Understanding Advaita Vedanta

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Part II, Page 4 - Random Quotes and Thoughts

Namaste,

This is Page 4/4 of Part II.

A Collection of Interesting Quotes for personal references and connecting shastras. This page also contains personal notes on various advaita topic which are not connected to each other.

Table Of Contents

Updated on: ___

A Collection of Interesting Quotes for personal references and connecting shastras. This page also contains personal notes on various advaita topic which are not connected to each other.

Quotes from SAstra-s

Quotes from SAstra-s.

Amrit Bindu Upanishad

19. Of cows which are of diverse colours the milk is of the same colour. (the intelligent one) regards Jnana as the milk, and the many-branched Vedas as the cows.

20. Like the butter hidden in milk, the Pure Consciousness resides in every being. That ought to be constantly churned out by the churning rod of the mind.

source

Tejo Bindu Upanishad

22. It is ‘That’ which is (really) called silence and which is naturally understood (as such). There is silence in children, but with words (latent); whereas the knowers of Brahman have it (silence) but without words.

24-25. The illusion of Brahma and all other beings takes place within one twinkling (of His eye). That should be known as Asana (posture), in which one has with ease and without fatigue (uninterrupted) meditation of Brahman; that is described by the word Kala (time), that is endless bliss and that is secondless. Everything else is the destroyer of happiness.

AdhyAtma Upanishad

7. Dissolve the self in the supreme Self as the pot-space is dissolved in infinite space; then, as the Infinite be silent for ever, O sage !

15. Just as a pulled-up water-reed stays not still, even for a moment, so does Maya (ceaselessly) envelop even a wise man if he averts his face (from the Truth).

19. All things from Brahma down to clumps of grass are nothing but unreal adjuncts. Distinct from the, see one's Self existing as the immutable plenum. (Refer Vivek Chudamani)

27. Upon realizing the Self that is impartite bliss as one's own essence (there follows) the savoring of the timeless bliss that is the Self, both externally and internally.

28. Of detachment the fruit is knowledge: of knowledge the fruit is withdrawal. Experience of Self as bliss leads to peace; again, peace is the fruit of withdrawal.

Chandogya Upanishad

8.1.6 One’s present status of material pleasure, the result of one’s previous work, will eventually be vanquished by time. Similarly, although by executing pious activities one will be elevated to a higher status in the next life, that future situation will also be vanquished.

Para Brahma Upanishad explains inner meaning of sacred thread Upnayana

Brahmin wearing sacred Thread - Internal and External

3. Then to this realized person reality (i.e. true wisdom) constitutes the inner tuft and sacred thread. To the Brahmana desirous of liberation is (allowed) the state of the inward tuft and sacred thread. The wearing of externally visible tuft and sacred thread (is necessary) for the householders engaged in rituals. The characteristic of the inward sacred thread is not clearly visible like external thread; it is the union with reality inwardly.

Yoga Chudamani Upanishad explains OM / AUM and Brahman

(Part of the SamaVeda)

Para Brahman is Om, is that which exists, which is clean, which is full of wisdom, which does not have any draw backs, which is without stains, which cannot be described, which does not have beginning or end, which is one and only one, which is thuriya, which exists in things of past, present and future and which will never get divided at any time. From that Para Brahman emerges Para Shakthi (the female aspect). That is the soul which is self resplendent. From that soul arose the ether. From ether arose wind. From wind arose fire. From fire arose water and from water arose the earth. These five elements are ruled by the five Godheads viz. Sadasiva, Easwara, Rudra, Vishnu and Brahma. Among them Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra would do the job of creation, upkeep and destruction. Brahma is Rajasic, Vishnu Sathvic and Rudra Thamasic. They are thus with three different properties. 72.1

