Video 7

7. Katha Upanishad | Mantra 1.1.20 | Swami Sarvapriyananda

[Music] may the lord protect us both teacher and the taught together by revealing knowledge may he protect us both by giving us the results of that knowledge may we attain vigor together let what we study be illuminating maybe not careful at each other om peace peace peace now we were we just did mantra number 19 is this is for you the boon about the fire that leads to heaven for which you have prayed through the second boon people will speak of this fire as yours indeed onachiketa ask for the third boom so what we have here is the culmination of this this story is coming to the climax where uh naji gate is going to ask the question which leads to vedantic teaching we know the story so far the little boy nachiketa he was he was skeptical about what his father was doing organizing a big sacrifice where he was supposed to give everything away but he was giving his father was giving only the things which he did not want a sort of a double dealing the little boy fort right he asked to whom will you give me and the father was irritated at this and said i'll give you to death and sonata goes to the house of death waits there three nights because death was away on tour or something and then death comes back lord of death yama and he realizes that this was a mistake on his part inadvertently do it be that uh this boy was waiting for him without food or drink for three days and nights so he offers him three boons the first boon nachiketa says that let me go back when i go back to my father let my father be happy with me and let him forget all his anxiety and anger the second boon he asks for the best kind of vedic sacrifice the kind of religion his people were used to at that time so what's the what how do i go to heaven basically and now the third boon the third one we know that is it's famous in the story that he asks this question about the mystery of death so let's go to that mantra and then we'll see where it takes us the twentieth the famous question of naji keta which basically sets the tone for the rest of the book the rest of cut open issue is an answer to this question this is the question and the answer to this question is the rest of qatar financial and the main theme of catholic nation whatever we saw was just the setting the background for the story the real vedantic teaching will come after this 20th mantra [Music] must [Music] the meaning of this mantra is there is this doubt that arises upon the death of a person some say that this person exists others say that the person does not exist i would like to know this instructed by you of all the boons this is the third one this is what nachiket is saying a query arises when we see death inevitable we see everybody dying and we know we are going to die too it is guaranteed but the mystery of death is that what happens upon death after death there is this whole discussion there are people who say that nothing exists after death and there are those people those who say that there is something that exists after there something goes on after that and this is a great great question this is a question that has always been asked and has puzzled humanity and has led to the birth of religions actually with this question and i would like to know the answer to this question from you or death so this question the answer to this question is is the boon he's asking for the answer to this mystery the solution of this mystery this great question about death swami vivekananda in his gyana yoga lectures he talks about the origin of religions and one of them is when you look out at the universe you see these various forces of nature and ancient people they thought that there are there is some power behind all these powers of nature so ultimately that all coalesced into one power which is god so there was one track in which religion uh developed another track was inwards uh ourselves we all see death death is inevitable so this great barrier and that is we hit this barrier in time at one point everybody we know good bad whatever they will die or they have died and they have gone on and we too will die that's sure so what happens after that this question also led to the development of religion so this is the great question and the answer will come in due course notice all of vedanta starts with these questions the upanishads they deal with these such questions of big questions of life so in cut openish this is the question of nachiketa regarding the mystery of death in the mundaku upanishad which we shall study in due course we'll see there is another student who goes to a teacher and asks a question and the whole upanishad is an answer to that question who was rich and prosperous who had many uh you know who had many uh sacrifice altars that's how they designated someone who was rich powerful successful in life you conducted many vedic sacrifices you see the common vedic background of these upanishads the vedic sacrificial background so shaunaka who was evidently a very successful person he goes to this master angiras and asks the question sir um sir what is that by knowing which everything is known and that's the beginning of the the mundaka opening that's another theme of vedanta one theme is the reality which which is lies beyond death the mystery of death answer to that another one is what is the one reality of this entire universe knowing which everything is known in the famous chando panishan where we come across tatwa masih that thou art they are there also the teacher and the student the teacher is the father and the student is the son but it's the father who asks the question he says son do you know that knowledge by knowing which everything is known same same question and then the answer in that sixth chapter of the chamber is an answer to this and his basically the answer is you when you know yourself you know that by knowing which everything is known in the canoe openation it starts with the question cane of the word very word kaina means by what keynes impelled by what do thoughts arise in my mind does my mind go