Vedanta Rocks -15> Discover the four layers of your personal universe

Part 15 of 46

“Of the Upanishads, the Mandukya, by itself, is sufficient to enlighten.”
Adi Shankara
“Behold the chatushpat…the four layers of your being”
Mandukya Upanishad 1—1-4

Of all the great works of wisdom which collectively comprise the Vedanta, the Mandukya Upanishad is the smallest. With only 12 short verses, this phenomenal treatise fills up less than a quarter of an A4 page. Yet it ranks among the most potent.

Adi Shankara wrote a comprehensive treatise on it 21 centuries ago. His guru’s guru, Gaudapada also wrote a famous commentary. Every Indian mystic has commented on it, discussed it, been awed by it.

At the heart of the Mandukya is a vibrant model of your personal universe — the Chatushpat. The Sanskrit is easy enough to understand Chatur — four, Pat — way, layer, or quarter. The universe within, called ‘you’, has four layers. Grasp this scientifically, intuitively, emotionally and you are through to the first stage.

You are an entire universe, the roots of which go all the way to infinity. Since you live only on the surface, the waking state, you are unable to figure out the true quality of your being. Below the waking is your dreaming self,where you are vaguely aware of an internal being as images, feelings. Further below is the state of pure intelligence, which manages the 100 trillion cells of your body and knows everything that is happening to you at all times. This intelligence isn’t the brain or your IQ. It’s the stuff that designed your brain and manufactured it from the rice and dal your mom ate when she carried you.

From your waking state you cannot even begin to understand how powerful and complex it must be. The task it performs is truly mind boggling. If somehow you could touch this state of pure intelligence, you would intuitively grasp the extent of your real capability. But this is not all.

Behind this pure intelligence is the deep silence. The infinite. There is an intimate relationship between the two. The first is the deepest part of your finite being. The second is an indefinable part of infinity. It cannot be spoken of or described, but it is the ultimate source of your being. It is also the source of everything else in this universe. In that beautiful way everything and everybody is connected. This, in essence, is the model of your personal universe. Hold it as an abstraction in your mind for a while and let it grow on you.

To most of us the abstraction is as far as we can ever get. Acknowledging the intelligence and the silence is one thing while connecting with it is something else. Even though the intelligence is roaming everywhere, it is accessible nowhere. You cannot measure it, grasp it, or quantify it in any way. It remains till date, among the most elusive mysteries of science.

In fact some believe it is theoretically impossible to connect with because the mind is too small and insignificant to come to terms with an giant intelligence that created the mind in the first place.

The Mandukya Upanishad lays out a connection. A slender but strong lifeline to the deepest most hidden part of you. This is something we shall discuss next week.

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( Source: Mani Shankar/ Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad 19th April 2009 )

Vedanta Rocks -13 > Switch off the outside world to find your undisturbed core

Part 13 of 46

Tam akratuh pashyati…
Katha Upanishad 1-2-20
“The undisturbed one arrives at a state of grace effortlessly.”

If you can wake up one fine morning and be naturally silent and still, with no itch, no thought, no frustration, no disturbance, no panic -where you naturally think nothing, do nothing -you have become the akratuh, the undisturbed one. It means you have really truly arrived in this life. In terms of spirit you can count yourself among
a handful of life’s lucky billionaires. You have found an unshakable peace within. Outside you will sense a storm brewing in everyone else’s mind but your own. They will resent your calm, your placid poise. Let them. You have spent a lifetime in sympathetic vibration where you reduced your poise to street-level noise just to be one with the world. It is time to say goodbye.

Five minutes of renunciation is all you need to kick start an irreversible chain reaction that will eventually liberate you. Let the world go jump for five minutes. Take no calls, either on your cellphone or in your head. The latter isn’t easy. The calls in your head will keep ringing, and you will have to struggle to find the switch that turns it off. You will have to pull out the sticky strings that bind you to the world. It’s a tricky gluey web, and all of us are stuck on it. Don’t pull too hard, or a mental spider will bind you some more. That’s the way the mind works. It deceived you into the web, and now you need to deceive it to get out.

