Chapter 13 (The Seekers Sense of Well-Being): Verse 3
कृतं किमपि नैव स्यादिति संचिन्त्य तत्त्वतः ।
यदा यत्कर्तुमायाति तत्कृत्वाऽऽसे यथासुखम् ॥ १३-३॥
PURPORT:
Thoroughly appreciating that what is
done is done by the ego in concert with
the mind, body and senses and that no
one can truly claim achievement to work
done eo ipso, the ego remains unattached
in the work that the body and the mind
does and thus I live in happiness.
TRANSLITERATION:
कृतम् किम् अपि न एव स्यात् इति संचिन्त्य तत्त्वतः ।
kṛtam kim api na eva syāt iti saṃcintya tattvataḥ ।
यदा यत् कर्तुम् आयाति तत् कृत्वा आसे यथासुखम् ॥ १३-३॥
yadā yat kartum āyāti tat kṛtvā āse yathāsukham ॥ 13-3॥
MEANING:
kṛtam (कृतम्) = done
kim (किम्) = anything what
api (अपि) = ever
na (न) = not
eva (एव) = indeed
syāt (स्यात्) = is
iti (इति) = thus
saṃcintya (संचिन्त्य) = fully thinking
tattvataḥ (तत्त्वतः) = in reality ।
yadā (यदा) = when
yat (यत्) = what
kartum (कर्तुम्) = to do
āyāti (आयाति) = comes
tat (तत्) = that
kṛtvā (कृत्वा) = having done
āse (आसे) = live
yathāsukham (यथासुखम्) = thus happily ॥ 13-3॥
COMMENT:
The lines that resonate within this verse is the wisdom contained within the words "I keep doing what needs to be done, as and when things needs to be done". This reminds me of that tiny line attributed to zen teachings that simply states that before one sees aspects of awareness, they chop wood and carry water; and, after awareness is part of ones being, they continue to chop wood and carry water.
In this sense one does not grasp nor cling onto anything, one does not get attached even to awareness, awareness seeps in while we continue to perform our regular activities that life asks of us and one does not reach some kind of an exalted state where one has to proclaim truths nor feel any need to evangelize - one just carries on doing the same actions - the mindfulness involved in all activities brings peace naturally without trying too hard.
The key takeaway that Janaka offers to the seeking individual is that while it does not seem like things have changed externally (and things should not change so), just about everything about the intrinsic makeup of the seeker will have changed after seeing aspects of clarity and awareness. I always use the word 'aspects', because the stilling of thoughts and the tamping down of mental fluctuations within our minds starts off by one seeing only 'aspects' of such an inner tranquility. The moment comes by, one understands the moment and in many cases, it passes on; it is only by a sustained maintenance of being mindful within every moment and situation that one can look to prolong and actualize this particular state of being.
This might be one reason why psychedelics like LSD and soma (there is a theory that soma* was magic mushrooms) played a initiation-to-aspects-of-awareness role among seekers - the psychedelic worked within the appropriate neural pathways (that are little understood) to allow for the sense of ego and self-model to dissolve allowing for the user/seeker to gain 'aspects of such an awareness'. The glimpse of such an awareness and the resultant feeling of contentment might sometimes have been enough to gently nudge the seeker into looking into techniques by which this awareness slowly becomes their natural state of being (and that path should not be the repeated use of such mind altering substances, but, instead should be the start of a journey of looking inwards and understanding the answers within oneself).
Therefore, coming back to the verse at hand, the implication being that one does what they are doing fully engaged in the activities while they are doing the same. Never do what you are not doing when you are not doing it. One never considers states like 'awareness' and words like 'enlightenment' to be destinations like the tops of mountains that one has climbed nor as goals or milestones that one has achieved; rather one sees these way-points as opportunities where one gets to align and reorient their inner clarity with the external world.
*In Vedic tradition, soma (सोम) is a ritual drink of importance among the early Indians. Within Hindu and Zoroastrian heritage and teachings, this ritual drink is thought to have been a robust psychedelic, and it was used in religious ceremonies. It was said to be a plant extract known for enhancing awareness, conveying idealistic mystical experiences, and helping the imbiber with mental sensations of beatitude, artistic inspiration, and deeper insight. Gordon Wasson, the published 'Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality' in which the author put forward an argument that the psychoactive mushroom Amanita muscaria as the source of the soma in the Hindu and Zoroastrian tradition. Recent research has however shown that the authors theory may not be fully watertight as soma was explicitly described as plant based with the leaves, flowers, and stalks that are juiced to create the drink whereas the description of a mushroom is different.
Friday, February 28, 2020
AVG 13.2
Chapter 13 (The Seekers Sense of Well-Being): Verse 2
कुत्रापि खेदः कायस्य जिह्वा कुत्रापि खेद्यते ।
मनः कुत्रापि तत्त्यक्त्वा पुरुषार्थे स्थितः सुखम् ॥ १३-२॥
PURPORT:
There is distress in the body somewhere,
elsewhere disheartening speech and
somewhere else, there is dejection with
the mind. One understands that the cessation
of such distress associated with these crutches
only comes on realization of full awareness;
the seekers journey until then continues
bolstered thusly. Having renounced these crutches,
I am rooted happily within the understanding of life.
TRANSLITERATION:
कुत्र अपि खेदः कायस्य जिह्वा कुत्र अपि खेद्यते ।
kutra api khedaḥ kāyasya jihvā kutra api khedyate ।
मनः कुत्र अपि तत् त्यक्त्वा पुरुषार्थे स्थितः सुखम् ॥ १३-२॥
manaḥ kutra api tat tyaktvā puruṣārthe sthitaḥ sukham ॥ 13-2॥
MEANING:
kutra (कुत्र) = somewhere
api (अपि) = or other..
khedaḥ (खेदः) = is in distress/depression/dejection
kāyasya (कायस्य) = of the body (as in the use or abuse of the body in the search for awareness)
jihvā (जिह्वा) = tongue (refers to speech - as in the application of speech to the study of scriptures)
kutra (कुत्र) = somewhere
api (अपि) = or other..
khedyate (खेद्यते) = is distressed/in depression/in dejection ।
manaḥ (मनः) = mind (as in constraining thought and thinking in a labored manner within the seekers mind in the hopes of achieving awareness)
kutra (कुत्र) = somewhere
api (अपि) = or other..
tat (तत्) = this
tyaktvā (त्यक्त्वा) = having abandoned [the foregoing]. Note: 'the foregoing' as in the application of the body, speech and mind in realizing stillness presupposes a lack that still persists on the part of the seeker, and hence the seeker continues to rely on the crutches of the body (presumably in the exercise thereof), mind (presumably in the control over the same in a constrained and labored manner) and speech (presumably referring to the reciting of scriptures in the hope of understanding and reaching stillness). The thinking is that the cessation of these crutches only comes on the realization of full awareness - until then the seeker continues to use these crutches in the journey there.
puruṣārthe (पुरुषार्थे) = in the goals of life
sthitaḥ (स्थितः) = rooted/established/grounded
sukham (सुखम्) = happily ॥ 13-2॥
COMMENT:
This verse is a tacit admission of the realities that intersect the seeker's path as they continue to understand and find peace within themselves. The reality is that we are a product of biological evolution and our instincts and reactions were honed from the results of millions of years of evolution. In that sense, the constant wandering thoughts that occupy our minds, the actions that our bodies undertake to maintain a sense of homeostasis, the functions performed by our sense-organs in sampling, measuring and classifying phenomena around us will continue unabated - whether one wills it or not - we are a fortuitous collection of cells and structures that are dependently constituted to perform these autonomous functions.
The point being made here is that the extent to which we reify objects that are the results of our sense perceptions is the deciding factor in having us perceive that sensory object as 'real' or 'illusory'. Perceiving them as 'real' in a conventional sense is fine; this way, one can carry on with the business of living life - our bodies perform their prescribed actions, our brains help us navigate our surroundings mindfully and our sense organs recognize objects of perception and life goes on as we know it to be - the confusion stems from our inclination to overly identify and actualize any or all aspects of such sense objects that we come into contact with. Such identification leads to a pattern of being bound to characteristics and properties that we perceive and then associate with the object.
In addition, such binding leads to superimposition of personally favored characteristics onto these sense-objects that in turn channel appropriate emotions within us. The superimposition and binding commingle to produce an essentialism that we associate with the sense-object. This essentialism accrued over time leads to a complete reification of the object itself where one starts to believe that the object so reified possesses characteristics that allow for the same to endure through the end of time.
The gentle advice Janaka points us to here is that one needs to seek awareness realizing that while our senses, thoughts and bodies perform their biologically evolved functions, identification with any of the targets of these functions (like emotion or taste or thought or material possessions) must be undertaken within their conventional context while avoiding any inclination to assign any ultimate or absolute status to the same. Notice that Janaka also explicitly mentions (in this verse) that the seeker will continue to seek using their bodies, their minds and the sense-perceptions (from sense-organs) until such time the seeker understands that they will not need these crutches any more (in the presence of a full and complete awareness of their own selves).
Thus, one learns not to react or judge the world via thoughts nor the outputs of our sense organs, but instead to observe and witness the same from a standpoint that does not involve choices or biases or inclinations. One understands that while conditioning still lurks somewhere in the background, one is not channeled by the same anymore. In due course, the ego melts and fades away in equal measure.
One learns to be quiet internally; and, in that quietude, one grows. The feeling "I am a human being and I have a self and it resides within my head and heart" is sheer thought. It is a manifestation of the ego. In the same manner, one understands that other formulations of the same thought that take the following forms "I am made in the image of He" or "I am that Supreme Reality" or "I am <insert MysticalCreation here>" is also sheer thought. It is yet another manifestation of the same ego as in the first case. The ultimate form of quietude is to settle into the idea of the eventual cessation of identities like "my/I/you/your". While at first blush what seems to be a slightly morbid idea cannot be closer to truth; for, only in the complete cessation and the death of what we term the ‘self’ can a measure of peace be found that lasts.
कुत्रापि खेदः कायस्य जिह्वा कुत्रापि खेद्यते ।
मनः कुत्रापि तत्त्यक्त्वा पुरुषार्थे स्थितः सुखम् ॥ १३-२॥
PURPORT:
There is distress in the body somewhere,
elsewhere disheartening speech and
somewhere else, there is dejection with
the mind. One understands that the cessation
of such distress associated with these crutches
only comes on realization of full awareness;
the seekers journey until then continues
bolstered thusly. Having renounced these crutches,
I am rooted happily within the understanding of life.
TRANSLITERATION:
कुत्र अपि खेदः कायस्य जिह्वा कुत्र अपि खेद्यते ।
kutra api khedaḥ kāyasya jihvā kutra api khedyate ।
मनः कुत्र अपि तत् त्यक्त्वा पुरुषार्थे स्थितः सुखम् ॥ १३-२॥
manaḥ kutra api tat tyaktvā puruṣārthe sthitaḥ sukham ॥ 13-2॥
MEANING:
kutra (कुत्र) = somewhere
api (अपि) = or other..
khedaḥ (खेदः) = is in distress/depression/dejection
kāyasya (कायस्य) = of the body (as in the use or abuse of the body in the search for awareness)
jihvā (जिह्वा) = tongue (refers to speech - as in the application of speech to the study of scriptures)
kutra (कुत्र) = somewhere
api (अपि) = or other..
khedyate (खेद्यते) = is distressed/in depression/in dejection ।
manaḥ (मनः) = mind (as in constraining thought and thinking in a labored manner within the seekers mind in the hopes of achieving awareness)
kutra (कुत्र) = somewhere
api (अपि) = or other..
tat (तत्) = this
tyaktvā (त्यक्त्वा) = having abandoned [the foregoing]. Note: 'the foregoing' as in the application of the body, speech and mind in realizing stillness presupposes a lack that still persists on the part of the seeker, and hence the seeker continues to rely on the crutches of the body (presumably in the exercise thereof), mind (presumably in the control over the same in a constrained and labored manner) and speech (presumably referring to the reciting of scriptures in the hope of understanding and reaching stillness). The thinking is that the cessation of these crutches only comes on the realization of full awareness - until then the seeker continues to use these crutches in the journey there.
puruṣārthe (पुरुषार्थे) = in the goals of life
sthitaḥ (स्थितः) = rooted/established/grounded
sukham (सुखम्) = happily ॥ 13-2॥
COMMENT:
This verse is a tacit admission of the realities that intersect the seeker's path as they continue to understand and find peace within themselves. The reality is that we are a product of biological evolution and our instincts and reactions were honed from the results of millions of years of evolution. In that sense, the constant wandering thoughts that occupy our minds, the actions that our bodies undertake to maintain a sense of homeostasis, the functions performed by our sense-organs in sampling, measuring and classifying phenomena around us will continue unabated - whether one wills it or not - we are a fortuitous collection of cells and structures that are dependently constituted to perform these autonomous functions.
The point being made here is that the extent to which we reify objects that are the results of our sense perceptions is the deciding factor in having us perceive that sensory object as 'real' or 'illusory'. Perceiving them as 'real' in a conventional sense is fine; this way, one can carry on with the business of living life - our bodies perform their prescribed actions, our brains help us navigate our surroundings mindfully and our sense organs recognize objects of perception and life goes on as we know it to be - the confusion stems from our inclination to overly identify and actualize any or all aspects of such sense objects that we come into contact with. Such identification leads to a pattern of being bound to characteristics and properties that we perceive and then associate with the object.
In addition, such binding leads to superimposition of personally favored characteristics onto these sense-objects that in turn channel appropriate emotions within us. The superimposition and binding commingle to produce an essentialism that we associate with the sense-object. This essentialism accrued over time leads to a complete reification of the object itself where one starts to believe that the object so reified possesses characteristics that allow for the same to endure through the end of time.
The gentle advice Janaka points us to here is that one needs to seek awareness realizing that while our senses, thoughts and bodies perform their biologically evolved functions, identification with any of the targets of these functions (like emotion or taste or thought or material possessions) must be undertaken within their conventional context while avoiding any inclination to assign any ultimate or absolute status to the same. Notice that Janaka also explicitly mentions (in this verse) that the seeker will continue to seek using their bodies, their minds and the sense-perceptions (from sense-organs) until such time the seeker understands that they will not need these crutches any more (in the presence of a full and complete awareness of their own selves).
Thus, one learns not to react or judge the world via thoughts nor the outputs of our sense organs, but instead to observe and witness the same from a standpoint that does not involve choices or biases or inclinations. One understands that while conditioning still lurks somewhere in the background, one is not channeled by the same anymore. In due course, the ego melts and fades away in equal measure.
One learns to be quiet internally; and, in that quietude, one grows. The feeling "I am a human being and I have a self and it resides within my head and heart" is sheer thought. It is a manifestation of the ego. In the same manner, one understands that other formulations of the same thought that take the following forms "I am made in the image of He" or "I am that Supreme Reality" or "I am <insert MysticalCreation here>" is also sheer thought. It is yet another manifestation of the same ego as in the first case. The ultimate form of quietude is to settle into the idea of the eventual cessation of identities like "my/I/you/your". While at first blush what seems to be a slightly morbid idea cannot be closer to truth; for, only in the complete cessation and the death of what we term the ‘self’ can a measure of peace be found that lasts.
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
AVG 13.1
Chapter 13 (The Seekers Sense of Well-Being): Verse 1
जनक उवाच ॥
अकिञ्चनभवं स्वास्थ्यं कौपीनत्वेऽपि दुर्लभम् ।
त्यागादानेविहायास्मादहमासेयथासुखम् ॥ १३-१॥
PURPORT:
The distinct sense of tranquility that emanates
from one who wants for nothing and owns
nothing is difficult to obtain. Even the
possession of a loin-cloth whose ownership
gets construed as 'my loin-cloth' is sufficient
to dispel this rare sense of tranquility.
Therefore, by giving up concepts and
thoughts attached to accepting and
renunciation, I am content with how I am.
TRANSLITERATION:
जनक उवाच ॥
janaka uvāca ॥
अकिञ्चनभवम् स्वास्थ्यम् कौपीनत्वे अपि दुर्लभम् ।
akiñcanabhavam svāsthyam kaupīnatve api durlabham ।
त्यागादाने विहाय अस्मात् अहम् आसे यथासुखम् ॥ १३-१॥
tyāgādāne vihāya asmāt aham āse yathāsukham ॥ 13-1॥
MEANING:
janaka (जनक) = Janaka
uvāca (उवाच) = said ॥
akiñcanabhavam (अकिञ्चनभवम्) = emanating from within one who is without anything (compound of akiñcanabhavam (अकिञ्चनभवम्) meaning 'without anything/utterly depleted' and bhavam (भवम्) meaning 'coming into being')
svāsthyam (स्वास्थ्यम्) = contentment/tranqulity/wellness
kaupīnatve (कौपीनत्वे) = in having a loincloth (Kaupinam, Kowanagam or Langoti is a cotton loincloth or undergarment with religious symbolism attached to asceticism for the Hindus)
api (अपि) = even
durlabham (दुर्लभम्) = difficult to obtain ।
tyāgādāne (त्यागादाने) = renunciation and acceptance
vihāya (विहाय) = giving up
asmāt (अस्मात्) = therefore
aham (अहम्) = I
āse (आसे) = live
yathāsukham (यथासुखम्) = thus happily (compound of yathā (यथासुखम्) meaning 'thus/hence' and sukham (सुखम्) meaning 'happy/content') ॥ 13-1॥
COMMENT:
Janaka continues his journey of inner exploration and this chapter is a deeper dialogue on the eventual attainment of a state of being internally content and externally tranquil. The kind of imagery that Janaka brings to bear within these line are vivid - mentioning that one does not understand or glimpse this state of contentedness by decamping to the mountains or by secluded living within a deep cave or by wearing the barest of clothing and going through aspects of ritual self-flagellation handed down from books and scripture written many centuries ago.
While some of these techniques might allow for the mind to attain a semblance of focus, the seeker understands that in resorting to these methods of sense-denial, the mind still remains active, alert and in a state of conscious control. In that sense, the mind is still conflicted with desires and memories of such desires. Awareness and internal stillness may not be obtained this way.
Awareness itself has a strange quality - in some respects it is like love - simply put, one knows it if one has it or is in it - the case is similar with love as well as awareness. The quality of being and the mental nature of awareness for one seeker is different from the quality of being and the resultant experience for another seeker. In that sense, awareness cannot be prescribed nor specified in terms of qualifiers that one measures up to - one finds a state of calm tranquility internally where one is engaged within the present and allows for the same quality to be fostered around them - this kind of fostering is achieved by a measure of empathy, kindness and a deep appreciation for the other - where one understands that the other (whoever it be), is, at the end of the day, only doing their very best under their own actualized circumstances. This understanding for the other (sentient human or animal) is key to finding that state of contentment within ones inner self. Janaka understands that this cannot come by detaching oneself from possessions nor family nor even one’s own self (nor, as he implies in this verse, by any form of self-flagellation). The understanding and the state of awareness and the process of reaching there should not be forced nor hurried in any manner - the path should be seamless. To use an analogy, the path should be similar to the manifestation of a ripple or a wave that forms on a body of water - the ripple or splash does not contradict nor is disparate from the source (water) - the ripple is a part of the same water that it springs from; the ripple is the splash is the water.
In closing this beautiful verse, it should be added that the pursuit of awareness should not be taken up as a form of a goal of any kind; especially not of the soteriological kind where the aim of 'attaining' such a state of awareness is predicated with the result of achieving some form of salvation, moksha or freedom from saṃsāra (the cycle of death and rebirth) and thus needing and seeking "deliverance" or "redemption". Such goals only tend to muddy the mind and confuse the seeker further. Awareness needs to be understood and taken up solely for itself and what it has to offer the seeker within themselves. No goals, no achievements and no milestones. In the end, the seeker behooves to renounce even concepts like awareness that culture had created and thus the seeker finds the same.
जनक उवाच ॥
अकिञ्चनभवं स्वास्थ्यं कौपीनत्वेऽपि दुर्लभम् ।
त्यागादानेविहायास्मादहमासेयथासुखम् ॥ १३-१॥
PURPORT:
The distinct sense of tranquility that emanates
from one who wants for nothing and owns
nothing is difficult to obtain. Even the
possession of a loin-cloth whose ownership
gets construed as 'my loin-cloth' is sufficient
to dispel this rare sense of tranquility.
