Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
Day 148, June 13
Sri Sadgurubhyo namaha
Om Santissantissantihi
Sometimes we do not know where we began, where we are proceeding, and where it is going to end. Just remember that we are learning what Jnana is. Just keep that in mind. Be sincere in your effort. Jnana is Moksha, Liberation.
While still living in the body also, one can be liberated. Jeevanmuktas are such people. It is enough to know what Jnana is. For that, you must first know what Ajnana or ignorance is. Getting drowned in the separateness of I and You, and this worldly drama is bondage. It is ignorance. The mind has this impression of the world imposed upon it. If you sweep it aside, then you will realize that you are none other than Pure Consciousness.
Are there not other easier methods to get liberated? Why should one strive for Jnana? None of those other methods will actually give liberation.
A stone has no feeling. It has no life. No impression of the world on it. If one remains like a rock, is that liberation? No. Jeevanmukta does everything but remains untouched by the world. Such a great Upadesha is given to us. Remaining like a rock is not liberation. One should become a Jeevanmukta. His mind ever dwells on Paramatma. He is ever aware that this world is all make-believe. He is not victimized by illusion.
Vasishtha says I have never seen such yogis who sit like a stone. Buddha may appear as if he is sitting like a rock. Buddha woke up and said: I am now Jnana. My form now is Jnana itself. Siddhartha became transformed into Gautama, the Buddha. Only Jnana made him into a Buddha. In the meantime, as I was seeking, I was drowned in Ajnana, ignorance, he said. My realization has liberated me.
Only from Jnana the realization occurred. We must try to obtain Jnana.
This sarga teaches that the world picture must be eradicated from the mind without leaving room for any seed to linger. Otherwise the tree called the world might sprout again into existence.
In the Yoga Vasishtha, the term Drsya Maarjana is frequently used. One must let all this go. Even the instrument by which this is all swept off, even that instrument must be discarded. The vehicle that you used, to travel from Bengaluru to Mysore, must also be left, for you to enter your home, once the destination is reached. You have to get off the bus when you reach home. You have to leave the boat after crossing the waters. Otherwise you will still remain in the boat. You will still be in the river. Even if you drag the boat onto the shore, and continue to sit inside the boat, even that is useless. You do not reach your destination. The instrument that you used to sweep, the broom, also has to be discarded. Your mind, with its seed has to be eradicated without leaving a trace.
Trees are felled to make roads or to widen them. It disturbs the ecology. But for the sake of progress, it is done, they say.
The cut tree will again sprout. It will dig its roots deeper, as a result. It will disturb the road that is laid over it. So. some fuel is poured and the trunk is burned so it will not sprout. With the seed it must be removed. The tree that is buried, will still remain. It does not disappear. It will remain alive and will come back to life. It should not be allowed to sprout again or put out seeds again. A burnt seed will not sprout.
Give up your mind. Give up your separate existence, as a different entity from God. With unflinching and one-pointed devotion, you surrender completely to God. Ananya Bhakti is required where no other remains, not even the ‘I’. One should reach this stage in devotion. Ekameva – one only exists. For God to reside in your heart, you have to develop this identification with God. As long as you remain separate from God, you will not merge into Him.
Kalidasa complained to Mother Goddess that she never praised him. “Tvamevaaham”, said Mother Goddess to Kalidasa. You are I are one. that is why I do not praise you, because if I praised you, I would be praising myself, said the Goddess. Kalidasa understood what she meant. She already identified Herself with him. He had to realize that he was one with Her. He fell at Her feet. Your mercy is without bounds, O Mother, he cried. I had been so ignorant. I made a terrible mistake in expecting you to praise me. That moment, he became Kalidasa, a servant to Mother Kali. He surrendered to Her and decided to serve Her until he became liberated.
The subtlest seed also has to be destroyed. A small lie is also wrong, a small bad word is terrible to utter, you must teach the children. These small mistakes will later become gross crimes.
The concept of, my mind, I am seeing, is also dangerous. If you feel that, it means that you are still ignorant.
Do not deny your existence. There is no need for that. Realize and acknowledge that only Paramatma exists. That is sufficient. Why even think about your existence and then deny it? What does not exist (you as a separate individual) does not need a special mention about its non-existence.
Someone is going on the street . You call him and say, there is no tree here. The stranger will think you are out of your mind.
Therefore, do not declare that you do not exist.
Only One exists. That is why the Neti repetition is also worthless. The feeling becomes you. What you think, you become. You dwell only on the thought that one alone exists.
