Video 25

Ask Swami with Swami Sarvapriyananda | March 17th, 2019

[Music] we had a lot of questions on the back of our geeta swami and so we have three here today the first one is from root of mesh n in your fifth lecture on the gita you were talking about some people having past life memories when a human being dies his or her body and mind are left behind but how can one remember his or her past lives if he or she has a completely new body and mind and if Brahman is nish Kriya what is it that carries those memories so there's a question from Prato mesh it's easily answered did you note the question the question is when your person dies so the body and mind are they're dead they're gone so when we say somebody's reborn multiple lives what carries over the individuality memories and things like that maybe tendencies or wassanasong impressions but the answer is in the question itself have you noticed it's only some of you are nodding it's not that the mind eyes the Vedantic idea of the human personality of our our personality is trichotomous body here the physical body but you can see and touch this one and then what's called the subtle body suksham sharir a-- when you look in it there's nothing mysterious about it when you look inwards you see you feel thoughts emotions ideas memories desires a person a personality that's the subtle body in Vedanta there is a classification there are 19 parts of the subtle body and so on that doesn't need not concern us now but the point here is that subtle body does not die when the physical body dies that's the understanding in Vedanta in fact in a general sense that's the understanding in every religion the idea of an afterlife is common to every religion tell me one religion where it's not not there you cannot have a religion without afterlife so this subtle body it continues after the death of the physical body if you ask me what is the proof I will ask you what is the proof that it does not continue notice what is death clearly death is the death of the physical body but when you mean a person living person yourself or the person sitting next to you what you clearly mean is that body and what's going on in that body the person in that body look at the trap we fall into and the person dies we say is gone but only the body is dead how do you know that the person inside that that subtle being inside is dead how do you know no really how do you know you just see the death of the physical body no he's not talking obviously not talking the body is dead how can the person talk many experiences which showed to us that the subtle body and the physical body are not exactly the same one person told me about I've heard of this remaining conscious under anesthesia general anesthesia remaining conscious I met a person actually who has had that experience and she was saying that in an operation she was being operated upon and he stood completely aware not a nice thing terrifying thing but she could not talk she could not move her hands medical science has the cards but I the first time I met somebody who has had that experience which means when the physical body is immobilized you can still have a fully functional internal person and you don't have to go to such a auric examples just our example of dreaming where we have a rich internal life a dream life without any reference to our physical body the physical body is asleep on your bed and nice safe and sound and maybe we are running for your life from a lion on the Serengeti or something so you're seeing the the you can see are seeing the grasslands and the lion chasing you and you're running for your life everything is there and yet there is no idea of the your own physical body which is sleeping on the bed so at least in principle in our own inner experience we can experience our own life going on without any reference to this physical body so anyway the idea is that the subtle body goes on after death and that goes on to other worlds guided by its own karma comes back to this world in and with a new body and a new life so that subtle body continues with the memories and specially the samskaras the tendencies memories the Yogi's say the memories are there but memories are not easily accessible even in this life memories of ourselves as babies not accessible to us not so easily accessible so but tendencies aren't there so those continue from life to life and they are carried by the subtle body as prosimians Brahman is nish Kriya inactive inactive in the sense of being the witness consciousness just as we saw just now and that vast space of a luminous space of awareness in which all the sensations of this person it arises and disappears and that unchanging awareness in that awareness the subtle body and the physical body they come and go they manifest they act so this is how it happens the crucial point for pulse image to understand is a debt only the physical body dies the subtle body which is Atman plus the mind and other things sulwon that is Atman plus the subtle body Jeeva Atma that continues Atman or Brahman in itself does not come or go anywhere it just is and what goes and comes is the subtle body physical body moves around here you're coming from a home to belong to society the subtle body moves with the physical body and after the physical body is gone it moves on to other planes of existence so this is the general idea the next question the next question is from promo ah see in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says verse 15 7 the living entities in this conditioned world on my eternal fragmental parts due to conditioned life they are struggling very hard with the six senses which include the mind it makes sense to know that as a soul I have an individual existence and therefore my liberation or removal of ignorance has to be worked out individually and when the subtle body which covers the soul that I am is done with then I'll exist as pure light or Brahma however according to Advaita we are all one Brahma so how is it that this one is covered with millions and zillions of subtle and gross bodies and how is that removal of ignorance to be worked out separately for each from whom does the ignorance need to be lifted from Brahman but the Brahman is one why does each mind-body mechanism have to work separately to remove ignorance from that which is one in us all oh very big questions I remember when I was a young monk I visited one of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism I was wondering in not India so in a place called Dehradun on the road to what's the hill station Mussoorie on the road to Missouri there is a big debate in - monestery so I visited that and I had this question about the relationship between Advaita Vedanta and Tibetan Buddhism so the head of that ministry who was the head of a particular sect of Tibetan Buddhists called the sake Appa yes so I met him a long queue of people all taking his blessings he's like the guru for thousands of people so I was in the queue as a sort of honored visitor I told him which lineage I come from that I'm a Hindu monk and so on so I had this question what is the relationship similarities and dissimilarities between Tibetan Buddhism in Advaita Vedanta he knew what I was asking so he was a very gracious and why is my huge enormous leap powerfully built sitting and he looked down at me and he bet this huge grin and he said big question no time [Laughter] so I burst out laughing and I he bowed down to me say thank you her decelerator will some other time maybe yes big question I'll try to answer in brief the real sting is in the tale the real question if you know the Advaita polemics where is a gana or a Vidya ignorance where is it is it in Brahman or is it in us the Jiva so that's the last one but before that the other earlier part of it are we one or many that's what she's asking Gita seems to say that we are many the Lord says these G words are fractions of my being so from that you know the vashisht advaitha philosophy can take off very well that we are all parts of the Lord so are we one or many obviously as bodies we are many just count head count bodies we had many as subtle bodies the thoughts feelings ideas persons inside many or one many it's trying to look at my face what is the correct answer now just use common sense don't you feel that you are different from the person next to you of course your life story is different your ideas thoughts likes dislikes they're all different so you are