Video 33

33. Katha Upanishad | Mantras 2.2.2 - 4 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

oh it's almost may the Lord protect us both the teacher and the thought together 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 Kevin at each other form peace peace peace second Mantra of the second chapter in the second section chapter 2 section 2 mantra 2. that's where we were last time I read that out last time and I explained it a little bit but I'll explain a little more today um as the moving sun he dwells in heaven as air he pervades all and enters in the interspace as fire he resides on the earth as Soma he stays in a jar he lives among men he lives among the gods he dwells in truth he dwells in space he's born in water he takes birth from the earth he's born in the sacrifice he emerges from the mountains is unchanging and he is great so what's going on here here our the reality of our inner self is revealed as the reality of the entire universe Atman and Brahman are shown to be one and the same um quickly recapitulating which have um mentioned many times in all vedanta most vedanta classes the process of vedanta first is to look in words and to find out who am I to investigate ourselves and when I say investigate ourselves it does not mean a physical investigation of the body it does not mean a psychological investigation of our thoughts remember the first one the body you leave it to the physiologist to the doctor that's the what's going on in the mind and the meaning of the contents of the mind or the contents of our dreams we will leave it to the psychotherapist what it means is a look into our experience and notice that one constant um fact of our experience is all experience is made possible by the fact that we are consciousness there is consciousness awareness that's what makes experience possible all experience you cannot have experience without Consciousness and when we notice in my experience Everything Changes except the fact that I am aware and this awareness is again we realized it's not just a kind of ordinary mental awareness which we are when we use the word awareness or Consciousness that's what we mean and that's what we unthinkingly applied to is seeing hearing sparing tasting touching uh thinking remembering Desiring hating this is what we consider to be awareness but awareness in itself minus its contents it's a it's a very subtle um concept but it's always there and that's what makes possible our experience our first person experience that's what makes possible life itself and this has to be first understood that the distinction between awareness and its contents and vedanta calls this Atma anatma viveka the discernment of the self from the not self and here it's implicitly what is pointed out is this awareness you should not say my awareness not in the same sense as my liver or my heart it is you the awareness that is the crucial understanding to come to um it's not even awareness in the sense of my thoughts my memories no it is you the awareness in which the mind and the body are experienced through which the mind and body are experienced because of which mind and body appear to be conscious so I am awareness this shift from I am a body with Consciousness or awareness to I am Consciousness or awareness I'm using the words indistinguishably and the Sanskrit word is chit or chaitany or both many words I am pure awareness with a mind and a body so this shift is essential now this is not advaita this is sankya but then why do we do this why do we give so much importance to this because without this advice is not possible non-duality Oneness of all existence not possible without this step this step is vital otherwise what will happen you know is that we ordinarily will continue to think of ourselves as bodies and even thinkers who think a lot about this scientists um many philosophers um they will tell us that oh awareness you're giving too much importance to awareness or Consciousness because actually it's body which is important and from body Consciousness emerges you know so through brain activity or whatever so Consciousness is secondary you are not literally Consciousness you are deeper than Consciousness is body you are the body because without body there will be no consciousness at all so you don't exist without the body and therefore when the consequences when the body dies we are all gone this is a materialist reductionist position you have to shake this first this is sort of instinctive within us unthinkingly they assume this position that I am body and after thinking also so many scientists so many philosophers will adopt this position that we are basically body your awareness is very interesting but it's basically a product of the body this has to be broken this has to be shifted and we come to a clear away uh understanding that awareness is fundamental Consciousness is fundamental that's why I think so much of the new interest in Consciousness studies especially of the work of David Chalmers who shows that awareness Consciousness cannot be so easily reduced to brain and nervous you know the activities of the nervous system so I am Consciousness first of all distinction between Consciousness and its objects what is it called discernment of self and not self consciousness is self consciousness is you and you are consciousness this shift takes place I am consciousness then the next thing will be it is one Consciousness in all beings not one body they're the level of the body you can't have Oneness the level of the mind you can't have Oneness the level of the body you can't have immortality and the level of the mind you can't have um you know unchanging peace a fulfillment it's at the level of awareness now I am awareness and this is one awareness in all bodies in all all bodies and Minds is a big big shift awareness is one and constant in all bodies and Minds and then finally the third one where you get non-duality is that all the world and the bodies and minds they are nothing but awareness see what we had distinguished earlier awaren Consciousness and its content self and not self first you shift it out self and not self and