Brahman, knowing this truth a jnaani doesn’t see anything different from his atman. Hence he doesn’t see anything apart from himself. He doesn’t perceive duality .He sees himself in everything. Hence as self alone is present, there is no reason for developing aversion or attraction towards anything in the world, thus he remains a “sthitapragya” , one who is unperturbed under any circumstances. Not an iota of doubt he has about his vision of non-duality.
While a ignorant person , sees duality in the world, each and everything as been different from him. Though both jnaani and ajnaani see the world and names and forms in the world, jnaani knows that everything is one entity and hence isn’t effected. Whereas a ajnnani sees the duality in the world. This causes the fear in him. He gets attached to entities and these attachments later lead to sorrow as everything is temporary in this world .He fears loosing what is dear to him, what he is attached to. A person might like his vehicle so much that daily he cleans it polishes it and maintains well. He desires it to be in perfect shape all the time. Hence he also fears for any damage to the vehicle .He cannot even bear to see small scratches done to the vehicle. so people fear about their possessions, the natural calamities etc.
Ignorance is the cause of duality. Ignorance of the reality of the world , that world is unreal and that the duality perceived , a person is all the time

Thus sankaracharya says that seeing duality only leads to sorrow in the world.

Hari Aum

Slokas 44 to 48

2008-03-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

Hari Aum,

Prostrations at the Lotus Feet of AMMA.

Sloka 44:
rajjvaGYaanaatkshaNenaiva yadvadrajjurhi sarpiNii .
bhaati tadvachchitiH saakshaadvishvaakaareNa kevalaa ..

Meaning: For a moment if we forget the rope we perceive the snake .So also a person perceives the world in the consciousness people see the world.

Explanation: In the earlier sloka sankaracharya explained through an analogy the illusory nature of jeeva. Now he explains the illusory nature of the world and the substratum behind it.

For a moment a person forgets what ever he is seeing is rope , immediately he sees snake in place of the rope. Similarly the world is perceived by us , due to ignorance of the substratum of the world being consciousness or brahman. As we do not realize that the essence of all whole world , is the indwelling consciousness principle.
So in order not to get deluded by the world, one should always remember that the substratum of the entire world is nothing but consciousness or Brahman and what ever is perceived is only a name and form which is illusion.
The whole world seems to exist but actually doesn’t really exist. Thus the mithya world is clearly explained. That which is mithya is neither real nor unreal.That which doesn’t exist is asat. That which always exists is sat. World exists for a short period of time we live, hence its neither asat nor sat. One should negate the names and forms seen in the world and assert that Brahman alone is present everywhere. When one negates nama roopam , Brahman as the substratum alone remains. So if substratum of Brahman is present the world exists. World doesn’t exist without Brahman. Hence world is just an illusion in Brahman, the reality being the substratum. Once the illusory nama roopam is not seen, the only entity consciousness is perceived everwhere. This is the state a person attains, after negating nama roopam and asserting that Brahman alone is present in the whole world.

Sloka 45:
upaadaanaM prapaJNchasya brahmaNonyanna vidyate .
tasmaatsarvaprapaJNcho.ayaM brahmaivaasti na chetarat.h ..

Meaning: The material cause of the world is Brahman alone. Hence Brahman pervades the whole world and there is nothing apart from it.

Explanation: we have seen the nature of the Jeeva and world being explained in the earlier slokas. Now the material cause of the world is discussed in this sloka. This helps a seeker , to view everything in the world as Brahman.If we know that pot id made of mud, we wouldn’t see pot different from mud, likewise when we know that Brahman is the substratum of the world, dualities vanish.
Any effect has 2 causes the material cause and the efficient cause. For example for a mud pot the material cause is mud and the efficient cause is the potter. Likewise the material cause as well as the efficient cause of the world is Brahman alone. The names and forms we view are due to the power of maya in Brahman. Maya is the power of Brahman, due to which names and forms are seen and is the material cause of world. But as maya is part of Brahman we can consider that Brahman is the material cause.
As the substratum of the creation is Brahman the whole world is pervaded by Brahman. The whole world is nothing but Brahman alone. This helps a seeker to view the world he perceives as Brahman alone. Understanding the nature of the world and its substratum a person never gets deluded in the world of dualities.

Sloka 46:

vyaapyaavyaapakataa mithyaa sarvamaatmeti shaasanaat.h .
iti GYaate pare tattve bhedasyaavasaraH kutaH ..

Meaning: Pervading entity and entity being pervaded by both are illusion as there only exists atman everywhere. Knowing this great truth what is the necessity of showing the difference between the pervaded entity and the pervading entity.

Explanation: In the earlier sloka sankaracharya spoke about the illusory world and its substratum of Brahman. He has mentioned that world is an illusion in Brahman, the illusion being the effect in the cause of Brahman. In this slokas he contradicts the theory with reasoning.
Inorder to wake up a dreaming person , he should be told that the dream is only an illusion and truth is the waking state. This helps him to attain the waking state.
A person who is woken up needn’t be told about the dream state as dream state doesn’t exist. Once the ignrorance is removed there are no differences perceived. The same logic is used by the author to negate the cause and effect theory.
In reality there is no cause and effect , everything is Brahman alone. The world is not at all present. This is from the perspective of a Jnaani.
But for a person who sees the world ,this wouldn’t appeal , as he sees world as existing, hence the theory of cause and effect is useful. But once he realizes the truth , he doesn’t perceive the world but only Brahman.
Hence there is no entity which pervades the whole universe as mentioned earlier as Brahman and there is no entity being pervaded by the pervading entity i.e the world.
As there exists only ultimate truth of Brahman.
As world is an illusion in Brahman ,hence it really doesn’t exist. So as world is an illusion, there is no necessity of associating a cause to the illusory world, as its not real. Hence Brahman is not a cause of world that doesn’t really exist. Rather Brahman alone exists.

Sloka 47:

shrutyaa nivaarita.n nuuna.n naanaatva.n svamukhena hi .
kathaM bhaaso bhavedanyaH sthite chaadvayakaaraNe ..

Meaning: Sruthi themselves negate duality many many times. So how will the duality exist ? Only the non-dual Brahman exists.

Explanation: As proof to the statement made in the earlier sloka that there is no cause and effect theory and that everything is one entity of nature of consciousness, the author gives reference to the sruthi quotations.
As per sruthi its stated that “Neha nana asthi kincha” Meaning there is no trace of duality whatsoever.
The same point is reiterated in this sloka. As sruti proclaim that there is no duality at all. So how can there be illusionary world in Brahman. It means that there is no duality and only Brahman exists, which is one alone. So how can a person see duality in the world, when the scriptures clearly proclaim that the world is just an illusion. With clear proof from the scriptures and from the experience of the jnaani’s who have followed the path mentioned by the scriptures and perceive the world as Brahman alone, it removes all doubts from the mind of the seeker about the Brahman as the only entity pervading the whole universe.

Sloka 48:

doshho.api vihitaH shrutyaa mR^ityrmR^i.rtyu.n sa gachchhati .
iha pashyati naanaatvaM maayayaa vaJNchito naraH

Meaning : If a person sees duality sruti says that he will be born many many times.
The person who sees duality is deluded by maya.

Explanation: After explaining that nothing exists here but Brahman alone and providing the sruthi quotations to support the same, sankaracharya now mentions the consequences a person would face ,whose sees the duality in the world.
Author warns the about the consequences of not able to view the world as Brahman. According to sruthi, a person gets deluded in the world due to influence of maya , the power of brahman. He sees duality in the world. He sees various names and forms. He thinks the world is permanent. He seeks happiness in the world, as a result his life becomes full of sorrow and keeps running after wordly objects seeking them ,doing actions and thereby accumulating good/bad karmas and being born many times to exhaust the karma. Thus a person getting deluded and will end up in the chain of birth and death. Whereas a person who has the strong conviction, sees no duality in the world , he attains samabhavam, who has attained the state perceives only his self in all and all in his self. Such a person is a liberated soul.
The author warns people of the results of not seeing the world as pervaded by Brahman.
Given the consequences people might put an effort to seek the truth , rather than getting deluded in the world. Any amount of effort in this direction is always beneficial as its like a bank deposit .In the next birth one would start from where he has left in the previous birth.
Thus the author explains the nature of the world , through sruti and yukti and also mentions the consequences of getting deluded in this world.

Hari Aum

Slokas 39 to 43

2008-03-17T17:45:00.000-07:00

Hari Aum,

Prostrations at the Lotus feet of AMMA.

Continuing with sankaracharya’s logical analysis of how atman is different from Deham.

Sloka 39:

liN^ga.n chaanekasa.nyukta.n chala.n dR^ishya.n vikaari cha .
avyaapakamasadruupa.n tatkatha.n syaatpumaanayam.h ..

Meaning: Linga shareera is associated with many parts and changes,it is an object and undergoes modifications.It is not all pervading, is insentient and hence cannot be same as the atman.

