Video 1

Astavakra's Teachings, Part II

um [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] i [Music] [Music] nice thank you thanks let us begin with a prayer this is a shanti mantra peace chant from the upanishads this is on page 48 of this book the universal prayers the first one on page 48 [Music] [Music] [Music] i pray to the divine lord that all aspects of my personality body mind sense organs all the sense organs and the vital force prana shakti may all become stronger and function in perfect concert everything that is visible to the mind through the sense organs this whole creation is nothing other than brahman the ultimate reality described in the upanishads may i not deny this truth may there be no denial of this truth this has been verified and experienced directly by numerous sages over centuries and millennia may i start with this truth as a hypothesis and proceed with the dispatch to experience this truth in my in my life in this very life as i am engaged in that effort to experience the truth all the virtues described in the upanishads may all those virtues come to me and reside in me virtues such as truthfulness straightforwardness purity and strength described in the upanishads may all those virtues come to me and reside in me own peace may there be peace and joy in our hearts may there be peace and harmony amongst all beings good morning let us continue our study of the teachings of ashtavakra last time we started began this first verse of this book ashtavakra mita in the form of conversation between two brahmagyanis very interesting also great scholar of vedanta by birth he was already perfectly heard the knowledge of the self even when he was in the mother's womb the story part we saw last time so the conversation begins with a question from janaka the king janaka asks three three questions of ashtavakram the first question was how can self-knowledge be acquired how can one attain liberation and how is renunciation to be practiced three questions in one couplet liberation from all from all limitations and the cycle of birth and death liberation from the ignorance and attaining enlightenment self-knowledge of one's divine nature how can it happen third one was how can one practice renunciation which is necessary for self-knowledge in response to these uh these three questions of janaka ashtavakra answers this question in the remaining part of this first chapter and his ashtavakra's answer begins with a set of six instructions what is to be done to achieve liberation and how to solve acquire self-knowledge what to do and how to practice renunciation to in answer to these three questions ashtavakra in the second verse of this book gives a set of six instructions one instruction is what not to do and the remaining five instructions are what to do things that should not be done to acquire self-knowledge etc and things that have to be things that have to be done to acquire sort of knowledge and liberation and wide argument so you read the first uh part of this ashtavakra's answer last time ashtavakra's part of the answer his answer was if you wish to have liberation for janaka if you wish to have liberation the first thing you have to do is to give attachment to all sense objects he might have minimum positions we cannot live without sense objects our body itself is a sense object our mind itself is a sense object because any objective that is different from the self anything that i have is an object anything that can be objectified and thought about as a as being separate from me is an object sense object so we are this contact with sensor objects is inevitable but though we can have contact with those which are essential we should still be inwardly detached from the sense object no attachment at all you can deal with them have them use them but no attachment no attachments not owning them not identifying oneself with them not expecting to get any pleasure and benefit from them and when they depart as they necessarily have to be ready for this separation so that's what nashville's first answer was dear friend here person dear son the youtuber tata to express endearment in addressing somebody muktimi chassis if you wish to achieve liberation then first thing you have to do is it's a difficult instruction to follow but he says we say oh means all sense objects give them either those that can be physically given up have to be given up and those that have to be uh kept and dealt with they can be kept but with inward detachment how shun them he says shun them as if it were poison as they were poisoned we shower means poison a very strong statement of makes we say on me the first thing for an aspirant of liberation to do is to give up sense objects and all attachment to all sense objects that itself is a very difficult instruction tall order for most uh spiritual seekers like us to follow but that is the first instruction this instruction that ashtavakra gives this conversation between ashtavakra and janaka in this book is not a primordial vedanta it is an advanced textbook in srama krishna had only swami vivekananda study this book behind closed doors he did not ask any of the other 15 monastic disciples to study establishment he chose and asked him to study this in uh read it to him behind closed door advanced book so this the instructions are difficult now today we shall uh understand try to study the remaining five instructions that ashtavakra gives five things to do one thing not to do not to have any contact association or attachment to sense objects one that we studied last time the second instruction is consists of five things to do the first one of them is krama and then means contentment and fifth one is uh truthfulness these five things we shall try to study today first thing is two meanings one meaning is forgiveness in the commentary on this verse shankara has