Video 38

38. Katha Upanishad | Mantra 2.2.15 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

foreign together may the Lord give us the results of our study May our study be eliminating May our study be invigorating and maybe there'll be no friction between a snow cone cavaling between us ohm peace peace peace so in the qatopanishad we are in the second chapter the second worldly the second section of the second chapter almost finished but we have come to a mantra which is probably one of the most spectacular mantras of the all the upanishads and Swami vivekananda's favorite Mantra that the sun does not illumine nor the moon nor the lightning what to speak of this little nor the stars and uh then not the lightning what to speak of this little mortal fire that shining everything else shines by its light everything is lit up so that Mantra we're coming to and that's the concluding sort of a grand conclusion to this very powerful and beautiful section but before that the 14th Mantra which we did last time [Music] that was the 14th Mantra what it means is that this indeed this indeed means the Atma vigyan the knowledge of the self the realization of the self as this this one non-dual entity that I am this unconsciousness and this one non-dual entity existence awareness which shines forth as this entire universe and as indeed as me the experiencer of this universe but I am actually not this one subject nor is there a separate object apart from that that real self I am the real self in which the knower and the known are appearing and realization of that this is what what has been taught and that itself the wise peak of it think of it asham paramam this inconceivable ultimate Joy or in one word that would be Ananda sukham happiness paramam ultimate which cannot be expressed means expression in language cannot be expressed in language so this ultimate Bliss which cannot be expressed in language in vedanta this is called Ananda now what is this Ananda I was little dissatisfied with the way I sort of you know gentle sort of glided over it last time so I want to spend a little time with it today before we go on to the final Mantra of this section paramam sukham what is meant by Ananda in the upanishads in vedanta by Ananda look at it it's helpful to look at it analogously to existence Consciousness because it's always put in this way existence Consciousness Bliss Ananda so in order to understand what Ananda means in vedanta we need to look at what existence means in vedanta what Consciousness means in vedanta then we'll get a clue notice when we say existence in vedanta it does not mean existing things it means that which appears to us as existing things so um the computer is an existing thing this living body is an existing thing a table is an existing thing the planets and stars are existing things the tiniest of particles are existing things it's not that the self Atman Brahman is one more existing thing in the list of these existing things rather it is the very existence of all these things when you say it's not one among all existing things immediately our our logical mind thinks oh so it doesn't exist for us reality is existing things things which exist that's reality when you ask what's reality this is reality computer is real you Swami are real the chair you're sitting on is real if you were in the chair we're not real you would be pretty soon sitting on the floor so all of these things are existing things and this is reality for us but the Atman or Brahman pure being sat is a greater or a deeper level of reality than existing things what could be a deeper level of reality than existing things existence itself but that sounds pretty abstract but it's not why is it not abstract consider this example the well-known example of the uh of the gold and the ornaments so when you look at ornaments there's a necklace there's a bracelet there's a ring or a tiara or a crown or something like that and these are ornaments this is reality the ornaments are the reality now if somebody comes and tells you that no much greater than all of these underlying all of these the reality the real really real thing here is gold now if I look at the catalog of ornaments okay now I'm I I've heard of this amazing thing called gold I don't want the Tiara the necklace the ring I want the gold but it's nowhere in the catalog the gold is nowhere in the catalog it's not one more ornament but that does not mean that gold doesn't exist it's actually gold is the only thing that exists all these existing things the ornaments where nothing other than gold they are on Gold Plus name and form and use when so gold plus a name a plus a form if you put a link this way and call it a bracelet and put it on your wrist so the form is like this and it's called the name is bracelet and you put it on the users putting on your wrist Nama is the label the nominal thing we call the name we put put to it uh Rupa is the form and remember form just need not be a visual form music has auditory form flavors have tastes orders have there's the form in in things which we smell there's a farming but in the touch we have also tendered or rough or Texture so all form means any kind in which we experience so all of these are from and even deeper why just sensory forms there are mental forms there are emotional forms there are intellectual forms I'm sure when you know pure mathematicians talk about um you know with Joy about the Elegance of a theory that's a particular form which appeals to them this wonderful Theory you know so form name and form and use are the bracelet but the gold is the this is the reality of it and when I say Gold Plus name and form and use it's not like one plus one more thing plus one more thing now you have got two or three things no no they are not Plus in the sense of adding some real extra thing they are not Plus in the sense of countably plus countably if you count even when you make the gold into a bracelet there's still one gold you melt it make it into a ring different form different name different use still one gold it isn't two because you you made the gold into a ring it's not that there are two now gold and ring you cannot do that because you cannot count them separately take the gold away no ring count the ring you're already counting the code so exactly like that advaita vedanta says there is being itself existence itself that is called sat is being that which is real and that we experience as existing things when you when through Maya are imposed name and form and use countably still one no matter how many you see no matter how many names you give how many forms are there how many farms keep changing always not two [Music] all right we understand that exactly in the same way look at consciousness that which gives us all experiences the moment we say consciousness um what comes to our mind our conscious experiences our conscious events I am seeing you now this is consciousness I am hearing you now this is