Video 65

65. Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 5 Verses 13-15 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] [Music] we are studying the fifth chapter of the bhagavad-gita and in this fifth chapter the subject was about spiritual practice and our choice of the way of life and what krishna has said so far is that whether you're going to be a monk or a householder you have a choice there but it is it is safer and better to be a householder if you are ready to be a monk you can be a monk but otherwise you can do it you can definitely realize god become enlightened even as a householder but what we have no choice over whether you are a monk or a householder no choice over spiritual practice that has to be gone through and that spiritual practice is threefold there is karma upasana gyana karma upasana karma yoga for purification of mind upasana or worship or meditation for concentration of mind and yana the way of knowledge for removing ignorance ignorance about our reality so advaita vedanta is unique in this way mishra the great comment subcommentator on shankara's writings about a thousand years ago was this buddhi mishra he writes in his commentary the brahmati he said see there are two kinds of achievement one is he says that means you go to another village i'm going from one village to another village you actually have to walk there you have to go to go through a certain process to get there you are not there yet you will get there but you have to put in the effort and the right kind of effort and then you get there the second kind of attainment he says is a necklace so there's a necklace which is around our own neck but we are searching here and there where is my necklace these days more than a necklace it might be where is the mask where did i drop my mask where did the mask go it's on your neck you have pulled it down and you've forgotten you're looking here and there so it's on your neck gullava it really means like a necklace but it can also stand for a mom for a mask also um so the mask which is there right here in our neck and we're looking here and there for my mask or in my pocket for my mask but it's right here now that attainment of that how do you get that mask not by doing anything by knowledge you never lost it it was always there the necklace which is on on our necks we have never lost it it's always there but somehow we are we suffer from the ignorance uh that we we come to the feeling that it's not there and then we look everywhere else for it the only way to attain that that so-called lost so-called lost necklace is by knowledge somebody must point it out there it is on your neck and you say oh so oh it is there you're right i had never lost it it was always there i was mistaken a mistake can be corrected not by work mistake has to be corrected by knowledge error has to be corrected by knowledge i am brahman you are brahman always where you are and you always will be choicelessly so it's just that we don't know it just that we somehow we are not aware of it the real solution is to become aware of what we truly are swamiji calls it our own divine nature once you are aware of that and that that is enlightenment and that attaining enlightenment is that second kind of attainment what was this mathematical it's not like going to a different village it's like finding the necklace which has always been there on our necks that's that's um spirituality according to advaitha why this is important to point out is just about in every other um path in every other teaching it's that other kind of attainment like going to the other village you do something and then you get something which you do not have and the advaita vedanta says that cannot be the nature of true spirituality all right but the doing something what is the position of that in advaita vedanta doing something is important it's important because it creates the conditions for enlightenment it creates the conditions for knowledge what are the conditions for enlightenment what are the conditions for knowledge with anta we all we know again and again we hear the first thing we hear when we start studying vedanta the fourfold qualifications among them also the most important if you say one thing it's the last one the intense desire to be free so ramakrishna says is that he calls it whether it's on the path of knowledge whether it's on the path of devotion one thing is this intense desire right now so why don't we have that intense desire see right now the problem is that intense desire is there but it is scattered in the world we have thrown it into the world and the desire the power of wanting it is scattered into the world as i want money and success and learning and achievement and health and husband wife children grandchildren friends or you know facebook friends likes all of these things i want a hundred different things in the world my my desire has been scattered into that that's why there's nothing left over for wanting that's why we don't feel the intense desire for god realization we are interested all of us are interested otherwise you wouldn't be here all of us are interested we want it but not so much not so intensely not so consistently and not so seriously that other things become unimportant so that is called vacuolator mumukram that is the one if you say one condition for enlightenment that's the one condition okay so sri krishna said to arjuna that spiritual practices must be done why this intense desire for realization for god realization this will come when that desire which has been scattered in the world then that is collected and directed towards god for that we have to work and that work is called karma yoga converting our activities into spiritual practice and at karma yoga krishna has pointed out it can be at various levels it can be at the physical level you can actually do a puja and worship god or you can even more not all and um one can and one should convert one's daily activities into a kind of puja a worship cooking talking cleaning driving you know working in your office all of that it can be converted into spiritual practice into into karma yoga so converting our daily activities so physically it can there's karma yoga verbally watching there's karma yoga at the verbal level you may be chanting the lord and lord's name you may be chanting hymns you may be reciting the gita all of that is the verbal level and at the mental level there is karma yoga that is called that's also the kind of karma yoga upasana means worship this is the second level of advaithic practice worship mental worship meditation um japa meditation job especially mental or meditation internally when you visualize the deity and meditate on god in some form that's also a practice that's also a kind of doing because you're doing it mentally all of this doing physically verbally mentally all of these creates the conditions for enlightenment conditions for enlightenment sounds very philosophical it simply means what sudama krishna says after some time what will happen is this whole project of god realization enlightenment this will become very serious we want that and that only and the issues in the world will become much smaller problems with people problems with finances problems in community problems of the body they're there but they are not overwhelming for us anymore now shri krishna says in the 12th verse we are doing the 12th verse i think to have 13th verse we are doing so 12th verse shri krishna