Video 10

10. Katha Upanishad | Mantras 1.1.29 - 1.2.2 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] [Music] [Music] is the lord protect us both teacher and thought together may the lord give us the results of this knowledge may we attain bigger together let what we study be illuminating maybe not careful at each other rome peace peace peace all right so we are studying the cut open and we are towards the end of the um the first section this upanishad by the way it has two chapters and each chapter has three sections so we are the first chapter first section is almost over and it ends with naji keta repeating his question you see he um had asked about the atman that was the third wound or three boons he had been offered the third boon he asked for was the secret of the atman our real nature and yama instead of answering his questions um he tells him he scares him by saying it's very difficult it's very subtle even the gods are puzzled about this and then he tempts him with a wide range of you know offerings wealth long life sensuous pleasures heaven after death um children grandchildren all of that whatever a person could ask for the entire list black friday just even if you get all your demands fulfilled immediately and he rejects nachiketas summarily rejects all of them and then he repeats his question by rejecting all that he shows his qualification for vedanta you know when we enter vedanta we are asked for fourfold qualifications are the six fold treasures and the discernment between the eternal and non-eternal one the dispassion for the non-eternal two and the six disciplines which are called six treasures basically control of uh body and mind persistence and so on and then ultimately the fourth one mumuksutwam which means an intense desire to be free an intense desire for spiritual liberation and all that is is uh demonstrated by najib in his persistence he shows his desire for freedom and his clear differentiation between the eternal varieties and the the offerings of this life or the next life and the dispassion for uh for worldliness or even other worldliness he wants just the truth so having demonstrated his competence for vedanta um repeats the question we are in on the 29th mantra 29th mantra [Music] tell us of that thing about which people entertain doubt in the context of the next world and whose knowledge leads to a great result apart from this boon which relates to that inscrutable thing naji keta does not pray for anything else having summarily rejected all of um yama's alternative offerings he prays for vedantic knowledge and he says tell me that thing which it's subtle about which there is great mystery and confusion that's one thing but he says mahadi which which leads to extraordinary result this is something that is stressed in the upanishads again and again the reason why we should persist in this quest and try to attain enlightenment in this life is that it leads to extraordinary result what is that extraordinary result we know it is supposed to be moksha freedom from the cycle of birth and death spiritual liberation what does that mean in the context of this life here right now it means that complete and utter fulfillment and the ability to transcend sorrow um to go beyond sorrow that that is the great result it's the greatest possible result what we are looking for and he says tell me that and it's said nachiketa does not pray for anything else so the shankaracharya in his commentary says this is the upanishad speaking so it's neither yama nor nachiketa does not want anything else you know only you can say enlightenment god realization now we move on to the teachings of yama in the first mantra of the second section of first chapter one [Music] the preferable is different indeed and so indeed is the pleasurable different these two serving divergent purposes as they do bind men good befalls him who accepts the preferable amongst these two he who selects the pleasurable falls from the true end all right as a very profound statement we'll go a little bit into this but in general what's going to happen now for the next dozen or so mantras uh yama is not going to start teaching him about the atman right away we thought he's going to talk about pure consciousness existence consciousness bliss and you know fear in the scene and the three states are waking dreaming deeply no no no no first he makes a very big distinction about the choice of life i think it's a really important distinction he's going to make now this whole spiritual life what is it distinguishing it from worldly life what is what is truly a wise life what is truly a spiritual life he's going to talk about that the importance of that what it is so he's going to talk about it and he's going to praise it now and he's going to show the unique qualities of a true disciple and incidentally he will also mention the qualities of or he'll praise the the teacher or the acharya the guru and show the importance of this knowledge but then basically what he's going to show is an important um delineation distinction between worldliness and spirituality and this is very important on the verge of spiritual life as we enter into spiritual life we have and even if we have been in spiritual life for a long time it is important to look back upon this what exactly am i trying to do and how is it different from what the masses are running after what is this project that i've undertaken it's not just true of vedanta anybody who is seeking spirituality this is a very clear distinction which is which is going to be made now and the yama the teacher is telling nachiketa because of the choices that you have made when did you make the choices all the things that were offered the entire range of pleasure and enjoyment was offered to him an educator said no i want that the knowledge about atman knowledge about the ultimate reality then you have made your choice what is this choice you have made not just naji keta all of us in fact i'll say everybody who's present here has made that choice uh already but it's good to know and know the difference between this and everything else that we have been doing all along and others are still doing all around us so two terms have been introduced which are very important this is true of spirituality everywhere shreyas and prayers shreyas and prayers is by the way and common name in india shares for boys and shares see for uh girls shreyas and prayers what's what do they mean as he has translated he means the preferable and the pleasurable shreyas means that which is good beneficial ultimately good later on swami gammiranj in another place he translates as the electable and the delectable that that which is nice pleasant that is prayers that which may not be nice and it might be nice and pleasant but may not