April 29,

rahastarpanam in transcendental tranquillity

2010

Overture
Who made the Sun, the source of light and heat! Why planets dance
around in chain! What are those twinkling tiny lights in the infinite azure!
Who gave the life on earth in matter base! Who does ordain all that comes
to play a role and quit a day! Myth of myths remains all the same!!!

Man is the mason

Of the world stage
Of that he is the actor
And the witness too

This world is a magnificent temple of work and service. Every object we

perceive in this world is simply the sum of its qualities. Since the qualities
exist only in the mind, the whole objective universe of matter and energy
does not exist except as a construction of the consciousness, nay the
edifice of conventional symbols shaped by the senses of man.

Nature is the incarnation of a thought,

and turns to thought again
The world is thought precipitated.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Einstein carried further, this train of logic showing that even space and
time are forms of intuition. Space has no objective reality except as an
order or arrangement of the objects we perceive in it, and time has no
independent existence apart from the order of events by which we
measure it.

Thought is energy organized. In the field of Consciousness Mind is a

localised point. In the mundane physical field thought forms manifest with
the input of organic Energy supplied by the brain. Newton realised the
unseen force of gravity while the apple was falling. Similarly, we also
realise the unseen wind force causing waves on a still water lake. When
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we experience a phenomenal unexpected event we often try to tally the

same with the thoughts or wishes we nurture in our mind, and propose
that our thoughts manifested in the corporeal world! In a way, they are
synchronicities and remain a proof to the fact that our thoughts manifest
on mundane platform. This is the inherent, but obscured inventive muscle
our mind possesses by realising the nuance of which one will advance and
transmutes into a self- creator vouchsafing accountability to
ones thoughts, words and actions. Consciousness is awareness, or
thinking, feeling, and doing. The fact that we are capable of reacting is a
sign of consciousness, though the reactions to the stimuli may differ from
person to person, or time to time. Certain acts are also performed
reflexively without conscious awareness. Thoughts as anger, lust,
jealousy, hatred and even desire to harm the other vigorously clutter
many minds often, and selflessness predominates in exclusive some
wherein they even give up everything and start working for the welfare of
the world. It is the sub-conscious mind that is responsible for these
feelings. Our experiences are stored in the form of subtle impressions in
our subconscious mind; on interaction with one another these impressions
become attitudes regulating us to respond in a personalised way to a
given contingency or stimulus within the frame work of our aptitude in our
subconscious mind. Attitude personified is character. One can of course
choose to react to the given circumstance with free will, but well within
the frame work of one’s individual personality/character which is the sum
total of all past deeds, thoughts, and feelings carried forward from many
past lives.

Though it appears as a peculiar catch22 condition, the exit from such

impelling subconscious labyrinth is obviated in an individual who is
spiritual in disposition. Purer the mind better is the reflection of divinity
within. Our life has a greater and honourable purpose and our crowning
destiny is to travel up in the cosmic order to reach excellence and
apprehend perpetuity and Absolute Ecstasy. Reflection with altruistic
religious zeal and devoutness, discernment with colossal sense of

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impassivity and repudiation unquestionably help us to muscle over the

vagaries of the otherwise infestated subconscious mind, and unleash our
true super-consciousness. Spirituality is one's character or quality that
makes one transcend the barriers of worldliness, caste, creed and
sensuality; and realize one's connection with the Truth. It may even mean
a state of being incorporeal.

Only mind is evolving according to the Indian Philosophy. Modern Theory

says, ‘From where life comes and to where life goes is scientifically
unknown and will not be known’. Indian Theory answers by saying that
everything comes from and goes to the all-pervading spirit. We are
already spiritual; hence no need to work at being spiritual. We need not
work at being human. Once a ‘Zen Master’ was asked by an anxious
student, ‘How long to spiritual enlightenment?’ The ‘Zen Master’
answered, ‘A long time, at least 10 years.’ The student said, ‘Well I will
work twice as hard.’ The ‘Zen Master’ said, ‘Then it will take 20 years.’
‘No!’ said the committed student, ‘I will work three times as hard.’ ‘Well
then,’ said the ‘Zen Master’, ‘it will take 30 years.’ The spiritual path is a
process of opening to new dimensions of who we already are. It’s a
process of awakening to our own truth. It’s a process of allowing ourselves
to be authentic.