different as bodies we are different as the subtle body also we are different we are different subtle bodies different physical bodies clearly so but as the Atman as pure consciousness that's supposed to be the correct answer that's why you're telling me that what which we are trying to meditate upon the vast limitless sky of consciousness in which all sensations arise and fall even the word limitless if it is limitless Satyam Yanam anantam brahma pure being pure awareness and infinite if it is infinite if it is limitless can there be more than one you see what I'm asking if the bodies are different then there is limit my body ends here and your begins there they say that my freedom ends where my nose ends and your nose missions sir yes there's a limit these bodies are limited in space I occupy this chair and not that chair in time there's a time when I was but this body was born and there's a time when this body will die we are limited in time we are limited in space and we are limited as object that means each body is different from each other so the limitation is there as Minds also we are limited our my thoughts your thoughts are different they limit each other this is not that what do I mean by limit this is this and not that so there are two things so it's limited but that one consciousness without distinction without distinction without limit if you say infinite how many infinite sand how many limitless things can there be only one logically speaking even if you want to understand it phenomenologically phenomenologically means how it feels front to you clearly the body feels different it feels to us right now our bodies feel different you can see minds also feel different my mind is I can't sense your mind but you can sort of estimate the way we estimate which which we infer about other people's minds and clearly we feel they're different people so the minds are also different but now think if I am just the witness consciousness without any characteristic characteristic means distinguishing characteristic in Sanskrit vish Asia vitiation means that which distinguishes one from the other if there are no distinguishing characteristics how will you say my infinite consciousness is different from we are infinite consciousness there's no my and your they're mine and your comes only with the mind so from the Atman point of view the infinite consciousness Atman or drum and same thing it's one it's one then if I am the Atman or Brahman how is it many it's just imagined this the one sun shining there reflected in multiple pots and buckets of water dew drops you will see millions of reflections and they are all shining like the real Sun so how many sons are there into one real one and many reflected ones so there's only one real son but this consciousness reflected in the mind just now when we look at our minds we feel conscious we feel aware that's the reflected consciousness G De Aza that's not the real Atman not not the real self that reflected consciousness is as many Minds so many reflected consciousnesses and so many jiva's individual beings so at the level of body we are different at the level of the mind we are different and the consciousness in the mind reflected consciousness in the mind we are different but that all that is possible because of one limitless consciousness which appears in so many forms you sit surrounded by mirrors in a barber shop how many of you are there thousands with each mirror reflects the others so there is endless sequence of your faces there only one real face and many many as many mirrors so many faces but those are reflections really one apparently many and those many can be different convex mirror concave mirror different types of mirror you'll find funny shapes but those are only because of the mirror your face is not like that similarly we all seem to be different beings and at that level we are different beings at the physical level we are different beings but inside as you go deeper body mind witness consciousness you come to a oneness so that's the answer to the first question the second one is actually much more difficult here I don't know if she has written her name is Pramila I don't know if she has written consciously or deliberately but she has touched upon a very deep point of non-dualistic but what is called dialectics dialectics means debates with the duelists so one great question is where is ignorant or maya in sanskrit our shreya well what is the locus where is ignorant so why should that be a problem you see vedanta says brahman alone is real because of ignorance of our real nature we seem to be individualized we seem to be separate now if this if ignorance is in us then how did we come to exist because before our individualized existence ignorant must be there after ignorance only we the brahman appears as individualized to g-value with meats matter of logic so ignorant must logically precede my own existence existence as a Jeeva but then that means Brahman is in ignorance ignorance must be implement but that sounds very strange so if you say ignorance is in Jeeva that there's a fault is mutual dependence on Nyonya sure that means the a very separate existence of the Jeeva depends on ignorant and ignorance depends on the in the Jeeva is in the Jeeva so how can the two they are mutually dependent can't work but if you say ignorance is in Brahman another problem how can ignorant be in the absolute reality it's like saying just darkness in the Sun there's no darkness in the Sun there's a darkness is there because the clouds obstruct our vision so this question is a long and deep and involved question there are two schools of Vedanta one school the one which we follow generally is called the river and a school coming from one of the disciples of Shankar Acharya Padma Padma Acharya so that school technically its position is that ignorance is in Brahman Brahman has ignorance no that does not a problem what is the answer because ignorance does not have the same status as Brahman that means Brahman is existence itself ignorant is not a second thing which appear which is apart from Brahman it is basically the power of Brahman by which Brahman is occluded or hidden and projected as this universe see what would be the problem if ignorant or Maya is a sec and Bremen is another thing so there will be to the non-duality is violated then but here we are saying Maya is not a second reality apart from Ramon it's we can call it the power of Bremen or whatever that's one school the other school is watches petty Mishra what is called a Mohammed II school and they say that ignorant is in us in the in the G but not in Bremen how do you know that who feels ignorant right now I do not know Bremen I the G was obviously ignorant sees in you where is the question of ignorance being in Bremen I do not know my real nature so ignorant sees in me then what about what about the problem of mutual interdependence since it's like the chicken and egg problem and this is B jankura wat like the seed and the sprout which comes first so it's not that they are coterminous and logically contradict each other but ignorant produces the Jeeva but the Jeeva also perpetuates ignorant and it's a beginningless series and so that's how very varied he leaves it the answer is that this there is no solution to this question what the sadhu say in the Himalayas is don't try to prove Maya don't try to prove against it the Mataji again coca tea don't try to establish ignorance if you investigate ignorant you overcome ignorance by knowledge what happens then when you realize your nature experiment when you are enlightened this question doesn't exist anymore as one Swami put it beautifully on this side of enlightenment on our side of enlightenment there is the question no answer on their side of enlightenment there is the answer but no question and the third question is from pH G he's from the Netherlands there are two verses where I am having some difficulty 7:15 and 7/16 in 7:15 a few categories are mentioned one of them the ignorant will not find God I find this not really fair as some of these people are not bad people but they cannot help that life did not show them the way in 760 in a similar verse but about the good people here I got totally confused that a group of people were here mentioned who desired money and material wealth why would the desire for money be something good please clarify okay I know what you're referring to it's in seventh chapter but the difference