Video 105

105. Bhagavad Gita | Chapter 9 Verses 1-2 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

foreign The Yoga of um of the kingly knowledge or Royal knowledge and the Royal secret rajavidya the Royal knowledge and rajaguiha the Royal Secret so sounds good and it's an extraordinary chapter also what will happen in this chapter is this in the eighth chapter gave us a very conventional idea about spirituality you know what we normally think about religion that there is God and you must have Devotion to God if you if a person has worldly desires and Devotion to God by the grace of God the desires will be fulfilled in this life or next but if the person does not have early desires and the person just wants God loves God then he will attain to God how he gives he says that at the point of death such a one will remain merged in the thought of God In Prayer in meditation absorbed in in meditation on God and after death we'll attain to God what does attain to God mean it means ishwar or saguna Brahman there is a loka a plane of existence in which such devoted Souls those who love God they go to that plane of existence and their experience thereafter is the Magnificent and loving presence of God which is what is called heaven in these religions so to put it simply if you are if you believe in God you are devoted to God you will go to heaven and then SRI Krishna also pointed out the way to do that to think of be to be absorbed in God at the point of death physical death is to be to be Godly is to be devout throughout one's life otherwise it's not possible at the point of death you know I can go around doing whatever I like throughout my life and I just know that Krishna has set at the point of death I have to remember God and then I'm through free no problem won't won't work it just won't work so Krishna also makes that point in order to be absorbed in the thought of God at the point of death one must be devotional one must surrender one must hold on to God and want nothing in the world except and only want only God and so in this way try at least throughout one's life be engaged in this and this is also kind of Moksha because such a person who goes to heaven so we must use the technical word here that is there are many Heavens in Hinduism why only Hinduism Hinduism Buddhism Jainism they talk about many Heavens those are lower Heavens where you go and come back come back means again a reborn in this world uh in some form or the other but once one goes to Brahma loka and without any desire there are cases where we can come back from Brahma loka also but they had worldly desire so they come back they come back as very powerful people in this world very successful and also on but and to fulfill their desire once for all and then never be to be born again but in fact who is to say this about the great emperor Akbar it says he says that he was a yogi in his past life and had a desire to rule a great Empire some kind of Desire was there and is born as an emperor um the the dream of the hermit's cave or hermit's heart often haunts the Throne of kings and emperors some such thing is there anyway so but the People Krishna is talking about in the eighth chapter are those who do not have worldly desires and have been deeply devoted to God all their lives they will not come back they will not be reborn again not being reborn again is uh is the definition of Moksha you're free from the cycle of birth and death so that is a kind of Moksha why am I saying kind of Moksha it is Moksha because you don't have to be reborn but again it is not full advaithic realization full-blown realization I am Brahman I am one with the Divine that realization has not yet come and the idea is that in brahmaloka in the presence of God that that very devout at highly spiritual soul will attain to the final realization that I am Rahman and be liberated from the thereon they will not come back again this is called sequential Liberation or crama mukti this is one kind of Liberation talked about in the upanishads the upanishads always take care to mention this and I think this is good because even from the advaithic perspective this gives a foundation to Conventional religion that faith in God Devotion to God prayer service spiritual life this will lead to heaven and freedom um and it's true vedanta supports it if you are listening carefully you will probably hear a butt coming somewhere but now Krishna wants to say that this is not the only path to liberation and in fact this is not even the primary path to Liberation this is not even the real vedantic teaching in fact shankaracharya introduces the ninth chapter you're thinking that if people think that they have a doubt so this is the way to become spiritual you have faith in God be devoted worship God and after death you will go to you know why couldn't about a Vishnu or Devi loka the Abode of the Divine mother Durga or the pure land of Mahayana Buddhism or the Islamic heaven or Christian Heaven and so on so if that's and you go there and that's eternally stated and that's religion well Krishna wants to say no that's true and he has signed up on that he has given his stamp of approval yes that's true that's very good then shankaracharya comments the real direct path to uh freedom to spiritual Liberation is here in this life now and that Krishna will point out in this chapter point out how we all know the standard advaithik teaching that you are Brahman that the realization that I am Brahma that has to be pointed out but remember there is another what you call a wrinkle to it remember where we are in the Gita the Gita three major sections of the gate are broadly speaking the first six chapters were about self-realization I am Atman next six chapters where we are ninth chapter is in the next six chapters it is about God it's not about I am Brahman no it's about God and the last six chapters we'll talk about the that um you know that the identity of the individual and God but in this chapter if you're in this section if you're going to talk about the ultimate truth the advaithik truth existence Consciousness Bliss you have to take the god path not the self-inquiry path because we're talking about God here so what Krishna will do here um he will say this God you love this God you believe in this God whom you want to attain after death it's not just a god that is to be loved it's a God to be known known in what sense an identity I am that it's not just a God to be believed in it's a god which is directly available for experience and it's not just a god you will go to in heaven after death no you will find your Oneness with that God Here and Now so he will reveal the how will all this happen how will a god which is based on faith will suddenly become a directly experienced God how will a god which is postmortem after death you go to heaven how will that become in this life available to us how will a god which is so much different from us will be revealed in Oneness with each with with me so to do that Krishna says there is a secret about God he will tell us no there is a secret about God the highest secret the Royal secret which I am going to