THE IMMORTAL YOGA OF LORD VIVASVAN
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PROLOGUE
THE SUPREME COURT OF LORD VIVASVAN
Here, Here, Here!
Hearken!
Silence, please!
The Supreme Court of Lord Vivasvan is now called to session.
All rise!
Plaintiff: Hon. Uddalaka Aruna
versus
Defendant: Lord Vaivasvata.
The Supreme Court of Vivasvan is
now called under session!
Be seated!
Supreme Court: Lord Vishnu, Lord Vivasvan
Defendant Advocate: Lord Vaivasvata
Witness: Lord Vaivasvata
Plaintiff Advocate: Honourable Nachiketas
Witness: Honourable Nachiketas
PLEA
According to Hindu Sastras, Lord Vaivasvata is the first man and originator of the human race on Earth, who is thought to be the beginner and the head of renewed discarnate in another world as the assembler of humani-ty. It is a poetic and grand conception that the first one who died, leading the way, should be the Patriarch and Monarch of all who follow. Some Puranic Sastras, such as Shrimad and Garuda, maintain that Lord Vaivasvata is regarded as the first Manu, who takes charge of the discarnate soul in Vaivasvatapuri, after having been scrutinised by his associate, Chitragupta.
Now then, therefore, the author’s essay on the Vaivasvata Gita. Amongst many of the majestic Hindu doctrines on the subject of death, hereafter, and immor-tality, this majestic Vaivasvata Gita is uncompromis-ingly unfolded in this e-Papyrus.
THE PROFOUNDEST SOTERIOLOGY
“Where glory never-fading is, where the world of heav-enly light is, the world of immortality, the everlasting is, set me there! Where Vivasvan’s son, Vaivasvata, reigns, in the inmost sphere of heaven bright. Where those abounding waters flow, O’ make me but immortal there! Where freedom unrestrained is, where the triple vault of heaven’s insight is, where worlds of brightest glory are, O’ make me but immortal there! Where pleasures and enjoyments are, where bliss and raptures ne’er take flight is, where all desires are satisfied are, O’ make me but immortal there!”
“The Vaivasvata Gita are Shrutis of Lord Vaivasvata, i.e., the Immortal Yoga of Lord Vivasvan.”
The author has accumulated and now presents the most compelling and convincing arguments on immortality in the following e-Papyri. Verily, this is the most pro-found and appropriate doctrine to be studied and under-stood by the readers of soteriology; an invaluable aid to prepare a student on his philosophical outlook. Alt-hough, the subject of Hindu soteriology is not in any ways exhausted in the huge Hindu corpus of literature should the student embark on such a mammoth task; there are just so many, which may render many vol-umes to inculcate them all here. The following selec-tion is presented to the aspiring reader and student, for they are the sweetest doctrines on the subjects under scrutiny.
The Vaivasvata Gita is probably the most known of all the Shrutis. It has been consequently inculcated as the Bhagavad Gita by the Sage Vyasa. Its timeline is con-tested and unclear, however, it is the opinion held by the author’s that it is more likely to have been incul-cated verbally by the Saint Uddalaka of the ‘Yoga-Vasishtha of Valmiki’ during the beginning of Treta or before during Satya Yuga, which predates Rama’s era. Perhaps, in the proto-Vedic era, Uddalaka I rendered this Gita a definite authority and a continuity (con-sciousness).
The Vaivasvata Gita is the Immortal Yoga of Lord Vishnu. The chronology of its inception is as follows. It is the opinion held firmly by the author that the pri-mordial Lord Vishnu gave rise to Brahma. The sons of Lord Indu were ten in number, the first progeny being Lord Aindavadeva. The suns of the Milky-Way galaxy are ten in number, but it is unclear which sun is Lord Aindavadeva. Lord Vishnu is depicted resting in the ocean of the milky way galaxy and Brahma arising out of His navel. The suns arose on the behest of Brahma only. Our Solar Sun’s soul is styled as Narayana (Vish-nu). The Solar dynasty is known as Ikshvaku Dynasty. Indeed, the dynasty is the sons of the Sun of the Milky-Way galaxy. The Solar Sun is styled as Lord Vivasvan and goes by different appellations; Narayana, Vishnu, Aindavadeva, et al.
Lord Vishnu inculcated Immortal Yoga to Lord Vi-vasvan. Subsequently, Lord Vivasvan inculcated it to his son, Lord Vaivasvata; likewise, Narayana inculcated the Immortal Yoga of Vishnu to Nara, and Lord Krish-na to Arjuna styled as the popular Bhagavad Gita. Well before Sage Vyasa scribed the Bhagavad Gita, the Im-mortal Yoga of Vishnu was inculcated by Lord Vaivasvata to Holy Uddalaka Aruna. Therefore, Vaivasvata Gita is perhaps the most primordial doctrine of soteriology and Yoga that came into existence just after the inception of the Milky-Way galaxy. It is easy to perceive who is Lord Vaivasvata-Nachiketas (Udda-laka), Narayana-Nara, Lord Krishna-Arjuna. It is the opinion held by the author that these duo combinations are the same Continuum Consciousnesses. As Vaivasvata inculcated the Immortal Yoga to Nachiket-as, so Sage Narayana inculcated this doctrine to his dis-ciple Nara, and likewise, Lord Krishna to Arjuna.
The Vedic Sanskrit word “Katha” implies “In what way?” Katha implies how, whence, why! A brief ety-mology of Vaivasvata Gita: Seemingly, a Sage called Kathaka is responsible for this Upanishad. The term Kathaka is derived from the Vedic Sanskrit word Katha, which implies “story,” and Kathaka implies “the one who tells a story,” or “to do with stories.” Katha also literally implies “distress.” The word distress as a noun means extreme anxiety, anguish, perturbation, uneasi-ness, disquiet, angst, et al. However, the author under-standing of the word Katha is not literally distress, but in fact, Katha implies nothing but “inquisition.” Aruna, the Kathaka, is responsible for the tale, fable, or story, but it makes no sense to tell a story as an Upanishad. There is no consensus regarding the placing of Katha Upanishad in Vedic literature; some authorities declare it to belong to the Yajurveda, others to the Samaveda, while a large number falsely put it down as a part of the Atharvaveda. The narrative is first suggestive in the Rigveda as the Immortal Yoga of Lord Vishnu and as Vaivasvata Gita is the opinion held by the author; it is told more definitely in the Krishna Yajurveda as the Katha Upanishad and as the Bhagavad Gita later, but it appears fully elaborated and interwoven with the lofti-est Upanishadic and Vedanta teachings. It is more than likely that this Gita was sung by Lord Vishnu to the first manvantara Svayambhuva. This opinion is derived from Vaivasvata Gita, Second Plea, First Chapter, Dic-tum 38, when Lord Vaivasvata asseverates, “Outwards are openings projected Svayambhuh.”
It is the opinion held by the author that there is a defin-itive correlation between the Vaivasvata Gita, Naraya-na-Nara doctrine, Katha Upanishad, and the Bhagavad Gita. In fact, Katha Upanishad is the Vaivasvata Gita. Verily, Lord Vishnu inculcated the tenets of “Immortal Yoga” to all Manvantaras at the start of each epoch!
Pity is most scholars erroneously maintain that there is nothing to indicate the special place of this definitive version, nor has any meaning been found for the name; the final scripture mispresents the dialogue between an aspiring disciple, Nachiketas the soul, and the manvan-tara Sraddhadeva Manu, viz., Vaivasvata, the progenitor of mankind and the Ruler of Death, regarding the great hereafter.
The verses of the Katha Upanishad were translated into Persian in the 17th century, and through this rendering, it first made its way into Europe in Latin. Later, Raja Ram Mohan Roy brought out an English version; for it has since appeared in various languages; English, Ger-man, and French. European Sanskrit grammarians and writers are all agreed in pronouncing it one of the most perfect expressions of the religion and philosophy of the Vedas.
Sir Edwin Arnold popularized it by his metrical render-ing under the name of “The Secret of Death,” and Ralph Waldo Emerson gives its story in brief at the close of his essay on “Immortality.”
Nachiketas, the soul and a central character in the Vaivasvata Gita legend, similarly, has composite and closely related words with roots and meanings relevant to the doctrine. Paul Deussen suggests, Na-ksiti and Na-aksiyete, which are wordplays of and pronounced similar to Nachiketas, which means, “non-decay, or what does not decay,” a meaning that is relevant to the second boon portion of the Nachiketas story. Similarly, Na-jiti is another wordplay, and means, “that which cannot be vanquished,” which is contextually relevant to the Nachiketas’s third boon. Both Whitney and Deussen independently suggest yet another variation to Nachiketas, with etymological roots that is relevant to Vaivasvata Gita; the word Na-ciketa also means, “I do not know, or he does not know,” some of these Sanskrit wordplays are incorporated within the Upanishad doc-trines.
Like in the Taittiriya Upanishad of Yajurveda, each sec-tion of the Kath Upanishad is called a Valli, which lit-erally means, a medicinal vine-like climbing plant that grows independently yet is attached to the main tree. Paul Deussen states that “this symbolic terminology is apt and likely reflects the root and nature of the Upani-shads in Black (Krishna) Yajurveda, which too is large-ly independent of the liturgical Yajurveda, and is at-tached to the main text.” The author will present a dis-putation in the next chapter.
No doubt, if we have the original text of an author, and can prove that his text was corrupted by the later com-pilers, copyists or printers, we have a right to remove those later alterations, whether they be improvements or corruptions. But where, as in our case, we can never hope to gain access to original documents, and where we can only hope, by pointing out what is clearly more modern than the rest or, it may be, faulty, to gain an approximate conception of what the original composer may have had in his mind, before handing his composi-tion over to the safekeeping of oral tradition; it is al-most a duty to discourage, as much as lies in our pow-er, the work of reconstructing an old text by so-called conjectural emendations or critical omissions. I have little doubt in the first Valli of the Gita are later addi-tions, but I should not, therefore, venture to remove them.
Vaivasvata, the Lord of death, is the child of the Sun, luminous Master of Truth, from whom knowledge of the Immortal Yoga is imparted. The potency, Brahma-na Guest, hidden in man by the ignition of which and its right ordering man transcends his gross nature. The lusts concealed within the mind is that which has orig-inated and built up the worlds of illusions. But it re-veals itself as the mind, which has manifested itself out of desires. Vaivasvata admits to the universally accept-ed fact of the cycle of rebirth; a bare description.
Lord Vaivasvata asseverates of the Self, the Soul, the witnessing entity of all these changing appearances; imparts right knowledge to eradicate ignorance that leads to repeated death after death. He who manages to eradicate his ignorance becomes the Immortal. Till then a man seems, indeed, to be born again and again by the potency of his desires. He must aspire beyond; he must free himself from ignorance and mere phenomena. He can free himself from the animal consciousness and know and be the Immortal and Eternal.
So long as the benevolence of death is not entirely un-derstood, but a type of immortality is tasted upon death as a dreamlike experience. The attainment of knowledge of the Brahman is our escape from the mor-tal status into Immortality; the empirical knowledge of our true Self. Immortality implies the absolute life of the Self as opposed to the transient and mutable life in grossness. To know and feel the true presence, is to know the Brahman. It is also to rise out of the fetters of the mind into the immortal world, out of the world of bondage into the world of freedom, out of the finite world into an infinite world. It is to ascend out of the ephemeral earthly joys and sorrows into the constant transcendent Bliss.
MUSINGS ON VAIVASVATA GITA
Salutation to Bhagavan, the divine Self,
The self of all selves,
the One who has knowledge of creation and dissolution of the worlds, of birth and death of creatures,
and of ignorance and knowledge;
Vaivasvata, son of the Sun,
and the imparter of the knowledge of Brahman;
salutation to Nachiketas.
Now then, therefore, present before us is the essence of the primordial and the most majestic, grandiose, and profound soteriology, “Yoga of Immortality of Lord Vishnu.”
The synchronicity
And the Continuum Consciousness
between the doctrines of
The Immortal Yoga of Lord Vishnu-Vivasvan,
Narayana-Nara, Bhrigu-Yama, Nachiketas-Yama,
and Krishna-Arjuna
have herein being inculcated as the Vaivasvata Gita by the author.
According to Puranas, each kalpa consists of fourteen Manvantaras, and each Manvantara is headed by a dif-ferent Manu. The first Manu was Svayambhuva Manu. Kapila and Yajna were sons of Devahuti and Prasuti respectively, who were the incarnations of Lord Vish-nu. Yajna personally took the post of Indra, the King of the heavenly planets. The Saptarishis were Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulaha, Kratu, Pulastya, and Vasishtha. In Svayambhuva-manvantara, Lord Vishnu’s avatar was called Yajna.
The current universe is ruled by the seventh Manu named Vaivasvata. In the Vishnu Purana, Vaivasvata, also known as Sraddhadeva or Satyavrata, was the king of Dravida before the pralaya (great flood). According to Matsya Purana, Sraddhadeva Manu is the current Manu and the progenitor of humanity. This also indicates that Lord Vaivasvata is Sraddhadeva Manu. He has ten sons, named Ikshvaku, Nabhaga, Dhrsta, Saryati, Narisyanta, Dista (Nabhanedista), Tarusa (Karusha), Prsadhra and Vasuman (Pramshu). In this manvantara reign of Vaivasvata Manu, among the demigods are the Adityas, Vasus, Rudras, Visvadevas, Maruts, Asvini-Kumaras and Rbhus. The king of heaven, Indra, is known as Pu-randara, and the Saptarishis are Kashyapa, Atri, Va-sishtha, Angirasa, Gautama, Agastya, and Bharadwaja.
Prewarned by Matsya Avatar of imminent pralaya, Sraddhadeva emigrated to Egypt in the Arc (Noah). However, the Abrahamic Patriarchs literally took the metaphor of the Noah Arc and construed an erroneous fable around this. Noah’s Arc is a metaphor of Hiran-yagarbha. Hiranyagarbha contains, in seed form, all probable and potential sentiency; this Sraddhadeva car-ried with him and gave birth to all sentiency in this epoch. An unknown scribe said that the Arc is buried below the Sphinx. Metaphorically yes! Below Lord Vishnu (Sphinx Avatar of Vishnu), i.e., from his navel, Vishnu gave birth to Brahma, the carrier of Hiran-yagarbha, the Arc.
Sraddhadeva is the son of Vivasvan and is therefore also known as Vaivasvata Manu. He is also called Satyavrata (always truthful). The author can easily correlate the legend of Vaivasvata and Thoth, which the author has repeatedly inculcated in his previous e-Papyri. Ikshvaku is one of the ten sons of Sraddhadeva Manu, Srad-dhadeva Manu was the king of Dravidian Kingdom be-fore the pralaya, the great flood. The genealogy of the Ikshvaku dynasty up to Rama is mentioned in the Ra-mayana.
Jupiter, also known as Brhaspati is the preceptor of De-vas, so is Lord Vasishtha, the teacher of Rama. That makes Lord Vasishtha Jupiter!
Solar dynasty or the Ikshvaku dynasty is one of the old-est dynasties of Bharata. Vivasvan is considered the primogenitor of Suryavansh and his son Vaivasvata Manu is the progenitor of humanity according to the Puranas. Ikshvaku is one of the ten sons of Lord Vaivasvata. King Ikshvaku of the ancient kingdom of Kosala became the first Chakravarti or the universal ruler when he conquered far distant lands of Aryavarta and established a formidable empire. Thus, the dynasty derived his name and was also called the Ikshvaku Dynasty. Lord Rama, twenty-two Jain Tirthas, and Sakhyamuni Siddhartha belonged to the Suryavansha or the Ikshvaku dynasty. The dynasty is also known as Raghuvansha or Raghu-Kula because of King Raghu who was the great-grandson of Ikshvaku and great grandfather of Lord Rama. Lord Jesus Christ was initi-ated in Alexandria, Egypt in the Immortal Yoga. It would least surprise the author to learn that Jesus also belonged to the Raghu Dynasty. Thoth and Hermes also inculcated the Immortal Yoga to their respective disciples.
Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge was an Eng-lish Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numer-ous works on the ancient Near East. Budge, in his ‘Gods of the Egyptians (vol. i. ch. xvi.),’ tells us that the Great Triad of Memphis consisted of Ptah, Sekhet, and Imhotep. Ptah was the “Sculptor or Engraver,” the Demiurge par excellence. He is called the “Very Great God who came into being in the earliest time.” The “Father of fathers, Power of powers.” The “Father of beginnings and Creator of the Egg of the Sun and Moon.” The “Lord of Maat (Truth), King of the Two Lands, the God of the Beautiful Face, who created His own Image, who fashioned His own Body, who hath established Maat throughout the Two Lands.” The “Ptah, the Disk of Heaven, Illuminer of the Two Lands with the Fire of His Two Eyes.” The “Workshop of Ptah” was the World Invisible. It was Ptah who carried out the commands concerning the creation of the uni-verse issued by Thoth. The female consort of Ptah was Sekhet, “who was at once his sister and wife, and the mother of his son Nefertem, and a sister-form of the Goddess Bast.” She is called: “Greatly Beloved One of Ptah, Lady of Heaven, Mistress of the Two Lands,” and one of her commonest names is “Nesert,” that is “Flame.”
It was Thoth (Tekh) who, with his Seven Wise Ones (Sraddhadeva Manu and the Saptarishis), planned the world (after the deluge, pralaya). But if Ptah is the ex-ecutive power of Thoth and his Seven Wise Ones, so is Thoth the personification of the Intelligence of Ptah. It is in this way that Sekhet becomes identified with Maat, the inseparable spouse of Thoth. Sraddhadeva Manu is Thoth. The statue of Sphinx is Narasimha, an avatar of Lord Vishnu. The Sun Temple at the Sphinx of the Pharaohs and the seven Pyramids at Giza are the seven triangles of the Goddess Mandala. Narasimha defeated Hiranyakashyapu below the Pyramids where Prahlada became enlightened. Moreover, look carefully at the word Sraddha. This is the post-death ritual called Sraddha, act-of-faith, the Hindus follow! The Hindu ritual of Sraddha and death are closely tied! Therefore, perhaps in this epoch, the act of faith towards immor-tality is the ritual Hindus carry out on behalf of the dead! Thus, this word is associated with the Lord of Death, Sraddhadeva Manu or Lord Yama or Lord Vaivasvata!
Intertwined in the above doctrine of Budge is the tenet of Shiva-Parvati, Vishnu-Laxmi; and Tarakeshwara Shiva is Vaivasvata perhaps in a different epoch, who is Thoth as well as Hermes Trismegistus. Hermes Trisme-gistus is the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. Trismegistus the thrice born is a metaphysical tenet of Hermes Trismegistus! There is no doubt in the author’s intellect that the whole of the above is the one same Continuum Consciousness with different facets of appellations and in different epochs. The author has maintained in the previous e-Papyri the uncanny corre-lations between and the ancient Egyptian religion of the Pharaohs and Vaishnavism. In fact, it stems from one and the same root, the ancient Aryan and Noble Solar Dynasty.
According to Mahabharata: “There were no poor and no rich; there was no need to labour because all that men required was obtained by the power of will; the chief virtue was the abandonment of all worldly desires. The Krita (Sat) Yuga was without disease; there was no lessening with the years; there was no hatred or vanity, or evil thought; no sorrow, no fear. All mankind could attain to supreme blessedness.”
Brahma created the first woman, Satarupa or Brahmi (hundred forms), when he first created the Universe, along with Svaymbhuva Manu. This is the tenet of Shiva-Shakti, Ardhanarishvara. This is also the tenet of the allegorical Adam and Eve of the Abrahamic texts. The Abrahamic patriarch scholars literally implied the allegory of the Arc and Adam and Eve, only, they failed miserably in their representations. They did not under-stand. There is no doubt about this. The Sanskrit bipar-tite words “Svayam” and “Bhu (va)” together implies the self-manifest, or self-born or Brahma, or the poten-tial, joined to the essence of the flow of Prana or Mo-tion or becoming. Bhu implies Earth and Bhuva implies Aquatic. Svayambhuva indicts the works or manifesta-tion of image-animations potentially situated in the World Mind or Hiranyagarbha or Brahma. self-born, self-sufficient (appearing only from the breath of Lord Vishnu and not being learned from anyone else).
Brahma is an exoteric manifestor-god in Hindu Dhar-ma.
Brahma is also known as Svayambhuh or creative as-pect of Vishnu, Vagisa (Lord of Speech), and the crea-tor of the four Vedas, one from each of his mouths. He has four faces (directions). Brahma’s consort is Sarasva-ti and he is the father of four Kumaras, Narada, and Daksha as well as Saptarishis. Brahma is the father of Lord Vasishtha. Brahma is sometimes identified with the Vedic god Prajapati, he is also known as Vedanatha (god of Vedas), Gyaneshwar (god of Knowledge), Cha-turmukha (having Four Faces) Svayambhuh (self-born), Brahmanarayana (half Brahma and half Vishnu), etc, as well as linked to Kama and Hiranyagarbha (the cosmic egg).
Brahma is more prominently mentioned in the post-Vedic Hindu epics and the mythologies in the Puranas. In the Itihasa epics, he is conflated with Purusha. Alt-hough Brahma is part of the Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva Trimurti, ancient Hindu scriptures mention multiple other trinities of gods or goddesses, which do not in-clude Brahma. Several Puranas describe him as emerg-ing from a lotus, connected to the navel of Lord Vish-nu. Other Puranas suggest that he is born from Shiva or his aspects, or he is a Supreme God in diverse versions of Hindu mythology.
Brahma, along with other deities, is sometimes viewed as a form (Saguna, with gunas, Upadhis) of the other-wise formless (Nirguna, without attributes) Brahman, the ultimate metaphysical reality in Vedanta. In an al-ternate version, some Puranas state him to be the father of Prajapatis (monads).
We may also by syllogism deduce that the Lord of Death, Vaivasvata, is also the first Manu, Svayambhu-va, the son of Vivasvata. Although, in different aeons and in different scriptures the idols are differently des-ignated, for Shiva is also known as the Svayambhuva. As Svayambhuh-Shiva becomes Brahma, so Vaivasvata and Brahma become joined, like breath and mind; mind and soul. Remarked earlier, the form of Shiva as Tara-keshwara performs a similar role as Vaivasvata, alt-hough leading the soul to Immortality rather than to an afterlife.
In fact, Vaivasvata is performing this very role in the Immortal Yoga sung by Lord Vishnu, viz., Vaivasvata Gita. We may infer by syllogism that Vaivasvata and Shiva are ideals set in different aeons. For we worship the ideals, not the idols. Tarakeshwara is a form of the Shiva in his role of the psychopomp, the soteriologist, the ferryman or deliverer of the soul into freedom from rebirth, viz., deliverer of Moksha.
All manvantaras are progenitors of Humanity at the beginning of all the epochs and also the Lords of Death, for they are the same Continuum Consciousnesses! Therefore, there are no differences between Svayambhu Manu and Vaivasvata and others, nor are there any dif-ference in the teachings of the Immortal Yoga. The Immortal Yoga of Lord Vishnu is sung as the Gita by all the manvantaras. In the expansive sense of Contin-uum Consciousness, this is to be understood.
It is best to resort to studying the teachings of the Mas-ters of Hindu soteriology and reflecting on them. A firm foothold is necessary provided through studying and reflecting. The foothold is Vairagya (dispassion), which is freedom from desires to attend to any other object. The mind kept occupied in study, reflection, and contemplation on the Self. We may be able to jump nine and a half feet across a ten-foot wall, but to fall short; to land safely on the other side, we must jump the full ten feet to experience the Truth (true Self) as It really is. One must also know what type of study will be effective. To be most effective, the study must be focused and directed unswervingly in just one direction. Reading them alone is not adequate.
According to Shankara: The word Upanishad is derived by adding, ‘Upa’ (near) and ‘ni’ (with certainty) as pre-fixes and add as a suffix to the root ‘sad,’ meaning to split up (destroy), go (reach, attain), or loosen. And by the word ‘Upanishad’ is denoted the knowledge of the knowable entity presented in the book that is going to be explained. Knowledge is called Upanishad by virtue of its association with this significance: ‘Upa-sad,’ the knowledge that is called Upanishad and that bears the characteristics to be presented hereafter, and who then deliberate on it, with steadiness and certainty, ‘ni.’ “Knowing That, one becomes freed from the jaws of Death.” Or, the knowledge of Brahman is called Upani-shad because of its connection with the idea of leading to Brahman, inasmuch as it makes the seekers after emancipation, who are possessed of the qualities al-ready mentioned, attain the supreme Brahman. Thus, it will be said later on, “Having become free from virtue and vice, as also desire and ignorance, (he) attained Brahman.”
“The total cessation of the world, i.e., rotation of birth and death, follows the eradication of ignorance. And since the non-existence of a superimposed thing is identical with the thing on which the superimposition occurs, the cessation of the world is the same as the attainment of Brahman. Knowledge is needed for the removal of ignorance, which cannot be eradicated through work. So, the goal of knowledge is connected with itself, as an end, is with its means. Thus, these cantos themselves are meant for special persons, com-petent for their study, and have a special subject mat-ter, a special purpose, and a special connection, inas-much as they reveal, like an apple (Emblic Myrobalan) placed in the hand; the knowledge that is meant for a man of special competence, and has a special subject matter, a special purpose, and a special connection as already explained. Hence, we shall explain these cantos to the best of our understanding. The story there is by way of eulogizing the knowledge.”
Remarkably, the character ‘Nachiketas’ is misunder-stood by most, is the opinion held by the author, as we shall understand further on in this earnest e-Papyrus. In the author’s opinion, Taittiriya is Yajnavalkhya Va-jasaneya (Y I) treatise inculcated after having acquired direct knowing from the Lord Surya. This is perhaps the missing link in the Gita between Aruna Uddalaka I, Nachiketas, and Yajnavalkya I; it is highly probable that Nachiketas is an epigram of Uddalaka I.
The reader is directed here to consider this idea. Be-cause the whole play of the Gotamas (Gautamas) are interrelated to Uddalakas and Yajnavalkyas. They all are in the authors understanding the same Spirit of Con-tinuum Consciousness (e-Papyrus VI). Hence, the Vaivasvata Gita, the Brihad, and the Taittiriya Upani-shads are interlinked and possibly attributable to the Saptarishi Gotama. Who has the Adhikar of spontane-ous enlightenment apart from the Spirit of a Saptarishi? In this case, it cannot be any other than the Conscious-ness of Saptarishi Gotama Maharshi.
Another interesting fact is the link, which is not obvi-ous, between Sage Bhrigu and his son Shukra and Vaivasvata. The similitude is this: Bhrigu; “Thinking it no other than the dead body of his son, he became so angry upon the God of death.” Likewise, Aruna became angry and asserted; “To Death I give thee.” The in-quest, anger, death, son, and Vaivasvata are the com-mon denominators.
Say then, are Sage Bhrigu and Saintly Aruna the same continuum consciousnesses? Perhaps they are! The continuum consciousnesses or parallels or similitudes between these two characters and their encounter with the Lord of Death (utterances) will become apparent to the reader later on when the author compares the Vaivasvata Gita to Sage Bhrigu’s doctrine.
‘Nachiketas,’ is a verb and an epigram, not a noun, likewise, so is ‘Vajas’ravasa,’ a verb and an epigram; both are used in a disguised manner in the Vaivasvata Gita. Astonishingly, these epigrams have fooled most, if not all those intellects who have attempted to essay them! The only two exceptions are the rendering by the Lord Vasishtha and those that follow here, as the au-thor examines the role of Lord Vaivasvata.
Remarkably, the form of Shiva as Tarakeshwara per-forms a similar role to that of Vaivasvata, likewise lead-ing the soul to immortality rather than an afterlife. On-ly, rightfully understood, Vaivasvata is Tarakeshwara. Additionally, in the Bhagavata Purana, the Visnudutas and Vaivasvatadutas are also messengers for their re-spective masters, Vishnu and Vaivasvata.
NOTES AND KEYS
The lowercase letter prefixes like “m,” “e,” “s,” et al in words like “mind” or “ego” imply the lower nature in the narratives presented by the author. Words like, “Self,” with capital “S,” should be read, “Atma,” and, “self,” lowercase “s,” to imply the Atmani, the embod-ied soul. The author is mindful of the gap between this doctrine’s original psychical and insightful (Shruti; Drashta; Darshan) transmissions and its subsequent transmissions on papyri; we are at its mercy; but the author here insightfully, correctly, and rightly, asserted words and verses and their interpretations accordingly, which most scholars, if not all, in their best endeavour, have fallen prey to misrepresent, for their conditioned and pertinent thoughts and notions are usually biased and corruptible.
We can only but be subjected to corrupted doctrines of those deeply beheld and revered revelations in this Yu-ga, but the author shall reason properly to eliminate erroneous representations. That which has been taught in most Yoga scriptures is empirical knowing. We can but tentatively pick up and read on paper scribed in ink an interpretation, but then, beyond doubt, be subjected to the pertinent notions of scribes and grammarians. Language is a notorious demon. That is why gods spoke in precise Sanskrit.
It is believed that Katha Upanishads English translitera-tion was first made by Raja Ram Mohun Roy, father of Indian renaissance and promoter of Brahmo-Samaj, who was born of Vaishnavite father and Shivaite moth-er, for he remained a political figure and a scholar and grammarian, but never was he an Adept of Yoga! The Persian translation was earlier. Caution is therefore raised by the author! All those who read and study the Upanishads or any other philosophical or esoteric doc-trines must endeavour to come to a reasonable under-standing of the deep insights, wisdom, and revelations; equally matched by contemplative deep meditational capacity, but to filter the garbage inculcated and misin-terpreted therein by a sharpened intellect, like a samurai sword that swiftly cuts through butter.
Some scholars asserted, “The insertion of the three verses 16-18 are clumsily put in, for after punar evaha, ‘he said again,’ verse 16 ought not to have commenced by tam abravit, ‘he said to him.’ They contain nothing new, for the fact that the sacrifice is to be called after Nakiketas was sufficiently indicated by verse 19, “This, O’ Nakiketas, is thy fire which leads to heaven, which thou hast chosen as thy second boon.” But so anxious was the interpolator to impress upon his hearers the fact that the sacrifice should in future go by that name, that, in spite of the metre, he inserted tavaiva, ‘of thee alone,’ in verse 19.”
The reader must first make attempts to ascertain the credentials of the author or translator as much as possi-ble; know the background of the mind and its condi-tioning that writes. We may discard to disregard the opinions, reviews, and recommendations of others, but to come to our own reasoned understanding. In support of these or any other narratives by the author, in this instance and on his insistence, it is first advisable to read four of the author’s former narratives, so that the reader can comprehend the mind and conditioning of the author.
Do not just take my word for any nor imbibe them: On-ly, through your reasonable understanding and contem-plation, the implications that are hidden within all the Upanishads, and especially the Vaivasvata Gita, should be ascertained and enjoyed. You may ponder upon ac-counts, interpretations, Vaivasvata Gita, and romantic fables, of other scribes and scholars, for the sake of comparison. Beyond any reasonable doubt, the insight-ful transmissions of these supreme doctrines were accu-rately sealed in the soul.
There is nothing in this world that can match such di-rect insightful transmissions from the Intellect into the soul. There is an infinite gap between a mundane Brahmin and a Brahmana; Upanishadic texts only im-ply a Brahmana. The hierarchical, insular, and sectarian Hindu priesthood and scholars have manipulated and misinterpreted the Upanishads, as we repeatedly en-counter, not only this Upanishad at hand but other scriptures as well. Whosoever inculcated any Upani-shads, none would be considered sectarian nor suggest such seclusion; for they are universal and their appeal is as broad as the subject they teach.
The Vaivasvata Gita antedates Treta-Yuga! Vaivasvata Gita is allegorical. These revelations were foretold by Lord Vasishtha, as a special spiritual discourse, to his ancient disciple, the holy Prince Rama! Those narra-tives will further add impetus to the author’s interpreta-tions, writings, and implications on the Upanishad at hand.
At the close of the soul inquisition, i.e., Aruna’s Vaivasvata Gita, we shall undoubtedly reflect upon this solemn Upanishad not merely as a fable but most pro-foundly as a doctrine on the unification of Conscious-ness we style as the Self, Atma or Brahman. If this doc-trine is to be rightly understood, it is “immortality” in itself. All Upanishads are inculcated in precise and gradual steps that lead the soul aloft to the beacon of light at the peak.
The author implies by the word, dictum, insight or “Sruti.” The author translates these dictums freely, i.e. independently of any commentator, not that the author ever despised the traditional interpretation, which the commentators have preserved to us, but because after having examined them thoroughly, the author reserved-ly has a right to offer an uncompromising and un-chained version. Solely through discernment or Viveka of the author’s insightfulness, but foremost, through the divinity within!
THE IMMORTAL YOGA OF LORD VIVASVAN
OM TAT SAT.
May the Supreme Being protect us both, the author and the reader.
May the author’s sole dependence on Vedic Sanskrit scribes and interpreters render our study fruitful.
May the Supreme Being be pleased with the author’s insights and your understanding of them.
May our study bring us illumination, tranquillity, and serenity.
May there be no enmity amongst us.
OM! Peace! Peace! Peace!
Dicta are offered by the author.
Credit to spokensanskrit.org/ dictionary.
Aruna’s Yoga: The Vaivasvata Gita is a reading of the soul inquisition sat next (Upanishad) to Lord Vaivasvata. “In what way the self becomes immortal!”
Aruna meets Death, i.e., “The Yoga of Death.” Say then, are there thoughts during or after the state of death? Is there the comprehension of words and speech and expressions in the realm of the Spirit? This is a cu-rious and mystical state of consciousness where the self can comprehend another and express itself.
“Only when one can deeply and thoroughly understand life, can life cease to repeat. To deeply and thoroughly understand life, one needs to deeply and thoroughly understand death. Only, Atmani is here reborn to en-force its own deep and thorough understanding of life.”
FIRST PLEA
FIRST CHAPTER
The Vaivasvata Gita is the profound expressions of urg-ings of the Soul Inquisition that took place in the
Supreme Court of Lord Vivasvan between the two ad-vocates of the two superconscious Intellects.
“Lord Vaivasvata enters his First Plea.”
1. DICTUM: The Vaivasvata Gita declares: Now then, aspiring, once now, with abundance of inspiration, de-voted, humble and of patient endurance, obedient and free from passions, all Vedas instructed, gave his, verily; Nachiketas called soul was, him when prince when the gifts were reflected upon, faith entered he; he thought; drunk water, eaten hay, given milk, barren without strength, joyless surely those births to which he goes to them giving, verily joyless are those worlds. He verily said, Father dear, to whom me wilt thou give, a second time, a third time.
Behold said the son of Vivasvata, thee I give thus. Many go initially, many go midst, death obliges with illusion today he will do; back look how the prior ones; forward look how others; corn like the mortal ripens, like corn springs up again.”
Metaphysical reflection of Uddalaka in contemplative meditation: “Indeed, inspired, verily conveys Uddalaka (abundance of inspiration, Vajashravasa or Vajas’ravasa is an epigram of Uddalaka) all Vedas knowing, rites and rituals, gave away all he possesses. Indeed, the soul named Nachiketas was him when prince. As the gifts were led past, he pondered: thought he that have drunk their water, eaten their grass, yielded their milk, worn out their organs; passionless Uddalaka Aruna Gotama reflects these giving undelight by name those attain which births. He, in contemplation, said, verily O’ dear Father, to whom this self-wilt thou give?” A second time, a third; Behold” said Death, son of Vivasvan, thee I give thus: Many gone initially, many gone midst of death obliges with illusion today he willeth; back look how the prior ones; forward look how others; corn like the mortal ripens, like corn springs up again.” Thus, principally, the reader is drawn to the fact that almost all Upanishads start from the most profound first verse, which sets the tone of the whole symphony; only, the nectar oozes gradually thereafter, in contrast to Western systems.
Uddalaka has had enough of life’s vicissitude, its joys, its comforts, and its sorrows; now he reflects and con-templates upon the paradoxes of life. The epigram Va-jashravasa perhaps implies one with an abundance of inspiration and intuition. Metaphysically reflecting, inspiringly and intuitively he comes to realize that he owns nothing, he is merely a custodian, therefore it matters not should he sacrifice all he thinks he owns now or later because he now knows that the one thing that is guaranteed by Kaal, time, is death, decay or dis-solution; all possessions at any given moment will be removed from him, for he will be removed from them by death. He thus realizes the universal law of change, time, death, decay, and dissolution ingrained in the na-ture of all material and composite substances, like oil in oily seeds. Change is the only thing that does not change!
Time and his consort change are eternally married. He is on the brink of “awakening” from the sludge, dross, and Maya of worldly things, i.e., the illusion of materi-ality. He thus knows that he has been collecting, stor-ing, and possessing things in a deeply dug cesspit of his own making.
As faith (conviction) takes hold, he reflects and ponders deeply in meditative contemplation “as the gifts were led past.” He sees those gifts pass by entoptically, like a vivid dream-like movie, in a slow-motion, projected onto an entoptic screen. He reflects but to know that his own self has to die, but does not know when and how. He verily sees human life pass by, as time and change are perpetuity without an end. “As gifts are led past” are the life’s ingrained gifts of five senses, ego, mind, memory and intellect, which pass by in deep contemplation. So, all ephemeral things pass by in a flash, as in a dream, for these gifts of nature are of spir-itual value, but the Self is the greatest gift and the greatest teacher. Only, these are all lost in contempla-tive meditation. He implies but to use these gifts to reflect and seek beyond.
The inquisition of Uddalaka is this. Say then, how else is one to gain an idea of the nature of all things that surround us if not through our God-given gifts of body, senses, and mind and through our own attributes and consciousness? Aruna sees the gift of human life go to waste (led past). He sees greed, lusts, desires, and death ingrained in humanity without an end. He has accom-plished the three out of the four ashramas, Artha (pros-perity), Kama (enjoyment), Dharma (Vedic duties, rite, rituals, and ethics). Importantly, the fourth ashrama, Moksha, he thus aspires to attain.
The three duties out of four of Sanatana Dharma are as follows: 1. Studentship (Brahmacharya; philosophy of Sanatana Dharma). 2. Householder (Grihastha; Mar-riage and duties). 3. Retirement (Vanaprastha; hand over the reign to progeny). The fourth is liberation (sannyasa, vairaghya, viveka, santosha). Aruna under-stands the nature of the three ashramas, but he reflects and is unsure of the underlying nature of liberation.
Nachiketas is an epigram Aruna uses to disguise the nature of his soul: Na-chit-ke-ta-sa implies no-consciousness of time, space and matter, or Na-Chit-Kleshas imply no awareness of afflictions of the mind. Nachiketas is an epigram of his soul, the perpetuity of youth is perhaps its emphasis, because we are forever young in Spirit, yet in the physical realm, time and change ravages corporeality from the moment of its inception. Disturbed by the wasted youth of his that has passed by during meditative contemplation, he re-acts only to respond to awaken his own consciousness on the ephemerality of life, but not in anger, as most commentators interpreted. He thus truly sees the stages (gifts) of human life like that of cattle; infancy, boy-hood, youth, adulthood, and old age; but are transient transmutations of physicality only.
Emaciated, Aruna further reflects in his meditation, “drunk water, eaten hay, given milk, barren without strength, joyless surely those births to which he goes to them giving.” This also implies, “Him, devoted, hum-ble and of patient endurance, obedient and free from passions, verily joyless are the worlds.” Once we de-lighted in youth, but are subsequently miserable in de-crepitude, as change takes its toll. In his metaphysical reflection, he contemplates upon the tenet of change, Kaal or Kala or Time, and the tenet of death, decay, and dissolution. But most commentators have misin-terpreted the texts, “O’ Father, to whom me wilt thou give?’ Most scholars think that the truisms are said by Nachiketas. If Nachiketas be a youthful boy, say then, why would he ask to be sacrificed as a gift? Is a false inference.
Nachiketas is the dear soul of Uddalaka. Besides, no youth, in his right mind, volunteers to jump into the fire and no father would sacrifice his son. Noticeably, no one else is involved in this matter; his wife, serv-ants, et al, are missing in the tale.
Uddalaki and Auddalaki are the scions of Uddalaka; say then, why would a name like Nachiketas suddenly ap-pear in the Vaivasvata Gita? It is a clever epigram be-yond any reasonable doubt. The Aruna that is asking the Lord in contemplation is the faith in his reverential heart; “to whom me wilt thou gift.” The right inference of, “O’ my father, to whom me wilt thou give,” is this. He prays but to ask, “To whom or where or which worlds does he after death attain?” Who is the self? What is the self that has seen youth pass by? What is that “me,” which has been given the gifts of life, such as cognition, sensuality, perceptions, imaginations, de-sires, et al? What is me that dies? What purpose does Aruna serve to be born, eat, and then but to die?
The verse, “these giving he undelight by name,” im-plies that sorrow is in being identified through physical-ity, personality, form, word, identity, name, and im-portantly ego. We may not err to ask, is Nachiketas his inner youthful and benevolent Self? Is he conversing within himself in contemplation?
“Behold says the son of Vivasvan, thee I give thus. Many gone initially, many gone midst, death obliges with illusion today he will do; back look how the prior ones; forward look how others; corn like the mortal rip-ens, like corn springs up again.” Death comes in many forms and disguises. This is destined from the begin-ning, in the middle and in the future. Death is perpetu-al, like change and time. Death was known by many names, forms, and disguises that obliged initially, in the middle, and will do today, for in the end all gross-ness will be dissolved by death.
Son of Vivasvan then says, reflect and look at the past history of his forefathers who have been and look into the future how others who will follow only to return, for the same fate awaits all who are entrapped by Maya.
But does Aruna intend to succumb to such a destiny? Death implies that initially there is birth followed by maintenance in the middle, however, death does not say what is the end. Say then, is death the end? We know of our beginning and the middle, but we do not know the end. Say then, is there an end to the cycle of samsara? Look around, do all beings succumb to re-peated cycles of birth and death? Are we to keep rein-carnating, like fruits that wither, but its seeds to germi-nate again?
Aruna wants to know that which lays beyond death. Maya intents in obeisance of the natural universal law to birth and maintain, but what can Death do but simi-larly maintain the law of destiny of all material things; for material substances, no matter how robust and en-during, are made of elements and ingrained in their na-ture is dissolution. No material substances last. Fate accomplishes all states of nature, which something Death needs to do at any given moment. Death, decay and dissolution, together with change and time, ac-complish and realises all destinies. Behold, at any given moment one may die. Death accomplished all past des-tinies, present, and in the future also. Only, Aruna firmly resolves to sacrifice his own childish ego; and at some point, in time, he will die, but meantime he will pursue on the path to maturation.
Sacrificial fire implies to burn one’s ego, to burn one’s physical, subtle, causal, and sensual consciousnesses at the sacrificial altar. He listens to Death’s endaural voice, for he is ready to sacrifice his identity, ego, and mind. Aruna is spontaneously awakened if rightly un-derstood, for Death is speaking to his higher Self during yogic trance.
As far as his family and things and worldly matters are concerned, he is dead to all; his personality is no more; his name and gotra are no more; he belongs to no-where and to no-one, this is the true implication of “Sannyasa.” Aruna has no intention to return to world-ly life. He has had enough. Swamis celebrate their own death by inviting closed ones at their own mock funeral pyre! This is true renunciation. This is the moment of Aruna’s sannyas! The comical expression, “Aruna has left the estate,” is appropriate.
Death further wills Aruna’s intellect to ponder and to open his mind and see the ravages of Kala, repeated cycles of life and death, decay and dissolution every-where; “Forefathers and mortal men wither away, like the corn of the field and like the corn of the field they are born again.” The author understands that Aruna consequently realizes the opprobrium of all those Vedic ceremonial rites and rituals, which are merely for self-gratification in this, in the next life, and in life thereaf-ter.
Death points out that “we see, but we do not look, we hear, but we do not listen.” Death teaches to be mind-fully aware; look implies to learn. Death teaches all to look mindfully, reason metaphysically; only, do not constantly delude yourself with the hope that some transient possession will become a permanent one, it never does, and the self-deception merely robs one of the peace he might otherwise keep. It is very important in life to understand that transiency and change are ingrained in nature. Hence, Aruna, oppressed by the rapidity with which his years are waning, seeks all the more intensely the Light of Truth.
Aruna’s majestic and immensity of a sudden and spon-taneous awakening upon the altar of Death is the “Vaivasvata Gita” in itself. Life is a chain of spontane-ous occurrences, for existence is spontaneous. Thus, at the blink of an eye, all and everything can change, for the potential and probability are ingrained in nature. Thus, the Gita starts with this metaphysical reflection.