to various things from where do these words arise when i speak how do i have this experience of seeing hearing and also smelling tasting touching [Music] so all our experiences of life you know sensing and doing things all of that what is that common thing which gives me all these experiences and we know it's consciousness but anyway that's the question and the answer to that question is can openation so similarly these are profound questions about the nature of ultimate reality not who is god is can god be seen there's already you've assumed something there here it's very fundamental i look at the world and i look at myself and i ask these fundamental questions about death about how is my conscious experience possible all this life how is it possible what is the greatest knowledge how can we know everything in this universe so these are the questions and nachiketa asks one of these fundamental questions these are the real spiritual questions real spiritual questions not how can i overcome my depression how can i tackle that annoying neighbor my son or daughter doesn't listen to me these are not deep spiritual questions these questions also will be answered every every question in our life will be answered to our satisfaction but you must ask the deepest question the most fundamental questions now this question itself is interesting because you see swami vivekananda said this question leads to religion when you see death there was a time in very ancient times when they discovered that death of the physical body is not our death there is something else that continues what is that they called it the bright body of the subtle body the bright body or the subtle body is nothing other than um um you know our thoughts feelings emotions our internal the mind itself this was what constitutes us body mind now one view might be that the mind is nothing but the body basically we are body fundamentally we are body so when the body dies at physical debt the body dies nobody disagrees materialists agree and the spiritualist people spiritual people agree everybody agrees that at physical death what dies is the body now if we are only the body if we are fundamentally the body then at the death of the physical body that's the end there is nothing more that remains i mean you can say that your legacy remains people's memories about you remain what you have done in the world remains but that's all secondary that's evading the issue do you remain do i remain after the death of this body in some sense at least the way i understand myself that one does it remain so those who think that the body is the only reality and everything that we are including so-called mind and consciousness and everything it basically is born of the body who says that in ancient india it was the char walkers the materialists and today it's all the materialists whether in philosophy or in science or medicine or physiology who say that the body is you are the body and you might say but but what about mind we are thoughts feelings emotions they will say that look what you call mind is just products of the chemical activity that electrical activity in your brain and nervous system your neurons are firing there is biochemical activity going on your brains that's what's produced giving you the feeling of having thoughts memories that's what constitutes your distinct personality [Music] you might say yes but how how does the brain produce the mind materialist will answer we really don't know but it does it does why would you say that because because matter is the only reality the whole universe is matter energy time space that's it how do you know that there's nothing else and it's a powerful way of thinking it's an elegant way of thinking notice it's also a monism it's a kind of one reality is matter with all its variations with its super strings and quarks and whatever that's the ultimate reality and body is just a very complicated form of matter somehow it produces the by-product which you are you're a by-product somebody said that according to material this reductionism um we are nothing more than the fizz in a coca-cola bottle the vocal bottle is fizzing this is fizzing in there and so we the person just a fizzing going on is this body activity and just the phys is this this what we are nothing more than that the phase of matter interacting with more matter so that's one view nachiketa says there are some who say nasty there's nothing more that's it death is the end and there is those who say no there is something more there are those who say that physical body only dies there is no proof to show that the subtle body so subtle body is not a fizz is not a by-product it has its own existence it exists with the physical body something like data in the cloud just because the physical computer is broken or laptop is broken does not mean your data is gone you buy a new one you can download the same data so similarly um the software running inside this hardware that is not gone because just for the hardware breaks down the subtle body thoughts feelings emotions you the person i the person i still continue the ancients discovered this in every civilization of the world not just civilization pre-civilization the so-called primitive people you know the cave dwellers the stone age people they also had burial rituals they also gathered together in groups and they felt that the person we are burying or burning that person is going on there is something more to give offerings most ancient cultures all of them they have um ideas about ghosts who are ghosts who die halloween if you look at halloween what's what's halloween all about why are there so many ghosts and demons there if you look at the origins it is all saints uh it is a christian uh practice of remembering the saints but that if you go further it's remembering all those who are dead so people who died all hallows from which halloween has come which means uh we feel that they exist even in without the body the physical body is destroyed but they exist so that's the idea of a ghost a ghost is a subtle body without the physical body