Vedanta Lectures | Swami Tattwamayananda – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Swami Tattwamayananda expounds Maitreyi-Brahmana of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad in a series of three lectures given online at the Vedanta Society of Northern California from 9/4/2021 - 9/6/2021.

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Vedanta Society of Northern California
www.sfvedanta.org

Swami Tattwamayananda expounds Maitreyi-Brahmana of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad in a series of three lectures given online at the Vedanta Society of Northern California from 9/4/2021 - 9/6/2021.

All Rights Reserved.
Vedanta Society of Northern California
www.sfvedanta.org

Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda given on March 7th, 2021.

-The idea of religious universality, that all religions can lead to the same transcendental experience of unity, has entered into the modern world thanks to the influence of Sri Ramakrishna.
-Sri Ramakrishna was able to reach the highest Advaitic experience in only three days under the instruction of Tota Puri.
-This immediate realization comes when the disciple is fully concentrated on realizing the truth.
-Ordinary seekers may need to practice concentration on the meaning of the highest Vedantic statements for some time before these ideas go from being only a doctrine or a concept to becoming an experience.
-The waters of the various rivers mingle into one body of water. In the same way, the material of all religions is the same spiritual reality. An Advaitin can no longer be in conflict with any religion because he is not separate from anybody.
-Sri Ramakrishna’s experience was the very embodiment of the ancient Vedantic revelations.
-In modern times, according to Arnold Toynbee, this universal trend is shaping the trajectory of civilization. Directly or indirectly, Sri Ramakrishna’s nondual practice is the source.
This lecture was delivered at the Vedanta Society of Northern California on March 10, 2013.

Verses: 82-96
This lecture was given by Swami Tattwamayananda at Stanford University on July 14, 2019. The lecture was hosted by the Stanford Hindu Students Association.
-An elaborate analysis of the non-self (anatman). Descriptions of sthula-sharira (gross body) and sukshma-sharira (subtle body) are provided.
-Comparisons to Buddhist interpretation of anatman. Concept of Sunyata in Buddhism is not nothingness – rather it refers to the indescribability of the Absolute Reality.
-Anatma is made of three parts: (1) Sthula-sharira (2) Sukshma-sharira and (3) Karana-sharira
82nd verse: if one wants liberation, one should reject all kinds of desires for material enjoyment, and stay away from them, as one would stay away from poison. Take to contentment, kindness, forgiveness, truth and peace.
A householder who does not strive for dharma, artha, kama through proper means is considered “adharmi”. Sri Ramakrishna and Hazra’s story is discussed. Hazra ignored his duty towards his mother, wife and children to pursue a spiritual life – he was scolded by Sri Ramakrishna for ignoring his duty as a householder.
Begin by desisting from doing what you are not supposed to do. Eventually, you will be able to do what you are supposed to do.
85th verse: Obsessive attachment to sensory pleasures without a spiritual ideal is “moha”. Moha conceals the reality and projects the wrong idea. Moha can lead to spiritual death. Only those who give up moha deserve mukti.
-87th verse: Gross body is detestable as it is composed of skin, flesh, blood, fat, marrow and bones. If we touched those things, we would wash our hands. However, the same gross body is a great asset, as it is what we use to achieve liberation. The journey beyond the body needs the body itself.
Kalidasa-Kumara-Sambhava story of Shiva and Uma is discussed. Shiva advises Uma to not ignore the gross body as she pursues austerities.
96th verse: Sukshma-Sharira has eight units: (1) Five organs of perception (2) Five organs of action (3) Five pranas (4) Five subtle elements (5) Antahkarna – mana, buddhi, chitta, ahamkara (6) Avidya (7) Kama and (8) Karma.
Sukshma-sharira defines one’s personality. Gandhi’s example is discussed as stark contrast between sthula and sukshma sharira.
 Vritti is residual effect in mental system from any thought, deed or speech. Vritti => Samskara => Vasana => Karma form a continuous cycle.
 Story of Vyadha Gita is discussed to illustrate path to liberation as a householder.
-Mahendra nath Gupta’s story is discussed – Sri Ramakrishna advises him to stay as a householder and pursue his spiritual journey. He had great respect for monks.
A householder needs to follow the path of dharma in his pursuit of artha and kama. This helps him understand the limitations of artha/kama and have a higher ideal.

