Video 26

26. Bhagavad Gita l Chapter 2 Verses 70-72 l Swami Sarvapriyananda

who was so diva suitum deivam come such our new drummer Dunham dave aqui para Mon and um krishnam vande jagadguru we are studying the second chapter we almost at the end and we missed a couple of classes we had two wonderful guest lecturers coming in in the last two weeks so if you remember in the second chapter there are these three great themes one is the teaching about the Atman what am I Who am I or what am I why is that important because you know in Vedanta the core idea is if we know reality as it is all our problems will be solved solved in a spiritual sense and what is that reality reality is supposed to be brown an existence consciousness bliss outside inside but you have to realize that as I am that so the search for this reality is not really outside but inside what am I so the teaching about the admin admin here means the self teaching about the Atman was the first great theme of this chapter and that's really central that is the central teaching of Vedanta Who am I or what am i and then there was this subject of karma yoga so all this teaching is wonderful but how does it relate to my workaday life my daily life and then finally the third great theme which is the characteristics of the enlightened person when one becomes enlightened what is it like and that's what's going on now we are almost at the end I think we will complete the second chapter chapter today the last three verses if you remember the last class last time we talked about this there was a very interesting verse that what is day to the enlightened it's as bright and as clear as day to the enlightened is like night to the unenlightened and what is day to the unenlightened is like night to the enlightened so a paradoxical verse what is day is night to them and what is night to them is day to the rest of us it's like that so sometimes in the Bhagavad Gita sometimes in advaitha vedanta the language of paradox is used because the ultimate reality is beyond the grasp of language one of the strategies adopted in Vedanta to express the ultimate reality see the problem for the scriptures is what they are trying to talk about is beyond language but the texts are language so you have to express you have to say what cannot be said and they have ways of getting around this problem what are the ways you know them one is if I cannot say what what what is to be said I can at least say what it is not not this not this than 1880 another is by implication you you set up a certain thing and you point towards the ultimate truth another ways there using the language of paradox if you can get the paradox you get what is being talked about but that cannot be directly expressed and sometimes Krishna uses this so for example here he says night and day uses the paradoxical language I think in the fourth chapter he will say what is action the one who sees action in inaction and inaction in action that one truly sees and that one is the doer of all action and that sounds very cool but what does it really mean it's a paradoxical one more verse much further ahead I think in the 9th chapter is see all beings are in me the entire universe is in me the Lord says in one verse and the next verse he says but then the universe is not in me look at the power of Maya the magic of Maya can it anybody raise her can you raise your hand if there is an empty seat next to you this one here right right there's a cute little story about about these versus difficult versus you know the story how the Geeta and the Mahabharata the Gita is only a small part of the greatest epic ever written greatest literally because it's more than a hundred thousand verses the story is that the sage Vyasa composed the Mahabharata and he had a had a stenographer he dictated it you know the story every every Indian child knows the story the Ganesha is the person who took down that dictation now the problem was Ganesha is very fast so Ganesha set a condition to the sage he said that I'm going to write but you cannot stop dictating and that's a big thing one hundred thousand verses you cannot stop if there's any break in your dictation and I'll stop and I won't write so you have to keep up with me imagine composing verses in Sanskrit and to keep up with with Ganesha but Vyasa is no less he said alright I'll do that but I have a condition too you must understand what you write so I'll dictate and you write as fast as you can but you must you must understand don't write without understanding so Ganesha said done and they started and very soon the old sage Vyasa began to get breathless because Ganesha is going so fast so on purpose he would compose this difficult verses which Ganesha would go hmm what does it mean and you can imagine the old bearded she is going hoof and then quickly composing a few more in the time Ganesha and says get it I got it and then Vyasa goes on so this is how it went I may be these verses are those verses difficult verses in that verse which we did enlightenment is compared to day Advaita a non dual reality that is compared to day and the world of ignorance which we inhabit darkness is compared to night so the day of the enlightened is is like night to the rest of us and the opposite to what is like day to us this world is like night to the enlightened night to the enlightened means it's of no consequence they see it but they see it as an appearance they see the reality underneath they see that it is Brahman alone appearing as this universe this universe does not have a separate independent reality apart from the absolute so this is day is compared to enlightenment or adwaita let me say it outright night is compared to data due a duality and another example that the Sanskrit commentators use is a man and hour and an owl I don't know if I mentioned this last time man and an owl that keeps coming up in the in the commentaries on the Gita just as we can see in daytime but that which is night is difficult is obscure for us but the owl sees what is an inner in darkness sees it very clearly you can see a little mouse scurrying around and can soup and catch the poor little mouse but in the daytime it is befuddled it's confused and they say the divan blind in the day blind means practically blind of course it's not blind but it's too bright for the owl I don't know if you have you seen an owl in daytime they get very confused and helpless so the enlightened person is compared to a human being who sees the reality as clear as day and our samsara is like night to that person and the unlined light in