(Feb 14,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – What Divine Love Is by Swami Krishnananda

What Divine Love Is

Divine Life Society Publication: Chapter 33 The Study and Practice of Yoga  by Swami Krishnananda

Devotion to God is constitutionally different from ordinary loves known to us in the world. The structure of divine love is different from the structure of human affection because of the nature of the object itself. The object of divine love is God, whereas the object of human affection is a finite something, located somewhere, and persisting only for some period of time. Love in this world automatically become conditional, and there is no such thing as unconditioned love in this world. It is not possible to love a thing for all time and under every condition, because human affection is the reaction of the mind in respect of an object or a condition outside which is felt as a necessity by the mind under a given condition. When the necessity is not felt, the love vanishes automatically.

But divine love is of a different nature; here, the question of conditional necessity does not arise. When we pray to God for long life or promotion in the office, it cannot be called an expression of divine love. The intention is to comprehend all that God is, because of the value that is inherent in God's very existence itself. God Himself has a value by Himself, and His value does not consist in what He does for us. But God's value is not merely in His action or in His capacity to act, but is merely because of His very Being Itself.

The 'being' of a human being, the individual, is not complete, and therefore it has to be completed by certain extra additions in the form of qualifying activities. But God has no such necessity. He need not work to increase the dimension of His Being, because His Being is infinite, and there is no need to increase the dimension of infinitude. Hence, the worth or value of God is the very existence of God, whereas the worth or value of anything else in this world does not lie merely in its being, but in what it means in its relationship to someone else who is the experiencer or the observer thereof. God's existence does not depend on the relationship that He has with others, or what He would mean to others under different conditions.

In this world, which is a relational world, or the relative world, as we may prefer to call it, the worth of a thing depends upon its connectedness with other things. There is no such thing as a self-existent value in this world, and therefore everything is conditional.

As a matter of fact, whatever we experience in this life are the reactions of what we desired in those previous lives. To give an instance as to how things happen, suppose you ask for cold, fresh water from the fridge during the hot summer. For some peculiar reason, our desires do not fructify themselves at once. And so, all these painful prarabdhas that we are undergoing in this world are cold water coming in winter, or hot tea coming in midsummer.

We are getting what we wanted - nothing else. But unfortunately, these things are coming at the wrong time when we do not want them, which is a different matter altogether. The law of nature has a system of its own, and for extraordinary reasons which cannot easily be comprehended by the human mind, the asking is not granted at once – but it is granted. Sometimes it may be granted after several births. Because of the weakness of the desire, it has taken so much time to materialize itself.

The conditional relationships of our individuality with circumstances outside prevent us from having any kind of genuineness in our approach to things or in our affections.

God is infinite and hence there are no kleshas (undesirable, painful, limiting factors) – the afflictions which we are subjected to are absent in God. He is pristine purity and abundance of everything that is positively needed for anyone, at any time.

The kleshas or the painful afflictions, at least in the system of Patanjali, are ignorance of the true nature of things, known as avidya; and as a consequence thereof, egoism or the principle of self-affirmation, asmita; and a further consequence following from it – raga and dvesha, like and dislike; and a far greater concretization of this attitude manifesting itself as intense love of physical life and fear of death.

God is not unaware of the true nature of things, so there is no avidya in Ishvara. He knows the correct position of everything. He knows the past and the future and the present, and so there is not the least trace of nescience in God. Everything is known to Him in its proper place and in its proper condition, so there is no avidya, no ignorance of any kind. There is no egoism in God because there is no object in front of God, so there is nothing to oppose Him, confront Him, or limit Him. He doesn't need anything. He need not show His power to anybody else.

The question of egoism, or the principle of individual self-affirmation, does not arise in the case of Ishvara or God, and therefore He has no likes and dislikes. God is not a physical individual. So, these kleshas are absent in God. Avidya, asmita, raga, dvesha, and abhinivesha cannot be in God. God does not perceive objects with eyes as we see objects, for instance, because the objects are not outside Him.

The mind of God does not move towards an object, because all objects are comprehended within the Being of God. His actions, if we can call them actions, do not produce reaction. Every action that we do has a reaction, but the actions of God cannot have a reaction. Also, for the same reason, the actions performed by those who are in God-consciousness do not produce a reaction.

