Advaita Vedanta in five parables

 

            First story relates to King Janaka.  One afternoon as he was sleeping in his chambers, he was awakened by a minister who told him that the neighboring king is invading the kingdom.  King Janaka jumped from the bed and dressed up with armor and shield and rushed to the battlefield leading his army.  Alas, he was defeated in the battle and was driven out of the kingdom. Without possessions and paraphernalia, he was wandering in another country begging for food. When he was sitting down under a tree starting to eat the food received in alms, a kite flew down, snatched the food and flew away. In hunger and shock Janaka fainted and fell down from his bed. As he got up, he saw his palace and possessions intact and he realised his unpleasant experience was a dream. But, being a philosopher-king he started wondering whether that was real or what he sees now is real.  He was so preoccupied with this thought that he started asking “Is that Real or is this Real”.  His queen and ministers were all puzzled as he uttered nothing else except this question ‘’Is that Real or Is this Real’. Even as he was sitting in throne, holding court he only spoke these words. Even the physicians were puzzled.  At that time sage Ashtavakra came to Janaka’s court and to him also he posed this question.  The sage could guess what had happened and told him “Neither that nor this is Real.  Only You are Real”.  Janaka requested him to explain and the sage replied that all his experiences, past and present are all changing and unreal and only He, the experiencer Self as unchanging Athma is Real” and explained to Janaka the core philosophy of Advaita Vedanta “Brahma Satyam; Jagan mithya; Jivo Brahmaiva na’para (Brahman alone is Real; the world is mithya; Jiva, the individual Self, is Brahman only, not different).

        The second story concerns ten men who went on a walking picnic from their village. In the course of their walk they had to cross a running river.  They waddled across the water and reached the other bank. Then before resuming the walk they wanted to ensure that all of them had crossed safely.  So one of them started counting others. As he went on counting one, two, three etc., he could count upto nine only. As he told the others that one is missing, another took up the counting and in the same way counted the others only and arrived at the same figure nine. Then they felt sad that they had lost one member of the group and so consoling each other they halted without proceeding further. At that time a stranger walked by. Seeing them sitting sad, walked upto them and asked them the cause of their sorrow. One of them explained to him that they, as a group of ten, crossed the river and on reaching the shore they find there are only nine of them. The stranger surveyed the group and he could count ten of them. So he assured them that he will find the tenth man and they need not feel sorry. Then he asked one of them to check again. One person as before started counting others and arrived at nine.  Then the stranger took his hand and turned it towards the person himself and said “There you have the tenth man”. They felt very happy and thanked the stranger profusely and resumed their picnic. This story illustrates the seven stages in spiritual journey: -

1)    Ajjnanam – Ignorance of one’s Real Self. Here the ignorance of the methodology of counting.

2)    Adhyasa – Error of mistaking Body-mind-complex a one’s Real Self. Here  the assumption that one person has drowned.

3)    Samsara – sorrow over drowned (?) person

4)    Paroksha Jnanam – Indirect knowledge (from Guru). Here stranger’s declaration.

5)    Aparoksha Jnanam – Direct realization.

6)    Dukha Nivritti – Release from sorrow i.e. samsara.

7)    Ananda prapthi – Attainment of Bliss i.e. fulfillment.

The third story relates to a prince who as a child played the role of the princess of Kasi in a play staged in the palace. He looked very cute and beautiful in that role and the queen had a painting made of him as princess and named it 'princess of Kasi' and kept it in her collections. The prince, now grown-up, has no remembrance of the incident. One day he chanced to come upon mother’s collection of paintings and saw this painting with the date.  He imagined how this beautiful girl will look as a grown-up maiden and fell in love with that imagined maiden. Thinking of her always, he became pensive and worried. The minister noticing the restless prince, enquired about the cause of his agitation.  When the prince told him about his love for the unseen princess, the minister wanted to see the painting.  When the prince showed the painting, the minister recollected the incident and told him about the play and made him realise that he is that princess, he had been thinking about.  The prince hearing that was relieved of the obsession for her and became his normal cheerful self once again realising that the princess he has been longing for is only his own projection. Advaita Vedanta points out that the external world and its temptations and terrors are a projection of Brahman, that is one’s Real Self, and one keeps running after them or running away from them mistaking them as real.  When the Guru like the minister makes him realise the identity of his Self with Brahman through the teaching of Mahavakhya “Tat Tvam asi (Thou art That)” he becomes fulfilled and peaceful without being distracted by the external world.

