Video 35

35. Bhagavad Gita l Chapter 3 Verses 28-29 l Swami Sarvapriyananda

Oh Vasudeva suitum deivam come such are no dahmer Dunham dave aqui para Mon and um Krishnan one day jagadguru one of the things that I liked and I noticed in in my short time at Harvard is that people are are open to questions so you're expected to think differently think out of the Basques box and ask different questions I am I think I am much more in all of the professors than the kids are the study students for them these are just some old men we're not saying something saying they are free to ask questions that's good there's a there are two different approaches to this in Indian philosophy and in Western philosophy the difference is this two of the professors in Buddhism pointed this out when you look at textbooks in when you look at the texts of Indian philosophy you will find some core texts but you'll find a lot of commentary so you have the Upanishads and then you have the commentary of Shankar Acharya or somebody else and then you have a sub commentary on the commentary so for example Upanishads are there and they are systematized in the sutras called the Brahma sutras which are composed by Vyasa and the Brahma sutras which are aphoristic they are explained in the commentary of say for example Shankar Acharya the other computer is Rahman who just commentary Madras Coventry and so many countries and shankara's commentary is commented upon by the sub commentary by Padma pada who's coming to the sub commentaries commented upon in a sub sub commentary by Prakash at Marathi and so it goes now in the Western tradition it's just the opposite it's not a tradition it's a questioning of tradition here the way of doing philosophies do not to write a commentary on what your professor told you is to prove that your professor is wrong you haven't got it right I'm going to show everybody for the first time that this is the real solution of course my student will show that I am wrong now there are advantages and disadvantages to both the problem of writing commentaries is that it often very soon becomes stagnant so you're basically saying the same thing and being ornamental about it maybe a little more detail little more variation this way or that way it can stifle creativity you might say why do we need creativity I've got the truth and so what what do what else do we need but remember the original texts were people thinking creatively so they thought for themselves I'm Swami Vivekananda again and again said it might be shocking the Rishi's and all those who gave us these texts they are dead and gone you are here you must be Rishi's Rishi's means sages you must be sages - we must be sages - so that's the problem with writing commentary' the other way of doing philosophy the advantage is that you you're thinking for yourself you're challenging you're coming up with new ideas but the problem is problem becomes very clear when you browse through the papers published in journals especially for example philosophy so people are trying to be different for the sake of being different not that I have a single original thought in my head but I can't get published until I say that this is the greatest thing since can't everybody else has been wrong since then and I am the person who's what are you saying nothing much actually and I have seen in some cases there are dangers for example in order to prove that I am saying something new and different I have to you know sort of knock what's been said by earlier people earlier and blow up the differences exaggerate the differences between what I am saying and what has been said earlier to show that I am absolutely right so a minor point might be exaggerated beyond belief not helpful not helpful it often becomes polemical on one side lies the dead pool of stagnation on the other side we like a like a you know like a tornado of a whirling mass of confusion of attempting to be new each time it's not true you really cannot be new each time so we have to be aware of both sides and what the two professors on Buddhism pointed out was that when we look at fill out the texts of Indian philosophy the immediate reaction by people studying modern philosophy here is oh it just commentary's there's nothing new nothing worthwhile there and both professors said no you're wrong commentaries but the way philosophy was done in ancient India for more than 2,000 years and while writing commentaries you can be creative and original and you look at the commentaries you begin to see how so for example there's one kind of commentary called the Wat tikka what because it's a composed in and imagine doing your philosophy thesis and all in verse but other professors were joking that all right you're going to turn in your papers it's going to be twenty pages of this or it could be ten pages but it has to be entirely in verse in poetry so in those days it used to inverse what tika is a kind of commentary sub commentary on inverse so for example Suresh were one of the great disciples of Shankar Acharya he is known as the war tika Carter the composer of the war ticker commentary on what on Shankar's commentary on what on the bhagavad-gita for example there's no article on bhagavad-gita in the articles on that theory open Ishod we heard our neck open issue on the commentaries of Shankara but what is this war think of what's the speciality what the or the original commentator has said I am going to comment on that okay what the original commentator has left unsaid I'm going to comment on that and what what has been said in a difficult way I'm going to make things easy okhta an abducted rook tanja octo means said an optimist not said the rook town means said in a difficult way I'm going to present all of that so that becomes the purpose but that gives you just a channel the great commentator Shankara had with all frustrations and Barham bowing down to him a thousand times but this is a trifling matter which he may have missed a missed and I present something quite different from what Shankara said you know the language of the commentator to understand what's happening so we're on the Tibetan coming to this we was reading the professor pointed out look here this commentator says the one on whom I'm commenting he has said all these things out of his own omniscient this omniscient such-and-such says these things omniscient tsongkhapa said these things you know what it means it means this is not according to Buddha it's just something that he has thought about it himself so he is an all-knowing person so he has written this and it's not right so these are subtle things to look at in the commentary so for example when I'm teaching the bhagavad-gita I draw upon many commentaries and they have wonderful insights the one I am holding right now is Shankar Acharya has come entry yeah one reason I bought it all up was do participate do ask questions you can give your own commentary or you can just blow it all of it's all wrong about to say in whose classes I had the location to attend last semester she says he once when he was a kid he went up to his teacher in India and said about