between good people and what is called bad means in the the word used is a Sri demonic the difference is this not that someone wants money and somebody signals differences they're the one who has faith in God and the other one who does not so the the first verse refers to says my ayah a parrot iguana a surah Imbaba Maupin now whose knowledge or faith is deluded by maya and full of demonic attributes what kind of person is that the kind of person who feels this world alone is real there's nothing as a religion all that is is just nonsense spirituality is nonsense this physical world is real it's just matter matter energy time space that's what it is and nothing there's nothing more than that this year so a complete reductionist kind of worldview and the material goals in the life are what are worth pursuing and that's it what about God heaven spirituality and light and men Brahman liberation whatever all that is nonsense so that's the kind of person he's referring to so the person completely involved in samsara and there is him sees nothing beyond that has no faith let alone knowledge has no faith even the possibility of something beyond that compared to that the next verse talks about those who have some faith in in God in spirituality just the beginnings the glimmerings and says such people the good ones they are the ones and he gives four categories that's where the confusion lies he gives four categories of these good what are the four categories shatrova da bhajante mam is four kinds of people have people have faith in me faith in me God and worship me what are the four kinds Arthur G gasps who at RT Ganesha artha means those who are in distress just because in distress they are in distress doesn't mean that they're necessarily good people he says they are good or they have a spiritual possibility because they have faith in God in distress they turn to God they have distress illness some problem but some near and dear person is in trouble or illness or something and they are helpless and they pray to the Lord they have deep faith that God exists and if I pray God will help me this is what Krishna is pointing out Shri Krishna's pointing out to Arjuna they are fortunate he says so Kristina that fortune have good karma because for some reason there is a reason the reason is they have got a lot of good karma in the past for that reason a faith has developed in them that there is some reality beyond this world there is some some faith in God and there are so many such people so many such people temples and churches and mosques are full of such people those who pray to God for help in their misery is the second category again good people and that means those who have faith what what's the second category no distress no problem as such but I want something more of somebody wants well that's what he's referring to they want the one who wants money is a good person no it's not because the person wants money it's because the person wants something and turns to God in faith for it that's what Krishna is pointing out bhajan Tama yeah it turns to God I I need this Lord bless me with it it could be money or success or whatever they want in the world but they're turning to God for it and of course putting forth whatever effort the so there's faith now these two categories are world leaders no doubt as he's saying that's why he's confused he's think there's not particularly good what's so great about wanting money true nothing particularly great whether they want money or they want relief from it is worldly it's a worldly desire but to fulfill their worldly desires they're trying to get hold of God higher than this is the third category who has no problems no distress who is not even asking for anything in this world but has a quest Jigyasa does God exist nor endure or not rushes around and goes to Sri Ramakrishna and says have you seen God does God exist Who am I what is the reality in evident oh you can approach in both ways if you are devotional you are in the god category and if you are philosophically philosophical bent of mind the Who am I or what am i category whatever inquire into the self or enquiry about God both are brahma jijnasa so that's Gigi ah so that's the higher category spiritual seeker most of us here are most of us here we are here because we have a spiritual quest and the last category krishna says among the good people the ganesha the enlightened a person who's already enlightened that person is the true devotee of God so he says these four worship me they have faith in me the one in distress the one who wants something the one who wants to have enlightenment and the one enlightened one then lightin want he then critten in next verse krishna says the enlightened one is the dearest to me for he knows me in truth then for others I am an article of faith and for the earlier category the so-called demonic category I'm not even there's no question of faith also now the question is it's unfair it's not unfair because if you look at the the Hindu worldview not just Hindu Hindu Buddhist Indian worldview Hindu Buddhist giant Sikh worldview there are multiple births any number of chances so if a person has no faith in God this is unfair because the life had not revealed to him doesn't matter wait life will reveal time will come in this life next life it will come as experience after experience pile song we are all ancient Souls you just have to look into of a newborn baby to see realize it's a very ancient creature so experience of after experience with shapes or it's it's like the school of life and we will come to spiritual life everybody will come to spiritual life that's why Vedanta is not missionary Vedanta is very very patient very laid-back they Lantos approaches take your time I often say Vedanta is like finishing school for spirituality last stop spirituality yeah take your time explore so I'm moving on the sense take it I'm only half seriously because it's better not to take your time if you really ask me many lives and enormous amounts of suffering who would want to go through that if you are sensitive enough if you're really sensitive then you realize the nature of this world why would you want to repeat it again and again that first person is demonic because for that person this world is great and this is what what what that person wants so let the person go on Vedanta is relaxed enough to wait maybe at the end of this life maybe other lives the person will come back we go through so many and we have all been like that so there's no need to think that that person is especially unlucky or lost we have all been like that and now we are here and we will go on from the audience here raise your hands so there's a please come you have to come and ask the question here please tell us your name please tell us your name and ask the question good morning Swamiji my name is Fabian Reyes and I have an ontological question the concept of Vidya Maya has put forth by Sri Ramakrishna would it have two explanatory power to define or characterize say the different modes of relating to God that the srimad-bhagavatam expresses what all those become under the category of faith yamaja alright the question is Vidya Maya Sri Ramakrishna talks about Maya what is Maya we can look at it from the function of what it does basically in Vedanta two things our Arabic shaper Averno means it hides the reality where does it hide the reality within us and outside us I am Brahman but I don't see myself as that I see myself as body mind so very interestingly it's not that I do not experience param and we are all experiencing within coats it cannot be experienced as an object but we are all experiencing Brahman you know you know how it's like when I say look at the altar you see yes let me say look at the wood this one you see yeah I can see the wood it's the same thing because we know the difference between the wood and the altar the altar is a name and a farm and a particular use we are put to this wood are you with me so far so it's not that there are two things here and when we look at the altar we are looking at both together I mean it's the wood width of a name and farm and function of the altar because we know the difference when you say altar you mean this shape and this function and this name altar and when you say what do you mean the material out of the reality the material out of which it is made now when we say I am body mind it's not that just the enlightened person will