Vedanta life

 

VEDANTIC WAY OF LIVING

Book: Swami Bhoomananda Tirth

Summary: Satyendra Nath Dwivedi

Our forefathers had an intense love for knowledge. They were bent upon discovering the most subtle and abstruse laws relating to human life and soul. To this end they thought and thought until their thinking mind itself gave way to rip open the mystery of existence, not merely of themselves but of the entire creation. The Vedas, more so the Vedanta, embody the exalted inner spiritual states reached by our ancient thinkers and the truths they perceived while remaining in those states.

The first portion of the Vedas, called ‘Samhitas’, consist mostly of praise, hymns in praise of the different deities. The second part of the Vedas, called the ‘Brahmanas’, contain various rituals which promise distinct rewards for their performers. The third part of the Vedas, called the ‘Aranyakas’, embody the meditative aspects of life. The ‘Upanishads’ or the Vedanta, represent the end of the Vedas in two respects: first, it was revealed at the end of the Vedic period, and secondly, the truths it contains represent the completion or finality of the thinking of their authors.

Vedanta or Upanishads do not teach man by means of injunctions or prohibitions, as does the ‘Karma Kanda’. On the other hand, it informs man about some basic truths which he does not know at present; he is made to exert himself for the realization of the Self. 

Mankind is always after attaining peace, joy and contentment. To gain true knowledge of everything possible is also their avowed ideal. The Vedic thinkers, who too were human as we ourselves are, knew about this fact. Hence they thought it necessary to divulge the truth about the innate divinity of man. In the realization of the Self they found a full solution to all their mundane problems, agitations and doubts. The knowledge of the Self gained for them is the best fulfillment of life. It was but natural that they bequeathed their attainment to those who were to follow them on earth. The sum total of all their teachings can be found in the following verse from Kathopanishad [2.2.13]:

“All things in the world are ephemeral. But there is something non-ephemeral in them all. You must search for it in them all. You must search for it in the sentient things, not in the insentient ones. It is truly the ‘Chetana’ (consciousness), manifest in the conscious entities. It is, though single, capable of fulfilling the desires of the multitude. Whoever is able to realize That, seated in himself, is truly wise. To him alone will flow abiding peace, not to others.”

What is Life?

All the Upanishadic treatises are in the form of questioning or enquiry. For, by that means alone can the realm of Reality be safely reached. Whatever the starting point of the question or enquiry, all Upanishads reach the same destination, arrive at the same Truth that is the Self within; the Brahman existing everywhere. Although intuitive and revelatory in nature, the Upanishadic accounts are based fully on reason and logic.

Philosophy is a science of knowledge. It is also the enquiry into the Ultimate Truth or Reality. In the Vedanta you will find the pursuit of knowledge and Reality, both alike. Being subjective in nature, Vedanta can suffer no change or replacement in the march of time and civilization. That is how you find the Vedantic philosophy as fresh today as it ever was.

By being subjective and changeless in nature, the Vedanta does not in the least become impractical or non-beneficial. The benefits which Vedantic realization gains for man are too obvious: peace, stability, wisdom, and contentment.

What is that subjective presence, which we call life? It is the ‘Consciousness’, which the Vedanta calls ‘Chetana’, ‘Prajna’, etc. This ‘Chetana’ is a thing which is neither matter nor energy. Being other than energy and matter, it is called the ‘Spirit’, or the spiritual substance. To cause knowledge and activity is its power. The moment ‘Chetana’ ceases its operation in the body, both activity and knowledge also cease abruptly.

Karma Yoga – The Science of Work

Yoga is a Sanskrit word. It means union. The word is also used to denote the path or means leading to the ideal of ‘union’.

The word Yoga signifies union with the indestructible ‘subject’ in ourselves, the union with the ‘Real’. It also connotes the path which will lead us toward this union.

In the Gita, Krishna speaks of three paths leading to the union with the Self, with the indestructible:

‘Dhyana’ is one. ‘Vichara’ called ‘Sankya’ is another. ‘Karma Yoga’ is the third.

Karma means action, or better, activity. Activity of any kind and order is karma. Karma Yoga signifies that path wherein karma itself is the medium employed for the ‘Sadhana’.

Everyone born in this world brings with him a certain nature. It represents the aggregate of some specific tendencies and features. Shri Krishna says, “You are bound by your own nature, O Arjuna. So, even if, you, out of ignorance, do not like to do certain act, you will be compelled to perform it anyway.” [Gita 18.60]

Thus, it becomes quite obvious that no one in this world can escape the hold of ‘Prakriti’ and hence the propulsion of doing karma.

Right from the time of birth until the body breathes its last, man is steeped in karma. The karma may be external, gross or subtle, visible or invisible, or a mixture of these.

