Video 31

31. Katha Upanishad | Mantras 2.1.13 - 15 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

om may the lord protect us both the teacher and the taught together by revealing knowledge may the lord protect us both but by giving us the results of knowledge may we attain vigor together let what we study be illuminating may we not care at each other home peace peace peace so there are some newcomers for them we are studying the cut open nation is a vedanta study group on wednesdays we study vedantic texts and now we are studying the kathopanishad here we are on the second chapter the catholic initiative has two chapters uh each of three sections so we are the second chapter and we just we are about to finish the first section of the second chapter so here it goes last time we saw the 12th mantra of the second chapter 12th mantra angustamatra that being purusa of the size of assam resides in this body knowing him as the ruler of the past and future one does not want by virtue of that knowledge to save the self this indeed is that this is what we did last time here our real nature atman is described as being of the size of a thumb and why is that we described last time because uh we locate him within ourselves that reality within ourselves and ourselves we feel consciousness in the mind that's of course reflected consciousness and then there is this idea that the atman of the size of a thumb now how can the atman behave any size after how can consciousness have a size let alone the size of her thumb but what is meant here is where do you feel the self where do you feel conscious within yourself within this body and that not just the body you feel it in the mind every thought emotion perception is shining with awareness now this awareness so this this mind in which we find awareness the idea in vedanta and yoga is this mind is it's located all over the body but specifically it's located in the heart and the space within the heart is of the um you know like the space within the heart is of the size of the thumb approximately so in that sense consciousness reflected in the mind the mind supposed to be specially resident in the heart and remember this was old physiology um they were not very aware of the role of the brain so in many uh many spiritual systems both east and west the heart always had a special special status so within the heart the mind recites and the space in the heart is of the size of the thumb therefore consciousness limited by the mind limited by the physical space of the heart is of the size of a thumb in that sense so the purusa of the size of the thumb the the word purusa itself it means consciousness i mean in ordinary indian languages in our you know the languages which are used these days purusha means the male a man or a male but here in philosophy it means our self anybody male female who live a human animal whoever the conscious self the sanskrit derivation would be purified the one which resides which reclines within this city which city the city with the nine gates the city of the body with you know the various gates of the sense organs so this is compared to a city and in this city who who lives purusa the one who not only lives lives in royal style reclaims a bit of a couch potato so the one who resides here actually so that's called purusha um where does it stay mad in the center of the body located in the center of the body what is this our real nature consciousness and yet immediately it is identified with god the lord of the past and the present who is the lord of time god the power behind the cosmos just the power which created and presides over space and time uh so ishanam isha means lord or god bhuta past and present and past and future so past present and future the lord of time that is identified with the um the consciousness in the mind of this eyes of a thumb in the heart so basically what it means is that dawah this is the mahava telling you the identity between the microcosm and the macrocosm that which you feel as an individual as a consciousness within i am this individual being and that which is the cosmic eye which is the i identified with the entire universe is one and the same this is the central teaching of advaita vedanta that tawa tatthomasi then next the same idea of a thumb-sized self is continued in the 13th mantra angus who is of the size of a thumb is like a light without smoke he is the ruler of the past and the future he exists today and he will exist tomorrow this indeed is that [Music] the same idea that consciousness limited by the mind located for the purpose of our understanding in the space of the heart remember the mind is spread all over the body but it's supposed to be specially located in the heart and in the mind there is awareness which we feel right now we feel the body we feel the mind we look inside everybody feels thoughts feelings perceptions and in that in those thoughts feelings perceptions there's always awareness we are always aware up to this much we all know body mind reflected awareness but i am the the one who is reflected in the mind as awareness that's what vedanta wants to point out and that's the first thing that we are witness consciousness not the body not the mind and not even the reflected awareness in the mind but we are the witness consciousness and that witness consciousness is the same as the god of this universe same witness consciousness with the upadhi with the associate of maya becomes the god of this universe same witness consciousness with the uba here or associated in sanskrit in english it is translated as adjunct with the upadhi of this body and mind becomes server priyanka with that body and mind becomes x or y other people everybody we are all the same one consciousness associated with one body mind separate bodies and minds but the same consciousness associated with all bodies all minds and all of maya is god but actually it is the same consciousness so isha no bhutan is god who is the master the lord of the past and the future the one who knows all past and all future the god