Video 109

109. Bhagavad Gita | Chapter 9 Verse 14 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

Guru [Music] there is something to be said for having in-person classes I think it's good to see if you all back here um so in this class we studied the bhagavad-gita we have been doing it online and believe me I've got endless grumbling and complaints from people who were following this online they wanted to stay online or at least hybrid I thought we should go back to the in-person class and hybrid I am not comfortable and entirely with that because I find the attention at least the attention of the Speaker gets sort of divided um but anyway this is being recorded So the the at least the audio recording will be uploaded we studied the bhagavad-gita in this class and we were on chapter nine chapter nine of the bhagavad-gita we know the bhagavad-gita has um 18 chapters one way of structuring our understanding of the bhagavad-gita is that you can divide it into three groups of six chapters each chapters one to six when from seven to twelve and then from 13 to 18. what would be the basis of this um one way of understanding this is in advaita vedanta the ultimate teaching the point of it all is you are that there's an Ultimate Reality we are that and the point is to realize that so that is the Ultimate Reality you are the individual and the identity of the two so one way of understanding this would be that the first six chapters are about our real nature Who We Are who we are um who am I that investigation the Atman the self the real self the second group of six chapters is about that God the reality of this Universe the power behind this Cosmos Brahman so literally the word Brahman means the vast and then the last six chapters from 13 to 18 would be the identity of the two in what sense are we individual sentient beings and God the power behind this universe in what sense are we identical and you know that's how that's a whole subject matter of vedanta um one of the greatest non-dualists madhusudan Saraswati who lived about 500 years ago he's the one who did this division or at least he is one of the main proponents of this way of looking at the bhagavad-gita the bhagavad-gita there's essential teaching is you are that Pharmacy and which is not a surprise because he is a non-dualist and the non-dualist would always say that you are that you're that Ultimate Reality also says that the 18 chapters should be understood in this way broadly speaking first six chapters about who am I the next six chapters are about God by which I mean the god of religion God whom we believe in worship have faith in and the last six chapters deal with broadly again the identity between the two and of course anybody who's read the bhagavad-gita knows that this picture even if it is true is is a broad picture I mean in each of these chapters there's lots of other things in the first six chapters there are a lot of things besides who am I in the next six chapters in which we are now the nine chapter there are a lot of things besides just besides God and so too in the final six chapters there's a lot um and not just the identity of jivan Brahma and the sentient beings and Ultimate Reality but still big picture it's a it's a nice way interesting way of looking at the bhagavad-gita foreign who lived about 1400 years ago so about 900 a thousand years after him comes madhusudan Saraswati and he is the one who wrote probably the toughest book the most book full of the most intricate and somebody said a brain Friar of a brook book advaita siddhi the establishment of non-duality basically he was responding to attacks on um advaita vedanta nanduel vedanta by dualists by other other schools of vedanta I'll tell you a story about him which is pertinent to what we are going to study today and then we'll go into it so it goes like this it's a cautionary tale about advice you know I always plug non-dual vedanta a lot so it also goes with buyer beware what's the Latin phrase for it um there is there is the buyer beware yes so with non-dual vedanta very powerful but also very dangerous why one one reason of the many warnings one warning is contained in this story um some other Sudan Saraswati was it's a story among I've heard it from monks in uttarakhand Saraswati was writing his magnum opus the advaita siddhi the establishment of non-duality refuting the refutations of non-duality so counter-attacking the attacks on non-duality and engaged in this tremendous exercise logical exercise so one day he's sitting in writing and then this wandering monk comes up to him he is Dusty and wearing only a line cloth and crumbs and sits in front of mother Sudan Saraswati without an invitation Saraswati is a little annoyed of course taken who is this you know Drifter Americans would call him a bum so who's this guy that monk looks at Madison Saraswati and he says well Master Madison Saraswati you um you know that you are Brahman yes that's what I'm teaching I am existence Consciousness place and you are refuting those who don't understand this yes that's what the book is about but suppose somebody comes and refutes all your arguments you know it could happen somebody more intelligent than you more well-versed in the vedanta than you comes and refutes all your