Video 97

97. Bhagavad Gita I Chapter 7 Verses 24-30 I Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] guru all right we can start we we're on the seventh chapter and uh i think we are done the 23rd verse 24th is that right 24th 24th first we are doing the 24th verse actually we are on the 24th verse [Music] foreign not knowing my immutable unsurpassed supreme nature the ignorant regard me the unmanifest as coming into being all right so here he's talking about his avatar nature krishna what's the context he's talking about bhakti devotion and he says four kinds of people are devoted to god and they're all blessed those who come to god in distress those who come to god because they want something and those who come to god because they are inquirers seekers of god seekers of enlightenment and those who are enlightened already those who are already free saved so these are the four kinds who are all they are all blessed but there are others the rest of the world the question may arise then why doesn't everybody become a devotee of god because they are blinded by desire so that was the discussion going on and here he talks particularly about avatar the incarnation of god it's a very very powerful way of enlightenment of going of overcoming samsara but only problem is you need faith in the incarnations difficult to recognize the incarnation you know you that's why swami vivekananda said about sri ramakrishna let people accept sriram krishna in whatever way they will and you can be an incarnation of god or let them accept him as a you know as a great saint or great spiritual seeker as long as they do what he has taught but that means it's difficult to recognize an incarnation and so here krishna says that not knowing my immutable and surpass supreme nature what is this immutable unsurpassed supreme nature normally from an advaithic perspective it would mean sachidan and existence consciousness place but since we are talking about incarnation an incarnation is incarnation of ishvara saguna brahma god the god of religion so he's talking this immutable and surpass supreme nature is god not knowing that i am actually god the ignorant regard me the unmanifest supreme god as having been born i um what it means is but do you have been born you know all the incarnations are born it may be that they're born differently from human beings they are born so their body is born and that too it's what krishna is marking here is the incarnation avatar is very different from other human beings other sentient beings we are born because of our past karma there is causality we are forced from lifetime to lifetime we have not really signed up for this although in a certain way we have because of what we have done in many lifetimes this is what we have built for ourselves but we have no understanding of it we have no memory of it and we just are being pushed along by the forces of karma not so god so when god becomes an incarnation comes amidst us just like us but is not just like us first of all god has come on purpose not out of necessity or forced along god has no past karma we have come here because of a mixture of good and bad karma not so forgot the incarnations of god god comes with a mission we have also come here ultimate purpose is enlightenment god's coming is not for enlightenment god is ever enlightened god is ever free moksha is our goal it's not god's goal god is already free god's goal is compassion is is saving humanity is leading us to enlightenment but shri krishna says that's so powerful that should be wonderful for all of us but shri krishna says no because it's very difficult to recognize they think i am born just like them the unmanifest has become manifest means i'm born just like them therefore there's some real religions do not accept incarnation some theistic religions so for example islam does not accept reincarnation there's a big difference between islam and christianity so islam accepts jesus christ as a prophet but not as the son of god not as an incarnation of god for them islam jesus christ is not allah so that's the big big theological dispute between islam and christianity similarly in india so incarnations are accepted by all the sects of hindus but not by the other indian religions so buddhism of course does not accept god so there is no question of incarnation whose incarnation jainism also does not accept god so there is no question of incarnation or avatar sikhism which accepts god but does not accept incarnation so god is not born as the shri krishna says god here he says correct god is not born i'm not like a human being so when i come here i'm actually not born like a human being but people do not recognize that it's very difficult to recognize just in case you're wondering yes all religions do accept special beings so islam does not accept an incarnation but it accepts the prophet muhammad and other prophets as a unique unique they are human but they are above the common run of humanity they are extraordinarily by the grace of god sikhism does not accept incarnations of god but it does accept that the ten gurus were special the ten gurus of sikhism is special then buddhism doesn't accept god as such nor does jainism but for them buddha and the bodhisattvas they are special beings um so who have been born out of compassion and they take many births out of compassion for all sentient beings to leave to lead them to enlightenment and then swami vivekananda for example the way he put his mission it's very similar to the bodhisattva ideal of mahayana buddhism they said my goal in life is to preach unto humanity their inner divinity how to make it manifest in every movement of life and then he says to preach and to humanity the inner divinity until the universe shall know it is one with god for two to every last sentient creature in this world everybody must be saved so it's a very mahayana type of approach then so the giants have the jinas mahavira of course the last and the greatest of them the tankaras who are the unique teachers of spirituality in every cosmic cycle the buddhas have the body the buddhists have the buddhas and the bodhisattvas so every religion uh has and a place for a special being now this idea that there is a special being who is elevated above the rest of us we can't become like that we can all become free we can all become enlightened but we can't become like that we can't become an incarnation of god or we can't become a prophet without by without the grace of special grace of god so um probably they're talking about the same phenomenon in some religions it is called an avatar in some religions they don't accept avatar but special special being and krsna's is very difficult to recognize then what in um actually the ninth chapter we will see later on there's a verse which is almost like this i can read it out to you when we study the ninth chapter we will come across the eleventh verse of ninth chapter [Music] the ignorant denied me who have taken a human form not knowing my higher nature as the great lord of beings so i am not a human being people think that i am a human being and then they regard me as a very humble human being you know and they don't