Bhagavad Gita Talks Podcast

Sharing the link to audio recordings of my talks on Bhagavad Gita . You may find this interesting if you are interested in exploring a contemporary perspective of Bhagavad Gita.

https://anchor.fm/oupanishadam

Meditations on Lord Shiva

'sadAshiva samArambhAm sankarAchArya madhyamAm

asmdAchArya pryantham vandhe guru parampara'

"Salutations to the great tradition of Gurus, that began with SadAshiva, has SankarAchArya in the middle and culminates in my own Guru"

As we approach the ShivarAtri in 2020, here are few thoughts on this wonderful deity who is full of intrigues.

Lord Shiva is unlike every other God concept in the Hindu tradition. While every other God image in Hindu tradition is an icon of beauty dazzling in the splendor of Gold, Diamond and Silk, Shiva is the dark skinned, mendicant looking God who wears nothing more than a tiger skin (or elephant skin in some descriptions) for attire. His body is smeared with ashes from the funeral pyres, a venomous snake adorns his neck, his hair is matted (probably not washed for eons!) and his attendants are the fiery looking Rudra Gana and PisAchAs. Yet, Shiva is a God of extreme compassion who stands taller than many other Gods and equal to, and sometimes greater than, Lord Vishnu himself in power and accomplishments. The oldest reference to Shiva appears to be on a seal from Indus valley where there is an image of him as Pasupathi, the Lord of domesticated animals. In the Vedas, we find the Rudra Shiva who is worshiped as the God of anger, the protector of trees and the leader of robbers and thieves! How are we to understand this depiction?

Lord Shiva is the representation of the Absolute, the oneness that permeates all the diversity we see in universe. He is generally worshiped not in his form but as a sign, the Shiva linga. Just as the self is not available for direct perception but is known by its presence, the Shiva linga stands for indicating the cosmic presence of God while  a direct perception of Him is not available. What a pity that this was misunderstood as phallus worship by the ignorant!  In simplistic descriptions, Brahma is considered the God of creation, Vishnu of sustenance and Shiva is the destroyer. It is not that Shiva is engaged in the role of destroying everything created but rather he is the destroyer of the apparent diversity created by the power of Maya, the cosmic delusion. In Him, the differentiation created by name and form burn down and what remains is only the pure absolute! The Kashmir Saivism offers a very detailed theory of the emergence of the world from the absolute who is SadAshiva and how it dissolves back into Him.

The key mythological story behind the celebration of ShivarAtri is how Shiva saved the world from ultimate destruction. In the beginning of times, when there were not many of things of value in the universe, the Devas and Asura joined hands together to churn the ocean of milk, kshirasAgara. They used the Mandhara mountain as the churning stick and the serpent VAsuki as the rope to spin the churning stick.  Lord Vishnu took the Kurma (Tortoise) avatAr to support the Mandhara from not sinking into the ocean. From this effort to churn the ocean of milk emerged many things of glory that enriched the world, including Goddess Lakshmi herself who is the God of wealth and prosperity. However, as Vasuki had started to tire out, from his mouth emerged the poison of HalAhala, almost like a nuclear cloud threatening to destroy everything in the world. While every God stood dumbfounded, it was Shiva who stepped forward to receive this poison that Vasuki vomited in his palms. To save the world from destruction, he simply swallowed the poison, which spread around his neck making the skin blue . This earned Shiva Shiva the name Neelakanta, the blue necked. Tired from the effects of the poison, Shiva rested for a night while the grateful world stood guard for him and that night is commemorated every year as ShivarAtri, the night of Shiva.

Hindu mythological stories are full of metaphors. In this specific story, the ocean of milk is the infinite potential that is within each of us. To let the great things to emerge from this potential, we need to have a single pointed desire to accomplish (the Mandhara mountain). However, this desire to accomplish needs to be supported and founded on Dharma, the principles  of ethical living (the Kurma in the story). It is just not enough that we have the potential and a DhArmik ambition to accomplish but we also need the untiring passion, the serpent Vasuki, to realize them. And, once we have desire and passion, then it is a constant battle of effort with the need to balance between the right and wrong, the Deva and Asura, as we work our way.