given not not in this book in the gita describing shama shankara somebody gives us trouble somebody beats me or gives trouble in some other way then my mind should remain absolutely unperturbed by others transformation change of the mind mental state becoming angry absurd sad chitta means mind one should remain absolutely calm as if nothing has happened it's very difficult to practice that and we shall see what can we do about that one we can't do all of this literally 100 but we'll see how we can practice these things in this connection i remember an episode how one can remain totally unprotected if if he is physically beaten by people are clearly two episodes there was a great avodah in the state of maharashtra in a town called shaigam is a town it's a place of pilgrimage lived his name was gajanan maharaja you may have heard about him he was a great auditor means a person who has no reason all about all body consciousness and does not conform to any social conventions rules whether he wears a cloth or not whether he eats or not whether he stays on the road under the tree or on the bank of a river or anywhere anywhere nothing matters reason about everything total uh transcendence of body consciousness such a buddha lived there in the time shakedown and some people thought as always there are some detractors so they thought he was a fake appearing pretend but not like that some people thought so they tried to insult him and put him down but he would not react even if they scolded them anything he just remained absolutely calm but then one day his enemies detractors they hired some thugs and go on beat him up and they would pay some money to the thugs so these thugs don't know they wanted somebody said they went to him with sticks and started beating him nothing happened he didn't react at all he used to have his face pipe chill clay pipe used to sprinkle up like this and joyfully feel like this with a smiling face no matter what happened he just remained like that they went on beating but nothing happened they kept quiet and joyfully smiling there and they became tired and the sticks broke then they realized this is not an ordinary person they go down to him and went away in this way no matter what happens insulting being insulted or being beaten or cheated of that highest caliber who is absorbed in self-knowledge totally transcending body consciousness nothing bothers a person so that is what we have to try to do this very difficult instruction but we will see how we can practice in a limited way in our own lives the other instance i remember of this krama forgiveness forbearance being practiced was in the case of bhagavan ramana maharshi in tirona malay in south india he used to live many of you know about him and he used to live where he used to live in a cave on the top of the hill and with no possessions no possessions but after sometimes some devotees came his mother came uh some devotees came first and they started living in a small building at the base of this hill there was no position no money no property nothing they would whatever food came now they would eat and spend their time in um thinking about god and himself so one night some robbers came to that place the robbers thought that these people these three or four people who were living there with the bhagavad-gita they had stashed away some money somewhere in the pretending to be poor people but they have kept some money here in the ashram so they robbers thought so they went and demanded money these sheet disciples say we don't have any money what we have is a few rags and pots and pans and you are welcome to take them you don't have anything else but the robbers didn't believe they thought they had these people had hidden some money somewhere so there was no money so they started beating the disciples and the dimensions so with a stick there with ramana maharshi on one side and he showed the other side whose whole your souls might be on their right cheeks for whom they left lord jesus christ has said that's what they literally did and the disciples wanted to call the police servant she said no don't call anybody so the robbers realized there was nothing there so they went away but can we do that one can we be like maharaja can we be like no the answer is no we have to react people like us who are body consciousness we are not avadavutas we are not at the tri-state of conscious self-awareness we have to react sometimes when when necessary so the three things have to be done how to practice krama forgiveness for variance in our lives forbearance means whatever problem comes of any kind one has to have the strength to bear it calmly without complaining in the video uh there is a very nice verse surrounding studied with swami a verse number 24 there shankaracharya describes uh this forbearance in this way he says whatever problem comes of any kind in life as they necessarily do one has to bear the suffering calmly without retaliation without complaining without lamentation calmly not grudgingly now i have to bear with this not like that calmly without retaliation without complaining lamentations saudi taking revenge no taking revenge buried calmly come and then two more things chinta villapa rahitam jinta means brooding ruling about the past what happened what happened all the problem that when i went through from the beginning as long as i can remember all the problems always thinking about them when it happened to me bloating about the future anxiety though this may happen that may happen this problem may come like this one that should not be done will opera means lamentation all that somebody has to do is to say how are you which is normal and crazy they don't really mean that you should recall all the state all the problems then that person starts describing all the problems he or she has how what problems he had and