Video 22

Ask Swami with Swami Sarvapriyananda | June 2nd, 2019

[Music] a question on consciousness from Nandita s and Prasanth B I saw your videos regarding Advaita Vedanta but I have one doubt if the consciousness Turia is the only reality is this consciousness present in nonliving things like chairs tables etc if bliss is Brahman then what about nonliving matter are they not Brahman all right look at the language if consciousness is the only reality Turia is the only reality is it present in nonliving things nonliving matter well if nonliving matter is real and consciousness is the only reality so consciousness should be present in landing matter and yet we find a kind of dissonance in this thinking because we feel that we are conscious and the chair and the table are not conscious let's go a little deeper into this vedanta has a very precise way of considering these things what is a living being in the Vedantic sense a living being in Vedantic sense is a body like this with prana the very word living being living being is anything that exists but living being the word living is in if you translate it into Vedantic terms it means prana life forces vitality so when you consider yourself when you consider a living being what you see is first a body and then when you look inside yourself you have a first-person experience inside of thoughts feelings emotions ideas that's what's called a subtle body and it's something called a causal body we will not go into that and beyond that is what the Atman calls what what Vedanta calls the Atman our pure consciousness the real self so to put it very simply a tripartite idea of the human personality physical body is to lera subtle body suksham sharir and the real you the Atman this is a simplified version amor let us say if you have what is called a cutout diagram you know if you go zoom in little more what you will see is the five cautious the five layers of the human personality so first you have a physical body this is called anime Akasha the body which you experienced by the way whatever I'm saying here the vedantic paradigm it's not really speculation it's actually a pretty good way of understanding our experience right now you can immediately apply to your experience so first we see a physical body the annamaya kosha a little literally foob sheet because it's a transformation of the food and drink that we take in and then do it in it pervading it is the subtle body the subtle body is composed of three sheets kosha means chief sheet is something which covers why is it called a sheet because it covers the real you as it were so three sheets what are they the pranamaya kosha the vital sheet which is responsible for all the functions way up a living body you know the vital functions digestion blood circulation breathing all of that is because of this life force is prana then subtler than that is what is called the monomeric ocean the mind thoughts feelings memories if you just look inside you will experience it all the time we are experiencing it the person we call out the person that is that is the monomeric ocean and another allied function is is the vidya no micro show the sheath of intellect that which gives understanding the determinative Faculty intellect intelligence survey danta on purpose distinguishes between mind and intelligence its although they are basically the same thing one is the higher function one is a lower function on the same thing included within these three the pranamaya Manama and vidya no Maya are the sensory system the ability to see and hear and smell and taste and touch the motor organs walking and talking and grasping so all the motors motor organs and the sense organs they're all the powers up behind them the physical aspect of it is in the food sheet so the powers the activities are included in the in these three sheets and these three sheets together are called this subtle body beyond that is something called the causal body anandamaya kosha let's not bother about it now and beyond that is the real real us the Atman which is which is pure consciousness so this is the model of of a living being the moment this subtle body leaves the physical body subtle body along with prana pranamaya kosha is part of the subtle body when it leaves the physical body we say that the body is dead then there is no difference between the dead body which was once a living body and other nonliving matter so I'm coming back circling back to the question what is the difference between nonliving matter and living matter as far as consciousness is concerned now when the subtle body goes away we call that the body of the physical body left behind we call it a dead body a simple language in every Indian language we say the prana has gone in hindi prana kal guy pranchi legacy BC we say so the it means the subtle body has gone no longer a living body but the subtle body does something else also and this is important what the subtle body does is the consciousness the Atman is so to say within quotes reflected in the subtle body in the Manama Akasha and the vague annamaya kosha it's reflected there it shines there and it you feel aware this reflection of the Atman in the subtle body is the awareness which we feel right now right now when you look you see a physical body here and then breathing in and out that is the pranic that the pranamaya kosha when you think I'm going to lift my hand that thought monomeric osha actually when you lift the hand that the energy are using pranamaya kosha the decision you take to lift the hand began a microtia and if any kind of happiness you derived from it it's called yarn to microtia but that's something else but apart from these five sheets we also feel awareness I am aware I am aware I am conscious we all see that I'm conscious I'm aware go a long way learn to talk takes its toll on your consciousness is less and less conscious as the talk no so we feel that we I am aware I am conscious this awareness or consciousness is not the Atman as such it is a reflection of the Atman in the mind that's what we feel consciousness now you can tell me if something does not have the subtle body you have the subtle body and I have the subtle body and we feel the reflection of the consciousness in the subtle body but if something does not have the subtle body will it have the reflection of consciousness no though consciousness is present right there it will not have the deflection of consciousness it's like a pot with water and the pot next to it without water now the pot with water will reflect the Sun you will find a little Sun a little image of the sun shining in that water but the pot without water although the sunlight is falling equally on that pot but you will not find a little image of the sun shining there because the water is not there the water is the peculiar capacity of reflecting sunlight and also forming an image yeah the subtle bodies like that water living bodies like that pot with water a dead bodies like the pot without water nonliving matter is like the pot without the water now we can answer that question do if consciousness is the only reality is it present in nonliving matter so nonliving matter is like the pot without the water will the reflection the let little shining son in that water will it be present if there is no water no but is the actual Sun the sunlight is it present or not yes so the answer is pure consciousness Atman Brahman is the only reality and is present everywhere only thing is