Bhaskar: वासुदेवेन्द्रयोगीन्द्रं नत्वा ज्ञानप्रदम् गुरुम् | मुमुक्षूणाम् हितार्थाय तत्वबोधोSभिधीयते ||

Having saluted श्रीवासुदेव the इंद्र along योगी, the गुरू who is the bestower of ज्ञान of the Truth (तत्व), the तत्वबोध is expounded for the seekers of liberation (मुमुक्षत्वम्)

साधनाचतुष्टय सम्पन्नाधिकारिणां मोक्षसाधनभूतं तत्वविवेक प्रकारं वक्ष्याम: |

For those who are endowed with four-fold qualifications (साधनाचतुष्टयम्), here is explained the mode of discrimination which is the means for attaining मोक्ष.

Commentary

तत्वबोध is a प्रकरण ग्रंथ , not a शास्त्रं. Former explains terms and sets the context while the latter is a full-blown scripture. Two points are made here. To attain freedom, one must possess certain characteristics as a person. The road to highest wisdom starts with developing a certain intellectual mindset. Second, having attributes alone is not enough – one needs to have विवेक which in simple terms is possessing an ability to think rightly. Multiple inputs come into the mind day in and day out and how does one segregate valid inputs and set aside unnecessary inputs is critical for attaining wisdom. Wrong leaning will lead to sub-optimal outcomes while valid learning leads one to freedom.

Priya Krishnamurthy: 👍👍👍 The issue that I face when dealing with ancient texts is the decision / definition of  valid inputs- some things I think are contextual while others are universal truths that last the test of time. The latter I think are fewer than the former but folks who believe ancient texts  more literally probably believe otherwise. But I do agree that विवेक is required to discriminate

Bhaskar: साधनाचतुष्टयम् किम्?

What are the four-fold qualifications?

नित्यानित्य वस्तुविवेक: । इहामुत्रार्थफलभोगविराग: । शमादि षट्कसम्पत्ति: । मुमुक्षत्वम् च इति।

1) The capacity to discriminate between permanent and impermanent, 2) dispassion to the enjoyment of the fruits of one’s actions here and hereafter, 3) accomplishments like शम, etc and 4) yearning for freedom/ liberation

Bhaskar: नित्यानित्य वस्तुविवेक: क: ?

What is meant by discrimination between permanent and impermanent?

नित्यवस्त्वेकं ब्रह्म तद्व्यतिरिक्तं सर्वमनित्यं। अयमेव नित्यानित्य वस्तुविवेक: ।

ब्रह्म alone is the one नित्य वस्तु, the eternal factor. Everything else is अनित्य, i.e. impermanent. This conviction is the primary idea behind discrimination between eternal and ephemeral.

Commentary

Most critical question comes right at the start. All that has a beginning has an end. However, there is a concept or idea that there exists a fundamental particle “something” that is always there. It has no beginning and therefore it has no end. Our texts use the word ब्रह्म is describe this primal idea. Why is this question the basis for विवेक? वेद has this idea that ब्रह्म is eternal, beyond time and space, a sort of pre big-bang material that was, is and will be. Now, how does one discover this eternal particle? Physicists are attempting to probably witness this in Switzerland. Indian texts ask for all to search for this one within and around since this is always present for us to experience. Now, if one takes the presence of an eternal substance or वस्तु as an initial hypothesis, therefore, since both body and mind have a beginning, both have an end. Both Earth and Sun have a start and they too will therefore end and they are thus not ब्रह्म. Look at everything around us – all aspects have a beginning and thus are नश्वर. So where is the eternal? Answer will come if we take on the investigation approach with this question whenever we take up “something” – does it have a start? Yes – then it is not ब्रह्म. No – then I am interested. Now, keep pursuing with this question and one will eventually reach ब्रह्म – that is the idea here.

Vinay Bhale: Bhaskar, just to get my definitions clear. Is Vivek only alluding to ability to discriminate between nitya and anitya or is it the overall ability to use the 4 attributes and discriminate between what to learn from and what to discard? Basic q. Why is it important to discriminate between permanent and impermanent? Will we not learn anything if we try to investigate impermanence? Has civilization not benefitted by focusing on so many impermanent things? Please do not take it as questioning the text.

Bhaskar: 😀😀 Do ask questions please – these are learning opportunities for myself. This is a text geared towards knowing reality. It has no other purpose. Just as a text on biology will not get side tracked on Economics or a text on Accounting does not get into nuances of medicine, the focus of this text is only to attain ultimate reality. Hence, विवेक essential for this text is not towards matters of व्यवहार but the ultimate reality. If you look at ancient texts, it is Rishis who have written texts on matters of व्यवहार too – be it आयुर्वेद, be it नाट्यशास्त्र, be it governance, etc. The idea is that knowers of ultimate reality can articulate matters of व्यवहार too much better since ultimate reality is the basis for all matters of व्यवहार too. Once you know the source, the original cause and it’s attributes, all that follows will be perceived correctly and handled appropriately. So knowing the original cause has been taken up in detail but this does not mean that matters of impermanence have been ignored. In fact, they have been understood much better since their place in the entire scheme of aspects of impermanence is appropriately understood and they are then used to the extent necessary and discarded when found unnecessary

Parvindar: As always with our Indian scripture the most important and the key points are summarized right in the beginning of the texts or in the first skloks itself

Bhaskar: विराग: क:? इहस्वर्गभोगेषु इच्छाराहित्यम्।

What is dispassion? The absence of yearning for the enjoyment (of the fruits of one’s actions) both in this world, as also the other world.

शमादिसाधनसम्पत्ति का:?

By pursuing साधना, what are the types of wealth we must acquire starting with शम? They are शम, दम, उपरम, तितिक्षा, श्रद्धा and समाधानम्

Commentary

Why must we have dispassion? The reason is obvious. This study requires us to adopt rationality of the highest kind. But to acquire this, we must have to shed our prejudices. If we see the word through the prism of our dented spectacles, the world will appear dented. Our cravings will make us reinforce our confirmation biases. Cravings may distract us into side-lanes instead of going on the highway of our destination. So, liking for fame, glory, power, etc may block our progress and keep us away from being objective in our journey towards reaching the goal. Having this attribute is critical even for a sportsman, what then to speak of one who is on the quest for the Highest. How does one acquire विराग? By acquiring षट् संपत्ति. And what is the meaning of each of these six types of wealth? Later…..

Bhaskar: Certain religions traditions extoll attaining of स्वर्ग even in Hinduism. In वेदान्त however, craving for स्वर्ग is also seen as an impediment. One who attains even स्वर्ग remains there till the सत्कर्म stock is exhausted post which one has to again continue from where one left. So shed the idea of craving for स्वर्ग too is what this verse states.

Vinay Bhale: This always amazes me. You had mentioned this earlier too. Most of the people believe that you reach swarga and that is it. No more rebirths

Bhaskar: Even in the महाभारत, there are stories of इंद्र coming to a ऋषि telling him that he has acquired capacity to go to स्वर्ग and requests him to accompany him to स्वर्ग. Then there is a dialogue about benefits of स्वर्ग and the moment ऋषि comes to know that the benefit is temporary, इंद्र is then asked to return. Even logically, while good deeds may give you good outcome, good deeds not driven towards wisdom will not yield the highest state of ब्रह्म. Whatever one acquires will eventually go away but wisdom acquired will remain forever – so the ब्रह्म goal is a wisdom goal.

Vinay Bhale: And how does one know whether one is on the right path and is progressing in a positive direction. How does one know if one has reached?

Bhaskar: That is Arjuna question in Ch2 of the Gita on who is a स्थितप्रज्ञ. We can touch this question further down our discussion

शंकर नारायण: Basically what is mentioned is Wisdom will lead to one to do good needs rationally.

Vijay: Amazing OD🙏🏼🙏🏼glad you are spreading the wisdom. very meaningful and totally applicable in today’s ‘instant’ world. The super hard work done for a promotion, only to be followed by dissatisfaction after a short time is a good example of how things are short-lived in today’s corporate world and goal needs to be higher🙂

Vinay Bhale: Thu and Friday, I attended a corporate training program on negotiating skills. Bluntly, how to get the best deal for yourself. And now I am reading a discourse on how not to be running after fruits of instant success. How to be dispassionate. Ghor sankat.

Hemangi: Lol..no conflict there..just negotiate dispassionately😉

Vijay: What is the meaning of the 5 sanskrit words/wealth

Bhaskar: 6 types of wealth called as षट् संपत्ति will come tomorrow

Bhaskar: No संकट at all 😀. We talked earlier about quest for eternality. Even in लौकिक aspects, we seek eternality – we buy a TV which lasts longer, we buy clothes which do not spoil quickly, we take up a job that gives us lasting joy, gold has value since its value does not deplete for a long time, etc. Similarly, you are learning to negotiate better so that you get the best deal which will add value to you for a long time. Seeking anything is thus nothing else but a quest for something that gives joy for a longer time. Given that there is a continuium of value of each item on a time scale, joy from Samosa lasts for a minute, joy from TV lasts for 5 years, joy from a car for 7 years, joy from savings for 10 -20 years post retirement, etc. So all these quests are good pursuits. Question is – is there is quest that takes us to the farthest end of the continuium?  That is ब्रह्म. Once that is understood, we then give us pursuits that give us value for a limited time and pursue that which gives us value forever. It is as simple as that

Vijay: 👌👌very well put. And nothing is really assured anyways. TV/car may breakdown in a day too. The 6 wealth thing is what will enlighten toward eternal. Garud Puran covers a small part of this. Vijay: I think🙂

Bhaskar: Of course 😀 Most texts like these have four aspects – 1) विषय (topic)  viz तत्वज्ञान,  2) प्रयोजन (meaning purpose of this ज्ञान) viz मोक्ष, 3) अधिकारी (meaning who is qualified to attain the goal) viz साधना चतुष्टयम् which means four attributes and षट् संपत्ति is one of them and 4) the actual ज्ञान itself covered in detail.

Parvindar: Excellent 👏🏻👏🏻👍. So one keeps doing the actions even though one knows that everything is temporary and impermanent; the fruits last for a limited time frame; there is a small danger through where under pretext of being spiritual one may actually turn to be let’s say lazy and not do any action ( forget about passion or dispassion ) and convince oneself that I am on spiritual path so why I need to do this or that .. the is where the game gets a bit tricky .. The key to differentiate and respond and act in the right manner is probably one of the most difficult challenges in this whole game.

Bhaskar: Indeed a valid point. We will probably address this as we go along

Priya Krishnamurthy: Totally agree- there is a strong possibility of confirmation bias in this aspect as well- convincing ourselves that our laziness / shrinking of responsibility is actually “dispassion “ – finding that right balance of living in this world , enjoying its beauty and bounties and yet not being too bothered by its vagaries kerping the eternal goal in sight  ( so much easier said than done😃)  I is the key

Bhaskar: शम: क:? मनोनिग्रह :।

What is शम? Control or mastery over one’s mind.

दम: क:? चक्षुरादिबाह्येन्द्रिय निग्रह:।

What is दम? Control or mastery over one’s sense organs.

उपरम: क:? स्वधर्म अनुष्ठानम् इव।

What is उपरम? Strict observance of one’s धर्म

तितिक्षा का? शीतोष्णसुखदु:खादिसहिष्णुत्नम्।

What is तितिक्षा? The endurance of heat and cold, pleasure and pain, etc

श्रद्धा कीदृशी? गुरुवेदान्त वाक्यादिषु विश्वास:

What is the nature of श्रद्धा? Conviction in the words of the गुरू and in the वेदान्त texts is श्रद्धा.

समाधानं किम्? चित्तैकाग्रता।

What is समाधानं? Single-pointedness of the mind.

Commentary

षट् संपत्ति means six types of (अध्यात्म) wealth. Being disciplined is thus not an end goal in itself. Purpose of a moral life is to make us acquire विराग which in turn is essential to gain तत्वज्ञान. Each of the six traits give a certain orientation – शम helps us gain internal control, दम is a means of external control, sticking to स्वधर्म means sticking to a vocation that is aligned to our primary गुण or aptitude. श्रद्धा, usually translated as faith in God, as per आदिशंकर refers to living a lifestyle where we live with full conviction in the words of गुर & उपनिषद. तितिक्षा enhances our patience rather than stopping साधना owing to weak stamina and समाधान gives us a focussed mind like that of ध्रुव which is essential to get into समाधि states and experience नारायण fully.

But is श्रद्धा in उपनिषद् and गुरू not akin to blind faith? In one sense, it is not different to our blind faith in planning to send kids to Ivy league schools and their teachers. But it is different too in the sense that श्रद्धा in गुरू & उपनिषद् is an initial point specified here to start off the blocks. As we get deeper into the lifestyle prescribed and face with many questions, higher texts like ब्रह्मसूत्र address such finer points too by providing contrary views and challenging the words of उपनिषद् too. As श्रीमदभगवद्गीता says, for a learned person, even the वेद is useless since this person has crossed the bounds of ideas in the text. But as an initial starting point, live by respecting the word of these texts and a गुरू who follows the lifestyle of these texts fully. As one grows, one can outgrow them.

Parvindar: I suppose if one master’s one’s mind then there is really not much left to master as eveything Else follows ..

Bhaskar: मुमुक्षत्वम् किम्? ‘मोक्षो मे भूयाद्’ इति इच्छा।

What is मुमुक्षत्वम्? “Let me attain मोक्ष” – such an intense yearning is मुमुक्षत्वम्.

एतत् साधनचतुष्टयम्। तत: तत्वविवेक अधिकारिणो भवन्ति।

These are the four-fold साधना. Once one acquires these, they become अधिकारि IE., persons fit to enquire into तत्व or Truth.

मुमुक्षु is one who yearns for मोक्ष. For attaining any goal, yearning is an obvious requisite and goal of मोक्ष is no different. So what is मोक्ष? Freedom. Freedom from what? Freedom to murder? Freedom to wake up at 12 noon on Sundays? No – it is freedom from बंधन. But what is that which binds us? अज्ञान. And what is अज्ञान? That will be taken up later. So are we free now? There are limits that our bodies impose on us. There are rules that society tells us to follow. There the company rules, family rules, rules of nature that bind us, etc. So does मोक्ष mean breaking away from these rules altogether? No. Every physical body has a certain धर्म. Every game we play has certain rules. Every act in society or a relationship has its own मर्यादा that we adhere to. Only music that is bound by rules of स्वर & राग makes the best music.

Thus, freedom from rules is no freedom. Even श्रीराम & श्रीकृष्ण were bound to rules, yet were free – free from prejudices, from cravings, from idea of friendship /enmity, etc Their freedom came from being established in ब्रह्म, the source, the substratum. And once one is established in the substratum, one is connected to all since the same substratum permeates all. And when one is connected to all, there is in fact no “other”, there is One and One only. No need to teach अहिंसा or दानं to such a person. Does a hand act against the face? Do ears act against legs? Does not the hand protect the eye automatically when faced with bright light? When they know they are all one, they will coordinate naturally with one another. True freedom is thus a journey towards becoming “natural” as against our synthetic existence today. True freedom comes when one knows his own real blissful nature fully when this knowing is not covered by अज्ञान. More about what this really means later.

It’s all in the mind 😀. I guess षट् संपत्ति has been specified given the various ways in which mind can be oriented. At the first level, शम makes us conscious of internal negative tendencies of laziness, day – dreaming fantasies, etc while दम asks us to step back from external distractions. But how does one do that? उपरम tells us to focus on स्वधर्म – do one’s duties by doing नित्य कर्म (नित्यपूजा, etc) and taking responsibility of family, job, etc. But as we get into this mode, we will experience pain and other challenges and this is where तितिक्षा becomes critical. But doing धर्म alone is not adequate as more is required to gain wisdom and hence the mind is told that while one does धर्म, allow the mind to develop श्रद्धा in the words of गुरू & उपनिषद् as this will deepen our दृष्टि while discharging our धर्म. And given the difficulty involved in sticking to धर्म and keeping mind focussed on the message of the गुरूat all times, one needs to cultivate the ability to remain focussed, no matter what, which is what समाधान is all about.

Hemangi: Is it virag or vairagya ?

Bhaskar: Both are one and the same

Hemangi: Ok. I hope it covered the concept of social credit and goodwill … 😊. I like the part of being lazy. It has its own value proposition, if used strategically !!! Are you sure swadharma  is sticking  to vocation that is alignment to our primary aptitude?  I always thought it was alignment with some universal / cosmic law …. everything else follows naturally and incidental ?

Bhaskar: Since eyes are aligned to well-being of the body, they see “right”. Since stomach is aligned to well-being of the body, it takes care of digestion well, etc. By being aligned to स्वधर्म, we are aligning to the Universal law only. Each team member does his bit and thereby does his bit in the overall scheme of things

Hemangi: Ok. Somehow I find it applied in the concept of scarcity vs abundance thinking. The former confines us in our wants, desires, motives, prejudices… the latter is liberating. OD , this was sounding similar to teachings of Bhagwad Gita? How is it different ? Or rather where and when does the difference starts?

Bhaskar: It is not different – the same आदिशंकर gave a commentary on the Gita. However, we straight jumped into Gita while ideally, we should have read this primary text first, understood the basics and then should have taken on the Gita. As I said earlier, this is a प्रकरण text while Gita is a शास्त्र

Hemangi: Hmm … ok

Parvindar: Absolutely beautiful 👍👏🏻👏🏻 Freedom from our prejudices our idea of Friendship/enemy, and the ‘other’ beautifully put 👏🏻👍👍

Bhaskar: ” Vedic physics” begins from tomorrow 😀. Essentially, technical terms will get introduced and the general meaning that we usually ascribe to these words will have to be set aside. Also suspend meanings of the terms enumerated by the text based on modern Physics and Biology and just go by how अध्यात्म lists out its own categories (or variables)  to make a case for conveying its ideas.

Priya Krishnamurthy: Why does this seem just a little familiar ?  ( not  that I mind the repetition 😃. I think your phrase “Vedic physics’ reminds me of terms you had mentioned earlier that  I had found confusing .., Guan indriyan, causal body , 5 stars of heat, solidity , liquidity, then stuff lije 5 Pranas ( circulation etc)  etc . Am I remembering some of this from prior conversations Uday? Or am I losing my mind? 😂😂… which is not outside the realm of possibility

Bhaskar: तत्वविवेक: क:? आत्मा सत्य: तदन्यत् सर्वं मिथ्येति।

What is तत्वविवेक? आत्मा alone is real. “All other things are unreal” – this firm conviction is called as तत्वविवेक

Commentary

Three technical terms are critical to be aware of. “सत्य” means real or existing. अध्यात्म has a unique definition for anything to be called as Truth or Reality (सत्य). For something to qualify as a सत्य, it must exist in त्रिकाल viz जाग्रत्, स्वप्न & सुशुप्ति (waking, dream & deep sleep) and भूत, वर्तमान & भविष्य (past, present & future). Thus, our मन is not सत्य since it does not operate in सुशुप्ति. Earth, Sun and life all around us are not सत्य since there was a time in भूत and there is a time in भविष्य when they do not exist. The world as we see it does not qualify to have a tag of reality since it fails the त्रिकाल rule. ब्रह्म (आत्मा) is postulated as the only सत्य वस्तु that is eternal (present at all times). Next is the word असत्य which means non-existent – man having horns, elephant having wings, etc are असत्य as these can never exist at ANY time.

Third is a key word मिथ्या which means “dependent reality” (the word illusion be confusing). A mirage is मिथ्या, our face in the mirror is मिथ्या since while they are not सत्य, they are not असत्य too since one can see them and experience them via our senses. But their existence is dependent on something else and hence they are termed as मिथ्या. The famous line that is stated is – ब्रह्म सत्य, जगत् मिथ्या. The above verse also says that आत्मा alone is सत्य and everything else is मिथ्या since anything else that we see, think, experience, etc is dependent on आत्मा, the only “real” substratum. And when we really connect with this idea and are convinced, our विवेक is said to be rightly resolved – this is the अध्यात्म proposition.

