Video 30

30. Katha Upanishad | Mantras 2.1.11 - 12 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] may the lord protect us both teacher and the thought together by revealing knowledge may he protect us both by giving us the results of knowledge may we attain vigor together let what we study be illuminating maybe not cavale at each other home peace peace peace in the catholic nation we are studying these mantras which all speak of oneness swami vivekananda said oneness is the only true religion and here we see that theme uh just pointed out again and again and you know that so what swami vivekananda meant was that which brings us together um that that oneness so that's true religion he in fact would give some interesting tests of truth of true religion one was um that which makes for oneness that is true religion the other was uh that which makes us selfless that is truth so he's talking about truth so that which makes for oneness that is true that which divides is not true in the last few mantras which you have seen from mantra number five onwards in the qatar condition this oneness of the atman has been stressed what appears to be a diverse world at three levels what are the three levels physical subtle and causal at the physical level it is this gross physical universe and full of diversity you see human beings and animals and plants and and earth and sky and and the big and the small so many millions and billions of entities tremendously diverse and at the subtle level certain level is internal thoughts feelings emotions ideas all kinds of our internal world of experience again enormously diverse and changing all the time and at the causal level which we normally do not think of think of it as a seed from which all of this has come and that is also diverse because it seems blank when does it seem blank for example in deep sleep blank but that blankness contains like like a seed or everything that we have uh we are experiencing now so there is the potential for diversity in the causal level we have the causal level subtle level and growth level and that's how we experience life not only that at each level there is the microcosm and the macrocosm in each level we experience ourselves as an individual experiencing this vast world so i am there and this vastness is there at a certain level my own mind and there is a cosmic mind at least that's how it's envisaged i know there are other minds but vedanta says that not only are there many many minds those minds are also connected there is a cosmic mind underlying this and there's a cosmic cause just as there's a causal level for each of us there's a causal level for the entire universe in any case everywhere there seems to be diversity there seems to be difference and the upanishad says radically that there is oneness all throughout it is one reality appearing as many not only that you are that oneness the atman is that oneness it is you appearing at the causal level as the god and as the jewish mother individual being it is you appearing at the subtle level as cosmic mind and the individual uh sentient being the thinking person the indi the person and then finally at the physical level it is you appearing as this vast universe and you means pure consciousness the real the real you and appearing as this limited individual body which is born ages and dies so this underlying unity appearing as diversity much like one mass of water appears as thousands of waves and you know foam and surf and droplets of water so like that there is unity at the physical level not not just unity oneness at the physical level oneness at the subtle level oneness at the causal level that's what we we were seeing in all these verses now the 11th mantra says i'll chant it again we would be stopped there last time with that is to be attained to the mind indeed there is no diversity here whatsoever he who sees as though there is difference here goes from death to death each of this is very important in vedanta and adi shankaracharya in his commentaries on the upanishads and the geeta never tires of quoting this this particular mantra neha nana stick in china there is no difference here no diversity here whatsoever in reality it is one existence consciousness place through a variety of names and forms and actions appearing as this diverse dynamic universe yes at a certain level at the level of the movie there is diversity at the level of the screen it is the same screen all throughout at the level of existence consciousness bliss it is one reality at the level of this universe variety the variety here is made possible by the underlying oneness in channel there is no nana means diversity here this is important here means right now when you are seeing this diversity when you're in the midst of this diversity see diversity is necessary for life what we experience is life the difference in the diversity are necessary if the eyes and the screen were not different eyes could not there would be no seeing anything if the ears and sound were not different there would be no hearing anything uh if the um you know this the eater and the food were not different you wouldn't eat if the subject and object were not different then you there would be no experience whatsoever it would be a blankness in fact notice when the subject and object become one in our daily experience deep sleep there is no experience it's just a blankness if you call that experience fine but there's no normal experience like that we see there would be no change if there was no diversity the dynamic being dynamic changing variety action emotion thought all of these are possible because of diversity does not deny the utility of diversity it does not that's very does not deny the experience of diversity it just says you have to look for the truth the truth is there is underlying oneness just as a