Video 73

73. Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 6 Verse 2 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] [Music] guru so in the bhagavad-gita we were on the sixth we had started the sixth chapter and before i proceed let me start the recording so before we proceed with the sixth chapter i just like to add a cheerful note on suffering this is with regard to the enormous amount of distress and suffering that's going on in the world especially in india now and what is the role if any of spirituality or philosophy in all of this you know people ask that is this the time for philosophy or spirituality um you know when people are they need medical treatment or they're gasping for breath so yes and no it is true that swami vivekananda himself said it is an insult to a starving man to teach him metaphysics so you have to give immediate relief to a person who is suffering but ultimately spirituality is the ultimate antidote to suffering it is not that the great spiritual teachers masters were heartless rather they felt much more keenly than all of us and that's why they searched for a real solution to suffering something that was that would be profound deep and lasting people ask me that do you see that many people have become interested in spirituality in this time of suffering and the answer is to that is little difficult yes they have but the interest is of two kinds and that tells you something about the nature of religion and spirituality the interest is of two kinds one kind most people i suspect is that we are now anxious and scared and unhappy and if by the grace of god things would go back to the way they were you know become normal we can carry on with our lives we want to return to that so most people would be happy with that and there is there is a another group who would be who would think deeper that what is meant by this suffering going back to normal is not going back to the normal itself was not normal it was always there is the root of suffering is always there the great spiritual teachers masters like the buddha they noted that they are they feel more deeply they feel the suffering of all even in times of what we would call normal times they know that normal times the so-called normal times are not normal times all of normal human life is also infected with unhappiness suffering and that's why they looked for a solution to that to any deep or lasting solution and the solution they found buddha and others also was spirituality so some of the people who become interested in spirituality during this time they have this deeper interest which will last even things will get back to normal some sort of normal but after this also they will retain their interest the larger number of people who have become interested in religion and spirituality will unfortunately probably lose that interest as quickly as they have got it it's that's the way it is the literature goes to show that in times of pandemics you know like mass suffering there's an increased interest in religion but that goes away once the the cause of that suffering diminishes so that's the way it is long before the buddha there was kapila swami vivekananda calls kapila the first human the first philosopher of the human race the sage kapila the originator of sankhya philosophy in fact bhagavan buddha himself says that among the things that he learned from his teachers on his way to enlightenment on his journey in spiritual journey his account of what he learned from teachers like alara kalama and uddhalaka ramaputta there is some kind of proto yoga there which later he incorporated in his own teachings the original teachings of the sankey philosophers are lost to us the most ancient texts that we can get our hands on is a book called the sankhya karika sankhya sutras we have it but that's some later reconstruction kapila's original sankhya sutras it's doubtful whether they are there so the sankhya karika that text is um nowadays if you would want if you want to study sankey philosophy the most ancient reliable text you could get your hands on would probably be the sankhya kali at least that's how it is introduced sankhya system is introduced to people who study indian philosophy so in the sankhya kadhika there's a point to all this why i'm reading what i'm leading up to in the sankhya karika the first verse of this very ancient text how ancient i'll tell you there is a chinese translation of the sankhya karika with available which is 1500 years old 15 or 1600 years old so it was already popular it was popularized through buddhism um and it was popularized through tibet china and other places so multiple translations are available um so in this sankhya karika the author ishwar krishna he writes these verses on sankey philosophy the first verse is important for us it gives us an argument for spirituality what is spirituality why do we need it in relation to suffering so i'll read out the first verse today before we go into we'll go get back to the gita but we'll this is today's look at the foundations of spiritual search why at all i'll be engaged in it what is this project that we are engaged in what are we trying to do so that you know again sort of re-examining our the basis of our search uh from the perspective of suffering so here it is this is um i'm reading out from sankhya karika the first verse is there he says assaulted by the threefold sorrow there arises within us an inquiry about the means of overcoming sorrow if you object that there are available means worldly means of overcoming sorrow the answer is so meaning that you don't need spiritual solution so the answer is no because these worldly means lack certainty and finality okay sort of self-explanatory but we'll take a look at it um he says that there is suffering in this world and divides it into three kinds of suffering the suffering that comes from one's own body and mind notice that ultimately all suffering must come to the mind if i don't feel that suffering if i am in deep sleep or in coma or something like that then i won't feel the suffering but so ultimately to feel suffering it must all come to my mind but the causes of some some kind of suffering may be external the causes of some kind of suffering may be in the body