Video 44

44. Katha Upanishad | Mantras 2.3.14 - 18 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

oh Ms tomorrow [Music] may the Lord protect us both the teacher and the thought together may the Lord give us the results of the of knowledge may we attain Vigor together let what we study be Illuminating maybe not carved at each other om peace peace peace so we are studying because and we have reached the end of the upanishad the last few mantras we're going to take a look at in this last section of the upanishad Yama the Lord of death the king of death he is teaching the little boy nachiketa who's a student and in this last section of the teaching he's summing up the entire teaching talking about nature of Brahman talking about self-realization the practices and the results so in the last few mantras he will talk about the results we know all this but he is repeating all for summing up the whole teaching we are going to now read the 14th mantra okay Let Me Now read the translation from Swami gambhiranajis translation of Bible when all desires clinging to one's heart fall off then a mortal becomes immortal and attains Brahman here all right so this Mantra 14th and the 15th both talk about the result and the result we know is is freedom is Moksha freedom from the cycle of birth and death Freedom from Want and unhappiness and attainment of of Brahman attainment of fulfillment now the way it is put in these two mantras is very significant here it is said that when all the desires which are in the heart and here heart always means the Mind whatever is in our mind how do you know that the heart means the mind because the shankaraches are consistently or throughout all the commentaries he translates really in heart as Buddha in the intellect or in the understanding so for example here he says ridhi in his Sanskrit commentary really Buddha really means in the understanding in the faculty of understanding so all the desires which are there when all those desires disappear when they're all destroyed we go beyond all desire then alone this Mortal being subject to birth and death and the transmigration from Lifetime to Lifetime this Mortal being us becomes immortal realizes that I am Brahman where and it's very interesting that upanishad itself says here here in this life in this body now here so this is freedom and here it is characterized as it is preceded by The Disappearance of all desire all wanting let me dwell a little bit on this first and then we'll go on you know desire is because we want fulfillment we want happiness now let's analyze this a little bit before we go on what do we want the kind of Happiness fulfillment we want theoretically if we were allowed to just sit back and dream and you know order place your order for what kind of happiness what's your conception of the maximum possible happiness that you would like so the kind of Happiness we would want if it were at all possible we won't want a happiness a fulfillment the satisfaction which is um all the time there does not come and go and it is everywhere Wherever I Go it must be there that fulfillment and it must be from everything and everybody those who know vedanta they know I'm talking about space time object my happiness must not be limited by time that there is when it comes before there was a time when it was not there there will be time then my happiness will not be there not like that no time limitation but there must be no limited time limitation on my happiness all the time happiness must be there all the time there must be no desha parichay there are no space limitation you can't tell me that you will not be happy here be a good boy or girl and after death in heaven you'll go to heaven and there you will be happy no no no there cannot be any space limitation it must be here also it must be there also it must be everywhere and then object it must not be limited to that this person or that object um this activity that position that relationship that only will give happiness and others will not know every person every relationship every object every activity everything must give me that happiness There's No Object limitation or in other words which is unlimited by space by Time by object object means anything that you are aware of it could be a person it could be a place it could be it could be an activity it could be a person whatever or anything possession so this is my idea of unlimited happiness and further this happiness should not be dependent on anybody I should not have to depend on anybody and even God for my happiness it should be independent and further this happiness I wanted to be effortless I must not have to work for it so this ever independent effortless happiness available to me everywhere available to me all the time and available from everything and everybody and not subject to increase and decrease it should not be a little bit of a background trickle of Happiness No it should be maximum happiness all the time everywhere from everybody and at this point I'll also say that it must be experienced because those who studied velanta Swami is going to trick Us by saying yes it's there but it's not manifested it's infinite happiness but it's not something that is felt um so no I must be able to experience it I should be able to experience it so this is the kind of Happiness we want how will I get it how will I get it what is the way to get happiness look at the way these ways we have been trying to get happiness will it um do I have to work for it you know earn money and then I can buy my happiness or do I have to beg for it ask somebody some boss god um husband wife children I beg you behaving this way then only I will be happy do I have to beg for it will that make me happy is it do I have to go to heaven for it that you cannot be happy here everybody tells samsara this world is sorrowful after this lies a world of Happiness called heaven you know why couldn't kailash or golok or the Christian Heaven Islamic Heaven uh the Buddha field of the bahayana Buddhists some other place Heaven do you have to go for go to heaven for it even spiritual practice what what do I have to do to get this happiness does happiness come from singing and dancing or should I sit down quietly and meditate which one will give me happiness does happiness come from Indulgence or control will it be will I be happy if I um you know eat drink and be merry and party all the time and take drugs and um will that make me happy or will I be austere and pull back from every kind of sensual enjoyment and lead a very Austria very simple life minimal life will that make me happy will it make me happy if I marry have children and be involved in samsara to to my heart's content or if I become a monk or a nun and leave everything and go away to an ashram will I be happy in a city or in a mountain on a Mountaintop what will make me happy all of these are ways in which people try to become happy they are trying millions and billions are trying in all of these ways will it will it make me happy to um to be mindful or mindless no um should I follow the breath and become more and more aware of the breast and the body and the sensations in the world and still the mind with uh with focus with awareness heightened awareness or should one drink oneself into a stupor or you know take drugs and so mindfulness makes me happy but mindlessness makes me happy which one see I mean these are ways in which people are trying to be happy [Music] does thinking make me happy you have to think deeply vedanta tells you think deeply who am I follow the vedantic text carefully and