Vasishtha, Nov 2 2015
Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
Day 178, November 2 2015
Sri Sadgurubhyo namaha
Om Santissantissantissantihi
We must listen intently, and meditate upon the subject to get the experience of peace. At least for 10 minutes a day one must chant the Mantra given by Guru, dwelling upon the meaning and the form of the deity. Such a practice is highly beneficial.
It is not an instant high that you will get. Step by step one has to climb the mountain to reach the top. It is not something that can just be placed in one’s hand, readymade. As you climb, you get higher in elevation. Gradually the awakening occurs.
Practice itself is Yoga. Continuous effort using the proper technique is essential. Then this delusion that the world is real will go away from the mind.
There is no other story that is more intricate or interesting than that Leelopaakhyaana. Story inside another story, like the Chinese stacking dolls. I will tell you that story, says Vasishtha.
As we attribute color to the sky, we attribute this Creation upon Paramatma. If you listen to this story carefully, then, your delusion will vanish.
Tirodhana and anugraha.
Some souls remain in bondage and struggle to get liberated because they have not yet attained Jnana. Despite being in the heart of Mother Goddess, they still have restless minds and emotional troubles.
People come to the ashrama and still continue to suffer from sorrows and anxieties.
Chintamani Griha is that. Mother Goddess herself gives Upadesa there to such bound souls suffering from ignorance. She becomes Guru in the form of Gowri. When we listen to that teaching, we become liberated.
She re-creates this Creation, and those bound souls are born again. But eventually all souls get liberated. But in the interim they go through a lot of suffering.
Even Rudra and other gods get dissolved during Pralaya.
The lifespan of beings changes from one Yuga to another. Romaharshana’s lifespan is greater than that of Brahma. Rudra and other gods live even longer.
Brahman is beyond Time itself. He is Truth.
We must make a dedicated effort to have the total experience of Paramatma who is nothing but Consciousness itself.
Paramatma has no tongue, yet, he tastes; He has no nose, yet he breathes/lives; He has no ears, yet he listens. Such is His formless form.
This is like the dream experience. We have no sense organs functioning there and yet, we experience everything in the dream. The dream person is not real. Yet he appears real.
Paramatma assumes all the forms and entertains Himself. In the Khechari Mudra, a Yogi is able to envision the entire Creation in the middle of the eyebrows.
Sri Rama asked a question and it was answered. He asked yet another question. He received the answer.
Assume that this world simply does not exist. Then you will get complete Knowledge. You have fabricated this world. You cannot experience another person’s creation. If a friend imagines a snake in a rope, you cannot see the snake. You only see the rope. Guru tells us that it is only a rope. Until we get convinced in our own minds that there is no snake, and it is only a rope, we cannot see the rope. It has to be proved to us by our own experience. This world is our own Creation. That must be understood.
Total faith helps in this regard, which is what the path of devotion follows. It goes with blind faith. One may not do any type of sadhana. But their faith is unquestioning and unwavering. Bhima’s faith was such. He threw up into the air his heavy and strong mace give to him by the Wind *** and lay down for it to fall on his chest. It would crush him to pieces. Krishna came and protected him.
Faith is most essential. Devotion begins only with faith in Guru, in a Scripture, or in a deity. Through such devotion one may enter eventually into the path of Jnana.
What if we imagine a snake? What is wrong? The trouble is that it makes us afraid. It creates fear.
Why should one experience the Self? Fear occurs without it. Fear is not good. One must get rid of it. Only when the sense of duality is there, there is fear. A baby smiles the same way whether you show him a sword or some ice cream. He has no sense of duality which causes fear. Infants cry, but for many other different reasons.
Only when fear is dispelled, total peace and bliss are experienced. Confidence is gained. Until fear is removed there is no peace.
Sri Rama asked: how to attain that Peace? I have heard your words. I believe them to be the truth. But teach me how to experience the Ultimate Bliss and the Eternal Truth that this Creation does not exist.
