Video 111

111. Bhagavad Gita | Chapter 9 Verse 17 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

foreign [Music] [Music] and in the ninth chapter we were on the 17th verse is that right to the following years let me start with the 17th verse those who can you please follow me can repeat after me as [Music] [Music] and the father of this world the mother the dispenser the grand sire that which is to be known the purifier the OM and also The Vedas Rick salmon and yajus all right so what's going on see in vedanta what we do is we first center ourselves in our real self in who or what we are how do we do that in this experience right now this lived experience which we are having in this we make a clear difference between the object and the subject so who am I whatever I experience is an object and I am the experiencer why are you making a rule about it no I'm not making a rule about it it's how you how we experience ourselves and right now isn't it that we say I am the experiencer I am the knower I am the enjoyer I am the sufferer and I see and I experience know enjoy or suffer these these these things that's how we live our life so we are always the experiencer so I am the experiencer but what is the nature of the experience and how do we understand the experience here as it really is the rule is whatever you experience is an object it's not the experiencer and you are the experiencer itself we apply this in Sanskrit there's a word this whatever we can designate as this place this person come even closer this body this it's not me because I am the experiencer of this not theoretically in a lived experience what might be called in philosophy phenomenologically as you experience it right now this body let me go even deeper with breath it's this it's an object go even deeper this emotion this feeling it's an object not me this idea even this kind of thinking philosophical thinking which I'm doing this it's an object not me eliminate all of this all the object practically not so easy but at least in understanding you will be left with a blank drop that blank also that's also this blank this nothingness the and then so will we find ourselves the pure Consciousness absolutely not you'll never find it and thank God if you found it it would be a this Edam it would be something that appears to you so you are the never object ever subject all right never to the scene ever this year that that awareness to which everything appears it is a value to the Buddhist analysis you know when they say the self there is no such thing as a self it's good it's a good way of purging our mind of everything that it's clinging to us the self the Buddhist will say your vedant is looking for the Atman you'll never find it because there's no such thing as the Atman and they are right you might say what do you mean they are right you've been telling us all along that there is Atman it's Consciousness it's Brahman they're right there is no such thing as the Atman absolutely if you look for the Atman you will never see it hear it smell it taste it touch it yeah I can think about it whatever you're thinking about is not the Atman speak about it you just said Atman if you spoke about it either if it designates something the word designates something it means something then it's not the Atman so we can it cannot conceive about it you cannot speak about it you cannot sense it in any way so then it's nothing nothing at all no not even that you will end up with a blankness with like a space like emptiness and yet and I'm using the Buddhist language that space like Emptiness is also luminous it's like the vast Blue Sky it's empty space and yet it's blue and radiant it's that Luminosity to which everything else appears but it's not that luminous so don't start looking for a Luminosity now yeah it will never happen because it's you are that Luminosity you are that vastness that Luminosity that's just the first the opening theme in vedanta the next is that I this Limitless awareness this spacious luminosity that's who I am that's who I really am and in it appears everything else the mind the senses the body and the external Universe all of it appears there in that luminosity and is not does not constitute a second reality apart from you the Luminosity I'll repeat that the entire display of this universe does not constitute a second reality apart from this spacious Luminosity which you are this is the meaning of Atman is Brahman aham Brahm Hashmi another way of putting the same thing all that we do in advaita vedanta is we seek to ascertain what we are ending up as this witness Consciousness this awareness pure subject awareness then we establish the limitlessness of that awareness what do I mean by limitlessness there is nothing in this universe which constitutes a limit an end to that awareness what I mean by that is when we begin we are distinguishing the awareness from objects so this object constitutes an end a limit to to Media awareness where does I the awareness stop here this is an end to me this is beginning of something else now we are saying no no no not beginning of something else this is also nothing other than that I the awareness so now when we come to say that I the awareness and I'm appearing as my own idam means this I am appearing as my own this drashta The Seer is also appearing as the drishya the scene the nowhere of the field is also the the field itself that will come in the 13th chapter later on and thus alone the number of the is Limitless does alone the witness Consciousness is Limitless you understand the importance of limitlessness because the moment if there's a limit limit means end N means where I come to an end and something else begins because if you stop simply at I am an awareness which is watching it might be just like I'm an awareness and why do I this I the awareness come to an end first I'll run up against something called The Mind thoughts feelings emotions then I run up against something called the body after that and then the external universe but now I'm saying all of that is pervaded by me the awareness I am not separate from the universe the universe is an appearance in me just as this whole physical Universe appears in the sky itself just as the dream Universe appears in the dreaming mind similarly be careful I'm not advaita does not say the universe is appearing in the mind no mind and object are both appearing in consciousness so is consciousness like a bowl in which mind and object are kept the Mind Body universe everything is kept in a bowl and the bowl is consciousness is it like that is it contained actually no there's no contents it's true and through one reality only only Consciousness only being only Bliss because if there are contents you could count them here is the Bowl here is a piece of chalk here's the flower here's the fruit these are the contents in the bowl no you say where are you getting all this we we did it in the ninth chapter in the ninth chapter there were three amazing verses they're almost at the very beginning it says that in the fourth verse I pervade this entire universe in my unmanifested form as what as Consciousness why unmanifested because it's not this it's not manifested as this so everywhere you see that this I am pervading it all as Consciousness I am those are not separate from me then second step if you