Video 108

108. Bhagavad Gita | Chapter 9 Verses 9-13 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

Guru [Music] [Music] so the bhagavad-gita class we are studying the ninth chapter of the bhagavad-gita and we were on verse number eight I think we had done verse number eight is that right yes so if you remember Krishna had said something very profound on verses five and six um four and five four and five actually there he says that um I pervade all beings I God am in all beings Ultimate Reality God of this universe if you say where is he he is in all beings in all living beings in all the so-called non-living things everywhere that Lord is there that the Divinity is there so that's why Vivekananda said be Hindus worship a Transcendent imminent God um God is beyond this universe beyond time and space and causation uh Beyond Farm at the same time imminent what is this universe this universe of causation this universe of of forms of living beings of non-living entities of change of karma cause and effect of birth and death creation and destruction of enjoyment and suffering this universe the that Transcendent reality is also imminent immense means present within this universe and so Krishna says I pervade everything how I don't see you pervading anything where is God we see this world but we don't see God in my unmanifest form as awareness as pure being pure being pure awareness present everywhere um then he says consider this little more deeply it's not that I am in all beings it's not that this universe is there and somehow I am in them rather I am the very existence the very being of all these beings what does that mean that sounds very very philosophical metaphysical um it is very philosophical very metaphysical but it's not that difficult to understand in the ocean would you say that water you know if water says I pervade all the waves I am in all the waves yes that's right but if you like to take a closer look it would be more accurate to say all the waves are in water is the reality in which the waveform and movement appears and you give it a name a wave it's not that there is a wave and then you pump some water into it rather it's water itself which appears as a wave so all the waves are in water similarly he says I am that one existence in which all existing things appear and play around and disappear and then he goes further in the fifth verse a stunning reversal he says all these beings are in me not really these beings are not in me look upon the Marvel this magical power of my Maya what does this mean is it true that there are things called waves in water apart from water are there entities called waves no not really it's the water itself now I'm not denying that there are waves but that wave is nothing different from the water itself it's a new Farm a new name and a new kind of behavior you call it a wave you call it a you know foam or surf but all throughout whether there's a wave or no wave all throughout what was there was water it was water water was the only thing that existed at any time you might say but really Swami the wave did exist yes but it's a kind of dependent existence and appearance in water similarly Krishna says the universe is an appearance in me so three stages three very step by step first where is God everywhere in everything imperceptibly unmanifest as pure being a pure awareness okay great and immediately says no wait number two that all I'm not in all beings he reverses what he first said he just reverses the same thing in the next sentence all beings are in me this is a deeper way of looking at it I am and all beings are in me and then three all beings are not in me oh so they are outside you no they are not they are not I am as Vivekananda said not that everything is God everything is not God Alone is so that's an even more radical statement so this was said and then he gave the example of the sky pervading everything and then in seventh and eighth verses all these beings all sentient beings and this non-living Universe all of this proceeds forth from me how because I am the material causes seeing out of which all of this is made the stuff of this universe at the um kalpakshai the word itself is so poetic at the decay of the ages at the end of times I absorb all of them they all dissolve back into me the entire universe dissolves back into me into me means into my unmanifest form as pure being or pure Consciousness so you stay as pure being a pure Consciousness no one has to be careful there yes but pure being a pure Consciousness or chip is not a thing so it's not that when the Universe goes away and if you look around if nobody can look around so there'll be something called Pure Consciousness it's not something reality exists without being manifest as anything at all that's the end of the universe but that's not the end uh completely the end because it begins all over again at the beginning of kalp at the beginning of time I I project everything forth again so time space causality that becomes the stage on which the new show of the universe begins again then how do I do this number eight I'm not only the material cause of this universe and what is called the instrumental cause the the intelligence behind this universe it was the eighth verse by my prakriti or my power Maya prakriti they are the same in vedanta prakriti is a sankhen word but in vedanta prakriti Maya basically the power of God power of Brahman by that I I set forth this universe the process of creation existence and ultimate Cosmic dissolution and again creation again uh projection again all of that goes Cycles back and forth and he says helplessly and this is our condition as sentient beings those who are in the realm of fire do we do not know ourselves as a true nature we are actually helpless we are caught in this machine of Maya our past karma is upon us we are being we are being Swept Away helplessly from day to day year to year through the ages of our life from life to death to life again so um so this this cycle goes on this is what is samsara we are