Moment to Speak

‘You Alone Are Real,’ explains Sage Ashtavakra in an answer to the question, "Is this real or was that real?" raised by King Janaka, well versed in Vaisvanara Vidya , or the knowledge of the Universal Self, and father of Sita of the Ramayana , before his assembly of advisors. You are not the body, nor is the body yours, nor are you the doer of actions or the reaper of their consequences. You are eternally pure consciousness, the witness, in need of nothing—so live happily, an aphoristic proclamation by Sage Ashtavakra (Ashtavakra Gita,15.4., translation by John Richards, 2nd Edition, Stackpole Elidor, UK, 1996). Sage Ashtavakra emphatically says real is neither the waking state, Janaka as King, nor the dreaming state, Janaka as Beggar. It is untrue that King Janaka is an emperor or a beggar. You are the only real you. Because you are the truth. Furthermore, you are your true reality; you are the one who witnessed both of these states, the one who existed as pure consciou...

A humble prayer of repetition as a mantra (mystical or ritual worship), mentioned in the Srimad Bhagavad Gita , to aspire the Purusha (Self). It is an inward movement to become conscious of the inner self and realise the Supreme Self on the way to moksha (liberation) and nirvāna (salvation). na rūpam asyeha tathopalabhyate nānto na chādir na cha sampratiṣhṭhā aśhvattham enaṁ su-virūḍha-mūlam asaṅga-śhastreṇa dṛiḍhena chhittvā tataḥ padaṁ tat parimārgitavyaṁ yasmin gatā na nivartanti bhūyaḥ tam eva chādyaṁ puruṣhaṁ prapadye yataḥ pravṛittiḥ prasṛitā purāṇī This world does not comprehend this tree's true form, either in its inception, its demise, or its ongoing existence. But one must use a sharp axe of separation to bring down this deeply entrenched aśhvatth  (sacred fig) tree. The next step is to find the root of the tree, which is the Supreme Being, from whom the universe's activities originated eons ago. One will never return to this world after finding...

Jiva , a living substance of a living being, experiences multitudes of thoughts, events, activities, discernment, and so many others, consciously and non-consciously. During its life cycle, it may experience inward or outward movements. The inward propulsion is to realise its own nature, hitherto covered by sensual thoughts and desires. The outward movement is to appropriate the sensual desires, an outcome of the thought-making factory of the mind. Anything that is sentient, conscious, and cognitive is considered to be life. It takes on different forms at different phases of experiential development—thinking, feeding, reproducing, and multiplying—when energy is used. Samsāra , the state that comes after birth and death, is life. It has a birth, growth, degradation, and death trajectory. Some experiences are realised, adopted, acclimatised, moulded, and incorporated during the life flow processes, and others are remembered fully, half-heartedly, partially, and discarded to the require...