Video 12

12. Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 2 Verses 30-31 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

it's an auspicious day it is the birthday of maharaja devi so in the morning we had a puja and the evening we have the Geeta class last time we were on verse number 29 it's a strange verse because the word strange comes many times day now the verse was Australia wat pasyati Kishida namaz shaadi of adversity Tata watch Aniyah Australia watch einem Anish renault t should - ah PA Nevada no J Ibaka so wonder strange or a wonder one sees the Atman the true self as a wonder some see speak of it as a wonder others think of it as a wonder and others even after listening and we know getting clarity all of that they still don't get it still they don't get enlightened list it's still a mystery to them so it's strange a mystery I wonder why last time we had started this discussion so I will quickly summarize what we did last time and then go go on ahead first of all the one who sees this the first the student qualifications of the student unmentioned catch it catch it means the rare one so a student is rare a true student of Vedanta and why is a student rare because of the the cut off very high SAT scores are required and so it's like getting into Ivy League before fourfold qualifications Viveca very rajesh Ahmad Ahmadi shot sympathy Momo should to ensure the seeing clearly the difference between the eternal and the non eternal via vacant second one a dispassion for the non eternal and an aspiration for the eternal that means a dis passion for worldliness and an aspiration for God realization for spirituality then third is the six disciplines do you remember Shama internal calmness a quietness internally then Dhamma a certain amount of control of the senses I remember once we were studying under a senior monk we were all novices bromwich aries and we used to sit on the floor and study and so one of my friends another novice he was sitting there and while he was studying you know he was shaking his leg like this while he was doing that and suddenly the monk said stop that what's that stop it it's a simple thing you know like but it's a it's almost like a nervous trick a tick but it shows a lack of control that's a very minor thing but it extends to many many things for example I've told this earlier also the same teacher one day we were obvious we had to memorize verses of the Gita and tell him every one verse per day you might think that's easy actually that's reasonable one of my friends thought that's too easy one verse per day it's too easy so he the first day he memorized I think ten and then he learned his lesson the first date was 10 the next date was two or three and the third day it was half of us so one is sustainable one day we had recited the verses and we were walking back with this monk it was late in the night we would walk him to the monks quarters and then we would go back to our own rooms so there was this creeper with very fragrant flowers which sort of blossom at night and give out a nice fragrance as we were passing by I smelt one of the flowers just like that we were passing by immediately that monk was on me like a tiger what was that stop this is not the sign of a yogi he said just because you get it do you have to enjoy it that means have to experience it no no no don't do that so this is the Dhamma a control of the senses then number three is operati instead of flowing continuously into the world for our enjoyment withdrawal this dependence this addiction to the world for our and going around with a begging bowl to the world what is the begging bowl eyes I must see nice things ears I must hear nice things they smell nice things taste nice thing touch nice things begging both going around collecting arms from the world donations why because we feel we need it for our power pleasure of our completion no operati is reversing that that's a discipline also can you can you do without it we can actually people get used to the simplest of lives you may think it's too difficult to lead an austere and simple life but it's not actually all of us can get used to it the human mind a human psyche is such at fire at first one might feel deprived but at first the mind might hanker for it but if you hold on to it whatever the addiction whatever the dependence it goes have after some time in most cases if it's very strong I don't know the drugs and things like that it might be very difficult but generally it goes away we don't need too much operati dent addiction technic shy is a spiritual fortitude we remember the spiritual toughness no matter how cold and cloudy and rainy the day is I will go to the guitar class so that kind of toughness to attain one's purpose to hold on to spiritual practice in spite of obstacles then what else is there some Adana a settled Ness there is a kind of restlessness in the world doing this and that continuous busyness people become workaholics or if not vodka holux at least distracted in the world continuously under these days with the modern digital technology continuously on the screen no focus settle down in spiritual life even in spiritual life people are distracted what what happened oh so I am studying wait aren't very nicely very good next will Anton oh no I'm not studying there now I'm tantra tantrum studying very nicely why I saw another lecture on YouTube it's a supermarket of spirituality and a supermarket if you get distracted you can keep on window shopping that's the kind of supermarket and especially possibly these days it happens but earlier also I'll give you one particular example see in the Himalayas I found people especially a number of young Western people backpackers what are they doing some are there for adventure that's alright but some of their they are guru hunting hunting for the for the bright guru you know the enlightened master the perfect master so that I want to be spiritual so I'm hunting for my guru and I'm going from guru - guru ashram to ashram this place in that place now it's often that's done very you know in a very genuine innocence sincere manner but people don't catch the trick that the mind plays on them what is the trick the mind you see when I'm I am guru hunting you can go on looking for a teacher but after 5 years 10 years 15 years he was still hunting for a guru ask yourself this isn't it saying that all the teachers have met none of them are quite good enough to be my guru it's a trick of the mind it's an arrogance of the mind if you ceramic Krishna puts it this way if a person is really thirsty really thirsty even in a water in in a pool covered by scum or something you know you just sweep the thing aside and try to get clean water underneath and drink that because really thirsty won't bother so much but not really thirsty then it must be Swiss Alpine water and so just like that it really want spirituality it starts somewhere why did I say that Samad hana settled this yes