Video 19

19. Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 2 Verses 52-54 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

oh whatever Suton deivam come such our new drama Dunham's dave aqui para van andum krishna monday jagadguru we're studying the second chapter of the bhagavad-gita in the second chapter there are three great themes the first one the most important one is eonni yoga the nature of the Atman the teachings about who or what we really are that's from about verse number 11 to 23 I think 23 or 24 of the second chapter that's really crucial if there's a central theme that is the central theme of the entire Bhagavad Gita because remember in Vedanta the idea is if we really know ourselves as we truly are then all our problems are solved that is spirituality that is religion but then what is it that we have to know about ourselves what is this true nature by knowing which all problems are solved it is the Atman that we are infinite existence consciousness bliss not not this physical body mind complex physical or mental body mind complex and this is done through the process of Vedanta which are that is the vedantic inquiry into the self three steps you remember hearing contemplation and meditation Shyvana mañana needed the asana listen to the truths study it properly you begin to get a grasp on it you understand what it is being taught and then once we understand what is being taught here we understand the sense we get it okay this is what is being taught now we have many doubts I know the text tells me this but now I have got many questions so then we enter into the second phase reflection contemplation where we raise quest and we argue it out we discuss it we study we think until we get clarity the first step is shovel of the hearing or the study by which we know what the teaching is step one then it's complete if you can state to yourself in traditional schools they would make you memorize the whole thing and I've met so many people I haven't memorized the whole Gita and there's a story behind it a sad tale when we I joined the order we had a Swami who insisted on the newcomers memorizing the Gita so he would insist one verse per day so as long as he was our head I memorized and I did about half the Gita and I thought I would complete it in due course but it strangely enough the moment the pressure was taken off and the new Swami came in charge I sort of slacked off yes but anyway and but there are others who were much more sincere than me and and I know some of my friends who completed so many many who memorized the whole Gita in fact there's one Swami I never met him but he was famous for being a master of the Bhagavad Gita Ram soup does she was in in the Himalayas in in Rishikesh place called Sargassum so in one place he says you know when I my mind feels disturbed what I do is I just sit quietly and mentally recite the whole Bhagavad Gita and so my mind comes down I said oh the whole bhagavad-gita if you recite that definitely your mind will come down so that is this one that is only the first stage when you know the teaching after this comes do we really understand do we have clarity do we see yes it is so the book tells me that and I also get it it is so that is the end of the second stage the stage of mononym thinking thinking in fact the name the Sanskrit word for Mooney Mooney means a sage it comes from mononym the one who contemplates these high spiritual matters but after that also one more problem remains one might still feel that I owe the teachings and I get it I understand it very well but still it's not a living truth to me I have not yet made it a realization or a living reality so that is that is tackled by meditation at the third stage when we try to assimilate what we have studied and what we are we are now we have got clarity it becomes a living truth by the process of needed the asana Vedantic meditation and the whole of this is called gana yoga the path of knowledge and this is the great theme of say verses from 11 to 23 or 24 objects second chapter then what happens what about the rest of our life the work that you are doing Arjuna was a householder he was a prince and he was in the nastiest business possible of warfare he was a warrior what do I do with that do I give it all up and become a monk so Sri Krishna gives the unique advice of the bhagavad-gita that no whatever work we are doing in whatever station of life as long as it's not completely moral we can actually make it spiritual we can make it a spiritual practice what spiritual practice is this it is called Karma Yoga why should I do this study reason and meditator that should give me enlightenment should doesn't there's so many people who come as have been attending classes all my life and I've got a whole cabinet full of notes and tapes and nowadays are hard-disk full of recordings but I'm not illumined I'm not enlightened what's happening what's happening is the mind is not prepared so that's where all the spiritual practices that we hear about in the different religions of the world all the spiritual practices that's where it comes in prepare the ground for enlightenment devotion service meditation all of them will be talked about but primarily first of all what do you do with your life so that you can become spiritual you can realize these truths so that is taught in karma yoga how to spiritualize action one way is the way of the monk to develop action all together and Arjuna was ready to do that Arjuna was ready to do that but Sri Krishna says wait a minute no whatever you're doing now you change the attitude towards that and you will get enlightenment so that was the great teaching of karma yoga and all these teams will be amplified in future chapters there are 18 chapters in the Bhagavad Gita whatever has to be taught how the central teaching has been given but we have many many questions and Arjuna will ask these questions for us as he asks you will feel that I had this question so those questions will come up in chapters 3 to 18 to understand these chapters we must first know this chapter 2 chapters 3 to 18 is basically amplification amplification of chapter 2 chapter 2 is central now after karma yoga remember I said there are three great themes in this chapter - after karma yoga the third theme which is remaining is going to start today is the characteristics of the perfect one the question