Living the Knowledge (Integration into Daily Life)

Sakshi Bhava
After enquiry through technique such as Drk Drishya viveka,  understand that “I” is the consciousness/Sakshi/Atma, apart from Anatma – the body/mind and the world around.  However, the “boundary” is only in “ignorance”, so continue enquiring and discover.

SarvaAtma Bhava
Understand that the Anatma, body/mind and the world of names and forms are merely appearances in the consciousness (like in a dream). There is only Atma/Brahman.
The Jnani is free from apparent bondage of karma as there is no “doership” and therefore remains in wonder and acceptance!
Listen to these Talk1,  Talk2

Verse 3‑1

Challenge: If you have realized nondual ātmā and are a steady jñāni, why do you continue to pursue wealth and worldly roles?
Aṣṭāvakra confronts the apparent mismatch between Janaka’s inner realization and his external engagement in royal duties and acquisition.

Janaka’s answer: His external role as king is determined by prārabdha (the life‑script); he performs duties as a role (nāmarūpa) while internally abiding as ātmā. He lives like “water on a lotus leaf” — ready to lose anything at any time and not attached. Acting in the world does not contradict inner freedom.

Challenge: Is your interest in worldly objects merely ignorance?
Aṣṭāvakra argues that attachment to mithyā viṣaya arises from ignorance and asks why Janaka shows desire if he truly knows the nondual truth.

Janaka’s answer: Attachment arises from ignorance for those who are not established; for him the activity is functional to exhaust prārabdha and serve loka. Externally similar behaviour can hide very different inner attitudes; the difference is internal (sākṣī/ātmā vs. ahankāra).

Challenge: How can you accept the world as mere waves yet run after money and duties as if they were real?
Aṣṭāvakra presses the contradiction between recognizing the world as nāmarūpa and actively participating in it as if it were ultimately significant.

Janaka’s answer: He accepts the world as nāmarūpa and treats it as play (līla). He performs duties without identification; his inner identity remains ātmā. Engagement is not endorsement of reality‑status but the performance of a role.

Challenge: Why indulge in sense pleasures and entertainments when ātmā is the sole source of real bliss?
Aṣṭāvakra questions Janaka’s attachment to sensory enjoyment and suggests such pursuits pollute the mind of a true jñāni.

Janaka’s answer: As a householder he permits certain social entertainments for family life, but these are not his source of joy. Internally he rests in ātmā; outward enjoyments are treated as part of the role and not as binding sources of happiness.

Challenge: How can a wise one who knows ātmā in all beings still exhibit mamakāra and possessiveness?
Aṣṭāvakra points to Janaka’s apparent attachment to “mine” and asks how that fits with the vision of ātmā pervading everything.

Janaka’s answer: Apparent mamakāra is a surface phenomenon of the ahankāra role; the jñāni recognizes it as temporary and does not let it determine his inner stance. He distinguishes between role‑based claims and his unchanging inner reality.

Challenge: Having attained the supreme state, why are you enslaved by kāma and habitual worldly entertainments?
Aṣṭāvakra presses that a liberated person should not be weakened by repeated sensory habituation.

Janaka’s answer: He is not enslaved; any outward appearance of kāma is due to prārabdha and social duty, not inner bondage. A true jñāni has already neutralized raga‑dveṣa; actions performed are in accordance with dharma and exhaustion of prārabdha, not craving.

Challenge: After long involvement in worldly desires, and being in later life, why do you persist in them instead of renouncing?
Aṣṭāvakra emphasizes urgency and the incompatibility of intense kāma with the enemy status of desire against jñāna.

Janaka’s answer: Sanyāsa is not compulsory for liberation. Janaka explains that āśrama does not determine mokṣa; what matters is whether one lives from ahankāra or from sākṣī. He remains ready to renounce but continues in gṛhastha because prārabdha places him there.

Challenge: Are you secretly afraid of sanyāsa or merely putting on a show of vairāgya?
Aṣṭāvakra suspects that Janaka’s continued household life may reflect fear or pretense rather than genuine dispassion.

Janaka’s answer: He denies fear or pretense. He is agnostic to āśrama — willing to take sanyāsa if required, but not compelled by attachment. His staying in gṛhastha is pragmatic (prārabdha, duty), not fear‑based.

Challenge: If you are truly wise, why do you still cling to the body and its securities instead of resting solely in ātmā?
Aṣṭāvakra defines the jñāni’s hallmark as non‑identification with body and equanimity in pleasure and pain, and he asks why Janaka has not fully embodied this.

