Hunger and thirst for food, sleep and sex for rejuvenation and survival may be our common heritage but the need for self expression and self awareness leads us unwittingly to pursuits that other animals cannot conceive. Our physical evolution may be complete at human level but a higher level of mental, moral and spiritual evolution begins at this stage. It is at this stage that we learn to rise above body consciousness. Our bodies are the temples we choose to live in. The deity of self consciousness and happiness is our next destination. It is that deity who continuously says I am, I am, I am. It is the only subject for whom the entire cosmos is an object. It is the only one who can know itself, the only one upon whom the rest of creation depends for its existence. This self conscious entity seeking bliss in itself and its environments has addressed itself by many names as gods and goddesses, as saviors and sons of god or as his messengers. It is this I who is the one without a second that is extolled and prayed to in Vedas and all the religions since times immemorial. And yet it is expressed in just two words “I am”.

This ‘I am ‘ is a seeker of happiness. It seeks happiness from every object that it comes across. Its search for happiness begins from the first breath on birth or may be, even before birth and continues till the last breath. The ingenuity of this search is unique again. It searches for happiness in objects as diverse as chocolates and cocaine. From a virgin to a prostitute, from a devoted wife to a harem of concubines, from a bottle of milk to a bottle of wine, the search goes on endlessly in diverse ways in a variety that is limited only by imagination . It seeks happiness in climbing mountain peaks and diving in oceanic depths. In the Himalayan caves and in suffocating discos the search goes on. It is a never ending search. Or is it really never ending? Some wise men like Buddha did succeed and tried to goad others into following him. A few millions did follow him but only up to a point! Later they expanded their search into way that even Buddha could not have conceived. With what result?

They say, musk deer keeps searching for the source of that wonderful fragrance till the end of his life without ever finding it. Are we not similarly deluded into believing that our happiness and its source lie outside us? We are that bliss that we search in objects. Our infinite capacity to look at objects of this world as the sources of that happiness comes to an end the moment we realize, as the great masters had realized before us, that we are that bliss, that source of eternal happiness that has been our quest for ages past. It is only because we have given too much value to this wonderful body that is as perishable as the world from which we seek that elusive commodity called permanent and infinite happiness. We fail to see the obvious. We see the snake and not the rope because of dim light of our dimness. Without the rope, the snake would not have been there. But the rope has no snake in it! The Reality is the rope. The world is only a superimposition upon IT. Yet we see the world and its objects expecting happiness from them. It does not occur to us that happiness lies in the subject ‘I’ and not in any object of this world. God grant me that vision that I see what needs to be seen and experienced as Real ‘I AM’ and not the phantom called my EGO.

My UnderstandingSensory experiences, in their overly exuberant demands to the exclusion of control by the higher centre of consciousness, are considered the most important obstacle in the path of a seeker. When one is overpowered by these sensory experiences & no being is immune to their thralldom, it is impossible to have peace of mind.  Does it mean that peace of mind remains a utopian dream for all beings? If so, all effort of ethics, morality, civilized behavior and meditation etc come to naught.   The proposition that peace of mind is an achievable objective and many have achieved it before us is not an empty dream. The fact that search for happiness in the world of objects is primarily a search for peace of mind needs some elaboration. We desire all the objects of the world for fulfilling some sense of inadequacy in life. Those unfulfilled deficiencies give rise to a sense of discomfort. It is that discomfort that we want to eliminate by desiring and acquiring all objects of desire. However, it is an everyday experience that immediately after the acquisition of one such object, another desire crops up. In other words no object of the world has been known to give lasting happiness to anyone, leave alone the possibility of it giving lasting happiness to everyone. That, in a nutshell, is the reason for our search for peace of mind. How do we reconcile such a dilemma? Is our search for a lasting happiness a mirage? That is the question Gita tackles from the other end. It advocates peace of mind as our primary need. Once our primary existential reality is recognized as inherent ‘BLISS’, all search for happiness through objects of the world vanishes. Gita lays down a regime serially by following which one can attain lasting peace of mind. It first advises purposeful activity as karma yoga. Thereafter it emphasizes economy of effort by not worrying about the consequences or craving for the fruits of action. Next the exhortation to be as unselfish as