Swamiji Answers

Sharmaks asks

What exactly is meant by Ishwararpana Buddhi and Prasada Buddhi, if we are not the Karta or the Bhoktha respectively?

Karmas are part and parcel of one's life. When one does karmas with some expected results, then he or she does karma. When the same karmas are done and the results (desired or otherwise) are accepted ,then it becomes karma yoga. Karmas done with this attitude are meant as done with aparna buddhi  and accepting any result of that karma is prasada buddhi. One, who is a Jnani (having the self knowledge) is neither a kartha nor a boktha , while a karma yogi, who is still an Ajnani, will have karthirthvam and bokthirthvam.

Lokanathan asks

Why is death painful for the survivors of the dead person?

When a dear and near is dead, the feeling of the surviving members comes out in crying or beating the chest or in some form. It is  universally accepted that venting out the feeling On the loss of a close friend or relative as good. Otherwise, the bottled up pain will harm the person both physically and mentally.

During Mahabharata war,when Abhimanyu was killed, Subhadra wept over his body. Lord Krishna tried to console her. Being a brave kshtriya lady, she was boasting  that her son would get veer swargam, if he was not successful. Bhagavan reminded her words and told her not to weep over the loss.Then Subhadra replied that it was not the Kshtriya lady  weeping, but the mother.

Exhibiting the grief by the surviving family members is natural and is accepted in our tradition and culture.

In some places, why do people dance and have music in funeral procession? Is death a happy event?

The music and dance in a funeral procession is definitely not acceptable (not in scriptures). It gives a wrong signal as though the people are happy for the departed soul. Perhaps this custom is present only in some communities in south India. This is not found in north India.

Gita Yagna 2011

The annual Gita Yagna function of Arsha Vidya Sevashram started on 8 May '11 at R.V.Teacher's College auditorium. After the customary introduction and lighting of lamp, Swami Paramarthanandaji started his discourse on Bhagavad Gita-chapter 8. It is known to all spiritual students the lucid way Swamiji deals the subject.The hall was over flowing on all days and people preferred to sit on the floor to hear Swamiji's talk Akshra Brahma Yoga chapter of Gita was completed on 14 May'11.

Pujya Swamiji was giving talk on "Jiva Yatra" at M.E.S.Kishore Kendra School, Malleswaram from 9 May to 14 May '11 in the mornings.This talk was well attended, in spite of rainy condition on some days.

All , who attended the discourse or talk, were given Yagna Prasadam ( Is desire an evil - book by Pujya Swamiji).

The conclusion of Yagna was with RudraAbhishekam of Lord Arunachaleswara at the ashram. More than 200 people attended the abhishekam, during when Rudram, Chamakam were chanted by some of the students. After the Abhishekam, Pujya Swamiji answered the questions from the  students for one hour. Swamiji appreciated the efforts by the volunteers in conducting the Yagna  As you know, there were many questions, which could not be covered in the limited time. Pada puja for Swamiji was performed by Ramamurthi family. 

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 5- Koramangala

On 4 May '11, Swamiji continued  with Sloka 8 / 9

"I", as Chaitanyam,do not do anything, even when the body does many things. Jnani, with 'Aham Brahma Asmi' knowledge, is not affected by the actions. "I" existed even before "I" gets a body and  "I"will exist even after the body goes. Jnani feels as though he does nothing, even when he is seeing, hearing,talking, smelling, drinking , sleeping etc.The famous story of Durvasa rishi of declaring that he had not eaten anything after a feast and that of Lord Krishna declaring himself as a Nitya Bramhachari, are the examples of Jnani's attitude. This is possible only with a vedantic approach of dissociating oneself from anatma.

In sloka 10, Bhagavan lowers the level of teaching. One should do all his karmas as offering to Bhagavan without any expectations and he is not affected by his actions, just like the lotus leaf. Even though it is in water, the lotus leaf is not affected by the water.One should have samarpana buddhi and prasada buddhi.

Sloka 11 Mind, which requires no energy , is always active irrespective of age or place.Body is not able to cope up but mind is hyper active.On the other hand Buddhi (Intellect) which is to be active,  is lethargic.Karma yogi does all karmas with the body, mind,senses and intellect, without bothering about the end result. He does it only for the freedom from raga and dvesha ( likes & dislikes).

Sloka 12 Reality can be pleasant or unpleasant.When one is not ready for reality, he becomes sad. When there is a scope for change,it should be attempted whole-hearted. At the same time, one should be prepared for any result. If one wants to keep cobra as a pet, it is possible after removing its fangs.

By detaching oneself from doer-ship (Kartrithvam) and enjoyer-ship (boghthitvam) ,no karma will affect. Karma yogi enjoys shanti, by not expecting any particular result, while samsari loses his peace, by attaching himself to a desired result of his karma.

