Video 32

32. Katha Upanishad | Mantra 2.2.1 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] by revealing knowledge may the Lord protect us both by giving us the results of knowledge may we attain Vigor together let what we study be Illuminating maybe not quavail at each other om peace peace peace so we are studying the qatopanishad this is Swami vivekananda's favorite upanishad has two chapters each of three sections so we had completed the first chapter and then we had started the second chapter we had completed the first section the second chapter and before summer and now we are about to start the second section of the second chapter of the Qatar upanishad briefly we now all know the story the little boy nachiketa goes to the house of death and asks death about the mystery uh you know what happens after death the well-known Story the death grants him three Boons and the point here is actually the third Boon the third Boon was the question the most important question the mystery of death what happens to us um when we die is it is it just the complete end as a materialist would have it or do we exist after death as religions of the world tell us but that's actually not the essential question uh it becomes later dedicated shortens his question he being a part of a traditional uh you know Vedic culture he doesn't doubt that people exist after death and the whole the the earlier portion of The Vedas which consists of rituals by which one can go to various Heavens after death so that was a kind of given for people they didn't seriously doubt it at least those who believed in The Vedic religion but what he's asking is much more important he knows that is not the end of the matter because even if we if we still do exist after death it doesn't solve anything it it just means that we'll be born again in Better or Worse circumstances and the whole thing is propelled by our past Karma so this was a common idea all throughout Indian civilization from the very ancient times which we see in The Vedic times where this upanishad comes from down to you know the um ancient Buddhists jains Medieval Times down to see even a sort of medieval religion like Sikhism which comes from India they also believe in the same thing that there are multiple lives and we go through life after life so um what is the is there some Ultimate Reality behind all this what is the point of it all what's our real nature is it that just the body or which dies at the death of the body or is it the the subtle body which goes from Lifetime to Lifetime and which is subject to continuous change thoughts feelings emotions pleasure pain all this keeps coming in our minds that's a subtle body so is it just this or is there some reality behind all of this or is it just a massive change and Yama says that there is something most worthwhile to know so he reveals the mystery of the Atman at the end of this first chapter towards the end of the first chapter um the second chapter continues this theme that that we are actually not the body not the mind we are a pure existence your pure Consciousness and if you were to realize ourselves as this pure existence of pure Consciousness we would actually solve all the major problems of life we would see that we are Beyond deaf we are Beyond suffering and that that's called Enlightenment and that's called freedom from the cycle of birth and death and that would that bring to an end the series of limited existences so this is the teaching the core idea of of vedanta in fact the most of the first chapter was spent first of all in the story of Yama and nachiketa then it was spent in the you know Yama tests nachiketa whether he's fit for this knowledge and that's a long portion and then there are other things like talks about the preliminary practices there is the imagery of The Chariot which is developed at some length you know the body and mind are compared to a chariot going on a spiritual journey and so on it's in the second chapter that we come to core vedanta really so for example in the in this section which we just completed second chapter first section which we completed before summer so Yama talks about he says that we are continuously flowing outwards into this world and that's why we do not realize ourselves as the Atman you know the first Mantra of the second chapter in the first section what it means is our senses and our minds are turned outwards into this word we are engrossed in what we see and hear and smell and taste and touch we are engrossed with things in the world outside we're engrossed with people with our events in the world outside and that's how we spend our lives and we do not see our inner self and the Atman which Yama is teaching here this is it's it's not evident to us at all and then he goes on to say that those who the next month are in fact the second mantra um what's the harm if we remain engrossed in the external world like most people are remaining in this world so what is the harm the harm is that uh such people fall in the extended snares of death he says but death has set out an extended net a network of death so either born and they die and they're born again and this lifetime this cycle of in a birth and death basically a cycle of limitation and suffering it is repeated again and again and again without limit until we learn the lesson until we learn to look inside and realize who we truly are and then what will we realize if we look inside so then there are a number of very powerful mantras which we studied last time so he says this Consciousness what is this Consciousness in the third Mantra he has said second chapter first section third Mantra yeah he says this is this very Consciousness by which you see all forms colors and shapes which you are seeing the experience of seeing an experience of tasting the experience of smelling um rupam Rasam Gundam touch not just