Hemangi: I like the conceptualizatiion of Satya  … brahma (atma) is it reference to energy in its purest form. We have seen brahma defined in slightly different way in Bhagwad Gita.

Bhaskar: 👍 Over the next few days, lots of such concepts will be conveyed to get a better idea of various components. Once the various parts are understood, the big picture idea of अध्यात्म then falls in place

Parvindar: Excellent !! So this truth that permeates and Resides in everything and everywhere. As it’s said kann kann mein RAM vasa Hai. Resides in everyone of us as we are the part of this TRUTH… We do experience this truth in flashes and experience this one ness but most of the time are more involved and bothered about with pursuing the untruth.

Bhaskar: आत्मा क:? स्थूलसूक्ष्मकारणशरीराद्वयतिरिक्त: पंचकोशातीत: अवस्थात्रयसाक्षी सच्चिदानन्दस्वरूप: सन् यस्तिष्ठति स आत्मा।

What is आत्मा? That which is other than स्थूल सूक्ष्म & कारण शरीर, which is beyond the five कोश (sheaths), which is the witness of the three states of awareness (waking, dream and deep sleep) and which is the nature of सत् चित् & आनन्द is आत्मा.

Commentary

Definition of आत्मा is difficult to come across anywhere – most who do प्रवचन use these lines to convey the idea. Else typically the words used are निर्विकार, निर्गुण, निराकार, etc which are negative definitions of the नेति – नेति kind. And it is clearly stated here that आत्मा is not either of the three kinds of bodies that all of us possess (details will follow). This is why use of the word “soul” (viz understood more as सूक्ष्म शरीर) as analogous to आत्मा must be avoided.

A beautiful word is used to describe आत्मा – it is a अवस्था त्रय साक्षी. It is an active witness of त्रय अवस्था of waking, dream-state and deep sleep. Further, it has three attributes – it is a सत् वस्तु (we discussed what सत् meant earlier), it is चित् (ज्ञान principle) and immersed in आनन्द (bliss principle ). These are again expanded in detail later but what अध्यात्म establishes clearly is that the substratum of all of universe as well as ourselves is one fundamental substratum whose स्वरूप is सत्, चित् & आनन्द. This of course rules out “matter” creating our universe “accidentally” since idea of matter possessing these three attributes is not there. Whether we agree or not, this is the core अध्यात्म proposition 😀

Bhaskar: स्थूल शरीरं किम्? पंचीकृतपंचमहाभूतै: कृतं सत्कर्मजन्यं सुखदु:खादिभोगायतनं शरीरं, अस्ति जायते, वर्धते विपरिणमते अपक्षीयते विनश्यतीति षड्विकारवेद तत: सूक्ष्म शरीरं।

What is स्थूल शरीर? That which is composed of five महा भूतं (five elements viz space, etc) AFTER they have undergone the process of पंचीकरण (will be elaborated later), the receptacle to earn the experiences of सुख and दु:ख etc., and subject to six modifications namely is ” अस्ति (conception/ come into existence), जायते (born), वर्धते (grows), विपरिणमते (matures), अपक्षीयते (decays) and विनश्यति (dies)” is स्थूल शरीर

Commentary

Outer body is a receptacle and is a gross aspect of creation. Word used for a body is that it is a भोग आयतनम् means it is a vehicle for gaining experiences (like in the Avatar movie). आत्मा takes on a body to experience सुख & दु:ख. It is akin to a cloth that is worn and then discarded. Many life forms (eg., देवता) crave to be born with a body. Some forms like प्रेत experience frustration since they do are not able to obtain a body. Next is an idea that certain subtle aspects within creation go through a process termed as पंजीकरण (this word will be explained later) and an end compound comes about that is the physical body. Simply put, five elements (space, fire, etc) exist in a pure form first and they then mix in a certain manner and create gross forms of the five elements which in turn create a body – details will follow.

And the best expansion of the line “All that is born will die” is by the idea of षड्विकार or six modifications – anything that is subject to these six changes is not a सत्य-वस्तु, it is a मिथ्या-वस्तु. All life forms go through the process of षड्विकार. Therefore, our physical body is not सत्य or real since to qualify as a सत्यवस्तु, such an item has to eternally exist in the same manner. A body is however a compound, an artificial product, created merely for undergoing certain kind of experiences. In that case, can सूक्ष्म शरीर be called as a सत्य वस्तु? More tomorrow…..

Parvindar: I wonder why do the Devta want to be born in the human form if they know that the experience of dukh and sukh is temporary ?

Bhaskar: देवता is merely a realm of desire exhaustion. Good कर्म cannot be accumulated in that realm. Just as when we go for holidays, we merely enjoy the trip by spending what we have earned but cannot earn in that place for retiring peacefully, देवता is merely exhausting सत्कर्म in स्वर्ग (self-desires). Just as we have to return home and work hard to earn enough to have a great life, देवता has to take up human birth to attain मोक्ष.

Parvindar: So basically we as human lives are a mix of truth and untruth. The world that we interact with according to the scriptures is untruth or an illusion. All our life we run after this illusion and in the end leave empty handed. The difficult part is that if this world is untruth then how do we decide to what degree we associate ourselves with the world ? How do we act without being complete  dissociated with the results ? Since this world and maya is also created by God so nothing will happen without His Grace .. only if God wants we will have the chance or good fortune of being immersed in truth yet interact with the world in a dispassionate manner.  Finally it comes to saranagathi surrender complete 🙏🏻

Parvindar: Ok I Understand the part that Dev lok is let’s say a price or a paid holiday given to you .. but does it mean that the devta living there have no desires? Are they bound by the vices of kam and krodh? Or is it that to fulfill these they have to return to earth in human form ?

Bhaskar: I will not answer this now since this will come up later once we have exhausted the discussion on building blocks of life. Reason for not answering this now is because we will engage with Maya in detail later and how exactly Maya makes us see the world the way we see this. Once we address that aspect, discussion can get more interesting 😀

Parvindar: Great

Bhaskar: Devata certainly have desires which are getting exhausted in Swarga. There is no Karma accumulation in that plane, only desire exhaustion.

Parvindar: So we have this sthul body which is made of the 5 elements and after death it returns back to the elements. The atma is timeless and deathless and is the eternal witness to the whole game and play. Then of course is our mind which is created as a result of our associating with the false sense of I that is I am the Doer and the Enjoyer. I am the Creator.  Could we call it the subtle body ? This is also Temporary and untruth as the Doer and the Enjoyer is only God. So being in this consciousness of I am the Doer one can do kind of good karmas and bad Karma and the result of these Good Karma is that we get to live in the Swarga or a better plane of life.  Ones this is exhausted we return to the Mother Earth. Until our mind dies (our false ego of I) we will keep coming and going.

Bhaskar: 👍True – there is a third शरीर too called as कारण शरीर they will come later after सूक्ष्म शरीर .

Bhaskar: सूक्ष्मशरीरं किम्? अपंचीकृतपंचमहाभूतै: कृतं सत्कर्मजन्यं सुखदु:खादिभोग साधनं पंचज्ञानेन्द्रियीणि पंचकर्मेन्द्रियीणि पंच प्राणादय: मनश्चैकं बुद्धिश्चैका एवं सप्तदशकलाभि: सह यस्तिष्ठति तत्सूक्ष्म शरीरम्।।

What is सूक्ष्मशरीर? That which is composed of five महा भूतं (five elements viz space, etc) PRIOR to their undergoing the process of पंचीकरण (will be elaborated later), born of good actions of the past, the instruments for experience of pleasure and pain etc., constituted of seventeen items namely -five ज्ञानेन्द्रिय (eyes, ears, etc), five कर्मेन्द्रिय (hands, legs, etc), five प्राण (प्राण, अपान, उदान, समान & व्यान), मन & बुद्धि is called as सूक्ष्मशरीर.

Commentary

स्थूल means gross while सूक्ष्म means unseen / subtle. While outer body is akin to a toy that can be seen, this outer body can work only if there are principles that are unseen outside but make the body work. Imagine a big juicer that picks up an orange, peels off the external layer, crushes the orange, collects the juice in a container and segregates the waste into another container. Juicer viz akin to a भोग आयतनम् while all the multiple principles like crushing, segregation, etc are akin to भोग साधनम् meaning instruments that drive activity. Just as we cannot see these principles separately except observing them in operation by watching a juicer, our body has १७ principles (locomotion, vision, hearing, excretion, grasping, etc) which are सूक्ष्म but they are the drivers of activity in our body. Activities performed by सूक्ष्म शरीर are further elaborated in the following verses.

Point to note is that ५ organs of action (hands, legs, etc) and ५ organs of knowledge (eyes, ears, etc) are not referred to as सूक्ष्म here since they are स्थूल meaning gross/ visible. Here, each of these १७ parts refer to inner principles that get reflected on the external body in a certain manner and hence referred to as सूक्ष्म. So the physical ear that we see outside is स्थूल while the principle of hearing that drives the ear to listen is an इंद्रिय viz सूक्ष्म and classified as one of the ५ ज्ञानेन्द्रिय. More “biology” elaborating the working of सूक्ष्म parts will be elaborated tomorrow. Why is this obvious aspect relevant or important in our study of अध्यात्म will become clear as we proceed.

Why should “biology” be discussed in an अध्यात्म text? This is not “Biology” at all. Even in ancient India, to become a वैद्य, one had to undertake an ८ year course encompassing all of आयुर्वेद and that is a separate text altogether which gets into in depth look at biology. The दृष्टि here is different; here the purpose is to convey our real identity. For this purpose, अध्यात्म gets into defining principles come together to create life, analyze them in terms of their utility, eventually discard them as not constituting आत्मा leaving us with a fundamental particle that is a सत् वस्तु. And unless one defines fundamental principles that define the universe, identity and isolate them, we will never to get Truth and अध्यात्म therefore has its own unique approach in the way it sees life.

Parvindar: The point -Born of good actions of the past. This really means that to be endowed with the 17 sukhshm shareer is not something taken for granted; some people are born with disabilities; so if we are endowed with these full functioning or Disabled abilities then it’s got to be related to our  past actions – good or bad?

Bhaskar: Absolutely – what we are endowed with is certainly not to be taken for granted. Human life comes rarely is the line that texts keep making again and again.

Bhaskar: श्रोत्रं त्वक् चक्षु: रसना घ्राणमिति पंच ज्ञानेन्द्रियाणि।। श्रोतस्य दिग्देवता। त्वचो वीयु:। चक्षुष: सूर्य:। रसनाया: वरुण:। घ्राणस्य अश्विनौ इति ज्ञानेन्द्रिय देवता:।।

Ear, touch, eyes, tongue and nose – these are the five ज्ञानेन्द्रिय – organs of perception. दिग् (space/direction) is the देवता of ear or hearing, वायु (air/ atmosphere) is the देवता of skin or touch, सूर्य (light) is the देवता of eyes or vision, वरुण (principle of water) is the देवता of tongue or taste and अश्विनी (in dual) is the देवता of nose or smell. These five thus are the देवता of ज्ञानेन्द्रिय

श्रोतस्य विषय: शब्दग्रहणम्। त्वचो विषय: स्पर्शग्रहणम्। चक्षुषो विषय: रूपग्रहणम्। रसनाया विषय: रस ग्रहणम्। घ्राणस्य विषय: गन्धग्रहणम् इति।

The field of experience for the ear is the reception of sound, for the skin is the cognition of touch, for the eyes is the perception of forms, for the tongue is the cognition of taste and for the nose is cognition of smell.

Commentary

Three aspects are elaborated here – the इंद्रिय or subject, the विषय or object and the power/ force that makes the subject – object unity possible. Ingredient that makes the connection of subject – object possible is the energizing force called as देवता. The word देवता comes from the root word दिव् which means to light up or energise. देवता is not God. So if one is inside a dark room with furniture all around, despite both subject and object being present, vision is not possible unless light is switched on. While one can use use ultra – vision to see in a dark room, one still needs to have the ability to see which is the देवताशक्ति.

I am unsure if the idea of देवता is a layman speculation or truths based on realization of reality. But some connections are interesting. Sounds travel in space and if space is obstructed, sound will not travel – so choice of “directions” viz called as दिग्देवता as deity for the ear seems reasonable. Similarly, सूर्य देव is the देवता for vision who is the same देवता which powers the physical Sun. Without liquidity in the tongue, taste us not possible and वरुण thus becomes देवता energizing the tongue. Also, the object of each इंद्रिय (as a subject) is different and the देवता thus varies for eyes, nose, etc which is also the reason why eye cannot hear, ears cannot see, skin cannot smell, etc.

Bhaskar: वाक् पाणि पाद पायु उपस्थान इति पंच कर्मेन्द्रियाणि। वाचो देवता वह्नि:। हस्तयो: इंद्र:। पादयो: विष्णु:। पायो: मृत्यु:। उपस्थस्य प्रजापति: इति कर्मेन्द्रिय देवता:।

Speech, hands, legs, anus and genitals are the five कर्मेन्द्रिय – the organs of action. The देवता of speech is अग्नि or वह्नि, the देवता of hands is इद्र, the देवता of feet is विष्णु, the देवता of anus is मृत्यु and the देवता of of genitals is प्रजापति. Thus, the देवता of the organs of action have been given.

Bhaskar: वाचो विषय: भाषणम्। पाण्यो विषय: वस्तुग्रहणम्। पादयो: विषय: गमनम्। पायो: विषय: मलत्याग: । उपस्थस्य विषय: आनन्द: इति।

The function of organs of speech is to speak, of the hands is to grasp the things, of the legs is locomotion, of the anus is the elimination of waste products and of the genital organs is pleasure (procreation).

Commentary

The ५ कर्मेन्द्रिय as subject, विषय or object aligned with them and their respective देवता are continued here. “Taking bull by the horns”, “seizing the moment”, etc are the expressions we use often. Hands are representative of “resolve” to take action and once such “resolve” is made, rest of the body too complies. Use of इंद्र as the देवता, also known as king of the देवता, thus seems apt since other देवता follow the resolve of इंद्र. Use of मृत्यु for excretory organs (rejection of dead matter) and ब्रह्म for genitals (procreation) also seems apt. Use of अग्नि as देवता for speech as in fiery speech also seems apt. Only १० out of १७ इंद्रिय covered here – balance will taken up later in the text.

Each and every इंद्रिय is a power centre while the power-wielder of each such centre is an अधिष्ठान देवता. पुराण represent देवता as pleasure-seekers and it becomes evident that even within our own body, it is the देवता located in each power centre who are actually enjoying wielding the power. And in this light, if one reads Ch3 of the Gita where it is said that देवता and us are mutually interdependent and we need to do यज्ञ and make offerings to the देवता for them to take care of us, the meaning becomes obvious. If we take care of देवता through proper diet offered with piety into the stomach, the अग्नि within us (digestive fire) will ensure that energy from food will reach all the देवता approximately. Our texts will need to be re-read in the light of the idea of देवता given here.

Hemangi: Is mrityu a god 🤔?  Is it same as Yama or does it refer to Time ?

Bhaskar: देवता is a non-translatable word as there is no English equivalent. देवता is not God.  It is a regulating force inasmuch as body depends on the functioning of these forces. मृत्यु too is one such force – even cells die within our body and in that sense, मृत्यु may be seen as a “change” principle that operates within us. यम also means a regulating force. In योग पतंजलि, 5 यम are prescribed starting from अहिंसा, etc are meant to be followed as principles to regulate our own lives. Time is the ultimate regulator of life and यम and time are also used synonymously. Time also is likened to death since “present” has to die every moment as “future” becomes “present” 🙂

Hemangi: Thanks 🙏🏼

Parvindar: 👍👍Fire also provides warmth and it’s function is evident when one speaks in a gentle manner; each of the driving energies or devtas have different functions and interestingly it’s so much important how we use these god given functions: the same tongue can be used to ignite peoples’ minds with hate or inspire people to be compassionate. Goes for each of the functions .. Our mind or manas depending upon what it is primarily coloured with: God conscious ness ( Tu Hi Tu Hi) or Ego consciousness ( Main Hi Main). Depending upon our orientation our Buddhi or intellect interprets the information from the organs of perception and instructs accordingly the organs of actions. The same sensory information is interpreted in a different manner and the person feels threatened insecure and cornered and uses the signals to command the organs of action to protect and preserve and divide more re-enforcing  the idea of the other ; whereas the opposite reaction is to serve to Love and unite more with the idea that there is no other but only You.

Bhaskar: Why this dichotomy exists will be taken up tomorrow

Bhaskar: कारण शरीरं किम्? अनिर्वाच्यानाद्यविद्यारूपं शरीरद्वयस्य कारणमात्रं सत् स्वरूपाज्ञानं निर्विकल्परूपं यदस्ति तत् कारणशरीरं|

That which is inexplicable, beginning-less and in the form of a अविद्या, the cause for the other two bodies (सूक्ष्म & स्थूल), ignorant of one’s own real nature (viz आत्मा), free from duality or division is the कारण शरीरं (causal body).

Commentary

कारण शरीर represents the third innermost layer over आत्मा. As the name suggests, कारण means causal or cause – why is this layer called as कारण and what is its कार्य (effect)? Just as seed is कारणं and fully grown tree is कार्यं, similarly, the कार्यं of the कारण शरीर is the सूक्ष्म & स्थूल शरीर. As we all are aware, pursuit of various कर्म leads to कर्मफल. All acts under the bounds of धर्म do not accumulate कर्म; all other कर्म (whether good or bad) generate कर्मफल. Such कर्मफल gets accumulated and resides within us in the form of वासन/ संसकार. And it is this वासन that necessarily has to fulfil itself and creates or takes on a body of live out वासन/ संसकार. Even after a कल्प ends with a प्रलय, ब्रह्म collects all accumulated वीसन of all जीव and then releases all of them again to continue from where we left in the previous कल्प.

कारण शरीर is the real reason why we are born – if our वासन stock is NIL, there is no reason to take birth. Therefore, अध्यात्म drives us to do धर्म which helps in reducing कर्म stock (कर्म क्षय) but more importantly paves the way for ज्ञान. And once complete ज्ञान descends onto us, अज्ञान is washed away and we are free. So the goal of life is to not just remove वासन but also burn up the seeds that could generate further वासन which can come only through ज्ञान and not by any magic or boons by an external भगवान्. Know your जीव condition, then know the Real आत्मा identity and then work hard to realize ज्ञान and you then attain freedom.

What are the traits of कारण शरीर? It is a state where we are unaware of our स्वरूप viz आत्मा. Interestingly, it is called as अनादि (always existing), it is अनिर्वाच्य (inexplicable) and निर्विकल्प meaning there is no विकल्प or change. Why have these adjectives been used? The word प्रकृति is also used in the Gita with the same adjectives. What does it really imply? This will be covered/ taken up in later verses.

Parvindar: In the form of avidya I can understand but how is this Beginning-less ? There has to be a beginning as there is a end to it after the the vasnas are exhausted.vThe same confusion here that how it’s changeless ? As we born with a different sukhsm and sthul shareer depending upon our actions

Bhaskar: Both the above are difficult questions – kindly give me time and I will respond. The idea is very interesting. Even Gita calls प्रकृति as अनादि

Parvindar: 🙏🙏. Dont worry about answering it immediately; you already are doing a lot by preparing the narrative everyday and sending it.

Bhaskar: In the कारण शरीर, our वासन are in a seed state. And in deep sleep, there is no activity and no dreams too that we experience – there is just darkness. Therefore, it has been stated that this state is a निर्विकल्प state meaning there is no division or change in this state. But once the seed becomes a tree, it expresses itself in the स्थल and सूक्ष्म modes with diversity and variety. People are different since the वासन stock that each जीव carries varies from person to person. And therefore, there are different expressions exhibited by each and every जीव.

Parvindar: Interesting, but I feel in our sleep also in our dreams the karran shareer is active as we get dreams which is imbued with unfulfilled desires trauma and fears and expectations.

