Dhamma Padam

February 20, 2023

Table of Contents

01

src

Buddha was a upanishadah.
Buddha’s fear: people will go after speculative religious practices by giving up the search for the truth.
Swami Vivekananda: Buddha was a great vedantist. Shankara was a hidden buddhist. Swami TV: Buddha is an open buddhist.
Buddha dismissed cast and gender distinctions. All are human being. That was most unpalatable for the orthodox ritualists.
When you hate something, you invent (folklore) stories.
Human society wants a villain. Unless there is a villain there is no target they can put all their vehemence against.
The orthodox made Buddha a villain because he didn’t agree with the violence (against the animals) of the karmakhanda. And then they made stories.
Prakrta is the language of the people. Sanskrta is the language of the elite.
Shankara wrote his bhasyas in the language of the people, which was at his time Sansrkt. Pali was the prakrta in the time of Buddha.
Buddha is different from Bauddhas. Bauddhas have understood Buddha in their own way. He doesn’t say anything clearly about the transcendental. Buddhism is different from Buddha’s teachings.
Dhamma Pada is a book of life.
Jesus Christ was not a religionist. He did not create a religion. He was a philosopher and advaita vedantin.
Indian Society is not a law abiding civilization, but a dharma abiding civilization. Europe and US is a law abiding civilization.
Vivekananda: Study Gita-Krishna, don’t bother about Radha-Krishna (Krishna from stories).
Life is relationships. Even for sanyasis, there is always a relationship - my students, my teacher, my vedanta, my class, my sampradaya …
The value of the thing is not intrinsic. It comes from the mind. Because the mind believes it’s valuable.
When physical things become very important in your live, you’ll miss the truth and relationships with other people will get disturbed. Therefore the mind has more importance as the physical things. And one meaning of dharma is “physical thing”.

02 - sound OM

src

What is is real (sat) and your understanding of the real is the truth (satyam). Om is the sound represents the truth.
We should devote the life to the search for the truth. Alternative is devoting it to artha, kama, dharma and there will be no truth in life. And without the search for the truth of life it will become a wasted life.
How not to waste a lot of life? Not by practising a lot more of religion.
How to begin the search for the truth? With the word “OM”. It’s intonational sound, thus universal. Not alphabetical which is for human beings only.
First learn to listen! Listen to what? Whatever is there. Don’t judge the sound. Don’t name. Don’t approve. Don’t like. Don’t dislike. If you can it means your mind is silent.
Rshis were listening to the sounds of nature. And they discovered the sound OM.
All the sects revere the sound OM equally. Even buddhism. What comes after OM, they all differ. OM is the expression of truth. It is universal, doesn’t belong to a particular language. It is the sound of nature.
I suggest ignore two things: rupa, nama.
In this world there is nothing auspicious. Everything is a trap, takes away the freedom, binds you. Yet there is opposite of it, the real, which is also called Shiva. It makes you joyous. Where is it? Everywhere. How to represent it - Vishnuh. It’s not a person. How to represent it - “that”, out of which the 4th case is “tasmai”. That is how do it the Upanishads.
Gurudom - people are waiting for the truth to be told. This has come from the ritualism. You put the proper dress on, sit and wait to be told. The same spirit bring the sishyas to the Vedanta class. In learning you discuss together, inquire together and with open mind you examine and explore.
(Vedantic) meditation means reflection, contemplation.
sa:Arahan = most deserving.
There are two jobs in Indian society for which you need no qualification what-so-ever. Politics and gurudom.
Acharya is the one who walks the talk.
Swami Vivekanda: Buddha may or may not believed in personal god. That does not matter to me. He reached the same state of perfection to which others come by bhakti, yoga or jnana. They lead to state of perfection and Buddha has reached this state. Buddha never bowed down to anything, neither Veda, nor cast, nor priest, nor custom. He fearlessly reasoned so far as reason could take him. Such a fearless search for truth, that is Buddha. Such love for any living thing, the world has never seen.
Buddha himself believes in some sort of eternal being. It can be seen from his utterances. He doesn’t give the name “Brahma” to it. His name is “Damma”.
There is no knowing in the future. By putting it in the future, you’ve blocked any possibility of knowing the truth. There cannot be any understanding in the psychological future. But we say we’ll understand and we’re sure the guru understands. This is called fanaticism. You don’t know but are so sure the guru knows. What you’re getting is a bunch of ideas - ideation.
The idea is not the thing, the word is not the thing. Knowing the word “jackfruit” nor having an idea about it is not the truth. People worship ideas. Think they know the truth.
Parampara - passing on of ideas. And you become sorrowful and insecure. Or did you become a joyous person after ideation?
Soon brahmachari will be burdened by knowledge.
Being a knowledgable person, standing on a high pedestal, he’s got an agenda for the whole society, whole world. He looks down upon the people. He doesn’t have any love for the people.
When you learn the truth it doesn’t accumulate.
In atmabodha there is no accumulation, only learning. In tattvabodha there is only accumulation, no learning. People want the burden of accumulation, not the joy of learning.
Buddha loves the people. He doesn’t take part in the metaphysical mumbo-jumbo.
Be cautious that it is learning, not accumulation. Buddha was ruthless, he said that metaphysical mumbo-jumbo is not for me.
Another meaning for “dharma” is “people”. The individual, not a person.
Your body is in the world. But the world is not outside of your mind. It is outside of your body.
Mind produces thoughts. Consciousness is the entire movement of the mind. All experience of life is in the mind. Mind is frequency.
You experience the pain in the body but it stems from the mind. Immunity to corona virus is in the mind.
Manahpurvahgamah = individual - the one who moves along the mind. You go wherever mind takes you. You’re what your mind is.
In this conglomerate of the body and mind, what is the supreme? Mind is the supreme.

03 - desirelessness

src

People find it easy to believe, difficult to think. Easy to follow, difficult to define their own way.
Buddha has so much love for the people that he understands.
We become very skillful with transcendental speculation.
Buddha pulls the metaphysical Brahma into the empirical Dhamma. One and the same, they are not different. Shankara does the same. There is really no difference.
When you embrace a person you love, tell yourself it is mortal. This will prevent you from becoming an emotional entity.
Don’t become an intellectual. You’ll find it difficult to love people, because you’ll be standing on a higher pedestal. Relationships also will become very soar.
Your body must not be the body, the emotions, the intellect but the truth. The home in which you live is called sharanam. Buddha calls it Dhamma.
Shankara never refutes Buddha, he refutes buddhism only.
The mind (another name is “psychology) is an integral part of the nature. It is not separate. It is not that you’re a person and have your own mind. Human consciousness, the movement of the mind, is the same. Also the same for physiology. Your body is part of nature. The person is throwing mud at you. You do not feel bad about the person. Mind creates things, e.g. conflict. And then believes the conflict is real.
The very idea of “else”, of “other” is a calamity. The mind creates a lot of mischief.
Thought -> speech -> action.
Religious leader gives you a list why there is suffering in the world. Every point is a miss.
There is no end to the monstrosity of ignorance. You don’t need to educate people. At least don’t push them into ignorance. Buddha: look at your mind. That is the culprit.
7 Sins: salt, sugar, stress, sleeplessness, sepsis, spirit + one more.
Desire is an impurity. Do not entertain any desire about anything on which you do not have any command. Remind yourself that all things are unreal and all people are mortal.
Marah here is used as synonym for kama (desire).
All fears arise out of desire only.
Prasadah is not eating food. Prasadah is a mind with clarity and cheerfullness.
People are anxious about healing the body. You have to heal the mind (first). When you heal the mind you seldom become sick.
When there is a desire lingering you’re tense.
Gossip is a direct outcome of jealousy.
Vivekananda: desirelessness and fearlessness is godliness. The consciousness has become one with the godliness. It is already godliness. Hence you do not remember god separate of you.
Upanishads: the moment the person becomes desireless that moment he becomes immortal and that moment he becomes one with brahma.

