Contact

1. Arabadhasya karmana phale hi hete. Of the prarabdha karma, these 2 are the results (bhoga and jnanam). Both are due to Prarabdha karma. In this life if we get any experiences it is due to prarabdha. Also, do you think Jnanam is also due to prarabdha? The text means this, but our understanding should not be that Jnanam is due to prarabdha. 2. Bhogo jnanam ca karmana bhavata. It is the prarabdha karma because of which we have this body. In this body, if the person becomes mumukshu, then the credit for this person to do jnana sadhana goes to this body because this body is suitable for prarabdha karma. That is why it is secondarily said that this body is responsible for jnanam. That is why here it is said Jnanam is result of prarabdha karma. In case of Ajnani purushartha is the driver, but for Jnani the purushartha search is over. 3. Tayorho avirodha yukta – Of these 2 (prarabdha and brahma gyanam) there is no virodha. 4. Itharasya tu vaidharmyam – Of the other 2 (sanchita and agami karma) they are not good friends or do not go with Jnanam. Prarabdha karma made brahma gyanam possible. But sanchita and agami are not contributing to Jnanam. There is vaidharmyam or opposite to Jnanam. Verse 5 - Question – Is there a possibility that while the Jnani is experiencing prarabdha, it is possible for him to forget his knowledge and return to Samsara? This is answered in this verse. 1. Dehatma gyana vat gyanam (quoted also in tattva bodha and Panchadashi also) 2. Just as ajnani what is the sthitha pragya (aham deheasmin). Dehatma gyana vat – I am body is so firm in agyani 3. Yasya gyanam – knowledge of this nature 4. Deha gyana atma badhakam – His knowledge is such that the body has been negated. (atmani eva bhavet). This bhava is negated. He is called Jivan Mukta. From absolute point (paramartika satyam) he knows he is brahman. But from Vyavahara point he still transacts as his prarabdha karma is still there 5. Atmani bhaved yad asya – Having taken ownership of one’s true nature 6. Saha na iccha api muchyate the Jnani cannot say that I do not want liberation. You do not have a choice that you are not brahman. It is not possible for a Jnani to come back and give liberation or jnanam in some avatara etc or teach Vedanta etc. This is mentioned specifically so that the jnani who attains brahma aikyam is not brought again to perform other activities under his or her name. The jnani also cannot demand while living this janma that he wants another janma to continue his work. Liberation is forced. Before you enter the hall of Vedanta, you decide if you want to be Karmi or Jnani. To be not here is your choice. But if you are here you do not have choice as knowledge will take place. 7. Tatha – therefore 8. Sarvam idam siddham – The points we made in this chapter were made for a purpose (connect to the previous chapter). The previous chapter Aham brahma asmi that knowledge is possible. Then objections were raised about ahamkara, types of karma etc are taken care of here in this chapter a. Jnani will not have sanchita karma b. Jnani will not have agami karma c. Jnani – Only drsta phalam will be there d. Jnanam will not destroy prarabdha karma e. Deha abhinam will not be there Quotes from Mundaka Upanishad • भिद्यते हृदयग्रन्थिश्छिद्यन्ते सर्वसंशयाः। क्षीयन्ते चास्य कर्माणि तस्मिन्‌ दृष्टे परावरे॥ Bhidyate hrudayagranthishchhidyante sarvasanshayãhã, ksheeyante chãsya karmãni tasmin drushte parãvare’ (Mundaka Upanishad: 2/2/8). Here, the word ‘parãvare’ refers to Paramãtmã – that to which even Aksharbrahman, who is above (para) jivas, ishwars, mãyã and muktas, is subordinate (avara). When one realizes that Parabrahman, who is the controller of Aksharbrahman, all the desires of the heart are overcome; all doubts are destroyed. One attains nirvikalp faith in the form of Paramãtmã and all one’s karmas are destroyed, i.e., one is freed from the ties of karmas. • To instil this, Angirã again says, ‘O Shaunak! To one who is satisfied and content in having imbibed brahmavidyã thoroughly: इहैव सर्वे प्रविलीयन्ति कामाः’ – ‘Ihaiva sarve pravileeyanti kãmãhã’ (Mundaka Upanishad: 3/2/2). Here, in this body (Ihaiva), whilst still living, all misery-causing mundane desires (sarve kãmãhã), are destroyed (pravileeyanti). He experiences liberation whilst living. • ‘ब्रह्म वेद ब्रह्मैव भवति’– ‘Brahma veda Brahmaiva bhavati’ (Mundaka Upanishad: 3/2/9). When an aspirant who desires to imbibe brahmavidyã knows (veda) ‘Brahma’ in the way this Upanishad has shown, then his own ãtmã also becomes brahmarup (Brahmaiva bhavati). For him, the bhakti and upãsanã of Purushottam no longer has obstacles. Furthermore, that devotee benefits from the darshan of Parabrahman.

