Chapter6-

The disciple asks the Guru why he still has worries and restlessness despite believing he is the Atma. The Guru explains that adverse forces like attachment to pleasure and the belief that one is insignificant still exist. The Guru advises the disciple to stop being engrossed in the ego and start living as the Atma. The disciple asks about the fate of worldly life while trying to be the Atma, and the Guru says it is possible to efficiently carry out tasks while retaining the belief of being the Atma. The Guru explains that the eclipse of the Atma is caused by attachment to the ego, and renouncing the "I" and "mine" is essential for experiencing Ananda. The Guru describes the five kinds of afflictions and the need to abandon cravings and attachments. The Guru emphasizes the importance of giving up harmful attachments in order to find true happiness. Finally, the Guru describes the three vasanas that need to be given up, including craving for body comfort, respect, and learning. Chapter 6, The Eruption of Ananda, Why no freedom from worries? The disciple asks the Guru in all humility, Sir, I am convinced that I am the Atma after listening to the discourses, reflecting about what I have learned from the discourses and applying the conclusions to myself. Yet the restlessness, the anxiety, the worries in my mind have not disappeared, nor do I experience the Ananda of the state of the Atma. Isn't it the goal of all spiritual activities to achieve the state of Ananda which is not mixed with suffering? Though I am doing Shravana, Manana and all other sadhanas for this purpose, why am I not getting the Ananda? Adverse forces are still active. Guru's answer, though you have decided after Shravana that you are the Atma, adverse forces like the tendency of the mind to go out in search of pleasure, the attachment to sense objects and the belief that I am an insignificant Jeeva are still there within you and these are coming in the way of Ananda and disallowing it from being experienced by you. The sadhaka may decide that he is the Atma but he is unable to remain in that state and act according to that decision. This is the major obstacle to progress. For example, when this discourse is over, the sadhakas while going back to their rooms can enjoy the experience of Ananda they have just heard about, can't they? But majority of the listeners immediately switch their interest to subjects of worldly interest and keep talking exclusively about them. How can such people who hold on to their belief that they are Jeevas have the experience of Ananda, the Atma, stop being engrossed in the I? You should stop being always engrossed in the I and mind and start living as the Atma. If you try to experience the joy of being the Atma in everything you do and in every thought you think, that joy will certainly respond by being with you for a longer and longer period of time and station itself firmly in you. For example, we are required to go to a particular place for some work. Is there any need to think only about the I and mind while you are going there? You can walk to that place free of all concerns, feeling completely at ease with your natural peace of mind and enjoying the Ananda within which is immediately felt when all the obstructing thoughts are abandoned. But no one at any time behaves in this way. Many Sadhakas immediately after the Shravada return to the worldly talks and merge themselves completely in them. After the discourse they hurry eagerly to do that as if that is what they have been born for in this world. In short, the Ananda of the state of the Atma is not felt because of the strong attention of worldly matters in the mind. Start living the belief that I am Shiva. If you start living all the time with the belief that I am Shiva, then everlasting Ananda will become your own. On the other hand, if you make a show of being in that state for a moment and discard it the next moment to attach yourself all the time to the idea that I am Jeeva, the Ananda will be a dream for you. So, my dear Sadhaka, remain with the idea of being Shiva as long as you can. What about the worldly life? Question. If we spend so much time in trying to be the Atma, what will be the fate of our worldly life? Answer. It is definitely possible to carry out the worldly tasks efficiently in as little time as possible and then switch to the practice of being the Atma. For example, there are many tasks which require only the hands to be engaged in doing them. In such cases, there is no rule or law that you should engage yourself in worrying about something or that you should think about being the doer or think about the results, the praise or blame and so on and think that the work would be completed only if you engage your mind in some such way. It is possible to carry out the task for hand in the normal state of mind and be at ease. Then why not do it that way? Briefly speaking, there will be no loss of efficiency if the person doing the work retains his belief that he is the Atma. Eclipse of the Atma. The Atma, the Sun in this body is gripped by an eclipse. You have accepted that I and mine as your own. This is the eclipse that is gripping the Sun called the Atma who becomes invisible. On the day of the eclipse, the tradition requires that donations must be made in order to effect the release. In other words, if we want the eclipse of the Atma to be lifted, we must give away the I and mine. In short, the renunciation of the I and mine is essential for the experience of Ananda. Five kinds of afflictions. We will now describe the destruction of five kinds of afflictions. Renunciation of three strongly has desires and the destruction of the different vasanas or cravings. Don't lose heart on hearing about so many tasks and say, Oh Lord, seems to be so much work. Will this be