Video 78

78 Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 6 Verses 10-14 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] guru so in this class on the bhagavad-gita we were on the sixth chapter and this chapter is about meditation dhyana yoga down in the last two verses which are very inspiring very soaring lofty um lofty goal guyana vegan the ninth verse spoke about one is fulfilled completely fulfilled by by ghyana and vigyana it depends on how you translate them the conventional traditional translation is guyana would be the knowledge that we have acquired by shravana and and manana what we have been doing all this time once you get clarity and conviction so that's knowledge but that has to become a living reality vignana where there's no doubt and where you can actually express it in life you can live it in life you can use that knowledge it overcomes suffering uh it gives you uh deep fulfillment that is called vigna so shastra gyana and anubhava the knowledge arising out of scriptural study and inquiry and it's not just reading or attending a few classes but a mastery over it and followed by anubhav which is realization or experience that's one interpretation the other interpretation is guyana itself means that realization you are enlightened you realize me and vigna would be a deeper realization where you find the imminence of the divine in in everything that you experience with eyes closed and eyes open you experience the same reality as sri ramakrishna says you climb up the stairs to the roof of the house the roof of the house is like you realize brahman the ultimate reality but then you see that what you left behind the staircase and the doors and the windows all of that is made of the same material as the roof of the house the same concrete the same bricks so by 1880 one realizes brahman and then one looks back so that's guyana and then one looks back upon what one had negated one had left behind and you realize all of that is the same divinity um that is so this is the other interpretation of vigana that would be the guyana a deeper a more full realization but in any case this is the goal whichever way you interpret it this is the final goal and once one realizes that the ninth verse said so this is the eighth verse and then the ninth verse which we read last time i think we were the ninth verse last time uh is that true right we were in the ninth verse so you see the same divinity everywhere in a friend and in the so-called foe in those who are indifferent in those who are related to you those who are not related to you in all beings in short not just human beings in all beings you see the same divinity and therefore you get samabuddhi an equanimity a sameness which is not so when you're in the midst of worldly relationships it's definitely the difference is very clear but from the higher spiritual perspective the perspective of guyana vigna you have a samabhuti a spiritual oneness of everything is realized you feel it you see it directly that and that's the higher truth now to attain these shankaracharya in his commentary says the highest the finest result in order to attain this this will be said now what are the methods now we are going to enter into the actual instructions on um meditative practices so from verse 10 onwards verse number 10. yogi yunjita atma ekaki yata nirashira the yogi with his mind and self that is the body here subjugated free from desire destitute i don't think if destitute is the right word but without possessions giving up all positions destitute kind of gives you the impression of a like a homeless guy or something so uh yes without possessions and living alone in solitude should constantly concentrate his mind so here begins a series of instructions on practice we'll we'll see later he'll talk about how to say it how to focus the eyes how to withdraw the senses how to concentrate the mind uh all these details it will come including the posture of the body and so on food uh rest all of these things he will talk about the nitty gritty here the word yogi so the word yoga coming from the sanskrit root yuji has multiple meanings the word yoga and sanskrit grammar has many many meanings of them two of them are particular of particular interest in spiritual life so one is yuji yogi and the second one is yuji samadhu so one meaning is to to join to join the jivatma to the paramatma to to join the human to the divine which is a general way of describing every possible spiritual path that which takes you to your spiritual goal so that is yoga in the broadest possible sense it's number one and in that sense bhakti yoga is yoga karma yoga is yoga ghana yoga of course is yoga but the second meaning a more specific meaning of the word of the root sanskrit rude root yoga yuj is huge samadhu meditation samadhi in the sense of meditation or concentration yogic meditation so it is in that sense that the word yogi has been used here again shankaracharya makes it clear that here yogi specifically means the one who is practicing meditation just a grammatical semantic point here then he says yoonjita practice should practice certain conditions which empower make our practices more powerful he says means not accepting you know external possessions objects is translated as destitute but anyway not amassing not amassing positions money possessions all of these distract our mind the more things that you have especially in the room around you and your own positions we don't realize it but our tiny bit of our mind is given there so the more we have uh more cluttered our environment the more the mind has gone there when it's only when you try to collect the mind together and focus it on one point especially something as subtle as meditation on the atman or on the ishta devata your chosen idea then one realizes how the mind is tied in in with invisible strings to so many things um so a minimalistic environment is good not having possessions uh minimize your positions the simplest possible also the more you accept gifts from others the more it tells on your mind i mean if there is a kind of subtle obligation see as a monk one can actually totally avoid or as much as possible avoid uh taking unnecessary things which are absolutely not necessary um but as a householder one cannot totally avoid you're in the midst of a web of relationships so people send you christmas gifts you can't return them and saying that i'm practicing meditation i'm not going to take your gifts but it has an effect on the mind i remember this story from swami premesha nandiji so this senior monk of our order i've referred to him a number of times he's a disciple of the holy mother and considered to be an enlightened person in his lifetime a jihad mukta so one day it is narrated by his attendant one day a gentleman came one of the visitors came to him and wanted to present him with a fine cane a walking stick swami was old and ill so it would be a good gift to him swami said no i don't need it and then this gentleman insisted he said no i don't need it and gentleman understood his psychology he said look i don't want anything in return i'll just be happy if you take