The irony of life is - where we don’t have to think we brood a lot over that! What we should give a serious thinking, we totally ignore. ‘How come nobody is interested in the serious matter of life which serves his life purpose?’ This is the wonder of Sri Sankaracharya. He is taken aback at our foolish actions. He rules out the foolish thought that we get ‘Brahma tatva’ automatically as we grow old.

If you want to put three steps forward, there are many people that pull you back six steps. So some body with a fake intelligence argues ‘No other work! These pundits teach you unnecessary things. These philosophers mislead you thus. If you keep philosophizing thus, your time is wasted. So, you just call God in a high pitch. He will liberate your soul. Did he not come running to the call of Gajaraj? Won’t he answer your call in the same manner?

Whether God answers your call or not leave aside that argument. You should analyze whether you are greater than an animal or equal to an animal. If you have just the intelligence of an elephant, O.K. fine, you just shout for God. If you accept the fact that you are superior to God because you have reasoning ability, come on use your reason. Ato Vicharaha Karthavyaha. It means you should analyze deeply, ‘who am I? Why am I born into this world? How am I related to the people and nature around me? If you try for answers to these, you will walk on the spiritual path.

An analysis gives you knowledge of the self and knowledge of the self, liberates your soul. So liberation lies in your hands, not in any God’s hand. You may wonder why! It is because we are bound to the material world by our mere ignorance. Ignorance of the self can only be driven out by knowledge of the self. This knowledge is only attained by analytical brain.

We should keep analyzing the truths though we are deeply involved in our mundane activities. Whatever situation we face, we should gain an experience from it and learn a lesson from it.

Examine the course of the river Ganges. It is born in Gomukh in Himalayas, crosses many hills, valleys and hard paths but ultimately it reaches its goal, the ocean. If there is a hurdle in its path, it takes a circuitous route. We should be inspired by this of the river. Come what may we should never lose track of our path. If one door is closed, there is definitely another door open. Only thing is we have to search for it.
People keep complaining, ‘My life is full of hurdles’ but it is only a lame excuse. Even a hurdle race has a goal and the participants reach the winning pole. So life is not merely full of hurdles, but it is also full of opportunities. The only differences is, we have to make an attempt.

So Sri Sankaracharya is preaching us to analyse deeply to gain the ‘knowledge of the self’.
8. Kate kanta kaste putraha
samsaroya mateeva vichitraha
kasyatvam va kuta ayaathaha
Tatvam chintaya tadiha brathahe “Bhaja Govindam”

Dear brother, who is your wife? Who is your son? How are you related to them? Who are you? Wherefrom have you come? This samsara is a mystery. Go deep into this questions and arrive at a proper answer.

The very first reaction to this poem is this saint is a sanyasi. he doesn’t have wife or children. So he is repeatedly attacking them. Please don’t misunderstand him. Sri Sankaracharya is a great gnani. He will not entertain such low thoughts on family. If you think so, you are insulting a great man!

The great guru asked you to probe into these questions, but he didn’t ask you to run away from family.

Kate kanta kaste putraha - who is wife, who is your son? We must direct these words first. Because he referred to the words wife and children, you should not belittle the word ‘samsara’ to these people alone. If you do so, it is sheer foolishness!
Samsara means...

Samsara means ignorance! As long as you have an entry and an exit, it is samsara. Brahmaloka and Swargaloka too are parts of samsara because you have an entry into and an exit from them! So the definition of Samsara means entry and exit, but definitely not wife and children or kith and kin.

As long as we are in the samsara we are bound by actions and the fruits of actions. We have a cycle of births and deaths. So Sri Sankaracharya advised us to get rid of this cycle of birth through an attainment of knowledge.

Actually, if you analyse properly, the family, which you consider as an hindrance to your progress, appears to be an incarnation of God. This is the bliss of knowledge. We are carried away by external resources out, actually, what is supporting the external resources, is the all pervading Paramatma.

‘Samsaroyam atteya vichitraha. This samsara is very strange. What exists in fact is Paramathma. But this samsara is superseding the all pervading paramathma so much that it makes the real look unreal and the unreal real. Ultimately it leads us to utter confusion.

We cannot come out of this illusionary world, by simple questions like who is your wife, who is your child? We have wife and children because we are there! So we should go to the root cause ‘Who am I’?

‘Kasya tvam va kuta ayaataha - Who are you? Wherefrom are you here? Tatvam chintaya tadiha bratah - probe into these questions here and now itself my dear brother’s says, Sri Sankaracharya so affectionately.

