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Panchadashi Lesson - F0654: Practical - Joyful Living

Panchadashi
Module - F
Unit - F06
Lesson F0654: Practical - Joyful Living
By Raja Subramaniyan

Question: Even those who gained the knowledge seem to suffer. Few enlightened people are affected by disease, poverty and other misfortunes of life. How can this be explained?

Answer:

It is essential to understand the type of benefit one will get on gaining the ultimate knowledge. It is not that the events in life will be any different. Nor it is expected that the people will behave any differently to the enlightened.

With respect to physical suffering

The body will age and oscillate between health and ill health. There will be absolutely no difference between those who have gained the knowledge and those who are ignorant in this respect.

Example: If there is an accident, the body will get hurt and bleed.

The pain and discomfort suffered will be same for all. However, the ignorant will be unhappy because he thinks that this unfortunate event has happened to him. However, the enlightened knows that this has happened only to his body and not to him.

The ignorant will try to find the cause of the accident and try to fix the responsibility for the accident on others. The enlightened is aware that he suffered the accident solely due to his past actions. He will not blame anyone. (However, he may also claim the insurance money, if any!)

The attitude of an enlightened person will be very positive. Even an ignorant person may react equally positively. Therefore, to an outsider it is almost impossible to distinguish the ignorant from the enlightened based on the reactions.

Statement 104: The pain belongs ONLY to the body. The body of the enlightened may undergo pain and suffering but the enlightened observes it as a third person, since he is not the body.

With respect to mental suffering

There will be significant difference between the ignorant and wise with respect to mental suffering. The ignorant will have anxiety, fear, hatred, anger, jealousy, greed, shame, lust, vengeance, animosity, worry and such negative emotions. The enlightened will have none of these emotions.

Example: Someone is insulted.

The ignorant will be hurt. The enlightened will not feel any hurt.

The ignorant will hate the person who insulted him. The enlightened will not. He is aware that everyone is the reflection of the same ONE.

Whether ignorant or enlightened, one may or may not show the disapproval of the act.

The ignorant may not show the disapproval fearing further insult. The enlightened may not show the disapproval since he is not bothered.

The ignorant may react instantly prompted by his emotions and do varied actions to express his disapproval. The enlightened may also do the same thing so that such things do not recur but it will not be involuntary.

The enlightened does not feel any negative emotion. Many of the ignorant might be capable of suppressing such negative emotions - suffer silently - and not express the same.

The enlightened will opt to feel all the emotions when he lives as a part of the society. It is just as acting in the appropriate role. The actor may or may not feel the emotion that is being expressed. In either case he is aware that he is acting.

Therefore, it may not be possible to identify the enlightened based on the presence/ absence of reaction.

Statement 105: Emotions belong to ONLY to the mind. An enlightened one is the basis of the whole universe, which includes his mind.

With respect to attitude in life

The ignorant will feel inadequate all the time. Most people in the world will be working to achieve something. Name, fame, power, position, property, awards, and rewards, the list is endless.

The enlightened will have a sense of complete fulfillment because he is immortal, joyful and pure awareness. He will not feel the need to do anything. He will have the feeling of having done everything that needs to be done.

While the ignorant will act for happiness, the enlightened will act out of happiness.

It will be still difficult to identify the enlightened based on this behavior because there may be many ignorant and lazy people who might be fully satisfied with life when everything goes well. They may also not get involved in any action for happiness and therefore resemble the enlightened.

While some enlightened will lead an active life, others may shun the lime light. This behavior is due to the accumulated preferences of each individual and has no bearing on their wisdom.

Thus, it is not possible to differentiate the ignorant from the enlightened based on the outward expression. It is totally an internal transformation not detectable through external observation. However, one enlightened person will be able to identify other easily not based on the actions but based on the assessment of the knowledge.

Question: It is said that the desires are born out of incompleteness. After studying the scriptures one gains the knowledge that he is complete and therefore will not have desires. However, desires seem to persist?

Answer: Desires belong to the realm of mind. Mind is not self. Therefore, I do not have any desires after gaining knowledge but by mind continues to have desires!

Example: Can we remove the red color from the crystal that is placed next to a red flower? It is not possible because the crystal is always colorless. The red color that is seen on the crystal is the reflection of the red flower. It is not possible to remove the red color from the flower too because it is its nature.

Similarly, we cannot remove the desires from the mind since it is its nature. We cannot remove the desires from our self because it is not there in the self.

