Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
Day 197, November 29 2015
Sri Sadgurubhyo namaha
Om Santissantissantissantihi
We are speaking of the sequence of how the Creation of this Universe has occurred, and the reason why we need to learn about it. During the Maha Pralaya, only Pure Consciousness remained. Even Hiranyagarbha had merged into that radiant Knowledge which alone existed.
A vibration/Spandana occurred. Jeeva, then the five Tanmatras, the subtle perceptions, and the Pancha Bhootas, the five elements emerged.
We must not forget the state of Parabrahma during the time of Pralaya.
First only Knowledge existed, Jnana as Parabrahma. Telivi or knowing took the form of Jeeva. Knowledge of Truth must come while we are alive. Then persons become Jeevanmuktas. Rama became a Jeevanmukta, Sri Krishna, Arjuna, and Sadguru Swamiji are all Jeevanmuktas. When Maya is removed, this state occurs. Know that the world is dream-like. When that Jnana dawns inside, Mukti or Liberation occurs. This concludes the sarga.
During Jala Pralaya or Deluge of Water, only water remains. Lalita Sahasranama mentions that Mother Goddess was the witness to the Maha Pralaya. She Herself was Parabrahma or Parasakti.
During Maha Pralaya all five elements merge. All trees become seeds and they also merge into Paramatma. Everything dissolves and disintegrates into the tiniest particles and even they dissolve into Paramatma.
What remains when we are in deep sleep? There is nothing. No thoughts are there. If thoughts are there, it is not sleep. It is not peaceful. Maha Pralaya is Sushupti, deep sleep. It is the stage that transcends the dream state. Nothing remains during deep sleep. Even the sense of ‘I’ is absent. Paramatma during Maha Pralaya is in that state. That is His eternal and true state. That is also our true state. That is why we are happy when we are asleep. It is a natural state. We should enter into that state naturally, and not by using artificial aids. It will then spoil the health. Drugs, cigarettes, liquor are unnatural substances. When sleep is artificially induced, it affects good health. When they induce sleep, such sleep is neither comfortable nor refreshing. How well your day goes, depends on how well you had slept the night before, the scientists say. The freshness with which you wake up is evidenced by how well you had slept. How well you sleep depends on how well you spend the day. You need sufficient sleep to rejuvenate sense organs, mind, and limbs. The body becomes weak if there is no proper sleep. One must spend the day well. One should go to bed early. Even for a pleasant greeting, one gets irritated, if good sleep was lacking.
Compared our deep sleep state and Parabrahma is ever in that state. The individual got separated from Paramatma and has built a fence around himself. Just as we build boundaries to our homes, cities, and nations, man has built a compound wall around himself. Thus he became limited. He should have remained unlimited.
Due to this limitation, your power is reduced. Maya then takes control over you. Instead of you controlling the illusions, Illusion controls you. As a result, your sorrows and difficulties begin to mount. To overcome this situation, Maya has to be removed. Ignorance is Maya. It cannot be grasped, it is unspecified, and is indescribable.
We offer prayers to Maha Maya. Mother Goddess is described as Maya. Sriman Narayana is the controller of Maya. He is its Lord. By praying to Him, the mind becomes one-pointed. It gains the strength to conquer Maya. Mind is capable of doing that. By God’s grace, then delusion gets dispelled. There is nothing greater in life than the removal of ignorance. Attaining freedom from Maya is the greatest achievement in life.
You remove your ignorance. You gain knowledge. You learn. You write an exam. You pass. In life, the preparation for the exam is to learn about yourself. It means getting rid of ignorance. That equals passing the exam. That is the purpose of our birth.
Yesterday at Deepotsavam Swamiji spoke about this. He said: Know about yourself. The lamp is right within you. That is why we do this worship of light. Light the lamp in your heart. Pray to God with devotion to remove the darkness of ignorance from inside. Ignorance will go away.
To explain to us about this Pure Consciousness this work was composed.
That state of Paramatma is not somewhere else, hidden away in a closet. A night dress is not required to fall asleep. You can sleep even without having to wear it. Wearing it does not guarantee sleep.
Pure Consciousness or Suddha Chaitanya never changes. It ever remains the same. You have changed. You have become transformed. Only One exists. Then, where did the change occur? Change occurred in the individual, not in Paramatma. A distortion or a limitation has occurred inside you, not in Paramatma. Once that limitation or misperception is removed, what remains is only bliss. Just because you have limited God into a small image, is God limited? No. You have created the limitation for your purpose.
When there is an ulcer or a boil, when it is removed, the pain is removed. The disease is then cured. For this learning, the process of Creation must be understood, for Maya to be removed.
