Video 17

17. Katha Upanishad | Mantra 1.2.20 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

may the lord protect us both teacher and taught together may the lord give us the benefit of this knowledge together may we achieve greatness together may the study that we are doing be illuminating and maybe we not gavel at each other oh peace peace peace so we are studying the cut open issued and we are in the first chapter second section and mantra number we had just done mantra number 19 last time so this is where yama the lord of death who is the teacher has started teaching the his students the young boy nachiketa and uh he has pointed out the nature of the self the question was what is the ultimate reality about ourselves what is going on here in this game of life it's all its joys and sorrows and ups and downs what is this mystery what is the solution to this mystery what is that ultimate reality if there is any such reality please teach it to me and so that is what yama has started doing and in the in the 18th mantra he says this the self the ultimate reality is that you are consciousness your awareness that is not surprising we might say i know i am aware but yes but you know you are aware as a conglomeration as a mixture of many things you are aware but you also think you also feel you also have memories you have a personality you have a body you're located in time and space you have a particular identity a passport a bio data a whole story which goes with it this is the kind of awareness you think you are but that's not what we are speaking about immediately he says you are consciousness itself you are not born you do not die now that's something we did not know about ourselves we are very clear that we and others like ourselves all human beings all living beings are born and we die but he says no you are this consciousness which is not born it does not die even more stunning he said that this consciousness is not a product not a process in your brain not produced in your brain and nervous system it may act through with your brain and nervous system but it is not a product or a process in your in a physical body it's not an epiphany not a byproduct of biochemical processes in your body it has not come from there now i am good now nothing has come from that you see we the whole of religion the whole of science is cause and effect there is some cause ultimately call it the big bang or religious field people will call it god and from that cause has come an effect what is affect all this that we see our bodies and minds this entire world this life which we call it's an effect and there's a cause behind it he says nothing has come from consciousness consciousness itself has not come from anything so is it some isolated thing and everything else is going on without but no it is the only reality there is therefore everything that we see everything that we experience is an appearance in consciousness it's not a second reality apart from consciousness not something that has come out of consciousness not something that is produced from consciousness no nothing is produced from from the atman the ultimate reality of pure consciousness everything is an appearance in it does not constitute a second reality a product of it being changeless it cannot produce anything anyway and nothing is actually a product of it which means even in religion we say god is the creator of this universe but advaita vedanta goes further no ultimate reality is not a creator of anything it is not created by anything nor is it a creator of anything it is not subject to any kind of change you are not subject to any kind of change but we think we are subject to so much change we are subject to birth and aging and you know growth and aging and disease and decay and death he says no ajo nithya shashvat oyam purana each of these words in negates one of the six fold changes birth coming into being a birth then growth and then maturity then old age and decay and finally death all of them are negated not of the body the body will decay the body will age the body will ultimately die at no point in no scripture has bhagavan ever promised lord has ever promised that you will not die if you believe in me you will not die no at no point has he promised that the body will die even then avatar's body dies and body cannot be preserved infinitely no compounded thing can be preserved infinitely so you can extend it but that's not the point i remember last year i was interviewed by this history channel they wanted to know secrets of the immortals it has been telecast actually it has been shown on tv that episode secret of the immortals the series is called um it's hosted by william shatner it's called the unexplained the unexplained and it's in season three episode five if my memory doesn't fail me episode five i just saw one clip of myself it's on uh youtube also they they interviewed me for that and the title was secrets of the immortals what are they interested in atman which does not is not born does not die not at all no interest in that though i did give them a quite a long lecture on the immortality of the atman they cut it all out nicely the only thing they're interested in is how long can you live so yogis who live for long time like like trilanga swami who was more or less documented more or less well documented to have lived for 280 years even now they found one yogi in banaras who is 120 years old so they are interested in that i mean what can i say the yogi whom i revered the most swami vivekananda live did not live for 40 years also so it is not living for a long time in this body why would anybody want to live for a long time in this body once you realize that what you truly are it doesn't matter no how long this particular body lives or dies out so i'm very kind that says um take no more heed how body lives or dies its task is done let karma float it down song of the sannyasi that is the jeevan mukhtar's attitude so it is not subject to old age disease or death consciousness is not subject to old age body is subject to old age body is subject to disease body is subject to death but you are this immortal awareness atman which is not subject to old age disease death you only have to realize it you don't have to become the atman this is what what he is pointing out is not destroyed when the body is destroyed this is an important thing to realize that neither you nor anybody else perishes when the body perishes very important thing to realize when we are afraid of death first of all when we mourn for the death of others we are anxious about the death of other people who are beloved yes it is a tragedy when people die because in that sense that person is gone forever no doubt about it but the sense of what that person was really what that person was is not gone at all it's always there that's what krishna told arjuna that neither you nor i nor all these kings they will not die now even when the body dies they will still be they will exist they existed before the birth of the body they will continue to exist after the death of the body oh arjuna you and i and all these kings we have had many births many lives you don't remember any of them i remember them all that's the difference between avatar and ajiva so it is not limited pure consciousness is not limited to the body and when the body comes and goes it is not destroyed does not originate with the body does not depend on the body and does not go when the body goes and you are that unlimited consciousness and this has to be realized then the next uh 19th verse of course he said this pure consciousness is neither the doer nor the uh experiencer of the results of action which means pure consciousness is always free of the law of karma if you are the doer of actions then you will get the results of actions doer of good actions dharma you will get punya and the result will be