Video 110

110. Bhagavad Gita | Chapter 9 Verses 15-16 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] krishnam one so we are studying the bhagavad-gita we are on the ninth chapter and the verse that we're going to do today is a 15th verse 9th chapter 15th verse last time I think we did the 14th verse isn't that so yes so the 15th verse those who have got a book you can follow you can repeat after me again [Music] worshiping through the knowledge sacrifice others adore me either as identical or as separate or they adore me the manifold in different forms so what is going on here is SRI Krishna is talking about the devotees the one who loves and worships God and then here he says another way of approaching God is through the way of knowledge Ghana so he calls it the knowledge sacrifice remember in those days um The Vedic Hindus their ritual was the sacrifice the fire sacrifice so whenever you talk about worship you you tend to use that term so people understand what you're talking about the way you worship is sacrifice now I'm going to talk about a worship which is not actually lighting a fire and chanting mantras and putting offering inside no it is knowledge one kind of worship is devotion another kind of worship is knowledge but what kind of knowledge is this this is a very beautiful verse says by the way I'll go through these verses and I'll keep some time at the end for questions so if you have questions don't forget them hold on to them in your mind that's an exercise in attentiveness so we'll have time for question answers at the end somebody said that you always say that but then we have no time at that no we will sacrifice Ghana knowledge thank you so what kind of knowledge is this here and the the commentary which I am using written by sridhar Swami 600 years ago he says I'm reading the Sanskrit I'll Translate Krishna vasudeva Brahman one existence Consciousness place is everything so that alone is appearing as this entire universe and that is knowledge and that that and if you look like that upon the entire universe that it's not that it is I'm a separate God or there's no God but God is here and this it's appearing to me the Divine in all these forms in the human form in the non-human form in people I like in people I dislike in in the um so-called non-living insentient Universe of stars and planets and dust and the rocks and the waters and oceans and the air in all these forms of divine is appearing before me one kashmiri Shiva a beautiful way of it's actually abhinava Gupta says this that the Temple what's the temple this entire universe is the temple and here is consciousness established Shiva mahashiva the great Shiva is established as Consciousness in the temple of the universe so a temple is a temple but also things which we consider secular that's also Temple because the same Consciousness is shining everywhere so one who sees this that everything is that Divine this is the knowledge sacrifice now it can take different forms what are the forms it takes the commentator says Krishna says as Oneness this one form of the knowledge sacrifice is Oneness here he says the commentator says uh some of some of them say that there is one non-dual reality and I and that reality are one so you know yourself as aham RAM Hashmi yes and the same reality in this mind appearing as this body and mind and shining through this body and mind I am this person I am the same reality shining through those bodies and Minds at those persons shining through the um the material Universe I am the I am stars and planets and all of that I am somebody might say that it's very grandiose but it's like fantasy like science fiction but not really it's not all that difficult to understand um for example in our dreams you forget that you are dreaming you forget you're sleeping on the bed and suddenly you are in this virtual world there are people and their places and things are happening you also have a body of your own in that dream and good and bad things are happening all of that when we wake up we realize all of that all those places including my own body all the people there everything that happened there's nothing other than just my mind the Mind by itself appeared as a word appeared as living and non-living things appeared as events happenings even appeared as you with the with the body in the dream and this happens again and again and it felt perfectly rare at least for a time being if the mind can do that remember he's not saying that the mind has become the universe here if the mind can do that then pure Consciousness itself how much more so it can appear as this entire universe and I am that one pure Consciousness so this is this is this is worship of God is the highest but there are other Alternative forms he says there are others they worship in separation means indifference in separation indifference I am the servant of the Lord there is this universe I am here and there is a God and if I am and I and God are separate and we must have a relationship and the relationship is we see for example daso um I am the servant Lord is my master so this is the dualistic approach the dualistic approach is worship through separation why would you worship through separation well because it's easy I am different from you all and the chair I'm sitting is different from the body and the ground on which the chair is is different from the chair now this doesn't seem like fantasy or science fiction this is just common sense so can we have religion based on this Common Sense experience of the world advaita is difficult straight away because it it attacks our common sense about the world and about ourselves and thereby seeks to discover God right here as you you yourself but it's difficult to you know at the very beginning if you challenge like that the dualistic schools of vedanta dueta vedanta madhavidant it says that you feel you are a separate human being with living body and a mind yes good you're right and you feel that the chair you're sitting on is not you you're different from the chair of course yes you are right and you believe there is a God somewhere some kind of God I guess so I'm a religious person you are right so this our Common Sense view about ourselves the world and God Jiva jagatishwara that there are difference uh this school of thought says yes it's true let's start there we start there they talk about five-fold differences the dualistic School of Iran the mother of Punjabi the five differences the difference between plenty and beings we are all different oh we are all one