what is the problem now what may come and that should not be that is lamentation that should not be done calmly you can unburden one can unbroaden oneself with one or two close friends and they will comfort and give some suggestion that's that's okay alone but not always lamenting about one's problem the discipline is called detection forbearance now for people like us we are not like ramana maharshi or what we should do how we should deal with the sufferings in our life three things can be done first thing is to anticipate a problems and suffering and take preventive measures if possible sometimes it is not possible to do anything to prevent things will happen for example how much difficulty holy mother sausage we had once living in lakshmi neshwar that naha but small room eight feet in the small room she has a whole life the same place where she had to cook and clean and sleep and receive visitors and everything so there was no bathroom and there was no water water had to be brought from the river there's no flowing water no bathroom for a person especially for a woman without bathroom it's very difficult and it's used to before people started coming to the temple before that she had to finish all our morning duties ablutions and during the day she would not come out people's men men devotees were coming disciples are coming to see ram krishna people are coming people are visiting temple kali temple so out of modesty she would not come out stay in the small room that was so difficult for a person to stay like that one for a no privacy at all and then once what happened she had diarrhea can you imagine him problem the discomfort of a lady has diarrhea there's no bathroom during the day every few minutes she has to go so much problem there's nothing that you could do there are no recourse so fortunately most of us are not in that dire situation generally a reasonable facilities in our life so first thing is to take preventive measures how to take preventive measures what preventive measures there is the fear of possibility of becoming sick so to prevent becoming secret of all the rules of health proper diet and their proper time exercise and rest and rules of health you have to follow those all things to prevent sickness of buying health insurance and things like that property home insurance and fire insurance card insurance this help to prevent problems that make up sometimes no matter how many preventive measures we can take their own source there are limits to how much we can do still problems come though we have a healthy insurance and follow all the health rules we still become sick then what to do second step we have to take is to take remedial measures the problem has come in spite of having taken preventive measures so see what remedy can be done whatever remedy is possible we have to take sickness you go to uh physician doctor uh with a attitude of devotion god himself has come in the form of the doctor we should have that attitude and you go to your doctor you know there's a famous statement lord himself comes in the form of the doctor so whatever treatment it may cure the problem it may help or partially it can be solved or some new problem may come in spite of taking all available remedial measures then still problem-solved then what to do whatever cannot be cured or prevented has to be endured then practice to take forbearance that's when you have to practice the texture before doing the preventive remedial measures we should not simply keep what and say all god's will what can i do no we are we have been given the ability to take preventive remedial measures we have to use all of that that we can do on top of that watch you know we can cannot prevent a remedy then we have to say i've done my best these problems persist i have to bear them how to bear them calmly without brooding without lamenting without taking revenge that is krama how we can practice forbearance in our lives this ability to forbid our suffering women have more of this than men this is what shri krishna says in the gita in the gita 10th chapter verse number 34 bhagwan says women have some qualities more than men have their ability to bear pain they have much more ability to forbearance they have no matter how much pain comes they can bear that one so shri krsna says [Music] six qualities are more manifest in women one of them is kirti they um kiriti means fame not that they acquire the aspire for frame but they will become well known because of their accomplishments desirable frame shreem means wealth wealth not only physical material wealth but relative knowledge wealth forbearance perseveres work ability to express very articulate women have that ability to express things ideas very clearly in a very articulate effective manner then smriti their ability to remember things recollection ability to remember memory very sharp intellect they are very intelligent more intelligent made of means ability to forbid steadiness forbearance they remain unperturbed bare they have more bearing capacity this is special these are special qualities of women so kshama is that quality a divine quality shri krishna calls this before forever divine quality in the 16th chapter of the bhagavad-gita then we talked about so an ordinary householder must take preventive measures revenue measures and then forbid preventive measures include safety you have to protect our house property ourselves for this we have to install all kind of security systems rubber she had no security system no securities open they still live in the opening what is there to lose nothing to lose no property to property to protect no family to take care of their totally free people we cannot be like that so householders have to take all these measures then after doing all these things whatever problem remains suffering remains that we have to bear calmly without