Video 66

66. Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 5 Verses 16-17 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] guru so in the fifth chapter we were on verse number um 15 yes that's where we had stopped last time [Music] again the omnipresent lord does not accept the sin or virtue of anybody knowledge is enveloped by ignorance because of this beings get deluded so what is going on now is the teaching of ghana yoga the highest teaching the ultimate purpose the ultimate point of advaita vedanta it's good to understand vedanta in this way in two stages first starting where we are we think of ourselves as this individual this body mind if you ask what are you our our instinctive answer is this and if you're asked describe it what do you what do you mean by this this body and yes life and yes mind and personality my personal history my awareness certainly my awareness so the the i usually for us it refers to body mind plus the awareness there so basically it refers to the the gross body the subtle body the causal body and the reflected consciousness so technically before we are enlightened the i when i say i it straight away points to physical body subtle body causal body and the consciousness reflected there which is called the chidava as a reflected consciousness the original consciousness with the pure consciousness the atman what advaita wants to teach us is there is right there but we don't mean that when we say i because we don't know it we don't feel it that way so that's the that's where we start so vedanta starts there you think of yourself as this person who's seeking enlightenment very good then you need to go through certain preparations for enlightenment and those preparations are what has been described earlier as karma yoga karma yoga bhakti yoga dhyani yoga and the the conversion of all our activities into the worship of god that is karma yoga without pursuing selfish goals there then devotion to god it could be ritualistic it could be you know through hymns and songs so devotion bhakti yoga and concentration and meditation on the forms of god on the mantra all of that we do and our idea that and the body mind is not disturbed there it's this is you all right hold on to that but now try to become a spiritual seeker sadhaka a spiritual practitioner and all these practitioner practices are recommended then what happens is uh through part of those practices are shravana mananana nation the systematic literally means hearing systematically studying advaita vedanta the upanishads and all these texts the gita and all the others rig rishabhi ve kind of production as we systematically study it our understanding of what i mean by i is questioned is brought into question is analyzed and we are shown repeatedly in different ways in different texts that you cannot be this body that you cannot be the stream of um thoughts called the mind you cannot be even the intellect uh or even the blankness which is beyond the intellect of the the causal body none of these because these are all revealed to you the consciousness so you must be the consciousness which uh shines upon and reveals this body mind system so you are this background awareness this pure consciousness which transcends the body mind and acts in and through it and shines in and through it and enables the body mind to act to carry on its activities so what happens is in our study of advaita vedanta there is uh it's expected there'll be a profound shift in the meaning of i there will be a profound shift it has to come it's being that is being taught and hammered again and again what you take to be the eye body mind intellect reflected consciousness that is not the actual eye there is something which transcends all of these it transcends the three bodies so what are the three bodies now physical body subtle body grow and causal body it transcends the five koshers the five sheets the food sheet the vital sheath the mental sheet the intellect sheath and the causal or the or the bliss sheath the five sheets it transcends that what do i mean by transcends by transcends i mean it is none of these it's not a not one of these bodies not one of these sheets and yet it is in and through all of these it's right there it's not something separate also that here are the five sheets here are the three bodies and there is one thing called the atman somewhere over there no it's right there just like gold is right there in the ornaments and yet gold transcends the ornaments in the sense that gold is not limited to being a necklace or a bracelet or a ring or something so you the the real self the existence consciousness please we discovered it and this is a breakthrough first we understand it by our study like we are trying to do now then we get clarity about it we deal with all the doubts as they come up that is the stage of or of reasoning and you know questioning and getting clarity every question is answered to our satisfaction when we think deeply about it we get clarity about it we get conviction about it even that's not enough then there's an actual moment of a breakthrough we see that oh it is so we discover then there's a profound shift in the reference of the eye the i was directly referring to this body-mind intellect earlier now it does not refer to that it refers to something beyond that which which is very clear to us now so that is now revealed to us that i am brahman i'm the nature of now it makes sense to me it's not just something that i sing that i am shiva i am of the nature of consciousness and bliss it makes sense to me it's clear now so then i noticed certain things that if i am this consciousness and i'm not the body though remember the body mind uh they're not entirely separate the two are related related in the sense that the body mind intellect all of that the five koshers the three bodies they all depend upon consciousness for illumination they all depend upon the atman for existence the atman gives them then in sanskrit it says hindi also this is existence means illumination revelation so you um lend existence to the body-mind intellect and you lend illumination to the body-mind intellect so this consciousness is not the body since it's not the body it disease is of the body not yours you realize that old age aging is of the body not yours death death is of the body not yours death will be there but you will not die and you realize it it's not a not a slogan anymore not a promise anymore it becomes obvious it's true then further because it's not the mind not the prana also the vital she's hunger and thirst and illness and energy and all of that that belongs to the pranamaya question the vital sheet consciousness is not affected by those it illumines it reveals all of that mind ups and downs of the mind you know enthusiasm and boredom and depression and elation all the ups and downs of the mind are not your ups and downs that you realize because you are not the mind also this becomes clear so this consciousness apart from body mind immediately you notice it it solves all the problems of samsara at least for you it solves the problems of samsara old age disease death suffering you realize none of that applies to any you anymore but that's not the end of it it goes further you begin to think are there many such consciousnesses immortal consciousness in all beings and vedanta reveals to you the consciousness in all of these beings is the same i am shining through all of these bodies and minds here in this body and mind i shine through and i call it sarva-priyananda but in all those bodies and minds it's literally that one consciousness and i am that consciousness which is shining through all of them krishna says shaytard imam with the consciousness in all fields so so that one consciousness is not only beyond body and mind enabling the body and mind but not affected by the ups and downs of the body and mind but is also one in all beings not only that consciousness is not dependent on the body mind for its existence after the destruction of the body mind consciousness continues to exist after the destruction of the universe at the end of the universe consciousness continues to exist consciousness as the atman what i am talking about is the atman itself not consciousness in terms of what we talk about in modern consciousness studies thoughts feelings emotions no um so that continues to exist it is not limited by the existence of bodies and minds not even limited by the existence of the universe the screen movie screen continues to exist even after you switch up all movies it's perfectly unaffected by the existence by the playing of the movie or switching off of the movie now another thing you