possible is advised. Such spirit of selfless activity for a broad social, communal, national or humanitarian ideal is expected to wash out the egocentric drives from the seeker’s bosom. This serial advance from KARMA to DEVOTED SELFLESSNESS is the unique mantra devised by Gita. Turning one’s attention away from a search for objects to attainment of peace of mind and inherent BLISS automatically reduces dependence upon short term gains. It is this technique that frees the mind from excessive roaming around in the jungle of desires.Our happiness should not be dependent upon any body or anything if we are true seekers. The seventh Chapter of Gita has an illuminating message. The last three verses make it quite clear that “wisdom” lies in gradual reduction of desire and aversion. These enemies of wisdom increase the noise in our mind with agitation and cloud our judgment from birth onwards. Even our birth is a sequel designed by ourselves for working out the accumulation of impressions gathered over previous lives. These lives could have been in the plant, animal or human kingdom. Our only “sin” consists of craving for the gross body related demands of mind and intellect as desires for the pleasant and aversion for the not so pleasant experiences. To break this chain of past life impressions, leading to thoughts and actions to fulfill desires is the only merit that is required to be earned by us at the subtle level of existence. By earning that merit, one does not become a renunciate or emotional person but a man of perfection in this world itself. He becomes a master of his own mind. To achieve such a status of a mastermind ought to be our aim in life. Once that is achieved nothing can come in the way of one remaining in a state of bliss of conscious existence as personified BLISS or sat-chit-anand. It is obvious that reduction of desires is given an important place in the scheme of Vedanta thought process. In other words all desires, expectations, desire prompted actions and desire prompted judgments lead to agitations in the mind. It is these agitations that are the cause of ripples of desire in the calm lake of mind. These ripples become waves and assume the character of a Tsunami at times of excessive excitements of lust and greed. Murders are committed in the heat of such moments. Crimes of passion and wars are fought under their influence. It is for this reason that Desire is called the Satan or enemy number one. Its influence upon the mind and intellect is compared to a gale force wind upon the calm lake of mind. All ships of thoughts and judgments get affected by this gale. A man with a befuddled mind due to any reason of inebriation is not considered responsible for his actions. He is in fact considered a mad man. The other end of the spectrum is a baby with an innocent mind which is not affected by storms of desire. A baby too is not considered responsible for his actions. This Satan of Desire has to be brought under control to live like a baby. But it is also true that mind is as hard to control as wind. Only dispassion or detachment and regular practice in controlling the wayward mind from running from one desire prompted thought to another are the means to achieve victory over it. Meditation is shown as the means to strengthen ones resolve to move on this path.The natural question is, are all desires undesirable? Is living at all possible without desiring desire? It is agreed that desire causes agitation, but is not agitation itself the essence of life? Or are not life and its agitations the very reason for existence? Or what can life be for a non-desiring and vegetating man? Did not the Creator ‘desire’ to create his Creation? Would not He have ‘desired’ to be conscious of His Creation? Would He not have ‘desired’ the satisfaction of having created His Creation as do all artists and painters or creators? Would not His mind have got affected by the gale of Desire? Could that gale be the reason for His creating such a topsy turvy world? These are very natural questions of an intelligent human being that need to be tackled intelligently and rationally.It is to answer such intelligent questions that in the end of the second chapter of Gita one is advised the attitude of equanimity of a sthita-pragya. The seekers are advised to act without expectations of fruits of action in the third chapter. It almost becomes a circular formula of non-seeking of fruits and desire-less actions in the later chapters also till one realizes the logic of it all.Every action has to produce some result at a future moment. What possible advantage can be gained by desiring that result which is bound to follow as a natural consequence of an action? Is that not an unnecessary loss of time and energy? An action performed by one is like an arrow that has left the bow or a bullet that has left the barrel of a gun. It cannot be recalled. The consequences of the arrow or the bullet that has been shot are bound to follow as night follows day. Rational thought therefore decrees that if one focuses all his attention on the shooting itself and not on its consequences, the action itself would be better performed with greater accuracy. It would have a present moment focus. It is such a focused actor of an action who is likely to hit the target aimed at, with that arrow or the bullet. Concern for the future is thus eliminated from the