understand that i am none other than the god they are worshipping so i have come in that way sri ramakrishna said to swami vivekananda that he who was rama he who was krishna is in this body in this age is uh here as ramakrishna and then he added not in your vedantic it means not in your advaithic sense because you take it in the advertising sense one sachidan and alone exists everything is the manifestation of that and vivekan himself says you all are the avatars of of the ultimate reality from from advertising perspective if you are at all going to accept another thousand everybody is an avatar we are all our tales because we are all appearances of that one reality but not in that sense secretary srama krishna says it is in the theistic sense in the dualistic sense in the sense of god and universe and individual being jiva jagatish for in that sense ishwara has come in this day and age as an incarnation what had happened in that time as rama what had happened what appeared that power which appeared as krishna as in this day and age appeared as ramakrishna and it is not evident to most people some people recognize i was just thinking even someone like totapuri who did not accept who or at least who did not give an importance to saguna brahmanish let alone avatar but he recognized all those other people who were so devoted to god to makali induction so all devotees are coming they did not recognize who ramakrishna was some thought he was mad some thought he was just a priest some thought he was a great devotee of kali that's it it's too much to expect people to think this priest who seems to be half mad is actually incarnation of god but this non-dualistic monk he recognized at one point he says to srama krishna i know oh he says oh it is you i know who you are and then he says let me go and srirama krishna said no until the purpose is fulfilled that i i get this advaithic realize full advaithic realization from you so that's what you have come here until that time you will you are not free to go what a strange conversation between guru and disciple guru is telling disciple let me go please let me go and the disciple is saying no you will stay here until your purpose your part in this leela is fulfilled so what does he recognize he recognized yes i am saccidananda recognizes me but here is saguna brahma with all the power of the maya the lord of maya in this universe this is the lord the king is in front of me in this strange guys so some people recognize most people do not recognize and they they may make fun they may insult they do not recognize how much what tremendous power is in this simple form so ami ranganathan gives an example of gandhiji here of course swami naganathanji was our 13th president of our order he of course met gandhiji and others and that during the freedom struggle he gives the example of gandhiji who was very unimpressive as some you know as a man skinny an old man frail most unimpressively dressed uh unimpressive looking person he was saying that mrs sarojini naidu one of the great leaders of the freedom struggle she humorously and affectionately she called mahatma gandhi when she first saw him she called him mickey mouse big big ears skinny person mickey mouse in that mickey mouse frame of his how much power was there which shook the entire world orders which uh destroyed the british empire i remember attending this talk given by this crazy philosopher slavod zijk he had come to new york and he was giving a talk in the new york public library so i attended two talks one was in new york public library one was in new york university in nypl new york public library is giving the talk and uh maybe he saw me i don't know why suddenly he started talking about gandhi and his way is to he will say something very shocking he will you think what is he saying is he mad but then he will make sense after that so what he said was um he has a heavy heavy eastern european accent he says gandhi was more violent than hitler that everybody's stunned what is he saying gandhi is more violent than hitler then he explains is he a hitler for all his warfare his war and fighting and destruction he did not change anything the same world order imperialist powers fighting with each other what was there before him also continued after him you know different great powers of the world fighting for supremacy with each other he did not change the system but gandhi says gandhi destroyed the british empire destroyed imperialism destroyed the old world order and a new world was born because of gandhi so gandhi was more destructive than more violent than italy so that's the way he when he when he explains it it makes sense but he puts it in such a way which is shocking okay um so other you take other examples not just kandijeep go back in in history in in the past krishna himself the one who's speaking here what was he regarded as as a coward boy all the great kings and princes at that time at least in the beginning they just thought he was a cowherd boy absolutely unimportant rama though the prince of ayodhya he was wandering in the forest people did not know his glory or greatness buddha that way had a little bit of an advantage because he was the son of the prince and son of the king and people knew it that he was a son of a king jesus people called him a son of a carpenter they had no idea of who or what he was again in every case a few great spiritual seekers they recognize the avatar that they recognized the glory of the person in front of them who this person is is actually the king of the universe is in standing in front of them what an amazing realization that must have been then if you take a srirama krishna himself people thought he was a madman that he is getting visions and he has these fits he has visions of kali he's an illiterate temple priest a worshiper of kali so ava jaan anti manga people the fools they do not recognize them then so god they think has become a human they think it's an ordinary human being but i am not an ordinary human being i am not subject to the laws of karma like everybody else i do not have ignorance he will explain that later others are under the spell of ignorance they do not know what who they are their own inner reality that they are such they don't know they do not know what this world is that it is an appearance of brahman that they don't know they don't know me god saguna brahman but i know it all they don't know their own past lives sentient beings let alone knowing god they don't even know their own lives what has happened in the past and what will happen in this life what will happen in future and sri krishna will say i know it all omniscient he's saying that he is sargon abram of god many people don't understand this i remember many years about ago about 15 years ago there was or no not so much there was um 300 years of guru gobind singh they call it gupta when guru govind singh in sikh religion he declared that from now on there won't be any more gurus and guru granth sahib will be your guru the text will now your be your guru the you know the history of the sikh religion the ten gurus and then after that no more guru the text itself guru granth