Video 21

22. Mandukya Upanishad | Chapter 2 Karika 11-12

let's start with the peace invocation oome bhadram Carini mission ooyama deva petrm pass a moksha period etre steady Ranga - toboggans Aston OBE Hashima Deva hittin yada you who saw steena intro British rava Sistina puh shava shava de soie spin a Stock Show or astronomy soir spin Oprah hospital Dada - ohm Shanti Shanti Shanti so we stopped last time I think at the tenth verse come come we stopped last time at the tenth verse of this second chapter we're doing Manduca caricature remember the mandu kiyoka Rika has four chapters to remember we have done the first one the first one includes the Upanishad the original text and the karika themselves are of course the commentary by the great Advaita master goda pada in verse form and on the whole thing the Upanishads the carica altogether Shankar Acharya has written a commentary in Sanskrit posture so go to father's commentary for chapters first chapter is called the argument karana the section dealing or the chapter dealing with the Upanishad the original text the second chapter is what we are doing now white Earth theory karana it is the chapter dealing with Fall City the chapter deals with falsity chapter is not false yeah it deals with the falsity of the of the world appearance that it is an appearance it's not a reality out there it's a it's an appearance that's what it tries to prove the message of Atlanta Advaita Vedanta is always the same in whatever text you take up Brahman alone is real is the absolute reality the world is an appearance there off off Brahman it's an appearance and what are we we are nothing else we are nothing other than Brahman we are the absolute that absolute reality Brahman is you if you would know yourself as you truly are so that's the whole teaching and in this text the upanishadic teaching is first given in the first chapter ii chapter uses logic reasoning to demonstrate this rather startling claim and it makes many people uncomfortable that how is this world false and if it's really false then what's real so it uses logic and experience to demonstrate instead of quoting open Isha's instead of saying that the scripture says so hence in the second chapter we go through an exercise based on logic and experience the third chapter is called add white up record under the chapter on non duality where again logic and experience are used to demonstrate the the non duality of this dualistic experience I am using words carefully we have a dualistic experience dualistic experience means I am the experiencer and this is the experienced and it cannot be otherwise experience must have this character but what is the reality here am i really separate from all of this are all things separate from each other is it a pluralistic dualistic universe at core or is it one reality so that is the non dual reality that is demonstrated again not by quoting scripture but by logic and experience third chapter and the fourth chapter which is picturesquely named alotta Shanti procore another chapter on the quenching of the brand which is a Buddhistic illusion that is a miscellany of subjects a lot of things are discussed there so but that's still a long way off right now we are in in the middle of the second chapter whiter keppra Khurana the chapter with aims to demonstrate the illusory Ness the falsity of what we cuz considered to be concretely real now in this chapter the strategy that God apart has adopted is based on the experience of dreaming remember this text mondo kiya it approaches the same adwaita weight on the non dual vedanta but it's unique method is the method that the analysis of the three states waking dreaming deep sleep so by an analysis of these three states the claim is that we can discover the reality about our selves and the reality is nothing other than that we are the absolute the absolute truth of this universe is our own reality and this can be discovered by an investigation into our experiences of waking dreaming and deep sleep now in the second chapter he uses the example of dreaming to demonstrate the falsity of our waking experience also that dreams are false we we accept it we don't take dreams seriously that way we know that it didn't happen which we saw those dreams of course we saw that happened we were sleeping and we saw the dreams but in the dreams it seemed to be that we are in a different place meeting people things are happening good and bad and when we wake up we deny all of that what do we say we saw it but it didn't really happen it was a dream that's what we say dreams are false using the example of dreams Godfather now wants to show equally so this waking experience is also an appearance but the distinction what you must be understood that dreams are false with respect to waking from our waking state when we look back upon our dreams we deny their reality we say that it's not real it didn't happen I saw it but it didn't happen it's not real and the waking is false with respect to Turia the ultimate reality remember they all have a a certain relative reality dreams seem real and everything seems to work when you are in the dream they have a certain use so you are suppose you're thirsty in a dream you drink water dream water will satisfy three in thirst so that's kind of uses their similarly in the waking world if you're hungry eat food it will satisfy your hunger it's not that an enlightened person will not feel hungry in this world or not that I know the world is false so no matter how I keep it how much I keep reading it doesn't satisfy my hunger nothing so crazy is going to happen the currently practical use will continue but you realize that in depth it's not real so ok so what have we done before we go ahead in the first 10 verses what did we do what did we see so the strategy used by God our Father is using the dream example example of the dream to demonstrate the falsity of the waking experience before doing that he makes sure that we know that dreams are false you say yeah go on I know I agree the dreams are false oh it's common sense but this is no not common sense tell me why dreams are false but take a moment stop and ask yourself why do you naturally say it so it's false what are the logical philosophical reading philosophy here you must even something that's obvious he must argue it out why is why our dreams false and he gives us reasons why dreams are false if you remember this was the first verse 2nd verse of the second chapter one is some Rita trainer hey tuna that means the cause the reason is why dreams are false is that you because the space is not large what does that mean what you saw the places you visited I walked in the Central Park and why we woke up and so I am in my bed and the whole thing was imagined in my head now Central Park and all the lakes and the sky and the people all of them couldn't fit inside the head so I didn't really see anything there because the space is is not enough you can't fit elephants and buildings and the Empire State Building inside your head so you saw it all here in there but of course it might sound like a very childish reason but it still works basically why do we think that it never happened because of incongruity in space and time I am here I'm not in Central Park another reason he gives time incongruity I was in Mumbai I talked to people and suddenly I wake up here in Manhattan obviously I couldn't have gone to Mumbai and come back last night within those few hours so I did not go to Mumbai but these are logical reasons to trying to prove the obvious we know it it didn't happen but these are reasons given the way we understand space and time those experiences could not have occurred right suppose you are then sometimes you suffer from jetlag and you're disoriented and you think you're still in Mumbai when you come back from my hand here and you wake up and you think you're Mumbai and you suddenly say you are here now that was a real experience it was dreamlike because you have travelled across time zones and you're disoriented but it really happened because you calculate the time yes you could have actually gone to Mumbai did that did happen you traveled across so many hours and so and so forth you see what I'm driving at here all this is not necessary because we accept it implicitly dreams did not happen and we saw them but they did not happen now having settled that go to powder now moves on he makes a very dramatic move which we saw last time in verses four five six that now I get it dreams are false why do you think this is false and he gives two reasons these are simple but very powerful reasons if worth thinking about come the claim is the waking experience is not real apart from the experiencing consciousness why two reasons drishya and neatly Annette d'etre reshaped remains because it's an object of experience what does that mean if something appears within your experience and apart from your experience there is no way of knowing that thing exists then you must think that that thing somehow depends on that experience you see it works like this a part and clay the part has no existence apart from the clay you would agree to with that the part seems very real but it seems very real because it is the clay itself in that particular form if you say that the part is an object apart from the clay then it's not really an object apart from the clay its existence is entirely dependent on the clay you see we know that yes but as we use it and talk about it and deal with it it becomes there's a word for it reification reification means it becomes it gets construed into as if it's an independent real entity in our minds the reality is clay but we forget all about the clay it disappears from our awareness as as it were and it takes on an identity as a pot but the pot has no existence apart from the clay the reason is you cannot experience the pot apart from the clay you cannot show the two things apart I've given this reasoning earlier there two things are real and independent and separate from each other if you can experience them separately so the cap and the pen go together but they are independent realities because you can see experience the pen separately and the cap separately hence there are two separate things they usually go together but there does not mean they're one and the same thing but the same thing is not true of the pot of the clay pot it's not two things which go together it is one thing only appearing as another the pot is a name the pot is a form the pot is used name form and use nama Rupa Viva Hara but the substance is the clay the name and the form the name pot the form of the pot and the use of the pot none of it is possible without the clay would you agree with me why am I going on about pots and clay and all because now apply to consciousness and the world experienced in consciousness the waking world experienced in consciousness cannot be experienced in any other way it is obvious because experience means always experience in consciousness how else would you experience anything whatever is an experience in your life is experienced by you in your awareness in your consciousness you will either see it or hear it or smell it or taste it or touch it or think about it or remember it or desire it or like it or hate it whatever it's all happening in the awareness that you are apart