Janaka’s answer: He practices sākṣī bhāva: he does not identify with body or its pleasures/pains. The body’s experiences are accepted as prārabdha; he remains equanimous, not elated by pleasure nor upset by pain.

Challenge: How can a great jñāni be moved by praise or blame when prārabdha alone should explain experiences?
Aṣṭāvakra challenges any residual reactivity and urges the stance that events are due to prārabdha, not personal affront or reward.

Janaka’s answer: A jñāni attributes events to prārabdha, not to personal affront or reward. He sees praise/blame as transient movements of the mind and does not let them disturb his inner balance.

Challenge: Why be curious to explain the mysteries of māyā when a wise person accepts variety and change without entanglement?
Aṣṭāvakra reproves intellectual curiosity that leads to involvement rather than the detached enjoyment of the world as play.

Janaka’s answer: A wise person accepts variety, change, and mystery without obsessive curiosity that leads to involvement. He treats the world as entertainment; intellectual probing that breeds attachment is avoided.

Challenge: How can one who claims to be the infinite ātmā retain rigid expectations or attachments?
Aṣṭāvakra highlights that true realization brings contentment and flexibility, not clinging or comparison.

Janaka’s answer: True realization brings contentment and flexibility; Janaka says he has no rigid expectations and is fearless about loss. His mind is unmatched in steadiness because he rests in ātmā.

Challenge: If the world is māyā and essentially empty of intrinsic essence, why lend it reality by getting involved?
Aṣṭāvakra urges Janaka to treat the world as entertainment and to return regularly to the ātmā–anātmā perspective rather than becoming entangled.

Janaka’s answer: He uses the world for lokasaha (service/role) and to exhaust prārabdha, while privately abiding in ātmā. Participation does not equal belief in the world’s ultimate reality; involvement is performed without attachment and with ethical integrity.

• Spiritual life is not withdrawal; it is the capacity to discover God in ordinary life and act from that discovery.
• Seva (service) is worship when offered to the Divine manifest in the needy: feeding the hungry, educating the ignorant, curing the sick become acts of worship of the same Shiva one contemplates in the temple.
• True spirituality reverses acquisitive orientation: inner peace followed by outward generosity is the sign of realized practice.

• The essential instruction is experiential and insistently simple: do not look for another inner object beyond the last sheath; instead take the intuitive turn to the one who watches. Recognize the divinity within, see God in everything, and let that recognition reshape (all activity) ritual, service, and everyday life.

To illustrate the profundity of this concept, connect it to three of humanity’s deepest philosophical questions:

1) What is real? (Ontology/Metaphysics)

2) How do we know anything? (Epistemology)

3) What is the point of it all? (Axiology/Ethics)

Vedanta answers all three with a single phrase: Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence, Consciousness, Bliss).

Sat (Existence): This is the ultimate reality, the ground from which all real things emerge.

Chit (Consciousness): This is the pure consciousness that makes all knowledge and experience possible.

Ananda (Bliss): This is the ultimate, limitless bliss that is the source of all joy and happiness. That is the goal.

These three aspects are not separate entities but are one, indivisible reality.

The main obstacle to this vision: our everyday experience of difference, which is termed in terms of  “object limitation.  (vastu pariccheda)” . Space-time limitation of all “objects” of the world.
We see ourselves as separate from others, from objects, and from the world. The goal of Vedanta is to negate this sense of separation, not by making everything a “homogeneous sludge,”
but by realizing the underlying unity that exists even while things appear different.

Isha Upanishad,  states, “Pervade all this… with God.” This isn’t about covering the world with God, but rather uncovering the divinity that is already present.
This process is one of inquiry, much like scraping away the outer layer of sandalwood to reveal its inherent fragrance.

The ultimate goal is to realize that “the seer and the seen are one,” and “the enjoyer and the enjoyed are one.”

The ultimate result of this realization.

When a person truly sees oneness—when they see all beings within themselves and themselves in all beings—sorrow and delusion vanish. This leads to a life of profound joy, where one cannot hate, discriminate, or exclude anyone. It is a state of loving all beings as God, leading to a life infinitely more fulfilling than one focused on fleeting worldly pleasures.