and the causes of some kind of suffering may be in the mind itself so you it is logical to make a distinction of different kinds of suffering because their roots may lie in different places now um the suffering caused by my body mind so disease in the body that is a prime source of suffering and it could be disease in the mind and the mental illness these are sources of suffering then adi bhatika means the suffering caused by other beings so in the old commentaries they are interesting caused by lions and tigers and mosquitoes so you can imagine being in india these would be serious problems lions and tigers and mosquitoes none of them are around here but you can imagine there's some suffering caused by other maybe the annoying neighbor or something like that right now my neighbor here has started learning music so i can understand the suffering caused by uh your by other beings other living beings and then there's suffering caused by natural causes so an earthquake or you know like a lot of heat a lot of cold tremendous cold i sort of suspect something like the kovid the pandemic in those days in ancient times they would have seen it as a kind of natural suffering nowadays we know it is caused by a living being a virus so we would probably say it is caused by another living being i guess the ancients would have thought that it is a natural suffering a natural disaster and it is true a virus a pandemic is somewhere on the margins between caused by other living being and cause like a natural disaster so assaulted by these three kinds of suffering we seek for a solution to this suffering a enquiry arises among among us how do we overcome suffering and then he himself the author raises this objection possible objection that there are solutions look around you and the commentators on these verses give nice solutions you know like if you're feeling sick go to the pharmacy get medicine you're feeling so that's a physical illness you get medicine for that you get vaccinated if you're feeling bored you can watch tv if you are if there are problems caused by other people there are courts and police and all to take care of you and there are natural disasters then it says that you can go take refuge in shelters and you can consult astrologers and offer sacrifices to the gods and so what not so there are solutions there's a whole range of solutions available to you and one of the commentators says he quotes an old saying that if honey is available in your backyard why journey to the mountain to collect you know the wild honey from the from the honey bees or something so which means if the solution is available at hand why not use this solution and then he gives the answer his reply to that why all these solutions don't work and this is really important this is this is an argument for spirituality and one should consider it he says there is no uh certainty about these solutions they may work they may not work and even if they do work there is no finality about them the same problem may arise or another problem will arise see here it is interesting to note that even religion the common mass religion falls among these solutions if you see the distressing visuals of people weeping and i can i saw on the video people are so many people are actually praying for their near and dear ones and get some relief and notice in all that prayer some of it works some of it does not work i'm not saying that prayer does not work it does work but one thing i could never understand was that even when prayer does work it's not final it for in no case ever in history has anybody escaped death by praying to god save me from death no physical death is inevitable and [Music] inescapable swami vivekananda was very blunt on that point he said kings die and poppers die the learned die and the ignorant die saints die and sinners die everyone dies death comes for everybody if if you pray it might work for a moment at this point that may pass over me or my near and dear ones but it will come back for everybody avatars enlightened persons that died physical physical death comes for everybody so it's not none it's even religion praying to god it i never understood quite understood how it is a solution it can be a temporary solution it's not a final solution at all um and it's not a certain solution absolutely certain result so many people are praying whether the worldly solution like medicine and medical care or religious solution like praying to god so many people are praying some of them get answered some of them it works for some and some it does not work there's no certainty that it will work these are hard truths and one must consider this then only this question about spirituality arises is there a real solution to all of this an ultimate lasting profound solution not just patchwork um you know like some problems there that patch it up it'll come back again in a worse form but somehow you carry on no so there has to be this real deep permanent solution to all of these problems is it possible if you believe it is possible the claim is that it is possible and one must believe in this i'll tell you why i heard this sadhu very touching before starting his talk it was in hindi he was starting his talk he says i will ask you all a question ask yourselves do you really believe that spirituality is possible do you believe there are spiritual people today do you believe that god can be experienced do you believe that one can be holy in this life and overcome suffering in this life are there such people are there such experiences and then he says the question is subtle he says that um if you don't believe this i don't believe there's any genuinely spiritual person if there's no other genuinely spiritual person the implied meaning the subconscious meaning of this kind of thinking is to my own mind look it this is this is no skin of the back of spiritual people who do exist it's nothing to them we are the losers if we don't believe in that how we are the losers that swami pointed out the moment if i don't believe that spirituality is possible i don't believe that really holy people exist i don't believe that anybody has actually seen god then the only loser i am the loser how the imp the subtle message goes to my subconscious