Seemingly, Aruna is an advanced being than the writ-ings portray, for he attains the Lord of Death’s presence at the blink of an eye, thence he spontaneously awakes in the realm of the Spirit.
In the opening verse, Aruna intentionally rouses sincere aspirants from their drowsiness that reverberates in their intellects; this is undoubtedly the metaphysical inquisition that leads many to awaken. Therefore, Aru-na implies mindful effort and reasoning are the prereq-uisites necessary to “awaken” one from his inebriation of materiality.
A simple analogy of life is this. So, human physicality is the hardware, during its infancy, parents have the password, they download into the pc religious software and other software etc. In adulthood, you take charge of the password and then delete the software? Only, re-boot the pc made of mud before restart. Once the pc restarts change the password to Spirit; download the best anti-virus called Spirituality. It protects you from tracking cookies, hackers, viruses and ensures password protection, etc. If you need help with the pc and soft-ware find an expert computer-truth engineer. Remem-ber, the custody of the computer belongs to you and no one else, which is firmly for your own safekeeping.
Like Shakespeare is Othello in his mind, Aruna disguis-es his soul as Nachiketas, the main character of the in-quisition, but focusses on the dicta of the Lord of Death, Vaivasvata. Uddalaka Aruna dies a physical death in meditative contemplation, for his soul has dis-lodged itself from the body and mind. This is to be un-derstood.
2. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: As Light en-ters as a guest the Brahmana in houses, so atonement they do carry from the Sun. Ablution. hopes, expecta-tions, possessions, righteousness, and fruit of charities, sons and cattle and all this death destroys and deprives the person trifling oblation to have endeavoured, starv-ing, dwelling the Brahmana house.
The Brahmana being Light, a sovereign, pure, and clear luminance in houses enters as Light, a guest they ap-pease, like the Sun, the Spirit brings life. Brahmana fasting in houses dwells. Starving implies hunger for spiritual knowledge, Upanishad. The ignorant of little understanding, all ablutions, hope, and expectation, all that has been gained by speaking the good and truth, the wells dug and the sacrifices offered, progenies and cattle, all this are torn. In reality, he Vaishvanara (Light, Fire, Agni, Heavenly Flame) is the Brahmana who enters as a guest the houses of men, him thus humanity appease.
Vaivasvata is the progeny of Vivasvan. “O’ progeny of Sun, carry water oblation for Nachiketas” makes no sense, is the opinion held by the author, because there are no rituals and rites performed where Vivasvan dwells, where the Spirit dwells! It is improbable that Lord Vaivasvata would carry any oblation for any dis-carnate.
Nachiketas is presently yoked to the Spirit. The Brah-mana, O’ Vaivasvataodakam Hara, or O’ pure and clear Spirit (water), son of Sun or pure Spirit Shiva. There are no burdens of rituals and rites where the Immortals abide and where Nachiketas currently is. Say then, how can there be any such rituals?
Vedic rites and rituals only belong to embodiments that are subject to time, space, matter, and importantly de-sires on the terrestrial plane only.
“I Baptise you in water, but the One that cometh after me will Baptise you in Spirit.” John the Baptist.
Those Immortals are “Immortals” because they are be-yond human foolishnesses! Say then, how can there be any oblation by water in the realm of the Spirit? Be-sides, there is neither water nor food there! Can water exist there where all elements have no existence? Eve-rything evaporates into nothingness through the ablu-tion of the mind, by the effulgence of the Sun, is the sacrificial oblation! Furthermore, can feet, hands, mouth, et al, exist there? No! There are no feet to wash in the transcendental realm beyond corporeality. Be-cause you leave behind the mortal elemental body on Earth!
The transcendental realm is the hallowed realm of the pure and clear Spirit, a realm of timelessness, space-lessness, matterlessness, and importantly, desireless-ness! There, the only oblation offered to the essence of the Spirit is the ablution of the mind.
“The Brahmana, being Vaishvanarah fire, in houses enters Him, the fire as a guest they propitiate.” This implies that the Brahmana guest that enters the bodies of men comes in as a benediction of existence; it is pure and clear like water, which is a profound Spirit sub-stance, known to Adepts only.
This illustrates the allegorical nature the primary Gita; cleverly and deliberately interwoven to seem like a fa-ble! Moreover, the Spirit further declares, “Man of little understanding,” which indicts those men who do not grasp that which enters, worth our propitiations, adora-tion, and worship, because it is the pure and clear es-sence and substance of the Spirit. Only, the soul awak-ens into the entoptic enlightenment in the luminous Samadhi in the solemn temple of Lord Vivasvan, the Sun God.
The Sun is the authentic pure Consciousness of the god Aditya or Aindavadeva, first progeny of Sage Indu in a different epoch, and the consciousness of Narayana ac-cording to the Shrimad in the current.
Another version is this. “The Consciousness is the Brahmana, the progeny of the Consciousness of the Sun, who enters as a guest the houses of men, him thus they appease.” Say then, is the burning soul’s in-quisitions and aspirations, egolessness, “yogic” death, beyond the Avidya of deep sleep, beyond corporeality, beyond senses and mind, beyond Sankalpa-Samadhi, which lead it into the realms of Death? Yes, the realm of death is luminous in this instance. The dictum infers that Nachiketas is welcoming the luminous Sun (yogic ecstasy of enlightened Intellect) during the Light-Samadhi; this appears or is seen or is experienced as a profound thousand-fold “Sun-burst,” remarked by Yogi Adepts upon awakening; an honourable sacred guest indeed! In other words, Aruna’s pure Consciousness, Nachiketas, his soul, verily in his thoughtless illumined Samadhi of three days, subsequently awakens into the pure Consciousness or the temple of the Lordship of Vivasvan.
The etheric Immortals, Sages, Samyagdarshanam Adepts, Drashtas, Shrutas, Gods, et al always delight and rejoice when one is awakened from ignorance.
The majestic truism, “Fire is the Brahmana, that enters the houses of men, him thus they appease” also implies that “That,” which enters, gives or supports life or be-ingness or existence. The sourceless “Smokeless Stambha of Fire,” is the Brahmana guest that enter the houses of men. Appease means, propitiate, placate, mollify, pacify, satisfy, soothe, calm, et al but perhaps sanctify? Therefore, wise men who appease (antonym of appease is provoke, inflame, frustrate) or sanctify their life, know that it is delusional and ignorant to be satisfied merely by corporeality; for the antonym of benediction is desecration, frustration, anger, provoca-tion, inflame, et al; therefore, men who are ignorant and spiritually destitute, out of their egoism, effect their own miseries. The two wolf Cherokee aphorism is appropriate in this instance; the old Cherokee replies, “this depends upon which wolf one feeds, appeases or provokes, sanctifies or desecrates.”
The antonym of the word, “enter,” is “depart,” leave, withdraw; hence, “That” which enters also departs the house! Therefore, the dictum indicts the paradoxes of birth and death. Therefore, “Fire is the Brahmana that “enters and gives life” as well as “departs and with-draws life.”
Say then, why is this dictum a spontaneous declaration by the sanctified Immortal? Because the Immortal Vaivasvata is truly rejoicing at the “returning” of That which went wandering, like a nomad. It is a paradoxical dictum. Lord Vaivasvata is the son of Vivasvan, Surya, or Ra, the first monad-being. Vaivasvata perhaps im-plies the Moon also, because the Moon reflects the Sun’s rays. Also known as the benevolent son of Ra, Thoth, the psychopomp, in the Egyptian mysteries, only, the reader will gradually realise further in these writings that Lord Vaivasvata is not merely a psycho-pomp.
The benevolent Lords, Vivasvan (Vivasvata) and Vaivasvata having observed the behavioural condition-ing of Aruna’s Dharmic path of virtue and deep aspira-tion grant him benediction upon his awakening.
There are two paths laid out for all upon death; most go to the land of their fathers, the Moon, but to return to Earth; only, the exceptional Adepts enter the temple of the immortality of the Lordship of the Sun God, Vi-vasvan.
Lord Vaivasvata accepts Aruna’s remarkable persistent adherence to sannyasa, for Vaivasvata has to honour each meritoriously. So, if one has sufficiently sacrificed his ego into the “sacrificial fire,” he may enter the Kingdom of Vivasvan.
But the departing (withdrawing) Brahmana is a “guest unhonoured” or unwelcomed for most, only the Brah-mana that enters is honourable or appeased. Say then, who, in his right mind, would welcome death as an honourable guest? Who would want his existence to vanish? No one! Because all his sons, his cattle, and his possessions, will be torn away from him that instant. Because most put too much emphasis on materiality and in their own physicality!
Only, the “awakened” one comprehends and truly un-derstands death as an honourable guest!
Perhaps, the ignorant ones in constant pain, psychic or physical, may welcome death as an end to their suffer-ing, only to return for more, which they do not com-prehend!
Aruna has remarkably and spontaneously welcomed death as an honourable guest in Samadhi, for he aspires to, more than his physicality, the sanctuary of grace, blessedness, and sanctity.
The axiom, “Brahmana fasting” essentially implies that the “Light,” which resides in human beings, needs nei-ther food to survive nor mind nor intellect to reason nor to understand. Fasting also implies a deeply felt spiritu-al aspiration. But the man It dwells in, for want of Vidya, becomes inebriated in materiality. Therefore, he labours in vain for material gains (Artha) only, for man shuns spiritual aspiration. This is the sad futility of ig-norance, namely, desires, hopes, and expectations for gain. Reflect upon these words, but to realize the abso-lute unworthiness of Vedic rituals and sacrifices for gains, to be torn away from them all upon death, re-peatedly. The antonym of gain is loss.
The Bhagavad Gita clearly declares: “Do not hope, do not desire or expect, and do not act for gains, although it is necessary to act in life; know those acts to be those of “Him.” Therefore, surrender all the gains and losses of your acts to “Him;” for they are not yours to keep, i.e., act without the thoughts of gains or losses. You are merely a custodian; in fact, you do not own a single thing, you merely rent; use what is necessary for suste-nance and avoid avarice. Because, at a blink of an eye, at any given moment, the unhonoured guest will tear you away from all the possessions you hold so dear. Say then, what are men left with upon departure but their desires held in the depth of their being?
Out of Its pity, the Voice of Truth utters, “The good and truth that he has spoken and the wells he has dug and the sacrifices he has offered and all his sons and his cattle are torn from him by that guest unhonoured.” Therefore, no one will take with them upon death any-thing from here that is material: All our exoteric efforts and acts for material wealth are really in vain. The Lord of All manifests everything here, everything belongs to Him; without Him we have nothing, we are nothing; Lord is everything; not a thing is ours, we only transi-ently have custody of things for utility during our mor-tal life on earth, including our corporeal kiosk.
The essence of the “Brahmana Guest” in our corporeali-ty as the mind is the only substance everywhere that makes this worldly existence and experience possible.
The “well” men have dug and the sacrifices he has of-fered are in vain, for he labours in vain; they are merely cesspits of desires and all those exoteric Vedic sacrific-es, rites, and rituals do not tend to Moksha, for they mean little in spiritual terms; in hopes and expectations for gains, Vedic rituals and sacrifices tend to come to effect in the future samsara, but to bind and enchain men to repetitive worldly life only. The only real sacri-fice Lord Vivasvan and son Vaivasvata is partial to is the esoteric “sacrificial fire” of the seeker’s desireless-ness in an unconditional ego, which attains to enlight-enment (effulgent Samadhi or Samyagdarshanam). This is neither exclusively nor necessarily attained by the gotra Brahmins or Kshatriyas or the pious, but by any aspiring individual.
Awakened into the felt and living presence of the di-vine Vivasvata, an Adept is styled dwija, applicable as a second birth of an Adept as a Brahmana; this is the “re-al” Brahmin by deed; thus, to become a Brahmana you have to “die” first! The revered Sage Satyakama Jabala was born of a devadasi’s womb and of an unknown fa-ther; an untouchable who attained to the status of a dwija “Samyagdarshanam Brahmana,” a real Brahmin.
The classical kshatriya, Siddhartha Gautama, gave up all and became a “bhikkhu,” but an enlightened Jivan-Mukta. Enlightened Kabir is popularly thought to have been a Muslim; Nanak Mehta of Vaishnava caste by parentage; Jesus a Jew by parentage, for they are all became dwija Brahmanas, who merged in the essence of the Spirit. They all burned their egocentric condi-tionings and identities to ashes in the sacrificial fire; as they are no longer this, that or the other, so they are simply the “Existent.” Most of humanity are drenched knee-deep in the mire of their own dug cesspits in their minds; they carry merely titles, identities, and blabber-ing mouthpieces of their own egocentric minds. Their burdens and bondages passed on from the past lives in this life are carried onward from one life to the next. This is to be understood.
3. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Three nights that in house fasting Brahmana a guest paying homage thy by name; to thee let be Brahmana benediction let be on that account to three choosing boons ask.
“Three nights thou hast dwelt in death extinction, O’ Brahmana guest, worthy of reverence, O’ Brahmana let be the auspiciousness, therefore, three boons do thou ask.” Uddalaka having fearless and undistracted zeal and purity, as a true aspirant, is revered by Lord Vaivasvata as an Adhikari, worthy and capable; thus, Lord Vaivasvata is pleased to offer him three boons, as gifts of his determined and devotional sadhana. “Be-cause for three nights thou hast dwelt in my house fast-ing,” is a metaphor of death consciousness. A metaphor of spiritual yearning. Lord Vaivasvata implies that it is the most difficult sadhana-yoga one can attain, but to survive “death-like-consciousness” for three nights un-perturbed in the Spirit; Lord Vaivasvata here refers to the Spirit-realm as “my house,” indeed. The usage of the word “fasting” implies yearning; in a deathless trance done away with the appetencies, conditionings, tendencies, senses, ego, memories, mind, and the intel-lect, in an unconditional Samadhi. A yearning!
It is more than likely, the revelatory allegory of this Upanishad, is Aruna’s epigram, Nachiketas (transcen-dentalness), in Yoga. Vaivasvata Gita, then, is Aruna’s empirical encounter with death and the subsequent in-quisition of the soul, i.e., retrospective insights or Drashta’s or Shruti’s after attaining to the “Yoga of Death” or “Nirvana extinction” or “Nirvikalpa Samad-hi.”
Say then, what else can or does the maxim, “Thou hast dwelt in my house for three nights,” imply? It also im-plies the three states of consciousnesses any adept expe-riences, but to overcome during meditation, namely, waking, dreaming, and sleep, i.e., physical, subtle, and causal; only then, he emerges or merges in super con-sciousness, as a free etheric butterfly in the realm of the Spirit.
During this episode of meditation, all sorts of thoughts, image-animations, and enticements, occurring and re-curring, entities benevolent and malevolent appear and disappear that distract a seeker’s “Dharana,” which may lead to unwitting psychic errors and occultism. It is in its true essence Aruna’s evolution from his physicality, subtlety, and causality into spirituality. He has accom-plished the solemn true Yoga, the Yoga of Death; only, he is not “dead,” but beyond; his soul, styled Nachiket-as, is “awakened” into “pure Consciousness;” merged into “That Which Is,” the Light of Truth.
It is the Jiva that carries the wounded ego and the bur-den of its desires, but the benediction of an aspirant’s sadhana is pure Spirit itself, which does not carry any weal. “For each night, three boons choose” is a para-doxical dictum.
Say then, why does Lord Vaivasvata mention three nights instead of mentioning either three days or three days and nights? Say then, do you think that Nachiket-as was for three days and nights waiting on Lord Vaivasvata, in His celestial hall, starving? Is there hun-ger there? No! There is neither hunger nor thirst in the realm of the Spirit, but his hunger, aspiration, or yearn-ing is spiritual; where neither time nor space nor matter has any existence! Only, such appetencies as hunger and lust belong in the earthly realm of physicality where there is breath.
The Brahmana guest that enters and departs has no ap-petencies, although it is the source of sentiency but does not exist through sustenance.
Uddalaka was, as mentioned earlier, in utter nothing-ness of death extinction; for his soul subsequently awakens in the effulgence of the Spirit! Bravo, Aruna! Worthy of reverence Holy Brahmana, for you deserve three boons of your choosing. There is no difference between Uddalaka’s nature and his destiny. The inqui-sition of his soul and its fate are unerringly the same. Nachiketas remains in the breathless realm of Lord Vaivasvata whilst the “Vaivasvata Gita” unfolds. Udda-laka is in the midst of the Yoga of Death. This is to be understood.
4. DICTUM: The soul asseverates: Calm (for want of thoughts and imaginations), good-hearted, egoless Go-tama now I am, O’ Death! Thy release me I may recover my memory but remember; this of the three, first boon asking.
There are two plausible versions. The first version is this. Nachiketas quests for Mukti as his first boon: Free from egoism, anxieties, serene and tranquil may be-come the mind of Aruna; freed from the dread and jaws of death when released from this Yoga in the super-conscious state, by thee, sent back to my house, retain-ing in memory all that will come to pass assured in heart. Aruna the body is in a state of physical death on earth because the Brahmana guest has departed to the realm of death, Vaivasvatapuri. The skilful enlightened intellect of the Self of Aruna, disguised as Nachiketas, requests that Aruna, retrospectively, does in memory recollect the Vaivasvata Gita and Yoga, despite attain-ing Mukti.
In the author’s understanding, the epigram, Na-Chit-Ketas, implies the transcendental Self, having alighted itself into a state of super-consciousness from his own lower self’s enshrined body. The soul has separated from the mind, ego, and body. “Released by thee, said the discarnate soul of Aruna, sent back to my house” implies that the Brahmana guest, released by the Lord Vaivasvata, will re-enter the body (reincarnate) and re-vive the body of Aruna, but Nachiketas, the discarnate Aruna, wants assurance that the body, heart and mind will return to its formal glory and remember its hal-lowed journey and escapade out of the body and retro-spectively remember the Vaivasvata Gita! Indeed. Oth-erwise, the world would be devoid of such majestic doc-trines, for there would be a void in our understanding of Death and Immortality if the physical Aruna was not perfectly resurrected or revived of its physical, subtle, and causal states and additional Mukti.
The adage, “calm and good-hearted” infers the state of a Mukta; it is our mind that needs to be soothed, paci-fied, quieted, and remain emotionless, although the mind cannot be eradicated in its totality, only sedating the waves of thoughts, imaginations, and memory. The vicissitudes of breath and mind and passions of the body, i.e., food, sex, sleep, fear, sensuality, memory, intellect, and ego are natural attributes of humanity.
“Freed from the mouth of death,” is a great boon, when and hereafter, on recovering from Samadhi of Death, let thy grace, blessedness, and bliss, be born within, and burn all the past, present and future, karma and desires, in the mind and heart of the fearless Aruna. Let Aruna through his retrospective reasoning, assuredly feel in his heart that the self, the ego, died. Let Aruna feel in his heart that it had transcended death and is liberated and delivered in a blessed “beingness.” The Dwija-Brahmana although reborn anew but to greet the old in the reminiscence of this Yoga. In fact, this is the tenet of resurrection. Nachiketas, for his first boon, requests to be reborn as a Mukta.
Mukti is an incomprehensible state of consciousness, like being awake in deep sleep although the senses, body, and mind are at rest. It is a state of being the Self and not becoming.
The second plausible version is this. But from Dictum 1, Uddalaka dies. His soul goes to the Vaivasvatapuri. Is the soul then asking the Lord of Death to reincarnate but to return on earth in a new body through the union of mother and Aruna? Dictum 5 unfolds a dilemma the author offers to the readers if rightly interpreted, for the soul asks to remember all that transpired before in the former consciousness of Uddalaka? This is the first in-quisition of the soul. Is this a case of “continuum con-sciousness”? This is to be understood.
5. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: As initially destined, the entrusted Aruni (son of Uddalaka) the Aruni (Aruna; gotra Aruna), when thee set free, felicity the nights repose (sleep) quite the mind, you courageously mouth-death released.
Is it plausible, as implied, that the soul is reborn through the union of mother and Aruna as destined? Only this birth is but profound, for it remembers its release from the jaws of death. It is unclear whether Lord Vaivasvata refers to Nachiketas as son of Aruna or as the soul of the father Uddalaka reincarnated as a child of entrusted mother and Aruna as destined when the discarnate soul of Uddalaka is released by Lord Vaivasvata? It is unclear whether the discarnate soul will become into a new birth through Aruna (father) and mother union. Will the soul revive Uddalaka’s death extinction? That which is set free is the soul of Uddalaka Aruna Gotama from the jaws of death, but this is unclear at the moment.
Granted, as before affection of heart of having recog-nised the Self will become possessed of affection, in that very same way as it did within the former Uddala-ka. Blissfully shall he sleep the nights in egolessness having cognised Self, a Mukta, free from death’s grasp. It is unclear who will attain this. Perhaps the revived Uddalaka seems a plausible candidate of Lord Vaivasvata’s dictum. Lord Vaivasvata grants the soul the boon assuring that in his re-embodiment, his mind will become tranquil, serene, and blissful through the retrospective understanding of “Reality.” He will thus lose all his worldly desires and “awaken” to the new dawn having recognised his true beingness. Aruni will hold and feel the awakened soul dearly in his heart. Thus, he will overcome the fear of death and awaken into a new dawn in his psyche. He will be the living liberated and live an egoless life of a Mukta when he will understand death and psychically overcome it; he has no quarrel with death who has seen or known or been in the proximity of death; as the adage implies, “O’ Death, Thy release me that I may recover in memory remembrance.
Lord Vaivasvata assures, “through my favour, when thee set free, felicitous the nights repose (sleep), quite the mind, courageously, once released from the mouth of death. Inferentially, humanity is endowed with such affections for life that they simply forget they have died to have this life; they forget or choose not to reflect because of their parental conditioning, religious beliefs, preoccupation, avarice, desires, tendencies, and sensual-ity of worldly things.
The two truths asserted in the dictum are these. Firstly, we know how affectionate we are towards our life in our hearts should we choose to mindfully feel, or the affection for our life dawns when our life is under threat. Try to provoke that affection of life one holds in the heart by dunking one’s head underwater. Affection in the heart implies the love of life; unwittingly it is the affection we hold dear of the guest that dwells in bene-diction in us, which gives and supports one’s existence.
Secondly, we have died before, many times, for our dis-carnate souls have all stood at the gates of Vaivasvatapuri repeatedly, and Lord Vaivasvata has re-leased us time and time again, as life (the Brahmana guest) returns time and time again to this terrene; but to learn of our blessedness of our sanctified life only. But we look without and not within for happiness, love, and affections and forget to look deep within. This implies that we love to be alive. The mind is affection-ate to life! Therefore, if that “life” returns, how can we despise it? We cannot. Because we “love to live!”
Uddalaka is the tenet of existence, body, mind, and soul only; without the soul, it is merely an insentient sculp-tor. Therefore, the Lord of Death, assures the soul of its second birth, through his favour, in the same body as before, that of Uddalaka, sanctified this time around and perhaps for the last time, as a dwija Brahmana; thus, the Lord of Death, assures the resurrection of Aruna, but to return the departed Brahmana guest, Na-chiketas, upon its release, back into the body as Udda-laka Aruni.
Lord Vaivasvata allegorically implies that the embodied soul (Nachiketas; Jivatma) of Aruna departed from the body for more than three nights (the soul is skilfully separated from the body and mind). How blissful is a peaceful night’s sleep free of anguish and anxieties of death? Very! Which, strangely enough, is derived from a peaceful day free of daily activities, vicissitudes, and paradoxes in a serene and tranquil mind! Therefore, all should seek for the “Light of Truth,” and through ret-rospective reasoning, empirically know and feel “death,” before dread becomes one. Because, “we hate to die; for we love to live!” There is a subtle hint in the dictum of what a Mukta’s mind is like whilst alive. There is an uncanny similitude between the tale of Sage Bhrigu and the one at hand, explicated in the Yo-ga-Vasishtha described further on in this book. Perhaps, it is another exemplification that further verifies the author’s treaty on “Continuum Consciousness!
To quench the thirst of the soul is to drink from the well of the Spirit. This is to be understood.
6. DICTUM: The soul speaks: In the Spirit world, not the least is there fear, for Thou dost not rule there, not slightest afraid, both crossing over leaving behind hun-ger and thirst, out of the reach of sorrow, free, rejoices, in Spirit world.
In the Svaraga-Loka, i.e., in the realm of the Spirit, there is no fear whatsoever, for Death, thou art not, no one shudders at thee; having transcended both hunger and thirst and crossing over sorrows, in Spirit rejoices. The dictum implies that in the realm of the Spirit, there is neither fear of disease nor old age nor decay nor dis-solution nor death. “For, O’ Death, thou art not in Svaragaloka,” implies that the discarnate (unmanifest) soul does no longer art death in the realm of the Spirit, for the soul in Vaivasvatapuri does no longer hold the dread and consciousness of death, for the fear of death is over, for death is an attribute of physicality and the mind, i.e., gross, subtle, and causal only; for having transcended both hunger and thirst and crossing over the shark-infested ocean of samsara and sorrows, i.e., transcended from the shackles of the mental and physi-cal realm into the realm of the Spirit. There are no such things as hunger, thirst, shelter, sorrow, decay, disease, dissolution, et al, for want of any further anxieties and fears, which are merely attributes of embodiment.
Saintly Uddalaka has managed to bridge over from the shore of samsara to the other shore of disembodied freedom. He built a bridge is a metaphor of meditation. Hence, the soul rejoices in freedom, unchained from the shackles of the mind’s appetencies, tendencies, conditionings, and embodiment; as there is no con-sciousness of death in the Spirit world, so the soul is free of any bodily concerns, for the soul feels a great relief returning to its primordial abode or state of Con-sciousness!
The transcendental realm of Svaragaloka is blissful be-cause there is neither fear of death nor ageing nor dis-eases, and where Death has no existence. Uddalaka’s soul is where there is neither sustenance nor mainte-nance nor dissolution (death) nor physicality nor sub-tlety nor causality nor materiality nor corporeality nor paradoxes; these have no existence in the realm of the Spirit.
The paradox, “leaving sorrow behind,” also implies its antonym “joy;” for if sorrow has no existence in Svara-galoka, how can joy exist? It cannot. The word, “re-joice,” implies bliss or delight in the adage, “rejoices in the Spirit world,” for the empirical bliss is tranquillity and serenity of the soul in the realm of the Spirit. The dictum indicts the tenet of cause and effect, as the two shores, i.e., cause and effect are paradoxes. Nachiketas is describing the consciousness of empirical bliss con-trary to dread in the presence of the Lord of Death; the soul of Aruna, unshackled from the fetters of Aruna’s body and mind. Say then, what does “leaving behind hunger and thirst,” imply? This axiom infers non-existence of body consciousness in the Spirit realm. Say then how can there be such consciousness within a dis-carnate having shed the body on the terrestrial realm? Therefore, Svaragaloka is free of paradoxes. The word, “bliss,” implies the want of paradoxes; joy nor sorrow are far removed in the realm of the Spirit. This dictum also attempts but to impel liberation; once the soul is unshackled from the body, it experiences freedom from the persecutions of the senses, body, and mind, which are indictments of paradoxes.
7. DICTUM: The soul speaks: That thou art Heavenly Fire knowest, O’ Death! Tell that of the faithful highly honourable Spirit world how immortality attains, of sec-ond, I choose the boon.
In its essence, “Vaivasvata Gita” is Aruna’s empirical quest of the Light of Truth through death. This is to be understood as the soul’s inquisition. How and in what way did the dwellers of Svaragaloka gain for their por-tion immortality? The soul wants to know how embod-ied souls in mortal bodies, Atmanis, secure immortali-ty; for the immortals, freed from the play of paradoxes, rejoice in bliss. Svaragaloka is the realm of the Immor-tals; those rare and blessed discarnate souls merged in the luminous bliss in the realm of the Spirit. The Ma-havakya (Maha-great; Vak-revelation; Ya-Shruti, heard, listened), “Tat Tvam Asi,” is iterated by Nachiketas. He asks for that essential Vidya or knowing, or process that bridges, or that knowledge, which surpasses our body consciousness, so as to cross over the shores of birth and death; a gigantic leap from the shark-infested wa-ters of worldly materiality and mortality to the realm of immortality. That blessed Vidya he asks for is free from the paradoxes of life, sorrow and joy, light and dark; free from sustenance, maintenance, death, decay, and dissolution, et al. The curious thing about these truisms of Nachiketas is this. Seemingly, Nachiketas is aware that in the Spirit realm, there is neither this nor that, but bliss.
Say then, how could the soul realize such insights re-ferred to by the soul in Dictum 6-7; after all, is not the soul there to learn and yearn for such insights? The author empirically knows that the unchained soul can only be blissful unshackled from the tenement of form, paradoxes, ego, and mind, i.e., freed from body-mind complexities. Thus, the soul, in the dictum, realised unimpeached freedom in the realm of the luminosity of the Spirit; for the Svaragaloka is without blemishes and snares of the senses, body, and mind, pure and clear as water, in some remote timeless and spaceless, and mat-terless realm, i.e., transcendental realm of the Spirit. Moreover, that which exists or has its consciousness beyond death is essentially the second inquisition of the soul.
The dictum, “That Fire (Consciousness; Light), which thou, O’ Lord of Death knowest (art),” indicts the para-dox of Vidya and Avidya that Vaivasvata beholds con-cerning that abstract and supreme knowledge, which on behest (Lord Vaivasvata), I hold in full faith; but that would then infer divulging secretive knowledge, Vidya.
The word, “know,” in the Gita, implies an implicit or deeply ingrained empirical knowing as second nature, i.e., in the absolute absence of doubt. The soul demon-strates absolute faith in the expositions of Lord Vaivasvata. The adage, “Tell That of the faithful one, the Spirit world immortality reach,” implies not only that the soul knows about the immortals, like Vi-vasvan, Vaivasvata, et al., who abide in Svaragaloka, but the soul wants to learn of the process; whether it be through some act or effort, or through some technology or science, or some methodology of worshipping.
Notably, the soul does not use the word, “win,” in the Upanishad, because winning and losing are paradoxes of life. Say then, is it a matter of chance? No! How, whence, why, whom, what, or in what way are the ob-lations of worship offered in the quest of immortality? This is the implication of the word “Katha.” Besides Uddalaka is fully versed in the Vedas and Vedic meth-odologies. In what way are those critical things the mortals worshipped, adored, and thence managed but to merge into, ignoring Vedic rites, rituals, and sacrifices, before they became immortals? Nay, say then, Lord Vaivasvata, in my faith beheld for thee, were the im-mortals always immortal or is there a science of trans-formation from mortality to immortality? Is then, “das-ding-an-sich,” worthy of our worship and attainment?
The soul is on a quest to quench its thirst for that criti-cal knowledge, so as to become fearless of the vicissi-tudes of mind-body complexities; liberation from re-peated human cycles. However, the inquisition of the soul is a dilemma, because seemingly, through its in-quisitions, it does no realize at this moment that it is already free, but seems to realize the bliss in Svaragalo-ka?
This is strange because Uddalaka has already managed to separate its soul from the fetters of his body-mind complexities somehow and in some way. A plausible explanation offered by the author is this. In the pres-ence of the Lord of Death, the soul is unsure in what way will it then (further) arrive in Svaragaloka? In what way will immortality become? In the Brihad, it is as-serted that the path to Svaraga is to be had by firstly arriving in Vaivasvatapuri, the realm of the Moon or forefathers, and then, released to the advance to the realm of the Sun or descend back into physicality. However, in this instance, the soul has to return into corporeality but to revive Uddalaka! This favour Vaivasvata has already granted! This cannot be re-versed! The skilful soul but asks to retain that supreme knowledge and bliss so that it may eventually return and merge in Svaragaloka having revived Uddalaka, i.e., upon its eventual demise. This knowledge, in faith, I ask as my second boon. This is to be understood.
8. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: To thee de-clare that which me alone understands leading to Heav-enly Fire; O’ Nachiketas, thou knowing this attain Infi-nite world, moreover, leading to piercing thou this en-camped in the cavern.
The Lord of Death declares: “Thou knowing this attain Infinite world.” Understand attentively, hearken to know, give heed to know; attend to listen. The appro-priate adage here is, “we hear, but we do not listen.” The soul has attained through contemplation the Spirit realm of Death, so why is there a further need for the soul to ask for more? The soul knows not, for it is un-sure and in doubt, although, it apprehends clearly that it is essential to know; but to build a bridge over the pains and pangs of the cycles of suffering on the terres-trial plane.
Seemingly, so far, the soul knows the immortals have merged into “something” permanently; those beings are forever liberated from the cycles of birth and death. On-ly, the soul has to return to earth and revive its earthly embodiment, Uddalaka. Lord Vaivasvata declares, “The Spiritual Fire, which is the means for the attainment of Svaragaloka, and which is the support of the world, know it to be established in the hidden cave within.” This is neither a simple answer nor an easy means to Svaraga! Lord Vaivasvata allegorically declares to the soul that “For I declare to thee that very Flame, for I know it, the Svaragaloka Flame, which is the infinite Spirit that also supports, maintains, and dissolves, but know It to be located in a hidden cave.” Lord Vaivasvata declares, “I Know It.” This is a profound declaration! Lord of Death knows the “Infinite Spirit.” Lord Vaivasvata further declares, “The Infinite Spirit supports and maintains and dissolves the samsaric world; that which manifests life.” Additionally, hearken to the fact that “know” that it is located in a hidden cave within. The word “know” in this instance means empirical knowing. Its presence has to be felt. This is grandiose. Hearken to the fact that “das-ding-an-sich,” this “something,” this “Svaragaloka Flame” is the sup-port of the world sat hidden (cave) in your being. Alle-gorically, in this instance, Svaragaloka Flame represents the “Brahmana guest” sat in the hidden cave.
In reality, “life,” means vicissitudes, paradoxes, motion, becoming, causes and effects; paradoxically, Svaragalo-ka Flame is also the substance of causality or the tenet of cause. Some believe the “secret cave” is placed in the intellect of men of knowledge. Say then, is the Brah-mana guest hidden in the intellect of the men of knowledge? Say then, only the men of knowledge have a life? But to err at such a suggestion. But Lord Vaivasvata is implying a locality in the dictum, alt-hough, at this juncture, we do not know of its mysteri-ous locale within the body. This dictum, thus, high-lights the tenet of paradoxes, causes and effects, in-grained and hidden as the “Svaragaloka Flame” in the body. As cold congeals water to snow and heat vaporiz-es water to steam, so the Spirit congeals the essence of Itself into man, and Vaivasvata dissolves man to dust, but to free the soul from the fetters of sense, body, and ignorance. In this instance, it is the “substance” of the Spirit only. Therefore, know (consciously feel) that the essence of the Spirit is hidden in men. This is to be un-derstood.
9. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Of the begin-ning of Fire, sayeth He, what the omnipotence so many duly and also that divide again then of the word, so this the dying repeatedly of complacence.
This dictum indicts the paradigm and meticulousness of manifest creation, sustenance, and dissolution. In the beginning, was the word! It impeaches the sover-eign Fire at the commencement of manifest creation, which divides and arranges all such forms and shapes, minutest and grandest, this and that, to the finest and subtlest degree through the spoken word of the Mighti-est. The dictum indicates how precisely Brahma, the great architect, through the potency of speech, mani-fests creation and controls at the commencement, the fate and destinies of all things, including dying, with-out which manifestation and growth cannot arise. Brahma is a metaphor of the mind only. Mind arises from desires. Therefore, desire is the mighty creator of all this and that.
Dying is an invaluable, inevitable, and unreplaceable necessity; an aide to the evolution of manifest creation. It is incredible, incomprehensible, and a wonder, full of a mystical mystery how exactly this manifest creation commences through the Fire. The dictum infers the cycles of manifest creation caused by the Fire repeated-ly, which appeases Death.
Say then, would Death’s calling have any existence if the cycles were unrepetitive? Say then, would the ensu-ing immortality have any significance? Death is an ab-solute necessity for the growth of sentiency. Without the dissolution of sentient things, this world would be unimaginably dire. Death and birth go hand in hand, for one cannot be without the other, ingrained within death is the regenerative principle; wherein, neither birth has existence on its own without death nor death has existence on its own without birth. Therefore, commencement and dissolution, probability and poten-cy, cause and effect, Brahma and Vaivasvata are “joined at the hips,” like Shiva and Shakti and Yin and Yang.
Comprehend this. For the truism, the Lord of Death infers the “Lord of Life.”
The Dictum indicts Vaivasvata as a co-creator, which pleases Brahma, the creator. See this. Brahma cannot create without Vaivasvata and Vaivasvata cannot dis-solve without Brahma. The effect is ingrained in a cause, as oil is ingrained in oily seeds. Cause and effect are one and the same thing. This is the universal law of Nature or manifest creation only.
Hearken. Paradoxes and causations have to exist in sen-tiency for bliss to be the eventual goal of life. This is to be understood.
10. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Of thee be-ing glad, Great Soul, boon yours this I give; the becom-ing yours is by name, transformed from this sole Fire, are sparks of variegated-form tenements.
This dictum implicates the principle of the “Sutratma” and broadly that of the “Virat-Mind.” In continuity, being satisfied with the soul’s (Adhikari) capabilities and intellect as a Mahatma, the Lord Vaivasvata offers a further exposition as a bonus. The maxim, “becoming by name will be this Fire fettered of variegated form it taketh,” indicts the Fire that resides within, which gives rise to and supports forms as the prime tenet of the “Garland of Letters.”
Sutratma is the Fire that links all these things of multi-tudinous hues and variegated material substances, cog-nised by the organs of senses, merely by words only. It is the Flame (Consciousness) within that lends its sup-port to names and forms, without which, there is no existence whatsoever. Moreover, it is the Flame itself that diversifies into variegated name-form as all these things. Forms are cognized through the mind by no-menclature. The multitudinous worlds of things are colourful forms of Fire (Consciousness) only. The Fire is the tenet of both, existence and becoming, for they are the name-forms that are interlinked or enchained by one tread (Fire) in a circle of samsara, as a garland of beads strung by a single thread. Hearken. Lord Vaivasvata implies by the word, “Fire,” in the dictum as the tenet of Consciousness. Inferentially, the “Sacri-ficial Fire” is the ablution of ego-mind or the blemished consciousness and the “Heavenly Fire” is but the pure Consciousness. This is to be understood.
11. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: The three transcended (Nachiketas) of Fires, with the three, at-tained union, three-action-performing, passes over birth and death, Brahmana born Self laudable approach hav-ing realised this of perpetual and abundant peace.
This dictum implicates the paradigm of the three ani-malistic or materialistic consciousnesses. These three “Fires” are, waking, dreaming and sleeping, i.e., gross, subtle and causal, which normally burn sequentially in a human being. The keyword, “Fire,” or “Flame,” in this instance implies consciousness. He who knows and unites these three essential consciousnesses (Fires) and traverses beyond them, passes over the snares of repeat-ed deaths, however, there is a catch in the dictum.
Some know the three states of becoming as waking, dreaming, and sleeping, but most are unaware of an-other consciousness of “being.” Most remain unaware of dreaming and sleeping as integral parts of our be-ingness, for we generally spend almost one-third of our lives in these two fires; part if not all of this portion of our life is lost in torpor or in restful consciousness. All three fires are distinct in character, although most think there is just one fire but to err.
The three actions (karma) or ashramas of life are artha, kama, dharma, which are inculcated in the Vedas; the thread that runs through these but fetters a human be-ing to repeated births. Remarkably, the fourth, Moksha, is neither karma nor ashrama! For an individual to real-ize their Supreme Self, they need to identify the rea-sons and objectives for which they came into being on this earthly plane and ultimately fulfil those purposes.
The ancient Sages articulated the goals of humankind as “Purusharthas.” The two-word conjunction, Puru-sharthas, is affix of the two words, Purusha and Arthas; Purusha implies an individual or mind, and Artha im-plies objective, pursuit or aim. The four Purusharthas are Dharma (Righteousness, Duty), Artha (Wealth), Kama (Desire), and Moksha (Liberation). The common factor or the underlying substance or the one thread that binds the first three is an allegorical catch or a unique key of this Upanishad.
Yeah, he who knows. He who knows the knowledge of which knows not; he who has experientially passed over the three fires aware graduates into a blissful life. He who knows and unites these three essential ashramas and traverses beyond them passes over the snares of repeated births. Therefore, the two snares in this dic-tum that an aspirant need to overcome, overtake, and traverse beyond are, namely, the three states of con-sciousnesses and the three actions (karmas). Having surpassed these, the resultant “being” is then called a Brahmana or a Dwija. Verily, A true Brahmin is he who by deed has attained to the “union.” A second di-vine birth, omniscience, laudable, having approached and realised the perpetual abundance of peace of the “union.” This also infers the state of bliss.
Hearken. This dictum describes the state of “beingness” free from the fetters of the becoming (previous verse); freedom from forms and names, which implies freedom from the fetters of ignorance, thoughts or mind. This is to be understood.
12. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Transcend-ing the three, the three having known destroyed acquire transcendental death’s presence turned away, overcom-ing sorrow, rejoices in the realm of the Spirit.
Some say, the three fires of Nachiketas are the divine forces utilised to raise to divinity the triple being of man; the three Purushas or states or personalities of the Divine Being, indicated by the three letters A, U, and M; the sacrifice of the lower existence to the divine, consummated on the three planes of man’s physical, vital, and mental consciousness.
The Purusha, the Knower of the Field, dwells within all, and for whose pleasure, Prakriti fulfils the cosmic play. This is but the dualistic stance of Samkhya soph-ist, which is understandable. Only, Vaivasvata Gita’s purity is without adulteration and blemishes from any schools of thoughts; for these verses should be free from pertinence if they are to be rightly taught. More is the pity that the original texts were in the hands of de-filers, who accordingly transliterated to suit their perti-nent ends.
It is the Virat Mind, Brahma, that manifests everything to detail, declared Lord Vaivasvata. The three states of consciousnesses are waking, dreaming, and sleeping, which is physical, subtle, and causal, respectively; the sequential union of the three fires constitutes a human being, but not in its entirety. But there is also the con-sciousness of death in dying!
Having thus empirically known, in full awareness, the predicates of the three distinct consciousnesses and death within the self as the Self, himself of the soul, is thus freed, and rejoices or delights in the realm of bliss.
“He three fires” implies the self is shackled to the con-sciousnesses through senses, body, and mind; for con-sciousness is the causal agent of the three constraints. The soul is entrenched by itself in the mire of the three engulfing Fires. These three fires have the potency to keep the soul entertained for many lifetimes. But death has the potency to liberate the soul from the fetters of these three fires.
The death chains shaken off from programming, condi-tionings, tendencies, and karma, and freed from the fetters of the mind’s memories of the past and expecta-tions of a future, an aspirant who empirically knows the three fires that alight samsara, is freed from birth and death and rejoices in the realm of the Spirit. “Passed over” implies that the wise have diligently observed and kept vigilant of the three fires and death, consequently, have accomplished deprogramming the soul, they have gone beyond the three fires and death’s persecution or harassment or oppression in life.
The union of the three fires is that sole Heavenly Fire, which rests beyond mundane existence and is full of felicity. The wise, the praiseworthy, who know (empirically perceived) all these three by going beyond the presence of death and beholding union with that which gives birth and support to the three, for he be-comes as praiseworthy as God. Therefore, he who be-holds the unblemished Fire (beyond the three fires) is released from the jaws of death, thus rejoices in Svara-galoka.
Hearken. The aloft soul of the wise rises beyond the three Fires, for their soul, ascends beyond the dreaded consciousness of death. This is to be understood.
13. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: This is the transcendental, the Heavenly, chosen as the second boon, this Fire thee only will proclaim to people; the third boon ask.
In this instance, “The three Fires transcended,” implies that all variegated and multitudinous things are to be transcended, which are nothing other than one’s own consciousness, i.e., within the self’s own cognitive con-sciousness. Transcending the three states of mundane consciousnesses is the spiritual means and the only way the soul can attain the realm of unblemished Con-sciousness or Heavenly Fire. The maxim, “This fire thee only will proclaim,” in this instance, infers that the soul will return to earth and proclaim the means to attain the realm of the Spirit. Lord Vaivasvata imbibes and asks the soul to proclaim the grand idea of “tran-scendental-realization” as the means to attain freedom from the cycles of birth and death, and rejoice in the realm of the Spirit. This is Vaivasvata’s initial attempt to inculcate abstract and esoteric knowledge to the soul.
