SDS's explanation - thathvaboDha: (Condensed) Dear SDS community
members.. I think it is a good idea to create a condensed version
of thathvaboDha: | This is a lexicon of vEdhAntham and any one
desirous of liberation will benefit by getting these terms
understood properly. This was one of the very first texts SDS
introduced to his students when he had the four year vEdhantham
course.. That tells teh significance of this thatvaboDha: It is
like most vedhAnthic texts, set as a dialog between the teacher and
the student. The student asks a question and the guru responds to
the SishyA.. It deals with why this text ought to be studies; what
are the necessary qualifications to understand the upanishaths;
what is the nature of the individual, universe, and god.. who is a
gnAni.. and so on and so forth.. SDS had asked me in the past to
start teaching and I find Orkut a good way to start teaching
without expecting anything from the readers ( sounds like karma
yogam, right??!!) as many words will be in sanskrit and we have the
misfortune of using 26 alphabets, i would like to start off with a
new way to write practically almost any language with reasonable
precision by using a very special transliteration taught to me by
my elder brother.. in fact we write tamil words using this format..
I would like to share it with this community first, if I may.. a A
i I u U R lr E ei o au H (visargam) these are the basic vowels..
then.. k K g G gn c C j J jn tTdDN th Th dh Dh n pPbBm y r l v S sh
s h While this is not perfect, this will allow us the easy use of
the computer key board.. the opening line of thathvaboDhaH starts
with a prayer to BagavAn and guru.. vAsudhEvEndhra yogIndhram
nathvA gnApradham gurum | mumukshUNAm hithArThAya thathvaboDhaH
aBiDhIyathE || this simply invokes the grace of the guru.. I will
explain the meaning in the next posting.. I hope using the letters
above the readers, especially those who are familiar with hindhi
can easily pronounce samskrtham.. hari om.. M
TB Introduction (cont'd)
vEdhAtham is a committed pursuit.. as we are ending this coil of
birth and death once and for all.. Only a local guru can teach any
one of us. I suggest any guru in your neighborhood who has ben
ordained by Swami Dayanada of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam.. Their
"teaching methodolgy" is pakka at least for a guy like me who was
just quite ignorant to begin with.. perhaps more ignorant than many
community members here when I was under SDS's tutelage about 10
years ago (still continuing..!!!) So I have chosen to be a
vEdhAntic teaching assistant.. I won't be able to be anything more
with all of the "timebites" in my life as it is now.. Yet I find
this forum to be the best to discuss SDS's teachings.. which is
what he learnt from his gurus, who learnt it from their gurus ans
so on and so forth.. it ultimately ends in Lord DakshiNAmUrthy..
When SD started teaching vEdhAtham, it was a 4 years course. He
went around the Inida advertising in local papers.. From a pool of
applicants he selected about 20 or so students.. The only
requirements were " A human; family should be able to spare
him/her". No prior knowledge of even Indian scripture was required
and they had the freedom to drop out.. He started his 4 year course
with TB and RamaNA's upadhESa sAram. That tells me the significance
and background of TB.. So when anyone asks a Q from TB (or any
spiritual topic), instead of answering "bang-bang" I though I would
share with the questioner a little bit of the background
information which led to the Q and the answer itself. I also feel
that only a condensed version mostly in English is apt. and I am
going the full length.. SDS explains TB in about 40 hours of
explanation or so.. It will be foolish for me to think that I can
capture that ocean in this few characters.. Yet may be some of you
will be ignited to pursue further.. That comes only if we have the
blessing of SDS.. At this point I myself seek the blessing of SDS,
and BagavAn to help me complete this task.. hari: om.. SrI guruByo
nama: hari: om
thathvaboDhaH - Condensed Version - || TB-1 || TB Opening
lines.. vAsudhEvEndhra yogIndhram nathvA gnApradham gurum |
mumukshUNAm hithArThAya thathvaboDhaH aBiDhIyathE || TB-1|| |
|| TB-1 ||
this simply invokes the grace of the guru.. even the word "guru"
is defined as "gu" representing the darkness or ignorance of our
budhDhi and "ru" representing its removal. Whle many gurus are
there, very few are capable of removing the many ignorances we
have, ONLY a guru well-versed in SAsthram, committed to
understanding and unfolding brmhan can remove our ignorance
regarding ourselves.. a person who is desirous of the removal of
selfignorance is really a mumukshu because he (here not the gender,
but th quality of pumsthvam is referred to as he) has discerned
that dharma and artha and kama have only limited results and thus
he goes for the kill..! knowing which the samsaram ends.. for
assuring that type of mumukshu the salvation, this thathva boDhah
is taught.. thathvam means the true nature of jIvaH, jagath, and
ISvaraH.. boDhaH means the teaching.. Here the author invokes the
grace of his guru vAsudhEvEndhra.. who is capable of giving the
Sishya the gnAnam (knowledge about oneself). Having saluted his
guru, the author starts unfolding the granTham called thathvaboDha:
which is intended for the ultimate goodness of those who desire
moksham or liberation or end to samsAram..
This itself is a mahA prathignA or a great promise by the
author, because this one line alone is enough to settle the
uncertaities in our head about pramANa asamBAvanA or the doubts one
may have as to the very validity of this text..! Now the seeker
must have SradhDhA and go further into the text and analyze.. We
will do just that.. The next line talks about sADhana cathustayam..
The four fold qualifications necessary to make a person qualified
to pursue the teaching. It is important to note that NO one person
has all of these it total measure except god..!! (to be
contd..)
TB Opening lines.. || TB-2 || The beauty of TB is its ability to
convey to us the essence of vEdhAntham in the question and answer
format.. almost all of our teachings or that way (except perhaps in
our modern schools, where the teacher gets upset if the student
asks a question..!!).. in vEdhAntham THERE IS NO NAME DROPPING..
Our svarupam is the topic here.. so better get it pakkA in our
budhDhi.. any vEdhAntha teacher who leaves a mystery in a
questioner's mind SHOULD BE DROPPED AS A GURU INSTANTLY..! Even the
word "guru" has a significant meaning.. "gu" means the darkness(in
our mind about our true nature) and "ru" means its removal..! That
person alone deserves to be our guru.. So the guru opens TB with
words that are more powerful than nuclear explosion.. sADhana
cathushtaya sampanna aDhikAriNAm mumukshUNAm moksha sADhana Butham
thathva viveka prakAram vakshyAmaH |TB-2| |TB-2| "we are going to
talk about the methodolgy of unfolding our true nature, for those
aDhikArIs who are endowed with the four-fold qualifications which
will result in moksham for such mokshAm seekers..!" Now every word
and syllable in this beautiful text is explained to the student who
is totally ignorant about ANYTHING, but the guru is TOTALLY capable
of explaining..!! I asked SDS upon completion of this text IF TB is
a complete text. SDS simply smiled and said "yes, WITHOUT ANY
DOUBT, it is a complete text" I also see that this SDS community is
saturated with serious seekers who have become very dear to me..!!
So I am proceedinG to elaborate on the entire TB all the way to the
last statement from the guru of TB. Just one observation here on my
part. I found out upon listening to SD that the very first few
verses of any vEdhAnthic text was quite capable of delivering the
total message and the rest were a mere unfoldment of that message..
It is just like saying "I love you" and then spending a life time
proving it..! May this succeed
|TB-3 &4| | (TB-3)
| | | | ( TB-4 ) Finally comes the answer to student's
question..!! The question on sAdhana cathushtayam.. that started
this whole ball rolling..! I have numbered this as TB-3.. sADhyathE
anEna ithi sADhanam.. that which helps you accomplish something is
sAdhanam.. It simply means a "A
MEANS OF DOING OR ACCOMPLISHING ANY GOAL". Like fire is a
primary sADhanam for cooking.. car is a primary sADhanam for
travel.. whreas gasolene is the priamry sADhanm for the engine to
run.. It is important to remember here that any one sADhanam will
have several sADhanms that it requires..! That is why the whole
blessed thing is ULTIMATELY dismissed as "mithyA" the most
misunderstood and misapplied word in the world of spiritual
seekers.. LIKE US..! I am also going ot be warning this community
where a potential for us to commit an error exists.. so that we can
always easily revisit that topic when that error is FORGOTTEN..!!
It happens all the time to all of us.. that is really the beauty of
studying vEdhAntha SAsthram.. cathushtayam simply means "four" kim
here means "what are they?" so in essence the student asks the guru
"hey guro! you mentioned in your opening dialog this word.. i do
not know its meaning what are they?.." The student's job is really
extremely simple when he asks the question.. BUT EXTREMELY
DIFFICULT WHEN THE ANSWER HAS TO BE REMEMBERED, RETAINED,REFLECTED
UPON, AND RECITED WHEN NEEDED..!!! Actually we will see as the text
goes along, the Sishya is absolutely ignorant of the teaching of
vEdhAntham, yet has an ApAthatha gnAnam.. a vague understanding of
vEdhAnthic terminology, at least he has heard of them.. BUT WITH
ZERO UNDERSTANDING..!! he pays a lot of attention though..! All
these will be explained as we read on.. The guru's answer is marked
by me as |TB-4|.. That comes next..
( TB-4 ) | | | | ( TB-4 ) The first one is | This really means
one must have a discriminative understanding of what is "eternal"
and what is "non-eternal or temporary" The second one is | "iha"
means here on planet earth (for us humans).. "amuthra" means
"elsewhere" that one aspires to go to for "fun" time..! PalaBogam
means an "itching" we all have for enjoying what we rightfully
determine "I did this.. so I shall enjoy this result".. now comes
the sADhanam..!!! virAga: is a vairAgyam or a dispassion or a
determination that I AM NO LONGER INTERESTED IN THIS LIMITED
RESULT.. In other words, as Americans describe it "chicken-shit"
results..!! We still do not know at this point why we should
develop this vairagyam.. that explanation comes later.. Remeber
this is guru Sishya samvAdham.. the stuedent will not allow the
teacher to rest in peace UNTIL he has every one of his quesions
answered.. (here his means her also.. we are talking about the
quality of both males and females who have this metal fortitude to
stick with this study to gain the ULTIMATE goal.. or purushATham..)
The third one is | this actually has six subsets..! It literally
means the qualities such as Sama, etc..! this will be explained
later also almost pretty soon.. The fourth one is | mumukshuthvam
means a desire to gain moksham.. I can not but help explaining the
beauty of samskrtham here.. these words are known in English as
"desiderative" which is unique to samskrtham. It simply means "the
desire to become or do what the primary verb of action is intended
for.. " here samskrtham describes it in one clean simple word..!