Your warped self image was the primary deception. The mind pulled your image into the marketplace to draw you into the web. It gave the world power to alter your image, and the moment you accepted that, you became stuck to it. At first it gave you an illusion of happiness and mirth, for what could be better than to be wanted and respected?

But deep inside all the laughter you could sense a residue of pain. It was the stress of constantly striving to keep up that silly image of yourself to the rest of the world.

So now you deceive the mind to try and get out. Just five minutes, you plead. I will return to the web in five minutes and bind myself in. Keep at it and one day the mind will show you where the off button is located. You will spend perhaps one minute in serenity before the web snakes out and pulls you inside.

Once you taste this freedom you will wrestle with your own mind and negotiate terms. A stiff price will eventually be paid. You will have to renounce your self image before you walk free to a new world of unlimited freedom and creativity. You will become the akratuh, the undisturbed one. It is a price worth paying.

It is your life after all -you’ve been seeing the same old boring you -now see someone totally different.

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( Source: Mani Shankar/ Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad 5th April 2009 )

Vedanta Rocks -12 > Wisdom is a connection with deepest part of self

Part 12 of 46

Prince Janaka: Sage Yajnavalkya, Have you come to my court to earn gold or to spread wisdom?
Yajnavalkya: I came for both, your majesty.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch 4.1-1

Most of Vedanta is expressed in a terse ultra compact sutra form with rivers of meaning running in between lines. One needs to unravel it and I have attempted my own creative interpretation using a dramatic tool of dialogue and punch lines. Yajnavalkya’s "unspoken words" have the power to shake the world with their truth, beauty and utter fearlessness.

The prince: Do not speak to me of wisdom yet. Speak to me of the world instead. Speak of so-called wise men, who claim access to gods.
Yajnavalkya: Anyone who claims access to a god is a clever hollow man.

The prince: Why is that?
Yajnavalkya: Because gods are figments of human imagination. The real power, the true source of the universe is beyond mind or words.

The prince: Well said. Tell me, is it not true that most of the so-called pious men are in truth pretenders?
Yajnavalkya: Yes it is true.

The prince: How can I know if I am really pious and not a pretender?
Yajnavalkya: Watch over your dreams prince. If by day you feel virtuous and by night you frolic in wild fantasies, you are surely a pretender, for a man may control his desires, not his dreams.

The prince: There are frauds among holy men who can sense a devotee’s fears and hopes. These people can hook a victim the way a fish is hooked with a bright insect of desire. What do you say of them?
Yajnavalkya: If you are willing to be a fish, then you deserve the hook, your majesty. It is not the fisherman’s fault, but your own. He was merely hungry. You were greedy.

The prince: Yajnavalkya, you say you came for gold…isn’t that contrary to wisdom?
Yajnavalkya: Even wise men need a bit of gold to get by in life. We don’t live on air, as some would like you to believe.

The prince: Tell me, how shall I address you? As divine master, great teacher...
Yajnavalkya: Call me directly by my first name. I want no titles.

The prince: Why?
Yajnavalkya: Spare me from my vanity, prince. Men like me get giant size egos easily.

The prince: What about women? Are you celibate?
Yajnavalkya: Why should anyone be celibate? I love the company of women.

The prince: If you are so worldly, how can you be wise?
Yajnavalkya: A man of wisdom delights in the world without drowning in it. All wisdom is essentially an attitude — a connection with the deepest part of your own self. The world will always remain the same, whatever happens. It is your attitude to it that will change.

Silence.

Yajnavalkya: Sir, if you have finished with the interrogation, ask me a real question.

The prince: What?
Yajnavalkya: Ask to be taught to live, to love, to rejoice, to become innocent again, to discover a deep happiness within, to connect with this endless universe, to arrive at a beautiful state of being where you accept each moment with grace and joy.

I came to teach you that and take away the gold of course.