An action produces a reaction because of the mind impinging upon an object outside, which is the motive behind the action. Every individual action can be said to be a kind of interference with the law of nature. Individual actions produce reaction, and we suffer the consequence of these actions. This is called karmaphala.  When there is God-consciousness there is also an infinitude of awareness in respect of everything. Our actions will then not be interferences, but rather participations in the existing laws. Participation in law does not produce any reaction from that law, but interference with law may produce a reaction. The law of nature and the law of God mean one and the same thing; they are not two different things. Therefore, there is no question of any reaction being set up by the actions of God.

The incarnations of God are not compelled by karma, while our incarnations are forced by karma. We are born, not of our own accord, but by forces which exert a pressure upon us and make it obligatory on our part to be born under certain conditions. But in the case of the incarnations of God or manifestations of God, they are spontaneous revelations of the Universal Law. All these limiting factors are absent in the case of God.

God is totality of Being, all-comprehensiveness, the Supreme Unifying Principle. He is also Supreme Atman or Paramatman. Such a God is the object of divine devotion.

The various bhavas or feelings are generated in one's devotion to God, and one of the principles of the doctrine of bhakti is that we can channelize human love to God. We can love Him as our father, as our mother, as our friend, as our master, etc. The worship of God, the adoration of God, is any attitude or function which can create in one's own mind the dependence of oneself on God, or the surrender of oneself to God, and also the conviction that God is everything and nothing else is required when God is attained.

Nine types of devotion or devotional attitude are  Sravanam, kirtanam, vishnuh smaranam, padasevanam, archanam, bandhanam, dasyam, sakhyan, atma nivedanam. Constant remembrance of God is a more difficult thing. It is called the 'practice of the presence of God' in mystical parlance. The mind is constantly brooding over the presence of God in all things, and this brooding or remembering can be accentuated by audible japa or singing of His name as well, so that smarana and kirtana can go together. Padasevana really means 'serving the feet of God'. Service of anything and any form in this creation, unselfishly and without any feeling of recompense, may be regarded as padasevana, because God's feet are everywhere. Archana is worship – ritualistic, or even psychological, mental. Archana is worship of God through external symbols, which, though they are symbols from outside, can draw corresponding feelings from inside, so that the ritual form of worship may also be regarded as a genuine form of devotion to God.

Excerpts from:

What Divine Love Is - Chapter 33 The Study and Practice of Yoga  by Swami Krishnananda

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(Feb 1,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – The Nature of The Self by Swami Krishnananda

The Nature of The Self

Divine Life Society Publication: Kathopanishad – The Science Of The Inner Life by Swami Krishnananda

The Atman, being the presupposition of all acts of understanding, feeling and willing, is not known to any individualized knower, and so it appears as a mystery, a Wonder of wonders, awe-inspiring. To many, this Atman is difficult to hear of, to many others, even when heard of, it is difficult to understand. Wonderful is the teacher of this; blessed is the obtainer of this; wonderful is the knower of this, who is taught by a blessed teacher.

Only when the Atman is taught by one who is identical with the Atman (i.e., a Brahmanishtha), it can be known, because the Atman is subtler than the subtlest and does not come under any of the logical categories. The Atman cannot be known through logic, but it can be known when it is instructed about by one who has realized it. The wealth of the universe, its resources and powers, are insufficient as means to the realization of the Atman, for the permanent is not reached by the impermanent. The Atman is reached when the whole universe with its contents is abandoned.

Even the source of the highest happiness, the basis of the world, the end of all desires, the state of fearlessness, the praiseworthy great being, viz., Hiranyagarbha, is not worth having. Rejecting all these, that Atman which is very difficult to know, which is seated in the innermost cavity of the heart, the attainment of which is attended with great dangers, should be known by abstracting the senses and the mind from their respective objects and resolving this energy into Self-consciousness.

Knowing this self-luminous being, one casts off both joy and grief. He rejoices in the bliss of the Self, because he has attained the highest object of attainment through hearing, understanding and contemplation of this subtle Truth. It is different from what is done and what is not done, different from past and future, and is of the nature of immediate knowledge. This supreme state is denoted by the word OM. This is the Supreme Absolute.

