The Holy Bhagwad Gita - My Journey

Introduction

Today, on the auspicious occasion of Gita Jayanti, I am humbly penning down my journey with the Gita. The celebration of holy Bhagavad Gita birthday is revered as Gita Jayanti. The auspicious day is marked on the Shukla Ekadashi falling on the 11th day of the waxing moon, also known as Margashirsha month as per Hindu calendar. 

I am sure almost every house has a copy of the Gita. The pious among us see it  as God and worship it and the so called atheists among us mock it as a  superstitious book. Almost no one with the exception of the supremely endowed  Jnanis, has made an effort to understand this wonderful scripture.

The Bhagwad Gita.as the name suggests is the Song of the Lord. It is an integral part of the Mahabharatha which was written by the Sage Ved Vyasa. Whereas the Mahabharatha has about 100,000 verses, the Gita constitutes a small portion of the Mahabhartha and has about 700 verses. The Bhagwad Gita was told at the beginning of the great war between the  righteous Pandavas and the wicked Kauravas right on the battlefield between the 2 warring armies by the Blessed Lord Shri Krishna to Arjuna, the Pandava warrior.

The Bhagwad Gita told between 2 armies symbolically tells of the constant battle  between the good tendencies and the evil tendencies in each of us and shows a practical way to get over this duality. It gives a clear picture of what true happiness is and how to attain that true happiness. The first word of the Gita is Dharma and the last word is Mama. Mama in Sanskrit means Mine and Dharma refers to "essential nature". So the Gita elucidates very clearly what my essential nature is and how to realize it.

My Journey

I am pretty sure I was exposed to the Gita pretty early in my childhood. My mother used to teach me prayers and for as long as I can remember, I recall chanting the first verse of the Gita. But, I think my next major step was probably when I was about 9 years old. My mother enrolled me in a Gita chanting class. There was a lady called Shrimati Annapoornamma who used to teach us the recitation. She had a golden voice and we used to repeat after her. I must have memorized the first 30 verses. Then, for some reason I cannot recall, we stopped going and my journey with the Gita took a significant pause.

As I grew up, I recall seeing the Gita book at home, but never made even the slightest move to read it. During my teen years and lasting for almost the next 15 years, I was an atheist, barely participating in religious functions or even going to temples. If at all I went to a temple, it would be to see the pretty girls who used to be there. Post marriage and especially, after our child was born, some semblance of belief in God and performing rituals started. I was slightly more open minded about going to temples. But, so far, there was absolutely no reconnect with the Gita.

In my late 30's, I emigrated to the USA and like most typical Indians who miss the country started frequenting centers of Indian culture here, prominently the various temples. One significant event that rekindled my interest in the Gita happened when the famed Udipi Mutt opened a place of worship quite near our house. We used to go there every week especially because we wanted to expose our daughter to the Indian culture. Sometime in 2002, His Holiness Shri Sugunendra Teertha Swami who was the Pontiff of this place started introductory classes on the Bhagwad Gita. I used to attend the weekly lectures and was pleasantly surprised that it was so meaningful. I had barely gone for couple of weeks when I had to move to Atlanta for an assignment. I came back from Atlanta in late 2003, lost my job soon after and was partially employed till end of 2004. During this time, my focus was more on sustaining myself and our family. Hence any study of the Gita was ruled out.

In late 2004, I got a very good job and as luck would have it, attended a residential program on spirituality at the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam (arshavidya.org) run by his Holiness, Swami Dayananda Saraswati.I have to thank my wife for this. She literally kicked and cajoled me to the course. The residential program was again an eye opener and further kindled my interest in spirituality. It is said that when one is ready, a teacher or Guru will surely appear. The same happened to me. I read in an issue of Business Week about an Indian spiritual teacher, Swami Parthasarathi who was transforming US corporations. I googled and was pleasantly surprised to know that his disciple (Shri Gautam Jain)  was conducting courses near my house. Both my wife and I started attending the Bhagwad Gita classes sometime around end 2005, early 2006. 