possible for a common folk like us? The tasks seem to be really terrible. Basically, it is only I and mine in different forms. But these have been elaborated for clarity. That's all. What we want is that the sadhakas should understand them in whichever terms they like, but they should start the task of renouncing them. The five kinds of afflictions or kleshas are avidya or ignorance, asmita or ego, raga or desire for enjoyment, vesha or feelings of hatred against those who come in the way of enjoyment and abhinivesha or the firm attachment to the worldly things and fear of death. It may be noted that the usual ajnana and ahankara are replaced by avidya and asmita respectively and mine by raga, vesha and abhinivesha. The fire in your mind is the desire. Desire is continuously burning in your heart. Want or the desire brings an agitation, dissatisfaction and a very subtle feeling of misery. That is the kiln of fire is ignited in the mind. One doesn't feel comfortable if one is here or there. If you eat something or if you give up something, if you keep talking or maintain total silence, nothing brings peace. In short, the craving, worry and the unhappy mood which are generated by the ego do not allow us to enjoy the ananda that is the basis of our very existence. So the straightforward solution to this problem of unceasing mental agitation is to expel these from the mind. Inner effort is needed to remove the wheel covering the true ananda within. What is needed is inner efforts in the form of meditation and jnana. However, we opt for external spiritual practices like worship, chanting, penance etc. We give external treatments when the disease is wholly internal. We give external treatments when the disease is wholly internal because we do not try to diagnose the disease. There is a serious burning sensation in our chest and we should take the up. But no, instead we pour water on our head and anoint ourselves with sandalwood paste on our chest. Will the burning sensation stop by this irrelevant treatment? Cravings for wife, son and riches. The five kinds of afflictions can be explained in terms of three cravings or ishanas. Dhareshana or craving for wife, Putreshana or craving for son and Vityeshana or craving for riches. These cravings have taken firm root in our mind and are firm subtle desires. One is always thinking about his wife, always worrying about his children and forever thinking of money to lead a happy life with their help. Money brings no peace. The desire for money binds men strongly but a happy feeling is not found there. The happiness manifests itself only when the money comes in but later when the money is kept in a safe place or when it is spent there is only heartburn and even when the money is being used for appropriate purposes it makes one sad. Money does not make a man great nor does a man become great by amassing huge amounts of money. He of course thinks that people will call him a successful man, will give him much respect etc. But you tell us how much respect is given to a man only for his riches? They praise him only when they have some axe to grind, when they are badly in need of money and when they want something from you they say you are really a great man and your name is known to all people around here and so on and so forth. When they are no longer in need of his money then they will say what they really think of him. Every single paisa is earned by him by dishonest means. He is a miser among misers etc. Abandon cravings. The sadhaka should treat money as just another commodity which has its uses. He must not bother too much about profit or loss. He has to earn because it is essential to get his daily meal. Otherwise he should attach no special importance to money thinking that it gets him happiness or pain. In short when the cravings are creating a ruckus in the mind one's own natural happiness cannot manifest itself there. The man gets pounded to a pulp by the hammering due to constant worrying and by being trapped in unending activities. So the cravings must be completely abandoned if the natural happiness is to show itself. Are you ready? Examine yourself whether you are ready to give up the harmful attachments to this worldly life. If the answer from within you is no we are not ready to give up anything then we will have to say you will not have true happiness. Everything has its own price. The three vasanas. Now we will describe the three vasanas which sadhakas have to give up. Deha Vasana or craving for the body comfort and pleasure. Loka Vasana or craving for respect by people and Shastra Vasana or craving for learning. Deha Vasana. One is always thinking about the body whether it is getting proper food in adequate amounts whether it is well protected from small and big diseases and what would happen to me that is to my body in future. Such never ending concerns are collectively called Deha Vasana. To rely on such a perishable thing like the body for a good life is like taking a crocodile to be log of wood and jumping on it as a raft to cross the river. The body is affected by innumerable leads resulting in suffering like hunger, thirst, indigestion, cough, hypertension, diabetes and other diseases, senility and death. We see innumerable people around us who identify themselves with the body and moan and wail and tell their troubles in detail to any person unfortunate enough to be trapped into listening to their woes. Even if we leave aside the major sufferings this gross body moving about in its world of activities is likely to be affected by rain, wind, sunseet, cold etc. and are the minor troubles which attack this body small in number. He may stumble, knock his head on something while working, a thorn may prick his soul, some dust may enter his eyes, he may be required to move about in total darkness due