ATMA BODHA 55

“YAD-DRISHTWA- NA- APARAM- DRISYAM YAD –BHOOTVA NA- PUNAR- BHAVAH

YAD-JNATVA NA APARAM JNEYAM TAD – BRAHMETI- AVADHARAYET.

“UNDERSTAND THAT BRAHMAN ISW THAT WHEN SEEN LEAVES NOTHING MORE TO BE SEEN; HAVING BECOME ONE IS NOT BORN AGAIN IN THE WORLD AND WHEN KNOWING LEAVES  NOTHING ELSE TO BE KNOWN.”’

Brahman is the be all and end all of all Knowledge! Having attained that perfect state of tranquility, peace and perfection there is no further demand from within to gain anything else to make us more perfect. If there is any other demand in us , it means that we are imperfect and have not reached the state of the Brahman. There cannot be any other state of high experience as that Supreme- Joy. in that state all thought eruptions come to a standstill as we are no longer exist as the ugly Ego- center. It is the state of Absolute Bliss where the mind and intellect have ceased to function. It is there where Truth dazzles forth in all its essential natural Divine Beauty.

All other intellectual attempts are but the reflections of the Self on the objects. ATMA VIDYA offers the realization of KNOWLEDGE itself. All other experience and knowledge of things is conditioned and apprehended by the Eternal light illuminating the entire world of its own projections. Hence , having known this pure Awareness, nothing more remains to be known. The aspirant becomes the Eternal Being, the Subject. There is no more object other than IT for IT to illumine. The glimpse of Reality having been realized there is nothing more to be seen or understood. The Consciousness is awakened and all the misconceptions are removed. Ignorance or Avidya is totally burnt out and the seeds of bondage or vasanas are charred.

“ He who knows this living spirit, which is close at hand and which experiences the objects, as the lord of the past and the future----he fears no more.This, verily is that”. KATHOPANISHAD

“ That spirit which is awake in those that sleep, shaping desire after desire---- that is indeed the Pure, that is Brahman, that indeed is called the Immortal. In it are contained all the worlds, and no one ever goes beyond this. This, verily, is that.   KATHOPANISHAD.

 

 

ATMA BODHA 54

 

ATMA BODHA 54

“ALLABHAT –NA-APARO  LABHO YAT- SUKHAT- NA – APARAM  SUKHAM

YAT- GYANAT- NA-APARAM GYANAM TAD –BRAHMETI- AVADHARAYET.”

“THE ATTAINMENT WHICH LEAVES NOTHING MORE TO BE ATTAINED IS TO BE REALISED AS THR BRAHMAN. THE BLESSEDNESS WHICH REQUIRES NO OTHER BLESSINGTO BE DESIRED IS TO BE CONSIDERED AS BRAHMAN.  SIMILARLY, the KNOWLEDGE WHICH LEAVES NOTHING MORE TO BE KNOWN IS TO BE REALISED AS BRAHMAN.”

In the following three stanzas of ATMA BODHA, SANKARA , tries to explain the nature of SUPREME BRAHMAN by a technical process used in Vedanta to express the ABSOLUTE called “ TATASTHA  LAKSHANA.” As an example,  to identify someone’s house we may say “ That house on which the crow sits is his house.” The point here is that the crow doesn’t sit there permanently. The crow is not a part of that house. The crow differentiates the house from other houses. But the house is recognized as the building  without the crow on it. Even when the crow has flown away, the owner of the house can recognize it from all other houses. This method, according to Vedanta, is called “ TATASTHA LAKSHANA.”

Th Supreme experience  is the greatest gain, the greatest Knowledge There is no more sense of incompleteness  after gaining this state.  None shall desire to add any more gain to it. After tasting and enjoying the Bliss of the SELF none will try for a greater Bliss.  There will never be any thirst to know  anything more-----------that State of Absolute   Gain- Bliss- Knowledge is Brahman, the experience of the SELF.

Aii struggles in our mortal existence, desire for more acquisitions, and fresh joys and incessant effort for more knowledge are indicators of the sense of dissatisfaction felt by the imperfect. Imperfection is the property of one’s individuality—the ego ( jiva). When the jiva rediscovers itself to be the SELF, all its imperfections are understood as belonging to the Body- Mind-intellect.  Hence, in this condition of Spiritual rediscovery the aspirant finds that all his struggles have ended.

The realized one feels that such an endless fullness in our life, is the Supreme Goal.