sukha merit and happiness doer of adharma mischief then the result will be demerit papa and the result of that will be dukkha suffering but actually you are free of both right now and you always where that has to be recognized so in vivekananda says know thou art that you are that you realize that that's all that has to be done of course fine print is there all that has to be done sounds pretty easy but we will see yama will point out the fine print as we go along it it's not as simple as that or not as fast as that you know just before i go into the next mantra advaita vedanti is a kind of a shortcut what shortcut i was just thinking i was reading this book it's called thinking better by marcus du setoye he's this mathematician at oxford university and he also holds the chair for the public understanding of science which was richard dawkins where richard dawkins was there earlier so um his approach is not confrontational to religion as was richard dawkins approach so he says that he wants to understand religion and have a dialogue with religion anyhow so he told me about this latest book he has written thinking better it's called the art of the shortcut and he says mathematics is actually the art of the shortcut and he begins with a very interesting story about two three hundred years ago in germany there's this school master who is um you know in those days who's walking around in the classroom with a cane threatening the boys their little school boys they're all little boys there and so the school master wanted to take a little break and he gave the boys a little task to do which will keep them engaged so that he can take a little nap and the task was add up all the numbers 1 200 this is a well-known story so you 1 plus 2 plus three plus four up to hundred you add it up so he knew that it would keep the boys engaged for quite a while so he could take a nap but one little guy the moment he gave the task within seconds this boy stood up and said in germany he said it is done here it is he and those this slate and chalk so he showed his slate and chopped and the disc so this marcus to satoi describes the scene as if sort of in his imagination he says the school master which is cain threatening he came up how dare you be so impertinent to boy let me see and he saw correct answer uh what what is it five zero five five i think five thousand fifty or something like that one up if you add up one two hundred and we know uh five zero five zero yes our mathematician abigail g is there the media two zero five zero he said and the story of course he knows the story i'm sure the what the boy did was he he did he found immediately saw a shortcut that little boy the shortcut is instead of adding one plus two plus three plus four it's a little bit difficult long winded process he suddenly saw if you add the first and the last one and hundred you'll get a hundred and one if you add in the second la and the second last two plus 99 you will get 101. 3 plus 98 you will get 101. so each pair if you add from the beginning and the end you will get 101. how many such pairs are there 100 numbers so 50 pairs so 50 into 101 directly he said 5050 and he wrote the answer so this is a shortcut brilliant insight and this boy was none other than gauss the great mathematician so anyway so he begins the story like that and he says all of mathematics basically is this art of the shortcut anyway immediately i thought advaita vedanta is out of the shortcut in spiritual life with certain you know provisions which is out of the shortcut instead of this whole idea that i am the jiva and i have to um do so many rituals and so many mantra chanting and meditation practices and concentration finally achieve samadhi and then have the vision of god by the grace of god i shall go to heaven or brahmaloka and that is the idea in in conventional religion all theistic religion is that we go after death to this extraordinary place which is beyond samsara and it's true but advaita say vedanti says here and now itself yes pranav has given the formula which is the famous formula n into n plus one plus by two so here and now here itself today now you can go beyond that beyond heaven beyond god and realize your identity with the absolute realize me and that is the teaching here that's the teaching here that's what he's trying to tell us how will you do that he will tell us but basically it is to catch hold of this awareness which you are to attend to that draw your attention back from the world from the body from the senses from the breath from the thoughts and emotions from the ideas from the blankness beyond the ideas from the panchakosha beyond that into the awareness in which all of this is appearing if you turn your mind inwards to that you will get it here and now sri ramakrishna you remembered yesterday we were reading the gospel of sri ramakrishna and there sudama krishna we i did not explain that portion i will take it up next time he talks about the approach of the gyani approach of the yogi approach of the bhaktha in the approach of the gyani the path of knowledge suramar krishna says what does the gyani do he says this world the changing world is not the absolute reality and it turns his mind away from it not this this body is not the absolute reality nor is the mind the absolute reality turns my attention away from that turn your attention if you seriously can our highly trained and pure mind can literally turn its attention away from that drop it in this way when you drop it then what remains is pure consciousness and sudama krsna says the mind will go into samadhi it will by this very process of vedanta which are not it will go into samadhi see the difference is in our case if you do it properly in our case you will come to a clarity and understanding and in the case of a trained yogis like rama krishna it doesn't even have to be of the level of krishna in case of trained yogi not only the clarity will come the mind will also go into every culprit that pure mind along with that clarity mind will become centered in that our mind keeps vibrating so we don't become stilled in in that absolute so that but that samadhi is achievable through this this which are this enquiry which we are doing now after that krishna says what is the result of that samadhi the yo the gyani comes to a complete conviction that the world is false brahman alone is real and that you are none other than from that conviction we are going to come to here all right now let us go ahead mantra number 20. another very important very powerful one 21 is also like that 19 uh 18 19 20 21 20. [Music] [Music] very beautiful and powerful mantra about the true nature of the atman about yourself about us our real nature he says what is this atman what are you like what is this pure consciousness atman what is it like language of contradictions and paradox it is smaller than the smallest the tiniest anu means atom it's more atomic than an atom okay so it's a tiny tiny little thing no it's vaster than the vast the greatest mahato mahi on larger than planets and stars shankaracharya actually will say here that it's smaller than the tiniest grain of you know any seed tiniest seed and it's a he will say it is larger faster than the earth itself we can also say by extension solar system or galaxy or the universe itself where is it it is lodged it is found in your heart in your in your mind in your intellect it's pointing to the awareness which is there in your mind intellect literally in the heart in the cave of the heart is found in the cave of the heart of all sentient beings you see uh the glory of this atman what do you need two things are needed you must give up desires transcend desire the desireless one one and the second thing you need dhatu prasada the senses must be bought under control the senses the sensa organs organs of action mind must be calmed and attention