"The soul's Journey to its Destiny"- Chapter3 - Summary

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(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)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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