Saint & Starter

Bhaja Govindham 7

Verse 18

sura mandira taru mula nivasah sayya bhutalam ajinam vasah |

sarva parigraha bhoga tyagah kasya sukham na karoti viragah || 18 ||

He lives under a tree at the temple premises; his bed is the bare ground and dress is deerskin; he has given up all desires for worldly possessions and enjoyment of earthly pleasures; who won’t be happy, living with this kind of renunciation?

This verse is composed by Sri Nithyananda.  In this verse we have a picture of a true sanyasi, a man of dispassion who has given up all possessions. He lives at the root of a tree outside a temple; his bed is the lap of Mother Earth herself. His dress is only a simple deer skin.  He has renounced all pleasures both physically and mentally.  The life of utter simplicity described here, is not extremism or moderation. This is how great saints like Swami Tapovan Maharaj and Swami Sivananda lived after willingly renouncing their lucrative careers and choosing voluntarily to live the type of a simple life described here, accepting cheerfully all the hardships involved.  After describing the life of a true Vairagi, Acharya wonders why such a person should not be happy, for he has freed himself from the four things that causes mental preoccupation and worry.  They are possessions, obligations, relationships and transactions, which Swami Paramarthananda describes in his lectures as PORT.  His mind is unattached to the objects of the world.   He doesn’t crave for pleasures, and is free from fondness and fear; virtue and vice, attraction and aversion.  He is devoid of longing as he is freed from all desires.  As he has abandoned all the desires of the heart he is free from the delusion created by them.  He is not carried away with happiness or lost in worries.  He behaves with equanimity in happiness or sorrow, gain or loss, victory or defeat.  It is of such a person that Gita describes in 2-55 as one “satisfied in the Self by the Self” (atmanyeva atmana thushtaha).

Verse 19

yogarato va bhogarato va sangarato va sangavihinaḥ |

yasya brahmani ramate cittam nandati nandati nandatyeva ||

One may be immersed in Yoga or indulged in worldly pleasures; at times he may be in the company of others and at other times he may be alone.  But he alone whose mind delights in Brahman experiences bliss.

This verse is composed by Sri Aananda Giri.  He continues with the experience of the Yogi described in the previous verse. This Yogi has realized Brahman as his Real Self.  As Brahman is permanent pure Bliss, he is experiencing pure Bliss all the time as his mind is always absorbed in Brahman.  Whether such a yogi pursues Nivritti Marga (Yogarathaha) or Pravritti Marga(bhogarathaha), it does not matter. Whether he is in Grihastha asrama (sangarathaha) or Sanyasa asrama (sangavihinaha), it does not matter.  What matters is his mind is fixed in Brahman all the time.  Happiness is a state of mind and this permanent happiness cannot come from any external object, individually or collectively, as they themselves are not permanent.  So the happiness of mind in experiencing them has limited life and it binds one also in karma.  But the enjoyment of bliss in the realization of Brahman is permanent and free of karmic baggage.  Transcending the three gunas (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas), his mind is firmly established in a state of equilibrium.  The feeling of “I” and “mine” also disappears.  So with the mind focused on Brahman only, he is free of anguish and agitations and enjoys peace and tranquillity internally all the time.

Verse 20

bhagavad gita kincidadhita ganga jalalava kaṇikapita |

sakṛdapi yena murari samarca kriyate tasya yamena na carca || 

One who has understood at least a little of the Bhagavad Gita, or drank a drop of water from the holy Ganga, or at least once in his life worshipped the Lord Krishna, has no quarrel with Yama at the time of death.

In this verse three sadhanas are mentioned engaging in which with faith and sincerity, one can make a good start in the path of spiritual salvation. Significantly each of these sadhanas stand for a different path of Yoga, as given below:. 

1)    Study of Bhagavad Gita, that stands for study of spiritual literature – Jnana Yoga

2)    Drinking water from river Ganga, that stands for pilgrimage and bath in holy rivers – Karma Yoga

3)    Worship of Lord Krishna, that stands for regular puja and worship - Bhakthi Yoga

It is significant that Lord Krishna is spoken of as Murari; slayer of demon, Mura, who symbolises egoism. Egoism is a big obstacle for spiritual progress and subduing egoism is an important requirement for progress in the path of Self-realisation. “He has no quarrel with Yama” indicates that this sadhaka has no fear of death.

