Friday, 1 March 2013

ATMA AND BRAHMAN

Atman is Brahman

January 30, 2013

Only the onlooker is real, call him Self or Atman.
Whatever happens, I remain. At the root of my being is pure awareness, a speck of intense light. This speck, by its nature, radiates and creates pictures in space and events in time, effortlessly and spontaneously.
-Nisargadatta Maharaj

That which permeates all, which nothing transcends and which, like the universal space around us, fills everything completely from within and without, that Supreme non-dual Brahman−that thou art.
Brahman is the only truth. The world is illusion, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and Atman.
-Shankara

In nondual metaphysics, the observer is referred to as Self or Atman, and the observer’s underlying reality is referred to as Source or Brahman. Atman is understood as the nature of individual consciousness and Brahman as the nature of absolute reality. The direct experience that there is ultimately no difference between Atman and Brahman is the most profound realization that is possible. Amazingly, this profound realization can now be understood scientifically in terms of recent conceptual developments in theoretical physics.

Recent developments in theoretical physics are paradigm shattering, and turn our conventional common sense ideas about the world inside out. These concepts point to that which is truly out-of-this-world. These recently discovered scientific concepts confirm what nondual metaphysics has told us about the nature of reality for thousands of years of human history.

The holographic principle is the most amazing of these paradigm shattering developments. This principle tells us that the usual three dimensional world of matter and energy we perceive is something of an illusion. The world is really not three dimensional at all, but two dimensional. All the fundamental quantized bits of information for everything that appears to happen in any finite region of three dimensional space are encoded on the two dimensional bounding surface of that space. Information is encoded in a pixelated way. The bounding surface is like a holographic screen that encodes all the bits of information. One bit of information is encoded per pixel on the screen:

The holographic principle implies the existence of an observer. Everything the observer observes in its world is like the projection of images from the holographic screen to the central point of view of the observer:

The perceivable images of things are composed of bits of information, just like the images displayed on a computer screen. The holographic principle is based on thermodynamic concepts. In this sense, bits of information encoded on the screen in a binary code of 1′s and 0′s can flip back and forth due to their thermal energy, but they can also align together due to their interactions and form coherently organized bound states. These bound states of information are the nature of the images displayed on the holographic screen. Just like computer images or the images of a movie, the images are animated over a sequence of events in the flow of energy. Due to their coherent organization, the images tend to self-replicate their forms.

The nature of the observer is understood in the sense of the principle of equivalence. The holographic screen that displays forms of information in the observer’s world is an event horizon that arises as the observer expends energy, enters into an accelerated frame of reference, and follows a time-like worldline:

The observer’s horizon acts as a holographic screen that encodes bits of information. There are many different ways in which information can become encoded on the screen, which defines a quantum state of potentiality. The observer’s accelerated worldline is only a sequence of events that arise in the flow of energy. Quantum theory tells us every event is a decision point where the quantum state branches into all possible paths, and there is always a choice about which path to follow:

The principle of equivalence tells us that the flow of time is only an ordered sequence of events that arises on the observer’s time-like worldline. That ordered sequence of events arises naturally in the normal flow of energy that characterizes the observer’s world. Due to memory and mental imagination, the observer can experience past and future events, but the observer is always present now.

A remarkable recent discovery in cosmology is that the observer’s world is characterized by exponential expansion, dark energy, and a cosmic event horizon. The cosmic horizon is a spherical surface in space that is as far out in space as the observer at the central point of view can see things in space due to the constancy of the speed of light. Dark energy is like a force of anti-gravity. Due to exponential expansion of space, things appear to move away from the observer at the cosmic horizon at the speed of light:

Inflationary cosmology tells us the observer’s world begins as a big bang event and inflates in size from a Planck length to its current size of about 15 billion light years due to an instability in dark energy. This instability is like a process of burning that burns up dark energy. As dark energy burns up, heat is radiated away as all the usual forms of matter and energy the observer now finds in its world. As the dark energy burns away, the observer’s cosmic horizon inflates in size. Nothing is hotter than the observer’s cosmic horizon at the time of the big bang, and nothing is colder than a maximally inflated cosmic horizon.

The normal flow of energy arises in the observer’s world as heat flows in this universal thermal gradient from the very hot big bang event to all colder states of the observer’s world defined by an inflated horizon. The observer’s cosmic horizon inflates in size as dark energy burns away. This normal flow of energy is driven by the acceleration of space itself. As dark energy burns away, the acceleration of space deaccelerates, but it never stops accelerating as long as there is more dark energy to burn.

The normal flow of energy in the observer’s world arises as heat tends to flow in this universal thermal gradient and all things tend to follow the path of least action. As heat flows from a hotter to a colder object, energy tends to become dispersed into lower frequencies. Since energy is quantized in terms of frequency as E=hf, as energy becomes dispersed into lower frequencies, more quantum degrees of freedom are created, which is called an increase in entropy. Each photon of electromagnetic radiation acts as a particle or independent degree of freedom. As heat flows in a thermal gradient and energy becomes dispersed into lower frequencies, more photons are created. This normal flow of energy drives all physical and biological processes in the observer’s world.

In an exponentially expanding world with dark energy, every observer is surrounded by its own cosmic horizon. The cosmic horizon is a bounding surface in space, and the observer is present at the central point of view. The holographic principle tells us the cosmic horizon acts as a holographic screen that encodes bits of information for everything the observer observes in the space bounded by that surface:

The remarkable conclusion of these ideas is the one-world-per-observer paradigm. Every observer is surrounded by its own cosmic horizon, and all the information for everything the observer observes in that bounded space is encoded on the bounding surface of that space.

