Subodha Vedanta Class Notes – May 5, 2024

We chant a mantra before we begin to study the Veda. The word mantra means mananAt trAyate – that which reflected upon, helps one to feel more courageous or fearless. However, only if we use our mind for this mantra, does it have this effect. That is why we do not just chant mantras, but personalize them. 

The difference between a cult and culture, as they are similar in English, is that in a cult one is encouraged not to think – avichara; just do. In a culture, on the contrary, we are encouraged to think or engage in vichara. 

We are completing our semester now, which is zooming into clarity. With clarity comes conviction, with conviction comes confidence. How are we going to be more clear? Through a cult or a culture? Through avichara or vichara? It is clear that we will nurture clarity through thinking. We are completing almost six months on thinking on the whole structure of Vedanta of Sanatana Dharma using Swami Tejomayananda’s Subodha Vedanta. 

Thus far we have studied:

Chapter 1 –  independent chapter with 2 verses

Chapter 2 & 3 – a pair of chapters with 3 verses each

Chapter 4 – independent chapter with 3 verses

Chapter 6 & 5 – a pair of chapters with 3 verses each

Chapter 7 & 8 – these go together with 3 verses each

Chapter 9 & 10 – these go together with 3 verses each

In Chapter 10, we have only completed Verse 1 – “What is this world and what is its purpose?” So asks the disciple to the Guru. All that which is known as “this” (known objectively), is the world. 

What is the purpose of the world? The word Jagatah, the etymology in Sanskrtam is that which is always changing. Wherever there is change, there are challenges. When we know the purpose of a challenge, it becomes training, but when we don’t know the purpose of a challenge, it becomes a problem. The only difference between training and a problem is purpose. There is going to be change, there is going to be challenges. Is it training for us or a problem? In the first verse, it is being shared – to know this purpose, so then all is training. Now we continue to Verse 2 in Chapter 10. This chapter is on the multiverse.  

Verse 2:

karma kartum phalam bhoktum ksetra-bhUtam hi prAninAm

Ishe samarpya karmAni chitta-shuddhim labhennarah

What is the purpose of this Jagata? 

Karma kartum – to engage in actions 

Phala bhoktum – to enjoy results 

Ksetra-bhUtam hi prAninAm – this is a field for all beings –  humans, animals, plants and stones as well

Ishe samarpya karmAni – when someone acts as an offering for Divinity

Chitta-shuddhim labhennarah – we then gain purity of mind. The first sign of having purity of mind is we are balanced. When outside forces come to challenge us, we stay balanced. 

The multiverse, our world is a kshetra or field. If we think of a farmer’s field, there is sowing, then reaping, then again sowing and reaping. This field facilitates the same cycle of acting and then the results. It is important for us to not externalize this as this body is also a field. We use this body to eat and then exercise and then again eat and exercise. We are in lots of fields and we have to reflect on the purpose of these fields – of this world, of this body. 

Swami Tejomayananda wrote a lovely paragraph about Pujya Swami Chinmayananda – The Chinaya Mission founded by Shri Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda through its various activities, projects, institutions and ashramas throughout the world, provides a field for people who desire to learn and serve.

Chinmaya Mission is also a kshetra. Chinmaya means to learn and the Mission is to serve. These fields we engage in are an opportunity for us to cultivate purity. We will know we have the right relationship with the world, this body if we are cultivating balance and focus. The more pure our mind is, the more we are able to focus. 

Verse 3:

brahmarUpam jagatpashyan mukto vidvAnbhavennarah

jIvArtham syAtprayojanam IshArtham na tu karhichit

BrahmarUpam – this multiverse is actually a form of Infinity; 

Jagatpashyan –  to see this multiverse as an expression of Infinity, then

Mukto vidvAnbhavennarah – the wise become free by doing this

JIvArtham syAtprayojanam – this multiverse has a purpose for the jiva; 

IshArtham na tu karhichit – this multiverse has no purpose for Isha or God.