reveal to you now what is that secret about God well what is God the god that we worship in vedanta pure Consciousness with Maya with the powers of Maya omniscient omnipotent omnipresent this is called saguna Brahman Brahman with attributes ishwara bhagavan and this is what is worshiped in Hinduism as Devi Durga as Kali as Shiva as Vishnu all names and prompts of the same reality pure Consciousness with the power of Maya so Ganesha all of these are just you know names and forms imposed on the same reality however this is not the ultimate truth this is where the theistic religions of the world stopped and he's going to say there's something deeper something higher and that secret I'm going to tell you that's generally not known to the masses not even taught I'm going to tell you now Arjuna that's why it's the Royal Secret and the secret is this that there is a higher nature of God a more fundamental nature of God saguna Brahman is not the end Brahman with attributes is not the end then what's there it's infinitely powerful beautiful loving God what could be higher what could be greater what could be greater is that one reality which appears to you as God it is existence Consciousness Place unlimited being unlimited awareness an unlimited fulfillment Ananda huh well how is this different from God oh huge differences are there there are there's Oneness of course but first of all difference and you are not the same God and you are not the same you are a sentient being and God is God the ruler of the universe however when you go to this deeper secret about God nirguna Brahman you and God become the same reality because you are also not Guna Brahman not a part of nirguna Brahman not different from in what sense well you are not going to brahmana nirguna Brahman is you near Guna Brahman is not Shiva Brahma Vishnu God in heaven no no no the reality of nirguna Brahman is you and your reality is this secret Brahman I am Brahman and Brahman is I this secret this knowledge the knowledge by the way you attend to this this profound secret the greatest of all secrets this knowledge is also a king of knowledge Raj of India so the king of Secrets what is the king of Secrets tell me clearly straightforward Guna Brahman and how do you attain to this guy the realization I am that you can't do that with that's blasphemy with the god with ishwara bhagavan who is in the temple in the church and in heaven in mosque you cannot say that I am that that's blasphemy the moment you accept that as God you become the individual little creature which you feel yourself to be however upon investigation what you find yourself to be pure Consciousness upon investigation God is also that and there you are one reality so this is the Royal knowledge Royal secret Royal knowledge this is what he's going to talk about now um he's not deviating from the theme of God remember he said one might doubt that are we not going back to the old uh I am Brahman the same old theme about no he is talking about God and he continues to talk about God you will see throughout this chapter and he will bring in the familiar thing themes of love and devotion all of that will come but still he points out that this there is something more to know about God and that's what he's going to talk about so Krishna introduces this is a chapter without any question from Arjuna Krishna wants to introduce this why because otherwise what he has said in the eighth chapter might be taken as the final truth dualistic God Devotion to God going to heaven after death he now he's saying that that's not the final truth I would rather that you have Enlightenment and freedom here and now in this life how is that you need to know a deeper secret about God here SRI bhagavan today [Music] so he said the Blessed lord said to you who are not cavaling I shall teach this most secret knowledge in particular coupled with realization knowing which you will be freed from Evil will be free from evil so Edam which is this this means this special knowledge the most secret of all most secret is more secret than the highest secret in religion which is God secret in the sense the subtlest thing and prabhakshami I shall tell now I've already told you this in the first six chapters that I'm going to tell you this through the root of God um foreign skeptical grumbling uh cast not thy Pearls Before Swine why not why not give it to everybody no this was this is the most precious knowledge of humanity this is the purpose of all life this is the purpose of all civilization this is the highest that anybody has ever gone or it can ever think up going there's nothing Beyond this and this is very subtle very delicate this is the this is why we are all here in not only in this class in life in Civilization whatever we are doing even good and bad things also all is driving towards this and when you say it out loud clearly in words this is it comes to this knowledge so it's most precious not to be given to one and all it's only those who uh want to know and those who are qualified and those who will benefit from this knowledge there are those who might cheapen the knowledge there are those who might be skeptical and dismiss this knowledge so don't that's why vedanta as such is not a missionary religion you know you can have a converting missionary religion go around telling people here is my God or my particular interpretation of My Religion this is the best and you must come to this and all the others are false this will alone believe in this and God will protect you or not all that you can do you can't do that easily to um just the opposite let alone advertising let alone being pushy they would rather Retreat and hold back and withdraw the student always had to approach you know the way I teach what we are doing if you hear some of the comments of the monks in the Himalayas when sadhu said in Hindi I'll translate he said the monks today they put up these big banners you know there's going to be a vedanta talk come in come ye all come in large numbers that itself they have objections too and nowadays with websites and YouTube and advertisements and you know crash courses and charging hundreds of dollars you know I mean they cannot even think about such a thing why would you want to do this it's it the idea was just the other way around the student must come to the teacher at no point anywhere in the upanishads does the teacher go to the students the student or at least a student must ask even in the bhagavad-gita notice the whole first chapter when Arjuna was grumbling complaining Krishna did not say anything it's only in the second chapter when Arjuna says I am confused you can remove my doubts I don't know what is right what's wrong please tell me I am your disciple then only Krishna starts telling and notice this dialogue is prompted throughout by arduous questions and are we sincere in our request are we you know the little amount of sincerity that we have in our worldly Quest the amount of sincerity that we have to make money to take care of the family to achieve things in the world with that sincerity in fact with less than that itself we can realize God people say