Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
Day 71, November 6
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Ganesaya Namaha
Sri Saraswatyai Namaha
Sripada Vallabha
Narasimha Saraswati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha
Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Sadgurubhyo Namaha
asato ma sadgamaya
tamaso ma jyotirgamaya
mrityor ma amrtam gamaya
Om Santissantissantihi
Please lead me from untruth to Truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality. May there be peace.
Yoga Vasishtha Dhyana Slokas:
yatassarvāṇi bhūtāni pratibhānti sthitāni ca
yatraivōpaśamaṁ yānti tasmai satyātmanē namaḥ || 1
jñātā jñānaṁ tathā jñēyaṁ draṣṭādarśana dr̥śyabhūḥ
kartā hētuḥ kriyā yasmāt tasmai jñaptyātmanē namaḥ || 2
sphuranti sīkarā yasmāt ānanandasyāṁbarē vanau
sarvēṣām jīvanam tasmai brahmānandātmanē namaḥ || 3
Om santissantissantihi
Yesterday Sri Rama expressed a doubt after hearing about Suka Yogi who had attained complete Jnana. Suka left his body and became fully liberated. But how is it that his father Sage Vyasa, who gave him the spiritual knowledge in the first place, is still not liberated and is still occupying a body? Rama asked Sage Vasisththa to kindly clear his doubt.
It is a good question.
Vasishtha began his response. He began by saying that the scope of Creation that seems to have existed in the past, exists in the present, and appears as if will exist in the future, comprising of the entire cosmos including all the galaxies, and the solar systems, cannot be estimated. The constituent parts cannot be counted or measured. Those who attempt to count or measure them are ignorant. It is more important to study ourselves and understand ourselves.
We cannot even measure the depth of an ocean at it s deepest point. We have not yet reached the planets which are near us. How can we hope to reach the Sun? There are said to be numerous solar systems like ours. We are supposed to have twelve aspects of our sun and hence, we speak about the Dwadasa Adityas, the twelve suns. We are only seeing the one sun.
Just like our immediate family and the extended family making a large group of persons, the solar family is also huge. Our Universe is immeasurable. There are places where the light of any of our suns does not even reach. Such galaxies are countless. We cannot perceive the dimension of Creation with our senses. It is useless to even attempt it. Compared to us, Indra is a great entity. Even his capacity is highly limited. Leave aside our forefathers who had performed great penance and had discovered much, which is actually miniscule and insignificant in the total picture. To enumerate all that exists in Creation is absolutely impossible. We imagine and say that innumerable galaxies exist numbering in trillions or more. Aneka koti brahmandas are there, we can say, but it is impossible to give a number. We cannot count the number grains of sand on the seashore, no matter how many people gather to make the calculation.
Rama acknowledged that he understood the concept. Vyasas are innumerable. They come and go.
This Vyasa who is in front of you is just one such. He is fully knowledgeable and has transcended ignorance. He is not concerned about the visible world. He is not perturbed by joys and sorrows. We are affected by them because we perceive this world and we are experiencing it. Because we are experiencing it, it is real for us.
A baby will play with a snake assuming that it is a toy. He has no sense of fear. Only after growing up, by the fear induced in him by others, he begins to fear snakes. Similarly, we have developed a fear about this Creation.
We have begun to differentiate that this is good, this is bad, this person is my friend, and this person is not my friend and we feel fear. Due to this fear, knowledge has not dawned within us. Sadguru does not differentiate like that. He has no fear. Hence, he is in possession of the knowledge of Truth.
This point Rama has understood. How much has occurred in the past, how much exists right now, and how much will occur in the future, are all impossible to estimate or count. Rama however did not specify that he understood the situation about Vyasa. Vasishtha as Guru is fully enlightened. The disciple Rama has things to still learn and understand.
Vyasa is appearing in front of Rama. Seeing Vyasa still occupying a body, Rama is still entertaining doubts about his state of complete liberation. Vasishtha saw the need to explain to him further to make him understand properly.
Triyak ..
There are three types of body. The gross physical body is the body that we can see and can touch. It constitutes the five elements. Where is the subtle body? The state of the dream is where we see everything with the mind. We see physical objects, and even ourselves and have the experiences of the senses. What exists in that state is the subtle body. In deep sleep what exists is the causal body. All three are our bodies. Our body is divided into these three parts.