Mind is that part of a human being, as contrasted with body, that thinks,
feels, and wills with its native muscle reinforced with acuities, objectives,
resourcefulness, reminiscences, responsiveness, sentiments, and an
aptitude to converse. Mind in entirety is always seething with thoughts,
nay impatience and disquiet is mind in the flesh. Surprisingly there is
nothing like peace of mind. A composed mind is not a peaceful mind. A
thing essentially restless cannot be at peace. The real peace cannot be
disturbed. The self does not need to be put to rest. It is peace itself, not at
peace. Only the noetic mind is restless. What we call progress generally is
merely a change over from the disagreeable to the agreeable, from the
unpleasant to the pleasant. But changes by themselves cannot bring us to
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the changeless, for whatever has a beginning must have an end. We can
find what we have lost as we can never find what we have not lost. The
true knowledge of the self is not knowledge. In the words of Plato
knowledge is justified true belief. Knowledge is but reminiscence, a
pattern of thought, and a mental convention. All these are motivated by
pleasure and pain. It is because we are aggravated and motivated by
pleasure and pain that we are in search of knowledge. A posteriori
Knowledge, that which is generated through experience, the one that is
acquired through a method of inquiry based on observable, quantifiable
and reasonable empirical evidence got ourselves into our present state
through verbal thinking, and we must get out of it the same way. The true
peace once realised from within, the one we never lost, will remain with
us incessantly. Thus the diligent search should be for what we do not have
but to find out what we have never lost.

Desire for pleasure and fear of pain always mask clear perception. Psyche
clear from both these is the natural state of mind. The ‘Good Book’ and
the collective experiences prove the obvious difficulty in giving up desires.
In fact desires and fear are individually mental perceptions, nay acquired
and expected convictions. On realisation of this they cease to obsess. The
real motivation in every human endeavour is in seeking pleasure. More
the pleasure more the fear of pain! Pain always aspires at pleasure and
pleasure ends up in pain persistently. When we realize that we are beyond
pain and pleasure, aloof and unassailable, then the pursuit of pleasure
ceases and the resultant sorrow too. Both pain and pleasure do depend on
something, but freedom from both depends on nothing and cannot be
lost. Hence we should learn to go beyond and live really. All we need to do
is to cease taking ourselves to be within the field of consciousness. The
great preceptor is the inner-self, the supreme guru who can carry us to
our goal. Grapple to him with hoops of steel, and on the other hand we
require no other guru! (sri guruh sarvakarana bhuta saktih- bhavana up.)

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Man indeed is a great wonder! Spiritual Science has to be developed to

understand many mysteries in Nature, both the inner and the outer. The
duration of life between birth and death is unknown. But within the life-
time how best one can live is the wise thing one can aim at. Conception,
Conservation and Obliteration are the phases in the process of evolution,
and are persistently cyclic. Energy is all pervading and fathered matter,
and in matter life has evolved, thus making life a part of energy. Lord
Buddha described that, desire was the root cause for all sorrows,
sufferings, obligations, births and deaths, and so self-restraint over
passion, self-denial of sensuous pleasure and self-control of desires were
needed to overcome them. He advised that astute thoughts,
compassionate words and placid actions help achieve nirvana
(emancipation) in life. Sankara bhagavatpada suggested that the path of
non-attachment is to be followed in exploring and experiencing the
Universal Spirit so as to successfully surmount the ocean of life, and attain
moksha.

