GREAT TO READ - SESSION 9

A.This body and this condition of mind are both the results of effects of past Karmas. What is Karma? A Vasana or desire arises. Then you exert to possess the object. This is Karma. Thought itself is the real Karma. Physical action is only its manifestation. Then you enjoy the object. This is Bhoga. This Bhoga strengthens and fattens the Vasana. The Chakra or wheel of Vasana, Karma, Bhoga, is ever revolving. Give up Bhoga. Practise renunciation, discrimination and dispassion.

Destroy the Vasanas by eradicating ignorance (Ajnana) through Brahma-Jnana, the Knowledge of the Imperishable. Then alone the wheel which binds a man to this Samsara will stop revolving. Then alone you become an Atmavan or Knower of the Self.

B.During dream the mind itself does the function of all the senses, despite the absence of the external instruments or the senses, such as eye-balls, etc. In the mind all the senses are blended.

Really it is the mind that hears, tastes, feels, etc. This proves that the real senses are within. The eye-balls, tongue, external ears, nose, hands, legs, etc., are mere instruments (Karanas).

C.During praise and pleasure, the mind expands. During censure and pain it contracts.

Mind is miniature-Maya.The causal body (Karanasarira) of the individual soul and of Isvara is one and the same.The Antahkarana or the internal organ takes four forms, viz., mind, intellect, ego and subconscious mind (Chitta). Ahamkara or the ego has connection with the intellect (Buddhi). Their abode is theVijnanamaya Kosa. Mind (Manas) has connection with the Chitta. Their abode is the Manomaya Kosa.The light of Surya (sun) brightens the intellect. The heat of Surya gives heat to Prana and thus maintains the heat of the body.

D.Above the mind is the Buddhi. The Buddhi or intellect is made up of Agni-Tattva (fire-principle). Below the mind is Prana which is also made up of fire. Between fire (intellect above) and fire (Prana below) is the mind (water). The presiding deity of the mind is moon (Chandra). Dry up this mind (water) through the fire of Vichara (intellect), or the fire of Prana (Pranayama), or both. You will attain eternal peace, everlasting bliss.

E.It is the Vritti or thought-wave that gives pain but not the objects.

Reference & Courtesy: Vedanta for beginners- Shri.Swami Sivananda

GREAT TO READ - SESSION 8

A.Addition of finites cannot accumulate to infinite.

B.A question then will arise: what is there beyond the boundaries of finiteness that is different from existence? Difference from existence is only non-existence; and we cannot say non-existence exists on the other side of the existence. That is a self-contradictory statement. Therefore existence has to be infinite. I am not only an existent entity but also a conscious entity. Consciousness has to be existent, since we cannot talk about non-existent consciousness. Hence existence and consciousness are not two separate entities but one and the same entity viewed from two different perspectives.

C.When did I become ignorant of myself? Vedanta says that ignorance has no beginning. Suppose that, not knowing anything about Anthropology, I ask myself: when did my ignorance of Anthropology start? I must say that from the beginning I did not know Anthropology. However, even though my ignorance of Anthropology is beginningless, that ignorance can end once I learn that science. Similarly, self-ignorance has no beginning but can end once I learn that my true nature is limitless existence-consciousness. This beginningless self-ignorance, which is the root cause of all human suffering, is called primordial sin by some religions.

D.vAsanA-s are accumulated by deliberate willful actions - we call them as ego-centric actions. The vAsanA-s are also called the ‘causal body’, since they are the cause in determining what type of body, what type of parents and what type of environment or world that I need around me in order exhaust my vAsanA-s.

E.Transformation from subtle to grosser form is called ‘creation’ in Vedanta.