This actually propels the student to ask simple one word or
two-word questions and the teacher usually spends a life time
explaining it.. THAT IS WHY HE IS A GURU, THE REMOVER OF THE
DARKNESS OF OUR MINDS AND WE ARE ARE HERE TO "BUG" HIM FOR
ANSWERS..!!
TB-5,6, AND 7 | | | TB5| Here the student is NOT afraid of
asking the guru any question he has because here the ending of the
samsAram is being taught by the guru. Then the guru also
appreciates the humulity on the part of this student and teaches
him the essence of all of our scriptures in the very opening
declaration of TB. The student asks what is this vivEkam or
discriminative knoledge. The teacher declares that there is ONLY
one such discriminative knowledge. That knowledge is that the
singly non-dual brmhan is that eternal vasthu. OTHER THAN THAT
EVERYTHING IS PERISHABLE.. Then the student continues with his
questions. (please understnad that this is not meant for an
ordinary student but who has come to a guru for ending samsAram) |
|TB-6| When the student asks what is dispassion, the guru says,"any
gain you strive for on planet earth as well as attainment of heaven
should NOT be the passion of your life, if you want to end
samsAram. So the 'absence os such a desire to accomplish the
non-eternal goals" is virAga: or the dispassion necessary to obtain
this knowledge. | |TB-7| Previously you may remember that the guru
simply said the "six-fold gunAs, such as Sama, etc".. So here he
"lists" thos 6-fold gunAs and elaborates what those six are in the
following as well awaiting the student to ask a question. This also
highlights how vEdhantic teachers are. The very statment they make
must be relevant, yet the student must be capable of asking the
proper question, and then the guru also must be capable of
expalining. (This is also the main reason why I chose to be a
vEthantic teaching assistant and NOT A GURU. This also allows me to
enjoy the human qualities and fraities like every one of the rest
of us.!) So now it is the student's turn to ask " | |" (cont)
| |TB-8| For this the teahcher simply defines it as "mind
control". this is easier said that done.. even krshNa says in BG
that mind control is as difficult as catching hold of air.. but it
can be done by practce and determination.. We will leave it at this
simple definition for now. japam, DhyAnam etc help us here.. Then
the sttudent asks.. | |TB-9| What is dhama:? tTo this Q the guru
says,"the ability to CONTROL one's sense organs such as eyes.." By
the such as
the guru means the five organs of knowledge (skin, ears, eyes,
tongue, and nose), and the five organs of action (mouth, hands,
feet, organs of evacuation, and organs of procreation). (Charity,
Bajans,etc) Then the sttudent asks.. | |TB-9| For this the teacher
says to follow one's Dharma, without worrying about our losses as
well as other's gains. One simply does what needs to be done
whether it is to my liking or not.. This is a very significant
quality in a student.(this is peaceful co-existence) The next Q by
the student was.. | |TB-10| What is thithikshA? Here the guru
says,"it is the fortitude one has in bearing the dual opposites
that happen in our lives. These could be any number but he simply
gives only a sample.. which covers almost the entire spectrum.. He
points out that we must bear both hot and cold weather, be somewhat
neutral when pleasure and pain occur in our lives, etc.. (HERE
COMES WHAT I PERSONALLY THINK IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT QUALITY IN
KALI YUGAM.) | |TB-11| What is SradhDhA is the question.. To that
the guru replies." the unshakeable faith in the words of the
teacher and our scriptures.. Here I can go on for any length of
time explaining.. But please read my topic on pramANam, which deals
with what is a means of knowledge and why our scriptures must be
revered by us. No self-proclaimed gurus here , but one who
KNOWS
TB-12,13,AND 14 Then the student wants to know the sixth guNa of
the six-fold qualities.. | |TB-12| So he asks what is samADhAnam?
The guru says.."the one-pointedness of the mind". this is
elaborated by SD as the ability of the student to stay focussed on
WANTING TO END THE SAMSARAM.. he has no other goal.. nothing else
is attractive.. he is done with power, passion, postion, money,
titles, education, worldly pleasures and pain, etc.. [b/]without
this one-pointedness, many a student just wander around in the
forest of words.. they fail to understand what is important in life
and what is not.. and more often than not, end up pursuing what is
temporary and evanascent as opposed to what is permanent and real..
Then the Million dollar Q by the student.. | | TB-13| WHAT IS
mumukshuthvam? many of us wander in the forest of samsAram without
understnading what his term even means.. TB very clearly defines it
as A DESIRE ON THE PART OF THE STUDENT THAT "LET MOKSHA HAPPEN TO
ME." At this point he has heard the term moksham or liberation but
has gone about it a million different ways.. but to ask a proper
guru that question and tell him that "I WANT MOKSHAM" actually will
bring tears to the eyes of the guru. A STUDENT CAN NOT GIVE A GURU
A BETTER GURU DAKSHINA THAN
ASKING THIS QUESTION. PLEASE MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT THIS ONE Then
the guru concludes the answers to student's question with the
following brief statement.. | |TB-14| He simply says that once a
person has these 4-fold qualifications (1. understanding of what is
eternal and noneternal; 2. dispassion 3a. mind control/3b. organ
control/3c. following what has to be done/3d. tolerance/3e.
unshake-able faith/3f. one-pointedness in our pursuit; and finally
4. A DESIRE FOR LIBERATION.. Then and THEN ALONE, one becomes
eligible for understanding the upanishadic teaching. NONE of us has
all of this in full measure, right? !!!
A Brief Interlude here..! Friends, None of us has these in full
measure.. But do not despair.. Our scripture declares that we are
liberated already.. ONLY the ignorance that I AM BOUND must be
shed.. that is where TB is a very potent text that launches you
into the wonderful space of upanishadic study.. Of these total 9
qualities we have some none; some so so; some reasonably good; and
some excellent.. Once the pursuit begins and ignorance shedding
starts, (DO NOT WORRY IT WILL START..!!) you will find that there
is an amazing internal transformation in you that is NOT APPARENT
TO ANY OUTSIDER.. YOU WILL SEE THAT WHATEVER QUALITY IS NEEDED, THE
SAsthram, your guru, your SELF, and God give you in necessary
measure.. The above four are extolled by our SAsthram as the four
types of graces necessary to reach the final purushArtham, WHICH IS
ALREADY FULLY GAINED, BUT CURRETNLY UNKNOWN..! that is the humor in
teaching vEdhAntham..! May you continue onward with your vEdhAnthic
journey and worry about ONLY yourself.. IT IS NOT SELFISH AT ALL
because what is at stake is YOURSELF..!! I wish everyone of you who
happen to read this introduction to END THIS COIL OF BIRTH AND
DEATH.. JUST FORGET ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE.. And after gaining this
knowledge, do WHATEVER GOD has ordained you to do in this birth..
YOUR WHOLE LIFE BECOMES ONE LONG ENJOYABLE VACATION AFTER THE RISE
OF THIS KNOWLEDGE.. To unfold whole of TB as SDS had done
effortlessly is a himalayan task.. and AS I mentioned to all of
you, I will be able to continue with further postings on this
topic, CERTAINLY with my guru SDS's grace.. I wish you all the
best. I bear no grudge in my heart towards any one of you THOUGH I
MAY OCCASIONALLY COME ACROSS AS AN ARROGANT SELF-PROCLAIMED TEACHER
WITH A BLOATED EGO AND ZERO TOLERANCE FOR THE MEMBERS OF THIS
COMMUNITY OR YOUR QUESTIONS..! IF I EVER WOULD OFFEND ANYONE WITH
MY BRUSQUE STYLE OF WRITING I SINCERELY APLOGIZE. This is really an
anticipatory bail I am taking in this venture..! | |TB-14|
Having described the four-fold qualifications (actually a total
of 9, if you split the SamAdhi shatkam into it constituent six
qualities),the guru says = thasmAth kAraNAth.. because of the
presence of the four-fold qualfications in people, , they become,
qualified to gain this thathva vivEkam, the descriminative
knowledge,which means to understand what is said in vEdhAtham about
jiva, jagath, and ISvara:| Actually this is not as easy as it
sounds.. the very fact that we are born as humans itself is a
miracle.. and to have a desire to gain thathva vivEkam is another
miracle.. that you even have a PC to browse is another miracle..
that you are viewing this site rather than many more attractive
sites (wink..!) itself is MIRACLE OF ALL MIRACLES..! Even to go
thru this write up, one must have certain family and friendly
environment guiding you this way.. our own pUrva janma puNyam helps
us.. god's grace of course.. without which even if you understand
English you may STILL GET THE WRONG MEANING.. When mahABAratha
fight was over, pAndavAs gained the throne.. krshNa himself has
taught arjuna, A PRIVILEGE MOST OF US DO NOT HAVE..(!!), yet he
forgets what bagavAn told him and asks krshNa,"hey krshNa.. in the
middle fo the noise of the battle, you said some very important
words and made me fight the battle and win.. but it has been so
long since that war and I have forgotten most of it.. Please teach
me again..!" And you know what? krshNa starts what is popularly
known as uththara gIthA to re-teach arjuna. ! If this can happen to
arjuna, what to talk of simpletons like myself..? that is why this
type of SravaNam and mananam is required.. Of course what is the
question form the student? You rpobably guessed it by now..!! he
asks the guru (for the continuation of the dialog) ? guru: |TB15|
This will be explained in the next post shortly.!!!
TB-15 Student: ? guru: |TB-15| Here the student asks the
teacher," what is this thatva vivEkam?" You may recall that the
teacher in the opening lines first said I am goint to teach thathva
vivEka which going to liberate mumukshUs..! now he gracefully
introduces the term thatva vivEkam again.. so the student zeroes in
on the next term he does not understand which is thatva vivEkam..
To that guru very CLEVERLY ANSWERS,"MY DEAR CHILD..! AthmA.. alone
is sathyam. other than that everything else is mithyA..!!" First
when he talked about sADhana cathushtayam, he said "nithyam vasthu
Ekam brmha, thath vyathiriktham sarvam anithyam Eva" and now he
says about AthmA..!!
Here itself, a student, if he is a uththama aDhikAri understands
that AthmA (himself) is the ONLY sathyam like the eternal brmhan..
and that everything else is perishable so unlike AthmA, this
everything else is mithyA..! THIS IS ACTUALLY THE END OF TEACHING..
