Sadhana in Vedanta

Sadhana as per Vedanta

To achieve spiritual progress and finally understand “you are that”. Sadhana plays an important role in achieving the desired goal of realization.

To proceed towards realization the fundamental requirement is Knowledge. Knowledge is the supreme of all the paths. Now the question is that what is the knowledge which leads to the ultimate? 

It is nothing but all the Mahavakyas have enumerated, I’m Brahman, I’m Shiva (Shivoham) etc.

Now you may ask a question saying how am I Brahman, this can be explained in a simple example of Jagrat, Swapna and Susupti example, In this discernment process we try to understand one thing that there is something which we call as “I”, that which exists in all the three states. What are the three states of living it’s nothing but Awake, Dream and Deep Sleep.

If one observes these three states one can come to a conclusion that there is an existence of “I” which pervades in all these states, which is independent of these three. Meaning the existence of this “I” does not depend on the existence of the body and mind. But body and mind are dependent on this “I” for its sustenance. This “I” is beyond these three states and hence it is called Turya (4^th state of consciousness) and beyond this is Turyatita (Where there is no “I”)

This “I” is Existence, Consciousness and Bliss.

The first step towards progressing in the path of spirituality is to start with acquiring the knowledge and how do we acquire the knowledge? It’s with associating oneself with a realized Guru, if that is not possible then we have to listen to the lectures of great yogi’s and read the scriptures to understand the true nature of our self.

Once after acquiring the knowledge one has to constantly analyze the teaching and try to understand it completely. For any person doubts are common when he/she starts trying to understand the saying of the scriptures. At this stage he has to get this clarified with his Guru.

Once the knowledge is firmly established, to realize one has to follow profound and repeated meditation on the mahavakyas of great Upanishadic statements such as "That art Thou", “Shivoham” etc, to realize the identity of Atman/Brahman.

To take this further the next problem that comes up is that, Okay I have acquired this knowledge but I’m unable to experience anything. What is stopping me in achieving the ultimate? At this stage the likely reason for this ordeal would be the scattered ness of the mind and the mind is not grasping the teaching and it is not able to be still or is unable to focus. To get over this problem one has to follow Bhakthi or Raja yoga (Bhakthi yoga – Mind has to surrender to the Self, Raja yoga – is the one prescribed by Pantanjali consisting Yama - Self-control,,Niyama- Discipline,,Asana - Physical exercises,,Pranayama - Breath exercises, Pratyahara - Withdrawal of the senses from external objects, Dharana - Concentration, Dhyana - Meditation, Samadhi - Complete Dissolution) the goal of this is to still the mind.  

Even after this one may not be able to achieve the ultimate and this would be due to impurities of the mind (like doer ship, thoughts, tendencies and other mental modifications). This has to be overcome by purifying the mind to become still where the true will get unraveled. So one has to follow Karma yoga (Karma Yoga – Thought of doer ship should go away (always do the activity with established thought that it is the Divine will working through you and doing the activity or just do an activity and don’t expect any outcome, and offer any outcome to the Self)).

So to encapsulate the entire process, one has to follow below steps (given in reverse order).

• Remove impurities/Ego – follow Karma yoga
• Stilling the mind – Bhakthi/Raja yoga (meditation)
• Knowledge path – Acquiring /Understand and Practice of Mahavakya

Regarding the Self

Why the study of one’s own nature is required. If one observes the source of all experiences are this body and more importantly the mind. So whatever we feel is based on our thoughts and actions which invariably convert into reactions as our thoughts and actions are not controlled. When we enquire the nature of this thought and to whom this arises. We start our journey to understand ourselves.

Since all the experiences arise only in the arena of the mind it becomes very important now for us to understand what is it that makes us happy or sad and more importantly we enjoying or disliking things. From the day we are born our mind starts consuming information from external sources and stores it as memory. It is these memories which are the source of our miseries. When a person looks at the other when dealing with an issue, this if it is important for him will get embedded in the mind and when faced with similar problem he will try to replicate the response based on his 

memory.

Since most of these reactions happen unconsciously the person would not know why he reacted to a situation in this manner. Because of this he suffers from the problems that arise because of such reactions.

So the point where one starts to react to various memories in his mind would be collectively called Samskara's (mental impression, recollection, psychological imprint). So it here that it becomes very important for a person to develop good Samskara's. To put it in simple terms developing good habits is the key to avoid such repercussions. What is trying to be conveyed here is that if a person starts nurturing good thoughts in his mind eventually the good thoughts will take over his subconscious mind and when is faced with a situation he is likely to respond positively. Giving rise to good karma, otherwise no karma.