mind. The present activity gets fortified. That leaves only the conditioning of the past to affect the mind. Since a quiet mind that is fully involved in the present activity finds itself getting better & better results when not weighed down by fears of future, it learns to drop its conditionings of the past more easily. After all, the consequences of past actions can be seen to have already produced more efficient results by such an actor. By its own trial and error learning process, it becomes quieter by degrees. Calmness returns to such a mind that had been habitually buffeted by the ripples of noise of the fears of that future which has already become the present or even the past. Such a quiet mind receives the signals from the environments more clearly because there is no noise to disturb its reception. It becomes equanimity personified. It perceives things and beings in a more clear light. Its perceptions become clearer. Even his senses become sharper. His judgment of persons and processes becomes more accurate. Such a mind belongs to an actor who is not easily disturbed by events over which he has no control. It is also more agile to make corrections if these are needed to change course as required by changing environments. Desires in such a mind get attenuated to the minimum level. Even if an event of catastrophic proportions takes place, such an actor does not lose his cool. In other words, such a mind has lesser flow of distracting thoughts. In due course such a mind becomes active only when required by the present activity at hand & becomes restful when not required for interaction with the world at large. It becomes a placid lake of restful no-mind. Desires and desire prompted activities and thoughts cease disturbing such a mind. Such a mind can be considered to be always in a state of meditation. It is a highly enjoyable state that is appreciated as YOGA and SAMADHI.The next question that arises is what happens to the demands of the body inhabited by such a mind? How does it meet its requirements of food and drink? Does it not need money, shelter and recreation etc? How about its relationships? There is no doubt that such questions are bound to arise in every rational head. Hunger and thirst, shelter and sex are very natural needs and basic to our existence. How can we live without desiring these? We have to fulfill such needs in as pleasant a manner as possible. Our social obligations towards other members of family and society also need involvement. Security for old age would force us to accumulate wealth by whatever means available to us. Are not such desires natural even for a man who has controlled his mind? Or is such a man required to live in a cave or a forest only?The answer to such questions is a stock corollary of the foregoing. No living being can survive without activity even for a moment. This activity could be at the body level, thought or emotional level. All such activities that arise as natural consequences of life processes like breathing, sleeping, protecting the body from danger etc are autonomic and do not arise from desires. It is the desire prompted thoughts and activities that create the ripples of noise in the mind and not the activities themselves. It is the craving and hankering for some fruit or consequence that is considered a “Desire”. As long as that craving and hankering after an object of desire is absent, no activity has the binding force of creating the ripples that constitute noise to the mind. Conversely, if such craving or hankering after is present even for a so-called noble cause like social welfare or spiritual uplift, it leads to noise and bondage. It is the egoistic noise and the bondage producing effects of desires and desire prompted thoughts and activities that have to be got rid of and not the activities per se. My Body & MeOne of the most original and profound contributions of our ancient philosophical thought is the concept regarding my relationship with my body. The understanding of this concept is central to the question of when and how a desire becomes an undesirable desire. It helps us proceed from gross to subtle in a graduated manner.My body is my residence. It belongs to me but it is not me. Like a watch on my wrist belongs to me but is not me. The house in which I live is mine but is not me. It is the grossest expression of me. I take residence in my body at birth. It grows with time & the food that I eat. It is subject to changes like youth, disease, old age and death. I remain the same through all these changes. It is this “I” that is supreme, unchanging sub-stratum on which all these changes take place like the cinema screen on which the picture unfolds. This “I” is me. This body is mine but is not me. When this body changes, grows old and dies, I DO NOT DIE. Yet our lives are so lived that gradually we come to identify more and more with this body, forgetting the essential ‘I’ that lives in this residence. The senses that are supposed to be my antennae for receiving the inputs from the world at large become the masters. Instead of serving me as slaves they become like untrained wild horses without any reins. They go here and there to roam around their objects of desire without any control. Our mind that is supposed to receive their inputs and decisively act upon them is led by the wild horses of the senses to think random thoughts