AvadhootaDatta Peetham

Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha

Day 156, June 25

Sri Sadgurubhyo namaha
Om Santissantissantihi

Who is the four-faced Brahma? He is none other than the Mind. We, who have emerged from Him, must also be of Mind stuff only. We have come from intentions only and bear only intentions as our origins. There is no reality as cause and effect in Vedanta, of a substance creating another different substance from itself.

Misery getting eradicated is not possible, if cause and effect are accepted as inevitable.

The process of Creation is described in a certain matter. But it creates a certain confusion.
But Brahma's form is only subtle, and of the super subtle mind substance only.
That the world is a myth is the truth that is now being established. That is the purpose of Vedanta.

In Kannada, there is a saying. Ajja is the word for grandfather. It came from Ajaha, the name for Brahma. Tatagaru is the word in Telugu for grandfather. Ajaha is the unborn Brahma of four faces. Sri Narahari Teertha Swami and Sri Jayalakshmi Mata are our Ajja and Ajji - Grandfather and Grandmother. They are none other than the birth-less Brahma. From a Jnani, an enlightened one, only another Jnani, an enlightened one can emerge. What is the use if an ignorant person emanates from a Knower? From trash, Amrita/nectar may be extracted. But the other way around cannot happen that trash comes out of nectar. That being so, how can impure ones emerge out of that Pure Brahma? This body is impure, we think. But the body is illusory. The truth is that our real form is pure. You made the resolve to bear a physical body and hence, the body has come to you.

Yesterday we have established that the four-faced Brahma is only Mind, and that He came into existence only as per our intention/Sankalpa. He, being of the form of Mind, His creation can only be of the substance of Mind, and its intentions or resolves. The creation emanating from Him cannot be otherwise.

More doubts will be cleared today.

verse

From Him, all the people or beings whose forms are none other than consciousness have emerged. Therefore, he got the name Prajapati. Praja does not mean only humans. The entire creation is 'Praja'. It has all come from Him. He has no body. He is only Jnana. Only Jnana can emerge from Jnana. He is of the form of Bliss. Only Bliss can be born from Bliss. How can it be otherwise? We are unable to realize this fact.

Even if it is an illusion, even it has been created by one who has no body, still, it is only made only of Consciousness. He has created all the living beings. They are all only of the form of Jnana, Knowledge.
Without knowledge one cannot live. We are not talking about academic education. Professional skill is required to earn a living. Jnana, or Chaitanya, Consciousness or awareness, Knowing, that is what we are all made of. Without it, we cannot survive. One without knowledge will lose his fame and reputation.

For the emergence of living beings, no other causes are required. We declare that Brahma is none other than Consciousness, and eternal Knowledge. We say that we are born from Him. We say that He is Truth and nothing else. Then we claim that we, the untrue ones are born. How can that be? We speak from the effect of Maya, delusion. When we are born from Him, we also must be of the substance of Jnana alone. We have to be eternal and immortal.

We imagine that we have been born from various different reasons, and that we are constituted of the five elements. We assume out of ignorance, that when the body made of the five elements leaves us, we are destroyed. We identify with the body. That is wrong to think like that. Illusion and delusion are the reasons for our mistaken notions. It is Maya.

The five elements have surrounded and occupied you because of time, space, and karma (Desa, Kala, Karma). They are not You. When they leave you, the five elements simply fall apart and lie there, inert (in the corpse). Even the wife and children fear the sight of the dead body (bhaaryaa bibhyati tasmin kaaye). They wonder: Where has he gone? The one who has left the body is Consciousness. That is Jnana. That is Chit. That is without birth or death. Out of ignorance we think we are engaged in this journey. You are immortal. You have neither birth nor death.

No other causes are there for our existence. It is only Consciousness, Amrita, Jnana, vast as the limitless sky.
Whatever is the source, the thing that emerges from it, has to be of the same attributes and principles.