knows everything that has happened to us in the past krishna says to arjuna and the bhagavad-gita you and i both have had many birds and all these kings we have been born you have had many births and deaths do you remember none of them i remember them all so god remembers not only his so what is god's birth i mean those are the incarnations when god comes as incarnations but god knows all of that but god also knows everything about us so omniscient now that omniscient god of the universe the reality behind the macrocosm and this individual consciousness the reality behind a reality illuminating this one body mind they're one in the same reality that is the central teaching of advaita vedanta the oneness then how beautiful it says that lord that consciousness was is there today and will be dead tomorrow simple but powerfully poetic it means eternal and not eternal in the sense of a changing eternal this universe is there today and universe will be there tomorrow in fact this body also is there today and will be there tomorrow hopefully and this mind is there today and certainly will be there to go on it will be there until we become enlightened so bodies minds this entire world universe all of them persist but they persist as a changing reality continuously changing things are coming and going bodies are aging dying being born and growing and the universe is going through cycles of creation existence and destruction so a changing like a stream is called paren ever changing eternal going on like a river river persists but every moment drops of water are not the same they're all passing through like in a torrent so he says not like that your real nature is not like that it is absolutely real and eternal beyond any possibility of change it's exactly like that endless limitless consciousness today and certainly tomorrow also today and tomorrow this lifetime and next lifetime and next lifetime and maybe no more lifetimes but consciousness is the same this universe next universe same you are that eternal reality this is what you had asked for is that telling magiketa this is what you had asked for i want to just read out some comments made by shankaracharya on this mantra you know adi shankaracharya wrote the sanskrit commentaries called bhashya on these upanishads 1400 years ago and thanks to that we understand all this whatever i am saying and whatever masters has been teaching more than a thousand years is primarily based on shankara's commentaries so one point he makes here is you are this thumb-sized consciousness in the mind in the thumb-size space of the heart so the thumb-sized deity within the heart and then it says like light flame without smoke so again such a simple but powerful poetic expression eva means as if it's not you're not really a flame there's no really any question of smoke but what it means is pure consciousness consciousness without is technically without upadhis you know what he's already mentioned them earlier um [Music] so this is a very interesting and important construct in advaita vedanta helps us to understand what's going on you are pure consciousness that's it beyond any trouble any sort of change any birth or death any disease any ups and downs but then what happens is these upadhis arise upadhis these are constructs of maya they are names and forms they have no reality other than maya other than you the atman but you appear in these forms what are these upadhi's mind intellect the subtle body and a physical body now what do these upadhis do they have an interesting effect the example the best example of upadhi is a crystal colorless crystal transparent and you bring a red flower in behind it if you look at the crystal from the front and the red flowers behind it the crystal will appear red without the slightest tinge of red actually in it it will look blood red you bring a yellow flower behind it the crystal will appear yellow though slightest bit of color has not changed still remains colorless before the flower and after the flower is still colorless during the change of the flower also from red to yellow still colorless but it looks like that so the idea of an upadhi is that which by its proximity appears to transfer its qualities to an entity uh in sanskrit sami pays titus suian remains in proximity and seems to transfer its qualities so the flower is in proximity to the crystal and seems to as if makes the crystal red or the crystal yellow without actually doing anything similarly you are pure consciousness like the crystal a mind appears subtle body and now you the pure consciousness you seem to be thinking and remembering and desiring and feeling happy and hurt and expectant and miserable you the consciousness you seem to be awake you seem to be dreaming you seem to be in deep sleep all of that is upadhi most powerful upadhi is mind subtle body and more physical more gross than that is the physical body so the subtle and physical body are the upadhis bereft of allah like a flame without smoke is your real nature jyoti riva pure consciousness without a new body so you see the word upadhi is it packs a lot into it but you can see how useful an explanatory device it is for advaita vedanta they are not real in themselves but they appear because of maya and they seem to make tremendous changes in you nothing happens really you're still safe it is still safe i remember this sadhu monk in himalayas put it so nicely he said you are always safe how do we know that and then in hindi he sharply told the person who was asking you are there aren't you even now you are there what do you mean you were there here here you were there yesterday you were here yesterday and you were here the day before and 10 years ago and 50 years ago and before your birth and through many lifetimes you've been there nothing has been able to kill you nothing has been able to destroy you very interesting nothing can destroy you because you are the atman that's your real nature that is the meaning of that one is here today and that one will be there tomorrow you are actually safe there is