In the famous snake rope analogy. The rope is mistaken to be a snake. The snake appears in the rope. The rope is the reality (Anyvaya). Snake is false (Vyatireka, because snake projection can be falsified). It’s not a snake. It’s a rope. Though it looks like a snake.

Similarly, It’s not different beings. I am separate from you. Different realities all separate from each other. NO! This difference is an appearance. What’s real here? That one consciousness in which all different entities are appearing. That one consciousness you are. This is the logic to establish oneness of consciousness. What did we accomplish in all of this? This is called the negation of object limitation. All beings only appear to be separate.

Suppose in a mirror all things appear to be separate from each other reflections.  Just that mirror alone is real. So the differences in the reflections are negated by realizing it’s mirror (which is merely reflecting).

In our dreams everything seems different from each other. People, places, dogs, plants, sky, earth. But when you wake up, they all become one. Why? They are all the dream one dreaming mind.

Similarly, here in one consciousness,  all beings are seen in the self.  It means they are not all beings. It is the self alone. You alone. Self means you. You alone which appears as all beings.

And how is this accomplished? This movement by the idea of superimposition appearance that which appears and changing  (Vyatirekha)  must be false in which it appears that must be true (Anyvaya).

However, subtle an important point next:
First you see all beings in the self , then, next mantra 7 (of Ishavasya Upanishad) says you see the self in all beings. Could lead to confusion.

That which appears is false (Vytireka) . In which it appears that is true (Anvaya).
Now we said all beings appear in the self. So all beings are not there. The self alone is appearing as all beings.

Now if mantra says self in all beings. Now what is the ground? All beings (Anvaya??). And what is imposed on it? The self/conciousness,  that which is imposed must be false (Vyatireka??) – NO! Atman will become false. Brahman will become false. Satan will become false and all these different beings, that will become real.
Then, what is meant here? This is a very crucial and subtle point. We are often taught what does vedanta teach? Brahman is real. world is false. But it’s a teaching methodology. The goal is not to teach the falsity of the world. The goal is to teach that one consciousness only. That’s all. It’s that one consciousness and all beings are one and the same reality. One and the many are the same reality seen by different persons in different levels of spiritual realization. So, this is the grand conclusion that we come to now.  You abandon that talk about falsity just stay with the oneness of all beings in the self.

It is not saying all beings are false I only exist. There is no all beings. NO. All beings are there, and they are Shiva which you are also so. You find the oneness of all.  It is not one real existence which I am and everything else is false  (not one real Brahman one real consciousness and lots of false entities – not like that.)

How does an enlightened person see all this?
Does that enlightened person see that one Brahman is there and the whole world is like a shadow or a  like a dream or like the mirror and reflection example the one underlying reality and everything is superimposed?

Enlightened Swami’s answer: There is only one.  It’s not that there is one Brahman and one false world. Ramana Maharashi the great non-dualist, he says it is only the enlightened one who can say that the world is real.
We think after reading a lot of vedanta, the enlightened one will say, “Oh, Brahman is real. The world is false.” NO. It’s the enlightened one can say that the world is real. What do you know of reality? The enlightened one knows reality. The enlightened one can say the world is real. In what sense? He sees the spiritual reality that oneness in all beings.
For such an enlightened person what “sorrow or delusions” remain?  He abides in peace!!

**Illusion of Individuality:** The talk dismantles the common assumption that we are individual entities who become one with the infinite after enlightenment. According to Advaita Vedanta, individuality itself is a mistaken perception caused by identification with the physical, subtle, and causal bodies. In reality, we have always been the infinite Brahman; enlightenment is simply the removal of ignorance. This insight shifts the spiritual quest from acquiring something new to recognizing what already is.

**Misinterpretation of “Merging”:** Metaphors like the raindrop merging with the ocean often mislead seekers into thinking enlightenment is a gradual process of partial merging. However, the teaching emphasizes that the infinite presence is already here; the sense of separation is the illusion. This understanding challenges aspirants to move beyond linear, incremental views of spiritual progress toward immediate recognition of unity.

**Inner Wind as Causality:** The metaphor of the little boat propelled by an “inner wind” highlights how causality operates internally within the universe’s play. This inner causality leads to the rise and fall of life’s events—success, failure, birth, death—yet the ocean (the self) remains untouched. This insight encourages detachment from the fluctuations of life while recognizing their relative reality.