is what are the results of all of this what do we get out of it what's the point of it all so all right I get enlightened so what what happens what is the result more specifically we know the result you're promising that all your problems will be solved you go pure attain bliss the way Arjuna poses this question is not he does not directly ask about the result he asks how will my life be different remember he's a warrior he an eminently practical person so he says don't promise me something in heaven don't promise me something afterwards after death no here and now not there in heaven no here what will I get here not after death now if I become enlightened what will it be like now how will I be different how will I be any different after this enlightenment so that's a fundamental question that question Arjuna will ask what are the characteristics of the enlightened person before we get to that you know we are there are two more verses remaining in karma yoga we had done up to verse number 51 I think last time so just two more verses before we start the next grand theme one of the most beautiful sections of the entire Bhagavad Gita certainly second chapter to his famous for that it's called Stata pregnancy election Ani that means the characteristics of the perfected one the enlightened one the one whose knowledge is literally still the breguet is a very nice term it means Pragya means enlightenment citta means stabilized you know note that so many people ask I get it about the moment I step out of the bed on to society it's all gone again so it's not stable how do I stay there we keep asking how do I stay there so the one who stays there what are the characteristics of such a person what will I be like when I'm like that now before that there are two more verses to finish those verses deal with what happens when Karma Yoga is completed what Hacket happens when gana Yoga is completed so he talks about it when will I become enlightened verses 52 and 53 52 yaad aati maha kali l'm yaad aati maha kali l'm Buddha deity tarisha T body beauty tarisha T the dog and toss in Edom the dog and toss in ear veda m-- wrote abuser shootas yah shota yes sir toss future can you all hear at the back you cannot hear so what is the meaning of this verse when you shall go beyond the darkness of delusion when your understanding goes beyond the darkness of delusion that means when you are enlightened then you will go beyond or you will become indifferent to her you will transcend its put beautifully whatever has been heard and whatever is yet to be heard what does that mean delusion the word moja and the word Khalil am Kalina means darkness maha means delusion so what delusion of the talking about here what is this delusion the commentators help us hear the heart my body heal that I am this body mind system this material system I am this much that's all who I am this is called identification with the body mind complex identification with body mind complex sounds very philosophical and fancy but it's exactly the way we think and behave Here I am how tall are you how much do you weigh if you say I'm 6 feet tall and I weigh 200 pounds there's pure consciousness weigh 200 pounds and is consciousness six feet tall of course not so you were talking as the body we're talking as the mind I am happy miserable I am intelligent or I'm dumb whatever it's the mind so your body mind identification with body mind is called delusion they hurt nobody he the word Khalil M is darkness actually or maze this is a beautiful description Khalil am Cohanim we do who gharana means a maze or darkness or adept Ghanim so this delusion is in which we are trapped is not an easy one it is called Cohanim a deep one a darkness deep darkness would theater is Chetty the word means have been your understanding transcends this are when you become enlightened when you become enlightened by the practice of karma yoga what is this practice the commentator says beautifully when by dedicating all our actions to God whatever I am doing is a worship of my beloved Lord by the grace of God my I get enlightenment so it's a very devotional kind of commentary one commentator puts it that way then what happens you become indifferent or you do you are not interested in worldly pursuits anymore that does not become central to life anymore Shroud obvious to the searcher the two words are very interesting that whatever is to be heard and whatever is whatever has been heard you will transcend them whatever is to be heard and whatever has been heard you will transcend what does it mean whatever has been heard literally means whatever you have experienced in life see we are trapped in two things one is what we have got in life the people we are with the jobs that we do the habits that we have the possessions that we have the way we behave think our precious ideas which we already have those are all attachments of body of mind of intellect that's what we have he calls it what has been heard whatever we have experienced our memories pleasant memories unpleasant memories traumas guilt is all what has been heard experienced this is where we attract another thing which Trapster says what will happen next we have certain fancies this will happen why what's the point I'll be happy then if if this happens so that's one group of things we which keeps us bound I want such and such things then it then I'll be happy we call it if if if only if only if only it's a nice word if only this would if only expresses eagerness a kind of yearning if only and the other kind if only if only I get that job if only I can buy that house or if only I can go on that Cruise or if only that person likes me and so on if only and the other one which traps us is what if anxieties fears fears and anxieties what if this happens what if that happens I have the cold creepy feeling in the tummy what if that happens so what if and if only this is the thing which is to be heard this is a sort of what is in the future both of those who transcend if only there is no question of if only what if there is no fear of what if how is this possible what is there which is beyond what if any firmly in the present you your own reality what if and if only refer to objects no a person a thing a situation something an achievement a failure these are audibly what if any firmly but what if an if only do not refer to you the subject and vedanta