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

GREAT TO READ - SESSION 7

A.Of the four components that were defined - mind, intellect, ego and memory - each has its field of operation. The mind in the above is the locus of emotional thoughts, classified as nine moods or feelings of expression (nava rasa-s) consisting of love, passion, anger, jealousy, etc. In addition, the mind is also a clearing house for input from the senses and output through the organs of action; it can be thought of as a receiving and dispatching clerk. Furthermore, it is also a 'doubting Thomas', entertaining all the doubts and the associated worries and indecisions. Some people cannot make up their minds easily, because they are dominated by this part of the mind, which is indecisive.

In contrast to the lower mind, the intellect can be considered as the ‘officer in charge’. Being both analytical and synthetic as well as objective, it can hop from the known to the unknown in order to gain knowledge.

the ego involves two aspects - 'I am this' (ahaMkAra) and 'that is mine' (mamakAra) or simply 'I and mine'

. I can reject anything and everything as not 'I' but I cannot reject 'I’- itself, since I have to be there in order to reject anything. This process of sublation or negation is called meditation, where I drop the false I in order to ascertain my real nature.

B.All subject-object (I and this) duality ceases in the deep sleep state, with ‘I’ alone remaining without any inclusions or exclusions, since there is no 'this' and 'that' that I can perceive. Vedanta says that cessation of identification of 'I' with any 'this' is the key to happiness. Therefore, the deep sleep experience points out that there is a possibility of existing as pure ‘I’, as consciousness and existence, without any identification with this or that.

C.When I realize my true nature, these false identifications or notions drop or, more correctly, the reality that I assign to the notions is withdrawn. Then, I will be 'as though' operating as pure self, without any false identification, treating the mind as just a subtle body that I can use to transact with the world, through the 19 gates discussed earlier.

D.All objective knowledge that is gained is stored in the memory, which forms the basis for all recognitions. We can build up our memory bank by gaining knowledge, storing the information and retrieving it whenever it is needed for communication and transactions. New knowledge is built based on the past knowledge stored in the memory. There are two aspects involved: the capacity to store and the capacity to retrieve that knowledge. Retrieval and re-storage keep the knowledge fresh in the memory and those that are retrieved less and less will get buried in the memory and retrieval will also become increasingly difficult.

E.Limitless though I am, I take myself to be limited; notionally, 'I am = this'. This leaves me with three fundamental limitations which can be expressed as a) I am a mortal b) I am unhappy and c) I am ignorant.

When I take myself to be the body, then body problems become my problems. The body, by its nature, undergoes six modifications: existence in the womb (asti) for seven to nine months; birth as a baby (jAyate); growing pains as a child to an adulthood (vardhate); modifications of the body (vipariNamati, i.e. problems of the grownups); slow disintegration with all the health problems in the world (apakshIyate) and ultimately kicking the bucket (vinasyati).

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

GREAT TO READ - SESSION 6

A.Death is nothing but the separation of the subtle body from the gross body. The subtle body, consisting of the flow of thoughts constituting mind, intellect, ego and memory, gathers all its faculties – the faculties of senses, etc - and moves to different fields of experiences (lokas). It takes a new gross body by entering into the womb of a mother which we call ‘birth’. Birth and death are therefore the association and disassociation of the subtle body with a gross body. In the gross body, the consciousness reflects as existence – as ‘the body is’. In the subtle body, the consciousness is reflected as a being with notions of ‘I am this’.

B.If the truth cannot be known by any means, since all means are finite, then it must be a self-revealing and self-existing entity.Not only the truth is the pathless land, as Krishnamurthi declared, Vedanta goes one step further to indicate that the self-existent, self-conscious and infinite entity is nothing but your own self, where the seeker and the sought, or the subject and the object, merge into one infinite-existent-conscious entity.

If one examines one's mind carefully we find that our wanting mind is not happy in having what it wanted, since 'the want to have more' always remains, however much one has. Thus it rather wants to want than wants to have. That is the reflection of the conditioned state of mind.