Therefore, by giving up concepts and
thoughts attached to accepting and
renunciation, I am content with how I am.
TRANSLITERATION:
जनक उवाच ॥
janaka uvāca ॥
अकिञ्चनभवम् स्वास्थ्यम् कौपीनत्वे अपि दुर्लभम् ।
akiñcanabhavam svāsthyam kaupīnatve api durlabham ।
त्यागादाने विहाय अस्मात् अहम् आसे यथासुखम् ॥ १३-१॥
tyāgādāne vihāya asmāt aham āse yathāsukham ॥ 13-1॥
MEANING:
janaka (जनक) = Janaka
uvāca (उवाच) = said ॥
akiñcanabhavam (अकिञ्चनभवम्) = emanating from within one who is without anything (compound of akiñcanabhavam (अकिञ्चनभवम्) meaning 'without anything/utterly depleted' and bhavam (भवम्) meaning 'coming into being')
svāsthyam (स्वास्थ्यम्) = contentment/tranqulity/wellness
kaupīnatve (कौपीनत्वे) = in having a loincloth (Kaupinam, Kowanagam or Langoti is a cotton loincloth or undergarment with religious symbolism attached to asceticism for the Hindus)
api (अपि) = even
durlabham (दुर्लभम्) = difficult to obtain ।
tyāgādāne (त्यागादाने) = renunciation and acceptance
vihāya (विहाय) = giving up
asmāt (अस्मात्) = therefore
aham (अहम्) = I
āse (आसे) = live
yathāsukham (यथासुखम्) = thus happily (compound of yathā (यथासुखम्) meaning 'thus/hence' and sukham (सुखम्) meaning 'happy/content') ॥ 13-1॥
COMMENT:
Janaka continues his journey of inner exploration and this chapter is a deeper dialogue on the eventual attainment of a state of being internally content and externally tranquil. The kind of imagery that Janaka brings to bear within these line are vivid - mentioning that one does not understand or glimpse this state of contentedness by decamping to the mountains or by secluded living within a deep cave or by wearing the barest of clothing and going through aspects of ritual self-flagellation handed down from books and scripture written many centuries ago.
While some of these techniques might allow for the mind to attain a semblance of focus, the seeker understands that in resorting to these methods of sense-denial, the mind still remains active, alert and in a state of conscious control. In that sense, the mind is still conflicted with desires and memories of such desires. Awareness and internal stillness may not be obtained this way.
Awareness itself has a strange quality - in some respects it is like love - simply put, one knows it if one has it or is in it - the case is similar with love as well as awareness. The quality of being and the mental nature of awareness for one seeker is different from the quality of being and the resultant experience for another seeker. In that sense, awareness cannot be prescribed nor specified in terms of qualifiers that one measures up to - one finds a state of calm tranquility internally where one is engaged within the present and allows for the same quality to be fostered around them - this kind of fostering is achieved by a measure of empathy, kindness and a deep appreciation for the other - where one understands that the other (whoever it be), is, at the end of the day, only doing their very best under their own actualized circumstances. This understanding for the other (sentient human or animal) is key to finding that state of contentment within ones inner self. Janaka understands that this cannot come by detaching oneself from possessions nor family nor even one’s own self (nor, as he implies in this verse, by any form of self-flagellation). The understanding and the state of awareness and the process of reaching there should not be forced nor hurried in any manner - the path should be seamless. To use an analogy, the path should be similar to the manifestation of a ripple or a wave that forms on a body of water - the ripple or splash does not contradict nor is disparate from the source (water) - the ripple is a part of the same water that it springs from; the ripple is the splash is the water.
In closing this beautiful verse, it should be added that the pursuit of awareness should not be taken up as a form of a goal of any kind; especially not of the soteriological kind where the aim of 'attaining' such a state of awareness is predicated with the result of achieving some form of salvation, moksha or freedom from saṃsāra (the cycle of death and rebirth) and thus needing and seeking "deliverance" or "redemption". Such goals only tend to muddy the mind and confuse the seeker further. Awareness needs to be understood and taken up solely for itself and what it has to offer the seeker within themselves. No goals, no achievements and no milestones. In the end, the seeker behooves to renounce even concepts like awareness that culture had created and thus the seeker finds the same.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
AVG 12.8
Chapter 12 (The Seekers Understanding of Abiding in Awareness): Verse 8
एवमेव कृतं येन स कृतार्थो भवेदसौ ।
एवमेवस्वभावो यः स कृतार्थो भवेदसौ ॥ १२-८॥
PURPORT:
Whosoever has fulfilled that, has
effected what needed to be effected,
is said to have now come to the
place they seek. Having arrived,
they live there naturally, finding
awareness within that place they
now call home. Settling into such
awareness, all that was needed to
have been done by them is now done.
TRANSLITERATION:
एवम् एव कृतम् येन सः कृतार्थः भवेत् असौ ।
evam eva kṛtam yena saḥ kṛtārthaḥ bhavet asau ।
एवम् एव स्वभावः यः सः कृतार्थः भवेत् असौ ॥ १२-८॥
evam eva svabhāvaḥ yaḥ saḥ kṛtārthaḥ bhavet asau ॥ 12-8॥
MEANING:
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = even/indeed
kṛtam (कृतम्) = done/is accomplished
yena (येन) = by whom
saḥ (सः) = they (literally translates to masculine 'he')
kṛtārthaḥ (कृतार्थः) = one who has fulfilled an end or object or has accomplished a purpose or desire
bhavet (भवेत्) = becomes
asau (असौ) = that ।
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = truly
svabhāvaḥ (स्वभावः) = of such nature
yaḥ (यः) = who
saḥ (सः) = they
kṛtārthaḥ (कृतार्थः) = same as above (one who has fulfilled some objective)
bhavet (भवेत्) = becomes
asau (असौ) = that ॥ 12-8॥
COMMENT:
The final lines of this fascinating chapter ends with a simple message from Janaka - the import being that those who find awareness within themselves attain stillness of mind by engaging in a constant process of observing, witnessing and staying within the present moment in a choiceless manner. They try not to allow for wandering thoughts to linger and for those wandering thoughts to find a home within their minds and therefore discover a sense of stillness.
Variations of this message reinforced throughout this chapter also warrants an understanding that while quelling thoughts leads to stillness, the phenomenon of the wandering mind did have an evolutionary advantage for our kind of sentients. Our species must have evolved the physiology that accommodated for mind wandering to ultimately help us plan and strategize better - in the parlance of neurology, this is also referred to as Random Episodic Silent Thought (REST). In our resting states (states where we think our minds are quiescent), our minds do not rest at all - in fact, the mind is a beehive of activity that plays out multiple scenarios involving past and future timelines even as we go about our lives. These scenarios, the planning and associated preparation around events might have been the only thing that made us different and separate from the other sentients that populate our earth. In short, it is now understood that our minds readily engages in (for lack of a better phrase) time-travel!.
The arrangement and progression of thoughts that combine imagined futures with hard-wired instinctual responses mixed along with the individuals' experience (from their past) alloyed with appropriate cultural conditioning make for a heady mix within ones mind leading to a situation where we seem to be constantly having an inner chatter within ourselves that take us away from our present tense. This evolved aptitude for what can be termed as 'cognitive time-travel' may be the seat of our intelligence - insofar as intelligence is understood as the contemplation of future scenarios based upon past memory and the instinctual calculations of value and benefits accrued to such what-if scenarios as they play out within our heads.
We seem to be constantly considering our prospects so much so that we always are lost to the current moment and appear befuddled within the thought clouds that engulf our minds. While this aspect of mind-wandering has allowed for numerous advantages including the willingness to forfeit present value benefits in anticipation of a future state that will purportedly hold benefits for the individual (and the community), the disadvantages inherent within this evolutionary makeup include the loss of our presence within the immediate juncture.
Within the context of the present day, the words of Janaka in this chapter ring ever so true - where the rapid advent of technological change and the ready availability of information whose rate of modification and transformation has far outpaced the rate of evolutionary processes our brains are used to over millennia - the anchoring of oneself within the present moment is far more important now than ever. While in the past, mind wandering and REST performed a critical and essential evolutionary function in moving our species forward, the phenomenon of REST has become somewhat akin to a curse. Tamping down and mitigating the fluctuations of the mind and the thoughts therein is really the objective behind most (if not all) of our great spiritual traditions. In that sense, one may use any tradition or method as a way to get to a place where the fluctuations within the mind are stilled - it does not matter which method or technique or practice - all that really matters is the cessation of wandering thoughts and our reaching a state of stillness that leads to the eventual extinguishment of the fluctuations that arise spontaneously within our brains.
NOTE:
On a related note, a thought experiment that comes to mind insofar as it relates to REST can be understood as follows: Imagine for a moment that your mind is akin to a fast food drive-through. A customer who goes by the name of 'Thought' comes by and stops at the drive-through microphone to create an order. One is considered more fortunate if the drive-through ignores all orders from customers named 'Thought' for any of the proffered items on the menu. One instead stays with the stillness and the peace offered by the drive-through building. It is seen that the stillness within the drive-through is enhanced every time such customers with the same name drives up and their orders are summarily ignored. One only pays careful attention to these customers as they drive in, pay attention (but not act on) while these kind of customers tarry at the drive-through line shouting out the order (and demands to be paid attention to) and, of course, notice the eventual departure of the customer when the customer understands that their order had not been heeded to.
एवमेव कृतं येन स कृतार्थो भवेदसौ ।
एवमेवस्वभावो यः स कृतार्थो भवेदसौ ॥ १२-८॥
PURPORT:
Whosoever has fulfilled that, has
effected what needed to be effected,
is said to have now come to the
place they seek. Having arrived,
they live there naturally, finding
awareness within that place they
now call home. Settling into such
awareness, all that was needed to
have been done by them is now done.
TRANSLITERATION:
एवम् एव कृतम् येन सः कृतार्थः भवेत् असौ ।
evam eva kṛtam yena saḥ kṛtārthaḥ bhavet asau ।
एवम् एव स्वभावः यः सः कृतार्थः भवेत् असौ ॥ १२-८॥
evam eva svabhāvaḥ yaḥ saḥ kṛtārthaḥ bhavet asau ॥ 12-8॥
MEANING:
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = even/indeed
kṛtam (कृतम्) = done/is accomplished
yena (येन) = by whom
saḥ (सः) = they (literally translates to masculine 'he')
kṛtārthaḥ (कृतार्थः) = one who has fulfilled an end or object or has accomplished a purpose or desire
bhavet (भवेत्) = becomes
asau (असौ) = that ।
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = truly
svabhāvaḥ (स्वभावः) = of such nature
yaḥ (यः) = who
saḥ (सः) = they
kṛtārthaḥ (कृतार्थः) = same as above (one who has fulfilled some objective)
bhavet (भवेत्) = becomes
asau (असौ) = that ॥ 12-8॥
COMMENT:
The final lines of this fascinating chapter ends with a simple message from Janaka - the import being that those who find awareness within themselves attain stillness of mind by engaging in a constant process of observing, witnessing and staying within the present moment in a choiceless manner. They try not to allow for wandering thoughts to linger and for those wandering thoughts to find a home within their minds and therefore discover a sense of stillness.
Variations of this message reinforced throughout this chapter also warrants an understanding that while quelling thoughts leads to stillness, the phenomenon of the wandering mind did have an evolutionary advantage for our kind of sentients. Our species must have evolved the physiology that accommodated for mind wandering to ultimately help us plan and strategize better - in the parlance of neurology, this is also referred to as Random Episodic Silent Thought (REST). In our resting states (states where we think our minds are quiescent), our minds do not rest at all - in fact, the mind is a beehive of activity that plays out multiple scenarios involving past and future timelines even as we go about our lives. These scenarios, the planning and associated preparation around events might have been the only thing that made us different and separate from the other sentients that populate our earth. In short, it is now understood that our minds readily engages in (for lack of a better phrase) time-travel!.
The arrangement and progression of thoughts that combine imagined futures with hard-wired instinctual responses mixed along with the individuals' experience (from their past) alloyed with appropriate cultural conditioning make for a heady mix within ones mind leading to a situation where we seem to be constantly having an inner chatter within ourselves that take us away from our present tense. This evolved aptitude for what can be termed as 'cognitive time-travel' may be the seat of our intelligence - insofar as intelligence is understood as the contemplation of future scenarios based upon past memory and the instinctual calculations of value and benefits accrued to such what-if scenarios as they play out within our heads.
We seem to be constantly considering our prospects so much so that we always are lost to the current moment and appear befuddled within the thought clouds that engulf our minds. While this aspect of mind-wandering has allowed for numerous advantages including the willingness to forfeit present value benefits in anticipation of a future state that will purportedly hold benefits for the individual (and the community), the disadvantages inherent within this evolutionary makeup include the loss of our presence within the immediate juncture.
Within the context of the present day, the words of Janaka in this chapter ring ever so true - where the rapid advent of technological change and the ready availability of information whose rate of modification and transformation has far outpaced the rate of evolutionary processes our brains are used to over millennia - the anchoring of oneself within the present moment is far more important now than ever. While in the past, mind wandering and REST performed a critical and essential evolutionary function in moving our species forward, the phenomenon of REST has become somewhat akin to a curse. Tamping down and mitigating the fluctuations of the mind and the thoughts therein is really the objective behind most (if not all) of our great spiritual traditions. In that sense, one may use any tradition or method as a way to get to a place where the fluctuations within the mind are stilled - it does not matter which method or technique or practice - all that really matters is the cessation of wandering thoughts and our reaching a state of stillness that leads to the eventual extinguishment of the fluctuations that arise spontaneously within our brains.
NOTE:
On a related note, a thought experiment that comes to mind insofar as it relates to REST can be understood as follows: Imagine for a moment that your mind is akin to a fast food drive-through. A customer who goes by the name of 'Thought' comes by and stops at the drive-through microphone to create an order. One is considered more fortunate if the drive-through ignores all orders from customers named 'Thought' for any of the proffered items on the menu. One instead stays with the stillness and the peace offered by the drive-through building. It is seen that the stillness within the drive-through is enhanced every time such customers with the same name drives up and their orders are summarily ignored. One only pays careful attention to these customers as they drive in, pay attention (but not act on) while these kind of customers tarry at the drive-through line shouting out the order (and demands to be paid attention to) and, of course, notice the eventual departure of the customer when the customer understands that their order had not been heeded to.
Monday, February 24, 2020
AVG 12.7
Chapter 12 (The Seekers Understanding of Abiding in Awareness): Verse 7
अचिन्त्यं चिन्त्यमानोऽपिचिन्तारूपं भजत्यसौ ।
त्यक्त्वा तद्भावनं तस्मादेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥ १२-७॥
PURPORT:
Even in thinking of what is purportedly designated
as ‘the unthinkable one’, one nevertheless
participates in some variety, shape or form
of thought. Therefore, I understand that
I must extinguish even that last vestige of
thought. Thus, truly, do I abide in still tranquility.
TRANSLITERATION:
अचिन्त्यम् चिन्त्यमानः अपि चिन्तारूपम् भजति असौ ।
acintyam cintyamānaḥ api cintārūpam bhajati asau ।
त्यक्त्वा तद्भावनम् तस्मात् एवम् एव अहम् आस्थितः ॥ १२-७॥
tyaktvā tadbhāvanam tasmāt evam eva aham āsthitaḥ ॥ 12-7॥
MEANING:
acintyam (अचिन्त्यम्) = the unthinkable*
cintyamānaḥ (चिन्त्यमानः) = thinking of
api (अपि) = even
cintārūpam (चिन्तारूपम्) = a form of thought (compound of cintā (चिन्ता) meaning ‘thought’ and rūpam (रूपम्) meaning ’shape/form’)
bhajati (भजति) = take part in
asau (असौ) = that one (as in ‘even in thinking of something purportedly designated as the ‘unthinkable’, one is nevertheless participating in the shape or a form of thought) ।
tyaktvā (त्यक्त्वा) = giving up
tadbhāvanam (तद्भावनम्) = that thought (compound of tat (तत्) meaning ‘that’ and bhāvanam (भावनम्) meaning ‘mode of thought’)
tasmāt (तस्मात्) = from there
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = indeed
aham (अहम्) = I
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = abide/exist ॥ 12-7॥
COMMENT:
This beautiful verse has a subversive message that is relevant for the ages - the basic import being that even when the seeker is thinking about that 'one' which is purportedly unthinkable (as a lot of the religious traditions make it out to seem), at the end of the day, the mind is still engaged in the process of thinking. The aspect of conscious awareness that one is striving to attain still remains elusive when one is exhorted to think about supernatural beings or concepts that are supposedly 'unthinkable'. Therefore Janaka rightly points out that it may foster additional confusion to engage in the contemplation of ‘the unthinkable’ and he would rather abide in awareness as he presently is - in still tranquility.
The more general message is that abiding within a state of conscious awareness has very little to do with remembering or meditating or chanting or becoming an expert on doctrine, rites or rituals. All of these are forms of either remembering or thinking or thinking to remember or remembering to think - in total, a fairly insipid mental activity in recollecting the artifacts of culture that one as accumulated.
Being aware on the contrary is construed as focusing our attentional agency within the present moment - without the intrusion of the incessant back and forth of the play of thoughts that flit across ones past actions and ones future unanchored scenarios without any grounding within what is happening in the present moment. Awareness in the current activity allows for you to be watchful and paves a way for the choiceless witnessing of those thoughts that occupy your mind. It allows for the understanding of the emotions that they engender and a better appreciation for the underlying conditioned belief systems might have given rise to such emotions.
Over the course of time, this form of conscious awareness transcends remembering and thinking - one either abides within such awareness or one does not - there is little middle ground here. Within that state, one has stopped searching and looking and paring down, one does not need to engage in the 'how' or the 'why' or the 'what', one only engages in the 'now' - like the way one breathes.
In these lines and within this chapter in general, we see Janaka starting to see that awareness of the present moment is really an appreciation of the essentially changing structure and patterns of our lives and developing the composure, discipline and rigor to still oneself in the midst of such change. The wisdom that life and the constant metamorphosis thereof happens on its own volition. One is not working to make ones heart ‘beat’, one is not consciously impelling oneself to take in lungfuls of air and expel the same, one does not will to make ones hair to grow... these are the movements and changes inherent that happen as life happens. All of these activities are experiencing itself and none of them are willed into being. The body operates and life moves. Understanding this becomes essential to the idea and concept of awareness.
*The form of the 'unthinkable' as espoused by many of the religious traditions has had many meanings. Many use it to as a designation for the ultimate reality; somehow understood to be the life blood of the entire universe as it were. The 'unthinkable' purportedly as being composed of everything there is to contain. Elsewhere, the 'unthinkable' becomes a synonym for the unfathomable - a mysterious entity or a construct attributed with the qualities of a creator, preserver and destroyer. At other times, construed as a supreme entity with numerous divine qualities that does not seem to identify with activities nor with qualities. The exhortation within these verses is to transcend even such thinking and just be.
अचिन्त्यं चिन्त्यमानोऽपिचिन्तारूपं भजत्यसौ ।
त्यक्त्वा तद्भावनं तस्मादेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥ १२-७॥
PURPORT:
Even in thinking of what is purportedly designated
as ‘the unthinkable one’, one nevertheless
participates in some variety, shape or form
of thought. Therefore, I understand that
I must extinguish even that last vestige of
thought. Thus, truly, do I abide in still tranquility.
TRANSLITERATION:
अचिन्त्यम् चिन्त्यमानः अपि चिन्तारूपम् भजति असौ ।
acintyam cintyamānaḥ api cintārūpam bhajati asau ।
त्यक्त्वा तद्भावनम् तस्मात् एवम् एव अहम् आस्थितः ॥ १२-७॥
tyaktvā tadbhāvanam tasmāt evam eva aham āsthitaḥ ॥ 12-7॥
MEANING:
acintyam (अचिन्त्यम्) = the unthinkable*
cintyamānaḥ (चिन्त्यमानः) = thinking of
api (अपि) = even
cintārūpam (चिन्तारूपम्) = a form of thought (compound of cintā (चिन्ता) meaning ‘thought’ and rūpam (रूपम्) meaning ’shape/form’)
bhajati (भजति) = take part in
asau (असौ) = that one (as in ‘even in thinking of something purportedly designated as the ‘unthinkable’, one is nevertheless participating in the shape or a form of thought) ।
tyaktvā (त्यक्त्वा) = giving up
tadbhāvanam (तद्भावनम्) = that thought (compound of tat (तत्) meaning ‘that’ and bhāvanam (भावनम्) meaning ‘mode of thought’)
tasmāt (तस्मात्) = from there
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = indeed
aham (अहम्) = I
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = abide/exist ॥ 12-7॥
COMMENT:
This beautiful verse has a subversive message that is relevant for the ages - the basic import being that even when the seeker is thinking about that 'one' which is purportedly unthinkable (as a lot of the religious traditions make it out to seem), at the end of the day, the mind is still engaged in the process of thinking. The aspect of conscious awareness that one is striving to attain still remains elusive when one is exhorted to think about supernatural beings or concepts that are supposedly 'unthinkable'. Therefore Janaka rightly points out that it may foster additional confusion to engage in the contemplation of ‘the unthinkable’ and he would rather abide in awareness as he presently is - in still tranquility.
