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SvetAshvatara Upanishad

 
Table of Contents

Summary
Svetasvatara_Upanishad SA-EN 1949

Class 1: 1 / 1, 2

  • Compilation, thus not a systematic teaching, yet covers all the important vedantic ideas.

  • Highlights isvara jnanam as the only means of moksha. Purna isvara jnanam - both saguna and nirguna version.

  • Svetaashvataraupanishad: you can attain moksha through other methods other than jnanam if you fulfill this condition: you’ve to roll the sky from one side to the other just like a carpet and present it to god, god will give moksha without jnanam.

  • The only path for jnanam: guru sastra upadesha. Jnanat eva kayvalyam.

  • For jnanam we require jnana jogyata, mind must have refinement. For this only there are several paths.

  • Senses are compared to horses. Kathopanishad: only when these are under our control, the journey will be safe and successful. Horses must be under the control of the driver. White stands for sattva guna, thus svetaasva means sattvic sense organs, restrained sense organs. Thus svetaasvarishi = disciplined seeker, mind, senses, intellect are under his control.

  • Tara is a suffix indicates superior self-restraint, discipline. Thus svetaasvatararishi = extraordinary self-control.

  • Healthy relationship: Guru must have love and compassion towards the sishya. Sishya must have sraddha and bhakti towards the guru.

  • We have a freewill but it is not a controlling freewill, only contributory freewill.

  • Moral order = law of karma. Scientists deal with physical order, dharma shastra deal with moral order. Together are called vyavasta - the universal order.

Class 2: 1 / 2 - 4

  • Jagat karanam kim? Inquiry starts with possible causes of creation: kAlah, svabhavah (nature), niyatih (loss of karma), yadrccha (chance, coincidence, randomness), bhutani. Or 6th samyoga - combination of all these five factors.
  • Conclusion: all these either independently or collectively cannot be the cause for creation. Reason: atmabhava - because of the presence of their observer. All the factors are proved by the observer the living being. Atma is the drg drastha, all of them become drshyam. Being drshyam they are acetana in nature and cannot create a meaningful or purposeful products. To do this, they require an intelligent, combining principle.
  • 7th factor. Purushah (the jivAtma)? No, because anIshah. He doesn’t have enough power nor knowledge for creation. JivAtma is subject to sukha/dukha which he is not able to control.
  • What about brahman? Brahman by itself is akarta, asangah etc. Pure brahman is karya karana vilakshanam.
  • Guru for rishis with extraordinary sattvaguna is Isvara himself. We require manushya guru.
  • Brahman associated with shakti (maya power) only can become cause for creation. Word “shakti” indicates it doesn’t have independent existence. It has to rest in the “powerful”.
  • Brahman with mayashakti becomes nimita karana and material cause as well. Maya makes brahman a vivarta karanam (or adhisthana karanam) - brahman produces the universe without undergoing any change. Example: dream.
  • We don’t appreciate Ishvara vibhuti (mahima, shakti) because we’re caught up in various products of the creation. Because of ahamkara we’re preocuppied with a segment of creation.
  • brahman supports and blesses all the factors considered in previous shlokas. They all contribute to the creation, but they themselves independently cannot contribute. Jivas’ contribution to creation is punya and papam. Without our karmas Bhagavan cannot create a world.
  • First avataram of Bhagavan is the universe (vishvarupaIsvara) itself. Its uniqueness is it continues and is available even now, unlike other avataras.
  • Two images are given by Svetaashvatara upanishad: giant wheel (expression of vishvarupaisvara), huge river.
  • Maya is the periphery, the rim of the universe. The size of the universe is determined by the size of Maya. Size of Maya is immeasurable. 5% of the universe is ordinary matter (perceivable galaxies), 68% dark energy, 27% dark matter.

Class 3: 1 / 4 - 6

  • Maya is shakti for brahman (pramana svetAsvatara 1.3). This maya sahita brahman becomes nimita and vivarta upadhana karanam. Brahman is first presented as nimita karana, then that he becomes upadana karana, finally revised to “brahman appears as the universe”.
  • Visvarupaisvara: God is available as pratyaksha jagat all the moment. Here visvarupaisvara is visualised as cosmic wheel. because: 1) it is constantly in motion 2) motion of the world is cyclic motion: seed becomes the tree and out of it the seed again comes; clouds <-> water. 3) wheel or a cycle doesn’t have a beginning or an end. Never ask when did the universe start, it is not logical because it is a cyclic process.
  • There is only one powerful bondage in the world. Pasha - chain; attachment, raga, kama. Kama also has visvarupam - multifarious desires.
  • ekamoha - one, universal delusion. Anatma abhimana; ahamkara adhyasa in sharira trayam and mamakara in outside sharira trayam.
  • Because of punyam abhimana in good anatma, because of papam abhimana in bad anatma.
  • Universe is imagined as a huge river. NadI kalpana. With 5 different streams/tributaries, because we experience the universe through five sense organs. And there are five basic materials (pancha bhutani) as its cause. And the universe has waves of events which are good and bad in the form of panca pranas/urmi. And panca jnanani (shabda, sparsha, rupa, rasa, gandha) for which mulakaranam is the mind. And pancha avartam (whirlpools) in the form of fivefold tempting sense objects in which we fall and get sucked in the samsara river. And collection of five-fold miseries (pancha dukha bhoga) vegam (powerful current): garbhavasah (solitary confinement in womb), janma, mrtyu, jara, vyadih (diseases).
  • The universe is unpredictable and uncontrollable. The movement of the universe is always vakra gatih (non-linear motion).
  • The world has fifty (meaning numerous) divisions, each one contributing to a particular branch of science. And panca parvam (five stages) - panca kleshah: avidya -> asmita -> raga -> dvesha -> abhinivesha (instinctive and universal attachment to the body and life).
  • Avidya: wake up, mix up, mess up.
  • Asmita = ahamkara is neither atma nor anatma. Pure atma cannot say “I’m”. Anatma cannot say “I’m” because it is jadam, made out of matter.
  • Jiva. One who is in constant movement is called hamsah. Hanti sarvada gaccati. And the movement is most of the time not determined by our choice.

Class 4: 1 / 6 - 8

  • prtag - different
  • Body is an intimate object but still an object and part of the world. Therefore I’m different from the body. Same goes for the mind. When I claim the observer and exclude the mind I’m called sakshi. When I include the mind I’m called pramata.
  • Sakshi jivatma is identical with paramatma.
  • prerita - paramatma
  • Chinmudra: index finger is jivatma, thumb is paramatma, other three are anatma.
  • Sense of fulfilment: not missing anything in life.
  • udgitam - revealed in the sastram as the higher order of reality
  • Higher order of reality has to be support for the lower order of reality.
  • In brahman the world of threefold division (triputi) exists: experiencer, experience, instrument. Savikalpaka prapanca rests on nirvikalpa brahman.
  • World is always with division, even during susuphi and pralayam there is division in potential form. It is only seemingly nirvikalpa. Brahman is always nirvikalpka.
  • Mithya is useful for entertainment. Satyam is useful for security. Samsara is expecting security from anatma in the form of profession, position, relationships… jnani uses the world but doesn’t lean upon it.
  • Vedanta: appreciate everything in the world. Never psychologically, emotionally lean on any blessed thing incl. your own body.
  • Sravanam, mananam and lifelong niddidhiasanam.
  • Between jivAtma and paramAtma there is no distance and therefore there is no question of merger. “Merger” is figurative. Dropping the misconception (I’m- different and I’m distant) is called “merger”.
  • Bhagavan is called visvam bharah (supporter).
  • Pralayam. Just like when going into sushupti - all the different people and objects merge into blankness. That is not nothingness but potential universe.
  • Helplessness is the most prominent expression of samsara. Helplessness to frustration, anger, depression. Samsara: feeling of being trapped… all because of bhoktrbhava, notion that I’m a karta and bhokta, coming from ignorance.
  • anisha - jiva
  • pasha - shackles. Here: misconceptions in the mind. Connecting my happiness and unhappiness to various people and things are the shackles. Even because of the powerful unfavourable event I should not lose sight of this teaching, then I’m free.

Class 5: 1 / 9, 10

  • samsara karanam ajnanam
  • both paramatma and jiva are anAdi. We should never speak about Isvara creating the jiva. Isvara is not, cannot and need not to create jiva. Jiva’s fundamental body - karana shariram is anadi and it has infinite sanchita karma. At the time of srishti what bhagavan creates is not jiva but only sukshma and stula shariram (according to karma). For vyavahara both are required.
  • How many jivas are there? Countless, they cannot be of any finite number. Each jiva has anadi karana shariram. In the karana shariram countless karmas are there. In keeping with the karma bhagavan gives susksha sthula shariram. New jivas are never created. If he has to create new jiva, on what basis he’ll create the jiva if no previous karma is there?
  • Jiva being anadi, the karma are anadi as well. Each jiva has infinite bundle of punya/papa karma.
  • Third beginningless one is maya/avidya/prakrti.
  • There are six anadi principles in advaitam: jiva (associated with karana shariram), ishvara (associated with karana prapancha), cit, jiva isvara bheda, avidya/maya (karana prapancha and karana shariram mixture), kala (association (joga) between pure consciousness and maya). According to advaita vedanta maya brahma sambandah is called kala (time).
  • Of these six principles only one is satyam. Other five belong to vyavaharika satyam.
  • Mayas job is manifestation of triputi. Triad of subject, object and linking instrument. We ourselves do that with the help of nidra shakti.
  • Jivatma, paramatma, anatma are not three members. They appear three but they are threefold appearances of one brahman, that is neither jivatma, nor paramatma nor anatma but is ekatma.
  • Non-dual Brahman cannot be recognised as an object. If he would, then itself there is a duality. I’m he recogniser and brahman is recognised.
  • I, Brahman, alone appear as jiva, jagat, isvara. That triangle is my appearance. I’m visvarupah. Therefore, where am I located? Everything is located in me. Therefore moksha is not escaping from the world, moksha it accommodating the world in me without resistance.
  • I’m akarta, abhokta. Therefore, how much karma do I have? I seem to have, but I don’t have sanchita, prarabda, agami.
  • Aham anantah asmi. Desha, kala atitha asmi.
  • In the triangular format (vyavaharika, empirical world), always three are there. Jiva, jagat, isvara and in this field jiva is always miserable.
  • Harah - isvara - lord Shiva. Amrta aksharam. Immortal and changeless (imperishable).
  • Isvara controls jiva and jagat by being karmaphaladata. Isvara controls the jiva and world through the rope of karma.
  • Bhagan is not cruel. Bhagavan is fair.
  • So what is the use of bhakti if bhagavan has to do what he has to do? It helps in FIR reduction. So what should I do? Get out of triangular format.
  • Jivaatma and paramatma are superficially different like wave and ocean. Are they different or not? Superficially different but essentially not there. There is no such thing called wave and ocean. They are two words but not two substances. There is only water.
  • Practice sravanam, mananam, niddidhiasanam. How long? Until the influence of maya - taking the duality as satyam (bheda satyatva bhAvanA) - is gone. Once it is gone I will experience plurality but never commit the mistake of taking it as absolutely real. It is name and rupa, a play, a leela, a dance … remembering the 5th capsule.
  • bhUyah - again (and again)