Explanation: Till now the author is comparing the atman with the sthoola shareera.So anyone can have a doubt that sooksha shareera can be atman, if not the sthoola shareera.To clarify this ,after negating the sthoola shareera , the author now explains about the sookshma shareera qualities, to differentiate the atman from the sookshma shareera.
Sookshma shareera is also called Linga shareera . Jeeva is the reflection of the kutastha in the intellect of the sookshma shareera. Hence sooksha shareera also is called linga shareera or where the atman resides.
Sookshma shareera or subtle body is said to have 17 or 19 parts. The 5 sense organs of smell ,touch,taste,seeing,hearing, 5 organs of action legs,hands,excretion,speech and genitals + 5 pranas prans,apana,samana,udana and vyana + mind+intellect+ego+chittam.
Hence subtle body is said to be associated with many parts. But Brahman is without parts or “niskalo” as we have discuused in earlier slokas.
If we analyse we can understand that We experience the mind as changing ideas,notions etc. Some times we are absent minded, some times we think a lot .This all shows that subtle body is ever changing. But Brahman is “nischalam” or not moving as its all pervading.
It is the object even though its not perceived, as we say that my mind is not working etc.
Hence it is an object and not a subject. Brahman is the subject which perceives all the objects. It is never an object of perception.
It undergoes modifications. We see that some people loose their sight due to some accident . This shows that subtle body undergoes changes. But Brahman is never changing , the I we identify with from birth is the same even after many years.
Subtle body is limited to the adjuncts of the body. But Brahman is all pervading. Once jeeva identifies himself with the kutastha atman , he identifies himself with everything in the universe. For him everything is one and the same consciousness. Mahatma’s reside in such a state and hence treat everyone as his or her self.
Subtle body is asat or insentient. Only if the consciousness exists in the body does a man think and do actions. A dead body doesn’t think. But Brahman is the consciousness principle behind the eyes which see the objects. It is the eye of the eye, the mind behind mind .
So given all these differences how can the subtle body be atman.
Karana shareera is also negated by sankaracharya here.Karana shareera is the body in the deep sleep state. The karana shareera manifests itself as subtle or sthoola shareera. karana shareera cannot be for a longer period in the same state. Negating the subtle and gross bodies also implies negating the karana shareera or cuasal body as causal body cannot be present without the other two. Hence sankaracharya doesn’t negate the causal body. But its indirectly implied that the karana shareera is also different from the atman.
Thus the author clearly proves beyond doubt that all the three shareera’s one experiences is beyond the experiencer , the atman. Hence we cannot say that atman is sthoola,sookshma or karana shareera.

Sloka 40:

eva.n dehadvayaadanya aatmaa purushha IshvaraH .
sarvaatmaa sarvaruupashcha sarvaatiitomahavyayaH

Meaning: Atman is above both the bodies and is the purusha or Iswhara.
He is present in all being in the world,he is present in all forms,he is beyond forms and is without parts.

Explanation: The author concludes the analysis of differentiating the atman from the sthoola, sookshma shareera’s with this sloka. Till now we have seen slokas showing that one is not the body. After clearly the author explains as to how the atman is the body ,a sadhaka would develop a strong conviction that he is not the body.
In this sloka he explains the nature of the atman and concludes the reasoning.
Atman is beyond the gross and subtle bodies. It is called the purusha as explained in the scriptures and also called Iswhara the sustainer of the universe.
Purusha is the essence of the existence in the universe. The indwelling self in all beings. He is also the name and form. Name and forms we see in the world are only illusions, but the substratum of all illusions in Brahman. Hence the illusions are also Brahman. As the water seen in the desert is desert itself. He is beyond the names and forms. As the desert is beyond the waves created in the water seen in the desert. He is all pervading and only reality present. He has no parts , as something with parts changes, but Brahman is changless, hence it has no parts.
Knowing that Brahman alone is present in the whole universe, that alone exists in all beings, the names and forms seen are nothing but Brahman , would remove duality in the world. The cause for sufferings in the world is due to the perception of the dual world. Seeing everything different from us. Hence this knowledge of our very essence of atman being the all pervading Brahman makes us identify with everything in the universe, thus removing bedha bahavana or dual notion.

Sloka 41:

ityaatmadehabhaagena prapaJNchasyaiva satyataa .
yathoktaa tarkashaastreNa tataH kiM purushhaarthataa

Meaning: The atman and body differentiation and the truth of the world that has been reasoned out ,how does it help the people?

Explanation: Sankaracharya has brought out the difference between atman and body and thereby also proving the illusionary nature of the world using reasoning.
Now in the coming slokas he dwells on the “Mithya” aspect of the world. This sloka questioning the significance of the conclusions drawn in the earlier slokas, helps us to understand the world is an illusion.
We have seen through the earlier slokas that two things are proved , that the body is insentient and temporary and so also the world and the only sentient being illumining or making the insentient entities look sentient is Brahman , the substratum of the world.
So there are two parts of the question here.1) How does the differentiation between the atman and the body help a person in this world? . The author proved that the body is temporary ,hence the names and forms in the world are also temporary. So the next question arises as to 2) How does the knowledge that the objects seen in the world are also temporary help a person?
These questions are answered in the next slokas. Thus the author enters into explanation of the illusionary world, in the next few slokas.
Till now we have seen the logical analysis of how the body is temporary and separate of the atman. The benefits from this understanding is explained next.

Sloka 42:

ityaatmadehabhedena dehaatmatva.n nivaaritam.h .
idaanii.n dehabhedasya hyasattva.n sphuTamuchyate

Meaning: Showing that the body and the atman are different the feeling of I am the body is removed. Also it clearly brings out that the body is unreal.

Explanation:nIn this sloka the author explains , the benefit of knowing that one is different from the atman. How this knowledge will help a person in his life.
Once a person knows that he is different from the body, he would treat the body as he would treat his pen, his laptop, meaning he would treat the body as not himself i.e separate from onself, thereby the happiness or sorrow arising due to the body will not be taken as his sufferings by the person. So his happiness sorrow doesn’t depend on the body. As he knows that the body is temporary and it just seems to exist for a short span of time. He has been taking many births and has had many bodies, but his atman is one alone. If a person is suffering from fever , he takes the needed medicines but still if it doesn’t cure soon, he doesn’t bother it. Externally he might appear as suffering, but internally he knows he is not the body, hence is always blissful.
So even when his comforts are less, even though he is injured , he is in pain, he will be blissful ,knowing the true nature of his self.
A person seeks happiness in the world without knowing the real nature of the world, or without giving a thought about the real nature of the world. He thinks that world is permanent and the objects of the world would give him permanent happiness. Hence he is always in pursuit of objects of the world.
As the body made of the pancha bhootas is asat or unreal and the purusha present as atman is the only truth, so also the objects of the world, the names and forms are asat or unreal and that purusha is present everywhere, pervading the entire universe. Once he knows this truth he will not go behind the worldly objects seeking happiness, instead he will be seek happiness inside.
Hence the duality of the world doesn’t delude him and bring him sorrow. Thus a person will be ever blissful. He develops samabhavam, that which is mentioned as the goal of life in Gita by Lord Krishna.A person through this difference of atman and body, realizes the nature of the world, understands the ultimate truth and never gets effected by the world, thereby he has no likes dislikes, no dvandha bhavam, which helps him to achieve samabhavam.Thus the understanding of the difference between body and atman makes him ever rejoice in the blissful nature of his self.

Sloka 43:

chaitanyasyaikaruupatvaadbhedo yukto na karhichit .
jiivata.n cha mR^ishhaa GYeya.n rajjau sarpagrahau yathaa

Meaning: Consciousness is one alone and has no divisions. Jeeva is a illusion similar to the illusion of the snake in the rope.

Explanation: After logical anlalysis of the body ,atman and the world, the author further gives analogies to explains the illusionary nature of the world. In this sloka the author through an analogy of snake and rope explains the perception of the world by ignorant people. Brings out the illusionary nature of the Jeeva.
Jeeva is the reflected consciousness in the intellect, that we all experience as “I”. Jeeva due to ignorance associates himself with body, mind adjuncts. He considers himself to be body. His happiness and sorrow depend on the body and the world.
Purusha or Atman as mentioned in the scriptures is beyond body and mind and is the essence of all the being in the world, Which is only truth in the world.
The author explains that consciousness is devoid of any bedha’s as we discussed earlier, the swagata ,sajateeya and vijateeya bedha’s and is one alone. So among jeeva and atman only one can be real and the other illusionary. As the snake is only a illusion in the rope, so also jeeva is only an illusion in the atman or purusha.
Once the jeeva come out of the ignorance and knows that he is the all pervading purusha ,he becomes Brahman,the fundamental principle of the entire universe. Until a person considers the rope as a snake he is scared. The very moment he realizes that snake doesn’t exist, his fear vanishes. So also when the jeeva realizes that he is the atman ,once he comes out of the notion that he is the body, once he leaves all the body consciousness behind, he becomes blissful. He always rejoices in the self.
Thus the author brings out the illusionary nature of the Jeeva, which is the cause of sufferings in the world, due to perception of dualities.