Once the accomplishments do happen, it is invariably followed by the great danger of AhamkAra (egoism) that emanates from the same passion which helped to produce the good things.  All the good we have achieved could all be undone in a flash by this AhamkAra of 'It is I who did it'. Let this AhamkAra be swallowed by Lord Shiva, and dedicate unto Him all our wonderful accomplishments and struggles. ShivarAtri is when we remind ourselves to do this and renew the vow to do so for ever.

There are many more such metaphorical stories of Shiva including the burning of the Tripura that are of significance to those engaged in spiritual pursuit. For the followers of Advaita Vedanta, Shiva is an ideal to pursue, the ultimate Guru and the giver of blessing for liberation from samsAra.  For the SannyAsi,

'mAtA cha pArvatidevi pitah devo maheswarah

bhAndhavA sivabhaktAscha svadeso bhuvana trayam'

"My mother is Parvati Devi, my father Lord Maheswara. My kin are the devotees of Shiva and my world is the entire universe (three worlds)"

Have a blessed ShivarAtri! Om Namh ShivAyah!

Thoughts on Navaratri

As we celebrate the NavarAtri this year, sharing few thoughts on the spiritual significance of this important festival.

According to the Purana stories, few Asuras had at one time managed to gain the boon that they will not be killed by anyone other than a woman who is not born from a womb (‘ayonija’). With the aid of this boon, they drove the Devas out of heaven and took over the control of the three  worlds. Devi had to incarnate to finally overcome these Asuras who were undefeatable by the Devas. The Navaratri is a celebration of Devi’s victory in her battles with these Asuras.

Why is this festival called NavarAtri, nine nights, instead of Navadina, nine days? All the battles had in fact happened during the day. This is because the nine nights are indicative of nine different layers of darkness that separates us from the absolute Truth. Prakriti, nature, is said to have two distinct powers to conceal the true reality. One is the ‘Vikshepa sakti’, the power to project an apparent reality and the other is ‘Avarana sakti’, the power to conceal the true reality. The nine layers of darkness relate to the Avarana sakti.

There are also nine Asuras mentioned in the stories. The first three of them Chanda, Munda and Bhanda correspond to the negative tendencies of sanga (attachment), kAma (desire) and krodha (anger) all of which are the effect of the Tamo guna of Prakriti. The next three Asuras were Sumba, Nisumba and Daruka corresponding to the powerful negative tendencies of lobha (avarice), moha (delusion) and mAtsarya (envious competitiveness). All three of them are the effect of the Rajo guna of Prakriti. The final set of three Asuras were Dumraksha, Raktabheeja and Mahisha. Dhumraksha means a smoke-eyed one, meaning a shaded perception of things that gives the transient a sense of permanence. Raktabhija had the power to create many clones of himself from every drop of his blood, just as every action impelled by inherent tendencies, vAsana, in our sub-conscious triggers creation of more vAsana followed by many more actions impelled by them. Finally, Mahisha, the bison, is indicative of the core ignorance (agnAna and resultant 'I-sense', ahamkAra) in our being because of which we don’t see the ultimate Truth. As you can see, these three Asuras are the effects of wrong knowledge and hence indicative of the satva guna of Prakriti.

Let’s use the festive period of NavarAtri to make us aware of these nine layers of darkness separating us from Truth and let’s all pray for Devi’s blessings for Vidya (True knowledge which is ayonja or apaurusheya) in our battle to overcome these layers of darkness and reach victory on the tenth day of Vijayadasami.

Happy NavarAtri!

The SriKrishna doctrine for spiritual living

(Continuing from the previous blog post - Life story of SriKrishna)

As we discussed in the last blog lost, the initial years of SriKrishna in Gokula and the obstacles he overcame as an infant are metaphorical of the early stages of a spiritual master in making. Once the foundation for spiritual learning has thus been laid firmly, the next steps in the spiritual journey for such a person are the swādhyāya and pravachana or receiving, internalization and furthering of the spiritual knowledge. The appropriate metaphor of the cow is chosen to represent the scriptural texts which act as the vehicles of spiritual knowledge. The location where the fostering of this knowledge occurs is also appropriately named as 'Govardhana' meaning a place for flourishing of cows. It is interesting to note that a parallel for the cow metaphor is also found in the Chāndogya Upanishad where the student Satyakama is given few cows by his Guru and asked to grow the herd and come back for spiritual instructions when the herd's population has reached one thousand.