How these are experienced during our lifetime, and after life departs, are different. Even the subtle and causal bodies are illusory, not just the physical body. While the man lived, we interacted with him. After he died, his subtle body creates another world as per his choice according to the preoccupation of his mind at the time of his death.
Mahatmas are not like that. After leaving the body, as per their wish they may or may not assume a body. They are Jnanis, fully enlightened and hence, have transcended illusion.
People comment sometimes that a child looks exactly like an ancestor, a grandfather, or uncle or someone in the family. Often, it is the same soul of that ancestor that is reborn into the family with the same characteristics, behaviour, and physical features.
The world is created again and again. We are born again and again. We need to pray that again and again we must be in the company of Sadguru because it is only Sadguru who can rescue us from rebirth. The vasanas and karma of a soul are very strong and will be the cause of the future births.
There are ten Vyasas who are fully enlightened. They will keep composing the Mahabharata in every 4 Yuga cycle. They are all fully enlightened. They assume a physical form of their own volition for the benefit of the world.
Regardless of what type of body a soul occupies, be it of an insect, animal, bird, human, demi-god, or a deity, the soul that occupies it, has to leave that body. The duration of the life span may vary vastly. But when it does leave the body, it does not go anywhere. It remains right there and will continue to witness the world.
That is why when great souls leave their bodies and the near and dear ones are weeping inconsolably, they are offered solace with the words that the soul has not gone anywhere, and that it is very much present in the same vicinity. It is our imagination that the soul leaves and comes. Rituals are conducted to make offerings to the ancestral spirits. Just to make us understand in simple terms, we are told that the spirits will come and receive the food. But the fact is that the spirits are always right there.
We see so many tiny insects and they live in their worlds. We do not notice their complicated lives. If you look under a microscope, you will see the germs which are invisible to the naked eye, squirming and moving, reproducing, having families and lives of their own, living in their own world. They have pleasures and pains, their battles, and their celebrations.
Because the physical body made up of the five elements has gone, we think that the person or creature is gone. But his subtle form remains. He witnesses the world, occupying that subtle, invisible form. He remains witnessing everything for twelve days and no more. If his attachment with us is intense, he will be watching us. If his interest is elsewhere, he may not be noticing us. He prepares to take another body thereafter. For the twelve days as per our time scale, the subtle form of the creature will be there. That is why we perform funeral rites for twelve days. What the time scale which is the equivalent of our twelve days for that subtle creature, we have no clue. We can only be concerned about the time scale that we are aware of. We are anyway not making sufficient effort to gain Jnana. Let us at least perform the required rites for the departed souls as stipulated in the scriptures.
We see a river. We need to cross it. We have to employ a reasonable means to cross it, such as building a bridge, or getting a boat. Declaring that this river is an illusion and is non-existent, neither I nor the river exists, if we jump in, what will happen? Drowning will occur. With experience of Yoga, that great souls like Sri Krishna Paramatma, and other sages and seers have walked across a river walking on water is a different matter.
We have imagined our world to be of a certain character. We believe that fire burns and water submerges. We have to abide by those rules. Mahatmas know from knowledge which they have acquired over many lifetimes that only Paramatma exists and that all else is an illusion. Such persons are not affected by fire and water. That is a different matter.
The Upanishads give a description as to what happens to a departed soul and specify the rituals to be performed, in the section that prescribes procedures. But in the section that deals with spiritual knowledge, Jnana, they say that the soul has nothing like coming and going.
The soul, which is an unbroken whole as the Paramatma, has deliberately divided itself, separated itself, and limited itself. We have done that to ourselves. If we ourselves put ourselves down, will others appreciate and praise us? We must neither become egotistical, nor should we degrade ourselves. We must identify ourselves with the Supreme Soul, Paramatma. See how great Vedanta is and how useful it is for mankind and society!
We assume the person has left the body and gone away. He has not gone anywhere. He is invisible, that is all. When we see a sleeping person, we are unaware of what he is dreaming about or what goes on inside his mind. We only see the body. If he does not wake up in the morning, then we say, oh he died in his sleep at midnight, it seems. We did not even know. The subtle body remains there although it has left the body. What has happened to his world?