**Infinite Patience and Forbearance:** The ocean’s attitude toward the boat’s progress or setbacks exemplifies a state of infinite patience. The enlightened self does not get elated by success nor devastated by failure because its essence is beyond all phenomena. This profound equanimity is a hallmark of spiritual maturity and points to the possibility of living with serenity amid life’s chaos.

**Impermanence and Non-Attachment:** The anecdote about the Buddhist monk and the king illustrates the transient nature of all worldly conditions. Both good and bad situations are temporary and will inevitably pass. Recognizing this helps the seeker cultivate non-attachment and resilience, supporting the Vedantic teaching of remaining steady as the infinite ocean.

**Spirituality and Compassion:** Addressing potential misunderstandings, the video clarifies that enlightenment does not lead to apathy or callousness. On the contrary, true spiritual realization deepens one’s compassion and care for the world, moving beyond self-centered concerns to universal love. This counters the stereotype that spiritual detachment equals indifference.

**The Ultimate Nature of Self as Peace:** The final and deepest level of realization is that the universe and all its appearances are mere imagination in consciousness. The true self is formless, calm, and eternally peaceful—“shanta.” This peace is not a temporary mental state but the very essence of being, beyond all disturbance. This insight offers the highest goal of spiritual practice: abiding as pure, undisturbed peace.

The core problem in spiritual life: **Desire**, which ties us to body, mind, and the worldly plane. Although **ignorance** is technically the root cause, desire (karma) and attachment to outcomes are the practical obstacles that keep us stuck in the cycle of samsara (rebirth and suffering).

Stages of maturity regarding change and desire:
– **Immaturity:** Trying to change the external world to suit personal desires.
– **More mature:** Trying to change other people to one’s liking.
– **Deeper maturity:** Changing one’s own lifestyle, habits, and actions.
– **Greatest maturity:** Seeking and discovering one’s **real nature beyond body, mind, feelings, and ideas** — the limitless inner light.

When this light is realized, one sees it as **already perfect and unchangeable**. However, the mind, body, and world can still be engaged with as a project to manifest this inner light outwardly, leading to deep and lasting positive changes in one’s life and in the world.

According to the Buddha and Sages:

– **Suffering is a symptom.**
– The **cause of suffering is desire (trishna or thirst).**
– The disease (desire) is **curable**.
– The cure is **nirvana**.
– The treatment is the **Eightfold Path (Ashtanga).**

Ancient Indian sages are likened to doctors who diagnose symptoms, find root causes, assess curability, and prescribe treatment. Similarly, Krishna identifies desire as the root cause of bondage, emphasizing that while ignorance is the philosophical root, **desire is the practical root experienced by most people**.
Most people relate better to the idea of dissatisfaction and desire rather than abstract metaphysical ignorance.

A key contemplative exercise is described:

– Imagine oneself as **pure awareness or non-dual light**, without body, mind, memories, thoughts, or sensory input.
– In this state of **bare awareness, there are no desires, fears, anxieties, or waiting for anything**.
– This pure light **wants nothing and is free from all suffering**.

The problem arises when the non-dual light **takes on the agendas and disturbances of the body, mind, senses, and the world**, creating mental agitation and attachment.

The metaphor of a boss and delegation is used to illustrate how the enlightened self (the non-dual light) should relate to mind and sensory input:

– The enlightened self is the **“boss”** who should **not keep the problems and disturbances on its “desk.”**
– Instead, it should **delegate and not be overwhelmed or trapped by worldly issues**.
– The mind makes decisions, but the enlightened self must **decide firmly “I will continue as the non-dual light” regardless of external conditions**.

This firm decision and continuous practice is termed **“stabilized wisdom”** — a stable, unwavering awareness of one’s true nature even amidst worldly upheaval.

The speaker explains that **enlightenment is not about escaping the world or closing one’s eyes** to reality. The non-dual light can remain steady **even in the midst of life’s chaos and sensory activity**.

Using an ocean analogy:
– The ocean is always water.
– Whether calm or turbulent, it remains water.
– Likewise, one should recognize the **true self as the non-dual light regardless of mental or worldly turmoil**.

A key teaching is to **“not change a thing” or apply any external techniques immediately**. Instead, one should **accept reality as it is, however unpleasant**, and recognize the ever-present light within.

Sri Krishna recommends the practice of **yogic samadhi** — an advanced meditative absorption — to stabilize the realization of the non-dual light:

– This involves **closing the sensory gateways, calming the mind and intellect, and staying firmly in the clarity of inner light**.
– This practice is difficult but leads to **nirvikalpa samadhi** (non-dual absorption without mental modifications).
– Prolonged immersion in this state allows the realization to become a lived, unshakable reality rather than a mere intellectual understanding.