the bhagavad-gita he said can i disagree with Krishna can I disagree with Krishna and his teacher said of course but with respect and he said that's really the hallmark of Indian philosophy you can disagree with anything but respectfully all right now so do participate comment ask questions dispute verse number 27 we saw last time in 28 so verse number 27 please chant with me chapter 3 verse 27 Prakriti kriyamanani Prakriti kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah goony karmani sarvasah ahankara be more Atma ahankara be more Atma committeemen yachty committeeman yachty all action is done by nature in all ways by the products of nature but deluded by the sense of ego identification with body and mind the ignorant one thinks that I am the doer of all action we discussed this last time see stepping back from all this discussion one of the grand things of the bhagavad-gita is it talks about spirituality in the midst of life not spirituality in a cave not just spirituality in an ashram but this is about spirituality about action our day-to-day activities in life in in the family in your in your community at your in your career and of course in your spiritual practice too so action how is it to be spiritual eyes that's what makes it relevant for everybody otherwise if it's just something to be practiced by monks in retreat it's not relevant to everybody but this is something the krishna insists on making it relevant so action how now what is the topic going on here how is action done by the ignorant by those who do not have spiritual insight and how is action done by the enlightened and it also follows then those of us who want to be enlightened how should we act he says if you remember quickly summarizing what we saw last time all action in the world is done by prakruti by Nature what is Prakrit Li the the source of the universe it's made of according to samkhya cosmology it's made of sattva rajas tamas the three gunas and it produces this universe the five elements and all combinations of five elements and remember when it says this universe it means not only the physical universe of matter space time energy stars and planets atoms and quarks but also our bodies and our minds - thoughts and feelings and emotions and ideas and memories these experiences which we have internally the first person experiences that's also prakruti that's also nature nature has this gross matter Toula and subtle matter sukshma we have a physical body this one and a subtle body our thoughts feelings emotions which we all experience internally all of us what's the distinction between the subtle body and the physical body absolutely clear clear no mystical no stuff here no certain extent the physical body is what you can see what the doctor examines not just outside inside also whatever is inside physical if you probe inside it's a physical body but what we all experience privately and not accessible to anybody else the doctor cannot examine it and yet we know for sure it's there thoughts feelings emotions ideas memories desires this is the subtle body suksham sharir all of this is matter according to samkhya even the subtle bodies matter why the definition of matter is whatever you can experience as this as this object whatever is very elegant definition whatever you can experience as this this room matter this body matter this breath breathing in and breathing out matter this thought this feeling matter or object because this I am from this thought is it matter or not it is this thought whatever you can objectify is matter even in the subtlest sense even in the most subtle idea you may have in your intellect matter and in deep sleep when everything shut down no experience of the world no experience of the body just a blankness restfulness into which we subside and we come out again you come back and you look back upon it that restfulness that silence if it's that it's still matter so putting it in terms of vedanta annamaya kosha from pranamaya kosha Manoa Akasha big annamaya kosha under my kosha the five levels or the five sheets of the human personality all are matter object thing as much as the thing as this not you the real you the real I is the witness of this of what of this entire physical universe of the physical body of the vital body vital body means the prana of the mental body look the word used is used mental the body what is the thing thoughts also monomeric osha or the intellect began america and beyond that the deep sleep state anandamaya kosha all kosher means the sheets are covering what is it a covering for the real you what is this real you then what is the real lie if it is not matter well one thing is it is the experiencer of matter it lights up matter it lights up my thoughts feelings emotions it lights up my senses and this body mind complex so the body mind complex lit up by something which is not the body mind complex that is the Atman the witness consciousness a good way of distinguishing it would be they when you look in the mirror you see your the mirror and a reflected face neither are you the mirror nor are you that reflected face all that reflected face looks a lot like you but you are not it because it's this this mirror this face but the actual face is here similarly consciousness you are always there but what we experience is consciousness lighting up the mind and through the mind lighting up the sense organs and through the sense organs this body and this body mind complex there is one function of the mind called a hunk our ego literally if you translated mica becomes ego maker or I maker or Ankara but ego basically what we call the ego the ego has two parts one is the thought I and the other one is like the reflected face in the mirror a consciousness aspect you the consciousness you are reflected in that I so that I seems to be a live eye a lit up I it seems to be conscious it really really feels I am right now you see always check with your inner experience I am aware this I am aware this is not you the ignorant the one who does not have spiritual insight thinks that this I am this i this i am aware this i consciousness this is who i am and this ego is always connected with the body mind once the ego is there it's connected with the body mind any thought comes up i want some desire comes up it becomes i want look in the mind desire in the mind ego but the two are connected I want ego is I ahankara Ankara's the function the very function of ego is to appropriate unto itself all the activities of one body mind unit I'll repeat that the function of the ego is to appropriate unto itself all the activities in one body mind unit so whatever is going on here the function of the ego its very nature is to say I and this I want this I think this I am this I remember that I forgot that I ate this I went there all activities of life they are all but why does it do that there's a function just like the each organ has its own function the function of the mind that the ego is to appropriate it's basically to unite the activities going on to integrate the activities going on in the body and mind in itself not bad here is very