ViBha Class Notes: January 22, 2023

Vivekji shared from a recent workshop – Make Happiness a priority – that we begin with:

• Shoucha or organize – to organize one’s lifestyle. Next,
• Svadhyay or reflect – organization of lifestyle will give one the additional bandwidth to analyze one’s personality, reflect on who they are, particularly their weaknesses. Next, 
• Tapa or practice – practice purging one’s weaknesses or burning down one’s comfort zone. Next, 
• Pranidhana or serve – In serving, the best in us comes out. All of this leads to,
• Santosha or self-satisfaction – to simply in-joy, our own company, our own nature. When we serve, we in-joy. 

Today is our 140th class of Vedanta in Bhagavata. We are training ourselves to offer, offer what we have, and then offer what we are. This is so aligned with contemplation, aligned with renunciation. When one approaches self development through Sanatana Dharma, one of the first guidance is in the Sadhana Chatushtaya, which means that these four qualities are required or critical for one to be disciplined or for one to evolve –

1. Viveka – having the clarity of what is destructive and what is productive, all in reference to Happiness
2. Vairagya – letting go of that which is destructive. Shared in the context of Yoga, it is the Yamas or Don’ts. In the context of Bhagavata, it is reducing our vices.
3. Sampatti – holding on to that which is productive, productive towards Happiness. In the language of Yoga, this is the Niyamas or the Do’s. In the context of Bhagavata, it is more virtues. Less vices, more virtues!
4. Mumukshutva – Viveka, Vairgya, Shat-sampatti are investments into Mumukshutva or the sense of freedom. We feel bound because our sense of i is that of an individual. We actually limit each other. If someone sits too close to us, we ask ourselves why. Do we ever ask why our left hand is close to our right hand? No, as there is no sense of individuality. Mumukshutva is when we change the sense of “i i i”, from an individual to Infinity. Lots of words for Infinity – Advaita, Oneness…that is what freedom is. 

In Skanda 11, Chapters 1-9, Bhagavan Krshna is sharing with Rshi Uddhava how to be more pure. This is called Antahkarana Shuddha, how to make one’s inner world more pure. This is not the ends, but still a means. This means leads to the ends, which is when this knowledge, these insights, become an authority. Purity is to lead to an authority. We all know or have been told again and again that our Nature is Joy, yet we still have stress and fear and conflict, which shows that the knowledge, that insight is not authoritative. When our Guide says “Tat Tvam Asi” to us, we look behind us. So how do we feel that this knowledge is authoritative? By purity. 

Chapters 10-12 are amazing chapters on Jnana or insight, especially Chapter 11. Chapters 7-9 are the preparation. Vivekji shares that distilling the information from studying Bhagavata is most difficult for him, and so, when he makes references, he would like us to read and reflect for ourselves, especially Chapter 11. 

Skanda 11:10:3 – Bhagavan Krshna is teaching Rshi Uddhava and shares that all of the pleasure we experience in this waking state (vacations, good food, a comfortable friends circle), all of this has the same reality as a dream. A dream is always changing, and so is all that we experience in the waking state. So why invest in it? Let us refine that to – Why invest in pleasure, thinking that our return is going to be Peace? An extrovert is one who works for Happiness, but earns sadness. Doesn’t that describe a lot of what we do in the week? Such insights help us to be less vicious, to reduce our vices. 

Skanda 11:10:12 – How can we be more virtuous? – It is important to reflect upon and imprint this verse in our Intellect. It is a beautiful visualization.  

Our Guide is like an Arani which is a wooden cup, and let us visualize that this cup is at the bottom. The disciple, or someone who is inward-looking, is another Arani on top of this cup. Then, there is this wooden stick in the middle, which is the discourse or pravachana or guidance. And what happens is that everyone is to engage, where the top cup is moving, the bottom cup is moving, the stick is moving, and this leads to a fire being created. This fire that comes from this reflection, from this relationship, radiates Sukha or Joy. 

Vivekji shared that he is most quiet when he is listening to his Master. And when teachings come from the scriptures and are in sync with our own experiences, that leads us to have more faith. We all think we are different bodies – this is my physical body, we also have a social media body. And the teaching of the Guide is that we are not this body, but we are the Spirit. Articles are not going to make us happy, but Awareness is going to make us happy! The body is an article. The Spirit is Awareness!

Rshi Uddhava is an astute student and he ends Chapter 10 asking Bhagavan Krshna – Who is free? He says You, Bhagavan Krshna, are the best person to teach who is free. He shares that rarely does anyone talk about freedom, and that he is confused about freedom. Please note – Is Rshi Uddhava really confused about freedom?. Our Rshis are visionaries, and they are asking questions for the future, like someone who loves humanity will invest in not just this generation, but generations. He is asking this question for us. 

Skanda 11:11:1 – This verse is similar to Nirvana Shatakam or Atma Shatakam. One of the final teachings that Acharya Shankara shares in the Nirvana Shatakam is how to be centered. He says – Na Muktih, Na Bandhah! There is no freedom because there is no bondage. Freedom is in reference to bondage, but if there is no bondage, then there is no freedom. 

Bhagavan Krshna responds to Rshi Uddhava saying – Bondage, freedom and all talks relating to that, this is on account of the Gunas. Whose Gunas are these? My Gunas. I am the Creator, and they are an expression. They are not independent. This is all a game, a leela of Maya. My Maya expresses as Gunas, and Gunas create bondage and freedom. But Maya cannot affect Me, and you and I are One!  