it doesn't mean it setting for the first thing that comes you way especially these days so many things are available so read and whatever seems genuine to you we are so clever when it comes to the world outside we check and double-check and compare notes when it comes to spiritual life many people are babies a little show on the outside a little demonstration of some psychic power often fraudulent sometimes and people get sucked into it to their grief ultimately always seem morals character is a very good indicator what how spiritual a person is very difficult for us to understand but externally at least we'll come to that what are the things to look for so some are Donna settled nests what else is a discipline Shraddha a working faith that what they are teaching there is something in this it's not a blind faith it's not a I have to believe it not like that just that maybe I don't get it yet maybe I don't understand it yet but there is something to this let me investigate it further that's good enough shut up the opposite shouldn't be there that I'm here just to disprove what these guys say they are all wrong the books are full of lies and the teachers know nothing and I'm going to show them and in that way you're not going to learn anything at all neither in spiritual life nor in in a university or College nowhere basic Chandra is required to learn anything anywhere now the fourth characteristic is moksha from an intense desire to be free Sri Ramakrishna is to call it vyakulata and a great eagerness a spiritual restlessness or divine discontent now this you might say it's a tall order to have all of these to have all of these and lots of them it's a I mean in great quantities it's it's a tall order but to some extent we have it because we are here we are coming to the class again and again putting on putting up with great difficulties we stick to our meditation practice we stick to our you know our rituals we have a certain amount of discipline so this is a rare person the story of the disciple you know the the the person who went to an ashram and asked who stays here well the Guru and his disciples so this person asked what does the disciple have to do oh the disciple has to get up really early in the morning and go and clean the temple and cut firewood and cook food and and attend classes and pass examinations and so on so forth and serve the Guru it's a busy day for the disciple so oh I see and the Guru what does he have to do oh nothing much give a few talks classes and that's it then this man said oh then I'll be a guru and I like that job description the moral of the stories it's difficult to find a tree a real disciple so that he says crushed it the rare one the rare one even that rare one sees the Atman what is the Atman what is the true self not what we consider it to be all these we discussed last time I'm going fast now what is the self it is it saves enemy no means this one this one means the self so what is the self not what we think it to be not what we think ourselves to be what do we think ourselves to be the three bodies we think ourselves to be this physical body not this you are not really this body we think ourselves to be the mental but the subtle body what is the subtle body look inside you'll immediately find it thoughts feelings emotions ideas desires perceptions that the whole thing that's the subtle body but you are not that either the Atman the real self is not that either beyond that is something called the causal body we will not go into that but that's also not us the true self is the witness consciousness beyond the three bodies needed the physical body not a subtle body not the causal body in Sanskrit they had try of election Atma this self is a wonder archery about posture it is seen to be a wonder why is it a wonder it is unique it is unique it is different from everything else that we know we discussed this last time why is it different from everything else that we know because it's not an object it's not something one can see hear smell taste touch it's not an object for the five senses it's not an something that you can conceive of speak of it's not an object everything that we know in though universe is an object everything that we do not know that's also an object but this self it's not an object therefore it's a wonder it's a mystery it's the only thing which is not an object what's the only thing that's not an object you should protest here Swamy aren't there many subjects of are you saying only thing here there are 70 80 subjects why only one you are saying look at your own experience your own experience each of us we are experiencing the world as subject and object you are the subject and everything else is an object can you find any other subject in your experience except yourself can you find in your experience any other subject except yourself why what about the person sitting next to you they look at you annoyed yes what you are seeing as the next person you're seeing the body you're seeing the behavior you will be hearing their speech if you are a telepath you could even read their minds even all of that would be object even the mind would be an object the consciousness of that person the self that is never an object to you so the self is not an object therefore it's a wonder we said last time it is the draszt are not a drishya the seer not the scene and anyway so that's one thing that we saw last time another thing was archery about volatility of Eternia and the another one another one means the teacher the speaker the speaker speaks of this self as a wonder what is meant here again we saw last time since it is not expressible by words and the teacher has to use words Gita is words Upanishads are words I am using words and yet the subject the very subject matter and it's a happy coincidence subject matter is of the subject the subject is the subject matter and according to Vedanta it is beyond words ineffable cannot be described by language if you ask why can it not be described by language very briefly you can find this in different places in Vedanta literature in Shankar Acharya scum entry on demand okay open assured seventh mantra where he comments on the term AB the opposition cannot be named datoria the Atman pure consciousness what you really are a word cannot be applied to it why not and there Shankar already explains why not you have to go into the philosophy of language there it is said how does language operate in order to learn how something works is there an interesting principle in order to learn somehow something works you should see how when it fails when it breaks down then you will get in get an inkling if you study why it broke down you get an understanding of how it works so where I read this was there was a book the seven deadly sins of memory there's a book it's a book on psychology and neuroscience seven deadly sins of memory how memory fails if you study that in the different cases in which memory fails it