you cannot appreciate it you cannot feel it you cannot experience it unless there is a subtle body that's why living bodies seem to be conscious and non living bodies do not seem to be conscious and if you say consciousness pervades everything then you will get a question like this if consciousness pervades everything I get it I am conscious and these people seem to be conscious and but the chairs we are sitting on the carpet we have put our foot on the the building we are sitting in it doesn't seem to be conscious why not we have subtle body they have subtle bodies and these things do not have the subtle body in practice I remember I was sitting once in my little Hut wind up in the mountains and this young monk is to come to speak with me he used to live in a cave and you'd come and chat so he asked something like this about the all pervasiveness of consciousness and I said when a person dies in a dead body is the Atman Atman is there everywhere Brahman is everywhere Atman is every other right he said yes we were talking in Hindi when a dead body is the Atman still there he looked confused it's if it's everywhere it should be there a dead body but then how is a body dead then if the Atman is there you see if you understand the Veda antek understanding of living being and non living being it is very clear it's nothing to do with Brahman or Atman it's to do with the presence or absence of the subtle body one more thing especially Indians we will say that why then do we say that the Atman has gone when the body dies we say that's what's called a jihad man the jeev Atman is the actual Atman limited by the subtle body what goes I remember if you the pot with water with a little sun shining there and pour the water into another pot empty pot what will happen to the little sun shining there it will travel with that water and you get this is that is what what is called transmigration you feel this body is dead and I'm going on to other lives other places other bodies and reborn again huh the little son will feel I'm reborn again in this new part shining new pot the old part is broken but the real son is your real nature not that little moving image of the Sun so I hope in all these examples and all it needs and I hope the answer is found there yes yes one more this one is from mu cond n on the nature of bliss we always say Brahman is infinite existence consciousness and bliss we know the existence aspect and it is clearly not a function of a state of mind as Jeeva we know we exist similarly awareness or consciousness is also not a function of the state of mind but when it comes to the nature of bliss I think it is a function of a state of mind because we experience the Bliss only when the mind is calm so bliss is not infinite because it is dependent on a calm mind I am predicting your answer as follows good I like that your minds calmness is dependent on external conditions this calmness called as happiness comes and goes but you pure being as experience of this happiness is Brahman not being dependent on anything Brahmans bliss is bliss itself here is my counter question to your answer okay then what is the use of such infinite bliss which doesn't even light up the mind and keep it forever in bliss does a pure being experienced this bliss all the time it's a good question these questions are good the questions which help us to understand Vedanta more deeply the old scholars had a term for this kind of question these two call it's two nadi kundan and the ayah that means a pillar you're going to drive a pillar into the into the ground now when you drive a pillar into the ground to make it to set it more firmly what do you do you shake it bring it out and drive it down again further so apparently you're doing something wrong you're bringing it out but the next time you drive it down it'll be--it'll going deeper so similarly when you ask these questions probing questions and counter questions and possible answers you are as if shaking the foundation of advaitha but when you understand it the next time it will be a deeper understanding all right let's consider the question the ultimate reality our nature is supposed to be such it on and the existence consciousness bliss pure being pure awareness and pure bliss and the question is I can sort of understand that existence is not a function of the mind things can exist without the mind even pure consciousness is not a function of the mind pure consciousness is the witness of the mind but bliss seems to be a function of the mind without the mind how can you have bliss and if the mind is not there will this search it on and the video will it still be there will there be bliss and if that bliss is not experienced then what is the use of such a bliss so the mind becomes essential all right this is a good time to clarify this kind of question is a good good opportunity to clarify what is meant by sat-chit-ananda if you understand what is meant by existence pure existence if you understand what is meant by pure consciousness you will also understand what is meant by pure bliss what is meant by pure existence big things exist look at our own experience things exist is this what is meant by pure existence no existence itself apart from the things which exist that is such pure being and notice something you can only experience things which exist you cannot experience pure being in itself are you with me you can look around yourself look around yourself is their existence say yeah we're in things which exist can you point out pure existence somewhere existence without a thing you can say chair exists otherwise we'd be pretty much sitting on the floor we can say my body exists we can say even space exists we can say time exists light exists we can even say our thoughts exist we can even say a fictional character like Harry Potter in some sense in the fictional world exists we can say things like numbers exist but existence itself you can never never never experience it separately from the things which exist similarly similarly consciousness itself where is consciousness experience where do you experience consciousness awareness only inside yourself in thoughts thoughts feelings emotions memories desires understanding all the activities of the inner instrument and the current of mind and intellect isn't that where you experience consciousness tell me where else do you experience consciousness nowhere else and only in your mind you don't experience consciousness in anybody else you know there should be somebody who will protest sorry you saying Swami my neighbor is not conscious they are conscious we are all conscious but you do not experience their consciousness what do you experience the body the behavior the language and you infer just like I'm feeling aware inside that guy must be also feeling aware inside but that awareness which you feel inside you do not feel it directly in them so if you became a telepath you would experience their thoughts but you would not experience their awareness so the awareness is only directly felt in our own thoughts emotions ideas but without the thoughts emotions ideas can you experience awareness no similarly just as existence is experienced in existing things consciousness is experienced in conscious thoughts feelings emotions bliss is also experienced in blissful states of the mind bliss itself is not experienceable bliss itself is not experienceable what so what good is that it's like saying ornaments can be experienced