Video 54

54. Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 4 Verses 29-30 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] [Music] so a couple of classes ago we have done the brahmarpanam verse in the fourth chapter so today i just wanted to share a little personal experience i had a little epiphany in the morning i was taking a walk in the central park very nice cool and bright day i was sitting by the lake watching the ducks swimming around in circles and very nice very pleasant and i was thinking so all the pleasant things one could want in life i have all of it uh so um i was just thinking about all the all of you people who have high pressure corporate jobs and uh i have hardly anything to do at all it's just a little past time for me answer a few emails and give a few talks which i enjoy anyway and i have good food provided by all the devotees i am taken care of i have a place to live in the upper west side in manhattan and here i'm getting to take a walk in the morning in in the central park the the weather is nice my health is fine people are nice to me people are respectful um i have any amount of books and computer and all uh whatever i want everything is there um and there is nothing and really in my mind which i could desire anymore so all the things which are pleasant likeable and nice in life line up all of them then i asked a question to my mind so is are you happy now is this enough for happiness honestly and immediately the answer came no is there anything more you want no nothing more what else could one want to reserve reasonably so the great um insight is that all the nice things we want in the setup of our lives even if all of them were said given to us if we could have all of them um satisfied it still would not be fulfilling they would still be this what the existential is called an existential angst left there's a kind of lack of fulfillment of the heart and then i thought about i was thinking about the brahmarapanam here is this one unlimited radiance in which appears this entire universe i am that all of these beings the human beings and the birds and the ducks and they're all one with me we are all one existence this radiance which is my true nature is immortal it cannot be destroyed by disease or death it wants nothing in fact the entire universe is a sort of overflowing of its of its bounty if you think like that and if you notice that then the heart feels so full you feel so happy and that happiness it has a security which cannot be shaken by anything see what happens is what i was thinking is this all the setup of my life is very fine what a person might want and yet it is not fulfilling number one number two this pleasant setup of our lives is very vulnerable people are nice to me tomorrow they might not be they might be one person who is difficult and not nice to me my health is good tomorrow i might get covered and i might be rushed to the hospital in one of those ambulances which are rushing back and forth all the time health might fail and will fail one day in fact and one second all of these things are vulnerable yet the joy of our real nature the brahma pranam brahma that is not vulnerable that is guaranteed forever once you recognize that it's continuously available to you all the time and it is completely fulfilling sri ramakrishna's example of ones and zeros immediately came to mind all of these things which are which constitute the most desired for setup of our lives money and the choicest of possessions and friends and the family and success name and fame and glory whatever all of those one even if you can get them all they would still be a collection of zeros still somewhere it is not fulfilling and yet there is a one if you just get the one that's enough the bhagavad gita says young loved one having attained which one does not consider that anything higher to be attained than that one has reached the zenith um yes means being established in which even the heaviest of sorrows cannot shake you so this setup the most pleasant setup you can think of it will go away this was the great insight of the buddha the buddha's insight was samsara is in continuous change impermanent impermanent indeed all is impermanent not only impermanent shanikam shanikam servant momentary momentary indeed all is momentary not only impermanent and momentary but empty shunyam shunyam sarvamshunyam a void void verily everything is the void impermanent transitory and void that is the nature of this entire setup and if we can work to establish the kind of setup you desire people possessions health job career all of it as per your dream whatever you can wish for the moment you set it up what does the buddha say subject to change so the moment you set up one thing is guaranteed it will change so the perfect setup by definition will become imperfect the next moment or the next day or the next week or next month whereas this realization of this underlying reality from which the entire universe appears that is perfect and unchangeable beyond any change at all that's that is your nature forever so this was the epiphany right and it doesn't have to be in the knowledge format it could be in the devotion format also the entire universe is the lord's universe god exists i am the child of god or i am the servant of the lord and you will find that is also deeply fulfilling immediately fulfilling when the setup around you is good according to your wishes you are centered in god or you have the realization aham brahma has been centered in that then the presence set up around you you can enjoy if the setup around you becomes unpleasant which it will because of the flow of karma one day it becomes unpleasant centered in god in in brahman in the realization of the self you will be you will have the peace