The one-world-per-observer paradigm tells us the observer’s world only has one frame of reference; the frame of reference of the observer itself. As the observer expends energy, enters into an accelerated frame of reference and follows a time-like worldline, all information for all things the observer observes in its world is defined on its horizon, which acts as a holographic screen.

The holographic principle tells us the observer’s horizon acts as a holographic screen that encodes information. The encoding of information on the screen is related to the separation of virtual particle-antiparticle pairs at the horizon. Virtual pairs are spontaneously created out of nothing and normally annihilate back into nothing in a short period of time as specified by the uncertainty principle, but from the perspective of an accelerated external observer virtual pairs can appear to separate at the horizon. A virtual particle that separates from its antiparticle appears to become real as it is radiated away from the horizon towards the external observer:

But things appear very different for a freely falling observer that falls through the horizon. The horizon only arises from the point of view of the accelerated external observer. For the freely falling observer the horizon does not exist and there are no radiated particles. This radical discrepancy in observations is called horizon complementarity. What one observer observes to happen in its world may be radically different than what another observer observes to happen in its world, and those differing observations need not agree if there is no possible way for the different observers to compare their individual observations. It is as though each observer inhabits its own private world. Whatever appears to exist in one observer’s world need not agree with what appears to exist in another observer’s world.

If the observer’s horizon is a holographic screen that encodes information for everything in the observer’s world, and if that horizon disappears as the observer enters into a state of free fall, then the observer’s world disappears.

The holographic principle tells us that all information is encoded on the observer’s screen as virtual particle-antiparticle pairs appear to separate at the observer’s horizon. The horizon is a bounding surface in space that limits observations in the observer’s world. Virtual particle-antiparticle pairs can appear to separate, but they are in an ultimate state of positive-negative balance since they are created out of nothing, and all of that virtual energy must ultimately add up to nothing. This is possible in cosmology since the negative potential energy of gravitational attraction can exactly cancel out all positive forms of energy. Things are always in a state of balance in the observer’s world since all things arise through a virtual creation process:

Before anything is created in the observer’s world, nothing exists.

A holographic screen is an event horizon that limits observations in the observer’s world. The screen is a bounding surface of space that encodes bits of information for the image of anything perceived in the space bounded by that surface. That bounded space is the nature of the observer’s world, and the observer is always present at the central point of view of its world.

The observer is immaterial in precisely this sense: the observer is not some thing the observer measures in its world; the observer is the measure of all things in its world:

The one-world-per-observer paradigm tells us that all things in the observer’s world are measured in the frame of reference of a single observer. The holographic principle tells us that the information for all things that appear in the observer’s world is defined on a bounding surface of space. The observer is nothing more than the consciousness present at the central point of view of that bounding surface. That bounding surface is an event horizon that arises as the observer expends energy, enters into an accelerated frame of reference, and follows a time-like worldline.

It only makes sense to discuss a consensual reality to the extent that the worlds of different observers become entangled and share information with each other. This is possible in cosmology since different cosmic horizons that bound different regions of space can overlap with each other:

The observer is present at the central point of view of its world. The holographic principle tells us that the observer is nothing more than the consciousness present at the central point of view of its world, while all the images of things in the observer’s world appear on the bounding surface of its world. The bounding surface is an event horizon that acts as a holographic screen and encodes information. The observer’s horizon only arises as the observer expends energy, enters into an accelerated frame of reference, and follows a time-like worldline.

A strange aspect of the holographic principle is horizon complementarity. If the observer stops expending energy, stops accelerating, and enters into a state of free fall, the observer’s horizon disappears. The observer’s horizon acts as a holographic screen that displays images of things in the observer’s world. If the observer enters into a state of free fall, the observer’s world disappears. Consciousness itself, present at a point of view, enters into a state of ultimate free fall, and its world disappears. Only the observer’s underlying reality remains as the observer’s world disappears. That underlying reality is only describable as void, or an empty space of potentiality:

The observer is the consciousness present at the central point of view of its world. That presence of consciousness is called Atman. The observer’s world is defined on a holographic screen that bounds the observer. The observer’s holographic screen is a bounding surface that encodes information for all the things the observer observes in the space bounded by that surface, and defines the observer’s world. The observer’s holographic screen is only an event horizon that arises as the observer expends energy, enters into an accelerated frame of reference and follows a time-like worldline.

If the observer stops expending energy, stops accelerating, and enters into a state of ultimate free fall, the observer’s horizon disappears, and the observer’s world as defined on its holographic screen disappears. Only the observer’s underlying reality remains as the observer’s world disappears. Just as the observer’s world is the manifested nature of its reality, its underlying reality is unmanifested. The observer’s underlying reality is only describable as infinite void, or an empty space of potentiality. That underlying reality is called Brahman.

The observer’s underlying reality is the true nature of its absolute timeless existence, the true nature of what it is, the true nature of its being. That undivided being is void. That underlying reality is the ground of being. The only true knowledge the observer can ever know about itself is that it exists.

The observer’s world is a holographic illusion of animated images displayed on the bounding surface of a holographic screen. In a state of ultimate free fall, the observer’s world disappears, and only the observer’s underlying reality remains.

Ultimately, there is no difference between Atman and Brahman.

Brahman is the only truth. The world is illusion, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and Atman.