it's very difficult to realize God no the amount of effort and energy and commitment we put for things in the world with that much or less than that one can become enlightened it's not that difficult it's just but we don't want it we want it to come easily without effort on our part that won't work all right so those who are willing to walk the talk those who are willing to sacrifice you know throw their lives into it that this is my goal in life whatever I'm going to do in life that's fine that my externals but my point in life is to become enlightened I want to become a god realized person in this day and life in this life itself is one of his dialogues I was remembering we were reading he says don't say things like in this life or in the next life though those are mean calculations throw yourself at the mercy of God and hold on to God and hold ask for nothing else don't set conditions on God in this life I have to become an Enlighten get non-dual knowledge I don't want that sequential Liberation grama bhakti I want immediate Liberation in this life itself Sanskrit means direct Liberation here in that no he says Swami Shivan energy don't set conditions on God just show your willingness by complete inner surrender to God that I want you and nothing more um so not cavaling anusui away not a skeptic a skeptic is a person who may come to a spiritual class or a philosophy class already convinced that this is wrong what these guys are saying is nonsense it made up your mind no give it a fair try that there is I really need it and there is some truth validity to this this is adhikari adhikari means who deserves or who is capable of benefiting from these teachings negatively he said one who does not have the disqualifications of carping criticizing uh you know uh determined to be a skeptic so can't we ask questions one must ask questions full of questions and all the upanishads are full of questions but those questions are that I don't get it yet help me to understand so what is it that you don't get I don't get this this and this please clarify these things those questions are welcome indeed they must be there but the question which is there for a fault finding so there the warning is there do not cast your so very harsh the Bible actually is much harsher language than this that do not cast your pearls before sewing uh the person who does not cavel or carp or criticize at every turn it makes the teacher's job almost impossible if you don't have any faith in the teachers it's something so subtle and it's about you yourself the teacher is trying the level best to point it out to you all our doubts the teacher can clearly see it's this is the truth I can see the truth blazing forth in you in your eyes itself you don't see it somehow and therefore you must cooperate with the teacher even someone like ashtavakra the highest teaching of advaita vedanta around one point you can see he throws up his arms and he says my child have faith in my word suppose you don't understand all the logic you don't not doing the meditation your mind doesn't settle down you don't get it at all what we are talking about you don't feel love for God none of that is working for you all right do one thing at least I plead with you just take my words as the truth that you are Brahman you believe so many things in the world just believe this for a while and see what happens see the immediate effect it has day to day upon your life your thoughts so that attitude is necessary um one of our great swamis Swami bhaskarest disciple of Swami shivananda he was in um he was the founder of our ashram in nagpur and uh he was an enlightened being I've never seen him long before my time but his classes were legendary his vedanta classes so I have got some scraps of notes which were taken by the students at that time I copied it from the literally by hand from a notebook of another student simple but powerful inside simple this is beginning a class on bhagavad-gita starting bhagavad-gita for a group of brahmacaris in ashram and he says when you approach this Gita keep his words are keep the prayogen of vibrating within you the prayogana is my necessity my need I am in need I have questions I am suffering I am desperate to make sense of this desperate to find some light in my life something to hold on to something that will take me godward towards freedom and towards fulfillment I have a need he says keep that need vibrating when you come to this text when you hear the verses think about it I need this then he says remember always who is speaking he's not a professor it's not a pundit it's not a theoretician not a you know like New York Times columnist or somebody all those are fine but this is God himself incarnation of God speaking to you is no scope of any doubt here there's no doubt there is no and there is endless power manifested here be aware of whom you are listening to so I was thinking if one approaches a text like with that kind of an attitude this prayogen of vibrating in me and I'm approaching the Incarnation of God this is the instruction I'm getting from God himself well this is the ideal teaching learning situation so that's how he would teach I mean almost every other sentence uh which that Swami bhaskarishi whatever little I've seen they are different from the traditional commentaries and explanations and they carry a kind of inner illumination and Power then he says the greatest of Secrets why the greatest of Secrets very interesting this is all the time available to us everywhere available to us and in everything with eyes open it is available to us that eyes closed it is available to us and yet with eyes closed we see Darkness it dies open we see samsara trouble and affliction Terror and Temptation in the world where is Brahman what is right here is not evident to us at all this is the great secret that's why it's secret Swami Vivekananda called it here SRI Krishna calls it The Greatest Secret so I'm Vivekananda called it the Open Secret it's openly available it is Secret a story I heard was a man in India traveling with cash in a train and they are always afraid of robbers and pickpockets and this man thought how do I save the money and there was a suspicious looking character who was sitting in the in the seat across to him and it's a long journey two days journey and this man took out the money and counted it carefully put it back in the pouch and this man the other man across the uh ale you know was eyeing him carefully and then he went to sleep and this other man was a robber so he silently slunk up to the sleeping passenger at night and searched quickly where the money is he couldn't find it the next night also he searched very quickly to find where the money is he couldn't find it his research thoroughly the man was sleeping right there and the money was not to be found the next day in the morning when they'd reached their destination the robber the thief asked the this gentleman sir I must admit admit to you that I had all intention of robbing you of your money and but I couldn't find it my curiosity is driving me wild where did you hide the money and the gentleman just smiled and