You can only extract mango juice out of a mango, not orange juice. If by adulteration, being a scientist, you try to change its true nature, it will harm the health of the person who consumes it.

We imagine that we have become separated from that Pure Consciousness. We feel inclined to go down to the nether world due to our ignorance. We are now getting uplifted into light. This is called enlightenment. We are raised to realize our true state. We can only be that out of which we have been created. We are only that from which we have emerged. Anything else is not possible. Since you have emerged from Brahma, you can be none other than Brahma. Believe that. Ponder on that point. This is not a new statement.

We have all experienced this. Why do you entertain anxiety and fear? This statement fills us with courage.
The story began with the story of Akasaja who is addressed also with so many other names, such as Virat Purusha, Brahma, Hiranyagarbha, Ajaha and so on. Only space can emerge out of space. Only light can come from light. Darkness cannot come from light. A son born of light cannot be a small light. We are still light. We are children of Akasaja. We are therefore Akasajaja - we are born from Akasaja. We have to be of the sky or space form.

A=B
A=C
Therefore, B=C
It cannot be otherwise.

But B is not thinking like that. B thinks B=D. What can I do about that? It is wrong thinking.

It thinks B is being human. We are trying to dispel that ignorance. A, Hiranyagarbha, has no ignorance. A knows that He is pure consciousness and is only one. Only B has the feeling of separateness and smallness. It has to go.

nirvana ..

The idea is very clear. Chaturmukha Brahma has the knowledge that He is One. He is Pure Consciousness. We entertain the belief that we are separated from Him, and that we are different. Grandfather and grandson are one and the same. Parents also say the same. Child and parents are one and the same. They identify with one another.

Nirvana swaroopa is He. He is Parambodhaha - the Greatest Jnana. The highest Knowledge He is. He is Mind alone. He is Consciousness alone. He is Chidaakaasa swaroopa.

Chit alone can also mean ajnana, our thinking, caused by false notions.

Just because Sadguru appears to us in a body, He is not Ajnana. It is you, who sees him as a body. You have the ajnana/ignorance. He has not limited himself to the body. It is your mistake for limiting him. He can be in different countries and planets all at once. You see him as limited. That is your false impression. He is Jnana itself. He cannot be the physical body. He cannot be limited to a gross form. He is the Supreme Soul. You do not realize that. Your eyes can only see his body.

It is not possible for Brahma to be confined in a limited body made of the five elements (paanchabhoutika sareera)
We are the same way.

sarvesha..

For everyone who is in the worldly life, He is the initial vibratory cause. What causes that initial vibration? It may be the vibration of mind, life, or consciousness.

Each individual begins with the sense of 'I'. That ahankara comes from Him. Ahambhava. It comes from Him. The feeling of "I am".

asmaat ..

This past, this initial, original vibration we are talking about.

All beings who were once separated, were united and became one. All minds became united. They realized that He is God. He is the Creator. They remembered this, and also their past lives and as a result, again Creation repeated itself.

Scriptures say that all the divine incarnations will also repeat themselves. Rama, Krishna, and Hanuman will also be born again and again. The Jeeva made the resolve that to keep himself on track, he has to have a repetitive cycle. All of us may not be reborn. Some of us may take birth again. The main roles will repeat, some scriptures say.

24th Vyasa they say. It happens because Vyasa takes birth again and again to codify the Vedas and compose the Puranas. The ten incarnations, the Dasavataras repeat themselves.

Mind has resolved that they should all eternally recycle. Some individuals may not be reborn. But everything is hidden in the Mind.

Mind has brought this entire Universe into being. It is only Mind itself. Like from breeze we see movement, the two are one and the same. It is not as if one came from another. Breeze is movement. Movement is air. The two are inseparable. A substance and its nature cannot be separated.

Sorrow will get destroyed only when Mind is eradicated. Mind is movement and vibration. It creates resolutions, and intentions which lead to karma, and thereafter, misery.

