Brahmana and Aranyaka

  Sage Yajnyavalkya was one of the highly admired Rishis praised and pampered by Kings and Nobles. He had two wives named Maitrayani and Kathyayani. One dy, the sage decided to leave for Vanaprashtashrama and called his wives and told them about his decision. He offered all his wealth to them and asked them to share it and be happy. Maitarayani asked him, "Why are you leaving us? What is more important there? What is it you gain by going there, leaving us here?" Yajnyavalkya said, "I want to spend the rest of my life in meditation and it needs seclusion, concentration, and more leisure than available after household cores. I shall attain spiritual strength, peace and higher joy and supreme bliss." After hearing this, Maitrayani also decided to leave the household and take to serious meditation in a secluded place. Maitrayani became a renown sage and now, we have the Maitrayani Upanishad.  
   The Upanishads are full of stories and anecdotes imparting knowledge about means of attainment to the highest, paramam padam. The two sects of adepts who pursue the means of spiritual attainment are called the Btahmana and the Aranyaka. The Brahmana is the one who takes to spiritual path even as he is engaged in the daily course as a grihasta, family man. It requires enormous strength of mind, (dhruti) and determination (dhrudhata) to pursue the spiritual path in this mode of living. This is the best method since the person will really grow mature and will attain the goal. As far as the Aranyaka is considered, the adept chooses to retire to forest, a secluded place to pursue the spiritual practices. This seems easier than the Brahmana since there are no disturbances from the family and friends and relatives. But this brings a lot of frustration and many of the unfulfilled desires remain causing disturbances and obstruction to attainment! The Aranyaka is a far more difficult proposition for the beginners and the Brahmana, however, seems to be difficult is better suited. We are avoiding the more difficult aspect of Vedic studies here for obvious reasons. This will come up later.

   The life of an ascetic is difficult. It is stipulated that he should visit the community during day time for alms and should retire to secluded place before evening! If it is not possible to get back, he should stay in a temple or a place outskirts of the village. He should not hold or possess,  except a bowl and a tumbler of water! He should preferably sleep on the floor, and spend most of his time chanting the name of the Lord.

   We have heard of great sages performing long years of meditation in isolated places. In fact, it seems absolutely essential to retire to a cave, on a hill top, or a secluded river bank to perform the penance. We have seen such yogi who used to stay in a cave and worship God for long years.

   What do we gain or achieve by all these penances, pursuit of spiritual practices? Practically nothing! There is nothing to gai, but everything to lose? The spiritual pursuit is meant for losing, not for gaining! One will lose all that he has acquired over the long periods of repeated births and deaths such as vasana, prarabhda karma klesha, that pester us, such as, ego, anger, jealous, pride, etc. and put an end to the unending desires! This will bring about total purity- purity of mind, thoughts, purity of words and deeds and make the person divine. This is an uphill task from the ordinary animal-like existence to a more human and divine states!  This is the goal of life! In fact, very few blessed souls ever think of this, or take to this way of spiritual attainment.
    Chandogya Upanishad and Brishadaranyaka Upanishad deal with these.

Guru Pornima

   It all started with Devi Parvati requesting Her Lord to impart the 'Knowledge' (jnyan) the creation (srushti), sustenance (sthiti), dissolution (laya), appearance and disappearance (tirodana) and Grace (anugraha) the inherent powers of the Lord. Thus, Shiva became the first Guru. Then, we have Rishi Agastya who requests Shiva, who in turn guides him to Vishnu, who in turn sends Varaha Deva to impart these secrets. Mahalakshmi who imparts this 'knowledge' to Shakra (Indra) is a known as Lakshmi Tantra, a prominent agama shastra! Then, we have the great sages performing rituals of fire sacrifice and there came a number of Agama Shastras, and the like. Vyasa Deva became the first guru imparting us through the great Veda, Upanishads, Purana, and the like. Bhagavan Shree Krishna is virtually our Guru imparting yoga shastra and brahma vidya. Thus, we have a great tradition of Gods and Goddesses, learned sages, and great teachers teaching us! It is this divine grace that protects us. The very feeling of gratitude to our teachers is enough!
    The tradition of guru Vandana is widely practiced in Nepal where the Buddhist monks worship the Buddha. So also, the Jains worship their Tirthankaras. Now, this is a widespread tradition all over the world.
   Today, Sunday, the July 5, 2020 is the day of Full moon celebrated as Guru Purnima. It is customary to remember the 'Guru' and pay obeisance and respects to Guru on this day. There is a custom of tracing the clan of the guru that takes us to Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshvara and sakshat Parabrahma as our mula guru. What we then trace is the Mother, Father, and the Teacher as our Guru. There is a guru parampara and each one is a transmitter, deeksha guru who initiates the disciples giving the secret sacred mantra (in his ears).

