Lecture 1 (verses 1 to 2)

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ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय ।
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।
मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

Om. Lead me from the unreal to the real.
Lead me from darkness to light.
Lead me from death to immortality.
Om. Peace Peace Peace.

Vedanta

Vedanta as we are all aware is the philosophy of the Upanishads. Upanishads are the series of spiritual, philosophical texts embedded in the Vedas. Vedas are the oldest spiritual religious texts available to humanity. Even the most conservative estimates date back to 4000 years. And in those Vedas we find these texts called the Upanishads. The Upanishads taken together are what is called the Vedanta. Literally the word Vedanta means the end of the Veda. End here is not meant in a physical manner but as the final conclusion of the Vedas about the spiritual life. These Upanishads are the fundamental basis of the Sanatana Dharma.

Adi Sankaracharya

Commentators who have explained the Upanishads to us have come from time to time. Among them is Sankaracharya, around 1400 years ago who is also the author of our current text : Aparokshanubhuti, who wrote extensive commentaries on at-least 10 of the Upanishads, on the Bhagvad Gita and the Brahma Sutras.
These three texts along with the commentaries of Sankaracharya forms the scriptural basis of the system of Non-Dual Vedanta. It is a vast literature, very profound and deep though Sankara’s language was simple. One Swami remarked it was so since he was a 16 year old boy! It is simple yet deep. Sometimes taken together it is also called as triple cannon of Vedanta.

Introductory texts

In order to give an introduction to Advaita Vedanta: a number of introductory texts have been written. These are called introductory texts or prakarana grantha. Well known among them are:

1. Vedanta-Sara
2. Vedanta-Paribahsa
3. Vivekchudamani
4. Drig-Drishya Viveka
5. Panchadasi

Another particularly fine text among them that we are going to start today is Aparokshanubhuti. Panchadasi happens to be a commentary on Aparokshanubhuti by Vidyaranya Swami around 600 years ago. We will be using other modern commentators texts also and then try to understand this text. This book is several steps up from the lecture series we had for Drig-Drishya Viveka. As in, the dose of the Advaita Vedanta will be much higher.

Aparokshanubhuti

Main themes
1. Preliminary spiritual discipline what is known in Advaita Vedant as sadhana chatusthaya: the basis of spiritual life. How do we prepare ourselves for non-dual realization.

2. Who are we? We think we are the body. This explains we are not the body in painstakingly detail. Sankaracharya shows us clearly that we are really not this body though we work through the body. So are we the mind and again in great detail and insight: we will be able to see mind as an subtle object.

3. After showing that we are not even the mind, the books goes forward and discuss the nature of the universe. If we are the consciousness then what about the universe, what is the body, what is the subtle body. And finally it shows that there is only one existence consciousness reality.

4. Then it gives us 15 techniques for realizing that we are Brahman — the existence, consciousness, bliss. If you look closely, you will observe that each of the techniques independently is capable of giving us the direct realization of Brahman.

So that is the syllabus. It has wonderful twist and turns. Just as you begin to feel that you are getting a hang of it, Sankaracharya will pull a rug out and tell “What you have understood is all wrong!” and then again starts all over again. We shall go on this journey together.

Let me start with the invocation verse.

I bow down to Him — to Sri Hari, the Supreme Bliss.
I can’t resist telling this: people want happiness. Even the reason for reading Vedanta is to remove sorrow and attain happiness. The very nature of the Lord is happiness. And! Though we are studying the path of Gyan Yoga; the path of knowledge; If one wants true unchanging happiness right now: BHAKTI — Love the Lord. Love immediately brings happiness. Any kind of love brings happiness. Unmixed happiness, unchanging happiness, sublime happiness comes with love of God i.e Bhakti. Hence Sri-Hari is Paramanandam. And upadesta means teaching. In Vedanta tradition the first teacher is always God. Hence all these teachings from Vedanta teaching traditions, whether it is Advaita Vedanta, Vishista Advaita Vedanta, Dwaita Vedanta, all have different gurus but they all trace it back to God. Spiritual knowledge is the grace of the Lord. We keep saying, when will the God have grace upon me? Well the Lord already has grace upon us: because we are coming in contact with Vedanta. Vedanta is the teaching of the Lord, and it is the grace of the Lord. We have this idea in Hinduism that our happiness and unhappiness depends upon our Karma. What we have done in this life, what we have done in past lives: we are getting the results right now. If you are having a nice time out of it, you had good Karma. But then you are using it up. If you are facing hard times and troubles in life, well that is because of our past bad Karma. Something we have done over this life or past lives for which we are paying right now. It is also said that if you have lots of good Karma, You come to Vedanta!! Krishna said to Arjuna in the beginning of the Gita, “without asking for it, the doors of heaven have opened for you”: such is the grace of the Lord. Hence Lord is the teacher of Vedanta.