‘Siddhi’ means fruition and ‘asiddhi’ means non-fruition. In siddhi and asiddhi, one should learn to be equal-minded and harmonious. Such equal-ness or harmony is really yoga, the spiritual ideal we have to realize.

You should develop a new outlook, the spiritual, or the Vedantic vision: “I am doing karma because to be so doing is my nature. In conforming to my nature, I find great delight. As the clouds shed rains, as the seasonal wind blows, as the rivers of the mountains flow down to the seas, so is my nature to do karma. I cannot but fulfill my nature, my duty. In thus fulfilling my nature, discharging my duty, lies my contentment and perfection.”

The ‘Karma Yogi’ must use his day-to-day karmas, all of them, as the medium for doing the ‘sadhana’. 

The ‘sanga’ to the results of ‘karma’, which is at present ingrained in your being, is the real bondage. This ‘sanga’ is based upon the feeling of identity which we face with the world and the worldly things and enjoyments.

The ‘karma sadhaka’ pays all his attention to watch his mind and keep it sane and free of ‘sanga’ all through his life and work. The day to day life and work persist on one side, and Vedantic sadhana prevails on the other, like the two sides of a coin.

There is nothing which prevents you from taking to karma yoga and attaining liberation in this life itself. All the necessary factors to involve you in the sadhana are there already. Your own determination is the only factor you have to contribute.

Bhakti Yoga – The Science of Devotion

Bhakti or devotion is a divine sentiment, which sprouts in any gentle human mind.

If you have to gain spiritual wisdom and fulfillment through devotion, you will have to regard it as a form of Vedantic Sadhana and then be devoted to its pursuit.

Bhagavat is the most authoritative scripture on devotion. Suta replies to Rishis:

“The knowers say that the truth is in the nature of non-dual knowledge – ‘advayajnana’. It is this which goes by the different names: Brahman, Parmantman, and Bhagavan.”[Bhagavat 1.2.11]

Bhakti, one form of yoga sadhana, must lead us to the non-dual knowledge, if it has to fulfill its purpose. It must be able to purify the mind of the sadhaka and then awaken his intellect so that he may achieve self-realization.

God is a term which we invented ourselves for denoting the source from which this world has originated. In other words, God is a divine being, infinitely more powerful than all the creatures in the world considered together.

“The majority of people, who are neither dispassionate nor passionate, if they accidentally go to a spiritual or devotional assembly, where some religious or Vedantic discourse takes place, they may adopt Bhakti Yoga and achieve realization”. [Bhagavat 11.20.8]

God when the term is fully understood, is the indestructible and immutable Self within you, the I in you. Hence the ultimate goal of devotion is the same as that of the ‘karma’ and ‘jnana’ paths. The Bhagavat speaks of the ideal of devotion in the following verse:

“Ekanta Bhakti’ means exclusive devotion, devotion which is absolute and sovereign. When you achieve this your ideal will be realized. You will be able to find God in everything, at every time, in every place and in every event.

The place to see God is one’s own within. Devotion also must take me to the indestructible ‘Chetana’ in the body, the source upon which the I subsists.

As long as you are not able to say, “I am God’s, as is everyone else in this world”, your devotion can only be crude, rudimentary, underdeveloped.

To tread the path of devotion is really to tread the path of knowledge, to march inward, to climb higher within yourself until you reach the ultimate abode of oneness, non-dualness, the invisible ‘Chetana’ upon which subsists the I in you.

Remember always that man is the outcome of his understanding. He grows along with his knowledge. Therefore, the best source of strength and correction for you is the right knowledge.

Every moment of your life you are being carried to fulfillment irresistibly. Everything that comes to you does so to improve, correct or alter your nature, thereby leading you towards greater perfection. You are getting from every quarter that which your nature deserves and needs for its march towards perfection. This is an unfailing truth about our life and its progression.

The following verses from Bhagavat speak of the progress of devotion and its purification effect:

“The devotees who find a natural love towards the Almighty will experience several pleasant sensations on hearing the stories describing the greatness of the Lord, His deeds and sports. Their hair will stand on end, face turn red, throat get choked, thereby giving them an inexplicable delight. In such moments, they will not hesitate to sing aloud, cry and weep profusely or even to dance openly in ecstasy. They have some other characteristic moods too. Sometimes, they will behave like one possessed by an evil spirit, thereby laughing, weeping, sitting pensive, rising up and greeting people, avoiding all sense of shame and fear. They will openly call out, ‘O Hari, O Lord of the universe, O Narayana’.”[Bhagavat 7.7.34-35]

“When they exult thus in supreme devotion, they start heaving and sighing frequently, forgetting the surroundings and remaining lost in the thought of the Lord. Their body and mind getting completely attuned to the Lord and His deeds, all their bonds of ignorance and desires get destroyed. By means of the highest device of devotion, they thus attain to the Lord in the end.”[Bhagavat 7.7.36]   

“The communion with the Lord, who is invisible and, therefore, dwelling within the body, gains for them freedom from the cycle of births and deaths. It removes from their mind all impurities and the ideas of difference and separation. The knowers of truth say that the embrace with the Lord which these devotees attain during the spiritual states of ecstasy is the same as ‘Brahma-Nirvana’. Therefore worship O young boys the Ruler who resides in your heart.”[Bhagavat 7.7.37]   

The devotee achieves purity by reciting the name of the Lord variously. The Vedantic seeker tries to achieve the same through introspection and contemplation of his own Self.

