Stages of bhakti

The glory of ishvara is such that without his blessings no work or desire will meet a positive end. Every positive end to a good work only happens with the blessings of ishvara. This ishvara is the overlord, the infinite wisdom.
When we say the gayatri mantra, we ask this lord ishvara, as matha savitri , to bless us , by guiding our actions and thoughts, with her infinite wisdom, we say light our minds with your presence, which is of the nature of infinite wisdom.

This bhakti we can develop, by inviting the presence of the lord , of ishvari in ourself.

Here the ourself, and the lord is separately looked at from the standpoint of ahamkara, which is a idenitification with body mind, and the totality, which is looking at ishvara as the totality. Here there can be a relationship, from the standpoint of the body mind, I can have a relationship with the total, with bhagavan.

However when one comes to the vedic knowledge given by bhagavan, bhagavan brings us closer to herself, via knowledge, and makes us non separate from herself, by means of this knowledge.

She gives brahmajnanam, wherein brahman is the all pervading, non dual reality, that pervades the body mind, and pervades the totality, and is in fact the truth of the totality.

So from the absolute standpoint, in absolute truth, ishvara and jiva are both non dual, one reality, and this reality is atma.

It is only in the mithya standpoint, we can talk about ego, identification with body mind, a totality of infinite wisdom, of manifest and unmanifest ishvara and so on, is from the mithya standpoint.

So in and through vyavahara, we need not lose sight of the one all pervading reality, which is the truth of vyavahara. So any actions performed, we see that it is only performed when we look at it form the mithya standpoint.

Even pooja, and so on.. and relationships, all are from the mithya standpoint.

Satyam is the viewer, the very truth of the one who views, and is not something that subjects itself to any analysis at all. Simply pervades every point of view.
Without which no point of view 'is' , it itself is free from all points of view. The very beginning, end and middle of all is brahman, brahman is not a separate subject matter for discussion.

There is a good reason we say that, brahman is knowing that, knowing which, everything is known. Because there isnt anything else left to be known, it is the very reality of knower, known and knowledge. It is the very initiating point of knowledge, the very culmination of knowing, the process of knowledge itself, that being the case how is it possible to miss brahman, but for a peculiar kind of ignorance, that can as though cover it.

The only way to know brahman , is 'I am' brahman.

So why I bring this up, is initially when we start off worshipping the lord with name and form, with a particular form, then as the very totality, then we graduate to worshipping the lord as the very brahman the non dual reality, the atma itself.

Laukika sukham is apUrnam anityam

The lot of the jivas , is to seek laukika sukham, as the 'state of oneself' being 'sukham' is what is desired.

This desire takes various forms, covered under artha, kAma and also under dharma.

Artha is the desire for security, security of the body, and security to conduct ones life with adequate health, financial security to maintain oneself.

Under kama comes what we call as luxuries, and something greater than the necessities. While food, clothing, shelter , come under artha, or necessities, anything more than that comes under kAma or luxuries.

In modern times we are seeing the trend, wherein more and more luxuries are getting converted to necessities, hence life is becoming more and more complex.

The next means to happiness is dharma, a human being is generally not satisfied, especially after a certain degree of maturity, a person wants more than just luxuries and security. We want punya, to do good for others, to contribute to the society, to be a righteous person. These are also desires that bring sukham or happiness, both from the satisfaction of performing these actions, and also from the punya gained as a result of these 'reaching out' activities.

There is also, for the believers in the vedas, various yajnas, karmas are available, that can gaurantee, sukham in other lokas, after passing away of this body, one can desire for svarga and so on, that is another form of desire , for sukham by earning punya.

The common denominator in all these kinds of sukham, is that all these are not nitya sukham, rather they are anitya sukham. Anitya means they are necessarily time bound.

Even for a person who has acquired a great deal of punya, he can go up to svargaloka, and in svarga it is mere spending of punya, until the punya is exhausted, the person again has to be born as a human being , wherein there is the possibility of performing further karmas.

What one seeks all through , in all ones activities and en-devours is a permanent sukham, which appears is not available in the activities and the material gained from the lokas ( be it this , or a higehr loka) , referred to as laukika sukham.