nothing in this world of maya which can destroy you or even damage you all the so-called trauma unhappiness upadhi mind proof it disappears the moment dopadi changes the moment you go to deep sleep and the mind shuts down all trauma and damage disappears or later in old age when parkinson's or what do you call alzheimer's affects the brain then affects the functioning of the subtle body all memories good and bad begin to disappear consciousness remains undamped so upadhi and upadhi is fun see upadhi is not at fault upadhi is not a villain mind is not a villain body is not a villain even the world is not a villain and the proof is that enlightened people live here in this world in bodies and minds and have a very fulfilled and happy life without any problem whatsoever what is the problem is not knowing who we are problem is ignorance and solution is knowledge you know that your pure consciousness this consciousness this flame without smoke you are that shining in this body in the mind and um you are the same one the same consciousness with maya you are the god of this universe you are perfectly all right all the time say about dear dear means today it is exactly like that pure consciousness today like that sadhu said you are here isn't it and believe you me you will be there i mean this may sound shocking to say at the point of the death of our body in this lifetime when this body goes we will know the truth of this if you keep it in mind am i still there seeing the death of this body yes i have no doubt that we will have this experience and then we will know if we are blessed to be aware and cognizant at that time we will the knowledge requires the activity of the mind we'll know that we did not die the death of the body and so the vedanta class was right yes so the knowledge of who we are that's what's required upadhi has no fault even in buddhism it's pointed out that although the way it is put is all is suffering servant come or all his dissatisfaction and one must get out of this dissatisfying state of things but then again if you look deeply where does the buddha live where does the bodhisattva live here itself here in the samsara and yet the claim is that they have overcome suffering so they have overcome suffering remaining in samsara in the midst of a body mind purusha dwelling in the midst of a body mind and it is possible to overcome suffering and that happens through bodhi through enlightenment so ultimately it's not the fault of a samsara not not exactly samsara it's the fault of samsara but it's not the fault of jagat the universe it's not the fault of body it's not even the fault of the subtle body or mind it's just ignorance then shankaracharya makes another observation he says upanishad is answering something a question which was raised long ago we might not remember but the lord of death has a long memory he remembers what the little boy nachiketa asked the question which he asked the third boon about death some say there is something up to death some say there is nothing after death that some say there is nothing after death that doubt long long ago in the first chapter in the beginning the little boy had asked now yama is answering as if by his own words he's answering no there is something after death it is here today that which is here today is also there tomorrow and also he is answering another question um shankaracharya says so a buddhist philosophy is strong with this philosophy of momentariness so everything is momentary impermanent impermanent all is impermanent not only impermanent kashani kamchani comes momentary momentary all is momentary and then not only momentary empty empty all is empty and therefore because it is impermanent because it is transitory and because it is empty therefore dukkham dukkham sarvam dukham those who do not know this real nature impermanent transitory and empty nature of things for them this this world becomes samsara it becomes suffering but of the absolute reality where the buddhist is silent that shankaracharya is saying the upanishad has answered now remember upanishad was long before buddhism long before the buddha so it is not chronological in answer but here is a principle which answers that doubt he says the doctrine of momentariness also is set aside as far as the ultimate reality goes it's not momentary it's not a stream it's absolutely real and unchangingly so so that's what has been said then the last two mantras of this chapter of this section one mantra is a criticism of the one who sees it who's in ignorance and sees difference and the second mantra is a praise of the enlightened one who sees oneness remember oneness was the theme of this section so let me read those two mantras [Music] as water rained on an inaccessible height gets dispersed on lower hilly regions similarly one who perceives the self selves differently runs after them only so here's an example used two examples will be used one to indicate what happens if you are not enlightened if you see just difference in this world so the example is rain is falling water is falling on a craggy peak in the mountainous peak and what happens it runs down in streams and rivulates and gets dispersed everywhere that's it's lost it's it's integrity is lost uh exactly like that the one who sees difference will run into this world you know we'll be lost in this world will flow from lifetime to lifetime from birth to death from death to death which yama has already warned this is this happens to those who see difference who regard themselves as separate from the universe who don't see the underlying oneness but but what about the ones who see oneness for them it is said the last mantra [Music] evamune [Music] as pure water poured on pure water becomes verily the same so also does become the self of the man of knowledge who is given to deliberation on the self all right let me just go to shankara's commentary what was said here the second example was given instead of water falling on a mountainous peak imagine water falling pure water falling on pure water what pure water um