Video 12

12. Katha Upanishad | Mantras 1.2.6 - 7 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] may the lord protect us both the teacher and the taught together by revealing knowledge may he protect us both by giving us the results of knowledge maybe attain vigor together let what we learn that what we study be eliminating may we not cavale at each other om peace peace peace so we are studying the qatar peninsula and the question that the student the little boy nashiketa asks yama the lord of death he asked the question about the nature of the self who am i or what am i uh the fundamental question in vedanta now yama first you he dissuades the little boy from asking this question saying it's very difficult very subtle when the boy persists he tempts the student with all sorts of worldly and other worldly temptations and the student demonstrates his readiness by showing his dispassion but he does not want any of that he just wants the answer to his question the secret of the self what we are and then yama is very happy and he's going to teach vedanta now but before that he makes some preliminary observations about the nature of the spiritual path about spiritual knowledge about the student about the teacher so this is what is going on now this will go on up to the 12th 13th mantra in this section so far we see yama has made a very important observation that these two things come to us all the time what are these two things the um pleasant and the um the good the beneficial prayer and shreya prayer means that which is nice that which is pleasant and unfortunately that which is ultimately good for us is often not the the apparently pleasant path so the shreya that which is ultimately good what is ultimately good for us ultimately good is moksha liberation spiritual freedom enlightenment that is ultimately good that is the ultimate goal of all spiritual paths not just vedanta that is the purpose of all the religions ultimate purpose now in that pleasant the prayer there are two varieties in the present itself there are two varieties see there are basically two ways of leading life one is the pursuit of um of pleasure and success in the world uh without any attention to morality ethics you know the the good life without any attention to that just how can i get you know be happier how can i be be more successful in sanskrit these two are called kama and kama means the pursuit of pleasure all sorts of pleasure from a cookie to the pleasure of say classical music or something all of it from gross pleasures to refined pleasures pursuit of pleasure that is karma basically sensuous pleasure and the pursuit pursuit of success um wealth you know literally money also property and you know achievement and position and status so all sorts of success in life and if someone pursues this without any other goal this is primary this is the the instinctive way of leading life the that which comes naturally to a lot of people what's wrong with it it produces great suffering pretty soon in this life itself suffering for oneself and suffering for others why does it produce suffering we have talked about this earlier also because the things that we get by this pursuit whether it's pleasure the objects which give us pleasure money positions relationships power status by themselves they are impermanent they are fleeting transient um even when we get them they are not satisfying you see if we look at the richest people the most famous people people with the maximum number of facebook friends uh people who are on the covers of magazines uh glamorous people um strong physically strong people all sorts of this kind of pleasure and success none of it is deeply satisfying you know it is more satisfying to those who don't have it we think if i were that rich you know that young again and that famous then i would really be happy we don't know it's the answer to that is pretty easy just look closely at the lives of who are that rich and that young and that famous and that beautiful clearly they are not very happy why would we be any different and then finally the other problem would be that they are binding they are addictive in the sense if you plunge into that and you think that that kind of pleasure and possessions is going to make us happy it's it is habit-forming that that little bit of pleasure is not not sufficient next time we need more of it more variety of it and we keep trying in the hope that we will actually get lasting satisfaction nobody has ever has and will fail also so this is a not a wise way of leading life in this world there is a wise way of doing the same things what is the wise way the wise way is the moral way the ethical way the decent way so most people luckily belong to the second category who want success in this world who want to be wealthy who want to be happy in this world but they also see themselves as good people as moral people as decent people luckily and that's why society persists society exists civilization exists because most people are like this not the first category but both of these whether in an immoral unethical way chasing attained karma success and pleasure or on the basis of morality dharma one still pursues a tan kaaba by pursuit of attain karma success and pleasure is limited by guided by disciplined by dharma that i yes i really want to be to do well in this world but not at the expense of becoming an immoral person not an expense of being a thief or or a crooked person or a nasty person no this person is intelligent if the goal is happiness the person who pursues worldly goals within the limits of an ethical life is actually a more intelligent person because that gives a deeper and more lasting and more sustainable happiness than the earlier one this it takes a little bit of maturity and insight to see but both of these the immoral power crazy pleasure seeking person and the moral ethical person who's still seeking pleasure power success in this world all of it falls under the term prayer the pleasant life beyond this beyond even the dharmic life beyond even the ethical life is the spiritual life that is called shreya that is ultimately beneficial ultimately good if the prayer is a good life they shreya is the ultimately good life ultimately good life is that which is many names are there moksha nirvana kaivalya many terms are there this was sort of the project of the indian civilization for four or five thousand years that could we solve really totally deeply solve the problem of life and the answer was yes the answer from all the traditions in hinduism and buddhism sikhism and srinama krishna's point of view that all religions actually answer in the affirmative so that there is a deep solution