Video 90

90. Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 7 Verses 1-2 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] [Music] guru giant is our co-host this evening and he will let in people as they come in and also you can give your comments and questions in the chat box which we will look at first and raise your hands if you want to interact directly all right so we have completed chapter six before i start chapter seven i'll just make um an observation the bhagavad gita has 18 chapters and so it is customary in the vedanta tradition to divide these 18 chapters into three groups of six chapters each in sanskrit a group of six is called shatakam like nirvanakam [Music] because there are six verses in nirvana so like that three shutter comes that means three groups of six or three sets of six chapters chapter 1 to 6 is the first set then chapter 7 to 12 is the second set and chapter 13 to 18 is the third set what is the importance or significance of these sets well in our tradition in advaita vedanta tradition these are supposed to represent the mahavakya masih we know then advaita vedanta the whole of the teaching can actually be reduced to one sentence and that is that thou art you are the ultimate reality now that sentence which is taken from the uh chandung gyopaniship sixth chapter of the chant of gupanishin which is called a mahabhakya this has three words one is tat that the other one is you and i see which is an identity you are that now you here refers to the individual like you or me and or anybody else here the individual being that refers here to god to saguna brahman ishwara the god which is worshipped in religion and is asi means is is a is an equivalence and not equivalence is identity actually it says you and god are identical and when you put it like that that sentence is very paradoxical very obviously i am not identical to god if you say i am the servant of the lord all right i understand i am the child of the lord i understand i am a part of the of the divine whole all right that also seems reasonable but i am god literally identically you are god and god is you that's it when i say tattoo you are god it literally means you are nothing but god and god is you that means other than you there is no brahma vishnu maheshwara there is no god in the father in heaven no allah nothing it is it is actually you so it's a very stunning and paradoxical statement now those of us we have studied um how to analyze this statement we have seen in vedanta for example there's a whole detailed discussion in fact the whole of vedanta is a build up to the analysis of this statement meaning analysis of the meaning of the mahavakya there we of course see the solution to this paradox that it's not actually a paradox we we are first we investigate who am i and we realize i'm actually not the body not the mind if i'm not the body and the mind then i'm not this limited personality this limited personality i'm a man or a woman this person indian or american white or brown or black all of this is body uh happy person sad person intelligent learned um you know mediocre talented it's all that is mind so all those things are there but beyond that illumining all of that is this witness consciousness which i am so this will be the result of the analysis of of of you this is called in the classical vedanta vedanta and there are procedures for this analysis procedures like drink drishya viveka the discernment of the seer and the scene or procedure like pancha kosha viveka the analysis investigation into the five levels of our personality or avast raya vichara the investigation into this three states of waking dreaming deep sleep all of that is uh analysis of what we are of course along with that in traditional vedantic teaching the tata the analysis of what is god is also done so ultimately we will see what is god also is nothing other than that one pure consciousness one limitless consciousness associated with a fragment of maya with a little bit of the darkness of ignorance is us the individual sentient being that one infinite consciousness associated with the entire gamut the whole spectrum of the power of maya is god ishwara but that one underlying consciousness is exactly the same we are not part of it or that is not the whole we are not part no you are that limitless consciousness and that limitless consciousness is exactly you so this is the meaning now how is it related to the bhagavad gita the tradition holds that the first six chapters are whether where is this term you not in an ordinary sentence in that thou art or you are that in in that sentence that is chapter 1 to 6. then chapter 7 to 12 concentrates on tat god ishwara sagun abram and brahman with attributes the god of religion the god who is shiva or vishnu or the divine mother durga kali mahalakshmi is is the god of muslims the god of the christians the god of the of the jews of the zoroastrians all the theistic religions they worship god and that god is is meant by their term that so that is from chapter 7 to chapter 12 deals with that god and then chapter 13 to 18 is mainly concerned with establishing the identity of that thou art that that identity you are that so this is how the gita is viewed this is one paradigm i am you might notice i'm not directly saying it i'm just saying the tradition holds this this is how it can be seen this is a paradigm um because it is it's a general statement it's not exactly true so for example in the first six chapters definitely the emphasis was on self-inquiry no doubt about it in the first six chapters we saw krishna telling arjuna about who he really is not this person arjuna but the atma in the second chapter the nature of the atman the self it is neither born nor does it die it is not an object not an object of knowledge it is the subject the pure consciousness it is not the doer it is not the the sufferer of the results of karma all of this was discussed was stated straight away by krishna when he first started teaching he taught the direct truth about the atman also practices which are necessary for the self-inquiry those were also taught specifically karma yoga karma yoga is very important for purification of the mind the sri krishna gave enormous importance of karma yoga in the second chapter third chapter you know fourth chapter so gyani yoga was taught karma yoga was taught and in the sixth chapter we saw dhyana yoga raja yoga start and the emphasis all along all throughout you can see a broad emphasis on analysis of the self who am i enquiry or in the terms of the the great statement that thou art the concentration is on thou you but but you can also point out didn't krishna reveal himself as the avatar god and the incarnation of god all that has already been mentioned so it is it is true um even bhakti god avatar all these things have also also been mentioned in the first six chapters in the second um set of six chapters 7 to 12 you will see the emphasis will be on god so from right away from the beginning of the seventh chapter suddenly you'll see a theme has shifted it's no longer meditation on the witness consciousness now meditation on god krishna says i am the god of the universe i'm an incarnation of god and in my nature as a god of the universe i am the creator preserver destroyer of all of the universe and by meditation upon me and devotion to me you will attain to the goal of human life so immediately god is introduced the powers of god are introduced