Video 28

Ask Swami with Swami Sarvapriyananda | June 24th, 2018

first we shall take some questions from the internet audience and then I will ask you to come up and and there's a microphone here you will come and ask your question tell us your name and ask your question yes questions from the internet audience is from Paul and Kavita in California what is the distinction between the mind and the intellect could you help us understand it with an example or analogy when I experience an internal tug-of-war in my mind for instance between wanting to concentrate on the mantra in meditation and another part of me putting away at wandering thoughts I am aware of this internal struggle who is this eye that is watching this mental tug-of-war secondly if this whole world was created as God's Leela and each soul is a character with the definite role to play then is our spiritual progress and eventual realization of brahman predetermined by the great play director god do I have any say in changing my character's role or is it preordained alright two different questions well the first one is fairly simple what is the difference between mind and intellect you would say that it's not but a simple but actually these things are very well defined in Vedanta very well defined thousands of years ago so what is how do you define the mind and how do you distinguish it from the intellect the mind is in Vedanta the the basic definition is sankalpa vehicle part Mecca man AHA that mind is which oscillates between different possibilities which has no fixity notice how the questioner said when I'm doing japa my mind wanders it goes here and there that is mana mind so we try to bring it back on one point but it considers many things so a classic example which is given is a man is going in the darkness in the semi dark and a distance sees something which looks either like a dry tree stump and imagine with two dry branches which look like hands or it could be a person standing there now in sanskrit Stano our purushu OVA is it a dry tree stump or is it a person waiting there when your mind is considering these possibilities this or that like dislike want do not want struggle wondering it is called mind the same thing inside it's called mind when you come closer the man comes close and sees oh it's a stump of a tree it's not a human being at all clarity comes that flash of understanding that is intellect Budi sanskrit definition nietzsche at Makar Budi it's the same inner sense the subtle body two different functions clearly different functions in one way it is called mind in another state it is called intellect it's the same thing so when you are solving a math problem you're struggling with it this way that way can't get it and suddenly comes a flash of understanding yes I got it the first part was the mind and second one was intellect saying yes this is it Nisha at Mecca Budi mister honesty means conviction or clarity or fixity and sankalpa vikalpa the weighing and considering of different open of options that is the mind so this is the difference notice how in the question itself the person who is asking the question has noticed this that sometimes the mind is concentrated and fixed clarity is there and sometimes it's wandering from this to that trying to repeat the name of God japa or trying to meditate so at that stage this is the difference between mind and intellect the second question is very metaphysical so you have already accepted this is God's play and God has ordained all this now do I have any role in this the question is loaded it's a trick question because if you say that now I have a role it's if it's up to you then is powerless imagine a director of a play where every actor does whatever he or she pleases how frustrated the director would be everybody's improvising but I I know that there is a whole field of improv but but even then it has to be within a certain paradigm so what is the role of God if I can do whatever I want and obviously I cannot do whatever I want our lives are so such circumscribed and limited on the other hand if I say yes it's God's play you got it right and you have no role at all that sounds very negative that sounds very robotic predator mind so it's a loaded question what do I do what do I say the answer was given by sri ramakrishna himself when asked such a question he asked immediately I asked a counter question it's God's play what role do I have here how much of a role do I have here and his counter question was who are you if you investigate in depth you will find you and God or one thing what you call God is a sense of separation this entire universe is predetermined is controlled by some big guy out there and I'm playing a little role here but actually this universe and I who I'm experiencing this universe we are one consciousness in which both are appearing did we not just meditate the forth when I say I am a little person in this God's play the entire play and I the little person both of them are appearing in one consciousness which is the real me so they're you and God are one that's the real solution but suppose you say let's put non-dualism aside for a moment the non dualism is very convenient you can answer every question though people who ask the question will say that you are you are doing away with the question itself you're not really answering it so how would a dualist answer it not not a non-dual is to do a list there is this world I am there say something called God I believe in God now tell me is it preordained or not both is true it is God's play and in this we have our rolls and from our point of view we have the freedom of will to whatever we do determines our next the rest of our life and lights to come what we are is the end result of whatever we have done thought and said thinking speaking and doing consciously whatever we have done in past lives the culmination of is that is what you and I what we find ourselves to be now and what we do now what we say now and what we think now Kaimana waka in sanskrit what we do with these three instruments mind speech and body consciously that generates karma and karma shapes what we are in in this life and in future lives so that's a provisional answer that's not really the answer of a dontoh the real answer of Vedanta is what we meditated upon yes thank you couple of questions all right let's go how can I determine the best path for my personal spiritual advancement according to my temperament and tendencies do the ramakrishna mission Swami's help household acid arcs with specific instructions in meditation and the alight spiritual disciplines did sri ramakrishna create a plan for spiritual growth and God realization for householders if so could you delineate some principles of the path of course he did in fact in the gospel of sri ramakrishna you again and again find people who are people in in family life who hold a job and they are not monks and they come and ask what is the way for us and Sri Ramakrishna would say that God realization enlightenment is open to everybody is in fact the goal of life being a monk is a specialized choice you don't have to be a monk to be enlightened but though I'll have a little in a side side note they're a little fine print there yes you don't have to be actually a monk formally physically but you have to be monk-like in your mind when you move towards enlightenment one must to some extent rise above the concerns of the world just imagine the meditation which we did life right now whatever we consider our worldly life to be to do this non-dualistic meditation you have to step back from the Waker dreamer and deep sleeper all what we consider our life to be family problems health career all of that is in the waking life and shadows of that you will find in the dream life and the merged darkness in the deep sleep and you have to step back from all of that so the reality is beyond that basically that is the monastic attitude one does not have to become a monk but monk like internally that story of the monkey I've told it some times that there was a monkey who is to come and steal the the vegetables in the farmers you know in his farm and the farmer thought he would treat teach the monkey a lesson and he put those vegetables and vegetables in a jar with a narrow neck and when the monkey saw this he crept down from the tree and he put his hand in the neck of the jar and caught hold of whatever banana or whatever it was or some vegetable and tried to pull it out of course it got stuck and the farmer came rushing down with a stick to beat the poor monkey now the monkey has a choice it can let go and run away and save itself or it can struggle with that I don't want to be beaten but I want that banana too now it gets cut and the poor monkey gets a thrashing how can the poor monkey save itself the monkey mind has to become a monk mind yes internally externally you may be the CEO of a company you may be and it's possible actually possible I met this person in India he is the CEO of of what is