Prema V. Iyer

ANSWERS to REFLECTIONS QUESTION 5.
ANSWER 1. THE LADDER OF SPIRITUAL PROGRESS. First we have to connect with people with NOBLE THOUGHTS. This is called A. SATSANGATVAM. Here like-minded people share their noble thoughts and our MIND gets PURIFIED.. They make us see the FOOLISHNESS of our SUPERFICIAL existence.
This creates B. PRATIPAKSHA BHAVA in us and seeing our life from a different angle, we now generate DETACHMENT and WITHDRAWAL from useless pursuits.
This is C. NISSANGATVAM.This vairagya frees our mind for pursuit of higher goals, which can be achieved by SRAVANA(LISTENING to spiritual discourses), MANANA(REFLECTION on the concepts heard so far)and finally NIDIDHYASANA(CONTEMPLATION on the SELF and ABIDING IN IT).
This removes our DELUSION. The sense of individuality is lost and
D. NIRMOHA sets in. At this point one ABIDES IN THE SELF. Being absorbed in the SELF is achieved as the next step and is called
E. NISCHALATVAM. This is also the STITHAPRAGNYA of Krishna’s Bhagavad Gita. When firmly established in this state, one
attains F. JEEVAN-MUKTI. When he then SHEDS HIS BODY
he attains G. VIDEHA-MUKTI.

ANSWER 2. END OF SAMSARA. Samsara can end only when the TRUTH is known. When the SELF is REALISED. When one becomes the SELF and loses the individuality.Then everyone and every living creature is seen as the ALL-PERVADING SELF. The world and everything in it, is a manifestation of the ONE AND ONLY CONSCIOUSNESS. When this is experientially REALISED, one is free from DESIRES and the atma does not need to take another birth. Samsara or the never-ending “cycle of birth and death” FINALLY ENDS.
This can be said as:
JUST AS When old age sets in, of what use is LUST ?
When the water has evaporated, where is the LAKE?
When the wealth is gone, the RELATIVES, don’t linger.
so also, When the BRAHMAN is REALISED, where is SAMSARA?
Samsara has Ended of course !!

ANSWER 3. EVERYTHING IS MAYAAMAY SANKARA tells us not to take pride and be overconfident about one’s WEALTH and about one’s YOUTHFULNESS. All this can be LOST in a jiffy. The BODY ages and falls prey to diseases. WEALTH can be lost any minute. All things in this world are subject to CHANGE.Realise this, says SANKARA. The world can be seen with our EYES, but it is not be what it seems to be. This is MAYA. It is UNREAL. i.e. It is IMPERMANENT.The only REALITY IS BRAHMAN, the SELF, the ALL-PERVADING CONSCIOUSNESS. That is the TRUTH. WE MUST REALISE THIS and ABIDE IN IT, AT ALL TIMES. says SANKARA. Everything we SEE wuth our EYES, is MAYA(UNREAL, IMPERMANENT).

My Pranams to you Swamiji.
Hari Aum,
Prema amma.

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.

ANSWERS to Reflections day 3.

ANSWER 1.ANTIDOTE to Physical attraction. An ANTIDOTE is a substance administered to counteract the effects of a poison or harmful agent.
I, a FEMALE, believe that PHYSICAL attraction to a person ONLY COMES, AFTER one knows the person well. I am not sure if this is true for the male.
The person who is attracted, has noticed the “spark of life” in him/her.(person attracted to)
Has seen that there are COMMON INTERESTS shared by him/her.
SIMILARITY OF GOALS IN LIFE, shared by him/her.
Similar EMPATHY to situations in life shared by him/her.
PHYSICAL attraction is only the END-RESULT of all such qualities that are already attractive in him/her. Therefore I don’t see the need for an antidote, if PROCREATING is what is being planned BY THE TWO.
However I do see the need for an antidote for the ‘seekers’ who are sworn into Brahmacharyam. SANKARA is trying to avoid getting his students DISTRACTED.
SO the ANTIDOTE is to remember that the so-called beautiful body, is only a MASS OF FLESH and FAT and to keep repeating this over and over again. I hope it works for his students.

