Video 22

22. Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 2 Verse 58 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

Oh Vasudeva suitum daivam comes a charnel Ramadan um Devaki paramanandam krishnam vande jagadguru we are studying the second chapter of the bhagavad-gita and of the three great themes of the second chapter first is of course the most important thing self-knowledge Who am I or what am I why is that most important because that is the claim of Vedanta Vedanta is all about that the claim is if we truly know who or what we really are and that is there's no mystery about that we are the Atman we are Brahman we are one with God whichever way you put it at the divinity within us when we know that then all our problems will be solved solved again be careful solve means we transcend those problems we really find the fulfillment that we are seeking for transcending suffering and attainment of fulfilment we find that when we realize who or what we truly are so that is self-realization the second great theme was all right self-realization that's great what do I do with with my life I have a life a job that I have to do so how do I handle that this piece here karma yoga is the second great theme of the Bhagavad Gita how to transform our daily actions into into spiritual practice and to convert our karma into Karma Yoga and then the third theme which is going on right now Arjuna asked the question what is it like to be enlightened what is it like to be enlightened how do I know that I'm enlightened or more realistically how do I know that I'm progressing towards enlightenment what are the practice that I should that I should do in my life these are all implied in his question the actual questions he asked were for what does it like to be enlightened he says what is the enlightened person like in Samadhi when it's absorbed in that ultimate reality within what is it like and three questions about how is it like what is it like for that enlightened person when that person interacts with the world with the rest of us so basically enlightenment with eyes closed and eyes open with eyes open how does this person say it how does this person's the enlightened person speak how does this person move around it seems to be very simple questions but as we saw last time they are there are deeper meanings in each of these questions note the word used for enlightenment here neither Arjuna nor Krishna is used saying enlightened they're using a terms theta premium stabilized wisdom settled wisdom a very well chosen term because as we proceed along the path of Vedanta we very soon if you put a little bit of attention to it and stay with it for a certain time you will begin to get it we have a feeling that all right I get it what you're saying and this is great wonderful so a beginning of flicker of wisdom comes but that's not stabilized immediately the question comes and this question has come here so many times I get it when I'm here but when I'm out there when I go back home when I'm in my job in my family and then I seem to lose the wisdom that I've gained it doesn't seem to change my life I'm still suffering I'm still reacting the way I used to react so how can we make this wisdom stabilized state apraxia pragma means wisdom what wisdom wisdom about who we are what I am the Ottoman state amines stadium means stability it doesn't come and go it you will not say anymore that I got it but now I'm confused again I got it but when somebody was rude to me I just lost it I got it but when somebody pulled in ahead of me and took the last available parking I I was deeply deeply unhappy so I cannot honestly say I am really at peace and quite quite happy so stability once we have that stability we will not complain in that way in fact we will not complain at all as I say one big problem of enlightenment is you lose the right to complain now will we were looking at Shri Krishna's answer verses 56 55 56 57 in 56 shri krishna uses a phrase vita raga buyer crowed huh those are books you can see in verse 56 with a raga prior crow huh what is what is it like to have this stability in wisdom this person has transcended Vita means transcended gone not that the person has gone and the Trotters gone is raga this attachment buyer fear and anxiety crows her anger so one has this person is forever gone beyond these things if this is worth thinking about especially when we ask how do I know that I am progressing in spiritual life these are the indicators raga it's very important raga rava here not the Bengali raga raga means anger in Bengali here raga means attachment attachment from which comes with ah the detachment vairagya the dispassion which monkeys is supposed to be supposed to have vairagya dispassion that raga is attachment so attachment and his transcended attachment attachment to what what kind of attachment attachment to persons and things and places you know and why do we have this it's because we think we feel you don't think we are sure I am incomplete there are places those loves empty chairs next to you raise your hand yes so anywhere you can just sit go sit we feel that I'm incomplete and this person will make me complete this job will make me much better much happier than I am this this food or this place or whatever it is relationships gadgets accomplishments raga it's a very big factor in our life and this becomes our project in life not one one after another after another this is the driving force of samsara to interesting places I lived in his Manhattan here and before this was a Hollywood so the the raga the pull of the world here somebody said in Hollywood you are successful if you feel glamorous if you have made it I saw young people coming and their whole thing is how do I get into the movie industry and some doesn't have to be an actor it could be your script writer or something like that and that's the goal and the idea is somewhere deep inside there is nothing wrong with that see but what is the problem is the deep inside is the expectation if I get that then I'll be fulfilled I will be happy no unfortunately so that is one and here it's you're successful in Manhattan if you're rich so the same kind of young person comes here hoping to make a million bucks again nothing wrong with that except one thing underlying that is the deep feeling that if I get that I'll be