caught in samsara how do you get free of it how do you become not helpless by knowledge by realization of who or what we truly are then you are independent you're free of this machine now ninth verse the ninth verse Krishna says those actions Arjuna bind me not I am as it were indifferent to them all being unattached to them now the question will be that um oh so you are the culprit the cosmic culprit you are behind all of this the God is in every theistic religion which believes in God one common factor is God is the creator of this universe God is behind this universe everything so God is the culprit God is responsible for everything that's happening here um so for all the partiality for all the suffering for all the misery that's going on here um it is God who's responsible that's number one in that case God is responsible for so much suffering so much evil and this is one of the the arguments against the existence of God those who are atheists will say you say God is all-powerful and God is all good and loving how can an all-powerful and loving God cause such a world full of so much suffering the the balance is on the side of suffering which is this good and evil there's suffering and enjoyment but um the good or the the enjoyment is not equal to the evil and the suffering it seems to be much more terrible than it is really nice and pleasant so why why would the God create such a thing now if you say God is helpless God is Not powerful enough to make it good that's one answer or another answer could be God is all-powerful but God is not good so God may do good things may do bad things like an absolute dictator who knows in that case also there is no problem but the problem of evil this is a big problem in the philosophy of religion it's called the problem of evil problem of suffering that arises if God is all-powerful and God is all good then two things together it doesn't then how could such a God create such a universe that is the question now that question is raised here not only that an additional question in um in Indian philosophies if you do Karma you're bound by Karma like all of us what's happening to us is as a result of what we have done all the good that we have done all the bad that we have done all the mixed stuff we have done it's all coming back to us as the result of karma if you ask what is the result of my karma look around you look at the people around you look at the world around you and look at your own history your biodata what has happened to you in life what's happening right now look at your body itself all of this all of this is the result of our past Karma it's something that we have constructed ourselves shankaracharya will give the stunning example of a silk verb which spins a cocoon and then it is trapped in that um in that case if God is the doer of not only just one little bit of work like we do but this massive Mega project of creating and destroying universes then God will be caught in karma also if by doing things we are caught by that then God is also affected by Karma because the God does a lot of karma God is the creator preserver destroyer of the entire universe universe says not even one universe so both of these what are these two doubts one is how could such a god permit all this and second question would be so isn't God trapped by his own Karma like we are trapped by our own Karma and Krishna gives the answer to these questions here yes I create preserve and destroy this universe and yet I do not he says none of them none of these actions affect me nor am I really the doer of these actions he says I am the I am like a witness like um a person neutral who's watching if you watch um a film if you watch a theatrical performance you are not responsible for what's happening on stage but you know what's going on similarly God says it's my Krishna says it's in my presence as being in my presence as Consciousness all of this happens and yet I am not the Doer so hence I am not responsible or caught by this cycle of karma this massive game that is going on I am not caught by that um this creation and existence and The Disappearance of the universe how it happens one of the upanishads which we will do in time I hopefully mundak upanishad it gives a very well known examples three examples example of The Spider and the web that's one example the example of uh of um the Earth from which plants and trees emerge second example third example is the human body from which spontaneously hair emerges so just like that from the imperishable antimate reality the universe emerges so that's the poetry of the open Nations it goes like this is [Music] [Music] so as from a spider as from a spider one second as from a spider web is produced and it disappears you can retract the web but then we might say so the spider is a very good example um that you know the spider produces the web from itself from its own body so its own body produced by it provides the material of the web and as a conscious sentient being the spider is sort of the creator of the whip so there's a good example for God who produces the universe out of himself herself itself and it also is the intelligence behind this universe so a good example in technical vedantic terms it is called the one indivisible instrumental and material cause of the universe okay great but the spider works really hard to make its web and we sort of vacuum it or sweep it aside every when we have cleaning day so is God does God have to work really hard to make this universe no the second example as from the Earth beings emerge living beings emerge which are and Earth doesn't have to put forth effort it is effortlessly it emerges um then the question might be all right but um living beings they are living and the Earth itself isn't saying in sentient thing you know it's it's not a living being as such the Ultimate Reality some kind of physical Force Power and not a living not a sentient being like we think a personal God is you know someone who thinks feels responds no is it just like a machine no the third