That is why when we read the Gita it is told, remember who is teaching the Gita! It is not your professor, not your pundit, not some swami. The teacher there is Sri Krishna! The incarnation of God himself. So when we approach a scripture with that kind of attitude that Lord is my teacher, so then imagine how much focus, reverence and how careful we are with the teaching. We will approach it with a entirely different mindset. And that helps. See that, idea in Vedanta is not to believe. The idea is to experience the Truth. To experience the Truth, it is helpful to have that kind of reverence and focus.

Where is this Lord? The answer is: where is he not? vyapakam: all-pervading! Everywhere in the universe the Lord is. If everywhere the Lord is then why do I not see him? The answer to that is: Karanam-sarvalokanam. The Lord is present everywhere as the cause of the universe. Just like water is present in all the waves as the material cause: upadana-karana. As iron is present in all the iron metals, as wood is present in all the wooden furniture: in the same way the entire universe is pervaded by one spiritual cause that is God. It is the ultimate spiritual material of the universe. Okay, but I can understand what is water in the waves, what is wood in the furniture etc. But spiritual cause! It appears as Mumbo-Jumbo to us. Don’t worry the book will tell us.

Tam Namayaham: I bow down to the God. I always thought that bowing down is a Bhakti act but bowing down is an act of gyana — that I didn’t know. I was reading a Swami in Uttarakhanda: “When I bow down my existence becomes one with the existence of the Lord to whom I bow down. My consciousness is surrendered to the consciousness of the Lord to whom I bow down. My bliss becomes one with the Lord to whom I bow down. I become one Satchidananda by the act of bowing down.”

So this is the invocation that we shall take at the beginning of each class. Now let us take up the second verse.

Here is being taught Aparokshanubhuti: the direct realization of the Absolute, for attaining liberation. Those who are qualified should intently enquire about what is taught here.

Now let’s go through this in detail. The word Aparokshanubhuti needs to be understood. Anubhuti means experience. In Sanskrit there are three categories of experience:
1. Pratyaksha: it means sense perception. Whatever we see, hearing through the ears. Nothing fancy here. The knowledge, the experience that we gain from each of the sense organs is called Pratyaksha. We see form with the eyes, hear sound from the ears, taste with our tongue, touch with our skin, smell with our nose: these are all sense perceptions.

2. Paroksha: There is another set of experience, another way of getting knowledge. Based upon what we see, hear, taste etc we think about it, we draw conclusions from our thinking — this is called inference Anumana. The whole of science is based upon this. Make observations, think about it and make a hypothesis. From a simple chemistry experiment to finding the Higgs boson all of that is a kind of observation. Our sense are boosted with devices like microscope or telescope and even more powerful devices like particle accelerator and so on. But even after you have got the devices and get the observations: you have to make inferences out of the observations and come to some kind of theoretical conclusions. This knowledge is called Paroksha. Look at the precise term. It means beyond the range of the sense organs. That which lies beyond the range of your eyes for eg: from observation we say that everything is made of atoms. We have never seen an atom and hence it is beyond the sense but the knowledge from observation and its effects we have come upon this.
I was in Cambridge last year and this young physics scholar who works in same office as Stephen Hawkins, no I have’t seen Stephen Hawkins rolling out of his wheelchair, we were walking through Cambridge and he took me into this little lane which I always use to think existed only in India. It was so narrow that not even a single car can pass through, maybe a motorcycle might pass. It was paved with cobblestones. When we entered that, that young man dramatically remarked: “Swami this is the place where the modern world was born”. I asked “What do you mean?”. He replied “Here is the place where electron was discovered. Here is the place where Watson and Crick discussed about the structure of human DNA. This is where the basis of physics and the basis of modern biology took place”. Our entire genetics and electronics are based on the discoveries made in that little lane. Anyhow, what I meant was that all of the scientific knowledge is based on observation and similarly, all of the Religion is based on faith. You read about it in a book, you have faith and you perform certain ritual and lead a life in the hope that after death we shall go to heaven. Now this heaven which I am accumulating through religious acts, through faith — this is not something which I observe but is on faith. So faith is also paroksha.

Now we have two categories of knowledge. One is pratyaksha what we see, touch and hear. And one is paroksha. The entire realm of science that we have developed is on observation and the entire realm of religion which we have developed is on faith. If you believe in some revealed scripture and practice it — that is also a kind of knowledge and that knowledge is also called paroksha. Whatever heaven is, I cannot see it as of now with our senses until I die. So they are paroksha.