arguments would you be unhappy he said honestly yes a little I would you know I would I would feel it if I would feel the pinch of losing a debate and suppose you managed to defeat this Challenger would you be happy I would feel happy a certain glow of you know victory when fire on your knowledge of Brahman Saraswati your knowledge of Brahman is not complete yet your realization is not complete well what should I do in Saraswati the dish monk says you should go into Retreat and repeat the name of Krishna repeat the Krishna Mantra repeat it and this many number of times which is thousands and thousands and there's a particular Krishna Mantra which anyway that's beside the point so then he goes into Retreat and repeats the Mantra he says you have to do it until you get the vision of Krishna so he does it over days and weeks and months all day long till late into the evening and so on thousands and thousands of times and nothing happens it doesn't get any vision of Krishna so he's feeling disappointed and he's thinking I am a non-dualist the sadhu put it very nicely in Hindi I am a non-dualist what is this trap I've fallen into Krishna and repeating a Krishna Mantra and why did I even listen to that guy so this is a problem with non-dualists you know the problem is they can't do spiritual practice the moment you start doing some spiritual practice the first thing which happens is it's difficult it's difficult it's difficult to focus it's difficult to hold on to something and if you are a non-dualist an advaithin the first thing that will come to your mind is why am I doing all this after all I know that I am Brahman what am I going to gain I'm not going to get anything more than what I already am so I also know these practices are in appearance they're part of Maya they're false and what I will get if I don't have something and I get something by these practices that also will be part of Maya that will also be an appearance and the reality is Brahman and I am that Brahman already so why am I doing all this that's why non-dualists are not particularly good at spiritual practice warning caution it happens a non-dualist will start maybe a little bit of a Puja and then say what am I doing why or maybe start um trying to do pranayama and meditation Focus the mind it's very difficult mind is restless but why the focused mind and the non-focused mind both are Brahman and evade I am the one Consciousness in which the mind is unfocused and on the same Consciousness the mind is focused or give it up what's the point of it anyway and any case I'm Brahman trap deadly trap he had a helper the same monk turns up it's a longer story than this but I'm going to shorten it I'm adapting it I'm sure the story has been adapted and re-adapted in telling and retelling over the centuries so that the monk the same wandering monk turns up again not good at all I was thinking I'm doing it but I'm not getting any result then this monk said do it once more and then does it once more and he gets the vision of Krishna then he goes back and completes advaita siddhi but he also writes this beautiful book on the Devotion to God bhakti rasayanam which is one of the is interesting I mean I remember a few years back we were studying mother Sudan saraswati's commentary on the bhagavad-gita um this was at the Harvard Divinity School and one issue of scholarly debate was why would a non-dualist like madhusudan Saraswati write books on bhakti and why so much you know referenced us to bhakti in the Gita commentary on the bhagavad-gita so the story connects this you know that's why he had a vision of God of Krishna and then he wrote the bhakti rasayanam and then he wrote the commentary on the bhagavad-gita it's the most comprehensive commentary on bhagavad-gita and has of course it's not he's a non-dualist so it is Thoroughly non-dualist but plenty of references to Krishna plenty of references to devotion plenty of references to meditation and practice of meditation the yoga sutras are very much present there in that commentary in that commentary on the bhagavad-gita Saraswati says that he says if the yogis want to meditate upon pure consciousness and remain immersed in the radiance in their hearts let them do so but what I want what my eyes want is a vision of that little blue boy playing on the bank of the yamuna Krishna the baby Krishna he means so that kind of devotion was there anyway um he wrote a commentary on the bhagavad-gita cautionary detail about spiritual practice why did I say that because the portion of the ninth chapter which we were doing being in the second six chapters chapters 7 to 12. it's about God being about God it's about devotion and devotional practices so the devotional practices are being mentioned here why you need to do devotional practices and what are those devotional practices what kind of practitioner does one have to be all these things are mentioned there so we have done this but it's worth recapitulating from 11th verse onwards chapter 9 verse number 11 onwards we have done 11 12 and we have touched upon 13 in the last but there's been a long Gap in between so I'm going to quickly recapitulate those what's the subject God belief in God faith in God devotion devotional practices the practitioner and the practices