The world is created by our own imagination, which has no limits. Each of us lives inside that imagined universe.
Aativahanam …
The Upanishads are saying: The disembodied soul travels in the path ordained by the path that he followed during his lifetime. The good person travels the path of light; the wicked person travels the path of darkness: the one who lived as a Karma Yogi follows a certain path; the one who has renounced all Karma follows a certain path and so on. How is this possible?
We have to understand the concept properly. The celestial energies are supposed to carry away the soul. But it is not a physical plane that they take it to, which is so many miles away.
If we close our eyes and imagine that we have travelled to Bangalore, or Vijayawada, or Hyderabad, we are already there. Can that distance travelled by the mind be measured in miles or kilometres? How to define that distance travelled by the mind? Whereas to travel physically, we have to measure the distance and the time that it takes to travel there. For the subtle body, just like for the mind, the destinations are already there inside the mind. There is no such thing as having to travel a certain distance to travel anywhere.
The description of being carried away is like a story told to make children understand a concept. Hell and heaven are right there. In Kali Yuga, the punishment for bad deeds occurs immediately. Our life span is much shorter than it was in Krita Yuga or Treta Yuga. If the life’s duration is too short to experience the consequences of our karma, it may get postponed to a future life. We mistakenly assume that we are suffering for the sins committed by someone else. That never happens. God’s plan, his design of this Creation project is beyond our comprehension. Yama is his name. He always follows his prescribed duties and rules at the time of death.
We only carry our bodies. But our subtle bodies are given the description that they are carried away to different worlds.
In his mind, the disembodied soul is experiencing everything right where he is, in his consciousness. This space is immeasurable. Similarly, the space in our consciousness is also limitless. Only a few have the realization that actually all that exists is only the Paramatma. Most people do not make the effort to realize this Truth.
People obtain the future bodies as they visualize and desire for themselves at the time they leave their previous body, is what is being informed to us. To satisfy the desires which they entertain, they are born in suitable situations, families, countries, and locations. When this transfer to a different body will occur, is something that we do not know. It may happen at once, or after a lapse of time that may stretch from a days to several Yugas. In between, several other bodies also may be occupied by that soul. That time scale and what determines the time lapse is beyond our knowledge. His thoughts determine his future lives. If his thoughts are preoccupied with this visible (illusory) world, he will again take birth in this same visible world. What is the use of that?
After studying hard in the first grade, and having written all the exams, if, instead of graduating and progressing to the next grade and on to college and higher in course of time, if you keep repeating first grade, what is the benefit? We are not concerned about rising higher in our evolution. That is the message given to us here by Sage Vasishtha.
Bhootaanaam…
We got this body as per our previous wish. We have to now decide where we wish to go in the future. We are informed of how our own thoughts and wishes determine our future lives. If we do spiritual sadhana and make progress, our future lives will be a certain way. If we fail to do so, they will be a certain different way.
Sankalpa..
Vasishtha beautifully describes this illusory creation. This is all built up by our own inner visualization. To actually build a skyscraper of 140 floors as they have built in Dubai, you have to actually be present there and use building materials to construct it. But in your imagination, remaining right where you are, you can construct a skyscraper from earth to heaven. Even while listening or talking, you can see it getting constructed in your mind. You cannot touch it with your hands; that is all.
In Manasa Puja, in the kingdom of the mind, you create a beautiful throne for Mother Goddess or any chosen deity such as Krishna or Siva and you place God on the gem-studded throne and offer worship. In your imagination you can produce unimaginable, non-existent precious gems and build the throne with it. Effortlessly you can create in your mind all the grandeur that you desire. Whereas, to build a silver pedestal in the physical plane, you need to expend much effort, time, and expenditure.
Magicians of yore, to attract children, to get them to get them alms from their parents would create a pearl necklace out of thin air and offer it to them. Pleased with the gift, the children would urge their parents to give some alms to the magician. The parents are aware that it is just an illusory act, but, since the magician had entertained the child, they oblige and give a gift or money. As the magician leaves the premises, the object thus created, would also disappear even while the child is playing with it. These tricks are not practiced these days.