Bhaskar: कारण शरीर is active in dreams too – absolutely. In dreams, both कारण and सूक्ष्म are active

Parvindar: Yes this is true but this means it changes as it’s different for different people hence it cannot be changeless

Bhaskar: Noooo – in deep sleep mode itself, all are one because the nature of deep sleep experience is the same for all. It is dark and not distinguishable since all of us are in a seed mode in that state. Only when the seed manifests in other two states, distinctions emerge. One may imagine the स्थल state as most diverse as variety is maximum and visible in this state. Variety is not so visible externally though it varies within in the सूक्ष्म state. The कारण state is however same for one since it is dark and indisguishable for all since the seeds of Vasana are dormant in this mode. But in the आत्मा mode, there is One and One only and all diversity gets reduced to an invisible point. As we describe प्रकृति in detail later, this aspect will become clearer.

Parvindar: Ok understood thanks a lot 🙏🏻👍. One can only but be in awe at the technology that God has created

Bhaskar: अवस्थात्रयं किम्? जाग्रत्स्वप्नसुषुप्त्यवस्था:।

What are the three states of अवस्था or experience? They are the जाग्रत् (waking), स्वप्न (dream) and सुषुप्ति (deep-sleep) states.

Commentary

आत्मा is described as अवस्था त्रय साक्षी – a witness of the ३ अवस्था viz जाग्रत्, स्वप्न & सुषुप्ति. In जाग्रत् अवस्था, all three शरीर are in operation, in स्वप्न अवस्था, स्थूल शरीर becomes inactive while सूक्ष्म & कारण remain active while in सुषुप्ति अवस्था, only कारण शरीर is active. In the सुषुप्ति अवस्था, while अविद्या remains, we are peaceful since the exhaustion created by operation of स्थल & सूक्ष्म शरीर are not present. And since we are closest to आत्मा in सुषुप्ति, we get up next day morning and express “I had a great sleep”. While in जाग्रत् & स्वप्न अवस्था, energy is draining and getting used up, in सुषुप्ति we are actually getting charging. Similarly after doing ध्यान, we feel charged up since both स्थल & सूक्ष्म शरीर are inactive in this state.

If our वासन layer was not blocking us, we would have experienced continuous bliss. And this bliss would have flowed to स्थल & सूक्ष्म शरीर too – an evolved ज्ञानी lives in this mode all the time and they do not need sleep or need minimum sleep and still feel charged up. But for mortals like us, after we get charged up after सुषुप्ति, owing to presence of crores of वासन, we are unable to turn back to आत्मा but in fact propelled forward to take on स्थल & सूक्ष्म शरीर and continue to indulge in कर्म and experience कर्मफल. This leads to us getting into cycle of exhaustion and निद्रा again and again till the last day of our lives. How can one attain मोक्ष if our वासन layer keeps thickening with each and every कर्म all our life?

Parvindar: That’s the really golden question and waiting for then next transmission 👍👍

Bhaskar: The idea of प्रकृति & पुरुष, their inter-relationship, them being अनादि is consistent across multiple Indian दृष्टि like सांख्य, न्याय, वैशेषिक, अद्वैत, काश्मीर शैव संप्रदाय, etc. While the terms are the same, how these terms are understood varies and used to form serious topics of intellectual debate. Essentially, पुरुष is निर्गुण, निराकार, etc while प्रकृति is सगुण, साकार, etc. But these are not two different forces but both exist within a single entity called as ब्रह्म. शिव has an aspect blissed out within itself revelling in alone-ness. With eyes closed, it is in समाधि स्थिति, seemingly inactive and complete. But there is another aspect within शिव that wants to expand, spurred into activity, acquire colours, etc. Both these aspects exercise their influence simultaneously just as there are times when we are happy in our homes while at other times, we like to climb Everest. Both external and internal orientation co-exist and there is always a healthy tension in both these opposite pulls. In internal pull, eyes of शिव are closed and He is in the middle of an icy mountain. In the latter state when His eyes are open, there is उमा, गणेश & कार्तिकेय around him and कैलाश has turned Green and He is happy here too. Simply put, for पुरुष to gain experience, He has to leave his निर्गुण स्थिति and take on the प्रकृति aspect – this means He will have to give up His निर्गुण आकार and take on सगुण aspect. However, He is still aware of His real आकार just as Amitabh may become Vijay in Don movie while knowing very well that he is actually Amitabh only. While He thus takes on a प्रकृति वस्त्र, such प्रकृति remains in His control. Our स्थिति is different in that we have forgotten our पुरुष nature and remain under the control of प्रकृति. Thus, yearning for मोक्ष in some दृष्टि is to simply realize our nature and continue living with प्रकृति in our control while in some others, it is to take on a निर्गुण निराकार रूप and fully decouple with प्रकृति. My sympathies are with the former while many purists vow by the latter.

Parvindar: Wonderful 👍👍. Our problem is that we first forget that our role of Don is for a limited timeframe and in a life time we keep moving through several roles and keep  identifying ourselves with these roles and keep looking for new roles and new or bigger identities all the time. Naturally we accumulate good and bad karmas along the way because of this avidya about our real nature

Bhaskar: जाग्रदवस्था का? श्रोतादिज्ञानेन्द्रियाणि शाब्दादिविषयैश्च ज्ञायते इति यत्सा जाग्रदवस्था? स्थलशरीराभिमानी आत्मा विश्व इत्युच्यते।

What is the जाग्रदवस्था? The state of experience in which the विषय (sound, touch, smell, etc) are perceived through the ज्ञान इंद्रिय is the जाग्रदवस्था. The आत्मा identifying itself with the स्थूल शरीर is called विश्व.

Bhaskar: स्वप्नावस्था केति चेत्? जाग्रदवस्थायां यद्दृष्टं यच्छुतं तज्जनितवासनया निद्रासमये य: प्रपंच प्रतीयते सा स्वप्नावस्था। सूक्ष्मशरीराभिमानी आत्मा तैजस: इति उच्यते।

What is स्वप्नावस्था? The world that is projected while in sleep from the impressions born of what has been seen or heard in the जाग्रदवस्था is called स्वप्नावस्था. The आत्मा identifying itself with सूक्ष्म शरीर is called तैजस:

Bhaskar: अत: सुषुप्यवस्था का? अहं किमपि न जानामि सुखेन मया निद्राsनुभूयत इति सुषुप्यवस्था। कारणशरीराभिमानी आत्मा प्राज्ञ इति उच्यते।

Then what is the सुषुप्ति अवस्था? That state about which one says later “I did not know anything, I have well enjoyed a good sleep” is the सुषुप्ति अवस्था. The आत्मा identifying itself with the कारण शरीर is called प्राज्ञ.

Commentary

So how is the perspective of त्रय अवस्था relevant in search of our own identity? Typical philosophies focus usually only on activities only in the जाग्रत् अवस्था only and look at answers based on working of मन & बुद्धि. But looking at our day to day life, our मन & बुद्धि become dormant every day when we go to deep sleep. Even in dreams, they seem to be witnessing events and while they do act spontaneously, there is lack of ability to control their working during dreams. But the most important question is – if our मन too becomes dormant during deep sleep, it is akin to death but despite dying, what propels the मन to wake up again?

अध्यात्म concludes that it is our own कर्म lying as वासन within that activates the मन, बुद्धि, etc to become active again. In fact, they are not conscious aspects of our personality – it is आत्मा which activates them just like a robot acts as per the wishes of its programmer. So if there is a greater wisdom beyond मन & बुद्धि, how do we access it directly rather than attempting to explore it using sub-optimal instruments? Can we even know the mind of the programmer just by watching a programmed robot alone? Is there a way to reach out to the programmer directly?

Bhaskar: पंचकोशा: के? अन्नमय: प्राणमय: मनोमय: विज्ञानमय: आनन्दमयश्चेति। अन्नमय: क:? अन्नरसेनैव भूत्वा अन्नरसेनैव वृद्धिं प्राप्य अन्नरूप पृथिव्याम् यद् विलीयते तद्

अन्नमय: कोश: स्थूलशरीरम्।

What are the पंचकोश? They are called as अन्नमय: प्राणमय: मनोमय: विज्ञानमय: and आनन्दमय:. What is अन्नमय:? That which is born of food which grows by food and goes back to earth which is of the nature of food is called अन्नमय:, this is the स्थूलशरीरम्.

Bhaskar: प्राणमय: क:? प्राणाद्या पंचवायव: वाक् आदि इंद्रियपंचकं प्राणमय: कोश:।

What is प्राणमय कोश:? The five physiological functions such as प्राण, etc together with the पंच कर्मेन्द्रिय namely speech etc form the प्राणमय: कोश.

Commentary

Text continues to elucidate what आत्मा is not and three शरीर is one way to express अनात्मा. Now, the same अनात्मा is expressed as पंचकोश (five outer coverings over आत्मा). Idea is to clearly establish what आत्मा is NOT. Post this, we will focus then on आत्मा. The outer layer is the स्थलशरीर and since this whole layer gets grossified on account of the food what we eat, it is aptly called as अन्नमय कोश. What is our outer body other than cabbage and tomatoes taking a certain shape 😂? The next inner layer of our physiology is the idea of पंच वायु and these are:

प्राण – Respiration

अपान – Evacuation

व्यान – Circulation

उदान – rejection – reversal/ throwing up (tears, etc); it becomes active at the time of death especially

समान – Assimilation/ Digestion

Body cannot function without these functions working within us. Simply put, पंच वायु + कर्मेन्द्रि़य = सूक्ष्म शरीर

Bhaskar: मनोमय: कोश: क:? मनश्च ज्ञानेन्द्रियपंचकं मिलित्वा भवति स मनोमय: कोश:। विज्ञानमय: क:? बुद्धिश्च ज्ञानेन्द्रियपंचकं मिलित्वा भवति स विज्ञानमय: कोश:।

What is the मनोमय कोश? The mind and the ५ ज्ञानेन्द्रिय together form the मनोमय: कोश. What is विज्ञानमय कोश? The बुद्धि along with the ५ ज्ञानेन्द्रिय together form the विज्ञानमय कोश.

आनन्दमय: क:? एवमेव कारणशरीरभूताविद्यास्थ मलिनसत्वं प्रियादिवृत्तिसहितं सत् आनन्दमय: कोश:। एतत्कोशपंचकं।

What is the आनन्दमय कोश? Established in अविद्या which is of the form of the कारण शरीर, of impure nature, united with the वृत्ति like प्रिया, मोद & प्रमोद. These are the पंचकोश.

Commentary

Verses refer to more subtle aspects of our being. While both मन & बुद्धि are referred to separately, both are different functions of one अन्त:करण. While मन coordinates information received from the five ज्ञानेन्द्रिय into a single message, बुद्धि gives decision which in turn in passed back to मन which in turn passes these on to कर्मेन्द्रि़य and an action happens. This will be elaborated more later. Both these inner equipments are directly linked to ज्ञानेन्द्रिय. आनन्दमय कोश is the innermost layer and akin to कारण शरीर. Why आनन्द? Because once we experience deep sleep, we experience a kind of joy or bliss. And because we experience आनन्द, सत्वगुण has to be present. In deep sleep, तमस् over-powers सत्व making us experience deep sleep.

However, in आनन्दमय कोश, the सत्वगुण coming from प्रकृति (or अविद्या) is mixed up with मल (dirt) and this is the seed of our unique personality. What is this मल? It is our वासन which we accumulate owing to our own कर्म. And this colours our दृष्टि. And this colouring thereby makes us witness the world through the prism of त्रिगुण in three ways.

प्रिय – Is the joy one gets by the sheer sight or thought of the object that one likes.

मोद – Is the joy one gets by the possession of the objects that one likes.

प्रमोद – Is the joy one gets by experiencing the object that one likes.

Since वासन are at the seed of our being, all our joys & sorrows are coloured by these spectacles. We therefore experience the three वृत्ति (or behavioral modifications) throughout our life as driven by the seed वासन that is buried deep in our कारण शरीर. Thus, our बुद्धि, मन, कर्मेन्द्रिय & ज्ञानेन्द्रिय are fully coloured by our own foundational वासन – this is our inescapable reality.

Bhaskar: मदीयं शरीरं मदीया: प्राणा: मदीयं मनश्च मदीया बुद्धिर्मदीयं ज्ञानमिति स्वेनैव ज्ञायते तद्यथा मदीयत्वेन ज्ञातं कटककुण्डलगृहादिकं स्वस्माद्भिन्नं तथा पंचकोशादिकं मदीयत्वेन ज्ञातमात्मा न भवति।

Just as the bangles, ear-rings houses, etc, known as “mine” are all other than the knower, so too, are the पंचकोश ज्ञानं by the आत्मा as “my body, MY प्राण, MY मन, MY बुद्धि and MY knowledge” (should be other than the knower, and so cannot be the आत्मा).

Commentary

This verse alone is soooo powerful and needs to be dwelt upon deeply. Just because I wear bangles, does that become me? Just because I wear ear-rings or clothes, do those become me? I use them and I shed them when I do not need them. Now, apply the same yardstick when one sees our पंचकोश – aspects of our being like मन, बुद्धि, body, etc emerge from the seed viz our own वासन. These are not me but merely something that I wear. These are mere equipments – use them well but do not mix-up your identity with these equipments. Change our वासन-mix and our बुद्धि / मन equipment works differently. So dig deeper to explore our inner personality in a deeper manner. Positive orientation for life is to infuse our वासन seed with सत्वगुण but to seek freedom, see if you can burn the वासन seed itself to the core. And then you can see clearly. How does one do that? For this, one has to know what is आत्मा. I have understood who I am not? Then Who am I? More tomorrow

Parvindar: Wonderful 👍👍.What’s really so amazing that the idea goes from material aspects that is not me to our own 3 types of shareer and Mann and buddi

Bhaskar: True – the beauty of this text is the complete absence of history, location, any historical character and related stories, pilgrimage, Puja, prayer, morals, etc. It is a pure wisdom conveyed in a “matter-of-fact” to articulate “Truth/ Reality” that applies if you read this 10000 years back,  now or even 30000 years from now. The idea is not just about human condition but also the Universe (as we will see later on). This gyan applies irrespective of the context in which we place this. And this “A-historic” approach to convey ideas (just as rules of geometry never change) is what makes texts like these fascinating.

Parvindar: Absolutely !!it’s so fascinating that this would not change as you said even 30000 years from now.Ttruth never changes.How we correctly understand  word वॉसन is it just unfulfilled desires ? Is it also our association with the fruits of our work and actions ? 99’999999 percent of the stuff which we think we Are is something that we are NOT. The core or the whole problem or the root is the Never ending Vasan. Is Vasan and Vasana the same ?

Bhaskar: It is one and the same. In Sanskrit, Vasan will be written as वासन् while Vasana as वासन. When we discuss Gunas in more detail, this will become clearer. Essentially, these are impressions in the mind based on past experiences. These impressions are formed based on our reaction to various events of our life. These impressions are arrived on based on inability to recognize totality of a single event in the overall scheme of things  but more by ego-based understanding. This should get clearer as we go along.

Bhaskar: Found this on Google – Vasana is a Sanskrit term that refers to a past impression in the mind that influences behavior. Vasanas can be good or bad: for example, responding with love when someone is in need or, in contrast, responding defensively because a situation triggered a negative memory. In other words, a vasana is the habitual or automatic response to situations. They can be thought of as ingrained patterns of behavior. Vasana can also mean a desire for or expectation of something or knowledge derived from memory. Essentially, these block our vision to see clearly in a situation and get formed on account of the idea that we are separated from the One.

Parvindar: Thanks Uday. So now our challenge is

1. getting rid of the old and engrained vasanas
2. making sure that we do not strengthen the old vasanas
3. making sure that we do not create new vasanas

Sounds and looks like such a difficult task

Bhaskar: It is indeed difficult 😀

Bhaskar: आत्मा तर्हि क:? सच्चिदानन्द स्वरूप:। सत् किम्? कालत्रयेSपि तिष्ठतीति सत्। चित् किम्? ज्ञानस्वरूप:। आनन्द: क:? सुखस्वरूप:।

Then, what is आत्मा? It is of the nature of सत् चित् & आनन्द. What is सत्? सत् is that which remains unchanged in the three periods of time. What is चित्? It is of the nature of absolute knowledge. What is आनन्द:? Of the nature of absolute happiness.

Commentary

This verse is the climax of all verses stated till now. And here, one needs to clearly understand the difference between स्वरूप & स्वभाव – this is very important. स्वरूप is what we are. स्वभाव is how we behave. So if someone is lazy, active, likes adventure, etc., that is स्वभाव that plays itself out (as we discussed, by our वासन orientation). But what is our real nature or identity viz स्वरूप? All of us, at the core, have just one identity and it is expressed by three words सत्, चित् & आनन्द.

All of us naturally exist and like to continue existing. Existence is so natural and ceasing to exist disturbs us. We want to live on. While we may rationalize death and accept it, death troubles almost all people. By default, all of us see suicide as a deviation. Why does ceasing to exist be seen as a deviation? It is because our स्वरूप from emanates from our आत्मा is सत्. सत् means to exist and आत्मा ALWAYS exists since that is its स्वरूप. But we make a mistake when we superimpose this स्वरूप onto our body and mind. Such super-imposition is called अध्यास and this makes us want to live forever but this need is not coming from our मन but is coming from our own स्वरूप.

Next is चित्, the ज्ञान principles that is conscious and wants to know. All of us cognize all happenings around us. We watch news, we read books, we gossip about other people, we want to see places, we want to learn about best ways to sleep good. Why this innate obsession to know throughout our life? It does not stop with rising age though the ability to learn may slow down. It is the चित् principle that is our स्वरूप that makes us vile our life away to seek to know the aspects that we either do not know or do not know enough. To know, to cognize, to yearn for more and more information is the चित् aspect of our being that plays itself out through our बुद्धि – मन complex.

Third is आनन्द. Pursuit of happiness is a universal goal. No one wants to be unhappy. Based on our वासन orientation, we may pursue differing pursuits but the quest is one viz pursuit of happiness. Even when a child cries, we get disturbed – unhappiness seems like an unnatural deviation. Why so? Once again, आनन्द is our स्वरूप. What we therefore seek is what we are. If this is true, why are some of us unhappy at some times? Why is that स्वरूप which is the natural push that comes from the core of our being does not become our स्वभाव? For this, one has to know how we have “evolved ” (or devolved 😂) into what we are today. Welcome to the heart of ‘Vedic Physics’ which deals with the descent of ब्रह्म into life that we see all around us.

Priya Krishnamurthy: What is the relationship between Vasana and our karmphal? Are both modifiable ? When folks change their behaviors during life ( therapy/ life experiences etc) are they modifying Vasanas? Not sure if this is a silly question but I do believe that unless you ask you may not learn 🙏🙏🙏

Bhaskar: A-ha!!! Finally, some words from Priya – you have been silent for a while 😀. Please ask questions as this will enable me to dig more. Both are certainly modifiable. In fact, the drive of Yoga literature is to burn up the seeds of Vasanas meaning eliminate them fully. The attempt is usually not to identify a tendency within ourselves and eliminate this (yes – that is one approach) but another approach suggested is to do धर्म. Since doing धर्म means doing an action that any objective – sensible person will do in a certain situation, we remove “us” from the event already. And when one removes oneself, one is ignoring one’s own Vasana influence. “My son has stolen – what would Srikrishna have done in this situation? Someone is offering me a bribe – what would SriRamana have done in this situation?” When one then follows Srikrishna or SriRamana, in a sense, one is keeping “me” out. Now the outcome from such acts becomes learning. Therefore, to do धर्म is the approach to eliminate the Vasana influence and it is certainly modifiable.