Nahi Jnanena sadrsam. There is nothing greater than knowledge. You are as Knowledge itself. Knowledge is more powerful than knowing. Leave off the anxiety about learning. Great souls even at birth are experts in music or some other subjects. Where did Swamiji learn music? He may say that he learned from some teachers. But those teachers disclaim that statement. They declare that what they know is nothing compared to the immense knowledge of music that Swamiji has.
Such great souls are born with knowledge. They are Knowledge itself. The act of knowing is the separation that occurs. After knowing, the knower once again becomes identified with Knowledge. That is all. All becomes one. There are no differences in knowledge.
Knowledge gets the Chaitya Bhava, the feeling of engaging in the act of knowing. Once Knowledge is attained, that is called Iswara or God. Imagination, conceptualization, visualization, perception, all these occur then. That is Consciousness combined with Maya. This is the start of seeing, knowing, and so on as an entity separated from Knowledge itself, which alone had existed hitherto.
No one can pinpoint the exact millisecond when a person awakens. Before you can announce that you are now awake, you have already been awake for a few seconds. Even machines and scanners cannot detect the exact moment of waking up.
Similarly, God is ever there.
When this Iswara Bhava or the feeling of Lordship over what he sees came about, no one can tell. Iswara is also without a beginning.
Everything has to be viewed in relation to ourselves and our three states of sleep, dream and wakefulness. Adi bhoutikam, Adi daivikam, and Adhyatmikam are the three conditions we hear about. It is only through these three that we can understand the science about ourselves.
The moment we wake up, our nature, our traits, our entire life, our relatives, our residence, our needs, our whereabouts, all memories and awareness about our individual self at once return to us. This knowledge is already within us. Therefore it is all recollected. You are the lord of all that knowledge that concerns you. Is that not right? Because you already know all this, it comes back to you so instantaneously.
We are not talking about ill persons suffering from amnesia or those with Alzheimer’s disease.
Due to Maya, the individual gets separated into the astral body. It is Iswara, who gets separated from Paramatma. He is the Sarvakarana Karana, the cause of all causes. Iswara is just a bhavana, a feeling. What caused this separation? It is Maya that has caused the split. But Paramatma is not subject to such a separation. But although he gets separated, since He is all-knowing, Maya does not grasp Iswara or control Him.
From the all-knowing one, From Iswara, Omkara is born.
Omkara takes you there to Parabrahma, like a vehicle of transportation. The way a bus takes you to your destination, Omkara takes you close to Parabrahma. It is not Parabrahma. It takes you there and leaves you. You have to thereafter experience the state of Paramatma. You have to get off the bus or automobile and go to the address or to your home, wherever your destination is. You have to determine whether that is your destination.
Guru Mantra takes you there. Not everyone is qualified to do just Omkara, unless Guru permits and gives initiation. Parama Vairagya, extreme dispassion comes with the chanting of Omkara. The power inherent in it is so powerful. The Mantra will take us there.
Not everyone has reached the stage of supreme dispassion to withstand the consequence of the Omkara Upasana. Its power is immense. Guru knows each one’s ability and capacity. Omkara knows where to take you.
How does Iswara know? He is Veda or Knowledge itself. All past knowledge is inherent in the Vedas, including the knowledge of how to attain the four-fold goals of Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha. Iswara knows all the meanings of all the syllables. He thinks of something and it manifests at once, be it a tree or an anthill, or whatever else. Iswara Bhava, or Lordship is what that stage is. If Creation is done randomly, it will become chaotic. It has to follow a system. That is why each syllable carries a definite meaning. That is called Iswara Bhava.
Chetanatmaka Brahma Satta is associated with all the Chitta Vrittis. The Truth of Brahma which is Consciousness, here becomes associated with mental activity. It is Knowledge associated with Maya. Chit is just Consciousness. Sat is Truth that is eternal and unchanging. Ananda is Bliss. This is the state of Sat Chit Ananda. Where He is all the three.
The sequence of how Creation occurs is as follows:
Paramatma after the Maha Pralaya is just Pure Consciousness – He then develops the Iswara Bhava – Then from Iswara, Creation, which forgets its true identity as the Soul, emerges.
We forget the bliss of our sleep and wake up. We become aware of our collection of memories and feel that we have woken up. Both ways it may be described.
Whatever is happening here within us, is what is happening in the Universe. Whatever is in the Universe, is all inside each of us.
The three states of wakefulness, dream, and deep sleep are most important. It is through these that we have to understand our lives. There is no other means, and there is no greater means than studying these three states and understanding them. This will tell us about ourselves.
