Reflection on gnanamoorthy

Oh gnanamoorthy
You are the sun, the giver of life
You are the moon, the giver of food,
You are the space, the one who accomodates
You are the fire, the one who burns
You are the water, the one who sustains,
You are the soil, where all life grows,
You are the satyam, the truth of all that is here,
I am your dAsa, dependant on you,
My body, is yours to sustain,
My every breath, is the grace of vayu,
My every thought, is in your stuthi,
My every desire, is to reach your feet,
My every action is a pooja unto you,
You oh lord, is the lord of knowledge
To you I bow, oh gnanamoorthe,
The very essence of dakshinamoorthy,
You are alive in me in the form of all forms,
Aham brahmasmi, Tat tvam asi.

Positivity Prayer

Let my actions be positive.

May I consider this entire universe,
And all its living beings.
May I give shelter to the smallest worm,
And the largest of shining stars,
Within my heart may I invoke,
The warmth of well being and honest growth.

Let my actions be positive
That do no harm, but only swell,
Swell up the deep seated wells of expansion,
An expansion that yields that which is positive,
Positive to me, to the water and the sky,
To all that is here. Namo NamaH.

Let this be my prayer, and a prayer for all.

What is love

How word love is used

Love , the word is used in the english language as a verb and also a noun.

There is love. I love you. I am in love. Love is important.

The same word is both a noun and a verb.

It can also be an adverb. He is a good gardener, he does his work with love.

Is their an object called love

Although love is also a noun, there isnt an object called love.
Love is a noun with respect to being something we know and call to be love, but what it is , cannot be pointed out as an object.

To understand love, we can delve into experiences through which we come to know something called love exists.

First understanding of love- Mother Child

The first understanding of love is as a child under the care of a mother.
Whenever the mother is present the child feels secure and safe.
Both psychologically as well as physically the child is well cared, well nurtured. (usually)

So the child does not feel any fear or alienation.

The experience of this complete acceptance, we call as love.

Other kinds of love

When we seek love, we seek such unconditional acceptance. An acceptance where, the one who is to be accepted, does not feel, anything more is needed, than what IS, in order to feel accepted and complete.

This can be in various relationships, as a father, as a son, as a daughter and mother, as a spouse, as a friend.

We can also love our country, our culture and so on.

The noun, the verb and the adverb

So we saw how we have experienced love.

Love necessarily entails a relationship is what we saw.

It is what obtains in relationship.

When in a relationship, we see no resistance, and complete acceptance, we call it love.

So love a such being a noun, is what exists, but in a certain condition, it is experienced.

So what exists is experienced, and in the dynamism of experience it becomes a verb.

Mother loves child, here it is a verb.

Love is, here it is a noun.

So what is, is dynamically experienced.

In the experience of  love, any action that might be done is done with love, so love becomes an adverb.

Where is love really from vedantic POV

From vedantic POV, while all that is here, is variety and difference , and there is realtionships between each entity and the other, at the same time, there is a natural unity, which is given.

Inspite of the differences there is a self existent unity.

We call this unity as truth or satyam, and the differences as mithya.

Therefore this natural acceptance , without any conditioinality, is the same as what we experience when we as a person feel as accepted.

Hence love is another name, another word, for the natural unity or satyam.

Satyam being god, from the vedantic POV, love is simply another name for god.

So when we experience love, we experience god.

When we act with love, we act with love of god.

And each action being non separate from god, is love in action.

Hence it is said anbe sivam. Anbe murugan.

In sanskrit also the lord is extolled as prema moorthi.

Om Sri Gurubhyo Namaha.

How to become fearless?

Is it possible to become fearless, is the question many have.

A lot of us have a fear of either loss or not gaining what we seek to gain.

This fear arises naturally, but also our natural reaction is that this fear is not something I want, I want security, which is freedom from fearlessness.

So since there is fear, and since fear is not something we welcome, naturally, we all yearn for fearlessness.

Fearlessness via material wealth, health, name and fame

Thus fearlessness becomes a goal to be attained in the form of security.

The attempt to earn wealth is one of those pursuits.