consciousness I'm reading I'm thinking I'm enjoying I'm suffering this is consciousness this is how we understand consciousness but exactly like that you must analyze advaita vedanta would mean Consciousness is not these individual fleeting experiences coming and going that which gives us all these fleeting experiences that is consciousness that which makes it possible for us to see hear smell taste see what see everything and hear and smell and taste and touch starts with this question my intention is to actually do the cane operation after we finish this um so the canopanishad starts with this question impelled by what do we have this experience of thinking do our minds think by what by what shining power cow Deva by what shining power do out do our eyes see and our ears here and our we had the experience of talking so if you look at it biologically physiologically the physiology of vision is quite different from the physiology of hearing physiology of smelling is quite different from the physiology of speaking the entire mechanisms are quite different but the question is what's the one thing behind all of them which means the one thing behind all these conscious experiences is consciousness itself just like gold is not part of the catalog of ornaments just like pure being is not part of the catalog of all the existing things in the universe similarly pure Consciousness is not in the list of conscious experiences not even mystical experiences if somebody might say yes yes I understand um Atman Brahman is not um you know it's not something that you see or hear or smell or it is extraordinary mystical experience no it's not one more mystical experience it's even the mystical experience depends on this consciousness just saying that Atman or Brahman is a particular mystical experience is like saying gold is a particular kind of ornament no it isn't even the most beautiful golden ornament extraordinary matchless is still the same gold similarly it's the same Consciousness which reveals to us all conscious experience which makes possible all conscious experiences this has to be um you know sort of strongly grasped why this will come up in the next mantra this all this Consciousness talk which I am the first person most guilty of talking about Consciousness country we are Consciousness we are pure Consciousness it can be misleading so it's it's also important to say once in a while we are not consciousness chaitanya does not mean Consciousness in the sense we normally understand consciousness let me read Vivekananda himself I just found this um in one what is God he says Beyond speech Beyond thought Beyond consciousness he says that could be quite surprising to somebody who's been studying vedanta what do you mean Beyond Consciousness if you read um Maharaja more than once he says at the point of death physical death Consciousness also goes away body goes my mind shuts down Consciousness also goes away so of course that's because of a translation from Marathi that's why people might please understand that means it does everything go away no pure Consciousness remains pure being pure Consciousness remains but one must thoroughly Purge our understanding of this what we normally mean by Consciousness what is normally studied in Consciousness studies also one clue to what is meant by Consciousness is deep sleep in deep Sleep also Consciousness is there in what sense Consciousness is there in deep Sleep that will give us a clue to what a draita vedanta means by Consciousness because otherwise when we have this waking experiences through our senses suppose all this shuts down dream experience in our minds suppose all that shuts down and deep sleep just nothing or go even further coma anesthesia the deepest of Deep Sleep anesthesia in what sense is consciousness fully there then you will begin to understand what advaita vedanta means by Consciousness because to our ordinary way of understanding that's not conscious that's unconscious because that's what we we think by Consciousness this one this uh feeling which we are having now again we are not wrong just as in all existing things existence itself is there in all ornaments gold itself is there similarly on all these conscious experiences pure Consciousness alone is there but to understand what pure Consciousness is by itself we must Purge our idea just like to understand what gold is one must Purge our idea of various forms of ornaments and yet hold on to the reality of the gold similarly you know it's like light like light if somebody wants to tell you that really light is look at deep space towards the Sun at night when the sun is not there we are not seeing the sun look up into the space dark that's light we don't say no no no no that's not light light is this which in daytime we see look at our world so many beautiful the red of Sunrise golden bread of Sunrise the sparkling blue of the winter sky and all the variety of colors shining everywhere in the in the garden and all that is light foreign you're right that's light Plus the objects from which light is being reflected but light in itself is that which is racing from the Sun through space in the utter Darkness if you look out into space utterly dark full of light the moment a comet races through that Darkness you see the Blazing tail of the Comet why because the moment there's something to reflect light you see light it's there it's already there now exactly in the same way Consciousness is itself not a variety of conscious experiences but all conscious experiences depend upon Consciousness all right this is all the background to pointing out what Ananda really is what Bliss really is in advaithic sense the moment we say happiness Bliss Ananda we feel smiley face it must be you're really happy we know what happiness is and we really want it and that's what it must be a really extraordinary happiness lots of it unending this that's what I want and I think that's what you're promising that's what Anand is no and that's not bad news it's actually good news let me explain Ananda is not another kind of happiness you know happiness comes and goes is more or less and is dependent on the mind and objects so Ananda by itself is not that Ananda is that which makes all this happiness possible but in itself is not any one of these happinesses God pleasures just like gold is that which constitute all ornament but is not an ornament similarly Anand is that which constitutes all happiness all fulfillment all joy but it's not a particular kind of joy okay um let me go into a little details about what this Anand is and how we get it um I will use tight Theory upanishad I don't know when we will get to it but so but let me just bring in that part of the ethere openation the second chapter which we will use to understand what RnB is just now um in the second chapter of the criterio finishes at the very end there is a section 8th section of the second chapter of type Theory upanishad which is called anandam