Hari Aum

Slokas 34 to 38

2008-02-20T19:36:00.000-08:00

Hari Aum,

Prostrations at the Lotus feet of AMMA.

Till now the author has explained the nature of Brahman. In the earlier slokas he refuted the thought that the body is the atman. In following slokas be provides proof to explain that the body is not the atman.

Sloka 34:

yasmaatparamiti shrutyaa tayaa purushhalakshaNam.h .
vinirNiita.n vimuuDhena katha.n syaaddehakaH pumaan.h ..

Meaning: The nature of Atman as supreme is what is mentioned in the scriptures which are written by people who are not ignorant.

Explanation: After saying that the atman is one alone and is the subject and which doesn’t undergo changes. The author gives a scriptural statements proof to prove that atman is different from the body.

As per scriptures it has been stated that the uttama purusha is supreme and is beyond intellect, body, mind, ego . Its the subtler than the subtlest. Great saints, rishis have proclaimed this through their experience .

Inspite of the proof from the scriptures , how can a person say that he is the body.?

Sloka 35:

sarvaM purushha eveti suukte purushhasa.nGYite .
apyuchyate yataH shrutyaa katha.n syaaddehakaH pumaan.h

Meaning: Everything is purusha as per purusha sukta. Even sruthi speaks about purusha as being present everywhere, i.e being the essence of everything in the world. So how is atman same as body?

Explanation:Adter proving through sruthi, that atman cannot be the body, Author gives the proof of purusha sukta where it is mentioned that everything is pervaded by Brahman.
As per purusha sukta ” sarvam purusha eva edagam sarvam yad bhutam yascha bhavyam”. Meaning purusha is alone present and is pervading entire universe.
The entire universe has substratum of Brahman alone. Whereas the body is limited and perishable. So the atman which is ever present and all permeating cannot be equaled to the body which is limited by space and time. Thus author refutes saying that the body is not the same as the all pervading atman.

Sloka 36:
asa.ngaH purushhaH prokto bR^ihadaaraNyake.api cha .
anantamalasa.nshlishhTaH katha.n syaaddehaka.H pumaan.h

Meaning: Purusha is unattached as per brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Body is full of impurities. So how can the body be the atman.

Explanation: Till now the author has mentioned supporting statements from sruthi and purusha sukta which say that the atman is different from deham or body. Now he mentions about the brihadaranyaka Upanishad statements.
As per brihadaranyaka Upanishad the purusha is “asangaha” meaning it is not attached or associated. Purusha is just a witness to all the activities performed by the body. It is not involved in the activities.
The body is made up of all the impurities ,here it also means that the body undergoes various changes.
Purusha is referred to as witness because, in all the 3 states of waking,dream and deep sleep states, the purusha is a witness. We experience all the 3 states means that we are the witness of all the 3 states.In the dream state, we are not aware of the waking state.The states are mutually exclusive, the only entity in common is the witness “I”.
Similarly in waking state we have the gross body, in dream state we have a subtle body. In dream state we can become an actor of bollywood and behave like that. So our dream body is totally different from the waking body. Similar is the case with deep sleep state.In all the 3 states the body keeps changing. The body even changes in the deep sleep state, hence we also wake up after deep sleep and we cannot be in that state for a longer time.
Only the witness , the purusha remains same in all the 3 states, hence we proclaim that we had good sleep or had a bad dream.
So the purusha is the witness and is unattached whereas body keeps changing and is made of impurities, how can one say that he is the body.

Sloka 37:
tatraiva cha samaakhyaataH svaya.njyotirhi puurushhaH .
jaDaH paraprakaashyo.aya.n katha.n syaaddehakaH

Meaning: Purusha is a self –luminous entity, whereas body is insentient entity depending on the self-luminous entity for its existence. So how can the atman be same as the body

Explanation: In the earlier sloka the author mentioned about the brihadaranyaka Upanishad supporting witness hood of the purusha. In this sloka we see the direct quotation from the Upanishad.

As per the Upanishad statement atman is self –luminous. A self –luminous object doesn’t depend on any object for llumination. Other objects are illumined in its presence.
As the purusha is self-luminous hence its “asangaha” as mentioned in the earlier sloka. Purusha is unassociated. Even in darkness a person says I exist, this shows that the consciousness in each one of us is self-luminous. This proves beyond doubt the nature of atman as mentioned in the Upanishad.
Whereas we cannot see any of our body parts in darkness. Parts of our body work in presence of purusha. Once this consciousness leaves the body the person is dead. We cannot expect a dead body to move. Hence body depends on the sentient entity of Brahman or purusha the all pervading entity.

Sloka 38:
prokto.api karmakaaNDena hyaatmaa dehaadvilakshaNaH .
nityashcha tatphalaM bhuN^kte dehapaataadanantaram.h

Meaning: As per the karma kanda atman and body are different. Atman will enjoy the fruits of the actions performed by the body after the demise of the body.

Explanation: In the earlier slokas author had given scriptural proof to distinguish between atman and body. He has negated the possibility of the gross body to be the atman. Now Sankaracharya in the slokas 38 and 39 negates the possibility of sthoola shareera and sookshma shareera being one with atman.

Sruthi has 3 parts. karma kanda, jnaana kanda and upasana kanda. Karma kanda explains the way the rituals need to be performed. Jnaana kanda is the knowledge behind by the rituals performed. Upasana kanda helps a person to practice the truth mentioned in the jnaana kanda. Vedanta is based on the jnaana kanda.So one can say that sankaracharya is referring to only the jnaana kanda portion of sruthi. Hence in this sloka he mentions that even the karma kanda of the sruthi mentions that both body and atman are different.
Atman enjoys the fruits of the actions performed by the body after the body falls off.
Meaning, the bad and good results of the deeds done are enjoyed by the atman in each birth.
Incase the atman is the body, then if the person dies , what happens to all the fruits of actions not enjoyed by the person in that birth?. This is called “krita haani”. we all know that we do not enjoy all the fruits of our action in the current birth itself. As per law of karma one should bear the consequences of his action. But if body is same as the atman , it goes against the law of karma, as when a person dies he would not reap the fruits of action in that birth.
Similarly when a person is born , he may be born in a rich family or a poor family, but he hadn’t done any actions at the time of birth to give him that fruit of action, if we consider the body to be the atman. This is called “Akrita abhyagamam”. This only shows that the atman attains a new body and reaps the fruits of karma or sanchita karma in the new birth. Hence the atman is not the body. Atman attains new body in each birth until he extinguishes all the karma.
Thus the author says that the sthoola shareera is not the atman.

Hari Aum

Slokas 29 to 33

2008-02-20T19:34:00.000-08:00

Hare Krishna,

Prostrating at the Lotus feet of AMMA, lets continue our discussion on Aparokshaanubhuti , the work written by sankaracharya.

Sloka 29:

Meaning: In our body resides the purusha mentioned in the scriptures, which was experienced by great saints. Oh murkha why do you think you are the body, when you are beyond the body.

Explanation: The atman of nature of satchidananda has been mentioned in the scriptures as the purusha. I am not the body, but “I “is the atman as mentioned in the scriptures.
How can person identify himself with the body, even though the scriptures reiterate over and over again that O!! murkha your not the body but the atman of the nature of satchitananda, the ever blissful self. Great saints who have realized the self have proven that we are of the nature of satchitananda, nature of eternal bliss. Inspite of scriptural guidance and examples of mahatmas who are in the state of self -realization, if we still cling to our body , then no one can save us.
Ignorant people associate themselves with the body, even though its very obvious and simple as per scriptures to identify that we are not the body. This leads the people into the suffering in the world, away from their blissful self.

Sloka 30:

Meaning : As per scriptures and reasoning atman is the purusha as mentioned in the scriptures. It is beyond the body , of the nature of sat and cannot be seen by people who have no discrimination.

Explanation: In the earlier sloka sankaracharya strongly says that only ignorant people consider themselves as body even though the scriptures and mahatmas say that we are beyond body. In this sloka he explains the nature of the self.

Author says “ O ignorant person, Listen to what scriptures say and what the reasoning would conclude it to be” As per scriptures the atman is the purusha, who is beyond the body, who is of the nature of satchitananda. But a person who is not interested in getting liberation , will not benefit.
Self of the nature of consciousness, existence and bliss is complete and full. When one considers himself to be the body then he sees others different from him. As a result, likes/dislikes , sorrow would arise in the world. When one realizes the truth that Brahman, which is all pervading and is the only existing reality in the world and all that is seen is only name and form of the reality of Brahman, one will never get deluded in the world and be in the nature of Brahman of eternal bliss. Thus disassociating himself from the body is the first step in the spiritual path of a sadhaka. Until he is convinced of the fact , he cannot progress any further.
Thus sankaracharya urges everyone to understand that we are not the body , but of the nature of sat ,once we realize that we become jeevanmuktas and we are ever blissful and liberated from the bondages of samsaara.

Sloka 31:

Meaning : The word “I” is different and is one alone . Whereas the gross bodies are many. So how can you be the body?

