Video 46

46. Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 4 Verses 9-10 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] guru so we are all uh studying the fourth chapter of the bhagavad gita and at the beginning of this chapter shri krishna was saying that this is an ancient thing which i have taught you in the two earlier chapters second and third chapters this gyani yoga and karma yoga the way of knowledge the way of unselfish action and he also reveals that he is an incarnation so this is the first time we see him as an incarnation of god and as an avatar so there are a few verses famous verses about what is an incarnation how is this incarnation different from the rest of us though he appears to be a human being he's not a human being he is a god in human form and then he explains how he comes to be born because of his own out of his own independence with a mission not like us because we are born uh due to our karma we are caught in the in the cycle of causality whereas god is independent of causality in fact causality is the power the maya of god um we come here to exhaust the effects of our karma we generate new karma and the whole goal is ultimately to attain enlightenment but incarnation of god like krishna is not here for that not it does not have any past karma to exhaust nor is enlightenment a goal because he's ever enlightened about his own nature so the goal of the mission of an avatar is establishment of religion of true religion spirituality of helping the good overcoming the wicked and so on now what use is this to uh the seekers of enlightenment so we are spiritual seekers so it's wonderful to know that god comes in a human form that's uh that's wonderful but what special use it is it to us verse number nine i think we are done up to verse number eight so verse number nine [Music] whosoever does truthfully knows my divine birth and work is not reborn after giving up his body he reaches me over arjuna so this is the teaching the one who knows that my birth and my actions in this life are divine are not this merely human what is the difference as he has already explained that i am born out of uh out of compassion for humanity out of independence whereas the rest of us are born out of compulsion for of our past karma we take body after body and exhaust the effects of past karma but the birth the advent the appearance of an avatar is divine the actions of an avatar or two are divine we are propelled into action by our desires we engage with the world as as far as our karma will allow good and bad things happen to our us because of our karma but the avatar engages in action for the welfare of everybody it's it's in line with you know the let us say the mission of god what does god do for this universe god creates this universe maintains it and finally dissolves it again so avatara is usually krishna for example is an avatar of vishnu so vishnu is that aspect of divinity which is in charge of maintaining the harmony the the existence of the universe so to maintain harmony to maintain goodness uh requires the avatar to establish and maintain and support dharma righteousness morality and so on um so that is the work of the avatara navatara can also redeem humanity so this is something that is central to for example christianity that the redeeming power of of jesus christ that is in in the hindu understanding that is the power of every avatar ordinary spiritual teachers masters cannot do that what is this redeeming power what is the saving power from a vedantic standpoint our bondage is this mass of karma good and bad karma which propels us from lifetime to lifetime and keeps us in bondage in the cycle of birth and death the avatar can wipe that out and can enable us to reach enlightenment in this very life the avatar can actually give us that knowledge which give us enlightenment and freedom so here he says the one who knows the secret that i krishna i am not an ordinary person that i am an incarnation of god the janma divyam janma the divine secret of my birth and ibm karma the work that i do i do not do work for self-satisfaction for my own aggrandizement like ordinary human beings do i do it for the welfare of all and also without any kind of attachment so yo vetti the one who knows it in reality now um there are two perspectives from which we can understand this one is the usual way it is interpreted is if you know if you understand believe that krishna is an avatar of god once you recognize the avatar or at least believe in the avatar a rama or krishna or jesus or ramakrishna an incarnation of god and you you have faith you surrender to the avatar that leads to freedom he says such a person who realizes that i am none other than god an incarnation of god taktwa at the end of this life will attain to me alone does not come back to a new life unlike others in the normal course of events this person too would have gone through many more births until finally attaining enlightenment but by the special event advent of an incarnation of god the person is saved attains enlightenment uh they have giving up the body at the end of at this lifetime that means die when the body dies normally that that subtle body the jiva the sentient being would go from birth to birth go to other worlds and propelled by past karma be born again but this does not happen if a person has deep faith in avatar and by the grace of the avatar then what happens mommy is arjuna such a person attains to me alone over arjuna that means becomes one with god depending upon your your predilection the dualistic schools would say you go to the abode of god you know the highest heaven by kunta and stay in the presence of god they conceive of mukti or liberation in different ways but all of which consists of staying in a in the highest heaven in the presence of god you still retain your individuality but it's a very blissful uh existence for all eternity they think of they're conceived of salokia you remain in vaikunta that means vishnu abode of vishnu you go and stay there you are not born into this world again or there is something called sami you not only stay in the abode of vishnu but you are close to vishnu that means you you are in the inner circle you hang out with vishnu so to say so you hang out with god and then there is um sarupya sarupya means you meditate on god and you take on a divine form like god then there is sayudya you become one with god in a certain sense you it retain your individuality but you are always you feel one with god there are different kinds of mukti each there are different grades in mukti too but these are all dualistic conceptions in the non-dualistic sense also this all this still makes sense by the grace of god one gets the knowledge i am brahmana god can give that avatar can give that knowledge so after death one is liberated after the death of this body one does