ViBha Class Notes: December 18, 2022
This morning, Vivekji posted a RAD from Shri Ramakrishna on our social media, “Divine love is an end in itself. It exists potentially in all human hearts, but in the case of bound creatures, it is mis-directed to earthly objects”. Distilling this further, Bhakti is the ends – everyone has the potential to be a bhakta. We are creatures of habit and don’t love what lives inside of us, but love what is outside of us. Vedanta in Bhagavata is a training to grow out of being bound and to grow into being a Bhakta. If we love what is outside of us, we get bound. If we love what is inside of us, we become a Bhakta.
Today, we complete our 138th hour of Vedanta in Bhagavata, and we have only 30 more hours to complete which will complete a week of hours of this study. There are many here who have studied different Advaita Vedanta Scriptures, like Tattva Bodha, Atma Bodha, Pancha Dashi, etc. In all of these texts, one of the beginning messages is about the Sadhana Chatushtaya which means the qualifications needed to follow this path. In other words, the Sadhana Chatushtaya is a prerequisite for reaching the Sadhya or ends, enlightenment, Joy. The same message is being shared in Bhagavata.
The majority of the hours of this course has been about Bhagavan Krshna’s life. Why did He take up being an Avatara? What He did as an Avatara? The portion we are in now is shifting from His life to His teachings. Rshi Uddhava wants to know how Dharma will succeed without Shri Krshna, and Bhagavan shares with him to Direct the Mind. What confuses us about Dharma or our responsibilities is our own mind, likes and dislikes and so on. In technical Vedanta, this is called Samadhi. Sam means well, aa means towards, and dhi means placed, implying the mind should be well placed towards Bhagavan Krshna or the Spirit.
We think we live in the outer world, but hope we are practicing being reflective enough to know that we live in our inner world. We call the inner world antahkarana. When our inner world is projecting, it is called vikshepa, and that is when the mind is dominating. What to do when we are lost in this life of projecting and overthinking? The counter to projecting is reflecting, and that is Vichara, when the intellect dominates. In the Bhagavad Gita, we see a lovely shift from the mind dominating to the intellect dominating. Vivekji is sharing all this since this is what Bhagavan Krshna shares with Rshi Uddhava and then gives him a visual by sharing about Rshi Dattatreya – one who is most reflective, ever engaged in vichara, learning from his own intellect.
Reviewing all 23 directions of learning and our respective practices:
- Earth – our practice is forgive
- Air – our practice is purify
- Fire – our practice is absorb
- Water – our practice is refresh
- Space – our practice is accept
- Moon – our practice is observe
- Sun – our practice is share
- Dove – our practice is serve
- Python – our practice is quieten
- Ocean – our practice is deepen
- Moth – our practice is appreciate
- Honeybee -our practice is learn
- Elephant – our practice is move
- Honey Gatherer – our practice is commit
- Deer – our practice is inquire
- Fish – our practice is exercise
- Courtesan – our practice is associate
- Osprey – our practice is simplify
- Teenager – our practice is seclude
- Arrowsmith – our practice is unitask. When we are absorbed, like in Samadhi, we shift from the article to Awareness. For example, if we are extremely contemplative on this pencil, an article, and then as we become more authentic and deep, it is no more about this article, but we are feeling Awareness then.
- Snake – our practice is utilize. Rshi Dattatreya identifies our homes, but is actually generalizing this and saying why invest in all that is uncertain. If we expand this to people, if we are around people who are undependable, the more we invest in them, the more disappointed we will be. He also shares that anything material, including our home, we are going to leave it here. When we die, we cannot take any of our possessions with us. We can only take our Dharma, so we should shift our investment.
- Spider – our practice is release. A spider’s web comes from a spider, and it stays in that web, and then it retracts that web. For us to try to feel that – From the Creator has come creation, and this creation will go back to the Creator. We are always living with and in the Creator. This web has come from the Creator, and He is in this web, and we will go back to the Creator.
Another thought related to this which will be our RAM until we meet next in January – Vivekji would like us to keep an image of Bhagavan near all of our time keeping devices to remind us that we are all slaves to time, but to reflect that time has a Master, and that Master is Bhagavan. So instead of being slaves to time, we should start to feel that time is actually an expression of Bhagavan.
- Insect – our practice is model. What is the first step towards self development? It is satsanga. When we are engaging in satsanga, we are engaging in “Sat”. This is how we are connected to the Truth.
One more thought – Before we were vaccinated for COVID, we were so careful when interacting with people. Everyone was very careful of their company as it was a matter of life and death. Now that was just for a virus! The mind and negativity are exponentially more impactful. We must therefore be very careful of our company.
- Body – Teacher 24 is Rshi Dattatreya’s own body. In Sanskrtam, it is called Deha. The word Deha means that which burns. From the time we were born, the body is burning away. Life is a terminal condition as we are all going to die.
Skanda 11:9:25 – Rshi Dattatreya shares that his own body guided him to independence and prioritization. The cause for that and additional details are shared in Verses 25-29, and Vivekji suggested we read it ourselves.
From Verse 28 only – “In the early stages of the creative cycle, the Lord brought into existence by His power, various types of beings – trees, serpents, animals, birds, insects, fish. Not being satisfied with any of these forms, He felt pleased when He brought into existence the human body endowed with the type of intelligence suited for understanding Brahman, the Supreme Being.” ONLY WE can feel Bhagavan Krshna – animals cannot, plants cannot, stones cannot. So if we are not working towards this, then maybe it is an insult to call ourselves a human. That is all shared in these teachings.
Our practice is sacrifice. We must use this body in a dedicated way, so much so that we don’t even know that this body is being sacrificed. If we are always feeling that we should be dedicated to the body, we will be miserable as it gets older. When we are not comfortable, we can never tune into the big picture. Those who are practicing sacrifice come to have the right relationship with the body – that the body is ours, but it is not us. If we are clear that this body is ours, then it cannot be us.