Video 23

23. Bhagavad Gita l Chapter 2 Verses 59-63 l Swami Sarvapriyananda

ooh Vasudeva suitum deivam come such are no Dumber danam Devaki param anand krishna monday jagadguru so we are studying the second chapter of the bhagavad-gita towards the end the discussion is Arjuna has asked a question about the enlightened person what is it like to be enlightened and that's where the discussion is one of the reasons why this this section is important is that what is discussed here these are also the practices which we can do and we are supposed to do the word enlightened is not used the word used is theta plug gear in sanskrit which means stabilized wisdom it's a very precise use of the term as we study Vedanta we begin to get it we begin to understand what it what they are saying it's not very difficult to really stay with it for some time you get it but then the next question comes that it's it fluctuates it seems to come and go and it doesn't seem to be of it is difficult to make it practical in day-to-day life so this these two issues that it seems to come and go and difficult to make it practical in day-to-day life is an issue so how to stabilize this the practices are discussed here now one of the things one has to do is that one has to stay with this teaching Shravana monana needed the asana Shravana means to studied vedanta systematically over a long period of time literally means to here melina means to reflect upon it after studying and reflecting one gets a kind of clarity one gets a kind of conviction also but it's yet it might not feel like a living truth so to make it a living truth one has to stay with this knowledge in meditation when you're sitting with your eyes closed but with your eyes open when you're interacting with the world still have to stay with this knowledge what is this knowledge I am Brahman that that absolute existence consciousness place all this is also that same Brahman and so one interacts from that point of view to stay with this knowledge is called needed Diaz ahna Vedantic meditation pedantic meditation vedantic meditation when you try to stay with the knowledge you will find a difficulty and the difficulty comes from two sources one is the sensory system our senses five senses seeing hearing smelling tasting touching and more subtle more inward to the sensory system is the mind so the fluctuations the wanderings of the mind and that pull the pull of the senses these two are powerful distractors from stabilizing wisdom that's why now Shri Krishna is giving a great emphasis on control of the senses indriyani graha in order to stabilize Vedantic wisdom control of the senses is very important and control of the mind so this is the discussion this is what is going on now we are done verse number 58 last time where he had emphasized the importance of control of the senses do you remember that nice example he gave us the tour toys which when threatened pulls in its head and the four limbs into the shell similarly we must have the capacity to detach ourselves from thee from engagement with the senses which sends objects by the way when I'm saying senses and sense objects it simply means the our sensory system and their respective objects forms for the eyes sound for the years and smell for the nose and so on taste for the for the tongue and so on now 59 please repeat after me we shall be never Dante we Shia boniva Dante nirahara sadena Neera rasa bottom recipe hacia la savate Jung recipe hacia param reached whenever Tati parind never 30 so 59th verse means the sense objects fall away from somebody who's controlling the senses we'll see what it means but the taste for those objects remains in the subconscious mind even the taste goes away even that the deep conditioning is also removed when one realizes the ultimate truth param Drishti realizes the ultimate reality so what does this mean control of the senses krishna is saying that the persons who can control the senses who are not engaged continua or are obsessed with sense pleasures for such a person that vedanta wisdom becomes stabilized but one may ask a question even a sick person for example a very sick you've got a fever or a cold or or you don't feel too good and you don't really want to go out to partying or you don't what you just want to stay and stay in bed you know you don't even want to come to Atlanta class so so a sick person also may not be interested in sense pleasures but does that mean a sick person's pedantic wisdom is stabilized no so what is the stabilization of wisdom and there he talks about it that the sense objects fall away from a person wish I have any Burton thing what do you mean sense of a objects fall away that the person doesn't know no longer interact with the same subject does not indulgence sense object enjoyment who a person who is disciplined who is controlling the senses so you're dieting so obviously you're not gorging yourself on all sorts of delicacies but he says the desire for that the desire for those objects still remains deep in the mind so there's always a pull I am dieting so I don't want I don't know I'm not going to eat that and inside the mind that's very nice I wish I could eat it so there is a pull I want it and I don't want it you really don't want it because you're dieting and you really want it because it's you know it's going to be it's going to be very nice if you if you can eat that so there's a poll that poll that will continue for the time being that this is what sri krishna says in the beginning it will be there even when you have attended lots of atlanta classes and you've got lots of notes and you have memorized lots of verses even you're beginning to get weighed on to still that poll will be there hmm until one realizes that ultimate reality that all this is nothing at then brahman and my own inner reality is Brahman rasa means raga abhilasha that the inner desire of the pull towards sense pleasures I like to see that I like to hear that like to taste that especially the tongue and tasting touching para nirahara sadena I our Hara here does not just mean eating I heard in the word AHA in Sanskrit usually is used in the sense of eating food but AHA literally means are GMT which means whatever is prudent so whatever is pulled in is not just food into the mouth but also forms what we see through the eyes sound through the years a taste of course smell and touch so all the five sense objects at our ihara are like food to the five sense organs and a person who controls that regulates that for that person you know it might not be overtly enjoying or or involved in in sense pleasures but still the traces left behind I've told you this earlier I had an interesting experience many many years ago about 22 years ago when I was very sick in the hospital and I hadn't eaten for two weeks I was on on the IV the intravenous drip so I was sick now I hadn't eaten and if you if you gave me food I would ever throw a drop I mean I couldn't bear the sight of food and yet at night I would dream of food it was very interesting the food which I had the dishes which I had eaten which which which were my favorites when I was a kid I'd totally forgot I had forgotten about them and I didn't thought about them for ages and those floated up see what a deep impression was over Jim the traces are left behind we may not be aware of it but it is left behind we may not think we had those desires I don't have those desires you don't know it it's there and then see the body is deprived and I'm not eating and I don't want to eat the body doesn't require that food because the body can't take that food if you literally bought those dishes here you're dreaming about it eat it couldn't I just throw up notice that the place for enjoyment is not really the body it's the mind which wants those things it's the mind which has been conditioned to enjoy those things it's the sense organs