** MUSINGS**
Pointers** **to spiritual progress
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SATYANARAYANA SHASTRI
EDITED by G S RADHAKRISHNAN
MUSINGS
Delivered by: Prof A. Satyanarayana Shastri
Editor: Garani S Radhakrishnan
1054, 9th main Vijaya banak Layout
Bilekahalli Bangalore 560076
Mob. 7019049063. rgarani@gmail.com
Published by: editor
First edition: 2019
Rights:. editor
Prize: for internal circulation only
Ishaavaasyam idam sarvam yatkinch jagatyaamjagat|
Tena tyaktena bhunjita maagrudhah kasyaswidhanam ||
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DEDICATED
TO
My brother
G.S.RANGARAJAN
who was an ardent follower of Shāstriji
Anekal Satyanarayana Shastri, who is popularly known as ASN was a serious practitioner in his spiritual quest to attain a no mind state and enjoy the peace that is thus established. He gave a number of pointers to interested people who were keen to develop that insight. Being a professor of Chemistry and a man of scientific temper, he would not easily accept any proposition without carefully weighing it and making sure that it fitted with the thinking of the ಪyounger generation who wanted a clear answer to any of the dogmas that are in practice. Thus he himself spent a lot of time in searching for answers from the ancient texts like veda-s, Upanishads,Yoga vasishta anad Bhagavad Geeta. He was also inspired much by the commentaries of Shri Adi Shankara. He propagated his own model which he called as a calculus model by which he explained many concepts like boredom, omkaara and other intricate aspects of Vedanta. His lecture series has already appeared in the form of a book LET GO published by Yoga Bhārati in the year 2014.
I thought that it would be appropriate to take those ‘nuggets’ from his talk and put them into a small book for rumination. Many of them are useful hints for a serious practitioner in his own spiritual quest. They have to be carefully absorbed after deep understanding. He quoted many great sages like Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj,J Krishnamurthy et al. as he had drawn inspirations from them.
These suggestions from his talks have been carefully edited keeping in mind their relevance for practice.
I have not adhered to any specific pattern and have incorporated them as one thought in one format for the reader to assimilate and use it in his or her practice.
A great writer Shri DVG has once said that a reader has to absorb the essence of any subject, like the way he or she puts a peppermint in the mouth and enjoys the sweetness by slowly merging it the saliva. Similarly these pointers have to be ruminated over and over again for a clear insight into them.
I hope the reader benefits from these pointers.
G S Radhakrishnan
Bengaluru 560076
Mob. 7019049063
There are four different types of people around us.
The person of the first type is not motivated in anyway and is always in high_ _ignorance(_tamas). _He has drawn a blind in front of his eyes and does not wish to see light at all and prefers to remain ignorant. Upanishads calls such a person as “andhena tamassavruta” surrounded by blindness of ignorance. Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Geeta advises us not try to educate such a person since he is busy with his own hard conditioning. For such a person there is unhappiness all around added to the misfortune that he has no wisdom at all. Whenever there is misery, he develops anger, hatred jealousy et al, and blames everyone for his suffering.
The person of the second group is no better, in the sense that he has a misplaced understanding and lacks wisdom too. This person is raajasic in nature because of his wealth, position, money power status etc. He thus develops an ego which turns to super ego without realizing that the ego itself is bringing destruction in his life.
The third type is the same as the first type surrounded by tamas, but has some wisdom to understand that this tamas in his life, is his own creation which has brought about suffering. He tries to change peacefully and calmly without showing too much anger and hatred. He tries to take the assistance of people around him who are wise and lovable, tries to create a bright future for himself.
Finally the person of the fourth group, similar to the one in the second group, enjoys money, power, position etc, with the realization that all these are transient and likely to change. He makes use of this wisdom to create a healthy life for people around him and for himself. He prepares the ground for his own spiritual progress. He knows full well that he cannot choose between tamas and rajas, but is confident that he can take control of any situation. This type of attitude prepares him for uplifting in his pursuit of everlasting happiness. Upanishad calls such a person _DHEERAHA, _a courageous person. Such a person turns the tool of investigation inside him, to know more about the Almighty who is within him.
Such a person who is ready to tread the path which the sages have so painstakingly laid, keeps a first step on the ladder. The pearls of wisdom that Shastriji has laid out before us is a tool for us to hold on and to climb the remaining six rungs as enumerated in the Sapta Bhoomikaas.
One should not feel desperate that he is unable to reach the top in the ladder, since it does not matter where he stands on this ladder. According the Shastriji, liberation is a gradual process and getting established in the everlasting happiness should be the goal irrespective of the position on the ladder. That itself is called MUKTI. There is no other heaven to attain.
So, our goal should be to clean our minds to a level that we are not disturbed in any type of situation of either sorrow or happiness.
G S Radhakrishnan
Let us move from darkness towards brightness,
Let us move from ignorance towards wisdom,
Let us move from death to eternity
to lead us to lasting happiness and peace.
Desire without acting is…………. …lethargy
Desire with acting is………………. Activity
No desire and acting is……………. ..Serenity
No desire and no acting is.. infinite happiness
The fool thinks” I am the body”
The intelligent man thinks “I am an individual soul united with the body”
But the wise man, in the greatness of his knowledge and spiritual discrimination sees the Self as the only reality and thinks “ I am Brahman”
–Sri Shankaracharya,—Vivekachudamani
## How to use this book
This book is a compilation of the short sadhana pointers collected from Prof. Shashtriji talks at various forums. They are meant for a serious seeker. The book contains fifty two talks to correspond to enable practice in fifty two weeks.
One has to take up one talk at a time and ponder over it for a week studying and thinking about them and trying to adopt them in the day to day life
The first two weeks should be spent in understanding the hindrances to the Sadhana and the steps one has to ascend for fulfillment of the goal.
For this endevour, study of vedanta grantha and LET GO book Will be of immense help
Make best use of the same and strive to achieve the desired result. This will be the gurudakshina that one can offer to the great teacher.
FIRST WEEK
Seven stages of ignorance
After a detailed account on the play and control of the mind, sage Vasishta explains the seven states of ignorance(sapta padam) and also the seven states of ascent to wisdom(sapta bhoomika). The first seven attempts to clearly define the path to be avoided and the next seven ascending paths to be nurtured leading one to the attainment of liberation from the shackles of life.
