Rudram - Connecting To The Supreme

As discussed earlier, Laghunyasam is the invocation of the Lord in various part of our body. The idea is to keep various parts of my body pure , guarded , governed and controlled by Divine forces. This gives me an awareness of the purity, sanctity and divinity in my own body As the prayer continues, the seeker prays for health and long life for doing the Yogic practices of uniting the body, mind and intellect (Jiva) to individual consciousnesses (Atman) and then to Absolute Reality (Brahman).

Some of the elements being invoked in the prayer are as follows:

• May Lord Agni nourish / purify my speech 
• May my speech nourish / purify my heart / emotions 
• May my heart / emotions purify  the individuality (aham) in me 
• May my individuality connect with the eternal in me (soul) 
• May the eternal in me get connected with the Absolute Reality 

• May Lord vayu nourish / purify my prana 
• May the prana nourish / purify my heart / emotions 
• May my heart / emotions purify the individuality (aham) in me 
• May my individuality connect with the eternal in me (soul) 
• May the eternal in me get connected with the Absolute Reality 

Let us try to briefly understand the various terms so as to better appreciate the magnificent prayer. 

This entire universe consisting of the known and unknown, living and non-living is nothing but the ultimate Truth or Reality or God and that is technically known as Brahman. Now Brahman has a unique so called characteristic or power called Maya because of which it is able to project this vast universe. This is very similar to us as we dream. We, with our own capability, are able to create a vast dream universe. At a cosmic level, Brahman's inherent capability of Maya or illusion, creates this vast universe.  

Just as in our dream, each character appears unique, each of us appear to be unique and distinct from one another creating a feeling of separateness or duality causing us to experience the dual nature of this vast universe. We as individuals are a combination of the body, mind/intellect and the inner illuminating force in each of us, which is the Atman or the so called individual soul. Just as the universal Brahman has the illusory power called Maya to create the so called universe, at the microcosmic level, the soul's ignorance creates the impression that all of us are separate and distinct. This is the "ego" in us. This is not to be mistaken with the common usage of the word, ego in a negative manner. Each of us because of our "ego" see ourselves as distinct and this distinct entity is the "Jiva". 

Let us recap what has happened. The universal Truth or Brahman through Maya creates the illusion of the universe with its multi-faceted nature. Further the so called Soul through its ignorance causes the appearance of ego resulting in the individual Jiva. But for anyone studying spirituality, it is apparent that the Jiva is not real. The so called Atman is nothing but the Brahman, just like space in a house is same as space outside. To distinguish, we are calling the universal space as Brahman and the individual space as Atman and we know both are the same. 

So, how does one go back to the roots? All of our worldly issues are because we have forgotten our nature. So the Jiva has to trace back its origin to Brahman through spiritual practice aided by the intellect. In this process, the first step is for the Jiva to recognize that it is the "soul" and it is due to ignorance that it believes it is separate from the soul. Knowledge is the only way to get rid of ignorance and the Rudram is a path to enable that knowledge light to drive away the dark ignorance. Once the unification of the ego with the soul occurs, the next step is the unification of the soul( Atman) with the Supreme (Brahman). The prayer is requesting the various elements to enable the Jiva to first merge with the so called Soul and then enable the Soul to merge with the Brahman as the only non-dual Truth that we all are.

Conclusion

Through an illusion (Maya), Brahman has manifest as the vast universe with so called individual souls (Atman). The soul out of ignorance has created the ego (Jiva) with body, mind and intellect to create a non-dual entity that we think we are. The Laghunyasam requests the various elements to support the seeker in first merging the individual ego into the Atman and them merging the atman into the Brahman.

Energy & Consciousness

As I pondered about the greatest sentences in Spirituality, I tried to relate to something most of us are familiar. I also hope that with this article, the scientifically inclined non-believers of spiritual thought will revisit their attitude towards spirituality.

When we look around us, we see things, either living or non-living. What are these things composed of? Primarily they have a "mass", which most science students will readily agree. Now, based on Einstein's theory, is mass any different from energy? Whether we understand or not, we babble that E = M multiplied by the square of C, where E= energy, M = Mass and C is the speed of light. So anything that has mass has an equivalent energy and vice-versa. So, if everything that we see around us has mass, it automatically implies that everything around us is energy. So, if I were to say, that "Everything is energy", I am sure I will not have anyone disagreeing.