Earning wealth ensures security in many ways. It ensures security of survival.
It ensures we can take care of our health.
It also ensures we can not just enjoy security, we can also enjoy certain pleasures and luxuries over and above the security.

So the state of being fearless is linked to material security.

We dont just seek material security, we also seek to be healthy.
Being healthy keeps us alive and happy.
Illness brings in the fear related to the mortal nature of the body. The fact that the body is mortal and time bound becomes evident, hence we seek good health, atleast till we really grow old.

Hence these are normal goals, and the normal means to achieve fearlessness, which is acquirig material and health wise security.

We also need psychological security. This means our relationships and status in society, so as humans we are quite aware of societal status and seek security psychologically.

So another means to achieve fearlessness is through name and fame, as well as good relationships with family and friends.

All these require efforts as well as lots of grace of the lord.

Yet, as we grow old, and sometimes if we are not fortunate, and at other times, due to factors beyond our control (such as wars, floods etc.) this security is lost.

Therefore , we invoke the lord, in our prayers to protect us from different kinds of threats to our security.

So through effort, and through prayers, we all seek fearlessness in the form of security obtained through material wealth, health, name , fame and relationships.

However, we need to understand the precarious nature of this fearlessness.

While we are acquiring the means to the material, health and name fame etc., there is constant fear of loss of what is acquired. There is also constant fear that our efforts will not lead to the gain of what is to be acquired.
Also actions that we committed in the past may come back to bite us, so we are afraid there also.

So about the future we are afraid, and past also we are afraid, even though we seek the security, and sometimes we get the security, there is a fear that it must be maintained.
So if we had earned security through righteous means the fear of past is not there. Else we are worried when will our bad karmas catch up.

So even if there is fearlesness, there isnt fearlessness to the fullest measure, there is always a little fear in the background for one reason or the other.

While a human lives on this compromise, a really brave human would attempt to find the resolution to his compromise and look at if there is any means to total fearlessness.

Total Fearlessness

Total fearlessness is what we seek. However, we are unable to secure it in material security. This is a fact of life , that is to be understood.
Even the body is subject to mortality, hence we may even imagine, total security does not exist.

Vedantic solution

Vedas offer the only solution to achieve total fearlessness, in the form of knowledge.
The knowledge reveals that while the body is me, I am free from the body. I am a conscious being , free from birth , death, change, and any degree of growth or decline.
I am of the nature of completeness, fullness, pure happiness and total existence.

This being the truth, as undestood from the vedas, one attains to fearlessness, as fearlessness is indeed ones actual nature.
That is why we reject fear as alien to us.

Knowing thus, no matter in whatever acivity or desire one is engaged, one is free now and here and fearless now and here.

This does not mean one does not care. One cares for everyone, yet is fearless in this care. This is called love or bhakti.

The presently evident fact of Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara

We have the trinity, ishvaras, brahman, vishnu and maheshwara.

All the three sri brahma, sri vishnu and sri maheshwara, are one and the same parama ishvara, or bhagavan, but with different roles, forms and functions with respect to the jagat.

The jagat entails all knowledge, and consists of all knowledge manifest through 3 shaktis, iccha shakti, kriya shakti and gnana shakti.


Hence all the three , brahman , vishnu and maheshwara do not exist separately, but also have the respective shaktis referred to by the accompanying shakti.

Shakti are represented in female forms as -

1. Brahma has saraswati as his shakti
2. Vishnu has Mahalaxmi as his shakti
3. Shiva has PArvatI as his shakti

Now coming to the forms and functions of each of these lords.

Brahma and Saraswati -

Together brahma and saraswati are responsible for designing the creation, how the creation should be. Hence when the jagat is manifest, brahma with saraswati also manifests the vedas, or the knowledge that comes along with the manifestation.
So brahma has all knowledge saraswati and manifests the jagat in keeping with the knowledge, intelligently designs the universe as per the karmas of the jivas in the previous universe.

The same brahman ishvara, with shakti in the form of saraswati or knowledge, is able to perform the task of manifestation, intelligently at the time of manifestation ( when the cycle of manifestation begins).

Here the 3 shaktis are at play, iccha shakti, that may the manifestation occur, kriya shakti, the very act of manifesting the jagat and gnana shakti, the knowledge with which the jagat is manifest.