not come back to this world and gets brahmagyana and is liberated for example the now this is actually not a relevant example but since i have started let me complete it the question about kashi in benares hindus believe that if you die in benares you get liberated so that is not liberation through avatara that's liberation through banaras in fact somebody asked the holy mother is it true that if one dies in banaras one gets liberation even if one is not spiritually advanced or whatever it is and she said yes and then this person who was asking pointed to an ant crawling across the floor even this thing and they were in banaras at that time even even this this ant will it get liberation if it it dies here the holy mother said yes so that jiva who is embodied in that particular ant body at that time is going to get liberation there srilama krishna actually had a vision of this a mystical vision of how this happens in banaras he saw this dead body which is going to be cremated um he had this vision of the divine mother was annapurna in banaras she comes and he says that he she cuts the bondage the worldly bondage she cuts the bondage the worldly bondage of that jiva and vishwanath shiva in in in banaras vishwanath comes and he said he whispers the tarak brahma mantra to that that departed soul who the subtle body which is still there in in the dead body and that liberates the person now what is this tara brahma mantra will be curious to know let me hear it right now but the way an advaitan would interpret it is vishwanath or shiva comes and gives enlightenment the realization that you are brahmana but the vaisnava was interpreted as tara brahma mantra is nothing other than hare rama krishna so you can interpret in different ways but the only relevance of the story would be that by the grace of god one can attain brahmagyana enlightenment that i am brahman which is the only precondition of uh of liberation according to a non-dualist a non-dualist might object at this point so you know that krishna is god if you even know god also how does that liberate you because for a non-dualist liberation is i am brahman that that knowledge for nondualis the only reality is brahma non dual brahman that's the only free entity the only real entity until you know that you are that how will you be free so the way around this is by god's grace one can get that knowledge so non-dualist also will not have in principle any objection to this approach um so here notice a change has taken place up to the second chapter and third chapter enlightenment meant uh self-knowledge atma gyana the second chapter krishna taught arjuna that you are the atman which is not born which does not die um which is of the nature of consciousness which is immortal which is not subject to any kind of harm of of being diminished by anything so this immortal eternal being existence consciousness bliss this is what you are you have to realize this and then he talks about how one can be a stita pragya liberated while living jivan mukta that's all there at the second chapter now notice at the beginning of the fourth chapter from self-realization the there's a subtle shift to god realization notice what he says that i am the incarnation of god and if you know me in truth that crucial word is means in principle or in truth in reality if you know me in reality you will be liberated so now we have these two things self-realization and god realization the realization of the atman i am sachidan and the chidan and the rupa shivoham that's one or um the lord vishnu or shiva whatever sense you understand god god realization so are they two separate things are they two stages of one spiritual path or are they the same thing so depending upon your school of vedanta a dualist would say like the vishishtadvaitan would say well first you have self-realization what is self-realization that i am an immortal spirit i am um not the body not the mind i am atman an immortal spirit that you realize that's self-realization but that's not god realization above and beyond higher than the atman is paramatman so there's a distinction between atma and paramatma so your relationship the relationship of you the self to the over self or the supreme self would be one of devotion so atma is related to paramatma by devotion and that realization of the paramatman is what is called god realization here and that gives you final liberation that's a dualistic approach the non-dualistic approach is self-realization and guard realization are the same thing self-realization and guard realization are the same thing how so what is the true self what do you realize when there is self-creator self-realization means knowing what one is who am i um and what is god realization the difference and the similarity lies here the atman is the true nature of the subject of ourselves of the microcosm god or brahman is the true nature of the universe of the object of the macrocosm when you ask here i am see our all our experiences in this structure subject and object every experience we have whatever secular spiritual whatever we have is subject object i am experiencing this right now you are sitting there and you are experiencing this your computer screen and all the other people there the class there all that is object to you and you are the subject now in spirituality you can ask these two questions one is the question about what is the subject who am i what am i that's one question and the answer will lead you to self-realization atma the other question one can ask is what's the reality of all of this not what is it what it is in detail that the answer to that would be in science but what is the source the reality behind all this this objective universe the answer to that is god so the theistic religions are these outward oriented religions they ask what is behind this macrocosm what creates this universe where does it exist into what will it finally disappear what is the power behind this universe what is the controller of everything in this universe so answer always is god in vedantic terms brahman but saguna brahman brahman with attributes another term is bhagavan another term is ishwara all of these are synonymous terms it means god the god of religion now advaita vedanta says that the god of religion truly speaking as it says here truly speaking the god of religion and our the truth about ourselves our self the real self they are one and the same thing asi that thou art so in chandragyupanit for example that means brahman the god of the universe from which the entire universe comes and tum means you the person how can the individual be the cosmic it seems impossible how can i this person be god so the meaning is not that i serve a priyana and i'm god that's megalomania that's not spirituality but what it means is if i were to inquire into myself i would find that i am actually not a