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Inside this IssueValedictory Speech by Pujya Swamiji

Gurukulam NewsObituaryOne-Month Vedanta CourseYati Pañcakam: AtlantaĀnanda Mīmāṁsā: AtlantaNirvānaṣaṭkam: AtlantaSwaminiji in Japan: Photo PageThe Sacred Names of ViṣṇuMaheśvara Haimavatī Umā Shrine: Eugene

ReflectionsKolu Tradition at Navarātri

Regular FeaturesSatsang with SwaminijiSwaminiji’s Travel/Teaching Schedule

स"#ताSūktā

Arsha Vijnana Gurukulam

January 2014 Valedictory Speech for the 2010 - 2013 Vedanta Course:

Anaikatti, Indiaby Sri Pujya Swamiji

There is always a last message; whether you do a three-year course, or a thirty-year course, people are eager to hear the last message. There may be something important that was already told, but when there is repetition, the importance of it is emphasized.

I have a lot of important things to say, not just one. But what stands out in my mind among the important things that I want to say is the tendency to make a self-judgment on the basis of one's emotions, one's feelings, and thereby question one's understanding of Vedānta.

One is bound to question one's understanding if certain feelings are present, such as loneliness, rejection, or a need for approval from others, especially from significant people in one's life.. One might ask ‘What did I understand?’ or say ‘If I have understood Brahman I wouldn’t have these feelings. Therefore, I have not understood Brahman, and I have not understood myself.’ This is a judgment based upon one’s perception, experience, feelings, called anubhava.

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That I am brahma-ātman has nothing to do with feelings. It is p r a m ā ṇ a - j a n y a -jñānam, knowledge b a s e d u p o n a pramāṇa, a means of k n o w l e d g e . Hones t ly, i t has nothing to do with the feelings - it is in spite of my feelings only. You don't become l imit less because of ‘limitless feeling’. Nobody has limitless feeling. If there is a feeling of the limitlessness, t h e r e i s n o l i m i t l e s s n e s s .

Therefore, you are free from a sense of limitation in spite of your hunger, in spite of your fatness, in spite of your memory loss, in spite of your lack of various disciplines of knowledge. Why? Because you can have all of them, and you need not have them too.

So, in spite of all these things, you are told you are free from all of them. Aham ātman, nitya-śudda, nitya-buddha, nitya-mukta, nitya-asaṅga - I am the self, always pure, always enlightened, always free, always unattached - and the bottom line is aham saccidānanda-rūpaḥ, I am limitless consciousness, existence. That is the bottom line, so I maintain that bottom line.

This has nothing to do with your feelings. Who says your feelings have to change in order to be Brahman? Yes, of course you require a certain yogatva, togetherness, to understand, but there is no way of

your not knowing it unless you are adamantine in saying ‘I don't think I can ever understand.’ If in this three years the teaching has not taught you, there is no way of learning this. If there is a love to learn and there is an openness, there is no way of not knowing.

Every time you nod your head when we talk about the vastu, truth, there is understanding. The truth is cognitive; there is no other truth. What you get cognitively is the truth. Everything else is mithyā, has a dependent reality, and there is nothing more mithyā than feelings. Among things mithyā, your hunger, your thirst, some of these urges you have are more real. But the feelings are the worst mithyā. They have their origins in some memory that was picked up as a child. Therefore, they don't have any being. At least hunger is vyāvahārika, having some empirical reality. Emotions don’t have a vyāvahārika reality. Anything that comes from the emotions is subjective, and

doesn't have any big reality. If you look at it as Íśvara's order, it is all acceptable.

T h e r e f o r e , a n y c o n c l u s i o n a b o u t yourself based upon f e e l i n g , o r y o u r questioning of your understanding, is not valid. Pramāṇa-j a n y a - j ñ ā n a m , knowledge born of pramāṇa, will prevail over feelings because it is abhādita, non-negatable, whereas feeling is bādhita, negatable. With knowledge, all the

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l a s t a g a i n s t p r a m ā ṇ a - j a n y a - j ñ ā n a m .

Finally what might remain is only viparīta-bhāvanā - a feeling contrary to your understanding. We accept it, but don't question our understanding. Viparīta-bhāvanā is accepted with understanding. There is no viparīta-bhāvanā because there is understanding. Viparīta means what is opposed to your understanding. Your understanding is aham pūrṇa - I am the whole. My feeling is that I am small. Therefore I have not understood. It is only because I know that I am the whole that there can be viparīta-bhāvanā . Otherwise there is no viparīta.

Viparīta-bhāvanā does not question your understanding, but it is a denial of jñāna-niṣṭhā - the enjoyment of the fruit of this knowledge. For this, nididhyāsana, repeated meditation on the truth, is required. We spent much time together on śravana and manana in this course. Nididhyāsanam, on the other hand, is to be done individually. You don't require a guru for that. But for śravana you require a guru. Even for manana you require a guru. We have introduced nididhyāsana and now your whole life time is there for this practice.

You can spend time on the same lines with what we have introduced. In the text Drg-Dṛśya-Viveka they talk about nayet kālam nirantaram - may one do this without any break. The idea is that it is a thing to be done. It does not really imply lack of understanding. Viparīta-bhāvanā-nivṛitti-arthaṃ nididhyāsanam- Nididhyāsana is for the removal of viparīta-bhāvanā The word viparīta, opposite, has meaning only when there is understanding. Therefore, I do nididhyāsana if I want to have more time dwelling on the topic, on the vastu, for the sake of niṣṭhā.

Although I am not an advice giver, if I would give one piece of advice here, it would be to never make a judgment of yourself based upon the mind. Never. Judgment about oneself based upon one's feelings is not right and is unwarranted. If you have a doubt about the vastu go to the pramāṇa, which has nothing to do with your feelings. “I feel lonely, therefore I don't know brahman.” Hey, brahman also is lonely, ok? Why should you make a judgment either on yourself, or on others? You don't need to make judgments.

feelings are bādhita. One understands ‘that's how I was feeling as a child’, and it becomes a thing of the past. It doesn't have a present status. It originates in the past and becomes a thing of the past because it cannot have staying power. It is kṣanika, momentary. All these feelings are momentary. Therefore, one cannot judge one's own understanding on the basis of feelings.

One's understanding is to be judged only on the basis of the topic, of the vastu, reality. One can see pramāṇa-śaṅkā, the question as to whether śāstra is a pramāṇa or not. It doesn't take anytime to prove that śāstra is a pramāṇa. A pramāṇa must talk about something that cannot be known any other way, and śāstra reveals the truth of the ātman which cannot be known any other way. Therefore, śāstra is a pramāṇa whether you have śraddhā , faith pending understanding, in it or not.

Similarly one can address pramāṇa-tātparya-śaṅkā, whether the śāstra is talking about one non-dual reality, the oneness between jīva and Īśvara, or is talking about something else. We see that all the Vedānta-vākyas, statements of the Upaniṣads, have their resolution only in this vision of oneness. And we see that this knowledge t akes p l ace . Therefore, tātparya-śaṅkā cannot be there, which means that pramāṇa-śaṅkā is not there.

One last doubt that can remain is prameya-śaṅkā, a question regarding the truth of the oneness between jīva and Īśvara, This question arises because other traditions say differently. This is called prameya-śaṅkā and it will not

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By the time you read Sūktā, the one-month online intensive Vedānta course with Swaminiji will be finished. Those of you who have been able to participate in the classes, whether in person in Eugene, or online, may be wondering what next? Whenever anything comes to an end, this is one of the questions that arises.Therefore, we are happy to announce the continuation of ongoing classes and some new classes with Swaminiji. Opportunities for the study of Sanskrit will be offered at both beginning and intermediate levels. There will also be the chance to study Muṇḍakopaniṣad in more depth, by studying the Upaniṣad along with Śaṅkarācārya’s commentary to the text. This is a great gift to students as questions and doubts are raised and answered by Śaṅkarācārya, which deepens the students’ understanding. All classes will be broadcast. For specific days and times please see the schedule at the end of the newsletter. What else happens after an intensive study in Vedānta? We may notice that behaviors we don’t appreciate in ourselves, or others, still give rise to a lack of self/other compassion. If conclusions about our understanding of the vision of Vedānta are based on this, one may wonder if śravana, listening to the teacher, is making any difference at all in one’s life. This doubt is addressed in the first article, the valedictory speech given by Pujya Swamiji to students at the end of the 2010 through 2013 Vedānta course held in Anaikatti. As you read Pujya Swamiji words to the students, you may recognize a desire in yourself to hear yet one more insight that will help pave the way for deeper understanding. You will not be disappointed!

One might also ask why, even after many years of Vedānta classes, does one still need to hear the teaching? Truly knowing oneself as the whole requires one to be ready, willing and able to shine the light in all the deepest recesses of the mind, thereby flushing out any doubts, vagueness, or resistance that might be lurking. For this a discipline of introspection and contemplation is required. Rāga-dveṣas can hijack the mind at any point in the pursuit and so keeping oneself focused is very important. Śravana is a wonderful way to keep focused. Both the availability and content of classes by Swaminiji make it so easy for us to continue this as though pursuit. Enjoy. OM

Editorial

The second one-month course offered by Sri Swamini Svatmavidyandaji spanned the old and the new years from December 15, 2013 to January 11, 2014. The intensive study at this time matched the winter season which in the Indian tradition is a time to focus on going inward and being contemplative. Swaminiji explained this is an auspicious time to pray for self-growth. The end of this period is marked by the transition of the sun into the constellation of Capricorn and is celebrated as Makar Sankranti on January 14. Although Swaminiji taught the lectures from the Eugene gurukulam, devoted students from all over the world adjusted their daily schedules and their bedtimes to tune in to the classes online. Twenty-one of the students who attended the classes earned certificates.