This omniscient Atman is not born, nor does it die. It has not come from anywhere, and it has not become anything. Unborn, eternal, perpetual and ancient, this Atman is not killed when the body is killed. Birth is the process of the production of an effect from a cause, and hence, it is the process of transient becoming. For the same reason, death also is a process. The processes of birth, life and death are impermanent and, therefore, they are denied in the Atman. Ceaseless consciousness is free from all change. Changelessness is the nature of the Atman. The Atman exists even prior to and later than the newest of objects.

In other words, the Atman is whatever is, was and will be. Hence, it is indestructible. It neither kills anyone nor is killed. It suffers from nothing, because it is untouched like ether. It is free from the experiences of Samsara. It is bodiless, and hence relationless. Non-becoming or changelessness is the one character which denies of the Atman all phenomenal natures. The Atman is subtler than the subtlest and larger than the largest. It is situated as the central being of all.

Free from thought and action, one beholds it through the cessation of distraction and attainment of tranquillity, and becoming sorrowless, rejoices in the glory of the Atman. It is the subtlest of all, because it is limitless. It is possible to know it through the practice of hearing, contemplation and meditation, after getting oneself freed from desires and actions, and separating oneself from objects, seen as well as heard of. As long as the mind shakes and the body gets agitated, it is not possible for one to know the Atman. Perfect satiety of the mind, the senses and the body is absolutely necessary before the attempt at the vision of the Self. Those who have desires and passions are prevented from the realization of the Self.

The Atman, is the bodiless among all bodies, it is the permanent among the impermanent. It is the great omnipresent being, knowing which the hero does not grieve. It is not possible to know this Atman through debate, intellectuality and study. It is attained through a relationless immediate method in which the Self is both the subject and the object of attainment. One who has not ceased from bad conduct, who is restless, whose mind is wandering, who has no peace within, cannot know the Atman through any amount of thinking. The Atman is beyond all knowledge and power conceivable in the world. Death itself is swallowed in it, and all processes are put an end to.

Excerpts from:

The Nature of The Self - Kathopanishad – The Science Of The Inner Life by Swami Krishnananda

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(July 30,2013) The Spiritual Reality

The Spiritual Reality

Divine Life Society Publication: The Yoga System by Swami Krishnananda

The physical body, being outside as a part of the physical world, should be considered an object like the other things of the world, and is constituted of the five elements. It acts as a vehicle for certain powers that work from within and our actions are movements of these powers (energy) called the  prana or vital force.  But the prana is a blind energy and it needs to be directed properly. We think before we act. The mind is, therefore, internal to the prana. We engage ourselves in systematic thinking and follow a logical course in every form of contemplation and action. This logical determinant of all functions in life is the intellect, which is the highest of human faculties, and it is inseparable from the principle of the ego in man.

All these functions of the psychological apparatus are, however, confined to what is called the waking state. The human being seems to be passing from this state to others, such as dream and deep sleep. Though we have some sort of awareness in dream, we are bereft of all consciousness in deep sleep. Yet, we know that we do exist in the state of sleep. This means that we can exist without doing anything, even without thinking. The condition of deep sleep is a paradox for psychology and is the crux of the yoga analysis. An experience, pure and simple, of the nature of consciousness alone, is the constituent of deep sleep. In deep sleep, we have consciousness not associated with objects, and hence we remain oblivious of everything external. There is, at the same time, unconsciousness of even one's own existence due to there being the potentiality for objective perception. The result is, however, that the deepest in the individual is consciousness, which is called by such names as the Atman, Purusha, etc. This is the real Self.

There are realities within the physical universe as they are there within the individual body. If the prana, mind, intellect, ego and finally consciousness are internal to the bodily structure, there are also tremendous truths internal to the physical universe. Within the five gross elements there are five forces which manifest the elements called tanmatras,  the essence of objects behind the elements. Sabda or sound,  sparsa or touch,  rupa or form, rasa or taste and gandha or smell are the tanmatras of Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth respectively. These powers are subtle energies immanent in the elements constituting the physical universe.

