Video 42

42. Katha Upanishad | Mantras 2.3.9 - 11 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

foreign [Music] of knowledge may we attain Vigor together let what we know let what we study be invigorating Illuminating maybe not cavel at each other om peace peace peace we are on the third section of the second chapter which is the last section of the whole upanishad upanishad has six sections divided into two chapters of three section Siege um in this last section Yama the Lord of death who is the teacher is teaching the student who's the young boy and educator and he is wrapping up sort of summarizing the entire teaching what is Brahman the nature of the Ultimate Reality and how we realize it so that's what's going on the process of realizing all of these things have been touched upon earlier but again he is um he's summarizing for our benefit before he closes how we realize it and finally also he will talk about the results of this enlightened mental realization all right um so we are on verse number I think we are on verse number nine if I'm not wrong verse number nine let me chant the verse first and then we will look at the translation questions [Music] I'll read out the English translation from Swami gambhiran and the Jesus translation the form of Brahman does not exist within the range of vision nobody sees him with the eye when this self is revealed through deliberation it is realized by the intellect the ruler of the mind that resides in the heart those who know this become immortal all right let's go into this shankaracharya in his commentary introduces the verse with these words how do you speak about seeing the Atman yes I understand seeing does not mean actually seeing it with the eyes but it means knowing but how do you know the Atman when you have expended so much energy in saying that it's unknowable you can't it is not an object of the senses it's not something that can be expressed in language it's not something that can be conceived captured by concept so how do you know it at all is it knowable how and then here he says it is not something that is within the limits of our vision it's not that it's you know very far away so that the telescope you can see it or it's very small with a particularly powerful electron microscope you can see the Atman no it's not within the range of vision so not by the eyes is it ever seen by anybody here the Eyes by the eyes we take the entire group of sense organs and any instruments which extend the power of the sense organs so the Atman the self is not only not seeable you can't hear it smell it taste it touch it nor do any of the you know the extremely sensitive instruments which we have designed they cannot sense they cannot detect the Atman it's not an object for you know it cannot be objectified by the senses then how is it known that's our question yes we understand it's not objectifiable then how is it known it is known as the very subject itself as the real eye but how we question our knows this has been told many times it's your nature you are Brahman yes but how do I know myself as German and then he mentions this crypto so literally it means Fida means in the heart um in the heart here means in the mind of the intellect and the word he uses here is Manisha it's a common word in Indian in Sanskrit and also in Indian languages now girls have the name Manisha sometimes in India Manisha so here Manisha is by the intellect and shankaracharya gives a very subtle definition of this I'll read out gambhiranji's comment here and then I will explain is um translation of the upanishad and shankaras commentary he adds a footnote what does it mean Manisha by the intellect what does it mean when the footnote gambiranji says the intellect is the ruler dissuading the Mind from its occupation with objects the identity of the self and brahmana taught in the upanishads is confirmed by Manana deliberation deliberation then in the pure intellect unoccupied with objects arises the conviction I am Brahman from the upanishadic text that thou art Brahman becomes fully revealed to that convinced intellect now it's some pretty subtle stuff is going on here also says here in this commentary so this is at the very heart of what we call Enlightenment what's going on here so what's going on here is the um to put it very simply before I explain SRI ramakrishna he he is teaching about this is you know the issue is that it cannot be known by the mind yes it cannot be known by the mind but Shri Ram Krishna says it can be known by the purified mind it can be known by the purified mind it can be realized by the purified mind but what do you mean by the purified mind what exactly is the purified mind well that depends on the impurities what kind of impurities are there and what are the methods of purification and what will be the resultant purified mind which can become enlightened which can realize the Atman so the three layers of impurities which have we have discussed earlier the the first layer is the various conditionings the desires which are there in the mind which we have conditioned the Mind through this lifetime and past lifetimes so that is called chitta Mala the impurities of the Mind there is the way to counteract these impurities of the mind is through first of all an ethical life you know just basically clean up your life an ethical life second Karma Yoga not only ethical action ethical life but a selfless life these two are not the same a person can lead a life which is moral decent a lot of people are decent and moral people but they're not particularly selfless they're good people and that's what Society is mostly composed of but in if you're going to be enlightened if you're going to be spiritual we have to go further that not only am I moral not am I I'm trying to be ethical and do the right thing but also selfless as far as possible um Karma Yoga to convert our moral actions into further into selfless actions what is for the good of all I don't want anything out of this and I am here just to you know serve or do good or worship God through my action Karma Yoga basically so the karma yoga is a powerful tool for purifying the mind so first layer of impurity Desires in the mind sudama Krishna put it very directly lust and gold it is desire for you know accumulation wealth and power and sensuous pleasure lust these two are the prime impurities of the mind and they have to be cleansed out that's the first level now after this comes the second level of impurity the second level of impurity is the restlessness of the Mind the Mind flickers the Arjuna says to Krishna in the bhagavad-gita when in the sixth chapter Krishna teaches him meditation arjuna's complaint is that it doesn't work Krishna the mind of Krishna is unstable flickering now the mind has to be quietened calmed down and focused how do you do that meditation um many words are there upasana yoga and what kind of meditation is