Verses: 77 – 80
This lecture was given by Swami Tattwamayananda at Stanford University on July 7, 2019. The lecture was hosted by the Stanford Hindu Students Association.

-There are five methods of verbalization or description. Atman is beyond all such verbalization.
-Since Atman is beyond description, Vivekachudamani takes the approach of “neti, neti” or “via negativa” in Christian Theology. It describes everything that it is not, so that what is left out is Atman.
-Atman transcends all descriptions but it is not devoid of all characteristics.
-Sense-objects are more poisonous than the poison of a snake because just seeing such an object can create mental slavery to that object.
-We are often unable to get out of a negative infatuation despite our intellectual knowledge that it is harmful to us (Dostoyevsky's creative fiction is given as an example).
-Even a person who has mastered the six schools of orthodox Indian philosophy may not be able to get out of negative infatuation. We live not at the intellectual level but at the mental level.
-Shankaracharya tells us to develop our inner faculties and become aware of the way out of our problems.
-Superficial renunciation is denounced. At the first stage, we become aware of the need to get away from an undesirable thing. At the second stage, we move towards something positive. We develop a spiritual common sense: the ability to have all success yet realize its inherent limitations.
-A householder develops this inner renunciation through associating with these holy ideas and spiritually minded people. Spirituality has value for people in all walks of life.

This lecture was given on June 28, 2019 at the Vedanta Society of Northern California by Swami Tattwamayananda.

- Swamiji admired the merits of modern western secular educational system, like its emphasis on humanism, innovation, human rights, egalitarian and democratic values, utilization of science and technology, etc.
- Swami Vivekananda's positive approach and constructive criticism of the Western and Eastern models of education; a harmony of the positive elements of both.
- Education for evolving healthy social and political institutions.
- Civilizations, like individuals, go through the successive stages of birth, adolescence, decay and destruction
- Two approaches to social transformation:
(a) Evolution, which is a natural constructive growth from within and,
(b) Revolution, which is unnatural, often destructive and is a change imposed from outside
- He recommended a harmonious blending of the very best of the secular modern, Greco-Roman, Western, scientific and technological values and the best of Eastern, traditional and spiritual values.
- Vivekananda's most well-known definition of education was this: "Education is the manifestation of perfection already in man."
-Education should be for character building, nation building, and man making, training of the whole personality.
-Swami Vivekananda says, “You cannot teach a child any more you can grow a plant, all you can do is on the negative side. You can only help. You can take away obstacles but knowledge comes out of its own nature. Education should involve training in spiritual and cultural values. Swamiji’s definition: “We must have life-building, man-making, character-building assimilation of ideas.”
-Education in practice implies removing the obstacles that stand in the way of unfoldment of perfection already in all of us.
-Such an education should make us sensitive to the needs of the society in which we live and we become sensitive to our own obligations to our fellow beings living around us.
- Swamiji's reference to the transformative impact on the conditions of the Irish migrants who came to America in the 19th-century
-The best of Realism and the best of Idealism.
-This would be the foundation of an ideal educational system.
- Swamiji’s criticism of placing too much emphasis on secular values to the exclusion of the spiritual ideals.
- Swamiji says, "All knowledge is inherent in man." (He refers to Newton's discovery of gravitation)
-According to religion, interpreted and understood as spirituality should be the 'core subject' of education. (in contrast to some of the views advocated by Western educational thinkers like J.F. Herbart, Froebel, John Dewey. etc.)
- But Swamiji was in full agreement with some of these Western thinkers in totally rejecting John Locke's theory of 'tabula rasa', though this view goes back some of the ancient Greek philosophers.
- Integrating some of the values of ancient Indian education with modern educational system: the 'GURUKULA' system:
- An ancient convocation address from the Vedic period: " मातृदेवो भव । पितृदेवो भव । आचार्यदेवो भव । अतिथिदेवो भव ।" (तैत्तिरीयोपनिषत्)
- Nature, the great educator
- Stress on family values: the sacredness and sanctity of the institution of the family, like respect to the parents, teachers, guests, etc.
- Evolution of education: from information to knowledge to wisdom to 'Prajna'
- आचार्यात् पादमादत्ते पादं शिष्य स्वमेधया |
पादं सब्रह्मचारिभ्य: पादं काल क्रमेण च ||
- Managing the fruits of education
- "I learn as long as I live"
- The importance of श्रद्धा in education
- Sanctity and sacredness of the spoken word; need for moderation in speech and choice of the vocabulary.
-It should not promote national fanaticism. It should inculcate constructive and creative patriotism based on humanistic values: वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्
- Education should emphasize humanities, (study of language, literature, history philosophy, art, religion etc.) along with science and technology.
- Poet Kalidasa on moderation in the use of spoken words: मितं च सारं च वचो हि वाग्मिता । (attributed to the ancient Sanskrit poet Kalidasa)
(True eloquence is the correct, concise and meaningful use of words)
- An illustration from Valmiki's Sanskrit classic Ramayana: Hanuman's eloquence:
- The glorious examples of the American transcendentalists
- An illustration of the invocation the Goddess of learning in the ancient Gurukula system of education