if there is no really no spiritual person how can i expect to be spiritual if there's nobody spiritual in the world there's no question of i becoming spiritual if nobody has really seen god in this world right now then what are the chances that i have i'll be the one who is going to see god you see it's a kind of it's the most fundamental kind of self-sabotaging it cripples our spirituality and it is the condition of large numbers of people he put it in hindi the swami was giving a talk he put it in hindi he said um there is no foundation left for you you have you have ruined yourself if you think in this way so the fact is spirituality is possible there are holy people there are enlightened people even living today and it is therefore possible for all of us that is the beginning heinrich zimmer the endologist he said the philosophies of india they seem to talk about suffering and but he says they are profoundly optimistic they are not pessimistic because they believe that a real solution is at hand that one can actually overcome suffering so um i mean i just read out one sentence at the beginning so this book is um the sankhya karika of ishwara krishna pretty old pretty ancient the sankhya system itself is older than buddha i don't know this book is older than but this book is probably post buddhistic and then there's a commentary beautiful commentary written by sang by bhachaspati mishra this commentary is called sankya tattwa modi the moonlight of the essential truths of the sankhya system so the commentary the first sentence of the commentary i'll just read out to you and see how these ancients thought about the very foundation of spiritual life and suffering so he says in commenting on this words so suppose you say that there's no need of enquiring into spirituality why yadi dukkham nama jagathi nas if there was no such thing in gods like sorrow in this world suppose there's no sorrow in this world then there will be no question of inquiring into spirituality um but suppose there is sorrow and and there is no desire to get rid of sorrow even then there would be no inquiry into spiritual life look at the logical steps no sorrow no importance of spirituality there is sorrow but no effort to get rid of it again no interest in spirituality you desire to get rid of sorrow but it's not possible then also there'll be no interest in spirituality why would it be impossible to get rid of the suffering he says there might be two reasons why it may be it's impossible to get rid of suffering um maybe suffering is a permanent condition of life who knows many people believe that this is what we have got make the best of it what make hay wild sun shines something like that yes so um yellow you live only once why you oh hello so suffering is permanent is a given there's nothing you can do about it that's one objection to spirituality and here is the crux or maybe we just don't know the way to do it there is a way to come out of suffering we don't know the way um then he goes on to say that shastra visayas um he says suppose it is possible to overcome suffering but spirituality is not the way the spirituality taught by your scriptures at your text is that's not the way to overcome suffering much easier and better ways of overcoming suffering are present which are the worldly ways of overcoming suffering you take a pill watch movies and you know you take all the worldly ways of dealing with suffering or even the conventionally religious ways of dealing with suffering i pray i believe in god god's going to protect me and i carry on with my usual life all of these these are this is the first sentence this opening theme these are objections against spirituality that what trips us over in our search in our spiritual search which what stops us and this is this is very profound i mean in the sense that that's why large numbers of people in the world today express no interest in spirituality or they they stop short of committing to any kind of spiritual life um the buddha so he his whole teaching begins with the with the fact that there is suffering and i mentioned somewhere one of the tibetan philosophers sangha great tibetan master he classifies suffering in this way and he he says that yeah there are these evident sources of suffering janma to jarabayadhi birth and death and disease and old age so these are sources of suffering and then he says you cannot collapse them all together into two kinds one is contact with what you don't want and the other one is separation from what you want so the contact with the undesired covered i don't want that contact but that's that's suffering or loss of somebody or something which you value that is suffering then he goes on to further to say that all of that also can be collapsed into one cause of suffering and he says that is change continuous change everything is in flux and that leads to suffering why would change be suffering is a subtle point change is suffering because our desired setup this is the amount of money i want this is the kind of health i want this these are the um people around me i want these are um you know the place this is the place i want to stay this is the i set up my physical financial relationships health all of that these are the factors these are the variables and i want them all at this level so that level even if it's possible to attain it because everything is subject to change the moment you attain it next moment it will change and what it will change into will not be satisfactory therefore change always leads to dissatisfaction and then he makes an important point that sankhapa he says even change is not the cause of suffering notice how he is he is narrowing down he's focusing digging deep into this concept first of all the most obvious sources of suffering sickness old age and death then he narrows it down to contact with unpleasant and dissociation with what is present then he narrows it down further to change and then finally he says even change is not the cause of suffering what is the cause of suffering he says ignorance our ignorance of the real nature of things what we are and what this world is because notice the buddha also remained in the midst of change buddha also faced old age and disease and death the buddha