Isn’t it strange that the Guru who began his address with Moodamathe is adobressing now affectionatily ‘brathe’? What does it cannote? If we listen to philosophical discussion keenly, our ignorance vanishes into this air and we too can attain the stage of a gnani like sankaracharya himself. We are like younger brother to him. He will guide us like an elder brother.

Doubt the doubter
Whatever we see in the material world, we are curious to know about its details or its functioning but never once do we bother to find out ‘Who am I’. Once a man, who boasted himself as a logical man argued, ‘Maharshi, I am a reasoned man. I don’t accept anything unless I get the answer’ Hence proved’. So I doubt the very existence of God...’ He elaborated on this point for quite sometime. After listening to him patiently, Ramana Maharshi raised a very simple question. So you doubt everything in the world. You need a clarification, but did you doubt yourself anytime? You used the word ‘I’ so many times! Do you know who you are?’ So first doubt the doubter himself.

We never raise the doubt, ‘who am I’? It is because we have a stock reply ‘I am the body and I am the mind’ we have no doubt about it. When there is a strong base for that feeling, where is the question of a doubt? So let’s understand this properly.
Koham ?

Outwardly we say ‘My body, my heart, my mind’ but no fool ever says ‘I am body. I am mind. We may not utter in such clear terms, but this thought has been digested into our every nerve and muscle. Can’t believe me? Just try to answer this question. You say this body is mine’ next minute somebody asks you, ‘sir, may I know your weight? You promptly reply. ‘Oh sure, my weight is 60 kgs.’ If you feel your body is different from you, shouldn’t you say’, my body’s weight is 60 kgs?’ but you don’t It is because unknowingly you accept the fact that you are the body. The same way when your mind is restless you don’t say, my mind is restless. ‘You simply say, I am irritated.’ Why? For the simple reason you feel you are the mind.

Actually you know about the weight of the body and about the irritable mood of the mind. One who learns something is different from what he learns. Since you can learn about them you are neither the body nor the mind. But due to the involvement with them you are carried away by your wrong notion and you have come to accept it as the truth. It has overwhelmed you so much that you accept your body as the reality and doubt the very existence of the creator of your body. Isn’t it strange?

We should know about ourselves. Before we die, we should arrive at the right answer. A letter which has no proper from address and to address can neither reach the receiver nor the sender. So it goes to the dead letter office. The same is the case with us if we don’t know our birth place or our death address. There is no point in discussing many other points without thinking of this first.

The value of Sastras
We are in a total chaos that we are the body and the mind. We cannot come out of this confusion all by ourselves. We need an external force and that is our ‘Sastras’. We cannot analyse without the help of the sastras.

In the modern days, some gurus are trying to do away with Sastras I can find only two reasons for this propaganda of theirs. Either they haven’t bothered to read them thoroughly or they haven’t understood them properly. So they mislead the people. They say ‘Why follow sastras which were framed some thousands of years ago. How will they help us in the present scenerio ? I have created a new doctrine. Follow me and that will save you.

Take this simple truth thousands of years ago, or now, or in future when you feel thirsty you drink water. In all the tenses water is water. It doesn’t change its colours or taste. Only that can quench our thirst. It is the reality of life. In due course of life many things change, but reality never changes. When reality doesn’t change, how will truth change? Truth is truth. It is not pertained to olden days or to modern era.
‘Katrayepi tistali satyam’ - whatever remains true for all the three times, that is the truth. For example if you say, Honey is sweet. honey is sweet now, it was sweet in the past, it will be sweet in the future, for you for me for everyone. Sastras prove it true with reasoning, So it is not a meaningless talk of some unknown person.

Sastras alone give clarity to our troubled mind. Sastras pose questions which even we cannot raise and answer them from so many angles that we are bound to arrive at the truth.

To explain and to prove that we are not the body and the mind, the Vedanta sastra teaches us panchakosa prakriya- a five point formula. Our confusion regarding body, life, heart, mind and ignorance are analysed through Annamaya, Pranamaya, Manomaya, Vignanamya and Anandamaya angles in Sastras. In every angle it rules out confusion and proves to us logically that we are only a witness to our body and mind.

