Video 43

43. Katha Upanishad | Mantras 2.3.12 - 13 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

Shanti [Music] may the Lord protect us both the teacher and the thought together may the Lord give us the results of knowledge may we attain Vigor together let what we study be Illuminating maybe not quavail at each other om peace peace peace so we are studying the cat openation towards the end that these two verses which I could have done last time but I wanted to save them for one full session because they are powerful um you'll see but I I like them so much and you will see how important and Powerful they are well let me just chant the verses and they go together verse number 12 and 13. search on them translate them and then we'll discuss it mantra 12. [Music] the translation is it cannot be attained through speech Norse through mind not through the eye how can it be known to anyone apart from him who speaks of it as existing 13. and John the 13th mantra is [Music] the translation of the 13th Mantra is the self is first to be realized as existing and then as it really is of these two aspects the real nature of the self that has been known as merely existing becomes favorably disposed for self-revelation all right that's cryptic enough now let's see what it means Brahman is infinite Limitless Limitless it's often described as Limitless existence Limitless Consciousness Limitless Bliss happiness or fulfillment as such pure being Limitless being chit Limitless Consciousness and Ananda Limitless fulfillment or or Bliss now um you will notice in these two mantras Brahma and the Ultimate Reality of the self Atman was described was denoted by the term existence as existence so often you find in the upanishads Brahman is is described or is indicated by the term consciousness so in knob initiate its Consciousness you find both existence and Consciousness you remember the definition of Brahman which we did Brahman is being awareness unlimited being and awareness we have done this I mean I've given talks about this number of times my favorite definition of the absolute I mean it's a contradiction in terms absolute and definition but then if you have seen those talks you will see what it means means existence you find um or dear one all this was existence bare existence alone you know in the beginning before all this um you know name and form the universe arose it was Bare existence alone when when in chandoki upanishad it is said you are that that means existence pure being um and in some places you find some open upanishads you find Brahman indicated by Bliss or happiness um for example no Brahman to be Ananda or Bliss um Brahman is Rasa Russia is of course a term which has many meanings in usually in Indian languages it means something tasty flavor and Rasam is a very spicy drink favored in the South specially but Rasta is also aesthetic experience there's a whole theory of Russia how you get joy in art and dance and literature and painting and other but in vedanta Russia means Brahman Brahman is bliss itself rasa itself Brahman is Rasa that is bliss of the game says that um there is no happiness in The Limited what is unlimited that is happiness in the Unlimited in the infinite there is happiness so Brahman is infinite existence infinite Consciousness infinite happiness so this infinitude that is Brahman in this particular Mantra you see Brahman is described as or indicated by the word existence is this this unlimited existence that is Brahman so in order to realize Brahman and to realize that we are Brahman one must turn away from The Limited see it says not by eyes which by eyes is meant all the senses whatever can be objectified by the senses that's not problem not by speech whatever can be verbalized whatever language can refer to that's not problem manasa whatever one can think of conceive of understand that's not Brahman unfortunately so um because what the mind can do what language can do and what senses can do they always grasp The Limited so in order to realize that I am the unlimited that's what advaitha wants you to do that I am the unlimited one must not be caught up in The Limited what does it mean being caught up in the limited one Desiring The Limited Limited in Sanskrit Parish limited that which is cut into pieces so Desiring The Limited when we desire money and pleasure and power and property all of it is limited Facebook likes all of it is limited and we get caught there do not desire The Limited turn away from Desiring The Limited do not work from The Limited this is a great thing to understand all the efforts that we have in our life whatever we are doing in our life take a close look at why we are doing it are we are we doing it to pursue something limited then don't how am I going to survive Swami survive for attaining the unlimited survive for God realization if you want to do a job and earn money let it be that without this I cannot do my Southern and retain God realization that's why I am doing a job if I am raising a family if I am with people around why am I doing that not for what they can give me rather this is now my arena for Spiritual practice how can I love serve you know help them grow as a part of my spiritual practice whatever I do can continue to do it but make sure that I am doing it for the unlimited not for The Limited and not for the little things that people can give me a job can give me a little bit of pleasure in the world can give me not for those things if I do that then I'm caught I'm caught because I desire The Limited I'm caught because I'm working for the limited don't do that that means what do I think of myself as do I think of myself as this body this person and don't be caught in that that I am a man or a woman or an Indian or white or black or brown Limited the moment I think that I'm excluding something a lot outside me the moment I think I am this this particular body Limited my constant thinking and self-identification try not to be with the Limited try to expand Beyond The Limited so what this is what not to do do not desire the limit limited do not work for the limited and understand that that not that is not saying that you should give up your job and retire to the Himalayas you can do what you're doing but reoriented a paradigm shift I'm doing it for God realization I'm doing it for the infinite not for the limited um and bhavana do not constantly immerse yourself in the idea that I am this limited person born and I will die very soon adversarial with others these are the ones I like and I want their approval I want their closeness I want their company these are the ones I don't like I want to avoid them I dislike them I want to criticize them and hate them no that's limited again it's a limited bhavana and then limiting myself to the body to the mind so um not with the parikshinda not with the limited we what we want is the unlimited vedanta what it does is it takes you the individual and shows that you're unlimited that's all it does vedant is not for you know I spend a lot of time in Excavating in in finding out the witness Consciousness not the body not the mind and the awareness but that's not what vedanta is for sankya can give us that a little bit of you know meditation can show us that I am awareness so vedant is to show that that witness Consciousness that awareness is the unlimited brahmana that's what vedanta does I'll repeat is not to show you that you are the witness Consciousness it is to show that the witness Consciousness is the