think deeply that will make me happy or no thinking stop thinking the yogi will tell you stop thinking will stopping thinking make me happy what will make me happy these are all the different ways in which people are trying to attain happiness worldly spiritual through hard work through laziness through attention through lack of attention through Independence through dependence which one will make me happy this happiness which we are talking about this Limitless happiness Ananda none of these will make me happy none all of these can give me fleeting happiness temporary happiness different grades of Happiness some will give me a purer sense of satwik Happiness some will give me a lower sense of rajasika thomasic happiness all of it temporary all of it limited all of it subject to coming and going all of it in the end will disappear all of it why and this is vedanta you have to think about it why because any attempt to gain Limitless happiness satisfaction forever with the help of a limited ego a limited object and limited effort I this person in this body and mind separate from all of you will through this cookie one cookie with the effort of putting it in my mouth and tasting it I will get happiness well that much happiness only you will get limited person one person with one little body mind limited object a cookie a bit of money one relationship is a limited object and limited effort no matter how much hard work you put this was the understanding of the purvam Imam sakas you know who preceded Us in vedanta the karmakanta which nasiketa asked the second Boon remember which is the best um sacrifice fire sacrifice which will take me to heaven that also is limited the greatest of human efforts are The Vedic um The Vedic ritualistic performances which will take you after death to Heavenly spheres those are also Limited all good work done here and luckily bad work also Heaven is also limited hell is also limited limited means it will end you can get it but it will end you can have a really good time but it'll come to an end you can have a really bad time also but that also comes to an end luckily so um there's a saying in upanishads [Music] by something a limited effort you cannot get the unlimited result naturally it's logical however much of good work or bad work you do the evil or the good that will come out of it is also will be limited so this is the reason why in all of these ways you cannot you cannot get lasting Limitless happiness and that's what we are actually about what we are looking for that's why because we are not getting it that's why after 20 30 40 50 years of effort we are still dissatisfied in lifetimes of effort we're still dissatisfied lifetimes we are trying to make ourselves happy and dissatisfied all kinds of selfish effort unselfish work for the welfare of others worldly religious spiritual every kind of activity every kind of effort to gain happiness is limited then what does vedanta say vedanta says notice what exactly are you asking for if you are asking for unlimited happiness Anand there is unlimited happiness Bliss it should be there all the time everywhere and from everything that means not limited in time space and object then think about it if such if such a happiness is there which is available all the time which is available everywhere and which is available from everything and from everyone in that case follow this carefully simple thought but very powerful thought in that case right now right here this is also a time this is also a place here are also people that happiness should be here right now because it's everywhere Ananda if that Limitless happiness actually exists that Ananda if it's everywhere it should be here now where we are it should be now also if it is all the time then it should be right now also it must be there and if it is available from everything and everybody then it should be available from all those people around us and in all the objects around us in everything around us it should be available is there it is right here right now we are immersed in it it is all the time available in that case my question is one of the demands was I should be able to experience it why am I not experiencing it the answer is we are not recognizing we do not know it that which is anandam we don't know it ignorance is covering it up no kind of activity practice effort is going to get us there and until we remove that ignorance all these activities and practice and effort if they help in removing the ignorance great now ignorance is removed by vedanta this teaching of Yama to nachiketa all that he has been trying to do is to point out this ever available happiness it is ever available always available everywhere available and from everything available happiness and independent happiness not dependent on anybody or anything and also effortless happiness not necessarily do anything about it what is that that's your real self that's what Yama has been telling nachiketa all along that's why he says these these limited efforts to get happiness come on through touch and taste and smell and sight seeing beautiful things tasting the beautiful this flavor wonderful flavor smelling great wonderful fragrance touching soft and pleasurable things all of these senseless ways of getting happiness all aesthetic ways in art literature you know music dance all intellectual ways in philosophy and science all moral ways in you know doing good to others Social Work service to others patriotism all of these great and Noble ways all of those are mere reflections of the Bliss which you already are it's there all the time proof is already there are people who enjoy this place the enlightened ones they they know that it's overflowing with happiness everywhere one of the interesting descriptions of Sri ramakrishna is as if you're about to burst with happiness that's the experience people had people around him would always be delighted you couldn't be unhappy around him and he always was as if um I mean one of the descriptions is like a ripe um you know like a ripe pumpkin which is about to burst with happiness so that's why he gave the impression up this overflowing Joy boundless job and enlightened once had this and we also can experience it can see that if we break through this veil of not knowing not seeing after all what is this desire one way of analyzing is this knowledge and object by knowledge here I don't mean pure Consciousness Atma and Brahman I just mean the knowledge we have the knowledge we you know when you see here smell taste when you think when you read when you understand something that knowledge Ghana so knowledge is satwik the three gunas are there satwa rajasthamas so knowledge is satwik is of the Guna of satwa pure mind is satwick it manifests knowledge senses are such they manifest knowledge object the thing which we are we are aware of the object is always tamasic it is imagine a material object so material objects so the objects are domestic now what binds the satwik to the tamasik in between is rajesik see knowing a thing in the world a place a gadget a food a musical performance a person knowing I think is no problem at all we know no knowledge is not a problem it's only when that knowledge is now followed by desires I want this this cookie this you know tourist destination this fancy clothes or cars or this uh activity this cruise ship some in a cruise so things like that all the things which people want I want this there's all there are three things here you know it you you know something you see a place for example a nice tourist destination on online so just