We can separate the crystal and flower thereby the color is removed in the crystal!

However, in case of the mind this is not possible until death. All we have to do is to understand the nature of mind is to have desires. Such desires are non binding and they arise due to the association of mind with the world. Whereas the desires in the mind of an ignorant person arise out of incompleteness and he seeks fulfillment by satisfying the desire.

The preferences in the mind will continue to dominate in both the wise and ignorant. While the ignorant thinks that he needs to get what he likes, the wise prefers to get what he likes.

Studying the Scriptures is to gain the knowledge that I am not the mind and not for removing the desires from the mind.
It is impossible to remove the desires from the mind since no action can be done without desires. Even for survival, one should have desire for eating food. Therefore, desires will continue without any ill effect after gaining the ultimate knowledge.

Question: Even after understanding the oneness, why we are affected by the duality?

The intellectual understanding of the oneness of the universe does not prevent the external objects, events and persons to cause disturbance to us. Then what is the use of this understanding?

Answer:
If this question arise in the mind, it means that the oneness of the universe remain as a piece of information and not internalized as knowledge.

Example: I understand that the world is in the shape of a ball. I do not fall down because I am on top of the ball! - This is incorrect understanding.

Similarly, if one asks the above question, it means he has not understood the oneness.

The only solution to this problem is to study the Scriptures again and understand the nature of the composition of the universe.

Example: If something is not clear to the eye, we can wipe our eyes to see clearly. If it is still not clear, we can throw more light on it and then see. If still not clearly visible, we can use a magnifying glass.

However, whatever we do, we need to use our eye to see the object. Just because we are not able to see clearly, we cannot use our ears to see.

Similarly, until we get clarity we need to study the scripture. There is no alternative. As long as we are not able to understand clearly, we will be affected by the duality. There are three levels in this understanding

Level 1: Those who know that this world is real will continue to get affected by the objects, events and persons in the world. They have no exit route as long as they are not willing to reconsider their assumption that the world is real.

Level 2: Those who know (after serious enquiry) that the world is not real but not very clear how this world is created will see a way out of the miseries of the world. However, they cannot yet get there. They will continue to get affected by the miseries of the world although the degree to which they are affected may be considerably less than those who are in level 1.

Science has taught us that systematic study will bring us closer to complete understanding of any chosen subject. Since we are exposed to such clarity, we expect to understand the construction and composition of the universe very clearly after studying the Scriptures. This is where the problem lies.

It is not possible to explain the universe in any precise and scientific manner because it is an illusion. If we could explain it the way explain the construction of a building, then the universe will become a reality. Since it is an illusion, no one will ever be able to define it and explain everything in a scientific manner.

Level 3: Those who know the world is an illusion will not be affected by the external object, event and persons because they are aware that everything is part of the illusion. They have an absolutely clear understanding that the universe cannot be understood. They see the falseness in everything and reduce them to the only reality, Self/ ONE.

Until one reaches the Level 3, one has to continue the process of inquiry and introspection of the Scriptures.

Even after crossing the level three, we are affected by the world?

Using the intelligence, we infer that the world is an illusion but the sense organs keep reporting the reality of the world. Therefore, it becomes stronger evidence and make our inferred knowledge less effective. As a result, we start quarrelling on a traffic dispute, forgetting that it is all an illusion. How do we resolve this issue?

The inferred knowledge that the sun is not moving across the sky should become stronger than the perceptual knowledge that the sun is moving around earth.

Those who have enough intelligence will have clear knowledge that the world is an illusion. However, they may slip and start fighting after a traffic dispute due to the past Imprints created through habit. Even after clear knowledge that world is an illusion, we will continue to have the same body and mind. Our face will not become more beautiful/ handsome after gaining the knowledge. Similarly, the mind will continue to be the same as it was prior to gaining the knowledge.

However, after gaining the knowledge, we will start behaving in a more matured way. These matured actions have to make stronger Imprints in the mind to correct the past Imprints. Imprints in the mind are due to our habits. We need to change our habits consciously after gaining the knowledge and that is the only way to change our mind for better.

The influence of the past Imprints will start decreasing after gaining the knowledge since we will not give undue realities to the day-to-day issues like traffic dispute. Even if we pick up a quarrel due to force of habit, we will start coming out of such habit sooner due to our knowledge. We will not be talking or thinking about the dispute. We will move on ignoring the incident as a dream, without dwelling on the questions what could have been done or should have been done. Through such conscious effort, we can make the process of removing old Imprints faster and avoid any negative emotions at the earliest.

