Video 35

Ask Swami with Swami Sarvapriyananda | Sept 24th, 2017

we will first stake questions some questions which have come in from the worldwide audience the virtual audience and then I will ask you to raise your hands I'll ask you to come forward there is a chair here and a microphone here and you speak into the microphone tell us your name and ask us your question now first would you kindly read out some questions from the internet audience we had many many questions is it audible it's audible yes we had many questions on karma Swamiji and the first one is from Elizabeth Dee who comes from a Roman Catholic background if we are reborn do we get exactly the same piece of consciousness in the next life let the soul that we have ie the soul that we have right now all right Elizabeth the first thing that we have to understand is when you say we if we are reborn do we get the same piece of consciousness that we have right now who gets reborn you first of all change this paradigm you are that consciousness you don't get a piece of consciousness it's like asking do I get a piece of the action when I'm reborn again you are that consciousness you don't get a piece of consciousness or lose a piece of consciousness and second consciousness has no pieces what you are referring to is the mind so in in the understanding in Indian philosophy there is this physical body here we are what we what you can see and touch here the physical body and there is the subtle body within mind and intellect and memory the personality the little person that's the subtle body within this physical body and beyond that is the consciousness that you are at present we are not aware of the consciousness as an independent unchanging entity what we are aware of is the body and mind and we have become identified with that with this is who I am at death clearly the physical body dies but Vedanta says that the subtle body in fact every religion will say this what is called the soul the subtle body that does not die with the death of the physical body that's the one which is supposed to go to heaven or hell or other worlds and then come back again into other lives so men you are reborn what are you the consciousness the pure consciousness identified with one subtle body so when that subtle body comes back in a new physical body you are the same consciousness and the same subtle body which has gone from one body to add another body according to Advaita Vedanta non-dual Vedanta the pure consciousness does not go anywhere it's all pervading where will it go it's the subtle body which travels from place to place from world to world body to body life to life yes does that answer the question yes and asks if whatever we do is karma then does whatever we think also come under karma if so then if one's thinking is not as good as one's actions would it be considered as bad karma I think doing good is good karma and doing bad is bad karma is this the way karma can be defined you are right a rigid thinking thoughts is usually not taken as bad karma so if I think a bad thought is is a bad karma no it's like this what you do consciously that generates karma so for example I have got I have a desire to eat a sweet and I've got diabetes the doctor has told me not to eat a sweet if I have a desire to eat a sweet the doctor is not going to criticize me but if I go ahead and eat that sweet and satisfy that desire then the doctor says stop don't do that the doctor has no problem with you having a desire to eat because you cannot control the desire the desire comes up from within but if you act on it then that's the then that's something the doctor will catch you for if somebody has a bad thought of even a murderous thought well that's not good but that's not yet bad karma the police are not going to get you but if you try to put it into practice then the police will be after you so in the world and in philosophy and religion people don't actually catch you for what desires bubble up in the mind what thoughts bubble up in the mind what you translate into speech and action that you are responsible for having said that there is a point to be understood here thoughts may bubble up in the mind but if I entertain them then I have some conscious responsibility what happens is if I entertain those thoughts and keep them going in my mind I don't take the conscious decision to shunt those thoughts and bring in good thoughts noble thoughts better thoughts positive thoughts and keep on dwelling on negative thoughts bad thoughts harmful thoughts then what happens is whether it's bad karma or not that comes later what happens is what we dwell on for a long time that becomes an ingrained pattern and what we dwell on consciously in the mind that inevitably after some time will be expressed in speech and action then it becomes Karma dwelling on something consciously and thinking its private within me nobody knows it's a bad thing but it's alright it's secret within me the thing is it generates a momentum and it is there's a momentum to express it in speech to talk about it and do it then it's much more wise that if something you recognize to be negative something that you feel they should not be entertaining it immediately replace it with some other positive thought divert the mind to something better something positive a negative harmful thought replace it with a positive useful thought you see the treat the mind is not as yourself treat the mind as a machine why would you want the machine to malfunction when it is going off-track like you're driving your cards going or Frank you correct it and bring it back on track do that with the mind distance yourself from the mind don't don't become identified with the mind when you get too involved with the doings of the mind it then it you will be forced to speak about it and then it becomes almost unstoppable it comes out in action then it becomes karma and then it's bad karma and xu kumar asks if brahman is residing in me and elsewhere the same then why is my karma my own why am I not inheriting the Karma of others nor am i able to share all right this question it might sound metaphysical and philosophical remember all that we discuss here is not merely metaphysical or philosophical intellectual it may be philosophical and intellectual but all these philosophies of India are what is called are what are called moksha Shastra they are philosophies of enlightenment so they are all relevant to us because we are spiritual secrets so when such questions come don't dismiss it as oh it's theoretical arts philosophical no it's related to something that's of great use to us in spiritual life and often I have seen somebody asks a question a third person who is sitting here might be benefited by the answer often these questions are our own questions so here is a question if Brahman is the one spirit one reality dwelling on everybody then why is other people other people's Karma why is it not my car more my karma is not other people's Karma here you see you must distinguish between Brahma and the infinite reality existence consciousness bliss which we just heard the beautiful song Satyam Hanuman ant am Bramha from the individual Brahman associated with one body mind that particular soul that particular subtle body pure consciousness limited by that subtle body is called an individual in Sanskrit Jeeva pure consciousness limited by one subtle body and each Jeeva we are each of us one Jeeva you might say but you just said we are all Brahman truly we are all Brahman but right now in our experience in error in Maya we are individuals can you deny that you feel like an individual you cannot deny it I feel like an individual I see all individual beings around me these are called jiva's Jeeva means an individual sentient being these individual sentient beings have their own karma the Karma's are particular to each soul each subtle body which goes from life to life we accumulate karma and we experience the results of karma in each life because of the soul which goes from life to light this subtle body Brahman is completely untouched by karma you as Brahman right now as Brahman if you if you really realize yourself as Brahman you would not feel the effect of karma at