say you are experiencing Brahman right here with the name and form of body mind but you cannot see the difference literally you cannot see you cannot understand you don't appreciate the difference the Wrigley Chevy Baker says because of Maya the internally within us we do not appreciate the difference between say for example mind and consciousness we see thoughts conscious thoughts but the truth the difference is not seen just as you understand the difference between altar and wood the difference between thought and consciousness is not understood and externally Brahmas Arguello the creation in universe and brahman as pure being it appears together to us and we don't see the difference so the difference is obscured by Maya so that's one function of Maya it obscures our and our literally means veiling and wick shape projection it projects Brahman as this universe and as this individual being but that's not all it's this is called a video Maya and it is experienced in life as anger and greed and jealousy and all the negativities which is down deeper and deeper into samsara but the divine qualities self-control truth integrity love and the higher spiritual practices powers this is what is referring to so what are these higher spiritual attitudes when you regard God as parent father or mother sri ramakrishna loved God as mother as Kali or father when you love God as friend like Arjuna love goddess friend Sokka when you love God as your own child what's alia Baba like the baby Krishna Gopala or the baby Rama Ram Lala like that all you love God as the attitude of the beloved Muhammad or a Baba is the gopis and Krishna are the peaceful the Gianni's enlightened person the big on ease attitude towards God Shanta Baba the peaceful attitude something of which we did in the meditation today that's the peaceful a teacher what he's asking is these are also within Maya isn't it we are we are in this samsara we are practicing these things yes so sri ramakrishna calls all of these as vidya maya you are right these are modes of relating to God in Vedanta in the bhakti path in the bhakti path we have this principle Devine eyes our relationship to human beings and human eyes your relationship to God very beautiful principle what are all of them they are none other than my beloved Krishna in all of these forms sub Gopal and all are Gopala to me and what is Gopala to what is God God is my child Gopala little baby God is my mother and a colleague so you have a mother child these are human relationships but you are applying them to God and one existence consciousness bliss in all beings that's a divine thing but you are applying it to human beings this is called with dia Maya with they're still Maya it's still within Maya but it what are the difference of India Maya the Maya of ignorance the negativities they trap us further in samsara and this Vidya Maya is the one to be cultivated because it helps us to go out of samsara to be liberated to be enlightened so Maya is not bad Maya gets bad press what's it called bad rep bad press Maya does both things it's a very ancient sang-hyun conception prakruti and purusa so Prakrit in nature does two things for purusa fiducial is the conscious being each of us is pollution so prakruti material nature does provides two services to you one is Baga one is a per worker bhaga means experience experience often is translated as enjoyment but enjoyment is not quite right because pleasure and pain are both Baga so material nature provides us that why would we want we want pleasure but why would you want pain in the nature of experience to learn in life all of these are necessary so these things keep coming as long as we want samsara Prakrit evil or nature will provide these two for us pleasure and pain happiness and misery and this is some sorry it will continue when we awaken to spiritual life when we want something more we will become a seeker then prakruti will provide us a way out so it's apavarga is a very ancient Indian name for moksha moksha means freedom but up our guy is the name for a very philosophical ancient name it's used by the sanctions it's used by the naiyayikas it's a very old name out of fashion nowadays so that same prakruti which provides bog and up our experience and freedom in Vedanta that Prakriti becomes Maya so Maya provides us with samsara and liberation moksha for samsara Maya becomes a bit dia Maya for liberation Maya becomes with dia Maya very good thank you yes very quick so in terms of liberation if you're relating with God in such deep levels is are you a liberated soul oh you're gonna have to come back to finish and go past even that if you're relating to God with these in a very yes and very personal deep ways in these ways as a child or as a friend or lover whatever it depends on whether it's a practice or it's a fact by this practice one reaches this is a sadhana spiritual practice and there's a fulfillment of that sadhana when it becomes a living fact the monk who came to sri ramakrishna induction ash were he worshipped the child Rama in a little image of RAM Lala but the monk could see the child Rama he would walk around climb on his shoulders nobody else saw anything else but he would climb on his shoulders and he would play with that monk and then when he came to duction issuer the child Rama and so that that was the fulfillment of his lifelong worship of of that little image because now that person he sees God in that form it's the same such as Anand it's a beautiful spiritual technology if I may say so the same searched on and the impersonal exists since consciousness bliss which we are talking about but we are singing there Satyam yharnam anthem Brahma infinite being consciousness but there infinite being consciousness in a name and form that name and form you might say is cultural because he's a Hindu because he is a worshipper of Rama Rama at Sado so he sees that true no problem there it's a lens through which he sees you need a name and form to see it so that name and farm is the Deaf Naumann form of the baby Rama and so now is that person is that person realised or will you have to come back no he's realized a strict non dualist might insist no no no one more step hamamass me i and that baby that Ramla love I am that are one and the same Sri Ramakrishna is much more liberal if he says if you have touched the reality in some way or the other you are liberated if you have touched it in devotion you are liberated you know the reality you know the reality then any non duelist who has memorized dozens of texts and argued and debated with many people but has not actually experienced Ambrym as me as we wake under said an ounce of practice is worth 20 tons of tall talk so yes if that's a vibrant living reality its and once one is well along the path one need not worry about liberation moksha Jeevan Mukti liberated by living be there Mukti liberated after death don't worry you're already on the path there is no backing out for you it will come in its own time that's secondary enjoy the journey one beautiful thing I learned from Swami's Maron Ananda ji who is our president president of our order in India he said many years ago he said not only the end is bliss but the means must be blessed too when you're doing sadhana talking about God reading about God whether it's in a philosophical non-dualistic way or in a devotional dualistic way it should be full of joy be very happy because you are blessed thank you for the question you very much yes so these are several questions on a category we're calling practical Vedanta so the first question is from pratik D I internalize the problems of my family members feel responsible for their happiness and become depressed how can I apply the danza philosophy to be happy in family life first of all one's own problems you're now appropriating other people's problems in becoming depressed no that's good because a sensitive person is is bound to be like that if one is not feeling the problems of others and it's a brute but one must be both practical and sensitive practical and sensitive a pastoring a church said to me that in every church when a community we have people who are so heavenly that they are no practical good the minds are always always everything to them no practical good and one monk said to me you know what is practical Vedanta I said what if you ask among to do something practical he'll give you a talk on Vedanta that's practical business so now one must not be like that not