Video 4
Ask Swami with Swami Sarvapriyananda | June 5th, 2022
[Music] so where this works is diane is going to ask me questions collected from the internet audience and then it will be interspersed with questions from this audience so i will ask for people to raise their hands and i'll call on you one by one not all of your questions will be answered only a fraction of the questions we get from the worldwide audience is ever answered but as i said one answer for all questions after you hear vedanta for a while you begin to see the swami is just saying the same thing all again and again that's true i have only one thing to say and the upanishads and the gita and i think the world's mystical traditions have one thing to say that you are one with god swami vivekananda said oneness that's the the only religion that is ultimately religion is oneness but it can be expressed and should be expressed in different ways depending on the question otherwise it's not helpful so that's what we'll try to do here don't wait for your question to come up and therefore remain deaf to all other questions often i have seen the questions asked by somebody else and the answers to those questions are helpful for others who are listening carefully so good let's start with the first question the first question comes from arnab kay from toronto and he has a question regarding the concept of the self in all beings and all beings in the self that you discussed recently in your talk on ashtavakra gita he says i understand how all beings are in the self that this entire universe including all beings is just an appearance in the self i also get how the self is in all beings from the perspective of sat however i struggle to understand how the self is in all beings from a chit perspective i don't understand how there is one consciousness shining in and through all these body minds to draw parallels from the dream example in a dream it feels like all the other people have consciousness in them but after waking i realized that there was no consciousness shining in any of them there was only one person in that dream where consciousness was shining how do i know that the waking world is not like that how do i know that is shining in all beings and if i can't know that for sure how can i rule out a theory like ekka jiva vada all right big question and it's very sophisticated lots and lots of philosophy went into that but i'll just latch on to one thing there and listen carefully this is the answer to the question the direct answer but then we will dilate a little more afterwards but here's the direct answer in the example which was just quoted the dream example which is very helpful for understanding advaita vedanta the person who's asking said that in the dream example it seems i see many people and they all seem to have consciousness but when i wake up i see that there's only one person there with consciousness that is he means i the dreamer i was there in the dream i was conscious but all those other people just appeared in my dream they were not actually persons with consciousness he said that there's only one person did he not say that that line is there there's only one person but here there isn't is no one person in that dream you feel that because you wake up and you realize oh i was dreaming but even when the dream was going on and you felt that there was you were there that one person was that really a person no because there was no body there it was a figment of your imagination it's a dream and there were bits and pieces of thoughts excavated from your waking mind floating around as the impressions which generated that world of dreams and that so-called person who was experiencing that dream in the dream actually what was there in a dream is the dreamer's mind you the dreamer lying on the bed and dreaming in your mind all this was going on just as you imagined the world there the objective world in the dream the subject in the dream was also dreamt up so you the person the dreamer you are not actually there as that person uh in the dream it's not that there was one person in the dream with consciousness and nobody else was with consciousness so that's what happens when you wake up and you mix up the waking and the dreaming a little bit right and that's helpful for understanding advaita vedanta that's what's going on here there is one consciousness the satyam patrick was chanting one limitless consciousness that alone appears as nature and as the soul so in vivekananda's language as prakriti and purusha that alone appears as subject and object in that one consciousness the objective world appears and in that one consciousness the subject who experiences this objective world appears and you feel i am the subject and here is the world but actually underlying both is one limitless consciousness so that's the example helps the dream example if you correct this a little bit you will get an answer to your question but let's go the question itself is pretty deep um this is the line he was quoting not only in rashtavakra it's found in the upanishads it's found in the bhagavad-gita all beings in the self and the self in all beings and he says i can sort of understand how all beings are in the self you know you can think of the self as limitless existence and obviously all beings are in limitless existence why why would you say obviously do all beings exist obviously otherwise you won't even speak of them their man is woman is chair is plant is dog is sky is all living and non-living beings you see is existence so think of this is-ness as a limitless ocean of existence in which all beings are like waves ashtavakra sings i am a limitless ocean of existence i means all of us can claim that there's limitless ocean of existence and in that how strange how wonderful are the sentient beings who come up as waves what do they do once they have come up they come up they are born and what do they do kelanti play nanty fight then pravishanti they disappear they die i remember this verse particularly because i have a very clear memory of being in gango 3 with a radical non-dualist swami studying dashtaba kragita and he's teaching this in hindi at that time but i remember how he was teaching it so vivid this is rushing by several hundred feet below this towering the real giants there they have you know 15 20 000 feet all around in the and the valley where we are sitting that's a valley but the valley itself is 10 000 feet in the himalayas and that's stunning spectacular scenery the swami was explaining this verse i remember and he says the way he explained it i still remember he was a jolly old swam in his 80s and huge hugely obese more of that little later usually obvious and he was saying they're born ign is saying i love you i love you nanty i'm going to divorce you i'm going to divorce you the fight ukraine war nowadays in syria fight and then what is the result of all of that provision they disappear back into the source they die but why why are they born why do they love and play why do they fight and hate each other and why do they die again subhabata by their very nature what is that very nature the causality cause and effect the karma past karma is upon them that produces these bodies and drives these sentient beings through a certain course of life there are the causes you really can't blame anybody they are all propelled by a certain set of causes behind them notice how each one of us no matter what we are how awful we are in the eyes of others we feel pretty self-justified because of these reasons i am doing this the other person is doing that as a very awful person why are they doing it but you are doing the