The journey through duality has many, many individual souls believing this life, this experiential universe is all that exists. Few if any, are masters of the mind, and fewer have encountered the light within, the self-effulgent Light that is one with all that is: Ayam Atma Brahma.
Question 62/65: How does the illusion of Universe arise?
We are constantly challenged by our senses, our worldly experience. What is real, what is unreal? We chant asatoma, the mantra that prays that we are lead from the unreal to the Real. How do we reach that destination, that experience? Do prayers, pujas, yantras, pilgrimages, take us to that far shore of human experience? Does bhakta – devotion, or jnana – wisdom, take us there? The young Rama, astute student, asks.
Question 60: How does the Universe arise?
The universe arises on account of the binding illusion we are born into. This world is real, yes, we are bound by thoughts, words, actions. Our forming and relating ideas strengthens the binding power of maya to the mind. Hence, we think ‘this is all there is’, erroneously.
Gita: How to Die
Akshara Brahma Yoga (Bhagavad Gita Chapter 7) speaks of the imperishable Godhead. The atma (soul), too, is imperishable. What is not imperishable is the round of birth-death-and-birth again. One day we tire of these experiences and seek the return to our eternal source. How to do this? Most are afraid to speak of dying, and even, afraid to speak in the presence of the dying. Perhaps this selection from the Bhagavad Gita will explain why one or another guru tells those who surround the dying to chant the Om, the manifestation of Source and its creation.
Question 57: How does one obtain freedom from these bonds and achieve liberation?
What passes for observance of the real things in life might change as we move through the ages of life: childhood to young adulthood, to parent, on to retirement and finally, seclusion from the world-at-large. We might watch it all go past, and conclude as some do, “sic transit gloria mundi”, thus passes the glory of the world. And “so-called” glory it is; if we become attached, we return again and again until we learn that everything is Brahman.
Question 51: What attributes should a seeker have to realise Atma?
“From the Unreal, lead us to the real” says the eternal prayer that rises nightly from the hearts of millions. The world is the unreal, and when the mind is turned towards the world, dissatisfaction arises. Suffering arises, and the cycle of death-birth-death-again is assured. We must arrive at the discovery that our minds are our instruments, not our master. Turn it towards the world, you have discontent and suffering; turn it towards the heart, the home of the inner resident, you have peace, contentment.
Question 46: How is Atmagyan obtained?
What is that one thing, which, when known, all other things are known? It is taught that religious principles must be experienced, and their validity tested. By what inquiry, which path do we take to arrive at the knowledge of that by which all is known in all universes?
Question 41: What is Contentment and who gets it?
A popular perception of contentment is that contentment is an emotional state of satisfaction that can be seen as a mental state, maybe drawn from being at ease in one’s situation, body and mind. Perhaps, even, settling for a little bit less is a milder and more tentative form of happiness. It is a pity these definitions exist, for they do not speak of the mind, desire, nor discontentment. What is contentment in relation to purushartha, the goal of life?
Indian Philosophy Awakens One to Jnanamarga as Opposed to Bhogamarga: Babaji Bob Kindler
Swami Aseshananda went to America to spread the word of Vedanta and remained there between 1948 to 1996, never to return to India even once. Such was his commitment to the vision of Sri Sarada Devi, his teacher, Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. It is said that when he bowed down in the shrine at the Portland Center, he seemed to melt to the floor.
Question 40: What should we think of?
In this world of duality, of shape and form, of light and dark, of heat and cold, what is real, what is unreal? How do we discern the unreal from the real? What should we think and make reference to in our journey through life? Dharmam moolam jagat, the Universe rests on eternal order. How do we know this path of eternal order? How do you tell the snake from the rope?