remember three amazing lines here the Second Step was um foreign it's like here is a room it's pervaded by light you switch on the light light fills up the room or you a lighter incense and The Fragrant fills up the room is it like that there is a physical universe and it's pervaded by consciousness that's the present tan psychist View if you ask David Chalmers and others pan psychism is that yeah we recognize Consciousness is a fundamental reality of this universe what's it like it's ubiquitous here is this physical universe time space matter energy and it's pervaded by Consciousness Consciousness is also there just like matter and energy and space pervades this physical Universe similarly Consciousness also pervades this physical Universe here he says that no no no it's not like that even deeper it's rather Consciousness is and the universe is in that he says in me the Consciousness the entire universe is and he says it's not that I am there's a universe and I am in the universe no they are all in me and then he goes even further the final state fifth verse yoga all the beings are not in me first he said I pervade everything second he said that they are all in me and thirdly said they are not in me then where are they they are not I alone am what is this I which pervades the entire universe in fact there's no Universe I alone am this is pure Consciousness and the I there is the real you is real I it's a pure Consciousness which I am so this is where does God enter into this picture bring in the the ocean metaphor ocean waves metaphor it is true that in the ocean in the waves there is only one real it's just one thing which appears as this ocean which is water it's like pure Consciousness one reality in which all you know drops of water and foam and Surf and waves from the smallest to the biggest tsunami wave indeed the entire ocean appears in water and there is no it's not like water is a container in which some waves are kept no it's the water alone however even after this understanding even after this understanding we still are back to the waves and ocean thing it's still the way the wave is still there it's floating around it's going up and down and there's the whole ocean by which I mean we experience the universe as individual and Collective individual and Cosmic each of us is an individual and here surrounding us is the cosmic so if the where is the individual being Jiva like us the entire ocean would be God it's true all of it is God and individuals are parts of it slices of it like us arising and disappearing in the total but beyond the individual beyond the total is the water itself you see water doesn't seem very impressive the ocean seems very impressive no no water is most impressive because the waves are tiny and temporary and they're all part of this massive thing called the ocean but both wave and ocean depend on water because without water there would be no uh waves no ocean suppose you take the water away then the ocean would Disappear Completely immediately which is likewise without the ocean water wouldn't exist no it would it can exist as water in in as water vapor as clouds as the water in the in this glass in this cup in in front of me it would exist so God in vedanta is the totality is the ocean the individual is like the wave arising and disappearing in the ocean but beyond a wave and ocean is this one mass of pure consciousness which is both God and you or rather it's neither God nor you it's this one reality which which all of us actually are in one more little correction here because of um example examples are always Limited someone might just think okay but you know if we are really water and I am a wave a wave has a little bit of water the ocean has lots of water so if I'm water I'm just a little bit of water so I'm a little bit of Brahman and the ocean is a whole lot of Brahman and that other wave has more Brahman than me no there is no hole or part in advaita Vidant you are all of it in fact actually the category of all and part doesn't apply there you are the reality Limitless reality which is not measurable when you say whole or thought there's a whole different system of vedanta called which talks of the whole and the part all right now we're talking about the ocean so Krishna here is talking about the ocean 17th verse ocean is all sentient beings and an entire physical in sentient Universe also whose phone is that do you think it must be in somebody's pocket who kept it somebody all right it's here in this room is it it's in the room oh it's there in the quote oh somebody got it okay it's done so here Krishna says I am the father of this universe so in Judaism especially in Judaism and Christianity but also in Hinduism theistic Hinduism god is the father is the father in Watson's philosophically the cause of this universe cause of this universe that from which the universe has come who made everything God made everything how from what he says Mata I am the mother of this universe so a father is there who is Mrs God well God says I am Mr God and Mrs God too in the philosophical terms what does that mean in vedanta we say and the one undifferent in undifferentiated intelligent and material cause of this universe simple example will make it clear when things are made things are made of something so a carpenter makes a table out of wood or a Potter makes a pot out of clay the Potter is different and the pot is different the clay is transformed into the pot by the intelligent Creator the Potter now how is this universe how does God make this universe what did God make this universe out of Swami vivekanth used to make fun of the Potter and you know separate Potter and a separate clay which God makes you know sort of Fashions into the universe there is a there is actually an Indian philosophy which says that the nyaya philosophers they say there have been Eternal flea free floating atoms and God is this intelligent being because of whose will these atoms come together into the universe so they form planets and stars and everything pretty Advanced for something so ancient in principle but vedanta does not agree with that it does not say that there is a separate intelligent Creator and a separate material out of which was created rather vedanta uses the example of the spider so the spider IT projects a web out of its own body so the web is the creation is the effect and the spider is the cause but what kind of a cause is it like a Potter or is it like the clay or both both it's a it's the one intelligent and material cause of the universe what's the intelligent cause in case of a part Potter what's the material cause in case of a pot clay but for the web of the spider what's the intelligent cause the spider the creature the sentient being called the spider is the one which weaves the web and what's the material cause the spider's body own body exactly like that advaita vedanta says it is um pure Consciousness existence Consciousness Bliss which is the intelligent cause of this universe and um like the body of the spider what is the body of this being it's Maya Maya made of Thomas out of which out of itself this being spins this universe what is this being it's God it's in vedanta saguna Brahman or ishwara it's the ocean [Music] if the ocean were intelligent then you could say that the example would apply to that because the waves