Before we talk in detail about the sapta padam, let me give in brief these seven descending steps of ignorance.
You all know that abidance in " Self knowledge" is liberation.
Once this is disturbed, egotism rises again, creating distraction, dullness ,bondage and suffering.
So, the delusion which veil the “self” is seven fold.
First- when the mind and the jiva or the “I” exists in the name only.
**Second-**when the notion of I and mine or this and that appear as real.
**Third-**when these are strengthened, vasanaas appear and are experienced.
**Fourth-**when the mind is filled with desires and it runs automatically after them.
Firfth-at this stage the Universe appears real.
Sixth-one starts living in the past, most of the time as though it is the present.
Seventh-This is where one gets trapped in dullness or Tamas.
When one reaches the last stage ( indulging in the seventh stage), samassara bandhana gets attached and the person thinks that he is the master and controller of the body and thinks that the worldly pleasures are meant for him. Maya prakruti overpowers him and is caught in life and death cycles.
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SECOND WEEK
sapta bhoomika
These are called jnaana bhoomikas. One has to practice stage by stage to attain self realisation.
Summarising, the seven ascending states are as follows:
First- when a pure wish or intention arises.
Second- spirit of enquiry into the truth.
Third- when the mind becomes subtle.
Fourth- mind is established in truth.
Fifth- total freedom from bondage.
Sixth- cessation of objectivity.
Seventh- beyond these- established in “self”
When one begins an inquiry as to why one is living like this, then he seeks the company of the holy men, after having cultivated dispassion and wisdom. Then, the direct observation begins where he seems to differentiate between the real and unreal. This looking inward action thins the unreal.
Subsequently, when the mind becomes transparent and subtle, non attachment to things arises.
Practicing the above three states, pursuit of pleasures drops away naturally in the next stage. Conviction in the nature of truth gets stronger leading one to rejoice in the ”self”
When this gets stabilised, doubts do not appear at all and the mind is in a thought free state. Thus, self knowledge becomes spontaneous and unbroken. One is liberated while living here itself. This is the transcendental stage.
There is another state beyond this. And that is the abandonment of the body
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THIRD WEEK
It is not that the teacher gives some magic wand and the problem of getting to salvation is resolved then and there or the teacher gives some blessing by which the solution is in sight. None of such things are quoted anywhere in _vedāntic_ texts. What does the teacher give you by way of solution? He gives you a style of logic, a line of investigation, a line of thinking by which your doubts are cleared. He gives you a fresh direction of investigation the result of which is an answer to the problem. That is what precisely _Vedānta_ does.. It is not possible to derive benefit of _Vedānta_ by listening to one lecture. By repeated introspection and clarifying the doubts that arise in the mind - by one to one dialogue - by cross questioning the teacher - sometimes not agreeing to what he says and expressing freely one’s own point of view only, one can get some leads.
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FOURTH WEEK
“That itself is ignorance if either the mind cognises several objects at a time or concentrates only on one object. If both these modes of the mind dissolve then that is the highest exalted state”
If disturbance of mind is bondage then concentration or focusing also is a bondage because in both these situations there is confinement. When these are put an end to, then, that is liberation. Our usual way of thinking is that Brahman is attainable through searching. We will be suffering otherwise till we get the right insight or understanding that tells us to totally drop searching. The searching mood should be undone. The prior state of this searching mood or the un-happening or the non occurrence of searching is Brahman. What is to be done? Learn to LET GO. Stop minding. Absence of the minding state, or the focusing state is Brahman.
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FIFTH WEEK
All variations are brought about by praana which are nothing but vibrations. But, vibrations can be different when it comes to details. Are they not all vibrations? The answer is yes. But that does not rule out the difference. Their intensity may be different. The content of energy can vary. As per the definition, if you call energy as Brahman then the least vibration(spandana) is Brahman as per our Calculus model. One cannot think of zero spandana. The softest version of spandana is Brahman.
Energy can be in a general form or in a specialised activity. Eenergy is in general form in sleep and energy has a special activity in wakefulness. Nevertheless energy has to exist. This model proposed is very easy for an Indian thinker. Whether there is God or not, if you take to the act of surrender, the whole saadhana path becomes so simple. But when it comes to creation, then problems arise and a _saadhaka _should not worry about tackling the universe and creation. That is how parampara puts it.
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SIXTH WEEK
Agitation or suffering is speed.
It is our experience that an agitated person instead of walking will almost be running. Speed at one point is a speed revealed everywhere. If one is fast inside and is chewing, it can be fast chewing. If one is swallowing, it is fast swallowing. Hence, the solution is, wherever there is fastness, replace it by slowness. Speed felt at one centre is revealed at all centers. Speed corrected at one centre, purifies all other centers. When you have this knowledge, - walk slowly - talk slowly - think slowly. Even, try to get angry slowly, Then, it is no anger at all! Softness brought at one centre induces softness at other centers like the thinking centre, the walk centre, the talk centre and the respiratory centre. Try to apply slowness and see the difference.. Comfort sets in immediately. So, a subtler version of suffering is focusing.
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SEVENTH WEEK
When you are not in a suffering state, you are expansive, unloaded, diffused, very light, and non-dense and hence you are in a state of all-pervasiveness But when you are in a moment of suffering, you are sacrificing your expansive nature and coming to a pinpoint. In the language of a Physicist – you are in a **CONING **phase - tending towards the cone.
Since you are a burdened person, your mind acquires the highest density because it has limited volume - That is why you feel the load on you.
Focusing, pinpointedness, concentration, coning, etc. all result in untold suffering whereas diffusion or expansive state of mind gives you happiness or deliverance from suffering. Therefore drop burdensome/tiresome focusing and concentration and adopt a** Let go** attitude as far as possible. This is called, attitude of indifference (udaaseena bhaawa).
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EIGHTH WEEK
If disturbance of mind is bondage then concentration or focusing also is a bondage. When these are put an end to, then that is liberation.
Suffering is either an agitated state of mind or a focused state of mind. If agitation is replaced by slowing down by leisureliness/relaxed approach, gradually and consciously, it will result in less and less of suffering. Whenever focusing becomes burdensome, replace the same by de-focusing or diffusion, or ‘let go’ attitude. The result will be elimination of suffering. More you diffuse, more will be the expansion of your shell.
Replace SPEED_ _by slowness and FOCUSSING by expansion.