that's that's the subject 11th verse those who have got the Gita you can repeat after me foreign the ignorant this translation the ignorant deride me who have taken a human form not knowing my higher nature as the great Lord of beings what's he saying here the ignorant who do not know who I am so they think I'm this this person Krishna just this guy you know your driver driving The Chariot of Arjuna they do not see me as Avatar incarnation of God that I am actually God incarnated they don't know me not knowing me they they derived me they think that he's just this person oh why should we learn anything really just like us those who do not know me in reality some of them might like me some of them might dislike me those who like me they think he's a nice guy it's Krishna he's a nice person those who dislike me they hate me they do not know who I am in in reality who am I in reality bhuta maheshwar maheshwara Lord God the lord of the universe there are two meanings of this one meaning is all sentient beings we are called Buddha the Lord of all living beings all sentient beings said the sum total of All Souls this is the only God that I know and worship so a lot of all all living beings another meaning of Buddha is the five elements out of which this universe is created bhuta maheshwaram is the lord of the material universe so two things sentient beings and this in sentient Universe in in Sanskrit Jada and caitana this in sentient Universe this physical Universe which we inhabit and beings like us all sentient beings above them all is God so this is the triangle in any religion any theistic religion God world and sentient beings in Sanskrit ishwara jagat Jiva Jiva jagatishwara triangle sentient beings like us the physical universe and a god you might say not so fast Swami We Exist we know and the physical universe is there we know we can see it we can experience it but the God I'm not so sure of that's right so the god of of religion is something that we believe we take on faith at least to begin with we we start with faith so this is Buddha maheshwaram upanishad the title upanishad says from this atmananda space emerges from space comes Airway or Agni Premiere comes fire um from fire comes water prithvi from water comes this Earth ancient cosmology of the five elements they are called bhuta space Akasha air why you Agni fire APPA or Jala is water and prithvi is is Earth the five the principle elements out of which this entire physical universe is supposed to have been made um so that's it all comes from God from from the Atman or Brahman I am the Lord of this universe but they don't know me they do not not knowing me people of this world they do not know me notice not knowing is a Ghana ignorance this is a vedanta hidden here also this is underneath the surface as if you're talking about God but underneath we do not know the reality this is ajananta not knowing and then what is the result mura deluded foolish in vedantic terms the terms would be again not knowing the rope that is ignorance of the Rope but Imagining the Rope to be a snake mistaking the Rope to be a snake not even imagining nobody's deliberately Imagining the Rope to be a stinging the classic rope snake example nobody is deliberately trying to think of the Rope as a snake we don't know the Rope we automatically make a mistake we think it's the snake similarly we don't know the Ultimate Reality we think it's the world so here it's there in this verse also not knowing by real nature and then the result is murah deluded and what do they do they there's a word in Sanskrit many Indian languages disregard me they look down upon me or they do not see the glory of of God in the Incarnation because I am um is a human form so because I am with the human form all of the human beings think he's a man like us a human being like us not having faith in God what happens the next verse we have all done all this I'm brushing through it a little bit 12th verse no um [Applause] foreign hopes of vain efforts of vain knowledge Thoughtless and taking to the deceptive and demonic and fiendish nature they deride me all right a harsh verse what happens to such people they have vain hopes why vain hopes people who are not spiritual are by definition by default by default worldly so for worldly people the hope is in the world what's going to fulfill me money relationships power Facebook popularity something in the world this world or virtual world that's going to make me happy and I have evidence for that also because it does make me happy once in a while little bit at least it does make me happy and the whole world is rushing towards that if you examine it then the real thing comes out you know that how long does it make us happy how whom has it made completely deeply happy one person nobody nobody ever and yet everybody is rushing towards that whatever you want in this this world the hopes are that something in this world will make us happy and therefore more vain are their efforts all the tremendous effort put into education learning earning money relationships they do not give lasting peace lasting fulfillment are they totally useless no not totally useless they're like what SRI ramakrishna used to call once and one and zeros so all that people chase in this world