all karma works on the body mind Vivekananda um I've quoted it often good good bad bad and none escaped the law good karma the result is happiness pleasant life bad karma the result is misery sorrow and all the mixture of happiness and sorrow we are getting now is a result of our past karma good good bad bad and none escaped the law but whosoever wears a form of or meets a body whosoever is an individual whosoever there's a form there's the chain to that those are Vivekananda's words the chain the chain that is tied to our feet the chain is past karma load of past karma is on us and the results are bound to come we cannot stop it then what good is weight on that what does weight on to do for us how do you get free of that next line Vivekananda says but far beyond name and form is Atman ever free know thou art that sannyasi bold say ohm tatsat ohm right now right here as Brahman you are entirely free of karma the moment you know that you're free of karma the moment you step back from body and mind take a step in take a stand in the spirit in Brahman you are free of of karma so that's what we wanted does for us the last question is from D pan many people do evil actions but receive good things and are prosperous and happy you may say they may yield results in their future life but most of us don't remember our past lives or actions so how will it matter if we get misery in this life for past lives action but don't realize or know it and cannot relate to it right and he goes on it for more yes how do you prove the concept of life after life that the soul does not die keeps taking birth and the law of karma related to it how to rationally accept or believe or is it just a faith philosophy all right I see three parts in this question one is why do good people suffer and we see people who are pretty evil they are having a good time how do you explain that by Karma and as the question goes on to question it goes on to say we take a look at not only one slice of time one life but many lives the suffering I have now the good things that happen by the way you notice that how we ask why am i suffering this we never ask why am i enjoying this the good things that happen in life the misery that I get in life I don't see how I produced it it comes from past lives and the Karma that I'm doing now which will have consequences in future lives now a person who is evidently not a good person and still is having a pretty Pleasant life having a good time of it and you see many such people that is because of some good karma in the past lives that's why they're having a good time now but that good karma is getting exhausted very fast and the bad karma is accumulating and one day disaster strikes these people everything collapses around them and then suffering begins and that suffering goes on life after life God is merciful I remember this philosopher who's very interesting thinker he one of my friends another young monk he was telling me about this philosopher who is to stay in one of our ashrams in India so this monk said this philosopher was a unique thinker so one did this monk my friend he was standing in the ashram in in Calcutta looking down on the street where this beggar was standing and the beggar had only one leg and you're standing with crutches and he's begging for money and this philosopher who could apparently move like a cat you know he would hear him coming suddenly this monkey as a whisper in his ear feeling sorry for him are we and the monks are jumped out of skin he said yes I feel can you hear me yes I feel sorry for this person the beggar down there because he doesn't have a leg and why is it so cruel and the philosopher said bah but ah but if only you knew what he had done in his past lives then he would be rushing down there to cut off his other leg God is merciful this seems a very harsh thing to say hey but but it's a really different way of looking at it so yes there are consequences we see sometimes consequences for such people in this life and the consequences extend into future lives also now you the second part of the question is but we don't remember what good is it if it extends into future lives what good is it if I did something bad in my past life and I'm suffering now I don't remember I don't connect it your question seems to be so we don't learn anything from it you're just suffering right what you are saying is we don't have memory of past lives so what good is the law of karma is a moral tool how do we learn from it remember something you know it's very interesting if you notice our lives we really don't learn from memory we make a mistake we understand it's a mistake we do it again every time you see you repeat a quarrel with your mom or dad or wife or husband you see that you have had this car a hundred times earlier and every time you realized it was useless but you go ahead again memory does not help us a person who gets into trouble maybe an addiction maybe come and say something nasty or something happens and regrets it the mechanism of regret guilt you see it's very interesting I did it and later I wish I had not done it the same conscious agent does it and wishes that he or she had not done it and yet in many cases we go on to repeat it it's a story of human life many of us will repeat the same mistake memory does not teach mostly does not you know what teaches experience in the form of samskaara tendencies accumulated in past lives every child is born with that you see children as they grow up in the same family they are different from each other some people are by nature good-natured some are by nature generous not because of memory that I was stingy in my past life and I was unhappy let me be generous in the present life not thinking consciously like that just a generous nature just a kind nature just a cruel nature just a jealous nature what is this nature Prachi no Karma some choice and Shia protein a karma ancient Karma is upon us in the form of our tendencies you want to know your past lives it may be scary there's one way without getting memories of your past lives there is one way of knowing your past lives look at your tendencies in this life that reveal something of what we were in our past lives generally this past life regression if there might be something to it but what makes me suspicious is everybody in the past life was either Cleopatra or or or an emperor or some tragic figure or something like that nobody was a washer man nobody was a farmer yeah stories of fast lights anyway we're not going to that but so these tendencies we carry from life to life that's what changes us and that those tendencies how do we acquire them through suffering unfortunately we acquired those tendencies through experience in this life there's some great desire to enjoy something maybe I really love to travel okay so I travel a lot in this life next life I'm born I have no memory of having travelled a lot but I'm not I'm not particularly interested in traveling anymore some satisfaction has come is it only through experience is it only through suffering there's another way the wise person gets this through practice whatever you are practiced consciously in this life you will get in the results in the next life also practice meditation assiduously not working next life a great meditator practice musician mediocre musician next life a great musician those things come child prodigies how do you explain that music mathematics language polyglots speaking 20 languages 30 languages effortlessly so what you practice consciously that's why conscious spiritual practice never lost Krishna is asked by Arjuna and the Gita 6th chapter suppose I do not get enlightenment in this life then is it all wasted all the prayer and meditation and study and good deeds Krishna say is never nahin khaali arnica Tata Durga Tim Kishida jetty the one who walks on this path of enlightenment this path of welfare a well-being of the truly good path nothing that this person does he or she nothing is lost you start from where you left off if you be do not if I do not get enlightened in this life nothing is left nothing is lost next life I start off where I left off I may not remember what happens krishna says a death this person goes