Divya jyothi Apr 2014

Divya Jyothi Sharing the enlightened wisdom Issue 27, Apr 2014

Contents Prabhuji Speaks

2

Sanatana Dharma

3

Panchadasi

4

Kala Gita

5

Soundarya Lahari

7

Sri Lalitha Sahasranama

8

Swetaswara Upanishad

9

Patanjali Yoga Sutra

13

LADS - Chapter 3

15

The monthly ezine from the Light of the Self Foundation

Divya Jyothi

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Prabhuji Speaks Anekant Vad - Multiplicity of View Points Shri Mahaveer Jayanthi is celebrated in the month of April every year.

It is time to pay respect to Shri Mahaveer and understand his teach‐ ings. One of the great teachings of Jainism has been “Anekant Vad ( multiplicity of view points).

Mahaveer was called Vardhaman in his childhood. He was born in a royal family. One day, he was playing in the palace the game of hide and seek. Vardhaman's friends kept on searching for him in the pal‐ ace. They asked Vardhaman's father in the ground floor of the palace – “where is Vardhaman”. His father pointed his finger and indicated that Vardhaman is upstairs. Children ran to the seventh floor of the palace and could not find Vardhaman there. They saw mother of Vardhaman there and asked her where is Vardhaman . She pointed her finger downwards indicating he is downstairs. Children ran downstairs to find Vardhaman in the fourth floor of the palace.

Vardhaman had a hearty laugh listening to his friends. He told his friends that when his father indicated Vard‐ haman being upstairs he was telling truth and so was Vardhaman's mother. Both truths appeared to be contradicto‐ ry but both have some substance. Each of them were speaking from the point of view of their position. From this ex‐ planation was born the philosophy of Anekant vad or multiplicity of view points.

What does anekant vad say ? About any subject or object there can be multiple view points which are partially true.

Each view point reflects the position of the speaker. However none of the view points can be absolutely true. Only view point of the enlightened one ( kaivalya gnani) is absolutely true. All other view points are partial truths.

If we look at conflicts in our life, most of the conflicts are clash of view points/belief system. Anekant vad helps one to understand that truth can be perceived in many ways depending on the position of the speaker/observer but absolute truth is only one which can be perceived by enlightened one. Understanding is of great value in understanding con‐ flicts in life and resolving them amicably since each view point is respected as partial Truth.

Prabhuji’s article ‘Yugadi ‐ Spirituality behind Yugadi’ can be accessed at the Bodhivruksha Newspaper (Times of India group) at the following link http://www.bodhivrukshaepaper.com/Details.aspx? id=895&boxid=19293656

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Sanatana Dharma Nama Smarane Let us see what our Sanatana Dharma has to say about Bhagavan Nama Smarane. The easiest way to attain the grace of Lord is to chant his name. Chanting his name repeatedly is called punahcharana in Sanskrit. When we start chanting the names of Lord, our mind are absorbed in the chanting and we can feel a deep silence; deep calmness in our mind.

In Mahabharat we come across a conversation between Bheeshma and Yudhishtira where Yudhishtira questions Bheeshma about an easy way to get the grace of God and attain liberation. While chanting, we also visualize the form of God in our mind.

At the end of the war when Bheeshma was lying on a bed of arrows, Yudhistira asked him questions on Dharma.

Bheeshma said, “What can I say about Dharma when Sri Krishna is with me?” Lord Sri Krishna asked Bheeshma to speak on Dharma for the benefit of the whole world. Bheeshma then offered his prostrations to Sri Krishna and began to speak about Dharma. After listening to Bheeshma, Yudhistira realized his duties as a king.

Now Yudhistira wanted to know about the Dharma which could liberate him from this ocean of Samsara. Bheeshma said – “Chanting the Names of God and meditating on the Lord is the easiest way to be blessed with the grace of God and also to attain Liberation.” This is applicable to everyone.

This is what is said in our Sanatana Dharma. Even the dumbest can reach to it by chanting the names of Bhagavan.

Chanting removes one’s sins and transforms him\her. This is not a change but a transformation.

According to the Sanatana Dharma a man’s next birth will depend on his thoughts during his last moments in this birth. If we chant God’s name during our last breath, we will attain Moksha. We can think “Is it not enough to chant the Divine Name at our last breath?” But unless we practice that, we will not be able to chant His name at the time of death. It is said in the Bhagavad Gita: “One who chants My name and leaves his mortal coil, will attain salvation. There is no doubt about this.”

Thus, let us chant the name of the Lord who can always bring Peace and harmony to our inner world and external world, and make our lives purposeful.

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Panchadasi - Tatva Viveka The rajo guna aspect of all five elements together man‐ ifests as prana shakthi or vital air. This prana gets fur‐ ther differentiated in five ways namely ‐ prana; apana; samana; udana and vyana. [22] Commentary ‐ When the rajo guna aspect of all five elements are put together, that manifests as prana shakti or kriya shakti. Those five Prana shaktis are Prana, Apana, Vyana, Udana and Samana.

As Gurudeva says ‘Prana’ is the life energy and life force. There is only one Prana, the Universal Energy that functions in various ways in beings. It has five different functional aspects in human beings together called Pancha Prana or five Pranas. The five Pranas are but one whole Prana operating or forming five differ‐ ent functions.

• Prana functions and activates the organs between the throat and heart region including heart and lungs.