Bhaskar: कर्मफल, as the word indicates, is an outcome of कर्म done. So, if one throws a ball up, it will come down. In that sense therefore, texts seem to state that कर्मफल cannot be eliminated. Since the ball has gone up, it will have to come down. And if is thrown up wrongly, it will certainly land on my head and I have to face the impact. But yes, the impact of कर्मफल can be minimized. Just as we can move aside or wear a headgear to avoid the ball to hit our head, we can equip ourselves with spiritual strength to withstand the impact of कर्मफल. If we become a Hulk, can a lowly ball hitting the head do any harm?😂 This means the impact of कर्मफल lasts (pain or joy) only till the time our Vasana associates such outcomes with pain or joy. But if our innate personality changes, we will not even feel the कर्मफल even though the event happens in a certain way since our mindspace has moved from earlier thought process.

Bhaskar: So once again, doing धर्म makes us do a कर्म that generates कर्मफल that our innate Vasana orientation may not be ready to accept. But when we actually experience the कर्मफल, pain or joy, we learn. And such learning may make us challenge our pre-conceived world view and this strengthens us spiritually. And as we grow spiritually, we replace “us” in all actions with धर्म and be ready to face any consequences of our actions. And thus, Vasanas are eliminated.

Hemangi: 👌… I like it . We may have different swabhav but all have potential to realize the Swarup. Not just ‘ceasing to exist’ , the mere ‘thought of ceasing to exist’ is terrifying. Does this mean swarup regresses and takes on a lower order identity? We seek, what we are … and we don’t know what we are and therefore seek wrong things ?

Bhaskar: In case of Avataara, you may use the word “regression”. So if an elephant sees an ant and develops compassion and takes on the body of an ant to teach the ant about better ways of living, there is a “regression” happening in such an Avataara. Creation or projection of however something more primal. There is a dual tendency operating within us at all times – once tendency makes us withdraw into our own shell of bliss and the other makes us seek for new experience / expansion. So I may be happy at times playing Carrom with my spouse and kids and generally blessed out at home while at other times, I seek to climb the Base Camp at Everest. This dual tendency is actually a dual pull that is present in all of us. Why is this present? This is because at a primal level, even शिव often prefers to leave Kailasa and get into a समाधि mode while at other times, He is having fun with Uma and kids. One pull is that of involution while other is that of expansion and these pulls are (were) present in परमात्मा too right at the start. But do we want to go to Base Camp as a “regression”? No – it is meant to be fun. Similarly, creation of Universe is meant to be a play, a Lila, where ब्रह्म leaves home (viz state of being within Himself) and takes on the gear of प्रकृति (just as we may need to take winter and climbing gear to scale the Base Camp) and joyfully participates in the events of life that He himself did a संकल्प of.

Bhaskar: That is correct. There has been a break from our स्वरूप of universality and this break has caused us to deviate from our स्वरूप. The key drive of अध्यात्म is to work towards regaining our स्वरूप and once we act who we really are, we are free and have re-attained our original free status

Priya Krishnamurthy: Interesting … so the American Founders of the constitution deliberately or inadvertently 😃hit an adhyatmic principle when they wrote that “ pursuit of happiness is an inalienable right”. We are debating on what the specifics and process of going this dharmically are 😃

Bhaskar: Indeed – maybe the founder read a translation of तत्वबोध 😀😀

Priya Krishnamurthy: Why is the approach of modifying a particular tendency / trait / reaction etc not considered optimal? Is it because it is not efficient ? The entire field of cognitive/ behavioural  therapy etc rests on that principle and do its very interesting that in this perspective it seems suboptimal 🙏. Karmphal always makes us learn – is that correct? Even if we are not in full understanding of the real truth is Karmphal an attempt to teach ? Or is that agnostic of the real truth – happens independently and we always need to face the consequences of our actions? In other words is it a benevolent universe / prakrithi or mostly a prakrithi that lets us deal with our errors including those made inadvertently ? What is the role of repentance / forgiveness etc in this sphere?

Bhaskar: Must confess I am not an expert on this. Essentially, the way I see it, we may ask the question – “Why am I angry”? or “How to reduce weight”? and try to solve these problems. But in reality, these are symptoms coming out of wrong behavior. However, by pursuit of right conduct, these symptoms will also disappear. Defining symptoms as problems can be a risky affair and we may adopt further wrong practices by looking for sub optimal solutions. Instead, pursue धर्म is a more valuable way forward – that was the idea I was wanting to convey here.

Parvindar: Excellent commentary and exchange today 👍👍.Interestingly though the Mann is colored with the false ego of identifying the self with the body and all the 5 parts hence wants to live on forever and as a result creates misery. Pursuing dharma is also tricky sometimes we don’t know if we are in name of pursing dharma trying to strengthen some habits or actions which are fear bound and dogmatic and in The  process imprisoning ourselves further.

शंकर नारायण: That time it is called Dharam sankat😅

Parvindar: 👍😇

Bhaskar: This one is a tough one to answer. I will share some initial thoughts later in the day and more informed ones after I refer to some books

Bhaskar: अथ चतुर्विशति तत्व उत्पत्ति प्रकार वक्ष्याम:। ब्रह्माश्रया सत्वरजस्तमोगुणात्मिका माया अस्ति।

Now we shall explain the evolution of the २५ तत्व. Depending on ब्रह्म for its existence is माया, which is of the nature of त्रिगुण viz सत्व, रजस् & तमस्.

Commentary

The word माया has been introduced for the first time. One translation of माया is “that which is not”. And माया or अविद्या or प्रकृति is not ब्रह्म. So if स्वरूप of ब्रह्म is सत्, चित् & आनन्द, स्वरूप of माया is त्रिगुण viz सत्व, रजस् & तमस्. Another way to express the difference between the two is as below

ब्रह्म – प्रकृति

1. अनादि – अनादि (both are eternal)

2. चेतन – अचेतन (conscious – not conscious)

3. निर्विकार – सविकार (does not modify – goes through षड्विकार)

4. सत्यम – मिथ्या (Real – dependent reality)

5. निर्गुण – सगुण (has no attributes – has attributes)

For any creation, we have an efficient cause (निमित्त कारण) and a material cause (उपादान कारण). For creating a pot, potter is a निमित्त कारण while clay/ mud is उपादान कारण. In the creation of Universe similarly, ब्रह्म is the निमित्त कारण while माया is an उपादान कारण. Only when both combine that Universe has come about. ब्रह्म by Its own संकल्प has manifested the universe. The unmanifest has become manifest by use of माया. And if all aspects of the Universe go through षड् विकार, it is owing to presence of माया. But in the universe, both changeless (ब्रह्म) and changing (माया) are present and the changes in the universe rest on a changeless substratum. Just as moving train is seen as moving since tracks are not moving or movie is running while screen is not moving, our body/ mind also undergoes change over a changeless आत्मा.

सत्व represents ज्ञान or tranquility, रजस् represents agility or action and तमस् represents inertness or ignorance. When all three are in balance, there is no manifestation. When ब्रह्म disturbs their balance, manifestation of universe in a certain form materializes. All objects in the universe have a नाम, रूप & कर्म (name, form and function/action). All these objects are subject to षड्विकार or ६ modifications. ब्रह्म however has no नाम, रूप and कर्म – it is the eternal साक्षी.

Hemangi: Sakshi means mere observer or active witness ?

Bhaskar: It is witnessing Itself in action since even माया is Its own. That makes it both passive and active just as while playing tennis, while we are enjoying activity, alert minds also observe their own reactions while indulging in play

Hemangi: Does it take an action ? Or just observes. Or reports violations ?

Bhaskar: Both though this will bring us to the question -“What is action?”😂

Hemangi: Hmm .. and inaction too ? Sometimes there is action underlying deliberate inaction …Bala 🙏🏼😁

Bhaskar: Which will bring us to Ch3 of the Gita

Hemangi: This is nice .. reading every morning is very liberating … and peaceful

Bhaskar: This is why whatever परमात्मा does is called as लीला while what you and me do is called कर्म. The difference is technical and needs to be appreciated. We will cover this in the days ahead

Hemangi: Ok

Parvindar: So basically we as human beings have a changing and a changeless part. Expecting that we will always be in the same state of mind or of body is I suppose not possible. As a human being we experience joy and sorrow (changing). We always Read that we must get rid of the 5 vices or control them. How can we do that when these are part of the changing aspect (maya) and we as humans are having this changing aspect inside us. ? One practice is that to just observe these emotions as they rise and fall back again. Do not act immediately and wait. I suppose the practice is to increase the time between a swaying negative and positive emotion arising from our past and present mind imprints and before it clouds our buddi and makes us react to it.

—— equanimity ———

Bhaskar: All I will say is – answer will come in the next few days after a few more “interesting” revelations 😀

Parvindar: Stithpragya😊. Is I guess equanimity

Bhaskar: 😀

Bhaskar: तत: आकाश:सम्भूत:। आकाशाद्वायु:। वोयोस्तेज:। तेजस आप:।अद्भ्य: पृथिवी।

From that (माया), आकाश (space) is born, from आकाश, वायु: (air/ movement), from वायु:, अग्नि (fire/ heat), from अग्नि, आप (water/ liquidity) and from आप, पृथिवी (solidity)

एतेषां पंचतत्वानां मध्ये आकाशस्य सात्विकांशात् श्रोत्रेन्द्रिय: सम्भूतम्। वायो: सात्विकांशात्वगिन्द्रियम् सम्भूतम्। अग्ने: सात्विकांशाच्चक्षुरिन्द्रियं सम्भूतम्। जलस्य सात्विकांशाद्रसनेन्द्रियं सम्भूतम्। पृथिव्याम् सात्विकांशात् घ्राणेन्द्रिय: सम्भूतम्।

From among these पंच तत्व, out of the सात्विक aspect of आकाश, is evolved the organ of hearing (sound principle). Out of the सात्विक aspect of वायु is evolved the organ of touch (skin principle). Out of the सात्विक aspect of अग्नि, is evolved the organ of sight (vision principle). Out of the सात्विक aspect of जल, is evolved the organ of trade (tongue principle). Out of the सात्विक aspect of पृथिवी, is evolved the organ of smell (nose principle).

Commentary

Note how manifestation moves from subtle to gross, unseen to seen. First the most subtle aspect viz space comes about and eventually, the most gross viz solidity comes at the end. माया thus creates the primal भूत (spiritual “elements”). Note also that these five are subtle – सूक्ष्म आकाश, सूक्ष्म वायु, etc (referred to as तन्मात्रा) but not the स्थूल आकाश, स्थूल fire, etc that we witness with our eyes daily. Also, since स्वरूप of माया is त्रिगुण, each emanation from माया also must have त्रिगुण within them. All aspects of the physical universe has to come from माया only since if it is physical, it has to be माया (since ब्रह्म is unseen). Now an interesting line here says that each गुण within the पंचभूत creates different principles that form part of the universe.

Bhaskar: We discussed earlier that our sense organs are called as ज्ञानेन्द्रिय and they are part of सूक्ष्म शरीर. And we also stated above that सत्व is conducive to ज्ञान. Therefore, the सत्व aspect of each of the पंचभूत enables creation of principles related to each of the sense organs. Also, in each successive aspect of माया creation, one additional attribute is added.

आकाश – sound principle

वायु – sound + touch

अग्नि – sound + touch + form

जल – sound + touch + form + taste

पृथ्वी – sound + touch + form + taste + smell

Bhaskar: When one sees senses in this manner, it is obvious that space & air have no form, fire does not have taste while there is no smell of water. Once again, we are not referring to actual space or fire, etc that we see but the subtle space, fire, etc., which have their attendant properties or गुण. Also, subsequent physical body parts created like ear can only hear (since sound is the आकाश attribute), nose can only smell (since smell is the पृथ्वी attribute), eyes can only see (since form is its अग्नि attribute), etc. As we proceed further, we will see emanations from the रजस् & तमस् aspects of माया within the universe as well as the human system.

Bhaskar: एतेषां पंचतत्वानां समष्टि सात्विकांशान्मनो बुद्धय्हंकारचित्तान्त:करणानि सम्भूतानि। संकल्पविकल्पात्मकं मन:। निश्चयात्मिका बुद्धि:। अहंकर्ता अहंकार:। चिन्तनकर्तृ चित्तम्।

Out of the सात्विक aspect of all the पंचतत्व, अंत:करण (inner instruments) constituted of मन, बुद्धि, चित्त & अहंकार are formed. मन is of the nature of indecision or doubt. बुद्धि is of the nature of decision. अहंकार sense is “I am the doer”. The thinking faculty (or the faculty of memory) is चित्त.

मनसो देवता चन्द्रमा:। बुद्धेर्ब्रह्मा। अहंकारस्य रुद्र:। चित्तस्य वासुदेव:।

The देवता of मन is चन्द्रमा. The देवता of बुद्धि is ब्रह्मा. The देवता of अहंकार is रुद्र and that of चित्त is वासुदेव.

Commentary

Verses refer to parts of inner equipment called as अन्त:करण. Two parts were introduced earlier – मन & बुद्धि but here it is elaborated into ४ parts – मन, बुद्धि, अहंकार & चित्त. One can thus state that the total sub-parts of सूक्ष्म शरीर are not १७ but १९. Simply put, the सत्व aspect of माया creates ५ ज्ञानेन्द्रिय & ४ अन्त:करण. All these ४ are not to be seen as different but actually as four functions of the same inner equipment. But unlike the senses where perform a single activity only (ear to sound, eyes to sight, etc), because अन्त:करण is composed of सत्व of all five तन्मात्रा (viz सूक्ष्म आकाश, सूक्ष्म वायु, etc), these four can make sense of inputs coming from all five senses. Thus, the मन relates to sound, sight, taste, etc.

मन gets inputs from all ५ senses either single or jointly. It joins all individual inputs, draws a single meaning but it is unable to decide or opine on the inputs received – it is the indecisive or doubtful aspect of our अन्त:करण. It is also the seat of emotion and therefore when it receives inputs, it either generates a positive reaction (संकल्प) or a negative reaction (विकल्प). मन then passes on this doubt to बुद्धि viz the deciding or cognitive faculty which involves in analysis and enquiry about any problem to arrive at a solution. अहंकार is ego responsible for the “I” notion and refers to pride and has the sense of ownership or doer-ship (I have achieved success, I am happy, I have convinced my boss, etc). This “I” notion is also an offshoot of माया only. चित्त provides guidance to the बुद्धि in decision making since it is a storehouse of past ज्ञान and अनुभव.

As stated earlier, each part of our body has a देवता that presides over it. Linkage of मन and चन्द्र is fascinating. Just as moon is lighted by the Sun, मन is lighted by the आत्मा – both are shining in reflected glory and not self-lighted. We are not referring to the physical moon here but the देवता that presides over the physical moon presides over our मन too. It is बुद्धि within us that thinks and takes action, so also ब्रह्मा represents the intellect that created the Universe. Thus, ब्रह्मा is also part of माया only. A person with too much of “I” notion cries and makes others cry too and रुद्र also means “to cry”. वसु देवता are actually protectors and it is our memories that create a protective layer that create our identity.

Right at the start, we learnt about साधना चतुष्टयम् (four attributes viz विवेक, वैराग्य, षट्सम्पत्ति & मुमुक्षुत्वम् with षट्सम्पत्ति being शम, दम, तितिक्षा, श्रद्धा, उपरति & समाधानं. It may be useful to know from a practitioner (साधक) lens that शम, दम & वैराग्य are useful for control of मन, उपरम, तितिक्षा are useful for control of बुद्धि while श्रद्धा & समाधान for control of अहंकार.

Parvindar: Wonderful explanation 👍👍. So basically from the satvik parts of the 5 elements are created the gyan Indirayan ( sukhsm shareer) and the anthkarran (mann budhi ahankar and Chitta). Now I suppose logically from the Rajsik part of the  5 elements must be created the five Pranas (circulation respiration evacuation assimilation and rejection ) and from the Tamsik part of the 5 subtle elements must be created the five Karamindriyas (speech hands legs genitals anus )

Bhaskar: हाँ और ना – कहानी में थोडा twist है 😀

Bhaskar: एतेषां पंचतत्वानां मध्ये आकाशस्य राजसांशात् त्वगिन्द्रियं सम्भूतम्। वायो: राजसांशात् पाणीन्द्रियं सम्भूतम्। वह्ने: राजसांशात् पादेन्द्रियं सम्भूतम्। जलस्य राजसांशात् उपस्थेन्द्रियं सम्भूतम्। पृथिव्या राजसांशात् गुदेन्द्रियं सम्भूतम्। एतेषां समष्टि राजसांशात् पंचप्राणां: समभूता:।

Among these five elements from the रजस् aspect of आकाश is formed the organ of speech. From the रजस् aspect of वायु is formed the hand. From the रजस् aspect of अग्नि is formed the leg. From the रजस् aspect of जल, the anus is formed. From the रजस् aspect of the पृथ्वि, the genitals are formed. From the total रजस् aspect of all these five elements the पंचप्राण are born.

Commentary

Just as we have discussed emanations from the सत्व aspect of माया, we have emanations from the रजस् aspect of माया. While सत्व is conducive to ज्ञान, रजस् is conducive to activity. Hence, from रजस् aspect of each तन्मात्रा, the relevant कर्मेन्द्रिय is born – organ of speech from आकाश, organ of grasping from वायु, etc. Just as अन्त:करण gets the whole picture in emanations from सत्व aspect of माया, पंचप्राण gets the whole picture from the individual acts of each कर्मेन्द्रिय. पंचप्राण refer to the energy system or powerhouse of the body and there are देवता for the पंचप्राण too (referred in the प्रश्नोपनिषद्) viz सूर्य for प्राण, पृथ्वी for अपान, अन्तरिक्ष for व्यान, आकाश for समान and तेज: for उदान.

The purpose of why these देवता are relevant will represent a digression and we will skip that part. Suffice to note here that just as सत्व emanations, emanations from रजस् aspect of माया too are सूक्ष्म and not स्थूल. The organs of action referred to here are not the visible physical organs but subtle organs representing the faculty of action and not the actions themselves as they manifest in the physical world. Next is a fascinating idea of पंजीकरण which touches upon the emanations from the तमस् aspect of माया.

Parvindar: Udhay when a child is born he is innocent and simple and that’s why quite happy but as he grows up he starts to learn the worlds ways and then his happiness is decreasing as his innocence vanishes. It we are born with a certain quota of Vasana Stock i feel this Vasana Stock only gets really activated as we start getting more and more chatur  and sayana in the Worldly matters plus we keep accumulating more vasnas along the way.

Bhaskar: You are right Gogu – a child is not really innocent. It is a state where it has forgotten fully its stored up Vasanas but as kids grow up, these get activated.

Parvindar: Out of the four aspects of anthakarran the ahankar sense of I ness could you please elaborate a bit on that ?

Bhaskar: Nothing that you already do not know. माया stands for “that which is not but appears to be”. माया has two powers – आवहरण or veiling power or विक्षेप or projecting power. The former veils our knowledge of our real reality viz ब्रह्म while the latter “projects” a world outside causing us to look for Truth “outside”. The rope thus gets taken as a snake. Now, owing to presence of माया, we take ourselves as having an identity distinct from others. The सत् aspect of us gets superimposed on our body and the Universal “I” mistakes it’s identity as an individual “I”. And as long as the idea of individual “I” exists, it limits our ability to connect with the universal I. So we end up acting like a singular crow that lives detached from other crows as against behaving in a collective as a crane or a flamingo. I am sure you already know this 🙏 unless your question is something else. More will be conveyed over the next few days on this though tomorrow and day after tomorrow are interesting ideas that get conveyed

Parvindar: Thanks Uday 🙏🏻🙏🏻. The text is really quite fascinating and technical and illuminating. Isn’t it so fascinating that under of power of maya our real identity of universal I or us is let us say mistakenly changed to the individual I. It is more fascinating that our Indian sages had figured this whole technology so long back !!