to the problem of life from immorality to morality to spirituality spirituality is what is meant by pray uh shreya here the higher life the second point that yama makes to nachi keta is the two cannot be combined but it might strike some how about having both the higher goal i'll become enlightened will be a buddha and also i'll be a billionaire and also i'll be very famous and also i'll be an olympic athlete so there's one people are smiling already it's a nice picture right and also after the death of this physical body i will go to the higher heavens um why not so yama points out no they cannot become mind enlightenment moksha liberation salvation whatever you call it cannot be combined god and mammon as the christ said cannot be worshiped together you can't have both why not it sounds nice is the commentator explained they're like light and darkness they're like dream and waking you can't have both together you want to wake up you have to wake up to go on dreaming then go on dreaming if you want enlightenment then the play of maya will come to an end you can't have both together yama said they go in opposite directions one is the path of samsara subject to multiple lives coming and going birth and death the other one is moksha freedom from the cycle of birth and death then he says in the sixth let's come to the sixth mantra what is the sixth mantra what does it say i am [Music] the means for the attainment of the other world does not become revealed to the non-discriminating man who blunders being befooled by the lure of wealth one that constantly thinks that there is only this world and none hereafter comes under my sway again and again a dire warning us see what he is saying here he says he says for the foolish one the one who is on the other path the path of the pleasant maybe the crazy power seeker wealth seeker pleasure seeker or the more decent upright honest person but they're both bala means child from a spiritual perspective they're children why are the children because like children they're immature about the nature of the world they don't understand what is that what is it that they don't understand na sampara or pratibhati baalam the word uses a technical word here samparaya it's something to do with vedic knowledge so this vedic knowledge is um does not flash upon is not clear does not seem real to these childish people i won't say childlike it's good to which i like the difference between being childlike and childish so these people are childish um so what is this vedic knowledge you see the commentator says the scriptural knowledge that the one that is revealed in the text what is revealed in the text that there is something beyond this world this world is not the end this body is not the is neither the beginning of the story not the end of the story that we have existed before this life that we will continue to exist after death that there are other lives other words this kind of thinking is not acceptable to uh emit your minds it's very interesting that people i have had people come and tell me i don't believe in that sort of thing you see i'm a scientist by training meaning they're therefore i am an intellectual i am intelligent i am rational i am scientific and therefore i don't believe that there is anything after death yama is telling naji keta these are childish people and they are not they are not they are not thinking straight patibati means does not flash upon it's not clear to them it does not feel real to them sampara literally well one meaning would be the truth of that which is beyond this world another meaning would be that by vedic ritualism one can get good karma which takes one to um the higher worlds after death it's a mouthful and repeat by vedic rituals one generates good karma by the force of which one wins a place in the higher worlds after death now this is part of being a devout person this is part of being a religious person in the vedic ancient vedic mind mindset it was that in the the karma kanda the ritualistic portion of the vedas many kinds of rituals are there which promise if you follow these rituals you're going to get um go to heaven after death those heavens are also strictly temporary but they are much better than this world and certainly much better than going to any number of hells now it requires faith you see vedantism is much more transparent and logical but this thing requires faith that i will exist after death and any kind of religious rituals or whatever is is going to really help me after this it's going to generate that good karma i'll go to this better place after death all of this requires faith and yama says this requires intelligence that kind of faith is a sign of a higher intelligence which childish minds lack they see only this world so that is this debate has become very huge now between the neo-atheists and people of religion you see all of religion depends on this what yama is saying this understanding that that you do survive death if you do not survive death there really isn't much point to any kind of religion it might be of some practical use in this world but uh whether god exists my heaven exists um all of his had no meaning if i don't exist after that if this body goes and that's it i'm finished what meaning does it have for me if death is completely my end nothing more than that and for everybody also it's true so even the existence of god existence of this enlightened so-called enlightenment it's of no meaning to me it makes no sense for me so this is the big fight between say modern humanism and any kind of religious belief so he says it does not flash upon such people that there is this you know there are heavens and all after death that karma good karma leads to a better life in this life and the next life and bad karma leads to suffering such a person would say all that's your belief as long as people don't catch me i can do naughty things and i'm fine and what's the use of doing good things if i'm dead i don't get the benefit of that people should recognize if i can do good things and give me awards and stuff like that maybe then that's good otherwise it's no use so this all this karma you know leading to future lives pleasure and pain in future lives that i don't believe so such people will not believe in karma also not believing in karma not believing in past lives and future lives not believing in an existence after death let alone i am the atman i am existence consciousness bliss there is no death for me no birth for me also the birth of the body is not my birth the death of the body is not my death there's no coming and going for me i am that limitless illumination that shining in which everything is appearing and disappearing