Class 6: 1 / 10, 11

  • As long as we’re in the spell of maya our world-view will be in the form I’m jivah and in front of me there is a world and there is an isvara who is controlling both jiva and jagat.
  • Even death will not put an end to the suffering because there will be a new janma. Same goes for pralayam. We’ve to change the very world-view to get out of the spell of maya.
  • When the spell of nidra is so strong what to say of maya.
  • If ishvara is experiencable that isvara is also mithya. But if you define him as drg sakshi caytanyam he’ll be mithya.
  • Once I’m able to hold the worldview “aham satyam sarvam anyat mithya” it indicates the maya influence is gone.
  • In binary format two things are there. Yet there is no duality because mithya cannot be counted.
  • Be a roman in Rome. When the world asks for your biodata, give in keeping with the triangular format. Don’t give funny answers.
  • All philosophers (dvaita, vishistaadvaitam, advaitam) accept brahman has the power of maya. Because it is mentioned in the upanishads. Yet there is debate going on on reality of the maya shakti, whether it is satyam or mithya. Only advaitins will declare, both shiva and shakti are inseparable, both are anadi, yet shivah is satyam, shakti is mithya only. Veda pramanam for mithiyatvam of maya is SvetAshvatara chapter 1, mantra 10. It says: mayanivrtih. There is no equivalent statement in any of the other dashopanishads.
  • Popular misunderstanding in hinduism: there are many paths to moksha. There is no vedic support for this. Svetaashvataraupanishad repeatedly declares that. Many paths are there only for purification.
  • Samsara: feeling trapped. In a particular body, family, job … that is called pasham (shackles).
  • apahani - they drop, they fall away (apa + ha dhatu - apocalypse).
  • avidya - mutual transference of limitations of the body to the consciousness and transference of the consciousness to the body. -> asmita -> raga/dvesha. Krishna says ego cannot avoid raga/dvesha. He himself loves flute and pItAmbaram (yellow garments). Use raga/dvesha when you have choice, but don’t be a slave when choiceless situations come.
  • Samatvam of mind is the indication of weakened raga/dvesha.
  • When the five-fold klesha is gone janma and marana is dropped. This is equal to dropping the notion that I’ve janma and marana. Body has.
  • Each person needs different amount of idlis to quench hunger. Each person needs different amount of sravanam, mananam and niddidhiasanam to drop avidya.
  • TrtIyam - vishva isvara aikyam. Third and greatest destination. Other two krishnagathi (svargaloka) and shuklagathi (brahmaloka).
  • AptakAmah - one who is absolutely fulfilled in life. One who doesn’t miss anything.

Class 7: 1 / 12 - 16

  • kevalah - without a second thing to limit himself
  • after jnanam there is no second thing to be known
  • desires are at three levels: physical (hunger), emotional (hunger for love, care, appreciation, gratitude, enquiry), intellectual (questions: Who am I? What is the world? Who is the lord?)
  • prerita - isvara (one who activates, energises both jiva and jagat)
  • Only svetaashvatara is explicit about jiva, jagat and isvara dissolving into one brahman on enquiry.
  • In the entire creation there is only one thing worth nothing.
  • Example: kindling fire from two wooden parts. Shastra ask: before churning, where was fire existing? A non-existing fire cannot be brought out by churning. Just like bringing out butter out of the milk. If fire is to be generated it must exist in avyakta rupena in the wood. After churning, agni becomes vyakta agnih. Body is compared to adho arani (stationary lower part). Uttara arani is sastra pramanam represented by omkara. Churning is omkara vicara.
  • When agni is produced it burns up the very cause.
  • Both versions of agni, avyakta and vyakta, are examples for two versions of atma.
  • Atma is believed to be non-existent by all the people who do not come to study sastra. How to bring it out? Attend the class.
  • In manudkya omkara is the uttara arani, in other upanishads the relevant mahavakyams will be the arani.
  • We never complete upanishads. Once you complete, you’d come again. In traditional teaching when an upanishad is complete, we go back to first chapter first mantra.
  • If all the activities are happening in the inert body it is because of some other principle other than the body. Body itself doesn’t have sentience. That very sentience is because of the atma. How can I miss the atma? One with jnanacaskuh recognises this all the time.
  • Wood must be dry for fire to manifest. Similarly student must have sadhana catustaya sampatih. Two qualifications are highlighted: satyam (absence of hypocrisy, honesty) and tapah (discipline, self-restraint).
  • Without sastra pramana you will make any amount of enquiry it will not produce knowledge. Condition: “dryness”. Otherwise sastric study will produce academic scholarship, if the values are not there. One gets information, not transformation. One will be a samsari scholar of vedanta.
  • sa:upanishad - source, treasure house (of shreya, i.e. PSH)

Class 8: 2 / 1, 2

  • SvetAshvatara is considered one of the yoga upanishads which deal with yoga discipline.
  • Yoga sastra of Patanjali has two parts. Sadhanam (discipline) and darhsanam (philosophy).
  • Yogic darshanam is not acceptable because it looks at the universe as satyam - absolute reality. Because of this yoga darshanam is rejected by Shankaracharya, but ashtanga yoga sadhanam is accepted.
  • First discipline is yamah consisting of five virtues: ahimsa, satyam, asteyam, brahmacaryam, aparigraham (reduction of possessions).
  • Second are five niyamas: saucam, santoshah (contentment without comparing with outer people), tapas, svadhayayah, isvara pranidhana.
  • First five considered important (primarily) for sanyasis, second five are important for grhastahas.
  • Third: asanas. For health and meditation.
  • Fourth: pranayama.
  • Fifth: pratyahara. Learning to withdraw sense organs from the external world at will. Ability to say “no” to certain temptations that can eslave my sense organs. Krishnas example: tortoise.
  • Sixth: dharana. Fixing the mind upon any chosen object.
  • Seventh: dhyanam. Holding the mind in which the object has been fixed.
  • Eight. samadhi. Total absorption in the object in which the mind is fixed. It is indicated by the non-awareness of the surroundings.
  • There are to kinds of asthanga yoga. If a person is interested in jnanam and moksha we don’t require advanced ashtanga yoga. Preliminary is more than enough. If a person is interested in extraordinary visions/power/experiences - animadhi mahasiddhayah - a guru and advanced version is required. But even Patanjali says siddhis are obstacles to spiritual growth. Advanced ashtanga yoga is also required if one wants krama mukti.
  • Our attitude: animadhi mahasiddhayah exist, they are no bluff, but we’re not interested in them.
  • The seeker here knows about the path and destination so he asks Surya bhagavan for help. Fees are sraddha and bhakti. “May Surya bhagavan focus the mind and indriyani”. Task for Surya bhagavan: “discipline the brahman, locate it, and merge it with me, the jivatma.”, in other withs “may bhagavan take me through spiritual journey without nay hitch”.
  • Here the brahman is defined as agnejotih - the very effulgence of angih.
  • Sharanagatih people are there who think everything is decided by god only and there is no freewill. Veda strongly says that it is wrong approach. Bhagavan’s grace is important and at the same time out effort as well.
  • We’ve to assume that based on the prayer Bhagavan has given his grace. Once we have a focused mind and once the mind is set on moksha as goal. Our job is then to work hard with out fullest ability for the attainment of moksha.
  • Benefit is proportional to the amount of time one can allot to vedanta. You have to give time and energy.

Class 9: 2 / 2 - 5

  • savitA devah = surya bhagavan
  • life is lived with the sense organs, not the mind, because sense organs alone are interacting with the external world.
  • let all the sense organs go upwards direction heaven (moksha). Let all the sensory activities become moksha friendly activities. In short, let the life become spiritual, rather than a sensual life.
  • brhat divam = brahman chaytanya svarupam
  • Bhagavan alone has prescribed the spiritual path for the humanity through the veda. Initially sadhanas are in the form of rituals.
  • Rituals are extremely important for spiritual growth. We should never look down on people doing them. What veda says is don’t get stuck in them. Spiritual path: first kajika, then vachasa, then manasa, then upasana, and then finally sravanam, mananam, nidddhiasanam.
  • Isvarah is always ekah, even though he can appear in several forms for blessing the devotes. Original all-pervading bhagavan is one and formless.
  • viprAh - those who have studied veda; vedic students; one who knows and wants to follow the spiritual path
  • First rule of the vedah: get up before or during the sunrise. No excuses allowed. When the surya bhagavan is rising we must be ready to welcome him with the surya namaskara. Then bath, prayers … only then we’re allowed to eat something. Whoever follows that is called viprah.
  • bhadram karnebhiḥ srinuyaam devah bhadram pashyem akshabhir yajatrah - I will not see anything which will pollute my mind with kama, krodha, loba, moha. Even though when they are available. That is called spiritual discipline
  • viprah - one who pervades everything; brahman
  • brhatah - the infinite one; the all-pervading one
  • vipashcitah - sarva sakshi caytanyam
  • Bhagavan’s gifts are many, but spirituals speakers vote for his greatest gift is moksha margah. 5th capsule. All the other gifts we can have and enjoy, but they will not save us from samsara. Therefore we should praise god for giving the moksha margah. If I could come out of triangular format and can now enjoy the binary format, the roadmap been given by you only. Therefore special thanks we offer for savituh deva, representing paramesvara as adi guru.
  • Jnani worships bhagavan as adi guruh, who has given moskha margah.
  • Student: I’m connecting my mind and the intellect with the lord through prayers (stotrams).

Class 10: 2 / 5 - 8

  • One of the methods of mahatmas: instead of advising the humanity they will talk to their own mind: “This mind and intellect I’m uniting with brahman through various stotrams.”
  • All religions say you should sing the glory of the lord aloud so that all the people will also here.
  • Pathih - veda margah. Mahatma is one who lives according to vaidika margah.
  • Spiritual knowledge (enlightenment) will take in that mind only which mind is associated with three levels of spiritual sadhana: karma yoga, upasana yoga, jnana yoga.
  • The most famous powerful vedic ritual is considered to be soma yaga. Soma yaga here by implication refers to vedic rituals, vedic rituals by implication refer to karma yoga. So final meaning of “somah” here is karmayoga.
  • Vayu here refers to pranayama which refers to ashtanga yoga which refers to upasana yoga.
  • Agnih refers to jnanam. JnanAgnih is generated by the churning which happens during the dialogue between guru and sisya.
  • Bhaktiyoga: karmayoga + upasanayoga + jnanayoga. Three yogas put together will generate knowledge. The tree yogas are not optional and must be done sequentially.
  • Veda: getting married, entering grhasta ashrama is meant for karma yoga. Once children are grown up, become guest in your own house and concentrate on upasana and withdrawal. Even if we want to follow, our own effort is not enough, we require also grace of the lord.
  • Hindu means vaidikah. Vaidikah means the one who wants to be guided by the vedic teaching. Otherwise at least by the Bhagavad Gita teaching (simplified veda). May every vaidikah seed infinite brahman through yoga trayam.
  • Upasanayoga is often included in the karmayoga because upasana is karma yoga done mentally.
  • In that brahman may you fix your residence, abidance. During vyavahara remember that I’m not the suffering jiva but ever free brahman. Karma will touch jiva, karma cannot touch brahman.
  • Veda talks about two kinds of activities. Istam and purtam. Istam means vedic ritual, purtam means social service. These are the two kinds of karmas meant for purifying the mind. By extension “purtam” means all the karma.
  • Head, neck and the head should be in one line and upright. Mind should not be wandering in the external nor internal world but should be engaged in omkara vichara (brahma dhyanam). In vedanta sastra omkara represents brahman.
  • Question of assimilation (niddidhiasanam) comes only after the food has been absorbed (sravanam and mananam).

Class 11: 2 / 8 - 10

  • a - jagrat avasta, waking state of the mind; u - svapna avasta, dream state of the mind; m - sushupti avasta, deep sleet state; silence - indicates consciousness principle, which is the witness of all the three states. The tree states are continuously coming and going, the always present awareness is silence which is myself.

  • Using omkara dhyanam one has to internalise the teaching and become jnananistha.

  • Hrdaya is supposed to be the locus of the sense organs when they are not functioning. Use the mind to place them. Remember the kathopanishad analogy: body is the vehicle/chariot, sense organs are horses, mind is the reins. Buddhi is the deciding factor. Buddhi has to tell the mind this is meditation time, not family/office/worry time.

  • Once mind with the sense organs is withdrawn now it is available for niddidhiasanam.

  • At least prasthana dvayam (gita + upanishads), if not trayam (incl. brahma sutra). Omkara dhyanam is indicated in mundaka upanishad, omkara dhyanam is elaborated in mandukya upanishad.

