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Ask Swami with Swami Sarvapriyananda | Feb 26th, 2023

[Music] foreign [Music] [Music] lead us from [Music] death to immortality om peace peace peace Namaste and good morning everybody is this too loud you can hear me yeah clearly yes um so today we have a session of what we call ask Swami the reason for these session says that we get a lot of mail from all over the world which is practically impossible for me to answer the questions which people raise individually writing to them and and yet it's sad if we can't respond to so many sincere questions from people all over the world so we decided to start this series of q a where the questions are shared and I try to answer the questions and then thanks to the modern technology it's available to everybody in the world and it's sort of preserved it's there people can refer to it and we have had so many episodes of these sessions um ask Swami sessions and I was thinking that that's what vedanta has been you know the methodology of vedanta if you look at it the upanishads the dialogues the questions and answers the bhagavad-gita it's dialogues it's questions and answers in the bhagavad-gita as long as Arjuna had you know he was just complaining whining Krishna had nothing to say it's only when Arjuna asks a question and then Krishna gets starts giving the answer and almost every chapter in the 18 chapters of the bhagavad-gita starts with a question from Arjuna so that's a very like very proven and ancient way of doing vedanta questions and answers this is a practical reason also the number of questions we have got has now piled up to thousands so we need as many of these sessions as we can get that's why we have got two scheduled one after the other this week and the next week so as is the usual practice Diane has a selection of questions which she will put and we will also mix it up with some questions from the audience the live audience here they are you are here and there are thousands of people um on the you know the virtual audience the internet audience so here goes first question good morning swamiji good morning the first question is from Nancy m I understand intellectually that God and awareness are the same in one of your own meditation videos you said to drop everything and walk into the temple empty with just our love of God slash awareness I don't know how to love Consciousness how does one love awareness I know to love flowers Birds people the land all the objects the Consciousness is aware of but I do not know how to love consciousness I don't know what to focus on I don't actually have any feelings for it at all it seems neutral to me I understand how pure Consciousness can be peace because it is like a calm ocean but I do not understand how it can be Bliss and happiness and joy please help me understand this it's actually a very good question every sentence has no answer so first of all God is consciousness and then you say that means I said that the way to love God is to walk into a temple empty of all your preoccupations you know just just love I and I love God but then Nancy says I don't understand how to love consciousness Consciousness I love the flowers and the birds and the land but Consciousness does not seem to be anything that I can focus my feelings on nor do I have any feelings for Consciousness it seems neutral to me um also she says that that I understand how Consciousness can be peace but how can it be Joy or Bliss you know Consciousness like a calm ocean if you put it that way so that shows actually a good appreciation for the for what pure Consciousness is the question shows that and the questions she has asked about loving God those are the easy questions it's a actually the appreciating what pure Consciousness is that is it's simple but difficult the question shows that this person has actually got an insight into what is the nature of pure consciousness notice she says that there is nothing to focus your love on in if you try to love Consciousness and that's right there is nothing to focus your love on because pure Consciousness Consciousness in itself is entirely non-object it is pure subject it is you yourself anything that appears to you is something that we can direct our love or hatred or liking or dislike towards so what does Nancy love she loves the flowers the birds and the land presumably people and other you know all of them notice they all have an objective component you can see an animal or a bird or a flower you can relate to people and talk to people you can see and you know experience sincerely experience the land around you all of them have an objective component and therefore we can direct our love towards that it could be love it could be liking disliking whatever objective component pure Consciousness is not is in no way objective so our Pure Consciousness and love entirely distinct is there's nothing to do with love at all but notice you cannot have love without consciousness it's only you the conscious being who can love or hate or desire or think remember enjoy suffer all of these are possible because you are a conscious being Chad GPT cannot do it can't love no the question of God is consciousness and you said to love God just go without any desires and go into the temple and you love God but how can you love Consciousness okay now here are some definitions first of all notice Nancy would agree From advaita vedanta perspective that you are she is all of us we are consciousness and yet we do love and according to advaita vedanta everything is consciousness in that case the things that she loves are you know the birds and the land and the flowers and people and so on they also must be in some sense Consciousness so in some sense she is loving consciousness then what's Happening Here an objective element is introduced that's what's Happening Here are some definitions what is God what is a sentient being according to advaita vedanta what is Nancy Nancy is pure consciousness of course but what else how is Nancy different from you or me or or presumably from God maybe it's that there is a name and a form there is a mind and a body there is a personality involved so it's pure Consciousness plus there is a name of an appearance an activity a personality a mind with its own characteristics a body with its own characteristics and history then you call it Nancy are you or I so it's pure Consciousness plus mind body and so on similarly what is God yes it's true that God is pure Consciousness but just in the same sense as you are pure Consciousness or I am pure Consciousness or Nancy's pure Consciousness God is also pure Consciousness in that sense pure Consciousness with something else the traditional definition of God and sentient beings in vedanta the definition of God ishwara in Sanskrit in in vedanta you will find this definition vedanta Manuel of vedanta the definition is Consciousness associated with Maya is God that sounds very theoretical but it's not it's just like us you are Consciousness associated with a causal body subtle body and physical body physical body the one which you see subtle body then when we introspect inside thoughts feelings emotions ideas desires memories personality that's the subtle body beyond that the seed state of the subtle body um you know what we experience in deep Sleep When the external world is as it were switched up for you dream world is Switched Off for you and you remain in a seed State that's the causal body so the causal body subtle body and the physical body and this is a sentient being similarly God is in in Sanskrit or in vedanta ishwar or bhagavan or saguna Brahman Brahman with attributes notice now here is the answer to Nancy's question pure Consciousness itself in the vedant is called nirguna Brahman from Consciousness itself without any attributes that's why pure without any attributes without any characteristics but God in vedanta is called saguna Brahman Consciousness with attributes with attributes so what are the attributes of God what are the attributes of Nancy or URI subtle causal body subtle body and physical body with each of them having their own in unique attributes and what is what are the attributes of God exactly the same causal body subtle body physical body God is a physical body where in vedanta pure Consciousness plus Maya Maya is the causal body of God and I will not go into what is my and all you need a whole series of lectures on vedanta then and then there is a cosmic mind Consciousness plus Castle causal body plus the minds all our minds nicely linked by The Cosmic internet so the cosmic mind and then the cosmos itself the physical Universe all living beings and all the so-called non-living Universe all of it together is the physical body of God so pure Consciousness or Atman Brahman itself plus Maya plus Cosmic mind plus Cosmic body this is the idea of God and in vedanta God can appear because a God is Limitless God can appear to the devotees can be experienced by the devotees in any