person most of us except a lucky few maybe the unenlightened person is compared to an owl who's perfectly at ease in the night of samsara but what is day time to the enlightened person the brown and blazing forth all the time that is darkness to the unenlightened to the owl all right now we'll go ahead first number verse number 69 70 we have done 69 right later on 69 will - 70 70 71 and 72 are the last three verses of this chapter and they're really grand very beautiful verses 70 here the meter changes please chant after me Aparna Challon pratishta podium on a chola protestant Samudra mop of provision tea advert Samudra mop of provision tea advert Cuthbert column provision tea survey that vodka my own provision tea survey souchong tea mop no tea naka muka me hung him up no tina Komaki me an example is given about whom about the enlightened person what is the enlightened person like when the person is in the world like us immersed in samadhi immersed in trance in meditation that's different but just like us when the person is walking and talking and interacting with others how is that person different from the rest of us it's a very beautiful example example of the ocean our podium Arnim McCallum British term Samudra Samudra means the ocean as the rivers of the different as water from different rivers pour into the ocean and it is undisturbed it absorbs it all as the water of rain pours into the ocean the ocean is undisturbed in either increases or decreases undisturbed whereas rivers are always in themselves they're always subject to over flooding drying more water less water the reason being the rivers and lakes and ponds they do not have an independent source of what's the ultimately depend on the ocean for water one can quibble but don't it's an example it's a beautiful example so imagine the vast ocean on even when there is a huge storm like a tsunami or a cyclone you know recently they were very powerful cyclone if you follow if you're one of those people following up on whether this is a very powerful cyclone in India from Pawnee its most people pronounce it funny but supposed to be pronounced funny there's nothing funny about it it was like one of the most powerful cyclones that ever hit India and I was following it last night when it crossed the coast of Puri and it's interesting for me funny for me because that's the place I spend my childhood so for the first time hearing those names on CNN and CBS that but the Weather Channel they're talking it of course mangling the names but but they're talking about boo and Asheville and and Puri I think and imagine gale force winds 155 miles per hour 185 miles per hour more than 205 km/h slamming into the coastline tremendous and yet the sea today in the morning I looked it up again calm it's gone Seas calm people are not when you're hit by that so the we see after all of the tumult it is still the vast surging sea neither more nor less some agraja off of provision teared but this is an example just as all these waters run into the sea into the ocean and the ocean is undisturbed still the same ocean it absorbs it all in the same way all the sensations all the desirable comma literally means that which is desired the commentators say that which is desired by people of the world by the unenlightened all those things pour into the enlightened person's mind how through the five rivers what are the five rivers eyes and ears and nose and skin and the five senses tongue the five senses what we see and hear and smell and taste and touch and among all of these things there are things which we like to see and hear and smell and taste and touch so these desirable sensations are pouring into the mind and yet the mind of this enlightened person is like the vast ocean serene undisturbed does not care at all makes notice makes no difference to this person so here is the difference the enlightened person is compared to the ocean and by implication the unenlightened person is compared to a river or a pond or a lake the river depends on other sources of water otherwise it dries up in the same way people in the world people who are unenlightened in the world is not quite correct or unenlightened when we do not know the reality within us we depend on the world for satisfaction nice food nice place to stay and nice career to look forward to the few words of praise and a little bit of popularity so this is where I'm invested in it would be very nice you know if it happens and the opposite is also immediately true if it does not happen what if you know with two things if only if only X Y Z and what if oh my god what if this happens X well some other things so this is how most people did leave they live their lives tempted or terrified fear or fascination and in the enlightened person is none of this because inside of the the enlightened person finds in his own real nature as Brahman complete satisfaction there is nothing more to be desired beyond that totally and completely at peace so when the rivers of the senses flow into that person's awareness side sounds tastes and all of that it makes no difference is as undisturbed as the ocean notice the here this person is fully engaged with the world it's not that the senses are shut as in meditation or I won't see I won't here I once I'm deeply in meditation not aware of the external world he's not speaking about an enlightened person like that he's speaking about an enlightened person in the world working talking mixing with people teaching maybe so this person is active that is the difference do you see the difference between it doesn't make sense one depends on the world for fulfillment the one has absolute other one has no dependence on the world for fulfillment not depending on the world for fulfilment not chasing the world for happiness not going around with a begging bowl for a little bit of happiness from the world now this enlightened person calmly and serenely can do what has to be done the rest of us we had driven we are driven by by fear and temptation and anxiety this person is no anxiety he knows he cannot die the body will die nothing to him however one thing the commentators they make it clear that this person whatever the minimum requirements of the body food and shelter that person may use but even there there is no attachment the literal term used by Mazda Suzanne Saraswathi one of the commentators from six hundred years ago Gopinath charred anima trainer they even before the loin cloth which are wandering monk bears even for that also there is no attachment so that kind of non attachment however one point I want