04

src

Listen to the sounds, far as well as near, without naming. You’re now establish in what is called sakshi bhavah. You’re not a person anymore.
First sanyasin was actually Buddha.
Buddha declined to define the nature of the absolute reality. He contented himself with negative description. So do upanishads.
When superstition comes from great acharyas you have to call it sophistry. It is difficult to draw a line between the superstition of the ignorant people and sophistry of the learned.
Traditional - whatever doesn’t fall within the narrow vision is labeled as non-traditional and non-worthwhile. That’s sophistry. “You’re not the right person to speak about it, sit down”.
You have to find a light in yourselves. You cannot rely entirely upon a physical entity called guru. But ultimately you’re your own guide.
Religious way of life is not where rituals but wisdom dominates. Superstition is loaded with fear.
Prasada - clarity in thinking, charity in feeling in mind and in action.
When you play the same tune you stop thinking about it. Without thinking you develop an attachment to it.
You get a feeling that you’re familiar with it even without knowing it. There is so much knowledge but no learning. Knowledge accumulates, learning does not.
Knowledge is professional. Learning is loaded with love.
If you’re caught in a structure you won’t be able to listen to anything new, thinking in an original way. You know only to move in a groove.
Art of listening. Give full attention. Listen with entire operation of the thought, which is but memory, at bay. That is how you have to listen to the scriptures. Keep all the knowledge you’ve accumulated on Vedanta aside.
Thinking and stress go together. Stress has its origin in thought.
When you listen with full attention, you’re fully relaxed. In the very act of listening, the old tape gets wiped out.
You have to find a way of living, which is not dependent on any belief. Where a very creative thinking guides the life.
Prasadah: the circumstances around do not impact you. The quality of life is always free, young (not biologically), vital…
The old ways of thinking, the repetition of old patterns and repetition of living and acting come to an end when you pay attention.
Are you serious about finding a way of live where there is no misery, no turmoil? Than you have to get rid of the old habit of thought. E.g. “I’m somebody”.
Through the old habit of thought we get caught in the samsara. I’m somebody, I’m such and such and I want to fulfill myself. Why? That is selfishness. Why should you fulfill yourself or become something? You’d know what you’re. You need not become anything other than you’re.
“I believe in my opinions”. They are not your opinions! Somebody has put them there.
There is so much fragmentation. All fragmentation leads to confusion.
Find for yourself what is the right way of thinking and living. You’ve to find that wisdom in yourself by yourself.
In the inner movement only creative thinking and learning (which is in the present), not memory, helps.
Religions promise to heal the mind. They won’t do it. You have to take your life in your hands.
Child-Like mind not childish mind.
Buddha’s loving kindness meditation: to get rid of injustice towards me and hate.
Nobody can hurt you. Only your actions, your thoughts, the way you conduct your relationships. Unless you allow the other person to hurt you, nobody can hurt you.

05

src

All people are frustrated. With their places, jobs, relationships, marriages, family life to sanyasa … hoping to find something better. Bhagavan Buddha is acting out this frustration.
Science and technology doesn’t divide people. It unites them. Indian aeroplane can be flown by a German guy. Whereas religion, belief system, divides people. You feel animosity spontaneously to an unknown person for the simple reason that he is not your co-religionist.
Ideology is nothing but an idea highlighted and blown-up to very big proportions as if it is the truth. Ideologs are not peaceful, but very frustrated, agitated and unhappy people.
Fulfillment and frustration are interrelated. Fulfillment of what? Goal, desire of the mind.
Frustration is but a form of hate only.
Jealousy is nothing but hatred.
Sensation is another name for thought. You’ve got a pleasant sensation, fulfilment - that’s thought. Thought is not love. Love is the flame and thought is the smoke.
Love has no opposite. There will be always an opposite for thought.
Love is like water. It is not limited by a given vessel. When you think of it, do you think of a particular vessel? Is it meant to be partaken by a given person?
When you know love you’ve known god. What people usually have is attachment.
Heart is burdened by the things of the head.
You cannot find a rich man happy. He’s a slave to his riches. He’s an unhappy person. There is sorrow in him, even though he might not give expression to it.
Buddha is sensitive to sorrow in all.
Preamble of the constitution of UNESCO: since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.
Swami TV: there is every reason to be frustrated. But I’m not frustrated. I’m ecstatic? No. I’m a simple person living my life. Yet I don’t feel any hate. It’s just a matter of paying attention.
Sometimes in a given context it’s inappropriate not to be frustrated.
sa:sham-a (to douse, to extinguish) becomes sa:shantih.
Examine your thought process. As long as it (“I’m somebody”, “I deserve”, …) is retained in your consciousness, the fire of enmity won’t be extinguished.
To heal psychologically is more important that to heal physically. Get out of that thought pattern (“that somebody has wronged me”). You get what you deserve, call it destiny if you want. Stop thinking on that lines.
Vipashyana meditation. Just watch the breath. Buddha’s scheme: meditate 30 days long at a given time. Do it alone.
Who’s right, who’s wrong. That’s not the point.
Loving kindness meditation. Practice, once/twice times a week. And then look at your consciousness. The antagonism comes to an end. It is one of the great blessings of bhagavan Buddha.
Be in dark. Sitting upright is important. At least in the beginning. It takes out the tamoguna. The laziness.
Alertness and relaxation go together. They are complimentary.

06

src

Law is man-made, dharma is the outcome of the nature which is God. For us God is not different from nature. What you call nature has God as its substratum.
Sanatanah means timeless, whereas law is time-bound. Laws also change from space to space. Sometimes even from person to person. Laws are very changeable.
Even dharma can change but it’s scope is universal. Dharma has its origin in the nature. Dharma is the laws that govern the cosmos. Like you don’t want to hurt any other creature because you yourself don’t want to be hurt. Ahimsa is dharma, not a law enacted by a king or a ruler.
Sanatanah can mean perennial (like the sun, which will be exhausted) and timeless like the atma.
Being. I’m. It is the same irrespective of time. Morning, evening, midnight, the I’m-ness is the same. Mind is not the same. At office, at home mind is different. I’m is not different.
It is a crazy world in which no guru encourages the student to find the God for himself.
Upanishadic method: based on the hints you discover what is the God. In Upanishad the preceptor encourages the student to find the truth.
What is the truth? Whatever is!
The thing in it-self. Gold is the thing, not ornament.
Essence of all the upanishadic upasanas. Look at living (chit) and non-living (jada). That you have around you. Prakuruti. The substratum of this is Ishvara or Brahma. All upanishadic upasanas are based on this principle. Brahma is before as as the intelligence that commands and controls the universe. Sattvaguna. That is hiranyagarbhopasana.
Even when you’re looking at the world you’re looking at God. This is the upasana.
The present day Hindu-Society has moved out of three main pillars of any cultural religion: 1) grantha - the scripture 2) acaryah 3) commitment of the devotees.
Everybody follow what scriptures he likes.
Instead of acarayah there are preachers. When there are followers a leader will come up. There is no unified vision.
Psychological health is far more important than physical. Mind and body influence each other.
When the age comes and the psychological health is not in good shape, you’ll suffer to no end.
We concentrate mostly on healing the outward. That is how the popular opinion is. That’s why a physician draws large groups of patients.
Idealogical people are not peaceful people. They don’t know what is peace. They are very agitated people. They have enemies. Mahatmas don’t.
Kaliyuga pill-yuga.
Dharma - clarity in thinking (utterly uncorrupted), charity in thinking, purity action.
Conflict you have in your heart dissipates the vital energy which you so desperately need to know the truth.
If there is a conflict. You should not do anything. That is likely to make the conflict worse. Your goal must be to take out the conflict, the hate from the consciousness. If there is a reason, if you feel injustice done to you, go and offer him some flowers or wish him well. Go and help him to come out of his difficulties. Break the cycle of difficulties.
Replace hostility with love or at least neutralize it.
The one who is ridiculing or insulting is indeed insulting himself.
Your mind will tell you the other is your enemy. He’s wronged you. You have to teach him a lesson. It is a battle against yourself. Dhammapada says: nahI vayrena vayrani shamyanti. This is the devAsura samgramah - battle between gods and deamons. God tells you “bless your enemy”. Inside there is a jiva, separate from god. That person tells you “this is the time to strike and take revenge”. You have to decide.