we are all ghosts actually we just have a physical body going right now when the physical body goes we'll just be the ghost and look at the difference in language in english we say death means he gave up the ghost in india we say he gave up the body so here the stresses on the physical body um and the life going out of the physical body there the stress is on the subtle body and subtle body leaving the dead physical body behind and going on and these people who believe that the subtle body exists without the physical body they say it's the subtle body which survives death and which goes on to other worlds you know heaven and other places and which can be reborn in new bodies so this person but the subtle body goes on and can become another person the pers personality also changes the body also changes you're a new person new identity and life not just one life but many many lives you can live and you do live so there are these people who believe this this is the question he's asking now little if you dig a little more deeper here um we know in vedanta that if you analyze the human personality we have the atman pure consciousness they're our reality plus the causal body if you remember this is why vedantist is so useful the causal body the karana sharita then the subtle body the sukshmashar reader and then the physical body the sharira so three bodies and consciousness atman of course there we are all one atman but the three bodies are different for each person now at physical death the physical bodies thula sharira dies but the subtle body does not die and the causal body does not die and that's what transmigrates goes to other worlds and other lives that's the jivatman behind it all is the atman utman never comes never goes because it's infinite all pervading non-dual it is the one reality in all things it's just like the screen of the movie when in the movie you find the hero goes from one country to another the screen does not go from one country to another the screen enables this movement to happen it displays that that was possibility so the subtle body and the causal body sushmasharira and karana sharira with dhatman always the atman is there they travel those the subtle body and the causal body physical body is broken another example would be suppose there are pots in a garden many pots they're full of water different sizes and shapes and in each pot the sun is reflected so pot water reflected sun tiny sun and the real sun in the sky the real sun in the sky is one pots are many the waters also are many and the reflected suns in the those waters are also many when the physical the pot breaks or is damaged what does the gardener do it takes the water and he pours it into another new pot when he pours the water out what happens is the water along with the reflected sun you see it travels to the new part now compare the physical part the pot to the physical body this one and the water inside to the causal body and the uh subtle body karnasharida and there the little consciousness is reflected the real sun is reflected there that's what we call in vedanta has a reflected consciousness or awareness which we feel right now and this is the one that travels this is called the jiva sentient being now when nachiketa asks this question what is he asking about clearly physical body dies so he's not asking about that um is he asking about the atman the brahman existence consciousness place the ultimate reality or is he asking a question about the sentient being that which travels from lifetime to lifetime this subtle body total body causal body with the reflected awareness is he asking about the pot is he asking about the water with its reflected little son or is he asking about the real sir i'll repeat that what is this question about the part is broken so he's not really asking about the pot but is he asking about the traveling water which goes from part to part or is he asking about the sun is he asking about subtle body causal body reflected consciousness that's one or is he asking about pure consciousness infinite existence consciousness please he is asking about atman pure consciousness brahman our reality why do you say so because after all even the subtle body also survives the death of the body so you could be asking about that one thing is the subtle body and that surviving the death of the body these people were already pretty convinced about moment is asking a question about going to heaven the second boom how do i go to heaven so he is pretty much in that paradigm of he at least believes even if he doesn't know he believes the general belief of his people the vedic people that we don't die with the body the soul survives the jivatma it survives and it goes on to other worlds and other bodies you can actually travel to heaven in that one so those things are sort of understood is but what he's asking is is there a higher reality is there an ultimate reality what are we finally not the body which dies not the ever-changing little puddle of water which goes from part to part you know the subtle body causal body complex which goes from lifetime to lifetime beyond the ghost beyond that what are we are we really that's what he's asking um how am i how do i know how do i know i know because if you look at yama's answer to his question it is about vedanta about the reality about ourselves its answer to the question who am i and later on in the second chapter which will come yama will wants to make sure that he's a fit student for vedanta yama is going to test him so offering him temptations and all nasi keta turns it all down and again asks the question so the second time he asks the question it's in different language it's very precise he asks beyond all these dualities the ultimate reality what is that tell me that i want that truth to the capital t i want to know who am i the self with the capital s not the physical self not the subtle self also which travels from lifetime to lifetime so that's the question and that's why it's vedanta um shankaracharya the commentator here he makes an observation before we enter into this