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NINTH WEEK
Psychological transactions are not just governed by the law of stimulus and response. A new factor comes into the study and it is the** freedom** element. You have a choice, you have a freedom, and you have an option. It is not deterministic. Till now, you never thought so. In fact this is the ignorance on the part of man. Everyone thinks that the situations are so demanding that they drive one to suffering. Although one knows the answer, still it cannot be applied. This is a very valid objection.
The Sage says that the mind is a very peculiar thing and it has this capacity of an inherent freedom to do, not to do or to do anything differently.
For example, one can be harsh to one’s parents or one can be soft, thinking that they deserve his respects since they are elders. Alternatively, one can be neither harsh nor soft and can be neutral.
I can put this one argument into the textual language. This freedom of choice can be applied even with regard to my three natural phases of existence namely, perceiving, selecting and acting. I could use these qualities or I could be without them.
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TENTH WEEK
Analysis of happiness:
It is the general notion that happiness is positive and comes from: Objects of enjoyment-(1)Enjoyment derived through the five senses – sense of vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch. (2)Social Service –serving the poor, disabled, economically challenged etc. It may be any activity – either trivial or profound like: Job satisfaction, excellence in one’s profession or achieving name and fame in society.
The experience of almost all of us, especially the persons who are internally sensitive, is that there is saturation in every kind of worldly happiness. Everything becomes stale at some point of time or the other. Hence, the search for everlasting happiness becomes necessary. Here comes Vedānta to our rescue and asks us to investigate any moment of happiness, content wise and not agency wise.
Sip a cup of coffee or tea or listen to music of your choice or taste a sweet dish, etc., and see what happens at the thinking centre. . Bulk of the mind does not exist during that moment. The mind cannot think of any problems, the mind refuses to think, the mind doesn’t want to think. You are in your no-mind state. You are in your thought-free state which is your real/true state. When you do not perceive anything, when you are not hearing anything, when you are not in the knowledge of anything, that is your expansive state.
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ELEVENTH WEEK
GROWTH
Fortunately for man, as quickly as the energy is produced,it is being expended. The child cries away its energy. The fool talks away his energy. Man walks away his energy. A clever man thinks away his energy and therefore each one is comfortable. The subtlest burden is the pressure of boredom forces. He is spending this blocked up energy in ever so many ways that the system gets used to it and therefore he is comfortable whereas he gives credit to activity, saying that activity gave him joy. Spending of the energy is the only means by which one is becoming empty at the mind centre. This mechanism is giving him joy.
When you enjoy the ice-cream, ice-cream did not carry the element of joy. Ice cream gave you joy by shifting the energy from boredom centre, which is our thinking centre (space between the two eyebrows), down to the tongue centre, thereby creating an emptiness at the thinking centre resulting in joy. It was nothing but an agent to divert the bothering energy from mind centre down to the concerned centre or the involved centre.
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TWELFTH WEEK
If you can reduce the creation of energy itself or its release by constant_ practice, then the dependence on objects of enjoyment _gets dropped and you are in lasting happiness. Then, you can naturally expand your shell. In a small sphere, the amount of thrust or the impulse on the unit area is more. Suppose the sphere is very big, the same thrust or impulse on a much bigger sphere is much smaller. Distributed over a larger area, you don’t feel the burden at all. So, if you apply the rule of slowing down or apply the principle of expansion, then the boredom forces are automatically absorbed or dissolved away and you don’t complain. This is a permanent method to be happy.
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THIRTEENTH WEEK
PATH OF YOGA
The path of yoga is the path of action. Yoga, is to make the mind quiet, to soften the mind or to mellow the mind. One can achieve this by effective practice and_ non-attachment.** **_
There is no doubt that the mind is very unsteady, very fickle and it is very difficult to subdue it. Mind can be subdued by constant tutoring. Practice is actually taming the forces. Renunciation born out of thinking/assessment deepens the practice
For example, when you are going on a walk, you walk fast and are ahead of your wife and your wife asks you to walk slowly and you immediately start walking slowly. How did you change from walking fast to walking slow? Yoga method is naturally available in the system. Manipulations are possible. You can vary the rate of the forces inside. A doctor comes to you and wants to examine the chest for inflammation. He puts the stethoscope and asks you to take deep breath. How did you vary your breathing? You did that under the instruction from a doctor. This is a facility available at all functional centers of the human system.
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FOURTEENTH WEEK
.PATH OF KNOWLEDGE
Whatever wrong notions we have, about the nature of happiness and about our own nature, we correct them with the right ideas. This is the safest method and is most productive. A sick person can do that, a paralytic patient can do that, a woman with a child can do that, a suckling mother can do that, a boy can do that because there is no toil in this process and there is no struggle. By simple suggestions, one can counter suffering. By correct counseling, by auto-suggestions, one can achieve the desired results. Therefore it is the easiest, safest and most productive. When the mind slips into disturbance, advise the mind to become quiet. You can do that when you are in a train; you can do that when you are driving, you can do that when you are in the office. When you get a stroke of annoyance, tell yourself that annoyance is not necessary and is not your true nature.
Our system is equipped with these two tools. By a long practice of suggestion, one removes the forces inside and by applying the principle of LET GO, one is able to conquer the mind**.. Whenever there is pressure in the form of speed, suggest to slowdown. Whenever there is increased focusing, suggest the system to undo **the pressure. If you are comfortable with the speed in your profession, continue the same as long it is not burdensome to you.
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FIFTEENTH WEEK
If one sits for meditation for long periods, pressure builds up at the mind centre and one feels like getting up. In fact, if a fresher sits for meditation, in two minutes he wants to get up and be done with it. That goes to prove that even two minutes of meditation is not possible. One may even end up getting a headache. Similarly applying yoga by slowing down the breath is also not easily possible.
That is why people like us should not try these methods unless we are under the guidance of a teacher. For most of us these methods work only in a limited way. Then how can we proceed? Is there no method for us?
When we come to the aspect of practice, eradication of gathered traits starts taking place in us, but progress cannot be achieved. Every one of us, including a saint who has given up worldly activities, has to undertake a continuous process of eradicating the conditioning of the mind. For different people, stationed at various levels of progress, the teacher can only give the methodology. The student has to take up his own assessment as to where he stands in the path through extrapolation
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SIXTEENTH WEEK
We all have a large stock of load or burden of ingrained habits that has accumulated over a long period and it is not easy for us to get a relaxed state unless we dissolve all forces like greed, anger, attachment, miserliness, jealousy and self-pride. Since one overrides the other it is almost impossible for us to get away from them. Every time we make some progress, we seem to get back to the starting point. Unless serious efforts are put to contain these forces, it is not possible to get a relaxed state of mind.