imamsa um an analysis of joy of Ananda there it says the vedantic theory of Happiness what is the vedantic theory of happiness is that you are Ananda itself you are Joy or Bliss itself and the Anand or Bliss which we experience as happiness in the world is your reflection in the mind let me repeat that you are Joy itself and the joy that you experience in the world and you seek in the world is your reflection in the mind it's like you are the face itself here's the face but you don't see the face the face that you see is a reflection of your real face in the mirror the Ananda by itself is you the Ananda that you experience which comes and goes which is more or less which seems to have so many varieties it is an experience is a reflection of the Ananda in the mirror of the Mind so there is bliss and reflected Bliss okay now what do you do with this three three approach three approaches all Theory upanishad last section three approaches to Bliss the worldly approach the spiritual approach and the enlightened approach so the worldly approach is maybe I am Bliss but uh the fact is in order to enjoy this Bliss I have to reflect it in the mind right unless I feel it what's the point of saying that I am Bliss since I have to reflect it in the mind just like I understand you're saying that pure existence is the reality fine but to really enjoy that existence I must have existing things pure Consciousness is my nature fine but in order to enjoy that I must have conscious experiences something to experience similarly pure Bliss is my nature great but in order to enjoy that talk to me of any use at all to me I must be able to reflect it so I must be able to experience it in the mind then the next step who is saying this the worldly seeker of Joy says that in order to experience it in the mind I seem to need objects I must have a nice cookie a nice piece of music beautiful flowers and movies to look at and Broadway plays to enjoy I must have very tasty food um Good Company people to love all of these things activities I can be completely engaged in all of these things I need in the world as I accumulate those activities people experiences I keep getting Bliss more and more happiness now this is one way of getting happiness this is the worldly way and the other way the spiritual way is where the question comes if I am happiness itself and reflecting it in the mind gives me the joy the happiness okay why do I need this third person the object the person outside I and the mind should be enough what is the connection with the world and when we investigate and discover that actually we have a range of desires which we have generated in this lifetime and past lifetimes based on the idea that I am this little body mind and therefore I must have certain things to satisfy this body mind so I like certain kinds of food certain kind of activities I like accumulating money being rich being famous being liked by everybody all these things I have desires I have generated now when I generate these Desires in the mind the Mind breaks into waves into tension and it cannot reflect the joy that is within and therefore I am unhappy and one way of getting back my joy is to satisfy these desires so that the Mind calms down and reflects my natural Ananda let me repeat that what is this analysis if iron Bliss itself and I need to reflect Bliss in the mind in order to experience my own Bliss then I don't need the world what has happened is I have convinced myself I need the world and because of fast conditioning now if I can give up my desire for the world if I can give up my need for the world your dispassion then the Mind by itself should calm down and should reflect my Natural Bliss I can test this hypothesis the first the worldly person says the only way to reflect with my joy in the mind only way to enjoy my own Bliss in the mind is to satisfy the desires of the Mind the spiritual person says the better way to do that is to give up the desires in the mind and you will naturally manifest your own Bliss what you what you are because the more you pursue the desires in the world in order to satisfy them one after another it's an endless thing it's a rat race meaning winning which you become still become a rat and there is no end to this race but any mature person recognizes it how much money is enough how much um you know social media popularity is enough how much praise is enough how many awards how many promotions how much is enough there'll always be people who have much more um and if I think that gives me more joy I'll keep pursuing that not only that not only that it's not enough there is enormous amount of effort time and energy spent in trying to get that and a good deal of our life energy goes away into trying to get those things not only that even more disastrous when we do get it remember not many people get it if you are rich if you are famous if you are um you know beautiful or handsome if you are liked you are very fortunate you are among a very tiny minority of people who get all these things and yet the problem is after we get it it goes away none of it is stable neither money is stable nor likability stable nor health is stable nor youth is stable none of it all of it is continuously flowing away moment to moment disappearing samsara means some surathy that which slips away from us continuously these are the defects called in trying to seek Happiness by getting objects in the world so the Spiritual Secret says why not do the other thing give up the desires and see if it works so testing the hypothesis if really Joy is within me and I am not experiencing it in the mind due to the desires one way is to satisfy the desires the other way is to give up the desires so give up the desires you will get that happiness so upanishad says the first track is worldly way of another worldly way of worldly and Heavenly way of getting happiness supanishad speaks of imagine the maximum possible happiness you can get in this world first thing it says very unpopular thing it says to really be happy in this world you must be young you are I remember I said this once in an ashram in trabu Orange county in California so most of the audience was middle-aged a little older the moment I said first condition for being happy in the world is you must be young the upanishad says that and they were like Boo Boo from the back because most of the people were not you're not young and they're not getting any younger must be young and then must be extremely extremely rich there is the world with all its wealth must be at his or her disposal and not only that this person must be cultured and educated and the ivy league and must be a graduate of maybe I don't know what are the theater schools and Juilliard for the music school all of that and not only that must have a good mind a good natured Noble soul such a person has the maximum possible human happiness just imagine this person I mean just imagining it brings that smile to so many people's