Video 3

Ask Swami with Swami Sarvapriyananda | Jan 22nd, 2023

[Music] foreign [Music] all leaders from the unreal to the real lead us from Darkness unto light lead us from death to immortality om peace peace peace good morning and Namaste everybody good to see all of you and also we have an extensive virtual audience all over the world so it's actually people from all over the world who send us these questions which we try to answer only a fraction of which unfortunately and very unjustly I think but we are constrained by time and we haven't had these ask Swami sessions for a while now so I was told between the last one and this one nearly 1500 questions have piled up but our team does a really good job of classifying and selecting and giving me a few of them so Diane will read out as usual some of those questions we'll also have questions from the audience assembled here uh you have to raise your hand I'll call upon you come here and there's a microphone tell us your name and ask the question keep it short as far as possible we will first start with a couple of questions at least from the internet audience yes Dan okay is this audible enough no no it's I don't think yeah now it's on yeah okay so the first question comes from Mali kajuna k who seeks clarification on the position of Duality and advice in Havana shankara takes an uncompromising non-dualist position by saying there is no self no God no guru Etc which seems to treat these ideas only as practical but ultimately unreal concessions whereas SRI ramakrishna's vidyana seems to Accord equal ontological reality to both imminence and Transcendence without treating either of them as the ultimate swamiji would you please explain which position is the True Advisor all right this is a difficult one very philosophical deals with the very nature of existence of non-duality so first of all shankara does not deny the the days itself in fact Ankara says there's only the self if I know if you noted the question ultimately there is no self no guru true no guru none of the um you know persons things in this world only the non-dual Atman but Atman means the self the self is the only reality which exists the capital itself and it's non-dual now equal ontological reality to imminence and Transcendence so imminence and Transcendence what it would mean would be um Beyond this world there exists this reality call it God Brahman whatever it is so it transcends time space causation it transcends our perceptions of the senses it transcends this material world so in that sense transcendental it's beyond all this um religion defines God at the very least as transcendental Beyond this universe and imminent would be in and through this universe also so what is this universe if it's Transcendent the Ultimate Reality is beyond this universe and this universe is something separate from that but uh in vedanta that's why vivekantha said we Hindus worship a Transcendent imminent God Transcendent means Beyond this universe beyond time space causation Beyond Humanity Beyond limitation infinite but also imminent here here in and through everything so this universe is not a separate reality apart from God that would be a monstrosity actually why what would that would mean that the Universe the world is a Godless place and God is a limited being quite limited because if it's a something apart from the universe then God is a limit where does God stop where the universe begins so there are two realities God and the universe the universe is limited we all know but then you make this terrible mistake of making God limited that there is something apart from God all right and this is a very simplistic way of putting a theology inside multiple ways of getting around this but if you say no no this universe is not apart from God is here in this universe too as well as being transcended god let's use the word advaithik word Brahman Brahman means the Ultimate Reality literally it means the vast vast is equal to infinite infinite means not limited so it's right here in this universe also so how is it how is Brahman here in this new universe as imminent as constituting the inner reality the inner um You can call it the ontological reality or spiritual reality whatever of this universe um now notice even these words Transcendent imminent they all are from the perspective of the universe assuming there is a universe now this spiritual reality is non-dual Brahman you're talking about is it Beyond this universe yes so it's Transcendent is it in and through this universe yes then it's imminent but you're already assuming that there is a universe and in the uh in the non-dual in the non-dual position actually there is no Universe even these questions of transcendence and imminence have an element of ignorance to them [Music] it's like in a dream so we're suddenly told it's the dreaming mind which is dreaming of this entire universe in the dream the dream Universe now if I ask that oh so where is this dreamer is he part of this universe somewhere around this no no is beyond this the dreamer is dreaming and now we have a dream but not only Beyond this the dreamer is also imminent in the dream but in everything that you are dreaming everything that you see in the dream everybody every experience the dreamer is there because it's the dreamer alone who's appearing as this dream the dreamer's mind so the dreamer both transcends the dream and his imminent in the dream but if if the dream is not a reality at all in that case transcends what and is imminent in what it's a dreamer alone who's real not the dream now when if somebody says does one give equal ontological importance to Transcendence and imminence Brahman is beyond everything that's real Brahman is in and through everything that's real no that is not the non-dual position any kind of non-duality will have this crucial one crucial thing which is not it's not they will not compromise there cannot be any other ontological reality apart from him that's the meaning of non-duality not to not two existence Consciousness Bliss is the only reality take it take existence for example existence itself is the only reality there cannot be anything other than existence literally tautologically if you say there is something other than existence what would it be not existence well not existence does not exist anyway so now existence alone exists almost but like by definition so Brahman alone exists there is no 50 50 sharing of uh you know Brahman has some reality and the world has some reality then it's not non-duality however even within this strict um definition of Brahman is the non-dual reality no compromise with no sharing of existence alone exists then there's no second existence equal to Brahman apart from that even within this there is enough ground to play around philosophical metaphysically how one can take the extreme positions there is no Universe which has ever originated not very difficult to understand and how can you say there's no Universe here in the middle of a universe you're experiencing all this how can you say there is no universe well you can strictly speaking even when you see a dream when you see a movie when you read a book of fiction so in a dream I see people and good and bad things are happening I see the sky and the Earth and I can see myself in the dream but if you ask strictly speaking when you wake up and you know it was a dream did you really see a sky your eyes were closed how could you see our sky did you really see other people go and ask them that I saw you last night in the dream they'll think you're crazy no you must admit to yourself that you did not see a sky on Earth you did not see a people you did not see even your own body there from The Waking perspective the whole thing was imagination that's why we call it a dream so strictly speaking there were no other entities there in the dream except you the dreamer but you imagined it all there was only one the dreaming mind but you imagined and experienced experienced a dream a plurality of entities and experiences so from a strict ontological perspective ontological means being existence what really is from an ontological perspective there's only one there is no Universe no variety no second is right there is no Universe apart from Brahman rather than Brahman but then we can say how about the experience itself in the one dreaming mind we experienced I admit there was no second thing there but we experienced a duality we experienced people happenings Pleasant unpleasant I have memories of my dream I can talk to my therapist about my dreams extensively knowing he knows it's a dream I know it's a dream but we can talk about it because we have you know New York Times writes columns and columns about you know novels and fiction and literary criticism about things we all know is fiction we can then go and watch a movie and such a variety is experienced so fiction appearance is a category which is well understood also you can give importance to this appearance and talk about it and take it seriously as an appearance so that's the second level instead of saying that no Universe at all you can say universe is there as an appearance it's a lower level of reality Brahman is the real really real thing and the universe is not really real it's like a fiction it's like a dream it's like a you know like a snake in the rope and that's the second level there's the third level of taking the universe seriously where at the level of the appearance you take it to that extent you take it seriously because you are part of the appearance in this body and mind you play the game you go along with it like an actor on a broad in a Broadway play in the middle of the