Subodha Vedanta Class Notes – March 24, 2024

Vivekji shared that he is planning to give a talk on Faith helps healing and that the prayer we chant at the start of our class Om Sahanaa Vavatu is most universal and it shares – “May we be safe, May we enjoy, May we exert, May we shine – apply what we are learning, May we understand. If we follow through with these, then there will be Peace inside, Peace nearby and Peace far away”. 

So much of the knowledge or what we know, we use for proving and competing, basically we externalize the knowledge. However, when it comes to Self Development, it is not about competing or proving or externalizing, but it is just about ourselves. It is about our not so good version competing against our better version and our best version. That is why after seven and a half years after investing in our grand Maps like the Ramayana and the Bhagavata, we are now investing in a shorter and simpler Map called Subodha Vedanta, which basically means Clarity about Self Development – to be clear about it. When we are clear about Self Development, we will stop asking others – How are you? Instead, we will ask them – Are you happy?. How are you tends to be about the context, but Are you Happy is about the content. Normally, when we are asked – Are you happy?, we tend to deflect. And when we say we are happy for a reason, then we are not really happy as when we are happy for a reason, then that reason will come and go. 

Summarizing the Chapters studied so far:

Chapter 1: Invocation

Chapter 2: Disciple

Chapter 3: Guide

Chapter 4: Spirit

Chapter 6: Faith

Chapter 5: Divinity or God

Continuing with Chapter 5 on Divinity or God, we tend to approach God in an artistic way. If we are asked – How does God look? How does Divinity Sound? – there is an artist’s image of that. Looking at an altar, some of us may see Bhagavati Lakshimi, some of us may see Bhagavati Radha, and some others Bhagavati Sita. That is an artist imaging our interpretation. But in this chapter, God or Divinity is defined as Existence or Sat. That is not open to interpretation – Existence IS, whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not. 

So, let us try to train to live less in a gross way and more in a subtle way, in a causal way – We see a pen, and we can say it exists, but if it exists, there has to be something more than exists, which is Existence. The pen is gross, it exists is subtle, but Existence is irrespective of it being a pen or the pen existing. So that is causal. We have to train ourselves to have such a narrative. 

Another example is looking at seeds which over time can become a tree. It is from this Existence of the seed that the potential for so much more to exist, happens. So if we are asked – What is God? What is Divinity? – the most universal explanation is that God is Existence, irrespective of the religion or spirituality we follow. 

Chapter 5 – Verse 3: 

Sadeva kaaranam tasmaat tatsvashaktyaayutam prabhuh

Ishvarah sa hi vijneyah yaa hi tvam sharanam vibhum

Sat eva kaaranam tasmaat – Therefore, the final cause of creation is Existence. We can deny a lot about ourselves, but we cannot deny that we exist. That is the most fundamental part of who we are. 

Svashakti aayutam prabhuh – This Existence is endowed with its own power and is independent. That is why we call this Existence Prabhu, Lord, Master. 

Ishvarah sa hi vijneyah – And this is what we should know in life. More important than any IQ or EQ is to know the foundation, that is SQ or Spiritual Quotient. 

Yaa hi tvam sharanam vibhum – To this great Presence, we should know This and we should Be This. 

This is how Chapter 5 is concluded.

Vivekji asked how many of us believed in God, Divinity, then followed by asking how many of us know God/Divinity. Fewer hands were up for knowing God. What happened between believing and knowing? What is missing between believing and knowing is Faith. Faith is a facility that changes us from believing to knowing. So the next question is – How do we develop Faith? How does one become more faithful? By reflection or manana. If we feel we don’t know Divinity enough, perhaps it is because we do not reflect on Divinity enough. Wisdom comes with reflection. We typically reflect in a casual way, reflecting while we are doing other things like eating, driving, washing dishes, messaging and so on. We don’t just reflect. Instead, we should reflect in an intense way, in a vyashti way. This is how knowing comes to be. 

Chapter 7 is on Inquiry into the Ends. What is the difference between Inquiry and Enquiry? An example of this difference is – The government sets up an enquiry commission, but for us it is inquiry – Are we following the means or following the ends? 

Chapter 7 verse 1: This is Verse 18 of the book.

Saadhyate saadhanenaiva saadhyam kimapi kenacit

Apraaptasya hi praaptyartham jnaanam karma ca saadhanam

Saadhyate – means can attain or can get.

Saadhanena eva – means you can only get if there is the right path or process

Saadhyam – is the ends

Kimapi kenacit – only through this can we get to the goal

If we want to reach the ends, we have to have the right means. For example to measure sound, we use decibels and to measure liquids, we use liters. We cannot measure sound in liters. If we are clear about the ends, then we will become clear about the means, but if we are unclear about the ends, we are not clear about the means. 

The more relevant line is –

Apraaptasya hi praaptyartham – if we don’t have something or it is ungained

Praaptyartham – to gain this we have to do two things

Jnaana and karma – We have to know and act.

This is the saadhana or means.

If we do not have something in our lives and want it, then we have to know everything about it fully and then act on it to get it. However, if we already have something, but are not feeling it, then the sadhana is not knowing and doing, but just knowing. For example, suppose we wake up early and are groggy. We put on our glasses and then forget that they are on and think that we need to find our glasses. What do we need to do to feel those glasses? We don’t need to do anything as we are already wearing them. We just need to know that we are already wearing them and that in itself will help us see better. We just need to know it. 

So now – Who is the source of our Joy? It is ourselves. We are already the source of our Joy, but are not feeling this. So we just need to know this. That is what is most powerful about spirituality and Self-Development. We don’t need a specific context. We do not have to go anywhere, as that Peace is us. So we have to find our Peace wherever we are. Those who reject this, they become escapists. They keep trying to change their context, instead of changing their content. What are some ways in society that people escape? Watching too many movies, too much alcohol, and according to Vivekji, being a workaholic. Some people work and work and work, escaping from working on themselves, their own competitive nature. This is easily justified for them. They are working on the context and not on the content.

Final thoughts: We started our satsanga today by understanding what Holika dahana is, which is dropping that which is wrong and holding that which is right. 

We are doing this through Subodha Vedanta, that is clarity on self-development, to not theorize this, but to follow this.

There is a big difference between knowing about happiness and knowing happiness. It is not passive, but it is active. 

Chapter 5 is about God, Divinity, Existence being most universal. 

It is for us to train ourselves to have a more causal narrative, and not live in a gross way. 

Chapter 7 is on inquiry. If we do not have something and want it, we have to know it and then do it. But in terms of being Happiness, we cannot create Happiness and once we are clear about that, we stop trying to create Happiness by manipulating the context and instead, we inquire more. Upon inquiring more, we have to know what we are, not who we are. When we are sleeping, we don’t know what time it is, what season it is, but when we are sleeping, we are happy and we know nothing, which means we have nothing, but we are still there. We do not know what is limiting us in terms of clothing and money and so on. But we cannot deny we are not there, as our being is there. Trying to create joy is tiring.

Discussion: What can we do to be less intellectual about Happiness and to experience Happiness more?

Vivekji shared that when we get tired of theory that is when we really start to apply. “Theory doesn’t affect people’s lives” – from Oppenheimer. When we see the deficiency of theory, application comes more naturally. 

RAW: Try reflecting only, without engaging in another action at the same time.