faces just imagine having that kind of a position in the world how many people have got it in the world in all of human history maybe in each generation one or two persons might come close to it for a while and then he says there is more happiness possible if you perform these Vedic rituals and you go to heaven after death you will get a hundred times the maximum human happiness so this is worldly happiness otherworldly happiness trying to get things in the world to reflect your joy in the mind and the the spiritual happiness starts with a hundred times of human happiness in the world worldly happiness it says if you want that happiness on the spiritual path he says um if you are clear about the nature of the soul of the Atman I am this non-dual existence Consciousness we are clear about it centered in it and you let go worldly desires two things centered in your advaita Consciousness as I am the witness Consciousness everything else is an appearance in me second combine it with complete dispassion for that everything else they're all appearances in me why should I have particular preferences I want this and not not that if you have that you will immediately get here in this world the hundred times happiness which is Promised in heaven for the worldly person and then the upanishad goes in the same track there are other Heavens higher Heavens with more wonderful objects of enjoyment extraordinary Pleasures are there and the more Good Karma you have the more of these Heavens you go to that the worldly otherworldly kind of happiness and it tells the spiritual seeker at every stage if you're centered in your advaithi Consciousness and you have dispassion for those worldly other worldly pleasures you will get that right now that 100 times Thousand Times Ten Thousand Times worldly happiness you'll get it right now and so it develops a calculus of happiness going up to one followed by 20 zeros of the amount of maximum amount of human happiness there is a calculation which damage does multiple Heavens are there so these are the two Tracks Of Happiness sukha what are the two tracks worldly way of getting your own habit it's your own happiness all the time it's your own happiness the worldly way of getting it and the spiritual way not otherworldly worldly another world all other part the same same category because they all want happiness from objects worldly objects or Heavenly objects but the spiritual path is I am Brahman alhamdrama mahasmi be centered in that not as a not as a rhetoric or as a slogan actual understanding and Clarity be centered in that that requires purity of mind that requires focus of mind and combine it with complete dispassion I do not need those objects you will find your mind is full of bliss bursting float forward with bliss okay third one third approach is the approach for Ananda of the enlightened one the enlightened one you know to put it this way this SRI ramakrishna gives us this rather gross example the dog which found a rather dry bone and chewed that bone and cut its own lip and blood dripped from it and it tasted the blood and the dog thought what a tasty bone and the dog carefully buried that bone and whenever it wanted Joy it would go and chew on that bone he didn't know that the taste was coming from its own blood which the bone just manifested because it cut its lip all our seeking Joy is like that all our seeking joy in the world that reflected is reflecting our own Joy on the mind and tasting that it's actually a kind of silliness it's like you know what it's like in what that urge you might say it's a very reasonable urge I don't know if I am blessed but I must reflect it in the mind I must taste that Bliss no you mustn't it's like saying this is the face but I really really need to reflect it in a mirror otherwise I am sort of obsessed with seeing my own face in the mirror right I'm terrified that if it is not reflected in the mirror if I'm not seeing my face in the mirror feels no face it's no good having a face if I can't reflect it in the mirror it's no good having a face if I can't take a selfie you have the face you may occasionally reflect it in the mirror doesn't matter you should be completely indifferent to it as grown-up people unless you are a looks obsessed teenager as grown-up people we are indifferent to it the mirror is just for is functional for us we are not particularly bothered so the truly wise person the enlightened person is not crazy about reflecting Joy or Bliss in the mind the enlightened person knows me I am existence I am Consciousness I am Bliss I am infinite existence Consciousness Bliss yes if it gets reflected in this body then I am an existing body it is also limited if it gets reflected in the mind and the senses I am Consciousness having limited conscious experiences and yes if I the Ananda get reflected in the mind I will get happiness I will experience some reflected Bliss that's also temporary notice the worldly and other worldly Joy and the spiritual Joy spiritual Joy much more pure but both of them come and go even for the most extraordinary Mystic like SRI ramakrishna did the joy not come and go not only that the the Bliss the reflected Bliss in the mind whether worldly or otherworldly or spiritual it all admits of grades higher and lower there is higher pleasure greater pleasure greater pleasure more pleasure more pleasure in worldly sense and in spiritual life also more joy more joy more joy higher and higher this higher and lower Joy coming and going Joy it's exactly like you the face which is always there exactly the same depending on mirror coming and going mirror gets dirty the face gets obscured mirror is the concave face gets twisted reflected phase only not the real face mirror is convex face gets twisted reflected face on the not real face so the conditions of This Joy increasing and decreasing coming and going they all depend on the mind not on you the joy itself or Bliss itself the enlightened one knows this enlightened one does not think that the existence of the body is my existence death is nothing to me the enlightened one says the existence the enlightened one doesn't think I the Limitless Consciousness must keep on having conscious experiences no in samadhi out of samadhi in waking in dreaming in deep Sleep I the Consciousness I'm exactly the same consciousness similarly if the mind is in Joy if the mind is not in Joy if the mind is in great Joy or lesser Joy or if the mind is still in meditation I am the same Limitless child this is the enlightened ones attitude towards Joy I am Bliss in that sense at that place just as worldly pleasure other worldly pleasure can be expressed and measured but um Ananda itself cannot be expressed or measured it is infinite and it cannot be expressed in language because it's not an objective kind of Happiness it's not a reflected happiness that's why it is two words are used here happiness ultimate ultimate in the sense of not the highest worldly other world