Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
Day 161, June 30
Sri Sadgurubhyo namaha
Om Santissantissantihi
Yesterday while teaching us about the mind, Vasishtha said that mind itself becomes the projected world before us. If you sweep out the mind, the world will disappear. We need to calm the mind, clear it of all its contamination and merge it in the soul/Parabrahma. Mind causes delusion. We need to understand the nature of the mind.
Transformation/Parinaama is where one substance changes itself into another, losing its original attributes. If the world is a result of transformation, then its appearance may be assumed to be real. If it is real, then it will never vanish or perish permanently, as during a Pralaya. Truth is eternal. If that is the case, Sri Rama asked, then how will this world, which is always a source of sorrow, subside and go away? How can that be possible?
Vasishtha said: I will give you a mantra to chase away this ghost called the world that has got you under its spell. Here the word mantra is used in a way to imply an upadesa.
Mind itself is an illusion. It drowns us in the delusion that the world is real. It can be dispelled. We have created the mind. It is a make-believe substance or concept.
If the world is real, then the experience of the Jeevanmuktas who are free from all worldly bondages has to be untrue. But they are present before us, in the midst of us, enjoying supreme freedom and bliss. How is that possible?
When we shut out the world even momentarily, we experience immense peace of mind. If we totally forget ourselves in deep sleep, we enjoy complete relaxation and peace. If the world were to be real, how can deep sleep occur, where it is removed from our awareness? it should be constantly present before us.
Nobody forgets himself in this world. He always retains the awareness of ‘I am’. That is Consciousness. That is light. Therefore, that being the truth and reality, this phenomenon called the world, that comes and goes out of our awareness, has to be unreal.
When Sadgurus and Jeevanmuktas/enlightened persons are observed, we are convinced that a state of complete freedom from sorrow and delusion does exist.
Therefore, Sri Rama, the logic of transformation does not apply here.
Vivarta is where one object or substance deceptively looks like another.
We should be only looking at Brahma. Instead, we see Him in the form of the world. If we were to see Brahma, then there is no problem. But if you see one thing as if it is something else, it creates problems for us. You cannot have untruth outside as the world, and have Truth as Brahma inside your heart. Those who follow the Saankhya philosphy propose that argument. It does not work. They say that we cannot change the world that exists. If we realize within ourselves that the world is an illusion, that is enough. That is wrong. How long can you live in two worlds like that? For a short time, with the utmost difficulty, you may be able to balance yourself between the two. But sooner or later, the effort will fail.
But if by attaining full realization or Jnana of what is true, and what is untrue, then, both inside and outside you live the Truth. The understanding should be firm within our hearts that this world is not real. That is true enlightenment. Therefore, we must accept the logic of Vivarta. That alone is the way to follow.
Once again Vasishtha has insisted on the fact that this world is a myth.
Sri Rama asked: A lay person has the experience of birth, old age, and death, and joy and sorrow. How can they all be denied as if they are non-existent?
Sri Rama demanded rather forcefully: Are you trying to deceive me, or confuse me even further by your words?
When he could not follow the teachings of Krishna, initially, “Buddhim mohayaseeva me vyaamisreneva vaakyayaa… Arjuna accused and challenged Sri Krishna. Are you trying to totally mess up my mind by mixing up all contradicting theories and presenting them to me? What is the use of these words?
Krishna said: You are not following my words properly. Let me explain myself more clearly.
The dialog is now getting heated up between Sri Rama and Vasishtha also. Now the intimacy is growing between the Guru and disciple.
Vasishtha is also answering more strongly: I am not trying to confuse you. It is your ignorance that is blocking your understanding of my words. Therefore, let me explain to you even more explicitly.
The reason why the Bhagavad Gita is such an elaborate teaching is that the subtle and brief explanation initially given by Krishna was not grasped by Arjuna.
Sri Rama also is experiencing the same predicament of not being able to clearly follow the teaching given by Vasishtha.