talks about your nature once you become aware of that then these don't matter what if and if only do not matter yesterday I was at Stony Brook University a very great philosopher professor in them Chakravarthi whom who was in University of Hawaii but very nice that news for us he has come to New York so he has got a job in Stony Brook University and yesterday was an inaugural lecture of a particular chair which he gave pain poetry and philosophy there's a connection what is the point of our spirituality to overcome suffering so pain that's the beginning how does the Buddha become the Buddha there is pain how do I overcome pain dukkha transcending soclean pain is related to philosophy poetry very interesting even before all this Vedanta Adi Shankaracharya and all the great teachers of bananamana the great arch areas ramanujacharya Shankar Acharya but watch re they are not the founders of Vedanta before them with the Rishi's who were inspired with the Upanishads which are the source of bhagavad-gita and all later Vedanta and one name for those Rishi's for those great sages of the Upanishads very interesting name they had an ancient name koffie koffie means in modern Indian languages it means poet but the original meaning of Kali was there's a Sanskrit definition granted are Sita the one who sees to the third distance who sees through the everything who see straight through to reality so Kavi is as the the greatest of sages or the Covey to introduce language poet so pay in poetry and philosophy all related very nicely related anyway about pain he made a very interesting quoted from one of the Buddhist sutras where Buddha is saying you know what suffering is like it's like a man hit by an arrow it burns it stings it hurts and immediately hit he's hit by a second arrow two arrows and that is suffering what is suffering the first arrow is the circumstances of life people misbehave it with which you are there is illness and death and failure and humiliation these are the this is the first arrow with what could the secondary we wait for it the second arrow is our reaction to it these are the ones which cause suffering the second arrow the agony inside the the trauma inside the actual suffering which you feel inside the inner experience of suffering that's the second arrow and the Buddha politely says that he cannot do anything about the first one but his his philosophy will take care of the second one that's what spirituality does actually sri ramakrishna note he's suffering from cancer did spirituality cure his cancer no he died from cancer then what did it kill it cleared the suffering Duke with a sense of the real suffering is my second narrow the internal let the thing the first one it will come with after if you cure the second one if you remove the second one the first one doesn't sting anymore the sting of the first one is the second arrow that is removed it's because of the sting of the first arrow that we are keep keep looking after you know what if if only that will go away if this is taken care of so at the culmination of Gyana yoga and karma yoga this happens one more verse and then we are done with the teaching karma yoga teaching 52:53 Shruti we Pratap and not a Shruti we prateep NRT yah pashyati nischala yellow stars UT nischala samatha watch Allah would be some anjo watch Allah would be tah-dah yoga mob ups you see Dada yoga mob ups you see Shruti beautiful now when you're right now our mind is confused by literally hearing Shruti why is he using this language should he be protip on as if it is confused by hearing basically what he's referring to his whirring - the karma-kanda of the Vedas actually which is also Shruti Shruti means the teachings of the Vedas now the earlier part of the Vedas the kalmyk under the ritualistic portion of the Vedas they promised many worldly and other worldly pleasures in this life whatever you want you can get it perform these rituals and give me my cut as the priest you will get and so there are rituals for a child for in those very patriarchal days it was usually a male child so son and for rainfall or for defeating an enemy all worldly things and if you do these rituals you will get this another worldly going to heaven and it's not one heaven multiple heavens are there and I'm sure the Commission the priest gets gets becomes higher and higher yeah not very different from Wall Street today also so whatever is power that there are high risk investments also so all of this is promised and why would religion promised this it is for you can ask if this is all worldly and other bodies are pleasures these are not really spiritual but I would then know the Vedas promise all these things remember two kinds of people come to religion one kind those who have faith in God in religion in some kind of belief but they are basically worldly people so we want happiness in this world and in the next world can religion helped me can God help me and answer is yes God can help so for them to make them to make them a little more moral to make them a little more ethical so that they are ready for the higher religion spirituality so that is Dharma a moral life a moral life yes you fulfill your demands in the world but in a moral and ethical way and there she will show you how so it attracts them and it creates a kind of faith in religion but that's the mass religion the higher religion what we might call spirituality is what the Gita is about the opening shots are about when you really want to know what's the point of it all how do overcome suffering not just manage suffering and snatch a little bit of pleasure not just like that yesterday the professor was describing what is the search for pleasure like in this world and he gave a beautiful example from the Mahabharata so there is this person who gets lost in a forest and the forest is this guarded by this terrible witch who is none other than desire letters reveal who the witch is desire and everywhere you cannot escape surrounded by these five terrible snakes the five snakes are the five sense organs and then it slips down and he falls off a precipice and his feet get tangled in the creepers of of a tree and is dangling there and there is a beehive from which the honey is dripping and his sense pleasures honey is dripping from the Beehive and there are rats black and white day and night who are knowing away at the tiny creeper which is holding