Class Notes by Bhargavi Rao
Swami Tejomayanda ji shared that “Anything in any place at any time can happen to anyone”. Even though we all know this, Guruji speaks with faith in this understanding and we don’t. That is why we exert so much for external security in the form of articles, circumstances and beings. In Shrimad Bhagavatam, it is shared that in our first phase of our life, we have to be less concerned with appearances, in the second phase we ought to be less concerned with articles. Another word for Upanishad is Sankhya, relating to the Self/Spirit. Spirit is ALL. Only ALLNESS can provide real security. This is a valuable experience where we shift from external security to internal security.
Lesson 20: Jeevanmukta. The more one nurtures Sattva, the more one will be advantaged with Kripa. Kripa takes the form of Sadguru. Being with Sadguru is like a Guru dvara which leads us to Jnana dvara which in turn leads to Nididhyasana dvara. One cannot contemplate in a Vedic way without Knowledge. One cannot appreciate and understand knowledge in a vedic way without a guide (Sadguru). Any contemplation done without knowledge and Guru is simply lower or higher forms of relaxation, it is not real contemplation. Contemplation is when we change what we feel we are forever. Every time we contemplate, we move closer to Brahman and farther from the body. Zooming into Nidhidhyasana dvara, our ego separates infinity into many finites. Once this separation happens, it starts to identify with the separation. When one practices contemplation, its equivalence is observation. Contemplation is Acute Observation! You observe how we are identifying with this that or the other. You observe that this identification is only because of separation. You observe more and come to feel separation is not possible as there are not many finites, there is only Infinity. Through contemplation there is disillusion of the individuality. Changing our sense of ‘I’. With this realization, the thought of “I am Infinite” (Aham Brahmasmi) changes to “I IS Infinite” as there is no “am” in unity (becomes depersonalized). Therefore, for our personal reflection, we can change the Mahavakya to “Aham Brahma asti”. The mantra that we studied last week from Mundaka Upanishad was about how being associated with one who is free, all of this becomes possible.
Mundakaupanishad. 1: 2: 12:
parīkṣya lokānkarmacitānbrāhmaṇo nirvedamāyānnāstyakṛtaḥ kṛtena |
tadvijñānārthaṃ sa gurumevābhigacchetsamitpāṇiḥ śrotriyaṃ brahmaniṣṭham
Examine, what you can create through Karma, one who is able to study and share the Veda and has no other motive. Having examined all that karma can create, and specifically it cannot create that which is infinite/internal. When one feels this, one carries all that they know about Independence on their heads and they go to that Brahmana and they lay that at her/his feet. That master has burned up dependence on articles, beings and circumstances and now will communicate/guide how we can too. Acharya Shankara quotes this mantra a lot.
One who is Jeevan mukta, has gone past relativity. Jeevan and mukta are relative and surely Punya and pāpa are relative. One who is free, they are not curtailed by Punya and papa. In order to understand and practice this teaching of Upanishad in an uncontrolled environment here are some reflections and practices:
In Shrimad Bhagavatam, the question that is posed is how do you separate the mind from articles, beings and circumstances. Bhagavan Krishna shares that we cannot. The mind and articles/beings/circumstances are made up of Gunas and attracted to each other and cannot be separated. Instead, Bhagavan shares, we have to rise above the mind AND articles/beings/circumstances. As long as we are trying to find relative solutions to relative problems, it doesn’t work. We need that absolute standpoint.
From Bhakti perspective, when we practice Samarpana or offering, we are offering the notion of ‘mera’ or my-ness. If we do that well, eventually there is Samarpana of “mein” or “I” ness. Punya-papa, mind/articles/beings/circumstances and Samarpana are all relative. But for the Jeevan mukta, there is no relativity.
Lesson 20 continued: In this lesson, Guruji shares that Jeevan mukta has no relationship with Kāma. One of the qualities of a master is that they are able to speak the teachings in a language a student can relate to. The phrase “Hridaya granthi”,knots of the heart refers to Avidya, Kama, Karma. Avidya= I have forgotten how to be happy, Kama= so I desire happiness, Karma= and I feel I can create it so I act. Avidya triggers Kama, Kama triggers Karma and Karma triggers Kama. The more you try to create happiness, the more incomplete you feel and more you desire happiness. Kama in turn triggers more Avidya again. For Jeevan mukta, there is Vidya, they have remembered how to be happy and that they are happiness. Because of this, they don’t desire it, they don’t have to act for it. They can just Be Happiness!
In this lesson, it is implicated that Kama leads to Janma. The more desires one has, one is born into these desires (for them to be fulfilled). In ‘The autobiography of a Yogi’, it is shared that every desire has to be fulfilled, even if it means to take multiple life times to fulfill them.
Mundaka Upanishad 3: 2: 2:
Kāmān yaḥ kāmayate manyamānaḥ sa kāmabhir jāyate tatra tatra, paryāpta-kāmasya kṛtātmanas tu ihaiva sarve pravilīyanti kāmāḥ
The one who desires articles beings and circumstances and this desire is fertilized, that person will be born here and there based on their desire. Comparatively, the one who is now felt their spirit, they become satisfied. They experience this here and now. This notion of another place and another time is not applicable. With this experience all of their desires are destroyed.
Highlights from this mantra that we can reflect on and practice:
When Avidya turns into Vidya, there is no more Kama and no more Janma. They know their Atma and their desire for happiness is complete because they are Happiness. Sw. Tejomayanada ji describes a Jeevan mukta as ‘Vilakshana’. Lakshana means to indicate. Shri Lakshmana always directs us to Shri Rama. Vilakshana means there are no characteristics of one who is free. For the one who is not free, it is too far to feel. Therefore, part of our daily contemplation should be on who is free. When one practices contemplation, we need to practice same time and same place and with an icon of divinity/ one’s guide.
In Shrimad Bhagavatam, 11th skanda, Bhagavan Krishan repeatedly shares, as you associate so you think. As you think so you develop. In one of the chapters in this section, Bhagavan is teaching Rishi Uddhava about thinking about Him. In the next chapter, Shri Krishna brings up siddhis and His point is when one starts to contemplate, one’s inner world starts to become extremely powerful and one starts to develop into whatever one is thinking about (talking about all the Siddhis and extraordinary powers) but He then ends the chapter by saying that “all these siddhis come from me. So instead of getting a siddhi at a time, just get me!”
The Jeevan mukta is ‘Vishuddha’, extremely pure. These words are not for the master but for us. How can we reach ‘extremely pure’. We start with Sattva as Sattva makes a good person, great. Sattva has to then become shuddha sattva, going from great to greatest. Visuddha sattva is going past greatest to being God.
These words are challenging us to never be complacent. Enough of desires as we don’t know what context we will be born into in our next lifetime. In Ramayana, Bhagavan Rama’s body is made up of light. When becomes a Jeevan mukta, every part of their individuality merges into the total. What’s stopping us from being free is the ego. Ego is just elements. The body is gross elements, mind is subtle elements and ego is causal element. We experience so much sorrow because of these combinations of elements. The fact that we know these elements means that we are more than that. You are the awareness upon which is this play of Awareness. We can become free simply by knowing that we are free!