Most of the gurus hardly know this five point formula but they preach tat-twam-asi’ (that art thou). It is real foolishness to proclaim that we can do away with sastras.
Some people don’t understand the teachings of Ramana Maharshi properly. They say, Maharshi asked us not to bother about sastras. He asked us to merely raise, ‘Who am I’ that’s enough. Maharshi said ask the question. ‘Who am I?’ He didn’t ask you to chant the questions ‘Naan yaar?’ who am I?’ Even if you chant ‘who am I’ the all persuading atma doesn’t whisper in your ears,’ You are the soul’! You have to know it by yourself! You canot do it without the assistance of sastras.

If you ask ‘who am I’ your mind gives you some of these answers.
Who am I - I am subbayya.......
Who am I - I am a son to my parents......
Who am I - I am a husband, a father , a friend... you can add any number to this list. In case you get the answer, ‘I am sat-chit-ananda Brahma’, It is only hearsay answer of the mind. It has not experienced it.

Just as we cannot see an object without an eye, the same way the mind cannot accept Brahma without proof. That’s why Sri Ramana Maharshi explained how to probe into the matter in his ‘Upadesa Saram’.
Sri Sankaracharya also advises - ‘Kasya tvam va kuta ayaathe tatvam chintaya tadiha brathaha.’

A seed that falls on a stone may grow into a sapling during rainy season. But that is only a passing phase ! It dies out at the slightest heat of the sun. The same rule applies to our quest for knowledge of the self. Even if we have the desire, if it is not nurtured properly, it fades away. The slight ray of fire becomes the Agni of yaga when you nurture it properly. The same way the slightest desire or the enthusiasm, we have should be nurtured properly. To nurture it properly, we need satsang.

The following sloka gives us the impact of satsang.
9. Satsangatve nissangatvam
Nissangatve nirmohatvam
Nirmohatve Nischala tatvam
Nischala tatve - jeevanmukti-Bhaja Govindam.
We are freed from the shackles of samsara by our intimacy with saintly people. When we are freed we get rid of the ignorant desires. When desires are destroyed, we arrive at the knowledge of self. When we arrive at the knowledge of the self, we are liberated from the life cycles.

‘Satpuruseshu sahavasaha’ - satsang means acquaintance with good people. It is not all that easy. So you have to pray to God, ‘Oh God! Please provide me the acquaintance of saints. It is because this satsang only guides you in the right path!

Satsang means.......
‘Sat’ means one which cannot be destroyed. That is Paramatma. To be with ‘sat’ is satsang. Friendship with good people, reading good books, listening to good things.... all these are closely knit with sat. So they all come under satsang.

‘Satsangatve nissangatvam’ - satsang automatically detaches us from the materialistic world. Nissangatvam doesn’t mean you pick up a row with your family and lead a secluded life. Such a man even if he goes to many ashrams comes back to his family. If his ego comes in his way, he keeps roaming all over the country. It is ignorance to think that you can get nissangatvam without satsangam. A true nisrangatvam can be arrived at only through satsangatvam. Some people develop some sort of detachment either through their ignorance or through their ego. Such people don’t mix with anyone, but that is not true nissangatvam.

When we are climbing steps, when we put one foot above, we remove the second foot from the lower step unknowingly. The same way when we start mingling ourselves in satsang, we get detached from the earthly pleasures unknowingly. Please understand this properly. It doesn’t detach us from people or from our society. It makes us live very much in the society, but makes us realize our limitations and makes us use our reasoning power.

A great actor is not carried away by the roles he enacts. He lives in a particular role as long as it is required but the moment it is over, he steps out of it. The same way, a true nissangi (detached person) should live in the roles he has to enact in life only as much as required, but should not be carried away by them. This is the true definition of nissangatvam. It doesn’t demand of you to give up your responsibilities.
How do we know whether our detachment is true or false? For that matter how good is this detachment?

‘Nissangatve nirmohatvam’ - Nissangatvam puts an end to ‘moha’ (desires). Whatever we are attached to, whether it gives us happiness or not, we live in an illusion that it gives us happiness. This is called moha.

There is not a single soul who has led a happy life in the materialistic world. The Great conquerer Alexander was no excemption. He could not carry an inch of land or power with him. If he was sent empty handed what can we carry with us? We know that even all things put together they cannot keep us in good humour. We know all this but we say ‘It may be true with others but not with me. I am someone special. I will be happy, that is a big hypnotic suggestion given to ourselves by ourselves. It is because the reality is something else. No body can derive happiness with the earthly comforts. As simple as that!