he went to the where the robber was lying down his bed you know and um bunk lifted the pillow and under the Robert's pillow the money was heated so then the most obvious the places and yet not obvious at all where you wouldn't look for it it's hidden right here in in plain view just that it's not an object it's you the one who is looking now so he says the greatest of Secrets then foreign so what is this teaching in two steps I will tell you Guyana and vigyan am means knowledge began is literally translated here as null coupled with realization right knowledge and realization so one meaning of this and most commentators take this meaning gyana means the knowledge you get from the teaching and it is from the text and the teacher you read the book and you've got some understanding now and that's Kiana if you're paid attention if you've thought it through some kind of clarity has come that is Kiana you have got the teaching I know that there is an Ultimate Reality and it is not it is the very subject it is my own reality and it is pure being pure awareness Limitless being and awareness and Limitless fulfillment that's what it is all these things I have heard in the Gita upanishads and it's not so difficult because all of these texts so many texts they're just telling me the one and same thing however at this point I can say and complain maybe although we are not allowed to complain Krishna just said the non-complaining Arjuna so I mean 13th president of our order I remember he would say that if you have become a sadhu a monk you have lost the right to complain you can't Grumble don't grumble um so but we may say that I know what you said I know what the texts say I get it in a certain way but it's not a living realization for me I still feel like this aim one person and most importantly I still react to life like the same old person when people misbehave with me I feel upset I can't help it it's almost helpless when something goes wrong in my health or something goes wrong in the financial Market I feel anxiety I feel fear I can't help it even if I put all my knowledge which I've learned from this I am Consciousness Brahman no it doesn't seem to work and vedanta they say this is the thing why it doesn't work that is the direct experience cannot be overcome by parok sagana and indirect knowledge what seems to be directly to me seems I'll say within quotes I am this body this person in this vast and difficult world this is to be a direct experience this is the experience of life itself and your theoretical knowledge from these books and lectures that I am ever secure and ever safe Brahman absolute existence Consciousness please that knowledge doesn't overcome this problem it cannot it's not powerful enough to cut down the the terror and temptation of samsara not powerful enough to erase or soothe the anxieties felt in living in samsara so this is my question then Krishna says there is one more stage and we are like maybe I knew it there's something more it's called vigyan realization shankaracharya like many of the classical commentators says knowledge with realization knowledge with realize literally means experience knowledge and experience Knowledge from the teachings and the texts and experience what experience that experience which will destroy this the apparent experience of samsara right now we are having experience of samsara I am not reading about samsara anywhere I am experiencing it literally every day this experience can only be nullified set aside overpowered by another experience and that must be a more powerful experience than this and that experience is called bigyan so this is um shankaracharya's interpretation many traditional interpreters however we can go one step further SRI ramakrishna uses vigyanam in a different sense he says the realization that Brahman exists I am Brahman that is knowledge so when you do Native not the body not the mind I am the witness Consciousness all the problems are at the level of samsara the external World body and mind and even anxiety unhappiness desire these are emotions these are part of the mind I am the awareness which reveals these anxieties emotions desires and the awareness has no anxieties has no emotions like desires or turbulence no so I am free of all of this and not this not this and I realize I am the witness Consciousness I'm of the nature of pure awareness I am of the nature of pure Bliss I am Shiva I am Shiva SRI ramakrishna calls this Gyan knowledge you have realized congratulations but there's one more thing that which you left behind I'm not this not that this entire world this body this mind all the samsar you left it behind take another look at it you're safe from it now it's fine take another look at it look at the world look at the body look at the thoughts and you will realize that which you found yourself to be that existence Consciousness Bliss is also all of this it gives examples a man goes up they'll um the staircase leaves the ground floor behind in the first floor behind and goes to the roof of the house and then he sees that the roof of the house is made of bricks and mortar and concrete and then he realizes what he left behind the staircase and the rest of the house is made of the same thing it's the same reality so one must first reach the roof you can't you know if you say that oh then I don't need Enlightenment you just told me that this is exactly what I'm seeing now this is Brahman so why put in the effort for guard realization Enlightenment and realizing I am Brahman forget it I won't do the native no it will not work because we are not seeing it now we have seen samsara now but didn't you say this itself is Brahman this itself is Brahman for the enlightened not for us so we don't see it it is Brahman but we don't see it until we see it it will not work for us we are so shankaracharya just uses a half a sentence everything becomes clear if you see the distinction between knowledge and ignorance in the field of ignorance this is samsar I am this little person I am suffering and I am bound to suffer there's no other way out of it it's in fact wisdom to see that suffering only is the end end of all of this this whole game which is going on the only way out of it is spiritual struggle realize I am Brahman having realized that when you look back upon this samsara it's not that there is a terrible samsara and there is a beautiful brahmana that there's a beautiful God and there's a horrible world not like that it's not that in this body mind I am perfect pure awareness and there is a horrible mind and even hot more horrible body but the fact is that that pure awareness that when Brahman is the mind is the body is this world also this is Sri Ram Krishna says you will realize that he puts it another way there are some who have heard of milk and some who have seen milk but there are some who have seen milk and touched it and they have they drink the milk and they become nourished by the milk those who have drunk the milk and being nourished by it they are the vigyanis they are the most full-blown realization and they live in this world with ease they have no problem with eyes closed