that kind of vedantic knowledge which will be taught later that's far beyond the reach of such people who are not willing to believe even that there can be some kind of existence after task that some kind of existence after death lot of people believe beyond that is the atman or brahman that has to be realized so it spiritual life will not even begin for such people he says why don't they believe brahmadyantham he says brahmadal literally means carelessness heedlessness thoughtlessness it is pramada literally pramada means means mistake you're given to this thoughtless way of living the strange thing is such people normally say that we are the thoughtful ones we are the intelligent ones you are the religious nut cases you believe in in heaven and other worlds and that we we exist before that will exist after death that those who have died there they exist in some other worlds and they'll be reborn again things like that you believe they are religious not cases we are the intelligent ones and yama says these are the foolish ones and he will say why is it a dire warning what is the terrible result of this kind of thinking he will say next so he says it's a mystic brahmad brahmada means mistake there's a saying in sanskrit brahma the way this kind of heedlessness is is equal to death spiritual death that's what yama is warning us against why are they given to this kind of thing it says put the shankaracharya comments mind is continuously engaged in what is to be attained in this world problems to be solved suffering to be overcome pleasurable things to be attained achievements to be had in this world literally he says children and cattle etc so cattle was wealth in those days you know you're rich if you had lots of cows but um i mean it was it's i think it's still true to some extent in texas maybe a rich if you have a ranch and you have lots of cows but uh today also how how much money do you have what's your stock portfolio how many followers you have got on twitter things like that i mean we must admit a lot of people are completely engaged in that and that's real to them that's important to them that's urgent to them now the spiritual seeker is just the opposite it is terribly urgent that i must realize god in this very life itself why have i not realized god why do i not feel the presence of god or self-realization whichever language you use that urgency definitely does not come to such people it's these worldly cares which are most urgent for them then [Music] means a foolishness descends upon them the commentator shankaracharya compares it with darkness the intellect is clouded by a darkness what is darkness this could be unpopular so darkness is money it literally uses the term bitter mohena by the darkness called money money in here stands for all kinds of worldliness it could be literally money it could be your possessions it could be your shares and cryptocurrency bitcoin and things like that so all of this he says he compares it to a darkness the mind becomes sucked into it and is always spent calculating how much money how much have i got how much have i lost how much can i get where can i get it what do i have to do to get it with a fraction of that uh energy and enthusiasm one can become enlightened one can become a buddha this is a funny story about a maharaja prince in those days coming to the our main monastery in swami brahmananda was the president of our order so very great swami a direct disciple of srinama krishna krishna considered him his spiritual son so swami brahmananda he was also very humorous she was sitting in this maharaja this king a prince comes to him and bows down to him and swami brahmananda says well why this deep bowing down on what's the occasion and the prince says with great devotion in humility oh swami you have renounced so much i'm i'm bowing down out of respect you've renounced the word you've learned so much and swami brahman and they said well what have i renounced you are a greater renouncer i should bow down to you if you're bowing down for renunciation then you have renounced more than me the prince was taken aback but he's a prince and this person is a monk he said what have i renounced swami and swami brahmananda said i have only renounced a few pieces of glass called samsara and got the diamond called god you have thrown away the diamond and you for a few pieces of glass so it is a way of humorous way of teaching but with the mohena deluded by the darkness called this lust for wealth and possession what do they think what is their philosophy ayam loko nasti parity mani the firm conviction is not that i am brahman the world is an appearance no this world alone is nasty there is nothing else this world alone is and what is this world commentator says um drishyamana whatever is experienced whatever i see smells taste touch uh here street you know consisting of men and women and food you know basically what he means is by food he means all kinds of sense pleasures by women etc he says woman etc it means all relationships in this world all of this this is the world that they find so fascinating and say this this is the reality this is all that exists and what uh what does yama say muram [Music] deluded stupid i won't take the name one of the greatest intellectuals living today said to me in one of the top ivy league colleges there itself on the campus in a very exclusive place i won't give any more details because people may find out who it is this person said to me swami this is all that there is you tell me but you can't say anything more than this whatever is there in this world this much only you can see i don't want to hear about anything else beyond this i was just thinking the lord of death has said murdham fool food why fool what's wrong with it he will say now and what he is saying is truly terrifying he says it imani these people think they think about it manana they are intellectuals there are people who think in this way and they come to this conclusion there's nothing more i really don't believe in all of that you know brahman enlightenment whatever it is hinduism buddhism whatever i don't believe in all of that i'm intelligent i'm smart and yama says they die okay everybody dies again and again and again they fall into my grip means they fall into my grip yamases they fall into the hands of death again and again janana marana this is the shankaracharya's commentary writing 1400 years ago they mount the merry-go-round the ferris wheel or the merry-go-round the mount that that the fed literally says the ferris wheel of the merry-go-round of misery the merry-go-round of misery consisting of births and aging and disease and knowledge and death repeat like rinse and wash