just knowing it there's no problem there the destination the place is it's a material place it's a it's a physical thing your knowledge of it is satric in the mind then arises the desire for that I want to go there why desire arises that we will see this is a shankaracharya his you know one of his favorite phrases avidya ignorance not knowing this Limitless ever available happiness which it is our real nature not knowing this is avidya ignorance not knowing this we feel approved or not complete then arises calm or desire the desire for completion the desire to for fulfillment and then what do we do karamba activity for what not for the benefit of others for my own fulfillment so no the people who do so much work for others selflessly so does that make them happy or unhappy that makes them happy so they are wise people who find their happiness in the happiness of others they're really wise because they will be happy again limited happiness the otherwise people they find they think that by making this body happy I will be happy that very soon that happiness goes away but see the knowledge of the object knowledge is satwik the object is thoracic in between comes calm or rajasik desire arises and that binds it's a bondage and then we act trying to get that that place that person that activity that possession these activities this work this Karma prompted by desire gives rise to results if it's a good karma dharmi karma I want to do good to others or I perform some kind of ritual in India you give a Puja in a temple you feed the sadhus that that is a um seen as a work of great punya so I'm just plugging it because I'm a sahu so that's a work of great punya punya means good Merit all of these things they give rise to good results punya Merit good result and good results will give rise to sukha good experiences in the future still a bondage that Suka also will produce a future birth for you and if I out of my desire I cannot control my desire and I do adharmic sinful things out of my desire I want fulfillment so I can't resist um you know people steal take bribes be immoral or be jealous or aggressive or violent all out of trying to fulfill their desires then that is adharma and that leads to Papa Sin demerit and the result of that is suffering and we get sukha and the Pleasure and Pain mixed in this life and it will produce future lives this is how samsara comes so shankaracharya's phrase ignorance desire desire prompted action then what happens samsara because the desired prompted action will give results and the results will keep coming to us we will be in samsara when the body dies those accumulated results are waiting for us it will produce another body for you next lifetime so that you can keep on experiencing that it will not come to an end because we keep on acting with desire so it will produce further and further new karma karma phala this is samsara it will go on this comes to an end upon enlightenment now put two and two together what how I started it and you put two and two together upon Enlightenment what do you realize I am not this body and mind I am this unlimited witness Consciousness I alone am that one unlimited existence Consciousness place in which this entire world is Universe appears everybody is one with me I am one with everybody and everything what is there in this world for me to achieve or attain everything is already attained I am everything or everything is I this total completion all the time total feeling of Oneness with everybody this I am Immortal I have no fear of death Brahman does not everybody may come and go it's no problem for me the ups and downs of the Mind the problems in the sensory system the ups and downs in the mind are no problem at all for me because I am not them so my happiness my satisfaction is unlimited because I am unlimited and unhappiness cannot touch me because every kind of unhappiness is in the world of appearance in the body mind level so this unlimited nature when I realized I feel I am full and I have no more desires on anything not having any desires all the actions which will be done by the still living body of the enlightened person those actions will not be prompted by personal desires maybe doing good to others um so one is free after Enlightenment these desires dissolve away completely which also shows that shankaracharya considers true and not just shankaracharya will come later but Yama the teacher he considers The Disappearance of desires and Enlightenment to be simultaneous if there are still desires left after Enlightenment that he would not call full enlightenment all right now let us look at a little bit of the commentary of shankaracharya he says some very inspiring things more or less what I said just now and also remember here the word means here we find it in the Mantra here it has to be done here it's not here that you have to wait for some heaven after death or some next lifetime here here in this life is become enlightened and realize your infinite nature hear itself so put two and two together once you realize your Immortal nature then you find yes here is the happiness which is everywhere here is the happiness which is all the time which is not subject to increase and decrease here is the happiness which I find reflected in everybody and everything including even unpleasant experiences that happiness I am it is effortless for me it is not dependent on anything at all everything else is dependent on this this I am this one existence Consciousness please and therefore I am full I don't need anything from anybody else there's nothing else at all actually apart from the real you I'm just mentioned even unpleasant you get happiness from everything including unpleasant experiences also so one interesting story I heard from Professor arindam chakravarti his Guru was the great vaishnava Saint not a non-dualist but devotee of Krishna um his name was in 20th century in Calcutta he lived there devotee of Krishna so Professor random chakravarti and some others they were they used to attend upon him towards the end of his life he was sick and they had to take care of him so that you know when you're lying on the bed for a long time bed sores develop the vegetables have to be cleaned and it can burn a lot it can be quite painful Humanities to treat the bed Source make him stand up hold the old uh monk you know the two or three of the brahmacaris would hold them up and they would clean the back and the bed Source you know he would burst out giggling and they'd say it doesn't it hurt he said of course it hurts and he would say oh the Delight of it now is he getting pleasure from pain no he said it hurts but all of it whatever experience he's having in life all sensory experience including painful Sensations all emotional mental intellectual experience and the absence of all experience everything is Aranda to him of Krishna so he sees the presence of Krishna and everything and then chakravarti told me that he had to tell and the doctor had to tell the old swamiji and don't do that because we can't understand where it is hurting where it's not hurting unless you tell us if you laugh in everything even when it's terribly painful and your blood start giggling so you have to clearly tell us that this is hurting so so you see even unpleasant things it's obvious isn't it Consciousness isn't it being isn't it Limitless awareness being why should he not find everything as a joy Patra here here in this light now in this lifetime don't wait for a future lifetime don't wait to go to brahmaloka don't wait to go to heaven now itself you become enlightened