Thursday, October 05, 2006
Story 36 – Story of Prahlada – 9
Prahlaada continued thus to his co-students:
Analyze and know that the ultimate reality of Consciousness is the constant seer & witness of the three states of Jagrat (waking), svapna (dream) and sushupthi (deep sleep). Samsaara is the result of the changeless Self seemingly veiled by ignorance & thus entering into a long dream. Therefore O friends, follow bhaava advaita in your mind thereby getting liberated from the ocean of samsaara characterized by karma. This doesn’t require any other activity than following bhava advaita in your mind.
Explanation
Here we find two important things being discussed by Prahlaada. One is the analysis of the three states of jagrat, svapna and sushupthi. The second thing is having bhava advaita in the mind. Let us try to analyze both of this in brief today.
The experience of a seeker in life can be split into three states. Each and every person experiences only the three states irrespective of his caste, creed, gender etc. These three states are the waking state, dream state and dreamless deep sleep state. The state in which we experience gross objects is the waking state – when the individual named HARIRAM is typing and others are reading this posting, it is the waking state. In the waking state, we find things seemingly real but still constantly changing. The next state is the dream state. In the dream state, the seeker enters into a new world of his own. He creates a new world and himself becomes a part of the world. During the dream, the dream world & the objects seem as if they are real. But once the dreamer wakes up, he realizes that the dream world was only an illusion & that whatever really existed was “I” alone. He thus realizes after waking up that the dream world & its objects were creations of himself. All those were only illusions in the dreamer. The next state which we experience is the dreamless deep sleep state – that state in which we are not awake but sleeping. This state is different from the dream state because here the seeker doesn’t see any dream world as well. What exists in the state is the seeker alone. It is because of this reason that once the seeker wakes up from deep sleep, he says that “I slept happily, I didn’t know anything”. Thus the state of deep sleep has happiness mixed with ignorance.
If we clearly analyze the three states, we will realize that it is the same person who experiences all these three states. “I” who am awake now, dreamt yesterday night & then slept happily without knowing anything. Thus the Subject of all these three states who is a mere witness to these states unaffected by the states and their activities is the SELF or the ultimate reality of Lord.
This Subject of Lord or Self is constant and changeless. The changeless Self experiences the changing states. If we compare the dream and waking states, we will find that both are almost similar. Thus Vedanta says that the waking world is also a long dream in ignorance of the Self. Once the Self (which seems to be veiled by ignorance) wakes up from this long dream of waking world, it realizes that there never was any waking world at all but whatever existed was only “I”. Everything was only an illusion in the reality of “I” or Consciousness.
Thus analyzing the three states and thereby reaching the Subject of the three states which is the ultimate reality of Lord is avastha traya analysis. These three states are termed as avasthaas in Sanskrit & they are jagrat (waking), svapna (dream) and sushupthi (deep sleep). When the seeker who seems to be identified with the three avasthas and gets associated with the things in the avasthas wakes up and goes beyond the three states, he reaches that state which is the real state of the ultimate reality of Lord or Self. This state is termed in Vedanta as Turiya. This is the real state of the Self – ever present blissful state. But as long as there is ignorance, the seeker will not realize his very nature of the Self & the foundational avastha of turiya. But once the seeker analyzes the three states & realizes his very nature of the non-dual Subject which is seen as the dual world, then he goes beyond the state to realize his own very nature of eternal bliss.
Once a seeker analyzes the three avasthas, then he has to contemplate on his very nature of Lord and seeing oneness everywhere. Seeing oneness everywhere is what Bhagavatham mentions as bhava advaita or non-duality in thought. Thus whatever the seeker sees should be known as the ultimate reality of Lord. When the seeker sees the computer monitor, the computer keyboard, the co-workers, the bus, the car etc. he should remind his mind that all these are only illusions of names and forms of the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus even though he might see duality as existing in the world but still in the mind he sees only oneness – the ultimate reality of Lord.
It is through this seeing oneness – seeing everything as the Lord or the Self having the dvadasha lakshana which we learnt in the previous days – that a person overcomes the ignorance which seems to veil his very nature & deludes him into the ocean of samsaara characterized by karma-phala (chain of action & reaction).
Thus a person has to constantly see oneness everywhere asserting the mind through intellectual conviction that everything is but an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord. The jagrat avasthaa is an illusion like the svapna avasthaa whereas the underlying substratum-seer-witness of the avasthaas is the only real entity which is my own very nature of Lord. Contemplation on the mind that there exists nothing here but the Lord alone is the way to overcoming ignorance and realizing one’s own very nature of Lord.
We will continue with Prahlaada’s instructions in the next mail.