A typical Hindu spiritualist always understood and carried a belief that

ignorance, either eternal or ephemeral, is the cause of bondage and
liberation is the result of knowledge. Ignorance mothers polarity, egotism
and plurality. Ego (false ego) manipulates jiva to identify himself with
sense organs, mind, intellect or body; hence bondage. Wiping out of the
sense of self through justified, true and believed knowledge, and
realisation of the real nature of brahman by identity fragments and
degenerates bondage. By being brahman, one is encouraged to cognise
brahman everywhere and oneself in all. It fetches multiple statuses as it
enables one to figure out unity and identity of jiva and brahman.
Consequently fear of merit and demerit, attachment and aversion,
pleasure and pain, stop impeding and influencing human behaviour.
Excellence dawns on human attitude and one comfortably lives life in
absolute freedom and bliss. This is spiritualism. The scratchy elements or
aberrations like avidya, maya, moha, raga, dvesha, find no place in the
minds/attitudes of the evolved, and through proper sadhana one reinvents

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one’s divine heritage of virtues like courage, power, strength, wisdom,

happiness. Thus we remain our own redeemers.

aashaya badhyate loko karmana bahu chintaya;

ayukshinam na janati tasmat jagrata jagrata

- sankara bhagavatpada

You are bound in this world by desires, actions and

manifold anxieties. Therefore you do not know that your
life is slowly decaying and is wasted. Therefore wake
up, wake up.

kama krodascha lobhascha dehe tishtanthi taskarah

jnana ratnopaharaya tasmat jagrata jagrata

- sankara bhagavatpada

Desire, anger, greed, attachment, pride, jealousy -

these dacoits are residing within your own body to rob
you of the precious gem of spiritual wisdom (atma
jnana), and to make you wail and be in ignorance.
Therefore wake up, wake up.

In a multidimensional Universe higher dimensions always help organize life

on the lower physical plane. The perception of a greater consciousness in
fact quickly leads to god awareness. We believe that god is the
omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient being, and that praying will get
Him to act on our behalf. We gain access to god through prayer and
expect a positive response if we honestly pray. Praying to forms,
elements, mythological characters, great human beings, ancestors, spirits,
concepts etc., has given people a sense of solace and courage. Prayer, as
an articulation of faith, picks up where hope gives up. Powerful honest
prayer certainly changes us for things instead of changing things for us.
Sincere prayer put ego to rest; consequently the recognition of ones

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limitations, the focusing of ones priorities towards the powerful,

omniscient force creates an atmosphere of acceptance of what is beyond
human ken, and what is in the cosmic order of things. Prayer also
succeeds in raising the threshold of our psyche to bear with pain and
pleasure by carrying equilibrium.

Self-realization is a metaphysical trans-sensuous experience within the

human body making an individual truly religious. The immanence and
transcendence of the supreme in personified epithet cannot be
comprehended by human mind, intellect, or logic. Bhagawan Krishna in
bhagavad gita says,

naham vedair na tapasa na danena na cejyaya

sakya evam-vidha drastum drastavan asi mam yatha
- b g XI
53

I cannot be seen in this eternal form either by study

of the Vedas, or by austere penance, or by charity, or
even by grand rituals and ceremonies. It is not
possible to see me as you are

tad viddhi pranipatena pariprasnena sevaya

upadeksyanti te jnanam jnaninas tattva-darsinah

- b g IV 34

Para vidya (Knowledge of the spirit) can only be

instructed by self-realised and holy saint endowed with
divine revelation; it is by accepting such spiritual master
and by submissive inquiries and rendering service unto
him one experiences the Absolute

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Such spot-on guru does not pad the disciple’s mind with prolific
description of atman and paramatman. He is one who takes one beyond
theories and into direct experience.

In a consummate anecdote sri jiddu Krishnamurthy says, ‘Meditation is not

a means to an end. It is both the means and the end.’
Being one with the Universe is mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness is to
sit silently and comfortably, focusing on an object or process, keeping
away from cognitive analysis or desires regarding the contents of
consciousness. To be mindful is to be aware of one’s thoughts and actions
in the present, without judging oneself. An individual practicing
mindfulness experiences all objects that arise in consciousness as if it
were his first rendezvous with it. Mindfulness can be developed in any
situation because meditation encompasses maximisation of both the
expanse and lucidity of attentiveness. Meditation releases the unlimited
power of the subconscious. Effective meditation helps develop
concentration, matured and thoughtful attitude, positive emotions like
love, respect, happiness etc. meditation unleashes the power of our
subconscious mind.

