The young Rama asks about experience when modifications and ideations disappear. What of religions? He learns that all sects or religions are just ideational; in reality, there are no distinctions of sects and religions in Atma. The entire ideation is an imaginary creation of individual consciousness.
Glossary:
shunya Hin., San. adj. var, sunya void, empty m. null, void, nothingness, emptiness, non-existence; solitude.
vigyan-roop: “Vigyan” (विज्ञान) means “science”; “Roop” (रूप) means “form,” “aspect,” or “appearance.”
atmaroop: the form of Atma; that which is seen is only the glamour of Atma; it is atma in and of itself.
atmaswaroop: cf. atmaswarupa; Consciousness, the Self, original nature, our true essential nature. (embodiment, form of the Atma)
chitta: San. noun. the mind (the seat of understanding and awareness, of intellect and will); memory, thought, reflection; the soul, heart. It is the individual consciousness, composed of intelligence and intellect (buddhi), ego (ahamkara) and mind (manas). In Vedanta, chitta is one aspect of Universal Consciousness (chit). The world hangs on the thread of consciousness – without consciousness, there is no world.
vikara: fault, blemish;
vikara: Agitation of the mind; bad quality of the mind
prana the breath of life, life-breath, the vital force which keeps the body alive, the sustaining life-energy; e.g. a beloved person, dear as one’s very life. Expressed as vibration, prana is the link between the astral and the causal body. We absorb prana through the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe, from sunlight and the earth we live on – yet it is not vitamin, heat or light rays. It is in the air, but is not in the oxygen, nor any of its chemical components. Its movement is inward; its seat is the heart. (V. 66, 320, 407)
vasana: tendencies or desires
vasana-roop: having the form of subconscious impressions/desires
sankalpa-vikalpa – ideation and error; ideations and variants
Question 271: Sir, when the ideations or modifications disappear, what is it that is sustained as the state of quiescence?
Answer: Ramji, that state of quiescence is Brahman; it is Pure Consciousness and exists in Itself. Atma is pure, sublime, distinct from knowledge and ignorance, and is without any marks of universe in it. All words and names that are ascribed to Atma are just ideational. Atma is a state beyond description and is ever immutable. The authors of scriptures have ascribed various names to Atma. Some call it a void (shunya), or vigyan-roop (scientific form) or God (Ishwara) or Almighty. All sects or religions are just ideational; in reality, there are no distinctions of sects and religions in Atma, because Atma is much above verbal expressions and is distinct from all ideations, illusions or names. Just as it is the same air in both the states of motion and stillness, so there is nothing but Atma in both the states of ideation and non-ideation.
Ramji, discard as unreal all that is cognised except Atma, and be established in your pure state. When you attain such a state of being, then all diversities of religions and scriptures, with names and forms, will vanish and only the pure form of Atma (atmaroop) itself will be cognised.
Ramji, the words Brahman and Atma have been used only for the sake of teaching; in reality, these too are not relevant to Atma. Names and forms are cognised in Atma due to ignorance; in reality Atma is non-dual, absolute and self-independent. You should be established in your non-dual Atmaswaroop (true essential nature).
Question 272: Sir, what is the primary substance underlying body, senses and ideation?
Answer: Ramji, just as the ocean is an aspect of water, so is the entire universe of names and forms, including you and me, an aspect of Consciousness. The universe—of the nature of duality—that is cognised because of the six senses including the mind, is just an illusion. This is a non-entity in Atma, because the entire ideation is an imaginary creation of individual consciousness chitta, and the chitta only cognises them. Atma is pure and faultless, and the creation of faults or impurities (vikar) therein are the ideations of the chitta. This chitta is without a potency of its own, but it carries its functions with the potencies of Atma. You abandon such a chitta, and then your web of impurities will be destroyed.
Ramji, now listen about the primary substance underlying the body and the senses. The body (form) is the essence in the entire expanse, because everything is related to the body. When the body disappears, no trace remains. The senses are the substratum of the body, and life-force (prana) is the substratum of the senses. The mind is the essence of prana, intellect is the basis of the mind, ego is the basis of intellect and jiva is the essence of ego. Vasana-roop ideation (having the form of subconscious impressions/desire), with whose potencies the entire expanse is manifested, is the basis of the individual person. Brahman, the Pure Consciousness, that is free from chitta (modifications) and in which all ideations and variants (sankalpa- vikalpa) resolve back, is the substratum or the basis of the primeval ideation. There is no ideation in Pure Brahman.
Ramji, you should renounce all objects with names and forms, including up to the ideation and be ever established in Atma—the Consciousness—that is the essence of everything.
Today man underestimates his own importance and humbles himself as a consequence. First and foremost, you must understand your own Divine Nature. But students of today are exposed to the world outside, without understanding their own nature. In the world today, the rapid rise of material progress is paralleled by the enormous rise of ignorance as well. Ignorance exists as long as man identifies himself with the body. The body is of limited power, but your power is limitless, for you are the “Infinite Imperishable” ‘I’. Carried away by this feeling that he is the body, he entertains doubts about his own strength. The body is the source of all doubts and debilities.
“The elements five make the body
And it will fall one day for sure.
Beyond death and birth is the dweller in the body
And beyond the bounds of delusion too.
For, He is verily the Lord Himself.”
(Summer Showers 1993, From Humanity to Divinity)
Hamsa Gayatri
Om Hamsaaya Vidmahe
Paramahamsaya Dheemahi
Tanno Hamsa Prachodayat
“May we realise Hamsa that is our own Self as the Swan. Let us meditate on that Paramahamsa, the Supreme Self. May Hamsa illumine us.”
HAMSA GAYATRI:
Students, the entire universe is encased in you. Never give room to the thoughts that you are the body. You are neither the body nor the mind. The body is transitory like a bubble and the mind is crazy like a mad monkey. Hence, never set faith on the mind and the body, but pin your faith on the conscience within you. The human body, though decked with the finest of ornaments and dressed elegantly, carries no value, once the breath of life ceases. For man, faith is his life breath. ‘Vishwasa‘ (Faith) is his Swasa‘ (breath). All the attainments achieved by the body carry no value if he lacks faith. The key is the life of the lock, similarly the self is the key of our life. It is the Atmic Consciousness which promotes the functions of the body. The Atmic Consciousness manifests as “Soham” in man. ‘Soham’ means “I am God”, ‘So’ is ‘That’ (God) and ‘Ham’ means ‘I’. ‘Soham’ is known as ‘Hamsa Gayatri’. ‘Hamsa’ signifies the power of discrimination which enables man to be established in the faith that he is different from the body.
The word ‘Gayatri’ signifies the mastery over the senses. The second name of ‘Gayatri’ Is ‘Savitri’. ‘Savitri’ signifies mastery over life. The third name of ‘Gayatri’ is ‘Saraswathi’. ‘Saraswathi’ signifies mastery over speech. Hence chanting of Hamsa Gayatri enables man to acquire the mastery over senses, life and speech.
Gayatri speaks of the world of ‘Bhur’, Bhuva’ and ‘Svuha’. Bhur signifies body, ‘Bhuva’ life and ‘Svuha’ stands for Prajna (constant integrated awareness). These three also stand for materialisation, vibration and radiation respectively. The three worlds of Bhuloka, Bhuvarloka and Svuharloka are in fact combined in man himself. Man is the embodiment of the three worlds and also the three times. Man is the embodiment of Cosmic Divine.