07

src

As long as you’ll justify antagonism it will hurt you.
Figuratively globalization means the earth is flat. No difference between east and west. It’s all a huge mix.
When a criminal is executed it is not the other that is executed, it is myself. The one who’s slain is myself. The one who slains is also myself.
When my adversary is cheated by me, I’m not cheating the adversary, I’m cheating myself.
Before the power of Jesus Christ the Roman Empire came crumbling down. That’s the power of love.
Prayer: “Oh God, I forgive my enemies so you can forgive me”.
Always the real revolution comes from within. And that comes only when you understand. Understanding is learning, not knowledge, which is accumulation.
Greatest mishap is converting Vedanta into accumulative knowledge. In Gita you’re supposed to learn and live. In Panini’s Grammar, social science or mathematics you’re supposed to know and accumulate.
Understanding has to come from examining the way how you’re conducting yourself in a given relationship. Antagonism is always related to a relationship. You cannot have in in thin air.
There is no justifiable anger. Ghandi: there is no justifiable violence. British are not enemies. They’re our rulers. They should get out. We rule ourself. The demand stays.
When you become angry. Don’t condemn yourself. Just watch the movement of anger in you. Sakshibhava. When you justify, it becomes stronger, when you condemn it becomes stronger. Stop fueling the fire. It will become extinct by itself.
In Ramayana you do not see one word of hate coming from the mouth of Rama against Ravana. But it’s clear that if Ravana comes close to Rama, he’ll be slain.
How a weak-minded person can forgive? Only strong-minded person can forgive!
Marah is the synonym of kamah. Marah is principle of kamah. Kamah is desire, not sex.
Atma you’ll never know. It is infinite. I’m understanding, understanding … understanding. Until the last breath. Only journey is there. There is nothing like “I’ve learned”. There is no goal.
Knowledge is accumulation and you’ll lose it.
Kamadahanam: When you understand, desire cannot persist.

08

src

Those who know the truth of the self see the same self in all. Any conflict or feud just vanishes from their sight. Whatever conflict is there it was its locus in the body mind. It cannot touch the self.
You discover the inner light. You position yourself in that. That becomes your homestead and than you don’t feel any animosity.
Enjoyment is a very dirty word. All sense pleasures. Game of the mind, senses in conjunction with the objects. Joy is a good word. It is atma, ananda..
Sins: spirit, sedentary lifestyle, sleeplessness. Somebody who values physical and psychological heath, a student of vedanta has nothing to do with this.
Who connects the three: waking person, dream person, no person. You assume it’s the waking person. That’s wrong.
The thing which is all-together unknown to you in the waking state cannot appear in the dream state.
Meaning of sanyasa is giving up karma. Popular meaning is giving up job, wife, children, giving up worldly life. Sanyasa means you give up all karmas and abide in your true self. Christianity has a sanyasa too.
In Sri Krishna’s vision there is only sanyasa in spirit. Buddha introduced sanyasa in letter into the system. Shankara has adopted the sanyasa in spirit as well as in letter.
Focus on the nutrient value of the food and dehayatra. As sanyasi you have to keep body moving forward. Enjoyment is secondary or auxiliary, you don’t pursue it.
When eating food remember Damocles’ sword.
While you’re enjoying the party, you’ve already sown the seeds of pain. Hangover effect. The pleasure is the origin of pain (pain is the price you’ve to pay for pleasure).
You don’t want pain in your life? Keep the pleasure away! You cannot avoid it. Or do you want to be caught in the cycle of pleasure of pain?
There is an enormous amount of ritualism aimed at increasing pleasure and neutralising pain. All of that is based on the misapprehension and you will have to put it away.
Samsara according to Shankara: katrbhotrlakshanah samsarah. Life of bondage.
Vedanta is not about pleasure at the cost of pain. That’s devanta.
All enjoyment is suffering. You cannot take the suffering out of enjoyment.
AA method: withdrawal symptoms are addressed at the physiological level, misconceptions at the psychological.
When we give more and more significance to sensory pleasures we remain in utter confusion about what is atma and what is not atma. For a glutton tummy is the atma.
When you give up synthetic perfumes you become sensitive to the natural fragrances.
We’re giving so much value to the sensate values. Examine each one of them.

09

src

Woman and man are equal but not uniform.
In the religious context mind becomes the machine, esp. where all the rituals are performed. It loses it swiftness, understanding, penetration.
There is no creativity in worldly. This is the civilization crisis of modernity, in which the sense pleasures, the mundane things become extraordinarily important in life.
Increase satva in your life. Eat less, tamas is gone.
Don’t indulge in excessive thinking, learn to be quiet. Cultivate habits of satva. Rajas will come down.
Eyesight is like fire. You have to be cautious what you’re putting into the fire. Put some ghee, not a tire.
World is not supposed to be an ideal place.
Vedanta: I’m living for the benefit of others, not myself.
What happened to the family and society? Devotion to the sense pleasures… Bond of love is gone.
New kind of imperialism/colonialism: advertisements occupy your brain.
Advertisement is meant to capture the imagination of human brain.
Pursuing sense pleasures creates a contradiction in the mind. In the state of contradiction the mind is incapable of understanding anything.
Salt is the killer. We eat too much salt. Salt is poison. You don’t need salt. Give up salt. Give up sugar. Salt, sugar - white poisons.
Reduce salt and sugar and your consumption of food will come down automatically. You cannot eat so much pulses and cereals unless you add any of the two.
Without proper food, there is no brahma, no atma. You ignore that fundamental aspect, that is ruination. There is no self-realization and like that.

10

src

Prefer brown, red, black rice to white polished one. Introduce oats, quinoa.
Cereals and pulses should not be more than 50% of your food intake.
matra - the one who knows the measure.
In food you should not go by belief systems. Examine.
In sanskrit “ra” and “la” are interchangeable.
People should relish hard work. The rest preceeded and succeeded by hard work is the most enjoyable rest.
Sedentary lifestyle (without physical or intellectual exertion) is one of the seven sins. You’re making yourself sick, killing yourself.
Day after day, every day, you’d get the feeling “now I’m tired”.
Keep going hard work/exercise at the level of the intellect. Don’t allow the braincells to be sedentary. Intellectual fatigue is very good, keep it going.
You’d be completely fatigued by the end of day physically.
You’d not be sitting for more than 30 minutes without a break. If you do, get up, move along, do something. Sitting without moving makes you temporarily diabetic. Or hemoglobin will be like rusted chain.
Every day you should be able to tell to you happily “I’m tired”, both physically and intellectually. In between the two there are nervous (due to conflict) and mental (emotions, desire) fatigue. They are very bad, you’d avoid them at all cost.
Desire demands fulfillment. Fulfillment knows no end. Sri Krishna: Desirelessness is godliness.
Radha Krishna is an enormous distortion. There is no woman called Radha in Bhagavatam. Connect with Gita Krishna, leave alone Radha Krishna. He doesn’t stand for desires, eating, sweets etc. Krishna stands for sthitaprajna.
Mind is the machine of thought. A desire is like a groove and demands fulfillment. Fulfillment constantly seeks other forms of fulfillment, other objects. A stray thought will not hurt you.
The path to heaven is very narrow. There are three expressway to hell: kamah, lobha (when desire fulfilled), krodha (when desire unfulfilled)
Realization is not an event, not a cataclysmic process. You’re blind and now you start seeing. That’s all. Realization of what? Of the truth of everything.
If I’m a realized soul, supposed, then every thought reflects that truth. Every word that you speak it reflects the truth.
Imagine being in a forest by yourself. Who does guide you? Yourself. How do you function there? You’re alert. You’re conscious of anything and everything that appears around.
Realization is a way of life. Truth is a way of life. It is not an event that suddenly happens. What is life? Thinking, speaking and action.
As a desire begins it initiates a worry. You become nervous. Later when not fulfilled it produces anger. When it’s over disappointment. There is only one source of pain, sorrow and anger - your own desire.
A person with no desires is the king of kings. Every person has his price - his desire. Now you can wipe him out.
As long as you entertain desires, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Brahman cannot be realized.
Be dead to this world. A corpse doesn’t have any desires. Arise from the sleep of desires and be free.
Jesus dealt with devil (desire). Shiva with kama.
Desire - 1) I cannot be happy with what I have. To be happy I need to acquire. 2) I’m not happy with what I’m. By becoming something else than I’m I’ll be happy.
Desire is rooted in ignorance. It’s asking for something else than is, for void. You’ll be bound by time, sorrow. How to bridge the gap between now and happiness in future? By karma… You’re bound for good.
Life of happiness produced by fulfilling desires is 2:59. With 3rd minute follows unhappiness, more desires, stress and credit card problems.
Be connected to karma which is in the present. Never to the phala which is in the future.
There is no animal called future in the creation. Future is when you imagine future, in your imagination, hence false.
River - tremendous movement, but no effort. Effort is the psychological desire to move forward. River doesn’t act, it’s not a karta. The entirety of a river can be described by a word - spontaneous - sahaja (nissarga if you will)
No disappointment, there is no will. No frustration, because there is no decision.
If we give up desires, how shall with live? You live with groceries, not desires! Shut up! Desirelessness is godliness.
Physician, engineer is brahmana. By education and training.