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( Source: Mani Shankar/ Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad 29th March 2009 )

Vedanta Rocks -11 > Depths of your true self hide in your heart

Part 11 of 46

‘Abhayam hi vai Brahma
bhavati… ya evam veda’
"When fear evaporates completely, you touch the source of your self. This is the wisdom of the Veda".
Yagnavalkyas teaching to the young prince Janaka,
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

I will not separate you from your precious ambitions. I know that ambition is the fuel that flows in your veins. It ignites the fire that keeps you alive. You would rather die than part with them."

"I will not separate you from your fears either. It will rip your heart out if I do. I know how much you have entwined yourself into them. Your fears prod you when you slacken, keep you disciplined when you go weak. It is your chief weapon in the battle of life."

"I wont touch your fantasies too, for they power your dreams and even though you suspect they might never come true, it’s magical to be drunk in their heady fragrance."

"But give me your anger, give me your jealousy, give me the blood lust, hand over the hatred, shed the venom that sits in your throat, drop it this moment."

"I will take away the hatred, clean the bile of frustration that pours out everyday. I will cure your addictions, the craving for toxins that have burnt your brain, your opiates, your fortified wines, and the even deadlier poisons your body creates, the burn in the gut, the wild thumping in your chest, venoms that will wither you like a twig well before your time."

"I will heal you. I will repair those deep wounds in your heart. I will sharpen your sword and straighten the shield and when you are ready I will send you into the arena again."

"Not to get torn apart but to fight with a clean mind, fight with a song in your lips without a care in this world. You will laugh at a moment of defeat, shrug in a moment of victory with eyes full of compassion, heart quivering with joy, you will rise into each day as if it’s your last."

"Yet even in this exalted state you will still be blind. You will not know who you are, where you came from or where you will go when this life ends."

"Now I will return and ask for your fears. I will coax it out of every nerve ending. I will defeat your every logic, knock out every argument and make you see the futility of being afraid. With anger and hatred gone, jealousy stamped out, the wild fires have been extinguished. My task is easier. You will resist at first, then slowly you will shed them one by one till there isn’t a shred of fear left in you at all."

"I don’t need your ambitions. You may keep them. With your fears vanished, they are just cherished goals. You won’t waste a moment’s sleep if they don’t happen."

"What else? Oh the philosophies...where you came from and all that..."

"Behold the depths of your true self hiding in your heart. All is already here. It was always here, you didn’t have the peace to see it. You are already that. No more words are needed. The silence will be your teacher and the song your life. This beautiful silence and that heady song...it’s All."

"Ya evam veda. This is the wisdom of the Veda, prince Janaka. Rise into it."

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( Source: Mani Shankar/ Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad 22nd March 2009 )

Vedanta Rocks -8 > Eyes reveal Inner Chaos and calmness

Part 8 of 46
Our eyes don’t rest even in sleep. Dreams are full of rapid eye movements, where we are searching and seeking.

‘Those who have felt the eye of the eye have touched the immortal spirit.’ Kena Upanishad 1-1-2

It is not what your eyes see — but with what eyes you see — that really counts. Eyes betray the chaos of the soul. Eyes reveal the state of inner being.

Chances are, you have so far played the game of life with restless eyes — your victories have been equally restless — and your losses quite devastating. The more the turbulence, the more life passes by in a daze.

Influences around you are designed to keep you in that daze. Mark this, the state of your eyes is of strategic importance to society. The global economy runs on it. God forbid if everyone developed calm and peaceful eyes. You wouldn’t be a sucker for a million marketing tactics that ‘grab eyeballs’ and morph minds. The advertising industry’s job is to keep your eyes and mind destabilized. That’s how raging desire is created for products you don’t need or want.

Our eyes don’t rest even in sleep. Dreams are full of rapid eye movements, where we are searching, seeking, and never relaxing. Daytime brings on the sleeping chaos awake and the cycle never ends, except in death, when we finally close our eyes fully, irrevocably, forever.