body i am not even this person server priyananda i am this witness consciousness existence consciousness bliss and god is also this existence consciousness place this infinite being the nirguna brahmana through the lens of maya is called god and limited by ignorance a tiny fraction of maya is each of us i'll repeat that limited by a fraction of maya limited by the covering the veiling power of maya brahman itself appears as many many many sentient beings all of us with the totality of maya the same brahman appears as god so brahman that there brahman is nir guna brahman nir guna brahman plus maya or let us if you say plus maya it seems like more let us say dirguna brahman limited by maya becomes saguna brahman saguna brahman is god nir guna brahman limited by a fraction of maya by the veiling power of maya becomes a jiva all the jivas all of us if that sounds complicated sridharma krishna put it in his inimitable way he said the cobra with a little bit of the poison in its fangs can incapacitate a mouse or a frog it's its prey but all the poison is there in in the in the mouth of the cobra in the poison glands of the cobra it does not do anything to the cobra it is the power of the cobra actually what is death to others what is um you know like knocks out the prey um knocks them unconscious but it is the power of the cobra that sounds rather ominous but in the case of god it's not like god is out to catch us like cobra is going to catch mice it's rather the power has both aspects it embroils us in samsara and it also sets us free the power of maya is twofold vidyamaya and ignorance which traps us in body and mind and makes us feel that we are limited beings full of desires i will find happiness in this world by you know by pleasure and power and wealth uh and that's the goal of life there's nothing beyond that that's all that there is to life and terrified of old age disease death this is avidyamaya me and mine and vidyamaya is is ahimsa non-violence and truth and self-control and love and spiritual seeking contentment as far as the world is concerned and seeking for the reality of this universe both of them are the power of maya and both are under the control of god so according to vedanta the truth of the microcosm us and the truth of the macrocosm this universe are one and the same thing truth of the microcosm and truth of the macrocosm are one and the same thing sri ramakrishna in fact there's this little book which i love which is sudama krishna upadesh the sayings of sri ramakrishna is compiled by swami brahmananda the very first sentence of this compilation of teachings the choicest spiritual teachings of krishna when i hum when the human knows or let us say when a person knows what he or she is the person knows god it's a rather i'm not translating it too well in bengali bhagavad-gita when you realize who you are you also realize god self-realization is equal to god realization but to understand this you need advaita vedanta so it's interesting the very first sentence in swami brahmana this collection of sudama krishna's teachings is is the mahavakya the profound this statement that thou art i am brahman so god realization and self-realization are the same that is what it means in principle so what are the two possible interpretations when krishna says if you know me really you will get liberation after the death of this body you will not come back to samsara you will attain me one way is you think of krishna as god you have faith in god you know that krishna is god your faith in god surrendered to god by the grace of krishna you will attain liberation that's one track possible or the vedantic way what krishna or god really is that too i am that is the that is the in reality in reality see the wave can never be the ocean the microcosm can never be the microcosm but the wave can realize i am water and the ocean is also water similarly the jiva can realize i am sat chidananda and god is also sachidan and the existence consciousness place don't be misled by the ocean example because immediately what sticks to our mind is yeah but the ocean has lots more water a wave has very little water it it's not like that it's not that god has more brahmana and we have less brahmana no there is no more or less in brahman that it is an absolute identity a unity existence consciousness place even if you want to use whole and part you are the whole of it each one of us is the whole of it there is one reality only it's more like um there is a classical example of a big pot a big jar and with many holes in it and there is a lamp big lamp burning inside the jar so from outside you will see many rays of light coming out they seem to be many dots of light from on the surface of the jar but it's one uh lamp which is shining forth we are with one consciousness shining forth through so many bodies and minds later on krishna himself will say undivided in all beings i appear to be divided i am the one and the same in all of these beings there is one reality but i appear to be divided many persons giving up this body is not born again in this world attains to me um oh arjuna all right let me do one more verse people have raised don't forget your questions the next verse is very important it tells us what is the spiritual practice very comprehensive verse actually if we see all paths are included in this verse tenth verse [Music] so free from passion fear and wrath filled with my power dependent on me and purged by the austerity of knowledge many have attained my status so is it something new you are telling me now is it very difficult only a few people can attain enlightenment see that's this is the trick that the mind plays the first objection the mind raises is all this is not true religion is not true and it's all superstition that's the first objection that the mind raises once you have overcome that objection the next one the mind will raise is yes it's for vivekananda and the ramakrishna and all the saints not for me i can't do that it's impossible it'll raise this question again and again how many attain enlightenment very few so it's not worth it it's walking on this path many many have attained to my reality just consider it as existence consciousness please have attained to me i've attained to my state what is the state of krishna the true state existence consciousness place brahman pure being pure awareness many have attained to that or many have realized the nature as as brahman so it's not it's not impossible uh it may only seem rare because we are seeing only a slice of time uh if you look at it through history many many people have attained a realization and why should we not because it is our own very own nature so what is he saying here what are the practices first of all most important manma be entirely immersed it should be all about god so the first thing we have to make up our mind is are