The Moksha Gita : Swami Sivananda // Commentary : Chapter 4&5.1 - Swami Krishnananda.

Chinmaya Mission :

The Chinmaya Devi Group organized a one-day Value Camp and Cultural Meet for Women in Madurai on March 6th, 2023, in celebration of International Women's Day. The event was attended by over 400 women and featured a talk on "The Glory of Women" by Isaikavi Ramananji, a panel discussion on "The Shakthi reflected in Women's Success," and various competitions, including vocal, art and craft, and "Just a Minute" games. The event concluded with a prize distribution function, where the winners were awarded prizes by Smt. Latha Abiroopan and Sri. Saravanababu. The program received significant coverage in local news dailies, including Dinamalar, Dinamani, and The Hindu. Under the guidance of Swami Sivayogananda, the Chinmaya Devi Group planned, organized, and executed the event with great zeal and devotion, providing an opportunity for women to come together, celebrate their strengths, and share their experiences. The one-day event contributed to the empowerment of women in society.

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Thursday, March 09, 2023. 07:30.

The Moksha Gita : Swami Sivananda

Chapter 4: The Nature of Avidya - 4.

Chapter 5: The Nature of the Universe -1

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7. Mind, senses, egoism, intellect and body are the effects of Avidya. If the cause is destroyed, the effects are destroyed by themselves.

The Hathayogins start from the outside body to the inward truth by disciplining the physical sheath at first, but the Vedantins directly start from the innermost intelligence and break down the whole super-structure of the world-phenomenon. The cause of the disease of life is in the inner sheaths of the self and mere external applications without heeding to the root of the infection will not bring lasting benefit. Though the actual cause of Samsara is the Anandamaya Kosha, spiritual Sadhana cannot be practised merely by resting in this sheath. When the Jiva rests in this sheath of ignorance it falls asleep being completely unconscious of itself as well as the external universe. It knows neither the inward nor the outward nature. Such a state of total inertia is unsuited for the activity of spiritual exertion, for exertion requires consciousness. Hence, in deep sleep, even if the Jiva is nearest to the Reality being unaffected by distraction, it cannot progress in its spiritual evolution since the state of darkness is static and admits no entrance of conscious exertion.

The Vedantic Meditator, therefore, starts with the Vijnanamaya Kosha, though it is affected by Rajasic dynamics; because the Supreme intelligence is reflected in this Kosha, he is able to continue his work of self-transcendence with the help of the intellectual faculty. When with the power of Viveka or discrimination the Absolute Self is asserted by the Vedantin, the mind is held standstill, the senses turn back to their psychic source, the ego is not allowed to make further arrogations and the Chitta or the store of Samskaras is held in check.

Thus the Vedantic Meditation which seeks to destroy the cause of Avidya, automatically overcomes the effects thereof, and burns the seeds of past impressions which are lodged in the heart. The knots of ignorance are rent asunder and the individual becomes the Supreme.

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Chapter 5: The Nature of the Universe -1. 

1.

The Guru said: This universe of names and forms has its origin in ignorance. It is dissolved by knowledge of the Self. The universe, being other than the Self, is unreal like a dream. It is like a mirage.

The universe is a big house of disconnected family-members. Though it is in fact a "universe," it appears as a "multiverse" due to the differences in the natures of its contents. Every living organism possesses such characters as to make it a body completely separated from the whole. Thus the universe is like a "house divided against itself."

The universe is a negation of Brahman, or rather a disfiguring of Brahman. Existence and content are non-separate in the fundamental nature of the Reality. The universe is noted for such a distinction between every conceivable aspect or portion of itself. The universe is torn to pieces of scattered characteristics everywhere conflicting in their qualities and actions. The cosmic mind and the individual mind are complementary creators of the presentation of the universe.

The cosmic vibration of the universal psyche pulsates in every speck of space and projects the vast body of the physical world in the same way as the individual consciousness materialises itself. The universe exists as long as there is faith of the individual in its existence. But the Self-realization of the individual does not totally destroy the objective universe, because, though the world is the production of the thought of the individual in relation to its own life, the power that sustains the outer world is in the totality of the mentations of all the individuals constituting the universe. This totality of minds is the cosmic mind a part of which is the individual mind. The dissolution of the universe in Self-Knowledge is only in relation to the consciousness of the individual concerned and therefore does not hold good in relation to other conscious centres which are of a different stage of evolution.

Anything other than the Absolute cannot exits. Duality cannot be eternal. Therefore, the universe, being other than the Absolute or the Self in its basic nature, must be a dream-like perception and cannot be a reality. It must be so unreal as a mirage appearing in the desert, for it cannot be given any substantial value in the region of truth due to the inconsistency of its existence with the enduring Truth.

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To be continued

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