from this where is the world our common-sense approaches the world exists and then I bring my awareness to it and I get an experience that's our common-sense approach here the godfather is raising the question apart from awareness apart from knowledge apart from experience or consciousness I'm using these words generally where do you experience a world where have you experienced whether it is science or music or so bill sometimes he puts his not here right now he puts this question no no I mean that's not right we will have suppose I put a camera here it's recording this room and we all leave this room nobody is looking at the room and when we come back we see the room is there the camera picture shows us the room is that it's not that it disappeared when we were not looking at it I'm not saying that and what I'm saying is when you see that that experiment it was devised in your awareness the results of that experiment are also obvious to you in their awareness everything happens in that awareness that's what I'm saying whether this external world exists or not that is that question is the Berkeley and idealism subjective idealism question but that's it that's not what wadn't is talking about Vedanta is perfectly compatible with realism but it's talking about something deeper only thing is so waking the dream world does not exist when you wake up correct it didn't exist then also it appeared when you were seeing it when you don't see it it doesn't exist that's true but we are not saying that the waking world disappears the moment to turn away from it what we are saying is the waking world has no reality apart from the before Vittoria the consciousness when you wake up from a dream the dream is falsified with respect to the waking world the dream is not true with respect to Torreya the waking world not only the waking world the dream world all of it is not true so that is the I will not go further into it because we have discussed it already so that is the first the first are the reason which of two reasons first one which Godfather gives and that driz chapter because it's an object of your awareness there's no other way of experiencing that object except through awareness it could be a scientific awareness it could be an artistic awareness it could be a philosophical awareness it could be sense awareness seeing hearing smelling but true consciousness only in consciousness only you experience these things that's all they're saying because of that this world does not have an independent separate reality this is the meaning of falsity in Advaita Vedanta which has no independent reality of its own this chair and say two wooden chairs each chair is the two there are two chairs we count chairs if you're counting chairs are two but if you are counting the wood the material out of which it is made there's only one that is that is wood that means the chairs are not independent realities apart from the constituent wood so with respect to the wood the chairs are very much real if you sit on them you can say it won't fall to the floor but with respect to the word they are not separate realities similarly with respect to consciousness this waking world is not a separate reality this is what this is the first argument that God appositives he just says because of it being an object of consciousness therefore it's not a real the world is not absolutely real that's what he says not Satyam in fact he doesn't even say that he says because of the well-known reason so where all this explanation is necessary then the second reason he gives is because it is impermanent because it is impermanent now this reason is it's it's more easier to understand because we know things are impermanent but but how does how does it make it false how is the thing false if it is impermanent there's a difference between falsity and impermanence impermanence how do we understand it a thing is born and it dies it is created and it's destroyed produced and and lost then but before but during the time when it was created and it exists it existed for some time there's a difference between say a snake and a rope appearing as a snake right we say one is impermanent yes the snake is born of an egg and after some time the snake will die a real snake but still it's real and the rope which appears as a snake that snake the classic example in Advaita Vedanta that snake is false it didn't exist earlier it won't exist later than even when you are seeing it it's still false because it's you're mistaking a rope for a snake there's no snake there but how can you say that there is this snake as false it's impermanent it simple but what do I mean by impermanent it's born it will died like anything else it will die so why is impermanent equated to falsity things are impermanent everybody agrees people are born people died things are created they destroyed found and lost as it happens all the time but why is this equated how is impermanence an argument for the ultimate falsity of things that their appearances the logic is pretty simple but it's it took me quite some time to grasp it for what they were trying to say but it's elegant and simple but very unsettling you see what is impermanent remember what is falsity falsity is not having independent existence if if it is something else appearing as something else then that something else is false if it is a part if it's if it's clay appearing as a pot and the pot has no existence apart from the clay then we are claiming that the pot is false not as it is but apart from the clay it is false in itself the pot is false not the clay part of it in that way we are claiming not having independent existence is falsity hold on to that all right then the argument is impermanent things are false in this sense how after all after all the argument is what is impermanence you know being created and destroyed sure example I've given is and the example of fire and heat if you remember a potato is boiled the potato is hot but that is the potato intrinsically hot no it got its heat from the boiling water is the water intrinsically hot no it was coal now it's boiling and hot after some time leave it on the table it will become cold again it's not hot by itself it gots its heat from the hot pan is the hot pan intrinsically hot hot by itself no it got its heat from the fire underneath it was cold the pan was cold earlier the water was cold earlier the potato was cold earlier they all borrowed their heat now this borrowing of heat it's from fire is fire intrinsically hot remember this an example is fire intrinsically hot yes as long as fire burns the way we understand fire it must be hot and it can lend its seat to others also as long as it exists it's hot all right now from this example what do we take that some things may be borrowed and some things may be intrinsic some properties may be borrowed some properties may be intrinsic if it is a if it's something borrowed one sign will be that it will be gained and lost if you borrow something I borrowed money credit we are well known in Manhattan and somebody said you never really know who is really rich because there everybody is spending a lot of money and everybody seems to be rich but there's a difference if it's borrowed money at one time or the other you have to pay it back it is lost what is borrowed is gained and lost what is intrinsic is always there do you think where is the all this leading here's the point suppose the here we are talking about heat suppose we are talking about existence borrowed Heat the setting will be cold early or hot in the middle and cold later on intrinsically hot hot earlier heart now hot later on now existence suppose something borrows existence what will happen to it you tell me it dies it is born it didn't exist comes into existence and loses existence gains existence loses existence gained seat loses heat gains existence loses existence gains existence is just a fancy way of saying born or created loses existence is way of saying destroy the dyes things which borrow existence they will be impermanent being born and dying being created and destroyed what does it mean impermanent what is impermanence didn't exist won't exist in between exists god apart is trying to say seems to exist in between now it has borrowed existence means it will be born and dies it will be it will be produced and destroyed in other words it will be impermanent impermanent is equal to borrowed existence are you with me so far then it's done impermanent is equal to borrowed existence borrowed existence is equal to falsity by our definition earlier no I don't know I was thrilled by the same what is falsity what if we define it as borrowed that it does not exist it does not have its independent existence so borrowed existence is equal to falsity therefore impermanent means false permanent that means it's intrinsically existing what is permanent consciousness is permanent and we all saw this in the first chapter that waking dreaming deep sleep coming and going but the consciousness is the bare consciousness itself pure consciousness itself is constant the Waker comes and goes the dreamer comes and goes the deep sleeper comes and goes and their respective worlds come and go but the the ground the awareness the bare awareness is always there that itself appears as Waker and wakers world dreamer and dreamers world deep sleeper in the deep sleepers blankness so consciousness is real by this this argument but what it experiences those things are impermanent therefore unreal impermanence is equal to falsity this is a big claim of Advaita Vedanta what how does it work because of borrowed existence impermanence means borrowed existence borrowed existence is the very definite chenna falsity innovative event mithya to amines citta citta means existence is borrowed from something else for these two reasons what are the two reasons all of this discussion in sanskrit is put in two words sanskrit is very powerful that way philosophically drishya on it yet this suffix to amines because of that the odd or no not because of that the the quality of having that to this Shiva means because it is an the quality of being experienced because it is experienced because of its experience ability it's false and it tetra means because of it it is it's impermanence impermanent nature transient nature because of these reasons even the waking world everything in fact waking dreaming deep sleep all of them they're all mithya or false what a radical claim this world is this is real this pain is real why well because I see it and that later he has big all the cuts PAH so to actually use this very reason yes because you see it it must be false there's no other way it has to be false because you see it what is real you the seer and it works these to hold absolutely true for dreaming all dream experiences are experienced and they are impermanent and these are these characteristics are shared by all waking experiences also they are experienced and in per minute because you experience it that's why it's false do you see it yes it's false but I saw it it was there hence it's false I'm not denying that you saw it all right yeah delightful isn't it now even if you take it intellectually it's delightful move but if you take it in actual experience you can note it in your experience there's a one thing that has remained constant