number of forms and names god with names without form god with names with forms and multiple forms that which is essentially formless can assume multiple forms many people don't understand the Hindu idea of God with form you know Krishna Ram of course they are incarnations but then Vishnu and Devi and Shiva why such forms and such fantastic forms with my simple answer to that is you are essentially harmless you are pure Consciousness but you are here you are here with the form that's why you have a chair so if you can have a farm can't poor God assume a form yes God can have any number of forms now you can love God because God has attributes which are lovable it might be difficult to love people but it's easy to love God God is all loving God is just God is merciful god is the omnipotent omniscient omnipresent all kinds of auspicious qualities so God is attractive God is lovable in that sense the second sentence that you said when you go into a temple that's where that's the context of what I said was how do you love God and there I mean God with attributes I'm not saying that you go go and love the pure being pure Consciousness I think the greatest of philosophers also would find it difficult to love pure consciousness between the practice the way of devotion bhakti so between the first sentence Nancy wrote and the second sentence is the shift from the way of knowledge to the way of devotion that has to be kept in mind and that is a shift from nirguna Brahman to saguna Brahman pure Consciousness without any attributes to Pure Consciousness with all blessed attributes which make it God now when we go to love God what happens is what intervenes in between are our own desires one can go into temple with one with desires most people do that's why many people go to a temple or a church or anything our desires will be satisfied will be fulfilled but the best way to love God is to approach God just because I love you it's I am not there because you can do things for me you know magically make my life better God can but I'm not going there for that then you see bhakti becomes very powerful love becomes very powerful I leave everything just as you enter you know a temple and you leave your shoes outside similarly leave your desires your problems your identity as a parent or an employee or a boss or whatever it is you leave it outside and you come to God just because I love thee then you will see love will very not only possible very powerful very effective she said that I cannot uh I don't have any feelings for consciousness of course you don't if you did then I would say you did not understand what Consciousness is Consciousness is that which through a mind has feelings Consciousness is that true our mind and a body does actions but Consciousness in itself is without any feelings without any actions and it's entirely subject it's an entirely non-object so you cannot direct feelings at consciousness and that's right then what happens one might ask this question what happens to new you said that in God is pure Consciousness and I and God are one in that sense yes I am pure Consciousness with a mind and a body and I become a sentient being and God is pure Consciousness with a cosmic Maya and Cosmic mind Cosmic body but apart from the mind and body apart from these attributes as pure Consciousness which I am God is also that and you and God are one that's the meaning of that you are that's the highest Advantage realization you are that how can we ignore the mind and body we can there's a whole advaithic teaching about it because these are appearances in Consciousness you know advaitan would say that the person going around in the dark you know in a village suddenly sees somebody sees a snake and gets scared this is a rope but mistakes it's for a snake and gets scared and um yes watch out there's a snake there and his friend says no it's actually a flower Garland and the and when they go and the wise person who knows what it is says it's not a snake not a flower garden not something evil not something very good also it's it's a piece of rope similarly Brahman appears to us in all these different ways and you can ignore the snake you can ignore the flower Garland because it's not really a snake it's not even really a flower garden it is Brahman itself in that case you and and God are one reality but that is a matter for knowledge not for directing your devotion again I'm thinking what Nancy might say to this then she would say that you have completed full circle so um we are back to where we started if I and God are one reality then what do I love but notice when you say what do I love you're already shifting into your personal identity as the witness Consciousness to you the entire universe appears plays around and disappears [Music] and you are like this light light shining there's no question of a person loving some other some other thing another person or the land or the flowers or the birds or God but notice that even after all this knowledge we are all again back into our personal identity it's not that once you get this knowledge this Enlightenment even a person who has got non-dualistic enlightenment I am Brahman does the world actually disappear for such a person no it does disappear only when the person goes into samadhi in deep penetration otherwise when the person opens his eyes and looks around till the world again exactly as we see it and then how do you relate to the world you relate in the knowledge that I and this whatever it is a person a place or God We Are One reality and you also relate to uh to to that as an enlightened person your relationship to everything would be a sense of Oneness and love it will be expressed Oneness will be expressed as love the knowledge of the Oneness of all things that is that knowledge is expressed as love for all beings and God especially and inaction Karma Action Service is love made visible you're thinking oh you saw me as a way with words not my words Kalil Gibran service is love made visible our work is love made visible okay I'll leave it at that you had a follow-up question somebody raised a hand there do you remember I think I've already answered it I said I thought I answered it we'll take up one more question and then we will take a question from the audience who would like to ask a question you were there your okay I will go with amateur first and then you then you all right this question is from anshuman s what is the purpose of professional ambition and Excellence once you realize that it is only going to please your ego rather than helping you to realize your true nature kindly elaborate on katavya Boda as a samsari if you are not the Carter the doer what about the constant anxiety about your duties particularly regarding parenting and the future of your children means Duty the sense of Duty yes what is the desire of what is the purpose of of Duty the ambition the desire for excellence work achieving things in the world if it only ends up bolstering your ego and tying you deeper into this world nothing and everything see nothing in this world is wasted even if it plays only a negative role that if I follow this path down go down this path of ambition greed and hunger for pleasure wealth power it only keeps on increasing my unhappiness and does not really deeply satisfy me in any way in no deep lasting satisfaction here just unhappiness frustration when we Chase things in the world either you'll get it or you won't get it if you get it you'll be dissatisfied if you don't get it you'll be frustrated so take your pick you're going to be either dissatisfied or frustrated in this world there's really no other way out Somerset moms that I have repeated it so many times he says that if you single-mindedly chase pleasure very soon you find nothing pleasing anymore in this world and that's true not only of pleasure but also success of power of wealth all of that um so is it all useless no no no no this wanting it's the engine of growth of develop development of spiritual Evolution you come to this feeling that I have seen it all and I've seen through it now somebody would say but I haven't seen it all I'm a millionaire but I'm not yet a billionaire I'm a state Governor but I'm not yet the president so I haven't seen it all no don't do that there's no end to that if you if you if you are on you know like they say if you're on a rat race and you win the rat race you're still a rat so don't try to win the rat race the intelligent person whatever little experience he or she gets intelligently looks into that and sees whatever else the world can Material World can offer is just a permutation a combination of that in Hindi we have a saying unisbees 19 or 20. if you're 19 it's pretty close to 2020 isn't all that great you know much better than the 19. so that understanding must come and for this this Desiring pushing forward if nothing else the sense of Duty that I have a responsibility this Society this family they nurtured me and you know and I have got to give back