example is like from a living human body this hair emerges and so hair and dead cells and nails they come from a living body and they emerge spontaneously effortlessly and they are of a different nature so from living body dead cells emerge so the hair is not living because if it were you wouldn't go for a haircut you'll be terrified of a haircut so these are the three examples exactly the examples for what so it's not about spiders not about plants and trees it's not about hair hair cuts it's about the Ultimate Reality Brahman from which the universe appears so it's like that akshara means imperishable from the imperishable emerges manifests for this manifest universe and you can imagine a lot of philosophical argumentation goes on into this what exactly does it mean manifest what exactly does it mean creation and other way things have their own take non-dualists that it's an appearance it's not not that there is some real change and there's a funny thing about it one British indologist long ago when he came across these texts from Sanskrit to translated into English and he said the Hindus worship a spider yes the God is a spider for the Hindus no in spite of all the various icons and forms in which way Hindus worship god spider is not one of them it's an example the Sanskrit says just like it's an example it doesn't say that God is a spider all right what Krishna says all of this happens because I am present as pure being or pure Consciousness it's not that I am like this some kind of operator of a machine doing terrible things or the director of a movie you know putting the characters in in trouble and tragedy and suffering you know the cosmic director and we are all actors in this tragedy of this Cosmos no not like that God is Not sadistic God makes all of this possible Brahman Krishna says Brahman I make all of this possible however I am not a personal doer in Sanskrit karta I'm not a doer in my presence it happens no more than the sun shining is responsible for you know because of sun shining all of life exists here but the sun is not making us suffer and fight and then why then why is there so much suffering so the whole thing is put back upon us it is our Karma it is what we do and then one might say yes but God has set it up such that we we do awful things and so we suffer God is not entirely off the hook you know God has designed Us in such a way that we perform Bad Karma and we suffer for the results God could have made a better universe why why didn't God make a better Universe where everybody would be wise and they would do all the Good Karma and then everything would go go well all the right causes would be set in motion so the effects the consequences would be good in general God could have still God could have still made a better Universe than he has I understand God is not the doer of it but God being omnipotent could still have you know the presence of God could have generated a better Union we could have been better people and the answer to that is this is a funny answer that God actually did try to make a better Universe it didn't work this is funny story from the puranas so Brahma Brahma is not Brahman Brahma is like the like the contractor who you know God gives the contract to to make the universe so Brahma makes this first trial the first pass at making a universe he made these Sages who were moment they are they all manifested there's nothing to be born from no parents they just just appeared the universe and these sages appear they're all perfected beings and they looked around where is this and they looked at they had bodies and this universe what's this nonsense we are Brahman itself we know we are enlightened so they immediately sat down in in samadhi and disappeared back so it didn't work the universe there's nobody left in the universe so God thought what could he do Brahma from next time onwards he created these beings with a mixture of satwa rajas and Thomas all the gunas and they did good things neutral things and bad things and since then the universe has been humming along quite nicely anyway um but the consequence of that is that since God is not the doer God is not trapped in action also he says as one neutral I exist I shine the whole universe exists because of me it's not that I am like a machine operator doing everything and then I'll be caught by my own Karma he's not caught by his own Karma nor is he responsible for it who is responsible we are the that's the funny answer Brahma tried to create a good universe but couldn't didn't work but the real answer is what's the real answer to this problem of misery and suffering the real answer is knowledge God has created both with Vidya Maya and avidya Maya uh so we can be trapped in samsara and suffer but we can also come out of it that's why spirituality exists that's why spiritual teachers through the centuries have come and taught and they have shown it is possible to go beyond suffering the suffering is our doing and we can get out of the door from away from suffering the door to escape the suffering and have a much better life much more deep meaningful peaceful happy life is entirely up to us so that's also there both are Maya the good and the bad the spiritual and the material one can be caught in the bad one can be caught in the materialistic world and suffer in ignorance in sin in indestructiveness or one can spiritualize one's life and Rise Above This and become a blessing to oneself and to everybody else that's also there all of it is there in fact even older than this idea of Brahman and Maya is the prakriti idea of the Sanchez you know the idea in sankhya prakriti nature was supposed to do two things for you for all sentient beings prakriti or nature does two things the two words are bhoga and APA means experience it's often translated in our books as enjoyment but it's hardly enjoyment it also includes pain and suffering bhoga just literally means experience so we are experiencing this word and there is misery there is happiness there is chasing after fulfillment and then