that all the other experiences of of thinking of remembering all of these things are they all coming because of this one consciousness so it is one Consciousness shining and we get all the experiences which think of we which we think of as our life what what is happening to you throughout the day throughout the day you have certain perceptions of the world outside you see here smell taste touch and internally you think you remember you desire you enjoy you suffer and you wake you dream you sleep all of this is this one Consciousness it runs through all of them and illumines all of this and ex this gives you these experiences so this is the upper this Consciousness is the upper this pure Consciousness which is there and it in it's basically it enables our entire life notice it is not the body it is not the senses it is not even the mind the thoughts feelings emotions and yet it is not something separate apart from all of this it is that which enables all of these activities to happen it makes our life possible and yet it transcends Body Mind senses so this is the Atman then the fourth Mantra is [Music] introduces waking dreaming deep sleep these are all made possible these are all illumined by one Consciousness and that Consciousness you are it's not limited to the waking world it's not limited to Dream It's not limited to Deep Sleep it makes all of them possible and yet is free it transcends all of these so this imminent transcendent self what's it made of it is being it is consciousness sat chit so this is what we are and this was explained in detail in the uh first section and notice each of these mantras you see how they have been developed in other upanishads just this Mantra which says by which you see here smell taste touch that Consciousness is the Atman but that is the whole theme of the cane open Nation we'll see later on then the next Mantra by which our waking dreaming deep sleep are all illumined why we just get the experience of the three states of waking dreaming deep sleep but we know that's the whole theme of the entire manduki upanishad so just each of these mantras in a seed form it gives us so much this vast um you know wisdom about the self about the Ultimate Reality which has developed in more detail in other upanishads now we come to the second the second section these sections are called Valli second section so chapter is called adhyaya and section is called Bali so second adhyaya and second section and the introduction of the second section in his commentary he says what are we going to do in this section he says we're going to learn about Brahman you said but our reaction would be that's what we have been doing all along anyway are you going to repeat everything he says in a different way we will approach the same thing same truth in a different way why why do you want to do that because it's very subtle very difficult to realize so that's what all the upanishads do all the upanishads do just one thing they are teaching us one truth who you are every our real nature but they're doing it in a hundred different ways so that somehow somewhere something will click and then we if it if one of them clicks is if it if you get it in in any one of these ways in many one of these explanations everything will click you will understand every other upanishad also um so here he's saying in another way because the teaching is so subtle because it's so difficult to realize uh the same teaching about Brahman is now going to be given in another way right now second chapter second section first mantra makeup [Music] so let me read the English translation from Swami gambhirananda's book The Unborn one which Consciousness is unflickering there is a city with 11 gates in which this unborn one of the unflickering Consciousness resides in this city with 11 Gates meditating on him one does not grieve and becoming freed one becomes emancipated this indeed is that this phrase is repeated again and again by Yama remember who's teaching here Yama the Lord of death and who's listening uh the little boy and of course we are all listening through that and Yama repeats this phrase again and again this is indeed that this is indeed that that what what you had asked about your question the third question that uh what is the nature of the self what is this mystery of death so here we are being told uh again the our attention is drawn to ourselves and the body mind the body especially is now described as a city a city with uh 11 Gates you know the body has been described already as a chariot earlier so it's not a chariot it's not a city but this is just a way a paradigm of a model so that we can it helps us to investigate ourselves and look into ourselves think of the body as a city with 11 Gates and in this city resides you the Atman and it is said The Unborn one and the one of unflickering consciousness and anushita to meditate upon that and the result will be you'll go beyond sorrow and you will get Liberation and Liberation again of two kinds so we'll explain all that what does it mean first of all what do you mean a city with 11 Gates um so the body has these entrances these openings apertures so in the in the head the face itself you have the ears and uh the nostrils and the eyes and the and the mouth so that's one two three four five six seven and then there are below the openings of the organs of evacuation and reproduction so that's eight and nine and then there is the uh an evil which is we don't think of it as a gate but when the baby before the baby is born that was actually where you know our food supply came from um so there was this tube which connected us to the uh to the mother and the mother mother's body provided us with nourishment so there was a gate which was open but after birth it is permanently sealed so but it's still a gate it's counted and then there is a mystical gate it's called