called it's an image bunny that means they have photographs and rights to those photographs and they sell it to advertisers it's yeah it's it's a largest image company in Asia he is the CEO of that and he invited me for a dialogue and we spoke for six hours we have talks here for one hour people ask that these talks are too long one hour and people complain I gave a talk for three hours and then again afterwards I joined that CEO for lunch and we spoke for three more hours a total of six hours and you know in India we eat our food with the hands so my food became dry on my hands like he's all he's interested in his philosophy and spirituality I asked him aren't you neglecting your office work because it was in his corporate office and the door was closed they were under strict instructions not to disturb him and he said in Hindi what do I say hey Swami gee this is just something I do to make a living it's not really my passion my passion is this so you can be a spiritual seeker and I seen you of a very big company you can be a family person a husband a wife a father and mother you can be in school you can be at work whatever spirituality is for everybody so that monk mind is necessary now sri ramakrishna suggested he gave all of these the different suggestions even people would ask what is the way exactly like this world he would give different suggestions he would say repeat the name of God once in a while sadhu sanga company of the holy we draw once in a while he says a forest a forest may not be available but Central Park is available here or an ashram is available step back from your career and family be by yourself once in a while do sadhana will Swami very kind of put it this way karma yoga bhakti yoga Raja yoga and Gyana yoga the four broad paths of spiritual life the question here was how do I know what is suitable for me and Swami Vivekananda's answer is because we have an intellect to understand you can practice Gami yoga cause we have a heart to feel to love you can practice bhakti-yoga because you have hands to work you can practice Karma Yoga and serve and meditation is useful for all the yoga's so practice all four but to answer your question directly which is my path as you practice all four you will feel you'll feel that you are taking to something more easily something becomes more live there so maybe a bhakti devotion that feels real to me I feel alive the others feel mechanical then you know this one is according to your tendencies but still you may give more emphasis on the path of devotion but keep the other three this was the inside which vaikunta gave the Harmonia for yoga's the balance and equipoise each other each yoga has its dangers and pitfalls when you have all four they balance and equipoise each other yes depending on our nature one will be more effective one will be more you like it you'll enjoy it more maybe you'll give more time and energy to it but keep all four in your life all right I do hope you have questions yes there's a question there please come out here tell us your name and ask the question who else has questions let me see the hands yes and yes I'll come back to you please tell us your name pronounced Mohammed my name is uh Nagy have coming from jakarta very blessed to be here jakarta is coming a long way my question is Swami ji we've been following your talks for a long time and came across like you just described the various paths to God realization another topic that I came across in one of the books on autobiography of a yogi was Kriya yoga you know to understand your perspective and take on how do you think Kriya yoga fits in and is that something that you would recommend us to consider Kriya yoga is a term which is used originally you find it in Patanjali Yoga Sutras there's Kriya yoga there but a variety of that is taught by this self-realization fellowship so that's a path and as far as I know it includes elements of devotion it includes elements of meditation of pranayama of posture and breath so Raja Yoga elements are there made devotional elements are there and some amount of of philosophical inquiry because Paramahamsa Yogananda that's the path he taught when he learnt it from his guru yukteshwar giri in india who comes from the lineage though giri is the title that means he is a part of the ten orders of non-dualistic monk started by Shankar Acharya but his specific lineage was from the great yogi and tantric practitioner lahiri mahasaya who by the way was a householder yes and is fully enlightened person now I do not know the details of that path and they are a little secretive about it so they'll have courses and they're supposed to be private well I'll tell you the truth actually I have gone reread that course I came across I came across the copies it says it should not be shared but somebody shared it shared it with me so I know what is there but in general we do not discuss that in public so you'll have to be initiated into that path but that's a path earlier the question was what do the Guru's in the Ramakrishna order they also initiate they will initiate you into a form of deity yoga that is Ishta devatha a chosen deity and an Easter mantra and that practice is basically one thing but it has elements of bhakti it has elements of meditation dianna elements of Tantra odds they're all there in the mantra which is given and the way to meditate ultimately its lead leads to an on Delos dualistic realization so that's if you take initiation from a guru in the Ramakrishna tradition that's what you will get if you take initiation from a guru in the Kriya yoga self-realization fellowship example you'll be initiated into Kriya yoga you will notice that I didn't directly answer the question and I won't thank you thank you shall we take a question from the internet audience yes there's been a lot of interest in the clay pot analogy so we thought I've been talking about that in the upper auction booty class towards the end Shankar Acharya says think again and again about the clay pot analogy let's see other questions okay well the first one is from Vicki you said in the pot and clay analogy that the pot is the effect and the clay is the material cause that there is no such thing as a pot it is just named form and use and then you said similarily in the case of brahman and universe Brahman is the material cause and the effect is the universe there is no such thing as the universe its Brahman appearing as universe and then you explained what is meant by Brahmins saying it's consciousness which is which of course is no thing whereas the universe is all material things only can you please explain and then Oh Deepak should we go to the next one or all right let me take this one others also would clear and yes there okay impose all right let's go to the next question so and Deepak says in the analogy of clay and pot it is easy for me to comprehend that there is no such thing as a pot but only clay what confuses me is the idea that there is the same clay in all parts when we have two parts though the clay has the same chemical composition it is not as if the clay and them has any continuity and then Vikas says is there a role for the reflected consciousness which you have spoken of in the past in the new clay pot analogy you have spoken of recently if so how alright so lots of things about you would think that a pot and clay is simple enough well but people get into all sorts of tangles but it's very natural when you're using it to explain the universe no less remember in the clay pot example it's used in this way first you have a pot you say why a pot because I think that was the most common thing in ancient times when you go to an archaeological dig you usually come up with pottery so a pot and then you are told well you have the part but the part is an effect and there is a cause of the pot causing the sense something it's made out of so there is something called clay which is a cause of the pot so now it comes into our minds that there are two things here's a pot and it's something called clay you see great what is this clay look carefully at the pot the sides are clay inside it's clay the top is clay the bottom is clay in fact everything that you see in that pot what you touch what you're holding is clay and nothing but clay so the effect pot is pervaded through and through by the cause material cause clay that's the next stage third stage well first stage was pot second stage was clay and pot third stage was you see that the part is pervaded by the clay it is clay through and through the fourth stages there is no thing called pot the thing a substance the reality is clay itself so pot and what is a pot it is not a thing but it is an appearance of the clay you agree with me it's an appearance of the clay so finally that reality is one it's not two but first we thought the reality was pot and in the end we think the reality is clay in Sanskrit from gutter distri to mythic a Drishti from clay paradigm from pot paradigm to clay paradigm in between