and the strength to face it with equanimity so this is the beauty of spiritual life this is the important the the epiphany i thought i should share with all of us all right so that was the 24th verse and then we remember sri krishna has been telling us about spiritual practices he has talked about a series of spiritual practices in fact from the 25th verse onwards sri krishna talks about 12 spiritual practices 12 spiritual practices and here's a unique way of talking about these practices what is the way yaga the vedic fire sacrifice why the vedic fire sacrifice because that was the most common form well-known form of religion in those days arjuna was most familiar with that as religion and sri krishna today we if you if he was here today he would have said puja he would have said they will use the word puja because that's the one with which hindus are most why only hindus buddhists have seen tibetan buddhists and all they all do puja so the ritualistic worship with which we are most familiar sri krishna says yes that's the spiritual practice but that's just one the highest form of spiritual practice the highest form of yakya is what we just talked about brahma panam brahma to realize brahman everywhere the brahmana alone exists but the other forms of spiritual practice they are also they can be described as yakyas not just ritualism twelve forms he talks about one of course is the highest form brahma pranam brahma he gives the whole brahmagyana realization of brahman the format of a yagya the offering is brahman the ladle with which you offer is brahman the one the fire into which you are offering is brahman the one who is offering is brahman and if you see actions brahman in all actions in this way you realize brahman you become a jeevan mukhtar so you see enlightenment as a yakya that's the highest but there are 11 other types of practices which he talks about um we have seen some of them he talks about um the deva that means the the vedic ritualistic sacrifice itself the original form of the yagya or today he might send the puja puja which you do to vishnu or shiva or devi the puja that itself is a spiritual ritualistic worship is a spiritual practice is a yakya to be done then another the second type the third type he mentioned i think in verse 26 yes very interesting he says one second he says all our sensory activities hearing smelling tasting touching seeing imagine that all of them are being poured into the fire which is within what is the fire consciousness is the fire the devatas are sitting within ourselves awareness that is the fire into which all sensory inputs are being poured so when i see something i imagine it i visualize it as a practice i visualize it like pouring oblations into the vedic fire sacrifice i'm pouring all the forms through my eyes into consciousness when i hear sounds i'm pouring all the sounds into conscious so that's the that's the second kind of third kind of uh yagya which is talking about imagine all sensory all sensations as a yagya being forwarded poured into the fire of consciousness the third a fourth kind of practice which he talked about again 26th verse is sangya magneshu control when i control the activities you will not see this these are the things you will not taste these are the things you will not hear control regulate my sensory activities self-regulation the ability to regulate my consumption of sense objects that regulation is the fire into which i am pouring my sensory activities that control is the consensus control is the fire and all my sensory inputs are the activities and are the offerings that i am pouring into that i mean just by the way you know the term emotional intelligence which is popularized by daniel coleman he said emotional eq is a better predictor of success in life than iq more important than sheer intelligence is emotional intelligence what are the components of emotional intelligence one of the components of emotional intelligence is a self-regulation the ability to regulate one's feelings perceptions to be in control of oneself that's a sign of intelligence this is emotional intelligence swinging issue then the fifth one fifth practice also we see is that um not just control the senses behind the senses is the mind control of the mind we saw that that is the fire control of the difference between control of senses and mind control of senses i will not see this i will not hear this i will i will regulate my sensory activity control of the mind is reducing the desire itself calming the mind itself which is behind the senses the desire itself for hearing smelling tasting touching that has to be regulated that's another kind of sacrifice more subtle you can imagine it as a yakya then in 28th verse which we did last time i think we started it last time um five more practices have been mentioned by sri krishna that is the sixth kind of practice derby means the sacrifice of a material sacrifice in the sense of giving so donating for example in this country in the united states it's a very well known it's a very common and wonderful practice people are generous so instead of wasting things you give it to those who are less fortunate give it to those who need it it could be warm clothes it could be toys for children whatever it is materials you give to others that is a spiritual practice not just material it could be money not just materials and money it could be your time you go and work in a soup kitchen for example or you go and do free service where you do you do not want anything back that's also giving then the seventh one is tapo yagya the vows austerity is a practice so one takes vows we we talked about it last time i think wow of silence um that i will not speak so much or i will reduce my speech and for this day or half a day or a