be also but it is good which is ultimately beneficial for us ultimately leads us to the goal of human life the purpose of human life that is shreyas what do they mean what's the difference one is the word of the other one is freedom from the world one is the shreyas is moksha basically what are the differences shreyas is moksha open the commentary and prayers is samsara what is the difference between shrayas and prayers shreyas is moksha prayers is samsara there are two more words which you come across again and again in vedanta a view there literally means rising up in the world prosperity well-being now there's a new term wellness in this world and in the next world so they they took the long view not just wellness in this world you must do well after this after death you know do you have not only a plan for retirement do you have a plan for postmortem plan which heaven do you want to go to have you set aside your savings your merit savings means not money but your good works and merits so that you you are sure of getting a place in heaven so all of that is uh prayers the pleasant life pleasant life just does not is done doesn't mean just partying or uh leading a sensuous life or uh you know frivolous life no it could just mean a well-planned good worldly life you take care of your education your job your health your family your savings finances and plan out your expenses and vacations have a good time here and do your work for religion and community so that you are assured of having a good time after death also all of that put together is prayers the other word for it is abu dhaya prosperity well-being in this world and the next the other word for it is samsara [Music] samsaras in general making an effort to have a good life in samsara that that is the meaning whereas in contrast to this um shreyas is uh is moksha liberation from this cycle of birth and death another name for shreyas is nishreyas complete shreyas literally means what is good what is high noble good and is the ultimate good it is spiritual realization moksha liberation nirvana kaivalya many words are there for this in fact this shrayas moksha was the entire project of the ancient indian mind for thousands of years i'm not just talking about advaita vedanta whether it is whether it is sankhya yoga nyaya or vaisheshika the various schools of buddhism the vaginas all of them all of them in various ways they all had this one ultimate goal this shreyas it's something to worth taking seriously in this day and age we have sort of forgotten that it is sort of people it's not available to young people for young people if they think about what can i do in life everything that they can think of and what society teaches them parents tell them school teaches them the world advertises and shows them day and night all of that total you take it all they will all go into the prayers bucket all of it some of it is awful miserable um harmful some of it is good advice but still worldly this worldly so that is pray as the pleasant and this distinction is making um he's saying the two are different shreyas and prayers are different and they lead you to different goals they bind you to different kinds of life and the results are different different means they cannot be combined it's an important thing to be understood you can't have your feet on both boards don't worry about it the world and family and bank balance and all will be around but they will no longer be your goal it cannot be your goal you'll you'll see very clearly that will not have any appeal for you anymore so um let's go a little bit deeper into this remember both shrayas and prayers come from the same human impulse to impulse for satisfaction fulfillment and overcoming pain one way of doing that is prayers another way the wise way of doing that is shreyas what is the prayers let us first investigate a little deeply into this samsara the pursuit of pleasure and trying to overcome suffering in this world as it seems to us quite other than um you know vedanta or spirituality uh it can take different levels there can be different levels of that one level is an instinctive desire to enjoy pleasures so an almost animalistic and instinctive so for example an addict or somebody given to just pursuing pleasure in whatever form is available the next drink or the next dose of drugs or something that's the worst case uh a little better than that might be i want pleasure i want success i want money i want to be rich powerful and enjoy life and quite apart from any sense of values so this kind of life is a life in pursuit of arta and kama atta and kama kama means just pleasure pursuit of pleasure and atta means literally it means money but it means you know earning your way in life setting aside for the for a rainy day it means success it means getting educated holding a responsible position all of that doing well in in your life all of that can be put under including power and all of that so just the pursuit of these two this kind of life is called the vishai worldly life but adharmic without any basis in values this is samsara but it's the worst form of samsara it leads to lot of harm to oneself and a lot of harm to society also there was a saying when i read an article when one of the wall street crash last time uh 10 to 12 years ago in time magazine they had an article there was a saying among the players on wall street um ybg um ibg you'll be gone i'll be gone you'll be gone i will let's just do it and make a few million dollars and it'll ruin the financial system it'll bring untold harm to say for example many homeowners and so on but doesn't matter you'll be gone i'll be gone we'll make our money and go let the system collapse and that's what actually happened so a pursuit of wealth and pleasure usually go together without any reference to values now this can be done in a much better more sustainable more wise way that's where dharma comes in dharma in the sense of morals ethics decency so most people in society are not that ybg ibg type of people most people they are and they would consider themselves to be decent people so we all have a sense of values we all have a sense of that i am a good person this is what i would not do i would not go below that level so a an ethical life moral life that is called also vishai worldly life but dharmika dharmika vishali a worldly person but the goals are still worldly but within the limits of morals within the limits of ethics and in the ancient times this dharmica visay also was a religious person a devout person but the goal was i will do well here and because of my good works i will go to heaven afterwards it's a temporary heaven remember so i'll be assured of doing well in this cycle of birth until but it took a long view not just one life multiple lives