Hearken. Once this method is empirically known, then proclaim to others the means to attain the Heavenly Fire. This is to be understood.
14. DICTUM: The soul speaks: About this unmanifest (discarnate), doubt men; “one is in this manner,” “one is not so in this manner” the others; this “I” may know instructed by thee, third among the boons ask third.
This dictum implies the tenet of doubt. Doubt implies unknowing, undecisive, uncertainty, et al. Upon death, the Brahmana guest (Consciousness) that departs the house is questioned by men, because there is always an element of doubt that lingers in the mind. The soul wants to know the underlying reality, the substratum, the source of life because he has heard conflicting ap-praisals about that “something” which enters at birth in the man and departs out of the man at death.
There is doubt amongst men about the unmanifest-consciousness-being; is it this? Is it that? Neither this nor that, but something else? Over the dead and the (liberated) men, some say that there is (a God who con-trols), others say that there is not. Thus, this doubt has arisen in my mind. There is this doubt regarding the state of the man who attains Moksha; some say there is an individual Self or Form or Consciousness; others say there is not. So, the debate remains inconclusive and argumentative.
The soul wants to know and understand the truth of that which departs upon death, beyond any reasonable doubt, from the Lord of Death. We have already dis-cussed earlier in the series of e-papyrus ‘The Soul’ the paradigm of “doubt” presented by Descartes, who made a major issue of its predicates in his thesis as a necessi-ty.
It is vital to have no doubts linger in the heart and mind of an aspirant on the quest of the Light of Truth. The soul wants to ascertain and understand and the truth about the unmanifest consciousness, the immor-tal Spirit.
Hearken. The soul’s inquisition is this. Who, what, and whence “am I?” Who, what, and whence is “I”? What is the discarnate soul? “So, this “I” may know” is the clue to the inquisition of the soul derived from the verse. This is to be understood.
15. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: The gods here also of doubt formerly, because not easily known the subtlety of its nature, choose another boon, do not press me, let go me of this.
Thus, Lord Vaivasvata impresses and stresses to the soul that the abstract, deeply esoteric, and subtle knowledge of the discarnate being, the Soul, Atma, is not easily comprehensible, for even the gods formerly had difficulties comprehending such a thing; the dis-carnate soul’s subtlety or elusiveness is very hard to grasp, like that of an atom. Even gods, before they be-came gods, knew not much about the discarnate con-sciousness, upon their knowing, they became gods. Vaivasvata adds the word “here.” This implies the realm of the immortals. So, before gods were gods, they grappled with the same until they empirically knew, they then became gods in their realm. In other words, doubts and debates have raged on and on since time immemorial about this subject. It is extremely difficult to come to a reasoned understanding of that discarnate substance, the immortal Spirit, Atma. Therefore, kindly refrain from asking about it anymore, and Lord Vaivasvata pledges to waive him of such a boon.
16. DICTUM: The soul speaks: Gods also doubtful of this allege thou, O’ Death, this not easily known, how else reveal and utter as thee another not intelligible, none the other boon equal of this what so ever.
The soul alleges and indicts “Death” as the only teacher who would verily explicate such abstract knowledge about Atma! The irony is this. Such abstract knowledge cannot be imbibed by anyone whilst living; they have to confront death or die whilst living to gain such em-pirical knowledge insightfully! Therefore, an aspirant has to experience his own “Death,” for death but im-bibes that sought after divine and supreme knowledge of the discarnate consciousness.
This then suggests that an exercise or practise of death is a necessity to advance spiritually. The soul’s inquisi-tion is thus a confrontation with empirical death! How-ever, Lord Vaivasvata is reluctant to impart to the soul such as the abstract, esoteric, and subtlest knowledge. Say then, how else are we to attain empirical knowledge of such an important facet, essentially ig-nored by most, of our existence if we do not understand the attributes of the discarnate being?
Empirical knowing is the only true and worthy knowledge proclaim the Sages. Therefore, to under-stand the interwoven paradoxes, paradigms, and com-plexities of our existence, we must also, as a necessity, come to a reasoned understanding of the discarnate consciousness. After all, we did come to this birth from that discarnate state! Only, if we aspire to build a bridge and cross over the shark-infested waters of our lives into the blissful realm of the Spirit, then confronting our death is an integral part of our quest of the Light of Truth.
The inquisition of the soul is an inquest into death, the discarnate, and afterwards. Say then, inquires the soul, who else is fitting to expound the “knowledge” of the discarnate being other than Lord of Death? Who else is there to expose the paradigm of the discarnate other than the Spirit of Death?
Hearken. No one equals to Lord Vaivasvata is the deep-ly held faith of the soul. Besides, Lord Vaivasvata is the only principal receiver, upon death, of the discarnate souls! This is to be understood.
17. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Centenarian sons and grand-sons choose, many cattle, elephants, gold, horses on Earth. Large portion choose for thyself and live autumns as long as thou wishest. This of equal if thou thinkest a boon, choose wealth and living long in a mighty land, O’ Soul, thou be desireth thee longing par-take I do. Whatsoever the desire difficult to attain in the mortal world, all desires as wished to ask thou, these the delightful, with chariots, with musicians, not like these to be got by men, by me given to wait on thee. O’ Soul, of the discarnate thou shouldst not ask.
The Lord of Death is wilfully enticing the soul with a wealth of material things, like a carrot dangled in front of a donkey; the soul can have, on its return to embod-iment, any worldly things desirable in an instance, in-cluding long life, progenies, land, and wealth of materi-al things, which even the wealthiest amongst men find hard to gain. However, the supreme knowledge of that which is doubted, is but frowned upon by Death from been sought, pleads Vaivasvata.
Nothing in this material world you desire is beyond granting as a boon for your portion, only do not request further into and about the abstract esoteric soteriology and of “That” that lay beyond death. If thou thinkest (there is) any other boon like this, choose that also. Choose wealth and long life, be thou a king of the wide world, I shall make thee an object of desire even to those whom the world desires. Whatever desires are difficult of attainment in the mortal body, all those de-sires, fully mayst thou ask. These beautiful women with chariots and musical instruments may be thine, like them, men verily cannot get. Be thou served by them so given by me. But do not pursue me with the enquiry about the discarnate consciousness, i.e., do not enquire about the afterlife of a liberated discarnate soul and how that is attained. You can have anything you want for your portion, but do not ask for your portion the ultimate secretive knowledge that even gods were unable to grasp.
The dictum, “Death thou shouldst not ask,” indicts the secret of gaining immortality, which is the soul’s ulti-mate (final boon) inquisition. In fact, it is the inquisi-tive knowledge of the Soul. This is to be understood.
18. DICTUM: The soul speaks: Tomorrow situation of the mortal that death endeth, these of senses cause decay of vigour, also all of life short, in reality, thee the cause of thy pantomime. No avarice satisfied man shall obtain wealth knowing thee shall exist so long wilt thou rule, thus, thou boon verily mine to be selected. Undecaying immortal having approached, but the decaying mortal standing below on the Earth, producing, imagining, beauty, sexuality, joyousness, too long living of. Whatev-er now being uncertain, O’ Death, that inquiry into the future of the great and mighty, proclaim of that what this boon hide, no another therefore soul’s choice.
This dictum infers the concept of will and determina-tion of an Adept, unperturbed by the vicissitudes and transiency of materiality. The soul’s metaphysical re-flection is addressed to Lord Vaivasvata.
Adamantly and bravely, unshaken by passions and de-sires, the skilful soul turns down a humongous offer, because the soul realizes the ephemerality of all pleas-ures in life and life itself, so long as Death rules, for they do all come to an end; all these things come to pass, for they are mortal.
“Tomorrow, the situation of the mortal that death endeth.” Ultimately, there is death, decay, and dissolu-tion of everything material! Thus, the soul realizes the eventuality and ephemerality of everything destined by the unforgiving law of nature, ingrained like oil in oily seeds, for Time is a relentless tyrant. The soul realizes that as long as the destiny of death looms in the air, everything will always remain subject to its wrath only.
According to Uddalaka’s metaphysical reflections in the first verse, “He thought joyless surely those births to which he goes to them giving, verily, joyless are those worlds.” Say then, reaching the presence of the unde-caying and the undying, and knowing that higher gifts can be obtained from them than wealth, how a decay-ing mortal, a denizen of the lower sphere, can delight in long life while contemplating (the transitory nature of) the pleasures of beauty and love?
Knowing the nature of the Muktas who are free from decay and death, how can the decaying mortal, who has realised his own imperfection, put any faith in these apsaras constantly meditating over the Radiant-Form, the bliss of union, who can find joy even in the longest (earthly) life? Having (once) approached (the vicinity) of the undecaying and the undying when has ever an immortal been drawn down to the decaying mortality on earth? Even a long life is not desirable for remem-bering (the bye-gone) beauty, pleasures, and joys, but who can find real happiness in any given long life? The soul knows life is dukkha and transient.
Say then, how much and how long can one bear such pleasures of material wealth? The soul is aware of the drain of vigour sensual pleasures cause in a human body. But remarkably, the soul is but aware of the taste of freedom and eternal supreme bliss that the immortals experience in the realm of the Spirit, for the discarnate soul is witnessing the realm wherein the immortals roam freely and blissfully, as opposed to witnessing the decay on Earth of forms (Dictum 1).
This soul has realized the pantomime of unhappiness, sorrow, misery, dukkha, disease, decay, decrepitude, et al. Say then, how much external sensual pleasures can one tolerate? External pleasures are mostly (only) de-rived in waking consciousness, which amounts to but two-thirds of a full life; therefore, given ten thousand years of a full life, in actuality, it is merely around sev-en thousand years of waking consciousness. Besides, how many of those hours can actually be ecstatic? How many hours of orgasmic experiences can one derive? The body cannot cheat the destined law of nature, alt-hough the ego is more than ready and willing. It the ego, the soul realises, which drains the man of its vig-our and leads the man into early jaws of death.
The man is not satisfied with wealth alone and we are aware of thee, death, then how we shall enjoy wealth, and we shall live so long as thou not calleth. O’ Ender, all these enjoyments are transitory, for they exhaust all the energy of man. The longest life is indeed short. Thy vehicles, thy dancers, and thy singers are but the pan-tomime that remains with thee.
The soul has now the taste of freedom in the presence of the ageless Immortals, for it cognizes (glimpses) the presence of unlimited bliss. Imbibing such eternal bliss, and freedom derived from constraints of time, space, and body won by Immortals, is that which the soul is seeking. Say then, is several thousand years of mortal life comparable to limitless, timeless, spaceless, and matterless eternity? No! The eternity of the permanent sourceless, bodiless, and mindless freedom and bliss is incomparable to ephemeral pleasures! The soul realizes this in the presence of the Immortal Vaivasvata. Say then, how does the soul realize such bliss? It is free from the constraints of Uddalaka’s mind and body!
O’ Death, as with regards to the great hereafter, the state of the Immortals, they have raised this doubt, that indeed, tell thou. About which (people) have raised such doubts, reveal thou the secret doctrine of the Su-preme Liberation, as the subject of this boon has been kept a secret, so no other boon does I choose.
Hearken. Permanent residency of the realm of the Spirit is attainable and the skilful soul has had a taste of free-dom, thus, adamantly and aspiringly seeks only that boon, which is for my choosing only. This is to be un-derstood.
FIRST PLEA
SECOND CHAPTER
Lord Vaivasvata begins the exposition of the Immortal Yoga of Lord Vivasvan.
19. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Other the good, other also indeed the pleasant, these both having different implications; the embodied soul who bound of their good clings as renunciate; who indeed the pleasant chooses becomes weak and disturbed.
Good and pleasant, the man understanding these both discriminates; for the thoughtful chooses the good as the wise reject the pleasurable; the fool chooses the pleas-ant, possessions, preservation, avarice, lust-forms, and desires of yearning thoughts.
O’ Soul, swiftly-instantly outcast-eliminated these shack-les consisting of the acquisition of avarice, which sinks many men.
Afar these two-opposites, different, thus nescience (Avidya) and wisdom (Vidya) are known to an aspiring seeker of transcendental fire, for I believe not many de-sires distracted thee.
In nescience, amidst being bound and thinking oneself a proud scholar, as going astray travelling carriage, igno-rant blind indeed leading the blind.
No futurity appears to a child playing possessed as be-wildered ignorant in this world there is no other beyond; deluded again and again habitually arrive at me.
Heard also by many whom not attained by listening to many whom is not known; blessed a competent speaker who is realized and knows, is auspicious competent mas-ter; no unrealised inferior of manifold thoughts-mind can proclaim this with complete understanding.
Oneness taught the course of the soul through numerous forms of life in this matter not easy conceivable by rea-son the measure of an atom.
Not obtained seeking by inquiry, by the intellect taught by another, to realize the dearest.
I know this eternal gem is not found of the transient; this eternal that continually delude the soul by dividing the eternal Fire as thing transient as this self.
Thou art thee like no other inquisitive and praiseworthy Soul, alas, thou hast true resolve.
Lord Vaivasvata, at first, does not like to communicate his knowledge. Because thou insist on my teaching it to thee. The Lord Vaivasvata acknowledges that the praiseworthy soul swiftly renounced all material wealth, only to truly yearn and aspire to attain spiritual wealth. Thou hast denounced the path that leadeth to wealth in which many men perish. If presented with an option, they, the worldly, choose the pleasant (sense pleasures), but eventually fall victim, again and again, of death’s thraldom; but given a choice, the wise will always choose the good only.
All men can choose to pick between the good and the pleasurable. Men have been given the faculty of dis-crimination. The soul has had the immensely pleasura-ble offered to him on a plate, only the boon is rejected. A dull mind will choose the pleasant, but the wise will always choose the good from the pleasant. Nay, begot-ten of its good long term and attaining eternal blessed-ness and bliss, the soul rejects the ephemerals, for the choice presented to the soul is to return to its embodi-ment.
Good and pleasant are poles apart, like the North and the South; they are so divergent that they never ever can unite. What is good may not be pleasurable, for the good outlasts the pleasurable, because the pleasurable is transient only. In the verse, Lord Vaivasvata implies the difference between the knowledgeable and the knower, i.e., between an intellectual scholar (jnani) and a Sage, respectively. The intellectuals, the scholars, the theists, the priests, et al, are those who are unrealized and ignorant in their proud pertinent minds, deeming themselves very learned; these men are verily bewil-dered, crooked fools dwelling in darkness, wise in their own conceit, and puffed up with vain knowledge, go round and round, staggering to and fro, like blind men led by the blind.
The Hereafter never rises before the eyes of the careless child deluded by the delusion of the world. This is the world, he thinks, there is no other; thus, he falls again and again under death’s sway, like a child, the deluded men do not think and reflect that which lies beyond their physicality, for they put too much emphasis on their physicality. As most are so involved in the fulfil-ment of desires, so they forget to reflect. The ignorant mind is inebriated with sensual desires and avarice; act-ing heedless, mindless, and deluded like a possessed child, for it fails to open and expand its psyche to see the passage into another dimension.
The word, “know,” is imperative in this Upanishad; its implication is highlighted before by the author. Say then, how many such sanghas, assemblies, media, pod-casts, videos, congregations, kathas, et al, hold men spellbound by those “gurus” in the world? Many. Those self-confessed so-called “gurus” and “swamis,” who profess to know, only know not; they are in their es-sence egocentric dualist characters, for the dictum per-secutes those that think they can utter such knowledge; for they proudly think they are influenced by the Lord to impart such knowledge but to err. And besides, men who attend to hear remain ignorant, for they do neither listen nor live the wisdom, like the half-baked speakers and dualistic gurus! Words are deficient to express the inner experience, for any attempt to reduce That into words just derides the truth.
There is a big difference. Because such grace of true-knowing cannot fall off the mouth a corporeal being. All that is said and penned in ink can never reflect the “Real.” For that “Real” has to begotten empirically by the self only. Inferentially, the Lord of Death does nei-ther waste His breath nor His effort instructing a mun-dane soul seeking to merely hear. The Lord of Death uncompromisingly implies that only a wise and skilful adept can come to attend and effect his teachings; for that which is taught is subtler than subtlety, mystical beyond mystics, mysterious beyond mystery; shy of transient things (materiality), hidden beyond the ephemerals and pleasurable, is the secretive gem.
The word “skilful” implies practise by a proficient prac-titioner. A mundane mind can never comprehend other “worlds” beyond his current waking conscious realm. No amount of intelligence or IQ, no amount of cortical logic, no amount of heart-filled affectionate love, no amount of mathematics or geometry, could ever com-prehend Him nor will ever comprehend That! This in-fers that the Heavenly Flame, Svaraga, can only be known when the senses, body, mind and ego complexi-ties are arrested within the Self.
Say then, how can this be possible since there is neither a brain nor senses, neither mind nor heart to compre-hend? Say then, how can the dead come to this know-ing? This will be revealed through the grace of the Lord of Death in the following expositions of the Upanishad.
The soul charges “death” as the only revealer of “Him.” There is a faculty, namely, insight, which is a certitude, calm, and errorless, and also, there exists a Conscious-ness-Intellect beyond ordinary consciousness, which is extremely difficult to attain inferred in the verse. If it is revealed to one who is identified and united with It, then there is no uncertainty. If it has been taught as identical with ourselves, then there is no perception of anything else. If it has been taught by one who is iden-tified with it, then there is no failure in understanding it. When taught as non-different from Brahman, then there remains no other object of knowledge, for that is the highest state of knowing when the unity is realised.
When the non-duality is taught and understood then there is no returning back to ignorance, taught by a teacher who has realised oneness, then there is no want of comprehension. For such a teacher does not merely teach by words, but opens the interior faculty of the hearer, by which he is made capable of understanding the non-dual Self. Finding such a speaker is most aus-picious. Rare and miraculous are the blessed Sages who skilfully and insightfully attained oneness; these Su-preme Masters are the only ones to seek who know the wisdom of “That,” which is debated. Only, the wise Sages impart this wisdom to the ones deemed worthy (Adhikari); only then, perhaps, the knowing “comes” to fruition; as a seed sown on a fertile and well-prepared ground sprouts into a fructifying tree, for a seed sown on a rock fails to sprout, so knowledge fails to spiritual-ize in the inebriated minds of the worldly.
Lord Vaivasvata infers that supreme knowledge is nei-ther attainable by intellectual mastery nor merely by studying science nor metaphysics nor epistemology nor philosophy, et al., but skilfully only. The Lord of Death makes it abundantly clear: It is not attainable by logic or reasoning, for It is subtlest than subtlety, incompre-hensible and imperceptible by most, like an atom. This wisdom is not to be had by reasoning! Only, when the methodology is “imparted” by the grace through com-petent another, known as a steady footstool, it imbibes real empirical knowing, which is the wisdom that thou seeketh; paradoxically, the Flame is veiled by the Fires. When taught by a Vedantin, a non-dualist who identi-fies himself with Atma, there is left no doubt about It.
Inquisition of the soul as thou art is true resolve. Veri-ly, thou art steadfast in the quest of the Light of Truth! That is not obtained by seeking, by inquiry, by the in-tellect taught by another to realize the dearest. Thou art thee like no other inquisitive Soul, alas, thou hast true resolve. “I know this eternal gem is not found of the transient; this eternal that continually deludes the soul by dividing the eternal Fire as the thing transient as this self. Neither the Spirit nor its essence is made of matter.
The Spirit deludes men by dividing (reflecting) its es-sence into multifarious forms, as light of a lamp is seemingly divided into multifarious lights reflecting in the facets of a cut diamond, or as white light is seem-ingly divided up by a prism into coloured lights, or as Sunlight is seemingly divided to form a rainbow during the rainy season, or as the Moon seemingly is seen as many moons reflecting off a ruffled lake. This is to be understood.
20. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: O’ wise Soul, thou dismissed of desire fulfilment of the world founded on the sacrificial ceremony of future happiness, having seen but the fearless, secure, great infinite, thou held standing firm. Of desire fulfilment of the world good deeds endless fearless Supreme hymns great praise ref-uge know firm the wise.
The Lord of Death primarily indicts desires as the foun-dation of the world as the limitless creative impulse of the ego for the fulfilment of future happiness. Lord Vaivasvata propounds the exoteric but not yet the highest doctrine. This illusion is styled as Maya (Ego) in the Hindu scriptures. Lord Vaivasvata indicts desires as the causality of the world; desires are the executive powers of one’s thoughts, termed as will, which leads to actions, through the zeal of acquiring future happi-ness. Though the soul has witnessed the fulfilment of desires in its embodiment during Uddalaka’s life (artha, kama, and dharma) being skilful, discriminative, and wise, Uddalaka has with firm resolve dismissed them all for Moksha. Uddalaka lit the “sacrificial fire” and burnt his ego. This is the only sacrificial fire of ablution, for those other Vedic, rites, rituals, fires, and pujas are for future attainment only. Only, the endless bliss rests at the shore where there is no fear, magnified by praise, the realm of the Immortals, chooses the soul of Udda-laka. The soul chooses the good and rejects the pleasur-able. Aruna renounces fame, wealth, assets, et al, and resolves to cast aside all these ephemeral things for the portion of praiseworthy fearlessness and deathlessness as he yearns and aspires to the blessed spaceless infini-tude of the Immortals. The wise Aruna having cog-nized, reflected, and reasoned (Dictum 1) for its begot-ten good, steadfastly or resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering and unshakable understanding of worldly life and its contents, thus, renounces all desires of worldly things.
Lord Vaivasvata is impressed by the soul’s wisdom, because the soul of Aruna has demonstrated tenacity to renounce and tear through the illusion of materiality, i.e., Maya; as the soul surpasses its desires, condition-ings, and lusts, so graduates from the critical test and trap that Death had set for the soul. This takes a skilful aspiring, tenacity, listening, and comprehensive capa-bilities by the wise. This is not easy.
Material treasures are not forever possessed, for they are ephemeral; thus known, one shall obtain by things un-stable and transient that which are unstable and transi-ent; therefore, through the sacrifice of transient things is the “Real” approachable.
Desires of worldly things are cognized in our waking consciousness through our senses only, for the objects of senses have a powerful mesmerising pull in our psy-che, as nacre is taken for silver. But the spiritual aspira-tions and yearnings of the soul of Aruna are recognized by Lord Vaivasvata after Nachiketas firmly rejects ma-terial wealth for spiritual wealth. This is the test of one’s resolve, which is encountered by aspiring seekers of Truth. This is to be understood.
21. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: That ancient unapproachable mysterious Supreme Spirit having en-tered abides hidden in the abyss; the wise realize joy and sorrow left behind yoking to the essence of the Spirit.
Lord Vaivasvata reveals the only true approach the wise skilfully practice is yoking to the essence of the Spirit! For they then realize want of paradoxes. The word yok-ing in this instance implies Yoga.
It is impossible without the practice of silence, stillness, and the steadiness of the mind and body styled as medi-tation (dhyana) to empirically come to realize or know the ancient mysterious essence of the Spirit that abides hidden in the depth of the Self. It is shy of the egocen-tric mind.
The essence of the Spirit, that is, the Brahmana guest in the core is to be recognised. It would, therefore, im-ply that he who finds the essence of the unblemished Consciousness in his being. That Brahmana guest, who is the essence of the Heavenly Flame, is hidden in the cavernous core of the self, which is engulfed in dark-ness, veiled by the fires of desires, objects, senses, body, and the egocentric mind (unenlightened mind).
Lord Vaivasvata acknowledges Aruna’s skilfulness and respects his inspired, steadfast, and determined medita-tiveness, dhyana, the Yoga of Death, for Aruna has dived deep to the bottom of the abyss of the ocean to seek and attain the pearls of wisdom.
It is a well-oiled wick that seeks a lit candle; for the lit candle does not seek the wicks; as the Earth seeks and twirls but to dance around for the Sun’s light and heat, but the Sun remains as it always is, unperturbed.
Therefore, only when the Master is ready, do disciples appear, for they seek the Light of Truth. It is not that one has to construct a virtual bridge over the rough ocean of samsara or a raft to sail on the surface of the ocean, but learn to skilfully glide (capability) or dive in the deep of the ocean to avoid the rough undulations on the surface. Aruna has seen the rough undulating waves on the surface of the ocean (samsara), but he has also skilfully learned to become a deep-sea diver, where-in all undulations cease. As a moth is attracted to a lit candle flame in the darkness, for the flame is not at-tracted by the moth, so a man sunk deep in the dark-ness of materiality dives deep into the self to yearn for the pearls of wisdom. Only then does the Lord reveals the hidden cave where the Flame sits hidden deep with-in the man; in the abyss of man’s inner being lodged in his deepest self where that ancient Brahmana guest is seated.
A skilful Yogi approaches the hidden Flame through yoking in its glory cutting off from sensuality and mind; then all the paradoxes of mortal life’s sorrows and pleasures, waves and whirlpools, ups and downs are arrested. Nay, it is through the Yoga are all paradoxes cast off. This is approachable by the spirit-ritual merg-ing into the Flame.
The word “spiritual” is perhaps properly understood as the composite of two words, spirit and ritual, or a con-stant ritual of yoking to the spirit; unless and until the seeker empirically knows the Flame, he is not classified as “spiritual.” The “spirit-ritual” can also be termed as the “Yoking to Spirit” or “Yoga” in short; for yoking implies merging into that “Presence,” which is worthy of our utmost worship and adoration.
The English word, “spiritual,” is an insipid attempt to really understand the Sanskrit composite axiom, “adhyatma-yoga-dhi-gamena,” which has no correlative words or expressions in English. The composite, Adhyatma-yoga-dhi-gamena, implies transcendental (soul)-yoga-essence-transform, i.e., yoking or merging of the embodied soul, Jiva, into the essence of the Flame only to be transformed by the Flame into the Flame Itself; thus, the soul is “spiritualized.”
Inferentially, only the substance of spirit can blend into the substance of spirit, as it is impossible to blend a drop of oil in water, so only a drop made of the sub-stance of water can merge in the ocean. So, likewise, the substance made of the Flame can merge in the Flame only. Materiality is unstable and transient and through the unstable and the transient, only the unsta-ble and the transient is gained, for this is no gain at all. Spirit is eternal and stable, and by the stable and the permanent is the stable and the permanent attained, for it is the only Real. Prophet Jesus explained to Nicode-mus, as Vaivasvata explains to Nachiketas, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.” This is to be understood.
22. DICTUM: The soul speaks: I know (belief) and re-joice, for death is the cause of rejoicing, by partaking in isolating asunder this subtle upholder, having heard (endaural; insight; Sruti) and empirically know having approached of the transcendental seat of the delightful. Other than dharma, other than non-dharma, other than the past and other than future, other than this cause and effect, what that thou seest say thou.
The soul admits: “I know and rejoice, for death (Death; Vaivasvata) is the cause of rejoicing by isolating asun-der this (soul) subtle upholder.” Unless and not until one skilfully (having heard implies hearken; empirically know) has learned to “detach” and to “expiate” the Brahmana guest from the body, ego, memory, mind, and intellect complexes, one can never know and be-lieve of the blissful state of the blessed Flame that sits in the midst (heart, centre, core) of the self, i.e., the blessed Self, the essence of the Spirit within, is to be recognised whilst alive, although this is cognised upon death.
Any methodology to expiate the Brahmana guest is styled as death. When the Brahmana guest departs from the body is defined as death. Yoga-meditation should lead an aspirant to death only. Yoga-meditation is the practice of death whilst something preserves or lives. Death is the cause of rejoicing, for he who finds the delightful in his “alive” Self.
The soul seems to realise the delight of being separated from the fetters of the mind and body. Say then, who or what is “alive” after the demise of the body? There-fore, something is alive or lives beyond death and thereafter even. As the sentient tenet, Brahman guest, enters the body, so it departs upon death and carries with it the sentient tenet in a seed form. Only, the soul “comes to know” and “believe” in the infinitude of bliss, delight, and blessedness in the realm of the Spirit.
The soul will believe in the open and infinite abode of the Supreme Spirit, for the soul experiences infinite bliss in the presence of the Spirit. Therefore, Lord Vaivasvata advocates the methodology to isolate the soul from the body-mind complex (death) and rejoice in the blessed refuge of the Spirit.
The mortal Aruna, having forcefully separated from his body that subtle upholder, his soul, having won that which one can indeed delight in, and having got de-lights in the realm of the Spirit, attained the whole, the infinitude of the Universe, i.e., spacelessness, timeless-ness and matterless transcendental realm within its grasp.
The wise, through retrospective reasoning, understand their soul is open or vast as the sky, for it is their aspir-ing destination of skilful yoga, worship, and adoration. They have attained and rejoice in utter bliss of the tran-scendental realm whilst alive, for the unlimited Svaraga is their authentic and primordial home! Note that the Lord of Death imbibes insightfully knowledge into the soul only! The soul is conversing with Death having heard endaurally the discourse. This will be better un-derstood later on in these writings.
The skilful soul yearns to know. Then comes the soul’s inquisition, “Tell me of That thou seest amidst cause and effect, the pivot amidst paradoxes, that other than which is neither the cause nor the effect. That which is neither established (firm, steadfast, decree, statute, or-dinance, law) nor unestablished; tell me of that other, which is cognized neither as Vidya nor Avidya, neither knowledge nor ignorance, neither right nor wrong, nei-ther good nor bad, neither past nor future.
This dictum summons “the other,” or “that some-thing,” or “The Witness,” which neither manifests, nor sustains nor dissolves, that other which is beyond the space, time, and mind; that other that transcends para-doxes. That stillness untouched and unblemished by the waves, i.e., peaks and troughs of vicissitudes on the surface of the ocean of samsara. That which abides nei-ther in Sat nor Asat (existence nor non-existence), dharma (being) nor non-dharma (not-being), real nor unreal, thesis nor antithesis, birth nor death, et al; that transcendental other, which is beyond paradoxes. This is to be understood.
23. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: I declare to thee that which all the discourses on the philosophy of Brahman concisely infer; Atma is this. All the Sastras (Vedas; knowledge) whose concepts express penances, and all that what they proclaim is cravings!
Lord Vaivasvata declares: Atma is that which is amidst paradoxes! The Lord Vaivasvata indicts all the Sastras (Vedas; rites, rituals and customs) that advocate pen-ances, for men living piously, devotionally, and reli-giously, but practising those rites and rituals and aus-terities, fasting, celibacy, virtue, et al, declared in the Vedas, are merely seeds of cravings for future gains on-ly; the pious, bhaktas, devotees, and worshipers perform penances in anticipation of fulfilment of some cravings in the future only.
The Lord Vaivasvata charges the three ashramas of life, dharma, artha, and kama for the mere hope of desirous fulfilment in the future, for this appeases Brahma. In-ferentially, this appeases Vaivasvata also, for it is that which is the impulse of creation. The end goal of Vedas is neither salvation nor Moksha, but reincarnation for those enwrapped in Maya desiring for future gains, which appeases the creative impulse, Brahma.
There is inherent ignorance and duality in being reli-gious and its applications (bhakti) by pious men, for it leads man neither to the realm of the Spirit nor to im-mortality nor to the end goal of life, Moksha. The read-er should note that the expressions, Svaragaloka, Heav-enly Fire, Moksha, Immortality, and Supreme Seat are one and the same concept, for they differ in appella-tions only.
Atma is that which is concisely summarized in the phi-losophy in the Brahmasutras; only, this is the seat worth occupying amidst paradoxes. One bow, one ar-row, one aim, and the only target of philosophy is Atma.
The Lord Vaivasvata reveals that the only goal in life amidst paradoxes is to attend to Moksha. This is neither attained by sacrifices nor austerities advocated or incul-cated in the Vedas or exoteric Sastras. It matters not how deeply pious or religious or austere one is, for it never leads to the only goal in this life, Moksha, but leads one to another life here.
Brahma is an impersonal manifestation of all the world-ly desires and paradoxes, for they are the seeds of the causal creative impulses. Thus, inferentially, that would then brand Brahma the Mind. To empirically know and attain that seat amidst paradoxes is concisely summa-rised as Atma in the Brahmasutras, which is Moksha. Inferentially, Atma is beyond the mind, beyond Brah-ma. This is to be understood.
24. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Those who crave for the abode of Atma be highly esteemed. It, this, verily, is the imperishable Brahman! For this, verily, is the imperishable Supreme! For this, verily, is the imper-ishable Intelligence! This support best; this support the highest; this support intelligent. The majestic Soul is nei-ther born nor dies; knowing not this manifest nor unman-ifest, the unborn, the eternal, the permanent, the ancient, be slain, being slain, anybody. Killer if thinks killing, the killed if thinks killed, for they both know not; neither this kills nor is killed; is subtler than subtlest; mightier than mightiest, for the glory of the Atma realized encamped within cavity of beings; cause of its grace in him devoid of volition, is free from miseries. Sitting far away thus he goes, lying down goes everywhere who him intoxicated illusion, demigod other than me to know deserves.
Deservedly, that Bright One, other than self is Atma. Verily, “Atma” is the highest, the ultimate, and the imperishable; verily, is the seat of the transcendental Atma, Adhyatma. Lord Vaivasvata reveals, know the Atma who is seated amidst the paradoxes, for Atma is seated beyond Asat and Sat, Vidya and Avidya, etc. The dictum strangely but curiously declares, “those who crave for It,” implies that Atma is the ultimate target of the seeker, the ultimate aspiration of the soul’s inquisi-tion seeking the Light of Truth.
The transcendental base, Atma, once known, all spir-itual aspirations are fulfilled, for it is the knowledge, Intellect, and Reality or the Light of Truth, for the ar-row flights no further than the target.
The dictum does not imply that once we attain the highest, whatever one shall desire or wish for, all that we lack in life, like material wealth etc will be his in an instance. That which is sought after by the Adhikari is spiritual wealth, for it is the only wealth worth aspiring for in life! Ultimately, It is the soul’s aim to unshackle itself from the mind filled with cravings and maintain steadfastly afar from such, but continuously, vigilantly, and relentlessly, aspire to Atma. It is a caveat to allow the ego and desires to rule-the-roost all over again, for that leads the aspirant to dire perdition. As all the un-manifest desires are potential seeds in Brahma, so de-sires are causal of all manifestations.
If this dictum is to be properly understood, it is the cravings that manifest the world and its materialistic contents. Brahma is the manifestation of all those de-sires, personal and impersonal. There is a gap bridgeable between the exoteric Brahma and the esoteric Brah-man, between the manifest and the unmanifest, be-tween the manifest and the Absolute transcendental; for to empirically know how to bridge this gap is the aim of this Upanishad.
The wise one who comes to empirically know or yoke to Atma has attained to that seat amidst the uncaused and caused, for they are a miracle of greatness unfath-omable. Atma is transcendental, omnipresent, omnisci-ent, and omnipotent, for all spiritual aspirations of the self are fulfilled by the Atma. The maxim, “This sup-port is the best; this support is the highest, having known,” exalts the virtue of an egoless and fearless life once Atma is empirically known, for one is acquainted with the true knowledge of Atma through Yoga only.
Lord Vaivasvata glorifies Atma as that which is neither born nor dies: The primordial Atma is uncaused and sourceless, deathless and unborn, formless and unmani-fest existent, timeless and eternal, everlasting, unend-ing, and immutable, neither slayable nor slays. Atma is not slain by any bullet, sword, or bomb. Both, the mur-derer and the murdered are ignorant if they think one kills (perpetrator) and the other one is killed (victim). Atma is that which is indestructible and imperishable.
Atma is alone and constant, without body or birth, merely the essence of beingness only, the ultimate Re-ality.
The simile inculcated by Sage Vyasa in the Bhagavad Gita, chapter II, (16-21); Sri Krishna declares to Arjuna on the battlefield: “Know that alone to be imperishable, which pervades this universe; for no one has the power to destroy this indestructible substance. All these bod-ies pertaining to the imperishable, indefinable, and eternal Atma, are spoken of as perishable. Both are ig-norant, he who considers the Atma to be capable of killing and he who takes it as killed; for verily the Atma neither kills nor is killed. The essence of Atma within is never born nor it ever dies, nor does it become so, for it is unborn, eternal, everlasting and primaeval; even though the body is slain, the soul is not. Arjuna, the man who knows this soul to be imperishable, eternal, and free from birth and decay; how and whom will he cause to be killed, how and whom will he kill?”
Furthermore, Lord Vaivasvata implies that Atma is sub-tler than an atom, finer than the finest; larger than the largest, for the soul of the creature lays hidden in the secret cavern or heart or core. For the man who has stripped himself of thoughts, will and action; one who is weaned from restlessness, purified from the psychic elements, of the greatness of Atma he beholds.
The word “infinite” applies at both ends of small and large, i.e., unendingly smaller and unendingly larger, respectively. To find the smallest “God particle” is but to err, for we have no idea of infinity’s accountability of its astronomical minuteness or hugeness. There is not a single instrument that can measure the infinite! To chase either end is exoteric futility, but to remain in harmony amidst of paradoxes declares Lord Vaivasvata, for it is free of sorrow.
The wise one, thus purified, stripped of his will, surren-ders, for he no longer thinks or acts, for he has erased from his mind paradoxes through the grace of Atma. Purified implies that the three predicates, thoughts will, and acts, which are the only ablutions, for restlessness does not lead one to the self-discovery of Atma; for on-ly the purified yoke to the supreme Atma, i.e., know of Its presence within. Having skilfully arrested the mind’s modifications, the soul then remains untar-nished, for only then, the soul beholds the glory of the glorious, infinitude of the infinite, and bliss of the blissful.
Lord Vaivasvata further declares that Atma’s abode is hidden in the centre of our being. Say then, is the heart the seat of the Atma? No! This maxim is spoken of by Lord Vaivasvata metaphorically. Most, if not all, com-mentators romantically-emotionally point to the gross heart as that centre where the soul abides and believe this to be so, but we can comprehend through the texts a metaphoric, mystical, and noumenal centre, not to be mistaken for a gross organ. The soul, after all, said and done, is neither a material substance nor a phenomenon nor an object of perception nor an object of surgical excision to be pointed at, located, and extracted! There-fore, Lord Vaivasvata is reluctant to pass this knowledge because it is very difficult to understand the subtlest encamped in the being.
The dictum, “Sitting far away thus he goes, lying down goes everywhere who him intoxicated illusion, demigod other than me to know deserves,” has two possible ex-planations. Either, it implies spacelessness of the dis-carnate, for that seat is primaeval, fixed, unmovable, motionless, immutable and transcendental. There are no paradoxes in the unbound Bright One such as joy and sorrow, darkness and light, which are deservedly for the embodied, for the discarnate can perceive from far the embodied; often the unbound can perceive the oth-er-self in sleep (repose). Or, it implies he who is inebri-ated with the illusion of Maya far departs in every di-rection. It implies the mind, which journeys through its imaginations, for the mind wanders around the world daydreaming; the mind is a restless nomad whilst awake (sitting), for the mind afar wanders, but whilst in repose (dream-sleep), the mind goes everywhere; be-cause it is inebriated with unrealities of the world.
Lord Vaivasvata further implies that other than me, that demigod, Atma, is deservedly worth knowing; for he who sees the illusion of the mind in its waking and dreaming consciousnesses is free from sorrows. An ig-norant mind is a self-fouling and self-fooling prophesy of mankind, for it can neither behold the Truth nor the Reality.
An enlightened mind is a faculty of a super-conscious Intellect, which is, in fact, the Soul, for knowledge is imbibed as insight. Intuition and instincts are whispers of the Soul imbibed into the mundane mind. Reality and esoteric knowledge can only be imbibed through the soul and subsequently imbibed into the intellect.
This Gita, in its essence, is a dialogue between the Lord Vaivasvata and the soul in response to the soul’s inqui-sition, i.e., between a Master and his disciple, Intellect and intellect, Father and son, Atma and Atmani, but to know Atma worthy of praise! This is to be understood.
25. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Formless in different ephemeral bodies situated for a long duration (who is the origin of the material world) the Almighty (Mahantam) Himself, knowing the sober not grieve.
Lord Vaivasvata implies that the stable, egoless, omni-present, and formless abides in the ephemeral self for a long time who is the origin of the material world. Alt-hough the body is ephemeral, only therein abides the eternal Spirit. The Spirit can neither be pinned down nor pointed at nor located, for the essence of the Spirit is an omnipresent substance! A skilful Yogi, having realized that his soul is the formless and omnipresent substance that abides in the ephemeral body, grieves no longer.
Realising the bodiless in bodies, as the egoless and om-nipresent Soul, the established in things unstable, the steadfast grieves no longer.
Mahantam is Vedic a Sanskrit word that implies Great-ness, Noble. It consists of two words, namely, Maam or Self and Hantam or End. Therefore, Mahantam is also an absence of selfish desires and ego. Not surprisingly, according to Vedic knowledge and wisdom, a selfish person can seldom qualify as great. Thus, an Adept grieves no longer for the loss of his ego and material things like possessions, consorts, progenies, family, wealth, property, et al., for he realizes that the soul is omnipresent and eternal! He stops chasing after ephem-eral substances (love and pleasures) that apparently fills his heart with what he thinks will bring him happiness; for he annihilates his ego-filled with superfluous happi-ness and misery, gains or losses, as a consequence of placing too much emphasis on erroneous physical life filled with nescience. In fact, it is not happiness at all, but mere pleasures; but ephemeral joy, fun, and laugh-ter, misconstrued as happiness and sundry, are poles apart from bliss. This infers that no one can, except a skilful Yogi, through the grace of Atma, experience authentic true happiness.
The soul comes to realize and know in Yoga the Atma’s supreme perfection and bliss empirically. Lord Vaivasvata refers to the authentic happiness or bliss, which the blessed soul comes to realize. But, greater than that ephemeral rapturous inner happiness, though experienced within corporeality, is the tranquillity, for there is no other happiness, other than freedom from the mind, which is styled bliss! For the mind is para-doxes par excellence! This is to be understood.
26. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Neither, This, Self, Atma, taught nor obtain by logic nor by much hearing, whom even this prayed; by Him found by Him, This the Self reveals body bare.
The dictum, “Neither, This-Self-Atma,” implies that the divine knowledge of the Self or Atma or the One is neither won by teaching nor logic nor hearing. Lord Vaivasvata declares one the greatest doctrines on Atma! In this instance, “Gita (Gita)” is the Self or Atma. Lord Vaivasvata declares that absolutely nothing you can do mentally, nothing you have ever imagined bodily con-querable, neither asanas nor mudras nor rites nor rituals nor logic (IQ) nor learning nor austerities nor verbally heard nor praying nor verbal Japa nor living in ashrams nor abiding near the Ganges nor taking a solitary abode in the Himalayas nor abiding alongside a Guru; noth-ing, nothing, nothing, bodily nor mentally nor sensual-ly you can do for that Sovereign Lord to reveal its pres-ence to you, unless and until Atma chooses to reveal Itself to you! The Self reveals the Self to the Self.
The Atma is neither to be won nor attained by eloquent teaching nor by mental power nor by much learning: but only Atma whom Atma chooses can win Atma. Lord Vaivasvata allegorically declares to the soul, “By Him found by Him, This the Self, reveals body own.” This implies that there is nothing anywhere that can reveal the Atma’s presence within the body unless the Self reveals the Self within one’s own body; its pres-ence is felt as benign supreme rapturous happiness and bliss within.
Inferentially and paradoxically, Lord Vaivasvata implies that there is nowhere else in the whole Universe, in any loka or any realm, where Atma can be realized, but within the self! Paradoxically, the sanctified core of the macrocosm is only realizable in the microcosm! Only, through Yoga, Atma’s incredible presence once known, can never ever be erased or forgotten, for the soul re-tains that solemn reminiscence! Absolutely nothing worldly or astral or causal can match Atma’s realiza-tion, neither its benevolence nor its sanctity. It is to be realized through the practice the Immortal Yoga, but to remain receptive in the absolute stillness. Thus, Atma is “the” Supreme Guru that imbibes the “Grace or Dik-sha” worth receiving if the seeker is deemed sincere and Adhikari by the Atma only.
If a rare soul has miraculously met with or evoked Atma’s grace and alliance in this life, i.e., spirit-ritual aspirations and efforts, by steadfast, stillness, and mo-tionlessness during the practice of Yoga of Death, then perhaps, the soul comes to realize and know its own status whilst embodied! This is implied allegorically, “by Him found Him, this the Self reveals body bare.”
Then, the Adept’s body becomes a sovereign temple, enshrined in the sanctity of Atma. A fully enshrined alliance with Atma in the body can never ordinarily be imaginable, for the miracle of miracles does happen, but to live the life of remembrance is nought compared to its constant presence felt.