Returning to where we had left off on the story, the residents of Gokula who were troubled by the many attacks from demons,  decided to move their settlement to a different location in order to ensure the safety for SriKrishna and his brother Balarāma. The new place, Vrindāvana, that was situated on the banks of river Kālindi and in the valley of a hill known as Govardana which offered plenty of pasture for the cows to graze. In Vrindāvana, SriKrishna, in the company of other Gopa boys, grew up to be a cute, mischievous , young boy who was extremely dear to the hearts of everyone in the clan. 

Even though the Gopās were relieved for some time from the incessant attacks of the demons at their new residence,  eventually those attacks resumed. We are told of five different incidents in which the demons, using a disguise each time, slipped into Vrindāvana  and attacked SriKrishna. These Asurās who attacked took different forms including a large python Aghāsura, a giant stork Bakāsura, a violent calf Vatsāsura, a donkey Dhenkāsura and a Gopa boy Pratardana. Each and every one of the Asurās were ultimately eliminated by SriKrishna and his brother Balarāma, once the Asura's true nature was revealed to them.

Though it is extraneous to imagine two young boys taking on such powerful creatures as these Asurās, we can metaphorically understand these incidents to be the many challenges that are faced and overcome by a spiritual leader while developing and furthering spiritual knowledge. Just as the entire group of Gopās along with SriKrishna unknowingly entered the mouth of the python Aghāsura mistaking it for a cave, a spiritual leader along with followers, could get easily get guided  down a completely wrong path in their way of thinking, raising the possibility of laying waste to the  entire corpus of knowledge they have developed together.(Remember what happened to David Koresh and his followers in Waco, Texas?).  Or, he or she can be completely arrested in spiritual progress by a misplaced doubt that arises in an unguarded moment  in the way SriKrishna was swallowed by the giant stork  Bakāsura. Alternately, it could be a direct charge  by someone with a powerful, opposing viewpoint (Vatsāsura) unsettling one's faith or a tricky, clever argument by someone with a dumb idea (Dhenukāsura). Finally, one can simply get carried away by the bad influence from a peer on whom one has misplaced trust. All these challenges are significant and not easy to overcome. The story of SriKrishna warns of these dangers and prepares the seeker to be ready to overcome them.

The greatest danger to perfecting spiritual  knowledge, however, lurks deep inside one's own heart. This is explained through the story of the multi-headed serpent Kāliya who is supposed to have been living in a cave at the bottom of Kālindi river near Vrindāvana. Few of the Gopās and their cows who had gone down to the Kālindi river to quench their thirst fell unconscious as they were affected by the venom spewed by Kāliya . Jumping into the water from a tall tree on the banks of the river, SriKrishna challenged Kāliya to take on him. Kāliya duly did so by coiling himself around SriKrishna and threatened to kill him with his poisonous fangs. Breaking himself free from the coils of the serpent, SriKrishna managed to climb up on the many hoods of Kāliya and subdue the serpent by stamping down on its hoods. This great dance of SriKrishna on top of the hoods of the serpent is famously known as the Kāliya Mardana.

Now, let's look at the metaphorical aspects of this story. It is well known in Vedānta that there are six negative qualities of mind -  kāma (selfish desires), krodha (rage), lobha (avarice), moha (delusion), mada (vanity) and mātsarya (jealousy) - that need to be subdued in order to make progress in the spiritual journey. These tendencies that are dark and hidden in our subconscious mind  are like the hoods of the serpent Kāliya who is also dark in color and lives in a hidden cave.  Another key point to note in the image of SriKrishna's taming of Kāliya is that in addition to stamping down on the hoods,  SriKrishna also holds Kāliya firmly by the tail on his left hand.  The message here is that a mere suppression of the negative tendencies is insufficient and one needs to have a strong grip on the root cause of these negativities which is ahamkāra, or the 'I Consciousness'.