Now, let us see what the ancient sages of India said. They said, Sarvam Kalvidam Brahma. This translates to "All of this is Brahman". 

As a student of spirituality knows, Brahman here, refers to "consciousness" or the life principle or the "energizing" principle. So, in effect, the sages were saying, All of this is the energizing principle. Is that not exactly the conclusion we as students of science readily agreed earlier?

Now that we agree that everything is energy, let's turn attention to ourselves. What are we? We have a body and the body has mass. Again, anything that has mass is equivalent to energy. So, what does this mean? We are nothing but energy. Well, if we are energy, is this energy different from the energy representing my nagging wife, my nasty neighbor, my obnoxious colleague, my loving girl friend etc? It is the same energy everywhere. So, I am sure, we can agree that the energy that is me is the same as the energy everywhere which we discussed earlier. But unless we are told that, how would we even ponder about this? To a person absolutely illiterate about science, how would he know that he is nothing but energy? So, someone has to explain the energy principle and then say, "You are that energy".

Now, let us see what the ancient sages of India said. They said, "Tat tvam asi". This translates to  "That is what you are". the "That"  here refers to consciousness and they are telling everyone, You are consciousness. We had agreed that consciousness is the energizing principle. So, in effect, they were saying, "You are the energizing principle". Is this not exactly the conclusion we scientifically inclined reached that "You are that energy" ?

Now there is an intellectual understanding that I am the energy principle which is same everywhere. How does this help me? Well, when that nagging wife nags, I can tell myself, the energy principle in her is same as in me. So, who is nagging whom? It being the same energy principle, I cannot nag myself and be affected! It helps to keep remembering that my energy principle is the same as the universal energy principle. 

Now, let us see what the ancient sages of India said. They said,  " Ayam atma brahma" which translates to Atman and Brahman are the same. Atman is a local consciousness as though and Brahman is the all encompassing consciousness. So they were saying, "This consciousness(local) is the same as the universal consciousness. Replace consciousness with energy and we get exactly the sentence we say earlier that my energy principle is same as the universal energy principle. 

As we keep on telling ourselves that we are nothing but energy and that the energy is same as universal energy, does it not give us a feeling of peace? Why would I want to feel jealous about a friend's lovely wife or plot to ensure that a colleague does not get a promotion? I am the universal energy and my existence is always there and not dependent on anything. Once I reach this conclusion and totally internalize it, does my name, fame, color matter? None of this matters because I know I am the universal energy. 

 Now, let us see what the ancient sages of India said. They said, "Aham Brahmasmi", which translates to, "I am Brahman". Brahman being consciousness, they are telling, "I am consciousness". Replace consciousness with the energy priciple, they were saying, "I am the energy principle". This is exactly what we concluded with our scientific process.

Just as Einstein's theory cannot be understood by most people, most people cannot understand the message of the Upanishads. Being scientific, we just accept whatever Einstein said and nod vigorously when his equation is told. However, we suddenly become rationalists and vigorously shake our heads and say, the ancient sages and the Upanishads were all meaningless. To conclude, I would like to submit that our ancient sages were not some mumbo jumbo people practicing vague rituals. They were mighty and loft thinkers who understood the nature of the universe and presented it through the Upanishads much before the current stream of scientists presented their theories of the universe.

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality

 

Newest book on Spirituality

Thanks to the continuing support of all my readers, I have published the next edition of a book on spirituality. This book is structured differently from my earlier books and has illustrations to help understand some of the concepts.

It is titled, "The Spirit Of Spirituality". 

It is available at the following locations:

The Spirit Of Spirituality - Paperback

Paperback - The-Spirit of Spirituality-Shashank Katti

The Spirit Of Spirituality - Kindle Version

I look forward to the continued support of all my readers.

Best wishes to all who are on this spiritual journey.

My Imprisoned Self

This is one of the articles in a book I have written on spirituality. The book is available on Amazon.com.