! But the guru is very kind and goes on further until this student
is analyzed by the SAsthram to the finest degree that he is capable
of assimilating.. Once this analysis is done, the jiva has NO doubt
whatsoever about himself, the jagath, and god..! These are the ONLY
three things in creation that matters.. this is also the beauty of
TB as a complete text.. UNLIKE the one-topic prakaraNa granthAs,
and we have countless of such granthAs. Here to terms are
introduced.. one is sathyam and the other is mithyA.. This sathyam
mithyA confusion alone is responsible for bondage, also known as
the coil of birth and death, also known as samsAram, or as mIrA
sings "Bava sAgar". TB and the guru dry up this ocean of samsAram..
how? We shall see..!!
|TB-16| Athma lakshaNam.. | Now that the student hears a new
term, all that he has to dos is to ask,"what is this AthmA?" His
guru now has to answer, not to brush him aside, but to drive him to
a location from where he can not BUT see (understand) what AthmA
is..! Of course, that comes after several posts in Orkut..! Now the
guru answers.. |TB16| AthmA is that which is "DIFFERENT FROM",
STANDS APART FROM" sThUla SarIram(gross or physical body), sUkshma
SarIram (subtle body), kAraNa SarIram (causal body); that which
transcends the five layers of our awareness (mistakenly represented
by EVERY ONE except Sankara as five sheaths..!!); that which is the
witness of three states of everybody's existence; that which is the
very essence of sath, chith, and Anadham (another mistake uniformly
committed by EVERY ONE except Sankara AS EXISTENCE, KNOWLEDGE,
BLISS!!); Now count the numbe of new terms introduced by the
guru..! The student wanted to know about "AthmA".. the guru counted
3 bodies, 5 koSAs, 3 states of our existence, and also 3 terms
sath, chith, Anandham.. for a total of 14 terms.. Now you are
probably guessing that the teacher has uttered a mouthful and so he
will have the floor to himself.. ! In fact for quite some time to
come, the guru will be definign onerm after the other.. why?
Becasue physical body has parts tht needs to be defined..! The
suble body.. same thing..! The causal body? even though the student
may not ask it.. the guru HAS to explain it.. Then the five koSAs..
what are they? why is it necessary to define them? then what ARE
the three states?
The student having heard from the guru the essential nature of
AthmA or sath, chith, Anandha.. what are they? Looks like we are in
for a treat here.. IF AND IF ONLY WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO HANG IN
thathvaboDha: AS A DEDICATED STUDENT.. SHALL I GO FURTHER??? You
tell me..!!! hari: om.. Mani
TB-17 Physical Body | Now just like VrushAli, the student asks
the teacher what is this physical body? The guru replies.. (not an
easy topic).. |TB-17|
Why is this not easy? Because the whole thing is mushrooming
like a nuclear explosion..! The definition of any one term ends up
introducing dozens of new terms.. and each one have to be explained
as well for a complete understanding of TB.. First he says .. this
physical body is made up of the five gross elements, which
themseveves are produced by a process called pancIkaraNam..(this
will be explained later for sure..!) .. it is also born due to our
own puNya karma.. ( I see a lot of question marks rise on the heads
of the readers.. but that also has to wait.. it comes later..) ..
it is the only means by which humans are able to UNDERGO the
physicall processes of pain and pleasure.. in other words a
physical place to which pain is inflicted or pleasure is allowed to
happen.. (how we react to pain and pleasure comes later..) .. born
in time ..stays in time .. grows up in time.. .. metamorphasises in
time .
grow weaker in time.. .. perishes in time .. .. that which
undergoes the abovementioned the six-fold modifications (no living
being is an exception to this including a gnAni..) | That is
physical body..
Now summing it up.. teh five gross elements are space, air,
fire, water, and earth.. these are formed from the five subtle
elements which are also named the same.. the physical body of any
one of us is from the grossi-fied elements only.. also Sankara says
in vivEka cUdAmaNI "janthUnAm narajanma dhurlaBam" rare indeed is
when one is born as a human.. so it is born of good karma becasue
in our karmic baggage every one of us has enough papa karma.
TB-17 Physical Body (contd..)
With this pApa wanting to manifest, it takes eons and eons
before we get a chance to be born as a human WITH FREE WILL..
moksham is possible ONLY for a human being.. even gods may be born
again.. we do not know.. but for sure, a human CAN escape the cycle
of birth and death.. So this human physical body is definitely due
to our sath karma alone.. Why do we have to have aphysical body?
Our karmic baggage nneds to be exhausted.. pApam will give us
dhuKam and puNyam will give us suKam.. that is why no one if fully
good or fully bad.. vyAsa says that human society is a fabric woven
from white and black thresd..! how neat? then for each one os to
exhaust this pain and pleasure a house needs to be constructed..
OUR PHUSICAL BODY is that house..! then the 6 vikArAs.. born,
exists, grows, metamophasises (capable producing another human
body), grows old, and perishes..! Tell me who is exempt from this??
NOBODY..! those who have left us so far OUTNUMBER the curren 6
billion population on this tiny earth..! Our scriptures talk about
84 lakhs of life forms of which human bodyis one of them..!! and
there are several trillion stars in the universe each capable of
supporting a planet liek earth and thus life forms..! and this has
been going on for countless years..!! Thus jIvAs are conuntless in
number, having countless karmas, being just LUCKY TO BE BORN AS A
HUMAN..! Now you can appreciate the beauty of our human physical
body, instead of complaining about it.. I certainly am glad to be a
human.. and CERTAINLY DO NOT WANT TO BE A CRAB IN MY NEXT BIRTH..!
Let us proceed later with sUksma SarIram.. this is getting to be
more fun now..! hari: om affly, mani
TB-18 sUkshma SarIram.. ?|.. Again the student asks.. what is
sUkshma SarIram.. or the subtle body..?? Here the explanation by
the guru will go for quite some time.. simply because many new
terms will be introduced. this is usually referred to as the soul..
this sould is assumed to be differnt than the body.. MANY MANY
mistakes are uniformly committed by one and all all because of a
TIGHT definition of these terms.. Here the real tightness of
teaching as well the alertness on the part of the student IS a
must..! This will not however scare any mumukshu away..!! That is
for sure.. (I will also make it as precise as possible, expanding
only where necessary..!!) The guru starts with a mouthful of
terms.. as usual.. If he can not confuse the casula reader, HE is
not FIT to be a guru..!!! |TB-18|
|TB-18|.. this alone is sUkshma SarIram.. or subtle body.. then
he goes on to dissect that term like a surgen dissecting a frog in
the first year medical school..! The only difference is that we are
alive prior to his explanation and we begin to understand that we
NEVER die.! .. previously guru spoke about the gross elements
produced due to the five-fold pancIkaraNam activity. Here he refers
to the respective five subtle elements (space, air, fire, water,
and earth also known as thanmAthrAs in our SAsthram.. So the subtle
elements are responsible for the cration of the subtle body (like
the gross elements were responsible for the gross body.)
.. this goes without saying.. if EVEN the gross body is due to
our good karmas, what to talk of the subtle body that permeates the
entire physical body? It has to be definitely the result of god's
grace that make us enjoy the proper subtlebody (by the way THIS IS
THE agnAni jiva:. goes from lokam to lokam as a traveller assming
many bodies
TB-18 sUkshma SarIram..(Cont'd) ..PLEASE TAKE A VERY GOOD NOE OF
THIS MOST SIGNIFICANT ASPECT OF THE SUBTLE BODY..!! this is what
makes each one of decide "I LIKE THIS.. I DON'T LIKE THIS.. THIS
MAKES ME HAPPY.. THIS MAKES ME SAD.. and it has the most amazing
miraculous power of having the ability to make us so unified (IN
TOTAL ERROR OF COURSE) WITH THE PHYSICAL BODY OF EACH AND EVERY ONE
OF US.. in other words makes us an agnAni..!!!.. WITHOUT this
subtle body, we are ready to take the gross body to the cremation
ground or burial ground..! Now guru explains the components or
constituents of the subtle body further.. .. Each human (and many
animals as well) is endowed with the five organs of knowledge.. (5)
.. the five organs of action..(5) .. the five vital airs insode our
body..(5) .. mind (1) . intellect(1) .. when we add all these
together we get 17 kalAs or glories.. .. with these 17 glories.. ..
AS IF IT IS ONE ENTITY.. .. WHICH EXISTS.. .. (THAT IS REALLY) ..
the subtle body..
At this point the guru does not elaborate on what are the organs
of knowledge, action, vital airs, what is mind, what is intellect
etc.. All these are defined slowly but surely one oafter the other
in the explanatiosn that follow.. That is why I said in the very
beginning TB is a vEdhAnthic lexicon.. it is like defining the
commands of a computer language.. once these are defined and
understood, a sADhaka who is ready for gnAnam will understand at
the operational level of each one of these definitions inside
himself (or herself).. AGAIN, HERE THE GENDER IS NOT IMPORTANT..
THIS IS WHY I SIMPLY LOVE THATHVA BODHA:.. it the BEST vEdhAnthic
formula for mumukshUs.! Now guru has to explain one term at a time
about what he has uttered so far.. He first starts obviously with
the five organs of knowledge.. I think we are eager to move on with
the rest of these terms..(TBC)..!
TB-19, 20 sUkshma SarIra Explanation |TB-19| First the guru
starts unfolding what does he mean by sUkshma SarIram or suble
body.. Among the various religions and peoples of the world, "soul"
is the most commonly ABUSED word.. why and how so? many think that
soul is a separate entity other thatn the body, thta it survives
death, that it retains its original association with each and every
one of, ends up in ETERNAL HEAVEN OR HELL (if you are a non-hindu),
IN VAIKUNTAM OR KAILASAM, IF YOU ARE A HINDU, go-lok-brindAban if
you are a hare krishna, and so on and so forth.. So let us examine
this clean model given to us by our scriptures..! .. the five
organs of knowledge are.. (ears) (skin) (eyes) (taste buds) (and
nose).. After simply naming them, the guru tells the student what
are their functions.. | | | | |TB-20| Let us take them one at a
time..
| The object to be known by the organ of knolwedge called ears
is sense of sound.. FROM THE OUTSIDE.. | The object to be known by
the organ of knolwedge called skin is the sense of touch.. FROM THE
OUTSIDE.. |The object to be known by the organ of knolwedge called
eyes is the form (including the color) of an object.. FROM THE
OUTSIDE.. | The object to be known by the organ of knolwedge called
taste buds is the taste.. (there are basically six types of tastes
we recognize) FROM THE OUTSIDE.. | The object to be known by the
organ of knolwedge called nose is the smell available to us from
the outside.. FROM THE OUTSIDE.. FROM THE OUTSIDE.. IS VERY
IMPORTATN HERE.. this is how BagavAn has designed he human body's
organs of knowledge.. we can only understand what is FROM THE
OUTSIDE..!! let us proceed furhter..!