i will do well it seems to be a pretty good thing actually but it perpetuates samsara one still is caught in this cycle of about 10 days now i'm just thinking take a look at positive psychology martin seligman who can be legitimately called the father of modern positive psychology he has this he studied happiness one succinct way of putting his ideas about happiness is happiness h is equal to p plus e plus m uh p is pleasure e is engagement m is meaning a meaningful life so his idea was that or his findings where if you want fulfillment in life you need these three in life uh first the usual place where we look for happiness immature mind specially jump in to look for happiness eat something nice go and watch a movie hang out with friends this is called pleasure be and it does give happiness so pleasure pleasure and happiness are not the same thing but pleasure does give happiness sense pleasure for example pleasure pleasure of good company it gives happiness but it the happiness it gives has many problems one is it's strictly limited it comes and goes it's it's just matter of moments or minutes then you have to repeat it all over again it's gone the second problem is this happiness is constitutionally dissatisfying by that what i mean is you go out and purchase things black friday with great hope and great and a lot of energy is required people will queue up like anything and then you come back with a shopping load full of things but you are bound to be little left down let down you do you don't get that kind of shopping euphoria you know nirvanic bliss out of the shopping you were expecting at least the amount of energy and the joy with which you went there no you don't get up to that level you see here robert wright who wrote the book by buddhism is true and he's written a number of other books he's a neo-darwinian evolutionary psychologist i mean he propounds that he's a science writer basically um and a public intellectual he has written a book like um a book on evolutionary psychology the moral the moral uh animal i think it was one of his books and then the one which i liked was about about god the evolution of god but his most recent book very nice book on why on why buddhism is true there he says notice all the things which promise pleasure to us sense enjoyments eating food or anything that promises pleasure to us notice that when we do it we do not seem to get the kind of pleasure that was promised to us that seemed i'll be very happy if i eat this if i watch this movie or have this enjoyment i'll be very very happy at the end of it you are not that very very happy you get something but much less than that and he says this makes perfect sense um from an evolutionary standpoint makes perfect sense from an evolutionary standpoint why nature has programmed us to seek those pleasures the pleasure of eating pleasure of reproduction pleasure of human company all of those things why because that's how nature works nature wants you to do that nature wants you to survive and reproduce but nature also does not want you to be too happy it will promise a lot of happiness you go into it you don't get as much or much less than what you expected and that's exactly what nature wants so that you will try again nature doesn't want you to eat once um have one child or hang out once in a group of people no it wants you to socialize and reproduce and eat and survive and to keep doing it as long as you're alive so the it's like a treadmill or he compares it to las vegas the games the gambling games there it's not that you don't win you do win sometimes you mean just enough to make you try again so nature is has programmed you like that and that's absolutely by design which also means all those promises are hollow view as a conscious being if you get on the treadmill of desire you're guaranteed to be disappointed because it has been designed in that way the design to disappoint you designed to make you do it keep doing it the beneficiary is nature but not you not us so he points that out um so that's one of the defects of that p pleasure component that it is inherently dissatisfied we want more of it afterwards to get the same level of satisfaction or or more varieties of it and that's how economics works that's how late capitalist society works more and more of this you get more you drive the economy and this is how pleasure works so he says unfortunately you get very little happiness out of pleasure next he says luckily there's another option engagement achieve something go do a job get a degree do a job earn money start a business um you engage in something or even take up a hobby something that challenges you this is the difference between pleasure and engagement this is martin seligman the difference between pleasure and engagement is one is passive the other one is active for example if you lie down on your couch and watch a sports game on tv that is pleasure but if you get up and go outside and play the game some game you play that is engagement where you are actually actively engaging that and he says engagement whether it's a job career or it is your hobby whatever it is it gives more happiness than pleasure engagement gives more happiness than pleasure that's his uh his take on this so you have pleasure little bit of happiness but if you want more happiness more lasting happiness if i find something to be engaged in something that you like you are very lucky if you have a job that you like when you're doing this job which and you like doing it that's engagement that's the happiness coming from engagement and then he says there is an even higher level of happiness more stable more deep which comes from having a meaningful life this is mean meaningful life it does not go into spirituality meaningful life might be for example when you typically where you help others you are doing something for others many others are benefiting from your life um that's why for example families you automatically get a little bit of that the moment you become a mother or a father you know this much at least that this this one or two or three people at least will benefit from what i am doing so you get some meaning in life there meaningful life but it has to be much larger than that very soon that is not enough for any person it has to go beyond that into the community or larger or one can have a meaningful life in um you know art you know writing a book or scientific research that also can give you meaningful life so these are the three components and his advice is don't try to get happiness from pleasure it is not worth the effort you will get very little engagement is a good thing to look for and um meaningful life if you are lucky enough and careful enough to find and sustain it that's the best thing all right why am i saying all