The wise skilfully develop in meditation the receptivity, surrender, stillness, motionlessness, and thoughtless-ness; for Atma then “chooses” to reveal “Itself by It-self” when the body-mind complex is annihilated only, i.e., by the soul transforming into Atma is Atma real-ized or known or revealed. This Atma is neither to be obtained by many explanations nor by the intellect nor by much learning. Atma can be revealed by the Atma to the Atmani that is deeply yearning only. Atma re-veals itself only to those whom it chooses; if you are among the chosen it means you have cultivated good qualities, made sincere efforts and worked hard within yourself. Grace is the result of sincere effort.
The soul realizes its own truth!
Say then, If Atma is realizable by Atma’s grace only, what is the use of renunciations (Vairagya) and dis-criminations (Viveka)? To this, the Shruti replies that Jnana (Right Knowledge) is necessary in order to get that grace. This is to be understood.
27. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Not un-worldly wicked, not tranquil; not concentrated; not tran-quil sensual mind even, by knowledge not conferred. To whom Brahmin and Kshatriya develop as soup; death to whom over-sprinkling; who thus know whither He?
Lord Vaivasvata summaries the “Limbs of Yoga” by negation, “Not unworldly wicked, not tranquil, not concentrated; not tranquil sensual mind even, by knowledge this not conferred.” This dictum is to be read as a continuation from the previous. This dictum can be read as an antonym also; “detached, good, tran-quil, concentrated, subdued senses and mind, can knowledge be conferred.
Lord Krishna says to Arjuna, “Hardly anyone perceives this soul as marvellous, scares another likewise speaks thereof as marvellous and scares another hears of it as marvellous, while there are some who know It not even of hearing of It.”
Inferentially, Lord Vaivasvata declares that these are some of the initial steps or ladder or “limbs of Yoga” to be conferred as knowledge. Conferred as knowledge implies living and practising wisdom. For the mind is restless. For the mind cannot behold Reality. For the mind is a veil that prevents the soul from its aspiration-al spiritual quest. For the ego is the shutter. In fact, it is the self that is the veil, shutter, shackle, et al, busy and attached to worldly life, Maya. So, the right knowledge or wisdom but to tranquillize the mind, to unshackle the soul, is paramount for the grace of Atma to diffuse into the being.
Vairagya and Viveka are the two stems of the tree of knowledge (life) that unshackles the soul from bond-age. Adhikari but implies one who is endowed with these two qualities. The priest, heroes, and pious the-ists, who pray, defend, and study, respectively, are merely vocational exercises in vain. Brahmins are the pious priests who are the beholders of Vedic knowledge, and the Kshatriyas are the defenders of such piety and dharma. For neither of these vocational acts and prac-tices lead to Vairagya or Viveka, but to gains; for scrip-tural knowledge is no knowledge implies in this Gita.
Those acts of the mind and body are in vain by the pi-ous and the heroes, for they are perpetrated merely for gains. Mental and physical acts, rites, and rituals do not confer that wisdom; these fail to accomplish and confer salvation and do not affect the elusive grace of Atma. In the dictum, the word, “wicked,” indicts wrongful and unjust thoughts, willing, and actions, i.e., deeds and conducts mental or physical for gains! The materi-alists, who do not see beyond their physicality and mentality, who are made manifest out of elements are merely recycled as food, again and again. Thus, they are merely alive carcasses (mortals) fit only as food servings at the Lord of Death’s banquet.
The Bhagavad Gita defines a rightful act and wrongful act. The Bhagavad Gita defines the rightful act as those acts (spiritual), which are for want of gains. According to the Bhagavad Gita, chapter XI, Lord Krishna de-clares, “These warriors stand already slain by me, they stand already killed by me.” So, Arjuna fight.”
At any given moment, death will overcome them all. How then shall one know of Him where He abideth? Paradoxically, there are no particulates in the whole body that are motionless, but the motionless principle is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, sentient and insentient in things, but nowhere to be found abiding!
As “Dharana” develops in a yogi, as thoughts, will, deeds and the undulations of mind and body cease, so through constant practise, a yogi develops a calm and tranquil mind. Then and not before can the yogi through retrospective reasoning and understanding at-tain to the subtleties of knowledge; that subtlest es-sence of that substance in whom all disappear, and in whom even death is swallowed up. This is to be under-stood.
FIRST PLEA
THIRD CHAPTER
Lord Vaivasvata’s exposition
of Maya.
28. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Nectar drink those two (pibantau) gatekeepers, goodness world cavity entered Spirit ether like the shadow, the knowers of Brahma do say five holders who and triple Nachiketas Fires.
“Of goodness drink both the Spirit and the Atmani, for the virtuous two entered as gatekeepers abiding in the world,” indicts the virtuous two who abide (choose above pleasures) in goodness entered in this world of paradoxes, for goodness is accomplished without thoughts of gains and both drink the nectar in this world even. Although the essence of the Spirit descends from Its highest Supreme abode into materiality as a shadow we style as Atmani, the wise who partake in goodness enjoy, like the Immortals, in the realm of the Spirit, the nectar of the Spiritual realm even in this world. The essence of the Spirit, like a shadow of light, Atmani, enters as a guest in the all. The wise drink from the pool of goodness.
The virtuous Atmani takes birth in this world unblem-ished. Like the purity of gold is tarnished through cop-per, the purity of Atmani becomes tarnished through the five senses, objects, consciousness, and importantly through the ego. Some scholars say the two (piban-tau) is explained as the higher and lower Brahma, the for-mer being the light, the latter the shadow. Only, there are no two, higher and lower Brahmans, light and shadow respectively. Atma or Brahman can be said to drink the reward (ritapa) of nectar, although as it is above all works and above all rewards, only Atma and Brahman are nothing but goodness and the “nectar” Itself. The abode of Atma is nothing but incomprehen-sible happiness!
The rightful acts, inculcated in the Bhagavad Gita, does not affect karma of which mutually they both drink. The real “drinkers” are Atmani and Spirit. The two par-ticular aspects of the Supreme are Atma and Antaratma (inner-soul; embodied soul; Atmani). There are “seem-ingly” two souls, a lower soul (Atmani; Jivatma) em-bodied in the cavity of the body, and chained to the fetters of the mind, and a higher Soul (Atma) omni-present in the world; for it is Atmani, which is the shadow of Atma reflected from its own effulgence, for the former transmigrates inebriated through desires and the latter is free. For one is Avidya and the other Vidya respectively.
Inferentially, it indicts the Atmani chained to the fet-ters of the mind in materiality and to the material world. But the Atma, which is Supreme, and Atmani are thus mutually tied to each other and abide as One; for Atma’s own light casts a shadow as Atmani.
The dictum, “the knowers of Brahma do say five-holder who and triple-Nachiketas Fires,” indicts the One as the (who) beholder of five senses or systems or elements, which is the mind, and the supporter of the three con-sciousnesses, which again is the mind only. The know-ers of Brahma are knowers of the mind. Brahma is the intellect, the mind, the memory and the ego and the thoughts, intentions, and actions, i.e., an ideal, which is well accomplished, perfectly executed, and perfectly architectured; like the light and its reflection, a shadow cast onto the mirror of the mind; for Atmani is lodged, ingrained, abide, imagined in as the idea or as the vir-tuous essence of Being. Beingness cannot be separated from the Atma nor Brahman.
Dualism implies the division of something conceptually into two opposed or contrasted aspects, or the state of being so divided, as opposed to Oneness or Monism. All human beings are born in duality to be overwhelmed because of dualism, out of which arises the chains that shackle the soul. This is to be understood.
29. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Who bridge of the sacrifices, imperishable the Brahman that tran-scendental fearless, who wish to cross transcendental soul able.
The dictum, “Who bridge of the sacrifices,” indicts the one who has the capability to sacrifice the five systems and the three fires, i.e., the body made of five elements and attributes, three consciousnesses, his ego, mind, memory, and intellect into ashes, is a soul endowed with Vairagya and Viveka, Adhikari; for he bridges over the shark-infested shore of samsara to the transcenden-tal shore of bliss, that which lay beyond fear. In this instance, fear implies death.
According to the Bhagavad Gita, chapter III, Lord Krishna declares, “All beings are evolved from food; production of food is dependent on rain; rain ensues from sacrifice, and sacrifice is rooted in prescribed ac-tion. Know that prescribed action has its origin in the Vedas, and the Vedas proceed from the Indestructible (God); hence the all-pervading Infinite is always present in sacrifice.”
Atmani unshackled from the fetters of the body and mind merges into Atma only. The Agni earlier referred to as Vaishvanarah or Svaragaloka Flame is pure Con-sciousness without blemish, Atma, that is, “the Immor-tal principle.” Therefore, the Adhikari, through the grace of Atma only, leaps over those blemished con-sciousnesses to the blessed pure Consciousness. It is in a sense that which conveys, embalms, transforms, transmutates the soul into its primordial abode of One-ness.
In other words, a man who lights the Flame of the Im-mortal Yoga crosses over into the Supreme of assured immortality. The reader should not confuse the inferior tenet, metempsychosis (rebirth; reincarnation) to the superior tenet, transformation (beyond rebirth). The capable Adhikari’ leap into Pure Consciousness annihi-lates dualism, i.e., from the shore of Dvaita (Samkhya) to the shore of Advaita, Avidya to Vidya, mortality to Immortality, metempsychosis to transmutation. This is to be understood.
30. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Atmani seated in the chariot; know thou the body the chariot just so verily the intellect verily the charioteer; know thou the mind the reins just so and verily the senses, horses say the objects their the roads soul-senses-mind joined the enjoyer, thus say the wise who but without wisdom; be-comes attached with the mind, always his the senses un-manageable untamed horses, just so of the charioteer; who but with wisdom becomes detached with the mind always his the senses manageable tamed horses, just so of the charioteer; who but without wisdom becomes un-mindful always impure not he that seat reaches the transmigratory cycle and goes over; who but with wis-dom becomes balanced mind always pure he but that seat from which again not is born.
This dictum indicts causality; a delicate chain of cause and effect that drives the life in motion or becoming. Thus, sensual perceptions of desirable objects are the motive of motion or the cause that sets a chain of events of becoming. Most human beings place too much emphasis on being attached to their body and senses as the source of their pleasure, i.e., they derive joy through their body and objects of senses. It is the objects, which is the cause of motion, whether outside the mind or within the mind. The tenet of mentalism is hidden in this dictum. Through ignorance, humanity is busy chasing those pleasurable sense objects of the fu-ture in the present; but by disobeying their discrimina-tive ability and intuitions, they become miserable in doing so; as they are essentially slaves of their untamed senses, so there is no end to their desires.
Contented, the wise through discriminative reasoning, reflection, and wisdom best manage to reach the goal in life through taming their sensual perceptions and de-sires. Amongst the important medallions worth acquir-ing in life, permanently hanging around one’s altar, as reminders of their noble greatness or noble achieve-ments are, right knowledge, alertness, and purity. Thus, knowingly, the Adhikari drives his intellect away from the pleasant towards his good, i.e., by discriminative reasoning, he drives his senses towards the good, afar from the pleasant.
Lord Vaivasvata explains the metaphor of the human chariot: The objects are the many paths that lead the untamed horses, i.e., the five senses, haphazardly in all directions; the paths that lead the senses astray are taste, smell, sight, hearing, and touching. The reins of the horses, i.e., the mind, are unmanaged by the chari-oteer who is unknowledgeable. It is worldly desires, like an intoxicant, which inebriate the intellect into chaotic charioteering. For the star guest passenger seated with-in is caged in the chariot and forced to experience all topsy-turvy roads. Through the intellect’s well-informed discrimination, understanding, and wisdom the Adhikari chooses to steer the chariot along a straight and narrow path even though the objects sur-round the seeker, which primes the passenger to the goal.
The Yogi who has fully conquered his mind and mas-tered his senses, whose mind is pure, and who has iden-tified himself with the Self of all beings, remains un-tainted, even though performing action. Lord Vaivasvata points out to the soul in the metaphor of the chariot that the goal is not to be born again. He who through knowledge (knowing), endowed with wis-dom, becomes of a balanced mind (harmony) always pure, which is that that seat (sukhasana; best asana) from which he is not born again. This is to be under-stood.
31. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Higher veri-ly the objects, than the objects and superior, manas; than the manas higher, but buddhi; than the buddhi, Atmani great; Greater than great, the unmanifest; than the un-manifest, Unmanifest Brahman, transcendental than Brahman none transcends anything, He, the end, He transcendental goal.
According to Lord Vaivasvata: Than the senses, the objects of the senses are higher; and higher than the objects of the senses is the mind; and higher than the mind is the faculty of discrimination, intellect; and higher than the intellect is the great soul; and higher than the great soul is the unmanifest Atma; and higher than the unmanifest Atma is the Brahman: than the Brahman, there is none superior: He is the culmination, for He is the highest goal.
According to the Bhagavad Gita, chapter III, Lord Krishna declares: “The senses, the mind and the intel-lect are declared to be desires seat; covering the knowledge through these, desire deludes the embodied soul: The senses are said to be greater than the body, but greater than the senses is the mind. Greater than the mind is the intellect, and what is greater than the intellect is He, of the Self.”
The author highlights here the divergence between the two doctrines; ultimately, there should be none, be-cause Lord Vishnu’s transmission to Lord Vivasvan and subsequently to Lord Vaivasvata should be indisputably sealed. Then the Bhagavad Gita converges, undoubted-ly, in chapter VIII, a verse uttered by Lord Krishna, further declares: “Beyond this Unmanifest, there is yet another eternal Unmanifest, that Supremely Divine Substance, which does not perish even though all be-ings perish: The Unmanifest, spoken of as the inde-structible, is called the Supreme Goal; that is My su-preme Abode, attaining which man does not return.” Only, “My supreme abode,” implicates Brahman and nothing else besides. Therefore, this is the ultimate abode of the Immortals, the knowers of Brahman.
Thus, both doctrines, the Bhagavad Gita and Vaivasvata Gita ultimately converge into a similitude of esoteric teachings of the soul inquisition. For, Na-chiketas and Arjuna are both alike; for they are both Atmani’s on an inquest; for they both turn towards the Light of Atma. The Shrutis (Sutra; Gita) of Lord Vaivasvata and Lord Krishna are similar by nature.
Lord Vaivasvata urges one to remain unconditioned and unbiased. The dictum indicates the very “place” or “consciousness,” which is higher than the seat of bud-dhi, where all psychic faculties perish, a seat beyond any concepts, notions, and knowledge, beyond the clouds, where abides the clear open sky, the Unmani-fest causeless Flame, the Soul, Atma. Here, in the mi-crocosm, abides the Soul of the Universe, and that be-yond is the seat of the Absolute Brahman. All dormant or manifest ideations are but potentialities! We may also tentatively reach an understanding of manifesta-tion. The word, “Saguna,” implies with gunas; the Ra-jas, Virat, Worldly; Mahat, Sattvic, Cosmic, and Tamas, Earthy; as they are the three composites, three potenti-alities, three ideas, three permutations of conscious-nesses, et al, so those do not, in essence, reside in the Absolute Unmanifest Brahman.
The word, “Nirguna,” implies without gunas, for the essence of Brahman is the unblemished whole. If we even think and say that they reside in the Brahman, then we err greatly; for the gunas reside in the mind, in the Saguna Brahma, like the Sankalpa Samadhi in med-itation, which is Samadhi with attributes or image-animations, only, not in Yoga. For in the “Yoga of Immortality” there is only Nirvikalpa or Nirviguna Sa-madhi! This is to be understood.
32. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: This in all elements hidden, Atma; not shine forth is seen but by sharp (buddhya) intellect, by the subtle, subtle seen.
In the dictum, “This,” implies the unmanifest essence of the Spirit. Say then, if the body-senses-ego-mind complexes are annihilated, what faculty is there to “perceive” or “cognize” that which shines forth? What faculty or tool is there during deep sleep, when senses and mind are subdued, to cognize anything?
Whereupon waking, we can say,” we had good sleep,” which is remarked in the past tense always. Therefore, ordinarily, no faculty is present to cognize deep sleep consciousness, which seemingly is a total annihilation or anaesthesia of unconsciousness recalled upon wak-ing. There is an unexplainable gap between waking and sleep! Therefore, human beings spend almost a third of their life unconscious or for want of alertness. Only, this arises because the ego rises. It is the unconscious-ness of the ego only. But the subtlest seers in deep meditation can remain aware in sleep!
Lord Vaivasvata declares that Atma remains hidden, pervaded in all inert and sentient existences; for it can-not be perceived primarily due to its veiling by the body-sense-mind complexities and materiality, i.e., ego. In the previous verse, it is declared that Atma is higher than the Atmani; for even our soul (Atmani) cannot be perceived or cognized by those agents of the body.
Say then, what agents or faculties are there in the whole universe to perceive the soul or Atma? However, Lord Vaivasvata has already declared earlier that Atma is perceived by the Atma if it so chooses to be cognized by itself. The secret great Atma in all existences does not manifest itself to sight. Atma is a verb not a noun. It is not an object of perception! It is the subject not the object! Yet, Lord Vaivasvata declares, Atma is seen by the sharp intellect of the seers of the subtle by the subtle of perfect understanding. Lord Vaivasvata then explains to the soul that Atma is cognized insightfully, in the sharp intellect of the seer and not otherwise; for the faculties of senses, ego, mind, memory, and intel-lect, are set below Atma’s rank. Atma is the subject of all objects, i.e., the underlying substratum of all.
The dictum infers that now further understand the words, “buddhi, buddhim and buddhyam,” for it trans-mutates into the word, “Buddha,” i.e., into a perfected understanding of the beholder’s intellect. Interestingly, “dhi” implies “essence,” which transforms into, “dha,” a “fully perfected enlightened essence.” Furthermore, the word, “seer,” implies those holiest of Holy Ones, i.e., the Adept Yogis, Rishis, Muktas, Samyagdar-shanam Brahmanas, Buddhas, Shrutas, Drashtas, et al, who have attained the “Buddha” state; they are the seers of the subtle.
The unmanifest, “That-Which-Is,” is the subtlest of the subtle; the unstruck, the invisible, the omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent substance, the Spirit, per-vading the whole. This is to be understood.
33. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Should merge the speech (vak) in the mind the wise; that should merge in the buddhi, the Atmani buddhi manifest Atmani should merge in the quiet.
Lord Vaivasvata continues with his abstract and esoter-ic discourse on the limbs of Yoga to the soul. This dic-tum is applicable to abstraction or “Dharana,” as a rung higher towards liberation. The wise (Adept) restrain speech (thought) in his mind and the mind in his dis-criminating faculty, the intellect, and that intellect re-straint in the soul, and that again let him restrain the soul in the stillness.
Lord Vaivasvata advocates the soul to restrain itself, in itself in the stillness. The Sanskrit word, “Vak,” trans-lated to English as “speech” actually implies “cognitive faculties of senses as language,” which arise only from our thoughts; for the words that may subsequently give rise to ideas and a will to execute them potentially to actions, i.e., causality or cause and effect. Speech is a clever disguise of mental restlessness or thoughts, which are articulated by the air exhaled through the larynx and lips. However, thoughts without speech are also disguised as mental restlessness or one and the same thing. Therefore, the word “speech” in the dictum implies “thoughts and imaginations” that are to be re-strained or renounced.
Say then, how can “thoughts” be restrained in or by something? The mind and thoughts are in essence the same elements; as they are inseparable or indivisible, so they are gradually subdued through practice; unlike beating a bull with stick to heed, or forcing a horse to drink, but to gently coerce them to heed, for we cannot command the mind to heed and come to rest. Is like a thief trying to catch himself, for we cannot arrest the mind via thoughts.
Restlessness is an attribute and nature of the mind. Thus, the mind restrained in the intellect infers that the wise know about the nature of the mind, like an un-tamed monkey jumping from one branch to another; for restlessness is tamed by understanding its nature only. Thus, the wise have learned and have come to realise and know the essential skills necessary to be the master of their minds, i.e., they have skilfully managed to train the mind to be restrained in itself by itself. They understand the nature of the five galloping hors-es; they understand the external objects of senses to be higher than the senses, thus they tame and manage the cognitive objects through discrimination. Their breath and energies are skilfully managed but to be subdued by the wise trained in certain yogic procedures. Hence, thoughtlessness that arises when the senses and the mind are subdued, without the loss of consciousness, is a perfect tranquil state, unlike the vicious waves of an ocean.
The stillness that arises through destruction of the mind is serene and calm as the waters of the deep abyss. Having thus freed from restlessness and shackles of the body, senses, and mind the soul remains like an unwavering candle in a windless room at peace im-mersed in the blessedness of the quietude, samadhi. In the Bhagavad Gita, chapter IV, Lord Krishna declares: “For, as the blazing fire reduces the fuel to ashes, Arju-na, even so, the fire of knowledge reduces all actions to ashes.” Viveka and Vairagya are the fires of right knowledge. This is to be understood.
34. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Arise! Awake! Having approached the “elect,” learn; of a razor edge sharpened, incomprehensible, impassable, the road that the kavayah declare.
The Sanskrit word, “kavayah,” implies in English, “the One elect who experientially and evidentially declares or proclaims or testifies (testimony).” They are, namely, the Drashtas and Shrutas, who are the Holy Samyag-darshanam Brahmanas and Rishis. The knowers of Atma. The dictum indicts the Adhikari, the inquisitor, who should make all necessary attempts to find evi-dence through an attained living Master or an attained Master’s testimony, and learn from him and or from his empirical or evidential proclamations. Why? Because he has trodden this very path before and knows all the pit-falls, short-cuts, shortcomings, and tricks. In the dic-tum, the word, “elect,” is used to exemplify the “cho-sen,” the “favoured,” like the Saptarishis, Messengers, and Prophets.
The Lord of Death declares that Samsara or Maya is not easily surmountable, and the fire of knowledge that destroys nescience is not easily comprehensible. More-over, seeking without a master’s help may lead the seeker into turmoil or into lunacy or into the murky world of the occult.
The Lord of Death explains to the soul that the path to attain Yoga is like walking on a sharp edge of a samurai sword, proclaimed by the “elect,” which can potentially cut one in half. Thus, it is dangerous for one to strike out, like a tangent but to seek on his own; for it is fu-tile to embark on the elusive path or practises, which lead him to the goal without some guidance, as many have fallen back, consequently, into the pit of dire ego and perdition. It is implicitly clear from the dictum that it is extremely difficult and hard to traverse the path of the “Immortal Yoga.” For it is extremely difficult to attain the empirical knowledge sought after.
Awake and Arise! Are you ready? Are you prepared for the subsequent loneliness and isolation? Know that the path you intend to traverse on unadorned feet is cov-ered by hot coals or sharp broken glass. For you may intend to leave samsara behind, but samsara will not let you go so easily. For you may think you are done with Maya, but Maya is not done with you (prarabdha kar-ma). For you are adorned with incorporeally. It is not recommended to blindly traverse the path without the Holy (Master’s) grace and one’s own determination, devotion, prayers, sincerity, and will; only through these will your prayers be answered, for it is not easy to live a disciplined life amidst an undisciplined environ-ment when the ego lay slain at the altar of the soul.
Extreme austerities and sacrifices are a burden on the path as declared earlier. Abnormality is the sense that is not in vogue, for any given society dictates through its unawakened notions that which is normal or in vogue; but the flip side of it is an awakened individual remains in his own isolation. It is unnecessary to become an ascetic or a celibate or display oneself as a naked sadhu with long beard, braided hair, and ash smeared body; for the ablution of the mind is a necessity, because many a Masters and Sages have lived their lives anonymously, dressed in matrimony and normally, but they are actu-ally rare and profoundly abnormal; for they live in this world but not of this world. This is to be understood.
35. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Without sound, without touch, without form, without decay, so also, without taste, without smell, and that which without cause without effect, beyond the great, Transcendental, the fixed, having understood Him, death mouth is fully liberated.
This and the previous dicta infer a warning or caution; Immortal Yoga will lead the one to self-death! Are you ready? Are you ready to annihilate your ego? Have you enough physical, vital, and mental provisions to face death? The ending of you? Be in no doubt of this, for it is declared! Do not embark on the path of the Immortal Yoga unprepared, for you might ignite to turn to ashes all that surrounds your life!
Lord Vaivasvata infers that Immortality is silent, intan-gible, formless, imperishable, tasteless, odourless, eter-nal, without beginning and end, unmanifest, constant; “That” understood as transcendental beyond the mani-fest universe, freed from the mouth of death, is one fully liberated as an immortal. Having reflected on Him, whose nature is not sound, or touch, or form, or taste, or smell, who is changeless, eternal, without be-ginning and without end, beyond Mahat, eternal in its fixity, escapes from the mouth of death. Lord Vaivasvata declares the attribute of the Supreme Spirit. That-Which-Is, is etheric, formless, and vacuous, stable and motionless; It abides beyond our conceptions, for It is neither materiality nor sensuality nor mentality. It is the Immortal tenet of Eternity and Infinity. That-Which-Is is beyond the World Mind and its Ideations, it is the unmanifest Brahman. Thus, the wise retrospec-tively reasoned and understood the tenet of the Abso-lute Brahman, having died and reborn anew in Spirit; having yoked with “That.”
Only then there is a deeply sunken and unforgettable understanding of immortality as the goal; as the ulti-mate end to the cycles of deaths, Moksha. This is to be understood.
36. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Nachiketam legend told by Death, the ancient having repeated, in-sightfully, and brilliant, Brahmaloka, Great becomes.
The soul inquisition is legendary, which was irrevoca-bly answered by the ancient Immortal, Lord of Death, Vaivasvata, insightfully imbibed (Shruti) into the bril-liant (enlightenment) intellect-soul of the great ones (Rishis) in Brahmaloka, who behold and worship knowledge. Vaivasvata utters this dictum after having spoken about the need to find those supreme masters who have attained enlightenment. This applies especial-ly to a sensitive and to an intelligent Master, who has gone beyond the mundane mind and merged into su-per-Intellect of the World-Mind. Here is where all knowledge, knower, and knowing become One. Na-chiketam Legend is the doctrine of the Immortal Yoga of Lord Vishnu!
The only reason for man’s inner slavery is ignorance of himself. Without self-knowledge, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave of his mind and senses. Therefore, Lord Vaivasvata asserts that the first demand at the begin-ning on the path to liberation is through the soul’s in-quest! Perhaps, it may trigger remembrance (“ancient repeated” in the dictum) in some previous life, which may come into fruition in this life. The word “Na-chiketam” is implied as to the essence of that Supreme and Transcendental knowledge derived within by the soul inquisition. Only when the Master is ready, will disciples arrive; for when the disciple is ready Master will disappear.” Only, a lit candle can attract a moth, likewise, only a well-oiled wick that seeks a lit candle; for the lit candle does not seek the wicks! This is to be understood.
37. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Who this Supreme mystery makes it listen Brahman aspire during faith (Sraddha) of that endless becomes.
This dictum is applicable to contemplative meditation. This dictum infers the aspiration of the soul in Yoga. It is the soul, through ablution of the mind and unshack-led from the cares of the body, does it then aspire, to come to listen, in the silence, about the mystery (sub-tle) eternal abode. During devotional contemplative meditation, Dhyana, does the soul yearn for divine grace! It is endaurally heard, the subtle nada sound, OM. For through that grace of Dhyana does the sound of the Supreme infinitude and endlessness becomes. This is a great mystery and heritage of humanity.
The Sanskrit word “Sraddha” implies an act of faith, Dhyana in this instance, done in full devotion. There are certain times during the year when the well pre-pared and ready seed of spiritual quest is best for plant-ing; for the seed planted haphazardly, without prepara-tion, in hot and dry summer is parched and perishes easily, likewise, a seed thrown on a rock fails to spout! Who knows, knows not, for nobody knows, but the dis-embodied knows.
Remarkably, so far in these Shrutis, are the various limbs (ladder) of the Immortal Yoga described by Lord Vaivasvata to the soul are as follows; Yama (observa-tion), Niyama (reflection), Asanas (stillness), Pranaya-ma (restraint), Pratyahara (control), Dharana (fixed at-tention), Dhyana (contemplation), and Samadhi. For true knowledge is Atma, for the Atmani merges into this Truth. Only then does the intellect come to the knowledge of the hidden soul imbibed insightfully through the Soul itself by Itself. Subjective cognition is a faculty that merges as a subject into the subject! To know the subject, one has to become the subject. For that knowing is insight. For that knowing is immortali-ty!
Say then, why would a “secret” be subject to any recit-al? It makes no difference at all to most whether they hear it or not, for they do not listen. These and many more doctrines have been around for thousands of years and millions have heard, but the worldly people are in a much deeper peril today than they have ever been. Say then, has all the millions of sanghas heard, rites and rituals practised, pilgrimages and bathing in holy waters taken place, mantras and japas chanted a million times, made an iota of a difference to people? No. It has not, does not, and will not either because the hearers’ psy-chic intentions are for the fulfilment of future desires; for the ablution of the mind is the purest form of all acts. Thus, the sensitive Mukta remains silent and still, for he aspires to the grace of Divinity. This is to be un-derstood.
SECOND PLEA
FIRST CHAPTER
Now then, Lord Vaivasvata expands upon the nature of the Immortal, for the soul inquisition on its quest of the Immortal.
“Lord Vaivasvata enters his Second Plea!
38. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Outwards are openings projected Svayambhuh, therefore, objective sees; not inner Atma; some wise, Pratyagatmanam sees, averted-gaze, Immortality aspiring.
Svayambhuh (Svayambhu; Svayambhuva) is the carrier of Hiranyagarbha, an ideal, said to be manifested from the self-manifested Brahma. Verily, Hiranyagarbha is the womb of memory! Svayambhuva is the first tenet of manifestation or potentiality and probability (Mind, Manu, Thought, Idea) of the Vak OM; its implication, psyche, and form are styled as Svayambhu. Therefore, this implies that from the beginning the destiny of mankind’s outward projected senses was set in the po-tential of becoming. Therefore, Svayambhu is Hiran-yagarbha, which is the womb of memory only!
Atmani is the light (consciousness) that enters as a guest in a house whose windows or organs of senses face outward towards objects, consequently, so the mind turns towards external objects. The Svayambhu, self-born, hath set the doors of the body to face out-wards, therefore, the mind gazeth outwards and rarely within. Rare is the Adhikari, desiring immortality, tur-neth his gaze inward by averting from gazing outward, and seeth the Self within him. Thus, the World Mind manifests or imagines or projects out of Itself every-thing inert and sentient, which reflects in the human mind externally. Only, reflected internally in ones who aspire to immortality. Therefore, the want of the cogni-tive faculty set facing inward, absent in the corporeality of sentiency, is the cause of nescience. Thus, humanity is foremost set to remain ignorant of the hidden soul within, even though the soul is the “life” principle seated in the ephemeral physicality. This is eloquently spoken in an allegorical format by Lord Vaivasvata. The sensual objects of cognition are the cause of death and rebirth.
Human happiness does not lie in external sensual plu-rality, but in the internal singularity. Like a razor-sharp knife, cuts through butter, we must develop a razor-sharp intellect to cut through ignorance. Many who desire immortality, who look externally, contrived through studying, learning, and psychical activities. Many Jnanis, Philosophers, Theosophists, et al, who seek but do not attain because they fail to avert their gaze away from external objects but fail to turn their gaze within. However, their efforts are remarkable, and their reward may follow in subsequent lives, although this is not uttered in the verse, perhaps inferred in the follow-up.
The word, “dhirah” implies the essence of calmness or wisdom imbibed in the wise one. Thus, the wise one knows the impermanence of objects, i.e., they are mere-ly ephemeral and changeable and subject to death, de-cay and dissolution. Therefore, they remain unattached to them. Only, that consciousness turned inwardly, seeking through self-effort, comes to the realization of “That-Which-Is” the stable, constant, and immutable substance. The rest of humanity is merely chasing pleasures through their external senses, which paradox-ically invites sorrow and sadness. Neither in the worldly objects nor in the mind is the tenet of immortality to be attained, for they are all objective by nature.
The mind listens externally, for the soul listens inter-nally only. This is the tenet of the “Subjective Pratya-gatmanam” in the dictum. “Outward are projected,” is another profound dictum declared to the soul for con-templation. This is to be understood. This the initial step (understanding) on the ladder of the Immortal Yo-ga.
39. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: External cravings chase children; they of death snared widespread noose, therefore, the wise, nectar thou having known, the stable in the unstable, here not desire.
For want of understanding, most men like children chase after external desires in worldly things, thus, they fall into the wide net of death. They are the materialist, who chase after their fanciful fairy castles in the air, which have no substance, for they are transient and subject to decay and dissolution. In chasing after mate-rial wealth and pleasures, they all are subject to unease (dis-ease) in their bodies and minds and consequently invite misery, sorrow, and death.
The wise, having long reflected, like Aruna, discrimi-nate the stable from the unstable in life, for they taste the nectar of bliss in Yoga. In fact, the nectar is the only substance that is stable, nowhere to be found but within. “Here not desire” in the dictum implies that in the worldly things there is no liberation, do not here seek for the permanent in the unstable, for there is no permanency in the unstable. There is no bliss to be had chasing after worldly things. Everything else is imper-manent. Avarice is inherent in studying, learning, psy-chical, and occult activities; these all impermanent, for they all lead into the snares of the widespread net of death. Therefore, seek that stable substance.
“The only thing that is stable in the unstable is Atma.”
Atma is the underlying consciousness of all three con-sciousnesses. For Atma is that immutable and perma-nent substance worth worshipping or aspiring to and nothing else besides. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
40. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: By whom form, taste, smell, sound, touch, and copulation, by that even know, what here remains, this verily That.
Through “That-Which-Is” alone is a human being con-scious of taste, form, smell, sound, touch, copulation et al. It is the substratum of knowledge, in the absence of which, no knowledge, knower, nor knowing can arise. Say then, what is there in this world, which That does not know nor give rise to? Say then, is it the intellect or the mind or the ego that is implied in the dictum? No! Because the end of the dictum implies the stable under-lying principle. “By that even know, what here re-mains” in the dictum implies the underlying principle that is permanent and eternal irrespective of uncon-sciousness of deep sleep or death of the body. Through that what is the stable substance, true Knowledge, we can come to know the unstable and impermanent.
Say then, what remains after all ephemeral things, as the body, mind, and ego perish or are arrested in deep sleep? What happens after all the senses, mind, and body perish? That substance is the underlying tenet of all human sensual, vital, and cognitive faculties, and even when these perish when the body dies, this sub-stance remains intact, which is also underlaid and sup-ported by It. That even knows the hereafter! It is the “substratum of form, or the essence of life-form, in the here and hereafter and ever eternal.” For this substance is imperishable. It is also the support of all forms and their sensuality, vitality, and cognitive faculties. Thus, having understood that stable support of all life forms, what is there in the physical, astral, and causal realms, which the Brahmana guest does not know and support?
The soul comes to understand that without “itself” as the life-force, i.e., as the honourable guest in temporary accommodation, neither form nor senses nor a cogni-tive mind can exist. Thus, without that life-force sat hidden in the self, there is no knowledge of existence whatsoever; for that Brahmana guest is the Existence! For it will continue to exist outside the body and forev-ermore. It not the physical mind or the senses who is the knower, but the soul.
Moreover, after the senses, lusts, and mind are subdued or annihilated in deep sleep, what remains subsequently is the knower, which thou seekest in Yoga. This is that which the yogi seekest by turning inwardly in medita-tion. This is to be understood. This is a step on the lad-der of the Immortal Yoga.
41. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Dreaming ends, waking ends, and both by whom minute sees per-fectly great ends, cease from grief.
This dictum has a remarkable impact on the soul inqui-sition; for we must not attempt to undermine its im-portance. In this instance, Vaivasvata makes an astounding revelation by the first words spoken: “Dreaming ends,” and then, “waking ends.” Those who can remain alert when dream ends or when waking ends, the minute interval is that which thou seekest. It is basically the interval amidst two trains of thoughts is that which thou seekest.
Nature begins to subdue its dance normally after dusk; as a human being starts to fall asleep, when waking ends, so dreaming starts its erratic dance. Around mid-night, dreams come to an end and deep sleep ensues.
Then, Lord Vaivasvata implies that cognitions in sleep consciousnesses are a splendour full of wisdom. The next step on the ladder is to remain conscious and alert during the end of dreaming or at the end of waking in meditation, in which the minute interval transcends dream and waking states. “Both by whom interval sees perfectly,” implies a vigilant seer. “Dreaming ends,” implies a subtle consciousness, subtle than subtlety, extremely difficult to comprehend, is that unblemished Consciousness or Atma. Likewise, “waking ends,” also implies a consciousness, subtle than subtlety, which then leads into dream consciousness; only then, the subtle seer cognizes the great ends, “mahantam,” and the process of manifestation (see author’s book, The Quest of the Light of Truth).
The seer navigates the whole of consciousness from waking end to dreaming end to deep sleep. Having thus comprehended the whole cycle in our contemplative meditation, there then arises the comprehension of un-blemished Consciousness. This is Dhyana. Thus, the seer beholds as the witnessing consciousness that which never ceases to be, i.e., that Spirit substance re-mains always aware in all dimensions of time-consciousnesses including the unconsciousness of the mind of deep sleep or death.
The transcendental support or the substratum of the three states of consciousnesses is to be comprehended and understood, thus the Adept seer grieves not for ma-teriality in life. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
42. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Who this honeyeater knows the Atma the Jiva proximity Lord of elements-continuum-consciousness not thereafter wishes protection. This verily That.
The dictum indicts the mind as the honeyeater. This dictum continues from the previous one. On retrospec-tive reasoning, after the intellect cognizes the process of manifestation, the intellect itself comes to realize that the mind is the mirror of manifestation by itself; the mind is the Lord of manifestations of desires, the honeyeater. Then the intellect comes to understand the underlying tenets of desire, breath, potency, mind, and life or existence. They all emerge out of causal realm. The intellect comes to know that substance, Jiva and Atma, are proximal to each other; for the intellect through retrospective reasoning, discrimination, and understanding thereafter becomes fearless. Therefore, abiding in the elemental body (bhutas) is that which supports it, Atmani, the continuum consciousness (bhavyasya) proximally to the Atma. Thus, conscious-ness is continuous in all dimensions of time, i.e., past, current, and future of most mankind.
That which is continuous is also enduring and perma-nent, and that which is discontinuous is transitory. “Who this honey-eater knows,” implies that the wise come to know the mind as the honeyeater because the soul is the unattached experiencer in all the three states. It is the mind that is subject to the dimensions of time. It is also that which is subject to paradoxes. The mind is the storehouse or the memory bank of de-sires, experiences and appetencies, which is burdened on to the soul with all human tendencies through Ma-ya. In fact, the mind is the creator of time, paradoxes, memories, desires, experiences, habits et al.
He who knows Atma as the Lord of the past and future, proximal to the soul, has no fear of all the three fires nor death. It is the intellect that knows and understands this. This verily is that. Having deeply understood these intimacies and predicates of the mind, the wise do nei-ther shrink nor grow nor abhor nor adore any, for em-bodiment is subject to time, space, and states of con-sciousness continuum. The wise adept who understands this becomes calm and stops from grieving for ephem-eral things. This is, verily, that thou seekest. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of Immortal Yoga.
43. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Who yore austerities, unborn from waters, generate in cavity enter-ing abides therein, who along with the element’s mani-fests. This is That.
He is the seer that seeth Him, who came into being be-fore austerity and was before the waters; deep in the heart of the creature, he seeth Him, for there He standeth by the mingling of the elements. This is the Thing thou seekest. He who sees the First-born Hiran-yagarbha who manifests himself before Shiva and the cosmos, verily, sees Atma, for no one can see the Fa-ther but the Son: the highest perception is of the un-born, the First, begotten, beyond Him consciousness ceases.
As a man who sees a golden ring knows gold, so he who sees the womb of Light sees the Light. He who is self-produced, the unborn one, Brahman, before the Lord of Tapas, Shiva, and the Waters, the essence of Atma concealed in the cavity and abiding therein, per-ceives all things through the elements. This is that.
The essence of the Spirit is the subjective perceiver and the conscious pole of creation. What came earlier (tap-asah purvam)? The Vedic word Purvam implies ancient and tapasah implies effulgence. Therefore, the dictum implies that “That-Which-Is” is the primordial, unborn, uncaused causeless cause, beingness, before any mani-festation becomes, before Svayambhu, before Vivasvan, who was earlier or before (adabhyah) the Spirit (waters) is the effulgence of Its own Light.
It was the Intellect, Atma or the Self, and Its own es-sence of Its own effulgence, Ishvara, which appears as a Void to the mind, which is the tenet of Nirguna Brah-man. Inferentially, that effulgence of the Intellect is the Absolute Brahman. Thus, Lord Vaivasvata implies that even his Father, Vivasvan, and all other Gods and Im-mortals and manifestations came after That. Therefore, the ancient most, Atma, its essence seated in the centre of the creature, or in the core centre of all sentient and insentient things, or in the core centre of the micro-cosm and macrocosm, enters or manifests in the con-gealed elemental body through the soul giving every-thing existence. Everything material on earth is the result of comingling or amalgamation of elements or molecules or atoms in the subtle essence.
This perfect exoteric amalgam of elements is only man-ifest through the potency of consciousness, the efful-gence of the unmanifest or the unborn. Only, this dic-tum implies that spiritual manifestation of all these things is held in the Intellect of the primordial Agent. The wise seer perceives the soul and knows the Spirit substance, Atma, congealed in the core of his body and in all material things.
Atma is the primordial immutable substance, austere, and unborn; for it is like the Spirit substance, clear, tasteless, smell-less, et al, like water. The essence of Atma enters and abides with the material elements therein the cavity of the body concealed. This is the thing thou seekest. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
44. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Who with prana united, enters Aditi, with all gods entering into the cavity, who along with the element’s manifests. This is That.
The Brahmana guest, imbibed through Prana and by the mingling of the elements had His being in corpore-ality; deep in the heart of things she has entered, there she is seated. Some scholars assert that the name is mentioned in the Vedas as the mother of Surya (Sun) and other celestial bodies or gods Adityas (sons of Aditi).
The first mention of goddess Aditi is found in Rigveda; Aditi can be defined as the cosmic creatrix, the creativi-ty of the all-creating Lord: As “A-diti,” she is not-bound, the free one. Aditi is the fire; Aditi is Con-sciousnesses! This dictum implies an ideal Macrocosm inherent in the Microcosm; for we can trace each Ad-itya’s equivalent tenet in the body. That which is here is also there, for that which is there is also here. So, the Universes, Galaxies, Stars, and Planets are manifests from Aditi comingled with prana (consciousnesses) in the centre of the macrocosm. That is, from the centre of the Cosmic Mind’s omnipotent consciousness through comingling with prana.
Through the amalgamation of cosmic elements or mol-ecules or atoms, arose the idea of the microcosm before the idea of macrocosm arises. This idea is referred to as a feminine principle because it implies an incubating “womb.” That conscious self is an ideal held in Brah-ma, i.e., the ideas are held as seed-potentials ready to spontaneously erupt in the womb. It is the Mind only. Aditi is the mind only. The womb, Hiranyagarbha, is the Mind only; the mind is the spontaneous germinat-ing ground of seed ideas.
Remarkably, Lord Vaivasvata principally starts his ex-position from microcosm, internal or within men, to macrocosm, external or outside of men, i.e., from the centre of men to the centre of the cosmos, as the an-cient Hindu axiom states, “What is inside, so is out-side.” Therefore, the essence of Atma manifests along with the elements, prana united with Aditi and other gods, enters and abides or manifests as the honourable guest in the amalgamation of elements called the sen-tient body. Other gods imply the various senses and organs of actions or energies within the body. This is then referred to as the embodied soul, Atmani. Moreo-ver, as the Atmani enters, so also Atmani departs, then the insentient corpse (lifeless body) is merely an amal-gamation of mud or earthy elements.
Who is Aditi? She is the fire of cravings. The more one adds fuel to the fire, the more one pokes Aditi, the more the fire burns. She is Maya. Say then, if the dis-carnate soul disengages with prana and its burdened association along with the gods and “puryastakas,” is it then liberated? The answer to this inquest will no doubt follow. This is that thou seekest. This is to be under-stood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yo-ga.
45. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Causation concealed omniscient in Womb, secure, like pregnant mother, day by day, praiseworthy aware submarine fire, offer obeisance men Fire. This is That.