At the same time, my mother's health was deteriorating and I visited India in February 2006. I was speaking to a dear friend of mine and talks turned to spirituality. My friend is a silent social worker doing charitable activities without ever publicizing it. He presented me a copy of The Holy Gita by Pujya Swami Chinmayananda of the Chinmaya mission. I returned to the US, but could not spend much time reading the book. We continued attending the Gita lectures and my interest was growing. During summer, when my wife and child went to India, I started reading the Gita. Once I started, it was just impossible to put it down. In a strange way, it was like reading a mystery novel. Only here, the mystery was to find out the real me and my purpose in life. Every chapter, every verse of the Gita is a gem. Though I could barely understand many of the concepts, I just kept reading because I wanted to finish it fully once and get a gist. Sometime in August 2006, I came to the last chapter. I used to read it for several hours every week. I marveled at the phenomenal knowledge and the deep compassion of Lord Krishna and his desire to uplift all of us. As I came to the final verses, I was crying. I did not want this to end at all. Finally I finished the book.

We continued going for the Gita classes for almost 6 years. Sometime around end of 2011, the Gita class ended and it had given me a solid foundation for further studies. During this time, I also read the Iskcon version of the Gita. I also listened to the complete lectures on the Gita by Swami Tadatmananda of Arsha Bodha. These lectures ran into several hundreds of hours,but were brilliant and took me a step further into understanding the Gita. 

I still continue my Gita studies. I am currently reading, God Talks With Arjuna by Swami Yogananda Paramahamsa (https://books.google.com/books/about/God_Talks_With_Arjuna.html?id=dKYfdbxnukkC) . I have again enrolled in the weekly online course (vedantausa.org) on the Bhagwad Gita. With all due respects to all my teachers, mentors and the various books, I am giving below a summary of the Gita:

Summary

The Gita has 18 chapters which can broadly be divided into 3 groups of 6 chapters each. The way Shri Vyasa has organized these chapters map into the Maha Vakya, Tat Tvam Asi. Each of the Vedas has great statements and some of these statements are called Mahavakyas or supreme statements because in 3 words these sentences explain the essential nature of the relationship of the individual soul and the Divine. 


The first 6 chapters of the Gita cover the essential practices that a sadhak has to undertake so as to prepare for the divine journey. This covers practices like Karma Yoga which talks of selfless service without any expectation of fruits, Bhakti Yoga which promotes an attitude of gratitude and Jnana Yoga which helps individuals discern what is Real from the Unreal. So this set of 6 chapters  essentially covers "Tvam" which is effectively You and Me. 


The next 6 chapters cover the nature of the Supreme. Here the Gita talks of the presence of the supreme consciousness in everything in this universe and beyond. The Blessed Lord in this set of 6 chapters dramatically shows Arjuna his cosmic form (Viswaroopa Darshana) and Arjuna is dazed beyond words. Hence this set of 6 chapters covers the Tat or That. 


The final 6 chapters establishes the connection between the individual and the Supreme and hence is referred to as the Asi or Art. Hence in these 18 chapters, Vyasa Muni brings out the full meaning of Tat Tvam Asi or That Thou Art.



Interestingly the 18 has other connotations. In the Mahabharatha war the Kauravas or the un-righteous army had 11 divisions and the Pandavas representing the righteous army had 7, adding up to 18. This symbolizes that in each of us, the evil tendencies are more than the good tendencies. There are 18 maha puranas. Finally if we look at the structure of the individual and God, we as individuals are made up of 5 action organs, 5 sense organs and 5 life forces which make up 15 elements. In addition to these 15, we have the mind, intellect and the ego, all put together 18 elements. The Gita succeeds in making a true reader aware of the impermanence of each of these 18 elements by themselves and as a group, but at the same time gives a practical method to leverage these elements to attain supreme bliss.



With this, I conclude my brief introduction to the Bhagwad Gita.



Om Poornamadah Pooranamidam Poornath Poornam Udachyathe

Poornasya Poornam Adaya Poornamevava Vasishyathe

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

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

Solving a spiritual conundrum .......

 It was a Friday and a long day at work. I was looking to have a relaxed evening and a calm weekend. As I was packing up, my wife called me. She said that she was in downtown and asked whether we could have dinner outside. I thought that was a great idea and told her that I would reach the spot in about 30 minutes. I hopped on to my motorcycle and drove to the place. Since it was a busy area, I could not find any parking nearby and drove couple of blocks and found a parking spot. I soon walked up to the restaurant and we had a good dinner. It was about 9 pm and we were ready to leave. 

I told her to wait at the restaurant and I would get the bike. I was trusting my absolutely poor sense of direction and luckily found my bike. I tried to kick start it and try as much as I did, it was not starting. I reached into my pocket for my cell phone and realized I had left it behind in a bag with my wife. Cursing the heavy bike, I started wheeling it hoping to find a mechanic. Then, horror of horror, the lights went out and there was pitch darkness barring the occasional headlights of a vehicle. I had no idea where I was going, but just kept on pushing the bike. 