brahmarandra It's supposed to be here at the top of the head in the crown of the head and it's supposed to function just once for highly spiritual people at the time of death the jivatma that means the Consciousness with the subtle body when the physical body dies the divatma it proceeds upwards and leaves this physical body through that so that that's the basic it's a yogic idea through the brahmarandra and not for everybody it's only for spiritually Advanced people who have practiced meditation who are already established in meditation not for the enlightened remember one thing it's not for the enlightened the enlightened ones do not go anywhere they don't go anywhere they don't come anywhere they they are already one with Brahman they are Brahman they are the reality of this universe they don't go anywhere from this body going and coming is a sign of lack of enlightenment so everybody else who do not we do not know who we are so we are we remain identified with this body and as a subtle body when the physical body dies we are forced to shed our identification with this body we are forced to let go of it we don't want to we clutch hold of it we are scared terrified but we are we have to let go of it um and then then what then where are we what are we then we are Consciousness plus mind a subtle body so the mind the intellect the memory all the impressions of our past lives plus The Prana all together so that sort of goes up into a seed form and it leaves this body so that's what's called the transmigration moving from one lifetime to another from one physical body to another physical body that's what's what might be called the soul the jivatva um but in special cases for a highly evolved spiritual soul will is supposed to proceed through and this you know the central spinal cord the sushum nanadi and go to the brahmarandra there and then exit the body from this at the time of the death of the body and go to higher worlds you know go to dwell with God in heaven and so and so forth but for the enlightened person who has realized that I am Brahman you have realized your true nature you are no longer you're not even at all identified with this physical body or with the subtle body anyway um it's a it's an appearance to you it's like a movie it's like a picture you are not it you are unlimited being existence your unlimited awareness already you always wear you just realize yourself as that so there's no coming and going for you anywhere so that's the um different but anyway we're counting that as one of the gates a special gate of the city opened only on very auspicious special circumstances of a highly spiritual Soul leaving this city so now you have 11 Gates um seven in the head region and uh um two uh below and then one in the navel so that's 10 and 11 here just by the way those who have read the bhagavad-gita you it may strike you that in the fifth chapter there is this uh the model of the body as a city with nine Gates this this day he says the the dweller of the body says in the city fifth chapter 13th bhagavad-gita Krishna says to Arjuna there is a city with nine Gates and in that you dwell as the indwelling self so why nine Gates and so where is this accounting error of two gates are we missing two gates so these two special gates are not counted there's two special gates are the navel which is permanently sealed uh when you're born and the gate at the top the mystical gate which does not open unless one is a highly spiritual soul transmigrating um you know I've told you the story earlier but I can repeat it here this was told to me by who is now the vice president of our order and he served Swami prameshan and the g for many many years so from Swami prameshi was the disciple of the holy mother masharata and regarded as an enlightened being in our order so when he passed and Swami suvitanji said you know I expected to see some kind of extraordinary happening you know he has a vision of maybe SRI ramakrishna or should we hear of all the hairs of the body standing on the end some kind of samadhi experience something but in reality what happened was this is the old Swami who had been old and sick for a long time for many many years so he had to be fed and Swami suhitananda who was a young novice at that time was feeding him with a spoon and you had to sort of schedule him like he would do to a reluctant child and sometimes he wouldn't eat he said he would open your mouth please eat and that day in the morning the doctor had come to examine him and the doctor had said everything is fine today he's feeling good and the doctor left the room and it was time to feed the old Swami and so Swami sweet energy offered this the food in a spoon and he ate one spoon and the next he was not opening his mouth and the Swami was saying please open your mouth please what please eat no response he's sitting like a like a doll you know like a picture got a little nervous and he ran out to call the doctor who had not even crossed the courtyard the doctor came back again and they found he's gone it's gone it's just like a clock which was ticking you know and then stops that's it so anyway that was the end um later Swami suiteanji said I was puzzled by all of this and I went to ask a great vedanta teacher who was in the ashram that was in Banaras the Kashi sevashram in Banaras um who who was written translated the Brahma sutras and commentaries into Bengali I have got the set right here four volumes um it's a massive work it was a great scholar of vedanta so this Swami asked that Swami so this is what happened when premeshanji passed and I'm a little puzzled and then that's Swami became excited and he said what are you saying is this what happened and he said I can show you this is the sign of a Brahma gyani there is no transmigration no movement no coming and going you know he's already free long ago he has realized