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Vivekacudamani Meditations

 
Table of Contents

[Previous Vivekacudamani classes]({% post_url 2020-07-26-vivekachudamani_sp_2020 %})
40 meditation verses, Vivekacudamani translation

Class 1: Introduction

  • niddhhai - deep meditation
  • An informed seeker rejects moksha, artha, kama and goes for the only permanent goal - moksha.
  • What is permanent (nityam) must be available in all three periods in time. If it is available in present, it must be already accomplished (siddhah). Moksha is always already accomplished fact - it can never be a goal to be accomplished in the future (sadhyah). Sadhyah moksha is a logical contradiction, an unholy combination.
  • Sadhya mokshaha never exists, siddhah mokshah always exist.
  • Vedanta starts with thinking. We are working for clear understanding.
  • Cross-ventilation: entering through one ear and existing through the other.
  • Guru might compromise and give some (compromised) sadhya mokshah to the student. Like giving something to do for the children to keep them busy. This is the two-step moksha called 1. jivan-mukti and 2. videha-mukti. Escapist future moksha provided by shastra itself.
  • Adhyaropa - anything provided provisionally meant for the consumption of the junior student. Should be withdrawn later by a serious student.
  • Thus a Vedanta course through sravanam (prasthana trayam), mananam, niddidhiasanam is served. To get the cream of Vedanta through sravanam: brahma satyam, jagan mithya, jivo brahmaiva na parahah.
  • Information I cannot apply unless I’m convinced. Therefore mananam becomes important. Brahmasutra is primary a mananam granta (nayya prasthanam). Bhagavad Gita is called smrti prasthanam. Upanishads are called shruti prasthanam. If I have too many question I will have to go through nyaya prasthanam.
  • Mental preoccupation indicates which anatma is occupying our mind - attachment to what.
  • Until the student can say aham brahmaiva na paraha the sravanam, mananam should continue.
  • I’m the superwaker the consciousness principle and I have two shaktis. With my mayashakti I create vyavaharika dream called jagratprapancha. With nidrashakti I project the pratibhatika dream called svapna prapancha. I project both, I lend existence to both and I make them appear real. But they are mithya. I cannot be located in time and space because they themselves are maya/nidra projection.
  • Meditation cannot produce any knowledge, neither worldly nor spiritual.
  • For the convinced student is niddidhiasanam.
  1. Candidate: student keeping sadhya moksha package in mind. He got the message loud and clear and is convinced he’s the candidate for niddidhiasanam.
  2. Purpose: internalising this message. To get it in the subconsciousness mind so that even in dream or any provoking situation I remember that I’m brahman. I don’t learn new things in niddidhiasanam, I repeat for internalisation. Anatma that is disturbing us: body, mind, family, possessions, profession should be also brought to the scene and jaganmithya should be clearly registered. Atma being asangaha is incapable of relationship. Satyam can never have relationship with mithya. Reducing jivabhava and increasing brahmabhava - emotional reactions will come down.
  • Apavada - removal of what has been introduced (like bandage or scaffolding). Now as a senior student I have to drop the idea of sadhya moksha. Moksha is not a goal. It is my intrinsic nature. If somebody comes and ask “are you jivanmutka” I will only smile. Jivanmukta is initially an inspiring word but can cause vedantic samsara later. Foget jivanmukti and videhamukti and replace by nithyamukti. Aham nityamukti asmi. And in me the drama is going on.

Class 2: Verse 1

  • Candidate: Primarily senior students. For senior students aham brahma asmi is a fact, for junior students an imagination. Vidyaranya says go imagine - junior students can perform niddidhiasanam as well. If one can’t imagine, even recitation of the niddidhiasanam-shlokas will work and spiritually elevate a person.
  • Purpose 1). Jnana nistha: internalization, so that I naturally confront all the situations in live as brahman not as jiva.
  • Purpose 2) reduction of me/mine misconceptions. FIR reduction.
  • Purpose 3) vedantic samsara: moksha (as a) goal misconception must go away. Moksha goal is presented to a junior student, before mahavakya.
  • Post mahavakyam every student should go to the guru and declare how he looks upon himself now.
  • Object: of meditation is not thoughtlessness but content of the three shlokas: braha satyam jiva mithya jivobrahmaiva na paraha.
  • Method: the only condition is that the mind should be totally occupied with the threefold conclusion. No other rules. Then you are in niddidhiasanam.
  • If one is too busy with vyavahara it is better though to have regular times, proper slow breathing (breathing and thoughts are interconnected), proper asanam, pratyahara (withdrawing mind and sense organs from panca-anatma), meditation-friendly place. And then dharana, undistributed absorption in vedantic thoughts.
  • Only when a thought is entertained deliberately for a time it will go into subconsciousness.
  • Progress is measured by getting by checking if one gets closer to the purposes. CLASP rejection. I’m ready for anything.
  • Learn to claim all Brahman’s glories as yours. I’m not a miserable jiva. That should be wiped out from our subconscious life. It is a vesham, dream, drama. I’m a super-waker. Replace the word Brahman by the word I.
  • I’m nithya mutkam brahma. I will never look forward to moksha. That is injustice to mahavakyam.
  • Sacred thread - voluntary bondage.
  • jati - birth, niti - commandments, kula - family, gotra - tribe, lineage
  • dUragam - far away from this.
  • namarupa - world of names and forms.
  • guna - virtues
  • dosha - flaws
  • varjitam - excluded, avoided, without
  • hinduism: marriage is based not on compatibility but on karma yoga.

Class 3: Verse 1 - 4

  • The entire aim of coming to Vedanta is receiving this message alone (mahavakya). Hereafter this message is going to be the anchor of my life. Basis to develop a new outward outlook, basis for relating to the world as Brahman. Triangular -> binary format.
  • In public life, in worldly life, I have to use the triangular format otherwise I’ll be sent to mental hospital. The format change has to happen in private life.
  • It will take some time to get used to it.
  • Even the name Brahman is vyavaharika world. No names whatsoever can be applied in paramarthika. Brahman transcends name, time, space, objectiveness.
  • Empirically real means unreal. It doesn’t have existence apart of Brahman. Saying “unreal” would disturb so we use “empirically real”.
  • If names and forms are dismantled I cannot experience anything.
  • “Mike is”. I appreciate two words: “Mikeness” and “Isness”.
  • vimalabodha - clear knowledge
  • gocaram - available for claiming in the knowledge “aham brahma asmi”.
  • vastu - reality
  • You cannot experience that (Brahman) because you are it.
  • Non-binding expectation of the guru: student claiming aham nitya-mutka.
  • Urmi - huge wave
  • Anatma will have its own problems. Transcend anatma by panca kosha viveka and allow it to go through its lot. It is unstoppable.
    • No body can escape old age and death.
    • Manomaya problems: conflict -> worry, sorrow. Conflict in the buddhi because humans want to make perfect decisions and escape failure. We have no way to knowing if the decision was good or not until the result comes.
  • yogihrd - in the hearts of the senior vedantic students
  • bhAvitam - meditated upon without objectification. Meditation on the meditator (= niddidhiasanam)
  • buddhiavedyam - not objectificable to the intellect also.
  • anavadyam - nirdosham; free of all the drawbacks
  • This entire world is a vyavaharika dream. Now we’re not looking at it from this perspective because we’re spiritually asleep. After becoming a super-waker the only difference from waking up is that I continue to have this experience.
  • bhRanti - maya
  • The entire dream world does not occupy even the complete mind. In the mind infinite vasanas are there and only some vasanas get converted into dream. Dream occupies only a part of the mind and that mind is in the waker. Similarly whole cosmos occupies only a part of maya and that maya belongs to brahman.
  • svAsrayam - self supported, unsupported, independent
  • sadasadvilaksana - different from karyam and karanam
  • nishkalam - partless
  • mithya is both available for inclusion and exclusion. Just like dream or shadow.
  • nirupama - matchless, incomparable
  • For paramarthika there is really no example. akasha and prakasha come closest to it. Look for similarities, not dissimilarities.