and the foam and the bubbles they all come out of the ocean play around in the ocean and disappear back into the ocean so the definition of Brahman ishwara God in vedanta is that from which the universe is born in which the universe exists into which it finally disappears ocean that from which the waves are born in which the waves exist into which the waves finally merge so all beings are born from God exist in God and disappeared back into God God means as the spider spins the web and absorbs it pulls it back again retracts it foreign as from the earth herbs and plants emerge as from the living human body comes out this non-living nails and hair similarly from this pure being pure sentience Comes This apparently objective Universe emerges so these are just examples the philosophical systematizing comes afterwards exactly in the same way this vishwam this universe it emerges appears from the akshara the imperishable reality this perishable Universe appears from the imperishable reality this objective Universe appears from the reality which is pure consciousness this universe is a mixture of Pleasure and Pain and sorrow and ever-changing appears from that which is pure Bliss appears as this universe so he says I am the father and the mother of this world of this universe I am the father and the mother not only that he says and the grandfather also so there's a saying God has no grandchildren that means we are all the children of God this is another way of saying the same thing if the father and the grandfather are one and the same so there's nobody who's the grandchild of God all are children of God but the meaning here is God is without a cause if you say God the God is the cause of this universe in the producer of this universe the sustainer of this universe and finally the dissolver of this universe Creator sustain a destroyer of this universe then what is the cause of God it's like every little kid has asked this question who made everything God so Mom who made God the usual answer is keep quiet and here God gives us the answer nobody made God because the cross of God who's the cause of the Father the grandfather but here the grandfather and father one in the same there's no cause of God it's the causeless cause if you if you call it that way what is causality what is causality then cause and effect he says I am causality dhata the dispenser Karma and its results are all given the results of karma given me by me I am the master of this law of karma which see more of that in the next verse what is going on here let me just make a point I've already mentioned this earlier I think in the last class of the class before that in this chapter more more so in the 10th and the 11th chapters what Krishna is going to say is he's going to divinize the world till now what was the World Maya Maya I'm I think I quoted among traditional Monk and Banaras who told me this in Gita what is the word jagat what is the world here means something fit to be discarded given up why is this world fit to be discarded and given up this is very shocking especially here in Manhattan no we are here the whole city stands on the presumption that we are here to enjoy this world but not the whole city there are places like the vedanta society also that's what makes New York so great you know you've got everything here why because it's impermanent this world is continuous change so I'm not going to it this was the Buddha's great equation the great insights come all is suffering why is all suffering even if we were to accept it but why because he says impermanent impermanent indeed everything is impermanent not just impermanent let me say Let It Be impermanent if it lasts enough for me to enjoy it a cookie lasts one two seconds that's enough for me to enjoy it movie lasts two hours that's enough who wants an eternal movie we are trapped in an eternal movie though who wants an eternal movie yeah it's um and a life a life lasts 80 or 90 years that's great you really wouldn't want to live uh thousands and thousands of years you know when people say Eternal immortality eternal life opportunity really think about it doesn't sound such like such an attractive proposition it's because they're thinking of themselves as this limited um being existing uh eternally you know this this person and I'm already bored of Life at the age of 90 or 100 and if I'm going to exist for a thousand years Ten Thousand Years it'll be terrible but not in that sense you don't exist in that sense exist as an impersonal reality so transitory transmitter employment impermanent but then the Buddha says not just impermanent Ally momentary it's not that it lasts for it's an illusion if you think it lasts for two seconds or 20 years or eight years no it's changing moment to moment it's disappearing moment to moment and not only disappearing moment to moment empty empty all is empty foreign transitory transitory always transitory momentary momentary all is momentary empty empty all is empty and therefore so hence there is suffering it is suffering you try your best make things the way exactly if you ever are lucky enough fortunate enough to arrange the world your own health and people around you your own mind to exactly the state you want it to be so that you can be really happy what will happen the next moment it'll change it'll change the next moment it will change and if you have pushed it to the optimal level the next change will be less sub-optimal so 99.99 of the time we are going to be dissatisfied it comes out of impermanence therefore and then the next thing it is Maya so why is the world fit to be discarded and all of this I'm just quoting from that swamiji from Banaras therefore word is made to be discarded and that's what was going on till now vedantic teaching next level once you have understood this now take a fresh look at the world it is God appearing in all these ways so it is Divya it is divine can't we jump directly to the Divine part it's nice why do you have to go to this nasty give up the world pattern apart you know unhappiness sorrow you can't it's divine you see God in everything once you have given up the worldly aspect of it the Divine aspect of it Revival reveals itself and then finally we'll come to the advaithic realization there's no question of a world it's Brahman one and undivided existence Consciousness Bliss without a second a non-dual reality but before that a Divine reality Divinity pervades everything why I'm saying this is give up the world there's a very serious instruction there about spiritual life it's not that you have to become a monk but monk like what it means is often when we say you have to love God these these chapters are about loving God to love God what about all the people in the world if I'm not a monk I have a father and a mother and a husband and a wife and children and brothers and sisters and friends and Community all of these people should I not love them here is the straight and unpopular answer but bitter truth no no you love what vedanta wants to say is spirituality wants to say is you love God in them but don't they are beings they are sentient beings in Maya just as we are and when sadhu was asked I have somebody asked him the question in Hindi so I have parents and so in Hindi have love for my father I have love for my mother and the answer shocking answer