Do not bother about how long it should be done. You should reach a stage where, even the questioning attitude should collapse, indifferent attitude has to set in. Questioning is a severe state of mind. Searching is an energized state. By solving the question, the energy does not vanish. Only by dropping the question itself, the energy tones down. We have to develop an attitude of let go of things to start from scratch.
Don’t apply this law for the body problems like stomachache, headache, pain due to an injection etc. Most of our sufferings are psychological. The freedom that is referred is at the mental level, not at the body level. One should not make a mistake here. I agree with you that, the first stroke of anger cannot be controlled. But, with gradual and repeated application of this knowledge, one gets the desired results. It may take months, years, and for some people never in this life. It all depends on one’s state of mind and stock of gathered tendencies/traits.
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SEVENTEENTH WEEK
Our ancient Rishis devised many simple methods to be adopted during our own life-cycle to weed out the habits which are deep rooted in us. They made it mandatory for everyone to take up these programmes as a matter of discipline. They went to the extent of saying that these are ordained and not questionable. Hence they incorporated daily rituals like worship and meditation. The methods like performing rituals and offerings to God, creating many gods to suit every type of person and giving one the freedom to choose. These are all meant for mellowing the mind.
The peace got during the prayer hours should percolate to the other hours also. Otherwise it has no meaning**. Shankara’s position is very clear that all religious practices are meant for purification of mind and nothing more. **
When you are unable to sit peacefully, get into an activity like religious activity, pious activity, neutral activity, mechanical activity or any passive activity. Do not try to sit quiet, since _meditation _will not happen forcibly. Engage yourself in activities which fulfill the condition suggested here. Selfishness, hurry or dislike does not come to the mind. So, the mind centre gets purified and at the same time energy is spent away and emptiness sets in. The required gain is there because boredom forces are spent away in this way. That means, the levels of speed and focusing come down and you have an exponential expansion. Your expansive state of mind is automatically got.
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EIGHTEENTH WEEK
CHANTING OF HOLY NAME
When you come down to the sound aspect, the same principle has to work that the bothering energy must be spent away and during that process mind is not to get excited. The prescription given under this centre is called continuous repetition of God’s name or a Mantra or a chosen word introduced at this centre
This is the one tool that every teacher recommends. Every religious school does prescribe chanting. The internal process involved is expending the bothering energy thereby resulting in the mind becoming calm. The teacher would ask the disciple to have a name as tool during meditation practice. The reason for prescribing this was that it would make meditation easy. Incidentally the recitation process drew all the excess energy creating relaxation.
This is an activity at the throat centre where sounds originate and this results in spending away most of the energy. This is at a place lower to the mind centre. Much of the prāṇic energy that is coming to the mind centre is spent away at the throat centre itself. Thus, less energy reaches the_ _mind centre resulting in expansion. That is all the science involved. There is no religious dogma here but all religions have incorporated this part of science.
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NINETEENTH WEEK
How does one know which method is good for him? One has to decide for himself. For example I spend most of the time in solitude. Someone else may spend his time in work. You have to be careful not to get succumbed to sleep. You have to be alert and wakeful. Ultimately a sādhakā has to tread the path which suits his nature.
That is one good yardstick. The other test is to check whether peace and happiness have increased or not. If you are doing your neutral work, energy expenditure takes place and you are happy. But, is it also giving you progress in sādhana is an important point you have to test. The test is, when you sit quiet, you must be more comfortable and not pressured. Then the sādhanā-s are working. Ultimate test is – one should be comfortable without any prop what so ever. This is a very delicate question one should examine and the good point is - you should err on the safer side. Therefore, be active, instead of prematurely sitting and getting in to inertia/inactivity even without your knowledge.
For some people, even the action like chanting is not sufficient for expenditure of large amounts of energy. For them, still a courser activity is required for spending the stock of energy. Such persons have to take up the action of shodasha pooja etc. This would give him a step to go to softer states.
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TWENTIETH WEEK
Please note that any mechanical activity, like sweeping the floor can be turned into Yoga when you cannot sit for mediation due to inner pressure. Everyone, including me becomes helpless at certain times and the point is to ignore the helplessness and proceed with sādhana. The rush for things has to go. Vegetable cutting does not require brains. One has to have some work to spend the energy- that is all the purpose of any method of sādhana. So, take up work in the house which does not excite you. Irrespective of the nature of the work involved your attention should be on the result. ( result meaning a no mind state/ amanee bhawa)
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TWENTY FIRST WEEK’
** PATH OF SELFLESS ACTION **
If you say you have no time for doing any of the above mentioned sādhanā-s, since your profession takes away much of the time, there is an alternative method for such situations. For such persons path of action is the remedy.
The path of action without attachment is an excellent prescription, we can adopt in our life. Although it is not as easy as it is said, we can certainly make effort in this direction and improve our lives.
The second prescription is to work without ruminating on the result. If one is unable to leave the benefit from the action,. he can try to leave the excitement and attachment associated with action.
The third prescription is the attribute of surrender to Almighty. Just accept that you are only a proxy and the result that you get out of the work done is taken care of by HIM and you are only his obedient servant. This relationship with the Almighty, when tagged on to the work you do, gives you an expansive state.
The fourth prescription is to turn every action as a means of offering to the Lord wherein the indulgence is replaced by moderation in action.
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TWENTY SECOND WEEK
An idiot’s suffering is due to pulls and pressures. The superior or sensitive man’s suffering is because of imagined idealism.
Normal people who are nobler in their values and notions, suffer by the guilt-sense of either not doing a good act or acting against their own self-imposed values. . A policeman in them always sits on judgment in their every act, whereas a realized man is not touched by any of these oscillations. He takes even indulgence as_ _meditation. Recognizing the stock of conditioning that he still has, he involves a means to expend the bothering forces. .
Apply leisureliness in all your acts and thus convert every act of a sacrifice. All your conditionings get burnt away or melted away, not to return again to bother you. One should cultivate the habit of making the observer in him to slow down. When the activities are slowed down even the observer who is the mischief maker also mellows down. Mellowing process covers the observer also However, killing the observer is a tough method like felling a tree. One has to cut the branches first before cutting the root.