are like zeros but if you line up a series of zeros one after another you still get zero but if you have a one then every 0 adds value to it so one zero is ten two zeros are hundred and three zeros a thousand and so on and one is spirituality I mean in this case Krishna would say the one is God this was straightforward but you can Define it in a whichever way you want you define understand spirituality it could be self knowledge also Enlightenment also but the one must be there if you have the one then all the others that they are add to the glory of the one there's nothing wrong in being rich or having relationships or you know education and you know learning and politics and art nothing wrong in it they have their place in the world but as far as we are concerned because we have we want something we want fulfillment we want to overcome suffering we want our lives to count for something in that case the one is Central and then all of that is useful but otherwise without that one of course in this context what Krishna is referring to was the ancient Vedic context where Karma had a special meaning the karma there meant The Vedic Karma so what people took as conventional religion in those days was a vast Rich system of ritualistic religion the fire sacrifice and they were elaborate fire sacrifices with priests and paraphernalia and mantras to be chanted and vows to be taken what was the point you get things which you want in this world you might want wealth you might want Health you might want a kingdom Kings wanted to conquer other kings all of that you can get in this world and much more besides in the words to come after death you go to heaven and krsna says here all of that Arjuna which you know as religion which you and your forefathers have practiced vain is your effort why is he saying that heaven doesn't exist or these fire sacrifices don't work no he's not saying that what he's saying is what you're trying to achieve by those ways will never work whatever you get in this world will one day perish and go away and leave you unfulfilled I saw this cartoon the problem with trying to add years to our life is when you are really really old all those years have have come to an end that somebody say the problem with trying to add years to your life is think about it you're 90 or 100 and you look back all those years are gone now so it all comes to an end it's okay but as long as I've had those not necessarily if it have all come to an end and I don't have anything to show for it at the end except an old diseased broken suffering body fading memory and being sort of Forgotten and discarded by the world not a good way to end not a good way to end is there an alternative there is there is that's the whole point of spiritual life in whichever religion that's the alternative so the higher spirituality is the alternative um well what about heaven I can go to heaven after that that's something to look forward to but those Heavens also come to an end Krishna will say later on whatever you get by your fire sacrifices and all you will go to heaven I'm not denying the truth of religion but that's also strictly temporary and when it comes to an end it comes to an end it's all gone foreign example this is peculiar danger of non-dual vedanta which is a knowledge system so the idea there is our problem is ignorance and the solution is knowledge you are Limitless Consciousness pure being all you need to do is just do it that's all that sounds pretty fast and pretty effortless it is effortless it sounds pretty fast yes it is instantaneous and effortless who would not want ultimate spirituality to be instantaneous and effortless in contrast they talk about years and years of spiritual practice and a lot of hard work in contrast to that just realize that you're Brahman just see it vivekanth himself says do not seek just see that sounds great Krishna wants a vain is such knowledge very such knowledge one one danger I pointed out that spiritual practice this knowledge itself this kind of understanding if you don't like this kind of of vedantic teaching you are safe if you're skeptical if you like it you're in danger because there is this danger of undercutting spiritual practice the the motivation for Spiritual practice if I truly truly believe there is God and the vision of God is my goal I am just this person and here is this wonderful Mantra given to me my Guru and I will practice this Mantra thousands and thousands of times day and night I'm motivated but if I also believe yes but that's on the level of appearance like a movie or a dream the reality is I am pure consciousness then when it comes the time comes to practice those thousands and thousands of repetitions of Mantra what happens is this kind of knowledge this kind of understanding of non-duality it snaps the nerve of effort that sadhu said these non-dualists they are not no good at spiritual practice because the moment you start spiritual practice it's difficult and then you want to give it up yeah and there is always this temptation of giving it up because I'm Brahman anyway why do I need to do spiritual practice does Brandon this infinite Consciousness need to do meditation repeat a mantra about nonsense the more he says be careful then what do you do then what