reality it's like sounds like a slogan but that we are all different it need not be said did not be repeated it's just common sense to us we are all separate people we'll start there we are all different correct that's the first difference second um you are different from the chair you're sitting on the two different entities again obvious then that's also true difference between different in sentient entities uh so chair is different from the table the scarf is different from the book yes so between different entities in the world they are all different from each other that's also common sense then we have um the difference between individual sentient beings and God anybody who believes in God we clearly feel that God is something very different from me God is omniscient and omnipotent only present all Omni very powerful and also loving and and good really really maximally good what about you oh I am awful I am terrible don't ask about me therefore we are different I and God must be different how can I and God be the same it's sacrilegious to say I am God is sacrilegious so this difference and then God is different from this material world so five differences this is all common sense this is how we all naturally feel about the word even if we do a lot of philosophy we still feel that difference and some people say that you can start your spiritual or you can your spirituality can be perfectly all right at that level itself so I worship God as a particular form name formless orbit form as the God of this universe or as an Incarnation some will worship as Vishnu narayana some will worship as an incarnation of Vishnu and narayana Rama Krishna Christians worship God in heaven but also the Son of God Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit so that is how we worship as a separate entity and he says that's perfectly ordered that's the dualistic approach and then the third one as as permeating as imminent in this vast diverse Universe appearing in all these forms and says so not only is God there but God all of this is God and I too am a part of God I'm not God but I'm part of the Divine so an organic Unity is there it's not different God these these objects are not different from God we are different from each other and these objects are different from us but all of it is not different from God all of it is a part of a Divine whole a whole and part relationship obtains this is vishishta dweta great master of this was [Music] means the vast the Divine the Divine is qualified by sentient and sentient beings all of us here are part of the quote unquote body of God so we are all Divine part of the body of God isn't the same thing as Oneness no no no no the amra must be the non-dualistic approach was there's no part and whole relationship each one of us is the is the whole it's not like you're a drop of water in a huge ocean you're not a drop of water you're not the ocean your water itself so just as the drops of water are not different from water the ocean is not different from water the water itself is the reality similarly advaita vedanta would say there is one non-dual absolute reality that's the only thing and then you are that but here it says there is God pervades in all these forms and all of them are part of one Divine Unity this is another way of worshiping God which one is correct here it says all of them and here the commentator says these are all Guyana again this is all knowledge all of it is knowledge all of it is spiritual knowledge it's such a capacious view of the divinity it includes non-dualism qualified monism and dualism again somebody warned me when you go to the west and speak about dualism be careful because their dualism the Christian idea and the judic idea of dualism is good and evil God and man here the advantage idea or the vedantic idea of dualism non-dualism is is a metaphysical idea it's not good and evil it's one reality without a second it's non-dualism but if you admit there is a second there's a difference between you and God that's dualism all of these are admitted here's where I've been bringing the Hanuman story it's almost is begging me to tell the Hanuman story because he says as a servant so ramachandra asked and sudama Krishna was fond of this story ramachandra asked Hanuman what do you think of me how do you understand me what do you think is always a philosophical question a deep question it's not like you're great five stars rate your Uber driver rate your guard five stars we'll give you five stars uh it means what is your understanding of me so Hanuman says um as this body as this being Hanuman I am the servant you ramachandra you are my your Lord Rama you are my master you're the Lord I'm your servant exactly as here sridhar swamis writing 600 years ago he says some worship as a servant servant of the Lord then the next thing he says as this sentient being what's the difference between as body and sentient being as bodies I'm just this person nothing before nothing afterwards I am Hanuman I am Sarver that's it but a deeper understanding is I am this sentient being Consciousness with a mind a a conscious entity which is now inhabiting this body and personality but this was born and this will die and even while it's alive it's transforming it's changing so the the conscious being the intelligent being inhabiting this body and that's how most of us think of ourselves we don't think of ourselves as just this bones and flesh and blood have you heard there is a very funny song a very nice song Them Bones some of you have heard some of you heard that yeah very nice dem bones dem them that's an old song yeah if you haven't heard it you should look it up it's yes or she's singing it but that's very vedantic the song we'll just says this this animate cage of Flesh and Blood what it what all it's doing so we don't think we are just Them Bones we are sentient and sentient entity inhabiting this structure so that's what Hanuman says in this life I am Hanuman but before this I was something else um so this conscious entity which is going from body to body from Lifetime to Lifetime I am a part of the Divine and who's the Divine you ramachandra you are the Divine you are the whole I'm your part you are the whole and I am your part and then he goes on further but has pure Consciousness as the self as existence Consciousness Bliss you and I are one I am not Hanuman you are not Rama you are one unbroken Radiance one unbroken Shining what is this world that same shining it's light shining forth that's this world light means not this