I then felt a push on my shoulder and before I could hold my balance, I was falling over the bike and was hitting the ground. I opened my eyes and could see brightness all around. I wondered whether I had died and reached Heaven. Then it slowly dawned on me, I had fallen off the bed in my bedroom. The whole thing was a dream! I chuckled to myself. I had never driven a bike in my life and I had been fooled into believing that I had driven it to downtown.

Then suddenly it struck me. I had been grappling with a spiritual conundrum and suddenly I seemed to have the answer. As per the Indian spiritual thought, the only reality is Brahman or Truth or Consciousness and this entire Universe is an illusion. To explain this, a common example is of the Rope and Snake. In the dark, a rope can appear as a snake. The rope is only the reality and the snake is an illusion. Another example is of the water in a desert. The desert is the only reality and the water in the desert is an illusion. In both these cases, there is a Reality, be it the rope or the desert; there is an illusion, the snake or the water; there is an observer, who is mistaking the rope for the snake and the desert for the water. 

When we try to apply the above example to explain Brahman, it goes into a tail spin. We are told that Brahman is the only reality. If this be the case, who is seeing Brahman as the Universe? If I try and say, it is me, then it is fallacious since I am also an illusion. So, it appears as though Brahman itself is getting confused by itself. It is like me seeing my own shadow and getting confused. This was not making sense at all.

This is when the above dream gave me clarity. Now, who was dreaming? I, who was sleeping on my bed in USA was the dreamer. Who created the various characters in the dream including me, my wife, the restaurant, the motor cycle etc? Again, it was me sleeping on my bed in USA. Who enjoyed the meal in the restaurant? Who felt the pain of pushing the motorcycle? It was not me, the sleeper. It was me, the character in the dream created by me that was feeling the pain. Who realized that they were fooled and when did they realize? The character me in the dream never realized that he was being fooled.  Was me the sleeper fooled? Not at all. If I the sleeper realized I was being fooled, then obviously I would not be in a dream.

So, I the sleeper who is the reality created an universe, of which I was not aware till I woke up. In my dream, all the emotions felt by my character were true, but meant nothing to the real me. However, if I the sleeper did not exist, the universe would never have existed. Whatever happened to my dream character in the dream, I, the real person who was sleeping had no role nor did that dream experience create any harm to the real me. Did I have to summon any real power to create my dream? Did I the sleeper decide the characters, the content, the start time and end time of my dream? Absolutely not! It was the ignorance of my dream character of the reality that made him experience both the pleasure of the dining and the pain of pushing the motorcycle.

To conclude, Brahman is the only reality. Due to its innate so called feature, called Maya, it appears to create the illusory world. Brahman has just provided the foundation for the illusion and is in no way responsible for the illusion, just as the rope is not responsible for creating the snake or the desert is not responsible for creating the water mirage or I the sleeper is not responsible for the emotions of my character in the dream. It is not Brahman who is fooled in the illusory world. The characters in the illusory world are fooled by the illusion just like my dream character. Now, knowing this about my dream, if I could somehow re-enter the same dream, how would I be? Me, the dream character would enjoy the dinner, but know that the reality is different. Me, the dream character would experience the pain stoically knowing that it is an illusion and will end soon. So, also, for a person with true knowledge of Brahman, it is possible to live through the dualities of life consisting of joys and sorrows stoically knowing all this is an illusion.

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

Please buy and read any of these books:


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

The Spirit of Spirituality

Winning During The Corona Crisis

These days, anywhere we look and anyone we talk to, there are only dark discussions or forebodings about the Corona virus. Many of us are knowingly or unknowingly sinking into a depression from which we may find it very difficult to emerge even after this crisis ends. Hence it becomes most important to retain our sanity in these difficult times and emerge the same person as we were before all this at a minimum or better still, take the opportunity and become a better person. In this article, I would like to talk about my practices to remain positive. I would like to clearly state that this is not a panacea or a medical advise. Each reader has to make their own decisions on how to remain positive and this article at best can provide pointers.

I would like to discuss my practices across multiple planes of consciousness:

a. Body
b. Mind.
c. Intellect
 and finally how to actualize the positivity.