Prahlaada ended up his instruction to his co-students thus:
Ethaavaaneva lokesmin pumsah svaartha parah smrithah
Ekaantha bhakthirgovindeyet sarvatra tad eekshanam
For a person born as a human, there remains only one thing to be done in life which is gaining one-pointed devotion towards govinda. One-pointed devotion is seeing govinda everywhere and in everything. Thus the world should be seen as govindamaya (filled in and out with Govinda).
Explanation
In the last mail in the series, we learnt about the avastha traya analysis as well as bhava advaita. Prahlada here clearly explains bhava advaita as ekaantha bhakthi. Ekantha means one-pointed. As a person who is having his food completely thinks about his food, as a lover thinks about his love whatever be the action he is doing, similarly a seeker of eternal bliss should always seek the ultimate reality of Lord. Whatever be the action that is being performed, the action should be offered to the ultimate reality of Lord. All actions should be performed remembering the ultimate reality of Lord as pervading everything. A seeker should always remember that everything that seems to be present in the world is the Lord alone. There is nothing here apart from the ultimate reality of Lord. That which seems to be the dual world or objects which are different from one another is nothing but a mere illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus really speaking whatever exists is the ultimate reality of Lord alone.
Bhagavan thus says in Gita
Mattah parataram na anyat kinchit asthi dhananjaya
O Arjuna! Know for sure that there is nothing apart from me here.
Katha Upanishad propounds thus:
Manasaiva idam aapthavyam neha nana asthi kinchana
Mrityoh sah mrityum gacchathi ya iha nana iva pashyathi
The ultimate reality has to be known through a pure mind. The reality is that there is no duality whatsoever here. If a person sees duality as if existing, he goes from death to death.
Yoga Vasistha says thus:
Sarvam khalu idam brahma sarvam atmedamaatatham
Aham anyat idam cha anyat ithi branthim tyaja anagha
O Anagha (meaning a person who is pure)! Everything is verily Brahman alone – all that you see is the Self alone. “I am different, this is different”, renounce this delusive thought.
Thus the scriptures proclaim again and again in many places that whatever really exists is the ultimate reality of Lord alone. It is this Lord who is the subject & witness of the three avasthas of waking, dream and deep sleep. Always remembering the ultimate reality of Lord, offering all actions unto the Lord and seeing the Lord as pervading everything is ekaantha bhakthi. Narada himself says in Bhakthi Sutras that “Bhakthaa ekaanthino mukhyaah” – those bhakthas who have one-pointed devotion are great (superior or supreme). Narada continues in the sutras by propounding that such a devotee will always be immersed in the ultimate reality of Lord. The very presence of such a devotee purifies the entire kula, the entire world & the people in the world. It is because of this reason that the very presence of a mahatma is enough to make a seeker realize his own very nature of Lord. India though has many problems and issues is still the most sought and happy country in the world – because of the presence of various mahatmas throughout its length and breadth. We find Indians trying to follow the western culture whereas the western people are all following the Mahatmas of Bhaaratha varsha (many learning Vedanta in the traditional way). Thus we as Indians should imbibe the teaching of the scriptures which is not a big thing for each of us to follow – the scriptures only propound us to constantly remember the ultimate reality of Lord at all times & in everything because the Lord alone is the substratum of the illusory world. It doesn’t require much analysis and intellect to understand the temporary and illusory nature of the world. Thus a person who has applied his intellect properly will understand the ultimate reality of Lord as pervading the illusory world thereby constantly contemplating on the ultimate reality of Lord.
Prahlaada here says that the very aim of human life is realization of the ultimate reality of Lord through ekaantha bhakthi. Human life has been taken just for attaining eternal bliss – it is this bliss that we all are seeking each and every moment. This bliss can be achieved only when all bondages are removed. It is only the humans who can overcome their passions and break lose out of all bondages unlike animals which can do only what they are supposed to do. Thus we as human beings endowed with intellect capable of discrimination should seek eternal bliss through constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord. The very aim of human life is to get ekaantha bhakthi. It is for this reason that young children were told stories about the glories of the Lord (during old times as now these puranic stories have been replaced by stories of celebrities) so that they develop strong devotion for the Lord even from their childhood.
As the scriptures again and again assert that the ultimate reality of Lord can be realized only through constant contemplation & only through contemplation will a person be able to get eternal bliss thereby fulfilling the purpose of life, therefore we all have to seek the ultimate reality of Lord from this very moment itself. A person who contemplates on the ultimate reality of Lord at all times merges into the ultimate non-dual reality of Lord thereby rejoicing in eternal bliss – having no sorrows, sufferings and ignorance in the samsaara.
We will continue with as to what happened to Prahlaada and how the Lord made hiranyakashipu realize the ultimate reality through his son itself in the coming days.
