sUKta

Arsha Vijnana Gurukulam

skt

January 2015

Inside this Issue

New Year's Address by Pujya Swamiji
Article by Pujya Swamiji
New Year's Address by Swaminiji
Dhanyakam: Part 1 by Swaminiji

Gurukulam News
Atlanta Retreat July 2014
2014 Thanksgiving Retreat
Year End Camp: AVG Saylorsburg

Reflections
Dpvali - photos
Dakimrty Shrine 3rd Anniversary - photos
Poem - Divine Expansion
Year End Camp: AVG Saylorsburg - photos
Pradoa & Satsang with Swaminiji - photos

Regular Features
Vedanta Glossary
Vedic Traditions
Satsang with Swaminiji
Swaminiji's Teaching and Travel Schedule

Ring in the New, Ring out the Old: Happy

New Year
By Pujya Swami Dayanandaji

The past is gone, it is only in our memory. The future is going

to unfold, and what is going to be unfolded we are ready to
receive. We need to be ready. Years of one's life help you
receive the new with a better poise, with better capacity to
understand, in short, with better perception.
We want our desires fulfilled in the New Year. All of our
desires don't get fulfilled. This we know from our past
experience. We wanted to maintain a diary, each one wanted a
diary, and the diary is written only first page! The diary is
there new, it even smells new. So desires need not be fulfilled or they can be fulfilled, and we work for
fulfillment.
Desires constitute one's life. If they don't get fulfilled, they leave the person unhappy. So, in the New
Year we make a decision to have desires. I don't say, don't have desires, have desires, but learn to
manage them. If they are fulfilled you are happy; if they are not fulfilled, try to fulfill them.
There are many reasons for a desire not to get fulfilled, you cannot control all of them. Success depends
on your being at the right place, in the right time. You don't know what is the right place, or the right
time. Therefore, we just pray, and prayer brings about grace as its result. Earn this grace by prayer, by
doing good deeds, by reaching out deeds. Keep some grace under your belt and the year will be
meaningful, grace-full. May the year give you a lot of grace, this is my New Year wish.
Happy New Year.
1

understand what is going on. A person does not choose to get depressed; it
just happens. Equally that person cannot choose not to be depressed. There
is no point in advising someone not to get depressed. When we advise
someone not to get angry, he gets angrier because it is not that a person wants
to be angry. Anger happens. We need to realise that we have no power over
anger, over sorrow, over mechanical thinking because they are mechanical.
If we had control over them, we would not have them in the first place. If
we understand this, a way out opens up for us.

Helplessness and Seeking Help1

By Pujya Swami Dayanandaji

You cannot manage a situation

unless you know exactly what is
happening. The inner responses
are allowed to happen for want of
a proper insight and knowledge.
You want to have the capacity to
manage
every
happening
properly so that you do not
deliver yourself into the hands of
likes and dislikes, into the hands
of anger, frustration and its roots.
You are working towards that
capacity.

When I am helpless in controlling my reactions, I can approach the Lord for

help because everybody else is in the same situation as I am. I am sad and
another person is also sad and two sad persons coming together do not make
a happy lot. If a drowning person gets hold of another drowning one, both
get drowned in the process. Therefore, this popular prayer on these lines is
very relevant here: O Lord, I am helpless. Please give me the maturity to
accept gracefully what I cannot change, and the will and effort to change
what I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

I am absolutely helpless in the

event of a reaction. I seem to have
no power over this anger. Please
understand that it takes a lot of
courage to accept helplessness.
Unless I have the courage to
accept helplessness I can never
grow out of it. I will not seek help
even if it is available. It is like the
man who was an alcoholic. When
someone asked him, Why do you take alcohol every day? he replied, I
am not an alcoholic. I can give up alcohol any day. This response is more
from the alcohol than from the person. A man who wants to give up alcohol
has to first accept the fact that he has no power over alcohol. Similarly, I
must know intimately that I have no power over my anger, my sorrow,
depression, and frustration. Some people advise, Dont get depressed.
Very often religious teachers become advisers. Nobody seems to really

All of our problems are because we refuse to accept facts and very often we
worry about things we cannot change. We do not know what can be changed
and what cannot be. If we knew that, we could spare our efforts and divert
our energy. Our efforts can gain a direction. We can pray.
The basis for any form of prayer is the acknowledgement of our
helplessness and then seeking help. Prayer is born naturally when I realise
my helplessness and recognise the source of all power, all knowledge. If
both of these are acknowledged, prayer is very natural. If everything is in
order I need not pray. All prayers have their fulfilment in keeping
everything in order.
When I need help, I seek help from any person I can. When the helplessness
is in terms of my incapacity to let go of my past or to let the future happen
without my being apprehensive, then a person like myself cannot help me.
I have to go to the source from where such help is possible. That source is
the Lord whom I can invoke through prayer.
I intimately realise that I am a victim of my own past. As a victim of my past,
2

I cannot but be apprehensive about the future. I become worried. I become

cautious. I become frightened of my future. To deliver myself into the hands
of the Lord, I deliver myself to the order that is the Lord. The Lord is not
separate from the order and the order is not separate from the Lord.
My past then becomes part of the meaningful order of my
personal life. The future unfolds itself in keeping with
the same order, an order that includes my previous
karma, if there is such a thing.

be free of blaming anyone, including myself. I cannot blame myself for

what happened to me nor can I blame others because others themselves have
yet others to blame.
O Lord, help me accept gracefully what I cannot change. Blaming
means that I want to change the past. I want my past to be
different. How can it be? O Lord, help me accept gracefully
what I cannot change. I let go of my resentment, anger,
and dissatisfaction by accepting gracefully what I
cannot change. O Lord, perhaps what I went through
was meant to happen. Perhaps it was all in order.

As a child I had no will of my own. I was in the

hands of my parents, my elders, my teachers, and
other adult members of the society. As a child, I
saw that I was absolutely helpless. My knowledge
was limited and my perception was never clear. I
was insecure. I was learning with a small mind, with
meagre information, without any wisdom at all.
Naturally, I made conclusions about the world and
myself. These conclusions formed the basis

O Lord, all the years of pain, struggle and groping seem

to have paid off, for I pray and by this prayer everything
has become meaningful. My pain, my past, has resulted
in my coming to you to seek help. Intimately, I
acknowledge my helplessness. I seek your help, your
intervention, to make me accept what I cannot change. I
cannot change what has happened, nor can anyone else, not
even you. Intimately I acknowledge the fact that what has
happened cannot be changed.

for my interpretation of the events to come. In the process,

these interpreted events definitely seem to confirm my
conclusions.

O Lord, help me accept totally what I cannot changemy mothers

behaviour, her omissions and commissions, my fathers neglect, his anger,
his indifference, his lack of care, his mishandling, his mismanagement, his
drinking, the fights between them, the confusion at home, my being left
alone, not fondled, not cared for, not loved. Perhaps, I was wrong, but this
was how I felt.

Look at the helplessness. As an adult I cannot remove the conclusions I

made as a child and therefore I become a victim of my own past. Whom
should I blame? I cannot blame myself nor can I afford to blame the world.
Blaming does not help me let go, the past being retained. It is one thing to
acknowledge the mistake of others but quite another to hold on to them and
to retain my fears and anger. I have to eliminate all forms of blaming in order
to be free of my past.
I may have valid reasons to blame. I see those reasons and I let go of my past.
By allowing my blaming to continue, I allow the past to continue. If I was
a victim of the behaviour of my elders, by blaming them now I continue to
be a victim. I understand all of this, but still I am helpless.