Class 4: Verse 4 - 7

  • In niddidhiasanam only conclusions are used. Steps (explanations) were covered during years of sravanam and mananam.
  • A dreamer in dream will never accept that the dream is his projection. Here the niddidhiasanam is assuming that we have understood that this world is a dream. I’m neither the projected world nor the projected body/mind, I’m the consciousness principle behind them which is before, now, after.
  • The knowledge doesn’t reduce the pain but it reduces the impact of the pain.
  • Vedantic meditations one cannot enter without years of study.
  • Six modifications of the body: birth, growth, transformation that doesn’t involve growth or decline, decline, degeneration, death. Consciousness is free of them.
  • apaksaya - declension
  • vyadhi - degeneration.
  • Degeneration is natural. Everybody would like to skip this phase. Yet Vedanta doesn’t offer to cure the diseases (of old age). It offers wisdom to give us healthy attitude when the diseases come.
  • nashanam - death
  • vihinam - free from
  • avyayam - undecaying
  • “Isness” is not separate, yet another expression of all-pervading consciousness.
  • ava (avanam) - preservation, existence, protection
  • vighata - cessation, pralayam
  • Because of intimate bodily sensations one makes the conclusion “I’m the body”. Vedanta revises this conclusion. Example: experience of sunset and sunrise vs. sun not orbiting the earth. Conclusion and attitude don’t change the experience.
  • Matter is an appearance in the consciousness without existing on its own. By observing the matter you lend existence to it. Matter cannot be counted as second entity. Just like you cannot say clay and pot. Pot is clay. There is no world other than me. It is like a dream.
  • aapastam - not negated(-able)
  • niscalam - undisturbed
  • jalaraashi - ocean
  • nistaranga - without waves
  • avibhaktamurta - indivisible nature
  • Vyavaharic/mithya/anatma centric goals can be there. Otherwise mind and body will rest (get sick). Moksha is nityamutka, it as goal is oxymoron. Jnani: as a free bird I’m enjoying the hobby of having various goals for the body/mind/sense organs/family/surroundings etc.
  • The world was there in visible or invisible form in Brahman all the time. But being appearance, it cannot be counted.
  • I don’t want to escape from the world - escapist moksha. I’m the adhisthanam into which the world comes, appears and dissolves.

Class 5: Verse 7 - 10

  • Karanam status of Brahman is adhyaropa - temporary. Once brahman satyam jaganmithya is given, the student is ready for the next stage - apavada, i.e. negation of the karanam status.
  • Then the question comes what is the world? Not a product of Brahman but an appearance in Brahman. Mithya. Of a lower order of reality. Just like a dream. Always in either manifested or unmanifested form.
  • Advaita doesn’t bother about another mithya vastu. It’s only the real that is one.
  • Final mind boggling message - you are that reality.
  • There is no second other real universe other than me the real consciousness. There is only unreal universe which is appearing projected.
  • In our common experience always the causal factor is never one. Many are involved in any creation.
  • Any theory of creation will have logical loopholes. Therefore you’d never accept a creation. World is a mysterious appearance without an beginning or an end.
  • Even if science discovers a god-particle it has nothing to do with Vedanta. That particle will be also part of creation. They can only hover about the unreal. We have no means to identify the reality. Upanishads alone talk about that - consciousness. Which is not in time and space, which it pervades.
  • Niddidhisanam - going to the green room. Go there every once in a while. Self-knowledge demagnifies problems. Recite mātrā-sparśhās tu kaunteya śhītoṣhṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ āgamāpāyino ’nityās tans-titikṣhasva bhārata and smile.
  • nirvikalpakam - divisionless
  • Sankhya comes very close to Vedanta. Yet that say that every jivaatma is an all-pervading consciousness. There are so many all-pervading consciousnesses -> division.
  • I’m always nirvikalpaka, not only in niddidhiasanam, in which I entertain thoughts regarding Brahman exclusively.
  • analpam - not small, not finite
  • aksaram - imperishable
  • yatksaraksaravilaksanam - different from both manifested and unmanifested (Maya) universe; different from material principle
  • avyayam - inexhaustible
  • namarupagunavikriya - the world is not a substance in itself, one Brahman presents itself in the form of name, form, configuration, attributes, changes.
  • If you put maya-glasses the Brahman will appear as universe. If you remove maya-glasses universe will be Brahman.
  • hemavat - like the gold
  • svayamavirkiyam - be itself doesn’t undergo a change
  • cakasti - all the time shining
  • Every perception proves the availability of the medium of light, even though we ignore the medium of light. We focus on what is in light forgetting the medium of light. Vedanta extends this to consciousness - the ultimate light. And (this) light doesn’t require another light to “illuminate” it.

Class 6: Verse 10 - 12

  • Do niddidhiasanam until: whenever I think of me, I spontaneously think of brahman. This is brahmanishta.
  • “There is nothing” (in the vessel). There is also known-ness. Thus there is no time when there is absence of is-ness and known-ness.
  • anaparam - without a karyam (product); not a karyam
  • parAtparam - superior to maya; transcending maya
  • Is-ness of moonlight doesn’t belong to the moonlight. Similarly, Maya depends on Brahman for its existence. Independent existence is the superiority of Brahman. In vyavaharika both are required and respected. Brahman depends on Maya to get Iswara status in the empirical world.
  • pratyag - the inner most principle
  • eka - non dual
  • rasah - without substance attribute dichotomy
  • Atmalakshanam - referred to as atma - I
  • Brahman is not 2nd person, not 3rd person, it is 1st person singular always. Aparokshajnanam: when thinking of Brahman, I think of myself.
  • “Ness” limitation (table-ness; a table can’t be a chair) - vastuparichedah. Brahman is free from time, space and vastuparichedah as well.
  • In karma- and upasanayoga the most important word is Bhagavan. Niddidhisanam involves transcending religion. We respect people who don’t want to. In niddidhiasanam, in spiritually, the most important day is I. Vedanta asks to start the day with aham.
  • dhanyo’ham - I’m the most fortunate one
  • krtakrto’ham - I’ve total fulfillment (because I’ve got purnatvam)
  • vimukto’ham - I’m free of jIvabhava (the intellectual samsara of ahamkara and mamakara and thus of emotional samsara)
  • bhava - samsara
  • nityAnandasvarUpo’ham - I’m of the nature of happiness. If anybody is smiling is anywhere, I’m reflecting his his mind.
  • pUrno’ham - I don’t lack anything. I don’t need to compare with my neighbour. I’m so happy for him. I’m never unhappy with myself.
  • tvadanugrahAt - from your grace
  • Grace of guru is his teaching. As far as we are concerned, we require transformation through words. Initiation or dIksha is consistent systematic teaching. There might be extraordinary ways of transferring teaching, but they are all for jivas with extraordinary upadhis. Human beings require sravanam…
  • I appear a jiva for all others but in my vision I’m not a jiva. I get jivabhava because of my association with the three bodies.
  • anango’ham - I’m without this physical body; (= I’m with mithya physical body)
  • alingo’ham - I’m without sukshma shariram
  • amalo’ham - I’m without impurity; I’m without karana shariram (in this context)
  • abhangurah - imperishable
  • sthuhla shariram perishes at the time of death, sukshma shariram at pralayam, karana shariram at videhamukti.

Class 7: Verse 12 - 15

  • asangoham - three bodies are mithya, as good as absent; I’ve no relationship with the physical body - I don’t call it mine. It is an essential part of the macro-anatma. Satyam cannot have relationship with mithya

  • abhanguraha - nasha rehitah; I don’t have any end (sthula, suksha, karana sharariams end), I will continue even after the end of karana sharira.