Explanation: In the earlier slokas , author has described the qualities of atman or uttama purusha, the Brahman and how to identify the atman to be different from body or deham. Starting from 31 to 37 he shows the differentiation between the atman and the body, through reasoning.We have seen the attributes of Brahman in earlier slokas, this would help us to differentiate between Brahman and the body.

We have seen in the earlier slokas that we are not the body but the purusha that scriptures talk about. Sankaracharya says that the “I” which is purusha is one alone. There purushas as per 15th chapter of gita are of 3 types kshara, akshara and uttama purusha. This uttama purusha is all pervading in the entire universe is what the author is pointing to. As sun is reflected in different pots containing water, so also uttama purusha is what is reflected in the intellect of each jeeva. The reflection may be different but the source of reflection , the sun is the same. The reflection is the akshara purusha or jeeva. Once the akshara purusha overcomes his limitations of mind and body, he becomes one with uttama purusha. As the limitations of a jeeva are due to his body- mind complex alone, the atman in all is nothing but the uttama purusha. Scriptures give many names to the same consciousness which is the satchidananda.

Hence author compares the uttama purusha and the body. So the atman or uttama purusha is the same in all beings but only the bodies are different. Each person gets a body made of pancha bhootas , based on his past karmas or actions.Body is acquired to exhaust the good and bad fruits of deeds accumulated over the past.

There can be only one uttama purusha as they cannot be two suns in the universe. Hence it is one alone.The names and forms are different, but the substratum of all the names and forms is Brahman alone.
So the author brings out the point that the atman is one alone whereas the bodies are many in the world, hence how can one say that the atman is the body, or I am the body.

Sloka 32:

Meaning: I am the witness or subject , who sees the object and the body is the object, that is seen .This is proved by own experience“This is mine” .So how can one say that I am the body?

Explanation: Continuing with the differentiation of the atman and the body, the author says that the subject i.e the atman which sees the object is different from the object that is perceived. We see our hands, we see our legs. Meaning they are objects of subject “I” , which is the atman or the purusha. The subject is always different from the object.
Similarly we cannot see our own eyes. As we see through the eyes. That which sees cannot be seen. It means the subject is never perceived. The subject perceives the object, but it itself cannot be perceived. We all know this through one’s own experience of seeing our body parts. Consciosuness is the witness to entire activities in the world. As it’s the only conscious entity present, nothing else can perceive it.
Hence the subject of “I” is different from the object of body. So how can one say that he is the body.

Sloka 33:

Meaning: I is devoid of changes, but the body is always changing. This is part of our experience. So how can one say that he is the body.

Explanation: We have seen that one of the attributes of the atman is “nirvikaro”, meaning which doesn’t undergo changes. We are the same existence or consciousness right from our birth till now. We call ourself to be the same right from birth. We always have identified ourself with the same atman. But the body has undergone huge changes over the years. We are not the same as we were in our childhood. Hence the atman , the illuminating factor, which is beyond mind, intellect is the same always and doesn’t undergo change, but the body undergoes the shadvikaras or the 6 different types of changes happening in a life span of a person, right from the time of birth.

We don’t need proof of it, as we have witnessed our body changes till day. Hence how can a person say that he is the body? These are very obvious differences we haven’t taken notice of until day and have always considered ourselves as the body with using our discrimination.

We shall continue with the other differences mentioned by sankaracharya in the next mail.

Hare Krishna

Slokas 22 to 28

2008-02-20T19:31:00.001-08:00

Hare Krishna,

Prostrations to the GURU and prostrations to all of you.

Sloka 22:

aatmanastatprakaashatva.n yatpadaarthaavabhaasanam.h .
naagnyaadidiiptivaddiptirbhavatyaandhya yato nishi ..

Meaning: The illuminating nature of atman , illumines the objects in the world. Its illumination is not like the illumination from the deepam or fire or sun , which are not present in the darkness of night.

Explanation:
Sankaracharya here brings out the difference between the illuminating nature of the atman and the illuminating nature of the illuminating bodies present in the world like deepam, fire , sun etc.

Atman has the nature of satchitananda. As deepam dispels darkness in the entire room , so also atman illumines everything in the world. It alone illumines everything in the world. The light behind all lights. The illuminating bodies like sun, fire derive their power from Brahman. The substratum being Brahman.
The sun, fire etc have limitations. Sun is not able to dispell the darkness of the night. But Brahman is present everywhere as nature of existence. The illumination of atman is not exactly like the illumination of the illuminating bodies in the world.
Here is a beautiful example to show the difference. When the power goes off, the whole house is plunged into darkness. Mother calls out to the kid in the house in a different room, asking them “Are you there?” .He answers “I am there”. Inspite of any means of light in the room, the kid knows that he is present. So that which is pulsating in everyone as “I exist” is the illuminating factor.It is the eye behind all eyes. This clearly shows the difference between the illuminating bodies we know and the illumination of the satchitananda.

Thus author brings out 2 major differences 1) That sat or existence is the light behind all lights 2) It is present everywhere. Its all pervading. It is present where sun, fire cannot reach.
Nature of atman is satchitananda , existence ,consciousness and bliss. Realizing this makes a person ever blissful. Realizing this truth one becomes jeevan mukta.
As per scriptures “Yovay bhooma tat sukham na alpe sukham asthi” meaning , Once a person knows that he is full and perfect , he is contented and is blissful.

Sloka 23:

deho.ahamityayaM muuDho dhR^itvaa tishhThatyaho janaH .
mamaayamityapi GYaatvaa ghaTadrashhTeva sarvadaa ..

Meaning: Ignorant people think they are the body. Even as they say this is my pot and this is my body.

Explanation: This sloka brings out the level of ignorance one has in this world about himself. Everyone would consider himself/herself as the body. The author negates this and gives proves as to how one is not the body.

Ignorant masses consider themselves to be the body. By saying “I” he means that he is the body.
We would call any other object we possess as “ my pen” , “my laptop” , so also we say “my body”. As “my pen” and “my laptop” are different from me and not me , so also what we call as “ my body “ is different from me. So I am not the body. Even though through the statement of “My body” its so obvious that one is different from his/her body or object of possession, people considers themselves to be the body. With discrimination and analysis one can understand the truth behind the statement of “My body”.
Person who lacks this discrimination is called “moodah” or ignorant person.
Understanding that one is not the body , a person would no suffer when the body suffers , as he is not the body. This happiness and sorrow doesn’t depend on the body. Thus he remains blissful disassociating himself from body.

Sloka 24:
brahmaivaaha.n samaH shaantaH sachchidaana.ndalakshaNaH ..
naaha.n deho hyasadruupo GYaanamuchyate budhaiH

Meaning: I am Brahman of the nature of steadiness ,peace and satchidananda.
I am not the body, which is insentient, wise people have this knowledge.

Explanation: Till now we have seen the nature of the atman, nature of the body, the differentiation between atman and body. Now sankaracharya talks about the nature of Brahman. From sloka 24 to 28 he emphasizes that atman is Brahman alone, by bringing out the nature of Brahman.
Wise people through the knowledge of Brahman, know Brahman as ones own atman.
They do not consider themselves to be the insentient body. Always reveling in the truth they are ever blissful.
Brahman is said to be of the nature of “samah” or steady ,without changes. That which is steady is without changes and is always peaceful or “shantah”. We have seen in the earlier slokas that the nature of Brahman is satchidananda, which is eternal, consciousness and bliss alone.
Jeevan muktha’s know their nature of atman to be Brahman of the nature as satchitananda and hence remain ever blissful. They do not acknowledge the body and the associated pains and sufferings.

Sloka 25:
nirvikaaro niraakaaro niravadyo.ahamavyayaH .
naaha.n deho hyasadruupo GYaanamuchyate budhaiH ..

Meaning: That which is without changes, without form, without blemishes or stains and which is indivisible. I am not the body, which is insentient, wise people have this knowledge.

Explanation: The author continues the explanation of few more qualities in this sloka.
“Nirvikaro” meaning without changes or modifications. We have seen in the earlier sloka that one of the qualities of Brahman is steady i.e without changes. That which is in stable state is said to be steady, one which is steady cannot have changes, as a result of which it is steady. If there is a change, anything cannot be stable. Hence Brahman is said to be without changes or nirvikaro.
Brahman is “niraakara” or without form. It is formless. That which has form is subject to modifications. As Brahman is without changes , hence it should be without form. So as Brahman is stable hence it cannot undergo changes and as it is changless, it cannot have form. As it has no form ,it has no blemishes or stains, Its pure.
That which has form, has no parts and hence is divisible. Space has no form and parts. Its not divisible. Similarly anything without form is not divisible. Hence Brahman is indivisible or “Avyayaha”.
So Brahman is without changes as its steady. As it has no changes or modifications ,hence it cannot have a form .As it has no form it cannot have stains and it is indivisible.

Sloka 26:
niraamayo niraabhaaso nirvikalpo.ahamaatataH .
naaha.n deho hyasadruupo GYaanamuchyate budhaiH ..