lamenting without complaining and calmly that is the meaning of the word kshama how to practice it in our lives then second quality second thing that we have to do five things we have to do ashtavakra said to janaka to achieve liberation to self-knowledge it and and to get vairagya fightings to be done first is practicing forbearance forgiveness second one is arjuna means straight forwardness straightforwardness means what we think in our minds must be reflected in our speech and what we say must be reflected in our action what i think what i say what i do must be all same so thinking something in my mind and saying something also please somebody and doing entirely something different that is a crookedness to put it plainly crookedness is totally private big obstruction in spiritual life so spiritual seekers seekers of devotion and knowledge must be totally transparent transparency of personality we must be dependable when i say something people shout confident that i'm saying what if what i have what i'm thinking on what i'm going to do so that transparency of personality is called arjem straight forwardness indeed the word arjuna has been described as mentioned as a important virtue four times in the bhagavad-gita krishna ashtavakram mentions that one hiding truth from others and something that is that is true and should be told if you withhold it shielding then that is not arjun straight that is not straightforwardness hiding truth from others is detrimental to progress in spiritual life so second disciplines or the third thing that ashtavakra wanted seekers of self-knowledge to do seekers of liberation to do is to practice daya compassion you are familiar with this um discipline of virtue of their compassion compassion means those who are going through some some difficulty not only human beings animals and plants we have to be compassionate towards them opposite of cruelty and this is classified as a divine quality in the 16th chapter of the how to practice compassion if a person if you see a person going through some difficulty then we should put myself ourselves in the position of that person if supposing i were in his place somebody is having some problem supposing i was having the same problem how would i have liked to be treated by others i expect people to be nice to me compassionate to me helpful to me because i'm going through the problem in the same way we should treat the other person as we would like ourselves to be treated this is called the golden rule this golden revolution all faith is in christianity it's an islam it is in buddhism it is an hinduism in all branches of hinduism golden rule treat others as you would like to be treated by others the gita this golden rule comes in the sixth chapter verse number 32 paper yogi should practice same-sidedness and compassion and treat others as one would like to be treated by others if i want to be shown respect treated nicely by others i should show respect and treat others nicely same standard for me and other people that is the important question they are there means compassion is very important to have compassion you can see the practice of compassion in the lives of bhagavan buddha and the holy mother how compassionate she was especially when she saw somebody in trouble she would start crying and do whatever she could to help that person in trouble the compassion is specially a requirement for those who have a tendency to be cruel some people are very cruel especially some people to animal cruelty it's a punishable reference in all societies if you if you are very cruel to animals then it is an offense but some people still do cruelty they torture animals those who promote dog fighting and god fighting and bullfighting and all those things they said entertainment should not be done very bad for spiritual seekers there's a nice story in the brother naked about this compassion compassion other virtues self-control compassion and charity three things swamiji swami atma gandhi gave a sunday talk about this uh some time ago and the title of his talk was the the the his story in the brother and the couple very interesting story briefly the stories like this the prajapati the creator but he means the lord father of all praja all beings creator so he had three sons or three categories of children one of them were the gods second of them were the human beings third kind of children he had was the demons rakshasas so they all went to uh their father prajapati seeking instruction the first deed gods went to prague please give us instruction how to lead our lives for example they said only one letter the that's all he said and then he asked did you understand what i said the gods in order that yeah we understood uh what you said what did you understand the gods say that means control your soul dama means self-control controlling sense organs control yourself gods are given to indulgence in all kinds of pleasures so he told them they understood what god prajapati told them most to practice a self-control demo okay you understood you can go then second the human children went then they asked play for their police teachers the father prajapati said the same thing that's all he said then he asked them did you understand what they said yes we understood human beings not at their head what did you understand when you said you mean we asked you actually practice dhana that because human beings have the tendency to hold things not share much so they understood our lord wants us to practice the charity so we understood you told us to be writer's charity he said yes okay you can go lastly the third kind of children rakshasa the demons they went to prajapati so they asked for instruction prajapati said same thing this only said did you understand what he said the demon said yes we understood what did you understand you asked us to practice