1. **Mindfulness in the midst of activity:**

– When sorrows arise, the mind remains unshaken.
– When pleasant experiences come, the mind does not chase or cling to them.
– The mind becomes free of attachment, fear, anger, and hatred.
– Swami Vivekananda summarizes this as: **“Never let anything disturb the serenity of your mind.”**

2. **Equanimity toward life’s events:**

– Accept both pleasant and unpleasant experiences without upset.
– Move from emotional reactivity (“what?”) to calm acceptance (“so what?”). 
– This practice involves **calming down and lowering the emotional volume**.

3. **Control of the senses:**

– Senses naturally perform their functions but can overwhelm the intellect if unchecked.
– **Mastery over the senses is the chief practice on the path of knowledge**.
– Swami Vivekananda calls this **“the royal road”** but notes that many understand intellectually, few realize deeply.

– **Enlightenment is not mere intellectual knowledge but the lived reality of the non-dual light manifesting in daily life.**
– **Desire and attachment are the practical causes of suffering and bondage more than abstract ignorance.**
– **Maturity in spiritual life involves progressively deeper self-inquiry, culminating in realization of the self as limitless light.**
– **The non-dual light itself is desireless, fearless, and untouched by worldly concerns.**
– **Stabilized wisdom means decisively choosing to remain as the non-dual light amidst all life’s disturbances. **
– **Advanced yogic practices like samadhi help embed this realization deeply and sustainably.**
– **Serenity of mind, equanimity in life, and control of the senses are essential practices for luminous living.**

From the Advaita Vedanta (non-dual) perspective, the problem is approached at the highest metaphysical level: “Knowing is being,” meaning that true knowledge of one’s real self as Brahman (ultimate reality) is inherently transformative because that knowledge is identity.

However, this ideal is complicated by the reality that many who claim realization still exhibit ordinary human emotions and behaviors, such as anger or frustration. This gap points to two aspects of enlightenment: the paradigm shift (realizing one’s true nature) and ethical manifestation (living that realization in everyday life). Both must be integrated for full spiritual freedom or “jivanmukti” (liberation while living).  Talk

Advanced spiritual practitioners can experience partial enlightenment (gnana without full mind purification or samadhi), resulting in spiritual breakthroughs that require ongoing practice to stabilize and manifest fully. This ongoing practice is akin to a kidney transplant patient needing to follow medical restrictions to ensure acceptance of the new organ — spiritual insight must be assimilated through continued effort.

Student needs to continue to develop maturity in SCS, Sadhana Cathusthaya Sampat.  (4 qualities).

Partial enlightenment and integration challenges: Vidyaranya Swami’s framework distinguishes between gnani (knower) and jivanmukta (liberated while living). One can have profound knowledge without full integration, leading to instability and emotional reactivity. This explains why some spiritual teachers or seekers may have insights but still struggle with emotional and ethical maturity.

**Psychological analogy of training the elephant:** Jonathan Haidt’s metaphor explains why intellectual conviction struggles to translate into behavior change — the “elephant” of the subconscious mind and habits is powerful and must be trained through repetition and practice. This underscores the necessity of embodied spiritual disciplines beyond intellectual study.

The Intellect as the carrier (on the top) may “know” or see the vision.  But the HUGE body and senses pulled by external objects and their qualities that have a habitual behavior. They need to be carefully restrained and retrained etc.

Shama, Dhama, Uparati, Titiksha, Sraddha, Samadhana need to be continually strengthened.

Prana as the key to mind control:** Swami Ashokananda’s insights reveal that control over prana (life energy) is essential to stabilizing the mind and senses. Without this control, the mind remains reactive and restless, making meditation and embodiment of spiritual knowledge difficult. This highlights a physiological and energetic dimension to spiritual practice often overlooked in purely mental or philosophical approaches.

Regular pranayama helps one keeps control of one’s senses under difficult circumstances.

**The role of sincere aspiration (mumukshutva):** Internal commitment to liberation is the catalyst for transformation. Without this heartfelt desire and resolve, spiritual knowledge remains theoretical. This points to the importance of willpower, intention, and consistent practice as foundational to bridging the gap between knowing and being.
Mumushutva (intense longing) is key for the jivanmukti