sahib is now your guru so that event is called gurthag at the end it was 300 years ago 300 years of that were observed in a place called nandeed it's to the south of um the border between andhra and i think madhya pradesh i think i'm not sure exactly so i went there and the sikhs had organized an interfaith and maharashtra yes andhra and maharashtra went there sikhs had organized an interfaith conference an international interfaith conference so i and swami atmo priyanji we represented hinduism and they were representatives from different religions one one or two from each there was actually a rabbi from new york who was representing judaism there um and and there was a whole group of tibetan monks there was some miscommunication the the dalai lama thought that the what there was what was required was not a speaker but a group of monks to chant so they sent their whole chanting team all they wanted was one speaker so you had a whole group of tibetan monks and one representative from each religion and swami apprentice very quickly he went back to belurum so i was left alone there and so one discussion where a speaker a sikh scholar was criticizing hinduism and saying see these are the ways in which sikhism differs from hinduism hindus believe god has become human being god has become a human being so i being of at that time much younger and more foolish i stood up and protested then i quoted from gita say i said and in the seventh chapter it says fools think that hindus think god has become a human being god remains god and then i quote it from the ninth chapter that this fools think that i have become a human being um and they they deride me or they uh they think less of me they do not know i am none other than god i appear as a human being you know they were saying that no you are wrong and it caused a minor uproar you're wrong hindus think that god is a human and god is born as a human being and then but but specifically if you see the gita gita says this i was foolish because i was surrounded by all these big men in turbans and beards and with swords which luckily they did not draw the swords but i think i made my point so this is the point that krishna is making avatara is not easily recognized we say that oh i accept sudama krishna tara well yes you do at this distance after vivekananda has proclaimed him after you see the lives of all these great teachers and then thousands of other people including great scholars so people whom you admire and respect generally they are now accepting and also society in general begins to accept it's no great credit to you that you have also accepted but it was a great credit to those few people who recognized in that that some recognized him when he was a child sudama krishna as a child some very devout villagers around him they recognized this child was not an ordinary child so those people are extraordinary and they for them liberation is guaranteed in this in this life itself why is it difficult to recognize next [Music] i am not manifest to all being veiled by my mysterious power yoga maya this ignorant world does not know me unborn and immutable na ham prakasha why is it difficult to know because i am not revealed it's people see me as krishna when people see the avatar you see rama and krishna and jesus and buddha and so on but what they are is not revealed why is it not not revealed yoga maya because i am covered i am hidden i am veiled by yoga maya the power of yoga maya what is yoga maya shankaracharya in his commentary gives a very simple straightforward interpretation of yoga maya maya is made of three gunas sattva rajasen by the combination by the yoga of the three gunas so yoga maya literally is the constitution of maya is being explained here maya is the combination of the three but a deeper meaning shankaracharya also mentions that he says or it is the special power by which the lord manifests as avatar it's a shankaracharya just says it's special power projected by the lord why special power swami vivekananda explains he says nature has two kinds of creations nature has two kinds of creations one is the world and sentient beings like us and second are special creations like incarnations so he says krishna and jesus and others they are special creations of nature they are not creations like the rest of us so nature here is prakriti or in vedanta it will be the power of brahman maya so maya has two kinds of products one is the general product of this universe the entire physical universe space air fire water earth and all the combinations of it producing all our subtle bodies and the physical bodies and all the worlds and sentient beings the consciousness which becomes limited by these individual bodies and minds so this is nature producing all of this this is what we see around but occasionally on the command of the lord of nature which is ishvara bhagavan nature will produce a unique thing looking just like everything else this unique thing is the incarnation the body the encasing of the incarnation that is produced by nature and that special power of nature is called yoga maya which enables the infinite to appear in a finite form which enables the all-pervasive to come in a particular place and time and to play a role in like a play like a drama it's a special manifestation of power there's a very unique thing about sri ramakrishna after he he passed he gave up the mortal body holy mother mah shahada could not did not really want to stay back and there was always the danger she would give up the body and meditation and go back to her abode but sudama krishna wanted her to stay back so that she had a great role to fulfill in the remaining decades of her life so he pointed to this little child whose mother was mentally unbalanced and the little baby radhu whom nobody was taking care of and he put compassion a special attachment in her mind for that little baby and he says to her you know in a like a vision that this is yoga maya hold on to this and stay in this world this so it's a kind of attachment specially generated for her so that she will remain in this body as masha radha first few more years so very interesting so this is another meaning of yoga maya it's the power by which the avatar appears and stays amongst us it's very difficult for them to to be amongst in this this mortal realm they undergo so much suffering for our sake yoga maya sama so this yoga maya hails me and therefore people do not see but not all people and servers not all so i'm not available for you know like for all to know who i am which means some will realize some will pierce the veil of yoga maya during the lila the time of the life of the avatar the leelah the physical performance of that leelah the divine play of the avatar during that time some will recognize they are usually very great spiritual seekers and those who have the special grace of the avatar they will realize who who this person is otherwise the deluded world does not know me how does it not know you they know you they saw ramakrishna they saw krishna they saw caitanya so how is it that they don't know you they saw jesus but they saw the person they did not see the divinity in that person how