to heaven and has a very nice time of it because a spiritual practitioner generally is a good person so you have done a lot of good things in life the result of that you get as a pleasant life in heaven that's good then what happens that too comes to an end in Hinduism there are many heavens Buddhism Hinduism Jainism there are many heavens many hell's but all of them come to an end no eternal you come back again to this life for another crack at enlightenment and when you come back Krishna says karate really he ever show up ISA this person will be swept along helplessly by the force of past practice you may not remember having meditated you may not remember having had the company of holy people you may not remember having memorized verses and verses of Upanishads Gita Bible of whatever but that force is there and you go ahead in spiritual life so my answer to that question is we do learn lessons it works through experience and what is called samskaara people change through samskaara not so much through memory memory of past life is not really helpful somebody asked when we awaken and I think sister Christine or nivedita can I get memories of my past life and Swamiji so I'm moving on to scold at her she said sufficient unto the day the evil thereof you cannot deal with the problems of this life you want to invite problems of past lives what do you think you pass like was it'll be another version of this enormous problems and we come back guilt and problems and frustration and suffering and old age and disease and death you want that once again the last part of the question was that how do you account for past lives and future lives and karma is it all faith or do you account for that very simple I am think I'm going on to long for each question very simple I'll give you straight answer for that how do you account for the law of karma is it taken on faith no it's based on causality each cause must have an effect and whatever we see in our lives must have a cause why because the alternative is meaninglessness alternative is meaningless them just accidental there's no cars so causality we accept causality in every aspect of life science is based on causality common sense is based on causally T everything is based on causality why would you not accept causal in a moral sense in in life as good karma bad karma and what about many lives it is just an extension of the law of karma lot of effects we see in this life we cannot explain it by one life there must have been past lives lot of things happen in this life we don't see the results we must have future results technically in philosophy Indian philosophy it is called accreta duper gamma and crit inertia accreta pupa gamma means the sanskrit word means arising of something that has not been caused I don't do anything I get the results if there are no past lives and crit inertia means destruction of what has already been set into motion without giving results so if I do something good or bad and I have no more future lives then what about the results I did not get what I deserved good or bad so these are the two logical faults which will happen if there are no past lives or future lives accepting the law of karma a little bit of faith helps also a question from the audience here all right Hindi all come here tell us your name and then ask the question i my name is Hindle Sengupta my question is if so much of what happens to us in this life is based on our past lives and the tendencies that you spoke of what is our incentive in building a moral and ethical framework for existence in the world that we live today yes so how do we incentivize then why should we have the moral and ethical framework in which we operate in society as we know of today right a good question a moral and ethical framework what is the point if everything is determined by all my past Karma good or bad usually karma leads to happiness and misery the equation is this current karma is of two kinds good karma and bad karma in sanskrit Punia and popper these are common terms everybody in India knows that paneer means good karma good karma is produced punya is produced by what you call herrmann herrmann means a righteous karma do good things the result of that is putting your merit Dharma leads to punya good actions lead to merit and the result of that merit is suka happiness in this life and future lives bad karma doing bad actions or Dharma unrighteous consciously knowingly doing bad things ah Dharma leads to what is called pop or demerit sin and the result of Papa is dukkha suffering so we get happiness and suffering now nobody can say we all want happiness and we want to avoid suffering and nobody will ask you Oh happiness why do you want happiness the question itself is silly the fundamental thing we want in life is happiness our definition our understanding of happiness will differ somebody I remember Sean Carroll in his book the big picture he's a well-known scientist in Caltech and he writes he's an he's a prominent ATS now a more gentle face of atheism then say Richard Dawkins our Daniel Dennett but it is a very nice guy now in his book he writes that no happiness is not really the goal people say happiness is the goal but a researcher doing research he wants to discover his quest for knowledge that's the goal not happiness not a smiley face but that's just short-sighted thinking that quest for knowledge does that make the researcher happy or unhappy this struggle itself may make him unhappy make this person there's a lot of struggle in scientific quest in in artists for creativity snarl struggle that maybe meant generate temporary unhappiness but the deep satisfaction of an artist's life are assigned to sly flies in this quest so that satisfaction is happiness ultimately there are some people who say that no I don't care for my happiness I do altruistic things I do things for others not for myself so I'm not looking for my own happiness well doing things for others and making others happy does that make you happy or unhappy that makes me happy so ultimately happiness is the goal and nobody wants misery or unhappiness if that is so in that case it makes sense to do good things and not to do bad things the moral and ethical framework the first thing it does is if you want a happy life if you don't want to be unhappy then be ethical be moral avoid immorality avoid what you know to be wrong it may be difficult but the equation is clear moral action merit happiness immoral action demerit unhappiness we want happiness be moral these bookshelves in in Barnes and Nobles you'll see self-help section filled with books how to be happy 7 day course crash course this course and that course on how to be happy and have friends and and so on so forth if starting from Dale Carnegie down today there's so much and it was psychologists have gotten in on the act happiness hypothesis and so many books are there a lot of it fails with a lot of insights but Indian philosophy is a simple equation good karma leads to happiness bad karma leads to unhappiness at least a pleasant life unpleasant life so that's one reason for an ethical framework if you really want peace and happiness in your life but a deeper reason for the netiquette framework is this the ultimate goal of life according to Vedanta is not to have a more pleasant life and less unpleasant life than die and then again have another Pleasant life and then die and then have another Pleasant life no it is to get out of this whole cycle of limited existence it is to realize that you are Brahman and that actually gives you this infinite happiness not this limited slice by slice happiness we are chasing from life to life it ends the game of this life so enlightenment requires an ethical framework spirituality requires an ethical framework a good person an ethical person need not be a very spiritual person can you be good without being spiritual actually yes and there are many people who are good I saw this person who said that no goodness is based on God for a non religion you cannot have goodness without religion that's also a big school of thought and I somewhat subscribe to that though many people do not but anyway a philosopher put it very beautifully you cannot