11 - sanyasa

src

HH (his highness or holy hobo) Swami TV
Sanyasa is like bankruptcy in western society - a way out (of society), given by Buddha.
Before 6th century all worship was in fire, water or rising sun. They are the altars.
Fire signifies tyaga - na mamah. That’s why ochrerobe. Other significance is that food is never denied to people in that clothes.
Consciousness definition: content of consciousness is the consciousness. Shabda, sparsha, rupa, rasa, gandha. Developing attachment to certain shabda following which there will be aversion to certain other shabda.
Inner poverty - being attached to the outer cause.
Attachment is poison, aversion is other kind of person. Sri Krishna is called Madhusudhana because if you follow his advice you’ll be free from both.
Choice is not freedom. Choice is bondage. Say “no” that is freedom. Say “yes” that is bondage. Exercise of choice is painful.
Become bland, choice-less in reference to food. You don’t need any fragrance. You’re thirsty? Go for water.
Dance has no place in devotion and spirituality.
Sanyasi should live a simple life. Not a hard life. All the kashaya should be thrown out.
Sanyasa for Sri Krishna: giving up raga and dvesha and life your worldly or family life.
Is it inspiring? You’ve to judge yourself.
Mind will not take your permission. Will create a goal and conflict.
Struggle and conflict are contra-productive and bad for spiritual progress.

12 - ontology

src

Thought is the window to the real/atman/God one one side and to the world on the other.
Because of the familiarity with the word people believe they know the thing.
People who know the truth are very simple people, now showy and very calm, not noisy people. Whereas people driven by the ignorance, myth, falsehood, illusions are very active people. They have so much of energy a normal person cannot muster.
People are driven by delusions. That is what is called samsara.
Gita doesn’t begin with 1:1. It begins with 2:11. Rest is preparation. First topic Sri Krishna deals with: There is no reason go grieve. You’re not born. I was not born. Nor all these kings and soldiers were born (2:12).
Are you following the tradition or the truth? What people call tradition is mithyasankalpa. Tradition sounds very pious. Is it not imitation?
Our life is driven mostly by the thought process. And this is brought into being by one notion - that you’re born.
There are not constellations. Starts are in 3D space, constellation requires 2D.
It looks real because you don’t pay attention. Because you don’t think. What appears real, being unreal, it is transient. It appears real only for a certain duration. If it is real, it must be there timelessly.
Birth appears real to you because you believe it. The fact is you were never born. And you do not belong to a star nor constellation.
Doubt it. Ask the question: was I ever born? Was the body born or was it already there?
Swami TV: I cannot complain about worldly people. I only complain about acharyas and students of Vedanta. You talk big things about God, birth, atma, brahma etc. and believe such silly things which are dismissed in the beginning of Bhagavad Gita. And you say you’re tradition. What Bhagavad Gita are you following?
Doubt the unreal. It ceases. It goes. It cannot withstand the scrutiny. It cannot live in the glare of examination.
Check in your heart, examine, whether you’re attached. Dwell upon it. I’m attached? You’ll notice that you’re not attached. Now the person is no different from any person in the world.
To organize the truth you have to mix it with some untruth.
When the mind believed that it (byzantine pot) is ancient that is when it became ancient. There is no another date to it.
You cannot know the real as real. You can only be the real. You can only see the false as false. When you try you get freedom, you’ll be free from the cycle of birth and death even while living.
How to see the false as false? You’re the proof! Transiency is the best proof of unreality. Whatever is time-bound cannot be real.
Put yourself in the state of thoughtlessness, not mindlessness. You’re already timeeless.
You cannot have an object without space and time.
Shape is a configuration of space only.
Only that which is not an object can be beyond time and space and that is you.
Without the real there cannot be a shadow. The unreal appears real and appears to have a touch of reality. Because the mind imparts reality to it. Because the mind is ignorant.
Ramanamaharshi: mind is another name for ignorance.
Greatest service you can do to the medical establishment of the country is to make one sick guy less. Who’s that one sick guy? You! Don’t care about the other ignorant people in the world.
You’re the right acharya to yourself! As long as the acharya is outside you remain ignorant only. Acharya is not a person. The vision is the acharya. The vision which is shining.
People thinking that acharya is a person, outside, end up in the cancer called personality worship. Acharya is inside.
Vijnasu gets the preceptor. That’s a law of nature! Vijnasu is never deprived of acharya (it depends all upon you). A Vivekananda get’s Sri Ramakrishna.
Real is neither objective nor subjective. Pot is the object, the person is the subject. Not the atma! Atma is like the light. There cannot be seer/seen without it.
Light is the totality and also light is the exclusion. Everything is excluded when you arrive at light. It is the fullness (because everything of the movie is contained in it), it is emptiness (it is all by itself). The real is absolutely paradoxical.
Timelessness is not a duration.
Mahakasha, with which we get in contact with senses, exists in chitakasha. In other words space exists in the mind. All differentiation happen in these two, none in the paramakasha. It is the origin of both matter and consciousness. Yet it is beyond beyond. You cannot perceive it, but you can be it. It is the ever witnessing awareness.

13

src

Mental life as we know it is one continuous stream of suffering. That’s why we’re always looking for entertainment to escape. Did you ever try to all by yourself? Within 30s you’ll want a distraction, which means the mind cannot be with itself and it cannot stay quiet.
The entire entertainment industry is only to provide to people an escape to themselves. Religion doesn’t lag behind.
When understanding is missing the accumulation becomes a hindrance rather than a help. Scholarship doesn’t solve the problem of samsara.
Just by observing the inner workings of the mind it becomes free.
There is nothing like mind sitting somewhere. It is not a thing. It is a process. In fact the entire universe is a process. A movie is rightly called a movie, not a picture.
Mind is what mind thinks.
The mind rebels in the beginning. You don’t feel like watching. Everything is you only. But you have patience and perseverance. Then the mind will yield and keep quiet. In other words you have to be aware of the mind. Alternative is to be the victim of the mental process - compulsive thinking.
When the mind is hyperactive the attention suffers (ADHD). It is a disease. You have to make the mind pure.
Thought breeds sorrow and fear. Religionist will tell you god gives sorrow. That cannot be god. God is anandasvarupa.
You have to watch the mind. People do not watch the mind. They watch the world using the mind.
Pain is the payment for the pleasure.
Once you cling to something, there is trouble. There is suffering only because you cling something. All other diagnoses are wrong.
All you have to do is to look at the dream as a dream. You should not give it a stamp of reality.
When you look at a thing at say it is good, I need it, I like it, I love it. Before you say all that, tell yourself, the thing is not real. When you look at your son, daughter or pet. Tell yourself: all human being are mortals.
All attachment implies fear.
Fear makes a person slave. Esp. in religion, people thing fear is important. You’d fear god … You’d love god!
There is no clinging when you love. I’m free, the other is free.
Excessive interesting in the thing is the problem.
What you’re getting attached to is only name and shape. Disregard names and shapes.
Attachment destroys courage.
Rshi is the Sanskrit word for visionary. The word has nothing to do with chant or ritual.
You can never ever learn anything from pleasure. Pleasure binds you and makes you sick. Your svarupa is ananda. Seeking pleasure compromises you psychologically and even physically. Pleasure is a poison.
You can learn a lot from pain. It provides you a wonderful opportunity to learn the truth about yourself and life.
As long as you cling to the present life of living, you’ll not be able to discover the truth about yourself.