are you different this already he has mentioned earlier when he has explained what an avatar is but again he is krishna is telling us how are you you just look like a human being how are you different 26 [Music] i know all beings past present and future but nobody knows me in one of the stotras hymns to sri ramakrishna said you yo who knows all but there is no knower for that one basically that is the sakshi chaitanya the witness consciousness in all of us but here is talking about incarnation god so god knows everything omniscient but god is not known directly the real nature of god of course cannot be known as an object because it is our real nature also here he says i am beyond ignorance but suddenly why is he saying this to signal that he's not like us we are covered by ignorance we do not know our own real nature we do not know god we do not know the nature of this world we do not know even as human beings also we don't know our own life what has happened in the past previous lives what will happen in this life we don't even know the present what will happen in the future lives of course we don't know but there is a being who knows god knows everything and incarnation also so does the incarnation know everything about everybody at the same time no but if the incarnation wants it's necessary for the leela then the incarnation will immediately know in an extraordinary way i'm reminded of see the same incident shows jesus and john the baptist so john the baptist is one who recognizes who jesus is and jesus shows he knows all of it all the past and the present so that you know john the baptist in the river jordan he used to baptize people that now you are reborn he would dunk them in the river that's where the baptism ceremony has come from in the church and he would tell people that someone is coming i can feel it i know it it has been prophesied that one is coming who will baptize you not with water as i baptize you he'll baptize you with fire he'll baptize you with not a ritual he'll baptize you with the truth he's talking about the coming of avatar one day in the long line of people who are coming for that baptism john the baptist he sees jesus and he immediately bows down to jesus and he says it is not i who should baptize you you should baptize me i am not even used to say to people the only one is coming whose shoelaces i am not fit to die although he was such a great saint everybody revered him they thought who is he talking about and this ordinary scar penis young son of a carpenter he comes and suddenly this great saint he bows down to him and says no i am not fit to baptize you you should baptize me and what did jesus say see on the other hand javatar knows everything he says immediately he acknowledges only john the baptist and jesus understand the dialogue nobody else everybody would have mystified what's going on here jesus says be that as it may but let the prophecies be fulfilled and let what has been written what is to be done the leelah it should go on you should baptize me just like srirama krishna had a series of gurus he was in avatar what can human gurus teach him but this is in this way religion is again re-established he gets initiated in a tantric way in a vaishnava way in the worship of kali in the worship of rama in the worship of krishna in advaithic worship he practices christianity and islam and in every way he reaches the highest score what is this this is this is reestablishing the truth of religion core truth of all religions so that is what that is the leela and for that he needs to be initiated by so many gurus for that jesus needs to be baptized by john the baptist but he knows all of it then 27 now the question is what is it that is preventing us from realizing the avatar and realizing becoming enlightened also what what is the exact problem the power of all beings or sculpture of foes are deluded at birth by the deception due to the pairs of opposites which arise out of desire and aversion or descendant of bharata so by ignorance basically by ignorance in advaita vedanta we say ignorance is the cause of all delusion but specifically what form does it take it takes the form of our cravings this is nice and i want this it could be money and sense pleasures and gadgets and relationships and power and status and facebook likes and whatnot i want this this is nice and the opposite there are many things in this world i i'm scared of it i hate it or this thing or this job or this food or this person and i want to avoid it ragadveisha likes and dislikes attractions and repulsions you might say that but that's pretty obvious and it's common um it's it's reasonable the things which you would like and things you would not like but in a deep sense that is that just born of delusion if brahman alone is the reality and so in a deep sense you would not have particular likes and dislikes for anything or anybody in the universe yes practically of course even after enlightenment you will eat food and you will not eat poison but you know that is at the practice that is the practical level behavior level empirical level there is only one reality existence consciousness place and that you are choicelessly from eternity to eternity you are already that at the level of the movie at the level of the dream at the level of delusion there are things which are good and bad and you know in the movies there are heroes and villains but it's a movie the enlightened one doesn't knows that we don't and that's why we react to this as if it was it was the ultimate truth and therefore our likes and strikes our dislikes are very strong we desperately run after our lives and that's the purpose of our lives we desperately run away from certain things and that's what we we discover what our life is those things cause anxiety to me these things cause temptation and one cause temptation other one causes terror the two t's temptation capital t and capital t terror and temptation dislikes terror likes attraction temptation and our beyond swept along in life you see even immorality unethical behavior it is only because of these two we generally educated cultured decent adult people we know what is right what is wrong we have a general sense of morality yet we do things which are immoral sometimes we make mistakes why not on purpose not deliberately because we always um regret it but what made us do it ragadvaisha attraction and repulsion some attraction was there we could not resist or some terror anxiety was there we could not resist and therefore we did something which we normally would not have done we said something which we later regret so in our behavior and speech we are forced into immorality and into unethical behavior because of this it's it's a delusion created by the world of dreams created by it or our graduation likes and dislikes they seem very innocuous likes and dislikes what's there to get upset about but they are rooted in a wrong idea of reality that i am this little body and mind and therefore everything else now falls into a category of like good bad and the good is to be pursued the bad is to be avoided swami vivekananda says things are dead in themselves we breathe life into