Pearls from the Infinite Wisdom- Living as Awareness (Set of 2 Volumes)

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"The ability to retain equanimity of mind in all circumstances is what makes a successful life"-Amma.

The content of this book is based on a series of T letters written by Swami Amritachitswarūpananda Puri. The Swami, a sanyasi at the Mata Amritanandamayi Math in Amritapuri, Kerala, while performing his earthly duties as a physician at the ashram, took the time to share his experiences through letters and now to a larger spiritual audience through this book. He conveys to us the essence of Vedanta through simple, easily understandable arguments that we can verify through our own intellect. Many of us spend years or even decades in spiritual practices such as seva, charity, japa, meditation and still feel that we have not yet attained real peace. By using Amma's teachings, the Swami explains how the presence of God is to be practiced by shifting our identification (currently rooted in the body and mind) to Brahman (Self). "The various sadhanas of seva, karma yoga, japa, meditation, etc help us gain clarity and concentration of mind. To realize the truth, we must discard the body-mind-world perspective, and instead see from the standpoint of the Self. The ego, which is imagined to be our true Self due to ignorance, should be seen and understood as non-existent and unreal by focussing on the knowledge about our real nature."

When the Swami asked me to review the book, not only did I acutely feel my lack of qualification to do so, but I was also not spiritually inclined to the path of Pure jñāna or knowledge, being a long-time follower of Srimad Bhagavatam. However as I went through the chapters, through God's grace, I was able to grasp the content of the book as expressed through Amma's teachings using her quotes and Swami's exposition of Vedanta. The effect is the ability to happily remain unperturbed with the ups and downs of life and go about joyfully with life.

The book is interspersed with quotes from Amma's enlightening teachings providing a guiding light to Swami's spiritual message. While Amma's teachings in the quotes remain succinct, sweet, and focus on the main principles, Swami elaborates on them diving deep into the intellectual aspects of Vedanta and presenting convincing arguments from the Srutis on the Truth that our real nature is the Sat-Chit-Ananda itself and that the Real 'T' is untouched by the world around us.

The Swami stresses, again and again, the futility of pursuing Artha and Kama as they are nothing but unreal appearances on the changeless Self. Hearing these words from Amma and the Swami is a great way to strengthen our conviction that we are nothing but that blissful Self and to develop the courage to cast off the notion that we are individuals with name and form. God imparts us this knowledge through love and draws us within and makes us one with the Universal Being that God is. May the Supreme Being, ever-present in our hearts, guide us in our understanding and help us realize the Truth.

When you correct your inner vision through spiritual practices, the already waiting light of pure knowledge will dawn from within – Amma.

The content in this book initially started as a series of letters to my sisters of premonsatic life. They were curious about my spiritual journey and would ask me what I am contemplating and how to know the Truth in a simple way-so I sent them write-ups on various topics and a few as poems.

The topics and the discussions are mostly based on the wisdom of Amma, the Sruthi Mata (the mother of all scriptures). Swami Kaivalayananda, our Acharaya who teaches us Shankara Bhashya (the commentaries of Sri Sankara on the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Brahma Sutras), has also influenced my understanding of the Truth. As Swamiji says 'Truth is natural and simple, why unnecessarily complicate it unnaturally with our intellect, so let us keep it as simple as it is.' So in my write-ups, I tried to follow that advice.

As my (pre-sanyasa) sisters were new to this line of thinking, I kept the write-ups simple and tried to make sure that they can practically apply the truths presented here in their spiritual practices. These write-ups were compiled, and some modifications were made to it, which has resulted in the present book form.

Then by Amma's Sankalpa, Raghu, and Arpitha from the United States edited and helped with the formatting.

Through Guru parampara (lineage of teachers), this knowledge is handed down to us through direct instruction from the Guru, I am sharing the same with aspiranta interested in knowing the Truth, which is Sat, the Self. Before one turns towards the spiritual path, the outward.

facing mind is often found to experience much struggle in relating with the world. When one struggles from these troubles arising from one's body-mind-world complex, they seek relief from such suffering. Such a person wonders 'Why is this world created in this way? Is there a path that allows one to escape these pains? Why do I have to bear these blowe from life? How can I free myself from this ocean of samsara? During such times, one turns to God and prays to find relief This is not yet a spiritual pursuit, it is more of a business arrangement one has with God at this point.