supply those tastes to the mind the taste has really nothing to do with nutrition the body needs nutrition a taste is an indicator which is good for you which is bad for sometimes taste is a good indicator sometimes a bad indicator but taste is basically for the mind not for the not really for the body the body derives its nutrition form from the food and that's it but the mind derives enjoyment from from the sense inputs so that was very very educational to me that how the traces are left behind but even the traces go away when one realizes that it is Brahman how does it how do the traces go of it it's like this I remember I saw one 3d movie one there's the first time it came to India many many years ago we were little kids and used to go into the film theater and bare glasses so you could see things in three dimensions and I remember they were there it was a something to do with the Emmy a mythological story some shooting arrows and the kids said we had great fun like you know who dodged the arrows with it's all coming out of the screen towards us and then somebody has a plate I still remember that a plate full of full of Indian sweets ladoos and it floated just in front of you're holding it on the screen but it's floating in front of your nose like that right here and the kids had great fun swiping at it you know I've been there cinema hall you could see kids trying to grab it and they are laughing but none of them took it seriously they didn't feel deprived that I can't get hold of the sweets and didn't burst into tears no because they knew it's not there they knew it's not there when it's not there it's easy to give up it just looks like that as I said you told me once in Himalayas you bust dicta hey Mahatma gee hey whose name it just looks like that Swami but it is not what looks like that he meant this entire world there is but of course in the world there is taste and sound yes there is taste and sound and smell but there is nothing here which will satisfy you there's nothing here that will complete you that is nothing here which will give you lasting peace the more you enjoy the sense inputs the more the thirst increases the more the desperation increases I had also seen so I'm thinking remembering lots of movies now well in those days this VCR had come no tapes so I had seen a Hollywood movie don't I forget the name of the movie but it was about a ghost and this ghost used to those days smoking cigarettes was normal I mean people used to smoke openly so this guy before dying he is to smoke a lot of cigarettes and it died and then I still remember that one scene he's become a ghost of course it's a Hollywood movie so you can see him faintly and on the move like a like a glowing figure now he's standing on a railway station or something like that a platform and in those days it seems that I haven't seen it in here in America now these to dispense cigarettes from these like now you can get from you can get potato chips and coke and all of that from spencer and put it in money and you can get a cigarette so this ghost is standing and trying to put his and hand into the machine to bring out the cigarette packet packets but of course alas he can go pass through walls but he can't catch anything so he can't really catch the cigarette packet and nor can he can he smoke it and I felt this is why we are reborn this tremendous obsessions we have with enjoying material things once this body falls apart and we can no longer enjoy these material things we wanted so much that's why by God's grace I would say we are given more a new physical body to start the game all over again anyway that was just a thought so Russ / Jim the taste for that remains and it's a terrible thing I remember feeling at that time or later when I reflected upon it it's a terrible thing to have a strong obsessive desire and no way of fulfilling it so that's why I guess we are reborn again and again so that we have a way of experiencing fulfilling those desires but fulfilling is the wrong word just experience it again and again and there's no fulfillment and then we move on so Russ over-generous opieop around rich twonny but today the traces are left behind but even the traces are burnt up when you realize the ultimate truth that Brahman alone is real and I am Brahman the world is an appearance like a movie you I will not repeat it but you remember I've told you the story of the princess of Kashi so the moment the prince realized that the princess in the picture was none other than then he himself when he was a kid he had been painted in that way so he realized there is no princess of Kashi apart from him so what he desired is is a delusion is an illusion that is that that person is not there does not exist apart from him always was him so the desire goes away like that realizing the ultimate all these desires even the trace of it goes away then numbers 60 yato to hear picante vietato her pecan tia purusha yogas chitta shall be posted in leone promote Eenie in rihanna brahma tini her auntie preserve amana current EEPROM / Juna these powerful senses the sense me in the sense organs forcibly lead astray the mind of even the struggling white provides person device person who is a spiritual seeker and practicing spiritual disciplines you know meditating praying and controlling the senses still swept away by the powerful senses now one might think or if the wise person is swept away by these senses and what's the point so in the introduction to this verse the commentator in this particular books reader Swami says india sangam annum dinar to state a pocket on Assam poverty without control of the senses stabilization of Atlantic wisdom is not possible therefore at aha therefore sadaqa vast i'am tatra Mahan prayatna katabira therefore when you are a seeker sadaqa means a spiritual practitioner at that stage a great effort is to be put in to control the senses so it's not meant to be negative not meant to be pessimistic you can try but it you're going to fail no not in that sense it's just a cautionary thing that it's very powerful so one must be careful one must be ready to fail and try again and keep trying and it's necessary to keep trying to bring the senses under our control there is a nice saying which says that alas I have been made the servant by the servants of servants king chorus chicken karahi king cricketer alas tinkerer means a servant so by the servant of my servants my servant is the mind and the mind servants are the senses but I the admin be self I have become a servant to my senses my eyes want to see this and I run around trying to get it my tongue wants to taste it I run to the restaurant to eat it and so on sight sends sound touch all of these things I still keep running around to procure these things from the world for for my senses I think that you know yeah it's my senses in my mind I can control it let my mind think about these things but what my mind what's there in my mind I can control it we think so but it's not at that easy we shall see in the next verse itself but I'll tell you a little story Swami nice ration energy was the founder of our movement in South Africa many many years ago he was a disciple of swami Siobhan and that means a disciple of sri ramakrishna his disciple so he was from all accounts I never seen him but from all accounts he was an extraordinary teacher extraordinary master and a yogi himself so he talks about this idea that it's my mind and I can control my mind what's so great about it he says imagine you have an apartment in some city and your friend says to you that can i I'm going to that City can I stay in your apartment for a couple of days and you say sure it's my apartment I'm going to give you a note for the caretaker and he'll just give you the keys because you could go in there and stay there so your friend turns up at your apartment in that city and rings