it i don't i really don't expect anything from them there's no string split as we would say no strings attached no not even subtle strings attached no expectations at all in my mind song i'm just giving it to you then the swami said very dramatically he took the stick and said all right you don't expect anything then let me break it in in front of him you know as if he's going to snap it into and the gentleman looked shocked and the swami said aha see there is always a slight expectation in the mind if somebody if you if the gentleman had walked in and saw the swami snapping his own walking stick in two he would have just thought this is an eccentric old man but the moment i am presenting something to you and it's an expensive thing i bought it with affection love and respect and you take it and snap it into in front of me obviously there's a reaction to that level one must consider that how much people expect something even even in a subtle way so these obligations become an um an obstacle in the deeper levels of meditation therefore apari means not not accumulating literally not accepting gifts but not accumulating um objects which are uh useful which are used for one's gratification so food and you know things which are beyond one's necessity just for the pleasure of the tongue uh objects gadgets but just for once entertainment just for once so we surround ourselves with a lot of uh a lot of possessions which have very little connection with our spiritual life so those are the ones he's talking about don't physically collect that don't uh engage um so don't don't physically collect objects positions which are meant for worldly enjoyment then he further qualifies it with nirashi so not only physically you should not collect these things nirashi means internally in the mind there should not be a desire for that i may physically be completely without any kind of worldly possessions but internally there may be a feeling that that's a very refined thing this is a very nice thing it would be nice to have that anyway i don't want it but still it would be nice to have such a thing so that is an internal desire the taste for it remains that has to be given up also um to contemplate objects of the senses with the feeling that these are nice in hindi say mahatma buddhi these are good worthwhile so this creates a taste in that in the mind and it it's you see what subtle level we are talking about it pulls the mind outward it externalizes the mind and increases the struggle when you're trying to meditate so nirashi means it's the counterpart to the upper igra externally not accumulating and internally also without the desire for further accumulation of desire for having things in this world then he says staying in solitude so notice is it's a very monastic or you know like a hermit staying in solitude and ekaki also again it just means by yourself the commentator translates as he comments saying that not having people to help you around not depending on other people not being surrounded by people ekarki and rahashi means in solitude and the commentator says in caves or in mountains or forests giri guha um sriram krishna says that meditation you meditate in three things you know he plays on the word monet so you in the forest just like the commentator here said you can go to the forest or the mountain or a cave in the forest or in a corner of your room in a corner of your house have a corner it could just be one corner of one room which is dedicated to a little shrine and little place to sit could be sitting on the floor on on your meditation mat or could be sitting on a chair and with the shrine on your desk that's enough he says a corner but dedicated to meditation or he even says in the mind if you have no solitude at all i've seen monks who are very sick and old in the hospital ward lying down and other sick patients around and the bustle of a hospital and doctors and nurses coming and going it's just suffering and sickness all around but meditating how an internal solitude so inside there is calmness inside there is an absolute solitude there's nobody there so srirama krishna says monet in the forest kone means in the corner monet is in your mind and why not all three if you get a chance to go to a retreat if you go to chance to go to an ashram a meditation center or even a retreat for three days a week or more take that opportunity also and have a place a physical place for meditation in your house in your in your in a room of your house and of course create the feeling of solitude in the mind that's the most important thing one non-dualist teacher in uttarakhand in the himalayas the his advice was the general sutra or the the the core idea was how do you have a non-dualist attitude in this world he says with uh first of all look at this body as a drishya an object of perception just as this book is an object of perception it's not me this cloth is an object of perception it's not me i am not this similarly this body is an object of perception look at this body as you see the bodies of others you may say it's difficult but try i mean the main objection there would be unlike objects unlike the bodies of others the pains and pleasures especially the pains in this body they make it mine so this body responds to my will and whatever is stimulated here pain and pleasure i feel it directly but you know those who have heard drink rishabhiwaka talks you can apply the principle you must apply there also the pain which is coming is that not experienced of course it's experience that's why you call it a pain if it is experienced it's an object it's a subtle object this is a physical object gross object this cloth is a gross object the skin and bone is a gross object even the breath grows object but the uh as you go inwards sensations they're transitional between physical external objects and subtle thoughts and feelings that's also an object if the breath is an object if the sensations are objects then a thought in the mind that's also an object a pain is an object it's a subtle object an object to consciousness that's also drishya so this body with its aches and pains and pleasures and you know the feelings and sensations the whole thing is a bundle it's a drishya step one first step is to distance yourself from this sense of embodiment not i in the body but body is something i am aware of it is in my awareness and then he says hold on to this when with eyes closed that means the words he used very simple i'm explaining a lot he just let me give you to tell you in hindi those who understand hindi you'll understand then i'll explain a little more he says it was the instruction that's all three short phrases so when you see the body and all these sensations associated with the body as drishya object not me then the next step would be when you withdraw inside withdrawing said he literally said with eyes closed but you know it does not literally mean just eyes closed it eyes closed also we are involved with the world with eyes open we are involved with some sarah with eyes closed also maybe more involved with samsara so shut out samsara no world no people no body no thoughts