play We suddenly thinks what am I doing it's just it's a stage everybody's pretending there is no Lion King there is no baby lion there is no evil lion it's all just make believe well I won't tell my lines or I'll make up new lines as I go along or I'll do whatever I like no then you will ruin the play and get fired too so you go along with the play and you do a good job then you're a good actor knowing full well that it's a play now if you take it seriously that's yet another level of reality so which one will you do the gold up are the uh the first level where you do not give any importance at all to this appearance and you stick to the fact that it's one existence Consciousness place and I am that you can do that that is called the theory of non-origination he held on to this very strictly in some forms of zocchin Buddhism also it's like a magical display there is only the Buddha nature there's only existence Consciousness place that's one second is it's a dream oh it's magnificent it's a play it's a movie enjoy it enjoy the happiness enjoy the sorrow it's a delight pleasure pain samsara all of it is like a like a display like a dream and the third one is no not only enjoy it engage with it with full knowledge of your freedom with full knowledge that you are Brahman you know like shankaracharya says so there are three categories of enlightened being this I'm drawing from an essay by Swami gambhirananda he was the 11th president of our order so there he says the enlightened person he draws from an example a parable given by SRI ramakrishna what are enlightened people like so he says there were three friends who are walking along there's a high wall and they want one point they became curious what's beyond you know what's transcends this so with great difficulty one of them climbed up on top of the wall and he looked beyond and he shouted in delight and he jumped on the other side and disappeared and these two were left looking at each other you know what was that and they became even more curious what was that so the second person climbs up he dances in delight and jumps on the other side the third person with great difficulty climbs over what's going on here and he sees this sudama Krishna says a Mart of Joy a festival in India you have to think about what's called a mela you know in villages suddenly the it's suddenly magic comes to your drab Little Village there is a festival there are shops there are jugglers there's it's a lot of fun but it comes and goes so it is there it has come and he sees this and it's such fun he too wants to he shouts in Joy he wants to jump over then he thought what about the poor people back there who will tell them and who will show them this here's the solution to all your the Sorrows of Life there is so much joy fulfillment freedom so it does not jump over he turns around and comes back into our tired little world to tell us this the good news now gambiranji says there are three kinds of enlightened beings there are those who discover the truth they are enlightened they realize this infinite existence Consciousness Bliss like shankaracharya sings I am blessed I am Consciousness unlimited blessing Consciousness I am Shiva I am Shiva they see that actually and they want to remain absorbed in that why because godapada has taught us what else is there that's the only thing that's there if you're strictly logical that's the only thing that is there and stay there so they might remain absorbed in samadhi and soon give up this body also so they are the ones who jump over that wall and could disappear then there's the second kind of enlightened being says those who see this world they realize I am Brahman but they see this world as a dream as a magic show as an illusion and what fun it is see ramakrishna talks about the monk who came enlightened being childlike you know it gives a very beautiful description he was dressed in drags and he had such a pure childlike face and always enjoy and smiling he would stay most of the time in his little Hut in meditation but once in a while he would come out and look at the sky the river the ganga where SRI Ram Krishna lived the temple and the trees and Shout with joy Bravo Bravo in he would say in you know why here is this one pure subject appearing as the objective Universe here is this eternal existence Consciousness Place appearing as a continuously changing samsara here is this pure being appearing a sky and Earth and River here is this unlimited Consciousness appearing as a myriad of conscious entities here is bliss appearing as misery sorrow the pursuit of pleasure what a wonderful display amazing and so he shouts in Delight he would sometimes says this monk would roll on the sand you know in he couldn't control his laughter what fun what fun and then he would go back into the hot he didn't go out and he he had acknowledged it that he sees it but he didn't go out and you know open schools and colleges and hospital and and give people teachings about vedanta he didn't because it's not real too it's a display and then there's the third one Swami gambhir on the rights Third Kind of enlightened one who's the one who came down from the high wall and came back to us is the one whose heart melts in um sympathy for our sorrows so he takes this appearance seriously and reacts to it appropriately these are the world teachers they are the reason why we are here today by all temples churches meditation halls and all the scriptures of the world why do they exist because of that third category and of course there we make hierarchy we make hierarchies some are jivan muktas enlightened beings free while living some are avataras but these are our categories all right so that's my answer to the question SRI ramakrishna in the Spectrum where would he fall so in the Spectrum wherever default it sounds like that what is that DSM or something the the mental illness this spectrum of mental illness in which which part would srirama Krishna found well he would fall on this part of taking this world seriously so he takes this seriously and so do we Vivekananda and others so not only to to teach and share but also not just spiritual knowledge but all of it once you have this helpful mode you would want to help in every possible way not just give vedantic or some teachings but also schools for the unlearned and illiterate or hospitals to take care of the sick the hungry and the poor and so on so your helpfulness does not stop here well this is not vedanta it's outside the syllabus you can go elsewhere no so that's the answer well in fact if you want to put it in one sentence if one can would just say that sudama Krishna gives more emphasis on the imminence aspect of it and shankara and gowda pada gave more emphasis on the Transcendent aspect of it one teacher said he gives actually SRI ramakrishna gives equal emphasis on both the Transcendent and the imminent the second question is from me to be the seventh verse of the ashtavakra samhita says that you are the Seer of all the eighth verse says you are not the Doer then who is the doer of action [Music] you are but yesterday you're not the doer Well you aren't there's the story of the judge you know the man came before him with a accusation against somebody else that person does this this that and the other he is guilty and the judge said you're right and the defendant was annoyed you haven't even heard me hear me out I haven't done it I am being improperly accused and so on the judge said you're right and and the judge's wife was listening at the back and she whispered to him from behind him are you crazy how can they both be right are you mad you are right too [Music] yes so how are you the doer and how are you not the Doer first of all what would advaita vedant say about this and clearly it says that you are not the Doer ashtavakra is he that's the seventh verse and eighth verse I don't remember the Sanskrit it's something like the duet idea of that I am the doer is the is the black cobra is the dark serpent uh you uh escape from this and take refuge in the the knowledge that I am not the doer now what does this mean why is it so bad being the doer because the moment I am the doer I am this person and I'm engaged in action moment I'm engaged in action I am under the law of karma karma is upon me nobody is free Vivekananda says whosoever wears a form what you've been wearing a farm I'm wearing a t-shirt but what's the phone the body the body whosoever wears the farm wears the chain to what's the chain good good bad bad and none escaped the law this law of karma so the moment I I see myself as a doer I'm responsible for what I do whether the law catches me or not whether the IRS catches me or not the it's inexorable it's inexorable the mission the Machinery of nature religions call it karma they call it the wrath of God or whatever you call it but it's inexorable cars will have its effect actions have consequences actually this good news you are not the doer you're never aware moving on the rights in the same paragraph of the poem he says but far beyond is Atman ever free far beyond name and form is Atman ever free no zawar that sannyasi bold say om that's at om how so now there's the in the movie there's the hero doing heroic things there's a villain doing villainous things they are doers and they will get their reward the hero will get the reward and the villain will get the punishment but if it's a movie it's a screen it's light and pictures on a screen there is no hero there is no villain there is no villainous Deeds there is no heroic Deeds either there is only one Limitless screen of light and picture and shot you know Shadow and sound similarly from the non-dual