necessary for advaita vedanta at what stage or what stages we will see next so that's the second level of practice impurity is the restlessness of the mind and restlessness can be cured by meditation by calming the mind and focusing the mind when the third and final level of impurity is ignorance or an error so ignorance I do not know who or what I am and then this consequent error what is the error I think I'm this body I'm this person and this mind it becomes sort of obvious and unquestioned for me so ignorance and error are the final deepest innermost layer of ignorance of impurity and that impurity is removed by knowledge and that knowledge is born of shravana Manana this is what he's referring to in the intellect what just said the intellect what has it done each it has to tackle each layer of that impurity which has been purified of desires then as Swami gambhiranji commented it controls the mind dissuades the Mind from running after objects and in that um object-less settled mind the intellect also becomes steady and in that intellect having considered well considered the teachings of the upanishads so shravana is getting the teachings literally means hearing so study and hearing of the teachings having heard the teachings having you know downloaded that knowledge you consider it well to think through it thoroughly to deliberate upon it thoroughly from that arises conviction and that conviction which comes from Manana banana gives you conviction means deliberation that conviction gives rise in this still and pure intellect the clarity the the utter change in Vision it removes the ignorance about our real nature and reveals the nature of my own nature nature of reality to me and this is this utter Clarity utter conviction and this does not flicker anymore that is called enlightenment so impurities have to be sudama krishna's key is that um yes it can be realized the Atman can be realized that you are pure Consciousness pure being it can be realized by the mind in spite of all that we have heard it cannot be realized by the Mind shulam Krishna says it can be realized by the purified mind but then it question arises what is the purified mind well then we must know what are the impurities three levels of impurities impure desires impure Minds desires the another level of impurity is the Restless mind the final level of impurity deepest core level of impurity is ignorance and error is ignorance of our real nature says error or superimposition that I am Body Mind now these are removed by by practices what are the practices to remove the desires in the mind the conditioning of the mind is moral life and Karma Yoga first starts with moral life and then Karma Yoga can't Karma Yoga go along with immoral life no it cannot one cannot be unethical and be selfless at the same time you would say why not because person is unethical we do wrong things deliberately only because we can't help it nobody is you know practices immorality as a spiritual practice nobody steals lies murders you know out of the goodness of of their heart it's only because Terror and temptation either they are scared of something and we tell a lie a child learns to tell a lie because it trouble goes away magically if mom catches you do doing something wrong and say did you do this and you say no and the mom says okay good now that sound that's magical you just said no and all this coding went away so the child learns to tell a lie and so when you are afraid when we are scared we do wrong things when we are uh attempted attracted by something and we can't control ourselves we know it's wrong we overstep the limits of ethics of the boundaries of morality in that case again we do wrong things so it's only you know because of the inability to control fear or Temptation that we don't do wrong things if a person is ethical then the next step is selfless Karma Yoga then the next deeper level is restlessness of the Mind so why is it a deeper level because without first purifying the mind of desires one cannot control the restlessness of the Mind I've said this earlier one Yogi teaches meditation to person who's come to learn meditation control the Mind calm the mind and then the yogi tells him well first one must practice truth and self-control and non-violence and that man gets bored and says all these things I know tell me how to sit how to breathe how to withdraw the mind is to sit the posture and the yogi said scolded him gently saying black money you have got Undeclared income you know you're trying to escape the IRS and you hide stash your cash away under the bed and put a meditation mat on top of it and sit in meditation you think the mind is going to calm down no will always be you feel guilty and you're afraid the tax man cometh so you cannot calm the Mind down um ethical life then meditation otherwise what will happen is in the midst of meditation the mind will be shaken violently because of the already inherent turbulences in the mind conditioning of the Mind ethical life meditation meditation calms the purified mind restless but purified mind is calmed by meditation now the last layer is ignorance not knowing the real nature of the self that for that we have the teachings and here the upanishad says well thought out the teachings we we take the teachings and we think through it well and then only Clarity comes Clarity Dawns in the intellect at that time so there is conviction there is Clarity there is tremendous change in our perspective and it is an unshakable change so that is enlightenment shankaracharya here he comments this Clarity how does it seeing clearly the teaching you see it clearly that's called Clarity how how do you see clearly means thinking it through arguing it through trying to see why is it not clear to me at which point am I getting stuck and then you see and then he says the intellect when Clarity comes when Clarity Dawns shankaracharya's subtle indication what is Enlightenment like this is the intellect summer Theta literally it supports or backs it up or says yes this is how it is prakashita literally this is a English for English for this would be illuminated or enlightened like light you know enlightened prakashita is enlightened um yes in this way what happens here secretary says you should add to these words can be known can be realized so not realizable by the mind the first meaning is it is not realizable by the impure mind realizable by the purified mind but the purified mind includes all these practices um so this moment of Clarity arises in the in the intellect now if you want more detail finer details more fine-grained analysis of this what do you mean this Clarity arises what kind of clarity what is it exactly this is called Brahma or avriti modification of the intellect in the form I am Brahman this not saying I am Brahman not like a mantra this just like I'm very clear I am sarva priyananda now it's a fact to me it's no I'm not