few days i will not speak that's a particular problem or on shiva r3 we do that in the monastery we do not sleep so i'm sleeping every night but on this night i will not why do we do that what we are normally accustomed to things we are normally accustomed to doing things we are normally accustomed to eating for example those we consciously deliberately give up for a specific time or a specific occasion why so that deliberately i can use this as a way of getting control of my body mind no harm if i don't eat half a day in fact people say it is good if you fast for half a day it's good for the system so i use this as an opportunity to bring my body mind deliberately under control not by force consciously i have decided i will not eat in this or i will not eat these items of food pilgrimages people undertake pilgrimages so the pilgrimages deliberately some hardships are built into the pilgrimages you have to walk up the hill like this you have to eat this kind of very simple maybe vegetarian food or maybe one meal a day you have to get up early and take a bath and so many rules are there for pilgrimages why there's some kind of tapasya spiritual austerity tapo yakya those are also you can consider them as a yagya yoga yankya patanjali yoga meditation can be considered as a yagya as a spiritual practice he calls it a yagya what is patanjali yoga yama niyama the moral prerequisites asana sitting still not running around so much sit still then pranayama control of the breath and then pratyahara control of the senses and then dharana focus of the mind then meditation dhyana and then ultimately samadhi absorption this itself is a powerful spiritual practice very powerful very systematic very powerful spiritual practice patanjali yoga is mentioned here meditation the practice of meditation is a is another yagya number eight number nine swaddhyaya recitation of mantras originally it meant only vedic chanting with properly trained it could be recitation of mantras and stotras or even singing of songs you might say reading of the texts regularly number 10 so what is the difference between this ghana yoga and the first one which was brahma panam ramahabi here the gyani yagya means regular study of the scriptures not just reciting them not just chanting them regular study like we are doing now this is ghana how is this different from brahmapanam if you're studying vedanta you're studying gita upanishads um so this study is shabana and marana we study it systematically we think about it we question we try to grasp it this is a spiritual practice a very good form of spiritual practice how is this different from brahma pranam brahma that is where you have completed savannah and marana one has already had the breakthrough and one stabilizes oneself one steadies oneself that is called or brahmanista and that brahmapanam brahma is the final stage of advaita vedanta where one is established in that after that there is only given mukti one is free while living this one is preparator what we are doing right now is of this tenth type 10th um then 11th one he will say pranayama itself he gives a lot of whole one verse he has given to pranayama the control of the breath that is also a yakya and the 12th one will be in 30th verse which is control of food food intake um let me read those let us just read those verses and then we will see number 29 pranayama still others devoted to the control of the vital force pranayama offer as a sacrifice the outgoing breath prana in the incoming aparna as also the incoming breadth in the outgoing and after restraining the activity of the incoming and outgoing but okay so what is this pranayama and why is it important it's a part of yoga pranayama piranha literally means life not just breath prana means life and it is part of the subtle body sukshma sharira physical body annamaria kosher this one physical body subtler than this inward to this is the vital body prana maya kosher subtler than this inward to this is the mental body manomayakosha subtler than that inward to that is vigyanama the intellectual body and then finally the the causal body kara sharira which is anandamaya kosha and transcending all of this the witness of all of this is of course you the atman but now the important thing is physical body is here once you calm down the physical body you sit down for meditation don't jump directly to control of the mind everybody complains we cannot control the mind the mind is fickle even arjuna complained to krishna the sixth chapter after a lot of nice instructions in meditation arjuna says it's no good with the yogas he said this yoga which you have taught oh madhu it is not useful why not because it's very difficult to control the mind now one of the techniques of controlling the mind is prana ayama sushi krishna gives importance to pranayama here why is it important between the mind and the body between anna maya kosha and prana maya kosha between under my kosher and monomia kosher between mind and the body is the prana is the movement of the breaths uh five breaths are mentioned in um in our indian physiology prana apana vyana udana samana and these are different five functions they are physiological functions circulation and digestion and all of this now to control the mind is difficult you need something which is connected to the mind and easier to control so the breath is connected to the mind when the mind is restless the breath is also short and uneven when the mind is dull and sleepy the breath is heavy dull sleepy sick breath is heavy when the mind is excited brett is fast angry excited when the mind is calm the breath is also even and calm you will find the breath will flow through both nostrils and there will be you you will not even find there will be no sound there will be very it