once we have had our fill same prakriti same nature sets us on a spiritual path towards the ancient word was upper the new word for that later became Moksha Nirvana all these you know vedanta Buddhism but a much more ancient word was upper Varga which is spiritual freedom so both of these are provided by Nature we are on the second path now because just by the fact that we are on we are in class we are on this second path towards spiritual freedom um let me read a little bit from Shankar as commentary on this he makes some nice points how is Krishna how is God not affected he says just as a neutral person as a witness Aussie and I'm sitting like a witness watching who's watching something remember the witness is separate from what he or she is watching but here the God is Not separate from what he or she is watching and that he she or it it is all an appearance in God so why would this be so Atman because the self pure Consciousness pure being is beyond change so is it something that's not changing it's not even changeless it's beyond the concept of change or changelessness it's not involved in this world of cause and effect time and space because of that there is no question of it the Ultimate Reality doing anything unattached unattached means shankaracharya says not Afflicted not attached to results of karma at the level of Krishna so Ultimate Reality pure Consciousness pure being that's one thing but what about us persons so this is the important teaching here look that Ultimate Reality God appears as the Incarnation just like us a human being it appears as a human being now how does Krishna Act does a lot of activity with the body is busy and yet he says has no feeling like I am the doer of these things and that gives us a clue how to live in this world you are the witness Consciousness with the mind with the senses and the body you can act be engaged in in doing everything in life secular work religious activities in family in your job all of that and yet with the attitude of a witness and you won't be tracked he says then and shankaracharya makes this point that others can learn from this we can all learn from this and for others other than Krishna bhimana [Music] so you will not be attached to trapped in the in the Machinery of karma if you give up if you take the attitude of the witness consciousness yeah otherwise what will happen the downside the other side of it I'm reading from otherwise Karma you'll be trapped by Karma causality trapped by causality the fool okay why is he abusing us why is he calling us fools he says like a silkworm trapped in the Cocoon spins the Cocoon around itself like we spin webs of our own Karma then we are trapped we can't get out of it we think at a subtle level thinking certain patterns of thoughts and suddenly we see within months years those patterns become so strong they're all in our head and yet they're just so gossamer saying that like silken strands even more subtle than silk and yet they're so strong we can't get out of it repetitive patterns of thought stalking mental talk and then expressed in talk and then expressed in action and we spin these webs around ourselves and soon we are trapped it's very difficult to break out of them that all there's an old Hindi film song which said the hindi's lines where kahiko is there are no chains in sight and yet everybody is is tied down is in shackles you can't see any chains anywhere they seem to be free they aren't none of them are free they're all in shackles Vivekananda says whosoever wears a form where's the chain two and he says it could be golden chain it could be an iron chain for chains made of gold are not less strong to bind it could be a really nice life it could be things would be going well still trapped well I would be happy to be trapped in a nice life but it won't be nice for very long first of all even when it's nice it's not fully satisfying it's not deep it's not deeply profoundly satisfied one can become quite unhappy in one's cocoon even if it's nice and comfy in there and not only that it won't remain nice and comfy for long remember everything is being produced by karba our you had your congratulations you had some good karma and that's producing the nice you know the golden chain with which you have wrapped yourself with the Cocoon but that Karma will soon get exhausted and then Bad Karma will kick in and then there will be an iron chain of pain and suffering and misery so this is the ninth verse then the tenth verse [Music] due to me this one Consciousness present nature gives birth to this worlds of mobile and immobility moving and unmoving words of all these beings in this world and because of nature because of prakriti all this diversity your one pure Consciousness sachidananda how did this diversity come if you're just one reality why do things are well they're good people and bad people why are there this beauty and ugliness why is there so much change all of it is due to Maya and I am the reality behind Maya makes this point again and again [Music] foreign boss up in the sky the supervisor and uh so he's responsible for all of it and shankaracharya makes the point that supervisor here just means pure consciousness as being as awareness drishy Matra swarupa as pure pure consciousness the word is instructive drishy is the Seer drink fear only fear only means fear only minus the scene object so the scene objective of Y minus the scene object because the scene object is not a separate object apart from this ear it's an appearance in this ear just like all the stuff that we experience in dreams you see things you hear things you may spell taste touch things in dreams all of them are nothing but your mind that that's what's appearing in a dream similarly it's because of my uh prakriti whatever you call it in that one pure Consciousness this variety of this world appears then he quotes a powerful verse from the shwetashwatar upanishad who called shankaracharya not Krishna Deva bhutes one one Deva bright one what is the bright one consciousness so how many