The vedas which initially in the karma kanda, give the means to achieve sukham ends that are anitya, such as svarga and so on, in the later part, known as jnana kanda, give the means to achieve the nitya sukham or permanent sukham.

The means to permanent sukham is presented not as a material, to be gained. This is indeed logical, since no material by itself is something that can contain happiness as its nature.

If one observes in ones own life, the very same acquisition can be both a source of happiness as well as sorrow for different people, and even for the very same person, what is a source of happiness today, the same thing may become a cause for sorrow tomorrow. Whatever is in this world is impermanent, and even its capability to bring happiness is impermanent.

Therefore the happiness that the acquisition brings cannot be construed as a 'property' or 'attribute' that belongs to the material or acquisition, rather the happiness is experienced within oneself.
It is oneself that one finds to be 'happy' , when temporarily the 'wanting person' subsides, a desire is fulfilled, I see 'myself as fulfilled'.

It is this 'seeing myself as fulfilled', 'seeing myself as whole', ' seeing myself as devoid of limitations', this is what we call as 'happiness' or sukham.

This being the case, the shAstra presents the means to permanent sukham, nitya sukham, not as another acquisition, which as we saw , no acquisition can be permanent, neither reliable, neither a source of happiness by itself.

Rather shAstra present nitya sukham, as the reality of oneself, as the very truth about oneself.

Shastra or the vedas, proclaim the cause of sorrow to be very different, and unlike from what we might imagine. This condition of repeated travails and the roller coaster experience of cyclical waves of sorrow and happiness, the shAstra calls as 'samsara', and this condition is purely said to be a product of ignorance.

In truth, says the shAstra, in reality, the atma or the self, is whole, pristine, pure, not subject to birth or death or change, of the very nature of limitlessness or fullness, which is what one experiences as 'the happy self' even in instances when the wanting person subsides for the time being.

ShAstra goes into the very cause of 'why the person finds himself to be wanting'. To answer this question the shAstra points out a beginingless ignorance, due to which the person, the being , atma who is by very nature itself, of the nature of fullness and completeness, identifies with a 'projected' limitation of the body mind. We clearly see that the body mind is full of limitations, and hence are unable to accept ourself, as one subject to limitations.

This refusal to accept oneself as subject to limitations, as well as the fact that we do see ourself as 'whole' and 'not wanting' often, on even hearing something as simple as a joke, does prove that, the contention made by the shAstra, about ourselves being 'of the nature of fullness' and the possibility of their being an ignorance, and the possibility of commiting a mistake in terms of ones own understanding of oneself, as a something that we cannot completely dismiss.

Since the shAstra offers a solution, and we are indeed wanting what the shAstra offers via a solution to ignorance i.e the fulfilled self, a permanently fulfilled self, we have no choice but to consider this solution, and give it a hearing, a chance.

Giving it a chance, means we need to have trust, a trust pending understanding, this is called an attitude of trust. So we buy the possibility of us being ignorant about our true self, and look for knowledge as a solution, as any ignorance is obviously countered by knowledge alone.

ShAstra hence offers the means to nitya sukham, via atma jnanam or self knowledge.
We need not only the shAstra, but also a guide, who knows how to decipher and communicate the teaching of the shAstra. There also happens to be a methodology of teaching the shAstra and giving the knowledge that removes this ignorance. Hence the shAstra comes not alone, but comes along with a guru, from a valid parampara, a teaching parampara or lineage.

We say that the vedas are beginingless , as beginingless as the universe, and so is the guru. We consider ishvara, himself, who manifested as the vedas alongside the universe, as also the very first guru, and this guru parampara, we say is still alive today, as shankaracharya, adi shankaracharya is available to us as the in between link, to this teaching tradition.

Thereby in order to gain this 'nitya sukham' that we all seek, we have an attitude of trust pending understanding, in the shAstra, the guru and the guru parampara, and ishvara who is guiding us all through this means to remove ignorance, and reveal oneself as wholeness.

This 'trust pending understanding' means that we make the guru-shastra as the principal center of our lives, and we tweak our lifestyle, or goals and attitudes to make it conducive towards gaining this knowledge.