in all your life what is that you what which you you the consciousness not the body body has changed not the mind the mind has changed so much likes dispositions memories desires all have changed and will keep on changing and let alone the world the world has changed tremendously so everything in your experience has changed in your life except you the experiencer by you the experience I don't mean the person the person has also changed I mean you the bear awareness all right so what is the standard very quickly summarizing moving on next few verses six seven eight nine ten what happened if you ask God a father always all right then oh by the way impermanence I got a very interesting invitation from the Rubin Museum they want they have a theme they specialize in Buddhist art so they have a theme this year impermanence so they want me to go and speak to their staff it's a closed-door event about impermanence they don't know what's coming to them we museum is not rehearse in spots all right now then next what happens verses six seven eight nine ten let me quickly summarize as fast as possible and then move it because we have got a very interesting really a very interesting point today then the question arises if all this is so then what is real what is the characteristic of real how do you judge what criterion what is the what is the ground for calling something real then if everything is unreal then what what do you call real what is the rule if you want to judge something is real or unreal or what criterion should I apply still now what will be applying we are applying a basically our experience that I see it hence it's real it's an object of experience therefore it's real but now you are showing that because it's an object of experience therefore it's sundry of then what is the characteristic of reality and in the sixth verse God a father pointed it out according to add weight of a Ranta that which was in the beginning that was that we always was is and always will be unchanging reality through all our experiences that is the the rule of thumb the characteristic of absolute reality and only one thing satisfies this that is the story of consciousness remember we are talking about our experiences our life in through out waking dreaming deep sleep one thing is there to bear awareness or consciousness is always there so that which was which one Korea being existed yes that which is non-existent at the beginning non-existent at the end is also non-existent in between hewon't ajayan nasty and the sixth verse he says that which is not in the beginning that which is not in the end therefore that is impermanent and God opposes conclusion is therefore it is not in the middle of our common sense approaches yes it was not there before being born it was not not there after death but in the middle it is there to a god a father says in the middle it appears to be there you can experience it you can talk with the person you can make friends friends with that person you can even marry that person but doesn't exist that person doesn't exist from the point of view of you the experiencing awareness yes yeah in the middle what you experience is in the middle that is but their appearances but what is in the beginning what is in the middle what is in the end is you the tariya yeah so that one is real now immediately some other criterion of reality or offered the once which we normally use other philosophers come forward to offer criterion releases no no no this is this is too much look real we can easily determine reality there are different options in fact three or four are offered we saw them last time what are they one is use use utility the water which I see is real because if I drink it it will satisfy my thirst the subway which is real because it carried me from my home to 72nd Street it worked if it works it's real the water in a mirage is not real because if I go there it looks like water but doesn't behave like water if I drink it iike you can't drink it disappears if you try to touch it so it's not real but if you touch it if it feels cold and wet and you drink it if it's satisfies your thirst it's real it works so that's the pragmatic argument what was the answer remember if you listened to it a few times you will understand God apart a strategy and even before Garoppolo opens his mouth you can give the answer his answer is to use the dream paradigm in a dream will dream water work if you're thirsty in a dream will the water in the dream work will it satisfy your thirst thirst in the dream in the dream it will it will turn satisfy your thirst yes and in your dream if you take the subway to the dream Vedanta Society will take you there yes it'll take you there and it'll be just like the real thing except that none of it exists so utility argument doesn't work in the dream also utility is there and yet it's false then the next person comes next to philosopher come census well another argument could be externality in the sense that what we see out there many people say if it's not real how are we all seeing it here if I imagine the dream is in my head but when I see the Central Park out there that's real because hundreds of people are seeing it so something out there is real something I imagine in there is imaginary faults I see it but it doesn't exist I can look at look at the pen this pen is real because you are all seeing it now you close your eyes and imagine a pen in the head that pen is unreal you don't count it you don't say there's one pen in Swami's hand and one in my head no you see there's only one pen why because this is the one which everybody else sees it's out there and the pen I see in my head is in here so it's an imagined pen imaginary things are unreal what is out there is real what will be Lancet give me now a tribe remember the hint is God about this dream paradigm same thing happens in a dream correct same thing happens in a dream in a dream aren't there many people suppose you're dreaming about walking in the Central Park aren't there many people yes there are aren't they all seeing the central part do see no there's no Central Park it's in your day headed to your dreaming it haha no they don't say that they say yes we are in Central Park so in a dream also and in a dream can you imagine things in your head yes in a dream you could see the pen and you can imagine a pen in your head and you would say in my head is an imaginary and when you wake up yes absolutely absolutely in fact we are going to come to that the depressed guy is he's going to come next that's where we stopped actually we adopted and without I mean sort of fortunately not on purpose last summer we stopped at a point eleventh verse and twelve words are beautiful verses which are going to do right now the eleventh verse is this question itself this very question this guy feels depressed he's nothing real this all false so so what what's the point of it where does it all come from who imagines it and for what that's this question and you will see that answer beautiful answer twelfth verse [Music] the reality or consciousness is existence the reality of consciousness the reality and existence is it real yes existence and consciousness are the same thing it's very interesting in advaitha Vedanta existence consciousness are the same thing Sud and JIT it's not an existence devoid of awareness it's not an awareness obviously not devoid of current existence because without existence awareness would be consciousness would be non-existent it is such it existence consciousness I'm sorry I'll stop you right there I can connect with consciousness what is that I is it conscious or not is it a conscious that is the consciousness the one which is doing the connecting is the consciousness yes imagine say imagine a flower in your mind right now okay can you see the flower there we think there is a flower there and it has its own existence that's what we think common sense now imagine that flower in your mind if you see imagine it there are you seeing it what is the existence I know it is an imaginary flower but it exists in some sense what you are seeing as a thought as an imagination right what is the existence of that thing what's it made of that flower which you see now what's it made of it's not made of petals and because it's there no petals there then so it's made of your mind so it is it is your mind which sees that flower right now and it is made of the mind exactly in the same way what they're saying is this world is seen by consciousness and it is made of consciousness that's what is saying its existence is consciousness and it is experienced by consciousness I'm running ahead of myself because the question will come now all right I will not dwell on the other criterion of reality which they were offered let's go straight into today's subject because you have brought it up beautiful eleventh verse and twist verse yes verse 2.11 it's which book do you have the same one yes it is mine my my book it is page two to her 236 it's chapter 2 verse 11 mondo mondo key opening yeah mom I have to say Mundaka Upanishad because there are other Upanishads also in there do you have it inverse F page 236 let me see page 236 yes and it depends on the additional so of course 236 in the e-book yeah it's 236 see here an older book it might be something else and which book do you have yeah so there it will be some other it's a maquette nickel Ang's book so 198 alright so in this book it is page 236 but but of the best ways to go go to chapter 2 and verse 11 yes Manduca open issue chapter 2 verse 11 question depressed guy he asked this question Ubbe Europe eBay item Ohio repeat vitae tiem hey Don Armstrong yadi Veda Nam's Tonya dk8 on boot dirty bid on Creighton good Beauty bid on Kuwaiti chambre culpa mea culpa if everything is unreal he says dreams are also false whatever is in the dreams are false whatever in the waking is false both stopped everything in this not only that the dreamer is also false imagine not only do you see a scene in your dream place people but you are also a person in the dream and when you wake up not only it is a scene false all the people there are false all that places what you saw is not if not you really did not go there but even the person you are in the dream that was also false because really you are sleeping in the bed so the dream not only is the dream world false the dreamer is also false the Waker is also false as well as the wakers world in such a depressing circumstance he says if both are false then what is real and who is experiencing these things and who has projected it who has projected this falsity because falsity is experienced nobody denies that well you can say dream is false but you don't deny that you saw the dream similarly if you say waking world is false but you don't deny that you actually see it hear it smell it taste it touch it it's there who did this then if it's not real if it doesn't exist by itself if it's projected who projected it and who is experiencing it what's real here he's everything false this is the question it's it's a this is the way this is where we start do you remember the story I told you about the emperor Janaka who dreamt that he was he didn't know he was dreaming of course that was a great battle in which he lost his King Kingdom or his empire he was captured and then after