the glories of god are introduced then the practice you'll see the practice will not shift earlier what was the practice emphasis was on karma yoga on vedanta inquiry nature of atma on meditation now the practice will be devotion bhakti in fact one full chapter 12th chapter will be bhakti only the superiority of bhakti over all other practices so 7 to 12 is [Music] discussion of the discussion of god and then from 13 to 18 again the core vedantic truth that you are actually pure consciousness god is also actually pure consciousness and in that sense you are one and many many other topics will be discussed so just to say that chapter 13 to 18 is only about you are god that identity not really so things like exercise and food and sleep and and different natures of you know rajasik tamasik satwik people uh the asura deva the demoniac type the the godly type all those things will be discussed morals and ethical life all those things will be discussed so vast amount of material will be covered in the last six chapters that's what we have got right now we have got god and devotion to god surrender to god the power of the grace of god so very important thing kripa i'll take praveer babu's question and then i'll deal with the question is it necessary is worship of god is faith in god necessary just today somebody was asking me just a little while ago somebody was very committed to advaita vedanta and was asking is it actually necessary to you know be devoted to god or believe in god and all that all right prabhupada all right i want to ask you you have to understand one second sorry sorry yes uh we just finished the chapter on meditation where does shavana manana did that not fit into what we just studied it is from i'm answering from an advaitic paradigm yeah that's what i wanted because we studied meditation in our approach also so i'm just trying to it's the same thing what actually krishna means here in the sixth chapter is actually vedantic after ascertaining the nature of the self in the second chapter talking about the purifying effect of karma yoga then you sit down and stay with it and how do you do that vedantic needed hassan i start in sixth chapter again i am giving an advaithic interpretation to the whole thing yes good now and that's also an interesting thing the meditation that in sixth chapter you start is advaitic needed hassan you know i am the witness consciousness stay with it but from now on the practices will talk about a devotion to god and meditation on god on the form of god on the name of god which many of us we have been initiated ishta devata ishta mantra all those things will be in this next six chapters now is it necessary i have mentioned earlier also broadly speaking there are two kinds of religion by religion here i mean the higher spirituality there are two approaches to being spiritual one is the that oriented approach and the other one is the thou oriented approach the that oriented approach and the tum oriented approach the thought oriented approach means and each of them has its um likes is it is positive and negative points and all of us who are sitting here our tendencies are more or less towards one side or the other you will see right now you will be able to identify um the touch oriented religions are the theistic religions god based religions examples are christianity are most obviously here very close to christmas judaism islam so all the abrahamic religions are god oriented religions and in fact that is so common here in the west that people think that is religion so what else could be religion but in india we know that there can be an entirely different kind of religion which is not god based at all you see buddhism immediately comes to mind they either have no interest in god do not talk about god or are actively they say that there is no such thing as god so it's not a god based religion and not buddhism is not a unique thing and there is jainism jainism is not a god based religion and within hinduism sankhya the sankey philosophy is not god based even the philosophy no sorry even the yoga philosophy which talks about ishwara that ishwar is not the ishwar of of you know theistic religions or the ishwara vedanta also that ishwara in yoga is not the creator preserver destroyer of the world it is a powerful enlightened being who can help us towards enlightenment that much in yoga philosophy so there are strong traditions within hinduism which are non-theistic so there are two kinds of approaches possible one is around the theistic god-centered approach one characteristic of the god-centered approach is their devotional and you will see it is easy to identify there will be temples churches mosques synagogues there will be songs and recitations and worship lots of ritual food and nice music all of that is there i'm making very broad statements general statements if you contrast it with the non-theistic religions like buddhism jainism you will find there is a tendency towards in buddhism jainism not so much you know external observances as a tendency towards meditation for example uh philosophical discussion for example they're more introverted kind of path of religion again general observance you said swami haven't you seen the magnificent chinese buddhist temples of course there are so all of these over thousands of years they have become very popular practices so there is a you know there is a demand in the human heart for ritual and some place for prayer so god is removed and buddha is put in the garden plain god's place so that happens but in general you will see i'm making a general statement here and you'll see the two kinds of people take to it i have seen so the young monks whom i used to teach so imagine so these are people who have come only for spirituality now there also you see two different kinds one kind was very fond of going to the temple of sri ramakrishna the wonderful uh you know the bhajans and kitans some loved doing the puja they were very devotional you would see the care with which they decorated their own personal set of pictures of takurma so that is a devotional approach it is something from the heart that pulls them and there is another group who would do all that but you can see primarily they would be always buzzing around the library and they would be sitting for long hours in meditation they would be most active in the vedanta classes and you know asking questions and arguing with each other that's another kind of approach self-inquiry if you ask and i sometimes did those young men why have you come what are you trying to do here being a monk some would say i've come for god realization good others would say that i have come from self-realization who am i it's what about god well god is nice good i'm really i'll be very glad to meet him i'm joking but their attitude was really they are interested in this who am i into what am i what exactly am i um so these are the two kinds and if we look at ourselves we'll see we are most of us will be a mix of both uh but we'll clearly have a tendency towards one or the other and i suspect i suspect because you're all here in a vedanta class bhagavad-gita class in vedanta class it is quite possible that you are more on the self-inquiry path than the purely devotional path though it's a bhagavad-gita class so bhagavad-gita is also fully devotional so a person who is completely a devotee also can be happily in the bhagavad-gita class but i would suspect more the wednesday