all theory and no practice but the opposite we make and this is too much practicality makes brutes of us so if you are sensitive to the sufferings of others very good very good now one must also be centered in one spiritual nature how do you overcome your own personal suffering a spiritual attitude is necessary a karma yogi I my life is service I love to be of use to others can I remove the sufferings of others so when my own sufferings come physical problem somebody behave badly with me I've got financial problem whatever these are very minor to me because I'm so engaged in trying to help other people I see the suffering I identify with with others don't you see when you have a lot of responsibilities and a lot of people are depending upon you in that case your own sufferings become secondary when you are all alone I've seen sometimes monks in in the caves how narrow and selfish they become because there's nothing else to do the whole mind comes upon this body my little problem that becomes the whole world to them so it's the Karma Yoga is attitude is I am here to help what can I do for you and that becomes a paramount one Swami I really like this I never met him I heard it from another senior Swami in our Hospital in Banaras this Swami many decades ago he said to the younger monks I don't know what is this these problems you're bringing to me anger and lust and greed and struggles in monastic life I don't know when I became a monk when I was your age and joined the order in this hospital from morning till night dear patients they were in pain their suffering and I have to go and help them so I will rush to iron out my brothers we would young young novices we would rush to the hospital and work throughout tirelessly throughout the day and in the evening come in afternoon we would come for food sometimes we would miss food and we would be late and just our a plate of cold food would be left and everybody is eaten and gone we would just finished gulp it down rush back to the hospital and then in the evening we would probably miss evening prayers but it would come late in the night and if then his food is left and take that and moment I hit the bed I'm out like a light so exhausted from that and the next day and the next day and such in this way 40 years of my life went by I never felt what you're talking about anger and lust and greed you see what a blessed life that is to be free of one's little petty problems let it go if you are a bhakta this is a karma yogi as a bhakta my love of God is all-consuming not my little problems God is not there for me to trot out my Christmas list of wishing Dino give me this give me that give me that No this matter for a bhakta the only problem is if I forget God and the only achievement is if I can remember and stay with God kunti prayers at the end of the great war of Mahabharata couldn t praise to Shri Krishna and all I want is life after life if I have to be born again life after life gave me sorrows my lord so that I may never forget you or a serious prayer that is who prays for sorrow especially who prays to suffer sort of to God who can grant it but I remember D and for the gyani I am such a Don and I am that infinite sky of consciousness in which these things good things and bad things so called troubles and so-called pleasures they arise shine and disappear like clouds floating past in the vast blue sky the sky is unconcerned and unaffected neither to excite excited by the nice things which happen nor to disturbed by the little problems which come and go because they will go anything that comes and goes has no relation to the eternal you are the eternal therefore anything in the world has no relation to you this body has no relation to you not only are you not the body you are this body is also not yours I mean it I am NOT the body but this body is mine is something most of us can come to but body is not even mine how is this body yours who gave it to me show me the papers if a cop pulls you up and says show me the papers to the body no I don't have any papers who gave it to you did you make it no even our parents didn't make it nature makes it correctly thing do you own the materials the sky and the fire and the earth and the water is in the air out of which the body is made or the 150 is 70 80 odd elements in the periodic table do you own them no if you own the materials you can say this is made of the materials I provided no didn't you don't own the materials do you control it does it obey you not at all most of the processes in the body we have absolutely no idea and the few things which we have an idea of which we think we have involuntary control we have absolutely no idea how we are in voluntary control of that digestion the hormonal secret secretions the neuronal activity in the brains the kidneys the liver is a miracle how they are working the heart heart pumping away throughout our living world as life goes on lungs we don't have the slightest bit of control over them they don't obey us at all and thank God if suddenly nature handed over all okay I you are it nine-one-one immediately what happened he tried to run his own body it collapse in two minutes the bird body does not obey us not at all and one day it will go even though things which we say consciously we are doing breathing in here and we didn't you give us a breathing exercise breathing in yes but how did I do it I have no idea a thought came in my mind I'm going to breathe in and miraculously to happened think about it it happened miraculously no I did it no you didn't notice a little stroke a little perilous is this when it shows to us we have really no idea how I was lifting this and now I can't so none of these let alone involuntary functions voluntary functions of this body also mind endless random flow of thoughts and ideas and feelings where they are coming up from these drives and desires where they are bubbling up from and taking charge of my life depressive thoughts making me thoroughly miserable I read an article memoirs of madness I forget the name very well-known writer oh he wrote the book Sophie's Choice William Turner what's his thing start Styron Williams Tyrus Styron william Styron if you read and memorize of madness you can understand why he wrote a book like service choice the depth of darkness within him and she writes one that I went to commit so he said was I was luckily saved and later on they put me on some psychiatric meditate on my medication after that I felt why did I try to kill myself there's nothing wrong at all so where did those of depressive thoughts come up hijack my whole thinking process and drive me towards death no control there either it has nothing to do with you it's a projection of call it Maya God whatever this drama of life is being played on the stage of consciousness which you are from that point of view if you take that point of view where are the problems of the world let them come and go they're nothing to you one thing I'll tell you one thing nothing can kill you from now on check year after year decade after decade lifetime after lifetime check the Swami was right I'm still there I'm old and sick but I'm still there I'm dead but I'm still there Here I am a new baby I'm still there the Swami was right nothing can kill me nothing can kill us nothing can touch our essential nature bodies can be damaged minds can be made unhappy so our personal problems do not touch us that way stay in that nature you will see the problems of others also will not make you depressed rather you will be able to help you don't have to be depressed you should not be depressed in order to help others if a doctor gets overwhelmed by the pain of the patients how can the doctor help others you can help others because when you know the truth that there is something within us which is untouched by suffering identify with that stay there from there that position you can help who are the ones who can grab most help humanity it is the spiritually enlightened when the Buddha's set out to find solutions to sufferings the solution he found he found a solution but was that solution what was the solution what is the new kind of medicine no was it a new TV show entertainment no was it a new political system no it was a spiritual solution because at root our sufferings are spiritual suffering nothing else the next one is from Sharon Kay how can one be consciously aware of desires being formed in the mind and prevent new desires either consciously