gives you a very good understanding into how memory works actually and you that was an interesting book but here also how language fails to understand that what we to see how language works language works when there are these five characteristics any one of them is present five five factors I'm just telling you what Shankar Acharya has said there five factors class quality action relationship and can ancien these are approximate English translations of ERT guna kriya sambandha rudy what does it mean you can use language if there's a class that means a set the example he uses is this is a cow there's a class of animals called cows and here is an individual which can be fit in that class because it certain shared properties are there so you are able to apply the word cow to this this animal because it belongs to a set a class but you can't do it for Brahman or Atman there is no class of Brahman or Atman there's only one so it doesn't belong to a particular class there is no common characteristics by which you can identify class will not work here or by class I mean set species so that will not work the second one is the second factor for using language is quality so red flower green leaf so or tall man so these are qualities by the characteristics tall red green you are able to identify a particular object and language worked give me one of the red flowers so they are flowers here give me one of the red flowers you understand immediately what I mean you can go and pick out a flower and give it to me how did you understand me how did language work because of quality the red distinguished it from all other colors so it works like that any kind of quality can you apply it to Brahman Atman brah Korea no because no quality near guna beyond attributes there's no qualities in it then third way of using language is action would the driver of the person of the car which has parked outside please remove the vehicle so the person suppose such an announcement is there the person who's parked it immediately says okay it's my vehicle how did language work because it indicated a function an action driver this this dish is so well prepared who is the cook immediately somebody says oh I'm the cook or he or she is the cook how do how did language work then how did people understand because of a function can you do that to admin can you indicate it by its function No why not action Les Mis Creole it's beyond function it does not have any function at all it does not do anything in that sense this is another way of using language someone the relationship speaker you immediately know this is speaker how is this a speaker because you are the audience I'm speaking to an audience or even better if you say father or mother because there is a son or daughter therefore there is a father and mother there's a teacher because there's a pupil there's a teacher this is a relationship that will not work for Atman or Brahman why because relationship requires at least two relationship is a it requires at least two terms in sanskrit they say drainage to sambandha in relationship requires two terms Atma is only one with what will it have a relationship there's nothing else except except Brahman then the last option to use language since these have failed the last option to use language is it's actually a very interesting subject philosophy of language will some except some people might be like get on with it back to Vedanta this is boring no it's actually very interesting it's a big big branch of philosophy in fact at one time in 20th century English the philosophy that was being done in England became dominated by the philosophy of language like Austen and Wittgenstein and and there are a number of others even Bertrand Russell did some philosophy of language so number of law brilliant philosophers and they almost reduced philosophy to a language game that philosophy basically is philosophy of language well anyway so last possibility is how do you use language convention the Sanskrit is Rudy convention means I named this boy Krishna so this boy will now be called Krishna for what reason if you ask is it a class is it a quality is it a relationship is it an action no no no no if we just name just a name is given we do that often we give a city a name a river a name a personal name we give a name to things and how does that work we just give it and from now on so can't we do that for Atman or Brahman it's called Atman it's called Brahman we are named it so language worked no it doesn't work why in order to name something I sign a word to something what must you do you must point it out this bar is Christian immediately your question will be which boy isn't it if I don't point it out then has it worked this linguistic exercise of naming some medication did it work it did not work because I have not been able to point it out now if we want to name Atman or brahma monitor here can you point it out you can't you can't if you cannot point it out then you cannot use a term you can by convention by rudy it will fail because suppose right now if it had worked and I say this is Atman or brahmana thorium the true self pure consciousness absolute being I'm using these terms and if it really worked people don't want understood being enlightened it should have been as simple as here is a white rose here is a white rose immediately you see you understand my meaning you also know what I mean done but when I say you are not the body not the mind not the intellect and so on those things you understand because body mind intellect is understood you are the pure consciousness you should say wait a minute I didn't understand that because that has not been pointed out so it doesn't work that way language fails and all of this which I spent so much time trying to summarize this is summary actually Ando Shankar Acharya uses half a sentence language failed still words cannot be used he says why shut up Brickton emitter a heated because the the instigators of linguistic usage are absent the surface the instigators are catalysts let's say the catalysts of linguistic usage shut the probity limiter writer or some depravity hey tuna mister I hit Atwater whichever way you want to put it up the opposition unnameable therefore it is our chariot is it is a wonder then how if it's something unnameable how does the teacher manage to teach it so that is also part of the wonder how the Upanishads and the Gita and all they finally managed to teach that which cannot be expressed in words one way moanin the Arcanum one ways of course silence that is the the loftiest grandest way but that silence is in Shankar Acharya induction MOT stotram he says the Guru teaches in silence and the doubts of the disciples are dispelled Ramana Marsh used to do that we have heard so many times we read in accounts people would go and sit in the place where Rama nama she was meditating who'd sit quietly they would go there with the questions and then they would come away with the doubts