What you should do is to study the nature of your own mind and discover whether the devotional path or any other is agreeable to it. If it is the Bhakti path, adopt it and do the ‘sadhana’ on the lines of devotion wholeheartedly. 

JNANA YOGA – The Science of Knowledge

‘Jnana’ is not merely an absolute path by itself leading you towards the realization of the Self, it is also a phase which the followers of the other paths will have necessarily to pass through before attaining fulfillment and realization.

The Karma path requires you to perform work making it a ‘sadhana’, the path of devotion requires you to preserve the devotional attitude at all times considering it as a ‘sadhana’, and the path of wisdom requires you to preserve wisdom unaffected always, so that, in that very process, you will be naturally led to the vision of Truth.

Rishi Vashishtha holds high the place of wisdom in life:

“You have to gain access to the abode of peace and blessedness, O Rama, yourself, by dint of your cautious effort. No body from outside, in the form of a visible or invisible agency, will come to your rescue. The helpers, if at all, are only two. And they are your own beautiful intellect (Sundari buddhi) and then the trusted friend and counselor, called discrimination (Prajna).”

Krishna says in the Gita:

“A man of ‘shraddha (sincerity and devotion) attains ‘jnana’. But he should keep his interest always and be devoted to it. He must also practice self-restraint. Without restraint of the senses, the pursuit of jnana will be fruitless. After he gains jnana, without much delay he will be led to transcendental peace.”[Gita 4.39]

“There is no purifying agency as great as the pursuit of wisdom”.

Ashtavakra says to Janak:

“One who thinks, ‘I am bound’ remains so. One who thinks, ‘I am free’ becomes free indeed. ‘As one thinks, so indeed he becomes’. This proverb is true with regard to the seeking of liberation.”[Ashtavakra Geeta 1.11]

“When the intellect becomes sharp and penetrating, your knowledge will become deeper and more extensive, and with that the ultimate Reality will be perceived and realized directly.”[Gita 5.16]

  

“Ignorance is the root cause of all wrongs. It can be undone only by its opposite, namely knowledge. The pursuit of knowledge will make you holy and in the end you will transcend birth and death for ever.”[Gita 5.17]

Vashishtha says to Rama:  

Suppose you plunge into the waters of ‘Satsanga’ and become refreshed; then little do you need to perform any other purificatory acts like offering of ‘Dana’ (gifts), taking bath in holy waters, doing of ‘tapa’ (penance), performing ‘yajna’, etc.

Bhagavat says:

Do not think that the waters are the ‘tirthas’ (purifying places) and the idols made of clay, wood and the like are gods. If you worship them for a long time, you may be able to achieve purity. However, the ‘sadhus’ (holy souls) purify you by seeing them.

The ‘mahatmas’, God-realized souls, will always have only the spiritual; and Vedantic truths to tell you. The Vedantic truths are such that they awaken you to the truth of your innate nature, which is pure and unbound.

Surrender all that you have to Him, with an innocent mind, and then seek to know Him and become one with Him.

Meditation and Life

The knowledge gained by the five senses is called ‘Pratyaksha’ knowledge. ‘Paroksha’ knowledge denotes inference, or the results produced by the process of thinking.

In working out the ‘Aparoksha’ knowledge, the senses and the mind, the external and internal instruments of perception, including the ‘buddhi’ and whatever other knowledge-producing agency is there – all these must be at standstill: they should not be at work at all. What perception will be had in such a state is called ‘Aparoksha’. It means direct perception. ‘Aparoksha-anubhuti’ thus denotes direct, unprocessed and spontaneous realization of knowledge.

The effort at Vedantic Sadhana is no other than the practical attempt to go into the mystery of consciousness and know its nature and powers. When you gain the ‘Aparoksha-anubhuti’, you will in fact be coming face to face with the knower in you, with the sentient substance which dwells in your body, with the ‘Chetana’ or Consciousness.

About the Atman, Vedanta says it is ‘Sat-Chit-Ananda’. It becomes ‘Sat’ because of its unegatability and it’s ever existingness. ‘Sat’ is that which exists all through, unassailed by any conditions, time or place. It is that which exists independently. ‘Chit’ refers to that which beams as awareness or knowledge. While ‘Sat’ refers to existence, ‘Chit’ refers to its revelation, or the power to reveal itself.