TB-19, 20, 21 sUkshma SarIra Explanation (cont'd) Why is this
definiton of the organs f knowledge important? These are known as
prathyaksha pramANams.. we cognize the entire outside world only
through these firve.. and these are known as mUla prmAnNams. or
MAIN information gatherers..! There is an employer of these
pramANams.. which is you and me and him and she and it..! It is
impossible for any prmANam to analyze itself and nderstand what it
is.. ! Eyes though they are capable of seeing, THEY CAN NOT AND
WILL NOT SEE THEMSELVES.!
That is why we need another prmAnam to understand the truth
about ourselves.. this will be explained later in TB.. At this
point the guru also introduces the various devine principles behind
these organs of knowledge, whose grace is required for these to
function properly..! Why so? Just imagine if yu are blind and deaf,
and also has lost the sense of touch, THERE IS NO WAY FOR YOU
UNDERSANDvEdhAntham..! So a prayerful attitude towards these divine
principles always help us stay to gether in tact and employ them
productively and learn what one needs to learn.. These dhEvathAs
are . | | | | | TB-21| | The deity for ears is dhig or the Quarters
of the world. | The deity for the skin is VAyu.. |The deity for the
eyes is the Sun..
| The deity for the taste buds is varuNa..
| The deity for the nose are the two aSvini brothers..
That is why you may go to an astroleger for an eye problem.. He
will tell you go to a sUrya temple for 48 days and pray to the Sun
god..! Or if you have skin troubles Vayu may be appeased. Instead
of challenging these statements it is good to just to read them and
move on.. All these explanations are given for those who demand and
explanation from the scriptures.. and our scriptures have no
problem giving htem a solution.. JUST REMEMBE SATHYAM AND MITHYA
EXPLAINED EARLIER!!
TB-22,23,24 sUkshma SarIra Explanation (cont'd) sUkshma SarIram
explanation by the guru contiues.. Now the guru expalins the 5
organs of action.. NO PHYSICAL ACTION CAN BE PERFORMED WITHOUT one
or a combination of THESE AND THEY ALL ARE PART OF OUR PHYSICAL
BODY.. then one question we may have is why are they classified
under subtle body.. the reason is quite simple.. remember the
phsical body is a mere place of enjoyment of pleasure and pain, but
IT IS THE SUBTLE BODY that is makes us the doer or enjoyer.. THESE
ORGANS OF ACTION IS NOTHING IF THE SUBTLE BODY IS NOT BEHIND THEM..
that is why the tastiest roti and subzi is totally ignored if the
mind is employing the eyes in reading the cricket score or stock
prices..! .. the organ of speech.. .. our hands.. .. our feet ..
our organs of evacuation.. .. our genitals.. .. these are the five
organs of action.. |TB-22|
Now the guru explains the presiding deities for the organs of
action.. vEdhA actually has rituals through which these gods can be
worshipped if they are malfunctioning..(Though thta is not the real
intent of TB..)!!! | Fire is the dhEvathA for speech..! very
appropriately also!! we can actually fry someone with our words..!
it is good to be careful when speaking..! |.. for the hands the
deity is indhra:.. want to have strong and healthy arms? you know
whom to pray to now.. |.. Lord vishNu is the dhEvathA for the
feet..
| Lord yamA presides over our organs of evacuation..
| The presiding dhEvathA for the genitals is brmhAji the
creator.. .. these are teh dhEvathAs for the organs of
action..|TB-23|
Now the guru also expalins the functions of each of these organs
of action.. Now the students of TB can appreciate how the human
body does what it is supposed to be doing.. Sometimes it looks
obvious, but quite a few times it is obviously misunderstood or
mis-explained.. Thus a cleare understanding helps us later
assimilate the mahAvakyam.!!
TB-22,23,24 sUkshma SarIra Explanation (cont'd) : : |.. Talking
is the function for the organ of speech.. |.. walking is perfomed
with the help of feet. |.. arms are used for grabbing an
object..
| the organs of evacuation performs all of the necessary
functions for throwing out the waste products from the body.. One
can appreciate how well our human body is put together
intelligently by reflection on any of these.. .. the genitals are
primary used for procreation purposes.. here no disctinctionis made
betwenn whose genitals are superior, that of a male or a female..
SAsthram simply explains these as a medical doctor would approach a
human body.. |TB-24| We get to knw the world with our organs of
knowledge.. we cn pray to the presiding deities of the organs of
knowledge if we have an ailment.. We act with our organts of
action.. we can pray tot he deities if they malfunction.. It gives
us a lot of reflective reasoning to ponder upon things that we take
for granted.. There is also a wonderful order as TB expalins us
HUMANS..! BUT PLEASE REMEMBER AT ALL TIMES THAT THIS IS ONLY A
MODEL GIVEN BY OUR SCRIPTURES.. This explanation is also NOT
sathyam and OURS is the only SAsthram n the universe that declares
it as mithyA.. so if tomorrow a scientist comes up with a better
model to explain our human body, our scriptures have NO objectio to
it.. ! Why so? As none of this is sathyam.. a mithyA model is
adequate for explaining the mithyA jIva, the mithyA Isvara: and the
mithyA jagath.. BUT IT IS A VERY POWERFUL MODEL THAT MAKES A LOT OF
SENSE.. in fact I personally believe a finer model to describe us
is yet to come..! With this appreciation of our sThUla and sUkshma
SarIram, we can explore a few more aspects of our sUkshma SarIram..
We have to work on the five vital airs.. what is mind.. what is
budhDhi..a few more ways of looking at our existence . BUT NOT JUST
LIVING, BUT UNDERSTNADING OUR EXISTNECE FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES..(to
be cont'd)
TB - 25 kAraNa SarIra explanation..
? |
?.. So far, the guru has defined the gross body and subtle body.
What is left is kAraNa SarIram or the causal body.. And the student
properly asks about the causal body.. now the guru defines the
causal body.. Please pay close attention to what the guru says..
this statement is what distinguishes our scriptures from the rest
of the bunches..!! AND IT IS ENTIRELY BASED ON SRTHI.. .. that
which is indefinable .. that which is beginning less.. GURU NEVER
SAYS "ENDLESS".!! this means that kAraNa body can be ended.. as the
scriptures show later with proper guru and gnAnam.. .. that which
is the very essence of ignorance..(or avidhyA, or mAyA, or,
mithyA.. these terms will be used exactly as needed in the proper
context by our scriptures) .. that which alone causes the two
bodies, gross and subtle, to come into being.. .. that whose
essential nature is to hide the knowledge of the truth about
oneself.. .. that which stays in an undifferentiated form (this is
actually what makes all of identical in the avyaktha or the
nmanifest satage) .. that which exists in the manner defined above,
. that is causal body. Thus the causal body is what creates the
samsAram experienced by all of us.. it creates the gross body as
palace where pleasure and pain can be experience, ti creates teh
subtle body which is able to cognize the world around us and make
us judge "this is good for me, I like it and thus it is
enjoyable.." or equally creates an aversion in us regarding the
opposite.. So if we stop to think about what has been said so far,
all of us the way we know ourselves to be have been defined so
perfectly.. I AM A DOER.. I AM AN ENJOYER.. I AM A KNOWER.. I AM A
MORTAL.. AND I AM LIMITED.. WELCOME, SAMSARIS
TB-26 Three states of existence.. ? :|TB-26| After introducing
the three bodies possessed by all living beings, now the guru
starts unfolding the three states of existence.. You may recall
that the guru intitally said that AthmA is different than the three
bodies.. it is also beyond the three states of existence.. So the
student continues to ask his guru to explain the three states of
existence..
The guru simply replies in one line.. .. The state of being a
waker.. .. the state of being a dreamer.. : and the state of being
a deep-sleeper.. If we thing about it for a moment, THERE IS NO
OTHER STATE IN WHICH WE EXIST.. once is a while we may be either
sleep walking or waking up from a dream.. where one or two states
very closely co-exist prior to diffentiation. But even they will be
enclosed only with in the three distinct states described above..
Now the student will ask the guru to explain the individual states
furhter..
TB-27 Three states of existence.. ?| : |TB-27| Here the student
asks "What is the waking state?" To that comes a nice reply from
the guru.. .. by organs such as ears .. : which are known as organs
of knowledge (this automatically means that the organs of skin,
eyes, mouth, and nose are implied..) ..sounds etc. and such objects
are known in which state that is | the waking state.. It is very
important to note that the guru talks only about gnAa indhriyAs..
because when we sleep, they are NOT
functional. Also the organs of action are functional always..
even if we sleep. Whereas, when we are awake alone, the sounds
falling in our ears is recognized by us.. But we often encounter a
state while we are deep in thought and walking on the beach, a
friend honks his horn at us.. more often than not we may not even
notice it..! Are we awake? are we dreaming? or or we asleep? We
will analyze this in the next two sections... for now we all can
AGREE that if I am awake, I hear the sound.. I am able to enjoy the
food... or bAdAm cake made by Mani Sir.. !! Then we hug each other
feel the warmth of one another.. or able to recognize good scents
as well as bad scents.. enjoy the scenery.. and come to conclusions
about them.. Read the postings in Orkut, analyze and arrive at
conclusions (more often wrong than right.. but the accuracy is of
no use here..!!) In other words, all our day to day vyavahArAs take
place while we are awake.. This state alone is known as jAgrath
avasThA.. I will move on to svapna avasthA later.. hari: om.
TB-28 Three states of existence.. Waking AthmA : |TB-28| That
aspect of the "person"
body.. as
the gross physical is "named"
attached to
: viSva: Ok.. here we go.. we are all viSva at this very moment,
be it day or night..! unfortunately.. this is where most of us
stop..!! The materialists are convinced that THERE IS NOTHING
outside of the body.. so we can rightfully name them as viSvaA:..
We may wonder why? Remember the five gnAnendhryAs? ears, skin,
eyes, taste, and smell? four of these are located only on our
head.. But the 5th one is ALL OVER our body.. both inside and
ourside.. Yes.. that is the sense of touch.. Becasue of this we can
physically feel the presence of a person, a friend, a spoue, or a
lover, or an object. Whether
we enjoy this or not will be explained later.. Becasue of this
we can also sense our pain inside as well.. that is wh when the
doctor can not see what is inside our knee cap, we can tell him the
exact spot where teh pain is.. We can use this organ to veryfy the
hotness and coldness of an object.. We can also feel the smoothness
or roughness of an object.. We can also determine the comort of
discomfort caused by that object.. Here the objects are both
insentient and sentient.. Whether I like ti or not comes from a
different explanation that is about to follow. This identification
of the sense of touch can be total.. in that case it is called
dhehA Athma budhDhi. in other words, dehe Athma budhDhi and Athmani
deha budhDhi..that i am this body and this much alone is me.. and I
am also NOTHING MORE THAN this body ..! THIS IS THE LOT OF THE PURE
MATERIALISTS..!! But TB does not just stop here.. even look at the
word "uccyathe" it means.."is called" TB would NEVER say "KNOWN
AS"..! To the materialists, the physical body is KNOWN as viSva:..