from the childhood was you will get kicks and you'll get blows in life why remember these are also beings in in Maya just as we are sentient beings ignorant beings it's not like loving an enlightened being like a jivan mukta uh you know like a saint that's different everybody else is a being in Maya and if you catch hold of that person yes I love God but I also love this person as this person what will happen is this person will drag you through my other through the troubles and ups and downs through which that person is going you'll also be tracked he or she will subject himself to the sufferings and yours the more moment you hook yourself with this person everybody knows this especially parents know it then what do you do do you hate people of course not remember Divya God is present there you love God in them the sentient creature the person you deal with them as a well-wisher as morality or ethics would have do your duty love the Divinity within them that definite is there in everybody and within you also this is an important thing to understand otherwise the general instruction you know you love God love everybody immediately people misunderstand oh so we have to love these people as they are no you to love people as God in them and be the well-wisher for everybody that's for them do your duty for them the more you love The Human Side of people the more trouble you're asking for and it's not just some random monk who says this herself the kindest gentlest person imaginable foreign she says love God my childhood to a lady who had come if you love the human as a human being you will suffer you will suffer will make a difference to people no people will like you more and more you don't have to tell them I'm going to stop loving you as a person now but I'm going to love the god in you yeah that'll annoy people but don't do that just internally make the change and people will love you more for it our human love is full of expectations it's full of it as Claws and teeth [Music] but the love of God does not have that this is why he's saying I am present in everybody and everything that's what he's pointing out then next he says I am the one thing to be known so in all the way The Vedas all the scriptures all of this mass of spiritual literature what is it they're trying to point out they're point trying to point me out God it's one Divine reality so I am the one thing to be known so in The Vedas for example uh there are these two parts the bulk of it is mass of rituals various Vedic Gods means small G Gods there with us Powers were there people worship them in order to fulfill their desires I want good rainfall and good crops and let my kingdom or my business expand let me have a lot of children and grandchildren all of these very basic human aims let all my family survive let my livestock survive you know the the main the demands the needs the desires of ancient agrarian society you can see them these are the things they want and after death let me go to heaven and have a very pleasant life all of that is a one part of The Vedas called the karmakand the ritualistic portion and the other part the smaller part of the weight is the end of The Vedas is called the upanishads upanishads is what is vedanta upanishads are the highest spiritual teachings of The Vedas which is where you talk we get to talk about pure Consciousness and I'm not the body not the mind I'm this infinite reality if you realize that to talk about meditation all of that comes into upanishads um but he says here all The Vedas ultimately they point to me as the knowable the one knowable thing not just the upanishads even the ritualistic portions indirectly they're pointing towards me when you're trying to fulfill yourself in this world or the next World you will fail to some extent it will work you will try to fulfill your desires and having your desires fulfilled you will find there are more desires and you are not happy then you will move on what's more what's beyond this then the upanishads are there which tells you you have to realize who you are and what all this is then it will take you Beyond Desire and will take you to satisfaction fulfillment so so the preliminary portion of The Vedas the karma Khan that is portion dealing with rituals and the the final portion of The Vedas upanishads the gyanakanda the portion dealing with knowledge spiritual knowledge all of them directly or indirectly they point to me Krishna says made them and the thing to be known here you see yeah that's um about that that's in The Vedas well no not just The Vedas all spiritual texts talk about this and why just spiritual texts what exactly are we trying to know or attain in this life the Transcendence that fulfillment that immortality whatever we're trying to do is this is this God this is to be found with God so not just in The Vedas but are in our spiritual literature but in life itself whatever we are seeking knowingly or unknowingly aurobindo says life itself is yoga for those who truly spiritually seek they'll find that life itself is yoga yoga means spiritual seeking spiritual practice those who knowingly are doing it that I am a spiritual Seeker I want to find God you are a spiritual Seeker you are a yogi those who do it unknowingly that means no no I'm not a Spiritual Secret I don't believe in God I'm just doing my thing I'm trying to earn a living in um and trying to get by in my life well you're doing it unknowingly there's one thing to be known and that is I pavitram and it's the holiest of holies this most spiritual most sacred you know this holiness this is an entirely different thing you know apart from pleasure aesthetic enjoyment all of these are different the Holiness is true spirituality often in our day and it's a highly secularized World often when you say spiritual um people make a mistake they you know either one end of the spectrum is they think like Einstein says when I contemplate the Universe I have a spiritual feeling well that's a poetic way of using the word spiritual it's good but it's a poetic way when I contemplate a sunset or the Central Park in Winter I have this spiritual feeling that's like Poetic and appreciation of nature that's not the core of spirituality it's Holiness which is the core of spirituality the best way to find Holiness is to experience it for yourself in a holy person and ultimately in our own lives the sense of the sacred not just beautiful he says I I am the holy and then he says The Vedas foreign so in the innovators you find three kinds of that is the the poetic The Poetry part of it which are called Rick mantras and from which has come the rig Veda the word rigveda then there is a text part of it um which is the yajud mantras and then these poetry poetic mantras are they have a kind of proto-singing a Vedic singing called samagana in belurmat there's a school for young students where they teach it when so when they chant The Vedas you can see it's different from the usual chanting it's a singing It's a samagana so these are the three kinds of Vedic texts the Rick Sama and yaju he says Rick you're all of them and SRI ramakrishna is to say all of The Vedas they are merged into the Gayatri Mantra those who know the Gayatri Mantra is the most powerful of mantras um and so on and so why did you say so on I don't know how many of you know sannyasis are not