somehow resolved or at least the questions would be resolved not answered but dissolved not resolved but dissolved that's a very lofty way of doing it but it works only when teacher and student are equally there in very much in tune and very advanced if I were to use that method one day you might come I might stand here staring at you and you might take it back at me and so he's very profound but the second day or third or fourth day you would say okay I've got other things to do I know what he's going to do so it's if I use lots of words you will say I know I have to go again because now he will use many more new words those I have to listen to and write down I'm actually saying the same thing so silence is one way but that is not a practical way for most teaching teaching situations so what is the what are the other ways Vedanta uses is very interesting how where anta circumvents works around the problem of inexpressible 'ti of brahman how does it do that one way is you know it actually Nathan eighty if you cannot say what it is then what can you do you can at least say what is it is not you can at least say what it is not that's what the open issue date does you know when we say when we use words like when we use techniques like punch echo Chevy Vega the method of analysis of the five sheets of the human personality the way it's normally presented is not the correct way when the normally the way it is start is we have five dimensions to our personality physical body under my Akasha the vital body pranamaya kosha mental body manomaya kosha the intellect began amico sure and the the causal body the anandamaya kosha and beyond that is the Atma if many of you are nodding because you heard this but this is not the way it should be taught the tightiy reopen issue does not do that the source for this technique is tight Theory open issue what the original source does is it follows the method of nineteen eighty it shows you what the physical bodies and convinces you you are not the physical body then it points out the the pranic body you know right now breathing energy health sickness hunger thirst Society these are all prana observed phenomenon you can observe it yourself and it shows you that you are not that and then it shows you the mental body points it out and it shows you that you are not that and then it goes to the intellect began oh my and shows you that you're not that and then beyond that anandamaya and you are not that and then it keeps silent it doesn't say beyond that is the Atma then otherwise you will quickly think that there's some Atma okay I will grasp it it's still objectify it yes yeah there's a huge discussion there ananda maya the quran i mean brahma sutras so if you stop it down the mikoshi you will end up with something like vashisht Advaita Advaita Vedanta you see actually Shankar's commentary he does two things he stops with the under fairly technical he stops with down and emotion gives a full commentary on that and then he reverses it he says the in reality the self is not even the anandamaya kosha he uses that thing Bromham british to that that that term is there so brahman is the substratum of the ananda maya being the substratum it has to be different from the underwear and there is a lot of discussion there I mean it's pages of pages of commentary there because everybody wants to hold them to hold him to that because the opening she doesn't see anything else but you so that's there but one thing you'll notice the Upanishads itself does if Brahman is going to talk about Brahman or Atman that's what it it was said that I'm going to tell you about the Atman which is Brahman and then if you say it stops with ananda maya if it stops with down in the Maya then the next line after that Asad Brahma Hideaway the Jade ascend never sabapathy the next line didn't does not make sense what is the next line the next line says that now if you sing that Brahman does not exist then you will not exist if annan the Maya is supposed to be Brahman and the teacher says ah randomise Brahman then we should be satisfied that okay they have understood it why would anybody raise a doubt Brahman does not exist that is possible only if you go to a nun the Maya deny that you are the under Maya and then don't say anything more then the immediate thing that will come is there is no Brahman then everything that I thought myself to be this Brahman means the self everything that I saw thought myself to be I have denied it bunch of the she in the fourth third chapter of Panchita she makes it clear he uses this he gives it this way he says everything that I thought was the Atman has been denied I understand I am none of the five sheets now then what is the Atman there is no Atman yet I do exist I can't deny that I exist then what am i then you're supposed to catch it intuitively because then it cannot be pointed out any further this whole denial of Natan eighteen eighty of the five sheets is a pointing out I have negated whatever you thought you were and you have agreed so you are not what you thought you were and you do exist it's not that you don't exist you do exist because that doubt comes then it's not there it's not there means you are not there how can you say you are not there you are saying it so you are there and yet it's you are not what you thought you were then what are you and there an answer is not expected if you intuitively get it and they say there your face will shine with the knowledge that I am Brahman and that realization coming it's supposed to light up with that knowledge Shankar Acharya uses this in other time places I trade you openly should pass he tells a story same Natan eighty how does illustrate it he says a man was scolded by his guru a man who shipped home you're not a human being you are not your subhuman your eardrum you're not your subhuman you're not human being he felt very sad and depressed and was sitting there and another person walks past and he says why are you so depressed my friend oh my guru scolded me he said you are subhuman I'm an ocean ottoman literally it means not human I'm not saying inhuman because that means something else in English again so not human so I'm sad then this person says look what is not human rocks rocks are not human yes so are you a rock no then the insects are not human yes are you an insect no the snakes are not human are you a snake no all of these are not young you said you are not human right your guru has told you and you believe it and you're feeling bad so a snake is you are not a snake which is not human birds birds are not humans are you a bird no animals are not human are you an animal any kind of animal No so though you have exhausted all the not human tell me a list of not human things and all of them we are I'm showing you that you are not any of them okay so not human these are the not human natan eating none of them you wiped out the board then Shankar Acharya says after this if that man says oh I understand