about objects of desire. The resultant noise in the body mind complex leads to disease, decay and death without any peace of mind. Once this body is seen as the grossest expression of me with senses as the antennae and mind as the coordinator of the inputs, as the more subtle aspect, the supremacy of intelligence as the most subtle decision maker becomes evident. This progression from the grossest to the most subtle aspect of our existence as body to senses to sense object to mind to intelligence has been exemplified in our scriptures with the metaphor of a chariot. The body is likened to a chariot. Senses are the horses. Sense objects are the roads. Mind is the reins. The intellect ought to be the charioteer or driver. The owner is “I”. I own the body but am not the body. Such clear distinction between the body and “I” is the classical answer to the perennial question in philosophy “who am I?” With this background, when the query is raised as to wherefrom has my desire arisen, the relevance of that desire to a gross or subtle level is clearly seen. The grossest desires arise at the body and sensory levels. Subtler desires arising at the mind and intellect level are more profound even if less gross. These are more egoistic than the body level desires and are deep rooted in our psyche. These are the ones that lead us from one birth to another. However, we can clearly see that our lives are mostly conditioned by the grossest impulses generated at the sensory level in our day to day lives. The contribution of our scriptures to this gradual understanding of our existential reality is remarkable in its depth. The seers who saw this as their lived experience move on from here to their understanding of the relationship between the microcosms of the individual manifestation to the macrocosm of the cosmic manifestation. Microcosm & MacrocosmThere are four declarations in Vedanta which are often quoted. These are all related to the relationship of the individual with the cosmic reality. THOU ART THAT, I AM THE INFINITE REALITY, WISDOM IS THE INFINITE REALITY and THIS SELF IS THE ULTIMATE REALITY are these great declarations. There are many such declarations in Vedanta. However, the upshot of all of them is to establish the identity of the individual existential reality and the Cosmic Reality. The explanations of these great declarations or MAHA VAKYAS lie spread out in various classical texts called Upanishads. The basic premise of such declarations is the realization that every centre of existence as an individual creates his own reality as he awakes from the state of sound sleep in the morning. Just as the individual mind is capable of creating his own dreams, when he dreams, he creates his own reality when he awakes by identifying himself with the various roles he assumes as an actor in the world drama. As a father or son, doctor or engineer, young or old, good or bad, his roles are the assumed roles of an actor. He needs to remember all the time as an actor that he is playing a role which is different from his real Self. However, if he comes to identify with all the roles he plays, it leads to forgetfulness of his real nature on account of non apprehension of his reality. All this non-apprehension and misapprehension arises from his forgetfulness that he is NOT THE BODY. The “I” in him gets so totally identified with the body that he fails to see that he is one with the Cosmos. His microcosm is only a reflection of the macrocosmic reality. The macrocosmic reality is likened to the ocean and every individual consciousness to the waves in that Ocean of Consciousness. That realization and identification with the Ocean of Consciousness leads one to his oneness with the Ultimate Reality. It is also likened to electricity everywhere with its individual manifestations in various bulbs and other equipments at various locations. As one Sun can be seen in different reflections, it is One Reality expressing itself in various names and forms in the world. This vision of oneness of microcosm and macrocosm releases one from the misery of becoming the suffering individual entity and being an ocean of perpetual BLISS with the right frame of mind. The peace of mind of such a realized mastermind is the acme of perfection to be aimed at with the help of the scriptural declarations and meditation techniques.All the Upanishads and Gita go to great length in arguing that the essential nature of Self or Atma is not limited by the body – mind –intellect triad. The Self energizes all these at the grossest level. At the subtlest level it is One Universal Consciousness. This oneness of consciousness is the most essential aspect of the dissertation of these scriptures. Whilst many can understand the intellectual underpinning of the scriptures with some effort it is the rare few who accept and live their lives accordingly. It is too mind boggling or rather mind expanding a concept to accept that my most hated neighbors and I are one. We can’t even accept our oneness with all the brothers and sisters who came to this world through the same womb! To be able to expand our vision to accept the whole family, the servants, the friends and enemies, the animals and plants as well as the inanimate object from stones to stars and  expanding galaxies as an expression of one consciousness needs some effort. It is the encouragement to make that effort