Your body is not you. Your thought or feeling is you. So it is important to contemplate on that one thought that only one exists. You see millions and billions of things in the world which draw your attention. They are all illusory, they are all make-believe. You may wonder how against the innumerable object of the world, which attract your attention, how can just this one thought override all other thoughts and temptations.
There is only one Truth. That cause is the one cause for all that you see and experience. Dwell upon it. See that in everything that you perceive and do. The method of discarding the world is taught.
In Tirupati, in the Vaishnava tradition, they do a ritual called Tirumanjanam. Devotees are not allowed inside at the time of this activity. The entire staff including the highest boss, gets together and cleans the entire inside of the temple. A thorough cleaning is done. Even the walls are scrubbed clean and sandalwood paste is applied. We think applying paint is good. It makes us wheeze and sneeze. It smells. But when sandalwood paste is applied, it makes the place fragrant. It gives true grandeur. It fills the entire temple with divinity. Not just the idol, but the entire temple appears like God. Anjanam means applying a coating.
Sweep everything away and throw away the broom also. Sweep away the broom also. You do not place the broom on the altar or in middle of the room and offer it worship. You throw away the broom after the thorough cleaning is done. Your room gets clean. You become clean. Your mind becomes clean. You attain the experience of Pure Consciousness.
The method or sequence for doing this is given to us in the Hanuman Chalisa.
Sri guru charana saroja raja .. With the dust from the guru’s feet, clean the mirror called your mind. If the mirror is clean, then what should reflect there, will give a proper, clear reflection. Thereafter, sweep out, clean out the mind itself. Remove it from existence. If it remains, it will again gather dust tomorrow. That is Paramatma. Pure Consciousness.
There are so many methods of spiritual pursuit, we discussed yesterday. People cling to whatever appeals to them with the hope that it will grant them liberation. There are those who believe that not only pilgrimage, penance, and austerity, but even physical luxuries will give them liberation. Such people are there in this world. If that is the case, why try to get Jnana? Any subject is easy to learn, if you have a taste for it. If a subject is distasteful, it will not be easy.
Jnana will appeal to you because it is knowledge about yourself. Everyone is fond of oneself. Therefore, the subject is appealing. Yoga is very difficult. It may appear easy in the beginning. To attain siddhis is very tough. One has to torment both body and mind. Whereas, listening to Vedanta is easy. You listen for 15-20 minutes and the topics will linger in your mind all day long. Why? This task does not involve any strain. Yoga is the means or an instrument to achieve something. It is not the result. Jnana, on the other hand is the result that you achieve. It does not come through Yoga.
Sri Rama expressed a doubt. There is a yoga where the yogi sits in the state of Paramanu, the minutest ever possible entity, from which he believes that all creation emerges. There is nothing beyond that in the perceivable world. Such a yogi must receive liberation, is it not?
No. He will not get liberated, says Sage Vasishtha. Such a yogi will still retain the feeling that he is the one sitting in that exalted state. His awareness of himself as a separate entity continues and that will obstruct liberation. That feeling that he entertains is itself ignorance. It re-creates the entire universe again. His mind is his refuge. He is dependent upon it. That mirror exists within him and will keep reflecting the world. Such a yogi is not a Jnani and hence, is far from liberation.
We are not the body or the mind. The body is only a support, a crutch.
yat ..
Pure Consciousness, then life, then mind, then body and so on. We think this is us. But even in the minutest existence, the reflection of the world will appear before the seeker. Even in the Yoga of sitting in the womb or stomach of the subatomic particle, still the world will recreate itself.
Sri Dakshinamoorthy stotram begins with this description of the world – viswam darpana drsyamana nagaree tulyam…
That the world is just like a reflection in a mirror. Inside the mirror you see a world. Similarly, the world exists in the mind-mirror. You have yourself created the world. This is all make-believe. It is not real. You have no power to really create it in a gross form. It all exists only in a subtle form inside your mind.
To gain spiritual knowledge, since childhood, one should be taught verses like these. One should keep mulling over these truths as expressed here. It is a prayer to Guru and also it is a statement about Truth. You are the creator of this universe, in your own mind. It has no substantial existence in a gross or solid form.
Wherever the seed remains in the mind, it will re-emerge. A doctor knows that a fetus exists in the womb even if the pregnancy is not obvious to an onlooker. By denial, it is not going to go away.
Mountains, rivers, everything exists in the seed form, if you entertain it, in your mind. Liberation does not come by your running away into the Paramanu state, or running away into a forest. Remain where you are and learn the Truth. You fear what is unreal. You are grieving about what does not even exist. You see what is not a snake, and fear it. You grieve, you weep because you have forgotten your true address. Your body is not your address.
It is very wrong to sit in paramanu and expect liberation.
atast..
