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The Rise of Jnana : Destruction of Good Works and Bad Works

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Introduction

The Jiva, as a thinker/doer/experiencer is tossed in the dualities of samsara – pain and pleasure, good and bad, right and wrong, ignorance and enlightenment. As a Jiva, he is always trying to “become”: become good, become better, become knowledgeable, become detached, become enlightened.

However, with the rise of Jnana, his perception shifts from duality to non-duality instantaneously. Knowing his essential nature to be Self, the Jiva becomes a Jnani freed from all notions of duality. This freedom and perfection is instantaneous with the rise of direct Knowledge. Freed from the notion of being a thinker/doer/experiencer, the Jnani is freed not only from all notions of becoming but also from all works, including the notion of good works and bad works.

Thereafter, there is nothing left for the Jnani to attain or lose, in any way, no matter what acts are seen to be performed by him. While others may judge his acts in terms of duality – such as good and bad, he knows that he does nothing and that all acts are Self. The body of the Jnani carries on till his prarabdha karma exhausts and it finally drops. Then he attains videha-mukti.

This is a true account of the rise of Jnana and the status of a Jnani. But many people find themselves in disagreement with many facts stated in this account. To dispel their doubts I am writing this article, quoting passages from Chapter 4 – Results of Knowledge (Jnana Phala), Brahma Sutra Bhashya of Shankaracharya (Translation by Swami Gambhirananda), addressing all erroneous notions.

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Advaita, Yoga Advaita and Manonigraha of Gaudapada – Part 1

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Introduction – You are That/ Tat Tvam Asi

One of the five great sayings (mahavakyas) of Vedanta which proclaims the highest truth of Non-Duality or Advaita is “Thou art That” – Tat Tvam Asi, occurring in the Chandogya Upanishad in 6.8.7. Here “Tat” refers to Brahman/Self. So in the most common sense rendering of the statement, it means – “You are Brahman”. This saying is not saying, “You must ‘become’ Brahman”. What it says is that one is already Brahman. Such is the case and one just has to know it to be so.  

I had to bold and italicize the last lines of this paragraph because even when it is clearly stated, people are not able to overcome this notion of “becoming”. This is seen in the most advanced ‘practitioners’ of Advaita. In fact this notion of “becoming” is actually Maya, which keeps one tied to doership. This Maya is extremely hard to overcome, a fact which was anticipated and stated, both by Gaudapada and Shankaracharya, whom I shall be quoting in articles coming subsequently in this series.

In fact, this sense of Maya or “becoming” or “doership” is so powerful and so blinding that even after the Mahavakya says this to be the case; even after I shall show that all forms of doing are Maya; after giving all forms of quotes, logic and arguments: the notion of Maya/becoming/doership is very hard to root out. The Bhagavad Gita gives words to this predicament in the verse,

Among thousands of men, one perchance strives for perfection; even among those successful strivers, only one perchance knows Me in essence

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 7.3 Continue reading →

Karma Yoga and Karma SanyAs

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Part 3 of 3

Renunciation and its benefits

The knowledge that the Self is akartA is Karma SanyAs.  Renunciation of work refers to giving up the sense of doer-ship. There is a simple and effective method to get over the notion of doer-ship. Krishna advises Arjuna to dedicate all works to the Him while abiding in the Self. It enables one to get rid of the sense of doer-ship and to remain detached, i.e., no expectations and no desires.  Selfish action creates mental disturbances called vritties which again propels rAjasik action. Action dedicated to the Lord is ego-free. Ego-free action arrests creation of vritties. Continue reading →

Modern Physics and nAma-rUpa:

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Theoretical Physicist Prof. Sean Carroll talked on “The Mysteries of Modern Physics” at the Cambridge University two weeks ago (on Jan 24th 2020).
Much of what he talked for three fourths of the time is the popular stuff about the Classical and Quantum theories of Physics. I found the last 15-16 mins more interesting when he discussed “The Arrow of Time” and the possibility for the existence of life.
 