C.The mind wants to be free from wanting and that desire for eternal freedom is intrinsic or inborn with the mind. It cannot but seek that unlimited happiness, though it cannot find it by any seeking. Longing for limitless freedom is inherent in all beings, but expressed more vividly in the human form, where 'conceptual thought' has reached its pinnacle by evolutionary process. Thus there is a fundamental human problem or dichotomy: he cannot but pursue a path to gain absolute inexhaustible happiness or freedom from all limitations, and he can never gain that happiness through any pursuit, since it is a path less land. This is where understanding the mind, its conditioning and how to transcend those conditionings so that the mind is ever free from all conditionings becomes important and this forms the fundamental or essential pursuit of human life.

It is interesting to note that any process of deconditioning the mind itself involves the mind or mental activity. That is, the mind itself conditions the mind, and it is also capable of deconditioning itself. Hence, Vedanta says 'mind is the problem and mind is the solution'.

D.From a Vedantic perspective (philosophical truths discussed in the end part of the Vedas called Upanishads), mind is considered to be subtle matter different from gross physical matter

Science can never prove or disprove the truth about myself, since its field of enquiry is limited to objective analysis or analysis of 'this' and not about the subject, I.

There is also confusion in that mapping of the brain is equated to mapping of the mind - it is like investigation of the hardware to find out about the problems in the software. Experience of pleasures and pains, emotions of love, compassion, fear, anxiety, hatred, etc are not easily quantifiable to determine cause-effect relations since they are subjective.

E.'Mind' is a general term used to designate the thinking aspect involved. In computer terminology it can be thought of as software in contrast to the hardware, namely the brain. In Vedanta, mind is considered as 'flow of thoughts' (vRRitti dhAra) or more correctly the basis on which the thoughts flow, rather than the flow itself. Just as a flow of water is called ‘river’, a flow of thoughts is the ‘mind’. We can have stagnant water but we cannot have stagnant thought, since thought itself involves a movement, although we could have regurgitated thoughts or a whirlpool of thoughts, when we are intensely attached to a particular theme. Mind can only think one thought at a time, but it can jump from one thought to the next like a monkey jumping from one branch to the other, without coming down to the ground. These are interconnected thoughts.

F.Death is defined as the separation of this subtle body from the gross body. The process of death involves mind collecting all its 19 physiological functions and exiting the body. According to Vedanta, death occurs when this subtle body finds the gross body no more conducive for its residence.

G.Parents give birth only to the physical body and not to the subtle body. The subtle body is considered to be made up of subtle matter, which is not perceptible to the sense organs.

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

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

GREAT TO READ -SESSION 4

A.Mental images are nothing but thoughts in the mind. If someone says a word ‘cow’, immediately an image of a cow is brought in from the memory, even when there is no cow outside. The name cow and the image cow are now intimately associated with each other, as both are stored in memory.

B.Thought is like a wave in my consciousness – a name for a form. Thoughts arise in my consciousness, are sustained by my consciousness and go back into my consciousness. But consciousness is unaffected by the observed thought.

C.We have an absolute truth which is Brahman and we have relative errors: the one at the collective level (macro level) is called vyAvahArika satyam and the other at individual level called prAtibhAsika satyam. The error of the snake is at the individual level and we can call the snake a ‘subjective objectification’ or ‘I see it, therefore it is’ – I see a snake there and therefore it is a snake. The error at the collective level we can call ‘collective objectification’ or ‘it is, therefore I see it’. Even if I know that there is no real water in the mirage water, I still seem to see it, since the effects that caused the mirage did not disappear with the knowledge. The same analysis applies to the sunrise and sunset since the source of the error is not eliminated with the knowledge that the sun neither rises nor sets.What is recognized is that the plurality is only apparent and apparent plurality is not reality. The person who has gained that knowledge is called a jIvanmukta. By analogy, a scientist, knowing very well that everything is nothing but electrons protons and neutrons, can still enjoy the food while discarding the garbage.

D.Unreal is that which has no locus for existence at any time, for example the son of a barren woman. The unreal can never be experienced. Then what about the world? The world is experienced, therefore it is not unreal. But the world itself (jagat) continuously changes and hence it is not real either. We have to come up with another word which means neither real nor unreal – this is the definition of mithyA. The apparent superimpositions are not real since they are only apparent. But the substantive for the superimpositions is real since it is changeless.