them and then we run after them or we run away from them this is ragadvisha notice in contrast again and again how the enlightened person is described samadhashi samadrishti samadhishi means same sightedness evenness of vision all people ultimately are the same divinity although coming through the particular bodies and minds their behavior may be good or bad one may be a saint and them to be a villain it's not that we don't see the difference between a saint and villain a divinity student at harvard divinity school told me you know why i don't like vedanta it says mother teresa and hitler are the same no matter the reason hitler are not the same and yet they are the same not the same in the sense of what their minds were like what their actions were like vastly different what their effect was like on people vastly different vedanta completely admits that but you look deeper is mother teresa and hitler is that the final identity of that sentient being no that sentient being had other lives before and will have future lives not only that um was that sentient being mother teresa was was she a saint when she was one year old six months old was hitler a monster when he was six months old three months old or when one is a saint and another is a monster when they go into deep sleep at that point is one a monster is one a villain no one does not have saintly thoughts another one does not have monstrous thoughts even the thoughts will cease yet the sentient being continues so yes it's a mask of being a monster or being a saint and being a saint is definitely better than being a monster why because the saint is closer to god the monster is that much farther away from liberation or enlightenment so yes vedanta clearly sees the difference between the saint and the sinner but also sees something beyond both or higher than both or underlying both so because of this delusion born ignorance born likes and dislikes we do wrong things our vision is clouded shankaracharya here he makes a remarkable statement a very scientific statement you know let me quote from his commentary this is a commentary on this birth by adi shankaracharya and he says a mind which is clouded by likes and dislikes strong desires and aversions even in ordinary matters of the world such a mind cannot get knowledge it cannot take correct decisions he says will not get knowledge of things as they are such a mind actually will be clouded by its own likes and dislikes its own prejudices and there will be will dwell more in opinions rather than in knowledge so i mean agra sanji makes a big deal out of this in his english commentary you know one of the most beautiful commentaries which is available in the gheeta now three volume commentary on bhagavad-gita by swami ranganathan and who was our 13th president so there he makes a big deal out of this he says look at the scientific spirit this is objectivity and he makes a distinction between knowledge and opinion a knowledge of a thing as it is what thing things in the world people um case study um you know if you're a doctor you're diagnosing a patient if you are a researcher in a lab you are making taking a call on your findings whatever it is politician educationist philosopher but objective approach to knowledge that is called vastu tantra tantra means knowledge as a thing is purusa tantra means opinion depending personal subjective depending on you shankaracharya makes a difference between the two vastu tantra is always knowledge of the object as it is and purusha tantra is he says you can do it you may not do it you may do it otherwise in a different way it's up to you your action whatever action you will take in a particular situation it's a matter of opinion depending upon your personal choice so opinion is not knowledge personal views are personal views prejudices are prejudices they are not knowledge he says a mind which is clouded by strong likes and dislikes is infected prejudiced even in worldly affairs then shankaracharya goes on not badly what is there to wonder at what is there to say that that such a mind will not get realization about the inner self that i am saccidananda that knowledge will not come in such a mind a mind which is clouded by strong likes and dislikes bahubali there are many obstacles many difficulties in realizing that i am the witness consciousness in that case such a mind which cannot get correct knowledge of external things will not get knowledge inside so this knowledge focus not opinion focus this is the difference between advaita vedanta and dualistic or theistic schools theistic schools of thought will tell you a doctrine will tell you a matter of faith believe in god like this god is of this form of these qualities and these are the texts why because we say so it's a doctrine or nowadays people don't even follow doctrines doctrines are often bound on grounded on good reasoning on a lot of the experience of saints but nowadays people just follow their own feelings and they forget what i like is not necessarily true what i dislike is not necessarily false that objectivity in advaita vedanta objectivity is very important and very interesting the objectivity not only about things in the world but objectivity about the subject the mind which are strong likes and dislikes in the world the mind which has a lot of prejudices in the world will carry up those into the realm of religion for such a mind advaitha becomes very difficult and why it is not a matter of opinions it's not a matter of likes and dislikes it's a matter of seeing what is real not a matter of feelings that i feel this to be right so it must be right no it could be but one must investigate it this knowledge focus so so now swami ranganathan says this must be trained he emphasizes education from childhood onwards he's talking about india he says in our country it's rife with superstition it's run over with you know a variety of ritualistic practices and superstitions just because it has been transmitted for generations in our community just because of that i'm following it um a variety of you know worship of this deity that deity core idea of vedanta that there is one divinity sachidan in them you can take it in in a dualistic form do it avedan you can take it in the shishta dwaita form you can take it in advaithic form that has to be realized that has to be realized through the great parts of enquiry gyan yoga through the path of meditation dhyana yoga to the path of devotion bhakti yoga or unselfish service of god in humanity these are the royal paths not little little customs rights rituals which are so he says all pervasive and full of superstitions this comes because knowledge approach is not encouraged enquiry approach is not encouraged and this must be encouraged not you can't just directly jump to it in religion it must be encouraged first in education when he talks about indian education indian education with emphasis was more on rote learning just memorizing texts instead of asking questions that were the one good thing about education here in the west from schools onwards children are taught to question to ask questions to to learn from themselves and to be think and new think for