In Swamiji’s childhood, some objects like that were created by Satyanarayana. His father was concerned that his son was resorting to performing cheap magic tricks. He gathered those articles, placed them on his altar or under his pillow and performed intense japa. By the power of his japa, if they were magic tricks, the objects should have vanished. But they did not. Then he knew that Swamiji’s was the power of Yoga, and not any cheap magic trick. That was his father’s method of investigation.
The world that we create within our own consciousness is illusory and impermanent.
Some story tellers are so effective in creating in our mind’s eye the scenes and the characters from the story as if they were real physical beings appearing before us. They make the Pandavas appear before us. They make Mother Sita appear before us. How do you describe that experience? We experience all the emotions and we respond with tears and laughter to what is occurring in the stories.
A person who is in delirium will imagine that an earthquake is occurring. Others know that it is not true. But the patient is shaking and trembling because he experiences the instability.
Children are sometimes shown fearsome toys just to make them feel fear. In truth, there is nothing there to cause fear. It is all a play. When people suffer from certain eye diseases, they see floating insects, or objects like pearls or mist. It is not real. How ridiculous it would be to assume that these things are real. In Kerala, as you ride on a boat on the backwaters, you do not feel the movement of the boat because of the skill of the boatman. The water is still. But the trees along the riverbank seem to keep moving back. You do not hear the sound of any motor. The boat does not shake. When we are riding on vehicle, we see the road moving backward. It is all illusory. We see towns in our dreams. One person saw a flower in the sky and wished to pluck it. Is it possible to have a tree growing in the sky that produces flowers? All these examples tell us how man experiences this world. Based on all this information, how can we still argue that this world is real, because we see and touch all these things?
We have direct experience of all these examples. We must accept and understand them. It is a common experience that we see a rope in the dark and imagine it to be a snake and get frightened. This one example is enough to convince us. But we are in total ignorance and delusion. This whole creation is a fabrication of our own minds.
We have become too accustomed to living in this illusory world since innumerable lifetimes. We have therefore confirmed to ourselves that this is real and physical and therefore, when we leave the body we re-create this entire physical aspect and end up again in a physical body.
What we refer to as Janma is nothing but our own effort of gathering the five elements towards ourselves and re-constructing for ourselves yet another physical body.
The physical body once again manifests a physical universe. We move from the subtle back to a physical existence. The going and coming are all happening within us. This body is very precious. While it is with us, we must make every effort to gain knowledge. If we lose this body before completing our task of obtaining Jnana, we will once again be stuck in this cycle. Without the body, we cannot do sadhana. What type of body we will get in the future will depend on our sankalpa, our thought process and preoccupation at the time of death. To get good sankalpas at the end of life, we must keep listening to good things, keep performing good deeds, and keep ourselves on the good path.
There is much more to learn. After explaining all the details, Vasishtha explains to Rama how Vyasa is indeed a liberated soul.
Unless the entire subject is listened to, and grasped, it is not possible to understand its essence. We are still at the very beginning. Not everything is understood by everyone in all circumstances. Our tendency is to get discouraged that we do not understand the subject and to leave the study. That is a mistake. Treat this like a small thorny bush on our path and once we cross it, our journey will be smooth. We may find such hurdles along the way but by Guru’s grace we will overcome them all.
How do we earn Guru’s grace? By dedication, faith, and steady effort we will earn Guru’s grace. It is up to us to keep increasing our devotion and faith. We should continue to serve Guru to our best ability. He will grant us the grace as per our eligibility. We should pray for deeper knowledge and direct experience. This is knowledge about ourselves. We have to gain the knowledge about ourselves through our own effort. Our neighbours are not going to do it for us. This is for our benefit. I pray that we all should succeed.
Today is full moon. Dattatreya and Pavamana homas are being conducted. Dhanvantari abhishekam is being performed. In the evening Maha Deepotsavam will take place at the Hanuman temple. Please witness and participate.
Tomorrow there will be no discourse because it is the first day in the lunar phase and hence unsuitable for the study of any new topic in a philosophical discourse. We will resume the study of Yoga Vasishtha the day after tomorrow.
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
Om santissantissantihi