Meditation in Life: Chapter 8 — Illusion & Reality
Class Notes | January 29, 2019
Notes by Primary Writer, Sunita Menon
Shanthi has to be for sva adhayaya. Be acutely aware of what we are missing in life — comfort, food, profession, and family. What is it that we are missing? Sukha praapti - the presence of the independence joy. Awareness is not acute.. It is not clear so it doesn’t move us, and we don’t let go of other strategies for the presence of that peace. We still think — “that special vacation will help me be peaceful, that next promotion..”. If we are acutely aware of what we are missing then we will reach for it.. self-analysis and self-criticism (sva dhayana) is required.
Any given day if someone were to ask us, ‘what happened today?’ then we can describe that sense objects came into contact with organs, which then passed it on to the mind, which then passed it to memory, in turn to intellect and then to the ego.
Balance out the subject (ego, intellect, memory, mind) with the object. Fix one side of the equation — that side which you feel is more fixed — the inner world. We have more control of the subject — the inner world.
Jeeva, Jagat and Jagadeeshwar
Jeeva is the subject and keeps trying to coordinate with Jagat (our interest in Pleaseure, Posession, Position). Practical benefit — Jeeva is micro and Jagat is micro. Jeeva is the subject.
When we say ‘I’ what is that? Right now it is thoughts. I am my thoughts. When I am cranky everything is cranky, They are just thoughts.. When we sleep, there are no thoughts , we are not cranky, I am just thoughts. But we all know deep inside — how can we just be thoughts? its not possible.. then why am I being governed by these thoughts?
How many of us have felt sad? but the who experienced the sadness? We feel like we experienced it but the experiencer was the ego. The deepest aspect of us (the atman) has never experienced sadness — never been sad, never will. The experiencer is not who we are.
Illusion and Reality. Sat and Mithya. Snake and the Rope
Light is left outside. When we shift the light towards the Jeeva, we realize that Jeeva is Jagadeeshwara.
Need to train the mind. Our mood decides our moment and not the other way around. Subject and Object both are perpetually changing. Subject now is thoughts so the message is train the mind, train the thoughts. But how?
When weinteract with others realize that these are just thoughts. We have to train our mind NOT TO INTERPRET and not to get lost in that interpretation. The more Shanthi there is I appreciate that Shanthi is the subject.
Jabala Upanisha mentions the word snataka — someone who has completed their Vedic studies. Immersion in their gurukula — comes from snana — veda and guru bathes you in knowledge.. what comes off? Ignorance.
Now the opposite word is asnataka — is someone whose Vedic studies is incomplete and immersion is broken. Are wea snataka or asnataka? We will know when we know what illusion is and what reality is.
There has to be some shanthihi in our lives. Our lifestyle has some element of shanthihi (relative) then we can engage in sva adhyaya to reach absolute shanthihi.. This is a course on Shreyas not Preyas. Get shanthihi lifestyle to get shanthihi.
Vices directed towards ourselves helps us to propel towards virtues. If I am angry making a mistake then that vice has not served its purpose. Negation, and shame — it is never negation its substitution after that.
How can we complete our Vedic studies ? how do we become anastaka?
First quality needed to study and immerse in Gurukula is Viveka. Make this a priority — you will make time for anything you want to do. You will immerse so much so that you will become the guru without being called the guru.
RAW — 167 hours.. try your best to keep your head covered. Think deeply WHY.
Notes from Guest Writer — Sireesha Kommineni
A seeker applies wisdom when it comes to people’s opinions and projections. There has to be Shanthi in our life for Svaadhyaya (Self Analysis and self criticism) which can lead to internalization.
The last chapter ‘How to Begin’ emphasized on being acutely aware of what we are missing, ‘Sukha Prapthi’, the presence of independent joy. The sequence which we go through every day :
Sense Objects → Sense Organs → Mind → Memory → Intellect → Ego
Ego experiences doership and deservership. The uniqueness of this flow is that it depends on the mood. As the mood changes, the same sequence has different experiences.
Subject= Object
Can this happen?
It doesn’t work that way. Trying to achieve this balance will only make us tired. Gurudev shares to fix one side of the equation that is more fixed which is the inner world rather than trying to balance the equation. We all experience Jiva, Jagath and Jagadeeshwara. Jiva is typically an extrovert focusing on Jagath when the focus should be actually towards Jiva. If we understand that Jiva (the micro) and Jagath (the macro) are same, then we will tune into Jagadeeshwara.
For us right now, Jiva is the thought, not the experiencer of the thoughts which we know is not possible. But, we still believe in it creating illusion. Someone who does not know that it is an illusion experiences delusion. Knowing is Knowledge. Ego is the experiencer not the Atman.
As we think we are thoughts, we need to train the mind not to interpret. The more Shanthi we have, the more we appreciate Shanthihi.