to make here is there are many stories in the Indian myths which show in the Indian stories about mythology which show attachment and non attachment does not really depend on how much one has or how little one has so the great story story about the emperor Janaka and paramahamsa the wandering the great teacher sukadeva I think so now don't take them literally if you said this is story which is not very kind to the sage cyka cyka weber so don't say the later on that oh so sukadeva was like that no he was not these stories are meant to prove a point that's all they're not meant to be taken historically so the story goes the great non duelist teacher sukadeva comes to the Emperor Janaka emperor of Mithila so he comes and teaches philosophy while they were talking a messenger runs in and says Emperor Emperor the city's on fire and the Emperor says alright I'll deal with this and he suddenly sees the sage jump up and rush off like an arrow as like a shot he's off after some time the sage comes running back sugar they becomes running back and the Emperor asks him where did you go to in such a tearing hurry he said oh I have only see he has nothing in the world he's only one change of his loin cloth which I had washed in the river and hung on the tree to dry and I thought if it's on fire maybe it'll get burnt up let me go in and make sure I'm sure it's not it's not getting burnt so it's it's fine and Janica smiled he said o sage one-line cloth and here is the entire capital city of the Empire which remember is not like Nero fiddling by the while Rome burns he's doing what has to be done but he is not in anxiety or terror the entire capital city his city he says Mattila I am predict high Omnimedia haughty Kanchana if the entire city of Mithila wait to be burned to ashes not a single nothing of what is truly me would be touched he does he's not being ruthless that is that the city be burned not at all just the opposite he's taking care of it and yet you see the complete detachment so it's not that to be detached to sort of float above the world in the world and yet not of not of it you have to be a wandering monk like not necessarily the point of the story is you can have all that is in the world an emperor an absolute monarch all that is in the world and yet be completely detached from it remember Krishna who is teaching and Arjuna who is receiving the teachings both are are the monks are the monks they're householders both of them are warriors and householders they are married they have children they have empires to run and so on so they're not monks and he is giving this teaching to Arjuna to be practiced in life not in a mountain cave so this is this is the beauty of the teaching in the midst of life in the midst of the early and burly of life eternal calmness Swami Vivekananda said the ideal of karma yoga the idea love of Vedanta is in the midst of the most intense activity eternal calmness and when you are just the opposite he says in in the me in the desert or in the mountain in the Himalayan mountain caves your mind should be able to work like a blast furnace if you've given it a problem and you are concentrating on it the mind should be busy it can do that what usually happens to us is we are calm when things are calm around us and when things are renowned as a disturbed or hectic or busy we also get agitated that should not happen so that is the beautiful example of the vast ocean which is in the midst of storms and huge rivers imagine the Brahmaputra the Ganga the huge rivers they pour their waters into the Bay of Bengal and the Bay of Bengal is just a little Bay it's it's not even the Pacific Ocean of the Indian Ocean of course they're all connected and so completely unshaken imagine that vastness there are waves on the top there's waves and foam and spray and so and so forth lot of activity going on but there's 10,000 feet of deep calmness below that so the mind of the enlightened person is like that I remember reading about Swami Torian and one of the direct disciples of sri ramakrishna in his old ages regarded as a brahmana gianni enlightened person in his old age in Banaras varanasi missive ashram he was suffering physically suffering in many problems as mind many other things then somebody says swami does it are you suffering a lot he says yes no body but then he says with a big smile in Bengali I'll translate in English it means but by the grace of sri ramakrishna inside it is all ice in a good sense not that his cold and detached in Bengali he said Tobby batata Taku borrow of coronium I am completely untouched remember in India heat is suffering in the cold climates of Europe or in America so it's a warm welcome I guess cold welcome does not really here cut it but in the in India heat is suffering so inside it is all ice means inside it's all good Swami Siobhan anda towards the end of his life he had a stroke which left him partially paralyzed and this was just before that he was susceptible to asthmatic attacks and he suffered terribly he was the head of the order of the monastic order the president and one night the monks heard from the attendants that the Swami could not sleep at night and he was suffering from that asthmatic attack next morning when the monks and devotees came to offer their respects to the Swami somebody yes so they asked the Swami are you suffering a lot are you all right he said yes of course I'm fine and they said no but we heard that you couldn't sleep last night these are the problems and the Swami said as if it was realization dawning upon him oh you mean the body oh no no it's not at all fine you see he's not play-acting for him it is nothing I myself seen Swami beautician and the G the 12th president of the Order he lived to more than 98 plus when I mean I saw this it was 98 he was around 98 years and he had many physical problems so that day particularly I think he had a high it was running a high fever one hundred and 205 something like that and we all went to offer our pronounce our salutations and one of this we are too junior to ask just see from a distance the senior monks would speak with him so one of the monks said to him Swami how how are you today in Bengali it means sure read come on how is your body today literally how's the body and the Swami said he would speak in a slow drawl why do you people keep talking about the body term righto sure each hurry simple things he would let us know another time somebody asked him and he was very humorous except that he would never smile himself everybody would crack up imagine a room full of for maybe 100 or 200 