The strange thing is that the Yogi, who thinks that he has reached the ultimate minutest particle and is sitting inside it. He is sitting there and is relieved that he has reached his destination. Inside that particle again a galaxy with sun, moon, planets, earth, time, body, mountains, rivers, wakeful state, dream state, and sleep everything reemerges for him. He thinks it is a minute state. But he creates a whole world.
The yogi thinks it is a small matter. But the small matter becomes huge in course of time.
You fly in an aircraft. You see your home from up above, then you see the town, the state, the country, with rivers, mountains, then you cross into another country, the ocean, then above the clouds, you see nothing below them. The higher you fly the people are not seen, an elephant is smaller than an ant.
Think in terms of a huge divine energy. We are so minute.
The ant also has a huge world, with its own sun, moon, weddings, children, schools, and colleges, related to it.
An insect was running frantically. Sage Vyasa asked it where it was rushing off and why. It said, if you are an insect, you will know. It opened his eyes to Truth.
A millionaire has his problems, as a man who drinks watery porridge. The millionaire thinks the poor man is happy and at peace.
Sita has her problems, a crab (Peeta ) has its problems. This body is tiny compared to a rhinoceros. Compared to the sun, the body is extremely minute. With Yoga, if you get Jnana, then you will be liberated.
You must fill the children with Samskara. Then the child will realize the need for Guru. By his mercy, Guru will create the sankalpa that the child needs Guru. Some approach Guru. Guru approaches some. Guru comes to create a good Samskara, because one is a Punya Jeevi, a pious soul with great merit.
Troubles and grieving does not leave you if you simply remain in Paramanu (Samadhi state).
Leaving the body, discarding it deliberately, is not a solution. Just get rid of your pieces of luggage one by one, by way of sweeping away the ignorance. It is the greatest illusion. Suicide and running away from home will not give you a solace. You will attain a worse body. You will be reborn as an insect and will suffer. Unless merit is earned in huge amounts, a human birth will not occur until a very long time. You have invested a lot to obtain this human birth. Do not waste it. You have to go through many lifetimes, as so many countless different creatures again before you regain a human body. You have to once again re-earn a great amount of merit before you are born as a human.
idam ..
Nirvikalpa Samadhi is described. The Yogi thinks that he is in that ultimate position. It is as if you have swept all the dust and trash to one spot and then you sit on top of it, thinking , falsely,that you have perfectly cleaned your mind. The entire dust from the outside world you have gathered now inside your own mind. If the mind is clean, even if the outside world is dirty, it is preferable. Worry gives you new diseases, when you are struggling to get rid of existing illnesses. The Samskara or trait that reserves the feeling: ‘I have swept away everything,’, that sense of the separate ‘I’ is harmful. It is ignorance. It is the seed that will result in the creation of the world once again.
That samskara, the feeling: I have swept the dust away, will remain in your heart as an undying seed. It is an indestructible seed. Ego still remains with the feeling: I have reached the highest state.
The fruit falls from that tree and the bird eats its seeds and spreads them everywhere. The entire forest is recreated.
Never mention or boast about service you have performed. Only to inspire children to do service, sometimes you tell them that you are doing good deeds and that they should do them also. Even kings have inscribed their good deeds to inform others that such deeds are noble deeds and others should also do likewise.
It is not Yoga if you retain your ego and remember the world. At once, the entire cycle of birth and death resumes. You end up blaming God that God has created you, whereas, it is your own remembrance and your own wish that is responsible for your birth and the existence of your world.
Your own remembrance of the world has created the world and has created you. The remembrance: I have swept away, is not Samadhi. If there is absolutely no remembrance whatsoever, there is no question of sweeping anything away.
Therefore, Nirvikalpa Samadhi also does not grant liberation. It retains the feeling: I have done this. Do not have a misconception about Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Yoga Vasishtha negates the benefit of Nirvikalpa Samadhi for the purpose of attaining liberation.
verse
Akshaya sushupti — deep sleep should be contemplated upon. What was your state during deep sleep? What was your name then? What was your address? What were you remembering during deep sleep? You were in bliss. That is all.
With Nirvikalpa Samadhi you do not attain that bliss or liberation.
yuddhaa..
One sits in Samadhi. It is a big problem. Once one gets out of Samadhi into the worldly awareness, it is a terrible experience. Forced Yoga is harmful.
Two stories are narrated to us to explain the danger of forcibly induced Samadhi states.
Kapila Maharshi’s story occurs In the Ramayana, and Muchukunda’s story and Kapila Maharshi’s story, both are told in the Bhagavatam.