• Apana functions in the lower part of the body, below the navel and is responsible for activating the organs in that part of the body which includes the sexual glands and excretion organs.

• Udana operates from larynx upwards; it activates the organs in that part of the body.

• Samana operates between the heart and the navel; it is responsible for digestion and functioning of all di‐ gestive organs.

• Vyana is spread throughout the body and it distrib‐ utes energy throughout.

These five Pranas together form the Pranic body of every human being. We have understood that there are five layers of human body, the physical, vital, mental, intellect and bliss which are the Annamaya, Pranama‐ ya, Manomaya, Vijnanamaya and the Anandamaya Kosha. The Pranas form the Pranic body, the Pranamaya Kosha.

Understanding the Prana operating on the Pranic body is vital for sta‐ bilization and silencing of individual consciousness or chitta so that it can experience oneness with Uni‐ versal Consciousness.

What is Prana? Prana is the fundamental vibration Qi, Chi in other languages, which is the basic energy that is responsible for creation, sustenance and destruction of energy. This same prana manifests as the breath in the human body as various kinds of motions of the blood, as the thoughts in the mind, mental vitality and energy in human body. Prana is the fundamental force, the manifest aspect of which is ‘sat’ and unmanifest aspect of which is ‘asat’. Prana is the fundamental force

it is what is manifest as Sat and what is not manifest as Asat.

Pranayama is the mastery over Prana or pranic energy.

It is the basic life force which is responsible for our life. Prana and Consciousness are related. Chitta is also known as Consciousness and Prana as energy.

When your mind is focused on an object, Conscious‐ ness is directed to the focus on the object and pranic energy gets directed there. On the other hand if the pranic energy moves in a direction, then also Con‐ sciousness follows pranic energy. They are twins like two wings of a bird. This gives us the technique for enlightenment.

If you are able to still your mind and Consciousness then Prana becomes silent. If you still your Prana then Consciousness becomes silent and vice versa. Make the Consciousness silent, Prana becomes silent. Yoga sutra explores both these techniques of making Con‐ sciousness silent so that Prana becomes silent and vice versa. This we can observe in our day to day life.

Our breathing rate is 15 to 18 breaths per minute in a waking state of Consciousness. When we get excited or tense our breathing rate increases. But when you are relaxed your breathing rate slows down. As you go into deep sleep your breathing rate comes to 7‐8 breaths per minute. As you go into deeper meditation breath slows down and breathing rate goes down. At a certain point you feel as if you are not breathing, you are fully conscious and aware and you feel your breathing has stopped. This is because Consciousness has become silent. Thus, breath and Consciousness are related. The techniques of pranayama are ways and means to still the Consciousness to attain the state of union or Samadhi.

So, when the rajo guna aspect of all the five elements put together, they manifest as prana shakti or kriya shakti. The same prana manifests as the breath in the human body and Pranayama is the mastery over Prana or pranic energy.

Bhagavad Gita: Shloka 1.8: The Great Kaurava Warriors Your respected self and Bhisma and Karna and the always victorious in battle Krpa and Ashwattama and Vikarna, Bhurisrava and Jayadartha the king of Sindhu

Zen Koans Accurate Proportion Sen no Rikyu, a tea‐master, wished to hang a flower basket on a column. he asked a carpenter to help him, directing the man to place it a little higher or lower, to the right or left, until he had found exactly the right spot. "That's the place," said Sen no Rikyu finally.

The carpenter, to test the master, marked the spot and then pretended he had forgotten. Was this the place? "Was this the place, perhaps?" the carpenter kept asking, pointing to various places on the column.

But so accurate was the tea‐master's sense of proportion that it was not until the carpenter reached the identical spot again that its location was approved.

Right & Wrong When Bankei held his seclusion‐weeks of meditation, pupils from many parts of Japan came to attend. During one of these gatherings a pupil was caught stealing. The matter was reported to Bankei with the request that the culprit be expelled. Bankei ignored the case.

Later the pupil was caught in a similar act, and again Bankei disregarded the matter. this angered the other pupils, who drew up a petition asking for the dismissal of the thief, stating that other‐ wise they would leave in a body.

When Bankei had read the petition he called everyone before him. "You are wise brothers," he told them. "You know what is right and what is not right. You may somewhere else to study if you wish, but this poor brother does not even know right from wrong. Who will teach him if I do not?

I am going to keep him here even if all the rest of you leave."

A torrent of tears cleansed the face of the brother who had stolen. All desire to steal had van‐ ished.

Source: http://www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/zenindex.html

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Soundarya Lahari: Verse 10 ent manifestations. The Para Kundalini – the un� manifested cosmic energy. The Prana Kundalini – the vital energy of the created universe. The Shakti Kundalini –the consciousness. Shakti Kundalini is the source for the higher awareness; the source of Paramananda – Bliss that can be experienced is Sa� hasrara.

The creation; sustaining and destroying happen when she descends from Sahasrara. She moves through all the chakras and the creation starts; she sustains by abiding in Mooladhara; she destroys by ascending and returning to Sahasrara. This is srusti, sthiti and laya karma of the Divine Mother.

