October 13, 2022 Class Notes by Abhiram Bhashyam
Introduction
In our recent Devi sanga workshop, we came across the word jugupsā which is feeling a disharmony in your own personality: that the intellect is in one direction, the mind is in another, and one’s body is in yet another direction. When there is disharmony, as one goes about interacting with articles, beings, circumstances, all that happens is disintegration. Putting this in a very casual way – if I leave my home cranky and then I interact with someone who is fixing our HVAC at the ashram, then how is that experience going to be? I’m going to complain and be bitter, etc. Why is this important? It is important because it directs how this community is being oriented – and we are being oriented to serve society. The purpose of a community, the fulfillment of a community, is to serve that which is bigger. What’s bigger than a community – society. Now how are we doing this? By engaging in a course that is designed for harmony. In this course, we are seeking to harmonize ourselves – the intellect, the body, the mind – our interactions. To harmonize oneself, this demands one be active. One’s personality will not change passively – it requires one to be active. Every day, every experience, and that’s why the first word of this course is practice. Practices to harmonize oneself and to serve society.
Discourse
We began with a recap of recent lessons.
Verse 1/Practice 3: tenesasya vidhiyatam
Our third practice tenesasya vidhiyatam is to be dedicated to your responsibilities. The difference between just following responsibilities and being dedicated is significant. As an example – all that you are dedicated to, you are probably more punctual for. Whereas if you are just following, there is less emphasis on whether you are punctual or tardy. So, Acharya Shankara is sharing that you should be dedicated to your responsibilities rather than just following.
A framework for moving from being casual to dedicated.
1. Nitya karma: regular responsibilities
2. Naimittika karma: special responsibilities
3. Kamya karma: desire-prompted actions.
4. Nisiddha karma: forbidden actions
We start at the bottom with nisiddha karma – prohibited actions. Those who are trying to become more dedicated switch from prohibited actions to kamya karma – selfish actions. I want to be dedicated, so I have to keep moving actively to naimittika karma – special responsibilities. Now, we are moving from actions to responsibilities. Finally, we move toward nitya karma – regular responsibilities. We have to shift our dedication from prohibited actions to our regular responsibilities. This is how you flow through that. And our practice to do that was/is to chant samarpayami.
Verse 1/Practice 4: apacitih kamye matistyajyatam
Our fourth practice: apacitih means to worship, kamyemati means the desires in the mind, and styajyatam means to let go or renounce them. So, as you are practicing being dedicated to your regular responsibilities, simultaneously let go of the desires in the mind and selfish personality. Sadly, our society right now feels that selfishness is natural. Everyone is looking out for themselves. What Acharya Shankara is encouraging us to do is to feel that selfishness is unnatural. Reflect on that – when you make decisions, who are you making these decisions for? Try to make it natural that you make decisions not for yourself, but rather for the community and for society. And as you reflect on this and practice this, make selfishness “un-optional.” When you make decisions, the decision where you are the focus is not an option. Our practice to do this is to guide gratitude.
Verse 1/Practice 5: papaughah paridhuyatam
Our fifth practice: papaughah paridhuyatam means “this accumulation of sins, wash them away.” And I like this visual of washing sins away. Some insight into sin – some religions teach that the original sin is wealth. Then all of us are sinners – I’m using a laptop, this is my wealth. Some religions teach that the original sin is women/woman. Now that’s half the world and more than half of our seekers. In Sanatana Dharma, the original sin is forgetting who you are. In Sanskrit, that is called avidya. When you forget who you are REALLY, that is the same as forgetting how to be happy. And so if I forget how to be happy, then what comes from that is kama or desires. If I travel this far, I will be happy. If I get into this college, I will be happy. And when you have such desires, that then triggers karma – you have to do, and do, and do – for us that’s “busy-ness.” Avidya, kama, and karma in Vedanta is known as the hridaya granthi – the knots in one’s heart. This is what makes our personality feel small and insecure. So this original sin makes us feel like this, and then as we go about living, if we are not trying to untie this knot, we are essentially protecting ignorance – that which keeps me forgetful of how to be happy. It’s very esoteric to say “I don’t sin, I don’t kill people, I don’t steal” but if you feel farther from happiness, that is paapa whether you like it or not. The practice to follow for this is to speak positively. If I say, I hate you, who heard that first? First, I heard it in my mind because I thought it, then my mouth said it, then my ears heard it before you. So when I speak negatively, I am becoming more distant from myself. Speak positively to open that knot. Think of a relationship you are struggling with, if you speak negatively does that person become more open or closed to you. That’s why when we debrief on retreats, etc – we have a practice of 2 praises and a problem. Speak positively.
Verse 1/Practice 6: bhavasukhe doso nusandhiyatam
Practice 6: Bhavasukhe means the experience of pleasure in sense objects; doso means the deficiency/the trick; nusandhiyatam means reflect on this or understand this. To summarize: try to figure out the trick that sense objects play on you. Understand that there is a deficiency or a defect in pleasure.