memories nothing sensations shut out the thoughts also to the extent that's possible shut out the the inner chatter the corresponding you know what corresponds to our talking outside the inner talk shut it down as much as possible there is no multiplicity here whatsoever this is a famous statement from the qatar upanishad no multiplicity here whatsoever you notice clearly it is just awareness without object non-dual awareness which i am that's my core reality and when i open my eyes when i engage with the world when i see hear smell taste touch look around everything that i see everyone that i see every when and everywhere time space object people all of that is not one thing more than that non-dual awareness it is that one non-dual awareness only in which all of these are appearing without really existing the only thing that exists is that non-dual awareness this is a lot of explanation he just said sarvam kalvidham brahma all this is verily brahman first see the body as an object drishya then with eyes closed there is no multiplicity here whatsoever with eyes open everything is brahman everything is very brahman so all of this these are appearances in me the non-dual consciousness in either non-dual consciousness and it is that non-dual consciousness which does not exist as any object whatsoever but which appears as all objects when your eyes are when you are engaging with the world in this world you are not interacting with anything other than that one divinity it is brahman alone everybody everything every time every even the worst of circumstances even the most so called what we think is the most evil bad horrible circumstances is none other than that one divinity how can divinity be evil it is not remember that which appears without existing is the definition of falsity that which does not exist and yet it appears so the so-called evil which we see the so-called good that we see it appears it is experienced yet it does not exist then what exists brahman alone exists this is you might say it's paradoxical but this is the meaning of brahma-satyam jagat brahman alone is real the world is an appearance and you are you the sentient being and none other than brahma this is the practical attitude to take when you withdraw when you engage so for meditation however withdrawing is uh important no matter how much in non-dual meditation we talk about the eyes open meditation eyes closed meditation but the prac the practical thing is the yogis are experts in the field of meditation and they have said withdrawal is important sitting down is important stillness is important cutting up the world is important closing dies is important for a long time in order to focus and to be still you must withdraw from the world so he says in solitude in solitude in in solitary places physically solitary uh at least um also away from other people ekaki by yourself without having you know people to help you around i've seen so many such meditators monks in the mountains in caves one i found at least one or two in a hole in the ground literally in a hole in the ground wonderful but it was just too dark i crawled into the hole with him i and a friend another monk were a friend who was a friend so this monk invited us into his hole in the ground i said there's a wonderful cave nearby just above just a few places you walk why don't you stay there and he said no that there's a bear there and the bear is a sort of a bully so he won't let me stay so these are in solitude cut off from everybody else now shankaracharya in his commentary here he makes up his pitch for sannyasa monasticism he says comment on this rahashi that means in solitude ikaki by yourself uh rahashi means in a lonely uh solitary place an ikaki by yourself in solitude he puts them together and he says taking monastic see there is actually no direct reference to being a monk in this verse but shankaracharya is a great supporter of monasticism so wherever he gets an opportunity he gently pushes for monasticism he says here maybe he could become a monk he just gently puts the suggestion becoming a monk and therefore he later on says when he talks about aparigraha not accepting he connects it to monasticism becoming a monk and on top of that not accepting uh unnecessary things or not accepting gifts or possessions so by becoming a monk also where you give up money and possessions and relationships and you're a solitary meditator but monks also can accumulate a lot sometimes you'll find astonishing amount of positions in amongst a room or a cottage because householders are generous so they keep giving things i knew this wonderful old swami he lived to be 104 but he had no he had a room in that ashram and uh it was very well known he had no place to stay in the room because it was full of gifts so he used to sleep on a bench outside his room very austria's one he uh so he he was and he was proud of his austerity at the age of nearly 100 he would sleep without a pillow or a bed just on a hard wooden bench and this takes me back the first time i met him that was 1994 i think he was visiting the ashram where i was a novice i i just heard this very senior swami he's visiting who's nearly a hundred at that time he was in his nineties as a disciple of swamis and he has been blessed he by meeting six of the direct disciples of sri ramakrishna he would it's quite a character he would say on this head his head has been touched by the hands of the six direct disciples of sri ramakrishna i have no fear he would do like this i have no fear at all and when he was the first time i saw him he was climbing the stairs to the temple in our ashram which is quite a you know pretty high multiple flights of stairs i thought the old swami maybe i should help him up i asked one of the other swamis who knew this one he said who he's the swami who's visiting should i go up i run up and offer help and the other swami burst out laughing he said oh you don't know him he'll carry you up he's he's very strong and so one interesting thing about him was that he liked he liked umbrellas i think caps and sandals i think so his room was full of that but everybody knew that he liked that so everybody would give him an umbrella and a cap and a and a pair of sandals and we also gave him when he came to the ashram and he whispered back how do you know everybody knows and another funny thing about this swami was he had dentures you know like false teeth and he was grumbling that apparently there's a rat which lived in his room and the rat stole his dentures i think the rat also must be very old you know so you wanted a replacement set of dentures he had this apparent running battle with the rat the right would take up his dentures and he would get it back from that rat um so yes shankaracharya comments being a monk on top of that don't accept gifts just stay without any possessions and then he says satan continuously be engaged in spiritual practices in in meditation this phrase is interesting jitter means mind atma here does not mean the self i mean the conscious mind pure consciousness self it means the bodily self the physical body so body mind under control having rejected