Consciousness is one Consciousness and I will not go into the arguments we have talked about it many times why is there only one Consciousness and why not many bodies are many minds are many that Consciousness is one where is this one Consciousness hidden deep in all sentient beings Beyond sentient beings not just it's somewhere in inside Us in the brains no it's manifested but beyond everywhere it's a beautiful example we talked about in the qatopanishad class of heat and Fire so the heat as radiation heat everywhere is there everywhere in the universe only in some places it bursts into Flame you know like a forest fire or a cooking fire or something but heat is there everywhere and atmosphere even in some sense in deep space there is a base level of heat also coming from solar radiation the radiation of the Stars so heat is there but flame and fire in some places similarly basically Consciousness or being is there everywhere but it bursts into flame as it were in sentient beings where there is a there's life and a body and a mind and this is so close to some of the cutting-edge thinking on pure Consciousness unconsciousness and especially turn on is in integrated information Theory which talks about the possibility of the basal Consciousness in every even fundamental particles of this universe um I don't know how they make sense of it from a physics perspective but they do that they are actually seriously talking about it now um sorry about the happy so in all beings and Beyond these beings pervading space and the cosmos everywhere it constitutes the very self of all beings if you investigate yourself who am I what am I self investigation of yourself start with the body then see what constitutes the self of this body pranal life itself what constitutes will go deeper inward to life inward to the breath you'll find mind okay closer to you what would you rather be a body a Mindless body in deep coma or a mind without a body you would rather be a mind because you are a mind after all what is deeper than the Mind inner to the mind it is the intellect which understands the contents of the mind also which can reflect on everything what is deeper and inner to the intellect with consciousness I'm skipping over the causal body of course but anyway consciousness and then this very consciousness it is the supervisor of all Karma it is the the witness the the one which makes all activity in this universe possible just as the dreamer's mind in the dream makes all activities in the dream possible good and bad without being affected by the tree if you're in the dream if you are running away from a tiger going to attack you when you wake up you're perfectly fine um where do you find this it's a very beautiful word um you know installed it's like adivasa is when a deity is installed in an image in fact in Durga Puja the first thing that you do is before the Puja starts you invite the Divine mother and then install or invoke the divine presence in the image in a multi-step process so this is invoke the Divinity is invoked where in Us in all sort of in all sentient beings how where exactly in the heart in the liver in the lungs where exactly is this Divinity within us sakshi witness consciousness jeta Jetta here means that which transfers makes conscious transverse Consciousness so our it's not that we are just pure Consciousness our minds feel conscious that's why Consciousness study mostly studies the Mind our senses feel conscious our whole body feels conscious there's a in living process Consciousness is something that is not it not doesn't remain alien and separate but it sort of uh our mind borrows Consciousness from the reflected Consciousness in the mind and then the senses body Consciousness from the mind the whole body feels conscious but it's borrowed Consciousness body doesn't have consciousness of its own one alone I'm not going to the metaphysics of it and finally it says beyond all attributes neither body nor mind nor Universe nor life nor death it is being alone pure awareness alone and completely ever ever fulfilled that's what you are very powerful Mantra from upanishad makes a point so with this background when you look at the universe this is the reality which you are then he says this question of why all of this is there why so much bad why is not are not things better off this is that question becomes illogical it says the Sanskrit here is [Music] no logical answer to this question why is this variegated Universe this srishti what's the real cause behind all this misery happiness there is no ultimate answer there's no logical answer to this because the question itself is wrong but if you want an answer well all of this is meant for our spiritual enlightenment but that's not even the final answer final answer this question itself is wrong there's one perfect reality in that you are the last thing shankaracharya quotes here is from from Gita itself he quotes he says you the pure Consciousness are enveloped as it were by ignorance and that's why you feel you're deluded that's why we end up asking why is all this going on the real answer is it isn't open your eyes it's all right but we can't see that yet and for that whole of spiritual life is there to to make this Grand discovery important the next verse is it follows logically maheshwaram fools deride me who have assumed a human body for they are unaware of my Transcendent status as the great Lord of beings so people think I am Krishna this this person who's driving the Chariot of Arjuna well and they do not see my Transcendent nature what is my Transcendent nature three steps I am an Incarnation they don't see that I'm not a human being like the rest of you caught in this cycle of Maya cotton in in the machine of Maya but I am free I am here to help you I am Incarnation through me you get to Freedom this is basically the real meaning of the biblical saying that nobody comes unto the father except through me it has led to so much fanaticism in the Christian world that Christ clearly says nobody comes to God except through