The course itself was a hearty stew of Vedic texts seasoned with beginning classes in Sanskrit and an introduction to Paninian grammar. The texts included: Gaṇapati Atharvaśirṣa Upaniṣad, Hastāmalakiyam, and Medha

ObituaryRich De Angelis passed away peacefully on January 13th, 2014. He was a gem of a person. Always cheerful, compassionate and patient. It was impossible not to love him. Rich helped the growth of the Arsha Vijnana Gurukulam by serving in various capacities, and lending a helping hand whenever he was called upon to do so. He had been a long-time student of Vedānta, and would go

every year to Arsha Vidya Gurukulam to study with Pujya Swamiji. He leaves behind a brother, a daughter, and a grandson, and many friends and relatives who will no doubt miss him dearly. Our prayers are with them at this time of grief.

Swamini Svatmavidyananda

One-Month Intensive Vedānta Course: Summaryby Shin Shin Tang

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Suktam as well as the o n g o i n g c l a s s e s o f K a ṭ h o p a n i ṣ a d a n d Śvetāśvataropaniṣad. Both the Gaṇapati Upaniṣad and Medha Suktam are beautiful prayers that simultaneously serve as t e a c h i n g s o n s e l f -knowledge. Prayer is an answer to the perpetual sense of helplessness that we all find ourselves in. As Swaminiji said in her i n t r o d u c t i o n t o t h e Gaṇapat i Upaniṣad , “Seeking help to overcome helplessness is a sign of intelligence.”

Swaminiji unfolded the meaning of each verse word by word. In the Gaṇapati Upaniṣad, she explained that there an interplay of the words, “tvam,” you, and “aham,” I. First, Lord Gaṇeśa is addressed as “tvam” and many traits are attributed to him, including seeing him as none other than Bhagavān. Then, one begins to see these traits as the nature of oneself. This upaniṣad provides a practical way of doing so: by visualizing Gaṇeśa in the mulādhāra cakra, an energy center located at the base of the spine. This is a profound metaphor, inviting us to see Lord Gaṇeśa as the very foundation of our being. The Gaṇapati Upaniṣad also includes numerous famous mantras, and compassionately provides very detailed instructions on how to chant the simple Om gaṁ mantra.

Medha Suktam is a melodic chant due to the vedic svāras. It is chanted to the goddess of intellect, Medha Devi. As Swaminiji unfolded Medha Suktam we learned it is much more than a prayer for everyday intelligence. One also prays for any progeny to have viveka, the ability to discriminate.

Swaminiji explained that progeny here means children for householders, or it can mean students in the case of a teacher. Blessed by Medha Devi, one can become like Brahmaji, whose creativity produced the entire jagat. One also prays to be blessed with the ability to retain what has been taught. In fact, ignorance clears and one gains the knowledge that one is none other than Brahman. Many other boons are also gained by chanting this suktam, including the wisdom to be objective like the ṛṣis, and generosity of heart like Goddess Lakṣmī. Swaminiji encouraged all students of Vedānta to chant Medha Suktam daily to bless the quest for mokṣa.

The Hastāmalakiyam is a chant miraculously composed by Hastāmalaka, a student of Ādi Śaṅkara. Hastāmalaka was a young boy when he met the great sage. Unable to speak, Hastāmalaka’s parents thought he was developmentally delayed. However, upon meeting Ādi Śaṅkara, the boy began to sing in verse. His extemporaneous composition became known as the Hastāmalakiyam, which essentially is a 12 verse treatise on Vedānta. Ādi Śaṅkara asked his parents to allow Hastāmalaka to join him as a sannyāsi, to which they agreed.

Hastāmalaka begins by describing his identification with the ātman. As Swaminiji translates, “I am that cause, in whose presence everything functions, including the mind and sense organs. I am that cause which is free of name and form, free of all attributes.” Hastāmalakiyam has a refrain at the end of each verse: “sa nityopalabdhisvarūpo'hamātman,” which Swaminiji explained essentially means, “I am of the nature of that ever present presence.” In other words, as Swaminiji very sweetly said, “I am here, I am near, and always dear.”

This text also profoundly elucidates what the ātman is and is not. One is not the organs of action, the senses, or the mind. Ultimately, one is not even the witness of the mind since being a witness means that there is an object that is witnessed, and is therefore duality. The ātman alone lends its light to the ability to hear, to see, and to think.

The verses of the Hastāmalakiyam also contain numerous metaphors to help the student understand the nature of this limitless ātman. One of these is the reflection of one's face in the mirror. There are two images, but both

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are really only one - the face. So too, we tend to misidentify ourselves with a mere reflection when the real-self is the cause of the reflection. Like even the sun which may be reflected in many pots of water, but itself remains the source of all light.

Personally, these one-month courses facilitate growth spurts - sometimes accompanied by growing pains - that help me become a more patient mother and partner. May Swaminiji's teachings make the clouds part for us all so that we can see everything with clarity, including ourselves.

Bhagavān’s grace and guru’s blessings were showered on the Atlanta seekers for a third time this year in the form of a residential two-day retreat followed by a week of morning and evening sessions. Srimati Vidya Patel and family hosted the residential retreat attended by more than 50 people ,including 12 children. The hospitality of Srimati Vidya Patel and her family was thoroughly enjoyed by all the families. The children worked together and put on a great skit for Swaminiji within a very short time. The weekday morning sessions on Nirvāṇaṣaṭkam were kindly hosted by Srimati Shobha and Sri Eshwar at their residence. The evening sessions were on Yati Pañcakam. All programs were well attended and went off very well with the help of the dedicated and sincere group of volunteers.Yati PañcakamThis text is attributed to Ādi Śaṅkara. Pañcakam means a group of five verses, here pertaining to one who is called yati, meaning one who puts in effort. It is not just about effort, a yati is one who makes the correct effort in the correct areas, including the effort to give up striving.Thinking that a yati is not contributing towards burning social issues and also setting a bad example by sitting quietly under a tree, many people shy away from studying Yati Pañcakam. We have to properly understand what ‘this effort to give up striving’ is. Striving is any action that is propelled or fueled by desire that is carried from one life to another by the subtle body.

Yati Pañcakam: Atlanta Retreatby N. Ramakrishnan

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Why does striving for objects refuse to be satisfied? Even after the gain of an object one is happy only for a few minutes and then the striving starts again. One isn’t really striving for the objects, but for what they represent. These fall within four categories: dharma - a universal matrix of unwritten norms that everyone wants; artha - security; kāma - desire; and mokṣa. Dharma has three components: 1) sāmānya, basic dharma i.e., universally no one wants to be hurt, cheated or stolen from; 2) viśeṣa dharma i.e., norms for that place and era; 3) svadharma, duties i.e., what are my roles, as son or daughter, parent, employer or employee, etc. Veda accepts the need for artha but advises to strive for it only when it is in keeping with dharma. Kāma, pleasures like intellectual stimulation, again need to be pursued in accordance with dharma. However, there is more than artha, kāma and dharma. I want self-satisfaction, even from dharma, artha and kāma pursuits. I want to get a sense of acceptance and happiness in the self, that is the mokṣa pursuit. All striving is really for the sake of feeling acceptable which comes only with total self-acceptance, mokṣa. Action should not be confused with striving. Striving is the pressure to do something. Action should be free since it is based on your free will. When action becomes a slave of striving it is no longer free and leads one to act in ways that are driven and compulsive. Mokṣa is an ‘as though’ pursuit. In the eyes of the Upaniṣad there is nothing wrong with you, there is no need to strive because you are already free. Why then don’t I feel it? How do I get to mokṣa? Muṇḍakopaniṣad advises that one gets vairāgya, dispassionate objectivity, from meaningless striving through viveka, discrimination, and parikṣya, examination. In this way one comes to understand that pursuits other than for mokṣa, don’t give what one wants. Further, even though it gives one what one wants, mokṣa is not a selfish pursuit. It is pressure that makes action selfish and the direction given by the pursuit of mokṣa drops that selfishness. The person who makes right effort to come back to oneself tries to set his/her own house in order and to see what is askance. That is the person who is called a yati, all others are strivers. Making the right effort one grows from a mumukṣu, one who is searching for a sense of freedom, to a jijñāsu, one who understands that freedom is connected with broadening my understanding of myself. To discover oneself entails going to a teacher and studying consistently. For this there are two paths – the extreme one where you give up everything to pursue the knowledge exclusively and the slower path of karma-yoga where study continues while duties are fulfilled. Yati is one who has taken the more extreme path and is

enjoying the fruits of knowledge now. Those who are not planning to take the extreme path, the karma-yogis who study, look at the jñāni as a lakṣana, an indicator, for the sādhana, the means, to gain knowledge. These verses explain how people gain the status of yati.vedānta vakyeṣu sadā ramanto bhikṣānna mātreṇa ca tuṣṭimantaḥ viśokavantaḥ karuṇaikavantaḥ kaupīnavantaḥ khalu bhāgyavantaḥ 1.The refrain, kaupīna vantaḥ khalu bhāgyvantaḥ means, blessed are those who have only the kaupīna, loin cloth, i.e., they own nothing else. Kaupīna is the upalakṣana, symbol, for extreme vairāgya. Yatis are blessed because they have nothing to keep up, which leads to being bound. For example, a house needs paint, cleaning, the lawn needs to be cut, etc., the list is endless. Instead, they revel sadā, all the time, in the mahāvākyas, sentences of the upaniṣads that reveal the equation between Íśvara and jīva. An unknown thing cannot be a cause of revelry because one can revel only when one has a value for something. Therefore, by use of the word revel it means they have assimilated and continue to assimilate the meanings of sentences like, ‘ahaṁ brahmāsmi’. These sentences have the capacity to fill so much that one forgets time and space. However, repeating the mahāvākya without knowing the meaning will only make you sleepy! Obviously the people being talked about went to a guru, stayed and studied, cleared their doubts and the meaning became them. This is what makes Vedānta different from any other branch of knowledge: the knower of brahman becomes brahman - brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati.