Acharya Shankara teaches in another text that there are 5 creatures in the world who are infatuated by a sense object. A deer is infatuated by sound, and that’s how hunters catch deer. An elephant is infatuated by touch, and that’s why the way to capture elephants is during mating season when they touch. A moth is infatuated by sight. When you have a bonfire, the moths come closer and get burned. A fish is infatuated by taste. Even when the worm is on a blade, still the fish goes for the worm. And a bee is infatuated by smell in the sense that they go to a flower or beehive, and can become trapped. Acharya Shankara shares all this and asks – what is the fate of the creature that is infatuated by ALL sense objects, i.e. us! We just run from pleasure to pleasure to pleasure. We all know that pleasure will not fulfill, but still we try to have the right combination/permutation of pleasure to “fulfill” us. We know that we are not going to be complete, but we still try, and what comes built in with pleasure is pain. More seriously, built into pleasure is regret. When you binge watch, you regret it the next morning and if you don’t, you should! And worse though, is when you give into pleasure, when you feel disgusted at yourself. The pleasure owns you – that is the disgusting feeling. When Acharya Shankara says nusandhiyatham, it means “REFLECT to know that this is not just intellectual but also experiential.” This is known as vichara – that which cuts down viksepa. Viksepa is a projection that “if I get this pleasure, I will be complete/more special.” The more you reflect, you do not project this out there. The one who reflects well, knows that pleasure is not what we want or need – quietude is what we want and need. When I am craving ice cream, and I eat the ice cream, is it the ice cream that has brought me any satisfaction? The craving is gone now, and my mind has become quiet. Imagine how powerful I could make my mind without the limitation of needing ice cream. So, if you reflect on that, whatever we experience, there is no joy in it – the joy is coming from myself. I just have to become quieter.
Discussion
Question 1: What encourages you to be distracted?
Vivekji’s insight: Poor sleep hygiene, particularly at night. When I’m sleepy and I stay awake longer, I just don’t make the right decisions. My intellect is so slothful, and I go about indulging in pleasure, or whatever I am doing.
Question 2: What encourages you to be focused?
Vivekji’s insight: Vedanta because Vedanta does not let you go in terms of allowing distraction. In another way, Vedanta openly shares that if you are not focused, then you cannot be happy. For the one who is distracted, where is their happiness? I like the intensity with which Vedanta teaches that. When there is justification for being distracted, we try to justify it more – there is no allowance for that in Vedanta.
Dialogue
Question 1: From last week, Vijayaji shared that compromise is the route to sin. What if I am using a desire for something not ideal as motivation to do something healthy/right? (e.g. Exercising so that I can later eat Taco Bell)
From a high perspective, anything that you do that does not lead you to become independent, is a sin. So you needing to eat Taco Bell, as hard as it is for me to say this, if you need to do that, then you doing that is creating a vasana. So that compromise is leading to you being farther from yourself. But you are sort of atoning for it, so it neutralizes. But that is inefficient toward the pursuit of happiness. You take two steps to go nowhere – you may as well take two steps forward in trying to be independent.
One more thought on compromise and sin. When we come across the word satya (and we did in our last course – 100 steps to infinity), satya is an ideal that you live up to. Only you know if you are living up to that ideal. Nobody else can know that. And if you are not living up to that ideal, then you are not being truthful to yourself. So that’s the rigor with which these ideals must be established in the intellect.
Question 2: Vivekji mentioned that pleasure leads to regret and a feeling of disgust. How do you recenter yourself and move forward when you have those feelings?
Have you experienced pain after succumbing to pleasure? Have you experienced regret/disgust? Do you like feeling pain/regret/disgust? Nobody does. So, the more sensitive one is, the more one will not allow for negativity like pain/regret/disgust to be in their personality. So, if I’m disgusted at how I spoke to you or what I did last night, if I’m a sensitive person, I hate the feeling. So, the next time I have a similar circumstance, I will steer away from that. So how do I become more sensitive? Through swadhyaya – being reflective (read more/write more) – you will become more sensitive, and you will not want to experience these negative feelings.
One more point. 4 karmas: nisiddha (prohibited), kamya (selfish), naimittika (special), nitya (regular). There is actually a 5th one called (prayaschitta karma) – chitta means mind, prayas means to repair. When I do that which is wrong, I should repair my mind by atoning for that by doing that which is right. When you feel these negative emotions, you should overcompensate with that which is right. Real atonement is when you don’t do that which is wrong again.
Question 3: Speaking positively. I understand that one must first quiet the mind, but how do we move beyond simply being aware of the negative thought patterns and move toward rewiring our thoughts such that it is intrinsically positive?
First, I want to challenge you on the point that our environment shapes our mind. I agree that if you are less mature of a seeker (eg a child), then they are intensely affected by the environment. But for a more mature seeker, they have an insulation or immunity to the context because the content is more powerful. I am challenging you to acknowledge what I’m saying – when you have negative thoughts or emotions, understand that’s because of you. You are choosing to fertilize those thoughts, not just the environment. Next, engage in the reflection that speaking and thinking negatively are only associated with costs. To rewire from the negative to the positive, realize that the negativity in our mind is mostly related to people as opposed to objects. If you only look at a person’s body, you will be annoyed by them. If you can be deeper and tune into their mind, then you will start to endure them (everyone’s mind is different). If you can tune into their intellect, you will respect them. If you can tune into their spirit, you will love them. The deeper you go into yourself, the deeper you will go into others. With that depth, there will be a purging of negativity. Do go deep into yourself – swadhyaya.
Question 4: In a profession that requires personality management, I sometimes find that I have to say the thing that supports the collective organization versus acting in the moment authentically to myself. How do I reconcile that?
The higher perspective is to build better relationships with the people that you are managing or working with, that way you can be more honest about you and them. Try to have meaningful relationships where ideals and truth can manifest more. So, if something is wrong or needs to be changed, you can offer that. If offered and it happens, good; if not, you’ve done your part. At a lighter level, if you go with the agreement of what the collective wants, try to compartmentalize that you are only doing this in this context (as a rationale for being “inauthentic” in the moment).
Reflection Adventure of the Week (RAW)/Sadhana:
REVIEW disturbances. Specifically, every day at noon, when you are about to nap/eat/work, think about the past 24 hours and what bothered you. What agitated you. And in your review, if you come to this understanding that I gave into pleasure, in the next 24 hours there’s a higher chance you won’t do it again.