physical light as Consciousness shining forth it's both subject and object and that there's only one reality exists as he said one absolute reality without a second exists you are that I am that which one is correct this is my firm conviction all of them depending on your perspective there's an interesting agenda to the story so this story you can clearly see that as a body as this Hanuman person I am your servant you are the Lord this is dualistic um or as Krishna says here worshiping in separation and establishing a relationship I'm a part of you that is worshiping as the god inhabiting this entire universe and I am a part of it inhabiting me also and I'm a part of this Divine whole and the third one is me I am that and all of them are correct from different perspectives SRI ramakrishna was fond of it would often repeat this once he ran up against a very uncompromising non-dualist chadhu shantinat we have this reference in Swami turian in this reminiscences and also I read sadhu santinat's own reminiscences so there he mentions that I met Swami turyananda of the ramakrishna mission a direct disciple of Sri Rama Krishna was a very saintly soul and a great vedant and we and they had a fight right means a quarrel a debate so this Shadow santinat he and two of he and his brother disciple two of them shantinat and everything they are very austere and they used to live in Banaras and the version was very severe austerities and they've but they really revered Swami turyananda and Swami turyananda was in the Banaras ashram in the Sev ashram and he would they would go and meet him and talk to him there and debate so they were non-dualists so they went to turiana and turiani said look that's not the only way of uh worshiping God there are these ways also and then he quoted Hanuman as body I am Hanuman I'm the servant of Rama as the sentient being I'm part of the Divine whole and as Consciousness you and I are one reality pure Consciousness and all of them are correct then here's the point of the story and he writes in his own reminiscences I immediately and respectfully pointed out to him the mistake he was making he says but this is not what it means said oh really what does it mean then he says from the body perspective as a body but you are not the body as this individual mind but you are not the Mind any vedantic inquiry will show you that you are not the body and not the mind the body perspective is a wrong perspective and the mind perspective is a wrong perspective mind means as a person individual person which is what we see ourselves as as bodies or as persons most thinking sensitive people will think see of themselves as not just bodies embodied persons and he says that those are wrong perspectives a little bit of vedantic inquiry will show to you the body is an object the mind is also an object the personality is something like a like a covering like a piece of cloth which you wrap around yourself but you are not it and as Consciousness you and I are one he's saying to God to Rama so that is it and it is when he says this is my firm conviction anwan means in reality I and you are one reality iron God one reality I am Brahman this is what it means foreign the other monk sitting next to him and says look how well he established his position and then he smiled and he said to him well well have it your way but here Krishna is not making a hierarchy also that first you must be dualistic and then you must go to a qualified monism and then you must go to non-dualism that you have to go from a position of difference to part and whole to Absolute identity no not even that he says they worship all of them worship me in these ways that's all I think it's more of a question of temperament one's lineage one's proclivities also here sridas Swami mentions as um Abram and narayana as Vishnu as Shiva so in Hinduism god or ishwara technically in vedant it is called saguna Brahman Brahman with attributes is worshiped in a wide range in a whole spectrum of ways as Shiva and Shiva also in many ways in different temples in different holy places associated with Shiva in different places in different names and different different mantras different forms different mythologies and different stories associated with it as Vishnu narayana again in multiple forms across India you'll find all these holy places where narayanas were shipped and as the incarnations especially most popular are Rama and Krishna and as Devi as a Divine mother that too in so many forms that Kali and Durga and Saraswati and so on in so many forms he says all of them they are all I alone God Alone appears in all of these forms is and is worshiped all of them are valid so you'll find someone specially like srirama Krishna moving smoothly between the worship of the Divine mother Kali he was a pujari of Kali and worship of Krishna or Rama or happily mixing with vaishnavas did not mix We worshiped Kali we worshiped Krishna but surama Krishna smoothly moves between both of them and also Beyond with the Sikhs with the Christians with the Muslims the same Divinity in so many ways and this is all saguna Brahman ishwara bhagavan so this is the meaning of this verse being a non-dualist I won't spare the opportunity to let a little aside a little shot across the bow of the dualists so the problem when we worship God in one form one name one particular lineage or one particular tradition God for me is Krishna alone or for me is Rama alone or God has no form only if the formless god of my religion that alone is God everything else then becomes a false god what do you do with the the way other people worship God either in Hinduism what they did was when you have these dualistic sects so all the other gods become lower Gods so by Krishna is the highest and yes you are worshiping Shiva not bad but she was lower than Krishna so Vishnu is God and vishnu's Avatar is Krishna but if I am a dedicated Krishna worshiper Krishna becomes the highest not even Vishnu and then in Hinduism it doesn't but outside Hinduism in different world religions especially we see it not only leads to this this is right but outright denial of the truth of other parts in Hinduism that doesn't happen even the most um but most focused narrow worshiper of Krishna or Rama or Kali will not say others are false but that can happen this the way I understand and worship God Alone is true everything else is false that can happen if you worship God in separation um and then verse those are faults they deserve to be destroyed and the followers deserve to be converted or murdered and