you are Consciousness the self and distinguished from body mind then finally when you realize your one Consciousness in all beings and then all those bodies all those Minds all that world and universe is an appearance in Consciousness um and nothing but Consciousness pervaded through and through by Consciousness and nothing but Consciousness so nothing but Consciousness appearing as an other to Consciousness appearing as different from Consciousness this is non-duality no second non-duality okay advaitam so this is uh this final stage is now going to be talked about in the first Mantra what did he say this is Yama teaching nachiketa he said in the first Mantra that in the city city with 11 Gates there is something in that pervading it and separate from it Consciousness alone which you are you are not the 11 gated series City not even the mind which is there but distinct from the mind and body your Consciousness itself now this Consciousness is the Ultimate Reality nothing in this universe is different from this Consciousness none of these other beings with whom we are surrounded they are different from you they they are you as Consciousness and their bodies and minds are also they appear to be different group Consciousness but they are nothing other than the manifestations of Consciousness the appearances of Consciousness and again this may sound crazy unbelievable but it's not not so difficult to understand after all just consider your dreams just consider our dreams what happens in a dream in a dream you fall asleep you forget this body and in a whole dream world a virtual world is created instantly by your dreaming mind and the mind creates a world with its own time and space and people and activities and in that you have a body that's also produced by the dreaming mind the my body in the mind in the mind in the dream remember that's quite different from the um waking State body which is after after all on the bed and sleeping and dreaming so the dreaming mind produces a world what is that word is it does it exist outside the dreaming mind not the top um the time in that world the space in that world the people in that world the objects in that world the activities in that world and most amazingly you yourself in that world you have dreamed it up and now you have entered it as one person in the dream world I am here okay and I'm surrounded by people and activities good and bad so we do it every night we do it a whole world which is nothing other than your own mind now remember very clearly very important I am not saying that and vedant is not saying that this is the product of your mind if you say that that is what is called subjective idealism Berkeley and idealism or Buddhist a mind producing its own world no what advaita vedanta is saying Consciousness not mind in Consciousness the absolute Consciousness or pure Consciousness appears the world and its people and bodies and yes even minds they all appear in that that consciousness okay so having done this so this is what is going to be said now the the specialty or the difficult part of this Mantra is Mantra number two it uses a rather technical language or rather archaic language this is Vedic language Sanskrit but it doesn't mean the things it would normally mean these are words which have special meanings in ancient Vedic times so that we have to see it's actually poetry I think it's just an ecstatic Outburst of a Rishi who looks around the world and sees his sees it permeated by one Divinity which is his own self now we'll quickly take a look at the words and what they actually mean so Hamsa it moves through the skies as The Shining Sun what moves if the Sun is moving but it is Brahman it's the Atman itself as Brahman it it appears as the Sun bright Sun moving through the sky that's poetry are you just taking the Sun and calling it Brahman yeah in this Mantra Sun Wind Fire these are all used to point out Brahman everywhere pervading everything now again a subtle Point important Point here if it is misunderstood one possible misunderstanding is isn't this pantheism that means it's a fancy word the problem is like saying everything is God so isn't that what you say everything is God the problem with saying that is you're just taking the universe here's the universe and giving it a new name God Brahman Atman what good is that here is the world here are people suffering here is a material world tying space mattered energy now you just call it God so what what good did it do whatever what great thing have you achieved by this this is not what is meant by advice this is not taking the world as such and call it calling it God no it is Brahman existence Consciousness Bliss appearing as the universe it is Brahman existence Consciousness Place appearing as the blazing sun in the sky that is what is meant not the ball of hydrogen burning in the you know fusion reaction uh far away from Earth not in that sense whatever you are seeing as the sun how do you make sense of it again not difficult notice that the sun exists nobody doubts it and according to advaita vedanta existence itself is broken it's like saying notice that the golden ornament the golden bracelet is gold yeah you will find gold in that in that ornament it's basically nothing but gold the same way when you say sun is existence itself with a name and the properties and um the the activities or the function of the Sun but it's bail its basically existence itself sat so that's what it's meant as the sun there's a blazing sun it moves through the skies and from outer space we come down to the space between us and the heavens the interspace and there it moves Brahman moves where is Brahman I don't see it you feel the Cool Breeze so it it has now appeared existence itself appearing as Breeze and um you know with that name and Form and Function then filling the interspace with air Hotel away as fire on the Earth this doesn't do justice to the words the words are actually archaic and Technical would normally mean a priest and vedhi would mean the sacrificial auditor so you have to remember The Vedic Vedic civilizational context where there is a sacrificial Altar and