compassion that means self-demand self-control each each person understood the same instruction in different ways the rakshasa demons are very cruel by nature so they understood oh our father wants us to practice compassion compassion is a great virtue so like this these are the virtues among them gustavo cruz says practice of compassion not only towards people or towards especially towards animals and plants animals are if you're cruel to them what can they do they are they cannot defend themselves always towards plants also towards i would say towards inanimate objects also how to be compassionate towards inanimate objects these are all inanimate objects we are dealing with the book on the table and the door and the floor we are dealing with them only compassion it means you have to be gentle with them how to be compassionate towards the earth not putting later land pollution throwing things everywhere putting litter everywhere is causing a problem to mother earth it should not be done or creating lot of noise noise pollution that is crime against nature the noise means the noise is carried in air five elements air carries noise space carry the noise so we should not cause noise pollution and uh dealing with other objects gently if you want to keep the book on this table keep it nicely face upwards of person and if you want to close the door people slam the door the whole building sticks gently close the door you worship door when you do the puja compassion means towards all beings seeing god's presence in all beings including inanimate objects just to be consciously practiced then they are compassion instruction what to do touch your liberation self knowledge that is dosha means contentment the topic of contentment comes several times in the gita in one of the important instructions of sri krishna many places in the gita shri krishna says practice contentment and that contentment has to come from where acquiring property and increasing you know our positions lot of money big houses and car those things do not bring contentment contentment cannot come from outside personnel because no matter how much a person has he still wants more if a person has a a million dollars he wants to become a billionaire and if he becomes a millionaire he wants to become a multi-billionaire because somebody has more money than him contentment does not come by increasing our positions contentment has to come from within this wisdom that little boy nachiketa had in the qatar punisher is our heard of nachiketa story when yama offered him all kinds of things benefits enjoyment jammu offered nasiketa little boy little boy was asking for self-knowledge but emma didn't want to give right away he wanted to test so emma offers him i will make you a king i'll give a large kingdom as lord the kingdom as you want you can have and i'll give a long queen and horses and chariots and treasury money wealth dance music everything i will give i can enjoy it as long as you want long life i will give take all these things don't worry about self-knowledge i said no sir a little boy having that kind of vadagyan from determination and viveka very moving story in the qatar punisher says when all these things are offered to him he says a man cannot find contentment no matter how much money on other possessions you give he still has greed greed [Music] so i don't want these things they want self knowledge and the other thing nasi keta says all these things you are offering kingdom and queen and horses and chariots and all these things they are they are temporary they go away separation will come how long can i keep the kingdom how long can i can the queen with me with me either she will leave or i have to leave him these are all all those all positions and associations are temporary nothing is permanent i don't want all these things and then he says these objects of enjoyment we can't enjoy for a long time organs if we indulge in sensory pleasures a time will come quickly when the sense organs lose their ability to enjoy that is known from experience supposing a person likes to eat good food so he goes on eating all the pizza and cheesecake and chocolate and sweets and everything but how long can this be done soon the body will lose the ability to enjoy all those food same thing about other positions so that's they are not probably i don't want these things and he says one more thing look at the stability and courage of this young little boy facing the lord of death yama keep all this is for yourself all the chariots and dances and music keep it keep it for yourself i don't want anything i don't want any of these things give me self knowledge so that is contentment has to come from within not from positions outside if a person increases its possession that is not satisfy you still have greed some time ago i talked about a short story written by tolstoy this short story is called title of the story is how much land a man nears that's it i love this story this story was in my high school textbook in 1949 i read the only thing i remember from those days in short the story is a story of a farmer who had some land and you should be i've been content like other farmers in the village no he wanted to have more land he went on acquiring more land more land more than no much la no matter how much land acquired still there was breed great requirement he sacrificed everything surpassed his family his uh had to uh didn't care for his health more land want to acquire so finally he acquired all the land in the village because became the biggest land still he was greedy for more land so then somebody told him you go to some area there in the northern part of russia where he was living then the land is free you can acquire as much land as you want with no prices there oh he went there giving up everything your family and even seeking that land as much