repeating it as a mantra it's just I'm repeating a fact when I say I am sarva priyaranda it should be even more clear than that I am Brahman that knowledge should come that Clarity should come how that comes the exact mechanism of it I will not talk about it now I mentioned it a few times in vedanta Sarah towards the end of vedanta Sir there's a discussion on these two technical terms called um literally if you translate it won't make much sense but I'll translate it for you pervasion by the Mind pervasion by reflected Consciousness in the mind that's how knowledge works and how does it apply to Enlightenment knowledge of the Atman or Brahman those things were discussed there at the end of vedanta you take a look there the issue there was this very question but in a more philosophical way this question was asked more sophisticated way the question was asked that some of the upanishads say um what cannot be known by the mind what cannot be conceived of by the mind and yet there are other upanishads which say that by the Mind alone it can be realized now which which is it how can both of them be true you cannot conceive of it by the mind and you can know it only by the mind how do you resolve this apparent contradiction so that is what was done in that vedanta with the help of those sophisticated epistemological Concepts anyway I will not go into that now we realize ourselves and this witness Consciousness not the body not the mind and the witness Consciousness then a vidu he says those who know this self shankaracharya says those who know this self as Brahman as pure as the infinite existence Consciousness place Amrita bhavanti they become immortal what do you mean they know this from as Brahman I know that I am Brahman not that Brahman exists I am Brahman when I realize that Amrita Bhavan you become immortal not that even you become immortal the moment we realize that we are Brahman Brahman is Immortal it is not born it is does not age it does not die it exists as infinite existence Consciousness Bliss so I realize that so by the very nature of that realization I realized my immortal nature that I am not limited in space I'm not limited by time Immortal literally means I am not limited by time I'm not born and I do not die I do not change in time foreign let me put it this way one it will come a little later but let me just tell you right now a simple way of understanding advaita vedanta is um you realize first of all we we take it for granted or take it on faith that there is such a thing as an unlimited existence Consciousness place that's not enlightenment but that we've learned from the upanishads from the texts that then absolute reality exists how do you know that I'm taking it on faith I've been told that I have read about it that's one side the other side is I know I exist nobody has to tell me that my own existence is indubitable that's what Descartes discovered when he had this you know his investigation into what can be doubted and what cannot be doubted he found out only one thing cannot be doubted my own existence so my own existence is undoubted this one undoubted existence but the problem is I have no doubt about my own existence but the problem is that this existence is beset by problems I exist surely but I am a limited person I am born and I age and I die I my knowledge is very limited my abilities are limited My Success isn't in my life are limited to my failures in life a limited thank God my failures are limited it would be terrible to have unlimited failures so my very existence is a very limited existence full of problems full of Sorrows full of frustrations so this I exist surely but it's a limited existence problematic existence and now I have been told about Brahman Problem free you know what what problem does Brahman have infinite being infinite awareness infinite Bliss no problem at all but that existence I'm taking on faith that Brahman such a thing is there I'm taking on faith because I am I have read read it I've been told by spiritual Masters but some absolute reality exists fine Problem free reality now what vedanta does is to show that one indubitable certain existence which is you is actually this Limitless existence called Brahman let me repeat that my own certain existence and that infinite existence are one and the same existence this is what we realize shows us step by step it it enables us to appreciate that the one thing which I am certain about which nobody has to teach me I exist takes that fact alone and shows that I exist is an infinite existence which has no problems problems are there at the body level if I identify with the body all body problems are my problems problems are there the Mind level so identify with the mind all mind problems are my problems but if I identify with or I see myself as that Limitless self Atman I am Brahman no problems is to show that first you are not the body not the mind you are this witness Consciousness and second to show that this witness Consciousness is the Limitless Brahman that is the teaching of the shandoki upanishad which says you are that in you are that first of all we have to clarify what is meant by you if you say if I say I am the body then you are that Thomas will not work not at all that infinite Brahman is the body no if I say no I'm not the body but I'm this person I'm this mind embodied will not work that ever changing mind subject to ups and downs every moment is that Brahman will absolute reality no but I am the non-object pure subject witness consciousness that is Brahman that is much easier it will work that that statement the teaching will is much easier to understand in Hindi they say thick thick by Tega it will it will be set properly that teaching to say that you are Limitless clearly the body is not Limitless it's right here where is it the whole universe is best the body is Tiny the universe is long-lived body is short-lived the body is vulnerable little kobit can destroy it and cause lot of suffering mind is even more vulnerable even more changeable but the Consciousness to which the body mind appears is that limited does that grow old does is that does that growth up go through ups and downs unhappiness and frustration no not as a matter of stipulation not as a rhetoric but I come to see that that's so that is Brahman that's what uh vedanta wants to tell us and if you realize that this very Atman the self as Brahman is he says you become immortal become immortal figuratively only you realize you always were important Atman is Brahman just a couple of days back somebody told me um oh yes I know who it was he said to me he's a techie he said to me do you know that the founder of that AI company the chat GPT um Sam Altman or something so somebody asked him in a question on his Twitter I think tell us something that you believe that others don't that's not generally believed generally accepted or known and it seems he replied on Twitter