this there's a point to it if you take all these three you notice how quickly it maps onto the traditional scheme of dharma takama moksha in hinduism or in indian system of values what are the goals that not what we should pursue we pursue we pursue this it's a fact in life whatever you're doing in life you're pursuing one of these four first karma it matches pleasure exactly karma means pleasure the search for pleasure sensuous pleasure basically but matches pleasure then job money success it sort of matches engagement and dharma you can sort of force fit meaningful life into dharma so these three dharma kama the pursuit of dharma takama or in modern terms happiness engagement meaningful life why am i saying all of this all of this is in this firmly in the basket of prayers this is prayers the pleasurable the attractive the delectable the nice life even the good life still samsara if you just pursue pleasure you're guaranteeing a hellish samsara if you pursue pleasure plus engagement plus meaning you're guaranteeing a heavenly samsara but still samsara you're perpetuating samsara we're still caught in the cycle as distinguished from this now going beyond the paradigm of um of uh you know selling man or even maslow and others though maslow has has indicated something beyond self-actualization so you come to freedom from this samsara which is shrayas moksha all these indian philosophies vedanta all of them from most ancient times they proclaimed that it is possible to attain true fulfilment in human life lasting deep fulfillment and possible to be proof against secure against suffering i like the definition by wittgenstein he says religion is the quest for ultimate security security against what security against suffering so that is moksha that is nirvana kaivalya many many ancient words for it um okay now again let's take another pass at the shreyas patriarchy look at the vedas the vedas are firmly divided into shreyas and prayers the entire ritualistic corpus of the vedas where the various what nachiketa asked for in the first boon and the second boon both are prayers various rituals which are prescribed there in the vedas what are they for they are for you know getting good crops rainfall plenty of wealth defeating your enemies getting children going to heaven after death all of this is prayers the sweet life the delectable life the attractive life so it's sweet and delectable attractive what's wrong then as i said all of it is vitiated by problems either impermanent ultimately dissatisfied they are addictive the more and more you could satisfy these pleasures more desires the more and more you will want of it and yet they are not fulfilling at all sri ramakrishna put it this way collecting a bunch of zeros and that is that that is what is there in in prayers you're looking for that one that is shreyas it's in srinamar christmas language in the vedas all the karma kanda all the ritualistic portions are meant for prayers notice it is religion if you are a vedic ritualistic person that's your religion and then it's not being condemned it's if you're going to be in samsara it's much better to be a moral person much better to be a devout person and lead an ethically sustainable life instead of just desperately chasing pleasure and wealth um the upanishadic portion like cut openshift what is called the gyanakanda the knowledge portion is firmly in the camp of in the basket of shreyas moksha this distinction dharma atacama ritualistic portions they are prayers they are samsara good sub-sahara but some are and they are appreciated by limitedness dissatisfactoriness and the perpetuation of suffering and um the upanishadic portion is is moksha spiritual liberation and there it is the path there are two paths so now the path of karma is um prayers and the path of knowledge is shreyas by the path of karma i don't mean karma yoga i mean the path of action in the world the law of karma the law of karma is when you're caught in that you're sitting in motion powerful forces karmic forces and if you do it wisely you will generate good karma and you'll have a better life in this world and the next if we do it unwisely we generate bad karma and have a nasty life in this world and the next but that is the way of karma not karma yoga that will come that's different on the other hand here is the spiritual path the spiritual path the upanishadic path um the vedantic path are all kinds of spirituality which takes you to moksha there comes it's the path of knowledge in advaita vedanta will call it path of knowledge but karma yoga is also part of it bhakti yoga is part of it raja yoga is part of it all of it is designed to take you to spiritual liberation so they are two different paths they cannot be combined like light and darkness okay one more distinction it's very powerful and stark the path of prayers samsara is avidya ignorance the path of moksha is vidya the path of knowledge the two cannot be combined if one begins to understand what samsara is and what moksha is you will choose moksha there there's no other way notice some intelligent people who are atheistic who don't are not who keep on denying religion spirituality they make a point of debunking and denying spirituality of religion because they know that somewhere deep inside they know that to be entirely devoted to this world this worldly life you need to deny these things they know in their heart that these are two different paths and this path the higher path of spirituality has to be proved to be false in order for me to fully enjoy this world that's a sign of intelligence actually they don't realize it but in their heart of hearts see otherwise if a person just wanted to have a good time in this world you could just ignore the people in the world ignore so many things if you want to have a good time in this world they want to party and and enjoy life you would you what about quantum mechanics you would say i'm not interested it doesn't make any difference to me similarly about spiritual life you could say i'm not interested it doesn't make any difference to me i'll enjoy this no an intelligence person who is given to worldly enjoyments will make it a point to deny the reality of spirituality because they are two opposite facts to choose one you are automatically denying the other one srinam krishna would say that don't worry about trying to give up the world to move towards god you will automatically move away from the world you put a positive spin on it go towards spiritual life the world will drop away from you not physically again don't worry everything will be there but that's not your goal anymore what else do i want to say let me see something from the commentary it says these two packs in two different directions they bind you samsara obviously binds