good is that knowledge it's good for giving YouTube talks and classes and lectures yes there is the idea in in India this is that the idea of a donkey which Bears um Sandalwood so the donkey takes Sandalwood from point A to point B and delivers it and it's heavy and all the donkey fields of the sandalwood is that it's heavy it doesn't get the fragrance of Sandalwood and it is compared to those who know a lot but they don't use that knowledge and it's not referring to advaita vedant it just refers to any kind of knowledge which is just information Vivekananda said information running riot in their brains undigested or half digested knowledge which is which doesn't do any good either to yourself or anybody else what good does it do you can teach it to others you can give lectures to others [Music] and that's as bad as that donkey or you get something out of it you see them all over New York you know you have you seen they go on bikes and zoom around and deliver stuff food and they'll arrive at your place and give you your packet of your your the food that you take out you have ordered and they come on they zip Along on bikes and they're dangerous they can hit you and what do you what do they get out of it leave a tip for us when so delivered how was the delivery you'll see on your mobile phone and you can he gets a tip one dollar or two dollar that's what the guy gets and that's the only good of such knowledge so the the vedanta knowledge if it becomes that how sad it is it's meant to liberate you from the sufferings of this world it's meant to give you fulfillment and realize our true nature if all you get is a tip you give a nice lecture are you you know read a few books and that's not not a very good outcome he says vain is such knowledge and why why are they like this because of their rakshasa nature Asura nature so three kinds of nature Krishna will talk about later is it's going to come up a few chapters later daiva the divine nature or Godly nature the rakshas are demonic nature the two kinds of rakshases and Asura both are I mean the common word for them would be demons but the asuras are tamasik and the rakshases are rajasik so there are two kinds of problems the two kinds of natures one is the Asura nature the commentator this is a book commentary by sridharswami who lived even before madhusudan Saraswati so 700 years ago he has a very simple nice commentary in Sanskrit on the Gita some of you are training your own look at this oh so that's the one to read no no I'm just using this today I'll use you'll be disappointed if you think this is the book to be read There are any book will do with the original text and the translation so here sridhar Swami says so violence and sloth and dullness that's a um Asura the nature foreign that's another kind of nature both of these Natures don't allow you to be spiritual they keep us engaged in in what in worldliness what's wrong with worldliness when are the hopes when are the actions vain is the knowledge there in contrast so this is all we have done till last time in contrast who are the uh the spiritual Seekers spiritual practitioners and what do they do 13th verse foreign but the great sold ones Mahatma the great sold one spiritual Seekers did they have the divine nature Davin prakriti now what is this divine nature that will all be talked about later on so o Arjuna o parthara or Arjuna they worship me such people worship me with one pointed devotion knowing me to be the cause of all beings and immutable so who is a Mahatma you say oh Mahatma Gandhi yes but Mahatma literally means Mahan means the vast Atma the self we are all the vast self but because we tie ourselves down to little things a little body one little person one little personality we are not Mahatma then the Mahatma is the one who realizes I am the vast I am one with all or all are one with me who sees the self in all beings who sees all beings in the self who feels a deep Oneness with everybody and everything that's the philosophical level and a practical level the Mahatma is in contrast to the rest of the rest who are only concerned about themselves I and mine the Mahatma is somebody who is um on your side you know he is in your gang is always on your side is a well-wisher for everybody not just a well Vision not just theoretically but up and doing trying to help everybody everywhere so this is a Mahatma and such mahatma's they have this divine nature what do they know three things he has said what do they know what's their understanding realization what are their minds like and what do they do so knowledge um in their minds thought their efforts and and their practices what do they practice so he says um they know me to be the the souls the Lord the source of this universe the definition of God in all religions what's the common definition of God in all religions the creator of this universe so that's how God is defined in any religion whatsoever the original source of all Buddhas all sentient beings in vedanta this phrase used is um which is a heavy Sanskrit word but what it means is when you say creator of the universe the Creator can be used in two two senses one is like a Potter creates pots the Potter is not the part the material of the part is Clay which the Potter Fashions into a pot