‘Ananda’ denotes the kind of experience that comes to one when he realizes the ‘Atman’. The experience of the Self results in a condition or effect which is peaceful and auspicious.

The ‘vichar’ or ‘anusandhana’ must be of the Ultimate Truth. The Vedanta has coined its own chosen phrases for the purpose, which are called ‘Mahavakyas’:

‘Prajnanam Brahma’ – Rig-Veda

‘Aham Brahmasi’ – Yajurveda

‘Tattvamasi’ – Samaveda

‘Ayamatma Brahma’ – Atharva Veda

The revolving of such mantras in the mind continuously without interruption becomes Vedantic Meditation or ‘nididhyasana’. 

 Shankara says in ‘Aparoksanubuti’:

The thought ‘Brahman is myself’ is ‘sadvritti’. While the ‘sadvritti’ practice is done by its force and intensity, the world ideas get displaced and we reach a ‘niralamba- sthiti’. This is the extremely pleasant situation known by the word ‘Dhyana’ (meditation).

When you are able to retain the ‘Brahma-vritti’ successfully without interruption, very soon a state of ‘vritti-vismarana’ will follow. Even the ‘Brahmi-vritti’ will fall off and a peculiar transcendental state will surge up. This is called ‘Samadhi’.

There is no reason why any human being, who wants to seek and know the truth, his own Self, should not succeed. But you find quite a number of seekers not succeeding in their pursuit. The reason is the gross and subtle currents flowing beneath their mind and intellect. It is generally impossible for them to know about and locate these currents and under-currents. The contact with a divine teacher and his constant tuition alone will reveal to them their own weakness and mistakes, by the removal of which they find their way to perfection in this very life.

The Right Way of Living

Vedanta has the aim of achieving for man the direct realization of God, which in other words denotes the realization of one’s own Self.

Hanuman says:

There are three levels of understanding or vision that Hanuman speaks of: The first is, ‘I am your servant, O Lord’. The second is, ‘I am part of your existence’. The third is, ‘You and I are one’. See how clearly Hanuman has described the practical truth and realization. This description must serve to clarify the entire truth about the various attitudes and paths which the religious souls adopt in order to achieve their spiritual ends.

The three broad paths namely the ‘Karma’, ‘Jnana’ and ‘Bhakti’ all have only one ultimate end to serve for man. That end is the vision of God, the merger with the Self within.

The sears of the past have evolved the fourfold ‘Purushartha’ with the sole object of gaining for mankind true spiritual wisdom, illumination and fulfillment. The word ‘Purushartha’ means ‘the object of pursuit for man’. By ‘Purushartha’ therefore is meant the thing or things we are to achieve by virtue of our deliberate effort.

The ‘Purusharthas’ are:

Dharma

Artha

Kama

Moksha

The ultimate end is the fourth Purushartha itself, namely ‘Moksha’.

The ‘Dharmas’ which will help the Vedantic student (nay all people alike) evolve and in the end realize the Vedantic ideal, in the words of Manu:

“Ahimsa’ (non-injury), ‘Satyam’ (truthfulness), ‘Asteyam’ (non-stealing), ‘Shoucham’ (cleanliness), ‘Indriya-nigrahah’ (sense-restraint) – these are the common ‘Dharmas’ to be practiced by people belonging to all castes and societies.”

Bhishma gives following maxim to Yudhishthira;

It means ‘life subsists on life’. This is the rule we find throughout the expression of nature.

‘Ahimsa’ denotes the principle of restraining from harming or injuring others, where harming can be avoided. We should not do to anyone what we do not want to be done to ourselves.

‘Satyam’ implies that one should speak what is true. Always bear it in mind and see that your works and deeds conform to it.

‘Asteyam’ denotes non-stealing. To steal the property of another is always bad. You should also not do anything by taking away from people what is theirs, or refusing them what is theirs legitimate right.

‘Shoucham’ denotes cleanliness. By cleanliness is meant not merely the physical or external neatness, but also mental or internal purity too.

‘Indriya-nigrahah’ is really the measuring yard for dynamic life. Whether you are a ‘Dharma-nishtha’ or not will be judged by how far you are able to practice sense-restraint.

The basic factor in the pursuit of a ‘Dharmic’ life is the restraint we are able to wield over our five senses.

‘Artha’ refers to money or wealth. Our ‘Shastras’ do not, as many are inclined to think, eschew wealth or comforts. On the other hand, they have enjoined riches as the second item in the pursuit of ‘Dharmic’ life.

According to the view of our Ancients, there is no room for laziness on the part of man. Everybody is asked to exert himself well enough in order that he may have the necessary means for livelihood.

