Daily Routine ( as per Satha-Sloaki )

07/23/2004

Yaa kundhendhu thushaara haara dhhavalaa Yaa subhra vasthraa vrathaa
Yaa Veenavara dhanda manditha karaa Yaa swetha padmaasanaa
Yaa Brahmaachyutha Sankara prabhrithi bhir Devaissadha poojithaa
Saamaampaathu Saraswathi Bhagawathi Nissesha jaadyapahaa

( Oh the Goddess, Who is pure and white like the jasmine, or the full moon,
or the dew drops in garland formation; the One adorned in spotless dress,
holding in Her hands the auspicious Veena, and, seated on the blooming
white Lotus; the Goddess who is ever worshipped and revered by Brahma,
Vishnu, Sankara and other Gods; the Goddess Who dispels all indolence and
ignorance without leaving slightest remnant; the Goddess of Learning,
Oh Saraswathi ! Oh Bhagawathi ! Kindly protect us. )
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Hello Everybody ! Sukravaaram Suprabhaath !

Of the many enlightening treatises extolling Advaitha Vedantha written
by Sri Adi Sankaracharya, one of them is entitled "Satha Sloaki" or 'hundred
verses'. It presents the quintessance of many Upanishads, sometimes even
quoting from them, in explaining the Eternal Truth, with many illustrative
practical examples, within the comprehension of even a fresh seeker of Truth
just initiated. One of the sloakas in this treatise, is extremely unique in that
it picturesquely puts forth the Advaithic way of viewing our daily activities.
It does not prevent the seeker from pursuing any of his normal daily routines,
but only advises to perform them with a particular orientation. The discourse
on the Sloaka proceeds as follows:

All the daily chores and activities of any individual, from the moment of
waking up till he slips into the bed, can be broadly classified under four basic
categories as follows:

1. Movement. Going from one place to another, by whatever means of
transport it be, or even by walk. From one point to another, distance be
short or long, and for whatever purpose it be. All the movements of the
individual are covered in this category.
2. Sitting stationary at a place, alone or in company, doing whatever
activity it be, but in a static situation.
3. Activities involving interaction with others. This could be concerned
with animate beings, or even inanimate i.e., living beings as well as things or
objects. A major portion of the day is spent in activities under this category.
All kinds of activities concerned with someone or something i.e., between
the individual and the world.
4. Retiring to bed and enjoying a dreamless slumber.

The above four types of routine activities cover the entire gamut of one's
daily chores. The Sloaka referred to above, counsels the kind of attitude one
should take, the way of thinking one should develoip, from an Advaithic
point of view, while dutifully performing all the four kinds of activities.

1. Activities concerning movement: As you move, by whatever means it
be, from one place to another, tune your mind to the thought that on the
Ocean of Existence, you are just a wave traversing on its surface, a wave
risen from the Ocean, moving for a while, and then merging with it. Thus all
the moving beings and objects are imagined to be waves. Let the body-
consciousness be transformed into wave-consciousness(a transient phenomena)
but at the same time remembering the ever existing Ocean. Thus the Ocean
of Supreme Consciousness, the Real Eternal Truth comes into focus.
2. While sitting stationary at a place, even in company of others, imagine all
to be like beads or pearls, but thru all of which a thread is passing, the thread
of Universal Omnipresence. The thought will then be on the Divinity permeating
all beings and things.
3. While interacting with someone or something, imagine them to be yourself
reflected in the Mirror of Universal Existence-cum-Consciousness. Just as in a hall
of thousand tiny mirrors embedded in all walls, when you enter, you would find
a thousand images of yourself bursting forth. Again, the Eternal Unity in diversity
is reminded.
4. While the waking and dream states involve activity of the mind, the third
state i.e., that of dreamless slumber, when even the mind is stilled, is a state of
quiet bliss. Thus after the day's strenuous work, the tired body and mind seek
solace in a sound dreamless sleep. Enjoy that blissful state, before Nature again
wakes you up for the daily routine all over again. The individual self forgets itself
in the loving motherly embrace of the Universal Self as it were.

Such a tuning of the mind is indicated in the Sloaka referred to. Such frames
of mind during all the four types of daily activities, would purify, uplift, refine and
enlighten the mind. Thus practised as a daily Yagnya (sacrificial ritual), one's vision
grows and expands from being the tiny finite individual self, to the Infinite
Universal Self, all-pervading and all-inclusive. The individual body-consciousness
slowly spreads all around to merge with the Universal Existence. The mental
perceptions so used to forms and attributes, slowly diffuse and dissolve into the
formless Divine Consciousness. The drop would merge with the Ocean !