Getting a strong body, virility सध ŕĽ ŕ¤žŕ¤§ŕ¤žŕ¤°ŕ¤žŕ¤¸ŕ¤žŕ¤°ŕĽˆ - चरणयग ༠लञ त- ा ग ŕ¤˛ŕ¤¤ŕĽˆŕ¤ƒ प चं पन ༠र प

रसञ नञय-ŕ¤Žŕ¤šŕ¤¸ŕ¤ƒŕĽ¤ अाञ"य

#ाञं

भ༂ ऎं

स तༀ ŕ¤­ŕĽ ŕ¤œŕ¤—'नभ-

ऎ(य༠)ŕ¤&#x;-ालयं #ाऎञ+ऎञनं ŕ¤•ŕĽƒ+ाञ #ा प ड क༠लक༠/थ༇ क༠च2र3ण ༼ 10 ༼

Sudha�dhara�sarais carana�yugalanta vigalitaih Prapan� cham sinchanti punarapi ras'amnaya�mahasah; Avapya svam bhumim bhujaga�nibham adhyusta�valayam Svam atmanam krtva svapishi kulakunde kuharini � 10 Using the nectar that ows in between your feet, To drench all the nerves of the body, And descending from the moon with nectar like rays, Reaching back to your place, And coiling your body in to a ring like serpent, You sleep in the Kula Kunda with a hole in the middle.

The route formed by the chain of nerves â€? Nadis are ďŹ lled with the spray of nectar that ows from the Lotus feet of Divine Mother. The ow starts from lunar regions in the form of a serpent and reaches back to its original place coiling its body into a ring and sleep in Kula Kunda with a hole in middle.

Kula Kunda is the hollow of Mooladhara sacrum bone.

Rishis who had Darshana say Kundalini is of three dier�

When Kundalini descends from Sahasrara, the crea� tion happen and she manifests as jivatma. She is bound by limitations and ignorance due to the illu� sion or Maya. She creates as it is her wish and is known as Ichha Shakti. Further she moves towards Mooladhara where the knowledge of her True Na� ture emerges and she sustains that Knowledge or Jnana by abiding in Mooladhara and is known as Jnana Shakti. As the Kundalini shakti ascends through the chakras and moves upward, she de� stroys the ignorance that originally descended from Sahasrara at the time of creation. On the way back to Sahasrara the Divine Mother removes wrong illusion � maya and the limitations are removed and she once again shines as Consciousness and is known as kriya Shakti. The Jnana Shakti ows upwards and one can experience joy and that joy is Bliss. Once the Kundalini shakti reaches Sahasrara, she merges with Shiva. This is Shiva Shakti ikya roopa � the formless state consciousness. At the time of creation she is shatki � the power of manifestation. The descent of Kundalini creates ignorance, bondage and delusion.

The same Kundalini as it ascends, brings Awareness, freedom and wisdom.

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Lalitha Sahasranama Ashtami chandra vibhraja dalikasdhala shobhita

Ashtami chandra vibhraja dalikasdhala shobhita ‐ Whose forehead shines, arching like the crescent moon of the eighth lunar digit (Ashtami).

Her forehead appears like the moon on the eighth day. Eighth day from the full moon is ashtami. Full moon is the day when The Universal Mother on her own wish (ichha Shakti) manifests as jeevatma and is bound by limitations. The moon starts waning and its illuminated area starts decreasing. On the eight day the moon appears beautiful with even curves on both sides and the brightness of the moon on the eight day slowly starts to shine.

We can see the moon's shape exactly as half, neither waxing nor waning. This happens only on ashtami chandra and is said to be auspicious.

Even curves on both sides represent the Parva Kala or transition period. The parva kala (the time of confluence of two periods) offers a natural opportunity to experience state of liberation where the jeevatma after realizing its true Na‐ ture moves towards its True Nature. Many situations in life transforms us and moves us towards our True Nature, in this movement the middle period is ashtami chandra in our life, where we come to the state of sthita prajna. This is Parva kala and our inward journey starts and once again we move towards full moon and merge in it.

The Universal Mother is also worshiped as Sapta Matrika along with Maha Lakshmi. Brahmi; Maheshwari; Koumari; Vaisnavi; Varahi; Mahendri; Chamude; Maha Lakshmi were our ashta avaguna (8 negative qualities) Kama; kroda; loba; moha; mada; matsarya; papa; punya are destroyed and we move towards our True Nature dropping everything.

Ashtami also marks the point where power of the awakened Kundalini turns to be blissful, the two nadis ida and pingala gets absorbed into sushumna. This is the middle path, which directs towards the sahasrara, towards the high‐ er region where complete union of Siva ‐‐ Shakthi takes place.

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Swetaswara Upanishad Today we will continue with Swetaswara Upanishad, sec‐ ond chapter and shloka number 13. In the earlier shlokas of this Upanishad, we discussed how somebody will be‐ come free, liberated by meditating on the Supreme Reali‐ ty, Parabrahma. How one becomes free from all the bondages and Karmic Impressions by meditating on the Supreme Reality. The process of meditation like sitting straight, sitting in a calm place was discussed and also the process of Pranayama was also discussed. Now what is the affect of such a Realization on a person? What hap‐ pens to a person who has Realized the Self?

Laguthvam aarogyam alolupthvam varnaprasadaha swara soustavam cha gandhaha shubho muthra pureesham alpam Yoga Pravrutti prathamam vadanthi.

