Monday, December 24, 2018

Errors in Meditation by Swami Sivananda

Errors in Meditation

by Swami Sivananda

A mixture of Tandri (drowsiness) and Manorajya (building castles in the air, reverie) is mistaken by aspirants for deep meditation and Samadhi. The mind appears to be established in concentration and free from Vikshepa (distraction). This is a mistake. Closely watch the mind. Remove these two serious obstacles through Vichara, Pranayama and light Sattvic diet. Be thoughtful, careful and vigilant. Stand for 10 minutes and dash cold water on the face and head, if drowsiness comes in.

Sometimes cupidity will stimulate a concentrated state. You are concentrated elsewhere, but not on the Lakshya. Watch this and withdraw the mind. Deep sleep state is mistaken by many for Samadhi. Samadhi is a positive, real state. It is all knowledge. Do not make mistakes. During meditation, when the mind passes into a calm state of Samata, when you feel a peculiar concentration-Ananda-think you are entering into Samadhi state. Do not disturb this state. Try your best to keep it for a long time. Mark this state very carefully.

Know things in their proper light. Do not be deluded. Emotion is mistaken for devotion; violent jumping in the air during Sankirtana for divine ecstasy; falling down in swoon on account of exhaustion from too much jumping for Bhava Samadhi; Rajasic restlessness and motion for divine activities and Karma Yoga; a Tamasic man for a Sattvic man; movement of air in rheumatism in the back for ascent of Kundalini; Tandri and deep sleep for Samadhi; Manorajya or building castles in the air for meditation; physical nudity for Jivanmukta state. Learn to discriminate and become wise.

Do not mistake Tandri for Savikalpa Samadhi and deep sleep for Nirvikalpa Samadhi. The glory of the state of Turiya or Bhuma is ineffable. Its splendour is indescribable. If the body is light, if the mind is clear, if there is cheerfulness; know that you are meditating. If the body is heavy, if the mind is dull, know that you were sleeping while meditating.

There is always a complaint amongst the aspirants: 'I am meditating for the last 12 years. I have not made any improvement. I have no realisation.' Why is it so? What is the reason? They have not plunged themselves in deep meditation into the innermost recesses of their hearts. They have not properly assimilated the mind with the thoughts of God. They have not done regular, systematic Sadhana. They have not disciplined Indriyas properly. They have not collected all the outgoing rays of the mind. They have not made the self-determination 'I will realise this very second.' They have not given full 100% of the mind to God. They have not kept an increasing flow of Divine Consciousness like the flow of oil (Tailadharavat).

Even if you do not feel any pulse in the Sadhaka when he is in meditation, even if the breathing stops, do not think that he is in Nirvikalpa Samadhi. He should return with supersensual divine knowledge. Then only it can be said that he has attained real Samadhi. The breathing and pulse may stop from various other causes also. If one abstains from food and drink and practises a little concentration or even if he sits in the Asana steadily for some time, the breathing and pulse may stop. The Sadhaka must have perfect awareness in meditation. There is not much spiritual gain if he remains in a mere Jada state, even though he is insensible to external sounds.

During meditation do not allow yourself to pass into a Jada state. Do not mistake this state for merging in the Lord or communion. Remaining in a Jada state for some hours is not desirable. It is like deep sleep. This will not help you in your spiritual evolution. If this time is spent in doing Japa, Kirtan, Mantra-writing and study of sacred books, you will have quick evolution. Be on the alert. Watch vigilantly. If there is real merging or real deep meditation, you must have peace, bliss and divine knowledge. You must be free from doubts, fear, delusion, egoism, anger, passion and Raga-Dvesha. Some dull inexperienced aspirants mistake this Jada state for Nirvikalpa Samadhi. They get false contentment and stop their Sadhana

Source http://sivanandaonline.org/public_html/?cmd=displaysection&section_id=1430:

Monday, December 17, 2018

Liberation (Moksha ~ Swami Sivananda


Liberation (Moksha)

Disciple: What is the nature of Liberation (Moksha)?

Guru:  Removal of all kinds of pain (Sarvaduhkhanivritti) and
attainment of Supreme, imperishable, eternal Bliss of Brahman (Paramanandaprapti).

Disciple: What does the direct Knowledge of Brahman do (Brahmajnana)?

Guru: It destroys Avidya and its effects (Karya), viz., the bodies and the whole Samsara.
 It frees you from the miseries of birth and death.
It makes you absolutely fearless, free and independent.
 All your doubts like “whether I am body or Prana or Buddhi” will vanish in toto. Youw will become free from disease, old age and death. You will have no fear of death or enemies You will shine as the effulgent, resplendent Purusha Supreme.

Friday, November 30, 2018

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF MEDITATION? ~Nisargadatta



QUESTIONER: All teachers advise to meditate. What is the purpose of meditation?

NISARGADATTA: We know the outer world of sensations and actions, but of our inner world of thoughts and feelings we know very little.

The primary purpose of meditation is to become conscious of, and familiar with, our inner life. The ultimate purpose is to reach the source of life and consciousness.

Incidentally practice of meditation affects deeply our character.

We are slaves to what we do not know; of what we know we are masters. Whatever vice or weakness in ourselves we discover and understand its causes and its workings, we overcome it by the very knowing; the unconscious dissolves when brought into the conscious. The dissolution of the unconscious releases energy; the mind feels adequate and become quiet.

Extract from the book ´I am That´

Thursday, November 29, 2018

What about the witness? Is it real or unreal? ~ Nisargadatta


Questioner: What about the witness? Is it real or unreal?

Nisargadatta: It is both. The last remnant of illusion, the first touch of the real. To say: I am only the witness is both false and true: false because of the 'I am', true because of the witness. It is better to say: 'there is witnessing'. The moment you say: 'I am', the entire universe comes into being along with its creator.

Mind is the seed of Maya ~ Swami Sivananda


Extract from the book "Moksha Gita" of Swami Sivananda

11. "This mind which ever hankers after sensual objects is the seed of Maya. If the mind is annihilated Maya will vanish. You will attain the state of quiescence."

Brahma-Jnana will dawn in you. The seed of Maya is the mind which sends forth branches of its objectifying force through the channels of the organs of sensing. The mind hankers after the objects of the senses, including the intellect and the ego. The craving for objects is the effect of the desire of the individual consciousness to flow with the process of self-multiplication and self-preservation as laid in the scheme of the workings of Maya. 

The very meaning of phenomenal  existence is preservation of the egoistic individuality and reproducing oneself into manifold forms. The senses are projected by the mind of the individual in order to effect this process of Maya. The functions of the mind day and night are in accordance with Maya’s law of diversification and preservation of the diversified forms through attachment to such forms and further through an additional external urge to reproduce oneself and strive to maintain individual life. This whole mad process of the mind constitutes the life of man on earth. 

When these functions of the mind are inhibited through the force of conscious effort on the part of the discriminative consciousness, the play of phenomenal existence is stopped its further progress, and when the seed of the mind is burnt by spiritual knowledge, the tree of Samsara is cut off root and branch! 

The restlessness of the individual is caused by the projecting forth of mental forces for purposes of acquiring objects of sense. So long as the objects are not obtained there is the reign of agitation and irritation everywhere. 

There is only a temporary peace when the objects required are acquired, but the next moment the mind darts upon some other source of objective gratification and keeps the restlessness in continuity.

Perfect quiescence comes only when the functioning of the imaginative mind is restrained and put an end to through meditation and Self-Knowledge. 