a fire is lit and ritualistically offerings are given to that fire now that fire is called hota here and the altar is is the is the way are here and so the alternate is said Earth really means Earth so the fire on the earth there is Brahman it's not actually fire it's the name and Form and Function is fire but the reality of it is this is a funny one it has two meanings one meaning is Soma juice which was an important ingredient uh part of Vedic rituals Soma juice and today we are not very sure exactly what Soma juice was a lot of recent papers about it so what is this Soma juice uh this Soma juice which is used which is extracted from plants and was kept in jars for offering during The Vedic sacrifice but here the meaning is it is that so much juice you see in the in the middle of The Vedic sacrifice sitting in the jar that is Brahman it's one meaning of this word another meaning is it is the guest as it literally means guest and durona means the home so appears as the adult guest in the home who is that it's not a guest in the home it is Brahman Brahman is appearing as the guest in your home then Richard it is in all human beings how just as you saw little while ago 11 gated City in the in the middle of that shines Consciousness so as Consciousness in all beings on all human beings it is there in all of the Gods The Vedic gods were worshiped by these rituals in all the gods Brahman exists so notice here Brahman is one without a second and is not to be confused with the lower deities the small the small G gods means literally the worshiped ones the adorable ones it exists in all the Gods uh we almost said it exists in the sky how does it exist in the sky has the very existence of the sky then it is born in the waters in the oceans as fish and mollusks and some translating literally from shankara's commentary mollusks and snails and fish and whales and so on goja it is born in the earth uh it is born in the earth as barley and wheat and rice and so on what is born Brahman is Brahman then ritaja it is there here Rita means the The Vedic sacrifice as all the ingredients to be used in a Benedict sacrifice all the accessories the materials the um the implements used for offering the you know the offerings into the fire all of that it's Brahman this is of course this one word you will see expanded in the Gita we chanted before eating but that's a paradigm of a Vedic sacrifice and all the ingredients of The Vedic sacrifice all the components what are the components of a Vedic sacrifice the fire itself the offering itself which might be ghee the clarified butter the one who offers the priest the instrument the ladle with which offering is made these are the components of The Vedic sacrifice and the chanting yes these are components of The Vedic sacrifice really says all of that is Brahman and then adrija it is born in the mountains what's born in the mountains the the uh Rivers the rivers are born from the mountains the ganga runs from gangotri yamuna runs from yamunotri and so on to the rivers which are born in the mountains so what about them they are not Rivers born in the mountains they're Brahman Brahman is born as rivers in the mountains this is the exact translation written the truth the unshakable truth what unshakable truth that one existence Consciousness Bliss which you find upon investigation as the one shining Consciousness in your own heart that is bright that is vast not limited in your own heart it is the vast you know in which the entire universe appears so once again that which raises blazing through the skies as the sun is Brahman that which blows through the the skies as the atmosphere as the winds is Brahman that ways which which is uh blazing on the earth as fire is Brahman and um Brahman itself appears as the adult guest in your house Brahman shines as the Consciousness in your in the hearts of all humans and Roman shines as a Consciousness in the hearts of all the deities God all the gods small G gods um Brahman shines as the very Sky itself space itself Brahman is born in in the oceans as the fish and the ocean dwellers uh Brahman is born on the Earth as wheat and barley and rice and all the plants and all Brahman is is all that you see the paraphernalia of a great Vedic sacrifice Brahman is born in the mountains as the rivers and it is the one unshakable Limitless truth this is the meaning I said wow it's amazing well that's you you are amazing that's then that's what shankara that's what Yama wants to say then number three pointing it out back to pointing out the Atman of Brahman within ourselves number three [Music] [Music] all the deities worship that adorable one sitting in the middle who pushes The Prana upwards and impels the upon and inwards all right it draws our attention to breathing and while breathing breathing is the very tip of what is called Prana all the physiological activities in the body so breathing is Prana first of all reading in breathing out this is Prada and then all the physiological activities in the body such as not only breathing the oxygeneration of the blood the action of the lungs but also digestion of food all the physiological activities going on in the body that is Prana because of problem and in a faster scale all power and energy in this universe is Prada when we say pranayama so control of Prana we take just the tip of the iceberg that is the one which is available for immediate voluntary observation and control what is that breathing in and breathing out and also holding the breath there we have some voluntary control of The Prana and the idea there is why why would that help see Prana controls everything that's going on and in order to get control of this Prana you must first pick up the one which is available to you right now that's why Vivekananda gives the um this story of the uh I think the prisoner in the tower who escaped because I think it was a princess in a tower and a prince or the minister helped her to escape first how did what did you do they sent up a little a little um bee a honeybee and you put a drop of Honey on its antenna and put it at the bottom of the Tower and die that tiny delicate silk string