also remained came into contact with what was pleasant and or came into contact with what was unpleasant and lost contact with what was present and the buddha also suffered change was in the middle of change and yet in the middle of all the causes of suffering the buddha had no suffering he claimed to have overcome suffering so what is it that ultimately causes suffering ignorance ignorance of course exactly how ignorance about what and what is the solution little difference is there in the different philosophies but ignorance is ultimately it is to blame our lack of understanding about what we are and what this world is i have shared with you the interesting story about the buddha when a monk came and asked him that a buddhist monk that master you had told us your teaching is to go take us beyond suffering and suffering is due to old age and disease and death but notice we monks are also getting old and we are getting diseased and we are dying so how have we gone beyond suffering the other people who are not buddhists they are getting old they have disease and they have death and we are followers loyal followers we are also getting old we also fall sick and we are also suffering so we have not gone beyond suffering you said you would take so it's a consumer complaint um then the buddha said that the nature of suffering is like these two arrows like a man hit by one arrow imagine the pain and shock and immediately hit by a second arrow imagine the the terrible trauma and the shock of being hit by a second arrow immediately the first arrow is what the world throws at us old age disease death that's the first arrow and it does cause suffering the second arrow is our reaction to it our reaction to what is happening to the world and to us and the buddha has said the real suffering most of our suffering comes at that level because of that second narrow and what i teach you is the way to overcome that the pain and the shock caused by that second arrow about the first arrow i cannot do anything because that that is the very nature of life of samsara itself if you are embodied physical if you're a physical being and then you will be subject to physical nature but huge differences made in our reaction to it and we can actually see this in the lives of saints in the lives of people we consider to be enlightened beings how there is a huge distinction a difference in the way they react to old age they react to sickness they react to um you know being alone in the world physical mental financial what kind of problems how they react and how the rest of us react and you see the reaction our reaction is suffering and the reaction of the enlightened ones of truly spiritually advanced ones they show how they have gone beyond suffering so the difference is here between the enlightened and not enlightened enlightened means the ones with spiritual knowledge and the ones without spiritual knowledge this is the real gift of spirituality sri ramakrishna put it this way that the three friends who were going and then they saw this wall a big wall and they wanted to know what was on the other side of the wall with great difficulty they climbed over the wall and one of them they saw there's a something they saw and that person danced in delight on top of the wall and then jumped over on the other side the other two friends were of course curious the second one climbed up and he too saw something and which made him dance in delight and jump over the third one thought what's going on and then he uh climbed up and he saw this festivity going on on the other side wonderful and he was he too was about to jump over to other side then he realized what about the poor people in the village who will tell them about this festivity this mart of joy so he turned back and he went back to tell people about it so this the spiritual masters who tell us about it this is the knowledge that they are sharing that there is a way there is actually a way of overcoming suffering deeply and profoundly and finally not in the worldly sense which is not final and not certain not even in the conventionally religious sense see the conventional religion sense don't knock it it's a great great support until you are enlightened until you're spiritually advanced the conventionally religious sense of taking support from god is a great great support in spiritual life sri krishna himself clearly says in the bhagavad-gita he will say that my devotees are of four types artha gyasu atharti gyanicha artha the distressed one so suffering and physically in kovaid and what not can they be devotees of god krishna says of course they are devotees certainly and i will take care of them and then those who are not suffering but they want something they have desires in the world they too become devotees of god but remember they are devotees not for the sake of god ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country's other way don't ask not what you can do for god what god can do for you so god can take care of my suffering god can give me fulfill my desires and god does that to the extent that it will increase your faith in god they increase your faith in religion and spirituality so they are also devotees but krishna makes it clear their path to spiritual life is a long drawn process it will come slowly due to spirituality but the faster ones are the enquirers who are not in suffering who are not actually here because they want something but they want to know they want to they're inquiring does god exist can i see god and that is the common or at least god realization or self-realization whichever way you put it that is the common search of all spirituality of all higher religion okay that's the rant now we'll get back into the gita itself and the bhagavad gita is a book par excellence of this kind of spirituality not of conventional religion as such or even and certainly not of worldly means all right in the bhagavad-gita sixth chapter which is on meditation but before teaching about meditation sri krishna has started anashita he starts with emphasizing once again karma yoga as a preparation for uh meditation so he says the that person who without a desire for the results of karma goes on performing his or her duties in this in the spirit of