land as you want i can get for free yes you can get so went there abandoning everything and they met with the chieftain chief of that area and asked him this man asked him farmer i want some land how much land do you want then the farmers the chief said here see we land this free you don't charge any money for living or as much land as you can use you can have mark your territory and that's yours no money this man became oh i can get a lot of luck so the condition was the chief put a condition or sun rise in the morning you start from this area i'm telling the story of greed how great can kill a person you start with uh at this point a starting point the chief said and walk as much land as you can cover you can come back to the same point that land is reversal but yet you have to come back before sunset so this man became very happy i can cover a lot of land he started running at sunrise didn't take any break for lunch or didn't stop for drinking water and kept on running running looking at the sun sun is coming down in the horizon i should reach the same point before sunset and four o'clock five o'clock is not stopped for anything exhausted still he is running to reach that point of starting the sun is almost at the horizon almost able to go below the horizon at that point he reached that point that starting one chief was waiting there with other villagers when he stared totally exhausted he died so much he had run all day not drinking water not stopping for dressed then the chief and these villagers who were there history told them uh they get grave and buried him they the grave and buried him the chief said this is all the land he really needed fix it by six feet by three feet that's all that we need how much land do we need the greed can really kill a greedy person can never be happy so this contentment practice is very important virtue for spiritual seekers for everybody in general especially for spiritual seekers this is extolled in many places in the gita for example in the 12th chapter describing the qualities of the devotee of god what virtues should a devotee have bhagavansi god has given me this much with this i'm happy with this i can be happy if i acquire more does not mean i'll be happier so that feeling of contentment has to come from within in describing the virtues of a suta pregnant a sage of study wisdom who knows the self in the second chapter of the gita this is one of the first things that krishna mentions long list of virtue surface sage of study wisdom sata pregnant arjuna answers the first thing among the first things that shri krishna says when describing such a sage we are self knowledge is the first two things brother 2 55 look at 51st chapter 2. a person who has conquered all the desires that arise in the mind no desires left you desire for god realization has been fulfilled israelis god so there is nothing left first virtue second virtue is contentment is a contented person how does a person get contentment not from acquiring more things acquisition of more thing does not necessarily bring contentment content contentment has to come from [Music] being content totally content in the soul within the self where can we get more contentment on the atman with him divine presence within him there's no other thing that can give us more contentment than itself than the divine presence within us so that is the virtue of contentment these four things we have studied last one is satyam five things to do fourth last one is truthfulness truthfulness itself is a very big uh uh topic uh it is highly extraordinary this at the last moment of his life what is brahman truthfulness ultimate reality pure knowledge is consciousness is brahmana anantam infinite is brahman that's india like that many statements are there in the um upanishad there was a story of a guru column a forest hermitage where students stayed in the teacher's home boys and the teacher takes care of them teacher's wife takes care takes care of them and they get the lessons every day and they do some chores and after finish their studies for staying after staying there for 8 years 10 years 12 years some people stay longer at the end when they are ready to go back home to their own home to pursue their life then at the last class the teacher gives a set of instructions valedictory instructions among them the first instruction that a teacher gives to the departing students already to take begin their life after finishing studentship the first instruction is practice truthfulness the most important instruction for any person to practice in life householders sannyasi students anybody sriracha nurses even business people who conduct this they have not untruth falsity falsehood may bring some temporary advantage for some time in the short term but in logarithm it is ruinous ruins a person truthfulness alone triumphs many statements are there in the in the upanishads and other other scriptures so i'll conclude with sri ramakrishna's instruction on truthfulness he he many times in the gita at least six seven times i think not any gita in the gospel sriram krishna says truthfulness alone is a spiritual discipline for the kali yuga most important discipline to be truthful truthfulness includes keeping one's word we say that we do something we have to do that something that also is included in our truthfulness this instruction is used in six seven places in the in the gospel on one occasion this is what sheram krishna said about truthfulness he himself followed it meticulously once he said that he is going to visit jada malik's house during the day for some reason he could not visit it became night and almost midnight then he said i remember he remembered i told today that i will go to gadi malik's house but have not been able to go or to keep up my world so what he did just for midnight he went to jodha malik's house