to sudden stoppage of electricity. The list of calamities is endless. If one wishes that nothing bad should happen to the body he is bound to be disillusioned. Craving for respect, a keen desire for praise by the public and also that nobody should say a single bad thing about him is termed Lokavasana. Man is always desirous of respect from others. These desires are always alive in his mind wherever he may go. Nobody should say a single word against us. This expectation disturbs our mental peace. Look at it this way. Let them say anything. People talk according to their own interest. What does it matter to me? What they say? A man with prominent tamasic qualities blames me as he is his own. Why should I react to it and make myself suffer? It is in my hands to either accept or reject it. Moreover, what he says proves his evil nature and this has no effect on me. Even sons and sadhakas are not spared. And as if on cue people are more free in commenting about sons and sadhaka. Everywhere people invariably do not say bad things about wicked persons. The wicked ones may have behaved autocratically, may be addicted to any bad habit, may have driven out or destroyed many number of families or troubled or tortured any number of persons. Yet people do not utter a single word against them. But against sons they let their tongues wag freely. I say should people who call themselves sons behave in this manner? What kind of sadhus are these? We are hundred times better off than these so-called sadhus. Their open talk comes forth only against sons and sadhus. In short that is the nature of public behavior. Is it not utter futility to try to extract a few words of praise from such people? Can you show a single example where a person has been praised by everyone? Even the ideal of truth Shri Rama, kindness incarnate Buddha, the great renouncer Mahatma Gandhi, all these noble souls had their critics who tried to pull them down. Even Shri Rama was abused by washerman. Briefly firing for praise from everyone is a vain exercise. Public memory is short. Even the good word that has been said about a particular person is not permanent. The same people who praise you may censure you tomorrow. How many times have you seen the same people who had praised a person sky-high pulling him down later? They say everything has gone bad about him now. The earlier good virtues and behavioral ethics have vanished. Nothing has remained. In short in whatever way we look at it expecting a good word from the public is a futile exercise. So the best attitude is not to pay any attention to what others say but to remain enjoying the ananda resulting from the meditation on Rama. The sadhakas should do this. Craze for learning. I should read all the Vedas and Puranas. I must understand all the Shastras. I must become a great Pandit. Such an unquenchable craving is called Shastravasana. This keenness is not present in common people but is very much there among the intelligent ones. In the distant past there was a Rishi named Bharadwaja. He studied the Shastras day and night. Even when he had become old his study did not end. Brahma the lord of creation took pity on the sage and appeared before him. God Brahma dear Bharadwaja what are you doing now? Bharadwaja lord I am studying the Vedas. God Brahma since how many years are you studying them? Bharadwaja I have spent my whole life studying them day and night. God Brahma then how much of the Vedas have you learnt? Bharadwaja I don't know. God Brahma how much of Vedas is yet to be studied? Bharadwaja that also I don't know lord. Kindly grant me your kind grace and tell me. God Brahma pointed to the four mountains in front of them and compared them to the Vedas. Then he told the sage that the extent to which he had studied amounted. Then he told the sage that the extent to which he had studied amounted to four handfuls of dust. Thus he opened the eyes of the sage to the futility of craving for endless learning. The sage saw his mistake and gave up his craze to become a pandit and realize the self. Learning has its place. This does not mean that reading the text is of no use. In fact books which explain the secret of self realization and related topics are helpful for sadhana and must be consulted. Ignoring this main objective of studying books if one spends all his time in irrelevant pursuits like the origin of various words, the matter in which the book is written etc. It is obviously a futile exercise like doing a homa with ashes. Learning is only a tool. A sadhaka should not relegate his main concern that is the practice of atma dhyana and obtaining liberation in this life to the background and pursue the goal of finding out how the same dhyana is presented in different texts, in understanding the different propositions made by the founders of the various sects or go in search of any other such goals which are of no use to his sadhana. Will it not be like throwing away the golden opportunity of experiencing ananda of the atma which is very rarely obtainable for putting a load of unwanted trash on one's shoulders. Is it proper or wise to pursue the never ending study which comes in the way of enjoying the bliss of atma. Look at the worldly life as something routine. Sadhakas should drive away the concerns of their worldly life from their minds totally. Mainly the idea that you have firmly retained in your mind that the world is real, very important and full of happiness should be thrown away and you must look at the worldly life as something routine. This upadi in the form of the body is there and its activities have to be carried out as long as you are living in that body. But the important aspect is with what attitude we look at it, treat it and use it. Note what you feel about your body. Do you feel close to it? Think a lot about its comforts