Among devas Brahma arose first. Among those who arose first, Brahma became the creator, Vishnu the one who upkeeps and Lord Rudra, the destroyer. Among them from Brahma arose worlds, devas, men and those in between them. From him arose those things which do not move. In case of men, the body is the unified form of Pancha Boothas (five elements). The organs of wisdom, (jnanendriyas), the organs of action (karmendriyas), those activities related to wisdom, the five body airs (prana, apana etc) are taught by the macro portion of mind, intellect, decision making power and the feeling of self and are called macro body (Sthoola sareeram). The organs of wisdom, the organs of action, things related to wisdom, the five body airs and the micro aspect of mind and intellect are called Linga sareera. The body has three types of properties. Thus all people have three bodies. There are four states of the body viz wakeful state, dream, sleep and Thuriya (exalted spiritual state). Those purushas who reside in our body and control these states are Viswa, Thaijasa, Pragna and Atma. Viswa will always have macro experiences. Different from that is Thaijasa who has micro experiences. Pragna has pleasant experiences. Athma is a witness to all these. 72

The Atma which is of the form of “Om”, will be in all beings and at the time of passion, downward looking. At all other times it would be pretty and downward face. 73

In the three letters Aa, Uu and Ma, three Vedas, three worlds, three characteristics, three letters and three sounds shine. Thus Pranava shines. When you are awake, the letter Aa exists in the eyes of all beings, when you are dreaming the letter Uu exists in the neck of all beings and the letter Ma exists in the heart of all beings when they are asleep. 74

The letter Aa exists in the egg state as Viswa and Pinda state as Virat Purusha. The Letter Uu exists as Thaijasa and Hiranya Garbha in the micro state. The letter Ma exists as the causal state and as Pragna. The letter Aa has Rajasa qualities is red and its form is that of Lord Brahma. The letter Uu has Sathvika qualities and its form is that of white Vishnu. The letter Ma has Thamasic qualities and its form is that of black Rudra. Brahma took birth from Pranava. Vishnu also came out of it. Rudra also came out of it. Pranava is the Para Brahma (ultimate god). Brahma merges with the letter Aa. Vishnu merges with letter Uu and Rudra merges with the letter Ma. In people with wisdom, Pranava would be upward looking and among ignorant people Pranava would be looking downward. 75-78

Pranava exists like this. The one who knows this knows the Vedas. In the anahatha sound form, it grows upwards in case of wise people. 79

The sound Pranava is continuous like the flow of oil, and like the long sound of the bell. Its peak is Brahman. 80

That peak would be lit so brilliantly, that it cannot be described by words. The great savants find it out using their sharp intellect. The one who knows that, is considered as one who knows Vedas. 81

The “Hamsa (swan) mantra”, shines in the middle of the two eyes. The letter Sa is known as Kechari which means “that which travels in the sky”. It has been decided that it is the word “Twam (you)” in the famous Vedic saying, “Tat Tvam Asi (You are That)”. 82

It has been decided that the letter “Ha” which is the Lord of all universe is the word “Tat (that)” in the above Vedic saying. We have to meditate that the letter “Sa” as the soul traveling between birth and death and the letter “Ha” as the stable God. 83

The living being is tied up by his organs but Paramatma is not so tied. The living being is egoistic and the soul is not tied by egoism and is independent. 84

The ethereal light which is “om” is that Athma in whose aspects stand the three worlds Bhu, Bhuva and Suva and also the place where three gods moon, Sun and fire reside. 85

The ethereal light which is “Om”, is that Atma in whose aspects stand “work” which is the power of Brahma,“desire” which is the power of Rudra and “wisdom” which is the power of Vishnu. 86

Because Om is the ethereal light, it has to be pronounced by words, practiced by the body and meditated upon by the mind. 87

The one who goes on chanting Pranava whether he is clean or unclean will not be attached to the sins he does, similar to the lotus leaf which never gets wet. 88

[Slokas 89-102 are not available.]

Twelve repetitions of “Om” which is called is a pooraka followed by sixteen repetitions of “Om” which is called is the Kumbhaka and then ten repetitions of “Om” which is called Rechaka, is called Pranayama. 103

source

Random thoughts

Personal notes.

Another way to understand Adi Shankara

Sri Ramana Maharshi - Talk 315

One of the attendants asked: Sri Bhagavan has said:'Reality and myth are both the same'. How it is so?

Maharshi: The tantrikas and others of the kind condemn Sri Shankara's philosophy as maya vada without understanding him aright.

What does he say? He says.