necklace bracelet all these a ring can be experienced you can experience ornaments gold seems to be a theoretical thing thing what's the use of gold ornaments of the real thing no they are gold itself is the real thing and it's gold alone you're experiencing different forms called necklaces rings and bracelets similarly Vedanta says that existence of such alone is the reality which you experience as existing things consciousness alone is the reality which you experience as conscious thoughts feelings emotions and that thing itself is bliss which you experience as blissful experiences pleasurable experiences happy experiences so if you ask the question what good is bliss if you cannot experience it it's like asking what good is gold I'm interested in the ornaments the ornaments are gold without the gold ornaments are possible what good is pure existence I'm interested in a table which exists a chair which exists my food which exists that's what I'm interested in but without pure existence these things wouldn't exist so if you reduce it to a theoretical form pure being and name-and-form Brahman and name-and-form Maya is named and farm and Brahman is such Ananda then what happens what does Brahman do for Maya and what does Maya do for Brahman then the answer to the question will be clear what does brandman do for this world and what does this world do for Brahman what does Brahman what does gold do for the ornament it is the basis of that it gives gives what does gold give to learn them in existence yes everything to the ornament so Brahman gives existence to this world it lends awareness it lights up this world not only exists not a dark existence you are aware you are aware of yourself you're aware of the world so it lights it up and it gives bliss it gives happiness pleasure meaning value to this world so existence awareness and all meaning and value and purpose everything comes from sat-chit-ananda but the varieties of it that existence will it be a chair or a table or a car or a park or sky or earth quarks or quasars that is Maya remember all of this from the quark to the quasi- existence what will happen nothing your life whether you believe in Vedanta or not whether theist or atheist whether you are happy unhappy whether you're very intelligent and a PhD or just ordinary whatever it is all experiences scientific aesthetic spiritual a the experience you have there's one thing common to all of that one thing which makes all of that possible consciousness if you are not conscious nothing so brahman makes all experience possible ramen makes all existence possible all experience possible and all of this becomes valuable and nice and interesting and worthwhile because of the unearned aspect of Brahman and yet in its own nature as such chit Ananda it is not an experienced object so what does brahman do for my or for the world it gives existence it gives light awareness it gives value meaning purpose pleasure all that makes it worthwhile everything comes from Brahman but what does the world do for ramen what does Maya do for Brahman she said it's a tool to recognize it you're close in fact in a general sense Maya manifests Brahman Maya manifests Brahman what does that mean without Maya Brahman would not be experienceable you are actually experiencing Brahman right now do not recognize it do not know it samsara if you know it recognize it in this very experience jeevan mukthi enlightened by living yes you cannot sew so you can recognize it only with with the help of Maya Maya deludes you into forgetting Brahman and create samsara for us Maya also helps you to recognize Brahman and in this appearance world of appearance sets you free and then everything becomes existence consciousness bliss you recognize it in so many forms that is the freedom while living right so this is the answer if you ask ya there to person alcohol on you if you ask further the question was what is the use of that bliss if you cannot experience it it's like saying what is the use of the gold if it's not made into an ornament the gold is the reality it's further like saying I have a face I can reflect it in the mirror what does my face what does the mirror do for my face it manifests it but suppose you say there's no if there's no mirror the reflection is not there what's the use of having a face if I cannot reflect it in a mirror you can you say that that's how silly is that if you have a face you can reflect it in a mirror if you so like if you do not like you need not reflect it in the mirror you're perfectly all right by reflecting it in the mirror did you add anything to the face nothing as long as you want go on reflecting your own and then the mind and enjoy when you don't want don't reflect on and in them in the mind be as you are as infinite existence consciousness place and remember in our day-to-day lives not knowing Brahman we keep doing the same thing when we reflect ourselves in the world we say a waking state dream state when we do not reflect ourselves in the world we say deep sleep state but because we do not know what we are this waking dreaming and deep sleep is samsara for us the moment we realize what we are in the aching dreaming and deep sleep we will recognize only the Torreya the one underlying awareness all right and stop there I'll come to you there were two hands up the lady yes please come here yeah you can ask a question tell us your name and ask the question Thank You Swami my name is Malini and on the subject of Brahman reflecting on Maya and vice-versa I would like to know the influence of karma because we can see clearly from what you said obviously the choice for bondage or liberation is something that you work towards or is within you so good good bad bad does karma play a part so that when you are in the world of Maya your liberation really depends on the way you influence your world or not thank you all right the role of karma karma is causality the causes we sent set into motion will have consequences and the consequences are our life in a very philosophical Advaitic sense the kind of reflections you have the kind of names and prompts you are confronted with the persons you live with the body and the health that you have the success and failure in our day-to-day life all of that is a product of karma remember from the Brahmans from Brahmans perspective it's the same from a gold perspective it's the same but the kind of ornament that you manufactured that's your that's your karma right now a lot of bad karma traps you in samsara a lot of good karma sets the stage for freeing you from samsara and this trapping in samsara and freeing from samsara from an advaithic perspective is just this recognizing that it is all brahman freedom not recognizing it as Brahman I am Brahman and this is Brahman not recognizing that samsara well the ability to recognize that the opportunity to recognize that that comes in spiritual life in Vedanta and we say in Vedanta it requires a lot of good karma a lot of good karma Avadhuta Gita says Ishwara no graha daivam some added weight of asana by the special grace of God one gets an it's an interest in Vedanta you need not save a document you might just say spiritual life an interest in spiritual life that shows good karma but there's a downside to it it means you're spending your good karma very fast you have using up a lot of your good karma so yes do a lot of good karma the fact that you are interested in spiritual life it itself shows you are what is