Only Brahma-Jnana can dispel the mental ignorance completely. 

When true wisdom dawns the mind realises its nature of Self-sufficiency and turns back to the Atma or the Source of Consciousness and rests as one with it in peace.

This is the salvation of the individual, where the individual merges itself into the Infinite Consciousness and exists as the 
Absolute.

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Enlightenment is not only the end of suffering ~ Atman Nityananda



Enlightenment is not only the end of suffering  

Enlightenment is not only the end of suffering, but the unobstructed experience of peace and bliss Divine

Bliss, which is identical with, peace, it is not the absence of suffering, but Is what we really Are.

When someone, wants to have sex pleasure, he doesn't seek this pleasure, just to get rid of the anxiety, restlessness and uneasiness, that are caused by the manifestation of desire and passion in him. 
He wants to experience a positive joyful experience of sex pleasure and happiness. 

And, in many cases, humans are willing to pass through some kind of pain or suffering, in order to get the pleasure and the happiness they aspire to live, (through, sex or any other achievement).

Similarly, a seeker of truth, is willing to pass through pain and suffering,  not only to be free from suffering, but to experience the Peace and Bliss Eternal of the Divine, that passes all understanding !

Sunday, October 14, 2018

Salutations to the Divine Mother ~ Swami SIvananda


Salutations to the Divine Mother

Salutations to the Divine Mother who exists in all beings in the form of intelligence, mercy and beauty, salutations, O Sweet Mother, the consort of Lord Siva.

O Compassionate Mother! I bow to Thee. Thou art my saviour. Thou art my goal. Thou art my sole support. Thou art my guide and the remover of all afflictions, troubles and miseries. Thou art the embodiment of auspiciousness. Thou pervadest the whole universe. The whole universe is filled with Thee. Thou art the store-house of all qualities. Do Thou protect me. I again and again salute Thee. O Glorious Mother! Salutations to Thee. All women are Thy parts. Mind, egoism, intellect, body, Prana, senses, are Thy forms. Thou art Para Shakti and Apara Prakriti. Thou art electricity, magnetism, force, energy, power and will. All forms are Thy forms only. Reveal to me the mystery of creation. Bestow on me the divine knowledge.

O Divine Mother, Thou art my only support. My silent adorations unto Thee!

~ Swami SIvananda

Thursday, September 27, 2018

PEACE IS OUR ETERNAL ABODE & OUR TRUE IDENTITY ~ Swami Sivananda


PEACE IS OUR ETERNAL ABODE & OUR TRUE IDENTITY

Quotes of Swami Sivananda about peace

Desire is the greatest enemy of peace. 

Desire causes distractions of various sorts. Therefore give up all desires.

Eternal spiritual life cannot be attained without the renunciation of the petty sensual life. The secret of renunciation is the renunciation of egoism and desires.

Attain that peace that passeth understanding by silencing the bubbling thoughts and eradicating all desires, cravings, or sense-hankerings.

What is wanted is the renunciation of the tiny ego, lust, anger, greed, petty-mindedness, name and fame and such other negative qualities that stand in the way of one's perfection, self-evolution.

Nothing can bring you peace but the victory over your lower self, triumph over your senses and mind, desires and cravings.

Cultivate peace first in the garden of your heart by removing the weeds of lust, hatred, greed, selfishness and jealousy. Then only you can contribute peace to the world.

Reach the kingdom of inner stillness or domain of infinite peace through spiritual meditation.

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Peace within! ~ Atman Nityananda


If we are in peace, we see peace every where. If we are in love, we see everything as our own self!

PEACE by Swami Sivananda


PEACE
by Swami Sivananda 

Introduction

Peace is a divine attribute. It is a quality of the soul. It cannot remain with greedy persons. It fills the pure heart. It desserts the lustful. It runs away from selfish people. It is an ornament of a Paramahamsa.
Peace is a state of quiet. It is freedom from disturbance, anxiety, agitation, riot of violence. It is harmony, silence, calm, repose, rest. Specifically, it is the absence or cessation of war.
Peace is the happy, natural state of man. It is his birthright. War is his disgrace.
Everybody wants peace and is clamouring for peace; but peace does not come easily. Even if it comes, it does not last for a long time.

THE ABODE OF PEACE

Peace is not in the heart of the carnal man. Peace is not in the hearts of ministers, advocates, businessmen, dictators, kings and emperors. Peace is in the hearts of Yogis, sages, saints and spiritual men. It is in the heart of a desireless man, who has controlled his senses and the mind. Greed, lust, jealousy, envy, anger, pride, and egoism are the enemies of peace. Slay these enemies by the sword of dispassion, discrimination, and non-attachment. You will enjoy perpetual peace.
Peace is not in money, estate, bungalows, and possessions. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but within the soul.
Money cannot give you peace. You can purchase many things, but you cannot purchase peace. You can buy soft beds, but you cannot buy sleep. You can buy good food, but you cannot buy good appetite. You can buy good tonics, but you cannot buy good health. You can buy good books, but you cannot buy wisdom.
Withdraw yourself from external objects. Meditate and rest in your soul. You will realize everlasting peace now.
Nothing can bring you peace, but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace, but the victory over your lower self, triumph over your senses and mind, desires and cravings. If you have no peace within yourself, it is vain to seek it in external objects and outward sources. 

Inner peace

Perfect security and full peace cannot be had in this world, because this is a relative plane. All objects are conditioned in time, space, and causation. They are perishable. Where then can you look for full security and perfect peace ? You can find this in the immortal Self. he is an embodiment of peace. He is beyond time, space, and causation.
Real, deeper peace is independent of external conditions. Real, abiding peace is stupendous stillness of the Immortal Soul within. If you can rest in this ocean of peace, all the usual noises of the world can hardly affect you. If you enter the silence or the wonderful calm of divine peace by stilling the bubbling mind and restraining the thoughts and withdrawing the outgoing senses, all disturbing noises will die away. Motor-cars may roll on the streets; boys may shout at the pitch of their voices; railway trains may run in front of your house; several mills may be working in your neighbourhood - and yet, all these noises will not disturb you even a bit.

Peace is vital for growth

Peace is the most covetable possession on the earth. It is the greatest treasure in all the universe. Peace is the most important and indispensable factor for all growth and development. It is in the tranquillity and quiet of the night that the seed slowly sprouts from under the soil. The bud opens in the depth of the most silent hours. So also, in a state of peace and love, people evolve, grow in their distinctive culture, and develop perfect civilization. In peace and calmness, spiritual evolution is also facilitated. 

Individual reformation and social transformation

Reform yourself. Society will reform itself. Get worldliness out of your heart. The world will take care of itself. Remove the world out of your mind. The world will be peaceful. This is the only solution. This is not pessimism. This is glorious optimism. This is not escapism. It is the only way to face the situation. If each man tries to work out his own salvation, there will be nobody to create the problems ! If each man strives heart and soul to practice religion, to do Sadhana, and to attain God-realization, he will have very little time to create quarrels. Automatically there will be peace on earth.

You can elevate others only if you have elevated yourself. This world can be saved only by those who have already saved themselves. A prisoner cannot liberate other prisoners. One realized sage can do more for the promotion of peace than a thousand missionaries preaching and disputing, day in and day out.