you into this or not are you going to be a spiritual seeker or what is the word diligent you know just sort of hovering over it a few books a few talks here but mostly it's about my life in this world and nothing more no are we going to take it seriously that i am going to become a spiritual seeker in mahatma gandhi's words i am a simple man in search of god while doing everything so notice nobody is asking you to give up everything in fact krishna is telling arjuna just the opposite you have to do what you are doing right now but you have to spiritualize it but you become a spiritual seeker is that will will you make that your primary goal in that case you have to immerse yourself in god you have let god like a perfume pervading a room like incense pervading a room let god pervade our whole life from morning till night there should be some god component everywhere in our lives manmaya all about god and the extreme example of course has been shown by sri ramakrishna when he wanted the vision of kali of the divine mother how he prayed and wept and he meditated he did the puja he went underwent tremendous austerities all day long he would be at the temple and when the temple finally closed he would retreat into this uh dark grove of trees and then would sit under a tree and meditate and pray he would cry he would weep like a child people thought he was mad so that's the extreme of manmaya be all about me so when we throw ourselves into god dive into god that's the first condition the other condition is mamo you take refuge in me take the help of god so you often think that it's either free will or god's will but free will and god's will are not are not contradictory free will and god's will are not contradictory we are expected to do the best we can and also take refuge in god take the help of god in fact when we actually start doing spiritual practice japa meditation prayer the vedantic inquiry we realize very soon how limited we are how frail we are how helpless we are and we also feel the presence of god we naturally take the help of god it is a very immature spiritual seeker who said i'll do it all on my own to god thank you but no thank you no if one is really one's god realization one would definitely take the help of god even an advaithin non-dualist would first of all seek grace of god ishvara kripa grace of the guru guru kripa grace of the scriptures the vedanta scripture shastra kripa and the most important atma kripat the grace of the self i must be grace full of grace towards myself i must agree to do this so notice the two things on one one side a full-hearted effort from myself and you're on the other side taking refuge in god at every moment acknowledging depending on god taking the help of god it is a very very great power in life i think even people who want worldly things and they pray to god go to a temple and church and sincerely pray to god even for a worldly thing they're also very wise and they're very fortunate that that much faith is there in god so faith and surrender in god mam upashita then the grace of god comes anukra means the grace of god at the same time effort it can be both ways there can be a person who has a lot of effort there are very great spiritual seekers sadhakas spiritual practitioners very austere very saintly um but that component of grace may be lacking i'm reminded of a very touching story i've read about swami turian anandaji srama krishna's disciple when he was in banaras in his old age so monks would gather around him for advice for study for blessings devotees would also come now at that time in benares there was a sadhu shantinath who was very well known at that time by other other monks especially in the monastic community very austere person i've read his life most of the time he was a mauni that means he was under a vow of silence he would not speak and it once a day i think only what people bought him um he was clothed in just a loin cloth and nothing else remained in a tiny little cell for years and years and throughout the day meditated and prayed but he would come out and come to swami toriyananda who lived in the ashram our ramakrishna which is a hospital there so there's a very touching description of how this silent monk who did not speak to anybody but he would come and sit on the floor in front of swami turiananda the description is he would look beseechingly at swami turiyananda and extend his hands like this like like he's asking for something others did not know what's going on like he's asking and turiananda very lovingly he loved that monk he would say um over shanti nath o my child shantinath you have done so much now leave it to the divine mother in babashanti you were mad so he acknowledges the tremendous effort put forth by that monk but also teaches him about the necessity of divine grace after all that effort but your realization the vision of god whatever you want specifically that will come by the grace of god you have not earned it by your efforts um one monk who went to the himalayas wrote to the holy mother so those letters would be read out letters from monks and devotees would be read out to the holy mother and she would dictate a reply masha radha so this monk wrote that please tell the mother that i have been in [Music] in rishikesh for a long time and every day i do so much japa the mantra i repeat the mantra thousands of times but taku srirama krishna has not blessed me with a vision yet so how much longer should i wait the holy mother was quite curt with this monk she said right back to him that is god a sack of potatoes that you can purchase at the market with by paying some rupees no god will uh will show himself when his grace depends upon you and descends upon you when when his grace descends upon you then only you will see god and then second thing she said write to him he is a monk what else will he do if he does not meditate and repeat the mantra so it's it's no great uh credit that you have been repeating the mantra thousands of times every day but what else will you do you're supposed to do that then what happens by the grace of god and uh by my own efforts by the combination of two um one goes beyond one purifies oneself of raga desire and also implied radwesha aversion ragadveisha one purifies the mind of passions and and repulsions you know attraction and repulsion raag advaisha likes and dislikes these things which pull us and tires in samsara the force of that is reduced the mind gets purified mind becomes a little calm about the world buyer fear one reaction is fear when does fear come what i want maybe i won't get it anxiety what i do not want maybe that will come to me kowaid 19 or something like that he'll come to me anxiety fear or what i have and i want to keep in my life maybe i'll lose that fear again um something bad is there in my life maybe it won't go away again fear so fear