The inevitable is inevitable to anyone and everyone. Every rule has an exception is a rule but this rule has no exception. That’s why we see in Bhagvat Geetha, the word ‘yaha’ repeatedly. Yaha means whoever! It means it is inevitable to whoever it may be!

If you fall down from a ten storeyed building you will get hurt. It is a simple truth. Can you argue regarding this fact that only Hindus get hurt, only Musalmans get hurt, or only an atleist gets hurt. If you put your hand in fire, it will burn. It will burn to anyone. These are common applications of life. So is the rule ‘Material comforts cannot give you permanent happiness’ If you think so it is ‘sammohanam’ It has arrived out of ignorance.

Whatever we are attached to-we have a strong feeling, nay a strong illusion, that that thng brings us tons of happiness. Because we are carried away by the illusion it given us happiness. We deem it as our own. Whatever object doesn’t give us happiness, according to us, doesn’t belong to us. We never claim an useless object as our own. Suppose we come across a hundred rupee bunch and we raise the question ‘whose money is this’?’ a hundred people come forward to claim it. Instead of that if we show a dust bin and ask the question whose dust bin is it ‘no body comes forward, not even the true owner of the object.

When happiness is linked with the object, we claim it as our own. This attachment is called ‘mohan’. Why are we calling it my possession? The word possession speaks for itself. There are four‘s’s in it to show how madly we are interested in it. Why are we attached to it thus? The answer is simple. We assume it gives us happiness.

‘Anityam asukham lokam asavatam is the statement of Geetha? Anything in this world is not permanent. Kare rajulu, rajyamul, galugave, garvannatim bondare, vareri? Sri Moota gattuku povan jalare? Bhoomi pai perainan galade? is a famous sloka in Bhagavatam. It means kingdom, kings, their name fame, vast treasure all these fade out in course of time. The temporary materialistic comforte cannot give us the happiness we require. That’s why they said this world is not place of happiness. Without realizing this transient state of life we run after materialistic things with a false assumption. It is mine, it is mine!

Desire the cause of sorrow
Whatever reason appears to be the cause of our sorrow, ultimately the true reason is our desire. Try to understand this scene. A factory was once on fire. Everybody gathered there. They were making all possible attempts to put out the fire. In the meanwhile the factory owner also landed there. He saw the devastating fire and started weeping like a child. Everybody tried to console him but in vain. Then his bosom friend arrived on the scene and consoled him thus. ‘Are you mad? Why are you crying?’ The owner retorted ‘Are you mad? Can’t you see my factory is burning down? It is turning to ashes in few minutes’.

The friend coolly whispered in his ears, ‘Don’t you know something? Your eldest son sold out this factory to somebody only two days back. God knows where his sorrow disappeared. He wiped out his tears at once, rose from his place and started philosophising on life. ‘Oh life is so uncertain. Nothing lies in our hands. We cannot escape destiny. Money is not permanent.

Just then his eldest son rushed to the scene. The owner was shocked to see his son crying bitterly. He couldn’t understand why! He asked ‘My son! I heard you were clever enough to have sold it to some one just twodays ago. Why then are you crying? ‘The boy answered ‘Yes dad. I got hold of a sound party. I only made proposals to them but terms and conditions were not agreed upon and so deal was not settled’. All the philosophy of the owner had vanished into thin air and he joined his son in his crying.

Now if we discuss this scene here, if the reason for sorrow is the burning down of the factory, all the people assembled there should be crying! The owner should be crying incessantly but his crying was clubbed with a sense of belonging. He cried when he thought it was his, he overcame the grief when he learnt it was not his and he burst out again when he knew it was his own. Isn’t it crystal clear that his misery is directly linked with attachment to his factory! However much you try to reason out, ultimately the root cause of sorrow is nothing but attachment. You cannot destroy a big tree by just cutting down its top most branches. The same way, you can not destroy your desire by external change. You should search for the root cause. Ifyou sit with your eyes closed you can’t drive out the moha.

Moha is caused due to attachment. So our first requisite is detachment. We get this detachment through satsang. Detachment drives out our desires.

‘Nirmohatve nischalatatvam’ - Desire causes restlessness. Desirelessness drives out our restlessness. It makes our mind stable. (This line is written as Nirmohatve nischala chittam in some books)

The actual problem is unstable mind.
As long as we are in unstable mind, we cannot accept anything. Even if God comes down to bless us, we cannot believe him. Don’t argue, ‘No, we will believe him. If that is the case, why should Krishna teach Bhagavad Geetha to Arjuna in the midst of war field? He could have simply dictated terms to Arjuna with an arm stretched over Arjuna’s head, he could have said, ‘Come on Arjuna, and be prepared to fight!’ But we very patiently explained every doubt of Arjuna and pacified his doubting mind. The doubting mind will not yield to superficial words. It cannot become stable in so simple manner.