something very crucial in itself not bad but there is a problem if we do not know the real I if I have forgotten this is my face I forgotten this then the only thing remaining before me is the mirror with the reflected face and then I think I am that mirror gets dirty who my face is dirty mirror is convex oh my face is peculiar mirror is cracked oh my face is correct no it isn't but we think that and then we suffer that is bound to happen because the very nature of the very nature of nature Prakriti we're in nature of nature is to change the world is changing the body is changing from birth to childhood to middle-aged to old age to death inevitable inevitable inevitable the mind is changing all the time all the time fast and if I am identified with any of these then I'm in trouble so why should we even trouble if you're identified with it notice what we all do our entire story of our lives is we are trying to arrange things to our satisfaction that's basically the story of our lives we want to arrange and the kid arranging the my toys to my satisfaction these are the toys I want and this is how it should be when you grow up a little bit arrange people around to my satisfaction people in the office and in the family very difficult impossible then I think I should arrange I can't change the world I can't change the people I can change my life little more vice so I arranged my routine I will get up early and exercise I'll eat gluten-free and I will I will meditate I will pray I will do yoga and I try to arrange and often I find I feel my own mind rebels against me even arranging my own thoughts become seems to be out of my capacity and the whole project is also doomed to failure it has to be understood very carefully it's not that life is meaningless but if you do it this way what will happen is think about it suppose you could succeed suppose you succeed succeed means I have some sort of idea that this kind of an arrangement is what I want in life this much money my people people around me family should behave in this way but should behave in this way my body should behave in this way my mind should be calm and peaceful this is what I want sounds good some are smiling already house it sounds really nice don't forget don't forget nature is always changing so if you have arranged it to your satisfaction what will happen next it will change arrangement to my satisfaction the moment it changes the next thing will not be to my satisfaction because I wanted it this way and it changed I want the setup to be this way changed up set set up this way not to my liking upset so its we are condemned to suffer as long as you are identified with the changing body and mind we're condemned to suffer as long as you think I am that reflected face good news you are not you are not the body mind complex which is the place to detach yourself from the body mind complex the a hunk are of the ego the finest the tip of the spear is that a hunk are the eagle-eye sense with consciousness if you can know follow this carefully if you can even understand if we can see that I am the witness of the ego then the process of disengagement has begun lot of suffering your release from I am the witness of the ego if you're the witness of something are not involved you're not affected I am the illumina of the ego if you're the I'll come to you if you're the illumina like this light in humans notice it lights up everything but it's not affected by what's present before it there could be a book there could be a clock there could be a flower or they could be nothing it is not affected by that if you are only that which lights up once you realize that then this next step is how do you look back upon life Krishna says life will continue now the body mind and the ego continue to do their thing but as you are not it you're very clear I am NOT it I am NOT so desperately involved in trying to arrange things for its benefit no then I am at ease with the way God arranges things and I make it play the perfect role as far as I can understand see ethical life I would like to lead a very ethical life it becomes a struggle why because the one which is trying to lead their takur life this body and mind and so engaged with it its ups and downs become my ups and downs but if I am NOT it it's something that's operating in my light then I can make it lead a perfectly ethical life calm serene undisturbed honest integrated why not so all of these things become possible when I take that one step back remember it's not that you're physically dissociate after there's no body no mind you're just a little bit of light no now you know the whole story the body's world is still there body's family job everything is there body still there with all its problems mind is still there with all problems but you don't have one major problem what is no longer yours no longer yours do you remember the question you wanted to ask yes right so thirst is there there's no doubt about it because your experiences of thirst and thirst is something to do with the body and live it is specifically it's a prana activity of the prana hunger and thirst and activity of the prana I am thirsty a very subtle point is it true or not true but what we Dantas is analyzed that I I am thirsty is true but analyse that I you are not that I think about it if if you are a person in your who's sitting near you says I answers is it true or not it's true but you are not thirsty it's that person who's thirsty and the thirst of that person is true and you should give that person a glass of water very good similarly if I say here is this body mind and an eye an ego and it says I am thirsty it's reporting thirst in the body mind give the guy a glass of water it's analogous it still you but you are not limited to that body mind with the ego you it's not all it's not you it's not your limit you are beyond that you you're more than that yes you can in the sense that you can put up with it much better what you say okay I can overcome thirst now I am the witness consciousness I am NOT thirsty good so I won't drink water be careful the witness consciousness is neither thirsty nor does it drink water nor does it want to drink water or not is it not want to drink water it illumines the wanting to drink water it's very natural it's like saying I'm not thirsty that guy's thirsty so I don't need to give that guy any water no you need to if the body is hungry you need to give food if the body is thirsty you need to give water the body is sick you need to give medicine you need to keep take good care of the body but the important thing is to realize it's not you it's like your car right if the car is running out of gas you need to give it gas it's not I don't need gas I've realized I'm not the car all right you're not the car good for you but the car still needs gas it still needs servicing it still needs its insurance papers to up-to-date do it but with that that distance between you and the car see this is a very important a psychological space which opens up then you can do what is necessary but if you push your question to the limit see ultimately what you're saying if