notice the consciousness itself the atman the real atman which is now the meaning of i rupa shivoham i am shiva of the nature of consciousness and bliss it does not do actions all actions are performed because of it notice body mind senses intellect ego all of it depends on you the atman and so that performs actions the individual being the sentient being jiva performs all the actions depending on you the real you the atman the atman itself does not perform any action and therefore the uh so i'm coming to what was said in this verse therefore the atman the real nature what your real nature it is this does not do good deeds it does not do bad deeds and it does not receive the results of good or bad deeds this is the meaning of what has been said here this what does what does it say this all pervading consciousness does not accept or is not affected by the bad deeds the evil deeds of any sentient being nor is it glorified or nor does it enjoy the results of the good deeds of any sentient being although all the good deeds and bad deeds are going on and they are being um enabled because of the presence of this consciousness but they are all in at the level of an appearance transactional reality the absolute truth is this existence consciousness bliss this shiva nature which you are therefore you can honestly say that i do not do these deeds nor am i getting the results of those deeds it's like you have a movie and it would be ridiculous to you know to say that if there's a villain in the movie performing a villain the movie being villainous you need to arrest the screen and movie screen and put the screen in jail no it has nothing to do with the movie or the villain or jail and because the hero of the movie has done meritorious deeds and does wonderful heroic deeds you don't have to praise the movie screen look what a good movie screen it is it's doing such good no but it but notice the two are not entirely separate because of the presence of the movie screen all kinds of willingness and heroic deeds and misdeeds are going on and yet in a certain sense not going on at all because it's only the movie screen which is there so it says that the movie screen does not accept the evil deeds or the punishment of the villain the movie villain and does not accept or enjoy the heroic deeds and the rewards of the movie hero similarly you the athman you enable all of it we are not talking about a dissociation alienation somebody else is doing good and bad deeds i am not doing anything you know that i am the atman i did not do anything why are you punishing me very good we will not punish the atman but we will punish the body if you are really honest you will you would be fine with that there is a story in which this comes up in mythology for example there are so many such stories uh once the lord of uh the the gods indra indra in the heaven he found his throne being shaken and you know sin has come to catch hold of him what happened i didn't do any sin i said no but but there's this poor brahmin back on earth and a cow wandered into his his vegetable garden and was eating up the vegetables there and the brahmin in fury it took up a stick and hit the poor cow so hard that the cow died and killing a cow is the great sin you know and so when the sin of killing the cow comes to catch the brahmin the brahmin said oh i didn't do it you know the it's the hand which did it and the and the devata the power behind the hand is indra so indra is all the each they have their offices they have their uh powers there there are certain stations so in the power of operating the hands and action is indra so now now the sin says okay so i'll go and catch indra so he goes that doesn't work um as long as you're identified with body mind the body mind will get definitely get as results of all the work of all all karma so at that level karma operates at the level of the movie karma operates otherwise it would be a most peculiar movie if at you know any time the cops come to arrest the villain the villain says i am a screen you can't arrest me it's true as a screen you can't arrest the movie screen but the villain can be arrested in the movie itself the two levels of reality now this all sounds weird because we do not know that level of reality we do not know ourselves as the atman and that's what krishna says in the next line he says itself the pure consciousness that i am pure consciousness it is hidden from me because of uh ignorance this is the standard advaita doctrine because of my ignorance agyana i don't know it is means animals these animals so we are animals we are deluded uh what how are we deluded we do not know ourselves as pure consciousness ignorance and then when we think of ourselves as bodies and minds and then what's the problem the problem is bodies and minds are seriously limited and so all the limitations and problems of the body mind comes upon me hunger and thirst and disease and old age and death and ambition and greed and lust and you know anger all of that body mind problems they become my problems and when i act under the influence of body mind problems i'm caught in the machinery of karma good and bad deeds lead to good and bad results actions have consequences and so life after life i'm being whirled around although i haven't really nothing to do with all of this i am the reality underlying all of that now for any ignorance we know the standard advaita doctrine here for ignorance the solution the medicine is knowledge what knowledge whatever you're ignorant about you need knowledge about that it won't help me to say that i'm ignorant about sanskrit and go and learn and sit down in the physics department physics knowledge will not help me to remove my ignorance about sanskrit similarly all the knowledge of the sciences and the arts will not help me to remove ignorance about myself so you need self-knowledge knowledge about the self atma vidya which is what krishna is has been teaching all along that atma vidya how do you get that you get that by shavana manananan indeed you come to vedanta hear and study and then you reason and work it out for yourself and then meditate upon it till it becomes a living reality so this is what it is um jantawa the animals we are a unique type of animal this body mind which we have got right now especially the body the human body is a unique type of animal in which it is possible to attain enlightenment and that's what krishna speaks about next the next two verses are very very powerful wonderful verses i will dwell upon these two for the rest of the class today number 16 yes but those whose ignorance has been destroyed by the knowledge of the self their knowledge like the sun manifests that highest being beautiful verse very powerful verse it says those who are those they um are the ones who prepare themselves we know the whole story by now the fourfold qualifications the discernment between the eternal and the non-eternal um then vairagya a dispassion for the non-eternal seeking of of god or seeking of the eternal reality and then discipline what is the discipline the six-fold discipline of the body-mind um shama which is calmness of the my inner quietude dhamma control of the organs sense organs and motor organs and then titiksha a spiritual fortitude toughness to pursue to see it through to the end this uh this spiritual quest um then there is um i was just reading swami turian and the ji in one of the remnant senses he's telling a monk that you know one thing i look back and i look back upon my life one quality i notice in myself is that whatever i taken up i've done it to the end that i've seen it through to the end even small things so whatever he would take up he would see it through to the end he would not uh do it in you know like slowly lazily take it up and give it up this is something i've noticed in all the direct disciples and in fact all the great spiritual seekers the focus and determination and seeing it through so uh this is titiksha a spiritual fortitude and then uh uparati a withdrawal from too many worldly engagements enjoyment of senses in the world uparati the reverse pull back then samadhana having pulled back what do you do with the time and energy and the mental space you have cleared up focus samadhana means settling down focus focus on what vedantic study and reflection and meditation and then um [Music] so there is a deep abiding faith that this is all leading to somewhere there's something behind all of this it is true i don't get it right now but i will have i got all six sama dharma titiksha uparati samadhana and then there is intense desire to be free so it's a tall order but we all have it to some extent it's not that