spiritual practice like as a worship of god karyam karma that which is to be done the person does that such a person is is a monk is a sannyasi such a person is a yogi here yogi in the sense of a meditator in sannyas in the sense of a renouncer no niraknee nacha kriya not the one who has actually given up activities niragni means the sacrificial fire so activities are of two kinds one is worldly activities you have your job you have your family and all of that and you have got certain religious activities now a person a monk who is a renouncer of the activities as such would give up worldly activities and also the ritualistic religious activities i remember once i was going to a temple in gangotri there's a temple of ganga so one priest looked at me and he said what are you doing here swami so a meaning thereby that it is meant for ritualistic performances you have your vedanta and your meditation so the second verse continuing the topic of karma yoga yam sannyasam yogam tambidhi pandava know that which is extolled as sannyasa to be yoga or pandava arjuna verily no one becomes a yogi without renouncing desire for the fruit of action that which is called sannyasa monasticism becoming a monk that is called that itself is called yoga or karma yoga krishna says that but it's paradoxical if you think about it i mentioned this last time why why is it paradoxical it's just it's a strange statement to make because sannyasa literally means giving up so actually giving up positions actually giving up activities putting on an orange dress and heading off into the mountains so that is becoming a monk you don't have relatives or family you don't have money possessions you don't hold a job you are alone or in a monastic community and your whole goal is god realization and you are off maybe to an ashram to the forest or the mountains or whatever on the other hand the karma yogi is a person who's actually working so like arjuna may be engaged in some terrible action like the war itself or you may be actually holding a job raising a family you know carrying on a business you are you have not given up the activities whether at home or or in your profession so one has given up the activities one has not given up the activities how can they be the same we say that which is monasticism that itself is karma yoga krishna says so on purpose it's if you understand that kind of language it it draws your attention we are we are like what did you say just now giving up all the actions and not giving up the actions is the same how how is this possible and the answer he gives in the second line he says he says really to be a monk or to be a karma yogi is to give up see the word sannyasa nyasa means to give up samyak nyasa to totally give up to totally renounce that's the that's how you derive the word sannyasa although there is a positive way of deriving it also which is the ground of the universe to establish yourself in that that is also sannyasa the two positive and negative way of putting it the negative we are putting it is giving up some group in nasa to give up everything all connection worldly and other worldly connections worldly means this worldly and other world he means trying to attain heaven giving up all those options that is sannyasa the other the positive interpretation is sati paramatmani um in india means in the ground of this universe which is existence itself to establish yourself in that that must be knowledge that is also sannyasa but anyway um how can actually giving up activities and not giving up activities be the same thing shri krishna says that there is something common to them the essence of karma yoga and the essence of sannyasi is the same thing what is that he says to give up sankalpas what is this sankal person what is why is it the essence of karma yoga and sannyasa giving up sankalpa is this desire is born of sankalpa what is sankalpa let me just explain a little bit and then we'll see what krishna means sankalpa means that means to take up an object and you know think well of it this is nice i want this this is the way it should be for me it could be a person it could be an object you know like a gadget or anything desirable in the world to put to see the desirability of those things that is that is sankalpa and this sankalpa gives rise to kama desire to feel that a object is nice worth having worth pursuing accumulating you might say what's wrong with that everything is wrong with that there is no such thing in this world no form no sound rupa rasa gandhi's pressure no touch no fragrance no taste which is not ultimately a source of disappointment if i want the things in the world people in the world activities in the world are going to give me fulfillment then i am bound to be disappointed the world is not meant to fulfill our individual desires you're putting too much of a load of expectations on the world they are like sudam krishna says a range of zeros put them all together still zero they cannot fulfill us and they are associated with they means objects in the world whatever you see in the world they are associated with so many defects so many problems they have a beginning and an end they create addictions whatever it is any kind of pleasure in the world it could be sense pleasures it could be the pleasure of having more money or power or whatever it is it creates addictions it is you know like diminishing marginal utility the more more you have of it the less utility you keep getting from every additional unit of consumption so the every object in the world is subject to these problems it has these limitations though you see the faults in trying to be happy depending on things in the world and yet we do that this is the root of desire we think these things are desirable in the world and i must have them and then comes kama from sankalpa comes calm or desire many things keep you know sadhus protected nicely in hindi right they keep floating up to the surface of the mind and some of these things attract our attention certain projects plans to do throughout the day they keep attracting our attention and they are endless distractions from spiritual life and we chase them we want the generates karma desire and as we pursue karma we are trapped in samsara this sankalpa