so he has got some extra Cosmic being who makes this universe that's one idea of creation of God creating this universe another idea is no no it is God and the material of this universe is also God so God is the creator like the Potter but unlike the Potter the material of the universe what is this universe made of that's also God there's nothing other than God so God is the Creator and God Fashions this universe out of God so God is transformed into this universe and the example used is that of a spider in the Munda copanishad it is said just as a spider spins a web out of itself so does the imperishable spin this universe out of itself just as from a spider a web is the spider spins the way about of itself so spider spins a web out of itself what would you mean notice there are two aspects to it spider is a sentient being and the body of the spider out of which the web is spun so the spider is not only the creator of the web but the web is also nothing other than the spider's own body similarly in vedanta Brahman God that Consciousness is the creator of this universe a sentient being an intelligence behind this universe at the same time what is this universe made of what does God make this universe out of out of Maya just like the spider has its own body spins a web out of its own body ishwara bhagavan spins this universe out of ishwara's Maya the power of Israel that's why it's called in the one indivisible intelligent and material cause of this universe intelligent cause like the spider creating the web material cars like the spider's body producing the web out of itself so it's a lot of hard work the little spider which spins the web with a lot of hard work so is that what God does works really hard now the next example is just as herbs and trees and plants emerge from the Earth effortlessly the Earth is not working hard to produce plants and herbs and shrubs effortlessly oh so the Earth is is an incentient thing non-living material thing so is God like that some kind of a material Force Big Bang or something like that that's what you mean no then the next example is as hair and nails grow from a living human body another example to show how um hair and the nails are not living living anymore but they are being produced by a living body just like that from Consciousness emerges appears this non-conscious universe from one appears the many from Limitless Bliss appears this whirling mass of Pleasure and Pain so this is a very beautiful Mantra in the mundak upanishad as from the spider as the spider spins out and then retracts the web as herbs emerge from the vast Earth yes from a human body living human body emerges hair and nails in that way from the imperishable so no name of God is given that akshara means the imperishable from the imperishable emerges appears this universe notice I'm saying you're using different words emerges transformed appears and this is this little thing you read closely so God produces this universe is God transformed into this universe he says unchanging vast changing Universe production is change existence is continuously changing and destruction of the universe is also changed and then he says God is unchanging in that case this entire universe can only be an appearance in God you know the seed of the jagat mithya the falsity of the world compared to Brahman that that seed of the idea is here this is what the Mahatma knows he knows this and then um what does he do so worships ananya with unwavering Focus so here's the difference between a spiritual seeker and a worldly person it's not that people people are not interested in religion once in a while somebody goes to a temple or a church once in a while somebody listens to Christmas carols or bhajans and kittens that does not make that person a spiritual Seeker ananya unwavering focus a lifelong search for God and that that's just not just that I Proclaim Facebook State a spiritual Seeker now what am I doing day to day is my life tuned to this search so ananya how does one do this that means they worship me this worship it comes from bhakti love devotion without bhakti this knowledge I am Brahman seeking this ultimate realization without devotion it can be very deceptive if the devotion that pull that love for God is not coming there's something wrong with our gyana practices and the other way around also is dangerous devotion love bhakti without Ghana can often be near sentimentalism we're just reading today Swami ranganathanandity was the 13th president of our order he joined the order under he was initiated by Swami shivananda the disciple of Sri ramakrishna and as a young Monk so today in the morning we were reading reminiscenses of Swami ranganathan and his remedy senses of Swami shivananda so as a young monk he writes to Swami shivananda saying that you know we've we read about SRI ramakrishna he wept for God and try as I might tears naturally do not come to me wrote back to him there's no need of that devotion true devotion is not sentimentality you don't have to weep you don't have to have tears in your eyes that kind of outward show is not true devotion that what is true devotion patterning your life on the teachings of God practicing it in your daily life and trying to live well live a Pure Life live a life of