So one who is engaged in yogic practice, one who is in‐ volved in yogic practice what happens to him? He be‐ comes Laguthva, means he becomes light. It does not mean that he can fly in the sky or walk in water. Laguthva means his body becomes light. So now we see many peo‐ ple who are overweight, they become over weight be‐ cause they eat more than necessary. Whereas a person who becomes more and more engaged in spiritual prac‐ tices and starts realizing his Inner Self, his need for eating reduces. See, there is a disease called 'Bolemia', I don't know whether you have heard this or not. Bolemia means when there is a tension they eat food, when they have mental stress, they eat food. They keep eating food. So the whole life goes around eating food, breakfast, lunch, dinner and in between snacks etc. So life centres around food. But for a person who is engaged in spiritual practic‐ es, his life is centered around Atma, Parabrahma. The centre has changed, so because of that his food consump‐ tion will be moderate. He food intake will come down and hence he will become light. He is physically light and also psychologically light. A person can be physically light but psychologically heavy and depressed. So, psychologi‐ cally also that person will feel very light. When do you feel heavy? The person may be very lean, but the person may be feeling very heavy. There may be a feeling of heaviness. There is a feeling sorrow, depression in him.

Even though he is physically light, mentally he may be very heavy. So, this is speaking of physical lightness and mental lightness both, 'Laguthvam'.

Arogyam, means his health will improve. Does it mean

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that a person who is Self‐Realized will have no dis‐ eases? So if you look today, the modern day, what Doctors say is that more than 80% of the diseases are psychosomatic in nature. There are two types of diseases, Psychosomatic and Contagious diseases.

Contagious diseases come from bacteria and virus spreading from one person to another person. If a child gets fever from the school, it spreads to his family members and then from that child's brother/ sister the bacteria/virus will again get carried to the school and other children will get it from them. So this is called contagious disease. There are some dis‐ eases which are genetic in nature and some diseases are psychosomatic in nature like Headache, Depres‐ sion, Blood Pressure and overweight. Many of these diseases are because of the mind not because of the body. Rheumatism and Cancer are also psychoso‐ matic diseases. These are all because of the mind. A person who is established in Yoga, his mind gets healed. Please understand, the healing is actually what they call as ‘healing’ in earlier days. It is said that "Vaidyo Narayano Hari", the greatest healer is Narayana himself. So what it means is that Con‐ sciousness is the greatest healer. When we identify with the Body, Mind and the Intellect, the mind be‐ comes very heavy.

When the mind identifies with the object it becomes heavy. When the mind recognizes the subject, the Atma, the Paramatma, the Narayana in you, the mind becomes light. The root of all diseases is called 'bhavaroga'. The disease of the world is called 'Bhavaroga'. The disease of the world, that disease is our feeling of separation from the existence, our feel‐ ing of separation from the Consciousness, the God, the Universe, even though we may not explicitly say that, that is the root cause. It is called Bhavaroga, it is the root disease. Imagine a child who lost his fa‐ ther or Mother at a very young age, throughout his life, that child will never forget the pain of losing his Father or Mother. It is very painful. So, how painful it will be for us when we have lost our earlier Father and Mother which is actually Narayana himself. Na‐ rayana is our Father, Mother, Bandhu (relative) and our friend. Narayana is the Guru. There is no closer relationship than Paramatma. The feeling of separa‐ tion from Paramatma is very painful. It is the deep‐ est pain which anybody can have. It is most hurting and that is called 'Existential Suffering'. Because we don’t know that such a thing exists, we give different

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names to that. We say, 'I suffer because of my Father, Mother, Husband, Wife, Boss or Economy', people give lot of reasons because they don’t know that the root suffering which is because of the separation from the ex‐ istence. That is the root suffering, which is why it is called 'Bhava Roga'. That is the fundamental disease and from that disease every other disease comes into picture. So the person who is free, Jeevan Mukta gets healed at the deepest level. You may ask, how come Ramana Maharshi or Ramakrishna Paramahamsa had a Cancer. See, what happens is, a person's mind and body become peaceful, but the disease which has already started because of what you call as 'Prarabdha Karma' which is not healed, that Prarabdha karma will continue since the arrow has been already shot. So, Agami karma will stop, Sanchita karma will stop, Kriyamana karma will stop. The remaining re‐ sidual Prarabdha karma fructifies and brings the Cancer.

But the person becomes very peaceful, very silent and serene. His health will improve.

"Alo..." means non‐attachment to anything. The person does not get attached to anything. That does not mean that he runs away from everything. He is not attached to anything. People are attached to money, wife, husband, children, job etc. Anything you are attached to will be the cause of hurt. In the longer run, your enemy does not hurt you, what most hurts you is what you are attached to. The attachments hurt and these attachments go when you attain the Supreme. The person becomes free from all attachments. That does not mean that he is indiffer‐ ent, he is full of love, compassion and wisdom, but no attachments. That is the nature of the Self Realized per‐ son.

Varnaprasadam, means, there is 'Tejas' in the face of that Realized person. His/her face will light up. It is said that the face is the mirror of the Self. The face reflects what a person is. Eyes are the windows to the Soul. Look at the eyes of a child, they are soft and look at the eyes of a de‐ pressed person, they are downcast. Look at the eyes of a cruel person, his eyes are sharp and focused and intent.

Look at the eyes of a Saint, the eyes will be staring at the blankness, because there is no object to be focused. So, the eyes are the windows to the Soul and the face reflects the Soul. You can distinguish between a depressed and happy person by look at his face. When I say Soul, it is the Jivatma, Individual Soul which is identified with the mind. When a person feels bad or feels angry, his face changes. So what happens to the Self Realized person?