that leads to enormous violence so this is one of the problems of of an exclusively dualistic worship worshiping indifference also another serious problem is when you worship indifference that means there is this is a world this is a world we are human beings living beings and there is a God who is the ruler of this world the creator of everything but this there is a God apart from all of this immediately you put a big question mark on it because this is evident to us we don't deny that we are experiencing a world and even more evident is my own existence I don't deny my own existence I really don't deny the existence of the world practically but I can always question the existence of a separate God so these are the two big problems if you have an exclusive worship of God in separation a dualistic mode it can lead to it does lead to narrowness and in worse cases fanaticism and even violence one and it can lead to loss of faith in God you know the questioning of where is this God of yours a deeper way is to see God in all forms the second stage is that all the forms of God which people worship they are equally God and I worship in my own way not only that all the firms we are experiencing human non-human material the vast and the tiny they're all permeated by one divinity now the advantage there is I have a way to hold on to something Krishna will do that later on especially in the 10th chapter I am the Sun and the Moon in what sense is he a ball of rock out there and or a ball of gas even worse Burning Brightly in the sky no what he means is there are all nothing apart from Brahman apart from God so um that is an easier God to believe in in fact even Einstein but he was reputedly asked do you believe in God and he said I believe in Spinoza's God Spinoza Scott Spinoza I mean pantheism yes that God is all this but then that those were trained in philosophy would say that not so fast you have to be more subtle there it's not literally pantheism in fact it's pretty close to vishishta dweta what the Spinosa was talking about so even a skeptical person a thorough growing scientist might if we were so inclined believe in a god which is appearing as this universe or is this universe in some sense then moving on to the 16th verse so the next four verses 16 17 18 19. he talks about that second stage how God is everything so he's not even talking about this worshiping God in separation he's skipping that stage entirely and he's talking about how God is everything everything that we encounter everybody that we encounter is permeated with the divine this helps us to hold on to God you know get something concrete to hold on to and when he will do that Krishna now and in details he will do that in the 10th chapter what you will do is of all the things that we see and experience in the universe there are things that we love we respect we admire we want we find it Sublime beautiful inspiring lovable so Krishna concentrates on those ones he says I am those one you see the sun you like yeah it's nice I am the son oh really Moon Yeah Moon's nice too and the Moon okay what about the covet virus you'll never say I'm the kovit virus but he is he is all of it The Good the Bad the Ugly all of it is is logically if God is the reality of everything then God must be all of it but it's not helpful at the very beginning to say that you want to know where I am yes where is God yes the kovit virus things which we are afraid of things which we hate at least at our stage are things which disturb us if Krishna pointed to that then he would be it would be self-sabotage because then nobody nobody would be encouraged on the path of God it would not be of any help but it we will come to that to see that everything is divine before I go into this next verse what is this world what is this world so what I'm going to say now is something that I'm sharing with you I I just learned it recently there's a monk a traditional monk in Banaras he's a non-dualist but a expert on the Gita Swami pranab chaitanyapuri he's been teaching vedanta there for many many years an elderly Swami so he what he said I'll tell you in brief and then I'll expand on it a little bit what's the question what ill is this world according to the Gita what is this world he says this world jagat these are exact words then I have to expand his words are jagat brahmanas here here means worth giving up discarding getting rid of renouncing why again he says again everything is from the Gita he says because Maya um why is this word not good this first thing is world is not good you should get rid of it samsara renounce it why and that's not the ultimate truth about it but the first truth it's it's uh ham why because it is temporary nothing that we gain here nothing but we gather here with its money or property or people or even this body nothing will last it's gone it's gone pretty fast everything will go away death is there for everything destruction is there for everything so it is anithyam it's a fact you don't need Philosophy for it but you need philosophy to draw our attention to it because we look away from that truth we behave as if these things are going to last he said yeah but one might object it lasts for a pretty long time that's good enough for me who wants an eternal cookie I want a cookie which will last for a few seconds that's fun true but if at the end of 20 30 40 60 70 80 90 years of life I'm left with nothing all the people I knew they are dead or gone or going away I am left all the knowledge I acquired has now it's gone in the you know as dust as memory it's gone all that I did is forgotten even by me and I'm left with an aging diseased dying body it'll be gone very soon then no matter how many cookies I've eaten No Satisfaction at that point no satisfaction all the satisfaction also goes away if we enjoy a lot of things and it accumulates then it's nice but that satisfaction also goes away so it is big big truth therefore is a Sanskrit word which means worthy of giving up should be given up this worldly Pursuit second truth not only anity it is suffering it's suffering this is the great Insight of the Buddha it is suffering everything in this world is suffering even that seems to be pleasurable and nice that too is suffering because there is suffering before that there is suffering involved in getting those things which are nice they're suffering in maintaining them and they're suffering when they inevitably go away and they're suffering because they have created a taste in my mind for more I am hooked suffering is suffering