mugs all laughing and giggling and he is sitting quietly there this one is completely untranslatable into English but I'll just tell you a little bit once sometimes somebody asked the same question how's the body to the harbor surely come on how are you today literally how is the body today he gave a whole catalogue of what's wrong with the body and there are particular turns of phrases in Bengali for particular kinds of aches and pains the Bengalis are awful what is it called always thinking about diseases and hypochondriacs yes so the language reflects it it has got rich detailed descriptions of every possible ache and pain so he says my eyes are in Bengali Chocula parkour Kojima thought a deep deep Kochi a heart of Bulacan Concord chief so literally it means something like my forehead is throbbing and the eyes are are Pinot scratchy or irritable and there is a shooting pain in my shoulders and there is a stabbing pain in my head and there's this pain in the knees and so from the top of the head till the toes here give till we were we are laughing so much and then he's with his sweet voice in slow voice he said but don't think I am complaining I'm happy with all of this he said Tom I am I complain cochina shop near me R&D he would be like that so all the it's not only pleasurable sensations all the painful sensations they all run into this ocean we are ocean like the few I would say our enlightened I've met it is a wonderful example example comparison they are like oceans fast and unperturbed unperturbed deep down on top they may be joking or scolding affectionate Stern whatever but deep down very deep and very compassionate there's a kind of endless unconditional compassion about them not just a loved one you feel absolutely one with that person there is absolutely no judgment and there's 110 percent well-wisher but I mean that doesn't mean they won't school they can be very harsh scolding but always for the further for the welfare you never forget once you hear what I haven't they always for the good of for your own good and sometimes I've heard me I and other monks we remember those holdings from those very senior monks like blessings for the rest of our life unforgettable so such a person sir shanti mop no tina kamigami such a person attains peace true peace lasting peace unshakable peace no karma commie not the desire of desire of desires kama kama desire of desires the one who thinks if I get that then I'll be happy and that could be anything the entire world is there in that that that person that job that career that education the degree that word of praise that position in in the hierarchy that apartment that award or just finished this work achieved this much in my life never never none of that will ever fulfill you it's good you have to keep on doing it that's your karma and that's what has to be done in the world but not because you want something back from it no karma commie now next verse 71 another beautiful verse V ha yoga Manya Surve on V ha yucca Manya Surve on Pumas charity nice pre huh poo monks charity nice pre huh near mama near ahankara near mama near ahankara Sasha on Tim a Ducati Sasha on Tim a Ducati this enlightened being attains to peace Santa Monica chatty realizes or attains to the ultimate peace how the earlier one else's attains to peace and this one also attains to peace but here is seeing just the opposite very interesting here he sees there he says allow all the desires all the experiences to flow through your mind remain unperturbed like the vast ocean here he says give up all the desires completely we hire a common yes serve on all desires the commentator says lo a Loki Concha lo means all desires of this world allow all heavenly desires all that when we fulfilled in heaven all those desires giving giving them up completely renouncing them completely internally renouncing them completely and worldly desires also two things gross physical things which are there commentator gives examples you your fields and your houses and wealth physical things and he says Maharaja upon vasana ma tranche of the form of daydreaming the the the illusory things we are thinking about if it were so it would be so nice all that giving all that up amongst charity nice Priya so does this person sit with eyes closed not interacting with the world no moves about the world freely charity moves around the world freely does whatever has to be done in life whatever our particular Arjuna has his battlefield we also each of us we have our own battlefield we move around do what you have to do nice free ha spree ha means thirst moves around without thirst miss Priya miss predock with quench thirst not moving around thirsty Li moving around thirstily means this will fulfilling me that will fulfill me want want want not like that Pumas charity dish Priya near Mamoni Rihan cara how is this person without ego near ahamkara near Momo without the idea of position without I and mine I and mine a hunk are I mammal is mine ah hum mama this is the nature of samsara I and mine these things have to be understood very well otherwise they can be dynamite so does it mean have to donate everything to the Red Cross and and become homeless take up residence in Central Park or something like that no no no it doesn't mean that again remember the context itself will make it clear they are both of them warriors both of them kings none of them is talking about giving up anything particularly their going to do whatever their duty is internally near ahankara not I it means what is this ego what is this ego the ego is a function of the mind which says I and immediately when the mind you can right now you can say I I am sitting here I am listening to this I am happy what an interesting lecture I am bored what a boring lecture ai ai ai ai whatever is having happening in the body mind complex this AI gets connected to them this I gets attached to it this is called a hunk our ego this is what connects us to the body mind complex now what does it mean to be ego less see there is a general term in which egotistic means a person who has a big ego that's a different thing and that of course one should not have a big ego one should be humble and all of that but we have to it is here it goes to the root of the whole thing even the very functioning of the ego which says III all the time I am proud I'm humble I'm most saintly I'm so nice that's also bad because you still struggle it still stuck with that ego it stuck with a particular condition of the mind whatever be the condition of the mind whatever the the the the ego the ahankara