the bell and the couple of hefty guys come out suspicious-looking characters and say yeah what do you want and you said your friend says I'm gonna stay here says who well my friend owns this apartment look here it says that it says let him stay here for a few days and these two guys they pick up your friend and toss him out on the street now can you say that it's still your apartment notionally nominal it's your apartment it's no longer under your control there are squatters there there are people who have taken it over it's no longer your apartment our mind is like that we have entertained sights and sounds and smells and touches for so long and thought patterns and habitual ways of thinking prejudices so long that now when I think all right I'm going to think I am the Atman that's your friend let this thought stay in the mind I am the Atman and all these hefty guys that's the sights and sounds and smells they pick up this poor I am the Atman thought and throw it out on the street my guru has told me to repeat the mantra here is the poor little mantra liquid and it goes to the mind can I stay in the mind for some time and these other thoughts who have been staying there for years and years together they are big and nourished they have been strong and they pick up the poor little mantra and throw it out on the street so it's no longer under your control that's why this is control of the senses another a certain question sometimes these questions don't occur to us until we start practicing a certain question is this what is more important control of the senses or control of this thought I might argue yes let me enjoy things of the world mentally I'm unaffected if that's so isn't that all right if only you could do that it's not that easy it's not that easy it is true the mind is more important than the senses if one could remain mentally come come lately unaffected while gliding through the world if you could do that and Yogi's there are Yogi's who can do that but not at the beginning at the beginning the trick is always to start with the with the physical with the gross with them obvious and then work your way inwards to the subtle ones another question is this right now here that the commentator said india sangam um veena to state apricot Inasa Marathi without control of the senses stabilization of Anand technology is not possible Ramanuja chharia who was the great teacher of a sister Greta and teacher of bhakti he takes up this point and he says notice what these two verses if you put them together you come up with an interesting conundrum it says until you realize the ultimate the traces the desires will remain in your mind the traces will remain you can control it but the traces will remain in the mind and now you are saying without control of the senses you cannot realize the ultimate without realizing the ultimate desires will remain and consensus will be turbulent without controlling the senses you cannot realize the ultimate oh isn't it a vicious circle how do you get out of it and there ramanuja introduces bhakti he introduces devotion love love is very attractive so when my beloved Krishna or Rama or Christ through whatever these figures who are in universally attractive that is put before you the beautiful stories of Krishna the beautiful modes of worship flowers and light and music and yes delicious food all offered to the Lord and taken as Prasad so all of that when when you use those to attract the mind bhakti makes it easy the senses attract the mind bhakti attracts the mind you see why a great teacher once told me told us that why bhakti is important for people who were on the path of guiana on the path of knowledge we don't acknowledge self-realization why bhakti is important because otherwise were often what happens is in that knowledge when we study this it removes ignorant the very nature of knowledge is to remove ignorance but if the mind is not sufficiently purified what will happen is it will be a kind of intellectual removal of ignorance I did not know now I know but what I want still remains the same because of past conditioning what I want does not come from the intellect it comes from past conditioning it comes from the senses but my sense is like it's not an intellectual decision that I like a cookie it's a sensual decision so at the level of senses in the world there are terms used in in Hindi are very nice he says desire , desire is at the level of prana brown Kiba hot bath a boutique he bought me that means it's not something in the intellect what am i what is the nature of this world what am i that the intellect knows or does not know but what I want it's not really that doesn't have much to do with the intellect so it could be possible not only power could be possible often is the case that we understand a lot of things through Vedanta but the heart still wants what it was conditioned to want now this vedantic teaching does not work at the level of the heart it works at the level of the intellect that's why so many stringent conditions are there for a purified mind purified mind means a purified heart but bhakti works at the level of interrupting heart Burke T's is nothing other than transformed desire then the nature of desire is I want the world the nature of bhakti is I want God notice that the I want is still the same I want not a question of what I know anywhere I do not no I want the world that's replaced with God so bhakti is very useful in the path of Gianna when your mind your heart is given to God in play in any particular form whichever is your tradition could be Krishna or Christ whichever is your tradition whichever is your approach so devotional approach is very useful for a journey because it purifies the heart and allows knowledge to have full play then you can actually live the knowledge and the knowledge will become stabilized Stata program yeah Toto here picante or Juna even if trying so this person is actually trying it's not just theoretical the person is meditating a person is doing all sorts of a lot of pedantic study and trying to control the senses rapacity the persecutor means a wise person wise person here is v vacant RP a person who has vivica Brahman is real who feels that the world is even isn't temporary transient passing I should try to realize God in this very life who feels that even such a person is swept away by the powerful senses we wake you know attended lots of Vedanta classes still when anger comes greed comes can't control why because of the senses mana indriyani the mind and the senses both did they sweep this person away but the point is moneth nakata bia one should make a big effort one who should because serious dedicated effort over a long period of trying time to get mastery over the sensory system if you do not okay 61 and then we will see what happens if we do not 61 he sums up this whole approach of controlling the senses 61 thani saravana song yum yum Danny sir hissing yum yum yuck tosee tomate / Gupta ah Sita Mata washy indriyani Russia he yes you indriyani the Supraja pratishta the Supraja pratishta so the one who can who controls all these senses and constant after controlling the senses what why are you controlling the senses why simple living for what for high thinking for you chaos atomic para concentrated upon me as the ultimate really reality me means God here concentrated upon God if you are a devotee you are meditating upon your Easter devata if you are a Gani you're trying to realize the real self not the body not the mind you know chewed on and Rupa her shivoham of the nature of consciousness and bliss beyond body mind you're trying to realize that that is the that is what a mystic a person seeking realization tries to do and what she has seen Rihanna tasha precarity sita the realization your wisdom will become stable when your sensory system is under control so persons whose sensory