external positions clearing your mind of desires for external enjoyment enjoyment of things in the world now keep your body mind under control so that the whatever will be done from now onwards from this time onwards do not engage in activities for the sake of personal gratification or pleasure personal pleasure seeking you see a lot of our activities are like that from taking a cookie you will find that so many things we do just because it feels good which have no really no direct connection with our spiritual life and we take away time and energy and condition the mind now this might be a very strict rule that you will not do anything which is meant for your own personal you know pleasure or gratification we may do some things but then they're also connected to god so there's a cookie which i like fine it is very clearly for the gratification of my thug all right if you're not going to give it up at least when you eat it mentally offer it to the lord and take it as prasada so connect it let our activities be yoga karma yoga bhakti yoga dhyana yoga and gyani yoga as much as possible all our activities in the world also if you have a job and a house and a family to take care of those every activity can be offered to the lord mentally then those will not bind and those will not disturb us at the time of meditation this is called yata chittatma having the body mind under control so this is the verse yogi the meditator yunji ta-sata we be continuously engaged so it the way of meditation demands a lot of time and effort hours and hours of our time and a very calm and retired and uh inward life in by yourself in solitary places being established or staying there and you know shankaracharya's additional comment there that you could consider becoming a monk keeping your body mind under control internally not grasping not wanting externally not accumulating so if you if we engage a body mind in pleasure seeking activities or in just you know casual activity without any any spiritual purpose what happens is at the level of body they say it's alessia this alicia means laziness either the body falls prey to lazy laziness or comfort seeking the senses become addicted to their particular objects to see nice things to hear nice things to taste nice things to touch nice things and smell all of these things the senses keep on engaged with their objects these are what i like and at the level of the mind the mind will dwell on these objects how to get these how are how nice it is to that enjoyment which i had that thing that i saw uh that thing that i ate or you know the whole advertising industry is working day and night to fill these thoughts in our minds how nice it would be to buy this thing to have this experience to possess that thing um so the mind dwells on that or the mind will have a habit of turning away to no purpose it's just general the general chatter of the mind so that can be avoided if we have this yata engaged in spiritual activity that something connected to a spiritual life and desisting from something that is not connected or just plain pleasure seeking now more practical uh instructions versus 11 onwards in a clean spot fixing his seat firm neither too high not too low made of the kusha grass skin and cloth one on top of the other sitting on that with the activities of the mind and the senses controlled concentrating his mind he should practice yoga for the purification of the mind so first of all shucha udeise in a clean spot so clean as the commentator says either clean by nature so it is a naturally beautiful clean place or a meditation room which has been cleaned so either clean by nature or by one's efforts so either cleaned just by it's a naturally beautiful spot good for meditation or you've made it so by your efforts like a meditation hall for example or just the corner of your room which you have set up for meditation that's a pure spot um steady the place must be steady and therefore not too high not too low i don't know exactly why not too low there are many there are many subtle aspects to all of this for example the asana the meditation match itself the descriptions here there are many subtle aspects to it i don't know much about that nor am i particularly interested but it's not as plain as it seems you know just neither too high nor too low but there's subtle psychological uh aspects to having a bouncy seat for example don't or a seat which is sort of giddily high even if you close your eyes you will still feel it that you are not settled properly this is completely at floor level maybe you're i don't know if insects are going to disturb you or something but still and not only that there are certain aspects of being completely at the floor level without anything to uh between you and the hard floor or the dirt floor or whatever it is so it neither too high not too low and then he says how you should construct your meditation mat also so glass and a deer skin and the kusha grass and the commentator says in the reverse order so the khusha grass is first on the floor and on top of that the deer skin and on top of that the cloth usually a silk cloth now again don't go all that into you know be very particular about how the meditation mat is to be is to be constructed it's used to be a running joke among young monks you know i can't meditate properly because i don't have a deer skin or a tiger skin i'm sure the you know the prevention of cruelty to animals so the or the animal the conservationists would have a word or two to say against this just a comfortable mat but it's important to have a mat for meditation and have a personal one don't let others use it that's more important and be comfortable with it and use it what else is important here the next verse which we read together 11 and 12 we did the translations together now what do you do once you've got the mat obviously you meditate verse number 12 [Music] i read the translation of this along with the earlier one but there sitting down on that and how you will sit also he will talk about that later there you focus your mind on sitting on that mat controlling the senses and the mind that means withdrawing the senses from their respective objects practice yoga of meditation for the purification of the mind now the mind is also already purified to some extent by our our karma yoga and bhakti yoga this is a higher purification in it consists on what what impurity is removed by meditation the impurity is distraction if you look at distraction as an impurity the scatteredness of the mind is an impurity to remove that impurity is called atmo the further purification the deep deeper purification of the mind and then how do you sit he's going to talk about the posture you have the mat now you're ready to sit how do you sit [Music] so holding the body the trunk the head and the neck um in erect in one line that means not you can't physically make it one geometric line somebody said it's if you just imagine a plumb line coming from the ceiling and going through your head through your body down so as if you are being suspended on that line then your shoulders your spine your neck your head will all