  • Shift the format from triangular to binary. In triangular I look upon myself as a jiva. And as long as I’m a jIva I will be always attacked by sanchita, agami, prarabda karma. I will be chased by karmas. Some I can handle, many are too powerful, so jIva will have to give SOS to Izvara. Shift my attention to binary format through omkara dhyanam. From dasoham to soham.

  • In pranayama I slow down the over-active condition of prana. And when it is slowed down then

  • Material, worldly success requires rajoguna activation. Spiritual success requires sattvaguna domination.

  • May everything you do in moderation. Avoid extremes of everything. Lead a balanced life. Don’t overeat, don’t over fast. Body must be moving, there must be some exercise (in moderation). Sedentary life is bad for mental and spiritual health. Take up appropriate profession and contribute to the world. But don’t make it 24/7. Don’t become a workaholic, you’ll end up alcoholic. Enough of sleep.

  • vihara - exercise (viharati {vi-hR} - play, walk, roam)

  • prana should flow only through one counter - nose. Slowly, steadily, rhythmically.

  • samadhi does not mean mystic state, it means a state of mind in which the mind is absorbed so much that I’m not aware of the happening. Until it comes mind is subject to going out and coming in. With alertness regulate the mind.

  • Have a (nice) place which is exclusively associated with meditation only (same for work etc.). In short a place which is conducive for the mind. All the external rules are not compulsory.

Class 12: 2 / 10 - 14

  • avAntaraphalam - byproduct
  • For a vedantic student devata darshana is not of a big value, because it cannot remove samsara.
  • Health of the body depends on our exposure to pancha bhutas. Body must be exposed to natural air, earth, sunlight. Living in artificial conditions only will cause problems.
  • Earth has fragrance that we experience when the first rain falls.

Class 13: 2 / 14 - 17

  • Any knowledge, material or spiritual, is possible only through the six pramanams. Therefore after joga one has to come to vedanta vichara.

  • Through jnanam jivatma gets “converted” into paramatma. Upanishad tells jivatma is, will be and ever was paramatma. It just appears to be jivatma because of some covering. Example: Krishna murti is in the rock. The sculptor only removes rock that was covering it. Another example: restoring an old gold ornament to its former shining after what is covering gets removed.

  • karmayoga removes malam covering, upasanayoga removes viskhepa covering, jnanayoga removes Avaranam.

  • bimbam - 1) disc of gold or any shiny metal 2) murti, vigrahah

  • After discovering the atmatattvam, ekah bhavati. He becomes non-dual. There is no creation separate from me. visvam darpana drshyamana nagari tulyam only. No more griefs, complete fulfilment, no more samsara.

  • Brahmatattvam prapashyet: Clear perception of brahman is nothing but intellectually claiming I’m brahman. Thus in the type of “aham brahman asmi” thought, claiming the consciousness component in the body remembering the 5 features of consciousness.

  • Don’t look for brahman outside, don’t look for brahman inside. Just claim.

  • To know the light you don’t need any other light. Just like no pramanam is required to know “I’m”.

  • Impure body doesn’t make me impure, impure mind doesn’t make me impure. I will never become impure even when I accommodate impure body/mind. Thus, how can punya/papams contaminate me.

  • First creation called BrahmA or Hiranyagarbha is none other than brahman. In the form of Hiranyagarbha atma alone is born first. Every living beeing, that is born in the past, all of them are sah eva. All the unborn in pregnant women are atma also. The “will-be-borns” as well. Aham eva idagm sarvam.

  • The proof of gold pervading all the ornaments. The iss-ness doesn’t belong to the ornament (which is nama/rupa). It belongs to the only substance behind the ornament. Same for atma and all creation. Proof is the existence of any object.

  • I’m the isness, consciousness, ananda in any object. I’m doing namaskara to myself. I admire myself.

Class 14: 3 / 1 - 3

  • Chapter 2 was a yoga pradhana chapter and conveyed the importance of yoga abhyasa.
  • As jagatkaranam brahman is known as Izvara.
  • There is two types of material causes:
    1. vivarta upadana karanam, transfigurative cause, one without undergoing a change. Example: rope becoming our snake; waker becoming the dream world. Purushasukta mantra: ajAyamAnah bahudhA vijAyate. Without becoming it becomes.
    2. parinami upadana karanam destroys itself in the process. Example: milk becoming curd.
  • With mayashakti one brahman appears as though jIva, jagat, Izvara triangle.
  • jAlam - net, trap. jAlavan is mayavI, is Brahman / God. The owner of the network called maya, that traps almost all.
  • Bhagavan effortlessly maintains the whole universe. That’s why Vishnu is always in reclining posture. We only have to run about for even making a coffee.
  • Srishti is called udbhavah (evolution). Bhagavan multiplies into the pluralistic world. Even at the time of multiplication, bhagavan continues to be one, as brahman’s nature is nirvikaram. After some time sambhavah (involution) comes.
  • Spiritual seekers should aim at knowing this Brahman without getting lost in the apparent universe, one should go to the one beyond and who manages.
  • Game (story told by Swami Chinamayananda): a king did not have any heir. He wanted to chose another king after his death. Test to identify the next ruler: he will arrange a big fair and the king will be hiding somewhere. Anybody interested will have to search and identify the king. Whoever identifies and locates the king he will become the king. Yah king veda, king bhavati. Catch: whole fair is full of fantastic attractions. And time given is sunrise to sunset. Anybody comes with the goal of locating the king but fair distracts everybody. 17:30 they discover they have forgotten the purpose. There is only one rare person. Even though he is also tempted, he says my goal is different. Everywhere he rules out and there is a temple and he enters the temple. There attractive bhajan is going on - sattvic attraction. There also many people get hooked and forget the goal. This person doesn’t sit there and he sees all other places he’s rule out and there is a huge shivalingam. Shivalingam has vibhuti and in the middle the chandanam and he touched and one door opened. And there is a staircase down and he goes there and locates the king there. Our whole life is a fair and we all get trapped in education, employment, children … but some rare people come to this and locate the jagat karanam and brahma bhavati. Te amrtah bhavanti. After becoming brahman, enjoy. Everything is vishvarupa only, no problem.
  • This brahman alone worshiped as Rudra, who is ekah (non-dual). What does he do? He’s jagat sristhi, sthiti, laya karta. This parameshavara himself creates perfectly the whole universe consisting of all the lokas. Then he himself becomes the gopah (king, herdsman, protector, milkman).
  • Bhagavan doesn’t destroy the universe. Bhagavan only folds the universe back into his own maya. Eternal process of expansion and contraction. It will not stop, we only have to escape by gaining jnanam.
  • All the pluralistic beings and things of the universe do not exist as a second, separate thing. World doesn’t exist separate from God. We should never say God and world. If you do use conjunction, you’re committing a mistake of taking them separately. Keeping aside the ornaments looking for gold outside/inside will be a frustrating experience.
  • You set aside the world you won’t find God. God and world are no separate things. You look at the world as world, you miss the God. If you see the world as God, there is no world.
  • Brhadaranyaka: World is name, form, function. World is not a substance.
  • jIvabhAva is temporary, brahmabhAva is always my nature.
  • Svetaashvataraupanishad is a compiled (out of several other upanishads) mantra upanisad.

Class 15: 3 / 3 - 6

  • Even though the body has all the sense organs it can never experience the world without the chaytanya tattvam behind them. So bhagavan paramatma provides the observer, the experiencer as himself behind every body. Creator alone becomes the experiencer. Example: dream.

  • Pre-srsthi paramatma is post-strsthi jivatma. Paramatra here should be seen as rudra, shiva, Izvara - this is a shaiva upanishad.

  • Every one of us is Vishnu only.

  • VisvarUpaIzvara - not a unique form, but a unique attitude towards the creation we’re already experiencing. Looking at everyone as part of Izvara. Ekarupa darshanam - looking as everyone individually.

  • Shiva is called here Rudra because he’s destroyer of ajnanam and samara dukham.

  • Isvara before creating all other devatas he created Hiranyagarbha (Brahma). And he taught him how to create all the rest of creation and delegated the job.

  • buddhi - intellect or jnanam, according to the context

  • Most auspicious svarupam of Shiva is sadAziva, dakzinamurti, the Adiguruh. Compassionate guru who is ready to bless the sishya with knowledge. And also ananda.

  • In our tradition every guru is looked upon as dakzinAmUrti only.

  • Another name for Ziva is girishanta. Shanta is “bestower of auspiciousness”. Giri has two meanings, one is mountain (puranic), another is “vEda”. Meaning residing in shabdapramanam as the guru, one who gives auspiciousness in the form of brahmavidya.

  • Ziva is called pinAkapAnih. Bow = pinAkam. Along with the bow he’s got several arrows which he shoots at the people. That arrow is our own papam, which bhagavan keeps at at the appropriate time he releases the arrow (pain according to law of karma). Until I finish the class don’t shoot any arrow. At also please make it a bit blunt.

Class 16: 3 / 6 - 8

  • Prayer 1: Oh Lord, endow me with an auspicious intellect by which we mean an intellect which desires moksha or jnanam (mumukSutvam).
  • Vijnasubhakta is one who wants to use all his religious exercises only for three purposes: jnana yogyata praptih, jnana praptih and jnana nisthah praptih.
  • Prayer 2: Oh Lord, you sit in my guru’s body and as dakzinAmUrti give knowledge through my guru.
  • Prayer 3: Now when I have the desire and guru, let me go through sravanam, mananam and niddidhiasanam without obstacles. At least during vedantic study don’t hurt my with your arrows - my karma.
  • Three kinds of obstacles: me, family, world.
  • giritra - one who resides in the veda pramanam and protects the seeker.
  • If I have a proper attitude towards the pain, i.e. a) Izvara prasada bhAvana, it can become auspicious. Just like snake poison that can produce medicine. b) A spiritual person takes all diseases as opportunities for tapas. Tapas is voluntarily undergoing discomfort.
  • Prayer: Oh Lord, help me develop a healthy attitude toward the sufferings of life. Tamil song: Oh Lord, you cleansed me by giving varieties of pains.
  • Pain can become auspicious if it c) leads to vayragyam towards the world. 1st chapter of gIta: viSAda (despair, sorrow) yoga.
  • Journey: sravana manana niddidhiasanam. Thereafter the seeker comes to know the brahman.
  • Mithya conditionally real. Real only it its own state. When you’re wearing this dress you’re so beautiful …
  • Space is considered infinite only in the relative sense of the term. Even space is not considered to be absolutely limitless.
  • The more you search for brahman, the more you’ll miss the brahman. In the case of brahman, the very seeking is the denial of the sought.
  • Story: train ride with a burglar. Hiding the money in a place where you will never find it - under your own pillow.
  • When parabrahma is hidden, present in every living being, the parambrahma gets a new name - jIvAtma. Just as sunlight obtained on the moon is called moonlight. There is no such thing called jIvAtma, it is none other than the paramAtma obtaining in the individual body mind complex.
  • Just like water taking the shape of the container, consciousness seemingly takes the shape of body.
  • Brahma asti - paroksa jnanam. Brahma asmi - aparoksha jnanam. Even though paroksha jnanam doesn’t liberate, through it alone we can go to aparoksha. Journey: ajnanam -> parokSa jnanam -> aparokSa jnanam. First jnanam is brahma asti; last jnanam is brahma asmi.
  • Attaining immortality is discovery that I’m always immortal. Not subject ot punarapi jananam purapi maranam cycle.
  • As long as I’m a jIva as I require a saviour. As brahman I don’t.
  • aham veda = I know. Without visarga veda is a verb, otherwise as noun (vedha:) it means scripture.
  • Only by knowing “that” brahman properly one escapes time. In triangular format you cannot escape form Yama. That’s why in triangular format karma is most powerful (more than Izvara, who has to act upon it). Bhakta or not, Izvara has to give the karmaphalam. In triangular format there is no way out.

Class 17: 3 / 9 - 11

  • jJanaprApti = mokSaprApti = completion of the journey.