pleasure is also suffering so Buddha was really rained on your period you know so dukkam Gita [Music] we have attained to this world which is impermanent and full of Sorrow so that's the second third not only impermanent not only full of Sorrow it doesn't exist it's a it's a magic show sudama Krishna says the magic is not real the magician is real but the magic is not real it's a dream it's an illusion it's an appearance it's a ghost a phantom I'm paraphrasing the Buddha himself what is this world he said it is like a bubble in a fast flowing stream what will happen to such a bubble it'll burst very soon I see this bubble man who's there in Central Park see blows The Most Beautiful soap bubbles big and huge and shining and multicolored and kids are fascinated they run at it you know and if you just touch it a little bit it'll immediately disappear and some of them float about in the air for quite a bit a bit of time and he does an amazing thing where a little kid stands and he blows a bubble around him so in you're in the world you're a shiny little world of yours but they all burst the soap bubble and Wall Street bubbles also they all burst so Buddha said what is life but a bubble on a fast flowing stream one a phantom in the shadows to a flash of lightning so it is Maya it's an appearance even going beyond that this whole debate about whether the world is real or not real tulsidas goswami tulsidas he sings I don't the original Hindi is very sweet I can't remember it but it he just says this some people say that the world is real spiritual Secrets they say the world is real some people say the world is false non-dualists jagat mithya some say It's a combination of of both I say tulsida says I say they all lie to you if if my Rama is the only reality that is if God is the only reality where is this world you're speaking about real false a mixture of real and false there's only one Divinity inside and outside it's my beloved drama where is this world you speak about and you have so many theories about it so Maya and one theory is Maya because of these three reasons don't forget what is the one word ham it should be given up why just because you tell me no because it's you are inviting suffering you're inviting suffering by holding on to this world expecting it to fulfill our our wishes that's one but the Gita doesn't stop there Krishna doesn't stop there what is the word ask a question a second time and that's Swami told me Divya it is divine first having realized that it is here to be given up once you give up the world as it appears to you you realize it is divine it is God alone appearing in all these forms it is divine and in the 10th chapter in the 11th chapter Krishna will show that theme till now he's been talking in terms of the world is this and that now he will show that I alone I am in all of these things which you like in the world and also footnote all the things you don't like I am all of that so in all of these things you can find me in the Sun and the Moon and the in the people and in the air in the rain he will say that in the rain and no rain also you will find me so Divya Divya means divine what is this word Divya care of 10th chapter 11th chapter even deeper there is no world it is Brahman alone it is existence Consciousness Bliss alone the third even deeper Brahma swarupa anyway I was explaining in detail all he all that Swami just said to me is that's all he said one and a half sentences now with that in background we will now get into it so SRI Krishna is going to talk about I am this I am that and you'll see no you'll notice he says all these nice things in order to give us something to see divinity 16 17 18 19 16. um [Music] I am the kratoo I am the yagya I am the oblation to the means I am the product of the animals I am the mantra I am the clarified butter I am the sacrificial fire and offering in the fire so what's all this so first of all means I kratoo means fire sacrifice again remember The Vedic Hindus who were big on rituals Hindus even now are big on rituals but the kind of rituals they used to do always wear the fire sacrifices which were prescribed in The Vedas Etc these are the fire sacrifices prescribed in The Vedas they are called another name is kratu fire sacrifices prescribed in The Vedas and the Shruti is called all those things you do with devotion you can imagine Arjuna nodding yes and that then what about the other minor rituals prescribed not by the Shruti but by the smriti those are called here that called and those also what are those the commentator gives an example he says the five great sacrifices what are the great sacrifices five great sacrifices so Brahma here does not mean the Ultimate Reality Brahma here means the rishis the sages who have given us these texts so we have an obligation to study these texts it's our debt to them so by studying these texts is an offering so even if you are not interested in vedant even if you don't come to the vedanta society and listen to talks on upanishads and Gita but as a devout Hindu you would be expected to study these texts even if you're not particularly interested it's your offering to the rishis the sages so a regular study of the text that's the first second devayagya the gods help us God's been The Vedic gods so they are behind all the natural Powers including our body our senses so they are continuously helping us in living this life and we offer sacrifices to them that was how The Vedic people sought um so the sacrifice is offered to the devatas The Vedic Gods that's the second the third one is to our forefathers to our parents fathers and mothers and grandparents who have gone forth uh be offered and the shaddha and the offerings were given to them in our gratitude and for their for their welfare in their onward spiritual journey so those offerings that's the Third Kind of sacrifice The Fourth Kind of sacrifice would be the sacrifice that we do for living for human beings giving clothes to the you know to the food to the homeless or helping out the sick um you know or at least a kind word to somebody who's suffering all of that to suffering Humanity you help wherever help it can be given and the last one is animals and birds you leave out say food like a birdhouse or little food for squirrels whatever it is so so a devout person is supposed to do these five things foreign he says that I am I appear to you when you do that as Arjuna would be expected as a devout person to be doing all that when you do that remember I alone am appearing in all those ways I I am there in