fulfilled if I do not have that I'm a loser no absolutely not and how do you know evidence we just simply ignored the evidence of our own eyes throughout history throughout just see the people you think who have made it as them are they happier that they have made it in one since yes and are you fulfilled now what you expected no not at all now I want something else or more of that or a variety of that now I've got a film now I want a second film now I want an Oscar or something like that I want about a million now I want to ten million that seems to be the next step rat race rah ha ha somebody said rat race if you win the rat race you still a rat and it won't let you get off and get off the race because you have the deep feeling especially in this country where it seems it took me some time to understand coming out from India that it's bad to be poor it's not it's something wrong with me if I'm poor there's nothing wrong with you economists sociologists all show yes of course one should be up and doing trying one's best to attain what is good what you think is good in life but just because somebody is poor it's not that the person is is a worse person than the person who's rich often it's the other way round but it's a it's a lot to do with karma our wishes are usually fulfilled if we have a lot of good karma to back it up and bad karma often leads to a lot of struggle and unhappiness in life but raga the fundamental thing is raga means this grasping this will make me happy the enlightened person doesn't have that why not because the enlightened person realizes I am the Atman where does rather come if I am this body if I am this mind this body mind complex and a tiny being among so many other beings then I'm conditioned just like everybody else and I'm programmed this is the way you go and this is how you will be happy but if I'm not this little body is not my entire story it's a page in the book which I am reading I really know not just as a rhetoric but I really know as a fact that I am the Atman that I am an immortal soul and the spirit whatever you call it the birth of the body is not my creation the aging of the body is not my aging and the death of the body is not my death if I know that yeah if I see that I am infinite that I have no nothing that days in this world which can give me living under said this mud puddle of a world there's nothing here that it can really give me nothing here really said will fulfill the want that I have within the one that I have within will be fulfilled by self-knowledge or God for those who are devotionally oriented they speak of a god-shaped hole in the human psyche especially in the last two three hundred years when people have stopped believing in large numbers in religion so there is a kind of so God is gone but not gone we think the car is gone but we have this this gap this hunger unsatisfied within what will fully fulfill it and we're trying raga we're trying to fill it fill up this deep want within us there are hopes that one day art would supplant religion so art is the new religion and you are here you are one of the places in the world which is the peak of that kind of thinking you have the museum mile here and so art or some kind of social project socialism communism capitalism that becomes the passion or nationalism so life for God no no no that's outdated life for my nation so that becomes the new Idol to worship we tried all of these were tried science ecology nature the gender Wars tried all of that and all of them have roles to play but will it satisfy you finally when you get what you want will it will it satisfy you no it won't and you sort of know that it won't it's just one more thing so raga the enlightened person doesn't have this so the impulse to act is not to fulfill a lacuna within our within myself but people to act is out of duty or what is good for others or as a free offering of love that's the enlightened person's perspective because we have this raga the result is next via fear fear what is fear first of all the things which will fulfill me I have a fear of not getting it or a fear of losing it the people the job my health my good circumstances which are things are going nicely immediately fear is there that very soon it won't go nicely and it won't but that's just being realistic somebody said who is a pessimist a person who sees the long dark tunnel ahead is a pessimist who is an optimist a person who sees the light at the end of that long dark the long dark tunnel and the light at the end of long dark tunnel but who is a realist the person who sees the long dark tunnel and the light at the end of the tunnel and the next long dark tunnel ahead this is the very nature of samsara so fear fear is ever-present for the for the worldly person fear is ever-present those who think I am only a body and mind is little being fear is inevitable all kinds of fears anxieties the as reading Ernst Becker's classic book the denial of death he says the prime motivating factor in human life is the terror of death we at one level we are afraid everything that we are working towards everything will be wiped out everything time will come and wipe out everything our so whatever week we hold dear including this very body including our the knowledge that we have gained everything will go time will erase everything so this listing we know deep inside and we are terrified of it Becker ODS Becker says and so what is the result he says the result is a deep denial of this of course he's a psychoanalyst Freudian so you say deep denial we suppress it we suppress it we don't think about if you people say deep fear of death no Swami I'm not really afraid of death and Becker would say AHA suppression gotcha so you can't escape a psychoanalyst if you say you have a problem is of course you have a problem if you have no problem deeper problem you're suppressing it very serious area are you serious now Freud was once asked that what is your definition of normality this is I mean it seems everybody is abnormal according to but he gave a beautiful definition beautiful criterion normality he said normality is the ability to love and do your work the ability to function in life you're getting your work done not that you taking of everything on your to-do list he obviously had not seen 21st century man happened that is impossible nobody can