falling on maybe a lake of pure water as they merge and they become virtually indistinguishable you can't find out which droplet came from the sky as rain and which droplet was already in the lake it's all one mass of pure water so also happens to the one who understands the nature of the self who meditates upon it who stays with this understanding which has been imparted now that means this one becomes one with brahman becomes one with brahman one must be careful the example one must not misunderstand you are not a drop of rain falling from the sky into the lake of brahman and becoming one with brahman you are brahmana this kind of language or poetry is used by vedantic masters but don't get into the idea of merging you know now i'm half merged three-fourths merged now 100 merged i'm on my way there no you are brahmana but it's a good way of explaining very poetic and a very nice fear explaining so in one case one who sees difference like water scattered down a mountain valley lost and in another case merging into endless vast lake pure water into pure water you realize that you are the infinite and you are freed from the mad rush of samsara you're freed from that all right now let me just so yes so shankaracharya says in his introduction to the last mantra yes so the one who because of knowledge with the avatar the one who through shravana mananana nidhyasana through hearing these teachings thinking about them and dwelling on them what happens why do we see difference we because of the presence of the upadhi but what have what about this person the enlightened one who have who has heard this upanishad for that person means demolished destroyed and highlighted this difference is annihilated now one must be careful here it's not that the enlightened one literally sees something different if the enlightened one has eyes we'll see form if the enlightened one has ears they'll see i hear sound just like us as we uh see um here smell tastes touch the same enlightenment also will hear smile tasted the perception of difference will continue you will see you have one body and the other person has another body you will continue to see men women sky earth all of that but the idea that they are different from you that strong conviction i am this limited little being and this entire universe is different from me that will disappear you will have clarity that it is one reality and you are that oneness this oneness will be clear so what will be demolished the drishti the the the perspective that they are all different this which is natural to us that will go away from the enlightened one physically they'll keep seeing the same thing so the perception of difference will continue of course but otherwise how can anyone anyone function so multiplicity will continue to appear before the enlightened one just like it appears before us but we take it to be real and we act like that i like this imagery of um you know we experience the world because of this thinking that difference is real we experience the world like a cat looking at a mouse i'm going to eat it up now nice little mouse i'm going to eat it up temptation or the opposite like a mouse looking at a cat it's going to eat me up terror see the mouse sees the catch as a source of terror and anxiety that's one way we look up look at the world what's going to happen to me kowaid job market is terrible the stock market is terrible um relationships are not going well and children don't listen to me all this old age is coming so many problems that's the cat staring at us and we are like a little mouse afraid being hunted down and ultimately of course death is there the lord of death the master here the lord of death is there absolutely guaranteed whether vedanta buddhism christianity atheism science whatever you believe in it or you don't believe in it one thing we know without any doubt death is waiting for us more certain than any philosophy religion spirituality so all of that is waiting like the cat waiting to pounce on us a little mouse and at the same time the opposite there's so many things here which i want i am a cat and there's little mouse here which i want to catch hold on pleasure success approval all of these things but this is only for the one who sees difference for the enlightened one this is not their atom there is he says earlier mantra does not seek to protect oneself that is completely free of anxiety you know you cannot die you know you cannot be damaged you know that no you cannot get and need not get anything from the world or from people they really cannot give you anything substantial and you need not you don't need anything from people you cannot lose anything anything that is that is real everything that happens getting and losing is an appearance in you the consciousness this distortion created by the parties is lost is is erased for the one who is who has got this knowledge then what does this there is difference created by is not seen then what is the knowledge of this enlightened one we should have yanagana ekarasam the one who knows knows what what is it that this person knows which makes such a huge difference he says atma the self the real nature of the self what is the real nature of the self advantal multiplicity is appearing that you know for sure sure that not one person here not one living being not one entity non-living being is actually different from me just like everything in a dream is not different from you the dreamer everything in this universe everybody in this universe is one with you they're not different from you so i am non-dual there is no second reality in this universe apart from you some are awesome yes but no second but when they appear there's so many differences no there's no differences at all they are one uniform like a uniform ocean of water you check the top the bottom the middle side left and right is the same water similarly you check this person the most beloved person the stranger the so-called enemy and the sky and the earth and the wind and fire and water health and illness success and failure