however we thought there were two things clay and pot if you stop there then it becomes a problem you shouldn't stop there you should complete the process and see that the reality of the pot is clay there is no they are not two things called potently if you stop there then what will happen is you'll think oh there is God created this universe God is the cause universe is the effect now I here is the universe where is God it's like saying here is the pot where is clay you have two things then and you start for a separate search that that leads to dualism remember this is all this is non-dualistic approach so so that leads to dualism and then starts a futile search for God or in the case of our own soul you say there is a body there is a mind there is something separate called consciousness it starts searching for that then this is the problem with the clay pot example that's why Allan what what she said if you stop in between it becomes a crackpot example not a clay pot crackpot example it will lead you into confusion now the first let me take the questions one after and I still remember the questions even if you do not I remember the first question was alright I get it but clay and part both are things but in the case of consciousness you are saying consciousness alone is appearing as this universe like clay is appearing as a pot now clay is a thing which can appear as another thing as a pot but consciousness is not a thing it is the pure subject itself which experiences all things see this world the flower do you in a meditation it's a thing your eyes things the mind very subtle but still a thing why am i calling your mind a thing because you experience it whatever you experience is an object a thing a mind is a subtle thing this is a physical thing now consciousness is not a thing but all this whatever it experiences using consciousness alone is all of this but these are things these are objects how can the pure subject become an object how can what is not a thing become a thing you see it's a deep question and it goes to the heart of Advaita and the answer is as deep or even motivate stunning the answer is that subject does not become an object the pure consciousness does not become things then you see you just said all of these things are pure consciousness no what I'm saying is pure consciousness appears as things these things are not really things out there in a dream when you say I met my friend and we went to Broadway and saw a show and later you realize it was all in the mind then how did mind become a friend and a Broadway and a show and sir is it did not it appeared like that it's like a virtue allottee created in the mind in the same way Advaita says the entire experience of the world of things is an appearance in consciousness add weight of the consciousness does not really become out there a thing it does not become space it does not become matter does not become time does not become energy it appears a space time matter energy it still is consciousness but why does this how does it do this trick that is the answer for that in one word is Maya Maya is that which makes the subject consciousness you appear as an object which makes the unchanging immortal such pure existence appear as things which are born and dying the unchanging appears as the changing consciousness JIT appears as the object Jarra in sanskrit the sentient appears as non-sentient in the in death not nonsense nonsense she ain't in in the in your experience bliss ananda because of maya appears as duke suffering it's a trick played by maya you alone are appearing as the changing world you the unchanging you are you experience yourself as a changing world you the pure subject consciousness you experience yourself as the object you which were Blissey yourself Ananda yourself you experience yourself as a person trapped in a world of dukkha the Buddha said sarvam to come here in this world definitely true everything is dukkha suffering it is like the clay appearing as the part to answer the question directly these are things how can consciousness which is not a thing become a thing answer is it does not become a thing it is an appearance of a thing in what is still the pure subject pure consciousness that's why this entire world is nothing but you it's your appearance the meditation which we did the forth the silence in that silence consciousness what appears waker in Baker's world all things dreamer and dream world all things and deep sleeper and the darkness of deep sleep that also is the kind of thing it's called argon or Tama or darkness but all through the stage the background is that one consciousness the second question was and that I understand the clay and part example but but how do I know that we are all one consciousness because if you have many parts if these bodies are parts you have many parts then the clay in each part is different as he said chemical composition is the same but the actual material is different because if you suppose you break this part that part is not broken if you pound this clay to dust that clay is not founded to dust there are two different things though they are similar as the same as clay in philosophy it is called the type token difference remember in example this is the problem you have to stop here because clay is an example it's after all an objective thing so there are divisions this clay and that clay the clay here and the clay there my clay and your clay their divisions division is possible in clay in pure consciousness no division is possible a come chip pure consciousness it is division less so it cannot be one consciousness here and another consciousness there it is one consciousness in which here and there applied appear once so I mean the Himalaya is very interesting he asks when this Vedanta classes are going on you are the all-pervading consciousness and one of the Swami's in the audience said stop wait a minute I would like to be the all-pervading consciousness but what does it mean to say I am the all-pervading consciousness I am here let alone all-pervading I don't even pervade this chair if I'm very fat and I'll pervade the chair but I don't pervade anything beyond the chair whole room I'm only in a corner of it I don't even pervade this whole room how are you saying I am the all-pervading consciousness pervading the universe doesn't make sense I'm here and not there and the answer of the teacher was listen carefully ah but here and here and there are these both not in your awareness it is in your awareness that you are aware of this place this body and that place that body and all of them are in awareness I'm saying that you are the awareness not the body the moment you locate yourself in the body what will happen here and there I am here I am not there but try to step back into awareness what does it mean a good way of understanding this is the dream example when you wake up from the dream isn't it true that everything in the dream was your mind every place in the dream was your mind all the time in the dream was in your mind nothing there was no time space and persons and things in the dream except your mind then it's a mind example mind and dream example here we are not talking about the mind we're talking about consciousness in which mind body and everything are experienced well the difference is this we normally think here is consciousness like a light and the world is like an object light reveals the object but light is not the objects the objects are different from the light but consciousness is not like that the entire universe appears in consciousness is does not exist apart from consciousness if you say universe exists apart from consciousness and consciousness goes out there and experiences the universe this is called Sankyo philosophy Dwight the non-dualistic philosophy is universe itself consciousness itself appears as the universe and experiences the universe within itself and I will tell you it it may sound very radical and shocking look at your own experience that's what's going on right now you have never experienced anything outside your consciousness think about it you have never experienced anything other than your consciousness it is all within your consciousness so when you say the pot has clay here and that part is different clay there for the example it is alright clay and part example but from consciousness example there is nothing apart from consciousness there is no difference in consciousness think about it all these differences are how differences in our bodies clearly bodies are different the way to never denies experience the experienc bodies as being different we also experience minds as being different every person has a different opinion different thought in India there is a saying NASA Mooney is your madam na Windom that person is not a sage not a philosopher who does not have a separate opinion of his own so every philosopher has a different answer otherwise you can't be philosophers so that means our minds are different our minds