O Lord, I cannot change what has happened. Please help me accept

gracefully what I cannot change. I do not want to bury the past, nor do I want
to forget the past. I cannot. I just want to accept the fact, accept the past.
Gracefully, I accept the past. I even begin to see an order in all of this, for
do I not pray now? I have come to be objective. I see some order here. Please
help me accept gracefully what I cannot change.

O Lord, help me. Help me accept gracefully what I cannot change. Let me

Courtesy of Arsha Vidya Research and Publications, 2007.

Dpvali
2014

Swaminiji's New Year Address

tendencies behind and start anew, because all we have here is the now.
Vednta is full of paradoxes. Pujya Swamiji loves to play with them. Out of
the many things that he has said, I really love his play on the now. He says,
a point occupies no space, but a series of points makes a line. Similarly, now
occupies no time - now, now, now - no time. But a series of nows is a whole
lifetime.

AVG, Saylorsburg
Namaste and a very Happy New Year to all.
I am going to take up the topic of self-growth - something that we have to
initiate ourselves. It is not something that happens automatically. Other
growth happens automatically, especially in ashrams; the food is so good that
we grow automatically, sideways! Old age happens automatically, we grow
more anxious, more fearful. But this self-growth has to be initiated with the
help of our free-will, and here is where it matters most. Free-will is tethered
by rga-dveas, likes and dislikes. We are unable to focus on self-growth,
usually, because the will is a slave to strong likes and dislikes. Constantly our
mind is entwined in what the Bhagavad Gt calls yoga kema. Aprptasya
prpaam, getting what I don't have, is yoga. Protecting, retaining what I
already have, and do not want to get rid of, like my house, my family, is what
Bhagavad Gt calls kema.

Now the baby is in the womb. Now the baby is born. Now the baby becomes
an adult. Now the adult gets married. Now the adult has his or her children.
Then adult gets old and leaves the body, and body goes to the tomb. Womb
to tomb, all happening in the now. A single now, right now, timeless. A series
of nows make a yuga; a very beautiful paradox.
So all we have is the now, and right now I can make a decision. It does not
mean I stop planning, I do plan, I have to plan. But that plan is now, today,
at the most we can say.
Now I may plan that I want a perfect retirement, to face all inflations, but then
in the next now, after attending the Vednta class, I can plan for the ultimate
retirement plan; to drop all the desires so that there is no problem of how much
money I need to feed these desires. That is also happening in the now.
Therefore, coming back to the now, the company we keep becomes very
important.

Mired in yoga and kema pursuits, there no internal space for the free-will to
go towards self-growth. It does not happen automatically, we have to initiate
this self-growth. How? If we are mired in yoga and kema, we get on to the
wrong track of preyas, which means that which is relatively pleasing, but not
absolute. This is what happens. Therefore we have to choose our company
very, very carefully, because this growth, at least in the beginning, needs
some kind of solidarity. If everyone is going to malls and balls, that is what
we will want to do too.

Satsang and growing together in this knowledge happens with mutual

connections. Arsha Vidya Gurukulam is a sacred place because it provides the
facility for self-growth and provides the ability to make that sakalpa grow.
Think of Arsha Vidya as huge comforter that keeps the jijsu and mumuku
cozy. When you think of the comforter, how does it keep you warm? The
comforter is not generating heat - this is not an example of an electric blanket!
The comforter is another paradox. The comforter does not do anything to keep
you warm, it is your own body heat that it conserves and gives back to you,
that is what a comforter does. That is why, whatever you put in Arsha Vidya,
it comes back to you a million fold, in ways that cannot even be accounted for.
But you know what that is, and you know how priceless this self-growth is,
and that is what we have to do starting with this New Year. Hari Om!"

When you first started coming here, everyone might have got a little worried
about you in your friend circle. Someone I know was asked, What is wrong?
You have such a nice husband, wonderful sons, do you have a secret sorrow
that you are going to the ashram? Are you sad?
This is where the company we keep becomes extremely vital for self-growth.
We have to choose our company carefully. Coming to satsangs, to classes,
here at the ashram, this is where we can really afford to leave the old
5

Dhanyakam: Part One

Editorial

by Swamini Svatmavidyanandaji

Namaste and Happy New Year to all. This edition of Skt is special for many
reasons. First, there are New Year addresses by both Pujya Swamiji and Swaminiji,
in addition to the regularly featured articles by each.

Dhanyakam is a beautiful text

attributed to di akara.
Aakam means octet, that which
has eight verses. Dhanya means
the one who is blessed. The whole
word, dhanyakam, means eight
verses in service of the one who is
blessed.

Also, Swaminiji's article is the first in a series that will, over the next few editions of
Skt, cover Swaminiji's teaching of Dhanyakam that was given at a retreat
several years ago. You will see two new 'Regular Features' columns. The first is a
Vednta Glossary column. In each edition of the newsletter, clear explanations of
one or two important words for your Vednta vocabulary will be explained. The
writers may include interesting information about the word's grammatical
background, its etymology, or some recollection about their own insights when
meeting the word for the first time.

The word blessed is a relative

term. It varies from place to place,
and person to person. In Eugene if
we have a dry minute in the winter,
enough time to rush out and come
back without it raining, it is such a blessing! If you go to Arizona and it rains just
one drop thats a blessing.

Another first, is the 'Vedic Traditions' column. In this edition you will read about
Kartika Msam - our writer is a dedicated student of Swaminijis who many of you
may already know. Kavita has a tremendous knowledge about traditional
backgrounds and a lively and informative writing style.
Yet another reason this edition of Skt is special is because of what has been going
on behind the scenes. We have dedicated volunteers to solicit and follow up on article
submissions thereby helping all who submit articles meet the timelines. There are
new editors and a great team of proof-readers. Layout, along with picture preparation
are other areas in which people are helping out. We hope you enjoy the product of
our combined efforts.

For the person who wants to sell a car that rarely runswhen it runs it is totally
on Bhagavns will, not yours that person feels blessed when he finally manages
to sell the car, to three people - three people? Yes, some parts for person number
one, another set of parts for person number two, and the wheels and tires, for person
number three! All three people, who bought this set of junk parts, also feel blessed.
That is why this vara arrangement is very nice; everybody goes away thinking,
I got a good deal.

As we move forward into the new year, we invite your suggestions for other changes
you might like to see in upcoming editions. We would definitely like to receive more
questions for the satsang section. You can send questions directly to Swaminiji that
can then be published in futured editions.

A blessing is relative in another sense in that the same person, who feels blessed
in one moment can feel un-blessed in the second moment. From blessing to unblessing in not that much time. At the time of marriage somebody says, Oh, I got
to be one with this person I have loved for so long. What a blessing! A few days
later, because the spouse is very untidy - you just have to follow the trail of all kinds

Happy reading!
The Skt publishing team - Anand, Charu, Harinder, Janani, Kate, Kavita, Laura,
Mayaskari, Ramakrishnan

of things they have dropped, from

clothes to orange peels, to find the
spouse - that same person says, I
dont want this. What happened to
the blessing?

ones life to gaining completion.