will be very light but also deep it will go deep and be light and effortlessly so so if we want the reverse is true if i want an excited mind to calm down then if i can control the breath and make it even and rhythmic the excited mind will calm down the sleepy mind will become alert and so it is useful for meditation that's why it is recommended before meditation one should do pranayama it's a long and it's a big big subject the yogis the hata yogis have developed it to great degree i have very little knowledge of it but we all learn a little bit of it because of meditation and we do that also before our ritualistic puja before the actual puja starts so little bit of pranayama is done the pranayama constitutes as krishna said consists of three three phases three phases breathing in puraka holding the breath kumbhaka and letting the breath out rechaka and it is measured it is brought under if you bring these under control after a few cycles of pranayama the mind also comes down now how do you do that so there is a ratio the ratio is 4 is to 16 is to 8 4 is to 16 is to 8 counts breathing in 16 counts holding eight counts exhaling again four counts breathing in 16 counts holding and eight counts exhaling to the two nostrils so this is a way of closing the nostril so this thumb close the right nostril and you breathe in through the left and you count all four times you don't have to keep the hand here i'm just demonstrating for your hand should be okay this hand should be kept on your lap and you should count four times not loudly mentally and you are breathing in at the same time so four counts on a full breath you taken without any too much exertion without too much exertion but a full breath having done that then you use these two finger two middle fingers to close the left nostril now both nostrils are closed and you will count eight counts uh sorry 16 counts of ohm o o o [Music] and then let out the bread for eight counts through the right nostril oh that is eight counts on the right nostril and then you breathe in for four counts again from the right nostril doing the ohm count for four hold for sixteen and release for eight this is one pranayama it's much easier than that than it sounds when you're telling it it sounds difficult but actually it's much easier it is just remember the ratio 4 is to 16 is to 8 4 sixteen eight so basically one is to four is to two that is the ratio if you want to increase you have to increase in that touch ratio um so um if you if you hold if you breathe in for eight counts you have to hold it for 32 counts and release for 16 counts like that don't and don't do that also the other thing which just has to be said is this should not be done without the guidance of a good hatha yoga teacher otherwise there's always the possibility of harm rather than good um what kind of pranayama is good and harmless that is your rhythm make deep breathing breathe in till you have filled your lungs and then make one more effort little more breath and then you'll see you will be able to feel a little more and then let it go without holding it breathe out and after you have breathed out make a little more effort to breathe out a little more also you will find that there is some air left and then again breathe in few times you can do that three times five times the pranayama i showed you can do it once twice thrice four or five times mind will become calm it has a direct effect on the mind so that is the practice again don't jump into doing it aha here is something much better than all the atman brahman stuff no the holding the breath can have a bad effect if it's not practiced properly it should be connected to a satwik diet should be connected to a strict routine then only it has a proper effect otherwise it can be damaging to the body mind okay so pranayama is one type of yagyam then next number 30. i think we have got some activity let me just look at the activity before i go to number 30. by the way twelve practices krishna has mentioned here calling them all yagya one must remember they are young why are they called yagya why is eating why is hearing smelling tasting touching it it's a yeah how can it become a how can it become a spiritual practice only when you offer it to god ordinarily when i'm eating drinking that is not yakya so one become makes a practice i've seen monks and they'll make up for example common practice among the monks is you will see when they're going to drink something eat something the mentally you'll see little gesture like this what are they doing they're offering it to god and taking it as prasad so everything is offered to god not just the food what we eat is not on not only that what you see what you hear what you smell what you taste what you touch all the activities of the sense of the motor outcomes of course the ritualistic worship is offered to god but so is pranayama offered to god when i am giving um in donation in charity not as i am here is something in charity i'm throwing it at a poor person unfortunate person that is not your care i am offering to the lord in this way these are the objects which i i are in my position this is the money this is the resources i have the lord has given me an opportunity to offer him to worship the lord in this way so by money by objects by my effort by my time i am worshiping god as much as i worship god by putting flowers and incense and mantras in the puja room then only it becomes otherwise it's just donation it's just charity swami vivekananda says let the giver kneel down and offer let the receiver stand up and receive kneel down and often means you're offering to god not to a poor person or an unfortunate person that has become that becomes the drug the vows which i am observing regular fasting why are you doing that it