This multiverse is for us to become wise enough to see we are creatures that are to live for this creation, bigger than that is the Creator, and finally Bigness which is Consciousness. Some reflections – 

The quieter our inner world becomes, the more one is able to feel Oneness, to feel hat there is no separation. When we are asleep, that is tamas. When we have this feeling of sleep when we are awake is Sattva. 

Bhagavan is free. Those who are free have no longer a purpose. Those who are pursuing Peace, they are not peaceful. Those who are not free have a purpose. So this multiverse is for us. 

This multiverse  is created just like the other dimensions of heaven, hell and they will also be uncreated as they are all created for us. The implication is that this multiverse is not going to last forever. If we go to hell, we will inquire. How did I get here? If we go to heaven, the sense object and sense organs are awesome, so people do not inquire in heaven. Heaven is purposeless. 

Chapter 11 is on Mukti or freedom. 

Verse 1:

shrnu mukti-prakAram tvam yathA proktam vicintakaih

karmopAsana-prAptavyah svargo lokascha brahmanah 

Shrnu – listen; 

Mukti-prakAram – there are levels or types of Mukti –  this is not the Mukti of the Upanishad or Bhagavad Gita 

Tvam yathA proktam vicintakaih – you should listen to the wise people who have understood the multiverse and what you can get with inquiry;

KarmopAsana – karma and upasana – when we engage in certain actions or disciplines

PrAptavyah – get; 

Svargo lokascha brahmanah – we get to heaven or the highest dimension called Brahmaloka. 

Mukti or freedom is only in reference to bandah or bondage. If we were given the keys to handcuffs, that key is valuable only if we have handcuffs on. If we have no handcuffs, then there is no point to that key. That is why Acharya Shankara shares – Na muktih, na bandah. There is no freedom because there is no bondage. Freedom is still in reference to bondage.

Sometimes we are unable to understand what bondage is. When we have enough position, possession and pleasure in our life, we think we are liberated. Let us try to feel what this body does to us – it gets sick or we sometimes can’t move physically or mentally. In water, the weight of the body goes away. So, we like to be in water as we feel so free. That is just the limitation of the body. Now imagine being free of the limitation of the mind? The more we appreciate the bondage, the more we will live for this freedom. 

For those who engage in certain actions or disciplines, but we are not doing this for absolute Mukti, we will go to svarga (heaven or satya loka), but those are created. They will be uncreated and are not Absolute. One will come back to bondage. With Satyaloka, we will be enlightened, but it will take a very long time. It is called Krama Mukti and is unreasonably long and not something one should live for.

Verse 2:

PrasAdAtsveshta-devasya sAlokyam ca samIpatA

sArUpyam sArshtisAyujye muktim prAhurmanIshinah

PrasAdAt – it is only through the blessings or Grace; 

Sva Ishta-devasya – of one’s personal God or Divinity – what can happen? 

SAlokyam samIpatA SArUpyam sArshtisAyujya – through the facilitation of Bhagavan, these five levels of freedom can be experienced  

Muktim prAhurmanIshinah – they are as described by those who know or are wise

To reach heaven, we can do so only with Bhagavan’s permission. Here are some fascinating specifics about Mukti –

The lightest Mukti is called sAlokya. This means our entry into heaven is that we get to live in the same loka as our Ishta Deva. Bhagavan Rama’s loka is Saket. Bhagavan Shiva’s loka is Kailasha and it is the only abode that is on earth. That is why Kailasha is so powerful as we get to go where Bhagavan resides.

More intense Mukti is sAmIpya – one who is close to Bhagavan. We don’t just live in the dimension of Bhagavan, but live close to Him, like in the same neighborhood. When we are closer to Bhagavan, certain privileges naturally come to us. For example, when Bhagavan has a party, we are automatically invited! 

The third level of Mukti is sArUpya – we start to look like Bhagavan. Suppose we all start to look like Bhagavan Krshna, how will we know who the real Bhagavan Krshna is? When Bhagavati Rukmini is with a certain being, that is the real Bhagavan Krshna. 