14 - papa, punya

src

Even family people can go into contemplative life. Study, reflect, contemplate. You can include Buddha and his teaching into that.
Religious appeasement: tell people to take a dip in water, a sacred bath, and all your sins will be washed away. Appeasement is is not the truth. You have to pay for sins, you cannot escape just like that.
Christian confession is similar to Hindu religious appeasement.
Emotional reaction: somebody has hurt my feelings therefore I react in an emotional way. That can be considered papa. It is born out of ignorance. You’d not react emotionally. You have to absorb it. You have to be aware of it.
When you’re aware, there will be no reaction. Because there will be no hurt.
It is the ego which gets hurt. Ego is created by god only to get hurt. You need some element to get hurt.
You’re not the ego. Ego is but a thought. Of of the many thoughts.
When you’re aware, not thinking, in that awareness there is no hurt. Therefoer there is no emotional reaction. Therefore there is no papa possible. All papa comes out as an emotional reaction. Any emotional reaction is not justified. Therefore an aware person is not capable of committing a papa. Will always speak in mind and sweet tones. Never act in violence.
Buddha: reach that stage where you deliberately cannot commit a wrong act.
Every single act that we perform in the context of ritualism is necessarily associated with commission or omission which will attract a sin. Just like you put a fire on there will be smoke invariably. One has to sensitive oneself. How? Awareness vs. thinking.
Be aware. When you’re thinking you’re not aware. When you’re aware, you’re not thinking.
Mind should learn to keep quiet for a time. You’d not be thinking 24/7.
Zen Master: a person who’s lost in the thoughts is lost in the world.
Sitting upright is very important. Reclining sitting takes you into tamasic mood. Sitting upright improves blood circulation and open up lungs. You feel alert at once. And when you’re alert, your mind goes to silent mode.
Not my body but this body. Not me not mine. It is an exercise in discrimination between the self and non-self.
Sit upright and you’ll see that you’re both the student and the teacher. Only you can guide you within yourself. Sit upright and you’ll see that you’re both the student and the teacher. Only you can guide you within yourself.
Head is me and mine. Come down. Heart is the pure “I’m”, the awarefull being.
Punya. The state you’ve to reach. Where there is no enemy, wish everybody well, cannot willingly do a bad action.
As long as you’re in the head, you’ll fight even with your close ones.
Me and mine is Ravana, the symbolic villain. For the sake of his personal pleasure, he’s willing to kidnap and commit any kind of crime.
Spiritual journey: we’re born as heart people, grown into head people. Revert the direction and become heart people again.
Joga journey goes to the head - sahasrara … not a very good thing. Stay in the small space of heart where there is the one god in the cave.
Whole world is the ream of thought. Real is not the realm of thought. Thought cannot reach there. Come down and abide in the heart, where brahman is shining, pulsating as “I’m”. That is the punyam.
Punya/papa has to be put out of religious box and given a spiritual meaning. Punya - you love all the world. Papa you’re a head person. Make your life pious and loving.

Job of Swamiji’s talking is to shake us mentally so we can throw away mental impurities.
Joy - happy without a reason.
Understand the self to the extend that you cannot be unhappy.
If you want to be detached from the world, have satsang. If you’re detached from the world, you’re free from the delusion - raga/dvesha. Than you’re ready for self-inquiry.

Personal responsibility, ethical behaviour, cultivation of wisdom and compassion.
Both Buddha and Krishna say: be a light unto yourself.

raga in life is like getting beaten by rain by the leaky patched roof.

15 - homocentric religion

src

Theocentric (regular) vs. homocentric religion. The god has a name and a form. He’s all-knowing and all-powerful. And we in contrast are less knowing and less powerful, this we know. The former we only speculate about.
In Vedic culture no flowers were offered. Only oblation in fire. In puranic culture offering flowers became a custom.
When Gita was taught to Arjuna there were no religions. Religious ID came into Indian society in 5-6 century AD. When all parts are blue nobody will call a pot blue. Only if there are parts which are not blue.
Buddha is not talking so much about worship, but about the motive. Suddenly the religion has flipped from theocentric to homocentric.
Homocentric religion: be mentally prepared for prosperity and for adversity. Make effort to be equanimous towards the two. Theocentric is all about getting prosperity and keeping adversity away. Why should god do that? Because I’m praying.
Homocentric: the purpose of all religious activities is only one - to manifest the divinity which is already in you. And if they do not serve this purposes, they do not have a value.
What is the content of belief? Words. What is that Shiva you’re a devotee of? Words. Parvati? Words. And words are associated with ideas. nama and rupa. Therefore ideation. What kind of knowledge it is? There is no hint of realization. All words and theories.
What happens with a mind which is full of ideas? It doesn’t have any openness to know the truth.
You need some empty space to see, to know something clearly. It’s like you invite a guest. There must be a place in your room to accommodate it.
What is Shiva? Is it an entity that you know or a word associated with an idea?
Empty mind is not a blank mind. Blank mind is a useless mind. Empty mind is the most effective mind from which you can see things clearly and understand the truth. Not a mind that is crammed with a lot of information and knowledge.
Another type of mind is the hyperactive mind, seeking, achieving, demanding. Caught in the worldly things. It also cannot realize the truth.
Ramakrishan: do you want to be a scholar of vedanta or do you want to be like me?
First sermon of Buddha was to kids who gave him food: What is the sarah (essence) of the banana plant? Fruit. Of rice? Grain. How did they got the sara? From the earth which is soil and water. It also needs heat and wind.
Every time we eat we’re eating the essence of the elements.
Vivekananda: the day Hindus forgot Buddha Hinduism got a big loss. It lost the most important teacher, servant. I hope one day Buddhism will come back into Hinduism. We want the love of Buddha and the teaching of Shankara.
Life of sanyasa: nothing is mine. You live for others. The love for others (not scholarship, position) is the guiding spirit.

16 - dharma - vision: the will of higher power

src

When it comes to inner life, the accumulation of knowledge has no value.
Inner life: mind, speech, action. Action is outer but has origin in the inner. Dharma is the inner life.
Knowledge is accumulation, knowledge is momentary - I see. You don’t need a background for understanding, you need for accumulation.
Vision: in life things don’t happen by personal will. They happen by the will of the supreme power. They don’t happen by my or your will.
Appreciating that vision is not accumulation.
Dharma is this vision, understanding. And then it comes to the speech and action. Dharma is the inner life.
Buddhist have interpreted Buddha in multiple ways. Buddha’s focus is on the empirical, not so much on the metaphysical. Metaphysical is left untold, unspecified and tat is how you have 32 secs.
There is a direct connect with Buddha, with his words. That is dhamma padam.
I don’t look at things that “somebody is putting an obstacle”. I look at them as the will of higher power.
How do you realize that things happen by the higher will? By studying books? Just look within and take the right clue from the vision.
People want to study the printed book. Study the book of life. That is not accumulation. Studying a printed book could be.
Accumulation of knowledge makes you a parrot. A parrot sitting in a golden cage.
Tattvaboddha vs. atmabodha. Former embodies accumulation, the later the vision.
You conform the vision in your own heart. Now it is your own vision.
You cannot describe the kind of freedom, relaxation you get. Control and responsibility, the two things that go with personal will, will be gone.
Physical freedom, political freedom < inner freedom.
In knowledge from memory there is no understanding, but only recollecting.
Accumulation and outer life vs. understanding and inner life.
For some ppl. vedanta is also outer life. They made it into a profession. Swami TV: personally I’ve tried as much as possible to avoid it. Don’t allow (too much) professionalism to creep into it.
What you call knowledge is entirely the past. Knowledge - the known = the past. You cannot put realization in past. If the known has realization in it by now you must be a realized soul.
Understanding doesn’t depend on great scholarship. In fact it could be a hindrance.
Every aspect of life is dharma. Dharma is life. That which makes you stand as a human being.
Mind should become free of all negativity: attachment, hate, delusion …
There is no happiness in eating. There is happiness in moderate, healthy, nutritional eating.
Vision: when a mundane physical thing become important in your life, you’re in for serious trouble in your life.
Action follows understanding and understanding is action.
A calm mind is sign of purity. When it is needed, it is there. When it is not needed, mind remains quiet and you remain in yourself.
Human beings are not gods. You’re god!
Passion for a physical thing is born put of ego. Passion for dharma is not, it eliminates you.
Have the dispassion for the things of the other world (heaven) as well!
Without dispassion the mind is not find for Vedanta, no matter for what its passion is.
Shankara never said a thing about buddha. He said a thing or two about bauddhas.
SrAmanyah - happily working hard.
Some people use Vedanta as an escape from something. Srmtikaras allow it sometimes, but you should not look at Vedanta as an escape from hard work (physical, intellectual).
Study the book that inspires you to think, not accumulation.
Sanyasa is misunderstood by many and whoever misunderstands it ends up a victim of sedentary lifestyle.
There is no retirement. Be tired happily.