Vishnu and Mahalaxmi - 

As the jagat manifests, what is manifesst is to be maintained. It needs sustenance and nourishment. If a tree is born, the tree needs water and sunlight for nourishment and growth. It needs continous presence of life for its sustenance. Sustenance of a living tree is not a lifeless, actionless thing, it is an activity.

Even to preserve the home, the homemaker, husband or wife, needs to maintain the home.
Needs to make constant efforts to keep the home nourished and well sustained, helping it.

Every human child needs sustenance. Even grown adults need sustenance. They need an environment where they can grow and be nourished. An economy is needed, wealth is needed, health is needed and so on.

MahAvishnu, with the shakti of mahalaxmi, who is in the form of iccha shakti, kriya shakti and gnana shakti , perform the function of maintenance of this jagat. Its sustenance.

Maheshwara and PArvati -

As the jagat is created and sustained, there needs to be change, there is birth and there is death. Things manifest, and go to unmanifest.

Even at a home, old things need to be disposed off, and the new has to be brought in. For bringing in the new, the old has to be disposed off.

Shiva with the with the shakti of pArvatI , who is in the form of iccha shakti, kriya shakti and gnana shakti , perform the function of disposal or recycling of this jagat. Its dissolution.

Any moment all the three are active

At any instant, in fact at every instance, in fact all the time, in fact the very truth if time itself, the kAla devatA, is nothing but a samanvaya, a combination of all the three lords and their respective shaktis, being ceaselessly active.

The three lords and shaktis are ceaselessly enjoined in the activity of  manifestation, sustenance and dissolution.

This is not a theory. we can witness this fact in action

This is not a theory, we can see the fact of manifestation, preservation and dissolution being present now and here. We see our own body is being sustained as we speak. We understand new cells are being created as we speak, and old cells are dying as we speak.

There is ceaselessly infinite intelligence at work as we speak, and this intelligence is whom we worship.

We worship him and her, as

Brahma vishnu maheshwara and Saraswati, Laxmi and PAravati.
These are forms of worship, for the ishvara who performs these roles and functions.

HariH OM.

Clearly understanding what mithya means?

Mithya is a word with a meaning.

Mithya is not an object , that we know, nor any object that Is knowable,nor an object that cannot be known.

Some words are not words that give object knowledge, they simply are reality words.

Devadatta is here. Devayan is not here.

‘is’ and ‘is not’ are reality words. They indicate the presence or absence of an object. These words can be applied to any object, reveal the nature of its existence.

For example we say, the horn of a hare does not exist. It is false.

In case we see horn of a hare, a hare with a horn , made with some video trick, we call it as illusion, or a trick, and hence we say it is false.

In Sanskrit we call this tuccham. We call an object as tuccham in our understanding, knowing that it does not really exist.

Whereas, we know that hare itself exists. So the hare we call it as satyam.

What we can know through sense perception, or inference and is determined to be true we call as satyam or true. We say it is true, it is a reality word, there Is no object called ‘true’.

Now in vedanta, we have to communicate something, what we call as brahma vastu, so in order to communicate that vastu, which is not available as an object of experience, the word satyam is given a new meaning. We call satyam, only as that, which is kAla trayepi tistathi, is evident in all 3 periods of time, which means does not undergo any change with respect to time.

Then what will we call the tree, the human body etc. all these things, we used to call as satyam.

Shastra has to account for these object which are time bound.

Before accounting for, shastra constructs a word called mithya, for which it also has to provide an appropriate meaning.

And the meaning for mithya is ‘mithya is a reality word, where the reality being conveyed is that, the thing exists, but its existence is not an independent existence, whereas, its existence is dependant on another thing. We call that thing as adhistAnam. The adhistAnam does not undergo any change to become this thing. Such a thing is mithya.’

ShAstra further gives examples, a chain made of gold, chain while it is gold, gold is not chain.

So chain, the thing, chain, is mithya chain, in terms of its reality.

Please note the chain is not negated, chain very much exists, and its existence is understood to be gold.