system is under control for that person that's your pradesh data it makes the clear equation of the two throughout the bhagavad-gita again and again so what are the conditions for enlightenment how many classes and courses do I have to attain how many books do I have to buy and how many of them do I have to read so he doesn't see any of that he says Bechet he has see and really one who is a master of his or her sensory system so so much importance is given to the sensory system and the mind of course notice one thing sorrow Varney town is harvoni the sensory system in its entirety not just one or two sri ramakrishna gave the example of a farmer you have to imagine in rural Bengal the rice fields so the crop has to be under water for some time part of it so the farmer worked hard to bring make a channel and bring water from the canal into his field and worked hard hours and hours but afterwards when he came back to the field he found all the water had drained away why on the border of the field there was a hole so through the hole all the water drained away which he had worked so hard to bring in there so even one hole that means one obsession can take keep a little desire on the side it was not like a creeper it'll come up and cover your entire psyche so all the effort goes to waste and the story of the three drunkards three friends who had were drunkards who got on an after night of revelry they got in the boat and they wanted to row across the river to their hometown and they rowed and rowed and rowed in the next morning they were still there right on the bank why because they'd forgotten to untie the anchor that the rope was tied it to the shore we had forgotten that that rope is this being tied to sensory obsessions so it must be under your control that doesn't mean that you will not enjoy the occasional movie or or a cod occasional cookie but it should mean that even when you're doing it mindfully consciously it's not caught hold of you you are still in charge suppose one does not do that so here's the next two verses suppose one does not control that and we are still trying to become enlightened we still doing meditation and prayer and study and all of that then what happens to famous verses let's read we have to read them together 62 and 63 diet efficient palms diet efficient poncy sanga's - oppa Jyoti Sangha stay super Jyoti Sangha San Jyoti kama Sangha Sanja Yeti comma comma crude hooby Jyoti comic Ruby Jyoti crude heart poverty some crude hot poverty some some more hearts my TV drama some more hearts my TV Brahma sweetie drunk shot Buddha no show smithy long shot Budhan our show boot Deena prana Shetty with Deena sharp runner shotty thinking continuously about sense objects and attachment develops with the sense objects from that attachment comes desire the desire being obstructed their flashes anger from anger comes delusion from in delusion the memory of all our learning is lost when that memory is lost at learning is lost the intellect is deliver intellect cannot function anymore Budhan asha when the intellect cannot function anymore pronoun xie t we fall away from spiritual life you will notice that there are eight links here one thinking about sense subjects to be higher tuition functions anger attachment comes to second attachment Sangha stay super guiity sangharsh anxiety kama desire arises then from attachment arises desire third I must have it then from when desire is obstructed kama crows obj at the anger comes for where what ran anger leads to grows out poverty some more darkening a delivery effect on the mind delusion confusion comes some more that's five some more hearts with every Brahma from delusion comes loss of memory memory here literally means the learning that we have got all the spiritual you know all our New Year's resolutions all our I'm going to become enlightened this year 2019 is the year and so on all of that goes away out of the window and then number seven it's pretty one-shot Buddha Naja so our intellect the decision-making capacity fails and we make the wrong decisions what to say what to do and that leads to Grenache Shetty you fall away from a spiritual life eight one of our Swami is one of my teachers Swami at my free energy who was here last year I think yes so he jokingly said that like the Buddha's eight eight fold way you know astanga marga like the Ashtanga Yoga the Eightfold yoga of Patanjali these are the eight this is the Eightfold way to destruction the eight steps to spiritual fall those are the eight steps to Nirvana are the eight steps to enlightenment it is eight steps to follow me so what are these eight steps diet or Shia on puncture it starts with what what the mind dwells upon where the mind is kept what do you mean where's the mind is kept is the mind like a box or a class where you keep it somewhere or no no what is kept in the mind what am I thinking about in general my habitual thought patterns what am I telling upon the eye a torchon if if it's the sense objects things we see hear smell taste touch it's inevitable you can either think of God or you can think of the world one sadhu said he was 104 years old he said Paramatma Qadiani assam shark agenda this is only two alternatives let go of after thought of God it need not be God in the theistic sense you as a spiritual practitioner you're a mite you're practicing mindfulness in the Buddhistic sense whatever your spiritual practices let go of that the mind will go to some sorrow there is no other alternative until enlightenment what happens in enlightenment is when you realize that there is only one reality whatever you think about it will be that reality you know it know that it is that but until that point there are two for us there is something which we call God our real self and there is something and the rest without that it's all God it's all samsara so the mind will if you before the mind drops away if it slips away from Ishwara cinta we thought of God it will have some solid Zinta one or the other similarly not just thinking love where is your heart it can either be given to God or Mammon you cannot be a servant of both together a New Testament Bible you can't you can't do both together why not no one will drive out the other you remember they have two fellows they'll throw out the husband so they are inimical they are up there they are obverse and reverse of the things you can't you can't do you can't take both at the same time you have to take this side or that side so Dahiya to wish I on if we dwell too long too much on material things one sadhu said many years ago it was a traditional wandering monk said in each human being there are three streams which flow continuously Pindari hey mark Maji three streams what are the three streams Gianna Hara then stream of knowledge karma Dhara the stream of action what you do Javed Hara and it's difficult to translate into English power means our inner orientation what we really truly want inside what we really want inside our orientation our intentions real intentions inside honestly without telling anybody honestly what do I like do I really like spiritual life or is it just I think it's good for me do I really like working out in the gym I think it's good for me that's why I'm doing it you know this famous entrepreneur Elon Musk he said something very interesting this huge industry is their inner motivation how to get motivated is a big thing in America now in the corporate world across the world and this person who is like an epitome of corporate life he said if you need to get motivated to do it don't do it now don't take him literally we need to get motivated to do so many good things in life and we should try to get motivated but he has it there's a deep truth which he points out if you need to get motivated it is not this is what they're calling Bava it's not your power inner power you really really don't like