Bhaskar: Yes – this text is fascinating since it explains concepts in a structured manner. The idea given here represents the core of religion and anything else is masala or icing on top of this core. Take this away and it is not a religion at all. Once one reads this and then refers to Stotras like Nirvana Shatakam (which I had sent a few days back) or Sahasranama corpus, it is the ideas given here only that appears in those too. Anyone who claims to know religion and does not know this does not know religion at all 😀

Parvindar: Yes. Just thinking about our small and of I. For example we say I am sad ? Why am I sad ? Somebody or someone did something to me for example. Now what is this me ? A small or transcient is Identity and that someone did something that destroys and disturbs my identity or image. Where did this image come from ? Perhaps we acquired it over years by doing and working towards something. How did we acquire it ? With faculties given by Brahm ( Gyanindiryas Karmindriyas man buddi Chitta ) forgetting that we are just as a agent and not the proprietary owner we start strengthening the ahankar and then we have a strong image of what we are. There are several such images. We keep living as though these images / identities are permanent. So when they fall apart suddenly it causes pain unless one accepts that this will be destroyed someday as it’s not the truth / Mithya. The more we are at peace on losing these identities the more we are closer to God I

Bhaskar: Spot on – nothing more to add

Bhaskar: We can read सुंदरकांड with the ideas given here. हनुमान is a साधक who has acquired साधना चतुष्टयम्. He meets राम who can be seen as a गुरू or text. गुरू instructs him to meet सीता. सीता can be taken as आत्मा. Where is सीता located? In लंका. What is लंका? An island just as we perceive our body also as an island different from others. And सीता is located in लंका just as आत्मा within our body. Now, हनुमान् makes himself big and flies the sea – साधक too takes a strong resolve and navigates the world (akin to the sea). हनुमान reaches लंका meaning now हनुमान is exploring his own persona.

Bhaskar: As he approaches लंका, he sees 3 mountain peaks of 3 different colours meaning he recognizes our body as composed of 3 गुण. He goes within further but does not find सीता. Route of साधना is difficult and one encounters many disappointments. But हनुमान resolves not to give up just as a determined साधक does not give up. And then he finds her and filled with joy just as once we discover the source of bliss, we lose fear or doubt. He then does not care about the body and destroys अशोक वाटिका just as a साधक destroys Vasanas once he discovers the source of bliss within. And then he meets रावण just as we have to face our अहंकार fair and square. रावण hates हनुमान and seeks to kill it just as अहंकार gets disturbed by the determined resolve of the साधक and tries to assert itself. हनुमान then destroys लंका just as a साधक detaches himself the body and ceases to identify itself with it.

Parvindar: How wonderful Uday 👏🏻👏🏻👍👍

Bhaskar: पंजीकरणं कथं इति चेत्? एतेषां पंचमहाभूतानां तामासांश स्वरूपम् एकमेव भूतं द्विधा विभज्य एकमेकम् अर्ध पृथक् व्यवस्थाप्या परमपरम् अर्ध चतुर्धा विभज्य स्वार्धमन्येषु अर्धेषु स्वभागचतुष्टयसंयोजनं कार्यम्। तदा पंजीकरणं भवति। एतेभ्य: पंचीकृतपंचमहाभूतेभ्य: स्थूलशरीरं भवति।

How does पंजीकरणं take place? The तमस् aspects of each of the five elements divide into two parts. One half of each remains intact. The other half of each gets divided into 4 equal parts. Then, to the intact half of one element, one 1/8th portion from each of the other four elements gets joined. Then पंजीकरण (the process by which the subtle elements become gross elements) is complete. From these five grossified elements, the gross body is formed

Commentary

Unseen drives the seen. Emotions such as fear and anger cannot be seen but these drives us to move into binaries of ecstasy and depression time and again. Our thought or “resolve” cannot be seen but this drives the body to pursue our ambitions and take position on situations. Taste cannot be seen but drives the gluttons to spend time in gastronomic delights, gravity cannot be seen but exerts a powerful force across all bodies. In short, within our system, one can state that invisible forces namely the multiple देवता drives our physical body into action or inaction – on its own, what can be seen, namely the physical body, has no agency and is mainly driven by the invisible forces which have invaded its persona. The core message of अध्यात्म is therefore search for or explore to locate the unseen that drive life both within us and the universe.

Second, observe life and one sees as interesting gradation. Plants are rooted to their physicality in a single location while their senses and mind are “relatively” rudimentary. Animals are mobile and they possess strong senses while their mind too is rudimentary. While in humans, we see all varieties playing out, the mind is much more superior (if used) while senses are relatively weaker. If a man thus uses the mind more and controls the senses, such a man is seen as more evolved but if the man is driven more by senses and physicality, such a man is living at the level of an animal or a plant only. But whether the man is located in a single place or not, the mind of man has the capability to travel across galaxies. From this, one can also infer that higher life climbs the evolutionary ladder, the more सूक्ष्म are the capabilities – hence, higher forms of life (गंधर्व or देव) do not require a physical body and have minds capable of travelling at will. But clearly, what is common to most manifestations of life is their physicality which makes them seen. How or why did universe create a physical aspect and did not remain at the level of unseen?

अध्यात्म gives a peculiar process of how the “visible” came about via the process of पंजीकरण. What we see as physical space or water or air around us is not the सूक्ष्म elements (तन्मात्रा) but grossified or physical elements. And the idea of solidity or physicality comes into being as described by the verses by means of a process that is given in the below image. Once the स्थूल आकाश, स्थूल वायु, etc came into being, they in turn worked with one another and what we see around us eventually came into being. I have not seen any logic or explanation as to why or how this peculiar formula is justifiable though it is possible that some Physicist-turned अद्वैतिन् may have an explanation. So what I take away from this verse is that solidity is not real, it has come about on account of तमस् aspect of माया which has made such a physical manifestation possible. Any solid that can be seen with physical eyes cannot be a primary element, it is a compound and therefore cannot be taken as a primary particle or building block of this universe. Besides, each of the five gross element has a bit of the other four within it.

Stages of पंजीकरणं

Bhaskar: Vedic Physics part of the text ends today. And why is this called Vedic physics? Because it attempts to answer a fundamental question -!how is a “subject” able to transact with or engage with an “object”? If a subject and object are completely different, no transaction is possible just as a stone does not mix in water because there is nothing in common between them. Taking this further, why is an eye able to see the world outside? Why is ear able to listen to sound?

Bhaskar: Why is the nose able to smell? If both sides are completely different, they should not have been able to relate with each other at all just as a person cannot engage with another unless there is a common interest. Similarly, sound has to have something intrinsic within it which is also something that is intrinsic to the ear viz space. Similarly, smell has to have something intrinsic within it which is also intrinsic to the property of the nose viz earth, etc. When we therefore say that the world is connected, what do we exactly mean by it? Vedic physics gives a high level framework by stating that it is the five elements that permeate the entire universe and because it is the same five elements that permeate life as well as non life, mutual engagement is possible. Such a way to look at the universe opens up fascinating possibilities and that makes Vedic physics quite endearing as an idea.

Parvindar Anand: Wonderful 👍👍. So basically  In humans the satvik aspect of The 5 elements directly form the anthakarran (Mann buddhi chitt and ahankar) and the Gyan indriyas.  Animals must be having these satvik aspects / elements also but a very small proportion compared to humans for the anthakarran or we could use the word consciousness. However in animals the gyan indiriyas part ( Power of hearing , smell touch..) is higher in animals compared to humans but the consciousness is lower as compared to humans. We humans though endowed with this pure satvik aspect (consciousness) as you said do not use it and act worse than animals sometimes.

Bhaskar: Consciousness is usually given as the English name for ब्रह्म . And ब्रह्म is not to be seen as lower in plants and higher in animals. Imagine a white bulb that emits a certain quantum of light.  Now if the bulb is covered by a transparent paper, it will emit similar amount of light. If the same bulb is covered by red paper and black paper, the quantum of light is reduced. Now, plants and animals may be seen as emitting lesser light since the माया covering is higher. For humans, there is a possibility to acquire सत्व and emit ब्रह्म light fully but there is equal possibility to cover ourselves with तमस्.

Bhaskar: So theoretically, anybody, animal or plant or human, can emit ब्रह्म fully provided it has a way to eliminate its गुण impact and thereby be aware of its real identity. Practically, we see the possibility of self-learning capability as higher among humans. But one can infer that there may be creations in other planets that have evolved beyond their physicality but even for them, it is the same ब्रह्म that will be lighting them up 😀

Good representation of the content of the text of तत्वबोध in a pictorial form

Bhaskar: एवं पिण्डब्रह्माण्डयोरेक्यं सम्भूतम्।

There is the identity between the ब्रह्माण्ड and the पिण्डाण्ड ie the microcosm and the macrocosm

Commentary

This verse is a giant leap. Whatever idea anyone carries till not about text referring to an individual alone gets thrown aside in this verse. This verse reveals a formula viz ब्रह्मण्ड = पिंडाण्ड meaning that all of what we have studied till now does not merely operate at an individual level but also on a cosmic level. There is a qualitative equality between the two. At a पिंडाण्ड level, we call it जीव while at ब्रह्मण्ड level, we call it ईश्वर. Just as there is a presence of अहंकार, मन, बुद्धि, इंद्रिय, etc at an individual level called as जीव, these very aspects exist at a Cosmic level too called as ईश्वर. We read earlier that त्रय शरीर at पिंडाण्ड level is called as विश्व, तैजस & प्राज्ञ. At the ब्रह्मण्ड level too, there are त्रय शरीर and called as विराट, हिरण्यगर्भ & ईश्वर. Truth at the level of जीव is called as व्यष्टि दृष्टि while at ब्रह्मण्ड or cosmic level is called as समष्टि दृष्टि.

At the जीव level, what veils us is called as अविद्या while the same power at ब्रह्मण्ड level is called as माया. Whatever is referred to as God is actually ईश्वर viz ब्रह्म + माया. In the case of जीव, अविद्या overpowers the person while in the case of ईश्वर, माया acts as per the wishes of ईश्वर – that is the only difference between us and God. This is the reason why when one studies पिंडाण्ड, one has access to Truth at ब्रह्मण्ड level too. This is why if LaoTze says that one can know the Truth without leaving the door of one’s house, one can appreciate why so.

Every पिंडाण्ड affects the whole ब्रह्माण्ड. By taking away just one of the पिंडाण्ड, ब्रह्माण्ड is no longer the same. Every पिंडाण्ड affects every other पिंडाण्ड due to the fact that it affects ब्रह्माण्ड. Key principle here is that we are all dependent on each other and connected too. Growth of one individual contributes to the growth of every other individual in some way – and the opposite is also true. Sit in ध्यान and discoveries one makes in oneself of his own nature are applicable to the whole universe or applicable universally. Truth of every individual is the same ब्रह्म.

Bhaskar: 👍👍 The text has clearly crossed boundaries for those who are interested

Parvindar Anand: The level of parallel between ईश्वर and जीव , interconnectivity and Mutual coexistence is incredible

Parvindar Anand: 👏🏻👍👍

Bhaskar: स्थलशरीराभिमानी जीवनामकम् ब्रह्मप्रतिबिम्बं भवति, स एव जीव: प्रकृत्या स्वस्मात् ईश्वरं भिन्नत्वेन जानाति।

Identifying itself with the स्थूलशरीरं, and knows as जीव, is the reflection of ब्रह्म. This जीव by its nature (owing to presence of अविद्या) takes ईश्वर to be different from himself.

अविद्या उपाधि: सन् आत्मा जीव: इति उच्यते। मायोपाधि: सन् ईश्वर: उच्यते।

The आत्मा conditioned by अविद्या is called as जीव and conditioned by माया is called as ईश्वर.

Commentary

In traditional religion, equating ईश्वर and जीव would be seen as blasphemy, not here 😀. Sunlight reflected on a bucket of water stands for पिंडाण्ड or जीव, Sunlight reflected in multiple buckets is multiple पिंडाण्ड while Sunlight reflected in an ocean is ब्रह्माण्ड or ईश्वर. While ब्रह्म retains Its स्वरूप of सत्-चिच्-आनन्द, Its reflection appears differently as per quality of water in these buckets. Pure Sunlight is called as ब्रह्म or बिम्ब and Its reflection is called प्रतिबिम्ब just as Sun is बिम्ब and moon is प्रतिबिम्ब. ब्रह्म lights up all bodies – जीव and ईश्वर. Owing to differing nature of उपाधि (or bodies), we see differences meaning that outer bodies are different owing to differing Vasana-mix. This प्रतिबिम्ब is also referred to in various texts as चित्-आभास / चित्-छाया/ चित्-प्रतिबिम्ब – all mean the same thing. Just as the same electricity runs through fans and bulbs, same ब्रह्म runs through all. Space inside a pot or inside different pots or outside the pots is one and the same. In fact, the pot space is not really conditioned by the pot – in fact, space is the same everywhere though it appears as if pot is confining it. Put this another way, space inside a pot is जीव, space inside a building is ईश्वर while space, whether inside the pot or the building, is ब्रह्म.

Now look at events within पुराण and many stories conveyed in these texts start making sense. ब्रह्म is shown as a masculine (identity) while माया as feminine (meaning) – not male and female. Universe is not possible without both ब्रह्म & माया coming together and all of life from ईश्वर down to an ant are a mixture of ब्रह्म + माया. Hence all temples show ईश्वर as a couple. माया cannot exist without ब्रह्म and without शक्ति, शिव is शव. Universe is orderly if both the inward force (पुरष) and outward force of dynamism and expansion (प्रकृति) are in perfect coordination furthering the संकल्प of ब्रह्म ie प्रकृति is aligned to the Will of ब्रह्म viz why लक्ष्मी is shown as pressing the feet of नारायण. However, when our dynamism becomes excessive owing to our dissonance with our ब्रह्म identity, सौम्य पार्वती becomes काली. And in this state, nothing can stabilize our persona – not even शिव can face काली directly and so शिव comes below Her feet and only then, She cools down meaning the mind cannot be subdued but only cajoled into curbing its excessive activism.

Even in रामायण, life is peaceful even in a forest (represented as संसार) as long as both राम & सीता are in sync with one another. But then सीता gets tempted by the golden deer (mind gets distracted) and all things go awry. In a state where mind loses control, mind refuses to listen to well-wishers (so सीता accuses लक्ष्मण to be eyeing Her). Idea of अर्धनारीश्वर is again conveying that Universe is not possible without both ब्रह्म & माया working in tandem. Since सीता (as mind) got distracted, She suffered and had to do तपस्या (viz essentially repentance for the distraction). On the other side, राम too undertook तपस्या. रावण however kept on furthering his ego and did not retain fidelity to मंडोदरी even though she remained loyal. She was as beautiful as सीता and tried her best to convey reason to रावण. But रावण (ego) refused to let go. Despite लंका losing key soldiers (body getting filled with diseases), ego refused to let go. सीता तपस्या eventually bore fruit after going through अग्नि परीक्षा while रावण lost all his तपोबल and went through अग्नि दहन. One can read Wife-husband equality aspects in these stories and modulate behaviour (or otherwise) but the key purpose is to convey अध्यात्म ideas.

Stories are misused by lower minds but that does not invalidate the ideas being expressed by these stories. Knowing them in their right context is essential especially since व्यास is said to have composed पुराण only because He was filled with करुण towards humanity when He saw that all minds will not have inclination to read texts like उपनिषद् and connect with them and hence He composed पुराण so that lower minds also evolve. It is the responsibility of learned to prevent lower minds misusing the message of these stories to pursue their own selfish needs. But for anyone reading पुराण without having awareness of key principles conveyed in texts like तत्वबोध will be unable to connect with them – hence the need of a learned गुरू or guide becomes essential.

Parvindar Anand: Such a beautiful and different representation of Ramayana 👍👍. Is it correct to say ईश्वर as a Demi God – bound also by the time and space ? It’s interesting to remember the different names and that are being used here

ब्रह्म – the only truth

जीव – Brahm + avidya (  vasna mix)

Ishvara – Brahm + maya

Bhaskar: We have learnt that both ब्रह्म & प्रकृति are अनादि. So when शिव closes His eyes and goes into समाधि, He has lost his sense of having an उपाधि (body) of any kind. He is lost to the world and in that state, He is ब्रह्म since all He is conscious of is His सत्-चिच्-आनन्द स्वरूप. When शिव becomes conscious of a body and moves around in a body (not a human body but anything that is physical), in this state, He is ईश्वर. When शिव is over-powered and is driven by His body and mind, in that state, He becomes a जीव.

Demi-god is a label that is applied to देवता and not ईश्वर. देवता are forces that run the physical universe – gravitation, light, movement, grasping, change / death, sound, etc are the forces that operate the universe and deities that preside over these forces are referred to as देवता. They too may be seen as an अंश of ईश्वर just as जीव too is an अंश of ईश्वर. ईश्वर is not someone who is bound by time and space. He actually deliberately binds himself by time and space to achieve a certain objective just as we follow the rules of Rome “deliberately” when in Rome (sorry if it is a crude example 😀)

Meenu Kohli: 👍👍👏👏 Thanks Uday for being our Guru & guide 🙏🙏😊 Can we say that God is Brahma, Avatars of all Gods like Ram, Krishna et al are equivalent to Ishwar and we are Jeev?

Bhaskar: 👍👍 I agree with your proposal. Hopefully, all of us are right in our assessments 😀

Meenu Kohli: 😄 Tatva Bodh is a very interesting book. Would relate better with the younger generation 😊

Parvindar Anand: 😀

Bhaskar: Text is meant for young kids only  to be taken up before getting deeper texts. It is just that these texts have come into our lives much later than when they should have. But as they say, better late than never 😀

Meenu Kohli: 👍👍

Bhaskar: एवम् उपाधिभेदाज्जीवेश्वरभेददृष्टिर्यावत्पर्यन्तं तिष्ठति तावत्पर्यन्तं जन्ममरणादि रूपसंसारो न निवर्तन्ते। तस्मात् कारणात् जीवेश्वरयो: भेदबुद्धि: न स्वीकार्या:।

So long as the notion which is due to difference in the conditioning that जीव and ईश्वर are different, remains, until such time, there is no redemption from संसार which is of the form of repeated birth, death, etc. Due to that reason the notion that जीव is different from ईश्वर should not be accepted.

Bhaskar: ननु साहंकारस्य किंचिज्ज्ञस्य जीवस्य निरहंकारस्य सर्वज्ञस्य तत्वमसीति महावाक्यात् कथमभेदबुद्धि स्यादुभयो:। विरुद्ध धर्माक्रान्तत्वात् इति चेत्।

Doubt: But the जीव is endowed with अहंकार and his ज्ञान is limited. (where as) ईश्वर, is without अहंकार and is omniscient, (then) how can there be identity, as stated in the महावाक्य – तत् त्वम् असि, between these two who are possessed of contradictory characteristics?

Commentary

At a परमार्थ (primal) level, ईश्वर and me are one – there is no difference. Till I believe that I am somehow distinct from ईश्वर, then this idea of distinction will make me go through the cycle of birth & death. Why so? Actually, there is neither birth nor death. आत्मा is eternal. But we identify ourselves with the limited. And because of this wrong notion, we experience birth and death as an existential reality. But to say that both जीव & ईश्वर are equal seems disturbing. The questioner is not able to see this as his दष्टि is on the उपाधि which is a व्यवहार truth (relative reality). ईश्वर is thus seen as सर्वज्ञ, सर्वकर्ता, सर्वशक्तिमान्, etc but me as जीव is limited (अल्पज्ञ, etc) – so how can they be one? Out of ४ महावाक्य, one of the महावाक्य says – तत् त्वम् असि (You Are That). When I am not even as powerful as Sundar Pichai or Ambani, how can I be equated with ईश्वर? That is the wonderful doubt expressed here.

An earlier verse provides the answer that within a जीव, ब्रह्म is unable to reflect properly since the उपाधि is made of मलिनसत्वं (meaning सत्व representing transparency has got sullied by मल or dirt viz our रजस् & तमस् tendencies). However, in ईश्वर, the उपाधि is composed of शुद्धसत्व (pure सत्व) and hence reflecting ब्रह्म fully and therefore it will possess traits of सर्वज्ञता, सर्वशक्तिमान्, etc. There is indeed a distinction between ईश्वर & जीव from the perspective of the उपाधि and at this level, they are indeed unequal. However, ब्रह्म, as we know, is सर्व अंतर्यामी (present within all) and if one is able to sublimate the influence of उपाधि, one will shine in the glory of one’s own real identity.