Forgetting the identification with the soul, leaving the highest state of Parabrahma, associating with the world, the individual, feeling as if he is a separate entity, comes into being. This does not happen to Iswara. Iswara remains as He is. The individual goes through this change. Iswara remains as he is; His stature is retained like that only to give us the Jnana, the Knowledge of Vedas or Sastras, to help us attain Mukti or Liberation. If Iswara were not there, we would not have access to this knowledge. Iswara is there to teach us about Liberation.
That is how the Jeeva or the individual soul, associating with this illusory world came into existence.
Iswara is Narayana. From Him has emerged Brahma. He is Hiranyagarbha. Iswara is free from Vikaras or changes or distortions. Brahma has Vikaras. He once had five heads. God cut off one of the heads.
Iswara became Sabda (Sound) Brahma, and Veda (Knowledge) Brahma. It cannot be called a change or a Vikara.
From Iswara came Hiranyagarbha, as a Jeeva. From him came the individual, not as a separate entity, but as if Hiranyagarbha saw in himself the Jeeva, as we see a snake in a rope; he saw the separated individual.
This limitation is imposed by oneself. If you have limited yourself and built a boundary around yourself, whose fault is it? It is your own doing. The world does not impose the limitations. Great souls consider the entire universe as one family. Vasudhaika kutumbakam. They transcend limits. How to dissolve this limitation is what this science teaches.
You have built the fence around yourself. Then what did you do? The way a snake is imagined in a rope, you have imagined a non-exististing individual in the soul. That is what has happened. You have forgotten that you are the Soul itself. Atma Bhava is forgotten. Jeeva Bhava came into existence.
At the beginning of our being, how were we? If you explore, you end up at the sun’s rays. Once that stage is reached, it is not possible to have a body. Sun’s rays burn up all the five elements. The body cannot exist any further or travel further. How were we, prior to the existence of the five elements? What was our body or vehicle? Only the mind was there. There was no body. Yogis travel upwards and through the sun’s rays they go away. The frame just melts away. If you fry the seeds, they will not sprout any more, no matter how much fertilizer or water you give them. Similarly, the yogi who travels through the Sun’s rays has fried the body, but his mind remains. If he fails to destroy the mind, the five elements will capture him once again. That is why the mind has to be killed or eradicated. The individual has lost his identification with the Soul, his true nature, the Atma Bhava, and has identified with the mind; he has developed the Mano Bhava. If the mind is not dissolved, all the five elements will once again re-emerge. Mind at once creates the feeling of I, mine, and so on. When there is no mind, none of these feelings are there.
The great souls who are free from the limited mind see everything as the same. Dattatreya keeps both the Kamadhenu, the sacred cow, and the dogs with him. That the dogs represent the Vedas is a different subject. He transcends the mind. He sees no difference of high or low.
Those who are mindless (without intelligence) are fools. They are such, due to ignorance. But to dissolve the mind with knowledge, is different. This is a blissful state. Those who are born with no mental capacity are born like that due to their past bad Samskara, past sins and evil traits.
Jeeva Bhava only means that Atma bhava is forgotten. Mano bhava is developed too much.
Mind alone is us. Only mind is. It is only the mind that comes and goes.
Earlier we were told that Mind is everything, in the Mumukshu Vyavahara Prakarana. Learn fully about the mind. Pray that the mind gets purified. Pray for peace of mind. Only then it gets easily dissolved.
It is a path in devotion to surrender the mind to God. Our Karmas purify the mind. What is the benefit of performing the Surya Namaskara, Puja, and other austerities or good deeds? They all purify the mind.
If you find the path of knowledge to be taxing, then follow the path of Karma. But actually, there is no easier way than the path of Knowledge, Jnana. Here there is no strain.
Once from being Knowledge itself, the individual descended to the stage of wanting to know, and knowing, he became free to see things as he pleased. Instead of facing the right direction and proceeding, he faced the wrong direction. Then the trouble started. He wished to indulge in experiences. What caused those experiences? It was Maya that caused them.
What saves us is that the Brahma Bhava did not go away from us. It is retained within us. That is what still allows us all to experience happiness. That is why even if we go on the wrong track, we are set back on the right track. We hear of such stories, such as Ajamila’s experience. Despite leading a terrible life, in the end he was liberated. How did that happen?
In every single creature, the Brahma Bhava is retained (that he is the Atma, Soul). To remind us of that Brahma bhava that is within us, and to remove the Jeeva Bhava from us, we need a Sadguru. That is why one must seek a Sadguru. Without Sadguru’s help, we remain limited. We assume that we are helpless and incapacitated. That is Jeeva Bhava. To regain the conviction that if you listen to Sadguru’s teachings and follow them, you will become unlimited again, is Atma bhava. It is recollected because of the guidance received from Sadguru. It is because the Brahma Bhava is preserved within us. If it were not there, there would be no such thing as deep sleep.
