AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA VEDANTA DARSHANAM
Vedanta Darshanam
Salutations to all.
When Swine Flu is slowly progressing to become a pandemic; when there are trouble in Iran; when the government in US is trying to create a lot of reforms; not to mention the drought faced in many parts of India; with chaos being very common in each and every part of the world, it is this time that Vedanta is very important. AMMA always says that there are two types of education – one is for livelihood and other is for living. Education for livelihood is already there as we have means of earning money and living. But without the education for living, we will end up with sorrows and sufferings. This education for living is what is termed as Vedanta.
Vedanta is generally considered as something to be undertaken when one’s teeth have fallen off, no hair left in the head, eye-glasses also don’t help in proper vision and memory is so weak that things are forgotten every other day. This is a completely wrong notion of Vedanta – this wrong notion is because of ignorant elders passing their ignorance that if Vedanta is learnt one would renounce this world and not fulfill one’s responsibilities and duties. Looking at few of Sankaracharyas and ascetics like Swami Vivekananda who take up sanyaasa at a very young age also adds up to this ignorance. All these are completely false as Vedanta never forces a person to renounce this world. The puranas mention about grihasthas like Janaka, Ambariksha etc. as true Vedantins; we also see such grihasthas in Prof. Balakrishnan Nair, Nochur etc. of today. As Kanchi Mahaperiyaval says, getting into marriage or fulfilling the duties of life is only when a person has desires – one who doesn’t have any desires but only the desire of moksha should take up sanyaasa lest even his worldly life will cause him and others sorrow. We know this very well when we see a youngster taking up a profession he doesn’t like but forced upon him by others – such a youngster causes sorrow for himself and others as well when they see him sad. The Lord says in Gita “tasmaat sarveshu kaaleshu maam anusmara yudhya cha” or “therefore, remember me at all times and fight”. Sankara comments thus “yuddham cha svadharma kuru” or “fight or do your own svadharma, your day-to-day duty”. Prof. Balakrishnan Nair speaks in his each and every discourse that Vedanta says us to just do our duties along with Ishwara in our mind – the thought of Ishwara (Brahman) who is all-pervasive and non-dual reality in our mind will make us do our chores in the best possible way yet remaining unaffected to the fruits even as a lotus-leaf is not wet by water. Living thus internally immersed in Ishwara and externally performing actions, each and every moment of life will be filled with immense bliss.
Summarizing, Vedanta is very essential in times like today when we see chaos and sorrow everywhere. Vedanta shows us as to how to live blissfully amidst all the chaos in the world. May the ultimate reality of Brahman in the benign form of AMMA bless us in achieving this blissful life through a proper learning, apt understanding and constant implementation of Vedanta.
AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA
Aug 14th
Anukramaanika
Vedanta Darshanam 1
Guru Mahima 4
Mukhya Vishayam 7
Sankshiptha Vedanta 12
Gitaamritham 14
Upanishad Prachaaram 17
Raga Varsha 21
Praadeshikam 23
Sthuthi 27
Charitham 31
Sanskritha shiksha 34
Vedanta Pariksha 36
Anukramaanika Nirdesham 38
Guru Mahima
There is a beautiful song in yaman which says “Guru bina kaise guna paave” or “without guru, how can I get good qualities”. Guru is a very important person in the path of a spiritual seeker. The scriptures variously speak about a seeker’s inability to gain knowledge (which paves the way for realization) without a guru (aacharyavaan purusho veda). The Lord speaks thus about the way to get knowledge in the 4th chapter of Gita:
Tadviddhi pranipaathena pariprashnena sevayaa
Upadeshyanthi te jnaanam jnaaninastattvadarshinah
In order to gain knowledge approach a Guru, offer prostrations at his feet, ask questions and be of service to him; then will such knower of Brahman instruct you on knowledge.