or subconsciously from being formed and can desires be destroyed in their seed state yes this is a very yogic question it can be done but let me before I go into that let me just say that to notice the formation of desires the arising of desires and the subsiding of desires and the transformation of desires from negative to positive in the mind through meditation requires skill deep meditation not easily available preliminary to that and an easier way of that but not as glamorous as sitting quietly and I'm meditating and transforming myself but but more powerful is the path of karma yoga when actually with this body with this speech I'm interacting with this world and other people instead of trying primarily to fulfill my desires what are my desires I want to bring all the wealth and happiness and pleasures of the world for this one body mind that is selfishness and even if I do I will never be happy that is selfishness rather let me try to fulfill the needs of others let me try to assuage their their grief the golden rule which is there you know every religion that you treat others as you would have them treat you that others suffer the way I suffered others also suffer the way I am pleased by nice things others are also pleased so let we try to remove their sufferings and let me try to give them happiness that is actually a much more powerful way of controlling one's desires and transforming them and an easier way a monk told me a senior monk once told me when I was a novice he said we are ordinary people there are great spiritual Yogi's that they are Yogi's masters of meditation who can actually make the transformation at the level of the mind in deep meditation but that's not so easy for us for most of us he said for most of us we require external struggle we need to do something in the world to change ourselves that's why work is there that's why in fact samsara is there all the desires which drive us to have to get money and success and and compete in the world and get relationships and children and all of that samsara the whole thing that's also spiritual because it slowly leads to transformation if you do it consciously this called Karma Yoga so we need that monk told me we need most of us we are ordinary people we need external struggle we need to wrestle with the world if you do it unselfishly as service the transformation of desires is much faster it's good now but the question was about meditation yes it can be done it works in this way in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali which is perhaps one of the old the oldest manual of meditation that we find in a commentary written on the yoga sutras by Vyasa there is a very beautiful he quotes a much more ancient text Vyasa quotes what he says is this even written T samskaara chakram a harness on our tamaño the cycle of rid T's and samskaras rotates the wheel of reticence of skyress rotates day and night what does it mean notice our thoughts if you notice carefully if you introspect you will see we are not really thinking them they bubble up from inside somewhere and then we put them into action are you with me you see if you'll notice carefully simple thing like I will raise my hand so I raise my hand so did you not think it did you not do it no before I did it I thought it but before I thought it if I look carefully the decision I will raise or not raise somehow it is a subtle impulse coming up from unknown depths like a little bubble coming up from deep inside the lake when it comes to the surface it becomes noticeable and becomes an impulse raise your hand but it I did not actually think it it came and it sort of took position you will see that's how its functioning it is bubbling them from inside and then it takes possession of us then you make it a conscious thought then you say something and do something mind speech action Khaimah Novica chi minh's body mono means mind vacuum in speech so before anything that thought bubbles up becomes a conscious thought transformed into speech and I say something and I do something now here is the thing so what does man what can meditation to these thoughts which are bubbling up from inside they are from our tendencies ferrati but why have I do particular thoughts come up particular desires a particular patterns of thinking maybe some people say I get very depressed so patterns of thinking why the reason is that we have some scar as tendencies inherited from our past years and past lives conditioning is there and that comes so that's what bubbles up and often it is called forth by external circumstances now as it bubbles up there is a window of opportunity where the tendency as it comes to the surface and before it becomes an expressed thought at the surface of the mind for that there is a point where you can assent to it you can say yes or you can say no that window is very very small and we miss it all the time we are we mostly function on default whatever is bubbling up from inside that takes control some of us we try to exercise will power but willpower doesn't usually work why you may control it once next time it's more powerful control it once and fail twice that's mostly in the case of will build power with most people why are you why does it fail it fails because already it has become an expressed thought at the level of the mind then then there's a lot of psychic energy in it so if you try to stop it and push it back down it takes a lot of psychic energy a lot of willpower to do that and no wonder that we sometimes succeed sometimes fail what meditation does is it makes you aware that before it has become expressed at the surface of the mind when it bubbles up from the seed from far from unknown depths you have a moment a tiny window of conscious choice do I allow this is it it is is it is it positive is it according to my goals in life is it helpful to me or is it negative it's going to take me in the wrong direction so at that moment you have a choice it comes from what is called samskaara inherent tendencies and when it comes to the surface of the mind it becomes what is called thrifty Whitley means thought from some scar to rity and then action I say something do something and if you entertain the routine the mind that rip tea then subsides but it doesn't disappear it goes back and strengthens that samskaara so there is a cycle some scar with the chakra our tomorrow rotating when day and night throughout conscious life even in dream it rotates now what the meditator does the raja yogi is as in that conscious that an instant window of opportunity as the rity is forming before it is powerful before you have invested psychic energy in it the yogi can actually see this and substitute instead of giving the default version substitute angry reaction say an insulting word no calm let it go now when it forms the mind will be it will be a peaceful thought let it go so he has done that at the seed State now another thing happens the same psychology works that let it go peaceful reaction to an irritating circumstance comes and makes it a RIF tea and holds on to that 50 transforms that into action that rity will go down back into the subconscious and that will become a samskaara over time and that thing rotates as that rotates our samskaras also change what he calls transformation our desires we will find after some time the yogi notices the writ teas which are forming some scars which are bubbling up they're all positive they're all nice they're all helpful they are spiritual what you think you should do now you want to do that the conflict is I have decided I want to be a yogi and so I have got certain things I want to do that these are things which I should do but the things bubbling up from inside me are contrary I want to do that I should do this immediately this is conflict that's at the beginning the yogi transforms this so that what I want what I should do is also what I want to do then the thing becomes easy sri ramakrishna put it in is very simple way he's to live on the side of the river so you would see the fisherman are the boatman would Mythili used long oars to push their little boats out to the midstream when their boat is in the midstream of the river Ganga in the current it just flows with the current and the sail is up the wind is pushing it along the current is pulling it along and the same boatman who was sweating and working so hard now sits at the hell holds the rudder and he says he has a enjoys a smoke he puffs away and