are different but the consciousness which experiences those minds and bodies are not different so as far as consciousness is concerned it is one and unchanging yes clay and part example definitely they are changing the clay is different in different parts I'm not saying that is the same clay in all parts it's an example only the third part of the question was reflected consciousness how can we see this in the clay and pot example remember this if you have to extend the clay pot example a little more imagine the pot holds water so now I'm changing the example consciousness is like the Sun and it is reflected in the water is a tiny little reflected Sun isn't it now imagine the pot is the body the water is the mind and that little reflected Sun there is the reflected consciousness and the real Sun is the real consciousness so I've changed the the paradigms the parameters of the example that's no longer clay pot clay is not important here what is important is the real Sun is reflected in the water as a reflected Sun similarly you the consciousness you are reflected in the mind as this awareness which we call ourselves now III the person this is what we are now that is called the reflected consciousness and you are right the question of the reflected consciousness is not taken up in the clay pot example if you can if you want to understand it you can say when the clay appears as a part and forgets its clay nature and things I am this it is the clay itself thinking I am a part that is the reflected consciousness when consciousness forgets itself and thinks of itself as a body mind it is still consciousness because it is aware we are aware right now we are not zombies we are aware this awareness right now is not the pure consciousness it is the reflection of pure consciousness in the mind called G De Aza pure consciousness chit reflection G da Haase now there was a gentleman here who had a question do you remember your question yes please come tell us your name and ask the question hi thank you Swami I am bill humans from New York I had a question which I also asked online and has directly to do with all of this so if you come across it online you can forget it it's this why should anything appear in consciousness at all so we have a rope and a snake why when we see oh it's not a rope it's it's not a snake it's a rope why should there even be a rope why a pure consciousness must be complete unto itself why should it bother to have anything appear in it right right and you say it's Maya but how does that work and still ask why right why should it appear if you understand wait on the one day or the other you will come to this question this question will continue to bug you for a long time don't worry it is continue to bug you after this session also why should it appear now what are the possibilities something appears if there is pure consciousness something appears in pure consciousness this is all of this or nothing appears these are the two possibilities right and notice in your lives in our lives both possibilities are realized consider all our waking life many things appear industrial-grade reality many things are appearing right here and dreams ooh again appearance but a virtual reality but consider no appearance so both appearance and non appearance these are the two possibilities and both are realized in pure consciousness in Vedanta they will sit in a microcosm in your personal lives us pure consciousness appear as all of this and sometimes don't appear in deep sleep right so both are there that's what I want to say appearance and non appearance are both experienced by pure consciousness right now you your question becomes you see at first the question sounds very reasonable why should anything appear if pure consciousness is the only reality by should anything appear now I'm saying things appear and things do not appear both are there if you ask now why should things appear and not appear that doesn't seem to be a fair question because both possibilities are there appearance and non appearance but still let's and remember all of these may sound very abstract it's not abstract we are talking about you and we are not talking about a single thing outside your daily experience after all what are we talking about waking this one dreaming sleeping and the consciousness in which all three appear and disappear now there are many answers to your question many many answers we're studying the mandu KO punah in the first chapter you will find this question comes up why does the fourth a pure consciousness is uses that's the reality but then why does it appear at all as the waking dreaming and deep sleep why not nothing just their consciousness and especially why do we ask this because there's so much trouble waking life full of trouble strife and struggle you finally come to the realization or you need not be in all this trouble you just realize yourself as pure consciousness we could get God realization Nirvana moksha but that itself become - do I have a mortgage to pay off I have to go to Trader Joe's and buy these things and I have to go and exercise and I have to go to a job and pick up the kids from school and also become enlightened one Swami you have not helped you have added one more thing to do why couldn't I be enlightened forever and all of this could need not appear so I think it was summer said mom when he was when he was studying Vedanta he learned that Brahmin projects this universe he writes in a sort of dry dry humor in he writes I felt Brahmin could have let well enough alone could have let it be my project at all I created so much trouble for us and so there would be you are Brahmin itself but even there see if you're like a little kid you can push you can keep on asking why why at all the answer is there's one answer one beautiful answer is it is Leela it is play it is the very joy of Brahman to express itself in all of these ways so yeah that's poetic but it's it's still not very logical it's poetic it's beautiful Leela it's this is the play of God in one beautiful Bengali song God is imagined as a little boy playing with Suns and moons and the imagery is very touching because the boy is very lonely because in the entire universe there's nobody else to play with so Brahman place because Brahman wants playmates so Brahman pretends to be you and him and her and me and all of us and then Brahman can play so yeah that's great but it still it's nice it sounds nice but it's not philosophy it's not logic tell me logically why should pure consciousness appear as anything at all why still the same why there's a whole book I'd recommend it Jim Holt he wrote this book why does the world exist he's a New Yorker he's lives in Manhattan I we can get him here someday to speak he did he went on a journey he to philosophers theologians he didn't ask Anna Drayton but in the book would have come to a close very fast then he asked physicists event he asked mathematicians logicians and the same question why'd is there something rather than nothing so he got answers from quantum mechanic mechanic he got answers from mathematicians he got answers from theologians he got answers from philosophers and it's a very fascinating it's the biggest question of all why is there a universe at all so I'm on the last chapter now the last chapter is why do I exist so that is the question now let me get straight to the final answer which Advaita Vedanta has the final answer is you say the penultimate answer is Maya it is not Brahman creating this universe there is no separate universe it is Brahman alone when you say why anything at all Brahman is there you say if you ask why Brahman at all that question cannot be as well Brahman is existence in itself it cannot help existing so Brahman is existence is being but you say why this universe the answer in Vedanta is Brahman through Maya is appearing as this universe it has not really become this universe you will not really become this person you are pure consciousness appearing and playing as this person so it's an appearance it's not real it's not reality reality is Brahman was Brahman and remains from and at this point many people might quit but the persistent kid wouldn't quit would say but why Maya but why Maya at all why not pure existence consciousness please why not the fourth why one two three why vacant dreamer deep sleep why a physical universe subtle universe causal universe might not just the absolute itself why and here if you ask why Maya Swami Vivekananda says the question is wrong again here he doesn't explain why but I kept on asking no why the question wrong alright I'll give the question if you say question is wrong but let me ask another question then why is the question wrong it seems to be a reasonable question to me why is the question wrong and here is the final thing which I have got so far the question why why Maya is wrong because consider what you are asking when you ask this question you are asking for an explanation isn't it follow this carefully