themselves to be creative and ranganathanji says that it is very important to be a good advaitan to be a good yana yogi that is important let me read that sentence again such a wonderful observation knowledge about external uh objects is also difficult for an objective knowledge is also difficult for a mind clouded by likes and dislikes what is there to wonder what is there to say when it comes to the extremely subtle very difficult to get knowledge of the inner self pratyagatma when the mind is clouded by likes and dislikes attractions and aversions i remember i was um i heard this remarkable statement by a classical teacher a teacher of classical advaita vedanta ramananda saraswati so in a gathering there was question answer going on and this traditional uh you know shankar right monk wandering monk suddenly somebody asked a question what is true education and everybody else was a little taken aback we had a nice vedantic discussion going on so why suddenly this general question of what is true education but he gave a beautiful answer from the uh not sorry ramananda he gave a a wonderful answer and the answer was that ashwa there is no distinction between a learned person and an animal why that a person may have learned all the books studied everything but if it's not reflected in its behavior then it is not education when he gives in the shankaracharya himself gives the example in the advantage that somebody comes with a handful of green grass and waves it in front of a cow the cow will go towards that one that person a man comes with a raised stick and the cow will run away from that man similarly when temptation and terror come into our lives no matter what we have understood what we know to be right what we know to be true we run towards what is nice and attractive we run away from what is scary and anxiety producing fear inducing though we may know going towards that is wrong and not doing the right thing when you are faced with terror and you know that is not right we should not run away from there but we do it and shankaracharya says then what is the difference between a pundit and a cow and an animal you're doing the same thing then ramananda says what he said so what is true education simply what you have studied and assimilated to live according to that even if you think it is wrong even in the face of temptation you resist temptation if you think it is right then even in the face of threats and um and chances of loss of harm you still do what is right that is true education what a remarkable answer and krishna here is saying the same thing he says then a beautiful verse but those of virtuous actions whose sins have been at an end are freed from the delusion of the dualities and worship me with firmness of vow who gets out of this delusion he says those whose sins are at an end the sins are at an end remember it is not that spirituality is not for a sinner it is generally seen that those who have lot of bad karma sinful karma and generally they are not attracted to spiritual path they will not find devotion in god the minds will be too restless to meditate then this whole path of inquiry and self-realization would seem simply seem pointless unreal to them and the path of selfless service why i me mine why should i do anything for others this is this this is a sign vedantist in indian philosophy they'll say this is a sign of bad karma of a sinful life not in this life many lives pass maybe but the point is then is all lost can i not be spiritual of course not human birth is meant for god realization so if i've got a human birth then whatever my past karma all human bodies are produced by a mixture of good and bad karma so whatever my past karma no matter how bad the karma is the fact that i have got a human birth means i have a chance at enlightenment in this life all of us have a chance so it's not that bad karma is preventing me in this life no chance of spirituality if i want i can make an effort so he says anthogratam papam here one can overcome these this bad karma by one thing we'll talk about the details but the first most important is to make up your mind god realization is my goal moksha is my goal enlightenment is my goal money is not my goal money may be there relationships are not my goal um you know power and position or going to heaven after death that's not my goal enlightenment is my goal i want that now or in some future life but i have to get that that is the most purifying thing he says those who have got meritorious deeds all meritorious deeds will come later the first thing which makes everything meritorious is this um this vow this intention of enlightenment my goal is enlightenment then whatever you do will slowly become all meritorious the other way around there are people who do meritorious deeds they give arms to the poor they give donations to charities why so my bad karma will be wiped out maybe i'll go to heaven after this nowhere is god realization enlightenment anywhere on the scene that is not being talked about here one may do plenty of meritorious teeth good things just because you know maybe i like doing good maybe i like social causes environmental causes and that's it i have nothing to do with enlightenment guard realization that kind of meritorious deed is not being talked about here first is i must become enlightened in this very life then it will follow what kind of life will i lead what kind of decisions life decisions will i take how will i behave with others what disciplines will i follow how will i speak all of these will now be slowly it will follow it will be implied by this one core idea they are freed of these dualities heat and cold honor and dishonor all these dualities so these dualities are secondary heat and cold honor and dishonor pain and pleasure there are many kinds of even even deeper dualities what are they one is first question my life is it for samsara is life for this world or is it for god is it for enlightenment or is it for worldly enjoyment is my life going to be spent in the pursuit of worldly things or in the pursuit of spirituality this is the first duality i have to decide and the second duality will be a choice there will be so many choices before us path of knowledge or the path of devotion in the path of devotion then vaishnava or a christian or a muslim so many paths especially in this day and age it's all open but you have to pick up one and then hold on to that that decision also has to be taken and then these dualities pleasure and pain success and failure gain and loss humiliation or you know praise these will keep coming i will pursue my god god realization is my goal then what happens such persons will be able to worship me with firm determination with a firm vows what happens in most cases there is a direct connection between bad karma indisciplined life and fetalness so such a person often they come to spirituality they listen to a couple of good lectures they read a couple of books maybe attend a meditation retreat but that's it nothing more they they make a resolution and then they break the resolution new year's resolutions you know meant they're made and then they're broken why does this happen this