But, To us in this community..? is it viSva: only ?? Llet us move
on to TB-29..!!!
TB-29 Dream State.. |TB-29|
svapna avasThA kA ithi cheth jAgrah avasThAyAm yath dhRtham yath
SRshtam thath janitha vAsanayA nindhrA samaye yath prapancham
prathyathe sA svapna avasThA.. First thank you all for your
sustained interest in TB.. This will stay even after we are gone in
Orkut itself as good guide for serious mumukshus..!! I just
realized that i have been making this one mistake so far..! I have
assumed that every one in this community can read samsRtham
alphabet.. ! I am totally wrong..! and I apologize for the same..
From now onwards i will give the transliterated version along with
the samskRtham version BUT explain only using the transliterated
version..! Please check my very first posting..(the rule that I
have vilolated myself..!) First a qustion is asked by the
student..! ithi cheth: Suppose you want to know kA : what is..
svapna : Dream avasThA : State..(then the answer is..) nindhrA :
During our sleep
samaye : time yath : what prapancham : universe (of sentient and
intert objects) prathyathe : are woven (by our own gnAnam coming
from) yath SRtham : what is heard and yath dhRshtam : and what is
visually seen jAgrah : while we remain in the waking avasThAyAm :
state (previously explained by me) thath : those waking experience
janitha : generated vAsanayA : impressions alone enable us to weave
"a universe created by ME" sA : that alone is svapna : dream
avasThA : state..!! Phew..!! It was so much easier to say this in
samskRtham and i had a hell of a time in rearranging it in a
language that does fot really do justice to samskRtham..! Still I
think, the rearrange,ment was not bad..! In other words, we see
hear feel smell and taste in our waking state.. we also perform
actions with our organs of action.. all of these are previously
explained so far in TB.. This waking experience creates in us
countless impressions.. !!
TB-29 Dream State..Cont'd.. That is why in dream, I can create
Sachin playing in the World series cricket finals, and I myself can
be the pace bowler that gives him a 150 mph bouncer which he gently
and cleverly sweeps away for a sixer while i just take off an fly
like an eagle and catch it in space and i gently land like a
feather in the middle of a thudering applause while I see Sachin
cry fo being out and i consloe him while making Vegetable pakora in
my house sitting in front of a TV while analyzing the game when
suddenly a street vendor calls of selling icecream makes me run to
the vendor with a bunch of little children i grew up with while a
tiger comes pouncing our of nowhere in East African jugle safari
then we all get into our jeep and drive off and it becomes a
british airways plane while the air hostess is coming in the aisle
with drink carts and order a gin and tonic and strike a
conversation with my beautiful (winks..!) neighbor in seat 24B..
You see how this is going! While seemingly disconnected each one of
these impressions have been gathered by me in my waking state and
thus not one element of it is untur YET collectively it makes
absolutely no sense. and amazingly sometimes it does ALSO.!! I was
reading kenopanishath (KU) once and the slokam that attracted me
most was after the teachers teaches the student all about brmhan in
most elegant words.. then he tells the students that "if you think
you have understood brmhan, YOU HAVE NOT!" Then one student gets up
and says "I HAVE UNDERSTOOD.. manyE vidhitham.." Then of course he
explains to the teacher how clear his understanding is in terms of
what he could know about brmhan and what he can not! As an added
bonus to me reading this KU, I also happened to meet svAmi
vidhithAthmanandhA, one of the best students of SDS! that night I
had a dream.. In a vast crowd on a public platform I am intorducing
SV tot he audience.. and I say You may wonder who SV is.. he is
THAT student in KU who tells the teacher "manye vidhitham". so he
is vidhithAthmAnandhA! Nice dream!
TB-29 Dream State Continued.. I am going to dwell a little
longer than usual in this dream state. This is a VERY important
concept in understanding the entire vedhAntham. VedhAntham is all
about orders of reality.. There is an ABSOLUTE order of reality
known as pAramArthikam. From that view point there is NOTHING other
than vasthu or brmhan or caithanam or AthmA.. this is the niviSEsha
advaitham.. UNIVERSE IS NOT EVEN CREATED.! Then there is a RELATIVE
order of reality known as vyAvahArikam. From this view point the
same brmahan becomes saguNam. and then the jada or insentient
objects as well as the various jIvas or living beings as well as
the varous gods, the cosmos, etc.. NOW DVAITHAM IS PERFECT.. The
third order of reality is that of purely NON-EXISTENT refelcted
reality or the mental projection by you and me.! When one is awake
from prAthiBAsikam, we enter vyAvahArikam . Similarly when one is
awake from vyAvahAricam, pAramArthikam is awaiting us.! Now do not
ask is there another reality beter than pAramArthikam..!! the
answer is NO.. why so? BECASUE SCRIPTURES SAY SO..! So this dream
state is really glorified by our sciptures as an example to explain
how brmhan can create the entire UNIVERSE out of itself..! If it
were NOT true then adhvaitha hAni or negation becomes a
possibility.. When we gain prathyksha knowledge and act in this
world, those memories help up create both sentient and insentient
objects in our dream.. Now if we ask ourselves wher did we get the
material to create the mountian and peoples and air crafts etc in
our dream, THE ANSWER HAS TO BE OUR OWN GNANAM or knowledge of
those objects.. this gnAnam alone appears as both sentient and
insentient objects in our dream. So if we are able to create all
objects purely from our knowledge, is it impossible to assume that
this jagath is a dream of Isvara:? I am merely posing this view not
to prove or disprove creation, but merely for all of us to do some
internal reflection.. Then we at least start asking ourselves..
"can I awaken even more"?
TB- 30 Dream State..Conclusion.. : ||TB-30|| One thing I must
warnt he readers here.. the numbering is NOT part oft he original
text.. I am assigning those numbers for two reasons.. it becomes a
convenient indes for us.. second.. I add them as I need to pause
and amplify on certain TB statements & explanantions taught to
me by SDs.having said that.. Athma : that aspect of the person, the
jiva:
sUkshma : subtle Sarira : body
aBimani : attached to..
ithi uccyathE : is called
: thaijasa: : thaijasa EVER EFFLUGENT..! I am going to dwell on
this topic in detail for one simple reason.. THIS IS THE CORE
CONCEPT WHEN UNDERSTOOD THAT MAKES ADVAITHAM A WALK-OVER..! We have
talked about the physical body as sThUla Sariram.. and subtle
bodyas sUkshma SarIram.. usually our existence as Mani or you or
any one living or dead is referenced only with respect to these two
bodies only.. beyond that we do not see.. hence the possibility of
a state wherein all questioning ends has ended when we exist in
these two bodies alones.. these two are primarily responsible for
the two thieves that haunt us. The firsr one is "I" and the second
one is "My or Mine".. As the discussion goes on TB we can easily
come back and reflect ourselves on these two culprits. The next
question asked by all of us is "if world is mithyA, how come I do
not see it? I see the movie Sarfarosh.. or the objects around me
and the living and the dead around me.. ALL SEPARATE FROM ME ONLY..
ALL I SEE IS DUALITY either in variations in myslef or variations
in things and beings other than myself.. so how can all these
differences have come yet from one source.. and more importantly..
how come advaithin says they are all one and the same. This is
where upanishaths kindly point our that if in your dream state you
can see a variety of things and YET it all arises from one gnAnam
inside you, in the same way BagavAn can create all this varigated
universe out of the one gnAnam of "brmhan"
TB-31/32 Causal Body ? |TB-31| sushupthi avasThA kA? aham kim
api na jAnAmi suKena mayA nidhrA anuBuyathe ithi sushupthi avasthA
|TB-31| : |TB-32| kAraNa SarIra aBimAni AhmA prAgna: ithi
uccyathe|TB-32| Student : sushupthi : Deep sleep avasThA : state is
kA? : What? guru's Answer: aham : I na jAnAmi : Do no know kim api
: anything at all mayA : By me nidhrA : Deep sleep anuBuyathe :
experienced suKena : with total pleasure ithi : Thus it is (known
as) sushupthi : Deep Sleep avasthA : State.. Now perhaps the most
interesting part of the jiva is explained..! We exist in the waking
state.. This is accepted by all. and we do exist in the dream
state.. as we are able to recall in some cases even the color of
the sun rise (!!!!) we experienced in dream state..! When it comes
to deep sleep, all bets are OFF..! We only recall the fact that
"OH, my god.. I had such a peaceful sleep..!" Why so? that island
called "deep sleep" must be the most desired by one and all.. As a
living proof, have my guarding dog scout, who is cuddled up like a
baby in his small bed.. and if I wake up upon hearing a noicse, I
have to pour water on his head to wake him up! Deep sleep is the
natural equalizer for ALL living beings..! Br U declares "a king is
a king in waking state and a beggar is a beggar in the waking
state.. a blind man is a blind man in waking sate. however, in deep
sleep a king is no longer a king.. a beggar is no longer a beggar
and a BLIND MAN IS NO LONGER A BLIND MAN..!
If we think about the depth of this statement, it leaves us
speechless in wonder..! All differences exist in waking only.. but
none in deep sleep.. as per scriptures all living beings find their
ONENESS with Isvara: in deep sleep.. so there is no difference in a
gnAni's deep sleep and an agnAni's deep sleep.. but a gnAni wakes
up as a gnAni and an agnAni only as an agnAni
TB-31/32 Causal Body (conclusion) TB-31/32 Causal Body
(conclusion) : |TB-32| kAraNa SarIra aBimAni AthmA prAgna: ithi
uccyathe|TB-32| guru continues.. AthmA : that aspect of the jIva
aBimAni : who is attached to kAraNa SarIra : the causal body ithi
uccyathe : is called prAgna: = prAgna: .. prAena agna: "more or
less an ignorant person".. This is a very significant statement by
the guru to the student.. Though the guru does not explain it in
detail, I am going to provide some extra explanantion here based on
whatever I have learnt from SDS in many of his lectures.. First of
all, the very first doubt in the reader's mind.."why is he called
more or less ignorant..?" The answer is that when we sleep we are
awake when we hit the sake.. then close our eyes.. toss around..
then may be we dream.. then we eter the deep sleep.. and perhaps
dream again and wake up.. THIS POST DEEP SLEEP DREAMS ALONE ARE
RECOLLECTED BY US.. Whereas, our deep sleep after dream will wipe
out our memory of the dream.. Then what is defined as a deep sleep?
