WHAT IS THE GOAL OF LIFE

The Goal of Life is Self-Realisation. There is a Para (Supreme) Vastu (Reality) in the innermost recess of your heart in the Dahara-Akasa (ether of the heart). It is self- luminous (Svaprakasa). It illuminates the mind, Buddhi, Indriyas, the body, all objects; in short, every thing. It is described as Nirakara (formless), Nirguna (without attributes), Nishkriya (without any action), Agrahya (unknowable), Achintya (unthinkab le), Al aks h an a (w ithout any Lalrs hana), Anird esy a (indescribable). By these terms ordinary people with gross intellect, who are without Wveka and Wchara take this Supreme Being, Brahman, as Sunya (void), or a negative unreal concept, or a metaphysical abstraction. That is not the case. This Paravastu, the support and source for the Vedas, all minds, all bodies and all worlds is the real essence of everything. It is the ultimate reality. lt is Amritam (lmmortal Being) that exists in past, present and future. Without Its Presence I cannot write these lines. You cannot read these pages. You cannot comprehend these ideas. You cannot breathe. You cannot think. You cannot see, hear, taste, feel and smell. It is the Mind of minds (Manasya manah). lt is Pranasya pranah (Life of all lives)-Kena UpanishadWhat are the advantages of realising the Self or Atman or Brahman? Just hear now.

"The Self which is free from evil, undecaying, undying, free from sorrow, free from hunger, and without thirst, with Satya Kama (true desires) and Satya Sankalpa (true resolve or volition)-that is what to be sought after, which one must wish to understand; one who has sought after this self, and understands It, obtains all worlds and all desires." So said

Prajapati to Indra. (Chhandogya Upanishad, VIII-vii-1.)

Sruti says:

"Brahmavit Brahmaiva Bhavati-The knower of Brahman becomes Brahman."

"Brahmavit Paramam Apnoti--:lhe knower of Brahman gets the Highest."

"Atmavit tarati sokam-The knower of Atman over grief."

crosses

Let us see what the Gita says on this point:

"Sa Brahmayogayuktatma sukham akshayam asnuteThe Yogi enjoys happiness exempt from decay." (Gita: Y-21.)

He gets "Sukham atayantikam-infinite happiness." (Gita: VI-21.) "Janma mrityu jara duhkhair vimukto amritamasnuteLiberated from birth and death, old age and sorrow, he drinketh the nectar of immortality." (Gita: XIV-20.) What more you want, my dear friends? You get everything by realising Atman or Brahman. Absolute is the only Reality. Atman is the only Truth. Will you all apply yourself in right earnest to some spiritual practice from the moment you read these lines?

Do not disappoint me. I am your sincere well-wisher. I am a cosmic friend. I can help you in your practice. Simply knock. You can correspond with me. Will you promise me then? I will be delighted indeed!

Open your heart and be sincere and hurry up. Life is short.

Time is fleeting. Open your eyes. I will make you a king of kings. Siva will inspire and spiritualise you. Just hearken unto his words and follow. 21. "Om, kena ishitam patatir preshitam manah-By whom is the mind directed?" (Kena Upanishad, Mantra 1.) The Manas is an organ of sensation and thought. It mustbe under the control of some one who uses this instrument. The Jiva or human soul is not the director of the mind because we see that ordinary men are swayed away ruthlessly by the mind. Therefore there must exist some other Supreme Being, who is the director of the mind. He is the Antaryamin, the Inner Ruler and Controller.

22. Mind is a powerful engine. There must be a very intelligent driver for this engine. That driver is Brahman.

23. This is one way of proving the existence of Atman or Brahman. The eye is the Drik (perceiver), the object is the Drishya (perceived). The mind is the perceiver and the eye is the perceived. Atman is the perceiver and the mind with its modifications is the perceived. If a perceiver of the Atman is sought, the enquiry will end in what is known as a regressus ad infinitum (Anavastha Dosha). Therefore the Atman (witness of everything and of all minds) is self-existent, self-create, self-luminous, independent, immortal, unchanging, beyond time, space and causation. It is not seen by anything else. The objects are different but the perceiving eye is one. The Indriyas are different but the perceiving mind is one. Minds are different but the perceiving Atman is one. You find one behind many. Vichara is needed.

24. Brahman is not void. It is not blankness or emptiness. 

II

It is impossible for the mind to conceive of an absolute nothing. It is Paripoorna because all desires melt there. You get Supreme, eternal satisfaction (Parama Nitya Tripti). It is everything. When you become nothing (by annihilating this false illusory 'I') you get everything. You become everything (Paramam apnoti; Brahma eva bhavati).

25. Faith in the laws of nature is faith in God. The whole world runs under definite, well-established laws. There is no such thing as chance or accident. God or Isvara is Tatastha Lal<shana of Brahman only. For the sake of pious worship of Bhaktas, the Nirguna Brahman simply appears as Saguna Brahman (Isvara). In reality there is no such thing as Saguna Brahman. There is existence only. That is Reality. That is Truth.

26. Just as you see a tree in front of you, there must be somebody to see the activities of the mind. Otherwise Kartru-Kartavya Bhava Sambandha Wrodha will come. That somebody is Kutastha Brahman. 27. The simplest comparison

of two ideas and the

recognition ofthem as like orunlike presupposes the indivisible unity of that which compares them, an Atman external to the content with which it deals.

28. The relief that is obtained by remembrance of God in adversity indicates that there is a Supreme Power who guides and controls human beings.

29. Even a rank materialist and an atheist cries out for help "O God! Forgive me. Protect me", when he comes face to face with a tiger in a thick forest, when he is in great distress, when he is in a helpless condition while the steamer in which he travels is in a sinking condition, when he suffers from paralysis, when there is an earthquake or volcanic eruption, when he is left alone at dead of night amidst thunder and lightning.

