ViBha Class Notes: May 1, 2022

When was the last time we offered gratitude to our eyes? Maybe never! When was the last time we offered gratitude to physical light? If there were no physical light right now, we would just hear each other, but not be able to see each other. When was the last time we offered gratitude to Awareness? If there were no Awareness, we wouldn’t be able to even hear Vivekji, and he wouldn’t be able to think, nor speak! When our Shastras tell us that we are struggling with ignorance, we are! We take for granted our eyes. Deeper than that, we take for granted light, but most deeply, we take for granted Awareness. For us, it is not ignorance, it is apathy. For a child, it is ignorance, but not for us as we know this, and we still take it for granted. That is why a course on Bhagavata, Vivekji says is mandatory, mandatory to live. Ta means to change, Va means best, Ga means feel, and Bha means light – Bhagavata is the best way to change what we feel, from I am limited to I am light!

Skanda 11 is filled with vedanta. We are in an impactful dialog right now. In this dialog –   

• Question 1 – How should a Bhakta live? The key word is live. 

• Question 2 – Tell us about a Bhakta who does live this.
• Question 3 – What stops one from living as a Bhakta? 
• Question 4 – How do they cross over and start to live again? 
• Question 5 – What is Narayana? 

Ahetu – the One that is causeless – This means Narayana is the Highest, the Original. But a more profound meaning of Ahetu is never caused. That means all of this stress, anxiety, and dejection in our lives, that’s a mirage. It is a projection and is as real as we make because philosophically, there is no creation. Creation is caused and Narayana is Ahetu. Narayana means to live for Life. Life is a noun; live is a verb. Life is big L and live is small l. So if someone asks us what is the purpose of our living, then our response in words and in feeling should be Life. We use different words for Life like Bhagavan, Infinity. Life is synonymous with that. 

In Verse 40, the word Uru Bhaktya is used. Uru means intense, complete. How do we become a more intense disciple? And that then led to the sixth question and answer. The sixth answer is given by Rshi Avirhotra. The sixth question is Uru Bhaktya – how do I become a better devotee, disciple? Avirhotra is a lovely name – Hotra means ritual and Avir really means Avir bhava which means to manifest. What rituals will make Narayana manifest for me? This is more simply shared as Karma Yoga. How do I make my Karma, so that it is Yoga, so that I am a Bhakta – Uru Bhaktya. 

Now connecting some of the questions and answers – If we revere Bhagavan, then that also means that we have to revere our Sadguru, our Guide. Question 4 was about the same – How do we cross Maya? By prostrating to our Guide. If we revere Bhagavan, we have to revere our Guide and revere our Guide’s guidance. A Sadguru’s life is really the teachings of the Shastra, so thus a triangle forms – Sadguru, Shastra, Bhagavan! And we have to get into this triangle. We cannot just hold on to one part of it; we have to hold on to all the three parts. So that’s why this question and the answer is related to the guidance. 

Karma can be either Akarma, Vikarma or Karma. Akarma means laziness or tamas. Vikarma means aggressiveness or rajas. And Karma in this framework, is quietness or sattva. More specifically, how does one intensify their devotion? This is about becoming a great devotee as we are already good devotees –

Step 1 – Drop prohibited actions. If the Veda says an action is immoral, then it is immoral. So drop it. But we cannot just drop without holding on, so…

Step 2 – Hold on to your responsibilities, Nitya Karma. And this has to be refined more…

Step 3 – Feel the responsibilities as an offering – Arpana Buddhi, so that we do not feel the weight of the responsibilities. Instead we feel lightened and feel that this is an offering.

Those who do not follow this script, they go from death to death. Those who do not make their responsibilities an offering, those who do not make their karma into Karma Yoga, simply go from death to death. While they’re alive, they are really dead and then they are born again, but born in the same way, so that is also death. 

Implication for us – Svadhyay – Study yourself, not deep as who we are, but study what we are really doing. We need to make the shift from being instinctive to being intentional. We all claim to be Karma Yogis, but are we? We all claim we are not going to be born again, but are we really giving up dependency? Because if we are not, we are going to be born again – from death to death!

Verses 43-55 provide us the answer to this question. These are the highlights of these answers. 

Another highlight – Karma Yoga is all about what we do. So a vedic lifestyle does include Puja. Srimad Bhagavata is happening during Dvapara Yuga. It is a period of time where the primary sadhana or practice to become pure, clear and free is Puja. That is what is shared here, that Puja is the yuga sadhana. There are many details that are given – Puja in this section is called Krya Yoga, a discipline on how to offer Puja, but this Krya Yoga is only to be practiced so that what we do outside of the Puja is Karma Yoga. It is like Krya Yoga is the scrimmage and Karma Yoga is the game, but one does learn during the scrimmage too. Our Yuga has changed and now we are in Kaliyuga, and the yuga sadhana for Kaliyuga is Japa or namasmarana. 

More details about Krya Yoga – Before, during and after offering Puja, one should be cheerful, and eventually this Puja has to go from a physical level to a mental level. We should be able to close our eyes and offer Puja mentally. We must realize that Pujas are designed for that. When we engage in a Puja, the first step in the mukhya Puja, the main section, is called Avahana – We put our left hand on our heart and with the right hand touch the icon in front of us. That’s how the Puja begins. The idea is – we have forgotten that we are divine. So we are transferring this divinity into an icon as it’s easier to feel divinity in an icon. But the last step of the main puja is Namaskara – we are offering our forgetfulness, our ignorance and the apathy. And then we do Udvasana – with both hands, we gently push that icon back. The implication is – In our culture, Puja is to be offered in our own home so that we are able to push back our personal murthis during Udvasana, which means we are transferring that divinity from the icon to our madhya, to our heart. That’s why we have to be cheerful during a Puja, which has to evolve to offering Puja at a mental level, and this has to evolve to us feeling that we are Bhagavan Krshna. 