is the true saint a true spiritual practitioner is very firm in practice that you will see in the lives of all great saints if he sees the lives of direct disciples how firm they were whatever they took up they followed truth it does not matter if they are physically ill if there is no money nobody is supporting them if it's too hot or too cold too hard to meditate i was just thinking it's too hard to meditate in india you feel sometimes like that it's too hard too humid you cannot concentrate how can anybody possibly meditate in this and let me get up and go and read a book i'm speaking from personal experience let me go up and get up and read a book but then i read about swami vidyanandaji in the direct disciple of srila krishna in allahabad where he spent decades of his life in a small ashram of small building no electricity no fans in the blistering heat of summer of alabama eight hours 10 hours 12 hours a day meditation it's really hot what does he do he wets a towel and puts it on his head and comes back and sits on meditation what tremendous determination swami trigunati also was known for his unshakeable determination all of them all the direct disciples i remember seeing a very great swami a traditional teacher in haridwar we were attending classes then one monk he came to attend a class a text was being taught after a few days so it is open format you know they're like a bit like a zoom class you can come in and you can go so they can come in and sit and you can listen to a class or you can disappear if you want to go away somewhere off on your pilgrimage or whatever after a few days the monk said i want to go on a pilgrimage to the himalayas to gangotri and badrinathan the teacher who the swami was the teacher said look you have taken up something finish it finish it and then go but this monk young monk was restless he said no i have been see i've got this tremendous dispassion i want to off to the himalayas and you know after a few days the teacher said all right then go oh this swami went off he disappeared he went to his pilgrimage in himalayas but a couple of days later he was back they asked him what happened oh swami we went to this bus and there are huge landslides in the mountains so there's a huge landslide and the road was cut off so i had to come back now this master that was teaching vedanta swami he scolded this young monk severely he said this is not the way you are going to become enlightened take up one thing and finish it no matter what so what if there is a landslide you walk you start walking get up and go you know climb over the landslide and then walk why do you need a bus so and he said whether the body lives or dies i will go and reach that temple in the high mountains it is unless you have that determination what will happen is every time an obstacle comes up you will give up and you will take up something easier an easy going life and spiritual life don't go together a fecal in that's why in small things also determination is important so that in big things we don't waver and he said that is why i told you to finish it you have taken up the study of a text finish the text and then go i remembered once you started doing japa and he said i will keep on doing the japa um until i get enlightenment but he's not stopping to eat or to sleep and his brother disciples thought he's going to go mad and they pleaded with him just stop for a while and eat something and then you can start doing repeat the mantra sit and repeat the mantra finally he was persuaded swami shivananda tarak maharaj swami shivananda whom srinath revered so much he said you are a holy man you sit near me and repeat the monster i'll touch you with one hand and quickly eat something and then i'll sit and repeat the mantra again but that determination you see and so here krishna says this determination is directly linked to purity of mind even if we are not determined we should try our best to keep on increasing that particular quality that is connected with focus otherwise what happens i may decide all right i'm inspired i shall become enlightened in this very life but that determination itself will be shaky the moment next day some new determination new goal will come along so one determination and follow through with it that's the way to achieve something great in life there's a saying who is a big shot the american phrase big shot a big shot is a little short who keeps shooting so little shot who keeps shooting is a big shot um i remember when i wanted to become a monk i was studying so i came to the monastery and bowed down to my guru and i said i want to become a monk and my guru asked me what are you doing and what are you studying i said i'm studying i'm doing my mba how much is left i said one more year very gently he told me is it good to give up things halfway and i had the good sense at least to listen to him so i said all right i asked him i was worried that maybe if i'd wait for one more year maybe i won't be able to become a monk so i asked him that wouldn't there be a problem if i wait for a year immediately reassured me he said there won't be any problem so i had a good sense to listen to him and go back and complete it in one of tolstoy's or dostowski's works i'm not sure which one there's a young man who wants to become a monk in russia in the eastern orthodox church russian orthodox church and so he goes off to become a monk but that's his examination time it's a very well-known phenomenon just before examinations everybody wants to become a monk so the old patriarch in the church tells him you go back and finish your studies and this young man is not willing to listen then the old patriarch said patriarchal monk said look this life is like a marathon race it is for your whole life it's not a matter of one year or two year if you don't have the patience to hold on to something like your studies for one more year how will you hold on to this life for next 80 90 years so that patience that determination to take up one thing and to finish it it's a great quality no doubt i mean i saw with my own eyes that one quality which distinguished all the best academicians at harvard university i noticed this i studied it actually i would go and watch them students very brilliant students one common thing i saw in all of them their ability to focus and hold on for hours and hours pouring over young kids you think the kids these days are restless but no many of them are not like that especially in a place like harvard you get to see the best of these and the most educationally those who are very highly highly qualified or endowed one common quality is focus and the ability to hold on determination then all of this shri krishna says why do they do this all of this what is the purpose why will they practice with so much determination 29th verse mokshaya to be to attain freedom from the cycle of birth and death moksha those who strive for freedom from decay and death take refuge in me know that brahman all about the embodied self and action in its entirety what will what will they what will they get desiring enlightenment desiring freedom from suffering and suffering is shown as the cycle of birth