That which permeates all, which nothing transcends and which, like the universal space around us, fills everything completely from within and without, that Supreme non-dual Brahman−that thou art.

There is nothing inconsistent with the concepts of modern physics and the nondual concept of truth realization and the one-world-per-observer paradigm. These nondual concepts are the inevitable conclusion of basic scientific principles, which include the holographic principle, the principle of equivalence, the action principle, the uncertainty principle, horizon complementarity, and the nature of dark energy, inflationary cosmology and the exponential expansion of space.

These principles tell us that ultimately there is no difference between the nature of individual consciousness and absolute reality. The observer is the nature of individual consciousness present at the center of its world, the observer’s world is defined on a bounding surface of space, and the observer’s underlying reality is undivided infinite void. When all bounding surfaces of space disappear, only the observer’s underlying reality remains. That underlying reality is undivided being.

The observer is the nature of individual consciousness and is called the Self, but the observer is not a differentiated individual entity. All aspects of self in the sense of a differentiated individual entity are a part of dualistic reality. Dualistic reality is like a virtual reality or a dream state, very much like a movie of animated images projected from a holographic screen to the central point of view of an observer. The holographic screen is only a bounding surface in space that encodes information about the observer’s world, while the observer is nothing more than the consciousness present at the center of its world. All aspects of self in the sense of a differentiated individual entity are a part of the observer’s world as animated on its holographic screen.

Those aspects of self are the nature of a holographic illusion. They are unreal in the sense of a virtual reality. They have no being. The true nature of being is inherent to the observer’s underlying reality, but that underlying reality is undivided in the sense of infinite void or undifferentiated consciousness. When all bounding surfaces of space disappear, when the observer’s world disappears, when all differentiated individual aspects of self disappear, only the observer’s undivided underlying reality remains.

Truth realization is described as dissolution. The observer dissolves back into its source like a drop of water dissolves back into the ocean.

The Buddha expressed everything there is to know about the enlightened state:

Truly, I have attained nothing from total enlightenment

The Bhagavad-Gita also describes the enlightened state:

In the knowledge of the Atman
Which is a dark night to the ignorant
The recollected mind is fully awake and aware
The ignorant are awake in their sense life
Which is darkness to the sage

The subtle Soul sits everywhere
The Soul’s light shines pure in every place
In its bodily prison-Spirit pure

Never the spirit was born
The spirit shall cease to be never
Never was time it was not
End and beginning are dreams

Birthless and deathless and changeless remains the spirit forever

The unreal has no being; the real never ceases to be.

Chuang Tzu expressed these ideas with the concept of no-self:

The man of Tao remains unknown
Perfect virtue produces nothing
No-self is true-self
And the greatest man is Nobody

The Tao expresses the same concepts:

In the silence and the void
Standing alone and unchanging
Ever present and in motion

I do not know its name
Call it Tao

Knowing the Self is enlightenment

The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return
They grow and flourish and then return to the source
Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature

Ever desireless one can see the mystery
Ever desiring one can see the manifestations
These two spring from the same source but differ in name
This appears as darkness
Darkness within darkness
The gate to all mystery

The farther you go, the less you know

Those who know are not learned
The learned do not know

In the pursuit of learning, everyday something is acquired
In the pursuit of Tao, everyday something is dropped
Less and less is done
Until non-action is achieved
When nothing is done, nothing is left undone
The world is ruled by letting things take their course
It cannot be ruled by interfering

It is more important
To see the simplicity
To realize one’s true nature
To cast off selfishness
And temper desire

Being is born of not being

Being at one with the Tao is eternal
And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away

Because there is no place for death to enter

To die but not to perish is to be eternally present
Brings freedom from the fear of death

Empty yourself of everything

Without form there is no desire
Without desire there is tranquility

Tao in the world is like a river flowing home to the sea

He who follows the Tao is at one with the Tao

The form of the formless
The image of the imageless
It is called indefinable and beyond imagination

Stand before it and there is no beginning
Follow it and there is no end

Returning is the motion of the Tao

It returns to nothingness

It leads all things back toward the great oneness

The gateless gate paradox expresses the same ideas:

The great path has no gates,
Thousands of roads enter it.
When one passes through this gateless gate,
One walks the universe alone.

Plato’s description is both timeless and scientifically accurate:

They see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave.

To them, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images.

See what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error.

See the reality of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive someone saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion.

His eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision.

Nisargadatta Maharaj gives a more contemporary scientifically accurate description of these same nondual metaphysical concepts:

First we must know ourselves as witnesses only, dimensionless and timeless centers of observation, and then realize that immense ocean of pure awareness, which is both mind and matter and beyond both.

The witness is merely a point in awareness. It has no name and form.

The witness that stands aloof-is the watchtower of the real-the point at which awareness, inherent in the unmanifested, contacts the manifested.

Awareness comes as if from a higher dimension.

Awareness is beyond all. Awareness is undivided-aware of itself.

In pure being consciousness arises; in consciousness the world appears and disappears.

Consciousness is on contact, a reflection against a surface, a state of duality.

As the tiny point of a pencil can draw innumerable pictures, so does the dimensionless point of awareness draw the contents of the vast universe.

The center is a point of void and the witness a point of pure awareness; they know themselves to be as nothing.

But the void is full to the brim. It is the eternal potential as consciousness is the eternal actual.

The ocean of consciousness is infinite and eternal.

In the ocean of pure awareness, on the surface of the universal consciousness, the numberless waves of the phenomenal worlds arise and subside beginninglessly and endlessly.