get through all of that but generally you are muddling through in life you're okay then it's alright it's normal you're functioning and the love means can you relate normally with the people around you love affection relationship then if you have these two normal but terror suppress suppression he says Ernst Becker says suppression it's a book it's a dark book but what's reading he got the Pulitzer Prize for it denial of death I think it was in 1970s and it the introduction is by the editor who was in a science magazine he wanted to interview because the book was so popular he wanted to interview Ernst becker dr. Becker and when he called I think dr. Baker's wife or somebody said that he has got terminal cancer and he will die in a few days denial of death but he's willing to give you an interview and so this person goes and is dying and this author Ernest Becker says see now I have a chance to actually practice what I have preached now this death is coming up with all the suffering and all the terror can I remain steady and pass away with dignity so that's the introduction to the book and he did we suppress it and then what happens so terror is there it's suppressed and then suppressed of course you know if you know Freud in psychoanalysis separation is not never total suppression it will manifest in some way so then is great thesis it manifests in what he calls our immortality projects he says all of human civilization is a by-product of the suppression of the terror of death what is the immortality project some way of trying to avert the inevitable that I'm going to die it could be anything from raising a family to founding a business to conquering an empire to becoming famous anything you see anything you put it there you're not writing books on immortality project you want to live on through your books becoming famous artist something political leader religion is the greatest immortality project we hope that somehow by pleasing God will be get some kind of immortality trying to live on it doesn't usually work if I nationalism he's mentioned nationalism if I die for my nation I will be immortal but that kind of immortality is in all of these are also doomed to failure because really deep inside us we don't really want to be immortal like that they are very poor substitutes for the kind of immortality every one of us wants what is that I hear me myself this one must continue to exist Woody Allen's right in this city he was asked are you seeking immortality through the silver screen through your movies do you seek to live forever in movies and your books Woody Allen said no I want to live forever in my apartment that is true that's what people want and this enlightened person has realized something which shows that we truly are Ahmad not just the enlightened person all of us we are and so there is no fear transcends fear in fact the definition of enlightenment is fearlessness true fearlessness not by erasing the universe not by remaining in Samadhi and does not see the universe and therefore fear fearlessness no actually experiencing the universe in this universe and completely free of fear in this body living this life facing that like every one of us one european Duke asked Swami Vivekananda what can you teach me that I can't they said I can teach you how to die not the suicide kind of death when we face our death truly how to die the high off the Emperor Janaka vini attained enlightenment his master told him abra my proptosis Janaka you have reached you have attained enlightenment Oh Emperor Janaka no you have attained fearlessness Oh Emperor John you do not say you become enlightened you have attained fearlessness with a cannon they again and again kept on saying be fearless be fearless ahee ahee that is the practice and that is the result crow ha ha anger anger is a result of of fear when my expectations are thwarted when I feel threatened the result is anger the enlightened person has no fear is completely secure very Langer B is completely feels one with all with whom will be angry do you ever get angry with your hands or your feet or your no you don't you are that so you feel if you feel one with everybody with everything whom can you be angry with sometimes say since ages do get angry but that anger is for the welfare of others maybe they use anger to teach somebody vaikunta said a fool cannot get angry the one who the COO cannot get angry the fool but the wise person does not get angry we eat a rag of higher growth of free of transcending attachment attachment and aversion raga to Asia via the resultant anxiety terror of existence and growth her anger with whom will you be angry even even all is but one with whom will you blame whom will you praise your we are one with everybody now next keeping this in mind and we have done worse number 57 verse number 58 onwards now remember the third question was you thinking what are the first two questions first question how is an enlightened person in Samadhi Samadhi is the second one how does this person speak Kym improper sheiter how does he speak we have already seen how does this person react when faced with Pleasant and unpleasant circumstances how did this person react how does he react verses 56 and 57 we look it up next question third question was how does this person sit the deeper meaning of the question is how does this person withdraw from the world in spiritual practice interior eyes why is this question important this is important for us those who seek to stabilize our wisdom if we say that I am beginning to get it I am beginning to understand what is meant by a Ambrym ask me I am the witness consciousness I am the spirit how do i stabilize it and manifest it in life manifest in life means in thought word and deed how do I think like that and how is it expressed in my day-to-day life so Swami Vivekananda said religion is the manifestation of the divinity already within us he did not say I used to think about it if you read Vedanta you would say the definition of religion is the manifestation of the null the the knowledge of the divinity within us or the realization of the divinity within us I am Brahmin to know that he says no no no that's not enough one might misunderstand knowing might be like book knowledge knowing might be like an intellectual conviction which feels almost like the real thing but are you