Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
June 29, 2016
Om Santissantissantihi
Yesterday we learned about the travel of Leela Devi and Saraswati. They went beyond all the solar systems in the cosmos and reached a place where there was no sunlight even. They went even beyond Goloka. We may call it Vaikuntha or Siva Loka. Siva Loka is beyond Kailasa. Siva Loka is the Chidakasa, it is the place of Paramatma. Siva devotees call it Siva Loka, Vishnu devotees call it Vaikuntha. Devotees of Mother Goddess call it Mani Dveepam.
The ladies went beyond the five elements. We feel tired after a long journey. Leela Devi, now feeling tired, felt a disturbance in her dhyana and momentarily felt that instead of being Paramatma herself, she was now again Leela Devi. That moment she turned and looked back. There were no sun and moon to be seen. There was nothing to see there except thick darkness. Leela Devi asked Saraswati about this in surprise.
Sloka
Mother, we have come so far away that even the sun has become invisible. I do not even see him tiny as an atom.
Sloka
What exists beyond this? What Loka are we going to? What is there beyond this? I cannot even imagine. This cannot be imagined.
It is not something that is described in books. How to reach that place which is beyond this? How long will this journey take? The Chakras within us are the different Lokas. Ajna chakra is the level which is visible to the eye. With Sadguru’s permission one has to go to the Sahasrara from the Ajna Chakra. There you experience Suddha Chaitanya/Pure Consciousness. The ladies have traveled now from the Anahata/heart Chakra to Ajna Chakra. They have been going round and round in that region all this time.
Sloka
Mother said, beyond this is the region which is like a turtle’s back. Where the sun and moon arise like specks of dust, no matter how many suns or moons you may imagine, they rise like specks of dust. You must imagine such a scene in dhyana.
‘Aabrahmakeeta jananee’ the description of Mother Goddess from the Lalita Sahasranama will be understood when this is experienced. This is the in-between stage between the Saguna and the Nirguna state (with form and formless). Suns and moons rise here like particles of dust. That is why we do not see them. Sage Vasisththa explains to Rama: They, like bees, reached the boundaries of the Brahmanda, created Universe. They reached the place very easily. They did not hit the wall as an obstruction, but instead, they went beyond effortlessly. It depends on whether one believes that a wall exists or does not exist. Yogis go through walls and doors. If one believes that a wall exists, it is impossible to cross it. Only if one knows that it is an illusion, one can cross over it. The faith has to be extremely firm. Faith is very important. There is no cover for Brahmanda to cross. Siddhis are not important. One should not go after them. Because as long as one imagines that there is a wall, one can never cross it. One should experience that no such wall even exists. It cannot be proven. Proofs are seen at the Siddhis level. But in Advaita, no proofs are available. Only experience is there. The enlightened women reached beyond the wall of Brahmanda. They went to see the water which is calmest. It was expansive, multiple times vaster than Brahmanda itself. Like a walnut shell, there is a water covering around it. Then ten times greater is the covering of fire, and as many times of air and as many time vaster space, and they finally saw the ten times greater Chidaakaasa/inner space of Consciousness. Entire creation is within the Chidakasa. It pervades all the five elements and is everywhere.
‘Siva’ in the bhajan, ‘unnadi okade sivudega’, is this one and only Paramatma.
Only when ignorance is completely removed, this experience comes. Experience cannot be shown to another. How did the two ladies experience it? Their ignorance was completely gone. It is not like fresh water has replaced the stale water. Jnana is always there. Ignorance, when it vanishes, it is replaced at once by Knowledge, or knowledge hitherto hidden, becomes revealed. That is what has happened there. Have the ladies really traveled? Yes, if you believe so. No, if you believe so. This is not a made-up story. It is concocted to help us to understand.
Sloka
Where is Narayana? He is in the Parama Akasa. He is Himself the Paramakasa/the Supreme Space. It has no form. It has no beginning, end, or middle. He is like the born son of an infertile mother. No such a person exists. An impossibility. In the Sastra, this example is commonly used, a rabbit’s horn, and so on, which are never existent and are impossible to exist.
Sloka
That alone exists. It is peaceful. It is self-illuminating. Not your soul or my soul. It is just soul. It is free from any delusion. They experienced it.
Sloka Aakalpam
Note compiler: Bad audio 29 min – 33
They went beyond the five elements. This is mentioned in Kenopanishad. Who are you? The entity/Yaksha was asked. We must remember his answer. Even Garuda cannot reach there. Garuda is totally the embodiment of the Vedas. Only with the Jnana section of the Veda we can reach that state, not with the Karma section.