I'm not the body in mind literally I then am NOT harmed if the body and mind perish out of hunger and thirst true true you will not harmed but it's also true that if you don't give drink to the body and a food to the body it will perish body will die even then you are not dead that's that much is true so this is an extreme that that's what enables you you know people don't try it straight away until the difference is very clear Swami Pavitra ng who was here used to say don't torture the horse you cannot dismount from even if you can dismount don't torture the poor horse so you find those who are Yogi's they actually take better care of their bodies than us we overindulge or damaged this because we are so involved with this thing we damaged it mind we are so involved with the mind we actually strain it we are the one who we put rubbish into the mind we damaged it with anxieties and complexes because we are involved in the mind I am it I'm depressed I am sad this mind I have it we don't say this mind I deserve to happy I am not happy therefore as a huge complaint that I'm not why am I not happy all this is restraining the mind if the mind is left to itself it's generally happy I'll come to you yes yes how do you separate is the technique is the observation that if it's an object same principle can you say this ego yes either you gonna notice the eye there you go are you noticing and a you say good way of noticing would be if you that's why all these techniques are there start with the body first be aware of the body see our mind needs training that all these precarious techniques are given in Vedanta Yoga is very useful there be aware of the body for a while then next be aware of the breath and they are also so much is to be learnt be aware here breathing in and breathing out so what does this got to do with philosophy and ego and subtler slowly inward inward inward breathing in breathing out do it for a couple of minutes then be aware of the thought I am breathing or some thought notice it's a thought now you're very subtle we started with the physical body you already at the level of thought you've already gone beyond the reach of modern medical science medical sense going go up to your activity of your brains but I thought no you are aware of the thought now we can make it even more subtle that understanding I am aware of my thoughts you are aware of that also there now narrow it down to the I feeling I and then what who or what is saying I which is not the I can you imagine how subtle it is any thought that comes up is an object even the thought I am watching the I it's a thought you know that you're narrowing on in on the witness of the eye when you all become objects it becomes an intuition and that intuition is also an object when you do this the mind falls silent it is the wit it is not even that silence it's the witness of that silence you can never ever find out the I the real I know you can't know you are it how you find it out who will find it and good that you cannot find it so it's not that there are two eyes it is only one eye but the reference of that changes the reference is body mind a hunk are a bit more ignorant the reference is the witness of body mind ego is in the mind it's definitely body mind if I think I am the ago and I'm limited to that that's what most of us we are limited to and that's why we suffer this is this subtle point you're making okay quickly yes yes Jadhav asana Hank arti labas means shadow of a reflection of consciousness JIT consciousness abbas a reflection shadow Angora ego ego is this I feeling notice it I can point it out exactly this I feeling when you say I and immediately some thought of body and mind will come up that's all right I notice that I which you are experiencing that's the anger notice that this ahankara is aware there's an awareness involved that's also not the original awareness that's a reflection of awareness of what is it a reflection if you do it seriously people report every hair on the body stance on the hand people experience terror when the that final turn they make it's like turning around to look at the face of God it's right there we don't see it immediate reaction many place people say my heart starts racing that that ultimate turn you cannot do it if you actually do it if you try to do it and if you try to do it successfully you will realize you are it that's it and then you have realized these Sakshi tighten your consciousness witness consciousness and you're always it it's a thing and when you know that you are it I'll come to you and then you remember it's not that it will prevent you from acting in the world that's what Krishna is saying that shining the mind chines the ego shines consciousness shining the ego shines this ego shines when I say it has two components shining an ego ego is anger a shining is to domicile ego is shining the mind is lit up every thought feels conscious mind being lit up senses are lit up so every XP / ception seeing hearing smelling tasting touching all of them feel like conscious events and the body feels conscious Upanishad says up to the tip of my nails I feel aware arnica Grodd why only tip up to my needs might not want inch beyond that because that is conveyed by the nervous system wherever the nervous system is alive prana is working it's lit up by and that lighting up comes from the reflection of consciousness yes right it's the mind trying to disassociate itself from the mind you will never get beyond that that's the infinite loop when you stay with that a moment of separation will come our kind of stepping back from the mind no longer a mind mind is still there it's like there's a you step back into a vastness which is your so these are using only language you can't explain it by language but clearly and from that point onwards forever you know that you are not the mind you're absolutely free of the mind that you can still act with the mind after that you can think feel imagine love hate be angry be sad be all of those things will come and go in the mind which you know clearly at any moment you can step back into that vastness you know that it's it's not you it really has nothing to do with you it's as much like some dust floating in a ray of light you are the ray of light in which the dust is floating dust is the mind thoughts feelings emotions you're not even this person you realize that you're free of the mind you're free of this person itself person will go on I will stay with that sort when you say infinite loop that's the mind trying to dissociate from the mind not possible not possible whatever what is that trying to do you know you're trying to dissociate the reflected face from the mirror you can't reflected face and mirror go together but there is an original face apart from that that is what we are trying that last jump so we are discussing it at the buddhism classes this is a famous Chinese thing the finger pointing at the moon so all this teaching is finger pointing at the moon the finger is not the important thing if you stay with that then the mind will go into a loop it will try to be the witness of itself which it