could be to um i want i want to lose lose weight and have a slim and fit body that is not uh tapo yakya that is of dieting it becomes offering that as a practice to god whether it is staying away and shivarathri whether it is fasting or nakadashi whatever kind of practice all of these all religions have these practices the ramadan of the muslims the various fasts in catholic catholic uh the catholic yearly routine so these are all meant for that the jewish religion has its fast and so on so these are all meant for bringing the body mind under control and they are offered to god another important thing has to be kept in mind what is the purpose of all of this the purpose has to be kept in mind the purpose is god realization the purpose is moksha the purpose is enlightenment if the purpose is to lose weight or i'm doing pranayama to gain spiritual powers people do that there are yogis in india who practice these things in order to gain occult powers telepathy things like that then it is not yakya it's not a spiritual practice it's it's material pursuit so it must be offered to god and it must be for the purpose all these practices are for the purpose of god realization you can use many of these practices for material benefit then it will not be again so this is one thing that has to be understood it's not always clearly understood it's a simple thing geeta is a moksha sastra one has to understand what is the prayer when you start any vedanta text prayer jana means purpose of this the purpose is god realization the purpose is moksha nirvana salvation whatever you call it freedom that is the purpose of gita that is the purpose of upanishad of all these texts so that's obvious what else could be there no no there are other things [Music] gita for leadership uh so many things are there for you know the panchakusha i saw the panchakosha model for healthy body mind so panchayat model for healthy body mind is it wrong it's not wrong there's so much wisdom why the only bhagavad-gita i saw this seminar for corporate executives what would jesus do so from the bible so leadership lessons from the bible for what for making profit so that is not for god realization are there is it wrong it's not wrong it's not wrong that must be clear there's so much wisdom in the holy books gita and also the other holy books and they can be used for making our life better in our day-to-day life for better human relationships like free krishna will later say what is the proper diet what is proper exercise what is proper sleep all those things also you will mention these are good for health so healthy life good relationships advancing my career better organizational atmosphere in company those also how to achieve the bottom line you know those also can be done by these these things are there which can be used servant leadership is a big thing in the corporate world now it all comes from here so you can use it but then it will not be it will not be again i remember once i was called many many years ago about 15 16 years ago to give a talk in a very big company it was one of the india's largest steel producers so to give a talk to um their lower level management and the upper management had organized this you know the hr department keeps doing this so they bring in a monk so he gave a talk about meditation and karma yoga and all of that and people were listening they were interested there were hundreds of this lower level management staff and then it was all spoiled by the the hr top hr manager who came in and he said so we have all heard the swami now and now we'll have no problem achieving our targets i said god achieving our targets is that's not the point i'm sorry to disappoint to the corporate corporate bosses you there's nothing wrong in achieving the targets you should achieve the targets that's great but the purpose of the spiritual practices is moksha god realization offer to god and remember the purpose gita is a moksha sastra often people get confused i had to repeat i made disappoint i had to repeat it again and again when i was at harvard in the discussions people get confused what is religion for actually and if you listen to the discussions religion is so what is the position of religion on lgbtq how it can be used for you know social activism fine you can use it i'm not saying it's not for that that's not the purpose and this seemed to be something new people agreed with it that you are right but people tend to forget there's so much involvement in the academics the whole divinity school is meant for study of religion and spirituality but what is the purpose of religion and spirituality not particularly clear many people are not clear about it here it is very clear it becomes a spiritual practice only if you want it for god realization otherwise it is something materialistic moksha is the ultimate purpose let us look at the activity in the chat um rick says could anything cause this realization to be lost such a senility no this is an important factor people say that so suppose i have the knowledge and then maybe i have a stroke so will it go away again no this is one must be clear about this thing the ignorance in the mind goes away the knowledge is there and your freedom your moksha is not dependent on that knowledge let me repeat that you're you are you have moksha because your nature is brahman already you already have it the knowledge does not produce moksha knowledge does not give you liberation you already are liberated the knowledge just points that out we did not know now we know so could we not know again could that come back again no it will not come back yes a stroke may be debilitating i may forget some of the verses of the gita if i get a stroke i may not be able to give a vedanta talk i may not be even able to talk