Jagat

  This is the second time that I mentioned that I was preparing to leave for Canada three years ago and how I was nervous. Often before traveling to Bengal or elsewhere I would try to spend a few days at Priya Kunj. Baba even arranged for me to stay in a nearby house one time for a week. Usually though, I would stay in a guest house on the main entry road to Barsana a few hundred meters away. I often had to climb over the fence outside to get in at night because the kirtan would end at 11 when everyone at the guesthouse was already tucked away in their own quarters. I liked the top floor room at Radha Guest House, because I could work there nicely during the day in peace and privacy, but still get to observe the street  life down below. This time also I missed getting Babaji's association. On account of Covid I hadn't been to visit for the whole two years I was back. I get to see him on video, which is uploaded every day, but it's not the same. The last two years were weird...

tasya evaṁ-lakṣaṇasya paramātma-rūpeṇa ātma-para-deheṣu ātmanaḥ pareṣām api deheṣu tat-tad-upādhi-bhedena pṛthak pṛthag iva sato’pi ekaṁ tadīyaṁ sva-svarūpaṁ tan-mayaṁ tad-ātmakaṁ yad vijñānaṁ tad-anubhavaḥ asāv eva paramārthaḥ | anāśitvāt sādhyatvāt sarva-vijñānāntarbhāvavattvāc ceti bhāvaḥ | ye tu dvaitinaḥ tat-tad-upādhi-dṛṣṭyā tasyāpi bhedaṁ manyante | tad-vijñānena sarva-vijñānāntarbhāvaṁ ca na manyante | te punar atathya-darśina eveti | Realization of That which has all the above characteristics as One, i.e., as situated in Its own essential being, even while present as the Supreme [or Higher] Self in one's own body as well as in those of others, despite seeming to be separate because of the differences in the adjuncts (upādhis [i.e., the bodies]), is the supreme goal because it is imperishable, achievable and contains all other experiences within it. But the dualists who think Him to be different on the basis of those adjuncts and do not accept that experience of Hi...

I split this recording in two as I noticed a few need editorial changes that needed to be made. I will include them 5.10 Jaḍa Bharata Establishes the Paramārtha tad evaṁ pūrva-pakṣān niṣidhya uttara-pakṣaṁ sthāpayitum upakrāntam ekena— In this way after refuting all the opposing views, Jaḍa Bharata prepares to establish the conclusive view with the following verse: tasmāt śreyāṁsy aśeṣāṇi nṛpaitāni na saṁśayaḥ | paramārthas tu bhūpāla saṅkṣepāc chrūyatāṁ mama || [vi.pu. 2.14.28] iti | There is undoubtedly no end to all these auspicious things [but they are not the ultimate goal]. Now hear from me in brief what is the ultimate goal, O King. (VP 2.14.28) śreyāṁsi paramārtha-sādhanāni | paramārtha-nirdeśas trayeṇoktaḥ— "These auspicious things" ( śreyāṁsi ) means those processes that lead to the ultimate goal. He gives an indication of the ultimate goal in the following three verses:: eko vyāpī samaḥ śuddho nirguṇaḥ prakṛteḥ paraḥ | janma-vṛddhy-ādi-r...

5.9 Is Union of the Individual Soul with the Supreme Soul the Paramārtha? ननु जीवात्मपरमात्मनोरेकत्रस्थितिभावनयात्यन्तसंयोगे प्रादुर्भूते सति तस्यापि सर्वात्मता स्यात्, तदभेदापत्तेः। स च योगो न विनश्वरः, ज्ञानानन्तरसिद्धत्वात्। तस्मात् तयोर्योग एव परमार्थो भवतु। तत्रोक्तमेकेन (वि.पु. २.१४.२७) — Let us then consider the following: By meditating on the jīva and the Paramātmā being situated in the same place, an absolute union between the two manifests. As a result, the jīva would also become the self of all, due to its having become non-different from the Paramātmā. Such a union (yoga) would be imperishable since it is achieved after attaining knowledge (jñāna). So let the union of these two be taken as the ultimate goal. Jaḍa Bharata responds to this proposal in one verse: परमात्मात्मनोर्योगः परमार्थ इतीष्यते। मिथ्यैतदन्यद् द्रव्यं हि नैति तद्द्रव्यतां यतः ॥ इति। If you think that the union of the ātmā with the Paramātmā is the ultimate goal, then this too is false ...