and recycle and then back into the system again into the merry-go-round of misery but we're all there then what is why are what is special about these people they have no chance of coming out of it until they change their thinking on the other hand the fortunate few who say that there is something to spiritual life it is worth investigating let us follow this and try to do something about it they have a chance of dismounting from this ferris wheel of misery he says consisting of births and deaths without seas without any end to it we are a poet sings we are swept along in the current of life we don't know where we have come from we don't know where we are growing uh going why we carry this burden on our heads we don't know so the poet sings he calls god a friend oh my friend friend with the capital uh a friend divine friend relieve me of this burden i'm being swept along lifetime to lifetime i know not why and i know not where but i can't stop so they are being swept along he says and then shankaracharya dolefully adds in the worlds people are mostly like this there are very few people who have the grace the blessings to be genuinely interested in spiritual life now among those who are interested in spiritual life there also yama will say he narrows it down the knowledge which i'm going to give you is most precious even those who have some kind of interest in spiritual life they don't come to this knowledge so easily he's going to talk about that next the next mantra is the seventh mantra before i go into that one just a little point i want to make what is the purpose of vedanta in fact all spiritual life but specifically purpose of vedanta uh it can be expressed in in two ways one way is the traditional way which is the purpose or goal of spiritual life in all indian systems they talk about a circle of samsara births and deaths many lives what's wrong with many life sounds good no these are very limited lives guaranteed to die guaranteed to suffer are guaranteed to be happy also no no such guarantee so we'll so this is the cycle of samsara and this is propelled why is it going on karma causality everything that we do has an effect every effect has a cause and every cause will have an effect and that's why this thing is going round and round we are propelled by past karma into this life to get the results of that karma while getting the results of that karma we behave in certain ways and so we have more karma and therefore more lives sometimes nice the ferris wheel goes high sometimes low high is the higher heavens sometimes low the lower health sometimes in between this mortal world but we are being whirled around make no mistake about it so the freedom from this cycle of birth and death uh is called moksha and that is the goal of spiritual life not only in vedanta yoga bhakti in buddha all the schools of buddhism jainism all the indic systems they all look at it this way now one problem with this kind of thinking is suppose a person says i really don't believe in multiple lives uh i i don't see those past lives i don't know if i've got future lives but i surely have this one life can you restate can you reframe what spirituality does in terms of this one life yes that also we can do um another way of expressing the same truth is freedom from suffering and attainment of ultimate bliss ultimate fulfillment in sanskrit paramount freedom from suffering attainment of ultimate bliss there's no talk about past life future life cycle of birth and death freedom from cycle of birth and death forget that everybody wants freedom from suffering everybody wants deep lasting satisfaction fulfillment the ultimate happiness yes then this project of spirituality vedanta guarantees that if you follow this path if you realize who you are that you are brahman you will overcome suffering and you will get lasting happiness and bliss so these are the two ways in expressing the same thing the same freedom the same spiritual result is attained but these are two ways of expressing one talking about multiple lives and freedom from the cycle and they're just saying you will have no suffering and you will go beyond death beyond you'll go beyond suffering and you will attain fulfillment now usually i'd say the second one whenever i talk about the purpose of spiritual life overcoming suffering and attainment of fulfillment but here yama is stressing the first one the multiple cycles the belief that there are lives after death that there was we existed before birth also and this cycle of life and death and freedom from that and there is a wisdom to that there's a wisdom to that i was thinking why not make it simple and say overcome suffering and attain bliss and that's it don't talk about past life future lives the thing is if you don't talk about past life future lives you just say this little life and here you will overcome suffering and you will attain happiness and that's it there can be problems one problem is a person might say i don't really need all of that then all of your spirituality i'm pretty happy already i have a few millions saved in the bank and my relationships are going great my doctor has given me a clean bill of health um and i am fully vaccinated booster shot also and things are fine for me i don't need your spirituality so i have overcome suffering more or less and i'm pretty happy that kind of argument can come that argument will not work if you accept multiple lifetimes everything that we have here everything without any any exception will be lost the moment this body goes so nothing of that argument will not work when you accept multiple lifetimes we are quite helpless in that case then only spirituality can rescue us so the belief in cycle of birth and death existence after death it's actually more important it's not enough just to say it will overcome suffering in this life and that's it no deep if you think more deeply it is important to believe in in this cycle of birth and death and that's why that is the traditional way in which spirituality start in all these ancient systems um yes also a person can argue yeah i'm not particularly happy now i have got many problems but if there are no future lives then there's no need to spirit for spirituality also i know the spirituality can give me uh happiness and can help me overcome suffering but death will also help me to overcome suffering so death is the end so suffering is the end it's ended at death so why do i need to go through all these boring vedanta classes and practice meditation and all of that and not necessary i'll just die one day and it'll all be over but if it is true what all religions of the world say death is not the end not at all not by any means then i need