What is unreal is appearing before us as if it were real. It is the mischief of the mind. This mind plays games with us as it pleases. Sometimes it merges the creation into itself. Sometimes it says there is nothing. Then it says everything is there. It creates and presents itself as the wakeful state, then as a dream, and then as the deep sleep experience. It goes to the depths of agony and it rises up to freedom in liberation. Mind is the one that also presents itself as liberation. Mind is responsible for every single thing.
What is this world? Why does it appear as it does?
We normally do not give it much thought. We say: Let the world be as it pleases. If I am doing okay, that is enough for me. This teaching is meant only to make you okay.
Think deeply. Are you really doing all right? No. How can you be well without having a proper knowledge? Just to fill us with the right knowledge, this instruction is being given to us.
Without the mind the world does not exist. The mind creates the world out of itself. It has to be a fabrication, a make-believe manifestation brought into our experience by the mind. It cannot be real or enduring.
The mind creates the world, as it creates the dreams. We do not call dreams as reality.
Rama, you have understood about the world. Now, the mind has to be swept away. Merge it. Identify it with the Supreme Soul. Then what is left is Paramatma. Bliss. Make the mind non-existent.
Mind is the root cause.
We all complain: Somehow, my mind is making me feel down today. Everything may be fine. But the mind gives you mood swings.
The mind creates this world constituting the five elements.
In sleep, the mind is merged in itself. It gives up all activities. That is why we feel rested. Mind is totally inactive during deep sleep. When the mind gets tired and sleeps, that is deep sleep.
When the mind is asleep, we feel perfect rest and peace. It is our common experience. The intelligent man seeks that kind of peace. No sane man rejects the need for sleep.
Yoga Sastra says: This is my real nature.
An actor, once his act is done and he has gone inside, is once again himself, he no longer identifies with the role he is playing in the make-believe drama or movie. He is not the role that he enacted. He is relaxed only when he becomes himself after retiring from the stage or the movie set.
Being yourself is the Brahma state. Not being your true self is the worldly existence. To reach the state of one’s true nature, is the goal of this effort.
If Yoga teaches the same science, then why are we studying this Jnana Sastra? The path of yoga is not fully satisfactory, as we have learned earlier. Forcibly suppressing thoughts and then returning to worldly life once the awareness returns, are problems faced in the yoga way. These are difficulties when yoga becomes separated from Jnana. If Yoga is identified with Jnana, then there is no issue. Then it is called Jnana Yoga. In Jnana Yoga, there is no forcible suppression of thoughts. The mind automatically shuts off because you know the Truth. The action is effortless when the mind itself is removed.
Normally the yoga we know of, does not combine Jnana with it. That is why we need to study Jnana.
We have worn the spectacles called Mind. If the lens is green, the world appears green, red if it is red.
Sri guru charana saroja raja nija mana mukura sudhaari ..
Even in the path of devotion/Bhakti, mind is given great importance. One should wipe clean the mirror called Mind by using the dust from Guru’s sacred feet.
Once the mind is cleared, you will experience Kevalee Bhaava. There is no greater peace than deep sleep, which is our daily experience.
During the marriage ceremony one gets so tired with so many anxieties, serving so many others, trying to please everyone. At the end, out of exhaustion, you sit for a minute and then involuntarily doze off. In that ten minutes of napping you feel so much of rest and refreshment.
Mind was absent there. No awareness of body, relatives, duties, status, expectations, and so on. Mind was asleep.
If the mind is not restful, then sleep does give rest.
Just tell yourself: Do not get tense for the sake of others. Forget even yourself during sleep.
For many people, falling asleep is a problem. The state where mind is absent, is a state of happiness and rest.
Mind makes the non-existent appear as if it exists, it throws light on the illusory.
yadrashtu ..
The absence of the scene – what is visible – is what needs to be achieved.
If the visible world is giving pleasure, then one should not even blink. They should keep looking at the world for constant enjoyments. Even the best movie will tire you out. You need breaks, intervals. You cannot keep on watching and enjoying the scenes.
Sit with eyes closed, we are told. Dhyana is good for you. What happens then? You experience the peace of your true self.
