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.

PramAta and prameyA

The pramAta, is the atma.

PrameyA is clearly anAtma.

This is atma anAtma viveka.

PramAta and prameya also have fundamental differences.

PramAta is attributeless, prameya has attributes.

PramAta is aprameya, prameya is prama through pramAnas such as pratyaksa iti.

PramAta is 'asti' svarupa, by itself exists and has no  nAma rupA, Prameya is also 'asti' but comes with nAma rupA.

ShAstra calls pramAta atma as satyam, since it is independent, while prameya is mithya, since its astitiva is not its own.

You cannot find any prameya vastu, with its own astitiva.

Hence satyam, is atma alone.

Any mithya prameya vastu, we say it exists, due to the prama that it exists.

This prama that it exists is maya shakti.

It exists, when it is said, that is all of shrshti, with all of its knowledge.

This knowledge gains existence from the atma alone, which is astitva.

But atma is like a shining sun, which itself, does not become the prameya vastus.

So the prameya vastus, only appear to have their own astitva, it is a borrowed from atma.

By itself, in fact there is nothing other than atma, atma is advitiyam.

The mithya jagad, appears with atma as Ashraya.

By gnAna it is known that atma alone is real, therefore the mithya jagad is merely a khyAti or adhyAsa.

With the jagad adhyAsa, atma becomes pramAta, and also atma becomes the various vastus.

Also atma becomes parameshvara, and there is also a jiva, with ignorance upAdhi and so on.

Hence the jagad does not arise from brahman, rather jagad is a beginingless 'khyAti' or 'superimposition' which really speaking 'ends' with gnanam.

Since atma is sathyam, the pursuit of moksa stands negated, and there is nothing to pursue for the mukta , by way of achieving moksa.

All pursuits are as they naturally occur, and this is in order, since the jagad is orderly, and known as parameshvara.

A dedication to the pitrus

OM

Namaste to the venerable ones
The upholders of the pitru loka
This is a prayer from Shivaramakrishnan
The scion of Naidruva kashyapa gotra
Son of Subramaniam Shivaramakrishnan
And grandson of Shivaramakrishnan Subramaniam.

By the travails and accounts of endless karmas,
Was born myself, in the loka of manava.

Hail the great blessing of the pitrus
Whose blessings are the sole reason
For every son of the dynasty
To be continuing this great lineage

I make my prayers to you in despair
But with the strength of my gurus and the lords blessings
For you are the most esteemed ones,
And you are the most accomplished.

You are the great dAtAs of manava loka
You bless men folk with progeny
And good health and wealth
As well as with confidence

I do have a debt , that I repay.

I thought one day, how best to repay,
There are so many efforts that one can make


Conduct grand yagnas, an shine as a million suns
Do great punya yagnas, and earn the blessings of the devas
Be of great sevice to mankind, and to devas and pitrus
Should I not set an example to be worthy of your blessings

Forgive me for naivety in my young and early adulthood,
For what I had not found was my beloved guru
To the earlier question as to how best I repay
I shall narrate , that finding a guru is indeed the best way.

Men do try , with all their limited powers.
And limited knowledge, and limited friendships
Even if they go on to befriend the devas,
And indra and all the celestials
They shall also make enemies with the asuras,
They can never ever enjoy limitless freedom.

In each and every of our limited pursuits,
The pursuit has to be understood in clarity,
May I invoke lord mahaganapthy
The very icon and devata of clarity alone
Since he is the very remover of all vignAs or obstacles.

Such clarity he lent, by the blessings of the pitrus
To seek the limitless, in this limited loka.
What is the limitless, isnt that what we seek,
isnt that what you seek, oh beloved pitrus
the manes the fathers the great great grandfathers

Oh great karma yogins and follower of the vedas
All your efforts were for worshipping the lords
The great yagnas you performed and the greatness you achieved
We are forever in praise of you

But isnt it true the self is the most beloved
And all that you did was for praising brahman

The fire is brahman, and so is the laddle
The ghee that is poured is also brahman
The one who pours the ghee is non separate from brahman
and brahman alone is the results of the karma

So what is done is for the sake of brahman
And brahman alone does what is to be done
And how it is done is none other than brahman
What else one wants other than the limitless goal

All karmas are useful to attain the readiness
Attain the greatness that takes one to a guru
And it is indeed the fruits of your greatest penances
That I had the greatest fortune of meeting my guru in this life itself

OM Shri DakshinAmurtaye namaH
OM Shri Swami Paramarthananda Saraswatiye NamaH
OM Shri Dayananda Saraswati Swamine Namaha
OM Shri Svatmavidananda Saraswathi Swamineem NamaH
OM Shri Viditatmananda Saraswatiye Namaha
OM Shri Ramakrishnaya Namaha
OM Vigneshvaraya Namaha
OM Shri Lalithatripurasundari namaH
OM Shri GaneshAya namaH
OM Karthikeya Swamine NamaH
OM Bhagavan DevakiNandanAya namaH
OM RudrAya namaH

OM Shri BAlakrishnAya namaH
OM Shri Ayyappa Swamine NamaH

OM Shri Samartha Sadguru SainAthaya Namaha

HarihOM Shri gurubhyo NamaH Harih OM.

Such a guru whom I met in my lifetime,
Isnt it a fruit of your blessings alone
I know you can hear my plea
And you can hear my prayer
And you can respond since you are the blessed ones

Anger is always possible
But so is possible to bless and cool happiness
Swami Narsmha himself had cooled down
After such an ugra form
Into the benefic form of lord laksmi Narasmha

You who are the great devotees of lord nrsmha NArAyana
I plead thy to lend your ears and  your great attention
To this secret that my guru had taught me

Knowing the true value of a guru,
Here is what he taught me,
That I dedicate and pass onto you
In the true spirit of the guru SIshya tradition


OM, is the word, that denotes the three worlds.
It denotes the waking, dreaming and sleeping states.
It denotes the three bodies of a jiva.
It denotes the three bodies of ishvara.

OM is hence a name for the lord
The lord who is all pervasive
The lord whom you worship.

But this is only the direct meaning of OM

There is indeed an implied meaning for the word OM
And this is the meaning that was taught to me
By my exalted gurus ,
Who are brahmavids and shrotriya brahmaNishta

When I say 'I', the I is indeed atma
This atma is formless, shapeless, attributeless, limitless, consciousness that is different from known objects which are matter, and of the nature of limitlessness

Such an atma is the satyam, it is indeed the truth,
It alone exists, and nothing else exists whatsoever other than this atma

This atma is tvam, this atma is aham, this atma is tad

This atma is the basis on which,
The mithya jagad is sustained

All that is here, which is OM, is sustained, or exists with atma as the basis,
But all that is here, does not enjoy the same degree of reality as atma

While atma is truth the blemishless and beginingless truth
This world only seemingly exists, and enjoys its existence, with atma being the maker as well as the material,
That is what is parameshvara, parameshvara is indeed the parambrahman, which is atma.
The great intelligent being, bhagavan is atma,
And soham iti, so am I.

Where is duality, other than just a dream,
From the paramArthika pov, there is only blemishless truth,
Satyam Gnanam Anantham brahma.

What else is possibly there, other than Aham,

What else is their to achieve,
Is this to be achieved or to be known

Soham iti, is to be known
And only to remove ignorance,
Since soham is manifest as me,
as you of beloved pitrus
Tat Tvam Asi.

OM Shri Parvathi Pathaye, Hara Hara MahAdeva.