to pause and think about all of this so this idea of multiple births and deaths is a very profound concept it's worth thinking about now having talked about the general mass of people yama now narrows it down to us spiritual seekers and even here he says the vedantic knowledge i'm going to give you is is very rare very precious seventh mantra young what is the translation let me read out swami gambiranji's translation of that self which is not available for the mere hearing to many and which many do not understand even while hearing the expounder is wonderful and the receiver is wonderful wonderful is he who knows under the instruction of an adept so praising the knowledge praising the teaching learning the opportunity to learn this so knowledge is not available to many it was not available to us across many lifetimes so it's that precious how few people get to know about this young man who indian man who comes to our classes here you're saying i grew up in india and i never knew about these things our parents always told us to study study study and get a good degree and get a job and go and work in wall street well i've done that but if i ask my parents now what i did all that you wanted me to do they they are simple folk they say we don't know because we thought that was the goal of life that well you've got it now you have to think for yourself we don't know anything more than that that this such a thing is there that we are not these little creatures that we are infinite existence consciousness place that an end to sorrow is possible that there is we can actually know the secret of life and existence what is the mystery all about who am i what is all this all this can actually be known there are people who have realized this and i can't i too can do that these things nobody told us so even to hear this it is not easy it's very precious it's not just a case of availability so everything is available now on the net you can go to youtube lectures or all books are available everything is available true but then are we willing to listen to how is our readiness there to listen no a lot of people are not ready to listen unfortunately and you can't rush it that is the grand play of maya often i've seen people especially parents who become when they become enthusiasts about vedanta the first thing they do is i must send these talks to my son or daughter or to my grandchildren you know and then the next thing i hear about it is and i know i'm waiting for the disappointment to come we are not interested swami i sent it to them they they say great mom and then they go on they don't they don't want to listen true sri ramakrishna knew this he would always say in bengali until the time is ripe it will not work then what is the time right what does it mean let them experience the prayer the other form of life so can't we do anything for them then beloved son or daughter or grandchild you can but instead of trying to force them to become little buddhas what you can do is uh encourage them to do whatever they are doing but in a much wiser way you know the two forms of prayer which i mentioned the mad pursuit of pleasure and power and success and the disciplined pursuit of the same things but within the discipline of morals decency ethics a sturdy belief devout nature and also the teachings of vedanta that these are all available they you want them they're all available there so it is not available to many because the toxin i mean the knowledge is not available to many at one time it was very restricted it was a secret it was withheld by a few and even if it is made available it's good it's all available all over the world people are not willing to listen you can't you can drag a horse to water but you can't make a drink good then those who listen so yama is a pessimist about the possibility of success and enlightenment success success rate and enlightenment he says among those who listen srinivam those who listen among them how few become enlightened they do not they do not understand they do not uh grasp it they don't get to listen to the right thing many people are spiritual but they're spiritual in so many different ways crash course to enlightenment the crash is getting guaranteed maybe the enlightenment is not so so many quick fixes are there so many types of teachers are there so many types of books are there and islamists said beware of teachers who make excuses for our weaknesses vivekananda further said vedant is practical but not in the sense of raising your life from what is there now to the ideal in the sense of the ideal it is practical it's possible to attain the idea not to drag down the idea not to make compromises and bring it down to what what's going on right now in our lives so even after hearing i mean they come to vedanta class also even after hearing um shankaracharya humorously says among the same group of students the same teacher you'll have multiple results some don't get it at all what's going on here some get it partially some get quite the opposite and there will be a few who actually get it so those few who actually get it there he praises the teacher and the taught skillful is the recipient and extraordinary is the master who can transmit this knowledge why is this extraordinary imagine what is going to be taught you your real nature is going to be taught but everything that we know of till in our life whatever we have seen in our lives whatever we have learned in our lives has been something which is objective something out there in the world related to people animals things related to books related to things we can see hear smell taste touch we can think of we can speak of that's it we will even say is there anything else the moment something is taught we we tend to start looking for it as an object oh atman brahman the wide the infinite everything is an object and you never find it that way it is your real nature to which everything is an object what we are talking about here is pretty simple but it's also um very subtle it's not difficult to get but it's very very easy to miss also so it is very difficult to to grasp what is being said here it has to be taught in many different ways in different language using different techniques who knows what will work for whom that's why you need extraordinarily skilled teacher ask chad the speaker is extraordinary and the student is also skilled skilled because the student is prepared what is the preparation we have seen earlier what naji keta has demonstrated a one pointed quest for the truth i want to know dispassion for worldliness then the discipline to stick to it and the eagerness to be free of samsara so these four fold qualifications najib has demonstrated