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As the pursuit is rare and difficult for a yati, the tradition allows others, who have not taken up the pursuit, to serve through bhikṣā. Bhikṣā is not begging, rather the person who gives bhikṣā feels blessed. The yati i s r e a l l y n o t

interested in eating at any time, and does not complain about what is given; therefore everyone feels blessed to feed such a person. This is beautiful quality to aspire to. Even if someone is not interested in becoming a sādhu, they can practice gaining this quality by not complaining, accepting happily and enjoying. Bhikṣā also means you swallow up other people’s omissions and commissions. We hear stories of so many saints who do not point out one’s omissions and commissions, instead they hide them. The yati is also viśokavanta, has no śoka, sorrow. Contentment lies within, not with external circumstances of what is happening in other people’s attitudes and actions. One becomes viśokavanta by practicing taking everything in one’s stride. This is karma yoga, accepting everything as gift from Bhagavān. Families can practice this by having one day every week as a ‘no criticism’, or ‘appreciation-only’ day. If you feel like criticizing, change it into an appreciation. Bhikṣā is a metaphor for life, whatever comes in the form of food I take; whatever comes in the form of karma-phala I gladly accept. If I can change it with my effort, I certainly do, but if, despite my best efforts, I am unsuccessful in changing things, I take what comes. The verse continues to describe a yati as karuṇaika vanta; they are the only ones capable of true karuṇa, compassion. True compassion is not out of a misplaced-sense of not having enough self-love, but in trying to make someone else feel better. Pressure to help somebody because you think they are suffering is not true compassion. Here karuṇa means one is randomly compassionate without expecting or needing anything in return.

mūlaṁtaroḥ kevalamāśrayantaḥ pāṇidvayaṁ bhoktumamatrayantaḥ kanthāmiva śrīmapi kutsayantaḥ kaupīnavantaḥ khalubhāgyavantaḥ 2Yatis are happy in themselves and by themselves. The second verse says that for a yati, being under a tree is the only place of refuge. This doesn’t mean that they have taken a vow to not live in a structure, but just indicates that they are happy wherever they are. The yati is not seeking comfort nor trying to avoid discomfort. He/she is living a minimalist life; the focus is not on body-mind complex because they know that they are not the sum total of the body-mind complex; they know that the body will age, fall sick and drop off. They do not attempt make the finite into infinite which lands the ignorant one into saṁsāra. Pāṇidvayam bhoktum amatrayantaḥ means they have the world’s first plates - they are wipeable, washable, reusable, bio-degradable. What are they? Their two hands become their plate and spoons! Another meaning is based on the saying that one should have two handfuls of food, thereby the hands are a measure of the amount of food that one should consume. You eat what you need at that time. Bhikṣā will come or not come; if you are meant to eat you will not be able to get away from it. We think that we are taking care of this body. Really, one has to trust that Bhagavān has put this body on earth and Bhagavān will take care of it; this is śraddha in the order and the laws in the form of Bhagavān. There is no saving for the rainy day or old age. Becoming a yati is the best retirement plan because no amount of money is enough. We train ourselves to make do and be happy with whatever little is there. The next line can be interpreted in two ways. Kantha means rags, while all the wealth, anything that can be acquired with money, is called śrī. Both are seen by the yati as kantha. The yati has no kutsayanta, no desire to accumulate all that can be purchased with money. A jñāni treats gold, stone and a lump of clay equally; you cannot buy-off a Swami with riches. To a Swami the amount of donation that a person gives does not matter. Therefore, again, kaupīna vantaḥ khalu bhagyavantaḥ, blessed are those who have only the loin cloth.

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svānandabhāve parituṣṭimantaḥ saṁśānta sarvendriya dṛṣṭimantaḥ aharniśaṁ brahmaṇi ye ramantaḥ kaupīnavantaḥ khalubhāgyavantaḥ 3The third verse describes a yati as one who is svānanda-bhāve, free from longing and limitations, who enjoys happiness through contentment. Usually we fill up with things outside like friends, food etc. Somehow the self is not acceptable. Not knowing that the acceptance is connected to the self, a mistake is made in seeking acceptance outside. This is the first problem, seeking the infinite in finite places. The second problem is that the people from whom you seek acceptance, themselves need acceptance. Whatever you seek is not for the sake of that thing but the idea of that thing or what it represents. Those who have recognized this are svānanda-bhāve pari tuṣṭi mantaḥ, with all-round satisfaction and no complaints about anything. In the waking state all the fears/desires conspire to project on top of a benign/harmless jagat. We never say jagat is sorrow. Jagat is a projection of ānanda of Bhagavān. The Swami is happy with himself/herself because there is a match up between what was being sought and what has been gained as a result of this knowledge. The knowledge does two things, it helps you become introspective. One understands that the problem is not outside with the jagat. The problem is with how one relates to the jagat. The first baby-step in gaining svānanda, is to stop blaming the world, one’s self or Īśvara, for one’s problems. ‘Why me?’ completely disappears from the vocabulary, without victim consciousness. It requires a great deal of emotional maturity to come to a place of seeing that the

misery is a projection of my own desires and fears and is not real. This emotional maturity comes as a result of karma yoga - the dedication of all one’s actions while performing one’s duty to Īśvara. It is not about giving up things, but giving up the thought that things are going to make me complete. Things, including objects, people, relationships, can be enjoyed, but they do not have the same level of indispensability anymore. Having svānanda, a yati is samśānta, someone with a calm and non-seeking, non-wanting demeanor. This is not easy to cultivate without the knowledge. Usually when we meet someone we start thinking, ‘are they a lawyer, a doctor, are they inimical or friendly to me, what can they do for me, etc.’ If self-approval is not there, there is a seeking tendency even from the most benign person. On the other hand, Pujya Swamiji says that whenever he meets anyone, the first thought that comes to his mind is how he can help them, not what he can gain from them.If the jñānendriyas and karmendriyas are not quiet but very active, having so much to share, talk, want, the seeking hasn’t stopped. For the yati the talk is there but only as much as is needed. The yati gives a gift of abhaya, non-fear, to all beings, plants, animals, humans, rocks, and celestials saying that, from this day onwards you need not be afraid of me. This is because none of these beings, or celestials, have anything that the yati wants. A yati can drop out of any activity without any regrets like, I wish I had some more time, I wish I had seen some more continents. Thus yatis are reveling in themselves, Brahman, day and night, aharniśam brahmaṇa ramantah. They are happy all the time for no reason. Even though sometimes we may feel happy for no reason when awake, we have the greatest

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ānanda during sleep. We are not there to enjoy this ānanda during sleep, becoming aware of it only upon waking up. Therefore, during waking is the only way to enjoy ānanda, and the only way to know this is Vedānta.Dehādibhāvaṁ parimārjayantaḥ ātmānamātmanyavalokayantaḥ nāntaṁ na madhyaṁ na bahiḥ smarantaḥ kaupīnavantaḥ khalu bhāgyavantaḥ 4.This fourth verse describes the relationship of the yati to his/her own body and the jagat itself. Parimārjayantah means that which has been cleanly swept without a trace of dust – the cobwebs of body identification have been completely swept away from the mind. Dehādi means body, mind, senses, etc. The yati understands that I am not the body-mind but the ‘indweller of the body’. This body is a well ventilated hotel room where Bhagavān has checked me in, and one day I will check out. Meanwhile, I have to care of the body-mind, because no one else can take care of the body. The yati knows that ‘the body is me but I am more than the body-mind’. It is not about having a sense of disassociation with the body; if you keep saying, ‘I am not the body’ it may help, but only to a certain extent. This is a cognitive pursuit and there should be some understanding that the wrong identification with the body is the problem. For a yati there is enough identification to take care of the body, not more than that. It is the nature of the body to get sick, old and ultimately leave. The body cannot be kept for eternity and one who knows this in full measure has dropped the body identification. The next line of the verse says that a yati is ‘atmānam ātmani avalokantaḥ meaning all the yati sees is the sat-cit-ānanda ‘I’ whenever they introspect. There is no past or future, only the present. When you look deeply into time all that is there is the present. Past and future are mithyā, and present is ananta/ānanda. Every yati knows that if you remain in the now, there is no sorrow. The association with pain as the truth of myself can never happen now. To inhabit the present from morning to night you can be aware of what you do by dedicating it to Bhagavān. When you inhabit the present you discover a relative timelessness and you become relaxed - this is another paradox of the

knowledge. In order to say the present is really timelessness, you have to do things in a timely fashion because time is a manifestation of Bhagavān that you have to respect. The last line can be taken in two ways - freedom from time or space. For the yati, space is not a limitation since he doesn’t think he is confined to the body. One who is free from the time/space matrix is called yati.pañcākṣaraṁ pāvanamuccarantaḥ patiṁ paśūnam hṛdi bhāvayantaḥ bhikṣāśanā dikṣu paribhramantaḥ kaupīnavantaḥ khalu bhāgyavantaḥ 5.The fifth verse talks about the yati who chants the pāṇcākṣara, the five

syllabled mantra, om namaḥ śivāya. All mantras resolve into and come out of om, which stands for Bhagavān alone. Chanting om gives one a lot of vairāgya, dispassion, which along with objectivity, is needed in large doses to understand this teaching. There are two effects of chanting – atonement and revelation of the self as the auspicious, free of sorrow, pāpa and puṇya. As the yati chants om namaḥ śivāya, you also chant if you want to enjoy the temperament of a yati without the lifestyle. That temperament is cheerful, free of sorrow, strife, anxiety, frustration. This chant is very useful for spiritual growth because it cleanses the mirror of one’s vision so one is able to look into the upaniṣad. Pāvana means mantra of purification. ‘Om namaḥ śivāya’ is Rudram in capsule form, which Kaivalya Upaniṣad advises be chanted daily. Bhikṣāśanāya dikṣu is the one who keeps moving from place to place for the sake of bhikṣā thereby avoiding developing attachment. So, the yati is one without any possessions to call their own, their relationships to things are purified, their whole being

is purified, they have a purificatory effect on everything and everybody they meet because their own purity evokes the purity in others. In front of mahāpuruṣas you are able sense you own purity easily because looking at them reminds you of your own purity, eternity, freedom from guilt and hurt. The final session ended with chanting of om namaḥ śivāya 108 times and we all had a chance to experience the effect of the chanting the mantra that is glorified in this text. Om namaḥ śivāya!