you in the cycle of birth and death and the spiritual path also in a good sense binds you means it engages you in the spiritual pursuit it's a pass it's a definite goal of liberation from samsara that's why when people read vedanta sometimes they ask oh so i am brahman then i don't need not doing why should i do spiritual practices then i don't need to do anything you may say that but do you really feel that if you really feel that you are in suffering you are there you have not transcended the worldiness you have not realized the ultimate just saying i'm brahmana won't help anyway so you have to walk this path you are equally set engaged in a particular path just as the worldly person is engaged in a particular past in worldliness they have to accumulate money they have basically at its root they have to do good karma into in in order to enjoy the world and avoid bad karma similarly the rest of us those of us who have elected to take the spiritual path we also have to be engaged not in trying to do good karma in order to enjoy the world but in trying to do spiritual practice you have to do karma yoga not the the law of karma type of karma karma yoga bhakti yoga raja yoga gyani yoga and fill our lives with these practices if you are on part of advaita vedanta central will be gyana yoga others will be peripheral karma yoga bhakti yoga rajya central will be ghana yoga so there are two different paths this has to be realized that's why such a big distinction was made between householder path and monastic path the monastics were entirely on this path of um this nishtrayas and householders were supposed to be on the path of prayers but then again this distinction ultimately is not helpful because householder too can want moksha there have been any number of examples of enlightened householders you cannot ignore it in every tradition it is there so it's not so much a formality of who is wearing what dresser is staying in a house or an apartment or an ashram no it is more your decision he says he will come now of these two um the one who chooses look here it is left to your free will it has left your choice but it must be a distinct choice one who chooses the spiritual path he comes to good sadhu bhavati means he attains the good he attains the praiseworthy that person attains the highest then the pleasurable that person falls away from the goal here it just says but then money is also a goal pleasure is also a goal dharma is also a goal he means moksha falls away from the ultimate goal of human life moksha is the ultimate goal of human life that person falls away who consistently selects the pleasurable over what is good here i'll just make one more point from positive psychology you see here the commentator says who is the one who um who selects the good and who selects the pleasurable the one who selects the pleasurable the commentator shankaracharya says the one who is not a long seer farcier far sighted now what does that mean it's very interesting it's not just for spiritual life just for even for success in worldly life what is necessary um for this this is something interesting i had read many years ago the the experiments of walter michelle and they were repeated by philip zimbardo in fact anybody who studied psychology you would have studied the classic textbook of psychology written by zimbardo zimbardo's psychologist textbook has i think it runs into dozen editions 15 or 16 editions so we all many of us have heard of the experiment i'll just repeat it quickly and then go ahead the general outline of the experiment was many years ago walter michelle i think was princeton or yale or somewhere here he did this experiment with four-year-old kids um why four year old before four years old they did not have a cognitive capacities to listen and reason it out and you know exercise their will after that it becomes a little more complicated as the thinking becomes more sophisticated so four year five year old kids what walter michelle did was uh he asked the child to come into the room and ask the child that do you want uh actually you can see this experiment not walter michelle's original experiment but zimbardo's experiment it's this is very cute videos available on youtube so i can tell you that experiment so the psychologist asks the child to come in and tells the child that do you first of all distracts the child with some question this thing and that thing and then as if offering a reward but that's the real experiment offers the child a marshmallow now i had spoken about this experiment in india to iit students but at that time i didn't even know what was a marshmallow i've never seen one in my life it's only after coming to the united states i saw what a marshmallow was an eighth one but he offers to the offers a child a marshmallow and says you can eat it now but would you want to every child says yes i want to in that case just wait a while i'll go outside here's the marshmallow in front of you don't eat it now i'll come back and then you can i'll give you two i'll give you one more if you have not eaten it if you eat it that's it then you will not get the second one so you know you'll get this marshmallow any day and the second one you'll get if you wait a little bit and every child is important every kid if you've seen the experiment it's very funny every kid agree agrees immediately i'll wait i'll i'll have two and they don't know that they're being recorded and the psychologist leaves the room and you can see the videos they're very funny the children now for a little child even waiting 10 minutes is a long time especially if he has a delicious marshmallow in front of the child so some of the children straight away eat it that said they won't eat but they straightaway eat it and they don't get the second marshmallow some of the children they wait and those videos are very funny in the little boy or girl looking plaintively at the door when will the psychologist come back or they they distract themselves they play little games or something or the other you know it's all instinctive in order to avoid the temptation of looking at the marshmallow some of them fail they look at the marshmallow and eat it some of them succeed they wait and then they get the second marshmallow now what is important about this little experiment walter michel and later on philip zimbard also they divided these two groups of children into two groups without telling them just on paper then they followed their career they went back some 14 years michelle did that 40 years later when the kids were about to go to high school come out of high school go to college they found significant differences between these two groups the group which could not withstand that penetration and those kids who withdrew the temptation those kids who withstood the temptation they were able to you know they were better at at studies their sat scores were significantly higher they socialized better they were seen as more dependable by parents and teachers and they were liked better by their classmates those who could not restrain themselves turned out to be more impulsive you know not completing the assignments going up on a party and being easily distracted in many ways and clear differences emerged over 14 years these differences are only going to get wider and larger as they go into life into jobs and all into marriages and all the bigger and bigger differences so um this ability to control one's impulse this was later worked by um by who wrote that book on uh eq emotional intelligence um the famous psychologist who who designed the term daniel goldman daniel goldman yes daniel goldman he incorporated this into this idea of control of impulses so that is part of emotional intelligence the ability to withhold gratification to postpone gratification all of us face this that if i put in a little more effort if i stop enjoying you know like little little pleasures in life and put in the effort in my studies or in my exercise or whatever it is i will get huge benefits in a few years but postponed that much discipline now why i'm saying all this one reason is philip zimbardo he says he takes i what the message he takes is he says that some children have this ability to see into the future as it were some are present oriented some can as it were seen to the future means not anything esp or nothing like that it's just that that the reward available in the future is real for them whereas the other kids who are impulsive what is the marshmallow and present present in front of them that's the only reality the two marshmallows the second marshmallow is too vague and not attractive enough so they give in to the present temptation the future achievement is not so attractive or real they don't have the discipline of the grit to hold on till they get that result and i was amazed to see the difference between those who select the pleasurable and those who select that which is good and beneficial shankaracharya commentator says those who see into the future those who cannot see to the future or they cannot make it real enough in the sanskrit it just uses one word adorada she removed her fooled deluded because unable to see the consequences of what's going to happen and this is true philip dimardo is not talking about walter michelle is not talking about enlightenment god realization no no he says for success in this life which is very much part of what one might call an enlightened prayers a better samsara so one thing which makes for a better samsara is this ability this emotional intelligence um they generally can design a better life generally there are many other factors this is one point i wanted to make so this is an important verse what is true of trying to make a better life for yourself in this world the discipline it takes to complete a degree the discipline it takes to raise a family the discipline it takes to hold a job all of those things require a certain degree of discipline and self-control and in spiritual life much more so so in spiritual life if you want stress this quality of seeing into the future that i will get enlightenment and that will solve all of my problems and that's real it's a great blessing if one can think in that way then one will pursue this path spiritual life so this verse is this mantra is very important the pleasurable and the good are different they put you on different paths the path the difference may not be so noticeable at the beginning 10 years down the line 20 years down the line 50 years down the line the one was whacked off walked on the path of spirituality the one who has immersed uh himself herself in worldliness the difference will become very big you become very big in one lifetime itself it becomes very big honestly the one who selects the conscious decision to select spiritual life they reach the goal of human life which is moksha in general also you can take this advice those who do not do those who keep on going in for the pleasurable it literally says they miss the goal you can see even say they missed worldly goals also one who gives in to pleasure seeking will miss worldly goals will not complete assignments on time will not do the job on time cannot hold on to a job cannot runs away from family responsibilities every kind of problem will hound the person who keeps on selecting the pleasurable or what about what is good and and somebody put it this way that the difference between that which is desired and that which is desirable desirable in the sense of good for your life desired means our senses our mind out some scars keep on wanting in the next mantra [Music] the question the question is okay let me translate first the preferable and the pleasurable approach man both approach man the man of intelligence having considered them separates the two the intelligent one selects the electable in preference to the delectable here it is the non-intelligent one selects the delectable for the sake of growth and protection of the body etc okay so what is this about if you say the one who chooses the good over the pleasurable then people should choose that but why why don't more people choose the spiritual path why do most people choose the path of prayers not of shreyas the path of worldliness not of spirituality the commentator asks this why do people cling mostly to the pleasurable only so that is being answered the first thing he says both come to you the pleasurable and the good they come to you the worldly and the spiritual when do they come all the time they're coming to us and this power of choice we have we have to make a choice when not only once i decide my goal is god realization i my goal is not pursuit of wealth and power and pleasure in the world how many times you have to decide not once once twice thrice every day moment to moment so all the time get up in the morning early morning up to get up and meditate should i get up oh it's too cold let me stay in the comfort of the uh blanket that is um prayers no let me jump out of the bed out of the comfort of the blanket and wash my face and you know and get ready and go to meditate that is shreyas they had made a decision one of our senior monks used to say the worst is to lie in the bed and think should i get up now a little sleep a little more he said either go back to sleep or jump out of bed let's lie down there and this thomasic um holy company is good that way i mean it's it becomes much easier even for an average but ordinary person if everybody else around you is doing it so that's why it's good to set good standards in families that's why there's