Timelessly the source actualizes itself without exhausting its infinite possibilities.

Nothing lasts. The void remains.

You remain as pure being.

Whatever happens, I remain. At the root of my being is pure awareness, a speck of intense light. This speck, by its nature, radiates and creates pictures in space and events in time, effortlessly and spontaneously.

Before all beginnings, after all endings, I am.

Names and shapes are hollow shells. What is real is nameless and formless, pure energy of life and light of consciousness.

Consciousness itself is the source of everything.

Everything is a form of energy.

You are and I am-only as points in consciousness.

All consciousness is consciousness of change.

The very perception of change-necessitates a changeless background.

Every moment returns to its source-just as every wave subsides into the ocean.

The objects in the world are many but the eye that sees them is one.

The source of consciousness cannot be an object in consciousness.

To know the source is to be the source.

Realization is in discovering the source and abiding there.

You know yourself only through the senses and the mind.

Whatever you think you are you take it to be true-imagining yourself perceivable.

I see as you see, hear as you hear.

All this I perceive quite clearly, but I am not in it.

I feel myself as floating over it, aloof and detached.

There is also the awareness of it all and a sense of immense distance as if the body and the mind and all that happens to them were somewhere far out on the horizon.

I am like a cinema screen-clear and empty.

The pictures pass over it and disappear, leaving it as clear and empty as before. In no way is the screen affected by the pictures, nor are the pictures affected by the screen.

The screen intercepts and reflects the pictures. These are lumps of destiny, but not my destiny; the destinies of the people on the screen.

The character will become a person when he begins to shape his life instead of accepting it as it comes-identifying himself with it.

To myself I am neither perceivable nor conceivable; there is nothing I can point out and say “this I am”.

Only the onlooker is real, call him Self or Atman.

It is enough to shift attention from the screen onto oneself to break the spell.

It is enough to shift attention to the Self and keep it there.

To know the picture as the play of light on the screen gives freedom from the idea that the picture is real.

This is all imagination. In the light of consciousness all sorts of things happen and one need not give special importance to any.

The world just sprouts into being out of nothing and returns to nothing.

In reality I only look. Whatever is done is done on the stage. Joy and sorrow, life and death, they are real to the man in bondage; to me they are all in the show, as unreal as the show itself.

I see only consciousness, and know everything to be but consciousness, as you know the pictures on the cinema screen to be but light.

Movement is illusory. What moves is the film-which is the mind.

Bodily existence is but-a movement in consciousness.

I am not my body. I am the witness only.

The very purpose of creation is the fulfillment of desire. Things happen by their own nature. From my point of view everything happens by itself, quite spontaneously. I do nothing. I just see them happen.

The person is never the subject. You can see a person but you are not a person.

The difference between the person and the witness is as between not knowing and knowing oneself.

Mere knowledge is not enough; the knower must be known.

Without knowledge of the knower there can be no peace.

I know myself as I am in reality.

I am neither the body nor the mind. I am beyond all these.

You are accustomed to deal with things, physical and mental.

I am not a thing, nor are you. We are neither matter nor energy, neither body nor mind.

Once you have a glimpse of your own being you will not find me difficult to understand.

You must gain your own experience.

We believe so many things on hearsay. We never cared to verify.

You are confused because you believe you are in the world, not the world in you.

You see yourself in the world, while I see the world in myself.

To you, you get born and die, while to me, the world appears and disappears.

There is nothing wrong with the senses, it is your imagination that misleads you.

There is a deep contradiction in your attitude which you do not see.

In ignorance the seer becomes the seen and in wisdom he is the seeing.

When you refuse to open your eyes, what can you be shown?

Investigate your world, apply your mind to it, examine it critically, scrutinize every idea about it.

To question-is the essence of revolt. Without revolt there can be no freedom.

The way to truth lies through the destruction of the false.

To destroy the false you must question your most inveterate beliefs. Of these the idea that you are the body is the worst.

It is the clinging to the false that makes the truth so difficult to see.

You progress by rejection.

Everything must be scrutinized and the unnecessary ruthlessly destroyed.

There cannot be too much destruction. For in reality nothing is of value.

See your world as it is, not as you imagine it to be.

See the person you imagine yourself to be as a part of the world you perceive within your mind and look at the mind from the outside, for you are not the mind.

The world you can perceive is a very small world-entirely private.

Take it to be a dream and be done with it.

What begins and ends is mere appearance. The world can be said to appear but not to be.

Nothing perceivable is real.

Reality is essentially alone. To know that nothing is, is true knowledge.

The world lasts for a moment. It is your memory that makes you think that the world continues.

Memory creates the illusion of continuity.

I see the world as it is, a momentary appearance in consciousness.

The totality of all mental projections is the Great Illusion.

When I look beyond the mind I see the witness.

Beyond the witness is infinite emptiness and silence.

For the path of return naughting oneself is necessary.

My stand I take where nothing is.

To the mind it is all darkness and silence.

It is deep and dark, mystery beyond mystery.

It is, while all else merely happens.

It is like a bottomless well, whatever falls into it disappears.

Absolute reality imparts reality to whatever comes into being.

You are the source of reality-a dimensionless center of perception that imparts reality to whatever it perceives-a pure witness that watches what is going on and remains unaffected.

It is only imagination and self-identification with the imagined that encloses and converts the inner watcher into a person.

The person is merely the result of a misunderstanding. In reality there is no such thing.

Feelings, thoughts and actions race before the watcher in endless succession.

In reality there is no person, only the watcher identifying itself.