if the body is paralyzed i might not remember the vedanta vedic texts or vedantic texts or the references no i might not be able to write books and articles no but my inner light that i am brahmana will it be lost no it is not lost and i have seen example after example of this i've seen senior monks on the verge of passing away very seriously ill but the knowledge of brahman burns bright within them swami abeda namdaji he tested it so he was wondering in the himalayas at that time at that time he was studying under um under devi giriji i think in in kailash mutt in rishikesh so they were studying vedanta there is a great traditional vedantic teacher and swami vedanji used to stay in a heartbeat for his food and go and attend the classes and he felt he had attained clarity and a breakthrough but he wanted to test it suppose the body collapses even the mind gives way will i retain this knowledge that i am the atman and so he prayed for illness and on the same day three terrible illnesses struck him i think bloody sentry was one malaria was the other one something else three of them and he was so sick he could not go to the class he could not go for his daily round of begging for food could not get out of the bed he kept going in and out of you know losing consciousness going in and out then the the mind became delirious he could not keep track of his thoughts and he said later on he says i was delighted to see throughout all of this and the light of awareness burned bright it was filled with an inner joy they were suffering on the surface body weak and suffering mind also i cannot control the thoughts and they're becoming weak and disoriented clearly i am not this bit of equipment called body mind and when it is weak ill maybe dying he would have died thank god some of his other brother disciples came somebody else also came they they nursed him and sent him back to the monastery for recovery but he writes in his biography his own experience he no he's not the only one again and again we have seen this under greatest illness at the point of death one retains i have seen monks i have seen paralyzed physically paralyzed both legs are paralyzed one arm is paralyzed and blind in two eyes full of joy unblemished how is it the this monk i saw he was the disciple of swami and he was a disciple of swami vigyanandaji uh so this old monk i saw both legs paralyzed one arm paralyzed and both eyes blind completely helpless and for years and years he remained like that a person so full of vigor and joy i even just thinking about it uplifts one this taught me what it means to be bodyless transcend the body it's not like you leave the body like a puff of smoke and you observe it from a distance not like that here you are same body same experiences it does not matter even the least and all the time encouraging others inspiring others full of you know only i can say spirit it is possible i have seen it in buddhism i have seen it in ranganath um all the senior monks again and again and again i've seen it one of the greatest monks i knew it was relatively unknown but um 14 hours a day he had to be he had to take oxygen always face twinkling with joy eyes twinkling at the face radiant with joy so many times in then 10 don't say this among the youngest is the japanese he praises that remember chapter 10 um he says i am this i am this i am this but at the end you will see i am everything so not just japan he's all the yakis but among japan so he praises japanese the best yankee this is a very good year so definitely japanese very good can you patrick says can you explain why the mind examining itself isn't the subject object being the same the mind examining itself is in the subject object being the same no because when the mind examines itself if you're talking about introspection then what happens in introspection the mind thinks about its earlier thoughts the mind thinks about its earlier thoughts something we thought about some experience we had when we introspect we think about that so one thought thinking of the other thought not the one thought thinking about itself it can't that can't happen subject object cannot be the same it's taken as a great fault in philosophy it's called the fault of self-reflectivity the katta and the karma cannot be the same thing the doer and the action cannot be the same thing i can use this fingertip to touch this fingertip but i cannot use this fingertip to touch this same fingertip [Music] impossible which bhagavad gita book is being used in this course anyone you please as long as it's it has got the original verses and a relatively neutral translation i use multiple versions the one i'm using now is this only because it's handy it's a small one it's bhagavad gita published by madras ramakrishna math madras and translated by swami virish it's just got the original verses and an english translation but there are many other results i use a couple of versions of shankara's commentary then verses 26 27 control your sentences mind as you can could seekers practice them with the intent to develop shama damma the sixth folder yes these are actually shama and tama control of the senses control of the mind are actually shama and dharma instead of i'm calling them sangyama you know you can call them sh rekhaji says occasionally when i'm deep in it it hasn't i find that stop breathing and end up gasping you're not doing anything wrong that can happen that can happen and it's a good thing don't try to stop breathing but if it happens automatically in deep thought in deep focus the breath stops for a while and that's all right what is the difference between pranayama and mindfulness in mindfulness the breath is used as an anchor so i gave a talk about this you will see um on buddhist mindfulness this basic