THE ROLE OF RELIGION

A Christian thinks, "There will be peace if all people embrace Christianity". A Muslim thinks, "There will be peace if all people embrace Islam". This is an erroneous notion. Why do people in the world fight ? Why do Catholics and Protestants fight ? Why do Saivites and Vaishnavites fight ? Why do brothers fight among themselves ? The heart must change. Greed and selfishness must perish. Then alone there will be peace in the world. 

People merely talk of religion. They are not interested in practicing it, in living it. If Christians lived by the Sermon On The Mount, if the Buddhists followed the Noble Eightfold Path, if the Muslims truly followed the teachings of the Prophet, and the Hindus shaped their life in accordance with the teachings of the Lord, of saints and sages, there will be peace everywhere. 

Peace, to be lasting and constructive, must be achieved through God. There can be no peace without the Lord or God. God is Peace. Root yourself in Peace or God. Now you are fit to radiate peace. 

Sivannda on peace -a summary

  1. Many are working today for the promotion of world peace without having peace in themselves. Their loud propaganda, big talk and lectures cause more confusion, conflict and discord.
  2. A proper understanding of the essential unity of religions is the most effective and powerful factor in bringing about peace in this world. It will remove all superficial differences and conflicts, which create restlessness, discord and quarrels.
  3. If everyone turns to the Supreme peace within, there will be peace everywhere. A glorious new era of peace, amity, love and prosperity can be ushered in, only if the youth of the day is educated in the methods of self-culture. Educate the moral conscience of the public. This will bring lasting world-peace.
  4. You can elevate others only if you have elevated yourself. This world can be saved only by those who have already saved themselves. A prisoner cannot liberate other prisoners. One realized sage can do more for the promotion of peace than a thousand missionaries preaching and disputing, day in and day out.
  5. There will be no war, if all people practice truthfulness, universal love, purity, mercy, contentment, self-sacrifice, self-restraint and tolerance. Ahimsa (Non-violence) is the key to peace.
  6. Peace is the happy, natural state of man. It is his birthright. War is his disgrace.
  7. Peace is a state of quiet. It is freedom from disturbance, anxiety, agitation, riot or violence. It is harmony, silence, calm, repose, rest. Specifically, it is the absence or cessation of war.
  8. All over the world, great conferences are held for bringing about universal peace, universal brotherhood, and universal religion. It is the vanity of man that goads him to reform society without first reforming himself. Vanity rules the world. When two vain people meet, there is friction and quarrel.
    In the case of social reform, self-styled enlightened men started interfering with the customs and manners of people, in an effort to civilize them. The people lost their old moorings, and the reformers could not offer new, sound ones. Masses of people drifted away into chaos. How can blind men lead other blind men ?
  9. No piece of paper called a treaty can establish peace in this world. The way of peace is very simple and straight; it is the way of Love and Truth.
  10. Money cannot give you peace. You can purchase many things, but you cannot purchase peace. You can buy soft beds, but you cannot buy sleep. You can buy good food, but you cannot buy good appetite. You can buy good tonics, but you cannot buy good health. You can buy good books, but you cannot buy wisdom.
  11. Perfect peace cannot be promoted by anybody who does not have perfect peace in himself. No political 'ism' can ever solve the problem and bring about real peace. Each new 'ism' creates only more problems and more quarrels.
  12. Love alone can bring peace to the world. Therefore love all. Only if everyone practices the religion of love, can there be peace in the world.
  13. Ethics should be put into practice by all. This alone will contribute to peace, universal love, unity, proper understanding, world harmony and brotherhood of mankind.
  14. Everlasting Peace can be found only within your own Atman or Self, or God.
  15. World-peace is possible when all the people of the world wake up to the facts governing universal life and when there is a heart-to-heart feeling of goodness, love and oneness among the inhabitants of the world.
  16. Peace, to be lasting and constructive, must be achieved through God. There can be no peace without the Lord or God. God is Peace. Root yourself in Peace or God. Now you are fit to radiate peace.

Wednesday, August 15, 2018

THE DISSOLUTION OF THE EGOIC TENDENCIES AND LIBERATION


THE DISSOLUTION OF THE EGOIC TENDENCIES AND LIBERATION

As the fire burns the wood, similarly the inner fire dissolves the egoic energies.

Again, as the antivirus in a PC destroys the virus and clears the hard disk, the inner fire dissolves the egoic energies and our mind becomes free from all these energies (pride, lasciviousness, anger, etc.)..

 We dissolve the lower rajasotamasic ego (which is what causes identification with the body, thoughts, pleasures, objects,, etc.) and its various tendencies, by the aid of the sattvic ego and sattvic buddhi and finally the sattvic ego dissolves by constant Self-enquiry (Vichara,) or meditation and deep Samadhis.

There are various processes and paths to achieve this. For me the yoga of synthesis is the best. However, each one has their destiny and will find the way that is better for them.

Due to the dissolution of all egoic tendencies (vasanas in sanskrit), which implies the dissolution of the ego itself and the constant identification of the mind with its source (Consciousness) the mind becomes pure and luminous and of the nature of Consciousness, and we can enjoy the freedom, peace and bliss of our divine nature, effortlessly and without a break.

This is liberation this is illumination or enlightenment.

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

The ego is not just a belief ~ Atman Nityananda


The ego is not just a belief 

The ego is not just a belief, an idea or a thought. If it was so, it would be easy to be free from it. But this is not the case.

 The ego is energy (essentially is desire), which identifies with the body and creates the strong sense 'the body is me' or ' the body is what I am'.
Due to this strong sense, we think and believe that we are the body.

The essential nature of ego is desire. From desire spring up all other egoic tendencies. The ego also causes all kind of identifications.

Pride, greed, like ,dislike, anger, jealousy, fear, ambition, gluttony, lasciviousness, vanity, avarice, etc., are all children of desire. The so called vasanas in Sanskrit are all these above mentioned egoic tendencies. Vasanas and desire are like a tree with its branches. The trunk is the desire and the branches are the egoic tendencies.

The stronger the desire and its children, the stronger the identification with the body and the sense of me and the egoism.

By dissolving the egoic energies we weaken the identification with the body and the sense of me and mine.

Who is free from desire is free from ego and all other egoic tendencies, because they are not different between each other.

That's why the sages have declared, ''Desirelessness is freedom and Self-realization as well''.

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Essence of Yoga-Vasishtha ~ Swami Sivananda


Essence of Yoga-Vasishtha  
~ Swami Sivananda

If the four sentinels that wait at the gates of Moksha (salvation), viz., Santi (peace), Vichara (Atmic enquiry), Santosha (contentment), and Satsanga (association with the wise), are befriended, then there will be no obstacle in the attainment of the final emancipation. Even if one of them is befriended, then he will introduce you to the rest of his companions.

If you attain knowledge of the Self or Brahma Jnana, you will be freed from the trammels of births and deaths. All doubts will vanish; all Karmas will perish. It is through one's own efforts alone that the immortal, all-blissful Brahmic seat can be attained.

The slayer of Atma is the mind only. The form of the mind is Sankalpas. The true nature of the mind consists in the Vasanas. The actions of the mind alone are truly termed Karmas or actions. The universe is nothing but the mind, manifesting as such only through the potency of Brahman. The mind contemplating on the body becomes the body itself and then enmeshed in it, is afflicted by it.