17

src

Buddha was opposed to (vedic) orthodox ritualism.
sa:bramah = misconception
What Buddha teaches and what Veda teaches are different. This misconception is seated very deep in the society.
Quantum entanglement Nobel price receivers: We get the price for saying we don’t know nothing about the universe.
Buddhism was really only an offshoot of Vedanta. Shankara is often called hidden buddhist.
If you accept theocentric religion, how can there be oneness? Entire focus of Shankara and Buddha is on divinity that is within and without every human being and every living being. There is no theology in their teachings.
Buddha made the analysis of the Veda, whereas Shankara made the synthesis of Veda.
Vedic vision and orthodoxical ritualism cannot coexist.
Buddha never bowed down to anything. Neither Veda, nor caste, nor priest, nor custom.
You have to question every single custom and adopt the right ones only.
In modern times, in the last 100-200 years there is a trend: the truth is with the guru.
They are afraid to think.
There is a kind of (psychological) security in following. In thinking, you’re on your own.
Buddha stands for fearless search for truth. Such a love for anything that lives the world has never seen.
When you’re afraid, you cannot think. Fear inhibits power of thinking.
Psychological security is no security in all.
Only one teaching of Buddha was composed by Buddha himself - Dhamma Padam.
Both Buddha and Shankara were reformers of Hinduism.
Vedanta doesn’t work for you because of the absence of attention, forgetfulness, inadvertence.
When you repeat things without attention it becomes mechanical. With attention it gets the quality of freshness.
People are worshiping their own desires, their own fears.
Habit happens to be another name for ignorance.
Pay attention to the body and to the mind.
That’s why most important practice of buddhist schools is mindfulness - paying attention.
You’re mortal only by inadvertence. You’re not a mortal by nature. You’re mortal by choice.
A river is not a thing. Water is. River is flow, wave. Body is a wave.
The more self-confident you are the more god-believing and loving you can be. Reason: god is none other than your inner most self

18 - I’m the creator of the world

src

Meditation

When your mind is tense, your shoulders become hunched up.
Being myself is the zenith of attention.
en:look - sa:luchanam - sa:lokam is all the same. All means pay attention to your self.
There is a world with all its opposites, with all its pay, only when you do not pay attention to your self.
You create the world around you by throwing your attention around in you in multiple directions (vikshepa).
Any secret of life can be revealed by paying attention.

Lecture

Tradition is following, is frozen thought. And what you follow, imitate is the tradition. What you think for yourself is not tradition.
The tradition should not become a barrier for thinking.
Buddha is not a name, Buddha is a description.
There is psychological security in ignorance.
If you want tradition, you’ll remain buddhu and you’ll not know the truth.
Buddha and Shakara were revolutionist of their times, not traditionalists. Buddha dismissed karmakanda, Shankara did not. That’s the difference.
Inner revolution, not outside. We’re very peaceful people. Meek and gentle. Outwardly very simply.
Our failure to pay attention is equivalent to death.
There is a movie only when you watch it. You’re creating the world in which you live.
Basic misapprehension: there is a world out there created by someone else and you’re thrown into it.
There is no gain in attention. Attention is ever fresh.
The world in which you’re living is created by yourself. Not why create a miserable world, why not create a happy world?!
There is no prarabdha karma for that jnani. You can be that jnani now and here. By paying attention.
Don’t say there is the world. Say there is the world experience.
When you wake up, the waking consciousness comes into focus and things start shining in it. That is how the world comes into light. Therefore you bring out the world. And you resolve the world when you go to sleep. Pay attention to the moments when you wake up and go to sleep.
Pay attention to waking up: now the waking consciousness is coming into focus, into existence. Now the waking consciousness is on. And the wheel of the mind is rotating and the world appears before you. And you’ll realize that the world is something created by you. That is called tatvamasi. I’m the creator.
Once you create a happy world around you you’ll be creating a happy world for everybody around you as well.
How do you go about finding anything? By keeping your mind and heart in it.
Don’t convert guru into a person. If you do, guru is a person, you’re the person. Where’s Vedanta in it? Guru is wisdom. You can have the wisdom as well.
Nobody wants to wear gold, they want to wear ornaments.
In all worlds, human, animal, plant, even in the mineral world, the same truth, the same atma is shining.
Another facet of apramada is absence of contradictions. Contradictions are there because you’re aware of truth and falsehood. And you follow the false. If you don’t know the truth, you don’t call it contradiction.
3rd cardinal principle of visiting a temple. Even when standing before the shrine, don’t look at it as a particular name and form but look at it as OM. 2nd take that OM, Rama, Krisha as your inner most self. Then you’re free of contradictions.
You don’t fight anything. We accept everything. But don’t become a victim of contradictions.
Suppose somebody said something to you you didn’t like and you feel hurt. That’s a contradiction. As a student of vedanta you don’t have a right to become/feel hurt.
You get hurt only when your attention is down.
The person who is trying to hurt you, pay full attention to what he’s saying or doing and you’ll see you’ll not be hurt.
When you do not have attention, you’re focus is scattered in the things of the world, meaning you’re mind is moving a lot. In the process an ego is precipitated.
You need an ego to get hurt. Bhagavan created an ego only that you get hurt.
When you’re attentive your mind is quiet. When you’re inadvertent your mind is moving a lot. The more you’re attentive, the less agitated is the mind.
Ego is nothing more than a thought. Ego precipitates in a given context when it is required. Time to get hurt, therefore ego precipitates.
If you don’t get hurt, the one wanting to hurt will get hurt.
Politics are generated out of raga dvesha.
shramah - struggle, hard work. All the four asramah have a lot of hard work. Ashram must be inside of you.
Ethos checks for an ashram: Is it orientated towards sense pleasures or simplicity? Does it promote fragmentation/division?
Why there is contradiction? Because you’re not honest in your pursuit. You speak like a parrot: tatvamasi, aham brahma asmi…
You feel yourself vulnerable and unsure only because your identification with the body. You have to settle your equation with the body.
You’re the immovable and the body is the movable. Between you and the body there is a space. Body is a flow, wave. You’re who is aware of it. The attention gives you that space, helps you to create it. That makes you a Buddha.