  • jJanam means I never was a samsAri to be liberated. I drop the notion.

  • jJanam is the only means of liberation. There are many paths for jJAnayogyataprApti

  • puruSa means individual. puruSa in vedantic parlance is brahman. I’m the puruSa. puruSa is everything. Once I know this I can declare I do not miss anything. No more FEDEREL problem: FE (fear), DE (depression), RE (regrets), L (loneliness).

  • param - superior, aparam - inferior. There is no second thing superior or inferior to brahman (qualitatively).

  • anIyah - smaller, djAyah - bigger. There is no second thing smaller or bigger than brahman (quantitatively).

  • Just like the mithya svapna prapanca is pervaded by the waker, the mithya jAgratprapancha is pervaded by the superwaker called brahman.

  • Three degrees of reality 1) prAtibhatika satyam; svapna prapanca 2) vyAvahArika satyam; jAgrat prapanca 3) pAramArtihika satyam. Both 1 and 2 are pervaded by 3.

  • When you say puruSa is everything, it comes under zravanam and mananam, when you claim that puruSa I’m, it comes under niddidhiAsanam.

  • Initial three upanishads should be zravaNam, from the fourth upanishad upwards you’d start a new exercise: brahman = I. “Oh, swami is talking about myself.”

  • brahman (uttarataram, parAtparam) > maya (uttaram - the higher; superior to prapanca; karana) > prapanca (karyam). Because maya borrows sat/cit/ananda from brahman. maya has got all the namas and all the rupas in potential form. brahman is arupam.

  • Amaya = rogah = disease. Here Amaya indicates all the saMsara rogah. maya is full of diseases. ananAyam means saMsara roga rehitam.

  • uttamapurusha - first person singular (aham) in grammar; highest, excellent person

  • as jIva I face helplessness because most of the situations are unpredictable and uncontrollable. This leads to anger. After some people get used to it. This leads to frustration and this to depression. Welcome to saMsara. Remember the 5th capsule.

  • One brahman alone takes three roles of the triangular format in the empirical realm. jIva (rajas pradhAna maya veSam), Izvara (sattva pradhAna veSam), jagat (tamas pradhAna maya veSam).

  • bhagavan means possessing six virtues: 1) aizvaryam - overlordship, Izvara bhava, svAmitvam 2) vIryam - power, courage 3) yaza - glory 4) zrIyAh - wealth 5) jJAnam - knowledge 6) vayragyam - detachment (from all) He possess in them in infinite measure, compared to us.

  • When zIva is allpervading we call him paramAtma, when the very same is residing in everyone it is given a new name jIvAtma. Identity remains, name changes. Example: sunlight as “moonlight”. Therefore one bhagavan zIva alone is with all the heads, necks … - vizvarUpam.

  • One zIva himself is ekarUpah, anekarUpah, arUpah. That zIva I’m.

Class 18: 3 / 11 - 15

  • sarvam Izvaramayam jagat - in the vision of the wise man everything is nothing but Izvara only. This Izvara has two expressions, saguna and nirguna. gIta chapter 7: aparA and parA prakrtih. Whatever I experience in life is saguna Izvarah (i.e. world). The only other thing left out is “I” (the experiencer). Once this is understood there is no question of existence of a jIva. Everything is Izvarah. saguna Izvara is not a saMsari, nirguna Izvara is also not a saMsari. There is no jIva itself. The very saMsari gets resolved.
  • Vision: I close the eyes there is zIva. I open the eyes there is zIva. sarvam zIvamayam jagat.
  • To reach this vision we require out own effort and the grace of the Lord.
  • mahAn - Lord, zIva; greatest one, possessor of all the virtues in infinite measure, who is purusha
  • puri sharIre vasati iti puruSah (as jivAtma indwelling); pUrayati sarvam iti purushah (as paramAtma all-pervading)
  • prabhuh - omnipotent, master, lord. prabhavati (capable, omnipotent, powerful) iti prabhuh
  • pravartakah - activator. The spiritual seeking, mindset is activated by sattvaguna by bhagavan alone. For the attainment of mokSah.
  • Initially we’re tamasic, gradually we increase rajoguna to practice karmayoga and gradually rajoguna is reduced and sattvaguna becomes dominant. Sattvaguna is the runway through which the seeker takes off to gunAtIta state.
  • For the sake of upAsana the paramAtma in the form of jIvAtma is symbolised as the flame of a lamp. Heart, in which there is inner space of the size of a thumb (aGguSTha) and there is the flame. Remember bhagavan is not of the size of a thumb but visualised aGguSTha matra (of the size of thumb).
  • Roadmap: body -> mind -> thought -> consciousness. All but consciousness can be objectified. Consciousness I’m.
  • You don’t look for the sakshi. That sakshi will not come. That sakshi is I who am aware of the mind. Entertaining this thought is called jJAnam. I’m not affected by the presence of thoughts, nor by absence of thoughts. Example: lamp (sakshi) in the theatre (mind) with actors (thoughts) or without.
  • mokSa consists of claiming my immortality and accepting body’s mortality.
  • jJAni bhakta is one who can comfortably say: bhagavan is sRSTi sthiti laya karanam. And also I’m sRSTi sthiti laya karta.
  • Whatever I experience is nama rupa sahita iZvara which alone we call as aneka rUpa Izvarah.
  • We start by visualising God as a person (ekarUpa Izvara). Then bhagavan is the intelligence pervading the creation which is the body of Izvara (anekarUpa Izvara). But this is changing, empirical version of Izvara a mixture of good and bad. Beyond vizvarUpa we have to discover the absolute principle not bound by time and space. Formless consciousness principle (arUpa Izvara).

Class 19: 3 / 15 - 19

  • The entire creation is the manifestation of paramAtma.
  • The changing one (dRzyam, jadam) is the lower nature, the changeless (drg, chaytanyam) one is the higher nature. Other than these there is nothing else.
  • This universe evolves from the paramAtma as the bhogya prapanca for the benefit of bhokta jIvah. Because it has to exhaust puNyam and pApam by experiencing sukha dukha bhogya prapanca.
  • Remaining changeless bhagavan evolves (appears to evolve) as the universe.
  • Throughout the changing universe itself paramArthika Izvara is inherent for the discerning eye. Without the changeless consciousness principle the fivefold experiences are not possible.
  • suhRt - friend, who is the well-wisher, whose grace is available at all the times. bhagavan’s grace is available for all the people all the time. Just like the sunlight is available allover the earth. If I remain in my house I lose the grace of the sun. Whether I get the sun is not dependant on the sun but on my own decision to tap.
  • mitra - one who is a friend because he expects reciprocal benefit from me. A “motivated friend”. suhRt is one who extends the help without any motive.
  • vazI - controller
  • navadvAra puram - body. holly and “holy” body. 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nostrils, 1 mouth. 2 apertures for removal of solid and liquid waste.
  • paramahamsa is hanti aJjnanam nAzayati (destroyer of ignorance). paramAtma.
  • Consciousness comes out through the five sense organs and lights up the external universe.
  • AtmA knows every object in the creation. It is the eternal knower. Yet it can never be known as an object.
  • agre - in the beginning (agra - origin, goal, top, end, first, foremost).

Class 20: 3 / 19, 20

  • Wherever mithya comes the language of contradiction will have to come.
  • Factually speaking there is no such thing called dream at all because it is nothing but a bunch of thoughts in my mind. There is no substance called dreamworld. Factually speaking (from the standpoint of its own existence) it is not there, experientially speaking it is there.
  • When you accept the existence of anAtma experientially we have to say Atma is associated with anAtma, because we’re temporarily admitting its existence. But from factual status Atma it doesn’t have connection with anAtma. Thus language of contradiction.
  • I should say “I have body” next moment I should say “I have no body”. Similarly mind. If both I can say without any intellectual disturbance and hesitation I’ve understood aham satyam jagan mithya.
  • Whenever I feel rejected, wanting things etc. I should practice meditation “I cannot miss anything in life because nothing is away from me. I don’t have to acquire anything by effort, because if there is anything away and separate from me I have to struggle and acquire. Everything is in me and it belongs to me”. pUrnatvadhyAnam. matsthAni sarvabhUtAnI
  • When life appears to be a burden I have to meditate nothing can be burden because there is no second thing. Ornaments cannot be a burden to gold because there is no ornament other than the gold. na ca matsthAni bhUtAnI.
  • In old age two things become very big problem. a) guilt: wrong actions I did and b) regret: right actions I did not do burden the mind.
  • Only if I understand, know, both saguna and nirguna brahma I will get liberation. If I know only nirguna, I will not have reverence for this creation. Knowing only saguna there is no liberation.
  • Any deity you meditate is adulterated (w. nAma rupa) paramAtma. Pure paramAtma you will not know.
  • jantu - living being
  • sAkSi caytanyam in the mind is the nAma rupa rehita paramAtma. Knowing it is claiming it. Claiming is in the form of a thought, which I have to deliberately entertain.
  • chaytanyam is one, the names are two. Like water: wave/ocean.
  • kratuh - sankalpa, rAga, kAma (-> gr:kratos = power). akratuh - person of detachment. tam Izam mahimanam pazyati.
  • entertainment: channel 1: svapna prapancha, channel 2: jagrat prapanca. When I’m bored with both I go suSupti avasta. Channel free nAma rupa rehita Atma aham asmi.
  • phalam: mokSa. After this knowledge I will never complain about life. It is the rarest opportunity in which I can claim glory. Without body and mind I can’t. Pure brahman is poor brahman. maya is required, life is required. Life is a blessing not a bhAra.
  • When the wave recognises I’m water the very same wave will say I’m everywhere.
  • vibhU - all-pervading, lord, powerful, excellent

Class 21: 4 / 1 - 4

  • deva in this context: divyati svayam prakAzate - self evident consciousness
  • no zakti can exist without a zaktah.
  • bhagavan doesn’t have any desire for him self and thus doesn’t create for his benefit. bhagavan creates for the sake of jIva.
  • all jIvas reside in maya in potential form in the form of kAraNa zarIram.
  • The current sRSTi is maintained by the present bunch of the prArabdha karmas of all the jIvas. When the present bunch is over, bhagavan swallows the whole creation.
  • pralayam (when bhagavan resolves everything) - yoga nidrA of bhagavan.
  • Desolution is not destruction. Everything goes back to dormant condition to come back later.
  • Our goal is not destroying the desire but refining the desire. Most refined desire is desire for Izvara jJAnam after which I will also become pUrna as bhagavan. This is the most auspicious desire as others will take me only from bondage to bondage.
  • Before jJanam we require a desire for a desire for that jJanam that also requires Izvara anugraha.
  • bhagavan doesn’t have one nAma rUpa but every nAma rUpa is bhagavan (anekarUpa Izvara). That iZvara is in the form of pancabhUtani - first avatAram. Later these become panca bhautika prapanca.
  • Biggest zivaliGgam is dome of the sky. AbhiSekam is rainy season.
  • Brahma is the first son of iZvara called hiraNyagarbha.
  • prajApatih means virAt, izVara. One brahman alone is Izvara, hiraNyagarbha, virAt.
  • Every human being is manifestation of the lord alone. That’s why we greet everyone with a namaskara instead of “hi”. Extend this to all living beings as well as plants. That’s why in Hinduism we worship everything.
  • Mature culture is one which reveres and respects the older generation, even though they became non-productive.
  • Toughest tapas is removing of ahaGkAra and mamakAra -> divyacakSuh acquisition. CLASP rejection (internal sanyAsa). I don’t own anything, I don’t control anything.
  • All other creatures have Atma and all of them are sacred. Unlike in some other religions where the soul is attributed only to humans.
  • cloud - that which carries lightning within itself.
  • From beginningless you everything originates and to that wonderful vizvarUpa I offer my namaskAra and pray for most auspicious desire to arise in me - Izvara jJanaprApti.