gently settle into the proper alignment it's erect and aligned not rigid not loose if if we sit slumped we immediately see the effect on our mind it is physically unhealthy and immediately the effect on our mind also one can immediately see um you can easily feel depressed uh you cannot concentrate so well so it's much it's better to have proper posture especially if you're going to meditate for a long time and remain steady there um dharayan achalam means steady not moving this not moving is important imagine the mind is like water in a bowl imagine a bowl a ceramic bowl filled to the brim with water now you are holding it if it's filled to the brim how careful you have to hold it how motionlessly you have to hold it so that even one drop doesn't spill and how much more steady you have to be so that there are no ripples or movements on the surface remember the surface is to the brim of the bowl so how careful now imagine sitting like that not rigid if you're rigid you can't avoid moving after some time you'll get tired relaxed but not slumping not slouching straight uh relaxed so that you can hold that for a long time but uh very still i mentioned this earlier i have seen monks who are very good at meditation deep meditators many meditators of many years and one remarkable feature about them is the stillness especially when they're sitting for meditation it seems they radiate they're not only still physically but they radiate that stillness around them i mean even the environment somehow feels deeper more silent so he says here not moving steady eyes the gaze of your eyes he says gaze at the tip of your nose and do not look around in the directions now shankaracharya in his commentary makes a good deal of this i think half humorously he said the point is not to gaze at the tip of your nose because if the point were to gaze at the tip of your nose your mind would be on the tip of your nose it literally says that your mind would be on the tip of your nose uh but and not on the atman so gaze on the tip of your nose means to keep the gaze locked down so that it does not waver we know even modern neuroscience tells us how much of our cognitive capacity is tied up with our visual sense arguments so moment you open your eyes it seems areas of the brain light up lot of activities there our attention is pulled that much we can experience immediately our attention is immediately pulled outwards the moment we open our eyes if you close then close the eyes if you close the eyes the signal to the mind is to fall asleep generally when we close our eyes for a long period of time the mind has been trained to think oh this guy wants to fall asleep okay i'm going to go to sleep so the way was to keep your eyes half open and then instead of looking around keep your eyes the gaze downwards but the gaze downwards is not to gaze downward if you're actually seeing something what you're seeing will go to your mind you're not seeing the tip of your nose so it is just an unseeing open gaze though it is not that is not what is meant here but i will also add here there is a peculiar gaze of those who are centered in the self or in god especially at the moment when they are like sahaja samadhi or a samadhi is the gays if their eyes are open then you can see the only way to describe it is the person's attention is focused on something transcendent something within eyes are open but they are not seeing and there's a luminosity to the gaze luminosity to the face i've seen this in a few advanced practitioners and you can see it in the gaze of you know swami vivekananda and many others pictures that their photos are there great masters um i've seen a video of a tibetan master who has passed away now so he's talking but he's giving instructions but once in a while he goes into this little level the only way i can call them are mini samadhi's and you can see their eyes become fixed on something within srirama krishna gave an example of a bird sitting on its eggs so the eyes of the bird sitting on its eggs so the attention is entirely on the eggs eyes are open but it's the attention is entirely there in fact he asked somebody to draw that picture for him i don't know how better to describe it but that's at the level where the one is absolutely centered in the atman or in god if you are a devotee it's a person is not really aware of the external world not of the body not of one's mind of a reality beyond body mind and the attention is focused there if the eyes are closed you can't see it but the eyes are open it's quite remarkable there's nothing quite like that gaze but that's of course the um at the higher end of the spectrum here the idea is not to look around so he makes it clear disha's channel not looking around in the car in the directions the commentator says once in a while sitting quietly meditating and once in a while looking around what's going on what others are doing who's sleeping what time is it when can i get up all those things don't do that i've told this earlier very funny story about a novice so novices get up to all sorts of mischief this novice monk he was very energetic so sitting quietly for hours together is just the worst kind of punishment you could give him but you're a monk what else can you do so you're sitting quietly and in this great hall with early in the morning at 4am with hundreds of other monks and he found a junior novice somebody was junior to him who was obviously drowsy he was doing like this and this novice he tapped him on the back and you know whispered sit straight you and the other now we thought oh all right so he's a senior now he's maybe uh he's right to correct me see sat straight and every time that novice uh well sleepy this one at the back would tap him sit straight that became his meditation the next day he found that this other junior novice was nowhere to be seen and we said to sitting commentation he had changed his meditation seat i think the in this continuous moment-to-moment uh you know hand-holding or meditation holding was becoming difficult too so this novice wouldn't give up in the semi-darkness of that hall he got up stealthily and he looked around to see where that other novice was and he found him and he went and sat down next to him just behind him and he continued his instructions to keep him meditating a couple of days later that novice was not to be seen in the entire hall and this one would not give up so he went outside the hall and searched outside it's a huge temple sometimes people sit outside the hall um in the under the opens on the stone uh platform of the of the temple but under the open sky sometimes and he found this young novice behind a pillar and so he went and sat down next to him and the story continued after a few days the novice was nowhere to be found in the whole temple and then he went in search of him and found him by the bank of the ganga river sitting there to escape his tormentor is his meditation instructor the most dedicated meditation instructor so this is a case of trying to make others do you know like so vicarious meditation i'm sacrificing my meditation so that you can become spiritual the there