The more general message is that abiding within a state of conscious awareness has very little to do with remembering or meditating or chanting or becoming an expert on doctrine, rites or rituals. All of these are forms of either remembering or thinking or thinking to remember or remembering to think - in total, a fairly insipid mental activity in recollecting the artifacts of culture that one as accumulated.
Being aware on the contrary is construed as focusing our attentional agency within the present moment - without the intrusion of the incessant back and forth of the play of thoughts that flit across ones past actions and ones future unanchored scenarios without any grounding within what is happening in the present moment. Awareness in the current activity allows for you to be watchful and paves a way for the choiceless witnessing of those thoughts that occupy your mind. It allows for the understanding of the emotions that they engender and a better appreciation for the underlying conditioned belief systems might have given rise to such emotions.
Over the course of time, this form of conscious awareness transcends remembering and thinking - one either abides within such awareness or one does not - there is little middle ground here. Within that state, one has stopped searching and looking and paring down, one does not need to engage in the 'how' or the 'why' or the 'what', one only engages in the 'now' - like the way one breathes.
In these lines and within this chapter in general, we see Janaka starting to see that awareness of the present moment is really an appreciation of the essentially changing structure and patterns of our lives and developing the composure, discipline and rigor to still oneself in the midst of such change. The wisdom that life and the constant metamorphosis thereof happens on its own volition. One is not working to make ones heart ‘beat’, one is not consciously impelling oneself to take in lungfuls of air and expel the same, one does not will to make ones hair to grow... these are the movements and changes inherent that happen as life happens. All of these activities are experiencing itself and none of them are willed into being. The body operates and life moves. Understanding this becomes essential to the idea and concept of awareness.
*The form of the 'unthinkable' as espoused by many of the religious traditions has had many meanings. Many use it to as a designation for the ultimate reality; somehow understood to be the life blood of the entire universe as it were. The 'unthinkable' purportedly as being composed of everything there is to contain. Elsewhere, the 'unthinkable' becomes a synonym for the unfathomable - a mysterious entity or a construct attributed with the qualities of a creator, preserver and destroyer. At other times, construed as a supreme entity with numerous divine qualities that does not seem to identify with activities nor with qualities. The exhortation within these verses is to transcend even such thinking and just be.
AVG 12.6
Chapter 12 (The Seekers Understanding of Abiding in Awareness): Verse 6
कर्माऽनुष्ठानमज्ञानाद्यथैवोपरमस्तथा ।
बुध्वा सम्यगिदं तत्त्वमेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥ १२-६॥
PURPORT:
Restraining and desisting oneself from
action comes as much from misconception
as the performance of those specific actions
directed to seeking objects of ones desire.
Performance or non-performance of
actions notwithstanding, this principle
of truth is fully recognized and thus truly,
do I abide in still tranquility.
TRANSLITERATION:
कर्माऽनुष्ठानम् अज्ञानात् यथा एव उपरमः तथा ।
karmā'nuṣṭhānam ajñānāt yathā eva uparamaḥ tathā ।
बुध्वा सम्यक् इदम् तत्त्वम् एवम् एव अहम् आस्थितः ॥ १२-६॥
budhvā samyak idam tattvam evam eva aham āsthitaḥ ॥ 12-6॥
MEANING:
karmā'nuṣṭhānam (कर्माऽनुष्ठानम्) = performance of action (compound of karmā (कर्मा) meaning 'action/duty' and anuṣṭhānam (अनुष्ठानम्) meaning 'performance/execution/undertaking'). This meaning taken to be as follows: performance of such actions as those directed to accrue sense objects of ones desire.
ajñānāt (अज्ञानात्) = from ignorance/from misconception
yathā (यथा) = even
eva (एव) = as
uparamaḥ (उपरमः) = desisting/ceasing/cessation/restraining
tathā (तथा) = so also ।
budhvā (बुध्वा) = having known this/knowing this
samyak (सम्यक्) = fully/correctly/exactly/accurately
idam (इदम्) = this
tattvam (तत्त्वम्) = principle/truth
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = indeed
aham (अहम्) = I
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = abide/exist ॥ 12-6॥
COMMENT:
One of the reasons behind the manifestation of suffering, sorrow and pain is the continuous conflict between the fixity that we assign based upon conditioning to concepts, ideas and structures that have become part of our identity during our formative years amidst the fundamentally ephemeral nature of worldly phenomena. The transitoriness that manifests itself based upon the arising, enduring and cessation of conditions always results in the morphing of ideas, concepts and structures every second. While some of the changes and the effects thereof are immediate and quickly apparent, other changes take time to evolve and manifest itself - the underlying truth being that the change is always a present and a clear factor within the phenomenal world.
The ego looks to maintain fixity within our consciousness spanning time and space and this results in humans tending to want to hold onto concepts, ideas and structures so that the fixity desired by the ego is satisfied and fulfilled. We start to become unhappy and experience suffering whenever there is the lack of resonance between the vibrations offered by the phenomenal world that is steeped in change and the inner vibrations from the intricate fabrications of our intrinsic worlds that resists change. As we start to grow older and our lives in general get more serious around the process of living, the suffering and the resultant misery only increases (as the concepts, ideas and structures morph even more over time and our egos are mired within the original conceptions). We keep struggling to hold onto those concepts that our ego finds acceptable resulting in an increase in the mismatched resonances over time.
In this sense, Janaka here mentions that either performance of actions (directed towards holding onto concepts, ideas and structures) or the cessation of the same (calculated to dispel any concepts, ideas or structures) presuppose the ego acting primarily in response to forces (from an external perspective or from an internal standpoint) that impel such action or suppress such action. Therefore, wantonly restraining oneself from action or willingly performing the action are both, in a larger sense, premeditated behavior whose origins are attributed to the ego.
'Do not be driven by the ego to act or not-act' is the liberating principle that Janaka beautifully exemplifies within this fascinating verse.
कर्माऽनुष्ठानमज्ञानाद्यथैवोपरमस्तथा ।
बुध्वा सम्यगिदं तत्त्वमेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥ १२-६॥
PURPORT:
Restraining and desisting oneself from
action comes as much from misconception
as the performance of those specific actions
directed to seeking objects of ones desire.
Performance or non-performance of
actions notwithstanding, this principle
of truth is fully recognized and thus truly,
do I abide in still tranquility.
TRANSLITERATION:
कर्माऽनुष्ठानम् अज्ञानात् यथा एव उपरमः तथा ।
karmā'nuṣṭhānam ajñānāt yathā eva uparamaḥ tathā ।
बुध्वा सम्यक् इदम् तत्त्वम् एवम् एव अहम् आस्थितः ॥ १२-६॥
budhvā samyak idam tattvam evam eva aham āsthitaḥ ॥ 12-6॥
MEANING:
karmā'nuṣṭhānam (कर्माऽनुष्ठानम्) = performance of action (compound of karmā (कर्मा) meaning 'action/duty' and anuṣṭhānam (अनुष्ठानम्) meaning 'performance/execution/undertaking'). This meaning taken to be as follows: performance of such actions as those directed to accrue sense objects of ones desire.
ajñānāt (अज्ञानात्) = from ignorance/from misconception
yathā (यथा) = even
eva (एव) = as
uparamaḥ (उपरमः) = desisting/ceasing/cessation/restraining
tathā (तथा) = so also ।
budhvā (बुध्वा) = having known this/knowing this
samyak (सम्यक्) = fully/correctly/exactly/accurately
idam (इदम्) = this
tattvam (तत्त्वम्) = principle/truth
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = indeed
aham (अहम्) = I
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = abide/exist ॥ 12-6॥
COMMENT:
One of the reasons behind the manifestation of suffering, sorrow and pain is the continuous conflict between the fixity that we assign based upon conditioning to concepts, ideas and structures that have become part of our identity during our formative years amidst the fundamentally ephemeral nature of worldly phenomena. The transitoriness that manifests itself based upon the arising, enduring and cessation of conditions always results in the morphing of ideas, concepts and structures every second. While some of the changes and the effects thereof are immediate and quickly apparent, other changes take time to evolve and manifest itself - the underlying truth being that the change is always a present and a clear factor within the phenomenal world.
The ego looks to maintain fixity within our consciousness spanning time and space and this results in humans tending to want to hold onto concepts, ideas and structures so that the fixity desired by the ego is satisfied and fulfilled. We start to become unhappy and experience suffering whenever there is the lack of resonance between the vibrations offered by the phenomenal world that is steeped in change and the inner vibrations from the intricate fabrications of our intrinsic worlds that resists change. As we start to grow older and our lives in general get more serious around the process of living, the suffering and the resultant misery only increases (as the concepts, ideas and structures morph even more over time and our egos are mired within the original conceptions). We keep struggling to hold onto those concepts that our ego finds acceptable resulting in an increase in the mismatched resonances over time.
In this sense, Janaka here mentions that either performance of actions (directed towards holding onto concepts, ideas and structures) or the cessation of the same (calculated to dispel any concepts, ideas or structures) presuppose the ego acting primarily in response to forces (from an external perspective or from an internal standpoint) that impel such action or suppress such action. Therefore, wantonly restraining oneself from action or willingly performing the action are both, in a larger sense, premeditated behavior whose origins are attributed to the ego.
'Do not be driven by the ego to act or not-act' is the liberating principle that Janaka beautifully exemplifies within this fascinating verse.
AVG 12.5
Chapter 12 (The Seekers Understanding of Abiding in Awareness): Verse 5
आश्रमानाश्रमं ध्यानं चित्तस्वीकृतवर्जनम् ।
विकल्पं मम वीक्ष्यैतैरेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥ १२-५॥
PURPORT:
A conventionally designated stage of life
or none of such customarily nominated
stages or a sense of inward rumination
or a repudiation of what has been endorsed
by the mind; I discern all of these to be
contrivances that obscure my inner clarity.
Thus, I truly abide in still tranquility.
TRANSLITERATION:
आश्रमानाश्रम् ध्यानम् चित्तस्वीकृतवर्जनम् ।
āśramānāśram dhyānam cittasvīkṛtavarjanam ।
विकल्पम् मम वीक्ष्य एतैः एवम् एव अहम् आस्थितः ॥ १२-५॥
vikalpam mama vīkṣya etaiḥ evam eva aham āsthitaḥ ॥ 12-5॥
MEANING:
āśramānāśram (आश्रमानाश्रम्) = stage of life or no stage of life (compound of āśrama (आश्रम) meaning 'designated way/denominated stage of life' and anāśram (अनाश्रम्) meaning 'no stage of life/devoid of a designated stage in ones life'). Please see verse 1.5 for a brief description of the 'stages' of one's life that is referenced herein.
dhyānam (ध्यानम्) = meditation/introspection/rumination
cittasvīkṛtavarjanam (चित्तस्वीकृतवर्जनम्) = repudiation of what has been endorsed and accepted by the mind (compound of citta (चित्त) meaning 'mind' and svīkṛta (स्वीकृत) meaning 'accepted/welcomes/endorsed' and varjanam (वर्जनम्) meaning 'abandon/reject/renounce')।
vikalpam (विकल्पम्) = false notion/contrivance/distraction/artifice
mama (मम) = my
vīkṣya (वीक्ष्य) = having discerned/having seen
etaiḥ (एतैः) = by these
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = indeed
aham (अहम्) = I
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = abide/exist ॥ 12-5॥
COMMENT:
Janaka here looks at his past happenings and draws our attention to his conflicted sense of renunciation where he is unsure whether he is supposed to fit into certain culturally appropriate phases that one is 'supposed' to fit into wherein perceptions constrain the person to act in a prescribed manner that is supposed to heed to mores, standards and 'pre-approved' behavior. A state where one is in a perturbed mode of seeking and is constantly attended to by doubts that relate to belonging or not belonging.
This mental turmoil in the seeker results when the mindset of the seeker is tuned and channeled by two phenomena that constantly reinforce each other - the external phenomena of name-and-form that the seeker is constantly immersed in and the internal phenomena of consciousness within the seeker. Name-and-form from cultural exposure gives shape, substance and expression to the consciousness while the mental processes that account for consciousness allows for the integration of disparate name-and-form impingements to be channeled into a world-view that molds the developing ego. It can almost be imagined as the duo of name-and-form and consciousness as equivalent to two bricks standing vertically on their edges propped up and balanced out by each other. It is then seen that from name-and-form as a requisite condition, consciousness springs and from consciousness as a requisite condition, name-and-form springs - constantly fortifying and boosting each other. Propped upon these bricks is the entire sensory world whose inputs are modulated and conditioned by these twin towers (name-and-form and consciousness).
Janaka mentions that his previous conflicts stemmed from name-and-form and conditioned consciousness reinforcing and resonating - this foundational buttress did not allow the seeker to experience clarity inherent in the awareness that comes from oneself. This vacillation produced a sense of conflict within Janaka that was not overcome until now. Janaka now realizes that all phenomena are without any form of concrete identity nor named fixity, and clearly understanding and perceiving the inherent malleability of experienced reality, Janaka is slowly starting to garner the skill necessary so that he may project what he chooses to project into the canvas of consciousness. Nothing more, nothing less.
In this sense, the choiceless nature of observance and the non-biased state of witnessing of phenomena become the steps by which one gets to that aspect of awareness. Through the practice of awareness, the one who becomes aware manages to mold and shape the underlying foundation from which volitional activity arises, thereby transforming their own inherent consciousness and clarity itself.
आश्रमानाश्रमं ध्यानं चित्तस्वीकृतवर्जनम् ।
विकल्पं मम वीक्ष्यैतैरेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥ १२-५॥
PURPORT:
A conventionally designated stage of life
or none of such customarily nominated
stages or a sense of inward rumination
or a repudiation of what has been endorsed
by the mind; I discern all of these to be
contrivances that obscure my inner clarity.
Thus, I truly abide in still tranquility.
TRANSLITERATION:
आश्रमानाश्रम् ध्यानम् चित्तस्वीकृतवर्जनम् ।
āśramānāśram dhyānam cittasvīkṛtavarjanam ।
विकल्पम् मम वीक्ष्य एतैः एवम् एव अहम् आस्थितः ॥ १२-५॥
vikalpam mama vīkṣya etaiḥ evam eva aham āsthitaḥ ॥ 12-5॥
MEANING:
āśramānāśram (आश्रमानाश्रम्) = stage of life or no stage of life (compound of āśrama (आश्रम) meaning 'designated way/denominated stage of life' and anāśram (अनाश्रम्) meaning 'no stage of life/devoid of a designated stage in ones life'). Please see verse 1.5 for a brief description of the 'stages' of one's life that is referenced herein.
dhyānam (ध्यानम्) = meditation/introspection/rumination
cittasvīkṛtavarjanam (चित्तस्वीकृतवर्जनम्) = repudiation of what has been endorsed and accepted by the mind (compound of citta (चित्त) meaning 'mind' and svīkṛta (स्वीकृत) meaning 'accepted/welcomes/endorsed' and varjanam (वर्जनम्) meaning 'abandon/reject/renounce')।
vikalpam (विकल्पम्) = false notion/contrivance/distraction/artifice
mama (मम) = my
vīkṣya (वीक्ष्य) = having discerned/having seen
etaiḥ (एतैः) = by these
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = indeed
aham (अहम्) = I
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = abide/exist ॥ 12-5॥
COMMENT:
Janaka here looks at his past happenings and draws our attention to his conflicted sense of renunciation where he is unsure whether he is supposed to fit into certain culturally appropriate phases that one is 'supposed' to fit into wherein perceptions constrain the person to act in a prescribed manner that is supposed to heed to mores, standards and 'pre-approved' behavior. A state where one is in a perturbed mode of seeking and is constantly attended to by doubts that relate to belonging or not belonging.
This mental turmoil in the seeker results when the mindset of the seeker is tuned and channeled by two phenomena that constantly reinforce each other - the external phenomena of name-and-form that the seeker is constantly immersed in and the internal phenomena of consciousness within the seeker. Name-and-form from cultural exposure gives shape, substance and expression to the consciousness while the mental processes that account for consciousness allows for the integration of disparate name-and-form impingements to be channeled into a world-view that molds the developing ego. It can almost be imagined as the duo of name-and-form and consciousness as equivalent to two bricks standing vertically on their edges propped up and balanced out by each other. It is then seen that from name-and-form as a requisite condition, consciousness springs and from consciousness as a requisite condition, name-and-form springs - constantly fortifying and boosting each other. Propped upon these bricks is the entire sensory world whose inputs are modulated and conditioned by these twin towers (name-and-form and consciousness).
Janaka mentions that his previous conflicts stemmed from name-and-form and conditioned consciousness reinforcing and resonating - this foundational buttress did not allow the seeker to experience clarity inherent in the awareness that comes from oneself. This vacillation produced a sense of conflict within Janaka that was not overcome until now. Janaka now realizes that all phenomena are without any form of concrete identity nor named fixity, and clearly understanding and perceiving the inherent malleability of experienced reality, Janaka is slowly starting to garner the skill necessary so that he may project what he chooses to project into the canvas of consciousness. Nothing more, nothing less.
In this sense, the choiceless nature of observance and the non-biased state of witnessing of phenomena become the steps by which one gets to that aspect of awareness. Through the practice of awareness, the one who becomes aware manages to mold and shape the underlying foundation from which volitional activity arises, thereby transforming their own inherent consciousness and clarity itself.
Friday, February 21, 2020
AVG 12.4
Chapter 12 (The Seekers Understanding of Abiding in Awareness): Verse 4
हेयोपादेयविरहादेवं हर्षविषादयोः ।
अभावादद्य हे ब्रह्मन्नेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥ १२-४॥
PURPORT:
From the casting away of the acceptable
and the rejectable and thus repudiating
distinctions, I do not display excitement
nor misery and am hence impassive to
internal and external turbulence.
Thus, here and now, I rest easy; within
the stillness of the true nature of reality
as experienced and felt by me.
Truly, thus, do I abide in calm tranquility.
TRANSLITERATION:
हेयोपादेयविरहात् एवम् हर्षविषादयोः ।
heyopādeyavirahāt evam harṣaviṣādayoḥ ।
अभावात् अद्य हे ब्रह्मन् एवम् एव अहम् आस्थितः॥ १२-४॥
abhāvāt adya he brahman evam eva aham āsthitaḥ॥ 12-4॥
MEANING:
heyopādeyavirahāt (हेयोपादेयविरहात्) = from the casting away of the sense of the acceptable and the rejectable (compound of heyo (हेयो) meaning 'to be avoided/to be subtracted' and upādeya (उपादेय) meaning 'to be accepted/to be included/not to be refused' and virahāt (विरहात्) meaning 'from the abandonment/from the casting away of')
evam (एवम्) = thus
harṣaviṣādayoḥ (हर्षविषादयोः) = of excitement and sorrow (compound of harṣa (हर्ष) meaning 'happiness/excitement' and viṣādayoḥ (विषादयोः) meaning 'sorrow/dejection/misery')।
abhāvāt (अभावात्) = from not happening/from not taking place
adya (अद्य) = now/today
he (हे) = oh! (as in an exclamation of veneration)
brahman (ब्रह्मन्) = nature of reality of the universe (please see verse 1.20 for a more expansive interpretation)
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = indeed
aham (अहम्) = I
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = abide/exist ॥ 12-4॥
COMMENT:
The phrase harṣaviṣādayoḥ abhāvāt (हर्षविषादयोः अभावात्) translated as ‘not entertaining any feelings of joy or sorrow’ has the potential for a narrow reading where the import can be construed as playing down that manifestation of our conscious being that is both useful and exceptional. Feelings of joy and sorrow are truly an expression of the creative forces of our intelligent being and Janaka does not in any way want to negate these extraordinary expressive outputs of our being. Awareness is sometimes deduced (on narrower reading) as the passive observance of thoughts and emotions in the form of an ‘unflappable witnesser of the flow of thoughts without the essential being involved in the manner’, where all of the activities and action around is deemed irrelevant when viewed through a dispassionate, impersonal lens. This is far from what Janaka has in mind with this verse.