it's most people must be on his Twitter he replied Atman is Brahman I believe that I wanted to feel that it sounds like a non-dualist another way thing no how does this moment of Enlightenment arise when I realized Atman is Brahman um shankaracharya asks this question when we in his lead into the next verse shankaracharya says this moment of enlightenment although the exact words he uses are more profound than that sit in the heart this intellect which shines with the clarity I am Brahman how does that arise for that purpose he says Now yoga is being taught meditation is being taught but now the next two verses 10th and eleventh verse are teachings of meditation a yogic meditation in order to attain this realization all right now we'll see 10th verse in [Music] English translation is when the five senses of knowledge come to rest together with the mind and the intellect too does not function that state they call the highest just before we go into it when you say that state they call the highest what is that state that samadhi is talking about samadhi here so samadhi is the highest gambiranji Maharaj here he adds an important note samadhi is not the highest it helps you to attain the highest pitches realization that you are Brahman so gamiranji writes here that state of yoga which is samadhi is called the highest because it leads to the highest code what is the highest goal realization I am Brahman what helps there samadhi helps there it's a powerful help very powerful help so what is that samadhi and how do you attain it that is given here the teaching on meditation is given here whole process is not given what we are trying to do in meditation that's pointed out let's start here basically the culmination of meditation the the deepest meditation description of that is pointed out here he says first of Allah here means the five senses of knowledge in Sanskrit the five um sense organs seeing hearing smelling tasting touching the five sense organs they are stilled then manasasa the mind is stilled then the intellect becomes still and then he straight away says that is called the highest state what is meant here I have also said this earlier one sadhu he his instructions for this much more simple more like a sergeant in a boot camp he He barked out to the meditators don't don't move don't shake so they're all sitting rigid straight don't speak then third search don't think from Outer Stillness to Inner Stillness and inner innermost Stillness basically Stillness Stillness um the mind is so delicate it has been compared to a bowl brim full of water filled to the brim of with water if you're holding such a bowl you have to be so careful not to spill a single drop so first of all you have to be very still one thing which disturbs the mind immediately is movement of the body so first still the body sits still that's why sitting is good for meditation there is walking meditation I know but sitting meditation is the best then the senses have to be quietened now senses are too quieten means that's why eyes are closed or half closed because it's fully clothed sends a message to the mind it's okay to fall asleep because that's the Mind thinks that closing the eyes means that it's time to go to sleep so half closed or looking down there at the mat or yeah are closed so close the eyes do not hear so a quiet environment is highly recommended and then smell tastes touch a neutral environment so that the senses are not they don't kick into action our mind is mostly engaged with processing sense inputs so what the Mind does is a lot of data is flowing in through the senses I don't know Neuroscience has revealed this you know like a lot of our neuronal activities concerned with the visual cortex for example that's why closing dies is very important not that we are seeing anything very useful or important as far as spiritual life is concerned there's not much we can see in the world which is of any particular use to us in spiritual life so close the eyes now one might say that but you can't really you know you can even plug your ears but then this senses touch for example or smell taste what do you have to do do you have to go into what is called a sensory deprivation tank so where all the five senses are dulled they do not get any major impulse no here is a secret what is meant by quietening the senses is actually not reacting mentally to sensory input yes first of all neutral quiet environment non-exciting environment so meditation room a temple is good but after that even then there will be sounds and you notice when you are meditating you become much more sensitive to the slightest disturbance also you're meditating and the person next to you meditating if that person snores that your whole mind will be occupied with that person snoring now the Mind becomes more sensitive so the the strong principle to drive into the mind is not to react to sensory inputs whatever sound comes um there's a story it's a Sufi story of a man a Muslim who was praying and this girl who was going to meet her beloved she ran or looking for a child or whatever she ran past him and not knowing that this man was praying so her clock brushed against him this man was very annoyed and then the next time she came back on that path the man scolded her don't you know I am praying to Allah I'm praying to God aren't you ashamed you're not even you know aware of what's going on around you and then the girl said I was thinking of you know my child and I didn't even see you I was so focused on that you are thinking of God how can you be so aware of so many different things in the world that somebody ran past you and realized slightly the clock brushed your claws how are you so aware yes now the mind has to be you know the principle is don't react to sense inputs the moment the mind doesn't react to sense inputs the senses are quite you see it it is senses are in that sense in that sense innocent because they're just processing information they're collecting information um it's the mind which gets Disturbed when the information comes in we see something here something smell something and the touch and that disturbs the mind that throws the mind it's like a lake you throw a stone into a lake it sets out ripples the mind gets Disturbed now make an effort not to let those disturbances spread in the mind you will see after some time the sensory inputs don't don't matter in Buddhist Meditation vipassana camps and all I'm told that you know you sit for long hours an initial phase lot of disturbances will come although it's a very quiet environment your body itself will set up so many disturbances so you are asked to make an effort not to keep on reacting there is a little scratch you scratch that the little ache you start adjusting for that egg don't do it as far as possible don't react to um in a sense inputs and the amazing thing that will happen is those things will go away after some time do