I'm not not human but then what am i he's his son correction Crozier he says nobody can help you there because in the case of human you can at least tell you are a human but what he means is about the Atman you can't tell that that has to be caught in the case of human living you might say that that the friend could have directly said that look if you are not are not human if you're not a not a is there a is there that mutually exclusive and they they covered the entire universe there's nothing else possible beyond a and not a so if you are not not a you must be a if you're not not human you must be human there's easy to say in this example but for the Atman when you deny everything that you thought yourself to be that what is left over so that's one method of working around the problem of inexpressible 'ti it's called the via negativa in Latin a prophetic method by saying not this not this what else is there there are other ways also is something called luck Shauna implied meaning I'm not going into that is a vast area so those are studied Vedanta SAR and all you will know that luck Shauna implied meaning is taken direct meaning does not work there's a way of expressing through implied meaning another strategy we've already got three strategies remember the first one what I'm doing now silence the second one is in 1880 not this not this not this not that the third one is the method of implied meaning I'm not telling you this now and then the fourth one is another strategy is the method of paradox further than the farthest nearer than the nearest it moves it moves not after deja T Tunisia the paradoxical language not just to sound cool and profound it has a very precise meaning and if you get the meaning you will understand the paradox and you will be enlightened also at the same time that was a variety of that is the Zen koans which they use in one school I thinks Rinzai Zen or something one of those in schools they use cones so supposed to meditate what is the sound of one hand clapping meditate on your face before you were born so like this there are different but the purpose of Quan in Zen is different and purpose of paradox innovative agent is different no purpose is the same enlightenment but the methodology is different in Zen it is meant to short-circuit your intellectual thinking just sort of blow you out of the water I don't know how far it is effective some people get some kind of breakthrough in Advaita Vedanta are not supposed to blow you out of the water in fact you're supposed to think about it and it will make perfect sense at one point alright and so there are these strategies so these strategies are used so therefore it is a wonder for the teacher also the teacher who's teaching the teacher is also a wonder what are the characteristics of a teacher why is the teacher a unique tit unique person Brahma width so Trias jicama Tashia brahman Easter so bla bla Manisha must be established in Brahman that means the life the person must be a dedicated spiritual seeker you might say no he has to be enlightened but how do you know who is enlightened or not that you cannot really put forward as a qualification guru needed enlightened you should be you should watch out for those who apply for that poster no so but what you can see is this person of is it a part-time spiritual teacher or a full-time dedicated to this quest is completely about this and nothing else that is called Brahman Ishta there is a technical meaning of brahmana stout so anyway then shreya must be a master of the Vedantic tradition let's make it broader master of some tradition we talked about it last time a tradition is important why is it important they can be discussion about this but I think we talked about it last time if you it's like a seal of quality a person might say you're going to buy a computer there's this apples story called very nicely they have named it big apple obviously because in Manhattan so the apple store is there on Broadway now if you're going to buy a computer there and it is a guy outside who says hey come to me I'll give you a better computer at a lower price what computer it's it's I just put it together in my garage now you'll be suspicious you will be uneasy about it why it's quite possible that he's giving you a better computer quite possible who knows but where is the guarantee if something goes wrong where will you that guy will probably want won't be there anymore you cannot find him but if it's a well known company you have service centers and you have so many things are there backup is there support is there you can is a resale values there so and so many things are there now similarly for a tradition by which many people have attained spiritual excellence those who have attained enlightened enlightenment for centuries together people have followed so tradition is very important Shankar Acharya is very harsh server Shastra with dopey or sampradaya of it Volkov a depiction eeeh very harsh treatment a person may have studied all the books but does not belong to an established tradition should be ignored like a fool he means in spiritual matters who knows the person really may be good but how do you know so people claim all sorts of things if it's an established tradition there are checks and balances within the tradition there are people at different levels of advancement in the tradition who will know who is at what level and they have a better judgement of that so you are guaranteed some kind of quality control if you are in any any tradition I'm not just saying a non dualist edition all traditions are good in their own way of course the tradition means an organized religion that has problems in itself you have to be careful there also mmm short ria well versed in the scriptures in a tradition and a karma hatha should not most important should not have any desires of worldly desires so doesn't does not have any motivation a teacher has no motivation other than just teaching giving you that knowledge if there are other motivations then it's not an effective teacher the teacher wants to make a quick buck Tao I I heard what is it called something they've called it some advanced yogic enlightenment course or something like that thirteen thousand dollars crash course until the crash is guaranteed now I'm not I'm not criticising but but always when a lot of money is involved and involved in sewer in spirituality it may still be genuine but it's a question mark which it's what what being careful about it should not involve a lot of money even in ancient times the teachers had to run ashram as we see yanggeum Belka going to the king janaka asking for donations in those days cows were the wealth and the emperor is asking have you come for cows are going to discuss about Brahman and Yaakov Alka says both so even then they needed money there's no doubt about it but it shouldn't be about money it shouldn't be about power cult power so some personality cult this is something a