with eyes open they have no problem working in a job and raising a family or administering a company or a kingdom or withdrawing to the mountain tops and sitting quietly in a cave or in a um in a hut we on the other hand have endless problems in both ways make us a millionaire give us charge of you know things are growing great in my life I'll find prop ways to complain and I'll find ways that it could be better this is the I still have these problems withdraw completely from the rigmarole of this whole paraphernalia of samsara and Retreat to a mountain top and sit quietly cannot sit quietly you will find bubbling up from within all sorts of emotions desires projects once I was very sick as a young brahmachary very sick in the hospital I was hospitalized for two months in and young man so getting restless and I was telling a visiting monk that when I get well I'll go back to the ashram I have these things to do like uh this class to teach and this you know all sorts of big projects and the monk said I notice none of your projects are very simple you didn't say I'll just do little bit of gardening and I'll sweep my room and no they're all Grand stuff you know this is restlessness of the Mind when you're withdrawn from samsara wonderful one old Swami he was very sick dying almost but he had been a very hard worker all his life big ashrams he had managed set up and managed and with joy it seems used to say I've never seen it but it seems used to say with joy with a sweet smile on his face it is wonderful to be fashioned into an instrument for God and used for God's purpose used and broken and set aside Jesus is wonderful and so that is spiritual maturity and and that comes with vigyana with inside God outside God and this life also with this body and mind I will serve a Divine Purpose there's no problem at all in life no problem in life no problem in Death House so this is Sri ramakrishna the one who has been nourished by drinking the milk I remember one sadhu the person was drunk the milk who has seen the milk but not yet not no sorry sorry the one was read about milk but has not yet seen milk let alone drink the milk that person is the one who has attended the classes and watched YouTube talks and read the books there's a person who has read about milk now such a person is easily confused so one monk told a very funny story uh this was in haridwar he said a person who has just read about milk but has not seen milk is easily confused um you know somebody tells him he has read that milk is white and somebody tells him now milk is white but only milk from the white cows the milk from the brown cows is brown and milk from the black cows is black milk from the red cows is red and this man thinks that's actually logical you know maybe what I read was a very incomplete and partial teaching and this seems much more logical well if you have seen milk you would not think that way at all you would say doesn't matter what your logic is it sounds logical but it's but the fact is I know what milk is and it's white so it's um and there's another funny story about this um little children now this kindergarten is also apparently very competitive if you admit a little child into a kindergarten there's an examination and there is a teacher and the psychologist child psychologist and all they'll ask if Grim looks at the little kid they'll ask them difficult questions so this little kid went for an interview and the psychologists asked him well tell me how is it that a brown cow eating green grass gives white milk and the kid was why ask me I'm not a cow ask the cow because I thought that's a really good answer to come back I hope they admitted the kid um Krishna says vigyan is where one has not only read about it but one has experienced firsthand not only experienced it it's continuously available and that experience nourishes one's life one is fulfilled one lead leads the saintly life internally and in in the dealings with the world this is the life of a jivan mukta incomplete realization is also possible that one may catch a glimpse of it but then one will still be struggling in the world to some extent at least so full-blown realization began eyes closed and eyes open and notice this vigyana also uh sets the stage for doing good in the world there can be a spiritual basis for schools and hospitals and helping Humanity you see the Divinity in all beings the same Brahman appearing in all these ways and you respond appropriately in each case all the time remaining internally very peaceful very serene one young man in India asked me was giving a talk on the problem of evil that why is that suffering um there are many theories and that young man was upset a college student he said however but all these theories yesterday I saw a little dog which was hurt in a traffic accident and I and I my heart broke for the suffering of that little little creature and I wept tears came to my eyes I hope he's talking to me and other monks after all your fancy theories that you know one must do something um so I said to him look why is there so much suffering in the world our response the ramakrishna mission's response as monks our response is immediately to go to the the side of the suffering person and help you know in floods in famines in fires um education for the uneducated medicine for the sick and for those who are spiritual Seekers a spiritual teaching for them all of it is service this is our response to the question why is there so much suffering not a theoretical response it's an immediate direct response of trying to be helpful trying to reduce the suffering of people so that's the answer if you have tears and unhappiness and misery notice you did not do anything you think what can I do there's so much suffering in the world that's no good to anybody I'm glad to know you're very sensitive but that is kind of a you know a kind of being too much involved in one's own emotions look how much I weep for Humanity nobody cares but if you could do a little bit for somebody then that's good beyond that it's the question of how can it be completely and totally overcome and that there comes the answer spirituality that was Buddha's Quest there is suffering is there at all any solution for suffering he says yes there is there is a deep lasting solution and there is a method for that the Four Noble Truths so there is suffering suffering has a cause desire is there any escape from suffering yes Nirvana is there any way to do that a method yes there is a method Eightfold no blade fall back so on but every religious path spiritual path takes that there's a problem the suffering of the world there's a reason for it some call it desire some will call it sin vedanta says ignorance okay and there is an escape from it there is a freedom from suffering call it salvation Moksha whatever you call it and there's a way to do it you can do it through to devotion like SRI Krishna said in the eighth chapter but now he's saying in the ninth chapter you can do it through he will tell us now the Royal knowledge you can do it through knowledge what knowledge the Royal knowledge what will you what will happen realizing