exactly same thing but yeah but there's a reason for why why i'm doing it but the other person also feels they have reason and they are right and you are right also there are reasons and those reasons are causality the whole of advaita vedanta wants to say that this causality is a dream it's an appearance underlying it is one infinite limitless ocean of existence well good for the ocean of existence but i am in trouble no you are that ocean of existence now about a kaji vavada which he raised um oh before i forget the obesity of the swami the swami's past now he is he passed away a few years ago the most amazing teacher so and very funny too so he was sick obviously being so overweight and the doctor came to see him and the doctor said i'll tell you in hindi and then translate into english what do you eat swami you become so so fat so overweight and the doctor was thin and sickly so the swami said he chuckled and he said in hindi that [Music] is anxiety tension stress so i eat it up i gobble it up and because of all that junk food i have become but i i too it up i gobble up stress and fear and anxiety and stress and fear and anxiety they gobble you up doctor you're being burned out by your worries and stressing is he was like that all right back to philosophy eka jivawada we review that there is only one person now straight off those who are trained in philosophy will say aha solipsism solipsism means the feeling the idea that only i exist why would that come what a crazy idea well it come because actually of our dream experiences where we see a lot of people but when we wake up there was i feel i was the only one there and everybody else was in my dream how do we know that this is not so in the waking also and especially when we study advaita vedanta the the margins the boundaries between dream and waking become blurred on purpose they are blurred and so we might feel in this world also it's like a dream vedanta keeps telling me it's like a dream an illusion so i am the only one there and all these other people there's no audience i'm just fooling myself it asks one so it's i alone who am asking the questions and i alone trying to answer the questions so i might be the only one here ek ajiva and yet i am not enlightened so i am not the absolute reality brahman i am i am a sentient being how many sentient beings how many jivas are there one although i can see a hundred i i say there's only one who i now this is actually a view a school of thought in advaita vedanta and what would be the goal of this thing that i am there and still i don't feel enlightened and i'm still suffering and i still feel that others might be part of a dream that i'm dreaming um so i have to wake up from the dream and realize that satyam gyanam anantam brahma infinite existence consciousness plays from that perspective no more problems so that single individual being sentient being has to break out of that one being's dream and awaken to reality which is infinite existence so that's that is a school of thought it's a sub-school there's a good reason why it's a sub-school because if you look at the mainstream non-duality advaita vedanta um upanishads gita they don't speak in that way they speak exactly the way we speak there is a world there are people and we are also we are one of many and we are all trying to become enlightened good this is what how we feel more or less about the world and this is how the upanishads the bhagavad-gita they talk all the texts of vedanta most of them not all but most of them talk in this way so what's going on here what's going on is none of them are right many sentient beings aka jeeva one sentient being none of them are supposed to be descriptions of truth what is the truth then satyam ganamantam brahma infinite existence consciousness place advaitans will say how many times you have to tell you there's only one reality one existence consciousness place then what about all this many living beings one living being many sentient beings one sentient being it's because we see the world in that way and we have to be helped out of it if advaita vedanta is right then there's one ultimate reality and this is a relative reality then in this relative reality vedanta has to begin here any good teacher has to start where the student is and then take the student to what is you know from from the near to the far from what is to what shall be from the um known to the unknown that's a principle of good teaching you think there are there is the world of course good there is a world that's what vedanta says it doesn't mean it at all let's say there's a world granting you that you think there are lots of other people yes at least the teacher and i we are at least two of us are there good let's start there so that's how most vedanta operates but there is this school which does not operate that way who can so these are ways of becoming enlightened who can take which way so it's very clear among the monks in himalayas that it depends on vairagya dispassion detachment from the world if you are a completely detached monk there's no two ways of putting it you have to be a monk completely detached from the world not even like me sitting in manhattan in an ashram you have to be completely detached from the world then that kind of paradigm it's a paradigm that there is only one sentient being in this universe and it's you that'll work won't it lead to narcissism because but it won't because you're not supposed to stop there you're supposed to begin there and go into the impersonal absolute why at all then these views have come up because there is a logical force behind these views that's why this person has come up with this uh this question because think deeply about advaitha and especially the difference between waking and dreaming is not sharp then you will come to this feeling that maybe i am the only one here but that's the just the beginning point and it will work for you if you have if you are detached if you are monastic if you have strong renunciation no connections with the world is it possible to have such a life yes yes it's possible in the mountains i have experienced it myself you could easily you know i i remember i was just there for a few months each time and i remember the world seems to melt up and disappear there in those himalayan fastness in the heights there it just fades away into into a missed a distant mist so it's possible but if you try to do it in an inappropriate setting like this you have a job you have a family you have you're in a network of relationships if you try to do this here it'll become dysfunctional and lead to so much trouble your spiritual life will be wrecked your worldly life also will be in trouble and your spiritual life will be wrecked it's not meant to be used in that way and remember there's no need you know where people think it's cool aikerjeevawadha um it's they feel it's it's more sophisticated than the non-dualism which is taught that's why what the swami normally says this is more sophisticated than that don't do it because you will not get a better brahman a better ultimate reality by following the brahman plus brahman advanced brahman for the really really cool non-dualists no you will come to the same reality all right we'll stop at that let's have a question from the artist will you raise your hand okay the lady here you have to come there next to diane tell us your name and ask the question but limit it to one question at a time thank you swami i'm honored to be here my name is mira i heard your lecture yesterday on the gita and you discussed consciousness as an experiencing and you were just discussing dreams which ties into my question