big problem in this country now it's happening in India also personality cult Advaita Vedanta is first and foremost impersonal so it's not a question of worshiping a person it's a question of a knowledge being transmitted we respect the Guru we even worship the Guru but not because it's a person because the Guru represents this veyron technology that's all look at who is what who is respected and worshiped in an Atlantic tradition guru teacher why because it's a knowledge tradition primarily so desire even if a person is suppose a person is very learned it but has a lot of worldly desires who is a good teacher or not know I knew this pundit he's passed away so I will not tell the name but he is one of the greatest scholars in that particular area so when I was speaking with him he was 95 years old so he's a master of different branches of Sanskrit learning Vedanta nyah sank Baraka Rebekah and which means grammar grammar and logic and different systems of philosophy and also astrology now in his old age he has become very fascinated with astrology geo tisha so somebody asked him sir you know Vedanta and all this you know it so well so why this fascination with astrology and he says he's really honest that very very simple earth man he said there is no money in Vedanta no money in Vedanta no so all that learning well he really does know the subject but see still money is important and he confided in somebody of whom I know that he feel he felt delighted because he's also an expert real expert in astrology he was flown from Calcutta to Mumbai by India's greatest movie star Amitabh Bachchan to consult on marriage of his son and Aishwarya Rai and so so he was flown my plane to just for a consultation and he tells that proudly now see he feels the other it's glamorous but if you are available to teach it should not matter to you you should not be interested in such things it shouldn't even remember such things so that's the thing scholarship in itself does not mean that one is rid of all spiritualities are all worldly desires and a person may be may have gone beyond worldly desires and may not have any apparent scholarship also so that's also there then let me spend so much time on this verse let me quickly finish the other two the two more things are sorry about Chinamen onion Ooty so the the next problem is it's called Assam Havana after listening everything is ready guru is ready student is ready after studying this one has a doubt there two kinds of doubts one is called a sambhaavana impossibility the other one is called v Purita Bhavana contrary tendencies so what is the sambhaavana i have heard you and i sort of get what you are trying to say but it's not real it's not true it can't be true i'm a body and a mind this pure consciousness Atman and immortal awareness no no no no so this kind of doubt is there that's why it seems strange this admin to this person who is this person the person who has got a sambhaavana the doubt of impossibility and all sorts of questions come in this and they can all be resolved what is the medicine does anybody know knowledge yes of course that's assemble not not faith knowledge but what is the particular see I know the system I know the teaching that comes from shove and I hearing but I know it but I have many doubts now what comes next madam now you know it so a Samba another doubt of impossibility is removed by reflection what is your problem tell me the question and here is the answer think about the answer did it make sense to you there is an answer to every every doubt that they that has been raised against this every doubt I haven't found a single good question yet then good question in the sense of many good questions but in the sense that there's no good answer to it no I haven't found it then finally there's one more problem which is why again it is said should to oepn embed and achieve a question and there is another one who at the end after everything is done I have he's got the qualification and the teacher has taught properly and this person has learned the system and has got conviction now clarity no more doubts and yet the problem is it's not a living reality I don't feel that I am the Atman I can't behave like that and my the world worldly problems are continuing that is called viparita Bhavana contrary tendencies knows and understands that he is the Atman he or she but behaves like a body mind complex so that is overcome by what can you tell me nearly at the asana that is available antique meditation so I just go on this verse why the Atman is a wonder so the whole verse was about this if you ask where did you get all this it's like teaching all of Vedanta we do using one verse I got it from the commentary by Rancic does she has a Hindi commentary the Swami lived in Swarga from Rishikesh he lived for two up to the age of 104 very austere Swami his last statement before he died was never celebrate my birthday never worship me keep no reminiscences no sign of my existence what was taught divita the valent that is that is what I've given you stay with that forget me completely so imagine kind of dispassion that what has to be there then 30th verse all right so Krishna is wrapping up the teaching what teaching the co-teaching of a dontoh you are Brahmin that teaching is wrapping it up now 30th verse daehan eat'em of adam daehan idiom of a Geum they service you Harasta day he service aha at the smart sarvani bhutani dismiss aru Varney boot Ani not to UM show Tito Maha see mum show Tito Maha see so this M body itself in everyone's body is eternally indestructible no birth no death no change it is existence consciousness bliss that is our real nature so or Arjuna Krishna says you should not grieve for any creature so this sums up the entire teaching notice one thing in all beings he uses a singular day he singular you know the indweller in all beings instead of saying that in all beings there is a separate document which is indestructible this one is in destruct in destructible in all beings the meaning thereby he is pointing out there is one self we are not separate selves that way so this meaning of this is clear it's like a concluding like a placeholder you know he's finishing a particular topic sometimes the commentators the Sanskrit commentators who help us to understand the meanings of the verses so sometimes they will say the meaning is clear so here he says sparse term it's clear one word one word means ended not even good meaning is clearly just the commentary is clear clear then he goes on with the next sometimes to your fury will discover a very difficult verse and you look into the coming train it says clear now shri krishna changes tracks he shifts to a different approach till now he was teaching vedanta now what he's going to do is for the next few verses next nine verse eight verses yes eight verses he is going to appeal to ethics and Arjuna's sense of honor ethics and sense of honor not so much Highfill Asif II something much