some are some one homogenous unchanging existence consciousness place and yet the fun is you can see all of that and appreciate all of that just like how is that possible just like a movie when you see in a movie there are characters there's the hero but the hero is where you see the hero if you go and touch that place you get only the screen there's nothing else there is the villain there is the car chase there are dinosaurs if it's jurassic park and there is king kong it is the king kong movie there is a space and ocean whatever is there you touch you just get the screen and nothing else there's one uniform reality running through all of that and by the extraordinary power of maya that appears as sight sound smell touch taste thought desire hatred one homogeneous existence so one uniform uniform what vigna ghana ghana means solid packed with consciousness we think consciousness is such a light ephemeral abstract thing no no no it is the it is the densest of all things so swami what do you mean is it solid if solid is like gas compared to consciousness because all solids liquids and gaseous substances all the tiniest and the mightiest substances whatever is you experience in the universe the most dense diamond and the most brittle cold all of them are appearances in consciousness really speaking they are none other than consciousness this universe of your experience is packed through and through with consciousness with it's packed through and through with you we should vishuddha means pure pure in the sense there's actually nothing other than consciousness here where it appears to be an extraordinarily diverse universe filled with entities and actions and good and bad ups and downs and yet there is nothing other than consciousness here so that's the beauty of it that one non-objective pure subject consciousness appearing as this extraordinary diversity of this universe if one has this knowledge and one stays with it one can enjoy it there is no more samsara one has a place of refuge when you are very disturbed by samsara come back to this real nature of yourself the flame without smoke that which is today and that which shall be tomorrow that which is one with the lord of past and present and future for whom the one who sees sees me he literally sees she's literally seeing everybody sees the same thing vijana the one who knows who is this one the sage mune muni muni means sage literally it comes from manana to think the one who dwells on this knowledge is not even saying you're enlightened he dwells this knowledge has been given to us please stay with it dwell on it and then shankaracharya ends with an exhortation drasma therefore therefore what kutar kika veda therefore give up the differences the vision of differences set up by the dualistic philosophers he is uh pointing towards niya and other philosophers who are realists pluralists they say that ultimately it's a universe of difference and difference is real there is no underlying oneness no non-duality it's ultimately all the way down its difference so he says give that up that perspective of difference then nasty kakurishtim and evil or perverted philosophy of the the gnosticas the non-believers technically nastika means those who do not believe in the vedas do not accept the vedas as a source of spiritual knowledge so that excluded materialists char walkers it excluded buddhists it excluded giannis who were not orthodox vedantins but that doesn't hold ground here because among the orthodox vedantes there are many many who uphold a poor difference dualistic vedantins they uphold the important that it is a universe of differences not oneness on the other hand there are buddhists say for example among the tibetan buddhists for example and among certain mahayana practices who uphold the ultimate oneness so the buddha nature or the what they call the basic space of awareness there is oneness there so nasty here just means materialistic those of perverted perspectives rising above it giving it up giving up these these perspectives these points of view what do you listen to please listen to what the lord of death is telling us please listen to what the upanishad is telling us so he makes a very passionate appeal [Music] please accept please entertain this teaching please absorb this teaching please give do the respect to this teaching uh who is what is this teaching the teaching of oneness what oneness the universe is one with you atma the one self you are that one reality and the universe is one with you so i mean vivekananda says in one place he says in one place that um oneness is the only true religion there is so you find this co-teaching in some way or the other in every religion in some way but mostly in the most soaring and sublime language in advaita vedanta so this teaching of oneness and the oneness is with you your real nature who has given this video the vedas have taught this what kind of vedas matripitris those who are your well wishers what kind of well wishers more well mo a greater well wisher your well wishers were who are um were more your well wisher than thousands of mothers and fathers who is really your well-wisher your mom and dad but imagine all the moms and dads we have had from lifetime to lifetime thousands of or even this now in this lifetime there are so many here who are moms and dads and how much imagine how much love and good wishes you have for your children imagine putting it all together but more than all of that are the upanishads who with greatest solicitude for our welfare our ultimate welfare are giving us this teaching of oneness please take it to heart shanta he says relax shanta means relax darpa means pride ego i understand i know no you don't what do you mean i don't know well the the proof of the pudding is in the eating look at your own life tell yourself honestly that i i am enlightened i am a buddha i don't need to listen to anybody else i'm fine no we are not we have been trying to make ourselves fine it's not working and therefore as americans would say cool it cool it buddy means ego that