Any accomplishment is only one thought of accomplishment. Yet everyone still remains unsatisfied, despite accomplishments.
I want lasting joy. Total fullness, purnatvam. To be satisfied forever.
I gain knowledge and experience of names and forms through what the eyes see, ears hear etc. But to know myself, I can’t use the senses, cognise with the mind or through inference. Still one struggles not knowing how to gain fulfillment.
Sastra – a means, Vedanta – a pramana, a means of knowledge for knowing my Self. Otherwise, I’m like the 10th man, feeling lost when I’m actually not at all. There’s no other means for knowing myself. I want freedom, total freedom, total fulfillment and lasting satisfaction, where there’s nothing left to gain. Otherwise limited pursuits and ends wear me down and frustrate me. Therefore use Vedanta sastra to understand what I am not and realise What I am.
Perhaps easier said than done. On this human journey obstacles present themselves and a veiling ignorance hides my true nature. It’s tricky as it appears as something it’s not, can be most convincing and seductive therefore maturity and dispassion are required. The defects in things of the world must be humorously seen as they are, transitory, ephemeral and insubstantial. Invoking Isvara’ grace as I start my study is a beautiful offering, not only for my own heart and mind but as sincere gratitude for being guided to the knowledge.
ॐ सह नाववतु । सह नौ भुनक्तु । सह वीर्यं करवावहै ।
Om saha nāvavatu | saha nau bhunaktu | saha vīryaṃ karavāvahai |
तेजस्विनावधीतमस्तु मा िवद्विषावहै ॥
tejasvināvadhītamastu mā vidviṣāvahai ||
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
Om śāntiś śāntiś śāntiḥ ||
Why at the beginning and each and every time? Because the mind’s nature is to wander. It lacks the peace required for knowledge to obtain. So, Isvara the ruler of this creation – total sovereignty, all wealth, power, knowledge, fame, and total dispassion needs to be invoked! I’m acknowledging my relationship and dependency with the Lord, therefore I pray to the Lord – help my mind be open and calm.
Saha – together, nā vavatu – let him protect. So let him protect us together.
Saha nau – us both, let us both (teacher and student) be protected by knowledge – to become free.
Bhunaktu – may he nourish us with strength and the qualities required. Saha vīryam karavāvahai – May he make us accomplish what we need to with the strength of knowledge. Then you feel secure.
Tejas vināva dhītamstu Let it shine on us what we have studied. May he let it shine on us, and then people come to learn!
Ma vidvisāvahai. May we not have any misunderstandings and no hatred between us, born of misunderstanding. So let there be communication between us, adequate communication. May we remain having a healthy relationship.
Om śanti śanti śanti.
Three Shantis. Why? Because there are 3 disturbances within experience. First shanti is for myself, my body and mind, let it be free from laziness and dullness. Second shanti for the environment, and the people around me too, pray that illness does not disturb, and let me have the capacity to accept the circumstances no matter what and not worry about it. Third shanti, for the forces I have no control over. Natural forces over which I have absolutely no control such as earthquakes etc. pray for peace from those forces.
A shanti mantra is chanted and invoked at the start of an Upanishad study. What does Upanishad mean?
Sad is the root of the word meaning action, disintegrate, reaching, or destroying. And it has 2 prefixes.
Upa and Ni .
Upa means near. So the question is, who goes near? Those desirous of moksha; anadhikari – someone who’s turned their back on worldly desires, only has the desire for moksa and is qualified. We know there’s required qualifications, eg varaigya. I have to have dispassion for everything else and be free from binding desires. You’ve burned all the boats, you cannot go back. But you go to lasting joy and happiness!
Upa also can mean approaching this knowledge. So that one desirous of liberation is approaching the knowledge.
Ni is analysis, a study, also a commitment, Nistha steadiness; adherence, freedom from doubt and vagueness. What it conveys, it must stick.
Niscaya, decision; resolution, doubt free knowledge that will destroy the seed of a life of a limitation.
So what journey do we have to take? A journey of understanding. The journey, from ignorance to knowledge.
As Ramji greatly reminds us, how to apply the teaching in our lives is ‘where the rubber meets the road’. It’s easy when I’m in class, or doing sadhana. But what about my interactions with others and going about my duties? Well an excellent upasana; meditation, worship, reflectionI find most worthwhile is this… See the good in the other. Make it a sincere practice in the heart. See the good they can’t even see themselves…
It dispels any darkness quickly.
I leave you with this meditation, perhaps perfectly apt if you attended Ramji’s unfolding of Nirvana shatakam
OM
Sit upright.
Learn to sit upright as often as you can.
That keeps the body in the natural form, natural posture, just sitting upright.
Improves lung function.
Improves the blood circulation, particularly to the head, to the brain.
Therefore, there is a sense of vigour in the body, a vitality in the body.
Of course, the mind becomes quiet.
There is a natural cheer.
Cheerfulness, in you.
Now, this joy has nothing to do with the mind, or the sense organs, or the sense objects of the world.
So look at yourself, the body is vigorous, kind of rejuvenated when you sit upright.
The mind is cheerful and quiet. And you are joyous.
All of this has a name.
Just check again.
The body has a vigour.
The mind is quiet, naturally quiet.
Not forced to become quiet.
And I am cheerful with a sense of wellness.
All of this, you are without any effort.
Even sitting upright is not an effort with the natural posture.
Now, you can see an integration between the body, the Prana, which is inhalation, and the blood circulation, etc. the mind is quiet, and I am naturally cheerful.
All this put together is called Shiva, the auspicious.
Now, you can sing in yourself Shivoham Shivoham
This is the true religion.
Shivoham
The mind is quiet naturally without any force.
Now, I can feel a sense of wellness in the heart. A sense of cheer. Without any particular reason.
I can feel the sense of love in the heart.
Something like “I love all”.
And you can feel the sense of divinity in yourself, the divine.
The godliness in myself, I can feel in the heart.
You can sing in yourself, Shivoham.
The auspicious.
The divine, I am.
The spaceless, meaning the formless, I am
The timeless, meaning, motionless, I am
The independent, I am
The freedom to love.
Freedom is love.
That I am.
A heart which doesn’t know this song Shivoham, is an empty heart.
Shivoham, this is the real wealth, Shivoham
The real beauty, Sundaram, Satyam, Shivoham, I am.
The real I am.
Without this song in the heart.
Life is a waste, a dessert.
Shivoham
Shivoham
OM
~swami tattvavidananda