‘Kama’ means that with the riches that you have, you must procure the objects of your desire. Money is for spending, but for spending wisely and well.

‘Moksha’ literally means release, freeing or freedom. Life throughout its course is one of bondage. Unless we understand that this is so and then try to get released from it, the bondage will persist ever and ever. It is the release from the previous three ‘Purusharthas’ as well as from everything that comes within their fold, that the term ‘Moksha’ denotes.

By enjoining the fourth ‘Purushartha’ – Moksha, Vedanta intends to complete and fulfill our life hundred percent. The Vedantic vision also teaches man ‘to live as well as to leave’, to get hold of the world as also to get rid of it, to own it as well as to disown it.

A verse from ‘Bhagavat’ summarizes the correct view about human life and the ultimate object to be gained in it:

“At the end of several ‘janmas’ (births), somehow the human life has been obtained. We are fortunate in this. But this fortune will have no meaning unless we consider it our prime duty to exert earnestly getting ourselves liberated from impermanence and attain ‘Moksha’.”

The knowledge of Self is available to man alone, and that knowledge has the power of redeeming him from bondage and impermanence. The ‘Nihshreyas’ or ‘Moksha’ alone will be a worthy ideal for his pursuit. All other things are inferior and should sub-serve that.

From the changing to the changeless, from ignorance to knowledge, from bondage to liberation, from misery to happiness – this should be your watchword always.

osho siva sutras

 Bliss: Living beyond happiness and misery by Osho

What is it that makes you cry? It is only your attachments. What is it that you miss when it is lost? It is the object of your attachment. Ponder over this. Find out what it is that grips your very life, without which you feel miserable and destitute; that is the center of your attachment.

Here is what you should do: make an effort to find out what things it would hurt you to lose. Then, before they are lost, open your hands little by little, relax your grip on them. This is the method for conquering attachment. There is bound to be pain, but you must bear it; this is your penance. It is not necessary to renounce anything. It is not that you should leave your wife/FAMILY and run away to the Himalayas. Remain there, where you are, but gradually stop depending on them. There is no need to cause any pain; your family need not even know it. There is no need to tell them.

eek out the attachments. Try gradually to live without the things that you now think you cannot live without. Create such a state within yourself that if and when these things are lost, there is not the slightest tremor within you. Then you will have attained victory over these attachments. This can be possible. It has been possible. And if it has happened to even one, it can happen to all.

Always remember that you are the observer and not the doer. Do not take life to be anything more than acting. Don™t identify yourself too much with the action.

Whether you are a wife or husband, a businessman or client, don™t get too involved. Don™t lose yourself in it, for you are simply playing a role in the play. Keep outside of it, and within yourself. These are all necessary parts of life. You must go to work, it is necessary. The play is delightful if you see it as play, but it is fatal if you take it to be life. There is no reason so disrupt your life. You have to play the part that life has given you.

 Tapascharya, spiritual practice means: accepting the truth that you are alone; that there is no way one can have a friend, a companion. No matter how much you long for it, regardless of how much you close your eyes and dream of them “ you will still remain alone. For lives you built a home, you built a family, and then you lost it “ and all through that you have always remained alone. Not even slightly has your aloneness been ever affected. So one who has known, one who has accepted that he is alone, for him there is an indication in this sutra: CONSCIOUSNESS IS THE BEING. Only being is yours, nothing else.

Start with very small experiments. When anger arises, stop! What is the hurry? When you feel hatred, wait! There should be some interval. Reply only when you are fully conscious “ not until that. You will find that all that is sinful in life has fallen away from you; all that is wrong is banished forever. You will suddenly discover, there is no need to respond to anger. Perhaps you might feel  thanking the man who insults you. Because he has obliged you. He gave you an opportunity to awaken.

Kabir has said stay near the one who is critical of you. Look after him and serve him who is abusing you because it is he who gives you the opportunity to awaken.

All the occasions that drown you in unconsciousness can be turned into stepping stones to awareness if you wish so. Life is  a huge boulder lying in the middle of the road. Those who are foolish, see the stone as a barrier and turn back. For them the road is closed. Those who are clever, climb the stone and use it as a step. And the moment they make it a stepping stone greater heights are available to them.

A seeker should keep in mind only one factor, and that is: to utilize each moment to awaken awareness. Then be it hunger or anger or lust or greed, every state can be utilized towards awareness.

 All your troubles are caused by your head; your thoughts, your reasoning, your arguing, your obsessing and wondering. 

 Understand this first and foremost that you are the center of your existence; nobody else is responsible. No matter how burdensome it feels, but you alone are responsible. If you accept this truth all sorrow will soon disappear. Because once it is clear that I am making this game, how long will it take you to destroy it?