Self-identifications are patently false and the cause of bondage.

Liberation is never of the person, it is always from the person.

What is liberation? To know that you are beyond birth and death.

Go beyond, go back to the source, go to the Self that is the same whatever happens. See everything as emanating from the light which is the source of your own being.

By forgetting who you are and imagining yourself a mortal creature you create so much trouble for yourself that you have to wake up, like from a bad dream.

What you call survival is but the survival of a dream.

It is your desire to hold onto it that creates the problem. Let go.

Suffering is due entirely to clinging or resisting; it is a sign of our unwillingness to move on, to flow with life.

Your attachment is your bondage.

There is no such thing as free will. Will is bondage.

Your desires just happen to you along with their fulfillment or non-fulfillment. You can change neither. It all merely happens.

As long as there is the sense of identity with the body, frustration is inevitable. It is because of your illusion that you are the doer.

There is trouble only when you cling to something. When you hold onto nothing, no trouble arises.

Give up all and you gain all.

Then life becomes what it was meant to be: pure radiation from an inexhaustible source.

In that light the world appears dimly like a dream.

In the dream you love some and not others. On waking up you find you are love itself, embracing all.

Personal love-invariably binds; love in freedom is love of all.

The reward of self-knowledge is freedom from the personal self.

Freedom means letting go. Spiritual maturity lies in the readiness to let go of everything.

Discrimination will lead to detachment. You gain nothing. You leave behind what is not your own and find what you have never lost-your own being.

One you realize that there is nothing in this world which you can call your own you look at it from the outside as you look at a play on the stage or a picture on the screen.

When you refuse to play the game you are out of it.

Find the immutable center where all movement takes birth. Be the axis at the center-not whirling at the periphery.

The seeker is he who is in search of himself.

Give up all questions except one: “Who am I?”

The only fact you are sure of is that you are. ‘I am’ is certain. ‘I am this’ is not.

A false question cannot be answered. It can only be seen as false.

The question “Who am I?” has no answer. No experience can answer it.

All I can truly say is ‘I am’.

I am beyond consciousness and therefore in consciousness I cannot say what I am.

There is nothing wrong in the idea of a body-but limiting oneself to one body only is a mistake.

In reality all existence, every form, is my own, within my consciousness.

Destroy the wall that separates, the ‘I-am-the-body-idea’, and the inner and the outer become one.

In reality all is one, the outer being merely a projection of the inner.

This battle is always won, for it is a battle between the true and the false.

It is the witnessing consciousness that makes realization attainable.

The person is in resistance to the very end.

It is the witness that works on the person-on the totality of its illusions.

Abandon all self-identifications.

It is a vicious circle. Only self-realization can break it.

Self-surrender is the surrender of all self-concern. It cannot be done. It happens when you realize your true nature.

Complete self-surrender by itself is liberation.

Abandon the idea of a separate ‘I’. By focusing the mind on ‘I am’, on the sense of being, ‘I am so-and-so’ dissolves; ‘I am a witness only’ remains and that too submerges in ‘I am all’.

Then the all becomes the One and the One-yourself.

Realize that you are dreaming a dream you call the world.

Look at the dream as a dream. When you see your dream as dream you wake up.

When you have seen the dream as a dream you have done all that needs be done.

The dreamer is one. I am beyond all dreams. I am the light in which all dreams appear and disappear.

Osho also gives a contemporary description:

We call Buddha the awakened one.

This awakening is really the cessation of inner dreaming.

When there is no dreaming you become pure space.

This non-dreaming consciousness is what is known as enlightenment.

The inner emptiness itself is the mystery.

When the inner space is there, you are not.

When you are not, the mystery will be revealed.

When you dissolve, the inner emptiness is there.

You fall into an abyss, and the abyss is bottomless: you go on falling.

That is why Buddha has called this nothingness emptiness.

There is no end to it. Once you know it, you also have become endless.

At this point Being is revealed: then you know who you are, what is your real being, what is your authentic existence.

That being is void.

Thursday, 21 February 2013

CHARPATA PANJARI

ADI SHANKARA

Charpata Panjarika Stotra (The eighteen gems of wisdom)

Charpata Panjarika Stotra Bhaj Govindam in 18 verses

Bhaja Govindam, Bhaja Govindam,
Govindam Bhaja Mooda Mathe,
Samprapthe sannihithe kale,
Nahi nahi rakshathi dookrunj karane.

Pray Govinda, Pray Govinda,
Pray Govinda, You fool,
For all the ken with you,
Will not be there,
When your end is near.

Dhinamapi rajani, sayam pratha,
Sisira vasanthou punarayatha,
Kala kreedathi gachat yayu,
Sthadapi na munjathyasa vayu

Daily comes the night, eve and morn.
The autumn and spring,
Comes again and again every year.
Time forever plays with life,
But desire does not desert this body forever.

Agre Vahni , prashte bhanu,
Rathrou chibuka samirpitha janu,
Karathala biksha taru thala vasa
Sthadhapi na munjathyasapasa.

The sun in the back,
And the fire behind,
Prevents biting cold during the day,
Knees meet the chin during the night,
To keep one warm.
And food comes by the daily begging,
Life is spent below a tree,
But desire does not desert this body forever.

Yavadvitho parjana saktha,
Sthavannija parivaro raktha
Paschat jeevathi jarajjara dehe,
Varthaam prucchathi ko apina gehe.
Till you are able to earn,
The wealth that everybody yearns,
All the family you love,
Will love and care.
But when the cage of your body gets old,
They would not even ask you,
“How are you?”