moviegoer does not deny that there is a uniform screen underneath all the movies it's a tragedy it's a comedy a science fiction movie a horror movie and with lots of characters and story lines and everything lots of changes tremendous action going on and yet everybody knows it's just at another level of truth at a higher level of truth fundamental level of truth it's just one reality and that mo that one screen makes possible the movies this one existence consciousness bliss makes possible this world so neha nana's there is no problem at all having the experience of diversity there is no problem at all being engaged in the world experience as much diversity as you want do as much action in the world as you want but what happens to the ignorant is we lose sight of the underlying oneness and that i am that oneness and having lost sight of that what happens is we get caught in samsara we get caught in the movie we want it to be a comedy always alas sometimes it's a tragedy so and we we are not serene we want it to be rather this way and not that way what's wrong with likes and dislikes likes and dislikes are inevitable yes but we should not give you know invest in likes and dislikes because likes and dislikes ultimately are based on a false proposition that there is some diversity here there is something ultimately more preferable than and this is something ultimately much worse not really if it is one brahman appearing in all these ways as the as the bitter and as the sweet that ultimately it's bitter and sweet and not ultimate truths it is one reality appearing as both and we know all experience of diversity all contact between subject and object is subject to is determined by causes and conditions things arise because a lot of things underneath are making them so and what we experience as life would not be so unless the underlying causes were like that the buddhists have a very good analysis of this what we see as an experience as an universe and what's so important to us is very flimsy it's like a tissue like an illusion setup and it can change at any moment i mean i remember once long time ago i was very sick for about a month or two and i completely lost appetite at one time i couldn't eat and i was on you know drip with this iv for some time when i recovered i had no appetite at all for a long time and for a long time my body chemistry had changed so i had no taste for almost all the kinds of food that i used to eat i realized how much of that is just body chemistry a body needs something plus there is an overlay of vasanas of likes and dislikes in the mind it's not pure body chemistry that would be machine like then the body would eat what it needs but unfortunately on top of what the body needs we have a whole set of likes and dislikes which is mental which is almost i would say illusory because it really doesn't have much to do with what the body needs it's more what we have accumulated in this lifetime and conditionings of past lifetimes what i mean was one interesting experience i had when i was sick is that i couldn't eat anything i had no taste for anything and the body didn't need anything also because it was sick and it was getting what it needed through the nutrients to the iv but the mind needed taste and so i would dream of delicious dishes which i had eaten as a kid if you actually had given me those dishes okay eat i would have thrown up so their body didn't want it at all see the mind has a hunger that is vasana and we are driven by that all of this is an appearance not to be taken seriously not to be taken seriously don't build your life around likes and dislikes it's very flimsy so because neha nana stick in china there is no diversity here whatsoever even while you are eating very very we are literally eating the world we are consuming the world even while we are experiencing the world of diversity there is no diversity here whatsoever therefore whatever we you know based on diversity remember it's a fiction ultimately don't take it seriously when sadhu in uttarakhand himalayas told me you know with a sweep of his hand showing me all around in hindi he said he's a big majesty all this appears oh monk doesn't exist what exists is his underlying existence consciousness place what's that that's you that's what we have been learning now um he goes on to give a dire warning what's the point of it all right so who is saying this the lord of death yama he is warning us that heed my words carefully in one english poem it's called the hound of heaven so here is the hound of death so we will be it's chasing us from lifetime to lifetime he says as your lifetime as you run through lifetimes i am chasing you and i will catch you in each lifetime and i will kill you and you will die not once you know we talk about the cycle of birth and death and the lord of death is not so kind he doesn't say he'll be born and he will die he says you will go from death to death you'll be born and imagine all the problems of growing up all over again and being a kid and playing with dolls or whatnot and balls and and then making friends and fighting and all of that being sick then becoming teenagers going to school and college getting jobs getting married all the attachments the heartbreaks of life and when you're well settled things are going well you begin begin to get old bill or bill conrad he he had to go to the hospital again today this minor problem hopefully he'll be back again so when i saw him off after 911 people had come he's 97 years old you know i said bill you always say to us old age is not for sissies he chuckled and he said that's for sure swami so old again and all the problems come to us and unfortunately by this time we have set up a samsara and there are husbands and wives maybe at that age fathers and mothers and grandparents are gone but then there are husbands