which gives rise to karma this the yogi karma yogi has to give up and sannyasi has to give up a sannyasi who gives up the world external world without giving up the sankalpa is asking for trouble what will happen the sannyasi will be trapped if the sannyasi gives up the world no money no job no people around me but in the mine there is this idea these are nice it would be nice to have money it would be nice to have a comfortable house it would be nice to have people around me and yet i have cut off every way of having those things around me then you're asking for trouble the karma yogi also must give up this sankalpa because if work is done through sankalpa it becomes karma bhoga not karma yoga it becomes a method karma becomes a method of fulfilling our individual this discrete desires you know like one after another trying to fulfill a series of desires and trying to get happiness from that doesn't work what does the karma yogi do what does the sannyasi do sannyasi gives up the sankkalpas and gives up all activity born of the sankalpa desire and action sankalpa kama karma sankalpa kama karma first there is sankalpa in the mind then there is calm or desire and then there is an action activity to fulfill it the sannyasi gives up the whole thing no sun kalpa no desire and no action the karma yogi gives up the essential thing that is the sankalpa and the desire bond of the sankalpa but continues with the action continues with action what action the action that has to be done in life as long as the person is in the midst of society you know there are people around you you have some responsibilities do those perform those that that work um discharge your responsibilities in the spirit of worship you are worshiping the lord through these activities whether it's at jaw in your job or at home it becomes a continuous worship of bhagavan the continuous worship of the lord and it's a wonderful way of living so sri krishna says karma yogi and the sannyas the one who has given up all the activities and the one who continues the activities they are the same because at root if if the monk is genuine and the karma yogi is genuine both have given up the sankalpa sangkalpa prabhavan karma sankalpa is the root and it gives birth to the desires karma means desires so the root along with the desires both are given up by the karma yogi and by the sannyasi um in the mahabharata there is a verse or desire i have found out your root desire is a big bully he said oh you really you have found out my root what is my root pray tell me sankalpa is your root sankalpa is your root and nasan kalpa is i shall not generate any more sankalpas then you will disappear so i have found out your root or this o desire it is sankalpa so the karma yogi gives up sankalpas and the sannyasi also gives up some kalpas because both give up sankalpas both are they are renowned sirs and krishna says they are the same as far as renunciation is considered one additional point shankaracharya also makes this point that if you give up sankalpas you can meditate remember this chapter is on meditation and also the meaning of the word yogi can be used in two senses one is karma yogi which is the primary sense here and also the dhana yogi the meditator that's the sense in which it is common to talk about yogis you can meditate better if sankalpas are not sankalpas there the one which disturbed meditation deep meditation is possible when you've given up the sanctuaries given up means they may come up in the mind but you are not pulled along by them you have made up your mind i'm not going to change some culprits because i have seen through the sunkelpers they've given they paint a nice the objects in nice colors attractive colors and then i become interested in them i generate a desire for them and then i'm engaged in one more project and that's a distraction from spiritual life swami vivekananda gave the best formula for karma yogis neither seek nor avoid he said neither seek nor avoid um so without totally giving up some kalpas nobody can become a karma yogi and of course nobody can become a sannyasi even kashana means whosoever it is suppose somebody has actually formally taken the vows of sannyasa and not given up some kalpas and if you not do not give up some kelpers the desires are inevitable because desires are born of sankalpas so whoever it is that person cannot be a yogi cannot be a karma yogi cannot be a sannyasi cannot be a meditator yogi either then before we go on to the next one let me just quickly see the activity the chat yes people are saying that it's important that we discuss this the question of suffering patrick asks is there any record of practices that accompanies sunk along with the philosophy that's an interesting question normally the answer would be yes the patanjali yoga was a natural companion for sankhya so sankey philosophy and patanjali yoga philosophy are the same prakriti purusha and patanjali yoga is a whole technology of spiritual practices but even so i think sankhya philosophers would insist that just the sankhya insight that is what is to be aimed at and it's an it's an um it's a philosophical inquiry if you want to meditate upon it and you know have samadhi is very good but at the core it is this philosophical insight i think the sankey philosophers would insist on that um what is this philosophical insight it's the first step in advaita vedanta we always talk about it i'm not the body not the mind i am the witness consciousness in fact this sunday also i will be harping on the same theme i am not the body not the mind i am this witness consciousness that is the sunken insight advaita comes next but sanction insight is i am witness consciousness i am sakshi i am not the body i am not the mind i am not the consciousness reflected in the body-mind not even that this sankayan insight is absolutely fundamental i asked a great scholar once um very great scholar of sankhya and vedanta and nyaya um in in calcutta he was a pundit in 94 95 years old i said what is the difference between sankhya and advert and he was hard of hearing so to yell at he yelled the question into his ear he said what's the difference between advaitha and sankhya and he just answered a phrase he said a difference in point of