  • prashantoham - I’m ever tranquil. Even when the mind is turbulent a jnani can say “I’m non turbulent consciousness illumining the turbulent mind”

  • anantoham - anta rehitah; free from time-, space- and -ness wise limitations.

  • cirantaha - I’m eternal

  • The three sharirams have borrowed consciousness - citabhasa / citpratibimba. They are sentient chetana anatma (with borrowed sentience). Atma is chaitanyam itself. Wall and other objects are acetana anatma. Atma pervades both, cetana and acetana. Self-awareness and I-notion is only possible where cetana antma is there.

  • ahamkara = anatma + borrowed consciousness = cetana anatma

  • sakshi = caitanyam obtaining in the chetana anatma

  • Thus we’re (every being is) a mixture of ahamkara and sakshi. ahamkara alone is karta, bhokta, pramata. Atma the sakshi being free from all modification it is passive, it cannot do anything, sakshi blesses the ahamkara by lending chitabhasa.

  • Invoking, using ahamkara is a required and a blessing. Thinking I’m the ahamkara makes me a samsari.

  • Neither sakshi or ahamkara can say “aham brahma asmi”. When jnani-mixture says “aham brahmi asmi” he excludes the ahamkara component intellectually by bhaga tyaga lakshana.

  • As a karta I generate punya/papam as a bhokta I face the consequences of punya/papam.

  • Ahamkara is ever a samsari. Sakshi is ever asamsari.

  • akriyah = actionless

  • I’m pure consciousness now called sakshi. If the three go away I will lose my sakshi-status but as atma, caitanyam I will continue. Sakshitvam is incidental, consciousness is not.

  • Only for advaitins non-duality does not require disappearance of the world. Not even samadhi. Example: I see myself in the mirror in the hotel. There are two, I and my image. Yet I don’t order two cups of coffee.

  • Due to sheer knowledge jnani knows world is experience and cannot be counted. Therefore keval’ham.

  • sadAshivah - Lord Shiva as Dakshinamurti playing the role of adi brahmavidaya guruh; ever auspicious

  • vibhinna = different

  • evA = definitively

  • even when the worst prarabda attacks ahamkara jnani will never say I’m a samsari. Knowledge is not conditioned by emotions. 2 + 2 will not become 5 because I’m disturbed.

  • pUrna = whole = I don’t lack anything in life.

  • asangah = without relationships. All relationships belong to ahamkara.

  • nissImAh = one who is without boundaries (sIma = boundary)

  • nirantara = without any break; continuous; indivisible

  • idam = this; any anatma which is close to me (this refers to something other than me). Body/mind (three bodies / panca kosha) comes under idam, don’t use aham.

  • adah = that; remote anatma

  • Krishna uses “kshetra” for anatma. Proximate is idam, remote adah.

  • ubhayoravabhAsakam = illuminator, revealer of both

  • param = transdending

  • suddham = uncontaminated by kshetram

  • bAhyAbhyantaraSUnyam = I don’t have the concept of inside or outside

  • brahman = infinite

Class 8: Verse 15 - 17

  • In niddidhiasanam I don’t want to meditate on Brahman as object of meditation. I claim/assert that that Brahman I’m.

  • I’m neither remote nor proximate object. I’m not object at all. I’m the very subject. Any knowledge regarding myself the subject is called aparoksha jnanam. Wrong knowledge about myself is aparoksha mithya jnanam (e.g. I’m jiva). Pratyaksha jnanam - knowledge of proximate jnanam. Paroksha jnanam - knowledge of remote object.

  • I will never look for Brahman. When the word comes maximum I will do is close my eyes and claim I’m that.

  • Avoid saying “attributes” of Brahman, this brings it to vyavaharika level. Use “features”.

  • Without niddidhiasanam jivabhava de-conditioning doesn’t take place. Ahama, mama, raga-dvesha will be ruling parties in the mind.

  • nirupamam - that which doesn’t have a comparison/match. That’s why Dayananda Swamiji says “I doesn’t have plural”. We means I plus you/he/she/it. I, consciousness, existence is without a second. Yet Vedanta makes a compromise and gives akasha and prakasha as closest examples.

  • tattvam - absolute reality

  • Time is. That “is” is Brahman. And to say that you need to be conscious of time. The consciousness is Brahman.

  • kalpana - concepts, ideas

  • dUram - far away

  • Brahman is far away from concepts of I (aham), you (tvam), it (idam) - which are mutually exclusive. 6th chapter of pancadasi: when you take lakshiarta you replace the word “I” by the word self. As the “self” (svayam) is common to first, second and third person.

  • No logic should be involved in niddidhiasanam.

  • All experiential happinesses are myself reflected. Any ananda I enjoy is not coming from the object, it is just helping in surfacing my own ananda to the mind as reflection. Experiential happinesses are temporary reflection of the permanent happiness which is myself. Happiness is not an attribute of my, it is myself.

  • Brahman is expressing as jiva, jagat, iswara at vyavaharika level. One Brahman has four versions. Instead of dwelling on four version of Brahman we dwell on four versions of myself.

  • Don’t say maya belongs to brahman. In niddidhiasanam you say maya belongs to me, brahman. I play the role of the universe, jiva and iswara. Aham eva sarvam (sarvAtmabhava). Taitriya: aham annam (jagat) aham annAdaha (jiva) aham shlokakrt (Iswara).

Class 9: Verse 17, 18

  • I’m jiva, I’m jagat, I’m Isvara. I’m not small, I’m all. SarvAtmabhAva. Aham cetanam, aham acetanam.

  • Purusha (purayati sarvam) - I the absolute version pervade all the empirical versions

  • ishah - master (svatantrah - the independent principle)

  • ahkandabodha - undivided, indivisible, all-pervasive, space-like, formless, invisible consciousness principle; turIyam - paramarhtika version

  • ashesha - sarva

  • Through this body mind I’m the witness of this surrounding area. Through another body/mind I the same consciousness I’m the witness of that particular area. My mind cannot see what Indra’s mind will see. But the consciousness is the same.

  • Ishvara is empirical version of myself, the absolute.

  • narayana (naram ayanam yasya) - Bhagavan associated with causal universe (causal waters; karana prapancha), with Maya. Isvara

  • I’m the Vishnu worshipped by all the people.

  • narakAntako’ham - (I’m) Krisha, the destroyer of Naraka.

  • purAntako’ham - I’m Shiva destroyer of three asura cities (philosophically three sharirams) just by opening his third eye.

  • niIshvaro’ham - there is no god other than me

  • Vedanta is supposed to be secret teaching. Don’t tell this interpretations outside. It will disturb.

  • niraham ca nirmama - I don’t have ahamkara, mamkara limiting me to a body.

  • jnAnAtmanA - in the form of consciousness

  • sarveshu bhUtesvahameva samsthitah - in all livings beings I alone am present

  • antarbahisasaraya san bhotkA ca bhogyam svayameva saravam - Supporting the inner I play the role of bhokta who has agami, sancchita, prarabdda… I’ve taken jiva version. I play the role of the inert universe/jagat also, supporting the outer.

  • I do it to have fun. Only in dream or waking I can enjoy plurality. Like tennis match. Jiva hits the ball - karma, Isvara hits the ball - karmaphalam. The whole world is the court. Ball is the karma. Karma - freewill, karmaphalam - faith confrontation match. Some matches one wins, some the other. You don’t ask why. That’s entertainment, the best entertainment I have all the time remembering the real I is asangah - never touched by successes and failures.

  • To remember it is fun I go to the green room called niddidhiasanam, where I see life as a game or entertainment.

  • svayameva sarvam - I alone am the blessed thing

  • yadyatprthagdrstamidamayA - whichever I saw before as anatma

  • purA - before (here before mahAvakyam)

  • Junior student does neti-neti. Atma-anatma viveka. I’m not the world, the objects. I’m the experiencer … In this I’m accepting dvaitam.