question and one sentence a remarkable sentence i want to read that out to you and so he sets the stage he wants to show us what has happened till now and what is being asked now how is it so different so enormously different from our life from our humdrum life worldly life or even the other worldly life how is spirituality different from conventional religion even different from worldliness different from other worldiness also conventional religion how is vedanta hired them all all of that what is this profound nature of this question he wants to show us so i will read out that in sanskrit this is shankaracharya's commentary on the introduction to this question of naji keta before nasi keta asks shankaracharya he flags this us now we are going into the third boom and how is this third boo this question how is it so unique compared to what has gone on earlier let me read the sentence out then i will tell you how it's remarkable i'm going to read out the original script for you yes so shankaracharya says and i'll translate everything one sentence so they were fond of long sentences one sentence what did he say here i will use gambiranji's translation and then we will analyze it it gives us a beautiful idea of what is vedanta all about actually this is a translation of this one sentence hence for the elimination of the natural ignorance which is the seed of mundane existence which consists in superimposing activity agentship and enjoyment on the self and which has for its contents those objects of prohibition and injunction the subject matter of the scriptures it is necessary to speak of the knowledge of the unity of the self and brahman which knowledge is opposed to this ignorance is devoid of any change of superimposition on the self of activity agent ship and enjoyment and has for its object absolute emancipation that's not a mouthful i don't know what is let's see now okay i'm going back to the sanskrit and so he says now having done with the first and the second boons what what are we going to see he says [Music] now it is to be taught the identity of brahman and atman basically yourself is that infinite reality you are that infinite reality this has to be taught why and what is the nature of this knowledge to remove he says what is the purpose of all of this this teaching of vedanta nibriti to remove to negate to cancer what samsara our samsara what is the nature of this samsara he says the uh what is the object of the do's and don'ts mentioned in the ritualistic portion of the vedas the you do this ritual you want money you want wealth you want a king in this world and in the world next you want to go to heaven and here are the vedic commandments do this ritual do that ritual then do the other ritual and then you will get the results of all of that do good deeds get a lot of good good good karma as a result of it your what you want you will get you will get so injunctions and prohibitions do's and don'ts there is a kind of religion which deals with do's and don'ts and that's part of samsara that's the first thing he says the there's a portion of the vedas the earlier portion of the vedas which deals with conventional religion do's and don'ts why do's and don'ts do does our samsara depend on vedas or do's and don'ts or conventional religion no samsara is it's there with us we're born into it but if you want to make a good deal out of it if you want the best possible life here if you want not a tragedy but a comedy or you know in the sense of unpleasant life here in this world for yourself and your family and your community and you want to go to heaven afterwards again a pleasant afterlife um instead of you know being a ghost and haunting having a haunted house and saying boo to people that's a terrible existence rather you go to heaven so all of that if you want who doesn't want it everybody wants a good existence here that's what conventional religion deals with that's what the karma kanda of the vedas the ritualistic portion of the vedas deals with what is its nature atmani kriya karaka khala characterized characterized by um this is an amazing way of putting it kriya means action what action worldly action you earn money have a job raise a family that's kriya and also religious action you perform rituals poojas and whatnot all of it what does it do tala it leads to results how do you do it karaka karak is one word it's very powerful it's a it comes from sanskrit grammar all the objects of all the factors involved in action are called karaka so the subject of action the one who does action who does action i but which i not the aham brahmas brahman no it is the absolute reality itself but occluded by obscured by hidden by natural ignorance in identification with a particular mind and a particular body that's what in plain language we call your average guy a person on the street so that person is the subject of action the one who does action so subject that's a karaka the object of action so maybe somebody's eating food the food is the object of action and then the the location where do you do it then the instrument by which you do it with your hands or with the fork you drive to work with the car those instruments are called karana they are also part of the the factors involved in action so the subject of action the object of action the instruments of action the location of action all of that is called karaka what do they do they enable action to happen and what is the result of action good and bad papa and punya merit and demerit good karma and bad karma and the result of that is happiness and misery so you have these three kriya karaka action the factors of action and the result of action what action all action secular and religious what are the factors everything that you is involved in an action you the person the car you drive in the office you are driving to all of that and the result of action is ultimately good and bad the good karma and bad karma i mean you're saying let's see result of action is making a million dollars to the stock market yes but with that you generate good karma and bad karma that's also part