The next major incident in SriKrishna's young days is the encounter with Indra, the King of Devās. It was

customary of the Gopās to offer an annual sacrifice to propitiate Indra, the Lord of the clouds, to show their gratitude for the unfailing rains he brings every year. As the Gopās were getting ready to organize this festival, SriKrishna intervened and convinced the community to offer their felicitations to the Govardana hill instead of Indra. Feeling slighted by the community, Indra unleashed his ferocious clouds to pour down on Vrindāvana and cause a flood. As the situation on the ground worsened, the residents gathered in front of SriKrishna seeking a refuge from the misery. SriKrishna performs a great miracle at that time, growing himself big and lifting up the Govardana hill as a shield to protect everyone from the downpour. He stayed in that position offering a shelter to all the residents until the clouds exhausted all the water in them. Indra duly appeared and sought pardon from SriKrishna recognizing him to be MahāVishnu himslef.

The Indra in this story stands for the source of all material wealth. A spiritual person, though he or she needs some material wealth to survive, does not direct his reverence towards the source of such wealth. Instead what such a person should revere are the values and principles that enable growth of spiritual knowledge and insight (Govardana). When challenged by materialistic difficulties, such a person finds refuge under the values and principles he or she upholds and uses them as a shield until the difficulties pass. In Vedānta, this  important quality of a seeker is known as thithiksha or forbearance. In this story of Govardanodhārana, we are reminded of the need for forbearance in spiritual life.

As SriKrishna continues to grow up and become a teenager, we come to the most controversial aspect of SriKrishna's life story - his relationship with the Gopika women. It is said that every Gopika woman, single or married, madly desired for SriKrishna's company. One fine night in an autumn month, when the sky was lit bright by the full moon, SriKrishna sitting on the banks of river Kālindi, played  a most attractive tune on his magical flute. Mesmerized by the enchanting tune, the Gopikā women left their homes, some of them even their husband and children they were attending to, and arrived in front of SriKrishna, in a trance. There, each and every one of  them found for themselves an image of SriKrishna to give them company to fulfill their intense desire for his companionship. As the moonlight danced throwing silvery streaks on the waves of Kālindi, the Gopika women danced with SriKrishna to his music, all night. This dance of SriKrishna with the Gopika women is known as the Rāsa Leela and is highly revered in the Hindu Bhakti tradition as a great act of devotion in spite of the moral transgressions the story might imply.

Until this point, we have seen SriKrishna as a spiritual master in the making, nearing a perfection in knowledge and practice. What should be the attitude of such a person who has reached highest levels of spiritual maturity, towards everyday living? Should that person shun all joys of life and become a hermit or should he or she engage back with the world? The Rāsa Leela story offers SriKrishna's definitive answer to this question.

The Sānskrit word Rasa means the essence, particularly the essence that produces joy. Rāsa are the manifestations of Rasa. The word Leela means a  playful, sportive engagement. Therefore, combined together the word Rāsa Leela means a playful engagement with the many manifestations of joy, in a way that such an engagement with the world will be devoid of the entrapments of attachment, dependency and aversion. According to the Rāsa Leela story, this must be the attitude towards everyday life by a person who has reached the highest level of spiritual maturity. Again, do note that for those of us who have not reached the pinnacle of such spiritual maturity, a caution less engagement with the world would not be the right choice.

Based on the stories above and their metaphorical interpretations, the Srikrishna doctrine for spiritual living could be summarized as follows:

1. Prepare the self for receiving spiritual knowledge (The Gokula period).
2. Learn, reflect, share and grow the spiritual knowledge while watching out for the common pitfalls (The early Vrindāvana period) 
3. Overcome the inherent negative tendencies lurking deep within the heart (Kāliya Mardana story)
4. Develop forbearance, reject materialistic tendencies and uphold  values and principles (Govardanodhārana story)
5. Having attained spiritual maturity, engage back with the world and the many meritorious joys of life, avoiding attachment, dependency and aversion (Rāsa Leela story)

What about the messages from rest of Srikrishna's life story? Hopefully, with SriKrishna's blessings, we will continue to examine rest of his life's journey to become the Jagdguru, the universal teacher and master.

Life story of Lord SriKrishna - Is there more to it than what meets the eye?

Srimad Bhāgavatha occupies a very unique place in the Hindu religious literature,. Though not as ancient as the  other Hindu religious texts like Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita or Vedanta Sutra, it is never the less recognized as a corner stone of Hindu faith. Considered to belong to the Purāna category of Hindu religious texts, Bhāgavatha has time and again proved itself to be much more than a mere collection of mythical stories and has in fact earned the title of  Mahā Purāna, the greatest of all the Purānas. 

