March 26, Vasishtha
Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
Day 117, March 26
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Ganesaya Namaha
Sri Saraswatyai Namaha
Sripada Vallabha
Narasimha Saraswati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha
Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Sadgurubhyo Namaha
asato ma sadgamaya
tamaso ma jyotirgamaya
mrityor ma amrtam gamaya
Om Santissantissantihi
Please lead me from untruth to Truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality. May there be peace.
Yoga Vasishtha Dhyana Slokas:
yatassarvāṇi bhūtāni pratibhānti sthitāni ca
yatraivōpaśamaṁ yānti tasmai satyātmanē namaḥ || 1
jñātā jñānaṁ tathā jñēyaṁ draṣṭādarśana dr̥śyabhūḥ
kartā hētuḥ kriyā yasmāt tasmai jñaptyātmanē namaḥ || 2
sphuranti sīkarā yasmāt ānanandasyāṁbarē vanau
sarvēṣām jīvanam tasmai brahmānandātmanē namaḥ || 3
Om santissantissantihi
In Vichara Niroopana we learned yesterday the benefits of proper intellectual analysis. Fear is removed when we get guidance from Sadguru and realize the truth. This world appears to be real. As a result we forget the existence of God. Paramatman is the only Truth. He is the only reality. The false belief that the world is real is dispelled by deep analytical contemplation. This creation is a fabrication of our own imagination. It is a difficult concept to understand, grasp, and retain. Only by personal analysis and questioning one will understand this truth.
Contemplation is the way to obtain the fruit called liberation and freedom from sorrow. It gives the greatest bliss. Deep analytical contemplation is given the highest accolade. The second of the four gatekeepers is Vichara guarding the gates of Liberation.
Vichara is learning what is unknown by asking those who know. Many are unaware that they are ignorant. They are disinterested in learning new things. One should ask and learn. Some know on their own, by their own effort. Fear is removed by knowing the truth. Listening to Sadguru and questioning Sadguru are most essential.
samam
Vichara is not anything ordinary. It is a great tree, it is the Kalpavriksha. The Bhagavatam says that Kamadhenu, Kalpavriksha, and Chintamani grant only limited benefits, unlike Sadguru, whose compassion grants unlimited benefits. Sometimes we question ourselves and do not receive satisfactory answers. At such times Sadguru should be approached for answers. The tree should give shade, flowers, fruits, and after it is dead, it should give timber for making homes, furniture, and padukas. The trees also provide us breeze. They do not complain. They do not speak, unfortunately. When leaves tremble, they shiver but cannot express themselves, unfortunately. Liberation is the fruit granted by questioning and analysis. Vichara is a Kalpavriksha.
There is no negative result whatsoever obtained by contemplation. Balance of mind is required in reacting to situations. One must not blame others. Sundara Kanda describes the disadvantages of anger and acting in haste. An even-minded approach is most important. Libra or Tula rasi indicates equanimity. The 12 rasis have great significance. They indicate our mental states. Balance of mind has to be cultivated. It should become a habit. It is easy to verbally speak of it. It should be put into practice. It is not easy.
Sadguru shows no discrimination towards anyone. He gives Upadesha to everyone, whether the person is good or bad. In spirituality it is most necessary to treat everyone equally. The common man shows distinctions and has friends and enemies. After a certain stage these differences should be given up. Logic is not always a clever way of expressing oneself.
Simply weeping over misfortunes is useless. People complain that others are not suffering similarly. If everyone else also suffers along with them, people are happy. They feel grief that they are singled out for their suffering. It is very wrong to blame God for one's troubles.
Vichara, which gives us answers to our questions gives solace and comfort. It involves no physical strain, stress or any expense. The comfort and solace it gives are enduring. We eat when we are hungry. We feel satisfaction. But overeating gives discomfort. The satisfaction of eating also does not last. We feel hungry again. The benefit gained by Vichara is limitless because it makes us limitless.
Ananta namna .. we praise God in Siveti Soureeti prayer. God is unlimited. He is beyond name and form. He is not limited to the one thousand names that we chant. Some name such as Jugumba, for instance may exist in Kenya and that name may not be included in the Sahasranama/the list of one thousand names of God. We refer to Him as Paramatma for convenience only. He cannot be given a name. He allows us out of compassion towards us, to give him limited descriptive names and address Him as Datta, and so on.
Liberation is limitless, it is immeasurable and eternal. When all sorrow is removed, all that remains is only bliss. Vichara grants such an enduring bliss.
achala
It is unmoving. It is steady and eternal. Cumin seed and jaggery mixture is placed on the head at the time of a wedding to indicate a strong and inseparable bond. The two must become inseparable. Anything that you may think of, will fail to measure up to this Supreme Bliss granted by Vichara/deep analytical contemplation.
There is nothing greater than that bliss. Vichara has the capacity to grant it. Nishkamataa udeti .. It grants the state of having no desires. Whatever you may desire, that desire gives pain like a thorn. You have to make efforts to satisfy the desire and there is anxiety whether the desire will be fulfilled or not. The stage of being free from all desires is the happiest. The last Siddhi to be invoked in the Anaghashtami Vratam is Kaamaavasaayitaa - the freedom from desires. All desire become extinguished when we reach that level.