This is a blessing, because it is the seeking that brings you to the teaching. It starts
with trying to do well in school, then finding a job and trying to do well in the
workplace. Is that enough? No, because there is always another job, a better job,
a bigger job, a promotion. Then what happens when you run out of promotions?
Then you start buying up corporations. Are you happy when youve bought up
ten corporations?

Then there is a third point about

blessings that is seeing the blessing
in the non-blessing. To sit in this
classroom and listen to the stra
from a qualified teacher, that is
indeed a blessing. However, those
who are out shopping today because
it is Black Friday do not see it as a
blessing. Only a few people who are
spiritually evolved can understand
that listening to stra is a blessing.

Or one gets marriedseveral times, each time thinking, this is the ultimate time,
this is the last time, this one is for real. This is what each one says at every marriage.
This is the seeking human being. The premise is I am incomplete and I want
something to make my life worthwhile, or in other words, blessed. What that thing
is, is subject to time and space, its relative, even for the same person. The same
person who likes rain one day may not want rain the next day. The same person
who likes something one day may want to get rid of it the next day, and that thing
ends up in the garage sale. You can think again and again of these situations.

So are you blessed or not blessed?

One minute blessed, another minute not blessed. This is the human problem.
Whatever you want is rife with this precipice of it being, a blessing if you get it,
sometimes a blessing if you dont get it, a blessing if you get it and then lose it, or
sometimes it is not a blessing at all. You dont know. One is confused.

Then just who is this blessed person these verses are applauding? If all blessings
are relative, personalized, even general blessings like marriage, job, etc., are
personalized, and whatever one wants, and gets, is finite, what is the big deal? By
the time you have said blessed one, which is just three syllables, the person who
was the blessed one has become the ex-blessed one. This is how quickly
everything is changing. If indeed, however, there are people who feel blessed, who
feel like they have made it in life, who are not seeking, where are they? Further,
why am I, unlike them, still seeking life after life?

What then ultimately is a blessing? This is something we have to ascertain.

Blessings are equal to whatever I want in this particular time and place. Blessing
means, nobody should harm me, nobody should give me grief, and I should be
allowed to live my life doing whatever I want and not doing what I dont want, like
housework! What I want seems to be always elusive. What I dont want comes
bountifully and in plenty. One becomes a blessing chaser because one is aware of
the fact that each time I have a blessing, very quickly it turns into a cursing, not a
blessing.

We follow the majority, thinking that the majority is correct. However, the
majority is not always correct. When Galileo said that the earth orbited the sun he
was ostracized by the church and forced to recant his statement lest he be burned
at the stake. While there is safety in numbers this mass mentality, when one thinks
it must be correct because everyone is thinking this same way, makes one a
prisoner of the majority without interrogating the thinking, without asking, does
it apply to me, is it true?

So what do I want? Blessing. How much do I want? Endless amounts. When

do I want it? Yesterday. What do I get? Small, small, infrequent blessings. So I
become a blessing chaser and a blessing holder. The provisional understanding is
that I am not complete, and this wanting individual not knowing him/herself to be
complete is seeking blessings of various kinds. An incomplete being, the one
whose self-understanding is that I am incomplete, tries to devote all the activity of

The conditional premise, that this I is incomplete, also has to be interrogated.

Beginning at three months this I is given props so it can be pacified. The baby
cries, and the parent gives it a pacifier. Later the child gets a doll or a truck; one
keeps changing the props/pacifiers as the child grows up. By the time one is an

adult, one is bound by stocks and bonds

keeps watching the ticker tape all the
time. This is an obsession, without it I
feel that I am not secure. This insecurity
is what we see everybody participating
in, starting from animal forms. The
squirrel is hoarding away its nuts, the
birds are migrating south and then
coming back, all for the sake of survival
and security. We see the same in
humans; everyone is shopping on Black
Friday. If we go with the belief that the
majority is correct, then this fact that I
am insecure, this provisional fact, must also be true.

I dont know, why?

Because it was full of problems. An eight-year-old told me this joke. It is a silly
joke, but we still laugh, and when we laugh there is no seeking. So this security is an
elusive little fellow, it keeps coming and going, present then absent, present then
absent. But really speaking, it never came. And if it did not come, how can it go?
It was there all along, it is there all along, it will be there all along. That is what we
mean by timelessness.
The word for timelessness in Sanskrit is anantam. This timeless security, the secure
I that is timeless, is it sentient or insentient? Sentient. How do you know? Because
I am talking, is all you have to say. The secure I is sentient. With relation to that
sentiency we talk about, which is aware of everything including time and space, the
word for that sentiency, in Sanskrit, is jnam. With relation to oneself that sentiency
is called, cit, and this sentience is an existent sentience; it is here. How do we know?
Because you say, I am. When something exists, it is called sat in Sanskrit. So we have
satyam, jnam, anantam, or sat, cit, nanda which is the definition of tman, I,
and also for Brahman. The name for that timeless, secure, sentience, which is the
meaning of the word aham, I is Brahaman. That I alone is secure, it is sentient,
and it is here.

But really speaking, all we need to do is a little bit of thinking to establish some
logical basics. What is real is non-negatable, and what is not real is negatable. So,
if this insecurity is real, and if it is here to stay, then I should experience it all the time.
Is it there all the time? No, all you need to do is sleep. Where does the insecurity go?
It was never there, because if it was really there, it cannot go. And if it is not there,
it cannot come. Uh-oh, now we are in very deep quicksand; if its not there, it cannot
be experienced and, if it is there, it should not go. This is the paradox, the stuff of
which Vednta is made.

So the I is sentient and we have demonstrated, logically speaking, that it is not

insecure. It is not insecure, because if insecurity is the truth of it, then it should be
insecure all the time. But there are lapses in the insecurity, enough lapses for me to
question the nature of this I. And then finally, it is this presence which says, I am,
is a self-revealing, is a self-cognizant presence, meaning that I am cognizant of
myself. Im cognizant of other things in this room, in this world, in this universe.
Thats why I often say in meditation that there are only two things: I and this.
Aham pratyaya gocara. The subject of I cognition, which is only I, and all other
things that are objects of this cognition, idam pratyaya gocara.

Let us look at this again. In sleep, there is no insecurity. In fact one loves to go to
sleep because one feels very secure in sleep. The whole establishment has also
recognized this, this love of sleep is why there are all these over-the-counter sleeping
pills. Sleep is secure, but really speaking, I am not quite there to enjoy that security;
this is the problem in sleep. Thats why sleep is not enough to take away the feeling
that I am a wanting person. Therefore I have to see if there are other times in my life
that I feel secure, even without sleep. There are many times and many places when
I feel that Im not lacking anything. Nor is it always necessary to fulfill your desire,
even without fulfilling your desire you can find yourself a non-lacking person. If you
see the smile of a small baby, what desire did you fulfill? Maybe you dont even like
babies that much, but here it is, cooing at you, smiling away, and then you cannot help
but smile. In that moment you are contentment itself. A flower, or a silly joke told
by a small child, can do the same. Why was the math book really sad?