“ HE CONTAINS ALL WORKS, ALL DESIRES< ALL ODOURS<, ALL DESIRES AND ALL TASTES----HE PERVADES THE WHOLE WORLD< SILENTAND UNMOVED. HE IS MY SELF WITHIN MY HEART. AND THIS IS BRAHMAN. AND WITH HIM SHALL I BE UNITED ON DEPARTING FROM HERE. HE WHO HAS THIS FAITH WILL HAVE NO MORE DOUBTS.”    (CHANDOOGYOPANISHAD)   VII (UP. III. 14 4)

 

 

ATMA BODHA 53

 

ATMA BODHA 53

UPADHI-VILAYAT-VISHNOW NIRVISESHAM VISETH MUNIHI

JALE-JALAM VIYAT-VYOMNI TEJA- STEJASI VA YATHA.”

“WHEN THE UPADHIS ARE TOTALLY DESTROYED, THECONTEMPLATIVE ONE IS COMPIETELY ABSORBED IN  “ VISHNU” THE ALL PERVADING SPIRIT, LIKE WATER INTO WATER SPACE INTO SPACE AND LIGHT INTO LIGHT.

The upadhis are responsible for the expression of one’s personality and identify with the body, mind and intellect.  There might be other limiting factors but all of them are  due to association with these “three evils.” The aspirant who wants to end this conditioned existence and discover the whole in him should withdraw his mind from the sais “Upadhis”

When he no more identifies himself with his individuality,  when the egocentric existence is destroyed, then  ‘ like water in water, space into space, and light into light he merges with the VISHNU, the All pervading. When one’s limited existence is made unlimited, he is nothing else  than the All pervading. The stains on the mirror are no longer present, are washed out and he reflection brighter and clearer.

As the “Upadhis’  and equipments are annihilated, the seeker, a man of reflection, (Manana Seelavan) experiences inner BLISS devoid of any admixture of qualitative distinction (nirviseshatvam). When the VISHNU or the All pervasive nature of one’s own Self is realized as the SELF in all one comes to remain  at one moment with HIM in eternal, everlasting joy’ losing one’s own limited’ individuality.

“ WHEN THE SEER SEES THE REDIANT CREATOR> THE LORD< THE PE#RSON WHO HAS HIS SOURCE IN THE BRAHMAN, THEN DOES HE BECOME A KNOWER AND, SHAKING OFF GOOD AND EVIL AND BECOMING FREE FROM STAIN, REACH SUPREME EQUALITY WITH THE LORD.” MUNDAKOPANISHAD  V (Up  III i)

 

ATMA BODHA 52

 

ATMA BODHA 52

“UPADHISTOPI TAD- DHARMAIHI ALIPTO  VYOMAVIT- MUNIHI

SARVAVIT-MOODHAVAT TISHTET ASAKTO-VAYUVAT-CHARET.”

“THOUGH HE LIVES INFLUENCED BY THE UPADHIS OR CONDITIONINGS ,THE CONTEMPLATIVEPERSON  IS EVER UNCONCERNED WITH ANYTHING. HE MAY MOVE ABOUT LIKE THE WIND< PERFECTLY UNATTACHED.”

SANKARA, in this stanza, describes the state of Jeevanmukta or the one who has detached himself from all the attachments of terrestrial existence. A few more qualities of such an individual are presented here. The perfect man is one who has totally renounced all his clinging attachments to the finite, transitory sense objects.It is the nature of the mind to cling to something or other. What is the compensation for the man who is capable of renouncing all mortal connections?  It is the constant BLISS in him.

But what is his position if he appears to seemingly associated with material objects? Though he appears to be outwardly aware of their existence, he is not bound by them because he is a free man now free from these upadhis. As an enlightened person he has learnt to live constantly in that knowledge and illumination. No weight of limitations can pull him down!

His conduct and behavior may change outwardly. He may move about like a child, as a drunken man or a devil but he is not really so. He exists in the greater intoxication of Godhood and in the subtler joy of Self-realisation. He may or may not serve the society. He will handle any situation without  getting  affected in the least by his actions or the results of his contact. In other words he is a “Siitha Prajna” of the highest order as the Lord explains so elaborately in the Geetha.

The sky appears to be blue and a little grey, but the sky itself is not really so. In the same way, the Jeevanmuktha in spite of his upadhis may wander about as an ordinary man in the work a day world. But he plays that role and comes out of it unattached and untainted like the wind!