each of those actions you perform then so specifically mentions the offerings which you make to your forefathers so there are three kinds of rituals mentioned here The Vedic ritual called kratoo the smriti based ritual is called um yagya here and the swadha is actually it's a mantra which is used when you give offerings to your the deceased there were those who have gone gone on your ancestors you give offerings as a mark of gratitude and then you the mantras associated with that they end with swadha the ones associated with offerings to the gods and with swaha and with those are technicalities but by the word swaza he means the offerings you give to your ancestors but there too in that Noble work I am there here is not talking about this rituals he's saying in the rituals that you perform whatever holy ritual you prefer whatever the source I am in all those things so he is using the places where Arjuna has reverence already and he's connecting it to God foreign means herbs the commentator says it can mean two things from herbs we get food and medicine also so he says food or medicine but it suddenly food come he's talking about rituals suddenly if I did food come one connection could be the offerings just before this when he says offerings to ancestors you actually offer rice balls could be possibly why suddenly where is this jump in thinking certainly food you offer rice balls to your ancestors you make a little um a Pinder it's called Pinda and you after it with the mantras to be offered so just as you offer to The Departed ancestors you also uh eat food you eat food and everybody around you eats food and that food also the food you offer to the ancestors I am that and the food you all eat now those are not departed and living which sustains all of you I am that [Music] I am the offerings to ancestors I am and the offerings to those who are living right now the food that also I have one funny story I can't resist so the ritualistic offerings to the ancestors it's called shradha it's before becoming monks it's customary that we have to perform those because after becoming a monk you cannot perform them they are you're you're not supposed to perform any Vedic ritual at all so I remember when we were performing it this was in the monastery in India um and it's so strict that we have been guided in the process of becoming a monk by our acharyas who are monks but when this particular ritual came the monks all vanished because they are not supposed to stay when these rituals are performed um I mean we have of course we were candidates we are not yet monks we had to stay and this happens after 10 years of training and all that so a Brahmin priest comes and guides us to the remaining portion of the ritual the funny part of it is that this is out there in the on the grass we are sitting and we make those offerings and we offer it on the on the ground there is a place we can make the offerings and chant the mantras now it's out there in the field um the grass and the you know the grounds around you not inside the house if you put food out there what's going to come first not the birds because it's covered ants so suddenly we saw a line of ants coming up and then somebody said to deal with that he ran into the monastery and he got a spray and he sprayed the and then somebody somebody so we sort of mercilessly tease each other the monks somebody said to him what did you do you in invoked your ancestors and offered the food offering look your ancestors have been obviously your ancestors they must be these ants you're no good here your ancestors must be reborn as ants and you invoke them and they came to accept your offering and then you sprayed them so that too I am not display the food offering and then he talks about the actual fire sacrifice what are the components mantras are being chanted fire is lit and there are the offerings the ghee is offered there and there is a ritualistic offering he says all those I am Mantra the Mantra which is chanted during the ritual I am that the offering the ghee which is offered into the fire I am that um so all these are things of in their sacred and they are treated with reverence the fire into which you are offering I am that and this whole ritualistic process of offering I am that this might remind you of the fourth chapter we did a verse we all know it brahmad I don't chant it fully because everybody feels hungry because that's what we chant just before food yeah so it means the same thing Brahman alone appears as all the factors involved in every ritual and not just rituals in a Puja the work you are doing you're working in the office you're driving to work you are working in the garden any work you do has these factors some material or you're working with some place you are working in some instruments you are using and you the person who's doing the work and Krishna says all of them are one reality one existence Consciousness Bliss appearing in all these forms again it's not as crazy as it sounds just think of the dream example one mind alone appearing in all the things and people and events you see in the dream one Consciousness alone appearing in as all the factors involved in every ritual so he says I am all of those we'll stop here do you have any questions otherwise I won't stop I'll take up the next verse yes tell us your name and ask the question so if everything is God why do we get karma doing good and bad yeah well because all of this is within samsara though this is God we don't know it I mean you might say now I know it you told me no we don't we have heard it will everything is God everything is divine everything is wonderful we heard it all the time it's all very good no it isn't we are still in the midst of a great struggle this is a view that comes only at the end of you know the spiritual paths Enlightenment then you see this reality before that we don't see it though it is God we seem to we seem to inhabit the dream if somebody in the dream comes and says in the you know this thing which seems like a nightmare to you it isn't a nightmare it's you all of it the you're being maybe you're late for the train or something some kind of basic anxiety producing dream which everybody has you're late for something or you haven't forget forgotten something anxiety well anxiety and what you have forgotten what you are late for and you all of it is nothing but you the Mind dreaming it it's all perfectly all right foreign so which Bad Karma am I suffering for the only answer there would be to wake up and see that you are not suffering