How Can it Happen?

Somebody asked me a question recently, about what is meant by the term enlightenment or awakening? and so I thought I would say something about this as there is so much misunderstanding about it.

Many of us went either physically or intellectually to the east, to hear about enlightenment or awakening or liberation, to india, japan, china, tibet, thailand and so on. And these cultures are of course, by comparison with western culture, extraordinary exotic and as a result many people, myself included, conflated the idea of enlightenment or awakening with the extraordinary exotic natures of these cultures, believing that enlightenment itself is something extraordinary or exotic. That it is a marvelous experience beyond any experience that we could possibly imagine and as a result we set up a, a goal to um experience this marvelous experience that we have heard about or read about. Nothing could be further from the truth, enlightenment or awakening is not an extraordinary exotic experience, indeed it is not an experience at all, it is simply the recognition of the nature of our being which underlies and indeed pervades all experience irrespective of its content and it is for this reason that I sometimes refer to this approach as a way of recognition, recognition meaning of course to to know again, something that we have always known but have overlooked or ignored or forgotten.

So what is it that we have overlooked or ignored? It is simply our being our essential self.
Why have we ignored it or overlooked it? Simply because we have become fascinated with the content of our experience.
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Karma in Advaita Vedanta

In the vedantic view, karma must be shunned to make way for knowledge. However, what constitutes karma is not outward action but the feeling of ‘doership’.

There is a common misconception about the view of Adi Shankaracharya and Advaita Vedanta on karma. People believe that Adi Shankaracharya equated moksha to a life of renunciation, a life of non-action, and that he suggested that one who is desirous of moksha or has achieved moksha should live the life of a sannyasi. This is not really true. Let us try and understand what Shankara really meant by first understanding the view of Vedanta itself on karma in relation to moksha.

The reader of this article will say, “I am reading this article”. He considers himself as the reader and he considers himself as separate from this article. However, in the vision of Vedanta, the reality is that it is only the body and mind which is engaged in reading, ‘I’ which is pure, unchanging, consciousness, is not at all involved in the process of reading. Rather, ‘I’, the consciousness, is that limitless reality on which both this article and the reader depend for their existence. This is the understanding of ‘I’ or ‘self’ in Vedanta.

According to Vedanta, ‘I’ or ‘self’ is not this ever-changing assemblage called body and mind. ‘I’ is pure consciousness and it is the truth of not just this one body-mind complex but of the entire universe. It is limitless. Everything depends upon it for their existence. However, it remains unaffected by the changes that happen to this one individual or the entire universe. It neither really causes anything, nor gets affected by anything.

Example: A clay pot depends upon clay for its existence. Even if the pot is broken, clay will still remain. Clay is unaffected by the coming and going of the pot. Clay was before the pot came into being, clay is when the pot is, clay will be when the pot is gone. Therefore, clay is the invariable truth of the pot. In fact, there is only clay. ‘Pot’ is only a name and form which has no existence independent of clay. When there is only clay, then there is no question of causing a second thing like a ‘pot’. So, clay neither causes, nor gets affected. Also, clay is the truth of not just that one pot, but of all the different pots and pans in the potter’s shop. The shapes of these pots may all be very different and their utility may also be very different but the reality is that they are all the same clay. Similarly, consciousness is the truth of the entire universe, all the diverse forms and names, and yet it is unaffected and unchanged by the goings-on of the universe.
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Vivekacūḍāmaṇi

By developing the quality of of discrimination, a power solely accorded to man, can one distinguish between the eternal and the temporal, which in turn opens the gateway to peace and happiness. Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, literally translated as the ‘Crest Jewel of Discrimination’ is a compendium of 580 verses on the ways to know, understand and reach Brahman, the Reality in us.

Composed by the Sage Śrî Ádi Śaṅkarācārya, Vivekacūḍāmaṇi is in the form of a dialogue between the student and the Teacher, with the latter guiding the student along the spiritual path. Swami Chinmayananda’s commentary on the same is the perfect companion for students walking the spiritual path in understanding its timeless wisdom.