3. Aparoksha: But Vedanta is neither pratyaksha nor paroksha. Vedanta says it deals with our own real nature — existence-consciousness-bliss which we are. Not something which you can see with these eyes, not something which you can hear with these ears or taste or smell. We cannot do that and yet, it is not something that is beyond our experience: paroksha. Do you have to believe that you exist. No. Our own existence, what we are, our own consciousness is not just a matter of belief. In-fact it is the stronger kind of experience than both pratyaksha or paroksha. Which is based upon our own consciousness first that our sense organs operate and give us pratyaksha knowledge. Based upon the consciousness that we have our mind operates and we get scientific knowledge or religious faith. Both pratyaksha and paroksha depend upon the direct light of consciousness shining forth upon us all the time. You don’t require proof! Why not swami? Think about it! People keep asking: is there proof of God? Can you prove the existence of God? Every religion struggles to prove the existence of God. All theistic religion struggles to prove the existence of God. None of them struggle to prove your existence. It is beyond question. Nobody asks the question: “Do I exist?”. You might ask: Does my body really exist? Does my mind really exist? But do I exist! Nobody asks that!. Infact, we shall see later how Brahman: the Vedantic conception of God also doesn't require any proof. It is self-proved. One swami in the Himalayas asked a Vedanta teacher: “Ishwar ke astitva mein akatya pramad dijiye!” — “Give me an irrefutable proof of the existence of God!”. And the immediate answer was: “Your own existence”. Tumhara astitva: Your own existence. Because as we shall see: our existence that is the existence of the true Self within us, of the Atman is not different from the Brahman or the God in Advaita Vedanta. So our own very existence becomes proof for the existence of God, in the Vedantic sense.

Now this self illumined existence is called Aparoksha. What does Aparoksha mean? Not-paroksha — Not-indirect. The exact description is provided in the dense commentary by Vidyaranya Swami: Akshanaam Indriyanaam param atitam na bhavati, iti aparoksha. Akshanaam means the sensory system. That which is beyond the sensory system, for eg: right now we are sitting here and the pacific ocean is beyond our sensory system in the sense that it is too far. Is the Self, is Brahman like that? something really far away so we cannot see it. No, it is something which is beyond your senses. You cannot directly see it with the sense, it is more than that. And the commentator explains: it is the very ground of the functioning of the senses. Your own existence is revealed in every functioning of the senses. Everytime you see something, hear something, feel something and hear something — it is that Self alone which is being revealed. It is pure consciousness itself shining through our minds and our sensory systems. So the term they use for this is: Aparoksha. It is a very carefully chosen term and it is a term which can only be applied to the Atman — the pure Self, Brahman.

Not sense perception, nor beyond sense perception rather the very ground of the sense perception. It is the illuminer of all the senses.

When Sri Ramakrishna was asked by Swami Vivekananda: Narendranath went around asking great spiritual teachers in Calcutta in those days “Sir, have you seen God?” and nobody could give a direct answer or an answer to satisfy Naren. And when he came to Sri Ramakrisha and asked the same question, Sri Ramakrishna replied: “Yes, I have. As clearly as I see you, more than that.” What is this more than that? Seeing you with the eyes is Pratyaksha. Realizing the ultimate truth that we are Brahman is Aparoksha; something more powerful than pratyaksha. Even we can be deceived by what we see. There are visual and optical illusions that can deceive us but our own existence is existence, consciousness, bliss that one never be deceived.

One swami makes a very interesting point: pratyaksha is samsara. Paroksha is the heaven promised by religion; belief. The Self alone is Aparoksha.

immediate, non-immediate and direct.

1. Sthula dristi →A gross vision: what I see, I taste, I touch. Basically what an animal perceives its own environment to be. The senses alone. That is the world.
2. Shukshma dristi → A subtle vision which a scientist has or a man of religion has. I see this but I understand what it is through science. Or I see this gross world and through my belief in religion I know that God exists and heaven exists and all the morality has its rewards etc.
3. Tattva dristi →Reality view. Neither this world nor the promised next world but the reality of both of them which is Brahman.

He uses a little term her vai which means certainly this is not a theory. It is the wisdom of the enlightened masters throughout the ages which is being handed out to us. It is the experience. Swami Vivekananda said: “Religion is realization”. That realization is being handed down to us. It is not a mere speculation, not a theory. This is just a teaching methodology that can take us if we walk with them that the great masters of humanity had since ages immemorial. We will get that vision! That is the promise.

One more point that is very important:
If things are ready, how does enlightenment comes. In Jhatiti. In a flash. How does it come in a flash? Here is the crux. Here is the difference between this and all the faith based approaches. He says: If we are already Brahman, then why do we not realize it? The only thing possible then is we are ignorant of it. It is right there but we don’t see it.