Acharya lovingly suggests in this verse to the spiritual aspirant who is looking for guidance on what spiritual sadhana to start and how to pursue the sadhana for his spiritual salvation, to start from doing  ‘something small’ and has shown areas from each yoga for his choice.  He is aware that once a person makes a start and begins to derive some benefit, he will be enthused to continue in the path with vigour and keenness.  After all it is from small beginnings that big things are developed.  So these steps singly or collectively, when pursued with a vision of the final goal of Liberation, can lead one to that goal. 

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Meditation and the Goal

Upadesa Saara – verses 7,8,9&10

In the first six verses of Upadesa Saara Maharishi talked about Karma, Karma Yoga. Bhakthi and Upasana.  In the sixth verse Maharishi has said “Singing the Lord’s praise is better than kayika Puja, but better than that is loud chanting of japa, and superior to loud chanting is soft chanting of japa. However, best of all is silent, mental japa.” The silent mental Japa is a process of upasana which is meditation only.  Maharishi discusses about meditation in the next verse no.7 which reads as:

आज्यधारया स्त्रोतसा समम् | (Aajya dhaarayaa srotasaa samam)

सरलचिन्तनम् विरलतः परम् || (Sarala chintanam viralatah param)   

Meditation or continuous thoughts (or continuity of a single thought) which is like the flow of ghee (or oil) and of the flow of water in a river, is better than broken thoughts (that which is interrupted).

Meditation makes one completely focused onto an object. At that time, there remains no external object except the object on which meditation is being performed. This is called dhyanam as well and is  defined in Patanjali Yoga Sutra (3.2) as “तत्र प्रत्ययैकतानता ध्यानम् “ (tatra pratyayaikatanata dhyanam) i.e. “The repeated continuation, or uninterrupted stream of that one point of focus is called dhyanam”   For the  uninterrupted flow of thoughts in meditation two examples are quoted. One is the flow of ghee and other is the flow of water in a river. Flow of ghee stands for effort in achieving the flow and flow of river water for effortless ease in the flow of thoughts.  In both, whether with effort or without effort, Isvara Chintanam i.e. meditation on Ishta Devata and uninterrupted, continuous flow of thoughts are common. Initially effort is needed to guard against distractions, the natural tendency of mind. But with continuous practice and detachment from other distractions one can achieve this as Sri Krishna points out in Gita (6-35):  “O Arjuna, The mind is brought under control only through practice and detachment.”

After emphasising Iswara Dhyanam is superior to all other forms of worship, Maharishi  fine tunes it further by stating in the next verse (verse no.8) that Soham Dhyanam is superior to Dvaita Dhyanam

भेदभावनात्सोहमित्य्सौ | (Bheda bhaavanaath soham ithyasau)

भवनाभिदा पावनी मता || (Bhavana abhidha paavani mataa)

Meditation without feeling of duality, that is, meditating as ‘I am HE’, (which affirms identity of upasaka with the Lord) is superior to meditation with a feeling of duality which assumes a separation between the upasaka (devotee) and the Lord.

Iswara Upasana is classified here into two types, In the first one called Bhedha Bavana, the upasaka thinks of Iswara as different from himself and there is the duality of upasaka and Iswara and this is Dvaita Upasana. In the second one called Abedha upasana, upasaka looks upon Iswara as non-different from himself with the affirmation “I am HE” and invokes Iswara on himself, which is called Ahamgraha upasana. Ahamgraha upasana is Soham upasana. Soham is made up of two words Saha and aham i.e.He and I and together stands for He I am.  This upasana facilitates acquisition of Advaita Jnanam at a later date.  This Abedha upasana is done out of the knowledge “As Lord is everywhere He is also in me and that Lord I am meditating on” and not out of Advaita Jnanam “Aham Brahasmi”.  But as this upasana prepares one for Advaita Jnanam it is superior to Bedha upasana, marked by duality.

But this Abedha upasana can only take one to Savikalpa Samadhi where the distinction between meditator  and object of meditation is not erased and highest upasana is one that leads to Nirvikalpa Samadhi, where there is no division at all between the meditator and the object of meditation.  In verse no.9, Maharishi speaks about this highest upasana.
भावशून्यसद्भाव सुस्तितिः | (Bhaava soonya sad bhaava susthithih)
भावनाबलाद् भाक्तिरुत्तमा ||  (Bhaavana bhalaath bhakthih uttama)

Upasana without any divisions, Nirvikalpa samadhi, when a person is totally absorbed in abheda chintanam, is achieved through practice alone & is the highest upasana.

