SELF KNOWLEDGE

CONTENTS

1. PRAYER

2. KNOW THE KNOWER

3. IN CONVERSATION

4. SNIPPETS OF WISDOM

5. CHILDREN'S CORNER

6. SUBHASHITANI

अह ं$न&व( क*ो $नराकार.पो &वभु2ा3 सव56 सव78Dयाणाम ्। न चास?त ंनैव मुBCन5 मेयः FचदानH.पः Iशवोऽहम ्Iशवोऽहम ्॥६॥

VOLUME :003 MARCH 2019 NO. 1

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SELF KNOWLEDGE 2019 ©Akshar Educational Trust

वागथार्िवव संपृक्तौ वागथर्प्रितपत्तये।

जगतः िपतरौ वने्द पावर्तीपरमेश्वरौ॥ १-१

“ In order to gain mastery in expressing the word and its meaning , I worship the primeval parents of the Universe , Parvati and Parameswara , who are as inseparable as the word from the meaning .”

- Raghuvamsam (Kalidasa)

जाग्रत्स्वप्नसुषुप्त्यािदप्रपञ्चं यत्प्रकाशते ।

तद्ब्रह्माहिमित ज्ञात्वा सवर्बन्धैः प्रमुच्यते ॥

“ That which illumines the fields of experiences such as waking, dream, and deep sleep - knowing that Brahman to be one’s own Self, the wise is liberated from all limitation or bondage.”

- Kaivalya Upanishad

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KNOW THE KNOWER

Swami Suddhananda

The other day a young man asked me a question, “Swamiji, how will you explain Self– knowledge in the simplest way?” I had a flower in my hand, and holding the flower, I asked him, “What is this?” He immediately replied, “Flower”. I asked him to think over the question again. My question was what is this (object)? – The special emphasis is on IS. That object is not a name. It has a name called ‘flower’. When I asked him, "What is this?” his reply was not what the object is but what it has. The object is its own ultimate definition. Any attempt to define it is to ignore the object as it is. The object is not dependent on a name. It does not exist because of a name. Because it exists, it is given a name. Therefore one cannot describe or define the object that is with what it has. The boy understood the limitation of a name in defining the object.

Then I asked him, “Now please tell me. Who are you?” Instantly he replied, “Sriram” I asked him again, “Do you have a name or you are a name?”Again promptly came the reply “of course I have a name. I am not a name.” Then I asked him. “Why do you then tell me what you have, when I am asking you as to who you are?” The boy paused for a while and smiled innocently with the discovered helplessness in answering the simple question. I continued, "Please think it over and reply". “Do you exist because of a name or because you are, therefore you have a name?” Quickly came the reply: "Of course because I am, therefore I have a name”,

Then I asked him: “How will you define yourself – the one who is there even before a name was given to you?” The boy in his innocence did not know what to reply. But the educated, the powerful, the rich, the famous, the notorious, the poor, the helpless, the believer, the non-believer, etc., that we consider ourselves to be, will not pause like the innocent youngster but shall mindlessly answer, “I am a Ph.D,” “I am rich”, “I am an executive”, etc. Obviously the right answer is I ‘have’ riches , I ‘have’ a degree, I ‘have’ a position. Hence to define who ‘I am’ with what ‘I have’ is a serious flaw as the limitation of what ‘I ‘have’ will flow into the ‘I’ – (who has no limits at this moment but is unaware of its limitlessness). But our whole educational system has trained us to define ourselves, to declare our identity to the world through what we ‘have’, and never as what we ‘are’. Even the so called religious or faiths have contributed their share to the existing confusion as when somebody replies to the question ‘who are you?’ in terms of: I am Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist’. Then he is to be questioned whether he has a faith or is a faith.

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SELF KNOWLEDGE 2019 ©Akshar Educational Trust

KNOW THE KNOWER

Swami Suddhananda

You are, or I am, long before being introduced to, or picking up, a faith. This is a religious identity. ‘When somebody says that he is a communist, a capitalist or a socialist, he proclaims the political philosophy that he ‘has’. When these people claim themselves to be secularists with no belief in ‘a’ god, the religious identity associates itself with ‘a’ particular god or faith. But in both the cases of the secularist and the religious, the ‘I’ still remains undefined, as I am not the faith of any kind that I have. I do not exist because of a faith or the absence of it. Rather of a belief system or a ‘disbelief’. Even the non-believer is a ‘believer’ in the disbelief. He feels as much challenged when his disbelief is challenged as even the believer feels challenged when his belief is challenged. Naturally both will look for numerical strength to assert their beliefs as that is the only way out to assert themselves and feel comfortable. Both are lonely and insecure in their beliefs of belief or disbelief, as the individual, the ‘I’ has found shelter under those thoughts. This is the reason why in spite of great strides in education, science, material comforts and secular philosophies, the world is still confused. It is understandable not to believe in ‘a’ god or ‘a’ particular faith because it tends to divide mankind, but the faith in different levels of identity such as riches, poverty, man, woman, childhood, youth, old age, blind, deaf, handicapped, educated, uneducated, scientists, artist, political philosophies, race, colour, geographical positions, shared histories etc. too create numerous gross and subtle divisions as even the name of ‘a’ god or ‘a’ religious faith. A religious person who bows down to a form or formless entity will not bow down to a social or political benefactor. And a bureaucrat or a politician, who will bow down to another political leader, will not bow down to a form or the formlessness, anointed and perpetuated by a belief system. The secularists have not eliminated the imaginary god of a believer but have replaced it with their version of supreme hope, aspiration and comfort.