The Spirit Of Spirituality

-----------------------------------------------



Last week as usual I came back from work. I opened the door and noticed that the alarm did not go off. I was surprised since my wife was not at home and I thought I had set the alarm in the morning. All the same, I went up, washed up, changed into casual clothes and was walking down the stairs when it shockingly happened. Suddenly the lights went out and I felt a hand grasping my neck. I was dragged down the stairs and someone tied me up and stuffed something into my mouth so that I could not shout. When I was fully bound and my eyes were also blindfolded, the lights were turned on. I could make out somebody walking around and the person started removing the blindfold around my eyes. I opened my eyes and in the blurry vision, I noticed a man in front of me. As my vision improved and I could see more clearly who it was, I got a shock. Here was a man who looked exactly like me and he was staring down at me. How in the world was this possible, I wondered? I thought of all the Manmohan Desai movies of lost brothers when this “twin” of mine poked me with a stick and asked me to get up. He took me downstairs and locked me up in the storage room. I could hear him on the phone calling up my friends and talking menacingly. I peeped out of the window and could notice this “twin” making menacing gestures at my neighbors. I was wondering how to get over this situation when I saw a big bandicoot charging towards me. In trying to escape it, I slipped and my head hit the floor with a thud. I was sweating profusely and realized I had fallen off my bed. Gosh, I thought, what a nightmare that was! But then what if this was true. What if I was not what I thought I am, but am actually someone else? 

What if someone has overpowered my inner self and imprisoned it and started putting on an illusory face outside? This unfortunately is true for most of us. What am I really? I have covered in several articles earlier that in reality I am nothing but the pure Existence or Life Principle or Brahman or Atman or Soul. However its evil twin, the Ego has imprisoned my Soul.  The poor Soul, which really is the owner or king of my mind and intellect, is now banished and in its place, my mind and intellect are governed by the Ego. Whereas the Soul was all bliss and non-dual, the Ego has arrogated to itself a separate identity and sees itself as different from others and the world. Once there is differentiation and duality principle has come in, the Ego experiences all the vicissitudes of this changing illusory world. It experiences happiness and sadness, calm and disturbance, birth and death etc.

But why does this happen in the first place? Why is it that the Soul appears banished and the Ego seems to be in control?

 We have to blame the Soul itself for this. The Soul has an innate capability of throwing a mask around itself and this mask at the microcosmic level of the soul is called a “Ignorance” or “Avidya”. Please note this ignorance is not the same as ignorance of the alphabet or numbers. It is a much deeper ignorance, which masks the true identity. Just as the eye itself creates the “cataract” which blinds it; Just as the sun itself creates the clouds which seemingly hide it’ In a similar manner, the Soul’s own innate capability creates the ignorance and the identification with Ego. At a macro cosmic level, the Brahman appears to be clouded by “Maya” or Illusion and thinks it is the “universe” or “Jagat”.

So if ignorance is an innate capability of the soul, how can we get over it and stop identifying with the ego? Just as in my dream, the appearance of a bandicoot made me slip and fall and get over the illusion, similarly a hard blow of sorts will wake us up from our false ego-centric identity and make us realize our true nature. In a way for Gautama Buddha, the sight of the diseased man, the dead person etc, were the elements in a dream, which woke him up to reality. I know of another lady who has had a near death experience and has now woken up to reality. In most of our cases, we will not experience anything so dramatic. But if we are not careful, we will miss even the signs that tell us that it is all a dream. If in my dream, I had not noticed the bandicoot, I would still be a prisoner of my twin and keep suffering.

Do we need to worry that we will miss the signs and never be free? No! There is hope still. So long as we are open to a change even in a remote manner, a spiritual teacher will make his appearance in our lives when we are ready and set us on a path towards getting out of the dream. In my case, it was my mother’s failing health and subsequent death which made me to start thinking of something beyond all this, when I was introduced to my guru through a chance article in Business Week. I have made some progress, but the roots of ignorance are so strong that the Ego is much much more powerful than the Soul and I keep getting pulled back into the illusory world. This tug of war will continue for probably several births, till one fine day my intellect is able to totally give up the Ego and become the Soul and merge into Brahman after which there is endless bliss.

I hope such a day comes in my life and in the lives of all my readers. I wish good luck on the quest for eternal bliss.

As readers may be aware, 3 of my books on spirituality are available on Amazon.com.

I invite readers of my blog to try any of the books and give me feedback so that I can make changes in the next edition.


1. My Humble Understanding  Of Spirituality


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

2. Attain Infinite Bliss

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

3. The Spirit Of Spirituality

The Spirit Of Spirituality