and death they make efforts yatanti those who make efforts they will realize brahman and adatmam about their inner self i am brahman they will realize that karma the real meaning of karma real meaning of karma is enlightenment not for enjoyment in this world swami vivekananda starts is karma yoga book the purpose of karma the purpose of work is not enjoyment it is knowledge all activity whatever you do in this world it only ends and culminates in knowledge and what knowledge the final knowledge enlightenment god realization and that's what will happen to such people who practice with firm determination then krishna adds like a trailer you know they say to encourage a person to wait for the next installment 30th verse [Music] those who know me together with what concerns beings the gods and sacrifices fix their mind on me and know me even at the time of death so he has a whole slew of technical terms which he throws out at the very end of the chapter unnecessary but he throws it out and these are the things you have to realize and center your mind at the in me at the time of death very intriguing suddenly he says these things and obviously we want to know what what do what do all these things mean and that will be the question that arjuna will ask which will lead to the eighth chapter but that we will have to wait oms [Music] sorry i missed the chat box let me quickly take a look at what's there rick says a lot of people claim that the guru is an avatar a lot of gurus claim it do you think avatars or partial avatars are somewhat common place or most of these claims bogus i wouldn't say bogas are mostly out of great devotion one swami said that the abrahamic religions are too strict there's only one teacher or one incarnation and everything else is false no and hinduism is too liberal and you have any number of avatars and prophets you know when swami vivekananda came to teach here in one church he was going to give a talk and this lady who later wrote reminiscences she said i had gone breathlessly to see this visitor mysterious visitor from the east and my friend breathlessly was telling me the two young girls were telling me he is like a prophet from the bible and i said but the age of prophets is done and uh she said no in india it's always the age of the prophets so you may be over liberal who was it i think swami ashoka nandiji he was talking about berkeley you know in the time of the hippies in the 1960s and early 70s um swami prabhupada he said oh berkeley wonderful place and avatar in every corner so every corner they're all high on drugs of course and they think they're enlightened beings so it is better to be to be parsimonious to be a little economical with our avatars it doesn't matter whether my guru is out of great devotion i may say my guru is an avatar it doesn't matter as long as i have intense devotion faith in the teachings and i practice it it's enough but generally avatars are rare gaurav says iskan accepts caitanya mahaprabhu's avatar of radha krishna correct when i visited swami narayan temple appeared they had their own version of avatars from advertising perspective does it matter if people get avatars correct no it doesn't matter what what matters is you get the ultimate reality i and brahman that is that you have to get correct i feel that advaita is a very simple philosophy but theistic application religion gets quite complicated because their followers don't have a way to verify correctness of faith in avatar yes advaita vedanta is very elegant very mathematical almost in its simplicity and directness very impersonal equally available to everybody but maybe a little subtle whereas the the theistic faiths the dualistic faiths they tend to have very complex theologies if you try to make sense of it it becomes very complex very fast advaita you see compare advaita vedant and vishista dwight vishishta dwighta become the philosophical system is actually far more complex than advaita vega and if you compare it with dwight avedante dualistic system much more complex alpana says other terms prakriti and maya are used in upanishads yes are they from sankhya philosophy no they are used you find in upanishads shwetash for up initial uses actually uses maya even rigveda uses maya the term one maya punita he says verse 7.24 can it also be interpreted that krishna is referring to us being confused about our birth in this human incarnation not aware of a true naturist consciousness unborn and unmanifest correct that's the direct interpretation but that's the advaithic interpretation if you look at shankaracharya's commentary on this he could have directly said we are ignorant about our real nature our realness here is saccidananda no there he gives a devotional a bhakti interpretation we do not know narayan or bhagavan because what is this chapter here we have the emphasis is on devotion wasn't bhairavi brahmani one of the first recognized takurasana avatars certainly there was a porter who recognized masharadas as majanaki sita yes so do you imagine there's so many people very simple saintly people who recognized and great scholars very intellectual people who kept on doubting abhijit says where does the concept of avatar originate in terms of shruti purana we are not going to go into that it's avatar a logi it's a huge subject in christian theology there's a whole christology bill says 7.28 please say more about worship why not today charlie says once you said a devotee with tearful heart and eyes and a tremendous devotion will also get an enlightened mind even though they don't watch any vedanta lectures correct rama says can duality here mean the subject objectivality and freeing from the same to realize the oneness again the same answer this is a very advaitic way of understanding it and that's correct i would be entirely in agreement with you but here let's remember the context is devotion tamiko says in the firm determination needed for enlightenment how does one avoid falling into either spiritual bypassing or ignoring one's own inner voice and inner guidance see if one does that spiritual bypassing or ignoring one's own inner voice in your guidance the result will be suffering remember the lord is in charge of our spiritual life ultimately the whole universe is designed for ultimately leading us to enlightenment so if i get into a wrong bi lane and alleys there will be enough kicks and blows which will guide me back to the reality so yes nobody will be left behind nobody will be lost in the end pradeep says in 7.28 a firm result is it synonymous with vacuolator correct uh intense restlessness for god intense desire for god but intense desire for god it's difficult for us to generate that directly what we can do is take a firm result and pursue it we do it in our worldly life to get a degree how much result you need to get a job in a high pressure place like say wall street in these hedge funds and all how much dissolve and effort is you throw yourself into it 12 hours 14 hours god realization is easier than that all right so 12th april we'll meet again for the gospel of sri ramakrishna class of course other the sunday classes and talks will go on here omg [Music] foreign