Class Notes by Bhargavi

Bhagavan Hanumana asks Vibheeshana during his search for Bhagavati Sita, how he was living there among highly indulgent people. Vibheeshana admits that Lanka and his specific circumstance is Khala Mandali (selfish company). He further goes on to say that the Khala Mandali is worse than Naraka (hell). In hell, one realizes that one is in hell and one eventually comes out of it. When we are in selfish company, we don’t realize it and keep getting sucked in more into it. Selfishness is where one thinks oneself is all. Shri Hanumana feels bad for Vibheeshana but praises him for being a devotee of Shri Rama in the midst of immense selfishness. When he asks Vibheeshana if he had met Sita devi, he replies in the negative. Bhagavan Hanumana is angry that he has not acted for her and he chides him for his passive Bhakti. Vibheeshana eventually does go and meet Bhagavati Sita and comforts her. This relative realization that mere thinking is not enough, acting on it is needed. This relative realization leads to absolute realization.

Lesson 17 is titled prayojana (purpose) and is built on vishaya which in turn in built on Adhikari. To be a student of the Upanishad requires many qualifications. These qualifications such as purity of the mind are subtle and immeasurable. These qualifications require that we change. We cannot be angry and feel the spirit, we cannot be jealous and feel the oneness. The change here requires letting go, letting go of lifestyle, of family, of beauty (body identification). If we are not ready to let go, then we are not a Adhikari. Student +subject=serenity. In Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavan Krishna shares in Chapter 6, that with Dhyana, even in heavy sorrow, one is not shaken. We are shaken by praise and insults of the slightest degree.

In Mundakaupanishad, 2: 2: 8, it is shared that the knots of the heart are broken and all doubts are cut and one comes off this wheel of action. We act in such a way where there is no gain to be had. Everything we do, comes out of fulfillment; not for fulfillment. All this possible when one ‘sees’ Bhagavan as the one who is using maya or relativity. When we see the relative, we can feel the absolute. When students of Advaita can see the separateness, it helps when we return to oneness. In the word Upanishad, the ‘sat’ means visharana, which means to destroy, destroying the knots.”shat” means to sit (rest). The fulfillment of sat is further shared in Kathaupanishad, 2: 6:14, it is shared that the original knot it Avidya (forgetting happiness). From this original knot/sin, multiple sins arise. The six enemies that live inside of us are Kama, krodha and lobha. The desires are situated in one’s hearts. The remembrance that we are infinite has to be real and personal. Real comes from reflection or manana and personal comes through nidhidhyasana. When the knots are removed, we gain/resdiscovers Brahman. We will never be afraid to die because we will know that there is no death for existence. Existence is forever. Sw. Tejomayananda shares that until we remember who we are, our questioning will go on forever.