have goodness without religion some kind of religion and the way he put it was an equation good g.od good - God G OD is equal to zero you see oh oh D if you do subtract the G OD you have only zero left and all left so oh good - God if you take God out of the good nothing is left only zero but you can be a good person without being overtly spiritual but you cannot be a spiritual person without being being a good person so morality I think ethical life is necessary for spirituality you hear of all these candles in different parts where so-called spiritual persons have suddenly a dramatic fall and is a scandal and it's all over the papers what happened we don't know how spiritual that person certainly not ethical the scandal is not about oh that person was caught not meditating that's not the scandal he did not achieve Samadhi the highest enlightenment or military difference that's not a scandal scandal is an ethical failure a moral failure so ethical framework necessary for a good life in this world and for spirituality question those who had questions please hold on to your questions I'll come back to you now we take a question from the Internet audience and again three questions on the subject of evil asks where does evil come from Vedanta says there are opposites in maya if it comes from the mind only how is it that sometimes you can feel something is evil in the Catholic Bible it often mentions evil spirits where do they come from good and bad good and evil where is this well first of all it's in our minds it's in action there's good action and bad action but if you go deeper it's the intention which really counts and there is evil intention malign intention and good intention that's in the mind the spirit Brahman Atman is not touched by this only thing is if my mind is clouded by evil action evil thought then I'm never going to realize myself as Brahman I have to transform the evil tendencies of the mind into good tendencies and then only enlightenment is possible now the question is deeper Elizabeth's question is where does evil come from in Vedanta in contrast in some of the Abrahamic traditions you set up a source of evil God is the source of good and Satan is the source of evil this is separate purely evil entity called Satan or some other in it it comes from Christianity gets it from Judaism and Judaism gets it from Zoroastrianism a much more ancient form of dualistic religion where as Zarathustra he had this intuition that there is an all good power a power of light in this world he called it Ahura Mazda the God in in Zoroastrians religion in India we know them as parsy's the process so Allah Mazda is the God of light it is actually God what you call God in religion but there's a counterpart our Heymann our Iman is the god of darkness and there's a perpetual battle between our Iman and a holder Mazda for possession of our souls now if that sounds familiar to Christians it ought to be familiar because the same DNA is there in in Judaism and Christianity so this is the idea that there is an actual source of evil somewhere that's why you have this intuition that something is terribly wrong in this world that's creating evil whereas in Maya and we have to suffer for this evil because of our sin and this thing is not only does not start with us it races it all the way back to the first created man Adam and Eve the oral concept of original sin in Vedanta we don't recognize sin as fundamental you know you say when we said that you just talked about power person that's a consequence of bad action but it's not fundamental it can be overcome by good action but what is fundamental according to Vedanta is ignorant very colonists in this country he used shock therapy he said sinners it's a sin to Kali sinners you are children of immortal bliss you are Brahman you are Atman you are existence consciousness bliss then what is the problem you don't know it in Vedanta this not knowing is called ignorance you don't know what you are so what happens then not knowing my fullness not knowing my infinitude this ignorant the next result the next product of this ignorant is desire I am full I am infinity I do not know it but I am haunted by a desire for fullness for satisfaction for infinity we are all haunted by a desire for infinity I remember when I became a monk somebody asked me one of my classmates why do you want to become a monk you don't want anything in the good things that life has to offer you want to give up everything I said on the contrary I want to become a monk because I want everything not just one thing or two things or three things not just what you want you know some money some success in life or some relationship little slices of happiness of the world I want everything I want everything alpha to Omega everything A to Z I want to be infinite paranthesis we are infinite we do not know it not knowing it desire Wells up within us unfortunately this is the play of Maya desire is outward directed I think I will be complete if I get a college degree from an Ivy League called from from Colombia or those we are from from NYU with apologies NYU I will be complete you get that then I want a job in Wall Street then I will be complete or I want this relationship then I will be complete or I want this promotion or I want this car or the new iPhone then I will be complete you don't actually say it out light out loud that if I get the iPhone eight I will be infinite no you don't say it out loud because it sounds silly if you say it like that but that's what is going on deep within us one more thing and one more thing and one more thing and then I'll be happy we never are we have not been successful in this quest till now till now all our lives 20 years 30 years 40 years 60 years 80 years we've been trying not successful some people say this is life there's nothing more to it that's all that there is make the best of it but no you are avoiding a fact there is something more to it there have been people in all religions in all ages in all civilizations who have claimed true lasting peace the enlightened people that the Rama Krishna or Christ or Krishna or Buddha they have all achieved this they say it is possible and it's possible for each one of us that's the spiritual quest so the problem is ignorance leading to desire desire leading to Karma we start working we set into motion mighty energies without knowing it and these are the energies which wirless from birth to death to birth to further lives to the other worlds this is what is whirling as the energies we have set in motion in our own desire for complete and completion and we will get come to that completion you cannot avoid it it's your birthright it's who you are you will get it eventually so this is the source of evil in Vedanta this fundamental ignorance yes so Shri asks if the whole being is a universal Brahman / God this also suggests the evil is also part of Brahma and how to define the good and the evil by worshiping the good am I also ending up worshiping the evil okay is that in one more and d-pan says if God exists why is there more evil than good in the world all right fundamental questions we all ask them sometimes what is the Vedanta cancer - that first is a is a question that if Brahman is everything then evil Brahman is also evil you are deriving it mathematically so all his Brahman is that true no but Swami that's what you've been telling us no I've never said that Mary Hale Swami Vivekananda's disciple a young American girl she writes to Swami Vivekananda in a poem that you have said you have taught us that all is God and he wrote back I have never taught such strange doctrine that all is God I've never said that then astonishment you said it you even said those very words that I is God so I mean they kinda said that's not what I meant I have never thought that all is God I wanna have taught is this God only is all is not Vedanta what does Vedanta say Vedanta really does not say everything is Brahman it says brahma satyam jagat mithya Jeeva Brahm Haven opera what does it mean Brahman alone is real the only reality is Brahman and this world that we experience is mithya an appearance and an appearance of Brahman it's not real in itself and what about me am