Sagara’s sons came when Kapila was in deep samadhi in the Paramanu state in a cave in Paataala (Netherworld), with the idea that he will remain totally undisturbed there.
Indra stole and tied the sacrificial horse of King Sagara, in that cave deliberately. Sagara’s sons, 60,000 of them had to go looking for that missing sacrificial horse, upon the bidding of their father, and finally reached the place where Kapila was hiding. One person could not have achieved that mission. Therefore, all 60,000 of them went. An ordinary man cannot reach the place of a great yogi. That is why so many of them had to dig through to the subterranean level of the earth to reach the place where Sage Kapila was engaged in Samadhi.
In Switzerland and France now they are digging to search for the Paramanu.
The sons found the horse and shouted, he is the thief. Beat him up. They were not quiet. They did not quietly untie the horse and take it away. Because of the din they created, Sage Kapila’s Samadhi was disturbed. His senses had been forcibly controlled. Now they suddenly escaped and ran amok.
It is a mistake to force the sense organs to remain idle. You should conquer your desires, not your sense organs. Devoid of Jnana, to simply torment the body is most unwise. Jnana does not arise from such behavior. Control of senses means, controlling your desires. It is not forcibly restraining your sense organs from their actions.
Tying up the horses is not the same as tying up the king.
Sage Kapila abruptly opened his eyes. The sense organs set free abruptly could not bear the instant freedom. The fire of yoga emerged out of control and burned all 60,000 sons of Sagara.
Normally, we occupy ourselves with the story of Sagara. But in this context, it is not Sagara that we are concerned with. We are speaking about Sage Kapila and his fate after his Samadhi got interrupted.
In the Ramayana, it is true that Sagara’s story was given prominence.
Kapila felt awful. His yogic power was all destroyed in an instant. He attained nothing. He left the place in frustration. He gained nothing. He had forcibly confined the senses. They escaped and a catastrophe occurred. Later the story continued and he ultimately was liberated.
It is okay to fast on Ekadasi day. Do not fast daily out of a sense of vengeance against the body. Do not be angry at this body. Tormenting the body is not good. Some forcibly pull out the finger nails with a pair of pliers, instead of just clipping them. They wish to teach a lesson to the body. Such practices yield no benefit whatsoever. It is not yoga. It is cruelty towards the body. It should not be done.
Muchukunda’s story is in the Bhagavatam. He helped the gods in the war between the gods and the demons. He made the gods win. Indra acknowledged his help and said that without Muchukunda’s help the gods would not have gained victory. He offered him a boon.
Muchukunda could have prayed for Jnana. Instead, he was under the wrong impression that in deep sleep there is bliss. He had heard it somewhere. It is ignorance. He wished to ever remain in deep sleep. Sleep is not Jnana. It is laziness. After exhaustion is relieved, at once one wakes up from deep sleep. It may take a minute, an hour, or eight hours to give rest to the mind. If it is much longer than that, it is called coma. The mind cannot remain in deep sleep longer than eight hours, as per science.
Muchukunda heard about deep sleep and wished for that, as a boon. He had the egoistic feeling that he strove hard in rendering his help during the battle and wished for a reward.
Count backwards from 100, they say, to give some exertion to the mind to get you to sleep. Dreams make the mind tired and makes it go into deep sleep. Physical tiredness will make you fall exhausted, that is all. It does not induce sleep as mental tiredness does.
Indra granted the boon to Muchukunda. If anyone disturbs my sleep, they should get burned, Muchukunda asked. His wish was granted by Indra.
Krishna knew this secret. Muchukunda slept for one whole Yuga inside a cave. Krishna brought one demon and sent him into the cave first where Muchukunda was asleep. Krishna did not enter the cave. He disappeared. The demon mistook Muchukunda for Krishna. He made a noise and woke him up. The demon got burned.
Muchukunda realized that he achieved nothing by sleeping so long. He said, Krishna, you are here. You have found me here. Please help me. Muchukunda realized that sleep is not Jnana. Krishna appeared before Muchukunda. Give me true Jnana, O Krishna, he prayed. He was told: Giving up sleep is Jnana.
These two examples make clear this lesson that is being taught here about sitting inside the Paramanu.
Sage Valmiki only spoke about Sage Kapila. But the Bhagavatam speaks also about the misconception one has about sleep. One should not simply treat these as stories. One should understand the deeper essence. What is the benefit in repeatedly listening to cinema stories? But, Sadguru’s Life History, it is priceless and invaluable. It is a true story. It is a treasure.
Neither sitting in Paramanu (Samadhi), nor remaining in deep sleep will grant Liberation. This, we have to remember. We will continue tomorrow.
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
Om Santissantissantihi