prayer and meditation service doing that is real love of God not just crying for God one can cry one can be emotional and can be very worldly also truly transforming your life so bhakti but that that sweetness must be there in knowledge in Sanskrit the word for that is Rasa rasa rasa literally means syrup sweet gravy the syrup that sweetness must be there along with knowledge here I must mention this very nice lecture I heard I I am hearing online by the philosopher arindam chakravarti was given a talk here he was here a few years back so he gave a talk recently in The Institute of culture in Kolkata goldpark and that talk was on the bhagavatam and Swami vivekananda's teachings on love so bhagavatam is a great epic which talks about the incarnations of Vishnu and specially about Krishna it's devotional but also full of spiritual knowledge it's devotional knowledge everything is there so the point I'm making here is um he made a very nice observation the philosopher he said when we study vedanta there are these three three foundations of vedanta Shruti smriti nyaya Shruti means the Revelation upanishads the knowledge the teaching of the um of of vedanta it is based on the upanishads that's called Shruti that Shruti because it's part of The Vedas so that's the foundation second smriti this bhagavad-gita is called smriti smriti is that which gives us the Practical advice on what you do actually how do you do spiritual practice the theory the the central teaching the Insight is given by the upanishad the knowledge is given by the operation how do you realize it how do you go about it in your life smriti so bhagavad-gita is the smriti and then there's another text The Logical side of it the rational side of it the philosophical side of it that's called the text is called Brahma Sutra Brahma Sutra so vedanta this is common knowledge when we study vedanta you have to study three things the core of vedanta is the upanishads which is called Shruti Revelation the Practical side of it is called Smithy bhagavad-gita this one and The Logical philosophical side of it why do we need philosophy somebody said very nicely life makes philosophers of all of us thank you so the philosophical side of it brahmasutras all right this everybody knows this is called Shruti prasthan and nyay prasthana it's pretty prasthan and prasthan prastana means Foundation triple Foundation of vedanta Shruti smriti nyaya Revelation practical side logic or philosophy now so this is common knowledge but this philosopher random chakraborty for the first time he said I am adding I am adding one more prastana one more Foundation to vedanta it says from now on we should regard the bhagavatam as the rasa prastana as the sweet side of vedanta the syrup side of vedanta you have the Insight from the upanishads your practical advice from Krishna in the Gita you have the logic in the brahmasutras and you have the syrup the sweet the candy in bhagavatam recipe four foundations not triple but quadruple Foundation Shruti smriti um so I like that but the point here is there must be devotion along with knowledge so what do they do we will do this next time but just let's just read this what are the practices the 13th verse was who are these Seekers they are the mahatmas and what are the practices that they do 14th one we'll talk about this later but just we'll read it today yes always praising me striving with austere vows and bowing down to me with devotion always steadfast they worship me what do they do these spiritual Seekers they worship me when morning once in a while in the church in the temple nitya yukta constantly connected to me how mechanically somehow I have to get it done no bhaktiya with devotion with love in the inner with inner feeling and what do they do they are they are always praising me singing my names chanting about me talking about me that's one what that's what they do internally what's their attitude with with firmness with Resolute vows they are trying they're working they are not like well I'm Brahman let's Let It Go like mother Susan Saraswati you know I am a non-dualist what's all this Krishna Mantra I was doing oh by the way that reminds me this Sunday we have Professor Bryant coming to give a talk he was here once years ago if you look up our YouTube channel one of the most popular talks in the on the channel is by Professor Bryant he is um he's of course a world Authority on patanjali yoga sutras his book is probably the best book on the patanjali yoga sutras in the market today so Yogi Sutra patanjali he gave a talk on that and the talk also he's a very good teacher also so it became a very the popular talk you can see that but there's another site to him he's a devotee he's a Krishna bhakta he is a devotee of God especially he is a devotee of Krishna and his topic this time is very interested I don't know why he has chosen the topic is God real or is God unreal that's the topic is God unreal is bhagavan I don't know because maybe he thinks he's the vedanta society and we think God is unreal or something we don't we don't right anyway so I'm sure it's going to mount a defense so do come uh 11 o'clock on on Sunday they do register of course I'll be registered doing registration yes right okay so it's open um with devotion and they