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What is ānanda? Ānanda comes from the root verb nand, which means to rejoice. The prefix a brings in the meaning of, without any trace. So ānanda means to rejoice without any trace of sorrow. Usually every joy is laced with sorrow. When people are asked how you feel, responses are typically are divided among wonderful and not so good. Even when the answer is wonderful, there is always the but it could be better in someway. Whether one gets a new job, or a new house, it doesn’t matter, there are bound to be some limitations. Therefore, these cannot be called ānanda, since it violates the definition of ānanda - to rejoice without any trace of sorrow. Even if there is a situation where there is no sorrow mixed with the joy, sorrow happens because the joy that is experienced has a finite time limit. Ānanda is not an experience, rather it is the nature of the experiencer. Further, there is no experience that is opposed to it. Throughout life the human quest is for experiences because the feeling associated with experiencing something makes one seek. The joy that is experienced is attributed to the object, viṣayānanda, by the experience hunter. The Taittirīya Upaniṣad helps us understand ānanda through the segment called ānanda mīmāṁsā. Mīmāṁsā means analysis. The analysis of ānanda asks pertinent questions that help us understand what ānanda is. It asks: Who is the seeker? What is the object that is being sought and, is the sought, ānanda, subject, object, or is neither subject nor object?As mentioned above, we tend to superimpose our experiences onto objects as attributes of those objects - either positively, śobhana adhyāsa, or negatively, aśobhana adhyāsa. Without realizing we set about gaining experiences in the hope that every experience gained will be the last of the experiences sought, that is, that by gaining ‘this’ experience we will cease to seek; everybody wants to stop being a seeker. In order to stop seeking and gain the ultimate, however, one must know what is Brahman. Brahman is not an experience, nor is it

something other than oneself. It is not sitting in heaven, but is to be known as the truth of oneself.When one realizes that one wants to know oneself as a non-seeker, one becomes a seeker of knowledge. Coming to this understanding is a quantum leap from the process of seeking experiences. Such an understanding arises from recognizing that if objects are indeed the source of happiness, they should make you happy all the time; but this is not the case. The same object that makes you happy in one instance may not make you equally happy or cannot even make you happy in another instance. This is because experiential happiness requires the convergence of three things: 1) the object must be available; 2) the kāraṇa, instrument/means to enjoy the object must be available; and 3) the right psychological temperament to enjoy the object must be present. Therefore, an object itself is not a source of happiness.What we are seeking is something that is forever. When we seek the infinite, the quest itself becomes finite. Why? Because the infinite is not separate from ourselves. The mistake of seeking outside of ourselves is borne out of ignorance of the self. The problem is not that one is seeking, but that one is seeking the wrong things, in the wrong place and in the wrong time. There is sādhana-sādhya-asambandha, the means and ends do not match. Understanding that what he/she seeks is non other than oneself, the jijñāsu, starts seeking knowledge rather than experiences. The Taittirīya Upaniṣad and certain portions of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad show how life-problems are based in bhaya – fear. Where does this fear come from? Fear comes from making even the slightest separation between oneself and another. Once the feeling of separation goes, the fear goes - when there is no second thing, there is nothing to be afraid of. This feeling of separation

arises from three sources of as though limitations – space-wise, time-wise and object-wise. A jīva is limited space-wise since it is located in a certain place; it is limited time-wise since it is located in a certain place at a certain time. Also a jīva confined in one body cannot be in another body at the same time, thus it is object-wise limited. In actuality, throughout life one just exists and the actions are the ones that come and go. Realizing that the I is constant gets rid of the fear resulting in ānanda.

Ānanda Mīmāmsā: Atlanta Retreatby Bala Sundaram

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Ānanda is not an actual gain, but an apparent gain because it is oneself already. Taittirīya Upaniṣad says brahmavidāpnoti param – the ultimate and timeless is gained b y k n o w i n g Brahman. It is not an experience to be gained, it is the revealing of the nature

of the experiencer, which is ānanda.What is this Brahman? It is defined as satya, jñāna and anantam by the upaniṣads. Sat means truth, that which exists - consciousness. We understand consciousness from the standpoint of the subject, object and means of knowing. The subject of consciousness is I; the object of consciousness is the object that is perceived, and the means of knowing are the sense organs. Jñānam, knowledge, can also be divided into three – the subject knower, what is known, the object, and the means of knowing. The word ananta means limitless. Being limitless the relative notions of subject, object, and means of knowing that are superimposed on satyam and jñānam resolve. Being limitless, there can be no subject/object, or knower/known division.Generally, a person will say that they want to be happy, ānanda, not ananta. They do not recognize that being ananta, limitless, is in fact ānanda. So the Upaniṣad talks about ānanda that everybody understands and then it goes on to explain that it takes being ananta to always be ānanda.What is the difference between the ānanda that we experience in things and objects and the eternal ānanda that is spoken of here? In reality there is no difference as the eternal ānanda manifests itself in many ways all around us. However, because we project our brahma-ānanda onto objects, we see only gradations of happiness, based on the alignment between the object, the means of experiencing, and one’s temperament as pointed out above. The Taittirīya Upaniṣad sets out a table of units of happiness. To understand the maximum potential of human experiential happiness it suggests to consider someone who is calm, composed, well-educated, young, good looking, whose thoughts,

actions and words are in alignment, who is cultured, pleasant, strong and who possesses the greatest of material riches in the world. This is considered to be one unit of happiness. This unit of happiness is then multiplied to arrive at the level of happiness that is enjoyed by celestial beings in increasingly higher lokas, fields of experience.The Upaniṣad tells us that while this materialistic happiness can be enjoyed, the greatest happiness is for the one who is not overwhelmed by materialistic desires because of knowing the invariable. Indeed, the one who is focused on Brahman will enjoy happiness which cannot be provided by any amount of materialistic wealth. Ādi Śaṅkara, in his commentary to the Upaniṣad, says that as the level of vairāgya, dispassion, increases, so too happiness increases. The less yoga, here meaning desire for what I don’t have, and kṣema, pressure to retain whatever I have, the more vairāgya I have. Yoga-kṣema are the primary pursuits of a person who does not have vairāgya. Vairāgya can also be interpreted as objectivity. By considering everything that comes as prasāda, one can stop seeking for that special experience. This doesn’t mean one need not have a goal or aspire to anything. It simply means

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that you don’t need to pressurize yourself to achieve the goal no matter what, nor feel sad if the result does not turn out to match the goal. Being objective allows the person to evaluate the result, why the result does not match the expected result, and then make the necessary corrections in the next attempt rather than worry about why the result didn’t match what we had expected it to be. When we have śraddha, a trust pending understanding, we start accepting results as prasāda. So vairāgya and śraddha go hand in hand. The majority of people think, why

me, when it comes to the results of an action. This is especially true of the unexpected results called adṛṣṭa-phala. We normally tend to gloss over the good things that happen to us on a day-to-day basis. We take them for granted and consider them to have happened because of our individual efforts or simply take them to have happened as they should have happened without any hiccups. On the contrary, we start looking for reasons when things go wrong in an effort to set them right or, more often than not, find some peace in unravelling why things went wrong. In the process many of these incidents tend to be ascribed to Bhagavān with the constant refrain, why me.There is a method to this madness, to borrow the clichéd phrase from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. There is an overarching law, an order, that governs the happening of things. A law has two properties: 1) that it is infallible – even if one doesn’t understand one cannot deny its existence, for example, gravity or laws of thermodynamics; 2) the choice or freewill that is provided to act under governance. This governance is called dharma. Dharma is not something that is restrictive but a guideline within which one operates using our freewill. Dharma and karma go hand in hand.When one does any karma against dharma, it basically results in an action against the order. The result of any act that is against the dharma is typically

miserable. One sees that misery is not dispensed to you, rather it is ones own karma that has a consequence. That consequence is nothing but a manifestation of the result in the framework of dharma. When we worship that order, in other words, accept and abide by the laws that govern us and our actions, we are worshipping Bhagavān. The law and the entity manifesting the law aren’t different.Ones own job, svadharma, becomes worship since it helps in the process of self-discovery. When one does any job with this awareness, one does not consider himself the doer but as an agent doing things in the best way possible according to dharma. Everything that is done, is done as a proxy of Bhagavān, with a prayerful attitude. Not understanding this properly can lead to a dangerous misconception - namely, one may consider, I am Īśvara, and then claim that everything that one does to be an action of God. There is a difference in the order of reality and all of the above teachings should be understood to differentiate between the body-mind-sense complex and Īśvara within.Dharma is the cosmic flow and we participate in this flow with the body-mind-sense complex. The cosmic flow is so grand, with its vast variances and differences, that one cannot say that he/she is Īśvara in a certain manifestation of body-mind-sense complex. The difference in order of reality is in the as though manifestation - the body-mind-sense complex - but is same in the sense of association of consciousness. The manifestation is f i n i t e b u t consciousness is infinite. A finite e n t i t y c a n n o t recognize infinity but infinity can r e c o g n i z e something that is f in i t e s ince i t encompasses all that is finite.This can be understood by the oft quoted example in Vedānta about the gold and the ornament. All of the ornaments’ shine, weight and value come from the underlying substantive cause that is gold. Gold lends its existence to the