the purpose of my question is to make sleep part of my spiritual practice to improve my sleep quality and to become to relate my sleep while i'm sleeping into an actual spiritual practice of my life when i look at consciousness and my experience with it i have three different experiences one during an accident when i was fortunate enough to be able to detach and reach that place of white peacefulness where you're aware of other beings but you feel yourself dissolving which i guess is consciousness expanding you may feel you're going up but you're not you're simply expanding then there's that feeling of you know when you're meditating and you get your brain into the right vibration and it opens up that black hole into that peacefulness but no one's there you don't have a sense of any other beings but just of peacefulness so now you don't have that consciousness of other people at all just the consciousness of pure bliss and peace then when you go to sleep i've been told or read also that try to be aware while you're falling asleep and you have that feeling of being almost sucked into your body like a black hole and you feel that bliss where is my consciousness at that point is it going into um almost like a black hole that persides in our i believe by our heart or in our brain or is it expanding think i understand yes which is what we are discussing here is not about feeling it's about knowing and therefore advaita vedanta is done in the waking state in full alertness of mind when we can inquire clearly it uses sleep as a powerful tool for understanding who we are or what consciousness truly is now to answer your question directly the three experiences you talk about the experience of dissociating from the world body mind in a sudden shock of an accident it happens i've heard this earlier one the experience of floating out into a impersonal space in meditation and when you try to track yourself down into sleep that experience the feeling you get when you fall asleep like being sucked into a black hole all of this all three experiences are the mind they are the mind whenever there is change from this to that mind whenever there is expansion mind whenever there is contraction mind whenever there is alert i feel more conscious no no advaita vedanta will say that's mind i feel dull that's mind and i'm awake dreaming deep sleep that's mind consciousness according to advaita vedanta is one and the same all throughout whether you're awake whether you're dreaming whether you're in deep sleep or you means the mind the mind is an awake dreaming or deep sleep whether the mind is dissociating in a sudden moment of being knocked off its normal way of functioning it could be by an accident it could be by a meditative technique consciousness is still the same and to come to see that through a process of inquiry in the waking state once you see that you will see your feelings also will fall into line the other way around using our feelings to understand what what we truly are to to come to realization that will also work but there's a lot of hit and miss there and that requires a skilled guide it's it's the right kind of feeling which will point to consciousness as we are others there are many kinds of feelings and then you will get a feeling of expanding consciousness contracting consciousness consciousness being sucked into a black hole consciousness suddenly diffusing from the world body mind all those things you said is it invalid no there is a whole set of techniques which does exactly what you do what you said you're not supposed to go into an accident but there are techniques which simulate that so what i'm talking about is at least two traditions i know they have whole sets of techniques to do that one is kashmiri shaivism in the text called vigyanabhairava 112 techniques are there some of them are sudden techniques like what happens to the mind suddenly when it's exposed to a dramatic shift like an accident but then they you you can't keep putting people into accidents the hope they'll get enlightened no but this they simulate so for example they're very interesting techniques one is sky gazing you lie down in an open field central park is very good at this time of the year for that it's a beautiful day out there by the way you lie down there and if there's an infinitely clear and blue sky you look this is open eyes meditation you look into it now notice it's vast blue without limit you can't see the ground just blue and endless vast blue it's space and a luminous space it's material so you are supposed to intensely focus on the limitless blueness luminosity of that vast space and then in a moment this is this is the dramatic part of it in a moment close your eyes and you will feel the absence of that vast blue space but you are the awareness in which the vast blue space was appearing drop that drop that awareness too but that's still the mind what happens then you can't see if you try to know what happens then the mind will kick in again and you it's much better what to go into these short samadhis instead of the long one for untrained yogis like most of us if you try to prolong deep meditation what will happen is which was supposed to do in yoga if you try to prolong it in our case what will happen is the mind will kick in and start working again so it's much better to keep short-circuiting the mind once in a while so this is began a bhairava exactly like that there's another very similar set of techniques in the tibetan zogchen tradition tibetan zogchen tradition so this is a whole and very sophisticated very interesting area it depends upon your predilections what what attracts you remember all those techniques they're all techniques to point to the same reality which advaita vedanta is pointing to but advaita vedanta is not those techniques advaita vedant is a process of inquiry where you see the data collected in waking dreaming deep sleep and ponder over it with the help of the pointers from the upanishads and advaithic texts and then you come to see not just intellectually very very vividly i think that's all i can say all right thank you thank you you take the next question next question yes so this is another ashtavakra question swamiji uh it's from sindhu p swamiji i have listened to your talks on ashtavakra i understand that the subtle and causal body leave the physical body during death and travel to acquire another physical body atma or consciousness is unique and universal and the same for all what about a realized person will the jiva then have any more individual identity or individual awareness will they be distinct as a drop of water reaching the ocean of consciousness or will their identity merge with the one ocean all right that's another deep and difficult question what happens after enlightenment that's assuming that uh i am enlightened and i am capable of answering what happens after enlightenment that's assuming a lot but a little bit i know from my study and my experiences with people i think who are enlightened and what we have heard and seen the tradition i can tell you a little bit so again from the advaitic perspective remember ashtavakra is radical non-dualism now and ashtavakra it gives you sort of a perspective from the top of the everest you know from the highest perspective so another can they say is that in india philosophy has reached such himalayan heights i'm paraphrasing i don't remember the exact words where human lungs can scarce breathe so it's a view from the top but it's a very uncomfortable view it's almo it is very impersonal and it i've heard in different ashrams people have told me when somebody comes up with question like this and