perspective you are Limitless being you are existence Consciousness place vivekantha says something that could be shocking you know he says he says all that was done in the past forget it it has no existence anymore Let It Go just be careful not to do it again be strong the results will keep coming from the past so be strong to withstand the results because they are not real anyway they are also part of the movie the future doesn't exist also the past doesn't exist also in one sense in that case there is no presence there's only one reality Beyond time so that's what he says so that's from the advaithic perspective the show of the world there is karma cause and effect but beyond the show of the world it's a show there is only one reality which is you the existence Consciousness place so in that sense you are not the tour but in the movie in the story there are doers and there are actions and there are consequences now as long as we do not realize that we are that it's a story that it's a movie as long as we think I am only this person here is the world and here is what I have done in the past and what I'm doing now and I'm getting consequences of my past actions how I see what's happening in my life good and bad things are happening there are consequences of my past action so what has happened is the background existence Consciousness place that I am the Atman is forgotten obscured this is ignorance I don't know that I am Brahman I just think I am this person so Brahman Brahman nature obscured identified with Body Mind thinking of itself as a doer yes in that sense you are the tour because you're clearly getting the results of your actions once we are enlightened we realize we are not the tour however it's the real thing is neither ignorance nor knowledge because the enlightened ones are safe they know they are not the Doer the online enlightened ones are not interested anyway they're not here the problem is with us in between we realize that all right there is this way of going Beyond Karma Beyond causation Beyond limitation and in some sense ultimate sense I am not the doer I'm not I'm I'm beyond the law of karma Beyond samsara however right now I don't feel it I'm not getting those benefits I still feel practically that I am the doer and I am suffering in the world now what do I do I really feel I'm the Doer and until we get enlightened we can't break out it's not it's impossible you'll keep feeling that you are the Doer then why will you feel because we are identified with the party identified as a very philosophical way of thinking this simple statement we think we not even think we are within quotes the body mind and therefore we are doers and we are caught here then what so here comes the beautiful powerful method of Karma Yoga move from in Sanskrit it's called sakam with desire doership into no desire to worship since you cannot escape from the feeling of being a doer I'm talking I can't honestly say that I don't have the feeling that I am not that I'm talking I can't say that I am the witness Consciousness and there's no talking nothing it's just an appearance I can't right now very strongly say that you feel you are identified with the body mind in that case move from doership with desire to do a ship without desire in Sanskrit from succumb to nishkama let go of Desire what is there to desire in this world of appearances either they are all appearances the stuff of dream and illusion or they are nothing other than you they are already you the people in this world the desirable things and activities and places in this world they are you just as everything experienced in a dream is the dreamer what is there to um to desire in this world what is there to be afraid of in this world also it will not affect you at all you will still be perfectly safe not as the body the body will die will still be perfectly safe as the Atman so have no desire make a beginning there say I want nothing I am limitless the all is in me I am in all I understand vedanta at least even if I don't feel it even if it's not a living reality for me yet I get it and so this is my view and I'm trying to be at least desireless I want at least you can say that I Want to Be Free of want so I'm trying to be desireless I want to be free of one and then act from that perspective that's difficult enough make a beginning there so that is the answer to the question who is the tour and even after all this there's a one witness Consciousness this world of appearance even then if you want an accounting still still things are happening in the world and I strongly feel there must be a doer give me one answer at the end in ignorance we think we are the to it in absolute knowledge there is no doer is the world of appearances but ultimately can you give me one doer can you put everything all the accounts in the name of one one person one do or somebody and the answer in that case would be if you really want an answer God is the only tour there is one ishwara so what's the relationship between this Ultimate Reality and God God is that Ultimate Reality but with a personality what a personality it's the cosmic so that same Consciousness with the cosmic mind and this Cosmic body is the one acting through all bodies thinking through all Minds speaking through all tongues real doer is God and if you ask God so you are the real doer God will send who me no because God is fully enlightened all the time God knows that I am that absolute reality we don't know that we are that absolute we are we don't know we are Brahman if these things are getting mixed up Sanskrit terms are very clear Brahman or nirguna Brahman is the absolute reality God is called saguna Brahman ishwara and we are sentient beings Jiva the sentient beings can be under ignorance or can be enlightened jivan mukta the enlightens and tnp God is always enlightened no and being enlightened also one interesting thing we can link it back to the earlier question there are three kinds of enlightened beings those who don't see the universe at all and want to be merged in Brahm and always remain as the absolute in the what one might call the Transcendent those who see the universe and people and their own bodies like a magic show as a delight and those who take it seriously and are full of sympathy and helpfulness which one is God God is the third one that's why after all the enlightened beings the Third Kind are those who are most Godlike were beneficial to everybody else and then try to be helpful can we take a question from the audience who would like to come yes um come here and ask the question and then we'll take the one from the lady at the back next wait tell us your name and ask the question my name is Mira thank you Swami for sharing with us I've been here before when you've shared with us adapt um other swamis and their routines and their life I'm interested to know what is your daily routine what is your meditation and how has it evolved it's pretty simple all the monks what their daily routine is I have the same one I get up early in the morning I met chant meditate I study and then it's the ashram work whichever ashram we are in then there will be a component of devotional practices for us it's the arati here in the Indian ashrams much more elaborate and there is vedantic study again in the evening I meditate so that's it so all the monks have all these what do they do they meditate they are devotional sometimes ritualistic also they they study and they work what is your meditation more than that I'm not going to tell you fair enough the lady there and then we'll go back to some more we'll take it next and then we will go back to some more questions from the internet audience tell us your name and ask the question um and thank you for having us here um I've actually been the the conviction that art is more real than real life itself has been growing within me for the past few months so what you were talking in response to the first question really resonated um what I'm thinking about is just as artists practice their art so as to create it better uh to create the sense that the representation of reality is more real than reality itself is akin to how the yogi or the the one who's meditating practices their meditation focusing upon something that seems not real but is like latching on to for example for example with Japan you dwell in the name of the god which is like dwelling in a poem for instance um in chapter 6 Arjuna asks Krishna about the chanchala of the mind and krishna's response isena um what is the nature of this abhyasa um even in chapter 12 when Krishna says it's much harder for those contemplating upon nirguna Brahman versus saguna Brahman so you start with like and then if you can't do that then do abhyasa and then if you can't do that but isn't it also the case that in order to be able to do said that itself requires a pyasa so what is the abhyasa that one needs to go about also in response to arjunan chapter 6 Krishna after abhiasina he also says and I'm thinking of the qualities of a student the six categories and mumukshu and this this is related to what you were saying about desirelessness because isn't itself a desire for Liberation okay there are multiple questions some really good questions let me start with where she started with or are you an artist yeah okay what do you do I I dance you dance very good um so art before we go on list of word about art there are two sides to this one is from a spiritual perspective not particularly helpful another is it could be very helpful so the best kind of art is that which has a link to the Transcendent to the spirit there is some element that that comes into this art Whatever It Is Dance