and wives and children and grandchildren and money and house and property likes and dislikes all of that what will happen yeah the lord of death says i'll come and snatch you away from that mercilessly not once many times it is actually awful how many times will you pass through this you know the whale of tears so he says in that case take vedanta seriously what i'm telling you there is no diversity here the one who sees this diversity name form and takes that to be real everybody sees diversity so you take that to be the only reality you don't see the underlying reality and don't know that you are this underlying reality this you have to pass through my school it's a hard school to pass through my school again and again and again with you somewhere tungachuty now how do you realize this and he makes a remarkable comment this has to be realized by the mind alone this is where we were last time is to be realized by the mind alone immediately we have been in vedanta for a long time and we raise our hands in objection how is that possible because we keep saying in vedanta it is beyond the mind the mind cannot reach it the speech cannot express it avong means speech mana means mind gocharam means the reach avong mana surgeon means beyond the reach of mind and speech karen oppanisha declares another opponent this is the sister opening to the qatar persian open ship declares that which is not cannot be thought of by the mind the mind cannot realize it and here you are saying not only it can be realized by the mind it can be realized only by the mind when i say eva only by the mind it can be realized how do you understand this this will be very important because this tells us of the nature of enlightenment and what we have to do to get enlightenment three levels of explanation last time i gave one level we'll go through those three quickly that's why i stopped last time three levels of explanation first of all what's the question what does it mean when you say only by the mind this can be realized we have sort of got the idea this is beyond the mind you know uh no only by the mind first explanation which is given by shankara here adi shankara and sriram krishna also gives that explanation um shankaracharya says and sramakrishnan says exactly the same thing it is reachable by the purified mind not reachable by the impure mind so the mind which is purified karma yoga purifies the mind um dhyani yoga meditation concentrates the mind and then further the mind is purified finally by the guru and the shastra upanishad itself taught by a skillful teacher it gives the final purification the final you know sharpening of the mind it tells you what what your reality is so this is the purified mind this mind can realize what cannot realize the mind which is full of desire the mind which is continuously going outwards mind which is not interested does not see enlightenment guard realization as any anything that is worthwhile the mind basically is which is sees nothing no problem really or sees a problem in samsara but sees no other way out of it and there is a desire for samsara that mind will not be able to realize i will not get will not realize the atman all right that's preliminary let's go deeper how again can the mind realize the atman the same question we ask give us a deeper answer well we say the second level answer is all knowledge is in the mind think about it whatever we know and experience ultimately has to come to the mind i see this book with my eyes true but all the information comes to the mind and raises the movement in the mind and i have what is called in sanskrit book the mental modification in the form of the book and then i see a book the book might be there eyes might be there but the mind is not there no knowledge will come if you are asleep if someone is in coma somebody is meditating you can't see anything similarly with the sound all sound noise music speech it's only when the mind is paying attention that we have experience of that whether you taste good food or bitter food where a smell like a beautiful fragrance or fragra or a false smell all our sensory experiences all this knowledge we get from protection that means direct sensory experience without five senses entirely depends on the mind it without mind none of them will work in fact if one of them doesn't work the mind is there you still keep getting other kinds of experience if the eyes the eyes are blind all right then i can't see but the mind is functioning you can use the other sense organs i can still hear i can smell i can taste i can touch i can use braille to read books where i'm touching with my fingers but if the mind is not functioning nothing else will go so no knowledge is possible without the mind in fact the other kinds of knowledge are entirely mind dependent this is sensory knowledge the other kinds of knowledge like um inferential knowledge so that's only with the using the mind and that knowledge also comes in the mind scriptural knowledge also comes in the mind devotional feelings of you know devotion to god aesthetic experience appreciation of art enjoyment apart all is in the mind so knowledge experience all is in the mind without mind no experience without mind no knowledge now um and the mind of course is lit up by consciousness now one kind of knowledge is perceptual knowledge the knowledge of seeing something how do you do that you require a form or a color you require the eyes to be in contact and then you know require proper lighting and everything and then you require um the mind to be attentive to it and then you see so mind plus the eyes gives you the experience of seeing my mind plus the ears gives you the experience of knowledge of sound and so on mind plus textbooks of physics and the physics professor and all of that gives the knowledge of in the mind of physics what will