able to overcome your problems because remember the original proposition the selling proposition for Vedanta was you will be able to overcome suffering in life can you overcome your own suffering can you overcome your own existence angst can you attain lasting peace if you have done that that is then religion is working for you spirituality is working for you manifestation of the divinity within it is the theta procure the one of stabilized wisdom who can manifest this divinity within how do you do that why can we not do that what is the practice for that I am beginning to get it how can I manifest it in my life so you understand it's a very crucial problem crucial question and it's an advanced question it's not what the beginner it's just just a minute Ronnie what is Vedanta and what is an Earthman all right that's that's that's beginning but this is advanced how do I see it in life how do I manifest in life so the process is called we have heard this earlier needed the asana needed the asana means to remain with that clarity the realization that knowledge to remain with that that insight remain with that we're not only in Vedanta class but also in in my life throughout the day outside the class inside the class and outside the class stay with it not just in meditation but in your work in your recreation in your leisure hours to stay with it stay with this realization to stay with this realization is vedantic meditation different from yogic meditation yogic meditation you must sit still you must shut your eyes and withdraw from the world and then you must concentrate and there are many techniques for that yogic meditation mindfulness techniques are there in Buddhism and in yoga so many techniques of meditation are there are all yogic concentration approaches concentration approaches means cut out the world concentrate on this and in Vedanta you can do that you can do that but other than that also when you are interacting with the world then also you must do this stay with this knowledge this is called needed the asana the awareness that here is the world but I am aware of the world I am the business consciousness this is drishya the object I am the dressed on body drishya object I am the - Nasir mind drishya object I am the - Nasir the pure consciousness the real rushed are the real seer not not the world not the physical body not the senses not the mind not the intellect apart from all of that in whose light the intellect and the senses and the mind function that I am that witness consciousness the witness of the three states not the Waker not the dream are not the deep sleeper with I the one pure consciousness the pure subject which appears as the Waker in the wakers world which appears as the dreamer in the dreamers world which appears as the darkness of deep sleep I the unchanging light of awareness that one not the five sheets of the personality see all these techniques they lead to the same thing the five sheets of the personality many of you know what I am referring to the different approaches in Vedanta the anima have food sheet not this the pranamaya the vital sheet not this the Mahamaya the mental sheet not this Vidya no Maya the intellect which we are using right now not this the darkness behind beyond it the restfulness of the Bliss sheep anandamaya not even that Natan 80 the witness consciousness of all of them which uses all of them because of which all of these function that I am whether by the method of punch Akasha vivica by the method of our start Raya by the method of Drake drishya whichever method you like multiple methodologies out there I am that stabilized stay with it when we eat food Brahma heart penumbra Mohave be we chant many people do not know that is way daunting needed be has an avid antic meditation many things it's a prayer for food to chant it when what do you do after that you eat no you realize that your Brahman that is the point of it what does it say that what you are offering the day actually is a ladle by which you offer Brahma heart bottom that is Brahman the offering that you are making that is burn that is Brandon the the paradigm is of the ancient Vedic fire sacrifice so there's a fire there's a priest and the chanting of mantras and the wooden ladle and the the offerings the offerings which are oblations put into the fire and all this is going on but what is vedantic meditation the ladle is Brahman Rama hard part of the offering is brownman brahma javi the fire into which I offer Brahm hognose the fire is Brahman and the one who is offering brahmana who 'them I too am Brahman or the priest is Brahman whatever you say Brahman hey vitina Ganta beyond brahma karma Samadhi no the one who who can defy all action look at the difference between vedantic meditation and yoga meditation yogic meditation stop it don't start offering things into the fire sit straight breathe like this close your eyes concentrate here that is yogic meditation shut out the world and there's it's very powerful but Vedantic meditation is engaged with the world look what's going on and everything that is going on in and through that notice that one Brahman so I am Brahman I am the witness I am the existence consciousness in which all of this is going on Brahma Hart remember a movie so this is vedantic meditation needed the asana now I'm giving all this as an introduction what Krishna will tell arjuna here is in order to practice that needed the asana that's that that's the key to stabilization to stabilize your wisdom the brahma or penumbra Mohave says one who sees brahman in this way in every action that one realizes with brahman that one becomes the Stata program established wisdom to do this needed the asana there are two conditions you will see that they are very important the two conditions are Indian agraja control of the sense sensory system very powerful psychic energies are involved in the sensory system and mano negra control of the mind control of the sensory system control of the mind by mind is include mind included mind intellect memory all of that activities internally and the sensory system which which interfaces between you your mind and the world control of these there are powerful energies involved here if we do not do that and we try to jump straight to vedantic meditation the complaint will be keep failing keep getting swept away already