ViBha Class Notes – February 12, 2023

Prayag is known as a teertha. When we think of a teertha, we think of a man with a silver vessel who gives us some liquid concoction from it. The etymology of the word teertha is taranti anena, iti teertha. Taranti means to cross or to rise, and anena means with. So teertha is a means that helps you to cross, to rise. Whenever one comes on a yatra, then more important than the place, is the people. It is the people that make Prayag this Raj, this great pilgrimage, not just the many rivers that come together in Prayagraj. What makes this a great pilgrimage is how many sincere people must have come to Prayagraj to focus on their self development. There is power in such experiences. 

We have now completed 142 hours of exploring Srimad Bhagavata, and during this time, the context has changed a lot, sometimes Canada, sometimes the US, sometimes Bharat, sometimes on a holiday, sometimes on a regular day, and so on. Though the context has changed a lot, the vision of Bhagavata has not. Srimad Bhagavata is for us to nurture our relationship with ourselves. So what we have been doing for 142 hours is practicing self-love. 

Vivekji then mentioned that during arati at the mandir, the word Antaryami had a greater effect on him. Antaryami is someone who is inside and knows. So when we chant or sing – Jagadeeshvara, You are the one who is inside and knows – that’s when we approach this personally. However, if we approach this impersonally, then what is inside of us and knows is Awareness. Self-love is equivalent to one becoming more aware, one becoming Awareness. 

Reviewing – As we think, so we develop. But what we have been focusing on is – As we associate, that’s what triggers our thinking, which triggers our development. Bhagavan Krshna shares with Rshi Uddhava that our association should be with Sadhus, those who are noble, those who are inclusive. A way to become more resilient is to have the right role models so that we feel we can be the same way. When we associate with Sadhus, what gets nurtured is Bhakti. Bhakti is like a fire. It purifies and lifts (the ashes rise). What Bhakti does is that it purifies our personality and lifts it, so that it can understand in a higher way. Bhakti allows us to tune into that which is more subtle, more causal. Then comes Jnana. Sadhu-Bhakti-Jnana, and then Jnana triggers Moksha. One feels free. 

After Bhagavan Krshna shares this with Rshi Uddhava, Rshi Uddhava is almost projecting onto Bhagavan that – You are leaving, so where is this Sadhusanga? Then Bhagavan Krshna shares that we should associate with Sattva. This is how Bhagavan describes Sattva for us to analyze whether we are engaged in Sattva – 

Whatever wise people commend as spiritually beneficial, should be understood as sattvica in nature. Whatever they condemn, are to be taken as tamasica, and whatever they ignore, as rajasica. For the development of sattva, man should associate himself with the ten sattva developing entities and substances. From that will devotion and knowledge develop. Only then will the memory of one’s spiritual Nature rise and the bondage of matter get effaced. 

Put simply, Sattva is that which makes us less dependent on that which wavers, and more dependent on that which is ever – everlasting, ever present, and so on. 

Last week, we all got to listen to Swami Tejomayananda, and experience what Guruji describes as transformation technology. What are these 10 directions to nurture Sattva? It is shared in Skanda 11, Chapter 13, Verse 4. 

After this section is completed, what happens is Rshi Uddhava is projecting onto Bhagavan Krshna some of his thoughtfulness. Any thoughtful person would acknowledge that their minds are more powerful than their willpower. So Rshi Uddhava asks Bhagavan Krshna how he could pull his mind back from objects (articles, beings and circumstances), how he could use his willpower to not get lost in objects. Bhagavan Krshna then shares that this question was asked by the Sanata Kumaras to their father, Bhagavan Brahma, and Bhagavan Brahma, who didn’t know the answer, put this question out to the multiverse – It seems like the mind is in the objects, and the objects are in the mind, both ways. This is specified more clearly when Rshi Uddhava, as he is trying to convey to Bhagavan Krshna what he is feeling, says – Even though I know what is right, even though I have willpower, still I indulge like a dog, a donkey, a goat. 

Shri Tulasidasa gives an example of the mind and the objects, comparing the mind to a fish and objects to water. It seems like our minds cannot live without objects, just like fish cannot live without water. And he goes on to share that that is when we start to live in a vicious way. Our vices come out in the form of anger, greed, lust and so on. 

What does it mean that the objects are in the mind? – It is straightforward to picture that our minds are in objects, like our mind is infatuated by Amazon Prime. But what does it mean that Amazon Prime is in our mind? Objects in the mind, what this means is Vasanas. Everytime the mind indulges in an object, it creates an impression, as if that object is stuck in the mind. An English word that we use for vasana is propensity or propulsion. Propulsion has a stronger force that we cannot overpower. 

When this question is put by Bhagavan Brahma into the multiverse, then Bhagavan Hamsa appears, his swan comes, this swan which is so captivating that Bhagavan Brahma and all his children just keeping looking at this Hamsa, particularly Bhagavan Brahma as he knows that he did not create this Hamsa. Then who is this Hamsa? It is Bhagavan Narayana. 

Why a Hamsa? It is an icon for deciphering. We normally use discrimination, but it is not used in a pleasant way in society, so deciphering is better – being able to know what is right versus what is wrong. This Hamsa comes to show that the objects and the mind can be deciphered or separated. 