Central to Bhāgavatha is the story of SriKrishna in whom it finds the perfection among all of Vishnu's many incarnations.  The image of SriKrishna of Mahā Bhāratha takes a much more divine and mystical color in the Bhāgavatha where he is portrayed as God Supreme, performing may miracles right from birth. The mystical stories of Bhāgavatha, that some time tread on the edges of logical fallacies and unnatural phenomena, are both a source of spiritual panacea for the faithful and cause for disillusionment for the skeptic

Bhāgavatha is not merely a Bhakti text. There are many instances of Vedānta and Advaita thoughts expressed and professed in it, from beginning to end. In fact, the very starting sentence of Bhāgavatha and the second sutra of Vedanta Sutras are exactly same ("janmādyasya yathah" ). Also, Bhāgavatha's intended purpose is stated as  "let the ultimate truth shine in the intellect" (satyam param dhimahi). Those who subscribe to the Vedanta philosophy prefer to be rational in their thought process and not engage in promoting blind faith in any God personality, especially evangelizing a faith that is founded on miracles. Given that the Bhāgavatha text was written by a Rishi who was well established in Vedānta, what exactly are we to make of the many miracles described in it? Are these strictly a narrative for the faithful or is there something more to them than what meets the eye? Let's examine to see if there are, in fact, any deeper meaning attached to them.

Life stories of SriKrishna are so popular that I will not make an attempt to recount them here in detail. One of the purposes of his birth is supposed to be for lightening the burden born by Mother Earth as the human population increased and evil nature spread. SriKrishna is supposed to have caused both the great war of Mahā Bhāratha as well as the Yādava clan civil war, for accomplishing this purpose of 'lightening the load' on Earth . Not a pleasant mission for a merciful God to cause such misery! But, think of this in another perspective. There are so many of us in this world who go around with heavy hearts. What if the very purpose of SriKrishna's life was to show us a way to eliminate the heaviness in our heart so that both we and Mother Earth could get a relief?

Born in a prison in the city of Mathura to Vasudeva and Devaki, SriKrishna was surreptitiously moved to the custody of Nandagopa and Yasoda, to evade the wrath of King Kamsa who was awaiting to kill him at birth. SriKrishna grows up in the Gokula (literally, the house of cows) under the loving care of many Gopas and Gopikas. He faces many attacks from the demons dispatched by Kamsa and manages to overcome them all. In the infant days of SriKrishna, the first demon to attack him was the demoness Putana, who approached deceptively as a beautiful maiden and tried to poison him.  The next was the Asura Thrinavartha who came in as a dust storm and tried to carry SriKrishna away. The third was Chakatāsura who disguised himself as a cart and offered shade but with the intent of crushing SriKrishna under the wheels. In addition SriKrishna had a close call when two slender, tall trees who were actually the cursed Gandharvas Nala and Kubara, fell over close to him while he tried to crawl between them, dragging along a wooden mortar he was tied to. Needless to say, the infant SriKrishna managed to vanquish all the three demons and released Nala and Kubara from their curse.

Let us look at some of the possible symbolism that are used in the above stories of Bhāgavatha. First of all, why was SriKrishna growing up at the Gokula? The cow (gava) is considered sacred in Hindu mythology because the Sānskrit word gava also means the Veda mantra. Just as the cows that are of many color yield the same white milk, the meaning yielded by all the Veda mantra are the one and same truth. Churning this truth in one's mind, we are expected to recover their essence like butter out of butter milk and internalize that essence.   Therefore, the image of SriKrishna as the cowherd (Gopala) who relishes on butter ('maakhan khaayore') is indicative of his spiritual evolution. We could imagine that what is being conveyed in the stories of SriKrishna's life in Gokula are in fact his initiation into spirituality.

According to Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, there are five klesa (obstacles) that are in the way of one embarking on spiritual journey. They are Avidya (ignorance), Asmita (ego), Rāga (attachment), Dvesha (aversion) and Abhinivesa (clinging to life). One can embark and stay on the spiritual journey only by overcoming these obstacles. Now let us look at each of these in detail.