that characterizes our scriptures as immortal classics different from the morning newspaper and fictional writings. Sometimes these are very heavy reading too. These have sometimes been ridiculed as the “blabbering of humanity in its infancy” by the uninitiated Western translators. Sanskrit language in which these have been written is a very exact and terse language for the uninitiated translators. Adding to the confusion is the none-too-complimentary image of India even in the minds of anglicized Indians. Suffering from a backlash of slavery of a few centuries and addicted to a staple diet of inferiority heightened by wide spread blind faith and ritualistic Brahmanism one can’t blame the so called “educated elite”. The post industrial revolution credo of “science is supreme” made us all ask for laboratory style proof of scriptural assertions. While we dare not question the media hype of consumerism and Pavlovian conditioning of our children and our own minds, we go against every reference to scriptures as “blind faith”. Let us take a closer look at our attitudes to these great writing of such great seers and masters. They insist that the whole Macrocosm is one ocean of consciousness almost like but superior to the ocean of space in which everything exists. The ocean of energy and the ocean of air in which we exist cannot be negated by us. But this Ocean of Consciousness is negated as a difficult concept to accept!!! It is a privilege of the rare few to see the integrity of this One Ocean of Consciousness as their own “SELF”. The ineffable peace of mind radiated by such masters has to be seen to be believed. It is sheer integrity that shines forth in their presence. These living masters have to be approached to explain the true import of scriptures and not the western translators. In a nutshell, they declare the oneness of entire creation with every living cell as the centre of a circle of infinite radius. Our capability to create, maintain and withdraw our own universe at will in our waking, dream and sleep states as a witness is highlighted by them. To see ourselves as the Subject and a Witness of the universe of names and forms as well as the invisible universe of Dark Matter and Dark Energy is their creed. Can we afford to ridicule such profound vision as blabbering and blind faith? It must clearly be realized that I am not this body but only a resident in it. I am an experiencer of it. I am a knower of it. I seek to fulfill myself through my interactions with other bodies with it. I seek other objects of this universe through it for my fulfillment. That fulfillment gives some happiness to me for some duration of time. After that interval of time I seek some other experience for some measure of fulfillment and happiness. Between these experiences of fulfillment and happiness, gaps of unfulfilled desires cause me unhappiness. My happiness is almost like the few twinkling stars on a dark night sky. My search for lasting happiness goes on in this manner till this body is not capable of supporting my excursions into the mad mad world of objects of desire. Then I discard this body and take up residence in another more suitable body to continue this search till infinity. At this point, I need the help of theories of transmigration of soul, existence of God etc.  My SearchThis search leads everyone to some uncharted waters. All seekers find different routes and reach different destinations. They all extol the virtues of their own routes and destinations. The famous parable of four blind men and an elephant is quite illuminating. Imagine four blind men trying to fathom an ocean of uncharted waters!!! They would certainly need some help.I am one such blind man. My search in this ocean of uncharted waters led me to a wide variety of books and lectures. Some of the realized seekers who had attempted to climb the mountain peaks from where they could see the other shore tried to guide me. My ego often obstructed my acceptance of their vision. The vision of the masters who wrote the Upanishads and Gita etc was too sharp and penetrating for my understanding. The commentaries on these great books provided some insights. One commentary I read again and again for over three decades. I underlined and highlighted what appeared to make sense to me. However, it was only when some living person explained some of the obtuse passages that the picture started becoming clear. I am grateful to all those friends, philosophers and guides who contributed to this clarity by explaining some aspects of a verse or a subject. They are all my teachers.What I now understand has been goaded into me by frequent queries from my children about why was it necessary for me to read the same books again and again. Or why was it necessary to listen to lectures on Gita so regularly! I am grateful for their queries since these forced me to think. Was it only spiritual entertainment and intellectual make believe that I was engaged in? It was then that I learnt the three essential steps. Listening, reflection and living these great truths have to be mastered gradually. There are no shortcuts. No guru can put you on a mountain top. He can only indicate the path and extol the vision that he got when his field of vision expanded at those lofty heights.My search has led me to believe that we are not physical entities having occasional spiritual experience. We