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TWENTY THIRD WEEK
Attachment to gathered conditionings is bondage. De-conditioning/cleansing the mind is liberation. Having reduced the pulls towards ingrained habits to achieve the goal, even the desire to get liberated should be dropped. The mind has to be a clean slate.. That’s why, our sages at one stage advised to give up non-righteousness and hold on to righteousness in order to be more serious in practice, In the next stage they advised one to even drop both righteousness and non righteousness, truth as well as un-truth and having relinquished both to give up even the desire to drop.
By adopting casual approach, things can go on at the periphery of a shell and you can be free from the problem of getting into a shell. That’s a matter of cultivation. If you cultivate this, then let go happens automatically. If any problem comes, take the stand. **‘So what’. **When you take that stand you become diffused at once. In that background you can still focus. That will be productive, but not taxing. It is not taxing because you are in a big shell. It can take any amount of shock, any amount of energy inside that shell.
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TWENTY FOURTH WEEK
**LOVE AND DEVOTION **
_LOVE _is a very soft state of mind compared to our several other states of mind. This is called - an inch removed from the peaceful state or the state of Self. In contrast with violent states like anger, jealousy, etc., this is a very soft state. That is why tradition calls it near to peaceful state. If a sādhaka were to stay in this soft state for longer duration, he will gently slip into no-mind state which is the goal of every person.
Love is a natural state in every one of us**.** It_ _goes with sacrifice and they are inseparable constituents**.** Love and sacrifice go together. If we can get it in amplified form then it becomes _a _heightened state of devotion. This is called divine love/worship. Whatever softness we try to achieve over years of penanace, can be got in ten minutes through this method.
While taming of mind being so difficult, one stroke of _love _can put you into soft state. Both the comforter and the comforted are in a diffused state of mind.
While love goes with sacrifice, _Devotion _goes with reverence, submission and surrender.
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TWENTY FIFITH WEEK
In_ _surrendering attitude, ego is dropped.. You are surrendering to HIM without any scheming or planning. Me and mine are both gone. Quietening of mind happens instantaneously. Even a hard core scientific person becomes soft in this mood. Whenever you touch the feet of an elder person you get into that soft state. This is the beauty of devotion. Bliss state happens for a saint by indifference. For a devotee, the same thing happens by a simple surrender. Both of them reach that state which is the abode of peace.
After years of training when endless silence sets in, this also will crumble down. Forgiving becomes natural and one does not have any enemies in the world. Fault finding stops for such a person.
The surrender is one of the tools to empty the mind because one completely negates one’s role. In the process, reduces his ego to such a level that the mind becomes empty, thus putting one in peace. But this also is not an easy method. It requires a **lot of courage and conviction **to do this. The immense faith in the Almighty that he would solve the problem, cannot come all of a sudden.
But the one good thing is that ego is almost killed in this process very fast. In other methods, we are taming the forces by bringing down focussing and speed. This also is time-dependant, as de- conditioning is not instantaneous.
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TWENTY SIXTH WEEK
You should know that there are two ‘I’s. One is the thinking ‘I’ and the other is an emotionally caught ‘I’ or the focusing ‘I’. Vega and focusing are the burdens of attentive’ I’. When the attentive ‘I’ goes, what is the residue? In what form can this ‘I’ stay? This is the last attribute of the ‘I", the thinking ‘I’.
Show me an ‘I’ beyond that. I-ness is not vanity. It means that I am a doer. The doer at the thought centre is the thinker. Thinker or the thinking is the last quality/trait of the vulnerable ‘I’ or the suffering ‘I’. When that goes where is the ‘I’? It is an expansion. In the_ act of _surrender, you surrender yourself. That means you surrender thinking or the thinking ‘I’. In other methods you kill the ‘I’ by not doing, not thinking, and not getting excited and this is a matter of time and effort.
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TWENTY SEVENTH WEEK
We are structurally looking outside. Man is so constructed that all his sense organs go outward. He goes out to see, to talk, and to enjoy. Naturally, therefore, he does not look inside at all. Once in a way in a century, a hero is born. who turns the tool of investigation viz, intellect inside, prompted by the desire for immortality, just to get to that state where the fear of death vanishes. Vedanta in short gives us a method of investigation to turn inside. Once you adopt that, you discover everything. You do not have to wait for the teacher. Under the revised resetting, the inward journey starts and you discover many regions, hitherto unknown, but revealed in the texts of Upanishads
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TWENTY EIGHTH WEEK
When you sit for meditation, you can see a movement inside which is an activity. This can be seen only through experience of praana in a subtle way This is a necessary prerequisite to grasp a thing. It may be a picture or an idea or a concept etc. This is called point creation. It may be a tree –. The intellect, which is otherwise in the form of prāṇa or movement, comes to an attention position. So, Brahman is not unknown to you. Everybody is experiencing the state of Brahman every now and then without realizing it.
Self, therefore, is also just the mere knowing power. Prior to knowing, whatever we are is the Svarūpa. Jñāna is the mere state of knowingness. By degenerative process, the knowing becomes the known. That is, Jñāna which is mere knowing becomes jñēya –** **the known. Mere knowingness is also termed as chit. Cit, which is just the knowing state, has become Chētya, the known by the degenerative process of focusing which is creation. This is how we cognize the world. The in-between process or stage of Chit and Chētya is beautifully recognized by Yōgavāsiṣṭha as cētyōnmukhata –or vēdanōnmukhata -– is knowing which is mere knowingness, in the process of becoming known. That is Knowing is in the process of cognition or crystallisation of thought. Cētyōnmukhata(the innate tendency to know,to enjoy,or to do_)_is an intermediate state where crystalisation has not materialized into action. This is a burdensome state.
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TWENTY NINTH WEEK
Whether the toiling phase of knowing, doing and enjoying, is it your true nature or acquired nature? If it is true nature, nothing can help you to get rid of that. If it is of the nature of coming and going, then it is droppable.
Are focusing and speed our natural states or borrowed states?
