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.

Kayena Vacha Mana-Sendriyair Va

Everyone of us who has ever participated in a typical Indian worship would have heard the following prayer:

Kayena Vacha Mana-Sendriyair Va
Budhyaatmana Va Prakruteh Swabhavath
Karoami Yadyad Sakalam Parasmai
Narayana Yeti Samarpayami

Meaning: 



Whatever I do with the body, speech, mind or by the intellect, or by the existing tendencies of the mind, I surrender them to the Supreme.


This is one of the most powerful messages to ensure that the action happens with a right attitude. To answer a basic question, why should there be a right attitude to action? As covered in my earlier blogs, every action has an equal reaction. That is the Universal physical law and more than that it is the universal law of Karma. If I do harm to someone, I am sure to be repaid with a similar harm at some point, whether in this life or next. Similar with any good deed. But then the question is to whom does the fruit of any action impact? If I plant a mango seed in my house, a mango tree will not grow in my neighbor's backyard. So whatever action I do has to impact me. But which "me"? Will it impact my body, my mind, my intellect?

Let us take a step backwards. In reality we are nothing but pure consciousness or Brahman or Truth. By a strange play of illusion or ignorance, we associate ourselves with the body, mind and intellect and curse ourselves to lead a sorrow filled painful life always worrying about our mortality or similar fears. We will continue to experience this world of illusions so long as we associate with the body/mind/intellect complex. An association with these makes us feel incomplete and we do actions to get objects of desire hoping that they will make us complete. However, as we have seen, objects of desire temporarily fill a gap, but soon, they also seem incapable of satisfying us and we do action to acquire the next object. So this cycle of performing action to acquire the next object of desire continues across several life cycles till one realizes that one is not the puny individual, but the mighty Supreme.

To avoid fulfilling desires, can we just stop doing any action? This is not possible. Each one of us has to act. The trick is in taking the right attitude to action. A feeling of ownership of the action ensures that we get the experience of its results or reaction. What if there was some way we could act without taking ownership? I am not talking of our day to day activities like our office work, for example. I cannot go and tell my boss, I will do an activity without taking ownership. The idea is to do an act with a sense of doing an action as an agent of the Supreme. An activity has to be done because it is my duty. That's all. There is no attachment to fruits nor any fear of failure. I do the work as an agent and offer the fruits. But I am an agent of whom and to whom do I offer the fruits?

What are the ways we do action? Obviously we do action through our five action organs, which is represented in the hymn above as action done by the body and speech.  We also emote. We feel angry, happy etc and based on that do actions through the sense organs. We also do action based on our intellectual conceptualization like country, religion etc. Finally, we are also creatures of habit and without even realizing we do some action. The hymn says, perform activity as an agent of the Supreme and do it because it ought to be done.



Note:


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