undergoing lot of suffering he suddenly wakes up and then he thinks that what is true was that true or is this true and the Great Sage ashtavakra comes and tells him that Oh King Oh Emperor neither that is true not this is true and look at the logic he uses if you do remember the question he asked all those things you saw the horrible things you saw in your nightmare are they here now he says no then they are false and all this glory and power and pump which you have got right now where they where there there in your dream he says no then they are false he said neither this is true not that is true see we have some consolation when we wake up from a dream we say ah that was a nightmare oh god this is real this is real but janaka's no such consolation he's told that that is false but this is also false look at the logic he used impermanence that sage is that logic now both are false then what was Janaka the Emperor's devastated he was devastated what was his question next then if both are false what is true what is true exactly this question same question here what is true remember when we say false I will repeat this again in Vedanta the word in Sanskrit is mithya false but this is also this does not mean nothing exists it means the reality is appearing in this form in the dream it doesn't when you see the dream is false it doesn't mean nothing exists the dreamer is there the dreamer is reamers mind alone is appearing in all those forms right in the dream example here also there is some reality which is appearing in these forms so other terms which are used for false you see what is meant before we go into the answer what is meant by false in Vedanta must be carefully understood false means you can call it a relative reality something so part of that but also because doesn't see the reality the person does not see the reality if you just consider the falsity of things then it's horrifying then it's meaningless it's like a bottomless pit then you are confronted with the existence question you know karma the only serious philosophical question is why should we not commit suicide so then you depression is almost inevitable then why should a sensitive soul will think why should I live because suppose you live in a world of dreams all the time or suppose you lived in a world of movies all the time and then somebody points it out to you all of this is virtual none of it is real you will get tired of it at one point no matter how nice it seems you will want to know what's real if you're living in the matrix and pointed out to you that you're the matrix it's this the matrix so we are constitutionally we are what are called reality oriented we behave in terms of what we consider to be real what we consider to be real has a dominant effect on us usually we take the appearance as reality and that's it what do I mean by that is in dreams we behave as if what we are seeing is real so it scares us delights us bores us whatever happens but none of it is real actually in the dream it's an appearance of our minds consider a delusional person a schizophrenic person thinks that the world is persecuting him or is out to get him and we know everything is all right there's no problem at all but that person responds and behaves and feels and things according to what he or she believes to be real so we are what I'm saying reality oriented as long as we consider this to be reality our behavior is dominated by this this reality orientation and you with me what are Dwight is going to do is profoundly unsettling it changes your dominant view of reality right here in this experience it will shift what you consider to be real about yourself in the world it's going to do that but until you discover what is real if everything is said to be false to you immediately you feel depressed it's naturally a related thing is you know the sart's book nausea where the protagonist he sits in a park and he looks at the tree which is just so and the bench and everything and his whole thing is a reaction is of nausea that this thing he cannot take it as totally real he does not see any greater transcendent reality beyond it and this thing should be the only reality of the world this is he he it brings out an awful disappointment in him that's the name of the book not here all right so relatively now what I'm saying is a relative reality Vedanta accepts that this world remember it's a fiction according to Vedanta but a convenient fiction for example is this the afternoon now and say yes truly not truly it's five o'clock is it really five o'clock yes no if you take a fast jet and fly out to Chicago before the clock and if you fly out two more hours another or if you call if you call Chicago nights four o clock if you would travel to Chicago in an hour it will be still be fiber curved after one hour if you fly two more hours to LA it will still be five o'clock in LA if you call Chicago right now you'll say no it's not 5:00 it's 4:00 if you call LA right now they'll say no it's not 5:00 it's two o'clock then what o'clock is it now it's not really five o'clock but five o'clock is a convenient fiction it is relatively true it's not a totally false it's relatively true and it is useful we take it as real and we behave as if it is real now me Tia the world the word meaty on advaita vedanta grows by those terms also you can say that relative reality convenient fiction useful fiction in sanskrit it is called via bihar iike transactional reality so huh yes in common circumstances we think it is real but vedanta says it's not fundamentally real fundamentally realist consciousness in which these things are experienced but they're transactional reality their relative reality the convenient fiction is not lost even after you realize what the truth is even now you realize that five o'clock now is that is a convenient fiction but that doesn't mean that you will give up using it if someone asks you the time will you say bye what's the time please will you say it depends you used to know before you went to the Vedanta class now now I think it depends truly it depends but you know that here in Manhattan the time is five o'clock and that's the convenient that is a relative truth simple variable Oracle yes nama Rupa varaha Rica is same Rioja Rica means trans we have a harvest transaction use use convenient fiction why I am saying this is even after all this is said and done you make a non-dualistic breakthrough and you get it oh this is what it is still the convenient fiction that is Manhattan and the subway and the grocery and Costco will still be cheaper cheaper and it's all convenient fiction and it will function the way it has always been functioning but you see too the whole facade and it's all good yeah so now we will see the answer that's why I just wanted to mention it because the moment you say world is false people immediately think that advertising it doesn't exist now it exists in a certain sense in a relative sense somebody said these are polite ways of saying false relative reality it's a polite name for falsity convenient it is a transactional reality and kind of a polite way of saying false it'll hurt your feelings if you say it's false so transactional reality evoke a reality Swami very kinda said swami vague and they said we move from lower truth to higher truth lower truth another polite way of saying false but there is some some I mean that should be kept in mind yes it's a lower truth yes it's a convenient fiction yes it's useful yes it's a relative reality but it's not absolutely real the problem is we take this to be real so this is what Advaita is doing it's shifting the ground is beginning to shift under our feet so what is the answer what is real everything is false is this like what is the question and the answer to that is a beautiful verse I'm glad we study are starting our fall session with this verse it basically sums up the entirety of Advaita Vedanta what are the weight is trying to say and it speaks to what you are just asking but you are just asking it's a direct answer to your question how are we to Rhea look upon this world verse number 12 culpa Atma not Mahna Mahna Mahna Madiba Maha Shiva Somalia so eva buddha tp'ed on cyber boot dirty bead on ETV Don Tony Hsieh et Vedanta nice chair this self-effulgent consciousness it projects itself by itself through its own power of maya this self shining Lord itself experiences itself as all the objects of the universe this conclusion is reached through Vedanta now what does it mean it's a glorious verse it's the it's a song of unity it's a song of oneness there's one reality which pervades this entire universe you have never experienced anything except the the transcendental spirit itself you have never as beckon the said never approached anything except as God because every bit of it is God the very thing the very statement that this is false also equally means this is nothing other than God it's false as a chair and a table it's true as God that's what it means you all the time we live in God have our being in God we move in God it's the song of unity eternally one reality shining forth in all these ways and that one reality is you yourself so that's the meaning of the verse let's see and let's see how it goes one thing before we start just as an aside look at the last word et Vedanta nice chair this is the conclusion of Vedanta now one standing controversy with among philosophers has been the Buddhist troops of the Manduca karika how much ready whether it's at all some people they even go so far as to say is it away than thick text or is it about this thick text because it sounds so good distich at times well this verse look at the word Gorda pada himself uses the word this is the conclusion of Vedanta all you have to do is read this it's a no-brainer is this vedantic look at verse number 12 this is Vedanta how much what direct can you get so that's just this is a marker it points to what God about is talking about that it is the Vedanta truth all right now let's take it up one by one called piety at Mahatma know first of all at Madeira the self you the real you this one is described as they were they were here means literally in Sanskrit they were means God but here it means consciousness literally the word if you go to the Sanskrit dictionary there ten meanings now one of those meanings is duties shining that which shines that which glows its consciousness you are talking about I the consciousness Atman art madam it's talking about you shining forth that that base consciousness that that bare consciousness pure consciousness shining forth as the Waker experiencing a waking world every bit of that waking world and the Waker are none other than this fundamental consciousness which you are which I am it is the dreamer that consciousness alone appears through the mind projects a dream world and appears as the dreamer also a dreamer experiencing a dream world at its ground it's nothing other than that pure consciousness the fourth tutorial which you are which I am and in deep sleep the projection is switched off a blankness envelops our experience it is that same base consciousness which now appears as the sleeper experiencing a blankness or darkness all throughout the way Carender and the wakers world in themselves are not real anymore real then the pot is real apart from the clay or the waves