view he just said it's just a difference in point of view then [Music] bill capila's teachings are given in the bhagavatam i guess that is later yes that's later basu says it is from um the manisha panchakam of adhishankaracharya shweta singh says the pain can be a separation from god and it's equally a suffering no it's not equally suffering not at all the separation from god that is called for example like the gopis experience the separation from god that is greater than even the greatest pleasures of the world it is felt as a pain i think it is who said even a single drop a teardrop shed because you feel the absence of god that is more pleasurable than all the pleasures of the world it's profoundly satisfying it takes you beyond bhava's hardware but beyond the ocean of transmigration you're blessed if you can cry for god you cry once for god you are um you are safe now then god will take care of you then rick says so what i mean is that the pain of separation from god is a pain that should be cultivated it's not a pain that you would want to give up and by no means rick says is it is it that he doesn't desire the results of actions or rather that he desires them which is why he's performing the action but he doesn't depend upon them because he's fulfilled whether or not the desired results occur so that's not desiring that is not desiring if you perform actions the results are going to come anyway that's um if arjuna fights the war there's going to be a result we could either either win it or lose it or whatever but then my my goal is no longer the result itself my goal is that i am doing what has to be done and i'm doing it in a spirit of worship i'm worshiping the lord through my actions it frees you it frees you for a lot of the ups and downs of life you know how do you react to the world after this from from this perspective one monk he put it so nicely he said the karmi the person who's engaged in the world who acts through sankalpas is at the mercy of what happens in the world at the mercy of what the world does to him or her so the reaction to the world is always what and the karma yogi's reaction to the world is so what so this is the difference the karma your reaction to the world is always what and the karma yogi's reaction is so what this is the huge uh difference and it's really worth making the transition because if i'm performing karma and i've got specific desires i want it to be this way and i do not want it to be that way i'll be happy if it happens this way be really unhappy and aggravated if it doesn't happen if it happens the other way then i'm at the mercy of the world but the karma yogi is not at the mercy of the world whatever the ultimate result of my activities i am doing it as a worship of the lord and i am getting the result of it which is purity of mind preparation for the higher spirituality of vedanta meditation or whatever i was just reading this is something that was recorded by swami caitanya swami shivananda was the president of our order at that time in the 1920s in bellurmut so he told one monk to work to do some to be engaged in work and the monk rather grindly replied god realization is the goal of human life not work and so shivananda was he was very annoyed he said swami vivekananda has himself said by doing work for sri ramakrishna you will attain chittashruddhi and your moksha your mukti is guaranteed do you think swami vivekananda was a fraud so work that is karma yoga the work that you do for the lord that has no downside to it there's no downside to it in the bible also jesus christ says come unto me ye that are heavily laden so you are burdened by the world and the worldly kick world he cares come to me i'll relieve you of that burden but then he says i will yoke you too i will put a burden on you but my yoke is light it is deeply fulfilling and transformative and helpful in our lives and does no harm to us at all it always elevates us what work done as worship then krishnamurti says unfortunately many sincere and lifelong followers of conventional religion do not know that there's a final solution possible through spirit it is true they do not know is it okay to tell our loved ones at the higher solution or should we just hope they will discover it when they're ready it's a difficult one you can tell but you know like missionizing it preaching it doesn't help too much i've seen so many people who in their initial enthusiasm for vedanta go around telling others and then the reaction is nobody is interested yes nobody is interested it's good for people to know that such a thing is available the such a thing is there but more important for their own samskaras that's why the traditional teaching of vedanta was you will go and seek out vedanta you seek out vedanta you seek out the teacher and the text it's your inquiry we are not going to come to your house with pamphlets so uh the higher spirituality you we must want we should we have to be ready for it i remember this tragic incident which happened years ago a young boy died he was a college student from one of our institutions he died at home in an accident his parents had come they were weeping and the monk was consoling parents and i was talking to one of the relatives and i was giving my usual vedanta talk you know ultimately that we are consciousness itself this body mind and relationships who is whose husband who's whose wife child and then another monk got hold of me and said what are you doing you you they have lost a child you are making them lose everything they want to know that the child is safe and we are going to go to heaven and be reunited with our loved ones and that's it you are i'm pure consciousness and there is no father mother husband wife child and we are forever beyond suffering you're taking everything away from them they've just lost one child they want everything to you know to be as it is that's why i said that a large number of people who are interested in religion at this moment may not be particularly interested once things become more comfortable because that's what they want that things be little more comfortable it's terrible now let it get easier that it's a long drawn process and i don't know if that answers your question it's good to say it but