The fourth level is SArshti, when we start to have the powers of Bhagavan. Past the nama and the rupa is the guna. We start to have the gunas of Bhagavan. What we can never get is being a creator like Bhagavan. Only Bhagavan can create creation. An example is Ravana who wanted to just become more powerful. He could have had Bhagavan Rama, but he just wanted Bhagavati Sita in the wrong way. 

Finally, SAyujya is when we become one with Bhagavan or we merge with Bhagavan, like Bhagavati Radha. In Bhagavata, Bhagavati Radha was there and then she wasn’t there as she became One with Bhagavan Krshna. This is the Mukti that we traditionally orient ourselves with. 

Verse 3:

HitvA svajIva-bhAvam yA brahmAtmanA hi samsthitih

jIvanmuktirvidehA ca sarva-vedAnta-nishchayah

HitvA – having renounced

SvajIva – that we are an individual 

bhAvam – this notion

YA – the one who does this – what happens?

BrahmAtmanA hi samsthitih – one is established that Atma and Brahma are One, that the individuality is actually Infinity. 

JIvanmuktirvidehA ca – they are free, with body or without body is irrelevant  Sarva-vedAnta-nischayah – this is what Vedanta teaches about Mukti. 

Acharya Shankara has shared what education is. This is the vision or fulfillment of education – vidya phalam syat asato nivrittih

vidya – education 

phlalam syat – this is the feeling or what it should do to you

asat – that which is less important or not real

nivrittih – one should renounce or let go to this

When Shri Nisargadatta was a beedi wala and his Guide told him that he was not the body, but the Spirit, and he was so illiterate in terms of information, but so literate when it came to education, he internalized that so quickly and became free. He became That, which the Upanishad is teaching. This is the feeling of education. 

Hitva means to renounce. In Contemplation, we keep going through the kosha viveka – we are not this, not this, not this, not this. When we let go of all that we are not, we naturally come to feel what we are. This is what Mukti is, a finality. 

Harvard Business School did a study on where people find more satisfaction. 

1. Buying products with a return policy; 2. Buying products without a return policy. They found out that people were more satisfied with products without a return policy because then people had to be satisfied with what they bought. 

If we are living by the last verse of Chapter 11, then what will come out of our lungs and throat is – we move on to Chapter 12. 

Chapter 9 was about creation (Maya); Chapter 10 about the Creator (relationship with Maya). Chapter 11 was about partial freedom. Chapter 12 is about Ananda or Joy. This is full freedom.

Verse 1:

hA vu hA vu hA vu hA sAma gAyati brahmajnyah

Anandam paramAnandam darshayannaho svAtmanah

HA vu – expression of Joy when we feel our nature; whatever we are feeling, it will make our body break; there is so much Joy that we cannot use words

SAma gAyati brahmajnyah – the one who knows themselves, they sing; they sing the mantras of the Sama Veda 

Anandam paramAnandam – their Joy is Parama, the factual, highest Joy Darshayannaho svAtmanah – they have come to feel or see themselves

Any source of Joy that is external will be diminishing since that is the nature of creation. How to practice this? To not expect creation to be a source of Joy. As long as we feel that creation is a source of Joy, there will be sorrow. Why? Since we are expecting this entity to fulfill us in a way that is not possible. There is a saying – You cannot get blood from a stone. So we must reduce or have no expectations to be less sorrowful. We should do this for every facet of creation – our job, the weather, government, our body, our mind.

This Joy is irresistible as it is most natural and it is incomparable. So why wouldn’t we live for this? This twelfth step is Being Joy. 

Last week’s discussion: Vivekji shared his thoughts from last week’s discussion – If we inquire daily, even if we are moody, we will still inquire. This is a way to inquire even when we are happy.

Discussion: Reflect upon independently – What is your message to not expect the Absolute from the relative?

Last week’s RAW: To feel that we were in heaven. 

• Vivekji shared that if we simplify our contact in heaven, then we won’t be trapped in that comfort. 

RAW: Explain all 12 steps of this journey to Joy to 5 people this week. 

​