19 - Attention is meditation

src

Be selfish in the right sense. Don’t allow shastra or guru to overwhelm you, you’re not.
Pramada (inadvertence) is death: attention has become weak or absent where it matters. Apramada - paying attention is immortality.
Life is a great mystery. It is one, not multiple. Profound and vast. If we do not understand it, if we remain in pramada, we remain fearful. What else ego can be?
The right spirit comes only when you realize the truth in yourself. Then only the guru is fulfilled, the shastra is fulfilled.
Self-realization is the goal. Don’t allow nothing else to be a distraction.
Reveling in that attention will make you a very happy person.
In belief there is vested self-interest. There is something to gain for you in that belief.
You believe in a particular way because you’re afraid. Where ever there is fear (dvesha), there is desire (raga) also.
Instead of looking at life through the prism of beliefs, desires, fears you want to examine life afresh, with an open mind and courage. Such a person is eligible for immortality.
To meditate means to pay attention.
In habit there is no attention.
Exclusion is religion, sectarian thinking whereas Vedanta is inclusion.
When there is attention there is no thinking and vice versa.
Pay attention to whatever IS, that becomes meditation. Don’t focus on the result, focus on the action and that itself becomes meditation.
Zen Master: I can perform two miracles. 1) while taking tea I’m taking tea and nothing else. 2) while talking to you I’m taking to you and nothing else.
Transformation - process. You’ve introduced time into it by making it gradual.
What you need is patience, not time. Patience is now, it is not time.
There is no future in this creation, so it will not happen.
Substitute psychological time with patience, steadfastness (shitaprajnaha), perseverance and love and you’ll succeed now and here.

20

src

Meditation

Looking is distinct from thinking. In thinking there is projection based on conditioning, prejudice or a pre-formulation.
Thinking dissipates energy. OTOH looking has none of it. We look at what is. I look at myself. That is attention. There is instant freedom.
I just look at myself, I don’t judge myself. This is not easy, we’re habituated to judge.
In looking at myself there is no boundary. It is spacious. That is the real beauty, not physical, but spiritual, which is in the boundlessness, spaciousness, that is looking at myself.
As long as I look at myself, there is no hint of the world. The world has to wait for your attention.
As I look at myself, the mind has become quiet. I’ve done nothing for it to be quiet. That is what is called samadhi. It doesn’t require any effort, any knowledge.
You need not be a knowledgable person to be yourself. You need knowledge to cook or drive.
I don’t need eyesight to look at myself. I don’t need the assistance of thought. I shine by myself (atma jyotihi) by the flame of attention. It doesn’t require any other means to experience.

Lecture

First meditation of Bhagavan Buddha was eating a banana.
You cannot teach anything to scholarly people. You only get a bad name in the process.
There is a tremendous difference between knowledge and knowing. For knowledge you need a preceptor and a process (method). You need time. And you’ll be tested. None of these apply to knowing. You know by yourself, through yourself, in yourself.
Meditation is emptying the mind of all thoughts. Either you’re thinking, or you’re meditating.
Unless your mind is empty, how can you focus on a given thing?
There is no meditation in multitasking.
Thought is very useful in accomplishing the things of outer life.
After utilizing thought, speech, action to the required extent you need freedom from these things. You need to remain thoughtless, silent, quiet.
Zenmaster: those who worship the pointing finger miss the moon.
Thought dissipates energy. Stress is the origin of all problems of health, esp. of the cardiac problems. Origin of stress is thought. You think, you generate stress, you dissipate energy. Especially if the thought generates feeling, like thought become desire, fear, anxiety.
Thought becomes ego. Ego is but a thought. When it becomes too strong it becomes a psychiatric condition - narcissism.
Another aspect of fearlessness is vayragya (desirelessness).
Arrogant person is very much afraid in himself. His fear and anxiety express as arrogance.
One has superiority complex just because he has inferiority complex. There is no superiority complex in psychology.
If a dog will show some kind of arrogance or aggression and you don’t respond, it will go its way.
There is fear only because of inadvertence.
Do not judge others through your understanding dispassion. It might be true, but don’t say that, don’t feel that. People are passionate, that’s how people are. Think: “until yesterday I was passionate too. I love them in spite of all their passion”.
Love and do what you will. Don’t impose your understanding on other people. If they learn (dispassion) by looking at you, that’s their problem.
When the mind is free from thoughts the mind is free from the known. The unknowable comes into its own. That’s why pramana has relevance up to a point (realm of the known). The real, the truth is aprameya.
Mind cannot become free by substituting one set of thoughts by another set of thoughts. Religious thoughts are as much worldly thoughts as other thoughts.
When a TX has to take place and you have to employ the mind then the flame of attention will brake but it is always with you. And the mind will be used purposefully instead of the mind using you.
How many hours can you stay without the cellphone at your side?
You’d be able to say “enough” to the world. It is the same as closing the door to the known. World is the known.
Instead of saying no to intellect they say no to meditation.
People want things of this world and similar things of the other world.
Never introduce psychological time into meditation.
Things happen only in the now, nothing happens in the future. Now alone is the truth.
Make meditation timeless. Don’t put a goal. Physical time is fine, not psychological time (desire).

21 - Nirvana

src

Nirvana is psychological freedom, liberation. It is not physical nor political freedom. Nirvana is the freedom to think fearlessly. You no more dependent psychologically on outer things.
Teacher is not a fixed thing. A cloud, leaf, child can teach you. You can learn from anywhere and from everywhere and from anybody and everybody. Those who have one guru have stopped learning long back.
A sick person cannot teach you. When the body is sick mind cannot be glorious. They are one and the same.
When I present myself as model, as Vedanta teacher, I’ve already psychologically dependant on shishya. When no shishya turn up what kind of teacher I’m?
You won’t get nirvana by effort (doing). Watching, thinking, investigating is no effort. When you become attentive there is no effort.
Effort is motivated action.
Effort makes is physically and psychologically sick. Hard work does not make us sick.
Wife and husband depend on each other psychologically and that is bondage. They cannot stay together in harmony yet quarrel with each other. They assume that psychological dependence is love.
When a relation makes you suffer, unhappy it cannot be love.
Is tradition not imitation? Understanding becomes your own.
You need freedom not to imitate, but to discover. Discover what God is.
This is a crazy world because in this world nobody tells you to find for yourself what God is.
The real is God.
The modern guru never disappoints you. He hands over the ready-made god to you. Varuna told his son Bhrgu to find out.
In this world everybody is struggling to arrive at a safe place. It is a crazy place torn in conflicting beliefs, every form of cruelty, of stupidity, class/race distinctions. You desperately need freedom, nirvana.
Bana means arrow, it stands for suffering in the world. (bana -> vana) nirvana is freedom from the suffering. There is no happiness as long as you’re dependent psychologically on things and people.
You arrive at this liberation when you constantly inquire.
There is nothing like knowing your self. You can only be yourself. When you can sit on your shoulders, then you surely can know yourself… Expression atmajnanam might be very misleading. Entire Vedanta world is in grip of this misconception.
You’re accustomed to use the power of intellect, intellection, the faculty of knowing to everything. It doesn’t work with atma. The self is beyond the scope of intellect.
Therefore better replace the word “self-knowledge” with “self-inquiry”. I’m habituated to belief that I’m such and such or am I really such and such?
There is a big difference between learning and acquiring knowledge. In case of knowledge it accumulates. It is an additive process. People have this accumulative spirit. As a child you accumulate marbles and other silly things. Then you accumulate knowledge, money, physical objects.
When you learn a thing it doesn’t accumulate. Electricity gives a shock, fire burns … this does not accumulate.
Accumulated knowledge becomes a burden, whereas learning liberates.
Supposed you assumed you’re afraid of something. Then you examine and learn that you’re not afraid. What a freedom? That is the nirvana that we’re talking about.
To get the higher you’ve to sacrifice the lesser. Sri Ramakrishna: to go onto the top of a building, you’ve to give up the ladder that brought you there.
Yoga kshema - motivated effort that makes us suffer to no end. That’s the bondage.
I is the life. The universal life. You’re bubble in this ocean of life. And the ocean will take care of you. Wave need not take care of itself.
Atmavan is courageous one, one who never fails to pay attention. When you pay attention you understand that you don’t need yoga (secure what I don’t have yet) and kshema (safeguard what I already have).
Whatever you get it becomes part of our monotonous existence within one week.
All the things from this side of the line there were at one time on the other side of line. Now they are on this side but they don’t make us happy.
Sri Krishna: give up this effort, this yoga kshema. It is a poisoned bread. Don’t have anything to do with it.
The food that you can’t digest, offer it to god. God is Shiva. He can consume poison without harm.
In a relation, you stop acquiring or seeking personal advantage. The relation will continue, you need not give it up. Then enrich the relation with love by giving. Don’t seek anything for yourself in the relation. You’ve given up all the suffering that the relation can engender to you.
When you go to sanyasa, all the mantras are given up. They’re not given up, they’re merged in you. You don’t give up your wife, son, home, karmas, you merge them in you.
You resolve everything in you and you alone are there. There is no contradiction between shravanam and niddidhiasanam.
Nirvana itself is the greatest yoga kshema. There cannot be a greater one.
Give up attachment to kshema and the desire for yoga. Inquiry, meditation is the means that takes you to that effortlessness. Sailboat vs. pushing the boat.
Become purposefully active without desiring anything. A life given to hard work and a lot of toil is not a burden, it is a benediction.
Knowledge is in the head, learning in the heart. You don’t meditate in the head but in the heart.
Ramana maharshi: spiritual right is on the heart. Anatomical is on the left. Rise above all these things.
Me and mine syndrome is always in the head. In the heart you have pure impersonal being. Head has knowledge, heart has love.