Body

I very sincerely follow every guideline released by the WHO or CDC in terms of self sanitization, social distancing etc. and I am sure most of you are following them too. I believe that prevention is better than cure and do whatever best I can to develop immunity. Whether we can develop immunity against Covid is a question mark. But, I am hoping that with my practices, I am developing immunity to other known infections like influenza. In addition, though totally stuck at home, I make sure I get light to moderate exercise. Some of you may be lucky enough to have a mini-gym in your house. We do not have one. But I ensure I keep walking around the house briskly, climbing stairs etc. and get at least an hour's worth of exercise daily. I also make sure that this one hour includes deep breathing exercises. I make sure I eat nutritious food rich in Vitamin C, Proteins etc. I make sure I eat enough fruits and vegetables. I do not eat junk food. I drink enough fluids and to the extent possible, I avoid cold water. I boil the water and drink it. I get a good sleep of at least 7 hours daily. With these practices, I believe my body is well exercised, nourished and rested to to be able to face the challenges of the virus attack.

Mind

Everyday in news and social media, it is almost always the same negative news of the Covid virus. If it is not about the virus, it is about negativity in politics. So, I try to avoid listening or watching such news. I do not have subscription to cable tv and hence am not subject to constant bombardment. I do browse websites of reputed publications to keep myself aware of what is happening so that I can protect myself and my loved ones. I have cut down on forwarding any negative news on social media and am focusing on sharing good news only. I read books on spirituality and listen to good lectures.

The mind is very fickle and needs to be controlled. Hence it is worthwhile to have routines/rituals/practices which force the mind to be positive. Over a period of time, with practice, these become routine. Some of my daily habits include the following:

a. Gratitude: Wake up first thing in the morning with an attitude of gratitude that my loved ones and I are safe; Tell a simple prayer to the Universe that there be peace and happiness everywhere. Only after this, I go about my morning routine.

b. Small acts of charity : Most of us are generous, but cant be doing charity daily. Luckily, I have found sites, where just for  a click, an advertiser will feed someone or provide shelter to animals etc. For the past 20 years, I have been doing this every single day. I am not telling this to crow about myself, but to state that an act of generosity makes the mind happy and positive.

c. Prayers : I make sure that I spend a minimum of 5-10 minutes in the morning to pray as per my customs and traditions. I am sure each person has grown up seeing how their families pray and follow traditions. I have found it giving me a calming effect.

d. End of the day reflection : Just before I sleep, I reflect on the day's events as a separate non-critical observer. I pray that the following day bring the best of news for the whole world.

Intellect

Whereas the mind is impacted by emotions and is fickle, the intellect is stable. Only thing is that we have to listen more often to our intellect and not to our emotions. For this, Vedanta has given us some fantastic tools,a few of which I am listing below:

a. Right action

In the current environment, nothing is gained by worrying. I, not being a health professional or researcher, can do nothing to cure people or find a cure. My worrying about it will not bring a cure. The only thing I can do is to continue doing whatever I am doing in the best possible way. If I can send in a charitable contribution, I will. If someone needs reassuring voice, I will provide it.

b. Let things happen

Vedanta has taught us not to worry about the future or the past, but focus on present. Bad times wont last forever. Mankind has lived through disasters and will rebound. So, let events happen. I will be cognizant of events, but wont obsess over them.


c. Karma : Whatever we face, good or bad at individual level or universal level, is due to our own deeds. So, today, if we face a bad situation, it is due to some action we collectively have taken as a society. It may be due to our gross negligence of the environment, our greed to own everything at expense of the non-privileged people, our cruelty with animals etc. Whatever the impact of these actions, the results had to happen. So, whatever situation is there, the only option is to whatever best I can and do whatever positive things I can, to do my bit for a positive future.


d. Prarabdha Karma

Related to the doctrine of karma is the concept of Prarabdha Karma. All our desires and actions over several births create an almost inexhaustible storehouse of desires. Based on the most pressing desires, we take a body to fulfill that set of desires. These are Prarabdha Karma. Once the desires related to this are exhausted, the body is of no further use and dies so that we take a new body to experience the other desires.

So long as this body has current desires to fulfill, nothing will kill it, even the worst virus. If at all it kills, it means that we will take a body to fulfill other desires and this body is no more useful. It is like throwing out a dress that has shrunk as we grow. We have to throw it out and take a new dress.

So whether the virus kills us or not, there is nothing to worry. This is how I cheer myself.


e. The supremacy of the soul

I tell myself that I am not the body, mind and intellect. I am the Supreme Brahman  or Consciousness and these events like the virus attack can only impact my body and mind. They will not impact my true self.