 Do not focus your gaze on things that are wrong, for what you see, slowly begins to penetrate you. You are addicted to fixing your eyes on the wrong; you pay attention only to what is wrong inside you. The angry man concentrates on his anger, and how to get rid of it. Though he wants to get rid of the anger, he is actually concentrating on that white line of anger within him; the more he concentrates the more he is hypnotized by it.

Don™t worry! Everybody is! Don™t focus your eyes on the anger, but concentrate on compassion. Concentrate on what is right. As the right gets more and more energy, the strength of the wrong gets weaker and weaker. Ultimately it will disappear. This happens because energy is one; you cannot use it in two ways. If you have utilized your energy in becoming peaceful, you would have no energy for restlessness. All your energy has moved towards peace, and if you have had a taste of peace and serenity, why bother to become restless? You can maintain your restlessness only if you have never known the flavour of serenity. You can dive into the pleasures of the world only if you have not tasted the divine. 

You never suffer nearly as much as you imagine you suffer. You never suffer the illnesses you most dread nor the miseries that you fear.  

 Shiva is saying: the body is a product of nature and your will to do. The nature is merely the source, the womb. Your ego functions  a seed in it. Your will to do this or that, to achieve this or that, to become this or that “ acts  a seed. And the moment the art of your doing meets the womb of nature, a body is formed.

Therefore, buddhas say: Give up all desires, only then will you be liberated.: If you desired for heaven, you will become an angel, but that won™t be liberation either. Because as long as desires persist, there can never be any liberation. All desires lead to the formation of bodies.  

 In life the only things that you see are things that you are projecting, and life presents you with so many situations that demonstrate that this is so. 

 Half your life is spent in thinking of the past and the other half in thinking about the future. The journey never begins. Either you roam around the byways of your memory, which is a dead dream, or you wander in your imagination which is a dream of the future, which is still to come. You are divided in these two. The present is in the middle, and that is where life is “ but you miss it!  

 THE CONSCIOUSNESS IS THE ATMAN, THE SOUL. 

The first meaning is: in this world, only consciousness is yours. The word atman means: that which is your own. Regardless of how much the rest may appear to you as your own, it is alien. All of that which you otherwise claim as yours “ friends, loved ones, family, wealth, fame, high position, a great empire “ it is all a deception. Because one day death will snatch it all away from you. So death is the criterion for determining who is your own and who is the stranger. That which death can separate you from, know that it didn™t belong to you, and that which it can™t, was indeed your own.

 you feel what else is there to do in life apart from living? And even that is out of your control; it depends on an infinite number of factors. Everything is in your unconscious mind. Why sex desire arose in you, why you raised a family, how greed and anger entered you, why you were dishonest, why you accumulated wealth, why you made enemies “ you have no idea! You are just  a puppet, whose strings are being pulled by someone else. You imagine you are dancing, but in fact it is someone else who is making you dance.

Look closely at your life and you will find that you are nothing more than a puppet. How can anything real happen in  As long as there is thirst in you, water can quench it; but you can live a kind of life in which you never feel thirsty; do not go in the sun, do no manual work, stay at home and relax and you will not feel the thirst. But then you will find no joy in drinking water. He who toils all day, enjoys the bliss of a good night™s rest. This is ironical: if you want to enjoy the pleasure of a good night™s sleep you have to work  a labourer all day. The trouble is that you want to spend your days  an emperor and your nights  a labourer.  

 How can I know these trees, how can I know you, how can I know the other if I myself am unknown to me, if I am myself ignorant; when I do not know who I am. 

 You listen to anybody who suppresses you. And your personality fractures into thousands of pieces. Until you begin to listen to the inner voice, you cannot be an integrated whole.

I call him a sannyasin who has begun to heed the inner voice and is ready to stake everything on it. But you cannot hear the inner voice as long as you are unconscious. Until then whatever you might take to be the inner voice will not be the inner voice; it will be a voice from outside

The voice that satisfies you is the voice of your desires, but you call it your inner voice.

Only the awakened person has an inner voice. Once this voice comes within range of your hearing, all that is sinful, all that is impure and dirty, all the chaos and confusion within you, will cease at once. You will then realize what a collection of personalities you have been.

 So start with the waking state. When you are hungry eat, but always remember that it is the body that is hungry, not you. If you hurt your leg, wash and clean the wound, apply medication, but always remember that it is the body that is hurt, not you. This much remembrance “ and you will find that ninety-nine percent of the pain has vanished. This slight knowledge, this little awareness removes so much of your suffering. One percent is bound to remain because the knowledge is not total. When knowledge becomes total all of the suffering disappears.

Buddha said that an awakened person is beyond suffering. You can cut off the limbs of such a person, you can throw him in the fire, you can kill him, but you cannot make him suffer, because he stands apart from all that is happening around him.