I'm a part of this Society I'm Bound by I am within the network of obligations that's good for one's character development if at a certain stage one is let free of all duty of all you know responsibilities the character actually degenerates so I'm free I don't want any responsibilities but free to do what free to become a slave to one's own passions and indulgences that's all and then there's a quick deterioration of character so duty is good because it pushes you forward but duty is strictly limited strictly Limited there is a there's a point Beyond which duty is not helpful to our mental health our spiritual health our spiritual growth no it's much better to do things out of a sense of I really want to do it not because it's my duty to do it Vivekananda came down hard on this idea of Duty he said it's the scorching midday Sun you know it's much better to act from Freedom rather from a sense of compulsion I have to do it no you don't have to do anything oh then I can tell I can turn my my kids out of the doors and go and do what you like I don't care I'm not going to feed you anymore I can do that I can just sit back and relax no you cannot because if if you do that you can try to doing that but if you do that you are the first one who's going to suffer you're going in sense of our character our mental health it will deteriorate fast if you do that but take care of the kids parenting the job do it out of a sense of freedom but here I am doing it and it's good for me I'll tell you an incident once in the in our main monastery so you know we join up as much we sign up as monks and then there's a lot of work and one of the one time I remember about more than 20 25 years ago 25 years ago so my duty was to there was these huge cauldrons of rice and you would have to break up that rice with um you know they call it cut cheater like Spades huge there's not spoons ladles even bigger than ladles and you have to drive it in that and then load buckets full of rice so that and then there are others who take it and feed people outside so once it was my duty and it was hard work it was like 100 degrees in the shade at that time and 100 humidity so and I thought what this is this is really difficult and I really don't want to do this I thought I would come and somewhere in the background of my mind was I would be meditate in the high Himalayas it'll be cool and nice and and I'll read a little bit of philosophy maybe meditate or do a little bit of mindfulness or meditation and Mantra and then with a flash there will be an illumination it'll be enlightened and what am I doing I'm loading rice from a cauldron into buckets then I thought to myself nobody asked you and nobody's preventing you walk out the gates are always open walk out do you think do you really honestly at that point instead of grumbling do you think that this is good for you this is good for your spiritual life or not and I had to answer honestly that it is actually good for my spiritual life so a lot of things which we rebel against as Duty we can be actually good for us in spiritual life there instead of thinking I'm caught in samsara and what's the point of all these and I know I'm going to feed and clothe these kids that they're going to grow up being ungrateful and go walk away anyway and then my life will be over for I'm going to do this for 30 years and then they're gone and I'm left with most of my life gone so what was what's the point of it all if you think like that I don't know I don't have kids but you might think like that no instead of doing that think of it as I am a spiritual Seeker my goal is God realization and God has put me in this this particular field of action notice in the Gita Arjuna had a lot of complaints about why he has to do this awful war is the most awful kind of action so we are far better placed whoever we are wherever you are a far better place than Arjuna so in the midst of whatever circumstances you find yourself can I convert this into spiritual practice internally without telling anybody else the job which you hold the family you're taking care of and your own personal you know maintenance all of it can be spiritualized and can become powerful spiritual sadhana spiritual practice then it's no longer a question of ambition or greed not even a question of Duty it's a spiritual practice taking you on your spiritual journey to the highest goal of human life fulfillment guard realization enlightenment okay so we'll take up some questions would you come here and then you are here and then you're there all right still is your name and ask the question my name is my name is Amar Todd and thank you for being here as always it's difficult to pose a question that is really just a longing and the goal is Enlightenment self-realization God realization whatever we want to call it which we make up all these images about this is that when we're awake we see the separation between you and I and that Podium and I we intellectually I can understand that none of us are solid we're a little molecules are and in that sense I can see that we're United but when I try to break through that and leave whatever the eye is behind in in the waking State let's say the non-meditative state there's totally this sense of separation and difference and then we go to meditation and sometimes not enough there's a moment when the eye is not there and is it trans is it samadhi because you come back to this world again and how is it different so in a way my question is the same as Nancy's in a different form which is we can we can imagine and you you're very you and The Vedas are very beautiful about explaining this other state but explaining it and understanding it and is not being it and there's so few people that have seemed to have reached that state mostly monks because you have a chance to spend hours and hours and hours trying to penetrate what's unseen so I guess my question to try to make a question out of a longing is in our waking State there must be in this state which is not a meditative state is there a way for us to find the United Unity of pure Consciousness yes and that's a pretty good question actually and as you put it so beautifully it's a longing really more than a question it's trying to formulate a longing into a question and when we have that that's most valuable the other way around is much more difficult I have a question born of lots of lectures and I have heard in books I've read but I really have no longing for it then it's a long long journey to lots of Hard Knocks in life until we develop that longing for for Spiritual realization but once we have the longing for Spiritual realization the questions will keep coming and going doesn't matter the longing itself is very important I remember when I was a kid I grew up with Swami vivekananda's books in the house and it was the scientist Pascal who said leave good books lying around the house and the child will take care of his own education I teach the child to read and child will take care of its own education so I read these books vivekananda's books and I was what 11 12 years old 10 or 11 years old and um I thought I'd read them and years later when I was a new monk a novice started reading them all over again and I was telling a friend of mine another Monk wonderful brilliant young monk I was telling him that you know I always had this sense that I have read the complete works of vivekan or most of it at least as a kid and that's a problem because I don't feel like you know let me read something else I've read that already but when I read it actually I see that I hardly understood anything at that time just that I liked reading that stuff I don't think I really understood anything his answer was no that liking you have you had at the age of 10 or 11 that liking is the most important thing you're better understanding now 10 years later you'll have even better understanding you will say that when I was a novice I didn't understand anything that now I understand more and that will go on that's just the intellect but more powerful than that is the longing that the love you have for this path without just talking to what you said it's a longing more than a question the longing is most important that's what will sustain us throughout life and throughout our spiritual journey all right the question is also very clear and pointed keep talking about Oneness And yet when we open our eyes and look around there isn't Oneness we are all different we are different people different bodies and different personalities we are separated in time and space you're there I'm here and here are all these different objects chairs and tables where is Oneness it seems different the difference is revealed to us yet vedanta says it's one reality appearing as many and the enlightened person is supposed to see this now see here is the thing we feel that if I were enlightened and I would see Oneness I would see something different does the enlightened person see something different no you see is exactly