Analyze and know that the ultimate reality of Consciousness is the constant seer & witness of the three states of Jagrat (waking), svapna (dream) and sushupthi (deep sleep). Samsaara is the result of the changeless Self seemingly veiled by ignorance & thus entering into a long dream. Therefore O friends, follow bhaava advaita in your mind thereby getting liberated from the ocean of samsaara characterized by karma. This doesn’t require any other activity than following bhava advaita in your mind.
Explanation
Here we find two important things being discussed by Prahlaada. One is the analysis of the three states of jagrat, svapna and sushupthi. The second thing is having bhava advaita in the mind. Let us try to analyze both of this in brief today.
The experience of a seeker in life can be split into three states. Each and every person experiences only the three states irrespective of his caste, creed, gender etc. These three states are the waking state, dream state and dreamless deep sleep state. The state in which we experience gross objects is the waking state – when the individual named HARIRAM is typing and others are reading this posting, it is the waking state. In the waking state, we find things seemingly real but still constantly changing. The next state is the dream state. In the dream state, the seeker enters into a new world of his own. He creates a new world and himself becomes a part of the world. During the dream, the dream world & the objects seem as if they are real. But once the dreamer wakes up, he realizes that the dream world was only an illusion & that whatever really existed was “I” alone. He thus realizes after waking up that the dream world & its objects were creations of himself. All those were only illusions in the dreamer. The next state which we experience is the dreamless deep sleep state – that state in which we are not awake but sleeping. This state is different from the dream state because here the seeker doesn’t see any dream world as well. What exists in the state is the seeker alone. It is because of this reason that once the seeker wakes up from deep sleep, he says that “I slept happily, I didn’t know anything”. Thus the state of deep sleep has happiness mixed with ignorance.
If we clearly analyze the three states, we will realize that it is the same person who experiences all these three states. “I” who am awake now, dreamt yesterday night & then slept happily without knowing anything. Thus the Subject of all these three states who is a mere witness to these states unaffected by the states and their activities is the SELF or the ultimate reality of Lord.
This Subject of Lord or Self is constant and changeless. The changeless Self experiences the changing states. If we compare the dream and waking states, we will find that both are almost similar. Thus Vedanta says that the waking world is also a long dream in ignorance of the Self. Once the Self (which seems to be veiled by ignorance) wakes up from this long dream of waking world, it realizes that there never was any waking world at all but whatever existed was only “I”. Everything was only an illusion in the reality of “I” or Consciousness.
Thus analyzing the three states and thereby reaching the Subject of the three states which is the ultimate reality of Lord is avastha traya analysis. These three states are termed as avasthaas in Sanskrit & they are jagrat (waking), svapna (dream) and sushupthi (deep sleep). When the seeker who seems to be identified with the three avasthas and gets associated with the things in the avasthas wakes up and goes beyond the three states, he reaches that state which is the real state of the ultimate reality of Lord or Self. This state is termed in Vedanta as Turiya. This is the real state of the Self – ever present blissful state. But as long as there is ignorance, the seeker will not realize his very nature of the Self & the foundational avastha of turiya. But once the seeker analyzes the three states & realizes his very nature of the non-dual Subject which is seen as the dual world, then he goes beyond the state to realize his own very nature of eternal bliss.
Once a seeker analyzes the three avasthas, then he has to contemplate on his very nature of Lord and seeing oneness everywhere. Seeing oneness everywhere is what Bhagavatham mentions as bhava advaita or non-duality in thought. Thus whatever the seeker sees should be known as the ultimate reality of Lord. When the seeker sees the computer monitor, the computer keyboard, the co-workers, the bus, the car etc. he should remind his mind that all these are only illusions of names and forms of the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus even though he might see duality as existing in the world but still in the mind he sees only oneness – the ultimate reality of Lord.
It is through this seeing oneness – seeing everything as the Lord or the Self having the dvadasha lakshana which we learnt in the previous days – that a person overcomes the ignorance which seems to veil his very nature & deludes him into the ocean of samsaara characterized by karma-phala (chain of action & reaction).
Thus a person has to constantly see oneness everywhere asserting the mind through intellectual conviction that everything is but an illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord. The jagrat avasthaa is an illusion like the svapna avasthaa whereas the underlying substratum-seer-witness of the avasthaas is the only real entity which is my own very nature of Lord. Contemplation on the mind that there exists nothing here but the Lord alone is the way to overcoming ignorance and realizing one’s own very nature of Lord.
We will continue with Prahlaada’s instructions in the next mail.