    Now, the question of a true guru arises. Who is a real guru? It is difficult to get a guru in these days of materialistic attitude of people. In the strict sense of the term, a 'guru' is one who does not sell vidya. But, it is stipulated that some dakshina, fee, has to be paid in return for the services of the guru. This is evident from the puranas where Dronacharya asks Ekalavya the very thumb for learning dhanur-vidya by proxy (keeping his picture and practicing archery!). This is not the true meaning a d purport of the term 'guru'. A true 'guru' does not teach anything and he/she need not be well-versed in any vidya to impart? Guru is like a burning fire-pot. Anyone who wants to purify oneself to attain to the highest spiritual state shall go and offer his ego in the fire-pot! There is no compulsion. There is no fee to be paid. In fact, a true guru will not allow anybody to go near him/her, let alone touch and bless! Yes, A guru maintains his distance from the world, the worldly, and all that is external. The guru is established in his/her Self. Atmanyevaatmana tishthah | One who is not established in one's self cannot be a guru. In this strict sense of the term, the guru just nor exist! I fact, anybody who is enjoying the sensuous life is not worthy of becoming a guru! A guru is a true sanyasi, renunciate, devoid of all worldly desires! He is a sarva asha parityagi, sarvarambha parityagi !

   We have heard of great yogi who stays aloof in distant forests and on hill tops. People search for such attained souls and get their blessings by mere darshan! Such is the power of a yogi. A true guru is devoid of all human trivialities like greed, anger, selfishness and miserly behavior, Do we find one such a guru in our system?

    People should not run to all and sundry and waste time. They should pray the supreme Lord and He will send, literally send, a guru to your door steps? Nodoubt about this. What is within only will manifest?
   The relation of a guru with a disciple is limited only so far as imparting divine knowledge and blessings. Beyond that, there should not be any bondage. In fact, the duty of a guru is to liberate the embodied souls, to attain to mukti. The role of a guru is important in this task of liberation of the embodied souls!  Mukti or liberation is not possible without the aid of a guru! Atrue guru is like the lineman of the power supply company who connects the houses with the electric supply line on the electric poles! One may have all the electrical fittings done but the current should flow from the street poles to the Meter Boards of the houses? The Electrical engineers do not come to do this job of giving connection. One may have already paid the requisite fee for connection, but the linesman should come. Thus, the role of a guru is great!

Paramartha Sadhane

Sage Vasishtha imparts the 'Knowledge of the Self' to Ramachandra. He says,

   "Think, I am the entire universe. I am the imperishable Paramatman, Other than me nothing has been created, nor is there anything now, nor will there be in the future". Think with effort, "I am the one and only consciousness. I am all that exists. I am the undifferentiated vibration-force, Infinite brahmn."(Ch. VIII Verse 8-9). 

   Further, The spontaneously arising idea- "This person who is endowed with the aggregate of the body, senses, etc. am I"- is the dirt-covered Self (jiva). The idea that I am the embodied Self (jiva) becomes extinguished like a lamp without oil when one firmly realizes that the visible universe is no other than 'brahmn',  who as consciousness is as pure as the clear sky."(Ch. IX Verse 1-2).

   This is the gist of all that is said in the Vasishtha Gita (Yogavasishtha). We can spend the entire life in contemplation and experience of these statements. Life becomes very happy, joyful and blissful, Old age passes easily without any misery! This is the 'paramamartha sadhane, attaining the goal of human life! 