give me the knowledge of the atman not the eyes because utman cannot be seen not the ears because that makman cannot be heard not physics or chemistry or sanskrit none of them we are talking about the atman it is vedanta which talks about the atman so mind plus vedantic teachings more specifically which tells you you are that so mind plus mahavakya gives you knowledge about the atman where will the knowledge come in the mind only so when it's when you say how does this answer help us it helps us in this way the mind does not is not the instrument by which you get knowledge of atman mind cannot give you a larger argument directly it is the vedanta is the instrument just as eyes are the instrument which gives knowledge in the mind about forms ears are the instrument which gives knowledge in the mind about sound vedantic statements vedantic teaching is the instrument which gives the knowledge of the action in the mind so all knowledge arises in the mind where else will knowledge arise will it arise in empty space will it arise in my nose or my liver it will arise in the mind mind is designed it's an instrument of knowledge so all knowledge will arise in the mind uh only the instrument of knowledge the mind doesn't reason it out and get to aqua it requires the vedantic pointing out that tao art of course you must understand what it means and for that all these vedanta texts are there so all the vedanta teaching culminates by generating knowledge in the mind that i am brahmana second level answer what's the answer all knowledge is in the mind and knowledge is generated in the mind by various instruments and vedanta is the instrument especially specifically that generates the knowledge of atman in the mind mind by itself of course cannot directly you know objectify the options still it doesn't answer the question yes it generates knowledge in the mind are you saying um that just like i learned physics or chemistry by going and reading a physics text who can understand about physics so is that how i understand about that i am brahman is that how it works is that enlightenment doesn't seem like it no that's not what is meant after all then what do all those sentences all those teachings which say it's beyond the mind it cannot be grasped by the mind it's not reading a book or listening to a lecture then what do they mean so the third level of explanation i'll rush through it detailed explanation vedanta now just remember these two uh words technical words british english is more complicated with means pervasion by the mental modification falafti means pervasion by the illumination by reflected consciousness it sounds even more complicated but very quickly i'll run through the what is the deepest level explanation of this don't forget the question vedanta seems to be saying it two contradictory things at the same time it cannot be realized by the mind and here it says it's only by the mind that you can get enlightenment knowledge of the your real nature how do you explain them and what insight does it give us into what is enlightenment so here is the deeper answer or deepest answer um first of all we must see how does any kind of knowledge takes place take place and how is enlightenment different self knowledge brahman knowledge god realization how is it different from ordinary knowledge how does ordinary knowledge take place to put it briefly um you know you are pure consciousness and that your consciousness is reflected or channeled in the mind as reflected consciousness inside sanskrit whatever happens in the mind is is lit up by this reflected consciousness and you get the experience the first person experience consciousness enables you to get experience now what happens in the mind whatever is experienced through the senses or internally record through the mind comes up as a ripple on the lake of the mind you know like you throw a stone into the lake it sets up ripples similarly you see something outside and that sets up a set of ripples in the mind that's called so i see a book the gita and it sets up a ripple in the mind about the gita seeing a book and the experience of seeing a book comes to me when the consciousness reflected in the mind illumines that virty let me repeat object senses in the mind mental modification about this object and mental modification being lit up by consciousness reflected in the mind that process gives us experience of knowledge that is ordinary knowledge all ordinary knowledge think about it whatever we experience in the world good bad and ugly intellectual gross um subtle auditory perception you know visual whatever kind of experience we have all throughout life basically these two processes are going on there's something that happens in the world or in my mind all of it culminates in setting up a movement in the mind a change in the mind and that change in the mind that movement in the mind is lit up by consciousness i become aware of it and that happens very fast so that movement in the mind set up by any kind of happening is called british pervasion by mental modification british pervasion by mental modification and things keep happening in the world and the mental modifications keep changing with those things you see a book one kind of mental modification take a sip of a cup of coffee another kind of mental modification uh be happy and smile another kind of mental modification get mad at somebody else another kind of mental modification internally you remember something another mental modification try to remember and you can't remember tip up the tongue phenomenon another kind of mental modification these keep changing continuously like a stream in all of them consciousness is reflected our consciousness is shining and that consciousness keeps on illuminating all these changing these flashing mental modifications and you get a series of experiences