till now that is the extraordinary nature of the student and the enlightened one is being praised now thus instructed by kusala means the skillful one instructed by the skillful one the master is skillful in what sense skillful in bringing enlightenment to the student so i have seen our teachers monastic teachers some were very learned but they're not particularly good as teachers if you ask them a question they'll repeat the same thing again and they said no but i didn't understand then they'll repeat the same thing all over again to you but then we have seen other teachers who were amazingly skillful teachers they could communicate in so many different ways and some work for some and some work for the other somebody said to swami vivekananda swamiji what you said you know in that talk i really liked you i really liked that and the swami said swami vivekananda said it was for you and then somebody else said but it didn't appeal to me what you said well it was not for you then so the teaching is fine but it may not take hold in certain minds and some other teachings may take hold in other minds and the teacher has to be skilled suryama krishna was a master teacher without parallel so was swami vivekananda but was little more impatient he wanted you know to hurry everybody along to enlightenment um [Music] so instructed by a skillful teacher kushala anushishta instructed thus by skillful teacher extraordinary is the enlightened one astro gyata extraordinary is the enlightened one so he has praised the teacher and the student and the teaching itself and shown us how rare it is this is something to create it's all advertising it's building up the brand so that we we take it seriously it's been given to us we take it it's the most precious thing that we can get in life there's no doubt about it i've seen so many senior monks and they would say that the most precious thing that i've got in my whole life is that little mantra that was given to me my guru niksha mantra he says that is so precious it's like god has been given to you in a seed form you cultivate that you'll become enlightened like that these teachings are these are direct teachings you see how extraordinary these teachings are many people don't uh you know it's difficult to get an appreciation for it this is teaching is an effortless path it is an instantaneous path no misunderstanding let me tell you why first it's effortless and instantaneous and then i'll walk it back it's effortless in the sense of what effort does it take to be yourself like where you're sitting right now if i ask you where do you have to go to sit where you are now you'll say nowhere do you have to go outside the door do you have to go to the east to the west to the north or south no wherever you go you will go away from where you are sitting it's exactly like that what we are there's really nothing no effort to be made every effort takes us away from from what we are um time how much time will it take for you to be yourself or how much time will it take for you to sit in that chair it's no time i'm already there to leave that chair and go out into your garden or take a trip outside you'll take time to go from one place to another will take time to wait for the next year and the ball to drop at um times square it'll take a few more weeks you know for 2022 to come but here this will not take any time to sit where you are sitting already no time at all it's instantaneous exactly like that the knowledge that is being communicated to us will point out our infinite nature our entirely problem-free nature directly such a precious knowledge such a powerful and instantaneous effortless instantaneous knowledge however again just as a caution when you say effortless instantaneous the temptation is to stop all effort then then all the effort is wasted no all the effort is to prepare the mind the scattered mind has to be focused the impure mind has to be purified attention has to be settled on this teaching without that none of it will work so all the effort and a lot of effort is necessary all the effort is for correcting the problems we have already generated in our lives is to clear out the garbage we have already accumulated is to settle the mind down this fickle and unsettled mind so a lot of effort is necessary and that will take time so their time is necessary and effort is necessary but the knowledge which yama will give is actually direct effortless instantaneous krishnamurthy vishwanathan says in the chat the problem with even the moral and ethical way of pursuing worldly success if they come at with their own headaches which eventually makes them a source of different kind of misery it's like pleasure mixed with poison yes samsara is that pleasure mixed with poison if someone is unethical if someone is impatient and someone chases power pleasure success without any limit whatsoever then the poison increases very fast and the pleasure disappears if someone however is moral follow certain principles and works hard for success in this world which is something that is taught by every ethical system then the pleasure part of it will be more the poison will be less but still yes it's still poisoned it's a very nature about you say why is it poisoned it's the very nature of samsara that's that was the great discovery of the buddha anitya manityam sarva manityam transient ephemeral everything is ephemeral and chanikam shanikam sarvang chanikam momentary momentary all is momentary empty empty all is empty so dukkham suffering suffering all is suffering and dukkham literally does need not mean direct gross suffering most of us right now we are not in deep direct suffering right now but the general unsatisfactory netness of it all and the fact that it's all going to end in a pretty a big mess very soon of mess called you know old age disease death it's going to end that makes the whole project rather unsatisfactory that is dukkham anu says if prayer and shreya cannot coexist isn't it implied the renunciate path is the only way to shreya i never mentioned many times one does not have to be renunciate what can be a fully functioning member of society the implication here seems to be otherwise yes but as i say the renunciate path means what does it mean putting on this class and going to a monastery on the top of a mountain no that's not what is meant notice neither yama is a renunciant he is a householder a godly householder but a householder and as far as we know naji keta does not become a redundancy nor is krishna a monk nor is arjuna a monk in in the bhagavad-gita many of the sages of these upanishads were renunciate monks many were householders and all they're equally enlightened so what is meant