he's one with Brahman he is one with Brahman always has been there is nothing special from that person's perspective the enlightened one's perspective at the drop of the body are people going up the body so this is the meaning of here the um words have been used if you see if you literally see the translation being liberated becomes liberated having been liberated becomes liberated so what it means is the person was already a jivan mukta the moment and at the drop of the body he is he attains what is called bodyless Liberation so Liberation while living and bodyless Liberation remember the difference is made only by the body and it's of importance only to us it's not of importance to the enlightened one enlightened one knows I am Brahman regardless of whether the body is there or not but from our perspective makes a big difference because that enlightened one is available to us in the body and so we say his enlightened while living so it was a great source of teaching these are the enlightened beings who teach us and then what happens when the body dies the person is not born again unlike the rest of us we go through other existences the person remains as infinite Brahman so not being born again that is called bodyless Liberation that is again from our perspective from the enlightened person's perspective it doesn't not even it's not even a person actually the enlightened one is not even a person enlightened one is Brahman all right now let us look at the Mantra itself in the city of 11 Gates there is a king who is the king you the Consciousness you dwell as the king in this city um says you are The Unborn one why The Unborn one the body is born and the body ages and the body is subject to disease and the body dies you the Consciousness are not born with the birth of the body you do not age with the Aging of the body you are not diseased with the disease of the body and you do not die with the dying of the body so this is called ajaha unborn the body goes through six modifications um you know birth coming to existence then birth misconception then birth and then um there is childhood that is growth and then there is maturation then there is deterioration or aging and then there is destruction of death six-fold changes now Consciousness does not undergo these changes so that's the preliminary meaning of the term unborn but there's a deeper meaning of the term and those who have we have done manduke upanishad you know it's a whole very profound philosophy this Consciousness is not an effect it's not a Cause not an effect means it's not produced by something else body is produced body is subject to six four changes Consciousness is not subject to six four changes it's just the witness of all of them even the Mind thoughts are produced and thoughts float around for a little while and thoughts subside feelings emotions ideas memories they all come float around perceptions they all come float around and disappear they are produced they exist for a while and then they subside back again Consciousness is constant body is a series of physical changes mind is a series of mental changes Consciousness is constant is not one of those changes and Consciousness is not is neither a product but it's not a cause also it's not a producer of anything just like a scream on a movie screen um you have maybe you're seeing a documentary on Africa where lions are chasing deer or something like that and uh um in the movies movie there are the Lions and the deer and the hunting going on but all of it is made possible by the movie screen but it's not that that the movie screen is um is any in any way involved in the story being shown there it's not a line it's not a deer it does not hunt that is neither hunted and yet it makes everything possible without it nothing would be possible exactly like that you are the one Illuminating Consciousness shining in and through every occurrence of your life and yet you're not touched by any of it and you are neither the effect nor the things which are changing and being affected in this world nor are you the cause of it so the the sturia this Consciousness is not God God is the cause of this universe God is the cause of this universe God is cause and universe is effect that's why God in all the theistic religions God is called Creator it's God's producer Creator the source of all things and this is something deeper than that underlying that it appears as God and the products of God it appears as cause and effect Atman Consciousness being it appears as cause and effect but in itself it's neither cause nor effect that's the meaning of The Unborn one all right what's its nature if you ask what is the body we know what it's made of it's made of tissues and organic matter if you ask about mine what is it made of it's made of thoughts feelings emotions but what are they made of they're made of subtle matter as we know in we've studied in vedanta but you this this Atman what is it made up which is neither a cause nor an effect what's it made of what is it actually consciousness means crooked twisting and turning avakra straight what do you mean straight can Consciousness be straight or crooked and turning see what happens is it is one Consciousness shining and then it shines upon the mind the mind has so many kinds of thoughts ideas memories desires and all of them are illumined by this one Consciousness so it's as if one Consciousness bursts into thousands of shimmering little consciousnesses I I saw this just yesterday or day before I was walking in the park and I saw sunlight falling on the lake and there were these ducks swimming there and on the waves it's sparkling the water was sparkling with the sunlight so it's one straight sunlight but it bursts into thousands of sparkling little wavelets on in the lake in the similarly it's one Consciousness which you are when it comes when it shines