so you need two things for any kind of knowledge mental modification illumination by consciousness pervasion by the writing pervasion by reflected consciousness these are known as british british by reflected consciousness together experience knowledge now what happens in self-knowledge illumination enlightenment is that what you get knowledge of that cannot be human by the mind the mind can learn about it through vedanta classes when you learn about it through vedanta classes what happens is a british takes place the mind is beginning to understand take its attention away from the body and not the body because of various reasons we know you know for these reasons i am not the body and i feel it i see it clearly similarly i am not the mind i see it i understand it clearly this is mental modification about the atma what i am not and turning away towards the atma about the true self the mind cannot directly illuminate the true sign what happens then is once the vritti dhabti is perfect you get a clarity about who am i your real nature pure consciousness is always blazing forth radiant unlimited radiance that in a moment it becomes clear it's a breakthrough and the only way i can call it it's a breakthrough um buddhists have a turn for it like you have a bunch of sticks tied together you pull a knot the whole thing falls apart so that's also true you can look at it that way suddenly the like a whole structure collapsing you see through it for the first time the roof has been blown away and there is sunlight streaming through it for the first time you see through it and it is irreversible you cannot go back anymore right it's you may not always be thinking about it after that but it's always available for you this this breakthrough this realization available for you you know effortlessly all the time and you realize also at that moment every problem of your life has been solved forever now this breakthrough it does not happen because technically in the language we use because of palabrati the consciousness reflected in the british cannot reveal the atmana the atman reveals itself it is always revealing itself but just the necessary victory we actually was not there so let me repeat again normal knowledge any kind of knowledge epistemology of vedanta phase you need a virtuality and a falafel pervasion penalty pervasion by reflected consciousness for enlightenment you need a tibia you must pursue enlightenment you must read these texts think about it try to understand try to get it right to get the breakthrough all of that you must try and the mind is being not tuned towards that but once the virtivati is there the reflected consciousness in the mind cannot illumine the atman it's like the moon trying to illumine the sun it can't that cannot is not necessary the sun is shining hot with a million times more light than the moon and the moon light is also the sunlight after a moonlight is borrowed from the sun so the sun shines forth sun reveals itself athman reveals itself and which is it's always doing just the fact that i was not this ever radiant at one that i was not it and that fault that false notion is removed forever ignorance is removed forever i know i am the other so this is illumination this is how the mind plays a role without the mind now you can answer the question directly by the mind alone it is to be realized by the mind it cannot be realized how do you explain by the mind alone it can be realized because with tibia it is necessary by the mind alone it can by the mind can it cannot be realized because palpable is not necessary it can't do it do anything for nothing this is the deepest level explanation but more details you go for go to vedantist towards the end this question is raised and a detailed explanation is given is resides in the body knowing him as the ruler of the past and the future one does not want by virtue of that knowledge to save the self this is indeed that okay this is a phrase often used in vedanta the atman the purusa that being of consciousness our real nature is of the size of a thumb and it's it resides in the center of the body what does it mean all it means is the consciousness which i am our we are normally aware of it in the mind just look at it right now they say where is um a table you see right in front of me swami all right where's your hand here swami here's my hand where's your nose here swami where are your socks well i can't show it to you swami but i assure you there are thoughts going on in my mind where is your awareness well that though that awareness is aware of the thoughts and the nose and the hand and the table and you awareness is aware of everything but awareness exactly where is it it's in the mind it's not in the nose it's not in the hand or the table or in the world outside i am aware of awareness in the mind and it is making me aware of everything so awareness exists in the mind step one that's how we see it awareness actually is beyond the mind also awareness is the only reality according to the veda but the way we experience it is internally only in the mind and notice right now when you look at your own experience you experience yourself as aware only in the mind nowhere else you don't even experience the awareness of others all these people are there there's 72 people here i am one aren't the other 71 not aware yes they are aware but if you are not aware of their awareness you are only aware of their faces and their words and their actions but you are not even aware of the thoughts let alone their awareness the only place we are aware of awareness is in the mind step one so it's a mind delimited awareness that we think about when we when we are told about consciousness now next step in vedanta in most indian philosophy actually the idea is the mind is in the heart in the most ancient people thought the mind