of the action that's the only the intermediate result of the action it will give you ultimately happiness that's the result of good karma it gives you ultimately misery that's the result of bad karma all of this kriya kara kapha it is superimposed upon the real self atmani superimposed upon the real self because of ignorance ignorance of what of our real nature and this ignorance is inseparable from the atman this might be stunning to people but you after all we all are trained in vedanta we have to get rid of ignorance we have to cancel the ignorance we have to generate vedantic knowledge i feel i'm the body mind due to ignorance generate the knowledge that i am brahmana and that cancels the ignorance if ignorance is inseparable from the real self from brahman then isn't it asking for trouble no inseparable here swabhavika means does not mean it is the real nature of brahman ignorance is not part maya is not part of the real nature of brahman rather it is inseparable in what sense just as the false snake is inseparable from the real group that which is false cannot be separated from the reality if you separate it it disappears so there's ignorance which is swab which is naturally there in in our self we can negate it we will generate knowledge gyana which will negate ignorance and that will remove samsara but as long as ignorance is there as long as samsara is there it is inseparable from you the real nature from brahman it's inseparable means it exists or appears doesn't exist it appears without existing like an illusion like a dream the dream dream is inseparable from the dreamer you see dreamer is separable from the dream you will not call the when the dream disappears you will not call yourself a dreamer anymore but you will you will call yourself i have woken up from the dream but you are the same person who dreamt um so the dream cannot exist separate separate from the dreamer although the dreamer can exist separate from the dream so brahman can exist without ignorance that's the enlightened state but ignorance cannot exist without brahman that's all he he means when he says all another meaning is there it comes naturally with with us so we are born in ignorance that was the old christian idea of the original sin born in sin born in ignorance so we don't have to go to vedanta class to get this ignorance we need vedanta class to remove the ignorance ignorance comes free yeah it's uh it is an option included free with the product when you buy it from the market it's given you don't have to ask for an extra it is there and this ignorance is the root of samsara samsara it's the root of samsara to remove this this root of samsara what is root of samsara ignorance where did it come from it's natural swab what is the nature of this ignorance superimposition of action factors of action results of action on what money on yourself this is the nature of samsara and its cause to remove this why would you want to remove it suffering you're tired of it this is endless whirl of coming and going being born its body and then aging and dying and then being a ghost and going to heavens and health even the nice words to be enjoyed through the ritualistic portion of the vedas all of that is still samsara parallel means the other words but they're all words they're all temporary they're all ultimately subject to dissatisfaction if it is hellish words naraka then terrible pain and suffering horrible if it's the heavenly worlds it is mild dissatisfaction still not not satisfying ultimately it comes to an end it does not lead to any lasting fulfillment so you want to remove it nibriti removal of all of this for that what do you do now comes vedanta tad viparita quite contrary to this to what all of this which was discussed quite contrary to this brahmahatma what is the nature of this knowledge you that you the self are drama this will show you that what is the result of that it is the removal of the superimposition of kriya action the factors of action and the results of action were superimposed on us this is the removal of that superimposition de-superimposition in vivekananda's language hypnotization and deplortization so the nature of vedanta is de-hypnotization it removes shunyam negated removed and what is the result of this atyantika initiation the absolute freedom from suffering complete transcendence of samsara this is the result this is prayer this is the purpose or or the result of um vedanta one is samsara this is moksha the fir the one is first boon second boon this is third boom i actually did a little exercise comparing the two i wrote down the results of that i made this little uh this scratch pad and i wrote down scribbled so one two two um columns first boon second moon is one column and the third boon is this column remember the first boon the second boon the first boon um najib took care of his worldly problems that is his father was annoyed with him and so he wanted to settle lawless so that's just a symbol an indicator which includes all of our worldly problems your family your physical health your job your ambitions in the world your personal story whatever it is that's uh the first the second boon is the other worldly problem how do i ensure see for our modern people most of people they don't believe too much in heaven and all that so they're not worried the ancients were worried about the future um there's this joke a lawyer joking with apologies to all the lawyers here uh always they're the butt of jokes you know so this lawyer was on his deathbed and no he was never known to be a particularly religious person so on his deathbed in the icu in the hospital so somebody this somebody who a visitor saw this lawyer he was quickly going through the bible like looking through it so oh so at the point of that you become religious and he says oh not at all i'm looking for loopholes so this is what i have to confront now he knows i'm dying now now i'm going to confront the next the other world so the ancient people in all religions everywhere they are very aware that this is this world and there's this other world and we have to