to it and as the honeybee climbed following the smell of the honey on its antenna it climbed the tower and pulled up the a thin strand a silken strand with with itself and when it reached the window at the top of the tower where the princess or whoever the prisoner was was imprisoned so she took the uh be uh and untied the the thin lace the silken thread and she pulled up that little silken shirt to it was tied a bigger string which the B couldn't have pulled up and then the string was tied to a rope and that was tried to a much thicker rope which she and you know tied to the window and was able to scale down the tower and Escape now the idea being all these great energies are there in this body and mind directly we can't control it but as you get control of the breath you can control those and by controlling those the body and mind come under your control and the whole purpose is not to control these energies but to still them so that you can meditate anyway for our purpose what he says here is that uh Prana this movement of Prana in the body he's using it to indicate uh give you a practice for finding out Atman or Brahman now two of the functions of Prana are inhalation and exhalation so inhalation this is called apana and exhalation it's called prahana so inhalation upon an exhalation problem so that which pushes the air out of the lungs and through the nose into the atmosphere outside and that which draws in air from the atmosphere outside through the nose and into the lungs this is these are the two activities of Prana and apana now what has he said here that which proposes The Prana upwards that means exhalation this brown is pushed upwards and out of the nose and that which draws the upana inwards now this has been converted and in the middle of that he says in the middle of that sits the duar vamanam but literally it means the adorable deity which sits in the heart now this idea has been converted into a meditation in kashmiri shaivism it's the very famous soham or hamsa meditation so you are supposed to visualize and and repeat to yourself as you draw the breath in hum and as you exhale exhale now you have to visualize the breath going in from the nose through the windpipe down to the lungs this is hum and it should come here there's like 12 10 and 2 more fingertips like this ten and two more so at the middle of the chest here so visualize a movement by tracking the air going through the nose down to the windpipe into somewhere around here here so 12 is called dwadasha it's a term from kashmiri shaibism I'm telling your meditation found in the vigyan OR bhairava and then when you exhale imagine the air coming out the movement coming from that point upwards and coming out here up to the air flowing out up to a point 12 finger breaths from here ten and two more up to somewhere here outside and then this inside and this outside these are visualized as Shiva and Shakti that's in their kashmiri shahib is the model I'm not going to the details of that uh meditation the details I taught Once In The Garrison Retreat it's uh it's in a YouTube video meditation so that was the hamsa meditation but that hamster meditation it's found in the text called vigyanabhairava which talks about 112 different meditations all made men to just help you to locate yourself as Atma as consciousness now this particular meditation is actually drawn from Vedic sources from upanishadic sources and here is the upanishadic source the point here is it is just a way of finding out the Atman that you are the Atman and it literally does not mean the Atman is only here 12 uh fingered breadths in the middle of the chest that's just a way of focusing what does it mean in the middle it means in your heart what does it mean in your heart it is medical heart in that is it like a heart condition no it means in your mind what does it mean in your mind it means consciousness translation is very clear about these again and again when it says heart he says in the cave of the Mind in the cave of the intellect as awareness right now you're aware awareness is there everywhere but you can't easily find out if you say show me awareness in this table I can't show me awareness in my elbow I can't but show me awareness in thoughts and feelings and emotions I can't show you but you can locate it yourself so that is the the det in the middle of the uh body here vamanam the adorable one there's a saying if you see the the dwarf the adorable one in The Chariot then you will not you will you won't have you won't go through the cycle of birth and death you will not be born again that means you will attain Moksha I'll repeat that this same the adorable dwarf or the deity having seen repeated births will not be will not come to pass what does that mean so what is the Chariot body what is the woman in the body you but not you the person you're the pure Consciousness that's why it's dangerous to say you and we will say oh me I me myself I know myself no you don't that's why so much if you have to undergo so much trouble so the real me which is awareness itself not body not mind in this body mind what is the Chariot the body and the mind in the body mind is this adorable deed seeing that what does it mean seeing seeing means you can't see it with your eyes you can't even think about it with your mind but you are the one who sees through the eyes and who thinks realizing that one I am that what's the result of that you will not be subjected to The Limited body this birth and death that means you will not be subjected to a life of suffering as bodies which are born and dying as Minds which undergo this repeatedly no you remain as Limitless awareness and then he adds vishwarya Deva opacity and this adorable deity is continuously worshiped by all the other gods all the gods worship it what does it mean all the gods worship it who is this adorable deity you Consciousness but who are the gods worshiping you I don't see any Gods around worshiping me I am supposed to worship the gods where are the gods worshiping me well what is meant here is you the Consciousness you're being continuously worshiped by all the deities which are the