will get attached to that and we think I am that what Vedanta does to you is to show you that you are not that I that that ego itself is not you you are the consciousness in which the ego appears functions and disappears to put it in another way so you are not the ego you are the consciousness you're the witness of the ego this is one way to put it you are the witness of your ego how can I be the witness how can I become the witness of my ego just notice it right now when you say I I am sitting here I am trying to understand what he is talking about I doesn't this whole thing appear to you in your awareness are you that I or are you the awareness which knows or illumines and lights up that I whether I am talking about the vertical line not day so you are not the ego you are the witness of your ego this is one way to understand it another way to have the same effect is what does the I refer to the ego what does it refer to refer to means when I say anywhere every word has a referent so when I say book it refers to this object when I say when I say cloth it refers to this object when we say I what does it refer to you see I is we can point it out it refers to this here so this I the I refers to body mind swami vivekananda is just close your mind and say to yourself i and if any sort of body or mind this person comes up you're not enlightened yet I'll come to you hold on to your question then what is the difference between us and enlightened person the enlightened person truly knows it's fully aware of the fully aware of the mind just like us and yet is aware of the underlying reality the background consciousness in which the body mind appears functions and disappears and the eye which is formly in the mind is a function of the mind it refers it points back to that consciousness so when the enlightened person say is I he means he or she means two things one is primarily primarily for himself or herself in his heart apart knows that I am the witness consciousness Zidane and Rupa her shivoham I am of the nature of eternal bliss and awareness and for our sake that in the enlightened person can behave just like one of us I'm talking walking eating but in a secondary sense so when the enlightened person behaves like the body mind the enlightened person is using the ego in a secondary sense knowing very well that the ego does not refer to this the eye does not refer to this for the enlightened person the reference of the eye has shifted back to the background existence consciousness place the witness consciousness this shifting of the reference of the ego is another sense in which the people to go beyond the ego two ways one is you are the witness of the ego you are not the ego and therefore whatever the ego attaches itself to you you're not that also the ego will automatically get attached to body mind you're not that so that is one way of saying of going beyond the ego the ego will continue to function but I am NOT that one way another way same thing shifting the reference of the ego it's not body and mind ego means the witness consciousness just to remember your question yes is the I what do you mean by the I do you mean the ego the the feeling of I the feeling of I the feeling of I notice it carefully where is it it's in the mind it's the ego it's the arm if you notice I when you feel I when you think I it's in the mind and in fact this sensation of the ID is this feeling of the eye it's a function of the what in volantis called the undercurrent of the inner instrument in sanskrit is called a hung cara so this works only when the mind is working you see mind is always working now when you fall asleep where is the eye in deep sleep where is the ego no but you don't have to go to deep sleep in actual in day to day life when you are very focused when you're doing something with tremendous focus playing a game of tennis but neuroscientist a neurosurgeon operating on the brain with tremendous focus there is no extra there is no extra cognitive bandwidth left over for feeling I am playing or I am operating if you think that anybody who plays a musical instrument or a game knows that if you become self conscious you'd breaks the flow right so at that time also the at that instant the feeling of I also disappears though you are still a very very much aware in fact you're very alert and yet there is no feeling of I so the ego comes on and off one neuroscientist described it beautifully her name is Susan Blackmore I think she wrote the Oxford very short introduction to consciousness she said imagine a refrigerator refrigerator is a light when you open the door what happens the light comes on you see the light when you shut it is the light on or off the moment you try to locate the eye it's there but lot of time in our life we forget the eye but the eye is not consciousness these are the things which are people are not clear about in consciousness studies yet the self consciousness of the ego it's one function of the mind even when it is not there you're still fully conscious when you are playing a game or playing a classical music instrument tremendous concentration you're not aware of I I am playing you something there will you say I was not conscious no no no you were conscious you were in fact much more conscious you are at the peak of your consciousness you have your flow even in flow so the ego is a function of the inner instrument so this eye is not constant but but if you are not referring to the feeling of I the functioning of the ego but you are referring to what the eye refers to when you say a humdrum has me I am Brahman I am the witness consciousness I am that absolute reality that I it's no longer a function of the mind it refers to the real you yeah so in that sense the eye the real eye is eternal it's forever in fact eternal is also a time word time is also experienced its presence and absence is experienced in the real eye does this make sense there is put it this way there is an eye which is the person the little person that little person comes and goes if everyday when you fall asleep it goes in deep sleep it goes I'll come to you and just remembered an awful little joke which was told to me by a monk who is whose very senior who was 86 years old so it's it's a it's a senior joke so but because the person who told is a senior it's not offensive so he said in a assisted living facility so this philosopher goes to preach to the old folks there they all gather around him and listen to him who's less than half their age and he starts so the real question is Who am I Who am I Who am I they all look at