There are many more tools available in books like the Bhagwad Gita, the Upanishads etc. I am absolutely certain that other holy books of other faiths have equivalent tools to sharpen the intellect.

Actualize the positivity

All this talk of the body, mind and intellect are fine. But how do I actualize the positivity? For me, it is through meditation and visualization. On most days, I try to meditate at least for 30 minutes. Mine is a simple technique. Readers are free to follow or plan on their own technique. I do deep breathing for about 5 minutes and clearly experience the air filling my lungs and I imagine positivity is entering my system. I exhale and visualize all negativity leaving my system. Once this is done, I focus on the 5 basic elements of earth, water, fire, air and space. I visualize the evergreen and bountiful earth, the fresh  flowing rivers cleansing me inside out, the holy fire that our ancestors lit during rituals and yajnas, the air that gives me life and the vast space of which I am a part or is a part of me. I then focus on positive energy in each of my systems - my brain, my limbs, my circulatory system, respiratory system etc. I visualize them being strong to take on any challenges. Finally I visualize a positive world which is cured of the virus and is filled with prosperity and peace.

Conclusion

Using the above practices, I think I have been able to maintain a reasonably calm composure and I am confident that I can face any adversities strongly. Readers are free to comment and reach out to me if they need any specific guidance.

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


Please buy and read any of these books:


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

The Spirit of Spirituality

Pratyahara - Retraction Of The Senses

Many spiritual leaders have suggested their own paths for their followers. One such path which is very methodical and logical is Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga. Patanjali, the great ancient exponent of Raja Yoga, wrote that the path to enlightenment embraces eight stages. This eight-limbed approach, known as Ashtanga Yoga is not to be mistaken as a step-by-step approach but a multidimensional approach in which all eight limbs are practiced simultaneously. 

The 8 fold path consist of the following:

1. Yama
2. Niyama
3. Asana
4. Pranayama
5. Pratyahara
6. Dharana
7. Dhyana
8. Samadhi

I have covered Yama, Niyama in earlier blogs and in this blog I will covere Pratyahara. I will leave it to the reader to refer the numerous documentation available on Asana and Pranayama. 

This limb of Ashtanga Yoga deals with the preparation to meditation. Pratyahara means drawing back or retreat. The word ahara means "nourishment"; pratyahara translates as "to withdraw oneself from that which nourishes the senses." In yoga, the term pratyahara implies withdrawal of the senses from attachment to external objects.

When we came into this world we came with a basic defect. Rather than being focused inward to understand our true purpose of this existence, we focused outward to enjoy the sense objects of this dream world. As I have covered earlier, desire for objects of this world is unending and is as much a cause for misery as it is for temporary happiness when acquired. Hence every scripture talks about the need to give up desires. But this is easier said than done. In this phase of Astanga Yoga we are asked to withdraw, the analogy being a tortoise withdrawing into its shell to protect itself. So, what is being said is that we should withdraw internally to protect us from the desires.

So, how do we withdraw? Does it help to withdraw from the world and go to a dark cave where the sense organs cannot find any sense object to desire? Just because I move away does not mean I have gone away from desires. Without a proper training of the mind, any attempt to withdraw can lead to serious withdrawal symptoms which may be worse than going after the object of desire. 

Can I be in this world and ensure my sense organs and action organs are prevented from reacting to objects of desire? We have read in The Adventures of Ulysses by Homer about a set of sirens singing so well that anyone listening would be suicidally prone to jump ship and go to them. Ulysses had himself tied with chains to the ship whereas his crew covered their ears when their ship passed by the sirens.  He heard them sing and was strongly tempted to jump, but was held back by the chains. Do you think such a solution will help us withdraw from the outside objects?

So, what is the way out? To understand the withdrawal process, we need to understand the out seeking process and trace backwards. When we see an object of desire like a flower, jewelry etc. with our sense organ, the eye, a signal is sent to the Mind. The mind is like a clearing house getting all these signals, but not knowing what to do. Should I pluck that flower or not? Should I buy that jewel or not? The mind goes to the Intellect for guidance. If the intellect is pure, it will make a well reasoned decision and tell the mind what to do and that in turn tells the action organs what to do. 

There is one missing element here still. Why is it that someone can get attracted to drinking by seeing an advertisement for liquor and it does not affect me in the least? Why is it that a new book attracts me whereas it does not have any impact on my friend? The question is why do we desire what we desire? The answer to that is our hidden desires accumulated over several births which have created a pattern in our Identity and since, out of ignorance of our true self, we have identified with the Ego which has dethroned the Soul, we as a separate entity are impacted by our accumulated desires. These give rise to related thoughts which create desire in the mind when sense organs sense those objects.

