Class notes by Sharmila

A quality of a Sathguru that we don’t come across often is Daksha. The genesis of this is: When one is with a Sathguru, they are offering Siddhanta (teachings/insights), which we cannot navigate ourselves. They communicate this Siddhanta through a Drishtanta (an example from the seeker’s life) and they have to be Kushala in that, which means they have to be agile and nimble in sharing examples for that insight to be understood. If the Sathguru has to be Daksha, that is agile and nimble,so does the Shishya! Shishya has to be one who makes this insight real. This comes through Manana. We will know we are engaged in Manana, when we feel that there is a difference between Maya and Brahma. If we feel there is no difference, then that means Manana never happened and even the unreal will feel real! This insight has to be made personal, and that happens through contemplation, where we will feel this in our individuality. The Upanishad is not a scripture/culture to ‘live with Vedanta’, it is a culture to ‘live Vedanta’. Living ‘with’ shows that the subject matter has a secondary priority, but living vedanta shows that this has a primary priority. We are doing it because it is our purpose and not for something. 

This is what makes a Sathguru a Sathguru, they don’t teach for shishyas, they teach! The shishya should have that same rigor of what to do with the Upanishad. 

Recap of Lesson 19: When one reaches the Gurudwara, it is like an entry point to the next dwara which is Jnanadwara. One has to walk through the entrance of knowledge to be free, there is no other entrance. 

Kathopanishad 1.2.12 (1st Adhyaya, 2nd Valli, 12th Mantra): 

Tam durdarsham gudham anupravishtam guhahitam gahvareshtam puranam

Adhyatma yogadhigamena devam matva dhiro harsha shokau jahati

The highlight of this verse is ‘adhyatma yoga’, it is uniting with that which is closest to us, which is the Atma. Another word for yoga is bhakti. The end of lesson 19, Pujya Swami Tejomayananda proposes – what about those who feel that they are devoted and practice dedication, does it mean they don’t go through Jnanadwara? – yoga and bhakti are synonymous with each other! When we practice bhakti, we are holding to that which is the primary priority and that which is real. If we are holding on to that tightly, we let go of that which is secondary priority and that which is unreal. 

We practice bhakti in a utility way and not a natural way.

When we study the Mahabharata, there is a lot of emphasis on Ashrama dharma (responsibilities based on position in life). For one who practices Sanyasa, they internally acknowledge their own death. It is like putting death to death itself! They have died to all that which is a secondary priority and all that which is unreal, and they continue to live the primary priority, the real. One of the indications of someone who is practicing Sanyasa is they offer ‘Abhaya’ (courage) to everyone they interact with. They do not intimidate those who they interact with. They also change their gothra (lineage) to Achyutha which means one who never fell/one who is never born. 

The proposition that Pujya Guruji is making in a comprehensive way is – we are emphasizing Jnana so much, what about bhakti?

So what is shared here is that adhyatma yoga is bhakti. Bhakti is holding on to let go. Our culture is designed for this.

Our sense of individuality is extreme, and with social media it is even more extreme. So any attempt we make at dissolving our individuality , that is the same attempt in establishing our infinity. 

This class (Lesson 20): Jivanmukta is the messaging of lesson 20. How does one become a Jivanmukta? First, how does one become a seeker? The two factors that make one a seeker are grace and effort. Guruji shares that it starts with our effort, and with our effort comes grace. Effort can be understood as Sattva. Those who have lived in a saatvik way, they go from being searchers to seekers and a refinement in seeking is to be a disciple (Sishya). With Sattva comes kripa. When compared to Rajas and Tamas, Sattva makes us closer to who we are. Rajas and Tamas make us farther from who we are. If we are insecure, then we are far from who we are, which means we are living in a tamasic and rajasic way. But someone who is secure, they know who they are, they are comfortable with who they are and they are living in a saatvik way. 

The narrative that Pujya Swami Tejomayananda presents in Lesson 20 is ‘Paapa and Punya’. It is by us living in a punya (comes from punaati meaning to purify) way , that we are dissolving what is holding us back from us! That is how we become a disciple. If one lives in a paapa (comes from paati) way – ajnaanam rakshati (that which protects ignorance), it makes us farther from who we are (Tamas and Rajas). One has to most definitely be a Sishya before becoming a Jivanmukta. To become a Sishya one has lived by sattva and kripa (our own momentum carries us to a Satguru). 

Mundaka Upanishad (1st Mundaka, 2nd Khanda, 12th mantra) 1.2.12:

parikshya lokaankarmacitaanbraahmaNo nirvedamaayaanaastyakrtaH krtena 

tadvijnaanaartham sa gurumevaabhigacchetsamitpaaNiH shrotriyam brahmanishTham 

When we want to be Brahmanishta (Jivanmukta), then we have to associate with one who is striving for that. So if one wants to be a Jivanmukta, then what precedes that is a Satguru, what precedes the Satguru is Kripa, what precedes Kripa is Sattva, and how we know we are living in a saatvik way is that we feel more confident. If we are not confident in a worldly way, then how can we be confident in a metaphysical way?! 

Another word for Brahmanishta is Jivanmukta (free while living). This term is very much for students/us.  All we have to do is to know that we are free. When we are dreaming, all we have to do is to know the waking state, and that has to become our nature. Then comprehensively the dream is established as a dream. This knowing comes from Satguru (which comes from Kripa, which comes from Sattva).

What a Satguru really catalyzes for us is – when we are in the Jnana dwara, what comes next is nidhidhyasana (contemplation), where we change – ‘Aham taya’ (sense of I), and we experience the sense of I forever. Right now we have made the object the subject, primarily the equipments like ego, intellect, mind, breath and body and we have made the subject (I) into the object. 

In the original Bhagavata, Bhagavan Narayana tells Bhagavan Brahma – infinity is real and illusion is unreal. He also warns Bhagavan Brahma that people will make illusion as real and infinity as not real/not existent! This Aham taya (sense of I) is Viparita (erroneous) right now and contemplation is the way to change this, we have to contemplate for a long time. Everytime we contemplate, the scale moves from body to spirit. For the one who is a Jivanmukta, sattva, kripa and Satguru are not applicable. For the one who is mukta, paapa and punya don’t apply to them. When we study the lakshanas or characteristics of one who is free, that becomes our Sadhana. Throughout the Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavan Krishna plants these seeds in Prince Arjuna’s personality and he keeps asking to hear more, and eventually those become his characteristics. 

Paapa is like a result and it comes from Raga (likes). When we have likes and dislikes in our actions, what comes from that is punya and more so paapa. Raga comes from ahamkara (doership). If we have to be like a mukta to whom paapa/punya don’t apply, then we should tend to our likes and dislikes. Likes and dislikes cannot be an option in our lifestyle. How do we know if we are doing this? The more we feel that an article/being/circumstance is different from us the more we will dislike it. The more we feel dvaita is real , the more dvesha there will be. If we have way less likes, then that means there is more oneness. 

Mundaka Upanishad is highlighting someone who is Jivanmukta. Jivanmukta is not a perspective of the one who is free but it is for the one who wants to be free. For the one who is free, they did this through contemplation. We have to practice contemplation for long and that is how we change what I means (from body to breath to mind to intellect to ego to spirit). 

Contemplation is taught by a Guru, Guru comes from Kripa, Kripa comes from Sattva. Some ways to live Vedanta and live sattva are: To tend to our paapa, we should have less raga, we should treat all as our responsibility and feel that it is bringing us towards oneness.