classes and the um you know the upanishads and vedantas are you tend to attract more of the self-enquiry type of personality they have their advantages and disadvantages i'll touch upon it quickly and move on to the new chapter what are the advantages and disadvantages um the that centered religion god-centered religion god based religion has one huge disadvantage huge disadvantage is it's based on faith on belief so ultimately of course you can have god realization and mystical experiences of god it's all possible but that's the end of the road you can't begin with that you have to begin with faith and for a long time your path in religion has to be sustained by belief by faith if you start by questioning and start by asking awkward questions it won't work that's why in this country notice so interesting religion is called faith religion is called faith it's used as synonyms in usa what is your faith that seems reasonable to ask but it's not a reasonable thing to ask if you are following sankhya or advaita what is your faith it's not a faith as such so the big problem with the path of belief in god is it is belief if you have it good but the problem with having it also is that it can be attacked and it can be attacked from outside it can be attacked from inside that i've heard it sometimes i prayed and prayed and prayed and then something very bad happened or what i wanted did not happen now i don't believe in those things anymore god made me happy i believe in god god made me sad i no longer believe in god god is fired from his position here he was supposed to make my life better didn't poor performance laid off so that what happened if internally itself i lost my faith in god i lost belief in god so you can't that thing happened in say vedanta or in sankhya it can't if i'm happy good the same awareness is revealing the happiness if i'm miserable okay what can i do same awareness is revealing the misery i can't deny a fact whether it doesn't depend on my opinion it does not depend on my mood it does not depend on which book if i read a new book with new theories it still is the same consciousness which reveals this book and its theories it's undeniable fact so faith-based that's the problem whereas that problem is not there for example in the self-inquiry-based religions like buddhism for example or sankhya um in in those religions in the self-inquiry-based religion nobody ever doubts do i exist in the god-based religions you can always question does god exist prove the existence of god one of the greatest endeavors in all the devotional religions all the dualistic religions of the world you will always find there will be theologians and philosophers who have struggled and struggled to prove the existence of god not with much success but the very struggle the very effort shows that is always an anxiety about it always if you have seriously committed yourself to religion then you will always be anxious am i following something real or is it just a heritage maybe the atheists are right maybe richard dawkins is right maybe what's his name christopher hitchens or daniel dennett or sam harris they're right maybe there's no god am i on a fool's errand the dead doubt anxiety will always be there and you will find thomas aquinas who gives the five proofs of the existence of god in christian theology the great nayaka hindu logician udayana arguing against the buddhists who are attacking his concept of god gives nine proofs of the existence of god and so on this very attempt to continuously struggle and trying to reason and establish god through reason is shows the anxiety that it is always subject to doubt not only that even more serious you are [Music] when you are pursuing say a seriously a spiritual path based on faith and only on faith then even at an advanced level you may still get tormented by doubts sometimes you'll feel the presence of god and you'll be filled and you'll feel sublime sometimes that presence will be withdrawn you see it in the records of the mystics all the time i feel of emptiness a vacuum a darkness mother teresa's last records i pray and pray and pray there is only silence in return how terrible it can be you know after a lifetime of devotion suddenly you feel that not that she actually lost faith or anything like that but one goes through these phases these tremendous ups and downs you can't do that for example once you have raise as much doubt as you can about the existence of atma brahma consciousness it is by consciousness alone that doubt will be revealed the very doubting will prove that consciousness exists about the nature of consciousness see even there one may doubt the infinite consciousness without beginning an end unchangeable that is a matter of faith no no no it's a matter of understanding all right so this is the problem with the faith-based approach with the self-inquiry based approach this problem is not there because nobody seriously doubts whether i exist or not nobody in fact my own existence is the problem i exist and i have a hundred one one problems and that's why i have come to spiritual life i have so many problems i am miserable my relationships are giving me sadness i am poor i am sick i'm getting old i'm lonely um stock market is crashing omicron is coming so many things these are all my friends clearly i exist it would have been a blessing if i did not exist but i surely do exist because it's all these problems are proving my existence so my existence is not in doubt this path is not open to doubt in fact the existence itself is is the problem here all right but the path of faith god based approach has an advantage which this other approach does not god if god exists god has no problem we will just see from the next seven six chapters god is extraordinary omniscient omnipotent omnipresent god is full of glories god has no problem at all god's existence is an entirely problem free glorious existence if god exists we exist without any doubt but our existence is beset with problems now what advaita vedanta does is this i'll bring in advaita vedante what advaita vedanta does is it says your existence in god's existence are one and the same thing you are that reality so the beauty of this approach is it takes the indubitable absolute certainty of your own existence and combines it with the infinitude of god's existence so you have an absolutely certain indebtable unshakable infinite existence if you think about it it's a stunning achievement you have to appreciate the dualistic approach devotional approaches the buddhistic approach sankian approach and then see the genius of the advertising what does advaita do in all its methods the waking dreaming deep sleep analysis seer and seeing discernment first it isolates you in your real nature witness consciousness then it shows you the infinitude of that witness consciousness and the problem-free nature of that witness consciousness that is freedom um [Music] all right now is it necessary then the seventh uh the seventh chapter to 12th chapter devotion is it necessary but let me say first of all necessary or not not necessarily we'd see next but first of all it is definitely a pla a part of classical advaita vedanta in every text of classical advaita vedanta more or less ishwara will make an appearance and devotion to ishwara will be taught upasana the worship of ishvara will be taught the importance of the grace of ishwara the most radical radical text of non-dualism which seems to have