says the person who practices karma yoga in this way what is karma yoga the doing remember what i said originally advaita vedanta is not about doing it is about knowing that like the necklace on your neck realize that you are the atman but to get there to get that kind of enlightenment the doing is important and the doing consists of various kinds of karma yoga and krishna says in the 12th verse the one who is doing karma yoga spiritual practice physically verbally mentally who is not pursuing the objects of desire in the world rather all the activities in the world have been converted into karma yoga that person first of all he says this discipline shantae map nothing nice to him we i talked about it last time five levels of peace five levels of peace of mind if you remember one is first of all by making our actions ethical most basic a clean life when you clean up our la of our life you get peace of mind second not only a clean life but also an unselfish life i don't want anything for this little body mind for this little personality karma yoga that's the second level you get a deeper peace third level at the level of so this this fifth the the first and second levels are external third level is internal not only am i leading an ethical life not only am i leading an unselfish life but internally my thoughts are about god not about the world i'm not thinking about people and events and problems in the world i'm occupied in thinking about my krishna my rama my kali my thoughts are about thoughts about god i'm um swami suhita nanduji who's the vice president of the order he told me once that one he was a sevak an attendant for swami premeshanandaji disciple of the holy mother masha radha so it was a suritanji was a young brahmacharya at that time and he used to serve swami pramishananda one day superman sanji was was ill lying in the bed one day swami sweetheart just you know at random without any warning just ask swami what are you thinking about just now right now and swami premier sanji said um in bengali sarubo who pervades the entire universe now see at random you ask somebody what do you think you're thinking about god that's a wonderful thing so yeah then what happens is third level of peace is that when the mind it dwells on god all the time you get an even deeper level of peace your peace becomes even deeper the fourth level of peace where you transcend the mind shut down the mind in samadhi yogic samadhi at least twice in a day you need the mind to work with the world but you don't need the mind all the time just as you don't need hands and legs all the time just because your hands and legs your legs do you keep running around do your hands do you keep grasping things and you have a mouth do you keep eating all the time no similarly you have a mind you don't keep thinking all the time you can shut down the mind most of the thoughts are useless anyway so you can shut down the mind at least a couple of times in a day in deep meditation you will get the deepest peace possible an unthinkable peace we do not know how much peace is possible in deep meditation and deep relaxation you get that peace so that is yogic meditation that takes uh quite a lot of practice over many years and you get very deep there's a fourth level of peace the fifth level will come the fifth level is the ultimate this is the peace of brahman itself which is peace itself and that will come now next but in contrast krsna says in contrast to this the person who does not practice karma yoga who is not worshipful who is not prayerful who does not meditate on god who keeps his or her mind constantly on the world and what what what is the motivation kamakaarena is propelled by desire propelled by temptation propelled by fear propelled by fear fear and temptation rule the lives acting out of anxiety or out of greed out of lust out of habit so if you act out of anxiety or you know anger greed it is rajisik acting simply out of habit that is thomasic but it is all propelled by desire so one who is propelled by desire and wants the results of the actions that person who is not practicing karma yoga you cannot stop action we cannot stop action at our level action will go on in the world you will have to do something to maintain the body and mind if you're married you have to maintain your family your you know your household status and so action will go on even if you are a monk sitting in a mountain cave in himalayas you have to go out and beg for food at least once in a day to go and take a dip in the ganga you have to sit for meditation some action you have to do anyway so action will go on now will i do that action will it be karma yoga or will it simply be karma the ones who do simply karma propelled by desire being at being tied to the results of action there they are caught in samsara they suffer those who do karma yoga they're freed from this they get peace of mind what kind of peace of mind the first level and second level first level and second third level also because bhakti will be included in all of this the third level also then number 13 let's do number 13 but the last level the highest level of peace now he's going to talk about that once one has these qualifications one is ready and one comes to advaita vedanta you do that other kind of spiritual practice where it is not doing something not like going to another village it's like recognizing that the necklace is on your neck it's recognizing that i am the atman then what happens that will be talked about from now on from 13th verse onwards he's going to talk about that um the path of knowledge [Music] [Music] the self-controlled embodied being renouncing all actions through his mind rest that is in the city of nine gates the body neither acting nor causing to act so what is being said here um by the path of knowledge okay let me just back up a little bit and explain what is meant here and then we will look at the verse itself so once i have got the requisite qualifications once my mind is sort of peaceful and under control and focused and then i study the upanishads the gita and the prakarana texts you know drink a realization what am i told you really do not know what you are your your real nature as the atman you do not know right now what we know ourselves to be this body mind what do we know ourselves to be i know myself to be i refers to body mind and the consciousness reflected in it so when i say i in the state of ignorance it basically refers to this body only and nothing else and the mind in that body mind means thoughts feelings the personality with the reflected consciousness it's like the eye at present just represents the pot the clay part the water in it and the little reflected sun in it and that's what the eye means clay part body the water in it the mind thoughts the personality i the person survivor and there's also the one technical point that advaita vedanta adds body mind everybody is aware advaita vedantas notice that you are aware this awareness is there that is a reflected awareness that is called and the deha style reflected consciousness this is the meaning of i for us now what vedanta does one once you come to vedanta the path of knowledge by various means drig drishya viveka the way of the seer and the scene panchakusha viveka by the way way of the five sheets of the human personality avast viveka by the analysis of the three states of waking dreaming and deep sleep whichever way one or more we suddenly realize or we are it's pointed