Life before becoming aware and holding oneself onto the peaceable nature of being aware should have been one of participating, cooperating, engaging and sharing and it remains that life after understanding and realizing awareness must also continue to be one of participating, cooperating, engaging and sharing. Nothing has changed. Nothing should change.
It is just that with awareness, the presence of mind in the present moment and time spent within the moment becomes the center of one’s attention, actions and understanding. Thought fluctuations are observed and let go, they happen on the peripheries of such awareness. In this sense, awareness and our personableness (our personalities without any indication or interference of an ego component) that ideally manifest as choicelessly conscious entities merge into one. Put simply, they complement each other. Without awareness, the self-conscious aspects of being personable has the potential for being raw, befuddled and ego-centric. Without aspects of personableness and the attendant intelligence, organic awareness ipso facto would have been akin to just plentiful rain falling into the middle of the ocean - neither helping nor hurting nor filling nor draining.
Awareness and the sense of personableness that mindfully channels the joy, grief, anguish, hurt, cheer, elation and glee into a unified elemental whole without the imparting of self-imposed and self-constructed biases nor choices is key and it is this aspect that needs to be borne in mind when reading the verse.
हेयोपादेयविरहादेवं हर्षविषादयोः ।
अभावादद्य हे ब्रह्मन्नेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥ १२-४॥
PURPORT:
From the casting away of the acceptable
and the rejectable and thus repudiating
distinctions, I do not display excitement
nor misery and am hence impassive to
internal and external turbulence.
Thus, here and now, I rest easy; within
the stillness of the true nature of reality
as experienced and felt by me.
Truly, thus, do I abide in calm tranquility.
TRANSLITERATION:
हेयोपादेयविरहात् एवम् हर्षविषादयोः ।
heyopādeyavirahāt evam harṣaviṣādayoḥ ।
अभावात् अद्य हे ब्रह्मन् एवम् एव अहम् आस्थितः॥ १२-४॥
abhāvāt adya he brahman evam eva aham āsthitaḥ॥ 12-4॥
MEANING:
heyopādeyavirahāt (हेयोपादेयविरहात्) = from the casting away of the sense of the acceptable and the rejectable (compound of heyo (हेयो) meaning 'to be avoided/to be subtracted' and upādeya (उपादेय) meaning 'to be accepted/to be included/not to be refused' and virahāt (विरहात्) meaning 'from the abandonment/from the casting away of')
evam (एवम्) = thus
harṣaviṣādayoḥ (हर्षविषादयोः) = of excitement and sorrow (compound of harṣa (हर्ष) meaning 'happiness/excitement' and viṣādayoḥ (विषादयोः) meaning 'sorrow/dejection/misery')।
abhāvāt (अभावात्) = from not happening/from not taking place
adya (अद्य) = now/today
he (हे) = oh! (as in an exclamation of veneration)
brahman (ब्रह्मन्) = nature of reality of the universe (please see verse 1.20 for a more expansive interpretation)
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = indeed
aham (अहम्) = I
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = abide/exist ॥ 12-4॥
COMMENT:
The phrase harṣaviṣādayoḥ abhāvāt (हर्षविषादयोः अभावात्) translated as ‘not entertaining any feelings of joy or sorrow’ has the potential for a narrow reading where the import can be construed as playing down that manifestation of our conscious being that is both useful and exceptional. Feelings of joy and sorrow are truly an expression of the creative forces of our intelligent being and Janaka does not in any way want to negate these extraordinary expressive outputs of our being. Awareness is sometimes deduced (on narrower reading) as the passive observance of thoughts and emotions in the form of an ‘unflappable witnesser of the flow of thoughts without the essential being involved in the manner’, where all of the activities and action around is deemed irrelevant when viewed through a dispassionate, impersonal lens. This is far from what Janaka has in mind with this verse.
Life before becoming aware and holding oneself onto the peaceable nature of being aware should have been one of participating, cooperating, engaging and sharing and it remains that life after understanding and realizing awareness must also continue to be one of participating, cooperating, engaging and sharing. Nothing has changed. Nothing should change.
It is just that with awareness, the presence of mind in the present moment and time spent within the moment becomes the center of one’s attention, actions and understanding. Thought fluctuations are observed and let go, they happen on the peripheries of such awareness. In this sense, awareness and our personableness (our personalities without any indication or interference of an ego component) that ideally manifest as choicelessly conscious entities merge into one. Put simply, they complement each other. Without awareness, the self-conscious aspects of being personable has the potential for being raw, befuddled and ego-centric. Without aspects of personableness and the attendant intelligence, organic awareness ipso facto would have been akin to just plentiful rain falling into the middle of the ocean - neither helping nor hurting nor filling nor draining.
Awareness and the sense of personableness that mindfully channels the joy, grief, anguish, hurt, cheer, elation and glee into a unified elemental whole without the imparting of self-imposed and self-constructed biases nor choices is key and it is this aspect that needs to be borne in mind when reading the verse.
Thursday, February 20, 2020
AVG 12.3
Chapter 12 (The Seekers Understanding of Abiding in Awareness): Verse 3
समाध्यासादिविक्षिप्तौ व्यवहारः समाधये ।
एवं विलोक्य नियममेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥ १२-३॥
PURPORT:
It is only because of distraction caused
by the superimposition of ideas and ideals
within our mind that one needs to
consciously expend effort towards
concentrating the mind. Seeing this
to be a general rule and limitation,
thus, truly, do I abide in still tranquility.
TRANSLITERATION:
समाध्यासादिविक्षिप्तौ व्यवहारः समाधये ।
samādhyāsādivikṣiptau vyavahāraḥ samādhaye ।
एवम् विलोक्य नियमम् एवम् एव अहम् आस्थितः ॥ १२-३॥
evam vilokya niyamam evam eva aham āsthitaḥ ॥ 12-3॥
MEANING:
samādhyāsādivikṣiptau (समाध्यासादिविक्षिप्तौ) = in distraction caused by superimpostion etc*. (compound of samādhyāsā (समाध्यास) meaning 'superimposition' and adi (आदि) meaning 'and the rest/etcetera' and vikṣiptau (विक्षिप्तौ) meaning 'in distraction/in confusion' ) *note that the word 'etcetera' here refers to that mass of ideas and ideals that variously are connected with the ego, behavior, reciprocity and such things that have been superimposed upon our minds from culture that continue to distract and confound a seeker)
vyavahāraḥ (व्यवहारः) = activity
samādhaye (समाधये) = for concentration/for immersion।
evam (एवम्) = thus
vilokya (विलोक्य) = be seen/be noticed
niyamam (नियमम्) = rule/general limitation
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = indeed
aham (अहम्) = I
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = abide/exist ॥ 12-3॥
COMMENT:
This verse has a beautiful turn of phrase in samādhyāsādivikṣiptau (समाध्यासादिविक्षिप्तौ) or the mental preoccupation and perplexity caused by the superimposition of ideas like body, ego, fear of death, wrath of supernatural forces etc. upon our ability to focus. Each of these impositions form a sheath covering our innate awareness that not only clouds out clarity, but also entangles the seeker within multiple overlays of thought fluctuations.
The seed of many of these fluctuations is the non-instinctual harboring within ourselves of the fear of death of the being itself. The fear itself is a manifestation of the mental recognition of our eventual passing on from this universe. This manifestation is a dualistic discernment where life is pitted against death and the denial of the latter is how the ego asserts its primacy via continued recurrence of thoughts pertaining to sustaining the former. The fixation with life and denial of any thought or aspect of our impending demise is how the ego aggregates and establishes itself.
In contrast to the sense of the specific form of awareness of impending demise unconsciously experienced by human sentients, it is doubtful that animals have the same sense of imminent trepidation about their own eventual death - even though it is clear that they do work and act against death and pain, they do not worry about the prospect of death. It is this aspect - the 'worry about the prospect of death' that gives life, sustenance and energy to the generated ego - the intimidating horror of death is not an aspect of the ego, but, is the ego itself.
The constructed ego created and nurtured out of the superimposition of worry about the prospect of death onto the imaginary self-model results in our identification with tokens, totems, titles, symbols, appellations and the eventual translation of these identities and identifications to possessions that engender attachment and possessiveness. These are appurtenances used by the ego to ward off (for lack of a better word) the 'death-dread'. The sense of self thus is always couched within an inexplicable sense of inadequacy manifested by thought fluctuations, constant speculation of what-if scenarios, a worry about the future and yearning for what has been perceived as missing in the past - leading to a lack of presence within the current moment in time. The fear cloaked within the egoic self-model thus operates within a strict dualism of 'itself' versus the 'other' and frames all world views and experiences in the context of this dualism.
Janaka here understands that affirming and professing life also affirms and welcomes death - the same way the foil to creation is destroying, arising is to ceasing, success to failure and life to death. They are part of the single seamless unity and to discriminate one against the other and affirm one while denying the other blinds us to the fundamental interdependence between any two perceived polarities. There cannot be creation without destruction, arising without ceasing and life without death.
समाध्यासादिविक्षिप्तौ व्यवहारः समाधये ।
एवं विलोक्य नियममेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥ १२-३॥
PURPORT:
It is only because of distraction caused
by the superimposition of ideas and ideals
within our mind that one needs to
consciously expend effort towards
concentrating the mind. Seeing this
to be a general rule and limitation,
thus, truly, do I abide in still tranquility.
TRANSLITERATION:
समाध्यासादिविक्षिप्तौ व्यवहारः समाधये ।
samādhyāsādivikṣiptau vyavahāraḥ samādhaye ।
एवम् विलोक्य नियमम् एवम् एव अहम् आस्थितः ॥ १२-३॥
evam vilokya niyamam evam eva aham āsthitaḥ ॥ 12-3॥
MEANING:
samādhyāsādivikṣiptau (समाध्यासादिविक्षिप्तौ) = in distraction caused by superimpostion etc*. (compound of samādhyāsā (समाध्यास) meaning 'superimposition' and adi (आदि) meaning 'and the rest/etcetera' and vikṣiptau (विक्षिप्तौ) meaning 'in distraction/in confusion' ) *note that the word 'etcetera' here refers to that mass of ideas and ideals that variously are connected with the ego, behavior, reciprocity and such things that have been superimposed upon our minds from culture that continue to distract and confound a seeker)
vyavahāraḥ (व्यवहारः) = activity
samādhaye (समाधये) = for concentration/for immersion।
evam (एवम्) = thus
vilokya (विलोक्य) = be seen/be noticed
niyamam (नियमम्) = rule/general limitation
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = indeed
aham (अहम्) = I
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = abide/exist ॥ 12-3॥
COMMENT:
This verse has a beautiful turn of phrase in samādhyāsādivikṣiptau (समाध्यासादिविक्षिप्तौ) or the mental preoccupation and perplexity caused by the superimposition of ideas like body, ego, fear of death, wrath of supernatural forces etc. upon our ability to focus. Each of these impositions form a sheath covering our innate awareness that not only clouds out clarity, but also entangles the seeker within multiple overlays of thought fluctuations.
The seed of many of these fluctuations is the non-instinctual harboring within ourselves of the fear of death of the being itself. The fear itself is a manifestation of the mental recognition of our eventual passing on from this universe. This manifestation is a dualistic discernment where life is pitted against death and the denial of the latter is how the ego asserts its primacy via continued recurrence of thoughts pertaining to sustaining the former. The fixation with life and denial of any thought or aspect of our impending demise is how the ego aggregates and establishes itself.
In contrast to the sense of the specific form of awareness of impending demise unconsciously experienced by human sentients, it is doubtful that animals have the same sense of imminent trepidation about their own eventual death - even though it is clear that they do work and act against death and pain, they do not worry about the prospect of death. It is this aspect - the 'worry about the prospect of death' that gives life, sustenance and energy to the generated ego - the intimidating horror of death is not an aspect of the ego, but, is the ego itself.
The constructed ego created and nurtured out of the superimposition of worry about the prospect of death onto the imaginary self-model results in our identification with tokens, totems, titles, symbols, appellations and the eventual translation of these identities and identifications to possessions that engender attachment and possessiveness. These are appurtenances used by the ego to ward off (for lack of a better word) the 'death-dread'. The sense of self thus is always couched within an inexplicable sense of inadequacy manifested by thought fluctuations, constant speculation of what-if scenarios, a worry about the future and yearning for what has been perceived as missing in the past - leading to a lack of presence within the current moment in time. The fear cloaked within the egoic self-model thus operates within a strict dualism of 'itself' versus the 'other' and frames all world views and experiences in the context of this dualism.
Janaka here understands that affirming and professing life also affirms and welcomes death - the same way the foil to creation is destroying, arising is to ceasing, success to failure and life to death. They are part of the single seamless unity and to discriminate one against the other and affirm one while denying the other blinds us to the fundamental interdependence between any two perceived polarities. There cannot be creation without destruction, arising without ceasing and life without death.
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
AVG 12.2
Chapter 12 (The Seekers Understanding of Abiding in Awareness): Verse 2
प्रीत्यभावेन शब्दादेरदृश्यत्वेन चात्मनः ।
विक्षेपैकाग्रहृदय एवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥ १२-२॥
PURPORT:
By cultivating complete detachment
towards all perceivable sense objects
in this phenomenal world and also by
understanding that the 'self' is not seen
as a perceived entity, I have my mind
and heart free of all extraneous sensory
distractions and am hence singly focused.
Thus, truly, do I abide in still tranquility.
TRANSLITERATION:
प्रीत्यभावेन शब्दादेः अदृश्यत्वेन च आत्मनः ।
prītyabhāvena śabdādeḥ adṛśyatvena ca ātmanaḥ ।
विक्षेपैकाग्रहृदयः एवम् एव अहम् आस्थितः ॥ १२-२॥
vikṣepaikāgrahṛdayaḥ evam eva aham āsthitaḥ ॥ 12-2॥
MEANING:
prītyabhāvena (प्रीत्यभावेन) = by having no attachment/not evincing a liking to (compound of prīty (प्रीत्य्) meaning 'liking/attachment' and abhāvena (अभावेन) meaning 'by not happening')
śabdādeḥ (शब्दादेः) = of sound etcetera (the ‘etcetera’ here refers to the implicit reference to all perceivable entities within the phenomenal world that one can discern with ones sensoria)
adṛśyatvena (अदृश्यत्वेन) = by there not being an object of perception (as seen or as visible; dṛśyatva (दृश्यत्व) is to be seen or be visible and adṛśyatvena (अदृश्यत्वेन) is to be not seen as a perceived object)
ca (च) = and
ātmanaḥ (आत्मनः) = of the self ।
vikṣepaikāgrahṛdayaḥ (विक्षेपैकाग्रहृदयः) = with the heart and the mind free of distraction and acutely focused (compound of vikṣepa (विक्षेप) meaning 'distraction/confusion/perplexity' and ekāgra (एकाग्र) meaning 'fixing ones attention upon one thing/single minded concentration' and hṛdayaḥ (हृदयः) meaning 'heart')
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = indeed
aham (अहम्) = I
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = abide/exist ॥ 12-2॥
COMMENT:
Perception, discrimination, differentiation and such discretized discernments are borne of the mind and are mostly manifested within a state of relativity. A state of relativity where there is dependency, interconnectedness and relationship of external sense objects to the person perceiving the same.
A state where the seeker sees, feels, hears, tastes and smells entities and perceives them so based upon prior associations and proceeds to impose upon the object/aspect that has been thus perceived using the lens of such a prior association. While donning such a lens and navigating the world using such a lens is useful from a conventional standpoint, the seeker understands that the awareness that they seek is one whose nature, characteristic and feature should neither be anticipated, enumerated nor grasped by the faculties of the senses (which always carry the imprint of past conditioning).
Hence it can be understood that such a state of awareness cannot be directed towards nor derived from objects of sensory perception in any conventional sense of the meaning of the term (one needs to go beyond the idols that we have constructed and worshipped both physically and mentally). The absence of dependency, interconnectedness and relationship to the perceiver precipitates a sense of non-attachment for the objects that the senses perceive. Given that the state of awareness that one seeks cannot be found in attachment to such sense objects, Janaka states that their mind is free of all such distractions and the feeling of equipoise within is steady.
In effect, one surmises that the seeker needs to let go of words, designations and perceptions. From this voluntary letting go of such entities, detachment from meaning and dispassionate thinking follow. From detachment of meaning and thought, the only thing that remains will be the silence and emptiness within oneself. Let go of that concept also and the very thought associated with the word 'silence' and 'emptiness' will also disappear. The seeker thus starts to find themselves within.
प्रीत्यभावेन शब्दादेरदृश्यत्वेन चात्मनः ।
विक्षेपैकाग्रहृदय एवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥ १२-२॥
PURPORT:
By cultivating complete detachment
towards all perceivable sense objects
in this phenomenal world and also by
understanding that the 'self' is not seen
as a perceived entity, I have my mind
and heart free of all extraneous sensory
distractions and am hence singly focused.
Thus, truly, do I abide in still tranquility.
TRANSLITERATION:
प्रीत्यभावेन शब्दादेः अदृश्यत्वेन च आत्मनः ।
prītyabhāvena śabdādeḥ adṛśyatvena ca ātmanaḥ ।
विक्षेपैकाग्रहृदयः एवम् एव अहम् आस्थितः ॥ १२-२॥
vikṣepaikāgrahṛdayaḥ evam eva aham āsthitaḥ ॥ 12-2॥
MEANING:
prītyabhāvena (प्रीत्यभावेन) = by having no attachment/not evincing a liking to (compound of prīty (प्रीत्य्) meaning 'liking/attachment' and abhāvena (अभावेन) meaning 'by not happening')
śabdādeḥ (शब्दादेः) = of sound etcetera (the ‘etcetera’ here refers to the implicit reference to all perceivable entities within the phenomenal world that one can discern with ones sensoria)
adṛśyatvena (अदृश्यत्वेन) = by there not being an object of perception (as seen or as visible; dṛśyatva (दृश्यत्व) is to be seen or be visible and adṛśyatvena (अदृश्यत्वेन) is to be not seen as a perceived object)
ca (च) = and
ātmanaḥ (आत्मनः) = of the self ।
vikṣepaikāgrahṛdayaḥ (विक्षेपैकाग्रहृदयः) = with the heart and the mind free of distraction and acutely focused (compound of vikṣepa (विक्षेप) meaning 'distraction/confusion/perplexity' and ekāgra (एकाग्र) meaning 'fixing ones attention upon one thing/single minded concentration' and hṛdayaḥ (हृदयः) meaning 'heart')
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = indeed
aham (अहम्) = I
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = abide/exist ॥ 12-2॥
COMMENT:
Perception, discrimination, differentiation and such discretized discernments are borne of the mind and are mostly manifested within a state of relativity. A state of relativity where there is dependency, interconnectedness and relationship of external sense objects to the person perceiving the same.
A state where the seeker sees, feels, hears, tastes and smells entities and perceives them so based upon prior associations and proceeds to impose upon the object/aspect that has been thus perceived using the lens of such a prior association. While donning such a lens and navigating the world using such a lens is useful from a conventional standpoint, the seeker understands that the awareness that they seek is one whose nature, characteristic and feature should neither be anticipated, enumerated nor grasped by the faculties of the senses (which always carry the imprint of past conditioning).
Hence it can be understood that such a state of awareness cannot be directed towards nor derived from objects of sensory perception in any conventional sense of the meaning of the term (one needs to go beyond the idols that we have constructed and worshipped both physically and mentally). The absence of dependency, interconnectedness and relationship to the perceiver precipitates a sense of non-attachment for the objects that the senses perceive. Given that the state of awareness that one seeks cannot be found in attachment to such sense objects, Janaka states that their mind is free of all such distractions and the feeling of equipoise within is steady.