him and one little old lady says to him my dear if you don't remember ask the desk they know everybody here now the point is even in Alzheimer's or Parkinson's when I don't even remember who I am I I might not even remember who I the person am the very personality might change vast chunks of my memory might disappear am I not conscious I'm still conscious it's not the mind we are talking about it's something which transcends the mind in it the mind plays and appears and disappears yes you're the follow-up good this verse v ha a common yes serve on bemonc charity nice pre huh near Momo near ahankara sasha anthem at akatsuki look at the contrast between this verse and the earlier verse earlier verse says let all things come in all experiences come into my awareness i'm unperturbed like the vast ocean ten thousand feet of calm water beneath me and here it says giving up pursuing all those experiences i attain peace but both mean the same thing even when all those experiences in life are coming to you your internal attitude is like this we higher karma and yes i want the the commit sanskrit commentator and mother Susan says what he says as you walk along use the example of a month as the monk walks along the the grassy mountain paths the little grass of the mountain it the way it touches your feet as you walk walk past it the touch of these desires is like that inconsequential very small all kinds of desires of this world in your mind and whatever have they were begun heavenly desires in those days so there is to perform elaborate rituals so that after death it's all accumulated in your heavenly account Wells Fargo or whatever and you get it when you go to the belief of all of the Vedic people was after death you go to a whole hierarchy of of heavens depending upon how much credit of God you go to a better having a bit none of them are permanent and none of them are particularly spiritual the spiritual heaven talked about by the dualistic religions is different the way of the vaishnavas the kailasha of the Shiva's or the heaven of the Christians that's that's an eternal heaven that's different but that's in dualistic religion but these where other worldly worldly places of pleasure and so even those pleasures there they're of no consequence to the one who has realized I am the absolute I remember once women via novices senior monk was teaching us something like this and talking about their although original text we'll always talk about giving up worldly and other worldly pleasures laukika allow Kika worldly another worldly and somebody said i don't want the pleasures of heaven I'm doing other worldly pleasures and the Swami looked at this young novice and said that's because you don't believe in it it's all imaginary to you so these days we are so secular and modern and so settle settled in our test world is real if you would even get a taste he said an inkling of what is possible in other worlds and other bodies she you cannot give up the little cookie here and you think you'll give up no no no it's just because we don't believe in it it's like like the person who says you know I dreamt I won the lottery though the Powerball three hundred million dollars and I'm not attached I give it all to you dreamt tomorrow though you can be the greatest philanthropist ever with with the dream money it's not so easy when you consider it to be absolutely real but for this person precisely for that reason for this enlightened person it's like dream money it's not real in itself what is real Brahman is real Brahman in that form you know the story of the princes of Kashi yeah I won't repeat it here I have defeated it too many times so when you realize I alone am appearing in these ways what is there to be attained there it is ever attained it is an appearance why would you desire something which comes up on the film screen even the choicest of food you would like to see that very nice but you are not particularly unhappy because it disappeared because it wasn't there to begin with Sasha and Timothy got chatty the two are exactly the same the first day is 78 verse in the 71st Swami sweet analogy with whom I whenever rhythms a new novice I was trained by him and he was trained by Swami pre-mission and the ji who was the disciple of masada and so I mean sweet and just still remember the first time I read this verse I still remember we were walking with him and with great you know enthusiasm and force he chanted this verse and he said this was one of Swami pre-mission energies favorites he would chant it with great vigor even Shorthouse wrong information about chanted we higher come on yes sir von boo mom's charity in Esprit huh Nehru mamoon ear ahankara Ashanti Medea Chitty Swami Flemish and they would chant that without knowing too much of the meaning it immediately I sort of made up mind is going to be one of my favorites too yes last verse again a very profound very beautiful verse Asia Brahm his tittie part of Asia Brahm he city part nine improperly mejia t9 improper be mejia t stick to us llaman tackle EP state was llaman tackle EP brahma-nirvanam rich @e brahma-nirvanam reach a t o at Juna this is the Bramnick state the state of brahman Brahm hissed it apart this is the state of the enlightened the one who has realized I am from Rome has me so good for that person what about me you are Brahmin to the joke is we are all this this Brahma city this state of bringing Brahman is right here right now for each one of us we just don't see it that's all that makes all the difference and say like you're the proverbial rich uncle has left you a million maybe a billion dollars and you still on welfare why because I don't know I am a billionaire in theory but I don't know where it is where is the passbook where is the bank of how do I collect the money know are you a billionaire yes practically no we are like that we are none other than the absolute Umbra mask me I am Brahman and yet yet here we are suffering in this world Asia Brande Stitt apart should see some such person we begin to get an inkling of what it can be to I'll share something a little private here everything I've told anybody in public earlier when I was a novice in our main monestry hundred this was in 96 97 1996 so we used to go every day to offer pronounced salutations to the head of the monastery which was at that time swami rotation and the twelve president of the order and i was very young i mean i was a newcomer so i would be like at the bottom of the chain sadly at the back all the time and the senior monks will be at the front and I still remember that