upon the mind it's as if thousands of thoughts emotions ideas all seem conscious because they borrow Consciousness from you that borrowed Consciousness is called reflected consciousness so this is the first time that straight one Consciousness now appears to be manifold some of those thoughts are nice some are just humdrum some are miserable some are anxious some are full of fear some are full of desire and hankering some are full of anger some are peaceful and spiritual some are creative some are memories Nostalgia some are so in so many ways the same consciousness now shines upon all these thoughts and further as it flows into the senses same Consciousness one pure subject non-objective Light Of Consciousness now becomes seeing which is very different from thinking or feeling it becomes hearing hearing is very different from seeing and thinking and feeling so if you can see you know right now if you open your eyes and you're watching this this is one kind of experience if you sit with closed eyes and just listen it'll be a different kind of experience and yet the one which gives you this experience of seeing the extraordinary experience of seeing color and shape and motion and if you close your eyes and just attend to the hearing the ex more muted experience of various sounds and you know textures of sound both are that same consciousness it is so that means go straight pure unchanging like a white light why I am saying white light is not white light it's not light at all but it's like white light it is a it's a phrase used by aurobindo he says this is a very awesome phrase he says the world drowned in the white glare of an immortal gaze look at the powerful poetry of it the world drowned in the white glare of an immortal Gates what is the immortal Gates Consciousness straight another meaning shankaracharya says unflickering it is the what it is a it's like a glare if you look at somebody straight without blinking it's like it's called glaring with big eyes if you look imagine a vast eye a cosmic eye which is shining upon the entire universe the universe is drowned in the white glare of an immortal gaze this unflickering light of consciousness the steady glare of consciousness what does it have to do with me that is that's you right now yeah I don't see myself as unflickering gaze and you are experiencing that unflickering gaze all the time that's why you can see and hear and smell and taste and touch that's why you can think and listen to all this that's why you can think and understand all this that's why you can enjoy and suffer also all of it is possible because of this this unflickering glare of Consciousness which you are it's not that you have this kind of unprecurring Consciousness you are this unflickering Consciousness it seems to flicker because of the movement of the mind it seems to flicker because of our eyes and ears and nose and skin you know the various modalities of sensation it seems to be differing but it's all one I was thinking moonlight now if one does not did not know how it works if somebody is told that Moonlight is nothing but sunlight so you would think that so sunlight is you know it increases and decreases we clearly see it sometimes there's more of it sometimes there's less of it no it is the moon which goes through phases so you have more Moonlight less Moonlight that's correct but the sunlight which it which is it is originally is unflickering light not increasing not decreasing and as an example an example for consciousness good what do I do then means practicing but shankaracharya gives the meaning meditating upon it meditating upon this teaching and he gives further instruction there he says in his commentary he says um [Music] first of all collect clear teaching clear understanding clarity about what is being said here we are not talking about the world we're talking about the body we are not talking about the sensory system we're not talking about the mind we're not even talking about waking dreaming deep sleep we are using all of this world body senses mind baking dreaming sleeping now all of these to point to that one consciousness note it you don't have to become it you don't have to sit there so don't take it literally don't sit there glaring at everybody what are you doing I'm meditating the Swami told me to glare without blinking no you are that one unflickering Consciousness know that and um and dwell on that and stay with that that I am that and do it to me that unflickering Consciousness that straight Consciousness uh appears mind and then I burst upon the mind or I shine through the mind and appear to be various various thoughts and various emotions various uh happy and miserable and hopeless and hopeful and so many things anxious and brave all of that with one unflickering Consciousness now mind becomes scattered and then further you know the modalities of seeing and hearing and smelling and tasting so that is meditation that is the knowledge first of all samyak vigyanam means this is the knowledge this Clarity listen to the upanishadic teachings listen to cut open Nature listen to the bhagavad-gita listen think about it get clarity then he says meditate upon it and shankarachary adds here literally it would it would mean what it implies is becoming a monk that's the very definition of so shankaracharya never misses an opportunity to tell you you should become a monk a service means there's a deep technical meaning for that this desire for this world and desire for the next World all kinds of worldly this worldly and other worldly desires giving all it all up why why would you do that to become enlightened to become to realize who I am giving up all desires so that's the internal monasticism that everybody all of us have to do and external monasticism would mean actually taking the vows so the vows in monasticism basically consist in giving up these