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ornaments. The underlying gold is just one thing and this one thing is the satyam, truth. This does not mean the ornaments are not real. The ornaments have a dependent reality - gold. The dependent reality is called mithyā.On the same lines, Īśvara-tvam is mithyā, a projection of Īśvara through the dependent reality of body-mind-sense complex. When one realizes that one is not really the limited dependent reality, but is actually a manifestation of limitless consciousness, one recognizes that one is free. To elevate oneself from feeling limited due the manifested body-mind-sense complex, one has to develop the mentality of considering this as just a temporary abode like a rental room. One should do the necessary things to take care of the body but should not be possessive of the body itself.To elevate oneself further one does the same with the mind. The mind should be thought of as a receptacle of thoughts, not as an agent of knowledge. We lend sustenance to the mind but the mind is not me. This can be understood well if we realize that the doer is me but I am not the doer. Things get done through the manifested body-mind-sense complex but the I which is the ātman is not the doer. We identify ourselves with the body-mind-sense complex and hence develop our sense of doer and experiencer, resulting in us feeling limited. However, the increase in ānanda is not about feeling in control, being the doer, nor about being controlled, being the experiencer. When we increase our vairāgya it automatically helps get rid of the feeling of control. When we stop thinking that we control or are or are controlled by anything, we get rid of fear. Why? Because we don’t have the sense of a second thing that we possess or control. Recognizing that there is no second thing results in the ultimate, ānanda. This ānanda that one is searching for is elusive because of the five loci of misidentification: I am as good as the body I am as good as what I eat I am as good as what I do I am as good as what I think I am as good as what my karmic lot isWhen these five misidentifications are dispelled, then one understands the limitless, which is ānanda. Ānanda is the truth of every experience but not the experience itself since experiences are limited. Ānanda is myself; it is not subject to addition, subtraction etc.; it is not a special experience; it shines in and through all experiences miserable or otherwise; it leaves me without any pressure to strive and gives me content in any and all of my pursuits.

In the teaching tradition of Vedānta, the primary texts of the śāstra are the Upaniṣads, Brahmasūtra, and Bhagavad Gītā. In addition, there are other independent works called prakaraṇa granthas, which give a detailed explanation of śāstra, and manana granthas, which are contemplative verses that help the student assimilate the knowledge.A Vedānta student, initially, does not know how to contemplate upon the teaching or how to recall the words of the upaniṣads that have been taught. The manana granthas help the assimilation of knowledge by repeatedly questioning and answering in such a way that all doubts are removed and one ultimately one overcomes one’s habitual orientations.Habitually orientation is seen in the display of a behavior that does not reflect what one knows. One may know one’s nature is infinite but act as if one is finite, insecure, limited, and subject to doubt, fear, sorrow, and tension. To really integrate one’s personality, a deeper understanding of the teaching is needed that reduces the gap between one’s own understanding and one’s way of being. That is the purpose of a manana grantha and in this sense Nirvānaṣaṭkam can be considered a manana grantha.

Nirvānaṣaṭkam is structured so that the invariable is the refrain in each verse following the variables, which are systematically negated, occupying the first three lines. The commitment of the ṣaṭkam is contemplation of what is to be

Nirvānasatkam: Atlanta Retreatby Usha Venkateswaran

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negated, which leads to side by side assimilation of the very teaching. Negation is a prelude to see what the nature of ‘I’ is. The term ‘I’, aham, in the ṣaṭkam stands for ātman. While ‘I’ abides in everything - body, mind, senses, sense of doership and sense of experiencership - it is separate from everything. ‘I’ is the witness of all three periods of time - past, present, and future - and the three states of being - waking, sleep, and dream. ‘I’ is that which is ever shining and makes oneself known through the ‘I’ cognition. When all the variables are negated, what remains is the invariable witness ‘I’. The ‘neti’, ‘neti’, not this, not this, way of teaching is an effective technique. Otherwise it is difficult to delineate ‘I’, the indweller, from the I that is is mixed up with the body-mind-sense complex.

In the ṣaṭkam, the mind is negated first. The mind, which is filled with thoughts, both good and bad, make one think one is the knower, pramātā. The pramātā is negated in the beginning as it can obstruct the knowledge. When the mind is negated, one lets go of all the thoughts - good, bad and sorrowful – and comes back to the ‘I’ not identified with mind. The ‘I’ that is not the mind is now observing the mind. Everything that can be observed is anātman, not ‘I’. If one could observe ātman it would be as small and limited as the body, mind, senses, or jagat, world. Since the mind can be observed, ‘I’, the ātman, is not the mind. Even after negating the mind, which is the agent that gets caught up with objects etc., mis-identification continues. Hence all identities, such as, “I am fat”, “I am blind”, wherever they can arise, are negated one by one. Even though they are variable components, because all actions are performed by the body, mind, or senses, one identifies the ‘I’ with them and thinks one is the doer. On the other hand, the seer says, ‘I cannot see’. Catching hold of the witness one gets some inner space between the organ

of action and the organ of senses. That there is all pervading knowledge that is involved in the cognizance of the ignorance cannot be denied. There is awareness, knowledge, that sends its light to all the various organs. What is the knowledge that lights up the thoughts in the mind, the status of being the hearer, the objects that are heard, and the subject to say, “I have heard”, “I am the hearer”, etc.? Going one step deeper cognitively, we see that this is the same light that morphs into the object of hearing as well as

the hearer. The morphing is ‘as though’. That light which shines simultaneously on the subject and the object is the limitless ‘I’, but is neither the subject nor the object. This ‘I’, which is the light of all lights, lights up the means of knowledge, which in turn lights up the object of knowledge, and then itself morphs into the means of knowledge! Although free of object-subject, known-knower, division, the observer, at the level of ahaṅkāra, identifies with the senses and gets caught up. It thrives on the separation between the knower and the known, taking the ‘I’ to be itself, it owns up everything and as though eclipses the very ātman! However, it is ātman alone that lights up the ahaṅkāra, while the ahaṅkāra claims the status, “I am the seer”, “I am the hearer”, etc.

Next, the prāṇa that one takes to be ‘I’, the self, is negated. Five names are given to prāṇa according to the five functions performed to keep the body

alive. These are prāṇa, apāna, udāna, vyāna, and samāna. Respiration is the primary prāṇa, or the life-breath. It is the tendency of the jīva to think of prāṇa as oneself because it appears if one’s existence depends on the breath. Only when the knowledge of the self takes deep root in the subconscious mind, one can connect to the observer ‘I’ in spite of the ‘prānic’ disturbances. Prāṇa is the order with regard to the individual body-mind-sense complex whereas vāyu is that of the total. It is the same law of Īśvara,

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however, that functions as vāyu and as prāṇa. Thus mind and the subtle prāṇa are negated.The physical body, consisting of seven components – marrow, fat, flesh, blood, lymph, skin, and the cuticle - is made up of the five gross elements. One finds it easy to identify with the beautifully and intelligently crafted body, but finds it extremely hard to identify with any of the seven components. One naturally identifies with the body and this identification cannot, nor need it be removed. Only the identification with the body can be removed. The identification is due non-recognition of the whole coupled with the delusion of being finite. Not identifying with the body can be achieved by broadening one’s vision to see it as a product of the whole, which is none other than Bhagavān. In this way the physical body is negated.Śaṅkarāchārya continues by negating the five loci of error, pañcakośas, that cover the understanding of who one is. The pañcakośas are: the physical body, annamayakośa; the prāṇas, including digestive system, circulation, etc., collectively called prāṇamayakośa; the manomayakośa, which is made up of the mind and the five organs of perception: ear, eye, and the senses of smell, taste, and touch; the vijñānamayakośa, the intellect which has the sense of doership; finally, the experiencer, called ānandamayakośa. The five organs of action, karmendriyas, are negated. ‘I’ is not the speech but ‘I’ is that intelligence, the light of knowledge behind the speech. Similarly, there is intelligence behind each organ of action.Further, the six negative mental conditions that alone pose a problem for a human being – kāma, krodha, moha, lobha, mada, and mātsarya – are dismissed as ‘not I’. Being happy is one’s natural state and so one focuses on bringing the mind to that equilibrium state of harmony. The observer, who is able to observe the rise and fall of all the negative emotions of the

mind, is not afflicted by the negative emotions. Therefore, when sorrow strikes at the emotional level, getting into the discriminative mode and being the observer as quickly as one can, provides a place of safety. The negative emotions vanish sooner or later when one gets into this vantage point often. The negative emotions rise because of universal law. They are neither to be controlled nor suppressed. Instead, one can just weed them out by observing them as they rise, fall and vanish. It is not about denial, rather it is about not identifying with them.

The three guṇas are also negated. One can transcend the three guṇas, namely satva, rajas, and tamas, by watching them unfold without identifying with them. When one commits to being satvic, which is accompanied by compassion, accommodation, calmness and peace, one finds that the negative emotions like anger, sorrow, and depression slowly fall off. Catching hold of satva, with the help of prayers, one can overcome rajasic and tamasic tendencies. When one’s yoga, desire to obtain what I don’t have, and kṣema, to retain objects, is handed over to Bhagavān, there is no sorrow. There are no likes or dislikes, rāga-dveṣas, for the ātman. Likes and dislikes are the root cause of all the negative emotions. These negative emotions are part of Īśhvara sṛṣṭi and problems arise only when they are thought of as jīva sṛṣṭi. All negative emotions enter and leave a wise person without having the least affect on the person. When negative emotions arise, by getting to the vantage point of an

observer, one does not to target others, nor makes others vulnerable. Only when one is in the place of an observer, one can say there are no likes or dislikes.