which I'm still on the first verse realizing which realizing which means not reading about it not um practicing some kind of devotion or some kind of ritual no this is knowledge which has to be realized within us I am that then what happens you'll be free from this samsar ashuba means the inauspicious from samsara when now right away by what kind of lifelong devotion no no no knowledge now now this is a further deepening of the idea of God presented in the eighth chapter and the ninth chapter he's saying this continuing with the theme so the result of it is Moksha notice what was the result in the earlier chapter after death you will go to heaven and that's also complicated root a lot of traffic jams and you know the complex there will be people who will come and guide you um remember this step and the next step multiple spiritual guides will take you to different levels so many things will happen and then at the end you end up in the presence of God which is great but you still are not getting that knowledge then you have to attend classes with God and God is going to teach you Gita and upanishads and vedanta Sara and do a much better job of it than I can do and then you're guaranteed to get Enlightenment but here Krishna says here you will get knowledge Enlightenment here and freedom here carrying on midam [Music] this is Royal knowledge the Royal secret supremely holy directly experienced righteous easy to practice and imperishable rajavidya the king of all knowledge the greatest of all knowledge in the mundaka upanishad the first Mantra of the Munda company which we have not done I plan to do it after the mission in the Wednesday class the Mundo cupanisha the first Mantra is beautiful glorious it goes like this foreign created this world who protects the world and gave Brahma Vidya the knowledge of Brahman to his firstborn the first Rishi actually and this is Brahma Vidya sarva Vidya pratishta Brahma Vidya the knowledge of Brahman the spiritual science is the foundation of all knowledge in different ways how is it the pratish the foundation of all knowledge well all our efforts that knowledge sacred and secular are finally taking us to this brahmavatya they're all meant for that ultimately in another way what is Brahma Vidya about the knowledge of Brahman what is it about about pure Consciousness about our nature as awareness itself this awareness makes all knowledge possible so is brahmavidya is a knowledge about that which is the foundation for all knowledge which is consciousness itself here he's saying it is Raj of India it's a royal secret Royal knowledge I mentioned on other occasions Heidegger's take on this he says this question about existence itself what is existence what is being he says it is the widest question deepest question most fundamental question why it is widest deepest most fundamental I'm not going to repeat here but that goes to this you know it's a royal knowledge this knowledge about existence itself Brahman itself why does anything at all exist in this universe so greatest of all knowledge and secret Raja the Royal secret and I mentioned why it's a royal secret most obvious in one sense and yet completely hidden so it seems so difficult for us to find because it's so subtle this is the most purifying of all things have become dirty I can take a shower and clean myself my clothes are dirty I can put them in the washing machine in my heart if there's dirt in my thoughts if there's dirt I mean I can clean it through prayer and repentance change my thought habits in my behavior if there is something wrong or objectionable I can through practice change it in our Behavior speech dirt in speech can also be removed through practice and awareness so at the level of the body at the level of the speech at the level of the Mind dirt can be removed impurities can be removed through practice it can be removed but this is the greatest purifier this knowledge it removes our ignorance of our real nature that I am Brahman and once that is done all other impurities are burnt up straight away a bunch of all all impurities of thought of speech of body of past sins past Bad Karma everything is burnt up SRI ramakrishna says it's like a mountain but a mountain of cotton and you take strike a single Matchstick and throw it into that it it burns up in an inferno within seconds similarly a mountain of our past sins of all our our miserable record through many lifetimes it gets burnt up purified means all evil the impurities are burnt up in an instant by this knowledge pavitramidham also it's the most pure because it introduces us to the most pure our real nature which is forever pure and Untouched by anything in this world so it is the most pure of all in all these ways it is the most pure knowledge which gives which is most purifying there's nothing close to it so it must be really subtle very difficult to understand very abstract it says pratyaksha it is direct it is easily available directly available when all the time where everywhere in what in everything and it's you protection but actually it really means seeing hearing the sense perception but here it doesn't mean that it doesn't mean that Brahman can be seen heard or smelt or taste or touched but all that even more directly than sense organs see what you are seeing now is depending on your eyes even that's indirect it depends on the functioning of your eyes it depends on proper illumination all that you are hearing now depends on your auditory equipment your the machine should function well your ears should be there functioning well brain centers should be healthy mind should be attentive then you hear so many things required for even direct perception seeing hearing smelling tasting touching now a thought s just an idea I am sitting here it's an idea or I am thinking it's an idea a thought that thought can't be seen it can't be heard it can't be tasted it's well touched obviously and yet you experience it and you experience it more directly than seeing hearing smelling tasting touching you experience it directly by Consciousness illumining the actually the reflected Consciousness in the mind Illuminating the movements of the Mind thought comes in the mind that's illumine by consciousness even more direct than the thought is consciousness itself but we don't get it we find it very difficult because it's not out there it's not even in here okay so it says protection it's direct most evident it's not subtle in that sense at all and then protect our gum it's easy it's directly perceptible or they directly realizable its religion so there is a question you know in that context when Krishna is saying all this people thought Vedic religion was religion you do fire sacrifices and you do charity and that's religion what's all this I am Brahman Consciousness what's all this is this religion at all and krsna says this is religion this is spirituality all that you consider religion all that you consider spirituality is meant to lead you to this point the realization of your inner Divinity and the Divinity of everything and everybody that is Dharma all your Hinduism Buddhism Jainism Sikhism all