The bhagavad gita says that this knowledge is not just available to renunciates or sanyasins, but it is equally available to grhstAs or householders as well. In the bhagavad gita itself, which itself is a means to this self knowledge, both the teacher lord krsna and the student arjuna, are householders and in fact kshatriyas who are always in the very thick of action.

If it is available even in the midst of such happening battlescene of the mahabharatha, it can certainly be available to us in our daily lives , where all we do is go to office, and build some software or do some accounts.

It is upto our own free will, and the intelligent use of our free will, to first identify the problem, see the shAstra and guru as a possible in fact a probable means to solve this problem, and finally gain the complete confidence trust, and of course the very knowledge that validates the trust and makes it more real than anything else.

This is what we are all born, as humans for. 

sakshi chaitanyam is not in space behind the mind

sakshi chaitanyam is not inside space and behind ones mind.


Sakshi chaitanyam is the very self , the awareness that is unchanging in all 3 states of waking dreaming and sleeping.

The states come and go, but awareness undergoes no change.

Awareness is witness to time, to the changing states, to the body mind, undergoing changes but it itelf remains changeless.

Awareness is an independent, self existent , and awareness is self evident, I need not be aware myself, myself being awareness itself.

Now space, time, mind and so on, are upAdhis , or superimpositions on awareness, I am aware of these superimpositions. I become as though the knower in the presence of the mind and objects during the waking state, and as the dream knower in the dream state, am aware of the dream objects.

These objects do not have a being of there own, and I am indeed the reality of the names and forms.

I am pure non dual consciousness

I am , is brahman, brahman is the cause of all that is here.

Brahman does not become the cause, by undergoing change, or on account of its will.

Whereas the state of having a desire, having a will, and undergoing change and so on, are mithya in terms of reality.

When the word mithya is used, we cannot say "untrue" altogether, since we are talking about something that is, jagad is , manifestation is.

However, we can say that brahman hasnt undergone any change, and for that matter, there is neither the unmanifest, nor the manifest, and there is no jagad in the case of brahman, from the standpoint of absolute truth or satyam.

However from the mithya standpoint, there is very much a manifestation, and this same brahman is seen as the cause of the manifestation. Since the manifestation is mithya, the causal brahman is also mithya, satyam being brahman devoid of any status whatsoever , such as the status of being a cause or effect.


This brahman that is seen as the cause, has to be understood as the self oneself, I.

It is only due to ignorance that I take myself to be a jiva. As a "I have a body" person.

Rather I am the absolute being , formless, happen to be the knower, rather am the truth of the knower, hence of the nature of consciousness, in fact I am consciousness or awareness itself.

When I say I am aware of the flower, I am the awareness, that is self evident, awareness itself, hence I dont need to be aware of myself.

See if I say I am aware of myself, then it is as though there is awareness, and there is a myself that I am aware of.

In reality I am awareness itself, hence where is the need to be aware of awareness, awareness is the very being or reality of every perception.

This awareness happens to be the knower, w.r.t. thoughts and the mind and so on.

This awareness happens to be the nimitta kArana with maya upAdhi,

This awareness is the material cause , when we say any object "is" the "is" refers to awareness.

Awareness is self existent.

What really is consciousness

Consciousness, is a word, that indicates the reality of the self.

The self is mistaken for the body and mind, and various levels of body and mind.

These are the self mistaken to have attributes of the body and mind.

Whereas in truth, self is said to be consciousness free from body mind attributes.

Consciousness means what, it means that which is the reality of the seer.

The reality of the knower.

See, upanisad says 'shrotrasya shrotram,  manaso manaH', the ear of the ear, and the mind of the mind. The knower via which mind and ear, mind and nose, mind and eye, mind and togue, mind and skin become "perceivers".

This knower is not a physical entity that is at any point "known" , knower is the not the known, is very clear.

Hence the knower is that being which is the self evident reality in whose proximity, the ear and mind can hear, the eye and the mind can see and so on.

This consciousness is called as the knower only with respect to the mind and the sense organs , and the presence of objects, in reality it is an independent self evident being of the nature of existence.