was in the heart and they may not be wrong right now we think the mind is in the brain but that remains to be proved because why we think the mind is in the brain is because all mental events seem to correlate strongly with neuronal activity it's a science of correlations true but the mind is a separate reality and it exists in the heart and psychologically at least we always point to ourselves like this we don't say where are you we don't say like this here no we say here i am here so we are in the heart the mind is in the heart and more specifically in the physical heart there is a space in the inside the physical heart approximately of the size of your thumb of your thumb so child's heart will have the space in the heart of the size of the child's thumb like that so in the heart the mind is there in in the mind is consciousness what will be the size of that consciousness be careful here consciousness has no size not even even the mind doesn't have a size it's the size of the space in the heart that's why it is said consciousness you the awareness you the consciousness of the size of the thumb resides in the middle of the body what resides in the middle of the body heart left here and i knew a monk whose heart was on the right side so he has his heart on the right side um so on the left of the body um and in the heart is a space and in that space is believed strongly believed at least in the ancient times not just indian philosophy many ancient thinkers believed the self was in the our mind was in the heart um so in the heart is a space in that space is mind in mind we feel consciousness so that mind must be of the size of the space in the heart which is the size of the thumb therefore i the consciousness must be the size of that thumb and that's just a way of locating myself to to center myself mind doesn't have size let alone consciousness and there's no not the size of a thumb or not the signs of anything at all and consciousness is also not the size of the thumb or size of anything at all but this is the way of locating it it is also a direct mystical experience i remember this wonderful monk i had seen and he chanted this mantra to me and this this was in the himalayas in ganga 3. i still remember the conviction in that old man's face it says the consciousness of the size of the thumb the shining being of the sides of the thumb in the heart space of the heart then he said to me hey swamiji there is such an experience oh monk it is real but you are all intellectuals so you won't believe me you're all skeptics he says it can be experienced and he said he had experienced it yes and there's a comment into sunderland he told me that but many people have experienced it those who so it's a kind of meditative experience mystical experience but remember um it can be vividly experienced here sriram krishna says the first direct spiritual experience is in the heart he says the heart is the place to investigate um the to um to focus concentrate and then he is a description of that first experience he says when that breakthrough happens the seeker becomes amazed stunned and says in bengali says eki aki what is this what is this what is it i have stumbled upon is this my real nature so what is this what is this oh yes patrick has pointed out something very important this verse was being explained in our main monastery many many uh decades ago when la tu mara swami he advoca uneducated and illiterate and he became an enlightened person somebody said there are two miracles of sriram krishna one is latu maharaja uneducated person who became an enlightened knower of brahman and girish kosh is another miracle of sri ramakrishna as his latter mothers were sitting and a pundit a scholar was explaining these this verse and other monks were sitting all around and listening and studying the qatar ganesha and the pandit chanted in the center of your body in the heart in the space of the heart and that is the purusa the being of consciousness of the size of assam and latu maharaja in delight he said that's it that's it it's there and then excitedly he told sudhir maharaj who was a disciple of swami vivekananda sitting there the pundit was right bandit was right and this old monk was so delighted he kept saying that the class was over in his delight he went around saying that his the pundit was right such a thing is there late in the night he got hold of sudanji and said the pandit was right it it it is there the angus the being of light who is who is seen in the space of the heart and this is a in mystical literature in vedanta in yoga in bhakti across the world religions the mystical heart and the first place of experiencing god that has been mentioned in many ways in all kinds of mystical literature so yes it's not as strange as it looks the thumb-sized god so i am this consciousness so what is is the lord of all time of the past and the future past present and future who is the lord of all time god the god of religion the creator of the universe the master of space and time and he says that consciousness which you find there yes what about it that is none other than the consciousness which appears as god same consciousness unity same consciousness appears as you the little being this person and shines as the thumb-sized consciousness in your heart the same consciousness in association with maya the power divine power is the univ is the master of the universe the master of time past and present what happens when you realize that i am that one consciousness you relax for the first time you let go huge breath of relaxation a lifetime's burden many lifetimes burden is taken off your shoulders and you find peace for the first time you've been chased by the hound of death life time to lifetime and that that hound the the hunt is called off you are free you're free to go so you relax no longer seeks