Subodha Vedanta Class Notes – April 14, 2024
Our ears, skin, eyes, mouth, nose, these organs can also be thought of as openings. When we reflect on openings like the doors of the ashram, using these doors, we come in and out. Our organs are openings. When these openings are in-disciplined, then these openings control us. But if these openings are used in a disciplined way – we are careful about what we hear, what we eat – then we are directing these organs. So these organs/openings, do they control us or do we direct them?. We are in a course where the input through our ears particularly, but really our whole experience – we see each other, we hear each other – when this input is causing us to be more inward, then we know we are using this organ in the right way. If what we are inputting is causing us to be more outward or extroverted, then we know that the organs/openings are being used in the wrong way.
Our course is leveraging the map called Subodha Vedanta. Su – good, Bodha – to know or good knowing. So what we should be feeling from this map is clarity, clarity in all ways – clarity about who I am, clarity about what we are supposed to do. Currently we are in the chapter where we are studying the clarity directed towards Maya. Maya is the most unclear concept, so how can we be clear about this?
Reviewing Verse 1: The Lord’s Maya is divine, it is made of the three Gunas and is difficult to cross over. It expresses as I and My, and the craving for illusory material objects.
Our understanding of Maya is foggy or unclear. We know Maya, but yet we do not know Maya. A clear way to feel this in our own lives is – We know that a lot of what we input through our organs is not healthy, yet we still do this. Intellectually, we know the consequences, but practically, we do not. So that is what Maya does to us – we become unclear about consequences.
Verse 2:
Tartum imaam ye gacchanti hyasyaam te kila majjanti
katham tarennaro maayaam tatropaayo guru-proktah
Tartum – to cross; imaam – this Maya; ye gacchanti – Those who want to go over this Maya
Te kila majjanti – They typically drown. Those who are trying to cross over this Maya, typically drown in stress, anxiety and dejection.
Katham tarennaro maayaam – Then how should a human crossover Maya?
Tatropaayo guru-proktah – The means are told by the Guru.
We are trying to cross over Maya. We are not just trying to know this intellectually, but practically know that Maya is confusing. There are consequences to not using the organs well. And as we try, we falter and feel like failures, in terms of the company we keep or how we feel during challenges. So we, the students, are asking, what is the means, the upaaya, the way to be free from all of this – and the Guru shares or teaches.
Reflection: What is brought out in this verse is a strong appeal from the student. 95% of people are searchers, 4% are seekers, 1% are disciples whose only discipline is to cross over this Maya. So in this verse, this strong appeal means the seeker is tired of drowning and cannot wade in this water any longer. So they need to know the way to not drown and come out of this mundane existence.
Maya is our unconscious personality. This gets expressed as Gunas or our subconscious personality, and our Gunas then get expressed as our Karmas in our conscious personality. A lot of times even though our karma or our conscious personality is trying to be disciplined, our subconscious and unconscious personalities are so heavy, so strong that we are unable to rise. All of us need to be clearer about this play between the conscious, subconscious and unconscious so that our conscious personality (our actions), it is not just about working hard, but about working smart.
In a recent RAD that was posted, it said that a Guide is needed to slow our life down enough to be able to see the sleight of hand that is the magic, the trickery of Maya. Can we imagine our life without a Guide or without Vedanta? Most of us would be much busier then. A Guide is encouraging us to slow down, not externally but internally, to inquire – Why were we born? What does it mean to be a human? Only a Guide can slow all of this down enough to change our conscious personality to start affecting our subconscious and unconscious personalities.
Another reflection connecting verses 1 and 2 before we get into what the “means” is directly – Vivekji was sharing with the Balavihar kids what gift they can give to God on the occasion of Bhagavan Rama’s and Bhagavan Hanuman’s Jayantis. In the study of Advaita Vedanta, for us, another word for God is Existence. Built into Existence is the power to express as exists – we exist, the chair exists, wifi exists, the laptop exists. It is inherent or inside of Existence. So as we are trying to be clear about Maya – Maya is the expression and if we follow the expression, we will be led to Existence.
One more way to understand this – Bhagavan’s nature is Div (Light), so Bhagavan expresses as the Devis and Devas – those filled with the same Light. So if we think about God, an expression of God is a Semi-God like Indra, Vayu and so on. So if we can go deeper into them, then we will come to feel The source of that, that is Div.
We have so many outlets – our Guide, our Semi-Gods – so for us to use these hints that Bhagavan has provided to go deeper.
In this next verse, we are trying to put out this strong appeal that we are tired of waiting and wading in this meaninglessness.
Verse 3:
Prabhu-krpayaa jnaanena sharanam gatvaa sarvesham
Svayam teertva taarayati janaan sarvaan hi sajjanah
What is The means to be free from this illusion or relativity?