Avidya - Though translated as 'ignorance', the exact meaning of this word is 'defective knowledge'. In Avidya, there is not only a lack of true knowledge but also the presence of a mistaken understanding about truth. It is what we might call as a double whammy! What better way to present this complex concept than the image of a demoness who with the intent of poisoning the baby, comes disguised as a damsel and offers to nurse the innocent child. Avidya is not overcome by running away from it but rather confronting it and sucking the life out of it, which is exactly what SriKrishna does with Putana,

Asmita - Again, the translation is 'ego' but the intended meaning is 'self-identity'. We all have not just one but many different 'self-identities' like son, father, brother, citizen, patriot - you name it. These many self-identities are swirling around us is like a dust storm and sweeps us off our feet. making us forget our true nature. In the story we are given the image of Thrinavartha who comes as a dust storm and carries away the infant SriKrishna. How does one escape from such a storm? Only by remaining in our own true self, as SriKrishna does by becoming heavier and heavier, making it impossible for the Asura to carry him anymore

Rāga and Dvesha - Attachment and aversion are two sides of the same coin or in other words, they are like twins. They are both born from possessiveness just as the brothers Nala and Kubara who were the twins born to the Lord of wealth, Kubera. There is practically no way to live in this world without having the feelings of attachment and aversion. However, what needs to be overcome is our entrapment in them. Just as  SriKrishna who is bound to a wooden mortar is entrapped between the two slender trees who were Nala and Kubara,  released himself as well as them, we also have to seek a liberation from Rāga and Dvesha, not by eliminating them completely but freeing ourselves from their affect and entrapment.

Abhinivesa  - The tendency to cling to life is wired into every living soul. As Patanjali says in the Yoga Sutra, even the best realized souls fail to free themselves from this tendency. While clinging to life is our unavoidable reflexive behavior, what we could consciously do is to catch ourselves as we vainly try to find sense of security in things like relationships, wealth, power etc. In the story, we see an infant SriKrishna being placed in the shade of a parked cart which actually was the Chakatāsura in disguise. SriKrishna knocks down the cart and it breaks into pieces, saving himself from being run over by the cart.

Where does SriKrishna's life journey continue from here and what other messages does it have for us? We will see more the next time

Meditation: The act of emptying the Self

The popularity of meditation has increased significantly in recent times, which is a good thing and a bad thing simultaneously. The good news is that more and more people are becoming aware of what meditation is. The bad part is that those who get to experience little bit, interpret the tip of the iceberg to be the whole thing. Practices like mindfulness meditation are popular for their benefit to both the religious and irreligious equally, irrespective of their belief systems. Those who who do not have the time to locate and spend time with a proper teacher to learn meditation can now get iPhone Apps to help them develop ‘meditation skills’! Meditation, which is a serious practice undertaken only by those who have advanced sufficiently in their spiritual journey, has now become the routine for even the uninitiated. Let’s spend some time examining what exactly Mediation is supposed to be according to Hindu religion.

To understand mediation better, let us first revisit the story from Kathopanishad. Kathopanishad opens with the story of this person named Vājasravas who is conducting a ritual in which he is giving away in charity everything that he possesses. As his young son, Nachiketas observes, his father was doing this act of charity just for the sake of the ritual and not much for the sake of recipients. For example, he was giving away cattle that were weak, unproductive and incapable of reproduction, which would only become a burden for the recipient. Fearing that demerits of such burdensome gifts would bring about sufferings in future to his father, Nachiketas decides to force his father to donate him to somebody. Vājasravas ignores the repeated questions from his young son initially but Nachiketas was insistent. Irritated by the pestering question from the child, Vājasravas finally responded in anger saying ‘mrityave tvām dadāmi’, “I am gifting you to the Lord of Death”. Nachiketas took these words from his father literally and decided to pay a visit to Lord Yama, the God of Death, at his abode. 

When Nachiketas arrived outside of Lord Yama’s palace, Lord Yama happened to be away. Nachiketas had to wait outside Lord Yama’s abode awaiting his return for three days and three nights. When Lord Yama arrived, he was remorseful of leaving a young Brahmachari unattended for three days. As a compensation for this, Yama offered him three boons to choose. With the first boon, Nachiketas sought peace with his father who was angry at his persistence. With the second boon, he sought a yagna ritual that will enable attainment to heaven after death. With the third boon, Nachiketas asked to be instructed on the highest spiritual knowledge about the nature of Brahman and Self.