more practical here he says even if you put all the vedanta side still you should do your duty why so the next few verses they're pretty simple 31 so her mama peach avec sure southern mama peach of Aixa now we compete Omaha C Navi compete Omaha see her Miyagi you touch Rio young Motty you touch a you and yet chat region a bit dirty Anja chat three ASEAN Ovid deity and considering your duty also you ought not to falter because there is no greater fortune for a Kshatriya than a righteous battle so he's now pointing out his duty he's not talking about Vedanta about the doctrine of the self anymore he says take a look at what your duty is swadharma this word will come up again and again mmm let me explain this for ya we've got time for that this word will come up again and again swadharma literally means your own Dharma what does that mean Dharma is a word that is very wide if you look at the dictionary sanskrit dictionary you will get a page of meanings it means morality it means ethics it means religion in India religions are called Dharma it means property equality this object has such-and-such Dharma quality it means intrinsic nature threa that which holds a thing together your essential nature harbours many many things it means at it is a it means the ritualistic actions performed the audience performed in the purva mimamsa the karma kind of the Vedas that is called Dharma it means the merits gained by by a merit a good life that is called Dharma so so many meanings are there the swadharma is another meaning Europe Italy in a very narrow sense it means your duty it means your duty it means your nature own Duty own nature so means own yours mine and Dharma means my Dharma so look at your Dharma I'll give you just two meanings of it what it meant there's a specific meaning what what is my Dharma what am I supposed to do the question is what am I supposed to do and in ancient India they had a very nice formula for finding this out gives you the answer it's not relevant anymore for reasons which will become clear but let's understand what the way they thought about it so swadharma which means it's an answer your nature or your Dharma it's an answer to the question what is my Dharma which includes what should i do what should I be in life how should I deal with this situation so all of these questions will be answered what is right for me what is wrong for me all of these come from swadharma so don't you think it'll be a nice thing to know if I could know my own Dharma many questions would be answered so what is my Dharma in ancient India they had a system called varnasrama-dharma that means the forecasts thousands of sub casts but overall forecasts and four stations of life what are the four stations of life brahmacari that means student life before one gets married and when you are preparing for grown-up life so student life brahmacari then grhastha the householder life when one gets married has children as a position in society earns your living so and so forth and then there is vanaprastha a retired life literally it means forest dweller or forest gor so retired life vanaprastha and then finally sannyasa which is a monastic life giving up everything being a monk these are the four stations in life and at each stage you have specific dharma duties obligations things to perform they'll be different depending upon your stage in life if you are a student there are certain things that you are supposed to do in certain things you're not supposed to do if the same person is householder again the dharma changes and so on now the four castes in society to the ancient Indian society you had the Brahmins who were priests the educators the philosophers and so on and then you had the carriers who are the Warriors the administrators and so on then you had the wishes who were businessmen traders then even farmers then you had the shooters who we're laborers workers and there are multiple sub caste and all of that so each depending on which caste I belong to I have a specific set of the harbor so if I ask what is my Dharma the question will be which caste do you belong to now you have so five components of swadharma it works like this ashish ramadan ma varna dharma varnasrama dharma vish a dharma sadhana Dharma so your own duty your own Dharma has five components you answer these questions like a checklist fill it up what is your station in life a young person middle-aged person retired person thought which stage of life are you in one second which caste do you belong to now you see why it is not applicable anymore so Society has changed so much it the older system just simply does not apply anymore anyway they would ask which caste you belong to so that has a particular duty then if you put them together which caste and which stage of life or do you belong to so for exhausted Arjuna belong to Kshatriya the warrior caste which stage of life did Arjuna will belong to grace' he was a householder he was married and so what is the word national Mederma for him householder warrior you see what is the duty of a warrior what is the duty of householder what is the duty of a householder warrior that also has a specific connotation then we should have a specific specific means there are certain roles that we take on so you are a teacher or you are the CEO of this company you are the general in the army of the Pandavas so that's the specific role that has certain duties obligations for as long as that one lasts so those are called vishesha specific not for everybody not even for you before and after that but as long as you are in that you have agreed to that role then you must fulfill that role so that has certain certain obligations duties and finally sadhana the general universal human qualities AIIMS are non-violence that's a general rule it will be modified if you are a warrior but the underlying rule is non-violence so you must not not unlimited violence so non-violence truth self-control these things where universal values there v universal values put them all together you get an answer the formula will give you the answer what is my Dharma what is my duty it really won't give you any valid answer today because Society has changed so much that the cast and the station in life doesn't mean much the people who are in the seventies 80 they are still working people who are in the 20 is retired already yes so on this is one meaning of swadharma this is what it meant for them in ancient India and then there is another meaning which is more applicable now swadharma means swab harvey Kodama or swab hisab maharaja dharma that means born of one's own nature that's more difficult to determine it's not so formulaic but it's useful so what is your inner nature what tendencies do you have plus a person like music select to be a musician or an artist or is a person good with people so it has been a people personal job or is a person you know great with numbers or maybe a mathematician things like that there is something