Meaning: That which is Without disease, which is beyond comprehension, which is without parts and which is all pervading. I am not the body, which is insentient, wise people have this knowledge.

Explanation: Sankaracharya continues the explanation of the nature of the atman in this sloka.
Brahman is of the nature of “niraamayo” meaning without any disease or decay. That which has form and undergoes changes is subject to decay or diseases. We have seen in the earlier slokas that Brahman is formless and hence changeless. So can it have decay?
It is “niraabhaso”. It is beyond comprehension. It is that which is self-luminous .It illumines everything. As it is beyond comprehension doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. As it is the subject, hence it cannot be apprehended by the objects of perception.
Brahman is “nirvikalpo” without any modifications. That which has form and parts has modifications. As Brahman is formless, its steady, it has no parts, it cannot undergo changes.
“Aatataha” means all pervading. It is of the nature of sat. It is all pervading. Brahman is said to be of nature of satchidananda. Meaning eternal consciousness and bliss absolute.
Brahman is without decay or disease as it is formless and is beyond comprehension as it’s the subject. It is without modifications as it is without form and without parts.
Thus wise people consider the atman to be Brahman and not the insentient body.

Sloka 27:
nirguNo nishhkriyo nityo nityamukto.ahamachyutaH .
naaha.n deho hyasadruupo GYaanamuchyate budhaiH ..

Meaning: That which is beyond gunas, without actions, which is eternal, which is ever liberated and which is imperishable. I am not the body, which is insentient, wise people have this knowledge.

Explanation: The author continues the explanation of the nature of Brahman in this sloka.
Brahman is beyond the three gunas of sattva,tamas and rajo guna. It is “nishkriyo” or without actions. Gunas as the cause of desires and thereby lead one to do actions. As Brahman is beyond gunas, it is devoid of action. It means actions cannot be associated to Brahman. It is witness to all activities which are done by the body-mind made of the gunas.
It is “nitya” or eternal . As it is of nature of satchidananda, it is eternal. It is present all the time. It has no constraints of time and space. That which has limitations of time , space and effect cannot be all pervading. As Brahman is all pervading it cannot have limitations. Hence Brahman is eternal.
Brahman does not have bondages. Gunas are the cause of desires. Desires lead us to actions. Actions create bondages, when we expect fruit from it. But as Brahman is beyond gunas ,it has no bondages, hence it is ever liberated. A person who realizes himself to be Brahman ,will be ever remain blissful, such a person is a jeevan muktha. He doesn’t associate himself with any bondages in the world.
Brahman is “Achyuta” meaning it is imperishable. That which has form shape and parts is perishable. Brahman is beyond all this, hence it cannot be perishable.
Thus Brahman is not from the three gunas and hence has no actions to perform and is imperishable and eternal.

Sloka 28:
nirmalo nishchalo.anantaH shuddho.ahamajaromaraH .
naaha.n deho hyasadruupo GYaanamuchyate budhaiH ..

Meaning: Without impurities, it is not moving, it is pure and it has no birth and death.
I am not the body, which is insentient, wise people have this knowledge.

Explanation: Continuing the nature of Brahman, the author says thus.
Brahman is “Nirmalam” ,that which has no impurities. That which has association has impurities. If ink is dropped on a paper the paper becomes impure. So the association of the ink with the paper caused the impurity. But when something is without parts, it cannot have association. If it cannot have association, it cannot have impurities. Therefore Brahman is Nirmalam.
Brahman is “Nischalam” meaning without movement. Brahman is all pervading .That which is present everywhere has no where else to move. Hence it is nischalam. Space is present everywhere. We travel in space. But space doesn’t travel.
Brahman is “Anantah “ is that which is all pervading. It is “shudhham “ or pure. Brahman is pure as it has no association. It remains a witness to all activities.
Brahman is without birth and death. Brahman is of the nature of sat. Meaning it is eternal. It is always present. That which is always present cannot have birth and death.

With this sloka sankaracharya concludes the explanation of the nature of Brahman.
We have seen that nature of Brahman to be “nirvikaro” or changeless , “niraakaro” or formless, “nirvadhyo” or without blemishes, “Avyayaha” or indivisible, “niraamayo” or without decay, “niraabhaso” or beyond comprehension,”nirvikalpo” or without modifications, “aatataha” or all pervading, ”nirguna” or without gunas, ”nishkriyo” or without actions, “nitya” or eternal, “nityamuktha” or ever liberated, “achyuta” or imperishable, “nirmalo” or without impurities,”nischalo” or without movement, ”Anantah” or all pervading, “shudhhah” or pure, “ajarahaamaraha” or without birth and death.
Always contemplating on the nature of Brahman as explained above and with the knowledge that he is the atman, slowly a person would come out of the body consciousness. Contemplating always that he is the atman of nature of Brahman, he realizes oneself. As the nature of Brahman is satchitananda, such a person is ever blissful. This is the state of jeevan muktha, who is beyond all attachments in the world, though he seems to do actions in the world.

Hare krishna

Aparna

Slokas 16 to 21

2008-01-29T15:28:00.000-08:00

Hare Krishna,

Prostrations to the Guru and to one and all.

Till 15th sloka we have seen the analysis that we are the nature of atman , which is witness to all activities performed, the cause of the world and is the creator. It is the substratum of the world of nature of satchidananda.

Next the author talks about the atman, the nature of the atman, so that our conviction about our nature gets deeply rooted.

Sloka 16:
ahameko.api suukshmashcha GYaataa saakshii sadavyayaH .
tadaha.n naatra sa.ndeho vichaaraH so.ayamiidR^ishaH .

Meaning: I am without parts, subtler ,knower of everything, witness,pure consciouness,indivisible. I have no doubt about my nature .Thus he thinks as above.

Explanation: As per scriptures,Brahman is “Ekam eva adviteeyam” . Here Ekam means without any parts, Evam means one alone and adviteeyam means there is no entity that exists apart from Brahman.

There are 3 types of bheda’s swagata ,swajateeya,vijaateeya bheda.
Swagata bedha is the differences in one’s own body. Human body has swagata bedham means it has many parts different from each other. But Brahman has no parts. As per scriptures Brahman has come from aakasha, it means Brahman has qualities of aakasha.
Space though is all pervading and has no parts. Any thing without parts cannot have association with anything else . Thus space is without parts and so also Brahman.

Swajateeya bedha is when differences between entities of same category. One body is different from another in many ways. It is our experience also. This is swajateeya bedha. As there can be no two sons, or two lights, so also there cannot be 2 brahman’s. Hence Brahman is dereft of swajateeya bedha. If there are two entities which are self-luminous, then one luminates another,as this is not not possible,so there cannot be 2 entities which are self –luminous.

Vijateeya bedha is difference between entities of 2 different types. Like a human body is different from a tree. But Brahman alone is real and everything else is illusion. Hence the possible of existence of a second entity is ruled out. Hence barhman has no vijayeetya bedha.
Thus Brahman is devoid of any bedhas.

Brahman is said to be subtler than the subtlest and greater than the greatest .As per sciptures “anor aniyaam mahato maheeyam” ,means smaller the smallest of atoms and bigger the biggest of objects.

As Brahman illuminates everything in the world, it is the all knower. It is the witness to all the activities. If one gets involved in any actions, he/she would be effected by the actions. But when one remains a witness to the actions, he is unaffected by the good and bad results of it. As sun illumines the world and remains as a witness to all the activities, so also Brahman is a witness. It is of the nature of existence
Brahman is indivisible as we have earlier the qualities of brahman without parts.

Thus after vichara a person would understand the nature of his self as explained above, there remains no iota of doubts about his nature of atman.

Sloka 17:
aatmaa vinishhkalo hyeko deho bahubhiraavR^itaH .
tayoraikyaM prapashyanti kimaGYaanamataH param.h

Meaning: Atman is without parts, is one alone , Body is many and with parts. If we say that both are the same, is there any ignorance greater than this?

Explanation : Till the earlier slokas , we have seen through vicahara how a person concludes “I am not the body” . From 17th to 21st slokas the author brings out the differences in nature of atman and the body. Though we are of the nature of atman alone by birth, we have been under the impression that we are the body from the beginning. Any lay man in the world thinks he is the body. Thus we have a vision of we are the body. This is called superimposition. Superimposition of the body over the atman leads to conclusion that we are the body. The natural state seems far away and the superimposed nature seems to be our nature.
To know that we are not the body wouldn’t help us to come out of the body consciousness. To know milk tastes good wouldn’t help us, until we taste it. A sadhaka has to assert himself all the time that he is not the body. By constantly contemplating on the nature of atman a person through practice over certain period of time comes over the notion that he is the body.
In this sloka sankaracharya brings out 2 differences in the nature of atman and body.
Atman is without parts. We have seen in the earlier slokas that atman does not have any bedhas i.e swagata bedha, swajateeya bedha and vijaateeya bedha. Also atman is come from aakasha and aakasha is without parts. space pervades everything but it has no parts. Likewise Brahman or atman has no parts.
Body on the otherhand body is made of many parts like hands, legs etc.
Atman is one alone. Atman does not have swajateeya bedha, i.e differences with entities of its kind as its one alone. As it is the only entity in its kind , it is one alone.
There are many bodies in the world. Various names and forms of Brahman, which are but an illusion. But the atman in all is the same , as the sun reflected in water in all the pots is the same. So how can person consider himself to be the atman? This is the greatest ignorance.