unlimited Brahman that's what you are the witness Consciousness which is the unlimited Brahman the non your own non-duality that's what advice wants to show you where do we go for the unlimited where do we go to find the unlimited if I am going to turn away from the limited and I'm going to look for the infinite the unlimited where do I find the Anand Ananda unlimited Limitless Unlimited where do I find it there are only two options where can I look either in the object or in the subject either in the this or in the eye this idam in Sanskrit either I can investigate this or the I the object or the subject and if you look at the object when you say whatever you can designate by this what are the objects what does this mean the objects to which this refers to our external are outside this um this house this city this person this job this book this whatever this it's an object outside the word this refers to an object outside as language it's on your tongue as the object it's outside you as a language it's on your tongue it's what it's a word this and what this means the meaning of that word this is a concept in your mind so the whole range of this this when you say this object are things outside language which we use on our tongues to refer to those things and the concepts in our mind this is the entire range of object this is the entire range of the word this of this and notice what the upanishad said not by eyes not by speech not by mind now uh [Music] whatever is perceivable I you whatever we see here smell taste touch nope that's not Brahman why because it's limited yeah look what we are looking for is unlimited and whatever is within language this is language this word is language whatever is language that's not Brahman and whatever we conceive of in our minds that's not Brahman and therefore because it's all limited therefore the entire gamut of the objective external verbal mental the entire Spectrum you cannot find Brahman there you cannot find the infinite there you cannot find the unlimited there they're all limited that's why it says so first I'm diving deep into the mantras which we are going to see here now and then we'll see what shankaracharya does in the commentary with the mantras he does something more than the basic meaning of the mantra so not in the realm of this not in the realm of the object now look at the subject the eye just this bare feeling of I am notice five aspects of this I am five aspects of this I have first this I am um is undeniable you're looking like he's going to speak about Descartes again no I I've mentioned in too many times so we all know that it's undeniable everything else can be doubted but that I exist cannot be doubt that's the one only one thing that cannot be doubted everything else can be doubted doesn't mean that the things which are doubted they don't exist but you can doubt whether they exist or not that's one the I am what are we trying to do here I'm going to point out five features of the I am which makes it Brahman the unlimited infinite which we are searching for first it cannot be doubted I am it cannot be doubted even to doubt it that I am has to exist second um it is continuous through all experiences it is the only thing that is continuous in all our experiences of life thoughts come and go sensory experiences come and go but I am I see I hear I smell I taste I touch what I see here smell tastes touch those things keep changing coming and going even the seeing hearing smelling tasting touching keeps changing starting and stopping each is a discreet little flash of experience but I am continues through all sensory experiences I am continues through all mental experiences thoughts emotions ideas memories yeah and that sense of those thoughts emotions ideas memories like if I remember I am I remember if I do not remember I am I can't remember but I am I'm still there Shining in fact it's there in the absence also when the external world is not seen them no seeing hearing smelling tasting touching no thinking remembering dreaming just blank I am you cannot say I am anymore you cannot think I am anymore because the mind is shut down but then that blankness also appears to the I am when the mind starts functioning you can again designate yes that blankness was also an experience therefore now when the mind is working I can use the mind to say I am that was there at that time also I am continues through our waking experience dream experience deep sleep experience I am is continuous so that's the second Point what was the first point is yeah what was the first one I forgot I am is undeniable indubitable absolutely certain I am is continuous I am is continuous third this I am is not an object is not an object I mean we have talked about this many times what do I mean by this is Rupert Spira put it very beautifully he said I am you have no doubt that you exist correct we say yes point out the experience which shows that you exist what is it in your experience which shows your existence you'll say nothing it's a beautiful way of pointing out the non-objective nature of the I am that I am taking from loop at Spira he says that there is nothing in your experience which corresponds to the I am see what it means is book exists here I can see the book touch it and all that oh it's a sensory experience so book exists this corresponds to my experience of the book um Club this corresponds to the experience of class thought you can't see it but I can feel my thoughts emotions I can internally experience them so those thoughts and emotions they correspond to my experience of thinking and feeling remembering but I am what corresponds to that experience you can't point it out whatever you will point out for I am will be I am body I am mind I am a man I am a woman I am a white brown I am happy I am unhappy I am old I am young all objective all related to body senses mind my biodata my CV all of it objective nothing corresponds to the pure I have yet it's undeniable look at this the combination of these two these three factors one is your existence is undeniable Your Existence is continuous everything else can be doubted you cannot be doubted Your Existence cannot be routed second Your Existence is the only thing that is continuous in your life everything else is a whirlwind a storm of you know as the Buddhist sick Shanika Shani comes momentary momentary all is momentary it's all everything is in a flux it's in the flux to use experiencer and then whatever we consider to be our own body and mind what we normally add to ourselves as the experiences all of those things are also doubtable they can be doubted they are also in a flux body is changing mind is changing personality is changing [Music] then the third one that yet this indubitable continuous I am nothing corresponds to his experience to this experience what what is it why are we saying I am why am I saying there is a book because I'm having this experience here is a book but why am I saying I am what is that experience you can't point to anything whatever you point to will be an object Body Mind something like that so non-object pure subject fourth fourth uh aspect which I want to point out is that now we look for the nature of this I am what could it be whether it is existence but not an object it is existence itself we can say because it exists the undoubtedly and it reveals everything so it must be consciousness and it is continuous unbroken in time and space so it must be Unlimited this continuous this existence