property team dakshin as well and put one step in the judo molex property and said and declared i have come to jesus property entered his property and he went back literally keeping his word so on in the gospel i'm going to read a short passage before i conclude the master asked if shivanath would come to the this on page 312 of the gospel a brahmana devotee said that he had other important things to do and was not coming she would notice the devotee he was intercom but he could not come that day so sriram krishna talks about shivanath in this passage he says i feel very happy when i see shivanath he always seems to be observed in the bliss of bhakti devotion further a man who is respected by so many people by so many surely possesses some divine power but he has one great defect shivana he has one great defect he does not keep his word once he said to me that he would come to dakshineshwar but he neither came nor sent me world that is not good if a man clings if a man claims a tenaciously to truth he ultimately realizes god without this regard for truth one gradually loses everything if by chance i say that i will go to the pine grove i must go there even if there is no need further further need for it lust i lose my attachment to truth after my vision of the divine mother i pray to her taking a flower in my hand in my hands oh mother here is the knowledge and here is the ignorance take them both and give me only pure love here is the holiness and here is the unholiness take them both and gave me only pure love here is the righteousness and here is the unrighteousness take them both mother and gave me pure love i mentioned all these but i could not say mother take mother here is the truth and here is the un falsehood take them both i gave up everything at her feet but i could not bring myself to give up truth one thing you held down to truthfulness truthfulness includes not only saying what is true and factual but keeping one's world if you say we do something we should do that one the other instance in sriram krsna's life he went to see ishwar chandra vidya sagar a famous philanthropist and educationist and during the conversation ishwar chandra told sri ramakrishna that he would visit dakshin israel but he didn't visit then sriram krishna said see this is individual saga such a great scholar fellow philanthropist everything he said he would come and visit me he never came that's not good for spiritual seekers if you say we do something you have to do it at all cost for if some reason we cannot do it then we have to explain and explain to the person whom he promised for this reason i could not do but we have to keep our world so that's the last instruction so in conclusion in response to janaka's question how to achieve liberation how to achieve self-knowledge how to practice vedanja ashtavakra gives six instructions one of them is the apollo attachment to all sensor objects second instruction consists of five points forwardness transparent personality what we say must be same as what we do must be same as what we think all the three means compassion dosa means contentment last one is satyam truthfulness these five things have to be followed by everybody meticulously as if it were nectar so this is the conclusion of the first part of answer to um answer ashtavakra to janaka then next time an opportunity comes we shall continue to study aston mar's instructions to janaka the subsequent instruction that he gave now let me say the closing prayer and there are some important announcements to make you know next sunday next weekend is a big weekend there's nothing happening on saturday it's a memorial day weekend so the program begins on may 29th sunday um swami saraparayananda who needs no introduction he'll be visiting us at 11am sunday the program begins on sunday may 29th 11am gives a talk the topic is the divinity within 11 to 12 then there will be lunch at 12 30 this will box lunch and then 2 to 3 p.m sunday devotional songs bajans 3 to 4 p.m swamiji seroparangi gives a second talk the topic will be oneness three to four pm in new zealand and four to five pm there is a tea break and five to six pm syrup rangi answers questions questions and answers at 6 30 there is aurati as usual dailyrt meditation that's the sunday program there is no dinner a sunday because of kobe we have to cut down certain certain items in the originally planned program on monday may 30th memorial day swami sura priyanji gives a talk at 11 am 11 to 12 in new zealand and the topic will be vedanta in the 21st century and 12 30 on sunday on monday next monday there will be boxed lunch lunch will not be served downstairs as we normally do because of kovid provided in boxes and people can take home or eat here so all are invited to attend a lot of people will be there so if you come early you will get a good seat and place to park so many people are calling us from all over the place they are going to come and the parking is will be tight you're all welcome to attend but make sure you all wear masks a lot of people will be there we require request all of you to wear masks when you are here and you should be vaccinated and that is next week's program all other programs our weekly programs will continue as usual all the classes will continue so please come and participate as much as possible now let me say the closing trigger [Music] service on tony [Music] may all be happy may not be free from ill health and other problems may all realize in practice what is noble and auspicious may no one be subject to misery own peace may there be peace and joy in our hearts may there be peace and harmony amongst all beings and may there be peace everywhere in nature [Music] thank you all for coming stay well and see you next week all the programs are given in detail in our website whetherdc.org then you can find all the details good um