Hari Om Parents,
We began with the Opening Prayers. We continued to learn to chant Bhagavad Gita chapter 2 verses, Swamiji's video – Verses 21 & 22 was shown. We started chanting Shiva Panchakshari Stotram.
Lesson 21 Arise/Awake
"Arise, awake, stop not till the goal is reached!" Quote by Swami Vivekananda (one of the students could tell whose quote this was). Swami Vivekananda was a great Hindu sage, scholar and a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a Saint, a yogi and a realized master from Bengal, India. Swami Vivekananda was probably inspired by a verse from Kathopanishad which says, Uttishta jagrata ……….. This was read from the text with the meaning.
The path to Self-Knowledge is not easy. It is like the sharp edge of a razor, hence requires one to be awake and alert. For example, a circus performer riding a bike on a tightrope, or a gymnast on a beam, has to be so alert and aware to be able to perform successfully without getting hurt. Arise, awake is the call of the Scriptures for us to wake up and be alert to what kind of life we are living. There is a sense of urgency that is being conveyed in this statement. Our life is short we should use this time to turn ourselves towards the Lord. The path is compared to razors sharp edge, because if we're not careful we can easily get lost in his spiritual pursuits. If we think that we are very intelligent and smart and can understand and realize the Supreme Truth ourselves then we can get easily lost in this pursuit, hence we have to be very careful in pursuing spiritual path. Once we develop purity of mind and clarity of thought, we should follow the steps of a Guru who has already treaded this path and hence can lead us to the Highest Reality. If we do so – then the path can become easier for us to tread.
Does awake mean just getting out of bed? No. Even though we get up from bed we may not be fully alert of all our surroundings and do things mechanically. When we are alert then we can say we are awake even though we got up from bed earlier than that. Also, there is a difference between awake and awakening. A sudden shock in life can awaken someone. A disaster like an earthquake or tsunami can show how life is fragile. Why, this Covid-19 has awakened us all to understand we can't control everything however advanced we are in medicine or technology. Many have turned towards the Lord, reading scriptures and awakening to the temporary nature of life. In other words, this routine life is mundane, hollow. So arise and surrender to the teachings of Guru and with faith in scriptures awake to the knowledge of Self, the Truth.
Here is a story to explain the hollowness of life!
(Briefly) King Janaka had a dream one day. He was alone and wandering in a forest having lost his kingdom and was hungry and miserable. A piece of food he found to eat was snatched by a bird. Just then he woke up. He realized it was a dream for he was in his own bed in his palace. He was so shaken by the dream because it seemed so real to him. But then the waking world, this bed, palace, kingdom, appeared quiet real as well. The king was confused. So he went to his Guru Ashtavakra and asked him the question, "Please tell me which is real? Was the dream world real or this waking world is real?" To which the Guru responded, "Neither is real. The dream world and the waking world are unreal. There is something beyond the both that is Real."
This calls for contemplation. When we are dreaming, dream world appears real. While we are awake, waking world appears real. Both are different planes of consciousness. In dream waking world is not present; while we are awake dream world is not available. In deep sleep state neither of these states is present for cognition. This our daily experience – all these three states appear fleeting in nature and not present all the time; ever changing; so which of these states is Real? On closer observation we know there is a common factor who Is aware of all these three states … Who or What is this Awareness? … This is for us to think/contemplate…
So what is Truth or Reality? Truth is. Here is a poem on Truth by our Gurudev, Swami Chinmayananda.
"The earth is round, earth moves,
Not seen, but true.
The sky is blue, the sunset is golden,
Seen, but false.
The energy in the atom,
Vitality in the sun,
Gravitational force,
Not seen, but true.
The double moon, mirage waters, dreams, and hallucinations,
Seen, but false.
The world we see, but not true.
The Truth we see not, but is true."
We saw in last class that which is changeless is Real. That which is present in three periods of time, past, present and future; that which is not bound by space and time is Reality. In our world, everything is bound by space and time. Everything changes. What does not change is Atman or Brahman. This knowledge is beyond perception or comprehension of our mind and intellect. To understand this concept we first have to rise above the worldly, mundane pleasures and turn our mind towards higher or Self. We have to attach to higher virtues/values and detach from lower, self-centered pleasures. If a monkey snatches away a pair of glasses, how do we get it back? We tempt the monkey with a 'better item' like a banana so that he drops the glasses and takes the banana. Similarly, once our mind discovers greater joy/happiness/peace by pursuing the nobler values, by study of scriptures and meditation then it will automatically drops lower worldly pleasures. This is called the Detachment Attachment Yoga.