are essentially spiritual beings who take occasional physical forms to fulfill our deepest unfulfilled desires.I also believe that the seers who wrote the Upanishads and Gita had deep concern for humanity and wished to help individuals to lead blissful lives. They, like Buddha, wanted to help and redeem the unnecessary suffering. Their credo “You are That, I am That, and That is all there is to IT” appeals to me. I am not the body, may be a very difficult concept to believe in the din of our daily preoccupation with the body and body related experiences of the world. However, once I see myself as an expression of consciousness in this ever changing assemblage of the body & the world, I cannot help seeing everyone and everything around me as a similar expression of the same One Conscious Principle of existence and BLISS seeking.I believe that grabbing shrinks me. My attachments limit me. My senses often deceive me by false promises. Therefore I want my senses to be restrained from running here and there like a drunken monkey bitten by a scorpion. I want my mind to be my faithful servant as a well trained horse and not my master. The only way it can be done is by renouncing rather them grabbing. What can I renounce? Only what belongs to me. If even my body does not belong to me, the only thing I can renounce is my egoistic mental pretensions. The attachments to the body and body related things and beings only are required to be renounced. That leads to purity of mind and intellect. It also helps to perform all actions in a non-egoistic manner. Present moment consciousness arises from such renunciation. It leads to a sense of calm placidity. Turbulent thought waves stop disturbing the calm lake of mind. Oscillations reduce in amplitude and frequency. The alternating current (AC) of my mind gets converted into the direct current (DC) without the ups and downs of varying amplitudes. I become blissful. May God help me to remain in that state at all times, is my prayer. Why We PrayIt is an everyday experience that what we put our attention on strengthens and what we ignore weakens. Even our muscles are no exception to this rule. Parrot like repetition is encouraged when learning mathematical tables or a new language. It makes deep grooves in our memory. Ad nauseam repetition of certain advertisements on TV and print media is known to affect consumer preferences. When some thoughts are repeatedly entertained they acquire the power to change our attitudes. We begin to identify with the object of our thoughts. A boy repeatedly thinking of a beautiful girl whom he casually meets in the market starts day dreaming about her. He desires her company. Wants to make her his own. He makes plans to meet her again. Courts her. Plans to get married to her. When his identification with her is threatened by a rival, he even fights with him. Can even murder him in a Hindi movie style. This  is the normal progression of desire, lust and anger. Thoughts directed towards studies make a student work hard. Money making thoughts make a man leave his home and family and suffer all the privations abroad. The same thoughts directed towards a spiritual ideal make a man profound. Such is the power of repeated thoughts that repetition of the name of the Lord is glorified as Namaz in Islam. Christianity has its own style of ensuring repetition of passages from Bible at Sunday churches. Sikhism and Hinduism encourage repeated recitation of scriptural texts. Japa is considered one of the most effective practices for making a disciple’s mind engrossed in remembrance of God. When we pray we utilize the same faculty of mind to direct our attention. Our concept of the deity as a powerful entity makes us supplicate to him to grant our wishes. Prayer is supposed to help even move mountains. The only condition is faith. Faith in the righteousness of our cause is very important in a prayer being answered. It does not only involve a far off deity, even our own contribution to the task at hand gets renewed vigor and vitality. We pray to marshal our inner forces of thoughts and concentration upon the objective and also align the universal and natural elements towards our endeavor. Since birds of a feather flock together, all thoughts in the universe on a similar frequency join our thought process and strengthen our resolve. The results often surprise us. We could never imagine the power of a sincere prayer till we try it ourselves. After that we start recounting our experiences to others. When others show signs of disbelief, we become even more vehement in our description. Prayer is an effective marshalling of the forces of our thoughts, emotions and deeds in alignment with the universe of desires of similar entities. That is the reason for its efficacy being highlighted in every religion. Even the skeptics resort to it in times of despair. My favorite prayer is, ‘Grant me the courage to change what can be changed, forbearance to withstand what cannot be changed and intelligence to know the difference.’ If such prayers can lead us to experience perpetual BLISS and reduce our suffering caused by the storms of desire for infinite number of objects in our lives, we should consider ourselves blessed and lucky. No other lottery needs to be won for such a person who has found the treasure of BLISS in his own heart. That is the message of our scriptures.