we call Puni Atma a lot of punyas there a lot of good karma is there take this opportunity you are paying heavily for it your karma karma balance is getting depleted heavily there is a saying among the monks in the Himalayas if you have a lot of good karma then you have a pleasant life things go your way you are healthy if you are surrounded by good people you're successful in life whatever you do and if you have a lot more good karma tremendous amount of good karma you come to spirituality they actually say that you come to Vedanta so good karma happy life very good karma spiritual life thank you I'll take one more question to young men there yes please come tell us your name and ask the question and then we go back to them Ram Swami ji my name is dashing dashing means that shun means seeing that shun means seeing and in India darshan the word darshan means philosophy that shun also means in its highest sense realization seeing the ultimate truth and don't forget the question I and why I intervened was it's only recently that I I learned something very interesting in a book on on Western thought the history of thought by Luke fairy who is a French philosopher you know when we studied Western philosophy we were always told Indian philosophies darshan seeing the truth but Western philosophy still remember we our teacher and Western philosophy was very short tough old retired professor he was a disciple of swami vivekananda near auburn Chakravarthi I still remember he had a booming voice he would say we were all young novices he would say philosophy in Western sense is not seeing the truth it is philosophy are the love of wisdom basically consists in thinking about philosophical issues so don't confuse darshan and philosophy now that's what I always thought but it never satisfied me until I read this book by the French author recently and the author says the French author look fairy he says the original word is theory fear or Rao seeing of ultimate truths that's the meaning of the word theory literally darshan and theory are the same thing Theo's ultimate truths or how is to see to see ultimate truths and darshan is to see ultimate truths literally the same thing almost forgot my question yes so from the experience point of view when we say when we are in Maya there is this experience that we have in Maya and there is Brahman experience so that that way there is a duality right I mean if it is all non dual when these single experience that that only persist why would it take in the form of duality like a Maya and then your Brahman and I'd let me pursue this non duality is the reality but it appears as duality now experience when you say experience in Sanskrit Anubhava or experience experience always has this structure subject and object automatically duality comes there so duality and if you look at our life it is clearly duality is there don't you mean separation may the separation I am different from you this is duality I end here at the tip of my finger and after this you begin all other things begin so this is duality when I feel I am this and you that is different this and I and that what Advaita wants to say this I cannot emphasize this enough what advaitha wants to say is non duality is the reality of which duality is the appearance it does not deny that you experience the duality it only questions the reality of that experience the reality of the duality it says the non-dual it non dual reality alone appears as the duality experience without duality you cannot have experience right so but isn't that then there's still the distinction no this lectern is made of wood so wood is the reality and lectern is the appearance thereof are there two things though we are using two words wood lectern a podium we are using two words but are there two things can you count two things if you can count two things you have to show me separately show them separately no you cannot but unless the wood is made into the podium you cannot experience it I mean you can experience log of wood but it needs some form to experience you cannot use it and you cannot give it the name podium so what we call nama Rupa Viva Hara name farm and use transactional use all of that is Maya but underlying it is one non dual reality name form and use required duality what adwaita says that duality is an appearance it's not the ultimate reality some sorrows and what is samsara and what is enlightenment from that perspective we are very in very rarefied philosophy here at stratospheric samsara is when you recognize the duality this one and that's it nothing more then you are trapped here you're continuously struggling with this duality to make it a better duality and it always keeps changing continuous changes there even if you make it a better duality you're richer healthier more knowledgeable what will happen next change very rich change less switch very healthy change less healthy alive change dead there is no stability in duality it's continuous change the Buddha on it your money come serve americium but in non duality change is not possible what will change into at the moment something changes something duality is there so non dual reality if you recognize it in the midst of duality that is enlightenment because you are that non dual reality that non dual realities is free of samsara when you realize ah hum Brahma has me three of samsara but if you say AHA mono was beyond the mind in samsara I am there as me and the body in samsara very good another question from the internet audience yes we're getting very rarefied questions difficult ones we have something easier for me it's a question on suffering Oh on suffering all right is it is it fair to infer that suffering brings us who asked the question oh I beg your pardon is too less II don't see ya not our to listen is it fair to infer that suffering brings us closer to spirituality taking examples of Buddha and a few others in the modern world can this be interpreted differently that people who are emotionally and mentally weak resort to spirituality as an escape route please explain I'll divide the question into two parts one is a broad question of the utility of suffering as far as spirituality is concerned yes it has been always connected with spirituality see ultimately one realizes that the deep existential level of suffering built into our lives Gita says birthdays suffering disease is suffering old age is suffering death is suffering John mamrie - Gerard hit - kaduche on your shanem when you see the suffering inherent in all of this this is called a tag anomaly proktam and the Gita says this is wisdom because why is this wisdom because this leads to enlightenment a fundamental nature of suffering that it is all pervasive Buddhism begun begins with that the first noble truth of the Buddha Four Noble Truths there is suffering do come do come to come serve am to come to come to come serve and to come then second no no it is do come do come serve am to come second is there is a cause of dukkha suffering is the problem is there a cause yes the cause of suffering is desire trishna is it a curable disease or incurable there is a cure there is a possibility of going beyond suffering that is called nirvana and is there a method a treatment yes Buddha said Eightfold Path Buddhism Sankhya the Sankhya philosophy starts with this question of suffering afflicted by the threefold suffering there is an inquiry into a spiritual means of overcoming suffering if you ask won't the