Guest guest Posted December 20, 2001 Report Share Posted December 20, 2001 (Sorry, My earlier posting today had a wrong subject heading- Apologies for inconveneience) --- ramvchandran wrote on 4th Dec: > I strongly recommend that you go ahead and post your summaries of chapter one per week. The second posting was on 13th Dec. This is the third posting. The structure of posting "A-B-C-D" is as follows: Part A: Synopsis So far - for recap Part B: Chapter 3 Summary Part C: What comes after this posting - in brief Part D: My own Queries- if any. Summary of Swami Ashokaananda (RK Mutt Order)Book on "The Soul's Journey to its destiny" published by Advaita Ashrama, Himalayas OM Namo Narayana! Intro: Swami Ashokananda was in charge of Vedanta Society of North California from 1932 till his Samadhi in 1969. The book is an edited version of his lectures in 1953 at San Francisco. Part A: Synopsis so far. Swamiji tells us in the first chapter that what started (and remains) as "Nirguna Brahman" (the infinite and absolute consciousness) became "as it were" (not really) into several layers of degradation and one of these layers is this human form of you and me. The second chapter deals with Mind, an instrument with which we can get back to our divine self. It is the source of ignorance and also our only means of clearing the ignorance. Part B: 3rd Chapter Summary: Vednata says that the self is and always has been of the nature of divinity- perfect, infinite, omniscient,omnipotent and eternal. Yet our experience contradicts this statement because we feel the opposite. The vedantic explanation of this contradiction is that it is through the influence of maya that man seems to have lost his divine nature. Maya has the power of dynamism and out of its vast manifold, universe has evolved. Maya works in 2 different ways, along one line it becomes objective matter; along a parallel line it produces, evolutes of individual souls as subjects to perceive these objects in the other line. A degenation has taken place in the objective universe and within ourselves that we now identify ourselves with our bodies and minds. Just as we want to know what the universe around us is made of, we can also ask questions about us such as where we come from, where we are going, what purpose do we serve here, why our mind behaves as it does etc. If you really think that God created us, the world and then created man and subjected him to all kinds of suffering, whatever you may argue otherwise, "He could have done better". Those who do not assume the existence of God atleast feel comfortable in this regard, blaming it all on participants- we humans. So if God created us, then why with so many defects? There have been philosphers such as Buddha who have explained the affairs of the world without bringing in the concept of God or soul. Jains and sankya philosphies (in Hinduism) have also done something similar. This is one way of thinking. Another way is to believe that the whole process of creation and evolution is based on our self forgetfuleness or Maya. It is demonstrated in dream experience that our self forgetfullness (that we are in dream) is the precondition of building up different situations for ourselves which on waking up from sleep is found to be "unreal". The ignorance has 2 powers, one is called avarna sakti, the power by which it covers the consciousness of one's own self and the other is viksepa sakti, the power by which it projects another kind of consciousness of self. Thus when we practice Hindu religion, we remind ourselves of our eternal status beyond this ignorance and bondage. We can then theoratically "walk out" from this world of relative transcedental existence any moment. The dream is there no more. And when does the dream end otherwise? The story has no end like many soap operas. Many think "when we finish enjoying this world, then we shall seek God". The thought that something will end is itself a byproduct of relative existence. Eternity never ends. So long as you hold that something will end, you will be tied down to this relative existence and will never walk out of it. The ultimate truth is not result of a process, but suddenly you come to it. There is a "method in this madness" of relative existence. Karma and reincarnation can expalin it. We started with "Free independent spirit, infinite and eternal" as it were, and degraded to be endowed with a mind and body and limited as a part of this vast physcial and menatl universe, subject to change of birth and death. So what is the "soul" trying to achive here? We are here to "experience" life and reality. Our search for knowledge is impelled by the desire to know, to experience. The soul, not entirely forgetting its true nature, is continually running after the "other", so its experience can never come to an end. Only when it realizes that it is an illusion and that everything is already within itself, its desire for experience will stop. So the soul goes through this process of life and earth seeking experience . This circular movement is "samara-chakra"(the wheel of wordly life). How do we explain the difference in experiences between the souls? It is not that all souls are in the same condition. It is not logical to assume that all souls were created at the same time, as "time" itself is a concept of maya. So we find inequality among individuals. While we can find what is sustaining the differences which cause the inequality, we cannot trace its origin (because it is an infinite process). This is Karma (different from Fate or Kismat - which are inevitable). Karma is not inevitable consequences of what will happen anyway, but the reason for what is happening to us upto now, it can be changed by our right actions. To understand Karma, we have to also understand where it is stored (in our own minds). Incidentally, the mind of a spiritual person, operates differently from that of a nomal person even in his sleep (if indeed he has purified his mind by sadhanas and has turned