Purnamdidah purnamidam

[Guest guest]

Namaste, Dear Balaji,

You now seem to hit the nail at the right place. I hope the hitting does not

cause any pain!

I have answered all the questions myself to me.

Hope you will not mind my mentioning the following:

“I do not know what was yesterday, nor do I know what will be tomorrow, all I

know is today, and today I want to be peaceful, which is my birth right”.

“I do not know whether I suffered tremendously while in my mother’s womb, nor do

I know I had to face same pain while I came out, all I know is I want to avoid

pain today, and I want to be peaceful today.”

“I do not know whether I will be born again, and whether as an ant or as an

elephant, nor do I know what will happen to me once I kick the bucket, whether

it is filthy or otherwise; all I desire is, the bucket I am carrying today does

not cause any pain to me”

With all good wishes, and love

Mani

 

 

Balaji Ramasubramanian <balajiramasubramanian wrote:

Namaste Maniji,

You wrote:

<<

> However, please let me know what exactly is your idea

of "enlightenment" and "liberation", >>>

I wish I had any idea. They say "Ashcharyavat pashyati kashchidenam".

Possibly I (an maybe all of us) are in for a surprise.

 

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[Guest guest]

Namaste Maniji,

 

There is possibly a very deep meaning in what you have said. You must

have tried to understand the statement in SandhyAvandanam very

carefully. Your stree in the present and the knowledge of the present

and imminent truth is shown here:

 

'Asatyena rajasA *vartamAno2niveshayanN*

amrtam-martyan~cha, hiranyayena, savita-rathena

Adevo2yAti bhuvanA *vipashyanN*,

ut vayam tam asaspari, pashyanto jyotiruttaram.

devam devatrAsUryamM, aganma jyotiruttamam,

udutyam jAtavedasam, devam vahanti ketavah,

drshe vishvaya sUryamM, chitram devAnAmudagadanIkam,

chakshur-mitrasya varuNasyA2gneh, AprAdyAvA-prthivImantarikshgm,

sUrya-AtmA, jagatastastu chaksha, tacchakshur, devahitam purastAAt'

 

This was Shukra's statement. Note the words marked with *.

 

This 'vartmAnAniveshayanA' is the same as 'vipashyanA' and is surely

the very path to liberation. This is AcharaNa of that Shruthi, that

leads to liberation from all bondage. When truly practiced (AcharanN)

vipashyanA or vartamAnAniveshayanA shows the impermanent nature of

the body, the thoughts and the consciousness (except that

consciousness or knowledge that is unbound by time). This impermanent

nature of everything in the Universe, when realized leads to disgust

and disenchantment from all worldly pleasures, thus leading to

liberation cessation of all sorrow. Such a person has no further

birth, and death is but just a matter of complete freedom of that

consciousness.

 

This happens when one observes the nature of vAsana, that he had

accumulated in the past through action and when he stops generating

any further vAsana. The fact that we had incorrectly identified these

vAsanas with ourselves, is called ignorance and when we start looking

at (observing) their nature and realize their impermanance and hence

non-belonging to the self and hence not the self, we gain spiritual

knowledge of (neti). This is Brahmavidya.

 

Of course, the manifestations of the vAsana in the form of thoughts

and consciousness also has to be tackled in exactly the same way.

Once tackled, the person ever knowing the nature of the Universe at

present, becomes enlightened.

 

Satyameva Jayate Naanrtam

[Guest guest]

Balaji Ramasubramanian wrote :

> .... shows the impermanent nature of

> the body, the thoughts and the consciousness (except that

> consciousness or knowledge that is unbound by time)......

> the manifestations of the vAsana in the form of thoughts

> and consciousness also has to be tackled in exactly the same way.

 

Dear Sri Balaji,

Is it right to introduce the word, 'consciousness' in this statement?

Is consciousness not the ever-present sublime 'awareness' which is

Brahman? ( refer the Mahavakya : Prajnanam Brahma )

Kindly clarify.

Warm regards and Pranams

S. Mohan

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sri Mohanji,

> Balaji Ramasubramanian wrote :

> > .... shows the impermanent nature of

> > the body, the thoughts and the consciousness (except that

> > consciousness or knowledge that is unbound by time)......

> > the manifestations of the vAsana in the form of thoughts

> > and consciousness also has to be tackled in exactly the same way.

>

> Is it right to introduce the word, 'consciousness' in this

statement?

> Is consciousness not the ever-present sublime 'awareness' which is

> Brahman? ( refer the Mahavakya : Prajnanam Brahma )

> Kindly clarify.

 

You are talking about the supreme consciousness. The word

consciousness here refers to the others levels of consciousness. You

see, there are four types of consciousness:

 

1. vaishvAnara - the state of awake, but unenlightened

2. taijasa - the dreaming

3. prAjna - the one in deep sleep

4. turIya - the undescribable, the Atman, the Brahman

 

The first three, are bound by time. The vaishvAnara one is perfectly

aware of time, he takes part in activities and their results,

therefore being actively involved, he enjoys the fruits of actions,

whether pleasurable or sorrowful. When the self has been incorrectly

cognized as this vaishvAnara, one suffers.

 

The second creates svapna, or kalpa (imaginative) thus creating time

bound (changing) feelings. These feelings are ultimately sorrowful.

Such a person who incorrectly cognizes himself as the dreaming one,

suffers.

 

In the third, the mind is in deep sleep. Being thus situated, the

person, feels neither pleasure, nor sorrow, but is dull. Such a state

is not knowledge or correct cognition of the self. Thus, cognizing

this as the self, one surely suffers.

 

The fourth is unbound by time. This is perfect knowledge. The

incorrect identification of the self melts away and the ego is

destroyed. Such a person is truly enlightened. This consciousness is

unbound by time. That is why, I have added the bracketed words

there "(except that consciousness or knowledge that is unbound by

time)"

 

This is the supreme consciousness.

 

Let one not assume that Atman is unconscious or consciousness-less.

 

About your other question:

 

You see, some orthodox brahmins (not to hurt the community, I am

myself a brahmin and perform my sandhyAvandanams daily) there is a

queer practice of over-consciousness of the bodily cleanliness.

 

After cleansing one's body, the virtuous brahmin would not touch

anything else - which is surely a good practice since it does not

allow tAmasa to enter. But in the name of such AchAra, a person

falsely identifies the self with the body too much and accuses the

entire world for anything that may go wrong then. If inadvertently,

any object (considered tAmasic) or person (considered unclean, or

even being clean, but considered not as clean as themselves) they

would give room for anger.

 

When the body has just become unclean, why make even your mind

unclean? The truly virtuous brahmin would say "Shiva Shiva" and

simply leave, without any frustration or anger. However, this is not

to be found in the present day brahmins, who in the name of AchAra

make their minds unclean, by allowing krodha to enter.

 

This has become the center of AchAra nowadays, unfortunately. What

was originally sadAchAra, which had cleanliness as an important part,

has now deteriorated. Thus AchAra in itself has come to mean

something else. This leads to only ego-appraisal. This was not what

AchAra used to mean.

 

In sadAchara, a person should not touch anyone else, should practice

Arya mouna for a long while, should not enter another's room, etc.

However, this obsession with bodily cleanliness has led to

unfortunate practices - untouchability being one extreme by-product

of it.

 

Lest I should be misunderstood as stressing on AchAra, I stressed

on 'right practice'.

 

Satyameva Jayate Naanrtam