comes in these ways they're all connected to rag adventure likes and dislikes and when our desires are obstructed growth her anger so our passions includes both raga and does pull and the repulsion and fear and anger see swami vivekananda said especially fear there's one word that comes out of the upanishads is fearlessness it is fear that is at the root of misery it is fear that is at the root of evil people are bad because there is at the root there is some fear fear leads to its tendency desire fear strengthens this attachments and hatred and beneath it there is fear upanishads ask us vedanta asks us to or helps us to rise above here see one goes above raaga dweisha bhaya means fear and one goes above one one transcends anger these things will go down it will not it's not like a switch being thrown one day i was shaky and scared or i used to lose my temper quite often now i'm the most serene person that you ever saw not so fast but it goes down one swami put it very nicely he said this um the frequency of these upsets i feel nervous or angry or upset that used to happen every now and then but now it is much less so the frequency will go down that shows progress the intensity will go down earlier i would be seized with a dread maybe fear was my problem or i would fly into a rage if anger was my problem now it's it may be a mild uneasiness or it may be just a flash of irritation it comes and goes so the the frequency goes down intensity also goes down also another sign of progress is recovery the time takes to recover from an upset whether it is depression or anger earlier maybe for days together i wouldn't feel like doing anything or i would carry the anger for days and weeks and months a lifelong enemy huh i was just reading about people actually cultivating enmity i think it was the famous painter picasso who said who wrote some harsh things about some art critic and somebody told him but he has not said anything bad about you because he was i behaved as if he was he looked as if he was stunned you don't realize this small thing how can i do great work unless i have great hatred so i must have a great enemy somewhere to fight against then only my work will well don't be like that uh so the frequency of anger or depression it will go down the intensity will go down and the recovery time also will go down now it just comes and goes there's a saying about monks shadow rag jolly dog the anger of a monk that means a monk also does get angry but the anger of a mug is like a line drawn in flowing water a line drowned in flowing water when there's a stream and you try to take a stick and try to draw a line there as soon as you're drawing it it goes away so the anger of a monk should be like that anger of a spiritual seeker depression of a spiritual seeker should be like that um i liked saying teresa saying you know that a sad nun is a bad nun sad nun is a bad nun you should not be sad for any reason why should a monk or a nun or a spiritual seeker the one who has decided i want god and nothing else in life whatever else comes and goes i'm fine with it why would you ever be unhappy there's no reason at all to be unhappy i actually made a far-paw with that the one time i said it in a public gathering that was many years ago in santa barbara and that's a convent where there are nuns so when i quoted this a sad nun is a bad nun one of the nuns sitting in the front glared at me and said monks too not just nuns um yes so this is called chittashuddhi is an important point this lessening and cleansing away of the passions and lusts and anxieties and fears and anger and hatred this lessens declines and is washed away this is called chittashukti purification of the mind chitta in vedanta this will be manifested as the fourfold qualifications in we vedantasarya studying viveka vairagya the six treasures and mumuksutam the ability to discern between the eternal and the non-eternal dispassion for the non-eternal the six treasures i am not going to talk about that and the intense desire for freedom all of these come when this stage is completed the stage of the cleansing the purification purification of the heart that's another term this happens then what's the next stage gana tapasa by the austerity of knowledge what is the austerity of knowledge so the austerity of knowledge is shavana mananantihasana ghana yoga you come to vedanta you study think about it dwell on it stay with it hearing reasoning and contemplating or meditating until it becomes a living reality what happens by all of this means purified one is purified so the impurities are at three levels mala viksheba avarana mala means dirt dirt at the level of the mind what is the dirt this kind of passion and anger and depression and fear all of this is dirt spiritual dirt this is cleansed that's the first level of impurity that is cleansed one becomes one has a pure heart you know in the beatitudes in in the sermon on the mount you see blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see god so the purification of heart happens the second level deeper level of impurity is scatteredness of mind is the distraction and we live in an age of permanent distraction including these gadgets which we are using they are also cause of distraction so this distraction concentration is necessary that focus is done by meditation on god meditation on avatar is very powerful somebody asked the holy mother once that i can't meditate my mind is restless then she said my child just look at the picture of takurak sridham krishna she said just looking at the picture of this is the only photograph we have of an actual incarnation so just looking at the picture is as good as meditation just sit quietly and look at the picture so meditation on god is a very powerful way in traditional in vedanta this stage is called upasana what does it do it removes the impurity called distraction scattered mind and then the subtlest level of impurity the deepest level of impurity is called our unavailing i said originally that we are the same brahman under the influence of a fraction of maya that influence is our unavailing that is removed by knowledge hearing reflecting meditating can't you do that for everything no there are instruments which are helpful at each stage you can't the example i like is shravana mananananandityasana vedant is like a scalpel it'll make it'll do the final operation but it is not it's no good to you take a scalpel and use it like a shovel you need to remove a lot of dirt or shovel is much better you can still do it with the scaffold but you'll damage the scalpel and take an awful long time so at each stage the practices are different and all of them are nicely summarized here purified mind concentrated mind and um not the mind with knowledge ignorance is removed so then what happens one comes to my state it did not say one sees me gets the vision of