no place for god or world or anything just even more than ashtavakra is the avadhuta gita and it's the first verse of the abu dhabi is is it is by the special grace of ishwara that we have individual seekers we have this desire for advaitha this liking for non-duality where does it come from it come by comes by a special grace of god it is a great great blessing to have the liking for non-duality so worship of ishvara belief in god faith in god is certainly a part of advaita vedanta traditional advaita vedanta in all the advaitha matters the monasteries you go you will find a worship of generally a worship of shiva in kailash ashram afghan which is this is like a stronghold of non-dual philosophy in the himalayas daily morning two things are compulsory there two things are compulsory if you go and stay there one is early in the morning you will come for the mangalority of of uh abhinava chandraishvara the shiva who is worshipped in the clash room and the second thing compulsory is you must attend the classes there without the classes you must turn up for class otherwise you're not allowed to stay in the ashram turn up for the worship of shiva turn up for the class food is uh optional if you they know you're going to turn up for food anyway so it is part of classical advaita vedanta shankara is shankaracharya himself is the source of some of the most sublime devotional hymns in hinduism we have this tavananjali collection of sanskrit hymns published by our ram krishna mission i was one day seeing hymns for last five thousand years a five thousand year old religious culture all the collections of the hymns there worships of various gods and goddesses they're all forms of sagunabram ishwara fully one-third of the hymns written by one man in five thousand years of religious literature the best ones have been picked out and out of the best ones one-third are by one person shankaracharya the great non-dualist worship of divine mother durga kali worship of shiva of vishnu of rama of krishna of ganga so all of them the beautiful hymns have been written bashankaracharya so traditionally advaita vedanta fully accepts supports encourages the worship of saguna brahman ishwara all right still the question persists you are avoiding if i push hard swami will you say is it absolutely necessary to have a belief in god for becoming enlightened in the non-dual philosophy of advaita vedanta i have to be honest and say no you need not your self-inquiry itself can lead you to enlightenment after all if religions like buddhism or jainism can lead to enlightenment without taking the help of god i mean without belief in god so it should be possible so it is possible and for those of you who have an objection i don't like all this god stuff so they need not go through holding on to the god paradigm the view of sriram krishna swami vivekananda is very clear nothing is rejected all of it is taken and the belief in god yes it is belief yes it is faith it is devotion it is highly recommended he said how can you recommend belief if i don't i believe if just by recommending will i start believing you can try you can you can start mechanically doing you will see very soon how it becomes an integral part of your life a little worship a little devotional music a little just even mechanically also mantra of ishta devata you'll see very soon it will become a very precious part of your life and daily routine all right that's all um let me make a beginning i think their comments are already there the seventh chapter uh it is called gyana vigna yoga the yoga of knowledge and special knowledge gyana and vidyana so how can i translate beyond a special knowledge or higher knowledge supreme knowledge sri bhagavan [Music] so the blessed lord said listen how with the mind intent on me taking refuge in me and practicing yoga o partha arjuna you will know me in full free from doubt straight away coming to the point god and god is himself saying worship me right away beginning of the seventh chapter um keeping your mind a keep the seeker keeps his or her mind on god and this has two components one is one must make a firm resolution guard realization is my goal what is my purpose in life you see is it the world or is it god one sadhu nicely used to say bhava bhata very difficult to translate means your attitude it means what you really want you really really want in life not your christmas list inside what pulls you um what is your tendency yeah this swami has passed i can take his name ramananda saraswati so is to say in every human being there are three streams three streams karmadhara janadhara three streams the stream of action the stream of knowledge and the stream of power i'm not translating power power just the tendency very nature of a person what is karma dhara that's what you do are you an engineer are you a homemaker are you a teacher what do you do karma dhara dhara what you know so this swami used to say i have no interest in knowing what you do in life people used to go to him you know i'm an engineer or i work here or i do this he would say i'm going to spin i have no interest i have no interest even in knowing what you know what degrees you've got or even if you've attended all vedanta classes you've got a whole vedanta library and memorized so many things um that also i don't want to know what you know i also that also i'm not interested tell me what is your intent within so maya sakta manapatha where your mind is flowing naturally what does it want in our deepest moments secret moments let it go and see not once or twice many thoughts can come lot of rubbish may come up all the time in general where is it going what does it really hanker after in life so they'll definitely be worldly things for all of us you'll see it will be a mixture we really really want to be spiritual but we really want certain things in the world to be nicer or better but that spiritual part must be there that is power and they say the saying is whatever one's bhava is that one will be that one will get in this life and next life won the world you'll get the world you want god you will get god and these beautiful stories about it also um that um let me give the two meanings of uh maya saktaman and they'll tell you the story one meaning is subhava what does one really want make up your mind i am all about god realization that is one part of it the second part of keeping your mind on me krishna says is that yes you've made up your mind that god realization is your goal but from moment to moment day to day where is your mind what are you thinking about i my aim is guard realization but what am i thinking about oh the paying the bills collecting donations for the ashram and you know what what the next meal is going to come from if this is the thing that you you are your aim is god realization we are thinking about the world so not only your aim should be god realization bob but your day day-to-day thinking should mostly flow towards god and that will happen if the power is really there if i really want something not only will i work towards it not only will it be my goal but i'll keep thinking about it also where you are where treasure is there your heart will be also jesus says no man can worship god and mammon together god and world you can't worship them together where your treasure is there your heart will be so if my treasure i think these things in the world are my treasure this is what i have really achieved in the world then my