Maharishi calls highest upasana as Uttama Bhakthi, which stands for Para Bhakthi.  Bhakthi is classified into two types. One is Apara Bhakthi where there is the differentiation between the devotee and Brahman or the object of devotion. But in Para Bhakthi, this differentiation vanishes and only pure Consciousness or the Self alone exists.  Maharishi calls this as ‘Bhava Soonya’.  But it is not real soonya but only apparent soonya as this is a thought-free state.  In deep sleep one does not have any thoughts nor is one aware of anything as mind and all sense organs are completely at rest and one is not conscious of anything including the fact one is sleeping or even the fact of his existence, It is as if there is a void in one’s awareness.  But Consciousness is awake and alert and that is why one is able to say after waking up that “I slept very well. I knew nothing”.  The Consciousness was awake and knew of the nothingness.  This void happened involuntarily in sleep. In Nirvikalpa Samadhi one enters the state voluntarily and there is only Pure Consciousness, which is pure Existence, which  Maharishi calls as ‘sad bhava’.  This is the state of Para Bhakthi, the highest state of Bhakthi where a person is completely and fully established in Brahman i.e. pure Consciousness. This is achieved when mind is totally under control and free of thoughts and this is achieved through practice. 

After discussing the Karma yoga and Bhakthi and Upasana yoga, Maharishi moves on to discuss Ashtanga yoga and Jnana yoga. But before moving on to them, he makes an observation which we can call the essence of Maharishi’s teachings in the next sloka, sloka no.10. 

हृस्थले मनः स्वस्थता क्रिया | (Hrit sthale manah swasthathaa kriya)
भक्तियोगबोधास्चा निस्चितम् || (Bhakthi yoga bhodaascha nishchitam)

Fixing the mind in the Heart (Source) is true Karma (action), Bhakti (devotion), Yoga (union) and Jnana (knowledge) (Yoga)

Maharishi emphasises in this verse that whatever path one adopts, the final destination is the non-dual state of Advaita.  There are four main yogas or paths that can take one to Liberation.  Maharishi has discussed two of them already; Karma Yoga (action), Bhakthi or Upasana Yoga (Bhakthi).  He will discuss the other two in subsequent verses; Ashtanga yoga or Raja yoga (yoga) and Jnana Yoga (knowledge).   But all these paths end in one action, Mano-nasa by merging mind in spiritual heart. The spiritual heart is not the physical heart that is in the left side of the body.  Of the spiritual heart Maharishi has stated “The physical organ is on the left; that is not denied. But the Heart of which I speak is nonphysical and is only on the right side. It is my experience –. it is the Source of ‘I AM’’, whence the sense of ‘I’ rises”  It is this merging of mind with the spiritual heart, when the mind becomes thought-free is called Mano-nasa, not the destruction of the mind.  It is this state where the mind is turned totally in ward towards the Self and this is the goal of all yogas.

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Bhakthi and Upasana

Upadesa Saara – verses 4,5&6

Verse no.4 of Upadesa saara reads as:
कायवाङमनः कार्यमुत्तमम् |   (Kaaya Vaang manah kaaryam uttamam)

पूजनं जपस्चिंतनम क्रमात् ||  (Pujanam japah chittanam kramaath)

Action of worship can be done with the body, words and mind. The action done with body is Puja, the action done with words is chanting and action done with the mind is meditation. Each is superior to the other in ascending order. (The action done with words is superior to action done with the body. The action done with the mind is superior to action done with the words.) 