  • This anatma is also me with nama-rupa costume. I’m not this is the beginning. I’m all this is the end. I alone am.

  • Initially the wave has to practice “I’m not the perishable wave, I’m imperishable water.” To learn to differentiate the perishable from imperishable. Later it learns “I the imperishable water alone am in the form of the wave, ocean …” all of them are me in my different version.

  • In the highest, most-important, toughest niddidhiasanam I’m atma and anatma also. The only difference is the atma version of me is paramarthika satyam. The anatma with changing, perishable nama-rupa is vyavaharika version. This is the binary format.

  • As long as you exclude anything out of you that excluded object will make you incomplete. apUrnam. I the existence consciousness principle should expand to infinity that nothing should be outside of me. Even time and space I’m, only then I’ve moksha.

  • mano buddhi ahamkara citani cAham. “Also”. You’d not stop with negation.

  • Escapist moksha - deamonised world. For a beginner for whom the world is a problem. Our moksha is allowing the world. I support the world, I let good and bad events happen. Vyavaharika is mixture of opposites. Don’t get attached to the pluses, don’t hate the minuses.

Class 10: Verse 18 - 20

  • All these verses are just extensions of the mahavakya message.
  • Going through all the shlokas and seeing whether my intellect approves the message in each shloka without doubt and hesitation is a means of self-examination.
  • Clear understanding of mahavakyam is jnanam. There is no other realization, enlightenment… No guru will certify, you have to “certify” yourself. The day you approve, you have jnanam.
  • In vyavaharika I play the role of jiva, in niddidhiasanam-seat I see my four versions. Aham eva idam sarvam (Chandogya 7.25.1).
  • Exclusion gives samsara, inclusion gives purnatvam and thus moksha. Anything excluded outside of you will deny you purnatvam.
  • Dvaita (ppl.): if moksha requires advaitam, I don’t want advaitam. Advaitin never tries to market advaitam. Advatins never disturb other people. If you are dissatisfied with dualism (i.e. mumukshu), then and then alone you come to me I will introduce the upanishadic version of advaitam.
  • I don’t allow any blessed thing to exist outside of me. Everything vyavaharika must be included in the paramarthika me.
  • sukhAmbodhi - ocean of happiness
  • Experiential happiness is temporary, divisible and gradable (priya, moda, pramoda). I’m the original universal and I donate ananda to each mind. Whoever is happy, I’ve donated by reflecting there.
  • vishvavicyah - waves of universes
  • mAyAmArutam - wind of maya (in me generating the waves excited by the law of karma)
  • vibhramAt - calanam, disturbance, vibration
  • In my presence, maya programs unfold. Soft-copies of maya.
  • Jnani: this jiva-version of me I’ve handed over to prarabda. I can use purusharta in cetain cases … But “I’m ready”.
  • Cry in vyavaharika and smile in niddidhiasanam: BG 2.14: matra-sparsas tu kaunteya sitosna-sukha-duhkha-dah agamapayino ’nityas tams titiksasva bharata (fav. verse of Swami P.)
  • When the indivisible is divided it is called seeming division. Like space. All the divisions are unreal from my perspective (as brahman).
  • Just like switching the gear while driving, it looks very difficult in the beginning yet gets automatic. Same way one has to learn to switch between vaciarta and lakshiarta (sakshi caitanyam - consciousness) effortlessly.
  • kalpitA - of lower order of reality.
  • Many people understand mithya as non-existent (forgetting to add “really”).
  • bhramAd - maya, that which deludes a person
  • anusphuranam - citabhasa (in this context)
  • AropiTa - added, quoted, painted (all the sthulasharirams are painted with glowing chitabhasa).
  • Veda: time is indivisible. Division of time is projected by human mind for TX (thus only seeming division).

Class 11: Verse 20, 21

  • niddidhiasanam is not thinking of brahman but as brahman (if he could).

  • Practice looking at world as myself, at Narayana as myself.

  • The four version I’m brahman, I’m jiva, I’m jagat, I’m Isvara we hover around in niddidhiasanam.

  • All the sthula- and sukshma sharirams are superimposed on me. Appear in me and borrow reality (reality is synonymous with existence) from me, just like a dream. I myself provide the reflected consciousness. Otherwise he sthula sharira will be like a statue.

  • Light, space, time are all indivisible. Time and space are first projections by maya (dakshinamurtistotram: desha kala kalana). TX require projected time and space, just like in dream.

  • kala - that which is projected by Maya along with space; brahma-maya sambandah (combination, association)

  • brahman is anadi, maya is anadi thus time is anadi.

  • For the sake of TX we (seemingly) divide time (and space). For enclosing time we use certain events as the enclosure, most popular - sunrise (day).

  • nishkalam - partless

  • nirvikalpam - divisonless

  • In sastra we have a 60 year cycle. Each year is named.

  • Sun and moon - kAlakartAh - progenitors of time.

  • Plurality is superimposed on me. Just like time is seemingly divided, in one me the indivisible existence consciousness principle there is the divided, pluralistic universe consisting of jiva, jagat, isvara. I give reality to jiva, jagat and isvara (incl. all the sthula- and shukshma sharirams) - this is the courage born from understanding the mahavakyam.

  • I’m brahman absolutely, jiva empirically.

  • Aropitam - superimposed = mithya, vyavaharika satyam

  • Empirical reality = vyavaharika, pratibhatika satyam. To give sufficient importance, validity. If you are sick, you take vyavaharika medicine not think that it is mithya.

  • During day-to-day TX don’t use the word mitya, use the word vyavaharika satyam so that you will do your duties properly. So that you’ll be responsible. During niddidhiasanam use the word mithya.

  • The so-called “me” the jiva should itself become a neighbour (in terms of emotional problems). To do so I have to be brahman. Look at jiva as one of the living beings and vyavaharika and subject to all kinds of karma.

  • Accept it as a fact that as a jiva I will have roller-coaster life only. Acceptance of a choiceless situation happens helplessly after long turmoil. The advantage of practising niddidhiasanam is that the intermediary turmoil (anger, frustration…) of a choiceless situation can be avoided. FIR reduction.

  • Resistance magnifies the pain, acceptance makes it tolerable. … it’s OK.

  • Bhagavan also conforms to the law of karma. He will not violate law of karma, he’s to be fair and just.

  • mUdha - atma ajnani

  • dUsitam - affected

  • adhidosha - chronic disease, problem

  • mulAvidya - mayashakti (ajnanam - belonging to great mother?)

  • ashraya - adhisthanam, absolute reality

  • dUshakam - contaminator

  • Mandukya karikam (4th chapter): if you get to moksha, remember, it is not a good news. A moksha that happens in the form of jivanmukti or videhamukti is pseudomoksha. Whatever begins has to end - and samsara will continue. For a junior student getting moksha is good news, for senior not. I don’t want to get moksha. I want to claim moksha in spite of jiva’s ups and downs. Moksha should be here and now. If it is not, it will be never. Vedanta removes hoping for moksha. This jiva-jagat game will endlessly go on. A good movie has to have all kinds of things.

  • Have goals, have vyavaharika goals and as long as we are alive, we’d have goals in life, we should have something to look forward (Swami Chinmayananda). But moksha is not one of them. Only for a junior student moksha is the carrot.

  • I the real atma am never affected by the suffering jiva I. This is my slogan.

Class 12: Verse 21 - 24

  • Cosmic drama: jiva is karta, Isvara karmaphaladata. World is a stage in which this TX goes on and on. Previous karma phala is faith. Interaction is continuous at macro- and micro level and alone responsible for all the events, good and bad. Jiva can never escape from this this cosmic drama and its consequences will affect. Jiva-I use for TX but I should remember that it is the pseudo-I and at regular intervals in niddidhiasanam I should remember the real I is the adhisthanam and all the events do not touch me at all. It doesn’t minimize the issue, it minimizes the impact of this issue.

