I am atma

 I am atma

This jagat appears in me, is myself, appearing as jada prapancha

It is due to maya shakti

Maya shakti is myself appearing as maya shakti

Due to this maya shakti, I appear to be an ishvara

As this ishvara, I appear to have manifested myself as many things as this jada prapancha

I appear as various jivas reflecting in the sukshma shariras

I have myself never undergone any change or become any of these

But I appear as all of these

I am free from all these appearances always , and have never had or will ever have these appearances, with which I am appearing

This knowledge itself is myself appearing as this knowledge

I am not even this knowledge in reality

I am totally free even from knowledge

Jivanmukta

 Who is a jivanmmukta?

One who understands that one is a mukta while alive is jivanmukta.

What is his understanding?

His understanding is that he is mukta svarupa

Was he bound in the first place and then became freed, and hence mukta?

No, he was always a mukta svarupa, but due to ignorance he thought he was bound

What kind of bondage was it?

It was a bondage born of ignorance, where the mukta svarupa self was thought to be bound and tied to repeated cycle of birth and death and hence thinking himself to be a "one among" many entities , called as a jiva

What knowledge frees this jiva from jivatvam?

Knowledge of self being brahman frees him , as he understands he is not a separate self, rather he is the non dual self

What is this knowledge?

This knowledge is a mahavakya that equates jiva and ishvara

What is jiva in the mahavakya?

Jiva is the self with ignorance, and 3 bodies (sthula sukshma karana shariras), the one who considers himself as a bound, and as a karta and bhokta

What is ishvara in the mahavakya?

Ishvara is the ruler of the cosmos, who is worshipped by jiva, and who doles our the results of karma for the karmas performed by jiva

What is the equation?

The equation is not in terms of the literal meaning, but rather the implied meaning.

What is the implied meaning?

The implied meaning is that jiva is in reality the sakshi chaitanyam, of the nature of consciousness, who is witness of 3 states of waking dreaming and sleeping, and knower of the bodies (sthula sukshma karana sharira).

The implied meaning is that ishvara is the consciousness principle who with maya upadhi manifests this jagat and is himself entering the jagat as though the various jivas.

The oneness is possible, when jiva understands that he is in fact this ishvara consciousness, who himself is the self of all, who with maya upadhi manifest this universe.

What are the various components of mahavakya?

Various components are 

1. Jiva consciousness

2. Ishvara consciousness

3. Maya

4. Individual sharira with individual ego

5. Jagat including the shariras of all other beings

Which of these are satya?

1. and 2. that is jiva and ishvara consciousness are satyam

Which of these are anadi karanams?

1., 2. and 3. as well as karna shariras of 4. and 5. are anadi

Which of these are karyams?

Only jagat and the individual sharira (excluding karana sharira) are karyams

Which if these are vivarta karanam?

Jiva and ishvara consciousness are vivarta karnam

Which one is a parinami karanam?

Maya that includes the karana shariras, is a parinami karanam

How is mahavakya possible?

In mahavakya we say the jiva consciousness and ishvara consciousness are in fact satyam, unqualified consciousness, which happen to be as though associated as the vivarta karanam, which is in fact not a karanam, which is self existent and self evident, atman the self.

Is maya satyam?

No maya is mithya, it is a parinami anadi karanam that has its existence in satyam atma, has no existence of its own. It is not non existent either, it is said to be neither existent, nor non existent, nor both existent and non existent at the same time, it is existent without having its own existence rather having its existence in satyam atma , such as status is said to be mithya status.

Is atma satyam?

Yes atma is self existent, self evident satyam.

Is atma anantam?

Yes being the universal all pervasive self of all that is here, it is anantam.

Eternal Consciousness , Atma, Brahman

 Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma

All that is here is brahman

Tatastha Lakshana

Ishvara

1. Brahman is cause of the universe

2. Brahman is manifest in multifarious names and forms, as jagat

3. Brahman is non different material cause and intelligent cause

Jiva

4. I is waking individual knower

5. I is the dreaming individual knower

6. I is the sleeping individual knower

7. I is manifest as the individual body minds

Svarupa Lakshana

Ishvara

1. Brahman is limitless as it is the cause of the universe

2. Brahman is limitless existence

3. Brahman is a conscious being

Jiva

3. I is knower in general, the awareful being, of the nature of consciousness or awareness

4. I is of the nature of existence, awareness

5. I am limitless consciousness as time wise I always exist, space wise I am aware wherever I am.

Mahavakya aikyam

I is brahman, therefore brahman is limitless existence consciousness , and I is consciousness that is limitless existence

Here we minus the tatastha lakshanas involved, and consider only the svarupa, hence I end up being the limitless cause of the universe as a result, I understand myself as all pervasive brahman.