Consciousness unlimited unlimited existence Consciousness is the nature of I am gyanam anandam unlimited existence Consciousness that is the nature of the bear I am then Vivekananda says this entire universe is a projection of the self this I will not argue it out I've done it on other other times it requires extensive argument then what about the external universe and the internal universe the physical objective universe and the subtle objective Universe physical objective Universe World body subtle objective Universe thoughts what about them they are what appears to the I am they appear to you the I am they appear in you the I am and there is no evidence that they exist apart from you the I am they are what is called a Desta superimposed upon you an appearance in you the unlimited I am and what is superimposed can have no existence apart from the I am apart from the the ground of superimposition this is a philosophical way of putting it it's like saying the snake has no existence even a little bit outside the rope in which is it is mistaken to be the Rope is mistaken to be a snake that snake which appears in mistake in error has no existence apart from the Rope it does not exist on the road it's a rope itself it does not exist behind the Rope or in front of the Rope or a little bit below the Rope no it is literally the Rope itself similarly this entire universe which seems to be so vast and spread out before us as a body as a mind and a world of waking and dreaming this entire universe which appears in our waking state which appears in our dream state which disappears in our deep sleep State and again reappears when we wake up this entire universe is identical to you that I am though it appears to be so diverse an object this is the limitlessness of the I am this Limitless I am which you are this is the meaning of tatva masi you are that this is Brahman this is Brahman to realize this is the object of of vedanta vedanta and notice why I said I am because earlier I used to say you know Consciousness or witness and all that I am because I'm introducing the element of easitness here in IIM there are two aspects am means exists is and the I is the Consciousness is awareness the word Asti the Sanskrit word as T we can learn it it means exists okay so but to understand this one must sharply distinguish this I am from the mind it's not a thought we can think I am that's not the I am it's the witness of that thought this I am has to be sharply distinguished from the mind that I am that Limitless I am is Brahman that's what you are already it's not that you know I am a sinner trying to be a good person other Mika trying to be dharmika that's the mind mind dharmika good person ethical person mind I am a devotee I I believe in God and love God mind I am a yogi I don't believe in all that I practice meditation and see myself as the witness Consciousness when the activities of the Mind sees mind meditation samadhi mind Focus meditation and samadhi mind mind I am a jivan mukta mind so adharmik Papi that the sinner mind an ethical person good person dharmika person mind um devotee bhakta religious person mind Yogi meditation meditator mind gyani the person of knowledge who has realized I am Brahman I know I am Brahman immediately that's the mind speaking I am jivan mukta enlightened by living that's the goal isn't it that's also mine what are you you are the Limitless I am that Brahman that is Brahman that's what advice wants to tell you so this is what the Mantra itself needs if you look at the mantra then we'll see what shankaracharya has done with it so first of all as we saw it's not an object of senses that's not a physical thing it's not something that can be described by language why not at other times we have talked about the limitation of language what can language do and what it cannot do language can describe an object it cannot point to the unlimited pure subject it is Atman or Brahman why not and I'll indicate just quickly in a couple of sentences and move on because the word here says vacha not by navacha not by language why not by language and are we not using language now no why not by a language what can language do language works when there is yes jati Goda kriya sambandha ruli so if there is if the object you're going to talk about belongs to some category some species yeah when it belongs to it has got certain qualities attributes Guna it has it performs some action kriya it is related in some way to something else someone or it's just named in that case also language Wilbur if these five factors are there any of them language will work if these five are not there language will not work we call a cow a cow because it belongs to a class of animals which are crowds but you can't do that for Brahman because there's no class of Brahman or Atman the unlimited there's only one and non-dual so it won't work quality so red flower are a tall man so that's a quality red tall it's a quality you can use quality to indicate language can work if there's a quality some attribute some characteristic some indicator then language can work but Brahman is we know Brahman attributeless therefore quality cannot be used to indicate from her third action you know a driver of a car or the cook who has cooked these delicious dishes you can use some word to indicate action and then you can language will work some activity can be used transaction some activity but you can't do that for Brahman nishkriya Beyond any action then somebody relationship father mother Guru shisha all of these are relationships can you use relationships to indicate Brahman you cannot because relationship requires at least two terms definition of relationship relationship requires two terms at least but there is no two Brahman is non-dual what will Brahman have a relationship with so Brahman is the cause of the universe not really the universe is an appearance Brahman did not really cause an universe so Brahman is non-dual therefore no relationship possible you cannot use relationships Amanda to designate from him finally Rudy can you use just conventional naming you know if you call someone um you know Ram or sham or Gita or something or Mary or or John just give the name not that it has any particular class or action or quality just a name this person from now on will be called um Ram can you constantly do that can't you do that for Brahman but to do that to name something you need to point it out if I just say um that's John your question will be who you have to point it up if I say I can't point it out then the naming did not work because you did not understand anything by that whom will you understand by John because I did not point it out now Brahman cannot be pointed up cannot be pointed out because it's not this it's not an object therefore all the five factors which determine the functioning of language they don't work for Brahman all this I am saying because the Mantra says not by speech and then not by mind Brahman is not that something that mind can think about can objectify it is that which illumines the mind that which illumines the functioning of the senses that which illumines the functioning of language that which illumines the functioning of the mind but it cannot be designated by language it cannot be objectified by the mind it cannot be perceived by other senses that's the meaning of it it's not available for these ways then how is it known that one the one which keeps on saying I am I am I am that one Asti means I am is is not