  • kadApi - at any time

  • ahamkara will always be under the influence. ahamkara cannot get freedom. Therefore use ahamkara for claiming the freedom of myself as the atma. If it is used to worry it is a burden, if for claiming all the beautiful things in the world it is a blessing. Without ahamkara I cannot claim moksha.

  • marIcikAvAri - mirage water

  • mahApravAhah - big stream, big flow

  • UsharabhUmi - desert land

  • bhAgam - portion

  • nArdrIkaroti - does not wet

  • Take the example for limited purposes. Never extend it beyond the required limit. Examples are relative.

  • akashavat - like the allpervading space

  • Beautiful nature whichever Bhagavan claimed in BG 10 as his glory in niddidhiasanam I practice as claiming my glory. Varieties of birds, animals, plants, sun, moon, starts. Possibility of music, dance etc. Fantastic human brain, each of which having so much creativity. Well-designed universe I have projected for my own enjoyment and entertainment. When bad things disturb, I should remember, good and bad are both there, bad is unavoidable, but I’m beyond like akasha.

  • lepa - contamination

  • vidUraka - far away

  • I’m not located in akasha. Akasha itself is located in me, the super-waker.

  • Adityavat - like sunlight

  • Like sunlight I spread over all. People, walls … because of me alone they are knowable. Just like objects become perceptible visually due to light.

  • I’m not one of the members of this vyavaharika prapancha. Time, space atItha paramarthika chaitanyam asmi.

  • bhAsya - illumines

  • vilakshana - different

  • I’m different from the objects but I’m identical with the existence of the objects.

  • ahAryam - mountain (hAryam - that which can be carried)

  • nityavinishcalo’ham - I’m ever steady and stable, always non-movable

  • One of the definitions of god: The Unmoved Mover

  • ambhodhih - water reservoir; ocean

  • pAra - limit, shore

  • sraddha and bhakti are qualifications for Vedanta. A critical mind won’t understand Vedanta.

  • vivarjita - without

  • deheh - threefold anatma

  • I’m the ahamkara-sakshi. The original consciousness in ahamkara is called Sakshi. The seeming “part” which is behind the ahamkara, blessing the ahamkara is called the Sakshi. As many jivas are there so many ahamkaras are there (infinite) and all these ahamkaras are floating like clouds in me who am like space. I accommodate but I’m not connected.

  • adhyAsasambandah - seemingless connection. Like connection between the snake and rope. Just providing support/existence.

  • vihAyas - akasha, the sky

  • meghaih - clouds

  • As long as I’m obsessed with the biography of ahamkara I’ve got ahamkarAbhimana and I’ve missed the mahAvakya-message. ahamkara’s biography has nothing to do with me.

  • taddharmA - ahamkara’s attributes

  • jAgratsvapnasushuptayah - avastatrayam (= attribute of jiva)

  • In each avastatrayam there is a relevant time-space. Indras will have his own time and space. All of them are floating in me.

  • Desiring to escape for the world (escapist liberation) is OK for junior student but should be seen as a joke for senior ones. Why should I be obsessed with one suksha shariram, whether it comes back or not? All these obsessions indicate missing the mahAvakya.

  • kulAdri - mountain

  • upAdhi - three fold contume/sharirams

  • upAdhi with chitabhasa is ahamkara. This is located and travels. ahamkara’s job is samsara. Constantly travelling.

  • AyAti - comes

  • sa eva gacchati - it leaves

  • If you don’t accept the law of karma, we have only one answer: “I don’t know”.

  • sa eva jIryan - that ahamkara alone becomes old

  • death of ahamkara = shedding the outer most skin called sthula shariram.

  • ahamkara-centric (sadhya-moksha) discussion should end with makavakya.

  • sadA niscala eva samstitah - I ever remain steady

  • Even when one ahamkara dies, I continue to be the sakshi of so many other ahamkaras. And above all I will continue the sakshi of the macro ahamkara of bhagavan. That bhagavan who is eternal I continue to be, the sakshi-caitanyam in the bhagavan also, behind the maya and maya pratibimbitam chaitanyam. For me it is an eternal drama, which I don’t look upon as burden. I’m most happy person appreciating the possibility of creation, the fantastic intellect giving amazing gadgets…

Class 13: Verse 24 - 26

  • The more I dwell on the word “I” as brahman/sakshi the more I’m soaking in the message of mahavakya. My conscious thoughts are sakshi-centric thoughts. I’m no longer ahankara-pradhana jiva (samsari).

  • sa:pradhana = primary, dominant

  • Pushing into the subconscious-mind is called nishta.

  • ahankara-pradhana jiva’s thoughts are centered around problems of ahamkara and this makes moksha sadhyam and more and more distant. Moksha doesn’t become distant, moksha will appear distant.

  • For sakshi-pradhana jiva ahamkara’s problems will not be magnified. They become insignificant enough to be ignored. BG 2.14: matra-sparsas tu kaunteya … As ahamkara’s problems become ignorable the “distant” moksha will begin to appear closer. As niddidhiasanam becomes more and more the distant moksha becomes instant moksha. Sadhya-moksha becomes siddha-moksha.

  • My attitude towards ahamkara (body-mind complex with borrowed chitabhasa) also changes. I no longer see ahamkara as burden but it suddenly becomes a rare and glorious blessing that God has given that is available for few more years. The human ahamkara is the rarest blessing. Only human ahamkara-constume can claim the divinity of me the sakshi. If ahamkara is gone, sakshi is no more sakshi. It is all-pervading one atma, I cannot claim aham brahma asmi.

  • No matter how sick the upAdhi, it might be bedridden, it is still better than no upAdhi. I can bath in my divinity. I can experience the projected world which is my own glory. Sun, moon, wind, atmosphere, oxygen, rivers, all the animals, plants … entire nature. Brain, which I use to admire the glory of the universe. And at the same time all the difficulties of the world do not touch me. I know I’m asangah. I enjoy without being affected by all this.

  • Shankaracarya: sampUrnam jagadeva nandanavanam (the whole world is a recreation ground).

  • pravrttih - duty, do’s

  • nivrttih - don’ts, things to be turned away from

  • sadaikarUpasya - always being of one nature

  • niramshakasya - free from parts/libs

  • nibidah - dense, homogeneous

  • nirantarah - gap-less

  • If jnani sings camakam his “me” will be not dative but genitive. jnani the superwaker already owns everything. And there is nobody to compete because I’m advaitam.

  • vyomeva - like the akasha

  • If I’m bold as a sakshi, I come out from niddidhiasanam greenroom, I put the vesha of jiva and enjoy thoroughly the drama. Drama means all sentiment should be there. Nothing wrong with anger etc., but it should be under check. Emotions are no more my burden, they help me being a human being. Even grieving for someone has its meaning, it’s beautiful emotion. All emotions are glory of maya, which is my own glory. Having the facility to handle emotions is jivan-mukti, not freedom from them.

  • However advanced student I might be I’m always alert to maintain daivi sampat dominant and keeping asuri-sampat at bay (they will not become zero). This is the one duty of jiva throughout the life.

  • Converting anatma into blessing is the aim of vedanta, not running away from the world. Enjoying your own glory, music, dance, art … everything is wonderful.

  • Jnani enjoys with closed eyes, jnani enjoys with open eyes.

  • The more I look at me as punyapapavan the more will I think of moksha as distant. Because moksha is defined as a state I will get when I make my karma-balance nil. Makes one all the time worried not to commit any mistakes.

  • kutah mama - where is (the question) of my … (punya papa)

  • nirindriyasya - free from jnane- and karmeindriyani (which are responsible from punya papa)

  • karma becomes karma only when it is deliberately done, i.e. mind is behind it.

  • vikrti - change

  • I don’t have punya papam. Therefore I need not wait for videha mukti. That is all for junior student who is ahamkara pradhana. Senior student = sakshi pradhana = nitya mukti.

