Meditation in Life: Chapter 6
Class Notes | December 11, 2018
Notes by Primary Writer, Suriya Sharma
With every thought, there are three parts: Iness, am, X (articles, beings, circumstances)
Shift focus from ever changing X to am-ness (existence) or Iness (awareness). We don’t get shaken by the C when we are free. The desire for desirelessness is what the rishis push us towards. Thoughts are the expression of desire.
Yagna, Tapah (Investing), Daana (Sharing). Investment encourages growth. Pain encourages gain = this is sadhana. We keep sweating, not smiling. Worldly problems can only be solved by spiritual solutions.
The Sanskrit word for religion is Darshana (vision), in Latin, it’s Religer (going home). The spiritual solution is the vision of going inside. Perspective = vision
The catalyst for vision is knowledge. When you feel you can change, then you know the knowledge is finding a place in you/taking root in you. Selfishness is purged from holding onto lovingness. From January 1 2018- January 1 2019, have I become more loving? Love is the prestate of oneness. Love = virtue development. The more we move from selfishness to love, we will glimpse ourselves. By living a divine life, one realizes divinity. Sadhana is remembering and living for Him. All that we have learned is a means to the ends, but the unlearning is the ends, and that is sadhana. Disidentifying to identify is sadhana. The only locus of suffering has been the ego, not me. Without the spirit, the body is shava.
Notes by Gita Kanumuru
Every thought has three parts:
1) I-ness
2) am -ness
3) “x” or articles, beings, circumstances
The more we think about Existence, the more we will associate with It.
There is no gain without pain- this is true everywhere in life including spiritual life. Deep Sadhana is required in order to reach the realization of the Self.
Man comes to realize the nature of the Self after many lower births and many circumstances of sorrow, unfulfilled wishes, joys and tragedies. He then starts to think about the true meaning of life and question why he is born. This in turn will lead to higher thinking and contemplation on the true meaning of the Self. This will be a hard path but will lead to eternal Peace.
To attain a divine life, we must live a divine life.
Like clothing that comes to life when it is worn by a person, so too is the body alive when inhabited by the Self. Like clothing that is hanging on a hanger has no life or movement, the body will be dead if the Self no longer inhabits a body. So we should not see the body as who we are but see the Self within as our true Self and contemplate on that.
Only humans can engage in Sukha-prapthi- all other beings engage in Dukha-Nivrithi. Only humans have the intellect to contemplate on the why and how of life, all other beings live their life with instinct.
Our course is about unlearning….we need to learn that we are not free because we have never been bound.
Notes by Sridhar Lakshmikanthan
Hari Om
What’s one of the subtlest things? It would be about thinking. All of the sciences are oriented towards articles, beings and situations. The Science today does think about the Thoughts which seems to be more fundamental. VivekJi used a reference from Bhagavan Raman Maharishi that every thought in us have 3 parts:
1. I — Iness
2. M — Mness
(I am )
3. X — World, Objects, beings, circumstances etc
I am Mr. ABC, I am talking, I am dull, I am smart etc. Every thought has these 3 thoughts. First two parts: I and am never changes it remains same in all 3 periods of time (past, present and future). Only the third part X is changing in us all the time. Which is the important of these 3 parts? For an extroverted person feels that happiness is not who I am, it’s X part that we think is important and on the other hand the wise individual who has examined the limitations of X slowly shifted their thinking to Iness and Mness (Existence and Awareness). The more we think about, the more we identify with nature the X is still there but it’s just there. I am not disturbed by that X, I am not dependent by that X I am free. In Meditation in Life, we are thinking about thinking. Our saints are teachings us on how to become desirelessness. If our desire for freedom slowly becomes intense, this can slow down desires for X and slowly we will be able to move from desire to desirelessness. VivekJi read the first paragraph from Meditation & Life Chapter 6 on “Spiritual Growth (page-36) “In this thought-castle, behind the cardboard wall of memory, the selfishness and pride sit the doll king I. The self-centered I rules over fantasy kingdom of Sorrow. Stop the thought and thought castle crumbles down over the doll king I” Thoughts are an expression of desire. When I hold onto higher and let go of lower then I am in the process of renouncing desire.
Three words that were used multiple times in Bhagavad Gita course conducted by VivekJi.
Yagna –
Daana — Sharing
Tapah — Investing
More we engage on Tapah then more we can engage in Daana. The Tapah(Investment) facilitates Dana(Sharing)
There is no gain without pain Is this true? VivekJi called this Pain for gain as Sadhana. Emphasis of Ch-6 is Sadhana.
Pain encourages Gain — If we observe ourselves in Society and experienced that worldly problems cannot be solved by worldly solutions as these solutions are temporary. When I escape from one problem, the other problem is waiting there. We are always look for temporary solutions and happy with patch work of fixing my problems. Vedanta says the Worldly problem can only solved by Spiritual solutions.