and attain this fullness infinitude shankarachary in his commentary one or two phrases I will read out yes why desires will go away there is no other thing which can be desired means absence what is there that can be desired because the other does not exist it is already all you in the midst of a dream if you find there are very tempting things and there are very scary things and then you suddenly you realize we can get a lucid dream that it's all I I alone am appearing I the dreamer I'm appearing as all these people and places and things what a joy it will be if the dream continues we have no fear of anybody no hatred of anybody you only want to embrace everybody because everybody is you not only yours they are you you are alone appearing is all of them there is no second thing at all to be desired why will you have desire are fully liberated the Tibetan Buddhists have a technique for this as desires appear in your awareness moment to moment liberator moment to moment liberate them how do you liberate them moment to moment is nothing but mind mind is nothing but awareness desire is liberated it disappears into light every desire every thought disappears into light so liberate instead of trying to say I'm liberated forever moment to moment enjoy this Liberation keep liberating each moment the bonds of Desire are loosened and destroyed then Prague Prague practice those desires which were there in the enlightened one's heart in the enlightened ones he says mind before Enlightenment is very clear before enlightenment those desires are liberated or are freed the desires itself are liberated but it means to disappear into nothingness into Consciousness itself then he says and he makes the point [Music] shankaracharya says desire is in the mind in your subconscious mind in the mind there is desire the remaining a seed form in the subconscious mind and they manifest as desire in the conscious mind but Consciousness itself Atman itself there's no possibility of any desire there good and bad are in the movie not on the movie screen the movie screen is completely Untouched by the good and bad but they are all the good and bad the entire movie is dependent on the movie screen without the movie screen no movie is possible without Atma without Consciousness no desire is possible but Atma itself has not desire at all then he says um so what happens the Mortal becomes Immortal shankaracharya comments here that one who before Enlightenment was Mortal pushed from Lifetime to Lifetime helplessly embodied again and again suffering a series of good and bad events and you know and struggling to gain little bit of happiness in this world that one what happens after enlightenment not after going to heaven not after attending um samadhi or some kind of experience no just Enlightenment after enlightenment becomes Immortal liberated from Death what is this death what's the nature of this death see the same phrase ignorance desire action means death of the body yes but where does it come from why do you have a body at all because you are tasked Karma where did that past Karma come from from desire where did the desire come from from ignorance what is what sort of don't ask where ignorance came from ignorance supposed to begin English but what sort of ignorance ignorance of my unlimited nature that I am this Limitless Ananda not limited by time not limited by place not limited by object that I am that I did not know once I know it once I see it no it means not just thinking about it see it as a fact it's there right now we are in the midst of it we are immersed one very ancient text paramar that says in the beginning of the text there is a verse in one version of that this is the verse which says this G was sentient being you know what it's like it's like is immersed in an ocean of nectar and very thirsty but not noticing that I am in the notion of nectar what is he noticing he is noticing that Mirage water this is a mirage which is seeing and trying to he wants to reach that and drink that Mirage water this is the condition of the bound Jiva Jiva we are immersed in Brahman because you are Brahman you are this Limitless Ananda not seeing that we are looking at the Mirage water of worldly the temptation of worldly desires and we want to drink from that Mirage water and quench our third we are very thirsty the dying of thirst we want fulfillment but that will be going to be looking in that wrong place and trying various ways which I talked at the beginning soliloquently how how many are the ways in which worldly ways religious ways immoral ways moral Ways by hard work by laziness by selfishness by selflessness in so many ways we are trying to drink the water of that Mirage not working all right from this death what becomes Immortal becomes Immortal means not that you become anything you realize your Immortal nature you already are Immortal actually foreign [Music] where [Music] gamana means moving from Lifetime to Lifetime becomes illogical he moves from this um from this movement from Lifetime to Lifetime prompted by past karma from that state that is death not just one death death after death from that he now realizes his real nature Brahman but such movement is impossible Where will you go from which place to which place everything is you Brahman who will go there is no separate individual who will be born and dying you are the infinite you realize that you are the infinite so that stops this continuous transmigration stops transmigration lifetime to Lifetime birth to birth that stops your limited limited existence is extinguished the language shankaracharya uses see this great opponent of Buddhism what language does he use the Buddhas language Nirvana Nirvana is he using it in a Hindu sense of Moksha mukti no no like a lamp being extinguished the Buddha says when the flame of the lamp is extinguished where does it go somebody asked him one of his disciples so where do you go after enlightenment where does the enlightened one go he says when the lamp flame of a lamp is blown out do you think the flame has gone to the east or the west or the North or the South or up or down where has it gone so this continuous existence in bondage from Lifetime to Lifetime this is blown out if that blowing out itself is the is the teaching is up to that much you should say it becomes Buddhism but go further in a vedanta you will say Brahma upanishad says Brahma attains from here already pre-existing infinite being you attain attain means you already are that you just realize I am that so that is the result see how Sublime and beautiful it is and this Mantra goes with the next Mantra so we should read it together next Mantra is same thing little change is there away [Music] translation when all the knots of the heart are destroyed even while a man is alive then a mortal becomes Immortal this much alone is the instruction of all the upanishads all the knots of the heart are destroyed a very famous Mantra is when Brahman is realized this Superior and the relative that means I am that ishwara which becomes this entire universe when you realize Brahman fully then what happens the not of the heart is cut we'll see what that knot of the heart is the and what else um all doubts are cut forever you have no doubt left at all you can nothing can ever confuse you anymore it's so clear and then all the stored karmas of our past lives disappear slowly no immediately SRI ramakrishna gives an example suppose there's a mountain yes I have a mountain of sins and grishko says I'm a mountain of sin mountain of sins SRI Ram Krishna says but it's a mountain of cotton