means pride arrogance cool that arrogance and listen carefully to what is being taken taught here thousands of years ago this was start um it was already ancient before the buddha was even born there was born 2500 years ago these teachings were already really ancient by that time a thousand years or two thousand years before that so he ends this section on this note let me just quickly very quick within a few minutes summing up what's been done in this section there's a powerful section i'm talking about chapter two first section the first mantra there are many notable mantras here the first mantra here is often quoted [Music] [Music] did we read the last verse yes we read the last verse of the first verse of this section it says our real problem is our sense organs are as it were turned outwards and therefore we see this external world there is indeed no other word for us world for us is people's places is the sky and the earth which surrounds us things to eat and things to listen to and see and touch and enjoy and this body and even the mind oh but the mind is inside isn't it so it's not looking outside no no no even the mind is outside it's outside to you the consciousness so we we are extroverted endlessly extroverted even if we did pay attention to the mind that would be good but we don't do that either so we are flowing outwards as it were and therefore this mantra says but he says we don't see the inner self we don't see the reality about ourselves vivekananda would often say with a touch of pathos in this country if only you knew yourself as you truly are if only knew yourself as you truly are but we don't because of this outward flowing nature then what you have to do make a big effort some heroic seeker realizes the one's true nature who we truly are how do you do that ah literally shielding the eyes stopping the outgoing tendency not literally shutting the eyes but uh reversing it stepping so spiritual practice is always done oh monk spiritual practice is always done by stepping back a little so you need to step back a little so this is turning inwards so warning this continuous engagement with the world is what traps us in samsara then the next thing is then who are we when we step back suppose i do step back and look inwards what i mean what am i looking for what will i find the third mantra tells us this is a classic advaithic the step one i am pure consciousness not body not mine i am pure consciousness step 1 so which you see forms you hear sound you taste you smell fragrance you touch so the experience of touching smelling tasting seeing which one throughout our days whenever we use any senses and get any kind of first person experience which are not qualia notice one thing that it always feels like something what it feels like changes from experience to experience you taste a cookie it tastes like something you taste a savory snack it tastes like something else but in both cases one thing was common you got a first person experience a conscious experience that which enables us to have to experience life itself in fact one of the leading neuroscientists christophe cook his newest book is called the feeling of life itself he's talking about consciousness what is consciousness the feeling of life itself is exactly what he's saying here what is your life what do you what do i mean by life if you ask tell me just show me what you mean by your life not the biochemical processes what you mean by your life how do you how are you experiencing life we are experiencing it as a stream of um experiences seeing hearing smelling tasting touching remembering desiring hating um action exerting waking dreaming deep sleep that's how we are experiencing it he says all of this is possible because of one thing that by which you see hear smell taste touch that my turn on every contact with the sense on the object every pair the contact of the pair which gives rise to experience by that a vijana yeah so by this one consciousness alone all of this is possible of course consciousness then mind body with senses and object but without the consciousness blank none of this would be possible so this is the first step and here many many techniques have been developed later in vedanta to isolate yourself as witness consciousness and to appreciate i am the witness consciousness which makes possible every experience of life and the objects keep changing the body keeps changing the senses keep changing the mind which examines and generates these experiences keeps changing that witness consciousness not an object pure subject does not change does not arise does not change does not disappear that i am but this is not enough because if you do this you will end up with a feeling that um so i am separate from the entire universe there is a world out there there is a body out there there's a mind out there and i am consciousness you get this feeling but that's not advaita vedanta because it's not oneness at all not only that we get a kind of intuitive feeling that all right i am the witness consciousness in this life in this complex body mind but there's so many such complexes here so many bodies and minds here seems to be so there must be so many consciousnesses there so this this thing has to be erased no there is one consciousness and whatever it seems to be separate from that consciousness is nothing but an appearance in that consciousness not a countable second so the next mantra fourth one says waking dreaming deep sleep that consciousness which makes possible your waking dreaming deep sleep he says in the fourth mantra mahantam this very consciousness is also the atma is the consciousness behind god it is one and the same this is the famous mahabharata you are that you the pure consciousness who are the light in this life in your life you are the light of your own life you are the light of the universe as god you are the one light then starts a whole series of mantras which establishes oneness what kind of oneness very quickly again i will not explain our entire universe of diversity has fundamentally two