the swami industrial says have you been listening to sarva priyananda and this mommy said in vin variable it turns out that the person has been listening to one of the ashtavakra talks all right straight answer what happens after enlightenment does the person retain an individuality um no because we don't have an individuality even now even if we are non-enlightened suppose we think we are we are non-enlightened we think we are individual sentient beings but according to advaita vedanta that's just plain wrong what's the fact right now you are brahman right now it's not that after we realize that we are brahman that we become raman look at the language does it merge into brahman does the raindrop fall into the ocean and then merge so assuming it was a raindrop earlier the problem is such examples are used by advaitha masters we have to be careful when the examples are used the limited individuality set up by the as he said the physical body the subtle body and the causal body that gives the impression of being a raindrop but according to advaita vedanta there never was a raindrop always there was this limitless ocean of even ocean is an example that was the truth always now because we don't at all feel that it's no use saying all those things to us now we have to be helped to realize that then a lot of metaphors are used one raindrop falling shankara himself uses this metaphor raindrop falling into the ocean and becoming one with the ocean but then the reality is if you ask the enlightened one so when you a raindrop and you fell into the ocean became one with it were you an individual being then you became enlightened now you're brahmana of course not i just realized i and everybody else we always wear this reality we just didn't see it now we see it otherwise the language of merging can lead to i'm trying to merge with the infinite i'm sort of thirty percent merged and fifty percent almost 95 percent merged with the infinite you are the infinite didn't you hear him singing satyam gyanam brahma infinite existence consciousness place so that's great for infinite existence consciousness bliss but what about me you are that oh yeah only after i become enlightened no you are that now that swami i mentioned the ob swami who was talking about ashtavakra he used to say that often he would repeat i'll tell you the hindi and then translate yeah buddy this is a very strange paradoxical philosophy whether you know it or not whether you accept it or not you are rama you are god but god of course you have to be very careful by what he means by god it's absolute reality not ishwar the god of this universe that is that is really really god ashtavakra himself sings the ocean metaphor look at the ocean metaphor three levels of understanding of this brahmatis in me the limitless ocean of existence the little boat of the universe floats hither and this why swantawatena propelled by an inner wind normally there is a wind in the ocean and on the over the ocean which will drives a sailboat but here the boat has its own wind but it is what's internal the wind internal to the boat i guess they didn't have propellers at that time an engine so they had to come up with this an inner wind what is the inner wind causality again because of causality which is entirely limited to the world it moves in various ways sometimes things go well sometimes things don't go well sometimes there's birth sometimes old age and disease and death sometimes there's ill health sometimes good health sometimes success the stock market is up sometimes it's a bear market and so on why causes and conditions causality and all of that limited to the little boat floating in an endless ocean what is that endless ocean you what's it made of what exactly is it existence being and it's a shining being awareness so in me the limitless ocean of being awareness the little boat of this universe is floating in various ways sometimes doing well sometimes seeming to sink what is my attitude as the endless ocean i have no impatience i i have no intolerance i forbear it's nothing to me when it's doing well the boat is racing along nicely good little boat you're doing well when it's not oh try to do better but i'm the infinite ocean i'm all right i'm all right and remember what is he saying normally we think there is a vast ocean of unknown this universe space and time in that i'm a tiny little being destined to i was born the day other day and i'm going to be destined to be crushed out of existence in a few days he reverses it ashtavakra you are the infinite in you the universe is in you are like an ocean and he knew the universe itself not just one person not just one life the universe itself is a little boat and you are not impatient with its ways and this is just superficial the first level the three levels to this can it go any deeper yes remember boat and ocean are still different there's a boat which is not the ocean so the next level goes deeper it merges this difference is i am an infinite ocean of existence in me the universe arises as a wave let it arise let it subside i neither gain nor lose and in in a ocean one wave arises is the ocean increased thereby no the wave subsides is the ocean reduced thereby no even if a tsunami wave arises ocean is not increased even if tsunami waves fades away into the ocean the ocean is not reduced if birth comes i have gained nothing if youth and health and success and an ivy league education and being a millionaire on wall street comes i have not increased one bit the stock market crashes and i am homeless on the streets i have not lost one bit i am the same ocean of existence what proof you can say all this is terrible answer from vedanta is be patient wait a little it will all go away again you know the buddhist monk who came to the kingdom and the king said oh monk i have so many you know the king was his friend so the monk said how are you okay the king said i have so many problems the kingdom is surrounded by enemies the ministers are corrupt the prince is indolent and not learning his duties i don't know what will happen and there is a drought and the people are starving and the monk said oh king this too shall pass then he went away a decade later he was back in the same kingdom older the king also was older and the monk asked oh king how are you oh it's really good things have turned up since you last came and the enemies have made peace with them and there's a bountiful harvest and the ministers have been replaced and the prince has turned out really quite well you know so things are things are really really good uh they're all looking up and oh king this too shall pass they say and then um an optimist what do you say optimist and pessimist a pessimist is one who sees the long dark tunnel an optimist is one who sees the light at the end of the tunnel but the realist is the one who sees the long dark tunnel and the light at the end of the tunnel and the next duct on a lid so ashtavakra says let it arise let it subside it's all right i am that infinite ocean i have not gained a little bit by the wonderful things happening in the world and i have not lost a little bit by the terrible things happening in my life or in the world you see that might lead to um kind of callousness no it won't that argument things will lead to callousness you just need to look at the lives of the saints they're the least callous of all people we are callous we really don't care we just make arguments for caring for the world in order to escape being spiritual be spiritual you'll care much more for the world all right but this is the second level it goes even deeper though nirakara the third level i am that infinite