painting writing where there's a glimpse into something Beyond standing on that wall and looking Beyond to the other side and then you bring it back because you can't show them what you saw on the other side you try to express it through your language through your dance through your painting so that art that painting that language that dance has an element of the Transcendent of the infinite in the world of the finite so art can do that and Vivekananda he told sister nivedita assistant rights that our Master told us religion Art and Science are three ways in which you can reach the infinite there are three ways of doing the same thing except that you need a dwighter to understand this if it's a dualistic religion it will it can use art to serve its purposes but it will not say that art itself will take you to Enlightenment art itself will take you to Enlightenment but it must have it must be that kind of art with that intention that I am reaching for the infinite I'm trying to express the infinite I'm trying to embody the infinite like shopping hours said do your words come from more words or do your words come from Silence the words coming from Silence are the real art which is somewhere there's the touch of the infinite there so that's the best kind the other kind is not helpful what kind that was the movement in the 20th century the death of God a nietzschean death of God there is no God no religion no spirituality it's gone although I don't think nietzschemented in that crude sense but anyway that's how it was taken now how do we replace that and we replace it with art with Society with politics with activism with um you know there are there was this huge effort in the 20th century to find some replacement for God didn't work the conclusion 100 years later this didn't work there is nothing that will fill up the God's shaped hole in the human psyche except God the only shape that can fill up that God shaped hold is the shape of God and I can't resist that joke about the Buddhist who filled up the god-shaped hole with a whole shaped God hold the zero the empty the void now the question was one of two questions what is the nature of this um in art and in spirituality we require the mind and our faculties our sense organs and all of that but these are very much part of this world the mind and all they are they partake of the material world whatever partakes of the material world must follow material rules the rules of this this universe so cause and effect you must generate a powerful enough cause which will give a powerful enough effect you know the psychologist um height Jonathan height in that book happiness hypothesis she says why is it that all these wonderful ideas about self-help and self-improvement don't really work you know Barnes and Noble you'll find the biggest role or shelves and shelves of books around self-help anything you know like if you just see one rack of such books it's enough to make your life you might become this super person but it doesn't happen doesn't happen why not the reason he says is that that is the intellect which consumes these books is a heart which feels inspired by these books the benefits of getting up early in the morning and doing yoga the benefits of reading a lot the benefits of you know being altruistic benefits of focus and so many things and the wonderful if you read all that the great ideas are great and you feel oh I really want to be like that and this is a great idea great techniques what's the problem the problem is when you have to do it it's not the intellect which has to do it and to get up early in the morning and do yoga it's the body which has to do it and when you get up in the early in the morning it's tomorrow in the morning I'm going to get up and do yoga at 4am in the morning or 5 a.m it's cold and you're tired and sleepy and it's time to do yoga the body says Nope did you ask me you you go and do a yoga or intellect yeah you can do it in your dreams I am sleeping here under the cover now Jonathan Hyde points out that the body and the other elements of our being like emotions and like you know the lower mind they do not respond to ideas Unfortunately they don't respond to ideas even the Mind does not respond to ideas for example focus is great I'm convinced but the mind is not focused why not I'm convinced the mind which is convinced no the intellect is convinced that's one part of the Mind the other part of the mind is Habitual and that's a great key to how these things work how does the Mind work how does how do emotions work how does the body work they operate on habit why do they operate on habit habit is inertia habit is generated by causes and it's the effect of several causes in the past and that's how the universe works Body Mind are part of the universe so to his intellect when intellect is little satwik higher um so how do we how do we get the body and the mind and the emotions to cooperate in our big projects training the word for training in a Sanskrit Isa it is Jonathan height says the mahut and the Elephant the mouth knows where to go he's got the GPS and the Google Maps elephant doesn't know where to go the elephant you have to guide the elephant to that place where you want to go but the elephant is much stronger than the mouth if the elephant doesn't want to go there's nothing that the mouth can do to drag the elephant there then how will the elephant listen to the mouth the elephant responds to training the elephant has been trained the elephant of the body the elephant of our emotions and our lower mind they respond to abhyasa that which is really difficult for us put in the requisite it will become really easy for us it's really easy for us to remain cozy in bed and nap early in the morning and I've seen so many monks for whom it's impossible to do that I have seen a monk at the point of death in the hospital old Swami point of death he sits up in his hospital bed and faces the wall I've seen this literally faces the wall and sisters Rock Steady in meditation for two hours I think we Marvel how is that possible the thing is it's abhyasa he cannot not do it he's been doing it for 60 years 70 years That's The Power of abhyasa you use this secret that body responds to Habit emotions respond to Habit the Mind responds to Habit and train that just takes a lot of meticulous work for and it has to be done systematically the the essence of practice the essence of abhyasa is repetition do it again and again so that the cause becomes strong enough the effect will follow you put a Groove replace other grooves with a New Groove which you put into the mind is very important because what really ties us to this world will say ignorance you do not know the you know your real nature as pure Consciousness that's what ties you to the world Theory Theory practically the nasty part of all of this is what ties us to the world is desire what is desire Vivekananda says thine only is the hand that holds the rope that drags thee on you are holding on to the word you are holding on to the body you are holding on to this limited existence that's why when we are told about your unlimited awareness either we don't want to listen to it people find it upsetting when we are told the world is an appearance an illusion a dream so many people become upset they don't want it I want to be spiritual but I want this world to be real too they don't want it I can understand why why people in the world might be upset um when you say the world is false it's an appearance and but why would a genuine spiritual Seeker be upset good riddance good for good news the world is an appearance what's the big deal it's desire I'm holding on so vairagya is dispassion let go let go there is nothing here worth holding on you are hurting yourself you are being dragged Along by a phantom or very very very ancient verse beautiful verse you know what it says it says you are immersed in the ocean of bliss alas you do not see what do you see you see the water of a mirage and Chase it Jays after It lifetime after lifetime what is this Mirage the word samsara it's like the the water of immortality you are immersed in it you don't see it what do you see you see samsara which is the water of a mirage not there what's a mirage it's not there there's no water there you see water of the Mirage and it I'm trying to quench my thirst and chasing that obviously I'll never get it because it's not there and then what do I do I try and try and try till the body is old and decrypt it and you cannot do anything more and it breaks down and it dies I go out into the world into the other worlds with this powerful desire that that hunger and thirst for that Mirage water and I embody myself again and again and again this is samsar that's why vairages is the antidote Vivekananda says the color of the Monk's robe is the color of freedom let go of the rags of worldiness which you are wearing so this is that you don't have to put on this color the thing is color the mind with this color the color of freedom whether externally you become a monk or but internally one must the one who has become a monk must first become internally among and all of us who are spiritual Seekers must internally become this monk like this is called let's go of small things if you want the infinite you will dwell within it literally what does it mean to let go do I throw everyone out of the house and toss my furniture and my belongings out onto the curb no everything will remain everything will remain as such but you are no longer looking to it at all for fulfillment you will do your duty where you are you'll do your best for everyone around you in your family in your community in your office