the ankle at his life the god of life daily day and night the rats of days and nights are annoying away at our life life span slowly it is tearing apart and will plunge down into death and what does this man do in this terrible circumstances he waits for the next drop of honey and licks it and enjoys it rinse waiting for the next drop to come and then enjoys it that is worldly enjoyment what a depressing we have lurking in the retreat in San Diego arrived was Swami at Meru pongee he mentioned this he said that thinkers of the West some think of the West have said thought that the Indian thought is pessimistic they say the world is suffering but really Indian thought is not pessimistic Indian thought says the world indeed is suffering but there is a way out there is suffering but there is a way out of suffering there is a way of attaining deep lasting satisfaction and bliss there is a way of making life meaningful so it's actually ultimately Indian thought is optimistic every system of Indian thought buddhism jainism all the schools of hinduism they offer so religion basically not only Indian all religion is basically optimistic because the whole point of religion is that there is a solution in contrast the Swami mentioned our so-called optimistic modern thought is deeply pessimistic defeatist what does modern thought say it is true that there is no meaning in life it is true that death is an end there's nothing else beyond that make the best of it this is optimism this is exactly that man dangling the rats of day and night eating away at the roots and licking them that man might say yeah this is the situation what can I do a few more drops of honey let me taste and then disaster this is not optimistic so he says should he be prepped Aparna but in the higher spirituality when you look back upon the ritualistic portions of the Vedas all the things that they promised your mind was confused what should I want what what do I want say no when you give up all of that when you move beyond it to a spiritual quest what is the meaning of life is there Nirvana moksha God realization is it possible then he says but this tacit initial are then your mind settles down on one goal the highest goal of human life before that flickering one to another to another to another so life goes on now you have a overarching goal a final goal of human life moksha nirvana enlightenment or salvation whatever you call it the great spiritual adventure which has been going on from millennia and if you are blessed with it we all are because otherwise you wouldn't be here we all have a spiritual quest otherwise why would we come here it's a great great blessing remember whatever happens in life this is the one which will remember you can hold me accountable to this at the end of our lives we'll see the own what file thing that we did one is when whatever good we did to others that's a word file thing and the thing which really make gives meaning to life and purpose and aim to life is a spiritual quest whichever way you put it self-realization or God if your devotional philosophical whatever your proclivity is somehow watch Allah with the Dada Yoga mavapps you see so what is the meaning of this when your mind settles down and becomes stabilized in what some are though in Samadhi here Samadhi however does not mean the yogic Samadhi it can mean that but the commentators are all unanimous in saying here Samadhi actually means God or the Atman in advaitha Samadhi here means the Atman for example this commentator says somehow the earth is it Thomas minute is Ahmad he he Parameshwara in which the mind becomes absorbed ultimately that is Samadhi not the absorption of the mind itself but in which ultimately the mind becomes absorbed what is that here he says Parameshwara Shankara and others would say at myself the real self so that is Samadhi your mind becomes steady in that then you attained to yoga tada Yoga merabh si si what do you mean attained to yoga and the commentator says you attain to the result of yoga the whole point of all of this will you become enlightened all right that is the conclusion of the teaching about karma-yoga jnana-yoga has been taught Karma Yoga has been taught now Arjuna moves on he is curious he asks this question well if one becomes enlightened then how does life change what is the enlightened person like how is that person different from me that's one reason for the question second reason for the question is we all ask this question you know we don't ask exactly how is an enlightened person what is then a thin person like what we do all ask this question how do I know I am progressing in spiritual life many of us we ask this question sometimes out loud or sometimes just ourselves that's an answer what's coming up here is an answer to this question how do I know that I'm progressing in spiritual life I was reading Swami durian and og a devotee asks him how do I know I'm progressing in spiritual life exactly this question and he says a few things first he said that you will understand yourself and others will notice it to you or to in you so I me Ashok on and I remember he says to a group of devotees that is in nineteen fifties in San Francisco he says as you come to Vedanta and progress in spiritual life you will lose interest in many things of the world you see what the Gita just said all that has been heard and yet to be heard you transcend you don't are not interested anymore you're not interested in the if onlys and what ifs neither the terrors not the temptations as you lose interest in this and this becomes more and more important you may not be interested in many of the activities used to do earlier and Ashok Ramsey says then people will think oh she has become a bore mummy has become a bore that's exactly as I'm quoting him mummy has become a bore as from the time she started going to the Vedanta Society and I shocked and I'm quoting Ashok Ashok Ramsey says good riddance I say very soon you will find deep peace within yourself your life will become a blessing to you and very soon a blessing to others soon others will notice this about you and they will then become attracted to to the peace and the holiness that you radiate so today orangy says you will notice it yourself and others will notice it notice what two things one he says the negativities will go down classically in vedanta negativities as six the six