ocean of existence but now it's a calm ocean there are no waves what i thought was the universe was just that imagination mind is imagination and the thoughts in the mind are also imagination it's an appearance in consciousness therefore what am i formless there is no real world out there even when it's all appearing and ate shanta peaceful atishanta deeply quiet peaceful serene beyond the possibility of disturbance see the peace of the mind you can come but you can be restless also the mind can lose its peace but the peace that passeth understanding that cannot be disturbed and that's our real nature upanishad calls you shanta not that you have to be peaceful shanta is peace you are peace itself the mind is sometimes peaceful sometimes without peace the body is sometimes healthy sometimes without health the world and community are sometimes peaceful sometimes without peace but you are peace itself beyond the possibility of disturbance yes i'll leave it at that the gentleman there please come come please come here come here i can ask the question tell us your name and ask the question [Music] my name is kailash i travel all the way from india to see you thank you speak into the microphone and i have of course uh i want to thank you for all the knowledge i got from youtube listening to you many many times and i'm i feel the same way arjuna might have felt when he saw the vishwa rupa of krishna namaste that's what i feel inside swamiji the only question that after understanding everything and i think i don't have a question but always get stuck on them on the concept of mythia world this world is with here and i think 99 of all of us get stuck in that concept because we're living in it the part that confuses me the same world that gave us they came as incarnation and the promise that they will come in this waking world and guide us in time and time again same waking world is is degraded to being mithya and it is not is not real but the same waking world is the karama bhumi that is the place of action and that's where our path is uh given at this path for different people different path and and that's where hoover comes and app chooses the path and and reaches uh salvation so this is as real as and also at the same time mithya meaning uh it confuses uh many times i think i see your meaning why do we call this world false what good does it do and how is it false these are the questions and then this is in the very world in which you are discussing advaita vedanta is the very world in saints and incarnations have come and this is all that we know right so the straight answer to your question is you don't have to take it as mithya remember mithya falsity falsity is a part of the doctrine of advaita vedanta but that's just one approach among many approaches you need not take it as false you can take it as real as real as everybody else takes it you don't have to worry about it so that's one approach if you do that however what will happen is if this world is real in what sense real means out there there's a i see a chair what's it it's a chair i see a man a woman what's it man woman world everything is real out there as i see it what's wrong with that nothing in that case what you are going to talk about what you are going to seek god you know the impersonal reality brahman it must be something other than this world he said no it can be this world itself if it is this world itself then why call it religion you become a materialist you're chasing the world notice if you take this world as it is then your god becomes a separate god because then are you trying to attain a chair or a table or a man or a woman or a money pleasure what are you trying to attain that's all that the world can give you this is the world then god becomes a separate reality no problem there that is dualistic approach if god becomes a separate reality apart from you apart from the world then you have to set up a relationship with god god is the father or for sri ramakrishna god is the mother for arjuna god is the friend for yashoda or mother mary god is the child for radha god is the beloved relationship bhakti so that is the dualistic approach no problem there or you could have that it is real and it's all god also that also is possible there is one infinite divinity and we are this is also all divine and this divine this is included in that infinite divinity and we have to realize that this is divine somehow or the other is all pervaded by divinity god alone is all of this you can also do that that is called vishishtadvaita these are all vast sophisticated philosophical systems qualified manism or you can say god alone exists the whole thing is an appearance in god appearance is another name for appearance is mismithia or falsity notice in which of the three systems is god given maximum importance in the third one the first one world is there i am there and there is something else called god no matter how important how beautiful whatever but still quite different from the world and from me and god is reduced by that much second one god is there but we have this god has distinct parts like people and things and all third one god alone is nothing else is all appears in god swami vivekananda says when mary hale wrote to him i have understood what you have taught god is everything or everything is god swami vivekananda said i've never taught such strange doctrine and she was taken aback she said you say these things and swami vivekananda he says what i meant was he i might have said it many times he says god is everything but i might have said it but what he says what i meant was god alone is everything is not that is advaita vedanta now what good does it do twofold good one is apparent and one is at the surface one is the deep um application in spiritual life what does it do for us there's a philosophical side to falsity whereby argument you try to show the falsity of the world it's a difficult job because it seems very real to us you know one thing why does it seem very real to us because what when we say what is the world is which is false when you tell people like that what they normally take is here this world and they're telling us this is false it's like snake appearing as a rope appearing as snake you say the snake is false but what it does not mean that there's nothing there there is something that there's a rope there similarly when advaitan says this world is false it doesn't mean the normal way people take it usually immediately you think people think that they are dismissing everything but then i'm left with nothing i don't know anything else but no no when you dismiss this you are throwing away the baby with the bathwater the reality is here where you see the snake there you see the rope where you are seeing world and people and body and mind there the enlightened one is seeing brahman god divinity existence consciousness please i'm using the word god in a very general sense in a very philosophical sense so this is the deep meaning of the falsity of the world what is the meaning of the falsity of the world if the world is false there must be a truth what is the truth you can't just have falsity if somebody tells a lie hey that's false that means there's a true there's a truth so what's the truth if the world is false what's the truth brahman is the truth where will you find the truth where you are seeing falsity where will you find the rope where you are seeing snake sanchankaracharya gives a succinct definition very powerful statement atasmin what is not there you see there snake is not there you see a snake that that snake is false but the reality is right there that's a rope you're seeing world