REGAINING PEACE AND HAPPINESS
Guidance from Viveka Choodamani
Swami Chidananda
Peace is something that everybody wants. Every one wants happiness in life. Vedanta is marked by the choice of the word regaining, rather than gaining, in the context of finding peace and happiness in life. The preference is based on the understanding that peace and happiness are within us; they are our nature. It is difficult for us to believe that we are by nature happy, for we find a lot of sorrow everywhere around us in the world. Admittedly, there is celebration also everywhere and we find people smiling, if not laughing but, upon getting closer to anybody apparently happy, we discover there is sorrow. Even celebrities have problems and millionaires have suffering, which is not visible to the general public. Peace, in a sustained manner, is a rare commodity in the world. Some friction seems to erupt when two people get together and start working together. In fact, many people who are known to have written volumes on happy living have confessed that they themselves have not found it yet. Once two scholars were asked to stay together and share an accommodation. They had advised their audiences on many occasions on living in harmony in the spirit of tolerance. “Find love, do not find fault with each other; see the divine in the other person,” they had written. They could not tolerate each other’s idiosyncrasies and, being unable to live under the same roof for more than 15 days, demanded separate, independent space. They were eager to have their own ‘empire’ of some sort, undisturbed by anybody.
If I may borrow a way of expressing for which Krishna ji (Shri J Krishnamurti) was known, I would say each of those two scholars is us. Every one of us has this divide between the values that we preach and the way we live. Why this disconnect? Where have we failed? All of us are clever enough to accumulate knowledge. We are smart and sophisticated. We have filled our heads with so much information but we are unable to live in peace, when it comes to actual living. Our own thinking brings us somehow to discontent and dissatisfaction. Thought leads us sometimes to even possibilities of suicide.
Reassuring Message
Many saints and mystics have however given us a positive message amidst all this chaos. They have declared that peace is very near us. It is within us. It is our very nature. “Freedom is as close to us as is the waker to the dreamer,” said Swami Chinmayananda, my Vedanta teacher. He once dramatically described the terrible predicament of somebody whom an elephant was chasing in the midst of a thick forest. Even as he tried his best, he could not really save himself from the animal that as after him. He tripped and fell down on his back. The elephant put one of its feet upon his chest and the man began to scream… it was then that he woke up from his dream to find he was on his own bed in his comfortable home. (There was no elephant’s foot on his chest, Swamiji would add humorously, but his wife’s loving hand was upon his chest, and he could hear her inquire, are you all right, honey?) How far was the safe and comfortable man from the fear-stricken one facing death? How far is the rope from the misapprehended snake, when a passerby mistakes a rope for a snake in the dim evening light?
This assurance that right seeing helps us regain peace is the undercurrent of the Vedanta teachings. Zen Buddhism, Sufi mysticism, certain interpretations of sayings of the Christ and the message of J Krishnamurti are also seen as centred in ending of wrong seeing and coming upon right perception. Thought affects our perception and negative emotions like fear, loneliness and anger arise. Ignorance and various ideas made possible by ignorance are behind this state of affairs. Right knowledge (jnana, gyan) is required to end this ignorance. The word knowledge has a different connotation in the teachings of masters like Krishnamurti and they prefer words like insight, right seeing or correct perception.
Sandalwood is Fragrant
Viveak Choodamani, a great work running into 580 verses and attributed to Adi Shankaracharya, compares every one of us with a piece of sandalwood1, which has wonderful fragrance. This piece, however, may come in contact with moisture and a layer of moss or fungus may grow upon it. People would then get a bad smell instead of the good, natural one.
Winds bring clouds2 (and block the sun) and they take away the clouds too, says the Choodamani at another place. In like manner, our mind (with its misconceived thoughts) deludes us but this same mind, upon being illumined by the light of Vedanta, helps us see our well-being and fullness.
If a real tiger comes in front of us, we are in danger. Our mind is not imagining a tiger but a real one is staring at us. We suffer biological insecurity. Natural calamities like earthquake or man-made problems like terrorism do put us sometimes in situations of biological insecurity. Otherwise we suffer generally from psychological insecurity, which is much more common. The fear that our love may not be returned, than people may not receive us well or the thought that our children do not care for us anymore etc have much to do with how we see. Even if we say it is not imagination but as real as the physical dangers mentioned before, we must admit that our conditionings and beliefs play a major role in the formation of these fears that constitute psychological insecurity. Spiritual fitness keeps such fears away. Once fear is away, positive qualities like sensitivity, caring and love exude from us. Vedanta and similar streams of wisdom clear our thinking (and the way we see situations) and give to us spiritual well-being.
Crest Jewel of Discrimination
Vedanta3 is essentially the Upanishads, which are pieces of advanced, philosophical discussions found in the four Vedas. In the broader definition, a number of texts like Atma Bodha of Shankaracharya, Panchadashi of Vidyaranya and Advaita Makaranda of Lakshmidhara are also considered Vedanta texts. Shankara’s commentaries on the Upanishads, the Geeta and the Brahma-sootras (the three together called prasthaana-traya) get the pride of place among Vedanta works. Viveka-Choodamani is one of such Vedanta works which has been very popular over the centuries thanks to the wonderful coverage of topics and an excellent presentation of poetry with apt illustrations.