For right now, the working definition of the this cognition and the I cognition
is that they are two separate things. What is referred to by I is very different from
what is referred to by this. There is this book (Swaminiji holds up a book), and
I, the observer of the book; the book is observed. The book is insentient, I am
sentient. Book is object of knowledge, I is knower, the one that has knowledge.
How can they be one and the same? Subject and object. Subject is aware of object,
can we say the other way round? Can the book be aware of me? No. That is the truth

of every object that is introduced, referred to, by the word this.

of its place of security, of inhabiting that truth which it is, and the this overtakes
and defines the I. The this, by nature being finite, being the object of my
awareness, will always come to an end. Further, whenever I place the I in the same
place as this then the sadness comes, fear comes, incompletion comes. This is the
truth of what this is all about.

Thankfully the fork and the spoon are referred to as this; if they also were conscious
of me, then they would say, I am hungry and before I eat, the fork and spoon would
eat your food! What to talk of the table and the chairs? Chairs will say, I am not
going to be sat upon all the time, I have rights, we need to go in for collective
bargaining, you are not allowed to sit on me. Or sometimes they might be rude chairs
and say, Youve put on weight, youve become fat.

Therefore, we have to be very careful and secure in knowing the nature of this I
which is unassailable by what is insentient. A bunch of this-es cannot displace I,
much less define I. This has to be kept in its place, and I has to be in its place.
Later on, much later, we can say, this is
nothing but a projection of the I but, we
are not there yet.

The distinction between sentient and insentient, even in the relative sense, is good
to have. I and this dont get confused. That which is I is I, that which is this
is this. So long as the two are kept separate there is sanity and security in my life.
But frequently what happens is that the objects of the this cognition slowly
infiltrate into I. Like the Occupy movement, the objects of this cognition carry
a banner saying, Occupy I. You hear of Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Eugene, but
here the objects of this cognition, as it were, stage a silent protest with a little banner
that says, Occupy I. The obfuscation between the I and the this, is what causes
one to feel this insecurity. So long as they are in their places, the this cannot occupy
I. The this does not infiltrate into the definition of I, whether individually or
collectively; this is this and I am I. That is sanity. That is security.

Right now, this is this and, I am I. If

this infiltrates into I, even through the
back door, I find myself feeling less secure,
feeling less in touch with the truth of I,
feeling less happy, less contented. In order
to regain the truth of I, what do I have to
do? Dispatch the this into its place. Have a health-full boundary between I and
this. So this is this, I is I.

When the this starts to crawl into the I space there is confusion. It is like that
traveler, Mohammed, in the desert. He had a camel that he rode during the day, and
at night he pitched a tent, tied the camel outside, and slept in the tent. One hour after
he went to sleep, what did the camel do? Master, my nose is very, very cold. Can
I put my nose in the tent?

So what is this blessed-ness that we are talking about? Is there a hint of objective
blessed-ness in addition to all the small, small subjective blessed-nesses that we have
been talking about? If there is an objective blessed-ness, what is it? It is completely
tethered in that timeless security that is the truth of myself. That is what is blessed.
If all of the sadness comes from the infiltration of the non-I into the I territory, and
the I territory is not protected from the non-I territory, that is what happens; it
happens because of self-ignorance, which well be hearing a lot about.

Mohammed said, Sure.

Then one hour later, the camel woke Mohammed up again saying, My hooves are
very, very cold. Can I put them in the tent? Just the first two feet?

What do I have to do? I have to repatriate the I back where it is, which is of course
a blessing beyond all the relative blessings. It is a permanent blessing because the
I being infinite, means that that blessing does not end. This octet, eight verses, is
in praise of those that have repatriated the I, who abide in the I. Those that have
imbibed this knowledge from their teachers, and who, undisturbed by this, are
reveling in the truth of this I.

All right.
Then another hour later the camel says, My neck is very, very cold. Can I just put
it in the tent?
Then what? In the morning the camel is inside and Mohammed is outside, freezing
to death. The camel is nice and warm, saying, What are you chattering over there?
Go bring me my milk, and ordering Mohammed around.

Why do we need to know about such peoples lives? If you already know who you
are, you dont need to read a description of yourself, and this text would be rendered

This is a very deep story. It illustrates what happens to the I if the I is put out

obsolete. If I dont know I, if Im entangled

in this-ness, rather than the I-ness, then
reading this will be like a foreign language.
So, to read this is of no use either way. If I
know I, then I dont need a self-description,
and if I dont know I, how will this make
sense? Im only seeing the blessings of the
finite and Im trying to tweak the finite to
make it infinite. Therefore, this is of no use
either way.

ivpardha Kampaa Stotram

by Usha Venkateshwaran
We in Atlanta were blessed by two
weeklong visits in April and July of
2014 by Swaminiji Svatmavidyananda
Saraswati giving inspiring talks on
ivpardha Kampaa Stotram of r
Adi akara Bhagavatpdchrya.
Each session was a learning session and
one felt clearer
just listening to
Swaminiji.

Shall we close the book right now? No. This

is one of those trick questions! Its a wake-up
check. di akara himself gives the
explanation in his commentary to the second
chapter of the Bhagavad Gt, starting verse
54 and on. Arjuna asks the question,
sthitaprajasya k bh samdhisthasya
keava, sthitadh ki prabheta kim sta
vrajeta kim. Arjuna has a question after
receiving a vision of this I from Lord Ka. He has a very valid question. He says,
Please describe to me the ways of the person who knows the nature of this truth of
this I, who abides in the I. Praja, knowledge of I, knowledge of Brahman,
knowledge of vara, Bhagavn, God, as oneself. Sthita means the one who has the
ability to stay, who doesnt dilly-dally and flirt with this knowledge, but the one who
is abiding in this knowledge. K bh, how do they speak? How does the person
who abides in the truth of himself/herself, walk? Kim sta, how do they sit? How
do they talk, ki prabheta? di akara in the commentary to this Gt verse, and
onwards, says the very thing that I said. If you know that you are a person of
knowledge, you dont need a self-description because that is your very identity. But
for those that dont know, it can be the stepping stones. The behavior and the mindset
of a person of knowledge can be the stepping stones, the blueprint to understanding
that for oneself. So that is why we are going to see how the blessed ones live, and
how they think, and how did they get there. This becomes a blueprint for us, and
every verse is a rung on the ladder of ones own spiritual evolution.

In this stotram, Adi Shakara has

adopted a unique methodology of
teaching by vividly portraying a jva
who has gone through the pangs of
samsra in different stages of life only to
realize later that the only way out of this
samsra is by knowing of the truth of oneself, which is no less than vara, Lord iva,
the sustainer of the universe.
In Verse one of the kampaa stotram, the jva is asking for forgiveness for all its
actions in the previous births which are the cause for its present birth and the terrible
pain it undergoes in the womb. Verses two to four describe the pain and sorrow a
jva undergoes during childhood, youth, and old age. Verses five to nine bring out
the guilt and pain of the jva for not having followed the family tradition of nitya pja
(daily prayer), dhyna (meditation), yaja (fire rituals), dna (charity), and tapas
(austerity). By describing the acts and omissions of this jva in great detail Adi
Shakara is teaching ones duties throughout life.
Through the onslaught of prrabdha karma (karma that unfolds during this life), the
jva finds itself in many helpless situations, and yet is unable to perform the needed
actions. Due to ignorance, one identifies oneself with antma, ones body-mind-

To Be Continued

10

sense complex, and thinks of

oneself as the doer, kart. Without
acknowledging Bhagavn the jva
finds itself unable to perform
needed actions.

inner space from where one can just witness one's thoughts rather than identify with
them. It brings out the inner harmony that makes one available for ravanam.
Through ivpardha kampaa stotram, one invokes the purity and
auspiciousness of the truth of oneself, and prays for the grace to see the whole
universe as the glory of Bhagavn, and to know that glory, that is infinite, as the very
truth of oneself. Om

The only hope for freedom from the

flood of ones karma and the
resulting pain and sorrow is to free
oneself from the notion of
doership. For this, knoweldge of oneself as whole and complete, gained through
ravaam from a qualified teacher is required. ravaam requires a relatively
peaceful mind which is gained by bringing Bhagavn into ones life. Laying oneself
at the altar that is Bhagavn one slowly comes to the understanding that karma
unfolds in keeping with varas order and one learns to accept it gracefully.