In this verse Ramana Maharishi elaborates about Ishta Devata Bhakthi, Bhakthi in respect of one’s chosen Deity of worship. Bhakthi  is defined normally as reverential devotion to a superior - object, person or ideal.  Here we are referring to Bhakthi as a religious action, reverential devotion to God, the Cosmic Supreme.  This action can be divided into kayikam (physical), vachikam (verbal), and manasam (mental).  Physical action is doing Puja, by offering flowers. lighting a lamp, chanting slokas or Mantras etc., to one’s Ishta devata or visiting the temple and participating in the worship there or going on a pilgrimage to holy places.  Here all the three instruments of body, mind and speech are employed and this is called here Poojanam.  Verbal action consists of singing Lord's glory, reciting slokas in praise of the Lord, reading of religious texts containing the glory of the Lord, including Ithihasas and Puranas and repeated chanting of His Name or a Mantra, regularly.  Here mind and speech only are involved and so this requires more mental concentration than physical action.  This is referred to as Japa.  Mental action is meditation on Lord and this is called Chinthanam.  Manasa puja is also called Upasana. This requires a high mental discipline, much greater than that of physical puja and verbal worship.  All the three actions qualify as Yoga when action is done selflessly surrendering the ego in respect of a single Devata, adopted as one’s Ishta Devata.  It is this Bhakthi that transforms Karma as Karma Yoga. And when this Bhakthi is done for Bhakthi’s sake alone it becomes Bhakthi Yoga. In Bhakthi Yoga  reverential devotion yields place to unqualifed Love of the Lord to whom one surrenders one’s total will and ego.

As Bhakthi matures, the Love expands to embrace the whole creation as Bhaktha sees Lord in all and all as the Lord.  This is called Viswarupa Bhakthi.   Maharishi talks of this Viswarupa Bhakthi in the next verse, verse no.5.

जगत इशधीयुक्तसेवनम् | (Jagada Ishadee yukta sevanam)
अष्टमूर्तिभ्रिददेवापूजनं ||  (Astha murthy brid deva poojanam)

Service of the world is service of God having eight-fold form, with the idea that everything is God alone.

The eight-fold form of God consists of the five elements; space, air, fire, water and earth, the sun (representing all stars), the moon (representing all planets and satellites), and the Jivas (all living beings).  In verse 9 of Sri Dakshinamurthy stotram Sri Sankara describes specifically the Viswa Rupa of Lord Dakshinamurthy in the same way as eightfold form i.e. comprising the earth, water, fire, air, space, sun, moon and Jiva; the manifested Universe of all movable and immovable objects.  Sri Krishna also talks of His eight-fold Prakriti in Gita  (7 – 4), “This Prakrti of Mine is divided eight-fold thus: earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, intellect and also egoism.”  Further the very first nama of Vishnu Sahasranamam  is “Vishwam” – which means one who has entered into all beings, inert and sentient, movable and immovable -“Vishathi ithi Vishwam”.  Again Isavasya Upanishad also in the very first line states “Whatever is here in this world, everything is pervaded or covered by God”

Understanding Universe itself as nothing but a form of God is the essence of this Bhakthi.  Initially, the understanding was that God as creator is only the intelligent cause for the Universe.  As one’s knowledge of God grows, understanding expands and one has the knowledge that God is both intelligent cause and material cause of this Universe. As material cause of Universe, God pervades all objects of creation, both movable and immovable, just as gold pervades all ornaments of gold.  A Viswa-rupa Bhaktha sees God in all and all as God.  From Viswa rupa Bhakthi, with expansion of vision and maturity of understanding one grows to appreciate Abhedha-Bhavana and gain Advaitic Jnanam, which Maharishi will discuss later.

In verse no.6 Maharishi elaborates on verbal worship.

उत्तमस्तवादुच्चमंदतः |    (Uttama stavaat uccha mandathah)
चित्तजं जप ध्यानमुत्तमम् || (Chittajam japa dhyaanam uttamam)

Singing of Lord’s glories is good, but better than that is loud chanting in japa, while superior to loud chanting is soft chanting in japa. However, best of all is silent, mental japa.

Japa means repetition of a mantra or Lord’s name.  In Japa one should always focus on the mantra or the nama. Focus on the deity is done before the japa begins, as an invocation, and not during the chanting.  Japa produces a vibration which is supposed to be beneficial. The importance of Japa as a sadhana can be seen from Sri Krishna’s words in Gita (10-25) “Among the Yajnas, I am Japa Yajna”.  Japa can be done in a loud voice or in a soft voice or mentally.  The most effective chanting is mental and least effective is loud chanting.  Mental chanting is as good as meditation and so is a form of Upasana.  So Maharishi calls it as Dhyana Japa. 