become angriest had already said a few curse words then I realized oh I have to do Brahman meditation what happened why did I suddenly lose because the foundation has not been laid here are the foundations verse number 58 261 yada sonority jayam yada Sandra teach I am guru mangani was aruba human johnny was a Russia Indian in Rio tibia Indian in Rio de bia the Supraja pratishta table tosser pragya pratishta one who can the the spiritual practitioner who can withdraw at will the sensory system from the several senses the five senses from their respective objects at will that person can practice Vedantic meditation that person's wisdom is settled example it gives a nice example here tour toys at Auto as you know the moment at Auto s is threatened you can it is nicely crawling along the beach the moment it feels scared what it does is it quickly in a flash withdraws its forefeet and its head into the shell the shell is hard and armored and it withdraws into the shell and waits until it thinks that the that the danger has passed and then comes out pokes its head out and then slowly still goes on its way again like that can we withdraw our senses from from their contact with the world outside why the reason is Sri Ramakrishna is to say but in the beginning of spiritual life one must construct a fence around oneself and it's like a little bit of planted a sapling a little flower flowering plant maybe and you've constructed a fence around it if you don't put a fence around it it will be eaten by cows and goats remember is giving an example in India especially Indian villages so if you have a little juicy little plant coming up the cow or the goat will come and eat it up here you see it in the garden deer come and they eat it up and so on now if you put a fence around it when that plant grows up it becomes a big strong tree Sri Ramakrishna says you can tie it and L went to it and the tree it will not damage the tree similarly in spiritual life at the beginning a fence is put around in your spiritual practices and allowing you to practice this vedantic meditation shravana mañana nudity asana regular Vedantic study inquiry reasoning and meditation stay with it and don't be disturbed what are the cows and goats which meant come and eat up the tender plant of a pedantic wisdom they're doing it all the time we are our own senses these are very powerful eyes the senses are the visual the eyes and their object is form see ears and their object is sound nose and the object is smell skin and the object is touch tongue and the object is taste Rupa Resig and especial the shop de yep so five Rupa is form rasa is taste ganda a smell sparsh a is touch and shut the sound among them most powerful you see here and also touch taste also smell maybe not so much though smell is actually connected a lot with the taste also if you have a cold and blocked nose you find a lot of food is not tasteless tasteless and becomes tasteless so these are all powerful and they have the ability to disturb completely churn up the untrained mind the unprotected mind see one would never think of rummaging around in in the in the garbage the trash cans outside and taking out food and putting it into your mouth it thought makes you feel sick and in your tummy will be upset immediately and yet we keep collecting things from the trash cans of the world and pouring them into our minds especially in today's world you pour it into our minds how through the eyes through the years especially eyes and ears what we see and what we hear and touch also eyes want to see what do they want to see something that is exciting something that's pleasurable and what is pleasurable something that we have conditioned ourselves to think this is nice I want to see it again and again and again ears want to hear that which is pleasurable nice music even more musical than music is praise somebody saying nice things about me let me hear even more spicy than praise is criticism criticism of another person how very nice to hear criticism of myself very annoying to hear desperate but we can't avoid it we're drawn to it what is that person saying about me so the object things of the world we want to hear I know you see one monk under whom I was trained once I was walking with him and there are people around students and the usual path the Swami walked that day he said we will walk by this but other paths I said why those students there they're talking about me he could overhear so he said so the result is I will not walk by that I will not hear what they are saying about me see that control I do not want to listen I remember one of the biggest lessons early on in spiritual life I had not to convey rumors you know to convey what was telling tales what is that gossip so there was a monk in the ashram which are joined who was critical of the Swami under who was in charge of the ashram and that's not natural one might say some something or the other but but then this monk told me I was new I did I hadn't heard such things that you could actually you know criticize the seniors for me and so on so for I felt very shocked and then I told another senior monk you know this monk is saying bad things out what about our Swami and this other senior monk did not like the first monk so he immediately got something too he should come with me you must immediately report it to this this one he I was terrified I'm a newcomer I mean that's a horrible situation to be in as I have a sort of willingly dragged along to the head office of the the Swami know who one was in charge of the whole ashram and whom I had the greatest regard for the one great Swami for the wanted of course my guru is I've got my mantra diksha and all of that from guru and that's great but my training in spiritual life my initial the stamp which fall comes from this Swami and now I have to go far far in front of human carry tales about another month so this other monk says to be tell him Swami hear what this novice has to say tell him what that that monk said so this monk has a project that I'm going to fix that guy and I sort of mumbled out you know he was saying about you the moment I said about you I got one of the worst scoldings of my life I've ever had till now the moment I said he said about you the Swami said stop I don't want to hear this never ever do such a thing never carry tales about