practice of mindfulness a very simple practice you're just as aware of the movement of the breath but pranayama is a deliberate control of the breath in order to calm down the mind so there is a difference um gabriel says is the reason for the seemingly importance of number four a breath multiple multiple of four meditation at four am four pm no not necessarily don't make too much of uh numerology saying is offering my karma to god not enough it's enough yes but all of these are karma look at all these yagyas all the 12 of them except the brahmarpanam the rest is karman brahmapnam also means that seeing brahman in all karma that is oh so don't feel that now krishna has given me a list of 12 differently against to do i have to do so many things do not at all don't worry about it some of us are already doing these things many of us do puja many of us do meditation most of us do meditation most of us give to those uh to available into good causes just make it into yakya make it as an offering to god all of us eat you can develop a practice of just mentally offering to god and whatever i eat is prasad whatever i drink is prasad these are small practices oh one more point i should make this is important from the advaithic perspective out of the 12 practices 11 are supporting eleven are foundational and the twelfth one the one of them is the ultimate which is the ultimate brahmar pranam ramahabi krishna will himself say that later on all the rest are preparatory all the rest purify body and mind he will say that just now they are they are important but they are preparatory and the whole purpose of all of this is brahma padam brahma moksha is the ultimate purpose but it seems there's also relative purposes yoga is skill in action correct one must go from bad karma to good karma to beyond karma so from going from bad karma to good karma that involves two things one is going from a dharma to dharma from unethical action to ethical action and then from ethical action to ethical action without desire nishkama karma and that is skill in action this is all knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind the infinite library of the universe is your mind so what knowledge do we get by studying the scriptures what am i missing so the scriptures awaken this knowledge in our mind ultimately all text books and what what can they do they they bring out the knowledge in our mind their only suggestions with without them we cannot because these are the instruments which help us to awaken that knowledge you know in this philosophy of education educational psychology so how do we learn and there are so many theories so the old theory was what is called the tabula rasa that the mind the infants the child's mind is blank and then the teacher pours knowledge into it so this is the old idea that's not true it's not that the child's mind is blank and the teacher has to fill it up with knowledge that's the way our schools and colleges were organized and it never works because every child reacts differently to the same teaching so a new approach is called constructivism constructivism is not from construction it's from construing construing means when we get an imp something from the world our mind takes that impulse from the world a text a teaching or something and then starts working on it and make something out of it with understanding not understanding misunderstanding something but our mind is called it is construed in the mind knowledge also if it comes it does not come from outside it is the mind rearranging itself you give a blow to the mind in the form of a book a diagram a teaching an aphorism something that the mind rearranges itself that rearranging is called construing and that's how knowledge comes punamji says are all the spiritual practices mentioned here essential for the seekers are these practices of purification oh we just answered this are these practices of purification of mind yes can we get liberation by the spiritual practices no only by brahma padam brahma that one the highest gayana yakin gloria says i recently met swami sridharaj from sydney where did you meet him gloria recently but uh are you in sydney i met him in adelaide i'm in adelaide you're in adelaide okay right i've just started it i've just bought a new building here they acquired a an anglican church and this mommy came from sydney when the um he was allowed to and uh opened the center the new centre in adelaide all right all right yes he's extraordinary there's no doubt about it uh i i was just speaking with swami chandrasekharan under today uh who was in australia several years ago now he's the head of our center in portland and we were actually talking about swami sridharanji and it's wonderful that you mentioned him in the evening class today he is 95 years old he is the head of our vedanta society in australia in sydney which already has so many branches like gloria says in adelaide in melbourne in brisbane when he went there to australia and sydney there was nothing there was no center it had not started yet he just went in a small rented apartment at the age of 80. and from that time till now it is the fastest expanding without society among our centers in the world extraordinary so imagine starting a career at 80. so so he's extraordinary full of grace full of sweetness he combines uh guyana he has studied under one of the most redoubtable scholars traditional pundits in lucknow ananda jaha he bought the pandit and kept him in the ashram with great respect and took care of him and in return the pundits taught him so he has learned he is fully established rigorously trained in the traditional shastras not only vedanta nyaya and other things also deeply devotional he has a very deep personal devotion to the holy mother he was personally trained