put one Matchstick to it it immediately bursts into flame and disappears so similarly that mountain of carton is what it is uh our past Karma and that past Karma will all burst into flame and disappear if we put the flame of knowledge to it so this is from mundakopanishad which I hope we will do next here shankaracharya also comments and he explains same thing which was said earlier here it is said the knot of the heart earlier he said all desires this are dispelled now he says the knot of the heart what is the knot of the heart ignorance that phrase what is the source of samsara our past Karma where did the karma come from from desire where did desire come from ignorance so ignorance is here called not of the heart he says not of the heart remember heart always means buddhi the intellect of the Mind in the mind is ignorance and that ignorance is the not of the heart why is it called a knot is um foreign [Music] time thick ropes tied together very difficult to untie very difficult to untie so there's a story of famous story of Alexander the Great it was the guardian knot and you said that he who cuts this dog who he who he who can free this knot will become the ruler of the east or some kind of Prophecy was there so Alexander was asked to try he didn't try to untie it he took out his sword and cut it so there's a phrase cutting the guardian knot so the guardian g-o-r-d-i-a the guardian not cutting the guardian knot that's the phrase here the guardian knot is ignorance Primal not which has bound us to samsara from time immemorial the reason why we are like what we are now that has to be cut and cut by knowledge the realization of who I am my infinite nature why plural because this not manifests in many naughty ways not in both ways k n o t t y and n a u g h t y not t waste it manifests in all sorts of desires and it leads to all sorts of Mischief in my in our lives so that I must overcome and shankaracharya gives a example what are the ways in which this not of ignorance manifests in our life he says I am this body or this body is mine and this wealth is mine this property it is shares and stocks and bonds and this house and car all of this is mine and sukhi dukhi and the movements in the mind happy I am happy this is also not because it's just a wave in the mind your happiness itself you are not a happy mind moment you tie yourself to a happy mind you're going to be an unhappy mind also next moment there'll be unhappiness the wave in the mind will go down it will be unhappy I am unhappy dookie means I am unhappy the enlightened one will say ah a wave of so-called happiness has come in this silly thing called the mind good what fun ah a wave of this thing called unhappiness is coming in the mind oh great fun because it's nothing to you I am this body this all these possessions are mine aham Suki I am happy I'm unhappy if you have um and then what happens upon enlightenment just contrary to all of this which will cancel all of these what will happen arises I am Brahman my unlimited nature this this moment of realization arises where does it arise in the mind in the mind itself it removes the ignorance it cuts the knot I am not subject to coming and going I am not subject to embodiment ation tissue then the knot of ignorance is cut the knot of ignorance being cut and the desires which Sprout from this not they are destroyed at their root that destroyed at their root before that what has happened is before this Enlightenment either a person has controlled their desires I am a spiritual Seeker I am controlling it desires have been replaced by subject desires no I'm not going to get distracted I shall I like meditation I don't like World reading worldly things or watching worldly things I like reading spiritual things and I like watching spiritual things I don't like worldly company I like spiritual company and so on they're all desires but we have replaced rajasik desired thomasic results with spiritual desires but at the root all of these disappear even the desire for enlightenment and God realization in Moksha that also disappears completely why do I need Moksha does Brahman need Moksha does the absolute reality need God realization Freedom no then then you can sing like shankaracharya another chart I don't want um Dharma I don't want Pleasures Karma I don't want possession wealth I don't want mokshas why I am Shiva I am Shiva I am of the nature of Limitless Ananda Limitless consciousness what is that Limitless Ananda what I started with everywhere all the time from everything independent effortless all the time available as my own self then so this these are the two mantras the second one is deeper than the first one the first one talks about the symptoms desire they must go and it's a very important thing that if someone says I'm enlightened but I have a few desires left over no it doesn't work that way it's like saying I am infinite but I'm also Limited how these are contradictory I am sorry but I am also samsari I am beyond samsara but I'm also within samsara I want things within samsara no you may remain within samsara the movie may continue but you are like the Lotus Leaf Untouched by the water in which you are floating that's a very good example and then in the next Mantra he went to and this I am the uh and and the root of Desire ignorance is destroyed now a couple of more mantras are there let me chant the next one is entirely different topic yeah let me read the translation you'll feel a bit of a jerk here because the topic is suddenly changed what is the topic here the nerves of the heart are 101 in number of them one passes through the crown of the head going up through that nerd one gets immortality the others have different directions become the causes of death what's this suddenly why where do the nerves which is very same very bodily nerves and the crown of the head all of these things are coming in what what's happening here Yama the teacher the god of death is referring back to an earlier teaching because he's wrapping up the whole thing he's referring back to the second Boon which nachiketa had asked for here asked for the best of all Vedic rituals long time back we had studied it and Yama taught him the best of Vedic rituals which he named nachiket Agni the nachiketa fire literally named it after nachiketa and by performing that a devout person a moral devout person will reach brahmaloka the highest Heaven the realm of Brahma so having reached that what will happen having reached that that person if he is a seeker of Enlightenment and freedom that person will get Knowledge from the greatest of teachers Brahma himself God himself will teach you there so there also there will be Zoom classes and upanishad classes everything will go on but there everything is much better and you attain Enlightenment there and at the end of Brahma look at the end of this particular universe that dweller of Brahma loka will attain brahmanand become free attain more that's a long long time billions of years but don't worry about them they're having a really good time the drama local is a extraordinarily good place to be in so they are all highly spiritual people they are the ones who come down to help us in spiritual life and so on so um that is an extraordinary state what is meant here vedanta you'll always see two things are taught the central teaching of vedant is called mukti Freedom here and now which was said in the last two mantras means here in this life in this body Here and Now become enlightened and be free that's the central teaching however what about those who do not attain it you have been