we all have it to the to the best possible extent but we all have it to some extent in order to in that we are spiritual seekers and we have been doing this for in many cases in your case for years and years so we have all of these qualities to some extent and with these qualities the person engages in vedanta having undergone the earlier practices see where do you get all these qualities where do you develop your fitness for spiritual for elimination be all the karma yoga which was mentioned earlier so we have led an ethical life or we are leading an ethical life we uh we practice some form of religion this is very is very broad here from vedantic perspective be religious it really doesn't matter if you are catholic or you are a muslim or if you are a vaishnava you are a shakta that is so extraordinarily broad because from vedanti perspective it is all devotion to sagona brahman god ishwara the devotion to god in whatever form vedanta has no problem at all none of this quarreling about that's wrong and this is right then it's all right as long as you do it and so um that prepares the mind with such a prepared mind you come to vedanta and you study the upanishads and the bhagavad gita the brahmasutras the introductory text they all tell you the same thing in various different ways they're all telling you the basically the same thing that thou art you might ask if that simple why do i need to listen to it so many times i know it by heart yes but as we have been seeing in the vedantasaur class it's not all that easy i mean when you go deeply we don't really understand it's not no use saying it like a slogan you know if everybody can say e is equal to mc square but how many of us know the mathematical derivation that goes behind it to those who really understand it i remember reading about this scientist russian mathematician who says that there's this whole trend of popularization of science these days yes stephen hawking and others it started in the 1940s 50s people writing popular books on physics and mathematics especially physics and which is good which is good people understand the cutting edge work in science but it's also a little misleading because people think they've understood so this russian mathematician says he was in a plane and next to him was sitting an american businessman who was reading stephen hawking's brief history of time and this um russian mathematician said to him so do you understand this i'm i'm putting on the accent not there in the article do you understand this and the american businessman said yes of course it's wonderful what's there not to understand and this mathematician said well um you know there are certain parts which are not very clear to me and he says the businessman pulled out a napkin and took out a pen and said look i'll explain it to you and he'd do some diagrams and try to explain it to him i said the mathematicians i didn't said that i didn't have the heart to tell him that i collaborated with stephen hawking on some of these papers so there are different levels of understanding uh so it takes all these texts rishabhi veka you get a better understanding when you read upper okra buddha you get an even better understanding of the whole framework when you read vedanta but then when you come to the actual upanishads you come to the real thing um they so you get an even deeper understanding when you read the dialectical texts where there are attacks from many different sites on this teaching and then they call it as thuna nikandan nyaya a pole when you are driving it into the ground what you do is you sometimes take it out shake it a little bit and drive it in even further shaking it a little bit is when you understand something and then you attack it from every possible angle when you get the answers to those questions those objections your understanding has become even deeper and more clearer you now know okay so this is what it means this is what maya means this is what falsity of the world means yes having done that you get clarity you get conviction then you settle down with that knowledge the clarity and conviction which you have got you settle down with it that is nidhasana vedantic meditation which he'll talk about a little later and then there is a breakthrough uh it could happen even before nidhi dhasan there is a breakthrough you what i said earlier the reference of the eye shifts completely i am not the body and mind i am this uh everlasting ever shining witness consciousness this one consciousness in all beings so this becomes clear to you this breakthrough happens this is what he uses a very beautiful imagery aditya ganam like the sun rising what was indistinct what was covered in darkness what was seen wrongly suddenly all darkness is dispelled the sun rises and everything is revealed clearly one of the commentators says just as you see a pot in the blazing clear daylight by the light of the sun exactly like that not that your brahman is revealed like a part but that's not the intent what is the intent here is clarity it's it's clear like that you get this knowledge what knowledge as me i am brahman not only brahman exists but i am that brahman this is the nature of that breakthrough he says it's like the sun rising there's a distinction between darkness night there's confusion lots of things you don't see many things you see by mistake many things you imagine that's our day-to-day life like dream walking through life this is like waking up this is like the night being dispelled darkness being dispelled and the sun rising what is clearly mentioned in all the vedanta are vedantic texts satjidan and the brahman existence consciousness please i am that this becomes clear so he says here yes by knowledge what knowledge i am brahmana where did it come from of what of vedantic texts by whom yesha means those who are those not everybody those who are prepared what is the preparation we know a wealth of information has been provided provided it's a lifelong effort that we're going through for them knowledge like the sun prakash reveals that highest reality as what i am that it reveals that now what happens next next verse is very important um now you need to stay with it you have got this breakthrough i'm saying this because there are many senior students of vedanta here we all get a feeling that i sort of get it what they are talking about now what do i do now this is what you do this is coming now you need to stay with it you need to put some effort into it you need to immerse yourself you know like marinate in that knowledge get that clarity settle down in that clarity and stay with it how you will do that that's going to be talked about next so the verse which we are going to go into now number 17 has um i can say two interpretations one is the interpretation which is a general interpretation which i'll give you later but one is the advanced interpretation and i'll give you tell you also where i get these interpretations from so i'll tell you the advanced interpretation first advanced is that i am clear i am brahman if you're not clear go back to the um you know earlier stage the earlier stages what is your doubt where are you getting stuck or even even earlier stage i don't even know what the texts are telling me they're all these books all right that's then study listen repeat the classes once that is cleared or at least you have an intuition that i begin to get what you're talking about now what you do that is the advanced practice that advanced practice is going to be mentioned here let me read it and then i'll explain 17th verse [Music] those who are decided on that those whose mind is set in that who are devoted to that and whose last resort is that attain to non-return with their sins we knowed off by knowledge okay very powerful verse what is it talking about advanced interpretation if you already have that breakthrough if you already have clarity even let's not use the language of breakthrough because then many people will think i don't have breakthrough but i understand what vedanta is saying all right if you really think you understand what vedanta is saying then this is for you what what remains for you now what remains for you is called jivan mukti and vide mukti you are agani you know you are convinced you have clarity i'm not even saying if you have a breakthrough or not you have you're convinced you have clarity now what you need to do is uh jivan mukti and vide mukti jivan mukti is that i pass my days my days means as long as this body lasts because of past karma proud of the karma it will last for some time i know i am not this body but then the body is there and i am seeing the world through this body