Atlanta Retreat: Purua Sktam

by Bala Sundaram

The word sktam stands for well done or well said. Sktams are given by Bhagavn.
In this way we are not creating our own views of things; nothing can be better said
than how the sktam says it.
The word purua can be understood in two ways - the jva that all of us see as the name
and form, and Bhagavn, who is described as satyam-jnam-anantam Brahma. In
Purua Sktam, the purua stands for Bhagavn.

One gains a relative anti through prayer, a powerful karma by which which one can
neutralize the effects of ones wrong actions. ivpardha kampaa stotram is a
prayer that helps to neutralize fear or alienation from (i) oneself, (ii) ones family,
(iii) the guru, teacher, (iv) the ruti, scriptures, and (v) the understanding of oneself
as free and whole. By chanting the ivpardha kampaa stotram with raddh,
a deep faith pending understanding, one is sure to recognize ones indebtedness to
ones ancestors, ones guru, and to vara.

There are two etymological definitions of purua.

Etymological definition 1: Purua - puri ete
Puri ete, meaning sleeps in the city, implies that the jva is sleeping the sleep of
tamas and ignorance - ajna nidr. This means we are asleep to the glory of the truth
of ourself, and are awake to all the superimpositions made on our self that result in
a case of mistaken identity.

Verses 10 to 16 describe the real nature and the external form of Lord iva at whose
altar the jva lays all
doership
and,
with
complete raddh and
viveka
(discrimination),
invokes His Grace. Such
grace is needed to help
neutralize
rga-dveas
(likes-dislikes), that drive
the action that results in
pain and sorrow when the
rga-dveas
are
not
fulfilled. Prayer creates an

Etymological definition 2:
Purua - sarvn prayati
purua
This means that this purua is
all accommodative and
pervasive; it is another word
for Bhagavn. This purua
pervades
everything
including the purua in the
first definition.
Purua
purua is a mahvkya. It

11

that the devas gave the purua in a sacrifice to gain some benefits! This, however,
must be understood metaphorically. The sacrifice of the purua is an as though
sacrifice and implies that the entire jagat resolves into the purua, revealing the truth
of one undivided whole, that is Brahman.
We can approach the Purua Sktam as an altar for the surrender of ignorance in two
stages. The understanding that the entire universe is Bhagavn, that is, Bhagavn is
indeed the truth of the universe, is the first stage.
The second stage is understanding that there is no separation between me and
Bhagavn other than ajnam, ignorance. Once we have assimilated this, there is
no fear. When there is no fear, there is no grief. Without fear and grief there is
no bondage, and we abide in our true selves.
says that the first purua, the jva, is not what it thinks itself to be; it is the second
purua, Bhagavn.
So what or who is this Bhagavn? Where is this Bhagavn and how can we see
Bhagavn? Purua Sktam answers these questions. The Purua Sktam also acts
as a prayer and altar of surrender for the jva. Purua Sktam says that the jagat,
universe, is a manifestation of Bhagavn allowing the jva to appreciate the formless
Bhagavn.
We may ask, if purua is satyam-jnam-anantam Brahma that is one without
second, how can we explain the varied manifestations?
The Purua Sktam answers this question by first defining Bhagavn as the causeless
cause of the universe, jagat kraam. It is because of my, the feminine akti,
power, of Bhagavn, that the as though jagat is manifest. So the jagat is nothing but
Bhagavn with name and form - purua eva idam sarvam - all this is Bhagavn
alone. Yad bhtam yacca bhavyam - past, (present) and future is Bhagavn. Even
when the jagat resolves, Bhagavn is, and a new universe will manifest.
So, the effect, which is this universe, is non-separate from the cause - Bhagavn. But
the important thing to understand is that although the effect is non-separate from the
cause, the cause is not the effect.
The Sktam then traces the sequence of creation from purua to vir, Lord as the
manifest jagat. Even though everything in this universe is purusa, puruas glory is
far more than what we see.
Next, from the Sktams imagery of a yaja homa, one might be led to understand

12

Lord Dakimrty Shrine Third Anniversary

October, 2014 Eugene

13

Anniversary
Continued

14

by Charu Shivakuma

shining, changeless, aham. Just as all dream objects resolve when one awakens from
the dream state, when one is awakened from the sleep of ignorance the world of
objects, idam, cognitively resolves into aham.

The Thanksgiving Retreat was held in Eugene under the auspices of Swamini
Svatmavidyanandaji. The topic was, Resolving Alienation in Ones Life:
Teachings from the Bhagavad Gt

Much as the sun appears to be eclipsed by Rahu, even though vara pervades
everything, ignorance eclipses the knowledge of oneself as non-separate from
vara. Identified with the body-mind-sense complex one thinks of duality as
reality, and sees oneself as away from vara, and feels alienated.

Reflections on the Thanksgiving Retreat

What does alienation mean? Swaminiji's explanation of the word was simple and
lucid: alienation is a timeless experience of loneliness, a feeling felt by almost
everyone at some time or another. Explaining that one need not be alone to feel
alienated, Swaminiji gave the example of Arjuna, as
he stood in the middle of the battlefield, filled with
grief and feeling alienated. He was in a terrible
dharmasakata, a dharmic-quandary, to fight, or not
to fight, against his family and teachers. In total
surrender he turns to Ka for help, whereupon
Ka imparts to him the knowledge that will remove
Arjuna's feelings of alienation and grief.

When one takes duality to be real, a pressure to go against dharma builds. One strives
to fulfill desires which one mistakenly believes will bring happiness. By practicing
seeing vara in everything, the pressures are reduced, and gradually one learns to
gracefully accept what cannot be changed
Swaminiji concluded the sessions by explaining the meaning of the verse man man
bhava in Bhagavad Gt. She explained that one must grow to be a dharmic person,
for dharma is in keeping with the order of vara. One does this through karma yoga,
an attitude of devotion in doing what is to be done: all that one does is for vara
alone. In this way one learns to gracefully accept the results as varas prasd.
In time one comes to recognize changes in oneself. The knowledge of the self is not
available as mental speculation or academic scholarship and already being the truth
of who you are, it is not something to be acquired. It is something to be understood,
to be known; it is the very truth of oneself.