are real apart from water similarly you the vehicle and your world is no is not real apart from you the pure consciousness that one awareness that alone appears as all of this similarly in dream world that consciousness alone appears has you the dreamer and the entire dream world and that alone appears as the blankness of deep sleep these three come and go they are false in themselves in reality they are nothing other than this transcendent consciousness and this transcended consciousness is you is your your real nature your real nature is not this waker not this body not even this personality it is this one underlying consciousness and remember the beauty of Advaita is it's not a speculation it's not like as you see now I'm trying to contact my consciousness no no no no no no it's continuously aware available to you we think we can experience a world I can experience myself but what about this myself means this body I can even introspect and watch my thoughts but what about this pure consciousness this seems to be theoretical this seems to be it's not theoretical it's the only thing that you are experiencing though the one which is experiencing itself as Waker and wakers world is this one right now if you say I can experience the this world this is real I can experience this what is experiencing this world is the object of experience but what in what are you experiencing it in consciousness so the beauty of Advaita is this transcendent consciousness is continuously available right now and Vedanta wants to point it out to you there was a monk in the Himalayas who would read was regarded as a in an enlightened soul who would read the text punch of the she when I heard this story also happy punch of the sheet of which we studied last year he would sit and read read this text punch addition somebody asked him Swami you are an enlightened person that means you know the reality why do you have to read a book why do you have to read a book while you reading a book what can I tell you you already know it you really realized it and he said in Hindi he said that to the person who asking was asking I am just seeing the book to see what good things it says about me what a beautiful thing to say it's speaking about brahman it's speaking about the transcendent reality and he's saying I'm just seeing it to see what nice things it says about me it says about me that you are the one witness you are the unchanging consciousness that you are you are not born you do not die the universe it's upon you it arises in you it shines in you it disappears into you uh all nice things it says who wouldn't want to know these nice things it's just such a great pointer to us we say okay it says wonderful things good for Toria but I am miserable or we might even win it to the datoria is your inner consciousness yeah my inner consciousness is fine but it's my problem with the outer consciousness of the problem no yes yes this transactional reality of course definite definitely that's the point but no but no though I mean that's tough course there that's why the teachers always use these texts they used to transmit this knowledge but the point here was that we are talking about you when it says art MA they where the self is this pure consciousness the self which is pure consciousness I'm taking up these two words Atma the Atma means again a Sanskrit word at mind especially if you're innocent of Sanskrit you're safe issue know Sanskrit you will think that oh it's some kind of philosophical thing you know my Atma is fine your atomize means you Atma means the self I me myself Atma is not like my kidney or my lung you know it let's make it a that's fine but I'm in trouble no you are the Atma and this Atma is nothing other than pure consciousness that's why the teacher was saying this book talks about the art my talks about pure consciousness that's how you all study it yes how are you studying it I'm studying it it's talking about me it's talking about me that is enlightenment he has shifted his entire frame of reference you see what does it weigh to do very simply when you say eye the eye means something is a word right what does mean pen is a word it means this thing this is the thing the object and the word is pen now I is a word what does it mean yes normally it refers to the body mind right I know Mont I say instinctively I said right this Swami Vivekananda said close your eyes and think I if any thought of body or mind arises you are not enlightened yet the eye refers to awareness consciousness which consciousness this consciousness consciousness is always existence conscious and think about non existent consciousness you cannot it's this consciousness we don't complicate it don't philosophize it too much it's continuously aware available to you yeah I see the world I see the body I even experience the mind where is this consciousness it's like seeing I see the part where is the clay all you are seeing is the clay every bit of it what you touch is the clay what you weigh is the clay what if in fact the part is constituted through and through by clay in fact there is no part apart from clay in fact there is no such thing called apart the thing is clay similarly every bit here is nothing apart from consciousness whatever you expect by by here I mean your experience your life if you actually begin to understand what they are saying you will say it is basically telling us absolutely you know a simple matter of fact point that what else could it be my life is basically consciousness in my awareness alone my entire life is experienced what else could it be apart from consciousness every bit of that we experience is this consciousness now the question was what is all this who projected it and who experiences it and the answer is piety it is projected imagined art mana atmanam by this self the self is projected by the self remember in Vedanta we talk about material cause and efficient cause so when you say when we say for example in religious language in theology God created the universe who created the universe God created the universe so it's like say a part and creating a part for example so the partner is the efficient cost the intelligent cost the one who did it and the clay is the material cost the one thing which was shaped into a part so the material is clay and the Creator the intelligent cause an efficient causes the potter and the two together create an object called the pot similarly God is the creator so God is the efficient cause and there is some material which guard shapes into this universe there is a sort of a crude religious idea now what Vedanta says is the efficient cause and the material cause are one and the same Brahman is both the efficient cause and the material cause and that efficient cause and material cause is none other than this consciousness which you are so it says that consciousness itself projects itself by itself by itself means it's the material it is the efficient cause projects itself means it is the material cause in the technical term in sanskrit a banana meto Perdana karana the one undivided material and efficient cause of the universe you see why this is said is because there were other dualistic philosophers in India they had different theories about creation so for example the eye of the logician the knee high school of philosophy in India their idea was God is an all-powerful being a conscious all-powerful being and the material of the universe they actually were the first Atomics they talked about our new atoms so there is space space exists eternally and free-floating atoms in space exist it's it not the way than to view it's the view of the Naya free-floating atoms exist in space and there is God an omnipotent omniscient omnipresent conscious being and what does God do because of the will of God these free-floating atoms in space come together into planets and stars and not very valves a pretty sophisticated model actually so God here isla is the intelligent cause like the like the Potter and the atoms and space and all of that the rest of it is like the clay which is shaped into a mud so God is the intelligent cause and the atoms and space they are the material cause on efficient cause and material cost they are not the same thing what Vedanta doesn't agree Vedanta says there is only one indivisible material and efficient cause why for example think what what would result if such if what didn't I I could say or what most religion also says suppose there is a creator god and there is a material out of which god creates the universe immediately have made a fatal error the error is this then there is something which is not God apart from God so yes so then in that case your God is not infinite infinite means without limit then God is limited the guard ends where the material of the universe begins so you have two things now you've got God and a separate thing called the universe it's a limited God and then the rest of the logic is very simple a limited God is also subject to change is subject to limitation change decay and death so as your God is dead yes it does but it is not dear Thompson space because it is infinite so in one sense for example the light for example they'll give they give the instant like incense permeates a room but infants in says incense is not the temple incense permeates the temple pervades the temple switch on the light the light permeates the room but the light is not the room similarly God is an awareness which permeates the entire universe so it's omniscient it knows everything and all of that but it is not the material universe material universe is something separate from God right that's the near view and this Nanaia philosophers are actually the modern doctors i just said that i just said that you are not God but but God exists in you right that's exactly what the naiyaikas are saying the NIAAA philosophy is saying that the for example right now the light permeates the room so the light is falling on you also but you are not the light the light illumines you but you are not the light similarly just use that example God is an all-pervading awareness consciousness God knows everything but everything is not God they're all separate from God it's a dualistic approach so they have their own logic but Advaita says no there is only one reality same logic you can use for cutting down the nya if consciousness permeates the universe but is apart from the universe how would you prove the existence of that apart universe apart from consciousness there would be no proof of it you say whatever universe exists has to be experienced in consciousness only alright so yes yes to me it's a bit of hubris to think at this stage I am this reality intellectually I can understand it it makes perfect sense yes yes it is and again I look at it of course the problem is I look at it from the relative reality yes correct don't do away with it recognize the relative reality as relative reality you cannot do away with it so as Turia we are all one reality but as say as Rika Rika exists your Rika exists in that one reality as this person Rika so to Rekha that reality will be God the god of religion appears to me as this and I'm this individual being who was born in such-and-such time has changed in such in such ways and will ultimately I will die at some point to me that ultimate reality is God at