_Āgantuka** dharma is the acquired trait and as such one can drop it. Svabhāva **_dharma is one’s natural trait and thus cannot be dropped. So there is no prospect of riddance or moksha from such natural traits. If one is able to understand this aspect, how can one suffer? This is a very small but an important examination that can lead one to come out of sorrow. This is an excellent tool to set right one’s values. If one can do the focusing slowly, then it is not a burden. So one can adopt this method and still be in the happy state. Vedanta is so liberal and does not impose restrictions.
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THIRTIETH WEEK
Bondage is really the subjugation caused by the vāsanas, embedded longing or craving. Liberation is absence of vāsanaas. Drop all vāsanaas and also the desire for liberation
The ultimate happiness is not dependent on the object that one gives into. No man can be eternally happy unless he softens or rejects the forces that are pushing him to the objects. If one doesn’t know this truth, he will be struggling at the mundane level itself.
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THITY FIRST WEEK
Most of the time, we are in the state of focusing. As a result of this, the jagat, (the world), is revealed to us as an outside world and dream state as an inside world. Outside world is experienced due to cognition or perception of external objects. Inside world is perceived or created in your dream. It is not possible for us to alter the outside world by our volition. This is a world which is independent of my conceiving it. It exists independently. It is not my creation. Whereas, the world inside, is my creation. I can create whatever I want. I am conceiving a world inside whereas I am cognising a world outside. It is important to note this difference.
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THIRTY SECOND WEEK
What are we inside? We are chinmātra. Chit can project a universe. Chit which is the predisposition or the pre stuff becomes Chētya, the world of objects, thoughts, etc through the process of cognition or focussing. What is the ultimate state? We have to infer this by only argument - nēti nēti - not this, not this etc. Otherwise, how can nothingness produce something? Therefore, by inference you say that, there is some sattā . Sattaa is our svaroopa. When objects, sounds and details are withdrawn, whatever remains is called svaroopa sattaa. Any picture is a collection of points of infinite nature. This is the process by which a picture is created. Chit or Samvit will shrink itself into a point. It localises into a point. Hundreds of such points placed in orderly position, gives you a picture of a river, a house, a tree etc. So this sattaa is the predisposition. This is about creation. But localisation is a burden.
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THIRTY THIRD WEEK
How so ever comfortable you think it is, capturing details is a burden which is called alpatva sveekaara in shaastra. So a stretched state or a spread state is aananda or happiness. Sometimes I will be in confined state and some other time I will be in a spread state. But, I will be complaining about the confined state. The remedy is simple. Get back to spread state or a state of vistaarata where speed and focusing are replaced by slowness and expansion. That is, from burdened state to unburdened state or expanded state, by let go - Retrace from Chetya to Chit or from Samvedya to Samvit. Is this not the ultimate state? Is this not the Brahmic state?
The withdrawing is not just taking one step backwards. the pre state of thought formation is Chit or Samvit. Most of the people stop at samvit. This samvit is only one phase of retracing. Further up in the ladder of nothingness is Sattaa. Sattaa saamaanya is the next phase and if you go still further, it is immeasurable state called sattaa saamaanya kōti (Samvedya gets purified into samvit - then to sattaa - then to sattaa-samanya - ultimately to sattaa-saamaanya koti.
In that plane, existent matter gets dissolved and there is no trace of distinction. The person attaining that state is not born again in the world of sorrow.
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THIRTY FOURTH WEEK
What is the difference between Nidra and Samaadhi?
In Nidra, vyaapaara or activity has not gone. Specific vyaapaara like talking, seeing etc. only has gone. Indriya vyaaparaas are eliminated. But the general vyaapaara is there.
This general vyaapaara, meaning praana spandana, has absorbed all the special vyaapaaras into its womb. You now know what your pure consciousness is. Without shaping into a shabda form or a roopa form, you are in your swaroopa at this point of space. If you just contemplate on that, you get a feel of that empty state of yours. That is why sadhakaas are asked to go near a sea, where there are no objects. You sit before the sea and your emptiness becomes familiar to you. The emptiness gets emphasized. It gets predominant, as you are in pure consciousness there. If your culturing is good enough, avoid pictures and sounds at that place. Then you are jnaana swaroopa or aatma swaroopa only.
. It is a progressive ascent every day. In critical situations and reacting situations, a Jnaani remains utterly calm and balanced. He does not react. That is the growth one has to undergo in saadhana. This is the test, both for you and for others.
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THIRTY FIFTH WEEK
Simply saying that we get caught in the wheel of samsaarachakra, looks absurd. What is the remedy? Mind in the active phase is duhkha because it is nothing but movement. Movement is what we are complaining of. You are under pressure when you are resting. The reason is your entire activity is localized.. Please note that you are not really quiet when you are sitting. If you were quiet, when you sit on a chair,. such a sitting would be wonderful. There is no chitta vyaapaara. The sounds and pictures have vanished. There is only a mere focusing. Even this is a burdened state!
Now, how do you justify that activity is duhkha? You were more burdened when you sat. Pressure that developed when you sat quiet, is the horrible activity inside compared to the state when you were mobile. In a small shell you are trapping these forces which build up pressure which is movement of the mind. The prana that is sarvavyaapi gets into a constricted mode in the area of ajnachakra and thus focusing starts.
So these three aspects. shabda, drushya, bhāvanārūpa constitute the mind. Boredom is unspecified movement of mind. Thinking posture is itself a state of minding which is ending in a thought. Every attention or thinking or minding or seeing or an action starts from Ajnaachakra.
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THIRTY SIXTH WEEK
Any suggestion to achieve the spandanaless state itself creates a spandana - even that is mind in a controlled state. If anyone asks whether one spandana can kill another spandana, the answer is, yes. It is the experience of a saadhaka that by vichaara or counseling he calms down the mind. And the counselor is the mind only. So, mind is capable of calming or killing mind. It is just like removing one thorn by another. We ourselves would have experienced this on any number of occasions.
Duhkha by itself is a spandana or a movement. One has to sit calmly and reduce the mind to a spandana rahita state. But the one that is responsible for this spandana rahita state is also a spandana. It comes in the form of sound. That is also manas.. When we say that we should have no hurry at all, the hurry element disappears in the mind. But the suggestion lingers on. Even this suggestion should be dropped.
When I say that I have to sit quiet, then I should also give up the sankalpa that I should sit quiet. Otherwise that itself becomes a burden. It is not possible to come out of the difficulty otherwise.
Even the notion that you should give up something has to be dispensed with.