Now, let us look at the metaphorical interpretation of this story. The word ‘vāja’ indicates a horse and ‘sravas’ is a stream. Thus, ‘vājasravas’ means a galloping horse that flows like a stream, which is nothing but life. ‘Vājasravas’ in this story can be thought of as a metaphor for the individual self; existing in time, aware and experiencing life. While accumulating the experiences, the individual self identifies itself with its faculties for cognition like sight, mind etc. and defines itself in terms of relationships with the objects of interaction. The ritual that Vājasravas engages in, giving away all his possession is an exercise of negating these multiple associations that the self has accumulated.  This ritual can be done at a thought level in Meditation and is in fact the first stage of meditation called Dhārana, where one starts to decouple the self from its many identifications.

The challenge with the process of Dhārana is the risk of it becoming a mere intellectual exercise. The negation can quickly become mere words repeated with no substance like the unproductive, weak cattle Vājasravas was giving away.  During the process of negation, when one has emptied everything that defines one’s self - all the relations, possessions etc. - what would be left is the nascent core of self-identity. Whom does that nascent core of self-identity belong to, other than Death who ultimately takes it away whether offered or not!  For the final release, this individual self must have a dialog with death and this dialog is another important step of meditation. Indeeed, one has to approach the subject of death with all the innocence of a Brahmachāri like Nachiketas.

Sri Sankarāchārya has beautifully captured the essence of this process of Dhārana in his Nirvāna satakam:

"manobudhyahamkara chitthāni nāham

 na cha srotra jihve nacha ghrāna netre

 nacha vyoma bhumir na thejo na vayu

 childānanda rupah sivoham sivoham

“This mind, intellect, individual self and consciousness, they are not me; nor the (faculty of) ears, tongue,nose and eyes. Neither am I the sky or earth, nor the fire or air. I am Siva who is (pure) awareness and bliss; I am Siva”

“na mrityur na sanka na me jātibheda

 pitah naiva me naiva mātah na janma

 na bhandur na mitram gurur naiva sishyam

 childānanda rupah sivoham sivoham”

“I do not recognize death or divisions and I have no hesitations. I have no father or mother, nor am I limited by this instance of life. I have no (identification with my) relatives, friends, teachers or students. I am Siva who is (pure) awareness and bliss; I am Siva”

The thought process of negating worldliness is to be followed by an affirmation of transcendence. This thought process when sustained, takes one to the next step of meditation, which is Dhyāna where the focus is purely on the nature of Brahman. The Kathopanishad provides a great summary of the process of Dhyāna in a single verse:

"yasched vāg manasi prājna

 thad yasched jnāna ātmani

 jnānamātmani mahati niyasched

 thad yasched sāntha ātmani" (Kathopanishad Canto 1, Valli 3, Sloka 13)

“Let the awakened one merge the words (self-expressions) in the mind (ideas), and the mind (ideas) in self-consciousness, the self-consciousness in the universal consciousness and the universal consciousness in the peaceful Ātman (that has no movement)”

One starts the process of Dhyāna with thoughts that are either about a favorite deity or about the absolute nature of Brahman. Then one would observe these thoughts and allow them to merge slowly into the very ideas from which they originate. Silence would start to take over and what would remain is the simple process of observation devoid of all judgements. This is the jnāna ātma. Becoming one with this self-consciousness that purely illuminates, one would expand it to envelop the entire existence, the mahat or universal consciousness. At this stage, the dimension of space is transcended but the awareness of time persists. When the awareness of time is also transcended, one arrives at the doorsteps of Ātman and is ready to move on to highest stage of meditation, known as ‘Samādhi’.

There are no verbal descriptions available for the stage of Samādhi. The only thing that is said of Samādhi is that it is not a subject of experience and nor does it leave any memory trails. As the Kenopanishad says, if any one claims to know and verbalizes what it is like to be in Samādhi, know for sure that person is faking it.