an ashram you know difficult to get up well i also thought how will i get up at 3 40 in the morning but it was so easy everybody is doing it you feel you cannot sleep you will feel guilty and ashamed if you are the only person left in the monastery and everybody's got up and gone for meditation no so like the ashram in the family also if you set certain high standards it will benefit everybody don't force sometimes spiritual people can become very preachy people that are annoying other people you can show by example then they approach both samparitya vivi naktihira the spiritual seeker considers them well not all the time has made had considered at least once in life and considered them well and knows the limitation like nachiketa whatever the range of pleasures pleasurable things offered prayers naji keta knows i don't want any of it he wants only the shreyas i remember this little example in bellurmut in summer it's very hot so very cool drink of yogurt and some spices and all and very nice to drink is offered to srirama krishna in the afternoon when it is hottest it's a bit like lassi but much thicker and then prasad obviously so the monks get it by turn and it's eagerly awaited because it's very nice and you get it once a year half a glass once a year if you are a monk in in bellurmat now it's there's a story that once a young monk took it to swami turiyananda in those days in the early days of the order it was his turn you know the saddam krishna's disciple turian who was very disciplined very austere very vedantic so took it to him swami this is your turn you have the offered prasad from sri ramakrishna this this lassi or this yogurt drink so swami took a sip i said you take it away then this monk asks isn't it good wasn't it nice he said yes it was nice that's why i take it so that is the rejection of the prayers oh the tongue likes it no now that's maybe too much but it's a good all of these things that these disciples did was a good example for setting an example for everybody take what is necessary for the body no eat to live not live to it eat to live is shreyas live to eat praise so considering well some parity it is not out of some fanaticism not out of um just you know unthinking they well thought out then deera means the spiritual seeker the spiritual hero who is seeking enlightenment vedi nakti it's an important word this is the word from which the root from which viveka comes the discernment between eternal non-eternal you know what it means separation he separates in his mind he separates this will lead me down this route that will lead me to this route which one do i want um srirama krishna is to say the he would i'll tell you in bengali and then translate pretty nice phrase he says sand and sugar are mixed the ant can separate them milk and water mixed and it is said that a swan can separate them so one can drink that and leave the water aside and drink the milk it says there's a belief like that so the swine can separate milk and water they're mixed the last one is impossible to translate in bengali he says so in gol mal means gold means chaos and mal here would mean truth or essence in the midst of this chaos of samsara the truth is there the ultimate reality is right here leave this chaos aside leave the samsara aside and extract the ultimate reality so i'm making it very philosophical he just says in colloquial bengali it translates well into hindi and indian languages also but not into english um likes this that punch just like the swan separates milk and water and i was so happy to find shankaracharya twelve hundred years thirteen hundred years ago he says separates the two what does it mean he says like water and milk you separate that which is preferable and that which is pleasurable and then the the spiritual seeker will select the preferable the one which will lead him to god and leave aside the other one inferior one the one who's given to worldliness worldliness the worldly person will instinctively the only person does not consider it well the spiritual seeker has considered it well thought it through that these are the things more money better apartment better gadgets relationships and all of this i have seen it through and therefore i don't want i have seen this in this life of the past life and i don't want any of this therefore i select the spiritual path the other one who selects the pleasurable path the worldly path does not select it after thinking it through it just automatically selected why yoga math because you hear yoga is a word you find in gita also yoga yoga means joining acquisition chamber means preserving protecting i want more acquire more money more property um husband wife children acquire more and more and more that is yoga and shame maintain it preserve the property and the money and the gadgets and you know all of that now take care of the family and so all of this is yoga this is samsara if you look around people are doing just this unless they're little kids or teenagers going away for a party most people are engaged in acquisition and preservation the world around us is acquisition and preservation um gita so what do we do here upanishad is very clear don't go in for this acquisition preservation look for enlightenment and everything when it comes to you this is about acquisition preservation this is enlightenment choose this one but we say we are poor human beings we have commitments in the world you swami you also have to run an ashram you cannot say acquisition preservation you have to give it up i want to preserve the ashram we've been going to collect donations for the ashram a householder has to earn money take care of the family so what about this acquisition preservation yoga it cannot be ignored even if you're a spiritual seeker then what gita offers the solution krishna says to arjuna yoga i shall if you are constantly devoted to god realization if you're a spiritual person don't worry about your life i'll take care of you what a great assurance so i won't go over to a job will god krishna turn up and do my job for me no if you are that category where you are immersed in samadhi then krishna will do it for you no hand will come to you but you can't say that i'm going to relax in my bed and sleep a few hours more because krishna is going to go and do my job for me no then krishna won't do your job for you so but you need not worry about your worldly possessions and affairs god will protect you and take care of you what a great assurance you pursue god realization that is the goal of human life the other things god do see we are not satisfied with that because we have strong desires about that i want that little bit more achievement more money more facebook likes or whatever it is and that i will try to get i can't leave it to god and then