The mind manifests itself as the external world in the shape of pains or pleasures. The mind subjectively is consciousness; objectively it is this universe. The mind attains, through its enemy of discrimination, the quiescent state of Para-Brahman. The real bliss is that one which arises when the mind, diverted of all desires through the eternal Jnana, destroys its subtle form. The Sankalpas and Vasanas (subtle desires), which you generate, enmesh you as in a net. The self-light of Para-Brahman alone is appearing as the mind or this universe.

Persons without Atmic enquiry will see as real this world which is nothing but of the nature of Sankalpa. The expansion of this mind alone is Sankalpa. Sankalpa, through its power of differentiation, generates this universe. Extinction of Sankalpas alone is Moksha.

The enemy of Atma is this impure mind only which is filled with excessive delusion and hosts of worldly thoughts. There is no other vessel of this earth to wade through the ocean of rebirth than the mastery of the antagonistic mind.

The original sprout of the painful Ahamkara (egoism) with its tender stem of rebirths at length ramifies itself everywhere with its long branches of 'mine' and 'thine' and yields its unripe fruits of death, disease, old age, pains and sorrows. This tree can be destroyed to its root by the fire of Jnana only.

All the heterogeneous visibles perceived through the organs of sense are only unreal but that which is real is Para Brahman or the Supreme Soul.

If all objects which have an enchanting appearance become eye-sores and present the very reverse of the former feelings, then the mind is destroyed. All your properties are useless. All wealth land you in dangers. Desirelessness will take you to the eternal blissful abode.

Destroy Vasanas and Sankalpas. Kill egoism. Annihilate this mind. Equip yourself with the four means. Meditate on the pure, immortal, all-pervading Self or Atma. Get knowledge of the Self and attain immortality, everlasting peace, eternal bliss, freedom and perfection.

Extract from his book  ESSENCE OF YOGA 

Monday, May 28, 2018

There is no short cut to God ~ AMMA


"There is no short cut to God; sadhana (practice) must be performed regularly and with devotion. It is our own effort which will enable us to experience the grace of God which is being showered on us all the time.

~ AMMA

THE ERADICATION OF THE DESIREOUS EGO ~Swami Sivananda


THE ERADICATION OF THE DESIREOUS EGO

The ego manifests itself as ambition, desire and lust. Under their influence man indulges in hatred, love, flattery, pride, unscrupulousness, hypocrisy and delusion. 

To eradicate egoism arising out of Deha-Abhimana (body idea), think constantly on the foulness and perishability of the body and the pains arising out of the senses. Reject them as evil and mentally rise above them. Dwell upon that which is desirable, elevating and divine!


Sunday, May 27, 2018

THE TRANSCENDENT PRESENCE of ATMAN ~ Swami Krishnananda


THE TRANSCENDENT PRESENCE of ATMAN
(The fourth state Consciousness, the Ātman, the Absolute, Brahman)

The Māndūkya Upanihad  Verse 7
Commentary by Swami Krishnananda

7. Nāntah-prajñam, na bahih prajñam, no’bhayatah-prajñam, na prajnañāghanam, na prajñam, na-aprajñam; adrihtam-avyavahārayam-agrahyam-alakshanam- acintyam-avyapadeśyam-ekātmapratyayasāram, prapancopaśamam, śāntam, śivam-advaitam, caturtham manyante, sa ātmā sa vijñeyah.

7. That is known as the fourth quarter: neither inward-turned nor outward-turned consciousness, nor the two together; not an indifferentiated mass of consciousness; neither knowing, nor unknowing; invisible, ineffable, intangible, devoid of characteristics, inconceivable, indefinable, its sole essence being the consciousness of its own Self; the coming to rest of all relative existence; utterly quiet; peaceful; blissful: without a second: this is the Ātman, the Self; this is to be realised.