me that means through this person Christ that's it and nothing else can be accepted that just leads to a kind of very strange fanaticism and that means only this particular way is right and every other religion is false and so on but what it what it means is the Incarnation is present here incarnation of God and every incarnation of God is a door to the infinite says its Incarnation is like a hole in a wall through which you can see through through to Infinity from to to what is on the other side so first thing is they don't realize fools don't realize that I am the Incarnation it's very difficult to realize actually it's not the fault of the foolish but very difficult to realize Avatar Incarnation people don't realize this second and the Incarnation of God existence Consciousness Bliss who pervades this entire universe who is the creator preserve a destroyer of this entire universe the support of this entire universe and all power and all goodness resides there and all help recites that people don't see that and finally Transcendent nature actually means I'm near Guna Brahman I'm existence Consciousness Place sachid Ananda they don't see it and they are deluded they think they disregard me so he is Krishna this this guy just this guy they don't see that and therefore they are deprived of the threefold help they could get one is the belief and faith in the Avatar the saving power of the avatar but catching hold of the Avatar Krishna Rama Christ you you go beyond suffering you go beyond Karma you are saved that's one second they do not see me as God higher than Avatar who's Avatar or whose Incarnation God's incarnation so this one God of all religions this most this great power we see we need help all philosophy practices you will see for most of us it's very difficult we will be fascinated with it when we try it out we make very little progress we need help and there is help at hand Krishna says it's my higher nature as God in vedanta God of religion and then even higher third Guna Brahma that is the real meaning of my Transcendent nature what do you do with that Brahma you realize I am that if you can do that you are free here and now it's done you can't do that at least have faith in God hold on to God okay take refuge in God if you can't do that then take have faith refuge in the Incarnation of God the most powerful easiest is to take Faith to have faith and take refuge in Incarnation whichever Incarnation you you feel attracted to um and from that we'll come everything else from the Incarnation to God from God to need gun Abram and the absolute all of that will come then if you one does not what happens a terrifying verse but a very descriptive of the world and of lives of people in the world 12th verse [Music] desires futile their works and futile their cognitions they are Mindless for they have resorted to the delusive nature of monsters and demons bye so there are these three powers within ushakti means the power of knowledge not Consciousness as such Consciousness through the Mind Consciousness plus mind gives us the power of knowing things and then when we know things then desire comes up I must have that I must have that Gadget I must do to have that job I must have that relationship why then I'll be full I will be satisfied um I will get sanskriti fulfillment won't happen and guarantee that but we think and it might work for a while and that is so um delusive so he says and then third is we swing into action Karma we want to get that that degree that honor that job that relationship and that Gadget that that much wealth Facebook likes all of that not Facebook Meta Meta now so all of that we we want we swing into action Ghana knowledge desire Karma action born of Desire and he says those who do not catch hold of the Avatar are God or at least you see yourself as this pure consciousness one or two or all of these if you don't catch hold of it then when is there are their works when are their desires and vain is their knowing whatever they know will be false why such beings because they know themselves as bodies and Minds as these limited creatures and what what do this is saying most people live lives of quiet desperation okay um oh by the way I just remembered few classes back I had mentioned a philosopher and a writer whose name I couldn't recall this is Colin Wilson Colin Wilson uh so he was British writer he I think he wrote the book The Outsider or something uh yes so he was very interested especially in the faculty of concentration focus and the ability to make mystical breakthroughs by Focus of mind he became very interested in the occult later on and so on anyway brilliant person but the knowing becomes wrong I am this body I have no idea of anything higher and then I want things in this world that alone will satisfy me but Desiring becomes wrong and then the actions all become Vain and you know egotistic and destructive he calls them rakshasas demons asuras you know monsters um Moga Karma all their activities in the world they turn into dust in vain to the ACT nothing will be satisfying everything will end in dissatisfaction and happiness for them when SRI Ram Krishna says zeros and one if you don't have one no matter how many zeros you line up it's still zero and that's what our life will be reduced to if without spirituality I'm not saying vedanta or Buddhism whatever or Christianity but there must be genuine spirituality in our lives in the most broadest sense some way you must catch hold of that Ultimate Reality then only is there some peace they not only are building on strong ground whatever little progress we make in spiritual life that is the only thing that will remain to us at the end of our lives and Beyond Death everything else will go away so more the karma of vain vain works the beginning of the that book imitation of Christ powerful statement vanity of vanities all is Vanity except to love the Christ and to you know I forgot the rest of it there so as some spiritual intense spiritual urge spiritual intention spiritual aspiration that's