The intellect has for its guidance either of 2 entities. It can take the guidance of the pure effulgent Soul or the impure Ego which has dethroned the soul. So depending on what is guiding the intellect, the decision conveyed to the mind will differ.

Now that we have a model, let us come back to withdrawal. The sense organs need to move away from sense objects. The mind has to be guided by the intellect, which in turn should ensure it is not clouded by emotions of the mind, but by the effulgence of the Soul. The intellect also should sharpen its focus internally and realize that it has to unite with the Soul and not be swayed by the Ego. This completes the withdrawal process and leads a seeker on the path of Divinity. 

All the above is fine to read and admire.  But how is this put into practice? We will cover that in the subsequent step called Dhyana.

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

Please buy and read any of these books which are available on Amazon.com.


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

The Spirit of Spirituality

ReplyForward

Are we really contented ?

The second of the Niyamas is Santosha or Contentment. Though many of us use the term in our daily life, let us pause for a moment to know its meaning. Contented means, feeling or showing satisfaction with one's possessions, status, or situation.

Being students of spirituality, let us try to explore contentment from three different perspectives, the physical layer, the mental layer and the intellectual layer. At the physical layer, most of us have ever increasing needs for flashy products and gadgets. We want the latest smart phone, the latest car model, the best designer shoes and what not. Are we ever contented with what we have? At the mental layer, comes the emotions of love, affection etc. Can anyone truthfully say, they are fully content with the love and affection they receive ? Can I say with all gratitude that I am content with the attention and love given to me my by own spouse, child etc? At the intellectual level, am I contented with the title I have at work? If we reflect on the three layers truthfully, it is obvious that our life is full of discontent. 

Let us also understand what are the different types of contentment. Let us say I am a lazy person who just likes to curl up in bed and be happy with the morsels of food given to be my some kind soul. If someone comes and tells me that there are some boxes I need to move and I will get paid in the form of a sumptuous meal, I may say that I am very contented with the morsels of food I get and do not want the sumptuous meal. Is this real contentment? I am only saying I am contented because I am lazy and do not want to work. I would call this as lazy contentment or Tamasic contentment. Next, take the case of a sales person who is going all out to win an order. He is trying very hard. But, unfortunately the order goes to someone else. He claims he is contented with whatever business he has, by telling that the order was not worth it. It was a loss making proposition or that the client was bad etc. In this case, the sales person is using " the grapes are sour" explanation for his contentment. I would label this as the "sour grapes" contentment or Rajasic contentment. 

Are the above real contentment? Obviously, they are not. If contentment is driven by sloth or laziness as in the first case or by just giving a rational explanation for not getting the order as in the second case, it is not contentment. In both cases, the burning is there in the individual to get the object, either the sumptuous food or the order. However, they are telling the world that they are contented. 

One may ask, if contentment is good, would an individual or society progress? If I join a job as a clerk and say I am contented and not work hard to progress up the corporate ladder, is that not a bad thing? If a scientist were to say, he is contented with the progress he has made with new drugs and does not want to do anything more, is that right? The obvious answer is no. 

As students of  spirituality, we know that we are not the body, mind and intellect. Since discontent impacts at the physical, mental and intellectual level, when I realize I am above these three levels, there cannot be any discontentment at all. Again, we know that for each of us, action is a must. Any action done with a motive of self aggrandizement , by assuming that we are the body/mind/intellect complex is bound to cause discontentment. So, how do we achieve the goal of ensuring societal progress and at the same time remain contented? The only way is to act with the principle of Karmayoga. When I do any act focusing only on the act and not its results, whatever be the result, there will be contentment. As an individual, if I work hard keeping in mind that is my duty at office, I may or may not get rewarded with more money/promotions etc. But since my focus is on my duty alone, there is no discontent. Similarly, any societal activity done with the aim of doing good, but just focusing on the activity and not on the fruits like a recognition, a Nobel prize etc, there will never be discontentment.

This ability to be in this world, do activities and still stay contented is what is essential for spiritual progress.

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

Please buy and read any of these books:


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

The Spirit of Spirituality

Niyamas - Are we really clean?