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His face will glow. Why do these changes happen in the face, please tell me? Because the face has the supply of blood vessels. Whenever you experience any emotions, the blood rushes to the face. So, when the ladies blush, the skin color on their face changes.

Face represents the emotions, feelings and the state of the mind. So when a person becomes Self Real‐ ized, their face reflects that Realized state. They say that there is 'tejas' in the face of that person. And that ‘Tejas’ is what attracts people to such a Self Re‐ alized person.

Swara Soustavam ‐ The voice becomes melodious.

The voice represents your inner mental state. When you are angry or sad the voice changes. When you are egoistic the voice changes. When a person be‐ comes Self Realized, the Ego centre is gone. Then the voice becomes melodious in the sense, whatever he speaks will have a soothing effect on the people who listen to him. Not that he will become a musi‐ cian or start singing, his tone or voice will change in the sense that it will bring a soothing effect on the people. People will wait for hours together to listen to a few words from the mouth of such a Jnani. Just to listen to the words of a Jnani is a blessing. There are no special words that he uses, but whatever words he uses will have a soothing effect on the Jnani.

Gandhaha..... There is a fragrance which emanates from the body of a Self Realized being. Now why is it so? The smell of the body is because of the sweat.

Skin is a purifying agent. So during the purification process some of the pollutants in the body come out in the form of sweat. Depending on the chemical composition of the sweat, the smell will be there.

But yogi who has become mentally peaceful, he is so happy that his body, diet everything has become so natural and so naturally it will have an effect on the sweat glands.

Muthra pureesha..... The quantity of the urine reduc‐ es. The quantity reduces because it is directly pro‐ portional the quantity of the water we take. if we take more water, there will be more urine and if we take less water, there will be less urine. Now what happens is that person becomes balanced in every‐ thing, he does not overdo anything. Even the water he takes will be the right quantity, neither excess nor less quantity. So, the quantity of thee urine will be as

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much as required for the body, not in excess.

Yoga Pravrutti prathamam vadanthi ‐ These are the signs of a person who is making progress in the path of Yoga.

Yathaiva bimbam..24:00 In earlier days, the mirror was made out of a metal, be‐ cause they did not know how to make glass. They used to polish the metal and that polished metal was used as a mirror. When there is dust on the mirror, you cannot see the face. Similarly when the mind is polluted, disturbed, when the mind is attached and identified with the world you cannot recognize the Self within. The Atma Jnana cannot happen in disturbed state of mind. So the mind has to be made silent.

Yathaiva bimbam, so what happens is when you place a mirror in front of the lamp there is a reflection of the lamp in the mirror. Similarly, when the mind is silent, the Self is reflected fully in the silent mind. And the reflec‐ tion is bliss, peace in the mind. One day Buddha and his disciple Ananda were going to a Town nearby. On the way to that town there was a lake and Buddha asked Ananda to bring some water from that lake. Ananda said, ‘lake is muddy and polluted’. Then Buddha said, "Wait.

After sometime the mud will settle down and the clear water will surface up. Bring that clear water." In that analogy Buddha taught Ananda to make the mind silent.

Our mind which is actually disturbed, it is like muddy water. The process of meditation is to make the mind silent. What happens in the silent mind is, 'Atma tatva', the Self gets reflected. Now what Self is reflected in you, what you call as 'I' is nothing but only the Self reflecting in you, but your mind is disturbed and because your mind is disturbed the reflection of Self appears as Ego. You start saying, 'I am the Body, Mind and the Intellect'.

The reflection of the Self in mind is distorted. This distor‐ tion is what leads you to identify with the body, mind and the intellect. When the mind becomes silent, the true reflection of the Self is there which is actually peace in the mind. The Individual Ego, which you call as 'I' is no longer there, because 'I' identifies with this original light instead of identifying with the body, mind and the intel‐ lect. The original light is nothing but the Atma, the Self, the Sakshi, the Consciousness in you. Then what happens is the Ego disappears, and that is the state of Self Realiza‐ tion.

Such a person becomes Krithaartha, means his purpose of life is achieved, nothing more to achieve in life. It is a

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culmination or fruition of life. He born as a human, the person has reached the fulfilment of human life.

Until you get Self Realization, human life is incom‐ plete. There will be a deficiency that I am lacking something. And this deficiency is what gives rise to repeated births and deaths. A person who is Self Re‐ alized becomes contended.

He becomes ‘Veetha Shokaha’. He becomes free from suffering. There is no more suffering in that person's life. Here you have to understand the differ‐ ence between suffering and pain. Pain is physiologi‐ cal, momentary and suffering is psychological and suffering is lifelong. Somebody hits you and there is pain, but the memory of that is a suffering. A jnani is not free from pain, he will have tooth ache, body pains etc. He will also experience all that you experi‐ ence physically. Probably he will experience much more sharply because his awareness is high. Only thing is that he will be free from suffering. The mind will not be disturbed or affected as he will be in the state of No‐Mind. So Ramana Maharshi had Sar‐ coma, a very painful cancer. Somebody asked him, "Is it painful, do you feel the pain?" He replied, "Yes, there is a pain, but for whom?" Because you do not identify with the pain, the suffering is not there. But the pain will be there. So the person becomes "veetha shoka", which means that the person is free from suffering, there will not be any psychological suffering.