In bhagavad gita bhagawan krishna proceeds to advise arjuna the

distinctions to be cognized in jnana, the indirect and general one that is
learnt from scriptures; and vijnana (direct and explicit knowledge learnt
from experience and concerning the nature, power and glory of the
supreme spirit. Often jnana is taken to refer to the knowledge of the world
and vijnana to spiritual wisdom.

bhumir aponalo vayuh kham mano buddhir eva ca

ahankara itiyam me bhinna prakritir astadha

- b g VII 4

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Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, spiritual

intelligence and false ego; thus these are the
eightfold divisions of my energy

The three essential constituent aspects of Nature are - the mode of

goodness (satva-guna), the mode of passion (rajo-guna) and the mode of
ignorance (tamo-guna). These gunas’ expand, jumble, and project suo
motu and sua sponte under the eternal time principle deluding the worlds
under karmic law. Satva-guna modifications lead to mind, intellect and the
senses of cognition; rajo-guna to vital currents and the organs of action;
tamo-guna the physical body and the state of sleep. Thus this
psychophysical constitution of the individual is led astray under the
influences (moha) of these natural aspects concealing the reality of the
supreme spirit and projecting the unreal world! It is indeed difficult for the
common man to transcend the mantle of moha. Only those who put their
trust and seek out the supreme sprit will be able to pass beyond the
delusive power of maya.

Modern science of psychology pronounces that desire, lust, attraction,

perish only when they are fulfilled, but leave a deep sense of
dissatisfaction when denied. A person feels tensed and suffers from
complexity, which affects the whole personality of the person. It is
necessary to remove desire, lust and attraction for a healthy brain. Hindu
theology on the other hand says that when negative feelings are fulfilled
they subside for some time, but leave their impressions so that they arise
once again. The cycle rotates and does not stop. Desires do not die if they
are fulfilled. If psychologists were true then today the people leading
materialistic life would not have suffered from tension, depression,
loneliness, disappointment and other mental diseases so often. The
present day countries which have more freedom of enjoyment, are
suffering mental diseases most. Attachment destroys memory; it distorts
the true form of any and everything thus dislocating intelligence. The
whole basis of intelligence is memory. Attraction and Willingness is the

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product of attachment, the consequence of disfigured intelligence. As a

corollary the most infectious jealousy and hatred become our companions.
In due course we fall as insects into the trap of the spider’s web. This is
the most unwanted horrendous and destructive situation we knit
ourselves into!

dhyayato visayan pumsah sangas tesupajayate

sangat sanjayate kamah kamat krodho ’bhijayate

- b g 2.62
While contemplating the objects of the senses, a person
develops attachment for them, and from such
attachment lust develops, and from lust anger arises.

krodhad bhavati sammohah sammohat smriti-

vibhramah
smriti-bhramsad buddhi-naso buddhi-nasat pranasyati

- b g 2.63

From anger, complete delusion arises, and from

delusion bewilderment of memory. When memory is
bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when intelligence is
lost one falls down again into the material pool.

Mother, father, son, wife, relatives, friends, teachers, elders, devotion,

desire to live, devotion and attachment towards them always, bondage
and liberation, and merits and sins, and relief in them – this is called
samsara. It is the cycle of birth, death, and re-birth; also it is a general
state of overt or subtle sufferings that occur in day to day life. He who
stands as the creator of these and the activator is called samsarin
(transmigrator). The visible thus is called samsara, or that samsara is for
the visible form of the omnipresent supreme self. The self is one though
the bodies are many and the entities are different. In all of them the