We must first understand what Mind is, clearly. We are being tuned, prepared for receiving that knowledge.

pratibhana..

Pratibhana is blossoming of knowledge. Other than Knowledge nothing else exists. The world is non-existent. Vedanta's teaching is that the world does not exist. We must get out of misery that is non-existent in a non-existent world.

This is only knowledge stuff. It appears as if it has the five elements and is real and physically existent. It is only your thinking, caused by ignorance.

Sadhus see only Brahma. That is why they help even a scorpion. The sadhu does not see poison or venom in the scorpion, even if it stings him, he feels it is nectar. He only sees Brahma in it. It is very beneficial to society if one can maintain such a view.

Whereas some humans search for harmless black ants and kill them.
The ignorant man sees only ignorance around him. He sees only inertness.

verse

A strange example is given here. One had a strange dream. The man in the awakened state was separated from his beloved. Then he dreamed that they met. It happened only in a dream. He felt convinced that he really met her in real life. How can that be? In his subtle form, he saw himself and his beloved (a figment of his own imagination as his dream - she had no physical existence in the dream) in the dream. When he woke up, it was realized by him that it was only a dream.

He did not really meet his beloved. He only saw her in his dream, which he thought was real, and yet, he physically experienced real physical passion towards her.

Mind has the capacity to see things as if they exist in the waking state, in the dream state.
A guru had two disciples sleeping near him.

They were learning from him that one must practice celibacy even in the dream state. Only then it is considered as practicing true celibacy. This is not a bad subject. Some people are uncomfortable speaking of it.

One of the disciples woke up from sleep and shouted that he had mastered celibacy. What he meant was that in his dream he was subjected to a situation where he could have lost his control over the vow of celibacy, but, he was able to ensure that the dream had no physical effect upon his body.

In the outside world, people restrain their sense organs. But during the dream state, they succumb to passions in a physical level. But even in a dream one must be in control of oneself. Only then, it is true victory. We must know in our mind, even in the dream, that things are not real. We must not feel or believe that what is happening in the dream is real, even while experiencing the dream. One must conquer the dream state and be alert even during a dream and know that it is an unreal experience.

verse

O Rama, Brahma is not of a physical body. He is the source from which even space has emerged from. We must experience this. Merely saying it verbally is not sufficient. He may appear as if He is assuming a body. It is your mistake that you have ascribed a body to Him. He is Himself the cause for His existence. No other cause exists for His existence. He is the root cause of all other causes.

samvit ..

Pure Consciousness, Mind, is His form. It does not arise, but appears to do so. In the incarnations of Sri Krishna, and Sri Rama, it is said: He appears as if He were born. Devaki said to her child Krishna: O Lord, you have no birth. Yet, you appear as if you have been born. In the Adhyatma Ramayana, as Swamiji tells us, Kausalya saw Sri Rama as having four arms (it is not mentioned in the Valmiki Ramayana). She prayed to Him: You are beyond birth. Yet, you appear as if you have been born.

This is a Science which we have created for our convenience. If we attribute birth to the Lord, then we give ourselves the pleasure of seeing Him as a child. We can then play with Him, sing lullabies for Him. We can watch his playful activities. We can speak fondly of His nature and adorable actions. We are ordinary people. We relish such feelings. So we imagine that He is born as a child. But it is only our make-believe creation.

One who rises must also set. God has no rising or setting. The Sun in reality does not rise or set. We see the sunrise and the sunset, because we experience them on earth. But in reality the Sun has no rising or setting in the vast sky. We look at the clock and say it is time for Sandhya Vandana (prayers offered at twilight and noon).
God ever is. He only appears as per our illusion, that He is born, when we are not seeing Him with the spiritual vision.

He exists because of Sankalpa/intention. Whose intention? Is it His intention that He should exist? Or, your intention or resolve, that He should exist? Regardless of what you may think, it is your resolve and idea that gives Him existence.