Yatha atmatathvena.

So there are three things which are told here. The yogi, one who realizes the Self (Atma), Yogi who is a Jivatma, one who realizes the Atma (Self), the Brah‐ ma tatva, the Supreme Reality and Deva (God). So these are the three things that are coming here. An individual who realizes himself as the Atma, he real‐ izes the Brahma Tatva. Brahma Tatva means he real‐ izes that his own inner Self is a substratum of this universe. The deep inside me, what Consciousness I have, the same Consciousness is there in everybody.

The same Consciousness is the basis for everything in existence. Like water is the basis for Ocean and the wave, The Atma, Self, the Brahma Tatva, the Su‐ preme Reality is the substratum for the entire exist‐ ence. Whatever appears in the Universe is nothing but the Consciousness appearing as various objects.

And why does it appear so? That is because of the mind. Mind is one which colors and makes the world

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appear as differentiated. Just like when you see a snake in the night and get scared, but when you switch on the torch and see that it is not a snake but a rope you become free from the fear, similarly the differentiated universe what you see, the people, the trees, the plants, moun‐ tains, the sky, space etc. everything looks differentiated because of the nature of the mind. A purified mind which has become one with the Self does not see the difference.

It sees only the Self in everything, Self in everybody. It is called Atmabhava. That person who is realized experienc‐ es the Self in everybody. So there is nobody who is sepa‐ rate from him. There cannot be separation and differenti‐ ation in Atma. The separation and differentiation appears only because of the impure mind.

There is always the One Supreme Reality, unmoving, un‐ born, eternal, birthless, deathless, blissful Parabrahma only. Everything else is just an appearance in the Para‐ brahma, but not the reality. It is something similar to the dream which you have. In the dream you have tigers, ele‐ phants, husband, wife etc. , but everything was nothing but a mental projection. That was a dream world which you saw and now what you are seeing is a wave in the dream world which is again a mental projection, a super imposition on the Supreme Reality, Parabrahma. A per‐ son who is awakened, who is realized even though he sees the differences because of the residual mind, he will not be fooled by that. It is like once you have seen that it not a snake but a rope, after that even though there is darkness you will not be afraid anymore. Similarly a per‐ son whose ego is burnt into ashes in the fire of wisdom, AJ, he will never be trapped by Maya, illusion. He experi‐ ences that Oneness, Supreme Reality, when he lives in the world. And such a person is called Jivanmukta, liber‐ ated while he is alive. He is a blessed soul. He sees Atma and Brahma and he realizes that Substratum of Universe is Brahma, which is actually the Supreme Reality and then what we call as Bhagavan, God, he called as Deva here. We pray to the God, 'Please protect me, and please take care of me'. So that is nothing but the same Supreme Reality appearing in the form of World because of the mind. In the words of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa,' Parabrahma is when the ocean becomes silent, when no waves are there in it'. The same ocean when it starts roar‐ ing, when there are waves in the ocean, the same Ocean is called Bhagavan. So when a person becomes Self Real‐ ized, he experiences Bhagavan, God as nothing but the manifestation the world. He realizes his Self, his own na‐ ture and he realizes the nature of Brahma. So what is the

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difference between such a persona and an ordinary person? For most of the people, 'I am there and God is there somewhere'. There is separation between Self and the God. A person who starts meditating or a Yogi says, 'I am there and the God is there in me'. A jnani says, 'God is in me and God is in everybody'. If you ask even a small child, 'Where is God?’ he will say, 'God is eve‐ rywhere'. Ask anybody and they will say, 'God is eve‐ rywhere'. But they are only words. They don’t have substance. It is not coming out of experience.

Whereas when a Jnani say that God is everywhere, he knows that and he experienced that. That is the reality. So, very often we do not understand the difference between reality and mere words. We go to temple and we say that we had a darshan of Bhaga‐ van. But when you don’t understand the meaning of Bhagavan and the meaning of Darshan, you take those words to be reality. But you don’t realize that those words are empty. A person who is Self Real‐ ized, he experiences the One Consciousness, One without a second, One which is bliss or whose na‐ ture is bliss, eternal and unborn, that Consciousness is experienced as himself or herself. That Conscious‐ ness is birthless, deathless and unpolluted, the Con‐ sciousness never becomes impure. Whereas the mind gets impure and the impurity of the mind is because of the ignorance, avidya, wrong understand‐ ing. The Consciousness never becomes impure.

Ajitham ‐ unborn. And such a Consciousness is real‐ ized, where is it realized? It is realized in the heart.

Now many people have a wrong understanding of realizing in the heart. The moment they say heart, they point the physical heart which is made up of muscles, blood etc. Then they say spiritual heart, but when they heart in this shloka, it is the purified in‐ tellect. The intellect which has become pure is called heart. The intellect which has become impure can‐ not recognize the Atma tatva. The purified intellect lights up the bliss of Self Realization and that intel‐ lect is called heart. Without knowing the real mean‐ ing of heart, many people confuse it with the physi‐ cal heart. Purified intellect is one with the Con‐ sciousness. And by realizing this he becomes free from all kinds of bondages.