One must understand the difference between spiritual

knowledge and knowledge of empirical reality.
Arjuna received spiritual knowledge, the knowledge of the self, aham, I. Idam, this,
on the other hand, refers to the world of objects, empirical reality, the jagat. The
knowledge we get through our usual pramnas, is of idam only. Swaminiji stressed
that one must clearly understand this vital difference between aham and idam.

Reflections on the Thanksgiving Retreat

by Trupti Trivedi

Aham is self-effulgent, changeless, sentient and limitless. The entire world of

objects, idam, shines in the borrowed light of aham. Nma-rpas are only
perceptions. While you cannot say they do exist, you also cannot say they dont exist.
The example of clay and pot demonstrate this paradox. If I hold the pot and tell you
that you can take the pot, but leave the clay, can you do it? No. Nor can I say that clay
is pot, because then how to explain other pots/bowls/dishes, etc? While pots, bowls
and dishes are clay, clay is not any one of them.

The topic of the recently concluded Thanksgiving retreat was the last verse of the
Ninth Chapter of Bhagavad Gt. The verse talks about the one who sees Bhagavn
in everything, everywhere, at all times.
The Ninth Chapter is named "Rja Vidy Rja Guhya Yoga meaning king of all
knowledge which is also king of all secrets. It is a secret because even when it is told
it is not understood.
Each jva is born with a set of rgas-desires, dveas - dislikes, fears and past life
impressions. These give rise to a feeling of alienation from the world that comes
from duality: aham - subject I, and idam - this, or everything else. The problem this

Similarly, everything in the jagat is a projection of vara. Not understanding this

truth the jva takes the body-mind-sense-complex, which is idam, to be the self-

15

Manman bhava: May you be the one whose mind is never away from me. The
thinker, thought and the object of the thought are all one, rising from, and sustained
by, the same awareness which is "I". I learn to accept what is, which results in grace
and spiritual growth. May you never allow ignorance to prevail over the knowledge
of yourself as me.
Madbhakta bhava: May you be one who is devoted to me. May you go about your
life always secure in your connection with me, so that you never feel insecure when
you are relating to the universe.
Madhyj Bhava: May you see the whole universe as an opportunity for my worship.
Whatever you do make it into a worshipful act.
Namaskuru: Surrender ignorance unto knowledge.
Matparyao bhava: Make me your ultimate goal.
Mamevaishyasi: (Having equipped yourself thus) you will gain me, which is
nothing but yourself.

creates is twofold. First, I dont know the truth of myself. The jva thinks that I
is subject to grief. The second problem is mistaking itself for something that it is not,
and therefore taking the world of idam to be aham.

By building a relationship with vara and recognizing various orders in universe as

none other than vara, one learns to settle rga-dvea accounts with vara, instead
of with the world. One becomes objective and prepared for the knowledge.

The only relationship between aham and idam is that of revealer - subject, I - and
revealed - object, this. Since aham is the revealer, the existence - asti, awareness
- bhti, and the pleasantness -priyam, that are attributed to idam come from, are
sustained by, and resolve into, aham. The nature of this aham is asti-bhti-priyam
or sat-cit-nanda. However, just knowing the nature of I is not enough; one needs
to know that Iis Brahman.

Reflections on the Thanksgiving Retreat

by Leela Krishnamurthy
The Thanksgiving Retreat was sheer magic for me and especially very useful to
maneuver oneself through the ocean of samsra. Swaminiji very deftly took us
through the description of alienation - essentially a feeling of aloneness, or
separation from oneself, leaving one overpowered with sorrow and fear. However,
the self does not experience any alienation as per the stra, therefore, it must not be
the I that has the experience.

Brahman is asti-bhti-priyam. What distinguishes aham asti-bhti-priyam from

Brahman asti-bhti-priyam is the updhi, an as-though conditioning agent.
vara, which is synonymous with Bhagavn, has as-though taken an updhi for
itself and, as-though, given many different updhis to the jvas. The difference
between jva and Bhagavn, are as real as the updhi. My the feminine akti of
Bhagavn, gives Bhagavn a shining cloak, while giving jva a tattered cloak lined
with tears and fears. On top of this, the prtibhsikam, the subjective reality, of the
jva collaborates by projecting its own private grief and sorrow onto the asti-bhtipriyam. Jva is unable to extricate itself from this projection.

Swaminiji introduced the concept of aham and idam. The aham is I and idam is
everything else. Idam includes the body-mind-sense complex.
Everything, idam, is evident to aham and in truth, idam is not different from aham.
The feeling of alienation really resides in the I-notion, ahakra, that takes itself as
separate and different from all that is perceived as idam. The ahakra is really just
a notion. What a relief!

This is where the last verse of the Ninth Chapter comes to our rescue; with
Bhagavns intervention it helps us to break out of this stagnation. Bhagavn says:

16

So, the alienation has no source and is an

impostor. So cool! I was delighted that this
alienation guy who causes havoc in our
lives is only a little shadow. Aham is the
revealer and idam is the revealed. Hearing it
explained like this, I really experienced a lot
of clarity in my thinking.

Divine Expansion
by Varun Viswanathan

Swaminiji then talked about the three

principles of asti, bhti, and priyam present
in both aham and idam. The only actual
difference between the two is that idam gains
a name and form. There is only one
existence, that of aham and idam is an
incidental expression of the former. Idam
exists because of I, it is sustained by I, and
resolves into I. One has to understand this aham, but it is not known fully to the jva
because of ignorance.

Expanding In Our Heart Seeing the Start

Of the Ascension of Spirit In This Dimension
See In a New Direction As We Look To the Horizon
And Notice the Arisin of the Season
Of the Divine Will Feel the Fill
In Ourself Get Our Magic Back Off the Shelf

Whereas Bhagavn is asti, bhti, and priyam alone, the jva is asti, bhti, and priyam
and ignorance. The former is limitless and not subject to pain and sorrow, while the
latter is a field, where ignorance, pain, and sorrow are experienced.

As We Seal the Void Stop Being Like a Droid

Break Out of Our Mind To Find
What Its Like To Be Behind the Silence of the Soul
Its a New Goal to Break Out of the Mold And Be Bold
Get Out of the Hold of Pride Wear a New Hide
See Inside Through the Third Eye And No You Dont Have To Die
To Be Yourself Even If Youre Not an Elf

At the conclusion Swaminiji explained that if the connection with the source, with
Bhagavn, is missing, one follows idam instead of searching for aham.
Swaminiji used the model of the 12-step program to show one has to start with
acknowledging one is addicted to samsra and needs help. She likened other steps
to the process of finding a teacher, following the teachings, and establishing an altar
of surrender.
The verse that brought the teaching to light for those at the retreat begins with the
Lord saying, may you be one whose mind is never away from me. Actually, it is
nothing more than a by-product of the shadow of ignorance that causes one to even
imagine it is possible to be away from Bhagavn. When one loses this ignorance, the
jagat becomes benign and beautiful. Bhagavn says be the one who is devoted,
worship me always and surrender to me. Telling the devotee to make Bhagavn the
only pursuit, Bhagavn says that one gains the truth, that is vara, and is none other
than oneself. Beautiful. Om.