it so far you really really don't want it that's why I need to get motivated I need to read these books I need to take that seminar I want to go to that workshop and buy all those self-help books from Barnes and Nobles not working why not see why they don't work all those books work on what is called a Onodera the stream of knowledge they will give you a lot of information and quite a good bit of it is correct it's not wrong at all it doesn't touch the inner power one guy said I love playing video games it doesn't have to be motivated to play video games no its motivated not to play video games then the question arises but that's the problem there are things which I know are good for me but I don't want to do that then things I know which are bad for me but I can't stop myself from doing that so the motivation is there butts in the wrong place it's for things which are I know they're damaging forbid I know they are no good for me but I can't get that is comes naturally power is there that's the problem the lament of Duryodhana when Krishna goes to Duryodhana somebody said why didn't Krishna tell these nice things - the villain he told it to all these things he said to the hero the good guy and if he had told all these things to the villain the Duryodhana might have prevented a terrible war but you know he actually tried Krishna to his credit he tried and it was of no use no use duty oh then I wouldn't have come to the Vedanta class why not when Krishna tried to tell him these things you know what was the reaction Krishna tried to tell him that this is what you're doing is wrong this is not Dharma this is a Dharma and Duryodhana said John army dharmam I don't tell me what is right and wrong because I know what is right and wrong that's not my problem my problem is but the what is right I don't feel like doing it and what is wrong I can't stop myself from doing it why not why ever not if you know it's wrong why don't you stop yourself if you know it's right why don't you do it because he says there is a force within me the way it drives me I move in that way I can't help it honest honest that is a deep human problem and I'll tell you what's wrong with the dirtiest honest analysis all to do next but first notice the honesty of the person it's it's everybody's problem if it went not we would all be still to procure established in the divine which wouldn't take much take us much much time at all a few weeks few months the worst case would take one year or so will all become enlightened john army dharmam Nachum a pretty I know the Dharma but I have no private key no I don't feel like doing it that impulse is not there inside not inspired to do it John Army other main know me in every tea I have I know what is adharma what is bad and immoral and I'm know what I'm doing is taking me down a terrible path but I can't stop myself from doing it can appear a way in a release detain a yachtie NeoGeo spit at Hiromi by some force within what is that force within some scholars know Freud discovered it in the early part of 20th century and this city was the the hotbed of of Freudian psychoanalysis samskaras candid subconscious conditioning that that really controls us we think we are rational and our rationality controls our behavior you know it doesn't it doesn't most of our thought our feelings our emotions our decisions and behavior are controlled by irrational forces just with a little cream frost of rationality on top every question hold on to the question will come to you I mentioned this earlier the three great humiliations of humanity never mentioned this earlier Freud it seems he said Humanity has been in there has been humiliated thrice first when Copernicus said we are not the center of the universe and that time the Sun is the center of the universe and we are little like a little world whirling around the Copernican revolution we are not the center of the universe we are and now we know more and more as in 20th century and now 21st century we know how tiny and insignificant we are in a vast and uncaring cosmos first great humiliation but we felt okay but we are not center of the universe but at least we are made in the image of God man is made in the image of God and woman from the rib of man but at least we are divine divine origination and then Darwin comes along not image of God you're made in the image of a chimp evolution proves that the second great humilation freud is saying this Sigmund Freud the second great humiliation of humanity and that he had not descended from God if you are evolved from monkeys when the third Freud said then I dealt the third great blow to human pride we thought all right we are animals but we are rational animals the definition of human beings rational animal time from the time of the Greeks rational animal we are guided by logic and reason seems to be reasonable pride said no that logic and reason is only the surface underneath there is a seething mass of of instinctive drives lust and anger and envy and jealousy and the primal urges which the frail ego is trying to balance the super-ego what the society says you should be like this and the heed from within which says I want this I want that I want I hate that I want to kill that guy in between is this is a tiny fragile layer of the ego Freudian structure the triadic structure super-ego underneath the eid and in between the balancing act done by the ego what we feel ourselves to be conscious ego trying to balance the demands of society for for MA for being moral with the primal urges bubbling up from within and our decisions our so-called logic is heavily influenced by these irrational drives you're not a rational animal just an animal Freud said that is what the Yogi's knew thousands of years ago Cana P David is this power within us which is driving me along and I can't resist it so don't talk to me about what is right and wrong so what is wrong in this this approach what's wrong is this if this is true then what's the point of any any attempt at changing what is the point of any spiritual life any meditation or even even a self-help seminar Tony Tony Robbins what's the point you can't say if you cannot change but you can change that's the great thing people do change and we have the possibility of changing we know that we have the possibility of changing and we do want to change but there is we need a way a training a methodology a path and those are the yoga's our point is not fixed that I I love video games and I should be studying I don't love studying and this is my diet dilemma but you're not fixed there forever you can actually educate the mind and the heart and the senses this is what all yoga is all about so that it is transformed our urges are transformed and ultimately we come to a point where like you loved video games you actually love your studies you might think that's a tall order it's not aren't there many many people who do love their studies I often say students used to come and say to me that this subject is so boring remember it's boring to me it's not the fault of the subject it's a fault of my mind aren't there people who love that subject they really love that subject I mean the complaint usually used to be about Sanskrit grammar that's boring but it's boring to you it's not boring to the Sanskrit pundit who loves it more than anything else so this subject is intrinsically interesting every subject is otherwise it couldn't have developed the people have given their whole lives to it Darwin I was reading people get bored with all the taxonomy and the of classification of species and all of that Darwin was crazy about it he loved as a child I mean how could it denies samskaras this is stunning story of Darwin going out into the little woods near his house in England and collecting beetles there are different kinds of beetles and he had a whole collection as a child he must have