For Seekers by Seekers

In this free flowing conversations few of the people who participated in Chaturmasa 2020 Fasting talk about their experiences and learnings.

Enjoy listening and be inspired.

For this week's GD, since we are continuing to mull on 'Tree of Samsara' topic, and bring out a few points to think about:

1. How is the tree sustained? What does it mean to do be active in this world with (selfish) desires? What is the relationship with birth & death by being thus active?

2. What is the impact of a person's pre-disposition [combination of gunas one has] on the type of work they would do and how does it impact the tree of samsara?

3. Does the samsara tree really exist? If it does, where? If it does not, then why do we perceive it to exist?

4. What has attachment (sangah) got to do with the tree? Why is 'asangah' concept important to cut down the tree?

5. Why does Swamiji talk of removing names & forms from the tree thought to realize that it does not exist, but only awareness exists?

6. Is Awareness limited or limitless? Why does it appear limited?

7. What is the difference between existence (sat), awareness (chit) and how does one distinguish between living /non-living beings? When a living being 'dies' we call it dead (or in this context, non-living being). So, what is the difference between a living and non-living being?

8. Does death happen when Atma escapes from a living being? Can Atma escape at all?

9. What exactly happens when a living being dies? How does the concept of subtle body (sukshma sharira) explain death? What is sukshma sharira and sthula sharira (physical, gross body) differences?

10. What is kshara (decaying) purusha, akshara (undecaying) purusha and purushottama (the eternal)? How to understand the words - kshara, akshara, purushottama? How can we mix n match to sthula sharira, sukshma sharira and Atma?

In Gita, Krishna paints that the tree of samsara - of bondage & attachments - leading to pain & happiness is likened to a peepul tree (aswatha tree) and we discuss what this means for us in our context.

Why does such a tree exist?

Why does God have to create the tree at all?

Why does he have to put us in trouble?

We also go back and forth into karma yoga, bhakti yoga, jnana yoga, values, value of values....

I gave a talk at City Book Leaders talking to about 40+ people on my book. Here is the video of my Sun talk: https://youtu.be/SgKbLAtIbZU

In case any of you are interested in the slides I put together, here it is: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aQq5Qx2kQVQnUgxzdrI3nt6PlxZcNUpK/view?usp=sharing

This podcast is the audio version of my talk.

Quick timelines in case you want to jump to different sections:

00:00 to 50:40 My Talk

53:30 to 58:30 My Recommendations for a Seeker 

58:30 to end: Questions & Answers

In this video, I present five concepts from my book, Happiness beyond Mind. 

I share about 

1) Definition of happiness  & Why we are discontented and keep on searching

2) What is the mistake we all make about our identity

3) Death is just a pit-stop in our journey to completion

4) Psychological construct of a human being according to Vedanta

5) Mind management is key to our 'completion'.

In today's group discussions, we continue to mull on the 'qualities' that constitute 'jnanam' or essential qualities for truly understanding 'jnanam'.

Moving from a theoretical construct of last week's discussions, we discuss the importance of these qualities, and practical methods to make them part of our life. This is inner transformation and requires work. 

We change our way of thinking, aligning thoughts, words, action. 

We pause before reacting.

We ask need or want?

We practice patience, giving space to others in their development.

We use these parameters to change ourselves, not measure others.

We discuss what is the impact of desires, anger, greed. Why do they occur? What we can do to overcome them? Why should we overcome them?

We discuss the importance of karma yoga and meditation (dhyana) in building a wholistic personality.

In essence, this hour and half is the 'practical transformation module' for your spiritual growth. Learn from the seekers who practice what they learn and share with others.

In this episode, I chant 'Phala Sruti'  or 'Mangala Sloka' - a customary sloka that is chanted after Vishnusahasranamam is chanted.

I also explain in English the meaning of 'phala sruti': phala means benefit; sruti is singing that benefit.

So, this is a chant + explanation of the benefits of chanting Vishnusahasranamam.

This episode is all about discussions and personal observations of what each of the seekers see as their path towards 'moksha' - eternal freedom.

We even debate on what is that state of 'moksha'.

We discuss what is 'samsara' and why is it difficult to get out of it.

What is the path the scriptures explain we have?

What is the yogic path?

Is there a danger to start 'assuming' that we are Brahman already - wouldn't that lead to megalomania?

What is the significance of cultivating mental attitudes? What are the right attitudes to cultivate? What to let go? How to do it?