the answer to that why are we incurring Karma if this all God is it's all God will wake up and see that's all God then there is no carbons even see even karma is a part of the story causality is part of the story karma is cause and effect actions have consequences causes of effects but that's also part of the story foreign did Harry Potter have because of which he suffered so much you can give one answer in terms of if you know the story you can tell the story but the real answer would be it's fiction there's no Harry Potter there is no suffering there is no there's one Divinity in there and it's that does not mean that the film is Switched Off or the book doesn't exist it exists at its own level there's a deeper truth to all this that is God say aren't you escaping everything aren't you isn't it a kind of what what do they call it Hakuna Matata kind of that kind of philosophy no because at the level at which there is suffering there is unhappiness there is struggle in this life including spiritual struggle all of that is admitted all that vedanta advaita is trying to say is that the fact of God Brahman pure Consciousness is a deeper or a greater fact than this it's not escapism because I even after you become enlightened this world would still keep keep appearing even after you realize that the Harry Potter thing is a movie you'll still be seeing the Harry Potter thing the movie is not Switched Off yes so what is the question is what is the deeper reason why you have to go through here jagat is here worth giving up renouncing then you come to Divya you see the Divinity within because what we are stuck at is the movie is the picture and we have a tremendous amount of rag adventure for it we think this world is real as it is we do not see the Divinity here we see it as people I am a person these are people and being this person being this body mind I have things which I like I have things which I detest give me the things you uh I like you are the best person in the world don't you you're awesome okay and if you are a source of trouble and suffering for me then you are awful so awesome and awful this is at the surface level but this is the only truth we are in and if you remain here you're not going to penetrate to the level of Divya so one must while trying to see the Divinity everywhere one must also at the same time step back from our this profound likes and dislikes if you want to see Divya Divinity in all things not just in one thing in all things then one must to some extent even now this sharp likes and dislikes though the two things things can go together because in the sense that if you try to see the Divinity in things then your likes and dislikes will slowly disappear that hair thing will be easily done if you start with I have to give up everything then I'll see the Divinity in in everything one will never get anywhere because one will not be able to give up everything it's a good thing to start divinising everything seeing the Divinity everything slowly the hair part of it The Giving Up part of it will happen by itself beautiful example is means what you offer to God the fruits and the sweets and before offering it's a mango I like a mango it's a prune oh I don't like a prune but after everything has been offered to God it's being handed out as Prasad even if I don't like the prune and I want the mango Prasad I never don't want the prune Prasad I wouldn't dare refuse the prune Prasad if it came to my lot because it's blessed by God I would carefully take that and take it in because it's Prasad now what happened the Divya drishti seeing the Divinity blessed by God this is blessed food this is Prasad that overcame my likes and dislikes it's not Paramount in my mind my likes and dislikes in this case do not matter what's important is God is present here this has been offered to God I am I am overwhelmed to get a little bit of this who lived about 500 years 600 years ago in that place which is now Karnataka under that area he was a follower of ramanujra we're talking about seeing God in everything as everything is a part of God so he belong to that school of thought now there's this story that he is walking along a village path and little children have constructed a ratha as a chariot and they're put Krishna Krishna in The Chariot and they are pulling the Chariot along and they're playing it's a kids game and they have offered little clay balls or sand balls as food offerings too it's a game they have seen the grown-ups doing it so they've done that and this little kid seeing the great scholarly Saint walking past you know thinking about high philosophical matters word is real or not real everything is divine and he holds up this little plate with the little clay balls in it immediately this great uh philosopher Saint he stuffs that clay into his mouth and he falls flat on the ground on on the dusty path with the shashtanga pranam a flat you know a full body pranam to that little toy because here is Divinity and the Lord has been pleased to offer to me through this innocent child and this is Prasad it is he knows it's it's sand it doesn't matter it's been offered to God and it is Prasad for me so this is how hayabuddhi is overcome he is automatic because Divinity is there but finally over Above This is Brahma swarupa God Alone exists tulsidas when he sings Why do they say the world is real why do they say world is false which is only Rama they're Liars the whole lot of them the last one tell us your name if everything is divine we don't know what is good and bad and violence in the name of God could that actually be good and the argument has been made if you if you are sort of bloody minded about it it is commanded it's in the name of God so ipso facto it has to be good there's something wrong with this way of thinking yes it is all Divine and yes we really truly do not know what is good for us because one proof of that it is it is it leads to suffering the way of life which we are leading it's not deeply fulfilling everybody who's mature comes to this understanding and that's where the spiritual struggle starts for everybody that the fact of the suffering is understood here now if I don't know what's good for me I have to look to religion to tell me what's good for me aren't there some principles by which I can judge whether the teachings are really good for me just because religion is telling me doesn't mean that it necessarily has to be good who knows the teachings of religion just because it's in the name of religion A to Z the whole Spectrum should I take