i'm experiencing the thoughts and feelings which were there in this body earlier all of that is still going on the movie is still playing how do i keep my mind on the screen while watching the movie how do i live as brahman yet through this body and mind the jivan mukti and that's the highest state possible the whole purpose of vedanta in one sense is that attainment of this juvenile mutiny mukti sukhov um used to say that this solved his question what is the point of all of this creation of all the universe and life and spirituality he says jivan mukti is worth it to be brahman but not just brahman but it's worth it to be a jeevan mukhtar in the midst of samsara in the midst of this world in the midst of manifestation therefore all of manifestation becomes worth it if you are a jeevan mukta and it's so it's worth trying to get that and once you're jivan mukta you will also when the body drops off finally at the exhaustion of the karma the past karma is gone there's no future karma for you because it's all been destroyed by illumination by by realization therefore you will never come back again in a limited form as as a body-mind you know as a jiva that is called vidaya mukti or kaivalya mukti that is freedom bodyless freedom so this is the now that this is what remains for for you now how do you do that in four stages remember four stages these four stages are the advanced interpretation for just for the person i'm speaking about and uh just one thing here don't take it otherwise this applies very well to a monk so the whole idea why do you become a monk is in preparation for enlightenment it's the monastic lifestyle is suitable for sadhana that's why one becomes a monk and remember all this discussion we had this earlier why it's actually more reasonable why it's safer to remain as a householder and yet practice spiritual disciplines but one must admit that if you are ready for it and then the monastic lifestyle has many advantages for a spiritual seeker and after you make the breakthrough after you make the breakthrough after you have this clarity conviction about vedanta one can become a monk after that also that is called vidwaat sannyasa so there is vividhisha sannyasa and with sannyasa vividisha sanyas is what we became we became monks because we wanted to become enlightened vivadesha means desire to for enlightenment desire for realization desire for knowledge vivid and that's why we are monks not that we are enlightened we are not jivan muktas we are trying to become enlightened and that's why i have taken a specialized lifestyle that's one category and that's the majority of monks but it's also possible and the vidyar new swami discusses it in his book jivan mukti viveka it's also eminently possible that you already are a master of vedanta you already have clarity you already are convinced about it you see i'm sold i i believe all of it i see it all and i i actually feel that it's true then would you if you're still not a monk would you become a monk yes or you could and it is advantageous at this stage to practice these four steps it is easier to uh for uh for a month to do it and that kind of a monk is called a bidwatsan yasa the monastic life of the knower of brahman who is already is a gyani why would that person become a monk what good what special advantage accrues to a person who already feels that i am brahmana is it's easier to practice these four stages these four practices what are the four practices first buddhi means knowledge the knowledge sarvatra brahma darshana to see brahman everywhere in every action in every person you already know it and i'll explain how you this person sees it vividly in every action the persons you are with um the instruments of action the car you're using the computer you're using um the spoon with which you are eating those are the instruments of action the people in who are involved in that action the person you are serving the food the person you are driving in the car person you are communicating with in a class or writing a report all of those persons also all are brahmana how so how so you realize that i this existence consciousness in all these beings is there not existence is there not this sense of presence is-ness it's there obviously shining forth all the time sometimes people ask and when we keep using the english word consciousness consciousness a kind of false idea develops in the mind also this consciousness which i'm feeling that's brahman not that that's just the reflected consciousness and therefore there are questions which follow from this wrong conception question is so if consciousness is everywhere the next question will be in that case is there consciousness in a stone is there consciousness in a in a spoon you wouldn't even ask that question if you realize that consciousness and existence are the same thing so does the stone not exist why are you even asking because you're thinking of consciousness as thinking and memory and thought and feeling and emotion so does a stone have that does a spoon have that you don't even have to think if you're thinking about the mind when you're thinking about objects out there in the world just notice existence just notice that they are present there is an is-ness spoon is computer is rock is what is that is-ness if you have gone through vedantic analysis you i don't have to go through all of that you've gone through it you notice it as bare presence that is-ness which you feel right now you feel it everywhere it's an ocean of existence it's not that waves have water i have i see thousands of waves in the ocean each one has a certain amount of water that's not the right way of looking at an ocean it is a mass of water which appears as waves of various sizes similarly when we look at the universe around us right now a book exists book is uh table is man is woman is no that's not the right way of looking at it book has some existence man has some existence woman has some existence not at all in fact modern philosophy did from burton russell's time it is he did something called the theory of descriptions which completely disproves this it's illogical to talk about things having existence a thousand twelve hundred years before bertrand russell shankaracharya writing his commentary on the sixteenth verse of the bhagavad-gita nasa with dyatya bhava he uses almost exactly the same logic existence is not adjectival existence is not a property existence is the reality upon which you impose properties it's not like waves have water it's water which comes up as waves it is not that things have existence it is existence which appears as things language deludes us we say chair exists vedanta would have you say existence chairs it's an ocean of existence everything that you see here is a wave in that ocean of existence it's just a name and a form and a function but the substance of reality and everywhere is existence you feel that is-ness everywhere like the fourth chapter of the bhagavad-gita we read brahma brahm the instrument is brahman the offering is brahman the fire is brahman so existence is appearing as this instrument existence is appearing as as the fire existence is appearing as the action existence is appearing as the person doing the action and notice i'm not making a theoretical argument here you are at the stage we are talking about the advanced practitioner you are at the stage for whom you would say yes of course it's the most obvious thing why are you dwelling on this it's a fact dwell on this this is called tadbuddhaya sarvatra brahma darshan i will explain where i got all this from later on but this is the advanced practice this is some of the practice of monks in shankara's uh orders in the advanced stages of native dhyasa so everything that you experience whatever you see whomever you see whatever you smell and taste and touch all of that whatever you think about notice immediately the the attention goes not to the person not to the activity not to the thing but to the existence there and it's always available the existence in every being is available to you just like clay is available in every clay pot that you see it blazes forth shankaracharya says it choicelessly blazes forth in in upper ok he says the clay in the park choicelessly blazes forth you um you cannot avoid seeing it you just have to note that its existence everywhere swan vivekananda says first it is that existence that sucked and then we color it with good and bad even before good and bad even before person i like and personally dislike it is easiness and easiness is pure business is being itself so this is called when every all the time where everywhere with whom with everybody with what with