Class Notes by Sharmila

One of the most popular and powerful texts by Acharya Shankara is Atma Shataka (Nirvana Shatakam) where one of the last verses says “Na Muktihi-Na Bandhaha” (No freedom-No Bondage). Who is this message for, who is to be freed and who is bound? This is all a game of the ego, the one to be freed is the ego and the one bound is the ego. If one knows that they are the spirit, then there was never bondage and there is no need for freedom.

Swami Tejomayananda says “ In the process of doing and thinking, we have lost the capacity of being.” We stop being the spirit , and as the ego we are perpetually engaged in thinking and doing. Our course (Drg Drsya Viveka) is for us to realize that we are not the ego and that we can be silent.

Recap of Verse 2: In this verse, Acharya Shankara took us from articles, beings and circumstances to the ‘body’, from the ‘many’ to the ‘one’.

Verse 3: Andya means blindness, Maandya is dullness, Patutveshu is sharpness and these are all attributed to the eyes. The conditions of the eyes are many and the mind is the one that knows these conditions.

Although in this verse Acharya Shankara lists the conditions of the eyes, the body goes through changes too. Our bodies are going to go through six changes (Shat VikArAha).

Asti (existence) — This is when the entity is present but not born into the world.

JAyate (birth)

Vardhate (growth)

Vipareenamathe (maturity)

Apaksheeyate (decay)

Vinashyati (death)

That which is ‘mine’ cannot be me. That which you ‘know’ cannot be ‘I’. We know the conditions of the eyes, so that’s not who we are. We know the conditions of the mind and that’s not who we are. ‘Asura Vedanta’ is when your sorrow is real and another’s is illusory. ‘Sura Vedanta’ is when your sorrow is illusory and another’s is real. We have this habit to objectify articles, circumstances and beings.We treat beings like objects! Now that we know ‘what I know is not I’, we should be objectifying our own sorrow! I know my anxiety, stress and depression so that is not who I am.

One of the ways Hiranyakashipu tried to kill his son Prahlada was by putting him in ice. Although his body experienced freezing, Prahlada knew He is not the body, and He was completely fine in the warm embrace of Bhagavan. We should learn the right way to objectify our own sense of I.

It is the mind that functions as thoughts that knows the conditions of not just the eyes, but the ears, skin etc. Our mind knows not just the organs of input but also the organs of output (like speaking, holding and walking). We take for granted that which is close to us. We take our spirit for granted the most!

Rishi Prahlada’s friends noticed that he was always dynamic and cheerful and asked him how he was different. He asked his friends “When is the seer and the seen the same?”. The seer and the seen are same in a dream — in dream, what we are experiencing is the mind, and the dream is highly relative. Every time we feel the seer and seen are the same, that is a dream — so let it go!

The mind is a powerful sense organ (known as sixth sense). When we practice Sashtanga Namaskara, there are seven contacts to the ground, and the eighth is the mind (which runs the other seven contacts). When we engage in Ekadashi Vrata, the five organs of input and five organs of output and the mind (the eleventh) are to live near (Upavasa) Bhagavan.

We should care about what is happening to the mind more than the body. How do we get to this state of not caring so much for the body? In the Upanishads this is called “Neti or Na iti”. When we know what we are not, then this becomes a catalyst for us to know what we are.

“Iti” is synonymous with importance. The gauge for what is important to us is that we invest in it more, particularly with time. We give an immeasurable amount of time to this body. We have to give more time to the mind. We try to identify with subtler aspects to who we are , from body to breath and breath to mind. The Seer is the very pure ego. If we are stuck at body level, then we will never get to the ego, and purify that ego to get to the purified ego. We should shift our identification from the seen to the seer, and by doing so, we are letting go of limitations. If there is no Bandhaha, then we start to feel more Muktihi. When we are fully identified with the seer, then the momentum and grace will allow us to identify with the Spirit.