kinds of uh there's a there's a fundamental division into two things subject and object i and this and um this the the microcosm and the microcosm i the little one and this vast universe and in both the microcosm and macrocosm this diversity has three levels the gross physical level the subtle level and the causal level so for example in ourselves it's easy to appreciate this physical body is the physical level level one within this physical body we have experience of mind and emotions and perceptions and memories subtle that's a subtle level beyond that in deep sleep or in samadhi we still exist as individuals but in a causal state so i the individual i have these three levels physical subtle causal similarly the macrocosm the entire universe has the three levels the physical the entire physical universe with all living beings in it and the subtle all minds all of our minds like linked like a cosmic mental internet and beyond that a cosmic causal level and there are names for these i just tell you the names won't explain you the consciousness in association with the individual subtle a causal level you're called pragya experienced in deep sleep you that consciousness in us association with the individual causal and subtle levels is called taijasa experienced in dream level dream sleep you the individual consciousness associated with the causal individual causal level subtle level and a physical body you are called vishwa which you are experiencing right now all of us each of us individually and at the cosmic level the three are called consciousness associated with uh the causal level is ishwara at the subtle level hiranyagarh cosmic mind and at the physical level this entire universe with consciousness is virat and yet it is one reality at the level of virat and vishwa at the level of hiranya garbha and tajasa at the level of ishvaran pragya underneath it all always exists this one thread of unity it is one reality so even when it appears as a causal cosmic and individual as a subtle cosmic mind and individual mind as a physical cosmic being an individual little being it's still one reality and behind it is one consciousness which you are but that was established the next it warned a warning against not persisting in the stage of ignorance what is the characteristic of the state of ignorance seeing difference seeing change not seeing the underlying oneness there is no harm in seeing the movie the harm is in thinking the movie is reality so this life can continue lifetimes can also continue but if you see that it is one brahman and you are that then you are free if you do not see that yama gives a dire warning from death to death he goes i shall chase him down from lifetime to lifetime and kill this one the ignorant one not once again and again and again not only kill this one the other even more terrible snatch away from this one his or her beloved ones parents fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters and husbands and wives and children and grandchildren how many times can't um you know in contact in union how many times separated and this will go on until you realize your oneness with the universe you realize the one atman realize that you are from so very powerful section um talking about oneness that's the main theme of this section good now rekhaji says as the mind is dupad it seems ignorance is in dupati correct it's an important point the dualists throw this charge at the advaithan look you may say that all right there is no real bondage there's no real world it's all an appearance all bondage is due to ignorance so at least ignorance is there you have to admit it you the self are in ignorance how can you who are brahman you're one with god how can you be in ignorance well the answer is exactly what reikhaji has said here ignorance is not in you it's in the upadhi it's it's in um in the mind ignorance is the mind knowledge will come in the mind and remove the ignorance in the mind showing the ever your ever free nature but this is the paradox of it as long as knowledge does not arise because of that upadhi and the ignorance we think i am in ignorance and then i am a body mind and i have samsara just like the crystal which appears red as you said the redness is in the flower not in the crystal that's what rekhaji is saying correct andrew says 15 seems the most beautiful birth i have heard what was 15 as water pure water rains into a vast pure lake pure water into pure water and so so do you become when you become enlightened great insight shared by swami akanda and himself when jiva atma conditioned by limitation of little individuality tries to merge itself through bhakti with the limitless ishwara it can never fully merge with ishvara's can never be destroyed jiva will continue to exist as a limited being and also each other will continue to exist as eternal other entity for jiva however if the jiva through para bhakti backed by knowledge of advaita vedanta tries to merge ishwara with itself then the limited individuality will get completely destroyed atma will realize its infinitude ananta in complete identity with brahma's group of ishvara that is why swamiji always insists to worship once easter yes as one's own self this is an important point most of us we have got mantra and we have got ishta devata so don't worship the ishta devata as an extern you can to begin with but ultimately as my very own as the most dear as my very self that's how you worship sri ramakrishna said jaijar ishta shaitaarap beautiful very deep point has been raised by so now it does not seem to be so that seems to be bhakti and this seems to be a teaching of advaita bhakti is telling me my ishta devata is krishna or rama or devi and i have to visualize devi and then meditate and have devotion that's one this seems to be quite different and here the upanishad is saying you are a flame without smoke imagine or realize yourself as this awareness pure consciousness witness consciousness how are they the two the same he points it out here they are the same it's the methodology which will lead