be aware of getting enough good karma being good people in this world which will help us not only here but hereafter so that's the second boom asks for the greatest best vedic sacrifice which which will take him which will give so much good karma it will take him to the highest heaven after this these are the first boon and the second boot third boon is this question he has asked the question about real nature of the self so what are the distinctions what distinctions did i find quickly running through them um first the first and second boons are about the karma portion of the vedas karma kanda the third moon is about gyanakanda the upanishad portion of the vedas second distinction the first and second boons come under the ambit of the philosophy called purum it's a system of philosophy which deals with rights and rituals and vedic you know vedic ritualism the third boon comes under the philosophy called vedanta this is that's us some of you begin nodded in recognition yeah i've heard that term so it's it's that's our area this the third moon then um the first and second boons are concerned with the words this world and the next world hello the third moon is concerned with brahman to put it into perspective the first and second boons are concerned with the movies which are being played and the third moon is concerned with the reality of the screen on which the movies are being played the the karma khanda of the vedas ensure that the movies which are being played are not horror movies not tragedies they're comedies they're nice movies but a fee what you call feel good movie but and without without the karma kanda without religion without ethics also those movies will continue to be played but they're more likely to be horror movies and tragedies that's the difference but what does the third moon tell us it's a movie whether it's a horror movie a tragedy or a comedy it's a movie there is the reality beyond that and that reality is of course you yourself but that's the third boon then the next thing which i said was all of this this world and that world and so and so forth is anathema the first boon and the second boon are about anathema not self capitalist self not self other than your you that which is other than the self first boon and second goon about that the third moon is about the self atma about yourself then the fifth distinction i found was that the first boon and the second boon are all set in dwita duality plurality difference the third moon is about advaita about non-duality then the sixth difference i found was what i'm using shankaracharya's sentence the first two moons about kriya karaka pala about action the factors of action and the result of action in shankaracharya's terms you notice the first two boons something to be done and how do i do it and what is the result i get out of it so that's the first two boots the second uh the third boon is kriya karaka palashunyam the negation of action the factors of action and the result of action i go beyond that then the seventh distinction all of this you can summarize in one word adh superimposition d superimposition hypnotization d hypnotization the first and second boons are in the realm of hypnotization the technical philosophical word is superimposition in sanskrit adhoba that which is not there is imposed upon you it appears it's the dream world it's superimposed on your mind and uh the third moon is about the superimposition apart negation or d superimposition or in and swami vivekananda's words dehydration waking up basically this is ah right in the buddha's words the first and second boons are in sleep or dream and the third boon is waking up not this this waking up but waking up to reality um first and second boons are the third moon is about being a buddha the third moon is about being a buddha then the first and second boons are about being buddhu i mean only in hindi it works on indian languages it means fool buddha is the awakened one and the word buddha means a fool so first and second boons are in the realm of buddha and the third boon is being a buddha sorry i couldn't resist that and then the eighth difference i found was all of this can again be summarized in one word agyana ignorance the first and second boons are in the realm of ignorance and the third boon is in the realm of gyan knowledge the ninth distinction i found was the first and second boons are samsara and the third boon is moksha freedom so these are the distinctions and shankaracharya says now this has to be this knowledge has to be given to us the knowledge about the self and the knowledge which is de-hypnotizing the knowledge which takes us to moksha the knowledge which is non-duality this has to be given to us now that is the subject of the rest of the book shankaracharya says um what else does he say so he says also that whatever has come till now why is it being rejected why do you want to transcend it because it's not satisfying so what if it's not satisfying but we want it to be satisfying our whole project was how can i be fulfilled how can i be deeply satisfied i'm seeking some profound rest satisfaction peace fulfillment and the ways i have been seeking it in this world and the next through worldly activity and religious activity it can at best smooth things generate a nice uh nicer environment a better place for this world and the next world but it's not satisfying not fulfillment i do not find fulfillment in in wealth in pleasure in um in children in job in power status in nowhere i don't find fulfillment and so i look for the possibility that there is some lasting deep fulfillment and therefore i look to the third third question third question becomes important because of the inherent unsatisfactoriness of samsara this world and also the next world that doesn't mean that all of that what was taught is wrong no in this world as long as you are in this call it a dream samsara maya whatever it is it can bite so you have to be careful here therefore ethical life is better than non-ethical life devout religious life is better than um you know a skeptical life or you know totally