As long as you entertain doubts, you cannot achieve success in spiritual path. For that matter, you cannot achieve success even in your normal life.

Once a gentleman arranged a crazy competition. You should thread the needle. The prize amount was one lakh and the entry fee was thousand. All the tailors in the city came as contestants since threading the needle is a child’s play for them. So each one was confident that he would be the winner.

The competition started. The organizer brought a big needle and thread to the stage. That needle is not the small needle used to stitch clothes. It is as big as the needle used for preparing a garland of flowers. Even a blind man can pass the thread through the hole of the needle. The hole is so big. The tailors were all the more enthusiastic.
The first contestant stepped on to the stage. Just as he was passing the thread through the needle, the organizer started shaking the needle. The contestant shouted, what’s this? Please hold the needle straight. ‘The organizer argued’, I asked you to thread the needle. Did I promise you that I will hold it straight? Not only the first participant, could nobody win. They had to shell down the thousand rupees for participation.

Just as we can’t thread the needle when it is shaky, we can’t arrive at self-realization when our mind is shaky. So first thing is-we should shatter our doubts. Moha desire causes an illusion and so we see reality as unreal and unreal as real. Such an illusionary vision creates an unstable mind. So if we get rid of this unstable mind then our thoughts become stable.

‘Nischala tatve jeevanmukti.’ We should not misunderstand the word ‘Nischala tatve’ It is not a frozen state of mind. If we assume the frozen state is the means to moksha, we can arrive at this state through drugs or alcoholic drinks ! Our mind and body become inactive through these. But have you ever heard of an alcoholic attaining moksha? No, it is impossible! He cannot understand the mundane things in his dazed state, how then do you expect him to attain Brahmagnana? So for heaven’s sake don’t think that you should inactivate body and mind to be stable.

To control your emotions like anger, desire etc. is stability. This emotional balance prepares you for the attainment of knowledge.
Stability is a true friend

Where there is stability there is clarity. To study the sastras and to attain knowledge. We require stability. The attainment of knowledge is not based on the quantity of our reading but on the quality of reading. Some people are well read in vedas and puranas but there is no clarity of mind or readiness to accept them. So all their reading goes waste.

‘Yadha kharaschandana bhaana vaahi bhaarasya vetta natu chandanasya.’
You make a donkey carry a heap of sandal wood on its back. It knows only its weight but cannot get the wonderful fragrance of it. The same way you cannot get the essence of these Vedas if you read them for the sake of reading.

Moksha means the knowledge of the Advaitha Philosophy. To attain this knowledge we invariably require clarity and for clarity we require stability.

Mokha is called liberation in English. The root of the word liberation is ‘libra’. Libra means a balance. When the needle of the balance is stable in the centre, the weighing will be perfect. The same way when our mind stops wavering from one point to another, and when it remains stable, then we attain liberation.

The foundation for liberation is satsang. Wherever you attain nissangatvam that is satsang. Now a days we have many satsangs. The number of true satsangs can be counted on fingers. Some people hear the words ‘satsangatve missangatvam’ and they jump at the words. They think that if they attend satsangs they will achieve detachment and attend all types of satsang. Instead of attaining detachment, they only enhance their foolishness.

For some people attending a satsang becomes a habit. The day they can’t attend it, they become very restless and irritated. Even that is not a right method. We cannot attain gnana through habitual action. Without attaining gnana we cannot achieve peace and happiness. When I say this, somebody argues ‘No sir, when I attend our satsang I attain peace and happiness. ‘But how long? As long as he is in the satsang. The minute he comes out, they are gone! Are they real peace andhappiness? Real, peace and happiness can be experienced wherever you are. This is possible only when you are detached.

If we attend satsang, you should attain missangatvam - detachment. Our ignorance should gradually be rooted out. If that is not possible what we are attending is not satsang but dissang.

Even if we go to a true satsang, but if we don’t take part in it properly, the purpose is defeated. If we seek name and fame instead of knowledge and liberation, there is no point in attending it. We should enjoy the fruits of such good company.
How does the attainment of gnana bless us? Read the following sloka.

