Transcriptions
Dev Priyānanda Svāmī Bhagavān
Video Link: YouTube
So, let’s begin. So, what is this work all about? What is this channel all about?
It’s enlightenment, isn’t it? Everybody throws this word around, but how many really look into what it means?
So, let’s take the word enlightenment. It has four parts, en-light-en-ment, four parts. The prefix en- means in, with, through, or by. English is so crazy. But really, what it’s all about is the second part, light, en-light-en, the prefix, means one thing, -en, the suffix, means something completely different. -En, as a suffix, turns a noun into a verb. We say we can en-light-en someone or something.
So with, light, and make it into a verb, to change, affect, or do something with light. And finally, the last suffix, the second suffix, -ment, again turns the verb form into a noun. English is so crazy.
So, we can talk of enlightenment as a thing, although actually it’s not a thing. How can it be a thing? When we talk about light in this context, what do we mean, actually? Do we mean the light, like coming in the window from the sun? No, not really. We mean the light within.
Think about it. How can we perceive objects? There are two things necessary. One is they have to be illuminated, and the other thing is they have to be reflected. First of all, let’s look at the illumination part. Within there is light. Light is Brahman. Brahman is pure awareness without any object. This is light.
The light of Brahman illuminates everything else. Without Brahman, we wouldn’t be able to be conscious, we wouldn’t be able to be aware of anything. And then what?
That light is reflected from what? From the object of our consciousness. And by that reflected light, we perceive it with any one or more of our senses.
So Buddha says,
What is consciousness? There are six kinds of consciousness: eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, nose-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, skin-consciousness or body-consciousness, and mind-consciousness.
So it’s very easy to understand this idea of illumination when we think about the mind. How are we aware of the thoughts in the mind? They’re subtle. They have to be illuminated to be perceptible. We have many thoughts that are not so illuminated, and this we call the ‘subconscious’. But that’s because the illumination is blocked.
We’ve talked many times about upādhi. Upadhi means an adjunct, a limiting adjunct. An adjunct is something that is associated with a thing or a being, but is not part of that thing. And because they’re limiting adjuncts, they close off access to that thing.
So the consciousness, the being, is surrounded by limiting adjuncts. And this is why the Brahman, when it comes into manifestation as a being, appears to be an individual.
So all of us, see, have these different parts. We are fundamentally Brahman. Nothing exists, actually, except Brahman.
Brahman existed before this manifestation, and it will exist during this manifestation, and it will continue to exist after this manifestation is done. There’s no beginning and no end to Brahman. But there is a beginning and an end to the manifestation. That’s why it’s limited.
So back to enlightenment. To reach enlightenment, or to cultivate enlightenment, is to remove the upādhis as much as possible, and reveal the Brahman, the reality, beneath them.
So the process of enlightenment starts and actually functions by a process of removal, a process of letting go. There are several false ideas about enlightenment. And one of them is that enlightenment is something that you get, or another one is that it involves a transformation of the self. Another one is that it involves some kind of acquisition, or that something inside has to change. And none of those are true. Those are all false models. The true model of enlightenment is simply removing the upādhis.
So one time, somebody asked the Buddha, “What have you gained by this enlightenment?” And he says,
“Well, actually, I haven’t gained anything. But I’ve lost a great deal. I lost my lust. I lost my anger. I lost my acquisitiveness. I lost my attachment. I lost my clinging. I lost my suffering.
So enlightenment is not an additive process, it’s a subtractive process, taking away all these useless things that do nothing but cause us suffering.
And how do we do that? Well, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about the different levels of the process of enlightenment. Karma-yoga, bhakti-yoga, rāja-yoga, and jñāna-yoga.
So if you want to look at the goal, or the highest level, the ajata-vāda… ajata means unborn. At this level, the whole manifestation, the world, the empirical self, the mind, the ego, the body, and all that, was never born. It doesn’t exist. The only thing that exists is consciousness, or more precisely, pure awareness, Brahman.
So we have several courses that go into this vision, this goal, very deeply. And one of them I’d like to recommend is Upadeṣa Undiyar. Upadeṣa Undiyar is a book written by Rāmaṇa Mahārṣi. And it goes into the vision of the ajata-vāda. And the other one is Ulladu Narpadu. And this one is very much focused on ajata-vāda.
So these two series are going to be very much featured in our new course site as depicting the goal, the ajata-vāda. There are some of the best descriptions I’ve ever found anywhere about the ajata-vāda.
And the other one is the readings from the Ṛbhu-gītā. Ṛbhu-gītā is just amazing. And it gives the vision of what it is to realize Brahman.
Now, there’s one warning I have to give. When you read these, you will think, “Oh, I’m already there. That’s it. This is reality. This is what has always been and always will be. So just by knowing this, then I transcend everything. Oh, yeah.”
There’s a story in Bengal about some crazy people who made a dog king. They took the dog, dressed him up in the king’s robes, put a crown on his head, put him on the throne and started worshiping him like a king, you know. And everything went very well, you know, until somebody threw a bone. Somebody threw a bone. The dog jumped down off the throne and went after the bone.
And the same thing happens to us when we falsely claim enlightenment, when we mistakenly think that just by thinking about ajata-vāda, somehow we reach it. Sorry. But this is what the neo-Advaitins think. The neo-Advaitins think, “I don’t have to do any sādhana. I don’t have to do anything. I’m already enlightened.” And then they go out for beers or other kinds of sense gratification.
No, sorry, it doesn’t work that way. To reach, to honestly reach the ajata-vāda requires going through a long process of preliminary purification by karma-yoga and bhakti-yoga until one is qualified for rāja-yoga or meditation. A lot of people think they can just jump up and start meditating and somehow get the result. They’re always disappointed. And the reason is they’re not qualified, you know.
If you, let’s say you want to have a private jet, you want to buy one of these new highfalutin Learjet type gizmos, sure, fine, great. Do you have the qualification? Do you have the bank balance? Do you have the assets? Do you have the credit line? See, are you qualified? So it’s the same thing if we want something very high, like ajata-vāda, or even vivartha-vāda, the next step below where we practice meditation or rāja-yoga.
To practice meditation means it has to occur spontaneously. You know, what inspired this whole talk was that I woke up about two o’clock this morning, which I often do, and spontaneously went into this wonderful, deep meditation where the light was coming and it was coming, it was so bright, it was brighter than the sun, but yet it was cool.
This is the light of Brahman. This is the light of consciousness. This is the light that we should see in meditation. And meditation happens spontaneously due to proper qualification. And this is the light of en-LIGHT-in-ment.
ĀŪṀ Tat Sat, ĀŪṀ Śakti ĀŪṀ.