was a great a very scholarly senior monk who was a master of the novices there and our rule was you have to sit still there for one hour at least that's the minimum you can't come away from the temple meditation hall before one hour is over so if somebody thought maybe i can go in a little early take a quick 10 minute nap before the next thing which is chanting from the upanishads or the hymns so you gather your meditation mat and you trudge back to the hall where you you live and there the old swami is standing with one of those old clocks you know this in india we used to have them which go train and big metal clocks and go tick-tock and he would he would not speak it was very quiet so he would just thrust the clock in your face like this see which point being that it's not yet one hour back you go to the to the temple and he would turn around helplessly what could you say no word was exchanged but everybody understood what was going on and the young novices would grumble i wonder when when does he meditate he's always uh uh on to us disaster loko and not looking around in the directions once in a while commentator says then what happens in the 14th verse it says with the mind deeply peaceful i'll explain this later what does it mean deeply peaceful digatabhi uh beyond fear brahmacharya vatisthita in general it means being established in the vow of the brahmacharya the novice spiritual seeker or specifically it means celibacy controlling the mind match giving the mind to me to god being engaged in meditation sitting in meditation matpara considering me to be the highest so to quickly break down what was what's given here prashanth shanta means peaceful prashantha means a deeper peace so it works like this the first level at which we lose our peace is when i am disturbed about something in the world especially my activities if things go badly but i feel i've done my best that's fine it does not really disturb me but if there's something that i have done or said or thought which goes against my standards my morality i feel disturbed is guilt and uneasiness so the first level of peace is the transition from unethical or immoral life to moral and ethical life in the vedantic terms transition from adharma to dharma so that's the first step now moral and ethical one can still be moral and ethical and be completely worldly and not particularly spiritual and there are many such very good people who are not interested or agnostic about spirituality certainly are not meditators but they are moral and ethical the next level of peace deeper level of peace is not only am i dharmic not only am i moral and ethical in my actions and my behavior in society but also selfless also altruistic so the actions that i do are not only moral and ethical but then i'm not looking for anything any any worldly gain or pleasure from those actions it is done for the welfare of others it's done as a duty it could be in the family in the community in the or to people who have no connection with so again in the technical term would be moving from or arising from dharmic action to a higher level which is karma yoga you see what's the difference between dharmic action and karma yoga dharmic action is you may chase money and pleasure but within the limits of morality and decency there's dharmic there's nothing wrong with it but that is sakama with desire that still keeps us tied to samsara a better samsara a more sustainable samsara a more decent moral samsara but still samsara still open to change and suffering and transience and then you rise from that to the karma yoga what i'm doing i'm engaged in action but i have no acts to grind my only goal is god realization i'm not really doing it to enrich my the goal is not to enrich myself the goal is not to seek pleasure and so on the goal is guard realization so moving from dharmic action to karma yoga a deeper level of peace when i am working with this attitude of karma yoga there's a natural peace which comes you sleep happily somehow you are not entangled with the world anymore you can do a lot of work and it does it you can carry it very lightly i have seen this many times as monks last 20-25 years i've seen those who do it in the right spirit schools hospitals relief activities enormous some institutions dealing with hundreds of people difficult dealing with people of all sorts and pretty happy and relaxed and light so that is karma yoga so that's the kind deeper kind of peace an even deeper kind of peace comes when not just externally your karma yogi but internally the mind is given to god you think about god you read about god devotional attitude your your mind is pulled to god what he calls your match means mind the thoughts which come from moment to moment throughout the day many of them a lot of them are concerned with god with your ishta devata in some form you understand what i'm talking about bhakti that gives a lot of peace a higher level of peace beyond that is what he's talking about now that is at some time even devotional thoughts pure devotional thoughts even that ceases at least a couple of times in a day shut down everything in enjoy the deepest possible silence you're no entanglements with the world your attitude is altruistic and selfless mind is given in devotion to the supreme and then you shut it all down all those thoughts altruistic thoughts devotional thoughts everything shut down in meditation so that is the even deeper uh peace which is talking about prashanth there's something even deeper than this the the peace which comes from knowledge from ghana enlightenment that's higher than this also but here it is called prasantatma free of fear brahmacharya rates data so the commentator here says brahmacharya brothers means following the discipline of brahmacharya serving the teacher you know following the daily routine of a novice so that's a general sense of being a brahmacharya one who has taken the vows of brahmacharya being a spiritual novice specifically celibacy and that again would would be different from for a householder and different for a monastic brahmacari two words mind given to me matpara means considering me to be the highest these two things are these are these are two important clues of our attitude towards god majjitta means moment to moment i will think about god the thoughts which come to my mind what are they about are they about samsara or are they about god or the supreme self they are about god and supreme self it is match their mind turned inwards to the reality within in devotion to god or in knowledge focused on the witness consciousness beyond body and mind which i am then it is matjitta because what can happen otherwise is i make up my mind i am a spiritual seeker i am my goal is god realization that's the highest goal of of human life fine and then throughout the day are you how much time are you spending in thinking about god most of the time not most of the time i'm thinking about all sorts of other things and therefore when i sit down in meditation all those other things crowd into my mind the reverse should be true when we are in sitting in meditation all thought of samsara must be shut out