What are the bondages which human being has? The bondages are, when we identify with somebody, we

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think we are husband to somebody; I am a wife, father, mother etc. And that identification becomes bondage to us. Then we identify with the body and the mind. These identifications become bondages and they become the cause of suffering. When you realize that you are not the body, mind and the intellect, you become free from all the bondages. You realize that you are not a father or mother or a body or a mind, but you are pure Conscious‐ ness, eternally free, not bound, unborn, whose nature is Supreme Reality, Parabrahma, the person becomes free from all kinds of bondages. sarvam... and what is the realization of that?

Nanu nanembudhu nanalla e deha manah buddhi nanalla sachidanandatma shiva nanu nane shivoham shivoham This Realization makes you free and liberates. Yeshathi devaha....sarvatho mukha..

Now the nature of the God is explained. He is called Ish‐ wara. The Supreme Consciousness itself takes the form of the time and space. He is spread out in all directions, astadik ‐ eight directions. Before the world, time and space is created, the subtle universe, called Hiran‐ yagarbha or what you called as Maha Tatva, the pure in‐ tellect was also the Ishwara, the Lord. Then whoever is born, every child that is born is nothing but Ishwara. Ish‐ wara sarvabhuthanam. In every living being there is that Consciousness, Ishwara, the Supreme Consciousness is there. And he is there in everybody as Antaryamni the inner ruler and in spite of that he is unaffected by what is happening in the body and mind complex. He is a pure witness in all of us.

Yo devo agno..

The same Consciousness is there in the fire (Agni), in water, in plants and living beings, and it is spread out throughout the universe. We bow down to that Con‐ sciousness; we bow down to that God, Deva, Paramatma again and again. So everything in the world is an appear‐ ance in that Consciousness. Nothing is different from the Consciousness. Like Ocean is nothing but water, wave is nothing but water, everything in the Universe is nothing but the same Consciousness appearing as different ob‐ jects and different living beings. There is nothing sepa‐ rate from Paramatma. Everything is the same Conscious‐ ness appearing as different objects. Again and again we bow down to the Paramatma who has appeared as the world also, who has appeared as living beings also.

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras Study of and about Self Chapter 2 Sutra 44 (2.44) 13th October, 2012 #वा(याया7द)टदे वता सं योगः ॥४४॥ Svādhyāyād‐ishta‐devatā samprayogaha ||44|| My humble pranams to all Atmajyothis, the Divine selves, lights of the self. Today, let us contemplate on Swadhyaya which is study of the Self, everything re‐ lated to your Self, what you call as ‘yourself’.

There is a lower Self and a higher Self, the lower Self consists of the body, mind, intellect and ego. We know about the lower Self and the higher Self, from knowing we have to move to awareness, become aware of what is happening in our mind, of what is happening in our mind when we speak, of what is happening in our mind when we act. One has to become Sakshi, the wit‐ ness. Most of the time, we do not become witness, we jump into judgments, we take on many identities, mother, father, wife, husband, brother, son etc., get en‐ tangled in them and forget our own true Self. Again and again, one has to become aware of one’s true Self. This is called Self remembrance, remembering one’s true Self and not identifying with the role played.

For example, great actors like Amitabh Bachan or Kamal Hasan play a variety of roles from a villain to he‐ ro to comedian; they sometimes play eight to nine roles in a single movie, each role very well too. They cry, laugh and talk according to the requirement of the role but never identify themselves with the role; they are clear throughout that they are just actors playing the role. So is the case with us, we become mother, father, son etc. but the problem is that we identify with the role and get involved in the role. When did you become a mother? When did you become a father or husband?

All these roles are played in the Universe, you are nei‐ ther father, nor mother, nor husband. You are neither woman nor man, you have the body of a man or wom‐ an; do not think that you are a man or woman. The body is just like clothing, the one who is wearing the clothing is the real Self. You have to go back again and again from the role to the Self; this inward journey of awareness from outer to inner is called Swadhyaya. The

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mind is attracted to the external objects and it goes out and tries to grasp them, attention gets fixed there. Once the limitation of the external world is un‐ derstood the attention gets freed from the outer world and comes to the body, one becomes aware of what is happening inside the body, what is happening in the mind. Ultimately, awareness has to shift back to your own Self. You have to become aware of your own true Self and that is called journey of Consciousness in Yoga.

When one is established in Swadhyaya, an ‘ishta devata siddhi’ happens. ‘Ishta’ means what you desire, ‘Devata’ means Consciousness. Many of us have a concept of ‘Ishta devata’, many say ‘this God is my Ishta devata, that God is my Ishta devata’ because our mind is out‐ wardly directed and we identify with the role model outside. If you go to the house of upcoming actor, his house will have many photos of great film actors, they are his Ishta Devatas. If you visit a person who is medi‐ tative, his house will have images of Buddhas, Rama‐ krishna Paramahamsa. We are looking for a role mod‐ el, to achieve Consciousness and that is the Ishta devata. We may have our Ishta Devata as Rama, Krish‐ na, Vivekananda, or your Guru and so on. We take them as role models because they inspire us. When you study yourself, when you do Swadhyaya, you have to have a reference and that reference is your Ishta Devata. For example, when you get angry, when you feel jealous you refer to your Ishta devata and realize that your Ishta Devata, your Guru, would not be angry or jealous in the same situation. Study about the Self and study of the Self both have references. For study about the Self, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, spiritual teachings, are reference text books and for study of self the reference, as said earlier is the Ishta devata, So that reference is there, that reference is called Ishta devata.