These are called Asiana desires powerful instigators which Propel us into samsara step back from them Swami Vivek on those powerful words thine only is the hand that holds the rope that drags thee on what is this holding on to the Rope the three asianas I'm not going to go to the details of that being free of their desires internally all of us externally if you are going to be formally among some I'm reading from shankaracharya's commentary now I'm not reading from the original mantra see this one Consciousness equally present everywhere in every entity just like the screen is equally present in every entity in the movie whoever is in the movie The Hero the villain the sky the Earth the dog the grass the water all of it behind all of it is one movie screen the same screen similarly behind all of this in and through all our experiences in all beings this one unborn Consciousness Beyond cause and effect unchanging unflickering Consciousness is present you are present in all beings knowing this what happens meditating that's what happens does not grieve goes beyond sorrow this is the promise of vedanta why do all this you do all this to go beyond sorrow why go beyond sorrow well that's what you want to do in life all that we have been doing in life and lifetime after lifetime is an effort to transcend sorrow to attain fulfillment that's what we are trying to do and that's what you will attend attain when you realize yourself as this one Limitless consciousness which we are already does not grieve at death at disease at um so one's own even others so deep inside we will know that even when others are dead or they are suffering in reality it's one Consciousness so it is at that level it's all right of course at the surface level at the level of samsara body mind we will try to help everybody we must um but inside we know the truth that ultimately it's the whole universe is one with God and it does not perish at that level at the deepest most fundamental level at the level of the body there's no doubt there is aging and there is disease and there is death the level of the mind there is sorrow there is coming and going but once you realize who you are at least at the level of the mind a lot of the pain the sorrow is assuaged it it goes away that's what is meant by going Beyond sort of going Beyond suffering at the deepest level at the most existential level it's not every other solution is a Band-Aid it works at some physical level at some emotional level but it is no solution at all the problem still festers the wounds still remain deep and the real healing comes with Enlightenment with with knowing that you are forever one with if in devotional language forever one with God or in philosophical language you are Brahman you are the infinite does not sorrow does not grieve goes beyond sorrow remember practically both are possible that one might at the at a surface level appear to be affected but if you probe if you're an ordinary person will say I'm really suffering the enlightened person will say well actually not really I'm not really suffering although syrama Krishna for example he demonstrates that so well is beloved nephew Akshay dies in front of him a young boy of some disease is dying and when he's dying um SRI Rama Krishna is just standing there in a kind of ecstatic mood and smiling and people will be thought that how cruel and sudama Krishna said why should I weep I know that he's not dead I can see it clearly the body lies he says like a sword being unsheathed from its Scabbard I clearly saw the jivatma the individual being sentient B leaving the body I don't know if he left through the 11th gate but anyway leaving the body like a sword being unsheet from the Scabbard so he's there it's a body which is gone so this is I was smiling and yet you know because he is Avatar he shows both the human side and the Divine side that's why he's a bridge between humanity and divinity afterwards he weeps bitterly because he says I know that his the Atman is not dead but also it's equally true I will never see that one again in that form that most beloved form you know that child that beloved father mother that beloved person whom we loved and is dead now I know even if the soul is Immortal that one will never come back and that's gone forever so that's true and at the level of samsara it is all change and all transients and so he says I weep for that he says it's like I felt so much sorrow in my heart this is like a like a a towel being runged you know in India they have something called gamcha it's a thin towel so people used after bathing to wipe their bodies and then you ring out the water and so like wringing it out so that's if somebody was ringing out my heart there's so much pain in my heart when I thought about this beloved person whom I'll never see again so both are there at the deepest level I'm absolutely clear this Brahman alone is real and the world is an appearance and it's all right at the samsara level yes change is there then what happens being um means freed while living after realizing this you are called jivan mukta that is freed while living in this body itself in this life itself you are still there you're still living talking with people around you yet you're liberated you are not bound in body mind like everybody else everybody else thinks I am body mind I am this one and nothing else but here you know you are all um we have this Limitless consciousness so this is called jivan mukta and um I'm not I won't go into the details of that from some other time then he adds being liberated is liberated what is the second Liberation is The Liberation when the body dies at one time the body of the enlightened person also will die and then what happens to the enlightened person where does he or she go does not go anywhere so not even through the 11th gate so the enlightened person already knows