out no the eye is not what you thought it was you thought that the eye was the pot water and the little reflected sun no the real eye is that one big sun high up in the sky you are not this little body you are not even this little mind with its thoughts feelings memories projects likes and dislikes no you are not even this little awareness in that body and mind rather you are this infinite awareness which is shining in and through this body and mind this is something you did not know till now until you came to vedanta and you are told that such a thing exists not only such a thing exists brahman one infinite existence consciousness it exists but you are that you are brahman the real meaning of i is not body-mind awareness reflected awareness real meaning of i is pure awareness unlimited awareness the real meaning of i is not stulla sharira sukhma shadhira karana sharira with chidavasa in sanskrit but it is brahman this difference it's like take the example of the movie example i like that example so there is a movie screen on the movie screen are projected pictures and the whole story goes on there there is uh there are there are the uh you know the heroes and the villains and the you know there are also plants and animals and there are there is the earth and the sky and a big drama sometimes a comedy sometimes a tragedy it's all going on but all that is really there is the movie screen i mean for the time being i'm ignoring the light and everything just the movies the physically what's that if you go and touch any person in the movie if you touch any place in the movie if you touch any animal plant whatever you touch underwater on the ground in space whatever is going on in the movie if you touch it you will touch only the same screen in everything there is only that same screen now what happens is what vedanta has told you is till now somehow the screen had forgotten itself and was identifying with one character in the movie that could be the hero or the villain or something was identifying with one character in the movie and you are now told i o um you know you're told that you are not this character you are the screen on which this character and every character and the whole movie is playing now this screen so what what difference does it make um in that case first of all i am not a physical entity second is i am not a mental entity i am consciousness then the characteristics of the physical entity that it is born i am not born with the birth of the physical body does the screen come into existence when the hero is born in the movie not at all i do not age with the aging of the uh body does the screen get older as the characters in the movie get older you know years have passed in the movie everybody is much older has the screen also become older not at all so i do not age with the aging of the the body i am not diseased with the if the person in the movie is suffering from a fatal illness and lying in a hospital is the screen suffering from the fatal illness not at all i am not affected by the disease of the body and i'm not affected by the death of the body suppose it's a tragedy and the character in the movie dies and you're all beeping but is the screen dead of course not it cannot die it cannot be bond it cannot age it cannot be diseased it cannot die you cannot be born you cannot age you cannot be diseased you cannot die recently somebody was saying that yes swami we know i mean i'm suffering from this illness that illness but we know we have to die i said look a couple had come husband wife i said look uh we it is true we are all going to die and they looked a little shocked they're all going to die it is true but it is even more true that we are not going to die none of us are going to die we are immortal this whole fear that i'm going to die and it's so terrible and so scary not at all it's nothing how is it so terrible if you have done something a thousand times in the past ten thousand times why is it so terrible you have plenty of practice in birth and death in old age and disease and and yet he'll say none of it was there the screen is not at all affected similarly with the personality of the characters in the movie someone is very happy by by personality someone is depressed someone is unhappy someone is angry someone is you know all sorts of personalities are shown on the screen we get happy or angry or depressed not at all similarly you the infinite immortal awareness you are not affected by the ups and downs of the mind so bill is saying different kind of birth control very interesting swami yogesh anandaji he wrote this book six lighted windows so at that time in that book there's a chapter on swami madhavan on the g so at that time madawanji had come to the united states for an operation he was the president of the order at that time 1960s i think and swami yogesh ranji was like like a nurse who took care of uh before he became a monkey he took care of sway motherhood of physiotherapy and all one day a group of devotees at that time birth control i was a newish big big issue so that some of the devotees were discussing this they thought that swami will not be interested well is this right is this wrong is it good or bad devotees were discussing to their surprise the swami said from a distance they said i am all for it this is who swami you you have a position on this you you have some thing to say he said yes no birth no death so the birth control is what he meant was by enlightenment you realize what you realize is not that the screen was ever born or is ever going to die it is something that cannot be born how can consciousness be born how can the sun in the sky actually physically enter into a pot or water impossible it can be reflected there but you can't actually do that you are not affected by the ups and downs of the body or the mind also the screen is not affected by anything that happens to the character good or bad not only that even after all the characters are dead screen continues to exist so we are not born with the birth of the body and we survive the death of the body not only that it is the same screen behind all the characters in ignorance the screen thought i am this character but after becoming enlightened the screen enlightened screen says i am all characters or rather all characters depend on me they are nothing other than me the one i liked i am that person my most beloved person i am that person and i will never be separated we all feel that father mother husband wife children we will we don't want to be separated and when we feel sad when somebody below it dies vedanta tells you that you will never be separated you're actually one with them all the time so we are one with all of these characters but the condition is the character you don't like that annoying person that miserable neighbor or whoever it is you are also one with that that person is also you no enemies are possible who is the friend and who is the enemy when um both are but one swine vivekanan praiser praise blamer blamed are but one one you are the same reality so this is the second thing you are free of body and mind first thing second thing is you are one everything that happens in the universe is nothing but you very great thing and the whole universe depends on you it is an appearance in you it's a movie playing on you the screen you don't depend on it you can exist without the movie you the screen can exist without the movie the movie cannot exist without you every bit of the