that's why turianji says that you put a notice board on your chest which says no admission he literally meant it visualize it no admission not one thought about samsara about body about my personal life none of it will be admitted only my lord is admitted there that's it the ishta devata ishta mantra that is admitted there nothing else and this is something you have to do moment to moment because the distractions are coming moment to moment that is called matchita in that requires throughout the day also in some way to connect our activities our talk our thoughts throughout the day to god that's why karma yoga upasana these are very useful which keeps god as a kind of background hum throughout our day then it becomes much easier to meditate much easier to give our mind total to god during meditation the other way around mind is totally scattered in the totally scattered in the world throughout the day and then i try to withdraw and sit down in meditation difficult that's where the struggle happens the world will intrude what you have in immerse the mind in throughout the day that color the mind has taken and you will feel it in the time of meditation i have seen it um in many wonderful in the day-to-day lives of many wonderful monks how throughout the day in many ways they have evolved strategies in the long monastic life either they repeat the mantra they keep keep the pictures around them once in a while you know like a slight bow to takurama and or they take out a book and read it for two minutes or uh break the routine of the day by going to the temple a number of times specific number of times in a day whatever is going on a short visit to the prayer hall of the temple and sit for five minutes and come back something or the other they are keeping a background awareness of the ishta devata of the mantra alive so that in time of meditation it becomes quite easy so that is called matcha the movements of the mind cheetah movements of the mind must be concerned with god in some way with the easter devata with the mantra or vedantic analysis this is saying till you fall asleep always possible in vedanta till you fall asleep till you die keep spend your time in vedantic thoughts so till the point we fall off to sleep when we go to sleep till the time death comes keep your mind engaged in vedantic thought you can do that that is bhakjitta matpara means me that means god atman brahman whatever is your focus considering me to be the highest what i regard as the greatest the most supreme thing in my life both must go together how can um how is it possible for one to be there without the other as i said one might consider god realization to be the highest goal i agree totally but throughout the day i'm astonished and allowed to find i'm not thinking much about god or god realization so that matpara is there but machita is not there the other way around is also possible and shankaracharya here gives a slightly non-monastic example he says consider the case of a man who has fallen in love with a woman so his thoughts are continuously on the woman so much the thoughts are on that woman but he does not consider that woman to be the supreme so he gives an example he may consider the king to be the supreme power or he may consider god he says raja mahadeva you may consider god to be the supreme power but it should not be like that when you're meditating on god or on the atman keep your mind there and keep the conviction that this is the highest so these two go together i think we've run out of time more instructions are going to come about sleep about food all these things their comments alpana says while focusing on ishta if the image keeps changing in the mind observes eyes feet and spatial expression the mind focused or not yes it is focused it is focused in fact the guru will tell you you can rotate your attention see the secret to meditation is this tie the attention down in time space object so for this period of time for the next 30 minutes if you are used to meditating on the heart lotus say the next 30 minutes my mind will not leave the heart lotus this is the space it will stay there if that is too difficult you have a picture of sudama krishna for example or your chosen deity now my eyes my thought will not leave the frame of that picture it could move giving it freedom to move around in that picture but it will not go there there there or there mind will not go outside that picture think about mind going outside the picture means bringing in thoughts of something else other than that picture so you can use a external picture also in fact somebody said to the holy mother masharada that meditation is difficult for me mind keeps is is fickle keeps wondering so she said my child if you look at the picture of takur that is as good as meditation the time of meditation you just sit quietly and look at the picture of tucker it's as good as meditation this actual reproduction of the the body of an avatar and it is a very high state of samadhi himself said so that picture so that is keeping the mind fixed in space then keeping the mind fixed in time for the next 30 minutes starting now till that end of the 30 minutes the mind will not think of anything else except the mantra and the ishta devata this space mind will not go outside this space this time the mind will not think of anything else you have tied down the mind in time and space then tying down the mind in object so the image which you are visualizing and the mantra which you are repeating these are the objects to which the mind is tied down so description of it is very wonderful the reality which we are all seeking transcends time space and object desha caller there is no time when it is not it is always eternal there is no space where it is not to serve up there and there is nothing in this universe which it is not then why are you tying down the mind because you it is too difficult for us to think about it in that way if you cannot keep your mind as that if you try to think about it in that way infinite in time space and object then your mind itself will disappear only brahman will remain but if that is a far goal for all of us then you make a beginning by instead of scattering the mind in space in time among many objects lock it down in object lock it down in a period of time lock it down in a enclosement of space this is the technology of meditation bindu says holy mother is the gays in the photo that you're talking about yes in i think almost all her photos um yesterday was seeing photos of ananda mahima you know my mom who was there she was a very simple lady from east bengal a devotee of krishna but extraordinary i don't know much about her little bit i've read i was looking at the photos many of her photos very very obviously there's no you don't even have to make an effort just look at her eyes many of the photos you will see the eyes of a god realized saint and sort of effortlessly shining forth and she had that ability to you know easily move between non-dualism and dualism somebody asked her that uh ghana and bhakti many of these dialogues are actually recorded you can hear them and in very simple