you make a breakthrough you push through that you make a breakthrough it will not disturb you after some time it's a kind of a little bit of Mischief that if you have a child or something a little child to attract attention there will be up to all sorts of antics if you don't respond to it after some time the child will go to sleep we'll we'll get get tired of all of that so that is the way you want to handle the senses this is called pratyahara ahara means to take in to eat basically not only eating food we are eating the world through our senses seeing hearing smelling tasting touching not to eat to pull back from eating with the five senses if you don't do that there's no possibility of meditation now the next is manasa the Mind itself should be quietened not only one must not react to the inputs from the senses remember already it's a quiet place a meditation room a temple someplace which is not disturbing I'm not asking you they are not making impossible demands of us that in the middle of a cinema Hall on Times Square you have to sit down and that's also possible that's also entirely possible but not in the beginning in the beginning you have a good environment like a meditation room or a temple or something in a good environment also you have to make an effort to withdraw from the Census don't react to the census that's level one but once you have done that you're not reacting to the senses another level of Mischief arises the mind in itself um who was that the one who wrote um the quote I remember the quote from a beautiful poem epic poem the quote is this the Mind by itself can create a hell of heaven and a heaven of hell yes so Paradise Lost In fact I think maybe it's from Paradise Lost probably so mind in itself but the mind in its own place can can make a heaven of Hell a hell of Heaven um now the mind will start doing that creating a heaven or a hell hell is our anxieties our problems it will tell you why are you wasting your time sitting quietly you have lots of things on your to-do list get up and get busy or it will create a heaven It's a Wonderful lost in a world of expectations this can happen that can happen or you know looking forward to a wonderful time or looking back to a wonderful time which you had Heaven or Hell being created by the mind stop that that is the Silence of the Mind stop doing that then the third level then what will happen is the intellect Buddhism so the intellect which was trying to do all these vedantic inquiries not the body because of these reasons you know the body is changing I am gun changing experience of the changing body the body is an object and the experiencer of the object the body is not conscious I am conscious of the body so many intellectual you know inquiries were being conducted stop that now now you have what you want you know where you're going so stop the movements of the intellect that cannot be stopped the still and luminous intellect it cannot be stopped until the senses are quietened and the mind is quietened until you don't react to external inputs there are no external inputs from the senses and the no internal inputs from the mind also then there is no more food for the intellect to chew upon and the vedantic inquiry which is going you have completed it stop it now okay whatever says when the book of the Mind opens then you can dismiss with other books which means you have Clarity within you don't need to go over a shloka what did that shloka say what did um say what did upper Oaks said no no need anymore let the intellect be still then in that intellect still senses still mind still intellect the truth shines of itself this is basically is recommending meditation yogic meditation here you can see the relation to yoga nirodha the definition of meditation in patanjali Yoga Yoga nirodha Yoga what is samadhi stealing the activities of the Mind stealing the activities of the Mind and for that a whole technology is given of practices so eight food eight limb yoga Ashtanga Yoga there is the preliminary purificatory practices the ethical practices Yama and niyama Yama and Yama they are all of the nature of quietening see untruth we tell untruth only when the mind is Disturbed as I said Terror or Temptation so against untruth to quietening the untruth the impulse to untruth is truth quietening the impulse to anger is ahimsa non-violence brightening the impulse to sense Indulgence is brahmacharya is sense control celibacy self-control quietening the impulse for acquisition this this grabbing from the world is these are the five limbs astaya means non-steeling a paragraph means non-acceptance non-accumulation so notice all of these five we take them as moral practices but they're all of the nature of stealing quietening um so Yama and Yama they are essential for moral purification then the third component is um Asana physical Stillness then there is pranayama breath control of the breath rhythmic deep breathing why there are many many techniques the whole range of techniques you can always learn many of them from your local yoga instructor why this breathing because um in order to control something very subtle you need something which you can control directly trying to control the mind is like trying to control wind Arjuna says this to Krishna in the sixth chapter trying to control the mind in meditation or Krishna as you're telling me is impossible it's like trying to control the wind now there is a way in bit in between the physical body and the mind is breath Prana and breath we can control so breath control techniques are there how what good will it do because the breath is connected to you in the in the physical body and to you as the mind in between the breath is connected to both so by quietening the catching hold of the breath one can eventually quieten the mind you know very excited angry you'll see breathing changes very dull breathing changes very focused breathing changes so but and by changing the breath one can focus the mind that is Prana ayama that is the fourth component the fifth component is which is where he has started this verse controlling the senses controlling the senses means first of all quietening and second mental level not reacting not reacting then the next level is the last three stages of the final stages of meditation is meditation samadhi is complete absorption the deepest level of meditation which is what he has mentioned here so eight limbs all of it is you can see that that is what's indicated in this verse um SRI ramakrishna gave some wonderful examples of how to meditate so the it's like a parable but it's very useful when you're trying to meditate so he gives the example of uh he says the village women going to get water from the well so they grow grow in a group with their water pots and they draw water and they walk back and there are multiple pots of water water pots so there's a big pot and a medium pot in a small pot all on their