1. Brahman is real.

2. The universe is a myth.

3. Brahman is the universe.

He does not stop at the second statement but continues to supplement it with the third. What does it signify? The universe is conceived

to be apart from Brahman and that perception is wrong. The antagonists point to his illustration of rajju sarpa (rope snake). This is unconditioned superimposition. After the truth of the rope is known, the illussion of snake is removed once for all.

But they should take the unconditioned superimposition also into consideration, e.g. marumarichika or mrigatrishna(Water of mirage).

The mirage does not disappear even after knowing to be a mirage. The vision is there but the man does not run to it for water. Sri

Shankara must be understood in the light of both the illustrations. The world is a myth. Even after knowing it, it continues to appear.

It must be known to be Brahman and not apart.

If the world appears, yet to whom does it appear, he asks. What is your reply? You must say the self. If not, will the world appear in

the absence of the congnising self? Therefore the self is the reality. That is his conclusion. The phenomena are real as the self

and are myths apart from the self.

Now, what do the tantriks etc. say? They say that the phenomena are real because they are part of the reality in which they appear.

Are not these two statements the same? That is what i meant by reality and falsehood being one and the same.

The antagonists continue: With the conditioned as well as the unconditioned illusions considered, the phenomenon of wate in mirage

is purely illusory because that water cannot be used for any purpose. Whereas the phenomenon of the world is different, for it is

purposeful. How then does the latter stand on a par with the former?

A phenomenon cannot be a reality simply because it serves a purpose or purposes. Take a dream for example. The dream creations are

purposesful: They serve the dream-purpose. The dream water quenches dream thirst. The dream creation is however contradicted in the

other two states. What is not continuous cannot be real. If real, the thing must ever be real and not real for a short time and unreal at other times.

So it is with magical creations. They appear real and are yet illusory.

Similarly the universe cannot be real of itself-that is to say, apart from the underlying reality.............

This conversation proves the saying 'Only a jnani can understand another jnani.'

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/advaitin/message/31951

Notes on karma

As I understand, what makes difference is the initiative to start a new work and not the work itself.

Initiative means to think of something, to create or conceive a new idea --> mind becomes active.

Since it is you who is creating, it means the karma done is sakAma.

If things are done spontaneously without planning, then it is ok, but creative thinking like a web designer does nor an engineer designing a new mechanical part for a machine, etc all require our imagination and creativity.

Hence this type of karma becomes kAmya karma. Skilful in action would mean

1. do karma with SAxI bhAva

2. do karma for ISvara.

I am more tilted towards SAxi bhAva. Here there is no creativity. You just do the work. Sri vidyAraNya svAmI in PanchadaSI (dhyAnadIpa prakaraNa) and Sri Ramakrishna both give an example of a women who does all the work in house sincerely, but her mind is always longing for her lover.

In case of surrendering work to ISvara, some say think that all thoughts like creativity also comes from ISvara. The problem begins (from advaita POV).

karma is jaDa, what makes one attached to the fruits is the ichchA, ASA, hetu, etc. When one is in SAxI bhAva, then one is witness. an observer cannot act. Both cannot be done at a time. Advaita begins with renunciation of actions, atleast mental. Hence creating new work is not advised. It is like hitting your axe on your own leg.

For practical application, as human beings, we must try to apply as much as possible, until we are able to remain calm. Mind does not hanker for any sense object or for any person. Mind is peaceful. With constant practice, one can achieve success. A ball when dropped from a height does not become motionless, but bounces back upwards. But each time the bounce reduces until ball becomes still.

Skilful is not to be taken in literal sense that we refer to an art of doing a particular work.