me no comes to my street what is the state of krishna or god sachin brahman one realizes i am brahman and one is free so this is a very good verse let me just take some so many people have asked questions um giant yes i you know if you look at verse ninth the word divyam the interpretation of the word divyam if it is changed from if you don't use the word divine yes a term like all encompassing awareness then what you said before really doesn't need to happen like in chapters 2 and 3 where there is only uh the invocation of the consciousness but here we transition into the invocation of god the concept of god yes and perhaps there is a difference in the way we are interpreting and translating the words that were supposed to have been translated some may have some other meaning in the past from where i look at things krishna and buddha have exactly the same way of looking of positioning themselves and talking about what enlightenment is so if we take care of that word the interpretation of that word then the continuity between chapters 2 3 and 4 continues and there is one more thought swamiji i'm sorry sorry there's one more thought which is when you know i've always struggled with this idea that in india we have all these different deviantas and my interpretation has always been different i've never seen this like a transactional relationship where you invoke god for a transaction and do so through prayer for me i've always somehow as crazy as it sounds i've always thought of prayer as a way where you reduce your ego and through the reduction of the ego your consciousness arises it rises to a higher level of consciousness and in that act we connect with our deepest nature and again we don't really need to invoke the concept of god in this all right i see where you're coming from you can do that but the text won't support it you see what will happen is how do you then how do you then interpret the seventh and eight verses whenever there's a decline of dharma then i come forth i help the good and overcome the wicked i re-established dharma how is that to be interpreted if it is not by god i have given this teaching at the beginning of creation to manu i have revealed these teachings from age to age so the theistic part is very strong here you cannot ignore it um one so a person who is who finds it difficult to believe in god will not be particularly inspired by these by these passages but vedanta understands you can go in either path you can go in the path of self-realization that is who am i or what am i and you come into this awareness that being awareness or one can go the path of um this theistic religion there is a god then that that god we accept on faith and then you worship it is the same reality which is within us but which is now projected outwards you you may not personally need it that is not the constitution of your mind but there are many people who do need it so vedante that way is very all-encompassing the second thing which you said about not being transactional very good that's the higher kind of religion the what what one might call spirituality i am not praying to god worshiping god because i need things in this world but again one must be compassionate one must be inclusive you cannot tell the 90 percent of people who come to church and temple and mosque in different places including buddhist temples also for fulfillment of clearly worldly objectives somebody is sick somebody needs money some so whatever or just blessings for you know people need support psychological support to live in this world it's very it's a very fortunate few who have had such blessed life that they they have not faced a lot of suffering so the psychological support provided by god even to persons who do not have right now and expressed desire for enlightenment it will come next in the in the in one or two verses um in fact the very next verse it will come that krishna will say whatever you want from me i will give you that it's not just enlightenment so yes praying to god reducing your own ego becoming more aware of your true self that is the higher spirituality no doubt that's what vedanta is about but the transactional level of religion also should not be despised or condemned remember most of religion through the ages has been this transactional level of religion and krishna does not krishna will say they too are my devotees he'll clearly say those who have come for transaction right now in fact he will say okay let me see some of the other questions giant you can't you can't unmute you should be able to unmute yes [Music] it would have been very similar in verse 9 had the word tatwata had not used but it seemed that it was deliberately put there so that depending upon our attitudes we can pick the meaning correctly out of it true that word is very important that gives the gate a gateway to the non-dualist to equate god realization with self-realization um for the dualist this is wonderful you realize that i am i am krishna i am the incarnation of god and have devotion and faith and surrender and you will be liberated but for the non-dualist somebody who say who does not want to walk the theistic path uh who just wants to go by an investigation into what what is real into into oneself the gate is there in reality what you are doing in reality when you investigate yourself the same thing the divorce devotee is going to reach but by a more scenic route gent next yes swamiji i have some questions on karma yes if i understand correctly karma is accumulated in some sort of memory as either merits or demerits in the subtle body in a latent state but when is it activated to shape an individual's life right only as in the next birth or can it activate itself tomorrow or even a nanosecond later after the generating action right for that matter what kind of action accumulates karma other actions that are neutral or non-generated karma can a thought generate karma right so these i am not particularly interested in the intricacies of that they have been worked out in detail for example more than vedanta in buddhism more than that in jainism jainism takes karma to a very great in a very great detail and and length and depth why i am not interested in the details is i take it as a principle that actions have consequences cause and effect it's a reasonable assumption to make because we use causality to explain everything even science is causality so to think that there would be something in this world like moral action which has no cause um consequences it would be rather strange so karma is a very reasonable assumption actually uh but about the details well i can give you some details from vedantics perspective where what exactly is karma and where does it stay first of all so when we do something consciously there are these three uh effects one is the physical effect which you see just now you give food