COMMENTARY

We have made an analysis of the three relativistic phases of the Ātman, both in its individual and cosmic aspects. But, Reality, as such, is neither individual nor cosmic. To say that it is cosmic is also to limit it to a certain extent, to bring it to the level of what we call creation. The Supreme Brahman, the Absolute, is not a cause, and not also an effect. It has no effects, and, therefore, it is no cause. We cannot call The Supreme Being as even a cause of things, especially when we consider that everything is identical with It. The Māndūkya Upanihad describes not merely the gross, subtle and causal conditions of the manifested consciousness, but also Consciousness, as such. There is something called Reality in itself, independent of relation. Even īsvaratva is a description by means of a relation to the universe. We call God sarveśvara, sarvajña and sarvaśaktiman, because we relate Him to the creation. God is omnipresent, pervading everywhere, which means that we recognise Him in terms of space. He knows ‘all’ things, means that there are things which He knows; and He has power over all things, means that He can exercise power over something which is external to Him. All definitions, even the best ones, such as Creatorship, Preservership and Destroyership of the universe; omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence, are relative. They are tatastha-lakhanas of God, accidental definitions; - not svarūpa-lakhana, the essential nature of Reality. What was God before creation? That would be His svarūpalakhana or essential characteristic. God, in His own essence, is something more than a Creator, Preserver or Destroyer, more than a cause of things, more than even an Overlord, All-knowing and All-powerful. What is that essential essence which is by its own right, and abides in its own Greatness, in its own Majesty? What is that Light which cannot be beheld by others, the Light which shines, but shines not upon anything? That is the state of Pure Consciousness, which is neither causal, nor subtle, nor gross. It is neither outside nor inside. It has no external nor internal. That grand Reality is described in the seventh mantra of the Māndūkya Upanihad. This Absolute is known as the turīya, or the fourth state of Consciousness, transcending all relational manifestations, - causal, subtle and gross. While the waking consciousness is external and the dream consciousness is internal, this Consciousness is neither external nor internal, because it is not either waking or dreaming. It is neither internally conscious nor externally conscious, nāntah-prajñam, na bahih-prajñām - not internal consciousness like dream, nor external consciousness like waking. One may think that it is a consciousness simultaneously of both the states. No; It is something different from a simultaneity of consciousness. It is not external, not internal, not a simultaneity of both, either; - no-’bhayatah-prajñām. It is not also a mass of consciousness like a homogeneous heap of water in the ocean, - na prajñāna-ghanam. It is not quantitative in its essence. Quantity is spatial, mathematical and Consciousness is not such. Hence, it cannot be called a mass of consciousness, also, because when you think of mass, you think of a heap, a body, indistinguishable, though. Not so is Consciousness, - na prajñāna-ghanam. It is not featureless Consciousness without any awareness, na prajñām. You may think that it is awareness without an object before it. It is not even that, because the object is contained in that Consciousness. It is not Consciousness bereft of objects. It is Consciousness into which the objects have been absorbed. So, it cannot be regarded as a featureless transparency of an ethereal consciousness. It is not also absence of  consciousness, - na-aprajñām. It is not a state of inert perfection which the schools of thought like the nyāya and the vaiśeshika describe. It is not unconsciousness; it is not absence of consciousness; it is not bare consciousness; it is not a mass of consciousness; it is not external consciousness; it is not internal consciousness; it is not both-ways consciousness. What is this? Such is God in His essence, the Absolute in its True Being. Adrihtam: Invisible is it. One cannot see it. Whatever be the effort of the eyes, the eyes cannot visualise it. Avyavāharayam: One cannot have any kind of dealings with it. You cannot touch it; you cannot grasp it; you cannot talk to it; you cannot see it; you cannot hear it. No kind of business can be established with it. You cannot have a relationship with it. It is unrelated; non-relational is it. It repels all relation. It is neither friendly nor inimical. Such is the mystery of the Being of all beings. Agrāhyam: It is not graspable by the power of the senses. You cannot catch it with the hands, smell it with the nose, taste it with the tongue, hear it with the ears, see it with the eyes. No such thing is possible. Alakhanam: And, therefore, indefinable is it. You cannot describe it. No definition of it is possible, because what is definition but an association of qualities which you have seen, heard, etc.? But here is something which you have not seen, which you have not heard of; how can you have a characterisation of it? There is, thus, no definition of this Being of beings. No one can say anything about it. Acintyam: It is unthinkable by the mind. You cannot form a thought of this Being. You cannot, therefore, meditate upon it in the usual manner. You cannot think it, because to think would be to bring the object to the realm of space and time, to externalise it. It is not an object, and it is not in space and time, and, so, it is not thinkable. Avyapadeśyam: Indescribable, ineffable is it. You cannot speak its glory with your tongue. No scripture can describe it; no saint can explain it. Not even the wisdom of the sages put together can be adequate to its greatness. It is beyond all the wisdom of the sages, and it is peerless, incomparable. This character of the Being of this Reality is due to the fact that it cannot be referred to by anyone else. This world is a network of references. One thing is referred to the other for the purpose of definition, understanding and dealing. The whole world of business is a realm of references made to ‘others’. Here, however, no such reference is possible. It is a silence of all activity, both of the body and of the mind. Ekātmapratyayasāram: Here, we have a wonderful characterisation of the Ātman. The Ātman can be defined only as the Ātman. You cannot define it by any other form or concept. It is said that the battle between Rāma and Rāvana was incomparable. To what can you compare the battle between Rāma and Rāvana? You can say that something is vast like the ocean, endless like the sky, bright like the sun, sweet like sugar. But, like what was the battle between Rāma and Rāvana? It was like the battle between Rāma and Rāvana! This was all that the poet could say. “Space is like space, ocean is like ocean, and the Rāma-Rāvana-battle was like the Rāma-Rāvana-battle.” So, also, is the Ātman. The Ātman is like the Ātman. You cannot say that the Ātman is like this, or that, because it is incomparable, and any comparison attempted would be a reference made to something that has come out afterwards as an effect. That would be a travesty of affairs, indeed. Therefore, it can be designated only as ekātmapratyayasāram, the Essence of the consciousness of Selfhood and Oneness. It is, if at all, definable by three interesting terms, - ekatva (Oneness), ātmatva (Selfhood) and sāratva (Essentiality). It is the essence of all things, and it is One, and it is the Self. It is the Self, and, therefore, it can only be One. It is the Self, and, therefore, it is the Esscnce. The Self is that which knows itself, not by a means but by its own existence. It is Existence knowing itself without any external proof. Perception, inference, verbal testimony, comparison, etc. do not apply here in the case of the knowledge of the Ātman. It cannot be inferred by logic, induction or deduction, and it cannot he perceived, it cannot be compared, it cannot be described by words. It is the Self, which means that it is not beheld by someone else. The Self is beheld by itself alone. Here, Self and Existence mean one and the same thing. Existence is Self; Existence is the Ātman. The Self is non-objectifiable, non-alienable from its own essence. The knowledge of the Ātman is intuition, which is a non-relational apprehension of Reality, independent of the operation of the senses and the mind, where existence becomes identical with knowledge, and knowledge is one with the known. Here the object of knowledge is the same as knowledge and intuition. When the object stands outside knowledge, it is called perception. This is the difference between intuition and sensory cognition or information. Where the object stands in an immediacy of relation with knowledge, it is intuition. One cannot say whether it is the object that knows itself or the knowledge that knows itself. The difference between their characters vanishes as when two oceans join together. The knowing subject and the object of its knowledge come together in a single coalescence of Being. This is ātmatva - Selfhood. Salila eko drashtā, says Yājnavalkya in the Brihadāranayaka Upanihad. The Ātman is like an oceanic flood without a surface or a limit. The Ātman is the sole Seer, Knower, Beholder, Experiencer, without a counterpart objective to it. It knows itself, not ‘others’, for the ‘others’ are also a part of itself. Hence, knowledge of the Ātman is the knowledge of the whole of existence. It is not knowledge of this Ātman, that Ātman, this Self, that self, this person, that person. It is the knowledge of The Ātman, which can only be One. The Ātman is single, - ekātmapratyayasāram. The One Ātman is called the paramātman as distinguished from the multitudinousness of the so-called ātmans, called jīvātmans. It is paramātman, because it is the Supreme Self. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavāniti śabdyat, says the Śrimad- Bhāgavata. From the absolute, universal and personal standpoints, it is called Brahman, paramātman and bhagavān. In itself it is Brahman, the Absolute; and as the Supreme Creator, Preserver, Destroyer, it is the paramātman; as the Beloved of devotees, it is Bhagavān. It is all this; - dvaita, viśishtādvaita and advaita points of view come together here in this Ātman, and the conclusions of the schools of thought merge into the single truth of a blend of various standpoints. Quarrels cease, arguments come to a stop, philosophies are hushed, silence prevails. This Ātman is Silence, said a great Master. When a devotee came, and asked the guru, ‘Tell me the Ātman’, the guru kept quiet. When the disciple queried again, ‘Master, tell me the Ātman’, the guru kept quiet, again. A third time the question was raised, and the guru kept quiet, once more. When for the fourth time the disciple put the same question, ‘Tell me the Ātman’; the guru said, ‘I am telling you, you are not hearing; because Silence is the Ātman’. In that Great Silence, all the turmoil of the cosmos is calmed. All the clamour of the senses, all the noise of the universe is contained and absorbed in this Silence. The Silence here is better than all the sounds that one makes, and it explains things better than all the speeches that one utters. This Silence is a fuller explanation than all the logical arguments of the philosophers. This Silence of all silences connotes Reality in a more comprehensive manner, than anything else, because when we express it in words, we come down from its level to a lower grade, and begin to think of it as an external object. The Kena Upanihad warns us when it says, “It is not known to those who know it; it is known to those who do not know it”. If you think you know it, you do not know it, and when you know it, you do not think, but you simply are. You have become That, and you are That; and that is real knowledge. Knowledge is not expression, but Being. It is not becoming or a process. It is called sattā-sāmānya, in the language of the Yoga Vāsihtha, the General Existence of all things, as distinguished from the particular existences of bodies, minds and individuals. It is the Transcendent Being, which cannot be called either as this or that. It is neither sat (existence) nor asat (non-existence) in the ordinary sense of the term. It is not sat or existence in the sense of some object being there. It is not asat or non-existence, also. We say that something is, because we see it; we can think of it; we can hear it; we can catch it with our hands. And, Reality is not such a type of existence. But, thereby, you cannot say that it is non-existence. It is beyond sat (existence) and asat (non-existence). Anādimat param brahma na sat tan na-asad ucyate, says the Bhagavad Gītā. This Brahman, the Origin of all things is non-temporal eternity. Na asad āsīt no sad āsīt, says the Rig Veda. What was there in the beginning? Not existence, not non-existence. Definitions are given by persons, and all persons who give a definition of Reality came afterwards as an effect. Who is to define that which was prior even to the cause of all things, antecedent even to the condition of īsvara? Who can describe it, and what can you say about it except only characterising it, tentatively, as ekātmapratyayasāram? How do you grasp this Ātman? By knowing it that ‘It Is’, - asti-iti-eva-upalabdhnvyah, as the Kaha Upanihad puts it. Know it as ‘That which is’, said Saint Augustine. What is the Reality of all realities? That which Is, the General Existence, sattā-sāmānya, ekatmapratyayasaram. This is Brahman. Prapancopaśamam: Here all samsāra, all this tumult of creation, subsides, like waves sinking into the ocean, as dream is withdrawn into waking consciousness. The universe, in all its conditions, - gross, subtle and causal, - ceases here. In this state, there is neither the virāt, nor hirayagarbha, nor īsvara; because, there is no creation. This is the Ātman where there is neither waking, nor dreaming, nor sleep. Thus, it is called prapancopaśamam. It is not a condition; it is beyond all conditions. It is not a state of affairs. We do not know what it is. It is a mystery. Wonder of all wonders is this: Wonderful is that disciple who can comprehend it from the wonderful teacher who can teach this wonderful Being. Āścaryavat paśyati, vadati, rinoti, says the Kaha Upanihad. What a glorious Being is it! The prapanca, this vast cosmos, ceases there, and That alone is, shining as the glorious Sun of all suns. It is śāntam: Peaceful is that state. No worries, no anxieties, no pains, no sufferings, no births and deaths, no agonies of any kind can be there. It is not the peace born of the absence of sound or the absence of contact with things. It is the peace which is positive in its nature. We say we are peaceful when nobody talks to us, none disturbs us, and we have everything that we want. This is not the peace of the Ātman, because our concept of peace in the world is purely negative and, again, relational. The Ātman is non-relational peace that cannot be put an end to by the passage of time. Our peace on earth has a beginning and an end. Today we are peaceful, tomorrow we are not. We cannot afford to be always peaceful. But the peace of the Ātman is eternal, and most blessed is that state. It is śivam: It is the only thing that can be called really auspicious, designated by the most blessed terms, ‘Om’ and ‘Atha’. Praava is its designation, in its Self-comprehensiveness. Advaitam: Non-dual is that state. We cannot even call it as the One. It is ‘Not-two’; - that is all; because, to say that it is one, would be to denote it by a numerical figure. It is not one, because there is nothing other than it. We can only say, ‘it is not-two’; - advaita. The Upanihad, after having said that it is eka (One), now says that it is advaita (Non-dual). We should not call it as one, or eka, because  ‘one’ has a relation to ‘two’, ‘three’, ‘four’, etc. It is non-relational; therefore, we should not describe it even as one. It is ‘not-this, not-this’; - ‘neti, neti’. It is not this, and not that; not anything that we can think, or understand. Caturtham manyante, sa ātmā: This is the fourth state of Consciousness, which is called the Ātman. It is called the fourth, not numerically, but in comparison with the three relative states of waking, dream and sleep. When you go to this fourth state, you do not feel that you are in a ‘fourth state’. You are, then, in the only possible state. It is the transcendence of the three, not in a fourth, but in a numberless, figureless, quantityless, immeasurable Being. This is the Ātman. This is our essential nature, and the essential nature of all things. We are the Ātman, which does not wake, dream or sleep which does not restrict itself to the outer or the inner. The Ātman is the sole Being of all beings, Existence of all existences, ‘sat’ of all ‘sat’, ‘chit’ of all ‘chit’, ānanda of all ānandas: - Supreme Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. Sa vijñeyah: This is to be known. This is the purpose of life. We live here for this purpose, and we have no other aim in life. All our activities, all our business, all our functions, whatever they be, are conscious or unconscious attempts on our parts to realise the Ātman, and until and unless we reach the Ātman, we cannot be happy, we cannot be satisfied, and we cannot put an end to the cycle of birth and death. We are perpetually both and we perpetually die to train ourselves for attunement of our being with the Ātman. Births and deaths are processes of training in the field of experience. We experiment with the things of the world, with a view to visualising the Ātman in them, coming in contact with the Ātman in the objects. We love things because we hope that the Ātman is there in them, but we do not see it there because it is not in one place only. Why do we love things, love persons, love objects? Because we have a hope that the Ātman is there, and we go for it. We do not find it there, and so we go to another object, - perhaps it is there, - like the Gopis searching for Krihna in different places. Krihna! Are you here, are you there? You know, where; He is everywhere. The Gopis queried the trees, the plants, the bees and even the inanimate things. Have you seen Krihna? Has Krihna passed by this path? Where is Krihna? Can you give an indication of Krihna’s whereabouts? Madly did the Gopis ask of everything in creation, animate and inanimate. ‘Do you know Krihna? Have you seen Him?’ In a similar manner, madly do we go after the things of the world. Is the Ātman here? Have you seen the Ātman? Can you get the Ātman here, there, in this, in that? It is nowhere! It is not in anything particularised, and, therefore, we cannot get the Ātman by any amount of search in the outer world of objects. So, all the loves of the world are futile in the end, and are bound to be frustrated, doomed to suffer, because of this erroneous approach to Reality made through the objects, to which Reality cannot be confined on account of their inherent structural defect. And, in this experimentation, we die. Life is too short. The experimentation does not end. In the next birth we do, again, experiment with things, because the objects in creation are infinite. We make infinite experiments, and the struggle goes on. This process is called samsāra, transmigration; and in all the lives that we take, in all the deaths that we pass through, the Ātman cannot be seen, just as the Gopis could not see Krihna until He Himself made a Will to appear before them. Nobody could inform the Gopis as to where Krihna was. ‘I do not know: I do not know’: this is what all the objects will tell you. What are we asking for, then? We have never seen it. And, considering this enigmatic situation of the quest for the Ātman, the Upanihad finally said that perhaps it can be realised only by him whom it chooses. You have to leave it to itself. You do not know how you can see it. There seems to be no means of knowing it. Nothing in the world can be a help to us in knowing it. Yam eva eha vrinute tena labhyah: Whom it chooses, he alone can obtain it. This seems to be a solution arrived at by the sage of the Kaha Upanihad. We are tired of the quest. And when the Gopis were fatigued in this arduous quest, when they became unconscious in their utter surrender to Krihna, He revealed Himself. Now the time has come. The ego has gone; effort has ceased; one cannot do anything further; then He comes. You search, and search, and search, and you realise its futility. The ego realises its limitations, and it ceases. When you know your limitations, you cease from all egoistic effort, and the cessation of the ego is the revelation of the Ātman. God comes when the ego goes. When you are nowhere, He alone is everywhere. He takes the position of your personality. You vanish, and He comes in, not before that. When the personalities of the Gopis vanished, Krihna took possession of their hearts, and instead of the Gopis being there; Krihna was there. The jīva expires into īsvara. This is the Ātman to be known, the Goal for which we live in this world. This is the fourth state Consciousness, the Ātman, the Absolute, Brahman.