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THIRTY SEVENTH WEEK
Zero avidya is liberation - that is mukti. - A slip or tilt from that state or a fall from that is ahantvavēdanam. To me ahantva (which is Mahat-Tatva) is a state where I cannot say that I am in a particular place. I can only say that I am here (Shastriji pointing to his head) as I am thinking here. My prana is working in this region of space. That is the first symptom of localisation.
Vishaalata or expansiveness of mine has been now turned into minding. This means, localisation has set in. Minding can be done at any point.This is ahantvavēdanam.
This is the last subtlety in the sadhana. Mind has this dosha of a tendency to know and hence indulges in watching. When watching stops it is svaroopa.
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THIRTY EIGHTH WEEK
The state of mind in between two modifications is recognised as svaroopa sthiti. It is the state of absence of thoughts or absence of desires. Let us say you have invited one picture. Then you are inviting another picture. Between the two what was the mind? After the elimination of one picture and before the arrival of the next picture what were you? That is Swaroopa or Self. Between one thought and another thought there is a silent gap. You do the inquiry there. That gap is Swaroopa.
The transition point or kumbhana after inhalation and before exhalation or kumbhana after exhalation and before inhalation is Svaroopa.
It is difficult to catch this state because thoughts are coming very fast to fill the gap. When slowness sets in, one can be in the gap which is Brahman., If the crystallizing or grosification of thought is discouraged or undone, then you are in Brahman. It is the pre state of mind. It is aananda because there is no toiling there..There is no picking of details.
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THIRTY NINTH WEEK
Take the case of a ’Top’. It rotates against an axis. Earth’s motion around the sun is displacement, but the axial motion of the earth is not visible. Similarly the forces of the mind are like that. Jaadya is the characteristic of jagat and not of Brahman. That means in jagat, there is a movement in the form of praana. There is a movement in the world which is not visible to the naked eye. That is called tamas or jaadya which is a held up spandana. Whereas, in swaroopa there are no vibrations, neither forces of motion as in rajas nor held up forces like in tamas. A sadhaka has to note and recognize this point. That is, softening of pranic vibrations should take place resulting in emptying of chitta. With this development the confinement should go. Our sadhana should be to defocus and merge in the expanse. Then all possible types of activities are eliminated. Does it mean that we should just vegetate? No there is a world of difference. Matter has a more horrible state of existence than mind. Mind has some capability to move back and forth and is not totally caught as matter. It is the mid state. It is not utterly helpless either. But, it is still not released from bondage like that of svaroopa. Chitta which has the quality of expansion is sliding towards coning resulting in confinement. From the view point of saadhana we have to see these two which are compliment to each other. Since we are always in the need to know, there is a confinement which is getting us into a focal point. That is the difficulty of the mind.
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FORTIETH WEEK
A more freedom carrying Self has tagged on with a less freedom carrying element that is the body. Body is made up of matter. There is static motion which does not carry the element of displacement. It is taamasic in nature. .Scientifically taken, there is hectic activity in our body cells which is nothing but pranic vibrations which are confined and there is no displacement. The more freedom carrying element in us is my mental plane and the plane of praana. When compared to svaroopa this is a coarser, fallen level as I have entered minding phase.
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The movement of prana is purely linear with just up and down movement in the prana sharira.
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With a certain degree of chittashuddhi the feeling of linear movement of praana will be replaced with the feeling of spreadness or a wider coverage.
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That is, when praana comes to manastatva it looses its confinement and gets diffused and spread.
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The activity in chitta is not linear. It is everywhere. My coverage or existence in chitta is everywhere. So, the praana of chitta is more superior to praana of praana.
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The praana of Mahattatwa is still diffused.
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When you touch Avyaakruta it is much more diffused.
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But when you touch SWAROOPA the diffusion is so much that it is not even aware of the praana movement.
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FORTY FIRST WEEK
According to me, twenty four months of study of shaastra may be necessary to get a fair grip of the subject matter of Vedanta.
However even for a small reduction of vaasanaas or get a favorable control of the mind, it takes twenty four years of constant practice of reducing speed and focussing which are the main bottlenecks in our pursuit of happiness.
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FORTY SECOND WEEK
Just as you use a thorn to remove another thorn stuck in your foot and then dispose off both of them as soon as the act over, use the mind to go beyond the mind and settle down to a peaceful state. Then drop the correcting mind also. The correcting mind helps the oscillating(chanchala) mind to settle down. You have to use the tool of nigraha and vairagya for this and drop both the tools once you are steady in your practice.
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FORTY THIRD WEEK
My take on the social service is very simple. How can you improve the world by resorting to service. One can at best help another person since your energy and time is limited to this much only. Each individual has his own state of development and this is the main obstacle in reforming any one by suitable help. Such help also works only to a limited extent since the conditioning of the mind is so heavy that it refuses to accept changes. So it is better to allow each person to improve himself or otherwise and concentrate on self development which should be the main goal of any practitioner in his spiritual quest.
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FORTY FOURTH WEEK
When we solve a problem, we feel relieved. We think that that the relief we got was because of the solution. But I feel that the dropping of the effort itself is the cause of the solution. Even without finding a solution, there is relief in deep sleep mainly because the effort to find a solution is itself dropped. Sleep is involuntary. So, unless you let go the effort of finding a solution in your wakeful hours, you do not get the peace you are yearning for.
If sleep is such a wonderful state, why do we wake up from sleep every day? Since we get tired by even ten minutes of physical work, we try to stop the activity. Similarly even ten minutes of mental work exhausts you and you try to switch to sleep. This is because of the pressure builds up within us very quickly, where as when we are in sleep, it takes a long time for us to build up the same pressure, even couple of hours sometimes. Nevertheless pressure is built up on both the cases. This is the reason we come out of sleep.
The possible explanation can be as follows. The pressure built up by praana during sleep( the ( ie. forces of tamas) makes us to get up from sleep so that praana takes up the activity phase(ie forces of rajas).
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FORTY FIFTH WEEK
What is the use of Gayatri Japa?
IT helps in restraining the outgoing mind through repetition of a mantra.
Why should one restrain the mind?
Bhoga sukha that is derived by going after likes and dislikes gives only momentary joy. Hence, if one controls the mind by japa, one can enjoy a long stretch of joy. If one is able to completely quieten the mind, then there is a complete joy. We unnecessarily cognise things and suffer from the likes and dislikes. This has to be corrected. So japa of any kind gives us the opportunity to get out of the distracting mind and keep the mind in a quietened state.
