Day 1 Reflection Questions

ANSWER to Reflection Question 1. DELUSION is a mental aberration or wrong thinking, a mistaken identity. e.g. 1. The DELUSION most of us human beings live with all our lives, and die with, not knowing any better, is : That we are the BODY, MIND and INTELLECT.
That we are individuals, with gender, name and form. We believe that we have abilities, LIMITED by our body, mind and intellect.
These are however only the upaadhis. We fail to see that we are the SELF, CONSCIOUSNESS, all pervading and OMNIPOTENT !! If this not DELUSION of the worst kind, then what is !! Swamiji, then WHEN is this intellectual understanding of the concept, going to become EXPERIENTIAL ? I despair at the thought of going through a million
re-births !! 2. Another example of DELUSION is ARJUNA in the Mahabharata. He was deluded too. He could only, see himself as a “student” of Drona a “cousin-brother” of the kauravas etc etc and did not want to do his duty and so refused to fight the war.
DELUSIONS CAN CAUSE ILLUSIONS.
An ILLUSION is a FALSE PERCEPTION. e.g. A MIRAGE in a desert.
A ROPE can be mistaken for a SNAKE, in the dark, or when the light is dim.

ANSWER 2. WHOM I AM. I AM the SELF, CoNSCIOUSNESS, BLISS.The all pervading and eternal. Nothing other than the Atma or SELF exists. Just as all water, whether in the lake, river or Ocean, is H20!! I am the DIVINE. SWAMIJI, THIS REMINDS ME OF WHAT HANUMAN SAID TO RAMA, when Sri Rama asked him how he perceived himself to be. Hanuman apparently said” IN the Ramayana, I am your DEVOTEE. Spiritually(Vedantically) I AM YOU !!
I thought that was a brilliant answer by my hero, Hanuman. I have learnt to appreciate this devotee of LORD Rama during the course of my lessons on Valmiki Ramayanam.
WHO I AM NOT. I am NOT the body mind or intellect. These are what limit me, my UPAADHIS.

ANSWER 3. ADI Sankaracharya saw an old man trying to memorise the rules of SANSKRIT GRAMMAR( This could apply to all forms of secular knowledge). So Sankara decided to shatter the delusions of this old man and burst forth with a composition called the MOHA MUDGARA,popularly known as the BHAJA GOVINDAM. Shankara had to destroy his delusions in a hurry as he was old and may die any moment. There was no time to be lost in formalities and sugar-coating his words of advice !! hence he says ” Moodhaa” Cruelly kind of Sankara, to address him thus !! Ha !! Ha !!

ANSWER 4. SAMSARA AND ITS CAUSE. Since we are all deluded and think of ourselves as the individual, one among many, we are therefore limited in our abilities. We therefore have LIKES AND DISLIKES.. We have DESIRES. To fulfill our desires we must act. Such actions are SELFISH and bear RESULTS. These may be GOOD, BAD or INDIFFERENT. Fulfilling of DESIRES only grows MORE DESIRES. Some more actions and RESULTS. The MIND is BOUND by these actions. Re-birth is the consequence of such binding and attachment to results or FRUITS of ACTION. RE-BIRTH is needed to exhaust these RESULTS of our SELFISH ACTIONS. Hence the cycle of birth and death (SAMSARA, THE NEVER ENDING CYCLE).
So, in short, we should RAISE THE ALTAR TO THE HIGHEST LEVEL (GOD) and OFFER ALL OUR THOUGHTS, WORDS AND DEEDS TO HIM.
THE PRAYER: KAYENA VACHA, MANASENDRIYERVA, BUDDHYATMA NAAVA, PRAKRUTEY SWABHAVAAT, KAROMI YEDYAT, SAKALAM PARASMAYI, NARAYANAYETI SAMARPAYAMI.!! is appropriate at the end of each day, all throughout our LIFE.

1.Illusion : common to all.
Caused by external factors.
Eg: pattern on kaleidoscope, mirage, blue sky.

Delusion : specific to person.
Caused by our mind.
Eg: seeing ghost, hearing voices when alone.
Biggest delusion : I am this individual( body, mind).

2.Who am I:
Which can’t be said as ‘this’.
Which can’t be perceived or understood.
Which is unchanging can’t be destroyed
Who I am not:
which can be said as ‘this’.
which can be perceived or understood.
which is subject to change & destruction.

3.When old man was memorizing grammar, Bhagavan Shankaracharya composed this out of compassion.
The dying old man was wasting precious human life on worldly things & not on God realisation.
Here grammar= worldly goals without Higher purpose.
The old man memorizing = anyone (all are dying) who has only worldly goals.

4.Ignorance of real nature->thinking as individual- >desire for completion ->action(good& bad)->results(paapa&punya)->birth to experience the results->again ignorance & action…
This unending cycle of birth & death is Samsara.