Hari OM
'Text-days' are for delving into the
words and theory of Advaita Vedanta.
We are now studying Aatmabodha. As
always, with each week, you are encouraged to review the previous teachings and
spend some time in contemplation of the meanings as the affect your life.
Please do consider purchasing the text. Remember, also, to recite the mangala charana before each study and
review the lessons before each new one.
There
are only ten shlokas remaining in this text. Nine of them make further attempts
to describe the indescribable. Today, we will take three together, as their
explanation requires little more than is given in the verses themselves. These
are verses for deep contemplation.
t*u´miol<
vStu Vyvhariídinvt>,
tSmaTsvRgt<
äü úaIre sipRirvaiole.59.
Tadyuktamakhilam
vastu vyavahaarashchidanvitaH,
Tasmaatsavagatam
brahma kshire sarparivaakhile ||59||
All objects are pervaded by Brahman. Also, all actions
are possible because of Brahman Alone. Therefore, Brahman permeates everything
as butter permeates milk.
When
you look at a pint of milk, do you necessarily see the butter it contains?
Rarely! You simply perceive it as it presents itself to you. Butter is most
definitely there, though; it just takes some work to bring it out. This is what
we are to understand - the Pure Consciousness is to be found in every possible
thing upon which you rest your thoughts and eyes; it just takes some work to
bring it out… and that work itself is only possible because of that
Consciousness.
AnPvSwUlmùSvmdI"RmjmVyym!,
Aêpgu[v[aROy<
td!äüeTyvxaryet!.60.
Ananvasthuulam-hRsvam-diirgham-ajam-avyayam,
Aruupaguna-varnaakhyam
tad-brahmetya-vadhaarayet ||60||
Realise that to be Brahman which is neither subtle nor
gross, neither short nor long, without birth or change, without form,
attributes, colour and name.
This
is the subtlety of Pure Consciousness; it is beyond all physical description -
split open a neutron and It will still be present beyond
(as indicated in previous shloka). This demonstrates also the vastness… which
in our finite selves, we cannot imagine.
yÑasa
_aaSyte=kaRid _asyEyRÅau n _aasyte,
Yaen
svRimd< _ait td!äüeTyvxaryet!.61.
Yadbhaasaa
bhaasyater-kaadi bhaasyairyattu na bhaasyate,
Yena
sarvamidam bhaati tad-brahmetya-vadhaarayet ||61||
That, by the light of which, the luminous orbs like
the sun and the moon are illumined, but that which is not illumined by their
light; realise that to be Brahman.
When
you are standing out in full sunlight, do you light up a torch to see better?
No - and even if you did, the torchlight would be 'drowned' by the luminance of
the sun. Now, physicists even of the novice kind will say, "but the sun is
self-luminous" - which is true in terms of our relative world of
perception. This is the point to be taken, however. That which illumines all
else cannot be, itself, illumined. Our very perception of the sun can only take
place due to the illumination of Consciousness within us.