spiritual Seekers for a long time you are devout you have taken the Mantra of an ishta devatha you are repeating the Mantra meditating on the Mantra you are leading a moral life trying to be a good person and struggling to realize God suppose we do not realize God in this lifetime what will happen you will go to brahmaloka and you will remain there that brahmalok has many names in different religions it is the it is it is Devi loka for the um for the shaktas it is the Christian Heaven it's the Islamic Heaven it is the pure land of the Buddhists so the highest conception of a spiritual place which you find in different religions theistic and non-theistic that is in vedant it's called Brahma local and that's very spiritual nothing wrong in that but that's still clearly second best that he's talking about if you perform that ritual and the associated meditation and I'll just mention it's called Virat meditation we talked about it a long time back do we perform those meditations or in today's world the way we see Hinduism today you have ishta devatha ishta Mantra your initiated regularly perform Japan meditation have deep devotion and surrender to God in that form then you will reach ramaloka if you are not enlightened so this is said there are these thousands of naris running from the plexuses in the body so he is now moving into a very tantric landscape not advaithik at all suddenly we're back to the body and the heart and nadis and what are naris there's no clear translation in English nerves you can say but they're not exactly nerves they're more like passageways extremely subtle passageways and they perform many activities in the body many all of our activities in the body are and and also illnesses because of the functioning and not functioning of these bodies they say now we are concerned here with one of these knowledge which is very subtle very delicate which moves from the heart up to the crown of the head they say brahmarandra it is said at the time of physical death of this very devout person who has not yet attained full Enlightenment this very devout person who has got a guru and Easter devata Mantra and has practiced devotion sincerely and tried best to give up desires as far as possible this person when the physical body dies the subtle body will leave the body just like everybody's case this person leave the body but it will leave through that that Nadi it is called and it it'll leave the circle body supposed to leave through the brahmaranta this crown of the head it leaves there and where does it go it goes to the plane of Brahma not Brahman not the nirguna Brahman but the highest Heaven a spiritual heaven and hence after that will Attain uh Liberation from there this is called karma mukti sequential Liberation sequential Liberation as against what was talked of earlier mukti immediate liberation those who get in immediate Liberation they will enjoy jivan mukti that means liberated while free while living here free while living here and after the death of the body video mukti free anyway but these others very devout people meditators devotees they will go to the heaven of their choice and enjoy a spiritual communion they will not become sugar they will eat sugar until they attain full brahmagyana and they are released forever it released into what into infinitive into their infinite nature what about others then he says there are hundreds of other nadis which Go in different directions and the subtle body can lead through any one of them and they lead to other goals they can go to other Heavens into other births human births animal Birds hellish worlds there are so many other ways all of them he says with you they are pervaded by death they all come to an end if you attain Liberty so what about the liberated one doesn't go anywhere if you have attained Enlightenment you don't go out through this scenery or that Nadi or this nothing you don't go anywhere you are Brahman already the Mundo companies will talk about it in the case of the death physical death of the enlightened one the not only the physical body goes back to nature but the subtle body also goes back to Nature it does not go from place to place your spiritual tourism will come to an end so that is for the enlightened one worldly good and bad various destinations all subject to coming and going the spiritual person devout person one destination brahmaloka from which eventual Liberation Karma mukti sequential Liberation the enlightened one does not go anywhere it is the moment upon the moment of Enlightenment you realize you're this Limitless existence Consciousness please ever fulfilled game up finished for you then conclusion so here he just referred back to that earlier Boon the second Boon which had asked for the best of all fire rituals and he referred back to that and mentioned the result of that then the 17th mantra he concludes with the central teaching of Liberation Here and Now [Music] [Music] the purusha the indwelling self of the size of a thumb is ever seated in the hearts of men one should uneasingly separate him from one's body like a stalk from the Bunya grass him one should know as pure and Immortal him one should know as pure and immortal summing up the teaching the air there in your heart heart means in your mind in your intellect is consciousness your real nature foreign to put now the grass the sides are Sharp if you rub it you like a paper cut you might get a thin cut on your finger also so you have to be carefully pull the stock out from between the uh the leaves of the grass so like that you separate your nature as Consciousness from the physical and mental bodies are physical subtle and causal bodies you separate yourself not physically that can't be done do not don't go with a pair of forceps and try to pull the Atman the self out from the physical body now how do you do it what is the methodology not physically not with forceps or something not with pincers you do it with drinks all of these are methods the method of the Seer and the seeing the method of the analysis of the five sheets the method of the three states of waking dreaming deep sleep in all of these methods what will you get if you do it carefully you will end up carefully means mindfully and carefully full understanding and Clarity you will end up with seeing yourself as witness consciousness start Chi you will end up seeing yourself as realizing yourself as witness Consciousness where here right here in this body in this mind earlier I thought I was a body mind with Consciousness now I see I am a Consciousness witness of Illuminating a body mind this is the step one then he says having carefully separated yourself in your understanding in your realization if it's a real thing not theoretical it's limitlessness not that it is one little Consciousness in one body mind and there are many many consciousnesses in all bodies and Minds no no it is one country you will realize you have stepped away from the body mind into Limitless Consciousness which is Brahman and that is immortality that is sachidananda so two steps one not body not mind witness Consciousness that is carefully separating and then two is that that witness Consciousness is not a tiny thing limited thing it is the unlimited Brahman in which this entire universe appears disappears like a bubble or like a snake in a rope like a dream like a mirage you are this unlimited existence Consciousness place so he says it is pure Consciousness pure Anand the Bliss pure existence it is beyond death body is in will remain in the cycle of death mind is in the realm of death but you are Beyond