In this class, we look at the shanti mantra of Purusha Sukta with explanation of the mantra. Also an introduction is made to the 1st Mantra of this Sukta. To be contd in next class on 4th June.

Different types of Bhakti, significance of Bhakti is discussed. Part II will continue in Class No 12.

Body is part of prarabdha karma. So technically if a jnani has gained knowledge, then he is supposed to let go of the body or die. But this is not possible as prarabdha karma is stronger than his knowledge in some respects and will overpower his knowledge of the truth. 1. Deha adi arambha samarthayat – The body is there because of the strong prarabdha. Karma has the potential for the body to come into existence 2. Jnanam sad visayan twayi- In your disciple, there is knowledge of Brahman 3. Abhibuya -overpowering (will give result) Even if knowledge takes place prarabdha cannot be destroyed. So, what is the difference between the ajnani and jnani. In the karana sharira there are 2 shakti (Avarana and Vikshepa). Avarana shakti is destroyed in Jnani. The Vikshepa shakti is destroyed to some extent. E.g. if Avarana shakti is there in ajnani there will be next birth. For Jnani there is no Avarana shakti so there is no birth. But Vikshepa shakti gives some insight to the Jnani about the world as an appearance only as his body and appearance of jagat. In Vikshepa this is not destroyed till the jnani leaves the physical body or attains brahma aikyam. This aspect is called Avidya Lesha -deha abhasa and jagat abhasa (that much of ignorance is retained for prarabdha to complete its work). That is why you see Jnani’s continue to interact with this world. Everything else is eliminated. In prarabdha also one aspect is physical afflictions and the other is mental afflictions. Mental afflictions are controlled by Jnanam. Body related afflictions he will not be able to avoid. Physical pain he cannot avoid, but mental pain he can avoid. 4. Phalam kuryat – will prevent the jnani from dropping his body. E.g. if the fan is running and if you switch off, the fan will continue to spin for some time before stopping. In the same way, the jnani continues to live in his body. 5. Anthe gyana ud bhavet- At the end of the prarabdha, the knowledge will remain, and the body will disappear.

3rd chapter presents a story. Why does Upanishad present the story? Definition of Brahma is given in the 1st chapter. 2nd chapter gives the jiva paramatma aikyam. Brahman was presented as something that is not available for any of the Pramanam. Na tu pramana vishaya. (na tatra chakshu gachati, vak gachati etc) Later, brahman is distinct from the known and unknown. This could make a manda Adhikari think that brahman is non-existent. Here we should know what is the paksha, sadhya and the hetu, drishtantha. Understanding of any given object is dependent on given means of knowledge. Because you say Brahman is not available for any Pramanam, it is non-existent for us as we cannot objectify it. To not give room for some mandha buddhi and make wrong conclusion and to make them understand there is brahman, this verse is introduced here. There are characters in this story. Who represents what must be understood here? 1. Brahma – Limitless reality is represented by Yaksha 2. Vayu /Agni – represent the sense powers and sense organs. 3. Indra – represents the mind 4. Uma Devi – represents the guru and shastram Story is presented to establish the presence of Brahman. There was once a fierce fight between the devas and the asuras in which the asuras were thrashed. Having won decisively, the Devas had a great celebration. Devas congratulated and praised their leaders Indra, Vayu and Agni who stood out as the main architects and heroes of the victory. This victory had gone into their head as they seemed to believe that it was all their glory. They forgot that there was an invisible hand of Ishwara behind and the victory in fact belonged to Him. So, Ishwara decided to show them their place. He took the form of a Yaksha (a celestial being) and appeared before them. Indra, Agni, and Vayu saw the Yaksha and were captivated by the beautiful form. They could not take their eyes off the beautiful Yaksha. Before they could approach him to find out who he was, the Yaksha vanished. Indra, intrigued by what happened, became curious to know who the Yaksha was. He asked Agni to go and find out. Agni went in the direction in which the Yaksha went, found him and asked: Who are you? The Yaksha just smiled and without bothering to answer asked Agni: “Who are you?”. This was the first slap on Agni’s face since he is famous all over the world. He replied: I am Agni. Yaksha asked: What do you do? This was the second slap on his face. He replied: I can burn the whole world. Then as if to supplement this information, Agni added: I’m also known as JAta veda – I’m responsible for blessing people with wealth and knowledge.( As JAta veda, Agni is privileged to receive oblations from devotees and pass it on to the respective Devatas. The devotees, in turn, are blessed with the benefits of the rituals). Clearly, this was an attempt, on the part of Agni to display his pride and salvage his ego. Unimpressed, the Yaksha placed a kucha (a dried piece of grass) in front of Agni and said casually: Oh, you can burn anything and everything! Great. Then, please burn this kucha (a dried piece of grass). Unperturbed by insults, Agni tried to burn the grass. However, he could not burn it even when he sat on it. Humiliated thus, Agni retreated and reported to Indra that he could not figure out who it was. Indra then sent Vayu on the same mission. He was also asked similar questions by Yaksha. Vayu also tried to impress him with his impressive biodata consisting of his alternative names, his capabilities, and achievements. Expectedly, Vayu also failed the test and it was now the turn of Indra himself to find out who this stranger was. As Indra went near the Yaksha, he simply vanished. Agni and Vayu could at least see him and even had a chat with him, although they could not make out who it was. Indra was intrigued by the turn of events. Undeterred and not accepting defeat, he just sat there meditating and praying. His prayers were answered soon as Uma appeared before him at the same place where the Yaksha stood before. She explained to Indra that the Yaksha was none other than Brahman itself. Enlightened thus, Indra went back and taught this knowledge to Agni, Vayu and all the other Devatas. The fact that Agni and Vayu could see him but could not recognize who he was is also symbolic. Agni is the Devata (presiding deity) for speech whereas Vayu is the Devata for the sense of touch. There is no way anyone can recognize Him (Brahman) through one’s speech or sense of touch. Taittriya Upanishad 'yato vacho nivartante, aprapya mansa saha' and anandam brahmano vidvan. It means the speech cannot go near brahman, nor the mind as the very essence of speech and mind is present because of the blessing of Brahman. Finally, Uma, in the story, represents Brahma Vidya or Sruti. Uma appeared before Indra only when the latter sat there in meditation with a passion to know. Thus, knowledge is given only to passionate seekers.