holds the rudder of the boat and the boat just merrily sails along this is in spiritual life - there's a time when you must struggle push hard push back until the inner conditioning changes to some extent it becomes helpful some have done it lucky once in their past lives you're lucky to be born with spiritual samskaras I see this all the time especially in a specialized community like the monks the young novices I have seen in the monastery all have come to be monks all have come to be a trained in spiritual life so all have good intentions and yet some struggle and some sail along merrily why all want it I mean what at least they have decided this is going to be my life this is how I should be but why the struggle then because internally deep inside conditioning is what pulls some people back and some other people they just sail along merrily they get up even before the rising bell in the monastery sounds at 3:40 a.m. even before that they are up it can be very irritating if your roommate is one of them when you're trying to grab some sleep in the hot muggy atmosphere here is this one who's already taken his bath and China chanting Sanskrit verses and getting ready happily for two hours of meditation so how is that person doing it some do it by strain straining that's not a good idea skill is better I know one of our brothers one of the young monks who was who tried so hard you wouldn't believe it he would go and he can imagine it's 110 degrees in the shade and 100% humidity it literally drenched in sweat and then you have to do hard work like serving 20 people on this side and 20 people on that side in the in the dining hall and you have buckets and buckets of rice and curry and stuff like that and to go and serve them it's really hard work he does it for one batch of monks after that is the second match he serves third batch where the people who are serving they're supposed to eat themselves he serves the third batch too does not eat himself then he comes back to the place he's staying you will not him this is an extreme case and please nobody should try it you know what he does he plucks leaves and grass and boils cleans it boils it and eats that to prevent himself from sleeping too much at night he had elevated his bed with bricks on one side so it will be like an incline so he can't sleep comfortably one day he slipped up with an almighty thought you know crash which never berated toward the building so anyway that is training that is training luckily the blessings of God were on him and he slowly moderated himself and is a very good monk now that's training the opposite is laziness this is the back sliding the slacking so transformation happens this way is from Civic see from childhood we are taught to relate to our ego my things my house etc my question is as a young father is there a way I can make my children understand this real concept of the vedantic I and yet to not alienate them so much from their peer group that they are thought of as weird right yeah the first one of the first signs of becoming spiritual is you want your children to be spiritual long before you become spiritual yourself I remember in school where we were young monks and their little kids in that school and we used to have meditation sessions for the kids and one of the kids grumbled after were after meditation session he said Swami I think I'm going to become enlightened before you [Laughter] so yes so young father mother the first thing they wanted my children should be as spiritual it's natural you love your children and you found something which is really good and you know it'll be really good for them but the easiest way is to be spiritual yourself now one more thing remember this transcending the ego or some people say crushing the ego going beyond the ego this talks about the mature ego so a child first needs to develop an individual and mature ego you see the the rebelliousness of a teenager that's a natural way when a teenager is beginning to develop his or her own personality apart from parents and that's expressed in all sorts of nasty ways which gives a shock to parents and other people but it's an a it's a good process before that one should not apply this vedantic ideals of transcending the ego and all of that first the child must have what is called a confident independent personality maturity some kind of maturity internal maturity it's not physical maturity sometimes children are much more mature than their parents okay internally wiser so that that so a psychologically independent mature ego is first necessary and then only you can think of transcending it but with vedanta the ways are two one is expand yourself so that you encompass others I refers not only to this little body and mind but to all family community school so more and more children are generally loving so if you encourage them to expand by sharing by caring for others the but first they must have confidence in themselves and for their the parents have a big role to play unconditional love structure all of these things are necessary after that only transcendence is one way X the other ways the devotees way of making oneself smaller so I give importance to the Tao not to me so one is exemplified by Swami Vivekananda who made himself so great grishko said Swami awake on the made himself so great that Maya's net he grew out of it so Maya's net couldn't Maya couldn't catch him in her net and nachtmahr shied the devotee of sri ramakrishna he made himself so small that he easily slipped through the net of Maya somebody asked nag Moshe he keeps saying that I am nothing I'm miserable I'm a worse sinner didn't Swami very kindly say that you should not you know sell yourself short you should not say that you are a bad person you should not say that I'm a mean person it's very bad for your spiritual growth but not Marsh ever it is simple he thought about it and he said you're right that's what Swami very kind of said but what can I say I just look at myself I'm telling you the truth I see what what I see about myself so he made himself so small that the ego disappeared so I'm very kinda made himself so big that the ego became one with the universal eye from Aron yes how should one determine one's goals in life I am struggling with this please guide there's a hole you bounced and Noble you go goal setting in the books and books and books no but it's good one should have a goal in life so I move a kundus said have your own highest goal what should be the what should be the goal in life first of all it should be your own goal own goal means read about it listen to people but then what appeals to the heart there was a lot of things appealed to the heart I want to do good to people I want to have that cookie I want to have I'd rather have the parking spot and not give it to you all of these things appeal to the heart so we're kinda says the noblest of all of them in all the things that appeal to you what is the highest and noblest what you feel is high and Noble you'll often see these things involve other people also generally it's not limited to an individual generally but a high and noble goal need not always be like social service it can also be something like art or science are so high and noble goal have a goal you see if you get into a cab there and the guy asks where to they just drive no you don't do that and yet in our lives we do that you know where are you going if you ask what's the goal especially students have seen in India there so what's what's a goal in life give me a lecture and what should be the goal in life but what is their goal in life apart from what they have been programmed by the parents you have to be a doctor or engineer something like that apart from that what's your what do you want in life to look at you blankly they've never been asked to think for themselves and see what is the dream in life personal goal in life it's like getting into a cab and just drive big man we know the story of the man who was galloping through the village and on a horse horseback and somebody asked sir where are you going in such a hurry and he said I don't know ask the horse that's our life as the horse ask if you don't know where you're going you won't like where you get to because you never wanted to go there so always definitely and because there's a Vedanta society it's not a group of young people for that I recommend Tony Robbins and things like that but because it's a Veyron to society the goal in life