it in without any any thinking no no even in religion in spirituality or also we are advised to use our intellect or understanding Common Sense common sense is highly recommended especially in spiritual matters so what is the test so for example Vivekananda gives us three tests of Truth one is that which is selfish is likely to not to be true it word address is selfless is likely more likely to be true second that which strengthens you he says that is likely to be true that which weakens you avoid it like poison he says we can spin physically mentally morally emotionally spiritually intellectually and then he says that which unites is likely to be true that which divides is likely to be untrue so these are some nice tests of Truth which you can apply and applying it that way how curious it is that my religion alone is true it tells me to kill you and because religion tells me to kill you it must be right but notice here it is divisive it's deeply damaging to everybody around and I must assume ultimately to me also selfish it's deeply selfish you might say no I'm selfless I'm willing to die in the name of my religion and and kill as many of others as possible so that's but no that's also selfish because the logic behind it is I get something out of it I get something out of it there's a great reward waiting for me because I've done my understanding of what God's work is and in that process I have harmed so many people terribly harmed so many people so it fails all these tests of Truth always common sense common sense is highly recommended in everything in life especially in things like spiritual life where we are sort of as if moving in the dark into without very clear understanding all right let me you have a question properly but it's similar to what he asked so if all of this is or on Oneness non-dualism but if all of this is Maya and even the danta itself is in the Maya Maya yes yes but even when you experience why are we naturally attracted Vine qualities and divine things not the opposite when everything in the end is part of mind right so if everything is Maya why are we attracted to Divine things teaching a holy person holy book Noble qualities why are we attracted to those why not to more ignorable qualities why not too bad and awful why is this more spiritual than anything else if it's all Maya I mean Maya also there is this division of avidya Maya and Vidya Maya avidya means ignorance and Vidya means knowledge now remember this both ulti from an ultimate perspective both this knowledge and ignorance are all part of Maya however there is this part of Maya which takes us Beyond Maya and helps us realize like the lion which wakes you up in the dream and there is this part of Maya which traps us further and further in samsara and we suffered more and more until we make a resolution to wake up so even vedanta even spiritual teachings books arguments meditation practices all are part of Maya but they are good and they are help because they help us out of Maya in that sense why is it better more spiritual to be truthful why is it not spiritual to be uh to tell lies if everything is alive but then if everything is not ultimately not a lie if you see as you said you're attracted to Oneness and the Oneness is not a lie Oneness is the reality difference is the LIE so difference on the surface and in-depth Oneness now what helps me to move from that difference to Oneness truth will help me falsity won't help me self uh selflessness will help me selfishness won't help me selfishness traps me more and more in difference your selfishness is always difference based selflessness is more Oneness based so advaita can be seen as what is this world an appearance what's the truth Oneness it's an appreciation of Oneness is actually the heart of advice Vivekananda said this vedanta has these two aspects one is the Divinity within us and the second one is the Oneness of all existence he said that each soul is potentially Divine the goal is to Manifest this Divinity do it by knowledge by devotion by meditation or by selfless action why one not more or all of these and be free that's the whole of religion books temples doctrines churches or secondary details that's one side of vedanta the other side of vedanta is this Oneness of all existence and he said my mission in life is um can be put in a few simple words it is to preach unto Humanity their inherent Divinity and how to make it manifest in every movement of life and to show that we're all one with God says so these two sides all of it is one reality and that one reality is our own inner Divine reality good what's your name it's a good question all right on that oh we have got one more question okay ask the question I don't know if we have time to answer it tell us your name and ask the question yes say that again if Brahman is everyone yes um if we if brahmani we are Brahman yes that I am Brahman that's true who else would Brahman be if people were not Brahman or why is this whole thing happening yeah so that's uh a question you you come around again and again to this very question so what and one simple answer is you can take it from the dualistic perspective this is crazy it doesn't make sense let's take it from the dualistic perspective I am not Brahman there is Brahman there is God and I have to realize God somehow that's more acceptable but from an advaithic perspective you're actually right that's writer says yes what do you get in advance what you get what you have always had what what is it that you lose in advance what what you get rid of what is what problem do you overcome everything the problem which was never there that's overcoming the whole problem is because we do not know it and we overcome it with knowledge you can still ask why why don't we know it well because we don't have knowledge but why don't we have knowledge we'll find out in advance they say so the whole question is ignorance you see if if you ask why is there ignorance at all the monks in the Himalayas they are very nice answer again don't try to establish ignorance if you think about it if you could actually answer the question why is there ignorance at all then you would have made ignorance a reality ignorance itself is also not reality it's it's a part of Maya Brahman is only reality if you could explain ignorance the very fact that you couldn't cannot explain ignorance in fact the thing to be done with ignorance is to bring in knowledge that's all and then you see there was no problem at all the sounds crazy but it's so crazy it must be true foreign