worldly life these are better a disciplined life is better than the indiscipline life so definitely what is taught in ethics and in religion is all very good and helpful it transforms the tragedy into a comedy or into something pleasant the unpleasant into a pleasant and better life for yourself and for everybody else it's worth doing however um it is the third one which tells us that tragedy or comedy it's still a movie a reality lies beyond this call it god brahman atman the absolute whatever you call it you must seek that and you will be forced to seek that that's why we are going to the third boon and let me quickly take a look at the questions so krishnamurti vishwanathan is asking is the following understanding correct it appears that the jivatma which is traveling from death to death is only the product of ignorance um if our real self is not the jivaatma then the quest to be enlightened also seems to be moved once the identification of the jeevatha is negated then we might find that we are trying to free something that never existed and what we really are is ever free thank you all right um this needs a little bit of thinking about it it appears that the divat which is traveling from death to death is only the product of ignorance huh the travelling is a product of ignorance going from death to death is a product of ignorance but the jivatma itself is actually not a product of ignorance because the jeevathma is actually brahman if the jiva were entirely a product of ignorance then we would have said that jiva mithya brahma-satyam no we will say that jiva is brahman see ultimately even jagat is brahman the world is brahman let me put it in english brahman is the only reality the world is an appearance the jiva sentient being you here is the question are you a product of ignorance or are you the absolute reality you are the absolute reality only as the product of ignorance is the superimposition of as shankaracharya says body mind in in the more philosophical language of shankaracharya the factors of action body mind sense organs the objects of action you know the things in the world and the instruments of action and the subject of action all of this is superimposed by ignorance that is the product of ignorance once this is removed the jiwatma realizes real nature is the absolute you are brahman the product of ignorance is what snake is the product of ignorance a rope snake don't know the rope it produces the snake what is the nature of the snake natural snake is it's a product of ignorance it's false it's not really a snake what is real it is the rope only the rope has to be realized similarly the world is false it's an appearance product of ignorance in that sense the jivatma is and it is more helpful i'll be very careful here it's more helpful to say that the g atma is brahman rather than a product of ignorance imagine in your dream you are there in your own dream and you see many places many people whatever you see in your dream is a product of the dream ignorance but you the person in the dream that also being a person in the dream is a product of ignorance but you essentially are nothing other than the dreamer so the math is essentially nothing other than brahman only a technical difference but it has a practical significance it shows you the way of sadhana you have to realize i am brahmana not to realize i am false i am brahman that which is contradictory to my being brahman that is false it's a product of ignorance if our real self is not the jivaatma then the quest to be enlightened also seems to be moved yes ultimately the quest to be enlightened is moot only because we are suffering we cannot deny that we we are in samsara we are under the influence of this hypnotization or superimposition therefore the quest is useful if you say oh i am brahmana then why do i need to do all of this very good the answer will be don't do see where that gets you see when i say i am brahmana is it a vivid living experience if it was a vivid living experience for you and reporting of the truth that you which you feel then there's really no problem for you but if it's just an understanding i hear all these things and i say oh vedanta is telling me i'm brahmana up to that is correct if vedanta is telling me i'm good then you follow it up once this identification of the jeevathma is negated identification with devatman negated means divatna realizes i am from then we might find we were trying to free that some something that never existed and what we are really are is ever free that part is correct abhijit asks can we say one more distinction the first and second is being based on doing rituals or going back to his father the third one is based on inquiry correct the first one is based on action the third and the third first and second are based on action the third one is based on uh enquires which are what do you have to do in the first and second action you have to do something it could be a worldly thing like go get a job shape up get your life together or go to the temple or the church and perform the ritual which is prescribed by your you know your church or your religious denomination so that is secular action and sacred action it's action but in vedanta what do you have to do nothing it is actually enquiry it's not a kind of action it is deploying the instruments of knowledge which is upanishads and generating the knowledge necessary for liberation that's it it is recognizing a reality that's what what is done in vedanta kiran says the first one the realm of avidya mayan third is is this correct yes correct i put it in another sense the first two are in the realm of the second one is the realm of ghana but both are my index sins and both are the glory of god in the same ishwarasmaya one traps us in samsara the other one liberates us from samsara so even ghana once you realize your brahman even that ghana also you see as part of samsara it says that part of uh maya siddharth says is thinking a bad or harmful sort bad kriya though one might not have acted on it holy mother says in this kali yoga is she says to devotee my child