The goal is life decides our direction and also the type and direction of sadhana. Moksha is the first thing that is needed. Later this bhAva gets strong.

niSkAma karma and akarma.

niSkama karma means that you are doing karma without any fruits or with SAkxI bhAva. Routine karmas like eating, sleeping, bath, etc do not hinder in meditation. What matters is our own initiation, bonds with objects and persons, which is called as jIva sruShTi. ISvara sruShTi is pruthvI, tArA, naxatra, graha, parvata, nadI (river), etc. These things and acts necessary for survival of body do not disturb. Hence we should not compare them with karma that we do to fulfill our desire like earning more and more money and keep satisfying demands, desires, etc. Earning for survival is ok and should not be taken as hindrance. What matters is our planning and if things do not work according to our plan, then we get upset and analysis starts. So repetition of any karma (due to rAga) and criticizing and staying away, failure analysis (due to dveSa) gives rise to kAma, krodha, moha, etc. In all this our ego swells like balloon. It is intention or motive behind any karma that is important and not the karma itself, as karma is (comparatively) jaDa (w.r.t mind).

In short anything that strengthens jIva bhAva is to be avoided as much as possible. ISvara srushTi helps us. So we move from sakAma karma to niSkAma karma.

But still there is an observer. In akarma sthiti, you clearly know that 'I am not the doer AND ISvara is the doer'. In niSkAma karma there is still avaraNa of aGYAna. akarma does not generate any fruits.

Hence a GYAnI's actions are inactions (akarma), while aGYAnI, who's mind is not calm, keeps thinking and hence his maun is just vAcika maun, inside him, there is too much turbulence, while GYAnI's mind even while working (acting) is calm. GYAnI acts on intuitions or say, someone is controlling his acts.

It is the mental calmness that is important. vairAGYa means absence of bhOgya padArtha (in mind). maun is vacika then mAnasika and later on it is said that the true maun is the maun of vAsanA-s. When there is no desire, then there is actual maun, in Atma-sthiti.

So in meditation, while meditating on OM, initially one may chant verbally in low tone, but later it shifts to mental chanting. Here chanting is done in mind.

Where is mind?

Mind (and hence thoughts) are connected to sahasrahAra chakra, but emotions are connected to anAhata. So when one is hurt, we feel hurt in chest and not head, while too many thoughts move with great speed, it influences head.

From another angle, a way to find mind is to be aware from where thoughts are coming, exactly in that place you becomes aware and starts chanting OM and thoughts fade away.

From effort to effortless

But this is just initial state. Here there is an effort to chant. Later on, OM continues by itself, and then one becomes observer. Now, one can be aware of beginning, termination and intonation, pitch, spandan (gap between two OMs), so as to make meditation continuous (AjyadhArayA says Sri Ramana Maharshi, another word is saral chintanam)

Now, chanting shifts from mind to heart, not physical heart, but source. Some also experience it in center of chest (anAhata chakra), but it is not necessary ot have this experience.

So, from verbal to mental to auto chanting (ajapA japa) is the path.

Since, you, as an observer, do not make efforts, hence there is no fatigue and bordom, there is no stress and hence no saturation point. AS this period of effortless chanting increases, both quantity and quality of meditation increases.

Here too, by being aware of udbhava sthAna of OM (tUrIyA), OM will automatically rest in it's source. One moves beyond space and time. Time is also a concept of mind. Only you are present.

So, in meditation, we move from effort to effortless. With such practice, meditation continuous even when one is working in day time, fully concentrating in work allotted to s/he and his/her action becomes inaction. I am not able ot explain it properly, but it happens. Life is a happening, and one begins to forget (vismriti / vismruti) of day-2-day life and does not remember what he had done yesterday. He now finds it hard to think, as if I will have to make efforts to think. Until one is in this phase, life just flows, life is a happening. With repeated practice, and with the habit of being aware (acquired in meditation by the grace of gurU and ISvara), one can become sAxI.

Our journey from doer to sAxI to Atma sthiti is sakAma --> niSkAma --> akarma --> nirvikalp samAdhi --> moxa (sva-svarUpa sthiti becomes sahaj sthiti ==> jIvanamukti).

Accept all, accept none

It is said that to embrace all or to have this world as family (vAsudeva kutumba), one has to renounce our own family (from mind).

Until we are attached to our family, there will be bias and hence we will give priority to our family members, close relatives, friends and loved ones.

If we become neutral and do not get attached to our relatives, then

we will accept all 'as it is ' and

accept none

accept all 'as it is' with positive and negative qualities, so that neutralizes dveSa

accept none (this neutralizes rAga)

Do not value things or person too much to make you mOhAnda (blinded by attachment) that you cannot see the truth.