everything have this sense of presence is-ness this is the first stage second this is not enough this is next tadaata it is not just that the existence everywhere i am that aam brahmasmi that existence everywhere is i it's not everywhere everywhere is in me it's not every when everyone is in me it's not every object or person all those objects and persons are in existence which is me which is i it's an important step to own up that this universal being everywhere in every moment of my existence is this existence of this presence is i i am presence i am existence i am now why do we call it consciousness the moment you say i you notice something else it's no longer just existence the i is always lit up the existence which you are is not an existence which you are aware of that existence is awareness also it is not only sat it is chit consciousness it is being awareness this is called satyam gyanam so i am that satyam gyanam existence awareness and i have already said it's everywhere it's all the time it's all beings so that existence awareness which i am is unlimited there's no barrier to it which wave in the ocean sets a barrier to water let me repeat that if you see the waves in the ocean where is the demarcation between wave and wave as far as water is concerned there cannot be it's seamlessly one entity called water just looks like different waves it is seamlessly one entity existence awareness which is you that seamlessly one entity is called anantam unlimited so satyam gyanam anantam brahma in uh taipei upanishad brahmanandawali infinite existence consciousness is brahman yes that brahma i am that so that's the second thing you must dwell upon i am that i am brahman then the problem will be so again this description is all of of a traditional monk sitting in the mountain cave or hut and meditating i have seen such people meditate uh constantly this is a vedantic meditation there is no more you know like studying trying to understand getting information and arguing all that is done long ago now what happens is for such a person a lifestyle activities can still disturb you activities can still disturb you at our stage of just basic understanding and beginning to get it we we come completely we keep on complaining so i mean i get it in the class the moment i go outside the class i go out into a world interact with people it's all gone here the commentators say that for such a monk who has a breakthrough was the clarity and who is meditating activities will disturb this meditation what are the activities going out for begging for food and taking a bath in the ganga those are the activities and they will disturb this settledness in the being awareness so what should one do as far as possible give up all other activities and stay with this alone as much as possible give up all that's why i'm saying this was meant for vidhwat sannyasi a monk who is going to do this so i was reading about the classic examples are the direct disciples of sri ramakrishna swami turiyan and what what a life he led after he came back to the united states from the united states and stayed here different places in the himalayas and in other places extraordinarily austere life what was he doing i mean there are descriptions he used to used to say about his days in doing tapasya near uh kangkal in uttarkashi and other places he say 20 a monk is 23 hours of uh raja and 21 and one hour of akira for 23 hours you are a king and one hour you're a beggar 23 hours a king means 23 hours you can remain settled as brahman one hour you have to go out and beg for your food then you're a beggar but other 23 hours you are and literally he meant 23 hours one monk writes in his reminiscences of turian and diji that i asked him to tell us something about his experiences his practices so he said at one time i has to spend all my time um he said job then part part dan job study of the upanishads and the gita and then repetition it could be the ishta mantra it could be simply ahmramhasmi you know staying with it and being absorbed in samadhi when samadhi comes in it lightens come back to the repetition of the mantra if that is you don't feel like doing that then go back to the study of the upanishads and the other other texts and repeat in a cycle and then he says that um i thought why sleep why sleep you know i'm getting full rest i don't have anything to do and i'm getting full rest in meditation so if meditation is correct it do is going on well they say that it is as good as deep sleep so but that is that has to be meditation of the level of samadhi so he said i started reducing sleep till i was sleeping for one to one and a half hours a day and the rest of the day um 22 hours you know like 23 hours i was studying meditating or repeating the mantra and that's it and then he said i pushed further and i said i felt no tiredness at all i pushed further and then one day i had no sleep at all and then this went on for the second day and the third day and the fourth day and the fifth day at the end of the week i had had no sleep for a week and then he said i got scared he said i i remember that swami vivekananda would not get sleep and his health suffered because of that i thought maybe it's good to practice some sleep then i started practicing sleep the first night after the week of not sleeping just meditating all night long first night when i practiced sleep it would not come then after a couple of days of practice half an hour of sleep came and then after that you know like two three hours of sleep every night he would get so this is the kind of life he was leading um extremely austere completely dependent on brahman and nothing else when he's off on his one of his journeys to do tapasya and meditation from our ashram the hospital in kankala in haridwar with a description of the head monk of that ashram see this is an old swami a disciple of sri ramakrishna is valuable but he says no i'll go off alone and stay on the bank of the river and meditate so the head swami says swami at least take something with you and finally he begged take this coat at least it will protect you against the cold and because he begged in such um with such humility swami turian they agreed so it was a heavy overcoat so he put that on and he started walking and uh when he put his hand in there he found a little bundle of money so that the head swami had put in a little bundle of money into the pocket so that swami needs something he can buy things swami turian they walked all the way back to the ashram again he had already walked five or six miles he walked all the way back to the ashram again not only returned that money returned that court also he wouldn't accept it anymore and then went on his way at one time there's a description of how he he had no clothes left all the clothes on his body rotted away and fell over he had only a line cloth left that too and then he picked up rags from a dead body with a cremation a body had been burnt and the clothes were thrown near the cremation ground he picked that up another monk was with him he said this is not auspicious one you shouldn't use this swami said it doesn't matter i'll wash it in ganges water and then i can put it on this kind of extreme dependence on god and one pointed so what was he focusing on why all the all this this focus was entirely on uh on drummond this tan nee this is called this is the third one tanishta because all the activities can distract you you give up everything else just literally everything else and clear the board and depend only on god and stay with god it's real for you why will you not stay with it stay with that alone and that you find in the lives of many great uh gyanis whether it's ramana maharshi or many others they find at least there's a period where they're absolutely unconcerned with the world and sometimes like ramanu marsha's life you see um like month after month in samadhi not aware of the external world not even bothered with that the body will die srirama krishna also you see six months after today left somebody else had to come and feed him push some food into his mouth so this is called tanishta tanishta means dedicated to that focused in that stabilized in that to the exclusion of everything else all right now one more the fourth one what happens is there are certain as long as the physical body is there there are certain activities you cannot give up even if you are a monk in the himalayas you will have to go for food and you go once in a while to take a bath in the ganga maybe you have to go and give classes on vedanta to the students or whatnot so there are a few few activities which you do not give up now to make sure that those activities