In effect, one surmises that the seeker needs to let go of words, designations and perceptions. From this voluntary letting go of such entities, detachment from meaning and dispassionate thinking follow. From detachment of meaning and thought, the only thing that remains will be the silence and emptiness within oneself. Let go of that concept also and the very thought associated with the word 'silence' and 'emptiness' will also disappear. The seeker thus starts to find themselves within.
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
AVG 12.1
Chapter 12 (The Seekers Understanding of Abiding in Awareness): Verse 1
जनक उवाच ॥
कायकृत्यासहः पूर्वं ततो वाग्विस्तरासहः ।
अथ चिन्तासहस्तस्मादेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥ १२-१॥
PURPORT:
Janaka said:
First I became detached from physical
activities of the conditioned world; then
I became detached of discursive and
rambling speech; and then, I became
detached from thought fluctuations.
Thus, truly, do I abide in still tranquility.
TRANSLITERATION:
जनक उवाच ॥
janaka uvāca ॥
कायकृत्यासहः पूर्वम् ततः वाग्विस्तरासहः ।
kāyakṛtyāsahaḥ pūrvam tataḥ vāgvistarāsahaḥ ।
अथ चिन्तासहः तस्मात् एवम् एव अहम् आस्थितः ॥ १२-१॥
atha cintāsahaḥ tasmāt evam eva aham āsthitaḥ ॥ 12-1॥
MEANING:
janaka (जनक) = Janaka
uvāca (उवाच) = said ॥
kāyakṛtyāsahaḥ (कायकृत्यासहः) = detached from physical action/activities (compound of kāya (काय) meaning 'related to corporeal body' and kṛtyā (कृत्या) meaning 'action' and asahaḥ (असहः) meaning 'intolerant - but here taken to mean as detached'). Detached as in the mind having choicelessly turned away from action, activities, forms, names and other designations of the conditioned phenomenal world.
pūrvam (पूर्वम्) = at first
tataḥ (ततः) = then
vāgvistarāsahaḥ (वाग्विस्तरासहः) = detached of discursive and rambling dialogue/speech (compound of vāg (वाग्) meaning 'dialogue/speech' and vistarā (विस्तरा) meaning 'discursive and rambling' and asahaḥ (असहः) meaning 'intolerant - again taken to mean as detached')।
atha (अथ) = then
cintāsahaḥ (चिन्तासहः) = detached of thought fluctuations (compound of cintāsahaḥ (चिन्तासहः) meaning '' and (असहः) meaning 'intolerant - but, here again taken to mean as choicelessly detached')
tasmāt (तस्मात्) = from that
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = indeed
aham (अहम्) = I
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = abide/exist ॥ 12-1॥
COMMENT:
This chapter is a meditation by Janaka on the process and the steps by which they slowly divest themselves of the various swaddlings that seem to envelop their minds and arrive at the sense of awareness that lies within. One understands that in the search for awareness and the tranquility offered by truth, one has to start with themselves - what they really and truly are. In this sense, the awareness that we sense that we will ultimately experience takes a form of timelessness (where the perceptual quality of time has been extinguished) and formlessness (where again, the perceptual sense of shape and form and definition disappear) combined with a state of flow that can only be described as being one with all material aspects of the universe.
Janaka talks about identifications and superpositions in this chapter; where the seeker within each one of ourselves will slowly understand that stilling the gross actions of our bodies is the first step towards the realization of this awareness. The strength that one gradually develops to not only look at those actions in a dispassionate manner, but also not to overly identify oneself with those actions and not overtly superimpose biases, fears, concepts and dogma onto our gross bodily actions is paramount.
In this sense, practicing the observance and witnessing of the functioning of one’s body and watching the beautiful flow of events that happen as we go through the process of living - the slow rise and fall of our breathing, the way the air fills up within our lungs, closing one’s eyes and sensing that deepest shade of red when sunbeams filter through the thin membranes of our eyelids, the horripilation that one senses on touching cold water, the feel of moss on the underside of one’s foot when one walks out on a cold winter morning and many many more such palpable ones are discernable physical sensations that are wonderfully direct examples of our bodies working within its homeostatic imperative. The fact that we can mindfully observe such actions and gloriously revel in the understanding and appreciation of such actions is the first step that Janaka talks about here.
Witnessing this glory and understanding that you are not the doer of the action - the actions themselves are an autonomous response to one’s environment that our bodies are a part of is a key element of such seeking.
The attempt to mindfully unite our organic selves and our environmental interactions is considered important to appreciating our life processes. Our affect - that cauldron which comprises of our feelings, motives, emotions and driving incentives that autonomously proclaims itself within our organic selves were part of our ancient gut-based enteric nervous system (in fact, marine invertebrates that include starfish, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, sand dollars, and crinoids still function using their gut-based brains) that then slowly evolved to form our brains. One is here reminded of that wisdom that accurately states that our bodies came first and then out of our bodies evolved our brains (and the associated feeling, emotions, thinking and discrimination thereof). The brains and thinking did not come first - this is very true when one considers these affective factors in light of our body's homeostatic obligations - and this is the reason why Janaka starts off with the body and understanding the affective states of the body and the mindfulness that accompanies when one has clarity of the same.
जनक उवाच ॥
कायकृत्यासहः पूर्वं ततो वाग्विस्तरासहः ।
अथ चिन्तासहस्तस्मादेवमेवाहमास्थितः ॥ १२-१॥
PURPORT:
Janaka said:
First I became detached from physical
activities of the conditioned world; then
I became detached of discursive and
rambling speech; and then, I became
detached from thought fluctuations.
Thus, truly, do I abide in still tranquility.
TRANSLITERATION:
जनक उवाच ॥
janaka uvāca ॥
कायकृत्यासहः पूर्वम् ततः वाग्विस्तरासहः ।
kāyakṛtyāsahaḥ pūrvam tataḥ vāgvistarāsahaḥ ।
अथ चिन्तासहः तस्मात् एवम् एव अहम् आस्थितः ॥ १२-१॥
atha cintāsahaḥ tasmāt evam eva aham āsthitaḥ ॥ 12-1॥
MEANING:
janaka (जनक) = Janaka
uvāca (उवाच) = said ॥
kāyakṛtyāsahaḥ (कायकृत्यासहः) = detached from physical action/activities (compound of kāya (काय) meaning 'related to corporeal body' and kṛtyā (कृत्या) meaning 'action' and asahaḥ (असहः) meaning 'intolerant - but here taken to mean as detached'). Detached as in the mind having choicelessly turned away from action, activities, forms, names and other designations of the conditioned phenomenal world.
pūrvam (पूर्वम्) = at first
tataḥ (ततः) = then
vāgvistarāsahaḥ (वाग्विस्तरासहः) = detached of discursive and rambling dialogue/speech (compound of vāg (वाग्) meaning 'dialogue/speech' and vistarā (विस्तरा) meaning 'discursive and rambling' and asahaḥ (असहः) meaning 'intolerant - again taken to mean as detached')।
atha (अथ) = then
cintāsahaḥ (चिन्तासहः) = detached of thought fluctuations (compound of cintāsahaḥ (चिन्तासहः) meaning '' and (असहः) meaning 'intolerant - but, here again taken to mean as choicelessly detached')
tasmāt (तस्मात्) = from that
evam (एवम्) = thus
eva (एव) = indeed
aham (अहम्) = I
āsthitaḥ (आस्थितः) = abide/exist ॥ 12-1॥
COMMENT:
This chapter is a meditation by Janaka on the process and the steps by which they slowly divest themselves of the various swaddlings that seem to envelop their minds and arrive at the sense of awareness that lies within. One understands that in the search for awareness and the tranquility offered by truth, one has to start with themselves - what they really and truly are. In this sense, the awareness that we sense that we will ultimately experience takes a form of timelessness (where the perceptual quality of time has been extinguished) and formlessness (where again, the perceptual sense of shape and form and definition disappear) combined with a state of flow that can only be described as being one with all material aspects of the universe.
Janaka talks about identifications and superpositions in this chapter; where the seeker within each one of ourselves will slowly understand that stilling the gross actions of our bodies is the first step towards the realization of this awareness. The strength that one gradually develops to not only look at those actions in a dispassionate manner, but also not to overly identify oneself with those actions and not overtly superimpose biases, fears, concepts and dogma onto our gross bodily actions is paramount.
In this sense, practicing the observance and witnessing of the functioning of one’s body and watching the beautiful flow of events that happen as we go through the process of living - the slow rise and fall of our breathing, the way the air fills up within our lungs, closing one’s eyes and sensing that deepest shade of red when sunbeams filter through the thin membranes of our eyelids, the horripilation that one senses on touching cold water, the feel of moss on the underside of one’s foot when one walks out on a cold winter morning and many many more such palpable ones are discernable physical sensations that are wonderfully direct examples of our bodies working within its homeostatic imperative. The fact that we can mindfully observe such actions and gloriously revel in the understanding and appreciation of such actions is the first step that Janaka talks about here.
Witnessing this glory and understanding that you are not the doer of the action - the actions themselves are an autonomous response to one’s environment that our bodies are a part of is a key element of such seeking.
The attempt to mindfully unite our organic selves and our environmental interactions is considered important to appreciating our life processes. Our affect - that cauldron which comprises of our feelings, motives, emotions and driving incentives that autonomously proclaims itself within our organic selves were part of our ancient gut-based enteric nervous system (in fact, marine invertebrates that include starfish, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, sand dollars, and crinoids still function using their gut-based brains) that then slowly evolved to form our brains. One is here reminded of that wisdom that accurately states that our bodies came first and then out of our bodies evolved our brains (and the associated feeling, emotions, thinking and discrimination thereof). The brains and thinking did not come first - this is very true when one considers these affective factors in light of our body's homeostatic obligations - and this is the reason why Janaka starts off with the body and understanding the affective states of the body and the mindfulness that accompanies when one has clarity of the same.
AVG 11.8
Chapter 11 (Coherence on a choiceless witnessing of happenings) Verse 8
नानाश्चर्यमिदं विश्वं न किञ्चिदिति निश्चयी ।
निर्वासनः स्फूर्तिमात्रो न किञ्चिदिव शाम्यति ॥ ११-८॥
PURPORT:
One who knows for certain that this
astonishingly diversified universe is not
anything that it is perceived to be realizes
independence from aspirations, yearnings
and conditioned expectations. Thus freed,
one finds a transcendent radiance whose
very nature is empty but nevertheless tranquil.
TRANSLITERATION:
नानाश्चर्यम् इदम् विश्वम् न किञ्चित् इति निश्चयी ।
nānāścaryam idam viśvam na kiñcit iti niścayī ।
निर्वासनः स्फूर्तिमात्रः न किञ्चित् इव शाम्यति ॥ ११-८॥
nirvāsanaḥ sphūrtimātraḥ na kiñcit iva śāmyati ॥ 11-8॥
MEANING:
nānāścaryam (नानाश्चर्यम्) = wonderfully diversified (compound of nānā (नाना) meaning 'manifold/diversified/multitudinous' and aścaryam (अश्चर्यम्) meaning 'wonderful/amazing')
idam (इदम्) = this
viśvam (विश्वम्) = universe
na (न) = not
kiñcit (किञ्चित्) = anything
iti (इति) = this
niścayī (निश्चयी) = one who knows for certain ।
nirvāsanaḥ (निर्वासनः) = free from predilections
sphūrtimātraḥ (स्फूर्तिमात्रः) = just transcendent radiant awareness (compound of sphūrti (स्फूर्ति) meaning 'scintillating radiant (as in a radiant awareness)' and mātraḥ (मात्रः) meaning 'just/solely')
na (न) = not
kiñcit (किञ्चित्) = anything
iva (इव) = as if/seeming
śāmyati (शाम्यति) = finds peace ॥ 11-8॥
COMMENT:
The last verse of this chapter is a beautiful meditation in capping the overall themes of this chapter. One finds additional layers of meaning within the very last line of this verse where Ashtavakra veritably asks that the seeker "find that peace as if nothing in the world exists" when he mentions "na kiñcit iva śāmyati" (न किञ्चित् इव शाम्यति). On the face of it, such an existence 'as if nothing exists' can potentially be construed as being insipid, neutral and banal - where one is not engaging in and partaking of what the world and the universe at large has to offer. Interacting with the world from a standpoint of neutrality somehow can seem to negate the happiness and the joy that one would otherwise get from the world - it almost seems as if the lines exhort the seeker to lead an insipid life - however, a closer reading points one to the exact opposite direction.
The lines point the seeker towards a space where happiness and a sense of satisfaction can be truly felt - a space where the sense that things are lacking from ones life has been extinguished, a space where absolutely nothing whatsoever is lacking from ones existence. When you start to want for nothing, the conditioned mind is thrown off-balance and the mind cannot seem to focus; the first aspect in the mind being off-balance is our constant focus on a future state where things supposedly desired - as a result of conditioning - needs to be accomplished and planned for and accumulated, and the second aspect being a focus on prior failures or past successes that entangle the mind with thoughts of regret or delight as the case might be.
When the sense that nothing is lacking within oneself comes about, the mind becomes empty and a private stillness within oneself starts to build resonance. I use the word 'private' in a deliberate manner as each one of us have our own perception of that calm stillness that can bring about a total cessation to the fluctuations and entanglements that thought engenders within ourselves. In this sense, happiness is not about harboring positive states of mind or positive thinking or positivity in general. The nostrums of positivity that is often peddled in the hopes of self-realization miss the fact that for every positive aspect of our lives there is a corresponding negative aspect - in fact, the word positive cannot be connoted or explained without somehow referencing the underlying negative connotation. Ashtavakra tells us to get out of such polarities and such dualities that not only constrain our physical and emotional framework but also entangle our thoughts insofar as it relates to biases, notions, inclinations, preferences and prejudices. The key is to get to a place where there is absence of desire for entities that are extraneous to our own selves. The absence thereof builds into a state where one is more in tune with the present nature of things without focussing on a perceived future state nor lamenting over a misplaced past state. The state where the mind is not allowed to latch, cling or attach onto any specific entity, yet, enjoy that specific moment/entity for what that juncture/entity has to offer in the present - this can be applied to work, play, sleep or any aspect of our lives that we consciously engage in - the reality of deeply engaging in 'what-is' by dissolving the reality of 'who-is'; or, put another way, not appending implicit value judgements to 'what-is' by the dissolution of designated appellations like 'who-is' - this leads of fragmentation of the ego as well as a splintering of our desires and frustrations.
The radiant existence of little children is akin to this state (a state of pure blissful flow) where expectations of how the environment needs to be refashioned to suit the child's state of existence is minimal (to none) and the child is completely present within the current moment without any thoughts of steering a course for a future where the arc of events are forcibly bent to their will nor anguish in the past with respect to paths taken thus far where the the arc of the world did not seem to bend to their whim.
The saying that one can fully transform their own way of thinking in the short sojourn given to them on this planet and be able to discover freedom, stilling of the mind and experience lasting tranquility is true and can be accomplished. Of course, one must also understand that this can never be arrived at via accumulation of hours in self-help studies nor immersion within scriptural guidance. Those who seek the path of self-help are on the path of self-help for the foreseeable future and those who choose to follow the scriptures are on the path of enlightenment for the foreseeable future. They seem to unceasingly chase, but never fully seeming to arrive at awareness of the self in either case.
नानाश्चर्यमिदं विश्वं न किञ्चिदिति निश्चयी ।
निर्वासनः स्फूर्तिमात्रो न किञ्चिदिव शाम्यति ॥ ११-८॥
PURPORT:
One who knows for certain that this
astonishingly diversified universe is not
anything that it is perceived to be realizes
independence from aspirations, yearnings
and conditioned expectations. Thus freed,
one finds a transcendent radiance whose
very nature is empty but nevertheless tranquil.
TRANSLITERATION:
नानाश्चर्यम् इदम् विश्वम् न किञ्चित् इति निश्चयी ।
nānāścaryam idam viśvam na kiñcit iti niścayī ।
निर्वासनः स्फूर्तिमात्रः न किञ्चित् इव शाम्यति ॥ ११-८॥
nirvāsanaḥ sphūrtimātraḥ na kiñcit iva śāmyati ॥ 11-8॥
MEANING:
nānāścaryam (नानाश्चर्यम्) = wonderfully diversified (compound of nānā (नाना) meaning 'manifold/diversified/multitudinous' and aścaryam (अश्चर्यम्) meaning 'wonderful/amazing')
idam (इदम्) = this
viśvam (विश्वम्) = universe
na (न) = not
kiñcit (किञ्चित्) = anything
iti (इति) = this
niścayī (निश्चयी) = one who knows for certain ।
nirvāsanaḥ (निर्वासनः) = free from predilections
sphūrtimātraḥ (स्फूर्तिमात्रः) = just transcendent radiant awareness (compound of sphūrti (स्फूर्ति) meaning 'scintillating radiant (as in a radiant awareness)' and mātraḥ (मात्रः) meaning 'just/solely')
na (न) = not
kiñcit (किञ्चित्) = anything
iva (इव) = as if/seeming
śāmyati (शाम्यति) = finds peace ॥ 11-8॥
COMMENT:
The last verse of this chapter is a beautiful meditation in capping the overall themes of this chapter. One finds additional layers of meaning within the very last line of this verse where Ashtavakra veritably asks that the seeker "find that peace as if nothing in the world exists" when he mentions "na kiñcit iva śāmyati" (न किञ्चित् इव शाम्यति). On the face of it, such an existence 'as if nothing exists' can potentially be construed as being insipid, neutral and banal - where one is not engaging in and partaking of what the world and the universe at large has to offer. Interacting with the world from a standpoint of neutrality somehow can seem to negate the happiness and the joy that one would otherwise get from the world - it almost seems as if the lines exhort the seeker to lead an insipid life - however, a closer reading points one to the exact opposite direction.
The lines point the seeker towards a space where happiness and a sense of satisfaction can be truly felt - a space where the sense that things are lacking from ones life has been extinguished, a space where absolutely nothing whatsoever is lacking from ones existence. When you start to want for nothing, the conditioned mind is thrown off-balance and the mind cannot seem to focus; the first aspect in the mind being off-balance is our constant focus on a future state where things supposedly desired - as a result of conditioning - needs to be accomplished and planned for and accumulated, and the second aspect being a focus on prior failures or past successes that entangle the mind with thoughts of regret or delight as the case might be.
When the sense that nothing is lacking within oneself comes about, the mind becomes empty and a private stillness within oneself starts to build resonance. I use the word 'private' in a deliberate manner as each one of us have our own perception of that calm stillness that can bring about a total cessation to the fluctuations and entanglements that thought engenders within ourselves. In this sense, happiness is not about harboring positive states of mind or positive thinking or positivity in general. The nostrums of positivity that is often peddled in the hopes of self-realization miss the fact that for every positive aspect of our lives there is a corresponding negative aspect - in fact, the word positive cannot be connoted or explained without somehow referencing the underlying negative connotation. Ashtavakra tells us to get out of such polarities and such dualities that not only constrain our physical and emotional framework but also entangle our thoughts insofar as it relates to biases, notions, inclinations, preferences and prejudices. The key is to get to a place where there is absence of desire for entities that are extraneous to our own selves. The absence thereof builds into a state where one is more in tune with the present nature of things without focussing on a perceived future state nor lamenting over a misplaced past state. The state where the mind is not allowed to latch, cling or attach onto any specific entity, yet, enjoy that specific moment/entity for what that juncture/entity has to offer in the present - this can be applied to work, play, sleep or any aspect of our lives that we consciously engage in - the reality of deeply engaging in 'what-is' by dissolving the reality of 'who-is'; or, put another way, not appending implicit value judgements to 'what-is' by the dissolution of designated appellations like 'who-is' - this leads of fragmentation of the ego as well as a splintering of our desires and frustrations.
The radiant existence of little children is akin to this state (a state of pure blissful flow) where expectations of how the environment needs to be refashioned to suit the child's state of existence is minimal (to none) and the child is completely present within the current moment without any thoughts of steering a course for a future where the arc of events are forcibly bent to their will nor anguish in the past with respect to paths taken thus far where the the arc of the world did not seem to bend to their whim.
The saying that one can fully transform their own way of thinking in the short sojourn given to them on this planet and be able to discover freedom, stilling of the mind and experience lasting tranquility is true and can be accomplished. Of course, one must also understand that this can never be arrived at via accumulation of hours in self-help studies nor immersion within scriptural guidance. Those who seek the path of self-help are on the path of self-help for the foreseeable future and those who choose to follow the scriptures are on the path of enlightenment for the foreseeable future. They seem to unceasingly chase, but never fully seeming to arrive at awareness of the self in either case.