this point but underlying this point that God and I are the same that ground of reality that that one consciousness this is what advaitha wants to tell you just as coming back to relative reality after knowing all of this also you feel hungry eat food it will satisfy your hunger if you pray to God you can still have that loving devotional relationship with God bhakti is enabled justified by gana not cut down by gana by knowledge right knowledge gives you the foundation for bhakti otherwise with without this what we are talking about how do you even know that God you are talking about exists where is the exists it's entirely faith dependent I believe in it okay but suppose someone questions you and I attach that belief there is no answer to that yeah it is true it is true if you have faith probable and good but if you take it that way to point of view advaitha gives you a grounding to that faith how do you justify that faith where is the reality I I find that Advaita properly understood maturely understood only grounds my faith it makes it real otherwise it could be shaken yes but remember belief in Vedanta what is this belief in Vedanta look at the weather verse ended this is the conclusion of a ranta how do you know all this wave this I am that transcendent consciousness which is appearing as this universe apart from this unit me this universe is an appearance it has no intrinsic reality so how can we just wonderful how can we realize all this you can realize it through Vedanta to come to class when it happens on Wednesdays at 4:00 4:00 p.m. but now it see that we do then you have to believe in Vedanta at least we have to be careful what do you mean believe in Vedanta do you study physics do you believe in physics or do you know and understand physics no one understand physics the subway do you know that it exists and runs at such-and-such time or do you believe that it does you know and you know that it is there so there is a difference between our knowledge and our belief the certain things I can say for example Heaven exists and God exists do you know it for a fact no I believe it correct the subway exists do you know it for a fact will you say no I believe it but I know I don't know it for a fact that it exists now you'll say I know it exists in which category does physics lie there was engineering line do you believe something about it or do you know it what's important when you when you go to math class or physics class in the Columbia University and the professor teaches you and will you say well I I believe what you are saying sir you are great and you whatever you say is golden for me and I believe it you are a great guy you do this the professor is going to be profoundly unhappy with you professor will say no no don't believe me look at what I'm saying look at the textbooks think for yourself if you are still skeptical go out and perform the experiments and know it for a fact understand it what is Vedanta this is the glory of Vedanta Vedanta lies in this category of physics or knowing that the subway exists tell me something right now start with the body look at your own body is it a factor is it something that you believe is it something that you're experiencing is something that you believe you're experiencing it right now breathe in and out we're going from gross to subtle breathe in and out that experience was it an experience of breathing in and out or deduced see I believe that I Bria breathe in and out it's an experience and the thought that I'm listening to the Swami's words I understand the Swami's word we are doing Vedanta these thoughts are going through your mind these thoughts do they exist or do you believe they exist they exist and the awareness to which the thoughts are coming that awareness does it exist or do you believe it exists it exists without it you would not experience your thoughts you would not experience your breath you would not experience the body and without these you would not experience the world that awareness we know this that we are conscious beings everybody knows it you don't know that we believe they are conscious beings if you say I believe I am conscious it is the very consciousness which is saying that even the belief and disbelief Shankar Acharya says he who disbelieves in the Atman it is the admin of the disbeliever because that consciousness by which you express a disbelief in all of this it is that consciousness we are talking about yurei vertice enira katate save Atmos are the one who one one who dismisses this one it is the very self the very consciousness of the one which enables him to dismiss this that's what we are talking about now even so far it's actually not very interesting what's interesting is coming here this is the one which is interesting that I am conscious we all know you don't require we don t to say that it's a it may need to be pointed out but we know it Amin moment it's pointed out we all acknowledge ya I am conscious but that does not solve our problems what is our problem is problem is not that I did not know I was conscious I know I'm conscious but that this consciousness is a very limited consciousness this consciousness is tied up with a particular mind and body which is a limited existence in a vast and pitiless universe when I am born and very soon my existence will be crushed out where this consciousness is impacted by depression and misery and suffering and a little lack of food a little lack of air a little virus can immediately have devastating effects on this consciousness this is my problem true or not Vedanta philosophy puts it this is a very limited consciousness is the problem and this is what we're on to actually attacks you just know this consciousness is not limited no I'm born and what about the limitations I'm subject to birth and death really what is subject to what what was born what is the what is the evidence for the birth your birth even body is born everybody knows it's recorded in hospital and the body dies everybody knows easier when you say death is the end there is a there's a trick involved a switch there many people don't know it took me a long time to notice after reading they don't own do you notice this you know what is the switch as long as I exist as I'm here when I talk about myself what am I talking about and talking about this person in this body with thinking talking feeling this person server clear and and when death comes and the doctor says that's it sorry Anand is dead it made a switch he noticed the body dying did he notice this inner person dying he can no longer contact this inner person because the body is dead so it's automatically assumed that the inner person is also gone it's a subtle point but a very important point nobody nobody ever has seen the death of anybody nobody the doctor how does the doctor contact me the doctor does not directly observe the inner person which I am it can the doctor observed my thoughts my feelings my memories desires personality nothing it's only when I talk and I behave in certain ways the doctor in first that there is a person inside this body the doctor can observe this body living being born living in time and immediately the death of the body substituted for death death of the person what I'm saying here is when you say the consciousness is limited for example limited by death so as an aside I mentioned this simple fact of life even without Vedanta is that nobody really has ever seen anybody dying anybody any person time disputed ok that's a different question but I'm asking a very very specific question has any doctor ever seen the inner person dying a doctor by the by the by the inner person I mean remember some not only pure consciousness I mean this person you are right now I mean you right now I'm not talking about a theoretical inner person I'm talking about what is most real to you and me our we ourselves what is most real to you is the brain most real to you let me never seen our own brains what we have explode we have always experienced are our own thoughts and feelings our emotions our conscious pain and pleasure and all that we experienced yes we have also experienced this body all the time now this consciousness is not limited that's what advaitha Vedanta wants to say it is not born it will not die no it is subject to starvation and suffering even the suffering of the body is an object to this consciousness I will make a dramatic statement when a person is starving and hungry say I'm in pain there's pain I said then the consciousness is in pain wait just a minute you are aware of the pain right then the pain is an object just like this pen is an object is the consciousness in pain or is the consciousness aware of pain aware of pain instead like there is a difference there is if you try to see psychological logically they are not the same thing and psychologically once you realize the logic of it when you look at it psychologically there'll be a big difference a gap opens a bit inside you in psychologically between you and your pain it becomes an object the pain practically amazingly the pain diminishes a doctor said 80% of our pain is chronic pain acute pain is very sharp but chronic pain 80% of the discomfort from chronic chronic pain is my psychological is experienced in the mind yes and experienced through the reflected consciousness or by the reflected consciousness in the mind ask yourself wait where do you feel pain if you feel pain emotional pain where is an emotion in the mind yes just yesterday we are talking about it in the class right yeah so certain Yogi's they become extraordinarily sensitive and certain Yogi's and they can extend their awareness and feel what's going on in the nervous systems of other beings around themselves remember tecora he may have extended his awareness to that grass there and that remember at that time he was teaching somebody I was done on the in fact he says go and tell him not to step on the grass yesterday we talked about it no not yesterday Sunday Sunday we talked about it on Sunday but did Taku say he was feeling exactly what every insect man woman child and whales and elephants and bacteria we're feeling throughout the universe at that time no anyway so the consciousness in one consciousness these things come and go there are objects the consciousness because it's conscious Ness you have the experience of pain consciousness is not in pain consciousness is not born and not does it die consciousness does not age consciousness in itself does not suffer when you see yourself in this way art MA they were you the self are this shining being of consciousness then the whole of life is the answer to your question everything is your projection your play every bit of it is you the universe is one with you it's a delight sri ramakrishna shows this shift hold on to your question and come to you sri ramakrishna shows this shift he says people say that this is a house of deceit I say this is a mansion of delight mozart Kuti he says this is a mansion of delight how is it a mansion of delight it's I alone playing in all of these ways even my own suffering then becomes a form of player delight and you identify deeply deeply with others you your heart expands like nothing you know like like nothing else makes it to burst was so expansive and all-inclusive you are one with others just as I address my own