deities so in vedanta or in sankya also vedanta basically the The Vedic deities are identified with the functionings of the sense organs so Consciousness is being continuously worshiped by its minions what are the minions visual capacity the auditory capacity taste and smell and touch so all these senses the sensory Powers they are continuously offering you know giving offerings sacrifices unto the deity in The Chariot in the middle of this body the vamana who is that to you what are the offerings oh I've been given gifts continuously yes but where are the gifts the gifts are when you see form continuously being poured at your feet your Consciousness enjoy Farm This Is My Worship says the eyes you o Consciousness enjoy sound This Is My Worship says the ears the deity and the charge of the years you Consciousness enjoy taste and flavor enjoy fragrance enjoy touch hard and soft warm and cold all of these is worship of Consciousness going on in this body mind system what a beautiful way of you know visualizing this scientific very psychological very logical and poetic at the same time lyrical and poetic let me repeat which pushes the air out through the function of Prana it is the very presence of Consciousness in the body that's why this is happening that which upon them air flows into your nose and your body mind better through the uh to the lungs why does this happen the cross in the middle sits this consciousness middle you can visualize it in the middle that's how we practice meditation the deity is visualized in the heart but precisely what does it mean a phenomenological you can feel it here but logically what it means it is consciousness in the middle of the Mind in the middle of your your very mental existence mental by mental I mean intellectual mental emotional all of that perceptual and you are doing this Consciousness this deity this vamana in the middle is being continuously worshiped by all the powers in the body and in the mind then he talks about death what happens at death is [Music] when this dweller in the body becomes detached when he is freed from this party what else remains here in this body this indeed is that so he connects it with death because the whole question started with you know what happens after death or at death and Yama the teacher is the Lord of death so what happens at death for this we need to take a step back and remember our basic um sunken psychology or cosmology What hap what is going on here is Consciousness Atman Brahman we saw it is one reality and we saw it is the Sun in the sky is the wind in the air you know in the inner spaces interspaces it is the fire on the earth it is the humans and in the Gods in the mountains and rivers so it is one Consciousness everywhere one existence everywhere if it's difficult to conceive of one Consciousness everywhere because we don't see it one conscious we don't we feel it only in ourselves but then everybody feels existence everywhere we all see that the Universe exists that existence itself it's everywhere but in the mind in your mind that existence comes as the existence of the mind and as consciousness so it is reflected in the mind existence Consciousness Bliss is reflected in the mind as the reflected Consciousness in sanskritabhasa what is this reflected Consciousness what's this new character you have introduced into the drama it's the Consciousness which we are feeling right now and when right now if you look into your mind you feel you're aware you say yes Swami I'm aware is that pure Consciousness is that Atman Brahman no it is not why not because the moment you say that it becomes an object you feel it right you're aware of it you're aware of awareness so that awareness is the reflected awareness it's the face in the mirror if you see your face in the mirror um if you say oh so that's the face right that's my face not exactly that's that's a reflection of your face that's a pretty close approximation of your face but it's not literally your face because your face is here it's not there I can see my own face in the camera right now is my face there or here it's here not there similarly pure Consciousness is now reflected in the mind as reflected Consciousness it's a lot like um the face reflected in the mirror it's a lot like sunlight reflected from the Moon and notice the sunlight reflected on the moon becomes Moonlight and it behaves a lot like the sun in what ways does it behave like the sun it shines and it can illumine it can reveal things and it can remove darkness and reveal things in darkness similarly the reflected Consciousness in our minds works just like real Consciousness it gives us experiences of the mind and through the mind it lights up the senses and we are able to see and hear and smell and taste and touch and through the senses it lights up this universe we see forms we hear sounds we smell smells and fragrances orders we taste various kinds of flavors we touch and we are aware of pressure and heat and cold and all of that so the senses reveal the world the Mind reveals the senses and the mind itself is revealed by reflected Consciousness and the reflected Consciousness is nothing but the real Consciousness reflected in the mind all right now next step what happens when this reflected Consciousness is there in the mind this mind and remember in vedanta we don't use a general term like the mind we say subtle body the physical body gross body in that is the subtle body and how do you distinguish you can we can look at it now experience it for yourself now all right so what happens at deaf what happens at death is um this physical body dies it can no longer support the subtle body the stooler Sharina dies it can no longer support the special era so the sugary actually Technically when this the physical body cannot support the subtle body anymore it's not capable we then the subtle body leaves this physical body and that's what's called depth of the body so when the subtle body leaves the physical body that's called Death physical death occurs then literally we use this you know just about every Indian language you know Prana has left prawn from Prada is one of the