43 - Jnanam – The Ultimate Purifier | Swami Tattwamayananda

-4th chapter: verses 36, 37, 38, 39
-The lecture was given by Swami Tattwamayananda on June 19, 2020.
-Jnanam is the spiritual awareness of our true nature, that we are Atman, that our true nature is not the body, mind or intellect, which go through changes, and are of a fleeting nature. 36th, 37th and 38th verse use three approaches to illustrate this Jnanam: (1) A boat (2) A fire (3) The ultimate purifier.
-36th verse compares this Jnanam to a boat, which takes us across the ocean of Samsara (संसार). Even if we have an undesirable past, this Jnanam will purify our thoughts and actions, and we begin to do everything as Swadharma (स्वधर्म), with complete concentration and detachment. Actions no longer have any negative consequences on us.
-Samsara (संसार) refers to the cycle of birth, death and rebirth – our actions leave a residual effect on our mental system, which then become strong attitudes, that prompts us to do further actions (karma-vritti-samskara-chakra). We carry these mental tendencies with us from life to life.
-We develop this Jnanam by practicing seven spiritual disciplines: (1) Discrimination between unreal and the Real (2) Renunciation of what is unreal (3) Self-control: shama, dama, uparati, titiksha, shraddha and samadhana (4) Mumukshutam (5) Shravanam (6) Mananam (7) Nididhyasana.
-By pursuing these disciplines, at some point, we become aware of our true nature, that we are the Atman. This spiritual awareness (Jnanam), then acts as a boat to cross the ocean of Samsara. We can then watch our own life as a witness, unaffected by it.
-37th verse compares this Jnanam to the fire of knowledge – Jnana Agni - that reduces all karmas (actions) to ashes. The symbolism of fire is taken from vedic sacrifices – whatever was offered to the fire during these sacrifices, was reduced to ashes.
-Actions are inevitable, because we cannot be quiet even for a split moment. At the same time, actions have the problem of unpredictability – sometimes they produce desirable results, sometimes they don’t.
-Once we develop this Jnanam – that actions take place at empirical level, that our true nature is Atman – then consequences of actions will not have an effect on us. They will be destroyed, reduced to ashes. We then develop a transcendental perspective, an inner poise and equanimity of mind. We look at happiness and unhappiness as two sides of the same coin.
-38th verse refers to this Jnanam as the ultimate purifier – it removes the curtain of ignorance that hides our reality from us. We are bound to reach this spiritual awareness, once we are perfected in Yoga.
-We do not attain our true nature due to spiritual practices. Spiritual practices just remove the veil that hides the reality from ourselves. Our true nature, as Atman, cannot be the effect of anything.
-Patanjali states that all spiritual efforts are made to remove the obstacles that hide our reality from us. Just as one removes earth to dig a canal and bring water to irrigate a field - similarly, spiritual practices remove our mis-understanding - that we are the body, mind or intellect - and reveal our true nature to us.
-With this spiritual awareness - that we are the infinite, pure consciousness - we feel inner contentment, which is real, transcendental happiness. Empirical happiness is just the temporary absence of unhappiness.
-Karma Yoga is the royal highway that takes us to this Jnanam. One can start on this royal highway at any moment, by doing everything as Swadharma, with a sense of sanctity and sacredness.
-39th verse: “A person who has shraddha(श्रद्धा), who is devoted with a sense of sanctity and sacredness, who has succeeded in controlling his senses – he attains this Jnanam. Once he has attained this Jnanam, he attains supreme peace.
-40th verse: The ignorant, who has no shraddha (श्रद्धा), who is always doubtful and skeptical – he is spiritually doomed and headed towards his own destruction.” (The next class will discuss how to confront this negative tendency.)
-Skepticism can be of two types. (1) Creative skepticism, driven by a true thirst for knowledge. Seekers with creative skepticism, once they are convinced of the truth, they become champions of that truth. Swami Vivekananda was such as seeker. (2) Negative skepticism – seekers who ask questions without any seriousness. Their mind is closed, they don’t derive any benefits from answers to their questions, and they keep asking the same questions again and again.