30. An atheist says that there is no God. But that knower who knows the non-existence of God is Brahman. 31. A Sunyavadir2 says that there is only Sunya. But that knowerwho knows the Sunya (void) is Brahman (God of gods).

32. Adesire arises in the mind. There is a Vritti now. This Vritti agitates your mind till you get satisfaction through enjoyment of the desired object. There is Santi or peace or happiness after the enjoyment is over. Another desire arises. Now in the interval between the gratification of one desire and the manifestation of another desire there is pure bliss, because

there is no mind then. It is at rest. You are in union with Brahman. That state of pure bliss between two desires is Brahman. If you can prolong that period of bliss through Sadhana by keeping up the idea of Brahman and by not allowing any other Vritti or desire to crop up you will be in Samadhi. The period between one Vritti and another Vritti is the r eal

Sandhi (juncture).

33. Who sees the defects in the Sun, whether it shines brightly or whether it is obscured by clouds? It is the eye. Who sees the defects in the eye whether there is cataract

or Timira or

not? It is the Buddhi. Who sees the defects in the Buddhi whether there is confusion or clarity? Who illuminates the Buddhi? ltis Aham (big, infinite 'I'). This 'Aham' is Kutastha or Atman or Brahman, illuminator of everything.

34. Who illuminates the objects in the dream? It is Brahman. There is no other light there. 35. Suppose there is a big light at night. You stand at a distance. Something stands between you and the light as an obstruction and you cannot see the light. But you can see the objects clearly that are illuminated by the light. Though you cannot see the light directly, you clearly conclude that there must be a big light through the perception of objects. Even so you see the world with its variegated coloured objects. There must be an illuminator behind this Nature. That illuminator, the Light of all lights,"Jyotishamapi tat Jyotih," (Grta: XIII-17), is Brahman, the Adhishtana (support) for this illusory world. 

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PRACTICE OF VEDANTA

36. When the mind runs from one object to another object, the state in the interval wherein there is no mind is Svaroopa Sthiti. That is Brahman.

37. The very idea of creation

suggests that there must be a

creator. The idea of matter suggests that there must be a Spirit. The very idea of changing phe phenomena suggests that there must be an unchanging noumenon. The very idea of a changing mind suggests that there must be an unchanging Sakshi and controller

(Niyamaka) for the mind.

in the universe. There must be a controller for this universe who must be omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. He is All-wise. He must be omniscient as He is the womb for the Vedas. 38. There

is

perfect law, order, and cosmos

39. At night in utter darkness you say "there is nobody there." How do you know this? You know because in reality you are the Sal<shi (witness). That Sal<shi is Brahman.

40. You say in daily life "My body," "My Prana," "My mind," "My Indriya". This clearly denotes that the Self or Atman is entirely different from body, mind, Prana and Indriyas. Mind and body are your servants or instruments. They are as much outside of you as these towels, chairs, cups are. You are holding the body just as you hold a long walking stick in your hand.

41. As a punishment for a certain crime you would rather prefer to have your hands cut off than the eyes removed. This indicates obviously that the Indriya is closer to you and dearer also than the external instruments. Instead of sentence for death you would rather prefer to have your two eyes removed. This shows that life is dearer and closer to you than the Indriya. When you suffer from a serious, protracted ailment, you wish to give up your life also to get happiness. This shows that the Self or Atman is dearer than life or Prana.

42. There

are two powerful instincts in men and animals.

They are self-preservative and reproductive instincts. Hunger is 

PRELIMINARY

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a manifestation of the self- preservative instinct. Lust is a manifestation of the reproductive instinct. The basis for the self-preservative instinct is the immortal nature of the soul. Owing to Bhranti (illusion), the Jiva or individual soul thinks that the body is Atman and eternal and the self-preservative instinct tries its level best to preserve the body for a long time (Abhinivesha) and perpetuate the body here' The idea of immortatity is wrongly transferred to the body owing to iltusion. Though there is death for the physical body, the Jiva imagines that he will live for ever here. The existence of the self-preservative instinct gives the clue to the existence of an Immortal Brahman (God).

43. The law of re-incamation is infallible. Lord Jesus has touched on this point in the Bible. The soul of a man which survived after death in the previous life remembers in the next life also through the force of memory (Samskara) of its existence even after its separation from the physical body. So there is an inherent feeling in men that they exist even after the death of the physical body. Existence is Brahman. There is Isvara Satta. argues at the time of his death, "I have undergone many miseries, troubles and difficulties in this life- I have done various good acts. They may not go in vain. After al[, is it for this one life alone I have laboured so much? This cannot

44. Man generally

be. I must be immortal". He invents the theory of Immortality' Even common sense will tell everybody that there must be an immortal Atman.

45. You had been a child playing in your mother's lap. Then you grew up into a school-going boy. Then you became a sighing lover in adolescence. Then you reached adult manhood. Lastly you became a veteran with grey hairs. You have had a variety of experiences. There must be an unchanging Self as a Sakshi to witness these changing experiences. Otherwise these experiences are impossible. That unchanging Self is Brahman. It is the substratum for all these changing experiences of life' 

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An invariable Self must link continuously the childhood, boyhood, manhood and Jarahood.

varying

it is through the Prakasha (illumination) of Adhishtana

46. When you

search a thing in the dark in a room at night Chaitanya or Brahma Chaitanya that you get at the thing by spreading the hands here and there in the room even in the absence of any kind of light. Brahman is self-luminous and Sarva-prakashaka (ilhrminates every- thing). It illuminates the Buddhi, eye, sun and all objects.