directed inwards desireless calmed mind and sense senses then what happens something amazing happens pashyati you see what do you see mahima namat manaha the glory of this atman what is the glory of this atman we'll see you appreciate for the first time you appreciate what you already always had it is that remember the story of the washer man and the diamond i've told sriram krishna has told us the story the washer man who thought it was just a rock and he used it for scrubbing dirty laundry but he found it was a diamond and when he sold the diamond it solved it removed all his poverty forever but he has to recognize the diamond first he has to appreciate the glory and the magnificence of the diamond first and see that it has the potential to solve all his problems similarly the glory of yourself for the first time you'll understand the glory of yourself a glory greater than body greater than mind greater than life itself greater than all the worlds a glory greater than god so that glory you will recognize and then so what we forever beyond sorrow you will go forever beyond sorrow you will be like krishna said you will have attained that young loved one you will have attained that by after attaining which you will not find anything in this world in this life in this universe greater than that you've got the greatest thing by far yes means krishna says to arjuna centered in which even the greatest of sorrows will not be able to shake you you would have achieved that you would have attained that and in fact achieve that attain that we already have it but you have recognized the glory of that then you will see you will be set free that is called jivan mukti freedom while lipping now i just want to quote a few lines from the commentary by shankaracharya we will appreciate this mantra more so as i said um it is smaller than the smallest yeast is the smallest possible seed you can think of the atman is smaller than that and then it is larger than it is pretty here larger than earth and other planets and you know heavenly bodies it is so great then how is this possible how is it greater than the earth and other planets and how is it smaller than the smallest let me start with an example um [Music] an example is that okay water water is a good example now if i say water is there is something which is smaller than the tiniest bubble and greater than the pacific ocean what is that that is water how is the water smaller than the smallest bubble and greater than the pacific ocean because in the tiniest bubble also what is there it's made of water so in that bubble it there is water so if it has to be in the bubble it has to be smaller than water smaller than the bubble if something has to be in that bubble it has to be smaller than the bubble so water is made of tiny water molecules which are tinier than any bubble but it is also greater than the whole pacific ocean because the entire pacific ocean is in water without water there is no pacific ocean but the water exists outside the pacific ocean it exists in the atlantic and the indian ocean also it exists in the atmosphere as water vapor it exists in your glass as the glass of water so water is greater faster in extent than the pacific ocean so great and yet it is tinier than the bubble now what does that mean it means all things are all this bubble wave specific ocean these are names and forms the reality of them is water so the reality the existence of all of these things is water water is not a part of the pacific ocean it's not a part of that bubble not a little something inside the bubble no it is the pacific ocean it is the bubble it is their very existence similarly there is something which is the very existence of the entire universe and when you look around you will see what i mean by that is sat being existence itself you say body is sitting on the chair chair is if the chair is not then we would fall flat on the floor chair is the floor is even empty space is so everything that is surrounds us whatever you can see here smell taste touch is in some sense the thoughts also a thought is otherwise you would not experience it emotion is so easiness now this is not the way we normally think we think yes table has existence but advaita vedanta would say existence appears as the table see which is more correct bubble has water or water is appearing as the bubble water is appearing as the bubble it's not that bubble is a thing in which water has been put like bubble is like a bowl in which a drop of water has been put no a bubble is a drop of water nothing other than water a wave is water the ocean is water basically the ornaments are gold its ornament is not a thing a necklace is not a thing in which some gold has been put it is gold a clay pot is not a part inside which you have put a little bit of clay no it is clay it is the very existence of the pot and without this the pot would not exist without the gold ornament would not exist without the water neither the bubble nor the wave would exist similarly there is this being existence which you are actually experiencing all the time all around us we are living in an ocean of existence in which various names and forms and activities are appearing playing around and disappearing in the screen movie screen of existence pure being names and forms are appearing and activities are going on but they are all nothing other than this pure being yet just like a movie playing on a screen the movie appears from the screen in the screen and disappears back into the screen all the time it was nothing other than the movie screen all the time it was nothing other than this one undivided pure being in which appears all these names and forms all these things they seem to exist they borrow their existence from pure being or sat and they without that pure being just as without water the bubble will disappear the entire pacific ocean will disappear without water similarly without this pure being without existence the tiniest atom will disappear and the vast thing like the earth also would disappear now all this what i said look shankaracharya just says in half in a half a phrase he says in one sentence whatever exists in this universe whatever real thing you think existence in this was universe tiny atoms vast things like planets whatever exists in this universe it is by that very atman all these things get their existence otherwise without that atman without that pure being they all become assat non-existent just like without water drops of bubbles will become non-existent the entire ocean will become non-existent that is the power of water without pure being without existence this entire universe will become non-tiniest atom will disappear the vastest galaxy will disappear simple logic if you take easiness away from something what will happen become is not just become a name and form a name on form do not hang like ghosts in the air they will disappear immediately he says straight away freed [Music] they disappear into nothingness the entire universe the tiniest thing and the greatest thing disappearing to nothingness now um a deep concept upadhi let me explain the meaning of party see what is going on here is what yama wants to teach the atman our real nature is beyond language it's there it's right here that's the that's the crazy paradox of it it's absolutely clear for the enlightened person it's absolutely clear but the problem remains how will that enlightened person communicate it to us how will yama communicate it to nachiketa and threw that to us what's wrong can't you just tell us he can't all language is meant for name form and activity all language functions in duality you see just now what i had to the example i had to give water for all the waves and drops and water bubbles and ocean or clay and pot ornament and gold and i have to say existence is the reality which appears as tables chairs human beings