when you ask why you're asking for an explanation and what is an explanation it's a cause why is the grass wet because it rained why did it rain because there were clouds why are there clouds because cause because of evaporation why is the evaporation because of the Sun cause so when you ask Maya you are asking what what is the cause of Maya why is there Maya what is the cause of Maya but take a closer look what is Maya Maya is time space causation when you say Maya you have already accepted causation when you question Maya it is before causation you cannot ask why about causation when there is no causation at all Maya itself is not caused causation begins with Maya you see I'm giving a logical answer now we put it in logical format it's like asking let me give you an example it's like asking if some of you have got it I can see the smiles but it's like asking it's very simple actually it's like asking time space and causation what was there before time if you ask before time have already accepted time you're already within time otherwise you cannot ask before before and after a time words if you ask what is outside space the moment you ask outside space the question is wrong because you have already accepted space inside and outside our space words you can't have an outside space similarly when you say causation you can't ask why causation the moment you ask why you have already accepted an effect if there's no cause and effect you can't even ask why that's why that's why you see why all language operates in time space and causation all language operates in the realm of duality I hope if even if that doesn't satisfy it should satisfy the logician in you the heart is not satisfied the heart is satisfied only by enlightenment very good question that's really as deep as we can go question from the Internet audience thank you Bill and let me know when the food is ready we have some questions on karma on karma yes that's always a staple diet the first one is from David in Montreal Canada he has a question about the permanence of karma and samskaras what is the nature of the thread that connects connects samskaras to one Jeeva even after deep sleep even after death of the gross body how is karma earmarked to one Jeeva life after life I am curious as to the nature of this invisible yet resilient connection that we are trying to cut to attain enlightenment then from Shuba if we are all the same witness consciousness and we are all the same God within how does the law of karma affect us as the Lord is free from all rules he also has another question and secondly I want to ask what is the purpose of our life okay this is small one all right okay Suresh why do you think karma does not adequately answer the problem of evil as far as I am concerned the law of karma is a science and it is more than adequate to answer the problem of evil those are heavy questions I might forget to stay there if I forget I'll ask you to repeat the question the first question was the first one was about the permanence of common sense faster what is the nature of the thread what connects us he says when we fall asleep deep sleep I mean we wake up we have the same karma when we die and go on to other lives same Karma I might even include one more thing you know the Hinduism believes in a cyclical universe universe is created or projected Srishti and then it exists and evolves over a period of billions of years by the way evolution somebody asked a question I don't know if it's included this time it's included will come to that anyway so it evolves over billions of years and then finally to destroy the game and then there is nothing for a long time so if that happens then where does karma go if everything in the universe stars planets everything is destroyed even minds and all up this chart so you have to understand what is the meaning of creation existence and destruction in Vedanta creation existence and destruction in Vedanta is nothing but this get this it is the unmanifest becoming manifest that is called creation and existence the manifest going back to an unmanifest state it is called destruction so for example you shape back to the clay and pot you shape clay into a pot you say pot has been created it's not really creation ab initio it is just the the potential pot was already there in the clay you gave it form and when you smash the pot and your fragments left it has gone back to its clay clay nature it was clay earlier it is clay now it remains as clay but a form came appeared to us and we used it in particular ways to put water there and store it there and then the farm disappeared that appearance of the farm is called creation Shrishti that existence of that farm is called sthiti existence and the merging back of the farm back to its material cause part to clay we say ashes to ashes dust to dust that is called destruction so in Hinduism or in way in all of Hindu there is no question of creation of something out of nothing it's not like a rabbit being pulled out of a magician's hat there always was something the question is was it expressed or not expressed it was a seed the entire mango tree or the banyan trees in the huge trees in the seed but not physically in the seed as information we now we know modern biology tells us the entire information is coded in the Iranian DNA in our cells it just expresses itself give it air and light and nutrients and earth it uses all of that to express a potential already within itself similarly the universe is created now how to answer this question when we fall asleep from our point of view we go into a potential state the deep sleep we did the meditation today the mmm the ahh is called the physical state gross State who is called the subtle state and is called the potential State remember in the deep sleep potential state everything that you see and experience in your waking life in your dreams it is all there in the deep sleep just hidden when you switch off your computer all your data is there it's just not expressed not usable at that time when you switch it on it's not gone thank God when you switch it on it's all back there again similarly in deep sleep it is a potential state in Sanskrit a vector so karma does not disappear the tendencies which we are accumulated in our waking life they remain in deep sleep in an unexpressed seed form gada pada calls it be a seed in a seed form it remains and it sprouts when does it sprout God a father calls it the dreaming and waking is the sprout it was there the same karma same tendencies continue one more aspect of this karma is two aspects a personal aspect which is in our minds our tendencies but karma also has a cosmic aspect which will give us happiness and pleasure so Hadouken this lifetime and lifetimes to come it has created this body for us that that part of karma the cosmic karma is not in our individual minds according to dualistic Vedanta it is in the department of the Lord God one of the functions of God in Vedanta in theistic Vedanta it's called Karma action or karma data the one who gives the results of karma it's like your bank manager it's your money but it's kept stored safely we hope and your bank manager gives it out to you when you ask for it so there are deposits we make in the cosmic bank of our karma and we don't know that it's the unfortunately like not like our bank the cosmic bank does not give us a account statement at every month or something none automatically generated accounts no we don't know really what's happening there so it's there and it does not disappear now you will say what happens in the end when the universe is destroyed at the end of the universe then what exists only God exists with Maya remember destruction means going back to the unmanifest state the unmanifest state of the universe is called Maya Brahman with the unmanifest universe is called Ishwara God and God projects this unmanifest universe into this manifest form so karma is never destroyed it goes on even when the universe is destroyed if I have karma remaining I will remain merged in Maya no individual destruction and distinction but when the when the Lord creates this universe again he throws us out manifests us to play and work out our karma again and this goes on until you get liberation until you get freedom from this one Swami put it nicely that it's a cosmic hide-and-seek game what do you mean right now when the universe exists we are all playing we are searching for God and God has hidden himself herself itself whatever you call it with an indivisible three are possible so God is hidden the ultimate reality is hidden and we are playing now seeking and when the universe is destroyed at the end cosmic dissolution there's no real end because it's all cyclical it'll come back again in cosmic resolution we are all absorbed back into Maya God alone exists so God is there but we have disappeared we are hidden so God search went away did those fellows go and then he finds us and throws us out creates the universe again and hides and