In that moment, in the Brahmanda, they experienced the stage which is free from ignorance. It is said that from Atma come the five elements. Shabalam is one with different colors. Because of the colors, creation occurs. A hibiscus placed next to a crystal, gives the crystal the red color, which does not really belong to the crystal. Atma is immeasurable. It is unfathomable and indescribable. It is everywhere. The entire Universe including all the galaxies is like a tiny egg in it. They saw this. Not only this. They saw many such Brahmandas. Svaprakasa Adhishthana Chaitanyam. Self-effulgent Paramakasa. A beam of light is seen through the ray of the sun entering through the window, and it has countless particles floating in it. In the vast ocean of nothingness are all these countless universes floating. Chit/Consciousness is like a liquid and all the galaxies are like bubbles emerging and bursting in it. That is the description of Paramakasa to make us understand its vastness.
Sloka
What is the situation there? Some galaxies are rising, and some are descending, some are still, and some are going crooked. It is dependent on the feelings and imaginations of the individuals. Ichcha is desire or will. Everything is going in balance without colliding because it is God’s will.
Sloka
Based on the tendencies of past lives, people experience differently. Samvit is past tendency which determines what we see or experience. In some Lokas, some being are never blocked by any obstacles.
Sloka
There are no concepts of coming or going, no duality exists. The Brahman is beyond all differences of time and space fragments.
Sloka
There is nothing above and nothing below. There is no such thing as above and below. Only the ignorant see such differences. The Jnani experiences the unfragmented Brahman. Because we are all still experiencing Avidya/ignorance, we are told about these. A child imagines many things emerging and dissolving. Leela Devi and Saraswati are seeing the galaxies emerging and dissolving like bubbles. What is great about this? It is like our viewing the ocean with foam where bubbles form and burst. This is all an illusion. They are seeing all this from a deluded state.
Ignorance gives rise to these concepts and they are causing these births and deaths of all the galaxies.
Rama asked a question. Brahma has no differences or parts or changes. We accept that. When the source is free from changes, how can the product arising from it have changes and differences? It is like asking why you imagine the snake in the rope? A snake does not exist in the rope. But man imagines what never existed and never is, nor ever will be. Why do we see such non-existent things? What makes it happen? We have fabricated all these different worlds; upper worlds, middle worlds, and nether worlds. The rope does not hiss, or move. But the snake’s form occurs in your mind when you see a rope. What is the cause for this Creation? There is no cause and effect. Everything exists only in your imagination.
Rama knows. He is asking so that our questions get answered. Here their description is suggesting that.
I remember in 2002 we went to Dubai. Shetty sent a car. Swamiji sat in the front. I and Prasad sat in the back. We were going to see the sunset which is supposed to be beautiful. Swamiji asked where did the directions come from? Sun does not move. When the earth is rotating, how do you know the direction? Swamiji asked me to speak. I said: there are no directions as per spirituality. Swamiji asked, In Vastu Sastra how did the directions come about? They specify kitchen should be in this direction, and so on. Vastu Sastra is in Veda. What is the purpose of Vastu? Can we deny Vastu? If we do, then can you keep the bathroom at the entrance to the house? Vastu specifies that kitchen should be placed there, puja room there and so on. Without directions no Vastu Sastra exists. We reached our destination and the discussion ended. Vastu, I thought was a frivolous mention. My mind dwelt on the topic of directions. If Sun is still in the sky and unmoving, and if we go beyond the Sun, what about the directions and time? Do they exist? We will have no such thing as directions (east, west, north, and south). I pondered deeply over it, and stopped here at this present topic of our study.
We use directions in the worldly parlance. Even after studying Yoga Vasishtha, we have to go in the proper direction to reach our homes.
Ultimate Truth cannot be shown out in the visible world. It can only be experienced internally. Sri Rama asked this question.
Sloka
Vasishtha replied. One with faulty vision at night, will see non-existent balls of hair floating in the air. He will try to catch them. Ignorance causes non-existent things to appear. That is how in Brahman, people see the Universe. The ball of hair is non-existent but the night-blind person sees them.
Rama, mango is sweet or sour as per individual experience. It is never spicy hot.
We always ask such questions. This is Maya. Whatever is impossible is made possible by Maya. What more can you say about Maya? Sri Bhagavatpada (Adi Sankara) has composed the Maya Panchakam. Wonderful work. Maya is tough to overcome. Only with Jnana one can transcend Maya. All things are dependent on Iswara. Sky is above and the earth is below we think. It is wrong. If we go beyond the earth, this theory is dispelled.
Sri Kuppa Krishnamurthy in the Yoga Vasishtha commentary has explained this. Sri Bodhendra Saraswati Swami has explained the entire science as explained in the Yoga Vasishtha. In spirituality space and time are non-existent.
We will continue tomorrow.
Om santissantissantihi