This allows me to understand my own nature as shuddha brahman, I am limitless existence consciousness.

If I see that, then I see all that is here is me, the limitless existence consciousness, and every name and form is incidental to me, given I am nameless and formless.

I alone am appearing as this entire universe, I am the one they call as ishvara, as the ruler, I am the one manifest as this universe of whom I am the ruler , I am the only being, and I am limitless being.

Who is there besides me, all this is, is me. 

Sarvajna and Sarvavetru- Vivarta Upadana and Parinami Upadana Karanam

 The pure consciousness I is devoid of any status, name or form, and is inconceivable, achintya.

It is unimaginable, not available for objectification, in fact not available for knowing, yet given it is self evident I, it need not even be known.

There is a mithya jagat.

With regard to mithya jagat this same I is, as though:

1. Sarvajna (all knowing in general)

2. Sarvavetru ( same sarvajna, with maya upadhi, which is a mithya upadhi, becomes all knowing in particular as parameshwara)

3. Vivarta upAdana kAranam ( the unchanging material cause)

4. Appearing as though as the parinami kAranam (changing material cause), maya (maya has its being in this I, so maya is not other than I)

Thus with the above understanding about original consciousness or satyam, that i I the sakshi chaitanyam, I am able to envision myself as being the advaita non dual entity, as the only entity that IS, as limitless and as self existent self evident as the whole.

Therefore moksa as a pursuit is negated here, mukti being my natural state.

Disappointment and Anger with Ishvara

 There is a psychology that creates authority issues, when it comes to accepting the overlordship of ishvara.

Due to a sense of injustice metted out by people in authority, there is always difficulty accepting overlordship, as the lack of trust towards those in power is accentuated within ones psychology.

By seeing ishvara as a compassionate and just father and mother, one has the opportunity to understand with isvara, and connect with the lord as ones mother and lord as ones father.

Thereby one develops bhakti or love for ones ultimate father and mother, 

वागर्थाविव संपृक्तौ वागर्थप्रतिपत्तये।
जगतः पितरौ वन्दे पार्वतीपरमेश्वरौ॥ १-१

Value of karma yoga

 The jiva born with a human body, is given to likes and dislikes, and gets ruled by likes and dislikes.

Instead of holding the rein which is the mind and controlling the horses in the form of the 5 senses, as the atma the controller or this body, who is given this free will to control ones own body mind and action, instead this person does not seem to be able to make use of his own free will given to him.

This person seeking joy, and finding joy in the enjoyment of ones own likes and avoidence of ones dislikes, becomes dependent therein upon the fulfilment of ones own likes and on the avoidence of what one dislikes.

Here he or she hits a two fold barrier.

One is that the world is not ready to give in to his own likes and dislikes so he finds out how extremely difficult it is to make the world bend to his whims and fancies.

He also discovers that his own likes and dislikes even when fulfilled happen to not give total fulfilment even under the most favourable conditions. Such as desires fulfilled through righteous means will mean the person is fully able to enjoy what he has rightfully earned, without any guilt necessarily intervening ( atleast unto his own knowledge), but even then the person finds that the joy from desire fulfilment is momentary and the wish now fulfilled, only gives lease for a fresh wish to take over, and a fresh desire to chase.

Thereby the person never finds oneself happy permanently and it appears a cycle of happiness and unhappiness.

Some people take the unhappiness to be a driver to again work and go for the next achievement.

Even that process is full of pains and pangs of sufferings, and there may be again that momentary happiness at the end of it.  Again so much dependent on laws favoring one, and many times they may not favor the individual, based on his past karmas.

Meanwhile the individual is also uknowingly still attaining papa karmas along the way no matter how much dharmic he tries to be. Moreover there is anadi papa karmas that the individual has performed in the past, that is always going to chase him. 

Adharmic route is not even a consideration as the person goeS against his own set of values that he holds dear unto himself . The person hence is not even available to receive the fruit so called of a desire fulfilled via an adharmic route ,  his so called joy is with a rajasic mind that has lost touch with the basic individual who seeks peace, thereby there is not possibility of peace for a person given to adharma and only more and more pain and ashanti is in store.