Pure omniscient Consciousness is well guarded in the vault of beings, for it is deeply concealed within every-thing in the womb of creation. Karma or knowledge or latent tendencies in a seed form gives rise to the world of paradoxes when it sprouts into a tree of samsara. Birth of the seed of the ego is the birth of Atmani. Whilst men should offer obeisance to the transcenden-tal mother, the wise worship the underlying submerged fire of Consciousness, Atma.
This dictum implies that cravings is the latent causal agent lodged or concealed in the womb or lodged in the Hiranyagarbha or in Brahma, in the microcosm or caus-al body. But, the Lord securely embeds the essence of Itself, the Omniscient, Atma, well-guarded, like a preg-nant mother guards her unborn child.
The causal root of consciousness of objects is cravings, ego, which is deeply rooted in the womb of manifesta-tion, in deep sleep, and which gives rise to effects be-cause there is no cause without effect. Consciousness manifests Itself as Atmani! Consciousness is concealed securely in everything. It cannot be grasped. It is all knowing.
Aditi is Agni of the Vedas praised by men, and the stealth Fire is consciousness worshipped by the wise. The tarnished substance of the Spirit, that the unwise worship, is their ego. Aditi is the light of Conscious-ness.
From the previous dictum, the essence of Atma comingle along with the consciousness of objects, along with other gods of vitality and senses, Tanman-tras, which lodge in the secret cavity of the body.
This parable may also imply that friction between a man and a woman produces an embryo lodged in a de-siring secure womb. This reproductive lust, cause or desire is lodged in the womb of the microcosm and macrocosm, Hiranyagarbha.
The author understands this dictum to imply the tenet of cause and effect out of desires. Aditi or Agni or Fire also implies the paradigm of consciousness. As the lodged embryo grows day to day, it spends all its period in the womb devoted and contemplating “That-Which-Is.” That which manifests from Itself out of cravings manifests ether, and ether manifests heat or fire, which then manifests water, and from water manifests matter, from matter manifests the human being. This Agni of desire is the giver of life. This implies that the embryo is lodged only through burning tendencies to reproduce by friction between two, for men offer sacrifices out of desires to reproduce offspring.
This indicts the dormant seed idea or thoughts as po-tential or potency of desires, which then germinates (causal) in the womb of creation! This is applicable to the microcosm and the macrocosm both, for that which applies in the microcosm becomes replicated in the macrocosm. The senses and the organs of senses, there-fore, have their corresponding pranic gods; as Aditi is also known as light of consciousness, so only through the light of Aditi we have sight of anything.
That which is allotted in the beginning cannot be averted, for destiny is well guarded in the womb of cre-ation. It is nigh impossible to change karma from being congealed by elements into being vacuous.
Lord Vasishtha declared, “Infinite consciousness has assumed the nature of the Jiva, and oblivious of its na-ture it experiences whatever it thinks of as being. Even as to a child the unreal ghost it visualizes at night is truly real, the Jiva conceives of the five elements, which it sees as existing, they are nothing but notions of the Jiva.”
This is that thou seekest. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
46. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Because of whom certainly arises Sun and setting therein journey also achieve; Him all Gods are annexed, Him verily not surpass someone. This is That.
This dictum implies the essence or substance of Atma, the Spirit substance, the transcendental essence of the Cosmic-Soul, is that which is the Light that alights all luminaries; where all luminaries, like the sun, arise and set, yet It does neither rise nor set. Like the sky, which is the screen on which all appear and disappear. The mind and its modifications cannot exist in the absence of Atma. “That-Which-Is,” also annexes gods. Nothing can be known nor annexed in the absence of Atma, be-sides, no one has gone beyond Atma and come back to tell the tale. Exodus 33.20, “you can’t see my face be-cause no one can see me and live.”
“That-Which-Is” is pure Consciousness in which all arise, set and go about their business. It remains in-comprehensible, unblemished, and immutable as pure Consciousness-Intellect; as It is “the Light that alights all luminaries, pure Consciousness of all consciousness-es, Intellect of all intellection, so no one can surpass It!
Prophet Brunton said, “Consciousness is the best wit-ness to Its own existence.” Brunton further asserted: “Let us not deceive ourselves and dishonour the Su-preme Being by thinking that we know anything at all about It. We know nothing. The intellect may formu-late conceptions, the intuition may give glimpses, but these are our human reactions to It. Even the Sage, who has attained harmony with (his) Soul, has found only the godlike within himself. Yes, it is certainly the Light, but it is so for him, for the human being. He still stands as much outside the divine Mystery as everyone else. The difference is that whereas they stand in the darkness he stands in this Light. Much grotesque mis-conception exists among the mystics about this claim to have united with God. Not having passed through the metaphysical discipline and consequently having only a confused notion of what God is, they do not comprehend how exaggerated their claim is. For if they were really united with God, they should have the pow-er of God too. They would be able to set up as creators of entire universes, of Suns, stars, and cosmic systems. This feat is plainly beyond them. Let us hear no more of such babble and let them confine their strivings to realizable aims.”
Therefore, “That-Which-Is,” always remains the essen-tial divine Subject! Its essence is neither this or that or either this or that or both this and that or none or an-other. Its essence is neither Sat nor Asat or either, et al. Like the seed of an apple contains all its branches and flowers and fruits, so the essence of the Cosmic-Intellect contains all within Itself the entire idea of manifestations. Its essence being the transcendental Cosmic-Intellect. Its essence is prior and beyond Brah-ma, Vishnu, Shiva, and all other Gods. In or within His essence are all objective ideations, all consciousnesses, all gods, all causations, thoughts, minds, and senses contained.
The essence of Atma is prior to or the substratum of the mind and gods, otherwise, we would have no knowledge of them. Paradoxically, the mind cannot exist along with the essence of Atma. In other words, Its essence can only be known when body, senses, and mind are arrested. In fact, even the discarnate soul can-not comprehend the essence of Atma. So, all phenome-na and noumena arise because of the essence of the Spirit. Furthermore, no phenomenon has existence pri-or! It is the “Subject” that projects of Itself out of Itself by Itself all manifestations (phenomena and noumena) as objects onto the mind! Its essence is a verb and not a noun! This is that thou seekest. This is to be under-stood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yo-ga.
47. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: What verily here that there, what there that verily here; from death, he to death attains who here manifold verily sees.
This dictum implies the tenet of microcosm and macro-cosm. We encounter the first part of this dictum in manifold Western philosophies and thesis; as the root of its wisdom lay firmly in this Upanishad, so this pro-found revelation reverberates deep in the philosophy of mentalism. This is the seed idea of mentalism or ideal-ism of the ancient Hindus in its subtle detail; it sequen-tially reveals primarily, “What is here,” and not firstly, “What is there,” so it implies principally within the mind, and then, secondarily within the external cos-mos. Hindu and the west diverge in this point. The west embraces dualism in popular theistic and scientific doctrines because they are primarily concerned with the origin of cosmos, “what is there,” as the source of “what is here,” and suggest that the primary root of manifestations lay externally in the Cosmos; for west-ern philosophies are least concerned about “what is here.”
Now then, Lord Vaivasvata explains to the soul how to understand the essence of Self and Atma. “From death, he to death attains who here manifold verily sees.” Lord Vaivasvata impresses upon the soul that dualism is the cause of repeated deaths; for all are born in and as an effect of the said cause. Lord Vaivasvata starts his day from death! Not from birth popularly conceived by hu-manity. Immortality, on the other hand, is attainable through non-duality only! In fact, Lord Vaivasvata im-presses upon the soul that non-duality is the path to immortality only! Non-duality leads the soul to come to “know” the essence of Atma, which is the goal of the soul inquisition.
“That Which Is,” witnesses the rise of noumena, which also gives rise to the phenomena and the body through the assemblage of those elements mentioned before. As the soul gradually ascends the ladder of the Immortal Yoga, so through these profound revelations, the root cause of manifestation becomes apparent to the intel-lect as spiritual only. Then the intellect gradually comes to discriminate, reason, understand, and com-prehend the paradigm of the “Real” as opposed to the “Unreal.”
This profound dictum points to the uncompromising stance of non-duality or monism of Advaita Vedanta. Therefore, he who lives his life in duality, he who per-ceives all this phenomenal manifestation as separate, he who divorces microcosm from the macrocosm, he who sees others separated as them, yours and mine, you and me, are all subjected to repeatedly deaths.
Lord Vaivasvata maintains that there is only that what is here! What is there arises because what is here rises. If what is here never rises, what is there would never arise! Because I exist, is supported by the verse, “what is here is there, what is there is here.”
Say then, does this dictum have no regard for the tenet of Samkhya and other scriptures as they are mostly based on notions of duality, Prakriti and Purusha, as diverse or divorced, from each other? For they then fail the seeker and plunge him into repeated deaths. Only, the tenets of the Samkhya and Karma Yoga, each in-culcated by Lord Krishna, are rooted in the tenet of sur-rendering to Him, in the renunciation of doer-ship of all actions, in relation to all activities of the mind, senses, and the body. The Bhagavad Gita is essentially an Advaita doctrine!
Lord Krishna is the essence of the Spirit and the Gita advocate surrendering all thoughts, will, and actions to the Spirit. Then, arises no duality! Prakriti is the pranic spiritual substance and Purusha is the underlying Intel-lect, which are two constituents of the eight puryasta-kas that comingle with the essence of the Spirit to give rise to an embodied sentient soul or form. Only, the spiritual substance can but comingle with spiritual sub-stance.
Shankara’s term for these is Upadhis, which are blem-ishes of consciousness that tarnish the soul but to be reborn as an idea as an embodied form. Otherwise, for want of blemishes, there would never be any idea such as a corporeal birth. Materiality do not exist independ-ent of the spiritual substance, which is essentially con-sciousness.
Remarkably, the fact is that this dictum was primarily an exposition by the Lord Vishnu to Vivasvan, who then imparted the knowledge of Immortal Yoga to his son Vaivasvata or Lord Vaivasvata. Therefore, the only reasonable inferences that can be drawn from both re-markable expositions are to regard them both as the tenets of Advaita Vedanta, which leads the soul to its non-dual goal.
It is the author’s understanding that the exoteric expo-sitions, such as Prakriti and Purusha, are abstract and exoteric ideas necessarily inculcated in Sankhya for a complete and comprehensive understanding of the body, mind, and soul that leads an aspirant from mate-rialism to spiritualism. By syllogism, they can never be an exposition of dualistic philosophy in the “authentic version” of that which was expounded initially by the Lord Vishnu to Vivasvan, and subsequently by Lord Krishna to Arjuna. Say then, why would the Sage Vyasa inculcate into the Bhagavad Gita only to pro-mote dualism of Samkhya? No! In fact, there can never ever be any promotion of dualism because Samkhya can never become Yoga that leads to Mukti!
Essentially, both the Katha and the Bhagavad Gita are “Mukti” doctrines. As Sage Vyasa is endowed with an immensely capable Intellect, so he could never expound dualism, besides, Vyasa has listened to Lord Vasishtha’ spiritual discourses to Rama. Sage Kapila’s exposition of Samkhya is a remarkable doctrine of qualified mon-ism. Lord Krishna is Kapila. In fact, the very discourse between Sage Narayana and his disciple Nara is includ-ed further on in the next series of e-papyrus, which is inculcated as a discourse of Vasishtha to Rama before the epic Mahabharata even took place.
At birth, we are dualists, for the idea of being born can only take place in dualism; but upon death, the wise die as monists. Therefore, dualism is merely a nursery ini-tiation into right knowledge, merely a step towards the eventual grandeur of the open skies. Religion and Bhakti are merely the initial steppingstones towards the higher peaks of mysticism and philosophy of Oneness.
Matter and Spirit can never comingle or coexist or ever merge as One! This dictum indicts dualism that leads to samsara, to the relentlessly repeated cycles of deaths. As desires held steadfastly in men-the-microcosm, so is the same held in the macrocosmic womb. Dualism is mortality, dualism is death, dualism is sorrow; spread all around in the world because of duality! For the mind is essentially dualistic. Almost all here are rebirths! This is your afterlife! Manifested out of your last death and out of your desires and out of your dualistic atti-tude in your last life.
Say then, what is the actual destiny of the soul hereaf-ter? This is it! You are living it! Did you not die chas-ing lust but to come here again? Only, the Hindu doc-trine of the Yoga of Immortality is the only tenet of Hindu dharma’s eschatology and the profoundest sote-riology! Exceptional are the rare Siddhas, Sages, and Avatars, who manifest in form but to perform a specific commission on earth.
All manifestations are dualist per se, for manifold we behold; but as there is the nature of duality here, so also is duality there. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
48. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: By mind (Purusha) verily this obtained not here manifold is any-thing, from death he to death attains who here manifold verily sees.
This dictum infers the principle of Mentalism. Lord Vaivasvata impresses upon the soul the need to remove ignorance of dualism from the mind, but to annihilate the ego. But then, reason, discriminate, and understand the dualistic nature of the mind. Inferentially, all mani-festations are principally through the nature of the senses and mind supported by consciousnesses. All manifest objects are secondary, projected onto the screen of the mind primarily as phenomena, including the whole macrocosm. Space is in the mind and so is time and so is matter.
That which is projected onto the mind is then projected outside from the mind. All ideas arise as thoughts in the mind. All objects arise prior in the mind before the senses perceive them as objects of perception. All phe-nomena are projected from the blemished screen of the noumenal Intellect; the process of metaphysical projec-tion is swift and incalculable or simultaneous. That which the senses comprehend are all an ideal held in memory or drawn or projected from the noumenon and reflected externally as phenomena in the mind.
An object equates to its thought held in the mind, which arises only because of its linguistic implication held in the mind. Language is words with implication. Therefore, the idea held in the World Mind is projected onto the mind as the manifestation of words and its implications. Moreover, ideas and thoughts arise mostly from the personal plenum of the intellect, which is all imbibed in the individual mind as imprints so very hard to erase. How else can an apple arise in the individual mind if it is not thought of as an apple and projected as a thought-idea of an apple held in the memory vault? Like a Jambugrape fruit cannot arise in the mind of an Eskimo, for it can only arise in mind of its locality or its learnt. However, such is the width and depth of the mind that it can gain knowledge of any object beheld before it.
All manifestations (archetype; a primitive mental im-age, hologram, supposed to be present in the collective consciousness) lay dormant with potential from the beginning in the World-Mind as ideals. This is all held in the vault as Akashic records, from which we individ-ually behold and project.
Perhaps, we can think of any object as an ideal, which the mind extrapolates and completes in its makeup and accordingly perceived by the eyes in space as real. Only, these things have no substantiality in them, like fairy castles in the air. Say then, where did the idea of solidi-ty come from, which deeply lingers in the human sense of touch, even though we know through science that solid matter is almost 99% empty? Consciousness of solidity, its idea, is held in the Akashic vault or in the vacuous Intellect of the World-Mind (Svayambhu) from the very beginning when the world was gaseous, fluid, and then material; deigned as an ideal in the vacuous Intellect of Brahma of his creation. But the mind can-not conceive those objects as merely vacuous ideas in the gross realm, unless we can conceive them as subtle mind-objects or ideas in our dream state.
Say then, are all phenomena (gross) our ideas or are they held potentially in the noumena (subtle)? Whatev-er is believed or held firmly in our mind, become pro-jected onto space as real.
Knowledge is inherent in consciousness, even as void is in space. However, consciousness now believes knowledge to be its own object. The diverse objects are limited by time and space, which are themselves but the notional division in consciousness brought about by this division within itself. The infinite consciousness with the knowledge inherent in it conceives of diverse creatures. Such is its power, which no one can chal-lenge. Brahma reflects itself within itself and conceives of itself as a duality, though it is bodiless.” Lord Va-sishtha
The thing we call the “mind,” is an amalgamation of the four aggregates, namely, ego, memory, mind, and intellect. Mind, verily, is the whole caboodle of Maya, lock-stock-and-barrel. Therefore, the tenet of the mind is dualistic, which thus leads to mortality, which is not the goal. But, when the mind realizes, through the loss of itself, that consciousness of unity in diversity, it comes to rests in the tranquillity of the Soul.
“By mind verily this obtained not here manifold is any-thing.” Mind made duality out of non-duality. There is nothing besides Oneness. Therefore, Lord Vaivasvata infers in the dictum that it is of paramount importance to purge ignorance of duality and sensuality through a firm grasp of the tenet of mentalism, for all those who fail to grasp the tenet of mentalism, death to death they repeatedly obtain.
Verily, the firm grasp of non-duality, unity in diversity, oneness in the manifold is only attainable through the mind that is weaned and purged of its egoism.
The word “Monism” is relative to dualism. Advaita Ve-danta denies the existence of any distinction. Say then, how can there be “true monism” (true monists) mani-fest on earth? How can any thoughts arise about such an idea? It is only when the mind is absent that “true monism” exists, therefore, it is transcendental and in-comprehensible. True Advaita Vedanta has no existence in the world of concepts! Say then, where and in what circumstance can it exist? If it exists, then it is merely a relative idea! Advaita Vedanta is empirical knowing only, for no idea can exist in it! Monism is “relative monism,” as merely an idea or a “maybe,” held in the mind of philosophers. But dualism exists because of the ego and mind only. Perhaps, we can only have a rela-tive idea of the essence of Advaita because of the con-sciousness of the “thought” itself, which is the essence of being, held in the vacuous Intellect of the Absolute Consciousness. Therefore, dualism per se is the causal agent of the infinite series or the regressum-in-infinitum of manifestations, for dualism is the meta-physical tenet inferred in the dictum.
Like a lotus blossom emerges out of a muddied pool, likewise, the intellect sullied by the senses, ego, and mind, emerges from the mire of its own ignorance to radiate through “knowledge” only. Knowledge in this instance does not imply merely studying the right scrip-tures like the Upanishads, Brahmasutras, Gitas, et al, for they are essential, but should primarily include, side by side, together with empirical knowledge in Yoga and also include the testimonials of Adepts. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
49. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Measure of thumb amidst Atmani abide as Isana. This is That.
The Sanskrit word “Isanah” is from the root, “ish,” which means, sovereign, invisible power, Lord of the universe, i.e., the World-Mind. The wielder of this power, about this power itself, volition and nolition, Mind and Its image-animations, its dance of Existence, Nataraja, is “Isana.” It is synonymous with Ishvara, which implies “Atma” In Hindu scriptures, Ishvara is synonymous with Shiva. The Sanskrit word “Purusha” is often cited in Samkhya, in fact, indicts the paradigm of Consciousness. Purusha is the Self, unblemished Jiva or Atmani, or clear Mind.
Curiously, in this dictum, the soul can fill a measure is credible, for life force has a certain measure within the breast because it can be tangibly felt moments before any danger arises. Atmani or Jivatma or the life-force or the embodied soul or the living principle is, in fact, the mind! “Amidst Atmani abide Isana.” Therefore, Atmani is engulfed in the essence of pure Consciousness, and This is That which remains when the mind is arrested in Yoga. This is that which remains as the Self in “Dhyana” of Yoga when the soul is unshackled from the fetters of the mind. Inferentially, Atmani is That-Which-Is when the mind is annihilated. As the circum-ferential circles (from gross to subtle, outside to inside; body, vital, ego, senses, mind, intellect, knowledge, i.e., koshas) that surround the centre are gradually annihi-lated, step by step, in Yoga meditation, so eventually that which remains is the centre only, which is the goal.
The Koshas or sheaths inculcated in some Tantra Sastras are falsely depicted as “expanding” outward from Annamaya to Anandamaya. In fact, they “con-tract” inward towards the core where abides the soul (Dictum 24), i.e., Anandamaya kosha outward to An-namaya kosha, viz., the soul, size of a thumb, appears to expand or is engulfed in external consciousnesses of sheaths expanding itself outwards toward physicality because of Maya, inebriated by the mind.
As the soul’s knowledge gradual ascends, so ignorance gradually diminishes step by step through the testimo-nials, teachings, and revelations expounded by the knower of Atma, Lord Vaivasvata. So, the soul step by step advances from the idea of itself, Atmani, to Atma, to Brahman, i.e., from the tenets of transiency and du-ality to the tenets of permanence and unity. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Im-mortal Yoga.
50. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Measure of thumb, Light indeed, smokeless, Lord of past and future, He verily today, He so tomorrow.
Verily, the Smokeless Stambha of Fire, Atmani, can be perceived during Yoga as a glimpse during meditation. This dictum implies that Atmani, the measure of a thumb, is perceivable by the subtle seer in Dhyana; an Adept Yogi may mystically perceive, as a glimpse, At-mani!
Isana is the witnessing Consciousness. Atmani appears as the Smokeless Stambha (a measure of thumb) of Fire like the effulgent Sun. Therefore, this substance, per-ceived as a glimpse or appears to Adepts, as a smokeless pillar of Fire brightly lit, is most mystical. The wise during meditation can have a mystical glimpse of the immortal Atmani. It appears in the confine of the psy-chic space and appears to be not only the size of a thumb but also at a distance of approximately 12 me-ters and looks like the self. Furthermore, the Atmani also is reflected in the clear screen located above to the right of the seer, who is the Self. Say then, what facul-ty can exist in the state of Dhyana? It is a mystical en-toptic noumenon that arises from a mystical source within. The author can asseverate that it is a staggering experience to behold within, for it is an incredible reve-lation of the Divinity within! This is empirically de-scribed in detail by the author in his previous book, ‘The Yoga of Death,’ Yearbook 1, and in ‘The Quest of the Light of Truth.’
The Lord of Death further reveals to the soul that At-mani is the Lord of the past and the future, for He ex-ists in the “now” and because He is the “now,” for He holds within Him the past, the today, and the tomor-row. This implies that in the present is the seed thought of the past and the future. The past is stored in the memory, which was once now. The Lord Ishvara is the underlying support of all the states of being; wak-ing, dreaming and sleep. The Lord Ishvara governs all plains of existences; terrestrial, astral, and celestial; gross, subtle, and causal.
The Lord Ishvara is the firm support of the whole ca-boodle, for He is the stealth witness and support of the soul’s fate and destiny.
Say then, is it hard to distinguish the soul from Ish-vara? No! For any distinction is ignorance! Lord Vaivasvata impresses upon the soul that “Ishwara en-shrines all this.” To quote from the Isha Upanishad; “In the universal motion (macrocosm) whatsoever individ-ual universe of movement (microcosm) is this all the Lord Ishvara for habitation…” This dictum is derived from the Vaivasvata Gita if we carefully look with an eagle’s eye. Therefore, to know the future, look subtly at the now; to know the state of things tomorrow, look carefully at the state of things today; for the state of all things is all reflected in the now only.
The destiny of the discarnate soul after the death of the body, which awaits the soul (future afterlife), is gov-erned by the state of the ego-mind complex at the mo-ment of death. The mind imprisons the soul in worldly desires; like a caterpillar spins out of itself a cocoon on-ly to lay in it; like a spider embroiders its own web.
The plenum or the Akashic history is constituted from memory, mind, ego, and intellect held in Atmani, which holds all the tendencies and conditionings that traverse our present moment into other moments, from today into tomorrow, from death to re-birth, repeatedly. Ishvara is the Divine spectator that beholds all individ-ual karmic imprints, thoughts, and ideas within the timeless plenum of Atmani, but remains without any dirt to blemish its purity, i.e., “To him there cleaveth no stain of Earthly woe!”
Lord of past and future, He verily is today, He is so to-morrow, unchanging. Unchanging, he gives rise to change. This is the Atma, the “Immortal Fire!” Atmani is that which repeatedly enters the individual burdened and blemished by karmic imprints, Upadhis. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Im-mortal Yoga.
51. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: As water raineth on rocky slope washes away, thus beholder sepa-rate seeing those very persons also washes away.
Lord Vaivasvata continues with the discourse on dual-ism and non-dualism. As long as the ego sees others as different or separate from the self, so long the soul is washed away in the deluge of samsara, like the torrent of rain falling on the rocky slope drains away water. Principally and importantly, this parable implicates the tenet of the Advaita.
As the Spirit substance descends from the celestial realm, but to diversify its consciousness in unaccounta-ble ways, so It “apparently appears” to scatters Itself all over here and there in this world, like the torrential deluge of rain during the monsoons descend from dark clouds on to rocky slopes but to wash away into many springs, rivers, and waterways. Thus, the vault of Con-sciousness harbours all individual desires, which de-scend on Earth as personal egos (Upadhis), thus, diver-sity arises in the ego, like the ignited sparks of firewood shoot forth in all directions, only to turn to ashes.
One Spirit or Fire or pure Consciousness ostensibly ap-pears to diversify its consciousness, which is blemished into varieties in this world, like the water springs and rivers that run their individual courses. As waves on the ocean surface are seen as individual surfs, yet they re-main unaware of their oneness with the ocean, so the mind is blemished by the ego as an individualized cen-tre of consciousness unaware of its oneness; until upon death, the ego merges back in the ocean, only to raise its head again and again.
At the end of a Kalpa, all things merge back into the primordial Spirit of pure Consciousness. But, by prac-tising, reasoning, and understanding the steps of the Immortal Yoga, the “apparent appearance” of diversity disappears by knowing the unreal from the real; then that purified unblemished Consciousness, in the ab-sence of ego, merges into the ocean of bliss in the Spir-it.
As the surge of rainwater uncontrollably drains down a rocky slope, so materialism leads people down the de-scending slope of mortality, draining the mind. This parable marks the major divergence between Yoga and Dharma advocated in the Vedas. Lord Vaivasvata im-plies that Vedic austerities, sacrifices, rites, and rituals lead people to descend but to be washed away in the torrent of samsara and egoistic pursuits, as opposed to the ascending the step of the Immortal Yoga. There-fore, a wise seeker does neither follows any convention nor the path of any theism, for it is not the goal of the Immortal Yoga. Therefore, a man either follows the descending path of worldliness (desires) to be washed away or he follows the ascending path that leads him to Moksha; after all, the seeker may already have been through the three aspects of life and found nothing but sorrow. Although, the world if fully and wholly basking in the deluge of the Sun’s rays as the torrential down-pour of the Spirit, yet most become drenched and ine-briated in egoism, dualism, and materialism, but to be washed away.
Plurality is rooted in the singular, for the manifold are but the One Spirit only. All arise from the One same pure Consciousness. The mind must learn to constantly abide in this principle (Dictum 48). Perception is possi-ble only when the seer and the seen are on the same plane of reality, i.e., time and space and mind; the fact that the “seeing” of a dream (which are mentally con-trived thoughts in form) is possible only because all the objects seen in that dream have the same reality as that of the dreamer who sees the dream; that same reality is the mind. Likewise, in waking consciousness, instead of seeing objects through the eyes reflected out by the mind as mere separate objects, if but you see through the “mental eye” the one who sees, all will be found to be merely consciousness.
If the seer and the seen were different in their reality or independent of each other, the act of seeing would nev-er be possible. Rather, in the act of seeing, the seer and the seen disappear. But since “seeing” is possible, know that they, the seer and the seen, have one and the same reality, i.e., the mind. That is why there is no time lapse observable when the Sun rises at dawn or the stars twinkle at night; for they do not obey the relationship of distance and velocity. It is consciousness only.
The mind through the intellect must learn, during med-itation, to collapse within itself time and space until there is no duality, i.e., to naturally annihilate itself. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
52. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Like ablu-tion water pure purifies sprinkled, likewise verily be-comes thus, contemplative-mind the knower Atma, be-comes gotama.
The principle of Dhyana. As the pure waters of ablution sprinkled onto a substance becomes pure like water, so Atmani becomes pure like Atma with the ablution of the mind only. Purity of the Immortal Spirit purifies everything, this is what John the Baptist meant when he uttered, “the one that come forth, will purify not by water, but by Spirit.” So, pure Consciousness sprinkle on any, purifies him. The knower of Atma is purified by pure Consciousness, becomes Gotama.
“The pure mind and its pure thoughts, are readily unit-ed with one another, as the pure waters mix together into one body of the same kind, which the muddied water cannot do.” Lord Vasishtha.
The Vedic Sanskrit word ‘gotama’ implies the paradox of bright light and darkness, Sat and Asat, knowledge and ignorance, Vidya and Avidya. Therefore, this dic-tum implies that the pure substance of the Spirit, Atma, can never become tarnished, for it remains un-blemished even though it is omnipresent pervading eve-rything including all paradoxes like light and darkness, Vidya and Avidya, Sat and Asat. Therefore, although the essence of this pure substance, Atma, pervades a human being along with the elements, ignorance, and ego, It remains unblemished by them.
The grace of Atma’s essence, like pure ablution water sprinkled onto the Atmani during contemplative medi-tation, purifies its consciousness, for it then “merges into pure Consciousness,” the purified soul is the es-sence of Atma. By removing the blemishes from con-sciousness, becomes pure.
“As water mixes with water, fire with fire, and air with air, so does this spiritual body easily joins with any ma-terial form that it likes. But a corporeal body cannot mix with an incorporeal substance, nor can a solid rock become the same with an ideal hill.” Goddess Saraswa-ti.
Thus, Atmani merges into the essence of Atma, through the descending grace of Spirit being united, yoked, merged or Yoga. From the previous verse, the Atmani now embraces the One and the same reality! This is the same unified Consciousness, the One reality only; which is the seer, the seen, and the seeing; the knower, knowledge, and knowing in the super-consciousness of the Spiritual-Eye. No one can com-prehend the seer. Only, through the testimonials of knowers does one come to understand that the seer is Atma. Only, there is no faculty to comprehend the in-comprehensible. But this does not imply that the Atma does not exist. Its presence is felt and known over and above the egoistic self.
The word “Being” and “not-becoming” is the rightful expression, for there is a vast difference in terms; for “becoming” is the tenet of the mind and “Being” is the abode of the essence of Atma. Therefore, for want of understanding in the beholder, there arises dualism, which washes him away, like the torrent of rainwater on rocky slopes.
“When dualistic concepts are used by us, O’ Rama, it is only to facilitate instruction; the division is not real.” Lord Vasishtha.
Secondarily, this dictum implies the tenet of the com-posite Vedic word “Budh-dha,” which is quoted as “be-comes Gotama or becomes O’ Gotama.” In fact, it should be revised to read, “being Buddha.” When the mind and its modifications and its attributes become subdued, that which arises is the super consciousness-intellect in the Spiritual-Eye, which merges and into the essence of pure Consciousness, Atma; “being” the essential One reality, which is principally called, Budh-dha. Only, Budh-dhi is the essence of the mundane intellect, whilst Budh-dha is the essence of the only One essential Intellect. Thus, an enlightened mind is Buddha, the essence of Atma. Therefore, Buddha is a unique and rare blend of purity found amidst sentiency.
Upon the death of such a sacred “Being,” its Intellect blends with the omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipo-tent Intellect; for that “Soul” has not to travel afar. For Budh-dha is a knower and is the essence of omnipres-ent Atma. Besides, as Uddalaka’s genealogy is rooted in Gotama, so Lord Vaivasvata addresses Nachiketas with such an expression but to make the soul understand the tenet of Budh-dha. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
SECOND PLEA
SECOND CHAPTER
Lord Vaivasvata’s appraisal
of Atmani and Atma. Hereafter!
53. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Abode elev-en gated, Unborn not crooked attribute, faithfully not grieve liberated and detached. This is That.
This dictum acclaims the transcendental nature of the Atmani or the Brahmana guest. The transcendental uncaused or unborn Brahmana guest is settled in the body endowed with eleven gates of entry and exit, which are orifices (seven apertures in the head, the na-vel, two below, and the one at the top of the head). The body is comparable to a city with eleven gates, ruled by a king. The king stands apart from his subjects and the dwellers of the city. Likewise, the Atmani in in the city, but not of the city. The nature of Atmani is not crooked and not subject to birth and death like the dwellers of the city and the city itself. His Knowledge is perfect.
It has been known from time immemorial that the sub-tle eleven dates of the entry (arrival) are also the eleven gates of exit (departure) of the Brahmana guest.
The unborn Brahmana is an honest guest settled in the body; an immortal substance within corporeality, but not of corporeal material. It is transcendental, con-scious, pure, and benevolent; does neither lament nor complain nor rejoice, though abiding within corporeali-ty. In other words, it is the ego-mind complex that suf-fers and enjoys in the body. Contemplation of him lead-ing to sound knowledge or realisation of him, contem-plating on him, as living equally in all things, one does not grieve, being freed from all desire; fearlessness be-ing attained by knowing him, there being no occasion for grief, whence could he fear death?
The Brahmana guest is a vacuous substance, liberated and a free Spirit, which through the shackles of the mind, Maya or Upadhis, seems entangles itself in a web of corporeality, remarked as a living Spirit without free-dom. Atmani is here to enforce spiritual truths.
The composite Sanskrit word “Videha-Mukta” implies the liberated unmanifest Soul, and the composite word “Jivan-Mukta” implies manifest free Being; the former is released and free after death merged in the Omni-essence of Atma, and the latter implies “beingness” whilst embodied. These two appellations are mere con-cepts for our studies. Verily, as far as the Mukta is con-cerned, there is for him no difference, viz., he beholds not an iota of difference before and after the demise of the body! Therefore, a sentient embodiment of Immor-tality is termed as Mukta (Buddha).
The Mukta, upon bodily death, becomes an unmanifest Mukta (Videha) is mere conceptualization. The Mukta upon death merges into the divine and blessed Immor-tal substance, the essence of Atma. Only, he has no body, he has no death, he has no birth, for these are burnt into ashes whilst embodied! The Mukta is the essence of the Atma whilst embodied, so it makes no difference to the Mukta whether his body is alive or dead. Verily, he has lost the idea of the body. He is al-ready the essence of the Atma, He is already merged in Atma, He is in Yoga constantly! There is no body to die or to be reborn.
Atmani is “That” essence of the Spirit that pervades the man and everything else and remains as an unblem-ished spectator. Atmani burdened and comingled with Upadhis is the Brahmana guest. Atmani unblemished and unburdened by Upadhis is the essence of Atma on-ly. For it is that ancient primordial substance. Atmani abides like space in an empty bottle, but once the bottle is broken, space remains as space blending in with the whole space because space is omnipresent. Therefore, the transcendental Atmani witnesses the essence of both, corporeal and Spiritual realities. But the divine formless vacuous unblemished Intellect, the primordial Spirit, remains immutable and free from Upadhis. It lives equally in all things. For it is revealed in the pre-vious dictum that this pure substance remains unblem-ished by Upadhis, i.e., becomings, births, deaths, here-afters, notions, volitions, deeds, tendencies, condition-ings, karmas, consciousnesses, paradoxes, et al. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of Immor-tal Yoga.
54. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Like the Himalayan Goose, pure radiance, air firmament dwell-ing, in the sacrificial (fire) Altar (arena); dwelling guest the house of man; Supreme truth real dwelling heaven; lotus (ether) son, fire-son, water-son, earth-son, moun-tain son, Truth Supreme.
This dictum implicates the attributeless essence of Atma as an unborn immortal tenet, which like wisdom, is born in Supreme truth. Atma is pure radiance, like sky, dwelling in sacrificial fire, in men, in earth, water, fire, air, ether, rocks; that spirit pervades everything. The essence of the unblemished Spirit, its radiance, pervades everything from the sky down to the rock. The effulgence of the Intellect pervades all and everything; the essence of the Spirit is borne in ether, in air, in fire, in water, in earth, in rock, in fire, and as the real in Truth.
A Hansa is Himalayan Goose, which is considered as a spiritual symbol. In the Rig Veda, it is a Goose that can separate Soma from water when mixed; in later Indian literature, the bird separates milk from water when mixed. Therefore, this Vedic adage implies that a “Par-amahansa,” a title bestowed on an Adept Yogi, can sep-arate the clear Spirit substance (water) from the mun-dane material. This implies that the Atma, like a Hansa, is separate from the material nature.
The composite Sanskrit word “Sah-aham” is the word mantra that implies “I am-That.” In Vedic philosophy, it means identifying oneself with the universe or with the ultimate reality. The mantra is also inverted from “so-aham” to “aham-sa.” The Soham-Hamsa has also been interpreted as “I myself am the Swan,” wherein the Swan symbolizes the essence that carries the Spirit or Atma. The white Hansa is a “vahana” of Goddess Sarasvati, the deified symbol of wisdom. A Hansa, which also represents the Spirit, is the vehicle of wis-dom; perfectly rounded and full like the Full Moon typ-ified by a milky colouration, is also seen entoptically in Dhyana meditation.
The other likely interpretation is this. The Milky-Way galaxy is round and spiral; from the core or naval of Lord Vishnu, expressed in the Puranas, wherein arose the Spirit of Brahma, self-born abiding on a white Lo-tus. The colour attribute of white is depicted as Sattvic, red as Rajasic, and Indigo-blue or Black as Tamasic in Samkhya philosophy. Paradoxically, absolute Black (void, nothingness) is the highest, for it is not a reflec-tion but an absorption!
“The Swan dwelling in the clear radiance” infers that the Spiritual Light, Atma, dwells as Consciousness in everything. “Abiding Fire Altar (arena) guest residing in a house, dwelling in men,” points to the Brahmana guest, which is Consciousness, sat on a high Altar, dwelling as beingness or as life in men. “High Altar” points to the summit of pure Consciousness attainable by an Adept in meditation. The flight of the Hansa symbolizes Moksha; as one is released from the cycle of samsara, so the Mukta has conquered the three realms of existence, terrestrial (physical, waking), aquatic (as-tral, dreaming), and aerial (causal, celestial, sleeping), like a Hansa.
He is in all that is born of water, earth, mountain. The essence of the Atma is the Lord of all the realms, mate-rial and spiritual. for It pervades the whole. That which is Existence-Consciousness-Intellect is the essence of being, born of Truth, only Reality, and the mighty One. Therefore, an attained Adept is often referred to as a Paramahansa.
Atma of unchanging nature, great, being the cause of all; effulgent like the sun, only one and all-pervading and immutable.
This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
55. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Higher Spir-it ascends, anti-Spirit confluence casts, midst dwarf seat-ed all gods worship.
This dictum is the tenet of two opposing equilateral triangles typically depicted in a Yantra; in the midst or in the confluence of the two triangles is seated the spir-itual symbol. The soul is the giver of life, breath, po-tency, and prana, without which, there is only an unan-imated sculpture made of mud, a corpse. It is the soul that leads inhalation and exhalation. The Brahmana guest is seated amidst inhalation and exhalation.
He, the Brahmana guest brings the gift of physical and spiritual existence into the house it enters. The higher the soul ascends, the lesser it entangles itself with ego-istic tendencies and paradoxes. The exoteric biological explanation is this. It is the soul that supports the vital higher synapses (dorsal and ventral nerves harboured in the brain stem, medulla and pons) that draws the air inhaled, Prana, and withdraws the air exhaled, Apana.
Breathing is a process of inhalation and exhalation, which depend on the presence or support of that other; the process of taking in oxygen from inhaled air and flushing out carbon dioxide by exhalation; for the “pra-na-vayu” is warm, alkaline, and oxygenated blood transported in the arteries. Respiration is a process that occurs within cells. Respiration converts the energy of glucose and other molecules into cellular energy. Cells are then able to use this vital energy to perform func-tions such as build proteins, replicate DNA, maintain pH (lungs), temperature (lungs), breakdown wastes etc. Glucose and oxygen combine to release energy, heat, carbon dioxide, and water; which gives rise to exhala-tion of toxic carbon-dioxide; for the “apana-vayu” is cold, acidic, and deoxygenated blood transported in the veins. As oxygen concentration increases during ex-tended inhalation, so toxic carbon dioxide concentra-tion decreases. Lying supine on the left-side opens the right nostril consequently, inhalation increases heat and pH, i.e., right nostril inhalation warms the body. Lying supine on the right-side opens the left nostril, conse-quently, inhalation cools the body.
The subtle “Sushumna” breath is a process of harmo-nized breathing, which occasionally occurs during the twenty-four-hour cycle; for an Adept Yogi tries to maintains Sushumna breath during meditation. The opposite of respiration is photosynthesis, which uses the Sun’s energy and water to convert carbon dioxide into sugar and oxygen. The esoteric explanation is this. Prana and apana are to be considered as paradoxes or dual. As the lengthened realization of the essence of Spirit increases, so toxic materialism or egoism is grad-ually cast aside, i.e., the emphasis placed on paradoxes or dualism, physicality, and mentality declines.
“Midst dwarf seated all gods worship,” implies that gods, such as those mentioned earlier in dictum 44, have neither support nor existence without the Hon-ourable guest entering a house, for they worship that Spirit seated amidst the body. The presence of the Brahmana guest or the soul is the source and support of life. Seated in the heart, core, or centre of the body is the “dwarf” (vortex of consciousness-intellection), which all gods of organs, tissues, bones, nerves, mar-row, blood, senses, brain, mind, etc, pay homage; with-out which they all cease in their functionality; thus, upon death vital functionality of existence stops and all gods (energy, or potency) evaporate into nothingness; because the Brahmana guest that supports vital breath-ing departs with octuple puryastakas, the corporeal ex-istence comes to an end.
Life is the dualism of paradoxes, and the reason why gods worship the dwarf seated in the middle is because of Atmani, which is beyond dualism, for it is purely nondual intellect and bliss, for the mind is the manifes-tor of paradoxes.
The enlightened intellect does not worship dualism, it worships and adores Sat-Chit-Ananda! Physical life or existence, as we know it, comes to an end when the guest departs from its encasement, and that which is left behind is an elemental concoction (corpse) that turns to its elemental composition from which it first manifested; ashes to ashes or dust to dust. But depend-ing upon the mind’s desires and tendencies, most sen-tient creatures reformat in physicality.
Atmani seated in the middle, i.e., in the heart, with the light of Consciousness, alights the intellect, is worthy of worship. He is the support of perception, feeling, taste, etc. Seated in the midst of paradoxes, he is the Brahmana guest, for He is neither prana nor apana. Atmani is the essence of Atma. This is to be under-stood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yo-ga.
56. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Of this (rest) cessation being pronounced, the dweller of the bodied, disembodied from the body, being freed reflects, wonder what here remains behind. This is That.
This dictum implies the tenet of reflective or witness-ing Intellect, the immortal Atma. “Wonder what here remains behind,” implies that which is freed after death; what remains after death is the burden of mate-riality. However, this dictum could imply that after death the discarnate Atmani reflects over the corpse, which “remains here behind,” or it could imply that which remains here after death is the freed discarnate consciousness. Therefore, neither does that “manifest-ing” consciousness-intellection dies nor does the “sum of experiences” gathered in the body’s lifetime (held in the noumenal vortex) dies nor does the vortex of con-sciousness-intellection dies nor does the witnessing consciousness-intellection dies.
In other words, the essence of Atmani does not die. All desires and ideas are “stored” as the cause; the seed in the womb of “individualised” manifesting ideation in the individualized World Mind or Hiranyagarbha. Idea-tions are “individualized” because those which are held in the mind of a Bantu in Africa have no recollection in the mind of an Eskimo in the Arctic region; misery held in the heart of a Bantu is not felt automatically through expansive consciousness by an Eskimo. Be-sides, why should an Eskimo invite such?
An Adept is unbound and free from the paradoxes of life and cares because he stops carrying the heavy bur-den of ignorance, although he remains compassionate, to spread peace all around him that contacts his con-sciousness; for he becomes a witnessing consciousness. The Adept foremost surrenders, to give full credit to that Supreme Intellect.
“Consciousness expansion” is an archetype (original model) of the World-Mind that knows all because all is held in the one vortex, namely “Akashic archive.”
The authors understanding of the matter is that a Sage or a Prophet has psychic access to the archetype through the consciousness of Alandani or Indra’s Net. But to attain to Immortality, the seeker has to ascend to the summit and then descend; ascend to have a peek or a glimpse of the Supreme Effulgence, for this is “awakening;” only “full-enlightenment” is the descend, but to live the life in wisdom as an attained Mukta. Moreover, the aspiring seeker has to learn what tools are needful to get rid of sanskaras or kleshas or tenden-cies (the five poisons or kleshas are avidya (ignorance), asmita (over-identifying with your ego), raga (desire, or attachment to pleasure), dvesha (avoidance), and ab-hinivesha (attachment and fear) held in the Akashic records.
Consciousness expansion may cause other ideas; those which are anti-theistic on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga. Consciousness expansion does not imply com-passion, for it implies traversing the ocean of subtle consciousnesses beyond waking, unmani, dreaming, alandani, and sleep, to the shore of the One pure Con-sciousness, for an Adept remains indifferent to waves and whirlpools of the waters of the ocean of the mind.
An Adept is freed from the residues (karmic or causa-tive) through the grace of Atma only. It is a wonder how the essence of the Spirit gives rise to an animated consciousness of existence. Existence cannot be sepa-rated from the Spirit.