Modern science seems to corroborate the presence of these, essences behind bodies. The world was once said to be made up of molecules or chemical substances and then, atoms. Research, again, proved that even the atoms are formed of certain substances, which have the character of both waves of energy and particles of force. A great physicist called them ‘wavicles' as they flow like waves and sometimes jump like particles. These have been named electrons, protons, neutrons, etc., according to their structure and function. Their essence is force and there is nothing but force in the universe. There is only a continuum of energy everywhere. The tanmatras of the yoga system, however, are subtler than the energy of the scientist, even as the prana is subtler than electricity.

Just as behind the prana there is the mind, behind the tanmatras there is the Cosmic Mind. Beyond the Cosmic Mind are the Cosmic Ego and the Cosmic Intellect, the last mentioned having a special name, mahat. Beyond the mahat is what is called prakriti, in which the whole universe exists as a tree in a seed, or as effect in its cause. Transcending prakriti is the Absolute-Consciousness, called Brahman, Paramatman and the like. So, whether we dive deep here or there, within ourselves or within the cosmos, we find the same thing - Consciousness. And the stages of manifestation in the individual correspond to those in the universe.

The purpose of yoga is to effect a communion between the individual and cosmic structures and to realize the ultimate Reality. The yoga places before us the goal of a union wherein infinity and eternity seem to come together. The aim of yoga is to raise the status of the individual to the cosmic level and to abolish the false difference between the individual and the cosmic. The cosmos includes us and things. The individual is a part of the cosmos.

To regard the cosmos as an outer object would be to defy the very meaning of the cosmos. To imagine ourselves to be subjects counterpoised before an object called the cosmos would be to stultify the comprehensiveness of the cosmos and to interfere with its harmony and working. The yoga rectifies this mistake and hereby the mortal becomes the Immortal. As the individual is a part of the cosmos, this achievement should not be difficult. The individual is not separate from the cosmic, but there seems to be some confusion in the mind of the individual which has caused an artificial isolation of itself from the rest of the universe. This confusion is called ajnana or avidya, which really means an absence or negation of true knowledge. Here we enter the realms of depth psychology.

Excerpts from:

The Yoga System by Swami Krishnananda

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(May 20,2013) Do the Best and Leave the Rest to God

Subtle Secrets of Sadhana - Do the Best and Leave the Rest to God

Divine Life Society Publication: Thus Awakens the Awakened One by Swami Krishnananda

·          “Do the best and leave the rest” is the key motto in Karma Yoga. The ‘doing of the best’, of course, does not mean being foolhardy or going headlong without thought on consequences, but the harnessing of one’s full resources to the execution of a noble ideal which is calculated to aid one in the attainment of God- realisation. To ‘leave the rest’ is to resign the results of the work to God, for, when even the best that one can do falls short of the effort needed to achieve a desired result, the mind is likely to get upset, which is not the spirit of Karma Yoga.

·         The more we try to depend on God, the more He seems to test us with the pleasures of sense and the delights of the ego. Finally, the last kick He gives is, indeed, unbearable. Those who bear it are themselves Gods.

·         Every moment of life should be regarded as the last moment, as there is no knowing when this moment will come. When it is said that the last thought of a person should be God’s thought, we are impliedly admonished to remember God every day and every moment.

·         The energy that leaks through the senses by way of excitation and pleasure-seeking diminishes the psychic force that is necessary for meditation. Hence before any attempt at successful meditation this energy-leakage has to be blocked, and the direction of the flow of this energy turned inward.

·         We should not try to be more strict on others than we are on ourselves. Our task is not so much to change the world as to change ourselves.

·         The prarabdha karma is like an extortioner who will not let loose the victim until the last vestige of dues is cleared out. It cannot be exhausted without being worked out through experience, and the role of spiritual sadhana in relation to prarabdha is not one of negating or counteracting it, but of bringing about a transformation in the vision that evaluates and judges experience, pleasurable or miserable.

·         Mostly, the mind is where the eyes are. Look not at anything which may stimulate desire, or rouse egoistic ambition. The eyes have to be carefully guarded.

·         The importance of sadhana in spiritual life is great enough to compel the attention of anyone wishing to be freed from botherations. The vexations of life are due to entanglement in externalised forms, while freedom at once manifests itself when the universal nature of these forms is beheld. Sadhana is nothing but an attempt to withdraw from the particulars and sink into the Universal.