Now continuing further we will briefly try to understand, what is Karma? Karma is the sum total of actions (both mental and physical) of a person that has been recorded in his mind. The samskaras that it embedded in our mind makes us to do things in a certain way and samskaras that come from our previous birth forms karma in this birth most of the time. What does this mean? Say you have an experience and this experience is recorded in you sub conscious mind at the time at the time of the experience itself and this creates a certain tendency (vasanas) and these tendency with imprints usually come out of sub conscious mind it becomes as an action which is nothing but karma.

In simple words you experience something, which creates memory and minds works on these thoughts and creates desire/inclinations etc, there by an action is performed based on these imprints and inclinations which is nothing but Karma.

After a brief understanding on this aspect, let us get back to study of self and why this is important from the above perspective.

Now let us try to understand why our body is not the true Self. There are two or three ways we can say that body is not the self.

Firstly when we are in deep sleep there is no awareness on the body and mind, at this state we are in a state where nothing exists including our body and mind and yet Self exists (meaning you exist even though body does not exist)

Alternatively we can only be aware of objects and cannot identify our self with it. Meaning when I see a bag, I can only say that I perceive the bag or I’m aware of the bag but I cannot go and say that I’m the bag. So similarly the self only perceives the body and therefore is not the body. The self is aware of the body but it is not the body.

Then what makes a person to wrongly identify himself with the body? It is nothing but his ignorance.

Third way of looking at it is like this, we are born and we grow, become old and finally die. Here if you observe that, the Self within the body is the same when you were a baby, adult and old person.Here the body kept changing and yet you remain the same. Hence you are not the body

Surrender to the Divine and Destruction of Ego

The major hindrance in one's spiritual progression is the thought of "I", i.e. the ego plays a major role in making a person getting stuck in the cycle of happiness and sadness (dyads) leading to transmigration (cycle or re births) .

Whenever a person does something and says that it is because of him that this activity was completed or takes credit of the same, the ego raises its ugly head and inflates his arrogance, leading to disaster.

But when the same person en quire's as to who is doing the activity, or for whom is this thought being raised for, then ultimately the logical deduction will go to "I" which is the ego, and when you question who is this "I", there will be no answer, and at that time our intellect realizes that there is something which is supporting this "I" (ego) and it is this which is the cause of everything. This which supports the ego is the true Self (true "I") which is of the form of awareness.

It is this which people call it as GOD, Brahman, Shiva or Self etc. Which is nothing but pure awareness (consciousness) 

How do we justify that ego/mind ("I") is not the doer/cause but the awareness is? Simple during deep sleep state the ego does not exist and only after coming out of deep sleep, the ego realizes that it was not there in the deep sleep. 

So here there was an existence which was there even when the ego ("I") was missing (not there) in deep sleep. What is this existence? It is nothing but pure awareness (consciousness) which exists during wakeful, dream and deep sleep state independent of mind and ego (The point is he existed even though mind and ego was temporarily non existent during sleep, there by ego is the true "I")  . Hence we can also understand that this awareness is the source/cause for the mind and ego and not the other way around.

So once a person understands that all actions are not because of him (false ego) and it is because of the Self within. Then the process of surrender will start and destruction of ego commences.

So, the simple trick is to live a life where you repeatedly bear this in mind that all the thoughts and actions performed by you is not because of you (ego) but it is because of the Self within

Gradually when his false identification of himself from ego "I" to the Self within is established, there is complete surrender which leads to realization that you are nothing but the Self.

Happiness

Happiness

Due to certain actions, we experience pleasure or grief. So, first let us understand where these experiences happen in us. So, what we need to understand is that it is only in our mind that we feel happy or sad etc., meaning all that happens to us from the external stimulus are processed by the mind and intellect which decides if it is good/bad, happiness/sadness etc.

So, what we can clearly understand is that the actual place where we feel happy or sad is in the arena of our mind!!!

Mind by nature is outgoing, what do we mean by this? It’s very simple mind by nature cannot sit silent and it keeps jumping from one activity to another and cannot remains silent. Because of which its works in an overdrive and intellect also functions in similar manner to keep the minds confusion and thoughts at check. If this is the situation, there is bound to be actions and reactions which affects the person and he experiences these dyads (happiness/sadness, pleasure/griefs etc.).