components of the circle the life forces Vitality is one part of the subtle body Sukhman sharir has many components mind intellect memory ego these are some of the components but also Prana upon all the various functions physiological functions of The Prana they're all part of this subtle body I mean a subtle body leaves the physical body the physical body dies that's death now notice the subtle body has one unique component it has got the reflected Consciousness pure Consciousness reflected in the mind that's in the subtle body so this is the crucial part when the subtle body leaves the physical body why does it leave physical body can no longer support it becomes old or damaged or whatever or sick the subtle body leads physical body dies and when it leaves the reflected Consciousness in the subtle body travels with the subtle body what about pure Consciousness what about Atman Brahman it's always there it's there everywhere it's there in the subtle body it's there in the dead body also the physical dead body it exists as how in the dead body as the existence of the dead body but the reflected Consciousness is no longer there in the dead body the subtle body is no longer there in the dead body Prana is not there mind is not there intellect is not there memory is not there that has gone now important this is what is called transmigration or the the movement of the self from one body to another the Soul's Journey Soul's journey is the Journey of the subtle body along with the reflected consciousness is it there is the uh Atman or Brahman there in this in the subtle body also of course it's there everywhere why shouldn't it be their subtle body but remember the Atman or Brahman in an advaithic perspective does not travel it's everywhere what will where will it travel if you walk around in your dreams you are walking around somewhere but the fact is that the mind which is dreaming it the mind is not walking around mind is everywhere you walk around because the whole dream has been constructed by the mind similarly the whole universe exists in Atman or Brahman where will the Atman go it will not it cannot go from one place to another all places are in it it's not in a place but the subtle bodies move subtle bodies are many as many give as we have so many subtle bodies and they continuously are moving they are moving with the physical body when the physical body is alive when the physical body is dead it moves out of the physical body into other Locus into other Realms and again gets a new physical body a new birth according to the Past Karma of that Jiva who is a Jiva pure Consciousness Atman Brahman with the limitation of one subtle body is achiever so infinite awareness appearing to be limited in these limited subtle bodies these are jivas sentient beings persons individuals that's us if you count there are 69 people here the 69 G was here how many physical bodies 69 how many subtle bodies 69 . how many reflected consciousnesses 69 how many pure consciousnesses one this one not only in g69 in all the seven eight billion people in all the billions of sentient beings and the nonsentient non-living Universe so-called non-living universe that also is one Atma one existence so all that for a background what is death death is death of the physical body occasion by the subtle body leaving the physical body carrying with it reflected Consciousness Atman or pure Consciousness always remaining the same all right no we look at the mantra there is pure Consciousness reflected as the reflected Consciousness in each subtle body Visa the the body which is destructible the body which which can die the physical body dies and the circle body which can be separated from this physical body in that subtle body is a reflection of Youth of your Consciousness called the reflected Consciousness when it leaves the physical body says what is left here and shankara gives a gives a commentary he says that like a king remember the 11 gated City like the king of the city when the king of the city leaves the city what and what Despair and ruin the Dwellers of the city fall to yeah um so you have a week-long um funeral of the queen when the queen has left the city of London so we fall into Despair and weep and wail and mourn for days and days so similarly the Dwellers of this city they fall into despair the city falls into um into disrepair and when the subtle body has left and the King yesterday who's the king not the subtle body the king is the reflected Consciousness in the subtle bar it's because of that King you the reflected Consciousness in that mind everything in that body mind is going on when you walk out with the movement of the Mind the body falls into ruin and disrepair he says what else is left here you might say well the dead body is left here but even the dead body doesn't survive long without your presence there the natural processes take over and it falls apart very soon and its components go back to their natural sources dust to dust all of it goes back to to Nature again so the physical body the city falls into Despair and green ruin when the king of the city has left who is the king of the city it's the subtle it is the con reflected Consciousness in the subtle body so this is the description of death in from um yama's perspective in the upanishad what about Atman Brahman as Atman Brahman you're perfectly all right that is incidental to you see how much how vastly it magnifies you how much it is not deny that it puts death in its place it's a process of Decay and destruction of the physical body correct Yama is not denying that at all it's a process of transmigration movement from one body to another body of the subtle body from one local word to another local of the subtle body and indeed you the the reflect your reflection moves with the subtle body that's why we say dead and that person has now gone and goes to heaven and will be reborn again because of past Karma as some kind of other you know some other body who is that subtle body who is that reflected consciousness however however let's be careful here we must not think that oh so I am pure Consciousness and other than me there is one physical body here there's one subtle body there there's one reflected Consciousness there no no no all of that is an appearance in you all of that is you also but you are not touched by the changes in that no more than you are touched by problems and changes in in the characters in your dreams so that is death in the upanishadic sense now let's quickly look at the questions I'm sorry I lost many of the questions earlier when computers subtle body malfunctioned it's Prana you notice the importance of Prana here the moment all is working computer is fine programming the apps are running to come programs are running fine and we we are we are Brahma natman we are watching it enjoying the whole thing but crucially what happened um if electricity goes away for example in my case of course the subtle body malfunction that is the internet connection we call it the Prana so the connection malfunction and then the whole thing shuts down for a while but notice you are fine the computer May shut down the internet connection May shut down the apps in the computer May malfunction internet um there may be an internet outage power outage you are completely Untouched by the whole thing this is a good example you just were not able to experience the class anymore that's it the class disappeared similarly samsara disappears for you if the equipment is not equipment is not functioning properly but when the equipment functions properly it is it presents some sorrow to you but notice your difference from samsara and this is distinction is between Consciousness and matter sankhya prakriti and purusha all right Kiran says swamiji just noticed it a month or two all the five elements are mentioned just as the universe can reduce the Pancha Buddhas yes fire is mentioned uh space is mentions um then water and Earth and wind are all mentioned you are right all the five elements I didn't notice that gaurav says when we investigate this Consciousness reflected Consciousness we can still still see that it's not illusion it is that which is illumining all my current experiences be careful it's not illusion but it is none other than you the original Consciousness it's like saying oh when I look at my face in the mirror I see that it's not illusion but don't be mistaken fooled into thinking it's a real face in the mirror that there's somebody in that mirror it isn't it's your reflection your face is real that's a nice maximally a beautiful copy of your face but it's not a real face at all is it okay to still accept that upanishad is talking about this Consciousness if we accept the definition is talking about some pure conscious awareness or distinct from Consciousness which I'm right now then we get into something mystical different from us no no we don't but don't make this mistake actually this is what happens the moment you start talking about reflected consciousness we instinctively identify with the reflected Consciousness we say oh okay now I have a I uh exhale the breath of of relief now I know where I am I am this awareness and Swami saying this reflected Consciousness therefore I am reflected Consciousness there is some original pure Consciousness um Brahman Atman which I am supposed to be but right now I have no idea of that I am reflected Consciousness no no no no no you must carefully hold on to just take it on on faith because I am saying it but carefully hold on to this you are pure Consciousness you are Atman Brahman for the time being you are unable to distinguish yourself from this reflected consciousness that's why you think you're reflected consciousness you are the it's like you are seeing your face in the mirror and you're convinced okay I am that one there there that is which is appearing in the mirror no no no you are this one you can't I can't see this one I can see that one but that one is coming only because this one is there than this one the reflected Consciousness is coming only because you are pure consciousness so instead of thinking that you are reflected Consciousness and you're searching for some kind of pure Consciousness saying that your pure Consciousness being reflected in the mind as reflected Consciousness you know why this is happening it's because of an incomplete separation between you the Consciousness and mind it's because I I have I have not understood the mirror and the reflected faces something distant and separate from me yeah on the um original face the real face I have a I have no idea about the same things now you take it on faith that you are not the mirror you are not that reflected face you are the actual face just take your feet for the time being and then we'll work carefully to see that I I am the uh the pure Consciousness not the reflected consciousness in fact what gaurav is saying that if I say that reflected Consciousness is real see is it okay to accept definition talking about this Consciousness if we say that uh it is talking about the reflected Consciousness but remember upanishad is using that reflected Consciousness to point out to you the real consciousness upanishad is not really interested in the reflected Consciousness except as an explanatory mechanism why is it that we feel conscious in all our thoughts feelings perceptions because of that reflected Consciousness what is practically giving us Illumination in day-to-day life it's reflected consciousness just like if I say what is practically giving you Illumination in a moonlit night it is Moonlight but remember Moonlight is nothing other than sunlight all the time Rodrigo says then in reality that this is there is no Journey not Journey it's all a trick of ignorance correct all Journeys in the body like we are moving around now whole journey is in the mind from Lifetime to Lifetime okay and you are the reality in which this journey appears hard to understand movement of reflected Consciousness subtle bodies matter but reflected Consciousness is not no reflected Consciousness is also nothing but subtle body it's a peculiar combination of you know pure Consciousness reflected in the circle but the subtle bodies matter inflict Consciousness very much matter it's like saying the face