All religions are thankfully friends of your eyes. The reverential gazing at the altar of the Christian church or Jewish synagogue, the darshan of Hindu temples, the half closed eyes of Buddhist meditation, the steady gaze towards Mecca in the mosque, all these have a deep meaning and purpose. They help soothe your turmoil.
Their ancient healing chants assure you that the search has ended.

In minutes you calm down. A deep feeling of peace follows as the eyes relax from the pain of endless seeking.

Whatever your religion or ritual, if you practice giving relief to your eyes, they will become aware of something that was always there — something you missed noticing in the chaos. They will naturally feel out the eye of the one who is watching you as you watch the world. That is the ‘eye of the eye’.

Normally the question as to who is watching you seems irrelevant. Not any more — as you discern the witness— just observing… not passing judgment, not saying anything. Its presence, even when unfamiliar, is always assuring, comforting, healing and a mystery. It is in you, yes, but it is also not you.

Vedanta calls it the immortal spirit, but that understanding is personal to its unknown author. One fine day, in a flash of understanding, you may appreciate it for what it is. But know this — whatever it is — it is beyond words.

You cannot spin around quickly and catch sight of it, because it can move faster than the fastest thought you are capable of. Such is the ancient teaching of the Upanishad. It always guides you up to a point and asks you to discover the rest as direct intuition.

Vedanta Rocks. Go ahead take the plunge.

( Source: Mani Shankar/ Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad 1st Feb 2009 )

Vedanta Rocks - The background story

Vedanta Rocks – An old defunct newspaper column springs back to life

The background story :

Two years back I stumbled on a weekly column in the Sunday edition of Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad. It was a column called "Vedanta Rocks" by the movie maker Mani Shankar. The very first column itself was quite indicative of what was to follow and it only got better and better. Sunday mornings once again became a celebration that set the course for the next week's adventure/ pilgrimage within.

What struck me the most right from the very first column I read of ‘ Vedanta Rocks ‘ was the unconventional nature in dealing with ancient wisdom without losing sight of the current predicaments, yet with a touch of playfulness and iconoclasm as well. I just love it !

The joy of discovering it soon became an unstoppable urge to share it across and the first step towards it was to compile the entire series in an organized manner and convert it into a single printable PDF file and was mailed to few friends.

The initial set of mailing list soon grew. There was such an overwhelming response from many in the initial list and some went on to send aggregates of email ids to be added to the weekly mailing list...it was quite a humbling experience when some sent their parents' email ids too. Each weekly mail in turn had to carry the text of the previous emails to give the new recipients some background information and the text also got elongated in the process. I presume that many would just like to go directly to the "Vedanta Rocks" content than the mail text.

But still, for all the recent pilgrims in the Vedanta Rocks fraternity here is the background story of how it all started.

so, Here is the story behind “Vedanta Rocks” …

The first mailing list had a small set of people and now it has grown. I could never even imagine that this compilation of newspaper column called “Vedanta Rocks” would appeal to so many. In fact I compiled the first mailing list with much self doubt wondering if this act of seeing one's name included in a mass mailing list would irk many. But I was wrong I guess ( at least so far) … many wrote back sending a list of e-mail ids of their friends and parents as well. That was encouraging enough to give a real try at expanding the mailing list.

Recollecting some telephonic conversations, digging up old emails ...chat fragments from the inbox of remembrance spanning a period of nearly 12 years was quite a pilgrimage in itself that often moved me to the verge of tears. A phase when so many strangers became acquaintances, and then friends... some stayed in touch..Others got estranged ( am sure only from the chronological perspective of communication) … but the finest essence of every interaction never got erased off. I remember them all, cherish each interaction with a deep sense of gratitude and benediction. I have benefited immensely from all and this act of reaching out thus is a modest expression of thankfulness, to bridge and bring together a bunch of pilgrims who could be of solace and guide posts to each other, personally it is another way of saying 'you all mean a lot to me'.

There were moments when a bunch of names would gush forth … mostly during the early waking hours...and that's also how the mailing list grew. I just felt it to be soul calls/ cries from so long and far way... but connected entities in the collective unconscious.