that that he is one with Brahman an infinite existence Consciousness place the individual so what happens to the physical body goes back to the natural elements what happens to the subtle body mind and intellect and The Prana what happens to it for others it curls up into a seed form and moves from Lifetime to Lifetime runs from this body to another local to another world from there to another birth it moves it travels but what happens to this subtle body of the enlightened one so that also goes back to Nature so this is a big difference between the enlightened one and the unenlightened for the unenlightened the physical body dies and goes back into nature is burnt or cremated or whatever it melts back into nature but the subtle body continues whereas for the enlightened one the physical body and the subtle body Go Back To Nature itself this is a very beautiful Mantra and the Munda cup initial which I hope we will do at some time the the physical body and the subtle body with its constituents they go back to their resources in nature and you remain as pure Consciousness that is only for the enlightened one um so what a powerful what a powerful powerful Mantra and and Yama Ends by saying either way that this is what you had asked for this was your question here is the answer in the next Mantra I just started but I won't do it today there's no time we'll see the questions now notice in this Mantra what has he pointed out the classic advaithic book first of all who am I I'm not the body not the mind I'm existence Consciousness I am of the nature of Shiva I am pure Consciousness The Next Step will be this pure Consciousness is one in all beings it's not that every in every body and every mind there is a separate pure Consciousness first of all isolate the pure Consciousness see yourself as pure Consciousness and then realize this pure conscious this is the one reality of the entire universe not that there are separate you know like every body in the body there are organs you have a heart a liver a kidney you have a mind memory and these are all different in each body they're all different in that way don't think that there is separate Atma separate pure Consciousness in each body no it is one Consciousness in which all these bodies and minds and worlds are appearing so the the Oneness of all existence will now be established in the next one it's a powerful a very poetic Mantra I'll read it give you the translation and then we'll stop I will not explain it today second mantra was [Music] what does this mean you find it mystifying when I read it out as the moving sun he dwells in the heaven as air he pervades all and dwells into the interspace as fire he resides on the earth as the Soma he stays in a jar he lives among men he lives among Gods he dwells in truth he dwells in space he is born in water he is born in the earth he's born in the sacrifice he is born in the mountains he is unchanging and he is great okay what was this said here it's an ecstatic outpouring in this Brahman the reality of the entire universe he is ex is pointed out using three examples the Sun the air and the fire it's like in the cosmos around you The Vedic Sage finds the same reality who I am I find this everywhere so he says look there Brahman is traveling see that's the Sun in the sky no that's Brahman traveling through the sky in the sky he exists as the sun and in the space all around us he exists as this Mighty atmosphere as the wind which blows everywhere that's wind no that's Brahman and the fire which burns imagine the ancient Vedic people they had all these fire sacrifices the the Homer so the fire which burns here on the earth and there is Brahman and the same Brahman look in the waters in the waters Brahman is born as the fish shall as the uh the aquatic plants as the shrimp has aquatic insects and there's the whales and the Brown look at the look at the the sacrificial fire where Brahman exists as all the ingredients of the sacrifice the Brahman is there in the mountains as the the plants and you know what rivers River actually the rivers which are born from the mountains born from the mountains but these are names also in in Indian names the many Indian atrija would be the name of a woman in India in Hinduism so born from the mountains the river which flows down from the Himalayas so like this and the same thing is in your heart as pure Consciousness which we just discussed but the same thing is is within all the gods in the heavens also in an ecstatic way the you can see the sage of the upanishads pointing out to you this reality which you found yourself this unchanging unflickering white glare of the immortal gaze yes what about it it's there in the sky as the sun how can it be is there Consciousness in the sun don't bother Sun exists right it is there that easiness itself is Brahman it's like I'm showing you a piece of gold and then I take it away where did it go where it is in the necklace in that which the person is wearing there it is now in the bracelet in the which the person is wearing there it is now in the ring which the third person is wearing same gold but there it's called a necklace and it's on the neck of a person there is called a bracelet it's under the wrist of a person there it's called a ring it's on the finger of a person the names are different the forms are different um the how you use them where you wear them these ornaments are different from each other and yet it's the same gold which I showed you exactly like that is Brahman is being pointed out throughout the cosmos I must share with you that I once had this experience in the Himalayas this was a very beautiful place called harshil about 9000 feet high in the Himalayas once after having begged for my food I was walking in the mountains extraordinary beauty there it's one of the most beautiful places I've seen in the Himalayas not that