planets and atoms now that language does not is not capable of expressing that if you say what is what is what will the english language look like when you say something the chair exists if you say existent chairs that's not a valid sentence you can't talk like that existence chairs here is existence appearing as 96 people no what is the correct way in language what will you say 96 people are here in this meeting that means 96 people exist here we see 96 people exist we can't say existence is 96 is appearing as 96 language cannot express it why language cannot express it that i have explained in other um classes and there are talks also they are the five-fold factor is there so which prevents language from expressing that ultimate reality anyway i will not go into that if those are interested you can see the paradox of language advaita vedant i think that talks on that in manduk especially i've talked about that but anyway the problem remains how will a teacher explain something which cannot be expressed in language and so one of the ways in which the teacher explains it is language uses the language of paradox contradictory language greater than the greatest smaller than the smallest tinier than the tiniest vaster than the fastest is lodged in the cave of the heart of all sentient beings that's you it's a poetic way of saying it's you now this contradictory language how will we unlock it how to understand it can it be understood yes it is meant to be understood he's not saying it just to be contradicted in a zen sense you know to be cool and sound extraordinary and profound no no no it has a very clear meaning and you're meant to unlock it and we will do so now one great sadhu i think one of the few i think who [Music] i i understand to be enlightened swami ramananda saraswati whom i met he said once in hindi i will translate for you though if these two contradictory things you can understand you can understand at the same time then you will understand advaita vedanta so let us try to understand how something can be greater than the greatest and smaller than the smallest so the concept is upadhi what is the concept of upadhi upadhi is definition something that comes near another thing and appears to transfer its qualities to the other thing i'm translating from sanskrit um remaining in proximity it appears to transfer its qualities to something and the classic example is you have a crystal and a red flower is bought near the crystal if you're on the other side if you look at the crystal it will appear to be red a yellow flower is bought near the crystal from the other side of the crystal the crystal will appear to be yellow and if you remove the red flower and the yellow flower the crystal will appear to be colorless now what is the true color of the crystal is it red no even when it looked red there was not a trace of redness in the crystal itself just look like that because of the presence of the red flower it's not yellow it looked yellow in the presence of the yellow flower the yellow flower is the upadhi the red flower is the upadhi in english that they have translated it as quite incomprehensibly as limiting adjunct upadhi is limiting adjunct but let's just say that something that appears to transfer its qualities to another thing so red flower appears to transfer its redness to the crystal but actually doesn't do anything just looks like that so it's not red it's not um yellow the color is not yellow and we say it's not colorless also no it is actually colorless the crystal continues to be without any color even when it looks red even when it looks yellow even when it looks colorless all throughout it is without any color without any characteristic it's a presence of upadhis which seems to lend their characteristics to the crystal so it is like this here is the crystal it's a paper weighted left too it looks more or less colorless let's see and now suppose i bring a pink piece of paper behind it it looks pink but while it looks pink it's not pink actually not at all nothing has become pink about it and suppose i bring a yellow piece of paper behind it it now looks yellow but even when it looks yellow it nothing about it is actually yellow nothing about is actually pink it is actually this and it continued to be this even when i did this or even when i did this so this thing is the upadhi now what is an upadhi body is an upadhi for consciousness mind is an upadhi the world is an upadhi the universe is an upadhi so whatever are the characteristics of the universe of the body and mind they appear to be superimposed on the atman on pure being or pure consciousness now what's actually tiny the atom is tiny what's actually really big the um the galaxy the earth is really big but existence itself because it appears as an atom it also seems to take the qualities of this appearance called an atom to itself and says it's a tiny thing it's a tiny little thing no the easiness there is not tiny it's just the name and form of the atom which is tiny the form of the atom which is tiny and the business there is not vast it's just the earth which is vast but when you say earth is the is-ness also seems to be a vast business and therefore is-ness is actually smaller than the smallest faster than the fastest the smallness and vastness which are contradictory qualities both are appearing in easiness in existence in atma the sanskrit word is sat both are appearing but they are coming because of the upadhi upadhi of what tiny atom and vast earth or galaxy these are names and forms they're upadhis they seem to transfer their qualities exactly like that not only qualities activities so on um in a movie screen somebody's driving a car now is the screen driving the car no and yet without the screen other than the screen there is nothing there so in a certain sense the screen is doing the action it drove the car from this place to that place but in reality screen didn't do anything at all it's the presence of the picture which seems to give that that quality it's the upadhi which seems to give that quality to the screen it seems to give the quality to body mind world gives that quality to existence to consciousness so all of this shankaracharya explains again in one sentence [Music] it says because of the names and forms the atman itself seems to be smaller than the smallest greater than the greatest these are contradictory qualities they belong to the upadhis and they appear in the atman and they are being used to indicate the atman if you say tiny the atom is tiny if you say vast the sky or the earth or galaxies are vast but tinier than the tiniest and greater than the greatest faster than the fastest then then you have to get rid of all bodies you have to see that what is behind the pad it is like just like saying the crystal what is the crystal the crystal is is that which is pink and that which is yellow the same one it is the it is it is yellow and it is pink how can the same crystal be yellow and pink only if the crystal is neither it only appears to be yellow in the presence of a yellow paper appears to be pink in the presence of a pink paper that is upper that is the magic of upadhis you might say where do these come from and the answer is they don't remember nothing comes from the atman it's a display of maya it's the movie it's the dream it's the names and forms which flash in consciousness and generate this magic display so atman alone is the reality it is existence and it is consciousness same thing pure existence and pure being are the same thing just a little point here how can consciousness and existence be the same thing normally it's not not the same thing so i think i am conscious and there are this is this tables and chairs which all exist but they don't seem to be conscious and i i am bo i both exist and i am conscious but no think about your dream example in your dream whatever you see