Question: The problems affect us even after knowing that the world is an illusion

Answer:
For a considerably long period, we have lived in this world with the false knowledge that it is real. It will be difficult to get aligned with the opposite knowledge instantly. The mind is trained to react to the problems thinking that they affect our real self. It will take a while to retrain it to the true knowledge that the problems come to our body/ mind complex and will not affect our real self.

Expertise in any area comes only after being trained for a considerable length of time. It becomes even more difficult if someone needs to switch over from one type of system to the other.

Example: After driving on the left side of the road for a number of years if we are to drive in a foreign country on the right side of the road, we will find it extremely difficult to switch over. Although we are very clear that the system is different, it will take a while to unlearn our old habit. We may drive correctly by following the traffic on the main road. But we might get confused and start driving on the wrong side if we are on a side lane all alone. This is due to the years of training under a different system. Someone who learns driving for the first time will not have this problem.

Similarly, if we did not have any knowledge about us, the correct knowledge will be easy to practice. Since we were under the wrong impression that we are our body/ mind complex for many years, we have to unlearn it and then we need to get retrained to function with the new knowledge.

This will obviously take some time.

In addition, the practice should be without interruptions and with deep interest in the practice and the ultimate goal.

Example: The mother enrolls her daughter in a music class. The daughter may not be keen on learning. It does not matter how regularly she attends the class or how long she attends the class. Unless she puts her heart and soul in the lessons, she will not make any progress.

Unless we do consistent and continuous practice for a length of time with deep conviction, we will not become an expert.
Example: If we keep alternating between left-hand manual drive and right-hand automatic drive, we cannot become an expert driver.
We need to get the right knowledge, verify the validity of the knowledge beyond any doubt (half way through the practice if we doubt the credibility of the knowledge, the practice will be less effective) and then practice the knowledge without interruption for a considerable length of time.

It is also necessary to push this knowledge from the conscious level to the subconscious level through meditation. Once the subconscious mind gets the message then we can reach our destination of joyful living soon.

Statement 106: The process of gaining steady knowledge is Joyful.

Question: How is it possible to live joyfully when there is a loss?

Answer: Such questions arise since it is assumed that happiness is a state of mind. Happiness is our true nature and not a state of mind. Mind is an inert object, which appears live because it reflects my true self.

My true nature is happiness. My mind reflects my natural happiness only when it perceives/ possesses / enjoys some worldly object/ person/ event. In case of loss, the mind is clouded with negative thoughts and as a result, it does not reflect my natural happiness.

Joyful Living means realizing that our true nature is happiness and not get disturbed by the status of the mind.

Example: If the dirty mirror shows a mark on my face, I ignore it.

Similarly, if my mind is not reflecting my natural happiness due to unfavorable object/ person/ event, I am not affected.

The status of the mind can be analyzed as follows:

We are not affected by the loss of others. We seem to be affected only when the loss happens to us.

Example: My valet with lots of cash is lost.

Every day we hear stories of loss of cash. People lose millions in stock market. We do not seem to be affected by such events unless it happens to us. When such loss happens to us, we are not affected until we get the news.

Therefore, it should be understood that no object/ event/ person in the universe has any power to hurt me directly. It has to be converted into thoughts by me. If it is converted as thoughts under my conscious awareness, it will not give me any problem. Only when I do not know how to handle my thoughts they will hurt me. If my mind is hurt, it is due to my thoughts and nothing external can hurt my mind.

Critical Analysis:

When others lose money, I am not affected because I do not have any attachment to the event. Whether the money is lost by someone else or not is no consequence to me. Therefore, I remain unaffected.

When person very close to me loses something, I feel pity. If possible, I help that person to recover from the loss. In this case I am little concerned because I have some attachment with that person. How deeply I am affected depends proportionately on how much I am attached.

When I lose something I am affected more because I am attached to the object. It is quite possible that I do not get affected if I am aware that object has no role to play in determining my happiness.

Example: In a car accident, the car was badly damaged but the driver escaped unhurt. He distributed sweets to his friends because he was not affected and only his car was damaged.

Similarly, if I am not attached to my possessions, the loss of any/ all of them will not affect my joyful living.

