Sravana As I Fathomed
So, after jostling amid distractions and responsibilities, I couldn’t get hold of my regular Vedantasara classes yesterday, although I did dedicate an extra amount of time meditating and focusing on breathing. Quite strangely, these days I notice that my heart craves for Vedanta and lessons on Vedanta on the days that I don’t get to read it or hear about it.
Now, sitting at my desk, with my laptop in front of me when I look at my childhood days, it comes to the knowledge that I’d be displaying similar forms of attraction towards my mates when they’d refuse to come to play along and I’d be kind of chasing them. At this juncture, it’s Vedanta that is making me follow it. Without further ado, I’ll start with today’s lecture that Swamiji talked about.
So, in the last lecture, he mentioned that the teaching of Advaita Vedanta has come to end, and the moment he said that I could find myself looking in astonishment. I wondered things like., “Hmm, really?” “Is that even possible?” To my utmost surprise, I found out that Swamiji too said the same thing — almost jokingly that “Yeah, the whole lesson is over, before you could even realise it!”
He being a divine soul, perhaps he understood that for people like us it’s not that easy to gain enlightenment at a go, and that might take some time, so he took us through the process of Shravana (listening), Manana (thinking and contemplating) and Nidhidhyasana (making it a living reality).
Under Shravana, Swamiji mentioned that one has to make sure that when one listens to something (the Vedantic lessons in this regard), he has to make sure that the pot (just used as an example here) that they using isn’t kept upside down, meaning that one isn’t able to grasp at all. Secondly, making sure that the pot isn’t leaky, where all the information that you have accumulated drains out and that you’re not able to retain any (happens with me most of the time), and lastly one must make sure that the pot isn’t a dirty one (indicating that your mind must be pure).
After this Swamiji talked of Shravana in detail where he referred to chapter 6 of the Chandogya Upanishad, where there was a mention of “Tvat Tam asi” for about nine times. Then he mentioned 6 aspects of reading the scriptures — thinking about the start, end, uniqueness, result and two other aspects that I can’t recall right away.
All in all, before concluding Swamiji said repeatedly that the fact that we repeat “Aham Brahmasmi” or “ I am that” shouldn’t be something that we repeat hypothetically, taking that as an abstract concept. He referred to Swami Vivekananda that said that you must be able to reach such a state in yourself that repeats these very words out of your own experience, and we must all strive for that.
To conclude, I’d say the same, but I’d take this opportunity to express my fears and vulnerabilities too, and state that I am scared of slipping off sometimes and getting too consumed with worldliness, should I look inwards for help then?