heart will be there not so much with god even god will be employed to protect this thing the other way out if i love god and i want god all of what i have in life will be there to help me to go god words and the loss of things in the world is also no no problem for me often it's a great freedom okay couple of stories this bhava there's one story we'll do i think um this is the story you know we're coming to the birthday of masha'allah the holy mother sardar devi so the story is about her birth place there is an ashram in a remote village in bengal called jairambati that's where she was born now a monk there told me the story that long ago when he was a young newcomer to the monastery there used to be a sweeper a very humble old man who would come and sweep the ashram and work and then go very quiet when he was old and not very well able to uh able to work the monks in the ashram told him um you need not come go take rest in at your home and we'll send you the your pension yeah it's difficult for you and you're not doing maybe anywhere doing a good job of it then that old man told a very touching story he said i am not doing it for the money you give me oh good swamis you know why i'm doing it long long ago he was a very old man long long ago long before you were born i used to come here and play in this place this was the mother's house she was here at that time i used to watch from a distance they were too shy to go up to her and all these big people used to come from calcutta devotees and they would come and their mother would initiate them some of them would get extraordinary experiences you know visions of god or ecstasies and i would watch so one day i you know got up enough courage when the mother was sitting alone i went up to her and said mother won't i get anything then she said to me immediately she took it seriously she said to me why won't you my dear you do one thing you do what you are doing he he used to uh sweep the uh ashram and you know maybe his father was also a sweeper so he used to come with his father or something you do what you're doing keep coming and keep keep doing that that's all and you will get everything and then he said swami that is what i have been doing all my life i believed her and i've been doing it all my life and i do it for her so many decades ago this old lady asked me to do it and that's why i'm doing it not for your your salary or your money that you gave me so as long as he was able to work he worked this month told me one day he did not come and his daughter came and she started sweeping the ashram and they asked her what happened to your father he's too sick he's dying he cannot get up so the monks said that we'll go and visit him and they visited him in his humble little hut and his passing was so remarkable he had a vision of the divine mother at the moment of death and he said mother you have not forgotten me you promised you have come for me and he said don't you all see she has come put put a like asan means a mat for sitting anyway nobody else saw that of course but he could see and he passed that is bhava what is the karma dhara what is the action does he is doing very humble very mean thing just sweeping what is his gyanadhara the stream of knowledge hardly anything i i suspect he was maybe a school dropout or an illiterate but his bhava was i want god realization even as a child he asks the mother not for sweets which all the calcutta people were bringing as a child he could have asked that not for money not for a nice dhoti he asks for god as a little child what a remarkable thing and she gives him the sadhana and what is the spiritual practice not see her and seeing the five levels of being or the waking dreaming deep sleep or nirvikalpa samadhi um no you sweep the you know the dust away from from the front of the temple that's all so it's an important lesson god does not depend on our techniques so all that we will see soon um [Music] alright one more story came to my mind it's related to this there was in calcutta when the mother went to calcutta when she stayed there one young man who would come and help in the ashram there i forget his name his name was probably chandra but anyway so this young man was very simple every day and he really served the holy mother a lot and you do a lot of work in the ashram every day he would go upstairs and after the holy mother finished her puja she would offer him sandesh you know the bengali milk sweet sundish he would offer that to him which was offered in as in the puja and it was prasad and he would ask for that shandesh and he would take the sandwich and come down happily munching it now the monks there teased him no end one monk said oh what a fool you are you're getting this tremendous opportunity to serve the holy mother look we are all here for for you know enlightenment god realization we're doing so many spiritual practices but she can give you that straight away and you are such a fool you keep asking for a sundash for a sweet just ask her for enlightenment for guard realization and uh the story is so stunning you know so he decides all right i'll do that if i ask her will she give it to me of course so they you know they put him up to it the next day he went up and uh he was standing there as she finished the puja and he he says later as he climbed the stairs that day everything was different he says my heart was pounding and my hands and feet became cold and i stood there i couldn't say anything she looked at me and she said yes what do you want and he said i couldn't say anything and she said softly what do you want my child tell me and he said sandish and she gave him that little sweet and he ran out he literally ran away from there in fear see he couldn't ask so of course he had full blessings of the mother he served the mother so much i'm sure he would have become enlightened but the remarkable thing about that little boy he asks for god realization as a little boy just like naji keta you know you reminded me to do the cut openish like that so this is the maya sakta yogam yunjan ah so we've taken refuge in god we don't have to do any practice he said no you have to do all the practices all the yogas practicing yoga which yoga all the yogas have taught you do your karma yoga do your regular meditation and study your vedanta and one more thing he's adding so he's then what's new here he's adding the next new thing powerful madashraya take refuge in me it's something that uh we often make a mistake about either we are very eager we'll learn this technique we'll go to that swami we'll attend that youtube lecture or that seminar and we'll amass so many notes and um and recordings and techniques and they're up and doing good but we forget the the hidden factor god it all ultimately depends on god's grace so that's one big mistake we make we forget god's grace the other mistake is a kind of laziness it all depends on god's grace and it doesn't really matter what i do no it does because krishna himself is saying very clearly yogam yunjan at the very least this indicates your intention you are trying means you are in you are showing god that you want god don't try nothing knock and it shall be opened but you have to knock so yoga my please practice your spiritual disciplines but also madasha are taking refuge in god all along everything you offer it back to god because everything that we get out of the spiritual practices is only by the grace of god nothing is possible without