August2023 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami--Seer

[Srivatsa Ramaswami]

 August 2023 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami—Seer

Sometime back Omyogashala in New Delhi organized an online program on Sun worship which mainly contained chanting and word by word explanation of the famous sun prayer "Aditya Hrudayam from the epic Ramayana. Now Omyogashala is organizing a short program on Ganesa Mantras scheduled in August. Here is the link

http://bit.ly/Ganeshamantras

Seer

The vedic orthodox philosophies are six in number and the olden day scholars were proficient in all the darsanas-- like my Guru Sri Krishnamacharya. The darsanas are vaiseshika, nyaya, mimamsa, samkhya, yoga and vedanta. Of these, the last three are said to be nivritti sastras are those that have the goal of enabling the sadhaka to prevent future painful birth and life. Even as there are significant differences among them, especially between the samkhya/yoga duo and vedanta these siblings have one thing in common. And that is about the nature of the self or subject. They all aver that the real self is pure unvarying consciousness and it is a blunder to consider the empirical body/mind complex as the self which is the common or default understanding. The self which is nothing but pure unvarying consciousness is variously termed by these darsanas in different contexts as atman, pratyagatman, drik, drik sakti, drashta, cit, citi sakti, purusha or even brahman (aham brahma asmi)..... The darsanas explain in considerable detail this rather not very apparent fact . The separation of the real self from the empirical (drisya) one or viveka is the main theme of all these darsanas.

The Bhagavat Gita from the great epic Mahabharata is a book that is studied in great detail even today by thousands of people. As it deals with an issue that many people can empathize, its popularity is held intact.  The gitopadesa or the advice given by the Lord to Arjuna starts from Ch II sloka 12. Many of us find ourselves in the situation Arjuna was in. Property disputes of different magnitudes can be found all over. Disputes among siblings, cousins and other relatives are common all over the world. Some people fight hard, some give up early, some are emotionally drained fighting with one's own kith and kin. Many times, people caught in such situations resort to advice from elders or professionals. In the case of Arjuna he was fighting a just cause but was distraught as he had to fight against cousins uncles, revered teachers,  and even a beloved grandfather. That was the time Lord Krishna steps in to advice Arjuna about what was the right thing to do, to fight or to give up the fight—not because Arjuna was incapable but because of the emotional strain. Many of us will be able to empathize with Arjuna's predicament and sympathize with Arjuna as he was fighting for dharma

The first and foremost message that the Lord gives to Arjuna is about the nature of the self, oneself. He declares in the  first sloka that all creatures are essentially immortal. This instruction about the atman that you find in nivritti sastras like samkhya, yoga or vedanta is usually given to renunciates, raja yogis and maybe jobless retirees but not to a warrior in the battlefield right before the beginning of the war. By talking about the nature of atman the Lord was able to lay the foundation for subsequent reasonings he would put forward. But the thing to note is that possibly the Lord would not have been able to convince Arjuna to do the right thing without imparting the right knowledge about the Self. 

What is the nature of the self, the "I", the atman. It is pure unvarying and hence immortal consciousness. It is the one that experiences what every individual is said to experience. How do we experience the outside world. My school science teacher would ask the question "How do you see?" And we would reply, "Our eyes see" He would say that the eyes do not have consciousness, They are just special senses that capture the light particles emanated from objects and transmit to the brain as electrical impulses through the optical nerve system. "It is the brain that sees" he would say

"No, the brain has no consciousness , it cannot see" would say in chorus the samkhyas, yogis and vedantins. Yogis point out that the brain which they call is citta is prakritic organic matter. The sperm has no consciousness to experience, nor the egg, nor the embryo. Further development into a fetus is by adding food which is not capable of experiencing as we do. The brain which is made of fats lipids, though appears to have consciousness. They use the term citta for the brain and its activities are called cittavritties. The word cit refers to consciousness (citi samjnane) . The term citta would be unzipped (vigraha vakya) by my Guru as cit iva bhavayati it cittam. That which masquerades as (having) consciousness is citta.  And because of the inability of the individual buddhi to separate these two, ci and citta there is an uncorrected impression that the brain or citta has consciousness. 