Vasishtha said: Aham – Tvam, I and you are at the root of this sense of duality.
How do I overcome this sense of duality? Please explain to me how I may attain supreme bliss. Sri Rama praised that Supreme Jnana. Once that Jnana is attained, no other Jnana will be required, he believed.
Students ask if there is one course by taking which, no other courses will be required to take. You cannot do one course to get qualified in all the subjects. It is not possible.
Sri Rama knows that such a knowledge exists. But has not absorbed and experienced it yet.
It is like a person who may know of a Guru, but has not yet had his darshan.
Bahukaala
Vasishtha said: This ignorance, which is like a dreaded disease, is not of today. It has existed for a long time, accumulated and piled up through many lifetimes.
The way a seeker keeps doing Mantra Japa, you should incessantly dwell on this teaching. That will grant you the ultimate peace. Only when one is continuously dwelling on a subject, as if a Mantra is joined with the breath and chanted, only then it will yield the desired fruit.
Take your Mantra and synchronize it with your breath, slowly chanting it for 40 times or 300 times, as you may see fit. Such Mantra Japa will become Ajapa Japa. It will automatically occur along with one’s breathing once the technique is mastered through practice. It is very powerful and effective. But it is not easy to do. It requires concentration and practice. It forms a safety shield and protects not only the seeker but the surrounding atmosphere as well. Our spiritual practices have a widespread positive influence on the environment.
The awareness of the gross, subtle, and astral bodies is given up and the fulfillment of the penance occurs. Ignorance will then completely go away. Only the greatest peace will remain.
In the olden days, always a mantra was given along with a medicine. By that, the power of the mantra enhanced the efficacy of the medicine. It is all a mind-game. One should keep telling oneself that the world is unreal and only Paramatma is real.
Bhagavatam says: Maha Vakyas grant Jnanam despite the seeker not knowing the meaning of the statements. Many foreigners have no clue about the Dattatreya concept or form. Yet, by chanting the Datta mantra given by Guru, they get Jnana. They may be unable to come here and yet, they get the fruit they deserve. Constant contemplation is the key.
Nasakyate
Remember this. This does not occur instantaneously.
One cannot make food drop down from the sky. If one is hungry it takes time to prepare food. One has to light the stove, and prepare the rice and so on. It is a gradual process.
In Yoga, there are many asanas and they begin with the easy asanas and proceed to the more advanced postures like Garudasana. The same uphill and downhill sequence has to be followed in doing the asanas or else, it may cause harm.
A tree may be easily cut by chopping off the branches. But to remove it from the roots takes more time.
The awakening of knowledge comes gradually. One should not feel discouraged or frustrated. One should follow the course and progress gradually.
At the gear that is suited to you, you follow the method and proceed step by step. Never give up the attempt and effort losing hope that it is not going to occur in this lifetime.
abhyasa
Practice is most important. Arjuna told Krishna: to control the mind is like capturing air. It is constantly moving like a monkey. Krishna assured Arjuna that with practice it is indeed possible to control the mind.
Uninterrupted practice is Abhyasa Yoga, using the proper method and the correct procedure. We use a certain method to solve a problem we face. Some past examples are followed to help us.
jagatbhranti
You are young and may not know the process. Therefore, I will explain to you. That way you will be able to get rid of this illusion that the world is real. I will teach you.
I will tell you a story. Pralaya will be explained. Then Creation is explained. To prove that Creation is illusory, Leelopaakhyaana, an elaborate story will be told. Carefully listening to this story, will make you liberated.
In Yoga Vasishtha, Leelopaakhyaana has been given an exalted place. Each story in the Yoga Vasishtha is like that. Each story, when seriously pondered over, will yield a subtle insight into Truth.
After Pralayakhyana, again the Utpattti Aakhyana will be narrated to you. Once you carefully listen to these stories and understand their meaning, you will become a Jeevanmukta by attaining Jnana.
Jagadbhranti
This world was never born. It is like a mirage only.
This is the introduction to that topic.