10. Vayasi gathe kaha kama vikaara
suske neere kaha kaasaaraha
ksheene viththe kaha parivaro
Gnathe tatve ka samsaraha -Bhaja Govindam

How will an old man have a desire for sex? Can you call something a lake if it becomes dry? How will people gather round you if you lose your property? Once you experience knowledge, why will you be attached to the samsara?

Our saints advocate us to give up the samsara. I have already detailed upon samsara. Samsara means living in agnana. How to get rid of this agnana is one million dollar question.

But Sri Sankaracharya is showing us a very simple but clear solution for this problem.
With apt examples he explains how we can come out of this samsara just as we lose sexual urge after we become old, just as we don’t find a lake when water is dried up, just as people desert us the moment money deserts us so do we lose the attachment to the samsara, the moment we attain knowledge. So the actual meaning of get rid of samsara is-attain Brahma gnana.

‘Gnathe tatve ka samsaraha’ - wherever we saw samsara due to our ignorance, there itself can we see Paramathma through our gnana. This is the meaning of ‘Asathoma Sadgamaya’. The prayer ‘Oh Paramathma, lead me from the state of asaththu to the state of sath’ doesn’t mean lead me somewhere else. It doesn’t mean asath is here and sat is elsewhere. Sat appears as asath due to our ignorance, that’s all!

One staunch devotee of Lord Siva got gold carvings of entire Siva’s family. The image of Siva was made out of 25 tulas of gold, of Parvathi out of 20 tulas, of Ganapathi and Kumaraswami with 10 tulas each, trisul with five, sarpa bhushan gold flowers for archana with yet another five tulas of gold. He prayed to God very devoutly with these flowers.

Suddenly he faced a heavy loss in business. He became almost penniless. Though he prayed to God sincerely everyday, he was forced to sell Siva’s family to scrape through. With agony writ all over his face, he took Siva’s family to a goldsmith.

The goldsmith weighed the images. He offered five thousand rupees per Tula. According to that offer, Siva costed one lack twenty thousand rupees, Parvathi one lakh, their son’s fifty thousand each, and Nandi seventy five thousand, trishul, sarpabhushan, and golden flowers costed twenty five thousand each. This was the calculation of the business man but the devotee was totally offended.
‘Oh Sir! How heartless you are! Siva and Parvathi are equally powerful. How can you differentiate them? Regarding their children Ganapathi is elder than kumara, Swami How can you equal them? How can you evaluate Nandi as more important than Lord’s own sons? The other objects like trisul, snake and flowers-how do you rate them as equal?’ attacked the devotee.

‘No sir, I am not differentiating or equalling Siva’s kith and kin. You see them as different entities. I am seeing the gold in all these images. These rates are for the gold and not for your Siva’s family. If you feel I am not doing justice to your God, you do this. You take back your Siva, Parvathi, Ganapathi etc and give me only the gold,’ replied the shop keeper.

Any object has three aspects in it. For example take the golden Siva’s image. The three aspects in it are - 1. Gold 2. Appearance or shape 3. Name. Since the image is made out of Gold there is gold in it. Since it has a definable shape of Lord Siva, you call it Siva. One which has a shape automatically has a name !
The name and shape remain as long as there is gold in it. The moment gold is melted, these two also vanish. If you remove the gold inthe golden image can Siva remain in that? The minute gold is gone the name and shape do not remain. But even if name and shape do not remain, gold remains. The same is the case with the absolute truth.
The goldsmith has knowledge of gold. So he sees the gold beyond the external appearance of shape and name. One who doesn’t have this knowledge is carried away by the other two.

When you think of these two names and appearance - you believe in Dvaitha philosophy. That is ‘samsara’. When you learn the ‘Brahma tatvam’ you realize that the external appearance too is paramathma. This knowledge changes you from following Dvaitha philosophy to Advaitha philosophy. That’s why a gnani doesn’t have samsara ‘Gnathe tatve ka samsaraha.’

Just as the goldsmith could see only God in the images of Siva, Parvathi etc. a gnani sees Brahma in everything. He doesn’t have any illusion regarding this. When his illusions are driven out, the sorrow created out of these illusions is driven out. If we mistake a rubber snake for a real snake, we face many fears and sorrows based on the misconception. The minute we realize our mistake and learn that it is not a real snake but only our illusion, we laugh at our own fears and sorrows related to it. When our mind has fully crossed the mire of delusion, we will then grow indifferent to the enjoyments of the world.