day most peculiar reaction I had to the Swami he was sitting there as usual remember this is 97 years old 98 years old at the time he was 97 I remember standing there and feeling of all things jealous a kind of holy jealousy will be that I want what you have that I still remember the place the exact place I was standing in the door and the window from through which was looking at him you have something which I want it's the most precious thing in this world it's the point of being alive it's the point of human life so I'm the way Kondos said the goal of life each soul is potentially divine the goal is to manifest this divinity within so that manifests the divinity you see somebody was at a taste of it so it applies Asia a brand nice titty Krishna's as if pointing out look o Arjuna this is the state of enlightenment the brahmic state it's the state is within courts it's not a state it's the reality being alive in a body is a state being dead is a state being awake is a state being dreaming deep sleep these are States coma these are states meditation is a state going to heaven is a state whatever comes and goes is a state all of it limited by time and space but this one is not limited it is the reality underlying all states great how do I get there how do I get there it's not a journey in space it's not a journey in time it's not a journey from one to the other it's not that it's in heaven not some holy place I have to go there somehow and pilgrimage no it's right here it's you it's not that yeah it's me but you know it's only after enlightenment after death after something happens after time No not a post-mortem spirituality here and now not a journey in time not a journey in space not a journey from one to the other you see every journey is to something which we don't have yet a place a thing a person and experience it's not even that when we do become enlightened we'll realize oh it was always there and I always was it helplessly so choicelessly so you realize it was always perfectly alright that is Asia from history part Nahum prepare by machete yeah one little question suppose I do realize that but then now I don't have it I don't realize it can this happen again can I again get trapped in samsara this is no once you attain it once you touch it once it you realize that you can never be trapped in some sorrow never be trapped by ignorance again so what is the journey then a spiritual journey not in space not in time not from one thing to another it's a journey from ignorance to knowledge it's a journey from not realizing to suddenly realizing it's a journey from not recognizing to recognizing and playing a little fast and loose with the specific philosophical terminology but in general it's fine recognizing not recognizing is Kashmir Shaivism realization is a great of a rant enlightenment but whatever you call it it's basically a journey from ignorance to knowledge some old ignorant scum and catch me again he says no naanum prepare non-armed prepare b-movie 'ti you can never be deluded once ignorant is destroyed knowledge destroys ignorant this like light destroys darkness well you're telling me straight away is a nice little wrinkle to this let me just put it to you if the question ever came to you this will make sense if it doesn't come to you don't bother because the question is yeah you're sort of shouting that no it will never come again but always a little doubt remains in the back of my mind it could come again you know and just by shouting doesn't solve it it's logically impossible for it to come again why mother Susan Saraswati in his commentary gerardo deepika a lamp to the profound hidden meaning of the gita there he makes a point he says on our the tweener are not padilla mana always whenever maya is described ignorant is talked about in vedanta one of the things he said about it is an are the beginningless why is it said beginningless because the question always is so when did this begin it's all due to ignorance so when did I become ignorant about my real nature Brahman and since that question is meaningless because this ignorance is beginningless aren't you escaping the question beginning and beginningless means how how can it something be beginningless but it's true all the ignorant is beginningless i give this example it's not mine at this insight simple insight was given to me by Professor J n mohanty he said in a talk in the Institute of culture in Calcutta in gold Park he said ignorance is always beginningless just think about it in the in that audience in Calcutta he said how many of you know German so if I ask you sir do you know German the person said no now if I ask you since when do you not know when did your ignorance about German begin from my very birth and he said oh so before you about you knew German it's true it's a fact we never think about it that way any kind of ignorance is beginningless I don't know how to pee or play the piano since when do you not know how to play the piano question is meaningless forever ever and ever I don't know how to play the piano but if I start learning German if I start learning to play the piano ignorance will be dispelled that is true so ignorant beginningless in that sense but it can be removed by knowledge so this is the usual discourse we know this but there is another little thing like a little time bomb hidden there notice what is said ignorant is beginningless that which does not have a beginning wait for it that which does not have a beginning cannot be produced cannot come cannot arise if you say yeah I become enlightened but can't ignorant come again can't it arise again mother Susan Saraswati says no because it is beginningless that which does not have a beginning you yourself admitted it does not have a beginning it cannot begin see how the simple elegance of it yeah yeah I think many of you see it you need not be afraid just become enlightened that's it after that no problems it's guaranteed ignorance is not going to come back because it has its beginning less if you admit that it cannot begin there's no way it can be produced just a little word he says and I'll it tweener idea mana it cannot be produced it cannot begin it cannot come stick to us hold on to the question said to us some antic RAV the ending is so beautiful even at the very end of our lives the last conscious moment of our lives if you come up across this it's done stick to appears semantically appear at the time of death halts at that point till that point also had not realised but at that point if I do realize brahma-nirvanam with Chucky one attains nirvana