When you deviate, you have to go to the road map, you look at the road map and realize what you missed and come back. Your Ishta Devata is like that road map.

Each Ishta devata has a guna, quality. Lord Rama is ‘Dharmo vigarahavan Ramaha’. Lord Rama sets golden standard for Dharma, golden scale for Dharma. If Lord Rama is your Ishta devata, Dharma will come into ac‐ count in everything you do, you will refer your behav‐ ior; your decision to those of Rama and take Dharmic actions. Lord Krishna is wisdom. He was in a political turmoil, from the time he was born, people were trying to kill him, but he was equanimous in all conditions.

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The highest Truth of teachings in the form of Bhaga‐ vadgita came through him. He was a great teacher, lover, and politician. He played each role perfectly but did not get attached to any role. With Lord Krishna as your Ishta devata, your reference, if you are a mother, you will play the role very well but you will not be‐ come the mother, if you play the role of a father, you will not become the father; you will be Sakshi, witness.

Lord Shiva stands for great detachment, Vairagya.

Lord Shiva is the role model for householders. Most of the people think that to be spiritual one has to go to a forest, leaving his family and everything. That is com‐ pletely wrong. That is why when our ancestors made Lord Shiva the role model, Ishta devata, they made it very clear that one can live a householder’s life, have a family and at the same time live a life of complete de‐ tachment. Lord Shiva is a Jnani and a householder. If your Ishta devata is Lord Shiva,Jnana and Vairagya will develop in you. If your Ishta devata is the Sadguru, a spiritual Master, your reference is Enlightenment or liberation, the state of liberation of the Master and you will wake up to the enlightened wisdom in you.

This is the meaning of 'swadhyaya ishtadevata prapthihi'. Swadhyaya is about two things, study about the Self and study of the Self. For study about the Self, you have reference books like Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita etc., but they can only be a guide. For inner jour‐ ney, you need a reference, Ishta devata. Rama, Krish‐ na, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Sadguru, enlightened Master etc. Your actions, thoughts are referred back to the Ishta Devata and when there is the inner refer‐ ence, you will go back to your inner, ‘Ishta devata prapthihi’. This is why Sadguru, the one who has attained the state of Enlightenment or liberation is Parabrahma Swarupa himself, his inner Consciousness is Parabrahma, because he has become one with the inner Consciousness, Parabrahma. That is the inner reference for you. When you interact with the Sadguru or Enlightened Master, gradually you will develop that inner reference from the Sadguru who is outside, the Atmaguru, the inner Guru will wake up and when the inner Guru wakes up, ‘Ishta devata prapthihi’, you have realized your inner na‐ ture.

Divya Jyothi

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LADS ‐ Chapter 5 Natural changes in all human beings Shloka 2.13 dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaRam yauvanam jara tatha dehantara‐praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati As we continuously pass, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A wise man is not bewildered by such a change.

After his Uncle's death, Kishan and Chetana recovered gradually and came back to their normal routine. Even though Kishan was going to school, attending classes, at the back of his mind, he was still thinking about what his Dad told him at his Uncle's house on the day his uncle died.

One day, in the evening, Kishan was having snacks while his mother was chopping carrots sitting beside him.

Kishan looked at one of the carrots and said, "Mum, see this carrot, it has shrunk and its skin looks like Grandpa's skin. Isn’t it mum?" and laughed.

Kishan's mum picked it up and said, “A few days ago, when I brought these carrots, they looked full and fresh.

As days passed by, they changed; they shrunk and they look old now. Everything changes. You have seen your photo album and you know how small you were when you were born. You can see how your body has changed in these years. After a few years your body will become like your dad's and later, after some more years, it will become like your Grandpa's. This is a natural change that happens to the body from childhood to adulthood to old age. Body grows old and dies.”

Kishan thought about it for a while and asked, “Mum, what happens when the body grows old and dies? What changes then? Did uncle change or did he die?”

Kishan’s mum said, “Uncle left that body and went into another body my dear. That is the change that happens at death. Death is just a change from one body to another.”

Kishan asked his Mother, "Mum, Dad told me the other

day that only God is permanent and you are telling that Uncle went from one body to another body and I saw that uncle was dead. What is true Mum? I am not able to understand.”

Kishan’s mum said, “Kishu, I will explain to you in detail now. A human being is not just the body.

There are three things which together make a living human being. One is the body about which you know a lot. Second is the life energy and mind and third is God inside. When a person dies, the body will decay, the life energy and the mind will go into a different body and God inside remains the same.

This is what Dad told you the other day that only God is permanent and God was there in the past, is there in the present and will be there in the future.”

Kishan asked, “Mum, when a living human being dies, does nothing happen to the God inside him?

Will the God inside him be in the dead body?”

Kishan’s mum smiled and said, “Yes my dear. God is present not only in the living but also in the dead.

God is everywhere and in everything.”

Kishan asked, “Then what about the new body that a person takes after death? Will God be there in that before he takes it?”

Kishan’s mum said, “Yes dear. God was there before we were born, he is there now when we are alive and will continue to be there even after we die.”

Kishan breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Mum, now I understand why Dad did not cry that day. Even I don’t feel sad anymore about uncle. Everything will change, it is natural to change, but God is perma‐ nent. Now that I have understood this I will not be sad about any change.”

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