Class 22: 4 / 5 - 7

  • brahman creates -> becomes -> appears (as) the world. brahman -> “I”.
  • Oh Lord, I searched outside, sometimes inside but only now I know I don’t need to search for you. Pre-shastra: I cannot find you. Post-shastra: I cannot miss you.
  • mAya is triguNAtmika and every product of mAya is only triguNAtmakam.
  • mAya is not born out of brahman, maya is not a product of brahman. mAya is ajA (anAdi). beginningless brahman has got beginningless mAya shakti. paJjabhUtAs which are the first product, they have also have got three gunas. Bodies and minds are born out of paJjabhUtAs.
  • prajAh - all the things and beings (sthUla and sUkSma zarIrani w. borrowed consciousness). All the products are very very similar to mAya. All the features of mAya are found in the creation: 1) achetanam (jadam), 2) sagunam, trigunAtmikam 3) savikalpam 4) savikAram.
  • mAya has great power of attraction. mAya is called mohini. Either sattvic, rajasic or tamasic part attracts. Whereas brahman doesn’t have any attractive features. mAya’s tempting power is in the creation also. That’s why the whole universe is busy pursuing the world only.
  • jIva here is called ajAh (sanskrit: goat). Here it means anAdi. na jAyate iti ajAh. bhagavan never creates jIva, bhagavan creates only the bodies of jIva.
  • This jIva serves the world. For getting favours from people, from getting favours from the world. Serving the world results in saMsara. Some rare jIvas will understand the nature of the world and renounce (renounce ahaGkAra and mamakAra in the products of mAya) it.
  • Troublesome paJja anAtma. In regard to mamakara: possessions, profession and family members. In regard to ahaGgAra: body, mind. We don’t refer to kArana zarIram because it is ignorance. By giving up the ignorance you drop ahaGgkAra and mamakAra. Hand them safely over to vizvarUpaIzvara, because mAya belongs to Izvara. Izvara has put a board “trespassers will be prosecuted” and for that saMsara is the punishment -> fear, anxiety, …
  • The entire world is a rose plant. Very attractive from distance. Once I embrace it hurts me.
  • Going after mAya products is saMsara, dropping aham and mama in mAya is mokSa. After dropping you can take them as managing trustee (of your house, family, body, …).
  • Example from Mundaka: physical body is compared to the tree, branch is the mind. In the body/mind complex jIvatma and paramAtma (OC) bird are seated. This birds are always united, because without the support of the original reflection cannot exist.
  • suparna - that which has beautiful wings = bird.
  • paramAtma bird is called suhRt of every jIvatma (which is nothing but chitAbhAsa; which is non-separably associated with the mind, which is associated with the body -> karta/bhokta individual), ready to help without expecting anything in return. Vice versa too, because a friend in need is a friend indeed.
  • jIvAtma’s lot is to go up and down propelled by karmaphala.
  • Individuality covering the paramAtma. Like sUryabhagavan can be covered by one finger.

Class 23: 4 / 7, 8

  • Two birds are separate birds who have a physical distance. They’re not in one and the same location. In the case of ahamkAra and sAkSi there is no physical distance at all. Wherever the sAkSi is there the ahamkAra is.
  • Who is doing vyavahAra. ahaGkAra or SAkSi? The mixture does! Until we study the zAstra we don’t know this and take ourselves to be ahaGkAra only.
  • However much freewill the ahaGkAra does, the freewill has only limited power. durbalam prArabdham can be handled through prAyazcitta, prabala prArabdham nobody can handle with any amount of prAyazcitta. Thus learn that I’m a mixture and then learn to claim the sAkSi component as myself. And disclaim the ahaGkAra component.
  • neighbourization (objectivity): ahaGkAra problem I take as ahaGkAra’s, not mine, problems. This is mokSah.
  • I’m sAkSi and incidentally I’ve the ahaGkAra. sAkSi is identical w. brahman. All the glories of bhagavan belong to me.
  • Claiming aham brahman asmi is not arrogance because it is the teaching of the zAstra. bhagavan will only congratulate because zAstric teaching is given by him only. Claiming “aham brahmna asmi” is not arrogance, it is wisdom. Arrogance is claiming something which does not really belong to me.
  • gIta: saMsAra is worrying, mokSa is freedom from worrying. vItazoka bhavati. One becomes muktah. Yet even after claiming the sAkSi the ahaGkAra will remain limited; it cannot attain freedom. sAkSi need not attain.
  • Purpose of religious life, scriptural study, spiritual discipline … all of these are meant only for knowing this brahman. If they don’t leat to knowing that, they are only a waste of time and energy. Like playing a soccer match, holding the ball 80% of time and yet losing the match by goals.
  • All those wise people will abide in their nature comfortable without feeling life as a burden. 5th capsule. They live the rest of the life comfortably.

Class 24: 4 / 9, 10

  • Gold is ekam. Ornaments are anekam. Gold is the sAra (only substance). Ornaments are asAram. kAranam is eka, sAra, nityam and most importantly satyam (having existence on its own). kAryam is the oposite.
  • Just because you cannot sit on a cardboard chair it doesn’t mean you have to destroy it. Appreciate its beauty, but don’t sit on it.
  • brAhmaniSTha/brAhmisthiti/jJananiSTha/AtmaniSTha - culmination of all our worldly, religious and spiritual life.
  • If the person doesn’t get the knowlegde, what is the use of all vedas etc.
  • Pure brahman cannot create the world. Pure mAya does not even exist, much less can it create the world. The creation is always by the mixture alone, which is called saguna Izvarah. Or mayI - possessor of mAya.
  • Universe can be a wonderful entertainment. Sunrise, sunset, flowers, so many wonderful things are there. At the same time the universe can be a trap also.
  • mAya can trap the jIva. tamoguNa (AvaraNazakti) covers the truth that I’m brahman. Once this has happens the rajoguNa (vikSepazakti) creates misconceptions -> needing possessions, relationships, external support -> lifelong business looking for things.
  • mAyam tu prakrtim vidyAt - mAya is the seed of all the nAma rUpas Along with name and form there is a relevant function (karma). The function of one nAma rUpa cannot be done by another nAma rUpa. avyakta nAma rUpa karmAni = mAya. mAya is shaped into this universe and since it is shape-able into various products it is called prakRtih. Whatever product you shape out of the original is called vikRti.
  • Can a lump of gold voluntarily become a varieties of ornaments? Similarly mAya cannot evolve by itself. It requires a chetana tattvam, which is called mAyI. mahezvara. The Lord of designs, controller, designer. This entire universe is inhabited by so many jIvas.
  • Without the jIvas the creation becomes purposeless. All in the house is designed around somebody using it. Universe - hotel with infinite starts.
  • By these jIvas the entire universe is pervaded and they alone experience the world according to their karma.

Class 25: 4 / 10 - 13

  • minus the mAyazakti brahman cannot be sRSTi sthiti laya kAranam. mAya is with brahman all the time. Even though they are inseparable, both of them don’t have the same order of reality. mAya is as good as non-existent all the time. thus brahman is always nirgunam, akAranam, mAya rehitam only. From jJani’s angle brahman is always nirguna. From ajJani’s angle brahman is always mAya sahitam.
  • Each chitAbhAsa is treaded as a jIva thus every jIva becomes a part of brahman as it were. Literally it is not a part, literally it is to be taken as a reflection.
  • If there is a loka where there is no jIva at all that loka becomes non-relevant. Each loka has been created for the exhaustion of punya and papa by the jIva.
  • Repetition is a method of highlighting.
  • Entire creation is nothing but a series of cause-effect chain. The original cause is called mUla prakrtih (mAya). mAya is the kAranam, from that the first product is AkAza. Then from AkAza -> vAyuh -> agnih -> jalam -> pRthivI -> all the living beings and plants.
  • brahman abides in the entire cause-effect chain lending existence. That brahman presides over, blesses every cause. Both original cause mAya as well as the intermediary causes as paJca bhUtas, local parents etc.
  • The creation in the form of cause-effect chain is happening in a cyclical manner.
  • White light appears as one light but we should know it is an undifferentiated mixture of all colours.
  • Izanam = master, svatantra tattvam - independent of the world but world is dependent on Izvara.
  • parokSa jJnam is called jJanam, aparokSa jJanam is called vijJanam. Investment evaluation. What is the benefit? Pernament peace! zAnti, otherwise called jIvanmukti. Life is no more a bhAram, but a blessing, a rare opportunity to claim my glory. CCC - calm, cheerful and confident.
  • hiraNyagarbha (otherwise called brahmA) is the eldest, first child of brahman. After creating him iZvara teaches hiraNyagarbha how to create the rest of the universe. After creating hiraNyagarbha bhagavan goes and relaxes drinking coffee.
  • Izvara witnesses the emergence of hiraNyagarbha. He does not actually create but in its presence the creation takes place.
  • Best prayer is “Oh Lord, give me a noble mind (intellect)”.
  • devatas = gods. Izvara = God. devatas are nothing but exalted jIvas only. indra, varuNah, … are all jIvas with extraordinary powers. jIvas are associated with punya papa karmAni. They will become manuSya if they don’t get AtmAjJanam. Therefore Izvara is defined as devAnam devah.
  • In karmayoga bhagavan is worshiped, in upAnasana yoga bhagavan is metidated upon, in jJana yoga bhagavan is merged into me and I merge into bhagavan through jJanam.
  • havis - oblations, offerings
  • kam = Ananda (svarUpaya bhagavate)
  • By worshiping Ananda Izvara we’ll get Ananda. When you move with cheerful people, you’ll forget the problem… Therefore relation with the Lord makes us cheerful.

Class 26: 4 / 13 - 16

  • In karmayoga level sadhana is worship of brahman which involves rituals, pUja. It is heavily physicalised version. In upAnasana yoga worship is mental dwelling on brahman. In the final stage we know (claim) brahman.
  • kam = Ananda svaRupa; kasmai = anAnda svarUpaya brahmane.
  • kalilam - undifferentiated (nAma rUpa soup of the universe). Differentiation is always done by time and space. Once these are removed, duality, division go away. Undifferentiated nAma rUpa remain - mAya.
  • mAya has all the glory except one. It doesn’t have existence of its own. It is asat by itself.
  • At the end “what will I get?” is the only question. Answer: zAnti that is never disturbed by the events of prArabdham.
  • bhagavan himself is controlled by the law of karma. If bhagavan is free, it is because he knows “I’m sat cit Ananda Atma”. Law of karma cannot be altered by anyone totally. We don’t negate prAjascita karmas. Yet only knowledge gives the shock-absorber. What? And thereafter in two seconds “So what”. Total solution is only in binary format.
  • Uniqueness of zvetAzvatara upanishad: maximum number of mantras repeatedly saying jJAnat eva kayvalyam.
  • bhuvanasya gopta - protector of the universe.
  • Declension of dharma and growth of adharma: Those who want to follow dharma are not allowed to. Then bhagavan has to take avataram.
  • bhagavan is not located in particular place. He’s all over like the immunity system.
  • You don’t ask where is the guru. You’ve no way of finding out who’s genuine or not. We’ve got quacks in all fields. Once I become a ziSya, bhagavan promises I will send the guru. Just like when flower blooms, honey bee will automatically come.
  • Protected (from samsara) seekers merge into bhagavan.
  • brahman has two meanings. One is vedah another is brahman. brahmaRSyah means knowers of the veda and thus of brahman.
  • Expression of mortality that jJani cuts: insecurity, fear of losing near and dear, fear of old age, fear of diseases. vRtyu pAza; yamabhayam. Everything gets weaker as we age, only fear gets stronger.
  • mandam - essence that comes as cream on the top. brahman is the essence of the entire creation.
  • Mother represents security for a child. Similarly every human being is holding on to relationships, name, fame, money, possession, position etc. We’ll hold on to things as long as we’re insecure. Insecurity is samsara. Attachment is an expression thereof. This alone is called pAzam.
  • In love I give security to others. In attachment I seek security from others.