100 % application of all these words is not there, but we can sure try to apply them as much as possible.

what we talk of univesal or say unconditional love comes when we are not attached with any one, then our heart is purified and love for God blossoms in us. If this happens then we are on a spiritual journey.

1. accept all 'as it is' with positive and negative qualities, so that neutralizes dveSa

2. accept none (this neutralizes rAga)

Both are said from vyavahArika plane and increase aprigraha (dispassion)

One can apply them in day-2-day life.

Suppose anyone has said or done something that hurts you. You start to think negative of s/he. But if you accept s/he's nature 'as it is' meaning s/he is like this only, s/he is not going ot change nad I cannot change anyone, God accepts s/he with her negative and positive qualities, so why I shouldn't accept s/he?

So accept s/he. To add to it, you can forgive and forget. But this does not mean that you will have to maintain contact or relation with him/her. Just avoid being negative and turn your face towards God. Do not take in mind whatever s/he does. BUT, at the same time, Since we are living in samsAra (society), hence we will have to take precautionary steps like avoid s/he, keep distance from such people. If they are tricking you, be alert and prepared. Let them take first step, then we can counter. But we still know that scorpion always bites and biting is his nature, so do not get surprised or get angry, in short do not loose your mental balance either by being negative or upset or being too much attracted (in opposite case, if you have rAga).

This is what I mean accept 'as it is'. Ofcourse you can talk from sarvAtma bhAva. I am more interested in applying it in my daily life and this is the way I apply it.

2. Accept none.

This directly means vairAGYA. Even your body is not your own. Like I gave e.g. of a lady with an affair will do all work honestly but her mind will always be longing for her lover.

Two things

1. No interest in work - no attachment, but work gets done

2. Longing for lover (ISvara)

So 'accepting as it is' and accepting 'one' would mean to accept each one with +ve and -ve qualities and do not think about their behaviour, do not take their behaviour on your mind. Be indifferent. This does not mean heart of stone. or being insensitive. Our heart and hence sentiments are surrendered and dedicated to ISvara, yes *first* ISvara has to be there, so that you can renounce world (for him).

accepting none means non-accachment

So,

accept all - no dveSa

accept none - no rAga

both from vyavahAraika plane, in a way that one can apply in practical life.

Moksha has to be THE goal.

When there is no expectation from others, then you do not need to accept anyone in a sense of attachment. The association with others is issue based, my heart longs only for ISvara.

But in real life, we are attached to something or someone. Both environment (spiritual & geographical) and people influence us. So it is but natural to have rAga and dveSa. Hence the first step is not to let anything inside us. Accepting people's *all* qualities means to neutralize mind. Later statement accepting one' is more subtle, and as you have pointed out former is subset of later. If later (accepting none), which implies being neutral (not negative) is developed within, then first not needed.

So, accepting all --> making extrovert mind introvert by making it calm.

accepting none --> introvert mind surrenders to ISvara, chants his name. ISvara establishes mind in heart.

As I have said, due to our extrovert nature, first one has to accept a person 'as it is'. That makes one neutral and peaceful. Mind calms down. Senses returns to their golaka sthAna i.e. they are pulled back) and mind doe not think much.

This is not the end. Move one step further. There is no need to reject or select anything. This behavior is a sing of neutral, calm and less-demanding, purified mind. Once introvert, there is no need to think of anyone after the issue / incident is over. Just let go and mind will turn inwards immediately. This is followed by surrender to ISvara, chanting his name.

To repeat (sorry for repetition)

From ISvara --> jiva bhAva --> ego / mind / buddhi --> body --> senses --> external objects

Our journey --> return to source

Withdraw senses from external objects --> introvert mind turns towards ISvara --> jiva bhAva (mind and ego) surrendered to ISvara --> jIva merges in ISvara (toal surrendr, unconditional surrender nad love)

Everything internal and external objects are due to buddhi attached to body. Remove buddhi then within AtmA, there is no internal and external. withbody, there is no external and internal. It is buddhi that makes it look internal and external w.r.t or say relative to physical body.