Both of them will answer to the question ‘who are you’ differently, but the principle behind the answering will remain the same. Both answer, “I am a believer or a non believer”’ with belief in a belief or in a disbelief. They have faiths. But they are no faiths. They are there, long before they pick up faith.

Hence, we can observe that who we ‘are’ or who I ‘am’, has to be the same, though the differences cannot be avoided with the things that we have. The differences at their level is a glory and never cause conflict. Natural differences, like colour, sex, age, etc., cannot be avoided but the artificial differences of richness, poverty, etc. can be avoided with right knowledge. Even the faith or belief systems are not natural.

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KNOW THE KNOWER

Swami Suddhananda

Somebody somewhere has started it. It is necessary to begin our lives with those ideas but ultimately we have to recognize ourselves. A leaf or a fruit can sustain us but its medicinal essence may cure a disease. Similarly in Creation, we may experience various objects, emotions and impressions but the essence of the individuality cures us from all our sense of limitations.

Self-knowledge, the Knowledge of the Self, the ultimate meaning of the word ‘I’ is something which is independent of the word ‘I’. The names ‘Atma’, ‘Awareness’, ‘Limitless-ness’, ’Self’, etc. are synonymous with the word ‘I’, which is ever existent and is independent of any name. Then each of us shall recognize the inherent universal identity and no more shall we identify ourselves with what we ‘are’ at all times and we use all that we ‘have’ to function comfortably and effectively in the universe. Hence the job of the secular education must be to teach the individual to recognize himself/herself as he/she is and not to get lost in the roles. Religion and Philosophy also must teach the individual to recognize himself and then to expand into the gross, subtle and causal universe, to give the Totality a name, may be God, Alpha or X.

After knowing one’s own Self as one is, one is comfortable with who one ‘is’ and therefore is comfortable with all that one ‘has’. One can attempt to change the lot that one has, but no more there is disappointment, frustration or insecurity of any sort even if the change does not happen. No more there will be an attempt to homogenize but the beauty will be discovered in the oneness where it is, which is everywhere, and plurality or multiplicity where it is, in all possible roles.

Self Knowledge is ‘to be’ the something which always ‘is’ and naming which as the ‘I’ every other name and form can become the object of possession, That something is to be recognized as the Self.

Hari OM

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INCONVERSATION

STUDENT : “Is it possible to get attached to the silence of the mind ?”

SWAMIJI: It is a beautiful question and a very subtle one . Very subtle , because that is the trap - you think you are released , but you are tied - that’s the whole trap.

Let me tell a story: There was a buddhist monk living in a monastery with four disciples. The master was always emphasizing the importance of silent meditation , so one day the four disciples sat down with a vow that they should not talk , they should not even open their mouth- whatever happens they will not talk . They were sitting when a visitor came and asked one of them , “when is this temple going to open? Is the puja about to start?

The first student said ,”We are not supposed to talk today ?”

“Can you not keep quiet ?” Asked the second one.

The third one said , “Both of you are impossible!”

The fourth man said, “ I am the only one who hasn’t talked .”

Just think , the moment they speak they have broken the silence . What is this state of silence ? If you describe it as “silence” you have produced a word . How do you describe silence ? The moment you attempt to say , “it’s quiet”, you produce noise. It never describes what it is with a sound , Suppose that you want to become a meditative person , a yogi, you want to understand certain truths about yourself . The moment you discover how true it is that objects contain neither happiness nor unhappiness , that you yourself are the source of silence , of happiness , you try to objectify the silence , whereas the fact is that itself . You cannot be quite without being quietude itself .You try to make an object of yourself and you cannot because you are the subject .You cannot be the object of yourself.

A fisherman angles for fish , a mechanic fixes cars, an artist paints pictures and a musician plays an instrument - they all enjoy themselves.Everybody attributes this to external things , just like the meditators who attribute their enjoyment to the absence of thought . All we do is shift ourselves in the name of religion from the physical world , from the gross to the subtle . All we gain is a subtler trap - no more than that.

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SNIPPETS OF WISDOM

When we see an isolated wave it looks as though it begins, rises and dies. But when we look at the same wave as a part of the ocean there is no birth or death for it , but only change. In the same way when we identify ourselves as an isolated body we shall consider ourselves being born and dead in time. But the moment we consider ourselves as part of the entire Creation there is not a faintest hint of mortality .We are only fragmented versions of Immortality .

- Swami Suddhananda.

CHILDREN’S CORNER A man went to a shop to purchase pearls. The shopkeeper showed him different types of pearls. He showed him big ones and small ones. The big ones were for five hundred rupees and the small ones were two thousand rupees. The man was surprised and found it unreasonable that the small ones were more expensive than the big ones. He went to another shop and there he was offered still cheaper price for big pearls at two hundred rupees piece . He came back to the first shop and told the shopkeeper , “You are certainly taking me for a ride . How can you charge me five hundred for the small ones? Even the big pearls are more expensive here than in the other shop .” The shopkeeper asked him , would you like to learn the art of recognizing a pearl? “Why not?” , said the buyer . With the help of machines , it took about an hour for him to recognize the difference between a genuine pearl and a cultured pearl. Now he could appreciate the worth of the genuine pearl. . We must have the openness only then can we take and understand the best of everything from wherever it is available .We will also learn to appreciate everything for its own uniqueness.

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SUBHASHITANI

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दलं इव &व\ाRरता बुN^ः॥

One who reads, writes, sees, inquires, lives in the company of the learned, his intellect expands as the lotus petals expand due to the rays of the sun.

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