Class Notes by Bhargavi

We all are familiar with the story of when Bhudevi (mother earth) transformed into a cow (gomata) when she was suffering due to the atrocities of the asuras who had disguised as rulers. She approached Bhagavan Bramha for help but Lord Bramha directs her to Bhagavan Narayana who had the abilities to destroy the asuras. Bhagavan Narayana who was already aware of the devastation caused by the asuras, told Bhudevi that he was going to manifest as Shri Krishna.

When we contemplate on this story more deeply, when we are sad and suffering, we should gather our body. “Go” (in reference to “gomata”) means senses. When the senses are in need of help, they go to the intellect (Bhagavan Bramha). The trained intellect in turn directs the body and itself to the spirit/Awareness (Bhagavan Narayana). Awareness already knows how to be happy because awareness is happiness. This story from Shrimad Bhagavatam is teaching us that contemplation is the only way to be independently joyous. Our course is designed for us to understand and appreciate the same. Only Dikha nivritti (escaping from pain) does not work as it is temporary. Just as Bhudevi did not go to lesser parties (external world) for help, we should also tune into the spirit for Sukha Prapti to embrace peace.

The scripture of Drig Drishya Viveka is both practical and technical. A manual for self-development should be practical because practicality leads to purity whereas technicality of a text leads to clarity. Only with purity can we understand and appreciate clarity. These qualifications of the text and seeker are needed because we are studying subjective science of knowing who we are. To internalize this, we have to change our learning techniques. This text is guiding us to unlearn. When we unlearn dependency, we release independence. Acharya Shanaka is our teacher who is teaching us this technique. He is considered to be an avatara of Lord Shiva. Only an expression of God can help us realize God inside and outside.

Recap of verse 12: Acharya Shankara shared that the antahkarana is engaged with bahikarana (As, Bs, and Cs: articles, beings and circumstances). In other words, the inner world is engaged with the outer doer, the body which in turn is engaged with As, Bs, and Cs. The As, Bs, and Cs depend on the body and the body is dependent on the inner doer, the mind, ego, etc. This shows us that all of these are “seen” (and dependent) and are different from the “seer” (independent). Behind the mind and ego is the spirit (Lord Narayana).

Recap of verse 13: The experienced, the experiencing and the experiencer are not real. They are not the truth. All that is real and true is Infinity. So the question “why is this experienced, why am I experiencing, why am I the experiencer” is invalid because these are not real to begin with. The reason they seem real is Maya. Maya cannot be directly experienced, can only be inferred. We can infer the presence of Maya in this way: Maya expresses as gunas, ropes. They make us limited and feel small. Tamas covers the “seer” and we start to feel there is no absolute. This leads to rajas making us feel that there is only the “seen” and this “seen” is the absolute. We come out of this by Sattva, bringing it to our lifestyle (way you work, sleep, eat, drink, work, etc). By doing so, the reality of the “seen” is put in order and we have the right relationship with the “seen” realizing that it in fact not absolute but relative. Once we realize that, we begin to understand that if there is a relative, then there has to be an absolute underneath. When we reach this understanding, Sattva transitions from lifestyle into a vision. The “seer” is then reestablished as the absolute.

Verse 14: In this verse, Maya is defined most clearly. The creation is an expression of forms and names. All of creation which includes us is an expression of forms (rūpa) and names (nāma). In our outer world, form comes first and a name soon follows. In our inner world, names come before form. Brahman name comes first in our minds and we then try to objectify it by trying to associate with a form for Brahman. These names and forms are just an expression just like the actual colorless (white light) rainbow expresses the spectrum of colors. All of creation is on Brahman, which is of the form of Sat, Chit, Ananda. Names depend on forms, and forms depend on existence (inner world) OR forms depend on names, and names depend on existence (outer world). Existence awareness is undeniable whereas forms change and deniable. Existence is unchangeable. We are assessing our experiences on a superficial level and not deeply enough because subtly we have superimposed forms and names on to existence, awareness. We did this ourselves and we are not ready to change it and let go. We should treat names and forms as relative just as the water that goes down the drain. Every relationship is relative, Bhagavan Krishna is Shrimad Bhagavad Gita shares that Arjuna should not grieve or rejoice for those that do not deserve to be grieved or rejoiced for, in other words we should not be dependent on them. To further explain, Acharya Shankara gives the example of foam in the ocean. The ocean expresses as ocean and the further implication is that ocean in turn is an expression of water. In the language of devotion, Bhakta depends on Bhagavan and Bhagavan depends on Brahman. Brahman is completely independent. Our mind is wrecking this for us. It is the mind that is feeling that there is no absolute and the relative is instead the absolute. “The mind is a beautiful servant or a dangerous master”. If the mind is the master, we are living for the relative as if it’s the absolute. However, if the mind is the servant, we have the right relationship with the relative knowing that it is different from the absolute. The mind is unimaginably powerful. Is it possible for you to prove that you are not dreaming right now (as you are reading this)? You cannot and it proves that the mind is therefore also capable of mixing up relative and absolute.

How can we make the mind our servant? Using a reference from Upadesha Sara, The nāma and rūpa are the “idam” (this) part of a thought and this is always changing. Deeper than nāma and rūpa is guna and dhāma (“aham” /existence awareness part of the thought). When we experience As, Bs, and Cs, we should acknowledge their names and forms but start to focus on their guna and this could mean knowing that this is just a combination of elements. We move from nāma (most different) to rūpa (less different) to guna (even less different) and finally takes us to dhāma. Dhāma is the existence, awareness, joy, the foundation. We can make the mind our servant by shifting our focus during our experience: from names, to form, to qualities to the support/basis of all these. This is taught to Swetaketu is taught by his father (in Chandogya Upanishad, Chapter 6): “Sat eva (only existence) Sowmya (one whose nature is peaceful) idam (the teaching) agra (in the beginning) asit (was)”, meaning “was in the beginning only existence, then gunas, rūpa, nāma came. We should therefore change our focus.