September 2023 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami--Dreamlike

[Srivatsa Ramaswami]

September 2023 Newsletter from Srivatsa Ramaswami–Dreamlike

In August I taught a brief 3 hr program on Ganesa Mantras. It was hosted by Om Yogashala In New Delhi

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In  September, I am scheduled to teach a four day 8 hrs program on Pranayama and Yoga for Internal Organs, It is being hosted by Atmayogashala in Chennai

षाट्कौशिकं शरीरं हि गद्यते मुनिभिः स्फुटम्।

श्वाशकोशान्नकोशौ तथा मूत्रमलात्मकौ ॥

रजो वीर्यात्मकौ चेति षोढा कोशस्य संस्थितिः॥

प्राणायामात्कोशशुद्धिः कोशशुद्धेर्वपुस्सदा ।

सेन्द्रियं शुद्धमेव स्याच्छुद्धाहारस्य योगिनः॥

The above quote is from Sri T Krishnamacharya's Yoga Rahsya. Sages clearly talk about the six kosas (sacs) in the human body. They are, breathing bag (lungs), food bag (stomach) then urine bag or bladder (kidneys), and that which contains feces. Then there are the bags with blood (uterus) sperm (and the heart bag or hrudaya kosa). These are the six kosas. These kosas are kept clean with pranayama (and the mudras in appropriate asanas). With healthy kosas the body is kept clean and healthy. The 10 indriyas are also helped to maintain good functioning aided by proper food. Apart from asanas, pranayama and the mudras help to keep all parts of the body healthy. Yoga is a sarvanga sadhana.

Here is the link

https://atmayogashala.practicenow.us/students/subscriptions?service=workshop&plan_id=5146

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Dreamlike

In the last August 2023 Newsletter I wrote

“Can it  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. The composite image includes me (Ramaswami) and  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.``

Thus while the common experience and common belief is that each individual is a subject and the universe around is the object, Patanjali and his tribe show that the subject is pure consciousness or drashta the seer and the object is the whole perceived universe including the individual mixed with emotions etc., considered commonly as the self, all in the form of cittavritti. 

Now some vedantins have a few questions about the cittavrittis as the object. While they are happy with the sankhya/yoga finding that pure awareness is the subject, they say the discussion about the object  is not complete. Why so?

 When chased by a lion

I thought without a brain

Ran without legs

Climbed the tree without arms

Breathed heavily without lungs

Then I woke up

What is this? It may be irritating to some. We all know that. We know that the dream experience we have night in and night out (forget the day dreamers) is not substantive even as we believe it to be real during dream time. Some yesteryear philosophers started wondering if the waking  state experience even as it is real or appears real could also be non substantive or just an illusion like the dream experiences. Patanjali’s cittavritti is the projection of the mind or citta of the processed information in the brain or citta. But  the cittavritti includes also the individual  in the form of asmita vritti. There is always this self awareness (asmita, ‘I exist” feeling). Sometimes intense when in physical pain and some other times barely felt in intense concentration or dhyana states. The question some vedantins raise is that if the cittavritti included body awareness then since the brain also is part of the individual physical self it would amount to saying that the brain or citta projects itself.  This  is unacceptable. So like the drashta or the subject being distinctly different from the objects, the source of the projected object should be different from the projected object itself and  in this case, the individual physical person with a brain. So  what an individual experiences is vritti or projection but not from the brain or citta. Some vedantins call it mayavritti or projection of an illusion/maya. 

All objects that we see have a form, substance and a name usually. In a projection/illusion there is no material/ substance. So in the individual’s waking state experience, what is experienced including the individual physical self with a brain is an illusion. It has a name and form but no substance. Can there be substanceless form and name. Yes we have the example of a dream. In the dream there is form and name and no substance. Thus we have a brainless wonder running scared without legs, climbing trees without arms and so on. According to these illusionists no substantive creation is possible.

Some people aver  that the old philosophers say the perceived universe is an illusion just to calm down agitated minds. But according the upanishad sages the universe is made up of nama and rupa or name and form (and other sensations) but  not substantive (namarupe vyakaravani)

How does this understanding help us?  We come to know the truth about creation–according to this line of thinking, no real or substantive creation is possible. What is experienced by the unwavering self which is pure consciousness is nothing but a non substantive projection, a la my dream. The dream itself is a non substantive projection. Once we know the waking state world is just an illusion like the illusion in a dream one may develop the same attitude like one has about dreams. Then one may not be so concerned about happenings in life like riding with tide and rolling with punches, but an observer from the shore.. The waking state experience is as illusory as the dream itself. But then one takes the dream experience as real during dream time and except a few vedantins all of us take the waking state experience as real during our lifetime. Once in a while a dreamer suddenly realizes that what is happening in a dream can not be real and wakes up. Likewise a vedanin after deduction and on realization that the waking state worldly experience is just dreamlike, becomes liberated, becomes a jivanmukta.

Patanjali even as he avers that the universe is indeed  a product of prakriti and is real and substantive, laments that for the sensitive and sensible the universe offers only pain or duhkha (II 15) and hence one should practice appropriate yoga and attain kaivalya for permanent relief from duhkha. The mayavadi vedantins add that the universe that one experiences is not only painful but is also  an illusion just like a bad dream.One would not take a dream experience seriously though. So one should start to work to attain mukti within the lifespan.