heads one above the other and sudama Krishna remarked how careful they are so that it doesn't fall down if it falls the pots will be smashed and yet he says they are walking and talking with each other they're walking and talking with each other you know exchanging the gossip of the village whatever but first and primary concern is the water part should not come tumbling down from their heads they're full of audit We Will We Will We Won't manage it will be so difficult for us for them it's second nature but the primary attention is on the water ponds similarly the primary attention should be the alertness that the there should be no turbulence from the senses no turbulence from the mind and no activity of the intellect at that level that kind of attention remember the women carrying the water spots another example he gave was um of the um balance you know if you go to even now in a village shop whatever you want so they will like maybe rice they will put what you select on one pan and on the other pan they will put the weights so the balance you know now Krishna he said you notice whichever side is heavier that that pan goes down now on the one side is the world the other side is God and what happens is the our the mind is weighed so much on the world side that the mind it always goes down on that side so you need to put more weight on this side how do you put more weight on this side meditation prayer japa whatever so that your mind becomes pulled to this side towards the god side that's another example um there is another example you gave but that's a very I mean sort of slightly outdated because you don't see that in villages anymore threshing the grain so the lady of the house she is with her foot she's using you know pedaling the machine the thresher and with another hand she's shoving the grain into the thresher and she's holding the baby at her waist with the other hand and she's talking with the customer who has come to whom she is selling and she's telling him you owe so much from the last time and so all of this is going on but sudam Krishna says that she is first and foremost careful that her hand doesn't get crushed under the the pile of the movement of the thresher it'll it'll be crushed if she doesn't take it out in time so that's first and foremost and then everything else is going on how to keep the mind on God in the middle of activities let alone meditation in the middle of activities so here's these all these wonderful um examples for keeping the mind on God so for example keeping your mind on the water pot what would what would you what would be in place of the water part it could be holding the Mantra in your mind in the middle of activities try it you can hold the Mantra in your mind in the midst of most activities and if those at some activities are there which require full concentration and you cannot keep the mind on the mantra gives an example for that also the compass needle he says the compass needle always swings around to a north-south Direction so you you flick the needle it'll go around and again swing back to the north south Direction so your mind it swings around because of the pressures of the world but the moment the pressure is lit up it will again swing back towards God so make your mind like that the compass needle this is a wonderful examples which ramakrishna gives just one more thing I would like to add here before going on is that this vedantic meditation these yogic meditation is difficult so what is done is deity meditation I came to know that they do it in Tibetan Buddhism also there's a deity meditation now I am the pure Consciousness the Atman which I have studied from the upanishads and I know I'm not the body not the mind and the witness Consciousness but to still the mind there is very difficult if you try it you'll end up probably with a headache so or if you try it you know the mind will if either flicker go here and there or if you force it it'll go to sleep you can go to sleep that's why in vedanta class you see some spectacular yawns if you're vedanta teacher especially and see all the class you do you can see some huge yawns coming so uh that that's because it can be on induce inducing especially when you try to meditate on that either restlessness or sleep now what is done is instead of trying to meditate on the pure subject which is admittedly difficult what is done is try to steal the mind on the form of the chosen deity so it could be Rama it could be Krishna it could be narayana or Durga Kali ramakrishna the way your Guru has taught you the deity and the Mantra of the deity now the mind has something to catch on the Mind catches on to something in the world either a sense input or something it gets from its own memories then it will be you'll be caught in the world but if you catch on to the deity and the Mantra that is that though that name and form does not obscure the nature of the Atman normally the worldly names and forms divert us from the Atman they pull our mind out into the world or uh but this Divine name and form does not obscure the nature of the Atman that's why srinama Krishna said that in Bengali jeja Atma isma whoever is your Easter devata which has been given by the guru if that is the your Atman with this particular name and form when you're doing that exercise it's not different from vedantic meditation it is vedantic meditation and it will again lead you to that non-dual realization in time he carries on with the discussion on meditation next 11th mantra 's the English translation is they consider that keeping of the senses steady as yoga one becomes Vigilant at that time for yoga is subject to growth and decay okay yoga is subject to growth and Decay this is an important Point here what he means here is meditation even samadhi comes and goes Focus difficult to attain once you attain it very easy to lose again so yoga is subject to growth and Decay Focus concentration deepens and lose insults deepens and loosens it comes and goes Enlightenment doesn't come and go once ignorance is removed you realize you are Brahman you the pure Consciousness you're always there not only that you realize you are there even before Enlightenment as pure Consciousness you are there in Enlightenment you just come to see it and not only that yes insists you are that pure Consciousness unflickering Consciousness even when the mind is flickering even when the mind is not in samadhi even when the mind is engaged and active in the world even when the mind is upset even then you are this unlimited Consciousness it is true but in order to access that in order to reach that Enlightenment this unflickering mind is necessary and for that one needs to know that this concentration is difficult to achieve and once achieved it can be lost so the remedy for that is um flickering mind is mindfulness you know the Buddhists Tibetan Buddhists they have developed this mindfulness to a very exact