Class 27: 4 / 17 - 22

  • We can understand shackles as karma.
  • brahmajnanam is brahmajnanam only when we know brahman as atma, as I. Knowing brahman in any other way comes under paroksha jnanam.
  • aparoksha jnanam should be obtained with the help of qualified mind and sastric teaching. To look at my face I require eyes also, I require the mirror also.
  • Even saying I don’t want punar jnama indicates ignorance because when I say so I’m accepting birth and I’m accepting death also. There is no question of punar janma. It has no connection to me.
  • sarvam shivamayam jagat. There is no day, night, no karyam, no karanam. All the differences dissolve in understanding. shivah eva kevalah.
  • brahman which is represented by sUrya prakAshah.
  • brahmavidya is the most ancient wisdom because it begins from the Lord itself.
  • Upanishad doesn’t say Lord is not glorious. Lord is embodiment of the glory itself.
  • brahmajnanam exists only in one way. In claiming “I’m brahman”. Which is nothing but a thought in an educated intellect. There is no brahman experience.
  • Even before baby learns the language it experiences insecurity. This instinctive problem of insecurity is samsara and it only grows. It is represented by Yamah. And there is only one who has won over him - Shiva.
  • South facing face of Rudra is not afraid of Yama. Dakshinammukam. Yamabhayam goes only by jnanam.
  • For a grhasta the anxiety regarding the family is the most powerful anxiety.

Class 28: 5 / 1, 2

  • Not knowing my higher nature, people are bound. Those who know me in my higher nature get liberated.
  • Both knowledge and ignorance belong to vyavaharika plane only. Thus mithyam.
  • Ignorance is the expression of the avarana shakti (concealing power) of the tamoguna of maya. This avarana shakti alone activates the vikshepa shakti, which belongs to rajoguna and leads to a variety of misconceptions.
  • brahman belongs to paramarthikasatyam, brahmajnanam belongs to vyavaharika satyam only. Any jnanam is an expression of the sattvaguna of maya.
  • Knowledge belongs to sattvaguna, misconceptions to rajoguna, ignorance to tamoguna. brahmajnanam belongs to vyavaharika satyam but it is the knowledge of paramarthika satyam and thus is more powerful than the other two. That’s why we say vidya is liberating, avidya is binding.
  • amrtam tu vidya - knowledge is immortality.
  • From the standpoint of tomorrow today is the karanam. Same for everything in the creation. There is a continuous flow of karanam chain. Isvara doesn’t commander karanam, doesn’t commander karyam. It is the adhisthanam, adhisthana chaitanyam. Causes are many, effects are many, adhisthanam is one.
  • As long as we within the karyam karanam chain we’re finished. punarapi jananam punarapi maranam cycle. It is like watching the flow of the river standing on the bank. As long as you are on the banks nothing will happen. Karta becomes bhokta, bhotka becomes karta. Bhotka of various problems. To solve them I become karta
  • In mandukya karika Gaudapada says: Falling into cause-effect chain is falling into faith-freewill chain.
  • The more you’re obsessed with cause-effect chain the more powerful is the samsara. Transcend it by knowing I’m akarta, abhokta.
  • Karmas will keep the person only in cause-effect chain, no matter whether secular or sacred. Karma never gives liberation.
  • Ishvara alone is beyond the cause-effect chain. This Ishvara alone produces the first child (of the current shristhi) in the universe - Hiranyagarbha.
  • Bhagavan gives omniscience/wisdom to Brahma - he blesses, he nourishes Brahma by providing all the knowledge. Vishnu educates Brahma so he can delegate the job of creation to him. And Vishnu continues his relaxation. Primary creation is by bhagavan which is Brahma. Secondary creation is Hiranyagarbha. As even this HiraNyagarbha evolves Bhagavan is the sakshi of his arrival also. Thus in his presidency all these major events take place. By knowing this Ishvara we will get liberation.

Class 29: 5 / 3 - 6

  • One advaita tattvam alone, known as brahman or Atma is expressing in the form jIva, jagat and Izvara. Superficially seeing all the three are different but they are none other than one brahman with three different upadhi or manifesting medium. That upadhi alone is called prakrti, which is divided into three: sattva pradhAna prakrti (extreme intelligence -> Izvara), raja pradhAna prakrti (partial knowledge and partial ignorance -> jIva), tamah pradhAna prakrti (extreme inertia -> jagat). In both total ignorance and total knowledge there is no problem. All problems are when there is intermediate condition - I’m but I don’t know I’m brahman. I know world is but I don’t know world is brahman.
  • Pancadasi: sattva pradhAna prakRti is called mAya. rajah pradhana prakrti is called avidyA.
  • From mosquito onwards up to devasharIram each one is called jAlam - a network. Every jIva is trapped in the network called zarIram. Each network in the form of different bodies bhagavan creates in manifold ways. Each body is given based on karma.
  • Levels of creation: 1) Izvara -> Brahma 2) Brahma -> prajApatis 3) prajApati -> rest of the creation.
  • bhagavan: invisible, inherent intelligence permeating the universe.
  • This bhagavan alone in the form of caitanyam is behind all the mind and sense organs and the very same chaitanyam illuminates the vast universe through all the minds and sense organs.
  • If you talk about the existence about a star it is because you know there is a star. Existence presupposes knowledge. If you don’t know something you can’t talk about its existence. Knowing is nothing but revelation by the consciousness.
  • anaDvAn - bull. Name for sUrya bhagavan as he alone pulls the wheels of the universe through sunrise and sunset. He’s an example for illuminating everything.
  • varenyah - the one who’s worthy of choosing as our goal. In life we’ve got a freewill to choose anything as our ultimate goal. Therefore we’re all like brides (svayamvara). Like gopies (representing jIvatmas) choosing bhagavan in the bhagavatam purana. bhaja govindam mUdha mathe.
  • At the time of maranam all your worldly accomplishments are utterly useless. The only support is sambah eva sahAyah. If you have to remember god at the time of death we have to train the mind itself.
  • Atma is called being. anAtma is called becoming. In the world of becoming everything is the karanam of the later thing. Therefore creation is called yonisvabhAvah. The becoming is never possible without the being underneath - Izvara. Noumnon - non changing being. Phenomenon - continuously changing.
  • Every object has a non-changing intrinsic nature. AkAza - zabda guNa. vAyu - sparza guNa. agni - rUpa guna… Bhagavan creates the unique nature of everything along with the thing. Bhagavan cooks the universe. Bhagavan is the original cook. He cooks out of the paJjca sthUla bhUtani, paJjca sUkSma bhUtani, panca bautika prapanca.
  • The transforming nature of a thing bhagavan continuously transforms. Like a human being. Rama is essentially Rama throughout the life. But there is a variable nature - as a baby he’s got one version, later he’s boy etc. Gold-ness is non-variable, bangle-ness variable.
  • prakRti becomes vikRti (universe) when the equilibrium is disturbed. Big bang. The moment equilibrium comes pralayam comes. Disturbed equilibrium is called vaiSamya avastA - prapajJca.
  • Bhagavan allots the three guNas according to the law of karma. Plants have a bit of sattva guNa to sense the atmosphere, light etc. Animals have a bit more sattva guNa. Humans have a lot more therefore we’re able not only to sense the surrounding but also to research it. devatas have still further sattva. Without going to school and knowledges they get all the knowledge. They’re called svayambhAtavedah - almost all the knowledge they automatically get. They know things intuitively.
  • In bRhadAranyaka (puruSavidha brAhmaNa): Brahmaji came out of Vishnu and was feeling lonely and was suffering from saMsara. Without going to a guru, without zravanam, mananam he got the knowledge aham brahma asmi.
  • As long as we know only the changing world the problem of security will continue. Only by holding the changeless: asato ma sat gamaya … The sat, joti, amrtam brahma we can never know without veda pramanam.
  • nArayanam padma bhuvam. brahma is the first one to receive the knowledge from vishnu. From brahma the RSis were created as mAnasa putrAh and among them the greatest was vaSiSTa. Up to shukha is the RSi parampara. Then gaudapadam - manuSyaparampara. vishnu -> brahma -> RSis -> Gaudapada is this parampara.

Class 30: 5 / 6 - 8

  • pauruSeya pramANam helps in recognising saguNa Izvara, apauruSeya pramANam helps in recognising nirguNa Izvara. Upanishads = vedah guhyam - secret teachings of the vedah. Upanishads are considered to be rahasyam - secret. Reason 1) it can be revealed only to those who are prepared That’s why vedas were never taught in the public. Nowadays the orthodox mathas will not teach vedas in public. They will highlight everything except the mahAvAkyas. It is supposed to be given only only to qualified people otherwise it will not give benefit. Reason 2) even if taught in public, for majority of people it will remain secret.
  • Brahma - 1) hiraNyagarbha 2) vedah. brahmayonih - cause of hiraNyagarbha; initiator of the vedah. Brahma is the first person to know - brahma vedate
  • zravanam, mananam, niddidhiasanam is required for human minds, not for exalted jIvas.
  • Becoming immortal is nothing but dropping the notion I’m mortal. Because of false identification with the body/mind. Mortal mistake that I’m mortal.
  • Brhadaranyakam: tad yo yo devAnAm pratyabudhyata sa eva tad abhavat … Anyone who gathers this knowledge can get this benefit.
  • Both vyavaharika jIva and Izvara are anAdi.
  • Somehow I have been brought to zvetAzvatara class. Some puNyam has brought me to this fantastic tradition.
  • If I go the pUjA (karmas) for chittazudhi sooner or later I will come to jnanakandam.
  • Present karmas and experiences need not tally at all. Many experiences are not based on the current life, but past life. bhagavan as karmaphaladAta gives the right thing at the right time. We’ve to learn to accept it.
  • Since we’ve gone through countless janmas we’ve gone through all types of bodies. We’ve got all through all of them. Because of infinite janmas. upaniSad jocularly gives a title for jIva - vizvarUpa (one who has taken all forms in innumerable janmas).
  • jIva - prAna adhipah, prAna dhAri, prAni (associated with prana)
  • autobiography - biography of an auto. From here to there. Just as auto continuously travels the autobiography of a jIva is punarapi jananam, punarapi maranam. Travelling through all the 14 lokas.
  • bhagavan does not decide superior or inferior birth. Svakarmabhih - it is determined by our own karma. And when did the fist karma start? Anadi. Karma and janma is a cyclic process.
  • For the size of meditation (flame in the heart) jIva is said to have the size of a thumb (aGguSTha). That’s why in TV on dying from the heart of a bhakta a flame will come out, go ghrough streets to the temple and join bhagavan there.
  • jIvatma has four mental faculties as described in tattvabodha: mano (sankalpa vikalpa - doubting faculty), buddhi (deciding faculty), citta (recollecting faculty), ahamkara (ego, self-invocation faculty). jIva is associated with all the anAtma dharmas. This jIvatma is extremely subtle - arAgra (like the tip of a goad). Similarly the jIvatma is not visible to our sense organs.