you will see most people will not pay attention until they are ready to pay attention but it's good to say it because then they know that such a thing is there those books are in the house we saw people in our own family or in the neighborhood who were deeply spiritual you're in fact um swami sadesha about whom i was reading in swami caitanya's recollections he used to say the best advertisement for spirituality is a spiritual life by seeing your peace of mind your holiness your your you know that you are deeply deeply happy and peaceful and calm and that pulls people that attracts people can i be like that it's like a um i call it a a holy jealousy i remember seeing swami bhutesha nandhiji who was the 12th president of our order i was a young novice and i would see this 98 year old monk and my sometimes my reaction would be i want what you have there is something that you have that is precious beyond everything in this universe that if i could give up everything and get that then it would still be a bargain so that is the best advertisement anuradha says what about the sankalpa we do before puja yes so notice the sankalpa that we do before puja in in uh ashrams in our krishna order it is sankalpa for um no sri ramakrishna pretty earth for the blessings and the the pleasure of the lord we are not doing it for specific worldly gains so there there are rituals which are most rituals are performed for specific worldly or otherworldly gains if you are a spiritual seeker you will perform the same ritual the puja without asking for any this world your other worldly gains sangeeta is asking shweta is asking is there this inclination to be absorbed in long silent retreats is it also sankalpa well these are good ones these are ones which give up some culprits which which cut down some gulpers so um don't force yourself but whatever suppose the mind is mind is now there's a desire to withdraw and be calm and quiet and centered for some time definitely do it all these these are good um you know desires which come up in the mind which take me god word sangeeta says a lot of gurus even sannyasi gurus and are known to make or take up some kalpa for others especially in times of sankalpins in times of distress yes especially in times of suffering yes one can do that if it's for the welfare of others it's not a selfish desire often pujas are performed for the welfare of the community so sankalpa is taken for the welfare of everybody that's all right kiran says does nishkama karma lead to any results well the most important result is purification of the mind it is foundational for god realization are we supposed to dedicate the results to god in karma yogi yes all the time rodrigo says i've heard that the recitation of the pavamana bharara amounts to meditation i don't know which one you are talking about but um traditionally in the vedic culture this swat dhaya which today we translate as study but that the original meaning was vedic recitation so that is a kind of verbal practice so the spiritual practices can be physical rituals may be there they could be verbal practices and mental practices so verbal practices are above the act the physical in like offering um ghee or something into the fire uh so higher than that is the chanting with with the faculty of speech and higher than that is meditation but yes chanting can lead to absorption and meditation tibetan with this for example they do a lot of chanting all right um let me stop here tomorrow i must not forget dmitry you had a question you have a raised hand uh yes thank you swamiji uh i wanted to ask a practical question uh on the renunciation how to journey from the mind to the heart because i see that yes i i can make my mind but then my heart is still not together with my mind right and like i was trying to see like it doesn't seem like if i try to resist myself it doesn't really work like the only successful thing that i found so far is that if i'm lucky to remember the definition of what is what when the desire comes i only can do is just observe it yes and see it for what it is but then it continues to act you are right um this is an important insight especially in the path of knowledge at the beginning knowledge acts at the level of the mind of the intellect desire acts at the level of the heart and that's why the two do not often go together at least at the beginning so i may understand something and i may want my heart may pull at a different level altogether so that is why in the path of gyana and the path of knowledge bhakti is important because bhakti starts working at the level of the heart one powerful way of bringing desires under control is to see the paltryness of worldly desires and it has never satisfied me till now it has always disappointed me till now and the deeply profound satisfaction that comes from devotion to god bhakti so bhakti acts at the level of the heart it pulls you connects you with god the same desires which were scattered in the world in a hundred different channels it's the same force you collect it and you direct it towards towards the lord towards god at the level of emotion and desire and um that will be in accordance with ghana with with knowledge otherwise gyana and worldly desires will keep pulling in different directions just a quick one swamiji you mentioned you'll be talking about some topic on sunday uh will it be available to attend online yes yes it will be live streamed as usual the sunday talks so there is this upanishad mantra which was swami bhutishanji's favorite so i want to give a talk and then i saw that there's so much material on that vidyaranya in panchadashi has written the largest chapter in punjab nearly 300 verses on that one verse from the brethren um and so i'll give maybe four talks or five talks about it so this will be 11 a.m yes eastern time got it thank you each sunday this sunday and then the next three sundays consecutively um tomorrow at 8 o'clock we have a talk by swami yogat manandiji in our monthly um webinars you know the guest lectures you i think you may have already got the email you have got the email okay i see a lot of people nodding their heads all right are the links to the sunday talks on the website yes they are good om shanti shanti [Music] foreign