Jatilo mundee lunchitha kesa,
Kaashayambara bahu krutha vesha,
Pasyannapi cha na pasyathi lokaa
Hyudhara nimittam bahu krutha soka.
Men with hairs overgrown,
Men with a shaved head,
Men with a well-cut hair,
Men with ochre robes,
See the world,
But pretend they don’t,
And suffer all the way,
To fill their belly forever.

Bagavat geetha kinchid adheetha,
Gangaajalalava kanikaa peetha,
Sukrudhapi yasya murari samarcha,
Tasya yama kim kuruthe charchaam.

Read and imbibe Bhagavat Gita,
Drink a drop of the holy Ganga,
At least once salute the Lord,
Then the God of death,
Will not bother you forever.

Angam galitham palitham mundam,
Dasanaviheenam jatham thundam,
Vruddho yathi gruheetha dhandam,
Tadapi na munjathyaasa pindam.

The limbs have become weak,
The head has become fully bald,
There are no teeth in the mouth,
And the old man totters with an aid of a stick,
But desire does not desert this body ever.

Balasthavat kreedasaktha,
Stharunasthavath tharunee saktha,
Vrudha staavath chintha magna,
Parame brahmani kopi na lagna.

The child’s mind is engaged in play,
The youths mind is engaged in his lasses charms,
The old man’s mind is full of worries,
But no one thinks of the Ultimate Truth.

Punarapi jananam punarapi maranam,
Punarapi janani jatare sayanam,
Iha samsaare khalu dusthare,
Krupayaa pare pahi murare.

Again and again one is born,
And again and again one dies,
And again and again one sleeps in the mother’s womb,
Help me to cross,
This limitless sea of Life,
Which is uncrossable, my Lord

Punarapi Rajani, punarai divasa,
Punaraip paksha, punarapi maasa,
Punarapyayanam, punarapi varsham,
Tadapi na munjityasaamarsham.

Again and again this dark nights,
Again and again this luster full days,
Again and again these months and years,
But pride and desire never leaves you forever

Vayasi gathe ka kama vikara,
Shushke neere ka kaasaara,
Nashte dravye ka parivaara,
Gnathe tathwe ka samasaara.

Why this passion, when one totters with age,
Why the search for water in the dried up lake,
Why search for relations, when wealth dries,
There is no desire for life,
When you get real knowledge. Of truth

Naree sthana bhara nabhi nivesam,
Mithyaa mayaa mohaavesam,
Ethan mamsavasaadhi vikaram,
Manasi vichinthaya vaaram vaaram.

Seeing the seductive female form, do not fall prey to maddening delusion. That (female form) is (but) a modification of flesh and fat. Think well thus in your mind again and again.

Kasthwam Ko aham kutha ayatha?
Kaa me janani ko me thatha.
Ithi paribhavaaya sarvamasaaram,
Viswam tyakthwa swapna vichaaram.

Who am I?
Where from did I come?
Who is my mother ?
Who is my father?
Think of these,
Realize that this world,
Is but a meaningless mirage,
And Leave this dream like world

Geyam Githa , Nama sahasram,
Dhyeyam sri pathi roopamajasram,
Neyam sajjana sange chittam,
Dheyam deenajanaaya cha vitham.
Sing the Geetha,
And His thousand names,
Meditate on the Lord of Lakshmi,
Spend time with good souls,
Give all the wealth to the poor.

Yavajjevo nivasathi dehe,
Kusalam thaavath prucchathi gehe,
Gathavathi vaayou dehaapaaye,
Baryaa bhibyasthi tasmin kaye.
Till the breath is in the body,
All friends ask your welfare,
When it leaves your frame,
Even your darling wife,
Is full of fear of you , Hey fool

Sukhadha kriyathe ramaa bhoga,
Paschatdandha sarere roga,
Yadyapi loke maranam saranam,
Tadapi na munchathi papacharanam.
It is but for pleasure,
That a lady is sought,
Slowly the body gets sick,
The only path leads you,
To your death for sure,
Still no one leaves the sinful ways.

Radhyaa charpata virachita kkandha,
Punyaapunya vivarjitha padha.
Naaham nathwa naayam loka,
Stadhapi kimartham kriyathe soka.
Like collecting strewn rags all the way,
In life one collects sin and good deeds.
Realize that me or you,
Is not the truth.
In your newly chartered path
Still why are you sad?

Kuruthe Gangaa sagara gamanam,
Vrutha paripaalana madhava dhaanam,
Gnana viheena sarvamathena,
Mukthin na bhavathi janma sathena.

Take bath in Ganga,
Take a dip in the ocean,
Observe penance,
Give money to charity.
All faiths tell you without fail,
And if you do not realize this truth,
Even in hundred lives,
You will not attain the Lord.

Yoga ratho vaa bhogaratho vaa,
Sanga ratho vaa sanga viheena,
Yasya brahmani ramathe chittam,
Nandathi nandathi nandathyeva.

You get joy,
Of meditation or passion,
Or you get joy,
In solitude or in company,
But All these are but impermanent.
Try to make your mind one,
With Para Brahmam,
That is the only permanent joy.

Dwadasha Panjarika Stotra
(The twelve pearls of wisdom)

Bhaja Govindam, Bhaja Govindam,
Govindam Bhaja Mooda Mathe,
Samprapthe sannihithe kale,
Nahi nahi rakshathi dookrunj karane.