Highlights or Essence of Hamsa Gita:

Skanda 11:13:22 – Bhagavan Narayana, in the form of a Hamsa, shares that whether from the perspective of the Spirit or the body, there is only Oneness. From the perspective of the Spirit, the Spirit is Infinite, and with Infinity, there is no other. From the perspective of the body, this body is made up of elements, all is made up of elements, so there is only Oneness. What Bhagavan Narayana is trying to share with all of us is – Objects, the mind, the Spirit, there is only Oneness. Does this not sound like the original Bhagavata, when Bhagavan Narayana tells Bhagavan Brahma that Infinity is real? If infinity is real, then there are no more questions. Let us think about this – If we fundamentally have faith in Infinity, what questions can we have? All that we would be doing, all our effort would only be to BE. That is Advaita Vedanta, the science of Oneness. 

As long as we identify and strategize at the object level, or the body level or the mind level, we will still be stuck in objects, the body and mind. For example, when we have been writing something for a long time, we miss our mistakes while editing, and then we feel the need to step away or have someone else find the errors in the writing. As long as we are trying to find a strategy to have willpower over objects and the mind, it will not work. Vivekji shared that after trying several strategies to nurture willpower through objects, body and mind, and not succeeding, he now uses prayer, praying for determination, praying for stronger willpower. 

Bhagavan says we have to identify with that which is higher. What is immediately higher than the mind, is the intellect. So we should have an ideal. We should have a sense of ethics, that we will not fall into the trap of this object or that indulgence. And even more elevated than that is this sense of Oneness. We indulge in that which is not us. Can we indulge in our own hand, our own teeth? But we can be lusty towards another person’s arm, their mouth. What triggers that lust is that they are not you. But if we feel that they are us, it is impossible to feel lusty. Imagine we see a beautiful person from the back and we keep looking at them, thinking about them, and then we walk to the front and see that it is our brother or sister, then how do we feel? We feel that sense of Oneness which makes complete sense. 

Bhagavan Krshna says that all that we experience is Him, just with different qualities, forms and names. If we reflect on the object that we are infatuated by, but now have that vision that it is Bhagavan Krshna, how does that feel? If we love Bhagavan Krshna, we must know that Bhagavan lives in every being’s heart, and then that means we have to love all beings – humans, animals, plants, and if we don’t, then we mustn’t say that we love Bhagavan Krshna. That’s not accurate. If we love Bhagavan Krshna, the expression of that love is that we love His Vishvarupa. 

Pujya Swami Tejomayananda has shared that the mind, the body, objects are just conditionings. This is not our nature. This is our nature as if conditioned, but they are different. So whatever conditioning our body and mind is, we should go higher as they will never be perfect. We must let it be. Another beautiful insight that Guruji has shared is that when we try to develop this willpower of the mind over the objects, but we are still operating from a lower perspective, it is like fighting a ghost. That object, that body, that mind has no independence of its own. It is like a ghost, and we must stop fighting that. 

Through every experience of ours, who is there? Jagadeeshvara is the Antaryami, the One who lives inside of us, and the One who lives inside of us is Awareness. Awareness allows the mind to engage in those objects. If we identify with Awareness, our mind will never bother us. Our mind cannot touch us. 

Bhagavan Hamsa completes the teaching by sharing – O learned ones, I have now given you the quintessence, the most hidden part of the teachings of Yoga and Sankhya. Know Me to be Yajna, The Maha Vishnu come here to instruct you in the science of the Spirit. – We should reflect on this teaching actively. 

Rshi Uddhava is trying to delay Bhagavan Krshna from leaving, and so he keeps asking more questions. He shares – Sanatana Dharma is vast. Which path is the best in Sanatana Dharma? Which path should I follow? 

Skanda 11:14:27 – Bhagavan Krshna shares, firstly, that the best path is to be a Bhakta. The best way to Be is to be a devotee, and He highlights one practice of a Bhakta and that is – They may initially be attached to objects, however, through the remembrance of Me, slowly their mind transitions from that object to Me, and it starts to dissolve. The mind starts to become thoughtless. 

Don’t we pray for a thoughtless mind, a quiet mind when our mind becomes very loud? Here’s how we can achieve it. Many people struggle with overthinking, and the source of this overthinking is insecurity. And the greatest gift for the one who overthinks is to have a quiet mind. 

Here are some highlights on what Bhakti means and why Bhakti is the best. Bhagavan shares – 

• The Joy that a Bhakta experiences is never experienced by a bhogi. One who has no willpower and whose mind is on objects, and not on Awareness, they can never experience the Joy that a Bhakta experiences. 
• Gradual devotion will feel like a gradual disinterest in objects. Vairagya is detachment or dispassion or disinterest. This devotion will help us with being disinterested.

This chapter invests a lot in Dhyana. If we keep contemplating on objects, our mind becomes heavier. And if we are able to contemplate on Bhagavan, our mind becomes lighter. So what is shared is that we should contemplate on our Ishta Devata, and the fulfillment of that is that the seen, the seeing and the seer start to feel like One. We will know that we are contemplating well when the verb that we are contemplating goes away, and we are just Being. 

Discussion: From Chapter 13, the past classes, what is relevant to us and why?

Vivekji’s thoughts – Most of the teachings we have come across is about working with the mind to work with objects, but here Bhagavan Krshna is teaching that as long as we operate at the level of objects and the mind, we will still be stuck. Like Guruji has shared, worldly problems cannot be solved with worldly solutions. We need a spiritual solution. A strategy that will end all other strategies is – Feel that everything that we are touching is Bhagavan. The more we evolve, the more our map will evolve. For those whose evolution is slow, they feel that their Guide and map is slow too, that it is redundant, it is irrelevant. But for those who are evolving fast, they have more reverence for their Guide, they have more immersion in the map. So we need to keep asking ourselves what is relevant to us, and if that never changes, then we are not changing. And that is not acceptable!