From the POV of Non-duality, the latest thinking he is working on is something to look forward to. It is about the emergence of spacetime from Quantum Mechanics and the concept of Entanglement giving raise to Geometry and Energy. The word pair Geometry and Energy strike a chord reminding us the famous vAcArambhaNa shruti (6.1.4, chAndogya). They bring to our memory the other Vedantic word-pairs:

Continue reading →

Karma Yoga and Karma SanyAs

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Part 2 of 3

Benefits of Detached Action

Krishna instructs Arjuna to perform action, i.e., engage in war and fulfill the obligatory duty. By performing work without attachment, one realizes the Supreme. He gives His example. There is nothing in the world for Him to achieve, yet He engages Himself in action.  For, otherwise all other people would follow Him and the creation will be destroyed.

A person who is content with whatever comes by itself (without desiring for it), who is free from delusion and jealousy, who is equipoise in both success and failure, is not bound by action even by performing actions. The mind is focused on the work. It is a working mind as distinct from thinking and wavering mind. As a result the work becomes skilled.  Attachment to the fruit of action creates impressions on the mind called samskArs which is the cause of cycle of birth and death.  Attachment smacks of selfishness and egoism. Conversely, detachment creates no samskArs and one becomes free from the cycle of birth and death. Detached, karma yogis perform works for purifying the mind, e.g., sacrifice, charity and penance. Continue reading →

Karma Yoga and Karma SanyAs

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                                          Karma Yoga and Karma SanyAs

 Part 1

  Introduction

An ordinary educated Hindu or a religious minded Hindu, even though he has not read Bhagwad Gita, is asked about Gita. In all likelihood he would say that it teaches mankind to work without attachment. He may or may not be very familiar with the term Karma Yoga, yet if he is pressed further, he may add that work without attachment means work without attachment to the fruit of work. Indeed, he is not off the target. The point is that karma yoga is the essence of Gita for most of the Hindus.  Even so, if a person reads it, then he comes across another term, i.e., Karma SanyAs. Though the term karma yoga is etched in the Hindu psyche, karma sanyAs is a relatively unfamiliar term for most of them. This article is an attempt to delve into karma yoga and karma sanyAs and also appreciate inter se similarities and dissimilarities.

   Karma Yoga

     Detachment          

One essential ingredient of Karma Yoga is that our right is not over the results of action.  A common sense explanation of no-right- over- result is that we do not have complete control over the result. There are five causes responsible for any action to happen. They are right place of work, doer of work, various tools of work, different efforts and lastly the destiny. The five factors are invariably behind any work, physical, verbal, psychological, just or unjust. Even if a single component is missing then the work is not accomplished. In such a situation, one who thinks only oneself as the doer and has right over the result is ignorant and foolish.  We think we are doers but we are just one of the five factors necessary for any work to fructify. If other four are not available then work is unaccomplished. It is worthless if one shoulders the burden of doer-ship, let alone responsibility of result of action, whether success or failure. Continue reading →

The Consolations of Bodhayana’s Sutras

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It is now almost three weeks since I lost my father. A massive cardiac arrest took him within seconds of him even realizing that anything was wrong with his heart; there are things good and bad about such a passing (although in a deeper sense it is all good): the death is completely painless, but leaves you and those close and near to you in a situation that Hamlet the King so brilliantly defines in Hamlet.

Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousel’d, disappointed, unanel’d,
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head: Continue reading →

Who am I?

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In the (very long) thread of Q. 479 ‘What should I read?’, Ramesam asked the question: Who do we (the posters) mean when we use the words ‘I’ and ‘you’?

He suggested that ‘I’ could mean Atman/Brahman, if used from the ‘as if’ pAramArthika viewpoint; it could mean the reflected Consciousness (chidAbhAsa); or it could mean the usually understood ‘named person’.

I suggest that it can ONLY mean the usually understood, named person. When ‘I’ speak to ‘you’ or when I write the word ‘I’ in a post, I cannot be Atman/Brahman. The pAramArthika Atman/Brahman is non-dual. It is neither actor nor enjoyer. It does no do anything. It does not speak and it does not write. When I write and use the word ‘I’, if I mean Brahman, I need to add additional words to make this obvious.