worldly means of overcoming suffering - no we say no because of two reasons one is they are not guaranteed to remove suffering and none of them are permanent solutions to suffering what a profound statement that's the first verse the opening verse of the most ancient text book on Sankhya philosophy the Sankhya karakov issue or krishna it's very old and it was popular at one time because they found a Chinese translation of the Sankhya karika made by a Brahman from Ujjain called Parramatta dating back to 1500 years so what a wonderful world they had at that time we have no idea really I found it in my Indian philosophy darshan text book tiny Brahman from Ujjain in India whose name is Parramatta translates the Sankyo karika into Chinese 1,500 years ago and the book itself is all much older than that the desktop opening verse see the centrality of suffering they put the suffering is the source for enquiry into spirituality do cut try a big heart jihad Jigyasa top exotic a hater dish tastes our part touch it na a canta canta hamid afflicted by the threefold suffering and inquiry arises into the means of overcoming and spiritual means of overcoming suffering why spiritual means they are useless because much easier worldly means of overcoming suffering are there we say no all the worldly means of overcoming some whatever you have none of them are guaranteed to solve your problem and even if they do solve your problem it's not a permanent solution to your problem it'll come up in some other way but the spiritual solution is guaranteed and a permanent solution it says who says all the religious traditions of all the whole world that is the meaning of the term you come across whether it is the Christian salvation or the Islamic heaven or the Hindu moksha the Buddhist nirvana it means that there is a guaranteed solution to the problems of life and a permanent solution to it a complete solution to it so yes suffering is connected with that of it and inquiry into into there is a saying however suffering of what sort tremendous unrelenting suffering which gives you no respite at all it won't be any spirituality because just suffering is there life is full of suffering it's not no chance of dealing with it so they say there are hell's terrible places where people just suffer and suffer and suffer and until the bad karma is exhausted do they become very spiritual in hell no because too much suffering and there are heavens where they are life is one long party so do they become very spiritual in the heavens no too much pleasure no chance of spirituality too much suffering no chance of spirituality it's usually in this middle realms like this earth where it's a mixture of both so this is the ancient mythology in India so that that's why human life is valued because it's the best form of life not at all don't kid yourself there are much better forms of life as far as Pleasant life is concerned there are multiple heavens and there are much worse kinds of life the multiple health in the mythology or deep the wake the cosmology of ancient Hinduism even Buddhism and Jainism multiple there are many many words but this world is good because it's a nice balance which forces you towards the ultimate purpose of all of this which is enlightenment the second question was yes one can use spirituality as an excuse because remember ultimately spirituality is supposed to take you beyond suffering but if spirituality is used as an excuse there's a term for that psychologists have invented the term recently it's called spiritual bypassing spiritual by I have many problems in my life I refuse to deal with it why because I'm Brahman I won't pay my bills I wa I won't turn up for work on time I don't my email backlog is all clogged up I don't do any of it by emblem and I don't need to that's bypassing no no Punisher talks about this extraordinarily lazy Brahman that spiritual bypassing now what will happen so it's isn't it bad what will happen is suffering will increase suffering will not go away a psychologist was talking about the problem of procrastination when you put up things Gita in fact deals with it Gita says dear guru three procrastination is a sign of Thomas in the mind now look at the paradox of procrastination I'm just giving an example by bypassing how spirituality will not help you to remove suffering procrastination is a classic example of bypassing because you put it off put up things which have to be done what will happen the paradox is this why do we put it off we put it off because doing it is troublesome doing it leads to suffering so I want to relax nice couch potato life so I don't want to get up and be up and doing but when they put it off it keeps mounting the problem keeps increasing and the total amount of suffering over a period of time when you finally have to deal with it either you have to do it which is troublesome or you don't do it the consequences will break upon you one day then the suffering is much more than what would happen if you had done it at that time so the paradox of procrastination is we do it to avoid suffering and we end up by getting more suffering like that if one uses spirituality to bypass facing the challenges of life one will end up getting more suffering though spirituality itself is supposed to remove suffering that means it was not true spirituality it was an excuse spirituality always any true spirituality encourages you to be up and doing so I'm very kinda said there are tests of truth does it make you stronger then take it as the truth are you becoming weaker reject it as poison one friend of a young student in India told me I have a friend who goes to this particular guru and he is full of stories about his guru how wonderful the Guru is I said is your friend becoming more independent or more dependent on the Guru should know that's true is becoming more dependent not good it will lead to unhappiness it lead to unhappiness test of truth is unselfishness awakened this is a simple test of truth unselfishness is spirituality selfishness is worldliness applied to our thoughts our words our deeds our points of view on life will see whether it is true or false oneness unity lead he says is a test of truth and that which divides is a test of is shows falsity applied to our life so these are nice tests to apply good yes a couple of questions on non-dualism and the Ramakrishna tradition yes from Sujoy R and Chris be in a lot of branches of the ramakrishna mission it has been observed that they worship different gods or idols chanting and praying for small gods or local gods but the basic teaching of Shri Ramakrishna is non-dualism my question is is it difficult to stay in on in the non-dual concept and in the gospel of shri ramakrishna there are so many times when Tucker says Jana is extremely difficult it is not the path of the Kali Yuga and bhakti is the way why then do we study Jana in the Ramakrishna tradition why do we study gana or this path of non-dualism it's a good question some people have the question let me give you the direct answer first and then I'll explain the straight answer is what we teach in the not in the Ramakrishna order is the foundation is of non-dualism and the various expressions can be of many dualistic religious expressions like bhakti or karma or meditation is this new not at all if you go to the classical monasteries classical Advaita traditions the sring Gary monastery or the monastery of Puri these are established by Shankar Acharya what