the things which we normally think is when we say is we normally designate objects table is man is woman is sky is um the snow is finally in New York a little bit there's a little snow yesterday so is when we say is other than the I am all the objects are described as is that can never be Brahman object described as is is can never be Brahman why not we saw all of those are limited then which is Brahman the one which keeps on saying is is the one which keeps on saying I am I am I am other than that one how will you find Brahman this is the meaning other than the pure subject I am where will you find dragon now I am giving the meaning meaning of the Mantra be careful here because if you go into the commentary by shankaracha you will see a different commentary because he takes all this for granted he's like you have understood all this very good now he's going to do something else um so this is uh yes someone commented business itself is Brahman yes but be careful that business this is what is being pointed out astiti business it should not be an easiness outside if it is this is-ness this table is this man is this book is that is not Raman but the is-ness which is you yourself he says other than the one who speak English where will you find Brahman so the one who says business I am that is that one you the I am that is Brahman okay now that we have done this let's um see what shankaracharya does with this so what he does here is um he takes this as a refutation of the Buddhist School of the Void of emptiness so you know the four major schools of Buddhism Buddhist philosophy the South and one of the schools is The Emptiness School whose great teacher was nagarjuna and later on other great Masters like Chandra kit all came up and that is the primary philosophy all the followers of Tibetan Buddhism their primary philosophy just like for us in a vedanta society our primary philosophies for them it is School of emptiness now before we launch into it it's good to know that sort of consistently shankaracha shankarachary and his followers interpret the school of emptiness as nihilism as they are saying nothing exists ultimately nothing exists it's all nothingness emptiness void which is appearing as this universe the essential nature of this universe is that there is no essential nature so it is nihilism there is no Ultimate Reality nothing really exists now is this a fair way to characterize Tibetan Buddhism um I would suggest not but let's give it respect because this is how most of the Hindu schools looked at the emptiness school as nihilists though those who those who take the position nothing exists why would you say that it's a not a fair way to characterize it because if you see nagarjuna himself the very first thing he says what is it that you are saying is there an Ultimate Reality he says no aha so you're saying there is no Ultimate Reality he said no what do you mean you mean that there is both Ultimate Reality and there is no Ultimate Reality no so there is neither Ultimate Reality neither there is no Ultimate Reality no not even that you know wants to say that there is um that it is beyond these four um what is called a tetrilemma the four Alternatives is is not is and is not neither is nor is not these are the four options beyond that is um the nature of is what you call the Buddha nature whatever they have different terms foreign at this point you might say but that's just like our Brahman that's just like um you know pure being pure Consciousness yes it is but then there they will not say that also they stick to their guns and will will not accept any kind of positive description because they say every positive description is bound to be false so there are these two ways of interpreting the school of emptiness this is not what shankaracharya says two ways I'm just giving it as an intro two ways of interpreting the school of emptiness one is the traditional way which is shankaracharya does and other Hindu philosophers they all interpreted us that way that it's nihilism they think it's nothing or a more considered way if you study Tibetan Buddhism directly you will begin to see that this is a oversimplified way of looking activities Buddhism it's like dismissive of um philosophy otherwise there's a lot of similarity between madhyamaka and advaita vedanta in fact which is why the dualists always attack and criticize the other way things they call them prachand about the crypto Buddhist you guys belong to a Buddhist Camp you guys are not Hindus that's what we are we are charged with but traditional advaita commentators reject the school of emptiness as nehalism so that's what's going to happen here um one more thing can be said in their favor the traditional committee the shankarachary and others in my study of Tibetan Buddhism under Professor Garfield I noticed in the old commentaries in Tibet when there's a lot of debate between different Masters Tibetan Masters the one way they would attack their opponents one Tibetan teacher attacking another opposing Tibetan teacher they would try to prove that the other guy is an A List what you are saying the way you are teaching the school of emptiness that is tantamount to nihilism and that's a way of defeating the opponent if you can prove that it your opponent's view is nihilist now my point here is I pointed it out in the class my point is that if the emptiness School the Tibetan Buddhist Masters themselves for centuries have accused each other of nihilism then we can forgive shankaracharya and other Hindu teachers who think that the Tibetan that the emptiness school is nihilism so it can be perilously close to realism that's the problem all right now um what shankaracharya here says so this is the way he interprets this meaning this this mantra it is not something which can be revealed by mind it can it's not something that can be revealed by speech and not something that can be revealed by the senses Now The Emptiness people come in and say in that case it doesn't exist whatever exists should be you know it should be perceivable by the senses or by your modern scientific instruments or at least it should be describable by language or at least you should be able to think about it you yourself admit you cannot see it cannot be perceived it cannot be spoken of it cannot be sorted so it doesn't exist and shankaracharya says that only those who says those who say it does exist who say it does exist those who are followers of The Vedic past he says not the other guy it defines as the other guy that guy who is saying those who are who Advocate emptiness nihilism they can never come to the realization of Brahman they can never come to the realization of the infinite Atman and therefore they can never attain Enlightenment or Freedom by that path because after all he says buy that path buy that you know sharp sophisticated um logical inquiry you will just end up with nihilism it's only at that point you need the testimony of The Vedas the upanishads the teachers like Yama the Lord of death coming and telling you Asti it does exist only if you are a follower of The Vedic path you will accept that yes it does exist and therefore then it goes further there it does exist and then you will be told it is the I am and then you the unlimited nature of the I am will be shown to you and then you will realize that I am Brahman but this will never happen if you follow that path of nihilistic the path of the emptiness school who says that it doesn't exist there's nothing no Ultimate