If my hand is paralyzed, I am deeply hurt because I have lots of attachment on my body. However, a soldier is willing to lose his whole body because his attachment to his country is more than his attachment to his body. Even in case of discomfort / physical pain, doctors observe that the patients react very differently. Some will accept the events and endure the pain, while others create lot of fuss. The degree one gets affected depends on the degree of attachment.

Physical hurt/pain cannot be avoided. Since the enlightened people are aware of the reason for such suffering, they will undergo the same without a murmur. Life will continue to be joyful to them because they are aware of the nature of life.

Whenever we talk about 'getting affected', we mean the status of the mind. It is the mind, which is affected due to apparent external causes. It is the nature of the mind to fluctuate. However our knowledge about the illusory nature of the world should help in reducing the fluctuations of our mind. The mind can be affected only through our own thoughts and not by any external object.

In other words the only my thoughts are responsible for affecting my mind. It is quite possible to learn about the nature of external objects and internal thoughts so that we can handle them appropriately. Even if we are successful in this attempt there will be mood swings that affect our mind. Suddenly for no reason we might feel depressed and dull. Such mood swings cannot be avoided even if we gain expertise in handling our thoughts.
It is possible to live joyfully even if the mind is affected, if we are not attached to our mind. It should be understood that our mind is just a tool (like any of our body parts) which is meant for our use. It cannot have any impact on my natural happiness nor is it possible to use the tool without getting it involved/ attached.

Only when I am ignorant of my true nature, I assume that my ego is myself and get affected. My true self is independent of my ego. I need my body and mind for doing transactions in this world. The nature of my mind is to engage in thoughts. There is no point in having a mind without having thoughts in it. The contents of the mind will depend on the environment and it is the nature of the world to keep changing. It does not have any influence on my unchanging true nature.

Statement 107: In life, there are no more problems and crisis. All of them are just situations that are to be dealt with appropriately.

Therefore, I can live joyfully all the time even if there is a loss.

Question: What is the difference between the enlightened and the ignorant?

Answer: There is only one difference: Knowledge.

There is absolutely no other difference between them. Both of them behave normally in this world. Both will have desires and both will work towards fulfillment of the desires.

While the desires will invariably bring misery to the ignorant, the enlightened will have a joyful living whether the desires are fulfilled or not.

The ignorant person will be working for his happiness.
Those who want to understand the truth will be working for Joyful Living.
The enlightened will be working out of happiness.

However, for the casual observers such differences are not noticeable and therefore it is difficult to convince the ignorant person that there is a way out of misery. Only those keen observers who want to get out of the eternal cycle of swaying between dualities of life will be able to see the difference.

Question: How an enlightened person will be able to function in the society?

Answer: Such question arises out of misinformation regarding enlightenment.

Enlightenment does not bestow any special powers like walking on the water or converting a jar of water into wine to anyone.

Enlightenment will not have any impact on the nature of the person. He will continue to be like any other normal person and therefore he will function in the society like anyone else. He tends to be more efficient and productive in life since he is not attached to any object/ person in the world.

The enlightened person knows how to handle the reason for sorrow without getting unhappy. For an ignorant person the reason for sorrow will invariably gives sorrow and therefore he will be under the wrong assumption that the external object/ event/ person is the source of sorrow.

A baby or a mad person is not bound by their actions. Similarly, the enlightened person is also not bound by his actions since such actions are done without any selfish desire. For an ignorant person, the actions are binding since the ego is unintelligently bound to the self.

An ignorant person who is lazy and who does not bother about progress in life will not get involved in active work. He will be very lethargic to the events in life and may not respond like the normal person. The behavior of the enlightened will resemble this. However, such behavior comes out of total knowledge and not out of total Delusion.

Example: A pot with half-filled water will be shaky
A pot with full water will be steady
An empty pot will also be steady
Thus, the filled pot may resemble an empty pot.

Similarly, the behavior of an enlightened person may resemble that of a lazy person but he is far superior. If there is a heavy wind, the empty pot will fall down but not a filled up pot. Similarly, when the events of life have power to shake the lazy person but the enlightened will never get affected.

Some people who are on the path to enlightenment may maintain a distance from the worldly objects/ persons for the fear of getting attachment. Such practice may be required for them to get enlightenment. Until they become completely steady on the knowledge, their behavior may not be in line with the behavior of the society.

Statement 108: On attaining enlightenment, people will appear to be normal for external perception, but internally they will have non-diminishing happiness, everlasting security and undisturbed peace.

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