AVG 11.7
Chapter 11 (Coherence on a choiceless witnessing of happenings) Verse 7
आब्रह्मस्तम्बपर्यन्तमहमेवेति निश्चयी ।
निर्विकल्पः शुचिः शान्तः प्राप्ताप्राप्तविनिर्वृतः ॥ ११-७॥
PURPORT:
It is my perception alone creates everything
from manifest reality down to the tiniest
tuft of grass - one who knows this for
certain is released of all the ponderous
conflicts of conditioned thought and is
lucid and tranquil; they thus turn away
from what is attained and not attained.
TRANSLITERATION:
आब्रह्मस्तम्बपर्यन्तम् अहम् एव इति निश्चयी ।
ābrahmastambaparyantam aham eva iti niścayī ।
निर्विकल्पः शुचिः शान्तः प्राप्ताप्राप्तविनिर्वृतः ॥ ११-७॥
nirvikalpaḥ śuciḥ śāntaḥ prāptāprāptavinirvṛtaḥ ॥ 11-7॥
MEANING:
ābrahmastambaparyantam (आब्रह्मस्तम्बपर्यन्तम्) = from manifest reality down to a tiny tuft of grass (see verse 2.11 and 1.20 for relevant brief commentary on the designation brahma - here taken to mean as 'manifest reality')
aham (अहम्) = I
eva (एव) = truly
iti (इति) = thus
niścayī (निश्चयी) = one who knows for certain ।
nirvikalpaḥ (निर्विकल्पः) = free from ponderous conflicts and thoughts
śuciḥ (शुचिः) = pure, lucid
śāntaḥ (शान्तः) = peaceful/tranquil
prāptāprāptavinirvṛtaḥ (प्राप्ताप्राप्तविनिर्वृतः) = turned away from what is accomplished and what is unaccomplished (compound of prāpta (प्राप्त) meaning 'accomplished/attained' and aprāpta (अप्राप्त) meaning 'unaccomplished/unattained' and vinirvṛtaḥ (विनिर्वृतः) meaning 'turns away from') ॥ 11-7॥
COMMENT:
The sentiment that bubbles to the surface in this verse is inherent within the phrase used by Ashtavakra in the last line - prāptāprāptavinirvṛtaḥ (प्राप्ताप्राप्तविनिर्वृतः) - or to free oneself of all ideas of attainment and non-attainment. Most seekers live their lives in a state of expectation - an expectation that happiness and satisfaction will come as soon as they attain whatever it is the next thing that they have mentally prepared themselves for 'attainment'. Most seekers seem to live within this state of expectation and attempt to manage and partition their activities and life in general in various way in order that they may attain this vaunted state of satisfaction and happiness. Some try to superimpose an imagined state of happiness upon whatever turmoil they imagine within their minds, others turn to extraneous contrivances and accessories in the hopes that an expedient arrangement of such adornments will give them a measure of peace (little realizing that all such superimpositions and makeshift stratagems are akin to short-lived discrete binary fluctuations whose value rises to a higher level for short intervals only to fall back to the default mode once the interval passes). Seekers try and extend either the interval or the height of attainment not understanding that the nature of attainment and the resultant measure of happiness gained itself is ephemeral.
The provenance of such searching is the assumption that the seekers internal state of happiness or satisfaction is impelled and motivated by the circumstances that the seeker is subject to as a result of external forces. The implicit acceptance of such an assumption becomes a self-fulfilling mindset whose effect is to propel the seeker in the prevailing direction of the external force which by nature is random and whimsical. Owing to the random nature of the forces, there are instances where the seekers desires alongside the chanciness of the world blithely meets and happiness results - albeit fleetingly - and there are other times where the seekers motivations are at odds with the world and suffering results. In many cases, the seekers tries to control the outcomes of the latter and tries to prolong the results of the former - in all cases ultimately unsuccessfully; as the nature of both are fleeting and impermanent.
Clarity results only when one starts to become emotionally impervious to the fluctuations that happen around them - an internal acclimatization where the equanimity flows when one has understood that their prior beliefs and conditioning no longer drive their outlook, mindset and emotional states. This only happens as a result of a meticulous examination of our internal states that begin with our thoughts and end with our thoughts. Examining each thought, its origins, its motivations, its velocity of propagation and its direction allows for one to understand the root conditioning that must have given rise to the particular point of view implicit within the thought. Reorienting and overriding our natural defaults that ride implicit within our thoughts (that have been nurtured through years of conditioning) can take various forms, but fundamental to such reorienting is the understanding that entities and things by their very natures are impermanent and will change, the outlook and the mindset that we bring to bear upon a situation is in reality our own perspective colored and channeled by our past inculcation of culture and lastly the understanding that nothing whatsoever displays a foundational footing that implicates an undying, eternal essence. It can thus be inferred that the only thing that prevents a seeker from seeing that innate sense of awareness is the attachment towards and a hankering for an 'enlightened self' rather than 'selfless enlightenment'.
आब्रह्मस्तम्बपर्यन्तमहमेवेति निश्चयी ।
निर्विकल्पः शुचिः शान्तः प्राप्ताप्राप्तविनिर्वृतः ॥ ११-७॥
PURPORT:
It is my perception alone creates everything
from manifest reality down to the tiniest
tuft of grass - one who knows this for
certain is released of all the ponderous
conflicts of conditioned thought and is
lucid and tranquil; they thus turn away
from what is attained and not attained.
TRANSLITERATION:
आब्रह्मस्तम्बपर्यन्तम् अहम् एव इति निश्चयी ।
ābrahmastambaparyantam aham eva iti niścayī ।
निर्विकल्पः शुचिः शान्तः प्राप्ताप्राप्तविनिर्वृतः ॥ ११-७॥
nirvikalpaḥ śuciḥ śāntaḥ prāptāprāptavinirvṛtaḥ ॥ 11-7॥
MEANING:
ābrahmastambaparyantam (आब्रह्मस्तम्बपर्यन्तम्) = from manifest reality down to a tiny tuft of grass (see verse 2.11 and 1.20 for relevant brief commentary on the designation brahma - here taken to mean as 'manifest reality')
aham (अहम्) = I
eva (एव) = truly
iti (इति) = thus
niścayī (निश्चयी) = one who knows for certain ।
nirvikalpaḥ (निर्विकल्पः) = free from ponderous conflicts and thoughts
śuciḥ (शुचिः) = pure, lucid
śāntaḥ (शान्तः) = peaceful/tranquil
prāptāprāptavinirvṛtaḥ (प्राप्ताप्राप्तविनिर्वृतः) = turned away from what is accomplished and what is unaccomplished (compound of prāpta (प्राप्त) meaning 'accomplished/attained' and aprāpta (अप्राप्त) meaning 'unaccomplished/unattained' and vinirvṛtaḥ (विनिर्वृतः) meaning 'turns away from') ॥ 11-7॥
COMMENT:
The sentiment that bubbles to the surface in this verse is inherent within the phrase used by Ashtavakra in the last line - prāptāprāptavinirvṛtaḥ (प्राप्ताप्राप्तविनिर्वृतः) - or to free oneself of all ideas of attainment and non-attainment. Most seekers live their lives in a state of expectation - an expectation that happiness and satisfaction will come as soon as they attain whatever it is the next thing that they have mentally prepared themselves for 'attainment'. Most seekers seem to live within this state of expectation and attempt to manage and partition their activities and life in general in various way in order that they may attain this vaunted state of satisfaction and happiness. Some try to superimpose an imagined state of happiness upon whatever turmoil they imagine within their minds, others turn to extraneous contrivances and accessories in the hopes that an expedient arrangement of such adornments will give them a measure of peace (little realizing that all such superimpositions and makeshift stratagems are akin to short-lived discrete binary fluctuations whose value rises to a higher level for short intervals only to fall back to the default mode once the interval passes). Seekers try and extend either the interval or the height of attainment not understanding that the nature of attainment and the resultant measure of happiness gained itself is ephemeral.
The provenance of such searching is the assumption that the seekers internal state of happiness or satisfaction is impelled and motivated by the circumstances that the seeker is subject to as a result of external forces. The implicit acceptance of such an assumption becomes a self-fulfilling mindset whose effect is to propel the seeker in the prevailing direction of the external force which by nature is random and whimsical. Owing to the random nature of the forces, there are instances where the seekers desires alongside the chanciness of the world blithely meets and happiness results - albeit fleetingly - and there are other times where the seekers motivations are at odds with the world and suffering results. In many cases, the seekers tries to control the outcomes of the latter and tries to prolong the results of the former - in all cases ultimately unsuccessfully; as the nature of both are fleeting and impermanent.
Clarity results only when one starts to become emotionally impervious to the fluctuations that happen around them - an internal acclimatization where the equanimity flows when one has understood that their prior beliefs and conditioning no longer drive their outlook, mindset and emotional states. This only happens as a result of a meticulous examination of our internal states that begin with our thoughts and end with our thoughts. Examining each thought, its origins, its motivations, its velocity of propagation and its direction allows for one to understand the root conditioning that must have given rise to the particular point of view implicit within the thought. Reorienting and overriding our natural defaults that ride implicit within our thoughts (that have been nurtured through years of conditioning) can take various forms, but fundamental to such reorienting is the understanding that entities and things by their very natures are impermanent and will change, the outlook and the mindset that we bring to bear upon a situation is in reality our own perspective colored and channeled by our past inculcation of culture and lastly the understanding that nothing whatsoever displays a foundational footing that implicates an undying, eternal essence. It can thus be inferred that the only thing that prevents a seeker from seeing that innate sense of awareness is the attachment towards and a hankering for an 'enlightened self' rather than 'selfless enlightenment'.
AVG 11.6
Chapter 11 (Coherence on a choiceless witnessing of happenings) Verse 6
नाहं देहो न मे देहो बोधोऽहमिति निश्चयी ।
कैवल्यं इव सम्प्राप्तो न स्मरत्यकृतं कृतम् ॥ ११-६॥
PURPORT:
I am not this body nor is this body of me.
I am pure awareness. One who is
established in this unperturbed state
does not rely on nor remember what has
been done nor brood over what has
been left undone. Predicated beyond such
action and inertia lies that state of beatitude.
TRANSLITERATION:
न अहम् देहः न मे देहः बोधः अहम् इति निश्चयी ।
na aham dehaḥ na me dehaḥ bodhaḥ aham iti niścayī ।
कैवल्यम् इव सम्प्राप्तः न स्मरति अकृतम् कृतम् ॥ ११-६॥
kaivalyam iva samprāptaḥ na smarati akṛtam kṛtam ॥ 11-6॥
MEANING:
na (न) = not
aham (अहम्) = I
dehaḥ (देहः) = body
na (न) = not
me (मे) = of me
dehaḥ (देहः) = body
bodhaḥ (बोधः) = awareness
aham (अहम्) = I
iti (इति) = thus
niścayī (निश्चयी) = one who has known for certain ।
kaivalyam (कैवल्यम्) = beatitude/detachment from all worldly connected/state of pure awareness
iva (इव) = as if/like
samprāptaḥ (सम्प्राप्तः) = attained
na (न) = not
smarati (स्मरति) = remembers/recalls
akṛtam (अकृतम्) = what is not done
kṛtam (कृतम्) = what is done ॥ 11-6॥
COMMENT:
This verse rich with meaning and interpretation boils down to our sense of entangled identification with material entities that surround us - these entities can take the form of possessions that one has obsessively garnered or take the form of our own ideas of a concrete self that seems to abide and dictate our outlook. Ashtavakra mentions that those who have transcended this entanglement find a sense of repose within the awareness that rises innately.
Even in this seeking, it is understood that one need not hurry the course of getting there. As one gets there, one does not need to have a sense of apprehension about what comes ahead. Self awareness comes from introspection and all the quietude and sense of progress gained by constantly measuring progress is no progress at all. Things will come to be as the awareness slowly rises above the constant flurry of muddled thoughts that entangle the seekers mind. Being constantly aware of oneself and the moment within is all that is necessary for moving forward.
In the process of moving forward, one will encounter various waypoints along the journey. Some of these waypoints serve to remind while others serve to reverberate ancient truths that have stood the test of time. One of the waypoints that both reverberate as well as remind is the concept of forgiveness. You see, if one needs to get rid of the associations that bind, perceiving the sanity behind someone who is designated as 'separate or unlike or dissimilar' and an unconditional acceptance of the other is the only way to understand someone and the associations thereof. The designations and judgments we assign and label are ultimately self judgments because the true nature of our awareness as well as our minds is non-dual. True awareness tends to see anything and everything as an extension of itself - awareness. Therefore it is understood that the aspect of partial judgment or biased outlook that seekers tend to apply towards another sentient being is a biased and a partial judgment against oneself. Thus, in judging oneself, it is understood that one is indulging in an act that profoundly destroys any sense of thought-stillness cultivated hitherto, and (extending this line of thinking), our actions in judging and pigeon-holing others is also, likewise, an act that rebounds towards ourselves with equal momentum and profoundly destroys any our own sense of equanimity.
In that sense, perceiving someone as what they are not and perceiving their faults as real only destroys one's own sense of identity and equanimity. Bestowing onto oneself the liberty to see the universe around them as guiltless and to walk within that sense of equanimity that follows will allow for the realization to dawn on the seeker that biased judgments and conditioned choices performed consciously or unconsciously is an exercise in futility as one only manages to judge oneself in the exact same manner; on the flip side, with the awareness that comes with not judging anyone as mistaken or guilty or wayward, it becomes impossible to judge oneself.
In that sense, the model that we follow insofar as it comes to forgiveness not only works for the other, but also allows for your own stilling and freedom from the worrying illusion that you have been harmed. All of the worrying illusions (like the one mentioned above where one seems to think that they have been wronged and hence cannot seem to forgive) and other like “things" only exists within our minds. Concepts and designations and suppositions of this nature does not and cannot exist outside of the mind. This will beg the question that follows - whether there is an 'outside' of the mind. And my humble understanding would be that maybe there is something ‘outside’, but, one would first need to require for something ‘within the mind’ - a place where thoughts are unnecessarily generated for us to understand that there is an ‘out there’ - in other words, we create the realities for ourselves out there based upon what we perceive to be the reality.
नाहं देहो न मे देहो बोधोऽहमिति निश्चयी ।
कैवल्यं इव सम्प्राप्तो न स्मरत्यकृतं कृतम् ॥ ११-६॥
PURPORT:
I am not this body nor is this body of me.
I am pure awareness. One who is
established in this unperturbed state
does not rely on nor remember what has
been done nor brood over what has
been left undone. Predicated beyond such
action and inertia lies that state of beatitude.
TRANSLITERATION:
न अहम् देहः न मे देहः बोधः अहम् इति निश्चयी ।
na aham dehaḥ na me dehaḥ bodhaḥ aham iti niścayī ।
कैवल्यम् इव सम्प्राप्तः न स्मरति अकृतम् कृतम् ॥ ११-६॥
kaivalyam iva samprāptaḥ na smarati akṛtam kṛtam ॥ 11-6॥
MEANING:
na (न) = not
aham (अहम्) = I
dehaḥ (देहः) = body
na (न) = not
me (मे) = of me
dehaḥ (देहः) = body
bodhaḥ (बोधः) = awareness
aham (अहम्) = I
iti (इति) = thus
niścayī (निश्चयी) = one who has known for certain ।
kaivalyam (कैवल्यम्) = beatitude/detachment from all worldly connected/state of pure awareness
iva (इव) = as if/like
samprāptaḥ (सम्प्राप्तः) = attained
na (न) = not
smarati (स्मरति) = remembers/recalls
akṛtam (अकृतम्) = what is not done
kṛtam (कृतम्) = what is done ॥ 11-6॥
COMMENT:
This verse rich with meaning and interpretation boils down to our sense of entangled identification with material entities that surround us - these entities can take the form of possessions that one has obsessively garnered or take the form of our own ideas of a concrete self that seems to abide and dictate our outlook. Ashtavakra mentions that those who have transcended this entanglement find a sense of repose within the awareness that rises innately.
Even in this seeking, it is understood that one need not hurry the course of getting there. As one gets there, one does not need to have a sense of apprehension about what comes ahead. Self awareness comes from introspection and all the quietude and sense of progress gained by constantly measuring progress is no progress at all. Things will come to be as the awareness slowly rises above the constant flurry of muddled thoughts that entangle the seekers mind. Being constantly aware of oneself and the moment within is all that is necessary for moving forward.
In the process of moving forward, one will encounter various waypoints along the journey. Some of these waypoints serve to remind while others serve to reverberate ancient truths that have stood the test of time. One of the waypoints that both reverberate as well as remind is the concept of forgiveness. You see, if one needs to get rid of the associations that bind, perceiving the sanity behind someone who is designated as 'separate or unlike or dissimilar' and an unconditional acceptance of the other is the only way to understand someone and the associations thereof. The designations and judgments we assign and label are ultimately self judgments because the true nature of our awareness as well as our minds is non-dual. True awareness tends to see anything and everything as an extension of itself - awareness. Therefore it is understood that the aspect of partial judgment or biased outlook that seekers tend to apply towards another sentient being is a biased and a partial judgment against oneself. Thus, in judging oneself, it is understood that one is indulging in an act that profoundly destroys any sense of thought-stillness cultivated hitherto, and (extending this line of thinking), our actions in judging and pigeon-holing others is also, likewise, an act that rebounds towards ourselves with equal momentum and profoundly destroys any our own sense of equanimity.
In that sense, perceiving someone as what they are not and perceiving their faults as real only destroys one's own sense of identity and equanimity. Bestowing onto oneself the liberty to see the universe around them as guiltless and to walk within that sense of equanimity that follows will allow for the realization to dawn on the seeker that biased judgments and conditioned choices performed consciously or unconsciously is an exercise in futility as one only manages to judge oneself in the exact same manner; on the flip side, with the awareness that comes with not judging anyone as mistaken or guilty or wayward, it becomes impossible to judge oneself.
In that sense, the model that we follow insofar as it comes to forgiveness not only works for the other, but also allows for your own stilling and freedom from the worrying illusion that you have been harmed. All of the worrying illusions (like the one mentioned above where one seems to think that they have been wronged and hence cannot seem to forgive) and other like “things" only exists within our minds. Concepts and designations and suppositions of this nature does not and cannot exist outside of the mind. This will beg the question that follows - whether there is an 'outside' of the mind. And my humble understanding would be that maybe there is something ‘outside’, but, one would first need to require for something ‘within the mind’ - a place where thoughts are unnecessarily generated for us to understand that there is an ‘out there’ - in other words, we create the realities for ourselves out there based upon what we perceive to be the reality.
AVG 11.5
Chapter 11 (Coherence on a choiceless witnessing of happenings) Verse 5
चिन्तया जायते दुःखं नान्यथेहेति निश्चयी ।
तया हीनः सुखी शान्तः सर्वत्र गलितस्पृहः ॥ ११-५॥
PURPORT:
The one who has realized that by thoughts
and worries alone is suffering and misery
perceived and manifested thus becomes free
from the same and attains a tranquil state
devoid of thoughts and worries; their minds
are extinguished of clinging and longing
and they are happy wherever they go.
TRANSLITERATION:
चिन्तया जायते दुःखम् न अन्यथा इह इति निश्चयी ।
cintayā jāyate duḥkham na anyathā iha iti niścayī ।
तया हीनः सुखी शान्तः सर्वत्र गलितस्पृहः ॥ ११-५॥
tayā hīnaḥ sukhī śāntaḥ sarvatra galitaspṛhaḥ ॥ 11-5॥
MEANING:
cintayā (चिन्तया) = by thoughts and by worried apprehension
jāyate (जायते) = is produced/is manifested
duḥkham (दुःखम्) = suffering
na (न) = not
anyathā (अन्यथा) = otherwise (other than by thoughts and worry, by nothing else is suffering produced)
iha (इह) = here
iti (इति) = thus
niścayī (निश्चयी) = one who has known for certain ।
tayā (तया) = from that ('that' as in thoughts and worries)
hīnaḥ (हीनः) = vacant of/devoid (vacant of thoughts and worries)
sukhī (सुखी) = placid/happy
śāntaḥ (शान्तः) = tranquil
sarvatra (सर्वत्र) = everywhere
galitaspṛhaḥ (गलितस्पृहः) = rid of clinging and longing (compound of galita (गलित) meaning 'desires/longing/covetousness' and spṛhaḥ (स्पृहः) meaning 'waning/decayed/perished/rid of') ॥ 11-5॥
COMMENT:
In this verse, Ashtavakra points to the fact that the sense of elation and sorrow that cycle through our being, the alternating rhythms of arising and cessation that we witness around us are ultimately given solid footing within the thought fluctuations of the mind. In the context of this verse, the underlying message seems to be that the seeker strives to find ways to gradually tamp down the fluctuations within themselves at will. The erstwhile term for this from Zen practice is the 'monkey mind' - thoughts within us supposedly dancing and prancing and moving and stopping without apparent volition nor plan.