will you know what you will find there you will find an image all ritualistic worship everything is going on think about it is it contradictory it seems to be contradictory you're talking about non-dualism and yet dualistic worship is going on there was this great monk of our order jagadananda ji was a disciple of the holy mother he was regarded as an enlightened person Brahma Yan in his lifetime and I heard this story from I never met him but I had the story from a monk who had seen him he said one day in our ashram in Dehradun in the north of India where he used to live in his old age Swami jagadananda he was picking flowers for the daily worship in the shrine and a young novice brahmacari who is surprised Swami even now you are picking flowers why what's the problem you are a brand magani like the idea was you are an hour of brahman you are enlightened so something in the mind of the robot is in the mind of Ramachari if an enlightened person I guess will always be talking about Brahman and ohm and and would be reading the Manduca and the Amadou Taketa or something like a rush to occur that's an enlightened person and begin like me is going to pick flowers and arrange flowers in the shrine and worship in the shrine so why is this person who is an enlightened person going around picking flowers now all this is my explanation you know what was Swami Jonathan and his response when this young monk novice asked him Swami even now you are picking flowers for the daily worship and the Swami it seems had a wonderful sweetest smile he could imagine so he gives his trademark smile and he says softly then tell me what should I do very profound answer anything that you do in the world of mind this world of appearance is dualistic what will you do give lectures on Vedanta because you are enlightened now that's also dualistic notice something after enlightenment when or if you are a non duelist does a non do least eat yes yes of course but isn't eating do a list of course the food is separate from me that is food this is me I have to put it here let's do a list ik any action is dualistic because in the very structure of action there is a doer and an action to be done and instruments have action the occasion the context for action all these are separate so obviously there is dualism involved as I said earlier remember what I said add weight of Anantha says the reality is non duality the reality is non dual its expression is dualistic clearly we are having a dualistic experience now are we not adwaita vedanta would be foolish to deny that we are having a dualistic experience what a great of a ranter does is questions the reality of your experience you are having a dualistic dualistic experience if you inquire you will see the reality even now is one when you dream when the dream is it not dualistic I am there there are people there there are things happening there it's a very dualistic dualistic means multiple entities that there so there's a very dualistic experience in a dream is it not so there are people places activities and you are also there with our body in there in in this whole simulation of what we call a dream and yet in this multiplicity is it not true there is only one thing all the time the dreamers mind everything in your dream is your own mind with respect to your mind non-dual not - but in the dream definitely multiple things are going on underlying it reality is one dreamers mind similarly here one non-dual Brahman alone exists appears as many the Gita says a victim djibouti issue the victim you were just item undivided in all beings one reality appears to be divided you alone in your dream you divide yourself into a thousand people and interact with yourself true not true or not but even when you have divided yourself into a thousand in your dream how many are you your one experience duality reality is non dual similarly here there's only one duality and one non duality and which is experienced as a non dual now in this non dual appearance if you worship if you do spiritual practice they're also duality will be there therefore all the gods and forms of gods and goddesses the Hindu gods and goddesses which we worship in our temples in the ramakrishna order the understanding behind it is non duality in fact if you look at the month of Durga Puja of shin shiva rathri you will find always there's an element of non duality there Shankar Acharya who else is a greater non duelist than the Shankara Adi Shankaracharya how many beautiful hymns he has written to the divine mother to Shiva to Vishnu to Krishna to Rama to the Ganga if you read it it sounds like the greatest non dualist ever the greatest duelist ever the hymns written by dualistic vedantins and no less devotional are no more devotional than the hymns written by the great non-dualistic Shankar Acharya so it may it's difficult to grasp but it's it's actually not it's not dualism what we are doing it is actually at its philosophical heart non-dualism sri ramakrishna put it this way in Bengali or do it again actually by the Gita Tokoro imagery it means tie the knowledge of Advaita non duality to the hem of your cloth hem of your clot inside the idiom used in in India in earlier days especially the women they would tie the keys of the house to the hem of the sari the essential stuff everything is in the hand in the keys the keys you know - they're all the cupboards and the rooms and everything is tied to the hem of the sari here and then she goes about doing her work in the household in that way sri ramakrishna says tie the knowledge of advaitha to the hem of your class let it be a foundation Ambrym has me I and Brahman or one reality then he says then do whatever you please whatever you please means would you like to worship God in full glory of ritualistic worship unless you see a Durga Puja you don't know what ritualistic worship is five days of the most extreme ritualistic worship do it and you can with all honesty say Hamra mask me there is only one or do you want to engage in service to humanity feed the hungry treat the ill educate the illiterate do you want to do that we can do it all the time knowing all of these days I serve they are my beloved Lord in all these forms I am that one or one and the same or do you want to be immersed in meditation wash in inner some yogic meditation that also you can do but all the time have this knowledge a humdrum has me this is how we do work this is how every can do this what krishna taught arjuna go ahead and get engaged in the world and and work gita is so clear near tumkur ooh karmic l'm karma ji Ohia karmana continuously be engaged in action action is far superior to remaining inactive but on the basis of this non-dual real realization we always change before eating Brahma heart penumbra Mohave Brahm hog no brahmana who --them Brahm hey with a inner Ganta brahma karma Samana what is it a reference to the ancient Vedic er gear modern Hindus we do puja and picture or images there and we perform rituals and make offerings that's the puja but the ancient Hindus the earlier form of Hinduism had Vedic fire rituals and in that a fire was lit a sacred fire was lit there would be a ladle with which you would put offerings and pour it into the fire to the accompaniment of the chanting of Vedic mantras and by this ritual you get merit it was called a drishna and the technical term in mimamsa and whatever you wanted worldly or otherworldly it would be given so this was the idea in ancient