 Your life is  a car which moves sometimes with jerks caused by the dirt in its gas as if it has hiccups. That™s ordinarily how you live “ piecemeal. Your energy moves in fits and starts, bit by bit, it never comes to an integrated whole. It™s a matter of utilizing your full energy “ in anything. For example, if you are a painter and if you were to devote your entire energy into painting a picture “ without holding back even a bit “ you will attain liberation there and then. Such application of total energy is udyama. As soon as the circuit is complete, you become bhairava. If you are a sculptor and have poured into your sculpture all that you have “ so much so that only the sculpture remains, you disappear “ the energy circuit completes. So when you use your total energy in any work “ it becomes meditation. Then the bhairava is close, the temple is nearby.

 As soon as you are filled with awareness, the first thing that will happen is you will begin to see misery, the hell around you. Because you are the one who has created it. However, if you remain courageous and pass through the misery consciously, you will have cut the crop. You won™t have to go through the same miseries again. Once you have gone through this chain of miseries “ the chain of karmas, the chain tied around your soul.... If you could pass through it without losing your consciousness, courageously, unworried; if you could determine, whatever misery I have created, I™ll go through it, I™ll go to the end of it. I want to arrive at that initial moment when I was innocent and the journey of suffering had not started yet, when my soul was absolutely pure and I had not gathered any misery “ I am determined to penetrate up to that point regardless of any consequences, pain, or sorrow.

 No injustice ever takes place in this universe. Whatsoever happens is always just and right, for there is no human being sitting up there doing either justice or injustice. The universe is ruled by certain laws, and these laws constitute religion.

 The man who had abused him would ask, I abused you yesterday, why did you not reply yesterday? You are very strange. No one waits for a second when you abuse him. He retorts immediately.

Junnaid answered, My master taught me not to hurry in anything. Take some time. I must wait a little when someone insults me. If I were to give an immediate answer, the heat of the happening would catch hold of me; the smoke would blind my eyes. So I have to wait and let the cloud pass. When twenty-four hours have passed and the skies are clear again, then I can give my reply in full consciousness. Now I realize how tricky my guru was. Because I have never been able to answer my opponents since then.

Is it possible to hold on to anger for twenty-four hours? It is impossible to maintain it for twenty-four minutes or even twenty-four seconds. The truth is that, even if you hold back and watch for a single second, the anger vanishes.

But you do not wait even for a moment. A person abuses you “ as if someone switches the button, and the fan starts whirring. There is not the slightest gap between the two, no distance! And you pride yourself in your alertness! You have no control of yourself. How can an unconscious person be master of himself? Anybody can push the button and goad him into action. Someone comes and flatters you, and you are filled with joy; you are happy. Someone insults you, you are full of tears. Are you your own master or anyone can manipulate you? You are the slave of slaves. And those who are manipulating are not their own masters either! And the irony is that everyone is expert in manipulating others and none of them is conscious. What greater insult can there be for your soul than the fact that anyone can affect you?

 Whenever you™ll open your eyes, you will find nothing but ugliness and misery all around you. Everything looks fine when you are in an unconscious state. This is the reason why you find it difficult to conceive: CONSCIOUSNESS IS THE BEING. You say, Impossible! That™s why one needs to go through pain. That is called tapascharya, spiritual practice. Whenever one begins to become aware, first he will have to go through suffering. For lives you have created misery around you, who else would pass through it if not you? That is what we have called the karma.

 Has it ever occurred to you that the last thought before your falling asleep at night becomes the first thought on waking up in the morning? All night long, while you remain asleep, the thought stays within you in a seed form. And so, that which is the last thing at night becomes first in the morning. At the moment of your death all your desires will come together and become a seed. That very seed will consequently be the new life in the womb. You start fresh from where you left off.

Whatsoever you are is of your own making. Don™t blame others. As a matter of fact, there is no one whom you can blame. Basically it is the cumulative effect of your own actions. Whatsoever you are “ beautiful or ugly, happy or unhappy, man or a woman “ it is all a result of your actions. You are the architect of your life. Don™t blame on your stars “ you™ll be simply fooling yourself. This way you are dumping the responsibility on to someone else.

No need to say God has sent you “ don™t dump the responsibility on God. That™s just a strategy to avoid your own responsibility. You alone are the cause for being imprisoned in this body. One who understands perfectly that he himself is responsible for being in this world, a transformation takes place in his life.

“Whenever you’ll open your eyes, you will find nothing but ugliness and misery all around you. Everything looks fine when you are in an unconscious state. This is the reason why you find it difficult to conceive: CONSCIOUSNESS IS THE BEING. You say, ”Impossible!” That’s why one needs to go through pain. That is called tapascharya, spiritual practice. Whenever one begins to become aware, first he will have to go through suffering. For lives you have created misery around you, who else would pass through it if not you? That is what we have called the karma.”