Class 31: 5 / 8 - 14

  • mAya and avidya are like two different mirrors. Both are distortions only. Wonderful Izhvara is also brahman, miserable jIva is also brahman.
  • ravitulyarUpajIvatma: jIvAtma is effulgent like the light of the sun; svayamprakashachaitanyam; same as brahmachaitanyam.
  • Whether jIvAtma or paramAtma, Atma the essential nature of both, is not available for sense perception.
  • Example for invisibility of AtmA: size of 1/10000 of a hair, or as big as an atom. Some system of philosophy like vishistadvaitam mistook these examples and concluded that atma as minute as an atom. AtmA is invisible to sense organs like anu, but not minute like it. jIvatma is infinite and all-pervading like brahman.
  • jivatma, karana, sukshma shariram don’t have gender. Only shtula shariram has. atma (jIvatma) is not male, female nor neutral gender. It is beyond. Once the abhimana with sthula shuksma sharira comes, the jIvatma will have samsara.
  • dehI - dehAbhimAnavan jIvatma
  • drsthi -> sparshanam -> sankalpanam (fantasizing) -> mohah. Once I have the moha I start working in accomplishing that goal -> karma -> punya/papa. We nourish the samsara cakram by providin punya/papa, just like we nourish the body by providing food and water.
  • This body has not been chosen by bhagavan. I’ve chosen this body and its condition through my own pUrva karma. Bhagavan only fulfills my wish, requisition form is signed by myself. Many times in several janmas. jIvatma choses through his own character. I’ve got sattva, rajas, tamoguna combination. Because of this combination I’ve got a character and because of this I choose the profession.
  • Current private thought is the future public body you’re going to get.
  • Birth is connection between jIvAtma and a new body. Death is dissociation between jIvAtma and current body. Rebirth is connection between jIvAtma and future body.
  • jIvAtma is also the cause of punar janma. “Also” because God is also involved as karmaphala dAta. jIvAtma karma karta.
  • If you take jIvAtma as a bird, the body is as a nest (nIDam). Izvara is called anIDam - zarIra rehitam.
  • devam - one that is “caitanya svarupam”

Class 32: 6 / 1 - 3

  • saguna and nirguna brahman are not two separate entities. brahman and mAya are always together. When you exclude mAyA in your understanding it is called nirgunam. Exclusion/inclusion of mAya are not physical, only intellectual.
  • brahman is always nirguna from factual angle; brahman is always saguna from experiential angle. Therefore the scriptures don’t differentiate between saguna/nirguna brahman.
  • brahma as adjective means giant, the greatest. brahmacakram = greatest wheel (of the universe). Managed by Ishvara, who is not available for our paurusheya pramanam.
  • svabhava vada - everything happens by nature (chance).
  • isvarasya mahima - creation is the glory of God.
  • By joining maya devi brahman enters the vyavaharika realm of time. Therefore brahman is called kAlakArah. The name we use is Ishvara.
  • Minus maya we never call brahman omniscient. It gets this status only in vyavaharika plane.
  • Brahman pervades always the universe. That’s why the universe is looked upon as the body of Ishvara. Just as I the jIva pervade my body.
  • In the initial stage of religious life gods are located. And happily married. If they were not happily married, they’d be samsaris. Later we should understand that Ishvara is not a person located, but infinite, inner, inherent intelligence.
  • kam - akasha
  • It is not a crash program, but a long journey, often consisting of several janmas. If you’re able to come to SvetAshvatara, whether you understand it or not, is the result of punyam acquired not in one but several janmas. This journey is about to end in the form of moksha. If we are confident we can say this is the last janma.
  • 8 atma gunas (spiritual virtues) to be gathered by karma yoga:
    • dayA sarvabhuteSu - kindness to all living beings
    • kShAnti - patience
    • anasuyam - not being jealous
    • shaucham - purity of mind
    • anAyAsam - cheerful disposition, not troubling oneself and others
    • managalam - pleasant and cheerful personality
    • akArpaNyam - freedom from self pity
    • aspRuham - freedom from attachment (desire)
  • ashtanga yoga - wonderful system for tuning the entire personality
  • yoga darshanam is dvaita darhsanam therefore we reject. Yoga sadhana we accept.

Class 33: 6 / 3 - 5

  • yama and niyama will take care of our moral personality
  • asanas will take care of physical personality
  • pranayama, pratyahara and dharana will take care of our emotional personality
  • dhyana and samadhi take care of our spiritual personality
  • ashtanga yoga is for refining and integrating all the layers of personality. It cannot give jnanam but it can help prepare.
  • Approach the guru only for jnanam, not for getting some special blessing the family. He’ll tell spiritual education program with the help of guruvakyam and sastravakyam. As they are source of knowledge I should have sradha in both.
  • karmayoga involves extrovertedness and PORT increase. sravama manana niddidhiasanam involves introvertedness and PORT decrease. Therefore one has to sequentially follow. Two ashramas are meant for each.
  • aikyaprapti - intellectually dropping the misconceptions that jivatma and paramatma are different. Intellectually because misconceptions belongs to the intellect. Having accomplished - muktah bhavati.
  • Having reduced the jivatma and paramatma into ekatma we should ask the question regarding anatma - sharira trayam belonging to jivatma and prapanca trayam belonging to paramatma. Upanishad says: the entire anatma must be swallowed (pravilapanam, falsification) - understanding them as nama rupa. Example: imagine waking up from the dream and continuing to experience the dream.
  • Once sharira trayam is resolved there cannot be a karta and a bhokta. That’s why in sushupti avasta I’m neither. Once I understand I’m neither, where is the question of karma?
  • Until the mind is sensitive enough to appreciate formless brahman a person has to go through lot of rehearsal in the form of upasana. Ishvara upasanam is a rehearsal for Ishvara dhyayam.
  • Ishtadevata - form is sagunam but it represents both, sagunam and nirgunam brahman. Thereafter practice vishvarupaupasanam and then arupa upasanam in the form of akasha upasanam.
  • Difference between upasana and jnanam: you only imagine, no thinking, no analysis is required.
  • If we don’t have healthy body bhagavan is not responsible. It is based on your own karma. Congenital problem - don’t blame Bhagavan, this is what we’ve asked for. Ishvara is karmaphaldata.
  • There is no question of showing the vishvarupam. It is there all the time. In BG 11. chapter Arjuna only recognised it.
  • From empirical angle we’re all vishistha dvaitins only. jIva is part of bhagavam. Next step is advaitam: jIva is brahman.
  • Without dvaitam and vishista dvaitam, advaitam is impossible. Without advaitam the former are incomplete.
  • I insult all-pervading, infinite god by doing pilgrimage, limiting by meditation or thinking that I’m glorying when I sing shlokas.
  • Where is the lord? In our own mind.

Class 34: 6 / 5 - 7

  • Waker resolves the dreamworld into himself. The jnani resolves the waker’s world into himself. The only difference is that this world doesn’t disappear from experience. Jnani understands that it doesn’t have a separate existence. Just like ten reflections of myself in ten different mirrors I experience but I know they don’t exist separately.
  • When the drsya prapanca is resolved into oneself all the karmas (sancita, agami) are destroyed. prarabda will continue from vyavaharika drsti giving him the jivanmuktih.
  • If your intellect can grasp the formless akasha then it can grasp the formless brahman also.
  • atma is beyond karya karanam but it is in and through the body. It is available in the body as is-ness. It does not participate (neither in the form of karta, karma or karanam) in any of the transactions. Yet without it no transaction can take place.
  • Material punyam: name, fame, money, possessions, positions etc. Spiritual punyam: sadhana catustaya sampati. Both is generated by bhagavan. punydAtaram - giver of punyam.
  • Veda: taking any form of liquor. For that we have to do prayascitam (sing name of bhagavan). Papanudam - destroyer of papam.
  • Sarvaantarjami - transcendental God is immanent in everyone as the sakshi chaitanyam in the mind.
  • Most of the spiritual seekers have a very low opinion of themselves. Especially in the name of bhakti and humility they think we’re far away from moksha. Never look down upon yourself in the name of bhakti and humility. Give up the inferiority complex.
  • Self-confidence is atmakrpa - one’s own grace. If I don’t have even isvharakrpa is useless because I will argue with god.
  • We don’t need to get liberation. Moksha is our birthright. Here and now.
  • bhuvanesham - lord of entire cosmos. vidamah - we’all know.

Class 35: 6 / 7 - 11

  • Rshis are also on the spiritual journey. They’re imagining themselves as travelers or pilgrims. And they are inviting the entire humanity to join them.
  • Every action requires both sukshma and sthula shariram. Bhagavan doesn’t require neither. With his maya shakti he can create everything. He doesn’t have to use his hands and legs to shape this world.
  • Isvara is the greatest one. There is no “him” or “her” in case of God. When there is no one equal to God where is the question of someone being superior?
  • Nirguna brahman doesn’t have any power on its own, with the maya shakti nirguna brahman is endowed with extraordinary, superlative powers. From this only Devi is given the name parashakti. This name is said to come from SvetAshvatara.
  • We all acquire knowledge in time. Ishvara doesn’t acquire knowledge, he just has. Omniscience and omnipotence is natural to Isvara.
  • Lord is the absolute boss for whom there is no boss. He’s the ultimate controller of everything.
  • Logic can never prove the existence of God. Sastram alone is the pramanam for arriving at the existence of God. Shankaracharya says this based on SvetAshvatara.
  • After Veda has revealed Isvara we use logic not to reveal God but to understand God, which is revealed by the sastram. We don’t have proving logic, we have understanding logic. Isvara is the karanam of all but doesn’t have any other karanam. Causeless cause. God of all gods.
  • Just like a spider surrounds itself Bhagavan is like spider. He’s got the maya raw-material out of which Bhagavan weaves everything - the vast web called universe. Bhagavan is surrounded by the WWW. Web doesn’t cover the spider, we’re able to experience both the web and the spider. In the case of Isvara after he weaves the network of the world consisting of nama-rupa thread. Nama-rupa prapancha covers the lord as it were. Nama-rupa doesn’t really cover bhagavan but all our attention is drawn to the name-rupa. Example: movie screen.
  • The variable draws our attention, the non-variable is lost sight of. The non-variable thing in our mind is consciousness. Sat - non-variable outside, cit - non-variable inside.
  • World has beauty, variety, novelty, … but the world of nama-rupa doesn’t have stability. Hold on to the non-variable and play amids the variable.
  • Knowing brahman is always in the form of claiming I’m brahman.
  • ekodevah: symbols are many, the symbolised God is only one. Shiva, Vishnu, Rama are symbols, different nama-rupas to symbolise the nama-rupa atita Isvara. Our own heart is kailasa, vaikuntha, brahmaloka.
  • Lord Subrahmanya is called guhaha - hidden (in the heart).
  • In the heart bhagavan is recognised as sakshi - witness principle which is the knower of the mind. Bhagavan is recognisable inside, but present everywhere.
  • Ishvara is nirgunah, all the attributes but not the real nature, they’re only incidental ones caused by Maya.

Class 36: 6 / 11 - 13

  • Nirguna brahman is the nature of brahman by itself. Saguna brahman is the nature of brahman in association with maya. Note brahman and maya cannot never be really associated. Because 1) brahman is asangam just like akasha. Rain takes place in akasha but cannot make it wet. 2) maya does not have the same degree of reality. If it had, upanishad couldn’t say brahman is advaitam because there would be dvaitam. maya brahman association is only a seeming (adhyAsa) sambandha. Like experience of mirage water on dry land. In all adhyAsa sambandha one will borrow existence from the other. When brahman is associated with maya through adhyasa sambandha it is called saguna.
  • matra 11 - one of the most important of entire upanishadic teaching: eko devaḥ sarvabhūteṣu gūḍhaḥ sarvavyāpī sarvabhūtāntarātmā| karmādhyakṣaḥ sarvabhūtādhivāsaḥ sākṣī cetā kevalo nirguṇaśca
  • saguna: karmadhyaksah sarvabhutadhivasah - that brahman as saguna brahma (another name is Ishvara) alone presides all the karmas. Isvara is aware of every karma. Every single thought we entertain. He is also karmaphaladata - he takes care of divine justice which never fails.
  • maya is as eternal as brahman is. Therefore brahman is always with maya. Don’t imagine brahman as grhastah who after creating all the beings takes to sanyasa (divorces maya). When eternal maya is understood as mithya in the vision of a jnani, it is as good as non-existent. It doesn’t become non-existent. Once I understand mirage water as mirage water dry land is dry land when? For jnani brahman is always nirgunam, for ajnani always sargunam. The difference between saguna and nirguna brahman is not external difference but a difference in our understanding.
  • If jnani is talking about saguna brahman he’s temporarily coming to the level of ajnani humanity and from the standpoint of others he talks about saguna brahman. From his vision brahman is, was and ever will be nirgunam.
  • Example from naishkarmya siddhi by suresvaracarya: straight rod immersed in water appears bent. Yet I know it is always straight. After understanding this I can experience saguna brahman in the maya waters but I understand it is always nirguna.
  • Brahman by itself is neither karanam nor karyam but with maya it becomes sakaranam. Just like a bachelor after marriage becomes a parent.
  • Brahman is called svatantrah - maya has to borrow existence and conciousness from brahman.
  • In the local world all the mothers can produce only children of its own species. Isvara - maya the universal couple creates multiple the species.
  • Benefit: eka karanam jnanena mokshah bhavati karyA jnanena moksah na bhavati. When you want strength, hold on to karanam.
  • Without sastra pramanam you can never arrive at the pramanam. Yet cosmology (macro level) and quantum science (micro) are useful to appreciate vedantic teachings.
  • Karanam exists within the karyam itself. Gold is within the very ornament. Enlightened wave claims I’m not the mortal wave but immortal water.
  • zAzvatam - permanent.
  • Original face is for claiming, reflected for experiencing.
  • Here: sankhya yoga as way for liberation (sankhya - jnana yoga, vedanta vichara; yoga - karma yoga, upasana yoga).