in Brahman or one attains the took two interpretations one attains Brahman which isn't it one marijuana means the final release ultimate spiritual freedom and the commentator says at the point of death also by the grace of guru by the grace of God if attains in Livan attains enlightenment what to speak of he says from once youth the one who is who is established in this knowledge and living like that Jeevan Mukta enlightened by living of course that person attains the final release at the point of death for that person is no difference at all at the point of death is it's a great encouragement sometimes we see lot of spiritual practice surrender specially to God the God of religion saguna brahman and by the grace of guru by the grace of God even if we have not yet attained attained at that point when a vast change takes place this body identification which we find it so difficult to let go of it's going by itself and this knowledge is clear in our minds enlightenment takes place at that point there are other points every day when you if you have the experience of waking up from a dream which is still vivid try to compare it and see that vivid dream this vivid waking of this is becoming more and more vivid and that's beginning to fade away both of them are appearing to what consciousness that's also a crucial window of opportunity and there are many such windows of opportunity devotees many devotees by the grace of God I've told you so many devotees lives if you see at the end of their lives they have a vision of the chosen deity God in the form they worshipped all throughout their lives for the first time they begin to see and that leads them there are so many such examples that is not within the syllabus of Advaita Vedanta but that's what one must be practical the story of Kali pada gosh you know who was a great drunkard and then he's got slowly reformed by the grace of sri ramakrishna and forced Sri Ramakrishna to give him initiation I've told you the story how on the boat on the river Ganga Sri Ramakrishna is there in the boat and Kali pada kosha this is a rich man he said I'll take you across to to the to see the city of Calcutta come with me in my boat but he had a plan so Sri Ramakrishna gets in you know simply gets into the boat and then carry Pethick or stops the boat in the middle of the river catches hold falls at his feet and catches hold of his feet and says I have grace upon me Tripucka room C Ramakrishna is confused what is this what is this drama hi in the come on start the boat is no eye we will not go any further until you you're gracious to me and then finally Sri Ramakrishna has to give him initiation mantra diksha here is the mantra take it an avatar and incarnation is initiating you and cally pada go still says no no that's not what I want I didn't say that's not what I want he said tikis keep saying no this is not enough hath grace upon me then Sri Ramakrishna says you don't have to repeat the mantra also it'll be done baby by itself now let's go and he says no no then finally Salaam Krishna has to say but what do you want then what do you want from me and then he says with a voice choked with tears he says he called him Baba Oh father father when when I die it will be dark and none of my relatives will be near me as the darkness surrounds me promise me that you will come at that time and you will have a lantern he says you it describes it so vividly a lantern in your left hand and with your right hand you will catch hold of me take hold of me and take me through that darkness you will come for me at the time of my death promise me that and tsunami Krishna Cesare all right all right let's go now and that actually happened decades later long after sri ramakrishna passed away and when Kali brother Kosh was about to pass away and at that time one of the Swami's was visiting because of swami visiting a lot of the relatives who were gathered around his the dying man's bed they left they thought he's there and at that time he passed away it came true that the relatives were not there and at that point Kali for the course suddenly says father you have come for me you did not forget me and he passed away so there's not just one there are many many many such examples this is what he means stick to a semantically uppy if at the point of death also even by the grace of God if God points it out to you this is your real real nature brahma-nirvanam Richard you are freer into into brahman into your absolute nature question yes yes yes SS knowledge that is true that is true remember even if you get the intuition the true intuition will never Bank vanish if something gets clouded over and get confuse then it's not that one that we we get a series of insights in spiritual life it do we are all spiritual seekers and we will keep we will keep keep getting it but there is a breakthrough I'm speaking about once that happens it never goes away even if a person does not do any practice after that does not pay any attention to that at a moment's notice it's available to you just like your own identities available to you that requires that stabilization that's what is to procure but he says suppose you have not been able to attain that but there's another possibility one possibility is you'll come back life after life and then go further ahead another possibility is at the point of death also one may get released but that requires a special grace of God or the Guru and of course that does not mean I won't do anything till then we are spiritual seekers of course you will pursue spiritual enlightenment till the very what else will you do what else is what doing Swamy evade Ananda who was here a young lady came up to him that about a hundred years ago when he was in America great excitement and said Swami is this true what you are talking about all of this he said yes he said if this is true what else matters and then she said and if this is not true what else matters and she went away never to come back again and he heard that he had retreated into an island retreat and spent the rest of her days in meditation and contemplation Salinger here right here in New York JD Salinger who's to go to the side Center he became so convinced of it he completely retreated from worldly activities he kept on writing but he said I will never publish again I don't want anything back from it I am God has given me this talent so this is my bay I worship so I'm just giving an example if this is true what else matters if this is not true what is matter shantih shantih shantih hurry he owned that such Sri Ramakrishna Aparna must