enemies so-called enemies karma desire intense passion or lust karma oh the anger this will go down it's not supposed to increase so comic row the lower greed then Madame arrogance mad Surya jealousy envy and then is more hard illusion so the six fold enemies of spiritual life but in these are this one list you can have another list also the long lists are there so those ones will go down remember it does not promise that they will disappear comic Rosa lova mother matsuri amor desire anger greed arrogance envy and delusion confusion these will go away or reduce he does not say it will be like a switch throne I will all be gone at an instant no over time they will reduce the reactions will be less your recovery will be much faster they will not ruffle you so much others will also notice you will get peace then the gentleman asks so amatory ananda but i peace really is very far away until one realizes gets in light can be one get peace and tori energy says yes that peace is far away indeed but before that you will notice this hankering for worldly things if I get it I am gratified if I don't get it I am ruined I'm unhappy it's just terrible no that will go down if it comes okay nice it doesn't come fine that will come and a pulley towards now the pool will be towards God in whichever of you find it so you will find a pull towards card that shows progress in spiritual life now here Krishna will give the indications whatever he will say from now on from this verse number fifty five fifty four is the question 55 onwards till the end of this chapter ii chapter is an answer to this question it indicates the the indicators of spiritual life how far along how are we doing if you want to want an answer take a look at the what krishna said to arjuna and an Lu check inside but check inside not others he's not spiritual he is full of half advanced and he is I am he's advanced but I'm catching up on him and no it happens yeah I remember I was travelling in a train I was a young monk at that time in India and this couple were sitting elderly and the lady was quite I mean she knew a lot of things and she was talking about her spiritual experiences when her husband was very quiet and he after the his wife went to sleep he sort of came and sat next to me and he in a buried ways he said you know I think she's more advanced than me so whatever he's worried about it little jealous little resentful so how to catch up no not for others always yourself it's meant to check within another thing the commentators point out the characteristics which will be mentioned now from now on Shankar Acharya says whatever the characteristics of the enlightened person are practices for spiritual seekers a very important observation one might think all right an enlightened person is like this so what it's nice to know this but what is it to me it is all to us because it DS indicate the direction in which we should go in these situations of the enlightened person behaves in this way talks in this way we should try that and for us it'll be practice it'll be artificial it will be with an effort for the enlightened person it's natural that's how they normally live I remember a beautiful story of Swami Brahma Hahn and died disciple of Sri Ramakrishna a spiritual giant so there's a beautiful description of how he goes to a temple in Madurai and with other monks he enters temples the Divine Mother and he sweeps suddenly takes a this broom and he takes it away from the sweep and he sweeps the courtyard and they described that sweeping you know like he is serving the Divine Mother by sweeping the temples in such Allen he's the president of the Ramakrishna order but it was a divine sight to watch that everybody stood thrilled to watch this you know the whole thing was uplifted then when he went into the temple another monk wanted to do that so he grabbed the broom and started doing it but the person who writes this there is a world of difference the same action that is so natural and this is seep so artificial not bad monk is trying so we should try like that it won't be natural for us it will be a struggle for us and it takes a spiritual person to know what is natural and what is artificial I remember in a bill in our main monastery in value room at in India the big temple of Sri Ramakrishna so the Poojari that priest there is a monk a monk by turns they do it so there's a chief pujari a chief priest who is also among the chief Ritualist he's a generally spiritually very advanced so so the monk who was there earlier as the priest now he's too old to do that he used to do it and we thought he did everything casually you know he had been doing it all his life so 40 years or 50 years or something we thought he'd we used to think as young monks he's doing the puja sometimes he looked at me and of the Persians he does the Aarti like this and so on and he's very relaxed in this aura and there was another younger priest younger monk who's his understudy the next so this Swami was wonderful so beautifully it was so elegant the way he would do the puja the worship and everything and to imagine our surprise when one of the great Swami's of our order whom I personally considered an enlightened so he suddenly made a remark look when we were doing our we're learning how to do the worship ritualistic worship look at the senior priest the monk who does the worship how elevated it is and look at the artificiality of the new one and so a researcher oh this new one is a really good one and that one was so it seems to be so casual but no it's not that's not true so there's something which when it becomes internalized seems very relaxed and natural to you which so that that is the difference what is relaxed and natural to the enlightened one but is also important for us it's for practice for us I remember when somebody had come for some advice for to me I said you go to the old priest who know who was sitting that he little hard of hearing so I said always go there first bow down there's a way to approach him bow down then given make an offering and then go to his right ear that's what the year he hears and then shout out your question so they did that and he gave an answer and they were very happy and they say thank you saw me for telling us this plan not telling us about him then another Swami was watching the whole thing said there was a simple question you could have given