your spiritual Bliss also but it is the infinite Anand which you are or I am which is our reality it's our existence itself same as such same as so that is cannot be expressed in language because whatever is objective can be expressed in language Wittgenstein what a wise man he said the limits of the world the limits of language are the limits of the world so whatever is in the world language can express that whatever can language can express is in the world but then here is the reality which language cannot express just as pure being cannot be expressed by language of thought just as pure Consciousness cannot be expressed by language or sort pure Bliss also cannot be expressed by language or thought um a couple of points more quick ones the first kind of happiness worldly pleasure other worldly pleasure this is called vishayan and vishayan and the Ananda from vishaya objects objects can be from a cookie to the most best cuisine in the best restaurant in Manhattan to the the nectar of the Gods in heaven Amrita that is all vishaya object then the spiritual Joy which is very different from the worldly Joy it's called bhajanananda The Joy one gets in singing the names of the Lord the joy that one gets in deep meditation in samadhi the joy that one gets in inquiry into who am I and being settling down there the joy that one gets in selfless service of humanity that is the joy of selflessness the joy of deep love and devotion the joy of absolute focus on the highest reality and the joy of realizing who I am this is foreign but the enlightened perspective person's perspective about Joy is called brahmananda Brahman and the vishayananda brahmananda and the second point I wanted to make is a question might arise okay um the worldly person's pursuit of pleasure seems great but kind of exhausting the second one seems much better and it seems much better to all of us because we are all spiritual Seekers that's what we are comfortable with spiritual practice this is joy and spiritual practice I know when my spiritual practices go well I'm in the right frame of mind it is joyful it's really a pure and Blissful kind of thing and that can increase I understand that also but this so-called enlightened person's perspective sounds a little hazy yeah so will my question will be that so when I become enlightened do I lose all call it reflected happiness do I lose all of that or do I still have that don't worry you have it and an endless supply and you just what's the proof you just have to look at the lives of the Saints those you can consider to be enlightened they are basically very happy people very naturally because the minds are already satwik through long years of spiritual practice and the realization is effortlessly there so it is sort of effortlessly reflected in the mind just that the enlightened person is not attached to that joyous this is these are this is the meaning of that term now I'm happy there is a related question to this which the upanishad asks in the same mantra this is great this pure existence pure Consciousness pure Bliss is it um revealed is it experienceable or not and is it experienceable in specific ways or not this is a little or are you pulling a fast one on us and let you know worldly Joy I understand spiritual Joy sort of get it this one sounds like some kind of theory so that question the upanishadic student is asking is it actually experienceable or not and then the most beautiful Mantra comes let's go to the last Mantra of this uh section and a very great climax I that is not revealed by this son or the sun does not reveal it shine upon it reveal it nor the moon nor the Stars nor these flashes of lightning what to speak of this Mortal fire little fire that we have lit you must think of the ancient rishis in the on the river bank or in the forests the blazing sun overhead at daytime at night the cool moon in the sky a star spangled sky and the little fire they have lit in the ashram to keep themselves warm flashes of lightning in the sky this is light for them and so none of this light reveals Consciousness but consciousness Consciousness Shining everything else is revealed by by consciousness By the Light Of Consciousness means light by its light Consciousness is light sarvamidam vibhati everything here is litter idam here here means whatever you experience as this this world of objects which we see here smell taste touch and this world our inner world of thoughts emotions ideas memories desires understanding confusion pleasure pain suffering all of that that is also revealed by the same Consciousness By the Light of the same Consciousness and beyond that the causal state of blankness and deep sleep that too is revealed by the same Consciousness the gross physical world the subtle mental World mental emotional mind world of the mind and the Deep Sleep experience of blankness a potential State all three Karana foreign all three are revealed by the same light Consciousness well good for Consciousness what about me you you shining everything here shines after you what is this everything shining you shining the Mind shines then you have the experience of thinking remembering understanding Desiring hating uh struggling enjoying suffering you shining you shining the Mind shines and then the senses shines by the senses shining then you the Consciousness are not only now able to think and feel but you can see now you can hear now you can smell and taste and touch now so you shining all of these things shine by light up that by your light all of these are lit up the world is lit up body is lit up the senses are lit up the mind is lit up so this is the meaning um let me just talk about okay let's go a little deep into it how many times vivekan has mentioned this countless times both here in the United States in Europe and in India in many many talks he loved this language he loved the qatopanishad the qatopanishad was his favorite upanishad and this Mantra was his clearly his favorite Mantra just because the sheer poetry of it and the philosophical depth of it um let's take it in two stages first and then deeper that shining everything else shines so anyway put it in the arati the kandana which we sing in all our ashrams at the very end is [Music] that light up lights shining in our heart which illu means that um which is that which is beyond speech and Beyond language and yet which illumines which is the basis of all speech and thought Beyond thought and Beyond language sorry Beyond thought and Beyond language foreign language and Beyond thought what is beyond language and thought consciousness you'll say oh but you are using the words the word language you use the word Consciousness true but what does it indicate when we use the word Consciousness is it indicating pure Consciousness or one of the conscious events in our uh experience no language can refer to Pure Consciousness even if you say pure Consciousness it still cannot refer to be unconscious it will work only for a