Continuing on 18 May '11

Karma yogi does all his karma, but renounces everything by mind.The pet dog barks at someone, which is not one's wish. similarly the body ,mind  do some karmas, which are not really yours. The owner of a house is not the house. Again dehi is in the degam but he is not the degam.The body is like a city with nine gates. In Katopanishad, the body is said to have eleven gates.One is Brahma randram, a fine hole on the top the skull and the other is naval. One who has done a lot of upasanas, exits through Brahma randram, when he leaves the body. Karma yogi stays in the nine gated body without doing anything or getting anything done.

In the following slokas, Bhagavan removes the misconception that everything is done by Him. If anything unpleasant happens in one's life,most of the people start asking as to why god has given that unpleasant experience to him.He feels that God is interfering , which is a big misconception of Astikas.(believer of God).

Aparoksha Anubhuti -May 2011

As there was a long gap of 4 months , swamiji gave a concise recap of the Anubhuti.

Acharya discusses - "sarvam kaluvidam brahman". Abhinna nimitta upadhana kaaranam is brahman.The difference between jiva and ishwara is in shrishti. To create anything, jiva requires two things- material and maker.In case of ishwara shrishti,both material and maker are one and the same. One jiva has this ability; the spider is one, which makes the web with its own material (refer Mundaka Upanishad). Ishwara has not created the world, but He is manifesting as world.

Praying for impossible things , which are not in one's prarabda, to Bhagavan and then blaming Him for not acheiving them, is not right. For example, asking to separate the chain from the gold , is a wrong request, as the chain cannot exist without gold. Similarly seeing Bhagavan and world as two different things is not correct.

Idols of God are made of different material (granite, marble, brass) , but there is no difference in them as He is manifested in all.Only selected forms are worshipped. Only an immature person (ajnani) will see the creations different from the creator.

Acharya gives a number of examples to make this aspect clear from sloka 69 onwards.

Jar is nothing but clay. Similar to this, there are no two things as Atma and Anatma.Only ignorant person talk in these lines. Next Acharya gives the example of person and shadow. Shadow cannot be separated .Then he quotes about mistaking a rope as a snake. This ignorance is because the real thing cannot be seen. In full darkness, one does not see anything to mistake for a snake.In full brightness, one can see the rope and no mistake is done.  It is said ignorance is bliss but half knowledge (ignorance) is dangerous. Again, a sea shell is mistaken for silver piece, due to ignorance. The first example (rope & snake) drives one away (nivirthi) while the second one (shell & silver) attracts (pravirthi). Both are due to ignorance.

More examples are - no cloth without threads; no waves without water. The post (stump of the tree ) is mistaken for a ghost and mirage is taken as water. Searching happiness in material things  by human beings is just like trying get water from the mirage. Further examples given are - block of wood is mistaken for house ( in olden days, houses are built entirely of wood ) and iron is mistaken for sword. Swamiji told that in Chandokya Upanishad reference has been made to nail cutter and iron.

Further the class will be continued in next month on 5 June 2011,Sunday. All are welcome to attend the class at Ashram, Ramanashree Nagar. The class will start at 10-30 A.M sharp

Viveka Chudamani- 24 April '11

Even if you want to become a brahmachari, only your karma should favour you. Your paapa and punya should be in equal measures. It is not in Bhagvan's hands or yours.We already have a rarest of rare janmas. Getting  this janma is like a blind man trying to catch a crow. It is just accidental if a blind man catches a crow. Neither it has happened in the past nor will it happen in the future.That is why it is said "Jantunam nara janma durlabham"

Swamiji continued with the 3rd sloka :Durlabham trayamevaitad deva anugraham" There are 4 types of human beings

1."janmana jaayate shudraha" Any child born is a shudraha.This means the child is unrefined,uncultured and insensitive.Every new born is to be made better like gold ore needs to be refined to get a polished finish.

Those days we had "sodasha samskaras" to convert the child from shudra to "dvijaha" ie: twice born refined purusha.Now by vidya, dvijaha becomes "vipraha"- adhyayanath bhaveth vipraha - well equipped mature person,self sufficient in field of dharma /adharma.A vipraha need not be guided.He knows brahman - Aham Brhmasmi Then he can declare himself to be a Brahmana

Swamiji narrated the story of Vishwamitra - a raja rishi and Vashishta- a brahma rishi.How vishwamitra wanted to become a brahma rishi like Vashishta and how long he had to do tapasya to attain that stateand accepted by Vashishta. A right frame of mind is needed to become a Brahmana."Krupakara - one who has not understood what is Brahman. Sage Yagnavalkya  describes it is waste of life if one does not understand brahman. If one has managed to understand oneself you have done what you are supposed to do.All of us have no choice  to be born as a shudra but dying as a shudra is great loss waste of life.So let us not die as shudra. All of us should aspire to become a brahmana.