The fourth one relates to the animal kingdom. A pregnant lion, while chasing a herd of sheep delivered a baby and fell dead.  The sheep took pity on the cub and brought it as one of them.  It also grew up imitating the ways of a sheep, eating grass and bleating.  One day another lion which was chasing this herd saw this little lion running with them.  It managed to separate this little lion from the herd and led it trembling, to a water hole. It stood beside and pointing to the reflections it told the little lion that it is one of them, a lion.  Then it gave a loud roar and asked it to roar like that and not bleat like a sheep. The little cub, seeing the identity in the reflection, let out a roar declaring “I am a lion” and became free from fear of other predatory animals.  Similarly, when the Guru teaches the disciple the identity of one’s Real Self with Brahman, the realised disciple confirms it with the Mahavakhya “Aham Brahmasmi (I am Brahman)”.

Fifth and final one relates to a washerman and his donkey. The washerman had a donkey and everyday he used to collect the clothes for washing from the houses in the village, take them to the river loading the clothes on the donkey and keeping the donkey tied to a tree on the shore, wash the clothes in the river and dry them on the sands and reload the dried clothes on the donkey, untying it and go back to the village with the washed clothes. One day as the washerman took the load of clothes to the river for washing, he realized that he has not brought the rope for tying it to the tree.  He could not leave it untied as it may wander away and it will be difficult to locate it to reload the dried clothes in the evening and he may even lose the donkey itself.  As he was standing worried, a village elder who came that way asked him the cause of his worry.  When he explained, that elder gave a solution. ‘Standing well before the donkey, go through the motions of tying it”.  The washerman acted accordingly and the donkey sat down as usual.   He went through the washing and drying routine keeping an eye on the donkey all the time.  It was sitting quietly.  When the time came to return home, he tried to make the donkey get up, but it didn’t. He became anxious and worried. Luckily the same elder was returning to the village that way. He saw the struggling washerman and again came to his rescue. “Standing well before the donkey go through the motions of untying it” he now said. The washerman acted accordingly and the donkey got up. Thanking the elder profusely, the washerman loaded the donkey with the dried clothes and returned to the village.  Like the donkey, Jiva in his ignorance thinks he is tied to the body and suffers samsara, while in reality he as the Self i.e. Athma is never bound.  The feeling of bondage is adhyaropa, the superimposition of the unreal on the real and the process of revealing the real, negating the unreal is apavada, de-superimposition.  Swami Vivekananda calls them as “hypnotization” and “de-hypnotization”.   “Adyaropa, apavada” is an important methodology in the teaching of Advaita Vedanta.

(adapted from a talk of Swami Sarvapriyananda)

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Three types of Values of Vedic life-style

 

The Vedic life-style consists of three types of values.  The first type of values is a general set of values, which refines one as a human being and enables one to contribute to the peace, harmony, and prosperity of human society. This set of values, which one can arrive at using one’s common sense, can be called samanya-dharma, general values.  The second set of values enable one to lead a religious-way of life and can be called religious values. The third set of values are spiritual values, by following which one can lead a spiritual life and attain Liberation.  These three sets of values – general, religious, and spiritual, put together is the Vedic lifestyle, the vaidhika marga.  Let us see briefly the distinction between or among these three types of values.

First let us take the general values.  Lord Krishna lists them in Chapter 16 of Bhagavad Gita as divine qualities. They can be reduced in essence to the three qualities of paropakara, ahimsa and kshama, which we shall see now.  Veda Vyasa declared after writing the eighteen puranas that the lesson to be learnt from the puranas is: “Paropakara punyaya, papaya para pidanam (helping others confers Punya and hurting others, papa)”.  Paropakara is doing good to someone from whom you expect nothing in return and to one whom you do not even know. In creation, the entire nature is doing this as said in the following verse: 

Paropakaraya phalanti vrkshah, paropakaraya duhanti gavah, I

paropakaraya vahanti nadyah, paropakarartham idam sariram II.

Trees bear fruits for consumption of others, cows give milk for the benefit of others, rivers flow giving water to people (others), (Same way, this human) body is for helping others.

Ahimsa is not to hurt a person through thought, word or deed, that is characterised as papa in the words of Vyasa. It is also extoled through the words ‘’Ahimsa paramo Dharma”.  There may be exceptional cases where himsa becomes necessary as in the case of police force or defence forces for protecting the society or nation.  There also one keeps it to the required levels only.  Kshama or titiksha, tolerance, is necessary to practice ahimsa.   These three values; paropakara, ahimsa and kshama are well-known values as everyone expects others to follow these values in their interaction with them while following oneself selectively, only where convenient.  Following them without double standards will make a human being more and more refined and less and less selfish.  These general values, also called secular values, are valid for all human beings irrespective of the religion they follow or God they worship and also even if they do not believe in God or religion, to live as refined human beings promoting general welfare and harmony.