allowed to repeat it yeah so you repeat it when you are a Brahmin student or you're initiated into Gayatri Mantra and then at one of the key elements of becoming a monk is to give up the Gayatri Mantra because all of the Gayatri Mantra represents the entirety of Vedic knowledge other than the upanishads of course so The Vedic knowledge merges into the Gayatri the Gayatri is so powerful the Gayatri Mantra is so powerful all of The Vedas it's equivalent to chanting All The Vedas the one Gayatri Mantra um you might say okay that sounds like a lark you are not supposed to chant the Mantra it's good no it's replaced by something else in in for monks this is another Gayatri now then SRI ramakrishna said the Gayatri merges into omkar om so all The Vedas this vast amount of material comes into one Mantra the Gayatri Mantra and the Gayatri Mantra itself is condensed into one sound the OM and the interpretation of the OM we had this whole tremendous om is the three sounds ah Uma if you take it together it's not AUM by the way little knowledge dangerous I said oh I didn't know om was a Uma now I know so the correct pronunciation is um no where the rules of Sanskrit grammar uh and ooh when you put them together they become OM they become o and then ma um so om that's the correct pronunciation actually one of our swamis had this way with words you know it was quite funny um so for example to point out that here in this physical body is this is the spiritual you know your pure Consciousness the Atman in this body itself you said look at the word The genome you see a home in between if you take out ohm it becomes Gene [Music] so I thought it was quite clever so his body is produced from the genes I mean this is all the information is coded in the genes and then there's the ohm in between that anyway so om a Uma so what's so great about Uma uh represents our waking state ooh the dream state um the ma at the end represents the Deep Sleep state so here we are what's our life I am this person and here is my waking world the world of which I experience in my waking State all of it together just give it a name uh when I fall asleep we are tracking our conscious experience I fall asleep this world disappears for me I don't see it hear it smell it taste it touch it I don't see any of you this body disappears from my conscious experience in my conscious experience what's what happens other worlds come up which after waking I will realize they are virtual words created by the dreaming mind and in those words I am there too having experiences so that dreamer and the dream world give it a name and then everything disappears into the blankness of deep sleep more World external world no dreams just nothing but everything is there in the in a potential form because everything comes out afterwards so that potential form the um you know the the seed form it's a little warm the problem is getting as warm is people feel drowsy can you put on that fan it's right behind you and if you want you can open the door out there so that a little bit the temperature stabilizes a little bit another thing against it being born but it makes people drowsy and the combination of vedanta and and heat is is devastating puts people into deep sleep States so that that seed state is in Ma now this is the entirety of our experience um now if you meditate on that as long as the Earth is going home think of the waking state who is going think of the dream state in your practice is going think of the absolute blankness of deep sleep what it's like now notice you are the experiencing all three they come and go and use the experiencer this experiencer Consciousness is called the fourth so called fourth the turia where is it in om it's the silence after Rome [Music] in that silence arises the uh and disappears back into it again it arises but it says it's not a silence against the noise it's underlying the noise this Consciousness is there when you are awake because of it you have the waking experiences because of it you have the dream experiences because of it you have the Deep Sleep quote-unquote experience not only that it's not an unlimited consciousness it is that in which you the waking waking person and the entire waking Universe which you experience is coming in that that's a stunning claim if you just said I am the Consciousness and I experience myself as a waking person as a dream person and that's deep sleep that's not so controversial and that's not so difficult to understand it's sort of straightforward actually just we don't not used to thinking of ourselves that way we could get used to thinking of ourselves that way but advaitha goes much further it says you the Waker and your entire waking world is appearing in consciousness you the dreamer and your entire dream all your dream worlds is appearing in Consciousness you the deep sleeper and your entire you know seed world or potential world is appearing in consciousness that Consciousness you are and these worlds are nothing apart from you you are what you see and why waking dreaming deep sleep waking gross physical dreaming mental subtle deep sleep causal in Sanskrit stroller all three appear and disappear in one consciousness that is the meaning of om what is the real meaning of om the real meaning of om is that our appearances and disappearances in the reality which is silence in the reality which is consciousness the gross subtle and causal words appear and disappear what is that Consciousness Krishna says I am that so he says omkara now look at the verse of this universe entire universe I am the cross father what kind of cause mata mata I am the father and the mother I am the intelligent cause and the material cause well who made you [Music] because Americans have a phrase who died and made you God so who died and made you God oh God who made you God he says the one who made me I am that also so that means nobody made me there's nothing before me no cause I have no cause dhata that all of causality I am the Lord of causality all Karma and that which is to be known in The Vedas the Rick sama yajur which is condensed into the Gayatri which is condensed further into the OM I am that which is to be known so and pavitram and the holiest of the Holy all right one thing to be understood since you are the dashta you are the Seer you are the Consciousness and you are also what is seen but what is seen is not always holy mostly it is not it's awful it's unruly it's messy it's miserable it's changing it's it's as he said suffering in spite of appearing as this entirely changing and imperfect world you the one who is appearing you are untouched that's what he means by pavitram I am all of this which does not seem to be pavitram holy but I continue to be pavitram even if I appear as all this even if you appear as your most Unholy world you're still holy you the pure Consciousness because you are Untouched by it again no make no mistake and say that okay so if I'm Untouched by it I can do all sorts of nasty things I'll be untouched you know no when you say I can do naughty things who's that I it's not pure conscious pure Consciousness is is a very good boy it doesn't do naughty things to become a naughty kid pure Consciousness needs a mind full of past Impressions and senses and a body then it becomes a sentient being and that sentient being will have to pay for