"Brahma Jijnyasa"

   'Brahma jijnyasa' is an inquiry into the nature of brahmn  It is an inquiry into the true nature of the Self, the Atman. It begins with the inquiry as to "Who am I"? The adept finally comes to the conclusion that he is the embodied soul. He realizes the fact that the soul, Atman, is eternal, unborn, and neither does it take birth, nor does it die. It is the embodiment that is the problem. The body, the mind and the senses, the ego and the intellect that are the upadhi that have given rise to the avidya, knowledge covered by attachment, anger and other qualities that brought about this limitation. Finally, the jiva attains liberation. The Sage Vasishtha teaches this to Rama.   

  "O Rama, know that  an inquiry  such as 'Who am I?' is like a fire that burns  the seed of that pain-producing tree , which is the mind." (Y V, Ch. V, Verse 1).

    This inquiry as to 'Who am I'? is the central theme of spiritual attainment. Once a person knows the true nature of the Self, the Atman, the purpose of life is fulfilled. There is no greater attainment than this.

   "Wind cannot shake a vine in a painting. Similarly, mental afflictions cannot affect that intellect which is firmly attached to the mirror of discriminative contemplation. An intellect that is engaged in the contemplation of ideas like "What is real" and "What is not real" is not affected by any mental affliction." (YV Ch. V Verse 2).

    This mundane worldly existence is one of dualities and there is no end to it. Hence, the jiva seeks liberation, mukti and looks for guidance. The Guru comes to such jiva by divine providence. The guru teaches discriminative knowledge and this will redeem the jiva from all miseries.

Sage Vasishta's Advice to Ramachandra

     Ramachandra, son of King Dasharatha of Ayodhya, completed his education in Gurukula and went for a visit to different parts of his kingdom and see the prevailing conditions. The living conditions were deplorable. He was so sad that he gave up food and sleep and remained in isolation after his return. King was anxious about Rama's health and requested Sage Vasishtha to enquire into Rama's condition and advice him. It is this advice to Rama by the Sage that has become the famous Gita, Yogavasishta, and other names. What exactly is the advice? This was originally a voluminous 'Yogavashishtha' of over 20,000 verse and was abridged to about 6000 verses by Pundit Abhinanda Gaur of Kashmir in 9th century A.D. to about 6000 verse. Now a number of abridged versions (of selected verses) areavailable. The topics covered are very important for us.

    Everyone interested in living a happy, peaceful life should study this carefully.It has gems of advice from a great sage and is a guide to us.It deals with: the illusory nature of the world, cessation of desires, contemplation on the inner self, 'Realizationof the Atman', 'Renunciation', etc.The Samskruta shloka are very impressive!

   At the outset, the Learned Sage says, the true nature ofthe world is such that one need not unncessarily bother about it.  Further, the central theme of this beautiful scripture is self-relization (Atma sakshatara) and renunciation (vairagya). The sage is very clear about the need for purification and ultimate liberation (mukti). Self inquiry as to "Who am I" and  "Whose is this worldly bondage" are very important. At times, the Sage is curt and says, "It is better to go around with a begging bowl than live foolishly without the spiritual knowledge" (Ch. I, Verse 26).  

    It is absolutely necessary to seek proper guidnce, seek an attained person, illumined Guru, to get proper guidance in these spiritual matters. But, it is important to note that "Without god's grace (divya anugraha) it is not possible for one to get the help of a proper teacher (sadguru) or to have the correct understanding of the right scripture, Vedanta. 

  We will try to give a brief summary of the Sage wisdom on the various topics in the following blogs. The very first advice of the Sage is to develop a sense of discrimination, disinterestedness, vairagya, the very nirasakti yoga imparted by Bhagavan Shree Krishna to Arjuna in the Gita. This does not mean total neglect of one's duties. It is a very difficult proposition. It may be a sort of resistance to over-indulgences. Show interest only to limited extent? A yogi who is not interested in worldly acquisition is inwardly satisfied, contented and happy. tasmad yogirbhavaarjuna |  