done things like that in his past life I suppose why as a child would you children collected but that craze is there and there's a story of how the little kid he's got one beetle in one hand another beetle in another hand and this is third rare beetle crawling along a leaf if he if he goes back to his house and puts those beetles the bottles and comes back for this one it would have flown away what does he do he quickly puts one beetle in his mouth catches hold of the other and then races back to his room to put all three in the three 300 different bottles and classified them now what do you mean about what do you say the biology is boring it is this little kid who is more crazy about collecting and classifying beetles than you are about playing your video game so it's not a problem with the subject it's the conditioning of the mind and therefore we can change Swami Vivekananda said to develop the powers of attachment and detachment perfectly it can be done I have heard the story about there's one Swami Swami near Veda and the one of the pioneers in the Ramakrishna order in the field of Education in the 1920s 30s and those were from Calcutta you know the Bell Korea students from those works know so it's the first one one of the first educational institutes of the Ramakrishna order he founded it now the story goes that it was 1939 and second world war had started and in dozed and so the Swami was fascinated even though the radio the BBC news would be there from the radio who would listen to it and he would have this map in front of him up map of Europe and with the pencil he would trace where the German armies are advancing where the Allied armies are advancing and somebody said Swami how do you meditate you're spending all your time on this and Swami looked very surprised and he said to that person but I don't think about the war when I'm meditating and I don't think of meditation when I'm thinking about the whole big truth there it's not so easy to do he could do it probably but it's not so easy to do but is a big truth there when we are doing this playing video games I should be studying I should be studying history studying I wish I could play a little more video games we can't control our attachments and detachments Swami Vivekanand is to say empty the bucket empty the bucket I read about Napoleon he said it seems he could do many things at the same time he could dictate to seven secretaries some his dictating orders for the war another for construction of bridges in Paris another - a letter to the Empress Joseph into his wife and so on seven secretaries they're all busy writing is dictating across seven how is that possible the tremendous control over the mental faculties and he I think he's the one who wrote that there I've got cabinets in my mind and so right he he's the one who said I open when I want to know the finances I open that cabinet I shut the others when I want to know the world situation I open that one and shut the others and when I want to sleep I shut all the he had the capacity to go to sleep at any time many will say I also have that capacity if you have your blessing but he said when I but at will when I shut all the cabinets and the minor fall asleep he could it seems he could sleep on his warhorse so yes what was the question yes yes [Music] [Music] yes and no when karma karna finally died in the mythology we'll see when he finally was killed and he said this is unfair my chariot is stuck in the mud and you're going to kill me now I think it is Krishna who gives a long explanation or our he points out we're all karna had done wrong things see you mentioned one clearly there is something wrong going on and I am in a situation where I can oppose it and say something when I do not do so it's a failure of courage it's a lack of uprightness there so karna is a tragic figure no doubt and many people identify in sympathy if not identify sympathize with him truth the figure is drawn in that way but there are fatal flaws in that figure odds some scholars yes here is one thing to remember these two words please remember Swarup and swab bhava very important to remember Swarup and swab Havel literally in if you translate swarupa means our real nature what is our real nature Atman existence consciousness plays an atheistic sense nothing other than the divine within us that is swarupa whose nature mine and yours and Sri Ramakrishna's and Krishna's and Arjuna's all of them we have all had the same Swarup at least according to Advaita Vedanta we are all one with God our nature is Brahman a humble pass me that svarupa our real nature that's what we are trying to understand and we right now we feel and this body mind this body mind sensory complex but we are not this but there is another very important word to learn swab Hara how will I translate that again that word bhava is there [Music] dispositions the set of this our character basically this swab hawa is not our real self but it is the way our mind has been conditioned over lifetimes that's what makes us different that's what makes us different in Swarup our real nature we are all one we are all divine right now and we always we're but the good and the bad swab harbor the greedy and the self-control swab harbor where does this swab hava come from you see whether the swarupa come from its original it's it's not created swab hava it comes from it's called brachii no karma samskara the accumulated karma the conditioning of many lives that is swab harbor so what we come with into our life so I'm living under says and that like the poet I think Wordsworth said we come trailing clouds of glory into this life and Swamiji said some of us come training black black smoke but it's a mixture our swab how is a mixture of many lifetimes so what we are struggling with right now I love to play video games I don't love to study so ABAB are not so Rupa so what we are struggling against what we are trying to polish what we are trying to change and motivate that is swab hava the tendencies within and they are all in the mind remember essentially we are one with God pure and perfect always so nobody deep in a within is a sinner so is the doctrine of the sinner is it wrong it's not wrong it's the conditioning in the mind so the unfortunately what is manifested in life and in actions is the swab power so we need to so I have a kinda said you need to polish the mirror need to polish the middle you stole the question I know the question let me just finish this part so suave and swarupa remember this what is the difference between Arjuna and Duryodhana so of Hawaiian svarupa so Rupa is same for Arjuna and Duryodhana and Krishna all of them are the same swaroopa they are all one bit God but so janessa hero and so a swab hava duryodhana is the villain this swab hava the hope is it is subject to change it is changing slowly if we consciously try to change it it will change we can change it all these spiritual practices are consciously trying to change this swap our so when Elon Musk says don't do anything if it be required to be motivated what he really means is not that you give up all your high aspirations you just recognize the power which is working within I require to be motivated because right now my swab hawa is not oriented towards the things which I want I need to orient it and I can't do it that's why these warnings are there that be careful about the swab hava you had these high goals but the sensory system and the mind they'll sweep you away because they're dead so how is the conditioning is like that it can be changed over time yes I think so yes and difficult to say one word life difficult to say there's no doubt he was a great person he took a decision because he thought he was being moral right he had given his word to protect the lineage of the Kauravas so the beauty and the terrible thing about the Mahabharata is that it shows