It is difficult for us to accept that we came into existence by our own intention. We think that some reason, some lineage has given us this birth in this family, in this country, in this circumstance. But actually, it is our own Sankalpa/intention that has given us this birth and situation.

Similarly, some believe that He came into being out of His intention. The truth is: you have given Him an existence. He is free from the five elements. He is of the form of the Mind. He is the cause for the existence of the three worlds.

verse

We understand that Sankalpa expands or blossoms into this Creation.

You ask a young child: What do you intend to be when you grow up? Some children specifically state that they intend to become a doctor, an engineer, a CA, a fashion designer, and so on. They actually follow their strong resolve and achieve their goals. How did he realize his goal? The strength of resolve makes things come true. It lingers in the mind and gains in strength.

As per each one's karma, this Creation takes different shapes for different individuals. This is only a creation that emerges from one's own Sankalpa/intention.

We see a hill in the mind, the moment the word is mentioned, we visualize a hill. We think 'hill' and we see a hill at once in the mind. Even in a dream we see mountains. It is not an impossible task to bring a mountain into the mind. Even when there is no hill in the vicinity, we are able to see a hill in the mind. It is a common experience. Even what is not there, will appear in the mind. It is a reflection of your thought. Your world is the way your mind is. It is not the other way around.

aativaahika ..

Our body is also only a subtle body. This physical body is an illusory body that we have brought into being. If you imagine the presence of a ghost, it will appear to exist and will trouble you. Remove it from your mind, and it will leave the body, the physical body. It will then fly away.

We have forgotten that we are only the subtle body with no physical substance. We are absorbed in the feeling that we are the physical body, and we constantly are preoccupied with its actions of seeing, sitting, talking, and so on.

We must therefore travel inward with eyes closed. Do not allow your sense organs to move outward towards the world all the time. The sense organs are designed to travel outward. We must restrain them.

Everyone has only an aativaahika sareera (a super subtle form with no physical existence whatsoever), as Brahma, from whom we have come.

One who is under the spell of a ghost refuses to go to a temple. He feels afraid.

idam ..

We have grabbed it ourselves, and got ourselves trapped in this illusory body.

Can He also forget that He is of a subtle form? No, it does not happen. Your sankalpa does not have the power to affect the lives of others.

You have visualized a hill with a forest with wild animals. But you cannot drive those wild animals towards others to really attack them.

Some people, helpless to harm others at whom they are very angry, begin to curse them in their own minds. Those curses do not bear fruit.

Brahma has no delusion, no forgetfulness, because to begin with, He has no intentions. He has no darkness. He is pure, pristine Jnana.

That initial cause from which this illusory universe has emerged is Maya, it is most subtle. It has no form. It is indescribable.

Without any darkness, this Pure Consciousness ever exists. Does light think that it is not light? You can obstruct light from your view and declare that you do not see light and it is dark all around. You may do that. That is your problem; your mistake; and your foolish action. It does not affect Brahma.

verse

He is free from the illusion that the world exists. He has no delusion. He does not perform any action. He is not subject to any illusions. He has no suffering. It does not happen like that.

Whoever is under a delusion will have to suffer. What would be the use of our seeking His refuge, if He also is subject to suffering? It would be useless.

He has no 'aadhibhoutika sareera', a physical body. The delusion of the existence of the world does not arise in Him at all. We see the unreal as real due to our ignorance.

manomaatram ..

After all of this, what is the interim conclusion? This is not the final word.

He is only Mind. He is only Knowledge. The five elements and the world constituting these, cannot exist in Him. The whole world is nothing but the Mind.

It can only be of the quality of what it has been created from.

More things will be explained to us later. What we should do, the sadhana that we have to engage in, if mind itself is the universe, we will be taught.

Now, witness the Sri Chakra Puja, while doing the chanting of the Hanuman Chaleesa.

Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta

Om Santissantissantihi