and people and good and bad the reality is right there it's god it's existence consciousness place one unlimited existence so this is the deep meaning of falsity of the world but the advantage is it is giving you direct access to reality by saying what you are seeing is not as it should be then what as it should be the reality is right there right now and in fact it's you when i say i see myself as this little person that's false you are brahmana so what you are seeing as i what i am seeing as i me myself sarva priyananda advaita says please investigate this itself your favorite subject yourself investigate this what what can be more interesting to you than yourself and please investigate this you will find god sri ramakrishna's words in bengali manush nishiji kitchen when the human being realizes who he or she is he finds god so this is the this is it's your disgrace yes but this is predicated upon the falsity of the world if the world is not false then this god you have to look elsewhere god what is the secondary benefit of it the secondary benefit is we are very attached to the world and that's what's stopping us you see it's not philosophy which is stopping us the philosophy of advaita vedanta is not difficult to understand so vivekanthu says many people come to an understanding few realize on this path so there's a difference between just understanding it and realizing it and how do i know whether i've understood or realized it just check the benefits it's supposed to take you beyond sorrow it's supposed to give you fulfillment are you honestly truly beyond sorrow are you honestly truly fulfilled if i if you say no if we say not really and then it might be understanding but it's certainly not realization so this attachment to the world this desire is at the root of all spiritual problems and this falsity doctrine of falsity it cuts at the very root of that desire everybody knows that the world is temporary even this q a session is temporary so don't worry people will be like how long is he going to go on it's temporary this two shall pass this two shall pass but that does not remove our attachment to the world i know the cookie is temporary who cares who wants an eternal cookie anyway i want a temporary cookie and i want to enjoy it i know the movie is temporary great i don't want an endless movie i want to enjoy this temporary movie this temporary cookie i know life is temporary things in the life are impermanent that does not remove our does not shake our desire for the world but notice the moment we clearly honestly believe this world to be an appearance your desire immediately disappears fear also disappears fear and desire terror and temptation they are predicated on supposing something to be real notice in the dreams we are scared in the dreams we are terrified or tempted in the dreams as long as we dream when we wake up we still remember what we saw but we are not scared anymore we are not terrified anymore why because the falsity has been proved notice a movie horror movie tragedy in a horror movie we can enjoy it but you're not really horrified by it a tragedy it does not traumatize you for life you can you can cry in the movie and still have aesthetic enjoyment why because falsity is proved if it was real i always give this example of king kong the great guerrilla what it seems to attack new york so you can enjoy king kong climbing the empire state building huge gorilla and people can clap and cheer and enjoy it and ooh and ah but if a little actual little monkey came into this movie theater i'll evacuate the theater they'll all run screaming out of the theater why what's the difference between king kong the giant king kong and the little monkey giant king kong is proved to be is taken to be false appearance not a source of real terror even the terror that it evokes is a delicious thrill that's the that's the benefit spiritual benefit of falsity of the world but yet again as i say you don't have to take it as false there are there are paths there are different paths and by the way it might surprise you in hindu philosophy hindu philosophy the only system which takes the world to be false is advaita vedanta nyaya takes the world to be real basically takes the world to be real um sankhya takes the world to be real yoga patanjali's yoga takes the world to be real purva me mamsa takes the world to be real it's only in vedanta that too advaita vedanta it takes the world to be unreal or an appearance the other vedanta systems the dualistic system qualified monastic even should had all these systems they all take the world to be real the world to be an appearance and consciousness alone to be real that's advaita vedanta but it has a lot in common with multiple systems in buddhism that's why advaitans were always charged by other hindus are you guys really hindus or your buddhists so shankara was attacked you are crypto buddhists hidden buddhists there is an attack by the dualists um so sometimes we are there's a pejorative term maya wadi you are teachers of maya the illus the illusion of the world that's what you talk about so we we are we can become defensive we say no brahmavadina we are teachers of brahman the absolute reality um then the dualists come back with this response we are also teachers of the way of brahman what is the uniqueness of of your teaching the uniqueness of your teaching that means the non-dualist teaching is the falsity of the world is it not and we have to say yes that's so so the uniqueness of your teaching is maya yes and that maya is mithya false so you are maya badis in that sense maybe so you are mithyawadis you're your teachers of falsity you are false teachers all right thank you one more question from the audience all right uh i'll but this the gentleman at the right at the back has been raising his hand for some time please come up and then we'll take a question from the internet audience next please come up tell us your name and ask the question my name is wali mohammed so i'm awake my question goes to something that i read in the gospel of sri ramakrishna there is a reference getting back to the ocean of going into the black water and who would be there to report on it can you elucidate on that please all right so in those days there's this idea that when you go into the deep ocean nobody comes back kalapani they would go and also the colonial government would send people across that into into jails for people who revolted against the colonial power so nobody crosses the black waters that was the kind of saying similarly sriram krishna would use these as metaphors when you plunge mentally in the mind into that reality and that can be what do i mean by plunge didn't you just say swami that we are that reality yes you are that reality but the mind which is investigating this can now be stilled in meditation it's called samadhi right and then the mind is tilled but not asleep it's like being fully awake in deep sleep if you can wrap your mind around that fall asleep you're not aware of the external world you're not aware of the physical body you're not aware of the mind you're not even aware of that i am sleeping if you're aware of that you're not sleeping and in sleep you're deep in deep sleep but here you're awake you're fully awake the world is blanked out the body and the senses and the mind is also blanked out and yet you are endlessly aware from an external perspective you might seem to be not aware of anything suramar krishna goes into samathi many times so many people saw this not only that he would become as still the description always was it becomes like a picture as still as a picture a doctor examined him heartbeat stopped