The great vedantin Adi sankara takes up the discussion between subject and object to deduce the nature of subject or what should be called as "I" in his preamble to the Brahma sutra bhashya.  On that classic approach the following is based. You and I sit across a table to have a cup of coffee. For me, I am the subject and you are the object. We both are absolutely different. Different like day and night, light and darkness. Our characteristics are even more varied. That being the case, how can one not see the difference between the subject which the experiencer and the object the objective world. What does the subject experience at this moment? I experience not only part of the outside world but also me the 150 lb 85 year old man. This 85 year old man has a brain which is now part of the object or that which is experienced.. Since Ramaswami also is part of what is experienced the citta should form part of the object (and not the subject) and the subject would be the experiencer which is the self or pure unvarying consciousness.  But when did this avidya or mixing the atma with anatma start? It has no beginning; it has been there with each life after life. But it has an end. That is when a human being realizes the nature of the atman. Take the case of an infant abandoned by parents but brought up by foster parents. The child at a later adult stage comes to know that the parents are not biological parents and with that the long standing  wrong impression goes.

Can we be more detailed? Let us get back to .our science teacher. We agree with him that the eyes, ears and other senses have no consciousness but are sensitive to specific stimuli. But when these electrical impulses reach the brain, they have to be processed and then converted into images that I now see. Ah, further the brain receives regularly impulses from the body through the complex nervous system which again forms part of the process. As mentioned, earlier the brain will project a composite image with emotions and all. Since the composite image includes me (Ramaswami) the empirical "I" also is part of what is experienced. This the yogis call as cittavritti and the one that experiences is pure unvarying consciousness, the subject , the experiencer (drasha). It is significant that Patanjali uses the term drashta or seer, indicating that the eyes do not see, nor the brain or citta but the atman the drashta is the seer. If the buddhi or intellect is able to slowly start considering the drashta as the self, the real I, it will realize a certain peace as the drashta is immutable immortal and needs no attention and in course of time the sadhaka would attain kaivalya. Of course, the vedantins would like to consider one more step. I may take it up in the next newsletter. 

So, these disciplines . samkhya yoga and vedanta are for sanyasins rajayogis and for people with similar dispositions. These are useful only for a very few. No, would say Lord Krishna. The Bhagavatgita which is considered an important yoga text and also one of the pillars of vedanta philosophy, is addressed not to a scholar, nor a renunciate nor a rajayogi. It is addressed to a warrior in a state of utter dismay like most of us are. The fundamental instruction is to know the nature of the self as could be seen in this discussion. It would imply that if ordinary people like us would have the knowledge of the Self as enunciated in the sastras and as expounded by the Lord, It would greatly lessen the burden human beings carry in their mind. The Lord would advise Arjuna to keep in the back of the mind the nature of the Self, do one's duty and fulfil one's responsibilities--not be overly concerned about the physical or prakritic  person. योगस्थ: कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनञ्जय |. With the buddhi in unison with atman, do your duty without attachment to the empirical. There are many instances where people with enormous responsibilities would carry them out with the atmajnana  like emperor Janaka. It would imply that the knowledge of the self through samkhya yoga and vedanta-- or just the Gita should be imparted early in life. Even just part of the chapter II of the Gita would be helpful. The Lord advised Arjuna about what he should do if he wins the war in Kurukshtra. He should stop further involvement as a retiree ( sarva arambha parityagi) and become a yogi (tasmat yogi bhavarjuna). Atmajnana or knowledge of the self may be imparted early in life. Many people start studying these like the upanishads after retirement with a very tired and depressed mind. 

The eyes do not see

The brain does not see

The purusha sees

Thus  it is called seer or drashta

How do we start teaching youngsters the atmavidya in simple logical terms? 

Ask the following question

"How do you see?"