the grace of god even the greatest of practices will ultimately give results only by the grace of god there was um a monk in banaras when swami turian anandaji was there therein's old age in the in the hospital there so there's a reminiscence about him that a monk not a monk belonging to our order he was somebody who stayed in a little hut by the bank of the ganga so this monk very austere he was highly regarded among the monks for his severe austerities his extreme renunciation he is his tremendous self-control he was a mounie he would never speak he would never speak he would never go anywhere except that he would come to swami turiyan he would go to the temple of shiva but he would come to swami thuriyananda who was not even a monk of his order so the swami and the swami swami turian they loved this monk a lot this quiet austere uh monk a lot and there's a beautiful description of uh him this monk sitting at the feet of swami turiyananda not speaking he would not speak to anybody not even swami theory on and it is so touching his hands are out like this he is asking for something he knows swami turiyananda can give it to him and swami toriyama with great compassion he says my child you have done so much now leave it learn to leave it to the divine mother see that's one lesson he would not accept okay you know i've done it so this result i will get and he's clear i'm doing so much more than everybody else but swami turiyananda says one more thing he says you have done so much my child i agree but now leave it to the divine mother this madashayas the grace of god assam shayam samagram yathagasyasi so beyond any doubt totality you will learn totality means what here um it means shankara and also mothers who the number of commentators have said so the the god of religion krishna who's the incarnation of that god or vishnu whatever the god of religion you will get my vision and you will also realize that you are brahmana the highest realization both you will realize by my grace this is the importance of worshiping saguna brahman saguna brahman has the power to remove the obstacles which stand between us and enlightenment all the knowledge is given to us you attend you take anyone without the textbook something as small as grigrishav whatever you need to know has been given there then why are we not enlightened yet the problem does not lie in the knowledge problem hopefully does not lie in the teacher also the problem lies in our own men in mind in our sukhmari in our mind that has that is cleared up by uh ishwar by ishwara's grace takes a little bit of time a little bit of effort again jesus says it best he says that my burden my yoke is light come ye all that are heavy laden in samsara you are under great burden shake it up take it off means it will all be there but now you all surrendered it to god come and take refuge in god and god says i will also put a burden on you i'll put a yoke on you but you'll be a light yolk there'll be something that you'll have to do for god for god means god doesn't need our service at all it's our purification will be done it will be our sadhana and he says that will be a very light thing compared to the struggle you are in in samsara and then sama gram whole thing you will get you will get the vision of god you will feel the presence of god like any devotee any bhakta and you will ultimately get enlightenment i am brahmana both you will get by my grace he says how he says that's a very good advertisement for this chapter he said i'm going to tell you that now how all this is going to happen verse number 2 we'll do this much [Music] i shall tell you without reserve about this knowledge jana together with realization bikiana knowing which there remains nothing further to be known here so i'm going to tell you guyana knowledge beyond a special knowledge supreme knowledge higher knowledge and after this nothing more will remain to be known this is the final thing it's a very beautiful verse and this is where the chapter has taken its name yoga this chapter is called the chapter the yoga of ghana and vigna knowledge and supreme knowledge what is this knowledge and supreme knowledge there is the difficulty if you go to the commentators there are various commentaries shankaracharya sridhar swami they are very clear guyana here knowledge means that which comes from the study of the scriptures shastra you go to a teacher study the upanishads the gita the various texts of vedanta brahmasutras and so on you will get a general understanding of who am i the ultimate reality that is ghana but to make it a living realization chankaracharya says anubhava that is called the direct living realization i am brahman brahmasmi infinite existence consciousness is brahman great no you have missed it what is meant there is infinite consciousness existence i am infinite consciousness existence is meant for you you are that infinite existence consciousness you do not die you are not born you do not die you are one in all bodies and minds that that extraordinary radiant being you already are and all this sounds fantastic um you know like science fiction or fantasy or something the fact that it sounds like science fiction fantasy to us is is shows us it is not a living reality for us yet for an enlightened person and say yes the bright smiled person would say yes of course it is true it's true of me it's true of you also the only difference enlightenment makes is the enlightened person will say i know it and you do not that does not make you any less god than i am one divinity everywhere realizing which nothing more remains to be realized once you realize that then you see everything else in this universe is an appearance in that one consciousness if after realizing that don't i need to know how to cook and go to science class to learn science and uh how to treat the kovid virus yes all those things one learns on the viva transactional plane but that it is a transactional plane that it is the plane of appearance that it is the plane of the movie that becomes clear and that the reality is not affected by all of this and you are that reality that becomes very clear life will go on yes you will treat the kobit virus you will cook your next meal fine you will do it with great joy because those are all appearances manifestations of god alone it's a wonderful thing it's not that your life will become boring oh i know everything to be known there's nothing more to be known can i cancel my library membership no that's not what is meant here in the transactional plane life continue as it is but you have known the reality behind it and that makes a huge huge difference you have known that it's not a nightmare it's a lucid dream i mean it's it's not a real thing not a real tragedy it's like a lucid dream or it's like a movie it's like a work of art or fiction and you are the reality there so at a deep level your problems will be solved completely then this little drama of this one little particular life you can lead out live out happily the body is aging wonderful body is sick and dying can you say wonderful when the body is sick and then yes i know of you know highly spiritual people who found it fun when the body is sickening literally on the verge of death they burst out laughing and the attendant is telling this the monk who is laughing like that he said swami don't do that you must tell the doctor where it hurts otherwise the doctors can't if you're giggling the doctors can't