Cause Its About Acceptance Not Resistance

Feeling the Unity of Our Community
Theres Diversity In This University of Reality
Seems Like Fantasy But Really Its Just Synchonicity
Raising the Vibration of This City

17

Dakimrty Pradoa
and

Satsang with Swaminiji, December 19, 2014

18

understand and relate. From day one itself we couldn't wait for next session, as she
left us hanging on each word and longing for more, class after class. By the end we
all were completely transformed, asking for her website and archives of her
discourses. There were long lines outside her door everyday as bhaktas waited to
speak to her and sign-up for the pravacana CDs .

Year End Camp with Swaminiji: Saylorsburg

by Trupti Trivedi
Our family drove from Atlanta to
AVG, Saylorsburg for the year-end
family Vednta course.
Each
morning at 5:45 am sharp there was
abhieka to Lord Dakimrty,
followed by a 30-minute guided
meditation.
The texts covered were select verses
from Kaivalya Upaniad and
Navadh
Bhakti
by
Swami
Pratyagbodhanandaji.
KaliSaraa Upaniad followed, with
Swamini Svatmavidyanandaji.
Swami Pratyagbodhanandaji, lovingly called Swami P at the Ashram, reminded me
of Hanumn, for his bhakti, devotion, and deep connection to his Guruji, Pujya
Swamiji. It was amazing to note that he had mannerisms, both in speech and facial
expressions, like Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati Maharaj, as Swami P called his
guru lovingly. It was heart-warming and inspiring to hear him talking about his guru
several times in each of his discourses, even having graduated 40 years ago from
gurukulam. I have long forgotten most of my influential teachers after graduating
only 17 years ago! Bhakti was invoked in every heart as we heard of Ka lla,
literally making Ka come alive in the room. Rma and Hanumn made all
Vedntins swoon with bhakti - so much so that they demanded more of it and many
evening satsangs were given up for continuing the topic of Navadh Bhakti!! In the
morning Kaivalya Upaniad class, Swami P taught the difficult concepts of Vednta,
lovingly fed to us with jokes, which not only kept us in a good mood and awake.
Pujya Swaminiji Svatmavidhyanandaji was able to connect and speak to every one of
the bhaktas, in a personal way through her jna yaga. With her sharp intellect,
masterful and complete control over several languages, knowledge about current
events in the world from astronomy to politics and her deep understanding and
knowledge of Vednta, she communicated so that people in the modern era, could

19

The evening Q&A sessions with her were a complete delight as she answered most
difficult questions with great compassion, objectivity and insight.
Towards the end of the retreat the kids performed a play on Navadh Bhakti. It was
wonderfully staged with elaborate costumes. Srimati Savitriji a Mumbaikar travels to
and fro, is 80 years old and has rendered 25 years of tireless seva to the Saylorsburg
Gurukulam. The farewell song dedicated to her and other speeches, moved her to
tears.
On 31st December we performed Lord Dakimrty lakarcana and mla-mantra
japa, elaborately set-up with kalaa, coconut and flowers for each devotee. Thus
2015 was invited in, in the most auspicious way.
At this retreat our family was able to connect to our roots, the ancient knowledge and
wisdom of our gurus, and spend a week in intense and fast-track Vednta studies,
uninterrupted by samsaric duties, stress from job and kids. Our commitment to
learning has grown stronger. We feel the continuous blessings of our gurus, who have
tirelessly, selflessly devoted their lives for Brahma-jna and who help us be more
connected to our true self.
We are forever grateful to Pujya Swamiji for having this vision of an Ashram in
Pennsylvania. Away from our homeland, India, we bhaktas can come and connect
with our roots, immerse in Vednta studies and pja, and meet other Vedntins in
beautiful resort like settings.
From the vysa pha, one could feel the grace of Pujya Gurudev, and Bhagvn Sri
Dakimrty, flowing continuously and transforming us.

GS

ay

sb

of

2014, AV

or

Ye

ar

mp
Ca

En

u rg

20

End of Year Retreat, Saylorsburg:

Kali Saraa Upaniad
by Kavita Meegama
In every individual there appears to be two people - an adult and a child. The
sattvic adult makes the decisions, always saying yes', and the tamasic child
is indecisive, difficult to please. Bound by the latter, everyone seeks freedom,
usually by frequenting malls, balls and movies, they pursue finite acts even
though they seek the infinite.
In this way we are all mumukus, those desirous of
freedom. For real freedom, however, one must
transition from being a mumuku to a jijsu, one
desirous of knowing. A jijsu knows, I am what I
seek. The as though ignorance has been removed.
The inner conflict is relatively resolved. Managing
our likes and dislikes, we are able to lie the inner
child, essentially a bunch of frozen needs, to rest,
and not succumb to alienation, fear, insecurity, hurt
and guilt so easily.

both individually and collectively, in the current time period by offering us a

traka mantra. Mantra does not replace jna. The mantra helps us to
strengthen the mind which helps us pursue Vednta without being waylaid by
the inner child.
The Upaniad tells that Nrada, who is cursed by Daka to roam the earth
during Kali yuga, asks Brahmaji for help. Brahmaji tells Nrada, that by
repeatedly chanting nryaa one can be free of all kali, disputes, and
kalmaa, longings, desires, fears and sorrows and
thus be prepared for knowledge. The mantra is an
atonement and reparation both. It repairs the tears
in the anta karaa. It removes the longing for
what we can never have and also resolves the
conflict inside.
Brahmaji gives Nrada this traka mantra: hare
rma hare rma, rma rma hare hare, hare ka
hare ka, ka ka hare hare. Hare - hey
hari, the one who takes away; rma - hey rma, the
one in whom we revel. Ka - hey ka, the one
who attracts, pulls towards himself.

Our stra deals with this inner child a lot. It shows

us how to get the child to leave, making room for the
mumuku to become a jijsu. First, stra says that
all that is, which includes you, is pervaded by
vara. Then it resolves the two-fold problem we all
face: not understanding the truth, and assuming the
non-truth, to be the truth.
Vednta shows us it is because of the shining, selfevident I, that everything else shines. So why do I,
this self-evident, shining I, feel limited? We cannot know our real nature
without stra, Vednta. To remove the notion of my limitedness I have to seek
help and develop a relationship with Bhagavn. I have to discover Bhagavn
in the various orders of the universe. The Kali Saraa Upaniad offers a
way for us to cross samsra in Kali yuga. It helps us manage the unconscious,
21

The mantra directs a specific devata, to a specific

task, with a specific call. When we call in a
plumber, or a chaiwallah, for a specific purpose,
when they arrive they waste no time, and get
straight to work. So too, this mantra gives us direct
access to these specific devatas; Rma being the
embodiment of dharma, denoting the first portion
of the Vedas, and Ka the embodiment of
nanda, denoting the second portion of the Vedas.
Nrada is told that there is no injunction on how to chant this mantra - we can
chant this anywhere, anytime in any situation without worrying about purity
or rules and the like. The Upaniad tells that if we chant this mantra, we will
be absolved of many omissions and be showered with the grace of Bhagavn.

End of Year Camp,

2014
AVG, Saylorsburg

22

Vedanta Glossary

Vedic Traditions

by Kate Herse and Harinder Khalsa

by Kavita Meegama

Welcome to the new Vedanta Glossary section of Skt. This column will be
dedicated to Sanskrit words that are used frequently in our studies.