As children, we are born with a field of conscious bearing that is impressionably blank - a field of childish being that lives within the fullness offered by that very moment and participating and reaching to the environment in a manner that comes naturally from within the instinctual core. The process of growing up impinges upon the young-being all of the desires, likes, dislikes, concepts and other forms of choices that society consciously or unconsciously imparts upon the young. This impingement results in the non-volitional invoking of evolutionary processes within our brains that aid planning for the future based upon the past and current impressions on the child. The onset of planning for the future produces within the child a sense of identity and that identity 'wants' and 'identifies' with some of the choices presented and decision-making is initiated based upon past conditioning. In parallel, the identity is constantly soliciting acceptance and/or rejection of norms, values, ethics, practices and mores from the immediate environment to strengthen the ego and build the sense of I am 'this/that/or_other' and starts the dualistic process of separation where the 'I am this/I am that/I am some other' is apart from the 'this/that/the_other'.
The sense of otherness and planning and fostering of this aspect of separation results in the creation of various scenarios within their minds that plays out elaborate what/if options that lead the now mature seeker down multiple rabbit holes of fancy and fear. The seeker seems to constantly end up with an inner dialogue that starts with mild chatter, then morphs to form a conversation and, in some cases, becomes a cacophony of multiple points of view within their heads.
Ashtavakra cautions us of the depth of this particular rabbit hole and implies that the first step is in the seekers' understanding of this process of discursive thought that goes on within their minds and start to see the thoughts for what they are - random biologically generated fluctuations that are generated autonomously and mediated by conditioned feedback on a continual basis - and then begin the process of stilling them.
The natural flow of thoughts unimpeded has an evolutionary purpose insofar as it relates to long term planning, but understand that we are not performing planning for the long term every waking moment. Managing and actually starting to see and witness the flow of thoughts allows for the seeker to slowly understand that there is a space of stillness between two autonomous thoughts - what might seem like a continuous flow of thoughts starts to look like a discrete process of arising, enduring and cessation - thoughts also seem to follow the same patterns of rising and ceasing that all other natural phenomena within our natural worlds follow - we are no different. Looking for that discrete space of stillness between the ceasing of one and the arising of the next and building upon the space is what many seekers look to experience - this space of stillness or a state of flow where time comes to a standstill and 'you just are' can be characterized by many names - meditation, orgasm, peak states of physical activity - ultimately, all these states realize a condition where the sense of self and the sense of ego is diminished and muted - a space where there is peace within the present moment - just like the child that you began.
In retrospect, the objective of poems like Ashtavakra and the words herein (or spiritual traditions for that matter) are not to teach concepts nor designations nor doctrinal injunctions - the objective is for the seeking reader to reach a space where there is peace within. The use of elaborate classifications, designations, exalted rituals, elaborate liturgies and hierarchies ultimately are creations that culture devised whose aims must have been well meant at the time of their creation - aims whose explicit goals were for the seeker to reach that inner stillness and cultivate that sense of tranquility - of course, like all of our well meant creations, the spiritual traditions managed to adapt and envelop these to the very structure that they were trying to extinguish - the ego and the power structures and the patriarchs who guarded the same - Ashtavakra in this verse only asks us to remember these fundamental understandings that allow the seekers to get back to their basic roots.
चिन्तया जायते दुःखं नान्यथेहेति निश्चयी ।
तया हीनः सुखी शान्तः सर्वत्र गलितस्पृहः ॥ ११-५॥
PURPORT:
The one who has realized that by thoughts
and worries alone is suffering and misery
perceived and manifested thus becomes free
from the same and attains a tranquil state
devoid of thoughts and worries; their minds
are extinguished of clinging and longing
and they are happy wherever they go.
TRANSLITERATION:
चिन्तया जायते दुःखम् न अन्यथा इह इति निश्चयी ।
cintayā jāyate duḥkham na anyathā iha iti niścayī ।
तया हीनः सुखी शान्तः सर्वत्र गलितस्पृहः ॥ ११-५॥
tayā hīnaḥ sukhī śāntaḥ sarvatra galitaspṛhaḥ ॥ 11-5॥
MEANING:
cintayā (चिन्तया) = by thoughts and by worried apprehension
jāyate (जायते) = is produced/is manifested
duḥkham (दुःखम्) = suffering
na (न) = not
anyathā (अन्यथा) = otherwise (other than by thoughts and worry, by nothing else is suffering produced)
iha (इह) = here
iti (इति) = thus
niścayī (निश्चयी) = one who has known for certain ।
tayā (तया) = from that ('that' as in thoughts and worries)
hīnaḥ (हीनः) = vacant of/devoid (vacant of thoughts and worries)
sukhī (सुखी) = placid/happy
śāntaḥ (शान्तः) = tranquil
sarvatra (सर्वत्र) = everywhere
galitaspṛhaḥ (गलितस्पृहः) = rid of clinging and longing (compound of galita (गलित) meaning 'desires/longing/covetousness' and spṛhaḥ (स्पृहः) meaning 'waning/decayed/perished/rid of') ॥ 11-5॥
COMMENT:
In this verse, Ashtavakra points to the fact that the sense of elation and sorrow that cycle through our being, the alternating rhythms of arising and cessation that we witness around us are ultimately given solid footing within the thought fluctuations of the mind. In the context of this verse, the underlying message seems to be that the seeker strives to find ways to gradually tamp down the fluctuations within themselves at will. The erstwhile term for this from Zen practice is the 'monkey mind' - thoughts within us supposedly dancing and prancing and moving and stopping without apparent volition nor plan.
As children, we are born with a field of conscious bearing that is impressionably blank - a field of childish being that lives within the fullness offered by that very moment and participating and reaching to the environment in a manner that comes naturally from within the instinctual core. The process of growing up impinges upon the young-being all of the desires, likes, dislikes, concepts and other forms of choices that society consciously or unconsciously imparts upon the young. This impingement results in the non-volitional invoking of evolutionary processes within our brains that aid planning for the future based upon the past and current impressions on the child. The onset of planning for the future produces within the child a sense of identity and that identity 'wants' and 'identifies' with some of the choices presented and decision-making is initiated based upon past conditioning. In parallel, the identity is constantly soliciting acceptance and/or rejection of norms, values, ethics, practices and mores from the immediate environment to strengthen the ego and build the sense of I am 'this/that/or_other' and starts the dualistic process of separation where the 'I am this/I am that/I am some other' is apart from the 'this/that/the_other'.
The sense of otherness and planning and fostering of this aspect of separation results in the creation of various scenarios within their minds that plays out elaborate what/if options that lead the now mature seeker down multiple rabbit holes of fancy and fear. The seeker seems to constantly end up with an inner dialogue that starts with mild chatter, then morphs to form a conversation and, in some cases, becomes a cacophony of multiple points of view within their heads.
Ashtavakra cautions us of the depth of this particular rabbit hole and implies that the first step is in the seekers' understanding of this process of discursive thought that goes on within their minds and start to see the thoughts for what they are - random biologically generated fluctuations that are generated autonomously and mediated by conditioned feedback on a continual basis - and then begin the process of stilling them.
The natural flow of thoughts unimpeded has an evolutionary purpose insofar as it relates to long term planning, but understand that we are not performing planning for the long term every waking moment. Managing and actually starting to see and witness the flow of thoughts allows for the seeker to slowly understand that there is a space of stillness between two autonomous thoughts - what might seem like a continuous flow of thoughts starts to look like a discrete process of arising, enduring and cessation - thoughts also seem to follow the same patterns of rising and ceasing that all other natural phenomena within our natural worlds follow - we are no different. Looking for that discrete space of stillness between the ceasing of one and the arising of the next and building upon the space is what many seekers look to experience - this space of stillness or a state of flow where time comes to a standstill and 'you just are' can be characterized by many names - meditation, orgasm, peak states of physical activity - ultimately, all these states realize a condition where the sense of self and the sense of ego is diminished and muted - a space where there is peace within the present moment - just like the child that you began.
In retrospect, the objective of poems like Ashtavakra and the words herein (or spiritual traditions for that matter) are not to teach concepts nor designations nor doctrinal injunctions - the objective is for the seeking reader to reach a space where there is peace within. The use of elaborate classifications, designations, exalted rituals, elaborate liturgies and hierarchies ultimately are creations that culture devised whose aims must have been well meant at the time of their creation - aims whose explicit goals were for the seeker to reach that inner stillness and cultivate that sense of tranquility - of course, like all of our well meant creations, the spiritual traditions managed to adapt and envelop these to the very structure that they were trying to extinguish - the ego and the power structures and the patriarchs who guarded the same - Ashtavakra in this verse only asks us to remember these fundamental understandings that allow the seekers to get back to their basic roots.
AVG 11.4
Chapter 11 (Coherence on a choiceless witnessing of happenings) Verse 4
सुखदुःखे जन्ममृत्यू दैवादेवेति निश्चयी ।
साध्यादर्शी निरायासः कुर्वन्नपि न लिप्यते ॥ ११-४॥
PURPORT:
Knowing with certainty that exhilaration
and despair, arising and cessation, all spring
from probabilistic scenarios, one comes to
the realization that it is not always possible
to achieve desired ends and outcomes; thus,
one becomes tranquil internally and is not
attached to ones actions even as
one performs them mindfully.
TRANSLITERATION:
सुखदुःखे जन्ममृत्यू दैवात् एव इति निश्चयी ।
sukhaduḥkhe janmamṛtyū daivāt eva iti niścayī ।
साध्यादर्शी निरायासः कुर्वन् अपि न लिप्यते ॥ ११-४॥
sādhyādarśī nirāyāsaḥ kurvan api na lipyate ॥ 11-4॥
MEANING:
sukhaduḥkhe (सुखदुःखे) = joyousness and heartache/happiness and misery
janmamṛtyū (जन्ममृत्यू) = birth and death
daivāt (दैवात्) = from circumstance/outcomes from probabilistic scenarios
eva (एव) = indeed
iti (इति) = thus
niścayī (निश्चयी) = one who has known for certain ।
sādhyādarśī (साध्यादर्शी) = seeing that it is not possible to accomplish (compound of sādhya (साध्य) meaning 'achieve/accomplish/take care of' and adarśī (अदर्शी) meaning 'not seeing/not finding')
nirāyāsaḥ (निरायासः) = not liable to cause trouble or fatigue (to be tranquil intrinsically - in this case taken to mean that the one who understands that it is not possible to accomplish the desired plans becomes tranquil internally)
kurvan (कुर्वन्) = doing
api (अपि) = even
na (न) = not
lipyate (लिप्यते) = attached ॥ 11-4॥
COMMENT:
The message in this verse is similar to the overall message conveyed as part of the previous verse - in that, the preceptor utilizes different tools to ensure that the seeker starts to see the self-awareness inherent within the seeker. In order to convey to the seeker the ultimate untenability of all phenomenal experience that is dualistic in nature, teachers may use rhetorical devices like explaining that only innate awareness is the pure nature of non-duality while all of the phenomenal world experienced is hallucinatory - in that sense, nothing ever really comes into existence because other than self-awareness, nothing really exists.
On the other hand, other preceptors may grant that phenomenal experience that the seeker undergoes is a form of provisionally expedient reality that is conventionally real (because of the fact that such reality seems to be cognized by the seeker’s sensoria and thus mentally experienced). This conventionally experienced reality is the way that the seeker navigates the world until such time they see aspects of the non-dual self-awareness within themselves - after which they understand that what they have been experiencing as conventional reality does not have any inherent essence or foundational basis to the same and hence is empty of any enduring characterization.
In this sense, while one set of preceptors teach that the world is hallucinatory and hence illusory and self-awareness will clear the path forward, other preceptors lead us down the path of mentoring implying that self-awareness will show us the way forward accepting that the world is conventionally real but ultimately empty.
Whether one (like teachings of the former) emphasizes that the phenomenal experience is hallucinatory or one (teachings of the latter) emphasizes that only self-awareness is real, both sets of preceptors arrive at the same foundational conclusion - exposing the ultimate untenability of the phenomenally experienced viewpoint that we ordinarily interact with and thus gradually moving the seeker towards understanding and living within self-awareness and self-realization.
The crutches that the seeker relies on in the attainment of this path may involve adornments created from the familiar world of name-and-form that include conceptual designations like Brahman, atman, all-knowing-god, supreme-energy, divine-soul etcetera; it is understood that one may use these stepping stones as footholds as one makes the journey, but once the idea of self-realization has shown itself to the seeker (by the seekers own rigorous enquiry), these crutches and conceptual designations may not be needed (I say 'may not' as this is a choice left to the individual seeker and their own path to stillness).
Put another way, while personal predilections on the approach to realization may differ and the approach one takes may vary based upon each of our great spiritual traditions, the endpoint remains the same - living an examined life that is fundamentally choiceless as it pertains to the individuals outlook, being empathetic and understanding towards other sentient beings, staying compassionate towards nature that sustains the seeker and peaceful within the inherently tranquil self - a middle path of moderation that does not hew or lurch towards any extreme of temperament, behavior, outlook, doctrine or practice.
सुखदुःखे जन्ममृत्यू दैवादेवेति निश्चयी ।
साध्यादर्शी निरायासः कुर्वन्नपि न लिप्यते ॥ ११-४॥
PURPORT:
Knowing with certainty that exhilaration
and despair, arising and cessation, all spring
from probabilistic scenarios, one comes to
the realization that it is not always possible
to achieve desired ends and outcomes; thus,
one becomes tranquil internally and is not
attached to ones actions even as
one performs them mindfully.
TRANSLITERATION:
सुखदुःखे जन्ममृत्यू दैवात् एव इति निश्चयी ।
sukhaduḥkhe janmamṛtyū daivāt eva iti niścayī ।
साध्यादर्शी निरायासः कुर्वन् अपि न लिप्यते ॥ ११-४॥
sādhyādarśī nirāyāsaḥ kurvan api na lipyate ॥ 11-4॥
MEANING:
sukhaduḥkhe (सुखदुःखे) = joyousness and heartache/happiness and misery
janmamṛtyū (जन्ममृत्यू) = birth and death
daivāt (दैवात्) = from circumstance/outcomes from probabilistic scenarios
eva (एव) = indeed
iti (इति) = thus
niścayī (निश्चयी) = one who has known for certain ।
sādhyādarśī (साध्यादर्शी) = seeing that it is not possible to accomplish (compound of sādhya (साध्य) meaning 'achieve/accomplish/take care of' and adarśī (अदर्शी) meaning 'not seeing/not finding')
nirāyāsaḥ (निरायासः) = not liable to cause trouble or fatigue (to be tranquil intrinsically - in this case taken to mean that the one who understands that it is not possible to accomplish the desired plans becomes tranquil internally)
kurvan (कुर्वन्) = doing
api (अपि) = even
na (न) = not
lipyate (लिप्यते) = attached ॥ 11-4॥
COMMENT:
The message in this verse is similar to the overall message conveyed as part of the previous verse - in that, the preceptor utilizes different tools to ensure that the seeker starts to see the self-awareness inherent within the seeker. In order to convey to the seeker the ultimate untenability of all phenomenal experience that is dualistic in nature, teachers may use rhetorical devices like explaining that only innate awareness is the pure nature of non-duality while all of the phenomenal world experienced is hallucinatory - in that sense, nothing ever really comes into existence because other than self-awareness, nothing really exists.
On the other hand, other preceptors may grant that phenomenal experience that the seeker undergoes is a form of provisionally expedient reality that is conventionally real (because of the fact that such reality seems to be cognized by the seeker’s sensoria and thus mentally experienced). This conventionally experienced reality is the way that the seeker navigates the world until such time they see aspects of the non-dual self-awareness within themselves - after which they understand that what they have been experiencing as conventional reality does not have any inherent essence or foundational basis to the same and hence is empty of any enduring characterization.
In this sense, while one set of preceptors teach that the world is hallucinatory and hence illusory and self-awareness will clear the path forward, other preceptors lead us down the path of mentoring implying that self-awareness will show us the way forward accepting that the world is conventionally real but ultimately empty.
Whether one (like teachings of the former) emphasizes that the phenomenal experience is hallucinatory or one (teachings of the latter) emphasizes that only self-awareness is real, both sets of preceptors arrive at the same foundational conclusion - exposing the ultimate untenability of the phenomenally experienced viewpoint that we ordinarily interact with and thus gradually moving the seeker towards understanding and living within self-awareness and self-realization.
The crutches that the seeker relies on in the attainment of this path may involve adornments created from the familiar world of name-and-form that include conceptual designations like Brahman, atman, all-knowing-god, supreme-energy, divine-soul etcetera; it is understood that one may use these stepping stones as footholds as one makes the journey, but once the idea of self-realization has shown itself to the seeker (by the seekers own rigorous enquiry), these crutches and conceptual designations may not be needed (I say 'may not' as this is a choice left to the individual seeker and their own path to stillness).
Put another way, while personal predilections on the approach to realization may differ and the approach one takes may vary based upon each of our great spiritual traditions, the endpoint remains the same - living an examined life that is fundamentally choiceless as it pertains to the individuals outlook, being empathetic and understanding towards other sentient beings, staying compassionate towards nature that sustains the seeker and peaceful within the inherently tranquil self - a middle path of moderation that does not hew or lurch towards any extreme of temperament, behavior, outlook, doctrine or practice.
AVG 11.3
Chapter 11 (Coherence on a choiceless witnessing of happenings) Verse 3
आपदः सम्पदः काले दैवादेवेति निश्चयी ।
तृप्तः स्वस्थेन्द्रियो नित्यं न वाञ्छति न शोचति ॥ ११-३॥
PURPORT:
Insightful in the understanding that opulence
and misfortune stem from one's perception of
the world as well as from random circumstance,
one remains content with their self-abiding
senses peaceful and does not experience
regret nor covet things unnecessarily.
TRANSLITERATION:
आपदः सम्पदः काले दैवात् एव इति निश्चयी ।
āpadaḥ sampadaḥ kāle daivāt eva iti niścayī ।
तृप्तः स्वस्थेन्द्रियः नित्यम् न वाञ्छति न शोचति ॥ ११-३॥
tṛptaḥ svasthendriyaḥ nityam na vāñchati na śocati ॥ 11-3॥
MEANING:
āpadaḥ (आपदः) = calamity/misfortune/adversity
sampadaḥ (सम्पदः) = abundance/opulence/prosperity
kāle (काले) = in time
daivāt (दैवात्) = from destiny/from circumstance
eva (एव) = indeed/certainly
iti (इति) = thus
niścayī (निश्चयी) = on who has known for certain ।
tṛptaḥ (तृप्तः) = contented/gratified/satisfied
svasthendriyaḥ (स्वस्थेन्द्रियः) = with all self-abiding senses controlled (compound of svasthendriyaḥ (स्वस्थ) meaning 'composed/peaceful/controlled' and indriyaḥ (इन्द्रियः) meaning 'senses')
nityam (नित्यम्) = forever
na (न) = not
vāñchati (वाञ्छति) = desires/greed/motive
na (न) = not
śocati (शोचति) = bemoan/regret/grieve ॥ 11-3॥
COMMENTS:
The accomplishments and the inadequacies, the feats and defeats, the triumphs and the disasters; all of these are illumined or extinguished by the discerning senses of the individual - they are creations of, by and within the individual - the fluctuations, permutations and vicissitudes of the world constantly varies bringing with it attendant circumstances that may be unwelcome, unpleasant or achingly beautiful and calming.
Established within this understanding the seeker moves, always content and working choicelessly with the whole presentation of the present moment without excessive dwelling on the past nor exaggerated apprehension for the impending.
