Review of 3rd October 2021 Satsang

Chapter 18 Sloka 49 to Sloka 51

Yadä yat-kartum-äyäti tadä tat-kurute rjuhu,

Subham väpya-Subham väpi tasya cestä hi bälavatu. 18 – 49

Svätantryät sukham-äpnoti svätantryät-labhate param,

svätantryän-nirvrtim gacchet svätantryät paramam padam. 18 – 50

Akartrtvam-abhoktrtvam svätmano manyate yadä,

tadä ksinä bhavan-tyeva samastäs-citta-vrttayah. 18 – 51

Lecture Chapter 18 – 49

yadä   when; yat   which; kartum   to do (as his lot); äyäti   comes; tadä   then; tat   that; kurute   does; rjuh   freely; Subham   good; vä api  up or; aSubham   evil; vä   or; api   even; tasya   his; cestä   action; hi   for;   bälavat  like that of a child.

The Wise one does freely whatever comes to his lot, whether good or evil; his actions are like those of a child.

The Man-of-Realization lives in total freedom at all times and under all conditions and circumstances. He knows no limitations. He puts no curb upon himself. He does not seek fields of activities. Whatever circumstances reach him, he accepts it without any anxiety or hesitation. He lives meeting his Prärabdha openly, without any fear or favor. Nothing affects him. Nothing entangles him. In no activity does he entertain the idea that he is the “doer.”

“The Wise does freely,” meaning without the shackles of ego and ego-centric desires. He has neither the ego-sense within nor has he the ego-feelings towards the world-of-objects; he has neither ‘I-ness’ nor ‘my-ness.’ Whatever comes to him, good or evil, he meets them heroically, seeing in and through them all, the same One, Infinite Self. The intellect – the equipment that discriminates the good and the evil – has been transcended by him.

In a way, living moment to moment dynamically, facing life as it comes, both in its raw beauty and naked abhorrence, the actions of the Wise are compared to the innocent actions of children. This example has already been exhaustively analyzed.

This verse apparently contradicts the thought expressed earlier, “He who has egoism in him acts even though he does not act. Surely the Wise one is free from egoism does not act even though he acts.”

Lecture Chapter 18 – 50

svätantryät   from freedom; sukham   happiness; äpnoti   attains; svätantryät   from freedom;  labhate   attains; param   the highest; svätantryät   from freedom; nirvrtim   peaceful state, tranquility, repose; gacchet   attains; svätantryät   from freedom; paramam   supreme; padam   state (attains).

Through freedom one attains to happiness; through freedom to the highest; through freedom to repose; and through freedom to the Supreme State.

With a free and unshackled mind alone the Spiritual Awakening can be accomplished. Any thought, good or bad, is ‘”stress in the Infinite.” Without a disturbance, the placid and clear surface of a lake cannot have ripples. Any discipline, any value of life, even trying to maintain the mind in meditation is a disturbance in the Consciousness! Thoughtless-state is the “no-mind”; it is the state of Pure Consciousness, without any stress in It. With this idea in mind, Ashtävakra addresses students, who have moved to the Highest-state in meditation.

This does not mean that a fool, who lives a sensuous life of indiscipline is in any way reaching near the Truth. There are unintelligent and unprepared students who vociferously declare such a licentious life of freedom as a means for Realization! They become Mahans and sages to spread such ideas among the innocent’ masses of the world, they twist and pervert the already ugly face of the community. They are a real peril to society. We have repeatedly warned, that this textbook is meant only for students, who have risen above in their spiritual pursuit, after having undergone all the unavoidable preliminary disciplines, which alone can bring about inner purifications.

Lecture Chapter 18 – 51

akartrtvam   that one is not the doer;  abhoktrtvam   that one is not the enjoyer; svätmanah   of one’s own Self; manyate   perceives; yadä   when; tadä   then; ksinäh   destroyed; bhavanti   become; eva   indeed; samastäh   all; citta vrttayah   modifications of the mind.

All the modifications of the mind are indeed destroyed when a man realizes that the Self in him, is neither the doer nor the enjoyer.

In the last stages of the spiritual practices, the attention is more and more upon the Self, rather than upon the equipments of experiences and their endless fields. To continuously contemplate upon the Self, as one’s own Real Nature, and to meditate that as the Self, one is neither the doer nor the enjoyer, in any of the activities of one’s body, mind, and intellect – is to quieten the mind most effectively. This attitude spells death to the ego.

ms dwelling upon the Self and Its nature-divine is also, no doubt, “a thought.” There is a newly-risen school of thought in India led by a gang of incorrigibles, rather than by men of any spiritual unfoldment. They have no knowledge of the Upanisads, nor have they lived the spiritual life. They laugh at all spiritual practices – nay, even at the attempt of the seeker to quieten his mind and compose himself for contemplation upon the Self! Their arguments are quite tantalizing to any superficially intellectual man, indeed! But they are certainly false prophets when judged from the State of Realization.

The thought “I am the Self’ or the thought that “the Infinite Self is neither the doer nor the enjoyer” is indeed a ‘thought.” But this ‘thought” has a magic of its own and it annihilates all other thoughts of the ego. It is the ego which arrogates to itself the false attitudes of the doership and the enjoyership. This ‘thought” when held on for a sufficiently long time within the meditator, it shall not only destroy all other thoughts but also disappear itself into the Thoughtless State of direct-Experience. This is not said by us for gaining an argument. This is not something that the students of Vedänta should bitterly swallow down their throats in a helpless blind-faith! It is supremely rational and entirely satisfying to any enquiring intellect.

“Thought” upon the Self, dear children, is not, in fact, a ‘thought.” A thought must have necessarily an object. The thought of the Self is a “thought” on the subject, and therefore, it has no object. “Objectless thought” is not a thought. And yet, for the last withering mind, contemplation upon the Self is an unavoidable staff – helping him along the last few steps to the Threshold of Reality.

When the sense of doership and enjoyership is completely eradicated, the ego disappears into the vision of the Self. The meditator merges in the meditated – the river has reached the ocean – there to be the ocean: no more can the river remain separate.

Current Satsang