Prabhu-krpayaa – It is thru the Grace of God, as well as
Jnaanena – By knowing the illusion
Sharanam gatvaa sarvesham – Go and surrender to the Master
If one follows through with this, and one will, the second line describes those who have been saved
Svayam teertva taarayati – They have been saved and are now saving others
Janaan sarvaan – they are saving people
Hi sajjanah – They are those who are noble, those who are living for others.
Reflection: God expresses as Grace, which expresses as guidance, which expresses as granular or specific. It is detail oriented or Subodha. It is designed for us. When we personally know one who is great, the way they live is what transforms us. When we had studied Shri Lakshmana Gita, Bhagavan Rama was preparing Shri Lakshamana as Bhagavati Sita was abducted right after that. But there was a detail we went into in the Ramayana, where Bhagavan Rama and Bhagavati Sita are in the future and know what will happen in the future. So, they started a fire. In a fire, it is hard to see things clearly. Bhagavati Sita went into the fire and who came out of that fire was Maya Sita. Now fast forward to the end of the Ramayana where Maya Sita is freed from Lanka and another fire is started and Maya Sita goes into that fire and who comes out is Bhagavati Sita, showing that the Ramayana is a Leela. Bhagavan is in the future, so why worry about the future.
In our lives, there is Avidya Maya or social media, and there is Vidya Maya which is our community. We have to use Maya to be freed from Maya. Vivekji shared this thought last week – If Maya is an illusion, everything that comes from Maya is also an illusion, particularly our problems. So we should not overthink our problems, but know that they are only relative.
Final thought – The word Jnana in Sanskrtam is a masculine word and Maya is a feminine word. So the implication here in terms of language is that those who are masculine do not understand those who are feminine. So more powerful than Jnana is Bhakti. Bhakti is feminine and can understand femininity better or Maya better. So how do we become free of Maya? It is through Bhakti. Through loving the Master of Maya, we become free. Bhakti is living at Bhagavan’s feet, as the net of Maya never falls at Bhagavan’s feet.
Next chapter, Chapter 10, is a “what do I do next” chapter. It is called the Purpose of the Universe or jagatah prayojanam.
Verse 1: Overall verse 27 of Subodha Vedanta
Shishya uvacha –
Prayojanam svaroopam kim jagatashcha jagadguro
idam roopena yajnaatam, taccha sarvam jagatbhavet
The difference between a seeker and a disciple is that a disciple is more disciplined and passionate about being free. The disciple is speaking here –
Prayojanam svaroopam kim jagatashcha jagadguro – What is the purpose of the world, also known as the universe? The disciple is asking one’s Guide or Teacher.
Idam roopena yajnaatam, taccha sarvam jagatbhavet – By knowing the nature or purpose of this world, one will live better in this world and know that they are different from this world. The Guide or Guru responds saying that this world is not what we think it is. This world is different and we are different. This will be elaborated upon.
Reflection: Our Rishi’s have analyzed that we only have three directions of questions in our life –
- We ask questions about the Jiva – individual – explored in Chapter 4
- We ask questions about the Jagat – world – being explored in Chapter 10
- We ask questions about Jagadeeshwara – Creator – explored in Chapter 5
What is lovely about this verse or this chapter is that typically people ask – What is the universe? Here, it is not what is the universe, but what is its purpose. It is more authentic and deep. It is like when we explored Karma Yoga – more important than the how, is the why. Karma is how, and Karma Yoga is why. More deep than the action is the attitude. All scientists, their field of study is – What is the multiverse?. It is our Rishis – they are not external scientists, but internal scientists – who explored – Why this multiverse? Why was I born? What am I supposed to do until I die?
Here our Guide or Jagadguru, gives the first hint of what the purpose of the universe is. This universe is described as “this” or “known”, but the most personal word is “my”. If there is a “this”, then there has to be a subject to whom this applies. If there is a known, there has to be a knower. If there is a “my”, then there has to be me or I. That is what is being hinted at, that we are different from this multiverse. Me and my can never be the same, just like the knower and the known can never be the same. That is why the previous chapter was about Maya. Maya never lets us reflect so authentically and deeply. Anything that we describe as my, including our children, our hands, that is not who we are.
Final reflection for this chapter – The only purpose of this multiverse is purity. This multiverse is designed for us to become pure. Pure means less affected by Maya. Pure means closer to Divinity. If we lock in that the purpose of our day, week, month, year, decade or lifetime is purity, our living will become so rich. We will become more interested, more generous, more focused and so on. Those thoughts will come out more clearly in the next verses.
Next week Vivekji will guide us through a review of all 10 chapters we have studied of Subodha Vedanta thus far.
Discussion: What has been the most impactful chapter or teaching from Subodha Vedanta for us?
- Vivekji shared that whoever gave us power, that we should use that power to give back to them. Bhagavan has given us all powers, so for us to use that power to give back to that Original Parent.
RAW: Feel that this body is a house.