Even as a teacher is required in the form of a human or a computer software (in these modern days), similarly a Guru is required in order for a sadhaka to attain moksha. A Guru is so filled with compassion that he not only instructs the sadhaka with theoretical knowledge but guides him as to how to practice Vedanta; there are Gurus who don’t stop there as well. Such Gurus who will not rest until the disciple has reached the peak of the mountain of Vedanta are Uttama Gurus also known as Sadgurus. Yoga Vasistha defines a Sadguru as one who through his vision, touch and teachings not only imparts self-knowledge to the disciple but makes the disciple experience the Self.
We can find many instances in history where a Guru has bestowed upon the disciple the power of the Self. The one that comes to mind is Sankara bestowing his compassion on Totaka who then exploded with the Totakastham in the tough totaka metre. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the Guru can give realization to everyone. AMMA says that Ishwara (Guru) is like the Sun ever bestowing sunlight upon the world but a person can sit inside his house closing all doors and windows thereby complaining the Sun isn’t showering any light; in a similar way the Guru is ever emanating the bliss of the Self but the disciple needs to open his heart through complete surrender in order to apprehend the ever-present grace of the Guru which is then experienced as the bliss of the Self.
Let’s try to find out the history behind the Guru slokas which are very popular. The Guru slokas (slokas ending with “tasmai sree gurave namaha”) are part of the text called Guru Gita or singing the glories of the Guru. Guru Gita is part of skanda purana and is in the form of a conversation between Siva and Parvathi. As is the case with any puranas, skanda purana is also Suta explaining about the Guru to the various rishis. Parvathi once approached Siva with the request to explain Guru maahaatmyam (glory of a Guru) and as to how the dehi (the Self or Seer) will become Brahman (realize himself to be Brahman).
Bhagavan sarvadharmajna vrathaanaam vrathanaayakam
Broohi me kripayaa shambho gurumaahaatmyam uttamam
O Lord who knows everything! Explain to me due to your compassion, the great glories of the Guru.
Kena maargena bho svaamin dehi brahmamayo bhavet
Tatkripaam kuru me svaaminnamaami charanau tava
By which way the Self (the subject in the body) becomes Brahman; that please describe to me by your grace; for which I prostrate at your feet O Lord.
Ithi sampraarthithah shashvanmahaadevo maheshwarah
Aanandabharathi svaanthe paarvatheem idam abhraveet
Thus being requested in a proper way, immediately Mahadeva who is the controller of everything replied thus to Parvathi with his heart filled with bliss.
Though we might find a Guru, it is very essential to put forth the right questions as our desires to the Guru. If we don’t ask for moksha to the Guru and ask for worldly pleasures then it is like going to Bill Gates and asking for one dollar. We can put forth many questions and desires unto the Guru but the right one is to ask anything and everything with respect to moksha as moksha is the ultimate goal (aatmalaabhaat paro laabho naastheethi kavayo vidhuh – there is no greater goal than the goal of Atman, thus say the various knowers of Brahman). Here we find Parvathi asking the right question to Siva as to how to realize Brahman. Parvathi knowing that the way to realize Brahman is by seeking a realized master (Guru) asks for the glories of a Guru.
If we sit in a class of James Gosling and ask about how the movie “Funny People” is, it is not respecting him (unless it is just a jokeJ statement). Similarly going to a master like Siva and asking for worldly pleasures is not respecting Siva. The compassionate master of Siva will grant whatever we ask for even as a mother will give whatever the child cries for but it is bad that we don’t utilize the master of Siva for the precious treasure of moksha. A sadhaka thereby should always remember to ask for nothing less than moksha from the Guru even as a businessman doesn’t get contended with anything but the best result alone.
If we need to know as to what question to ask the Guru, then Mundaka Upanishad through Shaunaka gives it very beautifully thus:
Kasmin u vijnaate sarvamidam vijnaatham bhavathi
That by knowing which everything is known, tell me about it.
The Lord resonates this view in the 7th chapter of Gita to Arjuna thus:
Jnaanam teham savijnaanam idam vakshyaami asheshathah
Yat jnaatva neha bhooyo anyat jnaatavyam avashishyathe
I will explain to you knowledge and wisdom completely; that by knowing which there will remain nothing else to be known.