by our swami viraja nandaji who is the president of the order and he was a sevaka swamijiri extraordinary karma yogi it just shows how he built this huge hospital in lucknow and now he has spread this these vedanta societies across australia this advanced age and a deep meditator so all the yogas there's a few extraordinary spiritual seekers like this who in whom all of these manifest now let me do number 30 verse number 30. pranam others again who regulate their food offer as a sacrifice the functions of the senses in the senses all these indeed are knowers of the sacrifices purified of their sins through sacrifices so the twelfth and the last one in the list of twelve different practices which are described by krishna as yagya remember original meaning of ritualistic vedic worship fire worship now he is transformed one of them is included the vedic fire worship is also one of the twelve but now he has reimagined all these all these different practices including the highest realization itself as yakya now control of food first of all actual food which we eat this is important actually i know i don't give much importance to it but it's actually it's for a spiritual seeker it is important a lot of energy is wasted in digesting food if you do not eat well and eat healthily what happens is lot of energy is wasted in that a lot of our vitality prana goes into that and the prana is continuously upset if you keep on pouring things into the body the prana gets activated again and again to digest that food and that upsets the pranas so there's a very i mean ayurveda experts and the hata yogis know these details i don't know the details the five pranas and there are five minor pranas also they're all together 10 actually so they have specific activities and the ayurveda practitioners they know this and how it becomes upset if we eat wrong eat too much eat at wrong hours all of these things so fixed eating should be fixed how much and when nothing in between nothing in between there are so many funny stories about a person who wanted to lose weight went to the doctor and the doctor said all right you need to go on a diet two chapatis two pieces of bread he came back after a month and he had put on even more weight what happened i followed your advice two chapatis he ate for breakfast and two chapatis after that and two chapatis for lunch and two chapatis after lunch and two japanese for tea and two japanese in the evening and two japanese two pieces of bread and dinner and post dinner two more so two japanese only so just i mean no not like that in america there's this snacking snacking is little bits of chocolate cookies here and there it's just there very delicious you put in the mouth but that disturbs the prana so this disturbed prana has to be calmed down and systematic systematized so that it becomes healthy that is called prana pranay sujukhati offering the prana in the prana it actually means revitalizing and balancing the pranas the ayurvedas expert practitioners are experts in this area how do you do that controlling the food controlling food means how much do i eat when do i eat how many meals and what do i eat how do i eat attentively restless so all of these in america i hear this stress eating i'm stress eating it's under a lot of tension the reaction to tension is eating but it harms the prana this is one this most important central and um all the five senses are also regarded as the as eating whatever is gathered from all sides all sides means through eyes ears smell taste touch that also one has to be careful about what it's like what are we pouring into the mind food is what we are pouring into the tummy and the five senses are bringing in things which are pouring into the mind if i put rubbish in into my tummy immediately tummy upset will be there similarly if i put rubbish in the mind mind is also very delicate it gets upset so not just physical food but also sensory food which i am dragging in from the world and putting into the mind this is also a yagya this is a good year i have seen monks who who end up eating maybe once a day who eat very little many different things i have seen so they regulate their food the idea in spiritual life ultimately is food is not the purpose of life we do not live to eat we eat to live you see that's a cliche yes i'm sorry it's a cliche but the thing is if you go out here in new york they call it a foodies heaven so endless and now because of the kovit they're in trouble many of the little restaurants but endless varieties of food from all over the world why because we want taste this kind of taste and that kind of it becomes a lifelong obsession a lifelong engagement it's a huge multi-billion dollar industry and what is the yogis approach to food food is medicine hunger is an illness it is cured by the medicine called food hunger and thirst illness food and drink medicine what a drab an exciting boring way of looking at food these are all experts in yakya so yagya does not only mean ritualistic fire worship yagya means all these spiritual practices by these practices means purified mind is purified when mind is purified the fitness for gyane gyana comes fitness for realization comes all right we can i just wanted to remind all of us that tomorrow swami satya mayanji who made himself so beloved to many of our devotees here in the vedanta society of new york he has kindly agreed to give a talk in our series of invited guest lecturers so that's set i think you have received the link so that's at 7 00 pm eastern time tomorrow eastern time 7 pm 7 to 8. the topic is very interesting like all his subjects hacking the code of life so we'll see we will make us into spiritual hackers tomorrow so i'll see you see you there it's 7 p.m all right thank you so much [Music] foreign