जीव = ब्रह्म + अविद्या उपाधि (composed of मलिनसत्वं)

ईश्वर = ब्रह्म + माया उपाधि (composed of शुद्धसत्वं)

All are not equal since at an उपाधि level, all are distinct and unequal. But can we say that a woman who acts as a mother, a daughter, a wife and a boss at different times are different women? Just as a same person discharges different roles but remains one only, at the level of परमार्थ, we are not just equal – we are the same one ब्रह्म. This oneness is a much deeper truth and it is this that must be emphasized rather than pursuing equality which is a superficial / confusing aspiration.

Parvindar Anand: Beautiful 👍👍. What exactly does the word उपाधि mean here. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upadhi

Bhaskar: उपाधि means body

Parvindar Anand: Just found the meaning it makes sense! It can also be viewed as a disguise or vehicle for true reality, both defining something and limiting it. For example, the body of a man or animal is the upadhi of its spirit.

Bhaskar: न, स्थूलसूक्ष्मशरीराभिमानी त्वम्पदवाच्यार्थ:। उपाधिविनिर्मुक्तं समाधिदशासम्पन्नं शुद्धं चैतन्यं त्वम्पद लक्ष्यार्थ:।

No (it is not so). The literal meaning of the word “त्वम् (YOU)” is the one who identifies himself with the स्थल and सूक्ष्म शरीर. The implied meaning of the word “त्वम् (YOU)” is pure awareness (शुद्ध चैतन्यम्) which is free from all conditioning and which is appreciated in the state of समाधि.

एवं सर्वज्ञत्वादिविशिष्ट ईश्वर: तत् पदवाच्यार्थ:। उपाधिशून्यं शुद्धचैतन्यं तत्पद लक्ष्यार्थ:।

So also the literal meaning of the word तत् is the ईश्वर having omniscience, etc. The implied meaning of the word तत् is the pure awareness free of all conditioning.

एवं च जीवेश्वरयो: चैतन्यरूपेणाSभेदे बाधकाभाव:।

Thus, there is no contradiction regarding the identity between जीव and the ईश्वर from the standpoint of awareness (चैतन्यं)

Commentary

“I am so hungry – I can gobble up the Earth”. “Stephen Hawking has the blood of Einstein within him”. Such sentences have a वाच्यार्थ (literal meaning) which are ridiculous. No one can gobble up the Earth nor Stephen literally has the blood of Einstein within him. However, such lines are uttered to imply something else meaning the former indicates high extent of hunger while latter indicating the brilliance of Stephen Hawking – that is called as लक्ष्यार्थ (from लक्षण indicating characteristics). Analysis of the महावाक्य “तत् त्वम् असि” (YOU ARE THAT) is being done here using the वाच्यार्थ – लक्ष्यार्थ lens.

If one is focussed on उपाधि alone as true and looks at the world from this दृष्टि, then there is indeed भेदभाव that one will do when comparing जीव & ईश्वर. Thus, the word “त्वम्” will bring image of someone with a certain body & mind and the word “तत्” will be taken as ईश्वर and both will not match. However, in समाधि अवस्था, in a state of ध्यान, one is able to disassociate from उपाधि and gain access to one’s true identity viz ब्रह्म. And महावाक्य has been uttered by the ऋषि to convey लक्ष्यार्थ where the perspective is to see both these binaries from the दृष्टि of शुद्ध चैतन्यं (pure awareness). In this zone, both तत् & त्वम् refer to ब्रह्म. Both do not exist separate from ब्रह्म – it is just that one is a small pot and another a Universal pot but the Truth that powers both is the same one ब्रह्म only. When the उपनिषद् texts are read from this दृष्टि, many of the lines given by them will fall in place but if one reads these verses from the eyes of those academic Indologists who focus on वाच्यार्थ or भौतिक दृष्टि, we too may get confused.

Meenu Kohli: 👍👍 Small pot and Universal pot sums everything. Is it wrong though to fight for your rights then? If one should think from Samadhi’s state and if we are all one, why did Krishna advise Arjun to go to battle for the kingdom ?

Bhaskar: This is the most logical question 👍. I can attempt an answer. Let us take a सूत्रधार who has written a story and splits himself into multiple roles just to act out the characters in the story. As Himself, He knows all characters and each and every character also know that while they may be playing as husband, wife, hero, support actor, etc., they are merely going as per wish of the सूत्रधार. As long as they stick to the script (meaning doing धर्म), everyone is having a good time acting and watching themselves and others in the play.

Bhaskar: But then, some characters start believing that they are indeed the characters. They deviate from the script. धर्म becomes कर्म. So सूत्रधार has to either teach them धर्म (as Krishna did to Yudhistira who also messed up by staking his wife) or eliminate them again and again (as he did to Duryodhana). So war is necessary against people who are living अधर्म and कृष्ण had to eliminate those parts of Him who were deviating from the written script.

Meenu Kohli: 👍👍👏👏 that’s very well explained 🙏. Does that mean that we always always let go and let the सूत्रधार teach the lesson implying it’s never our duty as a character to teach another character any lesson/s ? But do we fight for our right or still let go and let Sutradhaar take care of it 😊

Bhaskar: 😀Tomorrow is the most important set of verses. It is akin to hero throwing the last big punch and the villain falling down. So the commentary will be long – apologies in advance for this. Your question too will get answered (hopefully) tomorrow.

Meenu Kohli: 👍👍😄

Parvindar Anand: Wonderful 👍👍

Bhaskar: एवं च वेदान्तवाक्यै: सद्गुरूपदेशेन च सर्वेश्वपि भूतेषु येषां ब्रह्मबुद्धि: उत्पन्ना ते जीवनमुक्ता इत्यर्थ:। ननु जीवन्मुक्त: क:?

Thus, by the words of वेदान्त, imparted by a सद्गुरू, those in whom the knowledge of ब्रह्म in all beings is born they are the जीवन्मुक्त (liberated while even living). Then, who exactly is a जीवन्मुक्त?

Bhaskar: यथा देहोSहं पुरुषोंSहं ब्राह्मणSहं शूद्रोSहं दृढनिश्चय: तथा नाहं ब्राह्मण: न शूद्र: न पुरुष: किन्तु असंग: सच्चिदानन्द स्वरूप: प्रकाशरूप: सर्वान्तर्यामी चिदाकाशरूपोSस्मीति दृढनिश्चयरूप: अपरोक्षज्ञानवान् जीवन्मुक्त: ।

Just as one has the firm belief that “I am the देह”, “I am a पुरुष”, “I am a ब्राह्मण”, “I am a शूद्र”. So also, “I am not a ब्राह्मण”, “I am not शूद्र”, “I am not a पुरुष” but I am “an unattached, of the nature of सत्-चिच्-आनन्द, effulgent, the indweller of all, the formless awareness, thus one having this firmly ascertained अपरोक्ष ज्ञान (immediate knowledge) is the जीवन्मुक्त.

Commentary

A गुलाबजामुन is brought in front me. I see it, smell it and I thus have ज्ञान of the sweet – direct ज्ञान of something is called as प्रत्यक्ष ज्ञान. Someone tells me of a sweet she tasted in Indonesia and when I ask her to describe this, she replies that it is like a पेठा – so I know the Indonesia’s sweet using inference and this is परोक्ष ज्ञान. Both these ways to ज्ञान are helpful but not complete. Best way to KNOW गुलाबजामुन is to consume it and make it one with yourself – this is immediate ज्ञान since the moment you consume this, there is nothing else left to know about the sweet – this ज्ञान is termed as अपरोक्ष ज्ञान.

अध्यात्म ज्ञान can only be acquired as an अपरोक्ष ज्ञान. No amount of reading, discussing, doing PPT, etc will help us know about it – at best, it is a good starting point. But once an अपरोक्ष अनुभव happens, there is nothing else left to know. Such a man is a जीवन्मुक्त. Gita uses the word स्थितप्रज्ञ, someone else will use ब्रह्मज्ञानी, etc. And once one tastes the गुलाबजामुन्, ज्ञान is instantaneous – it is मुक्ति right here right now. Only in pedestrian religions, one goes to heaven or hell as decided by an unknown god. How can one attain मुक्ति without knowing what is it while living? Just as one cannot eat anything while being in deep sleep, there is no मोक्ष for one who has not attained ज्ञान while living. Having an उपाधि is essential to understand what YOU are not and just as one removes a thorn using another thorn, one can remove उपाधि influence only by having one while living. Without ज्ञान attained right now, there is no मुक्ति and no silly magic will be done by any (external) god after death.

अपरोक्ष ज्ञान is available to anyone – whether a ब्राह्मण (literate) like आदि शंकर/ रामानुज, illiterate like रामकृष्ण, semi-literate like रमण, woman like, Andal, a Muslim like Saibaba, child-like ध्रुव or a commoner (शूद्र) like a carpentar or beedimaker – these appellations apply to the उपाधि and once one is able to transcend the influence of their उपाधि, ज्ञान is available to them right here right now. So the natural question is – how does one attain जीवनमुक्त state? It is obvious.

Since ब्रह्म is सत्-चित्-आनन्द स्वरूप, we also see ourselves as having such a स्वरूप even when we “wear” an उपाधि. We see ourselves as eternal. We retain curiosity to know and be conscious at all times. And more importantly, no matter what state we are in, happy or unhappy, we exude the bliss within. We see others also as ब्रह्म with an उपाधि. So if they curse us, we know that their उपाधि is cursing my own उपाधि. If they praise us, we see as the same. If somehow, we are getting happy with praises or bonuses or wealth, we see our own mind getting happy and we watch it going through its experience of happiness with a smile – on our own, we are just watching.

We see everyone as प्रकाशरूप meaning lighted up by ब्रह्म. If someone’s उपाधि wants to harm our own उपाधि, we stop and fight it all right but knowing that it is the other person’s उपाधि that is compelling the other to perform a silly act, we fight the उपाधि tendency to hurt us rather than the person himself (who is after all ब्रह्म only). Depersonalize all engagements with society including with our own selves. And if the Highest state is a Formless state, we ourselves have to see ourselves as Formless. If we see ourselves as having form, how can one with form ever KNOW the Formless? Only if we change own quality, we attain qualifications to see the Formless. And one does not need to be literate or otherwise to obtain this अनुभूति – all you need is ज्ञान of our own Truth. Know it (श्रवण), seek it (उपासना by doing मनन) and then experience it (निधिध्यास via अपरोक्ष ज्ञान) – and we regain IT. This is the most logical way to see our journey towards Truth – what else can it be?

Parvindar Anand: Wonderful idea that’s why जीवनमुक्ति. This is where it starts getting a bit complicated. One can appreciate the idea that Ok if someone’s उपाधि does a silly act and tries to hurt you then one can immediately contemplate : what’s inside me that’s got hurt ? There must be a trigger of a past impression (वासना)that has been pressed which causes me to be hurt. For the other side it would I be great that we develop an attitude of compassion remembering that it’s just not YOU who has hurt me but the temporary upadhi that is acting out right now. So basically a clash of the वसना मिकस of the 2 persons. In fact If one looks like this then it would be very difficult to be hurt and be sad  or in the other side to be overly happy and excited by anything which happens during our worldly interactions 😊

Bhaskar: 👍👍 You have put this well. When one reads the life of Ramana Maharishi, He seems to be living in this zone only. But I can supplement this by another example – why are we happy when Dhoni hits sixes or Usain Bolt runs 100m in 9.85 secs. Both are separate people and theoretically, their achievements should be THEIR joy and not ours. But we too are very excited when they breaks records – why so?  We may even distribute sweets when they score well. Take this further and we are unhappy when someone close to us is unhappy or even when we watch movies, we too run through the “unhappy” sentiment. My theory is – wherever our Vasana blockage is removed, our innate connection with “other” gets activated but wherever either one or both sides have Vasana blockage, the connection is severed and we fight with such others. Is it a reasonable hypothesis?  🙂

Parvindar Anand: 👍👍i suppose that’s s good proposition. Interesting examples; I feel that when we get overly excited and crazy about let’s say a team winning and other losing or for that matter about our favorite players playing well and ‚destroying‘ the opposition Deep down there is a sort of aggression and also the desire to conquer / rule ( सूक्ष्म अहंकार ) and feeling of being superior to the other. The adhyatmik way would be to really appreciate ब्रह्म and say Waoo how much power must God be having as this power is shining through usain bolt or dhoni or Federer.

Bhaskar: Meenu – your question answered?

Meenu Kohli: Thanks a lot Uday. It is kind of clear 🙂 who are we to judge if there is Vasana blockage in the other person. If we try to open the innate connection but if it gets blocked from the other side we need to back off.  It does hurt when it’s with someone very close to you 😄. Do you fight for your right like Arjun or let it go 😜

Bhaskar: Arjuna was originally fighting for his right and also wanted revenge. Then he was overcome by guilt and did not want to fight and told Krishna that he wanted to give up. Krishna then goaded him to fight but not for revenge or to earn his right for kingdom but for धर्म. Krishna told him that Duryodhana has strayed into Adharma and therefore he needs to be killed.

शंकर नारायण: In Mahabharata killing the wrong people and people supporting wrong person  was important . The means to  kill them bore no relevance even though it did not  fall within the war rules or war dharm. Right uday

Bhaskar: What is धर्म is a fully separate topic. All I will state now is that Vasana influences our choice of action. And the only way to lessen their influence is to do धर्म. If not,  any  Vasana triggered act will generate कर्म. What is कर्म will be covered in the next 2-3 days.

Meenu Kohli: 👍👍 perfectos!! Waiting to know karma and dharma as well… my daughter wrote a thesis that Yudhishter did not follow dharma even though he’s known as the Dharamraj

शंकर नारायण: Your daughter is right . But no controversy since Uday is  in a flow and will listen his explanation on Dharma.

Meenu Kohli: 👍👍😄

Bhaskar: ब्रह्मैवाहमस्मीत्यपरोक्षज्ञानेन निखिलकर्मबन्ध विनिर्मुक्त: स्यात्।

By the immediate ज्ञान that “I am ब्रह्म”, one becomes free from the bondage of all the कर्म.

Commentary

This line reinforces the view that ज्ञान of ब्रह्म happens in an instant when we connect with IT within ourselves. विवेकचूडामणि gives a great example. Imagine someone who has never witnessed the beauty of full moon on a dark night. Now, we may write शास्त्र explaining what dark sky means, what white moon means, what craters on the moon mean, etc but for someone who has always lived inside a dark cave, how to explain what dark sky means, what white means, what craters means, etc. This person can read and meditate on this idea for many lives inside the cave 😀 but all he has to do is to see the moon once and he has gained अपरोक्ष ज्ञान in an instant. Same goes for regaining our connection with ब्रह्म. And once gained, all the writings in the texts seem irrelevant 😁

Some personal thoughts. Is निराकार & निर्गुण aspect of ब्रह्म superior to सगुण साकार aspect? Is imagining ब्रह्म with आकार a lower-level approach to the divine? While ब्रह्म is expressed as निराकार, ब्रह्म with माया too retains ITS सत्-चित्-आनन्द स्वरूप and labelled as ईश्वर which is also equally पूजनीय. Do note that प्रकृति is अनादि too. This may mean that expansion or projection which leads to Universe being formed and contraction or involution is probably happening at all times – whether with माया or without माया, ब्रह्म is aware of its unattached स्वरूप. Can we disassociate Sun with its Sunrays? While quantum of light and heat emanated by the Sun may vary with time as Sun becomes larger and later collapses, it still has a Form (प्रकृति), though changing. In all its changes, Sun remains a Sun only. Can we disassociate a person from her thoughts (प्रकृति)? While thoughts come and go and sometimes, one can get into a no-thought zone, but essentially, the person remains whether thought exists or its dormant.

In Ch 10 of the Gita, श्रीकृष्ण clearly says that everything that has a Form is HIM only – there is no other. Is जीवन्मुक्त state akin to that of a fully charged battery that lies unused in the attic? That will be quite boring 😃. Universe is an expression of ब्रह्म only and thus, whether with or without universe, when we offer our prayers to the divine, we offer in both cases to ब्रह्म only. Just as when we offer prayers to the Sun, we are offering prayers not to the physical Sun but the Power that powers the Sun, worshipping a Form keeping in mind that Form is one expression of One who has many Forms is also not inferior in any manner.

Therefore, from an उपासना perspective, as long as we do not define ourselves by प्रकृति and limit ourselves to a particular form, the साकार सगुण aspect of us is equally divine and worthy of respect and admiration. So we should not hate our body, our thoughts, our dreams, etc as long as these are within the zone of धर्म and we remain conected with our सत्-चित्-आनन्द स्वरूप. Form (प्रकृति) is thus not a lower aspect of ब्रह्म but merely a particular kind of cloth ब्रह्म wears and in this mode too, as ईश्वर, is equal to ब्रह्म in a निराकार mode. To look at the Divine as ईश्वर where both form and formless aspect come together as mother and father is also अद्वैत – my little reading of Kashmir Shaivism made me see अद्वैत in this manner where the text does not envisage the Divine as a charged-up battery lying unused in the attic (apologies for a crude example 😀) – sharing this since I find this appealing.

Parvindar Anand: Your idea of of fully charged battery which is present in all and also separate from all is conveyed in the Jaap Sahib stanza 144 (गुरु गोबिंद सिंघ)

सरबंग जुगता.

सरबंग मुक्ता (१४४)

He (ब्रह्म)is present in all. At the same time he is separate from all

अनेक हैं. फिर एक हैं (४३)

God has countless forms. Still has one form.

Parvindar Anand: तम संसार चरण लग तरिय, सभ नानक ब्रह्म पसारो । GGS p 1429

You should swim across the dark world (ocean) with the help of gods feet (his words and believe that all is the expanse is God (Brahm) says satguru nanak

Bhaskar: 👍👍 Common ideas in these texts. My sense is that when they say He is separate, it means He does not limit Himself to one forms but all forms cannot happen without ब्रह्म. So for उपासना, we can see a form and celebrate how His glory is shining through a particular form and same goes when we see a tree, animal, etc. When I go around a tree, I am actually going around Him just as Ganesha went around His parents to convey that He is going around the world. Refusal to go around a tree thinking that since ब्रह्म is separate, going around a tree is foolish is a wrong idea in my opinion. Equally, to say tree is ब्रह्म is also foolish. So go around a tree, a cow, another human, etc with an idea within that we are bowing down to ब्रह्म only who is in a particular form in front of me is a reasonable attitude to express.

Parvindar Anand: 👍👍yes since everything is Brahm and nothing is separate from it so respect and reverence and acceptance for everything Around us is a reasonable idea.

Meenu Kohli: Thanks a lot Uday. Showed it to my daughter and the idea of Judeo-Christian values of right vs wrong colour the view of Mahabharat very differently as opposed to seeing the story as a narrative of ‘action and consequences’, which is what actually Karma & Dharma is all about. She’s intrigued and was inquiring if there’s a comment section on the adhyatamwritings blog 😀

Bhaskar: 👍👍 Glad she liked it. It is a good discussion where the differences have been brought out well by DP.  There is a comments section of course though the decision to feature the comments or not is mine 😀

Bhaskar: कर्माणि कतिविधानि सन्तीति चेत् आगामिसंचित प्रारब्धभेदेन त्रिविधानि सन्ति। 

If it is asked “How many kinds of कर्म are there? “, (the reply is) there are three kinds of कर्म, namely – आगामि, संचित & प्रारब्ध. 