the answer I said I know what a thing is there's a different power when they hear it from him they will actually go out and do it in my case they may or may not when he says the same thing he transmits a power to them you have so many things about that so I seen your son he survived but I get distracted now coming back to Arjuna's question Shankar Acharya says Yanni a vaca this is exact commentary on the bhagavad-gita at this point Jonnie of a great artists selection on its Arney ever saw the Castillo sada nonny yet nazar get work whatever are the characteristics of the perfect at one are the practices for the seeker why because with an effort you can attain to that state yet nazar dear Lord Madhu suden Saraswathi another great master who's on whose commentary I've relied on this for this verse the Arjuna's question Madhu students also - have you heard of him he was about 600 years ago a contemporary of chaitanya mahaprabhu great philosopher great devotee great gianni extraordinary he wrote a fantastic book the most powerful book of Vedanta philosophy adwaita Cindy don't try it it's a brain fryer of a book he wrote that and one of the most beautiful commentaries on the bhagavad-gita he wrote that too so I was using it to date studying it too just before coming here it is called guru heart the Deepika a lamp to illumine the deep meaning of the Bhagavad Gita the meaning of that a lamp a little lamp which illumines the hidden meanings of the Bhagavad Gita so there he says whatever are the characteristics of the Jeevan Mukta are the sadhana practices for the rest of us that's why this question is important so two things are important what are the characteristics we have to practice that second we can also understand how far along we are now this question will plagued us for a long time how are we doing so don't worry too much about it when swami said it's like you planted a little sapling and won't you see how it's doing it's like the foolish gardener who keeps pulling it up to see how it's growing verse number fifty-four you know what you know what theta pregnancy acaba Shah Sita Prakash akarsha some odd history acacia some artists Turkish of stated eke improper schita stated he Kim proper schita ki meseta projector kim kim azita Raji took him Oh Krishna Keshava who Krishna how would you define a one of stabilized wisdom an enlightened one of stabilized enlightenment then lighten one how would you define how would you describe how would you describe the one who is in Samadhi and how would you describe how is this person when this person is active not in tamati but when we are not in samadhi we have to sin we try to sit quietly and withdraw from the world or we engage with the world so how does this person withdraw from the world how does he control himself and withdraw inverts and how does he go outwards and engage with the world you know keema Sita how does he sit Kim provocative how does he talk he or she kim bridgetta how does he move around basically what is the difference between that person and the rest of us the general activities of the world he says living talking moving around of course there are deep meanings of each word it's not just how does he sit we would just say well he sits in a chair but no it doesn't mean that the deep meanings but it's also true that what are the differences in the little actions there's a beautiful Zen story of two students who came to a reputed Zen master and they stayed in the Zen school hoping to become an illumined and the master did not give them any classes enough days went by and we had to do all the duties of the you know in the in the school one of the students became impatient and he said I don't want to stay here anymore it's just a waste of time there are no classes he's not teaching us anything I wanted to learn about Zen about enlightenment about Buddhism what did the other other student calmly ask why what were you expecting I wanted to learn about Buddhism about Zen about enlightenment you know about meditation he's not a philosophy it was not teaching us anything aren't you dissatisfied the other student said no why what did you expect what did you come here to learn I said I came here to see how he ties his shoelaces you see small things and I want to watch that and see them satisfied just by seeing it so he Marcy the originator Kim Kim proper she the how does he talk sit walk but there are deeper meanings in this first of all the words Tita plug is beautiful Perugia means enlightened it means Yana special wisdom enlightenment so the one who has realized the Atman within by the practice of all of those things has realized not only realized stabilized theta there is no more doubt anymore no more confusion no more slipping away that inside the Vedanta Society I'm okay outside I'm not okay no no nothing like that inside outside here there now and then whenever I am alright I'm perfectly alright so that is theta procure established beyond any doubt there is which is the best place enlightened person will see wherever I am right now which is the best time right now a mature person will say what is the best time of your life will say right now even at the point of death will say right now this is the best why because the divine is present right here what could what could be better than this so stabilized wisdom beyond any problem possibility of being disturbed now this I'm taking from mother Susan s commentary good heart to Deepika he says there is the couple there's a thing to be known here the enlightened person has to States be careful here the enlightened person if you ask the enlightened person what are you it's a Brahmin what is all this it's Brahmin I am that reality that's it but the two states we observed from outside and all of these things become very clear at most clarity if you see the life of sri ramakrishna you notice the two states he was in one was in devotion and ecstasy when he's in devotion he's teaching talking singing mixing with the devotees active recognizing the external world and dealing with it that's one state and the other state is in in ecstasy absorbed in Samadhi completely forgetful of the world leaving his own body the doctor saw that heartbeat has stopped the eye does not blink she touched the eyeball the doctor Management Center he tested he touched the eyeballs the most sensitive part no blinking at all completely lost to this