so this is cosmic drama of hide-and-seek which is going on karma is never destroyed there is a saying now hook thumb key at a karma Jun much a Takota Europe e even in millions of births karma will not be destroyed unless you it gives its results you will experience the results of your karma there's only one way out that is spiritual liberation so that is the idea of moksha Nirvana in Hinduism Buddhism and Jainism yes so that's the first question on karma the second question was remind making if we are all the same witness consciousness of me are all the same God within how does the law of karma affect us as the Lord is free from all rules answer is a very encouraging answer it doesn't affect you Swami Vivekanand this beautiful poem song of the sannyasi what does he say good good bad bad and none escaped the law that's the law of karma good good if you're nice the result is nice this life will be nice and after that you get to go to nice places heaven Beverly Hills or things like that and then if I am naughty then we go to the other place so bad bad and then he says scary he says none escape the law but whosoever wears our form you limit yourself body mind you become a person where's the chain to what is the chain the chain of karma cause effect cause effect cause effect endless chain every action has a sequence cause-and-effect it's fair its little pitiless but it's fair but here is the question and Swami Vivekananda says so so what's the point what's pedant the next line he says but far beyond name-and-form far beyond karma is Atman everfree know thou art that sannyasi bold say ohm that's at home Oh monk know yourself not as this person this person is subject to Karma but you are not subject to Karma you never we're subject to Karma you always we're liberated you are that infinite ever free consciousness say oh that's at ohm ohm that reality oh that is what I am so is the Lord ever free legs affected by karma no then you will say but I am the everfree Lord yes but I am affected by karma remember you are affected by karma as this person the whole tangle comes when we mix up the absolute with the relative as this person certainly whosoever wears a form wears the chain - but who all of vedanta goes to show you are not the person think about it we just did their meditation wake a dreamer deep sleeper Waker is trapped by karma even the dreamer is stabbed by a kind of karma because whatever things you taken in the waking stage that itself is played out as a dream like a virtual reality and deep sleeper deep sleeper doesn't seem to be affected by karma but remember it's all there it'll come up as waking and dreaming the seed is there till , pesters but the turi are the fourth which plays as these three that is not affected by karma you are not affected by karma karma is the script which you write to script a theatre to create your own Broadway and enjoy it but the director is not affected by the script whether the author of the script is not affected the playwright is not affected by the script it's something that he creates spontaneously what was the third and what do you think why do you think um it does not adequately explain the love explain evil this actually refers back to something I've said a number of times look it goes like this there is a question which is asked in all theistic religions if God exists why is there so much suffering that's the theistic dualistic form the more sophisticated philosophical form was what Bill asked little earlier why does that one absolute appear as all this why does the one appear as many if you are philosophical or if you could be just a person suffering in life you put the same question not in such a sophisticated philosophical way you say that if it all this is true God exists Vedanta is true or all of this religion is true then why is there so much suffering if you investigate a little more the structure of the question it seems to be God if God exists what kind of God a personal God a Creator God an all-powerful God and an all loving and good God what do we think of God as we think in all the theistic religions in Christianity Judaism in Vaishnavism in Hinduism in Shakti is immense in in shaivism in Islam in all of the religions or varieties of approaches within Hinduism which believe in personal God God is always seen as omnipotent all-powerful but also good and loving now here is the contradiction if God is all-powerful God can do everything and remove our suffering and if God is loving God would not want us to suffer then how is their suffering possible you see if God we're not loving God is a dictator all-powerful but not loving then we can explain suffering why is there suffering because the big guy wants it why does the big guy want it like that is he bad yeah he's bad and that was the conception of God in some primitive societies earlier before we went on to more advanced conception of God so Robert right right I heard a book called the evolution of God it's not that God has evolved it's it's that our our idea of God has evolved so um you've a kinda says God does not evolve but our conception of God evolves so our primitive conception of God was power all-powerful next conception of God was just as powerful but just you can see how the law of karma comes in there justice then even more advanced not only just but loving and forgiving so God becomes a little more cuddly this is a nasty tough guy to begin with and becomes nice and cuddly a grandfatherly towards there and but if the problem arises at that point if God is powerful and loving and nice then why is there so much trouble if on the other hand you say God is loving and nice but not powerful can't prevent this suffering unfortunately there is not much of a God hmm fired laid of underperforming the next performance review says he you're you're later you couldn't prevent suffering all-powerful all-loving leads to the problem of evil what is the problem for evil every religion has to explain if you have such a nice idea of God if such a God exists why is there evil in the world and many answers are there many many answers you might not think that there are many answers there's a whole branch of theology called Theo DC what is theodicy that branch of theology which tries to justify the ways of God to man now God needs lawyers God needs lawyers to defend him to us when we charge him with this and that God needs a lawyer dick so what are the answers I will not bore you with the answers not let the suffice is to say if you knew the answers you'd be underwhelmed you would not be convinced there is a professor called a professor Harmon Herman of the University of Hawaii Department of Philosophy there he wrote a book the problem of evil in Indian philosophy but he didn't limit himself to Indian philosophy he got these answers why is there evil why is there suffering in the world if God exists what what could be the answer he got not one or two or three but 23 answers from the different philosophies of the world different religions of the world even from literature he got 23 answers now the point is the last answer he takes up is the law of karma why is there suffering because of causality cause and effect we have done certain things the results of which we are getting good and bad we are doing certain things the results of which we will get why because it's cause and effect the world functions on causality so he says the law of karma is the best answer to this question why is there evil and suffering in the world look it protects God God is omniscient God is all-powerful God is all loving but he has given us the power of choice and the law of karma as we exercise our choice the law of karma comes and helps us or kicks us depending on what we do with it there he has added a chapter defects of the law of karma he has shown the defects of all the other 22 answers none of them are worth considering he says but the law of karma is he says it is accepted by all schools of Hinduism Buddhism Jainism Sikhism all the indications even in the Abrahamic traditions in Judaism and all you will find the the core of the law of karma as you sow so shall you reap it's there yeah then defects there are defects there are severe defects he has pointed out those defects in one chapter I will not go into that that's why I said it's not an adequate explanation of the problem of evil but I did not say it's a poor explanation in fact professor Harman says it's the best we have all the other explanations don't come up to that you know what are the explanations I'll give you some one is character making explanation God makes us suffer so that will be stronger suffering makes you stronger well in some cases it does but in many cases it does not a baby is born enough starvation prone area and starves to death how did it become stronger and animal suffers animals suffer helplessly a dog suffers and dies how did you become stronger so in many cases suffering does not really make you stronger it can just destroy a person so this is one