the same thing and yet the enlightened person claims that it is one Consciousness or one Brahman how is it a rhetoric is it a mantra is it some kind of slogan or some kind of a belief which that person is internalized or is it an actual experience it's an actual experience and more than an actual experience will try to understand what it means to see Oneness with eyes open while seeing all the difference that we are seeing and yet most powerfully that this is all one reality here I am reminded of a great philosopher with Gen Steins and it's just one little anecdote but which struck me so powerfully so here's this most brilliant mind in the 20th century is one of the greatest philosophers maybe the greatest philosopher that the Western World produced in the 20th century so at one point he comes out of his classroom in Cambridge and this lady is accompanying him who is a student and he stops suddenly looks at the sun which is setting maybe and he says I wonder why primitive people thought that the sun went around the world rather than the other way around him the word is rotating the Earth is rotating and that's why the sun seems to burn but people thought the sun rises and sunsets I wonder why and this lady said why Professor because it looks like that she looks like the sun is rising and Sun is setting and he said look turned at her and said but if it were the other way around what would it look like you know if it were that the sun is not rising and settling the Earth is rotating then what would it look like like this but this is this struck me so powerfully because works exactly that way if we are all little beings of Flesh and Blood and experiencing other people and a physical world vast physical world out there how what would it look like like this but if it were one reality appearing as many what would it look like like this but then how do I know which one is correct let me give you an example and then we'll come back to the waking world so let me give the classic example of the dream world in the dream world we are there in our dreams we don't know that we are dreaming and we look at different people we talk to people things happen we're walking around good and bad things happen and we have the sense of inhabiting a world and the world seems to be different from us we seem to be in a world we have no sense that the whole thing is a dream and in that world we seem to have a body also we don't feel in the dream I'm a disembodied spirit and we feel I would like it's like a waking world in the dream at least when you wake up it sounds it looks very weird but in the dream it seems perfectly normal now notice where also we feel we are embodied there are other people and there is space difference between us there is a whole world around us there are activities differences their action is there And yet when we wake up what happens is we realize I who was there in that body in the dream and other people in the dream and other places in the dream and activities in the dream all of it was one thing only my dreaming mind right here I am and there across this space you are and yet when I wake up I you the space all of it was the dreaming mind the dreaming mind generated it and now we know through virtual reality and all that this can be easily done or not easily but people those who are programming it they will say Swami you don't know it's not easy we have to work hours and hours at it but still it can be done very Vivid experiences you can have now is there this I don't know glasses you can wear and it can show you a three-dimensional world and all of that you can do okay now Oneness appearing as diversity and you become part of the diversity that's a dream that's what happens in a dream you think back upon your dream experience it's like that now one might say but that's a dream and this is waking that there the difference uh was at at its basis it was not different it was just a mind appearing in many different ways that is clear but here it's not clear it seems to be a real difference physical difference here is a world outside me and there are things various different things in the world where is the Oneness except as you know as a rhetoric or as a emotion but really experiencing that Oneness here in order to experience that Oneness we must do exactly what what happens in the dream you know in the dream you feel you are this person in the middle of the dream but in order to understand it it's all a dream one must step back from the dream personality into the dreaming mind and from the perspective the dreaming mind the whole dream is appearing in it and with that perspective if you go back into the dreaming dream personality you will know though it all seems different from me we are all one reality and that one reality is I here what you have to do in the waking state to come to that point you have to see first of all it will shift from the perspective of I am this body with Consciousness to I am Consciousness experiencing a body in the world and that shift in perspective can be done right here it's already available to us vivekantha called it an Open Secret and there are so many gates so many methods which will help us to do that to shift this perspective the paradigm shift in order to help us to appreciate it's actually one reality and being one reality it still appears like this take any perspective the any methodology the method of the Seer and the sea so here's this world seems to be different from you [Music] now notice this world doesn't exist by itself you are seeing this word this world is all the sites are appearing to the same pair of eyes so direct your attention away from the world into the pair of eyes the Eyes by themselves see all this variety of changing sound and as changing color and everything similarly the years they are the basis for hearing all sorts of sound speech and Sound and Music and everything all the senses the if you see the all the these various inputs they come to the senses so all the forms come to the eyes same pair of eyes now the eyes are seeing this is appreciated by the mind direct your attention back from the eyes to the mind and that of course is not physical anymore but it's there for all of us in the mind of all the senses dump their information into the mind the same mind and that is also something that I'm aware of thoughts feelings emotions in the mind memories sense of ego also in the mind that which is aware of the Mind don't try to objectify it that can never be objectified the first verse says You The Seer the ultimate Seer is never the scene but it's there without it I mean try this experiment just now if you want you can participate in it just relax and sit straight in the on the seat whatever is comfortable you can keep your hands on your lap if you like and take a deep breath and Let It Go and relax if you like you can close your eyes or if you like you can keep your eyes open also notice that whatever you had seen the moment you close your eyes you are there you saw what was being seen moment you close your eyes nothing is seen anymore and that blankness the darkness that appears to you but you are still there I am seeing this blankness or Darkness that thought in all other thoughts come and go to you if the thoughts are there you are there the thoughts are not there you're still there just as if you open your eyes and you see the world you're there and if you close your eyes you do not see the world the world is not seen but you still exist and similarly thoughts emotions they come and you experience the thoughts the emotions the memories and if they do not come you're still there you are the Consciousness to whom the perceptions appear or do not appear you are the Consciousness to whom the thoughts appear or do not appear you are there now notice if things do not appear if you do not see anything hear anything smell taste touch anything are you there you say yes I'm still there I don't see here smell taste touch but I am here maybe I am blind and deaf and but I am here I am here as the thinker of these thoughts suppose these thoughts also stop no thoughts no memories I have no memory of who or what I am until this point of time are you still there yes I'm there I don't know who I am I don't know my name maybe but I'm there and Suppose there is so past has been erased and suppose you do not think at all of the future what's going to happen next just at this moment no past nothing at all waiting for you in the future just at this moment you are there this you were there notice that this this one the you that this basic you this awareness you it doesn't have a form it's not something that can be seen or heard or smelled or taste or touched it doesn't have a shape this you is always present everything else comes and goes things happen in the world and change in the world but you're there body changes but you are the same you're there the Mind changes you're there all of waking happens to this you basic you appears to you and all of dreaming appears to