person who's enlightened that person knows what is meant by pure Consciousness that person knows what is meant by pure existence or knows what is meant by pure Bliss and knows also technically knows not through the mind not through language knows the Atman through the Atman only SRI ramakrishna said Consciousness by Consciousness awareness of awareness not by any of the mental constructs or by let alone by senses all right um light of Lights foreign which lights up our heart heart means the mind the intellect actually shankaracharya says the heart means the Cave of the intellect of our understanding basically and very interesting that arati him which is sung every day in the evening where we are performing ritualistic worship of Sri ramakrishna [Music] and what are you singing the light of Lights which illumines our hearts the basis Beyond language Beyond thought the basis of our language and thought you are the light of light where are you illumining our minds our hearts our minds our intellects but what will you means our mind our intellect you the consciousness you are worshiping God and you're singing him to God which is referring to you see this is the identity of the cosmic and the individual that has pure Consciousness you're the same that is the meaning of I am Brahman all right two big points I'll make it fast first of all um like a huge philosophical point to be made here that shining all this shines there are five broad philosophical categories in the philosophical approaches to this the approaches to what what shining what what signs and that shining this shines what does it mean so there is this um one approach is things exist in the world and they are revealed to you they shine in your Consciousness things exist there's a world and then you experience a world in philosophy this is called realism and this is the basis of all materialism of all atheism of all materialistic philosophies the world exists and by some process darwinian evolution this existing world part of it becomes the material world becomes living matter bodies and is living matter organizes itself into ever finer nervous systems and brains and that nervous system and brain produces Consciousness which is now able to experience this material Universe this is existence first illumination next World exists and then is experienced World exists then is illument first existence then Shining this is materialism second one The Shining first and then the existence next the existence depends on The Shining who says this all theistic religions the religions of the world they say God created the universe where is the connection we think it's shining you know it is God God appeared is this God Consciousness not conscious conscious of course no God nobody will think my God is unconscious God a God my God is conscious not only conscious very very conscious very intelligent is a powerful mind the mind of God and from that conscious God has come this material universe the existence of this universe comes after The Shining of the mind of God in fact the very language and the biblical language the God saw and it was good God saw the creation the seeing upanishad says it saw and in the seeing was the creation how can seeing be creation yeah you do it every day every day in the night when you go to sleep and and dream and in your dream what is your dream but seeing you see a dream world and the dream world pops into existence for you for you it props into existence and the existence of the dream world depends on your dreaming it's not that the people and the places which you saw when you go into your dream existed before your dreaming no they exist only when you are dreaming they depend on your dreaming that's why if you order a pizza and it's time to wake up you can't put the pizza The Leftovers in the fridge and say next time I dream I'll come and eat the leftovers you cannot because the fridge and the pizza will all disappear the moment you wake up their existence depends on your seeing on your dreaming similarly the universe is created by the seeing in fact in the Hindu idea it's basically the dream of God Vishnu who sustains this universe how does he sustain it by dreaming he's a couch potato a bit of a couch potato he lies down on his Cosmic serpentation and he he is basically dreaming this universe so The Shining first and then the existence that second theory that's the theory of all theistic religions in the in the world different language but basically that Consciousness first Divine Consciousness then this world third both are true don't privilege either um or the other The Seer and the scene the subject and the object you The Shining and the world you shine upon both have their individual existence and both interact who says this sankhya patanjali yoga philosophy the jainas and in some sense of some sense but I'll qualify it so parallel reality it's not that material Universe generated The Shining Consciousness it's not that The Shining Consciousness has generated the universe there is a world a real world and there is consciousness both have their own individual existence and they interact they are all realities interacting with each other sankhya said it yoga said it the Jain has upset it Maybe Upon one reading David Thomas saying it today pan psychism it's a fundamental ubiquitous reality reality in the universe but not just David Thomas sort of cursory look around the literature shows Donald Hoffman Bernardo Castro um who's the other one they are they're all all are saying this same beginning to say the same thing all right um that's the third Theory the fourth theory is um the fourth theory is the Buddhist approach Buddhist approach says sorry to deflate your balloon we notice one thing when you are experiencing the world you are the experience in the world is experienced the moment either of them drop out the other also drops out for example if you knock everything away in the world there's nothing to experience you'll have no sense of your own existence also if the world is not their body is not their mind is not their thoughts feelings emotions perceptions nothing is there you cannot say stay by yourself and think I am Consciousness no you can't but even that I am Consciousness thinking is not possible without the mind so without any object subject also disappears and without the subject the objects disappear the the Consciousness side people are also right just think about it if everything is there but just you're not conscious right suppose there's no consciousness at all then there is no evidence of a world so Chandra kirti the great disciple of nagarjuna he gives the example of two sheets of hay leaning against each other advaithin will never give this example he said Buddhist a Tibetan Buddhist who gives this example two sheets of hay leaning against each other if you remove one the other false also subject an object depend on each other which one is real the materialist says object is real subject