Sloka 18:
aatmaa niyaamakashchaamtardeho baahyo niyamyakaH .
tayoraikayaM prapashyanti kimaGYaanamataH param.h

Meaning: Atman is the controls the body and is subtle, whereas body is under the control of atman. . If we say that both are the same, is there any ignorance greater than this?

Explanation: In continuation to the above sloka , the author mentions few more differences between atman and body.
Atman is the controller. Atman through consciousness makes the sense organs and body work. Without consciousness one is dead person. Sense organs work for the atman. Atman is the illuminating entity , a sentient entity which makes the insentient objects look sentient. Its subtle and cannot be seen. Self beyond ones experience as it’s the subject.
Body is the gross, its visible. Body is controlled by the atman. The substratum of all the names and forms in the world is Brahman alone.
When we realize that names and forms are temporary and are under the control of the consciousness of the nature of satchidananda and we are of the nature of satchidananda, we will be ever blissful.
Knowing these differences as stated above, if a person still considers himself to be the body , Can there be greater ignorance than this?

Sloka 19:
aatmaa GYaanamayaH puNyo deho maa.nsamayo.ashuchiH .
tayoraikyaM prapashyanti kimaGYaanamataH param.h

Meaning: Atman is consciouness and is pure. Body is made of flesh and is impure.
. If we say that both are the same, is there any ignorance greater than this?

Explanation: Atman is of nature of consciousness. Atman is satchidananda. As per Upanishads “Pragyanam Brahmam”. Meaning atman is consciousness. Atman is pure. Anything that has association with something else can become impure. For example When we take red color powder and rub on our hands our hands turn red in color. Something which has parts can only have association. As atman is said to be without parts or “niskalam” hence it cannot have association. Hence it remains pure.
Body is an insentient entity made up with flesh ,blood etc. If the atman doesn’t illumine the body it is equal to a log of wood. Body needs an sentient entity to operate.
Body is full of impurities both outside and inside. We all know that human body has many bacteria,worms and other impurities inside. Body has 9 opening as said in Gita “Nava dvare pure dehi” .Out of these nine openings in the body all the impurities are expelled from the body.
Thus body has contradictory nature when compared to atman. So how can person consider the atman to be the body. Can there be greater ignorance than the vision that he is the body?

Sloka 20 :
aatmaa prakaashakaH svachchho dehastaamasa uchyate .
tayoraikyaM prapashyanti kimaGYaanamataH param.h ..

Meaning: Atman is self –luminous and pure. Body is of nature of darkness. . If we say that both are the same, is there any ignorance greater than this?

Explanation: Atman is self-luminous. It is the only sentient entity. As said in gita 15th chapter. “Yat aditya gatam tejo, jagat bhasayithee akhilam
Yat Chandramasi yat cha agnau tat tejo viddhi mamakam.”
It is the luminous entity that is substratum of the whole universe. It is the sentient entity in the sun and the moon. It is pure as we have discussed in the earlier sloka.
Body is of the nature of darkness. It is “jadam” or insentient.
Considering both the body and the atman to be same is foolishness. There cannot be any greater ignorance than this.

Sloka 21 :
aatmaa nityo hi sadruupo deho.anityo hyasanmayaH .
tayoraikyaM prapashyanti kimaGYaanamataH param.h .

Meaning: Atman is eternal and is of the nature of consciousness. Deham is temporary and is insentient . . If we say that both are the same, is there any ignorance greater than this?

Explanation: With this sloka the author concludes the differences between the atman and the body.
Atman is eternal. It is the only changless entity. It the substratum of the changing temporary world. It is present always and hence eternal. Nature of atman is satchidananda i.e of the nature of consciousness. It is the only sentient entity in the world. Body is insentient. It is only darkness, lighted up by atman.

Thus sankaracharya has brought out differences between atman and deham starting from1 7th sloka.
To summarize atman has following attributes -- vinishkalo or without parts, eko or one alone, niyaamakascha or controller ,antah or internal, gyaanamayam or consciousness ,punyo or pure, prakaashah or self-luminous, svachho or pure, nityo or eternal, sadroopo or consciousness.
Deham is bahu or many, bhiraavrutaha or has parts, bahyo or outside , niyamyakah or which follows order of, maansamayam or insentient, asuchihi or impure, taamsam or darkness, anityo or non-eternal ,asanmayaha or insentient.
Bearing all these differences in mind a sadhaka should reaffirm that he is not the body. Treading this path alone can a person come out of the adhyasam or superimposition that he is the body .Until he considers he is the body a person can never progress in the spiritual path. when he identifies himself to be the atman of nature satchidananda, then ignorance is removed and one is always blissful.
With this sloka the discussion on the differences between the atman and the body is concluded by the author.

Hare Krishna

Slokas 11 to 15

2008-01-29T15:25:00.000-08:00

Hare Krishna,

Prostrations to AMMA and to everyone in the forum.

We have discussed till now the qualifications needed for a seeker to apprehend the truth of ultimate reality. Sankaracharya now explains that after acquiring sadhana chatustayam it is a duty of a
person to analyze the world and the cause of the world and to know about himself. In the following slokas we shall see the nature of the enquiry to be done by a seeker of truth.

Sloka 11:

notpadyate vinaa GYaana.n vichaareNaanyasaadhanaiH .
yathaa padaarthabhaana.n hi prakaashena vinaa kvachit.h

Meaning: A person might possess the qualities of sadhana chatustayam, but inspite of that, if he doesn’t do an analysis of the truth in the world, he cannot gain knowledge.
As an object cannot be seen without light, so also one cannot gain knowledge without analysis of the nature of the world.

Explanation: This sloka summarizes the qualifications sankaracharya speaks about and also the vichara or analysis which is essential for a seeker, only through which lot of questions arise in his mind and he becomes desperate to know the truth and thus gets the knowledge of the ultimate reality.

A person should perform austeries like tapa ,japa and have devotion to the lord . He should equip himself with the sadhana chatustayam of vivekam,viaragyam ,6 fold qualities of “shama,dama,uparathi,titiksha, shradhha,samadhnam “ and mumukshutvam.

Mind would not be wandering around the objects of the world, It would be calm and ready for acquiring the knowledge and understanding it. Many times we feel that we have understood concepts better after we have read it couple of times. This means we couldn’t grasp it in the very first attempt. This is because of the lack of understanding and lack of focussed mind. To apprehend something beyond mind and intellect, we should be even better equipped. Hence sadhana chatustayam is very essential for a seeker.

With a calm mind a person should try to analyze the nature of the world. This is called vichara. To get answers to questions a seeker would approach the Guru. Thus it paves way to gain knowledge.
As without illumination one cannot perceive objects, so also questioning himself and the world a person cannot gain knowledge.

Sloka 12:
ko.aha.n kathamida.n jaata.n ko vai kartaa.asya vidyate .
upaadaana.n kimastiiha vichaaraH so.ayamiidR^ishaH ..

Meaning: Who am I? How is the world created? Who has created the world? What is the material cause of the world? This is the nature of questions that would follow.

Explanation: These are the questions which when aroused in the mind of the seeker would lead him to gain of the knowledge of ultimate reality. These questions are like the seeds for the plant to sprout. These are the results of vichara. Slokas 12th to 15th deals with the questions and the answers.
One should first question about himself. Who am I?.This would reveal to himself the nature of the atman which sankaracharya explains in coming slokas.
The next question should be about the world. How is the world created and who is responsible for the creation of it, and with what material has it been created? Knowing that he is the atman or the consciousness wouldn’t answer the troubles a person faces in the world, the sorrows he is inflicted with due to the likes and dislikes. This helps to remove the dual nature of the world.
Every creation has 2 causes the upadana karanam and the nimitta karanam. The first is the material cause. Like for a mud pot , the upadanam or material cause is mud . The upadanam karanam is the insentient cause. Nimitta karanam or the efficient cause of the pot is the potter, similarly the efficient cause of the world is questioned here.

Sloka 13:
naahaM bhuutagaNo deho naaha.n chaakshagaNastathaa .
etadvilakshaNaH kashchidvichaaraH so.ayamiidR^ishaH

Meaning: I am not made of the pancha bootas, nor am I the sense organs, but I am the witness .