Students are advised not to dwell too much on marks/grades. Focus more on the subject when you write your exams. The desire for gain or reward distracts the mind from the task at hand. The happy person does not desire anything. He is already happy. He needs nothing to make him happy. As if he is filled with moonlight, such a person is ever cool and pleasant.
svavichara
These are very deeply spiritual statements. Already some such deep thoughts have been introduced to us. Now we go even deeper. On the street an herb is sold as a cure-all. It is declared to cure physical, mental, and spiritual diseases. It is also supposed to prevent future diseases. There are such medicines in the world, such as vaccines which prevent infections.
Svavichara is questioning oneself and churning the spiritual questions in the mind, along with the words of Sadguru. This medicine cures everything. It exists within the mind itself. It is safeguarded there. The seeker knows that it makes an inferior person highly exalted and takes him to the highest state. Once he reaches that state, he does not desire anything. He does not reject anything.
In the story of Jada Bharata, he sat in a forest. He gave up everything. He had no desires or wants. He was offered a feast at every mealtime. He questioned himself whether internally he entertained any desires. He realized that he did not desire anything due to hunger. Yet, food was offered to him. He obtained that siddhi. He had no duties left for him to perform. He had graduated from all worldly duties. This happened as a result of Vichara.
How does one attain this state of Siddhi? The mind must be removed. Vichara will make the mind vanish. Won't the man become mad if he loses his mind? No. Happiness is gained. He does not become insane.
Our mind chases after sense organs. Because the mind, the senses and the limbs all act together and remain connected in the common man, we interact with the world the way we do. But for the enlightened, the connections between the mind, the senses, and the limbs get all disconnected and dropped. Things simply take place without their active decisions or desires.
The madman has hunger. But he does not eat when he has food in his hand. He throws it away. Such is the insane person.
Without mind how can a man survive? Our mind is the reason that we are alive. Mind alone works when one is in a coma. Breath happens on its own. It is not in our control. Sankalpa remains in the man in a coma that he should remain alive. That is why he stays alive. Without breath one lives. Without mind one cannot live. Some mantras are there which describe these states.
Without desires and without rejecting anything how does one survive? Sankalpa is higher than desire in its power. Here there are no sankalpas also. The enlightened do not make any sankalpas on their own.
tatpadalambanam.
The mind has taken the support of the Paramatman. But the Paramatman is not a thing to catch hold of. Karavalambam is what we pray for - some type of support to keep us from drowning, like a rope or a tube that we can hold on to, to remain afloat in this Ocean of Samsara.
Continuous contemplation on the Paramatman means the mind merges with God. It is not holding on to someone or something. When the two remain separate, you can divide them again or pull them apart. But when water merges with milk or water, the two cannot be separated. They merge inseparably.
It appears as if there is mind in the enlightened. But he does not even make any sankalpas/no ideas of doing anything. We attribute sankalpas to him. Then how are things happening? Think about it. If without intending to do anything, if he accomplishes so much, then if he actually makes an intention to accomplish something, can you imagine how much more he can accomplish? That is why some devotees pray fervently to Sadguru to make an intention for success on their behalf.
For the mind of the enlightened, there is nothing like rising and setting of decisions or intentions. When the sun rises and sets, it is for us who live on this earth that such rising and setting are visible. It is not for the sky. The sky is always the same and remains unaffected. The sun neither rises nor sets when we go far away into space. It is shining continuously. The rays of the sun affect only those who live on the earth and other nearby planets, but not the entire cosmos. The rays of our sun may not even reach very great distances. They may not even be visible if one travels far enough away.
The seed sprouts because there is life force in the seed. If you fry the seed, it will not sprout. The life force gets destroyed by frying. You still see the seed. But its sprouting capacity is lost. Similarly, this mind without intentions appears to exist. But it does not make any intentions or decisions. Such is the state of the Jeevanmukta. If the mind exists, then movements occur within it, such as thoughts, desires, and intentions. But the individual still exists before us. We can see him. His mind is like the seed that will not sprout.
The seeds that sprout are not edible as they are.
na dadati
He has no desire to give. He performs no actions. He does desire or accept any fruits of actions. He rejects nothing. He merely witnesses this world.
When we sleep, we are only witnesses. The senses are all at rest. The carpenter puts away all his tools at the end of the day. In spiritual terms, it is not the carpenter who gets rest. The instruments get rest when he does that. The carpenter is always at rest. When we wake up, we feel that we begin our activities again. But it is the sense organs which resume their work. When we close our eyes also, sometimes we do not feel restful. The eyes still feel tired. It is because the eye is still working with help of the mind.
The witness here does not speak, like a witness in a court of law who is required to speak. He cannot be relied upon for declaring what he has experienced. Everything occurs in front of him. But he remains unaffected by the events. He witnesses. That is all. This Creation, this Universe, this cosmos is limitless. He witnesses everything without getting affected by anything.
sarvadhee sakshibhootam - Guru knows everything that goes on in the minds of all. He knows. But one should not become complacent that he will not react. Suddenly he may plunge into action like Lord Narasimha in his fury.
The one who does Vichara and removes his mind, also becomes a mere witness. Vichara is questioning oneself. Where answers are not forthcoming, Vichara is questioning Sadguru to receive the answers. This type of Vichara is absolutely needed in both worldly and spiritual affairs to obtain the greatest peace of mind.
Sri Guru Datta