movie is you but you are free of the movie any kind of movie can be played or no movie can be played similarly on you the consciousness the movie of this world is being played sometimes a comedy sometimes a tragedy and sometimes no movie the universe is dissolved you continue to exist so this is the meaning of okay all very good and this is something that krishna assumes because he has already taught this in second chapter now what about our original question about action till now all activities had to be done in the spirit of karma yoga but now when you realize you are the screen what is the status of action you realize that the screen itself is beyond all actions even while all action is going on in the movie the hero is doing heroic things the villain is doing villainous things screen is not doing anything at all not only not doing it cannot do anything in the movie car is going on can the screen drive no but depending on the screen the hero is driving the car the character is driving the car so the body and the mind depending on you the consciousness performs all activities in the world you are the body mind the one who is doing the activity you are the benefit the person who is benefiting from the activity you are the objects which are being used in the activity suppose you are serving food to somebody you are this body and mind this body and mind is nothing apart from you the food itself is nothing apart from you the person who's eating is also nothing apart from you the instruments with which you are serving is nothing apart from you brahma pranam brahma have chant this is the meaning so what is the status of action now what is the status of action earlier i am this body and mind if i want to be spiritual i must convert my karma into karma yoga that was my that was the earlier understanding of action now the understanding of action becomes i am the screen all the activities in this movie are i have nothing to do with it but they take place only because i am there i lend them in vedanta existence and awareness nothing exists without me no movie can play without the screen and i also illumine everything happening in the movie i loom in everything going on in life i give existence and consciousness but i'm not actually doing anything i cannot consciousness cannot do anything in that sense it's through the body and mind action goes on at the level of the movie that action goes on also one more thing i forgot to mention screen real movie false movies is an appearance brahma satyam jagat mithya if you say ambra mahasami aham saktyam ahmeen i am brahman i is the reality and the world is an appearance i the screen and the reality the world the movies and appearances i forgot to mention that and who am i the character in the movie i am none the character in the movie is none other than the screen jeeva brahma evan opera or in the pot and water example till now i thought i am the pot and the water and the reflected little sun that was the meaning of i now the meaning of i is i am not the pot i am not the water i'm not even that reflected little sun i'm not mind i'm not intellect i'm not memory i'm not even the ego then i'm of the nature of pure consciousness pure existence i am that huge blazing sun in the sky this is the change which has now come so what will happen now all activities will continue but it's no longer that i am doing all the activities as spiritual practices cut my yoga no body and mind is acting at the level of samsara at the level of the movie i am the existence consciousness i am the witness consciousness i give all this existence i i am the unaffected witness of all of it action is going on body and mind could be acting body and mind may not be acting and whatever it might be meditating it might be a monk it might be a householder whatever it is i am the background reality of not only this one body and mind of all bodies and minds this will be the idea in whom not in brahman itself in that particular body mind now that enlightened one that that gyani now that gyani will now think like this the whole perspective will be changed now with this background we will see all of this necessary to understand this one little verse now what happens sarva karmani manasa sanyasya giving up all activities by mind mana by the mind by the mind here means by the understanding giving up all activities that means see what it means here is giving up activities by understanding means what at first i thought i am the one driving the car then i realized no no i am this person and the car are all part of the movie i am the screen i am not driving a car the character in the movie which is appearing in me is driving a car the car is in the movie the character is the movie and the driving is also in the movie but the whole movie is appearing in me the consciousness and the scream sorry i'm mixing up the whole world is appearing in me the consciousness body and mind are appearing in me the consciousness body and mind are acting in the world yes that is going on but i am not acting this understanding is called sarva-karmani by understanding by the mind by the enlightened mind you are giving up all activities this is the giving up of activities not actually physically stopping the activities if you tell the character in the movie you are not a real person you it's a movie you are the screen stop driving the car no that's silly at the level of the movie let it go on let the driver drive the car but the screen is not driving a car there is no car there's no driver there is no driving going on it's just a screen just light and pictures similarly so sarva kharmani manassas physical activity mental activity verbal activity you are giving it up giving it up by what by the knowledge i am the pure consciousness ever free from action this is the knowledge but body will go on acting words tongue will talk mind will meditate on god this will go on no problem at all movie can go on just because you realize screen is reality do you do you have to switch up the movie not at all you can now enjoy the movie even better then what will happen sannyasia by by this kind of understanding of action new understanding of action has come [Music] lives happily relaxes he finds great peace what peace fifth level of peace fifth level of peace the ultimate peace where is important navadvare puri deihi naiva kulvan nakarayan where where is this enlightened person in this body and mind navadware de pura means the city is a city and the city has nine gates what is that city the body what are the nine gates the sense organs and the organs of actions you count you'll find nine so nine gates by which we interact with the world so this city of nine gates it's a poetic way of referring to the body in this body itself you are there of course it's a different matter that the body is a is an appearance in consciousness but still in this body where is the screen in the movie where is the screen i can see the hero driving the car where is the screen you're telling me that there's a reality called screen right there in that hero the screen is there so in this body and mind you are there in the in the city of the nine gates the atman you the consciousness are there how are you there sukham nasty relaxed happy let the body and mind do its thing let the little person do its duties in the world perfectly happily i am relaxed this is a great point to be understood advaita vedanta does not ask you to stop activities advaita vedanta does not even ask you