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FORTY SIXTH WEEK
When your nasal orifice is small, you have to breathe slowly so that the passage can easily accommodate the air coming in. When you are deeply interested in the cognition mode, you require more airflow into the lungs through the narrow opening, with the result you get choked and suffer. Similarly when you have a heart problem you have to relax the entire system and you have to be always aware of being in the relaxed state. You should not be afraid and get tensed up. The heart is unable to produce more energy at that point.
Once you know that you are not the body, you are not the thoughts, you are not the feelings, then you automatically live light in the body. So, nothing bothers you at that stage and you can even reach a situation that you will not be afraid of death.
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FORTY SEVENTH WEEK
To give you an idea how you can call yourself as Brahman,you have to go to the dream state of yours. Dream becomes the creating phase in you. It creates so many things which are impossible in the wakeful state. It is the Brahman component that creates all such images. Suppose you imagine a coconut tree while you are awake and have closed your eyes, then your consciousness has taken the shape of the coconut tree. If you want to know a thing, you have o become that thing. So, the imaginary tree that you are seeing is made up of the consciousness. It is also matter, but a very subtle matter.
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FORTY EIGHTH WEEK
An ordinary person or a common man normally cannot sit quiet without doing anything since he keeps thinking that he is wasting his precious time. It never occurs to him that the quiet moment is a zone of peace which is happiness and he is enjoying peace within. Because of this, he disturbs the peace he is enjoying(which is already there) by indulging in external movements.
An ordinary man thinks that he gets happiness only from the enjoyments of objects of the world. That gives him the relaxation only for a short period of time from these enjoyments. This is due to the fact the senses shifted the energy from awareness of thought to the sensory organs like the tongue, eyes, ears, touch and taste. By this, the thought centre felt a happy feeling as the relaxation was felt at that point. Thus he repeats the bhoga engagement again and again to get that necessary joy which is for a moment a happy state.
A person who is involved in Shubha karma like doing pooja, chanting a holy name, singing of Bhajans etc also gets the moments of sukha due to the energy shifting from the thought centre to the unexciting activities like the japa, pooja etc. This helps in the purifications of mind.
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FORTY NINTH WEEK
If one has to mellow down the thoughts, the hurry element in his life has to be cut down. While doing shubha karma, one need not finish pooja fast, do sandhya fast or run to the temple to finish the darshan. Unfortunately urgency in every thing has become our nature. We are not introduced to the concept of slowness at all with the result we do not get to know what is peace. So the first step is to recognise this urgency while doing various activities of life.
The properties of deep sleep are:
One does not recognise the outside activity or the inside stuff like dream, thoughts emotions etc
One does not have any likes and dislikes since he is free from both of them.
It may not be possible to drop activities suddenly. Hence one has to slowly drop them one by one like reading news paper, magazines, watching TV, doing unwanted odd jobs and remain quiet in these times.
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FIFTIETH WEEK
A person who knows that spirituality takes him to happiness, continues to do his normal work side by side keeping his mental equilibrium. In doing so, he is constantly aware that he should avoid speed and focusing to derive the unbroken happiness. For him Karma becomes karmayoga. For such a person, not performing the usual rituals like pooja or yajna does not affect his mental make up. Things like guilt does not came in the way.
But for a common man, even if he is involved in devotional work, the fatigue involved in the work makes him curse the work, although he is involved in karma kaanda rituals.
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FIFTY FIRST WEEK
A person sitting besides a lake full of clear water does not look for a bottle of clean water. Similarly, one who is enjoying brahma ananada does not bother about vishaya ananada born out of bhoga sukha. Even when he involved in the worldly duties, he is peaceful inside. An ajnaani loses his peace by unwillingly inviting responsibility.
If you water the root of a tree the entire tree is rejuvenated and in turn the tree does a lot of good to the world. Similarly, if you make the wise men happy by service, the society is helped a lot. Alternatively, if you serve selfish persons, they remain happy for a small moment and then get agitated the next moment. So, service to such people is of no consequence to society.
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FIFTY SECOND WEEK
Persons who start on the path of Saadhana, should start with stotra pathana, pooja, chanting the name of the Lord aloud and then switch over to japa internally, and then ultimately to silence. It should be a gradual slowing down till the mind is capable of doing the Omkaara japa. There should be no hurry to search for silence.
It is our nature to keep on searching for new things and new ways for enjoyment. When we are tired of this activity of the mind, we go to sleep. As soon as we wake up, we again plunge into uncontrollable irresistible activity. In order to overcome this negative cycle a practitioner has to adopt a technique to awaken the dull mind by suggestion. Having awakened the mind from tamas to rajas, the raajasic mind has to be turned slowly to a saatvic by gentle suggestion. Once tranquillity is attained in the saatvic stage, one has to remain and maintain there for as long as possible by not disturbing it by unwarranted thought. For example when muddy water in a pond becomes clear after it has been treated with a small quantity of alum, one should not throw a stone to stir it up again. Omkaara is a tool to retain the tranquillity as far as the mind is concerned.
Indriya nigraha is so challenging and difficult that one should go about patiently with fortitude like emptying the ocean with a blade of grass.
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EPILOGUE
A few suggestions from the editor
It is essential that the need for assimilating all that has been said till now should be strong ,and to put them in practice to improve one’s stability of mind. This is possible only when all the vaasanas( वासना) are eliminated and a space is created in the mind to allow tha jnaana pravaaha( ज्ञान प्रवाह). Please remember that vaasanas kshaya वासना क्ष्य will lead to mano naasha मनो नाश and this will pave way for Atma bodha आत्म बोध।
Unless the concept of subject object relationship, like aham idam being seperate is eradicated and a jnaana that Atman is the only ever shining light that remains as a saakshi, is established in you, progress will be delayed.
So be always in the MEDITATIVE STATE carrying on the day to day activity,
Remain in the present and be in the NOW always and be very highly alert and be with equanimity at all times.
Remember this as the goal posts
Treat both sukha and duhkha alike (सुखे दुःखे समम् कृत्वा)
Phala anusandhaana raahitya (कर्माणि एवे अधिकारः ते। मा फलेषु कदाचन)
ॐ शान्तिःशान्तिःशान्तिः