Awareness in the present moment allows for the body (that is presented with the sensations) and the mind (that integrates the same) to be a unified locus inseparably linked in insight and experience where the senses and the sensations do not overwhelm and preoccupy the seeker.
Awareness in this sense is not only a path to edifying clarity of the unified mind-body accompaniment, but a complete transformation of the moods, feelings and attitudes that one presents - both intrinsically and extrinsically - the sense of calm will prevail in the face of any fluctuation presented without the impingement of prior conditioning. This practice of dispassionate detachment broadens and coherently enunciates itself across the entire gamut of ones thoughts and actions thus allowing for the cultivation of a mindset of emptiness - where the underlying lack of essence within all experience becomes the nonpartisan correlate of the sense of spontaneity experienced by the seeker who has let go of all attachments.
A brief journey through the various states of awareness prompted by the imagery within this verse and the various mental renderings that this verse impelled me to consider can be summarized as follows: Separation of oneself from desires and negative states of mind can be considered the first step in the seekers journey towards finding oneself and the awareness thereof. Such separateness involves a conscious concentrated action on the part of an individual and is accompanied by continued thought fluctuations. Subduing sustained thought and its fluctuations by starting to look specifically to the point where one thought ends and the juncture where the next thought begins and working to extend this interval where thought, forms, shapes, names or other constructions not enter that empty mental space of no-concentration can be considered to be the next step in the journey. Transcending concepts of form, of name, of fluctuations caused by the senses and leaving behind the ideas of disparate discreteness, one attains an awareness of wide open realms of space marked by equanimity, compassion and peace. From the wide open realms of space, one lets the same awareness permeate and saturate the space that one has just experienced to see a sense of fullness that such awareness brings upon oneself. From the realm of wide open awareness that permeates the space, one understands that there is nothing in the sense of the meaning of the word 'wide open spaces' nor in the meaning of the word 'awareness' and one enters a domain of emptiness. In the domain of emptiness, one can sense neither perception nor not-perception, neither conceptual-notion nor not-conceptual-notion. In this state, one remains without experience, thoughts or knowledge for as long as one can.
In closing, on more general terms, the inquiry for knowledge, the quest to designate, the impetus to classify and like accumulations of cultural scree only succeeds in adding more and more conceptual thoughts and ideas to one’s mental framework – which is already fairly cluttered by the time one has attained their formative years; at the end of the day, all of what one has accomplished can be described variously as under terms such as 'addition', 'inclusion', 'annexation' and 'augmentation'. What one seeks is 'subtraction' - a slow removal of concepts, a gradual attrition of designations, a removal of our inherent biases and a complete evisceration of all of the learnt information that only serves to resonate and amplify the fluctuations within our minds. It is within a frame of mind that is empty of concepts and designations that one can find a measure of stillness.
आपदः सम्पदः काले दैवादेवेति निश्चयी ।
तृप्तः स्वस्थेन्द्रियो नित्यं न वाञ्छति न शोचति ॥ ११-३॥
PURPORT:
Insightful in the understanding that opulence
and misfortune stem from one's perception of
the world as well as from random circumstance,
one remains content with their self-abiding
senses peaceful and does not experience
regret nor covet things unnecessarily.
TRANSLITERATION:
आपदः सम्पदः काले दैवात् एव इति निश्चयी ।
āpadaḥ sampadaḥ kāle daivāt eva iti niścayī ।
तृप्तः स्वस्थेन्द्रियः नित्यम् न वाञ्छति न शोचति ॥ ११-३॥
tṛptaḥ svasthendriyaḥ nityam na vāñchati na śocati ॥ 11-3॥
MEANING:
āpadaḥ (आपदः) = calamity/misfortune/adversity
sampadaḥ (सम्पदः) = abundance/opulence/prosperity
kāle (काले) = in time
daivāt (दैवात्) = from destiny/from circumstance
eva (एव) = indeed/certainly
iti (इति) = thus
niścayī (निश्चयी) = on who has known for certain ।
tṛptaḥ (तृप्तः) = contented/gratified/satisfied
svasthendriyaḥ (स्वस्थेन्द्रियः) = with all self-abiding senses controlled (compound of svasthendriyaḥ (स्वस्थ) meaning 'composed/peaceful/controlled' and indriyaḥ (इन्द्रियः) meaning 'senses')
nityam (नित्यम्) = forever
na (न) = not
vāñchati (वाञ्छति) = desires/greed/motive
na (न) = not
śocati (शोचति) = bemoan/regret/grieve ॥ 11-3॥
COMMENTS:
The accomplishments and the inadequacies, the feats and defeats, the triumphs and the disasters; all of these are illumined or extinguished by the discerning senses of the individual - they are creations of, by and within the individual - the fluctuations, permutations and vicissitudes of the world constantly varies bringing with it attendant circumstances that may be unwelcome, unpleasant or achingly beautiful and calming.
Established within this understanding the seeker moves, always content and working choicelessly with the whole presentation of the present moment without excessive dwelling on the past nor exaggerated apprehension for the impending.
Awareness in the present moment allows for the body (that is presented with the sensations) and the mind (that integrates the same) to be a unified locus inseparably linked in insight and experience where the senses and the sensations do not overwhelm and preoccupy the seeker.
Awareness in this sense is not only a path to edifying clarity of the unified mind-body accompaniment, but a complete transformation of the moods, feelings and attitudes that one presents - both intrinsically and extrinsically - the sense of calm will prevail in the face of any fluctuation presented without the impingement of prior conditioning. This practice of dispassionate detachment broadens and coherently enunciates itself across the entire gamut of ones thoughts and actions thus allowing for the cultivation of a mindset of emptiness - where the underlying lack of essence within all experience becomes the nonpartisan correlate of the sense of spontaneity experienced by the seeker who has let go of all attachments.
A brief journey through the various states of awareness prompted by the imagery within this verse and the various mental renderings that this verse impelled me to consider can be summarized as follows: Separation of oneself from desires and negative states of mind can be considered the first step in the seekers journey towards finding oneself and the awareness thereof. Such separateness involves a conscious concentrated action on the part of an individual and is accompanied by continued thought fluctuations. Subduing sustained thought and its fluctuations by starting to look specifically to the point where one thought ends and the juncture where the next thought begins and working to extend this interval where thought, forms, shapes, names or other constructions not enter that empty mental space of no-concentration can be considered to be the next step in the journey. Transcending concepts of form, of name, of fluctuations caused by the senses and leaving behind the ideas of disparate discreteness, one attains an awareness of wide open realms of space marked by equanimity, compassion and peace. From the wide open realms of space, one lets the same awareness permeate and saturate the space that one has just experienced to see a sense of fullness that such awareness brings upon oneself. From the realm of wide open awareness that permeates the space, one understands that there is nothing in the sense of the meaning of the word 'wide open spaces' nor in the meaning of the word 'awareness' and one enters a domain of emptiness. In the domain of emptiness, one can sense neither perception nor not-perception, neither conceptual-notion nor not-conceptual-notion. In this state, one remains without experience, thoughts or knowledge for as long as one can.
In closing, on more general terms, the inquiry for knowledge, the quest to designate, the impetus to classify and like accumulations of cultural scree only succeeds in adding more and more conceptual thoughts and ideas to one’s mental framework – which is already fairly cluttered by the time one has attained their formative years; at the end of the day, all of what one has accomplished can be described variously as under terms such as 'addition', 'inclusion', 'annexation' and 'augmentation'. What one seeks is 'subtraction' - a slow removal of concepts, a gradual attrition of designations, a removal of our inherent biases and a complete evisceration of all of the learnt information that only serves to resonate and amplify the fluctuations within our minds. It is within a frame of mind that is empty of concepts and designations that one can find a measure of stillness.
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
AVG 11.2
Chapter 11 (Coherence on a choiceless witnessing of happenings) Verse 2
ईश्वरः सर्वनिर्माता नेहान्य इति निश्चयी ।
अन्तर्गलितसर्वाशः शान्तः क्वापि न सज्जते ॥११-२॥
PURPORT:
Knowing for certain that the creator of
all is intrinsic to ones perception and reliant on
one’s spiritual inspiration while knowing there is
none else responsible, one becomes tranquil with
all their expectations set to rest within and
is not attached to anything whatsoever.
TRANSLITERATION:
ईश्वरः सर्वनिर्माता न इह अन्यःइति निश्चयी ।
īśvaraḥ sarvanirmātā na iha anyaḥ iti niścayī ।
अन्तर्गलित सर्वाशः शान्तः क्व अपि नसज्जते ॥ ११-२॥
antargalita sarvāśaḥ śāntaḥ kva api na sajjate ॥11-2॥
MEANING:
īśvaraḥ (ईश्वरः)* = spiritual inspiration*
sarvanirmātā (सर्वनिर्माता)= producer of all (compound of sarva (सर्व) meaning 'all' and nirmātā (निर्माता) meaning 'producer/creator')
na (न) = not
iha (इह) = here
anyaḥ (अन्यः) = other
iti (इति) = thus
niścayī (निश्चयी) = one who has known for certain ।
antargalita sarvāśaḥ (अन्तर्गलितसर्वाशः) = with all expectations and desires extinguished from within (compound of antar (अन्तर् ) meaning 'within/inside/intrinsic' and galita (गलित) meaning 'waned/decayed/extinguished' and sarvāśaḥ (सर्वाशः) meaning all expectation and hope)
śāntaḥ (शान्तः) = calm/peace
kva (क्व) = to what (see note below for context)
api (अपि) = at all; note: क्व अपि (kva api) is read together and it means 'in anything whatsoever'
na (न) = not
sajjate (सज्जते) = is attached ॥ 11-2॥
COMMENT:
This beautiful verse talks about creation and clarifies that the maker, the perceiver, the one who discerns, recognizes and realizes the world, the universe and the cosmos at large is nothing more than our perceptual selves. We make the universe in our own image just as the ant, the bat, the horse, the cuttlefish, the amoeba and other like sentients make their own worlds in ways appropriate to their own environments; where an organism is the sum of its parts operating in ever expanding functional circles outwards towards the limits of its own world, universe, cosmos; and, for that organism to survive, procreate and to have homeostatic imperative, all of the constituent functional circles for that organism must work cooperatively. This is the universe - a perceptual creation specific to the organism as a result of the organism sensing and reacting to their own environmental stimuli.
In this sense, even creation is a concept - a designation that is a tricky endeavor when deliberated deeply. Let us consider some alternatives insofar as its creation - the universe has to be made either "by itself" or "by another" or "by both itself and another" or "by no cause".
Taking the first alternative, if the universe were to be made or produced by someone or something, we can infer that it cannot be made by itself, for that would imply that the universe makes its own substance. This means that the first alternative only becomes a self-reflexive statement (a statement without basis which avers that a thing uses itself to make itself - the universe would then be both the subject and object at once which does not make sense as subject and object are different).
The universe cannot be caused by another or 'some other thing' because the 'other thing' that created the universe would be the causal condition for the universe and now the 'other thing' ought to be considered as the originating substance and hence would be the same as the universe itself (and not the 'other thing') and thus not tenable.
The third alternative, that is, of both creation by itself and by the other (working in tandem) is not tenable as we have already established that an entity created by itself is not possible.
The fourth alternative that the universe was created neither by itself nor by another can mean one of two things - on the one hand, it can mean that the causeless substratum that we refer to as 'the universe' was always there since eternity; or, on the other hand, it can mean that the universe did not have a substratum since eternity, but was suddenly willed into existence out of nothing - again, an untenable concept as we either have to look to the existence of supreme beings that willed the system into existence or an as-yet undiscovered explanation that comports with our reason-based observations that allows for the manifest universe to be created out of nothing. In short, the universe cannot be made by no cause, because then we are in the trap of externalizing the process and invoking magical creation.
Creation is a difficult concept to grapple with, and the only plausible way to explain the beginnings will be go to back to the potential explanation offered by way of the dependent origination** of entities with the idea that a set of specific physical conditions working together in a co-dependent manner led to the creation and the expansion of the universe. I remain exceedingly ignorant to even speculate on what might be those set of dependent conditions that seemed to act and interlink together to produce the universe as we know it, but, a useful thought experiment in this regard might be in looking at the set of fundamental physical constants that seemed to be exquisitely tuned for the development of organic life and matter within our earth and (potentially) the universe at large - leading one to the notion that there must have been many possible sets of conditions that must have given rise to many possible potential universes with different possible physical constants (the majority of which may have been untenable insofar as viability), but we seemed to be alive and well within the one where conditions aligned to produce the right set of physical constants tuned for the production of matter and viable for organic life.
*The sense of spiritual inspiration that one finds within oneself can be the closest manifestation of the word used by Ashtavakra in the lines here - Ishwara (as a concept from ancient Hinduism, the word is traditionally taken to mean a supreme being that rules over the cosmos and the individuated beings).
**The term dependent origination or dependent arising as it relates to this discussion is a reminder for the seeker to avoid the extreme sides of any viewpoint - enumerated in the following manner - of things never ever ceasing (and thus production going on for the foreseeable eternity) or things never ever arising (and extinction being the only truth till the end of time) or things always being annihilated till the end of time (and nothing ever produced or created) or a belief in the eternity of the phenomenal world/universe or the fact that all of manifest reality being explained as one single truth that subsumes all else or all of manifest reality explained as infinite truths (the opposite of the single truth approach just mentioned) or things coming into being of its own nature (without any underlying conditions) or things being extinguished from existence of its own volition (without any underlying conditions) - all of these extreme views must be avoided as each one of these is a one-sided view that hews to one extreme position. The seeker chooses a path of moderation understanding that all things are dependent upon something else and nothing whatsoever arises independently. Given that everything is mutually dependent, everything is devoid of its own-essence and hence empty of a inherent foundational stratum that endures for all eternity. In addition, understanding that to take emptiness of things as another extreme view that solves and explains everything (as a form of absolutism) is to (again) fall into the same set of issues outlined above (any absolutism being just another form of choosing an extreme position); emptiness is not a view; but, rather a provisional concept to help the seeker out of any inherent attachment to any views.
ईश्वरः सर्वनिर्माता नेहान्य इति निश्चयी ।
अन्तर्गलितसर्वाशः शान्तः क्वापि न सज्जते ॥११-२॥
PURPORT:
Knowing for certain that the creator of
all is intrinsic to ones perception and reliant on
one’s spiritual inspiration while knowing there is
none else responsible, one becomes tranquil with
all their expectations set to rest within and
is not attached to anything whatsoever.
TRANSLITERATION:
ईश्वरः सर्वनिर्माता न इह अन्यःइति निश्चयी ।
īśvaraḥ sarvanirmātā na iha anyaḥ iti niścayī ।
अन्तर्गलित सर्वाशः शान्तः क्व अपि नसज्जते ॥ ११-२॥
antargalita sarvāśaḥ śāntaḥ kva api na sajjate ॥11-2॥
MEANING:
īśvaraḥ (ईश्वरः)* = spiritual inspiration*
sarvanirmātā (सर्वनिर्माता)= producer of all (compound of sarva (सर्व) meaning 'all' and nirmātā (निर्माता) meaning 'producer/creator')
na (न) = not
iha (इह) = here
anyaḥ (अन्यः) = other
iti (इति) = thus
niścayī (निश्चयी) = one who has known for certain ।
antargalita sarvāśaḥ (अन्तर्गलितसर्वाशः) = with all expectations and desires extinguished from within (compound of antar (अन्तर् ) meaning 'within/inside/intrinsic' and galita (गलित) meaning 'waned/decayed/extinguished' and sarvāśaḥ (सर्वाशः) meaning all expectation and hope)
śāntaḥ (शान्तः) = calm/peace
kva (क्व) = to what (see note below for context)
api (अपि) = at all; note: क्व अपि (kva api) is read together and it means 'in anything whatsoever'
na (न) = not
sajjate (सज्जते) = is attached ॥ 11-2॥
COMMENT:
This beautiful verse talks about creation and clarifies that the maker, the perceiver, the one who discerns, recognizes and realizes the world, the universe and the cosmos at large is nothing more than our perceptual selves. We make the universe in our own image just as the ant, the bat, the horse, the cuttlefish, the amoeba and other like sentients make their own worlds in ways appropriate to their own environments; where an organism is the sum of its parts operating in ever expanding functional circles outwards towards the limits of its own world, universe, cosmos; and, for that organism to survive, procreate and to have homeostatic imperative, all of the constituent functional circles for that organism must work cooperatively. This is the universe - a perceptual creation specific to the organism as a result of the organism sensing and reacting to their own environmental stimuli.
In this sense, even creation is a concept - a designation that is a tricky endeavor when deliberated deeply. Let us consider some alternatives insofar as its creation - the universe has to be made either "by itself" or "by another" or "by both itself and another" or "by no cause".
Taking the first alternative, if the universe were to be made or produced by someone or something, we can infer that it cannot be made by itself, for that would imply that the universe makes its own substance. This means that the first alternative only becomes a self-reflexive statement (a statement without basis which avers that a thing uses itself to make itself - the universe would then be both the subject and object at once which does not make sense as subject and object are different).
The universe cannot be caused by another or 'some other thing' because the 'other thing' that created the universe would be the causal condition for the universe and now the 'other thing' ought to be considered as the originating substance and hence would be the same as the universe itself (and not the 'other thing') and thus not tenable.
The third alternative, that is, of both creation by itself and by the other (working in tandem) is not tenable as we have already established that an entity created by itself is not possible.
The fourth alternative that the universe was created neither by itself nor by another can mean one of two things - on the one hand, it can mean that the causeless substratum that we refer to as 'the universe' was always there since eternity; or, on the other hand, it can mean that the universe did not have a substratum since eternity, but was suddenly willed into existence out of nothing - again, an untenable concept as we either have to look to the existence of supreme beings that willed the system into existence or an as-yet undiscovered explanation that comports with our reason-based observations that allows for the manifest universe to be created out of nothing. In short, the universe cannot be made by no cause, because then we are in the trap of externalizing the process and invoking magical creation.
Creation is a difficult concept to grapple with, and the only plausible way to explain the beginnings will be go to back to the potential explanation offered by way of the dependent origination** of entities with the idea that a set of specific physical conditions working together in a co-dependent manner led to the creation and the expansion of the universe. I remain exceedingly ignorant to even speculate on what might be those set of dependent conditions that seemed to act and interlink together to produce the universe as we know it, but, a useful thought experiment in this regard might be in looking at the set of fundamental physical constants that seemed to be exquisitely tuned for the development of organic life and matter within our earth and (potentially) the universe at large - leading one to the notion that there must have been many possible sets of conditions that must have given rise to many possible potential universes with different possible physical constants (the majority of which may have been untenable insofar as viability), but we seemed to be alive and well within the one where conditions aligned to produce the right set of physical constants tuned for the production of matter and viable for organic life.
*The sense of spiritual inspiration that one finds within oneself can be the closest manifestation of the word used by Ashtavakra in the lines here - Ishwara (as a concept from ancient Hinduism, the word is traditionally taken to mean a supreme being that rules over the cosmos and the individuated beings).
**The term dependent origination or dependent arising as it relates to this discussion is a reminder for the seeker to avoid the extreme sides of any viewpoint - enumerated in the following manner - of things never ever ceasing (and thus production going on for the foreseeable eternity) or things never ever arising (and extinction being the only truth till the end of time) or things always being annihilated till the end of time (and nothing ever produced or created) or a belief in the eternity of the phenomenal world/universe or the fact that all of manifest reality being explained as one single truth that subsumes all else or all of manifest reality explained as infinite truths (the opposite of the single truth approach just mentioned) or things coming into being of its own nature (without any underlying conditions) or things being extinguished from existence of its own volition (without any underlying conditions) - all of these extreme views must be avoided as each one of these is a one-sided view that hews to one extreme position. The seeker chooses a path of moderation understanding that all things are dependent upon something else and nothing whatsoever arises independently. Given that everything is mutually dependent, everything is devoid of its own-essence and hence empty of a inherent foundational stratum that endures for all eternity. In addition, understanding that to take emptiness of things as another extreme view that solves and explains everything (as a form of absolutism) is to (again) fall into the same set of issues outlined above (any absolutism being just another form of choosing an extreme position); emptiness is not a view; but, rather a provisional concept to help the seeker out of any inherent attachment to any views.
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