i real or unreal you are real don't worry because you are Brahman you are that existence consciousness place which is the only reality it's said to be a non dual reality no second thing there is nothing apart from it now what appears in this world this world people and actions and good and bad and evil evil is also part of the world appearance it's not any part of Brahman there is no place for evil in Brahman what about the good there's no place for good in Brahman also good and evil are part of our relative world morality is part of our relative world is Brahman a good bye or naughty doesn't apply Brahman is neither good nor bad it's beyond both of them but if you want to realize yourself as problem you have to go from the bad to the good to transcend both so I'll come to you evil is not part of Brahman is that so that's the answer to the question neither good nor evil are part of Brahman because both are appearances in Brahman so it's like saying the snake is mist the rope is mistaken for a snake it's a poisonous snake so is the rope poisonous rope the classic example rope snake you understand what I mean I'm coming from the very common with a pedantic example you mistake a rope for a snake in darkness maybe you think it's a snake then you realize oh it's not a snake it's a rope but when you saw the snake was a poisonous snake with you so now somebody asks you is the rope poisonous no it's not there's no snake and no poison it's a rope so from the point of view Brahman there's no world no evil no good there is only one infinite existence consciousness place but the movie of the universe which plays in Brahman oh there is good and bad in it there are tragedies and comedies in it okay deepens question was that or if God exists why is there evil eternal question if God exists why is there evil and suffering in Vedanta evil and suffering are there in our relative world and they are due to our karma in Christian theology also in a different way just put God gave us free will and because of our free will be freely exercise choices and that leads to suffering it's not so different from the from the idea of Karma but the idea of karma is a much more well worked out with philosophical grounding over many lifetimes it's a logical consequence over many lifetimes so it's not God's fault that there is evil in the world but this thing is called the question of evil every religion has to answer this question you know why they have to answer the question because when you believe in God God is considered to be omnipotent all-powerful omniscient all-knowing and all good God is supposed to be good loving benevolent now if a good loving God and all-powerful God then why is this world the creation of God evil that's a justified question it's like you love your children and you really want that your children should not suffer but you can't prevent it because you are not omnipotent you're not God you can't prevent suffering you can't prevent your own suffering contrary to children suffering but imagine a father or a mother who loves us just as you love your children but that father or mother is me potent can do whatever he or she wills then why would that father or mother allow her children to suffer his children to suffer that's the question of evil it's a logical problem and the problem comes up only when you consider God to be good see is there any other kind of God they were more primitive ideas of God God has power God has power and goodness no just power in ancient Babylonia no there is the this story of Noah's Ark God saw that the world was evil and he drowned the world but he wanted the world to be started anew and he collected two of each species and told Noah here is the ship build a ship and take them and float on the waters of dissolution of the flood and then finally you shall repopulate the earth take in the story the usual story why did God do that flood everything hurricane Harvey air MA and why did God do that that was the nasty thing to do because the answer is given there whether you accept it not or not as an answer to it because of justice God saw that man was evil was not keeping the commandments and so he decided to punish from evil punishment that's some kind of logic so you may not like this idea it's not some kind of logic but there is an older version to the story and that's very interesting the same story in ancient Babylonian religion which is gone now God was there what kind of god and all-powerful God and all good and loving God oh no no no just powerful then what happened people made so much noise that it disturbed God's sleep God was annoyed that these humans are a noisy lot let me drown them but he said they can come back again and he appointed somebody I forgotten the name their big old Babylonian names just like Noah somebody was appointed and there was a boat and they were two of each species and they were it's a well-known pre-biblical story you can see the same story but only one crucial difference in the Babylonian version why did God do it because he could and by the way it was a he because he could just power this look and they thought it was natural I mean God is you don't expect God to be just God is just powerful you just have to keep the old guy in good humor that's all he's a crusty old comedian need to keep him in good humor but when the same story comes to Judaism in in the Jewish Jewish Bible in the Torah when the story comes the among other stories you find God the same crusty old comedian has acquired a new redeeming quality justice and then you come little further a God of love now the problem arises in the ancient story the problem was not that question of evil why is there suffering in the world because God wills it to be so why would God do that because he can but if you say God is loving then the question arises what are the answers I will not go into it I usually recommend a book which I liked very much the problem of evil in Indian philosophy in Indian thought professor Arthur Harbin it was in the University of Hawaii he gives 23 answers not one or two 23 answers to this question why would a love loving God allow evil in the world he has not given those answers he has collected dancers from all the theologies of the world from different religions of the world philosophies even literature of the world and he's got a list of 23 answers and you know what after examining all the answers the only one he finds acceptable this is very superior to all the answers he comes the last one is this Indian idea of the law of karma cause and effect and he has a whole chapter on the defects of the law of karma whole chapter he says in spite of these defects no other Theory even comes close to it in its explanatory power problem of evil in Indian thought professor Arthur Harmon alright there were questions there I'll come to you one by the lady at the back yes please come up here yes you you come up here tell us your name and ask the question my name is nebula my question is related to you we the fact that we as individuals are born and you know we will die in we will be reborn right at this level at the universe level understand that the same process also applies that the universe is created expands and is destroyed after and then recreated can you tell us a little bit more about this and how can we how what do these worlds could look like what is it alright not a small question the creation and existence destruction of the universe I just answer this in brief what does Vedanta cosmology say it's it says there are cycles of creation existence and destruction creation is not quite the right word projection is a more correct word thristy is the Sanskrit word Srishti tittie pralaya the universe is projected the worlds come into existence life evolves and the souls which are there they get bodies and experiences civilization comes up and we get lots of experiences and our karma is exhausted new karma is generated and the universe comes to an end after billions of years and actually that is the timeframe that ancient Indian cosmology uses billions of years and the universe comes to an end that is called pralaya at the dissolution projection existence dissolution of the universe and then God alone