5.8 A Divided Absolute Cannot Be the Ultimate Goal ननु, शुद्धजीवात्मध्यानस्य परमार्थत्वं भवेत्, मुक्तिदशायामपि स्फूर्त्यङ्गीकारेण तद्रूपस्य तस्यानश्वरत्वात्, तदाच्छादनादधुना संसार इति तस्यैव साध्यत्वाच्च। तत्रोक्तमेकेन (वि.पु. २.१४.२६) — A further option is raised: Let us take meditation on the pure jīva to be the ultimate goal. Such meditation is imperishable, since its manifestation is accepted as taking place even in the liberated stage, and it is the goal of practice ( sādhya ), since one's present material bondage is a result of the jīva's true nature being covered. Jaḍa Bharata raises this possibility and responds to it in one verse: ध्यानं चेदात्मनो भूप परमार्थार्थशब्दितम्। भेदकारि परेभ्यस्तत् परमार्थो न भेदवान् ॥ इति। /O King, if meditation on the self is called the supreme goal [then that is also improper because] such meditation creates a difference from others, but the supreme goal is devoid of any distinctions. (VP 2.14.26) यद्विज्ञानेन सर्वविज्ञानं भवति त...

PrītiS text: "yatra vā asya sarvam ātmaivābhūt, tat kena kaṁ paśyet" [bṛ.ā.u. 2.4.14] iti śrutiś ca | This is confirmed by the Śruti, "Where the Self has become everything, then who would see what, and how?" (BAU 2.4.14). The full quote from Brihadaranyaka is: yatra hi dvaitam iva bhavati, tad itara itaraṁ jighrati, tad itara itaraṁ paśyati, tad itara itaraṁ śṛṇoti, tad itara itaram abhivadati, tad itara itaraṁ manute, tad itara itaraṁ vijānāti |  yatra vā asya sarvam ātmaivābhūt, tat kena kaṁ jighret ? tat kena kaṁ paśyet ? tat kena kaṁ śṛṇuyāt ? tat kena kam abhivadet ? tat kena kaṁ manvīta ? tat kena kaṁ vijānīyāt ? yenedaṁ sarvaṁ vijānāti, taṁ kena vijānīyāt ? vijñātāram are kena vijānīyāt ? iti ||14|| Shankara : yatra tu brahma-vidyayāvidyā nāśam upagamitā, tatra ātma-vyatirekeṇānyasyābhāvaḥ | yatra vai asya brahma-vidaḥ sarvaṁ nāma-rūpādy ātmany eva pravilāpitam ātmaiva saṁvṛttaṁ, yatra evam ātmaivābhūt, tatra kena karaṇena kaṁ ghrātavyaṁ ko jighret ?...

I just came back from an interesting group meditation session in the wake of this conversation, in which naturally sent the most interesting and joyful waves riding through my consciousness, and I have all of you to thank for it. I don't think it would really be possible to share all of the reflections that went through my mind, but I especially would like to thank Prishni for reminding me of exactly what my entire Sahajiya philosophy was about and what I have been writing about ad nauseam on my blog for the last ten years. Even today, I was teaching Sanskrit to my little group of Gurukula students, which consists of one young Indian male and two North American women over 60. Mostly I am teaching the alphabet and basic Hindu dharma vocabulary. Since we have been learning about gender in Sanskrit, the implications of grammatical gender is a subject that we have already encountered. Today again, in the course of talking about the purusharthas, we were led to a discussion of dharma...

"It is commonly assumed that the nature of spirituality is not only fundamentally different from ordinary experience, but that this difference is vastly superior. From this it is concluded that the tests of truth or meaning used for ordinary experience are not relevant for the so-called higher truths that guru and religions offer. This age-old separation of the spiritual from the worldly is deeply embedded in all of civilization. We view this split as tragic, and at the core of the fragmentation prevalent in the contemporary human psyche. The inner battle between the presumed higher and lower (or good and bad) parts of oneself often binds people with conflict by making them unable to accept themselves as whole human beings." (The Guru Papers; masks of authoritarian power by Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad) Jagat, do you agree ? It is commonly assumed that the nature of spirituality is not only fundamentally different from ordinary experience, but that this difference is vastly s...

It is commonplace, I think, for bloggers (or perhaps all writers) to see the world as grist for their blog. And then, as with anything in life, you make your choice and you run with it. I guess the blogger has the great advantage of not having to pick anything; it's the freedom to be mediocre. I was down on the floor making a shipment and, out of the blue, Philippe asked me whether you had to be a believer in order to be a scholar of religion, which started a bit of a discussion. The place I went to was, however, more influenced by Garrison Keeler than by Rupa Goswami... Garrison Keeler is the raconteur par excellence who has a weekly show on American Public Radio called "Lake Wobegon Days." It's folksy, homespun and all that. I hadn't heard him in a long time when I accidentally caught the program on the radio Sunday afternoon, and quickly got caught up in his mastery of the art. Every story must have a moral, which rides on the back of the rasa, the emotional pa...