of one answer another answer is no there is no suffering because this is the best of all possible worlds so God created the world but there is some limits to creation so the best he could do was this very poor I must say the Vaikuntha says in a fit of annoyance I could have created a better world so these answers there are 23 such 22 such theories different theories and which have been held by different philosophers theologians over over time so one is the freewill answer we have free will so we have created this mess that's a major answer the Catholic Church holds that so God has given us choice but then why is our choice so badly loaded that we are so prone to mistakes 99% are not Saints not 99 99.999% are not Saints because we tend to misuse this freewill why do we tend because we're so constituted why did God not constitute us all to be Saints we had free will we'll use free will and become saintly so even that argument is not so such so not so nice so these are the reasons why those are theories are discarded karma is taken as an explanation and it is a power as he says it is quite adequate but there are defects if you are interested in what are the defects of the law of karma you can go to that last chapter of Harmons book you will see here set it out yes but remember one thing I must say karma is not the final thing in spiritual life its causality remember this again and again Sri Ramakrishna did not like too much of karma talk I mean some said we get the result of what we have done and see ramakrishna says oh I see you are one of those kinds that kind of people you know what such people will think next I will get God realization if I do these things so the result will be God realization no God realization cannot be held as a result of your efforts it depends on the grace of God the Karma kind of calculation comes in I've done this and then the feeder comes in I have done so many things I'm going to get get it back now sri ramakrishna says the law of karma is transcended by the grace of god concentrate on guard on bhakti on spiritual realization if you don't like God and God talk then concentrate on the fact that as we're kinda says far beyond name and form is Atman everfree that one is beyond karma that that fourth one we talked about where is karma waking dreaming deep sleep in breaking dreaming deep sleep in consciousness itself is no Karma so you are actually free of karma stay with that if you like the path of knowledge or if you don't like that then stay with the god idea God is free of karma and will take us beyond karma hold on to God in the meantime it's good to know that cause and effect are real and be careful in life Swami Vivekananda work the machine so that the machine will set you free you can't run away from the machine it'll catch you and you'll get Mangal if you if you try to run towards the spokes at the at the axle of the wheel there is you can hold on to something if you move out too much to the spokes of the whirling wheel you get mangled by the law of karma crushed and twisted so all right I think I've answered all the three questions you want even follow-up question you know somebody yes please come and I'm the Sam if that's your name Sam Sann all of that is really great and everything you just said karma was fear up fear yeah I don't think commerce fear because how did my karma start that's my one you have to 45 years of seeking that's my one question right why do I suffer how did it start my ego my Karma that is a question which Shankar Acharya asks in his commentaries where he cuts down the law of karma ultimately you would expect a non duelist will not accept the law of karma either right because ultimately only Brahman exists and there's no Karma there so what are the questions he raises is karma is cause-and-effect right cause comes first in effect net later so there's a chain linked one to another then if you go back what is the RZA what is this the result of past Karma what was that the result of to come up in the life before then this question will come what Sam is asking how did it start how did it start it started how does any Karma start there's a chain which follow this is a chain which Shankara gives a vdr karma karma ignorant desire Karma what does it mean we do things and we get the results that is the law of karma but then the question comes why I'm not forgotten the question your question was a time question when did it start but before that I'm going into a little brand and how okay how let I'm taking up the Han integrity why how let me take up the wine how the ven will be explained by it so the how or the why and I'm talking about that now let's take instead of going back in time to the beginningless of the beginningless time or the creation of the universe let's take it right now any karma we do now why do we do it and the answer in Vedanta is because we want something it could be as simple as food clothing and shelter or it could be I want a cookie or I want to earn a livelihood I want a relationship we engage in Karma because we want this is in sanskrit called car karma action karma stands for both action and its results so karma is action and result Y comma desire ask why why do we have desire and the answer is are with their ignorance ignorance of what our poor data our complete infinite nature we are already that we don't know it we don't know it we don't feel it it's nowhere in sight for us and as a result we think we are limited and this person I need food I need protection I need praise I need people around me I need entertainment I need to stay young I need not to die so all of this comes from a sense of incompleteness smallness fine attune I find myself limited in time I will die limited in space and this little guy here is this vast universe and caught in causation time space and causation results keep coming to me so this is ignorant of India in Sanskrit of India now the chain is complete a video karma karma ignorant leads to desire why what's the link because ignorance makes me feel incomplete then how do I try to complete myself the big mistake I make is not looking at myself but looking at the world what do I find in the world I find a mind a person what do I find a body what do I find a world now this body and mind they need things and my spend the rest of my life feeding the body clothing the body satisfying the desires of the mind and that's what how it goes on and it generates Karma so remember the chain of it they are karma karma ignorance and ignorance not a physics chemistry or biology but ignorant of our real infinite nature leading to desire in between is incompleteness leading to desire and desire leading to karma and karma gives its consequences now I suspect Sam will ask Sam is going to ask how did it spa how if as how did it start I said karma started because of desire okay how did desire start it started because of the feeling of incompleteness where did this feeling of incompleteness come from because it comes from ignorance of our complete nature we don't know it now Sam's question there will be how did ignorant start then this ignorance you're finally driving it back to ignorant how did this ignorance come about horribly I'm residual how did the individual come about I've become an individual how God created me for his Leela yes so if you've answered your question if if God created you for you so the home is not fair the socom is not fair no wait wait karma is not fair in the dualistic world this question will come up because you are creating a difference between you and God but what we are doing in on dualism is that if there's no difference between you and God you as the person Sam run is subject to Karma but right within you the real you is present right there and the real you is not limited to the person Sam it's an infinite awareness which experiences itself as Sam now if it forgets itself that's ignorant then it thinks I am Sam and only Sam and then you're trapped but if you're not only Sam you are one consciousness here you are Sam there you are sham there you are ROM there you're John here you're Swami then you begin to have a sense of limitlessness and your sense of suffering and you know complaint goes down but let me come back to the interesting philosophical question if you push it further that way you say then all of it goes back to ignorant of our real nature as Brahman you might ask I am Sam and I'm comfortable with the fact and I have Sam's problems but now you are adding something new you are telling me that I have a Brahman nature I thought I was a pot you're telling me I am clay I have a Brahman nature now I have an additional question I have Sam's problems plus one more problem you've added how do I not know that I am Brahmin that I am the absolute that I am the ever trouble-free karma free consciousness how do I not know that the answer to that is a vdr ignorance and then Sam can come back with the first question okay the same question stands how did this idea come if I am the absolute how come