World Peace - Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia

4. Mumukshatva—purification of the soul by rigorous
cultivation of the will to attain the realization
of ultimate Truth.
After these four stages are passed there is a final
stage consisting of 3 substages: Shravana, manana,
and nididhyasana.
Shravana—learning the Truth from the Master.
Manana—practice this teaching by full concentration.
Nididhyasana—ceaseless meditation on the Truth,
which leads to the realization of aspirant’s identity
with the Brahman, which is pure Consciousness.
According to Sankara, a Jivanmukta is in the body not
of the body. He is free to meditate, or aimlessly go
about the world or engage himself in doing good to
others, serving the poor, preaching to people.
Regarding Maya or illusion Sankara’s approach has
often been misunderstood or misinterpreted. The
rope perceived as snake demonstrates his concept
of illusion. The rope is a Vyavaharika Sattva while
the perceived snake a Pratibhasika Sattva. In the
dark a rope is perceived as a snake and the moment
light is on, this illusory perception is seen correctly
as merely a rope. Therefore, Sankara’s enunciation
of illusion is related to perception of the ultimate
Truth of Brahman or Pure Consciousness as the
only reality and our identification with our bodies
are essentially illusory. The body and all other living
& non-living matter are but organic in nature and
that which pervades all this matter is the Brahman
without which they cannot exist. These are manifestations
or super-impositions of the supreme Brahman.
The objects of such perceptions are known as
anirvachaniya, that is they neither exist (sat) nor
44 | Bhavan Australia | August 2012
are non-existent (asat). The Brahman only is.
The Brahma Sutra (Section two Sutra 1 & 2) says:
Sarvatra Prasiddopadeshat Janmadyasya yatah.
Everything comes from Brahman, sustained by Brahman,
and goes back to Brahman. Sankara in his commentary
refers to a couple of verses from the
Chandokya Upanishad (III 14.1-2). The verses state:
“All this is Brahman. Everything comes from Brahman,
everything goes back to Brahman, and everything
is sustained by Brahman”. Each person has a
mind of his own. What a person wills in his present
life, he becomes when he leaves this world. The
whole world is his creation. He is everywhere in the
world. He has no sense organs, and he is free from desire.
His self is spotless and pure. He has a subtle
body which is prana.
The Third verse explains: Brahman is both within the
heart and smaller than a barley seed as well as outside
the body and greater than all the three worlds
(earth inter-space and heaven).
We can go on and on like this since the Upanishads,
the Sutras, the Vedas and other Vedic Texts offer us
diverse views and insights into the Universal Truth.
But ultimately all these boil down to this question.
How as an individual, one attains enlightenment? As
we have already said, there are many views and
hence many paths to Redemption. The path we
choose depends upon our level of evolution or understanding
of life. The simplest and best way is to surrender
to a chosen Deity and go about one’s duties,
leaving the rest to Him. To a more inquiring mind, the
path of Reason, or Jnana can be suggested. Hence we
arrive at the Truth by sheer reasoning. Let us see
how: While human beings are also organisms, they
are organisms with a difference. They have the mind
and intellect, which helps to differentiate between
points of view. Some basic principles of life therefore
become evident. These are the laws of Causation and
Transmigration of souls. These can also be derived
from the Third law of Sir Isaac Newton (action and reaction
are equal and opposite) and Einstein’s Theory
of Relativity with its equation e = mc2 (energy equals
mass times the square of the speed of light).
Cause and effect are easily understood. Say, you are
angry with your wife? Why? Because she put more
salt in the curry! Or anything like this. Without a
cause there cannot be an effect. That is why it is said,
good begets good and evil begets evil. How does this
affect the human condition? All our actions have to
produce reactions. Then we have to experience the
effects of the reaction and start another action. Action
is implied in the human life. Since we have to experience
the results of our action, be it good or bad,