why is yama saying making such a clear distinction between the two what is meant is i put it this way you have to become monk like internally one has to make this shift that one may still be in a family one may still hold a job you have to do something in the world but that has to be spiritualized that my goal is now enlightenment that becomes the focus of life so that's what is meant the renunciate life here the renunciation has to be that real renunciation which is internal spiritual that is dharma let me put it in technical terms they are very so so neat dharma atakama is not my goal now moksha is my goal dharma moral ethical life on the basis of which you pursue karma pleasure all sorts of pleasure which is success wealth power status achievement in life all of that is pursued on the basis of dharma and this dharma also includes the rituals which will take you the good karma which will take you to heaven after death so a happy worldly life happy otherworldly life that's the whole deal in dharma now what vedanta is telling us is there's a much higher purpose of life which is called moksha enlightenment and that's for everybody ultimately you have to come to that whether you're a monk or not and to be enlightened to get moksha one must give up dharma takama give up uttan kama the pursuit of pleasure and success in what sense notice even after studying the entire after being taught the entire bhagavad-gita arjuna fought the war and got the kingdom and on the advice of krishna so this world will continue but now you will have to spiritualize that you do not seek ultimate fulfillment in this world you seek ultimate fulfillment in enlightenment it says see god discover god in everything recognize god in every experience of life in all the moving and non-moving things in everywhere you see inside and outside one divinity shining and then by that renunciation what renunciation by the renunciation of seeing divinity everywhere it does not say by that renunciation does not mean the renunciation of family and kids and money and running off to a monastery or a convent you could do that or you may not but that renunciation is to demonize everything that is the renunciation so i'm vivikan just stresses this again and again you do it as a monk of course a monk is a monastic life is specialized for that purpose but could you do it in the world yes many people have done it and you can you can also do it and you should patrick what is the relationship between good karma and being spiritual does good karma generated yes good karma gives you a good life in this world more of prayer the present life but good karma also gives you the opportunity for shreya it's a good question here good karma decent moral ethical life especially unselfish so there are two kinds of good karma one is the worldly kind of good karma where i lead an ethical life i don't lie i don't cheat i'm not immoral i give in charity but what are you what is your life all about my life is all about success in the world my life is all about my family and kids and grandkids and i see nothing wrong in it so that is a good karma the good kind of good karma in the world a worldly good karma but there's a higher good karma which is not just for these things it is unselfish good karma when i selflessly do good to others i don't want anything back for myself not in this world nor in the next world that kind of good karma is very powerful then it becomes karma yoga karma yoga that karma yoga is a powerful basis in fact it's the only basis for spiritual life for vedanta so that good karma as patrick's rights it's it's necessary for being spiritual that we are here today shows that all of us to some extent more or less we have that good karma we don't know about it but you are all to be congratulated um in fact there's a term which without the teachers you use about about such people and they say atma punyatma punyatma means a sentient being who has a lot of punya merit here so congratulations you are all meritorious beings we are all meritorious beings sangeeta says continuing further on anu's question above can even a renunciate living within society today or a societal establishment really achieve complete turning away from prayer and little life if not who qualifies for this yes so turning away from prayer does not mean um you know refusing your favorite cup of coffee or you're turning over your cookie i've turned up from prey i'm going to toss all cookies away i'm going to throw all cookies into the dust bin you may or may not but your goal should not be that that you know the pleasant things of life the nice things of life i'm enjoying that it can happen a religious life especially organized religious life in big monasteries temples churches one historian talked about the medieval church in europe where all the uh the priests and all you know they he writes beautifully he said they lived in individual poverty but collective luxury they lived in individual poverty but collective luxury there's an underlying ways of getting the prayers in in the world swami premise a very senior monk of our order he writes a harsh letter to a young monk he says um that young man that young monk was uh in charge of a school where there was a boarding school and boys would study there he uses so information uses particularly harsh language he says do you think by raising the kids of others foreign raising the kids of others you will attain to the knowledge of brahman and attain freedom of moksha it become a brahmana gyani so what is karma yoga what is the worship of god for this young monk look how harshly swami premature characterizes it so and then he tells a story this is a punch in bengali but let me just see if people understand this this has a reference to the british rule in india in those days it's a story um current among the people in calcutta remember calcutta at that time was the capital of the british empire so the the story is this the viceroy's wife so she would be the first lady of course british the viceroy who ruled over india on behalf of first of the east india company than the british crown the viceroy's wife the first lady of course lady so and so now she what she saw what the native people the indians were eating and bengali's like moody which is puffed rice which is food of common people it's it's very plain food so she was curious this english lady she said i want to eat that now all the officials and protocol everything was thrown in a spin you know in a tizzy how could she the first lady lady so and so the viceroy's wife eat the food of the of the native the indians and that to them the most ordinary kind of food all the prestige of the british empire will go for a toss if