Of this cessation (death), being pronounced, the king departs from his city, unattached, being freed, reflects, wonders what here remains behind. The king is the Ex-istence! Inferentially, the demise of the elemental body is not the end, because there is that substance in us that continues to exist. What ends is the karmic idea of “me.” That substance is beyond mortality, beyond physicality, and beyond karma. The dream-like reminis-cence, after death, the discarnate undergoes like a mov-ie trailer, which highlights to the discarnate the empha-sised experiences of the good and bad deeds here it ex-perienced whilst living. Only, living should be experi-enced like a dream.
Lord Vasishtha asserts: “The individualised conscious-ness (the mind) has arisen in the supreme being, it is both different and non-different from the infinite con-sciousness even as a wave is different and non-different from the ocean.”
What remains here, body, when the king of the city departs, is merely a composition of elements; the body is this only. The dwellers of the city are no longer. The me, the ego, is annihilated. Alas, freed from paradoxes! Is it not strange that we do not reflect death whilst alive, only at the end, what we live behind? We ought to realize that nothing we can take with us, we have to leave all accumulations behind; we leave the “me” be-hind, but we carry on as the other, who is the immortal substance. Therefore, the “me” is transient, but the Self is immortal, is a true inference. It follows that the “me” is merely a superficial construct upon the immortal substance, the true Self; like a snake is taken for a rope illusion whereby the only reality is the rope.
That which is freed from the consciousness of the body upon death is Atmani, with or without the burden of octuple puryastakas, for the Brahmana guest departs from its temporary abode. Say then, is Atmani a com-posite of octuple puryastakas? Yes and no. For most of humanity, yes; for the enlightened no, as we shall dis-cover through further instructions by Lord Vaivasvata. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
57. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Not by force (pranena), not by non-force (apranena), the mortal to live, no one another, but alive in whom these rest.
This dictum implies the tenet of existence. Not by liv-ing force (prana) nor by non-living force (apana). Prana is that which many scholars attempt to define as Pra-kriti or energy, however, prana is an indefinable tran-scendental potency. “Not by might, not by non-might,” indicts the idea of potential and probable cause or po-tency that resides in men. Will is the closest attempted definition of the paradigm of prana. Shiva is the ideal and Shakti is the will. Not through willing nor non-willing does a man liveth, but through the existence of the animating principle, Atmani.
It is neither through the functionality of the lungs nor the heart nor the brain nor innervation that the mortal has existence; popularly thought by physiologists be-cause the western thinker places too much emphasis on physicality. Some scholars interpreted, “No mortal lives by the breath that goes up and by the breath that goes down. We live by another, in whom these two repose.” It is true that man lives not only through breath, food, and water. Some scholars say, “There is an energy field that is constantly generating, sustaining, and destroy-ing life. Prana is an ancient word that realizes this en-ergy field. It’s an intellectual symbol of an experiential or existential force. The western language might use “God” as its equivalent. However, this term, to date, has less scientific underpinnings and covers the canvas with a brush that confuses the intellectual or the ra-tional mind.”
Lord Vaivasvata further asserts that “another conscious substance in whom these rest.” This implies another substance unlike the body (rest) or transcends it, which is subtler than subtlety. Lord Vaivasvata makes it abundantly clear that mortal men are “alive” only through the presence of “that another,” i.e., the Brah-mana tenant seated in the centre. It is another that gives rise to motion or becoming, yet remains still!
Stillness is the sentient tenet, which is the source of life. Pure Consciousness-Intellect is the source of life! There are no systems in the stillness or silence when the mind is annihilated. Silence is the altar of the Spir-it. There is neither mind nor breath nor paradoxes in pure Consciousness. It is in the memory (reminiscence of the soul) that existence rests and nowhere else be-sides, for the empirical mind and breath is rooted in the depth of conscious reminiscence.
The duality of breath is not the source of life. Say then, can we forget to breathe or erase from memory breath-ing? Yes. You can forget to breathe and remain alive!
The paradigm of inhalation and exhalation indicts the paradox of vibrations or wave-like peak and trough, i.e., the motion of the mind in which creation has its exist-ence. Therefore, a mortal being, which is mind and breath, manifests the self (ego) and paradoxes (dualism; Upadhis) from the womb of its thoughts and will, which firmly holds the consciousness of the idea of life, for becoming or life is mind, breath, and importantly, memory.
The mundane mortal life is merely a play of paradoxes or becoming for most, but there is another alive entity, who is “beingness,” beyond becoming, for he exists within, as an immortal beyond mortality!
Mortal does not simply live through the will or might of breath or energy, for the source of life is rooted in the alive Brahmana guest, the soul, seated amidst the body. The purpose to build of a house is to live in it. An empty home has no expression independent of a tenant that occupies it and uses it. Therefore, seeming-ly the body is a tool of the Immortal Spirit that rents it. All mortals serve a purpose for the One essence that occupies all, and the solemn purpose is to give expres-sion to the Immortal Spirit, nay, sentiency and insen-tient are the two seeming expressions of the Spirit.
Sage Valmiki instructs Sage Bharadvaja, “Investigate that method by which you know the source of the body, the senses, the mind, and the intelligence, and let them return to their source. First rest in the cosmic manifest being (Virat). After this rest in the unmanifest and then in the supreme cause of all.”
This is the right inference drawn from the dictum. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
58. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Alas to thee hence proclaim mystery Brahman ancient for instance death procurable Atmani dispel light and dark.
Lord Vaivasvata implies that what follows is the most profound soteriology ever revealed. Importantly, how it was originally uttered and revealed is a mystery, for confusion reigns across interpreters. Some scholars in-terpreted, “Well then, O’ Gautama, I shall tell thee this mystery, the old Brahman, and what happens to the Self, after reaching death.” Mathva interpreted, “I shall tell thee also how the Atma falls into the state of Jiva, i.e., how it readies mortal condition. Another interpret-ed, “And now this mysterious ancient Brahma I shall tell thee so that by reaching deathlessness, he becomes Atma, (alone), O’ Gautama.” Sri Aurobindo interpret-ed, “Surely, O’ seed of Gotama, I will tell thee of this secret and eternal Brahman, and likewise what be-cometh of the soul when one dieth.” Verily, none of these interpretations, are to be taken for granted, they are to be treated tentatively.
This dictum is uttered by Lord Vaivasvata addressing Nachiketas, but strangely, Lord Vaivasvata in the dic-tum uses the word ‘Gotama,’ and not ‘O’ seed of Go-tama. If we refer back when Lord Vaivasvata addresses Nachiketas, it is clear that the Lord Vaivasvata utters Nachiketas by name, and furthermore, Lord Vaivasvata knows Uddalaki Aruna. Say then, why does the Lord now refer to Nachiketas as Gotama?
Perhaps, there may have been an older additional text added to this Gita, which was revealed by Lord Vaivasvata addressing ancient Vedic Sage Gotama. However, it is an opinion held by the author that it is more than likely that the word ‘Gotama’ at the end of the dictum is used to implicate Light and Darkness or Sat and Asat or Vidya and Avidya in line with the theme on paradoxes.
The composite word “Gotama” is derived from the San-skrit roots “go” joined to “tama.” Tama implies “dark-ness” and “go” implies inter alia “bright light.” Joined, they indicate the One, who dispels, by his brilliance (spiritual light) and knowledge (wisdom) the darkness of ignorance.
From the Bhagavad Gita, “For these two paths of the world, the bright and the dark (Go and Tama), are con-sidered to be eternal. Proceeding by one of them, one reaches the supreme state from which there is no re-turn; and proceeding by the other, one returns to the mortal world, i.e., becomes subject to birth and death once more.”
Perhaps, the original intended dictum stated in San-skrit, ‘bhavati go tama,’ which implies suggestively ‘dispel light and dark.’ Only, either to transform from “a becoming” into “a Being,” the One, Gotama or transform from ‘a Budh-dhi’ into ‘a Budh-dha,’ a mor-tal into an immortal, Atmani to Atma! Therefore, “go-tama” is uttered at the end of the dictum as a special maxim by Lord Vaivasvata.
The Spirit is neither Sat nor Asat, for it is seated in the midst. Furthermore, Lord Vaivasvata does not suggest any other middle ground for the Atmani, for the Atma-ni either reincarnates or merges in the Spirit, i.e., there is neither purgatory nor infernal ghettos nor subterra-nean nether worlds. So, those texts that suggest these dire regions are merely conjectured on part of the writ-ers. Those dreadful worlds are held and inhabited by the mind only. Like a child sees a goblin in a dream as real.
The Jiva reincarnates after death into the darkness of the mind and ego, but a Mukta is the clear effulgence of neither light nor dark, That-Which-Is seated in the midst.
It is for the seeker of Truth to understand verses and reflect on that which is implied by them and extract their nectar, but in his readership, in all written scrip-tures, he must use his intelligence to decipher through these parables tentatively and exercise caution. There-fore, Sages of yore warns the seeker not to entirely de-pend upon scriptures for the last word on salvation or Reality or Truth, for right knowing will empirically de-scend to imbibe an aspirant as insight in meditation. Paradoxically, the Lord of Death, Vaivasvata, is pro-claimed as the knower of Atma. Say then, can we ob-tain the knowledge of Atma in the absence of death?
Lord Vaivasvata, the knower of Atma, procured the mystery of Brahman. Alas, how the mystery of immor-tality could be procured, through or via death, the dis-peller the light and dark, via the knower of Atma, via Lord Vaivasvata, in the following verses. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
59. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Womb oth-ers enter, body sentient embodied, fixed (sthanu) others go into; according to actions, according to their knowledge.
Hereafter, some take their corresponding body either according to their karma or according to their knowledge. Some enter sentient bodies, and others, in-sentient or immovable, rather, according to their men-talism. “According to actions (karma), according to knowledge,” rightly understood, indicts the tenets of Karmayoga (the Yoga of selfless action or deeds) and Samkhyayoga (the Yoga of Knowledge) inculcated in the Bhagavad Gita. Lord Krishna reveals in the Bhaga-vad Gita two tenets, Karmayoga and Samkhyayoga.
According to Lord Krishna: “Equipped with this atti-tude of mind, you will be able to throw off completely the shackles of Karma. Arjuna, perform your duties established in Yoga, renouncing attachment, and be even-minded in success and failure (paradoxes); even-ness (annihilation of paradoxes, harmony) of mind is called Yoga.
As the blazing fire reduces the fuel to ashes, Arjuna, even so, the fire of Knowledge turns all actions to ash-es.”
“Arjuna, actions do not bind him who has dedicated all his actions to God according to the spirit of Karmayoga, whose doubts have been dispelled by wisdom and who is self-possessed. For, Arjuna, he who is free from the pairs of opposites (paradoxes) is easily liberated from bondage. Samkhyayoga is the renunciation of doership in relation to all activities of the mind, senses, and body. The self-controlled Samkhyayogi, doing nothing himself and getting nothing done by others, rests hap-pily in God, the embodiment of Truth, Knowledge, and Bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda), mentally relegating all actions to the mansion of nine gates (the body with nine open-ings; eleven according to Dictum 53).”
“God determines neither the doership nor the doings of men, nor even their contact with the fruit of actions, but it is Nature alone that does all this. The omnipres-ent God does not partake the virtue or sin of anyone. Knowledge is enveloped by ignorance; hence it is that beings are constantly falling prey to delusion. He who does his duty without expecting the fruit of actions is a Sannyasi and a Yogi both. He is no Sannyasi (renounc-er) who has merely renounced the sacred fire; even so, he is no Yogi who has merely given up all activity. They who, having taken refuge in Me, strive for deliv-erance from old age and death, know Brahman (the Ab-solute), the whole Adhyatma (the totality of Jivas or embodied souls), and the entire field of Karma (action) as well as My integral being, comprising Adhibhuta (the field of Matter), Adhidaiva (Brahma) and Adhiyaj-na (the unmanifest Divinity dwelling in the heart of all beings as their witness).
“And they who, possessed of a steadfast mind, know thus even at the hour of death, they too know Me alone. For these two paths of the world, the bright and the dark, are considered to be eternal. Proceeding by one of them, one reaches the supreme state from which there is no return; and proceeding by the other, one returns to the mortal world, i.e., becomes subject to birth and death once more. Wielding My Nature, I pro-create again and again, according to their respective karmas; all these multitudes of beings are subject to the sway of their own nature. Arjuna, those actions, how-ever, do not bind Me, unattached as I am to such ac-tions, and standing apart as it were.”
“Arjuna, under My aegis, Nature brings forth the whole creation, consisting of both sentient and insentient be-ings; it is due to this cause that the wheel of Samsara is going around. Having enjoyed the extensive heaven-world, they return to this world of mortals on the stock of their merits being exhausted. Thus, devoted to the ritual with interested motive, recommended by the three Vedas as the means of attaining heavenly bliss, and seeking worldly enjoyments, they repeatedly come and go, i.e., ascend to heaven by virtue of their merits and return to earth when their fruit has been enjoyed.”
“Those who are votaries of gods, go to gods, those who are votaries of manes, reach the manes; those who adore the spirits, reach the spirits and those who wor-ship Me, come to Me alone. That is why My devotees are no longer subject to birth and death. Knowledge is better than practice without discernment, a meditation on God is superior to knowledge, and renunciation of the fruit of actions is even superior to meditation; for peace immediately follows renunciation. Prakriti and Purusha, know both these as beginningless. And know all modifications such as likes and dislikes etc., and all objects constituted of the three gunas as born of Pra-kriti (Nature).”
“Prakriti is said to be responsible for bringing forth the evolutes and the instruments; while the individual soul is declared to be responsible for the experience of joys and sorrows. Only the Purusha (Mind) in association with Prakriti (Mature) experiences objects of the nature of the three gunas evolved from Prakriti and it is the attachment with these gunas that is responsible for the birth of the soul in the womb. Arjuna, whatsoever be-ing, the moving or unmoving, is born, know it as ema-nated through the union of Ksetra (Matter) and the Ksetrajnana (Spirit). The body is called the Field (Kset-ra), the soul is called the Knower of the Field (Ksetra-jnana).”
“He alone truly sees, who sees the supreme Lord as im-perishable and abiding equally in all perishable beings, both animate and inanimate. Of all embodied beings that appear in all the species of various kinds, Arjuna, Prakriti or Nature is the conceiving Mother, while I am the seed giving Father. When a man dies during the preponderance of Sattva, he obtains the stainless ethe-real worlds (heaven etc.,) attained by men of noble deeds. Dying when Rajas predominates, he is born among those attached to action; even so, the man who has expired during the preponderance of Tamas is re-born in the species of the deluded creatures such as in-sects and beasts etc.”
“Those who abide in the quality of Sattva wend their way upwards; while those of a Rajasic disposition stay in the middle. And those of a Tamasic temperament, enveloped as they are in the effects of Tamo-guna, sink down. Having transcended the aforesaid three gunas, which have caused the body, and freed from birth, death, old age, and all kinds of sorrow, the embodied soul attains supreme bliss. The eternal Jivatma (Atma-ni) in this body is a fragment of My own Self; and it is that alone which draws around itself the mind and the five senses, which abide in Prakriti. Even as the wind wafts scents from their seat, so, too, the Jivatma, which is the controller of the body etc., taking the mind and the senses from the body, which it leaves behind, forthwith migrates to the body which it acquires.”
“Taking the form of fire, as Vaishvanara, lodged in the body of all creatures and united with the Prana (exhala-tion) and Apana (inhalation) breaths, it is I who digest and assimilate the four kinds of food (Dictum 55). It is I who remain seated in the heart of all creatures as the inner controller of all; and it is I who am the source of memory, knowledge and the ratiocinate faculty. Again, I am the only object worth knowing through the Vedas; I alone am the origin of Vedanta and the knower of the Vedas too. Men of demoniac disposition say this world is without any foundation, unreal and Godless, brought forth by the mutual union of the male and female and hence conceived in lust; what else than this? Cherish-ing insatiable desires and embracing false doctrines through ignorance, these men of impure conduct move in this world, full of hypocrisy, pride, and arrogance.”
“Giving themselves up to innumerable cares ending only with death, they remain devoted to the enjoyment of sensuous pleasures and are firm in their belief that this is the highest limit of joy. Failing to reach Me, Ar-juna, those foolish persons are born, life after life, in wombs and then verily sink down to a still lower plane.”
As the foregoing excerpts from the Bhagavad Gita are supplementary to Vaivasvata Gita, so likewise, Lord Vaivasvata reveals two tenets of soteriology for the soul’s consideration, namely, karma and knowledge, which according to Lord Krishna, either or both leads an aspirant to Moksha. Like the waters of an ocean are imbibed with saltiness, karma and knowledge are en-veloped within by Maya (bondage) and Avidya (nesci-ence) respectively.
To philosophically tackle a word’s implication is to tackle its antonym. The antonym of action is non-action and the antonym of knowledge is ignorance. Any acts without the thought of gain or loss are non-acts, likewise, any acts on behest of the Spirit are also non-acts. The former tenet is powerfully rooted as a cause (action) in humans according to their desires and tendencies for gains, for they are selfishly held deep in memory.
Dependent upon their acts, human beings are reborn into samsaric wombs, only to the thraldom of darkness, nescience, and bondage repeatedly. Others are re-born as insentient or inorganic objects is a false inference. Say then, what does Lord Vaivasvata imply by stating “insentience others go into”?
It is common exoteric knowledge amongst Hindu scrip-tures that insentient objects are consciousnesses of ei-ther abysmal darkness (ignorance) or effulgence; stars are thought of as exoteric consciousnesses of the su-preme beings glittering in their effulgence of Moksha, like the holiest Sun God, Lord Vivasvan. And con-sciousnesses of abysmal darkness are manifests as rocks.
The esoteric implication of insentience in this dictum is this. Insentience implies motionlessness or stillness or silence; as the mind is matter, motion, time, and space, so motionlessness transcends matter, time, and space for want of consciousness of physical life or for want of mind. This means they transcend to merge into the un-consciousness of physical existence or motionlessness dwelling in the Spirit, i.e., for want of body, senses, ego, and mind; existence beyond physicality or insen-tience or motionlessness is transcendental and immortal “real” life only!
There is no bliss in becoming, for becoming is ephem-eral; silence is the altar of being only. Becoming has no bliss attached to it, for the altar of the Spirit is be-ingness, intellect, and bliss. The Sanskrit word, “Sthanum” implies transcendental motionlessness, a sourceless and causeless Stambha of smokeless fire, lingam as an epithet of Shiva, denoting the quality of calmness, silence, stillness, and fixity.
“There are two viewpoints: a qualified truth for the lower stage of aspirants, which admits duality; and the complete viewpoint of nonduality for the highest stu-dent; thus for practical life, when dealing with other people or when engaged in some activity, those in the first stage must accept the notion of the world being real, because of expediency; yet even so, when they are alone or when keeping quiet, inactive, they ought to revert back to regarding the world, which includes one’s own body as a part of it, as idea. Only for the sage is the truth always present, no matter whether he is with others, whether he is working, or whether he is in trance, and this truth is the continuous awareness of one Reality alone and oneself alone.” Prophet Brunton.
Our deeds, desires, and tendencies or conditionings are reciprocated in our thoughts and will, which are in their essence purely psychical. Moreover, karma, in short, is appropriately understood by the following Hindu max-im thus, “What we sow, we harvest.” Any action (kar-ma, cause) has a reaction (effect). Like a sesame seed is ingrained with oil, likewise, karma or cause is ingrained in
Maya. Karma and Maya are twins born from the same womb at the same instance. Therefore, mentalism is to be thoroughly reasoned with metaphysically, mystical-ly, and philosophically and then adequately understood, because the only way out of karmic samsara is renunci-ation (viveka and vairagya). It is purely this and noth-ing else besides which liberates a mortal.
Therefore, as it is our thoughtlessness that will liberate us, nay, it is not only mindlessness that liberates, but through the grace of other, Atma; the divine Self is the principal liberator because to attain liberation from the mind is the whole definitive principle of Hindu soteri-ology.
The tenet of knowledge is rooted deeply within the Self as the empirical Spirit. Right knowledge implied by the Lord Vaivasvata is esoteric, which is pertinently called “Vidya” in Sanskrit. However, rare are the ones through their Immortal Yoga and insightful revelations, know-ingly and accordingly, through the grace of Atma, have burned all past karmas and are never subject to new karmas; they blend or merge into the constant, immu-table, and blessed bliss of spiritual effulgence. This then is the tenet of Vidya, the definitive definition of Vidya, which is in its essence “Yoga” or yoking to the Atma. Therefore, Atma-Bodha is rightly called Yoga! It may also be termed as “Enlightenment.” There is no further need for masterly scriptural or teachings beyond yoking to the Self, Atma, for it is the Immortal principle per se!
According to Lord Krishna: “The Spirit dwelling in this body is really the same as the Supreme. He has been spoken of as the Witness, the true Guide, the Sustainer of all, the Experiencer (as the embodied soul, Atmani), the Overlord (Atma), and the Absolute (Brahman) as well.” Therefore, the true Self is yoked to immortality! Atmani is an immortal principle that abides in the cor-poreality. The author asseverates that this is your here-after after the death of the body or this is your afterlife!
According to Ananda Moyi Ma: “Sansaar (samsara; the world) means the abode of uncertainty and doubt. The clown who mistakes his role for reality yet is only dressed up as a clown. Therefore, it is called “Sang-saara.”
Therefore, like the clown, according to their karma, most re-enter into the cycle of life, whilst the rare oth-ers, according to their knowledge, are liberated. These are the two fates that await the soul after death incul-cated by Lord Vishnu and enforced by Lord Vaivasvata, which are the foundations of Hindu soteriology; the one of mind or matter, the other of Spirit; the one of budh-dhi, the other of Budh-dha; one of mortality, the other of immortality.
A king’s son might, under the influence of liquor or of a bad dream, think himself poor, but as soon as he re-covers from his state of intoxication, or as soon as he awakes, he forgets that delusion. The soul, ever sinless, eventually wakes up when it remembers its real nature, eternally good and free from Maya.
“To the enlightened, the mind is the absolute Brahman and nought else, but to the unenlightened, the mind is the cause of repetitive history (samsara).”
Therefore, an enlightened mind is a divine mind, i.e., thoughtless beingness! This state is incomprehensible because there is no mind, only Consciousness, for the Mukta can only be That. Therefore, Immortality is a state of being, procured by getting rid of Maya or dual-ism or mind or motion or becoming, i.e., Upadhis. The soul is entranced by the mind and its Maya; for the soul is enwrapped by the illusion of Maya. The soul awakes from its habitual entrancement of delusion and dream-ing to find its blessed primordial state.
Life is an experiential allegory; for the soul must recov-er its true state free from the phantasmagoria of delu-sion through Maya; free from the inebriations and illu-sions of grandeur of Maya. The soul is not deluded dur-ing the prayer of the silence of deep sleep for it ap-proaches its true nature free from inebriation of Maya. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
60. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Who this when asleep is awake, lust, lust mind manifests, That indeed bliss, That the Brahman, That indeed the Immor-tal. Delights in him the worlds contained all, That indeed surpass no one.
Lord Vaivasvata declares the knowledge or nature of Atma, who never sleeps, but gives rise to the mind that dreams out of ignorance. This dictum also acclaims the tenet of mentalism or idealism. The Self gives rise to everything in existence, for the Self is a self-contained unity of knowledge and ignorance. “That indeed bliss, That the Brahman, That indeed the Immortal,” pro-claims the attributes of Ishvara (Atma), whose exist-ence, consciousness and bliss or Sat-Chit-Ananda, is never mutable nor blemished by His creation. No one can go beyond Brahman. Delights in the Self, knowing the created is contained in Him.
The Self, Atmani, Atma, and Brahman are henceforth declared as the One Reality, for duality is a manifesta-tion of the mind only.
The allegory of the two birds, which pictorially show two birds sitting on one and the same branch; the one lusts (mind; self) whilst the other witnesses (Atma; Self).
Although unawares, the man unwittingly sleeps in the prayer of silence. If silence is the altar of the Spirit, then deep sleep, although it is an unconscious state of consciousness and also classed by some as an ignorant state, is a prayer of silence, for it is by far more effica-cious than in any other consciousnesses when the un-enlightened mind is present. Deep sleep is far more ef-ficacious a prayer than going to a temple. The soul rests in the bliss of thoughtlessness in deep sleep, i.e., freed from the shackles of the ego, although temporarily. However, the latent seed of desires, rest in the igno-rance of deep sleep, which sprouts on waking.
“Lust, lust mind manifests,” indicts the mind of Men whilst awake and asleep keeps thinking, dreaming, im-agining, lusting; men do not stop from lusting after ephemeral things, for desire is the cause of samsara. It is desires that manifest the mind, and the desiring mind manifests life. Inferentially, the mind is thus defined as the desire or Maya itself, for there is no difference be-tween desire and mind. It is cravings that give rise Brahma, who is the underlying tenet of Maya.
The bliss attained through deep sleep is rooted in prayer of silence at the altar of the Spirit; this is why we know we have had some goodness out of prayer of the silence of deep sleep than in a temple, simply because the re-lentless ego through sensuality is arrested during deep sleep.
Deep sleep is a state in which sensuality is entirely lost and what remains is the serene goodness or bliss. Say then, why do we feel good after a deep sleep? Because all contact to external objects ceases, and because the mind becomes subdued from lusting after objects; a welcomed daily rest from the indiscriminate and uncon-trolled senses and the mind. But the wise attain bliss in all states of consciousness. Take away thoughts and rest will automatically ensue like being in deep sleep. Deep sleep is a form of unwitting meditation.
Say then, does an atheist pray? Unwittingly yes. “When the mind is present, God is absent, when God is pre-sent, the mind is absent.” Therefore, we come to under-stand the bliss of an Adept Yogi who meditates; be-cause they are fully aware as they traverse all states of consciousness to the source; beyond the state of deep sleep! Incredible is the conscious state of deep sleep and the conscious state beyond; the ones who have attained to that state, Sat-Chit-Ananda, are the holiest of the holy living on earth, for they are truly the blessed.
This dictum further implicates the tenet of Hiran-yagarbha as we have discussed previously, which may be thought of as the sum-total of all seed ideas estab-lished within it, which is the Cosmic womb of reminis-cence only. Therefore, the desires and imaginations are already incubated or declared or established in the womb of manifestation, thus the womb of the potential and probable causes are already established, and the individualised ideas are projected into the corresponding individualised minds. There is nothing thought of or imaginable beyond that which is already established in Brahma or the World Mind; the womb of the vortex of consciousness has all potential (manifestations) seed ideas lodged in It. This is all Brahma.
Brahma is the manifesting cause. Manifestations of ideas and thoughts of any sort are all declared in the Brahma, but the causeless unmanifest beyond is Atma and Brahman. But Brahma is not to be confused with the Atma. Ishvara is pure Consciousness or the un-blemishable witnessing Consciousness. Therefore, Brahma cannot be immortal because the cause cannot be immortal. Because Atma is the witnessing subjective Consciousness, it must be beyond any manifestations or cause or effects or ideas or thoughts. Therefore, Atma is pure and remains unblemished because It is not tarnished by the desires, phenomena, and the mind, only, remains Itself as the Immortal. To feel the pres-ence of the Immortal, as the Self, is Immortality!
In the authors understanding, the individualised mind (Purusha) is Brahma or womb or Hiranyagarbha. It is the individualised mind that contains within its plenum all thoughts and ideas. Atma is a primordial immortal transcendental noumenon beyond the mind, the World Mind, and the Cosmic Mind.
To further understand the acts of the mind, one has to contemplate or witness a simple thought that arises, sustains, and dissolves, i.e., Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva respectively, as does the witnessing Atma; for they are all ingrained within the individual mind and nowhere else besides. Thus, Brahma gives rise to or manifests ideas or thoughts, Vishnu sustains those ideas, and Shiva destroys those ideas. Thus, as Brahma manifests all potential and probable causes and Vishnu sustains those effects, so Shiva destroys all causes and effects, thus rendering all manifestations into their primordial unmanifest state.
The right reason why Shiva (Yogeshwara) should be adored by Yogis is this. Shiva dissolves all ideas; Shiva should be immensely and correctly worshipped by Yo-gis, as Shiva aids a Yogi in meditation to rid of thoughts, which leads to the state of thoughtlessness.
Shiva is Ishvara, Shiva is Atma, Shiva is Sat-Chit-Ananda. The grace of Consciousness-Intellect or the grace of Shiva is, for a seeker, the greatest attainment, because It is the immortal principle! According to the first verse of Isha Upanishad: “In the universal motion whatsoever, an individual universe of movement is this all Ishvara for habitation, by that renounced thou shouldst enjoy any man’s possession lust not after.”
The mind is the anti-thesis of God, for the mind is a self-fouling, self-fooling, self-perpetuating, and self-fulfilling legacy of mankind. Prakriti can be thought as the might or will or prana that enwraps the soul in Ma-ya. Lord Vaivasvata cautiously implies the delight and wonder at worlds contained within. The Self is all this and nothing whatsoever exists outside the Self.
The maxim, “surpass no one,” indicts the incompre-hensible nature of Brahman, for the objective mind cannot for its absence, as the mind’s nature is objective only. No one has managed to surpass that which lies beyond Atma, for Its essence can be only known within as Sat-Chit-Ananda. When the mind (objective) is pre-sent, the essence of Atma (subjective) is unknowable, when the essence of Atma is present, the mind is ab-sent. Atma is the essence of the unmanifest Brahman, for a Yogi can only be That because Atma lies beyond notions, which are creations of the mind.
The eyes are useless when the mind is blind. The corre-lation between the eyes and the mental eye is subtle. The mental eye is beyond the unenlightened mind’s grasp, for it is a condensed or unified transcendental Intellect.
The mental eye is superconscious itself and perceives Itself as Reality! The mental eye is Atma! Atma (Brahman) is not an object of perception, for it is en-tirely a Subject and the source of everything. Atma (Self) reveals Itself to Itself when the mental eye (Itself) is aware within the Self. The essence of the Mental eye is super-consciousness! The essence of Atma is Being, Light, Intellect, and Bliss, which alights all luminaries.
Say then, who gives expression to all that exists? Only the Self! There is not another that alights any luminar-ies besides the Self! The Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the Universe, et al, or anything else whatsoever, do not have any expressions in the absence of the Self! There-fore, the Mahavakyas appropriately proclaim: “Tat Tvam Asi,” That You Are! These three great Sanskrit words define mentalism precisely. And Mahavakya pro-claims: “Aham Brahman Asmi,” I Brahman Am! I am the Subject, I am the Truth, I am the One Reality, I am the Atma, I am the Self, I am the Intellect, I am all this, and I am That-Which-Is! These three great words define Advaita or monism precisely.
The delightful wonder of mysticism is staggeringly beautiful, for the Spirit substance is mysteriously be-yond the senses. This is the subtle, mystical, and mys-terious wonder of the Mental Eye or the Self, Atma.
The need to conceptualize or categorize Atma or Brah-man does not arise when the Self is known! Self-discovery is the ultimate path, for it is the path that leads to the Self, which is the “Vidya.” Atma is the In-tellect, the Self is the Intellect. Nothing else exists apart from the Self.
Lord Shiva sermon addressed to Lord Vasishtha: “The divine Intellect being omniscient, has the great nesci-ence underlying it, as the lit lamp is accompanied by the shadow under it; and then looking at this side of itself it takes the name of the living soul and beholds this shadowy world stretched outside the divine mind, as we see another moon in the reflection of the lumi-nary cast upon a nebular circle beyond it. Then think-ing itself as another or a living being, Jiva, and other-wise than what it is, i.e., the immortal Spirit, Para-matma; it becomes just of the same nature, as it thinks and forms itself by its own will.” “Being thus trans-formed from its perfect and immaculate state to that of an imperfect and impure nature; it is made to wade amidst the stream of this world, without ever thinking of its fall from the state of its original purity. The intel-lectual form being then assimilated with the elemental or puryastaka body receives its vital or mortal life and living soul, which lives by the reflection of the essence of the supreme Intellect.”
“This creation of the world by Brahma is merely vision-ary, as the sight of a spectre in the air or in a dream; but it appears as a positive reality to the erroneous sight of the realist. Thus, the world appears as a city in a dream before the intellectual soul, and this soul is only a form of the inane Intellect, and this world is but a baseless fabric.”
“It is altogether impossible for aught of the thinkables and visibles to exist anywhere except in the empty sphere of the Intellect, and whatever shone forth in the beginning in the plenitude of the divine Intellect, the same is called the creation of the world from the first. Therefore, this world, which shows itself in the form of a fairy-land in a dream, is only an appearance in the empty sphere of the Intellect; and cannot have any oth-er reality.”
The ancient Saptarishis did not think of themselves as another nor as anything other than the Intellect. Be-cause, for them even the “I” does not exist, for there is only the One, Brahman without a second. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
61. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: The Fire, instant, One entire three worlds (bhuvanam) appeared form, form each form became one, so all sentient beings form-form image outside.
This dictum declares the acclaimed tenet of monism; noumena and phenomena produced by fire for burning, itself takes those forms in the three worlds. The pure Self is expressionless! It is the subtlest agitation within the pure and clear Intellect, which gives expression to the three states (worlds) of consciousness. The knowledge of the oneness of the atmani, atma, and Brahman, though supported by authority and often re-iterated, is not firmly grasped by the intellect of per-verse-headed fools.
Like gold is reshaped by heat into various ornaments, yet gold remains as gold even though it is moulded into jewellery; likewise, the subjective pure Intellect appears to be tarnished by moulding itself into multifarious substances, yet the purity of the Intellect remains un-blemished. The Atma of all, having entered all bodies, like fire in logs, being extremely mysterious, assumes other forms, although its nature is without them all, like the sky, immutable in his own unmodified nature.
As fire shoots off multifarious sparks, so the self, which is the objective mind, begins to become aware not only the shadowy self but also the shadowy world of phe-nomena as separate multifarious forms, shapes, and sizes. However, the shadow or image-animations or re-flection of these become congealed as varieties of sen-tient and insentient forms, which have no reality in them like in a dream. It is the perverted consciousness that gives expression to the apparent multifarious phe-nomena in the world; it is the impure consciousness that gives rise to others and the self; for the self is merely a phenomenon, a mirage.
Like the Sun reflects multitudinous suns in the turbu-lent waters of the ocean, the mind reflects multifarious objects in the worlds from within its turbulent mind; for the images have no reality. When this turbulence is arrested like the still waters of a lake or the deep abyss of the ocean, all else subsides to nothingness. Thus, taking the imaginative form of noumenal fire, the de-luded self then manifests multitudinous sparks (images) onto the screen of the pure Intellect; like in a dream all these phenomena are then seen (projected) externally by the self in time and space in waking consciousness. Time and space are the manifestations of the mind, which entrances the soul into duality, I and you.
Lord Krishna declares to Arjuna: “All beings were un-manifest before they were born and will become un-manifest again when they are dead; they are manifest only in the intermediate stage.”
This implies that matter manifests in the intermediate stage, between two discarnate states. Between two con-secutive states of the deep sleep, does the ego rise. Therefore, matter is the manifestation of the mind, like space and time.
Lord Vaivasvata indicts the mind as the anti-thesis of the pure Intellect; the mind veils the soul’s true nature, which is unbound and infinite. The soul congeals itself in a concoction of elements of matter like a caterpillar entwines itself in a cocoon, i.e., the inebriated soul co-coons itself in Maya and unreality as the “I.”
Only, through the Self is the purity regained in Yoga, for it is reversible! A blemished mind could irreversibly spiral down into its own hell pit, but purified by cleans-ing, it becomes unblemished and reversibly ascends to its primordial pure enlightened state! Ablution of the mind is the only prerequisite of the Immortal Yoga.
Pure Consciousness pervades everything. But through the mind’s conscious awareness of cravings of external objects, the soul commingling with elements, it forms and itself becomes conscious of the different shapes and sizes of sentient life within its own consciousness, but itself remains immutable, unblemished, unbound, and pure as a witnessing Consciousness, Atma.
We may also tentatively submit that through the Solar Sun’s substratum of light and heat transforms and manifests forms; food and water is the essence of the Sun, which moulds the human form; but to realize that the sentient body is food and water, a creation of the Sun!
Lord Vaivasvata also infers that mind is the pivot be-tween matter and spirit. The Vedas declare that it is ether that manifests into air and air manifests into fire that manifests into water and water manifests into mat-ter, however, the substratum of entropy (Intellect) re-mains immutable; likewise, subtle agitation in the vac-uous Intellect gives rise to the mind, which congeals into elements, senses and body; only, the Intellect re-mains immutable and unbound.
It is reasonable to understand dualism before an aspir-ant ascends on the ladder to Monism. It is the Self, One, without a second that projects from itself variety of objects and others. It is the same unblemished and singular Consciousness that projects through the igno-rant mind other conscious beings, viz., an enlightened mind does not see others apart from the Self only.
Therefore, an aspirant on the quest must reason and empirically understand that Atma or Ishvara is the sub-stratum of everything in existence; for It is the Exist-ent! Atma is transcendental. Atma is paralogism of log-ic! This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
62. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: The Air, instant, One entire three worlds (bhuvanam) appeared form form each form became one, so all sentient beings form form image outside.
Again, to grasp the idea of Oneness, through the usage of the simile of fire and air (sky), Lord Vaivasvata teaches subtle quality of the unblemished Conscious-ness, which, although one and formless like the sky, assumes different shapes according to the mind in which It dwells. But, being all-pervading and unlim-ited, It cannot be confined to forms; therefore it is said that It also exists outside all forms.
The tenet of the Sanskrit word Vayu is popularly thought as air or wind, but it indicts motion. Like oil is ingrained in the sesame seed, likewise, motion or agita-tion or vicissitude is ingrained in Vayu. Furthermore, the twins, breath and mind, which are motions, give birth to phenomenon or Maya. Therefore, mind, breath and motion, are triplet sisters conceived in the womb of Maya; likewise, the womb of the triplets’ space, time, and matter, are mind only. Therefore, the body is itself a mere projection of the mind, and the unenlightened mind is a blemished mirror of the pure and clear Intel-lect.
Lord Shiva’s sermon addressed to Lord Vasishtha ex-emplifies the tenet of the ego, “The clear and pure In-tellect, comes then to think of many things in its wak-ing state, and is thus perverted from its purity; as an honest man turns to dishonesty in the company of the dishonest. Just as when a spark from a flame comes into contact with a flammable substance it bursts into an independent flame, even so, this limitation of con-sciousness, when it is fed by latent tendencies and memories, condenses into egotism, “I”-ness.”
The Vedas declares that air manifests fire or ignites fire and air accordingly shapes itself as forms out its nature, nay, it takes the shape of the containing vessel. It is the Atmani that ignites consciousness in a human being as it enters corporeality in the form of the Brahmana guest; whether it in the form of circulation during em-bryonic state or the first inhalation (air) at birth once the embryonic placenta is severed. He enters as air, giv-ing rise to form, and form in form, as images external to the form, yet Atma is not the nature of air.
Brahma (mind; self) manifests all forms out Its nature. Therefore, the triple keys of Brahma’s manifestations of the phenomenon (humanity) are breath, mind, and mo-tion, which arise within the consciousness-intelligence of Brahma (agitation) because of desires. The mind is Brahma. There are no tenets in existence during the absence of the mind, like creation, sustenance, and dis-solution.
There is only the essence of the omnipresent, omnisci-ent and omnipotent One, Brahman, without a second! Brahman is neither Sat nor Asat! Rightly understood, there are no phenomena. All this is unblemished and transcendental Consciousness; all this is Brahman only. Say then, who is liberated and who is bound? Who is born and who is dead? None! Because there is only Brahman, without a second! This is the rootless and uncaused Advaita Vedanta! This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
63. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: The Sun, for instance, of everyone the eye, not besmeared, perception outside impurities, one such all sentient beings no be-smeared, world sorrow external.
Atma is the transcendental all-seeing eye and all-knowing; like the Sun is not besmeared by the world, Atma is unblemished by the paradoxes of you, I, others, egos, nature, minds, upheavals, wars, famines, catas-trophes, et al, and equally unblemished by sensual pleasures, for the Atma remains in the subjective state of indifference.
Like a horror movie does not tarnish the white cinema screen, neither phenomena nor noumena tarnish the clarity and purity of the Intellect. That sourceless efful-gence of the Intellect or Consciousness within cannot be tarnished nor can it be diminished.
Lord Vaivasvata implies by the Vedic word sarva-lokasya to imply “of everyone.” This dictum is the ten-et of pure Intellect. Atma is bright and clear that illu-mines all luminaries. The One without a second; the Intellect is a crystal white, clear, and pure etheric screen onto which all thoughts, images-animations, and noumena are projected onto it, through by the plenum of memory! That Intellect is the only One and the Same screen without a second across all men! The Sun is within everyone, it is the Sakshi, the witnessing-eye.
The unenlightened mind is a besmeared mirror of tar-nished projections of image-animations of you and me, joy and sorrow, heaven and hell, births and deaths, cre-ations and destructions, et al, within everyone, which the mind illumines and the senses become aware of during waking and dreaming consciousness.
There are over seven billion human beings on earth who abide as individualised worlds; they are all illu-mined daily by the Sun irrespective of their pure or im-pure natures, however, they are in reality all illumined by the effulgence of the Intellect within. This is Atma-ni, the sourceless and smokeless Stambha of fire.
The Sun is the only vehicle of sustenance, without which there is no food that gives rise to corporeality; regarded as the “Eye” of Vishnu-Narayana by Hindus. A state free of pleasures and sorrows of the witnessing Consciousness is styled as bliss. Rare is the holiest of holy Saint who is “awakened” to the “awareness” of his primordial heritage, viz., pure Consciousness!
The attributes of the Sun are heat and light manifesting as phenomena, but this dictum does not imply as such but points to the transcendental principle of the Sun. The Sun, Lord Vivasvan, shines on your head whether you are Hannibal or Pope, for it does not shy away in either case. This dictum also implicates the wisdom of the Lord of day, Vivasvan, the Sun, because it is only through its rays of light that we have contact to exter-nal objects, which are the entire cause of miseries in human beings; however, Vivasvan remains indifferent, untouched, and unblemished whether you are good or evil, seer or blind, hot or cold, ignorant or knowing et al.
The essence of Atma is neither phenomenon nor nou-menon, likewise, the essence of Brahman is neither Sat nor Asat. The essence of Atma is transcendental, which is indifferent and wise! Nay, Atma is Wisdom per se! Atma is knowledge per se!
There is another angle we can look at and it is this. Since Atma is knowledge, Atma knows all past, pre-sent, and future events, for the Atma, comprehends fully in all dimensions and directions with Its “all-seeing eye;” besides, as we come to discover the Self of all self’s within, we understand how ideas, thoughts, and mind become manifest; we empirically discover that all this is in its unreal essence stored memory, which appears real to our tarnished consciousness!
Each moment become the past! Say then, if you knew all the past, present, and future events would you not merely be a spectator of all those moments as they un-fold because they are already known to you? Yes! Be-cause there would be nothing that is hidden from your apprehension of the future events; at least it would be entertaining as existence unfolds its theatrical play and dance known to you.
There is no need for any forecast. Humanity has gradu-ally lost its ability to read the compass and be guided by the beacon within. This can be regained by adopting spirituality.
Say then, is this the key to unlock the mystery of the essence of Atma and Its indifference and Its Supreme bliss. No! Only, the key is “being” the essence! There is no “real” beauty in this world that compares with the beauty of just Being! The universe is unheard, the Sun’s blaze is unheard, but for the awake, they do emit the sound of cosmic waves.
Sound is the altar of the mind or samsara or creation or Maya. Only, silence is the altar of the Spirit. It is through our senses that we contact the external worldly objects. Nay, objects are higher than our senses and causal; the root cause of our miseries is through such contact with objects, which arise from latent desires; beauty is even higher than mundane objects because beautiful objects that we behold are those we lust after; humans do not chase after ugly things, they chase after beautiful things, psychologically linking it to happi-ness; ugly things are not great causal agents as beauti-ful things, for the former may cause nightmares and the latter may bring us joy.
Beauty is in the mind (projection) of the beholder. Beauty is both, mystical and psychological phenome-non, because if you carefully examine ancient Hindu scriptures, you will find descriptions of beautifully scented gardens, which are associated with paradise, as ugliness is associated with hell. This is a mere psychic association created in the mind by the mind’s condi-tioning. However, “Beingness” is indifferent to the par-adoxes of the mind, for neither paradise nor hell has an existence in the enlightened Mind or in the transcen-dental divine Intellect! Thus, the one Self within all things is never contaminated by the misery of the world, being himself without.