Pray Govinda, Pray Govinda,
Pray Govinda, You fool,
For all the ken with you,
Will not be there,
When your end is near.

Arthamanartham Bhavaya nithyam,
Naasthi thatha sukalesa sathyam,
Puthraadhapi dhana bhaajam bheethi,
Sarvathraisha vihithaareethi.
Wealth that you earn,
Has no meaning in life,
The real truth in it, is,
That it gives no pleasure,
The wealthy are but scared,
Even of him whom they beget,

Kaa thee kanthaa kasthe puthra,
Samsoroya matheeva vichitram,
Kasya twam ka kutha aayatha,
Sthathwam chinthya yadhidham braatha.
Who is your darling wife?
And who is the son whom you love,
This world is but strange,
Who are you, where from you came?
Think of these, Think of these

Maa kuru dhana jana yowana garwam,
Harathi nimishoth kaala sarvam,
Maamaya midhamakilam hithwa,
Brahmapadam twam pravisa vidhitwa.

Proud as peacock are you,
Of all the millions that you have,
And of all those who are with you,
Day in and day out,
And of the strength of youth in you.
Time, the thief is doing its job,
Of stealing them by and by,
All these are yes today and no tomorrow.

Kaamam krodham lobham moham,
Tyakthwaathmanam bhavaya koham,
Atma jnana viheenaa mooda,
Sthepachyanthe naraka nigooda.

Leave out your passion,
Leave out your anger,
Leave out your love for money,
Leave out your yearning in life,
Think and think, who you are?
Those who find it not, are but fools,
And are always happy in hell.

Sura mandhira tharu moola nivaasa,
Sayya bhoothala majinam vaasa,
Sarvapariguha bhoga thyaaga,
Kasya sukham na karothi viraaga.

He lives in the deep dark forest,
Or below a big banyan,
Sleep he does on the bare floor,
He has given up his all,
Who in this entire world, so big,
Is as happy as he is.

Shatrou mithre puthre bandhou,
Maa kuru yathnam vigraha sandhou,
Bhava sama chitta sarvathra twam,
Vaanchasya chiraadhyadhi Vishnu twam.

You would be one with Him
If but you can see them as one,
Your enemy whom you hate,
Your friends whom you love,
Your sons whom you adore,
And all other friends who are so close.
And if this entire world.
Is to you all and the same.

Twayi mayo chaanya traiko vishnur
Vyartham kupyasi sarva sahishnu,
Sarwasaminnapi pasyaathmaanam,
Sarvathrothsyuja bhedaajnananm.

In you and in me is Govinda,
So on whom will you show your ire?
See all as one and one as all,
Leave this difference between one and one.

Praanayamam prathyaaharam,
Nithyaa nithya viveka vichaaram,
Jaapyasametha samadhi vidhaanam,
Kurvavadhaanam mahadhava dhaanam.
Control your senses, you fool,
Withdraw from all your wants,
Try to find the difference.
Between that which is perennial,
And that which is not ,
Live and think in that He,
This is what will make you,
Decision maker supreme.

Nalinee dhalagatha jalamathi thralam,
Tadwadjjevtha mathisaya chapalam,
Viddhi vyaadhibhimaana grastham,
Lokam sokahatham cha samastham.

Like the tiny drop of water,
Floating on a lotus leaf,
The life today is here,
And tomorrow there,
This world full of aches ,
And bloated ego,
(Which is like an air filled up ball)
Is a place of sorrow.

Kaa the ashtaadasa dese chinthaa,
Vaathula thava kim naasthi niyanthaa.
Yasthaam hasthe sudhrude nibaddham,
Bhodayathi prabhavadhi viruddham.

Why this thought ,
Of eighteen countries, Hey Lunatic,
Fold your hands tight,
Think of Him,
Who controls ,
All that in you.

Satsangathwe nissamgathwam,
Nissamgathwe nirmohathwam,
Nirmohathwe nischala thatwam,
Nischala tathwe jeevan mukthi.

With good pals in this world,
You loose desire for things,
With loss of this terrible desire,
You loose passion for life,
With loss for this passion,
You realize the truth,

Gurucharanaambuja nirbhara bhaktha,
Samsarada chirabhava mukthaa,
Sendriya maanasa niyamaadevam,
Drakshyasi nija hrudayastham devam.

With your mind trained,
By your spiritual guide,
You can cross the sea of life,
And once you cross the sea,
You can see the Govinda in your heart.

Dwadasa pancharikaamaya esha.
Sishyaanaam kadhithohyuapadesha,
Yeshaam chithe naiva viveka.
Sthe pachyanthe narakamanekam.

Twelve pearls of wisdom these,
Are taught to those,
Hungry souls,
Suffering all the

Wednesday, 13 February 2013

STORY FROM YOGA VASISHTA NARRATED BY MAHARSHI RAMANA

YOGA VASHISHTA STORY

Sri Bhagavan said, 'some are born immediately after, others after some lapse of time, a few are not reborn on this earth but eventually get salvation in some higher region, and a very few get absolved here and now.'

Sri Bhagavan once again cited Lila's story from Yoga Vasishta an excerpt of which appears below.

____________________________________________________________

Lila asked:
O Goddess, you said that it was only eight days ago that the holy man had died; and yet my husband and I have lived for a long time [in the present birth]. How can you reconcile this discrepancy? (The "holy man" was reincarnated as Lila's present husband, who had now again just died).