in this kali yoga a sin committed in the mind is not a sin it's not a papa [Music] but one has to be careful that's why one should not uh entertain negative thoughts vicious thoughts thomas thoughts or these things entertain it what happens is it becomes a part of our character then what we what i entertain continuously in my mind that will that i'll start speaking about it it'll come to the level of words verbal finally it will come to the level of action you know related to this is think i've been thinking about this i don't know what the answer is this whole problem of you know hate speech and freedom of speech is a related issue not directly related to vedanta sort of marginal see the dilemma i am thinking about is free speech is really good it's it's a value which should be defended and to an extreme also even hateful speech also could should be free speech and so and so forth whatever if it's offensive speed that also should be free speech i find i'm fine with that actually but but i cannot deny that speech comes from thought so if i'm speaking hateful things if i'm speaking offensive things it's reflecting my thinking and thinking and speech have a tendency to flow into action see what you're seeing when you say free complete freedom of speech you're saying you you will not be charged for prosecuted for persecuted for anything that you say mostly unless you incite people to violence or things like that but you cannot do anything and everything your action is seriously prescribed by law there are a lot of things that you cannot do with law stops somebody said your freedom stops your freedom to swing your stick stops at the tip of my nose you can swing it as much as possible but it should not come any further than this so law prescribes you it limits your action greatly so action is limited strictly by law it's regulated by law but thought is not regulated luckily even speech is not mostly not regulated but here is the dilemma thought and speech inevitably flow into action so if somebody is protected by law by saying awful things hateful things offensive things there is a chance that some of those people will try to translate those thoughts and speech into actual action do something fanatical violent hateful but then what do you do you can i don't know because freedom of speech is a valuable thing she says it's correct to say that jivaat means a reflection of the pure consciousness jivatma is reflection of pure consciousness yes when you include the pure consciousness so if i say reflected face original face is there mirror is there reflected face is there so this is if you understand this by reflected phase fine if you say jivatma is reflection of pure consciousness and has nothing to do with the pure consciousness no the moment you say jihad pure consciousness is implied also there but pure consciousness in itself does not depend on the jihad without the reflection also original phase can exist mirror if you take it away no reflection why i'm saying this is always when you speak about jeevathma brahman is in the background you are drama so in the pot water reflected sun originals an example always always think of yourself as the original sun the tendency is because of our our present condition the tendency is to see ourselves as i am this little spark of light in the pot in the water in the pot yes i understand i'm not the pot i'm not the water but i'm this little consciousness in in little light in the water no no no you are that vastness which is shining that little dot of light there we just don't know it and that has that is what vedanta is trying to show us that's why we are here in vedanta sri says mahapurushi swami shivananda tells his visitor ganga child mukherjee not to grieve for his deceased wife because maharishi knows she is in shiva loka does mahaprabhu say this figuratively or does he actually know that the subtle body of the wife is reciting because he has absolute none now all of us i and all of you can reassure ourselves and everybody else that nobody comes to an end with death nobody ever comes to an end with death that much we know on the basis of vedanta at the very least we say we don't know we can at least we say we believe very strongly that much we know what we believe very strongly but in the case of um enlightened yogis like swami shivananda ji and other direct disciples sri ramakrishna they know something beyond this they may know the what is called gati the the destiny of a particular jivata it's like somebody like the gardener who knows the gardener who knows where the water from the last part was poured and which part it is in now knows that so someone like shivan energy might know that so when he says your wife's the jeevathma which was your wife in the earlier but before death that jivatma exists that much we can all say everybody can say but that it is in a particular world a very high world shiva loka which is the same as brahmaloka that only he has the right to say he maybe he has some mystic knowledge of that otherwise we can't say that we have no idea how not to make mix up the ego and jivatma ego is an activity it's like a ripple in that pot of water the ripple in the water would be the ego it's an activity in the mind you beyond activity in the mind is the reflected sun the activity in the water is a reflected sun beyond that is the original sun so you are the original sun and reflected in the water of the mind that the mind itself has the reflected consciousness in the mind there is a wave which is called ahamkara ego that much is the difference between you and the ego prabhirbasu says unlike dream why does the same world appear before us every time we wake up from deep sleep it's because of our proud karma that is the loka we are inhabiting right now because of our past karma we are in this particular loka when you fall asleep you generate a virtual experience which you call a dream that you snap out of but you wake up into this particular loka because you as the jivatma right now by your past karma you are in this world this particular loka okay good [Music] namaste [Music] you