Reality um so this is the take which shankara has it is a refutation of The Emptiness School the madhyamaka school according to shankaracharya he doesn't directly say here he just says the those who say Assad that there is no Ultimate Reality later on he's going to characterize them as demons next next um come into commentary on the next mantra so once you realize that there is an Ultimate Reality and then the door for realizing I am that antimateriality is open to you and that leads to Liberation that's the advaithic liberation so here the difference is between Azteca and nastika asked the nastika means here so gnostica literally means not exists does not exist so the technical definition of the nastic of the word Gnostic and Sanskrit and many Indian languages means atheist one who doesn't believe in God but the technical definition is those who do not accept the testimony of the veilus points out those who do not accept the test testimony of The Vedas in spite of their fine analysis they'll end up with nihilism nothingness um but those who do accept the testimony of The Vedas they will be told that this entirely non-objective non-object not an object of Senses not an object of speech not an object of mind this is there this is the Atman this is Brahman and then you so you start with the nastika who says that there is no Ultimate Reality does not exist you come to the astika those who follow the Vedas they say it does exist now in the in the asthika the vedicure means it does exist those who follow those who accept The Vedas so those who accept The Vedas they will start they'll have they have two two camps there also the dualistic schools who accept Brahman exists on the testimony of The Vedas God ishwara bhagavan exists on what grounds on faith faith of what faith on the awareness The Vedas tell us that God exists so that is the touristic School the non-dualistic school goes a little further it exists but I am that I am that so not only means exists but also us me I am that Asti means it exists ask me means I exist I am what advantage is there this is the moment you introduce Vedas and on the basis of The Vedas you overcome nihilism what will the Buddhist say I don't believe in Vedas you're just going on faith you're just believing things but the moment in advance that argument doesn't hold true because we ground it in the one undeniable thing which is I am nobody can deny it so uh I am as me uh I am Brahman so that's what ashankara does here now does it mean that that easiness you have to take it for granted that there is this ultimate existence and he gives to two reasons two arguments to show why it's not a question of taking it for granted there is sufficient grounds to argue without to show why this ultimate existence exists I'm not going to read the commentary I'll just give you the two arguments which shankara gives quickly these are also provisional in the next Mantra he will go beyond that two arguments first one he says is that notice the nature of existence things exist right the in the objective word things exist yes things exist now they are all effects they are all produced by something karya means effects trees come from seeds and pottery comes from clay and babies come from parents so cause and effect the stars produce the planets and the Big Bang produced the stars and so on so cause and effect now the effects the existence of the effects it depends on the cause to the existence of the pot depends on the clay when you say pot exists actually its existence belongs to the clay what is production and what is destruction coming from cause to effect is production from clay to pot production from seed to tree production yeah what is what is destruction going back to the causes destruction when you smash a pot what remains clay play not really I mean I'm giving you the answer from from the perspective of the shastras but actually if you smash apart what remains is a big mess and pieces of pottery you know there was this Railway minister in India a decade ago who said we are creating a lot of garbage in India when people take Cups of Tea in plastic cups and they just toss it out of the window and you have littering all over the country so instead of doing that let's have Earthen pots which are very popular in India people take tea in Earthen pots so it's natural it's recyclable and so you take you drink your tea even if you toss it out it goes back to the earth except that it doesn't once Clay is burnt into a pot it will be smashed but what will it remain as as bits of clay still not harmful for the environment I mean just bits or clay but burnt pot it remains as Pottery as bits of pottery not as clay not as as the rest of the Earth in fact what's the one thing that you find in ancient excavations all over the world ancient civilizations archaeologists Pottery it lasts forever thousands of years pieces of pottery anyway um from effect to cause from part to Clay is destruction from the wave to the water is destruction of the wave when the waves are upside it's water so existence goes back from shankara Argus from the effect to the gauze when you smash a pot the pot is gone but existence is not gone what exists pieces of pot or clay clay exists suppose you pound the pieces of pot Pottery into dust well that dust exists and you put it in you know some kind of a nuclear explosion and smash the dust also well the fundamental particles exist existence remains so his argument is this when you destroy things go back from the effect to the cause destruction is going back from effect to cause as you go back from effect to cause and going back from cause to its own cause to its own cause when you go back to the ultimate cause if the whole universe is also destroyed notice that existence keeps hopping back to the cause so if you go back to the ultimate cause you can be sure existence will be there whatever that ultimate caused this it must exist existence cannot be destroyed that's the argument what's the argument that what is he trying to prove ultimately easiness is there existence is there how does he prove that look around you there are so many things in this world yep now all of them exist but yes but we can destroy the existence now what you can do is you can send the effect back into the cause existence will remain as the cross you can send that cause back into its AIDS cause existence will remain in that cause in the same way you trace it further back it is quite clear logically speaking you can go back to a cross which will be existence which will exist so existence will be there easiness will remain even in the ultimate cause Brahman is that's one argument the other argument is more subtle what it says is that the nature of the cause is seen in the effect notice in all pottery made of clay what do you see clay therefore you can say the nature of the cause must be clear in all the waves what do you see water so you can see the nature of the cause of the Waves material cause out of which the waves are made the material out of the way which the waves are made must be water because in all the waves we see water in all the golden ornaments we see gold now in all things in the universe what's the one thing you see existence so the nature of the ultimate cause must be existence because it's seen in all the effects this is a subtle argument so one he says existence hops back to from effect to cause so the ultimate cause must be existing the second argument is if you study all the universe you will find