Class 37: 6 / 14 - 16

  • For liberation one must know both saguna and nirguna versions of brahman. Saguna Brahman will be always different from jIva. Saguna brahman knowledge only will be bheda jnanam, which is useful for preparation only.
  • Brahman or paramatma is never an object of knowledge. If it were, it could be known by one pramanam or other pramanam. Any object of knowledge is called prameyam in Vedanta. Brahman is aprameyam.
  • Brahman cannot be revealed by pramanam and need not be revealed by pramanam. The very pramanams themselves are revealed by brahman. Brahman is available in the form of pramata - the knower. That I’m here need not be revealed because my presence is always self-revealed. Brahma svayam bhati.
  • Everything else is revealed only after the self-revealing self. Ramana Maharshi: can you talk about the 2nd and 3rd person when the 1st is not there? 1st person doesn’t require operation of pramanam, 2nd and 3rd do. They anubhati - are revealed only after the atma. They are revealed because of the atma only.
  • Read 10th chapter of BG (called “vibhuti yoga”) and claim all the vibhutis as my vibhutis.
  • hamsa - destroyer of ajnanam.
  • At the time of sanyasa gayatri is changed for sanyasis into hamsa gayatri (soham mantra).
  • Karana agni pervades the karya jalam (but its heat is not manifested there). Similarly karana atma is at the core of karya anatma prapanca.
  • vishva - all; universe
  • vishvavit - knower of everything. To create something you need know what you’re going to do (Dayananda Swamiji: except for modern art).
  • kAlakAlah - destroyer of time
  • pradhanam - maya, universe
  • ksetrajnah - jiva
  • Bhagavan as a master of rajoguna he becomes shristi karta, as the master of sattvaguna he becomes sthiti karta as a master of tamoguna he becomes laya karta.
  • Bhagavan (Ishvara) is the cause of bondage (through tamoguna of his maya), bhagavan is the cause of liberation (through sattvaguna of maya - when it becomes predominant, you get interested in Vedanta). If samsara continues in certain jivas bhagavan alone is the cause. If it ends, for that he alone is the cause.

Class 38: 6 / 17 - 23

  • Krishna: because of my maya shakti alone, people do not know my higher nature. And they will not be able to cross over the maya by themselves.
  • Those people who surrender unto me I will help them to get over the maya. First they will start as arta bhaktas, then they will graduate arta arthi bhakas and then they will become vijnansu bhaktas and I will help them to become jnani bhaktas - get liberated.
  • Not only brahman is the cause of bondage and liberation, brahman it self is in the form of both bondage and liberation. Bandha also is Ishvara, moksha is also Ishvara. When brahman is understood as advaitam then the brahman is liberation. When brahman is understood as dvaitam then the same brahman is bondage. Exactly like the rope.
  • Brahman itself is the cause of fear when brahman itself is misunderstood as fear. And the very same brahman is liberation when it is understood as brahman. Because there is only one brahman existent it has to appear as both. Just like father to have fun with the child wears a tiger mask. When the child cried father removed the mask and the very same father, who was source of fear, becomes the source of strength.
  • There is no second one capable of running the world. Jiva is not able and there is no second Ishvara.
  • brabhuhuh - one who is capable.
  • gopta - protector.
  • Ishvara creates Brahma first in the form of hiraNyagarbha. Bhagavan gives training to Brahma to create the universe (aparavidya). He also becomes the jnanam (paravidya). Brahma is the direct disciple of Ishvara, who’s adiguru. To that first disciple vedas are given (paravidya + aparavidya). That very Ishvara (narayana, adi guru) is in the form of chaitaynya prakasham. Who is the very light of consciousness in my buddhi.
  • Higher nature of narayana is nirguna brahman. Free from all divisions. Peace himself. Free from all types of dosha. Sacred bridge/path for immortality.
  • Jiva is not part of Ishvara. He’s Ishvara essentially. The differences are only superficial, just like wave and ocean are both water.
  • In vedantic context tapas means sadhana catustaya sampati and sravanam, mananam and niddidhiasanam.
  • Effort + grace = success. Svetasvatara passed the moksha examination. After he became a jnani he wanted to hand over the knowledge to next generation to maintain the paramapara.
  • If not external sanyasa, at least internal sanyasa is very very important qualification.
  • Svetaasvatara - signifies high level (tara) of sadhana chatustaya sampati (svetaasva). Whoever has got, he’s Svetaasvatara.
  • Paramamguhyam - supremely sacred and secret knowledge.
  • Rule of transference: Share this knowledge only with people who have reverence for this teaching. If people don’t have the value never tell them. Sraddha (faith), bhakti (reverence) towards bhagavan and guru are the most important qualifications. Same amount of reverence and faith towards guru as to Ishvara.

Class 39: Summary

  • This upanishad doesn’t have a structured, well developed teaching but it discusses all the four important points of vedanta sastra: 1) isvara svarupam 2) isvara svarupa jnanam 3) isvara svarupa jnana sadhanam 4) isvara sadhana jnana phalam
  • Upanishad discusses both saguna and nirguna svarupam. Saguna is discussed predominantly as vishvarupa isvara varnanam, more than in the other upanishads.
  • Upanishad highlights yoga as primary mean of sadhanam for vedantic student. Yoga as mind discipline (mano nigrahah).
  • 1/12: I - the brahman - alone am appearing as jiva, ishvara, jagat in three different costumes. This idea we don’t find in any other of the 10 upanishads.
  • 1/15: atma is available in every individual, but not easily discernible. You have to go through a process. Just like oil is available in the seed but not visible. Or fire in the fire-wood.
  • 2/15: may you know brahman as the very atma - I. In the form of one consciousness present in both jivatma and paramatma. Compared to light - it reveals itself and also everything else.
  • Advantage of doing yoga sincerely for a long time. Fit body and extraordinary experiences.
  • 3/19: atma is the sakshi tattvam which is pure consciousness. This sakshi alone associated with mind and sense organs becomes a pramata (ahamkara, the knower principle, experiencer principle). As an experiencer principle the atma alone experiences everything in the creation. At the same time even though atma is associated with mind and sense organs it is only a seeming association. There is no real association. Being like the space atma cannot get connected to anything. I need not withdraw from the world to become sakshi. I’m always sakshi, not connected with anything. Pasyan srshan … aham naiva kincit karomi. I appear a pramata, I’m always sakshi.
  • 4/3: O lord, every boy, girl, adult or old woman, man, … I’m seeing in my life is you alone. Everybody is bhagavan only. You may physically distant yourself but never hate anyone. Beautiful vishvarupa isvara not found in any other of the 10 upanishads.
  • 4/10: maya is the seed of the entire universe. Maya is the world itself in dormant form before big-bang. Maya after big-bang is the world. Isvara is the invisible, all-pervading consciousness principle which pervades and activates maya. Thus Ishvara is called mayi.
  • 5/10: O lord, you’re not man, not woman (exact opposite of 4/3), not in any other category. Shariram has the gender, atma doesn’t have any gender at all.
  • 6/11: Ekodevah. Ishvara is only one. Present hidden in all beings as sakshi chaitainyam. Mahavakya. In fact nirguna.
  • 6/18: Vedanta is not authored by human beings. Not by any rshi also, they have served only as a medium - receivers. Bhagavan alone is the author, he’s adi guru. Knowledge: Ishvara -> Hiranyagarbha. Brahma is not only putra but also sishya. Brahma gives out to all the other rishis.
  • 6/20: You can get moksha without knowledge under one condition - roll the sky from one corner of the earth up to the other like a carpet and submit to bhagavan.
  • 6/21: States the name of the rshi. It says he became a jnani. By his own effort and God’s grace.

Class 40: Gist of Rudram

  • Shivaratri is not Shiva’s ratri but our ratri in which we’re supposed to worship lord Shiva throughout the night.
  • Lord Vishnu is supposed to like alankara (ornaments), lord Shiva abhisheka (pouring liquids).
  • Rudram is a very sacred prayer occurring in the middle of Yajur Veda. Along many sastrams Veda is supposed to be most sacred and in the Veda Rudram is supposed to be most sacred. Most sacred mantra of Rudram is “pancaaksara”, in the middle, is “namah shivaya”.
  • “Rudra” has got several meanings. One of it: rut dukham, or dukhah hetu, tra (one who drives away). Thus “remover of sorrow”. Positively called “Shiva”.
  • Lila - glory. Shata rudriyam. Since this prayer contains hundred of glories of glories (lilas) of Lord Rudra it is known by the name “shata rudriyam”. Another name “Sri Rudra Suktam”, another “Rudra Upanishad” and finally “Namakam”.
  • Beginner - personal Shiva. Advanced student - in the form of virat svarupam. vishvarupa Ishvara. Whole cosmos is taken as cosmic shivalingam. According to scriptures moon’s rays are supposed to contain water in it. Because they are cool. From the moon the cool waters are spreading through the rays and when it happens it is abhishekam for the Lord Shivam, who is the cosmic lingam. And it is mahaabhishekam.
  • Whole akasha is the shivalinga, the stars are the pushpams, sun and the moon are the eyes, the ocean are the gukshi, lower world is the pada. The Veda is the mouth of Lord Rudra. From this it is clear that the difference between Shiva and Vishnu is there as long as you take them as personal gods.
  • From the 2nd up to the 9th anuvaka it is the glorification of Lord Shiva. Shiva mahimna stotram.
  • Sarvesham Ishvara: Lord Shiva is the Lord of all. Intelligent creator and protector of the universe. Nimita karana (in vedantic language). Sarvarupah: Lord alone is appearing as everything in the creation. Sarvam shivamayam jagat. Sarvaantarjamitvam: Lord is the inner essence (nirguna tattvam) of everything.
  • Lord of good things and negative things (Rudram talks about variety thieves). Absolute Lord.
  • Gana - group of people. Ganapati - leader of a group.
  • Drum + sticks makes noise. What is in the stick? Lord Shiva. Inside rivers, lakes, dust, stone, cloud, prthivi, leaves …
  • I worship Lord Rudra who is in infinite forms. For all of them I offer my prostration. And I want to destroy my enemies. Our true enemies are not outside, but our own inner enemies (raga, dvesha, kama, krodha, mada, matsarya).
  • Once I’ve got chitta sudhi then I can work for moksha (om trayambakam … bandhanat mrtyoh mrkshiya). As the fruit ripes the creeper, the original tree, goes away from the tree to which it has been attached heavily because of the fruit weight. Because I’m not ripe I’m strongly attached to the creeper called father, mother, spouse … “Oh Lord, I should become mature and I should not give up, let them give me up”. Safe method of sanyasa. Forced sanyasa :) “Oh Lord, bring in such a situation that I will naturally be free from all such bonds and I will attain immortality, oneness with you.
  • Thus Rudram ends with a prayer for chitta suddhi and moksha. Rudram is concluded.
  • In Kayvalya Upanishad it is said that even a sanyasi should chant Rudram.