ANSWER 2. CONSCIOUSNESS and LIFE. Consciousness is the SELF, ALL PERVASIVE and OMNIPOTENT and BLISSFULL. CONSCIOUSNESS exists in SENTIENT beings and NON-SENTIENT objects too. But SENTIENCE needs the presence of the MIND,so that CONSCIOUSNESS using the MIND as a MEDIUM, reflects ITSELF ON the MIND and enlivens it, giving it LIFE. So an inanimate object has Consciousness, but NO LIFE, because it does NOT have a MIND and so there is NO AWARENESS IN AN INANIMATE OBJECT. In a human being and in all living creatures,CONSIOUSNESS ENLIVENS the MIND and AWARENESS is produced and this is LIFE.

ANSWER 3. IMPERMANENCY OF LIFE. SANKARA is a great poet and I love the alliteration in this bit of poetry. We can almost see and hear the water droplet on the lotus leaf dancing away and about to drop any minute !! Such is the unpredictableness of LIFE. DEATH may come any minute.As it is, LIFE is riddled with DISEASES, not to mention, problems caused by the EGO. hence we should give up this feeling of incompleteness which causes DESIRES. Shed DESIRES and be CONTENT, for LIFE is EPHEMERAL !!

Swamiji, Can you please send me the Biography of Sankara in four lines(DEVANAGARI SCRIPT) that you mentioned ? I could not find it on the internet, whichever way I tried !! Please help.MY PRANAMS. Prema amma.

Reflection 9. Answer 1. In verses, 15,16 and 17, the seeker is chanting prayers to Hiranyagarbha, addressing him as Pooshan,yama,son of Prajapathi etc. The seeker is “near death” and wishes to SEE his GOD, whom he has been worshipping all his life. He wants to MERGE with Hiranyagarbha and says that the effulgence of his GOD is blinding him and covering his face, making it impossible to visualise him. He requests that his GOD, withdraws this effulgence so he can see his GOD. He says to HIM “I AM YOU”
He pleads with AGNI to burn his body to ashes and let him MERGE with Hiranyagarbha, he asks GOD to IGNORE the few faults he may still have.AS he has devoted his entire life to HIM, he is now ready to MERGE with HIM.Even at this juncture his INDIVIDUALITY has NOT been lost !! He has not lost his IGNORANCE. HE has NOT REALISED THE SELF.
Answer 2. The upanishad wants to convey that THE SEEKER may have attained BRAHMA-LOKA,and gained enormous MATERIAL GAINS and SIDDHIS too, by COMBINING the performance of VIDYA and AVIDYA, but all this, is still BLINDING DARKNESS, as his BHOGA has increased too and his ATTACHMENT TO BHOGA has increased too.He may have attained DEVA-LOKA and attained DEVATMA-BHAVA , but all this is a MIRAGE !! IGNORANCE STILL PERSISTS.
UNTIL he has REALISED THE SELF, seen the SAME SELF IN all SENTIENT beings and NON-SENTIENT objects of this world,
Until he has realised that the SELF is the only UNBORN, CONSCIOUSNESS that pervades the entire universe,
UNTIL he realises that the world is a superimposition on the SELF,
UNTIL he realises “BRAHMA SATYAM,JAGAN MITYA”
UNTIL he attains “ATMA-VIDYA”, he is in blinding darkness and has not reached the GOAL of life. So the seeker must NEVER BE SATISFIED UNTIL THE SELF IS REALISED, says the UPANISHAD.
ISHAVASYA IDAM SARVAM is the goal, nothing less.

Reflection 6. Answer 1. The FRUITS of SELF-KNOWLEDGE, are: Such a person sees the SELF in every sentient being and non-sentient object in the world. he sees HIMSELF, the SELF, in everybody and everything. Therefore there is no one else other than the SELF, or HIMSELF. So there is no raaga/dwesha. There is no reason to hurt anyone. Hurting anyone is hurting oneself. it is similar to realising that the OCEAN and WAVES are but WATER only !! He has gone beyond Samsara.
Answer 2. The SELF-REALISED person has gone beyond the Sthoola, Sukshma and Karana sariras.
The word AVRUNAM means beyond being hurt. This word refers to the STHOOLA SARIRA.
The word ASNAVIRAGA means that the SELF has no NAADIS.(blood-vesseld).This word also refers to the STHOOLA SARIRA.
SHUDDHAM means pure, free of the dirt of IGNORANCE. and refers to the KARANA SARIRA or the CAUSAL BODY.
THE word APAAPAVIDDHAM, means PAAPA or PUNYA, AND this refers to the SUKSHMA OR KARANA SARIRAS.
Answer 3.The Upanishad wants us to perform, both KARMA and UPASANA.And in the UPASANA, both the SAMBHOOTI upasana, and the ASAMBHOOTI upasana, are to be performed. The Sambhooti upanasana is KARYA Brahma and the Asambhooti is KaRANA Brahma. Such a person’s death is described, as a HIGHEST AGNYANI’S DEATH !!His mind is not at peace !! the The PURPOSE OF THE DISCUSSION IS TO SHOW THAT EVEN SUCH A PERSON cannot get SELF-REALISATION. ISHAA VAASYA IDAM SARVAM,has to be attempted and attained.
Hari Aum,
Prema V. Iyer.