Death realize that how I am that I am Brahman and then it's reply it is repeated him one should realize as him means that one not male that one one should realize as pure and Immortal pure Consciousness is Limitless Consciousness Atman is Brahman and I am that Brahman you realize that it is repeated twice to show that the teaching is ended now the teaching is ended one last Mantra remains the dialogue is over the teaching is over now the upanishad has a comment to make the Punisher itself as they come in to make it has a it wants to get in the last word and to encourage all of us and stop there 18th mantra with foreign by acquiring this knowledge imparted by death as also the process of yoga and its totality attained Brahman little boy became fully enlightened and became free anyone else too who became becomes a knower like dachiketa of the indwelling self attains Brahman so what is said here did nachiketa finally get the result he was looking for enlightenment and freedom yes in upanishad confirms nasiketa became free he became an enlightened person a jivan mukta and then um what did how did he become a jivan mukta an enlightened person attaining the knowledge imparted by a teacher who is the teacher none other than the god of death Yama Vidya which knowledge the knowledge of the upanishad how do you get it yoga with him and all these spiritual practices meditation devotion selfless work purification of mind all the qualities which nachiketa was strenuously examined for having attained all that um learning the method of knowledge of meditation also all of those things he has got and he became enlightened he went beyond causality viraja here means um the uh Papa pundy Dharma Dharma good and bad as long as we are trapped in that good karma Heaven Bad Karma hell mixture Earthly existence when you go beyond that you realize you are Brahman nachiketa went beyond that who are similarly qualified and similarly seeking Enlightenment meaning all of us thousands of years later says they will also attain Brahman and attain Liberation as did nachiketa that's on the very upbeat and encouraging note let me do a chant and then we will give a Jai the reason is when we study texts like this in the main Monastery the brahmachary study it as each text upanishad is finished at the end we give Jai Shri Guru maharaji like that so I will do it on your behalf and then we can take a few observations and questions [Music] [Music] I pray to the Divine mother to bless all of us may this knowledge become become illumined in our lives in this very life itself may we attained like magic later to knowledge and freedom good congratulations to all of you we've completed this journey together let's look at the chat Shri says takur says some people satisfy worldly desires to desire renunciation yes saying that some people have to live and learn all of us have to live and learn and thakur was he was like he knew it doesn't happen in a hurry Vivekananda was always in a hurry he because you're currently knew how much suffering people go through and that Liberation and freedom from suffering is at hand why not attain it why not get it in this life but SRAM Krishna was not so much in a hurry so the Vivekananda would get some of his friends and tell sudama he knew SRI Ram Krishna could could liberate them he could at least make them spiritual and he would say do something for them and SRI ramakrishna had a name for these people Vivekananda Dragon before him yeah would call them parent friend the English word friend they're friends of Narin which is slightly uh you know he was making fun of them because it's they're not going to become they're nowhere close to Vivekananda they're not going to become spiritually enlightened maybe in this lifetime and one monk was joking that we are all of us we are a bunch of narranged friends most of us we have been attracted by Vivekananda the Vivekananda has dragged Us in and put us before SRI ramakrishna do something for these guys yes we have to learn but since we have got this knowledge and this understanding now and we're getting this vedantic knowledge and blessed let's struggle let's move as fast as possible why do idle and why suffered more rajendraji says where is the locus of avid yet I'm illusion in the form of Jiva is of India located in Brahman or Jiva is consciousness without any desire what about God's desire in Lila vaishnavism okay these are very deep questions huge question huge question and there are different dances given by different schools so one school of vedanta says your ignorance the locus Locus is Asher Lucas is in Brahman the other one says no no how can there be ignorance in Brahman Brahman is like the sun How can there be darkness in the Sun so the ignorance is obviously where is ignorance you feel that you're ignorant you don't know that you are Brahman all of us admit it that's why we are here in vedanta class we admitted we don't know that we are Brahman we don't realize it in that case you are admitting that ignorance is in you so ignorance is in the Jiva that's another position then there's a counter attack that ignorance cannot be in the Jiva you are a Jiva because of ignorance you are after all Brahman but you don't know that you're brahmana and that's why you think you're a Jiva so ignorance precedes you becoming a Jiva then how can the ignorance be in the dream of when there was no Jiva it's only Brahman becomes or appears as a Jiva because of ignorance and so this debate is a long debate there's a lot of and there are multiple schools mainly three points of view one is called the um one is called the Weaver interview one is called the bahamati view the one is called the with the vertical View the river in A View and the bahamati view I've stated I think the bahamati view is that that the ignorance is in Brahman and the people in the view is that the ignorance is no we weren't abused with ignorance is in Brahman and the bahati views that ignorance is in each of the individual jivas and both have serious defects the vertical view is very interesting says as far as I recall I may be wrong but sureshwaracharya one of shankaracharya's great disciples his view is very uh different from others he says this question is meaningless it's not that ignorance is something that exists you can say which is the locus of the mobile phone is it on the table or is it in your pocket and there can be a good answer to it somebody might say it's on the table it's somebody might sit in the pocket but if something doesn't exist what is the meaning of asking what is the location of that thing ignorance has no real existence it's not like Brahman is a container and the Jiva is another container and it might be either here or either or there no ignorance actually doesn't exist it appears in us the Jiva and it can be overcome by knowledge that's it if you could actually prove the existence of ignorance you would be in trouble become a real thing and it could not be overcome ignorance if investigated disappears is not a lump is Limitless Consciousness without any desire let me ask you is Brahman without a body without a world without a mind and in one sense no because here is the world body and mind to the extent that the world is their bodies their mind is there it must be nothing other than Brahman just that Brahman does not the world body and mind do not belong to the same level of reality as Brahman Brahman is absolutely a reality paramarthika and World body and mind belong to the level of appearance uh they have a hurricane so your desire also belongs to the level of appearance um God has the