one common thing existence is-ness and effects have the property of the cause so easiness must be the cause of the and all this effect the universe anyway this is an argument to show that there is business it's not nothingness at the heart of all reality it's not nothingness it's not empty it's not a black hole uh it's business there must be a reality existence all right now next mantra once you realize this is this next what happens is that the door to realizing I am that business becomes open so that's the next Mantra once you realize ismos then you realize the true nature of that business what is the true nature that isness I am and that I am is neither cause nor effect see this is very easily understandable in terms of mandukya in manduke upanishad what we just said the ultimate cause is easiness that is the third part of the four aspects waking dreaming deep sleep and turia the fourth gross subtle causal turia the fourth those who have studied know what I'm talking about this ultimate cause of all existing things is the third aspect what is the third aspect the causal ishwara existence Consciousness Bliss with the power of Maya as the cause of the entire universe ultimate cause of the entire universe is ishwara God which from which the entire universe is projected so that is the third aspect but that's not the Ultimate Reality the Ultimate Reality is beyond ishwar also which is turia at the level of ishwara you cannot say I am ishwara will never work you are a Jiva and ishwara is ishwara God is God and you are a sentient being but beyond God and Beyond the sentient being is one existence Consciousness Place one I am neither cause nor effect that is what he calls the real nature of business which is neither cause nor effect huh what he has done here is in this commentary I have no time to go through the convention basically it shows this is the heart of advice somebody said the heart of advent is called in English superimposition d superimposition superimposition d superimposition we did that in vedanta most of if you study the text which means many of us we were there we did vedanta Sarah most of it is superimposition the supreme position what what did we do in vedanta Sarah there is one non-dual Brahman existence Consciousness place in it appears appears not a second reality it appears the power of Maya because of the power of Maya this one non-dual Brahman now appears as space and um you know air and fire and water and Earth by a combination of the subtle elements mind is produced subtle bodies are produced by come then they combine to form gross elements but the gross elements the physical world is produced do some of you recall foreign and then we come to this entire physical world where we are embodied in a physical body we have a mind this is what the world is going on from there now we beat a retreat if we investigate this physical world is nothing but the five elements and the five elements are nothing but Maya and Maya is nothing but existence Consciousness Place why do we do this because we have to start here we have to start right where we are as a person as a body as a mind as Consciousness in body mind is an embodied I am as a limited I am as we feel there we have to start we can't start theoretically as your non-dual problem that won't work so we have to be taken from where we are back to our real nature open superimposition what is superimposition non-dual Brahman the pure I am you impose it you you see it as Mind Body world what is the superimposition you realize you go back from the Mind Body world to your real nature as pure bro as pure I am then you realize I am what what you are how do you do that first you do what is done in the first month the 12th month you look at this world look at this body mind and introduce that the concept of a Cause here is all an effect there is a cause which is existence is-ness because that has come this entire universe this is a cause because in the entire effect has no existence apart from the cause the cause is in and through the entire effect the existence of the effect depends on the cause existence of the pot depends on the clay existence of the golden ornaments depends on gold existence of the entire universe including ourselves depends on business you introduce the cause and then you show that the entire effect is an appearance in the cause has no existence apart from the curse if the effect has no existence apart from the cause then the cause is not really a Cause it is just bare existence Consciousness place or bear I am or bear business I repeat that if the effect has no existence apart from the cause if the effect is just an appearance jagat mithya this is where the falsity of the world is introduced the world is an appearance then you cannot really say that Brahman has produced the world Brahman has created a word Brahman is a cause and the world is an effect you can't say that Brahman is not really a Cause Brahman is just Brahman pure being or pure business pure awareness or pure Bliss and that is what you are taught to Amasi this is what is going he's pointing out what was said here once you realize the business then the real nature of business will reveal itself to you well how did you realize the business first in the 12th Mantra as the cause of all existing things existence is the cause of all existing things easiness is the cause of all things you designate with is is then what is the real nature of the business it's actually not a Cause there is a verse which we did in all the effects notice the cause in all existing things notice is-ness then let go of the effect then realize that all the things in this universe are appearances foreign then the causality of the cause is lost and the causality of the is-ness is lost it's no longer a cause of anything it just is what is that then just the beauty of that verse from shankaracharya says he says it's not that um there is some is-ness which is Brahman it's our system the sage you the investigator you remain as that pure business you remain as brown so in the this 12th Mantra we saw business in all the universe and in the 13th Mantra the easiness was revealed to us as you yourself neither cause nor effect that's the meaning of the superimposition was 12th Mantra thirteen months D superimposition was 12th mantra upavada is 13th mantra that's the easiness as the cause of the universe 12th Mantra the real nature of that is beyond cause and effect as you yourself 13th month the real nature of the I am shines oh who shines you where am I shining am I radium or radioactive or something where I am shining in the dark you're shining right now and your shining is the Mind shines so all the thoughts feelings emotions are experienced by you the senses shine you see here smell tastes touch you enjoy you suffer pleasure pain the world shines well the world is different no you are shining at the world this is non-duality the tatva the real nature of the I am shines that is non-duality that is non-dual problem that is you and that then the universe is nothing apart from The Shining of you very powerful these two mantras um 12 and 13. Yama the Lord of death has outdone himself I think this is a very simple little cryptic but beautiful all right let's look at the questions and comments quickly brinda says if mind intellect and senses understand or limited how am I understanding Brahman you are describing what is my understanding correct how am I understanding you're not anything that you understand through