This is a collection of articles i compiled from The Deccan Chronicle – an English daily based in Hyderabad....it used to come as a column every sunday under the title "Vedanta Rocks" . I have never found such a lucid and powerful revivification of Vedanta than these sweet little articles. Here's a bouquet of it all , it will reappear in this space every week. The column abruptly disappeared from Deccan Chronicle… and now I do feel the inner urge to get it across to as many as possible . These precious writings of the film maker Mani Iyer must not be lost for ever, it surely deserves to be resurrected from the pile of stashed away old newspaper heaps ! I have heard people giving big talks on Vedanta... to the point of utter self deception. This collection of articles could achieve what showy-scholarly-¬shallow-slavish-snobbish sermons fail to - to stir us deep within and set us on our course – to recover and rediscover that facet of ours which is lost in the quagmire of survival instincts.

I never quite thought that I will be able to get across this collection of writings in this form. Few days back my machine crashed in a terrible way, I lost huge pile of personal data as well including a half finished ( half page :-) ) CV of mine as well. That loss was bearable any way. But when I realized that I lost this collection of articles that I had just begun to compile got wiped out , I slipped into gloom...it took me quite some time to recover. The arduous task of searching back issues of the newspaper on the web arranging it the way I did before ( with one image for each article) weighed heavy on me... I just could not even think of it, even the very idea of googling it all appeared nauseating enough. [ 10th April 2009 - begin ]

But then getting to read these articles was one of the best things that happened to me after I left Amrita University and moved to Hyderabad. Confining that joy to myself soon turned out to be unbearable. I had the conviction that there will be many out there who will find this collection luminous enough to see deeper meaning in their lives. So I set upon to do it all over again , often retyping it all from the newspaper clips. I am just reminded of this beautiful quote from Paulo Coelho's book 'Manual of warrior of Light' > “When the warrior is forced to perform the same task over and over again, he turns his work into prayer “. So that set me on course. It was also an attempt to relive my VIDYA days at Amrita – finding information, work on organizing it and make it http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifavailable to all in the campus was real fun and I miss it all . Thanks to my computer crash down – I got to re experience it at least in a minor way and thanks to you all for being there.

Few days ago I got to watch an incredible movie called “My Dinner with Andre” - and that helped me find another strand in the pattern that connects... more so when work becomes monotonous with uncertain outcomes. Here's the protagonist Andre speaking to his friend , something which I consider to be a soulful way of working :
“... Oh, well here's a view of life! I mean, he talks about the belief of the Hasidic Jews that there are spirits chained in everything. There are spirits chained in you, there are spirits chained in me. Well! There are spirits chained in this table! And that prayer is the action of liberating these enchained embryo-like spirits, and that every action of ours in life, whether it's doing business or making love, or having dinner together, whatever, that every action of ours should be a prayer, a sacrament in the world.”. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

I love the word sacrament... does it not go well with Khalil Gibran's saying “ Your work is your love made visible”. ( From The Prophet )

...any way it is good if chained spirits could be freed by our work. Sounds a bit too esoteric though. But stretch it a bit further...it surely helps us release our spirits from the soul cages of all that we slavishly remain enslaved to... hey, that reminds me of another dialogue from that movie - originally what Ingrid Bergman had said, "I could always live in my art, but never in my life."


So, here's a bunch of it... one column every Sunday.

I just added one image for each article and there is a reason for why that image is chosen – thanks to the insights from Carl Jung's book “ Man and His Symbols”. I just made an amateur attempt to apply what I understood. Please let me know if you have suggestions on the images and send me images that you think will be more appropriate. With a little more time I think I could have done a better job...but I couldn't wait further,just wanted this to reach you all ….and more than everything wanted to let the rest of the world know again that there is this incredible person called Mani Shankar – a movie maker-philosopher who is the author of this column called “Vedanta Rocks” – some one whom I consider to be one of the finest exponents and revivifiers of Vedanta. [ 10th April 2009 - end ]


- hawk of a pilgrim kind -
With that introduction here comes the first column: