Video 99

99. Bhagavad Gita | Chapter 8 Verses 5-7 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] [Music] guru so we have bhagavad gita we have started chapter eight and if you recall there was an interruption last time because i was traveling so if you recall chapter eight started with seven questions which were asked by arjuna to sri krishna and those questions have all been answered the last one arjuna asks how does one think of god at the end of one's life and that's really the theme of this chapter all the other questions uh arjuna uh krishna answers arjuna at the very beginning just in two verses two and then from third verse onwards yes justin first third fourth yeah third and fourth verses krishna has answered all those questions to arjuna and from the from verse number five till the end of this chapter the theme is this how does one think of god at the end of one's life and why should one do that and how can one do that it's a profound message something that we should take very seriously all of us so i wanted to start with that today arjuna's question the last question he asked at the beginning of the eighth chapter was prayana khalid katham jayawasi near mabhi so those who are seekers who are self-controlled that means who are spiritual seekers at the time of death at the time of giving up the body and dying how are how are you the lord how are you known and so from we'll jump to verse number five krishna starts answering this question and he gives a lot of importance to it [Music] he who at the time of death remembers me alone and passes leaving the body attains my being there is no doubt about this means at the end time of the end n means end of end of this life at the end of this body at a time of death who thinks of me alone god alone mommy smaran thinking is giving up letting go kalevaram the body yes he who sets out who leaves this life who goes goes beyond this life who passes he attains to me some mother but power means my state or my being attains me and there's no doubt about this people may have various theories about this krishna says have no doubt about this this is very important there is no no occasion to doubt this all right so there's a few things one might want to mention about this um the time of physical death has been given a lot of importance here in this verse and in this whole chapter so this is thinking i was reminded of adi shankaracharya today is the birthday of adi shankaracharya shankara jayanti we will observe this on sunday but today just now in the shrine there was the alexander family were chanting manoa with the hungarian this glorious magnificent hymn to one's own real self chidan and roof so today i was reminded of shankaracharya his famous otrah on renunciation you know once if the story goes that he was walking by the bank of a river and he saw this young scholar memorizing sanskrit grammar rules of sanskrit grammar the sutras of sanskrit grammar apparently there is a sutra repeating that and shankara was overcome with pity and he said see when death comes grammar is not going to save you take the name of the lord bhaja govindam bhaja govindam worship the lord worship govinda worship go in the uh o o foolish one worship govinda prabhta so so that him or that that is i'll just read out two or three verses from that many many people know it as this baja govindam you know worship govinda but two or three verses from that which are relevant to the time of death the passing of our days uh in vain and the approaching death so shankaracharya sings [Music] versions of this so the translation is sunrise and sunset day and darkness winter and spring come and go so spring has come now ever the course of time is playful that means time is playing and it's not in a nice sense it's more of a mouse a cat playing with a mouse you know time is playing with us life itself soon ebbs away but our vain hope alas goes onwards this vain hope means that something here i will rearrange my life i will do something get something then i will be fulfilled something here in this life and that is not to be you may do lots of things here and there's not no harm in that see it's not a criticism of the world we are asking of the world something it's not designed to do you are here if you give something to the world nothing like it if you pursue science and technology and art and creativity wonderful if you do good to others wonderful but if you think any of these activities is going to give you fulfillment is going to give you give us peace lasting peace no it won't because the world is not designed to do that only god can do that only our infinite self can do that therefore what should one do worship govinda worship govinda worship govinda foolish one the rules of grammar profit nothing once the r of death draws nigh draws nine means draws close when it is closed then once again he sings i'm skipping ahead of [Music] so when you are capable of earning money you are powerful and strong and young and with all prospects in life and you know everything at your disposal everybody is enamored of you your family thinks very highly of you but the in later years as age old old age overcomes us when the aging body falters and you come shaking with weakness and leaning on a stick even the closest family members ignore you they may not be outright nasty to you but you're not no longer important and so life goes on people will go on without you this is a harsh truth but it's a fact it's more he's more direct than that nobody is going to ask twice about how you are or even once maybe um but then what should one do worship the lord worship go in the worship go in the worship go govinda foolish one rules of grammar profit nothing when the hour of death is at hand one more then there is a famous one pune [Music] unceasing births unceasing death unceasing that means once again birth and once again death once again passing through the mother's womb hard indeed it is to cross the world's wide ocean oh lord redeem me through thy mercy worship go in the worship govinda worship govind the foolish one rules of grammar prophet nothing once the hour of death is closed at hand so and so on and this is a long story but i just want brought out a few which are directly relevant to you know death aging and death and here sri krishna says that who remains focused on me alone at the time of death and let's go up the body that person attains to me alone there is no doubt about this at all um first let us see the the case of the enlightened one the g one mukta who has already realized i am brahman i was consulting different commentaries on this these two verses these next these three verses which we'll do today and i found the famous marathi commentary by ganeshwar or it's called dhyaneshwari or ganeshwari i can't read marathi but i was reading the english and hindi translations very in soaring terms but he interprets entirely from the perspective of the enlightened one he says the enlightened one is ever immersed in god effortlessly so um then he goes on to say imagine the hut in vast space and all around surrounded by space and there's space inside he says a monastery actually in the monastery there is space outside in the vast sky outside and space inside um it is space and space alone exactly like that the body is uh like the enlightened ones body is like the house the monastery and the inside consciousness outside consciousness you are immersed in that then he gives another example he says a pot which is immersed in the wide waters of a river there is water inside and water outside and if the part breaks is the water destroyed it's only one water again all the time similarly for the enlightened one what is so-called inside thoughts feelings emotions nothing other than pure consciousness and outside this entire external world nothing other than satchita and the existence consciousness bliss if one day the body goes the physical body disappears and it dies and goes back to nature nothing is lost even the subtle body for the enlightened one at the point of death of the physical body in the last life uh the subtle body also will go back to nature where the entire enlightened one is not even in the least perturbed gives some more examples he says like a snake sheds of its skin uh like the and then he gives an example which might appeal to people in india now this is when it's very hot when you take off some clothes so is this does the snake does the snake perish is are its bones broken uh if uh do are your limbs broken because you have taken off some clothes not at all doesn't it it makes no difference to you similarly the enlightened one if the body it's an appearance in consciousness it's like a vague partition in consciousness so it is one unlimited consciousness that's what the enlightened one is constantly centered in you'll barely notice did not notice the body when it was present why should he notice the body when it's gone so in such glorious terms he speaks about the state of the enlightened one such an enlightened one is ever studied in in the atman in brahman which is called vishnu here tad vishnu paramampadam or [Music] that is the realization of the enlightened one everything is vasudeva everything is this all-pervading reality the enlightened one is is centered in that so not concerned about the body when it was living when the body dies why should we at all be concerned about it not at all that's the state of the enlightened one it's just like this just as we have a constant effortless awareness of our own existence i am we all have this feeling i am this am-ness is-ness it's effortlessly there you don't have to do any practice for it you don't have to think about it in fact even when you're not thinking about it in the background it's clear that i am now this is true for everybody whether you are a spiritual seeker whether you are interested or not interested in spirituality or whether you are enlightened the difference is this the enlightened one has realized what is this i am-ness the infinitude this very i am-ness vedanta reveals to the enlightened one the fact that your i am not the thought the reality which the heart points to that reality the atman is immortal existence is ever shining consciousness and is unlimited there is nothing that it lacks it is ever full purnam it is amrita immortal it is ananda limitless limitless in in time limitless in space it is advaita nondual there is in fact nothing apart from it whatever appears appears in you this unlimited existence so this such is the glory of your real nature and therefore there's nothing that you could want the appearance of a body and then the disappearance of a body it matters nothing to you the appearance of a mind and subtle body and disappearance of that particular mind and subtle body doesn't matter at all to you so this is the state of the enlightened one so i'm just reading um a long time ago an academic paper recent vedanta by one george burke so he met one philosopher in india matilal not matilda sorry malkhani gr malkhani so he was a committed non-dualist and he quoted a very interesting sentence from khan which i will read out to you what is vedanta he quotes this the great initial step this is according to mulcahy and quoted by the scholar george burke the great initial step is to draw a clear-cut line between our intuition of our self and our intuition of the not self so this is i feel i have clear feeling of my own existence and through the mind and the senses and so on i have this notion that there are other things other than me this clarity of the difference between self and not self first then next he puts it very beautifully what is vedanta the whole of vedanta mulkani says is merely the development of the full significance of this only non-empirical form of reality intuited by all so this is because the philosophical philosopher is putting it in a slightly complex way there's a whole of vedanta he's just to come to appreciate he says this is the only form of non-empirical reality intuited by all intuitive means directly felt by all of us what is that thing everything else is empirical through the senses with seeing hearing smelling tasting touching we come to know through the mind we read books we infer we understand we believe all of this is empirical reality something through the instruments of knowledge but there is one non-empirical reality there's only one thing which is directly available to us our own existence and he says all of vedanta whole of vedanta is merely the development of the full significance of this reality which is intuited by all everybody feels this we don't know what it is it's like that washer man's diamond surround krishna tells the story we begin to realize the wise person the diamond merchant who told the washer man it's not a rock you're using it to scrub clothes but it's a diamond it will fulfill all your wants similarly the vedanta is the diamond merchant who tells us we have the diamond it is that direct feeling of your own existence but you don't know what it is we take it as very common we don't know what it is all right but this is not really whom the verse is directed at though um ganesh or sant ganeshwar says he takes it entirely that it is directed at the enlightened one but now there is the other one who is not yet enlightened but devoted to god and so i remember we are in chapter from chapter 7 onwards this is the part of the gita this next six chapters are devoted to the worship of god devotion to god which god is this god of religion the lord of the universe so those who are devoted to god and yet not yet enlightened specifically this verse has some advice and what the verses which follow afterwards for the enlightened one they're constantly immersed in in the reality they don't it does that doesn't make any difference they don't have to do any special practice at the time of physical death it's not that they are enlightened so they don't need to think about god they can have a party before dying no they are naturally immersed in god consciousness effortlessly so all the time others who are devoted to god so here is um what is called saguna brahma upasana worship of sagun abram brahman with qualities that is ishwara that is god sagana brahman is equal to ishwara is what we might call god in english the god of religion those who worship god not yet enlightened they need to pay special attention at the time of death now there are two who are two kinds who worship god one is nishkama one is sakama there is a kind who worships god they want enlightenment we are there we are most of us are like that we worship god we want enlightenment we want moksha we want freedom and we develop devotion to god with the hope and prayer by the blessings of god we will transcend samsara this is our hope in life and we don't want things in samsara so that is one category these are sadakas we are mukshu seekers of moksha seekers of enlightenment liberation but there is another category of people who are devoted to god sakama with desire who are these people they are not particularly interested in enlightenment and moksha they are basically interested in um having it good in this life let me be rich and prosperous and all that's that's central and let the family be well and all of that after death i will go to heaven and afterwards again come back to this life in a in a better you know huma positioned human life and so on they have no particular spiritual quest at this time so they may also think about god but this verse is not directed to them this verse and this chapter is directed to us who are devotees who want god who are not particularly looking for advantages in samsara or going to one of the lower heavens you know where it's a very pleasant kind of existence and then again you come back to samsara from that no we are not uh interested in coming back we want freedom we want to attain god realization not having attained god realization yet and now what how do we practice so that at the time of death we will remember god so this is the subject matter of this verse in vedanta two types of moksha are recognized sabyamukti instant liberation grumpty sequential liberation sandhya mukti is instant liberation instant liberation you realize you are brahmana and you are liberated so i want that one how do i do that one and that one is only through knowledge you come to vedanta shankara whose birthday it is today he is teaching us that shavana madana dhaas and you listen to these teachings think about it meditate upon it till it becomes a living reality for you and you get you are liberated you will be called jivan mukta liberated while living in this life itself the other kind is krama mukti where i must admit that i have not yet realized i am brahman i cannot claim to be a jihad mukta but i have devotion and i want liberation so such persons who have led a moral life who are deeply devoted to god and who are who want liberation who don't want things in this world anymore they will not come back if they can think they will go to the highest heaven which is called where from where there is no return brahmaloka or satya loka these are the names but this is equivalent to i think what we call kunta or kailash or the christian heaven of the islamic heaven the highest heaven where you are in the presence of god and that is also moksha because there is no rebirth from there you still retain your individuality and you live in the presence of in in in great bliss and joy in the presence of god and because non-dualis classical non-dualist advaitans will insist you must get the realization of brahman so the solution is that in that place in that highest heaven you get the realization because then i think you have brahma is your teacher there the best possible teacher not a human teacher a divine teacher and you are also in a much better position to understand vedanta same vedanta will be taught to you and you'll realize your brahman and you get moksha such solution is given that you can get liberation from there itself um this is particularly appealing to devotees this i am devoted to god after death i shall go to god and stay with god and if god wants to give me non-dual knowledge and final liberation that's fine somebody asked me a question that yes i'm very interested in what you teach as non-dual vedanta but my bhakthi samskara has come in that i have great devotion to god so how can i use my bhakti to get non-dual enlightenment so the answer there is suppose you ask this question to sri ramakrishna he would say there's no need remember in the gospel of sunam krishna class we were studying he said think of brahman as an unlimited ocean and in that ocean that water takes freezes into different forms of ice which are which is the personal god and then you have devotion to that personal god in that particular name and form um so vishnu or shiva or one of the avatar as rama or krishna or ramakrishna and you are dealing with the same reality as as the ocean the ocean and the iceberg are made of that same water so what is brahmana is also the personal god saguna brahman only the name and form the appearance and the apparent objectivity that it is a god that is apparent and then sriram krishna himself says when the sun of knowledge rises the ice melts away back into the ocean that means the name and form dissolve back into the nameless formless uh reality the transcendent reality which is brahman so sriram krishna's answer to that question how will i get non-dual realization and i've got bhakti but how do i get non-dual realization said no bhakti enough is enough because you will get the same same reality as the non-dualists will get so that's one the second answer would be no supposing let's be a little more strict non-dual knowledge is necessary then how will bhakti help again sriram krishna says my mother has shown me what is there in veda vedanta so you if you pray to the lord you are devoted to say krishna or devi you pray to the lord we pray to the mother and she will grant you that knowledge so perhaps much more effectively than all the vedantins who are attending lots of classes reading lots of books and arguing a lot even just like that get the knowledge of non-duality and it just happened and the even more strict if you want to be that no even after bhakti devotion one must still come to classical advaita vedanta then also even the most strict classical advaita vedantic will have to admit that a mind purified made sublime by deep devotion to god is much more capable of realizing the teachings of advaita vedanta then say a beginner's mind let me say a mind which does not have devotion to god swine vivekananda said an ounce of practice is worth 20 tons of tall talk so i had said to the person who asked this question that if you have an ounce of bhakti and have 20 tons of tall non-dualistic talk you may be actually further along the path of spiritual development than the person who's giving long lectures on non-dualism so this person who has genuine devotion it is of great help in non-dual knowledge also all right and so what is meant by this verse at the time of death who thinks of me and gives up the body and we see this in the lives of so many devotees so many saints how deeply immersed they are in in god consciousness so what think of me means me means krishna here it could mean any avatar rama or jesus or it could mean the it means god in fact shankaracharya says actually it means vishnu it means god saguna brahman in whichever form it could be shiva it could be vishnu it could be devi it could be the christian idea the formless god with form without form with qualities formless with qualities uh formless without form would become nirguna brahman but this is this it is what is meant here is it could be any of the avataras it could be in any particular form thinking about that how do you think of that one may be meditating on god one may be visualizing it's easier for a person who has got mantra diksha and ishta devata much easier so when we visualize for a lifetime one has practiced thinking about a particular form of god and particular name visualize that repeat the mantra or other aids we know how for example if person is dying people repeat the name of god near that person maybe the pictures of the lord are kept in the room in front of the eyes of the dying person and so on i remember one swami he was very ill and towards the end of his life we didn't know how much of his faculty he possessed i think he was a disciple of swami shankarananji probably i still remember this scene that oh that old swami was dying he was paralyzed in both arms in one paralysis in both feet and one arm and lying down in the bed and somebody pointed to a picture of swami shankaran and said swami mara do you remember who this is and the old swami whispered guru guru so he remembers all those things although he might have taken mantra diksha 60 years ago or something like that 70 years ago so one remembers at the time of death it could be in the form of somebody reminding you taking the name of god chanting the name of god near a person who's dying um we also feel that right after death if a person is not liberated person is liberated means he's gone not liberated the presence is still there near the body so there's for example gita chanting when a monk passes in in our order when the bar where the body is kept in our main monastery there was a system we as novices we would be said we would be told that such and such monk has passed so a group of us would go and we'd sit down and start chanting the gita the bhagavad-gita so once it so happened this is a story there the group of brahmacharis went they were told that go to that such and such room and the monk there has passed and you start chanting the gita and the brahmacharis went and dutifully sat down they saw somebody somebody there lying covered with a blanket they started chanting and that monk jumped up from the blank outside came out and poked out his head out of the blanket and said not in this room you fooled the next room means he was not dead he was just lying down the room saw me in the next room had passed um i remember this story about swami t here in um in a vedanta society so i will not take the name two persons who were there at that time swamiti at that time apparently had fainted and this gentleman devotee who is here who lives here in new york he told me the story he was nearby and there was a lady here who's a nurse she desperately called this person and said we have to take the swami to the hospital and so and swami tv was heavy so they had to desperately sort of maneuver his body downstairs and put him in the car and rush to the hospital and they started chanting hari omram krishna because swamiti had told them that when i pass you should chant hareom ramakrishna so they were driving and they're chanting hari omram krishna where suddenly swamiti suddenly he was you know he sat up in the back seat and he said not this time your foods and then promptly fainted again so he says this i haven't passed i'm not going to pass this time um so in whichever way one must remember god in old times in india they would take the dying person near the ganga the river ganga so they would touch the river ganga while passing so just to remember something divine or something holy and what happens the one who passes in this way will attain to god this is an important exception being made by krishna the rule is whatever we think of at the time of death that will have an impact on our next birth and that next birth is determined by our past karma so whatever we strongly think about you know a person money pain suffering misery guilt whatever comes at the time of death that will evoke our past karma so whatever karma is sort of according to that that last that last thought is powerful but so is our past karma it's not just the last thought so a combination of these things will set us on the new path to a new birth a new embodiment so this is the story of jada bharath the king who retired to the forest to meditate on god and attain enlightenment but there he was bored of course and he was lonely so he made a pet a little deer and he was so enamored of the pet that all his days were taken and spent in taking care of that deer and you know feeding it and taking care of it and he thought so much about it and at time of death also he was just thinking who will take care of that deer when i'm gone and so and so forth next life he was born as a deer so that's i don't know if you should take it literally but it's a statutory warning that be careful of what we think about at the time of death i have seen people those who of course are um like emergency room nurses and doctors they have seen many many more deaths but i know of cases where people have just thought about money at the time of death somebody dying and this lady she told her husband and children that the last thing was there under that cupboard there is some cash that i had stashed away now it's important for her that my children should get that money but really that's what you're going to think of at the time of death on the other hand there's so many such cases i have seen myself not just monks devotees who at the time of death have passed with great dignity uh centered in god i have myself seen that um i have shared this with you also sometimes a lady in canada in a hospice she contacted me saying that i want to speak with you on skype and i didn't know the details so i said i generally don't want to have don't uh encourage personal interaction too much but then she said i said all right we'll we'll see when when i get an opportunity she said i don't have time i'm going to die soon so i would like to speak before you would have done so of course i spoke with her and i spoke with her several times and she had been a spiritual practitioner for her whole life and so i was impressed by her dignity her calmness straightforwardness [Music] she i don't even know i just saw her on skype i didn't even know exactly where she was she was in canada in a hospice somewhere and then one day i remember i said to her i was so impressed i said to her i hope when the time comes for me to die i will die with the you know dignity and centeredness that you are showing and she smiled and she said i am sure you will saw me and then i remember after a few conversations there was silence and i sort of knew that was the end so weeks later there was one last call from her niece who took care of her aunt and she said those conversations really helped her and when she passed in the last days and when she passed the room was like a meditation room it was so still and silent and and deep and peaceful so imagine this one example there are many many such examples that people can remain centered in god and uh and give up the body at that time otherwise what happens number six young young babies [Music] [Music] thinking of whatever object the time of death a person leaves the body he attains or son of kunti that very object being constantly absorbed in its thought so like worst case like the king bharata bharata who became a dear in his next life so all the dog lovers be careful here in new york you have lots and lots of people who would dearly dearly love their pets you may but well it's good to see the divine in the dog also god in the dog and so direct your devotion your love to god in all beings now next so what should we do the next verse is very important and everything that follows will be sort of development of the next verse so next verse is very important seventh therefore remember me at all times and fight with your mind and intellect devoted to me and you shall attain me alone there is no doubt about this the smart therefore since this is so it's important to remain centered in god those who are enlightened are effortlessly centered so i'm not speaking about them but those who are not yet enlightened but do have devotion who want god realization who want moksha do you make this as a serious practice because one cannot do that at the time of death at the time of death alone there is pain and there is a weakness and there is um you know a person might go into a coma so it's it's actually what is more important is to remain absorbed in god all through one's life as far as possible and the body will live and go according to past karma so as much as possible surveilla issue at all times so at all times means at the time of devotion certainly the time of meditation in japan certainly where the time when you are relaxed at the time when you are working at all times think of me remember me remember god and he adds fight the battle of life arjuna might say good now i am going to do hare ram hare krishna and sit there i won't fight the battle that's what i want anyway krsna says no no no you have to fight the battle of life you have to do what you are supposed to do in life wherever you have been put in life there is something that you have to do and that is not against your spiritual development where we have been put the battle that we have to fight you may change it you may give up that that particular battle and then become a monk but then there'll be another battle to fight there'll be another circumstance your own karma will not leave you it'll come in another form there so that you have to do if you are not in the household or not in the samsara you are in a ashram then in the ashram duties have to be done so you can't just cut off the external world entirely and just retreat into yourself no you have to remain engaged and yet think of me mama contemplate me and do your duty isn't it some people say isn't it enough to do one's duty no you have to think of god if you want liberation god realization you have to keep your mind on god isn't it enough to think of god only no both are necessary i have mentioned it in different occasions i think sometimes i think the message of the gita is this one practical message tell me what to do forget all the metaphysics and theology and philosophy and all that dweta advaitha forget knowledge devotion meditation just tell me what to do mamanus mara you dear yugdhacha think of me and fight the battle of life that's it i i remember in in the bible when the jews who were around jesus christ they asked which is the most important commandment and the more than 500 commandments in the in the torah so which is the most important commandment uh my lord and he said love the lord thy god with all thy heart and all thy might you see mama spira think of me contemplate me love god with all thy might and then he doesn't let it go he says and love thy neighbor you can't cut out the world you must love god and the world you must meditate on god and act in the world krishna says exactly the same thing and you see vivekananda when he gave a motto to our order atma mokshatam jagathita for your own liberation for the liberation of the sentient being and for the welfare of the world the same and love the lord and love thy neighbor contemplate me and act in life fight the battle of life work for your liberation and work for the welfare of the world the same man comes through all the time from an advaithic perspective this is understandable see if i'm looking for the liberation of the subject and i ignore the object it is not non-duality non duality means that which appears as i this person this limited individual who's looking for liberation and this world which appears before me they're both the same reality if i say i'm not concerned about the world not concerned about anything i will not do anything here i'm just going to look inwards and find i am the witness consciousness that's sankhya but that's not advaitha advaitha means with eyes closed and with eyes open your own liberation and welfare of the world it's ranganathanji is beautiful you know the simplest expression of spirituality what is spirituality when my when i close my eyes i find peace within when i open my eyes my attitude is what can i do for you this is the same thing krishna says contemplate me fight fight the battle of life and jesus says love the lord love thy neighbor and vivekananda says work for your own liberation your for your own liberation what is your life for for your own liberation and for the welfare of the world so it's the same end which krishna says here mama nusmara yudhyaja sarveishu khaleesh so ram sukdashi comments here at all times now this yudhya the duties of life are not there at all times this all times is meant for think of god and the duties of life the battle of life is occasional various kinds of duties will come and go according to what duties there are according to your capacity you will do some you will at times there won't be much to do and as sriram krishna says as you progress in spiritual life the external the battle of life will become quieter and quieter the duties will become less and less at that time don't feel left out you know people don't bother about me anymore nobody calls me to parties and i'm bored no no no no be grateful suppose somebody is old and sick and unable to do anything i remember one senior monk so beautifully he was a very hard worker he did a lot of things in many ashrams but in the end for many years he was very sick and not just for a short illness a long illness but he was always happy and he said there is a great joy in being used broken and set aside you know used by the lord the lord used me with this body and mind this person to do something in the world it's done now i can't do anything more it's i'm too sick i've been set aside discarded good i might have this great peace there's a great joy in being used broken and set aside so um duties of the world will come and go increase and decrease but thinking of god must go on so survey shukalish at all times refers specifically to the start of god and this can be in many forms it can be the japa you do so how you will do it ram suggestion does a nice analysis how will you how will you think of the lord he gives three kinds of born of enlightenment born of uh relation born of action so born of enlightenment how do you remember god born of enlightenment which i've already spoken about at the beginning it's effortless you and the lord are one reality it's a living reality for you there is it's no more effort is needed to think of the lord than is you know your effortless awareness of your own existence you and the lord are one reality it's always present you have no choice in the matter you are immersed in in the radiance of divinity all the time that's a wonderful thing so that's the gyanejanya born of enlightenment that's one second born of relationship suppose we don't have that extraordinary enlightenment i am brahman or the brahman is only reality that is then second is this relationship as we develop a strong relationship so in terms of crisis in terms of loneliness in terms of the time of death people remember their you know beloved ones elderly people remember children grandchildren or sometimes they remember elderly people at