  • A jnani is a jnani only when videha mukti becomes non-relevant for him. Because of his claiming nitya mukti.

  • kutah - where

  • akhandasukha - original unreflected undivided happiness

  • anubhuti - chaitanyam

  • whenever I experience happiness I know it is my own xerox-copy. It is not vishaya ananda, jnani names it my pratibimba ananda.

  • Since vedanta is a pramanam this is not an information to be proved later, it is a fact (i.e. if you have sraddha). No other pramanams can prove it as they deal with anatma.

Class 14: Verse 26 - 28

  • Understanding with conviction -> sakshi-pradhana I. Now I don’t have to bring down the karma account to zero. Previously I looked for karma ending, now I’m asserting karma absence. Jnani never gets moksha, he changes he’s attitude towards it.

  • Pre-mahavakya is neighbourization of sakshi, post-mahavakya is neighbourization of ahamkara. I’m obsessed with sakshi rather than with ahamkara and its future situation.

  • Sruti tells me you’re not avasthatrayavan, you are avasthatrayasakshi.

  • What obtains in sleep is the real “I”. Jnani remembers that in the waking also. Therefore he’s able to say “I’m seemingly going through good and bad fortune.” Mahamatsya example.

  • ananvagatam - not associated

  • Let anything happen, the ahamkara is like my shadow, I, the cit, am untouched. We don’t cry if the reflection in the mirror gets away.

  • If moksha is going to be destroying the ahamkara who is going to be there to enjoy the moksha?

  • Travel is always karmaphalam never jnanaphalam.

  • sakshyam - that which is illumined by the sakshi by the donation of reflection. Lending of reflection is not willful. It just happens.

  • udAsinam - non participant

  • When talking about external world we say atma-anatma viveka, when I come to the body/mind complex we say sakshi-sakshyam viveka. Because anatma doesn’t have chitabhasa. sakshyam is superior anatma that can reflex consciousness.

  • Jnani’s emotional disturbances are not non-existing but well contained. They do not spill over to talk and action. Mental fluctuations do occur. Jnani doesn’t feel bad nor questions his moksha because of this.

  • Dayananda Swamiji: be kind to your mind.

  • Mind-based self-judgement we should drop. Mind can be improved, mind cannot be perfected.

  • After mahavakyam mind should be given importance not for the sake of moksha but for vyavahara.

  • Let anything happen. (De Mello: “What does it matter?”)

Class 15: Verse 28 - 31

  • Senior student is sakshipradhana. And when sakshipradhana becomes natural to me it is called jnananistha. I’m brahman which is karya karana vilakshana.

  • Elusiveness of moksha indicates I’m a junior student.

  • If Lord appears in front of you and asks if you want moksha you can only smile.

  • Binary format: there are only two things. Paramarthika satyam and vyavaharika satyam. I the observer am the paramarthika satyam, everything I experience is vyavaharika satyam.

  • Even a perfect jnani will not have perfect anatma. Jnani is one who has learned to reduce the FIR enough to make it manageable (no verbal complains nor physical reactions).

  • I will never connect my mental state with my status of liberation.

  • kalpitam - superimposed

  • All the statuses of atma are superimposed from vyavaharika angle. They do not make me neither superior nor inferior. Sakshi status doesn’t make me inferior to atma- or brahman status.

  • Sun cannot be taken as an accomplice and it will not be affected even though a crime takes place in it. Illumination is not an action, it is svarupam of the sun. Illuminator is not a real status, it is only a kalpitam. We can relaxedly say “I’m sakshi”. Sakshi status never makes me inferior.

  • Another example: burning is also not an action of agni. It will not generate karma for agni.

  • In the mind I the consciousness principle am the sakshi without any action.

  • Sakshi status is superimposed just like rope being the adhisthanam for the “snake”. Yet rope is never affected by the status.

  • The moment I complain I’ve identified with ahamkara and its problems. Mind has a problem. I will never complain I have a problem. I’m mutkah. I’m happy. Mind has certain issues. I enjoy handling the issues, I’m never affected by mind’s issues. Just like a mother enjoys the baby, even though it causes a lot of problems. I will never identify with the status of the mind.

  • In niddidhiasanam I practice non-complaining attitude. Typical definition of samsara is complaining nature. Junior student continues that. Moksha: I’ve no complaints even when everything is going to hell. I’ve donated the (complaining) ahamkara to prarabdha.

  • kUtastah - changeless

  • kartA - directly doing. kArayita - instigator (I get it done by somebody else)

  • In my presence good and bad actions happen. I’m neither the doer nor the instigator.

  • Reflection characteristic depends on the reflecting medium. Reflection (ahamkara) is subject to fluctuation, never the OC. Pratibimba is shaky (sa:lola), never bimba surya. Mind is shaken, I can never be shaken. Example: sun reflection on the water.

Class 16: Verse 31 - 33

  • ahamkara is required for niddidhiasanam. Yet we’re making it a just costume for both worldly and spiritual transactions.
  • Junior student will admire sastra and the guru, but when it comes to himself, he continues to act as a samsari - full of complains. Only some more vedantic complains have been included. That’s the only difference to a worldly person. He can never appreciate the self-glory and the fulfillment.
  • Senior student is able to share the self-glory to his guru.
  • In front of a senior student the guru is satguru, infront of a junior one sad guru.
  • Junior student is ahamkara pradana - obsessed with the deficiencies and problems of ahamkara. Senior student also might share ahamkara issues with the guru but doesn’t dominate the conversation. It does not overshadow the joy of teaching and of his own glory.
  • Gratitude shows, indicates shishya’s fullfillment, freedom from samsara. He admires his glory and shares that with the guru. He always concludes the conversation with thanks to the guru for his teaching, due to which he can ignore the pseudo-problems.
  • Chitabhasa and sharira trayam is always shaking because of ups and downs caused by prarabda. Whereas my original face is unshaken.
  • A senior student is aware but never allows the ahamkara issues to dominate his mind.
  • Pratibimba laulyam - shaking of upadhi
  • The junior students and worldly people transfer those fluctuations of the pseudo I to their real I, which is all the time action-less, changeless, travel-less. Like somebody looking at the sun’s reflection on water and saying “the sun is shaking”.
  • General junior student complain: Vedanta is wonderful in the class, in vyavahara I forget. Senior says “even when in vyavahara I forget, that’s ahamkara’s problem. I did forget, I did react, yet still I’m not brought down by this. This is ahamkara’s problem. I will address it, but I don’t have a problem”. “I won’t react to the fact that I reacted.”
  • Senior students’ conclusion: in spite of all problems, I know it is a huge drama in the vyavaharika. I will not be overwhelmed by the problems. But thanks to your teaching I know I’m fine. Matra sparshastu kaunteya… Even though I was obsessed for … (one hour), I know it is nothing.
  • We should psychologically prepare ourselves: I’m not special from the standpoint of ahamkara. Deliberately prepare the mind. Vedanta is best immunity for the mind. What is Vedanta? “I’m willing to accept whatever comes”
  • Samsara conversation can be there but all samsara conversation should end “I’m never affected by the conditions of that body”.
  • As a free I, I improve my ahamkara without complaints.
  • From the standpoint of atma the word “liberation” is meaningless. Only from the superimposed ahamkara we speak about bondage and liberation.
  • When ahamkara forgets Vedanta I’m not worried about forgetfulness of ahamkara, because even at that time I’m free.

Class 17: Verse 33 - 37 (I’m neutral. Everything is OK, no complaints)

  • Final pair of binding attributes - bandha and moksha. Ajnanakale, both will be equally real. Jnanakale both become vyavaharikam. They are all concepts of the intellect, as long as brahman is concerned they are not there.

  • Current creation has a beginning, middle and an end. Yet creation is a cyclic and eternal process -> I’m eternal, maya is eternal, in me the world is eternally present. During pralaya the world is there in potential form.