·         Doubts on the path of sadhana indicate that the spirit of sadhana has not been properly grasped. When there is enough conviction about the correctness of the method adopted, sadhana quickly bears fruit.

·         The highest fulfilment is the result of the highest renunciation. The less you want, the more you get. He who wants nothing from the world finds the world falling at his feet. Even the gods are afraid of him who wants nothing for himself.

·         Space, time and gravitation divide and pull the body by isolating it from other bodies. With this division and pull of the body, consciousness also appears to be affected due to its association with the body through the mind, Prana and the nervous system. The overcoming of this distracting effect of space, time and gravitation in one’s consciousness is yoga.

·         The establishment of oneself in a state of consciousness which stabilises one’s being in a non- externalised Universal Pure Subjectivity of Selfhood is the final panacea for the sorrow of mortal existence. This is the great meditation in which every soul has to engage itself throughout its career in life. This is the final duty inseparable from man’s aspiration, nay, the only duty in life.

·         There are three grades of Self: The real, secondary and false. The real is the Atman which is universal; the secondary is the person or thing which one likes or dislikes; the false is the aggregate of the five sheaths. Meditation disentangles the real from the secondary and the false.

·         Buddha and Sankaracharya represent two sides in the picture of life. The purely phenomenal approach of Buddha implies the so-called solid content of the appearance called the world, and the spiritual doctrine of Sankara fills this emptiness with Soul, and completes the picture.

·         It may be that we try to remember God when we are comfortably placed. But the test as to whether He has really entered our hearts is whether we remember Him in sickness, suffering, opposition and times of temptation.

·         The pain generally felt at death is due to the nature of the intensity of the desires with which one continued to live in the physical body. The more is the love for the Universal Being entertained in life, the less would be the pain and agony of departing from the body.

·         Who is a fool? He who thinks that the world has any regard for him and is really in need of him.

·         He it is that, as an old man, totters with a stick, thus deceiving the human eye, for He is all things.

·         Ishvara , jiva and jagat are not three entities standing apart like father, son and their house. They are three presentations of reality or view-points of the Absolute from the level of the jiva.

·         sadhana is a sort of constant remembering a thing against heavy odds, and pulling up oneself from sinking into deep mires. To retain the thought of God in a world of colours and sounds that dazzle the eyes and din the ears is hard enough. This is sadhana, a feat of will and understanding.

·         Avoid contact with such things as are likely to stimulate sense desire or excite the ego. This is necessary until strength is gained to withstand the forces of the world.

·         The test of spiritual advancement is a gradual attainment of freedom from doubts of all kinds and a conviction of having reached a settled understanding in regard to one’s true aim of life. It is this conviction that brings inner strength and power to face all opposition.

·         The strength to bear suffering comes not merely from a determination of the will, but the discovery that a vast treasure is awaiting one who practises such endurance. Students lose sleep and comfort, a lover undergoes untold pains, and an employee tolerates the unpleasantness of work, not because of a mere determination of will but due to the sure promise of an enjoyment which is known to exceed the pains which pave its way. So it is with spiritual sadhana.

·         Spiritual sadhana is ultimately an effort to cease from all effort. This is the highest effort, because no one normally can be without exerting oneself in some direction. All activity is a process of moving away from the Centre. The activity to cease from such activity is sadhana.

·         No saint has been able to maintain the spiritual balance throughout his life. There have been occasional reversals though these might not have left any impression on their minds any more than the mark left by a stick drawn on water. But the mark is there when it appears. Such is the difficulty of leading the spiritual life. The case of immature seekers is much more precarious, indeed.

·         Just as when we touch a live wire the electric force infuses itself into our body, when we deeply meditate on God the power of the whole universe seeks entry into our personality.

·         The sadhana that one does should speak through the actions and the words which manifest themselves through one’s personality. The personality is the vehicle of the aspiration that wells up within. And the face is the index of the mind.

·         The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are two great epics of the forces of lust and greed, respectively. The passion of Ravana and the greed of Duryodhana caused the wars of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. These are the twin forces of the devil which can be faced only with Divine Help.