the point of death they remember their own mother and father i mean recent memories may fade away even memories of children and grandchildren may fade away maybe old memories come back at that time it happens often that's powerful relationship now what he's suggesting here is use that set up this powerful relationship with god god is my father god is my mother god is my beloved my only friend is all in all for me or even god is my beloved child so these are various relationships in vedanta we divinize our relationship with human beings and we humanize our relationship with the divine what does that mean for with all human beings instead of saying father mother husband and wife we see we try internally we try to see god in all we feel that the divinity same divinity everywhere and with the divine with god god is father mother of course god is not a father mother brother sister god is infinite existence consciousness glorious beyond any such ordinary human relationship but it's important to make god one's own so ramakrishna says again and again that upon quran the more close you feel see awestruck infinite existence consciousness place but that just makes you feel awestruck and distant but my father my beloved mother my friend so krishna is arjuna's friend krishna is yashoda's child is radha's beloved so like that so this very close relationship we automatically remember such a relationship more and more and at the time of death also it comes to mind very quickly so develop a relationship with god you can even think of god as my all in all father mother friend child everything my treasure is is my lord and so this very close relationship intensely emotional all our emotions are tied up with my beloved lord so many such examples are there the mind runs automatically you wake up from deep sleep first thing is the thought of my beloved lord i go into sleep last thing you think about is the beloved lord in your dreams god comes to you so you might think it's just conditioning it is conditioning no harm it's the best possible kind of condition instead of thinking of uh just the world i remember this one monk who was mad literally uh insane i remember he was quite quite a character but even when he would rant in his insanity you talk only about god he talked crazy stuff maybe but only about god i've seen another monk who lost his marbles but um all he did was he would not leave balum at the temple and i literally mean the temple he would just be around the time the temple closed he would go outside the temple and sit waiting for the temple to reopen and the temple reopened he was too restless to sit and meditate he would um you know production round and round the temple he would go even in his last days just immersed in the thought of god in a crazy way but it's that's the conditioning so that is um sam mandajandi then another one is kriya janja by action by practice so sri ramakrishna gives many examples how in the midst of our action we can hold on to god one example he gives is the the child who is holding on to a pillar and whirling round and round and playing and laughing delightedly but very careful not to let go of the pillar because he knows if he lets go of the pillar the little boy knows i'll be thrown and i'll hurt myself so he's holding on to the pillar and whirling round and round similarly hold on to god that whirling round and round is whatever you do in in the world then you can laugh delightedly like the child because you're holding up but you have to be careful not to let go of god another example he gives is of of the um the woman who the women of the village who go to collect water and they have pots of various sizes they collect water at the village well and when they come back they have got these pots of water which they put on their head big pot and the medium pot and the small pot and they're filled with water and quite heavy and it's perfectly balanced and all these women are coming back home and they're talking to each other the village gossip they're gossiping with each other but the first thing is they're very careful that the parts should not fall otherwise they'll fall and break um then the so just like that one can keep one's mind on god and then do whatever has to be done in the world and one final example many examples one more example is the balance in the shop so what you want you put it on one side on one pan of the balance and the shopkeeper puts weights on the other side and the balance comes up until it balances now um nowadays of course you have electronic balances in in the supermarket but the actual weights balance that is what is referring to now here he doesn't want you to balance the world and god he wants that the pan on which god is there should be heavier it should be lower it should come down on the side of god and come up from the world whenever you notice that it's going down on the side of the world and it is coming away from god you should put more weight here more japan more devotion more reading and push this balance down towards the side of god this is the mind on which side is it leaning like a seesaw children are playing so he wanted to lean on the side of god not on the side of the world so notice each of these examples has a separate um thrust one is whirling round and round holding on to the pillar there you are afraid if you let go of god you'll be hurt so use that be careful don't let go of god throughout your life that's that's the one thing otherwise one will be hurt in this world the second one example is of the village woman women with the pots of water so that shows one can carefully take care of keeping mind on god and then one can do pretty complex tasks in the world you know how can i do this or that in the world if i'm thinking about god no look how those village women are able to do it it just takes attention and practice attention and practice and like you drive you're driving your first priority is not to hit anybody he's supposed to drive and then you look at the road signs you listen to the radio you talk to more people in the car all of that you can do everything in the car but there is a certain thing which is primary everything is