teach you i can't treat you they won't understand what to do he said isn't it hurting bed source you know the point of death they're cleaning the bedsores yeah so isn't it hurting and he says yes of course it's hurting it's actually hurting it's burning terribly and why are you giggling it is such great fun like srirama krishna this is great fun he didn't say the harimath saw him and i see that you are in great fun that means so much pain so both are true equally true no no no the spiritual truth that you are brahman that is the truth this is the rest of it the pleasure and the pain just the play just the movie just the work of art for you don't tell others a person who is not enlightened who is suffering don't tell him it's a work of art that you're suffering that is that's crazy the enlightened person will always have tremendous sympathy just look at the lives of the saints they have tremendous empathy for everybody one more thing point and i'm done this ghana and vigna as i said there are multiple interpretations sri ramakrishna gave a more advanced interpretation he says no no ghana the first one is not just knowledge from the books it is enlightenment i am brahmana realize that then vigna is a deeper enlightenment where everything that you are left behind every bit of it is realized as god as brahman so he gave multiple examples he said walking up the stairs of the of the building you leave behind the first floor the second floor leave behind the staircase the doors and they go to the rooftop and there you realize what the rooftop is made of the concrete the bricks and the wood the staircase and the doors and the first floor second floor they're all made of the same stuff so what you have left behind in in the world body mind of this extra external world and they've discovered that radiance which underlies everything and i am that but that radiance alone appears in all of these nothing including the body also i'm much vilified i'm not the body i'm not the body the body will feel hurt if you keep saying i'm not the body but you realize then this body all the bodies and the physical world down to you know a grain of dust it's through and through nothing but god so that is called big another example he gives is milk so there's somebody who's just heard of milk that there's such a thing as milk and read about it so that's the person who has just read a book that person can be easily confused um ramananda says we give an example how such a person can be easily confused it's a person who has read about milk but it doesn't no i've never seen it and somebody asks him what color is milk and he says i heard it's white then that person who's playing a prank on him says you're right but that's partial knowledge complete knowledge is the milk from white cows is white milk from brown cows is brown and milk from black cows is black and this man thinks that sounds reasonable actually yeah maybe the book was incomplete you know white cow's white yeah that's right now if you have seen what is milk you will say it doesn't matter whether the cow is black or white or red or brown milk is white so this is the person who has just read it that can person can be easily confused now srinam krsna says there's a person who has seen milk so he knows what is milk he says it's white and i've seen it that's the person who has got gyan who realizes brahman is there and at the deepest level i and brahman are one that itself is a wonderful thing it's it's a very freeing thing to have even if you have um just the conviction about it at a deep level you'll be fine in the ups and downs of life but that's not enough sram krishna says there is this other person who has not only seen that the milk but has drunk the milk and has tasted the milk and has digested the milk and has become you know hunger is satiated and has become nourished and strong by drinking the milk this is one is intimate with brahman is is you know everywhere and everything is always immersed in god that is vegan so that also is there and you know um our ayan maharaja swami medhananda has made this the central plank of his book infinite paths to infinite reality about sri ramakrishna but the whole vigna thesis so ghana vigna these two terms are interesting okay let me quickly look at the questions rick says you have covered this vedanta and i forgot but how do we know that that refers to saguna brahman brahma yes the definitions um in vedanta sara there is a whole chapter the analysis of the meaning of the mahabharata there each of the terms is defined what are the definitions consciousness limited by maya that is ishwar or saguna brahman tuam refers to vesti agyana chin consciousness limited by a fragment of maya little bit of ignorance that is our individual sentient being the causal body of each of us so these are very precisely defined in vedanta and this is the classical vedanta approach there is god of the universe there is you you and god are ultimately the same not as you the individual not as god as god then you are a vastly different this is where the dualists who become very furious at us the non-dualist they say that you are sacrilegious fellows you are equating yourself to krishna you miserable little creature and you think you are god you are vishnu you are krishna your shiva of course not but that's not what advaita is saying when shankara sings chidananda rupa hashiboham i am shiva i am shiva he does not mean she was sitting on the mount kailasha with a snare with a hairdo of snakes and the ganga coming out of his top knot and the moon on his forehead that is a depiction of saguna brahman ishwara what he means is just before that what does shakaracharya say as pure consciousness as bliss so i am not this person called shankara i am not even god shiva i am this infinite unlimited bliss consciousness which is the core of shiva which is also my code we are one there sangeeta says continuing further from prabhupada's question in this framework would you say there's no difference between sargon abram avatar of advaitha and avatar as known here no difference means avatara is not sagan brahman avatar is the avatar of saguna brahman god saguna brahman is god avatar is incarnation so krishna is the incarnation of god if not why do we see a greater amount of shakti prada attributed in avatar like krishna or jesus versus say sriram krishna so avatara has different kinds of shakti as i said avatar is incarnation incarnation is of god and incarnations come with different roles all right so they will have different displays of of powers bill in velantic inquiry a general faith that is a worthwhile enterprise is a prerequisite correct that is called shraddha it is one of the qualities of the aspirant but then does that go against the thing that i said it's not a faith no not at all the general faith which is a prerequisite prayer a prerequisite for all endeavors start a business you must have faith that your business commitments your partners will honor it you go to a university you have faith that the textbooks are not fake news and the professors are not lying to you that much faith you must have that faith is necessary for continuing any endeavor but it will not do in advaita vedanta to say that thou art and say yes sir i believe it you are great you have said it so i must be god that won't work you will have to realize what it means isn't in initiation taking initiation faith based absolutely mantra diksha is faith-based as i said