whomever you see whatever action happens including the time and space of the dream all of it is all of it is given existence by your dreaming mind and it's all revealed by the consciousness which is your dreaming mind your consciousness shining in your dreaming mind the dreaming mind by itself is the existence of all dream entities and is also the the manifestation of all dream entities so all existence and all consciousness in the dream it all comes from the dreaming mind exactly like that in the waking right now every existence and all experience comes from this existence consciousness satchit which is the atman so all this is possible upadhi all beings are they are nothing but upadhi um appearing in being or in consciousness notice how smoothly he has made the transition from the last mantra where the atman is consciousness pure awareness in the 18th mantra 19th mantra also not the doer not the experiencer just pure awareness to pure being here he says it is the existence in all beings without which everything will disappear into non-existence he holds them to be the same thing being an awareness then where is this atman which is the existence of all things where where will we find it means cave what cave it's not a physical cave it is the cave of the heart or your mind locate it immediately right now in our experience this mind this thinking this feeling this perceiving this mind itself in this is this atman we are talking about right now where do you experience consciousness forget philosophy forget vedanta if i just ask you are you aware yes where do you experience awareness so within myself and in awareness i see all these things but awareness i experience within myself and within myself means within my mind in my mind in my intellect that is aware my thoughts are aware my perceptions are aware our awareness is there in my thoughts perceptions emotions ideas dreams waking this is where awareness is he calls it the cave then shankaracharya he gives a very beautiful pointer here directly points to uh the atman he says says that where shall we find this consciousness just look at your experiences which experience when you see are you not aware when you hear are you not aware when you think and feel are you not aware when you understand something are you not aware in all these awareness is common what he's saying here is wonderful this is how you have to appreciate this awareness in all our experiences experiences are different from each other if you sip a cup of coffee that's an experience if you look at a beautiful flower that's an experience the flavor and warmth of the coffee and the the beauty of the the color of the flower they're different experiences yet what is common to both in that you were aware when you're sipping coffee and you had the experience of drinking coffee and when you're looking at the flower you are aware in every sensory experience awareness is there sensory experiences differ from each other does the awareness differ a buddhist will say no but that awareness comes and goes with the sensory experience but no if it comes and goes with the sensory experience between two sensory experiences is there awareness or not yes otherwise the between also would not be clear that these are discrete sensory experience experience one experience two experience three how are you saying it's one two three four experience unless you see that there's a cut between each if there's a cut you're experiencing that cut you're experiencing that gap what experience is that gap that absence of the sensory experience same awareness the presence of a experience or some particular experience the absence of some particular experience presence and absence are both noticed by the same awareness internally thoughts feelings emotions ideas desires happiness misery they're all different from each other and they're all coming in a rush in a stream but awareness is common to all of it without it you would not experience any of it so in all these things learn to recognize that one common unchanging awareness it's like the washerman saying if you say that you have this magnificent diamond in your possession which will remove all your problems then washerman asks where do i find it this diamond you have it where look at the rock you're using to scrub your dirty laundry with that rock which you scrubbed the shirt and that rock which you scrubbed the trousers and you scrubbed the shawl and whatnot all the the dhoti and all the things that you scrubbed same rock look at it you'll begin to see it's not an ordinary rock this consciousness which we have shankaracharya just points out look at the awareness you have in seeing in hearing in thinking in understanding means it is noticed in signed indicated by then what do you do you need two things here um one is akka akratu krathu means all sorts of desires loki vedica worldly desires i want money and security and achievement and appreciation in this world and health and all of that and vedica desires means desires of religious kind that means after death i will go to heaven so all sorts of desires here and hereafter they're covered by the term and akratu means who gives it all up basically what is the enjoyment of desires it is that same atman you would want to bring different upadhis and color it in different ways actually you are not coloring anything the atman remains absolutely same you want to play different films once one recognizes that one realizes that everything that you do and everything that you experience is already potentially is there as a form of appearance in consciousness there's not one thing that you can add to consciousness consciousness cannot be increased by any of our actions by any achievement in the world nor can it be decreased with that understanding let go of these worldly and other worldly desires they do not add anything to us they only serve to distract us so the attention gets turned outwards and it flows outwards through our mind and our senses and therefore we do not see the atman later on he will say that uh our sense is in the cut open itself our senses are turned outwards so our mind flows outwards and consciousness is directed through the mind and the senses outwards and therefore you do not notice that one common consciousness behind all experiences so akratu one must transcend desire and then um control of the control of the senses he says dhatu prasada dhatu is a technical word here he says shankaracharya five sense organs five motor organs and mind these as he calls them literally dhatu means material because the sensory system is the one which sustains the body which which with because of that you feel you are embodied if you had no senses and you know power of action power of sensation power of action we would not feel identified with the body itself so this sensory system must be brought under control this continuous trying to see and hear and smell and taste and touch and trying to walk and do things continuously consciousness is being turned outwards through this outward focused mind mind body this must be brought under control and this yogic meditation is very useful here again what shadam krishna said through meditation yogi tries to do it and the gyani does through this kind of analysis that i am not the body not the mind not the senses then you begin to appreciate with the in the desireless mind and in the quiet mind you begin to appreciate the nature of consciousness then alone you can say [Music] i am of the nature of unlimited consciousness i am bliss itself i am shiva i am shiva but what preceded it and not the mind not the intellect not the ego not the mind stuff the memory i am not the senses the five senses i am not the body made of the five elements and i am awareness in which all of these are appearing they are what upadhi we have now learnt they are like the pink paper on the yellow paper they are