Continue to read:

Subtle Secrets of the Sadhana  - “Thus Awakens the Awakened One” by Swami Krishnananda

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(May 15,2013) The Mind is Universal

The Mind is Universal

Divine Life Society Publication: Your Questions Answered by Swami Krishnananda

What is the special kind of relation (if there is a relation) between the knower and what is to be known?

SWAMIJI: Between the knower and the known there is a knowledge process. Finally, the Atman is the knower, and what It considers as outside is the known. By "knowing," you mean that you become aware of something other than what you are. Generally, when people say that they know something, they don't mean they are knowing themselves. The idea generally in the minds of people when they say they know something is that they know something other than themselves; the knower is different from the known in the ordinary process of knowledge. But if you analyse this whole process, you will realise that the knower and the known are connected by an intelligence, a consciousness; otherwise, the knower cannot come in contact with the object of knowledge. You can know even a mountain in front of you; the mountain is far away from you, yet you know that the mountain is there. How do you know that the object is there in front of you when there is actually no visible connection between you and the object?

If the mind that knows a thing is inside your body, then it is locked up inside the body and cannot know anything outside, beyond its own body. You cannot know another person sitting in front of you if your mind is only inside the body. How do you know?

The mind which appears to be inside your body for all practical purposes is basically a universal pervading intelligence. Your so-called individual mind gets connected with that universal mind in the process of knowledge, as in a broadcasting process, for example. In a broadcasting station, somebody speaks and a sound is made. This sound gets converted into an ethereal universal medium. What travels in space is not sound; it is a mysterious energy content that travels in space and is received by a receiver set somewhere else, where this ethereal thing gets reconverted into sound, and then you hear a sound here. It doesn't mean that the sound is travelling in space. There is a universal principle connecting two terms of relation (the receiver set on one side, and the broadcasting station on another side).

In a similar manner, there is an unknown medium between the subject and the object. You can see the broadcasting station, you can see the receiver set, but you cannot see what is happening in between; it is invisible. In a similar manner, you can see yourself, you can see a mountain, but you cannot know what is happening between them. That "between" is a very important item. The mind that is universal operates between you and the object outside, and connects the individual mind with the object outside through the medium of its universality. If that universal principle is not to operate, you will never know anything outside your body. You would be locked up inside yourself only.

So, there is a universal mind operating everywhere, of which you are a part, of which the object also is a part. Finally, you must say that only one thing exists, which is the Universal Mind. If you can deeply concentrate on this essential fact, you will be thinking like a cosmic man and will no longer be thinking like an individual person. You will become a superman. This is how a yogi or God-man thinks.

Your problem is yourself only; you have no other problem. You require to be saved from yourself. The greatest problem is one's own self. Nobody else gives you trouble. Your ignorance, your foolishness, your individuality, your finitude, these are the problems, and they constitute what you really are. So, you have to be saved from that. One has to be saved from one's lower self, for the sake of attaining the higher Self. In the Bhagavad Gita's sixth chapter, the higher Self is said to save the lower self.

 Continue to read:

Your Questions Answered by Swami Krishnananda

The Mind and Its Functions by Swami Krishnananda

Mind – Its Mysteries and Control by Swami Sivananda

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Essence of Divine Life by Swami Sivananda