are they are trying they are making efforts [Music] immediately follows It Up by Namaste and they're constantly bowing down and surrendering to god notice this beautiful synthesis of Free Will and surrender making efforts obviously for evil up and doing getting up early in the morning sitting for meditation studying the scriptures chanting Puja repeating mantras serving people and bowing down and constantly surrendering what are they doing constantly making efforts and constantly surrendering what a beautiful combination so we will see this next time I'll just tell you one thing this just in case I I forget um continuously engaged in kirtana a one meaning is singing the names of God so our brothers in the Hare Krishna in the iskcon the bhakti center they do the kitten that's what the meaning of kitten that's the meaning of kitten in Bengal that comes from Bengal vaishnavis but the word Keaton has other meanings in other parts of India so one one is talking about God or praising God or or chanting or doing japa also is another way of engaging so basically engaging a faculty of speech towards God whether it is singing or repeating a mantra or chanting or talking about God such of them continuously why I'm saying this is I remember I'm reminded of a monk I met about 16 years ago in he has passed since it was one of the most wonderful monks I've ever seen in my life and one of one of the many good qualities in him was anytime you go to him he'll speak about God so he says why he says that his Guru told him the moment people come to you before they can start talking start talking you start talking about God otherwise they're going to start talking about the world you know they and they all the observations about the world there they will have money problems they have neighbor problems husband problems wife girlfriend problems children problems grandchildren problems they have political problems they have social media problems all of that they're going to dump on you so before they do that don't give them an opportunity don't give them an opportunity start talking about God and I see I saw that that monk used to always do that so Saturday continuously don't be a boar but be careful not to talk too much about the world what we dwell on that will enter into our minds another meaning I just in case I forget I'll tell you this I remember in the Himalayas once I was living in this little cut Cottage and across the river there was this monk I used to study the ashtavakra Gita with him so one day in the Australia which is a very radically non-dual one day the verse which we were studying had the word niranthara means break without break without Gap and the monk who was teaching us is old Swami I still remember he see you can imagine sitting there towering mountains glaciers and the river below following are flowing very fast torrentially he said you know monks he says I was thinking when I'm going to when you'll all come for this class how will I explain niranthara without a break then I thought there it is in front of me mother ganga is showing me how it is Flowing without a break torrentially continuously flowing like that let your thoughts of God let your thoughts of course he was talking about the Atman you're dwelling in your real nature let it be without a break let your sadhana be without a break like that the continuous flow of the river now what happened was late that night I was sitting down for meditation um not I'm not to my credit because there's nothing else to do there's absolutely nothing else to do you can't study there's no electricity and there's nobody to talk to there are no phones and in those days at least and it's pitch dark outside and cold and cold so uh you you get into your room as soon as possible as the sun sets and then you stay there until the sun rises the next day and you can't do anything else in the room and you can't just say what about what about sleep you can't sleep you can't sleep also because the climate is so bracing and nice and the food is minimal so you're not at all hungry I mean you're not at all sleepy you are um there's nothing else to do you're a monk you haven't been working all day long to earn money you know everything is taken care of you're all alone by yourself there's no sleep you can't sleep so what do you do you sit and meditate I'm sitting and meditating that night particularly I remember I haven't forgotten now it's about 16 years ago um it was unbroken the Japan would not stop because every time it stopped I immediately I heard just outside the cottage the Roar of the Ganga unbroken Road and the Japan would by itself unstoppably go on for hours and hours and hours into the late of the night without any break without any cap and it I mean it just goes to show it's not just something that you know to encourage us but it's also it can happen Unstoppable it can go on Japan can go on repetition of the name Mantra can go on unstoppably meditation can go on unstoppably Swami turian he says that at one point for several months he had no sleep 24 hours a day is he's studied in the morning and spent all night in samadhi in meditation not just meditation full samadhi that's why they do they don't need sleep we would go crazy if he didn't sleep at night don't try it um