GREAT TO READ - SESSION 5

A.Brahman is that which the eyes cannot see, but that because of which the eyes have the capacity to see; know that alone to be Brahman and not this that you worship. It is that which ears cannot hear, but that because of which ears have the capacity to hear; know that alone to be Brahman and not this that you worship. It is that which you can not speak about but that because of which all speech is possible; know that alone to be Brahman and not this that you worship. It is that which the mind cannot think, but that because of which the mind has the capacity to think; know that alone to be Brahman and not this that you worship.

B.mAyA is that power because of which one appears to be many. Brahma is in charge of creation. For creation, knowledge - the know-how of how to create - is required and therefore he is married to sarasvatI, the goddess of knowledge. viShNu is in charge of maintenance, which is an expensive affair. He is married to the goddess of wealth, lakShmI. Lord Shiva is in charge of dissolution which requires all the missile power and therefore he is married to shakti or pArvatI.

C.If one asks the question: ‘what do I have to do to realize that I am Brahman?’ – What should be the answer? I am Brahman whether I realize it or not, just as the ring is gold, whether it recognizes it or not. What does the ring have to do to become gold? Does it have to sit down and meditate that ‘I am gold; I am gold’ etc? Does it have to do some selfless service or karma yoga, perform some religious activities, take a dip in the Holy Rivers or perform sacrifices, etc? None of them make a ring into gold. It has to simply understand what it is – it is nothing but pure gold and ‘ring’ is only a particular form with that name.

mokSha is freedom from limitations

D.When I say ‘I am’ (aham asmi), the ‘I’ refers to the consciousness aspect and the ‘am’ refers to the existence aspect.The individual or jIva arises as a combination of ‘I am’ plus the localized entity of body, mind and intellect with which I identify myself. sharIra, body, actually means that which slowly disintegrates.

This reflected consciousness (chidAbhAsa), is called jIva or the individual self. Some refer to this as ‘soul’, although what exactly this implies is not known.

E.Pure consciousness is all pervading and eternal. Its reflection through the medium of subtle and gross bodies is the expression of life. Identification with the reflection is the notion of the jIva.

Here, we note that reflection or refraction is not the problem. The VIBGYR pattern is not the problem, the existence of BMI complex is not the problem. Even their crookedness is not the problem. They are part of the nature just as existence of gold in varieties of ornamental forms is its nature. Then where is the problem? The problem arises with the identification of ‘I am this’. That is the problem arises when I take the image of reflection or reflected consciousness as the original I, the all pervading consciousness. Since ‘I am’ is ‘I am’ and ‘this is’ is ‘this is’, the existence of either of these two is not a problem just as gold is gold and ring is ring. When gold feels ‘I am a ring’- that identification with a name and form contributes to suffering or saMsAra.

Reference & Courtesy: An introduction to Vedanta by Dr.Sadananda