So far, in our discussion of the Astanga Sadhana, I have focused on the "Yamas". To recapitulate,Yama, deals with one's ethical standards and sense of integrity, focusing on our behavior and how we conduct ourselves in life. We talked about the following items:

• Truthfulness
• Non-Violence
• Brahmacharya
• Non-stealing
• Non-possessiveness

Whereas the yamas present guidelines for how we should treat others, the niyamas tell us how to treat ourselves, moving us ever so slightly deeper along the path towards enlightenment. I will start my discussion of the second limb which is Niyama. Niyama, the second limb, has to do with self-discipline and spiritual observances. 

Niyama consists of the following items:

• Shaucha: Cleanliness/Purity
• Santosha: Contentment
• Tapas: Discipline
• Svadhyaya: Study of the self
• Ishvara Pranidhana: Devotion to God

Today I will discuss the first one, Shaucha or cleanliness. When I say cleanliness, I can almost hear everybody saying, not an issue at all, we are all clean. Please follow my flow of thoughts and make your own judgement.

I would like to look at cleanliness from 3 perspectives, that of the gross body, second the subtle body and finally the causal body. When we talk of gross body and its cleanliness, I mean the physical aspect of cleanliness. Here again, there are three layers of cleanliness. The first layer is personal cleanliness.  Most of my readers i am sure maintain personal cleanliness. The next layer is cleanliness of surroundings, in my room, in my closet, my house, my office desk etc. I am sure many of us maintaining personal cleanliness show some slack when it comes to cleanliness of the surroundings. The next layer of gross body cleanliness is the environmental cleanliness. Are we polluting the environment ? Are we keeping picnic spots clean? Are we cleaning up our beer bottles from the beach? I am pretty sure at this layer, many of us tend to further slack off in cleanliness. Let us take a wild guess. If we randomly select hundred people and rate them on the three aspects of gross body cleanliness, what percentage would pass all three levels? I bet it will not be more than fifty percent.

The next layer of cleanliness, that of the subtle body includes cleanliness of the mind and the intellect. What is the dirt in the mind? Obviously, jealousy, anger, greed, hatred are the components of dirt in the mind. The intellect has its own dirt consisting of a sense of superiority by color, country, position etc; Dirt consisting of over blown ego of one's own importance etc. As readers are aware, this dirt is more subtle, more difficult to remove and actually more harmful than physical dirt in the pursuit of spiritual growth.So assuming we continue the above exercise, of the fifty who maybe physically clean, not more than twenty may be clean at the subtle body level. So, almost eighty percent of our sample is eliminated from the path of cleanliness which is one of the requirements of Astanga sadhana. 

Coming to the third layer, that of the causal body. This has vasanas or unfulfilled desires from several births as the dirt to be cleaned. Readers of my blogs are aware that the only reason for our taking births and deaths in a never ending cycle is because of our vasanas. Whereas cleaning the earlier two - gross body and subtle body were relatively easier, how do we clean the causal body? For one thing, we do not even know what all we have accumulated in our causal body. The only way we can remove the "dirt" in our causal body is by exhausting the dirt and by not adding additional dirt. Let me give a simple illustration. Assume we have fifty units of vasanas or desires in my causal body and in each birth , ten desires are fulfilled. So, I need a minimum of five births to exhaust and clean out my vasanas. But wait a minute, it is not so simple. In each birth that I take, most of us typically add new desires and when they are not fulfilled, they go back to the causal body and keep on putting us on a cycle of birth and death. So, the key step in cleaning the causal body is to not add new desires. Of course, this is easier said than done. However the first step is knowing the impact of desires and once we know it, making a conscious effort to refrain from new desires. This will hopefully reduce the causal body dirt to nil over a period of time. 

What do we get when all the three layers or bodies are cleaned? Beyond the three bodies is the Supreme Soul which is timeless, the very embodiment of Awareness, Truth and in essence the same as the Universal Brahman. If we plot the cleanliness on the X axis, starting with the gross body cleanliness, followed by subtle body and finally the causal body, and level of spiritual growth on the Y axis, I suspect we will get a hyperbolic curves. As we improve in cleanliness at the gross body level, there is an improvement in spiritual growth level, but at a very low rate. As we improve cleanliness at the subtle body layer, the spiritual growth shows an increased rate of growth and finally as we progress over multiple births on the cleanliness of the causal layer, the spiritual growth shows a sharp uptrend and we are finally on the cusp of achieving Divinity. When that final vasana is exhausted, we merge with the Supreme and then it is only Bliss.

Let us take the step to understand the dimensions of cleanliness and walk towards achieving our spiritual growth.

