ViBha Class Notes: November 6, 2022
The foremost message of our Vedanta in Bhagavata class: The purpose of our life is to learn how to contemplate on the Infinite, and how we can do that is by following our responsibilities. If we are loyal to our responsibilities, our mind will naturally become quiet, and then we will contemplate on that which is deeper.
A camp that Vivekji is facilitating is titled – Don’t worry be Happy. If we reflect on this message in a deep way, this is the most logical statement. What does worrying do for us? How does it help us? Being happy helps us in all ways, but we don’t feel that right now. So in Vedanta in Bhagavata, we are unlearning that “we should worry and that this is normal”, unlearning that someone else is going to make us happy. And doing this through Shrimad Bhagavata is most natural because the more we are captivated by Bhagavan Krshna, by the teachings of Bhagavan Krshna, unlearning worry and external happiness becomes easy.
We are in a special portion of Shrimad Bhagavata, where we are learning from 24 facets of our experiences, and the most recent number eight was a Dove. What a Dove teaches us is not to be attached. How do we know we are an attached personality? If we make matters personal, and take everything personally. We all have a problem with this. In a beautiful portion on the notion of doership, in the context of children, grand-children, what the Rshi teaches: It is only by Shri Hari, as in Bhagavan Krshna, that we can have a child or a grandchild, or any relationship for that matter. This is so powerful. If we internalize this, we cannot be attached then. All the relationships in our life, we did not create them. They were created for us. This knowledge is so important to help us not become attached.
Here is a fuller framework of creation in terms of our “relativeness” to understand this better – Bhagavan Krshna tends to Srishti (Creator), Stithi (Controller), Samhara (Consumer). Typically, these are the three roles of Bhagavan Krshna that we know of – the Creator, the Controller, the Consumer or Destroyer. Two additional facets: the fourth is Nigraha (Corrector) – whenever we do something wrong in our life, life corrects us. Bhagavan Krshna is facilitating that. And why does Bhagavan do this? The fifth and the most important function of the Divine is Anugraha (Conserver), the One who protects us, guides us, helps us to evolve.
So from the Dove, we learn not to be attached, and how do we know we are attached? If we are attached, we take everything personally. And how can we learn not to be attached? To realize that all the relationships in our lives are facilitated by the Divine. Our specific practice related to the Dove is to serve. How do we know we are serving? We know we are serving if we are sacrificing. Relatedly, if we know we are sacrificing, then we are not serving. If we are looking for recognition or appreciation, then we are not serving.
The ninth teacher from Skanda 11, Chapter 8 – This teacher is a Python – Ajgaraha. What Rshi Dattatreya notices is that an Ajgaraha is mostly just lying around. Sometimes, when food is in front of it, it eats, and when there is no food in front of it, it doesn’t eat. Some insights from Rshi Dattatreya – The world, our lives give us pain even if we don’t work for it. For example, getting old is painful. So logically, life will also give us pleasure, even if we don’t work for it. It is a poor investment to work for pleasure. The pleasures that we are working for in this world are also available in hell.
If we work hard for what we want, and we get it according to our timeline and expectation, what is life or the Divine trying to teach us? To be grateful – grateful for the opportunity that we worked, and that what we worked for has come into our life. If we work hard and smart for what we want, and we don’t get it according to our timeline or expectation, what is life trying to teach us? To be faithful – that we will get what we want and what we need, but not according to our projection. The most profound is if we work hard and smart and we don’t get it, what is the Divine trying to teach us? To be peaceful – that we don’t need it, and if we needed it, we would have received it.
So instead of working for pleasure, we should work to become more grateful, more faithful and more peaceful.
Here is our practice related to the Python – to quieten. The quieter our mind is, the less we work for pleasure. The quieter our mind is, the less we feel pain. So instead of investing in pleasure, as pleasure will bring pain, we should invest in being quieter. This is a constant message in our culture. What is the most sacred or satvik celebration in Sanatana Dharma? It is Maha Shivaratri, a celebration that focuses on quietude. On that day, we are supposed to shut down our senses, or not engage our senses in any way that we do not need to.
Our tenth teacher is the Ocean. What Rshi Dattatreya noticed about the ocean is that when it rains a lot, and the rivers feed the Ocean, the Ocean doesn’t rise. And when the sun is beating down on the Ocean intensely, it doesn’t shrink. The philosophy of the Ocean is that the Ocean on the surface is bubbly as there are constant waves and bubbles, but if we go to the depth of the Ocean, there are no bubbles, no waves, only silence. So for us, as we interact with people, we should be bubbly and cheerful, and not shallow. We shouldn’t interact with someone just so that they like us. We should have that depth and silence to be happy whether someone likes us or not.
Another insight from the ocean is that if sense objects come into our life, especially a lot at one time, and if sense objects leave our life, in both cases we should not be elated nor depressed. We should be balanced. The ocean metaphysically is an icon for balance. The word used is munih, the one who is silent. Munih – manana sheelavan – the one who uses his time for reflection and is good at it. Munih Narayana Parah – A muni is one who is reflecting on Bhagavan Narayana, specifically that Bhagavan Narayana is their priority. If sense objects come, fine, if sense objects go, fine.
Our practice is – to deepen. Vivekji has shared that we should reflect at noon on what disturbed us that day. At night, we should review what made us quiet that day. A deep person is not disturbed by context. They are quiet as that is their content. External disturbances do not shake them.
Vivekji also added with reference to the Ocean – The fact today is that ocean levels are rising. He has read that Sanatana Dharma is the first religion that is affected by global warming because so much of our religion is intertwined with the environment. For example, Amarnath is made up of ice. Too hot, no ice, as if no Amarnath! If we think about the Ganga, she is not just a river, but she’s the Goddess. And it was hard for Vivekji to share that eventually the physical Ganga will dry up too! The metaphysical one is up to us, but the physical Ganga will dry up just like so many other rivers in America that are already drying up.
We have now completed 10 of the 24 teachers. Summarizing what we learned:
- Earth – to forgive
- Air – to purify
- Fire – to absorb
- Water – to refresh
- Space – to accept
- Moon – to observe
- Sun – to share
- Dove – to serve
- Python – to quieten
- Ocean – to deepen
In our next class, Vivekji will introduce five teachers, even though six are included. These five are very popular in Sanatana Dharma. They are specifically referenced in Vivekachudamini by Acharya Shankara. The five teachers are – the moth, the bee, the elephant, the honey gatherer, the deer and the fish. Why these five teachers are special is because each of these five are infatuated by one sense organ. A fish is infatuated by taste and even though it can see that the worm is on a hook, it goes after what it feels is tasty. Now imagine the fate of that creature that is infatuated by all sense organs?
Discussion:
Should we be less materialistic and why? Write a poem on these 10 teachers.
RAW: Practice to serve, to quieten, to deepen.