some tendencies we have certain qualities and these differ where are these qualities where are where do they come from they come from something called swab Habba Habba Habba means so there are two words in Sanskrit swarupa swab hava this difference must be understood very clearly it's it's significant swarupa and swab of this how do I translate let me give you the literal literal translation so Abba Abba means own nature so Rupa means own real nature not own farm or own farm but it's not it's not a form your own true nature but it does it mean the other nature is false no I'll tell you the distinction the distinction is this swab however refers to our subtle body the mind your subconscious your genetic potential your the the bundle of samskaras we you have inherited from immemorial past lives so that's the tendency that is different for each one of us our SWA Baba which is mental we can feel it each of us we can see our own tendencies if you observe ourselves we can see our tendencies in every family each of the kids is different same family same physical minimal genetic almost the same genetic inheritance from the parents same not cheering same household but kids are different they come with different swab hawa many many lights so we have a swab hava each of us and so important should not be neglected we neglect it at your own peril and in swarupa so Rupa's deeper than saab hava what we truly are what are we truly Atman pure consciousness there we are all the same so now of each person different so a Roop of all of us same the syrup is same what is swarupa Atman Brahman sat-chit-ananda that's what we are we're trying to realize that that's what we have forgotten or that is occluded hidden from our experience and that's the source of our samsara but swob Hara is also very important in this life to be successful in life to be peaceful and happy in life and to be successful in spiritual life you must take into account your own saab hava see even in spiritual life somebody is a Johnny loves meditation is good at it somebody is agony his loves philosophical inquiry into Vedanta good at it it really feels alive to you somebody is deeply devotional that feels real to you somebody is dynamic wants to do good to others wants to be Express in service loving service to humanity that feels what while to you why do these these different things feel what while one to one person to the other person it seems mechanical somebody loves being devotional the next person says I don't like this blind belief I can't bring myself to believe in God another person loves hours and hours of quiet meditation the next persons I can't meditate two minutes and then I become Restless why so abhava this is the own age we must understand our own nature our sadhana will be according to that our southern our spiritual progress will be according to that and our duty in life is also sub harbor so there krishna says to Arjuna please look at your own swadharma which comes from saab hawa this we can apply in our lives even today in the modern world notice our own tendency now we have new ways you know what is that myers-briggs test personality test no there is a validity to it it gives you some idea about yourself if you can take the test now it is it's available online and it gives you an idea about marwan's own mental makeup so look at your own Dharma and now recompete o Mara see you should not tremble to do your duty just one more point and I'm done you will see in the next few verses Krishna very intelligently introduces and uses words which Arjuna himself is used earlier while Arjuna was asking questions for example he said they put a vapour torture shaadiram a Roma harshest society in the 29th verse of first chapter I am trembling with grief and sorrow at this terrible thing we're about to do I'm trembling Krishna says you ought not to tremble you see he uses the same words evil you will see again and again whatever Arjuna has asked is actually answering those questions every question that has been put is now being answered one after another so it's a very intelligent thing going on underneath the text if you watch it there is no greater good fortune for except Riya then a righteous battle so a meaningful life you have got the opportunity to really do something meaningful it's it's a very rare opportunity take hold of it and do it and that's for all of us as for all of us and then with this one terminal care nurse she wrote in Reader's Digest she said that she met many many people in her career as a nerds to the term the terminally ill those who are dying and she said among those who would talk to her not all of them be lucid but among those who talk to her one the major source of the regret one major source of regret was why did I not do it why did I not try it it means something somehow life went by there were other important things to do but there was a wish to do something who knows what something for each person different so far he says when a time comes to make your life meaningful take that opportunity do something meaningful worthwhile with your life so this is a rare opportunity that has come before you you see a juna's real problem you know this battle is going to fight he has a problem with it because he's taking it in a worldly sense his whole approach to it was I will take revenge on those evil guys and I will get the kingdom which is rightfully mine because it was all centered around his personality and all rightful I mean there's nothing wrong with saying that nothing illegal there nothing immoral there but it was still selfish because it was around the little self what happened when he went there he got a terrible shock that for my own petty gain I'm going to kill my own relatives this is no good I can't do this but what Krishna is telling him you are not doing it don't do it for your petty gain it's your duty you are a warrior you're supposed to protect society from evildoers even if they are your own relatives so you are going then not for your own personal gain it's because your duty you're doing what you are supposed to do in life so do that later it will come Arjuna asked the question this is terrible I don't know which will be better if we lose this battle or if you win this battle you lose this battle we are finished terrible so the selfish self suffers because I don't get the kingdom I can't take revenge on the Kauravas if we win the battle is it is terrible I have killed my relatives but both are very selfish ways of looking at the same problem you see and Krishna will tell him whether you win the battle or lose the battle both ways you gain why if your point of view is of doing your duty you lost the battle trying to do the right thing you won the battle you have done the right thing what you're supposed to do what society wants you to do the whole thing is a change in perspective it'll come slowly Oh Shanti Shanti Shanti he hurry he owned that sat sri ramakrishna and Aparna must [Music]