to a hungry man and the man eats and is satisfied that's the actual effect physical right now there's a psychological effect once you repeat that action of sharing food it sets up a good habit a psychological a tendency in the mind which is good that you have a tendency to share and you feel the joy of sharing with others so that's the psychological effect but there is here is the crux of the law of karma that a certain cosmic effect is set up let us say uh you have done something good quite apart from the actual benefit delivered quite apart from the effect on your mind see the actual benefit delivered and the effect on our mind there is no need to doubt it there is obvious there's an effect there's an effect on the world outside and there's an effect in our psychology but beyond that you have done something meritorious which is dharma and there is generated a merit for that called punya and that's the cosmic effect that stays in the books of account maintained by god you know we have this chitra group gupta these are all these ideas are there in our mythology so it's a cosmic credit and debit account and it will give results that's what's that's our past karma quite different from the tendency set up in our own mind uh so that will give results usually in the next life why in the next life because this life is uh dominated by what is called prarabdha karma the karma already activated that's what has given us this body and set out certain parameters of this life so what we are now doing is generating new karma it is called agami it will it will contribute to an already existing stored house of karma and will probably be activated at some point in the future but that's again i have heard that these are generalities a very intense kind of karma good or bad can give results in this very life itself um yes but i wouldn't go down to the level of so if i kill a mosquito would i be reborn as a mosquito in the next life no i won't go down to that level of detail and intricacy there's no way of knowing all those things again you know spirituality is not about really the law of karma it's about coming out of the law of karma law of karma is basically worldly it is that which ties us to samsara it is the very nature of samsara to be free of the law it is bondage basically to be free of the law of karma that is spirituality one more thing the law of karma is a good preparation for spirituality if one does not accept the law of karma one does not believe in it one sings to an instinctive level that i'll be good as long as the cops don't catch me or the irs does not catch me i'll be good but i'm just good only because i'm being observed or there's a fear of punishment there's no internal moral compulsion but if i realize that my actions have consequences regardless of what society does i will pay for everything that i do and i will get rewarded for everything that i do good and bad then it becomes a deep understanding one becomes very careful about karma the tibetan buddhist for example take this very seriously so one becomes very careful about karma one has ascended from an instinctive level of living to a conscious and deliberate way of living and spirituality is beyond this this is still within like a give and take you know you're just still within the realm of causality okay you can why is this taking so much time [Music] and you have mentioned a few different times i think that as we progress in the path of non-duality even though we are attracted to the beauty or simplicity of the adventure we recognize our inability to make that final a final uh frontier if you will you know getting there and invoking the divine grace through the divine mother is one of the simpler i don't know if i'm paraphrasing it properly something to the effect that mother is easier to to please if you will you know to to grace us with this i don't know to even uh give us the power to surrender properly if you can give us some practice i understand yes yes i understand what is the question then how do how does one um who's on the path of advaitha is attracted by the authority path and recognizes the inability to fight you know get the final embrace of non-duality and wants to invoke the divine grace and then you want to you know sort of follow the mother mother's grace if you will you know how does one go about doing that and how does one even sort of get to that true essence of surrender to the mother so that she can guide the rest of the way through prayer prayer definitely this question was asked by the holy mother they were in banaras swami brahmananda was there in the holy banaras mashaaradha was there so she sends this question through somebody to swami brahmananda ask him why does a spiritual seeker one who wants liberation why do they need to worship the divine mother um and swami brahma shakti why do they need to worship shakti swami ramananda sent back the reply promptly because the keys to brahma ghana are in the hands of the divine mother one must realize that what we are doing here right now every bit of it is you'll say it's your karma yes but even karma deeper and more powerful than karma is god it is god who gives us the results of karma it is god and the avatar who has the power to wipe out certain karma and give us what we might not actually deserve because of our karma lord god is always called karma daksa the lord of karma karma is so whether you call it god or the divine mother same thing srirama krishna used to say what you call brahman saguna brahman i call that kali the divine mother and saguna brahman are the same thing from a vedantic perspective all that we are doing here is entirely by the grace of the divine mother that's one thing that totally had to learn he was enlightened he had attained nirvikalpa samadhi he realized that he was brahmana but one thing he did not realize he felt that he had done it all on his own power but that he had certain advantages this great desire for god realization from childhood he had become a monk at a young age he had a fairly strong and robust body a very pure mind a very concentrated mind ability to grasp vedantic teachings ability to meditate deeply completely detached from the world but they were not his qualities they are all because of the blessings of the divine mother so the divine mother can enable us she is already doing that the very fact that we are interested in god realization we want to study the gita it is all by the blessings of the divine mother so by prayer to the divine mother and if you want you can repeat a mantra in this time some devotees i know they are repeating jayashree durga jai shri durga few thousand times a day that's a good practice and then navaratri or if you have been initiated if you have your own ishta mantra you repeat it and at every point take refuge in the divine mother in your worldly life also in your spiritual