can it's called introspection but that's not what Vedanta is about it that will come and go mind being the witness correct witness or I'm getting it right or wrong one sign is if I feel like a witness sometimes and sometimes I don't feel like a witness that's the mind being a witness that's not the Atman that's not witness consciousness witness consciousness is there all the time and it's always a witness one just has to note it you don't have to become a witness ego senses no now remember the in the story of the Buddha the past came before realization he had if you remember the story he was starving himself for days on end and then he had all fainted too much austerity then Sujata was there and so gave him pious passes the rice pudding rice pudding and then he recovered his strength and he came to this nice conclusion that too much of extremes is not good but then he sat for meditation and then that at the end of that night's watch he became enlightened so so we need the conclusion is we need rice pudding how but this is a good question you know we are forgetting everything and again we come back you need not go into philosophy for that every day that happens when you fall asleep you forget everything everything is gone and it all comes back so it's not that everything goes away and comes back everything is still there that now what only the thing which happens upon enlightenment is you realize you are not it but it's not an alienation or a dissociation it's rather seeing everything total in the totality of things for the first time earlier the difference between witness consciousness and ego ahankara and Sakshi was not clear now the difference between a hunka and Sakshi is clear I am the Sakshi the witness consciousness but the hunka is still there the mind is still there the body is still there this is leads to confusion see the way it is put in many many texts that the ego has to be killed you have to overcome the ego when the ego dies it's done see ram krishna has also said that it has to be carefully understood otherwise it can lead to confusion the ego still functions but you are not the ego the this desperate clinging to the ego as I and me and myself that clinging is broken forever that's called overcoming of the ego so prove it you're giving your own interposition so many great sages have seen that ego has to be killed ego I have to go beyond the ego there's no yoo-hoo anymore look at the very words of sri ramakrishna or ramana maharshi or any other great saint you want do not use the word I you seem to use it differently from us but they use the word I and think about it logically after enlightenment is the body there or not yes it is there if the body is there are the kidneys functioning or the kidney will stop after enlightenment if the bodies their kidneys functioning heart is functioning lungs are functioning brain function of brain dead after enlightenment we actually have discussions in one of the discussions in our Tibetan Buddhism class was the two models of Buddhahood after Nirvana what happens so look at the heavy ascetic bunch of professors and grad students thinking what is the condition of the Buddha we still worried 2500 years later so one of the models is no Buddha has no thought at all beyond all sorts there's no like us but what we feel and think there's nothing like that way so didn't the name they called it brain stem Buddha only brain stem is left only body is the heart is beating in life but nothing else that does not seem to a very attractive enlightenment if you just sort of brain-dead you have to do so much of tapasya to attain in that state no no no that's not what it means the enlightened person is is more capable more active more fully alive than others the Buddha said see what a travesty it is to think like that the Buddha said when Buddha was asked first time he's walking too sad enough to give the first sermon but stock and this little shepherd boy sees him and asks not who are you what are you Houston Smith says so many people have been asked who are you but very few people in history have been asked what are you and are you a god but I said no are you one of the heavenly beings angels no are you are you a human being Luther says no then what are you he says I am the awakened I am the Buddha meaning thereby he is claiming that he is for the first time a vehicle he is fully aware compared to him we are either sleepwalking or in dream or half aware or whatever it is I'll come to you right in fact that is one of the issues that was discussed also because many of the texts keep talking about the omniscience of the Buddha now this also is an interesting so there are so many interesting issues I just mention a couple of things here did for your food for thought when it says the Buddha becomes omniscient in Jainism also the Jena is the the ultimate development and spiritual life the Jena is supposed to be omniscient full flowering of knowledge what is omniscience so knowing everything in detail so you know all the encyclopedias and you know it's all memorized everything is you know everything in detail what everybody's thoughts are what the little ant at the bottom of the stairs had for dinner today every little thing in the universe you know no that's a claim yes the Buddha's know things happening in this world and all the worlds maybe they are not thinking about it all the time but it's accessible available to them everything that's one idea and this claims are made in Buddhism the word is serve again Salva means everything he means nor our knowledge in Vedanta what's the Vedanta Kishin I just give it to you for just something to think about I think it's a very logical position where aunty position is that know the enlightened being knows that I am Brahman everything is Brahman I am one with the world there is only one reality Brahman and everything is an appearance so whatever an experience is an appearance in media awareness that's what the enlightened being knows but does that enlighten being no physics chemistry and biology they're enlightened being have all the Nobel Prizes in the world has read all the papers and every subject no no not in detail not in detail so is that possible at all omniscient according to a rant it's possible for example and in Vedanta God is omniscient Ishwara what is God same consciousness but with the opah david associated with maya maya is the producer of everything according to we were just reading practically produces everything because maya produces everything and maya is the associate of the power of Ishwara God is omniscient God knows everything in detail and we don't also claims that there can be Yogi's who are not omniscient like God but there are vast realms of knowledge open to them because of the spiritual practices they can know a lot of things beyond our yeah such Yogi's may be fully enlightened or may not be enlightened them but they may know and an enlightened being may not know things in detail if we go to an inland are you enlightened can you tell me what I am thinking right now maybe that person can I have met people who can maybe that person cannot but