all all its actions there's no Escape then next is taking longer than I thought should we have questions then we've got a little time left yes yes when somebody's behavior is lovable but when they behave what practices can we use to find that God in an unlovable person yes so God can come wearing all sorts of masks think of that the person is a mask in fact I have often said this earlier the word person means masculine literally it means mask but Sona these are the masks that Greek Theater actors used to wear and through which they would deliver their dialogues Sona means sound so the person is a mask but what's the reality behind the mask according to vedanta God is the reality so when we say nasty awful miserable Behavior we begin to see you know that the the nastiness is in the body mind especially in the mind just as when we do the analysis upon ourselves I am not the body because it's a thing it's an object I'm not even the mind because it's a thing thoughts emotions memories Tendencies personality think you know vedanta says not that the person will ever become free you will become free of the person Just As You Are Holy you are already free of your personality so too in that nasty person in the behavior of the nasty person is uh divinity the reality of that but clothed with a not very Divine mask playing the role of a villain somebody asked me the Harvard Divinity School I don't like your vedanta it makes Mother Teresa and Hitler the same I said you know when Mother Teresa was born as maybe a one-month-old baby and Hitler was a one month old baby was the Baby Hitler and there was the Mother Teresa a saint and there was the baby a monster maybe in some scars they would surely they were there but at that time expressed no they were just babies again every day when Mother Teresa went into deep sleep and Hitler went into deep sleep in deep Sleep thoughts activities there are no thoughts no activities anyway so was one a monster another one was a saint no so where is the saintliness and where is the monster in the mind in the heart in the samskaras in the person here the Divinity is impersonal beyond that however this is in principle practically how does it how do we do it the practically the more you see that you are not a mind you are not a person you are the Consciousness beyond the mind in the person the more you'll be able to see others also as impersonal that's not dratically the devotional way is to love your Ishita devatha your Our God so much that this very idea that these are also the children of God that God is present in the hearts of all beings because God says so in that case it doesn't matter so much how they behave it it matters that God is present there God lives in temples some temples are terrifying some are dirty some are spectacular some are old and decrypted some are Nuance um you know spanking new and sparkling but the same day it dwells in all of them it's in that sense the more we see ourselves as bodies the more others are bodies to us the more we see ourselves as minds and persons the more they are Minds towards the persons to us more we see ourselves as Spirit as Consciousness is divine the more they are Spirit to us [Music] yes who asked who was yes yes don't go and embrace but from distance [Music] good that's the important point he pointed out so in Practical life however there's a difference yes you will love and Revere God in all forms but sudama Krishna gave some practical advice one was when you see everybody's narayana but the Tiger narayana you don't have to go and embrace the tiger narayana because the problem is the tiger Narayan will embrace you also you'll have to bow down from a distance that Lord I know you are in this form but behind the cage and in the you stay away from me because it's going to do what it's going to do why do we have to be practical because our goal is God realization until we have reached that goal once we have reached our goal that goes will it be different it will be different there are stories of swine Vivekananda was fond of telling the story of this monk in the forest in Himalayas who was dragged off by a man-eating tiger and he kept on repeating soham soham I am that I am he so if you one reaches that state one goes beyond evil even when you see evil what is clearly wrong and suffering for us is not wrong and suffering from that person's perspective today itself we were reading um Swami shivananda president of the ramakrishna artists early in the morning we are reading so this disciple of his has written his reminiscenses so we I had sent um mangoes and lychee so this gentleman is to live in Bihar and he had sent mangoes and lychees which is lychee right you knowledge then Swami shivananda who was quite old and Ill he said the lychee you sent I had it made into juice and had a little of it the doctors were telling me not to uh have it but then you have sent with so much love and you know respect I had a little bit of it and the mangoes have already been accepted by SRI ramakrishna you had sent 18 mangoes they've already been accepted by srinama Krishna so be happy but what does that mean the gentleman writes the mangoes were stolen in transit for him it made no difference with SRI ramakrishna in the form of the thief came and took away the mangoes and what he says is mangoes have already been accepted by SRI ramakrishna the smooth transition you see that's from that perspective even the evil can be but until then sudama Krishna is very practical advice don't embrace the tiger and then the story of the elephant and the mahut the student who learned from his Guru everything is narayana God God pervades everything he must have read this Gita thing you know and then he went out to beg for food in the village and the Elephant comes charging down and the mouth shouts mouth is the one who controls the elephants it's out of control I can't control it you might think that's a very unlikely occurrence in Manhattan in Manhattan maybe but in India even now that still happens especially in Kerala and places like that they're there a lot of elephants so the mouth shots run away run away I can't control the elephant and this everybody ran away but this student vedantic student he thought well everything is narayana and the Elephant too is narayana so I it won't do any it's God won't do any harm to me the elephant comes running down and I guess the elephant couldn't believe its beady little eyes when he saw the this guy standing in front of him and he picked up the student with its trunk and tossed him on the side and then kept on so he lost Consciousness fell down there other students came searching for him they picked him up brought him back to the ashram they revived him and the guru asked what happened well sir you taught me the today that everything is God you have to see God in the universe exactly what I said right now if see God in the universe I saw God in the elephant but the elephant tossed me aside he told the whole story of the mahat and the elephant and then the guru said but the mahut was Narayan also the mouth was God and God told you to run away why didn't you listen to the mouth so always have loads of common sense when you come to spiritual life take care of your health your peace of mind because spiritual life Demands a lot from the from you as a for Spiritual practice you know