Class Notes by Bhargavi
When Raja Chitraketu is mourning over his son’s death, Rishi Narada pulls out the jiva/ego from the body of the child that is wrapped up so that the King can ask him why did he have to leave him and go. The ego/jiva asks the King father from which one of his lifetimes he was. Raja Chitraketu was stunned by this answer and he understood that the ego and all in front of the go is every changing, i.e all articles, beings and circumstances. All that is behind the ego, the Spirit, is never changing. This dialogue with the jiva of his son helped him come out of that sorrow. Our situation is similar because we experience stress, sorrow, anxiety due to our dependence and ownership of that which is changing. We are always engaged in a game of trying to make the everchanging to never changing. We should stop having this sadness, anxiety and just say enough to all this. Drig Drishya Viveka is a magnifying glass to who we are.
Recap of verse 3: We explored that the condition of the eyes is known by the mind. The big picture that this verse is communicating is that the body is the worker and the mind is the manager. Though they have separate functions, they have deep identifications between each other. This is a problem because this leads to lack of objectification. Identification leads to lack of objectification. The mind takes ownership of whatever the body experiences. In reality, the experiences of the body and mind are purely their own (objectification). Even though the mind is not that powerful, it is the power of the ego that causes this identification to occur. The sole “function” of the ego is to identify. Unlike other equipment, it has no other function but to identify and proclaim doership. In Sanskrit, Ego is called “Ahamkara” (Aham karoti, one that says “I am the doer”). Therefore, It is this ego that feels bound. In our journey towards freedom, it is this ego (not the body because it doesn’t know bondage or freedom; not the spirit because it is unconditional) that is going to become free. “Seek not the innocence of a child, rather the purity of a saint”. This quote reminds us to strive to be like a saint that has let go of doership by destroying his ego whereas a child’s ego is dormant and will express as he grows to become an adult. We want a permanent stoppage of our ego.
Verse 4: As Acharya Shankara is flowing from objects to eyes, eyes to mind and mind to spirit, this verse focuses on the mind and is an intense magnification of the types of thoughts we have in the mind. In Bhagavatam, Bhagavan Krishna is described to have 16008 wives, eight of who are named and rest are unnamed. The symbolism of this is that we tend to have 8 types of thoughts and 16000 are the types of thoughts within these that are vast and diverse.
The literal meaning of the verse is that the Chit (Awareness) is one and it illumines all kinds of thoughts like Kama, Sankalpa, Sandeha, Shraddha, Ashraddha, Dhriti, Itara, HIr, Dhir, bhir, etc. Kama or desirous thoughts; sankalpa or resolution thoughts, sandeha or doubtful thoughts are the first ones listed. The most potent of these is the Kama or desirous thoughts. This thought leads to all other thoughts. Desires arise due to feeling of incompleteness. We should try to change the narrative about our thoughts. We should ask why do we feel that our thoughts are real. Any answer that we give to this is a subjective/personal answer and we will never find a logical proof to why we feel our thoughts are real. When we change the narrative on the thoughts and the feeling of incompleteness, we will start to stop taking the thoughts seriously. Rishi Prahlada asked Lord Narasimha the only boon he wanted was to not have boons (meaning not have any desires). He asks the Lord to put a lid on his heart (the three knots or Hridayagranthi in our heart are Avidya, Kama, Karma which translate to incompleteness, desires, busyness). By asking the Lord to put a lid, he is requesting Bhagavan to cut the knots of Avidya, Kama, Karma.
Santa Tukaram, an enlightened master, not only sends Riddhi and Siddhi (powers), who had been sent to him by Bhagavan back, he also asks them not to come back again to him.
The next four thoughts are faithful and unfaithful; determination and hesitation. We feel separate from the infinite because we believe in the mind more than how we know the mind. We are so engaged in the content of the thoughts than the nature of a thought.
The other kinds of thoughts are Hri (shyness), Dhi (understanding) and Bhi (fear). Acharya Shankara hereby lists a total of 10 thoughts and goes into such details so we can relate to them as we experience them in our lives. These details will help us practice the teaching easily. We the subjects can never become the objects we study in objective sciences (history, management, etc). On the other hand, in subjective science (Brahmavidya), as we think so we develop. The one who knows Brahman, re-becomes Brahman. However, before we can shift from object to the subject (know what’s behind the mind), we have to raise the quality of the thoughts. One with an impure mind will never feel that there is anything more to them than the mind. A pure mind will be more reflective and realize that there is a light behind the thoughts. Simplest way to raise the quality of thoughts is Japa. Replace the quantity of thoughts by having one type of high quality thought or at the least reduce the not so positive thoughts like fear, shyness thoughts. Bhagavan’s name in the form of Mantra (Japa) is an Avatara because the name comes before the form. Japa IS the Avatara!
Chit (Awareness) is only one and it is Illumination! (Bha=light sayati). It is Sva-drik (self effulgent), it is the only entity that has its own, independent light. We can get to be Sva-drik by living like Padmaja (Padma= Lotus, Ja= Where its born from). Lotus is born in muddy waters but itself is never muddy. Another way to think of this is Kamala, Ka= Happiness, mala=impurity. We should be the Ka (happiness) even when surrounded by Mala (impurity). The implication here is “Live in the world but don’t be of the world”! Subject interacts with the objects but itself never succumbs to feeling it is an object. We should all live like that!