When we look at jagat, the world of objects, we can divide everything into two
categories tman - I, and antman - not I. While we are in the process of discovering
that all that is here is tman this division highlights the basic confusion - taking
antman to be tman. Anything I can objectify from a flower to the mind, going from
the grossest to the subtlest levels, is antman. It is bound by time, space and form,
therefore it is anity, non-eternal.
tman, not being available for objectification, is arrived at by a process of negation,
called na-iti, na-iti or neti neti. It is not the body. It is not the mind and yet it is aware
of these. It is not the waker, dreamer or sleeper and yet it upholds them all. tman
cannot be objectified as any of the things which we might mistakenly call I. It cannot
be objectified at all, because it is the subject, the one in whose presence all these things
come to be known.
When I take what is antman to be the tman, I identify myself with what is finite.
Whether this identification gives me pleasure or pain at that moment of identification,
it will eventually always lead me to sorrow and fear. So, I need to discover the truth
of myself as tman, the consciousness which brings everything to light including the
body-mind-sense complex. tman is never subject to any kind of limitation and is that
which pervades everything, sarvam pnoti.

The ultimate jyoti, light, is Bhagavn the self effulgent one, that lights up everything
and everybody. Just as a guru lights up the iya by mere presence.
The eighth month of the Hindu lunar calendar is Krtika, so named because the full
moon in this month resides in or near the constellation of kttik nakatra, the star of
fire. It usually corresponds to October-November of the Gregorian calendar. It is
known specifically for the hundreds of lamps that are lit at temples. If Dpvali is the
festival of lights, Krtika is the month of lights.
The fire of the oil or ghee lamp with its warmth and light symbolizes the consciousness
and knowledge in each of us. Fire is also the carrier of our messages to the devats,
in fact the only face of the devats that is visible to us humans.
Pujya Swamiji Dayananda Saraswati in his anugraha bhanam at the "Koti
Deepotsavam" held in Hyderabad during this month spoke on the significance of
lamps in vaidika culture:
Whether you have one light or you have hundred lights or you have ten thousand
lights or one crore lights, one thing is true; the agni, the fire, is one. Agni does not
multiply, it remains the same. It will burn anyone who touches it, and it will light up
its surroundings, that is its gua. There are no two agnis. My eyes are two, but the one
who lights up my eyes is one and what lights up your eyes is the same. What lights
up my ears is the same: rotasya rotam, cakua cakuu, manaso mana; there
is only one light, the light of all lights - the self effulgent light. This is not a philosophy
to contend or fight with, it is not a school of thought. It is just you, it is me, it is
everyone. It is a vision. It is a vision that is shared by us. it is a vision that a guru shares
with a disciple."

Cit means consciousness, sentience. It is that which knows that it exists. It illuminates
all, yet it is self-effulgent. nanda means limitlessness. It is without limits in time;
it has no beginning or end. It is without limits in space; it has no form.

The Puras say that Lord iva defeated Tripursura on Krtika prim and Lord
Vius Matsya avatra appeared also on this day. Krtika prim is also auspicious
to Sikhs and Jains. Guru Nanakji was born on this day in 1469 and Jains start their
pilgrimages to Palitana on Krtika prim. Also Goddess Gag enters all water
bodies in this month making them auspicious for ritual baths. Tulsi Vivah, Vius
marriage to Tulasi is also conducted in this period.

In many texts tman is translated as soul. However, soul has different meanings for
different people depending on their different religious/spiritual traditions. In Advaita
Vedanta one discovers tman to be that which even upholds all the mistaken notions
that one has about the self. It is that consciousness because of which everything is.

This month is extremely auspicious for practicing all kinds of fasting, vows, prayers,
ritual baths and charity. Spiritual practice, sdhana done during this time helps
prepare one for kaivalyapadam. It is also believed that puya accrued during this
month is multiplied manifold.

Furthermore tman is referred to as sat-cit-nanda. Sat means that which exists,

unchanging in the past, present and future and that which cannot be negated.

23

It is customary especially on Mondays of krtika, to wake up at dawn, to take a ritual

river bath, to light lamps, to keep a fast through the day, to chant rudram, chamakam
and to break the fast at dusk after sighting the moon and the stars. This tradition is
called "nattaalu" in Andhra Pradesh when practiced for the whole month.

Then there is no student, teacher, jijsu, mumuku etc. This is a process, and until
this level of clarity is achieved and assimilated, one pursues the teaching with
commitment and raddh.

There is another interesting aspect to this month - vanabhojanalu - people go to nearby

groves and forests to cook and eat under gooseberry trees! Rangolis are ubiquitous this
month, the only difference being they are all made of lamps - in various shapes and
sizes - the most common design being a Shiva Linga usually made of 1008 lamps.

Swaminiji's Teaching and Travel Schedule

Krtika Prima is celebrated on a much grander scale than even Dpvalli. Called
Deva Dpvalli in the North, it is a spectacular sight especially in Kashi where the
banks of the Gag are lit through the night.

All Class times are Pacific Times

Satsang with Swaminiji

If the emotions stemming from the unconscious are not me, then the rgas and
dveas (and avidy) would not seem to be me either. Must they be as though me
in order to prepare for the knowledge? And the categories, mumuku, jni, karma
yogi? Don't they hold us in mithy? Could you help me on this?
All things other than ones nature as free and whole are an as though superimposition
on the I which is free of all attributes, including rga-dvea, ppa-puya. When the
superimposition is not understood, these attributes are mistaken for the self, leading
to fear and sorrow. This mistake has to be removed by self knowledge, as there is no
other way to understand the truth of the self.
The categories, such as mumuku or karma yogi, are given as a way to bring focus and
direction in the life of one who is troubled by regarding the "as though" as real. Such
categories are relevant for the one who is mired in the superimposition as ones own
identity and is subject to fears and tears as a result of this. To identify oneself as a
seeker of the infinite, although mithy, cannot hold one in mithy, as the infinite is
oneself alone. In fact, it is a safe identity as it leads one to a committed pursuit of the
self as whole.
In fact, defining oneself as a jijsu reduces rga-dveas and other senseless pursuits
in ones life and puts one on the correct path to greet the truth of the self. Once self
knowledge is stable and does not shake up the person, the categories naturally resolve.

24

Regular Classes Recommence Sunday Feb 22nd

Weekend Classes
Sundays, 9:30 am-12 noon: Vednta iima on the
following dates: Feb 22nd and March 1st
Saturdays and Sundays, 7:30-9:45 am: Muaka Bhya
Saturdays, 4-5:30 pm: Gt Bhya

Weekday Classes
Tuesdays, 6-7 pm: vetvatara Upaniad
Wednesdays 3:15-4:45 pm Kahopaniad Bhya
Wednesdays 6-7 pm Kahopaniad
Classes are simultaneously streamed via Livestream and Adobe Connect. The
links are reproduced below. Use the links below to access the classroom. Please
note: to access the adobe classroom you need to Enter as a guest. Please type
your name and click Enter.
https://new.livestream.com/Swaminiji
or

https://avmtemple.adobeconnect.com/_a725965367/gita/
Swaminiji's archived classes can be accessed at the following link:
http://www.livestream.com/advaita_SwaminiSvatmavidyanandaji

Travel Schedule
March 13-16: New York/New Jersey
March17-23: Washington DC, various programs
March 26-29: San Francisco
For more information and schedule updates please visit:

arshavm.org