ills and sufferings in that case everybody's ills and sufferings will be by and yet because I know my transcendent nature I know that I am not affected by it ultimately this it's in that one consciousness everything is happening you had a question yes think about it let me ask you why would you think consciousnesses are many yes bodies are many but what's the logic behind it I'm asking you why would you say that there are many consciousnesses see for example and I'll make it no you have to say something but I would use I don't know then you don't ask the question well no I'm I'll guide you to it but you have to give me the answer are there many bodies why do you say that I can see them are there many minds yes why do you say that their manifest the knowledge that is in my in your mind is not in my mind the experiences that she has you have not had so memory is knowledge ideas creativity they all differ manifested that's where we say the minds are different bodies are different we see it minds are different we see it awareness as witness of different bodies and minds you just felt it doesn't awareness that awareness is different in each being why would you say that because yeah so why would you say it's different does it can you see it you can does it manifest itself yes there the reaction is in isn't it the mind right they are mind to your already disposed of that question minds are different you have agreed we have I also agree minds are different the consciousness itself does it manifest itself separately again I'm asking I am asking a question why would you say bodies are different you said I see that they're different why would you say minds are different you see their minds are manifested in their behavior and thoughts and explain their behavior so minds are different I agree bodies are different I agree we all agree on that why would you say awareness is different because yes suppose the awareness is there yes ah they are aware in each body and mind contents of that particular mind they are aware of right so the contents are different from people to people clearly if light falls upon different buckets though it will reveal different contents in different buckets but is the light itself different yeah now add weight of Atlanta says it is same it is one consciousness remember it's not a very easy topic because there are many philosophies which say exactly this the consciousness is in each body are different Sankhya says this yoga philosophy Sankhya philosophy we are all different consciousness that is one indivisible consciousness Advaita says this you asked that what he's asking is is absolutely right itself it's a valid question why would you say it's one consciousness I am asking a counter question why would you say it's different and no to say there are two things you must have some justification you say no it seems to be different if you now take into account that it's the body which is clearly different it's the mind which is different apart from the body mind of that person apart from your body mind imagine your awareness and just like a mind game imagine the awareness apart from body man with no response no no no without any reference to physical with man woman Oh world young nothing happy-sad knowledgeable ignorant nothing just the bare awareness would it be different in anybody's case all right you still don't seem convinced all right let me ask you you're waking experiences are different from his or her waking experiences correct has to be because your point of view is different your dreams are different from his or her dreams your deep sleep is different from his or her deep sleep deep sleep how if you understand what deep sleep is an absolute absence of any objective experience if there is an absence of objective experience how would you differentiate one absence of objective experience from another absence of objective experience you cannot what somebody's unconsciousness be different from another person's unconsciousness no difference means these are very easy to point out in Sanskrit be shisha in Sanskrit a differentiating factor is necessary for difference and deep sleep is simply the erasure or recovering up let's not say erasure because it comes back again but deep sleep is basically the covering up the hiding of all differentiating factors the experience of deep sleep is exactly the same for you and for me Upanishad says for a mosquito and for an elephant if deep sleep itself is the exactly the same for everybody the consciousness which experiences that deep sleep how much more it would be same for everybody at the level of deep sleep itself differences are erased temporarily that which looks upon these differences and the erasure of these differences that one is common for everybody why we think it will be different is because we see different bodies so there must be difference there that's what we think we think that no I am aware of this and he is not aware of that so the consciousness but this I am aware of this is the it's DISA wareness is in the mind consciousness is revealing contents of this mind to itself to the to the mind itself each mind is aware of its own contents and if you are a telepath you'll be aware of the contents of a few other people's minds also but the awareness is the one which shines upon the mind see these questions come or when will they will go away when we are able to clearly differentiate between mind and consciousness yes that is different yes yes reflected consciousness is different for each mind because reflected imagine sun is shining there are many buckets of water in each bucket of water will there be a little reflected Sun a tiny Sun and will there be many on one one how many reflected Suns will be there in the buckets of water how many as many buckets of water so many little reflected Suns as many dewdrops in the park there's so many little reflected Suns so there are many but the Sun itself the one absolutely that is the advaithic answer I was going along in the Train of your questioning you know what is the Train of your question these are two diametrically opposite actor approaches the first is this is the place to start the way you started with the way we start is here is the world here is the body in this body is a mind in that mind is awareness that's what we are doing world body then we did breath then we did mind and that mind we are aware of it so something subtler inside tightly reopened shut approach under my Akasha pranamaya kosha manomaya kosha big annamaya kosha anandamaya kosha and finally the witness consciousness of all of these but it gives an illusion that there are there is this whole vast reality and there is a flickering little light inside which is called consciousness but so this is one thing but the advaithic approach what she just pointed out suppose you take that approach then the answer is straight and direct for you when you look at this world this world that you are seeing appears in your consciousness right now if you're asking are there different consciousnesses are all of them part of this world or not what you are experiencing and they are all appearing in your consciousness in the dream when you say so many people are there and you think each one has a separate mind and a separate consciousness when you wake up what will happen all those bodies minds and consciousnesses are nothing apart from you the dreamer the dreamers mind alone generated all those people's bodies minds and consciousness whatever it is including the you in the dream itself that was also generated by the mind all of it is nothing but the dreamers mind exactly like that Advaita says there is this one unified field of consciousness using your words that one awareness in which everything is being experienced it's not that awareness is not that there is a body in that there is a mind in that there is consciousness rather there is awareness or consciousness in which everything is experienced that is the Advaita answer that is actually Advaita cancer that's what is being said here just now in this verse it is verse says called piety Atman art madam I'll come hold on to your question this this shining consciousness at Madhava this shining consciousness it imagines or projects by what material by itself the only material is this this consciousness itself is existence consciousness and who does it at mana by itself it is done but how can your consciousness imagine a world where does the material for the world come where does all these ideas thoughts feelings differences they don't seem to be a part of existence consciousness bliss where does it all there is all this differentiated world generated do you understand the question if there is pure consciousness it should remain as pure consciousness existence consciousness where would it get the resources to imagine a world then the vs. SWA myir by its maya by it's unthinkable power of maya it has a potential to project all of this and lend them existence and give them a kind of temporary relative existence also in which you can work in a waking world in a dream world but underlying all of this is this one consciousness which you are sois Maya just as a just to keep the philosophy clear this Atma David this pure consciousness wit Maya is called saguna brahman in vedanta Ishwara Ishwara with Maya this consciousness alone with Maya is Ishwara and he sure as the projector of the world so this is where religion and way advaita meet religion worships this issuer what is Ishwara this consciousness plus Maya which is the projector of the entire universe it's the Lord of the universe it is the controller it is all present omniscient omnipotent all of this whatever you consider it is called Vishnu or Shiva or Jehovah or Allah whatever it is called it is the god worshiped in religion with respect to it we become tiny individuals but the reality is your reality is this one consciousness apart from this there is no Jeeva there is no Ishwara I'll repeat this line apart from this one consciousness there is no Jeeva no Ishwara you alone are Jeeva right now you alone are Ishwara the world issuer you are worshiping you say my devotion to God I cannot I cannot have the hubris of imagining that I am God that was your language now it is true the Jeeva do you understand what I mean my Jeeva us right now what we think about ourselves if I think I am God that's what the Duellists attack the non-dual is for in India I say this this is sacrilege you arrogant fools you you cannot survive even a moment without the by the without the grace of God without the grace of Ishwara who provides you with you know water and air and food and even gravity would fly off immediately all of this is given to you by God and you have the arrogance to claim that you are God but this is a fundamental misunderstanding of advaitha advaitha never says that the individual being is gone I do never says that the wave is the ocean adwaita says there is something called water without which neither ocean nor wave exists okay and you are the water you are not the wave Atma is both Ishwara and Jeeva when it is G why it is called jeev Atma atomized this one just now we said Atma daiva what is David ever means a shining one this consciousness so this Atma turiya consciousness they are all one thing the same thing this alone with the limitations of body and