Two areas are covered by spiritual texts and they are a) personality integration and b) transcendence of the self. While a scripture like the Bhagavad-Geeta covers both these areas, Viveka Choodamani is an intensive work on the latter domain. Geeta is called yoga-shaastra for it helps us imbibe noble values pertaining to daily life. It is also referred to as brahma-vidya for it has revelations pointing to erasure of the ego. The first domain is about purifying our inner equipment (antah-karana) and the second is about transcending the same. Also referred to as dharma and Brahma, these two disciplines are the summary of thousands of spiritual teachings. One moves from bad ego to healthy ego, and then goes for annihilation of ego.
Wisdom the Best Deodorant
The foul smell of the ego is to be eliminated for us to regain peace and happiness. In the selected verse of Viveka Choodamani, Shankara talks about a piece of sandalwood that is by nature very fragrant. Alas, bad odour has come about it as it came in touch with water. The moisture caused some moss or fungus to grow upon the surface of the sandalwood and there is only an unpleasant smell now. Even as you are set to throw away this piece of sandalwood, not knowing its value, a friend tells you to stop. She asks you to take a piece of sand paper and rub the surface of the object. The result of this exercise is amazing. You discover that every bit of this possession of yours is endowed with divine fragrance. The perfume is irresistible.
jalaadi-samparka-vashaad prabhoota-durgandha-dhoota-agaru-divya-vaasanaa
sangharshanenaiva vibhaati samyak vidhooyamaane sati baahya-gandhe
antah-shritaananta-duranta-vaasanaa-dhoolee-viliptaa paramaatma-vaasana
pragyaati-sangharshanato vishuddhaa prateeyate chandana-gandhavat sphutam 274
The divine fragrance of a piece of sandalwood gets hidden when moisture causes a foul-smelling layer to cover it. By friction (with sandpaper), this layer is removed and the outer smell goes away. The pleasant smell is now obtained without obstruction. Our intuitional grasp of our own divinity is also similarly covered by the dirt of countless worldly tendencies that have accumulated in our unconscious mind. Right knowledge (insight) causes a churning within, which purifies us and our true nature then shines forth like the fragrance of the sandalwood. Verse 274
Clean the Old Ink Bottle
An old ink bottle needs to be cleaned. It has some ink sticking to its inner surface. We pour clean, fresh water into it and shake the bottle well. We repeat this many times and the bottle starts shining. In like manner, as the author of a book titled Mind and Its Control puts it, repeated satsanga (holy company), where we receive noble thoughts and gain good outlooks, leads to inner purification. Our natural goodness then shines forth. In a lighter vein, I may share something here. I once described this illustration of the old ink bottle and perhaps over-emphasized the need to shake the bottle after filling it with fresh, clean water. A student of mine applied this to his meditation. After a few days, he said to me, “Sir, I sit daily for meditation and fill my head with uplifting thoughts from holy books. And I shake my head too so as to speed up the purification process!”
No physical rubbing is required in the theme proper. What is the friction here? It is no other than self-inquiry. The Vedanta says, “You are OK. tat tvam asi.” The student translates this revelation to her own context and says, “I am OK. aham brahmaasmi.” A proper study of the science helps her see the truth of this revelation. This new understanding – I AM OK – comes in friction with the old bundle of wrong notions – I am incomplete; I am a failure; I am not loved; I cannot love. These false ideas are the foul smell upon the sandalwood piece. Insights derived from satsanga are the sandpaper that rubs away the false thoughts. “If you find anything that weakens you physically, emotionally or spiritually, reject it as poise,” thundered Swami Vivekananda. Study, reflection and meditation are the effective way to (have the capacity to) reject all poison.
Core of the Issue
Self-judgment is at the centre of our suffering. The thought, “I am no good,” makes us miserable. There was a great CEO of a company in New York, who had worked hard to take his organization to great heights. He had somehow not cared much for his own personal savings. Some politics led to the unexpected removal of this man one morning from his position. His family was shocked. He somehow managed to get into another, much smaller company, and slowly rose to the position of its CEO. He took this second company now to ever greater heights, making it ten times richer than the previous one. Two years ago, he was in Mumbai and Times of India interviewed him. Referring to the day he was fired from the first company, he made a comment, “When I lost my job, my net-worth fell to rock bottom; but my self-worth somehow was as good as ever.”
The realization through the Vedanta wisdom – I am OK (aham brahma asmi) – is the statement of the highest self-worth. This is irrespective of the net-worth, which may be in terms of money, popularity and so on. All of us carry ideas, “I am good here, weak there, nice over here and terrible over there etc.” These thoughts, arising out of memories, make the self. “The ego is a bundle of memories,” remarked Swami Chinmayananda. We remain trapped in the net of memories. The truth is – I am Awareness. Dada Gavand, a saint living presently near Mumbai, wrote a book titled Intelligence Beyond Thought. Masters like Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta and J Krishnamurti point to something not touched by thought. The Upanishads spoke about that something and nothing else.
Inquire Who am I? Erase all false ideas of being high or low. Stay with I am, let go of all notions of I am this or I am that. Watch the movement of the self, and let the centre of suffering vanish in the flame of awareness. Peace and happiness are ours in an effortless manner, when the liberating insight dawns on us.
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Notes:
1 Viveka-Choodamani verse 274
2 Viveka-Choodamani verse 174
3 Vedaanto naama upanishat-pramaanam – Sadananda in Vedanta-Saara