I've seen too much but this was very nice it's between Three Rivers flowing and it's like a triangle of land and surrounded by towering mountains glaciers running down and so the whole thing so when I was walking um they were in a distance I saw a shepherd with this flock of sheep and towering mountains with the glaciers and rivers running down and they were plants all around and um and the Sun in the sky and the wind you know it moves very sort of erratically in The Valleys between the mount towering mountains suddenly I thought here's the sky here here is the wind moving through these valleys there smoke rises from the fire here are the animals born from the earth you know so here is Brahman in the sky in the mountains I I actually recited this verse this Mantra she said I felt the enlightened one must have seen something like this and just burst out seeing whatever around here here here here it is clearly why do you not see it so philosophically what has been done is in the first Mantra it was pointed out as your inner self you are that now in the next Mantra it is being shown as Brahman the reality of the entire universe not just you and it is the same thing Atman ismi that has been established when you put these two mantras together all right let's see the but I'll explain it again next time the second month which local are we on so yeah that is second chapter second section first one so these are mantras right the difference between shlokas and mantras is sloka is a verse Mantra is also a verse but it is it especially refers to these sacred texts verses which are found in The Vedas and the upanishads so they are called mantras so they are sacred may or may not be so in the Gita we have 700 slokas but these will be called mantras because they're part of the upanishad of The Vedas so the question should be which Mantra are we on how do we explain swamiji's leaving the body um it's the same thing he knows he's Brahman or you could explain it in another way he knows he's Brahman and yet he chooses to maintain his individuality as one of the saptarshis so he holds on to that Jai Shri says can a householder attain jivan mukti of course certainly in vedanta there is no such distinction many of the teachers in fact um Yama the teacher here is householder and nachiketa is going to be a householder if he attains Enlightenment he's in he's a householder and rishis of the upanishads and most of them were householders and Krishna and Arjuna and the bhagavad-gita are householders alpana says why is an enlightened being so compassionate when no one is really bound or softly true no one is bound or suffering and yet and yet at a certain level people are bound and are suffering and that's the most obvious Truth for all of us so when an enlightened person realizes I am Brahman and and then sees all of us and we do not realize this that's our truth we do not realize it an enlightened one sees it at our level and tries to help us at our level but you are right there could be an even deeper level where the enlightened one does not see any need to help us very interesting description he was the president of our order in Beloved disciple of srirama Krishna he's the head of the entire monastic order this is in the 1920s sometime is sitting there and people are coming to bow down to him monks and householder devotees um in our main Monastery in Calcutta belurumat he starts bowing down to everybody and people are discompeted by it says Swami please don't do that we feel so embarrassed we are here we are buying down to you don't but why are you boiling down to us to enable to all the just the ordinary people who are coming he said what can I do when they come I can't see them I see the Divine form of their ishta devatha so each person has a particular spiritual attitude in life you know you you try to attain God in that particular way and the Swami is seeing each person not as the person as we appear to each other but as a form of God as a God or a goddess in the form of as a Divine form and he says I have to bow down to them so then the Divine form disappears and the human form emerges then only I can talk to them and teach them otherwise I cannot but yes normally the enlightened one sees our suffering and our unenlightened state thank God told us don't worry you're not suffering you are Brahman I can quite clearly see that so go away there's nothing to be done then it won't be of much use to us we need these teachings nivedita says to understand why anything exists at all someone said that Consciousness has within it infinite past possibilities and we exist so that this Consciousness can experience all of its interesting possibilities this can explain why to no two manifestations are the same yes that is one good explanation in fact upanishads support itemism supports it and says that Consciousness alone I am one I shall project myself as many it is the infinite nature of that reality which seeks to continuously without any limit keep on expressing itself so this expression is what we are but luckily we are Brahman we are grounded in that infinite nature so we are safe if we were only projected by that infinite nature into a little human form I am only this little human being born and such and such date waited to age and suffer and die then it would be pretty miserable it might be great that the infinite being is enjoying itself and seeing all its manifest manifestations no um that is not much relief for me but it is a relief for me for you for everybody because you are that infinite being right now so and when we realize that we will see it is all right that we are safe and uh and then our lives will truly be free we'll be joyous for the first time effortlessly ethical knowledge meant for everybody you know we'll be we'll also be in a position to really help everybody good so let me wrap it up today [Music] um [Music]