another person report it or does he want you to tell me this no and and he went on I still remember a hits like a vivid and there are those times you know if you if you love and revere somebody and suddenly you lose all standing with this person you feel like you can melt and disappear into the ground you would rather vanish he said you have encouraged him why did he say such things you have encouraged him you are listening to him you are behind all of this he did it on purpose he laid it on really think so that I would never forget that lesson and I never did and the other Swami had protract me there he saw that I was getting into trouble and thing was not going the way he intended it to and he said no no saw me he didn't want to come hey you go go leave leave go you didn't want it to go very very far because it could go far in the sense that I could be just thrown out of the monastery so and that was the senior Swami's way of teaching one of the things it would quite freely say oh you have come to become a monk you didn't come to become this leave outside the gate so that was our terror that will be turn out other and we all want to become monks and we wouldn't be allowed he did I never saw him actually do that literally to anybody but everybody was scared so hearing I want to hear gossip about myself seeing pleasurable things what I want to see the in the senses run towards their objects they run towards their objects you know I remember one monk who had been in in the mountains for many he had gone from our monastery and he was in the mountains he was doing meditation so in those days though there was no internet or anything like that or TV the newspaper was the source of news and he said he would go daily to a little shop there the shop owner remember it sits high up in the mountains the shop owner would give him a glass of milk so that he would take for nutrition so one day he had gone down from his Hut to that little shop and he sat down there on the rough wooden bench and there was this other villager who had come with an oar newspaper maybe three or four days of it and is reading it and this monk said something drew me like I'm drinking the milk and I looked this way you may laugh at it you don't know you deprived your senses sometime you will see how much the hunger of those senses increases multiple multiple times I remember once I was I was very sick and I couldn't eat the only food was given I would throw up now it went on I was on the IV for 15 days and had a very interesting experience body sick unable to eat anything even water if I just throw up now in my dreams I started dreaming about all the nice things I'd eaten when I was a kid I thought I'd forgotten those things but see how deep they go now the interesting thing is it's not a hunger of the body the body doesn't want it can't take it it's a hunger of the tongue of the sensory system the hunger is in the mind the taste is in the mind not so much in the body and that's a great insight it body doesn't really need it it's the mind which needs it's a it's a conditioning mind also doesn't need it so amatory Ananda ji there's a nice story about him disciple of Sri Ramakrishna who was a strict red ant in a very harsh disciplinarian in balloon mutt the main one has to be there summer is like 110 degrees in the shade with a hundred percent humidity who can imagine somebody said it's like walking through hot soup all the time so in summer now they have a very beautiful what you call yogurt here it's like a lassie and it is very nicely prepared with spices and all it's very very tasty I can tell you that it's offered to the Lord in the temple and the Prasad the three the sacred food which is offered so every monk gets it by turn so every summer if you are a monk you are in in the main monastry you'll get it once and so I have I've had it I still remember the taste it's really good now maybe just because it's so scarce maybe that makes it more tasty now there's a story so amatory Ananda when he was there in the early days of the Beller monastery it was his turn remember he's a disciple of sri ramakrishna the senior-most monks is regarded as an enlightened person so but everything goes by brute wrote there so it was his turn in the afternoon the young monk comes with the glass the delicious thing and he offers it to him and the Swami takes a sip and says take it away and the monk said why Swami is did good didn't you like it he said I liked it that's why he doesn't need to do that but he'd said it's a lesson to listen to it Jonathan Hyde who is a psychologist here in the United States he has a book the happiness hypothesis there he raises an interesting question we have so much positive psychology if we go to the Barnes & Noble section so many self-improvement books just among the bestsellers rows and rows of them bestsellers and I and we why is it not changing our lives he asked this question many of them they may be anecdotal they may not be academically rigorous but they have good wisdom in them and they all promise you know how to be happy in so many days and how to become popular how to overcome fear of public speaking how to manage your finances how to lose weight how to meditate anything that you would want in life everything all in seven days or three days or 14 days all and a lot of the lot of them and they'll give examples it's worked for this this and this that and the other person but why doesn't it work why our lives why are our lives not revolutionized by all this wisdom why not it's not it's fault it has worked in some cases so he gives an answer and the answer is exactly what krishna is saying here he says there he gives the example of the elephant and the writer the elephant in a mahout is the one who writes the elephant the mouth decides I will go there and then guides the elephant there but remember them it will only the elephant listens to the mound because the elephant is much stronger than the rider if the mouth wants to go go right and the elephant sees a bunch of bananas in a shop in left and elephant wants that there's no power that the mouth can exercise we should make the elephant go right so it says our intellects are the ones which are convinced by arguments our intellectual who attends the seminar who I do it's really your intellect which attempts who attends a Vedanta class the intellect