But a person agiven to likes and dislikes and unable to separate onself from it, eventually gets taken over by greed.

A like fed, doesnt go away, it becomes greed.

It creates attachement.

It also hides ones own sense of dharma and makes one take the wrong path, so leads to more greed and attachement.

Its a cycle which leads to destruction of the individual eventually.

So in order to free oneself from this likes and dislikes route in order to gain the happiness one seeks, there is the route of karma yoga.

it has a 2 fold advice .

YogaH karmasu kausalam.

Giving priority to ones duties, which are to be done, by making use of ones free will, and deliberately doing only ones duties, makes one understand that one indeed has a free will, that one can make use of, and one is the controller of ones own destiny and body mind, and is not at the mercy of any like or dislike.

This hence gives a chitta shuddhi. This duties are the work given by god to you, svadharma, so you are doing gods bidding. It is gods gift given to the individual to uplift himself and extricate oneself from the whirlpool of likes and dislikes and free onself from the samsara. So do your duty, with a thankful attitude to the lord for being present as the dharmica buddhi, and offer ones duties unto him as the lord the manager here, for whose sake you are performing your duties. Here you are assisting the lord in his task of  running this universe, which he does effortlessly yet efficiently and effectively, with benevolence yet with total justice and beauty and harmony.

The other advice is samatvam yoga uchyate. So whatever the results god gives one, for ones actions driven by any kind of desire, even selfish desire, accept the fruits of the action, as one given by the lord. Accept it with grace, and an understanding that lord has given it to you, and he must have a reason for it, and I should accept whatever it maybe with grace and happiness, even if it is something I dont prefer or like.

So via this kind of attitude, I develop a relationship with the lord, and with this attitude that he recommends, I also gain the inner freedom. He also makes sure, "shastra shravanam" is listed as one of the duties.

So in his spiritual program he has included the most important component for my freedom , which is listening to mahavakya .

So mahavakya says I and the lord are one.

This karma yogi individual cannot be the lord with whom he is relating.

So here the oneness refers to the truth of the karma yogi individual.

The truth of the individual is that individual is of the nature of consciousness. The individual is in reality the consciousness itself, that appears as an individual.

What is the reality of the individual its none other than a witness consciousness. Due to ignorance, the individual with the body mind self complex, says I am this body.

The I am here, is actually pure consciousness that has no name form or limitations, is self existent, independent and devoid of any trace of any object or its properties. But due to ignorance, we have with body mind and ego, and individual who says I am this body mind, 'I' being all the time limitless egoless pure consciousness.

Now this same pure consciousness with the garb of ishvara, says, I am ishvara , and the entire universe is his body, and he the consciousness is the material cause and the intelligent cause being all knowledge, and being the magician who manifests all that is here, from within oneself, from unmanifest state to manifest state. Here also he is just pure consciousness.

So if we look at "I am" there is no difference.

Difference is in the name and form when we add 'individual', or 'total' as a suffix to "I am".

This I am is in fact not even ego, its is only in admixture with the name and form, there is an ego identifying with individual or total.

Pure I am, is just existence consciousness.

I can be angry at my lord

 Guru teaches that one can also be angry at the lord.

It is an emotion that is within the order.

It is an emotion that is understandable given the order that is in itself a manifestation of the lord.

Who is this lord, who is all pervasive in and as the orderly manifestation.

The individual thoughts and emotions and desires and likes and dislikes and wants and needs and consciousness are included in this lord. Every other individual is included in this lord.

And the lord of all these individuals is a manifestation of this lord.

This lord, lords over all the individuals and all the entities, and he himself is the existence that lends oneself as 'is' in and through as one and all.

He is non dual.

He is real when we understand himself as trascending the names and forms.

Transcending the names and forms with which he is manifest, he is the unmanifest consciousness, that is sakshi chaitanyam. Manifest as all beings he is the lord.

His manifestation is a miracle, is mithya, like a dream. The fact is that he is manifest.

The fact is that he is ishvara.

I accept him, I need not dismiss him.

Without dismissing there can be non duality when mithya is understood.

Mithya is understood as non dismissive way of resolving him as one and non dual formless being in ones understanding, like resolving pot in clay in ones understanding.

So in my understanding this lord is non dual consciousness alone and nothing else. Isnt that enough.