When such is the situation it is practically impossible to experience happiness all the time as the mind is completely occupied with activities in search of happiness from external sources, though happiness happens in the arena of the mind, it confuses itself by getting attached to the stimulus and thinks that it (stimulus) is the source of his/her happiness.

Lottery winning (Stimulus)-----------> Mind receives/processes information ----------> Experiences happiness within (experienced within).

Now in the above situation for a poor person, if he wins a lottery as above he will feel very happy, at the same time when a person who is not interested in money wins the lottery does he feel happiness? Absolutely Not.

So, from the above example we can clearly understand that happiness is within and not from outside as the person who is not interested in money does not feel any happiness. So, stimulus here does not decide on what we feel.

In simple context, the source of happiness is within us and we must look inwards to achieve a type of happiness that is unconditional and unaffected of the things that are happening and surrounding us.

Meaning the happiness that was experienced when one wins a lottery can be replicated without he winning the same lottery and enjoy same state of blissfulness. In fact, the inner bliss that we are discussing here is say 1000 times more potent than what you enjoyed when one had won the lottery.

It is this we call it as absolute happiness (in Vedanta it’s called Ananda), which is ever existent (Sat in Vedanta) and it is in the form of absolute awareness (Cit in Vedanta)

That’s the reason the nature of our true self is explained as Absolute existence, Absolute consciousness and Absolute Bliss which is nothing but Satchitanada.

Self/Brahman/God

Now the point that we have to understand is the concept of omnipresence of God/Brahman. It is very interesting Vedanta to note that God is Omnipresent, he is present in good or bad, gross or subtle etc. He is the subtlest of the subtle.

Many Upanishads's describe Brahman as biggest of the big and smallest of the small. So now how do we understand this then.

Let us understand it in this way, Brahman/Self is something which is there in your thought, in your dream or in whatever you see and finally it is within you. Self is this article that is written and the process of understanding is also the self.

So one thing that is very evident here is that Self is everywhere, hence we can negate the relative existence, that is the material world, as it arises out of the Self and merges back into it, It's like the waves of the ocean when there is a wave - material existence happen and when it falls back, it merges with the ocean, so material world merges back to the Self.

Further what we need to understand is that Self is the foundation of all, meaning Self is supported by Self and there is nothing beyond it, it the subtlest of the subtle, it is independent and everything else dependent on it. The only existence that we can validate is the Self and nothing else.

Simple Ganapati Pooja Process

This is a simple version for doing Ganapati pooja for Ganapati festival or daily, approximately it will take around 15 to 20 mins to complete this.

Buy a Ganapati idol and keep it in you pooja room after cleaning the place then chant “Suklambaradaram Vishnum Sasivarnam Chathurbhujam Prasannavadanam Dhyayet Sarva Vignopashantaye” and light the lamp

Do achamana (sipping of water from spoon by reciting below mantras each time)

Om Keshavaaya swaha

Om Narayanaaya swaha

Om Madhavaaya swaha

Om Govindaaya namaha (here water you hand with a spoon of water and drop it into the bowl)

Perform Pranayama – Do alternate nose breathing (inhale slowly from left and exhale from right, inhale from right and exhale from left (1 cycle) do 3 cycles) No mantra required just do more cycles

Sankalpa – Take a vow for what reason you are doing the Pooja (think about Longivity, health, wealth, growth and to attain liberation)

Haridra Ganapati – prepare Ganapati in turmeric power (add some drops of water to turmeric and prepare a pyramid, this will be you Ganapati)

Chant - Om Tatpurushaya vidmahay Vakratunadaya dheemahi 

tannodanti prachodayat. (Offer flower to the turmeric idol)

Offer a peeled banana and place it upon a beetle nut and leaves with a coin along with banana and say “Kadali phala nevedhayaami”

Next for the main Ganapati Idol Chant the below mantra

Suklambaradaram Vishnum Sasivarnam Chathurbhujam Prasannavadanam Dhyayet Sarva Vignopashantayet (offer flowers to the idol)

Prana Pratistapana – Infusing Vital forces

Take a flower dip in with Sugar/jaggery, milk, honey, Ghee and curd and lightly place it upon the idol (just touching it and infuse vital energy to it – Visualize here) Chant below mantra for prana pratistapana

mamopatta samastaduriatakṣayadvārā śrī parameśvaraprītyarthe Shree Maha Ganapati prana pratiṣṭhāpanaṁ kariṣye ||

om aiṁ hrīṁ śrīṁ om āṁ hrīṁ kroṁ yaṁ raṁ laṁ vaṁ śaṁ ṣaṁ saṁ haṁ om haṁsaḥ sohaṁ sohaṁ haṁsaḥ Shree MahaGanapatim prāṇā iha prāṇāḥ ||

Once the above mantra is chanted and done with the idol is not supposed to be moved.