the Mind senses and love is limited now what can it what can the mind and the senses and language do what we are doing now is language after all upanishads open Nisha this language what it can do is not make you realize that you're Brahman it can remove the ignorance which makes you think that you are not from the ignorance which makes us think I am body I am mind this can be removed this error born of ignorance is removed by the proper use of language and Concepts which is vedanta which is upanishads it will not make you Brahman it will not even make you realize that you are Brahman the you are Brahman regardless of whatever you do and your realization of Brahman is ever shining it will come forth when the ignorance is removed clouds appear to cover the sun they don't cover but they seem to cover the Sun a gust of wind comes and blows away the clouds the does the gust of wind create the sun of course not does the gust of wind reveal the Sun not not that too sun is ever revealed does the wind have to reveal the sun no The Sun Shines by its own light all the time it's the only one which has got this physical light so the sun shines by its own Radiance by its own brilliance what appeared to cover this one the clouds which were also revealed by the sunlight that was removed by the gust of winds clouds our ignorance of our real nature is Brahman the gust of wind is it's yeah the Lord of death blowing you know who is blowing a custom in removing our ignorance that's what language can do then but how do we realize Brahman can you don't have to you as Brahman you're ever shining it's just your Nature has been occluded covered over raqqa says the verse that's in the not by I speech or mind know when the Spectrum can you find Brahman how do we reconcile this with all the things being in truth nothing about Brahman I assume that the verse is speaking of a relative World experience yes nothing all that is nothing but Brahman the fifth characteristic of this investigation into I am do you remember the five things we discovered I am is undeniable number one I am is continuous in waking dreaming deep sleep I am is not an object and the nature of I am is existence Consciousness unlimited existence consciousness or each of these steps you have to consider it carefully a lot of philosophical work has to be done here unlimited existence Consciousness then the fifth stage follows easily then what is this entire universe if I am the unlimited existence Consciousness this universe cannot be a separate thing from me if it is separate how am I unlimited then and there is no evidence of this universe existing separately from the unlimited existence Consciousness it appears to this Consciousness and it exists in borrowing from this existence it appears to you the Consciousness it exists in you the existence and therefore it is not apart from not a second reality apart from you not a second reality though appearing to be a second reality not actually a second reality therefore you are non-dual in that sense everything is prominent because it's nothing other than in the in the sense that everything in the dream is mind people cats and dogs sky and Earth whatever you see in the dream yourself all his mind the dreaming mind similarly everything in this universe whatever you see is nothing but Consciousness existence business awareness but remember that business awareness is not the body mind mixed up business awareness that has to be carefully separated Rick says verse 9 which we studied last week said that the intellect ruler of the Mind resides in the heart Rahman mashi said self is in the heart and the Heart itself usually intellect start to reside in the head please comment on intellect reciting in the heart intellect in the head um you know I'm not sure how much the Ancients vedanta's yogis how much they knew about the functioning of the brain so are all the texts the Mind intellect mind is all said to be residing in the heart now it doesn't matter really because they are not talking about the physical heart shankaracharya makes it very clear heart he calls it buddhi the Cave of the intellect it's our understanding The Faculty of understanding the intellect that is what is called the heart now the self Atman is said to reside in the heart how what resides in the faculty of understanding what resides in the mind intellect Consciousness you you shine where do you first shine on the intellect on the faculty of understanding how do you shine as uh you know as the Consciousness the conscious reflected Consciousness in the buddhi in the intellect in the ego ego has two two aspects the sense of highness and awareness so this you and that awareness is not the Atman it's a reflection of the Atma so the intellect the mind the buddhi whatever you call it in larger sense mind intellect memory ego all of it together in a narrower sense the ego itself it's like a mirror and your face is reflected in the mirror but you are neither the mirror nor the reflected face you're the real face here you are not the mind not even the reflected Consciousness in the mind you are the real Consciousness so in that sense Consciousness is said to reside in the heart what is the heart the intellect what resides in the intellect reflected Consciousness and where does this where is this reflected Consciousness it's indistinguishable it's Inseparable from the real Consciousness just as Moonlight is actually Inseparable from the Sun from the Sun what do you mean Moonlight is can say it's Inseparable from the moon but without the sun no moonlight so in the same way now Ramana Maharishi would talk about the heart he gave a lot of importance to the heart but he meant it in a deeper sense of the source of everything so pure Consciousness what he was pointing towards was the pure Consciousness reflected in the mind is not interested particularly in the mind not even in the reflected Consciousness but he saw that as the doorway to the pure pure Consciousness just as how can I trace out my real face I look at the mirror look at the reflected face in the mirror and then I trace it back to me the reflect the real face similarly that's what Ramana murshid did not only that he would go even further and he would identify the heart with pure Consciousness or the Atman itself there is no longer talking about intellect he's talking about the argument of your Consciousness he's no longer talking about intellect no longer talking talking about reflected Consciousness is talking about the Atman pure Consciousness I am itself Consciousness cannot be doubted the sense of I seems to be a supposition yes the ego is a supposition it is it comes and goes whatever comes and goes is that sense of I that comes and goes however notice you never think of Consciousness as an object if you think if you try to understand what Consciousness is it will always be intimate with you the I the self so that's what's meant by the I am what is the supposition what comes and goes is the ego that's normally what we mean by the I that comes and goes that disappears in deep sleep but the real self doesn't disappear in deep sleep so when I said I am I meant the real self the two aspects to of it there are actually one and the same but in language you have to say two aspects and meaning existence I mean in Consciousness existence consciousness it is just illness existence which is not understanding it realizing it even thought of it all are objectified once known it's wordless yes once known it is worthless