world absorbed within Samadhi so these are the two states and remember strictly speaking from a dick point of view these are not two states from the enlightened person's point of view there are no two states is only one state in words Brahman outwards brother only inverts its Brahman beyond name beyond form transcendent and outwards its Brahman imminent I see the entire universe but I know it is Brahman but for the enlightened person with eyes closed and eyes open it's the same thing but from the that point of view external point of view we clearly see two states and that's what Arjuna is asking one question the first question is how is this enlightened person what when when this person is in Samadhi what's it like when he completely absorbed transcending this worldly experience of ours what's it like and the other is three more questions are regarding when he is awake to this world when this person is awake to this world our world how does this person walk talk sit so for questions how is he in Samadhi this question number one and then second third fourth are about this external external externalized state walk sit walk six it talk walk ah see eat a proper shade bridgetta so there are technical terms for these two states in Vedanta one stay one term is some August absorbed in Samadhi internalized Brahman only nothing else no Maya no world no name and form not even body not even mind the second one is visit its avid antic Advaitic term Bhutan Bhutan the word view Tana means rising up it's like you're swimming and you dive into the pool and then you float up when you float up out of the water that's view Tana arising up rising up to an awareness of the world but the person knows the tan or Samadhi it's the same Raman that that must be clear the state is not a state of the person because if you see that that enlightened person is not a person anymore enlightened person knows I am Brahman Brahman does not have two states but the mind of the enlightened person from our perspective undergoes these two states and inward oriented Samadhi and outward oriented seeing the same Brahman as this world Sri Ramakrishna used to say what when I close my eyes God is there I mean open my eyes God is not there what kind of God is that of course God is there is same God I see outside so straight up requests the first one is in Samadhi in absorption what is this enlightened person like question 1 question 2 in Bhutan arising from Samadhi and looking upon the world three questions Prabha sheiter how does this person talk again from adoulin Saraswathi what does this person praise what does this person criticize what does this person talk about at all and then how does this person sits it means how does this person withdraw but here in Rio ha is it like us when we try to withdraw from life or is it something different and third is bridgetta moves about moves about here means again mother Susannah says how does this person interact how does person act in the world so basically he's asking you know he's not asking for an external depiction he's asking how does the enlightened person feel from within it's a very deep question if you ask for an external depiction then it's not such a very difficult question because the lives and biographies of saints are there that external deflections what they did what they said we can read about it but he says well certainly points out that he's asking Krishna because Krishna is an avatar he knows the inner world of an enlightened person so Krishna alone can tell him what is it like from inside to be an enlightened person I remember we asked this question to Swami bhootish Ananda G once this discussion was going on Swami bhootish and she was the 12th president of our order in our main monastery and I was very lucky to be present on the occasion so the question this question answer was going on and how does an enlightened person what what's that what is it like to be enlightened there's a question same question here and the question of a young monk asked the Swami who was by the time at 98 years old 98 just 97 plus we see the enlightened person see the sages Ramakrishna there are the sages of different religions we see them they talk and they walk and they eat and they can see the difference between people and things and objects did behave like us so you see God everywhere using Raman everywhere but but they did behave like us they see the difference is among us they know what is to be eaten what is not to beat and where to go what not to do everything they know so they are seeing the world like us right yes that was the question we see that they are doing these things and then the Swami's answers were very very deep we see that they are doing these things and the Swami said that's what you see he would speak very slowly that's what you see and why we are asking him because we had this feeling with this idea that we felt he is an enlightened person that's why we were asking that's what you see and then the questioner said ah that's what we are asking Swami what does an enlightened person see that's precisely the question what does the enlightened person see or feel from within what does the enlightened person the exact question was what does the enlightened person see and you know what the Swami's answer was I'll give you the exact answer make of it what you will what does the enlightened person see and the Swami's answer direct just two words who sees you know what it means as far as I can understand we have this feeling just like I'm a person we feel that the enlightened person is also person like me maybe a little wiser he knows many more the whole Gita I know only half of it another person maybe a nicer person no it's not like that at all it's far deeper than that it's not a person there anymore looks like that but it's not his answer was in Bengali you can bring all the question was only came on that can how does that one see and the answer he answered kada key who sees and we feel that that ways to feel at these times that he is not answering from a text he was a great scholar one of the greatest scholars of our order but he was not answering from a text he was it's literally good fili he's answering from direct experience what he's experiencing at the moment one sign of that was often the whole room would become surcharge you couldn't speak anymore sometimes the literally the hair on your body