you to that realization which is beyond language michael bird says i view myself as brahman how do best to engage with intimate relationships those human focal points of brahman seem to view themselves and others as different more and more you view this oneness the more your relationships everything will work out it'll be a very different perspective you will have a different perspective but this is a much more powerful perspective um more and more i more and more view this appearance as uniform reality especially after vedanta lecture it feels as if they see it as all differences based on how they engage with me i ask because i feel it is very intimate these very intimate relationships with people who view themselves and others is different that tends to pull me out of my serene view of oneness it's true whether it's the best place to practice and your view is more powerful because it's true it's grounded in reality and it is most beneficial to you and to others even if others view it as difference more you view it as oneness that all others are one with me you know all ethics is based on that the golden rule of ethics to do unto others what you would expect them to do unto you to behave with others as you expect them to behave with you but why because of oneness ultimately the other is just one with you it's your own self how you will actually deal with people in intimate relationships or in professional relationships in the community wherever that will change from perspective to perspective from situation to situation but this inner attitude can remain the same so whatever the situation however you deal with it it will be much better if it is illumined with this inner attitude the certitude of oneness life classes oh jennifer has pointed out live classes will uh we'll see but we have got one more class on friday after that live classical seas for the summer assignments i am not big on assignments i think it's best to if you like those of you have not gone through the earlier classes if you want a beginner set go to vedantasara if you want the peak of the everest go to the mandu ke upanisha the 69 lectures i think 69 or so lectures are there they are on audio both on youtube archives now and also i think on soundcloud so read the mandu kakarika as much as you can in the summer or go to the basics vedanta which is helpful to understand all of this all are available online and you save water into water that is true and it's a beautiful metaphor but also caution don't think that actually i am water merging with water i am that um limitless body of water a limitless body of existence consciousness place schweiter singh it says isn't pure and quiet mind not the same as awareness um yes and no yes ultimately yes because um suramar krishna is to say pure mind pure intellect and pure consciousness of yourself are the one in the same thing true but that purity what that what does that purity mean it means not only the purity of the vasanas that impure desires are cleansed out that's one purity second level of purity is disturbances are cleansed out so as you said quiet mind so that means already mind is serene third is ignorance is cleansed out so uh mala big shape three levels of impurities are there first is what we normally call impurities a variety of conditioning negative conditioning made by the world in our lifetime that has to be cleansed out by karma yoga helps a lot purified mind second level of impurities restless mind that's also an impurity it has to be calmed like you said quiet mind third level of impurity the deepest level is ignorance itself is an impurity so that has to be cleansed out by knowledge meditation cleanses the restlessness knowledge cleanses the ignorance if this is what you mean by pure mind purified at all these levels then it becomes the same it is the same as one the sanskrit word for mind is chitta chitta put one more third there if you remove the last it becomes chit consciousness so two words chit pure consciousness or atman our real nature mind then what's the difference the only is the superimposition of body mind objects on the consciousness and thinking these are real that ad so that superimposition has to be cancelled by realizing their appearances once you realize that what what was mind now you realize it is none other than pure consciousness that's why the buddhists don't make this distinction between atma and mind they say real nature of mind they call it the real nature of the mind or basic nature of the mind shaker says are not different it seems true at the deepest level bhakti love that um the beginning seems quite different from guyana but deepest level delete they point to the same thing that's why someone like sriram krishna if you've seen the gospel of srinama when he's talking he seems to be moving from an entirely dualistic devotional worship of the divine mother or love of krishna into advaita vedanta in the in the space of one paragraph smoothly moving from dualism to non-how is it possible because it's for him is not moving he's just enjoying he's just dancing around the central uh realization you know expressing it this way sometimes expressing it that way sometimes but he's talking about the same thing actually rick says regarding michael bird's point ramdas said if you think you're enlightened go spend a week with your parents that's good especially people say what's the time when you get together with the parents um memorial day no which one um you you get together with relatives and parents and all thanksgiving yes thanksgiving you should see the number of comments and reactions which come of how annoyed and irritated your parents relatives brothers and sisters can make you because there's somebody said they know where to push the buttons they know and you have all these old conditionings with them they also have it with you so you tend to behave like your past little person with them that's why it's so irritating and annoying sometimes even then doesn't matter it's no big deal [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] you