This lecture was given by Swami Tattwamayananda at Stanford University on June 30, 2019. The lecture was hosted by the Stanford Hindu Students Association.
Verses: 66-76
-The first stage of spiritual life is discrimination between the real and unreal (nitya-anitya-vastu-viveka). Nitya means Atman or unchanging Absolute Reality. Anitya means “the changing” or non-eternal.
-Avidya is the absence of knowledge of the absolute truth. When we are in the spell of Avidya, we have desires and we direct our efforts towards the fulfillment of those desires.
-An elaborate analysis of the Non-Self (anatman). Descriptions of sthula-sharira (gross body) & sukshma-sharira (subtle body) are provided. Strive to go beyond the cycle of birth and death and put your own effort towards experiencing the absolute truth. We have to think of ourselves as beyond the body and mind. Atman is our true identity.
-Life of Tulsidas is briefly discussed.
-A spiritual seeker should develop dispassion to anitya and not assign permanence to what is impermanent. The Buddhist concept of Trishna – desire for impermanent things – is discussed.
-Raga-Dvesha is discussed. Raga is an obsessive desire for something that we know is harmful to us, but we are not able to get out of it. Dvesha is obsessive hatred towards someone or something, that one is not able to get out of. Both are types of enslavements.
-Conflicts are natural to the mind; the mind is full of momentary thoughts and one cannot determine what thought will emerge next. To make the mind steady, one should not fight the conflicting thoughts – rather one should direct the mind toward a higher goal.
-When sense objects guide our senses, which guide our mind, which guides our life – our life loses its direction. Our mind then is our tormenter, our worst enemy.
-Example of dangers of guided from sense objects is provided from the animal kingdom. Deer (sense of hearing), Elephant (sense of touch). Moth (sense of seeing), Fish (sense of taste), Bee (sense of smell). Each of these creatures reaches death as they are guided by one of their senses. What to speak of humans who have five senses active all the time.
-When one observes their thoughts, they become a witness and are no longer attached to the thought and not affected by it. To become mindful, one has to go beyond the mind.
-A spiritual seeker should practice the six disciplines discussed earlier in Vivekachudamani. These six disciplines take to “Prasada” – inner contentment. Good, noble, unselfish deeds also take one to “Prasada”. Example of helping a blind man crossing the street is provided. Inner contentment is a sign that mind is our friend.