After this start with main part of the pooja as below

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah Dhyayami. (Visual Ganapati in your mind)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah  Avahayame. (Invite Ganapati by visualization and offer flower to the Idol)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah. Asanam samarpayami. (Visualize offering a place/more like a chair/throne that you offer when guest comes in – offer flower to the Idol)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah  Padyam samarpayami. (Visualize washing Ganapati’s legs, offer drop of water to Idols leg)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah Arghyam samarpayami . (Visualize offering water to God and offer water to the bowl next to you)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah  Achamaneeyam samarpayami . (Visualize offer water to God for drinking, drop some water in the bowl after showing in to the idol)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah Madhuparkam samarpayami . (Offer honey to God, visualize for all steps)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah Snanam samarpayami . (Offer bath, meaning drop few drops of water or do complete abhishekam)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah Achamaneeyam samarpayami . (Offer water to the bowl after showing it to the Idol)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah Vastram samarpayami (Offer clothing to the God)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah  Yagnyopaveetham samarpayami. (Offer sacred thread to the God)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā || Shree Mahaganapataye namah  Gandham dharayami .(Offer Sandal paste)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā || (36,54 or 108 times)

Chant any Ganapati Shloka, Stotra or Suktam and offer Flowers and Grass for the below

Om Sumukhaya namah
Om Ekadantaya namah
Om Kapilaya namah
Om Gajakarnikaya namah
Om Lambodaraya namah
Om Vikataya namah
Om Vignarajaya namah
Om Vinayakaya namah
Om Dhumaketave namah
Om Ganadhyakshaya namah
Om Phalachandraya namah
Om Gajananaya namah
Om Vakratundaya namah
Om Surpakarnaya namah
Om Herambaya namah
Om Skandapoorvajaya namah
Om Mahaganapate namah
Nanavidha parimala patra pushpani samarpayami.

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Om Ganapataye namah. Mahaganapatim sripadukayam poojayami tarpayami namah (3 times) (offer water to the bowl)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Mahaganapataye namah dhupam agrapayami, (Offer incense)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah  deepam darsayami, (Offer lamp light)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah  nivedyam samarpayami Madya madya paniyam samarpayami, (Offer food to the God)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah  uttaraposhanam samarpayami, (offer some water to the idol and pour the same in the bowl)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah  hasta prakshalanam samarpayami, (offer water for washing hand, meaning offer some water to the idol and pour the same in the bowl)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah pada prakshalanam samarpayami, (offer some water to the idol and pour the same in the bowl)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah  achamaneeyam samarpayami, (offer some water to the idol and pour the same in the bowl)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah  tambulam samarpayami . (Offer Tambula – Beetle nut and leaves)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah  Karpura Neerajanam darsayami.( offer some Camphor light to the God)

Om Tatpurushaya vidmahay Vakratunadaya dheemahi tannodanti prachodayat. (Offer flower)

om śrīṁ hrīṁ klīṁ glauṁ gaṁ gaṇapataye varavarada sarvajanaṁ me vaśamānaya svāhā ||  Shree Mahaganapataye namah  Mantrapushpam samarpayami. (Offer flower)

Shree Mahaganapataye namah Pradikshana namaskaram samarpayami.

Shree Mahaganapataye namah Samasta rajopachara, devopacharan samarpayami.

Shree Mahaganapataye namah Anaya poojaya bhagavan sarva devatmaka sree ganapati supreeta suprasanno varado bhavantu.

Offer Prayer (Can chant again “Suklambaradaram Vishnum Sasivarnam Chathurbhujam Prasannavadanam Dhyayet Sarva Vignopashantayet” and offer flower) or any shloka etc

Prana Pratistapana Mantra taken from my Guruji and ammended. Any mistakes solely mine

Karma

A person accrues Karma when he says that he is the doer, but if he performs the action and does not take credit for it as he is the doer, then it does not create Karma.

If a person performs an action for his own benefit (ego) then it is karma, eg: people steal money and justify that I'm unemployed and need money for survival hence I stole the money - here the intention is for self preservation of the ego hence Karma.

At the same time one accidentally kills a persons while trying to protect someone does not cause Karma.  Similarly Soldiers perform their duty with the intention of protecting people from evil, so no Karma

All opinions are person in nature