life definitely all right thank you uh swami i have a question like practically when i try to inquire and i try to sustain a long thought and trying to understand a specific concept uh often the other thought comes saying drop it just be look and uh stay in the present and in this like if i listen to that and actually just uh become the pure like observe observer in this moment the thought stops like it doesn't continue so what would be the practical advice uh for me should i kind of still continue to try to inquire and use thought process to understand the concept or actually it's like the other option of purely being present in the moment is a higher choice both of them are necessary in fact purely being present at the moment what you call that or what you're saying is good as a preliminary it calms down and settles the mind sit quietly be present in the moment follow the breath if necessary and then inquire because being present what you just said being present in the moment just being that does not depend upon you doing it if it you feel that i if i'm thinking then i'm not being if i stop thinking drop the thinking then i am being i am i'm existence then no that is not true even in the midst of thoughts even when you are doing the self inquiry even when you are working in at office or whatever external activity we are concerned with in the midst of all of that you are being you are existence itself you are that absolute that will not come by sitting quietly that will come by the process of inquiry you begin to see that that which was which is there most powerfully most evidently when you are sitting quietly meditatively just being and when you see the mind working on a particular thought train and following it it's the same being which watches that or is it a different thing no it's the same thing when you say i am just being i drop the thought that's a state of the mind very obviously because it comes and goes will you say i am pursuing a particular line of inquiry a thought that's also state and activity of the mind what watches both of them what illumines both of them what gives existence to both of them that is being and that must be realized in knowledge not by a meditative practice let me do one verse more because i just mentioned it eleventh verse is interesting so the question might be so by your grace one attains to enlightenment then why aren't you gracious towards everybody everybody could attain enlightenment and we'd be done with all of this you wouldn't have to come to class every day we could all just be you know enlightened straight away eleventh verse krishna says whatsoever manner in which they approach me in that very manner i resort to them for arjuna on all sides men tread paths leading to me the basic idea is whatever is going on in samsara good the bad ugly the spiritual and the non-spiritual the lord pervades all of it equally the lord pervades all of it equally so why don't you enlighten people straight away by your grace you know just said that you can remove the burden of karma by your grace you can give enlightenment and so on no what the lord does is the lord gives what we want as people approach me for different things when somebody asks me for money i don't give enlightenment i don't send the person to a vedanta class when somebody asks and like uh asked me for you know recovery from a disease so i don't tell them to order the drink rishabh awake from amazon prime no swami vivekananda said it's an insult to teach a starving man metaphysics so the lord gives exactly what we need and that's not bad why wouldn't he give enlightenment to us he is giving enlightenment to us it's just that we are in so much of a hurry the lord gives it to us at the right time because we need these experiences to progress at this time so we ask for it what you genuinely ask for god will give you um this book became very popular it was i think it was called the miracle of something that what you ask for the universe for the universe will respond with there's a certain truth to that this is not literally true because what you ask for and what we get it's limited by our karma the secret yeah rick says that's a secret became very popular the secret the great secret of the universe is if you consistently ask the universe for something one particular theme focus on it hold on to that don't get deviated from that you will get it will become very popular is it true yes and no definitely if you focus on something and you ask for something and you design your life around it it's not illogical to see how you might get at least some of it whatever you're asking for money knowledge fame but will you get it exactly what you wanted not necessarily because what we actually get is also limited by our karma our past karma weighs heavily on us so we may make an effort we will get something maybe not up to what we wanted anyway the god gives us what we what we want and that's how we progress so shankaracharya in his commentary says those who are who want moksha liberation to them i give knowledge vedanta those who are knowledgeable to them who have got realization to them i give moksha liberation those who are he says removing the distress that's how i help them so as people pray what they pray for as they approach me in every path of life whatever they're treading on they may think i'm not at all spiritual i'm not at all religious i don't believe in your god or krishna or anything like that they're still treading on my path all of those paths are god's paths it's good then why should we be interested in vedanta well take your time swim vivekananda half seriously he said take your time if you don't want to take your time there are many many lifetimes but why suffer for lifetimes if one has got this much in hindi they say shubhamathi that means a good understanding a blessed understanding that god exists spirituality is possible it's the most valuable thing in life life is short in the language of the imitation of christ the vanities of life are many but life is short and fleeting if you have got this much understanding then catch hold of god first catch hold of a spiritual path whichever path it is so that is the verse as people approach mean whatever whatever they seek of me thanks that's what i grant unto them from all directions whatever path people are working walking on those are my paths and indirectly they ultimately lead to god realization spirituality walk the path of vedanta or any genuine spiritual path it will directly lead to god realization and the fulfillment of life's goal all the other paths wealth popularity even i would go so far as to say crime and evil even those also ultimately by long and winding ways lot of suffering involved many lifetimes they lead back to god again okay we have really gone over time we will take this up in the next class om shanti shanti [Music] namaste