comes from the object the theist says the subject is real object comes from the subject the sunken yoga yogic city is a both are real they're both real they stand upon themselves and they interact the shunyavadi Buddhist Buddhist says neither a real I'm sorry to say they both appear depending on each other yet there's no there is no evidence that each any any of them enjoys any kind of independent reality there is nothing that is independently real it is mithya it is false it is emptiness it's emptiness yeah it's a series of appearances in emptiness we don't deny that you're appearing but appearance is a dependent appearance this is called Shanika vigyanavada finally what is the advaithik the fifth approach what is the question is the question of this shining that shines this is the question of that so you see what a great sweep of philosophy is covered in this phrase fifth approach is and by the way when I say fifth approach I am just giving this is the shortest way I can put this otherwise just to explain this to explain this you will need a full course in Indian philosophy the epistemology and metaphysics in Indian philosophy covering at least 2500 years this is this is so broad this this idea the fifth approach is advaita vedanta what does say it is not false City both subject and object are appearances in one underlying reality whatever you may say about this might say how do you know it's not false City best argument is given by Descartes your own existence it is not false because that's the or one irreducible thing you end up with the one thing that you cannot deny is the existence of the denier to deny to say that it's all empty the one which says this all empty cannot be empty one which testifies to The Emptiness of it all so the irreducibility of the the underlying awareness which which can experience all of this it is not moment just a series of momentary appearances in emptiness because the Atman of vedanta is the witness of the momentariness and its its appearance and disappearance what is momentary appearing and disappearing experiences the appearance of the experience is illumined by you the Consciousness and because it's momentary the next moment it disappears that disappearance is illumined by you the Consciousness this is a deep argument hidden here see the argument against momentariness of Consciousness is that you experience something right it's a it's a flash of an experience good if it's a flash of an experience if it's a discrete experience it began and ended in a moment then between this experience one and the next flash of the experience there must be a momentary Gap box if it is no Gap then it will be continuous experience then you cannot talk about momentary flashes of XP if there are momentary flashes of experience between two experiences in the Gap what testifies to that Gap if there is a Consciousness which illumines the Gap and reveals the Gap in momentary experiences then that Consciousness cannot be momentary if there is no consciousness which exp reveals the Gap in momentary experiences then it cannot be momentary experiences it must be continuous experience continuous experiences again continuous Consciousness so continuous Consciousness is proved even by the thesis of momentary Consciousness anyway all of this is to show the Atman of vedanta is the witness of the momentary experiences uh the um it is the ground on which subject and object arise that which shines and that which is revealed by The Shining that one it shines forth as object and subject it shines forth as conscious experiences and the object of conscious experiences it shines forth as pain and pleasure it has both existence and non-existence appearance and disappearance this is what is shining for this Atman Brahman shining forth all else shines subject and object Creator and created material world and subjective world by its light everything here is revealed not only revealed it's given existence okay this is the meaning um let me it will be better instead of explaining any further to take a look at the questions because this is this was one level of explanation the deeper level was more experiential using which are if you remember ask me next time I'll just add one more to it how do we experientially use this to go back to the witness Consciousness and to see this as a reality then as an experience in our lives um okay let me just quickly look at the questions a lot of questions Priya says that our existence and Consciousness is same in the way you are explaining now are they are the same you know Consciousness and existence are not separate Consciousness existence the same in the ultimate sense as sat and chit ah says but in mystical experience the awareness can be seen in its pure nature if it is seen literally what is its seer just like when the gold is not made in tournament it can be appreciated as gold itself even when it is made in tournament it can be appreciated as gold itself when it is a bracelet after all what's the difference between an ornament and a brick of gold a lump of gold lump of gold is a shapeless lump same gold when you make it into ornament what will reveal to you the gold in an ornament well the direct answer is gold in the ornament is not hidden it's always there you're looking at it you're looking at Gold just as wooden table when I touch it and I say touch wood that means the wood is always revealed to me but it can seem to be hidden by the name form activity like the story of the little boy who worked in the jeweler's shop the Jewelers told the boy go to the ward here's the key to the Vault get some gold for me and the boy ran to the Vault and came back and said there's no gold and the jeweler was aghast what do you mean there's so much gold there so no there's no gold I looked and then the Jeweler rushed back in anxiety and he says look it's full of gold here look bracelets necklaces um you know crowns and coins and the boy said yes but the necklaces bracelets the crown bracelets crowns and coins where is the gold he thought there's something separate that must be gold why is gold hidden for the boy it's hidden because of the name and Form and Function so it's literally the same thing here it is the world this is Brahman oh so this is Brahman that annoying person is Brahman this miserable life I have is Brahman no no no no no annoying person miserable life this is name Form and Function the reality of that name Form and Function is Brahman and that's perfect there's no problem there at all in mystical experience what happens is either you have the experience of God in a particular name and form which is a satwik name and form which does not hide Elite or eclipse the nature of consciousness that's why it is a very elevating and trans transformative and deep experience or what is called even higher both but said awareness of awareness but you will notice they are technically speaking you are not objectifying Consciousness there that cannot be done and good