Thursday, May 24, 2018

AS YOU THINK SO YOU BECOME ~ Atman Nityananda


EVERYTHING IS IN OUR MIND

We have made (consciously or unconsciously) our world in our minds.
That's why we can change it.

AS YOU THINK SO YOU BECOME

Think you are happy and you will become happy
Think you are brave and you will become brave
Think you are God and you will become God

THE ONLY OBSTACLE IS YOUR DOUBTING MIND
~~~
"As you think, so you become. As are your thoughts so must be your life. Improve your thinking. Better thoughts bring better actions."

"Man sows a thought and reaps an action. He sows an action and reaps a habit. He sows a habit and reaps a character. He sows a character and reaps a destiny."

-Swami Sivananda

I'm! THE WORLD IS REAL OR ILLUSORY? ~ Ramana Maharshi




THE WORLD IS REAL OR ILLUSORY ?

Question: "Brahman is real. The world is illusion" is the stock phrase of Sri Sankaracharya. Yet others say, "The world is reality." Which is true?
 
Sri Ramana Maharshi: Both statements are true. They refer to different stags of development and are spoken from different points of view. The aspirant starts with the definition, that which is real exists always. Then he eliminates the world as unreal because it is changing. The seeker ultimately reaches the Self and there finds unity as the prevailing note. Then, that which was originally rejected as being unreal is found to be a part of the unity. Being absorbed in the reality, the world also is real. There is only being in Self-realisation, and nothing but being.


Question: Sri Bhagavan (Ramana Maharshi) often says that Maya (illusion) and reality are the same. How can that be?
 
Sri Ramana Maharshi: Sankaracharya was criticised for his views on Maya without being understood. He said that: 1. Brahman is real, 2. The universe is unreal, and 3. The universe is Brahman.
He did not stop at the second, because the third explains the other two. It signifies that the universe is real if perceived as the Self, and unreal if perceived apart from the Self. Hence Maya and reality are one and the same.


Question: So the world is not really illusory?
 
Sri Ramana Maharshi: At the level of the spiritual seeker you have got to say that the world is an illusion. There is no other way. When a man forgets that he is a Brahman, who is real, permanent and omnipresent, and deludes himself into thinking that he is a body in the universe which is filled with bodies that are transitory, and labours under that delusion, you have got to remind him that the world is unreal and a delusion. Why? Because his vision which has forgotten its own Self is dwelling in the external, material universe. It will not turn inwards into introspection unless you impress on him that all this external material universe is unreal. When once he realises his own Self he will know that there is nothing other than his own Self and he will come to look upon the whole universe as Brahman.
There is no universe without the Self. So ling as a man does not see the Self which is the origin of all, but looks only at the external world as real and permanent, you have to tell him that all this external universe is an illusion. You cannot help it. Take a paper. We see only the script, and nobody notices the paper on which the script is written. The paper is there whether the script on it is there or not. To those who look upon the script as real, you have to say that it is unreal, an illusion, since it rests upon the paper. The wise man looks upon both the paper and script as one. So also with Brahman and the universe.

Question: So the world is real when it is experienced as the Self and unreal when it is seen as separate names and forms?

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Just as fire is obscured by smoke, the shining light of consciousness is obscured by the assemblage of names and forms, the world. When by compassionate divine grace the mind becomes clear, the nature of the world will be known to be not the illusory forms but only the reality.
Only those people whose minds are devoid of the evil power of Maya, having given up the knowledge of the world and being unattached to it, and having thereby attained the knowledge of the self-shining Supreme Reality, can correctly know the meaning of the statement "The world is real." If one's outlook has been transformed to the nature of real knowledge, the world of the five elements beginning with space (akasha) will be real, being the Supreme Reality, which is the nature of knowledge.

Monday, May 14, 2018

Om! THE NATURE OF THE SUPREME SELF (ATMAN) ~ Vivekachudamani


THE NATURE OF THE SUPREME SELF (ATMAN)

extract form the book Vivekachudamani by Sankaracharya

124. Now I am going to tell thee of the real nature of the supreme Self, realising which man is freed from bondage and attains Liberation.
125. There is some Absolute Entity (the Atman), the eternal substratum of the consciousness of egoism, the witness of the three states, and distinct from the five sheaths or coverings:
126. Which knows everything that happens in the waking state, in dream and in profound sleep; which is aware of the presence or absence of the mind and its functions; and which is the background of the notion of egoism. – This is That.
127. Which Itself sees all, but which no one beholds, which illumines the intellect etc., but which they cannot illumine. – This is That.
128. By which this universe is pervaded, but which nothing pervades, which shining, all this (universe) shines as Its reflection. – This is That.
129. By whose very presence the body, the organs, mind and intellect keep to their respective spheres of action, like servants !
130. By which everything from egoism down to the body, the sense-objects and pleasure etc., is known as palpably as a jar – for It is the essence of Eternal Knowledge !
131. This is the innermost Self, the primeval Purusha (Being), whose essence is the constant realisation of infinite Bliss, which is ever the same, yet reflecting through the different mental modifications, and commanded by which the organs and Pranas perform their functions.
132. In this very body, in the mind full of Sattva, in the secret chamber of the intellect, in the Akasha known as the Unmanifested, the Atman, of charming splendour, shines like the sun aloft, manifesting this universe through Its own effulgence.

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Maya and Creation by Swami Sivananda


Maya and Creation
by Swami Sivananda

MY SILENT adorations to my dearest Mother, Maha Maya, the illusory power of Brahman who keeps up this Lila! May She guide me in all my thoughts and actions! She is Sat-Asat Vilakshana-Anadi Bhavarupa Anirvachaniya Maya. She is Sat because you see actually Her creations. But She is not as real as Brahman because She vanishes as soon as Brahma Jnana dawns in the aspirants. So she is Asat or unreal. But she is not as unreal as the horns of a hare or the louts of Gandharvanagar in the sky or a barren woman's son. Hence She is called 'Anirvachaniya' or the indescribable or the inscrutable power. Have you understood Her nature correctly now? I shall proceed to describe Her creations.

Before I begin to narrate Her activities, let me touch the point which troubles the minds of aspirants often, the moment a little discrimination dawns in them. They begin to rack their brains with the question: 'Why has God created this Universe? He is Purna. He is without desires.' This is an Atiprasna or a transcendental question. You cannot find a solution for this question even if you rack your brain for millennia of years. No Acharya or teacher or prophet has even given an answer to this question. The finite mind that is conditioned in time, space and causation cannot find an answer. There can be a 'why' for matters concerning the physical plane. If a small boy asks his father: Papa, why did you create me? What answer will the father give? He will simply say, My dear boy, wait a bit; grow for some years and marry, then you will understand this subtle point; do not unnecessarily rack your brain now. This is exactly the case with our young, inquisitive aspirants. Vasishtha also gave the same kind of answer to Rama when he put the same question. He said: Dear Rama, do not put the cart before the horse; get Atma-Jnana; then alone you will understand the nature of Maya and Her activities and the 'why' of Maya; you are caught up in the fire of Samsara; there are methods to get out of this Samsara; practise and realise Brahman; then only you will understand the 'why' of this universe. What will a man do who has acute appendicular colic? Will he ask the doctor: What is this medicine? What are its ingredients? What is its price? Is it a German preparation or an English preparation? No, he will not. He will simply take the medicine immediately to relieve the pain. Even so, do not bother yourself about this point. You will be wasting your whole life if you try to find out a solution. I know of a deputy collector who was very much worried with this question for a period of twelve years. Whenever he approached any Sannyasi or Mahatma, he put he same question: Why has God created this universe? Now only he has got Shanti. I meet him last year. Whenever you sit for meditation, this point will trouble you and your meditation will be disturbed. Tell the mind whenever this question arises: Keep quiet, you dirty mind; I know the answer now. I have found out a solution. Get away. Do not mislead me. Immediately the mischievous mind will remain quiet.