you that same basic cue and the Darkness of Deep Sleep also it happens or it appears to you that same basic cue all changes are in the world or in the body in the mind and they appear to you but not in you you do not change you that basic you body ages you do not age the Mind becomes frustrated unhappy you experience the frustration and the unhappiness in the mind not in you comes and goes and notice if you were not dead that basic you then the entire universe your whole experience life everything would go into into nothingness it would disappear in a Flash but if all the objects being experienced in the world and in the mind if they exist or do not exist doesn't make a difference to you you are still there you existing all of them exist you shining the world shines by your light the world is lit up in you that one Consciousness the entire waking world with its apparent vastness of space enormity of time and all other beings their births and aging and deaths and all of history including your own tiny body which has appeared all of that appears this vast similar seemingly vast waking World appears in you that one consciousness and similarly the individual dream world appears in you the one consciousness and the blankness of Deep Sleep the seed State appears in you that one consciousness this none of it is different from you that one consciousness they don't exist without you you can exist without them and when we gently open our eyes you that one consciousness immediately you become aware of a mind a body a sensory system and a vast world out there what is this it's that you that one consciousness appearing in all the Brilliance of color and sound and shape and thoughts and emotions and preferences and likings and history and memory underlying it is this one basic unity called you who are these people they're you just as much as this being this particular sentient being this body mind individual is the real eye is nothing other than the real eye similarly all of these are also nothing other than the real eye this is the meaning of the underlying Oneness of all existence now we may get it we may get a feel for it we may be skeptical about it we may have doubts about it or we may like it but here's the crucial difference between us and maybe a person who's enlightened the difference is this for us it could be an interesting idea a nice psychological experience or something that I'm skeptical of it sounds all very fuzzy or I love it and I want it to be true but uniformly it's not our normal way of looking at things it's not our usual mode of thinking of ourselves in the world but the enlightened one it's the absolutely effortless mode of of existence it's Vivid it's effortless it takes no practice doesn't have to sit straight and close their eyes in the vedanta society and go through a guided meditation not at all you'd find it silly it's most obvious there's the story of the king and this apocryphal stories a green janaka and the sage ashtava Club the fame famous so the emperor janaka sits next to the this Great non-dualist Sage the sage has nothing in the world except uh his uh you know they have a water pot the wandering monks called a kamandalu and they used to have nowadays it's not very common uh meditation staff where they would put their hand and use the japa mala and danda they call it done and they would keep so danda means the staff and the water pot I'll just use the English words now both are sitting and meditating non-dual meditation and um the Emperor janaka who is a who is a who is a fan of non-duality a wannabe you know enlightened person so he's sitting next to ashtavakra and they're both meditating and janaka repeats me I am Brahm and I am Brahm and I am Brahman sits next to him and starts repeating this is the water part that's a staff this is a waterfall that sister and janaka gets annoyed he looks around and says oh Sage what are you doing what are you saying why what's wrong he asks innocently so everybody knows what's there to say that there's a water part or other stuff what's the point of saying that so everybody knows you are Brahman and you are Brahman what's what's the point in saying it to that extent that's the difference between the enlightened one and the rest of us there we are for us it's a philosophy a world view something to be practiced something to be understood something to be enlightened about also and for that person it's a the person doesn't even think of himself or herself as a person also anyway before we come to you you had again had a quick question okay ask ask there from there itself this disappears there is no I or this year what about that yes so isn't deep sleep you know a counter example to this idea of one Consciousness everywhere isn't Consciousness interrupted in deep sleep in anesthesia in coma in especially people who come back from anesthesia so I hope everybody comes back from anesthesia and they say that so it's it's interrupted recently I heard this dialogue between um Sam Harris and Rupert Spira where they had the Crossed Swords on this fight Sam Harris said when you are in so this whole idea of pure Consciousness continuing all the time it's not true when you are under anesthesia you are not aware of anything maybe in the operating room a lot of things are going on doctors and nurses and you don't know anything when you come back you're told about it so there's a huge amount of knowledge which you did not have so there was no consciousness at that time even in that narrow area surrounding you let alone the whole world of which many things we are not conscious of so it's not that your one Consciousness and everything is in that one Consciousness especially this is clearly shown in deep Sleep in Anastasia and samadhi what about that and you know what was Rupert spira's answer to that he said actually I was in under anesthesia last week and I don't see anesthesia as an interruption in consciousness you have to understand that what does it mean why we feel that I the CRI disappears in um deep sleep because Swami we don't feel that it's a fact it disappears it's still deeply connected with the mind if in this experience in this air this like exercise if I had asked you to vividly imagine what it is like to be in deep sleep no word no waking word no dreaming word no I or you everything just gone just flush out everything from from your experience no contents so has Consciousness gone even the eye sense has gone the ego has gone because in deep Sleep No ego but it's such a big deal in our waking State also sometimes ego goes away in moments of deep concentration the sense of ego is not there but clearly you're conscious you're we are concentrating deeply so ego goes away but does Consciousness go away according to advaita vedanta Consciousness does not go away even that completely vacuous the complete vacuum the complete vacuum of deep sleep is also experienced it's also a kind of exp not the kind of experience we normally have a subject object that's why it seems to be nothing deep sleep so I I always say that deep sleep is not an absence of experience it's an experience of absence it's just like this with your eyes open you're seeing all this you are there and this is there now close your eyes this whole thing disappears but you are there isn't it you know obviously but then you take it to the Limit no seeing no hearing smelling tasting touching then go deeper no thinking no remembering no feelings um no desires go deeper no sense of I also no sense of I and yet are you there are you means the consciousness to whom is this complete blank appearing you're there we hold on to the sense of The Limited individualities so strongly that when it is taken away we feel nothing is there but nothing is there to whom or what [Music] that's the pure eye the pure subject that's the Real Witness consciousness the Real Witness Consciousness is not something that is practiced it's effortlessly there it's not something that comes and goes the individual witness the individual thinker comes and goes all the time it's flickering okay we'll take it up slowly uh question do you still remember your question thank you she can ask the question come come here and ask the question yes my name is um swamiji I have a question about how do you overcome or how should you think about sorrow that comes from seeing the suffering or sorrow of others right it could be somebody close to you or it could also be someone who's not that close to you but you know thinking of it as Maya or thinking of it as um you know something that's not real almost seems selfish it almost seems um cold and uncompassionate so how do you get to a point where you say that you know the feeling that the everybody is one I know that it's hard to reach that stage but how do you get there and how do you how should you think about it wisdom heart and service I have to go together you have the wisdom it's all Maya or it's all emptiness or it's all interdependent or it's all cause and effect all true it's all cause