Yadidam
Whatever is visible as the world, is a combination of moving and unmoving objects. It is a combination of these two kinds. This is not only about the earth, but includes other planes of existence also. From insects all the way to demigods and celestials, all are included in this Creation. All that exists in Creation, including all the gods also get dissolved in that Pralaya. Even the celestials merge in Him. What happens to them? They get tirobhaava, they go back to where they emerged from.
Asadbhavati
All the gods also become non-existent. Once ‘you’ are not there to talk about them, then they all disappear.
Daily a Pralaya occurs when we go to sleep. During deep sleep, there is no sense or awareness of you and I. There is only bliss and relaxation. Only in deep sleep all thoughts subside. Only in dream you have those differentiations and dualities. We need the deep sleep for survival. When the body is given up, a similar Pralaya occurs just as this daily Pralaya that occurs during deep sleep.
Sometimes at the end of a Kalpa, even the five elements merge in Him. There are no galaxies left even.
Adrsyaatma
Everything became non-existent or invisible. That Creation is visible is a miracle and the same way its vanishing also is like a miracle or Maya/illusion. If *** exists, He should be visible. But if there is no one to see, then nothing is visible. Only if you have the eligibility to see ***, you can see Him.
*** is there to those who can see Him. Not all that exists in the world is seen. America exists. But do you see it now? No.
All are going away and merging in that, when Pralaya occurs. Rudra, who destroys all, is Himself getting destroyed somewhere. Where is he going? What is he merging in? Into energy/sakti, it says in the Sakti Sastra. Sakti merges into Paramatma.
Here you must think. Calamities occur and destruction happens. But visualize the five elements themselves merging back into Brahman. What remained? That is Dhyana. That contemplation gives Jnana. Here we are speaking of it. When you silently ponder over it and yourself get merged in it, that is the experience I wish for you to have.
Tataha
Then Rudra and others and the five elements get merged in Brahman. Then there is unimaginable silence. Pin drop silence is unbearable. Even a shruti is nice to hear. In a cave where there is no sound whatsoever, or in the depth of the ocean where in the deepest depths there is absolutely no movement, there is silence. Imagine that.
Some frogs simply swallow any insect that comes within their proximity, clearing the space up. When Death swallows us up, He swallows up even Death. He has even swallowed up the sky. That ultimate silence is His state. This should come to your own experience, that stage where there are no five elements. That is how Parabrahman is. He is not light or radiance, the visible glow. He is not darkness. He has no name or description. He is not even Brahma. When he expanded to become the Universe, he got the title of Brahma, meaning one who expands and pervades. Before that happened, before He expanded, what was He? He is not even Brahma. We use the term Brahma Jnana only for our understanding. He cannot be ascribed any name or description. He has no name or address.
He is beyond all names and forms. All names and forms are His, it is said in the verse: Anantanaamnaa ..in the Datta Stavam.
But he transcends all, as Sat chit Ananda. That we must not forget.
Avasishyate it is said. Even that word is inappropriate. After all the rotten sections are removed, just a tiny piece of apple is left, like a drop of nectar.
But what exists then? What is left? That term should not be used. Because something should be there, and something should be removed from it, to have something left. Even that is not true.
What is, is just that. That drop of nectar became the mighty ocean.
Why do they celebrate the Kumbha Mela, at Avanti/Ujjain, Haridwar, Nasik, and Prayag? Because that is where the drops of nectar fell when Garuda was carrying the *** of Amrita. It made the river Ganga divine.
From that Sat, that tiny drop, this Creation emerged. That is why, in Vedanta, nothing should be disliked, rejected or abused, because out of that Sat/Truth, this world has emerged. That is its essence. Therefore, nothing in the world should be disparaged.
We will continue about the description of Parabrahma tomorrow. Repetitive mention occurs in Vedanta because it is required for us to absorb the subject. What will be explained in the future may have already been mentioned. But despite repetitions, it is difficult to grasp the subject.
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
Om Santissantissantihi