reflected in the mirror the mirror is glass I can understand but the face reflected is not class it's glass touch it what will you touch when you look at yourself in the mirror and then touch your reflected face you are touching the mirror every bit of your reflected face is nothing but the mirror it's a unique property of the mirror it can reflect your face the wall cannot reflect your face the wash basin cannot reflect your face with a mirror cam similarly the unique property of minds of subtle bodies is it can reflect Consciousness reflect is just a word it's not a physical reflection it's not physical light reflect channelize limit these are the words which have been used in vedanta um the technical terms are pratibimba reflection limitation unreal reflection it is a whole complicated theories says the Consciousness you are feeling now is your reflection it's a reflection of pure consciousness and the reflection is nothing but pure Consciousness in this sense use the mirror example in the mirror I see the reflection of my face and when I say that is nothing but this reflection is nothing but this the reflection points directly to the original that's one Theory but suppose you have a reflection and you consider reflection in itself that's then the reflection is flots it's not real it's just the mirror itself appearing as your face but it has some of the properties of your face it looks like your face similarly the Mind itself it takes on the capacities and powers of Consciousness to illumine to reveal to give first person experience that by the way is the answer to the heart problem of consciousness paru says is witness Consciousness the same as pure Consciousness yes sakshi is the same as pure Consciousness witness Consciousness not reflected consciousness Girish says following up last night's discussion on Free Will isn't the concept of Karma incompatible with the deterministic rule by causality phenomenal World correct it is but um uh notice that there is those three levels of Free Will which are in them chakravati talks about at a certain transactional level we all accept rebuild for uh economic choice you need free will for political Choice means free will you know law functions on the concept that there is Free Will so on everything in this world functions on the Assumption there is Free Will so transactionally let us assume it's free will because it works this assumption Works only on Investigation it seems that there is no fear Jennifer says pronounced Himalayas in India Jennifer when the enlightened one leaves the body this complete loss of individuality well Enlightenment one doesn't leave the body only the unenlightened one leaves the body so you might say what does it mean the enlightenment stays in the body no the body and the world all of these are appearances in that one reality which the enlightened one knows I am that when if the enlightened one were to leave the body what would happen if the enlightened one enlightened one knows I am Brahman if Brahman were to leave the body what would happen you still die no it would vanish in an instant what happens to the bodies and places and things in your dream when you wake up do you leave your body in the in the dream no the body inside the dream you know the body you have in a dream do you leave it no it disappears the moment you wake up not only that body disappears everything else in the dream disappears the universe would disappear in an instant if the enlightened one way to leave the universe the universe appears in the enlightening one Thomas says why should we consider Atman the same as analogous to Brahman not analogous literally identically the same as permanency that was that's what the upanishad said in the 11 gated City you find this one Consciousness but it is that Consciousness which is which is racing along in the sky as the sun which is fills the space as the atmosphere which blazes on the Earth has fire as water in the um and the mountains in the earth and so on okay you say so that's one uh answer that the upanishad is saying that that's what we should be clear about upanishad says that your real nature the Atman and the real nature of this universe is uh the same your real nature is Atman the real nature of the universe is Brahman Atman this is the crucial Insight of advaita vedant now can you argue that out logically you can you can I will not go into it here you will look for it in some places I've given the Sevenfold reduction of the material Universe into pure consciousness yes another person is doing a very interesting work um of comparing illusory Universe in which we live that hides the underlying reality with icons on a desktop that hide the subtleties of a computer correct correct that's one analogy uh God of metal actually unenlightened also doesn't leave the body it's subtle body misleads the body is that correct not quite if you ask an unlike enlightened person if that person ever has any memories of coming up of past lives and if you ask what happened should I let that body all these accounts of jivas you know died and traveled I went to Heavens Heavens or Hells or whatever I now I am born to these parents so who is whose experience is this this is the jiva's experience what Jiva the only enlightened one so the unenlightened one feels that he or she is traveling just as we in a physical body we feel we are traveling right now when you move around you feel you're traveling this is an unenlightened State actually I'm not traveling I am Consciousness in which the body is moving around that that should be the thing um but we feel instinctively that we are this body and moving around similarly upon death we will feel that we are the subtle body we did not die physical body died I is the subtle body and now moving on to other worlds and other experiences all of that is ignorance according to the advaith you have never ever moved around in a physical body nor have you ever moved around or whether or you'll ever do so in a subtle body they're all movies playing on you the unmoving screen of existence Consciousness please right on that highly metaphysical note let's take leave um [Music]