The rubber snake continues to appear as snake even after we attain gnana but since our understanding has changed it doesn’t cause us any more fears. The gnani and agnani both look at the same world but there is a lot of difference in their understanding. That’s why the gnani is devoid of the sorrow or confusion an agnani faces. Gnani learns sarvam brahma mayam (everything is God) , so he is not bound by the life, so he doesn’t have samsara.

How to attain the knowledge ‘Sarvam Brahmamayam’ is explained in the following sloka.
11. Ma kuru dhana jana yavvanagarvam
Harathi nimeshaat kaalaha sarvam
Maayaamaya mida makhilam hitvaa
Brahmapadam tvam pravisa viditvaa “Bhaja Govindam”

Don’t gloat over your possessions like wwealth, relatives and youth. Time will put an end to all these three. Realize that they are delusions; midhya and temporary attain Brahma gnana and be realized soul.

We have already seen that in a gold ornament, there are three aspects viz ‘Gold, appearance or shape, name’. In fact appearance and name are not a reality! It is because they disappear with the gold when it disappears. But, all the same, we can’t totally deny the existence of appearance because we are identifying an object based on its appearance. We name it a chain, a ring, a bracelet etc as per its shape. So we can’t totally rule out appearance of a thing. Now we have a big problem. In that case, does the aspect called appearance exist or not?

Take ‘gold’. Does it exist or not yes, it does exist. Now take appearance and name. Do they exist or not? The answer is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’! Is it confusing? No see carefully! Take a gold ring for example it has gold, shape and name-all the three. Now melt the ring. The shape is lost, automatically the name is lost, but the gold is still there! So, in superficial level all the three are there. In a deeper level only gold is there. So I repeat gold exists, but shape and name exist and do not exist. It means they exist but they have no identity of their own. They are dependant on the third aspect ‘gold’ this is what is called ‘maya’ (delusion) in Vedanta.

‘Yaa maa saa maya’- what doesn’t exist is maya. What does it mean ? What appears to exist externally, but what actually does not exist is ‘maya’ Vedanta defines this ‘maya’ thus. ‘Satva rajasthamo gunatmikaa Brahmaasraya maya asti’.

This maya clings to Brahma. This maya doesn’t cling as a child to a mother but it clings as a neclace to gold. You take mother and child. They come under dvaita philosophy. The child remains even if mother is no more. In the case of necklace and gold there is no dvaita. There is no necklace in the absence of gold. So when we use the word ‘Brahmasrayamaya’ we have to understand that maya is not different from ‘Brahma’.

This maya makes us assume that Brahma means the people on earth. The attachment of Brahmagnana puts an end to our maya. We should understand two aspects clearly here. The delusions are of two types. 1. Personal projection 2. Universal projection. Mistaking a rope to a snake ‘rajju sarpa bhranthi’ is the first type. This delusion disappears as soon as we focus light on it.

The second delusion is different. All of us witness the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. But the sun rise and sun set are also delusions! It is because the sun doesn’t rise or set! It appears so because the earth revolves round the sun. It appears so not only for us but for any one on earth. We treat the statements like the sun rises in the east’. The sun sets in the west as universal truths. But actually they are universal projections. We attain the knowledge that the sun rise and sun set are caused due to the movement of the earth but not due to the movement of the sun, but still there is no difference in scene. We continue to see sun rises and sun sets.
Our gnana changes our attitude to the creation of life (mistaking a rope for a snake) but it doesn’t change the creation of the Lord. Even if the creation of the Lord does not change, we will not encounter any sorrow since what grieves us is personal projection but not universal projection.

When we get rid of the personal projection we experience the universal projection as a dharma. When we attain knowledge of the self we realize that God and human beings are not two different objects. So a gnani doesn’t differentiate himself from Eeswara because he understands the principle ‘Sarvam Eeswara mayam! He sees himself in everybody. When everything is one and the same, where is the question of a second element? When there is no second element where is the question of ‘I’ or the ego centred round ‘I’?

We can clearly visualize the absence of ego in every nerve of a Brahma gnani. We cannot attain Brahma gnani through giving up ego, but we give up ego when we attain Brahma gnana. If we can attainBrahma gnana by giving up ego, we give up our identity crisis in our deep sleep. So, if it is so simple, we should attain it every night. So don’t assume you can attain Brahma gnana by an absence of ego or selfness.
Without trying to attain gnana, if we try to reduce our ego by superficial actions, leave alone reducing it, we nurture it all the more. A person may speak humbly without being egoistic, but within him ego is predominant. Did you ever stare into the eyes of a man who humbly speaks before you thus, ‘where do I stand before you?’ If you stare at him then you will see an exactly opposite feeling in him. Similarly, if we pretend to be humble, we are only nurturing our ego.