22 - Action, River

src

Meditation

Pure being - neither this nor that. That is how I experience myself.
I look at myself with the inner eye. Which is same as the flame of attention.
As I look at myself I do not feel any want, anything missing, anything lacking. Hence aham purnah.
I experience no want as I look at myself and hence no desire. Essentially I’m desirelessness.
When I move from myself into the mind I might see some desires there. As I abide in myself I’m desireless - akamoham.

Lecture

Upanishads and Gita do not offer a theological god.
Sanyasi cannot have a sedentary life if he’s to earn his biksha on daily basis. Ashramah is supposed to be a place where you work hard, where you toil.
Body should be put to hard work. If the lamp wants to save its wick and oil, then the lamp will not have any luster or splendor. When the lamp constantly wick and oil, glory is the natural consequence.
Do not seek easy and comfort for the body. If you do you end up wasting the time in sensual pleasures and luxuries. There will be no hope for the person, it won’t be fit for self inquiry.
The Truth is not somewhere, something to grab, not something that can be seen with special means. Truth is in life, in living. Truth is not in a book, not with a person. Truth is with you and it has to manifest in every single thought that comes out of your mind.
Human body is made for walking. That’s the one thing you should never stop doing. Hands are made for working. Mouth for talking a bit and taking nutrients, not talking a lot and seeking enjoyment of food.
Inactivity is death. Actionlessness is not inactivity. Activity alone is life.
In a river water is fresh and clear, in a stagnant pool water is odorous, dirty, stinking. That’s the difference between active and sedentary life.
By ignorance you think you’re flowing. And you become a victim to time. With correct understanding you can current from the flow of time into the truth of timelessness. Living a lazy way is not the way to step out of time.
River always adapts to the environment.
River cleans itself (as long as the impurities are within a limit).
Be like river, constantly working, constantly adapting, constantly assimilating. And the river merges in the ocean - you become one with Brahman.
Whatever hurts the other is papam. Whatever helps the other is punyam.
You should know what is right and you should perform only what is right.
Sravanam must be of quality teaching. Otherwise leave it alone. A little sravanam is enough, if it is of good quality.
You’d not follow a religious teacher. He’s got nothing to teach you, he’s got an agenda for you. True teacher just shares the wisdom with you. Other than that he’s got no vested interest.
You’ve to take responsibility for your own enlightenment.
While walking, be alert. While cooking, while driving, whatever you do, be alert. We lost this spirit of alertness because we’ve become very worldly. It is written big on our faces because we practice multi-tasking.
You need amusement from outside because you’re so badly fed up with yourself.
How long can you sit just by yourself, without doing anything? Normally you need one distraction or the other. Before one minute ends you’ll go for distraction.
The mind wants to think and think and think. All action originates in thinking. And by the end of day mind gets totally exhausted. We accumulate a lot of stress just by thinking unnecessarily.
Replace thinking by attention.
To begin with attention, use an anchor. Be aware of different parts of body, or the breath. And there will be no thinking.
Attention is not fixed in space and time. But you can continue with your schedule.
Breath meditation - vipasanna - gift of Bhagavan Buddha to the world.
Someone is there only after you wake up. So do you wake up first and then somebody from the world arises or vice versa? When you wake up you create the waking consciousness and also the content of waking consciousness and as a part of it somebody waking you up is there.

23

src

Book Introduction by Dr. Arun Sera

pranaam means that I’ve got oneness, which is love, which Svamiji calls reverence. All come from the same ananda.
In ceremony you have outer show. In this event we have inner joy.
Sat means absolute. Changeless. Truth.
I’m neither looking at the chair nor at the wood. I’m looking at reflected light from whichever entity it is, coming and hitting the retina of my eye which excites and creates an alternative current which travels through the optic nerve and forms an image in the cortex of the brain.
Meaning of darshanam is realization. Realization is being your own self, not knowing your own self.
Find that what is changeless in this phenomenal universe. It is only one. That is the feeling that I exist. Aham asmi. It cannot change. That feeling never becomes partial. You always fully exist.
First feeling which appears from the shining inner light on waking up in your heart is “I’m”.
“I’m” is the third eye of Shiva.
Retain the feeling of “I’m” in the back of your mind and you’re already Shiva. You’re already enlightened.
Unfortunately as soon as I remember “I’m” avarana covers it up and “I’m” is gone and you start thinking “I’m a man”…
Your goal is just to remain Shiva all the time. To remember “I’m”. When you cover it up you become jiva - diluted self. And we live the life of jiva while trying to be Shiva.
Feeling of love always comes from the heart, never from the head.
There is 1) physical heart, which can be replaced, 2) emotional heart which remains with you all the time 3) spiritual heart in which the being shines. We want to retain this feeling of the shining.
Sattvic emotions you should not get rid of.

Lecture

Crisis of character in modern civilization - we became enslaved by the sense pleasures.
Civilization of present times is outcome of sensate values.
You live in an ashram for five years, you’re sick for the rest of the life.
We become extremely selfish. And in America they gave the “wonderful” name “individuality” to it. It is selfishness. This is how we put entire focus on sensate values.
Meaning of “individuality” is that as living entity you’re not divided from the whole.
Practice restraint, sanyama. Vedanta can come later. First things first.
Once you conquer the taste buds, you’ve conquered all the other four senses readily. Food has to be consumed just for dehayatra.
Feed your senses with a lot of names and forms constantly and it will hurt you. Oblation should be offered to fire in small quantities.
Mind is pursuing sense pleasures for its own gratification.
The moment we acquire lot of funds we’re ruined. In pursuit of self-knowledge money is the least important thing. When you accumulate a lot you have to watch over it and it becomes a big distraction.
If dharma doesn’t lead our lives it will be artha-kama. Pleasures.
A person committed to simple life has no reason to transgress dharma. So dharma becomes spontaneous in his life.
Only when you lead a simple life not given to pursuit of sense pleasures only then you can life a life of righteousness - dharma.
Have you ever tried to watch a thing without any projection?
You allow the thought to intervene and it will convert the object into beautiful or ugly. Now you’re looking through the prism of the thought. Thought is the conditioning, the memory, the past.
You don’t allow the thought to intervene and now you’re aware. Without any thought, conditioning. That is apramada.
Awareness is ananda. That’s why you feel happy when aware and the thought doesn’t intervene.
When you’re looking at a thing, when you’re aware of a thing, there is scope for pramada. Better avoid it.
Because If I judge you it is as good as I’m judging myself. And I’m not looking for results. I’m wedded to the karma only.
Swami TV: I know that you’re brahman, you’re atma. You need not become brahman, need not become atma. I know shravanam will work. It’s a matter of the right time that needs to come. You might forget all you’ve heard in shravanam, but one day when the time comes it will sprout. I do not have any doubt about it.
kurvatah - to the one meditating

24

Meditation

Lecture

src

25

src

26

src

27

src

28

src

29

src

30

src

31

src

32

src

33

src

34

src

35

src

36

src