E.Vedanta says creation is nothing but name and form, and the substantive of the world is nothing but Brahman. There is really no world to call as worldly substance. It is Brahman only in a variety of names and forms. Existence is the essential ingredient in all objects when we say ‘there IS an object with these attributes’. That ‘IS-ness’ is the existence part.

F.The senses cannot perceive space directly and the mind infers it, based on the object-object relation.

Einstein’s definition of Time is a gap between two sequential events in space, observed by an observer who does not change with time. Two simultaneous events define space and two sequential events define time.

Hence perception of time depends on the mind too. When there is no mind, or to put it more accurately when there are no thoughts, there is no time either.

G.Vedanta emphasizes that experience is different from knowledge. Knowledge involves understanding of the truth behind the experience.

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

GREAT TO READ- SESSION 3

A.We know now that all materials are fundamentally made up of electrons, protons and neutrons. But we still distinguish food from garbage, even though we know that fundamentally they are made of up of the same fundamental units, which are just assembled differently.

B.The observed object depends on the observer, but the observer does not depend on the observed. That is, the consciousness of the observer is unaffected by the observations.

C. (a) Brahman and the world – both are infinite; 
(b) The world consists of objects which are finite and space containing the objects which is infinite; 
(c) Brahman is both the intelligent and the material cause for the universe; 
(d) Brahman is pure consciousness. Therefore consciousness has to be infinite. 
(e) The world is an inert or unconscious entity.

D.Only through its attributes can an object be distinguished from other objects. Without its attributes even the existence of the object cannot be established. The precise definition of an object therefore rests on the precise definition of its distinguishing attributes.Brahman being infinite cannot have attributes, just as space does not have any attributes.Consciousness is not an attribute of Brahman as some philosophers assume.

E.Brahman being infinite, it cannot be defined since whatever can be defined becomes an object, and thus limited by other objects. Object is different from the subject and that which is objectified can only be an inert entity, jadam. We now know that without consciousness, the existence of the world cannot be established. The world has two components – one is the finite objects and the other is the subtler one, space, which is infinite. There is also a third one that is part of the universe which arises with the interaction of Universe with the mind – the time concept. Understanding the Universe therefore involves not only understanding the objects, but also Space and time. Einstein showed that both space and time are relative or essentially related. Movement in space creates time and movement in time creates space. Space and time somehow are interlinked with the mind.

F.Existence of the object is intimately related to the knowledge of the object. I cannot talk about the existence of any object without knowledge of its existence, if not physically at least conceptually.

knowledge and existence of an object go together. They, in fact, are essentially the ‘chit’ and ‘sat’ aspects of Brahman.

G.Knowledge devoid of objects cannot be defined! Knowledge devoid of objects is nothing but the knowledge of the ‘subject’, I, which cannot be defined. Why can ‘I’ not be defined? Because, any definition is objectification, and ‘I am’ is the subject that cannot be objectified. At the most one can define ‘I’ only by means of a negative statement; ‘I’ is NOT that, which is not subject to objectification’.

H.Knowledge can only take places in the intellect. Let us examine closely the mechanics of how this knowledge takes place. Objects have attributes that can be measured by our five senses. Eyes can only see form and colors, nose the smell, tongue the taste, ears the sound and skin the texture (soft or hard etc). These are attributes only and not the substantive, which is the locus for these attributes. None of the senses can grasp the substantive of the object (substantive is the matter that the object is made up of).Perception involves sense input to the mind. The mind gathers the input from the senses, integrates all the input and projects an image in the mind with all the attributes it has gathered (form, color, smell, texture, etc). This is the cognitive process that occurs in the mind. The cognized image is then compared with the previous images stored in the memory by the intellect. If there is match, then the object is recognized (re-cognized).

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