  • Whether we daemonize or divinize the world depends on our biography. Escapist moksha is generally entertained by people who are suffering a variety of problems. Concept of moksha depend on the type of karma that we face.

  • Even though the world is permanently in me, I’m permanently free from its problems. 4th capsule: I’m never affected by maya and maya’s products. Once we start enjoying the world a bit we’ll say let it come again and again.

  • Vedanta: you’re really mukta only when you have neither like nor dislike for the world, nor like or dislike for punar janma. I’m neutral with regard to birth and death. That is transcendence.

  • I look from the distance at the body, it has its good sides and not so good sides. But I don’t react. Body will be affected, I’m not affected. I’m like space, maya products just like clouds can never touch me.

  • Jnanam increases titiksha (endurance), it is its most powerful cause. We learn to bear.

  • I’m neutral. Everything is OK, no complaints.

  • If I have not understood, I will only repeat guru’s words. I should be able to present in my words (like verses 35 - 37).

  • I’m Brahman, I will not look at myself as miserable jiva.

  • Brahman is me alone and not an object to be experienced at a particular time. Or in a different state called 4th state. If it is experienced in a different state, it will be an object available only in that particular state. Ever the subject, never object. Niddidhisanam: not thinking about brahman, but as brahman.

  • vyomaprakyam - resembling akasha (vyoma is akasha)

  • When Nataraja dances with Maya, Maya is active. Then whole creation is Nataraja’s dance. Resting brahman is pralayam, dancing brahman is universe. Dancing is as-though.

  • Brahman is neither paroksham nor pratyaksham, brahman is aparoksha chaitanyam.

  • Big philosophical conundrum. Is evil included in God or not? Either way you have a problem. Advaitam alone says “evil is included in God, but of a lower order of reality, thus Brahman continues to be shuddham”. Wickedness is also God, but God is free from wickedness.

  • Vedanta progression: 1) brahman is creator, supporter, pervader and illuminator of the world. For junior student you accept the world and duality in this form. 2) Once student starts going to the class and teacher is confident he will not go away, you say brahman alone is appearing in the form of the world with different nama rupa. Ornaments are gold; no two things. 3) Really speaking all the name and forms are maya projections not existing by themselves. Sarva shunyam - brahman is without the nama rupa prapancha. World has no existence of its own, it is appearing.

  • Never empty the mind and wait for brahman to come. Entertain thoughts in which the word “I” is used and let it mean the 5-featured consciousness.

  • With regard to brahman words “attributes” or “substance” are taboo. We compromise and use the word “features”. Satyam. Jnanam. Anantam. Anandam.

  • Filter the existence out of the names and forms. Mic minus mic what is left out is pure “isness” - God.

  • No particular experience, not even mystical one, will objectify pure existence.

Class 18: Verse 37 - 40

  • Infinite distinctions are there in the universe. They are broadly classified into three: jiva (karta), jagat (the field), isvara (karmaphaladata).

  • Bhedas are OK as long as they are understood as vyavaharika satyam. Give sufficient reality to enjoy to the movie, but not more. I’m like the screen spreading through every object of the universe.

  • I don’t want to meditate on brahman, I want to dwell on the fact that I’m brahman. Hey guro, tat advaitam brahman aham asmi.

  • nishkriyosmi - I’m actionless

  • Jnani subconsciously remembers he’s actionless even when he’s consciously engaged in the world.

  • AkRti - form, shape

  • space is subject to birth and death, whereas I continue to exist even when time and space fold.

  • I’m atma nirbharata (self reliant) for all my emotional needs. This 40 verses are my inner resources, my bank.

  • Not only paramarthika satyam I’m, vyavaharika satyam I’m as well. In three different forms: jiva, jagat, isvara. I’m the self, the inner essence, the existence (sat) and consciousness (cit) in everything vyavaharikam. Therefore aham sarvAtmakah and sarvAtitah, I transcend all the tree.

  • sarvAtmakah - immanent

  • sarvAtitah - transcendental. Screen pervades but screen never gets dirty. Different, higher order of reality. And advayah.

  • nirantarah - without any gap

  • sarvoham - anatma I’m as well. With costumes I alone appear as jiva, jagat, isvara.

  • Dayananda: I’m small -> I’m all (small minus self-ignorance and self-misconception).

  • Guru’s compassion and grace is in the form of consistent and systematic teaching, making himself available with the disciple.

  • Ahetukadaya - guru doesn’t expect anything, not even thanks, not even namaskara.

  • Satguru = sri guru = brahma vidya guru.

  • Now student doesn’t require the guru because the guru is available with him as the very teaching. He doesn’t require a physical guru outside because he doesn’t miss the guru.

  • Whenever opportunity comes they (student/guru) now teach whenever the possibility arises. Or do lokasangraha. Or any blessed thing, after total internalization.

Consolidation

  • This is meant for someone who has done years of sravanam and mananam. Until I’m convinced brahman satyam, jagat mithya, ahambrahmaivo naparah.
  • Expected benefits:
    • jnana nishta. For all my internal emotional needs I should be able to switch from god-dependence to self-dependence. My knowledge gives me courage, strength. I’m ready to face anything.
    • Siddha-moksha instead of sadyamoksha (ahamkarapradhana - I judge myself based on ahamkara pradhana). Instant not distant moksha.
    • From emotional disturbance to emotional calmness. Reduction of ahamkara, mamakara, raga and dvesha. Vayragyam refinement. What? -> So what?! FIR Reduction (samatvam). Yet emotional benefits are byproducts for the anatma, which is mithya and which is useful for vyavahara. But I’m not anatma, I’m ever free atma.

Class 19: Upasanam

  • Upasanam is before and during sravanam and mananam until I feel I’m ready for niddidhiasanam.
  • Isvara is defined as a composed entity consisting of two factors: brahman and maya. Maya is the basic raw material, which alone serves as the basis for evolution of the entire universe, consisting of time, space, matter, energy and all things and beings in the cosmos. From that angle maya is called prakrti.
  • Everything is Isvara. The non-changing brahman part is called paramarthika part, the changing part (nama, rupa, karma - function) is called vyavaharika part. Sarvamisvaramayam. Sarvamvishnumayam jagat. Sarvamsivamayam.
  • Meditation on vyavaharika part is called upasanam. Meditation of paramarthika part is called niddidhiasanam. Both are compulsory and important for all spiritual seekers. Without upasana niddidhiasanam is impossible, without niddidhiasanam upasana is incomplete.
  • There is istadevata upasana and visvarupa upasana.
  • Istadevata (chosen deity) upasana - one of the important goals is to form a stable relationship, a stable bonding with a deity. This is spiritually and psychologically (for emotional courage and endurance - to handle unstable worldly relationship) useful.
  • Practice istadevata by spending some quality time with your deity each day once or twice. This leads to development discipline, thought discipline and willpower - integrated personality (once the intellect decides, body mind complex implements).
  • Upasana is mental. If invoking lord is done verbally it is karma. If done verbally, mind should listen consciously. Otherwise tongue will repeat, mind will worry.
  • If done as nishkama upasanam it gives adrstha phalam, which is very important for spiritual seekers. It will give the right guru, all qualifications, remove obstacles etc.
  • Concluding auto-suggestion: with the backup of istadevata I’m ready to face today. I’ve courage in regard to future and endurance in regard to current situation. Second auto-suggestion: I take resolve to follow karma yoga throughout the day. I tell the Lord “Oh Lord, I will follow your instruction. I will dedicate every karma to you and I will accept without complaint whatever karmaphalam comes decided by you as prasada and maintain samatvam.” This is the remedy to fear.
  • With sincere practice the person can see the difference right away. There is a relaxation, there is calmness, there is tremendous change in the personality.
  • Visvarupaisvara upasana: divinization of the world. Whatever I experience is God. I visualize that the entire universe I look at is God when looked by through divyacakshuh (scriptural teaching). All the sky is lingam, all stars are gems, which are ornaments of Bhagavan. Blue sky is nIlakantah. Beyond the sky is Bhagavan’s head - agnirmurtacakshushicandrasuryau. I name Visvarupaisvara based on my istadevata. If my istadevata is Shiva, all universe for me is Shiva. Shiva as deity, shiva as universe.
  • If body and mind is seen as Bhagavan’s, where is the question of ahamkara and mamakara? Similarly raga and dvesha get neutralised.
  • Once I practice upasana I get desire to know the non-changing part of Isvara as well. Being satisfied with istadevata is delusion. It is an obstacle to moksha.
  • The paramarthika version can never be objectified so you have to go beyond dvaita bhakti.
  • After niddidhiasanam you can do daily puja. Nothing wrong. But at the end of puja remind yourself. The worshipper I’m, the worshipped I’m. Aham eva idam sarvam.
  • Istadevata upasanam -> visvarupaupsanam -> brahmajnanam. Ekarupadhyanam, anekarupadhyanam, arupadhyanam.
  • I should come to niddidhiasanam and say “I’m jiva, jagat, isvara, brahman”.