            Now let us take up the next set of values, religious values.  Sraddha in the scriptures; bhakti towards God and vairagyam towards the world constitute the three important religious values. Sraddah is faith in the validity and utility of the scriptures for improving the quality of our life. Vedas are the primary scriptures and Bhagavad Gita contains the essence of scriptures.  So faith in Vedas and study of Gita helps one to cultivate sound religious values mainly strong, sincere Iswara Bhakthi. Iswara Bhakthi, devotion and reverence towards Iswara, also called Bhagavan, is the crux of religious life.  We get to know Iswara only from scriptures and scriptures define Iswara as Jagat karanam, the cause of the universe and also as sthithi-laya karanam of Jagat i.e. the cause of the origination, maintenance and final resolution of the universe.  Since Iswara is the original cause of the universe itself, He is the original cause of all human beings as well and Bhakthi is the acknowledgement of this fundamental relationship with the eternal Iswara.  We cherish and nourish this relationship through Iswara Bhakthi that is expressed through one’s devotion and reverence to Iswara symbolised by His various representations in the scriptures as Siva, Vishnu, Parvathi, Mahalakshmi etc.  Iswara is the source of all inner strength. 

           Iswara is also called Bhagavan. Bhagavan is defined as one having “Bhaga” that is defined in Vishnu purana as:

Aiswaryasya samagrasya viryasya yasasah sriyah I

Vairagyasya atha jnanasya shannam bhaga itheernah II

The immeasurable, infinite measure of all the six; overlordship, strength, fame, wealth, vairagyam, wisdom; together constitutes Bhaga.

Bhagavan, the embodiment of Bhaga, is the source of inner strength and confidence to His Bhakthas who practice Vairagyam with Bhakthi. Vairagyam can be defined as practice of detachment towards all objects and relationships other than that connected with Iswara and the religious life.  In Swami Paramarthananda’s words this will promote the FIR reduction i.e. reduction in - frequency of emotional disturbances; intensity of emotional disturbances and in recovery period from emotional disturbances; which will lead to the inner 3 Cs i.e. Calmness, Confidence and Cheer.  Sraddha in scriptures, Iswara Bhakthi and Vairagyam towards the material pursuits and relationships, when practised together creates a thirst for knowledge of Iswara, when the religious life matures into spiritual life and the Bhakthi blossoms into Jijnasa Bhakthi. 

            As a Jijnasa Bhaktha, one’s Sraddha in devotional literatures like puranas and ithihasas turns into Sraddha in Jnanam literature like Bhagavad Gita and various Upanishads.  One learns from them about Brahman and to know more and deeply about Brahman in Its two aspects, Nirguna Brahman and Saguna Brahman, he seeks the help and guidance of a competent Guru to properly understand the subtle aspects of the spiritual texts. So Guru Bhakthi assumes as much importance as Iswara Bhakthi. Under the guidance of Guru, then one engages in consistent and systematic study of spiritual-scriptures for a length of time, enquiring into the nature of Brahman. This is called Vichara. So as one changes to spiritual life from religious life, Shraddha in Jnana grantha, Guru Bhakthi sharing prominence with Iswara Bhakthi and Vichara as part of Jnana Yoga become the three important values. 

            As his understanding grows, the outlook also undergoes a change. In Bhagavad Gita (7-24), Lord Krishna says “avyaktam vyaktimapannam, manyante mamabuddhayaḥ (The unintelligent people regard Me, the unmanifested, as come into manifestation)”. Kenopanishad (1-7) declares about Brahman “Nedam yaditam upasate (Not this that people here worship). Then he understands that various forms of Iswara used in worship are only finite representations of Brahman, that is formless and eternal, used for devotional exercises and discovers that Brahman is essentially one’s Self through Upanishadic teaching such as “Aham Brahmasmi (I am Brahman)”.  When this knowledge is successfully absorbed and adopted, one saves oneself from the clutches of samsara, while living and is freed from the cycle of birth and death at death. So the three types of values in vaidhika marga, when properly and successfully followed, leads one to freedom from samsara and re-birth.

(adapted from Swami Paramarthananda’s talk)

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