his attention "inwards", instead of towards the world). This is dealt in more depth later chapters. Now let us discuss about the case of most people. They think they are body and mind mixture. He is sense bound and thinks this sense world is real. Maya has full sway over him. The law here is that your mind receives the impresiion of whatever you experience, good or bad and will retain the impression in the "chitta". You are, as it were, keeping notes of your experiences in the unconscious. So when ever karma makes an impression on the mind . the same or similar expereinces join together to become a power or tendency or habit or samskaras, which have a precedence over, just one-time or fewer impressions which have not been strengthened. So these samkaras or tendencies are then classified with those of higher reality (spirtitual) or lower reality (gross or material). The lower or common impressions and tendencies are in 3 large groups, related to sex, possession or power, which are in fact distortions of a higher reality. The total of these impressions -sanskaras creating karma- are in 3 general categoreis. One of them is "sancita" (stored-up) where they are lying inactive. The other one is "prarabdha" (begun) which are active in the present time- here and now. The third lying between these 2 extremes is "agami" (coming) waiting for an opportunity to come out and become active. It is said that when a soul is going to leave this body, it will carry all its impressions on its mind with itself. The mind goes with the soul. Whatever thoughts become dominant at the dying moment, those will determine the character of next birth. The impressions that come to the forefront are those that have been closest to your conscious mind, waiting for an opportunity to find statement. when the time for rebirth comes, certain ideas come to the fore and is born according to those ideas. This explains why even siblings from same parents have different behavior. Each impression is a power unit. Mind certainly is powerful. It can activate immense physcial energy. The mind classifies all the impressions and experiences, tags them, marks them, sorts them and stores them in some order. If an individual is to free himself of his own karma (which are nothing but impression in his own mind) , one alternative is "divine grace". The other is to counteract the impression of bad karmas by creating good karmas. The good karmas are not just good actions for self benefit. Those are done, not for oneself but for the benefit of others. Hence Hinduism teaches not to claim the fruits of action. Thus has come the practice of non-attachment, devotion, meditation and offering everything to the Lord. So there is an inbuilt consistency between theory and practice. Good works alone will not liberate you (to realize self) although they may have superior Karma/impressions/consequences compared to bad actions. Knowledge of the ultimate truth (Jnana) is what breaks the spell of ignorance and awakens us from our dream. In Gita , it is said, that "Just as fire burns out wood, in the same way fire of knowledge will reduce all karmas to ashes". It is through these 2 practcial doctrines of Karma and reincarnation that we expalin "Why we are what we are" in a logical manner. It can be seen that our present state is due to our past actions (including previous births and this birth also) but future is till under our control. as far as Moksha or self realization or liberation is concerned, it does not matter in what state a person is. He can ' wake up" to reality from any point- theoratically. Most do not do it because they are still ignorant. Hence 'Gnana" or Knowledge (about nature of self) is critical. Part C: What follows after this - in brief How does the soul exactly move about from start to finish, What is the role of ego or self identity, What are unconscious and superconscious parts of the mind and how it is linked to one cosmic mind in the universe, Why we should focus on conscious mind as first step towards purification and Finally an empiriacl and practical "demo" of all these principles, in our own body via "Kundalini" yoga. Part D; Queries/Opinions: (not from the book) Last week after posting the Chapter 2 summary, I was thinking about the queries I had posted earlier, during my evening walk. Suddenly it stuck me that I should attempt to find the answers myself. Somehow it also occured to me at the same time that I should fast for 24 hours, just on water without solid food or any other drinks- milk, tea or coffee etc. By grace of God I was able to do that. It helped that it was the beginning of the last week end for Eid holidays here, so I had literally nothing to do the next day. I did find the answers to queries I was looking for - atleast upto my satisfation by the end of 24 hours. It was the first time I had fasted for so long and that too just on water. The experience improved my perspective on the spiritual matter on hand. I have one query this week: Can this theory help us to survive, against our enemies? There is atleast one major religion (Buddhism) which also relies on Karma and reincarnation for explaining our present state of affairs. On the otherhand, the rest of the world (which is in majority) do not to this view and follow a different code of conduct. Would this not naturally lead to, we-believers being in state of disadvantage all the time, as we are careful & defensive in our actions but the others are not under similar internal controls. So in the end, mathematically we will get wiped out as a constituent in this competitive world? Are we always dependent on "Avatars" to save us? Is there no defensive/ self protection mechanism in our set of beliefs? Hari Om and Pranams to all. P.B.V.Rajan (Prathivadhi Bayankaram Varadha Rajan) Check out Shopping and Auctions for all of your unique holiday gifts! Buy at or bid at http://auctions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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