-5th chapter: verses 17, 18, 19, 20
-The lecture was given by Swami Tattwamayananda on August 28, 2020.
-17th verse: “Those who have reached Moksha, whose intellect is absorbed in Brahman, whose identities have become one with the divine Reality, who are steadfast, and whose mental impurities are cleansed – they get free from the wheel of lifecycles.”
-Every action leaves a residual effect (vritti) in our mental system. Many identical vrittis – from similar, repeated actions – solidify a distinct memory block called Samskara. We are born again with Samskaras, which then regulate our life and determine further actions. In this way, the wheel of lifecycles continues.
-Our spiritual quest begins when we think: “Is there something beyond this wheel, and is there a way to come out of it?”
-Buddha taught the world how to get out of the wheel of lifecycles, by following the four noble truths and the noble eightfold path.
-When the spiritual seeker realizes his true spiritual identity – that he is not the body/mind, that he is the eternal Atman – that knowledge is like sunlight that purifies him and removes all his ignorance. His intellect, thoughts and actions are not centered around fleeting objects of enjoyments, but on the transcendental principle of divine unity of existence.
-The seeker then reaches the state of not coming back to this empirical life of worldly existence, of conflicting experience of opposites, such as pleasure and pain, happiness and unhappiness.
-18th verse: “Those great spiritual giants - described in the 17th verse – they are called Panditah. God has become a reality for them. They see the same reality in everything, and everything in that reality. They look with an equal eye on a Brahman with learning, a cow, and elephant, a dog and an ignorant person.”
-A Panditah is one who has realized the reality of Atman, and his identity with the Atman. Whatever he sees within himself, he sees everywhere and in everything. He transcends diversity and gets established in equality of vision.
-The ideal of Panditah may seem unreachable on the surface. Shankaracharya says that whenever a scripture presents a high spiritual ideal, the purpose is to encourage us to slowly develop the characteristics of that ideal. That ideal then starts regulating our actions, thoughts and words. A spiritual seeker should not pretend that he has already reached the highest state.
-Spiritual practices such as Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Swadharma are means to reach that eventual equality of vision. We then realize that the same Atman is present as the immanent divine spark in everyone. We realize that behind all the manifoldness, there is one divine principle.
-This equality of vision is only possible when we practice non-attachment, are free from raga (obsessive attachment) and dwesha (obsessive aversion), and we perform our actions as Swadharma – with a sense of sanctity and sacredness.
-A spiritual seeker should practice friendliness (Maitri) towards fellow spiritual seekers, practice compassion (Karuna) towards those who are less evolved, practice happiness (Mudita) towards those who are more evolved, and practice a filtering attitude (Upeksha) towards those who may shake his faith.
-19th verse: “The highest spiritual seeker has already achieved this goal in this life itself, transcending the relatives. To him spiritual sameness is a fact of everyday life and experience, as his mind is established in Brahman who is the ideal of sameness.”
-When a seeker attains the highest state, he will deeply feel it in his own inner being. He will also develop spiritual common sense to properly live in this world. No one teaches him this common sense – it comes to him with the practice that takes him to the highest state.
-20th verse: “He, who is a Brahma-jnani, who is established in Brahman, who experiences his unity with the entire existence in every micro-moment, whose mind, intellect and attitude is steady, who is free from delusion – he is fully established in even-ness. He is neither jubilant on getting what is pleasant nor depressed when getting what is unpleasant.”
-Our constant quest for enjoyment is the real cause of disappointment. To be happy, we should stop looking for happiness all the time.
-This state of even-ness is the natural characteristic of a spiritually evolved person. This state can only be reached through spiritual realization. The attitude of even-ness is not the goal. The goal is to experience the unity of all existence. The attitude of even-ness is a by-product of the spiritual progress made towards this goal.