one it itself projects mind body and all of that and becomes jeev Atma and it itself projects Maya with with its own Maya it becomes Paramatma and then the Jeevitha and Paramatma will have a relationship of worshipper and worshiped definitely if the jivatma claims I am God it's sacrilegious it's you it is you brace its craziness you're absolutely a helpless little creature compared to God and it actually a much it is a sign of wisdom to have faith and belief in God at this point but what I'll do it is talking what's different it says that both Jeeva Manish were are nothing but but you the pure consciousness I'll come to you you hold on to your question so don't forget also one more thing I wanted to point out oh there's a top which I gave in Washington DC this time very interesting from ashtavakra there is in a 15 chapter xvi words there is a verse which says other than you the consciousness there is no Jeeva no Ishwara what a tremendous thing it's saying is saying exactly the same thing which is said here other than you that means it's the bare consciousness the pure consciousness other than you the water there is no bubble there is no ocean you alone appear as the wave it will rise and play about entire way you alone appear as the vast ocean with all its waves water seems so humble and ocean seems so vast and powerful the entire ocean it depends for its very existence upon water the only reality in the ocean in that of a huge ocean is needed the waves not the ocean the only reality and ever the reality is the water only true or not this verse I gave a talk on this verse how I came across this verse was that we had a most interesting Swami so I mean is shreya Shannon de I never met him he was the pioneer in the our Vedanta work in South Africa many years ago he was the disciple of swami sivananda and he was extraordinary swami i sometimes used his stories and examples he's to teach wadn't in a very creative way now I met Swami Brahma Rupa Nanda who is in Washington DC a very senior Swami I was telling him I was reading this book of initiation G's ideas just somebody had written it down and they published it for $1 but just scattered thoughts so I came across this book and I was reading it and I found this one sentence the 16th verse of chapter 15 of ashtavakra says other than you the consciousness there is no Jeeva there's no Ishwara and then within brackets this is the beauty of initiation and he says to come to this realization read verses 4 to 16 of that chapter and that's all nothing else is mentioned there so I went back to that I have read it earlier but I never noticed it it's a remarkable sequence very powerful sequence we start from 4th verse of 15 chapter and come to the 16th verse in fact till end of the chapter so that's what I did in Washington DC other than that I was reminded of it now so other than Atma other than consciousness there is no God there is no Jeeva this understanding is there is this is what elders actually called the perennial philosophy this core understanding is there I'll say make bold to say without it the religion is superstition and in front of that I'm saying but this is this fundamental understanding in all religions without it religion is just a tissue of of culture customs rituals finding themselves their cultural content but their fundamental truth of all of these religions is this thing in the Bible you'll find I and my father are one be still and know that I am God but immediately dualistic religions Christianity will say that no no Jesus Christ is God you are not God that's also true from this level you are the GU and Jesus Christ is our tour of Ishwara correct but that's not what the Bible itself said the actual text of the Bible was be still and know that I am God who are stuff about Manduca is telling you is that all of us can claim that all of us can claim that but not as individual beings once you realize what you are you are not even this individual being what will remain in this individual be the body will die after some time the mind keeps changing every day what is remaining one and constant throughout our lives that is God okay I'll take the questions you were first so these terms are precisely defined in Vedanta this what you what is ambiguously called soul in English is nothing other than the the sukshma sharir Atma is consciousness see in Vedanta we talk about a tripartite view of the human being right now there is the body there is the body and there is the mind I'm sort of analytical it's not that the mind is the cloud floating behind your head so this is called subtle body technically it has as many as 19 parts in Vedanta as many as 19 parts in Vedanta but basically it consists of the pranamaya kosha the mono mic ocean the big annamaya kosha and beyond that is consciousness itself Atma body this is called gross body subtle body and consciousness or up mother real self-care initially I'm leaving it out here just to avoid confusion so basically a tripartite and on what basis is this made on what basis is this division made on the basis of experience this is exactly how you see yourself note the physical body tick mark check check mark yes physical body look inside thoughts feelings emotions ideas the personality subtle body and the awareness which is aware of all of this that is the real self consciousness or Atman now we're on to goes much further than this and says that all of these things are also nothing but the Atman itself anyway so when you said soul soul is nothing but this in English also when we say he's a good soul what do we mean good qualities nice person where our qualities are they in the physical body are they in pure consciousness they are in the mind and subtle body so that is what the word soul can refers to wait there are the people with questions do you remember your questions you asked yes you you yes yes yes that's very good correct listen carefully what she's saying I'll point out something for you she has noticed there two things I want to point out first is the most obvious thing she experienced the lack of stillness she understands this whole system but I experienced the lack of stillness and here Vedanta says meditation becomes useful when you say be still we're on to what what it means is in the Yoga Sutras yoga chitta vritti nirodha Yoga is a cessation of the movements of the mind so the yogic approach is that you come approach upon this truth you realize the truth through stillness it could be the stillness of prayer and meditation in the Bible what it means is the stillness of Prayer Yoga is the stillness of meditation what stillness is that this is for everybody there's a beautiful insight here the first insight is this but this is the surface inside I'm going to show you a much more startling insight next but this is a surface very valuable inside what stillness is this this is stillness of the mind the mind keeps on breaking out into waves and stilling this mind is what we experience as stillness when the mind is in waves we experience it as a lack of stillness and this is where yoga becomes useful what yoga do I mean not the downward dog here I mean the meditation yoga of meditation Patanjali yoga Insight one meditation very useful you have noticed a problem lack of stillness the solution is meditation quietness meditation okay now the deeper really valuable insight you noticed think about the time when you notice the lack of stillness restlessness of the mind you said mind going here and there what noticed that was that still or moving you are always still you cannot not be still you have never ever had a problem of being you know not still the Atman never ever is restless that's what Shankara Vedanta spin on a stay with that if you stay with it the solution is instantaneous if you do not stay with it solution is there it's 30 years of hard meditation if you get it you get it right now your mind will not become still because my in stillness requires meditation it requires purity the stillness which matters is the Atman that stillness if you recognize it that's exactly what the Bible is really deeply saying be still know that I am God if you know that inner never to be lost stillness which is perfectly still forever that is God that's very good very good that's a good way of ending to this stuff you haven't you had a question yes oh that's a very good question and nobody ever talks about this does subtle matter age like the gross party no it doesn't it remains the same more or less even the gross body does not matter constituting the gross body does not age what ages is the body itself the system yeah but but remember the the invariant ik terminology the earth water air space fire which constitute this physical body they do not age what ages is the system put together by that those elements that deteriorates over age like a machine so in a machine for example the elements which constitute the Machine the iron and the the hydrogen and the and the diamond they do not age but what ages is the machine itself because it gets old and the wear and tear is there similarly subtle body does not age in that way doesn't apply to the physical constituents of the physical body also the subtle body itself yes that is true that is true does it age even if it does the constituent material is so so fine that there is no possibility of it really ageing or decaying or dying the subtle body is under it is continuously changing though moment you have experiences it has changed thoughts emotions ideas it changes it gets the samskaras over a lifetime and then it goes on from body to body from lifetime to lifetime the only that it falls apart finally upon realization upon realization that I am this witness consciousness not these and this this thing that I am the one conch or rather I am the one consciousness of the entire universe when you realize that that is the last lifetime in Vedanta if we talk about that that when that lifetime ends which means when the physical body of that lifetime ends the subtle body also falls apart that doesn't that doesn't age but it falls apart at that point so at the time of the end our Karma's of the physical body are exhausted the physical body dies there are no future Karma's because they have been burned up in the fire of realization so to say and the subtle body does not transmigrate it does not go from this body to another life to another life it stops that is called moksha the consciousness itself remains as consciousness it can travel yes doesn't travel it's every better subtle bodies it many people don't understand this it's a subtle body which travels yeah and the reflected consciousness in the subtle body also will travel with it yeah all right let's end today we have really done out of time good but we made a good beginning this verse is a very powerful verse 12th verse of 2nd chapter it really gives you the essence of Vedanta no.1 consciousness I hope it answers your question also it's a song of spirit it's a song of oneness and not of falsity of the world I'm a kind of lone little lost little reality and everything else is the fault of false no I am the universe that's what it needs home Shanti Shanti Shanti hurry he owned that such Shri Krishna but that last question you spoke about the stillness hold on to that I made a very important point today and thank you for the question thank you