not equal the primary thing is safety and the you know the road and keeping your eyes on what's happening so a complex task can be performed keeping one thing primary keeping god primary like those women remember how alert they are and then they can do other things also you can lead your life quite well how do you do these things that pan example is important notice where what's the condition of the mind is it down on the outside of the world or is it down on the side of god and if it's down on the side of the world too much worldliness put more weight there it's a beautiful example more practices does it come down on the side of god these are with the ways what are the ways born of enlightenment born of um relationship established through emotions love and then born of action even in that bond of action swami ram suggests she makes um some divisions one is worldly action is primary remembering god is in the background so sometimes it's something very important i have to do like a like a serious meeting in office or you are solving a programming problem on your computer or you're attending to a person who requires full attention so your attention on god goes in the background and so little japa at the beginning of the week says do a little japa offer everything to god at the beginning of the work remember god once in the middle of the work and offer everything to god at the end of the world that's in the background but your work is in the foreground that's one option or remembering god and doing the work so remembering god is in the foreground like that village woman holding the pots of water carefully balancing that that's priority like the driver being careful of safety that's priority and the other part of it is secondary so somebody is holding on carefully to the thought of god maybe the japa very careful that the jabber should not slip out of my mind and it's a mechanical act that you're performing maybe doing the dishes or gardening or whatever which does not require so much attention so the first one is full attention on the work which is going on in the world and little background holding not forgetting god second one is holding on to god and the full attention and the work in the world is secondary third one is the work in the world itself is the worship of god which is the karma yoga shiva gyane jivaseva that this work which i am doing is the worship of god so it is fully related to to god this mother working for the child she may be shopping she may be cleaning she may be cooking the work is shopping cleaning cooking but it's all related to the time similarly i may be running an ashram you may be working in the office arjuna may be fighting a battle it's all the worship of the lord and if you know shiva gyani jivaseva by knowing that it is all shiva my service to humanity is the worship of shiva that's another way of keeping your mind on god to transform the work itself into the worship of god okay i think we have run out of time let me do the shanti mantra and then quickly take a look at the questions number of questions let me quickly take a look so shankaracharya was walking past gurukul varanasi heard the gurus holding the students for issues with hearing dukrin karana hearing this shankara said dukrin karna will not save you at the time of death right beautifully sung by shibu lakshmi and also by pandit jasraj yes neeraji that's right it's a very famous uh hymn patrick said i heard it said you said it as well that most part we are not in control of the thoughts when we are passing that's the need for practice now in many cases yes there may be weakness there may be suffering or a person may just go into coma no no possibility of any kind of thinking at all the main thing is to think of god and remember god doesn't make it a condition oh you didn't think of me at the last moment and that's it then um i'm not going to go back into the cycle of birth and death no god is compassionate and all powerful and god sees what is in our hearts what we want we will get um sangeeta says about the old and so when the body is in a broken one out state a world tends to ignore your question is can it just be a practice towards enlightenment to make sure you don't ignore the old and the very sickly absolutely if their duty is to think of god our duty is to think of god in them in the old and the sickly and you take care of them that is a great what is called a punya and can be a great spiritual practice also if someone gloria says someone dies in distress it can be what left me and help them how by our prayers rick says sometimes says i'd rather wear out than rust yes similar to being used broken and set aside imagine swami vivekananda instead of living for 100 years he lives for 39 years and whatever he has done in 10 years is what we are all living out of the capital that he accumulated we are using that now in 10 years from 1893 to 1902 and that's it whatever he did is what we are the benefit we are getting today jennifer says swamiji can you clarify again about the ghana nist has an alternative to bhagavan bhakti when death comes his ghana nishtana certainly janus is enough one may not have become enlightened but the centeredness i am the atman it's one all pervasive existence consciousness please stay with that and that is more important than thinking about whether i am enlightened or not enlightened am i a mukhtar or not one sadhu said that is inauspicious thinking think rather that let it be i am centered in my real nature in the reality as existence consciousness please it doesn't matter at all whether the body stays or dies and yogesh says this is the war cry of a non-dualist whatever you may do you may go on pilgrimage to the ganga sagar you may uh fulfill you may observe vows of fasting and so on or you may give greatly in charity none of it is of any use unless you get enlightenment even in a hundred lifetimes it's of no use without it without enlightenment without the realization i am brahman none of this will not give you they are not useless they are all very good but they will not give you freedom they will not mukti muktina bhavati that is true good alright take care everybody stay safe