to give up um samsaric life and go away in mountain and sit in meditation not even that swami vikanth put it very beautifully he said he who runs away from life to meditate and die in a himalayan cave see this was very powerful for me because i was doing that and i read it at that time it really struck me like a thunderbolt he who runs away from life to meditate and die in a himalayan cave has missed the has missed the way and he who he says he who plunges head long into the vanities and the luxuries and vanities and foolishnesses of life he has missed the way too that's very interesting either you run away from life or you plunge into life then which is which is the third way he says there's a third way the way is then what is the way the way is to see god wherever you are with whatever with whomever you are in whatever you are doing it is to demonize life itself somebody tells you these ornaments are not the reality gold is the reality find the gold if i throw away the ornaments and start looking for gold i'll never find it that's the fool who ran away to the mountain i'm talking about myself only and the one who thought this necklace is gold he or she is not wrong but he has mistaken the necklace to be the gold what is what's the harm in it the harm is the moment the necklace is melted and converted into a bangle or into a necklace into a ring uh sorrow oh gold is gone gold is not gone the reality is they're in another form now but you're crying because you are attached to that particular form i wanted it in that form that is the reality the form is not the reality the reality is the gold that is the one who has foolishly plunged into the vanities of life you plunge to the vanities of life you will have clear rag advaitia i want it in this form i don't like it in that form you're in for trouble but the one who demonizes life itself who sees everything in the movie is nothing but the scream who sees brahmar pranam mahavi in all activities sees brahman alone that person sukham nasty relaxes and is most happy in the midst of life itself i like repeating this one line i actually read knowledge is not for wipe switching up the movie that the reality is the screen that knowledge does not mean you have to switch off the movement and it's not demanding that you switch up the movie rather it makes you niraba this means it makes you limitless in the activities of the world limitless means now you are no longer limited to one little personality you realize you are the reality of this entire world appearance you are limitless limitless in the sense in waking you are there in dream you are there in deep sleep you are there if the world is there and people are around you it's all going very well wonderful you are there same reality if the world is in trouble and coronavirus and everything locked down shut down you are the same thing same reality you are not at all phased by this you the innermost reality so uh this is uh this is called nirvana limitless in action you can be in the midst of intense activity and you know that you are brahmana you cannot be in the midst of intense peace in an ashram or in in a mountain cave same brahman so this is possible in advaita vedanta this is what he is saying um happily sign of enlightenment no grumbling health problem relatives problem climate problem job problem money problem these are there yes but these are there at the level of the movie not at the level of the screen i am the screen if you understand advaita vedanti you will see it's just a matter of fact what that i am the screen i am the background reality it's just a statement of fact it's just a matter of owning up to the fact that i am brahmana this brahman is free of problems but i have got many problems you are brahman but there is there are these problems the family there are problems in money and there's this problem in my job how can i am brahman and the next moment i have a family brahman has a family a job and money so that's not possible you're mixing up these two levels of the i when you say i have money problems health problems relationship problems then i am this part with the water and the reflected little sunlight in it then there is a big pot next to me who i'm jealous of there's a little pot next to me who i'm contempt yourself and so on there's another part which is new and i'm envious of that and all of these problems are there because i am identifying with the pot um enlightened person if you ask enlightened person what is the happiest time of your life good test what is the happiest time of your life enlightened person will say now which is the best place you have stayed in the enlightened person will say here because brahman is here brahman is now i am perfectly all right you know sadam krishnandiji so sister deva mata when she heard about all the troubles that swami ramakrishnan had gone through in his life and she writes i felt indignant why should god subject such a saintly person to so much trials and tribulations and when i expressed this to the swami he looked surprised and he said oh but this my true life is infinite this little life belongs to the lord let him play with it as he wishes [Music] so that thing there's so many such lives have come so many movie shows have happened every day the same show is repeated why should i be worried about the the tragedy in the movie and weep at it do i have to weep on every show of the movie not at all i am the screen all right so sukham maste most happily in the midst of active life you you are there in the middle of the nine gated city the body and what does it do nothing what do you brahman do in in the middle of that city nothing naiva kurwan nakarayam yes but you are making the body and mind active not all also not true is the screen making the villain do bad things and making the hero do good things the screen is not doing anything so body and mind they act according to their samskaras according to maya but you as brahman you are not doing anything at all this is the meaning then you get the fifth level of peace i am brahmana then let's do two more verses which are just complementary to each other that means um you are as brahman not the karta the doer of deeds and if you are not the doer of deeds you cannot be the bhokta the enjoyer or the sufferer of the results of the deeds repeat gatta bhokta means katta means the agent of actions bhokta means the experiencer of the results of actions katha is the doer of karma agent bhokta is the experiencer of karma fallout please pleasure or pain you are you the consciousness you are neither you are neither you are the witness of this whole game uh 14 and 15 nakatritom [Music] the lord creates for this world neither agency nor actions nor union with the fruit of action but nature acts here in place of lord lord means brahman consciousness my nature my real nature there is no agent ship there the screen in the movie does not is not the doer of heroic deeds not the doer of willian his deeds nakarmani not even the actions not the doer of the actions is not even the actions themselves are there really heroic deeds going on are there really villainous deeds going on in the movie yes but in the absolute sense no lokas of the world of the universe srijathi means creates or projects prabhu here means um i mean devotional sense it means god but in this advaithic sense in which we are taking it it means your reality such down in the brahma no karma fellas nor does it bring the results of action to you to