Saraswati said:
O Lila, just as space does not have a fixed span, time does not have a fixed span either. Just as the world and its creation are mere appearances, a moment and an epoch are also imaginary, not real. In the twinkling of an eye the jiva undergoes the illusion of the death-experience, forgets what happened before that, and in the infinite consciousness thinks 'I am this', etc., and 'I am his son, I am so many years old', etc. There is no essential difference between the experiences of this world and those of another - all this being thoughtforms in the infinite consciousness. They are like two waves in the same ocean. Since these worlds were never created, they will never cease to be: such is the law. Their real nature is consciousness.

Even as in a dream there is birth, death and relationship all in a very short time, and even as a lover feels that a single night without his beloved is an epoch, the jiva thinks of experienced and non-experienced objects in the twinkling of an eye. And, immediately thereafter, he imagines those things (the world) to be real. Even those things which he had not experienced nor seen present themselves before him as in a dream.

This world and this creation is nothing but memory and dream. Distance, measures of time like a moment and an age, all these are hallucinations. This is one kind of knowledge-memory. There is another which is not based on memory of past experience. This is the fortuitous meeting of an atom and consciousness which is then able to produce its own effects.

Liberation is the realisation of the total nonexistence of the universe as such. This is different from a mere denial of the existence of the ego and the universe! The latter is only half-knowledge.

Liberation is to realise that all this is pure consciousness.

POSITION OF A DOG

First Published in Sunday Midday, Mumabi on 30 August 2009

In Hindu mythology, the dog is the most inauspicious of animals, to be kept away from wedding altars and holy sites. A howling dog becomes a harbinger of bad luck. Infact, even the sight of a dog is considered to bring bad luck. Why is it so? Dogs are such lovable creatures, obedient and affectionate. Even in the Rig Veda, the role of a dog as a protector, is acknowledged when Indra sends the mother of dogs, Sarama, in search of missing cows.

In narratives, dogs are associated with death which is why Sarama’s children, the Sarameya, are the companions of Yama, god of death. They are associated not with civilization but with the wilderness which is why they are associated with mendicants, like Dattatreya. The dog is the mount of Bhairava, the fearsome form of Shiva. A dog is considered so inauspicious that in the Mahabharata, Yudhishtira is not allowed to enter heaven with the dog.

Some would argue that dogs rummage through garbage which is why they are unclean, which is why they are not allowed to come near temples. But these rational explanations do not provide a satisfactory answer. Literal interpretations are convenient but not correct. Logically speaking, a dog should be the symbol of devotion in Hinduism; yet Hindus worship Hanuman, the monkey-god, as the perfect devotee. Mythology must never be taken literally; mythology is symbolic. Mythic stories and symbols are a code, a medium through which the ancestors are communicating profound messages. When the dog is considered inauspicious, it means the dog represents a thought that is inauspicious. What is this inauspicious thought?

In the Bhagavata Purana is the story of Bharata who is a hermit in the forest. He gives up everything but slowly gets attached to a deer. As a result, he is unable to attain moksha. He is reborn as a deer, trapped once more in the cycle of rebirth. Attachment entraps: this is a key maxim in Hindu philosophy.

Now visualize a dog looking at you with eagerness and affection – it adores you and its behavior melts your heart. If you have a pet dog, you will know that the dog constantly seeks validation from you. Give it that attention it craves and it will wag its tail, don’t give it and it will whine.

Now visualize a hermit surrounded by dogs. Does he surrender to the affection of the dog? Does he, like Bharata getting attached to a deer, get attached to these dogs? If he seeks to break free from the cycle of rebirths, he must transcend the urge to get attached. The dog is the ultimate temptation, because the dog gives its master absolute unconditional love and devotion. Nothing is more tempting, not even the dance of damsels known as Apsaras. When Dattatreya, the mendicant, walks with four dogs around him – it indicates his perfect detachment. The dogs follow him but he does not lead them.

The dog is a territorial animal. For the dog, even the master is territory that it will not share. Even when domesticated with all needs fulfilled, the dog needs to mark its territory by raising its legs and spraying its urine. Threaten this territory and the dog will turn on you. This behavior, the ancients realized, is not something to be celebrated in human beings.

Human beings are also territorial. Territory gives us our sense of identity and validation. It is the context that establishes who we are. A industrialist’s identity comes from the industries he owns; a bureaucrat’s identity comes from the position he holds; a politician’s identity comes from the power he holds in the party and the assembly. Any threat to the context that gives him identity, and he will react much in the same way a dog barks. We feel that if we lose our territory (not just physical but also intellectual and emotional) we will lose our identity. That frightens us. We become dogs – wagging tails when territory is reinforced, barking when territory is threatened, whining when territory is unacknowledged. At the root of dog-like behavior is fear, bhaya, fear of invalidation.

He who helps us overpower this fear is Bhairava. This form of Shiva terrifies us because it mocks our primal territorial instinct. In temples such as Kal Bhairav in Delhi and Varanasi, Bhairava is worshipped with alcohol. Alcohol clouds judgment. From a clouded judgment comes this warped understanding that from territory comes identity. The industrialist forgets that even if he clings and fights for his territory, one day Yama, the god of death, and his Sarameyas, will take him away from his territory. So it will be with the politician and the bureaucrat and the writer and the artist.

Our material, intellectual and emotional territories that we jealously guard, whose loss makes us insecure, is no different from the bone of a dog. We cling and fight over it, until the day we die. And when we die and our bodies reach the crematorium, we find there an inebriated Bhairava seated on a dog laughing at us for a life wasted in a futile pursuit.