Similarly rope and snake.In darkness we think the rope is a snake. The snake does exist, but if you try to grab snake, a rope will come in your hand.

With this understanding of the word mithya, we can now look at the brahma vastu.

Brahman is said to be sAkshi chaitanyam. Which is simply, ‘I’ understood thoroughly.

‘I’ am self evident. In waking state I am the knower/doer, in sleeping state I am the sleeper, in deep sleep, I sleep well.

I am the gross body, I am the subtle body, I am the causal body.

Being all these, at the same time, I am independent of all these.

I am not subject to time, since I am aware of time. I am not subject to acquiring the attributes of the body, since I am aware of the body , and being independent. I am aware of being the waker, dreamer and sleeper. Hence intrinsically, I am simply , conscious being, who is self evident.

Conscious being means, not always conscious of something, rather means, the one who is conscious of anything in waking state, the one who is aware I slept well, the one who is aware I dreamt, the very person, who is all the three. Hence I am not subject to time, not time bound.

I, hence, am ‘satyam’ , I qualify for shAstras definition of satyam.

Now anything that I am aware of, such as body, mind, waking state , dreaming state, deep sleep, all these, depend on I, do not exist independent of I.

The waker I, is not independent of I.

The dreamer I, is not independent of I.

So the dreamer and the waker is also ‘I’, and, in terms of reality, dreamer waker, body I, etc. is mithya.

So any mithya is non separate from satyam, and satyam is unchanging, and has no relationship with what we call as mithya.

Like a pot is always clay, clay never accepts that it became pot, from its own standpoint it is always clay.

Now we may argue, this is not true for ‘I’. ‘I’ which we call with the name brahman, we say is subject to becoming the knower of a thing, the doer etc. If that were the case, there will be no continuity, I will always remain knower of flower if I see a flower, but flower goes, tree comes, tree goes light comes, then sleep comes, then no knower, then wake up, world knower, then day dreaming  dream knower and so on.

So I am not subject to change at all.

Hence the knower I, is a certain understanding of I, which is non separate from the changeless I.

Hence we call it as mithya in terms of its reality.

Then satyam we call what, we call only brahman, what we understood to be sAkshi chaitanya as satyam.

Does it mean the waker I ,is not I. No , like we said, mithya means it has its being in satyam, and satyam undergoes no change.

This is what shastra communicates.  In this we may have doubt.

We may say, how it is possible that the achetana body, has chetana I, as its adhistAnam?

Answer is , why not, what you mean by chetana.Chetana, means the content of the knower, this I IS. And everything else is, including waker, dreamer, sleeper, and body mind etc. It is clear these have no independent existence, and only since the sAkshi IS, that is why waker is and so on.

So it is known in your experience this is possible.

Now what about other than my body mind etc. what about objects, space time etc.

Well these are all upadhis. Even body mind is an upadhi, it is not you. From standpoint of body mind upadhi, you call I as waker I.

Now who is the maker of this upadhi.

We say there is no maker, the upadhi is there all the time. It is timeless. It only becomes manifest and then goes back into seed form.

Oh, then that which is in seed form, where does it exists?

It is mithya, which means it has its being in adhistAnam brahman.

We call this seed form as ishvara.Since its brahman with all power, all knowledge and all material.

Ishvara is brahman, you are also brahman.

So all that is here is brahman.

KArya kArana Prakriya

Om.

Claim : ShAstra presents brahman as the cause of all that is here.

The effect is called kAryA and the cause is called kAranA.

The cause brahman is the vastu (thing) to be known.

The effect is already known.

Expansion of ‘effect’

The effect is what YOU know and what you don’t know. All that is known + all that is unknown by the person, by you, is what is , the effect. Hence the present waking state experience, is, the effect. The experience of deep sleep and experience of dream is the effect.

It is known by you , that , there are so many things that are not known.
All that is not known can be put in one bag called ‘unknown’.

So effect implies:  'all that is known'. plus, 'all that is unknown'.

Understanding of ‘cause’

Now what is the cause then?
 If all that is known and all that is unkown is gone under the heading effect, then what is it that remains , that can be ever be attributed to be the cause?

The only one that remains is the 'knower'.
The knower of the known things and the knower of the unknown things.