Likes and dislikes are due to desires. Thus if desires are managed, likes and dislikes are managed as well. Once the rāga-dveṣas are managed, there is no dharma to be pursued. The very person becomes dharma! Strong rāga-dveṣas alone are the cause for one to be adharmic. If there is no rāga-

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dveṣas there will be no puṇya or pāpa: rāga-dveṣas are only for those who identify with the body and mind. For one who is committed to knowledge, there is neither pāpa nor puṇya. T h e o t h e r t w o puruṣārthas, human pursuits, artha, security, and kāma, pleasure, are i n t h e h a n d s o f Bhagavān. For mokṣa one needs nothing other than knowledge of the truth of oneself; mokṣa is oneself! Mokṣa, being one’s own nature, is not a pursuit because a pursuit is defined as that which uses freewill. Freewill implies karma, action, it is dependent upon the

doer. Knowledge, on the other hand, is not based on freewill. It is not dependent upon the knower. Once the choice is made to know, then one only needs to be at the right place at the right time for the knowledge to take place. If the means of knowledge and what is to be known is there, then there is no choice other than to know.Having negated the identification with the body, mind and the senses, there is no fear of death anymore. The person of knowledge, the one who identifies with ‘I’, the ātman, exists without any roles. While roles are created they are ‘as though’. In the mind one knows it is a role and only if the role rolls into the person there is sorrow. All relationships exist only when there is identification with the body-mind-sense complex. ‘I’, the ātman, has no birth, so where is the question of having mother, father, or

any relation? The body is given by Bhagavān as a part of universal law and the indweller of body, the ātman, is eternal. Thus, having negated the identification with the body, mind and the senses, then birth and death, all categories, roles and relationships are negated so that one cannot help but see that all that exists is ‘one whole’. In order to understand that all that exists is ‘one whole’, a hierarchy is created called the guru-śiṣya paramparā, the teacher-student tradition. This is also swallowed up upon gaining the knowledge. Ācārya talks about the nature of ‘I’, the ātman in the last verse of Nirvāṇaṣaṭkam. The nature of the one who is negating everything else is given in this verse. ‘I’ is free of all attributes or divisions or forms. All forms are non-separate from ‘I’. ‘I’ is all pervading, limitless. ‘I’ pervades all bodies, all minds, all names and forms. ‘I’ is that which sustains all organs but is beyond them. At the level of transactions, ‘I’ is of the nature of equanimity and equilibrium. There is neither bondage nor liberation for ‘I’, the ātman. Sri Swaminiji concluded by emphasizing the following points:

Jīva thinks it is bound when it is not. The one who is ignorant alone is bound by the rope of ignorance. One is free when one knows that it is only a superimposition. Pursuit of mokṣa is an ‘as though’ pursuit for the one who feels ‘as though’ bound, and the guru pretends release the as though bound one from pretend bondage!The concept of bondage and liberation are for the ignorant jīva alone. Really speaking, there is no problem, and therefore, no solution is required. If sorrow were real, it could not be removed. If it were unreal, it need not be removed. The whole thing is a paradox. The jagat that we experience is a dependent reality, mithyā. It is dependent upon that limitless ‘I’, which is limitless consciousness, which is not tied, which does not need to be free, which has no name or form, which is all pervasive, which has no birth or death, which is not confined to the body, which has no pāpa or puṇya, which has no need to have any pursuit as it is already free, which has no rāga-dveṣa, which has no need for any karma for atonement, which needs no anger management courses, which has no need for anything! Śaṅkarāchārya has thus given us beautiful six verses to know one’s true nature, taught through negation!

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Interfaith ConferenceJapan

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Interfaith CeremonyJapan

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Swaminiji’s visit to Washington, DC to continue the study of Viṣṇu Sahasranāma took place between September 23 to 29th,. Swaminiji also expounded the message from the third chapter of Bhagavad Gītā during her stay with us. Needless to say, it was a delightful one-week for the devotees here, while we listened raptly to Swaminiji’s artful unfolding of the various lakṣanas and names of Bhagavān from the text. Swaminiji also reiterated the benefits of chanting the names in our daily lives.Viṣṇu SahasranāmaRudra is the deliverer of karma-phala, fruits of action, which, when a result of pāpa-karma, lead the hapless, helpless jīva to dejection and sorrow. Due to ignorance the jīva is constantly insecure and seeks redress in the wrong places, namely in finite pleasures. Seeking these pleasures leads to actions, which result in increasing karma-phala. Rudra also refers to the Lord as one who wipes away the tears. Surrendering to Rudra by prayers and donating to charities mitigates the jīva’s distress.Bahuśira refers to the one with many heads. The head represents the place of discrimination and discernment. Śira is also used to describe the place of thinking and life forces, thereby representing the cosmic pūruṣa.Babhru describes the Lord as the one who lights up and sustains everything in the universe. That light is withdrawn at the end of a kalpa. He is also Viśvayoni, the one who is the source of the jagat.There is beauty in hearing each name of Bhagavān and the names are also Śuciśrava, meaning that which is capable of purifying when heard. Amṛta means the one for who there is no death, while Ajara is another name for one with no old age, disease or death. Śāśvatasthāṇu refers to one who always is, who is unchanging. Sthānu is the one who is the basis of all life.Varāroha is the only one that having ascended to, does not end in a descent. When one discovers one’s own self by replacing ignorance with knowledge one does not return to a lower life. Mahātapa does not refer to religious austerity. Here, tapas refers to knowledge and contemplation. It is said that by contemplating on the

knowledge of previous creation, the Lord is able to create this universe again and again. Without knowledge, there is no creation. So Viṣṇu is the one with all knowledge and thereby manifests the jagat effortlessly.Sarvaga, the one who goes everywhere, pervading all at the same time. Nothing is outside the truth of oneself, which is Bhagavān, and at the same time Bhagavān is not any one thing. Sarvavidbhānu is the one who, being consciousness, lights up everything including the sun. It is this consciousness that is the self, the witness of all. Like the sun, the witness is unaffected by what it lights up. Viṣvakṣena refers to Lord who stands for the ‘army’ of karma-phalas which protects the universe from demons and other evil elements.Janārdana puts an end to undesirable elements affecting people who are following dharma. In the Bhagavad Gītā, the Lord addresses this aspect explaining that when there is neglect of dharma and an increase in adharma, he appears as an avatāra to reinstate dharma.Veda is the one with all knowledge. The Vedas are the body of knowledge that reveals the self is nothing but Īśvara - which is all knowledge. As all disciplines of knowledge are non-separate from Īśvara, Veda is an upalakṣana that stands for all knowledge. This being so, the Lord is also called the Vedavit, the knower of the Vedas.Avyaṅga stands for one that is unmanifest, not available for objectification, even though the Lord is all knowledge. The Lord as Vedaṅga is nothing but the Vedas.Kavi is one who sees beyond the finiteness that others see. A poet is called a kavi, because of his or her ability to see more than others may see.Lokādhyakṣa: Adhyakṣa means the one who presides over, or supervises. Loka can refer to a field of experience, the ādhibhautika-lokas. Or, it can

The Sacred Names of Visnuby Leela Krishnamurthy

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refer to our own experiences, both objective and subjective experiences, ādhyātmika. Īśvara presides over all three. He is also Surādhyakṣa, the Lord of all the devatas. As Dharmādhyakṣa he is the deliverer of karma-phala in an infallible way.Kṛtākṛta: Kṛta is the effect, that is the manifest universe including the jīva. Akṛta is what is unmanifest, the causeless cause. Kṛta is finite while akṛta is infinite. Bhagavān is both kṛta and akṛta. To recognize oneself as the latter is the fruit of this knowledge.

Caturātma: Though ātman is i n d i v i s i b l e f o r e a s e o f understanding it is first said there are four-aspects. The three-states of experiences, i.e.: waking, sleep and dream, come and go. One cannot be awake and asleep at the same time. Ātman is the architect of all the three states but is not the waker, sleeper or dreamer. The basis of these three states is referred to as turīya, the fourth - even though it is not a state. If the jīva knows himself or herself to be turīya, the one that upholds the three states of experience, he has mokṣa. Caturvyūha refers to four names and forms associated with Viṣṇu.

Caturdaṃṣṭra refers to the four protruding canines of Viṣṇu’s avatāra, Narasiṁha. Caturbuja, the last name in this verse, refers to the four arms of Viṣṇu as represented in a murti. One hand holds a śhaṅka which is used to sound the alarm. A cakra in another hand is the weapon used for protection from the asuras. A third hand is in the protective abhaya mudra, assuring there is nothing to be afraid of, and the last hand is pointed to the feet, which are a place of refuge.Bhrājiṣṇu, refers to one who shines always, the one to whom everything becomes evident. This is svarūpa of Bhagavān.