that what is very neat in Vedanta in textbooks when it meets life it becomes much more complicated and gets very messy and that's what we see not only the Mahabharata in each of our individual lives that's the very nature of life so the muhabba that's why it's I think the ethical questions in Mahabharat are very sophisticated very deep and sophisticated I just leave it at that the Hayatou which iron puncture so when you tell when you when you dwell too much on sense objects what happens and attachment develops a raga and attachment develops it is nice it's nice what having then from that attachment at this stage remember we think that yeah I'm thinking about it I can not think about it but very soon you see that it it's very difficult not to think about those things it becomes a habit it could be it's different from different people what what power personal predilections are like then sangar Sanjaya T karma from this comes desire there it becomes powerful what is the nature of desire I want this this gadget this person this job this place that experience that enjoyment that parking spot so I want this is the nature of karma I want and immediately come out closer be JIT from desire comes anger desire comes anger means parking spot best example you are that's a nice parking spot I want it and then the suddenly the guy in front red light slowly backing into that spot and you become a angry these are thwarted desired sorted leads to anger desire leads to comma leads to two things comma leads to two things we can check in our lives leads to two things when it is satisfied when we indulge in it lobe haha greed I want more variety again again because it gives pleasure and I want it again and again Aloha when its thwarted thwarted when I know it's possible for me to get it and now this person this circumstance is coming in my way anger flash of anger comes it the same desire which is converted into anger comma and closer they go together Krishna says in the Gita Kamisha croatia rajo-guna so mood power Mahajan ah Mahatma this anger and desire they're born of rajo-guna Rajas and remember and remember over Juna these are ferociously they are hungry the like hungry ghosts and mahapadma they are productive of great sin watch these keep them be alert about these two so karma leads to crouded all these at the root of any kind of flash of anger there is some kind of desire it could be good we say righteous indignation all right right using Linda you know that something wrong is happening but even there there is desire such a thing should happen it is not happening and these people are bad I am good hence flash of anger on them they deserve my anger usually when we are angry on people it's often that I am right they are wrong even hatred it's okay to hate them because they are the hateful people so they are the ones who are hating so I talking to hate people who ate others no anger there is anger there you know the famous Buddhist teacher the one who popularized mindfulness all over the West thick gnihton I read a news article that he's dying now he's back in Vietnam in his ministry he's about to pass away he's passed away no he's about to pass so he when he first came to Europe in the 70s at that time these anti-war movement Greenpeace movement was in Germany it was going on demonstrations against nuclear weapons and so so peace for peace and he writes he is observing it as a Vietnamese monk coming to the West for the first time he says I was surprised at how angry these peace protestors were they did they didn't see the contradiction but they felt they felt this is bad and it's good to be angry about something bad true but still there's a contradiction there gamma crude were vijayate notice Matt McGann D or Martin Luther King here they they I fought the good fight against injustice against evil but they never hated the people they were fighting against no wherever you'll see madman Ghandi hated the British he did never did some of his closest friends with British there is no hatred there it and without hatred also you can fight against injustice and that's the that's where it really becomes powerful I am doing something wrong you're not angry with me you just want good for me and for others and I will sense it in you when you counsel me even scold me we are saying who can scold who can punish the one who loves not the one who says I am more virtuous than you you are bad I will punish you then the person who is being punished as there's a reaction in the mind of that person Gama Grover vijayate then what happens from from anger growth heart poverty some moja delusion comes confusion comes what to do and what not to do it's not only from anger actually from desire for things come swami rancic does just pointed this out from desire for things come lower greed greed also leads to some more delusion what is Dharma and what is adharma I overstep because I want I want I want what is my diet prescription Michel resolution this is my going to me my diet I overstep and open the fridge and raid the fridge and eat it I'm saying something which is seems to be a common problem in the West now and so but that's the classic example of greed overcoming my resolutions so greed leads to some more slover leads to some more crow the anger anger leads to delusional so of course that flash of anger they know what I should not say I say often harsh words are the most difficult things to forgive people remember them for a long time even after the quarrel is over your harsh words are remembered you might have forgotten what the quarrel was about but because of the quarrel you said harsh words to each other those hot spots were remain in the memory for decades and decades but decades together for life for a lifetime and it hurts so anger and that also leads to delusion then then there is lower growth huh then there is one more Manos this is some more some of us the delusion comes out of all of these Mamata identification Mamata means mine my child my friend my political party my football a basketball basketball team once it's mine partiality comes my religion my countrymen partial it comes so our our our balance is disturbed because of that then some more delusion from delusion some more hearts my TV drama all the things that we had learned all the classes and seminars and the books we have read and the verses memorized they go out of the out of the window at that moment and we react we react from what not from what we have learned all this wisdom but from instinctive reactions default setting the reaction comes from there Smith Ibrahim a loss of memory here means not that you become an amnesiac but loss of learning Smitty drunk shot with Dean Asha Buddha means we vehicle here what is to be done what is not to be done what is right and what is wrong I have decided the the goal of life is God realization and this is the behavior that is consistent with God realization all of that decision becomes it just goes out of the window and I react in anger or in hatred so Buddha naja but Dean Arshad prana Shetty and when the decision is wrong this falling away from spiritual life becomes it inevitable one more thing is it takes a long time to describe this sequence of eight steps but it happens in a flash that's what one should remember it happens in a flash it doesn't matter but what matters is over time as we are spiritual practitioners this should become less and less less frequent less intense and we should be able to come out of it faster that's the sign of progress so yes yes true if you ignore the material world completely that can be disastrous too but notice one thing all of these people like Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King you'll see they confirm to this kind of austere control life it's only when I'm controlled in my own life and I minimize my materiality then I can struggle for the wider causes