what that person knows is that I am Brahman and all of this is an appearance in Perham and brahman alone is the reality that it knows so how do you explain the word Suruga cerveau means everything he means knowledge Sri Bhatia means one is one who knows everything that's one meaning that's the usual meaning other vedantic meaning is server main server kia means server means everything you are everything and how ghana has knowledge as consciousness as consciousness you alone are everything see if this golden ornaments are Nimmons made of gold now whatever ornament comes you can say one thing for sure it's made of gold but what kind of ornament comes what new innovative ornaments are produced it depends on the skill and creativity of the goldsmith but this much you know whatever the person does newer and newer kinds of ornaments it must be gold in the same way the enlightened person knows whatever Maya throws whatever life that you oh it's nothing it's Brahmin I am that all that much is clear that's enlightenment so this is the difference I think I whenever hearing these discussions back and forth how can the Buddha be omniscient either see the two extreme of options Buddha is like the greatest encyclopedia in the world who knows everything or Buddha is a brain stem in coma who knows nothing this distinction has to be clear you and me brother it's it's not easy it's vast amounts of practice has gone into being the ego and so it's a lifetime of lifetime's of practicing being the ego so we are very naturally we are experts at being the ego that's why it's difficult and that's why all spiritual practice becomes useful notice what does Karma Yoga Karma Yoga do it makes you expand the ego not just me my ego is much less important than doing things for others unselfishness is basically trying to loosen the grip of the eye on the ego or the ego on the eye unselfish karma yoga bhakti yoga it makes the yogi go bow down to the to the Lord Wow not me Swami Plamondon the beautifully hundred reminiscences Swami pre-miranda who was diagnosed I + Ramakrishna the first manager of balloon mutt often he would chant chant nom nom - who - who not me not me thou my lord now my lord that's bhakti-yoga what is Raja Yoga stop telling the ego stop throw this and that stop absolute quiet that's also shutting down the ego and finally the journey over the path of knowledge when you say the ego is not me at all so the who has been thinned out weakened loosened but all the other practices but if you want to jump straight to vedanta without the other practices I'm grasping tightly and grasping the ego and then you say I'm not there you go how this student and I'll see you I'll ask the student goes to the teacher and says master teach me teach you what how to free myself make me free all right staying and then every day the student would go to the cave and the master would make him do little chores you know clean the KA would go and beg for food in the village and things like that cut firewood for me student thought he's just exploiting me he's not teaching me how to be free so after a month he came and gave an ultimatum to the master master you must teach me how to be free otherwise from tomorrow I'll go and look for another master I won't come to you anymore and the master said all right tomorrow I will set you free come early morning take a bath fast get your mind ready calm peaceful come to me at this time so he goes early in the morning and sees the master standing outside the cage this is old dried tree trunk outside the cave the master is grasping it tightly and saying set me free set me free is it and the student said just let go master said precisely Swami Vivekanand in his poem song of the sannyasin dine only is the hand that holds the rope that drags Dee on let go thy whole sannyasi bowl say om tatsat easier said than done we hold on to it with a death grip you don't know how to let go start with letting go in small things objects gadgets things in the world our death grip on people we want to control let go of that loosen then even more subtle let go of my prejudices preconceptions my idea so sometimes what happens if you see the lives of academics in stop Nobel prize-winner inner very simple person not too many positions not to me you know mind is involved in higher thought but challenge any of his ideas oh my god and he's going to let you have it because now that mind is holding on with all power to a few of my idea my theory my money my car I don't care I take it but it's a more evolved mind but still so let go true starts early but the thing is early means what early is my childhood but we are thinking of terms of many many lives earlier also so there are people who have started early early means many lives ago so we used to say we have a saying in our order and in other sad news also when you see a very good monk I have heard it said by senior monks when you say how could it be like this so about Swami for example Swami Ranganathan and the G when he was a premature even and now he said Weaver now says at that time I'm 20 years back so we used to think about that we have heard how Swami Ranganathan ended when he was at our stage of monastic life he would wash the dishes he at the same time he would be memorizing the Viveka chudamani things like that you know incredible physical work devotional intensely intellectual memorizing scripture obscure after scripture I have seen his notebooks it didn't have money to buy books so you would write it down copy down with a pencil how is it possible after a hard day's work I asked a Swami how is it possible after a hard day's work I have no desire to read wadn't anymore at night I mean I'd rather read a little bit of Reader's Digest and go to sleep how is it possible for this Swami to do that and then he said are these sorrows of one life in Bengali said o'ciock John Machado on the opposite end a monk Barry I still remember very humorous huge guy very powerfully built it was in charge of the kitchen of a hospital more than a thousand patient hundreds of nurses and doctors and all of that enormous responsibility but very interesting Swami and he said once I still remember he's leaning towards me I was a patient so he's leaning to it come to me and he said I'm leaning towards means I'll I'll tell you a secret let you into a secret this is not only my first life as a monk it's my first life as a human being I was an animal in my last life so I'm very very grateful that I be like double promotion stage heavy so yes but the to answer your question early but that does not mean I am seeing the glimmer that I'm going to put my son and daughter on this track be very careful of him one thing you should not do is impose on children you can give a structure and give good ideas to children when they're young a little older don't yes it's late is difficult but not impossible again it depends on samskaras Swami activatin and the G who was Sri Ramakrishna's disciple was older then sri ramakrishna when he came to Sri Ramakrishna and he became an enlightened Ambrym again and there are any number of young children who become monks in specially