Q. Can one realise the Atma and merge, as You say, in the Om (pranava) with this material body composed of the five elements? Can the Atma be isolated from the body? How is that done?
A. By meditation and other disciplines, and by the recital of the Om mantra, one can discover the Atma and isolate it from the body. It is something like getting butter from curds, oil from sesame, water from the subsoil, fire from wood. Churning, squeezing, crushing, boring, turning - these processes are needed, that is all. What happens is the separation of the Atma from the body, the disappearance of the belief that the body is the Atma or the Self.
Q. Swami! Many elders and sages say that we should visualise the individual soul (jivatma) as the Supreme Atma (Paramatma), that we should cultivate that feeling, that conviction. How is that possible?
A. Why do you think it is difficult? Isn’t it easier to speak the truth than to speak falsehood? You are now declaring a falsehood as true, so all kinds of...
There are three stages of spiritual development: first, the hazy uncertain stage; then, the active stage of striving; and last, the highest stage. These are the stages of passivity (thamas), activity (rajas), and purity (sathwa).
When growing out of the first stage into the second, it is unnatural for a person not to improve step by step.
Three stages of growth
The period from childhood to adolescence need not be seriously taken into account. One need not worry much about it. With the dawn of adolescence, one enters upon the first hazy uncertain stage and engages in many fruitless activities. Later, one attains ripeness and strength. This is the stage between the uncertain and the certain.
It is when one has reached this intermediate stage that one must yearn for the fulfilment that is possible in the final stage.
In the rules for penance (tapas), this law is also observed. At first, ritual worship (puja) is associated with divine energy (sakthi), and the subsequent stage of worship is...
Education must determine and delve into the nature and characteristics of spiritual search for the Absolute or the Overself - the Highest Atma (Paramatma). It must prove its true character by manifesting as a spring of morality, laying down axioms of virtue. Spiritual education (vidya) is its own visible proof. It is the root of faith in every faith. It prepares the mind of man to appreciate and adhere to the faith and to direct man’s living along that course. This has been named philosophy.
Philosophy means love of knowledge. Knowledge is a treasure of incalculable richness. Education is the relentless pursuit of knowledge, urged by love for its value and undeterred by difficulties. Spiritual education tries to probe behind the forms assumed by things and the appearances they put on and discover the reality that alone can explain them. The truth has to be known and lived by; it has to be visualised; this is the function of spiritual learning.
Spiritual learning (vidya) is the effulg...
Neither peace nor the devotion that gives it, can be obtained through another; each one has to create and develop them for themself. Still, one should also have the grace of the Lord, which is fundamental. As said in the Upanishads,
“He whom He chooses gets it (Yameva vrunuthe thena labhyah)”.
But the spiritual aspirant may doubt, “What then is the need for spiritual exercises?” Those who think of the Lord with devotion can overcome any type of inherited or accumulated karma. With His grace, they can experience even unattainable bliss. Do not doubt the usefulness of spiritual discipline; it can never be fruitless, no, not for anyone. Hold firm to that conviction. Unshaken devotion will win the grace of the Lord. Gajendra is an example of this.
Each is born for some task, but all can exist only on the self-same food and drink: peace. For without peace, there is no bliss. Peace embellishes every act; it softens the hardest core of humanity; it takes you to the fo...
Learning without culture of the spirit is barren
The inescapable destiny of every living being is the attainment of Fullness. It can’t be avoided or denied. Our present condition of incompleteness is the consequence of thoughts, feelings, passions, and acts of past lives.
So too, our future condition is being built on the basis of our present deeds, thoughts, and feelings. Thus, we are the cause of our own fortunes and misfortunes. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t seek and secure assistance from others to promote our good fortune and avoid misfortune. Such assistance is essential for all, except perhaps a small minority. When we get this help, our consciousness is purified and sublimated and our spiritual progress is accelerated. In the end, we achieve perfection and fullness.
This vivifying inspiration can’t be obtained through the perusal of books. It can be gained only when one mind element contacts another mind element. Spending an entire life pouring over books and ther...