This ego is very dangerous but you should not make any attempts to reduce it. It is because a wrong treatment only aggravates the problem. Not only that, it gives a big blow on our desire to learn. It gives rise to many negative tendencies. The ego dies down only with an attachment of knowledge of the self. So we should make an attempt to attain gnana.

I know your question. ‘If we can drive out our ego only through the attainment of knowledge, can I exhibit my ego now, since I am an agnani?’ Vedanta has an answer for your doubt.

As long as you cannot attain an internal control ‘samam’ over yourself, so long you should exercise external control ‘damam’. If you think you have every right to exercise your ego, the people around you too have their own right to exercise their own ego. Then the world around will be a total chaos and the little peace prevalent will vanish.
So, even if we can’t get rid of our ego, we should exercise a control over it. If we try it without proper understanding it is harmful, but if we make a proper attempt it is very helpful.

Sri Sankaracharya is explaining the same aspect.
‘Maa kuru dhana Jana yavvana garvam’ - Our ego is basically centred round three aspects money, relatives and youth. If one boasts about his wealth, another boasts about a big following he has and yet another boasts about his charming personality or heroic valour. When he is blended thus by his possession he is least bothered about the attainment of gnana. After he loses these, he loses his ego and then goes in search of satsangs to pray unto the Lord. But it will be too late. So we should control ourselves and to do so should control ourselves and to do so should understand its nature properly.

Some people assume ‘dhana jana yavvanas’ are reasons for our ego. So I will give them up. You may be able to give up ‘dhana’ and Jana, but how can you give up yavvana? Is it in your hands? For that matter even money and a throng of people cling to you based on your fate. Even if you run to Himalayas, you cannot escape your fate. So to give up something is a meaningless thought.

Dhana, jana, yavvanas - are common to all human beings. So if we have a little more we should not treat ourselves superior to others and we should not foster our ego on them. It is because harathi nimeshaat kalaha sarvam’ - time destroys all the three in a split second. ‘Nimesham’ is the time taken to close and open our eye lids. Anything can happen in a split second. Is it not ignorance to gloat on things? Which are at the mercy of time and which can be destroyed any moment? We should never centre our love on things which in the end have no lasting value. Our confidence needs to come from within, not from without, from the quality of our hearts not from the quantity of the things we own.

Maaya mayam idam akhilam hitvaa - Greater smaller, richer - poorer, such differences are outward exhibition of things. Just as gold is seen in different shapes and names, the world is seen with different shapes and names. Just as the shapes and names of gold are not the actual reality, the external objects of the world are not the actual reality. Everything is maya. From the smallest creation to the vast space everything is maya. If we can’t arrive at this truth, we have to suffer in the dual world. Our sorrow enhances tiself. When we are depressed is there a scope for our gnana?
We should come out of this foolishness. We should learn that this world is but maya. Then we will attain a balance of mind. This equnimity leads us forward.
It is existent already

Brahma padam tvam pravisa viditva. Sri Sankaracharya tells us to realize that this world is filled with maya and is asking us to reach Brahma gnana. OK fine but how do we reach? It is very simple. To see the raw material gold behind a necklace. Where are we going? We can see that if we just change our attitude. If we analyse with a matured mind we learn that shape and name are artificial and gold is real. The same way, our reasoning ability tells us that this world is maya. If we learn it is maya, we understand Brahma gnana. That’s why Sri Sankaracharya proclaimed Viditva. Viditva means having learnt. If we attain Brahma gnana we learn the world is maya. If we learn the world is maya we don’t give importance to the objects of the world, we attain Brahma Padam.

To attain this Brahma Padam we should pray to Govinda. ‘Sreyansi bahu vignani santi.’ There are many obstacles in the path of success. We should overcome these obstacles and attain Brahma Padam, through sastras. ‘To attain that we should pray to Govinda’, says Sri Sankaracharya. Till now we prayed to God for material comforts. Now let’s pray for intelligence and tenacity to attain the required gnana.
I have already explained that ‘bhaja’ means to pray. Now ‘bhaja’ has yet another meaning. It means attain. Bhaja Govindam means attain Govinda, gain Govinda. In other words you should become Govinda. So come on why further delay?