Final thought in Answer 6 – Our actions should be leading us to kama for Moksha – Naishkarmya which means we are free of doership. So my actions should be nurturing my mumukshutva, my intensity for freedom, and the completion of that is Moksha or Naishkarmya where we don’t depend on actions anymore. We are acting out of fulfillment, not for fulfillment.  

Summary for Question 6 – What is shuddhata? How do we become more pure? The answer is Yoga. All we do should be united, with our Guide, following the guidance, to our God. 

Raja Nimi is now asking the seventh Question being answered by Rshi Dhrumila. Dhrumila means tree; Dhrumila means compassionate. Trees are icons of compassion. 

Skanda 11:4:1 – Raja Nimi asks – Every detail of actions, of every birth (this is relating to Bhagavan), specifically that He did, that He is doing, and that He will do. Who is this question about? Harih or Bhagavan Narayana. Tell us every detail of every birth of Bhagavan Hari. 

The implication of this Question – If we know who Bhagavan is, then we will know how to relate to Him. If we knew about Moksha, about freedom, then we would live for it, but we don’t know enough which is why we don’t live for it. If we know who Bhagavan is, then we can be dedicated to Bhagavan, we can love Bhagavan, we can be Bhagavan. 

The response is given in Verses 2-23. 

One more implication – This question is another question on purity. The more we hear about Bhagavan, that is input. The more we speak about Bhagavan, that is an output. Isn’t that cleaning our brain then? So this is a further question about how we become a better Bhakta. 

Shloka 12 – Rshi Narayana manifests the most beautiful beings, particularly the most beautiful women. And what are these women doing? They are well dressed and all of them are serving Rshi Narayana. 

Before getting to this verse, Rshi Dhrumila says – It is not possible to describe every detail of every birth of Bhagavan, so I am not going to. It is Infinite. In general, he shares that Bhagavan expresses through the elements and the elements express to become this multiverse. And then Bhagavan entered this multiverse. We are all part of this multiverse, we are creation, which means He entered us too. Bhagavan – elements – multiverse – entered. And what is shared specifically is that our organs are His organs. If our eyes are Bhagavan’s eyes, what would we do with our eyes then? Let us feel the implication. If our tongue is Bhagavan’s tongue, are we going to eat unhealthy food then? 

Rshi Dhrumila also shares in general that Bhagavan expresses as Maya, which expresses as Gunas. These Gunas are that which facilitate emergence, existence and ending. This we know as the nature of creation – creation emerges, creation exists, creation ends. 

Question 7 is About Avatara. The answer is given that one cannot go into every detail, because it is not possible, but here is a general framework for us to feel every detail – on how we use our organs, on how we see creation. But then Rshi Dhrumila gets into this katha. In brief –

He shares that there is one Avatara known as Rshi Nara-Narayana. It was already stated to us that Rshi Nara is Prince Arjuna and Rshi Narayana is Bhagavan Krshna. Rshi Narayana cares about creation. He is the Creator, He is an Avatara, and He naturally cares about creation. He is living in Badrinath. He is Chiranjeevi, ever alive, and there He is engaged in tapa, which means He is contemplating. Those who contemplate, they feel contentment and they radiate that. Indra, the Sura, who is living in Svarga, is super insecure. Whenever someone is engaged in self-development, he always thinks that they are doing that so that they can become Indra. Here he is insecure about Rshi Narayana engaged in tapa. Imagine the Chief of the Semi-Gods not knowing who Rshi Narayana really is! If he knew who Rishi Narayana was, he wouldn’t be insecure of him. So he sends Kamadeva, and other Semi-Gods, including entertainers, beautiful and talented singers and dancers, to go and distract Rshi Narayana. He will then stop contemplating and thus will not become powerful enough to become Indra. These singers and dancers come to Rshi Narayana, but He is not distracted at all, and finally, He opens His eyes naturally. They are really scared then as the last time Kamadeva did this, and Lord Shiva opened His eyes, what happened to Kamadeva? He got burned to ashes! But Rshi Narayana asks them to relax, and manifests all of these singers and dancers, and they are much more talented, and more wonderful – Adbhuta! Another description is Gandhena – they are the best smelling! And Rshi Narayana says to Kamadeva to choose whoever he wants as His gift to Indra. Kamadeva looks around, but is not able to find anyone unique enough for Indra. So Rshi Narayana slaps His thigh – in sanskrtam uru, and by doing so shows that He is in control – vashi. So from His thigh came Urvashi, the most beautiful being who is not divine. And that’s who Kamadeva takes back to Svarga as a gift to Indra, his Urvashi. 

The main message in these verses – As long as one is pleasure hunting, then one is still in the Karma kanda, which means one will not be able to be extraordinary – not enough purity, not enough clarity, not enough intensity. 

Discussion: Two weeks ago, our discussion subject was – How do we respond to someone we care for who is being harmed?

Vivekji’s observation – Our emotion should be converted to action. There is no purpose in being emotional if it doesn’t convert into doing something about that harm. We tend to get stuck living in this intellectual world where we feel things, but it never gets converted into our lifestyle. 

Discussion: Last week our discussion was about – How do we depend less on our equipments, and have more faith in the Spirit? 

Vivekji’s observation: The way to do this is to contemplate. When we contemplate well, we feel content, and this contentment is coming not from an outside source, nor through our senses. It is just self-effulgent.