When we get up and then declare that we slept well.. and we also we
add "I did not know what happened while i slept so well" The fact
that we declare our ignorance of the events during our deep sleep
state is the proof that we are ignorant.. BUT THAT ISGNORANCE IS
only MORE OR LESS.. becasue if we were totally ignorant we will not
be able even to recall that we slept well.. so something has been
very closely awake EVEN when we were in deep sleep and reports to
us that "hey, you.. you really slept good" then we report this to
the world around us..! So this awareness makes us "more or less"
ignorant. THIS CAUSAL BODY TIES THE SUBTLE BODY OF EVERY JIVA TO
SAMSARAM.. AND DOES NOT PERISH EVEN DURING THE PRALAYAM OR TOTAL
DISSOLUTION OF THE ENTIRE CREATION.. This is a very important fact
in our SASthram because the subtle body + the causal body while
enter the mahA nidhra during pralayam, the kARmic bag is kept
associated to this jIva
TB-31/32 Causal Body (conclusion) Now I mentioned the 8.4
million "yonis" or life forms are there as per SRthi. Then there
are countless jIvas in creation.
Each jiva possesses a causal body as well as a suble body. then
in a human body karmA is performed.. due to avidhyA doership is
assumed and enjoyership is attached to the jiva.. The bag gets
bigger as the jiva is accumulating more and more karma Palams.
Depending on which karma palams heve to be exhausted, god picks an
appropriate life form for each jiva.. causal body keeps us ignorant
and subtle body performs the tasks with the help of one of the 8.4
million life forms. Here SRthi tells that we can falisfy this
karmic bag in ONE life form.. that of a human..! All other life
forms only exhaust the puNYam or pApam accrued to each jiva's
karmic account.. Why so? BECAUSE WE HUMANS ALONE HAVE FREE WILL AND
IN HUMAN JANMA ONLY OUR SELFCONSIOUSNESS IS TOTAL.. !! This free
will ALONE makes us perform karmA and makes us bind to the karmic
bag..! SO WHAT WE DO.. CAN ALSO BE UNDONE BY US BY USING THE VERY
SAME FREE WILL..! How beautiful and simple and logical the whole
appraoch is for ending samsAram..! As long I have karthrthvam
(doership) , Bokthrthvam (enjoyership) can not be avoided. so the
cycle is "beginningless" Ignorance, that makes us feel that we are
limited Once I feel limited kAma (DESIRE) takes root. then
ahamkAram (ego) kicks in.. kAma + ego makes me do things, alter my
surroundings, choose and discard. as per my likes and dislikes.
some Dharmic and some aDharmic.. now karma kicks in.. Once
ego-centric karma is performed, karthRthvam is in full swing..!
Once karma is perfomed with karthRthvam, it generates puNyam and
pApam to be attached to the jIva. This necessitates ENJOYERSHIP (or
BokthRthvam) on the part of the ignorant jiva. Now the karmic bag
begins to bulge.! As the karma palam of one single human janma can
no be exhausted in one birth, more births are necesitated.! You
see, AvidhyA causes havoc!
An executive summary of TB thus far..! The guru starts the
teaching with a maha prathignA (great promise) that he is going to
tell the "proper" candidate what is the means of liveration..! Then
he expalins the four-fold qualifications (actually totalling
nine..!) and then sets the stage for the student to ask more and
more and more questions.. And then he explains each and every
question just by defining the term and NOT explaining in any great
detail what it all means.. (which I have been doing with the grace
of SDS..) From the four-fold qualifications he moves on to explain
the physical body.. with its six-fold modifications.. Then he moves
on to explain the subtle body.. and its 17 sub-components..
Then he explains the causal body.. He also explains the three
avasThAs namely waking, dream and deep sleep.. Along with that, the
three bodies associated with the 3 states are also explained.. JUST
REMEMBER.. THIS IS THE MITHYA EXPLANATION FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO
HAVE A POSSIBLE ANSWER TO THEIR "mithyA" QUESTIONS.. Thus all of
these answers are "REASONABLE" They need not be perfect.. SAsthra
does not really worry about the exactness of these answers.. We
have questions and we expect the scripturs to answer.. So the
scriptures give an answer with the full agreement that we can
challenge those and prove the SRThi to be wrong..! Then if we come
up with a better model to expalin vyAvahArikam, SRthi says "Live
long, my child.. you have my full blessings..!" You see, the SRthi
reveals that we are not separate from brmhan and everything else is
only to help us assimilate that fact.. We have Qs on vyAvahArkam..
it iwll be glad to give us a resonable answer.. The SRthi uses
multiple teaching methodologies to help us understand the essence..
so far the three-body explanantion is given to understand mithA and
three state explanation to show that all of these are
ever-changing, so that when we are exposed to the teaching, we have
NO choice but to see with clarity.. Now we will proceed to the five
koSAs! That is about it so far.!
The five koSAs.. TB-33 and TB-34 : ? |TB-33| panca koSA: kE?
annamaya prANa maya manomaya vignAna maya Anandha maya: ca ithi
|TB-33| here the student who has a good memory (unlike most of us )
remembers the original definiton given "panca koSa athItha: san"..!
So After having explained the 3 body teaching methodolgy, and 3
state prakriyA, the guru moves onto the 5 koSa prakriya. A doubt
here may arise in one's mind as to why the 5 koSAs after the 3
bodies? The answer is quite simple.. different people commit
different grades of different mistakes either at the bodies level
and/or states level and/or koSAs level..! So when the stuedent asks
"waht aret he 5 koSAs?" the guru says "theses are food-koSa,
air-koSA, mind-koSA, egokoSA, and happiness-koSA.." I am
purposefully not using hte MOST COMMON TRANSLATION OF koSA as
SHEATH..! Why are they called koSAs? koSavath AcCAdhaniyathvAth" as
it hides the true nature of humans just like a sheath covers a
sword..! The most important word here is "JUST LIKE" which is often
mistaken by mpst teachers as JUST EXACTLY AS..! So SDS is even very
careful in preventing us from going on a spiritual trip to remove
the 5 koSAs.. Another mistake usually committed is the translation
of anadha as Bliss with a capital "B"..! Thus we make sure that no
ower case bliss is acceptable to me but ONLY the upper case
B....liss..!! Once we accept the sheath definition EVEN by error,
we will immediately think that I HAVE TO TRANSCEND THE food sheath
to air sheath.. from air sheath to mind sheath.. from mind sheath
to ego sheath.. then from ego sheath to Bliss sheath.
I am translating anadha maya koSA as happiness sheath.. though I
am not happy with it ( Bliss Sheath.
). that is far better than
This sheath definiton makes us feel like "brmhan" who is in
Alaska during winter months.. brmhan is first wearing a cotton tee
shirt inside; 2nd, a flannel shirt; 3rd, a wool sweater; 4th, a
wind breaker; and 5th, a woolen long jacket..! get it?!!
The five koSas.. TB-33 and TB-34 : :? : |TB-34|
annamaya: ka:? anna rasEna Eva BUthvA anna rasEna Eva vRdhDhim
prApya anna rUpa pRtivyAm yath vilIyathE thath anna maya koSa:
sThUla SarIram |TB-34| As errors are committed by us uniformly on
several fronts.. (the 3 bodies, the 3 avasthAs, the five koSas.. )
the scriptures and the guru are compassionate enough to provide us
with some acceptable explanations.. and more often than not it
passes.. if it does not, we can always rely on karma theory to the
rescue..! So the student now is asking the guru what he means by
the food sheath.. "annamaya: ka:? I mean koSa.. !! The guru's
answer is directly based on thaithrIya panishath Anandha valli and
the very first manthram.. I am saying this mere to show that it is
SO IMPORTANT to accept SRthi as an absolute pramANam and not keep
on questioning its answers..! It will get us nowhere except to
NOWHERE LAND..! BUthvA: BORN anna rasEna Eva JUST BY THE ESSENCE OF
FOOD vRdhDhim: GROWTH prApya: BEING OBTAINED anna rasEna Eva JUST
BY THE ESSENCE OF FOOD yath: THAT WHICH vilIyathE: PERISHES INTO
pRtivyAm: THE EARTH anna rUpa: WHICH ITSELF IS IN THE VERY FORM OF
FOOD thath: THAT IS CALLED anna maya koSa: FOOD KOSHA sThUla: (IT
IS SIMPLY) THE GROSS SarIram: BODY If we look at the careful choice
of words in decribing the annamaya kOSa, we begin to appreciate the
nonnegatability of this description. "maya" itself is a samskRtham
suffix that has two meanings.. one is "modification" and the other
is "predominance".. As the second meaning is meaningless, and the
body itself is a modification of the food we eat, anna maya koSa
really means "that aspect of the jIva whose "external" hardware is
made up by the food we eat that gets continuously modified to make
us look the way we are Of course the natural Q ought to be "what
about the software?" and the "firmware?" TB and the guru both are
ready!
The five koSAs.. TB-35
: :? prANamaya: ka:? The student asks "What is prANa maya
koSa:?" and the guru replies as follows: : : :|TB-35| prANAdhyA:
pancavAyava: vAgAdhIndhriya pancakam prANamaya koSa: |TB-35|
prANamaya koSa: - The vital air layer is that which combines the
following.. prANAdhyA: - prANan etc pancavAyava: - that represents
the five vital airs in our body which combines and moves pancakam -
the five karmendhriyAs (organs of action), such as vAgAdhIndhriya -
Speech, etc.. A careful observation will show that the organs of
knowledge are EXCLUDED from this prANamaya koSAm.. as it is to be
explained as a part of the subsequent koSAs.. The five organs of
action have been explained already (speech, hands, feet, organs of
evacuation, and organ of procreation).. The five vital airs are
prANan, apAnan, udhAnan, vyAnan, and samAnan.. prANan is
responsible for keeping us alive.. This is the primal air we breath
in. apAnan is that clasification of the primal air which takes care
of what is thrown out of our body.. udhAnan is that clasification
of the primal air which leaves our our body when the body is not
capable of sustaining the sUkshma SarIram.. vyAnan is that
clasification of the primal air which is responsible for the
circulatory system of the body.. samAnan is that clasification of
the primal air which is responsible for the digestive system of the
body.. Thus the SAsthram divides the prAnamaya koSa as the physical
functioning of the human body with the help of five classes of the
air we breath in.. And this is not an exact modern science as we
know today, but it is an amazing representation of the human
boldily functions that requires oxygen at various levels, all the
way from the volumetric inhalation to the dissolved oxygen carried
to each cell of the body via the red blood cells.. That is exactly
the reason why this TB explanation is reasonable, yet we don't
check this model against modern science..!!