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

Please buy and read any of these books:

My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

The Spirit of Spirituality

A Deadly Disease Lurking in most of us....

Today, as i continue with my discussion of Astanga Sadhana, I will introduce my readers to a deadly disease lurking in many of us. I rightly expect all of you to stand up and say, it is impossible, we are perfectly healthy. Well, please allow me to complete and then you can decide for yourself whether you have the disease or not. 

Let me start with a story since all of us love stories. There was once a pious man who lived on a hill focusing his life on spiritual activities. He used to subsist on just a pair of bananas left by some villagers nearby. Knowing that there would be bananas outside his house, a naughty monkey used to wait for the man to go into his meditation and run away with the banana. Owing to the noise created by the monkey, the man used to get up and try to chase the monkey, without any success. This went on for quite sometime and the man got fed up. He hatched a plan to teach the monkey a lesson. One day, he got a narrow mouthed vessel and kept the banana inside it and sat for meditation. As usual, the naughty monkey came and saw the banana in the vessel. It put its hand inside the vessel and caught hold of the banana and tried to take out its hand. However the mouth of the vessel was not large enough to permit the fist of the monkey with the banana to come out. The monkey kept on tugging at his hand, without leaving the banana. It tried to run. But it could not move quickly enough to avoid being caught. The man came from behind and caught the monkey and put it in a cage for life and the monkey lost its freedom forever. 

Well, think of the above. The monkey could have let go of the banana and run away. But it held on to the banana and was trapped. This is exactly the disease I am talking about afflicting many of us. I would like to christen it as " holdingonitis" since we also hold on to things without realizing the impact. Whereas, the monkey held on to a physical object, we as humans hold on to physical objects, mental objects, intellectual objects etc. The other day, I was trying to clear off our garage since it was filled with stuff. As I went through the items, I did not feel like throwing off my first marks card, my first coat, my first cricket bat etc. As i kept things aside that I did not want to throw, I realized I had ended up holding on to almost everything I had accumulated over several years. What greater example of "holdingonitis" for physical objects? 

Most of us also accumulate memories and emotions. We remember our first love, our first kiss and are happy with the memory and the emotion it brings. At the same time, we hold on to memories of grief at the death of a pet, hurtfulness when we were let down by someone and experience sadness. So, we end up with another case of "holdingonitis" where we hold on to emotions.

Next comes our tendencies to hold on to anything that is a ego booster or anything that is conceptual. We remember the title we won several years ago and gave us an ego boost. I know of a friend who won a prize in a general knowledge contest when we were in college and he makes it a point to remind everyone of it through social media posts every year ! Again a case of "holdingonitis" at an intellectual level where we hold on to past successes, glories, trophies, etc. 

Now that I have hopefully established the case that many of suffer from holdonitis, what is the consequence? Just like the monkey, which held on to the banana and lost its freedom, we are losing our freedom. Freedom what what, one may ask? As I have covered earlier, each one of is Infinite and Self Fulfilled. We are the very embodiment of happiness. But, due to an illusion of Maya at the Macro level and Ignorance of reality at the individual level, we look outside for happiness and hold on to objects assuming they give us happiness. The more we hold on to objects, the more we are bound to the Ego. As the Ego, strengthens, it weakens the connection with the Supreme and we are bound to the phenomenon of life and death, happiness and sadness forever. The only way to get rid of this bondage is by letting go.

I will end this discussion with another story I had told earlier. The Gods, Demons and Humans went to the Creator and asked him how they can be free and achieve bliss. To each of them, the creator just said, "Da". Since the Gods were enjoying excess luxuries, HE said they have to exercise DAma, which in Sanskrit means Restraint. Since the Demons were wicked and violent, HE said they should practice DAya, which in Sanskrit means kindness. Finally to the humans, HE said, we have to practice DAna, which means the act of charity or giving up, which is the antidote for "holdingonitis". 

To summarize, 

a. As part of Astanga Sadhana, Aparigraha is the fifth of the five yamas. 

b. Aparigraha (Sanskrit: अपरिग्रह) is the virtue of non-possessiveness, non-grasping or non-greediness.

c. "Holdinonitis" can be at physical, emotional or intellectual level.

d. The cause of "Holdinonitis" is Ignorance of the Reality.

e. The Outcome of the disease is loss of freedom.

f. The only cure for the disease is to let go.

Please buy and read any of these books:


My Humble Understanding Of Spirituality

Attain Infinite Bliss - A Spiritual Guide

The Spirit of Spirituality