breathing stopped they touched the eyeball no reflex it's like being dead not only being unaware actually being dead or in deep coma and yet when he was asked or were you unconscious at that time no suram krishna's response was does one meditating on consciousness become unconscious so it's only consciousness but no object to it there's no object no limited object which is you're aware of a limited object all right now there are many of these states they are studied in a system called yoga it's not just one samadhi some of these are of different grades and different types now the point being asked here is so it is you are aware and what is it like exactly well two things and that state obviously you can't speak because there is from your perspective there's no world there's nobody to speak to there's no body there's no speech there's not even a mind coming back from that state arising from that state in the sense that the body mind starts functioning again you are clearly aware of you means the mind now is clearly aware of what happened there but there's no way of expressing it at all only approximations can be there and those approximations are basically the basis of all religion the way the masters in different religions have pointed it out and mystics who have realized it have pointed towards it and many practices which will help you to reach that another example he uses the salt doll who went to measure the ocean if a salt doll goes to measure the ocean first of all measuring the ocean is impossible for the dog second can it do so the moment it enters the ocean it becomes the ocean it floats up into the ocean becomes the ocean there's no individual left who will come back and say that the ocean is like this even when in jeevan mukhtar the person actually comes back in the sense it seems to from our perspective that a person has come back from that person's perspective there's no more person anymore and there is no way of describing that there are ways of pointing it out which can help others i don't know if that answered your question yes thank you thank you this question is from donna swamiji if one cannot afford to take up sanyas formally due to some constraints and yet wants to live like a sannyasin what are the necessary ideals do's and don'ts instructions that the person should follow while living in the world sannesan is a monk it's a name for a hindu monk but basically monastic values are same all over and there are monks in hinduism jainism jainism is a very strongly monastic system so is buddhism hinduism and christianity both have strong monastic traditions but also a lot of late traditions of course buddhism and jainism also have strong lay traditions you can't have a religion without a lay tradition the religion would disappear if nobody has children then who will follow that religion so but they were their origins were primarily monastic buddhism and jainism so that shows in the religion and the teachings all right that's a good question why first of all spirituality enlightenment is for everybody but just as in every sphere of life like engineering or mathematics or what you you can use the products of engineering we are using it all the time the microphone and the light and all of this but you may not have a much of an idea how it's working but you need people who are specialists in this field and everybody else can keep using it similarly in spirituality also you need specialists it could be a a priest an imam a theologian in a church father and among specialists also they may be like super specialists who do only that and nothing else so their quest is enlightenment guard realization and anything else and there may be such people so some religions have strong monastic traditions now these values are of use for everybody everybody does not have to be a monk everybody can and i think should be spiritual everybody can be spiritual and should be spiritual everybody can and should search for god not everybody can or should become a monk it's not necessary but the teachings the monastic values are of great help in those who are on a spiritual path what is the help there i tell the story of the monkey where one you know used to come and steal vegetables from the farmer the farmer couldn't prevent it so how to trap the mischievous monkey so he devised a trap in which he put a vegetable inside a narrow necked bottle and the monkey came crept down the tree and came and put his hand inside the bottle and grabbed the vegetable and was trying to pull it up of course the vegetable got stuck it was a narrow neck bottle it's just enough for its little hand to go in and of course if you maneuver it in a particular way the vegetable itself might come out also but it's very difficult and the farmer started running out of his heart with a stick to beat the monkey the monkey can escape it can let go of the vegetable pull out its hand and run away and climb the tree but greed can't let go and now the monkey is to be trashed the only way the monkey can escape the thrashing of samsara is for the monkey to become a monk that means to let go to let go if you don't let go that's the problem swami vivekananda says thine only is the hand that holds the rope that drags the on let go thy whole sannyasi bold say om can't blame god can't blame samsara you can't even blame samsara can't even blame the world this is the way the world is designed it can be little worse and little better but it's going to be like this it has been in spite of avataras and teachers and masters and prophets the world still is like this little better maybe that's all you have to um save yourself so what are the values the essential nature of of being a monk is renunciation remember not even without being among being in the world bhagavad-gita is taught by krishna who is a householder to arjuna who is a householder and after being taught the gita both remain householders they don't become monks in fact in between in the beginning arjuna was sort of suggesting that he could become a monk bhaikshacharyam charanti says i can go and live on arms krishna tells him no if you want to be a successful worldly man you have to be in the middle of this if you want to be successful in spiritual life you still have to be in the middle of this so even if you are not that super specialized kind who wants only god if you want that well and good we welcome you with open arms but if you don't want that if or you want many people cannot because they are in such social circumstances not practically possible to become a monk but you can internally become monk-like one has to become monk-like you don't have to become literally even a monk has to be monk like if a monk is worldly then no greater disaster than that the gita says this is called hypocrisy to sit quietly with withdrawing from the world of action and then think of the things one can get back to the world of action that's a kind of that's hypocrisy instead of that it's better to be engaged in action but imbibe the values of monasticism internally be monk like internally what does that consist of sriram krishna was very clear kaam khan chon tag the renunciation renunciation of what renunciation of acquisition of wealth and the pursuit of lust he was pretty blunt about it these are the two places where most people are most everybody anybody who's feels trapped bound in samsara at the root are these two that somehow in some sensory way sensual way world will give me pleasure and that will give me fulfillment that's one the other one by accumulating stuff in the world it could be property it could be wealth it could start by just being what is called in usa especially a pack