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essence is one. Therefore the entire visible objects constitute the

samsara; God who takes the contracted form is the samsarin (embodied
self). The body is stated to be samsara and the self the samsarin
(transmigrator). The embodied one, associated with desire, covetousness,
etc., born of the sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ is bound by egoity. Cultivating
ego-sense in the body and sense organs, the embodied one acts
continually and is bound to the world by them. He who does his duty with
a conviction that he is not the agent of the action, and that the said action
does not pertain to him, is not bound by the action in any way. The
impression of reality in the unreal and unreality in the real is fashioned by
the illusive veil of maya. A snake in the rope and silver in the Molluscan
shell appear even in the mind of the being who knows the truth. Although
the rope and the shell are real, the false knowledge of snake and the
silver dawn on creating illusion. Similarly on the unreal serpent and silver
the false knowledge of rope and nacre is dawned. Maya is perceived to be
of two kinds – pure and impure; the pure being metaphysical and the
impure empirical. Jiva, though factually the eternal self, identifies itself
unwittingly with the empirical form. When karma diminishes, the maya,
which is pure and impure, gives beings the liberation, which is of the form
of the destruction of maya itself. Just as in the world the fire in the wood
perishes because of the destruction of the wood, so also maya perishes
for want of substratum. Isvara is in every form. By whatever manner He is
worshipped by people, all that is accepted by the lord.

The Chinese sage, Wei-Lang, in his sutra about the indwelling Buddha
(atman) says -

Within the domain of our mind there is a Tathagata of

Enlightenment who sends forth a powerful light which
illumines externally the six gates (of sensation) and
purifies them. This light is strong enough to pierce
through the six heavens of desire, and when it is turned
inwardly to the Essence of Mind it eliminates at once

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the three poisonous elements, purges away our sins

which lead us to the hells, and enlightens us thoroughly
within and without.

- Wei-lang

While introducing himself to his acarya sankara, hastamalaka, one of the

most prolific jnanis’ among sankara bhagavatpada’s immediate disciples,
says the following dependable words -

 I am neither man, god, yaksha, brahmin, kshatriya, vaisya,

sudra, brahmachari, householder, forest-dweller, nor
sannyasi; I am pure awareness alone.
 Just as the sun causes all worldly movements, so do I – the
ever-present, conscious Self – cause the mind to be active
and the senses to function. Again, just as the ether is all-
pervading, yet devoid of any specific qualities, so am I free
from all qualities.
 I am the conscious self, ever-present and associated with
everything in the same manner as heat is always associated
with fire, I am that eternal, undifferentiated, unshaken
consciousness, on account of which the insentient mind and
senses function, each in its own manner.
 I am that conscious self of whom the ego is not independent
as the image in a mirror is not independent of the object
reflected.
 I am the unqualified, conscious self, existing even after the
extinction of buddhi (intellect) just as the object remains
ever the same even after the removal of the reflecting
mirror.
 I am eternal consciousness, dissociated from the mind and
senses, I am the mind of the mind, the eye of the eye, ear of

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the ear and so on. I am not cognizable by the mind and

senses.
 I am the eternal, single, conscious self, reflected in various
intellects, just as the sun is reflected on the surface of
various sheets of water.
 I am the single, conscious self, illumining all intellects, just
as the sun simultaneously illumines all eyes so that they
perceive objects.
 Only those eyes that are helped by the sun are capable of
seeing objects, not others. The source from which the sun
derives its power is myself.
 Just as the reflections of the sun on agitated waters seems
to break up, but remains perfect on a calm surface, so also
am I, the conscious self, unrecognizable in agitated intellects
though I clearly shine in those which are calm.
 Just as a fool thinks that the sun is entirely lost when it is
hidden by dense clouds, so do people think that the ever-
free self is bound.
 Just as the ether is all-pervading and unaffected by contact,
so also does the ever-conscious-self pervade everything
without being affected in any way. I am that self.
 Just as a transparent crystal takes on the lines of its
background, but is in no way changed thereby, and just as
the unchanging moon on being reflected on undulating
surfaces appears agitated, so is it with you, the all-pervading
god.

- hasthamalakiya stotra

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