The mind should not be permitted to wander as it fancies. It must be controlled without the least tenderness or mercy. If possible, one should aim even at its destruction, that is to say, at making the mind keep away from contact with worldly objects. Why? It is only when that is done that one can grasp one’s real identity. The realization of that reality is the state called liberation (mukthi). Then, all varieties of troubles and travails, doubts and dilemmas come to an end; one overcomes sorrow, delusion, and anxiety and is established in the holy calmness of peace.
First, give up all impure impulses and cultivate the pure ones. Then, try step by step to give up even these and render the mind objectless (nir-vishaya). Peace thus attained is effulgent, blissful, and associated with wisdom; it is indeed the experience of the Godhead, God Himself.
The aspirant who wants to attain this peace has constantly to practise a virtuous life, overcoming all initial obstacles. Peace is a mounta...
Q. Swami, I have often heard people use the word a-manaska. What does it mean?
A. This entire creation, when it is realised as seen only by the eternal seer, the witness, simply disappears, as fog before the sun. That stage is known as a-manaska.
Q. What happens to the knowledge?
A. Even that disappears!
Q. This witness that you spoke of, where does it reside in the dream stage?
A. It is in the individual soul (jiva); it not only witnesses but also weaves and creates everything it sees.
Q. And during deep sleep?
A. It is in the full (the modification-less) reality.
Q. And, in the fourth stage (thuriya), the stage beyond deep sleep?
A. It is merged in the Changeless Entity (Iswara-sthana).
Q. What is meant by the term parama-artha?
A. Parama-artha, that is to say, beyond and above this world, which is limited by the body and senses.
Q. They talk also of Parama-padha. How will that be?
A. It will be devoid of name-form and deed-form.
Q. Swami! Does God transcend the universe, or is He im...
Q. You have been saying that spiritual wisdom (jnana) is essential. What exactly is the function of spiritual wisdom?
A. Spiritual wisdom makes you realise your own Reality (the Atma-swarupa).
Q. And yoga? If a person has no yoga, what happens?
A. That person is like a lame person.
Q. And if a person has no spiritual wisdom?
A. That person is like a blind person.
Q. They say that yoga destroys all blemishes, removes all faults. How does that happen?
A. Can rice become eatable unless it is boiled over a fire? By yoga and other disciplines, the subconscious mind (chittha) becomes soft. It is called severe austerity (tapas), heat; it becomes hot (taptha). Moreover, yoga and spiritual wisdom are like oil and flame. The oil is yoga and spiritual wisdom is the illumining flame of the lamp.
Q. Swami! Pardon me for asking this. So many people are teaching Vedanta, now. Have they all realised this truth, experienced this Reality?
A. How can this be said? You can judge them yourselves. See if th...
All the scriptures (sastras) derive their value and validity from their source: the Vedas. They lay down modes and norms in consonance with the principles and purposes defined in the Vedas. To discriminate between good and bad, one must resort to the scriptures.
Vedas, the voice of the Divine
The Vedas have no identifiable human authors; they are not from human beings. They emerged from God Himself and were “heard” by sages attuned to the voice of the Divine. These sages taught the words to their pupils, who in turn taught them to their disciples. This process of imparting the Vedas and the wisdom enshrined in them has continued through generation after generation of gurus and disciples up to our own times.
The Upanishads are the very core of the Vedas, the very essence of their teachings. The Brahma Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita contain the very essence of the teachings of the Upanishads. Therefore, these three scriptural texts are designated as the “three fundamental texts (Prast...
Readers! May this stream of divine love (prema) put down the burning fires of disquiet, ignorance, injustice, and irreligion that is consuming you, and may it slake your thirst. May it shower peace, joy, and happiness on you.
The meaning of peace
Many people are not aware of even the meaning of the phrase supreme peace (prasanthi). It is the backbone of an individual and, for, the spiritual aspirant (sadhaka), the very breath. The word is taken by each to mean something different. Many feel they have peace when some worldly desire that was vexing them is satisfied!
But that is not real peace; it is only a temporary short-lived interval between one worry and another. The syllable pra in prasanthi means expanding, enlarging (vikasa), so prasanthi means that type of peace (santhi), that is to say, the absence of desire, anger, greed, and hatred.
Supreme peace means success in the elimination of the qualities grouped under desire (kama) and anger (krodha). This process of elimination, call...
