AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA VEDANTA DARSHANAM Oct 13 Vedanta Darshanam Salutations to all. As every day passes by we should ideally be progressing towards the ultimate goal of our life – which is complete cessation of sorrow and ever rejoicing in bliss. But as days pass by our problems only keep increasing. There are more problems created in the place of just one problem being solved. Amidst all tensions of life, we experience only sorrow constantly. Though some temporary relief in the form of worldly pleasures we get, still it is short-lived and therefore takes us back to sorrow again. We keep on experiencing sorrow in the world while not giving up dependency on the world in the hope that someday we may get eternal bliss from the world. Really speaking we are to be called fools; because though every day we experience only sorrow in the world still we think that there is eternal bliss in the world. Like an addicted drunkard who keeps drinking every day thinking that he will stop tomorrow, we too keep expecting eternal bliss from the sorrowful world. Therefore the Lord says that wise people are those who understand the temporary-sorrowful nature of the world and therefore stop depending on the world. The moment they stop depending on the world then their focus shifts from the external world unto something which is eternal. The search for this eternal entity continues for a short while until they realize that the temporary world requires a changeless substratum and that this substratum is the eternal entity. This substratum is termed in the scriptures as Brahman. It is that from which the world has come, that in which the world exists and that unto which the world merges at the time of its destruction. In short, it is the very essence of the world. The world of duality is just an illusion of names and forms even as various gold ornaments are mere names and forms in gold; even as the dream world appears in the dream, similarly this entire world appears in this non-dual reality of Brahman. If we seek this entity of Brahman then we will be able to attain the ultimate goal of life as ever rejoicing in bliss. But how do we attain Brahman and how do we gain eternal bliss by seeking some entity of Brahman? Vedanta says that this Brahman is of the nature of Existence, Consciousness and Bliss. The same Consciousness that pulsates inside us as I-exist, I-exist at all times is Brahman; it is this Consciousness that alone exists in the deep sleep state when the entire world http://vedantatattva.org/vedantagroup/VedantaDarshanam Page 1 of 82 AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA VEDANTA DARSHANAM Oct 13 temporary merges. The deep sleep state shows that I am not the body or the mind or anything else; for all these don’t exist in the deep sleep but I do exist in the deep sleep. It is through this knowledge that I am not anything including the body, mind etc. but the non- dual reality of Brahman that the ultimate goal of life of moksha. But this is easier said than done; though we know that I am Brahman still we get deluded by the world again and again. Therefore a proper understanding of Vedanta is required. Only through learning and gaining conviction about Vedanta we will be able to implement Vedanta in our day-to-day lives. Only through implementing or living Vedanta we will be able to attain the ultimate goal of life of moksha. For this we need a good understanding of Vedanta and this magazine serves as a means to explanation of the philosophy or darshana of Vedanta so that through learning and implementation of Vedanta we will be able to attain moksha in this very birth itself. Time is very short; each moment wasted cannot be got back. Therefore rather than wasting in futile sensual pleasures of the world we should strive to learn and implement Vedanta in our day-to-day lives now itself. And thereby alone we will be able to attain moksha in this very birth itself. May we all strive to learn and implement Vedanta through the ultimate knowledge that I am that Brahman which alone exists here so that we will be able to get rid of all sorrows and will be able to ever rejoice in bliss here and now itself. AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA October 9, 2013 http://vedantatattva.org/vedantagroup/VedantaDarshanam Page 2 of 82 AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA VEDANTA DARSHANAM Oct 13 Anukramaanika Vedanta Darshanam ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Upanishad Vivaranam ................................................................................................................................... 4 Gitaamritham .............................................................................................................................................. 12 Prakarana Prakaashah................................................................................................................................. 22 Madhuraamritham ...................................................................................................................................... 32 Praadeshikam - I .......................................................................................................................................... 41 Praadeshikam - II ......................................................................................................................................... 53 Apavaada Samkshepa ................................................................................................................................. 56 Acharyasmrithi ............................................................................................................................................ 65 Vedanta Kathaa ........................................................................................................................................... 76 Vedanta Pariksha ........................................................................................................................................ 79 Anukramaanika Nirdesham ........................................................................................................................ 82 http://vedantatattva.org/vedantagroup/VedantaDarshanam Page 3 of 82 AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA VEDANTA DARSHANAM Oct 13 Upanishad Vivaranam Recap Previously we saw the first sloka of the second khanda of the first mundaka. We saw briefly the perspective of actions as well. Though this entire world is filled in and out with the non- dual reality of Brahman, still it is karma loka or a world that is sustained by actions alone. Nobody therefore can remain in the world without performing actions; as the Lord says in Gita everybody is forced to perform actions based on their vasanas and are helplessly performing actions. Now if actions were to lead to happiness then it would be justified in performing them. But actions only lead to sorrow in the long run; not just in the long run many of the actions lead to sorrow initially as well. Therefore only a fool will take resort to actions in order to fulfill the ultimate goal of life as moksha. But majority of people in the world are fools alone; not realizing that this world filled with action is sorrowful in nature they strive to gain more and more objects of the world. This striving to gain more and more of the world only leads to problems at all times. Before gaining objects, there is pain involved through effort or struggle. After attaining objects, there is the fear of losing objects and when objects are lost there is pain in remembrance of the time when objects were being possessed. Thus at all times the world of objects lead to sorrow alone. It cannot be argued that we can attain a higher world than this world through good actions and this higher world will lead us to eternal bliss; for any world is temporary and changing. The Lord says in Gita if we strive for a higher world in order to get happiness, then we will have to come back to this earth after the happiness as a result of punya attained is exhausted or enjoyed in the higher world. Say for example we perform lot of yajnas and therefore attain heaven. In heaven there is enjoyment and therefore we enjoy. But this enjoyment is short-lived; it can only be enjoyed until it is fully exhausted. Like the account in a bank, the punya or merit is also exhausted eventually and then we will have to come back to earth. Therefore heaven is just a temporary relief from our problems and it becomes a source of sorrow once we come back to earth as a result of remembering the good happy times in heaven. Wise people thus will not take resort to any world (higher or lower). They will instead strive to achieve perfection through this very world itself. http://vedantatattva.org/vedantagroup/VedantaDarshanam Page 4 of 82 AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA VEDANTA DARSHANAM Oct 13 But before we analyze as to how to overcome actions, it is important to understand the limitations in the form of restrictions in actions. This is what the Upanishad says in the second sloka. Mundaka Upanishad – 1.2.2 yda lelayte ýicR> simÏe hVyvahne, tda=JyÉaganavNtre[a=÷tI> àitpadyet!.2. yadä leläyate hyarciù samiddhe havyavähane| tadä'ajyabhägänävantareëä'ahutéù pratipädayet||2|| When the fire is well lighted and the flames flicker, let a man offer his oblations in the space between the two portions of melted butter. Actions – with restrictions Here we find the Upanishad talking about the restrictions that are present in performing actions. It is not just vaidika action that has its limitations, all actions have their limitations. For example, when