Christianity Islam Judaism Zoroastrianism and all the you know native uh Aboriginal religions in Australia and Pacific Islands in America here in India wherever it is they are ultimately all pointing to this religions which have disappeared we don't exist anymore at the heart of everything was this this Royal secret this is dharmi of this religion foreign sounds like a drag let's be really tough really boring will take a long time he says [Music] it's easy it's fun and it's quick it's easy he says and it's to come it's fun in spiritual life our swamisi who's the president of our order I remember when your brahmacaris used to teach us upanishad and he would always tell us this one thing I have this one take away from him not only the N but the means also must be joyful you're looking for heaven Bliss Ananda what not fulfillment fine good but now what you're doing is it joyful is it fulfilling it may be difficult it may be hard probably is hard but is it fulfilling is it joyful the work that you're doing the meditation that you're doing the study that you're doing the devotional practices that you're doing the gyani yoga bhakti yoga Karma Yoga Raja yoga is it joyful is it fulfilling it must be so something that to pay attention to do what what hold on to a discipline but make sure you you enjoy it it's it's supposed to be enjoyable it's supposed to be joyous religion is not meant for long faces an American lady here in the United States said to him Swami aren't you ever serious you're always laughing joking that's why I can't just said yes ma'am yes Madam I am only when I have a tummy ache I'm very serious otherwise I'm not serious at all susukum it is joyous once in balurmat Swami turian the great disciples great vedant he was in the Next Room and in the room next to that in the evening there's a group of young monks who are talking and laughing loudly joking into the evening it's time for meditation actually after sometimes Swami turian under this great swamis the disciple of Sri ramakrishna great vedant he's stormed into the room and he said your monks aren't you the least ashamed of yourself what is this uproar this uh you know this laughter and joking have you realized God what what do you have to be so happy about are you enlightened why this lack of seriousness what do you find so funny in life and they all were ashamed of course they kept quiet but one Swami Swami vijayananda who established the vedanta work in in I think Argentina probably yes he was there the gift of triparty and he was not over awed by great swamis so he said very ugly Swami we read the gospel of srirama Krishna and sudama Krishna says something and that almost every other page it's there within brackets all laugh and there are these young boys rolling on the floor with laughter and you were there among them we read about you going to Sri ramakrishna and you are there then Swami turyananda burst out into a broad smile and he said well well all right Ananda being Bliss be happy be in place you are right to be impressed hmm I remember the first piece of advice given to me between almost the very day I became a monk just one or two days after that Swami power down on the Ji it was nearly in his late 80s at that time a disciple of Swami shivananda he was an Irishman and he lived till just over 90 a wonderful song extraordinary song I think he was at the very least highly spiritually Advanced and I don't know who's enlightened or not his word I can still see you know stall you're looming over me looking down at me this newcomer he said he's a very sweet Bengali stay in place all your life be Blissful stay English so come spiritual life and especially this path Krishna is going to say is direct knowledge is going to be is blissful by the way when he says this says this is the core idea of the very popular direct path teachings which we find across United States and the West nowadays and also in India the number of teachers who say all these secondary indirect ways they're all good but I can we can realize God here and now we can realize our real nature right now it's directly available to us and they give some way or the other try to point it out they all have some way of trying to point it out the number of very famous teachers Krishna supports them here it's directly available to you right now well like all easy things easy come easy go so if it comes all that easily it will just go up the next day around so I've had all many of these spiritual so-called quote-unquote experiences I'm still not really much better off something like that he says once you make that breakthrough once you have got it you've got it it'll be effortlessly yours forever you are that for all eternity unshakably yours there's nothing more to be done after that so what an advertisement the Royal knowledge the Royal secret the most purifying of everything directly available to you all the time Dharma this is religion this is spirituality this is Dharma susukam very easy and fun and fast I am and eternal results are Eternal forever all right um let me see questions so Dima says this is right thinking the knowledge I am that Guna Brahman is only in the mind once liberated post-final death of the Jiva Guna Brahman is the awareness that is not self-aware that is more than him of an impersonal law a personal aspect is only by being embodied I cannot shake up the thought what is the fun of uh finally losing self-awareness yes the answer is yes and no remember this is the fear of the Mind it's not becoming a void it's rather becoming and becoming the infinite and remember that nirguna Brahman is the basis we will come to that later Krishna will say is the basis of the entire universe all the bodies in all Minds you are just freed from the shackles of one mind and you become the basis for all nights and no mind at all no mind seems to be a terrible thing for the Mind obviously because there's no mind but it's not so for the Atman it's freedom from the Atma it seems like an impersonal principle without any kind of self-awareness would say that there is self-awareness actually but doesn't matter not a problem those who have attained to it none of them say that it's a problem I wish I hadn't attained I've lost all self-awareness and it's all blank and it's avoid no none of that alpana says how does one make progress if all the questions have dropped because Krishna says so because you say so so many Saints have said it uh if all the questions have dropped I don't know in what sense you me mean this all the questions have dropped in the sense that everybody's saying it you are saying it Krishna says it so I get it I mean or I understand I believe it I understand it so there's no more questions and how do I make progress is this the question that is the question yes okay that's the question that open has asked no then questions will remain I don't make progress I'm not yet enlightened if I say all right you've heard it all now the question will be I am not yet enlightened where is it getting stuck we'll have a more fine grain question there you start with and we can you see clearly that this body is an object just like any other