the to the doer because you are not the doer then why is all this happening if the screen is not doing anything then why is why are so many movies playing swap its very nature all these things are happening by very nature means by maya advaita vedanta is very simple any difficult question you ask they will either go to brahman or maya why does anything exist because of brahman brahmani's existence why are we experiencing all this experiencing means consciousness brahman is consciousness but why is there so much good and bad suffering the up and down so many problems are going on oh that is maya all the trouble we put it on maya and all the reality and good things we put it on good and bad both are maya and the reality of this whole thing is brahman and you are brahmana then next [Music] this consciousness it does not accept um it does not suffer from the results of papa this is bad activities billionaires activities nor does it enjoy the results of good karma vibhu the all-pervading the screen is the all-pervading because it pervades the entire movie and every movie and the absence of movies consciousness is all pervading because it pervades the entire universe and the absence of the universe also that consciousness is not a bhokta it is not the enjoyer or sufferer of good and bad deeds then why does all this seem to be happening because of ignorance and this this reality is hidden from us and therefore we become jantu the sanskrit what jantu means animals we become animals we the pure consciousness we are jantu now we are animals we are we are muslim we are deluded we think we are a character in our own movie and then we go through these endless cycles of ups and downs and endless movie shows the world will go on all you need to do is break through this ignorance and realize your nature as the reality behind this world once you do that there's no problem anyway and you can help others also you can help others in all sorts of ways material ways and especially spiritually okay let me quickly see what are these what is the questions on activities in the chat um alpana chatterjee says given that karnashara is avidya does it mean it's primarily made of tamas but then will it not reflect it will not reflect consciousness so it's primarily sattva like antakaran so the karna shader is all three sattva rajas and tamas because karna sharia is the causal body it is a part of maya and maya basically is made of all three constituents and thomas none of them are the reality but the satwika part of it when when it is when its product the product of the causal body which is the subtle body when it is primarily satwika it's purified and how is it purified by what was said earlier by karma yoga then this enlightenment becomes possible but all three are there saturations all are there sriram krishna put it very nicely in his really cute story the man who was going through a forest and he was attacked by three robbers and one robber uh wanted to beat him up and kill him the other robber said let's not kill him let's just steal whatever he has and tie him to this tree and the third robber took pity upon him and untied him and took him to the road which will lead to his city and said you take this road you'll go to your city and you'll be safe this man was so uh grateful to the third robber robert today would say stockholm's in syndrome you know so he was so grateful to this third robber he said why don't you come with me to the to my home you have saved me the third robber said look i am a robber too where you are going i cannot go so this is the story the first robber was tamas who will destroy us basically destroy us means trap us forever in samsara the second robber is rajas which is makes us pray to desire and ambition and anger and greed and all of that binds us in samsara and the third robber is sattva who frees us from samsara who shows us the way to enlightenment the your reality but that reality is beyond the third robber also that reality is us our reality the city is brahman so it's a very beautiful example krishnamurti bill's comment i have already mentioned vishwanathan says the example of many parts with reflected sun is wonderful adi shankaracharya in basham and vishnu as one of the thousand names as the one who's reflected in many parts of water yes consciousness is you can think of it as sun but uh always be careful the i mean advaita vedanta depends heavily on these examples on these analogies but uh you require a good teacher who will point out how to use those analogies you can misunderstand also no analogy is perfect the sun in the sky and parts of water so pot water there are many in number and the sun is very far away and obviously sun and the pot are different but brahman and this world and body and mind are not different so that that part will not apply prabhupada says we do have choice of what work we do what determines the choice many things there you have a certain amount of free will but you also have a lot of prarabdha karma so depending on on one's proud karma our parents our body our capacities in this life and the major events of our life will will come to us including work profession all those things will come um bills is in the screen example the screen does not seem blissful well you will be a very blissful screen if you realize you are free of the movie who is blissful the one who watches the movie is blissful so here you are the screen on which the movie is playing and you will be blissful because you can see so many movies in yourself and you'll be blissful regardless of comedies and tragedies because you are free of it the aesthetic exam enjoyment depends on your being free of danger of the trouble shown in the movie or in the painting or whatever it is then only you can enjoy it in vedantic sense it is the very limitlessness of the screen which is which makes it blissful that which is the infinite that alone is happiness there is no true happiness in the limited so what is limited everything in the movie is limited every character is limited because every character is different from every other character every character has a limited span of existence every character occupies only a small part of the fictional space of the movie so the characters in the movie are all limited but what is unlimited in the movie the screen on which the movie is playing in what sense unlimited everywhere in the movie the screen is there in every character that screen is there in every activity that screen is there in every object that screen is there and when the movie does not play and the movie is over the screen is there so the screen is unlimited and that unlimited nature is bliss itself upanishad says that our unlimited nature is bliss um john herr says so is it correct to say for enlightened person living in the present living in the presence is a kind of um it's a very popular kind of slogan with these days you have to stay in the present not in that sense i i know why you said it because i said what is the happiest time of your life now it's not just because it's the present the happiest time of my life is now because brahmana is here now when is brahman not all the time all the time brahman is there it's it's not that there's no time when brahman is not there but right now right here is where i find government so it's the best time in that sense it's happy it's not in the sense of i'm trying to live in the present in fact that's the value of the present value of the present is that the