I have ignorant right so how did ignorant begin ignorance leads to desire desire leads to Karma you know the chain of India karma karma now the question is how did ignorant begin and here the answer will annoy you the answer is it is beginningless there is no beginning to ignorance when I've heard this I know what is going in your in your minds and I had the same question that's a cop-out what you call in New York a cop-out you're not answering the question how did ignorant begin answer is it's beginningless they did not begin it has no beginning in time can you explain that how's that possible actually it's pretty simple any ignorant is beginningless is the professor J and mohanty is a philosopher he told me this very simple answer any ignorant is beginningless suppose I ask Sam do you know Hindi so know I'm ignorant of Hindi Swami now if I ask you since when are you ignorant of Hindi so before you were born you knew Hindi maybe in a past life but you have no knowledge of that no so every ignorant about your knowledge of ignorance so ignorant was there before your birth also right right any kind of ignorance is beginningless if I say I don't know Spanish I have an ignorant about Spanish when did this ignorant start beginningless but the point is ignorance can come to an end the moment I start taking Spanish lessons or sam takes hindi lessons the ignorance about Hindi begins to disappear but ignorant is beginningless so your question disappears into that beginningless ignorant but the point is you can do something about it you can remove that ignorant through knowledge and Vedanta provides or by only Vedanta any kind of spiritual approach provides that knowledge to break through that ignorant the monks in the Himalayas in question too deeply about this like Sam how did this ignorant come about how did Maya come about their answer is don't try to establish ignorance try to remove ignorance their answer in Hindi is again could see the math he GA again Cocotte EI try to cut down ignorant with knowledge don't try to look for the roots of ignorance you'll never find it in fact it's because the whole thing is an appearance you will find these fault lines everywhere if you probe too deeply you will end up with paradoxes even science is ending up ending up with paradoxes today when you probe really deeply you don't get a neat picture tied up the great logician could go tell the most brilliant mathematician logician of his time who is right here in Princeton in fact he was he is credited with that incompleteness theorem so I don't understand it at all it's it's terribly complicated mathematics but basically I gather the point of that whole thing is that if you have a consistent logical system it will be incomplete at some point and if you have a complete system it will be inconsistent at some point what do I mean by a complete system a dualistic devotional approach if you ask such questions why did this happen why did God create me where did karma start the answer always will be it's God's wish it's the play of God now if you admit that then it's consistent God is there whatever God does fine but it's not rational it's not complete there there's a there's a gap left there if you take advisor there is there is Ord right over you can put it this way though it is consistent is it logical and rational but it seems to be incomplete at one point there's an open this where my ax comes in and dorita is complete in one sense that yes if you admit God and God does anything so you anything can be explained by the wish of God it's complete but it is inconsistent yeah that that's the better way to put it that it's not very rational at that point you're giving up rationality you just saying yes able to believe this so we have to appeal to could God L to answer Sam's question how are we doing with the food situation okay we're good did you want to ask something else are you good for the time being you can come back and fall with your question okay oh that reminds me the internet audience we have a question we have a word one more question okay let's have that that question for the Internet audience hold your questions until September because the center is going to be closed there'll be no more ask Swami sessions in July and August and we will start again in September the last question from the Internet audience is from Quran he's 28 years old and an architect by profession and a student of philosophy by choice but the Gita says not to think of the results Vivekananda also says fix your goal finds the path and enjoyed the process but at the same time today certain principles such as visualization techniques encourage us to achieve our goals many decorated athletes for example have used this principle of visualization to achieve success is there any meeting point between ITA's philosophy and such psychological principles of visualization and if so can I focus on my desired goal during meditation so as to strengthen my desire or should I focus on Shunyata itself while meditating okay just hold it there the question as I understand is in karma yoga you're telling us that you should not have you should not be motivated by desire and perform the actions and worship of God and enjoy the process and yet we have all these techniques visualization techniques I think they are likely we want to become rich so imagine visualize yourself as a millionaire or something and then you set to work are more seriously athletes in sports psychology they talk about the power of this visual visualization your entire performance like a race or like a like a swimming or playing a game of tennis or something or you're a dancer you could you sit and meditate calmly and intensely visualize every movement every step of the way and then you actually do it you will see how powerful it is so are the two contradictory I want something and visualizing myself getting it is it does it contradict I don't want anything I will do it without a motive remember you are making a confusion here between what is the ultimate purpose of Karma Yoga the ultimate purpose of Karma Yoga is enlightenment God realization that is an end to all worldly desiring so there you cannot confuse it with worldly desires but you can use visualization so you're doing Karma Yoga suppose you are going to go out there and talk with a difficult person and and and deal with this person and solve the problems before you go into that if you sit and and roleplay it in your mind if you visualize it it'll be better definitely you can combine those visualization techniques with karma yoga there is a whole process of visualization in meditation in Veda it is said any work that you do just mechanically gives you lesser results any work that you do with visualization Vidya kerothi Satya that means using Vidya here is a kind of Vedic meditation it's basically an ancient kind of visualization if you do it with visualization do it with self up with awareness mindfulness that what becomes many times more powerful so visualization is definitely a powerful technique and you should use it in every aspect of your life if you have worldly desires and many have what's the problem then use visualization it will help you to perform better if you want to transcend worldly desires then use visualization to do your karma yoga or your meditation whatever you do in meditation what are we doing except visualization but that's visualization without worldly desiring visualization plus worldly desire will give you worldly results visualization without worldly desires the desire then there is a desire don't think there is no desire there's a desire for God somebody said desire for God is there then then it you have not given up all desires but soon Amma Krishna gets the answer the desire for God is not to be counted among desires he gave an example you take too many sweets Mishti in bengali takes to him in too many sweets it leads to acid reflux acid reflux acidity and then mystery what is it sugar candy he says if you take sugar candy that acts as an antacid that's also sweet so that should not be counted as a sweet because it it has an opposite effect it's a soothing effect it removes your acidity similarly worldly desires create the acidity of suffering the desire for God acts as an antacid it removes that's a suffering created by worldliness so it should not be counted as a as a desire Karma Yoga is performed for enlightenment right yes the food is really waiting for us now I think will be deal with that question for the time being there'll be a couple of announcements let me do the chant first and then a couple of announcements and then we will all go down for food Oh Shantay chanté chanté hey hurry he owned cats at sri ramakrishna Aparna Musto I pray to the Lord may the blessings of the Lord be upon all of us may the warm sunny days of summer be filled with joy and bliss and peace of mind until we meet again what would you say in German of be the same yes till we meet again in September may have a wonderful summer