All sorrows are external, for they are projections of the mind, therefore, when Atmani regains its status of in-difference, this is bliss. An enlightened mind is a divine Mind. This is the status of an attained Adept Yogi. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
64. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: The One the controller all sentient beings, of one of forms manifold that assumes, He seated in self, who subtlest perceives the wise of perpetual happiness, not to others.
“As the sun, the eye of all the world, is not tainted with the stains in external objects seen by the eyes, so, the one internal atman of all living things is not tainted with the world’s grief, being external to it.” Adi Shan-kara.
This dictum implicates the essence of Atma. The crys-tal clear, white, and pure Screen of the divine Intellect is One and the same across all of humanity. The living and abiding corporeal essence of pure and clear Intellect is merely styled as Atmani, who is seated in the self as the Self. The essence of Atma is the Self of all selves and the world, for the Self is the One Intellect without a second. “Isha Vasyam Idam Sarvam,” translated im-plies Ishvara abides in all this, for It is all this. Only, the Self can project upon the mirror of the mind not only itself but manifold forms from itself, but it be-comes blemished by assuming many. Only, a blemished mirror cannot abide in eternal happiness.
Say then, to who belongs thoughts, body, pain, cold, et al? The mind! The Self of divine Intellect or the en-lightened Mind does not belong or relate to anything or anyone or anywhere.
The subtlest seers or mystics perceive an entoptic glimpse of the eternal Spirit-Self. Through the grace of Ishvara, the glimpse is uncontrived by Adepts whilst in deep meditation, when the body-ego-mind complex is annihilated. In other words, the Spirit-Self is perceived in deep meditation, reflected upon the pure and clear screen of the Intellect by the Intellect to view.
When Atmani is ready, Atma will make Atmani redis-cover to realize its true essence; the Self will reveal it-self to the Self, for the Atmani is the Self of the One Reality. This is asseverated by the author to be an in-credible and unforgettable experience.
However, a remarkable point to be noted is this. That all-seeing “mental eye” perceives Itself as the transcen-dental Spirit-Self and not merely conjured up by the imaginative faculty of the mind. The Vedic words “ekah vasih” spoken by Lord Vaivasvata implies “sub-jectively Itself” or witnessing Itself. Therefore, the At-mani sees “Itself.” It is this empirical “knowing” only, derivable in deep stillness and silence of the mind, which is styled in Sanskrit as “Vidya.” It is mystically perceived as an entoptic glimpse of the Self within by the Self, by the subjective “Mental eye” or the subjec-tive superconscious “Intellect.” It is only through retro-spective discrimination that we derive an understanding of those memorable, mysterious. and mystical glimpses in the silence of meditation.
There is one ruler, the Self, within all things, who makes the one form manifold; as we regard the nose on our face as “ours,” which is established to be mere pro-jection of the mind, so we should regard all sentient beings and insentient objects projected from our minds as “ourselves.” For there is only One Reality!
Moreover, Lord Vaivasvata has previously declared or revealed (Dictum 26) that the Sovereign Atma reveals its presence to the Self in the Self, when, unless and until, “Him” chooses to! Therefore, it is divine Intellect that chooses when and how the essence of Atma is to be revealed to the Self by Itself! This is but the nectar of “Self-Realization.”
The Mental eye is a subjective, mysterious, and mysti-cal noumenon often referred to as super-mind or super-consciousness! This implies that unless and until the subjective Mental eye is developed in a human being, which is attained only by and through the grace of Atma, empirical Self-realization will remain at length, even via any external knowledge or coercion. Say then, can you bribe the Self to know the Self? Not possible! The essence of Atma can neither be contrived through your mind nor senses nor body nor coerced through another being! Say then, can you bribe the sweetest nectar with sweets? Impossible! Only fools dangle a carrot in front of a donkey. But you may drag a horse to water well, but you cannot force the horse to drink the water. The wise seers remain in perpetual happiness.
Men are tainted via contact to impure objects, but Atma is not tainted with the misery of the world, for Atma transcends the world. The world, by Maya, be-comes superposed on the Atma, causing misery arising from desire and karma. The serpent, silver, water and dirt superposed on the rope, mother-of-pearl, barren spot and the sky, respectively, do not really exist as blemishes in the rope, etc. The rope etc., is the only Reality. The serpent etc., are unrealities.
Via conditioning, ignorance, and illusionary nature of our mind (maya), they are seen as blemished in the true objects, although the true objects are not tainted by such blemishes because they are unconnected to the false notion so superposed. Thus, the world having su-perposed on the Atma, the false notion of deed, agency, and fruits, like the notion of the serpent (on the rope), suffers the misery of birth, death, etc., due to that.
Atma, though the Atma of all the world, is not tainted by the misery of the world arising from the superposi-tion of a false notion, because, Atma transcends the world or is not of the world. Atma is like the rope, etc., external to the false notion superposed on him.
This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
65. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: The Eternal of non-eternal, the Consciousness of consciousnesses, the One of many names, this cause of desires (vidadhati kaman), He seated in Self, who subtlest seer perceives the wise of perpetual the peace earth, not to others.
One who sees, being the subtlest seer, within himself that Eternal of all non-eternal, Consciousness of all consciousnesses, who goes by many names and forms, the cause of desires, is wise and has perpetual peace whilst alive. This dictum is a continuation of the previ-ous dictum on the One pure Intellect without a second. As there is only One and the Same pure and clear screen of the divine Intellect in all, so there is only One and the Same pure Eternal Being and One and the Same in all, who is omnipresent. Through the mere existence of Atmani within, and via its power and pure knowledge, diversification is seen.
Because I exist, all else exists. There is only the One and the Same Eternal-Consciousness-Intellect that seemingly, to an unenlightened mind, manifests into manifold names and forms through the perversion of the mind, for desire is the only cause of such perversion into manifold objects. Paradoxically, He is the cause of duality, yet He is One and the Same in all. He is the seeming dispenser (fulfiller) of karma and desires.
It is not asserted by Lord Vaivasvata that this pure Consciousness arranges to “fulfil desires” (vidadhati kaman), but indicts the inner controller, Atmani, as the cause of blemished diversification! Atmani makes him-self, though One, whose nature is pure, diverse by the separation of impure conditions of name, form, etc., Say then, why would Atma fulfil the soul’s desires knowing perfectly well that it leads to misery and mor-tality? No! Atma does not partake in such nonsense! An aspirant is here to gain freedom from desires and not the fulfilment of desires! All such consciousnesses seemingly take birth (sentient beings) out of Avidya or nescience of the dreamy and perverted intellect. Men become engrossed by external objects, though the bliss is within, which is concealed by undiscriminating intel-ligence and ignorance.
Atma is the only Eternal and Immortal principle. Atma does neither seat amidst the self nor partakes amongst the ephemeral consciousnesses of dreamy mortals, alt-hough It is known as the Self of all self’s! There is nothing in the microcosm nor macrocosm nor in the externals accept the omnipresence of the pure Intellect of the One without a second, which but appears to the unenlightened minds as manifold or “dreamy con-sciousness” out of desires, viz., there is no macrocosm without the desiring microcosm! There is only the one point, for there is no circle, which is implied in the axi-om; “seated in the self or seated in the centre!” There is no self! There is no soul! There is only the One Eternal Brahman!
When the circle disappears, the aspirant “arrives” back at home of Eternal immortality in its unblemished tran-scendental original state. The soul goes nowhere and arrives nowhere in Reality, for there has never been any motion. It is a static state! Absolute Brahman is a static state! Say then, if there is only the One without a sec-ond, where is the “I,” where is the soul, where is the Atma? Nowhere! The “I” or the egocentric self-consciousness is merely illusionary, i.e., the ephemeral veil of Maya merely arises in the unenlightened mind during the dreaming state, for there appear to be two states of the soul, dreaming and sleep states. Get rid of these two illusionary states and the soul arrives home! The soul is then nothing but the Soul or Brahman. Self, Atmani, and Atma are One Reality, Brahman, for they are merely known by different appellations only.
Ananta or Infinite has neither beginning nor end, only an intermediate state. The essence of Brahman is seated midst Infinity. The intermediate state is a dream-like state. Lord Krishna declares to Arjuna: “All beings were unmanifest before they were born and will become un-manifest again when they are dead; they are manifest only in the intermediate stage.”
This implies that ignorance manifests midst the two pure states of the Atmani. Materialism is sandwiched between two states of spiritualism of the soul. The mind (ignorance) manifests between the two states of pure Knowledge. Avidya is sandwiched between two particles of Vidya. Untruth or unreality if sandwiched between two particles of Truth or Reality.
Say then, how does the “I” arise out of the pure Con-sciousness since it is not the nature of the Spirit to be-come blemished into diverse consciousnesses? Not pos-sible! It is Impossible to blemish pure Consciousness or the essence of Atma; because it is not in the nature of an apple seed to become a coconut tree. Likewise, it is not the nature of the Spirit to mutate into forms; these manifold forms (Upadhis) are merely victims of the self-created illusions or dreams through the ignorance or falsehood of the inebriated soul in Maya. Get rid of desires or the “I” thought or mind and the whole cos-mos will vanish!
There is only One Eternal unmanifest, Brahman. The wise subtle seers of Atma only see Reality or Brahman everywhere without a second; whist the ignorant see the unreal as real everywhere! Without a second implies without any doubt. Say then, where can those blemish-es reside? Only in thoughts; only in ignorance! The how, where, and whom et al, inquiries do not arise in the tranquil state of the Mukta! Therefore, the causal substance of all the manifold manifestations or “con-sciousnesses” is desires held in the psyche, stored as laden and latent seed ideas (memory) in the blemished mind, ready to sprout as the ignorant self!
We are all apparently present in this form here on earth in a dreamy, entangled, and inebriated state of the soul, because of its perverted memory out of its own nesci-ence; a present form is merely a dream form conjured up by the mind out of a life of ignorance!
“I am not these forms I feign in myself by myself, but I am the formless whence Brahman.”
The only cause of this entanglement is desires. Say then, do we exemplify ourselves as an apple seed that grows into a coconut tree? Undeniably, we all do pres-ently! Until and unless the soul awakens to its true Eternal nature, Sat-Chit-Ananda-Ananta, only then there are no such seeds of any kind sown!
All this is Brahman without a second! Say then, where is the Grand Mystery, where is the unknowableness, and where is the incomprehensibleness of God? Say then, to whom do these questions, mystery, and awe arise? In the “I,” by the “I,” i.e., in the mind, by the mind! The mind feigns by itself these ideas. Get rid of the mind, nothing then will arise; only the One pure Eternal, the One pure Consciousness, the One pure In-tellect, the One pure Beingness, the One pure Sat-Chit-Ananda-Ananta, the One Infinite, the One Brahman Is! That Is! Therefore, reflect thoroughly mystically, meta-physically, and philosophically that the self is merely an image-animation of the self’s (mind’s) ignorance!
The mind is Avidya! The Sage Adi Shankara styled such nescience as “Upadhis.” The physical and the mental self can never ever be spiritual as long as the ego prevails during the dreamy, vivid or dull, con-sciousness of life! Sentient beings merge in the centre during deep sleep, although, some say that remnant of nescience remains in deep sleep as seeds of ignorance in the memory. Moreover, it is the essence of a dreamy life if you deeply and thoroughly reflect. All these are merely thoughts and image-animations manifest in the mind, for they are empty in Reality. Memories of all phenomena are projected onto the mirror of the mind.
The “now” is not a faculty of the mind, for “now” abides in transcendental super-consciousness and in the divine Intellect. Paradoxically, the mind or motion or becoming fails to exist in the now. Only the static Be-ingness abides in the now! Therefore, the soul, the self, life, death, birth, and cognizable are all held as mere ideas (Upadhis) in the plenum of memory.
The mind is merely a mirror of reminiscence and pro-jection! It is not a mystery but a wonder! The grand mystery is the self. This is the reason why destiny can neither be coerced nor altered. The world is held in the memory as an idea, projected onto the blemished mirror styled the mind. The world arises from memory as an image projected onto the blemished mirror and subsides into nothing when the mind is annihilated either in deep sleep or in deep meditation; therefore, the world is transient and unreal; like everything during a dream episode, projected from memory, unto the blemished mirror styled the mind, appears real, until upon waking the dream caboodle disappears; likewise, during the waking state, all sense objects appear real, until upon awakening the waking caboodle is realized as a mere unreality, for the mind is unreal. Thus, the wise seers remain in perpetual peace. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
66. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: That this, so they think, undefinable of highest of felicity; In what way (Katham) then That understood what shine forth (mani-fest) not shine forth (unmanifest) or is alight?
In this dictum. Lord Vaivasvata gives real sense to the word “Katha” of the Katha Upanishad. Say then, in what way (Katham) will the “self” know true happiness and the sourceless uncaused causeless bliss and light of Brahman when the mind is absent like in deep sleep? The mind is always objective! The mind cannot be a subject (verb)! God is not a noun, but a verb! Joy and happiness are feelings, for bliss is a state of being! It is neither joy nor sorrow. “That this so they think,” im-plies that the thinkers proclaim “It” is as this or that; God is this and God is that, et al. Verily, Lord Vaivasvata reveals the Eternal Brahman, of highest of felicity, remains indefinable; which cannot be reasoned through logic or through knowledge or through any faculty of the mind.
Brahman remains as Being always, a Subject, beyond all objectives, this has to be understood. This implies the transcendental nature of Brahman. The divine In-tellect is transcendental paralogism of logic! The author asseverates; “One can “realize” through the Self that Self of all, Atma, seated on the throne in the brickless, spaceless, and timeless temple hall of the transcenden-tal silenced eternity and nowhere else besides!” In other words, the divine Self of all, is not to be found in the restlessness of “becoming,” but in the utter silence of “beingness.”
To know “That” the self has to be “That.” The Self is That. The Soul has always been “That.” It never chang-es Its nature. It is said that the Soul is “being” from the beginning and will be in the end, it just happens to “become” in the intermediate stage. The Soul is infinite without a beginning and without an end! For there is neither a beginning nor an end! The Soul’s nature is “Being,” for the soul, which “becomes” entangled through thinking is styled as a living soul, Atmani. The enlightened mind is Brahman. Say then, if the mind is absent, what then is there to conceive of God’s pres-ence? Who is the knower, knowledge and knowing? What faculty is there to imbibe knowledge and who is the knower of That? Verily, only the Atma. In the pro-cess of knowing, knower and knowledge are always merged as One Reality, Atma; likewise, in the process of seeing, seer and seen, are always merged as One Re-ality, Atma.
Verily, Atma is styled as the “Self;” the Subjective Witness or Subjective Intellect or Subjective Con-sciousness or the Subjective Self. It Is! That Being! This is the right inference drawn out of the Vedic San-skrit axiom, “Tat-Sat.”
“If God is experienced or known as other than the knower, he becomes an object of knowledge, and as such he depends for his existence upon the knower. Since the knower is unreal, so too is whatever it knows. Therefore, the absolute reality or God can only be known truly by the knower being one with it. When the knower and the known are both resolved into the one reality, that is true knowledge.” Maharshi Ramana.
Thus, the Supreme, Brahman, of highest of felicity, is hidden in the secret treasure trove beyond the caprices and concepts and qualifications (Upadhis) of the unen-lightened mind, where all utterances, poems, and phi-losophies drop dead at their own feet, i.e., “That Being” they are all muffled to silence!
The Real cannot give rise to the unreal, for the unreal cannot give rise to anything other than unreality; for it is not possible for the son of a barren woman to be born either really or through the mind. Therefore, there are no such things as body, mind or soul in Reality. Some say the noumenon that gives rise to the miracle of the phenomena is divinely mysterious, although, it is re-vealed that memory is filled with desires, attachments, and aversions; it is literally like being in a vivid hypna-gogic experience; all phenomenon appears to the mind to be real, like the physical self, as long as one is dreaming, but all phenomena vanish when one is “aware” in the sleepless-sleep of meditation.
To consolidate the above dicta and quell the fire of thirst of knowledge, but to understand the relationship between the mind and the Spirit. Although, the mind is the anti-thesis of Spirit it needs to be qualified, thus, “unenlightened mind is the anti-thesis of the Spirit.” For the “white” to know its “whiteness,” black must exist, and vice versa. All souls are in their true essence Spirit, but to become minds in the intermediate state of the soul, but to become Spirit again. Spirit leads to mind to Spirit. Vidya leads to Avidya to Vidya. For the Spirit has neither implication nor expression without the mind; for Reality has neither implications nor ex-pression without unreality, likewise, Immortality has neither implication nor expression without mortality, and the Self has neither implication nor expression without the self, and motionlessness or static state has neither implication nor expression without motion, and so on and so forth.
Thus, “death,” is a great revealer of life! For the Yoga of Death is the greatest revealer of existence! For death has no implication nor expression without birth or life, and birth has neither an implication nor expression without death! Death is beyond our ideas, thoughts, notions, concepts, tendencies, conditionings, and deep-ly held ideals; as death transcends the body, senses and mind, so it is thoroughly comprehended only when the ego-mind complex is annihilated. Any ideas held in the minds of most about death are merely conjecture. Therefore, we may safely conclude that “the mind is a necessity as the antithesis of Spirit: The mind is a nec-essary evil. For Devas to have any expression, Asuras must exist.
The essence of Brahman is beyond paradoxes; for Brahman is neither Sat nor Asat, i.e., neither Being nor not-Being or becoming. The soul is here to recognize and realize its true nature; although all this is merely a dream conjured up by itself of the mind; for the soul must tear itself away from becoming embroidered in its dream life of sorrow. The only way open for the soul to return to its primordial harmony is via the Yoga of Death or via the Yoga of Immortality. Therefore, impli-cations or expressions must exist in Brahman, dualism has to exist side by side with non-dualism, for It Is, and It Is the way It Is, for all this and That is Brahman.
There is nothing that can witness that Brahman apart from Brahman! Likewise, there is nothing that can witness that Atma apart from Atma; and nothing can witness that Self apart from the Self. For the subjective divine Intellect is Its own witnessing Intellect. Hence, the axiom, “the One without a second.” The Maha-vakya “Aham-Brahman-Asmi” implies, “I Brahman I Am.” There is only One Reality, Brahman. Truth abides without any paradoxes or bifurcations.
“Know for certain that there is only the one Intelligent principle of Consciousness, which is inscrutable, pure, and most charming, more minute than the minutest, perfectly tranquil, and is nothing of the mundane world or any of its actions or properties. The same Conscious-ness being collected in itself into an individuality from the undivided whole and assuming the power of will or volition itself becomes the living soul by the transfor-mation of its pure nature to an impure one.”
“The will is a fallacy and the body is a mistake. Only the ignorant distinguish between the living soul and the Universal Spirit. When the lamp of knowledge brings the mind to the full light of truth, then the error of will is removed from the living soul, just as the clouds of rainy weather dissipate in autumn. The body rests after wishes have subsided in the mind, just as the lamp is extinguished after its oil is exhausted.” Lord Vasishtha.
The essence of Brahman is incoercible and unconquer-able. Only, through Its own grace, Atma reveal “Itself to Itself,” which is the only authentic Yoga! The es-sence of Atma’s presence, within the Self, is of highest of felicity, happiness, and blessedness. The essence of That lights up the Adept’s mind with incomprehensible effulgence and bliss. This is the Yoga of Immortality! Yoking to the effulgence of the divine Intellect is the primordial essence of the soul!
The author asseverates that static “Silence” is the only shrine of worship and adoration. When the Self is the idea itself, stripped off all restlessness, alone and con-stant, without body or birth, merely the essence of be-ing, is the ultimate Reality.
An Adept realizes that it is futile an attempt to describe “That” because it would involve the mind, so the Adept remain muted to inquiring minds. Therefore, Siddhar-tha and Jesus were precisely muted from answering any questions about God relating to unenlightened minds.
Sage Brunton asserts, “Anything that can be written down cannot be a statement of the ultimate truth; at best it can only be a statement of someone’s or his idea of the Truth. That truth may be written or spoken, preached or printed, but its most lasting expression and communication is transmitted through the deepest si-lence to the deepest nature in man.”
The author asseverates that you will know beyond any reasonable doubt the true transcendental happiness that erupts within! It is an empirical rapturous burst of hap-piness felt deep within the centre of the body; a singu-lar point explodes into rapturous waves of happiness, which engulfs the whole body and the hairs and the skin cells stand stunned in happiness. Although fleet-ing, it is of the order of highest of felicities. Sage Ploti-nus has had such an experience (Eudemonia) four times in his blessed life. The Adept Paramahamsa Yogananda felt engulfed in waves of rapturous happiness when Sri Yukteswar returned to the worldly realm to greet Him in a hotel room in Mumbai. Therefore, any other no-tions of happiness are merely conjectured! Ones who have experienced unforgettable true happiness would not chase after ephemeral pleasures. Thus, the unmani-fest manifests in rapturous ecstasy. This is to be empir-ically understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
67. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Not there the Sun shines, not glittering logic, not dual the radiant night, whence of attain the fire, when verily of afterwards subtlest light all His effulgence all this shine forth.
“Not there the Sun shines, not glittering logic,” implies that neither the Sun nor the bright or clever intelli-gence shines to illumine Brahman. Neither is Sunlight nor intelligence nor moonlight nor glittering stars pre-sent there to illumine Brahman.
The Sun illumines those objects of perception, reflected within the mirror of the mind, externally, to view in waking consciousness. But the mind is illumined by the other. Say then, why do the pupils never close? Say then, if the eyelids are closed, what illuminates those internal dreams?
Not there, in Brahman, does the sun shine. Say then, what illumines all where the Sun does not shine? Say then, what illumines your dreams? Objects can be seen in daylight through the “open” eyelids projected through the mind, but not when the eyelids are closed. The eyes are open all the time, for only the eyelids open and close. Objects can also be dimly seen through the eyes in the moonlight when the eyelids are open. Therefore, it’s the eyelids that close all mental projec-tions externally, whether in sunlight or in moonlight or in starlight.
Brahman is radiant and through His radiance all shine. Brahman is sourceless radiance, who illumines all lu-minaries. How can we know and realize his effulgence? What is His radiance? Is it similar to the sun’s radi-ance? The sun illumines the moon, likewise, it’s the radiance of Brahman that illumines the mind, and sub-sequently, the reflected light within the mind illumines all objects.
“Not dual the radiant night” implies that when the eye-lids are closed, the external projections from the mind to view are closed, but internal mind’s projections of dreams are non-dual and radiant whilst they are pre-sent. But there is no screen and no second mind to view those dreams! Therefore, during the episode of dreams, the mind itself reflects images within itself as a mirror; this is non-dual or not separate from the mind itself. The mind is not only a mirror but a projector and reflector, for all image-animations or ideas are projected through the mind. Therefore, the objects projected out of the mind during waking consciousness have the same unreality as those during dreaming consciousness.
Say then, if the mind is blind, deaf, etc, what use are those eyes, ears, etc? Useless! For this is styled as sleep. Therefore, during an episode of a dream, the mind is the projector, reflector, mirror, seer, seen, and seeing.
Every cell of the body is the mind. The brain is con-fined to the skull, the senses are all innervated by the third-order neurones with capabilities and attributes of the mind. Only, the brain is fully in the mind, for the mind is not fully in the brain.
“Whence of attain the fire” implies from where did consciousness emerge? From the desiring soul’s blem-ished idea! Waking consciousness of external objects is not different from dreaming consciousness, for the ex-ternal consciousness of all things is projected and seen in the same mind. There is nothing to be aware of when the screen is blank white. The plenum of memory projects on the screen of the intellect objects out of nescience, which the mind becomes conscious of as outside itself. This is the jest of Mentalism. But what illumines the mind so that those internal projections can be seen by the mind? The soul.
The soul has various aspects to it; known as a waking soul (Vaishvanara Atma), a dreaming soul (Taijasa Atma), a sleeping soul (Prajna Atma) described in the Mandukhya Upanishad. “The Fourth (Turiya) is with-out parts and without relationship; It is the cessation of phenomena; It is all good and non-dual. This AUM is verily Atma. He who knows this merges his self in Atma-yeah, he who knows this.”
The dictum, “whence of gain the fire, when verily of afterwards subtlest light all His effulgence all this shine forth,” implies that subtlest effulgence manifests prior to all luminaries. The sourceless, uncaused, causeless, effulgence and bliss are ingrained in the essence of Brahman, which abides transcendentally beyond all external luminaries. This just Is; prior, pure and clear; for the sourceless Light that lights up all luminaries is styled as “Savitur.” How does Savitur, as the essence of the pure divine Intellect, manifest Its effulgence? Tran-scendentally. It is revealed to be Self-effulgent; for no one can penetrate beyond the essence of Brahman.
As the pungency of peppercorn can only be empirically known, so only through empirical “Yoking” to the sourceless and causeless essence of the Self, can Brah-man be realized and known.
The author asseverates that pure Consciousness, Light of the divine Intellect, Bliss and Infinity, or Sat-Chit-Ananda-Ananta, are indistinguishable and inseparable four words or concepts, for they are all merged within the One essence of Atma, and this is as far as anyone can penetrate. Sat-Chit-Ananda-Ananta is the essence of Brahman. When Vidya dawns in the mind, Avidya is removed, thus, knowledge dawns in the soul, who read-ily regains the knowledge of the inseparableness from Atma and Brahman; itself being the essence of One Reality. The end of Vedas or Upanishads is styled Ve-danta, for Vedanta is Sat-Chit-Ananda-Ananta. For Ve-danta is Brahman! Brahman is the only Reality.
This is the Immortal Yoga of Lord Vishnu. This is to be empirically understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
SECOND PLEA
THIRD CHAPTER
The essence of ascertaining the nature of the Brahman
68. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: The above rooted the downturned branched, this Fig-tree (Ficus-Religiosa) the Eternal, this verily resplendent, this Brahman, this verily Immortal, declared. That indeed surpass no one.
Like the tree Ficus Religiosa, the soul is rooted in the eternal etheric vacuous Spirit, for its roots downturned branches sprout into the mud (body) through Maya on-ly. This dictum indicts the nature of the soul whose roots lay firmly in transcendental Spirit, Atma.
The soul must gradually and systematically uproot from the shackles of the mud and mind, but to ascend aloft to the summit of formless and vacuous Consciousness-Intellect of Brahman. Nay, Lord Vaivasvata has ex-pounded systematically the only method for the soul to tear itself away from the mire of ignorance; the soul regains its knowledge gradually, but to ascend from being merely a Jivatma to Pratyagatma, from Pratya-gatma to Atma to Brahman.
The author understands the process like this. The soul, having had an ephemeral glimpse of its roots, will have to descend from the peak, or from its etheric roots, back down to descend into physical manifestation filled with enlightened wisdom. For the soul’s ascension is only part of the enlightenment process, because “full en-lightenment” is to live on Earth the wisdom gained whilst aloft in the Yoga. Then the soul is styled as a Jivan-Mukta. For the soul is now awake from its habit-ual daydreaming. Only, a Jivan-Mukta can transform into a Videha-Mukta. Then this holiest soul departs from its temporary corporeal accommodation, as a guest departs from a hotel, to merge as a discarnate substance into the essence of Sat-Chit-Ananda-Ananta, i.e., but to return to its primordial home of Sat-Chit-Ananda-Ananta.
The smokeless, sourceless, heatless, causeless, and un-manifest eternal substance is that transcendental efful-gence that lights up all luminaries, Brahman, for It is the essence of the pure unblemished Consciousness. But Brahma can be reasonably understood as the im-pure Ficus-tree. It is Brahma (mind-memory-idea com-plex) that lays laden in the samsaric womb (impure seed) as the idea of the world, which takes its roots in the formless divine etheric vacuous Spirit, but down-wards it branches as an idea of the world as in a dream, as a fairy castle is drawn in the vacuous vault of the sky by day-dreaming.
The downward branched roots of the soul are the at-tributes of the impure mind (dream) only. The divine Intellect in its timeless, spaceless, and matterless realm gives rise to the probable and potential manifestation of the world as an impure idea held in a dream in seed form by Its own omnipotence. For this dreamy blem-ished ideal is no more or less than a painting in the vacuous vault of the sky, or a mirage in a desert, for it has no ingrained reality; for a dream cannot blemish the purity of the Intellect. Samsara has no independent ex-istence, for it is dependent of the effulgence of Atmani for its existence.
In fact, the unmanifest impure idea, Avidya, as an airy dream in the seed form lays dormant in the vacuous vault of the soul as the world and its contents from the beginning. Both ideas of immortality and mortality lay dormant in the same seed. As a dry seed needs the right conditions for germination to take place; likewise, the impure idea of the world, desire and karma, in seed form, need Atmani to manifest, but to then send down-turned branches into the world.
It is in the tarnished individual vacuous vaults of mem-ories that the worlds are established, viz., all manifesta-tions are merely held in memory reflected and projected by the individual mind. The idea of the world first arose in the vacuous vault of the primordial Intellect, and ever since then, it is deeply ingrained in the memory of the unenlightened minds. It is through erroneous memory or thinking or ignorance that the world arises in the impure mirror of the unenlightened mind.
“The Eternal, this verily resplendent, this Brahman, this verily Immortal, declared. That indeed surpass no one.” How can samsara surpass Brahman? Nothing can, because samsara is dependent on Brahman for their seeming existence. Brahman is the root from which the whole idea of the caboodle arises and depends upon. There is only one fundamental difference unbridgeable between the Unmanifest Spirit and the manifest ideal, which is this. Because it can never be in the nature of thing to change, likewise it is not in the nature of the mind to be Spirit and not in the nature of the Spirit to be the mind, therefore, Brahman to trans-mutate Itself into matter is an unreality, an untruth, if the above statement is to be understood correctly!
It is said that, like pure gold is moulded into jewellery, likewise, when pure Consciousness condenses into in-dividual consciousnesses, it then becomes tarnished Itself into forms. But there must be a jeweller to mould pure gold and a condenser to condense pure Conscious-ness. It is the egocentric mind that condenses and soils the purity of the divine Intellect. The mind cannot wit-ness its own birth; say then, how can it witness the birth of the universe? Impossible!
Certainly, it is the unenlightened individual mind that sends (condenses) its roots downwards into the mire of impure mud; only there is no condenser! This is the fallacy. An enlightened mind is Brahman. The Abso-lute is of the Absolute nature, no one, not any, nobody has gone there, no one can be there, no one was there, there is no witness.
According to Nasadiya Sukta: “No inexistence no exist-ence then, no air no ether, who, where, and whose, ability can encapsulate, that exists inexplicably and mysteriously, as depth of the deep abyss like void, no death, immortality, no night, no day, before which is that, breathless, and sustained, there is only the one and no other, void that exists as nothingness, spirit, invincible and infinite, whence arise the mind, fire of life potency, as seed that primal reflects, having in-quired, the sagely poet heart full of wisdom, know what is and what is not, say verily know, say what is mani-fest world, wither manifested, whence produced, later devas, only absolute know manifestation, whence man-ifestation originates, whether manifestation made or whether not, that reflector in high heaven, who knows made how, knows not.”
This hymn of the Rigveda expresses the attributeless-ness of the Brahman, i.e., nothing can surpass Brah-man. The answers to the questions are inherent in the dictum. Lord Vaivasvata has raised such issues as the ones in the Nasadiya Sukta. Say then, how can there be another witnessing Consciousness of a witnessing sub-jective Consciousness? Impossible! The Absolute is immutable! The Absolute is unblemishable! It just Is! Uncaused, Unborn, Immortal, Eternal, Infinite, Immu-table, Incomprehensible, Brahman. This is to be under-stood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yo-ga.
69. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: What this ever world is all prana stir, become manifest, as distress, penance begun, this who understand the immortal they are.
The world is created by prana, being manifest, is the cause of misery of karma and desire. This is when pen-ance took root, however, one who does not differentiate between the good and bad, the one who sees the modi-fications of his mind, will understand, know, and real-ize the Atma as the only Reality.
The slightest stir or agitation in the divine Intellect is the cause of the world. A human being’s mind is inca-pable to witness its own birth, let alone speculate about the birth of the universe; only the mind can witness the birth of the mind, upon which, the mind appears and disappears! The mind has no reality upon it being in-vestigated. This implicates that the idea of “becoming” spontaneous erupts, like lightening, and manifests when there is the subtlest agitation in the pure and di-vine Intellect, i.e., spontaneous creation “As distress penance begun,” implies that desires manifest as life-form, which is subject to penance or penitence of sor-row filled life. Buddha declared after a deep and long hard look at human existence, “Life is Dukkha.” Misery is one of the causes to seek the truth of samsara, through penance, one turns inwards.
Agitation takes the form of “vak” or voice or sounds endaurally heard within from language, for thinking’s consort is language. The mind and senses emerge from language. The slightest stir in the ether of the pure In-tellect launches manifestation of the laden potential and potent seed-idea in the womb. This womb is filled with desires. The seed itself has self-germinating poten-tiality ingrained within (Prana) given the right condi-tionings as seen in nature. The mind, in its spatiotem-poral realm, fills the spontaneity of a thought with fur-ther thoughts; the mind is the cause of the continuous realm of our world, nay, the erratic burst of a thought (craving) held in memory is exaggerated by the mind.
Essentially, all things are mere seed-forms held as holo-grams, but the ego-mind complex fills the gaps in the spatiotemporal realm to manifest as physicality, then thinking all these things are real in the waking con-sciousness. All things are in their essence empty held as holograms in memory, like fairy castles drawn by boys in the air from memory. As a locomotive engine shunts and joins carriages one to another to form a continuous train, which smoothly flows on the rail-track, so one erratic burst of a word, noun or verb, from memory, is the mind-engine, which shunts and joins associated thoughts from memory moment by moment. There-fore, an idea erupts spontaneously like lightning, which has potency and probability of manifesting out of desire held in memory. Thus, whatsoever is this world and its contents is merely an idea or becoming or motion of thoughts with inherent volition or potency.
Lord Vaivasvata’s term for the flux is prana-stir. Hera-clitus declared, “You cannot step into the river twice.” All the worldly contents are in perpetual flux. The mind is the perpetual flux. Brahman is the support of the flux, in the absence of which, no knowledge of the flux would arise. Change is the only thing that does not change; however, change is supported by the change-less. Matter is in perpetual flux. Thus, the primordial seed of ego held in memory is the idea, “I” The idea is this. “I” is a thought in waking consciousness, a flux, which is merely the ego that veils the soul’s true es-sence, “am.,” Ego is unreal. Thoughts are unreal. “I” is unreal.
The instant the mind stirs, the I-though, the ego, the world spontaneously erupts. Thoughtlessness is the on-ly reality. Beingness is the only Reality. Lord Vaivasvata declares that subtlest agitation in the es-sence of “being” gives rise to and supports the essence of “becoming.” The becoming must die for being to become plainly realized. The author asseverates, Being itself, stripped of all restlessness, is alone and constant, is without body or birth; Being is the only the essence of Atma, Being is the ultimate Reality.
The Existence-Consciousness of Being, which contin-ues to live even after the mind has died, alone is the Supreme Reality (Brahman), which continues to exist even after the entire universe has been destroyed (pra-laya). For there is never even for a moment any such thing as death or destruction for this Being, know that this Being alone is the unending and indestructible su-preme Self or Atma. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
70. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Reverence abides, the fire burns, reverence the Sun shines, rever-ence Indra and Vayu and death, purify these five.
Reverence abides in the fire of consciousness only. This is Maya. This is Upadhis. The Samkhya school pro-pounded by Sage Kapila (Lord Krishna) holds the five Tanmatras or the principle ideas as the essential ele-ments that are the primordial causes of the five sub-stantial (psychic) elements of physical manifestation. The five substantial elements of the physical world are; ether (Akasha, hearing, speech), air (Vayu, touch, ac-tion), fire (Agni or Taijasa, sight, moving), water (Apas, taste, elimination) and earth (Prithvi, smell, reproduc-tion) in the order of their development, these are the five Mahabhutas (elements) from whose unlimited comingling everything results including the living bod-ies, which are material forms living in space and time.
According to the Vedic theory of manifestation, the Tanmatras are the basis of all corporeal existences be-cause from them evolve the building blocks of the per-ceptible psychic universe. The system of five elements, are found in Vedas, especially in the Ayurveda, the “Pancha-mahabhutas” or five great elements of Hindu-ism are bhumi (Earth), apas or jala (water), tejas or agni (fire), marut or vayu or pavan (air or wind) and vyom or shunya (space or zero) or akasha (ether or vacuum or void). They further suggest that all of creation, includ-ing the human body, is made up of these five essential elements and that upon death, the human body dis-solves into these five elements of nature, thereby bal-ancing the cycle of nature.
Through the grace of Brahman, these elemental con-sciousnesses exist and are purified, for Vaivasvata an-swers the question “whence of attain the fire” in dic-tum 67.
This dictum impeaches the manifestation of matter out of the five tattvas; heat, light, mind, breath, and food. The five devas are Brahma (mind), Indra (ego), Vayu (breath), Vishnu (memory) and Shiva (soul). The will is the potency (blossoming, becoming, will, prana, Pra-kriti) within the mind. The threefold activity of crea-tion, preservation, and destruction takes place merely due to the unique Presence of the Supreme Lord. A man performs acts in accordance with its karma and desires, and subsides to rest after such activity. But the Lord Himself has no resolve; no act or event touches even the fringe of Its Being. This state of immaculate indifference can be likened to that of the Sun, which is untouched by the activities of life, or to that of the all-pervasive ether, which is not affected by the interaction of the complex qualities of the other four elements nor the comingling of gunas.
Adi Shankara commented, “…if Brahman did not exist, as controller of the competent protectors of the world, like one with the thunderbolt uplifted in his hand, their well-regulated activity, as that of the servants trembling from fear of the master, would not be possible.
If the ‘I’ thought, i.e., the root of all thoughts is pre-vented from rising, all other thoughts will also be pre-vented. If the first person does not rise, the second and third persons will not come into existence. The first person is nothing but the thought ‘I,’ and this alone is the mind. All these arise and subside in the mind only. The only ablution is of the ‘I’ only. Self-attention is the only true karma-yoga. If we rise as ‘I,’ we will feel that we are entangled in action (karma). In the absence of the false ‘I,’ there will be no one to experience any karma nor knowledge. What will then remain is only the Reality, which is the state in which we abide per-manently as self without ever rising to be or to experi-ence anything else. A state, which comes at one time and goes away at another time, is not the final state, no matter how glorious and blissful it may be, it will not be eternal. In the state of that self-existent untouched Reality, the heart in simple reverence must forever bow in homage.
An enlightened mind never exists apart from Brahman, the Absolute. We may greatly err to even tentatively imply that Brahman gives rise to any cause such as the mind as a Reality. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
71. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Here mind become, understand before corporeality, the decay that body, heavenly spirit-form, thee regained.
If one fails to realize the Brahman, here, in the waking state, not in the dreaming state (astral realm), nor in the heavenly spirit-form, then he returns to this realm, according to his desire, karma, or knowledge, because this is the only realm to realize the Atma!
The soul must descend from the summit to physicality, and by discriminative reasoning, come to understand how the physical world manifests before the decaying of the body. The soul will not regain its primordial Spir-itual abode without firm knowing and realizing that which was before physicality and after, for ignorance will keep the soul entangled with matter. The soul must become its own witness (Atma), for Being is the witnessing Soul without subtlest agitations or thoughts (ego, judgements).
Lord Vaivasvata implies in the dictum that it is neces-sary and the prerequisite for the soul to abide in mortal-ity as a witness to understand immortality but to regain back its immortality. Manifestation is sandwiched midst two particles of the Unmanifest. Therefore, the soul must accompany (witness) a functional mind and a mortal body to understand immortality. The soul must witness itself in the mire of ignorance. Immortality has no expression without the taste of mortality! One thing is to abide in immortality and in the Spirit form forever, which is the primordial abode of the soul, but without the taste of mortality in the material body, the former has no expression whatsoever. Black has no expression without white. Spirit has no expression without matter.
That effulgence of Brahman, Savitur, has no expression without other luminaries. This is a necessity for That. Becoming is a necessity of Being. Therefore, all this and That indeed are both the expression of the One Re-ality, Brahman. Although, all this here abides as illu-sionary within That. Dreams, Upadhis, ignorance, Avidya, et al, have an essential existence in That.
Truth has no expression without ignorance! Insightful-ly, after deep skilful meditation, the sincere aspirant will comprehend empirically how the unmanifest be-comes manifest, and thus, remain in a tranquil state. Therefore, there is no agitation in the enlightened mind or in the divine and pure Intellect. Lord Vaivasvata, thus, reveals the only purpose of our life or that of the soul on Earth before it is over.
“Only the Self knows the Self. Consciousness remains consciousness and is realized by consciousness. Con-sciousness shines as consciousness. Since there is nei-ther a contradiction nor a division in consciousness it is Self-evident. Consciousness alone exists in conscious-ness. I abandoned all material and physical concepts and held on to the vision of pure Consciousness. As darkness disappears on turning towards the light, so ignorance disappears if you turn towards the light of the Self. As long as there does not arise a natural yearn-ing for Self-knowledge, so long this ignorance or men-tal conditioning throws up an endless stream of world-appearance.” Lord Vasishtha.
The Srutis and Dhristis are revealed without the need for physicality as Spiritual communications take place telepathically and insightfully in the Spirit realm be-tween the soul and the Spirit, which is imbibed retro-spectively into the mind. The dictum reveals the need for the soul to turn inwards to attain liberation from the mind and its modifications; after all, all this is the mind and its modifications or ideas that arise through desires.
“Knowledge removes desires. The disappearance of de-sires destroys the mind. This produces the suppression of breath, and from that proceeds the tranquillity of the soul. Hence know that the extinction of desires brings on the destruction of both the mind and vital breath. The mind without its desires, which form its soul and life, can no longer see the body in which it took so much delight. Then the tranquil soul attains its holiest state. Mind is another name for desire. When desires are eradicated, the soul discriminates the truth which leads to knowledge of the supreme. In this manner, we came to the end of our false knowledge of the world, just like we use reason to detect the error of seeing a snake instead of a rope. Learn this one lesson; that re-straining the mind and suppression of breath means the one and the same thing. If you succeed in restraining one, you succeed in restraining the other. Like clouds that suddenly appear in a clear sky and as they suddenly dissolve, so the entire universe appears in the Self and dissolves in it.” Lord Vasishtha.
If he is able to know during his life, Brahman, before the falling of the body, then he becomes freed from the bond of Samsara. The mind of the ignorant on entering into the phenomenal world suffers pain and anguish. The only reason for man’s inner slavery is ignorance of himself. Without self-knowledge, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave of his mind and senses.
Therefore, in Hindu scriptures, the first demand at the beginning on the path to liberation is to know thyself! This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
72. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: As mirror so Atmani, as dream so the world of the fathers, as water surface so the world of the Gandharvas; seen as light and shade so the world of brahma.
Consciousness-Intellect expresses Itself within, in and as all manifestations Itself. The mind must remain steady and clear as an unblemished mirror merely re-flecting phenomena and noumena. In the self, one seeth the Self, as in a mirror, as in a dream in the world of the Fathers (the Realm of the departed spirits), as in water surface one seeth an object, as in one seeth Him in the world of the Gandharvas (the Realm of the musi-cal Angels). But He is seen here in this world of light and shade, of Brahma, mind, as heaven of the Spirit. Atma is indistinct to the mind because the mind is smeared with the dirt of samsara.
As the moon reflects in the still water as if real, so the world reflects in the mind as if real. Atmani can be cognised as a witness during dream consciousness as well as in deep meditation. We can realize the Self re-flected in the clear and pure mirror of the Intellect, for Atma reveals Itself within Itself. The abode of the fore-fathers and celestials also reflect in dream conscious-ness. However, if one remains vigilant during sleep when sense-ego-mind complex and all phenomenon are annihilated, one may cognize the realm where Angels abide, for they are psychically perceived as reflections in the watery realm of the essence of the Spirit.
Beyond the realm of dream consciousness, there arises a subtle realm of Indra’s Net, called Alandani. Beyond the realm of Alandani abides the realm of unconscious-ness of deep sleep. In this consciousness abides the realm of noumena, where no other cognitive faculties abide but the Mental eye. The Mental eye may then come to cognize the noumenon Self-reflected like in a mirror, or in water, however, this is a subtle mystical and spontaneous glimpse.