presence of brahman is there that's why it's present anurag says is there a way to realize our nature without bringing in maya without bringing my another you want to clarify on the question um from your sunday speech you were saying that gorapada did not say anything about maya he said you know he didn't bring the maya um i mean like any advaitan he does accept the theory of maya but he says you need not even bring it in you can just say it's the very nature of the tudya to shine forth in this way so if you say there's a very nature of um of the screen to shine forth in these movies why i brought in maya was when he said the word subhava it means the the the swab each of us has a swab and each of us has a swarupa let me translate that into english swarupa means our real nature our real nature is what brahman existence consciousness plays you are one with god that's your real nature your real identity is that you are one with god your real identity is your absolute existence consciousness place but there is a layer what is that layer swab however which is your nature your real identity the real you and your nature the nature keeps changing that nature resides in the body-mind in the causal body in the seed form and then it manifests in your mind and in your physical body so it's like light the same light when it comes in through the stained glass window from the inside you will see various colors of light beams of light coming in blue and red and yellow now it's not that the light is different it's just that it has been filtered through the different kinds of glass similarly same consciousness now shining through the conditionings of the mind the subtle body which it has picked up through many lifetimes that becomes the swab however and that swabha accounts for the various kinds of actions that all of us perform we are all one consciousness sometimes you know a question is asking those who first listen to advaita for the first time say oh then if everybody is god then why are some people good some people bad see here's the difference between swarupa and subhaba real nature of everybody good and bad of all the heroes and villains in the movie the real nature is the scream of all everybody in this universe the real nature is brahman and this little uh debate with i still remember a student very smart young student at harvard i said i don't like this the advaithic approach is hitler and mother teresa the same how can it be so so we have made up our mind hitler is the embodiment of evil mother teresa is the embodiment of saintliness i said when hitler and mother teresa when they were little kids babies was hitler an evil baby and mother teresa was a saintly baby maybe not so much you cannot make out every day when hitler and mother teresa go to sleep deep sleep the deep sleep hitler what remains there the absolute blankness is it an evil deep sleep and it's a saintly deep sleep no so where is the evil and i'm not denying look i'm not denying the evil and i'm not denying the saintliness but where is the saintliness where is the evil swabhava own nature and it's in the mind it's in the personality that brings me to the second question that at the end of the speech that sunday you said that your uh one of the uttarakhand um swami teach taught you that whatever is not in your deep sleep it's really not there yes that i think that is a very profound teaching yes that's a very god upon the kind of teaching very radical extreme kind of teaching yes think about it in the terms of the movie and screen example when you switch off the movie when you switch up the movie only screen is there then i say whatever is not there now is not there when the movie is also playing when you switch on the movie you will find people and animals and cars and places and activities good and bad but none of them were there in when the movie was switched off only screen was there so they are not there now also isn't it true when the movie is playing there are people activities and good and bad things happening it can reduce you to tears it can make you happy and laugh in comedy but the fact is when that movie was switched up none of them were there even now when the movie is happening and having an effect on you none of them are there actually similarly what was there when the movie was switched off screen what is there now screen of course for the example i'm just avoid i'm just you know not bringing in other elements like there must be a projector there must be all of that um so swabhava belongs to maya this swabhava it resides in a seed farm and recites him that's why i bought in maya so obama was to provoke because of that um then abhijit is asking verse 13 and the explanation reminded me of your lecture yes very beautiful verse one verse the first chapter of ashtavakrav verse number four um if you can see yourself apart from the body physical body mental body causal body and rest in consciousness relax into consciousness step back from the body and step back in quotes relax into consciousness from that perspective he says you will attain permanent happiness now shanto you will go beyond all sorrows right now when right now right now adonai eva right now in this way by that one step alone and freedom from bondage attainment of moksha liberation all of that is possible bandha moksha bhavi so you'll be free of all bondage of samsara by what just that one little step step away from body into consciousness relax chiti very beautifully i forget who said it somebody asked this master or one of the senior monks what is the atman like he said it's like your favorite pillow at the end of a hard day when you relax back into your pillow and say ah the atman is like that she is definitely into ashtavakra vishwamiya consciousness brahman is your pillow you relax back into that i mean it's a way of speaking i'm not saying that you are brahman is like a bed or a pillow and you are somebody who sleeps on that bed you are brahmana um relax back another thing i just remembered by this once we asked swami ranganathan energy uh about the atman that how do you experience where how and he tried to explain i still the the the image is very clear in in my memory he's sitting there he would always sit straightened and he said it is simple it is here he seemed to do like this it's right here and behind him i could see only the wall of course and i didn't know where where is the atman right here means sort of underlying body and mind are the reality of this body and mind it's like the screen sort of being right behind the movie it's not really behind the movie it is underlying the movie everything in the movie is the screen then will the movie is necessary for us our rama is saying subhaba in verse 14 reminds me of god upon explaining creation so how yes that's what anuradha also was referring to it's a brahman devastatious it's the very nature of the shining one to shine forth so you dispense with maya just say is the nature of the screen to shine forth as a movie that's why there are movies the thing is we will ask questions like why why does this person suffer why does this person do good why does this person do bad if you want so much detailed explanation then you have to bring in a director you have to bring in the plot of the movie the scriptwriter hollywood everything has to be bought and then so maya has to come in there but if you are not interested just why is it appearing at all it's a movie screen movies will appear on the screen that's