do not distract you from your settledness in brahman you have to connect all those activities to brahman tatparayana means the final goal the final reality of every movement of the mind is brahman any activity that you do there will be a movement in the mind it's called chitta britti i go and ask for food its mind is active so the mind must be that must be focused you must see brahman there in that activity whether it is going out and begging for food or taking a bath or teaching others that it is brahman alone you notice it inside outside everywhere that noticing that the ultimate reality in every activity is brahman that the ultimate goal of every british is brahman paramayanam means the ultimate goal so all activities which are indispensable which have to be performed and especially if you are a busy monk or if you are not even a monk you are in the a household or you are in the world you're engaged with many things like krishna is or arjuna is how can they do this so they have to convert every activity into brahman every vritti must be connected to brahman must must they must see brahman in every british that is called tatparayana there must be nothing unconnected nothing which which brings you back to this body-mind identification remaining immersed in this way four stages or four practices remember tad buddhi seeing brahman everywhere like brahma pranam ramhavi seeing means existence exists existence then next tadatmanam i am that brahman it's not that i am there and there is a brahman which i know no i am that brahman then it becomes existence consciousness lit up by awareness all the time i am that brahman then take exclusive care to stay with it and not get involved in other things tanishtha as much as possible you need not be like swami turiyananda not to that extent but to some extent you must put forth some effort to be exclusively devoted to that spend some time for that every day it could be study it could be meditation it could whatever you do but it must be exclusively i am brahman that cultivating that uh and then finally even when you are active in anything else other than vedantic native asana it must connect back it must reveal brahmana in those activities so this is the advanced practice what happens by all of this the next line we'll talk about but let me talk tell you about the general interpretation of this by the way general interpretation advanced interpretation where did i get all of this general literature interpretation is given by madhusudan saraswati when susan says he gives a general interpretation which i will give you now advanced interpretation was by swami shankarananda who was of the time of vidyaran islam little just before vindhya naswami who wrote a wonderful commentary on the bhagavad gita this book so there he gives this advanced practice this it's available now in sanskrit i think there's a there's also a hindi translation so that was commentary which is an advanced commentary um on or an advanced practice what is the general commentary on this a much more relaxed approach to it so he says make up your mind that god realization is my goal my goal is god realization whatever i'm doing in life it is god realization i have um dispassion for the world my aim in life is to realize god a husband wife children job all of that is there but my goal is god realization that is that parana having god realization as my ultimate goal step one step two one step back what was there just before that now become dedicated to vedanta engage in shravana and manana in the study of vedanta attend all the classes take notes think about it do all the associated practices like devotional practices like karma yoga like meditation all of that you do that is called discipline stay with it mishta means dedication to it not only is it my goal i'm actually doing something about it there's a second stage third stage talat maanam you realize that in hasan the third stage is of needhasana asana manana and then comes nizit dhasana that i am brahman stay with that idea once it's clear in the second stage that i am brahman you stay with that in vedantic and then finally the first one which is mentioned means realization of you will have the breakthrough i am brahmana this will come now four stages starting from the back of the verse my goal is god realization i am a sadhaka tanishta i i'm up and doing i'm doing karma yoga bhakti yoga raja yoga i'm studying vedanta all of that is going on whether you are a monk or you are a householder does not matter you are a sadhaka now actually up and doing that's your project in life now third now you have got vedantic clarity about what is brahman how am i brahmana stay with it in vedantic meditation shankaracharya gives 15 methods rig rishabhi veka the six methods are there in the vivek ramani so many methods of meditation are given bedantic meditation so stay with it you get tadatmanam ahambra mahasmi that knowledge becomes clear and steady beyond all doubts beyond all contrary tendencies there's a technical point here knowledge shines forth the advanced interpretation starts from that final once we know what do you do so then those four are interpreted in a sense of an advanced practice what does shankaracharya say about it advanced or general if you look at shankara it's it's deliberately vague you could interpret it in both ways i think that's how the two different interpretations have come doesn't matter advanced interpretation or general interpretation what will be the result the result will be common for uh impurity by knowledge what knowledge i am brahman that cleanses you of all like this movie screen is cleansed of all the good and bad of the movie it's not the movie screen is neither tragic nor is it funny nor is it a disaster movie nor is it um comedy nothing it is cleansed the moment you realize you don't even have to switch up the movie notice this is the beauty of advaitha in yoga you have to switch up the movie in bhakti you have to play a devotional movie in advaita vedanta whatever movie plays your your attention is on the screen which is free ever free of the movie even when the movie is playing so you um the it is cleansed of all the effects of karma or all impurities what are the impurities all our past vasanas that is gone then all distractions of the mind that is gone and then ignorance about our real self that is gone and even there also there might be doubts which is assam or contrary tendencies those are also impurities so all impurities are removed even the subtlest ones and all the gross ones they're all removed when knowledge shines forth of course a good deal of the groundwork has been done by the other yogas so ghana nidhota kalmasha then what happens you are jivan muktana and at the death of the body but you do not come back in a limited form again in this world you are you are what is called kaivalya mukti or vidhammukti remain as brahman you wear brahman you remain as brahman you go beyond the you know identify any kind of world existence anymore so that is the whole goal of advaita the holy mother in a very simple way she was asked once she had given initiation to a disciple and the disciples said mother if i do not do the sadhana or spiritual practices what will happen to me if i do not repeat the mantra she said my son you have taken initiation from me and so never fear at the point of death you will be released she said sudama krishna taku will come for you and release you that is guaranteed it's like a guarantee but then she added if you want joy and bliss in this life then you will have to practice this is a very simple way of talking about video mukti and jivan mukti more philosophically vidyarnya says if you have clarity about vedanta and you make the breakthrough without all these practices also at the point of death you will attain video mukti he says it's guaranteed such a person will never come back again once you make the breakthrough but he says this is not equal to jivan mukthi for jivan mukti he uses other terms he says it's called vasanakshaya and mano nasha those things have to be done according to him three things are necessary for jeevan mukti that wasn't actually what is called knowledge here the breakthrough vasanaksha is what is called purity of mind here and mano nasha is what is called samadhi or concentration of mind focus that vasanaksha and pure and concentration of mind those are the two things which these these extremely this advanced practices they give you once you have the breakthrough the this is vedantic needed which which depend on and strengthen the purity of the mind and the focus of the mind mind is kept pure of everything except brahman and focused on nothing