object but even the sensations in the body the pain and the pleasure and the their objects also they're also subtle objects you're aware of it and you stay with these for some time and see that they are things then the Mind most important of all thoughts in the mind even the problems in the mind the negative things the fears in the mind and also objects they all are revealed by you they cannot do anything for you then you go a little further turning away from the Mind into yourself there are no words can help you when the question will arise where is your problem you have to sit and think so those questions are more what you might call Inner Circle questions I know the information now and I get it and now I believe it in some sense I get it also now another question will be where lies the problem and you take the problem step by step there are answers for each of them says how is the Ghana defined by dualists how is different from dweta and SRI ramakrishna um that would be the dualists would always see it as a vision of God or the presence of God in that sense always different from me but I feel the presence of God not just read about it not just pray to God but I really feel a response from the other side Girish says problem of suffering and evil can you say that Guna Brahman is indifferent to suffering because good and evil are both appearance in Brahman with no value judgments attached no not indifference to suffering when you have suffering good and bad you're already talking in terms of ishwara God so that nirguna Brahman is now God and this is the world of suffering and God will always try to help us out of that suffering ultimately to go beyond that suffering that forever Beyond suffering reality is I know that doesn't make sense because right here but the thing is from the new government perspective there is no suffering at all but when it does not mean the nirgun development there is suffering and nirguna Brahman is indifferent to suffering no if there is suffering that means you are talking about the world about you this world and then Brahman is God to this in this world and God is helping us out of suffering material suffering psychological suffering spiritual suffering and from the nirgun abraman perspective when you see that for you at least suffering has ended is this you mentioned that Royal secret is I am Brahman 14th verse 23rd words Krishna saying these are offered a real self all right so they will wait for that when the 14th and third 23rd verse and all of them come they are very devotional very theistic that's why I said and this Royal secret and uh you know the Royal knowledge it is advaithic but advaithic through the god track not that I am Brahman tracks so God we are still talking about God and the same God which is also saguna and we being saguna which is the god of religion the god of love and devotion and those things will come those things will come up how can we use the four yogas to reveal the Royal secret good question Karma Yoga will loosen the bonds of this selfishness I am this little person my concerns are most important you'll notice when people Grumble on and on about their suffering notice how much self-inward they generally are I have seen people with tremendous real suffering not at all concerned I've seen a monk who was paralyzed in both feet one hand paralyzed and blind in both eyes and I've never seen a person happier you won't believe it but I've seen and many other monks have seen a disciple of bigyanar energy and he remained in that state for several years not one word of grumbling I mean he did grumble in the sense of scolding everybody all around him but all for the sake of others he was a boisterous person you know uh I mean by seeing him I realized what is meant by bodylessness it's not coming out of your body like a puff of smoke is being here in this body experiencing like everybody else and it not mattering to you in the least a shattered body the spirit is free in that body so karma yoga will do that will make you selfless not so indulgent about the cell not so obsessed about my little problems then bhakti yoga will channelize our real problems and emotional not intellectuals real problems real suffering real bondage is at the level of emotions intellectual problems can be clarified pretty easily if you listen to a few vedanta classes think it through very soon you will get it so I'm vivekantha says on the path of this direct knowledge makes a pertinent Quest remark he says in this path many come to an understanding few realize um so bhakti yoga takes all these unresolved emotions fear desire Terror Temptation anxiety all of it greed and lust and all of it and channels it towards God and then in doing so all the emotions become purified it becomes bhakti water from all the drains and all the dirty water as they sweep into the ganga ultimately it's all ganga water all our emotions and resolved issues and all we pour it towards God and soon it becomes purified bhakti yoga does that's a great great service then Raja yoga even more important purified emotions and thoughts are good but at one time thought must have a stop it's not about thinking not even about feeling there's a the spirit is even higher than that so in the calmness the Stillness of the Mind spirituality is stillness of mind is focus of Mind distraction is World some sort of focus or concentration on our real nature or on God is spirituality so Raja yoga trains us into that and finally Ghana yoga shows us the Royal Secret Garden yoga itself is the Royal secret it I mean it tells us about the Royal secret what is going what Krishna is going to do what Krishna is going to teach us is basically Ghana yoga in the next class he will reveal the Royal Secret so all the four yogas good question it helps us Jennifer says is not knowing what all this is a step towards knowing in Ultimate sense I don't know what this is but yet I don't but yet I don't know who I am yet would you like to clarify that Jennifer you can't unmute um yeah yeah go ahead um so just the feeling of not knowing like uh what this is or who I am I can drop into that easily like what this experience is I feel like it's more of the unknown State than the known but yet I'm not um uh so seeped in everything that that's real either it's kind of like this in between maybe I don't know if it's in between or okay yes the knowing and is not knowing in between both are experiences [Music] to you that awareness it's when the mind gets particularized in one kind of knowledge I know this or I'm trying to understand this that's a kind of knowing and when you relax the mind into a state of quietness not particularizing in this or that it's a kind of what I think what you mean by The Annoying It's a higher state it's a it's a quietness an Inward invertisation and a silencing of the mind but that also is being experienced by you the witness Consciousness by the pure consciousness night pure Consciousness is what Krishna is pointing towards knowing and not knowing waking dreaming and deep sleep all are being illumined by you the awareness that awareness is a certain question all right let us and now um