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Upadesa Saara - 1

Introduction

Upadesa Saara is a short text of 30 verses written by Ramana Maharishi in simple Sanskrit, which was originally written by him in Tamil under the name “Upadesa Undhiyar”. Maharishi wrote this text originally in Tamil in response to the request of his disciple Muruganar. The request was made under these circumstances. Muruganar was writing a puranic story in Tamil. There occurs a situation in the story which can be described as follows: 

In the forest known as Taruka Vanam there lived a few grihastha rishis who were staunch karma-kandis. They believed that the world and the Vedas are eternal and that karmas give karma phala by themselves.  According to them Vedic rituals give all the benefits during and after life and they by themselves are sufficient to get Moksha, the eternal, infinite Bliss of Liberation.  They did not attach any importance to Jnana Kanda portion of Vedas. But they were men of pure minds as they were focused sincerely on rituals. Once they were assembled for performing a Vedic ritual.  Lord Siva felt compassion for them. He wanted to reform their outlook and make them realise that Karma alone cannot confer the eternal infinite happiness of Moksha as mere actions do not remove ignorance of one’s own nature and it is only through Jnanam, that a person can get rid of all sorrow and sufferings. Lord Siva came to the forest as a young handsome Brahmachari seeking bhiksha. Lord Vishnu also came to His assistance as Mohini, a beautiful damsel. The assembled rishis were distracted by the Mohini and as she started moving away from them they followed her forgetting the purpose for which they had assembled. Suddenly the Mohini vanished and the rishis ashamed of their distraction went back, only to find their wives following the young Brahmachari almost in a trance. The Rishis became angry and tried to destroy the Brahmachari employing all the mantras and rituals they knew. When they failed, they realized that the young person is not an ordinary one but Lord Himself and they surrendered to Him praying that He remove their weakness. Then Lord Siva appeared in his true form, praised their devotion to rituals and then told them that the real purpose of his Leela was to make them understand the inadequacy of rituals alone to confer Moksha and the limitations of Karma and to make their Jnanam complete by imparting them the true knowledge of their Real Self, which alone can liberate them from Samsara and lead to Moksha.

Muruganar who had been writing the story felt at this stage that Maharishi is the fit person to write that portion of Lord Siva’s teaching extolling the path of Jnanam to the rishis and so made the request to Maharishi to write this portion.  First Maharishi wrote in Tamil under the title “Upadesa Undiyar” and then at the request of other devotees rewrote it himself in Sanskrit, Telugu and Malayalam. This work “Upadesa Saara” can be taken as a sequel to the study of Tattva Bodha, that was discussed in eight blogs earlier, starting from SadhanaChathushtayam. This is a book that deals with both Vedantic teaching and sadhanas and so can be be classed as a Prakarana Grantha, a descriptive text.  This work deals with Karma yoga, Bhakthiyoga including Upasana yoga, Ashtanga yoga and Jnana Yoga, but the main emphasis here is on Athma Jnanam.  In the first 15 verses, Maharishi has laid down the paths of selfless Karma, Bhakti and Yoga, while the remaining 15 verses (Verses 16 to 30) are devoted to the path of Self-Inquiry.

Here all paths, including the puja and japa part of worship to a personal God, pranayama, etc., are dealt with as they all help in purifying the mind and makes it fit to pursue Self-enquiry.   As Swami Paramathmananda usually emphasises, Karma yoga, Upasana yoga & Ashtanga yoga give Jnana yogyatha, preparing the mind for Self-knowledge and Jnana yoga enlightens a person through this knowledge. 

Even though Maharishi always emphasised the path of Self-Inquiry, which is a direct path to Self-Realization, he knew that it wasn’t an easy method and that it required maturity of understanding. This is why he talked about other paths. He clearly stated on one occasion to his disciple: “If, however, the aspirant is not temperamentally suited to Vichara Marga, he must develop bhakti to an ideal – may it be God, Guru, humanity in general, ethical laws, or even the idea of beauty. When one of these takes possession of the individual, other attachments grow weaker, i.e. dispassion  develops....  In the absence of enquiry and devotion, the natural sedative pranayama may be tried. This is known as Yoga Marga... If an aspirant be unsuited temperamentally for the first two methods --- he must try the Karma Marga. His nobler instincts become more evident and he derives impersonal pleasure. His smaller self is less assertive and has a chance of expanding its good side...” 

Upadesa Saara, was chanted before Maharishi daily together with the Vedas and continues to be chanted before his shrine even now.

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