Explanation:The first question as part of vichara i.e “Who am I? “ is answered in this sloka. Am I the body? Or am I the sense organs ,the panchendriyas of taste,touch etc.? Or am I the antahkarana of mind,intellect,ego and memory? Or am the jeeva, which experiences 3 states each day, of waking, dream state and deep sleep state.
So we are not the body which is made of the pancha bhootas of air,water,fire etc. we see that people loose their hands,legs in accidents,but still they are alive, hence we are not the body.
We are also not the sense organs or the bahi karana and the antah karana of mind intellect etc. People do survive without eyes or without being able to see objects in the world. They also survive when their intellect is not proper. So we are not the antah and bahi karana’s.
We experience 3 different states of dream, waking state and deep sleep state. In each state we have a different body, which are mutually exclusive. Thus we are witness of these states.
Thus through this process of negation we arrive at the conclusion that we are the witness of every action that is performed by us. As the sun is the witness to the actions performed in the world, but still remains uninvolved in them, so also we are the brahman the reason why the activities could be performed. It’s a mere witness and remains untainted/unaffected by the actions performed.

Sloka 14:
aGYaanaprabhava.n sarva.n GYaanena praviliiyate .
sa.nkalpo vividhaH kartaa vichaaraH so.ayamiidR^ishaH

Meaning: Ignorance is the cause of the world. With knowledge alone the ignorance is removed. The world is created by thoughts.

Explanation: The slokas 14,15 deal with the nature of the world.
In answer to the question of how the world is created? Or the indirect cause of the world, the authors answers that the world is the result of ignorance .
As darkness is expelled through knowledge, so also with knowledge that the world is illusion,that it seems to exist and never existed, the world would vanish . That which is created also would be destroyed, so the world which is created will be destroyed.So it seems to exist for a short span of time, but it never really exists.
This doesn’t mean a person with knowledge doesn’t behold the world, but it means that he remains a witness to the activities of the world and never would be effected by the world. He always remains blissful.
When the knowledge of “Brahma satyam jagan mithya, jeevo brahmaiva na paraha” dawns on a person all the sufferings , the duality of the world vanishes. When we see a rope and imagine it to be snake, we are filled with anxiety and fear. Once we realize that its just a rope, the very next moment all our anxiety and fear vanish. Similarly a person having knowledge of the ultimate truth always rejoices and is ever blissful.

As an answer to the question of who has created the world? Or the direct cause of the world, the author answers that world is created by thoughts of the mind.
This doesn’t mean that when a person doesn’t have thoughts the world seizes to exist. As jeevan mukta’s have some thoughts but for them the world doesn’t exist. So here by thoughts we mean that only due to the thought that the world is permanent , the world is created. Thoughts are the cause of sorrow as we all know well. These thoughts are due to desires, desires for objects of the world is due to the ignorance of the impermanence of the world. We run after the objects of the world and think about them as we are ignorant. Thus we create the world.
Once we gain knowledge and conviction, we cannot have desire as we know that the world is impermanent and would lead only to sorrow.
Mind is maya or illusion. Mind through thoughts creates the world. One who has control over the mind can alone realize his self.

Sloka 15:
etoyaryadupaadaanameka.n suukshma.n sadavyayam.h .
yathaivamR^idghaTaadiina.n vichaaraH so.ayamiidR^ishaH

Meaning: The substratum of the world is one alone, which is subtle and indivisible.
As the mud pot is made of mud so also the world is filled with Brahman.

Explanation: Author answers the question of the substratum of the world which is the last question posed as part of vichara.
The substratum of the entire world is Brahman. Brahman is defined as “Ekam eva adviteeyam” Which is One alone and which is indivisible. It is the satchitananda present in all being in the world. It permeates the whole world. The essence of each and every object in the world is Brahman alone. The duality in the world is due to names and forms. But only sentient entity which is present is Brahman. The names and forms are just illusion in the Brahman.
We just consider names and forms in the world and hence get deluded by the world, which leads to likes/dislikes and sorrow. If we understand that behind the names and forms which are impermanent and which undergo changes, the only entity that remains unchanged and unaffected is satchitananda, which is the same principle in all entities in the world, we would have no suffering in the world.
World is impermanent and undergoes changes while the substratum or the consciousness principle remains the same.
A mud pot is made of mud alone.The pot is just a name and form of the mud. After the pot breaks , it again becomes one with mud. Similarly the substratum of all entities in the world is Brahman alone.

Thus we have seen today the nature of the self and the world. These questions and answers arising out of vichara , resolve the mystery of the world , its cause and our sufferings in the world.
Let us reiterate ourselves about the impermanence of the world once again and the nature of self which is brahman and always remain blissful.

Hare Krishna

Slokas 6 to 10

2008-01-17T17:53:00.001-08:00

Hare Krishna,

Prostrations to AMMA and to you all.

In the last posting we have started discussing the sadhana chatustayam needed by a seeker to apprehend the truth of ultimate reality.
We have seen vairagyam and vivekam among the sadhana chatustayam till now. Vairagyam is having dispassion towards the world and passion towards the ultimate reality only due to vivekam or discrimination between the real and the unreal. Knowing that the only reality in the world is brahman and what ever is seen in the world is only illusion in the substratum of brahman. Having this strong conviction helps a person to develop para vairagyam .

Sankaracharya explains the next sadhana chatustayam of “shamaadi shatka sampatthi “or the 6 fold qualifications starting with shama. The 6 fold qualifications are
1) shama
2) Dama
3) Uparathi
4) Titiksha
5) Shradha
6) Samadhanam

The author explains each of these in the coming slokas.

Sloka 6:

sadaiva vaasanaatyaagaH shamo.ayamiti shahbditaH .
nigraho baahyavR^ittiinaa.m dama ityabhidhiiyate ..

Meaning: Shama is controlling the internal passions of the mind and Dama is control of the external mind.

Explanation: Shama means a state of mind when the mind is calm. This is explained in viveka chudamani as “nistaranga jala rashi nischalam”. It means the calm ocean with no waves. This should be the state of our mind in order to contemplate on brahman. In order to attain such a state of mind one should control the passions of the mind.
The passions of the mind are like the ripples created in a lake when a stone is thrown in a calm waters of lake. These ripples or agitation/thoughts are created due to the various inherent vasanas in us. These vasanas are our likes/dislikes that have carried over since many births. Unless these passions are overcome ,the mind wouldn’t remain calm and until the mind is calm one cannot have constant thought of ultimate reality.

While Shama is internal control, of the vasanas of the mind.Dama is external control, of the mind. First passions arise in the mind and our actions are according to the thoughts in our mind. These external activities are the cause of the thoughts driven by passions or vasanas from previous births. As the water from a tank flows through the pipes and enters the fields, so also the thoughts of the mind enter the various external organs to perform the action needed. So one should control oneself from doing actions as persuaded by the mind. Any activity that would mislead us from our spiritual path should be avoided.

Sloka 7:

vishhayebhyaH paraavR^ittiH paramoparatirhi saa .
sahana.n sarvaduHkhaanaa.n titikshaa saa shubhaa mataa

Meaning: Withdrawal of the sense organs is the highest withdrawal.
Having forebearance in times of difficulties is called titiksha.

Explanation: Shama and dhama are external and internal control of the mind.
Withdrawal of the sense organs from the sense objects and redirecting them towards brahman is called uparathi or withdrawal. Human mind can be distracted due to various things we see in this world. When we understand that it is not leading us in the right direction we should reiterate ourselves that the ultimate truth is Brahman and everything else is illusion. Withdrawing our mind from the sense objects of the world and focusing on brahman, this alone will help us to be ever focused on the ultimate reality.
Many people might think that people in spiritual path wouldn’t face any worldly problems. But it isn’t true. Everyone has to face the the prarabdha karma or the fruits of past deeds. But people who are in spiritual path are equipped to handle the situation well.
So when ever we face difficult situations one should patiently bear all the hardship being ever focused on brahman. If one has strong conviction that the world is illusionary and brahman is the only truth , then he will take whatever comes in his life with equanimity of mind. Events in his life may be favourable or unfavourable but he would have sama dristhi meaning he will accept everything as gods blessing .
These are the times when the knowledge we gain in the spiritual path is put to test.
As we take up exams at the end of the academic year before we move to the next class in school, so also such situations in life will teach us at what level we are and what we have overcome and where we have failed. Until we know our drawbacks we cannot progress further in the spiritual path.

Sloka 8:

nigamaachaaryavaakyeshhu bhaktiH shraddheti vishrutaa .
chittaikaagrya.n tu sallakshye samaadhaanamiti smR^itam.h

Meaning: Having faith in the scriptures and in the Guru. Focus of the mind on the truth of ultimate reality is called samadhanam.

Explanation: Scriptures are of 3 types sruti,smrithi and puranas. All the scriptures propound the ultimate reality of brahman. Sruthi is that which is the knowledge of the Rishi’s .Smrithi are directly from a person, Like Gita which is a smrithi. Puranas contain stories which have the underlying truth of the ultimate reality, for people to easily apprehend and remember it. So Scriptures talk about the ultimate reality of Brahman.
Guru is an embodiment of the scriptures. Any word of the guru would have the support of the scriptures. Scriptures serve as ornaments of a Guru. As mentioned in the guru gita slokas “sarva sruti shiroratnam virajita padambhuja” .One can learn great truths which scriptures propound from the life of the Guru. Every small event/incident will have lot of significance and meaning.
A person who claims himself to be guru and asks people to follow what ever he says is a false guru. A real guru would always say that whatever scriptures say is the ultimate truth. Guru is a person who is well versed in scriptures and who dwells in brahman. One can recognize a guru , by the bliss that emanates from him.