The lecture was given on December 5, 2015, at the Vedanta Society of Northern California by Swami Tattwamayananda.
-Bird's eye view of the four Mahavakyas in the Upanishad is provided, with deep dive on first Mahavakya: "Tat Tvam Asi"
-Four Mahavakyas are: (1)Tat Tvam Asi, from Chandogya Upanishad in Sama Veda (2)Prajnanam Brahma, from Aitareya Upanishad in Rig Veda (3)Ayam Atma Brahma, from Mandukya Upanishad in Atharva Veda (4)Aham Brahma Asmi, from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad in Yajur Veda
-The statements tell us who we are and what the universal truth is. The four represent the four stages of evolution in the spiritual evolution of the seeker, starting with Tat Tvam Asi and culminating in Aham Brahma Asmi, which represent complete union with the whole spiritual universe.
-Tat Tvam Asi is updesa-vakya and Aham Brahma Asi is anubhuti-vakya.
-Story of Uddalaka and Shvetaketu is discussed. True learning makes one wise and humble. Information + knowledge = wisdom. In the process of teaching Shvetaketu, Uddalaka utters: "Tat Tvam Asi" and repeats it eight more times during his instructions
-Meaning of Tat Tvam Asi: "The essence of the whole creation, the one supreme reality, the Atman - resides in all of us. It is omnipresent, all-pervading and is our own inner Self. It is not far away". God is not a person who creates the world and sits outside – the whole of humanity is one spiritual family.
-Discussion on why Swami Vivekananda only taught from the Upanishads. In those days, there were fanatic beliefs and people were looking for a universal spiritual paradigm. Swamiji realized that every religion had some level of universal truth. By teaching them Vedanta, he could help people realize the essence of their religion.
-True religion has two elements: (1) it teaches universal, spiritual humanism and (2) it presents a scientific analysis of who we are
-Belief is not the foundation of true religion. Experience is.
-Discussion on how to interpret Mahavakyas. We cannot take the meaning literally. Rather the implied meaning has to be understood. "That thou art" - thou refers to the Atman within.
-What a student should do after listening to "Tat Tvam Asi" - contemplate on the meaning, meditate, begin to lead a pure life, do unselfish deeds. The student should go through a spiritual preparation, which makes him fit for the knowledge. Theoretical knowledge should culminate in experience, and this evolution is represented by the four Mahavakyas.
-Four stages of a spiritual seeker's evolution: (1) Rituals and prayers (2) Conviction in the truth (3) Glimpse of the higher truth (4) Experience of the truth

Verse: 59, 60, 61, 62, 66, 69
Topics:
-Study of scriptures is the means, not the goal. The goal is spiritual liberation.
-Shravanam, Mananam, and Swanubhuti are discussed. Intellectual study of scriptures, by itself, is of no use. Spiritual journey starts with ideas from the scriptures. Deeper contemplation of these ideas is needed, which then provides one their own inner experience.
-Scriptures are of no use once the highest experience is realized. After achieving that state, one may still read scriptures because of their natural inclination to do so.
-Just like medicine removes the poison from a snake bite, spiritual knowledge is the only medicine for spiritual ignorance.
-Just belief does not give experience. Belief should become a deep conviction, which then turns into an experience.
-When one feels a great attraction for scriptures, it comes from some degree of their own experience.
-The spiritual bank balance is discussed. Fruits of spiritual practice are never lost. It even carries over across lives, where one is born with their past good samskaras. Even a little experience now, will become a real experience later.
-To treat spiritual ignorance, one has to practice seven disciplines, discussed previously in the Vivekachudamani.
-The first discipline is a sense of dispassion for things that are impermanent, Cause of unhappiness is assigning permanence to something that is inherently impermanent.