would stand on end not static electricity but like that and it would be it would be very awesome this old little law is the tiny and use ninety-eight years old but he could dominate this room filled with to 300 monks and we would sort of stand there quietly until it was time to go away his relationship with the Vedanta texts was very very interesting from with philosophy he was one of the greatest scholars we had but he were his scholarship so lightly he didn't want to write books until finally his talks were recorded and people transcribed it edited it and a book was published and I was there when the somebody said Swami your book has been published and he says I heard I have written a book I hear that I have written a book it was like that now one beautiful story which struck me because one of the schools of philosophy I was fascinated with is the Nyhus school is the school of logic especially the school of new logic Navi nai which is also a thousand years old it's India so even new logic is a thousand years old extraordinary it's the most sophisticated form of logic until the development of modern mathematical logic you know but before that no doubt about it so I was very fascinated by it and I actually went out into courses I've mentioned it earlier also I took three courses each course was from a scholar in his Asiatic Society each course was fifteen days five hours each and if you want to know what it's like one of the courses was fifteen days five hours each at a stretch of discussing you won't I'm not kidding you the topic was nothing about our app since what is what is nothing how do you talk about nothing how do you philosophize about nothing what is an absence and that was discussed for fifteen days five hours a day they were philosophers mathematicians computer science people mostly professors from different Arad graduate students from different universities I was only muck and the the pundit the scholar would come and painstakingly write on the blackboard his old scholar he would write a sentence there is no pot on the table the same clay pot which we didn't add right away dant it's also there in the ayah but there it's this example is there is no pot on the table in Sanskrit brutally hot or nasty there's no pot on the table and the rest of the day would be spent in analyzing that sentence what does it mean till one day this was in a place those were from Calcutta they no it's called the Asiatic Society the Vidya Sagar Hall it's a big hole so the caretaker of that Hall who would open the hall and you know take care of the facilities there the caretaker of the hollow watched these proceedings mystified he approached me I think I was only a monk I think he felt safe with me all others a fancy folk so he came to me and he said Sami if you want a pot I can get one it's available outside I mean these guys are cribbing about a part in every day they come and complain there's no pot I can get one it's like our snake and rope example the why am I telling you this I spent or misspent and there would be exams will actually be exams and then after that in those exams would be graded and I still had the grades and then your errors would be nicely discussed and shredded in front of everybody else they treated me gently being a monk anyhow so I'm fascinated by that subject that that branch of philosophy and Swami booty Shan ji was a master of that one too so here is here's the story one day we were talking with him and asking questions and he said those branches are not really necessary for your spiritual life to understand Vedanta you need to know a little bit of that logic but not much it's just introductory level but yet study is much more then one of the monks said not me I was too junior to open my mouth but another monk who also liked this kind of philosophy he said but Swami there is a great joy in that kind of logical thinking and that that logical philosophy philosophy of logic new logic and Bengali said night it on on the watching there's a jawed ISM he's answered look at the answer per a person was mastered the entire field he said there is joy in playing chess also what he meant was it's a similar kind of joy there's nothing spiritual about it it's a rarefied intellectual joint is good but it's not spiritual if you have it doesn't mean you are very spiritual if you don't have it doesn't mean that you have lost spirituality in Bengali he said when he said when somebody said Netley Anand watching he's he commented to da matta watch this also there in chest in playing chess he had a very balanced approach to spiritual life how does the one speak how does the one restrain the sense organs how does this enlightened one interact with sense objects how is it different from us how does it feel from inside what petitions you are saying who sees this question how does it feel to be enlightened from inside so from next class onwards krishna's answer and a beautiful sequence it starts here and reaches a climax at the end of this chapter from up to verse number 72 from 55 to 72 extraordinary beautiful profound highest Vedanta and the highest poetry also all those verses will come that which is day to ordinary persons is night to the enlightened and that which is day to the enlightened is night to ordinary persons its darkness to ordinary persons verses like that very beautiful words as the rivers flow into the ocean and the ocean is not perturbed not it does not overflow its banks it absorbs everything so the entire gamut of worldly experiences flows into the consciousness of the enlightened one and then latin one is not perturbed so like that very good by the way I just make this announcement now I often speak about monks in the Himalayas one of them is coming here so I'm sure one and the Giri he's a traditional monk in utter Kashi so the second time he's visiting actually does Siobhan and ashram in Bahamas very event they have invited him and he's going to come to United States to for a few weeks so I invited him to this Gita class it will be a different kind of experience you will see the different he's a very traditional teacher of Vedanta in in the Himalayas in in a place called utter Kashi he will give the class in April I think it's April 19 to something I'll tell you a Friday Friday it's like this so let's hope that happens Oh aunty Shanti Shanti hurry he own that sat sri ramakrishna Aparna must [Music]