Wherever You Are that also becomes a spiritual practice for you you don't look to them or those things or those activities for as the goal of your life that this is going to fulfill me no spiritual realization Enlightenment God realization becomes the goal of Our Lives that's real spirituality what's not real spirituality is using spirituality to enhance our worldliness friends ancient times religion is of these two kinds and it's good both of them are there in the ancient karmaconda there was the vast ritualistic panoply the paraphernalia of The Vedic rituals with the ancient Vedic Hindus used to perform for what not for very noble goals Let There Be adequate rainfall let the crops be bountiful let the children be safe from disease and let my enemies perish and after all of this a full Wonderful Life In This World let me go to heaven and have more of this this was the idea God will help me to in that in those days it was the ritual itself not even appealing to God and then there was the spirituality of the upanishads which we are talking about here vedant and all based on the upanishads but no no no I'm not looking through this limited word I am streaking to transcend it and realize who I am this infinite being and therefore I go beyond all want there's two kinds spirituality for improving my my life in the world and spirituality and my life for attaining Spiritual realization the reverse and the same is true now people don't really not many people perform those elaborate Vedic rituals they are sort of outmoded but here in the United States especially on the other coast we have this entire very popular spirituality and I'll make myself unpopular by saying these things whether it is foretelling the future and you know dwells and crystals to set right my karma are knowing the minds of other people or ability to control their thoughts and attract other people or to win the lottery notice all of those are trying to use other world so-called otherworldly means to achieve very this worldly results these this worldly results will come anyway but they are not to our liking because I haven't done enough Good Karma to deserve all these things I want want more so I want some kind of spiritual ways of attaining something let me fix the game of karma so that it works in my favor now the old Vedic religion rituals I dare say it had the advantage of actually working to some extent at least to some extent there's no ultimately it will disappoint you because it's all limited whether this world or the next world everything comes to an end and leaves you with a bitter taste and with unhappiness but the new age spirituality some of it I'm not condemning it at all but some of it it's just plain hoax it's just plain hoax playing upon the gullible playing upon the weak playing upon the suffering giving them hope and then making dollars out of it money out of it be strong you don't need any of it you are the infinite why do you need these little things why do you need this little magic tricks why do you need these little ghosts and spirits no you are that mastered they belong to you and the genuine spirituality is still there which is my life for Spiritual realization not those spiritual stuff for improving this particular little life this is always throughout human history it's been like this now why did I say it was good well even if you are going to guard for this worldly gain you at least have a faith in God that much that much goodness is there those who go to a temple or a church or something and try to pray for curing a disease or get winning the lottery or whatever is they have faith in God they're helping they're asking for the help of God to that extent it's good but still it's worldliness all right thank you so wait argue is absolutely necessary [Music] let's take a couple of questions from the internet audience and then we will go back the gentlemen that you wanted to ask a question and the lady here you wanted to ask her don't forget your questions dang this question is from Dr indraki B swamiji thank you for your insightful and easy to understand sermons my question is related to your discourse on the advice of philosophy and Buddhism if Buddhism believes in reincarnation then why does it not believe in an Atman what is it that Buddhism believes is reincarnated if not the Atman it is unlikely that Buddhism believes it is the Mind Body that reincarnates please explain now the answer is in the question it's the last part the body doesn't reincarnate the body dies it goes to Pieces it is burned cremated buried whatever you call it now if we as Hindus say this the Atman which is reincarnated the self the Buddhist will immediately ask really the self is changeless you yourself say to the Hindus how can it changeful change less self be incarnated and reincarnated it's a kind of change right the Atman Must Be steady Beyond any change Beyond any coming and going how can it be reincarnated rather what the Buddhist proposes is so Buddhist will first the strategies and this I'm quoting ancient debates the strategy is first to attack the opponent's position you are saying without a permanent self you cannot explain reincarnation oh Buddhist you believe in the Incarnation then how can you reject the idea of a permanent self so the Buddhist first says can the idea of a permanent self support reincarnation and then he will show very very logical steps it can't the idea of a permanent self and the right idea of being born and living and dying and being born of it again they are not compatible they don't go together physical body is dead then what is going from body to body lifetime to Lifetime it cannot be a permanent self permanent cells cannot change reincarnation is change then the Hindu will say okay wise guy tell me what's your solution and the Buddhists will say actually our solution is logical what it is like is not that some particular entity is being reincarnated it's more like a process moment to moment the the subtle body the sentient being is perishing and another exact copy is being created that exists for a moment and it perishes and another exact copy is being created and those copies had retained the impression of the past copies so they all feel they're very similar so this there you give an illusion of continuity it's like a good example is when you shake a rope you see a wave going like this through the Rope it's not that the Rope here is now going there at every point the Rope comes up and it's a way of being propagated similarly um the Buddhist says it's like a wave being propagated a set of Impressions set of characteristics it goes forward once a physical body falls apart the subtle body also is moment to moment arising and disappearing and it brings with itself we'll say no no consciousness is in the background no every moment it comes up with its own Consciousness flashes of consciousness in fact the the phrase stream of Consciousness is very it applies very well to the Buddhist idea there is actually a Sanskrit word for ancient Sanskrit term for that the momentary stream of momentary consciousness flashes of Consciousness and that takes up with with memories thoughts how are those memories and thoughts encoded with a matter with a subtle matter which is being appropriated moment to moment none of it is permanent it's just an Impulse which is transmitted and that takes up a new body which will live for a while again disappear die it's like the waves in the ocean so um that's the answer from the Buddhist side so there's no real solution from the Hindu dualist side it's only the advaitic answer which which gives um the right answer the the vedantic advaithic Brahman existence Consciousness place you're right it says to the Buddhist that's not incarnated that neither is born nor does it die and you are right what is incarnated is continuously changing it's that appearance of mind body the body dies moment I mean lifetime to Lifetime to Lifetime and the mind is continuously changing mind is a stream of subtle matter thoughts the body is a stream of physical matter that falls apart after some time the subtle matter goes on so it's the as the Buddhist said there is this mind which goes from um from Lifetime to Lifetime in Sanskrit it's called a subtle body and that's always changing that's that's a complex entity capable of change and it survives physical death of the body and it goes on from Lifetime to Lifetime that that embodies the Jiva the sentient being what's the danger of making concessions to clever people you've made a concession that yes you're right then the Buddhist will say aha so if it is the subtle body which only goes from Lifetime to Lifetime to Lifetime that explains everything why do we need your Atman Brahman Consciousness get rid of it come to our camp welcome to the Buddhist Camp you were our Hindus have become Buddhist and then there is the reply from the advaithic side if it is a series of the many arguments but if it's a series of flashes of Consciousness what's a flash it is the beginning and an end right momentary then another one it's discrete series one two three four not continuous there's a whole argument between continuous Consciousness and discrete Consciousness flashes of Consciousness and continuous Consciousness if you are given that way the Buddhist would say yes what's the problem in flashes of Consciousness the problem is if it's a Flash and the next flash there's a gap between the two how would you know there's a gap if you don't know there is a gap then then say it's continuous but I would speak about a gap if you know there is a gap to know there must be Consciousness and that Consciousness must be there in the gap yeah there's