people see her eating moody so once someone hit upon a plan he said there are in those days biscuits again translation is required um what british called biscuits is what you all will call cookies so biscuits means cookies the english cookies or briskets used to come in those days in tins in so this tins so in a tin of cookies english cookies empty it out and put muri in it and then the viceroy's wife can eat murray happily and people everywhere will think of course she's eating british cookies you know english cookies and so it's all fine then but she secretly she'll be eating the the moody the the class the food of of the most the poorest the most common kind of food okay that was that didn't go down so well it's a complicated way of trying to explain something but what follows next is pretty simple after telling this story swami premeshan writes to that monk he says oh monk beware of eating moody in an english biscuit tin like he says collecting money for building you know hostels and dormitories for children and enjoying the luxury of a of a nice place to stay yourself collecting uh money to do this for the welfare of others and you uh also benefit from it personally you see so he is warning against that that hypocrisy sneaking in yes work is being done a lot of people are benefiting poor people benefiting but you too are deriving some benefit out of that you're not supposed to so that is that he calls it eating moody puffed rice in the tin of english cookies it's so cumbersome in english and he has very nice bengali he says um and then he writes shadusha dhan beware o monk so if you are a renunciate you have to be you don't think too much about it make sure that you have high thinking and plain living that's a good slogan for everyone it's good for everybody actually the next question is krishnamurti says perhaps the need for believing in multiple lives combined with ishwara's assurances towards us end of sixth chapter gita is important for all of our spiritual aspirants in case we are not able to get so attentive in this life it would be discouraging if it was do or die in a single life so the idea is that there are multiple lives that gives the basis for spiritual practice and the goal of spiritual life but also remember from the advertising perspective there actually are no multiple life there isn't even this life there is only one um one existence consciousness place john anderson says what are the characteristics of self that believed to pass from life to life in this described cycle it's a sentient being it is you the pure consciousness the atman limited by one subtle body which is um mind and intellect and memory with all the personality in here and the sense powers and prana which goes from physical body to physical body to physical body now you are neither the physical body because physical bodies come and go they're born and they die but you're not even that subtle body which goes from physical body to physical body subtle body transmigrates trans migrates means going from lifetime to lifetime but vedanta says you are beyond that too you are not even that the one which goes from body to body lifetime to lifetime so i have given the example of the sun and the pots in the garden clay pots filled with water so imagine there are pots in the garden and the pot is filled with water and there's a sun shining in the sky and there'll be a little sun reflected in the water too now the part is the physical body the clay pot the water is the subtle body sukshma really and in that subtle body consciousness shines right now you have to track it in your experience here is the physical body it's like the pot here inside is the subtle body thoughts feelings emotions the person that i am and do i feel aware yes i am aware that awareness hour is not pure consciousness it is the reflection of the atman like the reflection of the sun in the water of the pot and when this physical body when the pot is cracked or broken the gardener will come and pour the water into another new pot so when the water goes physical the the broken part is left behind like the dead body is left behind but the water flows into another pot and when the water flows the same water is there in a new pot now and the same reflected sun travels along with the water and this person is reborn in another body but the real one the real you is not the clay pot is not even the water is not even the little shining sun in that water is the real sun up in the sky the one who's shining in and reflected in all pots in all water again one has to know how to use that example carefully there are some places in some cases in which it applies some ways in this does not apply because the sun and the parts and the water they are all different entities but as far as brahma now the ultimate reality is concerned there is only that in which all of these things are appearing then shiva prayer says can you can you please define pure mind it's a dispassion of mind you say when a man discriminates makes judgment of good and bad but pure mind should not even see bad in everything anything no no a pure mind who is that which is has minimized its vasanas its raga and dwisha its pulls and repulsions its obsessions its um delusions of trying to get lasting happiness in the world which will not give it lasting happiness a pure mind actually will see the difference between the good and the bad very clearly between right and wrong the pure mind will see what the difference is here the impure mind may also understand the difference between right and wrong but the temptation or the fear is too much and so the impure mind forces one to do what is wrong prevents one from doing what is right because of the impurity whereas if the mind is pure and the same knowledge is there this is right and this is wrong the pure mind will not push you into doing what is wrong what is clearly known to be wrong that urge will not be there that tremendous temptation or even the fear sometimes we do things which are wrong out of fear we tell a lie a kid will tell a lie out of fear of being punished but the pure mind will give us the courage of not telling a lie and taking the punishment if that comes and will not push us into doing things which are wrong the the eagerness will be an eagerness a desire to do what is right it's one thing to know what is right and what is wrong and another thing to have a repulsion for what is wrong and an attraction for doing what is right if that thing is there that's the sign of a pure mind all right there's another month i want you to do but it will take a little bit of time so we'll do it next time please take care everybody and stay safe let me do the shanti mantra omg so [Music]