but your real nature you might say why wouldn't it be once you realize your brahman and brahman is the only thing that there is but remember mind and body are part of prakriti mind and body are products of maya they have their own tendencies they have their own inertia you realize your brahman fine but the mind and body will tend to go on the way they have been conditioned earlier so the conditioning has not been done properly you have not finished the course of the fourfold qualifications then the mind and body will not reflect your realization fully to reflect the realization fully and to get the full benefit the joy of jivan mukti the great bliss of being enlightened in this life itself these practices are necessary this is what swami vivekananda calls assimilation of the knowledge which is still it tingles i am he he says till it tingles you stay with it he says till it tingles with every drop of your blood that's a very powerful way he put it it must become a very natural thing but the way people think i am the body it must go there that i am brahmana that must be equally natural and effortless then you are jivan mukta good so let me see um alpana is asking swami nirvikalpa samadhi is the pure consciousness being revealed or is still reflected consciousness appears in the acquiring mind pure consciousness is always revealed and does not take nirvikalpa samadhi to reveal it it takes knowledge see notice what was said that you are the pure consciousness your existence consciousness please is obscured by ignorance ignorance is removed by knowledge not by difficult samadhi nirvikalpa samadhi is a very powerful aid to it there's no doubt about it notice sriram krishna never said that you have to attain nirvikalpa prasamandi we all often think that salaam krishna only said the maximum thing he said you know very interesting when you see the gospel of srinama krishna what is most attractive to people is he's going to samadhi again and again but when he teaches he teaches either gyan or bhakti he says the goal of human life is to attain knowledge or he says the goal of human life is to attain bhakti by the way all these verses i am saying now these are all can be interpreted in a dualistic way and they have been if you take a devotional paradigm advaita vedanta paradigm for example dualistic or vishishta paradigm it can be interpreted in terms of bhakti also no problem but i'm giving you the advaithic interpretation nowhere does sriram krishna say yet you have to practice samadhi he only the at most in one place he says unless you become absorbed in it in samadhi it's not done properly it's not done right and that vidyarny also agrees and that's what you see in these four practices basically what is it recommending that you become absorbed you get samadhi through vedantic and indeed stay with that for a long time and that you also one way of looking at is look at the lives of the great teachers of vedanta that's the best explanation all these things are there one might get confused after reading all of this you check with the lives of the great masters whom you may have seen or you have read about you will notice all of them they spend long periods in deep contemplation girish does pure consciousness as atman overlap with the western concept of phenomenal consciousness what it feels like to experience something or completely other too disjoint you can explain now what is this phenomenal concept consciousness it is the reflection of pure consciousness in the mind when we say i remember i mentioned it a number of times at the beginning when we say i normally usually we mean this body and the mind and the awareness of consciousness in this body mind in um in vedantic terms with the reflected consciousness what you mean by phenomenal consciousness what you mean by what it feels like what we think what we experience right now thoughts feelings memories all of it feel conscious feels conscious sense experiences it all feels conscious what is that consciousness it is reflected consciousness is it not pure consciousness it's not apart from pure consciousness moonlight what is moonlight's relationship with sunlight ultimately they're the same thing there's no moonlight without sunlight and yet it makes sense to talk about moonlight it has a specific function and a special special way it comes about but it's nothing other than sunlight reflected consciousness is nothing other than pure consciousness but it's already processed through a mind and senses brick says does realization of the atman obliterate a sense of personal self no uh i have a friend who says that their realization which i believe is genuine profound has done that but what he obviously experiences pleasure and pain normal emotion system who or what is the experience in such a case that's why the vedantic texts are very useful um panchodashi answers this directly once you have realization then the word i the term i will have two meanings for you he says the term i has three meanings one for all of us and two for the enlightened being the one for all of us means this that's all it means this body mind this person that's what is meant by i for just about all of us except the few enlightened ones among us but for the enlightened person the i means two things one primary sense two secondary sense primary sense it means brahman the atman i am awareness i am presence it's absolutely clear indubitable for them but does it obliterate the secondary sense of the eye no it is there's another sense of the eye which is body mind but it is a secondary sense so it's not like us when we say we are body mind that's all we mean that's that's our reality it's not their reality that's why your friend if if her realization is genuine then she's honest when she says that i do not have a sense of of being a person there is an appearance of a person if you ask her that's what she'll agree to that there's an appearance of a person and clearly not it and that appearance of a person enables her to interact with all of us vidhyani swami says this that the the other sense of the eye it is for interaction with the world so vedanta says you don't have to go overboard with this with all this with advaita vedanta you know like when you interact with people if you're practicing vedantic and hassan you don't have to say i the absolute consciousness reflected bouncing of the appearance of the uh causal body subtle body and gross body uh i am now appearing as mr so and so to you and talking with you no you just say i'm i'm talking with you that's perfectly all right srirama krishna would you know sometimes switch back and forth he would say sometimes this he would refer to his body mind as an object this thing sometimes he would say i'm going to calcutta i'm going to drink water so what's going to drink water is brahman going to drink water no this body might but there's a difference between the way we use i and the enlightened person referring to the body mind the enlightened person uses i in quite a different sense from us it's more like play acting for them and also if they follow these advanced practices these what was mentioned just now actually a sense of body mind tends to get erased for such persons they may not be in samadhi swami bhutah sanji says that we have seen this in the case of very advanced spiritual seekers who is saying so i'm guti sanji he's a the president of the ramakrishna order he says we have seen it in the the disciples of sri ramakrishna and other advanced spiritual seekers they and and he mentions clearly i am not talking about samadhi they are fully aware of the world and the body and yet they seem to be not aware there it is it is a unique thing he says unless you see it you will not understand there is a very holy atmosphere of vibration around them and they seem to be absorbed in something unknown unseen to you there is not that they are not aware of you they are aware of you they're aware of their own body they're aware of a distinction of a personality of individuality but all of that it's like they're making an effort to hold on to it it's like it is being erased they're trying to get it back and hold on to it in order to interact with us their absorption in brahman is so deep even when they're active with body mind interacting with the world it's still an effort for them they become so immersed in net in the sense of you see this again and again with suramar krishna ramana maharshi swami vivekananda they would go into this little samadhis they would sort of lose track of time of people of what's going on in the world and they would have to make you can see a clear effort being made to concentrate on it's like nisargadatta