If nothing appears, there is nothing to see, then the strain of seeing is absent.
Asat/non-existent appears as Sat/existent because of mind. The absence of this phenomenon is Kevalee Bhaava. This is not death.
This can be experiencing while living. Practice it daily. Reduce your involvement with the world.
verse
This monkey mind, always restless, when it experiences Kevalee Bhaava, what happens?
The mind is like a monkey that is drunk, is stung by a scorpion, and possessed by a ghost. It then climbs a palm tree and is stung by a swarm of wasps. The way such a monkey will behave as it chases the wasps which harassed it, is how the mind behaves. This is the story of the mind.
Because of such harried activity of the mind, we lose our peace of mind. Once the mind is made to settle its activities, it becomes neutral.
A restless mind gets no rest. Always it is engaged in feverish activities. This is a friend, and I have to do this for him; this is an enemy and this is what should happen to him.
If the mind is given rest, Ragadweshas/likes and dislikes will be diminished. Then peace settles. Likes and dislikes will have to reduce.
Think along spiritual lines. Never mix worldly life and its values with spirituality. You cannot be both, worldly and spiritual at the same time. If you try that, you will get totally ruined.
Both attachment and aversion are harmful. They are inseparable. If one exists, the other also exists. Attachment may be better than aversion. Aversion is more dangerous than attachment. When aversion or hatred fills the mind, love may be totally absent. Even his own son was hated by Hiranyakasipu. He hated to utter the name of God or of God’s residence Vaikuntha. Even Vaikuntha is a name for God. He would always point up as His residence, but never at his own heart. That was the mistake he committed. His wife always tried to somehow make him utter God’s name: Narayana. He doggedly refused. He would only refer to Him as the guy who resides up above.
Even by mistake, he would not utter the name Narayana. Once, accidentally, Hiranyakasipu uttered Narayana and angry at his own tongue, he punished it by branding it with a hot iron. This is the peak of ignorance.
What is the use of punishing your sense organs? You have to teach lessons to your mind and the intellect. Tormenting the body is useless.
Normal worldly love is dangerous. It goes hand in hand with hatred. These are vaasanaas/tendencies. They have to be ejected from the mind.
Great and supreme love is different, which loves all equally. It is a very Satvic state of mind. It does not come easily. It happens when one totally identifies oneself with the Supreme. It is liberation. It is when one loves God as much as one loves oneself. To develop that is a path in devotion.
Like twins love and hate remain together. They have to go, removed from the mind.
Like air that is still, the mind becomes calm when love and hate are removed.
asa..
With Pure Consciousness everything comes to our awareness. That is the light of the Soul.
If the soul is making everything appear, again the question arises, then what is the problem?
In that light, you should see the rope as the rope. You should not see it as a snake. That is what is important.
Pure Consciousness has to be experienced by us. In Pure Consciousness, there are no directions or boundaries. It gives light to the world. But it does not depend on anything else to light it up. It is self-illuminating.
verse
Then the differences of I, you, this world, distinguished as separate from Paramatma, will vanish.
Then the seer, what does he see? He himself merges in Paramatma. He does not exist as a separate entity to see anything.
The smell of the world contaminates the mind as long as the world is seen. The awareness that he is one with the Pure Consciousness is liberation.
anaatma
When the mirror is not reflecting anything, when there is no scenery for it to reflect, then it is perfectly clear. The nearest example is to reflect empty space. This is only an example that comes closest. Only the mirror-ness remains in the mirror. Nothing is seen.
No reflection is seen whatsoever. That state is Kevala bhaavam or liberation.
This can happen while you are alive. It is a wrong notion to thing that only when the body drops off, you can have this experience. Jeevanmuktas prove it to us.
Life insurance is like that. If no nominy is mentioned, the government gets the money.
This great delusion is ‘sambhrama’. It is the first word in Kishkindha Kanda uttered by Hanuman. The panchakam – the five vanaras are there. They suddenly saw the two men walking along in the forest. They ran helter skelter out of fright. they imagined that perhaps Vali had sent them to attack them.