Reflection 8. Answer 1. By VIDYA, the upanishad means UPASANA.
By AVIDYA, the upanishad means KARMA.

              ** Answer 2.** VIDYA, brings its own RESULTS. AVIDYA brings its own RESULTS. By combining the two, the UPANISHAD wants us to  derive,GREATER RESULTS than the SUM of the individual results.

AVIDYA or performing duties regularly, as an offering to GOD and receiving the fruits as PRASADAM, will take us to PITRULOKA,the LOWER worlds such as BHUVAHA and SWAHA. But this is still IGNORANCE or DARKNESS, as we have not REALISED THE SELF. As soon as our PUNYAS are exhausted, we will come back to a different embodiment in the cycle of birth and death(Samsara).
VIDYA or performing UPASANAS takes us to HIGHER WORLDS( those ABOVE SWAHA,namely, Mahaha, janaha Tapaha and Satyam).This takes us to DEVALOKA, and we have a DEVAATMA-BHAVA.This gives us IMMORTALITY OF EMBODIMENT that can remain until PraLaya. This is called AMRUTAM. This is GREATER DARKNESS, because we have not realised the SELF yet.If we have performed SAMBHOOTI UPASANA, the we can IDENTIFY WITH HIRANYA-GARBHA, reach brahma-loka, get material benefits.If we have performed ASAMBHOOTI UPASANA, we can get SIDDHIS, dissolve PRAKRUTTI and merge with the totality. This may even last a KALPA. But this not SELF-REALISATION. IGNORANCE is still there. So this is GREATER DARKNESS. SO ISHAVAASYA IDAM SARVAM HAS NOT BEEN ACHIEVED AND IS ESSENTIAL for us to reach our goal.
Answer 3. COMBINING both VIDYA and AVIDYA gives us greater DARKNESS !! We need to scrub off the SLIME OF IGNORANCE from ourselves by seeing the SELF as ALL PERVADING and the ONLY PRESENCE in this universe. We need to see this SELF AS US and as all SENTIENT BEINGS and NON-SENTIENT OBJECTS, in the world. We need to see the WORLD as a SUPER-IMPOSITION on the ADHISTHAANA or SUBSTRATUM, the SELF. We need to experience the BRAHMA-SATYAM and JAGAN-MITHYA !! Unless the ishaa vaasya idam sarvam is achieved, we will not have reached our goal in life.

Please note that I have NUMBERED my answers WRONG. It should be 1,2, then 3.

Answer to Reflection no.3. question no.1.
Karma Yoga is for people who have no inclination towards attaining Atma-Vidya. Such people will have desires and should do Karma. Niyata Karma, daily duties, regularly without fail. It is also better for them to dedicate their karmas to GOD, an offering at a higher altar, so that their focus is away from the FRUITS OF ACTION. This slowly,given time, becomes NISHKAAMA KARMA, selfless actions. The results of the action should be accepted gratefully as Prasadam from GOD.This brings equanimity of mind. Purification of the mind is achieved. We will be able to bear the results with SAMATVAM. So KARMA YOGA is the bridge between Pravrtti and Nivrtti Marga.
Question 2. Killing the SELF. The purpose of our life is SELF-REALISATION. If we IGNORE this and live like an animal,(without scrubbing off the SLIME of IGNORANCE), by limiting ourselves to this body, mind and intellect(all upaadhis) then we will NOT realise the SELF which is ALL PERVADING. Then we are said by Sankaracharya to have KILLED THE SELF !!(Committed atma-hatya) This is a CRIME, because the body is NOT ours !! it is GOD-GIVEN, to improve ourselves. Killing the SELF will RESULT in us getting EMBODIED again in asura-loka. This is called WALLOWING IN BLINDING DARKNESS. ALL EMBODIED creations are ASURAS in asura-loka,says the upanisad.The body is needed to IMPROVE ourselves and realise ishavasya idam sarvam.