it um then bill is saying the movie is necessary in order for us to attain enlightenment this is what nagarjuna said nearly two thousand years ago nineteen hundred years ago writing in the moon he said there are two truths the buddha has spoken on two truths the two truths have been taught by the buddha the the truth the absolute truth and the relative truth and then he said without taking the help of the relative truth nobody goes to the absolute truth very interesting and that you can see the secret of that idea of two levels of reality how i'm still using it 2000 years later to explain these verses what it means is movie is important for us to gain enlightenment very good okay uh i think dimitri's hand is up limitry you're on uh good evening sanji uh it's uh we discussed this question previously but i'm still trying to kind of uh connect it all uh the connection between the enlightenment and power and i understand that being enlightened you are beyond power you don't really need power but does it really also mean that you there is a this capability of absolute free will and ability to enact it it's more of a theoretical question right now like let's say like the state of the brahman it is beyond the need of the power i understand that uh side of things but does it also mean that in a state like the state of the brahman means that at any given moment if brahman wills it will create a new samsara and everything else yes um that is true in say for example kashmiri shaivism not in advaita vedanta in advaita vedanta immediately see advaita vedanta is very monomaniacal that way they are entirely fixated on reality if you say brahman is entirely free to create a new samsara advaita vedanta will say has even a single samsara been created has brahman been able to create a single samsara even now no nothing in the movie is real it's just the screen all the time has any free will been exercised has anything been accomplished in reality and the advaitan will say no and thank god if it had been accomplished in reality if brahman had created a samsara really really speaking we would be in really serious trouble right but in this case like creating an illusion yeah so so that's from an advertising perspective but what you are saying is almost literally true in the kashmiri shiva perspective in kashmir perspective uh the ultimate reality shiva has unlimited powers of knowledge a will and action ganay chakriya so it is always omniscient the shiva nature is that it knows everything and it has power of will it's absolute freedom of bill swatan absolute freedom is enjoyed at the highest level uh and it's freedom of will actually and action we have very limited power of action we have very ineffective wills and we don't know very little at our level at the jiva level at the shiva level we ourselves we are ourselves shiva at the shiva level these powers will become infinite what you are saying is they they take it seriously so the kashmiri sheikh was rick i don't know if he's here he had written to me about this that how about taking will and action and power and knowledge seriously if you take it seriously you get kashmiri shaivism these are real powers of a real god just as if i am real then my power of action a power of knowing power of willing they are as real as i am so if at the level of shiva these powers should be as real as shiva then if she was infinite these powers also must be infinite so yes there is absolute freedom of will at the shiva level kashmir shaivism what would advaita say to that advaita would say to that it is not freedom of will there is um and according to advaita vedanta and swami vivekananda's words freedom of will is an oxymoron it's a contradiction in terms if there is will it it's within causation it's within maya and there's no freedom there really ultimately it may seem free it's but it's illusory and when what is possible you can go beyond maya and you attain freedom but not freedom of will there is freedom from causation freedom from causality where is power power and causality are the same thing it is the because the power lies in the cause and it's exercised in the effect cause becoming the effect or cause giving rise to something that is power and the more you understand it the more you know how to work the machine of maya the more power you can deploy that's what we have been doing um you know in one of the puranas is predicted in the future will come the age of the they call it the age of the great machines the age of mighty machines will come when people will understand the workings of this universe and i can only think that they were talking about us and maybe centuries to come where things like ai and you know the subtler machines which are being developed it's just power it's a kind of power but it's all within causality if you go beyond causality you're going beyond power beyond power does not mean power less it means you can say it's infinite when it becomes infinite you can't really call it power anymore it's just the reality that it that is and then does it mean that it just exists right now right here and um both illusion and non-illusion like what exists the reality yes the reality is it exists right now and the illusion okay that's what it is like what whatever we see right now that we experience right now it is that yet it is an illusion and there is nothing else uh no it is the uh screen and the movie together our only problem is we are unable to distinguish between the screen and the movie the screen is real the movie is an appearance because we cannot distinguish the two what happens is the movie seems real now i'll repeat that screen is real movies and appearance brahman is real samsara is an appearance but if you are unable to distinguish the two the movie will suddenly look very real and that's the problem so we have partial knowledge we have enough knowledge to see the movie we are able to see hear smell taste touch think act and experience these bodies and minds so that's all part of the movie what is in and through all of this is an absolute reality which we are not uh we are unable to see or see means discern and that's our real nature when you see that then the movie doesn't is no longer an illusion or is no longer a problem it's the glory of you know the movie is glorious movie is fun you can give it an oscar but only when you know it's a movie otherwise it's a huge problem yes so the the one that's like i still cannot quite grasp with this movement like the beginning of the movie the creation of the movie like i understand the the kind of thing yeah so it goes back to the whole thing why does the one become the many the question of why am i not people it seems like that it means that like since there is a the cause and effect within the samsara it means that the cause at some point decided to do something right but your the crucial thing you said was within samsara yes vision yes yes and the cause and effect because does something and the effect is produced and all of that is within samsara and the reality which advaita speaks of is not within samsara it's not within this chain of cause and effect at all so courtesy of my lecture on maya if you look at that again this has been talked about and we have discussed that why maya basically you're asking why maya you're asking why causation at all and what's the problem with that question these things we have discussed there all right on that very abstract note we'll bring it to an end now [Music] foreign