should be enlightened God realization in whatever way you understand it my own real nature it always seemed to me if this is true what the religions of the world say what we learn to say is if it is true then what else is worth having in life this is what's having in life if this is not true what else is what's having in life nothing is worthwhile so this should be the goal in life right now you might say I need to get an education I need to put my financial affairs in order I need to my job all these are pulling the demands on me yes Dharma Atacama they have the pull on you but overall goal final goal in life always should be enlightenment keep it it's a great blessing even to formally acknowledge to yourself what the Buddha wanted what Vivekananda wanted I also want that it's open to me it's open to everybody they wanted and they said it's open to everybody that's the goal of humanity so I've ever kinda said the goal of life is to manifest the divinity already present within us it's not just the goal of religion religion is the way to do it spirituality is the way to do it but our goal is that simple and direct and truly speaking truly speaking whether we know it or not that is our goal when we say I want to be happy I want to be fulfilled I want to be successful what are you really asking for you're asking for enlightenment you may not see the link if you see the link you are a spiritual seeker don't see the link you're just living you say I'm just living my life that's why Aurobindo said life itself is yoga life itself is you if you understand life deeply what is happening personal life and the way civilization is going it is yoga it's a kind of vast cosmic yoga after some time we awaken to this process and then we do it consciously when we start reading books attending lectures starting to meditate pray philosophy spiritual practices become conscious we start doing it consciously then you call yourself a spiritual seeker list of India Maya - with dia Maya from Bogota pavarga remember those ancient terms bogus experiencing life a power there is a conscious decision to reach enlightenment yes and we have one lost rather heavy question back on Surya K how do we contemplate on death how should we approach it Oh contemplate on death somebody asks if you contemplate death somebody has Vivekananda won't you become depressed so I mean you thought for a moment and said initially you might but afterwards you'll get a tremendous sense of freedom so contemplate on death first the inevitability of death everybody the people we knew grandparents parents they have gone or are on the way up going out as we grow very soon we realize but already passed the prime whatever nice had to happen more or less has happened nothing very fantastic is going to happen now it's so going to be like this yeah you see how depressing no it's depressing only if I'm foolish I was looking for something in this life to happen which would make me absolutely fulfill this life cannot fulfill me in that way you're asking it to do something it cannot do life is for experience vogue and upper work at the prakriti's it's Vogue and apavarga for experience for gaining knowledge and finally gaining illumination life itself cannot provide for provide you with happiness and fulfillment what can provide you with happiness and fulfilment what you really want is this God realization or enlightenment proof look at the Saints of different civilizations religions throughout the ages one thing common to them they were happy not happy in a cartoon they with a smiley face profoundly spiritually satisfied internally no matter what the struggles of the day-to-day life they did not complain we have never heard of a saint to who is to grumble no say means really enlightened person never that's why I say enlightenment don't be in a hurry you lose the right to grumble it really lose the right to complain aren't you said supposed to be completely fulfilled so spirituality is that which which will fulfill us so death is inevitable we must contemplate the fact that physical death is going to come to all of us Viveca under put it in his powerful way Saints die and sinners die Emperor's die and paupers die the learner died and the ignorant die everybody dies we find that we are all going towards that there's absolutely no need to be unhappy about it because as I said earlier check with this the true you the real you you cannot die it's only the body which will die if we hold on to the body as I Me Mine then sharks will come because it will deteriorate it will age it will fall apart and we die in our experience itself will directly experience all this don't hold psychologically don't hold on to it so tightly there's a old wheel antic story of three friends who were going to this party this like a was called a festival mela in in the next village and they are all dressed up in their finery now as they went along they were caught by dacoits wherever robbers who said so the fine silk clothes and said give them to me now one of them was really well-built you know large and with and also loved his new clothes the second one was large physically well-built but he was not particularly attached to the clothes and the third one was skinny and also not not particularly an aware of it the new clothes now who will have the greatest pain in taking off and giving away the new shirt the first one who difficult to take off because he's not tight fit and also attached to it this is the worldly person who thinks I am the body fully one with one's own skin I am the body and has not practiced spiritual disciplines so giving up is really difficult well in time of death when the lord of death yamaraja comes to snatch away the fine cloth of the body the very difficult the second one is a person who has that that Vedantic inside the the spiritual insight i am a spirit i am not a body i am consciousness i am the witness in which the body is experienced but has not done sufficient spiritual practice so it's not a instinctive thing understands but it is struggle to take off the clock he's not attached to it but still snugfit sister third one is the one who has got the spiritual discernment' and also the lifelong spiritual practice who easily takes it off in Cass's away I have seen myself and we have read about so many enlightened people so many spiritual seekers don't even say enlightened people who have done spiritual practice throughout their life who see themselves as spiritual seekers seekers at the point of death in full awareness in complete consciousness of God of God joyfully quietly pass away I know some of them I have seen both monks and householders it is not just at the point of death diverse spiritual they had this clear this clarity even before that and so David never able to deploy these spiritual resources at that spiritual crisis the point of physical death so just contemplate like this I am the witness of the body and mind I am NOT this body not even this mind I have had so many bodies in the past which I do not remember losing this body death is like turning over a page in a book I've read it and the next page begins there's a song which monks sing in the main monastery in in India in balloon mutt when a monk is cremated usually members of the public are not allowed allowed there it's a Bengali song Shi Xiu Qi lamb juga hua Chi I I was a child now I'm a my youth and I will be old in some days hence and at death day hunter a I will get another body and I'll be reborn as a child again o death what feared does now have for me of what fear does now hold for me I have no fear of death it's just changing one body for the other and then he goes on but what need do I have of newer and newer bodies and experiences in Bengali gaen rupees sheep a China Mike Kolya Cory that means Shiva but who is Shiva not the how we imagine in iconography the blue God sitting on the white Himalayas meditating with a serpent and the crescent moon the the archetype of the yogi GaN rupee sheep no Shiva who is consciousness I sit in the lap of Shiva who is eternal consciousness basically I am a child of consciousness why do I need new bodies why should I go through deaths butts and deaths again so in this this time let it be for the last time when this body goes and burns on the pyre at funeral pyre and free forever to that song monks sing Marone keep high calorie death what fear does not show me Oh Shanti Shanti Shanti hurry he own that sat sri ramakrishna eponymous [Music]