and effect there's no doubt about it or it's all interdependent these causes being there these effects have come these causes have set set in motion a train of events which leads to these this kind of suffering all true or it's all Maya it's Consciousness appearing as the good and the bad what you call suffering is the bad it's all true but then next there should be the heart to go along with it if I feel one with all all of these are nothing but I as I would be up and doing trying to remove my own sufferings as this body's sufferings I should be up and doing trying to remove the sufferings of other people because the relationship that this personality Bears to me the Consciousness is exactly the same relationship that all these personalities wear to meet a consciousness so if I am so eager to remove the sufferings of this one personality I should also be up and doing and trying to remove the sufferings of others so that feeling of compassion love and sorrow experiencing the Sorrows of others that's the sign of of spirituality not to coldly dismiss the Sorrows of others you'll notice those who do that they are very careful about taking care of their own problems immediately they can't bear a little bit of trouble little bit of a bad behavior from others little bit of failure in the world they can't bear it at all but for the Troubles of others the failures of others the sufferings of others oh it's Maya oh it's all Karma no that will not do one very good answer to this question is if you look at the lives of saintly people in any religion see one common characteristic is that great hearts so wisdom and heart goes together and then one more thing not just wisdom and heart I feel deeply for your Sorrows what are you going to do about it oh I can't do anything about it no we must try to do whatever we can so if you say what is your answer to the sufferings of the world look at the answer that sudama Krishna or Vivekananda came up with I was just thinking reading the annual report of the ramakrishna mission thousands of schools hospitals dispensaries this is the real philosophical answer to suffering be up and doing tackling suffering at every level will it change the story no but will it help certainly it will to the extent that you can help we are blessed what will you do with money the time on this Earth with this body with these energies with this learning if it can if it's of no help for anybody else if it's no good to anybody it will it be good to me also no it hasn't been I have used my money my energy my time my capacities to gratify and glorify and satisfy this one body for 20 30 40 50 years as it worked are you glorified gratified satisfied permanently or even deeply even lastingly no nobody it doesn't work so let it flow out in service to others you know give give and do not look back whoever looks back his ocean dwindles to a drop and it's not really a big sacrifice it's a great freedom let things flow through you money service energy knowledge time or if it flows to you and you know expands outward into doing great good to the world that's the answer to the sufferings of the world now this teaching of Maya or emptiness or you know Enlightenment this is the ultimate solution to the sufferings of the world that is why the greatest of minds and hearts like Buddha or the rishis who gave out the vedanta this is all our efforts can only do temporary good but every all beings will be delivered from suffering through enlightenment God realization Enlightenment take it in the broadest sense Nirvana salvation whatever you call it the spirituality promises a real solution to the suffering ultimately but anyone who's genuinely interested in removing the sufferings of others will try to remove their sufferings at whatever level people come and somebody who is terribly poor you are hungry the teachings of vedanta you are Brahman my dear man I really don't have food to share with you but I can tell you your Brahman Vivekananda said it's a sin it's a travesty to teach metaphysics to a an empty stomach you can't you can't teach God realization for empty stomachs so Health in whatever part of the spectrum is possible but knowing deeply that it's only that ultimately the spiritual realization the spiritual knowledge which is the real answer to all of this if you have clothed the person doesn't have clothes if you're fed the hungry if you have healed the sick give an education to the illiterate and given a job to the unemployed whatever their basic worldly wants are you have satisfied them then do you think you have to remove their suffering not at all suffering is like arthritis you drive it away from one joint it will go to the other joint so you drive it away from the physical problems it will go away too he says what are node is called problems of Plenty problems of prosperity it could be the kind of problems you have in a third world country kind of problems you have a first world country so the ultimate solution is spiritual realization but but service and the desire to remove the sufferings of all why did the Buddha become the Buddha his whole Pursuit was there is suffering in the world is there a solution for suffering he was a prince you really didn't have suffering at that moment he was really having a Gala time of it all but he had the heart to see that neither I nor anybody is safe from suffering okay let's answer one more question and then we'll come back to that please come here my name is akashdas uh thank you for for being here honored to ask you a question it's nice to see a non-pixelated version of you on my phone uh I'm I'm the type of person who if I encounter some sort of philosophy I try to really dissect the basic units to see if there are any logical fallacies in it and I've been very invested in learning about karmic law and understanding how it manifests in in all forms that we see here and one thought that I had is I I think about the evolution of the earth and you know living as single cell organisms for billions of years and ultimately becoming complex multicellular organisms to everything we are today it may be a bit of a childish question but I was hoping to get some insight from you on how Karma has manifested itself in such a way that gave rise to everything that we are in everything that we see I mean first of all you know when we say that we have lived as unicellular organisms organisms for millions of years or billions of years and then we are multicellular and evolving into you know ocean-based life and then land-based life and plants and animals and so on but notice though that's the evolution of the body that's the evolution of life and vedanta an Indian philosophy in general has no problem at all with evolution Monier Williams the one who did the first English Sanskrit dictionary he writes uh in I think in the 18th century 19th century 18 to 19th century he writes that I find that these ancient Hindus where darwinians a thousand years before Darwin there's actual reference in The Panini in the patanjali yoga sutras it is the infilling of nature it says different bodies different capacities evolve over time Vivekananda says evolution of Nature and manifestation of God it's not that the Atman brahmana Consciousness evolves it's that he gives the example of a of a screen with a hole in it a tear in it if you the tear becomes bigger and bigger the mode the background what's behind it is revealed it's not that the what is behind it is expanding or becoming greater in any way it's just the potential what is potential is now being manifested more and more so from the sankhen perspective the darwinian evolution in principle in principle of course I don't think the ancient Hindu is new in detail about modern evolutionary biology or anything but in principle is no problem at all that nature evolves over millions and millions of years but it just enables so but but then what is this evolution of nature to consciousness where it would differ from the materialistic perspective is meteoristic perspective says that nature revolves life comes along at a certain stage of the journey late and then life evolves living beings evolve and then they evolve nervous systems and brains and then that those nervous systems in brain sort of epiphenament and they give rise to Consciousness somehow that's the general story we have learned so um what's wrong with it one thing that's wrong with you from Consciousness perspective is that you are assuming that brains and nervous systems are giving rise to Consciousness the Consciousness is an Epi phenomenon but what if it is not you have to explain how a brain a piece of matter living matter actually gives rise to first person experiences nothing here gives rise to first person experiences as far as we know this table this microphone even the most sophisticated computers they do not have first person experiences anybody asks how do you know Swami and I said ask the designers those who designed the computers have you designed for Consciousness they'll say no