Prahlaada ended up his instruction to his co-students thus:
Ethaavaaneva lokesmin pumsah svaartha parah smrithah
Ekaantha bhakthirgovindeyet sarvatra tad eekshanam
For a person born as a human, there remains only one thing to be done in life which is gaining one-pointed devotion towards govinda. One-pointed devotion is seeing govinda everywhere and in everything. Thus the world should be seen as govindamaya (filled in and out with Govinda).
Explanation
In the last mail in the series, we learnt about the avastha traya analysis as well as bhava advaita. Prahlada here clearly explains bhava advaita as ekaantha bhakthi. Ekantha means one-pointed. As a person who is having his food completely thinks about his food, as a lover thinks about his love whatever be the action he is doing, similarly a seeker of eternal bliss should always seek the ultimate reality of Lord. Whatever be the action that is being performed, the action should be offered to the ultimate reality of Lord. All actions should be performed remembering the ultimate reality of Lord as pervading everything. A seeker should always remember that everything that seems to be present in the world is the Lord alone. There is nothing here apart from the ultimate reality of Lord. That which seems to be the dual world or objects which are different from one another is nothing but a mere illusion of names and forms in the ultimate reality of Lord. Thus really speaking whatever exists is the ultimate reality of Lord alone.
Bhagavan thus says in Gita
Mattah parataram na anyat kinchit asthi dhananjaya
O Arjuna! Know for sure that there is nothing apart from me here.
Katha Upanishad propounds thus:
Manasaiva idam aapthavyam neha nana asthi kinchana
Mrityoh sah mrityum gacchathi ya iha nana iva pashyathi
The ultimate reality has to be known through a pure mind. The reality is that there is no duality whatsoever here. If a person sees duality as if existing, he goes from death to death.
Yoga Vasistha says thus:
Sarvam khalu idam brahma sarvam atmedamaatatham
Aham anyat idam cha anyat ithi branthim tyaja anagha
O Anagha (meaning a person who is pure)! Everything is verily Brahman alone – all that you see is the Self alone. “I am different, this is different”, renounce this delusive thought.
Thus the scriptures proclaim again and again in many places that whatever really exists is the ultimate reality of Lord alone. It is this Lord who is the subject & witness of the three avasthas of waking, dream and deep sleep. Always remembering the ultimate reality of Lord, offering all actions unto the Lord and seeing the Lord as pervading everything is ekaantha bhakthi. Narada himself says in Bhakthi Sutras that “Bhakthaa ekaanthino mukhyaah” – those bhakthas who have one-pointed devotion are great (superior or supreme). Narada continues in the sutras by propounding that such a devotee will always be immersed in the ultimate reality of Lord. The very presence of such a devotee purifies the entire kula, the entire world & the people in the world. It is because of this reason that the very presence of a mahatma is enough to make a seeker realize his own very nature of Lord. India though has many problems and issues is still the most sought and happy country in the world – because of the presence of various mahatmas throughout its length and breadth. We find Indians trying to follow the western culture whereas the western people are all following the Mahatmas of Bhaaratha varsha (many learning Vedanta in the traditional way). Thus we as Indians should imbibe the teaching of the scriptures which is not a big thing for each of us to follow – the scriptures only propound us to constantly remember the ultimate reality of Lord at all times & in everything because the Lord alone is the substratum of the illusory world. It doesn’t require much analysis and intellect to understand the temporary and illusory nature of the world. Thus a person who has applied his intellect properly will understand the ultimate reality of Lord as pervading the illusory world thereby constantly contemplating on the ultimate reality of Lord.
Prahlaada here says that the very aim of human life is realization of the ultimate reality of Lord through ekaantha bhakthi. Human life has been taken just for attaining eternal bliss – it is this bliss that we all are seeking each and every moment. This bliss can be achieved only when all bondages are removed. It is only the humans who can overcome their passions and break lose out of all bondages unlike animals which can do only what they are supposed to do. Thus we as human beings endowed with intellect capable of discrimination should seek eternal bliss through constant contemplation of the ultimate reality of Lord. The very aim of human life is to get ekaantha bhakthi. It is for this reason that young children were told stories about the glories of the Lord (during old times as now these puranic stories have been replaced by stories of celebrities) so that they develop strong devotion for the Lord even from their childhood.
As the scriptures again and again assert that the ultimate reality of Lord can be realized only through constant contemplation & only through contemplation will a person be able to get eternal bliss thereby fulfilling the purpose of life, therefore we all have to seek the ultimate reality of Lord from this very moment itself. A person who contemplates on the ultimate reality of Lord at all times merges into the ultimate non-dual reality of Lord thereby rejoicing in eternal bliss – having no sorrows, sufferings and ignorance in the samsaara.
We will continue with as to what happened to Prahlaada and how the Lord made hiranyakashipu realize the ultimate reality through his son itself in the coming days.
# posted by vedanta : 6:24 AM