faith-based worship of saguna brahman is not at all frowned upon in classical advaita vedanta generally we start suniva says we start with devotion to god and gradually evolve to realize the identity of god itself yes generally and the other way around i have seen it in my own experience a lot of people who are interested in spirituality but really especially many young people but really cannot bring themselves to their traditional ways of worshiping god and believing god they are attracted by the advaithic teaching and then come to have a faith in god that has also happened some have taken mantra diksha after that after being fascinated with advaita really liking advaita and once they begin to get an understanding of advaitha you go on to take mantra direction bill what is the great disadvantage of advaitha no nothing it's a perfect system the two sides have the disadvantages the touch side this advantage is it's faith-based if you criticize it if you're skeptical it won't work the thumb side the disadvantage is that i exist but my existence itself is so limited and that this i can be the unlimited uh brahmana that it's so difficult to uh understand appreciate or even conceive of that's a problem of the self-enquiry advaita combines the advantages of both without the disadvantages of either rama says even the path of self-inquiry at some point the transient nature of the world becomes very clear and real infinite is a kind of intellectual knowledge and one is yet to get that breakthrough there's emptiness that prevails but probably here if we have god it helps certainly certainly it does there's another way in which bhakti helps i'll take it up next time it's an important topic how bhakti helps in self-inquiry what is the real problem in science inquiry and bhakti is a direct solution to that problem i can mention it in just one sentence big problem in the initial stages of self-inquiry in advaita is our desires which flow out to the world i want this thing and that thing i have vasanas for that the cultivation of self-knowledge can chip away can um erode these desires but it's a slow and painstaking process you see to put a very and put it in a very simplistic way advice is working here and uh desire is working here in the heart i want now this i want the world things in the world people in the world you know honor and name and pain all of this in the world this i want this thing is gathered and then directed towards god and bhakti so instead of i want the world the same i want force is directed to god what happens is this force directed to god which becomes bhakti first of all it saves you from all the vasanas which drag you out to the world which makes advaita impossible and this not only to save you from that nonsense it will become this devotion to god becomes an enormous power in your quest for self enlightenment on the in the path of advaith so bhakti is a very very important thing it tackles the main problem which is left untouched in advaita vedanta which is the our usual desires which run out to the world our greed lust anger so why doesn't advaitha tackle it notice advaita takes it for granted they have already tackled it the qualities of an aspirant the sadhaka sadhana advaita makes it an important part of the entry qualifications we jump over that and then later we complain otherwise it isn't working so the way to tackle that is bhakti rick says shivapriya says as it is the same consciousness body and mind sobram again can read others mind nope be able to but may not be able to i'm giving it to you as an assignment work it out why this ability to know my own mind is it is of course because of consciousness this ability that this is the thought in my mind where is it is it in mind or is in consciousness did he give you the answer to your question jennifer says rick says can't god eventually be experienced and thus be a hypothesis to be investigated empirically rather than something merely to believed in absolutely that is what vivekananda brought into this age into this world into the west that is what he went the question he went with to suramar krishna yes religion is not something to be believed in it is religion is realization he said if god exists i should be able to see god if i have an immortal soul i should be able to feel it religion is realization so yes but for contrast i was making this distinction between the way theistic religions have been taught for a long time here is the teaching of the religious organization it is the teaching of the book and you just have to believe it jennifer says doesn't vedantic teaching of tattoo messy and all vedantic teachings require faith prior to realization as we said faith means and that faith is what kind of faith is it it's a faith in the texts and in the teacher that there is something to it and i said it's the kind of faith you would have for any endeavor in the world you can't sign up for a course in physics in colombia university unless you have faith in the university and the professor in the textbook that much faith it's not difficult to have the feeling that we all share it here there is something to this path which is really worthwhile and i'm going to pursue it that much is enough but what is required in the dualistic religions an entirely different order altogether multiple things will you'll be asked to believe in heaven god um you know pray to god god will appear before you and all those things which there is no direct proof as yet for you right now i think it was hume who said extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence this is where dualistic religions theistic religions fail or they are weak they don't fail but they become weak in the face that's why they can't face up to the arguments of say someone like richard dawkins for example says one of jung's most important discoveries was this indwelling god image uh within everyone mostly unconscious nature of this any god image directs the life until it is made conscious beautiful i didn't know this but that's so true this there's a concept in kashmir shaivism abhinav gupta mentions it he says what is the difference between a devotee visualizing god says shiva in the heart and meditating and imagination a poet can imagine something a novelist can imagine something and your devotee is sitting and imagining shiva in his heart so what's the difference and isn't it just imagination what's the difference between bhavana and kalpana these are two words in sanskrit so imagination is spider-man batman just because um you know marvel comics imagines it doesn't mean that they exist if you're going to meditate on spider-man will spider-man come no then why how is it different if you meditate on krishna or jesus or the divine mother because abhinava gupta says bhavana is not imagination it's not mere imagination it is using the powers of imagination to grasp something which is already an existing reality which you do not see it what is the proof others have seen before you multiple times people have done it and it has been tested and these are not wild imaginations people have seen it in that way in that form using that name with those glories they have seen it follow that path use that form to visualize use these mantras meditate in the way the guru has taught you yes you are using imagination but that imagination is a pre-grasp on reality it will become real to you in time so this is exactly what jung bless his heart who found out good [Music] namaste