we have no idea what Consciousness is or how to begin also in fact the latest advances in in computer science you know AI something like chat GPT and all and what else is going on in the Laboratories notice they can replicate every objective function memory like creativity they are now writing stories in fact I read about one magazine which shut down they are not accepting any more contributions because all the contributions are coming from AI is writing stories and contributing to the magazines now and today I saw a news report that Amazon is facing a deluge of Publications from AI I mean the AI itself is generating books writing books and stories and whatever now human beings we are not getting a chance to get in sideways also because AI can generate thousands of stories in the time that one person can write one short story so creativity decision making actually acting in the world like driving a car the Google self-driven car and so on all activities which we thought were they were the province of intelligent life human beings they are being done by AI except one thing except one thing which is consciousness none of these systems none of these computers in spite of what they say is it you know the question they keep asking is AI becoming finally becoming sentient you know that Lee that shows a great confusion about what Consciousness is Consciousness basically the unique characteristic of Consciousness is first person experience the ability to have this experience of pain pleasure Joy color all of experience as such as we all we are continuously experiencing it it's great that the data of Consciousness is ubiquitously generally universally available to everybody all the time I mean what is our life other than the data of Consciousness our life is the data of consciousness that is not Gibran that's me I just find it our life is the data of consciousness and um davinian biology Neuroscience it cannot explain it how from the functioning of living cells in the brain and nervous system you're suddenly having first person inner experience everything else can be duplicated um so karma basically you should karma is nothing but cause and effect you can take it as Evolution can be taken as one instance of karma and nature is throwing up various forms various bodies different kinds of more and more sophisticated living systems enabling Consciousness to experience itself in so many different ways is like better and better mirrors are coming up it enables you to see your face but your face is exactly the same your face is not becoming better and clearer with each mirror exactly the same but the mirrors are reflecting you better and better and that's what Natural Evolution does so this is from the sankhen Paradigm where Consciousness is a separate reality and all of material nature is a separate reality and Karma Works in material nature but they are not entirely separate Consciousness and material nature interact and the interaction of material nature and Consciousness is us is all sentient beings there is the material nature the body even the Mind according to vedanta sankhya is part of material nature it's a machine many neuroscientists do not know this modern neuroscientists because the whole idea in the modern Consciousness studies is mind and Consciousness are lumped together and body and material world are lumped together but according to vedanta sankhya mind body material world they're all part of one Continuum it's Consciousness alone which is separate and that's the sunken worldview according to the advaita worldview Consciousness is also not separate the Mind Body material world are nothing but Consciousness appearing to as its own objects so it's non-dual that way in one sense materialism is a kind of monism one reality matter vedant is also another kind of monism but one reality here is its Spirit or consciousness vivekantha says I am a materialist of a kind you call it matter I call it spirit now you'll notice I have not gone into the karma question which you asked because really all the spirituality advaitha sang Here Buddhism all of it is actually trying to go beyond Karma so karma you can take it as a kind of a general framework that cause and effect apply in nature but if you analytically go after it you will find there are big gaps because that's why it's not a scientific theory there's an element of Faith involved there physically you can see the activity you you share food with the Hungry Man the hungry man gets fed that is clear not only that you keep sharing food with a hungry person you develop internally psychologically a tendency to share and do good to others that's also pretty clear science will have no objection with that but that this sharing food with the hungry person [Music] consistently generates a lot of good karma for you which will give rise to some effects in your life this life especially other lives that is not a scientific preposition there an amount of faith comes in there but whether it is scientific or religious spirituality other than silence and religion wants you to go beyond Karma I just leave it at that and just take a look at this book the problem of evil in Indian thought Arthur Hermann there he talks inextensively about law of karma as a good answer to this question of why there is suffering he has like 24 theories there one of them is this law of karma is an extensive discussion of that including one chapter on the defects of the law of karma so and he says at the end of it it's still the best theory that we have in any religion or philosophy in the world today thank you to the podium question Swansea okay okay Summit C from Toronto asks I just listened to your talk on witness Consciousness you refer to the podium as an object of which we are aware the podium also has the same Consciousness Brahman how is it that the podium is not aware that it is a Podium unlike us humans who as the witness Consciousness are aware of our body and mind does it then mean that the mind with all its sensory inputs is the seat of awareness since the nonsentient podium does not possess a mind wouldn't then this be the most plausible argument that mind is needed for awareness and witness Consciousness cannot be aware without the mind just the other way around great answer to this is the Mind needs awareness awareness does not need a mind proof we try to prove it in that little experiment which we did at the practice the conceive conceive of shutting down the senses shutting down the mind if you shut down the senses and shut down the mind you can't hear smell see taste touch you can't think remember desire hate enjoy suffer and yet one must admit that it's entirely possible that I'm still there it seems quite clear to me that I am still there without these capacities and when these capacities kick back in it's not that I come into existence I remember in this philosophy of Mind class at Harvard University we are reading Descartes and I think therefore I am um so I asked this question it immediate question from Mandu karika perspective so in deep Sleep Descartes does goes to sleep he doesn't think so does he disappear is does Descartes come in to pop into existence every time he wakes up a new Descartes is created every day early in the morning when he wakes up and worse if he dozes off in the middle of a philosophy class and he wakes up is it a new descart a Buddhist would be happy with this momentary consciousness and but from you know this perspective modern Western philosophy of mind there's no answer to this question except the fact of course Descartes didn't mean it as simply as that what he was referring to David Chalmers also says this what Descartes was referring to is actually Consciousness he's not saying that we are entirely dependent on thought he is pointing towards consciousness now what accounts for the difference between Ami and the podium or this microphone and this table and all uh in vedanta it's a very simple structure your consciousness and there is a subtle body called the which includes mind intellect and all of that and then there is a physical body now in order to Manifest this Consciousness you need a subtle body just like I have a face but in order to Manifest this phase I need a mirror so that I can see this my own face in the mirror or another example which we used to do as little kids in school in India it's always bright and sunny not like this most of the time it's very bright and sunny so Ray of sunlight and we would use our steel Tiffin boxes to flash that sunlight onto the eyes of other people you know so this sunlight everywhere but you if it that that polished surface it collects the light and makes it into a beam of Light which you can Flash the light on somebody or direct it into a dark room it lights up the mind in vedanta works very much like that you are Limitless awareness but in order to know something you need the instruments of knowledge which is mind and the senses so Consciousness reflected in the mind and illumining the mind and the