no really no other way around this argument and there are other arguments also how about recognition if every flash is discrete and separate in that case there is no continuity who is in bondage and who attains Nirvana who is the one who suffered who had the past Karma and why should I suffer the results of this the past Karma because I am not literally the one who did that Karma it sounds very weird so it falls apart if you push it little further there must be a unifying background uh next one there are three questions on Consciousness and it's kind of just go through both very good Dr Daniel D asks or says I'm a devoted follower of your Talks on YouTube but when you say all is an appearance in Consciousness what do you mean Sir James jeans the late physicist said that we are an idea in the mind of God might this be something like what you mean by an appearance in consciousness also is it permitted to think about characteristics of awareness slash pure consciousness for example I think of pure Consciousness as loving is pure Consciousness active and thinks and therefore creates all that is and then mangesh asks how let's just take that one first the slot there so what do you mean that purecon things appear in pure conscious I mean just that look at your experience right now one way of understanding our experience right now are things appearing in consciousness here I have people colors and shapes space and depth appearing in Consciousness in I have sound appearing in Consciousness appearing means being experienced that's all I had a sense of a body and warmth and all appearing in Consciousness is it warmth you can put on the fan it's right behind you you want to put on the fan yeah right isn't that how we experience life as experiences and what is an experience things appear in consciousness that's what Consciousness is you know things appear in Consciousness things disappear in consciousness presents an absence of objects of experience that's what life is all right now um we are an idea in the mind of God James Jean said that is it something like that no no not quite because the mind I'm not saying that it's like thinking and it's just things appear in Consciousness is not a fancy way of thing that we think of things no the Mind appears in consciousness and literally this is what I mean in deep Sleep for example the Mind does not appear it goes to sleep the external world does not appear only you exist but there's nothing to experience there's just the absence you can say in one and sometimes other things say that the absence is experienced in deep sleep it's not an experience of absence it's not an absence of experience rather deep sleep is an experience of absence if there is experience there must be consciousness there's no possibility of any experience without consciousness so things appear in Consciousness the mind also appears in Consciousness can we say Consciousness is loving only in a rather peculiar sense to be loving you must be a person with a mind and a heart and emotion but the impersonal Consciousness is loving in only in this sense like the sky is loving for example the vast Blue Sky it is spacious and inclusive of anything and everything to exist physically you must be in space so space in that sense is all inclusive in that sense pure Consciousness is is loving because it is vast and spacious and luminous and therefore it enables all things to exist and Reveals All Things in that sense but it's a very philosophical way of saying loving what was the last part also is it permitted to think about characteristics of awareness no it's not permitted why not why not characteristics are in nyaya language their quality is Guna qualities qualities belong to substances so the table is brown this one is brown brown is the characteristic but where does the brown exist not in this it's not floating in the sky it exists in this table in the altar this flower is pink white and pink where do the white and the pink exist in the flower they're not floating in the sky characteristics exist in substances this is sort of basic philosophy now if you say there are characteristics in Consciousness they must be existing in some substance and we'll say yeah I told you they exist in Consciousness but if the characteristics are objective because you're speaking about it the substance also must be objective then it cannot be Consciousness it's an object to consciousness characteristics will be always be existing in objects objects have characteristics characteristics exist in objects and they are revealed to Consciousness Consciousness itself is not an object and therefore does not have characteristics the next question um and mangesh asks how can we be sure that this waking World appears in Consciousness and not in the mind like our dreams because the mind also appears in consciousness um notice notice the dreams also appear in consciousness nothing really can appear in a mind without Consciousness I mean what's a mind just tell them the crudest example you just think right now A B C D I just thought a b c d a b c d is just like mental talk to experience it it must be Lumen by Consciousness you experience the mind saying a b c d a b c d if the mind if things are appearing in the mind to experience them there must be Consciousness so ultimately dreams are also illumined by Consciousness without Consciousness no dream can be experienced you see I don't want to get into it just look at the difference between what has been achieved this is we are living in the age of chat GPT I was playing around with it yesterday amazing thing and when um gentlemen asked me so what do you think this chat jbt is intelligence like it's it's well behavior is so intelligent far far more than your Google you know you can ask you to do things and it does it for you students are delighted all their assignments it can be done and and I have heard I've got reports that there are academic meetings taking place in academic departments across the world right now emergency meetings how do you deal with students turning in beautiful assignments all written by AI not by them so they are Banning it now it won't work Banning it won't work only temporarily um how do you distinguish it from consciousness notice this is I said this is a powerful argument for vedanta why just vedanta foreign for The Unique nature of consciousness why now you have these powerful AI artificial intelligence which can replicate every function which we thought was peculiar to the human mind creativity they're writing Beautiful Stories now very soon they'll win win Awards somebody a computer generated art won an award and there was a huge outcry now I saw an article the prejudice against computer-generated art so creativity intelligence it's writing it's responding to you and you can carry on an intelligent conversation with Chad GPT so what's the difference the difference is there only in one thing which is consciousness notice the one thing that all of these AIS the tremendous amount of development in computer science the one thing it cannot replicate is consciousness chat GPT has no inner Consciousness no experience of being an artificial intelligence chatbot how do I know that I asked it are you having internal experiences I didn't ask it a student asked and sent me the results are you having internal experiences then it said no I am like I'm a programmed natural language processing thing and I have no consciousness yeah so this devotee sent me the the answer from Chad GB today has no consciousness anyway we knew that because if you ask those who programmed it have you programmed it for intelligence yes have you programmed it for speech recognition yes have you programmed it for editing texts and generating new text yes for creativity yes have you programmed it for Consciousness wait wait wait no why not we don't know how it's not only that they are not conscious the interesting thing is across the world computer science experts um the programmers artificial intelligence experts neuroscientists they will all tell you we have no idea at all we have no idea where to begin to program something for Consciousness nobody has any idea absolutely not absolutely not how strange my question was intelligence creativity memory these are all amazing things and you now you can replicate them through computers powerful computers can all somebody said look they are not doing exactly what we are doing when we think we imagine right but they are doing a really good job of imitating and giving the products like the outward behavior is very similar but these are all amazing things creativity is amazing intelligence is amazing memory is amazing um all of these are amazing things Consciousness is a very simple thing what does Consciousness do actually practically only one thing it gives you first person experience an inner feeling of color and sound and pressure and light and desire and thought and emotion and identity just feeling that's all just the feeling the experience of life itself that's what it gives you only one thing it does first person experience it should be pretty simple to program it but no there's no and there is enough data because we are all conscious except a few zombies who might be here we are all conscious how extraordinary these advances I'm telling you there are powerful validation of this ancient Insight that Consciousness is unique and it is the core of our existence of what we are all right the next one the the pratibha stuck questions on Moksha yeah we'll take those and then we'll take a couple of questions from yesterday's to the lady here and the gentleman there yeah the Moksha questions yes is Moksha a state of being one