The knower is sAkshi chaitanyam.
The pratyagatman, the witness consciousness. The self aham. I.

Through viveka by means of avasthA traya prakriya, and panchakosha prakriya and deha traya prakriyA, it is  to be clearly understood ( through anvaya vyatireka logic) that the pratyagatman, the witness consciousness is :
- other than the three bodies and the 3 states of deep sleep, waking state and dream state, and
- other than the 5 layers ,
- is the knower of each of these. The witness consciousness.

While the the 3 sharirAs, and the three states of sleep etc., are the witness, ‘I’, the witness ‘I’ itself is not intrinsically either of these.

Intrinsically, the atman , I , the witness consciousness is to be understood as being self-evident and self-existent, and;
 limitless in the sense it is not limited as in ‘being’ any particular form.
Not limited by time, timewise, chaitanyam does not undergo any change, spacewise 'I' undergoes no change. Hence it is changless satyam, also it is chit- which means a conscious entity.

Establishing relationship between effect and cause

What shAstra does, is , lets now go back to our original claim,

“ShAstra presents brahman as the cause of all that is here.”

So here that cause we said is the pratyagatman, the self, I, the chaitanyam, witness consciousness or sAkshi chaitanyam, which is who is ‘I’.

This ‘I’ is indeed brahman, who is the cause of the effect (effect which as we saw is known+unknown).

Now since I am the cause of all that is here, next step is to understand that, the effect is non separate from the cause as well as non different from the cause.

Which means essentially, ‘I’ witness consciousness, is satchitAnanda brahman, and the effect is also a kArya, hence being a kArya, it is ALSO, satchitAnanda brahman.
( example of kAranA and kArya is gold and bangles, chain ring etc. The kAranA cause here is unchanging gold, and the kArya effect is bangles, earrings, chain etc.)

Understanding ISHVARATVAM and vyavaharicam( relative plane of reality)

Now we have to see our life, in the light of this vision that shAstra has unfolded for us.

In this vision,the kAryam, jagat,is an intelligently put together, and is non separate from brahman.
 So we say now that ,this material of this jagat, MUST have a material cause.
For this ShAstra says, the same brahman, is the material cause (upAdAna kAranA).

To put together the material in intelligent fashion needs a intelligent ‘maker’ or ‘nimitta KAranA’. This intelligent maker is also brahman.

So, hence, from the standpoint of the total jagat ( which includes ones own body mind), brahman is seen as the abhinna, nimitta-upAdAna kAranam (non different material AND intelligent cause).

Same brahman, the pratyagAtman, the sAkshi chaitanyam, when seen from the standpoint of totality is abhinna nimitta upAdana kAranA.

Same brahman, seen from point of view of the of this sukshmA sharIra, which is identified with a particular body, including a human beings personality, is known as a unique individual a jiva.

Ishvara or brahman from its own standpoint

Same brahman , seen from the point of view of itself, which means simply by itself, is simply satchitananda brahman, the pure consciousness, which from its own standpoint has not undergone ANY change, and does not admit to ever ever having the status of either being the cause or the status of being the effect.

This is how shAstra expands and makes us understand the vision, that all that is here is brahman, and I am that brahman.

Not losing sight of the 'STANDPOINTS'

We saw earlier that from the standpoint of the total jagat, brahman is seen as intelligent and material cause. This standpoint is not to be taken lightly. This standpoint is what is shakti.
This shakti is non separate from brahman, in fact shakti IS brahman.
It is not something ELSE other than brahman. So the standpoint is not for 'throwaway', but only thing, is it is to be understood to be a 'standpoint', that is all, and the standpoint is what governs our day to day living. Living , in itself, as an activity, is a standpoint. Knowledge is a standpoint, ignorance is a standpoint, walking talking, doing, seeing, hearing, objects, people all are 'standpoints' , of the same brahman. Hence we enjoy the various standpoints, as the various leelas, the various vibhutis, the various glories of brahman, of ishvara.Seeing oneself, as an invdividual person, I am also a standpoint , and I am also ishvara ( not total parameshvara, but the same purusa, person, who is also paramashwara). Hence I can call myself jiveshvara.