of justice for others when my own sensory system is running amok when I have no control over my mind then I am a slave to this particular body mind system so my concern with material things will be for material things for I me and mine that's the problem with most people what is the difference between one Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi and the rest of us the most most people are so concerned and caught up with this one single body mind system this one so all the effort goes towards satisfying this thing the less we are slaves to this body mind system the more we can think about the welfare of others notice here Arjuna is literally fighting a battle on the side of righteousness against what is wrong and after learning all this he still goes and he's supposed to go and fight that battle that's what krishna is trying to persuade him to do he's not telling him to give up all concern with the battle itself Arjuna wanted to stop and Krishna said no you can do your duty much better and work for the welfare of others much better when one's own senses are under control own mind is under control even emotions are under check so I'm living under said the the sentimental and the emotional waste most of their energy in feeling it's the calm level-headed person who can work work and do great work but which kind of calm and level-headed person there are lot of calm and level-headed persons and they are doing great work for themselves it's the calm and level-headed person who has this control over the senses was the mastery over desires mind and the sensory system who can really do work for others notice that truly spiritual people whom we considered to be spiritual whom you would consider to be spiritual you will notice that they are also strongly altruistic they're deeply altruistic that they always put others before their own own needs does that answer your question it's not really concerned for material things it's rather concern for the welfare of others right it's not really concerned about cars or food or houses it's so that the others get those cars and food and houses and education it's actually concerned for human beings it's a spiritual concern Sri Ramakrishna also said he said you can't have really a spirituality on an empty stomach in Bengali Kali petted her Mahina which is true which is true sometimes the one may be misled into thinking the yogi the skinny yogi sitting in his cave in the Himalayas so that is the ideal and so all of this is not necessary Society in schools and hospitals no no no absolutely not Vedanta is not against this world began to shows us a much wiser way a more spiritual way of living in this world itself and when the time is come to go we can go absolutely freely and happily without any clinging or any any worry yeah just that answer yes yes true yes you have to be careful because the depression always has a side effect you'd really cannot repress anything it'll come out in its in some other way so this control of the senses is for directing these energies towards the higher goal in this case it's spirituality it could be art it could be science notice there I think Elon Musk has a point if you need to be motivated then don't do it a scientist who is passionate about his research and artist who is passionate about music or painting or something most of the other things sort of sort of fall away for automatically otherwise the person cannot achieve anything in life if you're dedicating 8 10 12 hours a day to something in your life the rest of the things automatically have to follow it that is this passion that is that is Vairagya but there you already have the motivation there is most of us don't have that kind of motivation for something that that should not be certain us we can move this point from loving videogames to loving studies that can be done but wisely carefully wisely but consistently also and it can be done others have done it and so can i true I'll give you it is true it is true yes it is true I will give you just one but there is a very big subject but a very interesting subject just one thing I'll tell you one is are you happy if you suppress it consistently over a long period of time you will notice something you are achieving your goals of controlling the senses but you'll notice you're consistently unhappy I do this monk who who has who seemed very depressed a very good monk young young monk seemed very depressed so I said see what is there to be depressed about which is only when I have a desire and I'm not getting satisfied my desire is not being satisfied then only I feel unhappy and you know what he told me he said quite honest pieces let's see I don't have any desires what is what is wrong they're repressed he says that they said Russ / Jim the trace is left if you look at it on paper it's perfectly all right but deep inside the subconscious mind the trace for worldly pleasures is left and the result is because it's repressed you won't see anything on the surface in life is perfectly all right but because it's repressed is only one sign of that depression unhappiness it has to be worked at now I'll give you just one way of doing it control of the senses does not always mean you have to go around with a sour face and look stressed out what are you doing controlling the senses there's a I'll give you this a look it up there is a psychologist al been shot he is I forgot the name of the book eh-eh-eh-eh are Chartres talbin Chartres a happiness name of the book is happiness now he is a professor of psychology in Harvard University or you can just google it the most popular course in Harvard it's supposed to be the most popular course at least a few years back in Harvard University where they a classroom they had to shift out and a higher a theater a theater for classes hundreds of Harvard University students undergrads took this course one they had his book is full of these very interesting insights one insight is this she gives the example of food so there is eating healthy that's the goal eating healthy is the goal now there is food which is tasteless and unhealthy there is food which is very tasty but unhealthy there is food which is very healthy but yes this is saying that if it's good if it tastes good it must be bad for you so it's many people think healthy food must taste bad so tasteless but very healthy and the last one is tasty and healthy and he says what is true of this food if you try to if you indulge in the tasty taste in tasty food and which is unhealthy you'll ruin your health if you try to hold on to these multiple diets and maybe held it you can succeed if you have a lot of willpower which are likely to fail again and again and you are even if you succeed you're likely to go around with a sour face what are you doing I'm eating healthy but this is a wise course is to do something when you're practicing something enjoy that practice so eat food which is which is healthy and tasty and he says dietitians know it doctors know it there are many such foods which you think it you will not like it but you start eating it you'll like it if they are really tasty and you can do something that you can hold on to it's a diet you can hold on to he says this is about food but this is true of everything in life so all the practices that we to keep and component of happiness involved there it should not be a miserable thing our president of our order Swami's Marin Anji he said something which really appealed to me he says the goal is bliss the means to must be pleased means to must be blissful when you are a sadhu when you are a spiritual seeker when you are a yogi should be happy not a forced smiley face but genuinely happens and we have seen that the good monks are usually the ones who are happy st. Teresa of Avila she said a sad nun is a bad nun all right we'll end with this Shanti Shanti Shanti he touched Krishna