The real and the incidental nature of what is

What is, alone is what we refer to as Brahman, or Atma.

What is, is the non dual self alone.

However, this is not in our knowledge. In our knowledge, what IS, isnt one, but many.

We believe that each thing, has its own independent existence.

The tree exists, separate from the sky, separate from the earth.

While this is indeed true, but there is a greater truth to it, which we are not aware of.

That the tree, and the sky and the earth, are one and the same brahman, and only the gunAs or the attributes are different, that truth we are not aware of.

Reason is , we are not aware of the reality that , reality is non dual.


We are not aware, that this non dual reality is myself.

That atma, is brahman the non dual reality, which alone is in terms of forms and shapes, 'all that is here' that truth we dont know. ShAstra is the means of knowledge to know this.

To know that, the non dual brahman has a two fold nature.

It is attributeless, consciousness, and independent existence, that is the truth about brahman.

That it is the cause of the world, and from it arose the various manifest objects, and unto it the manifest objects resolve into unmanifest state, is looking at brahman in the form of maya shakti, that is what we call as mithya ( less true that satyam).

So what is true is what we want to know.

The Householder -- Part 4

That we seek happiness, is a given fact, and we seek this happiness in every aspect of our life.

While a sanyasi is seeking happiness in the form of knowledge, a grhsta is seeking happiness throught the threefold goal of arthA, kAma and dharma.

A grhsta has to rightfully pursue all the 3 goals of wealth & Security for his family and beyond, any form of luxury or enjoyment ( such as arts, music etc.) and of course most importantly, a commitment and understanding of the righteous means of obtaining these, as well as a plethora of activities and actions that lead to punyA, which come under the bracket of dharma.

Dharma is very simple to understand. 'I dont want to be hurt',' I want to live', these are the two basics of any living being. Any animal or human or even insect, wants two things,
1.Survival 2. Wishes not to be hurt

Dharma is simply to make as much of an effort as possible, that in all ones desires and activities, one is not 'treading' onto others wish to achieve the very same goals. This infact the goal of every life form, even gods and even other lokas, of every possible being.

This dharma we want others to adhere to, so that we are not hurt, hence we also must adhere to to enjoy the same harmony that we want to enjoy. If we affect the harmony adversely, it only takes a reverse wave and comes back to us. Any tremor that we cause, shakes our own ground.

This awareness, is awareness of the interconnected, goal of life, as an organic whole, which is the awareness of dharma, indicating supreme intelligence in this interconnected whole.

The Householder -- part 3

There is not only knowledge in sustaining, surviving in this body, there is also knowledge in relationship.

If you observe, each relationship, comes with its own psychological make up. Brothers , Sisters, Mother, Father, Son, Daughter, Mom In Law, Father in law, Daughter in Law.
Employee, manager, voter, social media discussion forum contributor, admin of a group, so many roles, and each role has its own psychologicla make up, goals, desires, variety of actions to be done.

The goal of every human is to seek happiness in all of these relatioships, to seek harmony in all of these relationships is our endevour, and we all have a certain awareness of the need for this harmony.

Both the desire for the harmony, the dynamics and the complexities of each relationship as well as the various activities governing the relationships, reveal and intelligent design, a tapestry of well woven colourful yarns making up a beutifully woven piece of fabric, that is the fabric of our life.

The Householder --- Part 2

Now let us look the entire universe.  The prapancha.

We look at a simple daily activity, that we are ignoring, which is the sun.

The sun is the source of all energy for the earth and its living beings, and its our father and mother both.

Without the suns energy, no living being will have what we call as 'shakti'.

If a man stays hungry for one day, he is unable to get up and walk.
She is unable to do basic activities.

This is how much we are dependent upon food, for our sustenance, and for every action that we perform. This food is what gets converted into energy within our bodies.

Our body , the human body is an intelligent coming together of various functions or organs, and all of  us might have studied in biology, how the food is intaked and the oxygen that we breathe, converts the food into energy. This energy is nothing but a force, a certain life force, which we call in sanskrit as prAna. PrAna shakti is required for the human body to sustain and survive, and hence it is very essential that we pay attention to this prAna.

The same prAna shakti is looked at in a five fold manner.

a. PrAna  or incoming oxygen

b. ApAna the energy that leads to excretion of all unwanted waste

c. vyAna all the nerves of the body responsible to communicate within all organs and body parts

 d. samAna the vayu responsible for digestion and converting food into energy and transmitting through the body

e. udAna is what leaves the body after one passes away

This prAna shakti is maintained by proper eating, drinking water, and proper activity that does not harm the pranic system.

Here also there is so much knowledge involved, knowledge of what to eat, how to eat, that one has to take bath, that one has to exercise, and so on.

These are knowledge, all knowledge.

There is intelligence here, there is order, in ones life.

The Householder --- Part 1

While the sanyAsi can choose a path of nvrtti, and can reduce activities to concentrate on the self, and meditate in seclusion, that kind of luxury is not available to a grhsta or householder.However this does not mean the householder cannot perform meditation.The householder can perform a very beautiful, fulfilling and amazing meditation, which I am going to talk about.This meditation is nothing new, but it is our same old karma yoga, but the way I am going to talk about it is something different, a different manner I will talk about it.While a sanyAsi is meditating on the nirguna brahman, or nirgunatvam of brahman, a householder, may not have the time for this meditation in a secluded place.However, he is engaged in various activities, as a householder, a citizen of the nation, as a father, as a participant in a society and culture.As a part of his society there is a variety of activities that occur in his daily life and a variety of roles that she or he has to play.Each role involves interaction with other people, involves the psychology of people, involves the dymanics of interaction.A simple activity such as cooking involves so much KNOWLEDGE.Not only does each role and activity of a householder involve so much knowledge, it involves a lot of effort as well. And not to forget behind every effort there is a desire that drives the effort.So the householders life is three pronged living a life of pravartti, or activity, which involves knowledge, desire and effort.