Chapter 5 -Tattva Jnana Svabhava Prakaranam Verse 1 Its relevance is more from the standpoint of a jivan mukta. If there is someone who has gained this knowledge and he continues to live in this world. We call such individual called Jivan Mukta. How this person continues is pointed out in this chapter. Some key words are important to know and have clear understanding. When we live in this world, we perform lot of karmas and lot of them are classified as Sanchita Karma. They all get gathered and later available to this person called Jiva. Karma Sambandha is with Jiva and not with body nor atma. Because of this karma accumulation, we say there is re-birth. Part of some sanchita karma is used and becomes prarabdha karma. Some karmas give rose to next birth. Further whatever karmas that are done while existing prarabdha becomes agami karma. They are also relevant for Jnani also. But for Ajnana all karmas anyway become sanchita. But for Jnani this distinction is made for discussion. In Vedic thinking, purushartha means those karmas that are performed for which there are injunctions or vidhi. If someone says, I am not going to perform those karmas that are mentioned in the vidhi e.g. get ready before sunrise, welcome sun and offer salutations, gayatri mantra etc. These are called vidhi or injunctions. I have other desires e.g. travel, go to svarga loka etc. For that you have to do another karma which are part of vidhi or injunctions. In case of jivan mukta, he does not have desire. He is not interested in going there or svarga loka. So, this vidhi does not apply to him. But jivan mukta can have injunctions or not? This is the question. All karmas start with the notion of aham karta. The doer is the one who has the wrong notion as the ‘I’ in anatma. (aham pratyaya beejam). This erroneous notion is the seed. 1. Aham pratyaya – I thought 2. Vat- the one who has e.g. Bhagavat – the one who has the six-fold bhaga. Here the holder of the aham pratyaya is discussed. 3. Aham pratyaya vat sthitham – all karmas are stored in the anthakaranam only. I am a finite person are nothing but part of the wrong notion. They are not stored elsewhere in the universe. 4. Na aham pratyaya Vahni – I am not this ahamkara. This knowledge is called Agni as fire destroys the objects that it comes into contact with. Similarly, when the fire of knowledge rises, the ahamkara is resolved in this knowledge leaving with no more sense of doership. 5. Ushtam Karma – burned by new understanding that I am Brahman and not the person doing the karma. 6. Katham Karma prarohati? – Therefore, where is the question of karma growing? Ruh is the root (arohanam). How this karma will give result when they are burnt. E.g. burnt plants do not give any fruits. There is another question from the purvapaksha. Let us say there is a jnani who knows that I am brahman. Such a jnani, is he still living in this world or not? His body is continuing to operate in this world and is called Jivan Mukta and is liberated. Such a person, will he eat food or not? Assume the jnani has eaten food and it is going to give him drsta phalam (or immediate result). Your vedic scriptures say that for any karma done, there is drsta phalam and adrstra phalam. So Why the shastram says that Jnani is excluded from adrsta phalam? Verse -2 In the 2nd Sloka there is an objection that is raised . Just as jnani eats food after gaining knowledge, the purva paksha argues that he should be getting agami karma. Why he is not getting agami karma? 1. Drsta phalam, adrsta phalam vach chet – Drsta phalam vat Chet. If adrsta phalam is like drsta phalam, then it should also grow. Let us assume sanchita karma is over, but agami karma is still there and the jnani is doing karma (after attained knowledge). Because he is in the body, karma will give results. So how do you say he cannot be born? 2. Proha syat – purva paksha or a student with question Answer: 3. Na anya karma saha ishyate- There are other karmas which are not classified as desire. E.g. desire to eat is not kamya karma. There is no injunction that you should eat this much food, type of food etc. The jnani will eat, sleep, talk, walk etc are not covered by any injunctions. These will not give any results to the jnani as there is no adrsta phalam. It will give only drsta phalam. So, the jnani will live at this level only of drsta phalam. These are agami but with drsta phalam only. Another question from Purva Paksha – Why Jnani cannot have prarabdha? 1. Tan nirodhe- you say ignorance is gone, vidhi is not there for a jnani. Ignorance has been in the past which is the prarabdha in the current body. 2. Katham tat syat – When it is destroyed, why prarabdha karma is still there? 3. Prcchamo vastad uchyatam – You tell us this now