was once asked are you constantly aware of brahman what is it like is it like some idea or an abstraction or some kind of you know like practice nisargadatta said no at that time in mumbai it was daytime and you could see the sun and the moon on one horizon and sometimes you can see the moon faintly on one horizon and the sun in the sky he said it's exactly like this brahman for me the reality is like that sun indubitably blazing forth effortlessly always available and what you call the world body mind world is that like that faint outline the moon okay um bishop and says richard feynman talks about the difference between knowing something versus knowing the name of something and that's true in um chandragupta narada i am the knower of words but i don't know the reality he says he says he goes to the teacher and he says i am full of sorrow teach me teach me about brahman why about brahman because i hear that brahmavid the knower of brahman goes beyond sorrow and says what do you know now what's what's the state like what degrees have you gotten so narada gives a whole list he's mastered just about every branch of knowledge but he says look i know words but i don't know the ultimate reality i also remember this schopenhauer once says very beautifully he says do your words come from more words or do they come from silence charles ciao says is shraddha faith a result of his own resolution a gift from the grace of god even if the former own resolution without grace insights may not be possible who or what is this god from which grace comes so the question of grace is um yes kripa saguda brahman is no problem with that and from advaita vedanta perspective it doesn't even have to be a particular you know vaishnava kind of religion or shiva or shakta kind of religion you could be a christian or a muslim and praying to god and what is the conception of god in vedanta who gave the general interpretation brains of non long time meditators differ from those of non-meditators measurable by feminist etcetera can a state of enlightenment be so detected i think yes know why it might sound strange because brahma kara vritti is also a vitti the final enlightenment which destroys ignorance is also a movement in the mind and if every movement in the mind especially such a powerful movement in the mind is associated with some kind of neural activity there might be some counterpart to it brahman itself cannot be detected because there is nothing in the movie which will um reveal the screen or unless you know what a screen is then everything in the movie reveals the screen but no amount of investigations by a scientist in the movie will reveal the screen on which the movie is playing yeah um bill says he must have been experiencing great joy turiano yes he was always he was very joyful he never never unhappy he seemed to be very strict he would scold but he was also joyful all the time swamiji turiananda cannot depend on brahman which would be technically wrong it would be saguna brahman see it's another thing if you read the letters of miturian it's talking about brahman in one moment and talking about the mother the next moment saguna brahma and nir guna brahman are not two different things this is one thing that has to be realized it might sound after all this advaita vedanta it might sound contradictory if we have dispensed with world and body and mind and maya it's time to get rid of poor god also but remember it's a conceptual distinction they explain it this way shikhi now this is a monastic explanation so you know the the brahmacharis they have the sacred tuft of hair like the ponytail the sacred tuft of hair shikha when you become a monk so two things are given up the shikha and the sacred thread which you wear so they are taken off and cut off and it's put into the viraja home of the fire so there are particular mantras for this elaborate ritual many things are done part of that is taking of the sacred tuft of here and it's your guru the one who gives you the final vows of monasticism of becoming a monk he will cut off that hair what it signifies is that you're not a part of the ritualistic part of vedas anymore you are not entitled to do karma kanda anymore you are elevated into the the knowledge part of the vedas the upanishads again that's it you are not no longer part of the um the household religion the the vedic you know ritualistic householders life you cannot do that anymore but anyway my point here is different when the novice has that sacred tuft of hair he is called shiki shikha means sacred tuft affair so shiki meet the one who has the sacred tought affair the moment you cut off that there is no more shriki the shikha is gone the sacred after fair is gone and the one with the sacred tuft of hair is gone but not really now it is it's no longer a brahmacharya it's swami so and so it's just because the sacred tuft of hair is not there anymore you cannot use the name shikhi to that the one who has the sacred tuft of here but has the person gone just because you cut up a little bit of hair of course not the person is still there so uh exactly like that nir guna brahman with maya is called saguna brahman god is like the sacred tuft of here if you let go of maya what remains nilguna brahman alone remains saguna brahman is not there anymore but it's not that there are two different things it's the same saguna brahman who's who remains as the ultimate reality nir gonna bring now what does this mean practically practically it means the jivan mukta the enlightened being can happily shift back and forth between nirguna and saguna between ghyana and bhakti with no problem at all look at the upanishads bhagavad-gita upanishad that's why um upanishads and bhagavad-gita they talk about brahman with attributes and brahman without attributes very smoothly they go back and forth brahman without attributes from strictly advertising perspective is the only reality because those attributes are attributes of maya therefore brahman with attributes is nothing but brahman without attributes with maya but it's the same thing it's the same reality why is it nothing why not why only god even you are the brahman if you are brahman what how what harm has god done why can't god also be brahman segunda brahma is also actually need guna brahman jiva you the jeeva you are actually in gunabraman so turian and you will see often in a devotional mode often in a gyana mode and smoothly switching back and forth with no problem at all there's a nice discussion between turian and ji and one sadhu shantinath who was a very strict non-dualist very austere monk so he came and he talked with swami thuriyana he is not a member of our order he's a not sampraday so that that same order um so this santina was a very strict non-dualist and a yogi also so he's talking he would come and debate sometimes with turian g and priyanji was very old at that time in kashi so here's one sample turiyan nandiji said swami toriyama said look you know what our attitude is hanuman said to ramachandra and when i see as a body i am thy servant as a jiva i am a part of thee and as the atman i am you this is my final conviction so as body i am the servant and i am identified with the body i am your servant this is dualistic vedanta as a sentient being i am a part of you part and whole relationship but from a perspective of atman as pure consciousness you and i are one reality who is saying hanuman is saying to ramachandra you and i have one reality then what is your conviction this is my conviction all of it but many people do not know shanti nuts reply to it shantinath said that is a wrong interpretation swami identification with the body and identification with the mind these are wrong identifications therefore identified with the body and he says as the atman with not knowing myself as the atman that word two means but and shanti not said that but shows that the other two uh the first two options are rejected you are not the body you are not the mind you are the atman and unless you reject those two you cannot come to the atma buddhi therefore you are not the servant of god you are not even a part of god you are one with god and this is the only correct interpretation what was turanji's response ramji burst out laughing and he stroked his head and he said well well well have it your way so that's a very strict non-dualistic interpretation which i like but you have to see that hey it's a very non-compromising uncompromising non-dualism but it's correct technically it's correct but he said all right we'll stop we have really gone overboard it's as you can see it's one of my favorite verses so i tend to hold forth [Music] sri [Music] foreign