Bhojana, food, is Bhagavān. This is pointed out in detail in Taittirīya Upaniṣad, which explains how the eater and the eaten are one and the same. Bhokta, the enjoyer, is also Bhagavān.Sahiṣṇu is the one with limitless tolerance at the physical, mental and emot iona l l eve l s . The individual has the ability to experience a very weak form of this. Jagadādija refers to the Lord as the one who manifests before the jagat in the form of sat-cit-ānanda and Hiraṇyagarbha. The latter refers to the potential to create. Just as in the seed the entire knowledge of the tree is encrypted, in the unmanifest Lord, which is sat-cit-ānanda, the entire jagat is as though encrypted. Anagha: Agha is ‘pāpa’, therefore, anagha is the one who is without pāpa. Bhagavān is an embodiment of dharma. This allows the jīva to emerge from the notion of being a sinner.Vijya is the one who is naturally successful. Wedded to Lakṣmī, he is the repository of abundance and therefore is untainted by fear of failure. Similarly, Jeta is the one who is naturally victorious and superior to all.Viśvayoni is the one who is the causeless cause of the universe and Punarvasu, the one in whom the universe dwells again and again.Upendra is the younger brother of Indra. As Upendra, the Lord showed Indra that even though Indra is the pramātā, the king of the indriyas, it is

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ā t m a n t h a t p r o v i d e s e x i s t e n c e a n d consciousness for the pramātā. Vāmana is an avatāra of Viṣṇu who presides over ahaṅkara. Vāmana is also known as the adorable one who is sitting in the heart, the buddhi. When Vāmana, who Mahābali had promised to give as much land as three of his footsteps could cover, became big, he was called Prāmṣu. Hence, Prāmasu means limitlessly big. Amoga is the opposite of moga, which has the meaning of wasteful. Being Amoga, means that the Lord created the jagat with intelligent and

infallible purpose. Therefore, nothing is out of place, or without purpose.Śuci is not only the one with pure disposition, unstained by hurt and guilt, but also the one who is capable of purifying.Ūrjita is the one who has immeasurable energy. The Lord is also called Atīndra, the one who surpasses Indra, because even though Indra is the adhiṣṭhāna-devata of strength and energy, he derives his strength from the Lord. Saṅgraha is the one who as though collects everything when the jagat folds at the end of a kalpa. It reveals the impermanence of the jagat. Further, the cognition of absence of the jagat is contingent on the presence of the witness, who is always present. As Sarga the Lord is both the creation that is non-separate from raw material, and the creator, the intelligence that leads to the creation. In

spite of being the creation/creator, the Lord is Dhṛtātman, the one who is unchanging. As Niyama, the manifest laws in t he un ive r se , wh ich a re infallible, are referred to.Yama is the one that, at the appropriate time, puts an end to what is no longer needed. This is again a law.

Vedya, is not only the one to be known, but that which is worthy of knowing. Indeed knowing that, nothing else needs to be known. When the devotee and object of devotion merge then one knows Bhagavān.As Vaidya the Lord is the knower of all vidyā, all disciplines of knowledge. Sadāyogi is one that has nothing to accomplish. Even so, the Lord sometimes appears as an avatāra to protect dharma, thereby resetting the equilibrium. Being the one who destroys the asuras to protect dharma, he is called, Vīraha. He also destroys the negative qualities that arise from the unconscious, therefore, he is the one who gives the grace to process the unconscious. Mahadhava: Mā stands for knowledge and dhava is Lord. Thus, He is the Lord of all knowledge. Madhu: Ātman is an object of love, and therefore, Bhagavān is called Madhu, sweet. Whatever one loves, it is just one’s own self, one’s svarūpa, that is loved. The love experienced in the jagat is taṭastha lakṣana for ātman.Atīndriya means the Lord that is not objectifiable by the sense organs. All objects, even thoughts, are finite. Bhagavān is neither subject nor object but upholds both. Mahāmāya is the maha, great, illusionist. Bhagavān unfolds the great magic of jagat, of which only the jīva is real.Mahotsāha: Utsaha means enthusiasm. Bhagavān has maha, untiring, enthusiasm, which becomes a conscious intention that creates the jagat. It is this enthusiasm which gives the drive to humans to achieve great deeds. Bala is strength, so with maha, Mahābala is He who is the strength of the strong.As Mahābuddi, Bhagavān is the source of all intelligence and as Mahāvīrya, he is the one with ability to create, sustain and withdraw everything. For this he has an as though śakti and so is called, Mahāśakti, the one married to Māyā. This is a non-separate śakti that has no hold over Bhagavān. Mahādhyuti is the one who is self-evident. Anirdeśyavapu: Even though all things get their existence from Bhagavān, Bhagavān is not any one thing, He is independent of all of them.

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As Śrīmān, Bhagavān stands for Śrī, all wealth, and Ameyātman is the one who cannot be measured. Mahādridhṛk is the name that refers to the Lord who as an avatāra lifted the mountains Mandara and Govardhana, to protect the creation.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 3, verses 14-21In this chapter Bhagavān is teaching Arjuna about karma yoga and preparation for the knowledge of non-duality. The desire to be whole and complete is universal. As a child one is a consumer requiring a lot of support. As an adult one may come to realize that being a consumer is not fulfilling. There are so many choices that it becomes oppressive, leaving the mind confused and depressed. Bhagavad Gītā has the ability to radically change the mis-identification with the consumer to identification with that of a contributor, that is from a “bhogi to a yogi”. In this shift, joy returns. By giving, one realizes the love and compassion in oneself and grows spiritually. This is discovering one’s humanity.Everything in this universe, all resources and all life forms are given by Bhagavān. There is a sacred and divine reciprocity that goes on and the human enjoys the miracle of observing this wonderful phenomenon. When one realizes the benefit of contributing one stays in the sacred exchange. Bhagavān says, ‘I will carry your needs to lead this life, if you step into this circle of exchange’. Swaminiji pointed out that this is not ‘wants’As one grows in life, the small ego expands to accommodate the spouse, children, other relatives, and close friends and ultimately the universe. So one can expand the ego to encompass everything and every one. The alternative is to shrink the ego and arrive at the conclusion that nothing is mine, all that is here is Bhagavān. There is only one Bhagavān, encompassing all natural forces and laws that govern the universe, and the ‘as though’ individual, with all that allows the body-mind-sense

complex to function effectively through the presiding deities. The compassionate person can identify the interdependence of all forces for their mutual benefit. It is truly a cosmic exchange. The contributor has a holistic responsibility to participate in this. Action is born of kāma, so following dharma is very important. Actions do have an impact on the universe and one who does not follow the cosmic wheel, brings about more difficulties for him/herself and therefore others around him or her. Even this, however, fulfills a purpose. B h a g a v ā n i s t h e m a s t e r choreographer.Therefore Bhagavān tells Arjuna, action is the way to remove the clutter in the heart. One should act because it is what is to be done, but not for one’s own personal gain. Even though one cannot act without expectation, one can accept outcomes other than what is expected, cheerfully. This allows the inner cleansing which is required in order to receive the knowledge. Thus karma yoga prepares the mind to hold the knowledge. Bhagavān says that one should be vigilant and alert about all one’s own actions that are performed. It is with great humility that I began writing this report of Swaminiji’s visit. Both the unfoldment of the texts of Viṣṇu Sahasranāma and Bhagavad Gītā had a profound effect on my outlook towards life. They provide increasing clarity of my role in this infallible jagat. I wish to highlight the effectiveness of śravana, listening, in receiving this knowledge. The presence of a teacher who has the Īśvara-given-gift of beautiful expressions and inspiring words, is indeed priceless. OM

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This has been the fourth year of having Kolu at our residence. This year I was glad that the nine day festival of Navarātri coincided with the Government Shut down. The atmosphere and the mood was festive as opposed to gloomy. I actually went out with Banu going to other folks house for Navarātri, which I call the festival of Sundal (lentils).

The best analogy I can think of is a 401K. The corporate offices give a window of opportunity to catch up with contributions to your 401k retirement plan in case you have not contributed sufficiently. Likewise, the nine days of Navarātri festival gives one an opportunity to catch up with protein intake by having varieties of sundal either at home or when you visit others.

It is interesting as to how we started having Kolu at our place. We never had the tradition on my side of the family, however, my wife, Banu's family did. One day I mentioned to Banu that even though I dropped our daughter, Anusha, to the music teacher’s residence every week, I had never heard her sing. I do hear her hum to the popular tunes of English music but not a word on what she learns in class. ‘Are you sure she is learning something, or are we just helping somebody pay their bills?’, I asked.

Banu said that if I was serious, we could start having Kolu, that way, she explained, we will have families visiting us. There will be a sense of community and festivity, and the children will learn something rather than being lonesome and indifferent to others. Banu said she would also take Anusha with her to the homes of other families so she would be compelled to sing and that way I could actually listen to her sing. It sounded good so I asked her what I had to do.

“Well, for starters let me begin with getting your mothers blessing. Then we will have to make a Kolu padi (a wooden scaffold with steps to keep the Kolus) and buy some Kolus. Then we will invite folks to our home and we in turn will visit others who invite us.” I told her that she had

succeeded in selling the infamous snake oil to a bald man! “Let us rollout the plan and hope it does not end up like Obamacare healthcare plan”, I told her.

Banu convinced my mom. She also outsourced the project of making the wooden stand with steps to a family friend. She did not want to take any chances with me preparing it under the pretext of saving some money

and la te r f ind tha t the wooden steps were not completed, or that they did get completed but collapsed on the very first day, or that the c o m p l e t i o n co inc ided wi th her b e i n g e l i g i b l e f o r receiving social security benefits at the age of 65!

We started off with a five-step wooden stand and off we went to purchase the Kolus, which are images of gods and goddess made of paper mesh and clay. When we got to the shop we liked everything we saw, everything, big and

small, all with bright attractive colors. For fear of not invoking the wrath of god and goddess, we bought everything we saw, meekly nodding our head when asked by the shop-keeper, ‘do you want this versus that’. For instance we could not buy a Kolu of Goddess Lakṣmī without Durgā and Sarasvatī. And how can one ignore the nine avatārs of lord of the universe, Kṛṣṇa and so on? The buying spree continued under fear, all the while I was muttering softly to myself, ‘wish I had completed my

The Kolu Tradition at Navarātriby Raj Aiyar

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Vedānta Course under Swaminiji’s guidance, if not in person at least online classes!’