exists with his power of maya Brahman with my axis where is the universe absorbed back into Maya after an incalculable period of time it's not even time it's timeless again time space matter and energy are projected a new universe starts and all of us who have not got enlightenment they are all merged in Maya projected back into the universe it's a lot like everyday what happens to us when we go to sleep universe disappears from us our bodies disappear from our XP our my experience and our minds disappear even the personality we go into a darkness as it were like a little death but what happens when you wake up again the world is before us I have a body I have mind I have and the same person like that imagine being thrust back into this universe again for another cycle of existence until you get enlightenment and the whole game comes to an end for you and you remain as infinite existence consciousness bliss so that's the idea and it's remarkably similar to our modern cosmological idea of I saw this in the in the planetarium here in the Museum of Natural History but how the Big Bang and creates the universe and the universe grow evolves into nebulae and then stars and planets and and then life comes up and then again there'll be a you know when the universe begins to die the it collapses back upon itself one theory another is a steady state theory and there's a big crunch and then again something like a big bang from a singularity it comes back very similar I mean I'm not saying the ancient Indians knew this but the pattern seems very similar projection from from a mysterious indescribable state into a experienced universe existence of the universe for a long time and then collapse back again into that mysterious indescribable state yeah that's the idea but what I'm saying here is all these are grand and very nice advaita vedanta says don't bother don't bother buddha says don't bother whether this theory or that theory even if you know it so what body is getting old life is passing by suffering and sorrow comes and I'm destined for a sure death the body is going to die very soon and I go into the darkness knowing not where get enlightenment here and in this life that is the serious quest but does Buddha had 14 great he had it's called the great silence of the Buddha he was silent - 14 great questions why because he did not know no because he said they do not help us one of his disciples asked him Auto Takata do we exist after death or not after enlightenment will you after you were your body drops up will you be the tathagata will you be there or not like this he has number of questions so in like is there a permanent eternal soul and Buddha says did I say there was an existence after death oh so there's no existence after death did I say there was not say confusing either there is no there is not I am confused Oh Buddha why are you confused because other teachers there are some who teach us that there is a existence after death some who say there's no existence after death the materialist would say so they all tell us something what do you teach the Buddha said suppose somebody's in walking in the forest and there's a hunter who shoots an arrow and hits this man by mistake and he's wounded they come to help him and this is we're going to call a doctor and he says wait doctor before you treat me tell me what was the name of the person who shot the arrow what would is this arrow made of what is the chemical composition of maybe the poison which is tipped in the the arrow has a tip and things like that irrelevant he asks the Buddha said what would you say to such a person I would say he's foolish he's going to die before he gets treatment why does you need to know all this and the Buddha says exactly what the Tatar that the teaches is there is suffering there is a cause of suffering there is an end to suffering and there is a way out of it just day for yesterday saying the whole thing is the purpose of life is God realization and there is a science to it whom did I call just now yes because I just did a day for yesterday you won't believe who my quoted you think is this oh is it Ramakrishna or Vivekanand or a Buddha the purpose of life is God realization and there is a science to it you wouldn't believe who said that George Harrison in the 1980s of the Beatles Fame I was just reading a book where he says he was very influenced by Vedanta so the whole purpose is enlightenment let's pursue that for example this whole thing about whether there are past lives and future lives past lives and future lives is it true or not or just one life as some of Abrahamic theories theologies would have us believe many lives as Hinduism or Buddhism the Indian religions would have us believe whether this or that a monk told us very something very interesting he says don't try to establish the theory of reincarnation life after death and the cycle of life and that don't try to establish it or prove it try to get out of it one of our monks was debating this in in our one of our Himalayan ashrams with the other monks you know these are the arguments in favor of many lives these are the arguments that which are against reincarnation and so on after some time the other months got tired of it they wouldn't listen so he went outside with his debate and there was a great non dualist teacher another monk living in an ashram close by so our monk that Swami himself told means I went to this teacher and I said look I am I have got some questions about this whole idea Hindu idea our idea of reincarnation many lives these are the arguments since in Hindi or sanskrit it is called punar janma next life literally it means again life Pune means again life so repeated births the moment he said this that teacher I'll tell you in Hindi first it's very direct in Hindi Reynold translate he said to our Swami jobs journal Mahina hito punar janma Kaka mahatma geop Manduca per year it means my dear monk when there is no birth where is there question of rebirth read Manduca Upanishad what does adwaita wait on to teach you co it teaches that we have had many lives and we are going through many lives and suffering and we need to come out of this we need to come out of this cycle of birth and death that's what I do it away lanta teaches that's kindergarten stuff you know what adwaita really teaches I will give you the undiluted truth I'll give you the undiluted truth Advaita Vedanta teaches you there are no past lives and future lives there never was Brahman alone is true the world is an appearance where our past lives and future lives in the world in Maya in appearance the movie is not true the screen is true Brahman alone is true in that you see this this presentation this dream we call a life there never was a past life that never is a present light there never will be a future light that's what we want to tells you you are you where you are and you always will be prominent when a person becomes enlightened what do you think happens the generally when we hear Vedanta you think that oh we are being told when you become enlightened you you feel I had many past lives this is my last life and now I am free of my I am free of ignorance no more will there be life it's a beautiful thing you know that the song of the Buddha Edwin Arnold translates that what's the beautiful that the book had been Allen strands Latian the light of Asia their Buddha says after enlightenment that gone are the rafters of the of the house of delusion you built Oh Maya he says I have come upon enlightenment I am finally awake no more shall you delude me no more is birthed for me no not death so that sounds so beautiful and very poetic but that's just for our understanding the weight of a lanta says you know actually what an enlightened person will will realize when the point of enlightenment he or she realizes not that I had many lives now this is my last life I am free afterwards I remain as infinity afterwards no person realises I never was bound I have always been Brahman never will be bound the ultimate truth in Manduca keratitis with man Tokioka records written the dull team a truth one of the highest texts of non-dualism the ultimate truth is there is nobody who is bound there is nobody who is