science a lot of techniques of mindfulness they have developed um so here he's saying literally means mindfulness error flickering this is a old Sanskrit saying um error is death so the error can come in many forms at the deepest level the error is I do not know I am pure Consciousness I am body mind that's error deepest level the next level of error is flickering mind I don't I don't keep Focus I don't I'm not at peace I am not silent flickering might the final level of error is moral error because of thinking of myself as body mind because of scattered attention and I give in to you know sensory impulses and do what I know to be wrong and which I will regret later on so that is also error all three levels these are all called pramaada and they're called This is equivalent to death it's spiritual death foreign vigilance is the price of Liberty even spiritual Liberty it requires vigilance this upramatta is vigilant in this state yoga defined as samadhi shankaracharya says this is Yoga see this is a play on words yoga means joining but ryoga means separation so here he says this is actually separation you need to step back from the world from the body from the senses from the mind even from the intellect into the fastness into the security of your real nature to get a glimpse of that to stay there for a while and so that you know that you are you are it even this phrase that you stay there for a while is full of error because you stay there anyway all the time but the mind convinces us that oh I was there in samadhi but now I've lost it again so here he is talking about the practice of mindfulness why mindfulness because Focus can be gained and lost therefore one has to be mindful foreign why because in samadhi when the senses are still when the mind is still and the intellect is not active there's no question of error error is not possible flickering is not possible already they have been stilled but to achieve that state mindfulness is necessary from the very beginning what is the beginning from the stealing of the body stilling of the senses stilling of the mind and then quietening of the intellect mindfulness mindfulness every moment mindfulness look at SRI ramakrishna's teaching about the women carrying the water pots on their head it's actually mindfulness moment to moment to moment careful mindfulness and a habitual mindfulness that's the beauty of that example the women have made it habitual they can carry those make up this very difficult task of carrying multiple water pots balanced on their heads mindfully and yet relaxed in the middle of activities of the world that's a really good example [Music] he uses a nice term here shankaracharya he says in order to prevent the decay of meditation what is the decay of meditation the loss of focus you have carefully built up a Stillness and it is always subject to loss in order for that mindfulness is necessary I'll just add here in the beginning we will notice these four stages of meditation stage one is focus whatever meditation you're doing you may be meditating on the breath you may be meditating on Easter devata that the chosen deity with the Mantra or even trying the advaithic meditation of not body not mind witness consciousness whatever it is stage one will always be Focus we make an effort to focus step stage one stage two distraction stage 3 wandering mind stage four you recognize the wandering and bring it back so these four stages stage one Focus stage two there will be a moment of distraction something will come in mindfulness will prevent that but if you're not mindful it will happen most of the time distraction comes in then the result of the distraction will be the mind will move after that distraction wandering mind stage three and that can last for minutes several minutes and then suddenly we realize the stage four comes still suddenly we realize oh it's wondering I have to think about I have to focus on the breath or I have to focus on the Mantra or I have to focus on not body not my witness consciousness and you bring it backing again it'll be lost so this is the four stages in which it goes through this is called the decay of awareness or decay of meditation which shankaracharya mentions to prevent that mindfulness is the weapon um all right one important comment here and then we will see the questions what is the role of meditation in advance it's useful at two different levels one is um as a preparation for advaita for shravana Manana even before one needs a focused mind to attend to the teaching is no use going to a teaching on vedanta and not listening it just go through one as the teachers say in India you know they go through one year and comes out to the other year but it doesn't stay in there so uh focused listening requires meditation this is in the preliminaries of vedanta the four-fold qualifications six treasures and uh desires for Liberation discernment dispassion the six-fold treasure or six-fold discipline and desire for Liberation in the six-fold discipline if you remember there is shama quietness of the mind dhamma control of the senses then spiritual fortitude holding on to your practice and then uparathi withdrawal from too much engagement with the world then samadhana Focus that Focus their meditation is useful so if you have a mantra a deity meditation or if you do a breath following the breath whatever your meditation technique it develops focus and this is a preliminary for entering into vedanta a very focused alert listening we are focused my mind is not diverted I am listening to you understand it falls asleep that is no good or it's thinking of 100 different things the intense desire to check my phone no that's no good also so focused listening not sleepy not distracted and holding on difficult we have this attention span problem you know 15-20 minutes and listening or studying for hours together is difficult actually so for that preliminary meditation is necessary that stage one that meditation is required then at an advanced level as the ninth verse said listening to the teachings having considered those teachings well thinking it through getting the clarity and understanding how I am not the body how I am not the ever-changing mind how all of these are appearing to me the Consciousness having come to this conclusion the ability to stay with that stay with that conclusion to stay with that Clarity this is called nididasana the vedantic meditation or non-dual meditation at this level also meditation is necessary and the technique technology is the same you need to sit you need to regulate the breathing you need to withdraw from the external World Focus meditation and then somatic there's so much to it's all of that and as the miraji mark noted even that meditation the higher meditation that's also not the goal it is a means to the goal what is the goal Alhambra I am Brahman that realization all right let's look at the comments sriram