ShAstra says in fact this chit, or consciousness is in fact non dual, since it is satyam, the very cause.

This universe of names and forms, that are also manifest as the mind and the sense organs too, this universe is projected out of the very consciousness as the substratum or the reality.

The projection is due to beginingless ignorance , avidya or maya, which has it basis or existence or being in brahman which is consciousness. Consciousness is brahman.

The names , forms, functions are superimposed on this brahman by maya shakti.

Duality is a result error out of ignorance

There is ignorance, and naturally ignorance leads to error.

Ignorance of rope, is what leads to error of seeing the snake where there is only the rope.

Where there is only brahman, the jagad, and its evolution and devolution is seen, the cause here is error due to ignorance or avidya.

Avidya operates at the universal level as that which projects infinite names and forms, and brahman the consciousness serves as the adhistAnam or the substratum or truth, the basis for the error, as rope is the basis for the snake.


Avidya has no being of its own, hence brahman itself  lends being or existence to avidya, here in this case avidya is nothing but mAya, the all knowing, all powerful, being, that manifests various names and forms.

Brahman with the upAdhi of mAya is hence both the nimitta kArana as well as upAdana kArana.

upAdana kArana means the material cause. For the jagad, jagad being a product of avidya, the reality of material of the jagad is certainly going to have the adhistAanam or basis which is brahman, that alone as the material cause.

However point to note here is that brahman is the vivarta upAdana kAranam, which means its cause that undergoes no change at all.

Whereas, from the unmanifest to the manifest, it is avidya, which undergoes change, from being the pure ignorance unmanifest, to projecting a plethora of names and forms.

In the case of jiva, the jiva on account of ignorance, sees that which is "not", and hence is 'subject to ignorance'. Whereas in the case of isvara, isvara is using ignorance or avidya as a power, to project the various names and forms, thereby manifesting himself in various forms as AkAsha, vAyu, Agni, Apah, Prtvi and all their modifications.

The 5 koshas of the body of the jiva, namely, annamaya, prAanamaya, manomaya, vijnAnamaya and anandamaya are combinations of the five elements alone. Thereby brahman which manifests as the universe, is the same brahman which manifests as the individual body as well.

The same brahman is also present as the witness consciousness, or sakshi chaitanyam within ones mind, as "I am".

If that is the case, it is purely ignorance which covers this already manifest brahman 'I', and avidya alone becomes the cause for the dehAtama buddhi, which alone leads to first deha abhimAna, then kartrtva bhava, once there is karma, there is the cycle of birth and rebirth.

Hence the jiva is as beginingless as avidya itself.

Only by removal of avidya, the jiva is not born anymore, since there is no jiva, rather only the already manifest brahman shines as it were.

Al the way it is mithya, and satyam is all the way

All the way from being the very cause of srshti or manifestation, from having names, forms and function, from being the doer, to the very maintainer of this manifestation, all the roles, names and forms of brahman, namely saguna brahman , is mithya.

Mithya means that whose existence is purely name and form, whose existence is purely namesake, exists only in the manner of speaking about it, but the actual vastu is something else.

When we say anything IS, that IS , is not that vastu with a name or form, but that IS is something "else".

When we say "pot IS" , the pot is only a name and a form and function of being a pot, but for all practical reality, reality of pot is clay, and clay is NOT pot. Clay has nothing to do with pot.

Here we say clay is satyam, and pot is mithya.

Same way we say chaitanyam atma is satyam, and this around atma having a maya shakti, and with this shakti, manifesting as various names and forms, then entering the very creation, this is all at the level of mithya, or vyavaharika.

Vyavaharika in the sense as not being the innate nature of chaitanyam, rather being a superimposition on chaitanyam.

Chaitanyam has no attributes, is changeless.

So for it to be the cause, it must be something extra, which we call as maya shakti, which is addition without real addition. Nothing can be added to the whole, as the whole is all infinite. So addition of maya shakti is not a real addition, it is an addition without the substance undergoing any change at all.

It is a point of view,

It is a drshti, a way of being,  which has nothing to do with the being itself.

What is mithya need not be contended with, as atma is satyam, unrelated to mithya.

Whereas mithya has no being other than satyam.