for that the thief took away the mangoes and that sudama Krishna accepting it that's great we know that such a state is possible and hopefully we'll come to that soon but practicality there's a demand of practicality yes the gentleman there you yes yes for someone who is a non-dualist what do they bring yes so non-dualist what does it now how can a non-dualist prayer Pray too what are they praying to what are they praying for now remember the non-dualist how the non-dualists regard God the wave and the ocean metaphor is very good here you realize in this body and mind I am actually water and as water I am the one Consciousness in all bodies and Minds in fact I'm the one Consciousness behind the entire universe the one watered behind the entire ocean however having realized that when you look around after the vedanta class the wave still finds itself as a wave right maybe a little smaller and coming closer to the shore where it's going to hit the shore and die so now knowing that I am the water and I am Immortal as water but not as a wave and here is the water appearing as ocean in reality it's water but it appears for all practical purposes as a vast ocean and lots of little waves like me now I can still pushing the advaithic idea to the background I can still act as a wave I would be I mean in day to day life even the enlightened person is walking talking eating going around on his round of asking for arms from the local Village and studying vedanta meditating taking a bath in the ganga and giving lectures on vedanta if you can do all of that why can't you pray to God is doing all of that as a dualist what would a why is a non-dualist eating because of food and the body you're eating this is the same thing so it's like um once you a character in the movie realizes this is an appearance the screen behind the movie is the reality I am the screen but afterwards the movie still goes on or a Broadway Theater would be would be a better example it's a Broadway play the actor knows actor knows I am not Mufasa the lion or something like that you know and after knowing that if he gives up his lines and he says hey I'm not a lion don't be crazy that'll be the end of the play that would be awful so after knowing that also the actor does a really good job of playing the role of bafasa or playing the role of the evil lion whatever knowing that I am not a lion so um exactly like that a non-dualist would do that and what and so now I am as this little being I am pure Consciousness in a non-dual reality but as this little being that same pure Consciousness also is the cosmic is God and I have a relationship of Devotion to God it consists in pushing the non-dual realization to the background in fact today itself was reading Vivekananda is saying the beauty of non-dualism is having realized realized the highest that I am Brahman you can forget it happily and jump into even from you can you know understand the dualists from the dualist perspective you can understand every kind of spiritual practice from the perspective of that practitioner they become all subsets the substance is my language he doesn't use that language you can and at the moment's notice you can go back to the um the non-dual background just like realizing that it's a movie doesn't switch up the movie realizing it's a Broadway play you don't have to stop the Broadway play Let the Broadway play Go On and let everybody do what they are doing but what would they pray for they would pray for exactly what is dualist spiritual Seeker we pray for remember prayers of two categories one is a worldly kind of prayer Krishna will come to that let things go well in the world for me let me go to heaven after death that's it let my enemies pay for and suffer let me be richer than everybody else let me win the lottery so fulfillment of my worldly desires that's one kind of prayer that's a worldly uh prayer that's religiosity but not spirituality spiritual prayer would be um give me dispassion give me love for God give me Detachment from the world make my mind pure may I be may I love God more and more Ghana bhakti knowledge devotion this would be the prayer of a spiritual Seeker and as far as the world is concerned my Lord I am happy with whatever you give just give me the strength to bear it if you make the most things are about asking God to make a change in the world to my advantage I know my karma is awful can you just sort of fix it in my advantage you know that that's what we are doing Krishna will say in the next one all of our karma is under the control of God and he's giving us the results of our past karma that's small comfort for us because we don't want the results of our past Karma if they're bad karma mostly it's bad so we don't want the result of that it's good karma if we want the result of that that's worldly prayer the spiritual prayer is let the results of my karma come good or bad I I gave up everything at your feet I just I just love you and my relationship with you is one of love and surrender and devotion just give me the strength to Bear the ups and downs and that's a wise prayer because the ups and downs will come inevitably even if you ask God to fix things in your favor it only be fixed only for a short while things will again fall apart that was the Buddha's deep Insight worldly kind of worldly or otherworldly kind of religious cities in the end does not pay because we still left high and dry nothing works so the non-dualist in the dualistic mode will still pray like a dualistic spiritual Seeker give me devotion give me knowledge bless everybody let things go well for everybody let there be peace for all no what is called means particular prayers for my own advantage I can pray for the advantage of other people even there also particular prayer is not good it's good to pray for the welfare of other people God knows what is the what is good for the world so do good to the world if you see people particular person suffering you can pray for them let their suffering go away you pray SRAM Krishna Masha Radha the direct disciples which see so many occasions how they would pray with tears in their eyes but never for themselves never ever for themselves for others yes all the time yeah yes and that will be the last one then yes can you explain the origin of samskar how does it how does it originate and how does it become individually unique yes some scars previous conditionings um industrated Swami in this in this commentary on bhagavad-gita he uses the term prachi in a Karma samskara of the the impressions of actions done in past lives past means the word is prachi in ancient lives we are ancient creatures very ancient creatures and to some extent we are all pretty nasty creatures we have been animals or animal like in many lifetimes to have come to this point so we have a huge amount of baggage only a tiny bit of which is Manifest in this life the poet I think it's rajinikantha or rabindranath tagore he sings that I am on this little raft a little boat of life my Lord and on the stormy sea and there is unplummed depths beneath at any time I may be swept away and then sink into the abysmal depths where there are the whirlwinds the world pools of ancient Karma so please hold on to the Helm of my boat in the middle of the storm my Lord we advaita vedant often gives us a sense of a false sense of