When a Guru sees the right question being asked by the disciple, the Guru’s heart is filled with bliss as it is rare indeed to find a disciple asking the right question. We find Siva thereby replying to Parvathi with bliss filling his heart. This bliss that is present as the essence in the Guru of Siva can be apprehended by the disciple as his inner nature through complete surrender to the Guru and implementation of the words of the Guru. That such a question about the glory of the Guru is not easy to ask and the glory of the Guru itself is secretive is being mentioned by Siva which we will see in the next month.
Mukhya Vishayam
Brahman – this is a word that is often heard in Vedantic discourses but very rarely known to people. There are many others who are afraid of this one word as if it might take everything away from them and make them sort of an orphan. But unlike our false knowledge of this word, this is one word which if known will end all our sufferings. This is one word which is very vast, so vast that all the scriptures speak about it variously (tat tu samanvayaat – all the scriptural statements directly or indirectly speak about Brahman alone). As the scriptures say “tad dure tat u anthike” or “it is far yet very near”; far to those who don’t know it and near to those who know it; far means vast and many whereas near means one and one alone; similarly Brahman once known is very close to oneself (very close that there cannot be any differentiating oneself from Brahman).
Even many listeners and learned people are afraid of the various mahavakyas that proclaim the individual Self (pulsates inside each one of us as I-exist, I-exist) as one with Brahman; thus they try to stay away from such discourses and people. They don’t stop there but ensure that their children, grand-children, relatives etc. also stay away from anything related to “Brahman”.
This word isn’t that dangerous a word – this word isn’t that tough to understand as well. All our wrong notions about this one word will end after doing a brief analysis of this word.
The word Brahman comes from the dhathu (Sanskrit verb) of Brih, brihattvat brimhanattvaat vaa brahma, meaning that which is very big and that which is seen (or appears) as the world. Taittiriya Upanishad gives this beautiful definition of Brahman with respect to the world that we are currently experiencing:
Yatho vaa imaani bhoothaani jaayanthe
Yena jaathaani jeevanthi
Yat prayanthi abhisamvishanthi
Tat vijijnaasasva
Tad brahmethi
That from which this world has come; that in which this world resides; unto that this world will go after destruction; that is to be known; know that to be Brahman.
This Upanishad vakya has been explained by Vyaasa through the sutra “janmaadi asya yathah” or “that from which the creation, protection and destruction of the world happens, know that to be Brahman”.
Our knowledge spectrum as of now is the external world. Even science is able to reach only until the physical body (which is also gross and part of the external world). Though many people are trying to read the mind, we know how successful that is. The demand for shrinks (psychiatrist) is constantly increasing and these shrinks are not able to help others properly because they themselves are not able to control their mind. If only controlling the mind was as easy as attending a one hour session with a person and talking about normal stuff!!! Even after attaining a Sadguru it takes many years and often births in order to control the drunken money of the mind. Swami Vivekananda used to always call the mind a drunken monkey – AMMA adds that the mind is a drunken monkey on whose head a coconut has fallen!!! A monkey always hops from one branch to another – imagine that it is drunken; imagine that it is hit by a coconut. That is the state of the mind of people today – everyone is constantly searching for happiness and nobody knows where to find it. Not to get distracted but the mind is very tough indeed to conquer (tasyaaham nigraham manye vayoriva sudushkaram – control of the mind is very tough like controlling air). Thus most of us are only at the external world level – we haven’t even reached the state of the mind that we can go beyond the mind to the state of mindless peace.
Vedanta knows this and hence tries to explain everything with respect to the external world. This way of taking us from the known external world to the unknown Brahman is what is called as Chandra shakha nyaaya or arundhathi nyaaya. Even as a mother points the moon to the child by first pointing a nearby branch and through the branch to the moon; even as the star arundhathi is pointed out by couples after marriage through stars near to us; in the same way the scriptures speak about Brahman through the external world (technically this is also called thatastha lakshana or indirectly referring to something with respect to something that we know very well or we are experiencing).