you are in the path of prayers samsara so krishna says yoga shema by the way those who are from india you know the biggest insurance corporation in india life insurance corporation their motto is yogashima i shall take care of your acquisition and protection so they're taking it from the gita it is god who does that for the spiritual seeker if you're not a spiritual seeker then your acquisition and preservation is up to you it's you have to engage in karma then you're on the path of karma not karma yoga karma cause and effect good karma bad karma papa and punya merit and demerit you're on the track to heaven or hell that is samsara yoga he says because of yoga the the inferior one the worldly one manda means inferior one worldly one pursues the path of worldliness now if that person does it in a wise way you know following the discoveries of uh if no one else at least walter michelle and philip zimbardo then will be a wise samsari will will be a dependable person good for the world and the next world but will not achieve enlightenment spirituality a spiritual person you're good you're on the fast track to enlightenment at the same time your worldly affairs are protected but protected means god sudama krishna also said when swami vivekananda kept on ask pestering sudama krishna you know the story that please ask mother kali that so that my family does not suffer for want of you know money and food and all of that his father had died he couldn't get a job dire straits his family was so sudama krishna said why don't you go and ask kali and he said oh she listens to you so you ask for me salaam krishna said you go and ask and he couldn't ask you see this is a classic example of shray and prayer you know the story um krishna sent vivekananda to the temple of kali go and ask for money for your family this is a good day it's a day of the night of divine mother so he went but it was such a vivid presence of the you know like a radiant presence of the divine mother he asked for knowledge and devotion and dispassion and came back overwhelmed krsna's asked him what did you say i saw this and then i asked for knowledge and devotion and and discussion surrounding said oh that's all right but did you ask for money and he said no i forgot he said what a fool go back there's still time he went back the second time the same thing happened he came back and said i asked for devotion i asked for knowledge oh what a fool there's still yet time you go again third time he sent his third time the same thing happened as soon as krishna was of course very pleased this is exactly like yamanachiketa are you going to select what are you going to ask for i guarantee you if you go to this temple of the divine mother of the universe what you ask for this one time you're bound to get let's see what you ask for and here is your guru giving you permission to ask for worldly things also in fact telling you go ask for money when he couldn't do that and he then he said to sudama krishna i know this is your play you are doing this on purpose siram krishna finally he also made a significant remark he said don't worry i your family will not lack plain food and clothing now notice plain food and clothing he didn't say your family will become millionaires so when the lord says i will take care of your shreya and prayer i'll take care of your yoga and shame your acquisition and preservation of whatever you have in the world i'll take care of that what he means is you will not suffer in the worldly sense but you are not going to get an apartment in the billionaire's row he said lord you wanted me to [Music] worship you and then you said you take care of my worldly affairs why am i under all the little department uh you know in hell's kitchen or somewhere why not on the billionaire's row no the lord has not promised that and if the lord promised it that in hindi they say that's asking for trouble so this verse says both of them approach you when all the time the spiritual seeker considering the demerits of the worldly path makes a decision a decision after decision after decision continuous process that i i will have this not that and the worldly person because he's engaged in acquisition and preservation makes a decision automatically chooses the instinctively chooses worldly things not spirituality you see when you're threatened ah somebody told me at the beginning of the covet crisis last year at this time do you have to think about vedanta philosophy in metaphysics i mean you are threatened like this see this is the distinction at this time you will catch hold of god even more i'm not saying only vedanta it could be devotional it could be your ishta devata the truly spiritual person will catch hold of god in time of crisis the the not spiritual person the one who is on the path of prayers will instinctively look for some worldly support i noticed one thing about in sudama krishna holy mother whenever they were in trouble they had something to say they would tell it to the divine mother first not to any human person quest to god okay let's stop here let me see oh we have well gone well over time so i won't take any question but let's quickly see the questions i'll take up this theme next time and then continue kiran says when do we when we do prayers rituals help others we do not offer the results to god that is prayers yes result should be offered to god when you have a sankalpa let this be done for curing the illness of this person getting a job for that person whatever it is the or for the welfare of my family in general no for the welfare of the world i'm doing it for the the you know for the for the pleasure of the joy of ishwar of god that is karma yoga that is the kind of prayers we should do alpana says how to differentiate between mind justifying due to laziness and intellect understanding the oneness with brahman intellect understanding one with brahman redundancy of meditation the intellect understanding one with brahman would be most happy to stay in a meditative state enjoying that one messy problem right it will not rush out into worldly activities oh i realized i'm one with brahman now let me go to a party no if you see the lives of enlightened ones whether sriram krishna dotha puri rama namashi how meditative and inward they were not trying to realize something they already found it and it is so wonderful they want to be there all the time sangeetha says in the context of study the reasons why vivekananda could not ask for anything else at that moment akali can be attributed to what besides stakeholder that he was a nithya siddha yes that he was an itty sitter and because he was truly a spiritual seeker he was on the path of shreyas vivekananda was on the path of shreyas this demonstrates just like the battles [Music] me [Music] you