with the Divine or is it a process of becoming instead is it a slow transformation that occurs with each right choice that one makes or is it something that happens at the end of life all right just let me take that much only go ahead is Moksha freedom some of you are already fidgety thinking when will be we get Moksha you'll get Moksha very soon in 10 minutes or so I mean Moksha from the session will uh wrap up so um does it happen at once answer is yes and all or over time the answer is yes but in different aspects at once I was reading Vivekananda in inspired talks at least twice Thrice uses a word Flash and it is dumb before that you keep trying you keep seeking you keep practicing that takes a lot of time the actual process of Enlightenment and freedom is a flash it's done a breakthrough then what takes time what takes time is the initial seeking and that can take years lifetimes or some for some people a short time like ramanama she he tried once or twice and he was he braved the Breakthrough but we will as vedanta we will say that you know he has been trying for um past you know many many years in the past lives so this past life thing is very good for bookkeeping you can make all the accounts match I could put it back to the past life so it so one way takes a lot of time it's a slow process is building up to that breakthrough another the Moksha itself the question might be that no no I didn't ask about getting to Moksha but the Moksha itself is it a slow process or does it happen immediately well it happens immediately but afterwards there's a slow process what is the slow process it is the manifesting of the Moksha in your life what is called jivan mukti those who are already highly Advanced have done a lot of meditation are have a very pure mind they will manifest that Enlightenment very easily you we call them saints very saintly people they become spontaneously they are holy people because they're already ready and so they manifest that Divinity easily in their lives for the rest there is a struggle again afterwards struggle means it's a different kind of struggle before that the spiritual struggle is seeking I'm seeking God I'm trying to get uh you know self-realization Enlightenment who am I then you find you have found it this person is no longer seeking this person has realized that I am Brahman or this person if you are a dualist you have found God you feel the presence of God it's no longer seeking it's more like staying and living it but staying and living it takes time because it you are again fighting against the elephant the creature of habits if the habits have been sufficiently purified by past spiritual practices the manifestation is fast what you realize you live it that's what Plato meant to know the good is to be good we immediately Rebel no no we know what is good but we can't be good Plato would say weep that you say that because you are really messed up pipes are clogged at one level is the intellect which knows the good at the other level is the rest of our being which doesn't follow the intellect that means we are messed up I know what's good I can't do it why not we see that's our Human Condition but Plato says something which is which seems which seems alarming that he says to know the good is to be good well vedanta would also agree for a person who is sufficiently purified to know the good is to be good to know the reality is to live the reality so in that sense next why do eminent acharyas interpreting the same Vedas come to such different conclusions on what Moksha is do we need a guru for Moksha all right let's just why are there so many views of Moksha actually I gave a talk to this group that subject was Moksha and the six systems of Indian philosophy so the multiple views of Liberation all the religions of the world the theologies of the world they have they express it in different ways here SRI ramakrishna is very useful here because his view is that all of these were enlightened people in contrast to the earlier efforts of trying to establish my school versus other schools or my religion versus other religions one approach was mind alone I clearly have the truth because I'm enlightened I see the truth you guys are saying something different so you can't be enlightened you're false this was the approach and then led to fights and Clash um or it led to kind of superiority that you have got a little bit of the truth I admit it but I've got the whole truth whereas the core idea of The Vedas you know it's right there truth is one the sages called it variously that's the answer to the question SRI ramakrishna also says that they are all enlightened but they saw it differently as you know that aspect of the infinite which they realized that part of the elephant which they touched the story of The Five Blind Men and the Elephant they all touched the elephant some said the elephant is a pillar they touch their leg some said the elephant is like a long pipe that touched the trunk this elephant is a rope that touched the tail elephant is a big fan that touched the ear that was one irritated elephant I can tell you [Music] so that's why the different philosophies have conceived of Moksha in different ways but there are some commonalities they're all Beyond suffering for example it works do we need a guru highly recommended can be self-activated Enlightenment without extreme practices of yoga and meditation spontaneous Enlightenment without extreme practices of yoga and like meditation yoga spiritual practices generally not but I cannot rule it out because different spiritual traditions in India especially they testify to the fact that it could be possible spontaneous Awakening we will immediately say past lives we've done a lot of practice in past lives a lot of seeking and it germinates in this life but then you just make someone will say you're just making it up Swami the fact is that some people tend very very few people tend to awaken spontaneously Ramana she was a classic example of almost spontaneous Awakening even in this day and age I will not take the name there's some people who are genuine teachers and they seem to have awakened spontaneous very popular teachers whose teaching is very advaitic whether they acknowledge it or not it's non-dualistic or do I think there is a tradition for example kashmiri shaivism it says there are four ways of attaining Enlightenment one way is the no way way it's not that there's no way of attaining Enlightenment it's just that you attain Enlightenment there's no path to it you just it happens it's called anupaya nope upaya means method no method method what do I do wrong question so how does it work it happens we can just say it happens through Grace they call it Shakti path or the extreme transference of Grace from the guru or from Shiva they call God Shiva but that doesn't sound hopeful when will it happen no idea so you cannot hang around waiting for that to happen second is the way of shambhu or Shiva which is very similar to advaita vedanta a pointing out is given that talks about your real nature your inquire into it stay with it you will realize and like vivekantha says Flash didn't work I've been coming to your classes for so many years then there is shaktopi the way of Shakti the way of the Divine mother which includes along with those pointing out instructions it includes Mantra and meditation much more complex see each level as we go further down it becomes more complex more intricate and more intense practices so there is long hours of Mantra chanting there is long hours of trying to focus in meditation the third one the first one the second one the shambhavior of Shiva does not have does not depend on meditation it depends upon inquiry and direct realization of who am I third level the Shakti level depends upon the way of Shakti depends on Mantra practice and meditation practice is rigorous practice not working I try to repeat the monthly it's mechanical try to meditate fall asleep then there is the fourth level called Anova upay in their scheme Anu means atom atom means us Shiva is the vast infinite and we are the we are tiny but we are actually Shiva so their ritual devotion um extraordinary complexity of methodology is given many many practices to do a lot of intensive practice which you see in chanting and rituals and devotional practices in temples and so on so forth much more complex so there's all these four levels can it happen spontaneously yes can it happen in a short direct way if you're lucky yes give it a try give it a spin but always be ready to work for it and we are working our way towards it is that uh well there are a couple more or we will hold off on that let's quickly take the questions from this lady that you come the gentleman there please come and ask the question and the lady here and we'll wrap it up because Moksha um Namaste swamiji my name is my name is Thomas and I am confused about the nature of how can the world how can the reality be truly won because in uh I'm glad you mentioned Plato before because I I read Plato in college but in his sophist he mentions that there cannot truly be a one because if you say the one is you're describing uh the action of existence or the action of a verb indicates a subject and an object and in many of the scriptures and the piranhas and in The Vedas there are various God's Spirits people mentioned and how is it that we truly quote exist if we do have Consciousness because we because we have a a sense of being and is it that Brahman or the one as Plato describes it uh tolhen in a in ancient Greek is it just that it is interacting with itself but if it is interacting with itself it's interacting and that's an action