“As you become aware of life, you will begin to see the root cause to all your actions and reactions. Then you will realize that you are not angry with the child because he made a mistake, but because you get pleasure out of being angry. The mistake was only a excuse.”

“But you do just the opposite. You strengthen your thought-waves. You are seized by worthless thoughts and you co-operate with them. You are sitting alone, there is nothing to do and you start thinking of fighting the coming election. The dream begins! Nothing will please you short of reaching the president’s chair. You have become a president in your dream. There are felicitations and you are enjoying them thoroughly! You never stop to think – what kind of stupidity is this! What are you doing? You are just giving energy to worthless fantasies. Your mind is filled with useless illusions of this kind.

The constant flow of dreams eats up a large amount of your energy. It is not for free! You purchase it at the cost of your life.

If we examine human life in detail, we will find that ninety-nine percent of the life is lost in fruitless dreams  this. Some dream of wealth, others of power, and others of various conquests. What will you gain even if you attain them all?

Thought-waves are nothing but dreams. Do not strengthen them. When the dream starts running within, shake yourself and break the dream as quickly as you can.”

 Shiva says: UDYAMA IS BHAIRAVA. The day you begin your spiritual endeavor, you start becoming bhairava “ you start becoming one with God. Your first rays of endeavor, and the journey toward the sun has begun; the first thought of liberation, and the destination is not far off. Because the first step is almost half of the journey.

Spiritual endeavor is bhairava. It will take time for you to attain it; it will be a while before you reach the destination. But as soon have begun the effort and the seed is sown: Let me get out of this prison and be free of this body, let me be relieved of all desires, let me not sow more seeds and increase my involvement in this world, let me not desire more births. As soon as the feeling intensifies within you to overcome your unconsciousness, you start becoming bhairava

 As you become aware of life, you will begin to see the root cause to all your actions and reactions. Then you will realize that you are not angry with the child because he made a mistake, but because you get pleasure out of being angry. The mistake was only a excuse.

 Your body is made of two things: your will to do, your ego, and the physical form you have received from the prakriti, the nature. If the will to do is present within you, then the nature will go on providing you with an appropriate body. This is how you have been born again and again. Sometimes you were an animal, sometimes a bird, a tree some other time, and sometimes a man. Whatsoever you wished to achieve, it has happened. Your desire to achieve becomes the actuality; thoughts become real things. So beware when you desire, because all desires are fulfilled “ sooner or later.

If you are of the habit of watching the birds fly in the sky and wonder, How free the birds are, I wish I were a bird. it will not be long before you become a bird. You see dogs mating, and if that moment a thought arises in you, What freedom! What happiness! “ soon you will become a dog. Whatever desire you keep within you, it becomes a seed.

 So as long as you have not attained to desirelessness, as long as you have not renounced desires completely, you will go on taking births and wandering in different bodies. And howsoever different the forms of the body may be, their basic condition is always the same. The ills of the body are the same, regardless whether it™s a bird™s body or man™s. There is no difference in their miseries, because the fundamental misery is only one: the soul becoming confined in the body, the entering of the soul into the prison of body. A prison after all is a prison; it makes no difference whether its walls are circular or angular no matter what you think.

 But you do just the opposite. You strengthen your thought-waves. You are seized by worthless thoughts and you co-operate with them. You are sitting alone, there is nothing to do and you start thinking of fighting the coming election. The dream begins! Nothing will please you short of reaching the president™s chair. You have become a president in your dream. There are felicitations and you are enjoying them thoroughly! You never stop to think “ what kind of stupidity is this! What are you doing? You are just giving energy to worthless fantasies. Your mind is filled with useless illusions of this kind.

The constant flow of dreams eats up a large amount of your energy. It is not for free! You purchase it at the cost of your life.

If we examine human life in detail, we will find that ninety-nine percent of the life is lost in fruitless dreams  this. Some dream of wealth, others of power, and others of various conquests. What will you gain even if you attain them all?

Thought-waves are nothing but dreams. Do not strengthen them. When the dream starts running within, shake yourself and break the dream as quickly as you can. 

 UDYAMA IS BHAIRAVA “ a very intense effort is needed. The sleep is very deep. Only a consistent hammering will be able to break it. So being lazy won™t help. You may destroy the sleep today but create a new one tomorrow. This way you will continue to wander from one birth to another. It would not do any good if you broke the sleep on the one hand and went on creating anew on the other “ all your effort will be in vain. So udyama means you must make an all out effort. 

 The fifth sutra is: ONE WHO APPLIES HIS TOTAL ENERGY, FOR HIM THE WORLD EXISTS NO MORE.

And if you have made the right effort, if you have harnessed your total energy into searching the truth, God, or soul, then the circuit of your energy becomes complete. Right now it is not a whole “ it is torn and split.