At this point, one's relationship with God is similar to the relationship one has with an ATM machine. When we are short of cash, we go to an ATM to withdraw some money. Similarly, when one finds themself in trouble, they go to a temple and hope to find relief. They make vows or promises to God, or make donations, and so on, expecting that these actions will be reciprocated with God fulfilling their desires or solving their problems.

The real spiritual path begins when one begins to question and seek deeper answers to the fundamental questions of life such as "Who am I? What drives samsāra? What determines the events that are to occur in one's life? What is death and what happens to one after they die? What is freedom? How do we free ourselves from suffering?" So such a person begins the inquiry into oneself and life, and this stage is called "Jigñāsa," which means "the desire to know."

When this occurs, the person is able to start spiritual practices. Such a person approaches a Guru, gets initiated, starts performing sadhana like Japa, archana, serves the Guru or his activities, etc. He also embraces forgiveness and looks to develop qualities like compassion. At the same time, he strives to restrain his mind from getting drawn back into pursuing worldly pleasures and objects, by analyzing the defects of the objects of the world. This beginning phase, where a person is striving, where discrimination and dispassion starts to develop is the first stage. In this stage, the aspirant also experiences some wavering and often finds oneself falling back to old habits. So progress in the beginning proceeds with stops and starts.

As one proceeds further, the aspirant's ability to discriminate and detach from seeking fulfillment from the objects and experiences of the world develops further. One clearly sees the flaws inherent in the world, and their nature to cause suffering. The aspirant understands the transitory nature of all things, their very nature is to arrive, stay for a little while, and then pass away. He seeks to maintain evenness of mind and seeks to cause no harm to anyone. Spiritual practices like Japa, meditation, and so on continue in this stage.

Aspirants on the spiritual path often feel like progress is absent, or not noticeable despite their performing much sadhana. One is reminded here of the story of a man who fell into a river and was being dragged away by the current. The man began swimming against the current, and despite swimming for a long time, stayed in one place. There were some onlookers on the river bank who laughed at the man's efforts. However, a wise old man who was also watching said, "If he had not been swimming against the current all this time, he would have been carried away and drowned by now. His efforts have kept him in place. Now pull him out with a rope!" In the third stage, due to the growth of understanding, one strives further. The spiritual practices begin to bear fruit at this stage and the aspirant finds joy from spiritual practices, At this stage, one also begins to practice the attitude of being the 'witness' and separate themselves from everything that is perceived. The aspirant discriminates and adopts the bhavana (attitude) "I am not all that I perceive, I am separate, I am the Self, ever free, ever pure, ever aware" and distances oneself from the issues that would have troubled him before. In this stage, the practices of Japa, meditation, and so on continue, along with the practice of the attitude of being the witness.

However, in all these three stages, one believes the world out 'there' to be real. These objects, issues, pleasures, and pains of the world, because they are believed to be real, could still trouble the aspirant. Due to the objects and experiences of the world are still considered real, the desire and aversion for these objects and experiences still remain. Progress is not yet complete, not yet at 100%.

How is one to arrive at this completeness? Through the practice of the Shravana, Manana, and nididhyāsana (listening, reflection and contemplation) on the teachings of the Upanishads, and the Guru's pointing to the nature of the Self as being of the nature of Sat-chit-ananda, ever-present, ever pure, ever aware, ever free Self, and that this is the seeker's real nature (Tat Twam Asi). In this Self, there are no negative emotions, no samsāra, no sorrow. The Truth though is that the objects of the world exist only due to the existence of the "Sat" nature of the seer, the Self.

The issues that existed before might still remain, from a material perspective, but from this understanding of one's Self-nature, these cease binding one. The Self was ever complete, what was missing was the awareness of one's Self- nature. Through the pointing out instructions from the Guru, this ignorance was dispelled. At this point, there is no longer a spiritual practice that is performed, beyond resting in one's Self-nature.

Until this point is reached, because the body-mind-world complex was believed to be real, one suffered. Once this ignorance is dispelled based on the Guru's pointing to the Truth of the seeker's Self nature, through this understanding, there are no longer any issues from the body-mind-world complex that trouble one.

One may say, 'All this sounds nice, but what about all the issues in my life that currently trouble me? What happens to them? It is important to clarify here that Self-realization is not going to result in dispelling all the issues in one's material existence. One should not approach Self-realization with a utility approach. The realization of Self is of the nature of clarification of one's Self-nature, and one does not gain anything anew as a result.