Further beyond sleepless sleep, on retrospective reflec-tion, he may realize that Supreme effulgence. There-fore, most unenlightened minds will after death remain in the realm of dream consciousness and acquire a dream body. Once the dream, nightmare or pleasant, are exhausted, they will acquire a physical body after casting aside their dream bodies, but to return here again according to their merits and demerits. Some will rise higher, with their dream body, but will get entan-gled in the net or in the web of Maya, which in the realm of the Spirit, is the network of celestial musi-cians, nymphs, angels, Jnanis, Siddhas, et al. Once this is exhausted, according to their merits, they will return via the dream realm into physicality having cast aside their dream bodies.
Siddhas manage to appear and disappear on Earth at will, but at the behest of the divine Intellect. All these aforementioned realms are merely psychical. Although, Lord Vasishtha has known Siddhas who have failed to grasp the ultimate Reality. Rare are enlightened ones who will penetrate through and beyond all the psychi-cal realms, without any consciousness of materiality, into the realm of the divine Intellect, for they are the holiest of Holy ones who have cast aside all their “puryastakas,” for they merge into the realm of Immor-tality, Light and Bliss, known as Sat-Chit-Ananda-Ananta.
Lord Vaivasvata reveals paradoxes, such as light and shade, which exist in the realm of Brahmaloka, which is inferred as psychical only. What follows has refer-ence, not to Him who knows the highest Brahman, for He becomes Brahman at once and migrates no more, but to him who does not know the highest Brahman fully, and therefore migrates to the psychical realm, Brahmaloka, receiving there the reward for his partial knowledge and for his good works. Therefore, the duos, Avidya and Vidya, Sat and Asat, Light and shadow ex-ist simultaneously because one cannot exist without the other.
Then he may descend from the peak of Yoga on the same path to dream consciousness (hypnapompia) and wakefulness, but to understand life and live within the realm of wisdom as a liberated entity. Hypnapompia or Alandani is perhaps the realm of prophetic glimpses into the future. Only, Atma and Brahman are beyond any paradoxes, for the fully enlightened Self, Mukta, is likewise beyond paradoxes! Beyond paradoxes implies just Being or “thoughtless Witnessing.” In order to know the true nature of the Reality, one must know and realize the true nature of oneself, the Self. The ex-perience of knowledge of the true nature of that Reali-ty, which is devoid of any name or form is true wor-ship.
Mystical glimpses are ephemeral but to perish. We be-come conscious of everything as images within our-selves, but the mirror is not different to the relationship of the image in it, i.e., the mirror and the image are the same. So, Brahman is reflected in our conscious mind as all this. Only the Self’s true nature (Atma), which always exists with clarity and certainty, is the true form of God that exists immutably. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
73. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Of the sens-es diverse state rising and setting and those apart from different origins contemplating the wise not grieve.
Five elements are associated with the five senses and act as the gross medium for the experience of sensa-tions. The basest element, earth, created using all the other elements, can be perceived by all five senses hear-ing, touch, sight, taste, and smell. The next higher el-ement, water, has no odour but can be heard, felt, seen and tasted. Next comes fire, which can be heard, felt and seen. Air can be heard and felt, but “Akasha” is beyond the senses of smell, taste, sight, and touch as it is accessible to the sense of hearing alone.
It is declared that hearing is the last sense that is anni-hilated at death. This is cognizable in deep meditation by Adept Yogis. Meditation is the only tool to thor-oughly comprehend the senses, mind, and physicality. Unmani consciousness is the realm of the elements, perceived as five layers or strips before physical mani-festation arises in waking consciousness. During deep meditation, beyond the realm of phenomena, we may come to cognize subtle glimpses of the entoptic flashes of light and the endaural sounds, which are within the Self. In fact, we may know empirically and conclude that all these phenomena are psychic and are projected outwards by the organs of senses. This is an incredible empirical unreality, which arises out of the mind!
Crucial understanding dawns in the mind through ret-rospective reasoning that all phenomena arise and set within the mind (‘I’ thought) itself. If each cognitive sense is traced to its origin, only then we can compre-hend its support and source, which is consciousness. It is the senses that convey diversity to the mind, rather the mind projects through the five senses diversity of phenomena and noumena (as seen in our dreams), aris-ing and setting, with the rising and setting of the mind. No such diversity exists in deep sleep. Diversity of all objects of senses have their source as the mind.
The wise do not grieve but witness the dance of the diverse flux of existence. This is the tenet of the “Nata-raja,” which is verily a flux we call existence. Indeed, this realm is full of mystical wonder! There was a wan-dering mystic Adept in Japan, Budai, who upon his awakening did not stop laughing, and the Hellenic weeping philosopher, Heraclitus, did cry a lot once real-ization dawned. Heraclitus was famous for his insist-ence on ever-present change as being the fundamental essence of the universe, inculcated in his axiom, “No man ever steps in the same river twice.” This is com-monly considered to be digressions into the philosophi-cal concept of becoming and has been contrasted with Parmenides statement that “what is-is” as digressions into the philosophical concept of being.
“This is wealth, this is body, this is a nation, are all no-tions, which are the manifestation of the energy of the mind and which are otherwise illusionary; know this to be a long dream, or a long-standing hallucination, or day-dreaming: when by the grace of God or the Self you attain awakening, you will then see all this clearly; the existence of a world independent of you or the mind is but the jugglery of the mind; it is nothing but the recognition of a notion as if it were a substance; these notions gain strength in the mind by being in-vested repeatedly with the mantle of truth and, there-fore, they arise again and again, creating the illusory world-appearance with them.” Lord Vasishtha.
This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
74. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Than senses higher mind the Being over higher great Atma the mighty unmanifest higher unmanifest the other highest the per-vading unblemished really and Him understood released the man immortal become.
The dictum implies that the divinity within a human being is higher than the mind, objects, and senses. That exalted Self or the “real” Self is but Atma. Moreover, mightier than the imperceptible Atma is the unmani-fest Brahman. The essence of the absolute Brahman can only be known truly when the Self is one with Atma. When the Self and the Atma are both resolved into the One Reality, that is true knowledge of Brah-man. The Self is to be understood to retrospectively understand the nature of Atma and Brahman.
Through ascending on the ladder of Yoga, when the senses are subdued, thoughts arise and set as long as they are not entertained but witnessed, like watching bubbles rise from the bottom and disappear on the sur-face in an aquarium. A thought (mere word) rises spon-taneously in the mind from memory, and thought-images arise but projected and reflected in the soiled mirror of the mind as phenomena; thoughts as the seed-forms of words lay laden and dormant in the vor-tex (archive, akashic records) of memory or in the womb of the mind.
There is no difference between Brahma and mind, i.e., the cosmic mind, the world mind, and the human mind share the one reality. What is here is there, for what is there is here. The impetus styled as will or prana is the potency that drives the train of thoughts (words and implications) but to formulate an idea into actions. Without the will to expand a word or failure to give a word or an image impetus in effect renders them into a void. Say then, can you think of anything without words? Images of sensual objects (internal and external) are thoughts that have no expression without words. There is no thinking without words. A word is the “agi-tation” in the intellect spoken of earlier. A word is in-separable from the mind. When an infant learns its mother-tongue, it begins to think!
The slightest stir (agitation) in the mind or body during deep meditation results in an influx of thoughts; this can be empirically witnessed by the Self. Therefore, words are the creation of desires and inseparable as “the” cause of manifestations that we see all around us. What is the mind but words and images? Like the puri-ty of gold is tarnished through copper, the purity of Jiva becomes tarnished through the five senses, and im-portantly through words. But beyond the mind lays the realm of the enigmatic conscious witnessing Intellect, Atma.
The stir in the unmanifest is styled as Brahma, which gives birth to ideas, but the enigma of the Atma can never be bridged. The concept to grasp in this dictum is the reversal process; the “how” and the “why” and the “what” of becoming from the beingness. It was said by Lord Vaivasvata that the Asvattha tree is rooted in heaven and sends shoots downturn, as materiality into the world (Dictum 68), i.e., the soul is rooted in the kingdom of Heaven but sends its shoots (desires) down into the hell (the mind). Say then, what is hell if not the ignorant mind only?
Materiality has no reality. Mere ideas given constant attention are reflected and projected onto the mind through the plenum of memory. The plenum of memory has no substantiality in it, like a fairy ballon in the air. The great Hindu Sages of yore abandoned their idea of physicality and concentrated (Dhyana) their en-lightened minds on the pure Consciousness of Atma. They are the immortals released from the shackles of their minds and its modifications who abide in pure the unblemished Intellect.
The universe is the apparent manifestation of paradox-es, for dualities, attitudes, conditionings, tendencies, and imprints (Upadhis) arises out of the mire of mud most have imposed in their memory; as a spider weaves a net to enwrap itself out of itself, so man weaves out of himself a net of Maya or desires in his heart.
The heart and mind are the same things, for we cannot separate feelings of the heart from thoughts of the mind, which are both merely ideas. As a nacre appears to the sight as silver from afar, but it is merely a nacre on close inspection, likewise, through introspection, the Self is Brahman obscured by nescience only. Like the Sun is obscured by the rainy clouds of monsoon, which disperse in the Autumn season, the Light of Truth shines once nescience is removed. Therefore, the gran-deur of Advaita is obscured in the depths of Dvaita. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of Immortal Yoga.
75. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Not per-ceived abide form, not sight behold somebody, feeling intuition psyche made known, who knows this immortal become.
The sacred affiliation between the Self, Atma, and in-variable Brahman can be intuitively felt and insightful-ly known only. The dense clouds of feelings in the heart and thoughts in the mind veil the sacred affilia-tion between the soul and God. Even though the Quest has become more difficult under modern conditions, it has not become impossible. What are the means? Lord Vaivasvata asserts that “feeling, intuition, and psyche made known” implies that it is through feeling, intui-tion, and insight utilised in a special way that Brahman is made known.
The twofold paths of immortality have been declared by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita (see Dictum 59). These are categorised by Lord Krishna as either Sam-khya-Yoga (knowledge) or Karma-Yoga (renunciation of actions), for both or the admix of both as the third path, leads an aspirant to converge at the same gate of Immortality, for the one who sees these as divergent paths, sees not.
“Not perceived abide form, not sight behold some-body,” infers that Lord Vaivasvata discredits any partic-ipation in devotional (bhakti) practises if they objectify God. The Almighty is incomprehensible and impercep-tible for It is formless; God is not an object, picture, statue, yantra, mandala, mantra, fire, et al of our per-ception; for the essence of God is an object neither of worship nor adoration in form. Inferentially, this is nes-cience declared by Lord Vaivasvata. Only the essence of Brahma is full of effulgence and bliss subtly ostensible by seers through intuition and insight!
We may tentatively understand the essence of the Ab-solute as full of Its own existence, beingness, efful-gence, pure Consciousness-Intellect, and Bliss that is in Itself extraordinarily the Self.
Say then, how does a seer know the essence of the formless and vacuous Spirit, for even the discarnate cannot determine the nature of the essence of the Ab-solute? Say then, what is this goal of Yoga? It is the fulfilment of the real purpose of life, bliss, apart from the lower purposes of earning a livelihood, rearing a family, and so forth.
The Mukta knows, with certainty held deeply within, the mightiest presence of the essence of Brahman, there is no doubt about this; for it is felt during “yok-ing.” This is the point of target, the aim, and the goal of Yoga. The mightiest rapture of happiness is felt within and retrospectively known as the Truth intui-tively and insightfully. Certainly, the unique and sacred presence of the essence of God is the mightiest experi-ence a human being can behold; the Adept merges in the essence of the Atma, this is clearly declared, “know That through Being That.” For the Self is only the es-sence of Being! Therefore, the Sastras humbly declare that a Mukta is the highest expression of the essence of God.
Humbly come to an understanding, insightfully within, through the path of self-discovery, about the essence of the Absolute by gaining an understanding of the Self. The Atma is immortal and uniform Itself, rarer and subtler than ether, without beginning, middle, and end, formless, vacuous, blissful, harmonious, existence, clear, and pure Conscious-Intellect.
Not often declared by Adepts, in the absolute stillness, the enigmatic rapturous ecstatic happiness is followed by a flash glimpse of small orange spotlight surrounded by a receding thick black ring in subtlest consciousness; but rises and subsides internally in the shrine of the body in an enigmatic centre above the navel but below the sternum, only to leave Its holiest retrospective im-print in memory of an incredible, incomprehensible, and indelible aftermath eternally. The mystical enig-matic presence of the essence of God is felt by the em-bodied soul as inscrutable happiness, which rises and sets within the earthly body and in an enlightened mind of a Yogi.
There can only be imprints in the realm of waking and dreaming consciousnesses, for when the senses and mind are at rest beyond these consciousnesses, there are no imprints. Lord Vaivasvata declares that the essence of God is neither an object of somebodies sighting nor psychic imagination but remains forever formless as a witnessing ‘Subject.’ Verily, the “All-Seeing-Eye” is the witnessing Self, Atma, for It is the enlightened mind! The senses and the ego-mind complex cannot penetrate that mystical and elusive temple of God, only these must face their own annihilation beforehand; for the ablution of the mind is the only prerequisite on the ascending ladder of the Immortal Yoga. But to come to know intuitively and insightfully, without any psychic expressions, of the essence of God’s existence beyond any reasonable doubt.
“The aspirant will become fully Self-conscious; as aware of the divine Overself as he now is of his earthly body! And this achievement will be perpetual, not just a matter of occasional glimpses or fleeting intuitions.” Prophet Brunton
The sacred essence and the presence of the Conscious-ness of God is the Consciousness of God of Itself through Itself. Verily! The essence, presence, and pure Consciousness of God are inseparably the One Reality. This is Yoga. There is no other, this is declared.
Once the Atma “takes over” the living being, he is then known as a Jivan-Mukta, a living liberated immortal Consciousness-Intellect! This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
76. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: When five remain stilled knowledge instruments with mind, intellect does not chase this declare the highest refuge.
This dictum asserts the tenet of renunciation. Lord Vaivasvata eulogises the merits of Yoga. Lord Vaivasvata asserts that the whole purpose of meditation is to remain unattached or aloof to any sensual inputs and thoughts (words and images) that arise in the mind. This is the tenet of renunciation and nothing else besides. When the five senses cease and are at rest and the mind rests with them and the thoughts (words) cease from their workings, is comparable to deep sleep, only, that awareness beyond deep sleep is the highest state of Being; an incredible state of Being or Con-sciousness or deathless death of embodiment!
An Adept skilfully stops his mind from chasing after his thoughts and image-animations and sensualities, for he annihilates his will (impetus) and surrenders as a witness! An Adept gradually traverses through the lev-els or states of consciousnesses in meditation, but to arrive at the gate of thoughtlessness without images, i.e., when all cognitions, thoughts, and actions are stilled, and the intellect is motionless. This thoughtless state is the aim but not the goal of Yoga meditation. Being is a state of capitulation, surrender, renunciation, and thoughtlessness.
Some say it is a state of thoughtlessness or void sand-wiched between two thoughts. Thereafter, what follows is a flip into super-consciousness of the all-seeing and all-knowing “Mental eye.” Like deep sleep, which is sandwiched in between two successive dreams is full of goodness, verily, thoughtlessness is the nectar midst two successive thoughts. Verily, existence is sand-wiched in between two successive dreams of the soul, for the sweetest honey is smeared in Being.
The blessedness and bliss that imbibes the soul when all the five senses, the ego, the mind, and the intellect are at rest is incredibly delightful, for sandwiched in between two successive dreams of the soul lies the nec-tar of bliss styled as Turiya. The author implies that deep sleep is a derivative or type of natural Yoga full of goodness, however, the seed form of nescience remains in deep sleep, whilst nescience dies in the full aware-ness of Dhyana, which is the full awareness of the Self. When an Adept’s mind is put to rest in the state of mo-tionlessness, only then the essence of Atma is revealed by Itself to Itself, for the Self is then Atma; motionless, silent, and a witness in Yoga.
In Yoga, in the sanctified Altar of the Spirit, his solemn and earnest humble prayers are answered as a state of supreme blessedness and bliss. Bliss can now be defined as the absence of motion! This is the true nature of the Self. This is to be understood. This is a step on the lad-der of the Immortal Yoga.
77. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: This is Yoga thus hold constant senses restraint, the vigilant, then Self in Yoga greatness overflows.
Lord Vaivasvata defines the limb of Yoga called Dhyana. It is a state of vigilance wherein the senses and mind are restrained from motion, i.e., a vigilant state of motionlessness is the full awareness of Consciousness, i.e., unblemished Consciousness! Unblemished by the senses, mind, cravings, ego, feelings, love, dualities, intellect et al. It is a state a Mukta beholds (although a Mukta does not hold anything, all is held for him through him motionless) not only during meditation but throughout the remainder of his life. “Hold con-stant senses restraint, the vigilant,” implies that an as-pirant should not only restrain sense appetencies not only during meditation but also throughout his life. Get rid of likes and dislikes, which the instruments of the senses introduce, nay, the mind casts upon itself the likes and dislikes.
The wireless mind is a form of a casting devise, a rout-er, mirror, receiver and projector of phenomena held in the plenum of conscious memory, which are cast upon the screen-mirror of the mind (itself), which in turn mirror-casts as the externals, visual, audio, tactile, taste, and smell onto the corresponding five casting organs.
Lord Vaivasvata infers to be vigilant in a state of dhyana constantly, only then, declares Lord Vaivasvata, the soul awakens into an overwhelming flow of bless-edness at the Altar of the Spirit, Brahman. The Atmani and Atma are the essences of One Reality, invariably that essence of Brahman. This dictum declares that state of Being. Nothingness or void or sunyata is a state of annihilation of senses and the mind. A thoughtless (motionless) state of consciousness is styled as pure Consciousness, whilst remaining vigilant, wherein all blemishes, conceptions and philosophies die at the Al-tar of the Almighty. The Yoga of Death! A state of the deathless death. Turiya!
Although death it is an extreme state of the giant leap from the embodied consciousness into the disembodied consciousness for most, it is an extremely difficult change to achieve and behold whilst alive, but not im-possible, for the state which then follows, Yoga, unlike the state of deep sleep or death, is a state of unblem-ished Consciousness. Thus, “witnessing” the states of consciousnesses becomes a state of beingness, referred to as “Yoga,” wherein “yoking” to noumenon of Spirit in Its full unblemished glory of nothingness, full in beingness, filled with the presence of the essence of Brahman, which is Vidya, Truth, Real, Being, Bliss, and Consciousness-Intellect.
The state unperturbed, when the senses are imprisoned in the mind, of this they say, “It is Yoga.” It is a birth-less birth and a deathless death state only. It is neither Sat nor Asat. It Is. It always Is. There is nothing besides this! There is nothing besides Brahman. The terror of incessant “becoming” is held in an unenlightened mind only.
Everyone is subject to this world order, Niyati, which is beyond thought and expression. In metaphysics, nou-menon is defined as the consciousness that exists inde-pendently of human senses. In the beingness, on retro-spective reasoning and understanding, we discover that there is neither origination nor destruction of phenom-ena. The paradigm of the genesis is mind only. The de-struction of the ego-mind complex and its becomings only happens through the grace of Atma. The true un-derstanding of the birth, life, and death or cause and effect, manifestations, phenomena, becoming et al are rooted in Yoga. Therefore, Yoga incriminates the gene-sis of phenomena as nescience only.
“This Self or “inner light of consciousness,” is un-known and unseen, for it is attained by those who have purified their becoming. But, by the holy ones, it is seen in the supremely pure cosmic dimensionless space of the Intellect. The Self exists in an undivided state without beginning and end; it exists as the all; as the inner experience of all the mobile and immobile be-ings.” This is the “Yoking” to That-which-Is! There-fore, the true definition of Vidya is Yoga or yoking to pure Knowledge or pure Consciousness, and in turn, it also defines Avidya as non-yoking or the mind. There-fore, Vidya is, in fact, a state; a state of Beingness! This state is called “Turiya!” This is the Self. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
78. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Not really by word, not by imagination to obtain, possible not per-ceptible by sight, “It Is” thus apprehended “in what way” (Katham) then above comprehended.
This dictum extols the path of Yoga! Lord Vaivasvata hints as to why these teachings are referred to as Katham. Lord Vaivasvata significantly uses the Vedic Sanskrit word “Katham” in the dictum, which implies “in what way.” In what way is the essence of “That” attainable? Through the quest of Light of Truth. Through Yoga. Through the Immortal “Yoga” of Lord Vishnu.
Brahman is neither apprehended through words nor speech nor hearing nor listening. Brahman is not ap-prehended through the unenlightened mind and its modifications. Brahman is neither apprehended through sight nor other senses. Brahman is only comprehended through retrospective reasoning, understanding, and insightfully in an enlightened mind that transcends phenomena, for Brahman is transcendental!
Truth or Reality is transcendental. The dictum also im-plies the tenet of transcendental thoughtlessness, i.e., neither by speech nor by the mind nor by the senses nor by the intellect is that Vidya gained, but only through transcending these mere phenomena in the “stillness” or the “silence” within is yoking accom-plished. During deep stillness, Vidya arises on Its own terms, for “Yoking” takes place only through the “Grace” of Brahman.
Say then, what is there to conceptualize “It Is” if the cognitive faculties are transcended? Nothing! Yoga is only apprehended through Yoga! Yoga is only compre-hensible through the “Eye” of Brahman. This means that an Adept is wholly engulfed in the essence of pure Consciousness of Brahman. Therefore, all modifications of the mind, such as matter, body, elements, ego, emo-tions, et al are essentially an antithesis of Brahman.
Only through the grace of Brahman, is the essence of Brahman known by Brahman. Say then, does anyone realize how to reasonably understand and express that mystical presence? Truth is wordless! Self-discovery is but accomplished through purging the mind, retrospec-tive reasoning, and understanding. All Adepts, Sages, Prophets, Grand Masters, and Gods can only know the essence of Brahman. Therefore, an Adept would only tentatively declare, “It Is.” Say then, who is there to know the One without a second? Verily, absolutely no one! There is no witness to witness the absolute!
However, in the Bhagavad Gita, chapter XI, Arjuna says to Lord Krishna, “You are precisely what You de-clare yourself to be. But I long to see your divine form, O’ Best of persons Sri Krishna; if You consider me as capable of beholding It, then, O’ Lord of Yoga, reveal to me Your imperishable form.” Then, Sri Krishna de-clares, “Arjuna, behold presently in hundreds and thou-sands My multifarious divine forms, of diverse colours and different shapes. But surely you cannot see Me with these gross eyes of yours; therefore, I vouchsafe to you the “Divine Eye.” With this, you behold My Divine Power of Yoga.” Then, Lord Krishna permits a view of something that the aspiring Arjuna perceives with his newly open “Divine Eye.” Then, the terrified Arjuna describes the phenomenal scene. Arjuna is perhaps an exceptional and unique case.
Only, there is no such “form” of Brahman in Brahma-na! This scene is the “forms” of the manifest universal Mind of Lord Krishna, which he beholds in memory within Himself. Arjuna is an exceptional case of grace and poetic fantasy because for an Adept to have pro-cured, perceived, and described manifestation simulta-neously is impossible; the mind needs to be annihilated for the “Divine Eye” to function or super-consciousness to take over.
Lord Vaivasvata implies, “That, which is hearing of our hearing, the mind of our mind, the speech of our speech, that too is the life of our life-breath and the sight of our sight. The wise are released beyond and they pass from this world and become immortal. There, sight travels not, nor speech, nor the mind. We know It not nor can distinguish how one should teach of It; for It is other than the known; It is there above the un-known. It is so we have heard from men of old who declared That to our understanding.
Cosmogony can be revealed spontaneously within the chosen one or the soul can come to an understanding of Its “Ideal” insightfully within Itself. Gradually, the idea of the universe and the purpose of the universe and the purpose of “Existence” imbibes into the soul insightful-ly. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
79. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: “It Is” thus indeed above comprehended essence Being and the both ways It Is thus indeed above comprehended essence the nature transformed become clear.
The tenet of Sat and Asat. Advaita Vedanta does not admit to any transformation. Brahman is neither Sat nor Asat. It Is. The teaching of the Vedanta extends so far and no farther. To comprehend the essence of the Brahman, both Sat and Asat must be empirically known, but to realize Brahman is neither. The Self’s true nature is to be realized through Yoga, inclusive of all qualities of the essence of the Spirit and matter, but realising the essence of the One Reality. Truth is only One without a second. The Self is only One without a second. “It Is” because Brahman is the One Existence only.
An enlightened mind is neither Sat nor Asat. A realised Adept lives his life in a tranquil state for he is a vessel of living grace. Viveka is a Sanskrit term used in Hindu philosophy and roughly implies discriminative reason-ing or subtle discernment. Viveka is an inward and in-tuitive sense of discrimination, which is called wisdom. Wisdom is an acquired ability to discriminate between the real and the unreal, between the self and the non-self, between the permanent and the impermanent, dis-criminative inquiry, right intuitive discrimination, ever-present discrimination between the transient and the permanent, insight.
“The cosmos is neither a phantom to be disdained nor an illusion to be dismissed. It is a remote expression in time and space and individuality of that which is time-less spaceless and infinite. If it is not the Reality in its ultimate sense, it is an emanation of the Reality. Hence it shares in some way the life of its source. To find that point of sharing is the true object of incarnation for all creatures within the cosmos.” Prophet Brunton.
There is no cosmos without memory. Say then, can anyone account for the footprints of a bird in the air as substantial? We know so far that the unenlightened mind is an anti-thesis of “That-Which-Is,” therefore, we cannot then admit at this advanced stage that the Divine nature of the formless, etheric, vacuous, and uncaused is causal of both unenlightened and enlight-ened mind or matter and Spirit; for there is no cause in the Uncaused.
Brahman is expressionless! Expressions and emanations are becoming of the unenlightened mind only. The au-thor asseverates that Brahman can never ever be both! This is clearly supported by the enlightened Hindu Sag-es of yore, for they had firmly abandoned the idea of materialism.
The Samyagdarshanam Sages vituperated and abhorred matter, materiality, and mind for reasons stated in these writings or they will become apparent further on. Infer-entially, there is only the One Reality and nothing else besides. Everything else is merely empty words, for words that manifest as matter has no substantiality or reality whatsoever per se.
The subtlest agitation in the tranquil soul will entangle the soul into Maya (emanations or Upadhis or modifica-tions of the mind or memory or becoming). The appli-cation of viveka facilitates removal of Upadhis; once Upadhis are eliminated, there is no emanation whatso-ever, only the eternal Brahman remains.
Meekly, scribed words such as “Brahman is this or that,” cannot be the ultimate Truth. The essence of Brahman is always One alone, constant, pure, clear, Consciousness, Intellect, Effulgent, Existent, Real, Truth, and Bliss. The opinion firmly held by the attest-ed master’s and the author is this. Verily, Brahman cannot be anything else than Brahman. Therefore, the ancient Vedic Sanskrit axiom, “Sat-Chit-Ananda,” is vouchsafed as to the trinity Self-Atma-Brahman, re-spectively; viz., the essence of “Sat” of Brahman is the Self, the essence of “Chit” of Brahman is the Atma, and the essence of “Ananda-Ananta” of Brahman is the Brahman. Sat-Chit-Ananda-Ananta is inseparable and immutable One Reality! Indeed, this is to be empirical-ly understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Im-mortal Yoga.
80. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Whenever all detached the desires, which rest heart clinging to, then the mortal the immortal being, in this respect Brah-man attain.
The tenet of Vairagya. The slightest stir or the subtlest agitation of any desire the heart clings to render the man mortal. This is the cause of samsara per se! This dictum indicts mortality that arises from the plenum of memory; which are all essentially mortal ideas, for they blemish the purity of the soul through Upadhis, karmic imprints, tendencies, conditionings, and desires held in the core of the memory. Memory is the storehouse of those desires in seed form. Memory is laden with Upadhis, and, in turn, the causal root of manifestations.
The mind (heart) is a fertile ground that sprouts and routes and projects from memory those desires held laden, (potential and probable) and thus, manifests ide-as that are in their essence causal of phenomena. This entangles the soul in Maya. A word may arise from memory with potential, as long as the will (potency or prana) to enforce it (attachment) is not exercised by the mind, then the word disappears. The plenum of memory is habitually enforcing, through the mind, words in waking and dreaming states, it is its nature. Like bubbles of air that arise from the base of the ocean, for words are indeed merely airy nothing!
Vairagya is a Sanskrit term used in Vedic philosophy that roughly expresses dispassion, indifference, renun-ciation, detachment, et al.
Verily, this is the only true implication of Vairagya, “The vigilant non-attachment to words, i.e., thought-lessness is renunciation!”
Like a barnacle attached to a keel is scraped off its moorings, so every desire that clings in the heart of a man has to be detached, then the mortal gains immor-tality (Moksha or Nirvana or Mukti or Kaivalya), for the mortal merges in the essence of Brahman. Thus, mortal Aruna exercised vairagya and sacrificed his desires, but burnt his egocentric consciousness (fire of sacrifice). Aruna, at the blink of an eye, resolved not to return on the Early plane!
A Jivan-Mukta has no longer any festering or clinging of desires in his core. He is finally free and released in this lifetime from Maya after many lives, for He awaits Videha-Mukti upon the dissolution of his physical body to dust. This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
81. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Whenever all be crushed heart cling here the ties, then the mortal the immortal being, so much verily of precept.
As the soul’s solemn aspiration of regaining its primor-dial “Beingness” through Yoga grows, enforcing viveka and vairagya, so the soul entirely gives up its entan-glement with Maya. Crush all attachments in the heart, and be free. The soul should deeply yearn to return to its primordial home of Light and Bliss. Say then, is the yearning for release a falsehood? Only, the soul has never left its primordial home, its merely inebriated by the modifications of the mind, is the precept of the Vaivasvata Gita. Sobriety from drunkenness of the world is all that is required to regain the primordial Self.
Renunciation is firmly enforced in the enlightened soul; although outwardly, the soul knowingly may let the mind display its nature around worldly things, works, family, socially, et al, with vigilant inward indif-ference; after all, these are all merely airy bubbles. The heart and mind are one and the same, for humanity romantically holds feelings separate from the mind, but they are all essentially the modifications of the mind; all feelings arise in the mind, although we falsely at-tribute sorrow, joy, sex, love, et al to the heart.
Feelings are merely becomings of the mind. The knots or ties or bondages must be obliterated in the mind. Heart, in these readings of the Vaivasvata Gita, imply the core of becoming or the mind only. There is only one thing that pervades the individual world and that is the mind. Such things as Jiva, embodied soul, Atmani, body, heart, brain, senses, language, words, memory, ego, intellect, subconscious, conscience, world-mind, cosmic-mind, matter, et al, are all merely diverse appel-lations of mind only, for who sees any difference sees not.
True vairagya refers to an internal state of mind, which can be had equally by one engaged in family life as well as an ascetic monk. Vairagya does not mean the sup-pression of or repulsion for material objects. By the ap-plication of spiritual discrimination or intelligent dis-cernment in life, the aspirant gradually develops a strong attraction for the inner spiritual source of fulfil-ment and happiness, for ephemeral attachments fall away naturally. Only then does the essence of the Spirit truly arises within the consciousness of the Self. Har-mony may be maintained between the inner spiritual state of the soul and one’s external life through the practice of witnessing. This is real renunciation.
All entities, substances, natures, and attributes are ex-pressions of the mind. The Holy Aruna coldly, ruthless-ly, and courageously cut asunder all that he held dear in his mind. It is extremely difficult to exchange one’s ephemeral desires in life for permanent Bliss, but through discriminative reasoning and understanding, we may rest in the serene and tranquil state, assured that all this is merely ephemeral consciousnesses re-flecting in the mind full of paradoxes. Say then, what actions remain to be done by the great Yogi whose de-sires have been extinguished. None! He rests in the true transcendental state of Being.
“Not only the presence of things and pleasures stain the minds of the ignorant, but their absence and loss also cause great regret from the stain they leave in the memory, just as things are coloured not only by new paint but also various marks and signs. Thus, the minds of the ignorant are never cleansed from the stain of their favourite objects. They are never free from their bondage in this world, unlike the liberated Sage who is free because of his lack of earthly attachment. Reduc-ing our desires contributes to our liberation. Increasing our wishes leads us to continued bondage in this world. When one’s desires have turned away and when the mind is at perfect peace, then there is pure Conscious-ness. In the case of a healthy man, when his mind is free from objective notions and sleep has not yet come, there is pure Consciousness. That nature which exists in grass and creepers growing in their proper seasons without the feeling of mine-ness is pure Consciousness. The nature of one who is free from precepts and con-cepts but is not dead, and whose being is clear and pure like the winter sky, is pure Consciousness. The pure being of woods and rocks, which are as they were creat-ed, as also the mind of and in pure beingness is pure Consciousness.” Lord Vasishtha.
As the Mukta has eradicated the becomings, so the Self dwells in the beingness or in the bliss of existence. The divine Self dwells through the Self’s mercy in the Self’s sanctuary and takes refuge in the Light and Bliss, for immortality is “Light of Truth.”
Say then, are you ready, willing and able to obliterate all that you hold dear in your mind? This is to be un-derstood. This is a step on the ladder of Immortal Yoga.
82. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Bright and alone and core tranquil the echo its summit stream forth alone by it above path immortality thy go everywhere inexhaustible soaring present.
The state of transcendental Beingness. Highest amongst the centres of subtle consciousnesses the Self alone is bright, clear, and pure in the core, it is Atmani, for it echoes the transcendental Consciousness of the Supreme Spirit. This pure Consciousness streams forth as Beingness, Intellect and Bliss, for this is the Self, the nectar of Yoga. This alone is worth our worship and adoration. A great Yogi raises his consciousness and harmonises his breath and the mind into a serene and tranquil state, he then arrives through the practice of yoga at the gate of pure Consciousness.
When consciousness, breath, and mind become serene and arrested, the great Yogi attains thoughtlessness or a silenced mind and echoes the transcendental state of Being, Bright, and Alone, i.e., echoes the essence of Brahman. This is the true state of “now.” The great Self soars into the infinite, timeless, and spaceless summit of inexhaustible ether. For the inexhaustible transcendental Self is everywhere and anywhere in the timeless and spaceless and matterless now! However, lower consciousnesses echo as Maya in the soul as past reminiscences only, for consciousness is not able to freely be, for it is restricted through body consciousness and ego-mind complex.
The only sacred departure gateway or ascension for the self, regaining its primordial nature, i.e., Immortality, is via pure Consciousness through the grace of the Atma only. For the rest, lower, tarnished, and impure con-sciousnesses are reserved gateways according to their desires, deeds, and knowledge, which result in their “becoming” only.
“When the body is destroyed, the prana passes into empty air where it sees everything according to the de-sires that have blown along with it from the cells of the heart and mind. As living souls find the bodies in which they are embodied and act according to their different natures, so the departed and disembodied spir-its see many forms presented before them according to their desires. They enter those forms and act agreeably to the nature of that being. As the fragrance of flowers ceases to be diffused in the air when the breezes have ceased to blow, so the prana ceases to breathe when the action of the mind is at a stop. Hence the course of the thoughts and the prana of all beings are known to be closely united with one another, just as the fragrance is inseparable from the flower, and oil inseparable from oily seeds.” Lord Vasishtha.
This is to be understood. This is a step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
83. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata asseverates: Of the length of a thumb the Spirit inner Atmani, always birth, heart the encamped, this Self from body asunder as Mun-jat-grass stalk, calmness this be lucid Immortal.
Separate the Self, like a stalk of Munjat grass, from the consciousness of the sheaths, and grasp firmly the con-sciousness of the Self. The subjective perspective of the objective Immortal Self. “Of the length of a thumb is the measure of the inner Atmani,” implies the literal size, shape, and form of the soul, Atmani, in the human body, is felt like the length of a thumb.
There are many examples of souls exiting the body, i.e., temporarily abandoning its tenure aside, found in Hin-du and Far Eastern scriptures. Often exclaimed by many facing sudden danger “my heart jolted or missed a beat,” for the departing soul is literally experienced as a sudden and spontaneous jolt of air below the larynx. Like stalk extracted from a Munjat reed (Munjat-Saccharum Munja, is a grass found in arid areas and along riverbanks in India and grows up to two meters in height, like Pampas grass grown in the west. It belongs to the family Gramineae. Its white flowers are of orna-mental value and the reeds are used for thatching, weaving, and medicine), to consciously separate the Atmani from the body-mind complex takes considera-ble practice in Yoga and may result in a fatality, for extreme breath and mind control (Hatha Yoga) can of-ten lead to death.
Lord Vaivasvata implies that it is literally tearing asun-der the soul out of its embodiment and then lucidly witnessing one own true Immortal Self. This has the appearance as described before in Dictum 50. This is neither subject to one’s will nor effort, for it is sponta-neous and natural in the deep abyss of calmness during meditation. In complete awareness, the head slumps forward in Jalandhar bandha or lotus chin lock, fol-lowed by loud endaural noise of tearing or grinding or screeching of a machine from the throat to head. Then there is neither mind nor body consciousness. Thereaf-ter, firstly, subjectively witnessing the immortal soul, which is thumb-sized embodied Self, Atmani, against layers of distinct colours; then secondly, followed by subjectively witnessing the embodied Self immersed in milieu of clear bright water of the Spirit (flow or stream), i.e., Atmani is seated submerged in clear, bright, and pure stream of Spirit-Water seated in lotus position. This is the immortal embodied Self; but the witnessing Self (subject) is the true immortal Self, for this is the true Being witnessing its own Self.
Atmani is perceived fully embodied because it is encir-cled in illusionary sheaths (koshas, dream sheaths, for they are unreal) of karma. Atmani is the essence of Atma or shadow, merely engulfed in sheaths or layers of Maya. The Self (Ishvara; subject) witnessing the em-bodied immortal Self, viz., Atma witnessing the im-mortal embodied Atmani. The Self (subjective) witness-ing the immortal embodied Self (objective). For the true immortal Self reveals Itself as the immortal em-bodied Self (Dictum 26) to the Self. For the Atma re-veals Itself to Itself as Itself!
This Self appears like a statue of Buddha from the wit-nessing perspective. The witnessing subject perspective is from above on the right side slightly recessed behind; The Self, like a statue of Buddha, the size of a thumb, is perceived from the viewpoint of the witnessing Self or the Soul’s Eye. However, there are no further in-structions of how to return back into corporeality. But through endaural words (agitation) that are heard, the Self spontaneously abandons its abode and returns into corporeality. Like the pith within Munja grass blade is extracted, but it can never be perfectly reassembled, for that Self will find it difficult to return to its ego once the ambrosial Light of immortal Self dawns and reigns and reclaims the true Self.
The true ambrosial Light of the immortal Self is form-less, vacuous, and divine Intellect. Atmani is the es-sence of Being! Atma is the essence of pure witnessing Consciousness! Brahman Is! Verily, this is indeed Brahman. This Self, Atmani, is the Atma, the true Self.
This Self is the paradigm of the symbol OM. The bright waxing crescent moon and Bindu is the witnessing sub-ject perspective of Ishvara, for the clear cooling moon-light is the Light of the divine Intellect, Brahman. The paradigm of the pictorial Shiva is Atmani. The para-digm of Lingam is Atmani. The paradigm of a temple erected amidst a Yantra is Atmani, for the Self is the true enshrined formless embodiment. A great Yogi is “the” sacred temple and “the” truest Shiva-Lingam! Shiva-Shakti, Purusha-Prakriti, thoughts-prana, mind-breath, are conjoined, like oil inseparable from sesame seed, for this is the paradigm of the embodied soul or the Brahmana guest. Shiva is the Purusha, Atmani. Shiva is the Atma, Ishvara. Shiva is the Absolute, Brahman. Shiva is all this.
Tat-Tvam-Asi, That-You-Are! Being is thoughtlessness itself, stripped of all restlessness; bright, alone, and constant; without body or birth; the Self is the essence of Being only; the Self is the ultimate Reality.
A Mukta neither vexes over life nor death, whether embodied or disembodied, He Is! A Mukta lives in pure Consciousness of Atma. He is liberated witnessing sub-ject whilst alive, for an event such as death, when the time comes to vacate the rented house, is a mere airy bubble of nothingness. Say then, where is life and where is death if there is no mind? Say then, if there is no longer body consciousness, where is death? Death cannot occur! Therefore, death occurs only in an unen-lightened mind fouled with sheaths of ignorance! For death occurs in memory only!
Say then, when there is an absence of clinging desires, conditionings, and ideas, where and how can there be rebirth? Say then, is a Mukta alive? He has no idea! He Is! For He is neither the essence of Being nor none-Being! The soul consciously regains its immortal state.
Lord Vaivasvata has no further instructions for the lib-erated soul or an enlightened mind, for there can be none for Immortals!
Under the delusion of the body and mind, you will re-turn again and again going through many experiences that appear real to you. There is no leap but a change in consciousness upon death; it is the change in con-sciousness into pure Consciousness for an enlightened mind, but the change in consciousness into other con-sciousness again pertinent for an unenlightened mind. Either the change is from a blemished into other blem-ished consciousness upon death, or form a blemished into an unblemished Consciousness whilst alive. One cannot change from blemished to purity upon death!
The New Moon is sandwiched midst two particles of Full Moons. Tamas is sandwiched midst two particles of Sattvas. Likewise, motion is sandwiched midst two spacelessness, timelessness, and motionlessness realm of the sourceless and transcendental essence of the Spirit. Pure alchemy is the change from ignorance into knowledge, like the sourest mango changes into the sweetest mango when ripe.
Motionlessness is one of the attributes of the sourceless and transcendental Absolute Brahman. Motion is the attribute of the mind only. Brahman is motionless. The Atma is motionless. The Self is motionless. Pure Con-sciousness is motionlessness that pervades the whole. Say then, when and how did the Brahmana Guest (At-mani) enter and depart anything if its essence is omni-present? Atmani goes nowhere, enters nowhere, and departs nowhere! Does the dreamer leave the bed, yet goes everywhere? So, the Atmani is motionless. The air in a jar once broken, merges into the ether that is om-nipresent. However, the is no jar nor air in Reality.
This is the Supreme soteriology of the ancient Yogis! This is to be empirically understood. This is the ulti-mate step on the ladder of the Immortal Yoga.
84. DICTUM: Lord Vaivasvata declared! The Nachiketas then having received knowledge brilliant Yoga precept and entire, the dawn Brahman the shinning, attain the beyond death, the other too thus who inquisition of Su-preme Spirit really.
Holiest of Holy Lord Vaivasvata declared this doctrine of Immortal Yoga of Lord Vivasvan to Uddalaka Aruna. Vaivasvata Gita is divinely ordained as the highest, as the profoundest, and as the grandiose doctrine of Im-mortality revealed as Srutis; insightfully relayed by the One who knows Immortal Yoga to the soul of Holy Sage Uddalaka Aruna. The soul inquisition ends, hav-ing thus received the entire brilliant precept of Yoga; for the Light of Truth dawns as the shinning Brahman in the Self. It is a state beyond deep sleep, called Turi-ya, which is Yoga or Vidya of Atma, for this defines the word “Vidya” in an absolute manner.
Aruna consciously regains its primordial and eternal Immortality! The soul “regains” its freedom from the shackles of Maya (mind), for the Self is eternally im-mortal. Aspiring seekers who sincerely embark on the quest of the Light of the Truth certainly attain Moksha.
The dicta of Lord Vaivasvata & Saint Uddalaka Aruna are for deliberation.
These are to be understood.
Immortality is the ultimate glorious eternal Beingness.
OM Shanti-Shanti-Shanti OM.
THE VAIVASVATA GITA.
EPILOGUE
THE SUPREME COURT OF LORD VIVASVAN
Here, Here, Here!
Hearken!
Silence, please!
The Supreme Court of Lord Vivasvan is now called to deliver its verdict.
THE VERDICT
Since the body, ego, and mind are unreal, the Supreme Court of Lord Vivasvan can pronounce neither guilt nor innocence nor punishment nor immunity.
Since the Supreme Court of Lord Vivasvan does not
admit paradoxes nor dualities of sensualities,
they are inadmissible.
Realize that the Self is Brahman, the Self is the
unblemished Awareness.
The nature of the Self is pure Consciousness.
You are the Verdict!
There is nothing besides this.
So it is declared.
Be Happy
All Bow in Reverence to Lord Vivasvan,
Lord Vaivasvata & Saint Uddalaka Aruna
May the Lord protect both the reader
& the author
OM.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
There is no need to understand the author, the need is to understand the self.
Once you understand the Self, the need to understand the author nor any other will not arise.
DIPPACK MISTRI 