October 20, 2022 Class Notes by Siddharth Kashinath

Introduction

We should be punctual. In our ashram, we have our guru – Acharya Shankara – and we have our scriptures – Sadhana Panchakam. We must keep reflecting and keep feeling that this is our ashram.

One way for us to really start before we speaking positively is to remember the teaching – annam na nindyat – which means one should never criticize food or never complain about food. Let us start with food and then learn to speak positively about everything else.

Discourse

Verse 1/Practice 7: atmeccha vyavasiyatam 

Atma means spirit. Icha means desire- so put together: desire for the Spirit. Vyavasiyatam means to be consistent / persistent. How do we apply this at the absolute, relative and tactile/practice level?

Absolute – Atma means that which is closest. That which is closest to you is you. You are not the you you think you are (i.e. your body, hair, etc. that you see on your social media profile). You are the Spirit. In a more spatial way – you are the locus and from this locus there are references such as that, this, he she, etc or  ego, mind, body, lifestyle.

Atmeccha vyavasiyatam – is it such a strange / mystical / esoteric desire to desire being you, to be the fundamental or original you? It is the most sensical desire. 

At a more relative level – focusing on vyavasiyatam, which is to be consistent / persistent – whenever we come across this terminology, we tend to measure this by time. This consistency or persistence should lead to sincerity. Sincerity is not a product of time. All that is internal (love, purity, faith, etc.) is not a product of time. Prince Arjuna asks Bhagavan Krishna – when will I be like you? Bhagavan Krishna shares acirena, which means “in no time”. His high point is – you are already Me. His low point is – do not think that it is measured by these verses / war etc. 

Practice – Review quietude at night. Review your day, identify the quietest parts of your day and you will find that during those experiences, you were not inputting. You were reading, writing, and/or reflecting. 

Verse 1/Practice 8: nijagrhatturnam vinirgamyatam

Nijagrhatturnam means being bound by your home. Vinirgamyatam means to escape from this binding towards your home. 

From an absolute perspective, we live in this body. The words for body are deha, sarira, etc. The word sarira means that which is ever shrinking, that which is perpetually becoming smaller. This body is dying. From the time we were born, this body begins to die. We cannot do anything to not have death finally happen to ourselves. The body is being referenced, but the implication is that all is shrinking. 

Swami Chinmayananda used to tell his students – when you meet people in their homes, tell them that you have come to leave- meaning they should not depend on you and you should not depend on them either. That is how all relationships are- every relationship has come to leave. 

At a more relative level, Acharya Shankara (in another text) describes the body as an aayatanam which means a store. A store where things come in and things go out. So, the body is a store, it is not you. Desire you; do not desire the body. 

Those who are living in families are called grihastha – that which holds you. For example, our home, even though it is not holding us physically, it is holding us emotionally. 

From a tactile perspective, the practice is – smile mirrors. Meaning that we should smile when we look in a mirror. Just practicing this will make us so much more cheerful and content. 

Discussion

Question 1: Amongst individuality, family, community, society, humanity – what percentage of your thoughts are going into these ranges and why?

Vivekji’s insight: Individuality 10%; Family 20%; Community 20%; Society 40%; Humanity 10%; Vivekji is trying to pull out 10% each from family and community and put them towards society, which will eventually get pushed into humanity.

In an ad hoc way, all of our thoughts will go towards individuality and family only. Specifically, when we are young, it goes more to individuality and when we are older our thoughts go more towards family. But if we live more intentionally, our thoughts would start to drift towards community and society also.   

Dialogue

Question 1: What is community; what is society; what is humanity? And how do we differentiate individuality from family?

Some parameters of these ranges are: 

Individuality – is when you are concerned about your rupa and nama. How you look physically and how you look in other people’s opinions.

Family – is the comfort of one’s family. And built into this is the thinking around how comfortable is my family versus another’s family. 

Community – Is where one is still relating to people around that have the same rupa as oneself, but different nama. For example, our class is a good example of community, where we have (largely) the same looks (skin pigment, country or origin, etc.), but we have different names. Typically, once people realize how attached they are to their families, that is when they start to serve their community. 

Society – is where you’re living for people that do not have the same name as you nor do they have the same form as you. They do not look like you nor do they have the same background as you. All of this is more long term too. Society (and community) are more long lasting than family and individuality. Therefore, what we do for society has more long-lasting effects. “Think big”is often used, but more practically, this should be “Think long-term”.

Humanity – is where it is not restricted to geography. Many countries are nationalistic. However, when it comes to humanity, we go beyond the boundaries. And built into humanity are plants, animals and stones on which humans depend. Environmentalism is an expression of humanity. 

When one does all of the above, it is Divinity. Divinity pervades all of the above (and not the other way around).

Reflection subject: When we start to live for the higher, functionally, the lower is included. For example, if one lives for society, naturally that person’s family is the beneficiary also. Because one’s family is part of society. So, if we live for humanity, then everyone is the beneficiary. 

Question 2: We have good intentions and thoughts, but due to personal or physical reasons, we are unable to implement those thoughts into actions. Do intentions and thoughts also count if we don’t have the opportunity to serve society due to certain obstacles?

Higher perspective: Intention should be matched with implementation. The best circumstance is – I intend to serve and I’m following up on that by living like that.

If one doesn’t have the opportunity to do that, then one must focus on the intention. You must focus on your intention to serve humanity and do it in the way the opportunities are presenting themselves to you. For example, suppose one’s intention is to raise their child to be the next Martin Luther King or the next Gandhiji, then while it appears that one is just focusing on their family, really what one is doing is for humanity.

But we have to be extremely careful not to justify that we are doing the lower and assigning it to the higher. Hypocrisy that one is working for the higher (humanity), while actually just focusing on individuality will prevent one from moving toward humanity quicker. Hence, one’s understanding of the percentages across the range are very important to knowing oneself.  

Question 3: If intention and implementation are divergent or not aligned, then how does one make them aligned?

Higher perspective: Analyze your personality, find out the weakness that is causing you the most harm, and dedicate your life to substituting that weakness with a strength. For example, if I analyze that I am an irritable person, then the purpose of my life is to not be irritable, which means I have to practice acceptance, cheerfulness, discipline, etc. So, a single entry point brings about everything else that is positive. And suppose one does become less irritable, then the next thing is that they feel so happy and they don’t want to be fearful. And then they work to become courageous. When one has the ideal and it is positioned in the intellect, then what is going to follow is one’s thoughts, words and actions.

Lower perspective: Simply your lifestyle. If we have less to manage, then we can learn to manage that well. Once we can manage “less” well, then we can learn to manage “more” well.

Reflection Adventure of the Week (RAW)/Sadhana:

Last week – Speak positively and review disturbances.

Vivekji’s reflections:

On speaking positively: It is more important to speak positively with those who are impressionable. For example, if one is around someone who has low self esteem, it is even more important that one speaks positively. They are really vulnerable and even the smallest negative talk would have a magnified effect on them. Likewise, the opposite is true – positive talk will help them immensely.

On reviewing disturbances: Realize that the disturbances had nothing to do with context, but everything to do with content. That disturbance is not from outside, but it is because one is disturbed. When one acknowledges that, they complain less, blame less and annotate less.

This week – Review quietude and smile in the mirror.