Bhaskar: ज्ञानोत्पत्यनन्तरं ज्ञानदेहकृतं पुण्यपापरूपं कर्म यदस्ति तदागामीत्यभिधीयते। अनन्तकोटिजन्मनां बीजभूतं सत् यत्कर्मजातं  पूर्वार्जितं तिष्ठति तत्संचितं ज्ञेयम्। 

The results of कर्म, पुण्य or पाप, performed through the body of the ज्ञानी after the dawn of ज्ञान (viz ब्रह्मज्ञान) is known as आगामि. What is संचित कर्म? The results of कर्म performed in all the previous births which are in the seed form to give rise to endless crores of births in the future is called संचित (accumulated) कर्म. 

Bhaskar: प्रारब्धं कर्म किमिति चेत्? इदं शरीरमुत्पाद्य इह लोके एवं सुखदु:खादिप्रदं यत्कर्म तत्प्रारब्धं भोगेन नष्टं भवति प्रारब्धकर्मणां भोगादेव क्षयं इति। 

What is प्रारब्धकर्म? Having given birth to this body, the actions which give results in this very world in the form of सुख or दुःख and which can be destroyed only by enjoying or suffering them is called प्रारब्धकर्म. 

Commentary

कर्म is the last idea being introduced in this text. Being a प्रकरण ग्रंथ, the idea is merely introduced and not elaborated upon. For details, one has to refer to a शास्त्र ग्रंथ. But idea of कर्म is essential to convey – why so? I am a novice on this – so my points will need validation. All of us have one स्वरूप viz सत्-चित्-आनन्द. However, all of us are different too and this comes from स्वभाव. स्वभाव is driven by our past habits/ orientation. So all like going on a holiday – but some derive joy from rafting, some from doing pilgrimage, some from rock-climbing, some sleeping. Happiness is not present within rock-climbing, sleeping, etc but present within us as आनन्द स्वरूप but depending on our past habitual associations of happiness lying within our own Vasana complex, we seek such goals that drive experience of joy within us. And once our शरीर realizes the goal that is in tune with our pre-existing behavioural orientations, आत्मा releases some stock of आनन्द present within it and शरीर then experiences happiness. सुख is thus not present outside but within us only. But where does कर्म fit into this? 

Fundamental idea that सुख & दुःख come from something outside us stems from a disconnect or separation we have with others and the world. And this disconnect happens because of the presence of an idea of a distinct “I” (अहंकार) within us. अहंकार creates the idea of “doer-ship” and obstructs the आत्मा from supplying आनन्द to our शरीर in a pure manner. This causes idea of happiness within a जीव to express itself in a distorted manner – अहंकार thus may be seen as मल or dirt that sullies the experience of life. And wrong learning occurs from such experiences on our pre-existing Vasana complex making us get into or be influenced by habitual patterns of conduct thereby distancing us away from our स्वरूप – and therefore we suffer. This “suffering” does not mean unhappiness but it means deepening of our limitedness or disconnect with all of life. 

There are three kinds of कर्म. आगामि refers to कर्म that accrues to a ज्ञानी – while ज्ञानी has no association with his कर्म since he has stopped being guided by the whims of his अहंकार, however, कर्म continues to accrue to a ज्ञानी too and this is called as आगामि. संचित however refers to the entire stock of accumulated कर्म that we have earned over multiple lives. And that specific stock of संचित that is released for this particular life that we are born into is प्रारब्ध. Which is why whenever we experience good or bad in our current life, we say that it is our प्रारब्ध कर्म.

कर्म appears to be a leveller. Any idea that joy is contained in a car or a bank balance or in another person who is separate from us opens us to both सुख & दुःख – if we get what we want, we experience joy and if not, we experience sadness. And this idea has to break down to enable us to become free. This association causes us to be bound by this connect and this binding is called as कर्म-बन्धन. So if we have joy in owning a car, we will necessarily have to experience its opposite force viz its absence. If we derive joy by bodily troubling another person, we too open up to receive bodily pain. A dented mind will receive experiences that are forcing us to step back and look at the bigger picture. But till the time the persona does not expand, our body and mind will continue to experience सुख & दुःख – this is a core rule. So is there an escape route?

How do we enjoy our स्वभाव fully without experiences getting sullied by अहंकार? By doing all acts that enhance our connect with the others. The moment my life gets oriented with the “other” where the “other” is also seen like me, we expand from our limited-ness. And this expansion takes us closer of ब्रह्म viz our own स्वरूप. Such acts are labelled as धर्म. We can now create an equation as below: 

ब्रह्म + स्वभाव = pure अनुभव 

ब्रह्म + स्वभाव + अहंकार = dented अनुभव 

ब्रह्म + स्वभाव + धर्म = अनुभव that reduces कर्म बन्धन

As stated earlier, a dented अनुभव thickens our Vasana coating within our कारण शरीर. And we end up distorting our understanding of our own स्वभाव – and thereby we may mess up our own lives as well as that of the society around us. Dented अनुभव makes us use our स्वभाव to stray from the path of धर्म and pursue अर्थ & काम alone and derive joy out of them. Pure अनुभव keeps us glued to our सत्-चित्-आनन्द स्वरूप. There is more to convey but I will pause for now.

Bhaskar: Priya – I have not yet answered your question.  After today’s verses, does the question still stand?

Priya Krishnamurthy: I was listening to the Patnaik video – enjoying it . Let me read the last verse . I definitely was thinking of my question this morning 😃. And mulling over your explanation of my earlier question regarding therapy as s way of modifying our vasanas 😃- still not convinced about its jack of validity . I concur with the goal of behaviour/ inclination modifications – and I feel any methodology to accomplish that aim is valid . 😃🙏. I guess my question still stands – if my actions are “ adharm “ – then is repentance and forgiveness a Christian concept? Another question is the issue of who decides dharm vs adharm ? In other words does Hinduism concept is exclusively actions vs consequences ( Patnaik endorses this) but if intent was good , does that count?  If it does not , and the construct is that karmphal accumulation is based only on actions and one had to endure the consequences ( one cannot be merely “ forgiven” ) , it’s an interesting POV very distinct from the typical Judeo – Christian construct – more harsh but also more logical

Bhaskar: Repentance” is a form of thought modification only. We do an act, we realize later that our act was inappropriate and we therefore repent. When we repent, it means it is a deep thought idea that we will not repeat such behaviour again. Which also means that the existing Vasana structure has modified. And such repentance happens through the process of introspection or मनन. So clearly, there is nothing “Christian” or “religious” about this word since it is common for any person to repent his or her acts now and then.

Bhaskar: As for “forgiveness”, who can forgive is an interesting question. Who has given authority to someone external to us to forgive? Why should religion be about someone writing rules and followers getting punished if they do not follow the rules or being forgiven if we ask for repentance? These questions do come up often when we evaluate traditional idea of religion. अध्यात्म places this differently. We face consequences for our actions. “Our” here means ideas of life emanating from अहंकार since ideally, no idea of “doing” must emerge from here. Now, if this अहम् repents, it means it is questioning why it used itself in the past. If it seeks someone else’s forgiveness, it will never ever step aside as unnecessary. As per our texts, there is no ज्ञान is अहंकार continues to want to remain. But even if this अहम् wants to still seek forgiveness, it will seek this from आत्मा which is its own mother or its own true identity. So when I seek my own forgiveness, what does it mean? It is another way of saying that I repent my own acts and will not repeat them. Which then enhances us.

Bhaskar: If someone’s intent is good, should this person get benefit of wrong advice? You are aware of the saying – “It is better to have an intelligent enemy than a well-intentioned stupid friend”. We have often seen well-intentioned parents continuing to interfere in the life of kids and ruining their lives. Intent also may therefore spring from a mind steeped in तमस् / रजस् and such minds may show unnecessary compassion which will eventually boomerang on them miserably. Even then, they may think they have been misunderstood rather than realizing that their good intentions were inappropriately applied. If a negative consequence forces the person to cultivate सत्व, then he or she may evolve. There is no escape from veering towards ज्ञान in our texts 😀.

Bhaskar: Be that as it may, all actions have consequences. A sensible person may create an oasis within a desert. An idiot may plant a tree in the middle of a busy street within a city. Whatever the intent, both actions have consequences the tree will grow anyway. However, for a ज्ञानी, if he plants a tree with अहम् भाव, he will face personal consequences but if he does this as धर्म, it is not his act at all and he will therefore face no consequences “personally”.

Hemangi: Ai ai yyo 😅

Priya Krishnamurthy: Very interesting explanations – thanks Uday 🙏🙏🙏

Bhaskar: From little what I have gathered, Christian idea of forgiveness comes from the idea of original sin where God cursed Adam and Eve for not following his rules. Thereby, all progeny of Adam and Eve automatically partake in the sin. And since Jesus was not born via regular birth, He is suitably qualified to take refuge into as He is not tainted by the original sin. There is no “original sin” in our texts and none of us automatically become sinners just by being born to parents and consequently, there is no need to seek forgiveness from “original sin”.

Meenu Kohli: 👍👍 Very well explained. This does imply working for an NGO/having your own NGO (particularly not taking any salary) is a better profession as it’ll cut Karm bandhan

Bhaskar: Noooooo – everyone cannot work or is not made to work for an NGO. Everyone is different and they can retain their differences but still be oriented towards the other. Someone oriented for business will want to do  only and some other may want to be a sportsman. We cannot and should not tell them all to work for an NGO. Let me elaborate. An injection is used to innoculate patients while a knife for cutting veggies. We cannot interchange them as this will create chaos. Similarly, all of us are born of a certain skill(s) or aptitude which, if ideally deployed, will give both myself and my ecosystem happiness. This aptitude is our स्वभाव. A person may have a skill in shooting which can be deployed either in the army or with a smuggler. A wrestler may live life as a neighbourhood goon or participate in Olympics. Thus, while स्वभाव creates diversity and makes the world beautiful, expressing of स्वभाव can get distorted by गुण (with idea of अहंकार playing itself out).

Bhaskar: So where does धर्म come into play here? धर्म reduces the गुण impact as well as uplifts us. How so? Let us take the idea of चतुर्वर्ण viz a classification of गुण orientation within us all. ब्राह्मण is one where सत्व is dominant backed by रजस्. क्षत्रिय – रजस् is dominant backed by सत्व. वैश्य – रजस् is dominant backed by तमस् and शूद्र – तमस् is dominant backed by रजस्. An orderly society is such that allows each गुण orientation to express itself fully. And if each one is able to express their गुण fully in a society and ‘conflict of interest’ is minimized, society will be orderly. As long as we create an ecosystem where every type of aptitude finds an expression and conflicting aptitudes are handled smoothly, all in such a society will find fulfilment. 

Bhaskar: Thus, ब्राह्मण who is naturally oriented towards seeing things clearly owing to ज्ञान orientation must be moulded towards doing teaching and giving advice to OTHERS. He must not be given any position of power, wealth or lands – he must beg for a living. A क्षत्रिय who is naturally activity-oriented and keen to come into a position of power must be asked to orient his life to use the power to enable fulfilment for OTHERS. He must not have wealth or lands or even be in an intellectual think tank. A वैश्य who is naturally inclined to activity orientation to acquire wealth must use this wealth to built roads, tanks, etc to add value to OTHERS. And a commoner (शूद्र viz people like me 😃) who is more happy being led around and likes a life viz driven towards eat & sleep must also align with the OTHERS so that his labour benefits society while giving him a decent lifestyle. धर्म thus represents living in tune with our स्वभाव but doing all acts keeping the OTHER in mind. And as the OTHER keeps dominating our acts, shackles of कर्म बन्धन loosen up, our pre-existing Vasana complex whittles down and our स्वरूप gets reflected fully on our शरीर and we thus live a full and complete life. 

Parvindar Anand: This idea is really great but alas we need to have a system of administration that does not misuse their position in society and above all the governance is based on धार्मिक principles. This is so seldom the case. You are the highest form of ब्राह्मण whom I know ( on your statement about shudra😀)

Bhaskar: Agree but this logic applies to any system. One system is where roles are birth-based and this has its attendant challenges. Other is based on idea of “freedom of choice” but what you are seeing as an outcome in some countries is that positions of power are being manned by businessmen or lawyers which has its own “conflict of interest” challenges. Third is systems like democracy which reward people who have built high social capital and therefore filmstars/ sportsmen end up benefiting. None of these systems are looking at conflict of interest as a challenge. Eventually, any system is as good as people who run these systems.

Bhaskar: Society must offer opportunities for all to engage in activity that is tuned to their own inner aptitude. Thus, if aptitude viz स्वभाव enables us to choose a स्वधर्म, there are no emotional challenges to pursue activity which is not in tune with my aptitude. So if a sportsman is choosing Engg, even if he has so-called merit to become an engineer, his aptitude will create emotional challenges in coping up to be a good engineer all his life. From a spiritual sense, if one does कर्म that is tuned to स्वभाव, it may be relatively easier to eventually pursue स्वभाव with an intent to get rid of “I” but if this is not done,  the “I” will get deepened further driven by coping-up challenges and spiritual growth becomes more and more distant. That is the idea here. Merit that is not tuned to स्वभाव is no merit at all

Bhaskar: Just to set the perspective right, no discussion on वर्ण can be understood without knowing that this is driven by स्वभाव. No discussion on स्वभाव can happen unless one is aware of idea of कर्म & गुण. And only if impact of कर्म & गुण is known, one can see value in the idea of धर्म. And धर्म is useful only if मोक्ष is seen as an overall societal goal worth pursuing. To evaluate value of वर्ण when our parameters for success are driven by अर्थ & काम alone is thus meaningless.

Priya Krishnamurthy: This is always challenging for me – would some people at least have a mix of tendencies? Tamas tendencies used productively – is sports an example ( the wrestler you suggest? ) but what if ge is also a Savvy businessman who runs a sports school ?

Bhaskar: As I said, you are looking at success in business as a parameter while I am stating whether the choice is useful from a मोक्ष perspective. If you tell me how any arrangement is helpful from a मोक्ष perspective, only then is a discussion possible,  is it not?😀 This text is interested in मोक्ष alone – not any other societal parameter for success

Priya Krishnamurthy: IMHO – This is unrealistic and reductive thinking 😃. People are more complex than 4 types. The Myers Briggs has 16 classifications and sometimes that is not sufficient 😃

Bhaskar: That is not helpful. योगसूत्र has many more variations too but the building block is expressed as गुण. And in our texts , गुण is also the basis for all of creation and not limited to human traits. So both are not comparable

Priya Krishnamurthy: I guess you are right – Point well taken🙏🙏🙏 . I am interested in how to live a good life in this life. Moksh as a concept is not yet that critically interesting to me – I am not at (“Mumukshu”) – I am at #lifeisgood. I have a long way to go

Bhaskar: 😀😀

Priya Krishnamurthy: I do want to know what choices are available for tamas tendencies😂😂😂 Every weekend that predominates and I am a sloth 🙏🙏

Bhaskar: No need to ask anyone – whatever we select naturally as a choice is what we are 😀😀

Priya Krishnamurthy: Advice for self-improvement? That’s what experts are for 😂😂

Bhaskar: नित्यपूजा 😀😀😀

Priya Krishnamurthy: Touche 😂😂😂- good hit

Vinay Bhale: That Priya likes. Of what is the question

Priya Krishnamurthy: 😂😂😂😂…. that discussion amongst good friends dost would start with a glass of wine , good music and good food 😊😊

Vinay Bhale: And would also end with that with no conversions on either side. I have homework for next week. To read the entire discussion.

Priya Krishnamurthy: Debates do not end in conversions – even if they spark thinking ( which has occurred for me ) – I define that as success. Patnaik featured prominently in our dinner and breakfast conversation 😃😃😃. As did Uday and this group 😃😃

Vinay Bhale: Agree

Priya Krishnamurthy: Mom is here so Satyanarayana Puja this afternoon . Thus discussion reminded me of designing clinical trials where one of the important initial events in what parameter of outcome we are going to use to evaluate our results 😃. For example overall survival ( OS) vs Progression Free Survival ( PFS) They are slightly different. Mostly that in any debate ( like clinical trials) decision of end point is critical . Here you and me are operating from slightly different lens and I need to be cognizant of that 😃😃😃. Most of my questions you answer but every once in a while like this I am reminded ( and very fairly I will add 🙏🙏🙏) that it’s me trying to use this for an outcome for which it was not primarily designed . In clinical trials , after figuring out outcome parameters we design primary aims and secondary aims ( secondary are subservient to primary aims) . Here your primary aim is getting us to learn the significance ( and hopefully ) desire Moksha . My secondary aim is to use this to find discussion and your expertise/ knowledge to learn how to modify my behaviour in this life to live as optimally as feasible. 😃🙏

Meenu Kohli: How do we explain the Karmas of people like Hitler…seems like dented anubhav but still difficult to explain that such nasty people are able to rise the echelons of our society and sutradhaar allows that..why?? Another question is if we say that aatma chooses their parents, why would anyone choose to be born to abusive parents or to people in the slums…or is the birth solely dependent on the seed of Prarabdh karm and is not in the hands of aatma at all? Does it imply that aatma has no hand in choosing the family? Why do we then say that souls travel together and help each other over various janams??

Meenu Kohli: 👍👍 how do we reduce ahankaar? Of course life beats us down to reduce it over our lifetime but it does keep coming back 😄

Bhaskar: That is the most fundamental question. Just keep doing धर्म and answer will come on its own – since I do not know the answer, I am giving a general response  😀

Meenu Kohli: This also implies that all strata of society should keep minimum for ‘ourselves’ and work towards the OTHER. But what is ‘minimum for ourselves 😄’? What is a decent lifestyle ? We keep on doing karm to give ourselves a decent lifestyle which never ends up being decent enough and by then the clock stops.

Bhaskar: True – key lies in being alert.

Meenu Kohli: Also ‘is doing dharm karm more important than bhajan/Bhakti’ ?

Bhaskar: Bhajan / Bhakti is also a type of Dharm – Karm only 😀

Bhaskar: संचित कर्म ब्रह्मैवाहमिति निश्चयात्मिकज्ञानेन नश्यति। आगामि कर्म अपि ज्ञानेन नश्यति किंच आगामिकर्मणां नलिनीदलगतजलवत् ज्ञानिनां सम्बन्धो नास्ति। किंच ये ज्ञानिनं स्तुवन्ति भजन्ति अर्चयन्ति तान्प्रति ज्ञानिकृतं आगामि पुण्यं गच्छति। ये ज्ञानिनं निन्दन्ति द्विषन्ति तान्प्रति ज्ञानिकृतं सर्वमागामि क्रियमाणं यदवाच्यं कर्म पापात्मकं तद्गच्छति। 

The संचित कर्म is destroyed by the ज्ञान – I am ब्रह्म. The आगामि is also destroyed by ज्ञान – and the ज्ञानी is not affected by it just as a lotus leaf is not affected by the water on it. Further, those who praise worship and adore the ज्ञानी, to them go the results of the good actions done by the ज्ञानी, those who abuse hate or cause pain or sorrow to a ज्ञानी, to them go the results of the sinful actions done by the ज्ञानी. 

Commentary

अपरोक्ष ज्ञान frees one immediately. All associations lying in our स्वभाव get cleared up. We see one in all. Our Vasana coating is purified. And once all this clears up, all the accumulated संचित which is nothing else but मल accumulated from wrong learning in the past washes away. Any new experience will no longer be required and even if it comes, it is a fresh experience that will not accumulate any new कर्म. Like a lotus in water which never get wet, a ज्ञानी never creates a stock of Vasana since all His actions will keep him in सत्-चित्-आनन्द स्वरूप.

What is curious is the line which says that the outcome of कर्म of a ज्ञानी are passed on to people who either praise him or abuse him. Simply put, a tree planted by a ज्ञानी will certainly yield fruits and dirty pool created by him will pass on the muck to the persons who enter the pool. I am not sure what this means. Does it mean that if I abuse आदि शंकर or रमण महऋषि, such abuse will come back and hit me and if I praise Him, I will benefit? I am not sure how this works – and have no logical explanation for this one.

Parvindar Anand: Beautifully put 👍👍. Again reminds of the classic principle of राग  – द्वेष. When you mean enjoy our svabhav fully it means to enjoy our सत चित आनंद nature, right?