but knowing it it requires all this effort which will remove the ignorance it will not objectify the I am I am is nothing but existence why do we use that terminology as I am it's misleading no it's not misleading see if you the if you just say existence you know what the what trick the mind will play on you it will say oh the pure existence here is the notion of existence that is Brahman immersed in the torsion of existence who is that I am emerged in the ocean of existence it the mind will keep you separate from the torsion of existence therefore you have to drive it into the mind yes there is an option of existence yes it is business yes it is pure being it is I otherwise you will remain as I this person and there is some unlimited Brahman I am either is either is I am as these two sides you the Consciousness you the existence only thing is the normally the I am is very limited we we bind it so intimately with body mind that's why bill just said the I am is a supposition Consciousness is real but this I have the supposition is just this limited ego this but this is where I we locate our I am but that's not the I am we are talking about it's the unlimited I am even the void is void yes emptiness of The Emptiness it's interesting there's a whole Topic in philosophy emptiness of emptiness and similarly there's a whole topic you know this is philosopher is when should one stop studying scriptures if ever don't drop out of the class yet I realized they're The Vedas and no Waiters um one is keep studying this the vedantic texts till it points out what you the reality and removes the clouds of ignorance it works for you and you realize what you are then you don't need to need it for pointing out in realization after that it can be used for energy Hassan it keeps telling you pointing out what you are and you know what it means so you're studying the scriptures will studying the upanishads shankara's texts texts just keeps on telling you pointing out your reality you can do it foreign you can do it for teaching others in whatever way you can still continue after that Girish says Brahman is not the cause of the universe the universe is an appearance in Brahman correct but what causes the appearance ah what do you mean by cause if it causes at all real then there must be a real cause and a real effect if it's an appearance then it's not a real effect then you cannot say it causes then we get into the real needs the into the nature of causation itself so an appearance eating an appearance should also be caused not necessarily what is natural and nicely what is the nature of the eye the nature of the eye is to see now it will look out into empty space there's nothing to see the eye imposes a surface area says like a surface the sky seems to be an inverted Bowl there's no surface there but because the eye wants to see something it sees a surface there similarly what is the nature of Consciousness it is to experience but there is nothing to experience except itself and it's never an object of experience then for effort it experiences itself as this objective universe that which is not objective sees itself as an object that which is eternal sees itself as a changing that which is unlimited sees itself as The Limited that which is being itself sees itself as existing things that's with that which is pure awareness now experiences itself as thoughts emotions feelings you know limited movements of the anthakarana so on that which is bliss itself now experiences itself as Pleasure and Pain it's the very nature of Consciousness to project you know why if you ask why the projection itself why the appearance itself God about this answer is Devastation this is the very nature of The Shining one you The Shining one your very nature is to shine forth in these ways now if you say no there should be no appearance Brahman should Exist by itself very good it does in pralaya when in Cosmic dissolution entire universe disappears Brahman exists in deep sleep no appearance of the universe no appearance of the Mind just you exist see what can poor Brahman do it can either appear or not appear if it appears we'll ask why is it appearing okay then it disappears does not appear anymore now why is nothing what a useless at least appear okay then it appears there's only two things that everyone can do but in reality not a Cause in the world as it appears to an individual simply a manifestation in the vasanas yes so many of these questions will take up we're just thinking uh had suggested that we take up and some other suggests we take up the shankaracharya's classic introduction to the commentary on the Brahma sutras so I think I'll do that we have a few classes uh after qatop initial is over then there will be a break of a month or so because I'll be traveling in India so um in that time in after we finished cut operation we should be over next Wednesday we'll have a few more classes we can at least make a beginning at the adhya Sebastian let's see many of these questions you will see these are these are the issues which are the Deep issues in advaita which are raised in Sebastian answered so is my iron effect nope foreign yes Prius says I missed the fourth and fifth features of I am you can do it in many different ways this is the way I did it you can repeat again when you investigate the I am first you notice it is indisputable indubitable conducted one Descartes second that it is continuous that it's always there this is the third shloka panchadashifa's chapter and every experience you will find Consciousness I am third you find that it's not an object there is nothing in your experience which corresponds to I am I mean put it so spectacularly you know and so clearly he said that this thing which is the one thing which you cannot doubt and you can't yet you can't point to anything in your experience which corresponds to I am whatever you point out is an object so it's pure subject it's not an object third feature fourth what is the nature of this Ayah search for it try to understand what could this be well definitely it is existence and definitely it is awareness this much you can say so your existence awareness and yet Unlimited not limited in time not limited in space continuous so continuous also is a very philosophically loaded term it's actually not even continuous it's assuming time it becomes continuous assuming space it becomes all pervasive you know when we say Brahman is already assumed space Brahman is eternal you already assumed time everything is Brahman you already assumed everything time space and object things this is Maya assuming Maya then Rahman becomes all pervading Eternal and everything but actually Brahman is neither all pervading nor in Eternal nor everything you can't even say those things about Brahman in that sense the Buddhists are right every description that you give is faulty it is better to like the Buddha he kept silent when he was asked these questions and the fifth characteristic which Priya asked about 5th characteristic is it is Limitless that means um this entire it is Universe entire universe is nothing but you the I am it follows from the limitlessness of the I am the fourth characteristic ends with the limitlessness of the iron it is Limitless existence Consciousness in that case the last good thing will be what about this universe then what about the objective Universe it is nothing other than you the existence consciousness good now you can see why I like these two mantras so much [Music] [Music]