Having faith in guru and scriptures is needed for a seeker in the spiritual. One cannot attain liberation without knowledge of scriptures or without faith in guru.

Once a person gets knowledge from guru and when he develops conviction of the ultimate reality, he should always keep his mind focused on the truth, this is called samadhanam.

So we have seen all the 6 fold qualifications till now.In the next sloka the author explains the last of the sadhana chatustayam.

Sloka 9

sa.nsaarabandhanirmuktiH kathaM me syaatkathaa vidhe .
iti yaa sudR^iDhaa buddhirvaktavyaa saa mumukshutaa ..

Meaning: How do I get liberation from the bondages of samsaram?. This strong desire is called mumukshutvam.

Explanation: This is the final sadhana chatustayam sankaracharya is explaining.
When a person has vivekam or discrimination, he attains vairagyam as he understands the truth. Even though a person has the 6 fold qualifications along with viveka and vairagyam, unless he has a burning desire to get liberated , it would not help him to progress in the spiritual path.
A person who has great desire of getting liberated the very moment would actually be liberated in this birth. He should place the desire of getting liberated above all other desires or activities he has in the world. This one point focus on the goal alone will help a person, else it would take him many births to realize.
This is the only desire that would help a person in his life. Any desire is propelled by ignorance , which in turn leads to some actions. But all the desires would produce temporary happiness/sorrow .This strong desire for liberation alone gives him eternal bliss.

This completes the discussions of the sadhana chatustayam explained by sankaracharya.
So having the sadhana chatustayam would help the person to apprehend the knowledge. Without these qualifications a person can gain knowledge but wouldn’t be able to focus himself on the truth .In times of difficulties he will easily sway from the path. So even though he does sravana manana and niddidhyasanam it would be futile for him.

Sloka 10

uktasaadhanayuktena vichaaraH purushheNa hi .
kartavyo GYaanasiddhyarthamaatmanaH shubhamichchhataa ..

Meaning: With all the sadhana chatustayam a person should reflect or think about the truth, the reality of the world. This would give him knowledge and peace of mind.

Explanation: A person endowed with sadhana chatustayam should reflect upon the world and the truth of the world. This is the duty of a seeker in order to gain knowledge. Only when a person reflects on the reality of brahman and temporary nature of the world, do questions arise in his mind. So with a pure mind attained by sadhana chatustayam one should approach the guru with questions. Then the guru imparts him the knowledge of the ultimate reality. As gita sloka says.
“tat vidhi pranipatena pariprashena seva ya”.
Serving the Guru and ask him all the questions.

Thus a person gains the knowledge of the truth. Through constant contemplation on the knowledge imparted by guru, a person gets eternal bliss. So main purpose of vicharam is to gain knowledge.

Hare Krishna

Slokas 1 to 5

2008-01-10T18:28:00.000-08:00

Hare krishna,

Prostrations to the GURU and prostrations to one and all who are but AMMA’s children.

As ordained by SATGURU AMMA ,we shall make an attempt to discuss the text “Aparokshaanubhuti “ in the coming days.

Aparokshaanubhuti is a work written by Sankaracharya. As the name of the text suggests , the purpose of this work is to gain direct experience of the self. Aparokshaanubhuti or direct experience of self cannot be attained without contemplation. Hence this text is a contemplative work, which would help a seeker attain self –realization.

There are 2 kinds of knowledge a spiritual seekers gets in the path. One is parokshaanubhuti , which is the knowledge gained by sitting at the feet of the GURU and knowing the truth of ultimate reality. This is indirect experience,by means of hearing from the GURU. When one dwells on the knowledge imparted by the GURU by sravana ,manana and nidhhidhyasana he gets aparokshaanubhuti or direct experience of the self.

The work starts with sankaracharya explaining the purpose of the work , the target audience,sadhana chatustayam needed for understanding the work, the logic put forth for explaining the nature of the world ,nature of brahmam, explaining how self is different from body ,verses for contemplation on brahmam.

Sloka 1: This work starts with Sankara offering prostrations to God and the GURU.
shriihariM paramaana.ndamupadeshhTaaramiishvaram.h .
vyaapaka.n sarvalokaanaa.n kaaraNa.n ta.n namaamyaham.h .. 1..

Meaning: I am Offering my prostrations to Sri Hari or Vishnu who destroys the passion, who is of nature of eternal bliss , who is the teacher, who is all pervading , who is the cause of the world. Govinda Ananda pada is the Guru of Sankaracharya, who is also referred to here as sri hari paramananda.

Here the cause of the world means that Hari is the substratum of the world. As the world is an illusion in the substratum of brahmam. Its not a cause as a cause keeps changing, but brahmam is changeless.

Sloka 2:
aparokshaanubhuutirvai prochyate mokshasiddhaye .
sadbhireva prayatnena viikshaNiiyaa muhurmuhuH .. 2..

Meaning: The purpose of the work is for Moksha or liberation. Seekers can attain self realization by putting an effort many many times.

Explanation: Any scriptural text would have “Anubandha chatustayam” associated with it. Which is Adhikari or “target audience .vishayam or subject, prayojanam or fruit or purpose, sambandham or relation between subject and prayojanam.This anubandha chatustayam of the work has been mentioned in the sloka above.
The Adhikari of the work are people who are purity of mind, who are the seekers of the truth.
The Subject of discussion is aparokshaanubhuti or experience of the self.
The prayojanam or fruit is attainment of moksha or liberation.
The sambandham between the subject and fruit is that, only when a seeker learns the text does he attain moksha.

After explaining the purpose of the text, the author moves now explains the sadhana chatustayam or the qualifications needed by a seekers to apprehend the text. Anyone is eligible to learn the text, but only a person endowed with sadhana chatustayam as sanakaracharya explains, only will be able to apprehending the reality and thereby attain self-realization.

Sloka 3:
svavarNaashramadharmeNa tapasaa haritoshhaNaat.h .
saadhanaM prabhavetpu.nsaa.n vairaagyaadi chatushhTayam.h .. 3..

Meaning : Doing ones own dharma ,austerities and devotion towards god a person attains sadhana chatustayam to apprehend the reality.

Explanation: Doing the activities necessary for sustenance of the life, which would help one to concentrate on spiritual progress is what sankaracharya talks about. Austerities like japa and dhyaana need to be done along with devotion to the lord, which helps a person to attain sadhana chatustayam .So once a person does his dharma, does activites like dhyaana and japa and had devition towards god, he gets sadhana chatustayam ,which makes a man comprehend the truth of brahmam.

The sadhana chatustayam consists of viveka,vairagya,sama aadi shatka sampatti(or 6 fold qualifications) and mumukshutvam. In the next sloka author explains one of the sadhana chatustayam “vairagya “.

Sloka 4:
brahmaadisthaavaraanteshu vairaagya.n vishhayeshhvanu .
yathaiva kaakavishhThaayaa.n vairaagya.n taddhi nirmalam.h .. 4..

Meaning: A person should have dispassion towards everything right from brahmam to the things of the world,this dispassion is compared with the dispassion a person would have towards the excreta of the crow. Such a vairagya is the pure vairagya that is needed for sadhana chatustayam.

Explanation: Vairagyam is of 2 types para vairagya and apara vairagyam. Apara vairagyam is the dispassion towards the world. para vairagyam is passion towards brahmam along with dispassion towards the world. Vairagyam is not same as virakti, which means aversion towards temporarily due to some bad experiences in life.
Here the author talks about para vairagyam ,wherein the person should consider things as at a higher level like brahmam till the worldly impermanent things in the same way he considers the excreta of the crow. It only means that as a person find excreta of the crow to be useless so also he should find everything in the world as unattractive. He should be to renounce anything in the world as he would ignore the excreta of the crow. This alone is supreme vairagyam.
Only through viveka or discrimination of the real and unreal , the permanent and impermanent, would a person develop dispassion towards everything in the world.

Sloka 5:
nityamaatmasvaruupa.n hi dR^ishya.n tadvipariitagam.h .
eva.n yo nishchayaH samyagviveko vastunaH sa vai .. 5..

Meaning: Atma alone is nityam and all that we see in the world is unreal.Having this conviction is vivekam.

Explanation: Sankaracharya explains vivekam in this sloka. Knowing that atma or self is the only is permanent and all that is seen in the world as impermanent is called vivekam. Except brahmam , everything else is ureal, things seem to exist but do not really exist.
The world seems to exist for us until death, but it really doesn’t exist. Having this knowledge of the only real entity present is called vivekam.Unless a person has strong conviction about the reality ,the ultimate truth, he cannot attain vairagyam or mumukshutvam. Unless he know the what is real he doesn’t develop disppassion towards the impermament and strive for the eternal brahmam.

Hare krishna