again that that indicates a subject of an object so I'm just wondering how can there truly be one should it be one first of all we have to give Plato is due they can't be no they can't be it's like but what Plato is saying is that there's this world of existent things I'm using language which Heidegger used a long time later so this is one philosopher in Western tradition who said that the the most important philosophical issue has been forgotten since the time of Plato and I'm trying to revive it I Digger but he got mixed up with the Nazis so he's um he was a particular favorite of Hitler actually in in in Germany which goes to so you can be very brilliant without being a particularly good person you can be brilliant you can have wonderful insights and still be a very weak person um all right what really exists in our world Common Sense before being philosophical existing saying people exist yeah and it's not one people it's people so many chairs exist the space exists perhaps Concepts exist in some sense fictional World Harry Potter exists so yeah I mean there are various kinds of things which we might say exist but notice they are all many and they are all defined one thing is not the other so there are distinctions and there are separation and there are multiplicities that's how we experience existence but all of this is existing things that existence not existence so first of all Plato is right that one which you're talking about it cannot be one among many if you make a catalog of all the real things in this universe you will never in that catalog you'll never find the one you'll never find Brahman um the thing in itself being itself it will not be part of the list and the 75th thing is Brahman in the catalog no you'll never find that you can't do an audit you can't do an inventory of things in the universe and come across Brahman are we missing brahmanas will always miss Brahman now does that mean Brahman doesn't exist will it you're right it doesn't really you must be very clear about this it doesn't exist in the thing in the sense we think the things in the world exist people looking worried already no it doesn't exist in that sense that's why something like The Emptiness concept of Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is very useful in clarifying advice for your real nature help your Consciousness you will never ever find it if you find it dismiss it immediately because it's not the reality it is nothing that you can see or hear a smell or taste or touch it's nothing that we can conceive of in mind or speak about in language it's nothing that can be captured in mathematical equations it's empty a vast emptiness a vast nothingness and yet somehow permeated by a luminosity this empty Luminosity the Buddhist say it's like the vast Blue Sky it's completely empty yet it's shining this emptiness is what advaita vedanta calls purnam the fullness we call it infinite being not infinite existence not existence it exists only in the sense now you said language you say it exists isn't it aren't you using a verb it is action true again true this is what Wittgenstein pointed out the limits of the world are the limits of language whatever you can express in language must be part of the world I was reading this author Ellenberg he imagines very beautiful point in that book it's called The Time Of The Magicians or something he talks about Hydra girl with ginstein Walter Benjamin so he says imagine these two young men this is pre-second World War walking down in the Bavarian Forest where Heidegger was working and she says hijacker and britgenstein they're walking back and with Heidegger has has an intuition he calls it easiness yeah he says it is haunting me this new idea and then he says he says Heidegger says to Wittgenstein in that imagined conversation never happened he says isn't existence magical how it appears in the dialogue he says look in German it's there it says look here a tree a shrub a rock there there existence existence existence and Wittgenstein replies to him by saying again imagine a conversation replies to him by saying yes but you can't say it you can't say it if you say it you're using language and when you're already making a mistake you're making that into an existing thing it's not an existing thing um what then what do you do with it Wittgenstein says in the tractators he says it is the mystical what whereof we cannot speak we must remain silent it's the realm of the mystical he doesn't deny that there is again the wrong language there is such a thing it's completely wrong language would say hush there is only that a good example is the ornament and gold example if we are introduced with a beautiful display of Tiffany's jewelry and then somebody introduces us to the fact that there is this reality beautiful amazing most important thing called gold and I'm excited about it I asked the shopkeeper to show me your catalog of all the jewels I want to waste the gold nowhere and yet everywhere and if Heidegger comes and says gold I'll show you gold there there and if I don't know what gold is I'll say Oh you mean the necklace that there you mean the bracelet it's not the necklace or the bracelet per se but other than it there is no necklace in bracelet it's everywhere but it's it's in everything but it is no thing it's in every ornament but it's not an ornament if all we know our ornaments existing things will think it's non-existent but is it non-existent it sounds very theoretical Swami pure being pure existence Township people and objects these are real and this your pure existence is very like a phantom philosophical Phantom no it's like saying going to the jewelry shop and saying your idea of gold seems to be a phantom a fiction it's the ornaments which are real not really it's the gold which is real your ornaments are theoretical what's an ornament a name a farm a use in that sense but you're right language cannot express it every time you express it it's wrong that was the Deep Insight of nagarjuna Chandra kirti all the great Tibet and the the philosophers of the white The Emptiness philosophers and the entire Tibetan tradition there's a school of Tibetan Buddhism which is a final development of Tibetan Buddhism which is called prasangika madhyamaka that's the the school that is the Fundamental School of The Dalai Lama the galupa monks they have developed it for the last seven eight hundred years based on the work of Chandra nagarjuna and their basic thesis is the moment you say it it's wrong [Music] all it says The Emptiness of all philosophies then somebody attacks them somebody attacks them saying that well then your philosophy also is empty your philosophy Emptiness is empty first of all they say yes they have a whole section called emptiness of emptiness when your own philosophy is wrong then you say anything that it's it's false it's empty and then nagarjuna replies yes it would be if I said something but I don't say anything whatever you say I'll point it out that it's wrong I'll show you how it's wrong if I did say something if I had a proposition to make you could cut it down but I have no proposition to make because that's the truth yeah I could go on it's my favorite subject thank you for that the last question here please come tell us your name and ask the question and I am swamiji thank you for all your teachings thank you for your presence in New York actually kind of touch on my question tell us your name oh Adriana um you kind of touch on my question on previous answer to the question from the viewers for a spiritual Seeker once that person reaches reaches a certain stage where it feels stuck now moving forwards but rather regressing is a guru necessary thank you right um yes a guru is this is always very good a guru is a person you can refer to ask questions will help you somebody who's walked ahead on the path before you also somebody who is plugged into a tradition and is there is the holder of a lot of spiritual wisdom which has come down in that tradition and in our spiritual path we can benefit from this accumulated mass of spiritual wisdom so Guru is very helpful in our tradition what we do is there are some swamis who are empowered to initiate give Mantra deeksha so they are the gurus so we typically go to the Swami and ask pray for initiation to give us the Mantra deeksha that's the guru and of course we learn from everybody we continue to learn from everybody but it's not we're not limited to one person but that one person is now the guru the spiritual Guru you may not ever go back to Guru again and ask anything but you have a guru a lineage a practice of your own that's very helpful and if you have specific questions again that lineage and accumulated spiritual wisdom helps you it's a very good question I just add thank you I'll add one thing to what you asked and end there the way I left it off the gold in all the ornaments the one inexpressible The Emptiness the Luminous emptiness and all that that might sound very good but what do I do with it is it at all realizable is it at all experienceable I didn't complete it the beauty of advaita vedanta is it stresses that empty Luminosity is you that Limitless existence which appears as all existent things is you are that definitely I mean experiencable again language fails here experienceable realizable why not because you know it already as I me myself just the misidentification with body and mind which veils my reality from itself it is it's not knowable it's perfectly realizable it's more than knowable in vivekantha's words that's a good way of ending it it's far more than renewable and that knowledge realization it solves all our problems [Music] thank you