Here is how Kathopanishad concludes the instruction on meditation:

"asabdam asparsam arupam avyayam

 thadārasam nityam agandhavatscha yat

 anādyanantham mahata param dhruvam

 nichāpya thanmrityu mukhāth pramuchyate (Kathopanishad, Canto 1, Valli 3, Sloka 14)

“Having reached that great, firm transcendence that is devoid of sound, touch, taste, or smell, is formless and infinite with no beginning, one is released from the jaws of Death”

A realized soul does not stay in Samādhi forever. What happens when he or she is not in Samādhi? Again, Kenopanishad says:

“pratibodhaviditham matham amrutatvam hi vindate”

“Constantly aware of this (the state of Samādhi as the true nature of self) in every pulse of consciousness, one attains immortality”

Attaining this state is the purpose of Yoga, as Sage Patanjali says at the beginning of Yoga Sutra:

“yogah chitthavritthi nirodhah

 thadaa drashtu swarupe avasthānam” Yoga Sutra, verse 1

“Yoga is the cessation of all movements in consciousness; then the self resides solely in its true nature of observance”

This is Meditation.

Om Tat Sat.

Contemplations on the occasion of Mahā Sivarātri

Mahā Sivarātri, the only Hindu festival that spans an entire day and night, is not only a day of festival but also a day of contemplation with many serious observers of the festival choosing to fast and desist from speaking for the entire period.  Lord Siva is the role model for ascetics, symbolizing the commitment to austere life and self-discipline. Unlike the typical Hindu festivals that are extremely celebratory, Sivarātri is an unique festival that calls for moderation, withdrawal and introspection.

The Siva Linga is the one of the most misunderstood icon of Hindu religion with many mistaking it as phallus worship. The literal translation the Sānskrit word linga is ‘sign’.  The linga is in fact a physical representation of  the ‘thump-sized indweller who resides all the time in the innermost cave of heart of all people’ (“angushta mātra purushontharātmā sadā janānām hridaye sannivishta” – Kathopanishad) . The linga is dark denoting its hidden nature starting from a single point and expanding downward just like this universe from the singularity of big bang. It is also the sign of divinity that is present in every single human being.

Lord Siva is the destroyer, a bringer of death and an icon of ferocious anger.  How is that he has come to be an idol of worship?  Apart from the Purāna story of Lord Siva saving the world from the poison of kālakuda, we should also search into the Upanishads to understand the height of Siva’s stature. In the Kathopanishad, as the God of Death, Lord Yama, concludes his first set of instructions to Nachiketas, he says this:

“yasya brahma ća kshatram ća ubhe bhavata odana

 mruthyur yasyopasećanam ka itthā veda yatra sa”

“Who then can know where is this (mighty self) for whom knowledge and effort are the main courses of food and death the condiment (pickle)”

There are three identifications of the self that we use to define our own selves. They are,  ‘I know’, ‘I do’ and ‘I am’. Everything else that we consider to be us are built on these three fundamental identifications. Of these, knowledge and effort brings to the soul experiences which are like food that is savored to nourish the soul through experiences

To understand the symbolism used here for death, we need to dwell little into the Indian style of eating. A spicy pickle is generally served along with the main courses of food in the platter. The eater takes a break from eating the main course by taking a little of this pickle and places it on the tongue to invigorate the taste bud and increase the appetite. It is this spicy pickle that is indicated here to represent death. Death is a temporary break to the soul’s consumption of knowledge and effort, accelerating its aptitude for more experiences. And, death is a redefinition of all identifications arising from  ‘I am’

Moksha or the final release is the ending of all the three identifications mentioned above which are bondages for the soul. Therefore, we pray to Lord Siva for Moksha with this powerful mantra known as the Mruthyunjaya mantra (mantra for winning over death)

“thryambakam yajāmahe sugandhim pushti vardanam

urvārukamiva bandhanāt mruthyormuksheeya māmrutāt”

“I worship the thryambaka (that removes the three identifications)   which is fragrant and nourishing (restoring my divine nature and strength). Release me from the bondage of death just as a melon is removed from the creeper”

The identifications ‘I know’, ‘I do’ and ‘I am’ has only made us weak, subjecting to the joys and sorrows of the world. Lord Siva, who is the destroyer of these three identifications using his bow thryambaka is the solace to remove these identification as painless as a ripe melon falling off of the creeper of Samsāra (the world experience)

This is my contemplation for this Mahā Sivarātri. Felicitations to you all on your spiritual journey