rat and keep accumulating stuff why do people want to live in the midst of so much trash it's it's that desire to have where does it come from it also or even these desires they are rooted in your nature as saccidananda sat being i don't know myself as being the more stuff i have i feel my being expanding i have more i am more it could just be rubbish you notice sometimes unfortunate mentally ill person homeless lugging along a huge sack of stuff so is it that poor person's essential stuff no not it's not essential stuff it's random garbage picked up from here and there why i'm more with stuff and that is really relevant to the united states very overrun with stuff when your house is overrun it goes into a garage when there is no space for the car in the garage it goes into unique creation of the united states storage space people buy storage space big big places where it's just what's there just stuff for what for nothing just for being there it is very philosophical pure being existence itself that is kanchanas krishna calls it gold pursuit of gold means this and then the other one is kama sensual pleasure it is rooted in our nature as ananda our nature is bliss we don't like being unhappy we don't like being miserable we don't like unpleasant stuff we like being pleasant and happy and pleasurable everything nice so that comes back from our real nature because it is nice it is full of bliss but misperceived limited and chasing it in the world out going out with a begging bowl in hand for handouts from the world for happiness what do you want what are you here for beggar give me happiness little bit of happiness from a person from an activity from a hobby from from this body from sophisticated stuff like cultivating the arts and sciences and all from the mind now remember this is dangerous doctrine i am not decrying wall street economy i'm not decrying broadway neither the boutique fashion shops nor the somebody said manhattan is a foodies place food or the high music and art in say juilliard and the broadway theater and all no no no no i'm making a much more subtle point they do what they are designed to do when we invest in them a huge load demand of make me perfectly happy they are helpless they are not designed to do that do we make such a demand it sounds silly when you say it for example nobody ever should be unhappy should be rude to me nobody ever everybody should all the time be consistently unremittingly nice and pleasant to me you see that's ridiculous but that's what we feel no i don't feel that swami but why do we get upset when one person at one time is a little rude to me we remember that even when we we forgive it's all right i forgive i don't mind but we still remember it it hurts why deep inside is this unexamined belief the world owes us happiness so renunciation of gold renunciation of lust that that is fundamental realization but that can come all kinds of other renunciation but it's a good principle even in the world as a householder can i minimize can i have this old adage of simple living and high thinking believe me simple living and high thinking is the formula for happiness we do just the opposite high living and low thinking swami vivekananda said that he said this this mixture of childlike simplicity and utter if you look at vivekananda he's exactly like that some his american devotees and followers used to say he was like this great big boy and it's a mixture of is a combination of childlike simplicity and utter seriousness we do exactly the opposite we are extremely complex and utterly shallow and therefore unhappiness we become complicated creatures and our lives are utterly shallow our thought lives our intellectual lives the way we lead our lives is shallow and as people the way we behave with each other and not towards ourselves very complex that's why you know everybody has a therapist in new york are used to it a few decades ago just luckily going out of style so these are the values the central value of uh being a monk is renunciation how much can you do without [Music] practically how does that work one is have less imitation of christ is very monastic book it says if you want peace my child always seek to have less rather than more the exact opposite of what we do always seek to have less rather than more one one piece my child all do these four things one always seek to have less rather than more always seek to be last rather than first in matters of taking credit in matters of consumption let others enjoy let others get credit and i've seen it's not a spiritual thing only people who are respected great people in any organization could be a business organization could be a scientific academic organization they follow these principles not consciously they come to it automatically and they are respected in that organization scientific organization a commercial organization a business empire simple life putting others forward not myself is he less successful because of that not at all they're usually the top people somebody said yeah this just because they're at the top they have the luxury of doing these things we have to climb to the top and shove people aside we can't afford to be lost other than first so always seek to be last other than first then third one in all matters of opinion do the the will of another rather than your own matters of opinion not matters of value or of ethics there stick to it matters opinion don't fight seek to do the will of others you will find peace and last one most difficult each is these are in order of difficulty first one always seek to have less rather than more difficult but doable second one always seek to be last other than first more subtle more difficult third one always seek to in matters of opinion always seek to do the will of others rather than your own more difficult and the last one is most difficult but most powerful in all matters try to see and accept the will of god because it's the truth whatever happens here is literally the will of god you may not like it you will like it well fine good for you you may not like it can't be helped but george bernard shaw a lady a little old lady came up to him and said grandly you know there's a sense of great achievement um i ha i accept the universe and george bernard shaw this reputative replied by god madam you better so uh this is these are the practices for monasticism yeah one swami was asked in the himalayas he asked the question to the people sitting around him what is the characteristic of a monk and somebody people give different answers somebody said brahmagyana knowledge of brahman enlightenment is the characteristic of a monk the swami said no enlightenment is possible for everybody a householder also can be enlightened then what's the characteristic of a monk sadhu said that the teacher diag renunciation letting go externally even letting go internally of course internally monk like everybody should be for a spiritual seeker you automatically will become a monk-like in fact if you are a great writer you become acidic you're a great scholar you become acidic you're a great scientist an artist you become acidic but except with regard to your art everything else you it drops away you can't you can't achieve greatness without that you don't even have to deliberately do it your passion for that will make everything else drop away so that's the best kind of renunciation when your passion for something high lets everything else drop away but if you calculatedly kick out this thing kick out that thing it can become artificial all right then we can talk more about this i think we have run out of time we should stop here [Music] sri [Music] so