With reference to VivekJi’s last week talk — he mentioned the Samskrit word for religion is darshana. Latin word for religion “is going home”. So the religion word means “Vision of going home”. When I develop the vision of going inside (going home) then that becomes the solutions to my worldly problem. The spiritual solution is the vision of going inside, Knowledge is key to the solution of all problems. We have observed that the knowledgeable person is more visionary. As their perspective is unique and as they are thinking about long term solutions — Shreya and not many of us looking for patch work solutions by focusing on changing X part. When we discover within that knowledge has found a place within me and convinced that with Sadhana it can change me within this life. We are no longer strategizing worldly problems and looking for worldly solutions. Gauge of Sadhana and knowledge the question to be asked within have I transformed to more loving nature and see oneness, or I am still selfish. Have I developed enough virtues to transform myself to loving nature? The more we shift from selfishness to love then we will taste the Joy of our own self. We get glimpse of that from our study. From the page-31 (Ch: Spiritual growth) in the meditation & life book, describes that Spiritual life is not dependent on where I leave, how I talk, what clothes I wear, my hair etc. rather it is one way of attaining it by living the divine life. A great example of this our own Pujya Gurudev on he has lived his life with divine qualities and yet engage, compassionate and loved everyone ( Om brahma-nishţhāya namaha , Om shrotriyāya namaha , Om madhura-svabhāvāya namaha ). Our Goal is on how can I take Sadhana outside of my comfort zone (controlled environment). How do I react to people, object and situations that’s real test of my Sadhana and all of understanding/assimilation of VivekJi’s and entire Guru parampara teachings? The circumstances when I hurt, insulted am I able to remember the teachings, Lord is the giver of result of my action and discovering that the Sadhana is living for him.
Notes by Deepal Shanmugam
The 3 parts of a thought : By Sri Ramna Maharshi
1. “I”ness
2. Am
3. Articles, beings, circumstances ( the x)
The first and 2nd don’t parts don’t ever change. I am always was always will be
The 3rd part is ever changing. The most important part for the extrovert is the X. The most careful and thoughtful individual know the x is not working so their focus is on the “Am” ness which is existence and the “I” ness is awareness. Another way to think of it is “I” ness is existence and the “know” is the awareness. This is who we are: existence and awareness. The more we identify with our nature the x is still there but it’s just there. We are not shaken or dependent on that X.
Chapter 6 of Meditation and Life: The desire for desirelessness (freedom) is a way to slow down desires so we can rise above them.
Thoughts are the expression of desire.
A paragraph from Chapter 6: Thoughts in their incessant flow create the substantial fiction of the monstrous-looking inner instrument called the mind. In this thought-castle, behind its carboard walls of memory, hope, selfishness and pride, sits the doll-king, “I”, a phantom tyrant, who self-centered and sensuous, rules over a fantasy kingdom of sorrow. Stop thought and the thought castle crumbles down over the doll-king, ‘I’.
Spirituality is the vision of going inside. Going inside is the solution to worldly problems. Catalyst for vision is knowledge. If you know you can change then you are getting knowledgeable.
Replace selfishness with love. Love is the prerequisite to oneness.
Sukha Prapti is about letting go
Dukha nivrittri is about adding on
Disidentify to identify is Sadhana.
All the suffering in our life is to the ego not you.
Archarya Shakara says” You can’t be free because you have never been bound. “
Our Sunday suit is alive when we are wearing them but once in our closet, it is just hanging there. When the spirit wears the body, the body moves. When the spirit doesn’t wear the body then the body doesn’t move.
Awareness is universal, infinite. But when awareness gets locked into a particular form and name then life becomes all about the X. All of the limits of X become my limits and I never feel free.
Notes by Gautham Prakash
If we have a desire for freedom, we can slow down desires and rise above them. But we must desire freedom. This is one of the first steps that we need to take. If we do not even desire freedom, or know how to desire it, then we will never get anywhere. This is an important concept that Vivekji has talked about in previous classes also.
Thoughts create a fiction of the mind. In other words, the mind as a construct is created by our thoughts.
Another important truth to keep in mind is that there is no gain without pain. The path to enlightenment and spiritual self-growth is far from easy.
What is the importance of spirutuality to the material world? If you observe society, you know that wordly problems cannot be solved by wordly solutions. They can help for a short amount of time, but then things go back to the way they were. Thus, wordly solutions are temporary. In order to effect lasting, true change, spirtual solutions are necessary.
Who are the people who provide these solutions? Those who are most knowledgable are those who are most visionary. So it would be the most knowledable (in a spiritual sense) in society. They provide the long-term solutions.
How do we know if we have attained knowledge? You know that you have found knowledge if you genuinely believe that you can be enlightened in this lifetime.
The more we shift from selfishness to love, we will shift to joy.
By living a divine life, one can attain divinity. This is called chiseling.
Remember, the one who is facilitating all of our experiences is Bhagavan.
Sadhana is remembering this, and living for him.
An important concept: removing, not adding, is realization. In a sense, we are not trying to learn, we are trying to “unlearn” that which we think we know about reality and ourselves. The goal of the course is about this “unlearning”. To remove the illusions that blanket us. Disidentifying in order to identify is Sadhana.
Everyone engages in escaping pain- animals are good at this. However, what we don’t realize is that all suffering that we’ve experienced has been experienced by Ego, not the true self.