The True Nature of this World

The World is a mirage! It appears, as if, real, but not so. This is the Vedic doctrine. The Veda explicitly states, "It is , it is not"! If the world is real it cannot be unreal; so also, the other way. A real one cannot become unreal overnight. However, this is true in the case of the world that appears real, but not true. The machine made of parts give way when parts are removed. So also everything made of parts disappears when the parts are removed. The world made of space filled with air, water, fire and earth disappears when these parts are removed. The space is a non-entity and cannot be seen or touched! Still this space holds the gross objects like air, earth, water and fire. In fact, water exists in the form of clouds, that are nothing but water vapor. Clouds appear and disappear. Water appears as gross liquid and ice, but disappears as vapor? The gross elemental materials disappear into subtler invisible elements like water into oxygen and hydrogen? So also, the human body made of water and soil (food) disappears into soil or ash when it becomes dead or inert. Thus, whatever that appear and disappear in course of time is not real, true. Only that which is always existing in the same form is true. Whatever that comes within the grasp of time, space and cause and effect are not true. Anything that depends on an other for its existence is not true, real. Hence, Shankaracharya termed it 'maya', 'mithya prapancha'. Maya is that which is measurable, ma and ya stand for limitations, niyati, upadhi. 

   Further, the objective phenomenal world  is mysterious that it appears different to different persons. Each jiva perceive the world in its own way. 'yad bhavam tad bhavati' is the doctrine that governs the world. The world appears as we want or feel, bhavana. In fact the world disappears in a minute if we close our eyes, or go unconscious, or even in deep sleep! Such a vulnerable thing is not real. Another interesting thing about the world is that 'it has no beginning or end' The world always exists! It existed before we were born and continues even after we depart in physical form! Hence, there is nothing real about either the world (made of space, time and causation) or ourselves, made of different parts (organs that are susceptible to breakdown, failure!). The world begins with our opening of the eyes and application of our mind and senses to it, and disappears as soon as we withdraw our mind and senses to it! 

    Hence, nothing is certain about our world of changing objects. Nothing is real, including ourselves who go on changing year after years! Everything is a mystery. A jnyani who knows this always happy and blissful since he /she knows the truth.

Spirituality, Religion and Philosophy

     There is a thin hairline difference between 'Spirituality' and 'Religion'. Philosophy is altogether different. The practice of cultural traditions of various religions have now come under scrutiny and people are discarding religious practices altogether. The rationale behind the practice of religious cults is under question. These religious practices have also come into conflict with open society and easy inter-mix of races! Now, nobody bothers about religion and everybody says 'keep it for yourself'! What is the real problem? It is fundamentalism, clash of interests, and selfish motive of people. People are basically ignorant, uneducated and dishonest. Fundamentalism is bad. Theoretical postulations discussed in philosophy rarely come in practical situations. The Hindu culture and tradition speaks a lot about these. In fact, 'Hinduism' is so broad and all-inclusive that it is strong enough to survive as 'sanatana dharma'. It is now the most beautiful religion without any cult, rituals, customs and traditions, but includes all customs, traditions, and traits! We worship snakes, Banyan and Peepul tree, Birds (Falcon, Gold colored Crow), Rats (Ganesha) and Dogs (Dattatreya). Offer sugar to ants, and even the sandals worn by our great saints (paduka). What more do we need to say all-inclusiveness. 

   A comprehensive study of Indian Philosophy is written by Surendranath Dasgupta, MLBD (in 5 Vols.). It is worth keeping these and make a study. It gives detailed account of Agama Shastra, details about different religions and lots and lots of scripts translated from originals. The Inetrnational Conference on World Religions 9/11 organized by Mc Gill University in Canada under Prof. Arvind Sharma has brought out the Papers presented in four volumes, pub. Praegers. USA. Now, the conclusion is simple. Religion?No. Spirituality? Yes. My Paper published in Vol. IV is "Future of Manking-the Bhagavad-Gita Doctrine". It is on 'Spirituality' and gives the fundamentals. Bhagavan Shree Krishna imparts Brahmavidya and Yoga shastra, the secret of all secrets! Practice Yoga, connect the body, mind, and the soul, make it work in unison and attain to 'brahmn'!   

    The greatest one can do these days is not to hate others, question what others are doing unless it interferes with your, and live a happy, peaceful life of co-existence. The Earth is not a place of joy and happiness only since it is of dualities, like day followed by night, joy followed by misery, health and sickness! get out of dualities?" tasmad yogirbhavaarjuna", says Bhagavan Shree Krishna..