Thailand and Tibet so childhood onwards they are monks so they all get near wanna like Buddha not at all I love these stories anyway let me just tell one more and then we'll do at least one more verse two more verses this story was told to me by Swami devient and there was the head of our big ashram outside beggar but and he's a very big son he's a huge whale breached he told me that once he was going in a train and this young Buddhist monk was sitting next to him and started talking the young but very yeah maybe in his teens and said are you a Hindu monk and so I media and you said yes he's a very booming voice you know yes and then he said I'm Buddhist God Buddhism is better than Hinduism who told you that my master my master told me my teacher told me all right and then they went on talking it slowly the young monk warmed up to Swami doobie Anand and then opened up started talking about his experiences and then he's in life I finally said can I ask you something yes how does one stop being a monk why see I became a monk before I realized anything they put me in this and I don't want to be a monk what do I do the BND said ask your teacher if you start very early are you going to be enlightened not a tough not necessarily but yes overall good point starting early is better than starting late yes I remember when I was a little kid my mother and my aunt used to scold me you're a child you should go and play and study is the time and wire is going to the ashram and you are reading these philosophy books and no and this so I sat quietly and then we left the room my grand aunt was sitting in a corner she's old inner 70s or 80s a widow she called me come here I think I was 10 years old or something and she said to me it's much better to start early in old age it's very difficult and she said don't listen to them but also don't tell them that I told you this I still remember I still remember yes of course of course I'm giving you the counter-arguments but were your initial statement is absolutely right yes it's always better to start whenever and wherever you are and if you say it's good to start when your children yes certainly certainly so inclined here just don't force children that can be counterproductive 28 so now how does the enlightened person Act 28 that were we to maha-baho that will be to maha-baho guna can movie Baguio gonna cut movie bug guna Ganesha button T guna Ganesh Overton T a team at Juana's a jetty it Iman Assad jetty thought of it to muhabba o mighty-armed one who's that Arjuna thought of it the knower of the truth what is the knower of the truth I am NOT the ego I am the witness of the ego if I'm not the ego then I'm clearly not the body-mind complex also which is there doing its thing but I am NOT it that is the one who knows this knows this means it's all clarity not just read about it what does he know guna karma vibha Gaia the the entire world is a product of the gunas of prakruti of the constituents of prakruti everything is made of of nature of in according to samkhya sattva rajas tamas and its products what are the products the five elements and their combination and stars and planets and bodies and minds all of that is guna karma and all activities are being performed in this nature walking talking running sitting even thinking meditating loving hating all prakruti all within the realm of body and mind all within the realm of ego Sri Ramakrishna's to say my RA laka the field of Maya but I am the light which lights all this up I'm not involved in any of it though it's all in appearing in me no mother Susan Saraswathi one of the commentators he say guna karma by baaga guna means the product the constituents of nature karma means the activities going on they're all action because all things about action all action is in practically in nature via Agra he says it literally Moraga means the distinction of the difference but mother Susanne Saraswathi comentary another coming to see very respectfully he says he differs a little from Shankara he says via baaga here means the witness consciousness that which is different from these two the word via Waga means different what what is different not the difference between guna and karma action and the constituents of nature constituents of nature nature and the action and that which is different from these two you the consciousness the one who knows this what is the attitude of the enlightened person guna Ganesha what Dante the constituents of nature are acting with the constituents of nature are interacting and playing with that nothing to do with me their body and mind are products of nature the food that I eat the things that I see the sounds that I hear and the people I interact with there are also products of nature and these are in products of nature interacting with products of nature not I so knowing this et moi knowing this NASA Jetta does not get mixed up it does not get into the into the mess there but it's a little point because it's not that that person stops acting oh I will not get mixed up I will sit in my room and I will watch everything as a witness Vedanta start me I'll watch everything through a window no you are actually not involved in all of this that's what you realize and the body goes on doing its work the mind goes on doing what it's supposed to do this an epiphany a breakthrough and then stay like that because what will happen after that is again the body and mind will try to subsume you because of the habit of many lifetimes then the practice will now be to remain centered practice has broken into two parts divided into two parts first part is seeking trying to get that epiphany reading meditating thinking it through practicing all kinds of spiritual disciplines seeking seeking seeking then you may have that epiphany but after that also the same practices continue but now the objective is not to find it you have found it that I am the witness consciousness you know now what is meant by this but remaining centered in it not getting swept away by the practices by the habits of many lifetimes that's also a practice that's where totally the teacher of Ramakrishna sri ramakrishna everyday would remain immersed in Samadhi for some time Ramana Maharshi also all the great masters you will notice even when they are teaching their day is divided into the cycles of withdrawal and interaction they withdraw and then the intensely interact with everybody and then again withdraw no such Jette do not get caught up don't get mixed up then number 29 Prakriti guna zmuda Prakriti guna Samudra said gentei guna karmasu sergeant a guna karmasu Tana krishna v du monde on donna krishna we demand on its nubbin no are late it's no been a all a summing up the entire discussion here in twenty nine in contrast to this ignorant so twenty seven twenty eight twenty seven was the ignorant person who gets mixed up in it twenty eight was the enlightened person who while acting does not get mixed up in it and twenty nine again first line is about that ignorant person who gets mixed up in it Prakriti guna some mood are deluded by the gunas of prakruti by the constituents of prakruti and