The whole technique of this book is pointing out. The core of Advaita Vedanta is that the teacher points out to the student who is ready. It is like “Here is the Brahman, see!”. It depends upon the illumined teacher and the ready student. Once Swami Vivekananda was sitting in the courtyard of Belur Math and talking about the realization of God. People were coming and going and then Swami Vivekananda in an inspired mood said “Do not seek God! See him, see Brahman now!” and the way he said it, it uplifted the minds of all present there and they soared into some un-namable bhaava and the more prepared they were the more intense was that realization. Swami Premananda, one of the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrisha, was passing by with a plate of offerings for the Lord and when Swami Vivekananda said this, he was not even listening to the talk, he just heard him say “See Brahman here!” and he went into Samadhi. He stood there with the plate in his hand like a picture, completely lost to the world. And the description is there for that scene that for a long time there was absolute silence in the courtyard. Slowly there minds came down and I think Vivekananda himself told Premananda to move.
So pointing out is necessary by the illumined teacher. But yes, you can say that, Is it all that easy Swami? Well I must admit that it is not all that easy. We can go on all our lives pointing out and we won’t see anything until we are ready. Then how to get ready, what is the pointing out: that is the book is about. But this crucial insight that the commentator has shared with us that teaching here is pointing out. Something that already exists within our experience, it is to be pointed out.

For what: attainment of liberation. What libreation? Traditionally in Hindusim Moksha means liberation from the cycle of life and death. But suppose somebody says: “Well, I know I have been born and I know I will die. But whether I existed earlier or I will be reborn again are all the things that you Hindu believe or the Buddhist or Jains or Sikhs believe. I may not believe that and that is also a matter of faith. Why should I work on the problem of liberation which I don’t know. Why invent a problem and then invent a solution?”
I just remembered something really funny. There is this quack, a doctor and this is a real case. Before all these medical systems came up, people use to take medical help wherever they could find it in the late 18th and the early 19th century. So there was this quack who was prescribing medicine to anybody and everybody and was charging money. This person was arrested and the judge charged him for “inventing imaginary cures for real diseases and real cures for imaginary diseases.”
Freedom from the cycle of birth and death — well! if you believe in it. But what if I don’t. So the commentator there helps up. He says: “Moksha means freedom from sufferings, attainment of happiness.” Now that is not theoretical. Everything else in life may be theoretical but this one thing is not theoretical for any living being let alone humans. Every human being is struggling to escape suffering and attain some satisfaction, happiness, joy. Attainment of bliss and release from suffering is what is called Moksha or Freedom. So this is the goal and this is promised to us. Who will attain this? Sadhvi: Those who are qualified. Who are qualified, what are the qualifications and how to attain them? we will discuss in the verses to come. And how do we do that? Vikshaneya: Enquire. Whatever is presented to you in the next few verses, enquire about it. What is enquiry? Listen, think, meditate. Shravana, Manana, Nidhidyasana. When? twice a month Vedanta class? He says “No! muhur muhuh”. Moment to moment. Vidyaranya says: “Snana bikshadi vismarana”. Mind you the commentator here is writing in reference to monks. He says you must be so intensely immersed in this that you might forget you daily bath or the begging for food.
I remember I used to stay in Gangotri once and taking a bath used to be difficult there because the water that comes down there is ice melted which was terribly cold. And I had this tin bucket which I had to fill up and just sort of pour it over the head. And to increase my courage for that I would say “I am not the body, not the mind”!. I would literally chant the Sankaracharya’s famous nirvana-shatakam and then would pour the entire bucket over myself. And once you do pour the water, you are safe. I mean nothing worse can happen to you then.
So you will forget to take your bath, you will forget to take your food: with that intensity. Is it possible? yes, it is possible. We read about Trigunatitananda Ji Maharaj studying Vedanta in the Baranagar Math in the earlier days of the monastery. He used to sit in the morning and would read until the sun has set and there is no more light in the room. Then he would get up only to light up the lamp and would sit down again. He was like that. He would sit for meditation, Japa, repeating the mantra early in the morning and people are going for food, bath but no, he is not getting up. Not coming for food makes other monks worried. He says “No, I will not stop japam until I get realization”. He would starve but say “It is alright. I am ready to starve.”. Then finally a compromise was worked out. I think it was Mahapurush Maharaj,also known as Swami Shivananda for whom he had great regard. Trigunatitananda Ji Maharaj said to Mahapurush Maharaj that “if you sit there and repeat the mantra, I will touch your body and eat food quicky!”.

So that kind of determination says the commentator is needed. Otherwise no amount of pointing out will help. Not so fast. So muhur-muhuh. Moment to moment enquiry. Hear it again and again. Think about it again and again and meditate upon it again and again till the pointing out becomes effective. When it will becomes effective even for us, enlightenment will come in a flash. jhatiti pratyaksha!