times clearly there seems to be duality you are there the offerings are there the fire into which you're pouring is there and the ladle with which you are pouring they all seem to be different things this duality and what does gita say no brahma harpin um it's not a little it is Brahman Brahm MOG no it's not fire it is Brahman brahmana who thumb it's not the priest who is offering it it is brahman alone brahma Mohave the offering the the butter which is offered he it's not ghee it is brahman the one who sees brahman the non-dual reality in the midst of this duality that one becomes enlightened that's the meaning of this verse where do you see it not just in meditation in the midst of all action you see non duality it may sound strange but its effect is it difficult not really look at the ten thousand waves in the ocean how many see 10,000 I said look at the water how many do you see one as water it is one have all the waves disappeared not at all let as many waves be there as many waves you can count as many as you'd like and honestly in all honesty you can say it is one it's one body of water here in the ocean it's easy because we understand water we understand wave but here it's difficult because we understand human beings living beings non living beings millions of entities in this world but we don't understand Brahman that's why not understanding on recognizing Brahman samsara recognizing Brahman in the midst of all this diversity enlightenment yes you had your hand up long time come yes hello my name is dan dan I'm new here to Vedanta into the center and a few years ago I had a profound spiritual experience when I was at the lowest point of my life I had a doctor who poisoned me and caused brain damage and he since lost his medical license but I was going through severe severe depression and I escaped into a work of fiction and I promised the author I wouldn't reveal who he or she is but I had an incredible realization and I escaped from this world and went into this fictional world and so the characters felt real to me and he used a literary technique that blew my mind and so there are hundreds of characters in these stories but I found they're all one and at first I was rooting for my favorite heroes and for the good guys and then I saw divinity in the villain and it was all shows all a game there was all divine Lila and I felt extraordinary bliss an ocean of bliss like I've never experienced before and I'm trying to get them back in touch with that and to progress on my spiritual spiritual journey and I'm wondering if you have any advice for somebody starting out right we are not really starting out you are already there right and there was a very beautiful thing you said what you experienced in that technique in that literary world transfer it here that was the point of it the enormous diversity here remaining diverse underneath it is that one divine reality ultimately from that perspective the hero is not the hero the villain is not the villain I allow them appearing as I as that impersonal reality I'm appearing as the hero and the villain we have to play our parts you have to be the hero and you have to improve your better the villain in the story but remain always knowing underneath feeling that oneness with everybody so that prevents us that that checks hatred that checks fanaticism to know that the person who differs from you the person who's different the person who does not agree with you the person who is who seems to be so recalcitrant so obtuse so difficult is none other than you I I myself in that form you still have to deal with it life goes on as it is but if you have that feeling of oneness it's much easier you don't get so upset at all there's a there's an underlying calmness there's an underlying serenity and the knowledge that it's alright very good and thank thanks for sharing that you want to come and say something yes then we'll take up a couple of questions from the internet and then we'd stop in so I mean my name is Madhu madam this is related to the first question we got I'm now realizing so I found this one sentence in the bhrigu Valley which which goes say as giant Boucher's say yes Charles are Oddity as I say a kaha roughly translated he who is in the person and who's in the Sun is the same how so and how do we understand this all right so yes joy ambrosia yes Josue Aditya a kaha this is from tight teary open assured entity Rio conditioned a very very profound statement but you have to understand it it's a it's a very ancient kind of idiom thousands of years old imagine it this way there are many many grades of existence right I'll take some time with this question so we will not go into the Internet questions anymore but it's a very very good occasion to understand this now and it's ties in with the question of bliss ananda Upanishad says the old Vedic or Panasonic idea of happiness was that your happiness in this world if you see it depends on the objects of happiness the food and the drink and the company and all that gives you happiness and your own capacity you must be hungry and thirsty and healthy and all the senses might be active to enjoy that object fully and the environment must be proper it must be a good environment that's why the same cup tu take in the cart outside and the same cup of tea if you ask for it in Starbucks it costs much much more or if you ask for it in a nice restaurant it costs much more they're charging you for the environment it gives so three things sharira vishaya loca ha shalyah means of the body the the psychophysical system this is essential for your enjoyment unless this is working see your multi millionaire or a billionaire and you can buy all the things that you want but you're so sick that you're in them in the ICU in Mount Sinai now how happy will you be you can't be happy because the body is unable to enjoy anything so a healthy body a powerful body so anyway the point is this now this is the way we conceive enjoyment entitiy reopener sure it's there and there are many many grades of this many many grades of this they say the limit of enjoyment in this life in the human life in this conceive of the person of above the maximum possible human enjoyment and he gives paints an attractive picture the first thing the open assured says if I say it immediately there are boobs everywhere because first thing says what is the first condition for human happiness you a Scot you must be young and all the people over 50 when boo the first time I said but it's a fact that what what comes easily effortlessly when you are 21 you have to really work at it and manage it to get the same thing when you're 51 or 6121 effortless so anyway the young person imagines such a person is highly educated at the Ayaka multiple PhDs from Ivy League colleges and rich pretty BS here which I see upon Assad all the wealth in the world is at the disposal of this young and very healthy our sister established multiple words are used with voracious desire for enjoying the world healthy good-natured solution good-natured moral person not an evil person good nature with noble intentions extraordinarily rich the richest person in the world and highly educated and and and all of this together in one person imagine and he says that's the maximum possible human happiness okay and he says consider say a combination and considered that to be one unit of happiness no more is possible in this world but the Vedas promise you a hundred times ten to the power