Vivekji suggested that we think about this – One gauge of reality is independence. So Bhagavan Krshna is stipulating here that since they (Gunas) are not independent, they are not real. So what else is not real? Bondage and freedom. Since Maya does not affect Bhagavan Krshna, which means Gunas don’t affect Bhagavan Krshna, which means bondage and freedom do not affect Bhagavan Krshna, and the same applies to us. This is a beautiful if-then model and applies to us as well, as we are Bhagavan Krshna! 

Skanda 11:11 Verses 5-8: This is very much like Mundaka Upanishad. On the cover of the book by Pujya Swami Chinamayananda on the teachings of Mundaka Upanishad, there is a tree and there are two birds living on this tree. Vivekji asked us to reflect a lot on this, as more than beautiful, it is insightful. Bhagavan Krshna says to Rshi Uddhava – 

I shall first tell you about the difference between the Jiva and Ishwara, the former bound and the latter free, occupying the same residence, the body, but having conflicting attributes like sorrow and Bliss. Two birds namely Ishwara and Jiva, both of the same order as conscious entities, and both friends through eternity, reside by chance, as it were, in the same nest, on the same tree of the body. Of these, one bird, the Jiva, eats the fruits of that tree, while the other Ishwara, though not eating the fruits, thrives splendidly on the same tree. Ishwara, who entertains no desire to eat the fruits of actions, knows His own nature and that of the other as Sat-Chit-Ananda. But the Jiva, who claims and enjoys the fruits of actions, knows nothing. Being trapped in beginningless ignorance, he is ever bound, while Ishwara who is of the nature of Knowledge, is ever liberated. 

More teachings in Chapter 11 are –

• We are Awareness, and all else that we are holding on to, like articles, beings and circumstances, they are dreamlike. 
• This body and all that this body engages in, is all made of Prakriti, which is finite. When this finitude is interacting with this other finitude, we cannot expect that this would create the Infinite. These are all logical teachings. 
• Bhagavan Krshna says that those who know Shabda Brahma (scholarliness), but not Para Brahma, are wasting their resources, time and effort. Those who are experts, but are not more cheerful or more content, are just wasting their opportunity. 

At the end of this chapter – What if we do not resonate with what is being taught? If this is too sublime or too unrelatable, what should we do? This is an expression of how much Bhagavan loves us, that if we can’t do this, do this, and if we can’t do that, do this. There is no disciple or devotee who is left behind. Bhagavan shares – Act for Me and as you act for Me, feel free – free of stress, free of anxiety, free of dejection. 

A related question would be – Bhagavan is describing to us Bhakti, so how does one nurture Bhakti? This is the thought flow for the remaining part of this chapter. It is through Sadhusanga that we develop Bhakti, that helps us to develop freedom. So if we want to be free, we have to be devoted, and to be devoted, we have to associate with a Sadhu. There are lovely descriptions of who a Sadhu is. Here are three characteristics of one who is Noble:

1. They are good to those who are good, and they are good to those who are bad. Even if someone treats them poorly, they do not reciprocate that or react.
2. They are self possessed, in that they are not pushed or pulled by the opinion of society, by the negativity of people. 
3. They have intense stamina to read, write, reflect, to support, serve, surrender. They do not get bored, nor tired. 

Here are some expressions of Bhakti – 

• A Bhakta never uses what they have offered to Bhagavan. Whenever we have a lamp or flowers, they are not to be pointed towards us. They are supposed to be pointed towards Bhagavan. If we offer light to Bhagavan, we cannot use that light for anything else.
• Bhakti is when we offer that which is most important to us without ever having the thought that this will be returned. We should offer in such a way that we are not going to get it back. 

When Rishi Vishwamitra came to Raja Dasharatha and said he wanted his children, Raja Dasharatha resisted that and said that the Rshi didn’t ask correctly. Then Rshi Vasishta told him that he had to give that which was most important to him. That is what it means to practice Bhakti, not to just sit in class, not just chant this or that. It requires this understanding to make our lifestyle different. 

This chapter ends with Bhagavan Krshna summarizing to Rshi Uddhava.

Skanda 11:11:48 – To nurture Bhakti, the only way is Satsanga or Sadhusanga. There is no other way. When we are in Satsanga, we will know this as the person or persons there, only depend on Bhagavan. The most potent Satsanga is when we are with someone who only depends on Bhagavan, and then we will see how Bhakti becomes so natural! And what does Bhakti lead to then? Freedom, shared in the beginning, to not feel that we are an individual, but that we are Infinite!

Chapter 12 elaborates more on Chapters 10 and 11, but in Chapter 13, a new Gita, called Hamsa Gita, starts. It is very profound. Bhagavan Krshna shares that for us to understand Hamsa Gita, for us to nurture Bhakti, we need to be more sattvic. In Chapter 13, Verse 4, there are ten different facets of our life that Bhagavan Krshna analyses and is encouraging us to become more sattvic in these. One of them is Praja  – to be around people who are not living for prosperity, but are living for Peace. We have to be around people who are living for Peace for us to nurture Bhakti, for us to experience Moksha. 

Discussion: How to change our friends circle and/or connection to family to be more sattvic?

• Clarity and Productivity – The clarity for us to know what is important and precious, which is our peace of mind. If we have that clarity, we will invest more in ourselves and become more productive, more cheerful, more accepting, more giving. That itself will change our friends circle for those who are not interested, and for those who are interested, they will start to follow us as well. 

RAW: Change our relationships/friends circle to be more sattvic.