Essence of Divine Life

• To speak the truth at all events, to speak sweetly with love, to practice non-violence and celibacy, to behold the Lord in all beings, is Divine Life.
• Love, truth and purity form the foundation of the edifice of Divine Life.
• Character and devotion are the bricks and mortar with which you have to construct the walls of the Temple of Divine Life.
• The Temple of Divine Life has four pillars, viz., meditation, purity, love and righteousness.
• Through the means of service, love and meditation, Divine Life is lived.
• The secret of Divine Life lies in the spirit of service and sacrifice.
• No philosophy or religion in the world can teach anything better than: ‘Serve, love, give, purify, be good, do good, meditate and realize.’
• Purify your heart. Purity is the very essence of religion.
• Mortifying the body is not Divine Life.
• Physical nudity and matted locks have nothing to do with Divine Life.
• Divine Life is not a rejection of life and its activities, but a transformation of it into the Divine.
• The path of duty is the way to glory and eternal happiness.
• The path of duty is the path of righteousness, and the path of righteousness is the only path of everlasting peace and happiness.
• Aspire ceaselessly to live in the Divine. Strive ceaselessly to realize the Truth.
• Work untiringly for the good of others.
• To have faith and devotion, to serve the preceptor and the saints, to practice meditation and to attain Self-knowledge, is indeed a supreme blessing.
• Without self-restraint there is no Divine Life.
• Do not mix much with people, but be friendly to all.
• Children of Immortality! Arise, awake, and lead the Divine Life of truth, purity, love and goodness.
• Be merciful to all. Be kind to all. Love all. Renounce sensual pleasures. Meditate on the Divine. This is Divine Life.
• The world is a composite whole. Do not entertain the spirit of separateness. In your heart and mind, be one with all.
• The individual soul has to merge in the Cosmic Soul. The human life has to transform itself into Divine Life. This is the goal of life.
• Find out your Centre. Dwell always in this Centre. This Centre is the Atman or your innermost Self.
• Realize your real nature. Realize your Atma-svarupa (the essential nature of the Self). A lion should not bleat like a lamb.
• Do not be pessimistic. Do not be negative in your approach. Be always optimistic and positive.
• Your only duty is God-realization. All other duties should only serve as a means to this final goal.
• Awake from the slumber of ignorance. Be dispassionate. Learn to discriminate. Meditate. Sleep no more. Behold the dawn of wisdom in your heart.
• Lift the veil of human imperfections. Behold your real nature. 

(Apr 13 , 2013) Consciousness Analyzed

Consciousness Analyzed

Commentary on the Panchadasi, Chapter 1: Tattva Viveka – Discrimination of Reality by Swami Krishnananda

The viveka or the analysis, the discrimination, is actually the analysis of consciousness. We may doubt everything. We may even deny everything, but we cannot deny consciousness – because it is consciousness that is doubting and is denying things. When all things go because of the denial of all things, there remains the consciousness of having denied everything and the consciousness of doubting all things.  It is impossible to deny the existence of consciousness.  

The differences in the world, the dualities of perception, the multitudinous‑ness and the variety of things is capable of being known by a consciousness that is not involved in any of the objects of perception.

There are five objects of cognition or perception: sound, touch, form or colour, taste, and smell. One sense organ cannot perform the function of another sense organ. The ear cannot even know that there is such a thing called eye, etc.  The consciousness, which is essential for the perception of the unity that is behind the variety of sense functions, has to be different from the sense functions. That knower is awareness, pure and simple – consciousness, samvid.

On the one hand, consciousness is different from the variety of objects and the sensations thereof; and on the other hand, consciousness is different from waking and dreaming. We know that we dreamt; we know that we are awake. And by inference we also realise and affirm that consciousness must have been there in deep sleep also – but for which fact, memory of sleeping would not be there afterwards.

So consciousness does two things at the same time. It distinguishes between objects and transcends the objects by standing above them. Secondly, it distinguishes the states of consciousness (waking, dream and sleep) and stands above them as turiya – that is, the fourth state of consciousness.

Moreover, if consciousness is assumed to be present in one place only, there must be somebody to know that it is not elsewhere. Who is telling us that consciousness is only inside the body and it is not elsewhere? Consciousness itself is telling that.

Also, the impossibility of dividing consciousness into parts, fragments, and locating it in particular individuals makes it abundantly the Infinite that it is.

So what is the analysis now? Firstly, Consciousness is distinct from objects of perception; secondly, Consciousness is distinct from the three states; thirdly, Consciousness is infinite in nature. We are basically infinite consciousness. This is the reason why we ask for endless things. We want to possess the whole world. Even if we become kings of the earth, we are not satisfied because the Atman inside is infinite. The Atman is also eternity. It is not bound by time. Therefore, we do not want to die. That desire to be immortal, the desire not to die, the desire to be existing for all time to come, endlessly, is the eternity in us that is speaking. Therefore, every one of us is basically infinite and eternal, whose nature is consciousness; and it is Absolute because of the infinitude of its nature.

Continue to read:

“The Nature and Location of Consciousness” by Swami Krishnananda

“Consciousness is Being” by Swami Krishnananda