The five koSAs.. TB-36 : ? manomayakoSa: ka:? What is the mind
koSam? is the the Q by the student.. The teacher then replies: : :
|TB-36| manaSca gnAnEndhriya pancakam milithvA yo Bavathi sa:
manomaya koSa: |TB-36| manaSca = mind and gnAnEndhriya pancakam =
the five organs of knowledge milithvA = mix together yo Bavathi =
and forms (a koSam) sa: = that koSam is (known as) manomaya = mind
koSa: = koSam.
I am very carefully avoiding the use of the word "sheath" here,
because the word koSam can drive us into a frenzied activity of
"SHEATH REMOVAL". Then along comes a modern guru who quotes this
thatithrIya SRthi.. and sounds almost acceptable, and charges the
wealthy among us hefty sums of money where these sheaths can be
removed one after the other systematically and then assures us the
experience of the "inexplicable" AthmA bliss.. shining inside these
five sheaths like a shining star.. You see.. our indian scriptures
is a GOLD MINE for those who want to mint money in teaching
(cheating?) us how to experience AthmA! In TB, the SAsthram is very
deliberate.. in the prANamaya kOSam it explained ONLY the prANic
activities and the five vital airs associated with the the
karmEndhriyAs activity, even while asleep.! HERE THE GURU TAKES US
IFROM THE MOST GROSS KOSAM (PHYSICAL BODY) to the next subtler
kOSam (prANamaya) to the next subtler koSam called manomayam.. As
the subtlty increases, gross-ness decreases.. and the permeation
(vyApakathvam) increases. That is how it is.! So the organs of
knowledge (which are subtler than the organs of action) "Party"
together with the mind.. and forms an universe called manomaya
koSam. Actions can be seen.. but thoughts can NOT be seen.. hence
the higher level of subtlety. What does the mind itself do with the
information provided by the organs of knowledge? TB is not that
quick in giving the answer.. as it is to be unfolded after how mind
itself if formed and what are the qualities of mind.. that comes
later.!
The vignanamaya koSa: - TB-36 : :? What is vignAnamaya koSam? :
= (Our) intellect and = five organs of knowledge = mix together and
= (thus) which is produced : = that (is known as) : = Intellect
koSam.
Here the guru goes to explain further subdivisions of our
internal organs known as "antha:karaNam" with which the jIva
happily interacts with the entire universe around us.. The primary
orgnas of knowledge will always be ears, skin, eyes, nose, and
tongue with which we experience the universe and gather "data" for
investigation.. This data set is really sounds, feel, forms/colors,
smells, and tastes RESPECTIVELY as explained earlier.. These organs
of knowledge do not tell us if these experience universe if good,
bad, or indifferent.. THAT IS THE JOB OF THE JIVA..! Then by
ISvara's order, all these organs of knowledge ARE outwardly.. So
there is no way they will report the truth about ourselves.. This
is quite important because, we always think that we can pick up any
book, read about ourselves, and know precisely who and what we are
(AS EVIDENCED BY COUNTLESS COMMUNITIES IN THIS ORKUT MEDIUM..!!)
There are actually four internal organs as defined by the
scriptures.. Only two are EXPLICITELY mentioned in the
five-koSa analysis.. The other tow come much later.. That is the
beauty of TB as well as the difficulty in defining complex entities
like humans, god, creation, gnAnam, karma, mukthi, etc.. So at his
point the guru says we operate at the manomaya level identifying
ourselves with the mind koSam. We also operate at the vignAna maya
koSam level identifying ourselves with the intellect we all
possess. So the readers at this point must merely be satisfied with
the fact that a human being was explained at the three states of
existence namely waking, dream, and deep sleep. Now the same human
being can be explained also fromt he view point of the five koSa
level that we all operate from.. More explanations to follow .!
A brief interlude..! In SarIra thrya prakriyA (three body model)
the physical body was well explained.. So it is easy to get into
annamaya koSAm explanation.. but when it comes to the other 4 koSa,
TB has not explained it yet. So I also have not explained it so far
fully. Those of you who catch this point, are making me immensely
happy (The dream of a Tutor..!).. So I ma planning to revisit this
topic later.. sort of tying the various ends together. That is why
TB is to be remembered from the first aksharam or letter to the
last conluding aksharam..! It willb e a
ggggg..rrrr...eeee...aaaa..ttttt help to you if you can memorize
the whole text.. TB is a complete text.. and many of our Qs can be
answered by TB itself.. What it can not, we have to go to other
prakaraNa grnathAs, gIthA, upanishaths, and brmha sUthra BAshyam
(if needed..!!) affly, M
Anandha maya koSam.. TB - 37 : :? Anandha maya: ka:? What is the
Anandha maya koSam.. This is really a critical question.. I may
dwell a bit longer on this.. This is ALWAYS defined in most
ranslations I have seen as "Bliss", with an upper case" B.. so as
to differentiate from "bliss", wiht a lower case" b.. The key
difference here most authors and explainers STRESS is that 'Bliss"
is the eternal AthmAnandha Bliss (as this is carefully hidden in
the Anandhamaya sheath..!) as opposed to ordinary dosai bliss.. ice
cream bliss, movie bliss.. experiential bliss which is really the
sAmsAric or worldly bliss.. Perhaps the worst description that
flows around is this wonderful "Bliss" to be experienced.. and
experiential "bliss".. So we need to EXPERIENCE this AthmA Bliss?
Who would not? hmm? But just wait.!
EvamEva = In this manner kAraNa SarIra BUtha = that which is
responsible for the formation of causal body.. avidhyAsTha = that
find is basis is ignorance malina sathva = having very yath asthi
thath = that which remainls (as explained here) : Anandha maya koSa
= Anandha maya koSam..|TB-37| little sathva guNam sahitham sath =
having priyAdhi vRththi = very desirable feelings, etc..
A lot has been said here about Anandha maya koSam.. First and
foremost is that it is from which the kAraNa SarIram is born.
Understanding this correctly sets us in the path of avidhyA
removal.. not knowing this properly keeps us bound to "bliss",
believe itor not..! Causal body survives even the mahApralayam.. or
the ultimate dissolution at the end of the kalpam.. where even
brmhAji the SRshti karthA of the creation himself is dissolved in
to brmhan.. that causal body ties each of of the agnAni jiva's
sUskhma SarIram and allows it to enter another sthUla SarIram upon
the next cycle of creation, and then several bodies to work out the
puNya pApam from his own SK.! (to be cont'd)
Anandha maya koSam.. TB - 37 (cont'd) Next of course is the
dependence on avidhyA.. When guru says Anandha maya koSam is
established in avidhyA.. it helps us focus on the fact that "this
Anandha I derive from this worldly experiences is really ginding
e.." and that is really waht the scriptures have been saying all
along.. Accept avidhyA as normal.. we are samsAri for ever.. Then
how to remove this avidhyA? we have two clearly defined routes to
safety.. This means that we need to go to a guru who knows how to
handle the scriptures as a pramANam or means of knowledge and thus
remove our avidhyA and make us UNDERSTAND the true essence of
Anandha maya koSam.. Now the guru moves on to the malina sathvam
aspect of Anandha maya koSam.. Why only a little bit of sathvam?
and why not a lot more..? sathvam is explained by scriptures to be
synonimous with knowledge, seeking knowledge, and appraoching a
guru with an attitude of servitude.. helping fellow being out of
their suffering.. follow Dharmam NATURALLY. AND SO ON AND SO
FORTH.. now we can see why this sathva guNam is malinam or NOT SO
MUCH in its abundance in Anandha maya koSAm.. Though each jiva has
this Anadha may koSa experience , if the understanding that "I am
that" is missing, then the sathvam will be present to some extent
only.. So when we are awake and experienceing Anadha we will take
tht mithyA experience to be the "truthful" experience only. now why
the priyAdhi vRththi..? None of us can deny that IN SPITE OF all
the miseries in the world, there is something or other in our life
that makes us peaceful.. or laugh at a joke.. or smile at someone..
or recall a previous pleasurable experience (even if it ends up in
a "lover's quarrel.. ) and so on and so forth. This experience is
called the vaishIyika suKam or a pleasure based on the external
objexts.. but even this is a pleasure because IT MAKE ME HAPPY.. it
is the experience of Athma suKam only but manifests itself in our
search for pleasure in external objects. It is like a dog chewing
on a bone tasting its own blood!
TB-38 Why the five koSas are NOT AthmA.. | Ethath koSa pancakam
|
madhIyam [my] SarIram [body] : madhIyA: [my] : prANA: [five
vital airs] madhIyam [my] manaSca [mind] madhIyA [my] : budhDhi:
[intellect] madhIyam my gnAnam [knowledge] ithi [in this manner]
svEnaiava [how by oneself] gnayathE [it is known] thath
[that] yathA [just as] madhIyathvEna [by the feeling of
ownership] gnAtham [it is known] kataka [my katakam] kuNdala [my
kundalam] gRhAdhikam [my house] svasmAth [from me] Binnam [they are
all different] thaThA [in that very same manner] pancakoSAdhikam
mine"] gnAtham [known in that manner. period.] na [They are NOT]
AthmA [my AthmA] Bavathi [at ANYTIME..!!] |TB-39|
[these five koSAs] svasmAth [from myself] Binnam [different]
madhIyathvEna ["this is
Okay, this is a mouthful to say.. or a handful to write.. and no
matter how I tried to split the words, they were not yielding
satisfactory ENGLISH sentences.. WHEREAS as samskRtham words they
all made beautiful sense.. So I decided to keep the original order
and I will try to justice to the orignal thaThparyam (essence) of
what the guru has succinctly said.. Initially we described gorss
body.. that which is most evident to us.. that should be understood
as anAthmA or not the caithanyam.. Same is true for the subtle body
and causal body.. We are able to observe at least two of the three
bodies and causal body is TOTALLY NON-OBSERVABLE DIRECTLY, but
accepted as declared by SRthi.. Then the guru went into the
explanations of the waking state.. dream state and deep sleep
state.. We witness the two states and deep sleep is inferred by us
upon waking and as SDS puts it, it is directly "heard" by others
nearby.. Following that description, our guru told the Sishya about
the five koSas "we" all possess. The bold red word is vital
TB-38 Why the five koSas are NOT AthmA..(Cont'd) I concluded the
last post by saying that "we" all possess" are very important
wrods. Let us analyze this a bit more.. We start by saying that I
am short, or tall, or dark, or fair, or blind, or deaf.. etc.. In
reality we are truly saying MY body height is not much.. or above
average.. or skin color is dark.. or skin color is fair, or eyes do
not see.. or ears do not hear.. etc.. etc.. Our language
orientation is such that the "MY" is absent from our budhDhi most
of the times.. except on occasion.. when a doctor asks "where does
it hurt" we reply "MY" stomoch hurts..! Similary when we say "I
breath smoothly.. thanks to MY prANAyAmam practice, we really are
saying.. "MY lungs inhale and exhale the air smoothly" Also when we
say that " I am quiet, happy, I am sad, etc.." we clearly are
operating at the mind level, and are really saying "MY" mind is
still, is happy, is sad" etc. Same goes when we declare that "I
decided to go to USA" or "I decided to accept the job in Infosys"..
we are also really saying "MY" budhDhi decided to go to USA or
accept the job in Infosys.. Then we clearly say ithout even batting
an eye lid,"I know what needs to be done" we are really exhibiting
"MY" knowledge. Soo here the guru makes us think a little bit.. if
I use the word "I" all the time and in every instance it really
means "MY" followed by some verbs and nouns, THEN THIS POSSESSIVE
PRONOUN CAN BE FORMED ONLY AFTER THE OWNER BEING THE "I"
In that case, everything we think, speak, act, and act upon..
all of them are known to the "karthA" In the same manner, the five
annamaya koSa is "seen" by me with MY eyes.. the prANa maya koSa is
"seen" by MY sense organ called "skin".MY mind koSa is also seen by
ME through what is called MY "SAkshi prathyaksham" or witness
peception. Same witness perception see MY vignAna maya koSAm also.