which attends who reads all those books in Barnes & Noble's is the intellect which reads but who has to do the job not the intellect I read and I'm convinced 5 o'clock morning get up and do yoga that's really good and here are the benefits page after page I this is great I'm going to do it tomorrow and I put the alarm now at 5 o'clock tomorrow in the morning the alarm rings and it's cold and it's committee comfortable under the comforter and I know that I have a long hard day ahead maybe intellect says the program have to get up the body says it's your program you get up I am I am going to remain under the blanket I don't care you never asked me did you ask me I didn't sign up for this intellect is like the mouth it's convinced by arguments and seminars and presentations and books and data but the elephant the body the body says the sensory systems the physical body they're not convinced and so this is struggle and you fail you fail versus the mahute he gives another thing the intellect actually invents excuses so it's like a deluded mouth the elephant is going wherever it is going the mouth says yes this is where I wanted to go and Jonathan had says most of the time we are like that where we make excuses for ourselves so and he points out what is the elephant here he says the body but especially he says the sense organs he says they have an auto use or easy they tell like they're autonomous they're not directly under your control you can't press a switch and make your eyes ears the nose all of them do what you want says no they have a conditioning and a kind of limited autonomous until it nowadays we have AI the things these our our gadgets do so they talk to you and they do things they have a limited kind of intelligence our sensory centers the chakras which talk about in yoga they have a limited intelligence in fact he says he gives example our gut for example it has its own intelligence there's a vast amount of nerve or nerves which go there it's like a nerve center so when you say gut feeling you're right it's the gut which is feeling something and so it has its so they have their own autonomous intelligence and they are not onboard with you the boss up there so they will pull in different directions and hence all your projects of self-improvement are sabotage unless they are on board unless they are on board and he does not go deep into what can be done he simply says what does the elephant respond to not lectures not books not seminars or TED talks the elephant responds to only one thing training elephant is a creature of habit can you give it good habits through training that's what the mouth does through conditioning trains telephone and conditioning training takes repetition so what krishna says the sensory system is very powerful control the senses at the very beginning he says we draw the senses from the objects be careful keep a watch over what you see what you hear what you smell touch there are things in the world which will throw your mind into turmoil what kind of turmoil rather do Asia attraction aversion anger also is a very nice thing to keep spend time with you have strong political views this party or that party this thing at that person and and then what you hear the news supplies and you get engaged in that and become angry this is very bad some cause or the other what about Vedanta God realization of forgotten for the time being yes and in modern media in trances it multiplies the power of our senses many fold so one must be very careful there you're sucked in somebody said why is internet browsing and all these things mobile phone why's it so attractive it's designed to follow the movement of your mind the way the mind operates that thing responds to it your mobile phone is actually more attractive than TV serials of past ages which is more attractive than books why a book is linear and only one thing if to see and read and think a TV gives you things to see like a movement sound everything is shown to you don't even think much your senses are more captivated easily but even that is linear you don't have control over the plot but your phone or computer and all that that responds to what you want and that's exactly what we want to do a mind is at ease wandering around the way the mind wanders normally it now wanders in digital in and on the internet and the world wide web so one must be careful there what I see what I hear what I touch what can throw my mind into and engage it at other than veyron Tech netted the answer and sitting in bands and Nobles looking at books reading it's two ladies where I sort of overheard their next sitting next and they're looking at a glossy book you know what was the subject of conversation between them neither was less than fifty there must been 15 60s the royal wedding had taken place there's a glossy book on what this late and the lady who married the prince Megan Markel yes what she wore the dress and they're going on discussing about it the dress you see how they're pulled into it there's nothing to do with me nothing to do with me another thing is arguments big thing arguments never if you're a veil antics to dint a spiritual practitioner of any kind don't get into arguments of about anything especially about Vedanta people become enthusiastic about Vedanta first thing is they'll try to pull in others especially parents and children very nice Swami can you do something for children I said no first you are interested in by a bit that will shine forth and that will do the best job for the children if you want to the first thing is they want to make the children enlightened before they are enlightened themselves and then arguments I'm trying to convince other people you never will even if you win an argument you have lost the moment to get into an argument the result is some one Swami joked he said argument is a fire which gives more heat than light so it generates a lot of heat not so much light at all so don't get into arguments it aid people become angry and worked up and the moment you do that and if you sit in meditation if your regular meditator you will see the terrible effect of that on your mind I like that prayer have you heard of the serenity prayer Lord gives me the strength to to change the things that that can be changed that I can change give me the patience to bear those that cannot be changed