seeking freedom there's nobody who finds freedom that one non-dual truth alone remains it has is and always remain even has even always remain is using language of time so that's the ayah so that's what we are looking for all right now question from the internet audience yes I'll come to you next so this is the email sent from the cast on behalf of a team of devotees a team of devotees right Sri Ramakrishna states that the world is not my evader Brahman is qualified with Jeeva and jaga tattva Trier he does not believe in the world as jagat as per the Shankara advisor in fact this portion is not in the English gospel but found in the Bengali gospel why was it deleted in the English gospel by Swami Nithyananda why are your teachings more Shankara advisor why our ramen ooch and mod Vedanta comment is totally neglected why is so much importance given to Shankara advisor when Rama knew SH advisor is more prominent in the gospel of Sri Ramakrishna Sri Ramakrishna clearly says that he is not Maya Vardy please clarify for us all right we have a team of annoyed devotees they were saying too much non-dualism alright but this this sets the stage for a nice discussion let me give you a little background to this question Vedanta yes sitting in the Vedanta Society what is it it's the teachings of the Upanishads the Upanishads are the fundamental texts of Vedanta another text of Vedanta is called the brahma sutra and a third text of evident the fundamental text of Vedanta is called the bhagavad-gita right so the Upanishads brahma sutra bhagavad-gita these three together are called the triple canon not the Canon which you can shoot cannon balls out of CN o n the fundamental texts of Vedanta rest on a tray in Sanskrit the triple foundation of aid under foundational texts now of these three the second one Brahma sutras it's a collection of say about 555 aphorisms depending on which school you follow it's 555 a little different 555 aphorisms short cryptic sayings and they are philosophical discussions of the issues which write which are raised in the Upanishads so this Brahma sutras are the foundation are the philosophical foundation of Vedanta the real root of Vedanta super nations but philosophically speaking Vedanta depends on the Brahma sutras and his Brahma sutras were written by Vyasa now there are many schools of Vedanta depending on the interpretation of the Brahma sutras depending on the interpretation of the Brahma sutras you have different schools of Vedanta Shankar Acharya 1400 years ago wrote his commentary on the brahma sutra called a brahma sutra bhashya Shari raka mimamsa Basha and that became the philosophical foundation of the School of Vedanta called Advaita Vedanta which we are being accused of dwelling not too much non-dual wadn't which I talked about non-dual Vedanta but it's true it's not the only school of it on the Bible very far from it about a thousand years ago ramanujacharya in what is now the present state of Tamil Nadu he commented on the same Brahma sutras and wrote a different commentary called the sri Varsha and his commentary became the foundational philosophical foundation of the school of Vedanta known as vashisht Advaita qualified monism or qualified non-dualism 200 years after him madhvacharya in what is now the state of karnataka group it is a place now he wrote his own commentary called the porn a prank evasion the same Brahma sutras giving rise to the weight of it on to the dualistic school of Vedanta look at this non-dualistic school qualified non-dualism dualism Advaita wish to Drita Drita and there are major differences in these schools they all talk about Brahman but in different ways for example the central differences Shankara says you are Brahman really if you know yourself you are Brahman Raman who just says in vashisht Advaita you are not Brahman you are a part of Brahman this whole universe is a unity not an identity it's a unity composed of parts just use your hands and feet are parts of you but they are not the whole of you similarly we are all parts of God but you are not identical with God and it's like a wave and our ocean the wave is not the ocean it's a part of the ocean and joint of Atlanta says you're not even part of God let alone being being one with God God is different Brahman is different you are different you are an individual destined to remain individual and God is the ruler of this universe and you are the subjects it's a very dualistic form of religion I mean when you come to it from other world religions you find the dualistic Vedanta sub is easy to understand that's mostly what you would find our other religions are saying the non-dual the qualified monism is a step higher and advaita vedanta is another step higher and there are other schools there is vallabhacharya should that do a tandem Boccaccio's great Advaita you know the ISKCON the the Hari Krishna monks just today somebody asked me Oh yesterday in Central Park are you a Hari Krishna and we have to say no I am a ramakrishna but but there are the the fundamentals are all rooted in Vedanta that won't work bill you have to switch it off he is sitting on it you have to switch it off yes so the her occasion amongst the Society for Krishna consciousness they belong to a school of Vaishnavism called gaudiya vaishnavism Bengal vaishnavism and their core philosophy is also Vedanta a school known as a cinta vada with inconceivable identity indifference so all these codes there are all schools of Vedanta and they have major followings they have huge in major followings for example large numbers of people in South of India in in Tamil Nadu Sri version of us they're all followers of ramanuja not non-dualistic Vedanta not Shankara large numbers of people in the in Karnataka they're followers of Madhava in fact until chaitanya school of bengal Vaishnavism develops its own Vedanta philosophy they were all followers of Mudville the dualistic Vedanta of in in Karnataka and so on and in fact directly followers of Shankara might be fewer in number than all the others so here's this question why are you concentrating only on Shankara not on others well the answer is this we do Ramakrishna order of India the Vedanta societies our core philosophies shankara's Advaita Vedanta you can say says who because if you look at Ramakrishna he speaks about everything and not just Vedanta he speaks about Tantra he speaks about Vaishnava shock tourism and and vaishnavism he speaks about Sikhism and Christianity and Islam Buddhism so he speaks about so many things not just Vedanta and why only a greater Vedanta non-dual Vedanta because of this our emphasis on non dual Vedanta comes from Swami Vivekananda if you look at Swami Vivekananda the things he taught in this country and in India the central Trust is non-dual Vedanta second our sannyasa we are monks and if you actually you know in my name is Swami server PR and the some of you might know but do you know that that's not my whole name I don't use the whole then denote the full form is server pre onon the puri puri that title shows which denomination of monastic orders I belong to I belong to a denomination called the puri some for that and that is part of a tenfold denomination started by Shankar Acharya 10 orders of monks among whom Puri is one there is poverty and Saraswathi and Giri and so on there are ten orders and we are one of those orders started by Shankar Acharya the non dualist orders of monks so that's another thing our sannyasa the the process we go through for monasticism the vows of monasticism they make sense only in non-dualism the mantras which we take at the time of sannyasa are completely the mantras used in Shankar's orders there are monastic orders for the dualistic Vedanta that's different there are monastic orders for non-dualistic vedanta there are different orders but we are not part of that but but we are in a liberal sense we are not non-dualistic saying that Vedanta is only non-dualism and the others are wrong we don't say that we say that we accept the insights the beauty the power that is there in ramanuja's vashisht advaitha in mud was Dwight of Iran in Chaitanya's ecstatic love of God we accept all of that wholeheartedly and we know there are extremely valuable