Ahh. finally the Anandha maya koSam.. simply exquisite.. it could
be as simple as eating yogurt rice or..my lover says YES!
madhIyathvEna gnAtham
TB-38 Why the five koSas are NOT AthmA..(Cont'd) Now having
proved that this INTIMATELY known five koSas are suddenly compared
by the guru to a whole bunch of unexpected objects.. ALL INERT..!
First I know that I have "MY" ear rings and ankle rings.. (yes..
any one of us who has seen old Indian movies where the rAjA and his
men wore all kinds of jewelry..) And certainly I am the proud owner
of a house.. sometimes, a one room flat in mumbai.. or a 19 room
mansion on the banks of a Swiss lake in Geneva.. I proudly tell my
friends.."this is MY house..!" (please notice the upper case my..
bold and red and so proud..!!) So now the teacher asks one simple Q
to the student.. "hey, you see your panca koSa and say this is MY
body etc.. then you also say that this is MY possesion.. so if YOU
are the owner of these INERT objects, YOU are ALSO the owner of
these 5 koSas.. can you not see.. ? the owner of an object is
DIFFERENT always from the objects OWNED..! "In the same manner (as
the OWENER is different from the OWNED), AthmA is ALSO different
than the five koSAs you mistake yourself to be.." This is how the
guru teaches.. Mistakes are made at teh avasThA thrayam level.. or
the SarIrathryam level.. or the panca koSa level.. So teh guru
takes all the pains in the world to explain to the SishyA as
questions arise in the student's mind. Once I asked SDS anonymously
what is the defintion of a guru.. And I though I had asked him an
excellent question for which he will give a one-hour lecture and
still admire the alertness of the student who had asked such a
brillliant Q. He read the question out aloud in the mike.. and
answered the shortest possible answer that can ever be given in
couple of seconds.! He read the Q aloud:"Who is a guru?" His answer
was: ONE WHO MAKES YOU SEE! What else needs to be said about a
guru? (of course, if TB were to be given in the Q&A format,
nobody including me would understand a single word ) Now we will
move onto EVEN more interesting aspects!
TB-39 Athma lakshaNam..|TB-39| :? AthmA tharhi ka:? |TB-39|
Finally.. after all these strenous inroductions to.. four-fold
ualifactions.. a mumukshu.. gross body definitions.. subtle body
definitions.. causal body definitions.. the waking state.. the
dream state.. the deep sleep state.. Then food koSA.. vital air
koSa.. mind koSa.. intellect koSa.. "happiness" koSa.. Then the
introduction of the OWNER.. "aham" or I.. Then the introduction of
the OWNED or "MY" and "MINE". At last the casting aside of all aof
the above as the "owned" states or owned objects.. Thus the student
is correctly confused.. and asks this million dollar question..
What then is this AthmA?"
Here it is important ot know why the guru (and the SAstrhra as
unfolded by him) has waited this far before answering this
question.. I also want to stress the importance of why a clarity
here will go a long way.. Most people either define AthmA as
existence knowledge bliss.. and this puts us on a trip.. there are
several Orkut communities dedicated to analyzing this without any
basic understanding of the importance of SAsthram. Or.. The reader
gets bored with study and goes on his merry way accepting that "it
is good to be a materialist.. and not worry about AthmA, after all
when I am gone, who knows I even came?" Then there are any number
of paliative paths available.. starting from "pleasure" yoga..to
rAja yoga.. or worship through any number of ways I think is
right.. or why worship at all? or the whole thing is a humbug. or..
I see misery & this is what I have to do to set it right. Or a
"serious mumukshu" hangs in there and wants to go further This is
what kRshNa says in BG very effectively. manushyANAm sahasrEshu
(among thousands of people) kaSchith yathati sidhDhayE (very few
try for "knowing" me) yathathAm api sidhDhAnAm (among those few who
even try to remove avidhyA) kaScith (some "lucky"guy") vEththi mAm
(gets to understand me) thathvatha: (in the "correct" way I should
be undertsood)
Athma lakshaNam..in |TB-40| And so the uththama aDhikAri (which
every one reading this TB explanation is lakshaNam of AthmA by the
guru.. : sath chith Anandha svarUpa: |TB-40| ) is told in very
precise words the
Here a small diversion into how our ancestors have taken the
pains to distinguish TWO types of adjectives.. The word "adjective"
means one that distinguishes.. then the Q is distinguishes what
from what? When we say he is a smart boy or a handsome fellow.. we
are really describing a human being as compared to another human
being..
When a washerman compliments hRthik roShan as a handsome fellow
he is definitely NOT comparing him with his donkey.. (UNLESS he is
madly fond of his donkey.!) Similarly when we say a horse is
looking regal, we do not compare it whith a hyena..or even a
donkey.. Our SAsthrakAras have defined this type of adjective
description as "viSEshaNAni" Now I will write the SDS definition of
a viSEshaNa adjective.. sva jAthIyEBya: anyEBya: vishyEBya:
vyAvarThakAni viSEshaNAni.. now this is how SDS explains it..
"vyAvarThakAni" means that (attribute) which distinguishes.. BUT
the Q is what from what..? "sva jAthIyEBya:" means belonging to the
same order of spieces.. be it inanimate or animate.. thus a chair
is compared only with a chair.. or the wood it is made of can be
compared to the wood of the support beam. but the chair itself can
not be compared to the support beam.. "anyEBya: vishyEBya:" means
other objects or life forms belonging to the same type. So
rearranged.. the viSEshaNa type of objective is use for comparing
objects or life forms belonging to the same class.. and thus
distinguishing one from the other. WE DO IT 24 7 WHEN WE SAY THAT
THE COFFEE FROM MAVALLI TIFFIN ROOM IS BETTER THAN THE COFFEE FROM
CHENNAI SARAVANA BAVAN.. or when we say Elizabeth Taylor's eyes are
the most beautiful, etc.. We do not even think that we are using
viSEshaNa adjectives. But this is all we MOSTLY know.. is there any
other type? Of course! Let us move on..!
Athma lakshaNam in TB-40 (cont'd) Having described adjectives, I
will now move on to a very unique adjective that is used in
scriptures.. this is known as lakshaNam.. sarvEBya: anyEBya:
vishyEBya: vyAvarThakAni lakshaNAni.. now this is how SDS explains
it.. as based on scriptures and Sankara BAshyam.. The most of the
common place adjectives compare the objects belonging to the same
species.. or you can compare a person to a lion if he is stong
powerful and courageous.. these type of adjectives are called
"gauNa" words.. then we move on to the next type of adjectives
called the "lakshaNam".. Again the definition of lakshaNa adjective
is: (lakshaNAni..) These are the group of words (vyAvarThakAni)
that describe and distinguish an object from (sarvEBya:) ALL
anyEBya: OTHER.. vishyEBya: OBJECTS BELONGING TO ANY CLASS.!! So
the lakshaNa words no longer worry if I am compared to a donkey or
a monkey is compared to a tree, etc, etc.. It simply defines an
object in a way that there can be no further doubts in our minds..
SDS's classic example of such lakshAna padham is the definition of
space.. There is not a second space to compare
it with.. There is nothing else like space.. and within space
there are NO differences (though room space, pot space etc can be
seen, it is the same space which is within and without..!) So how
will we be able to define space? is it blue? wrong.. is it
polluted? wrong? is it big? wrong? is it small? wrong.. is it cold?
wrong? is it hot? wrong..! You see all the known words we know can
not "define" space.. this is the key difference between
"adjectives" or viSEshaNam words and "definition" or lakshaNam
words. The spece is defined in samskRtham as "avakASa pradhAthR"..
the straight forward meaning is "space is defined as the one which
accommodates" Now let us try to shake this definition.. WE CAN
NOT.. WE WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO.. So the indescribable AthmA is
defined.. and NEVER described by SRthi. MEGA MEGA POINT..!
Athma lakshaNam in TB-40 (cont'd) (Explained on Sep 13 in TB
Q&A Forum) Almost many words will have even opposite as well as
multiple meanings.. examples: I say "bring me water".. straight
forward.. this is known as prime meaning of muKya vRththi. Then I
say "I went to school with veng. He was a lion".. you neither have
a mane, nor walk on fource, nor pounced on animals.. you were an
idli sambar guy.. here I am perhaps referring to the fearless guNam
of the lion exhibited by you in facing touch situations.. This is
known as gauNa vRththi Now to more complicated vRththis known as 5
types of lakaNa vRththi, namely jagath lakshaNam, ajagath
lakshaNam, and jagath ajagath lakshaNam We are leaving the house
with your assistant.. You say "door".. the assistance understands
you and he knows that you want him to lock the door. Then both of
you return.. and you again say ["door" and your assisant knows to
open the door.. here door meant both open and close.. This is known
as jallakshaNam, in which the said word is replaced entirely with
another.. BTW, Most comedians and philosophers use this effectively
Now a classic pancaparakriyA example. we are all standing at the
race course.. your friend says "look.. white runs.." you understand
EVEN WITHOUT LOOKING UP that the white horse running.. he said
white and you understood as white horse.. here he said "white" and
you bring in your budhdhi