So after our first Kolu shopping spree, we realized that we now had more Kolus than the steps could hold. The stakes for the Kolu were raised from five to seven steps. In the meantime, I was saying to myself, ‘Isn't the festival of Kolu suppose to be symbolic? Why are we getting caught up in this by having more steps and buying more Kolus etc? But, like a frightened mouse who must tie the bell across the cat's neck, I was left with no choice but to gulp my thoughts and end with a hiccup.

One of the reasons told to me for the having Kolu is that one sees god in everything including all the toys. “Well!” I said to myself, “we barely have time to mumble our prayers to the deities we have in the pūja room, and the gods and goddess stare in muteness, watching as family members scurry around either running for errands or looking for things they have misplaced. And with regard to inviting folks to our home, we barely sit down for lunch and dinner, or have a normal conversation. Instead, for the most part we are barking at each other and trying to find fault with others. Yet we are celebrating this nine day festival, inviting friends and family. Nārāyan! Nārāyan!

The person from whom we ordered seven-steps instead of five, that we already had, appeared to have his own plans. When he brought the

wooden stand he had made it nine-steps instead of the seven that we had initially proposed. As he was assembling it he told us that since we had moved to a bigger house, we needed a bigger Kolu padi, and hence he decided to make a nine-step padi as oppose to a seven-step padi. When he said this, I lost my steps, and fell almost on the Kolu padi! Here I was smacking my hand to my forehead, ‘hey Nārāyana, where will all this end?‘ Once again, we had more steps and less Kolus. So we went back to the market, except this time we got the Kolus from India. Thus continues our chicken and egg hunt. Nārāyan! Nārāyan!

Enough sarcasm, let me share what I saw when I went out to other places. I would get hold of the little masters of the house and ask them to identify all the gods and goddesses from the top of the shelves all the way to the bottom of the Kolu padi. It was fun having this pop quiz. Soon the lady of the house would get involved and assist her sons and daughters in giving the correct names of the gods and goddesses. From here, the conversations would go to the temples in India and where the

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particular deity is located that depicts this Kolu and so on. Also, each Kolu would have a story as to how the family acquired it -was the Kolu from her side of the family or the in-laws side? Or did the husband get it during a trip to India, or another part of the world?

I was enamored with some of the cute Kolus. I saw a

Lord Gaṇeśa giving a hug to a liṅgam and Kṛṣṇa dancing over the serpent. It is unbelievable to see all these pantheons of gods and goddesses, having so many names and forms. I saw a typical village scene with folks performing various vocations, most of which have almost disappeared. For instance, a shoe cobbler, blacksmith, potter, umbrella repairer, snake charmer, women drawing water from the well, a farmer tilling the land with a bullock and so on.

In several houses, I also saw American versions of Kolu on one side and traditional Kolus on another side. I saw Star War lego sets on the American side, with the theme "Alien Attack" in a town, and Native Americans attacking a white settlers town. Pointing to a stagecoach, I asked a little boy to tell me where is Kṛṣṇa's chariot parked, and if he could identify the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas? The little boy was looking for his mom to help him while staring at a U.S. flag in front of the model town square and Banu was giving me her infamous cold stare. I knew where this was going, so we concluded with a bowl of sundal and listening to songs of the lord. With my belly appearing to look like Lord Gaṇeśa, I said to myself, “I am enjoying Navarātri festival after all. I can't wait for Navarātri to come next year”.

After we started driving home, Banu said quietly, “I see your enthusiasm for the festival, but I would like to remind you that it is a women's

festival and that it is not necessary that you accompany me everywhere”. I nodded my head with a grin on my face.

Om!

Kolu DecorationsCoimbatore, India

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The word consciousness is very difficult for Westerners in that we associate it strongly with our awareness of events and self, which in turn we see as dependent on brain events. Are there any ways of approaching the idea that would help with this problem?

The Sanskrit word for consciousness is "caitanya," which means sentience. One who is sentient is aware of one's surroundings, and aware of oneself. When one tries to understand something, one can do so only by objectifying what needs to be known through the means at one's disposal --mainly through direct perception and inference. If one tries to use these methods to understand consciousness or sentience, which is really oneself, one fails because consciousness has no location, and, being the very nature of the knower, cannot be objectified by the knower. It simply means that we need another means of knowledge than the ones we have at our disposal. It also means that one cannot know the knower by objectifying the knower. There is a contradiction. The knower is the self. The thing to be known is also the self. The self that one identifies with the most is the self that is deeply connected to the body-mind-sense complex. When I say “I am overweight” what I mean to say is that the body in which I dwell weighs more than what is healthy for it. Similarly, if I say, “I feel funky today” means that the mind that I am observing is identifying with some negative emotions. So the self that one is the most familiar with is the I notion that identifies with the body-mind-sense complex, and seems to be always wanting, small, fragmented, inadequate, and largely powerless. Yet one's experience is of a self that is whole, that is complete, even in moments of fleeting, happiness leads one to question the nature of the self. Which perception of the self is correct? Am I becoming, wanting and limited? Or am I free, whole and limitless? How to know this, especially when the knower who identifies with the limited self for the most part tries to dabble with the perception of herself or himself as totally free of limitations? It is rather like a person born and raised in captivity trying to describe the world outside the prison-walls. Therefore, in order to know the self, we need a means of knowing that is given to us. This means of knowing is what is called the words of the Veda. The words of the Veda become the means of knowledge to know

what is otherwise unknowable. Likewise, in other indigenous spiritual traditions, like the Yoruba, for example, the Odu, the Ifa literary corpus, serves the function of being a revealed means of knowledge to understand and relate to subtle forces and processes that are imperceptible and beyond one's control. What the word consciousness indicates is awareness, sentience that is whole and complete. But this sentience cannot be grasped by perceptual means, i.e. with the help of the senses. You can't see awareness or hear it. You can’t smell sentience, you can’t taste it, or touch it ever so lightly. Then again, you cannot arrive at the existence of sentience through mathematical equations or inference. You cannot come to know of sentience by searching for something like it and comparing it to sentience. Why? Because awareness is like nothing else, and cannot be compared to anything else. Perhaps then, one can say, awareness is not knowable at all. Or perhaps, even if it is knowable, it might be something remote. This contention defies one's experience of oneself. Awareness is oneself; it is not separate from the self. You are aware of everything. You are aware of bodily sensations; you are capable of recognising your emotions, you are the witness of your thoughts, you are the seer, the hearer, the thinker, the feeler, the deliberator, the doer, and the experiencer. These roles are incidental to you, because they keep changing. But the one that observes the changes and inheres through all the changes is changeless, is invariable, is you. The knowledge that one exists, has little to do with brain function, except perhaps that the faculty of intelligence, the buddhi In modern medicine and psychology, we have cut up the brain into several parts and split it up according to its functions, i.e. certain parts of the brain are identified with memory, others with feeling, etc.This fallacy is not unlike trapping space --that is all-pervasive-- in a jar and concluding that the size and shape of space is the size and shape of the jar. That is what we do with consciousness. We conflate consciousness with the instrument (the faculty of knowing and thinking) where consciousness shines, where is it recognised, where it is identifiable as consciousness. This is a perpetual problem in communicating that which cannot be grasped through sensory perception or inference. Just because it cannot be grasped by the means of knowing available to us does not mean that it is not knowable, or that it does not exist. It just means that it cannot be known by the means of knowledge that is wielded by the knower.

Satsang with Swaminiji

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In Eugene: All class timings are PSTOnce a Month Class: Vedānta Ḍiṇḍima will meet on Saturdays 9:30 am to Noon on Jan 18th, Feb 1, and March 2ndNew Weekend Classes: Muṇḍakopaniṣad with Śaṅkara Bhāṣya (commentary of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya) will meet from 7:30-10:00 am on the following days: Jan 19th, 25th and 26th, March 22nd, 23rd, 29th and 30thWeekday Evening Classes: Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad will meet on Tuesdays 6-7 pm on Jan 21 and 28, March 4, 18, and 25.Kaṭhopaniṣad will meet on Wednesdays 6-7 on Jan 22 and 29, March 5, 19 and 26.Intermediate Sanskrit will meet on Wednesdays from 2:30-3:30 on Jan 22nd and 29th, and March 5th, 19th and 26th.Occasional Chanting Sessions will meet on two days from 3:30-4:15 pm on Jan 22nd and 29th

These classes are simultaneously streamed via live stream and adobe connect. The links are reproduced below. Click on the any of the links to access the classroom:http://www.livestream.com/advaita_swaminisvatmavidyanandaji/

https://avmtemple.adobeconnect.com/_a725965367/gita/ https://avmtemple.adobeconnect.com/_a725965367/gita/

Classes with Janani:Beginning Sanskrit Mondays 6-7 pmChanting Mondays 2:30-3:30 pmSpecial Classes on Wednesdays 6-7pm in Feb 2014: Selected Verses from the Bhagavad GītāJanani’s classes, except the chanting classes, will be streamed on adobe connect.

Swaminiji’s Teaching and Travel Schedule

Arsha Vijjana Gurukulam is pleased to announce the inauguration of the Lord Maheśvara and Goddess Haimavatī Umā shrine at the

gurukulam. The shrine at the gurukulam gives students the opportunity to participate in a form of worship that, having mānasa, - mental, vācika - verbal, and kayikā - physical, components helps focus the mind. Increasing one’s focus increases the efficacy of śravana. The shrine also provides a place that is conducive for prayer and contemplation. All are welcome.

Maheśvara Haimavatī Umā ShrineArsha Vijñāna Gurukulam, Eugene

Sūktā Editorial BoardJanani C., Harinder Kaur Khalsa and Mayaskari Rothbart