Fear is sambhrama.
Putraadapi dhana bhaajaam bheetihi. (Bhaja Govinda Stotram)
A father fears that his own son may kill him for his wealth.
The snake exists only in your mind. Only the rope is there.
No one loves to live in fear. No one desires the experience of fear as their life’s companion.
The mind must merge in the soul. Then you experience peace. There are people in the Himalayas walking along with absolutely no fear of any landslides, while those who travel by buses may be afraid.
The notion of duality gives fear. The establishment of non-duality in the mind frees us from fear.
Is God our body guard? Should He stand guard with His weapons to take our blows for us? Is that devotion, when we wish that upon God?
We pray for assurance of safety from sadguru. His intention is sufficient. He does not need to touch our head or show the gesture of fearlessness to give us protection.
Merge your mind in Paramatma, Sri Rama. That is enlightenment, that is Self-Realization. There is nothing then to see. There is no seer. This is Vasishtha’s upadesa.
People think that the five elements have transformed into this world. They experience this world to truly exist. How will this world go away from their minds?
sacchenna..
If this were real, then, it will never go away.
For an incurable disease also, a doctor still prescribes a medicine. the treatment gives confidence to the patient. The patient who is denied treatment will die sooner.
Sataha na abhaavaha vidyate … This is a statement of fact.
Truth has no such state as non-existence. Untruth has no such state as existence.
The latter part is difficult for us to accept. You have checked and marked everything as being true, and you have forgotten the truly existing One.
A judge does not say both parties are right. The case gets prolonged endlessly then. We lose confidence in the competence of the judge. Both cannot be right. One has to delve more deeply to determine what is truth and who is right.
In some circumstances, you argue that this is justified based on the particular circumstance. In spirituality, this argument holds no water. We have a science of convenience and we justify our case constantly.
We must search for Truth. It takes time. Let it take time. If we have the grace of Guru, liberation is possible. Guru has to intend that the disciple should get Jnana. Trotakacharya got liberated like that, regardless of the circumstance. As he was laundering the clothes of Guru, suddenly he became enlightened.
Swamiji told me that every single day I should speak of something that is useful for me. What to talk about? Several months elapsed. During tours, and in Mysore also, I have to speak, he said, at least for half an hour daily. I was at a loss.
Mother gave me this book belonging to Sri Narahari Teertha Swami. Who gave the inspiration that this is the work that I should study in the original. and speak about it? It is Guru. Guru’s grace and blessing are most important.
The mind at the very beginning made the decision that Guru is supreme. Even in the worst of times, it is mandated that only with Guru’s compassion and blessings, good things will happen. This edict is Siva Saasanam. The Soul/Siva has made this irrefutable rule. It cannot be changed even in thousands of years or eons. A huge tree has grown inside you. That is Veda. That system cannot be changed.
asattaam..
I am not seeing the non-existence in this world.
O Sadgurudeva, O manifestation of Brahma, I pray to you to help me.
Jnana itself is Brahma. Brahma is not the result of Jnana. This must always be remembered.
How will this disease called the world get cured?
This mind makes me go round and round in a whirl.
Children like to ride on a giant wheel, or a merry go round. After a certain duration they scream for it to stop.
Yudhishthira said: Many are not intelligent enough to ask for it to stop when they get stuck in this wheel of endless births and deaths.
Vasishtha said: I have a mantra to exorcize this ghost, this delusion that has controlled you.
Guru gives a new thought, a way of contemplation. Mantra means that, not just uttering the syllables thoughtlessly.
Capture one thought in the Hanuman Chaleesa. That is the Maha Mantra given to us by Swamiji now. If you deeply contemplate on it, you will get liberated.
The next three days is Anadhyayanam. Leave has been granted to the students to ponder over the subject learned so far.
I am going to Tirupati as per Swamiji’s directive to inaugurate an institution there. On Saturday we will resume the instruction.
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
Om Santissantissantihi