sensory system now you can see and hear and smell now you can think and perceive now how does that explain the difference between me and the podium in vedanta this this is how you explain the difference between a living being and a non-living being do you remember in school at least we had the school give Five Points of difference between the living and the non-living it to make us it would say I'll say that the presence of the subtle body or absence of the subtle body so these are physical things this is a physical body living this is not a physical body and this is a physical body but non-living non-living what makes a difference both are physical entities but in this physical body and in all living beings there is this subtle body in fact one of the components of the subtle bodies pranamaya kosha Prana means Vitality or life if you say living in vedanta or sankhya it simply means you're talking about the pranama kosher pranamakosha is part of the subtle body that means a subtle body is present the moment a subtle body is present mind intellect all of those are also present they're all part of the subtle body they're all equipment they're all Machinery very subtle very powerful Machinery not physical Machinery like this they are present if they are present this Limitless Consciousness becomes concentrated or reflected in that and now you feel I think I hear I smell this eye and the feeling of Consciousness here is not pure Consciousness is the reflected consciousness it's like you are reflected my face is reflected in the mirror and now the mirror lights up and says I well not I I am here you are a mirror and you are entirely dependent on this one if now the mirror were to say so without the mirror we can't see the face therefore we assume that the mirror is where the face lives no the face depends on the mirror no the mirror is not where the face lives the face is here the mirror is there the face depends on the mirror no the reflected phase depends on the mirror the real face has nothing to do with the mirror and the mirror depends on the real face to get a reflection similarly the mind it's you know we think that the question is it's very logical I mean it's very inevitable but it has to be cleared up our our feeling is so ultimately the Consciousness by itself doesn't do anything it's a pretty useless thing it's the mind which does everything therefore the mind is important no the Mind cannot do anything at all without without consciousness you are Consciousness itself you are not the mind you're not even the reflected Consciousness just as I am here I am not the mirror not even the reflected face in the mirror because of my presence the mirror and the reflected face the mind and the reflected Consciousness go out and do many things and they're called given the name of sentient being so again another confusion can arise so I and the sentient being are different no the sentient being is nothing other than you right now what you are is the real face the mirror and the reflected face together only in advaita vedanta the mirror and the reflected face are also appearances in Consciousness that mirror face example will break down this is an analytic example which separates and just for the purpose of understanding um so a straight answer to the question what's the difference between living beings and musical person and the podium because of the presence of the subtle body this person this Consciousness there is now has all these activities all these Powers because of the presence of the subtle body and the podium has just a physical existence doesn't have a subtle body doesn't have a causal body and so Consciousness is there Limitless Consciousness is there but it is not expressed as anything else except one thing you know what that is we keep saying Consciousness Consciousness but let's not forget in vedanta it is existence Consciousness place so it is manifested there in the podium Atman is manifested as what as existence notice it exists you say no but that existence belongs to the podium no if you smash the podium you will have wooden splinters they exist if you smash the wooden splinters into wood powder it exists well suppose you destroy all the wood um and well the carpet exists I'm translating from shankara's commentary in the second chapter 16th verse of the bhagavad-gita if you smash all parts in existence then where is existence is the cloth exists it is bad then the next thing will be if every existing thing is destroyed in the universe now we have Stamped Out Consciousness let's Stamp Out existence let every existing thing in the universe be destroyed where is your precious existence shankara says it's still there it's not manifest anymore like that yeah it's just like you are pure consciousness without senses without the mind without the intellect you're still there but you're no longer thinking remembering hating seeing hearing none of that is possible but when the senses come last question here would be but in that case the Consciousness is dependent on the senses and the mind no it's other way around the mind and the senses are dependent on consciousness Consciousness for what for the light which illumines them not only that for existence it's like when somebody says the it's in the jewels you know ornaments the necklace and the bracelet they are the really valuable thing gold does nothing by itself that's really the necklace and the bracelet and the ring and all the gold Anonymous they are nothing but gold they depend entirely on gold and in fact it's much better to say it's gold which does everything like whatever you use you can have for a necklace or a bracelet or a ring it's actually the glory of gold itself is the glory of Consciousness itself which manifests as mind and body and universe not the other way around I'm talking about the odd Glory all right one more question we are done we're really gone off Beyond time let's do this one bandana are from Austin Texas asks we talk about exhausting our vasanas we can exhaust those that are manifest with control by Vivica and barakia how can one get rid of unmanifested vasanas vasanas are desires and we're constantly told that his desires which bound us to which bind us to this this sensory world to this samsara every religion in some way or the other tells us to transcend desires now here's a variation of that question so the Manifest vasanas manifest vastness that the desires we feel already we have a whole set of desserts and these uh we have to deal with them and she says we can deal with them through viveka and Vivek as discernment Eternal and non-eternal Atman is beyond vasanas I am the Atman dispassion none of this leads to any kind of fulfillment so but what about the unmanifest vasanas because vedanta seems to say we have a vast amount of conditioning in from our past lives which is not manifest right now no one might think that already the Manifest desires are big enough to deal with a big enough trouble to deal with my bringing unmanifest desires whatever they man they might be so two things two ways very shortly to deal with the unmanifest desires one is um engage once is a practical answer engage oneself intensely in spiritual life through vedantic inquiry through meditation and prayer through devotion and through service as a result of this the unmanifest vastness will not manifest they remain suppressed there's no they find no door open for manifestation this guy is so busy in spiritual Pursuits there's no point even the Manifest vasanas are having trouble getting hold of this guy let alone run manifest to Asana so that's one but the real Ultimate solution to all of this is Enlightenment the upanishads say um foreign when the not of ignorance in the heart that is which ties me to this body mind that is cut because of the realization I am pure consciousness all doubts disappear forever and all past karmas and conditioning manifest unmanifest all are burnt this person is enlightened and free so Enlightenment God realization Brahma Gyan realization of Brahman Nirvana whatever you call it that is the final end to all vasanas all desires whether manifest or unmanifest till that point an intense engagement with spiritual life intense engagement spiritual life will prevent unmanifest vasanas from manifesting and even the Manifest vasana the desires which we are contending with now will be controlled will be will not give us as much trouble as always the grace of God we've when we actually try to struggle we'll find we have very little capacity actually so we need help right it's a very powerful help in this Cosmos see there are problems which we face and there are huge obstacles which we are not aware of also in this Cosmos but all of them they dwindle to nothingness before the glory and power of God so whether you believe it or not if you believe it well and good for you if you don't believe it you're not inclined that he is take the god way mechanically if there is God any God please help me that also works too [Music] thank you