confidence but with actually ours around life is surrounded on all sides by Terrors and huge dangers and so this is come from past samskaras no one may ask a logical question when did that come from the earlier life but when did that come from the earlier life but when did the first sanskara start how did they become separate for the individual how are we all different how did it how did it become individuated it says that came from the earlier Universe where we were there but when did it start first there's no question like that there's no first start beginningless foreign if you ask why did in The Lion King why did Simba why was Simba like that well he got it from his father and his mother where did his father and mother get it from from their past lives and where did it start well the real answer is it's a play For Heaven's Sake it didn't start anywhere that's the real answer if you if you cannot wake up to that answer then you will be given an answer like it's beginningless and it's it might seem that you know people might say it's a cop-out how can it be beginningless it sounds illogical no it's not it's perfectly logical how because all these samskaras are finally rooted in ignorance in my eye not knowing our real nature not being able to wake up to the fact that it's a play that unable inability to wake up to the fact that we are one with God and this is the play this is nothing but God all of it then it's all right but we are unable to see that this inability to see that is called ignorance said all right how does that help our case now ask a question when did ignorance begin what do you mean so Professor Jay and mahant your philosopher he explained it to us once many many years ago is it ignorance is always big in English we are also just like you are looking we were students we're looking at him huh and try as if it's a very deep philosophical question matter he says no it's pretty simple how many of you know Spanish so now if you don't know oh you don't know Spanish I said no you're ignorant of Spanish yes so when did your ignorance of Spanish start I said well when we are when we are born oh so you knew Spanish before you were born no ignorance again is always beginningless and it comes to an end when you get knowledge when you take the first Spanish lesson your ignorance of Spanish begins to recede and disappear but it makes no sense to ask when did ignorance begin if ignorance did not begin then the samskaras born of actions done in ignorance also have no beginning it stands that's the answer so beginningless so they say Maya anadi not Shanta means under end it is beginningless but it has an end when you become enlightened comes to an end you had a question the last question what is self-realization if we can never realize uh I never said we can never realize the question is a good question that if Atman is not knowable not seeable not thinkable not conceivable then what is the self-realization you're talking about but notice that you are it and therefore self-realization is what they call both awareness of awareness or the realization of the Atman by Atman there is no other way of putting it but it's very distinct it's very clear in fact vivekantha says You must not go away with the thought that it is unknowable not unknowable in an agnostic sense not in a country and sense the thing in itself is unknowable not in that sense Vivekananda says it is more than known [Music] in fact he uses a word he coins a new word he says it is the no nest of all known things I never heard the word known used in that in all knowledge it is revealed a good example is the eyes example of the eyes so how do you know that these things all the visible things forms here this is I with my eyes I see it the eyes reveal it to me so how do you know the flower is there I see it so what's the proof of the flower being there I see the flower therefore it's there what's the proof of Swami being there I see the Swami therefore the Swami is there what's the proof that there's no elephant in the room if there were an elephant in the room I would have seen it I do not see it therefore there is no elephant in the room so all the proof depends on the eyes seeing or not seeing but the eyes themselves are not seen you can't see the eyes you can see a reflection in a mirror or a picture in a selfie but you can't see the eyes directly the way your eyes see everything now if existence the proof of existence is seeing something with the eyes suppose in that case what is the proof of the eyes seeing what do you say that there is a flower that flower of us well seeing the flower bus seeing what do you say there is a Swami seeing the Swami seeing what do you say that you have eyes anything seeing anything seeing the flower bus reveals not only that the flower bus is there first turn before that it reveals to you that you have eyes not seeing the elephant in the room reveals to you that you have eyes all seeing and all not seeing presence and absence of all things reveals to you that you have eyes so that is more than seeing what you see you could be mistaken about but whether you are right about it or mistaken about it you cannot be mistaken about the fact that you have eyes the moment you see something rightly or wrongly you have eyes that's sure similarly the fact that we have experience experience of what anything all experience it reveals to me unneringly that I am awareness Next Step see that the awareness is Limitless that's what we are doing that is Brahman it's as simple as that and not quite simple also all right [Music] let me just add one thing here why did I say not simple I heard this sadhu very rough kind rough means didn't seem to be a very highly vedantic you know Sanskrit but rough in his ways and he said something quite sounds crude he said whatever you do unless you weep for God you will not become enlightened he says have you ever cried for God unless you do that at least and a lot of it as when he said that I was reminded SRI ramakrishna's first spiritual practice was weeping he cried for the mother and that really struck home for me unless you can do that nothing will work he also said why shall we all your past Karma with your tears so when you're it's weeping we can try a little bit of artificial weeping maybe until the real thing comes um another sadhu I know ramananda Saraswati whose classes is to attend a great non-dualist and one of the persons I think was a jivan mukta whom I saw in my life a monkey comes up to him remember they're all non-dualists the monk young monk new Monk and asks um so what give me some instruction what practice you know he thought he'd give him some sophisticated vedantic meditation or some text or something and in Hindi he said I'll translate he said these are the exact words foreign what else what more can you do if you can twice a day weep at the feet of the Lord how interesting a non-dualist is saying this a heartfelt advice to a person who is a monk and a scholar and everything he says you really want my advice you must weep at the feet of the Lord one monk I know he said you know all this I've got whatever I've got in my spiritual life my Mantra deeksha becoming a monk and whatever I've done in spiritual life I wept for God as a kid I think once as a child it made no sense but I think everything has come from there that's his belief