says swamiji is pure mine is equal to zero ego malabix yes ultimately pure mind will be that means impurity of mind that is desires uh Mala literally means dirt big shaper restlessness means covering veiling all three removed then Shiva Priya asks in bad power politics bad politics tries to disturb a stop in your unselfish charity work in that case it's obvious the mind gets unsettled as your morality and selfishness is challenged isn't obvious mind will be restless is it important no it's not impure but one must have the ability vivekantha says this ability to fill the bucket and empty the bucket to attach and detach that will this power I can throw myself into a work and yes it's a good work selfless work face lot of problems mind gets disturbed about it you work through it and try to get it done and at the same time once it's over shut the door shut out the world you put in one Swami is to say you put on your chest mentally visualize no admission no admission to what to the world anybody in the world no matter how important any activity these next 15 minutes this next 30 minutes 45 minutes are mine I am God Alone that's it and nobody in the world that capacity must be there personal meditation holiday 100 people together meditating as they ask you not to react to any Silent Sound of breathing coughing I did it five six years back no exposure to the advantage class so I thought what kind of meditation Hall is this yes true meditating with others even the little sounds they make can be quite disturbing because it brings to your mind immediately that person it's not just a sound because sound leads to everything in the mind so you think of that person now coughing and the mind goes there but you have to it's a good practice to stop that reaction then you'll see after some time it will settle down you'll become even conscious and irritated and just the heavy breathing of others every little disturbance created by this creates anoints towards others good practice remember the problem is in there not really out there it's a pretty silent place maybe 50 people 100 people are sitting there comparatively to the world outside the place is a silent place and it's a good place for meditation let hundred people sit I remember one beautiful description of during from the Buddhas time so there was a time in the afternoon when the Buddha would himself addressed the assembled monks and lay people were also welcome so people from the nearby town would come and sit and listen so one king or rich person who came he left an account and this is quite apart from this the teaching with the Buddha gave he says I was most impressed by this Gathering hundreds of monks sitting around the Buddha in utter Stillness no one sneezed cuffed or even moved a little bit that he says was most impressive for me so she says what kind of meditation Hall is this it's true here in a vedanta society we have creaky steps somebody said you have the creakiest meditation Hall in the world anybody who goes up and down the steps you can hear it creaking Andrew says isn't Brahman Consciousness higher than Unity Unity higher than beginning self-realization all these different terms used then used in vedanta um let's put it this way upon making the Breakthrough one realizes that at the heart of all this diversity there lies Oneness that is Brahman and that is you that Oneness is your inner reality this in at that level this entire universe is one reality everybody is is one with you or you are one with everybody and everything so that is that Oneness you're not thinking that everybody is one you're not thinking that we are all one it's not it's not a thought at all you can let go of all thinking at that level parul says will a guru give the Mantra deeksha as well suggest Easter Deva to meditate upon but do visualize the deity to calm my mind can I continue or obey my Guru once I have been granted the grace yes the guru will suggest the deity and the Mantra but if you have a particular preference before the diksha you should talk with the guru that maybe in my family or in my community I have practiced on my tradition I have practiced this for a long time and I would like to continue suppose you are meditating on Shiva and you would like to make continue meditating on Shiva so before then an initiation you have to ask the guru whether the guru will be willing to give a Shiva Mantra or not that also depends Rashi says when the Eyes Are Open seeing Brahman with Open Eyes The Yoga of meditation stealing the Mind sounded like it would illuminate witness Consciousness however to see Brahman in all objects the practice to be done in the state of Stillness with eyes open now this is for making the Breakthrough and realizing I am Brahman seeing Brahman and everybody with open eyes is not a practice Brahman is everywhere how do you see the water in all the waves with the Open Eyes you see it because you know that it's water knowledge tells you that with open eyes you will see exactly what everybody else is with open eyes is seeing you will see people and dogs and cats and the sky and the Earth and buildings exactly like that but that all of it is Brahman is clear to you because you have you have made that breakthrough you realize that Brahman alone is all of this it's not that you're practicing seeing Brahman in all beings um yeah so this is important I'll repeat what was said here is that to become enlightened first we have to focus on ourselves and see that I am not the body not the mind I am the witness Consciousness and get this Clarity and use meditation to still yourself in this if not this then at least till yourself in the samadhi of Easter devata and then next this witness Consciousness which I have realized myself to be this is the infinite Brahman after we have done that we will realize when we come back to this world we will realize that whatever we see whoever we see and nothing but Brahman it's that same reality you can't jump ahead you can't skip this step nilabara says someone who is initiated by Mantra diksha is it okay to do with personal you can in our tradition there is the no you know obligation not to follow some any other technique as long as you do your Mantra japa morning and evening one can at least the minimum one can take up any other kind of practice if you find vipassana helpful why not Peter says when one sits down to meditate who is it that sits in meditation is it a body or is it pure if you physically sit down the body sits down physically obviously quieten down the sense is quietened down still it the mind is stilled you are pure consciousness but be careful when you use language don't say that oh I can't sit I am pure Consciousness when you ask her if someone says ask you please sit down say no I can't say I'm pure Consciousness you mean that a body should sit down don't use language like that just say yeah I'm sitting down all right [Music] [Music] thank you