The chidAbhAsa concept is a metaphor to explain how it can be that I am really Atman/Brahman and yet appear to be a conscious, embodied, independent entity. It relates the appearance to the reality. But I am not a metaphor.

Similarly, when I address ‘you’, I am speaking/writing to the named individual ‘you’. I would scarcely have the temerity to write to Brahman (and what would be the point?)! And, again, it would not be meaningful to address a metaphor.

If anyone is NOT using the same criteria when they post, could they please do so henceforth! 😉

Communication is only meaningful when an (apparently) independent entity A speaks or writes etc. to another (apparently) independent entity B.  B doesn’t know in advance what A is going to say or write. All is empirically familiar and obvious. There is no need to complicate things unnecessarily. Occam’s razor reigns supreme!

Q.476 – Metaphors

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Q: Which metaphor in Advaita is the closest to truth? For example:

1.      If I take the “Snake in rope” metaphor, I must consider that “there-is-something” called rope, which is mistaken for something else (snake). So, in this metaphor, there is a TRUE rope and UNTRUE snake.

2.      If I consider the “Water in Mirage” metaphor, there is the UNTRUE water, but there is no substrate on which this is happening (there is no rope equivalent here).

3.      If I consider the “Dream” metaphor, there is the UNTRUE dream cosmos and dream characters and there is the TRUE dreamer in whose mind all this is happening. So the substrate is the dreamer’s mind – though it is “no-thing” in itself.

The doubt is…
Metaphor 1 gives an impression that there “is-something” out there, but we mistake it for something else and give it name & forms etc.

Metaphor 2 gives an impression that there is “nothing out there” and what we see is only inside our mind (the mirage has no substrate out there, but just an error in our mind).

Metaphor 3 is somewhat in the middle of metaphors 1 & 2 – Like metaphor 1, it has a TRUE substrate (the dreamer’s mind) but that substrate itself is just mind stuff (like metaphor 3) which can appear and disappear instantly, following no rules of any sort (rope will follow some rule, but a dream elephant may fly).

So is there something “out there” (some ineffable substrate – say energy) which is misunderstood as something else (say matter, forms) OR there is “nothing-out-there” and whatever we see is only our minds-stuff in motion?

Many thanks to the teachers for having this forum where seekers could ask their questions and helping others see the great truth! Continue reading →

Journey Beyond

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New Release: Journey Beyond: A Non-dual Approach – By Acharya Dr. K. Sadananda

Everyone is searching for happiness that is everlasting. Yet, none can find it by any pursuit; at the same time none can stop the pursuit. This seems to be the tragedy of human life; nay the life of every being. Every pursuit is limited: space-wise, time-wise and object-wise. Any pursuit that is limited cannot give everlasting happiness. Some promise the eternal happiness after death, if one follows their path; yet none has returned to claim that they accomplished it by following that path. One sage declares that ‘truth is a pathless land’. Vedanta ascertains that the truth is beyond the space-time-object wise limitations; and you are that truth – tat tvam asi. The ‘Journey Beyond’ space-time limitations is the central theme of the discussions in this text.

About the Author:

Dr. K. Sadananda is a Material Scientist by profession, and worked at United States Naval Research Laboratory as Head of Deformation and Fracture, published extensively in Science, and received many awards.

He retired in 2005, and now works as a private consultant in the United States for six months of the year. He was also a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

He is a disciple of Swami Chinmayananda, was a founding trustee of the Chinmaya Mission’s Washington Regional Center as well as Shree Siva Vishnu Temple, Maryland, USA. He served as Secretary and Treasurer of SEVA, Inc., a philanthropic organization formed around 1980 by Chinmaya Mission, to fund projects in India and elsewhere. Currently he is an Acharya or spiritual teacher of Chinmaya Mission, and splits his time between the USA and India. Advaita Academy has been sponsoring many of his talks on Vedanta and has made them available on You-tube under Acharya Sadaji. He is also an author a book, Introduction to Vedanta, available now on Amazon, USA.  He is married to Mrinalini Sadananda, who is well-known Kuchipudi dancer and Choreographer.

This 3-volume book may be purchased from Amazon:
from Amazon.com; from Amazon.co.uk; from Amazon.in