all appearing in me appearing to color me i forget my nature and just like that crystal it will think i am pink i am yellow no at no time even when it looked pink you're not pink you're not yellow similarly even it looks like in awareness here is our body here is a body which is moving around and see and hear and smell and taste and touch know at all times you are awareness itself you see the senses what they do is they borrow the mind and the mind borrows consciousness so consciousness reflected in the mind channelized through the senses gives us various experiences the buddhists call these the six consciousnesses six consciousnesses what are the six consciousness eye consciousness what is eye consciousness you the pure consciousness reflected in the mind connected to the eye when the eye sees something you get a conscious experience of seeing shankaracharya calls it but it's a sign that you are consciousness ear consciousness what is your consciousness view the pure consciousness reflected in the mind connected to the ear sound is heard it's a conscious experience ear consciousness taste unconsciousness nose consciousness skin consciousness and mind consciousness thoughts feelings memories ideas all of these are useful but they are not you buddhist just so it shows you there is no atma in any of these consciousnesses consciousness there's no atma there and vedanta agrees completely none of this is atma atma is the one unlimited awareness which is reflected and channeled through the mind and the senses and gives us this variety of experiences okay once one realizes this one sees one must appreciate mahima namat manaha mahima namatmana means the glory of the atman you must appreciate the glory of the diamond then only you will realize the washer man will realize what an amazing treasure i have got if i encash that my drop troubles will be over forever what is the glory of the atma already yamaha has told us this atman this consciousness this being is not born body is born it's not does not die body dies it is unchanging it's the body which changes it is the mind which changes continuously mind this goes through ups and downs it puts up a great magic show i do not change with it you stick to it you see that's why a trained mind is necessary because attention has to be given up given to the unchanging nature of the atman the ever free nature of the atman to recognize the glory of the atman must pay attention there and attention has been given can be given only by the mind it's the mind and the intellect which we are using here and that's why this akratu and dhatu prasada the two terms used here the desirelessness in the mind and the discipline of the mind disciplined in in meditation in calmness that is necessary otherwise a flickering mind means flickering attention and we will keep getting distracted it requires careful attention at least to recognize it the first time once you have recognized yourself as pure consciousness you will never mistake it so when we come to call it like a trick picture once you see that what is there you can cannot be fooled again you know what is a trick picture have you seen it looks like a jumble of shapes but you say if you look carefully there will be shiva there or there will be parvati and shiva you can see your krishna and radha there i've seen such pictures they're sold in you know like little novelty shops outside temples so it looks like a jumble of shapes like little patterns and color if you look carefully suddenly the pattern will emerge or maybe a tree will emerge or tiger william or something will emerge do you know what i'm talking about such trick pictures are there but once you have seen the pattern next time it is shown to you it does not take long for you to recognize it you know the way of looking at it similarly he says enlightenment is like that you are it right now once you get it you can't be fooled anymore in every situation no matter how bad how tragic how full of anxiety or worry you can immediately recognize oh here is my old friend pure consciousness pure being it is i alone i alone am that ahm brahmasmi i recognize the glory of the atman it is not born it does not die it does not age disease cannot touch it sorrows ups and downs miseries fancies frustrations none of it can touch it i'm free of all of that this is the glory of the atman immortal pure beyond the law of karma ever free ever secure i am that already you can always refer back to it that's your real nature always draw strength from it so appreciate the nature shankaracharya says sees this sees this means he says what a beautiful statement i am this infinite existence consciousness in which appears not only just this body just this mind but all bodies and minds the entire universe appears in this atman itself i am that unlimited atman which is called brahman saksha vijayanathi directly knows the mind is stable is is purified pure of disease of desires and senses are controlled it will go into samadhi at this stage even if that does not happen a clarity will dawn that oh so this is what i have this is called freedom this recognition after that if you live um in this light you are called jivan mukta called a jivan mukta free while living all right so it's a very beautiful smaller than the tinier than the tiniest faster than the vastest this atman is lodged in your mind in your heart in your intellect as awareness everywhere it is existence the existence of all things it is colored by upadhi what do body names and forms what names and forms tables and chairs bodies mind thought mountains and rivers and the sky and earth they are all parties they're like the pink paper and the yellow paper at least the pink paper yellow paper has some existence apart from the crystal here upadhy has no existence apart from you the consciousness pasti you will see what will you see mahima and mahatma you will appreciate the glory of yourself it's a glory greater than any earthly glory any bodily glory more beautiful than the most beautiful body it is more intelligent the most intelligent mind it is um longer lived f than the most ancient mountain range or ocean or planet it's vaster than the vastest galaxy tinier than the tiniest subatomic particle and the words of the issue open faster than the fastest and absolutely will not go anywhere immovable so this atman how is that possible upadhi we'll see again this the same contradictory language will be used next time and then you realize this glory realizing this glory i am this amazing thing always was therefore i am free i have no problems every time you seem to face a problem refer back to this glory look at your own glory and then from that perspective look at the problem it's nothing to me even death is nothing to me not only your our own bodily death that of our own body but of others also so you will realize they are also safe in the ultimate sense then what krishna said to arjuna you need not grieve for them in a certain sense they are always permanently safe but for that you require and dhatu prasada the discipline of so you know this is actually the qualifications for discipline this you know already is doing this discernment trying to show you the atman apart from the upadhis is trying to show us this is viveka this is the 1880. and what he wants from us is what nachiket already has a complete dispassion for anything that any upadhi at all i don't want this atman to be colored by anything i have no desire for a particular movie to be played so or if anything is being played i have no problem with it also i recognize it to be a movie i recognize it to be an upadhi so that is called plus the discipline six-fold discipline do you remember the six treasures shatsampathi all of that he just calls it dhatu prasada control of the senses mind senses sense organs motor organs at least to that extent that we can notice ourselves as this too