inputs we extremely valuable insights into spiritual life in all these paths they are beautiful paths they are very rich I'm I'm only I can only be sorry that I have not had the time to study those other commentaries I have read a little bit not that I have not read I have read some of the commentaries of Ramanuja acharya some of the commentaries of manwhich aria and i'll have you know that our order has produced scholars who have translated not only the commentaries of Shankar Acharya famously commentaries of Shankar Acharya but commentary of British one analogy he translated the srivasa the commentary of ramanuja Chara into English it's available the the gita commentary of ramanujacharya not the qualified non-dualistic qualified monastic philosophy written by ramanujacharya the commentary on the Gita has been translated and published from our order so our order we have monks who have seriously studied the vashisht advaitha Dwight and different schools of Vedanta but primarily advaitha because our central philosophies advaitha in one of our ashrams in my avati in the himalayas swami vivekananda established it and he said no ritualistic worship will be there when Vivekananda himself went there he found a picture of Ramakrishna it was being worshipped and his reaction was what the old man has entered this place to him removed the picture who wrote I can I do occasionally move the picture now one of the monks was very hurt by this so he wrote to Holy Mother - Masha Radha who was in geometry at that time saying that we were worshiping a picture of the master like you do in other ashrams and we can't asked us to remove this picture so what was it wrong to worship the master and he fully expected her support but you know what she wrote back she wrote back she dictated the letter my child y'all Guru was Brahmin well literally your guru was Advaita your guru was non-dual non-dual she did not say your guru was a non duelist she said your guru was non dual that means he is Brahman and when she says I can save it great certainty that you are all non duelists Tamra shall I order body I mean it probable to burrito mashallah or did you are all non duelists therefore what we awakened and has done is right for that place we might kind of set up all this range you can have dualistic worship but the background philosophy is always non dual when you actually hear the mantras of the worship that reality which is within I worship thee in this form externally its non-dualistic even Durga Puja if you see the mantras non-dualistic actually is a background of non-dualism behind it another point here I just said Advaita is the highest next me she starred waiter Dwight the next why did I say that we wouldn't do a list except it the dualism is a rung in the ladder next rung is qualified non-dualism at the highest is non-dualism would a dwellest accepted never never ever in a thousand years and literally I mean that they have not accepted it in a thousand years literally hey so so why do I say why do I give this ladder analogy that dualism qualified monism then non-dualism because we were a current as used it yes I'm getting signals that the food is ready yes Sri Ramakrishna as he pointed out has said Advaita is the final stage so Vivekananda gives this ladder idea first this and then this but but ramakrishna also in some places has been quite indifferent to it he does not say you have to go through this first or that first he says take up any one of them follow it carefully and you will get it Swami bhootish Ananda when this question was put to him I remember the scissors he was very humorous he said why are you he himself says so why are you privileged add weight above others and the monk who was questioning him said well Swami Vivekanand I said the the bottom of the ladder is dualism then you go from dualism you climb higher - qualified monism then - non-dualism ladder you know one two three and bhootish and his reply was inevitable humor and insight you know he just said the ladder can also be reversed you can change it then non-dualism becomes the bottom then you go from the qualified monism and then to dualism and actually if you go to gaudiya vaishnavism if you ask them about non-dualism and dualism they will say non dualism as is at best what they call Maya wada so non dualism is at best a very superficial and external understanding of reality as you go deeper if you advanced in spiritual life ultimately you will end up with the personality of God you will end up with Krishna and what is non-dualism these non duelists who keep talking about infinite consciousness they just sense the light emanating from krishna's body and then they fall unconscious if they would only go deeper they would find krishna so so from their point of view so there are many very interesting things those who love krishna after death they will attain to you know the company of krishna in the presence of god you will always stay there and sing the praises of krishna and all that those who love krishna and those who hate krishna and are enemies of krishna they will attain non-dual realization after so such funny things have said you can reverse the ladder and they actually say that that your non-duality is just child's play you come further you fight so we'll leave that at that point a one final point I wanted to make was a monk wrote a letter to to so Sri Ramakrishna the question was Sri Ramakrishna gospel of Sri Ramakrishna it stresses vashisht advaitha qualified monism the complaint is you find more bhakti there less of non-dualism so why are you stressing non-dualism so much in fact I remember a great scholar of qualified monism vashisht Advaita who came to balloon mud to teach his qualified monism Lakshmi taught acharya he had studied vedanta for 40 years it's called Ohio Vedanta Tamil Vedanta and Sanskrit Vedanta for 40 years he studied to master it so he came to teachers he speaks only in Sanskrit and he gave us beautiful classes on qualified money Samba she stood later not non-dualism and he said to us I'm translating from Sanskrit the gospel of sri ramakrishna I love that book it's so clearly a book of qualified monism which she studied later I read it and I say I see only qualified monism there and that was the uniqueness of ramakrishna whoever came to him found his or her own ideal in Ramakrishna but yes there's a lot of qualified monism in in ramakrishna in the gospel of ramakrishna I'll end with this a monk wrote a letter to Swami turian and what would you say was the philosophy of sri ramakrishna Advaita non-dualism wisht advaitha qualified monism orde waiter dualism what is the philosophy of sri ramakrishna you are a disciple of sri ramakrishna the answer is worth reading several pages towards the end of this book the treasures for spiritual seekers the letters of Swami Torian and the letters of Swami Torian and towards the end acting almost may be the last letter on the last but one it's a long letter swami Torian on the writes describing non some qualified monism dualisms Sri Ramakrishna's teachings and then finally rights if you push me to her into a corner and you say no tell us straight what was Sri Ramakrishna's philosophy dualism non-dualism qualified monism which School of Vedanta did he subscribe to his answer is instructive his answer is Sri Ramakrishna's philosophy was to put it in one phrase realize God by whatever means possible by whatsoever means possible dualism non-dualism qualified monism whatever means possible become enlightened in Bengali Joe show Karev our one lab karo this is this is Sir the phrase in Bengal which means realize God by whatsoever means possible very but I like there all right time for Prasad I'll remind you once again of Durga Puja on Thursday and on Sunday Thursday at 8 o clock and Sunday do come and join in the festivities I wish you everybody all of you a very happy Durga Puja I pray to tackle MA and Swamiji pray to the divine mother Durga to bless all of us may our lives be peaceful joyful may our lives be perfumed with spirituality and may we all move towards that light that ultimate consummation of human life in this very life itself Oh Shanti Shanti Shanti [Music] hurry he that sat sri ramakrishna must