to protect himself there is no anxiety there is no insecurity anymore janaka's guru said the moment janaka became enlightened the guru didn't say you've realized brahman you're enlightened you're jivan muktar whatever he said you have achieved fearlessness o king abhayam you have attained to fearlessness you relax you let off a big sigh of relaxation it's done and the upanishads and all they sing your glory what you are the one krita krithya who has done what has to be done in life you have learned what has to be you have known what has to be known in life you have attained you have got what has to be got in life it's done for the first time somebody said that sounds kind of boring what do you do after that well after that you actually start living you call this life being chased by the hound of death lifetime after lifetime being smashed into the short edges of life how much suffering how many miserable lifetimes require this is what all this was meant to be the culmination of life lifetime after lifetime the culmination of the game of life after a big rainstorm there is rainbow so one bengali song says the game of life the festival of life comes to an end there are there is a there is a festival of rainbows in the sky so the storms are over the festival of rainbows in the sky the buddhist zen monk puts it in his own way no question of self or atman there he puts it in this way um it's a japanese haiku it says the rains are over the last storm clouds have disappeared at last we sit together the old mountain and i till only the mountain remains okay so this ghost of ego the limited self you know we sit together the mountain and i the absolute reality and i until that ghost disappears only the mountain remains there is freedom then i am gone no you are not gone you are the absolute now you are infinite now you always wear this little shimmer of a ghost it appeared before you ishaan what's all this this is what you had asked for a long long time ago the third boon you asked for what is the reality of test the reality of death is i will chase you lifetime after life in this lifetime i am going to kill you and the next lifetime too lifetime after lifetime i will chase you make you suffer break you again and again and again until you come to this and you realize and you're set free forever you become the infinite you are the infinite this is the answer to the question you had asked the mystery of death okay let me just see the comments here ramya asks you were mentioning three tests swami swamiji had oneness unselfishness and strength tests of truth that which makes for oneness is truth that which makes which divides is false these are not absolute but is a good way to judge what is true and what is true spirituality also and selflessness that which makes us selfish is likely to be false that which makes us selfless is likely to be true that is spiritual that which gives us strength is likely to be true that which makes us weak swamiji says reject it as poison strength is a test of truth is a trust of true spirituality alpana says waves in the ocean ah that's a good question brahman as a snake in the upanishads they don't use snake and likely pottery and clay gold ornaments and gold their original texts they talk about ocean and wave or clay and part golden ornament but notice one thing to be careful about using the examples in advaita vedanta always careful what is meant when it says pottery and clay are waves and ocean all that is meant is in the pots which appears so different from each other and different from the original mass of clay there is nothing but the same clay if you touch the pot you're touching clay if you wait you're wearing the clay not literally there'll be water and other stuff but anyway the the idea is it is brahmana and brahman alone though it appears to be so diverse as this world it is uh that eternal spiritual reality though it appears to be a samsara the buddhist says tibetan buddhist samsara and nirvana they appear in the limitless space of awareness so from samsara we struggle and we get we have we have been scared enough by the lord of death because he's going to chase us from life time to lifetime and hunt us down and kill us and that's not an exaggeration that's the only truth we can be certain of even you can doubt vedanta religion god whatever you can doubt of but you can't doubt what yama says nobody doubts that will be chased and hunted and killed not once lifetime after lifetime from there we struggle to freedom nirvana and then from that freedom we look oh it was always all right both samsara and nirvana are appearances in one underlying reality which was always alright which we are oh if it's always all right then i don't have to go to moksha nirvana i can stay in samsara well then if you don't go there you won't realize this and you will still feel that you are a person being hunted down by this terrible lord of death then jennifer says when we know something through the mind there is always subject object relationship correct but we have been saying that pure consciousness is pure subject cannot be an object a mental experience can we understand that in this verse the open issue is talking about intellectual understanding by the mind not final enlightenment no no final enlightenment when i said um british not follow up to its final enlightenment the intellectual understanding which we get through the upanishads you make it as good as it gets the next jump will come intuitively from within it will be revealed don't worry about that that will come that clarity will come take care of the virty the the tuning of the mind to the truth and the enlightenment will come by itself you're right reading the book and all the arguments and all the pointings that will not make you enlightened by your by itself you can't argue your way to god [Music] you