that it cannot be done mystical experience as in samadhi where you are absorbed in the light of the self yes that is possible so that is not there is no separate person seeing that light of the cell then it would become an object Aditya says if Ananda covers all forms of Joy can one say that Anand also covers all emotions yes those emotions also exist does armed only cover positive emotions no Ananda is that which is always shining and all these emotions are produced in the mind depending on what range of Anand is revealed the emotions are appearances in the mind it's the mind which takes the form of these emotions even the joy in the mind is of the form of that emotion is is actually produced by the mind some of these emotions manifest Ananda better than others that's all Kiran says I read somewhere that sukha has an opposite Ananda has no opposite that is true Ananda has no opposite are there Pleasure and Pain but Anand has the opposite you might suggest like existence does existence have an opposite you say yeah Swami the existence is non-existence but does non-existence exist no of course not it's non-existence so the opposite of existence does not exist because anything that exists is existence um similarly Consciousness as pure Consciousness does it have an opposite unconscious no even what we call unconscious is illumined by consciousness Shiva Priya says in meditation at any point of time one shifts one's Focus very spontaneously from Easter to some joyful magical light one feels Blissful maximum happiness for some time thinking this Consciousness but blank and bright then isn't all part of imagination though it is a happy experience is it Duality this type of reflected Bliss coming and going not the actual one depend on the mind um if from the ishta you go back to an awareness to the awareness of light that means Consciousness itself that's good that's good but remember anything that comes and goes it means it's still there's a dependence on the mind there is a mind involved there pure Consciousness never comes and goes it reveals that which comes and goes but that doesn't mean you will abandon these uh practices in the concentrating on the Easter devata this is a wonderful thing and this is far better than concentrating on miserable things in the world to keep your mind on the East to keep your mind on awareness itself and that's a far better than thing than to keep your mind on occurrences in the world says we can always maintain the Bliss of awareness even when engaged in activity by constant remembrance we should put effort to stay with the sense of I am-ness every moment correct but not taking it as religion like Sam Harris's approach to non-duality Sam Harris actually he mentions that um he's he is very much against religion in just about all its forms except he makes an exception for um sochan Buddhism and advaitha vedanta these are the two things which he says there's a Code of Truth in them which is undeniable and they directly point to the truth but the downside hmm just think about that if you take the system of advaita vedanta or zokchain Buddhism as it is taught with the preliminary practices and cautions there should be no downside that is the practice that is all of advice and Buddhism but if one takes just the core insight and says that here you are your pure Consciousness element it might not work or it might be appealing but still not satisfactory or it might work and be appealing but still not be stable to be stable and beneficial one needs the preliminaries shweta says in deep Sleep experience also vanishes only when we wake up do we say we slept like a log where is that man during deep sleep that which reveals the the deep sleep experiencer who is the experiencer it is the Atman clothed with the mind when the mind starts talking remember mine does mind does not vanish in deep Sleep If you vanished you would never wake up even deep sleep is whose deep sleep it's the mind's deep sleep with the mind which has shut down just because a car is shut down and in your garage doesn't mean the car is vanished it can work it will work the computer shut down nothing is happening doesn't mean all your data is gone it's there hopefully it's there similarly when the Mind shuts down in deep Sleep the mind is there it's the mind's deep sleep Atman is the one which reveals the mind in deep Sleep it's not an experiencer in that sense it becomes an experiencer experiencing subject so this is exactly what I was saying now that shining everything else shines it's not that the experience are shining that the experienced object shines rather the Atman shining experiencer and experience both come up Vivekananda this poem one only exists it appears as nature Soul object subject but one only exists it appears as this that one shining both of these shine now the one always there and these two are lit up but they sometimes do not shine as in deep sleep or in samadhi then only the one is there sriram says that at death Consciousness also leaves is it yes because initial creditors books you will notice there's a distinction made between Consciousness and awareness Consciousness goes away at death awareness continues so people get confused what are they trying to say it's translated from Marathi so you have to give some leeway for the translation um Sangeeta says so opposites can exist in Ananda but that's it's not opposite of Ananda itself opposites can exist in sat in chit and inaranda so in sachidana the Opposites can exist but there is no opposite of sachidananda that's the best way to put it parul says can you recite this fully again the uh that one that's from the eighth anubaka of brahmananda there are three valleys in the second one the brahmananda valley the end of that is this this three tracks worldly otherworldly track one spiritual track track two and the ultimate realization itself that is track three language there is little different and this is basically um those terms are not used but this is basically what they mean SRI ramakrishna uses those terms what should we do try to give up Vishal and the the pursuit of vishalananda as soon as possible don't worry you will not be deprived of joy you will get much better Joy at much less effort with much less danger with much more stability by Bhajan Ananda and thereby through bhajanan to attain to our to brahmananda which you are actually Priya says what is the connection of the enlightened approach to the world it is how does Oneness manifest as this universe uh Rick is right the end of this month I have an interview with Sam Harris thanks to Rick actually uh sriram says focus on awareness in Revelation direct perception is this their mechanism to reach to the ultimate State yes yes yes certainly certainly one is the vijara inquiry which will directly take you to an appreciation of existence Consciousness please or meditation and upasana which will indirectly but it will take you there also same thing good foreign [Music] [Music]