Bhaskar: Basic meaning of स्वभाव is our natural disposition. There are two aspects of स्वभाव – one being a skillset like carpentry, art, etc that I may possess and second being my dominant गुण. A ज्ञानी will deploy his skill alone as may be necessary in an “appropriate” situation and derive joy merely out of deploying this skill. This is the enjoyment we are referring to that we gain just by doing our bit in the overall scheme of things. An अज्ञानी will however be weighed down by his dominant गुण and get distracted from the sheer joy of the act itself (fame, power, wealth, harming others, etc using the skill).

Parvindar Anand: Nice 👍! Watching out that while deploying the skill we are not attracted by the results (fame power wealth etc)

Parvindar Anand: So basically any thought /action that is purely driven by achieving or attaining something for myself . Basically using a individualistic approach is something which is conducted in agyan and would bind us in the consequence of dukh sukh. Else we will increase the ahankar and also increase the vasna stock

Bhaskar: That is correct 👍

Bhaskar: तथा च आत्मवित्संसारं तीर्त्वा ब्रह्मानन्दम् इहैव प्राप्नोति। ‘तरति शोकम् आत्मवित्’ इति श्रुते:।। “तनु त्यजतु वा काश्यां श्वपचस्य गृहेSथवा। ज्ञानसम्प्राप्तिसमये मुक्तोSसौ विगताशय: ।। इति स्मृतेश्च। 

Thus, the knower of the आत्मा, having crossed the संसार, attains the ब्रह्मानन्द here itself. The श्रुति affirms “the knower of the आत्मा goes beyond all sorrows”.  Let the ज्ञानी cast his body in काशी or in the house of a dog-eater, it is immaterial because at the time of gaining the ज्ञान itself, He is liberated being free from all results of action. So assert the Smrutis too.

Commentary

This last verse reinforces that freedom is something that is available RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW. He is free from sorrows means He is free from being any longer bound by idea of limitedness – He has broken free from the clutches of प्रकृति. And any truth utterance cannot be deemed as valid as per tradition unless this is affirmed by श्रुति (वेद) & स्मृति (पुराण & इतिहास literature). The verses contained in this text are not आदि शंकर’s personal views – any personal view has to align with the शास्त्र and hence, He is quoting them here. And while there may be benefits that accrue to a संसारी who dies in Kashi (in terms of पाप क्षय), for a ज्ञानी who is no longer defined by a body, the place of death too does not matter since He has anyway become free from the influence of प्रकृति. His freedom is not a relative freedom, a freedom from “something”, it is an absolute freedom which is our identity. Such a one is a जीनम्मुक्त, He has returned home.

May all those who like this text may seek it, attain it and help others attain it too. And thus ends this simple प्रकरण ग्रंथ, तत्वबोध – ॐ तत् सत्

Meenu Kohli: 👍👍👏👏 What a wonderful text!! Thanks a ton Uday for all your hard work and for narrating it to us 😊. Tatva Bodh belongs to all religions, caste, creed etc. Treats every human equal!!

Bhaskar: 🙏 Thanks. It does apply at a “Universal” level. While the text belongs to all, I am not sure if all want the ideas given here 😀. And yes, it does look at all of life (not just humans) as powered by One – and that is a powerful idea as a great unifier.

Parvindar Anand: What a wonderful verse to end with end 👏🏻👏🏻👍👍. Really Thankful to you for introducing this gem of a text to us dear Uday 🙏🏻🙏🏻👏🏻

Bhaskar: 🙏🙏 I enjoyed this too. Your questions helped me crystallize my own thinking.

Priya Krishnamurthy: Ek dum mast 👍

Parvindar Anand: Eventually any system is as good as people who run it 👏🏻👏🏻. However the reality Unfortunately  is that the Pandits / pujaris have become the guardians of the Hindu religion and the people representing the Hindu religion and do not permit lower cast shudra Jaati people to even enter into the Mandirs; some mandirs do not allow women and some do not allow non Hindus. It’s turned from faith based to fear based. ( दंड शराप अंध विस्वास).

Perhaps I may be missing some logic behind this discrimination and brutal divisions in the Society but to me this defies the beautiful principle that are described in the तत्व बोध and what the Advaita philosophy stands for.   A bit off topic so apologies 🙏. I have given example of Hindu religion / temples but even in Sikhs we have issues/ double standards . There are castes in Sikhs too and we differentiate based on castes ( which was against the idea of singh / Kaur ). Guru Nanaks message was that there is no Hindu and No Mussalmann as all are from the same source have the same divine spark. However we Sikhs also would never accept that somebody in family marries a Muslim.

Parvindar Anand: Saw the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLo8v8TEklQ

finally. The idea of dharma became quite clear after his explanation.  However I must admit that he was a bit too direct rude and not humble on certain occasions to the journalist . It was like he the Mighty against the meek journalist.

She on the other hand maintained her calm composure and finally got him cornered with the question on the knowledge pool being guarded (towards the end ) and not accessible to the common people, which is true and the Shoshan / exploitation. of the meek. Actually he cleverly choose not to answer the question and try to attack her back and diverted the discussion.

Bhaskar: No apologies please – but a long response will come for this. But not today but tomorrow 😀😀

Priya Krishnamurthy: I agree too.  I also liked his dharm definition / explanation but thought he was a tad arrogant. Interestingly he is 1970 born and a graduate of GMC ( my Med school ) . Since he is definitely not my batch, I suspect he is probably one batch younger but could not find when he graduated 😃

Bhaskar: Kicking off controversy here now that the good part is over 😀😀. Agree that the discussion was combative but this is also because the questioner has a certain background which then unfortunately plays into such exchanges. But more importantly, most of the questions that people like DP, Amish and even Sadguru receive on Hinduism from journalists are focussed on few aspects only – treatment of सीता by राम, एकलव्य by द्रोण, कर्ण by पांडव, rules broken in MBH war, Caste rules, how cow cannot be eaten, etc. Though it should be obvious to anyone that these aspects are not the prism through which Hinduism should be discussed, this is all we see in the papers too day in and day out. Now with the advent of social media, some voices are calling out this approach is way too pedestrian and the narrative has to get deeper.

Instead of regressing talk about religion to social / political aspects, genuine exploration that may bring out a more “educated” discussion could be – why does differentiation happen in society? Why is “identity” important across cultures? Idea of masculine and feminine, What is the contributor of diversity and how do we become comfortable with it? Is “equality” real and desirable? How is the idea of ब्रह्म compatible with modern science? How does one relate with animals as equals? How does सृष्टि रचना as per उपनिषद् relate with developments in modern science? ….Such questions will facilitate deepening of minds but we do not see such discussions.

There are certainly classes in India whose formation may be ascribed at least partly to Hindu texts. But isn’t formation of classes a universal phenomenon? Christians too have categories like Baptists, Pentacoastals, Catholics, Protestants, Seventh Day Adventists, Anglicans, etc who do not go to each others’ Churches. Is lack of access to texts uniquely Indian? Bible became known to more only after text was printed about 500 years back. But is access to a text a solution to all problems? While Hinduism prevented access to the वेद, Islam made their text accessible to all. But despite this, they too spawned into innumerable categories who wage wars with each other to this day. So did texts create classes or is creation of class systems an inevitable reality of any human society? Access to texts is not the core problem at all that is significant – it must be obvious to anyone who is willing to see.

Has lack of access to वेद prevented spread of religion in India? Most of the ideas about Indian religions have not been spread by Pujaris in temples. Brits foolishly equated the word “priest” with the पुजारी while Pujaris perform a much more ordinary role in the overall scheme of things. Spread of Indian religious ideas came via Sadhus who actually belong to no वर्ण – the first ritual for a Sadhu is to shed association with वर्ण structure. And these guys conveyed ideas from texts to all and Sundry for hundreds of years. Texts like पुराण, स्तोत्र, सूत्र, etc were made available to all people in local languages. संत ज्ञानेश्वर translated the Gita in 12th Century in मराठी, रामायण and MBH also available in local languages for at least1000 years. Thus, the Sadhus have been conveying the idea of वेद to people of all classes time and again – so there is no challenge of access to Vedic ideas across the society.

As for access to temple, it is true that certain temples were more purist but among the hundreds of temples, only a few were this strict but hundreds of other temples existed in the landscape for hundreds of years. And temple reform movements are not recent occurrences only – a thousand years back, even Ramanuja convinced the temple authorities to allow people living in forests access to the temple when he observed how devout and evolved they were in their behaviour. Besides, there are जाति temples, temples where only women are allowed, etc which mitigates the access challenges significantly. So while the acts of purist temples are no doubt condemnable, this is not a calamity to be made the only topic to talk about.

Now let us take up the question about वेद. As per texts, in the first युग, वेद was accessible to all वर्ण. However, learning वेद is not like reading a text. One had to commit themsleves to a rigorous lifestyle that is filled with rituals throughout life. They had to undergo study for about 20 years post which they had to discharge the Vedic duties their whole life. Do note that study of वेद is useless from a practical perspective since it imparts no skill to earn money to run a business or anything else. So they used to do rituals like marriage, death, etc or get tagged to kings to earn a living but most lived a life of poverty and died miserably. It is no surprise that many stopped getting into Vedic education and took on to other professions. So more than restriction of access, people moved away from it since most would not like to live life begging for a living. Of course, given that study of Veda gave these people a psychological edge, some would have misused this to blackmail others but the reality is that people actually moved away from Vedic education. And today, who reads the Veda despite this being available free of cost on the Google? 😄 Most now say it is too gibberish anyway to read this. And because वेद is difficult to comprehend even for Scholars, many many many many other texts came about in Sanskrit and local languages in story, Stotra form, poetry, etc so much so that till a generation back, even the most simple person in India has been far more aware of religious way of life (albeit with superstition) that they used to live on a day to day basis. Access to वेद is thus a false alarm and not really a problem at all.

Kindly read “Beautiful Tree” by Dharampal about access to education in India pre-British. Significant chunks of India across classes were literate as per the norms at that time but with advent of the Brits, India lapsed into an enmasse illiteracy. That book overtuned my world view significantly – it is available as a free download on Google. I will pause now.

Parvindar Anand: What a response 😊👍कहाँ से शुरू करूँ 😀. Will start with one of the Several true stories. We have a family friend here Dr Pandey who is 95 years old and is a Brahmin and a a learned scholar retired Hindi teacher here and a Gandhian. The man is exceptional in his memory and his brain condition still and is a walking encyclopedia. One of his colleagues and friends from Romania was so impressed by the Hindu culture that he left everything behind and went to kanchipuram and devoted his entire life I think 35+ years there. He lived as a monk translated several works into French wrote books. He was following a Guru or they call him Paramacharya at the temple. Now he could not visit the temple for the 30 years and always used ro be happy getting darshan just from a hole in the outer wall. ( just last year some compassionate pujari finally allowed him to come in and have darshan). Also the Parmacharya did not give him dikhsa or accept him as his disciple because he is let’s say not of a known caste. In fact he never even touched him. The man finally died last year and while narrating this story Dr Pandey had tears in his eyes and said that although he is a Brahmin but he really feels shameful because of this bigotry.  I feel such bhagats have a better chance liberation because of this Bhaav in their hearts and such devotion !!! And if I remember in The Gita is also mentioned about these Bhagats. To me having this कठोर हिर्दय that one cannot give dikhsha and not touch him and not allow a man to get into the temple for 30 years is quite sad and I feel this is not what the Lord would have expected from these religious men .

Bhaskar: If it is Kanchi, there used to be a परमाचार्य by the name चंद्रशेखर सरस्वती. He was the शंकराचार्य of the Kanchi Peetha and was seen as a living God on Earth. He left Earth in early 90s and there are sooooooo many people who benefited while He was around. When I was in 9th, I was lucky to see him for just ten minutes and I often credit my own inclination to this domain to that ten minute vision I had of परमाचार्य. He was seen as Adi Shankara born in 20th Century. If this Romanian had an opportunity to engage with this man and be around him, it is no wonder that he lived in Kanchi for 35 years. As a अधिपति of the मठ, all the Shankara’s are bound by the rules of the place. But despite this, they certainly help the needy in ways which the world will not understand. As for touching, such Sanyasis are not supposed to touch even Indians as a part of the rules – this means nothing about whether they like a person or not. If the Romanian had left an account of his life in Kanchi, I will be keen to read his own opinion about his life there. If this is same परमाचार्य, the last thing one can say about this man is him being कठोर. As for him not getting a chance to come inside the temple, as I said, Kanchi has hundreds of temples and it is possible that the main temple has his rule. But having this rule also has its reasons which I will convey later

Parvindar Anand: Oh Ok 🙏🏻🙏🏻this seems to be a very very holy man especially by learning about your Reverence towards him and learning about impact he had on your life. I will ask Pandeyji about it and check if it’s the same person (although I doubt it as this holy man passed away in 1994). I did not know about the rules of not  touching even Indians so that is my misunderstanding. You also explained that not all temples are having such stringent rules of not Allowing  foreigners so this is also understandable. I will also ask him about the land life in Kanchi ; he passed  away last year and I know for sure that he had written many books. I will ask for this information too.

Parvindar Anand: On a side note related to the Tattva Bhodh text: Since we have a clear understanding now about what exactly is the untruth around us, and in us so how do we pursue our lives and do action in a way that is not endorsing, enforcing or even creating more ahankar ? Now in our daily life we are running to reach let’s say from point A to point B.  If The motivation to go to the point B is a concept / idea ( driven more by External images or ideas ) in our mind which tells us to go to point B because there is some happiness in getting to the point B is flawed and bound or give us misery eventually (as each Sukh eventually turns to dukh) this will enhance our ahankar because we are in a way just Endorsing a  new or a borrowed  identity by these ideas: I want this or I want to be this or that. However sometimes after contemplation and deep thoughts one gets a divine insight into what exactly is unique to me and what does God want me to give to this world ( my unique स्वभाव ) my unique Gift for the world. And pursuing this gives joy just by following the path (joy on the journey).

Parvindar Anand: Now the next question is how do we know if it’s our egoic mind that asks us to do something or it’s our divine intuition or inner voice that asks is to follow a path ?

Bhaskar: Good question. And a tough question too. And I must say I do not know the answer. All I can say is that clarity eventually comes from experience. Which means that we live a lifestyle wherein whatever activities we are engaged in, we do this to the best of our ability. Question we may ask is “If Krishna was in my role, what would He have done”? As we keep working on those lines to do each job in the best possible manner that adds value to others while giving me satisfaction. Over time, if we continue on this mindset, whether we do a good job or not, our mind is always focussed on adding value to others. Such a mind thus automatically is able to reduce its अहम्-ness. So it is not important to know what we are good at beyond a point as much as it is important to reduce the “I-ness”.

Parvindar Anand: 👍👍

What would Krishna do in my role 😊👏🏻Adding value to others in whatever one is doing while giving me satisfaction; 👍👏🏻😊

Parvindar Anand: Back to the Tattva Bodha: Why do we say something is beautiful or ugly ?

Or something is good or bad? How do we know that we know about if something that we think is beautiful is really beautiful or it’s just some vasnas playing out from our Karann shareer. Since we have a attractions towards the beautiful and shudder from the ugly means that it is some kind of conditioning. If reality is as it is then even our concepts of beautiful and not beautiful or good and bad needs to be closely examined.

Bhaskar: Now you are asking me questions on domains where have no expertise in and whatever I say I will expose my ignorance😀😀😀. Using तत्वबोध दृष्टि, one can again define beauty (or ugliness) at five levels. At a भौतिक or देह level, the beauty of a rainbow, beauty of a peacock, physical beauty of other people appeals to us. The idea of beauty here is broadly shaped by our cultural conditioning though other factors may also be at play here. For example, till the Muslims and the Brits invaded us, dark skin was considered as beautiful in India and people vied to make themselves look darker. Within a millennia, our condition has transformed and ‘Fair & Lovely’ has become a best-selling product in India 😀. Next level of beauty at an internal level – we often marvel at the working of a machine flawlessly or working of human body where all five प्राण coordinate wonderfully to make the body work. Anything that works flawlessly becomes beautiful and anything that does not is ugly.

Bhaskar: Next level is at the मन level where emotional aspects come to play – togetherness, expression of laughter, jokes in comedy movies, etc become beautiful in this zone while fear, anger, etc are seen as ugly expressions. At the level of बुद्धि, special ideas that appeal to the intellect are seen as beautiful. So one who is decisive, one is willing to stand up to authority, one who uses precise language, Hans Rosling videos, etc are expressions of the intellect that are beautiful and contrary expressions are ugly. But above all, expressions of अहम् are very beautiful – so one who is a leader who mesmerizes others by his personality, one who inspires us towards self-belief is indeed beauty at an अहंकार level and this is why we find weaklings ugly.

Bhaskar: And this is where spiritual giants stand out. So we may praise Bhima for winning wars or Arjuna for his archery but we have a temple for Krishna by the name रणछोड़ दास (one who runs away from a war 😀). We see रामाकृष्ण परमहंस dress himself as a monkey, as a woman, etc and the most intellectual-minded types will shudder to imagine themselves behave like this. But once one reaches this level, such appeal have acquired beauty at an आत्मा level. When one has become all, then that becomes the ultimate beauty and every other expression is seen as ugly.

Parvindar Anand: Beautifully put 👍👍. This is unbelievable a temple by this name !! Waoo

Bhaskar: There is an ancient Yogic story that conveys the same idea that I had conveyed earlier in the morning with some drama – forest represents our own self while copper, silver, gold, etc representing multiple levels of personality within us 👇

Bhaskar: A woodcutter was sent by his guru into the forest to find firewood. None could be found at first until he walked a few miles deeper into the forest. When the woodsman brought back the wood to his master, the master said, “Did you not also find the copper mine?” “No, I never found such a thing.” Disappointed, the master replied, “You did not go far enough! There is a great copper mine out there worth thousands of rupees. If you go even further beyond the copper mine, there is also a silver mine and then beyond that, a gold mine! This mine is filled with thousands of gold nuggets! I would be interested to see how many you can bring back.”

Curious, the next day the woodsman set out into the forest much earlier than usual and did in fact manage to venture deeper into the woods than ever before and eventually came across the copper mine, then a silver mine and then a gold mine as indicated. He came back with much gold! However the master was again very disappointed, because the woodsman did not realize the fact that if he simply went even further and deeper, even more wealth would be found: a diamond mine!

The next day, and with even greater determination than ever before to please his master, he started out toward the wilderness long before the birds awakened, and after walking for miles and miles most of the day, he finally came across this amazing diamond mine! With great joy and excitement, he started on his long trek back home to his master with all the diamonds he could pack into his bags and could carry!

However, not only were they heavy and difficult to bring back such a long distance, some thieves managed to steal most of them away from him, and when he finally reached his master’s abode, his guru was angrier than ever! “You are still completely fooled by the value of something outside your Self. These diamonds are only as valuable as you make them out to be. Don’t you realize my dear woodsman, if you simply went a little further beyond the diamond mine you would have found something far, far more vital, valuable and significant?”

Now really curious and really determined to find out what in the world could possibly exist beyond this diamond mine that could be so intriguing and even more valuable than diamonds, he again set out extremely early in the morning directly toward the diamond mine to search beyond it. Eventually he discovered an amazing garden filled with herbs, plants and fruit trees. Birds of all kinds and colours sang blissfully from the treetops. An extraordinary energy of cosmic peace and tranquillity hung over the entire garden. At its centre, a misty, fragrant light seemed to emanate from a pranic fountain of everlasting love, bliss, rejuvenation, spiritual liberation and immortality.

Parvindar Anand: Very nice and Beautiful story 👍👍😊

Priya Krishnamurthy: 👌👌👌👍💕

===============================================================

Sources

1. Translation by International Vedanta Mission
2. Commentary inspired by lecture notes compiled by Venkat Ganesan from the series of SVBF lectures given by Dr S Yegnasubramanian
3. Reflections by Swami Gurubhaktananda from Chinmaya Ashram

================================================================