much restlessness it won't work once you notice it is yours forever it just requires one instant of stillness stillness means the ultimate stillness even just one instant that's enough yes let me quickly look at the questions nyan says unexplained series secrets of the immortals yes correct gaurav says going to the cycle of birth and death refers to subtle and causal body which are not destroyed after this body dies that's why it is said we are going from one body to another is this correct yes if this is correct then our goal is the destruction of the subtle and causal body which somehow continue to exist interesting thing which i find is that the atheist believes that our existence all three bodies are destroyed after death but vedanta says that they are not and we are finding solutions for this problem do you understand it correctly almost one more thing you need to understand what what vedanta says is we are none of these three bodies we are not the physical body we are not the subtle body we are not the causal body we you have to see when you say i have to destroy the physical body subtle body and causal body what destruction i have to be free of the movie what is the freedom from the movie switch up the movie or realize it's a movie doesn't matter from the perspective of the screen no matter what movie you play or do not play a movie the screen is perfectly the same thing you which is being in consciousness is always the same reality it does not matter if subtle causal subtle and physical bodies appear and disappear you're none of it once you realize that you're no longer caught in a particular causal and subtle body yes it is actually the destruction of the causal body why causal bodies ignorance ignorance of real nature and the material science uh explanation materials explanation that if the physical body is destroyed and that's it no there's nothing else left well that does not free that person because that person still has the ignorance about his or her real nature and it will be reborn again in some other physical body even if they don't believe in a subtle body and causal body it doesn't matter and it's terribly wrong not to believe in a causal subtle body doesn't the atheist have thoughts even the thought that i do not have a subtle body causal body it means that i have a subtle body because you're thinking rodrigo says divas do not consciously remember past lives several episodes of life of the saints but the inti interrogatives about past and future lives does enlightenment reveal the story from ignorance to knowledge as in a movie uh this is patanjali yoga says this that in the last life you will know all your past lives but again you see yama vedanta vedanta is not interested it's like saying the moment you realize it's not a movie it's a movie it's not reality do you remember all the movies you have seen or not doesn't matter if you remember it doesn't matter if you if you don't remember tanuka goshar says i have heard teachers in other traditions specifically mention the soul or atman having the size of one by whatever the tip of the human hair where this come from is equivalent to brahman and hence attribute less cannot be measured correct correct it cannot be measured so the meaning that it is one by ten thousand the tip of a human hair can have two meanings one is it's incredibly subtle that's all it wants to so they want to say or if they actually mean it what it could mean is there is some um incredibly tiny scale on which the subtle body can be measured and so the subtle body remember is an upadhi for the atman so as tiny as the subtle body is atman is there also so the atman is as tiny as that one by ten thousandth of the tip of a human hair so but is it actually that size no that may be the size of the subtle body or something or just forget all that and just it just means that it's very subtle that's all girish says you have argued that shunyata madhyamak and purnam are two sides of the same coin does it follow that the self atman non-self of the atman no they're not equivalent the anatman doctrine basically is the complement of the utman doctrine from our perspective the anatman doctrine as i said it meticulously shows you whatever we consider to be ourselves is not ourselves there's no atman there there's no atman in the physical body there's no atman in our feelings there's nothing our emotions there's no atman in our the six consciousnesses i mentioned as kanda there's no atman in the perceptions this is called panchas kanda the five aggregates that's all you find there's no atman there there's no atman other than that also so where is that one he says the atman in this is just an illusion in the imagination i think i am this conglomeration no there's no self there there's no such thing as a self this is just this conglomeration playing around so that is terawa the buddhism or shawakayana that's the preliminary analysis and then the further deeper analysis is there in the chitta matra mind only school of buddhism then there is an even deeper analysis in madhyamaka buddhism the sunnyvale buddhism there's an even deeper analysis finally in what is known as the shenton buddhism tibetan buddhism which is very close to the pure being pure consciousness of advaith alpana says why does the understanding oscillate between being and specific name and form it doesn't oscillate it's not usually fixed in that specific name and form that's what we think of ourselves now uh we are being pushed back to the being yama is trying to make us appreciate from specific thoughts feelings emotions to pure awareness from um things small and big to the existence itself we're trying he's trying to push us back to the background gaurav says greater than the greatest smaller than smallest can it refer to appearance virtual reality in our existence ultimately the world conceived by human minds in terms of matter space and time exists only in the human mind is it saying the darkman transcends the space conceived by the human mind um i won't answer this directly i'll just say this new book that uh um david chalmers has written it's called reality plus so there he argues interestingly he argues that we are now living going into a world of virtual reality and that's going to become more and more a part of our lives whether you like it or not and he says that's reality also if you consider this to be a reality you consider that to be a reality also that's very interesting if you consider that to be a reality virtual reality a meta reality and this is true also to be the same another reality in that case you are saying both are equally false if you say it is all false or it is all real if you equate the two then you are agreeing to the position that if that's a virtual virtual means false appearance virtual reality is reality same as this waking reality then you are saying nothing more than what godopathy said 1400 years ago he compared waking reality to our dream reality he said it's the same consider both to be false consider both to be real but reality is that which underlies both which makes both appear to be real so that's a very interesting position he's taking wouldn't it be right to say that upadhis are used to reveal that atman has no limitations wonderful rodriguez made a tremendous statement here upadhis trap us in maya they trap us in samsara but here what he's doing is he's using yamaha is using dupadis shankaracharya is using dupadis to reveal the atman what is upadhi what does upadhi do to us and there is a tiny little being i'm a tiny little being here is a vast universe and this tininess has come because of the body vastness has come because of stars and planets and galaxies now showing that the body and stars and planets and galaxies are upadhi's there's only one reality then he says you are tinier than the tiniest you are faster than the fastest just like water is tinier