and give me the wisdom to the difference between the two often we we are slack off where we can actually make changes and make our lives better we avoid those because it it's difficult to make changes and we get very worked about about things national international politics and things everything which we cannot do anything about really no concern of ours you may have an opinion that's it and we don't know the difference between the two so control of the senses I think I should stop here because we did only one verse I was going to do one two three four verses today do you have any question because we've run out of time yes continue yes so what does control of senses mean it means balance moderation do I cut everything off the Buddha's are tried it and the result was he found that if you deprive your senses intensely he is fasted so much that there are these sculptures of the fasting but the reduced to a skeleton and the stomach is touching the spine so became weak yes in fact one of the commentators here says that control of the senses comes automatically to one who's fasting fasting in the sense if we don't eat and he says controller senses comes automatically to one who's sick if you're sick and you're not feeling well at all then if somebody says want to come and try out this new food place no even the thought of it makes you feel like throwing up because you're sick so the senses become weakened if you're sick if you if you fast things like that but that is not spiritual it's not spiritual the moment you become feel a little good immediately you're up and doing with ten times more vigor so Buddha realized that destroying the sensory system crushing the sensory system is not the answer overindulgence is not the answer anything and every that I want immediately it should be granted and we are going towards that kind of a world especially in advanced countries especially plays like say Manhattan or in in advance places like this what we want we can now get with one click I noticed one thing yeah Amazon is yes great that great and delivering things you know but what they are what are the greatest at that greatest at making it easy for you to buy that's the first thing next of course delivering the thing to you so what what at a click of just movement of one finger you can get whatever you want if you can afford it you can get it now the idea behind it is if I get what I want I will be happy I am NOT George Bernard Shaw said there are two great disappointments in life not getting what you want and getting what you want not getting it obviously and getting it if the deep truth we have this expectation it's called the hidden hedonism trap we have this expectation that by buying this thing with this relationship with this gadget with this vacation I will be happy X Y Z points of happiness very happy and just about every time I do that I find I get some pleasure out of it but much less much less than what was what seemed it promised are you with me so far and this is nature's way this is nature's way our Darwinian biologist this the behavioral biologist did they say nature makes you do things in this way it promises a lot of pleasure so that you will do it do what find food finder made the procreate so that nature's whole whole thing is life and continuity and nature will make you do things which will which will serve that purpose not nefarious that's a very that's the nature of nature makes you do that imagine suppose this example a historian gave says he says that suppose there is a squirrel it gets a little bit of pleasure by finding a nut and eating it but much less than what it would have expected and then so what did what does it do it repeats that behavior but suppose why not why doesn't it get complete satisfaction by satisfying its desire so it looks imagine a squirrel which finds a nut and eats it and immediately a pedantic bliss blissed-out he says that squirrel would have a very short life why because it wouldn't want to eat anymore why would it eat very happy and it wouldn't want to find a mate and procreated wouldn't pass or pass on its genes so the next generation of squirrels will won't get that gene so it will be bred out of it that's becoming happy so the very nature is that we will not be happy by fulfilling desires it's something that nature makes us - especially sensual desires so the buddha found moderation he found middle path the veena if it is the string is slack no music the veena if it is tighten too much string slaps too much austerity too much indulgence no spirituality is possible middle path middle path is moderation of course Buddha's middle path moderation was pretty austere if you see the rules for the monks Buddhist monks pretty austere but moderation in the bhagavad-gita also later with much later we'll see Krishna says for the moderate person yoga will work yoga poverty do caja yoga works in destroying suffering for whom for the person who is balanced moderate somebody else enhancer this funny story about the middle path we had a very wonderful Swami I never saw him his name was gonna eat Ananda Marathi was disciple of the Holy Mother he was a prince of Travancore and he left his princely estate before the British when the British were ruling so after independence all those estates were seized but he belonged to a royal family but he lived as a very austere monk and he was the one from all accounts the monks who have seen him they told me but he was eccentric too so middle path he loved the middle path one day was knocked down by an auto auto rickshaw in in on the Grand Trunk Road in front of the monastery dear so the it was not luckily very injured they brought him back to the monastery saw me what happened middle path he was walking in the middle of the - I reckon it's it's a real story I couldn't believe it middle path so not that kind of middle path balance balance in food Geeta will say yuck Tahara Yuta Swapna bah both Asiya balanced in food moderate in sleep moderate in waking not waking hour in a whole city that never sleeps yes we really need that advice moderate in sleep moderate in waking moderate in recreation of balance with the body and mind are quiet and cooperative then yoga or yoga means this meditation pedantic knitted yes and it will work very good Oh Shanti Shanti Shanti he hurry he own that sat sri ramakrishna Aparna mas