and discomforts and feel happy or miserable according to its state of being or whether you treat its activity as routine like sitting, moving about etc. without giving a thought about it. The important task here is to reduce the importance you give to the body. Take superficial interest in the world. Understand clearly what is meant by renouncing the world. It implies that the idea that the worldly life is real and mine should be rooted out completely and should not remain in the mind. Only ananda should be shining forth from the heart. The sadhaka should be able to take interest in the things about the world only superficially and take decisions to act accordingly only for the sake of doing them. There are four stages in speaking. Para, the first stage where the idea takes birth. The second stage Pashyanti where the person becomes aware of the idea. The third stage Madhyama, the mental murmur and finally the fourth stage Vaikari when the words are uttered. The sadhaka should be able to employ only the Madhyama and Vaikari stages. This implies that the sadhaka does not have any attachment to the worldly matters based on which the original thoughts were born. This means he has no interest or link with the world. All his talk about the worldly life is only a reaction. The origin of the thoughts lie elsewhere. These talks should not be allowed to reach the Pashyanti stage from where they cause misery or even the Para stage which is the stage of pure awareness of oneself. The mental turmoil like afflictions and cravings are generated by the external world and therefore it must not be taken as true important and a source of happiness and worldly responsibility must not be viewed as a permanent duty to be carried out. I must be dethroned. If I and mine love and hatred and the cravings which give rise to the Jeeva feeling are given up and if you stop thinking that you are Jeeva all the time Ananda of the Atma can be experienced from within. In other words when the belief that I am a Jeeva and the qualities of a Jeeva are given up completely Atmananda manifests itself. In short what is required is a change from within. Earlier the I was sitting on the throne of our heart and ruling the kingdom. By displacing the Atma from the throne the I had brought on denigration by saying I am like this I am like that I should do this much I should do that much and so on all the time. Now we are required to pull down the I from the throne and replace Atma there and bring back and place Atma there and bring back the empire of Ananda of self-realization. Let me tell you a secret. Finally we tell you some secrets. Though we elaborate a subject in our discourse greatly its main theme or essence is simple and only one. It is enough if that main theme is understood and retained in the mind. The whole detailed discourse need not be memorized. That conclusion is this. Each one of us is the Atma who is present in the form of perfect Ananda within us. But because we do not know this or even if we know we ignore it we get entangled in the I and mind and we are unable to experience our own Ananda. When we give up our involvement with the I and mind Ananda manifests itself in us. Think in your own simple words. The second secret is that it is enough if you understand the main subject in words which are familiar to you which you regularly use in your daily conversation. No support of any shloka or any learned evidence is needed. In order to understand a particular thing clearly in your own mind your own words are quite sufficient. In fact it is highly preferable In fact it is highly preferable to have that type of understanding. For example we describe to you the non-reality of the worldly life in great detail and use high-sounding words. If you just summarize the whole thing for your own use by saying this samsara is hollow. It is only an illusion. Only then will you understand it clearly and fully. That knowledge becomes your own and lasts all your life. The third secret the idea that the world is real and the desires have not come to you on their own but you have invited them in and have kept them as welcome guests. Had they come on their own it would not have been possible to get rid of them. But to our great good fortune the situation is different. Since you have brought them and kept them out of ignorance and the illusion that there is happiness in them it is possible to drive them out with the help of dhyana permanently. The goal of human life is revealed by Sadguru. The secret of obtaining the perfect ananda is found in spiritual texts and in a Sadguru only. Nobody, I repeat nobody except the Sadguru advises you to renounce the attachment to the worldly life. You may go to any place in the world. You may try any number of speakers. You will only find lectures on subjects like how to earn more money. No person brings about a change in the quality of the life of a human being. All of them without a single exception support the desires you have and make it become more firmly rooted in you. Only the spiritual texts and the Sadguru explains to you the real goal of human life and removes the obstructions to the experience of ananda that is there in you and grants you lifelong happiness. You have to decide. It is you who have willingly grasped the idea that you are a jiva and have thus acquired the qualities of the jiva. It is therefore you who have the responsibility to abandon the extremely subtle belief of being a jiva by realizing in your own heart that the jiva idea is extremely harmful and decide firmly on your own to abandon it. How can others do the task for you if you don't have the will to do it? The Shastras and the Guru can at best advise you to give up the jiva idea. The renouncer is you yourself. You refuse and say I won't give it up. Nobody can do anything there.