bengali she talks simple bengali accented hindi and she talks she says she was asked is gana and bhakti the same he says yes of course because the object the the that which you are trying to catch hold of is the same and therefore gana and bhakti are the same and then she says look at how perceptive she says if you do not catch a hold of the object then the ghana and bhakti become very different if you if you catch hold of that object call it god or atman then bhakti are the same you can see that in two different ways you are enjoying the same thing if you miss that object then the two paths are very different she says he says they will become different then and i noticed in most of her questions and answers she is established in non-dualism and bhakti at the same time very easily sort of overflowing with a childlike simple joy radiance sweetness which is which is what attracted most people but with the flame of non-duality burning very clearly inside she keeps saying but there's my child there are not two there's always that one our professor and chakravarthy met her a long time ago he had accompanied his guru the great sadhu sitharam dasankarnath who had gone to meet anandamayama so during her lifetime many of the greatest spiritual teachers both within hinduism outside also they came to meet her so uh ananda maimaa said baba do near to dunya dunya the word so this is a play you find in bengali hindi you can understand but it's difficult to translate into english dunya literally means samsara the word but she makes a play on words dunya do means to where there is two there is samsara you give up the two no no samsara uh yeah but you're right that gaze you see in mashaarada you can see in the pictures of the photos of ananda my mouth i met this great scholar about 20 years ago i don't think he's alive anymore govinda gopal a very great scholar used to visit our ramakrishna ashram in gold park in calcutta so there was a conference on spiritual experience on samadhi and spiritual experience like that and he was this very impressive speaker he was in his eighties and a booming voice you know a voice which does not require a microphone so when it was his turn to speak till that time we talked about with all the scholars and the presenters were talking about samadhi and spiritual experience you know psychology of it the philosophy of it you know we're talking very abstruse terms and he said he came he's he started off he's saying no abstraction most vivid physical reality of god experience that one you the world today knows as in the booming voice world today knows as anandam ima i was a child i played in her lap day in and day out i saw her she would feed me i would bathe me as as she was a little kid he was their neighbor when they were in bangladesh and on and off i saw her going into samadhi into ecstatic states just spontaneously so for me all these things you are talking about here none of none of it is at all abstract or abstruse or subtle it's it's a vivid concrete reality for me and he said it the old man said it with so much conviction i uh i still remember that then sudhir is saying for householders spiritual practice brings dispassion towards the world and world schools which leads to no action for personal gain in conflict with family goals how do you balance duties versus spiritual growth as a spiritual house householder it may be a little difficult but you consider whatever you do like a job uh accumulating money maintaining your property your house educating your children all of this can be done as a spiritual practice it makes a it requires an internal shift a paradigm shift i am not doing these things for gratification by these things i will be fulfilled and happy i know it will not work nobody till today has ever become fulfilled by these things one may if you lead a good moral active householders life you reach some kind of fulfillment but no absolute fulfillment it's not possible in samsara but absolute fulfillment is possible in enlightenment in god realization so i convert those activities see if arjuna could convert warfare into karma yoga that's the worst nastiest form of human activity then we can convert any of our duties duties are always moral none of the duties are immoral so you can convert them into spiritual practice internal shift is required and time swami vivekananda says the ancient monarchs who were absolute monarchs with tremendous responsibilities and tensions and all you know they found time for this philosophy compared to them uh we have we have enormous amounts of time just excuse to say that we don't have time if we wanted why only five ideas we can put 50 ideals into practice in our lives if we want then so somebody rick has shared a picture on the mind yes you see this if you click on that and if you see the expression in the face you will see especially the eyes you see the eyes are not centered they're open but they're not seeing anything in the world outside they're completely it shows an inward gaze this is what suramar krishna called like the bird sitting on its uh on his eggs the eyes are open but not gazing at anything particularly why i mentioned her particularly that i've seen it in many other cases also but her particularly because it's so many pictures are available and and it's so very obvious in her case then paramam say yogananda met her many others then vishwanathan says regarding consider me as the highest when we are in the world day-to-day activities we tend to forget this and give overwhelming importance to worldly concerns how can one build this conviction keep it in your heart somebody said when you take care of a child like a baby you are doing so many things you are cleaning the clothes you are preparing food you you're setting up the house making it baby proof so many activities which need to be done so well but the heart is with the baby the mind has to be given to this kind of work but the heart can remain with uh with god so the purpose of all of this work you have changed the purpose of all the activities which demand your full attention i understand when you are doing a demanding job in your corporate life or in your in your medical profession it demands attention energy time and you have nothing left over for anything else fine but be clear that that is your puja that is the worship that you are giving up to the lord the purpose of that is god realization keep your mind on the means but understand that the end is you made up your mind that the end is god realization very good and practically at least a couple of times in a day to withdraw from all activities and say you know one swami madhuji who was the general secretary and later president of our orders was very practical practical spirituality you had to learn from him he said work is worship is fine but that's a very high thing first work and worship so take worship seriously give time energy space now this is worship time and work then next level will be work as worship and only finally ultimately work is worship you seeing brahman everywhere that is that's the highest all right so work and worship work as worship work is worship um namaste