This class contains an introduction to Srushti (creation) and whether there is creation or not. Also Maya is introduced and the powers of Maya, Why maya has to be resolved is highlighted in this class video.

Chapter 3 – ईश्वर्घात तप्रकप्रकरण This is titled Isvarātmā prakāraṇam or brahma Ātmā prakāraṇam. It has four verses. He says Brahman can never be different from Ātmā. Sruti talks about Brahman only as identical with Ātmā. To establish this, Śaṅkara says if I conclude Brahman is not identical with me, and take it as something different from me, what all dōṣas or problems will come to me is explained in this chapter. If Brahman is different from me, or if Brahman is anātmā what all dōṣas will be there. We can give number of dōṣas. Śaṅkara gives four important dōṣas. The first dōṣa he points out is sruti virōdha dōṣa. The defect of contradiction in the very sruti teaching is the first dōṣa. The first one is sruti virōdha dōṣa. After describing Brahman, sruti invariably tells ‘tat brahma tvam asi’. That Brahman you are is the vēdāntā teaching. Ahaṁ Ātmā Brahman. Ahaṁ brahma asmi etc relates to you. All the mahāvākyams says Brahman is none other than the Ātmā. These vēdic statements will be contradicted if Brahman is taken as anātmā. The second dōṣa is niṣaprayōjanatva dōṣa. I do not know Brahman at all; suppose there is something called Brahman which I do not know. Then sruti says that Brahman within you is Nirguṇam Brahman and it is niravayavam etc., its properties and nature are described. When the things itself is not known I can never know the properties of Brahman. It is a different matter. Therefore, talking about the properties of an unknown Brahman will not make any difference in my saṁsāra. The third dōṣa is śūnyatā varṇana dōṣa. We have got two types of things in the world; one is I the pramāta [subject] knower and everything else is pramēyam the object of knowledge. Pramēyam is all existence and I am able to know their existence because it is not available for any pramāṇam. This fact is proved by pramāṇam number one. Whatever is pramāṇa viṣayam is proved through existence? How I am proved? If I am not pramāṇa viṣayam, it means I am the object of pramāṇa. Still my existence is proved because I am self-effulgent. Anything can be proved only in two different states; either it should be pramāṇa viṣayam or it should be self evident. Suppose one says Brahman is not Ātmā, Brahman is not pramāṇa viṣaya and Brahman is not self-evident and how do you prove Brahman is existent. Therefore, Brahman becomes asat which we call it as śūnyam. If Brahman is neither knowable through pramāṇam nor it is available for any pramāṇam, any amount of vēdāntā study will not give you any satisfaction. If Brahman is not knowable by any pramāṇam or it is not self evident, Brahman has to be śūnyam. If that be the case, any amount of vēdāntā study will go waste. Experience is not possible because Ātmā is not an object of experience. The fourth dōṣa is called aprasakta pratiṣēda dōṣa. Meaningless negation is the literal meaning. The upaniṣad says Brahman is aprāṇah, amanaḥ etc. Brahman is free from prāṇa, free from mind etc., it is said. Hence you should negate prāṇa, mind etc. If somebody thinks that Brahman has got prāṇa, mind etc., then I will have to negate the statement. I need not negate something where there is no relēvance at all. These 4 doshas are described in the verses and is refuted by Adi Sankara for one to gain clear knowledge. In absolute terms there is no jiva. Only Paramatma is there and this is proved in this Ishwara Atma Prakaranam.