than the bubble and faster than the pacific ocean what did i do i pointed to the water by using bubble and pacific ocean exactly right shankaracharya has done that of course yama is doing that using the upadhi themselves and contradicting them and pointing to something underlying them good all right gaurav says even other sampradayas like iskand believe that atma has appropriated upadhi's body they believe body exists and atma has entered the body and believe it after death uniqueness of the beta is that obama these are appearance like dream and have no ultimate reality correct and and this is a term which is actually quite widespread even in a common day-to-day language in hindi bengali upadhi means your title so if you have a phd degree for example that's your upadhi notice how the original meaning is still present in little bit it lends its um you know phd to you the being who holds that phd so you are you are affected by it so phd was standing next to your name it gives lends itself to you and its qualities to you in some other languages i heard marathi um upadhi is actually seen as an obstruction or some something wrong or you know as an some obstacle to be overcome that's also the original meaning you see sri said swamiji writes nir guna guna mai correct doesn't it not contradictory both true formless and fully formed with length qualities but those qualities also exist within the form list just the opposite but it's a good thing that you have pointed out the kandana bhava bandhana is a beautiful hymn written by swami vivekananda about sri ramakrishna and notice there he uses this contradictory language again and again and again nirguna beyond qualities full of pervaded by all qualities the same reality is the absolute the same reality is god or bhagavan or saguna brahman nirna brahman how can the same reality be pure being and it can still be the god of the universe with opadhi of maya the pure being with the appearance of maya now becomes god see that this upadhi thing is absolutely crucial to advaita vedant you can see now the way upadhi is used here that's why when madhvacharya says if here the cave of the heart refers to the mind can you please explain about why the word heart is used and not mind yes whenever the heart is used you know shankaracharya explains it as buddha buddhi the cave of the intellect and that's because in ancient times in all cultures in fact the mind was supposed to be located in the heart that's why you meditate here in the heart so it's a psychic heart there is um i mean nowadays because we understand the function of the brain we say the mind is located here but traditionally the idea was the mind is located in the heart and look at your own feeling of life itself the world seems exterior then closer to you seems the body you sit closely closer to you seems closest to you seeing your own thoughts feelings ideas and you seem to be in there somewhere so what's closest to you which is the cave you are sitting in in your own thoughts feelings ideas memories desires that's the mind so that's the cave in which you dwell sort of intuitively it feels like that anyway the real reason is mind and intellect were supposed to be centered in the heart in traditional yoga and tantra also rama says self is not a thing correct but everything we experience is an object correct how do we break ourselves from this object-based understanding especially when we talk about pure existence it's difficult to perceive it beyond objects never ever try to see yourself as pure existence you can't whatever you experience is an object correct notice that much it's enough you are none of the objects when you realize you are none of the objects you will automatically realize you are you are the atman did you see what uh sudama krishna said yesterday but by doing this 1880 not the world not the body not the mind not object not object not object the mind of the gyani goes into samadhi it flies into so it come becomes entirely motionless and centered and the glory of the atman is revealed automatically it's continuously being revealed by that alone you are experiencing all these objects but you can never objectify it so don't try to perceive it so it's difficult to perceive it beyond objects you can never perceive it beyond objects you'll go crazy if you try to perceive it and you don't need to you are it seems to be saying the same thing yes he says the same thing absolutely and he's a good link here correct this is the central teaching of ramana maharshi kunal patel says are the sentences below similar one when one performs work without expecting fruits of it it is karma yoga two when one performs the work being fully centered in awareness it is karma yoga yes but the second one is more the result the second one is aji mukta it describes achievement centered in awareness means i am awareness action is being performed through body mind the first one describes karma yoga as a sadhana as a practice to attain enlightenment the second one is the state of an enlightened person shiva priya says how we say consciousness atman is all-powerful all-pervading which is free from all attributes why we say powerful correct so when avatar sees all past and future he sees in mind reflected in atman that's power of mind or atman we say okay power belongs to maya maya is power with the upadi of maya atman or brahman is all powerful all power activity belongs to maya but maya itself has no existence apart from brahman how can maya have existence apart from existence itself this is the whole mystery of power which is when kali you know bhavat anikali she is dancing in the battlefield destroying everything unlimited power but only one place she puts her foot on the chest of shiva who's lying there and absolutely powerless she was absolutely motionless there like a corpse because without kali she has no power but kali when she puts her foot on shiva she bites her tongue she knows this this is actually my reality shiva is my reality with kali it is mahamaya this this universe power of this universe but beyond power is the real nature of shiva you'll see oh then shiva is powerless no their question of power is you know presence of power indicates weakness it's only when you want to do something you need power why do you need power you want to accomplish something if everything is accomplished you don't need any power siddhartha says the universe is finite brahman is also finite no faster than the vastest so therefore brahman is infinite but the universe is finite upadhi is finite but that which is uh in which it shines is not finite jennifer says dhatu prasad is same as exactly the same thing purification of the mind and prasad is exactly the same thing both purification of the mind leading to control of the senses because akratu is also purification of the mind deepa and krishnan say i'm curious how realization is not a binary event you are realizing yet perceived duality seems logically that you will remain established as atman only think about it your assignment how after being enlightened you will perceive a duality um prabhupada says what is the difference between enlightened person a person who understands that he or she is brahman not enlightened who uses vedanta like grigri shall be awakened to deal with problems it's an internal difference is it understanding do you feel it very clearly then it's natural to you to use drinkdrisha viveka or panchakosha viveka and deal with all problems from that perspective if you don't feel it and yet you're using it to deal with your problems then you're doing a sadhana very good sadhana very powerful sadhana but still a southerner has yes gujarati upadhy's trouble you see upadhi is the meanings of indian languages they all have little bits of the elements of the original technical meaning of upadhi in vedanta good gone well beyond time oms [Music] foreign [Music] you