Beloved Immortal Atman! Blessed children of the Divine? Most fortunate spiritual seekers! You are seeking the Reality hidden behind and beyond passing appearances, seeking the Reality that indwells all appearances, seeking that Reality which is the permanent and the eternal within your own being which is made up of this non-eternal, impermanent physical body, this non-eternal mental phenomenon we call my mind, my thoughts, my aspirations, my ambitions, my memories. All these are impermanent, ephemeral. Within you dwelling as the eternal within the non-eternal, the imperishable within the perishable, the permanent within the passing body and mind, is that same Reality which is behind and beyond all thoughts.
Therefore, even as in this external universe, this outer phenomenon, there is the eternal and permanent hidden behind the non-eternal and perishable appearance of names and forms, even so you hold this same combination within your own self. The pindanda is the same as the brahmanda, the microcosm is a replica of the macrocosm, the great universe. This little being, your own personality, similarly is a replica; it holds within itself the eternal and permanent within the non-eternal and passing name and form.
To discriminate and try to analyse this two-fold co-existence of the nitya and the anitya (eternal and the non-eternal), the sasvata and the asasvata (permanent and the passing), the purna and the apurna (perfect and the non-perfect)—that is wisdom. To analyse, to distinguish it, to know the difference—that is wisdom. To make your life a demonstration that you know the difference, make your life a process of converting this intellectual knowledge and conviction into an actual experience, so that you become a Self-realised person, you have atma-jnana, so that you do not merely know and understand, but you experience and you yourself become that Reality—that is wisdom.
To bring about this shift of consciousness from having extended and identified itself with temporary added factors and thus deprived itself of the awareness of its true Being, from that temporary identification to shift it back into its primal, pristine state of Self-abidance, Self-awareness—that is knowledge, that is the process of realisation. This knowledge, jnana, is the quintessence of the Upanishads and Vedanta.
Recently, I mentioned that this quintessence could be summed up in a very brief way: firstly, the unreality of appearances and the reality of an eternal background which is the source, support and the supreme goal of all existence; secondly, the divinity of man, your own divinity. So if you give too much value to the outer universe, make it your goal and run after it, then you are in a state of ajnana (ignorance), no matter how much you might have studied the scriptures. You might even have all the Upanishads by heart, but if you still have the idea in your head that these outer things have got some importance, some value and so they are to be striven after, then you are still in a state of ajnana. You are not a true Vedantin. This is the simple truth you must grasp.
And among the ephemeral unrealities that Vedanta wants you to discard is the ephemeral unreality of your own ego-consciousness. If you think you are someone, something which has a reality, then you are in a state of ajnana no matter how much you might have read, how much you might have listened to, how much you may even be able to tell to others. If you still give a credence, a credibility, a validity and some status of reality to this ego-consciousness, to this “I”—I am something, I am someone, I am important, I want this, I must be looked after—then you are in a state of ajnana. Your Vedanta is green. And, no doubt, your bhakti is green also, because it is “I am nothing, Thy will be done.” Bhakti yoga is based on the same state of consciousness as Vedanta, only the bhakta expresses it in a different way.
There is the full realisation of the non-existence or non-importance or non-entity of this ego-consciousness as the basis of both bhakti yoga and Vedanta. If either your Vedanta or your bhakti is to be real and effective, there must be the firm, settled conviction out of knowledge, out of keen reflection, out of discrimination, out of analysis, that this “I” is the greatest imposter, it is the greatest hoax. It is something non-existent which wants to clamour and prove that it is existing. Realising this is the beginning of true bhakti and true Vedanta.
The Srimad Bhagavatam tells you the secret of attaining this: it is only if you have vairagya. Vairagya means non-attachment. Non-attachment is usually thought to be to wealth and motor-cars and family and house and property and all. That is the lesser aspect of vairagya. The greater aspect is non-attachment to your passing ego-sense, to your false human personality and all the things which you have added upon it to build it up, to boost it and make it appear as though it is something.
The non-existence of this ego can never be realised if you allow it to have anything as a prop. This ego can be boosted by the prop of wealth, the prop of status, the prop of authority, the prop of position, the prop of learning: “I am a great Sanskrit scholar,” the prop of youth, the prop of beauty, the prop of strength, the prop of accomplishment: “I am a great linguist. I am a great musician, I can sing very well. I am a great sadhu, a very saintly person, I am very holy. I am someone whom everyone regards as something great. And what is more, I am a man of great vairagya.” If you have that idea, finished. You have been very, very duped; you have been taken for a ride; your Vedanta is unripe, green.
Guru Maharaj said give up sanyasa abhiman (ego), give up Brahmin abhiman, give up vairagya abhiman, give up tyaga abhiman. The ego of renunciation is as terrible an obstacle to your Vedanta and bhakti as the gross ego of any proud person filled with the pride of wealth or status or anything. Anything that props the ego, boosts it, is a vice. It may be renunciation, it may be dispassion, it may be learning, it may be sanyas, it may be devotion—anything that boosts this false ego and perpetuates its existence is a vice. It is not a virtue, it is vice, and it is the quintessence of ajnana (ignorance). It is against all spirituality and sadhana. The whole of sadhana is exposing the ego which may try to take shelter and support from anything and everything. It is capable of doing anything. And as long as you allow it to do this, to still hold on to a semblance of reality, you have a long way to go.
Therefore, in tyaga (renunciation), in vairagya (dispassion) there should be tyaga of the false notion of the reality of the ego-sense. There should also be anasakti (non-attachment) towards the ego-sense itself. All other anasaktis become fruitful if this anasakti is there—non-attachment to one’s own ego. All other tyaga will yield fruit and become effective in supporting true jnana and true bhakti if there is this anasakti towards this false ego, which is the most persistent, the closest and therefore the least recognised. If an object is at a distance you can see it, but if something is in your eye you require the help of someone else to see it and remove it for you.
Even so, the ego being the closest and the most difficult to perceive and remove, they conceived of this super method of giving this task to the sad-guru, putting it in his hands, letting him do it: “I shall reduce myself to a zero and humble myself at his feet. What I cannot do, he can.” And the second way is to reduce yourself to a zero and humble yourself at the Feet of God and the Divine Mother and say: “I cannot do it; You please do it for me O Lord, O Divine Mother.” This is the one and the only way.
But to be aware that it is something that is meant to be given up, and not to be maintained, fought for and quarrelled for—that is the beginning of true wisdom. That is beginning of Vedanta. That is the beginning of authentic and genuine bhakti. Let this be pondered. Let this be deeply reflected upon. The more you understand the significance and meaning of it, the more you will advance and grow in bhakti, jnana and vairagya, be a true Vedantin, true bhakta, and attain knowledge, realisation and God-consciousness. Reflect deeply upon this. God bless you!
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