Translation

1 / 254

Beyond birth, creed, family and tribe, free from the distortion of attributes of name and appearance, transcending locality, time and objects, you are That, God himself. Meditate on the fact within yourself.

2 / 255

That supreme Reality beyond the realm of anything that can be said, but the resort of the pure eye of understanding, the pure reality of Consciousness-Awareness-Mind, etc. — you are That, God himself. Meditate on the fact within yourself.

3 / 256

That which is unaffected by the six afflictions (of aging, death, hunger, thirst, desire and ignorance), which is meditated on in the heart of the devotee, unrecognised by the senses, unknown by the intellect — you are That, God himself. Meditate on the fact within yourself.

4 / 257

That basis on which the mistakenly imagined world exists, itself dependent on nothing else, devoid of true and false, without parts, and without mental image — you are That, God himself. Meditate on the fact within yourself.

5 / 258

That which is indestructible, free from birth, growth, development, decay, illness and death; which is the cause of the creation, maintenance and destruction of everything — you are That, God himself. Meditate on the fact within yourself.

6 / 259

Free of parts, of an unchanging quality, undisturbed like a waveless sea, declared to be of an eternally indivisible nature — you are That, God himself. Meditate on the fact within yourself.

7 / 260

Itself One but the cause of the many, the supreme Cause which does away with all other causes, itself devoid of distinctions of “cause” and “effect” — you are That, God himself. Meditate on the fact within yourself.

8 / 261

Without modification, great and unending, the supreme Reality beyond destruction and indestructibility, the eternal unfading, unblemished, fulfilment — you are That, God himself. Meditate on the fact within yourself.

9 / 262

That Reality which manifests itself as the many through the illusions of names, shapes, attributes and changes, but which, like gold is always itself unchanged (in different objects) — you are That, God himself. Meditate on the fact within yourself.

10 / 263

That, beyond which there is nothing, but which shines beyond everything else, the inner, uniform self-nature of being-consciousness-joy, infinite and eternal — you are That, God himself. Meditate on the fact within yourself.

11 / 488

Through your grace I am blessed, I have achieved the goal, I am freed from the bonds of samsara, I am eternal bliss by nature, and fulfilled.

12 / 489

I am free, I am bodiless, I am without sex and indestructible. I am at peace, I am infinite, without blemish and eternal.

13 / 490

I am not the doer and I am not the reaper of the consequences. I am unchanging and without activity. I am pure awareness by nature, I am perfect and forever blessed.

14 / 491

I am distinct from the seer, hearer, speaker, doer and experiencer. I am eternal, undivided, actionless, limitless, unattached — perfect awareness by nature.

15 / 492

I am neither this nor that, but the pure supreme reality which illuminates them both. I am God, the indivisible, devoid of inside and outside, complete.

16 / 493

I am uncomparable, beginningless Reality. I am far from such thoughts as “you”, “me”, and “this”. I am eternal bliss, the Truth, the non-dual God himself.

17 / 494

I am Narayana, I am the slayer of Naraka and of Pura. I am the supreme Person and the Lord. I am indivisible awareness, the witness of everything. I have no master and I am without any sense of “me” and “mine”.

18 / 495

I abide in all creatures, being the very knowledge which is their inner and outer support. I myself am the enjoyer and all enjoyment, in fact whatever I experienced before now.

19 / 496

In me who am the ocean of infinite joy the manifold waves of the universe arise and come to an end, impelled by the winds of Maya.

20 / 497

Ideas like “material” are mistakenly imagined about me by people under the influence of their presuppositions, as are divisions of time like kalpas, years, half-years and seasons, dividing the indivisible and inconceivable..

21 / 498

The presuppositions of the severely deluded can never affect the underlying reality, just as the great torrent of a mirage flood cannot wet a desert land.

22 / 499

Like space, I am beyond contamination. Like the sun, I am distinct from the things illuminated. Like a mountain, I am always immovable. Like the ocean, I am boundless.

23 / 500

I am no more bound to the body than the sky is to a cloud, so how can I be affected by its states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep?

24 / 501

Imagined attributes added to one’s true nature come and go. They create karma and experience its effects. They grow old and die, but I always remain immovable like mount Kudrali.

25 / 502

There is no outward turning nor turning back for me, who am always the same and indivisible. How can that perform actions which is single, of one nature, without parts and complete, like space?

26 / 503

How can there be good and bad deeds for me who am organless, mindless, changeless and formless, and experience only indivisible joy? The scriptures themselves declare “he is not affected” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.3.22).

27 / 504

Heat or cold, the pleasant or the unpleasant coming into contact with a man’s shadow in no way affect the man himself who is quite distinct from his shadow.

28 / 505

The qualities of things seen do not touch the seer, who is quite distinct from them, changeless and unaffected, just as household objects do not touch the lamp there.

29 / 506

Like the sun’s mere witnessing of actions, like fire’s non-involvement with the things it is burning, and like the relationship of a rope to the idea superimposed on it, so is the unchanging consciousness within me.

30 / 507

I neither do nor make things happen. I neither experience nor cause to experience. I neither see nor make others see. I am that supreme light without attributes.

31 / 508

When intervening factors (the water) move, the ignorant ascribe the movement of the reflection to the object itself, like the sun which is actually immovable. They think “I am the doer”, “I am the reaper of the consequences”, and “Alas, I am being killed.”

32 / 509

Whether my physical body falls into water or onto dry land, I am not dirtied by their qualities, just as space is not affected by the qualities of a jar it is in.

33 / 510

Such states as thinking oneself the doer or the reaper of the consequences, being wicked, drunk, stupid, bound or free are false assumptions of the understanding, and do not apply in reality to one’s true self, the supreme, perfect and non-dual God.

34 / 511

Let there be tens of changes on the natural level, hundreds of changes, thousands of changes. What is that to me, who am unattached consciousness? The clouds never touch the sky.

35 / 512

I am that non-dual God, who like space is subtle and without beginning or end, and in whom all this from the unmanifest down to the material is displayed as no more than an appearance.

36 / 513

I am that non-dual God who is eternal, pure, unmoving and imageless, the support of everything, the illuminator of all objects, manifest in all forms and all-pervading, and yet empty of everything.

37 / 514

I am that non-dual God who is infinite Truth, Knowledge and Bliss, who transcends the endless modifications of Maya, who is one’s own reality and to be experienced within.

38 / 515

I am actionless, changeless, partless, formless, imageless, endless and supportless — one without a second.

39 / 516

I am the reality in everything. I am everything and I am the non-dual beyond everything. I am perfect indivisible awareness and I am infinite bliss.

40 / 517

I have received this glory of the sovereignty over myself and over the world by the compassion of your grace, noble and great-souled guru. Salutation upon salutation to you, and again salutation.