their products such an takuna karmasu the ignorant get mixed up attached to activities and the products of Prakriti products of prakruti means nothing other than mind body thoughts mind and ego a hung God mind body all of that then to such people what should what should we do Donna Kurtz Nevada woman Don to those mana literally means the slow ones to these slower ones where they slow occurred snowed who do not have complete understanding the one of complete understanding quits in a bit what should you do knowledge are late don't disturb them don't literally don't disturb them don't make them Restless don't damage them see ramakrishna is to say bob north dakota lee you may know better you mean our deeper truth unless you have the power to make that person spiritually give that person enlightenment if you don't have don't damage them let them grow what you can do is give them an upward push if they are willing to listen if there if you have any say at all in the matter always show them tell them and show them by your life and upward a better way of doing things from unethical to ethical from ethical to unselfish from unselfish to spiritual from spiritual to realization enlightenment give them an upward push whatever people need at that don't disturb them I am going to be happy how I'm going to earn a million dollars in Wall Street no no no that will not make you happy that is all changing don't you know that nature changes Buddha said everything is transitory so if you get a million dollars also it will also go away and it will be unhappy at the end of it don't try come to the ashram and meditate hopeless you will hurt that person why first of all what you're saying is true because it's true it will have an effect on the person and yet when there is an intense desire for something I really really feel if I were rich I would be happy then the only way of for that person is to go and work it out encourage them in action in our own case also I understand everything but I have some overwhelming desire for something then what do it I'll tell you something which monks generally don't tell well it's true you can even ask God for it we tell just the opposite don't ask for worldly things to God you can even ask God for worldly things I want to be famous I want this project to be successful I want to get a promotion I want to get money I want to get well you can ask but there is reason why we don't advise this because you are asking for samsara you will get some sorrow God the Lord will satisfy your desire but if you ask for it with with this awareness with this awareness that yes it will not satisfy me I will still be in samsara unhappiness will continue but I need to work through this there is a stage such people need to work through it didn't work through it be done with it as soon as possible Saddam himself himself demonstrated - all he saw people walking around with expensive shawls and he's he asked mother Babu can you get me an expensive shawl and he got a very very expensive shawl from Banaras silicon and it with ornamentation and everything so Sri Ramakrishna put it on and walked around proudly you know and then he told his mind Oh mind see this is called an expensive shawl and people put this on and become proud and forget God become egoistic and forget God the moment he said this he said fie on such a thing which makes me forget my divine mother he took it out and throw it on the ground not satisfied he jumped on it not satisfied he spat on it and then he was about to set fire to it when it was luckily resonate away and rescued from him it was a very expensive shop now move like that that's an extreme example but move like that if you make your first hundred thousand dollars don't wait for it to become a million dollars or two million dollars you know what one person pretty successful top level executive he said he had an epiphany he was going all-out for it he had the Epiphany that just a minute I've got what I wanted but and I pause and I thought there are so many people who are richer than me and there are so many people he put it this way when I got the BMW that's about how you put it got the BMW said but I know people who have a yacht and they know people who have private jets there is no end to this if you win the rat race you're still a rat intelligent person will stop enough for my own purposes will do I know a person young person who became a monk so American young American male he was a brahmacari and and he said that we had given up whatever he had earned in his life and he was less than 30 I said I just put made a trust and people will give that money away I said trust how much money did you give away this young man who is in his 20s he donated ten million dollars he's one of those dot-com multimillionaires and he gave it all away that's progress he doesn't even think that he's doing something really great being great philanthropist it just he doesn't need it anymore he's moving ahead all right do not disturb encourage from wherever they are little better you may know I do not do anything don't tell them that you actually do not do anything you think you are going to earn a million dollars you don't you are the witness consciousness of the body and minoring you just harm people come to the ashram give up all this nonsense that's why we do not directly encourage monastic life you'll be of surprised in Vedanta in Hinduism monastic life is is only a specialization it's not for everybody and it's not even necessary for everybody what is necessary for everybody spirituality everybody has to be spiritual should be spiritual wherever they are and whatever they are doing but this making monasticism open it happened at some phases of Indian history there was a phase of Jainism when is very popular in the south for example Buddhism was very popular at one time I'm talking about India so one time meant 1500 years ago very popular but you open up the shop to all of that then what happens is it's bad for society it's bad for that person who's becoming a monk and not fit to be a monk damages his or her own spiritual progress and it's bad for monasticism - the whole thing declines them and that we have experienced for over centuries so it is don't disturb people what krishna is saying make them enlightened so Advait Vedanta and samurais action is of two kinds one is for the spiritual seeker on the path to realization it is called karma yoga and the other one is for the enlightened person action it is called locust and raha welfare of the world from an idiotic perspective for the unenlightened but in a 19 person is doing work in the world it's not Karma Yoga from analytic perspective it is actually yani order it's a manifestation of enlightenment then it's true brahma happen Umrah Mohave that chant which we chanted before food but it's actually meant to show how an enlightened person works seeing brahman in all action that is ganna yoga it is enlightenment that's not even karma yoga so this is these are the two models of karma in Geeta in bhagavad-gita in Vedanta chant is Shanti Shanti hurry he owned that sat sri ramakrishna Aparna must [Music]