the best thing that you can get in life otherwise it's all vain vain vain as the Buddha said impermanent impermanent all is impermanent momentary momentary all is momentary empty empty all is empty and therefore suffering suffering all is suffering anityam shanikum sarbam sarvam shunyam dukkam to come what is the nature of demons and if you see it'll be a shock to us he says they are the those who say that the body is the self I am body and what do you think destroy smash eat drink make many Rob others deprive others of what is due to them and try to enjoy life don't care at all for anybody else and he says of cruel Deeds such beings and quotes from the um demonic indeed are those words what words here right now we're in the midst of that this world is created out of our thoughts and feelings and ideas this is this is the Demonic world the worlds of Darkness that we dwell in no wonder we suffer how can we not suffer if if our mindset is of this this is the knowledge this is the desire this is the action [Music] vain are their hopes of vain activities obeying actions in life are they um notice none of those activities or desires or knowledge none of them is wrong in itself if you add God to the mix spirituality to the mix one then all the zeros get value there is really no harm in in science or technology or money all of it's good that's how you build up civilization but you must have spirituality at the core of it some form take the most liberal view of it I know I'm not insisting it has to be right away if it is from my perspective it's the best no comparison there but still any other form we should not end today's class in on such a depressing terrifying note so the next verse Krishna is immediately he gives words of great solace 13. Mahatma partha David how poetic this beautiful verse but the great ones magnanimous persons those who are very liberal broad nature resorting to their divine nature o Arjuna Adore Me single-mindedly Knowing me to be the imperishable source of all beings Mahatma who is Mahatma we all we are all Mahatma so monks in India are often called Mahatma Mahatma like Mahatma Gandhi for example so anybody who's spiritual is called a Mahatma but we are all Mahatma because we all are seeking the highest what do these people do they resort to their divine nature not demonic nature not the Monstrous nature the divine nature but it's a it's an action it's a choice it's not that very few might be born with these uh god-like Tendencies Godly Tendencies but the rest of us we have to make an effort to resort to that to take up those that that kind of nature and what do they do single-minded you they focus on me in God either in Devotion to God or in meditation or in the knowledge I am that all of them are valid you don't have to go to a temple and do Puja if you're not so inclined you can meditate if you're not so inclined you can go the path of the upanishads and realize I am that all of them and they know me as the beginning of all the worlds the beginning of all sentient beings at the source of all of them I am you are that I'll end with a beautiful story I just heard recently the a very great Mystic in India in modern times was Ananda mahima so she lived in the north of India she was from East Bengal and she lived there north of India in the 19 I mean early part of the 20th century middle of the 20th century and towards the like 50s 60s 70s I never saw her before my time um so at one time Yogananda paramahamsa who started the self-realization fellowship here he went back to India and he visited Ananda mahima and she behaved just like a little girl she would behave like a little girl with everybody she ran to him and said father you have come at last Uganda permanent had never met her and she was bemused and then he said to her mother tell me a little bit about yourself and then she said these words there isn't much to say about meme father before I was a little girl I was the same then I was a little girl I was the same I grew up into this young woman and I am still the same over time all this will change and pass I will still remain the same that's all she said and Uganda wrote to her wrote about her later because I met this person who is forever one with the Eternal spontaneously effortlessly one with the eternal so Krishna says that's what we all are we all can say it's a fact right now before I was born into this life I Was the Same as pure being pure awareness pure fulfillment and right now I am the same we don't see it and still the same it's perfectly all right and over time as time passes these bodies age and all sorts of problems come on the board I'm still the same it's not like a matter of rhetoric that positive thinking I have to believe I'm all right no you actually are all right and it can see either you believe it because I'm saying so and the books are saying so or you see for yourself and you will see that actually it's true I'm not saying the bodies will remain the same they won't not even saying the minds will remain the same though if you have this knowledge in your mind it will be more or less you know tuned to a higher pitch it will be much better off mind will always be awake it will dream it will sleep sometimes it will go through ups and downs but you will be the same you'll be fine and one day these bodies will go away even at the point of bodily death and beyond body lead rate you will see that and still the same and I'm fine and it was all so much fun so um Krishna says we are that we should all be able to say honestly I am the same I was the same earlier here in this party I'm still the same as this this life will float away I'll still remain the same and I'm fine so on that upbeat note not so easy I'm reminded of Sri ramakrishna's words he says Tabla when you learn to play the Tabla in Bengali he said difficult it's easy to recite the rhythm of the the notes you know you can recite it the student is supposed to recite it verbally it was very difficult to play it actually on the tablet that requires years and years and of hard