In Jabala upanishad, a Snathaka is someone who had completed their Vedic study. An Asnathaka is someone whose Vedic study is incomplete. Who are you?
Notes from Guest Writer — Vidya Narayanan
Imagine it is spring and you see a tree with orange-red berries. From far the tree looks like it is on fire. But we know it is not, it is just an illusion. Similarly people’s opinions and people’s projections are as real as that flaming tree. Keeping this in mind, we need to get less caught up on others’ opinions and judgments.
We need a relative sense of peace in our life to give us the space and ability to do swadhyay. We have everything in this world — family, wealth, good job, good kids, good relations, good health, nice home, ability to purchase any means of comfort etc. So what are we missing in life? Are we even missing anything? What we should acutely miss is Independent Joy. Because we do not acutely feel the absence of independent joy in our lives, we are not moved into action to pursue it.
Swadhyay — self study, self analysis and self criticism.
When we look at our day, it is the same for everyone. Sense objects are perceived by sense organs which are just conduits that take the information to the mind. The mind puts it in memory and passes it on to the intellect. The intellect processes the information using past memories and vasanas and sends back response to the organs of action. All of us go through this exact same sequence of events, every moment in our lives.
But when our mood changes, the same sequence gets modified and our response is altered. Mood changes the moment. Only when the mind, mood and moment are in alignment, we get sukham. We keep trying to align these three all our lives but we get tired of doing this.
The only part of the equation that is in our control is the inner world or the subject. The world and its articles, beings and circumstances are not in our control. So let’s only focus on the subject, the Jiva and fix one end of the equation. Right now, the subject “I” comprises of just the thoughts. I am my thoughts. My mood decides the moment. My thoughts decide the moment. If I am cranky, the moment is bad. If I am cheerful, the moment is good. But we know that we are not the thoughts, so why are we still so strongly identified with them.
When you know what illusion is and what reality is — you become a Snaathaka. If we believe the illusion, then we are deluded, we are in delusion. Then we are Asnaathaka.
Our goal should be to become a Snaathaka. You will make time for whatever you want to do. When we prioritize this, then we will pursue it till the end.
Notes from Guest Writer — Pranitha Rao
Am I a seeker?
When you see a tree with red berries they may looks like a tree on fire…for a seeker, wisdom helps them distinguish berries and fire.
Same goes with peoples opinions about them and mere projections/imaginations.
We need some peace in our lifestyles for reflecting on ourselves(Svadhyaya)…..otherwise, we externalize ourselves!
Illusion and Reality:
What happened today? We come in contact with objects and our sense organs pass the info to the mind which passes it on to memory.
Which passes on to the intellect which passes it back to the ego which decides and passes it all back.
The same external objects when our mindset differs can change the outcome of the moment entirely.
Happiness/peace = Perfect alignment of Inner world and outer world!
Having such perfect alignment all the time is almost impossible but we should rather reset the side of equation which is more constant(fixed).
The subject! The inner world is less volatile and fixed than the external world.
In other words, Jiva should shift the focus from Jagath back to Jiva to tune in to the Jagadeeshvara!
What is I? It is thoughts….I am cheerful or cranky or angry based on my current mindset. Is it possible that I am only thoughts because
when I am asleep, am I not thoughtless? That is a contradiction! So it must be just an illusion if I think I am just mere thoughts!
When we are sad we feel that “We are sad” but actual experiencer is the ego. Our Atman is never the experiencer!
Just as we see an illusion of snake instead of rope, we project thoughts as ourselves and experiences belonging to the “I”.
So we need to train the mind not to interpret and get lost in the interpretation! When we don’t believe in illusion its entertainment like magic!
Knowing or Knowledge keeps us away from delusion!
Snathaka is someone who has completed the vedic studies! Am I a Snathaka or Asnathaka? A snathaka can distinguish an illusion from reality!
Notes from Guest Writer — Aditya Mahadevan
When my intentions are 80% pure, the universe/bhagavan will ensure that my sankalpas are met.
Stane — Everything is as it should be. So if I visualize myself shooting a basketball before shooting, I may be more likely to get the ball in (karma of visualization will have a phala) but it will actually go in only if it is meant to.
When I focus on peace, the 3P’s (pleasures, possessions and positions) may also come along. But when I focus on the 3P’s, peace will not come along.
To drop my ego and the associated sense of individuality, I need to ask “who am I and where have I come from” — Ramana Maharishi.
Constantly seeking permanency and happiness from the outer world in the cause of my sorrow.
Gurudev says in the text that the suffering we experience is as real as the snake-bite caused by the rope that was misapprehended.
The POE (person of enlightenment) who has experienced god in himself no longer experiences sorrow. This is because he has shined the flashlight of knowledge and seen the rope to be what it is.
