Page 38 - November Cover 2017.pmd

which alone is truth or satyam. appears as saviçeña caitanya
Adi Sankara says: I am not the (conditioned consciousness).
mind, intellect, ahaìkära or citta This viveka is meditation.
– mano buddhyahaìkära cittäni So, we don’t have to go
näham. I am the eternal truth, of anywhere to get liberation! We
the nature of consciousness and require subtlety and alertness of
bliss – cidänanda rüpaù çivohaà mind, along with clear know-
çivoham. ledge. Firmly hold on to the
How do I separate myself thought: I have to be free right
from the swami? What should I now! If I think I am not free,
do if I want jévan-mukti? This that is ignorance, my moha –
requires viveka – discrimination attachment to things. On tech-
between the ätmä and anätmä. nical grounds, no one can refute
No physical action is required. this; everything is logically
What is required is subtlety of thought out and explained.
thought – sükñma vicära, because When the prärabdha karma
where the swami is, right there (karma from previous lives,
Brahman also exists, just as which has begun to give results
where the snake appears, right in the present life) of the jévan
there is the rope; where the clay mukta gets over, he is free from
pot is, right there is the clay. his physical existence. However,
We don’t have to go somewhere from his own standpoint, the
else; where ahaìkära is appear- whole thing is an illusion. He
ing, right there is the ätman. does not say, “I have prärabdha.”
Ätman seems to appear with People say he is going through
limitations of body, senses, his prärabdha. For him, every-
präëa, mind and intellect, as thing is over, nay, it never even
ahaìkära. So nirviçeña caitanya started! The whole thing is an
(unconditioned consciousness) illusion.

SWEET THOUGHT Prayer is power. Invoke it and bless

yourself and others around you in
your community.
Swami Chinmayananda

Tapovan Prasad 38 November 2017