Sushupti is our daily experience of Brahma anubhava/experience of divinity. That is what keeps us happy. Sleep is a very sacred experience. One should treat going to sleep as a very precious activity. That is why we seriously perform the Ekanta Seva to the deity in temples. The Sayana Seva for the Lord either at Tirumala or at Sri Datta Venkateswara temple, is performed with great dedication and devotion. The Lord’s image is brought, He is offered milk with saffron. He is fanned, He is kept in a swing. Being devotees, you should not listen to negative comments about such rituals. A mattress and pillows are arranged. A mosquito net is placed. Everyone remains quiet. They close the doors after singing lullabies and they allow the Lord to sleep peacefully. We imagine the Lord enjoying the Brahma Bhava during His sleep.
Similarly you also should go to sleep. One should not be thinking disturbing thoughts before going to bed. Read a good book, or watch a pleasant program, nothing violent. That way you will avoid getting nightmares. Every day we all enjoy Brahma Anubhava in deep sleep. But that is not sufficient.
Sadguru’s grace comes when one leads a proper life. He feels love and compassion for such a person and offers his help, hoping that he will switch from the Jeeva Bhava to Brahma Bhava.
Due to a Visesha Bhava, an extraordinary feeling, Brahma Satta (Truth) itself has acquired the Jeeva Bhava. Do you understand now? Do you feel the relief? It appears as if it is understood and at the same time it eludes grasp.
Truth or Brahma Satta itself has acquired the feeling of the Jeeva. What is the reason? Some Visesha bhavana. But no Vikara took place, although a change seems to have occurred by way of the rope appearing like a snake. But did any change actually take place? No. This example must be constantly kept in mind. Jeeva Bhava is just like the snake. If you say it is there, it is there. If you deny its existence, it is not there. It is easier to remove the snake from the rope, but this Jeeva Bhava that has been imposed on the Brahma Bhava does not go away so easily. It requires sadhana. Has the rope really turned into a snake? No.
Do not argue, but the rope is still there. Do not extend the example further than required.
When you see only the rope, and not the snake, your fear is dispelled. Knowing that Brahma is not Jeeva, there is only Ananda, bliss alone exists.
After the Jeeva Satta, the Akasa Satta appearing as a void, emerges. The gradual step by step process of Creation is now described. Four-faced Brahma is the source of this entire four-fold Creation.
Finally Brahma, the Creator also merges back in Paramatma.
Anjaneya Swami will be the future Brahma only to uplift the devotees who are following the paths of devotion/Bhakti, Jnana/Knowledge, or Dharma/virtue. He gathers them all and reaches them to their destination. He is always Parabrahma. He manifests, taking the Jeeva Bhava, just to guide and help us.
From the Akasa Satta, the Space element emerges, and that is the start of Creation. Space is the basis for sound. Then Time emerges. One cannot say when Jeeva came into existence, because he precedes Time. Time came later. Are you born first? Or do you first celebrate your birthday and then take birth? Time has emerged from you. You have not emerged from Time. Everyone knows this. But they are afraid of Time and remain subservient to it. But great souls do not bend under Time. They control Time. Along with Space, and Time, the ego and self-love of the individual emerge. Now he begins to count his days. He will begin accruing possessions. This is the beginning of Creation. The individual is now creating his world, his parents, his relatives, his gurus, the ego, the space, and time.
Space, Ego, and Time are the constituents of this Creation. Without these, there is no Universe. These are only sustained by the power or Truth of Brahma who remains without any change or modification. To think that these are sustained by the Jeeva, is very wrong.
Go back to deep sleep. You were there during deep sleep. Because you were there, you woke up. Because you woke up, this entire world has appeared. The feeling that ‘I exist’ is not there for you in deep sleep. But you are there. You are eternally existent. The world does not really exist. It appears as if it does. It is only the Satta (Truth) of Paramatma that exists. That alone supports this. One must always remember this. Remember the sequence of occurrences, of Paramatma, Iswara, Jeeva Bhava, Space, Ego, Time, and so on.
Next, in the sequence of emergence, the five subtle perceptions, the five elements, and so on, are mentioned. One after another they all gather, just as in the mother’s womb the infant begins as a cell, then slowly the various organs and limbs gather around it and develop to form its body. The doctors scan and examine to see if the growth of the fetus is normal. The mind came first and then the entire Creation evolved.
Today after Sri Chakra Puja, at 10 AM Nandeeswara on Chamundi Hill will receive Abhishekam. Those who wish, may come and witness it. This is an annual event.
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
Om Santissantissantihi