desire to create this universe apparently but apparently on the advaita vedanta would say that's all at the transactional level and that explains the appearance of this world so God's desire for Leela or she was acting kashmiri shaivism According To advaita vedanta None of these need to be denied they can all be put in the vivaharika level transactional level total annihilation of desires is seen only post Enlightenment she also said one needs to be nishkanshe that means desireless prerequisite for enlightenment yes good question giving up desires is necessary for enlightenment but all desires go away only after enlightenment if you cannot give up desires and you can't because unless you're enlightened you can't give up all these ads and in that case you will not attain Enlightenment and that in that case never the results will go away [Music] no just enough that much of control of desires and supplanting worldly desires which spiritual desires is enough till that you get Enlightenment and that will remove desires forever now here ramanuja acharya he actually asked this question control of Senses is necessary for enlightenment but without Enlightenment perfect control sense is not possible in that case Enlightenment is not possible there he introduces bhakti love of God lack of control of Senses is because of the desire for the world replace the desire for the world with the love of God then the senses will be pulled towards God not towards the world and that senses pulled towards God will never be an obstacle in your path of Enlightenment in fact will be the greatest help for you to to become enlightened so very beautiful argument powerful argument for bhakti for devotion and by the way even little more I would add here all desires are extinguished upon Enlightenment not entirely true all we might call selfish desires binding desires one might have like a bodhisattva um desire for taking everybody towards Enlightenment one might have like a jivan mukta um Krishna says in the Gita ever engage in the welfare of all beings that kind of helpfulness says seek to live a life of blessed health healthfulness so that kind of Desire is great it has absolutely no problem for you for the enlightened person it's a great blessing for Humanity and even little desires will persist that's also interesting interesting loved jilipi eating jilipi and was it there always yes but it's not a binding disaster Ram Krishna would say those outward little characteristics and those little characteristics will remain because everybody has a personality after Enlightenment or personality does not disappear they don't all become like Bland and homogeneous and that was different from the personality of all the other direct disciples each Saint each Mystic had their own unique a very interesting personality and after an Enlightenment it's not that the personality disappears they don't become one Bland uninteresting you know no they're all unique and they're all very interesting but none of this binding for them SRI ramakrishna says then the desire remains like a rope which is burnt a burnt rope retains the shape of a rope but it's basically ashes if you blow upon it it blows up into the air it can't bind anybody Abhijit says uh with the following example work to understand the Bliss even in unpleasant experiences is it that people enjoy a scary ride in the amusement park all those scary people still enjoy feeling scared because they know in their body in this case will not get hurt this knowledge enables them to enjoy and otherwise unpleasant experience yes but um in a certain way but actually much more Vivid and much more viscerally powerful than this there you have a knowledge that a ride is Scary or a movie is Scary and it's a movie but here the overwhelming feeling of infinitude and joy is so powerful that it's occasional manifestation is a flash of pain or irritation or unhappiness or poverty or something it's fine it's perfectly all right that also benefits my infinite nature okay that's what explains even in unpleasant situations your birth start laughing it's other one must not forget it's of nature of not just knowledge it's a very Vivid experience Kiran says can we interpret Unlimited in this way also unlimited number of names and forms can appear in Consciousness just like unlimited number of movies good and bad can play on the screen yes yes unlimited manifestation this Consciousness has unlimited potential but remember one thing advaitha will say only one thing if you know it's not really plural all of it is that one movie screen only advaith is interesting only one thing you can have as many worlds bodies uh heavens and Hells as much as you like God and incarnations as many as you like as long as the non-duality is not violated they must be at their base nothing other than Brahman then advise is satisfied no matter as many movies as you show they have to be nothing other than the screen screen alone appearing as a variety of movies Brahman alone appearing as a variety of bodies Minds worlds experiences David says I would posit attachment to desires that ends as in the desires themselves they need to live life especially for householders they'll also shift being driven by a source rather than identification okay go together speak together know your minds this is Mantra yes yes United be your purpose [Music] disaster driven by ignorance come to an end but not all these are yes they can be desire for the welfare of all beings like a given Modi satwa ishwara does ishwara God the god of religion does God have a desire yes in the sense of love for all of us and being the greatest of well-wishers God says I am your best friend I wish you all well I really want that you should attain Enlightenment that desire God does have for all of us but it's not something that binds God Girish says Brahman cannot be defined in words but aren't we defining it by calling it the screen on the screen is um as an example on which the fundamental logical World appears or by calling it the substrate on which the world appears yes so the in philosophical language it might say aren't you defining Brahman as the cause of the world but then answer will be no Brahman is not the cause of the world a cause produces an effect Brahman did not really produce the world so um you cannot call really call Brahman cause of this word but then at this point someone might say yes I understand Brahman did not produce the world but the world appears in Brahman so Brahman is the ground of that appearance as long as that appearance has no difference no change no separate identity from Brahman otherwise is satisfied and um designation has failed because that appearance is in no way different from Brahma so we really have failed to express it in language says um one through 14 15 it's like the teaching of the Buddha desires the root of suffering and destroying it is the solution desires the root of suffering not only that ignorance is the root of Desire also and destroying it is the solution correct Priya Kulkarni says is there any experience that will experience subsequent Liberation yes those who are in brahmaloka they will experience liberation um at the end of Brahma local when the universe comes to an end they will all be liberated what happens to the causal body of the enlightened one goes back to Nature causal body subtle body physical body are all produced by prakriti all of it goes back to Nature the causal body is nothing other than Maya itself part of Maya again thank you very much it's a wonderful Journey we all think together studying the uh [Music] foreign