work and practice good um let me pray to takurman swamiji Salama Vivekananda May Their Blessings be ever upon us may their protection be ever upon us and may we make quick progress in spiritual life that's what they want us to do so may we flow in the Divine and the Divine stream towards God realization I often say In This Very life itself but I was reading in one place he says don't even pray like that this life or that life and that is the calculation of petty-minded people surrendered entirely to the Lord and be happy he'll take care of it foreign [Music] we had some questions let me quickly take a look okay don't add any more questions um I I keep getting these questions about my forthcoming Singapore visit the details will all be put up on our website vs in my website in a few days where I'm trying to put together a schedule which we can so those who want to meet meet me or attend my talks in India or Singapore can see that meeting me in Singapore some people want to know that's actually depends a lot on the schedule there and the Swami in charge of the Singapore ashram so it's only closer to that date the end of November I'll go I'll be in Singapore from second December onwards I'll be in Singapore for 10 days so it's closer to that date I I'll be able to say where what is a good time to meet apart from the talks so uh details of the talks in Singapore details of the talks in India they will all be put up in by this weekend hopefully um swamiji how if rajendra says if God pervades this universe and is imminent how is it only an illusory appearance why not manifestation yes why not from it's a shankarachary's advaita which says universe is an appearance whereas at the other schools of vedanta they say this is this is real logically it has to be an appearance I will take the advaithic position why if God pervades the universe didn't you just hear what Krishna said I pervade the universe second no I don't really pervade the Universe I am the universe is indeed third the universe is not in me if the universe is not in me not outside you then what is this universe we are seeing it's an appearance it's not real in itself what is an appearance it's not that an appearance doesn't exist if an appearance did not exist then there would be no movies there would be no fiction or Harry Potter books so fiction is there it's a kind of existence movies are there it's a kind of existing dreams are there it's a kind of existence virtual reality is there it's a kind of reality in fact David Thomas is now arguing you should treat virtual reality as reality but it's not the same grade of reality as Brahman Swami vivekantha puts it this way don't say false say we're going from lower truth to higher truth not from falsity to truth fine the old logicians of the other way to school will smile indulgently have it your way but lower what is lower truth there's another fancy name a politically correct name for falsity people feel hurt if you say a world is false so just call it a lower truth fine just to act as a free will we have free will and we Krishna is urging us to act on that much free will we have to catch hold of of Krishna of God or realize that you are Brahm and your own self shankaracharya here is alternating back between ishwara Atma he says this is God ishwara or you can look at it as your own very self your own inner reality real the real you next Rama says very confused good that's our state everybody's confused how can God be the witness and also be the Creator and sustained Reserve not be the doer because God is not the doer it's like tell me what are you for the words that you see in your dreams are you really the Creator preserver and Destroyer are those real words there have you done anything actually if you haven't they all appear to you and then they disappear back into you so you are God for everything that happens in the dream how is Maya related to Karma so Maya first and then uh desire and then Karma shankaracharya's phrase ignorance which is because of Maya and then um avidya Karma desire born of ignorance and then Karma then sriram says swamiji does namas paranam help remove the inner talk ah good good means repeating the names of God remembering the name of God say your Mantra does it help in removing the inner talk certainly it replaces the inner tongue in a much more worthwhile way think about it the kind of chatter that goes on in our minds and think about the Mantra given to you by your Guru this Mantra and this particular thought all these thoughts which keep coming which which of these thoughts which keep coming habitually in our minds which of them is even close to being as worthwhile as that mantra nothing then why not repeat the mantra do you think only when you need to think otherwise the mind is an instrument why let it run wild use it when it's needed to be used otherwise keep it on God Ramya says so don't keep asking more questions I see newer and newer questions being asked but I'll just stop now where Ramya says um shankara says the word not include dispenser of karma how can it be witnessed alone yes absolutely the supervisor of karma Who records all the Karma and gives the results of karma but if Karma a world cause and effect all of these are appearances in that case what is the nature of this God of this being it must be Consciousness pure Consciousness pure Witness Patrick says vanity of vanities and all his vanity except to love God and to serve him alone yes this is the beginning of the imitation of Christ very powerful if you're on a devotional path this is pure devotion this is real bhakti Abhijit says srirama krishna's example of zeros and ones really beautiful seems thakur was on to the bits and digital Revolution a century before yes once and zeros M this is the Patrick has given what said Yogananda has quoted this I am the same ever even afterwards though the dance of creation changes around me in the Hall of Eternity I shall be the same how beautifully put old video of yoga and then I appreciate there is a black and white Video available