Creation

Now I come to the point of creation. The one silent Brahman willed: Why I become many. May I bring forth. This world was projected by His illusory power - Maya. You will find in the Chhandogya Upanishad: Sat eva saumya idam agra asit ekam eva advitiyamIn the beginning this was Existence only, One only, without a second, O Saumya or good-looking youth! This Maya and Brahman are inseparable. They are like fire and heat or ice and cold. Shakti and Shakta are one. Worship of Shakti really means worship of Brahman. Worship of Brahman includes worship of Shakti as well. It is only the foolish or the sectarians who argue unnecessarily.

 Maya & Gunas, viz., Sattva, Rajas and Tamas

This wonderful Maya has got three Gunas, viz., Sattva, Rajas and Tamas which means purity, passion and inertia respectively. Pure Brahman is without attributes. There is no Maya here. That portion of Brahman which is associated with Maya is called Ishvara or Saguna Brahman. Maya is Shuddha Sattva. Ishvara has control over Maya. Jiva or the individual soul is a slave of Avidya. Avidya is Malina Sattva. Sattva is mixed with Rajas and Tamas. Maya is the Karana Sarira or causal body of Ishvara. Avidya is the Karana Sarira of Jiva.

Chaitanya and gunas
·       The Chaitanya that is associated with the Sattva Guna is Vishnu.
·       The Chaitanya that is associated with Rajoguna is Brahma and
·       the Chaitanya associated with Tamoguna is Siva.

The one Ishvara has become three according to the functions of creations, preservation and destruction. The Chaitanya is the same.

Srishti is of two kinds, viz., Sthula and Sukshma. First the Sukshma Brahmanda is created by Hiranyagarbha. Here matter exists in a rudimentary state.

The five Tanmatras or root elements.
There are the five Tanmatras or root elements. They are in a state of non-quintuplication. They are not mixed together.

The sum total of all minds and Prana is Hiranyagarbha. His Loka is Brahmaloka. Ishvara has no Loka.

Maya

Here Maya is in an Avyakta or undifferentiated or unmanifested state. Here matter and energy are one. Sound also exists in an undifferentiated state. Just as the tree exists in a seed state, so also the whole world exists in a seed state in this Avyakta, Maya. The whole world merges in this Avyakta, Maya. The whole world merges in this Avyakta during the state of cosmic Pralaya.

From the Sattvic portion of each of these Tanmatras is born the five Jnana Indriyas or organs of knowledge. From the sum-total of Sattva of the five Tanmatras is born the mind.

From the separate Rajasic portion of each of these five Tanmatras is born the Prana.
The born the five gross elements

From the Tamasic portion of each of the Tanmatra is born the five gross elements. by the process of quintuplication of Panchikarana this gross Brahmanda is formed. The gross water that you see outside really contains, eight annas of water Tanmatra, two annas of Akasa Tanmatra, two annas of Vayu Tanmatra, two annas of Agni Tanmatra and two annas of earth Tanmatra. Each element divides into two halves and one half of each element is mixed with the quarter of the outer halves of the four elements. Then the gross element is formed. by a combination of the five elements this physical body and the whole gross Brahmanda is formed.

Whatever you see outside is called Virat. This is the cosmic physical body. The underlying Chaitanya is Vaishvanara. The sum total of all astral bodies is Hiranyagarbha. This is in the macrocosm. The associated Chaitanya is Sutratma or the thread-soul. The sum-total of Karana Sarira is Avyakritam. The underlying Chaitanya is Ishvara.

In the microcosm, Visva is the associated Chaitanya of this physical body in the waking state. Taijasa is the associated Chaitanya of the astral body in the dreaming state. Prajna is the associated Chaitanya of the Karana Sarira in the deep-sleep state. Melt the Visva in Virat and the Virat in 'A' of Omkara. 

Melt the Taijasa in Hiranyagarbha and the Hiranyagarbha in 'U' of Omkara. Melt the Prajna in Ishvara and the Ishvara in 'M' of Omkara. There will remain the Ishvara Sakshi or Kutastha. That is your real Svarupa, O dear Surendranath, after doing Laya Chintana in the above manner.

Laya Chintana of the elements consists in involving the earth into its cause the water, water into its cause the fire, fire in Vayu, Vayu in Akasa, Akasa in Avyakta and Avyakta in Brahman.

The Antahkarana Laya Chintana consists in melting the speech in mind, mind in Buddhi, Buddhi in cosmic Mahat, Mahat in Avyakta and Avyakta in Brahman.

In Adhyaropa you have creation, world, etc. In Apavada the whole super-imposition of the world is deleted. Brahman alone remains. This world is after all a mental creation. Where there is mind, there is world - Manomatram Jagat, Manah Kalpitam Jagat. Is there any world during sleep?

As people with gross minds cannot grasp the theory of Ajati-Vada or non-creation, this world of Srishti Krama is given. If you study the doctrine of Ajati-Vada, propounded by Gaudapada in his Karika, you will find that this world does not exist in the past, present and future. This doctrine can only be understood by high class aspirants who lead a life of seclusion and meditation.

If you remain in Allahabad for six months, you forget all about your native place which is Madras. There is no Madras for you while you live in Allahabad and there is no Allahabad for you while you live in Madras. This world is a mere collection of Samskaras created by the mind. If you can consciously destroy the mind by Sadhana and Samadhi, the world vanishes. It is all Brahman only. You shut yourself in a room for a fortnight. Give up reading newspapers. Engage yourself in deep meditation and see whether there is world or not.

A man with colour-blindness sees green as red and red as blue. A man with fever finds no taste in milk at all. The man who has a paralysed tongue cannot find taste in orange and salt. A microphone exaggerates the sound of a fall or a pin. He who has cataract sees a double moon. A frog, an elephant and an ant have got their different worlds. This world is a play of colours and sounds. A man with a perverted sense of touch feels the sensation of butter in stone. If you have quite a different pair of lenses you will have another world. A round table will appear as a square one. The senses are deceiving you at every moment.

Time is created by Kala Shakti, space by Dik Shakti and form by Rupa Shakti. All are the products of Maya. Sometimes one mile appears as one furlong and one furlong appears as one mile. When you are in a state of concentration, one hour appears as ten minutes. When the mind is wandering half an hour in hanging on you as two hours. Time is mental creation. In winter the sun appears at eight in the morning and sets at five in the evening. In summer the sun rises at five in the morning and sets at seven in the evening. What is all this? Is this not a jugglery set up by Maya?
You find in the Gita that you can cross this illusion 'Mayaya duratyaya' by devotion unto the Lord. 'This divine illusion of Mine, caused by the qualities is hard to pierce; they who came to Me cross over this illusion.'

Obtain the grace of the world's Mother, Maha Maya. Through Her grace you will be able to transcend the three Guans. She will introduce you to Her Lord, Brahman. Then and then alone you can rest in everlasting peace and attain the immortal abode. She helped Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Vemanna of Andhradesa. She is ready to help you all, to take all Her children back into Her sweet bosom of love. Do total self-surrender unto Her. Say unto Mother: 'Mother, I am thine. Save me. Have mercy on me. You have saved several souls. I too am Thy son.' You will feel Her warm embrace now.

It is very difficult to get human birth. Utilise it for higher purposes. Do not waste it in idle talking, eating and drinking. You will never get again a birth like this. Cross the ocean of Samsara through the grace of the Mother and rest in your own Sat-Chit-Ananda Svarupa. I bow with folded hands once more to my loving Mother of compassion and mercy, Mother Kali who is known as Parvati, Durga, Ambika, Ganga and Gauri and who assumes the forms of Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Sita, Radha, and Kundalini.