two hundred times the happiness of this person is possible in one of the lower cheap heavens budget heavens yes and then there are names there how do you go there well why is it so is it so much better than because the three components of happiness the body the Sharia the objects vishaya and the loka environment they are all much much better you get a much superior body in heaven compared to a human or biological body here Superman spider-man body is something like that higher body and there are superior objects of enjoyment available to the in fact that lowest grade of heaven is called karma can Darma Gandharvas are celestial musicians the way I I try to understand this is you have heard of musicians I think Beethoven or somebody who was deaf and yet could compose and actually hear the music the real music is inside it really does not require a physical organ like this highly trained musicians they can hear the music when they look at the score and they can hear it much better than what you do actually perform in the orchestra they hear it with X to ordinary perception with clarity and perception now imagine a life like that where all of that is enjoyed within yourself how how keen would be your enjoyment how super fine would be your enjoyment and that's the budget heaven not just music everything in life is like that you know it could taste it's heavenly nectar ambrosia or something whatever the top ten drinks there so all of that is possible but you have to go to this other world it's postmortem you can't have it in this body you have to perform this Vedic rituals there are this fire rituals and tears and they will give you enough credit so that you can join this budget cruise afterwards after death and of course the priests have a commission you have to pay me the Commission is not post-mortem we have to pay me right now but it was a system of belief like any religion so they had a live firmly believed in this that if I have enough good karma after death I go to one of these heavens and the lowest heaven is like that there are higher heavens 10 to the power to 100 times of that lower heaven 10 to the power to a hundred times of this it should in keeps on increasing step by step by step by step as you go to more and more glorious existences more and so more power more enjoyment a more glory and your happiness keeps on increasing but the point he makes there all the time is short to your car Maharaja at every step he says instead of going there performing these fire rituals and waiting for death and going to heaven afterwards and expecting that happiness later on if you want that kind of hundred times of the human happiness - right now you need to do two things you need to have that vedantic knowledge I am Brahman realize it actually and this passion for these worldly enjoyments a Kamata literally it means not injured or wounded destroyed by desire I don't want this limited way of enjoying the world I am going to experience the Bliss of Brahman as Brahman as this infinitude you will get that same happiness which the one in the heavens they get right here and as you go to higher and higher heavens 10 to the power 2 10 to the power 4 10 to the power 6 happiness of what the maximum human happiness that's promised all of that you can get here the more your dispassion is if you have dis passion for those worldly and other worldly enjoyments and you are you are centered in your knowledge or realization of brahman you will get that bliss here basically what he's trying to say is the highest possible worldly or otherworldly enjoyment in equivalent joy and peace and serenity is available to you if you are spiritual if your spiritual now coming back to your question how far does this go good cruises super cruises super super cruises SuperDuper cruises and what's the maximum possible conception of happiness they have got in the Vedas they say the highest possible he says brahmana loca that means the world of hearing Nagappa that's the maximum this is seventh heaven maximum glory the maximum power that's called the cosmic mind if one can actually reach that with enough of good karma how much is that happiness if you compare it to this the world maximum worldly happiness I calculated the maximum will remember what we are comparing it with the maximum worldly happens when I talk about this a lot of people have smiles on their face just imagining it the maximum worldly happiness is this richest person young person highly educated good person the tremendous amount of wealth that happiness that's one and this world of here in nagar bar brahma ha not brahman but brahma ha the highest heaven how much happiness compared to that 10 to the power 20 if you put 1 followed by 2003 until e'en zillion times of that happiness don't try to think about it you will get a stroke I had read a science fiction story many many years ago when I was a kid a very interesting science fiction story says that the more bigger number that you think about the more it blows your mind you know billion oh that's so huge a trillion that's really really huge a cent iliyan and now there are even bigger numbers there is a there is a googolplex there is there is what what's the name of that number googolplex if you see the Guinness Book of World Records one followed by a hundred zeros 1 followed by a hundred zeros 1 4000 0 0 on so the science fiction story was they invented a number which if you see it it will stun you so much that you will die immediately so all you have to do to commit suicide is look at that number and you'll die we will get such a shock it's so big so this happiness is so much if you don't try to think about it because he'll get a strobe immediately if you think about it that is the happiness he says now this here anya garbha the point is this this Hiranya garbha in in in the ancient Vedas is identified with oddity of the Sun the Sun stands for the tyranny Agartha so the not Sun by Sun it does not mean the ball of nuclear fusion going on the hydrogen being converted into nuclear fusion and it's just the body of Iran Yukawa that's that this is your body and this is my there's a consciousness which calls the Sun its own body that's what's the conception and so that is here in Agartha this is the human being now what that line says yes I am pure shea that glory and Happiness which is there in one human being and that 10 to the power 20 which is there in that incredible being the most glorious being in this universe hidden eager for the cosmic mind both are the same what does it mean 1 is equal to 10 to the power 20 how that is 10 to the power 20 this is 1 what it is pointing towards is both are manifestations of one sat-chit-ananda which you are if you realize that it's just like my face being reflected in a distorted little dirty mirror and the same face being reflected in the finest platinum mirror what a beautiful reflection and what a miserable little reflection that's the human happiness that is the great happiness of bra of Ananda Garber Aditya both are saying I am this so when you realize how Ambrym has me this entire range of happiness is open to you that's the meaning literally it means that which is within this miserable human creature deities in this glorious Hiranya garbha so you may imagine the old with a Vedic worship that was the range of their religion this range what Vedanta does is the whole range is appearance Maya appearance of what the one reality which you already I say a kaha it is one [Music]