How can we tune our minds to rise above the mundane world? - You develop a friendship with the Lord. Exactly the way one develops friendship with a friend. How? (Students responded.) - Spend more time with the friend, find common interests, share experiences etc.. Similarly more time we spend thinking about Lord or in the presence of the Lord, we come closer to Him. The more we learn about His qualities, the more we imbibe and become like Him. Example, if your favorite god is Hanuman, you can develop some of his qualities as given in the sloka Buddhir balam… We showed youtube video about devotion by Swamini Supriyanandaji (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-heLQZMuyk&list=PLm6DKuwwu5zp_gmpEGjVmVGiETi6pBA-r&index=89 )
Upasana means worship or "sitting near". Upa means near near and asana means sitting. Here sitting near does not only mean physically sitting near but also mentally sitting near the object of our workship. When we do this we imbibed the qualities of that object. If iron filings are placed near a magnet they get attracted to the magnet and eventually develop magnetism within them; if you put a log of wood near fire it starts imbibing the heat and eventually starts burning, when I'm feeling cold if I sit near fire I imbibed the heat from the fire and I start feeling comfortably. In the same way our Scriptures say that we must do upasana on a chosen deity. Pujya Gurudev states that every idol represents an ideal. Idols of Rama, Krishna, Siva, Devi etc represents the Supreme Lord the one who is omnipresent. Because our mind cannot conceive of a formless all-pervading Lord easily, it needs an object to hold onto to focus on and to develop concentration on hence our Rishis have provided us with the various symbols/idols. This enables our mind to rest easily on the symbol and make it single pointed.
Mind easily gravitates towards something that we love. Something that we can conceive in terms of quality such as form, color, taste or smell etc. In path of devotion the devotee is invoking the Supreme Reality through his love for the Lord. Right now all our minds are deeply chained and engaged with many pleasures pursuits in the outside world. First step in the path of spirituality is to wean ourselves away from our continuous pursuit in the outer world for fulfillment of our desires and thereby hoping to get everlasting happiness. The technique that is employed to wean the mind of is called upasana, where we provide a higher altar for the mind to revel in. It will be easy for us to detach ourselves from the worldly pursuit and turnover mind towards the Lord when we realize that the objects that we are pursuing in the outside world can only give us fleeting joys and pleasures. It is only by turning towards the higher that we will be able to eventually achieve everlasting peace and happiness.
Once Swami Vivekananda visited a King who was an atheist and did not believe in idol worship. Swamiji went to the palace and asked one of the ministers to take the picture of King's grandfather and put it on the floor and trample it. The king was very angry and asked "how can you say that an insult my grandfather?" Swami said what is wrong since it is only a picture and not your grandfather. The king then realized what Swamiji was trying to teach him. For someone else it may be only a photograph but for the king it was a picture of grandfather who symbolized his ancestry, an ideal that he reviewed, his father's father from whom he got all his wealth and power. In the same way in religion too the 'idol' is not merely an object but it represents the Supreme Lord. The devotee can experience the presence of the Lord in the idol. It helps tune his mind and develop deep love for the form of the Lord. This ideal invokes in our mind the awareness of God's presence and helps us to develop a relationship and friendship with the Lord. It is a means to purify our mind and get rid of negative tendencies within us.
We showed a YouTube video of Swamini Supriyannadaji (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx5JVRmub_M&list=PLm6DKuwwu5zp_gmpEGjVmVGiETi6pBA-r&index=25. Significance of prayer was briefly discussed. Pujya Gurudev has said that prayer should not be used as a spare wheel, but it should be rather a steering wheel guiding us in our life. All the prayers are usually in the form of mantras. These mantras are nothing but sounds, and when we analyze sounds they are nothing but vibrations. When we expose our mind to these vibrations it helps us to develop concentration, attention and also expand our mind to higher possibilities. This is what our Richie's have discovered and given to these mantras/prayers as a great gift so that we can also chant them with devotion and purify our mind which facilitates it to expand into higher and subtler realms
